General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - October 2015

Oct 2015

Feb 13, 2021

TRS Wins Mayoral Posts with AIMIM Extending Last-minute Support

Telangana elected its first female mayor to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), since the creation of the state in 2014.
The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) candidate Gadwal Vijayalakshmi along with deputy mayor Mothe Srilatha Reddy, also from the TRS, won a tightly contested election. Vijayalakshmi defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) candidate Radha Dheeraj Reddy.

Odisha Files Contempt against Andhra Officials for Invading its Territory

The Odisha government has approached the Supreme Court seeking contempt action against officials of the Andhra Pradesh government for notifying Panchayat polls in three villages controlled by it and allegedly violating a status quo ordered by the SC in 1968 on three villages claimed as their territory by the two states.
The dispute over the territorial jurisdiction of 21 districts, popularly known as Kotia Group of villages, first reached the Supreme Court in 1968, when the Odisha government accused the Andhra Pradesh government of trespassing its territory.

India's Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla to Visit Russia

India's Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla will visit Russia next week and this visit will be for a couple of days which will see a number of bilateral meetings. The visit comes even as both sides have been engaged at multiple levels, from cooperation against COVID-19 pandemic to defence.
The visit, in the works for some time, will be the first foreign visit of the top Indian diplomat in 2021. The focus will be on the India-Russia annual summit in 2021, with Russian President Vladimir Putin's India visit. Russia and India have an annual bilateral summit level mechanism that alternates between the two countries.

Karnataka Gets 31st District

Karnataka got its 31st district with the state government issuing an official gazette notification carving out a new Vijayanagara district from the mine-rich Ballari.
The new district will have six taluks and Hosapete will be its headquarters.
Kudligi, Hagaribommana halli, Kotturu, Hoovina Hadagali, and Harapanahalli are the other five taluks.
Ballari district will have five taluks- Ballari, Kurugodu, Siraguppa, Kampli, and Sanduru.
Ballari taluk will remain its headquarters.
On November 18 last year, the state cabinet had given in principle approval for creation of Vijayanagara district.

Feb 12, 2021

Odisha Govt. Approves Re-promulgation of Farm Reform Ordinance

Even as the agitation by farmers demanding repeal of three farm laws rages on across the country, the Naveen Patnaik government decided to re-promulgate the ordinance to reform the Odisha Agricultural Produce Markets Amendment Act to enable geographically restriction-free trade and transaction of agricultural produce including livestock across the state.
The state cabinet which met under the chairmanship of chief minister Naveen Patnaik, gave assent to the re-promulgation of the Odisha Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing promotion and facilitation) Ordinance for the third time, enabling the state to move ahead with the abolition of notified market area in so far as enforcement of regulation by Agricultural Produce and Livestock Market Committee (APLMC) was concerned.
The ordinance would also help the government create an environment for setting up and operating private market yards and farmer consumer market yards (Krushak Bazar), sub-market yard and market sub yard with the aim to enhance competition for the farmer's produce to the advantage of farmers.

Feb 11, 2021

Tamil Nadu Parties United in Call for Single Phase State Elections

Ruling and opposition political parties in Tamil Nadu have urged the Election Commission to make it a single phase assembly election in the state. An election commission delegation, led by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, arrived in Chennai on a two-day visit to assess poll preparedness in Tamil Nadu.
In complaints to the poll body, the DMK alleged deletion of voters' name, spotlighted AIADMK's spending on advertisements in newspapers, among others.
"Previously, we have submitted six representations to the EC for clarifications in the voters' list, but they did not answer," said DMK's organising secretary R.S. Bharathi.
Though the state has always had single-phase elections, all parties made this request following the three-phase voting in Bihar last year amid the Covid-19 pandemic. They had made a similar request when election officials visited the state in December.

Telangana CM Announces Rs. 1,000 crore Scheme for Dalit Empowerment

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao announced the launch of an exclusive scheme for the uplift of Dalits in the state with a budgetary allocation of Rs. 1,000 crore.
As per K. Chandrashekar Rao, the "CM Dalit Empowerment Scheme" would be rolled out in the forthcoming budget.

Priyanka Gandhi set to launch Congress' 'Jai Jawan-Jai Kisan Abhiyan' in UP

All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary and in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is launched her party's 'Jai Jawan Jai Kisan Abhiyan' in UP's Saharanpur district, where she also addressed Kisan Panchayat in Behot area.
Uttar Pradesh Congress called upon this campaign to take on the BJP government on the issue of three farm laws against which the farmers are agitating for more than 70 days at different borders of the national capital.
With this campaign, Congress' strategy is to establish a stronghold among the peasant, especially Jats, Gurjars, and Muslim communities.

Indian Govt. Rules Out Granting Dual Citizenship

The government said that it is not considering any proposal to grant dual citizenship.
Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai also said in Lok Sabha that over 6.76 lakh Indians gave up Indian nationality between 2015 and 2019 and took up citizenship of other countries.

Feb 10, 2021

Shahnawaz Hussain Inducted into Nitish Cabinet

Union minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and BJP's national spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain has finally been rehabilitated in active politics with a position in the Bihar government led by BJP's partner, JD-U's Nitish Kumar.
One of Saffron party's prominent Muslim faces -- apart from union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Rajya Sabha member Syed Zafar Islam, Hussain was the first to be administered the oath of office by Governor Phagu Chauhan at a ceremony held in the Raj Bhavan.
Out of electoral politics since 2014, Hussain was recently named by the BJP as its MLC candidate from Bihar, thus marking his return albeit at the state level.
The Cabinet strength of the Nitish Kumar Government is now 34.

India and China Discuss UNSC Coordination

India and China held consultations on cooperation on issues relating to UN Security Council in an attempt to cool tensions and set the stage for substantial talks on a concrete disengagement schedule in the border areas of eastern Ladakh.
The Chinese delegation was led by Yang Tao from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Indian team by Prakash Gupta, Joint Secretary in MEA. Both sides discussed a wide range of issues on the UNSC agenda. The Indian delegation briefed the Chinese side on India's priorities during its UNSC tenure. Both sides agreed to continue their engagement on key issues on the UNSC agenda, stated a MEA release. India will occupy a seat on UNSC for two years till the end of 2022 while China is one of the five permanent members.

Feb 09, 2021

India and EU Discuss Possibility of Opening New Areas in Trade Cooperation

In its first high-level dialogue on bilateral trade and investment, India and the European Union exchanged views on the possibility of opening new areas of cooperation, especially on the resilience of global value chains and regulatory mechanisms besides key market access issues.
India hosted the first India-EU high-level dialogue (HLD) through virtual mode. The HLD was co-chaired by Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and European Commission Executive Vice-President and Trade Commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis.
The dialogue has been established as part of the commitment made during the 15th India-EU Leaders' virtual Summit held on July 15, 2020, to provide ministerial-level guidance to the bilateral trade and investment relations.
As per reports, Dombrovskis and Goyal discussed trade and investment issues with an emphasis on the socio-economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as vaccine production and distribution mechanisms, including value chain linkages.

Sharmila Prepares to Launch New Regional Party in Telangana

The stage is set for the launch of a new regional party in Telangana soon by Y. S. Sharmila, who is the sister of Y.S.R. Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
For the last few days, there have been speculations on social media groups of the YSRC about Sharmila's plans to launch a new political outfit exclusively in Telangana, independent of her brother Jagan's party, which is currently in power in Andhra Pradesh.
However, there has been neither denial nor confirmation from Sharmila's camp. The leader quoted above said there had indeed been talk about her plans to launch a new political outfit. "It is still not known why she has chosen to launch a new political party in Telangana and what her strategies are. She might give some clarity at Tuesday's meeting," the leader said.

Sasikala Announces Return to Tamil Nadu Politics

Spelling more trouble for the already jittery All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), expelled general secretary V. K. Sasikala, returned to Chennai with fanfare, announced her return to politics and urged the party cadre to unite to take on common foe M.K. Stalin's Dravida Munnetra Kaqzhagam (DMK) in upcoming assembly elections.
Sasikala's release from prison and her return to Chennai ahead of the assembly elections adds an intriguing new factor to the political dynamics of Tamil Nadu, where the DMK and the Congress are preparing to take on the AIADMK and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while she was in prison, the AIADMK expelled her from the party, and said that she wouldn't be taken back into the party's fold.

Nitish Kumar to Expand Bihar Cabinet

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will expand his cabinet. Induction of new members in the state cabinet will take place at Raj Bhavan where they will be administered the oath by Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan.
The newly elected members of the state legislative council (MLC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shahnawaz Hussain and Vikassheel Insaan Party's Mukesh Sahni are expected to get ministerial berths in the cabinet expansion.

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