General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - October 2015

Oct 2015

Aug 01, 2020

AIM Launches 'AIM-iCREST', in Partnership with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Wadhwani Found...

NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog's Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), launched AIM iCREST – an Incubator Capabilities enhancement program for a Robust Ecosystem focused on creating high performing Startups in collaboration with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Wadhwani Foundation, which will provide global expertise.
This is a first of its kind initiative for advancing innovation at scale in India.
Under the initiative, the AIM's incubators will be provided requisite support to foster the incubation enterprise economy in order to enhance their performance.
Also training will be provided to entrepreneurs, through technology driven processes and platforms.
It is Government of India's flagship initiative to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country. Its objective is to develop new programs for fostering innovation in different sectors and to create an umbrella structure to oversee innovation ecosystem of the country.

Gadkari Inaugurates Refurbished Upstream Carriageway of Mahatma Gandhi Setu in Bihar

Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and MSMEs Nitin Gadkari inaugurated the upstream carriageway of Mahatma Gandhi Bridge over river Ganga through video conference in Bihar. The function was presided over by Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar. Union Ministers Shri Ram Vilas Paswan and Shri Ravishankar Prasad, MoS Gen (Retd) V. K. Singh, Shri Ashwani Chaube and Shri Nityanand Rai, Deputy Chief Minister Shri Sushil Kumar Modi, and others attended the function.
This over 5.5 km four lane bridge lies at NH-19 between Patna and Hajipur. It is being constructed at a cost of Rs. 1742 crore. It involves replacement of the existing concrete superstructure of old bridge by new steel deck superstructure. Work on this bridge was started in June 2017. The bridge is schedule to be completed in two parts. The upstream lane has been completed in July 2020. Thereafter the downstream lane shall be taken up and will be completed by 2021.

Modi Govt. Ensures Gender Equality of Muslim Women: Naqvi

Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that August 1 should be recorded as "Muslim Women's Rights Day" in the country as the day marked the anniversary of the law making triple talaq a criminal offence.
Mr. Naqvi was addressing a virtual function organised by his Ministry to mark the first anniversary of the passage of Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019. It was attended by Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani.
Muslim women from Uttam Nagar and Batla House in New Delhi; Greater Noida, Lucknow and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh; Jaipur in Rajasthan; Mumbai in Maharashtra, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu; and Hyderabad participated in the conference.

Jul 31, 2020

Cabinet Approves MoU between India and Zimbabwe on Traditional System of Medicine, Homeopathy

The Cabinet gave ex-post facto approval to an agreement between India and Zimbabwe on cooperation in the field of traditional systems of medicine and homeopathy.
The MoU, which was signed on November 3, 2018 and approved by the Cabinet, aims to provide a framework for cooperation between the two countries for the promotion of traditional systems of medicine and homeopathy and will mutually benefit both nations in the field of traditional medicine.
The areas of cooperation identified by the MoU include promotion in the regulation of teaching, practice, drugs and drugless therapies, supply of all medicine materials and documents necessary for demonstration and reference in achieving the objectives and exchange of experts for the training of practitioners, paramedics, scientists, teaching professionals and students among others.
Mutual recognition of pharmacopoeias and formularies, systems of medicines which are officially recognised by the parties, educational qualifications awarded by central and state recognised universities were also identified as areas of cooperation by the MoU.
The main objective of the MoU is to strengthen, promote and develop co-operation in traditional medicine systems between the two countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.

Three Chennai Metro Stations Renamed after Former Chief Ministers

Before the assembly elections scheduled for next year, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami announced that three major metro stations in the city have been be renamed after former Chief Ministers.
The Alandur, Central and CMBT metro stations have been reanmed as Arignar Anna Alandur Metro, Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Metro and Puratchi Thalaivi Dr. J Jayalalithaa CMBT Metro, respectively.
Palaniswami said that the decision to rename the stations was taken after recommendations from a high-level committee.
The stations are prominent ones in Phase I of the Chennai Metro Rail Project.

Jul 30, 2020

Green-Ag Project in Mizoram

Green-Agriculture (Green-Ag), a project funded by Global Environment Facility (GEF) was launched in Mizoram, India. It was launched by Agriculture Minister of Mizoram C. Lalrinsanga.The project will be implemented in Dampa Tiger Reserve in west Mizorams Mamit district and Thorangtlang Wildlife Sanctuary in Lunglei district in the southern part of the state covering more than 30 villages.
Mizoram is among the five states where the Green-Ag project, funded by Global Environment Facility (GEF), is being implemented. The other states are Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.
As per Lalrinsanga, the launch of the project and inclusion of Mizoram among the five states is a milestone for the northeastern state.
The project seeks to mainstream biodiversity, climate change, sustainable land management objectives and practices into the agriculture sector.

Punjab is Part of India, UK on Khalistani Extremist Group Planning Referendum

The British government rejected the Khalistani extremist group Sikhs for Justice's Referendum 2020 which seeks the separation of Punjab from rest of India saying that it considers Punjab as part of India.
A British High Commission spokesperson in response to a question on the SFJ-led referendum said, "This is a matter for the government and people of India, not foreign countries or overseas organisations. While we support the right of anyone to voice their opinion, the UK government is not involved in anyway with this unofficial and non-binding referendum," he said, adding, "We consider the Indian Punjab to be a part of India."
The so-called referendum is to form an "Independent country" in India's Punjab and has found support in Pakistan. Referendum posters have been seen at important Sikh gurudwaras, a matter that was raised with Islamabad by New Delhi.
The development comes, days after Canada dismissed support for Khalistani separatism. Last weekend, the Canadian foreign ministry had said, "The Canada-India bilateral relationship is a priority for the government of Canada. We respect the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of India."

Guwahati Gets Northeast's First Manhole Cleaning Robot 'BANDICOOT'

The Northeast got its first-ever manhole cleaning robot to end manual scavenging. Manholes in Guwahati will now be cleaned by robots named 'BANDICOOT'. The robot was procured by Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC). The robot, given by Indian Oil Corporation, was inaugurated by Guwahati Development Department (GDD) Minister Siddhartha Bhattacharya. The BANDICOOT robot is also the first of its kind in the world. 'BANDICOOT' was developed by a start-up India company called Genrobotics. The robot was developed under the Make in India initiative. It was funded by CSR of Indian Oil Corporation Limited. Guwahati is India's third city to procure this innovative technology to clean manholes. Earlier, Gurugram and Coimbatore had procured BANDICOOT robots.

Jul 29, 2020

Bombay Flying Club Becomes India's 1st DGCA-approved Drone Training School

According to the Civil Aviation Ministry, the Bombay Flying Club has become the first DGCA-approved drone training school of the country.
In an order, the DGCA approved the club's application for conducting remote pilot training for remotely piloted aircraft systems.
However, it said that the club will have to fulfill certain conditions regarding aerial photography, safety, insurance and take clearances from local administration, the Defence Ministry, the Home Ministry, the Indian Air Force and the Airports Authority of India.

India to Set up Solar Power Plant in Sri Lanka

Under the aegis of International Solar Alliance (ISA) NTPC Ltd, the largest power generation utility of India plans to establish solar power plants in Sri Lanka as a part of the strategy to exhibit the presence of India in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) amid China's attempt to attract nations into the "Belt and Road" initiative.
The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has an installed power generation capacity of around 35.8 GigaWatts(GW).
The NTPC's Sri Lanka Solar park with installed capacity of 62.91 GW is one of the contracts to help the ISA member countries to build a 10 GW solar capacity.
The proposed solar park follows the Colombo coal fuelled power project which was scrapped due to environmental issues.
Petronet LNG ltd, announced its plan to establish a terminal for liquefied natural gas in Sri Lanka.
As a part of creating a new energy ecosystem in the South Asian neighbourhood, India explores laying overhead electricity links with Sri Lanka.

Union Cabinet Approves New National Education Policy

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the new National Education Policy (NEP) and renamed the HRD Ministry as Education Ministry.
A panel led by former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief K Kasturirangan had submitted the draft of the new NEP to Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' when he took charge last year.
The draft was then put in public domain to seek feedback from various stakeholders.
The existing NEP was framed in 1986 and revised in 1992. A new education policy was part of the Bharatiya Janata Party's manifesto ahead of the 2014 general election.
The drafting experts also took into account the report of a panel headed by former cabinet secretary T. S. R. Subramanian and formed by the HRD Ministry when it was being headed by Union Minister Smriti Irani.

Jul 28, 2020

India and Indonesia Resolve to Expand Defence Ties

India and Indonesia vowed to expand security cooperation in a range of areas including defence industries and technology sharing, as the two maritime neighbours aimed at injecting a new momentum to their strategic partnership.
The possible areas of further expansion of defence and military ties were discussed during talks between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Indonesian counterpart General Prabowo Subianto.
As per reports, the issue of possible export of BrahMos cruise missile to Indonesia by India and ways to further deepen maritime security cooperation figured prominently in the talks.
Both the ministers agreed to further enhance the bilateral defence cooperation in mutually agreed areas. Potential areas of cooperation in the field of defence industries and defence technology were also identified by the two countries.

Bijapur in Chhattisgarh Tops List of Aspirational Districts for the February-June 2020 Period

Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh topped the list of aspirational districts ranked by government think-tank NITI Aayog for the February-June 2020 period.
Ri-Bhoi (Meghalaya) and Bahraich (Uttar Pradesh) were placed at the second and third positions respectively.
Nawada (Bihar) was ranked fourth and Moga (Punjab) is at the fifth place.
The delta rankings took into account incremental progress made by over 112 aspirational districts across six developmental areas during February-June this year.
Health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion, skill development and basic infrastructure were the development areas that were taken into consideration for the ranking.
The aspirational districts programme, launched in January 2018, aims to transform districts that have shown relatively lesser progress in key social areas and have emerged as pockets of under-development.

Government Appoints Anil Kumar Jha Member of Key Green Panel

The government appointed former chairman of Coal India, Anil Kumar Jha, as a member of a key panel that deals with violation of environment rules.
The Expert Appraisal Committee formed by the Environment Ministry appraises projects that are commissioned without obtaining prior environmental clearance and have been termed as cases of violation. The panel was earlier constituted in June 2017 for three years. Its tenure has now been extended till June 2021.
The role of the panel comprising members with expertise in different sectors is to appraise and make recommendations to the centre with respect to cases of environment rules violation.
Jha retired as of Coal India's chairman in January 2020. He has three decades of experience in coal mining. During his tenure Coal India's output surpassed 600 million tonnes in 2018-19.

India Hands over 10 Broad Gauge Diesel Locomotives to Bangladesh

External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal flagged off virtually to Bangladesh ten Broad Gauge locomotives in a handing over ceremony.
From the Bangladesh side, Railway Minister Md. Nurul Islam Sujan and Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Abul Kalam Abdul Momen received the locomotives on behalf of their government.
The handing over of these locomotives, under grant assistance from India fulfills an important commitment made during the visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India in October last year.
In keeping with the requirements of Bangladesh Railway, the locomotives have been suitably modified by the Indian side.

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