General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - December 2015

Dec 2015

Dec 06, 2022

Country's First Hydroelectric Project in Himachal Going Down the Drain

With the 99-year lease agreement of the country's first hydroelectric project presently under the control of the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) in Himachal Pradesh ending in 2024, the maintenance of the 110 MW British-era power plant, which stands amidst the lush green dense deodar forests in the Barot Valley, is going down the drain.
Commissioned in 1932, the Shanan hydroelectric plant was constructed under a 99-year lease deed executed between Jogendra Sen, the then Mandi ruler, and Col. B.C. Batty, the then Chief Engineer of the Punjab government, in 1925.
The project in Jogindernagar in Mandi district has been facing a public outcry for long as locals say it is located in the state and using the state's water for generating power while another state is earning revenue from it by selling the electricity.
The people, including politicians, have been demanding the project should be handed over the state before the lease expiry.
During reorganization of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh in 1966, the Shanan Power House was allocated to Punjab by the Union Ministry of Irrigation and Power.

India, Germany Ink Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock signed a comprehensive migration and mobility partnership. The deal which aims at facilitating two-way movement of students, professionals and researchers, is also set to address the challenges of illegal migration.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock was in India on a two-day visit, during which she discussed the cooperation on the transition to renewable energy and India's relationship with Russia and China.
The India-Germany MMPA (Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement) is part of overall efforts to create a network of agreements with prospective labour market destination countries with twin objectives of creating of favourable visa regime for Indians towards accessing the labour market of these countries.

World's Largest Grain Storage Scheme for Food Security Soon

The Centre is merging several schemes to develop the "world's largest grain storage" scheme amid global food disruptions in the wake of the war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic. Schemes under ministries including the ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare, consumer affairs, food and public distribution and food processing will soon be merged.
The disruptions in food supply and high prices have increased food security concerns in several countries. Ukraine and Russia are among the world's largest suppliers of wheat, barley and fertilisers. India, despite having large arable land, suffers from low productivity.

President Droupadi Murmu Approves New Design for President's Standard and Colour and Indian Navy ...

President Droupadi Murmu approved the introduction of a new design for the President's Standard and Colour and Indian Navy Crest for the Indian Navy, which was unveiled at Visakhapatnam.
The Indian Navy adopted a new Naval Ensign on September 2, 2022, and the new design of the President's Standard and President's Colour awarded to the Indian Navy incorporates this change.
The new design of the President's Standard and Colour comprises three main constituents – the National Flag in the upper left canton adjacent to the staff, the State Emblem underscribed with 'Satyamev Jayate' in Golden Colour on the upper right canton on the fly side, and a Navy Blue – Gold Octagon below the Golden State Emblem.

Farooq Abdullah Elected National Conference President again

Farooq Abdullah was re-elected unopposed the president of the National Conference, barely a fortnight after the 85-year-old MP from Srinagar had announced that he would not run for another term.
Farooq has been the National Conference (NC) president since 1981, barring the period between 2002 and 2009, when his son Omar Abdullah held the top party position. He had last month stepped down as the party chief, but the senior leadership persuaded him to continue.
In recent years, Farooq has proven to be a strong voice of the NC and other traditional mainstream parties, especially after the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the state into two union territories on August 5, 2019. He was also detained and booked under the Public Safety Act amid fears of protests. The Supreme Court also heard a petition against his 'illegal' detention. Besides serving as the NC president, Farooq is heading a five-party alliance – the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) – seeking restoration of Article 370.

Selja is Congress Chhattisgarh in-charge, ex-Dy CM Randhawa of Rajasthan

The Congress appointed former Union Minister Kumari Selja, former Haryana Congress chief, as general secretary in-charge of Chhattisgarh.
Former Deputy CM of Punjab Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Rajya Sabha MP Shaktisinh Gohil were given charge of Rajasthan and Haryana, respectively. Shaktisinh Gohil was also given in-charge of Delhi.
Interestingly, the development came at a time when Congress's Bharat Jodo Yatra is in Rajasthan and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa has been appointed as the state in-charge. He has also been appointed as a member of the Steering Committee.

Dec 05, 2022

Power Ministry Waives Inter-state Transmission Charges for New Hydro Projects

The Power Ministry announced a waiver of inter-state transmission charges on wheeling electricity for 18 years for new hydropower projects.
The waiver is already available to solar and wind power projects. The government has set an ambitious plan to have 500 GW of generation capacity from non-fossil energy-based sources by 2030.
Hydropower projects, being clean, green and sustainable will be of paramount importance in our clean energy transition journey. They are also essential for the integration of solar and wind power, which are intermittent in nature, the ministry said.

Institute of Cost Accountants of India Elects Vijender Sharma as the President

The Institute of Cost Accountants of India said that Vijender Sharma was elected as the new president and Rakesh Bhalla as vice-president for 2022-23. The institute, which is a statutory body set up under an Act of Parliament, comes under the administrative control of Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Mr. Vijender Sharma was vice-president and CMA Rakesh Bhalla was Central Council member and Chairman of Direct Tax Committee of the Institute in previous term 2021-22.
Sharma is a fellow member of ICAI and a law graduate. He is a leading practicing cost accountant since 1998 and insolvency professional since January 2017. He has an experience of over 22 years in diversified areas of financial, cost and management accounting, internal audit, management consultancy, forensic audit, insolvency and liquidation, etc.

Rajeeva Laxman Karandikar Named as Chairperson of the National Statistical Commission

Government of India appointed Rajeeva Laxman Karandikar, Professor Emeritus at Chennai Mathematical Institute (CMI), as the part-time chairperson of the National Statistical Commission (NSC) of India for a period of three years. He will take up this role as an additional responsibility while continuing as Professor Emeritus at CMI. He joined CMI as a visiting professor in 2010, and officiated as the Director of CMI from January 2011 to April 2021.
Karandikar is widely known for his three decades of work on probability theory as well as applications of mathematics and statistics to real world questions.
He has designed, supervised and analysed nationwide opinion polls for the Indian parliamentary elections as well State assemblies since 1998. He is known for developing a new model and methodology for seat prediction, which has been quite successful for over the last 20 years.
Mr. Karandikar was a member of the committee constituted by the Election Commission (EC) of India to advice the EC on the sampling scheme for EVM-VVPAT verification.
NSC is an autonomous body formed in June 2005 under the recommendation of the Dr. C Rangarajan Commission. The objective of its constitution was to reduce the problems faced by statistical agencies in the country with respect to the collection of data, and strengthen public trust in the numbers released by the Government of India. The chairperson of the Commission enjoys the status of a Minister of State, Government of India.

Dec 04, 2022

Jaiveer Shergill Made BJP Spokesperson, Amarinder Singh too Gets New Role

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appointed former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Sunil Jakhar as well as its former Uttar Pradesh president Swatantra Dev Singh as members of its national executive.
It also appointed former Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill its national spokesperson.
Madan Kaushik, Vishnu Deo Sai, its former presidents of Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh respectively, Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, Manoranjan Kalia and Amanjot Kaur Ramoowalia, all three from Punjab, wwere made special invitees to the national executive.

Dec 03, 2022

MP Govt. to Form New Committee for Implementation of Uniform Civil Code

The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh announced that a committee will be formed for the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code in the state.
Some other BJP-ruled states including Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh have made similar announcements.
The announcement was made by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at a function, where he asked why there were two personal laws in one country, and also alleged that some men marry women from tribal communities with the motive of usurping their land.

Dec 02, 2022

Gujarat Assembly Polls Phase-1 End: 59.2% Voter Turnout Recorded Till 5 pm

An average 59.24 per cent voter turn-out was recorded as of 5 pm across 89 Assembly seats in the first phase of Gujarat elections. While voting began at 8 in the morning and ended at 5 pm, the final turn-out would be higher as the process continued at the polling stations where voters had arrived before 5 pm and were standing in queues.
The fate of 788 candidates will be decided in the first phase. Barring a few incidents, polling was largely peaceful across all 89 seats in south Gujarat and Saurashtra-Kutch regions which went to polls in the first phase.

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