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NATIONAL AFFAIRS - February 2016

Feb 2016

Jul 11, 2021

WB Assembly Speaker Appoints Mukul Roy as PAC Chairman

Senior TMC leader Mukul Roy, who switched over to the ruling camp in Bengal after winning the assembly polls on a BJP ticket, was on Friday appointed as the chairperson of Public Accounts Committee in the Assembly by Speaker Biman Banerjee.
BJP MLAs, led by Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, staged a walkout in the Assembly, protesting against this decision. "According to conventions, PAC chairman is made from opposition party. But, this tradition was broken by the speaker.
Roy, officially a BJP MLA from Krishnanagar Uttar, joined the TMC last month. He, however, did not resign as an MLA, despite being asked to do so several times by the saffron party.

PM Narendra Modi Speaks to New Vietnam PM Phạm Minh Chính

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and New Vietnamese PM Phạm Minh Chính spoke to each other. The talks came as part of growing engagement between the two countries. This is the first conversation between the two leaders after Pham took charge as the Prime Minister of Vietnam. Phạm Minh Chính took charge in April this year and has served in various positions of the government.
The key focus during the talks were on dealing with the COVID-19 crisis, vaccines, engagement in Indo pacific, and other related areas. Amid the second wave of the COVID pandemic, Vietnam had reached out to India with supplies.
In December of last year, Indian PM Narendra Modi and the then PM of Vietnam Nguyen Xuan Phuc held a virtual summit. During the summit, India handed over the first of 12 High-Speed Guard boats to Vietnam under the $100 million Defence Line of Credit extended by New Delhi to Hanoi.

India's First Movable Freshwater Tunnel Aquarium Installed at Bengaluru Station

Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna Railway Station also known as Bengaluru City Railway Station has become the first railway station in India with a movable freshwater tunnel aquarium. The state-of-the-art aquarium has been jointly opened by the Indian Railway Stations Development Cooperation Limited (IRSDC) in collaboration with the HNi Aquatic Kingdom.
The Aquatic Kingdom aquarium is based on the concept of the Amazon River and is 12-feet long. The entrance of the station now gives a glimpse into marine life, with a beautiful dolphin humbly greeting visitors with a slight bow and a smile. A 3D selfie area, 20 feet of glass periphery are also some attractive features of the new facility.

Jul 10, 2021

Mansukh Mandaviya: India's New Health Minister

Mansukh Mandaviya, Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat, has been appointed as new Health Minister of India in a major cabinet reshuffle.
Mandaviya has replaced Dr Harsh Vardhan who was in charge of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), Ministry of Science & Technology and Ministry of Earth Sciences since 2019.
Mandaviya will also be the in charge of Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
Amid the ongoing covid-19 pandemic, Health Ministry was merged with Chemical & Fertilizers Ministry.
Both the ministries were clubbed together with the aim of a better management of supply of medicines, other medical equipment such as oxygen cylinders.
This decision was taken in the aftermath of 2nd wave of covid-19 when thousands of people succumbed because of acute shortage of essential life-saving drugs, oxygen, medical equipment and shortage of beds.

Former IPS Officer K. Annamalai is New Chief of TN BJP

Former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer K. Annamalai was appointed as the new BJP chief of Tamil Nadu, succeeding L. Murugan who was inducted into the Union cabinet.
Murugan has been appointed as Union minister of state for fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying, and information and broadcasting. His elevation is seen as a reward for his work as party chief in the southern state where the BJP won four seats in the recently held assembly elections. The last time the BJP had four lawmakers in the assembly was in 2001 when the party fought in alliance with the DMK. In the next three elections in 2006, 2011 and 2016, the BJP couldn't win a single seat.
Annamalai, a Karnataka cadre IPS officer, resigned from service in 2019 and joined the BJP last year.

Jul 09, 2021

Parshottam Rupala Gets Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying

Senior BJP leader Parshottam Rupala was promoted as a Cabinet minister in the Modi government's major Cabinet reshuffle and given charge of the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.
Rupala who comes from the influential Kadva Patidar or Patel community in Gujarat, will be in charge of the ministry formed recently in 2019 in order to promote allied farm activities for enhancing farmers' income. Earlier, Rupala was holding charge as minister of state for agriculture in the Union Cabinet.
He will replace his cabinet colleague Giriraj Singh, who has been shifted to the Ministry of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj.

Sharmila Floats Party in Telangana

Making her foray into active politics, YS Sharmila, sister of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, officially launched her political outfit-YSR Telangana Party.
Promising "Rajanna Rajyam", a state envisagedby her father and former Chief Minister of AP late Rajasekhara Reddy, in Telangana, she said the YSR Telangana Partys main agenda would be on three issues-Welfare, self-prosperity and equality.
Unveiling the party's agenda and flag in the midst of her followers at a private hall here, Sharmila said she will start her padayatra (footmarch) in the State on the 100th day from today, to interact and understand people's problems.

Jul 08, 2021

President Accepts Resignations of 12 Union Ministers

President Ram Nath Kovind accepted the resignations of 12 Union ministers, including Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javadekar and Harsh Vardhan, with immediate effect.
These resignations came ahead of a major expansion and reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers later in the day.
In all, six Cabinet Ministers, one Minister of State (Independent Charge) and five Ministers of State have resigned.
Those resigned include Cabinet Ministers D V Sadananda Gowda (Chemical and Fertilizers), Ravi Shankar Prasad (Law and Justice, Communications, Electronics & Information Technology), Thaawarchand Gehlot (Social Justice and Empowerment), Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank' (Education), Harsh Vardhan (Health and Family Welfare) and Prakash Javadekar (Environment, Forest and Climate Change).

PM Modi Rejigs Cabinet

Effecting a big reset, Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought in Sarbananda Sonowal, Narayan Rane and Jyotiraditya Scindia as Cabinet ministers while dropping as many as 12 ministers including Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, IT and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar.
As many as 15 Cabinet ministers, including some new faces, were sworn-in at the swearing in ceremony held in the Darbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

India - EU Cooperation in Agriculture Sector

A virtual meeting between Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar and Member of European Commission-Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski was held.
During the meeting, strong momentum of India-EU relations was acknowledged.
They discussed EU Common Agriculture Policy (CAP), recent India market reforms, UN Food System Summit, EU Farm to Fork Strategy and bilateral cooperation.
They also discussed G20 Agriculture Minister process and fixation of Maximum Residue Limit of Tricyclazole in Indian Basmati Rice by EU.
Member of European Commission, Agriculture explained recent reforms undertaken by EU in Common Agriculture Policy and EU Farm to Fork Strategy in order to make agriculture green & sustainable.
EU side also underlined that; EU has set a target of bringing 25 per cent of area in EU under Organic Farming by 2030.
Indian side explained the scenario of agriculture in India, dominance of small farmers and commitment of Government of India for welfare of farmers in India. Recent initiatives taken by Government to increase farmer's income, launch of Agriculture Infrastructure Fund, agriculture marketing infrastructure for rural areas, scheme of formation of 10000 FPOs were explained to EU.

Anurag Thakur Gets Information and Broadcasting, Sports Ministry

Anurag Thakur, the BJP MP from Himachal Pradesh's Hamirpur who was sworn-in today as a Cabinet minister, has been entrusted with two important portfolios - Information and Broadcasting, and Sports.
Mr. Thakur was previously the Minister of State for Finance. He is among six junior ministers who have been promoted to the Union Cabinet.

Jul 07, 2021

Separate Ministry for Strengthening Cooperative Movement

The Narendra Modi government has decided to create a new Ministry of Cooperation with an aim to strengthen the cooperative movement in the country.
Amid a strong buzz about a massive cabinet reshuffle exercise expected on Wednesday, government sources said the new ministry is being created for realising the vision of 'sahkar se samriddhi' (through cooperation to prosperity).
This ministry will provide a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country.

Maharashtra Govt. Introduces 3 Bills to Counter Centre's Farm Laws

The Shiv Sena-led MVA government in Maharashtra introduced three amendment bills in the assembly related to agriculture, co-operation, food and civil supplies, in a move to counter the new farm laws enacted by the Centre that are facing stiff opposition from a section of cultivators.
The bills have provisions for higher than MSP rate for produce in farming agreement with traders, timely payment of dues, three-year jail term and Rs. 5 lakh fine or both for harassment of farmers.
They also have provisions to give power to the state government to regulate and prohibit production, supply, distribution and impose stock limits on essential commodities.

President Kovind Appoints New Governors for 8 States

In a major reshuffle, President Ram Nath Kovind appointed eight new governors giving them charge of administration of new states. While many were transferred, others were new appointments.
P.S. Sreedharan Pillai, Governor of Mizoram, was transferred and appointed as Governor of Goa; Satyadev Narayan Arya, Governor of Haryana is transferred and appointed as Governor of Tripura; Ramesh Bais, Governor of Tripura is transferred and appointed as Governor of Jharkhand; Bandaru Dattatraya, Governor of Himachal Pradesh is transferred and appointed as Governor of Haryana.
However, Thaawarchand Gehlot, who currently serves as Cabinet Minister, has been appointed as Governor of Karnataka.
Besides, member of parliament to the 16th Lok Sabha from Visakhapatnam Hari Babu Kambhampati was appointed as Governor of Mizoram. Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mangubhai Chhaganbhai Patel as Governor of Madhya Pradesh and former Speaker of Goa Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar as Governor of Himachal Pradesh.

Delhi Commission for Women Chief Swati Maliwal Gets another 3-year Term

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal approved another term for Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal and her team for doing excellent work.
The panel's term is for three years and this will be Maliwal's third stint.
This is the second time she has been granted extension. In July 2018, she was also granted extension before her term was about to end.

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