General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - February 2016

Feb 2016

Jul 06, 2021

S.S. Sandhu New Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand

Senior IAS officer SS Sandhu was appointed Uttarakhand's new Chief Secretary, replacing Om Prakash. A 1988-batch IAS officer, Sandhu was on deputation at the Centre as Chairman of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
Sandhu, who has several feathers in his cap and has served in varied capacities at the Centre and in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, was earlier conferred the President's medal for his work as Commissioner of the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation some years ago. Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari termed Sandhu's tenure as NHAI Chairman "among the best ever".

Pranab Mukherjee's Son Abhijit Joins Trinamool

Former President Pranab Mukherjee's son and ex-Congress MP Abhijit Mukherjee joined the Trinamool Congress.
The former two-time lawmaker from Jangipur constituency in Murshidabad district of West Bengal had been in talks with the TMC leadership over the past few weeks.

Satish Agnihotri Takes Charge as MD of NHSRCL

Satish Agnihotri has taken over charge as Managing Director, National High-Speed Rail Corporation Ltd (NHSRCL). He comes with more than 20 years of experience in the implementation of mega rail infrastructure projects. He has worked as Chairman & Managing Director, Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), a schedule 'A' CPSE under the Ministry of Railways for close to 9 years.
During his tenure as CMD/RVNL, RVNL completed 7000 km of project length including 3000 km doubling/3rd line, 880 km conversion of metre gauge track to broad gauge, 3000 km railway electrification, 85 km new line, 6 factories and many important bridges. A 7 km long tunnel was also completed in a record time of 25 months in a new line project in Andhra Pradesh.

SC's Notice to Centre on Section 66A of IT Act

Supreme Court has issued a notice to Centre on use of Section 66A of IT Act which was scrapped in 2015.
SC issued notice during the hearing of plea filed by PUCL (People's Union for Civil Liberties). The plea pointed that even after 7 years of law being struck down, about 745 cases are still pending and active before district courts in 11 states where accused persons are being prosecuted for offences in accordance with Section 66A of IT Act.
Plea was filed on the basis of data collated by Internet Freedom Foundation, which was tracking cases under "Zombie provisions" which have been declared invalid but are still being used to prosecute people.
As per data, even after Shreya Singhal Judgment of March 2015 that struck down Section 66A, around 1307 cases were registered under it.
Attorney General of India, KK Venugopal, informed Supreme court that statute books still carry Section 66A of IT Act which was declared unconstitutional.
Section 66A of IT Act provides for punishment of a maximum of three years in jail and a fine on sending "offensive" messages through computer or any other communication device such as mobile phone or tablet. This section was used to punish online communication which is considered "offensive & menacing and "false to cause annoyance, inconvenience, insult, danger, obstruction, injury, hatred, criminal intimidation or ill will."

Jul 05, 2021

Vikassheel Insaan Party to Contest 2022 UP Assembly Elections

The Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) has decided to throw its hat in the ring in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. The Bihar president of VIP, Chaudhury Lautanram Nishad confirmed that the party is all set to contest in the upcoming UP assembly polls.
VIP, a party from Bihar, is part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and has one minister in the Bihar cabinet. With focus on the upcoming polls, Mukesh Sahni, the national president of VIP and a minister in the Bihar cabinet, will inaugurate the party office in Lucknow.
Nishad claimed that in 157 assembly seats of Uttar Pradesh, a good number of voters belonged to the fishermen community. VIP is likely to demand BJP for few seats to contest in the upcoming assembly polls.

Pushkar Singh Dhami Sworn in as New Uttarakhand CM

Two term MLA from Khatima in Uttarakhand, Pushkar Singh Dhami was sworn in as the 11th Chief Minister of the state along with an 11-member cabinet.
Mr. Dhami the youngest Chief Minister yet of Uttarakhand, retained the entire team of his predecessor, Tirath Singh Rawat. Mr. Rawat quit on being unable to get elected to the Uttarakhand Assembly within the constitutionally stipulated deadline of six months from the date he took over. Mr. Dhami, already an MLA will have no such problems going ahead.
The only change that Mr. Dhami made to his Cabinet was to give all ministers a promotion to Cabinet rank. The ministers sworn were Satpal Maharaj, Harak Singh Rawat, Bansidhar Bhagat, Yashpal Arya, Bishan Singh Chufal, Subodh Uniyal, Arvind Pandey, Ganesh Joshi, Dhan Singh Rawat, Rekha Arya and Yatishwaranand.

K. N. Bhattacharjee is New Lokayukta in Tripura

Veteran advocate Kalyan Narayan Bhattacharjee has been appointed as the new Lokayukta in Tripura. He has been appointed to the post for three years from July 2021. The Lokayukta Act has been in force in Tripura since 2008 and in 2012, the first Lokayukta was appointed in Tripura. Bhattacharjee is the third Lokayukta in the state and the first to hold the post as a lawyer. Former Gujarat & Guwahati HC judge Pradeep Kumar Sarkar was 1st Lokayukta in Tripura.

ULFA (I) must Drop Sovereignty Demand

Peace talks with the banned ULFA (Independent) outfit can progress if it is prepared to discuss grievances and issues other than sovereignty, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. "ULFA (I) Chief Paresh Barua insists that he will not discuss anything beyond sovereignty, but I have taken an oath to protect sovereignty. These two are irreconcilable," the CM added.
"If we can coin another term to discuss their grievances or various issues, then we can make some progress. There are many people who are working on the issue with the ULFA chief," Sarma said.

Jul 04, 2021

Uttarakhand CM Tirath Singh Rawat Resigns

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat submitted his resignation to Governor Baby Rani Maurya, a little over three months after taking the charge from Trivendra Rawat.
Tirath said that he had resigned to avoid a constitutional crisis. He had taken oath as the CM in March 2021 and had to be elected as MLA within six months to continue on the post. According to Section 151-A of the Representation of the People Act, a bypoll is not held in a state if less than a year is left for the Assembly term to end, which in the case of Uttarakhand is March 2022.
The Uttarakhand BJP legislature party will meet to elect its new leader, who will be later sworn in as the next CM of the state where Assembly elections are due early next year.

ECI Seeks Bengal Govt's Response over Elections to Two Rajya Sabha Seats

Election commission of India sought a response from the West Bengal government over elections to two Rajya Sabha seats.
Two Rajya Sabha seats which were earlier being held by Dinesh Trivedi and Manas Bhuiyan lie vacant.
Manas Bhunia, who is now state water resources minister, stepped down from his Rajya Sabha seat. In February former Trinamool Congress MP Dinesh Trivedi announced his resignation from the Rajya Sabha seat after saying that he felt suffocated.
It is also to be noted that the state's chief electoral officer has written to ECI regarding the pending by-elections.
Significantly, by-elections are important as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Finance Minister, Amit Mitra are currently non-MLAs and need to get elected within six months, i.e. November 5 to continue as MLA or as CM.

Jul 03, 2021

Former Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala Released from Tihar Jail

Former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, who was serving a 10-year prison term in a teacher recruitment scam case, was released from the Tihar Jail after completing due formalities.
Last month, the Delhi government had passed an order granting a six-month special remission to those who have served nine-and-half years of their 10-year prison sentence to decongest jails in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to officials, since Chautala has already served nine years and nine months of his sentence, he was eligible to get out of prison.
Chautala was jailed in 2013 in connection with the teacher recruitment scam case. He was on emergency parole since March 26, 2020, due to the Covid pandemic and was scheduled to surrender on February 21, 2021.

NITI Aayog Releases Report on 'not-for-profit' Hospital Model in India

NITI Aayog released a comprehensive study on the 'not-for-profit' hospital model in the country, in a step towards closing the information gap on such institutions and facilitating robust policymaking in this area.
The not-for-profit hospital sector provides not only curative but also preventive healthcare. It links healthcare with social reform, community engagement, and education. It uses government resources and grants to provide cost-effective healthcare to people without being concerned about profits. However, over the years, this sector has remained understudied.

Jul 02, 2021

India Asks Pakistan to Speed up release and Repatriation of Indian Civilian Prisoners

India called on Pakistan to ensure early release and repatriation of Indian civilian prisoners and missing defence personnel languishing in Pakistani jails.
The two countries exchanged lists of civilian prisoners and fishermen in each other's custody in line with the provisions of a 2008 agreement.
India handed over a list of 271 Pakistani civilian prisoners and 74 fishermen who are in Indian custody.
Pakistan shared a list of 51 civilian prisoners and 558 fishermen in its custody, who are Indians or are believed-to-be Indians.

India's Oldest Running Newspaper, Mumbai Samachar, Turns 200

In July 2021, India's oldest running newspaper, Mumbai Samachar, entered its 200th year.
The Gujarati newspaper, with its office located in an iconic red building at Horniman Circle in Mumbai's Fort area, was first published in 1822. It was founded by a Parsi scholar Fardoonji Murazban, who had experimented with various other publishing options before landing on this successful print run.
Formerly called Bombay Samachar, in Gujarati the paper has always run as Mumbai na Samachar. It started as a weekly edition, primarily covering the movement of goods across the sea and other business news, such as the sale of property, and passed through several hands until bankruptcy turned it over to the Cama family in 1933.
Currently, more than 200 staff members and offices across four other centres apart from Mumbai, bring out a single daily edition of the paper, making it the oldest running vernacular newspaper in India. Mumbai Samachar also publishes a panchang (astrological almanac).

SP to Form Alliance with Small Parties

Ahead of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Samajwadi Party chief and former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav announced that his party will form alliance with smaller parties.
Reiterating that the 2022 UP Assembly polls will usher in a democratic revolution in the state, he claimed that that his party is making inroads to gain dominance in the state.

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