General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - February 2016

Feb 2016

Feb 01, 2021

Nadda Affirms BJP-AIADMK Poll Alliance in Tamil Nadu

The BJP announced the pre-poll alliance with the AIADMK and like-minded parties in Tamil Nadu.
BJP chief JP Nadda made the announcement regarding formalisation of the alliance in Madurai.
The Assembly elections are expected in April or early May.

Rajasthan ULB Polls

The ruling Congress has won 1,197 out of 3,034 wards in 90 urban local bodies in Rajasthan for which the results were announced.
The elections were held in 3,035 wards of 90 urban local bodies across 20 districts. The results have been announced in 3,034 wards.
The opposition BJP won 1,140, BSP 1, CPI(M) 3, NCP 46, RLP 13 wards while 634 independent candidates won the elections.
Polling in the local bodies was held in Ajmer, Banswara, Bikaner, Bhilwara, Bundi, Pratapgarh, Chittorgarh, Churu, Dungarpur, Hanumangarh, Jaisalmer, Jalore, Jhalawar, Jhunjhunu, Nagaur, Pali, Rajsamand, Sikar, Tonk and Udaipur districts.

Delhi Congress Unit Passes Resolution to Make Rahul Gandhi Party President

The Delhi Congress has passed a resolution to make Rahul Gandhi president of the party with immediate effect and in the process become the first state unit to start the campaign "Rahul Returns".
AICC Incharge Shakti Singh Gohil passed a resolution in a meeting consisting of the senior leaders. In a meeting held at PCC Office, the resolution was passed unanimously which was proposed by Delhi Congress Chief Anil Chaudhary.
After the resolution was passed, Chaudhary said that being a president of the Delhi Unit he has seen the sentiments of Delhi Congress workers and supporters for Rahul Gandhi that only he can fight against the ruling party, BJP.

Kunwar Manvendra Singh Acting Chairman of UP Legislative Council

Kunwar Manvendra Singh administered the oath of office as the acting chairman of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council. The oath was administered by Governor Anandiben Patel at a function held at Raj Bhavan.
The tenure of incumbent chairman Ramesh Yadav ended on January 30.
Singh was among the 10 BJP and two Samajwadi Party candidates who were elected unopposed to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council on January 21.
Kunwar Manvendra Singh was earlier the acting chairman of UP Legislative Council from May 2002 to August 2004.

SC Collegium Withdraws Approval for Appointment of Justice Pushpa Ganediwala as Permanent Judge

The Supreme Court Collegium has withdrawn its approval to a proposal for the appointment of an additional judge of the Bombay High Court, Justice Pushpa Ganediwala, as a permanent judge of the court following her two controversial verdicts in sexual assault cases.
The decision was taken after the judge faced flak for her interpretation of sexual assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The collegium headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde, at a meeting held on January 20, had okayed the proposal for making Justice Ganediwala a permanent judge.
She was a panel advocate for various banks and insurance companies and was also an honorary lecturer in various colleges of Amravati and gave lectures to the MBA and LLM students of the Amravati University.
She was directly appointed as a district judge in 2007 and was elevated as an additional judge of the Bombay High Court on February 13, 2019.

Jan 31, 2021

India and Bangladesh Discuss Development Cooperation, Defence Line of Credit

India and Bangladesh discussed ways to speed up development cooperation and operationalise a $500-million line of credit for defence ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Dhaka in March.
The matters figured in foreign office consultations that were co-chaired by foreign secretary Harsh Shringla and his Bangladesh counterpart Masud Bin Momen in New Delhi. The two sides focused on deliverables that could be implemented by the time of PM Modi's visit to participate in celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Bangladesh, people familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity.
Bangladesh is perceived as a key pillar of India's "Neighbourhood First" policy and has benefited from development cooperation worth about $9 billion, including $7.8 billion in lines of credit at concessional rates. India provided seven million doses of Covid-19 vaccines, including two million doses as a grant, to Bangladesh this month.
The two sides also discussed the operationalisation of the line of credit of $500 million for Bangladesh to procure defence equipment from India. The agreement for this was signed last year and the two sides are exploring the supply of "kinetic and non-kinetic equipment.

Jan 30, 2021

Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren Launches JMM Poll Campaign in Bengal

Jharkhand Chief Minister and JMM working president Hemant Soren rekindled the hope of a greater Jharkhand while launching the party's West Bengal assembly poll campaign from Jhargram, the tribal dominated hinterland.
Addressing the JMM rally from Jamda circus maidan he said that it was a calculated move by the Centre to fool the tribals creating two separate states - Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh while nurturing the tribal aspirations of their own homeland.
Birbhum, Midnapur, Jhargram, Bankura of West Bengal were parts of the greater Jharkhand movement launched by his father Shibu Soren along with a few districts of Odisha and Chhattisgarh, he said and reiterated that the people, tribals in particular, would have to launch a fresh stir to achieve that. West Bengal has five per cent of tribal population, he reminded.

Pranesh Elected Karnataka Legislative Council Deputy Chairman

BJP MLC MK Pranesh was elected as the deputy chairman of the Karnataka Legislative Council, the post which was vacant following the suicide of the former deputy chairman SL Dharme Gowda last month.
As expected, the JD(S), which is eyeing on the chairman's post, backed the BJP candidate in the deputy chairman's election held on the second day of the state legislative session. The Congress had fielded senior leader KC Kondaiah despite his slim chances of winning. None of the three parties enjoy a majority in the three party council.
The JD(S) that supported the BJP during the deputy chairman's election, has sought the ruling party's support in the election to the post of legislative council chairman. JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda has announced senior party leader Basavaraj Horatti as the candidate.
The post of chairman is expected to fall vacant as the BJP has issued a notice of no-confidence motion against chairman Prathap Chandra Shetty from the Congress. The notice for no-confidence motion will come up for consideration next month and in all likelihood, Shetty is expected to give his resignation.

Over 50 Transgenders Join BJP in Vadodara

More than 50 members of the transgender community joined the BJP ahead of the civic body polls slated in February in Vadodara.
In the presence of heir of the erstwhile Rajpipla royal family Manvendrasinh Gohil, who also runs the Lakshya Trust in Vadodara to deal with issues of the LGBTQ community, the transgender joined the party in an attempt to make their issues reach the mainstream.
The event, held at the BJP's office in Vadodara, in presence of the city unit chief Dr Vijay Shah and other leaders, was the party's first attempt to include transgender in the party. The party has included the group into the page committee meant to interact with voters at booth levels.

Jan 29, 2021

Uttarakhand CM Dissolves District Development Authorities

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat announced that all district development authorities would be dissolved due to problems in their functioning.
Rawat made the announcement while addressing media in Almora district during a three-day visit.
"We had been receiving many complaints regarding problems in the functioning of the district development authorities, so the chief minister has decided to dissolve the authorities. This is only being done for rural development authorities in all the districts," the chief minister's media coordinator Darshan Singh Rawat said.
He also said that the state government would be looking into the situation and decide on the next course of action.

Punjab CM Urges PM Narendra Modi to Include Punjabi in J&K Official Languages List

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention for the inclusion of Punjabi in the list of languages of Jammu and Kashmir.
He cited Punjab's historical links with Jammu and Kashmir since Maharaja Ranjit Singh's time.
In a letter to the prime minister, Amarinder Singh urged him to advise the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to reconsider and review the official list and include Punjabi as one of the official languages of the union territory.
He voiced resentment of the Punjabi community over the exclusion of their language from the list.
Amarinder Singh pointed out that Jammu and Kashmir was a part of Punjab during the era of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the 19th century Sikh ruler, with Punjabi being one of the vernacular languages of the region.

Rajasthan 5th State to Complete the Urban Local Bodies reforms

Rajasthan has become the 5th state in the country to successfully complete the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) reforms. This was specified by the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance.
Rajasthan now become eligible for additional reform linked borrowing.
Thus, the State has been granted permission by the Department of Expenditure an additional financial resource of Rs. 2,731 crore.
The State will get this amount through Open Market Borrowings.
Other states that have completed the Urban Local Bodies Reforms include- Manipur, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana. In total, these five states have been granted a total additional borrowing permission of Rs. 10,212 crore after completing the reforms.
The Reforms in the Urban Local Bodies and urban utilities reforms were done with the aim of strengthening the finance of the ULBs in the States. It also seeks to enable the states to provide better public health and sanitation services. Once the ULBs are economically rejuvenated it will be able to create good civic infrastructure.

Supreme Court Completes 71 Years of Functioning

The Supreme Court, which completed 71 years of its functioning, said it faced one of the major and unprecedented challenges in 2020 due to the wide spread of highly contagious coronavirus while ensuring that access to justice remained unabated and unhindered.
The top court, which had held its inaugural sitting on January 28, 1950, came out with an official statement on the occasion and said it has been protecting rights and liberties of citizens while upholding the rule of law and constitutional values.
In all these years the Apex Court under the mandate given to it by the Constitution of India has relentlessly marched towards ensuring the protection of rights and liberties of the citizens, upholding rule of law and the Constitutional Values.

Jan 28, 2021

Govt. to Launch CES Survey with Revised Methodology

The government is planning to launch the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) with a revised methodology for FY22, after the previous survey in FY18 was discarded due to data quality issues.
The CES data is used to calculate poverty and inflation levels, as well as to track economic progress in rural and urban India.

Karnataka Deputy CM Seeks UT Status for Mumbai

Karnataka deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi said Mumbai should be made part of the state and urged the Centre to declare it a Union Territory until then, as he hit back at Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray for raking up the border issue with a similar demand.
From now on, he said the people would start demanding that Mumbai should be made part of Karnataka as they too had a share in it.

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