General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - February 2016

Feb 2016

Nov 24, 2020

Key Bengal Leader from Owaisi's AIMIM, Many Functionaries Join TMC

AIMIM's West Bengal unit leader Anwar Pasha along with some of his colleagues joined the Trinamool Congress, claiming that the Asaduddin Owaisi-led party was only acting as a polariser of votes to help the BJP.
Alleging that a section of people is trying to take the country towards destruction using religion, Pasha said that those who are eyeing Bengal at present, whether "wearing saffron or green", should know that there is no place for such division in this state.
AIMIM has played a hand in the polarisation of votes in Bihar and thus helped the BJP in forming the government there, but this will not happen in Bengal.
Owaisi had said that the party is deliberating with the West Bengal unit over contesting the assembly elections, likely in April-May, and will take a decision after getting feedback from them.

Vijayashanti Likely to Join BJP

Congress leader and actress Vijayashanti is likely to join the BJP soon.
The former MP was not active in Congress party's activities and programmes in the state for the past few months.
Once it happens, Vijayashanti would be the second popular star in South to join the BJP after Khushbu in Tamil Nadu. Khushbu too had quit Congress and embraced BJP.
Her entry into the BJP, a sort of homecoming, will give a shot in the arm to the saffron party which is going all out to capture the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the elections to be held on December 1.
Vijayashanti, who began her political career with the BJP, joined the TRS Party and switched loyalties to the Congress in 2014 before the formation of Telangana state.

RJD offers CM Nitish Kumar to Join Mahagathbandhan in Bihar

In a suprising turn of events in Bihar politics, main opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has offered Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal- United chief Nitish Kumar to join the RJD-led 'Mahagathbandhan'. It is to be noted that the other constituents of 'Mahagathbandhan' are the Congress and Left parties.
The offer to CM Nitish Kumar was given by senior RJD leader Amarnath Gami. According to Gami, CM Nitish should join the 'Mahagathbandhan' and lead the third front at the Centre against the BJP. Gami said that the NDA government will not last for long in Bihar.

Nov 23, 2020

Narendra Modi Addresses 8th Convocation of PDPU

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the eighth convocation of Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University (PDPU), Gandhinagar via video conferencing.
During the convocation, the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of a `45 MW Production Plant of Monocrystalline Solar Photo Voltaic Panel` and `Centre of Excellence on Water Technology` at the university, and inaugurated the `Innovation and Incubation Centre - Technology Business Incubation`, `Translational Research Centre` and `Sports Complex`.
The Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University (PDPU) was established as a private university through the State Act enacted on April 4, 2007, and offers programs in the domains of Science, Technology, Management and Humanities.

Top BPF Leaders Join BJP in Assam

Ahead of the next year's assembly polls, with a shot in the arm for BJP, two top leaders of Bodoland Peoples Front (BPF), an ally of the ruling saffron party in Assam, including founding leader and Rajya Sabha MP Biswajit Daimary, joined the leading partner.
Along with Daimary, who has resigned from the Rajya Sabha, BPF's General Secretary and MLA Emmanuel Mosahary joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in presence of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, state BJP president Ranjit Kumar Dass and national General Secretary Dilip Saikia in Guwahati.
Daimary and Emmanuel Mosahary are tribal leaders.
The tribal dominated party BPF since 2016 is the ruling partner of the BJP in the state and also a member of the saffron party led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA).

Former DMK MP K. P. Ramalingam Joins BJP

Former DMK MP, K. P. Ramalingam joined the BJP, and he said that he would try to convince the expelled Dravidian party leader M. K. Alagiri to join the saffron party.
Ramalingam joined the BJP in the presence of national general secretary and Tamil Nadu in-charge, C. T. Ravi and Tamil Nadu unit president L. Murugan at the party office.
Ramalingam was suspended from the DMK early this year for 'violation' of party discipline by expressing a view against the party's demand for an all-party meeting to discuss the coronavirus pandemic. He was also relieved from his party post of secretary of agriculture wing.

Nov 22, 2020

Centre Releases Backend Code of Aarogya Setu to Enhance Transparency

In a bid to enhance transparency, the Centre on Friday released the backend code of Aarogya Setu in the open domain that will help people understand the functioning of the COVID-19 contact-tracing app and allay apprehensions they may have around privacy and security.
The source code of the Android and iOS versions of the Aarogya Setu app was released earlier and the backend source code has been released as per the government policy to share all code repositories with the developer community.
MeitY has released the backend code of Aarogya Setu on the OpenForge platform set up by the government to promote sharing and reuse of e-governance application source codes.

BJP-BPF Alliance Headed for Split before Assam Assembly Elections

Ahead of assembly polls in Assam next year, the partnership between ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and coalition partner Bodoland People's Front (BPF) is headed for a split.
Both parties, which along with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) have been in power since 2016, are contesting next month's polls to the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) independently.
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, state BJP chief Ranjeet Kumar Dass and senior minister Himanta Biswa Sarma left for New Delhi to discuss the party's strategy for the assembly polls.
The leaders will meet BJP national president JP Nadda, where a decision on separation from BPF is expected to be taken. Both BJP and AGP are expected to continue the alliance and contest the assembly polls scheduled in March-April together.

India, Uzbekistan Resolve to Strengthen Ties in Economic and Defence Sectors

India and Uzbekistan vowed to deepen cooperation in diverse areas, including economic and defence sectors, with a special emphasis on timely implementation of projects in the Central Asian country being carried out under the Indian Line of Credit.
The 14th round of Foreign Office Consultations between India and Uzbekistan was held through virtual mode with the Indian side led by Vikas Swarup, Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs, and the Uzbek side headed by Farhod Arziev, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan.
The two sides exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual interest and agreed to enhance cooperation in the UN and multilateral arena.

Nov 21, 2020

Punjab Congress Chief Jakhar Moots Early Elections

Amid the standoff between the Punjab farmers and the Centre over the resumption of goods trains, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee Chief Sunil Jakhar advocated early polls in Punjab which as per him would be a referendum on the three central farm laws. He described these laws as nothing but slow poisoning.
Jakhar said that the election outcome will come as a shock to the BJP which will be outrightly rejected by the people of Punjab. The way the Centre has been treating Punjab is regrettable. The state is being held to ransom by holding back GST and Rural Development Fund and suspending goods trains.

Congress Forms Panels on Economic, Foreign Affairs and National Security

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has set up three separate committees for discussing policy issues related to economic affairs, foreign affairs and national security, with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh part of all the three panels.
While former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, and party leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Digvijaya Singh will be part of the economic affairs committee, Jairam Ramesh will be its convener.
The committee on foreign affairs will have Anand Sharma, Shashi Tharoor, Salman Khurshid and Saptagiri Ulaka. Khurshid will be the convener of the panel. The committee on national security will have leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, party leaders Veerappa Moily, Vincent H Pala and V Vaithilingam, with Pala as its convener.

Nov 20, 2020

Vijayanagar to be Karnataka's 31st District

The Karnataka cabinet gave in principle approval for the creation of Vijayanagara as the state's 31st district, carving it out from the mine-rich Ballari. The decision for the creation of Vijayanagara district was taken after informal discussions.
Minister for Forest and Ballari district in-charge Anand Singh, who anchored the efforts for the new district, said that the demand for it was long-standing.
The Vijayanagara district will be carved out of Ballari district.

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