General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - July 2016

Jul 2016

Jun 04, 2022

Punjab Government Starts e-Stamp Instead Of Paper Stamp

The Punjab government abolished the physical stamp papers in an attempt to bring efficiency and check the pilferage of State revenue. Punjab Revenue Minister Bram Shanker Jimpa launched the 'e-stamp facility'. Following this, stamp paper of any denomination can now be obtained via 'e-stamp', which includes computerised print-out from any stamp vendor or from banks authorised by the State government.
The Punjab government will pay a commission of 2% to the stamp vendors on e-stamps ranging from Re. 1 to Rs. 19,999, while the general public would get stamp paper at the actual rate. For instance, they will have to pay only Rs. 100 for a stamp paper of Rs. 100 and no extra commission will be levied. This step will also help in curbing the stamp paper-linked fraud.

Union Minister Anurag Thakur Launches Nationwide Fit India Freedom Rider Cycle Rally

Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, Anurag Thakur launched a nationwide 'Fit India Freedom Rider Cycle rally' on World Bicycle Day. Thakur said that by riding a bicycle we can accomplish the goal of the Fit India Movement, the Khelo India movement, the Clean India movement & Healthy India movement. Fit India Movement, Khelo India movement, Clean India movement & Healthy India movement all can be accomplished by riding a bicycle. It'll also cut down the pollution level.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is of the opinion that providing bicycles to the world's poorest people and communities will help in the prevention of 1.5 million premature deaths and 5 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions each year.

Jun 03, 2022

Pushkar Dhami, Uttrakhand Chief Minister, Keeps Job With Big Poll Win

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami won the Champawat bypoll by a margin of over 55,000 votes. This was a much-needed victory for Dhami to continue to remain as the chief minister as he had lost the state Assembly polls held in February 2022 despite the BJP's landslide victory. Dhami secured 58,258 votes against Congress candidate Nirmala Gahatodi who grabbed only 3,233 votes. Apart from Dhami and Congress' Gahatodi, Manoj Kumar Bhatt from Samajwadi Party and Independent candidate Himanshu Gadkoti were also in the fray. The polling took place on May 31.
Dhami, who had lost the Khatima seat in the State Assembly polls, contested from Champawat to become an MLA. According to the Constitution, he needs to fulfil this requirement within six months of being sworn in to continue as the chief minister. The BJP won the popular mandate for the second consecutive term in Uttarakhand, bagging 47 seats in the 70-member Assembly, crushing the Congress' hopes of returning to power.

Jun 02, 2022

Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme Extended Till FY26

The Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme was approved for continuation till the financial year 2025-26 with the total outlay of Rs. 13,554.42 crore. The scheme will create sustainable employment opportunities for about 40 lakh persons in five financial years. The extension of the scheme is over the 15th Finance Commission Cycle for five years from 2021-22 to 2025-26.
PMEGP seeks to facilitate generation of employment opportunities for youth across the country by assisting them in setting up of micro enterprises in non-farm sectors. Along with the extension of the time frame, some major modifications have been made in the existing scheme. These include increase in the maximum project cost from existing Rs. 25 lakh to Rs. 50 lakh for manufacturing units and from existing Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 20 lakh for service units.

Bihar to Undertake Socio-economic Survey of All Castes, Communities in State

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that his government will undertake a "socio-economic survey of all castes and communities" in the state, following the Centre's reluctance to conduct a caste census nationally. At the meeting, leader of the opposition Tejashwi Yadav represented the RJD while the BJP, which has been facing accusations following the Centre's refusal, had Deputy Chief Minister Tarkishor Prasad and state unit chief Sanjay Jailswal among its representatives. Yadav, while interacting with journalists, demanded that the Centre provide financial help to Bihar in conducting the exercise, which is likely to incur heavy expenditure.

Rajesh Gera Appointed DG National Informatics Centre

Senior scientist Rajesh Gera was appointed as the Director-General, National Informatics Centre (NIC). He is currently Deputy Director-General in the NIC. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Gera, Scientist 'G', to the post of Director-General.
The National Informatics Centre is an Indian government organization under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, was established in 1976 with the objective to provide technology-driven solutions to central and state governments.

Jun 01, 2022

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai Launched AAYU App

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai launched a new health and wellness app AAYU to address and help heal chronic diseases and lifestyle disorders through yoga. Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana (S-VYASA) collaborated to develop the App with RESET TECH, an AI-driven integrated health-tech platform that aims to deal with chronic diseases and lifestyle conditions through yoga and meditation.
The App would provide users with personalised wellness solutions and offer doctor consultations based on an individual's personal history and monitor its progress enabling them to accelerate healing and recovery. The app would provide users with customised wellness solutions and doctor consultations based on their specific histories, as well as track their progress, allowing them to heal and recover faster.

Centre Hikes Premium on Health Insurance Schemes for Poor

Centre announced a hike in the premium rates for its Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) providing health care facilities to the economically depressed. From June 1, the premium rate of PMJJBY will now be Rs. 436 instead of Rs. 330 and of Rs. 20 for PMSBY as against the present Rs. 12. No revision of premium rates was made in the last seven years since the inception of the schemes in spite of recurring losses to the insurers. Under PMSBY, claims of Rs. 2,513 crore have been paid as against collection of Rs. 1,134 crore. Under PMJJBY, Rs. 14,144 crore was paid whereas Rs. 9,737 crore was collected. Claims under both the Schemes were deposited into beneficiaries' bank accounts through the DBT route.
The government claimed that it had closely monitored the transmission of benefits through these schemes during the pandemic and several measures were taken to simplify procedures and expedite claims as well as to reach out to the people who died during Covid.

May 31, 2022

WHO Partners with Rajasthan to Create Health Account

Health accounts are a critical area of health systems strengthening and an essential step towards achieving universal health coverage. Health accounts help monitor spending and provide insights from past expenditure to enable administrators to improve planning and allocation of resources within the health system, thus increasing efficiency and accountability.
The WHO country office for India is working with the Government of Rajasthan in implementing the first round of health accounts as a step towards institutionalizing processes and budgetary allocations. Health accounts serve as an important tool to generate evidence-based policymaking and WHO plans to undertake this exercise with other states in India as well.

Rajnath Singh No. 1 Cabinet Minister

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was the unanimous choice of the NDA and Opposition voters as the top performing Cabinet Minister in the Narendra Modi government. Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari was the unanimous runners-up among the ruling party and Opposition supporters. These are the results of a survey by IANS-C-voter. The survey was conducted on the completion of eight years of the Modi government.
Rajnath Singh with a score of 8.36 is the number one Cabinet Minister among NDA voters. With a score of 7.03, he ranked number one among Opposition supporters. Gadkari with a score of 8.07 and 6.81 among the NDA and Opposition voters, respectively and ranked second in both surveys. Home Minister Amit Shah was ranked number third.

Telangana Govt. Launches Single-Pick Cotton Pilot Project

The Telangana Government launched a pilot project on single-pick cotton on about 50,000 acres. This comes at a time when cotton yields have remained stagnant for years and farmers are finding it tough to find labour to pick the bolls.
When compared to the tall varieties grown across the country now, the single-pick cotton will be suitable for machine harvest because the plants will grow to a uniform height of around knee-level. Machine harvesting of the low height variety will alleviate harvesting season problems. Farmers currently pick cotton bolls at least three times and sometimes up to four times. The single-pick method will extend the harvest by a few weeks and allow farmers to complete the harvest all at once.

Assam Govt. to Provide Certificates to 6 Minority Communities

The Assam government decided to provide certificates to members of six minority communities. Such a move will help the minorities possessing such a certificate avail of government benefits. The six communities are Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis. There was a practice of issuing Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Classes certificates. Assam started the minority certificates for the first time.
Assam has had a Minorities Development Department but the minorities have not been specified by faith.

NADI-3 Asian Confluence River Conclave Organised in Guwahati

NADI (Natural Allies in Development and Interdependence) is an initiative to articulate and activate a collective vision of sub-regional cooperation in the Bay of Bengal region and with South-East Asia. It recognizes the region south of the Himalayas from Ganga, Brahmaputra to Mekong as contiguity of river basins with common challenges that require close cooperation beyond their political borders.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar stressed the need for more collaborations between Northeast India, Bangladesh and ASEAN countries at NADI 3 Asian Confluence River Conclave 2022 in Guwahati. The two-day conclave was organised by Shillong-based think tank Asian Confluence in collaboration with the union ministry of external affairs, Act East Policy affairs department of the Assam government, North Eastern Council and other partners. The Bangladesh Foundation for Regional Studies is the country partner for the event and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, IIT Guwahati and Guwahati University are knowledge partners.

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