General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - July 2016

Jul 2016

May 12, 2021

Congress Sets up 5-member Group to Evaluate Polls Debacle

The Congress set up a five-member group headed by former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan to evaluate the party's performance in the just-concluded assembly polls.
It comes a day after party chief Sonia Gandhi proposed at a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) the formation of a group to assess the party's losses in Kerala, Assam, West Bengal and Puducherry.
The Congress president has constituted a group to evaluate the results of the recently concluded assembly elections, with immediate effect. Ashok Chavan will be the chairman and other members of the group are Salman Khurshid, Manish Tewari, Vincent H Pala and Jothi Mani.
The group will submit its report within two weeks.

India-UK Extradition Relationship

A new India-UK Migration and Mobility Partnership (MMP) will cover the whole spectrum of immigration issues, including streamlining extradition processes as well as a new "bespoke" offer for greater mobility of young students and professionals in both countries, Britain's Home Secretary Priti Patel has said.
In reference to high-profile Indian extradition cases, including that of former Kingfisher Airlines chief Vijay Mallya and fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, the senior Indian-origin Cabinet minister admitted there have been "frustrations" in the past. But she asserted that since her tenure at the UK Home Office the extradition coordination between the two countries has "fundamentally changed and improved".
Patel said that even during her most recent meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, when the two ministers signed the new MMP last week, she had reassured him that the UK government is committed to working within legal frameworks to ensure serious offenders are put through the formal process to face justice in India.

PM Narendra Modi to not visit UK for G7 summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not physically attend the G7 summit in June this year due to the prevailing COVID situation.
Modi was slated to attend the summit which will be held in Cornwall on the invitation of the UK's Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
It will be the 47th edition of the summit. The G7 members include the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the USA and the EU.

Padmakumar Nair New CEO of National Asset Reconstruction Company

Padmakumar M Nair has been appointed as the CEO of the proposed National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd. Presently Padmakumar is the Chief General Manager of Stressed Assets Resolution Group at SBI.
National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd. is a proposed bad bank for taking over stressed assets of lenders and was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the budget for 2021-22 to consolidate and take over existing stressed assets of lenders and undertake their resolution.
Bad bank refers to a financial institution that takes over the bad assets of lenders and undertakes resolution.
National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL) will pay up to 15 per cent of the agreed value for the loans in cash and the remaining 85 per cent would be government-guaranteed security receipts.

May 11, 2021

Suvendu Adhikari Elected Opposition Leader in West Bengal Assembly

BJP chose Suvendu Adhikari as Leader of Opposition in the new West Bengal Assembly.
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad announced Adhikari's name as leader of the BJP legislature party in the assembly after a meeting of the legislators.
Adhikari had won election from Nandigram assembly seat, defeating his former mentor-turned-political adversary Mamata Banerjee by a narrow margin of over 1900 votes.
A former state minister Adhikari had joined the BJP before the state polls.

Edappadi K. Palaniswami Elected as AIADMK Legislature Party Leader

A week after the results of the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, the main opposition party AIADMK elected former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami as its legislature party leader. The announcement came after two meetings over the last one week within the AIADMK, to decide between O. Pannerselvam and Palaniswami as the leader of the opposition.
The previous meeting of AIADMK party MLAs was inconclusive as there were arguments between the supporters of Palaniswami and Panneerselvam over who deserved to be the leader of the opposition.
It is pertinent to note that Panneerselvam was always the trusted lieutenant of late AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa, as he was chosen to be sit-in Chief Minister whenever Jayalalithaa had to step down owing to a crisis or incarceration. However, in the tussle that ensued after Jayalalithaa's demise in 2016, it was Palaniswami who gradually took over the reins of the party.

New Faces in Didi's Cabinet

At least 43 members of the third cabinet of the Mamata Banerjee government were sworn in as ministers during a low-key ceremony at the Raj Bhawan, amid the raging pandemic.
Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar administered the oath of office and secrecy to the ministers. Three TMC leaders Amit Mitra, Bratya Basu, and Rathin Ghosh were sworn in virtually. Mitra is unwell and both Basu and Ghosh are recuperating from Covid. Those who were sworn in include 24 Cabinet ministers and 10 ministers of state (independent charge). Eight women were sworn in, and with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the total number of women has increased to nine.
The portfolios were decided at the first Cabinet meeting of the government at the state secretariat. The Chief Minister retained the portfolios of Home and Hill Affairs, Personnel and Administration, Health and Family Welfare, Land and Land Reforms and Refugee and Rehabilitation, Information and Cultural Affairs, and North Bengal Development. Almost all senior ministers in the previous administration, including Amit Mitra, Subrata Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim and Partha Chatterjee, have been retained.

May 10, 2021

IAF operates Covid Air Support Management Cell

The Indian Air Force is operating a Covid Air Support Management Cell to efficiently coordinate for the distribution of all the relief aid coming from foreign countries. Defence Ministry said, the Air force is operating this Management Cell at Palam Air Base since 27th of last month. The cell is operational round the clock.
The Ministry said, One C-130 and two AN-32 transport aircraft are operating at Palam to air lift load on short notice across the country. The Ministry said, communication links with all important stakeholders like Union Health Ministry, Hindustan Latex Limited and the Indian Red Cross Society have been established for seamless flow of information and to reduce time delays.

Himanta Biswa Sarma takes oath as 15th Chief Minister of Assam

Himanta Biswa Sarma swearing-in Live: BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma has been sworn in as the 15th chief minister of Assam at the Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra.
Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi administered oath of office and secrecy to Himanta Biswa Sarma.
The BJP leader was elected leader of both the BJP and NDA Legislature Party and then called on the Governor at Raj Bhawan and submitted a list of elected legislators owing allegiance to the NDA.
Notably, former CM Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, BJP National General Secretary Arun Singh, National Vice-President and Party In-charge Assam, Baijayant Jay Panda, state party President Ranjeet Kumar Dass, AGP leaders Atul Bora and Keshab Mahanta and UPPL leader Pramode Boro accompanied Sarma to the Raj Bhawan.

May 09, 2021

Sonowal Tenders Resignation

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal tendered his resignation to Governor Jagadish Mukhi prior to a meeting of the BJP legislature party which is expected to elect the next Chief Minister of the state.
As is the tradition, the Governor asked Sonowal to continue in office till the formation of the new government.
The party's central leadership had summoned Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, both contenders for the top post, to New Delhi for discussions on the formation of the next government in the state.

India-EU Resume Trade Talks, Strengthen Bilateral Cooperation

India and the European Union (EU) announced their decision to resume negotiations for a balanced and comprehensive trade agreement after a gap of eight years.
During the first-ever India + 27 EU member states summit, an ambitious connectivity partnership was unveiled during the virtual meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leaders of the member nations.
India and the EU also agreed to enhance bilateral cooperation on digital and emerging technologies such as 5G, AI, Quantum and High-Performance Computing including through the early operationalization of the Joint Task Force on AI and the Digital Investment Forum.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited the EU to support a proposal by India and South Africa to waive patents on COVID-19 vaccines so that there can be equitable vaccine access for the entire world, officials said.
However, there was no concrete decision on the matter from the EU side.

India Extends Support to Maldives Post Attack on Former President

India has been in touch with the Maldives authorities in the aftermath of the attack on the former President of Maldives Mohamed Nasheed.
Nasheed who is the current speaker of the Maldives Parliament was injured in a bomb blast.
As part of the engagement between Male and Delhi, help in the form of security resources continues from the Indian government.
India, a close ally of Maldives was the first country to react after the attack, with External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar expressing his concern.

Biman Banerjee New Speaker of West Bengal Assembly

Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Biman Banerjee was elected as Speaker of West Bengal Legislative Assembly for the third time.
West Bengal witnessed a fierce contest between the ruling TMC and BJP across eight phases. The Samyukta Morcha comprising the Congress, Left parties and ISF has also tried to put up a strong fight. The BJP has made a concerted attempt to dislodge the TMC.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) won 213 seats in the just concluded state assembly elections. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on the other hand, garnered 77 seats in the 294-seat state assembly.

May 08, 2021

Election Commission Panel Counsel in Supreme Court Resigns

Advocate Mohit D. Ram, the panel counsel representing the Election Commission of India, tendered his resignation, saying "my values are not in consonance with the current functioning of the commission".
Mohit D. Ram had been the panel counsel representing ECI in the Supreme Court since 2013.
He described representing the Election Commission "a cherishing milestone" of his career.
Ram's resignation comes after the Election Commission fought a case in the Supreme Court requesting that the media be stopped from reporting court observations. The Election Commission's objection involved the Madras High Court recently commenting that the poll body was singularly responsible for the Covid surge and "should be booked for murder" for not stopping election rallies in the last two months. The comment was not in the final order.

Tripura: INPT Merges with Pradyot Kishore Deb Barman's TIPRA

A month after their alliance won the state tribal council polls, the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT), the oldest tribal party in the state, has merged with the Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA) to achieve their "common goal of Greater Tipraland".
The merger was announced by TIPRA chairman Pradyot Kishore Deb Barman.
The TIPRA and the INPT had contested the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) polls as alliance partners on April 6 and won 18 out of the total 28 seats.
This merger is for the unity of the entire tribal community of the state. We want other tribal parties also to unite to achieve their common goal.

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