General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - July 2016

Jul 2016

Jun 14, 2020

First in the World: Indian Railways Runs Double-Stack Container Train

Accordeing to Piyush Goyal, the Indian Railways created a new world benchmark by successfully running first Double Stack Container Train in high rise Over Head Equipment (OHE) electrified sections.
This achievement is a first of its kind in the entire world and will also boost the ambitious mission of Green India as a latest green initiative over Indian Railways.
With this development, Indian Railways has proudly become the first Railway to run Double Stack Container train with high reach pantograph in high rise OHE territory, the Operations of which successfully commenced on 10th June, 2020 from Palanpur and Botad stations in Gujarat.

IFLOWS-Mumbai, An Integrated Flood Warning System for Mumbai

Maharashtra's Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Science and Technology, Dr. Harsh Vardhan launched an Integrated Flood Warning System called 'IFLOWS-Mumbai.
A joint initiative between the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the warning system will be able to relay alerts of possible flood-prone areas anywhere between 6 to 72 hours in advance. Mumbai is only the second city in the country after Chennai to get this system. Similar systems are being developed for Bengaluru and Kolkata.

Odisha 1st State in India to Receive ISO Certification for Tribal Hostels

Odisha became the first State in India to receive prestigious ISO (International Organization for Standardization) 9001:2015 certification for its 44 tribal hostels of Keonjhar (32 hostels) and Sambalpur (12 hostels) districts improving their overall infrastructure and standards under Mission Suvidya.
The Odisha state's department of ST & SC Development in association with Quality Control of India (QCI) has conducted a comprehensive assessment & evaluation of all hostels with the aim to improve the standard and quality of the hostels.

Jun 13, 2020

Vice-Admiral Atul Kumar Jain Inaugurates a DSRV Complex in Vizag

Vice Admiral Atul Kumar Jain, flag officer commander in Chief of the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) inaugurated a Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV) complex in Vishakapattanam.
The Indian Navy has inducted two such systems to provide rescue cover for the submarines on the eastern and western coasts.
The DSRV is designed to accommodate the new Submarine Rescue System with state of the art facilities to store DSRV assets in a rescue ready state.

India Side-steps Issues in Nepal Border Row

The external affairs ministry side-stepped issues that have complicated a border row with Nepal, holding up the importance of long-standing bilateral relations and ongoing cooperation amid the Covid-19 crisis.
The move was perceived in diplomatic circles as an effort to dial down tensions that have spiralled in recent days, after the K. P. Sharma Oli government (Nepal) tabled a constitutional amendment in Parliament to give legal backing to a political map that depicts the regions of Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura as Nepalese territory.

Jun 12, 2020

Maharashtra Cabinet Approves to Rename its Environment Ministry

On the occasion of World Environment Day, the Maharashtra cabinet chaired by Uddhav Bal Thackeray approved a proposal to rename the state's Environment Ministry as 'Environment and Climate Change Ministry' with the aim to play an active role in climate change mitigation.
The department, which is handled by Shiv Sena MLA Aaditya Thackeray, will work on five elements of the nature (Earth, water, fire, air, and space).
The decision to change the name comes just weeks after the state was hit by a severe cyclonic storm Nisarga in the first week June this year.
Maharashtra is one among a few states like Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana in India which have a dedicated department to address climate change.

Government Actively Considering Universal Basic Income

In its report on human rights in India, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) informed the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that the recommended implementation of a universal basic income was "under examination and active consideration" of the Centre.
As a part of the third round of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process, which is done every four-and-a-half-years, the NHRC submitted its mid-term report to the UN agency recently. The report, dated "May 2020", reviewed the implementation of 152 recommendations of the UPR Working Group that the Indian government had accepted in September 2017.

Jun 11, 2020

New Panel for Freedom Fighters

MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) reconstituted a new committee for the welfare of the freedom fighters with the chairman G Kishan Reddy and 9 other "eminent freedom fighters" from across the country. Along with Reddy, former Congress MLA from Gujarat Dinakar Bhai Desai, who took part in 1942 Quit India Movement is one among the 9 member panel.
The Ministry has a separate division to serve the freedom fighters who are alive and their families.
Ministry of Home Affairs had spent Rs. 730.73 crore for pension in 2019-20. About 30,000 freedom fighters and their families had benefited with this pension.
This panel will verify if someone has given affidavits to two or more applicant and also examine the demands to build memorials and museums for freedom fighters.

Mumbai India's most Expensive City

According to Mercer's '2020 Cost of Living Survey', India's financial capital Mumbai emerged as the most expensive city in the country for expatriates in terms of cost of living.
According to survey, Mumbai is the 60th most expensive city for expatriates globally, while it ranks 19th in Asia.
Mumbai is the most expensive among Indian cities surveyed, followed by New Delhi (101st globally) and Chennai (143rd globally).
Bengaluru (171) and Kolkata (185) are the least expensive Indian cities in the rankings
The global list was topped by Hong Kong, followed by Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) in second position. Japan's Tokyo and Switzerland's Zurich remain in the third and fourth positions, respectively, whereas Singapore is in fifth position, down two places from last year.
This year's ranking includes 209 cities across five continents.

Jun 10, 2020

India and Denmark Sign MoU for Cooperation in Power Sector

Denmark and India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that aims at developing a deep, strong, and long-term cooperation in the power sector. The memorandum was signed between Denmark's Ministry of Energy, Utilities and Climate and India's Power Ministry.
The MoU signed between two countries will provide collaboration in areas such as long term energy planning, offshore wind, flexibility in the grid, forecasting, consolidation of grid codes to operate and integrate efficiently variable generation options, variability in renewable energy production, incentivise power plant flexibility, flexibility in the power purchase agreement, etc.

India to Set up First Coal Trading Exchange

As India is the world's second-largest producer of coal, it has decided to set up its first coal trading platform -a sort of 'Coal exchange', where a large number of sellers and buyers can get together to trade coal as a commodity.
It is to be noted that the coal ministry is likely to initiate auctions of about 50 coal blocks for commercial coal mining later this month (June).
It will be an online platform where there will be transparency in terms of price & it can be determined according to demand and supply.
The coal exchange will actually be on the lines of commodity exchange, power bourses or the proposed gas exchange.

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