General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - July 2016

Jul 2016

May 17, 2020

Power Distribution Business to be Privatised in Union Territories

Taking a leap towards enhancing private investment in power distribution companies (discoms), Union finance minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman said the power distribution business in the Union Territories (UTs) would be privatised.
This is the first such step after the draft amendments to the Electricity Act, 2003, were made public with the proposal of private participation in electricity distribution.
Delhi is the only Union Territory which has private power discoms — run by Reliance Infrastructure's BSES and Tata Power Delhi Distribution in separate areas. Union Territories directly come under the central government.

NMIS - a Central Online Repository on Migrant Workers - Developed By NDMA

Government of India has allowed the movement of migrant workers by buses and 'Shramik' special trains to enable them to travel to their native places.
In order to capture the information regarding movement of migrants and facilitate the smooth movement of stranded persons across States, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has developed an online Dashboard - National Migrant Information System (NMIS).
The online portal would maintain a central repository on migrant workers and help in speedy inter-State communication/co-ordination to facilitate their smooth movement to native places. It has additional advantages like contact tracing, which may be useful in overall COVID-19 response work.

May 16, 2020

Govt Projects Record Foodgrain Output at 295.67 Million Tonnes for 2019-20

The country is estimated to achieve an all-time high foodgrain production of 295.67 million tonne in 2019-20 crop year, the fourth consecutive year of record production, buoyed by good rains.
According to the data, the estimated output of foodgrain this year (2020) is up 3.67 percent over the year-ago period and has even crossed its target of 291.10 million tonne, which it had set before the beginning of the 2019-20 sowing season.
Total foodgrains production includes crops grown during both kharif (summer) and rabi (winter) seasons.

Ganga River Banks now Part of Rs 4,000 cr Plan for Herbal Cultivation

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed that a corridor of medicinal plants would be created on the banks of the Ganga and for this National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) would identify 800 hectare of land near the river.
The plan is part of a Rs 4,000 crore programme launched for the promotion of herbal cultivation. It forms an important part of a slew of initiatives announced by the minister towards development of agricultural infrastructure, capacity building, logistics and legislative reforms.
The NMPB has supported 2.25 lakh hectare area under cultivation of medicinal plants. Now, 10,00,000 hectares will be covered under herbal cultivation in next two years with the outlay of Rs 4,000 crore.

May 15, 2020

Jharkhand's Sohrai Khovar painting & Telangana's Telia Rumal gets GI-Tag

The Sohrai Khovar painting of Jharkhand and Telia Rumal of Telangana have received the Geographical Indication (GI) tag from the Geographical Indications Registry.
For the Sohrai Khovar painting of Jharkhand, application of GI-tag was made by Sohrai Kala Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti Limited.
For the Telia Rumal of Telangana, application of GI-tag was made by Consortium of Puttapaka Handloom Cluster-IHDS.

GI tag for Thanjavur Netti and Arumbavur Wood Carving

After a seven-year-long wait, the Thanjavur Netti Works (pith works) and Arambavur Wood Carvings belonging to the central region of Tamil Nadu were awarded the Geographical Indication Tag by the GI registry.
The Geographical Indication tag is granted to products that the special for a particular geographical area and prevents misuse of the popularity of the products by others.

Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, 8 others Elected Unopposed to Council

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and eight others were declared elected unopposed to the state Legislative Council.
Apart from Thackeray, Council Deputy Chairperson Neelam Gorhe (Shiv Sena), four candidates of BJP - Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil, Gopichand Padalkar, Praveen Datke and Ramesh Karad; NCP's Shashikant Shinde and Amol Mitkari and Congress's Rajesh Rathod were in the fray for the nine seats, which fell vacant on April 24, 2020.

J&K to Provide Tap Water to Every Household by December 2022

Jammu and Kashmir plans to provide tap water connection to all rural households by December, 2022 under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM).
The Union Territory (UT) is planning for 100% coverage of all 5,000 villages of 3 districts i.e. Gandharbal, Srinagar and Raisi.
Presenting their action plan to the Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation for achieving the goal of every household with tap water supply under the JJM, UT officials said there are 18.17 lakh households in the UT, out of which 5.75 lakhs are already provided with Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTCs). Out of the remaining households, J&K plans to provide 1.76 lakh households by 2020-21.

May 14, 2020

Registration Committee Recommends Banning Use of TB Drug on Crops

The Registration Committee (RC) under the Central Insecticides Board and Registration Committee (CIBRC) has recommended the use of Tuberculosis (TB) drugs (antibiotics) like streptomycin and tetracycline to be banned completely with immediate effect on crops where other options were available for bacterial disease control. This recommendation was accepted.
The RC held its 414th meeting under the Chairmanship of S. K. Malhotra, Agriculture Commissioner & Chairman, Registration Committee through video conference, where a report was submitted by the sub-committee on production, sale and use of streptomycin sulphate (9%) and tetracycline hydrochloride (1 %).

KVIC Issues Revised Guidelines to Implement Vocal for Local initiative

The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) issued revised guidelines to expedite the implementation of projects under the flagship programme Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) to hand-hold local production.
The move comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "vocal for local" appeal.
KVIC instructed the agencies concerned to scrutinize the applications under PMEGP and forward it to banks for disbursal of funds within 26 days.

May 13, 2020

Department of Consumer Affairs Partners with Safejob and Seekify to Power Suraksha Store Initiative

The Department of Consumer Affairs partnered with two tech startups Safejob and Seekify to use the technology in the local Kirana store level to control the spread of COVID-19. The initiative of Suraksha Store is to provide safety and care about the health of the people during and after the lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic.
These protocols were designed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) which includes the social distancing and hygiene at all the retail shops.

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