General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - September 2016

Sep 2016

Apr 01, 2023

G20: Larry Summers, N.K. Singh-led Panel on Multilateral Banks

The G20 expert group on strengthening multilateral development banks (MDBs), such as the World Bank, was constituted and given until June 30 to submit its report.
The group, co-chaired by former US Secretary of Treasury Larry Summers and India's N. K. Singh, chairman of the 15th Finance Commission, has seven other members. They are Tharman Shanmugarathnam: Senior Minister, Government of Singapore, Maria Ramos: Former director-general of the National Treasury of South Africa, Arminio Fraga: Former governor, Central Bank of Brazil, Nicholas Stern: IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government, London School of Economics, Justin Yifu Lin: Former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank, Rachel Kyte: Former vice president of World Bank and Vera Songwe: Former executive secretary, Economic Commission for Africa.
The decision to set up the expert group was taken in February in the meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in Bengaluru.
According to the Indian government statement, the expert group will have to draw up a roadmap for an "updated MDB ecosystem for the 21st century" so that these institutions are better equipped to finance a wide range of sustainable development goals and global challenges such as climate change and health.

Sunil Veena New Trade Commissioner of Asian Arab Chamber

Asian Arab Chamber of Commerce welcomed the appointment of Sunil Veena from Karnataka into the Global Arab Network by consensus of the Member countries. He was presented with the Certificate of appointment in New Delhi that also saw the presence of various diplomats, CEO's and industrialists from different parts of the country.
He was appointed by Saad Al Dabbagh, Chairman at the head office based in Doha, Qatar with a strong presence in India. "India-Bahrain relations are witnessing an unprecedented momentum with a large number of opportunities for cooperation and increasing investments, in key sectors like infrastructure and technology, last weeks delegation of businessmen from Bahrain was a testimony to our growing relations" said Sunil who is the co-founder and CEO of Quinta systems and is actively looking at his new role in promoting trade relations between India and the Arab world especially Kingdom of Bahrain. The President of Bahrain Businesswomen's Society Ahlam Jenahi welcomed the decision of the board to appoint Sunil to build and strengthen relations between the two countries.

Mar 31, 2023

World Bank Grants $363m Loan to Karnataka for Clean Drinking Water Supply

The World Bank's Executive Board of Directors approved a USD 363 million loan to Karnataka to provide clean drinking water supply to two million rural households in the state through a piped water connection in their homes. Through the programme, the World Bank and the state of Karnataka seek to demonstrate 24/7 water supply service in at least 500 Gram Panchayats. The programme will develop an advanced sector monitoring system for rural water service delivery and provide on-the-job skills training to around 3,000 rural women to be employed as plumbers. The USD 363 million loan from the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), uses the Program-for-Results (PforR) financing instrument that links the disbursement of funds directly to the achievement of specific program results. The loan has a maturity of 13.5 years including a grace period of two years.

The First G20 Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group Meeting Held in Gandhinagar

The First G20 Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group meeting under India's G20 Presidency was held in Gandhinagar, in Gujarat. Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister P. K. Mishra and Minister of State for Communication Devusinh Chauhan, inaugurated the meeting. As per Member Secretary, of National Disaster Management Authority Kamal Kishore, five priority areas were identified for the meeting which included:
Global coverage of Early Warning Systems
Increased commitment towards making infrastructure systems – disaster resilient
Stronger national financial frameworks for DRR
Strengthened national and global disaster response system
Increased application of ecosystems-based approaches to DRR

Mar 30, 2023

AFSPA to be Extended in 8 Assam Districts

The Assam government will extend the 'disturbed area' tag under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) for another six months in eight districts of the state from April 1.
It will be extended for Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Charaideo, Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao, according to a notification issued by the state home and political department.
The Centre had earlier announced removal of AFSPA from April 1, 2022 from the entire state of Assam barring nine districts and a sub-division of Cachar district.
The state was declared a 'disturbed area' under AFSPA during the intervening night of November 27-28, 1990, and this has been extended every six months since then.
Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), 1958 is an act of the Parliament of India that grants special powers to the Indian Armed Forces to maintain public order in "disturbed areas".

Karnataka Assembly Elections to be Held in May

The Election Commission (EC) announced the Assembly election dates for Karnataka. The elections will be held on May 10 and the results will be declared on May 13.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said that the notification for the elections to the 224-member assembly will be issued on April 13 and the last date for filing nomination papers will be April 20.
The nomination papers will be scrutinised on April 21 and the last date for withdrawal of nominations will be April 24.

Giriraj Singh Launches 'Captive Employment' Initiative

Union Minister for Rural Development Giriraj Singh onboarded 19 captive employers as part of the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) in New Delhi.
The objective is to provide them with the target of training and providing gainful employment to 31,067 rural poor youths under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) with a minimum salary of 10,000 per month for a minimum period of six months.

Mar 29, 2023

First G20 Trade and Investment Working Group Meeting in Mumbai

The first Trade and Investment Working Group meeting under India's G20 presidency was held in Mumbai.
Union commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal welcomed all 70 delegates who converged for the meet in Mumbai. Regional groupings and international organizations engaged in deliberations to accelerate global trade and investments.
The aim of India's G20 Presidency is to build a shared understanding of the challenges being faced in accelerating global trade and investment, and how existing opportunities can be harnessed to formulate human-centric concrete outcomes and deliverables.
The deliberations during the three-day meeting facilitated cooperation on trade and investment in view of India's G20 Presidency priorities.
So far under India's G20 Presidency which assumed on December 1, 2022, two Ministerial, one Sherpa, 23 Working Groups, 20 Engagement Groups, and one Curtain Raiser were held.

Second G20 Infrastructure Working Group Meeting in Visakhapatnam

The second G20 Infrastructure Working Group (IWG) meeting under G20 Indian Presidency was held in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh for two days.
The conference was in Visakhapatnam under the theme of 'Economic Cities of Tomorrow'.
The first G-20 IWG summit was held in Maharashtra's Pune.
Out of a total of 8 sessions, four sessions were on the first day and the rest of the sessions on the second day.
As per reports, 63 representatives of G-20 countries and other invited organizations, ADB and World Bank had enrolled their names for this conference.

Nagaland Assembly Resolves to Repeal Nagaland Municipal Act

Bowing to public pressure, the Nagaland assembly resolved to repeal the Nagaland Municipal Act of 2001 with immediate effect. The assembly will enact a fresh law to govern urban local bodies.
Tribal bodies, civil society organizations and various sections of society have been protesting against the law, which they said went against the spirit of Article 371A of the Constitution that guarantees precedence to customary law and social or religious practices of the Nagas.

World Bank Approves $108 Million Loan for Assam's Flood Management Project

The World Bank gave nod to provide a loan of $108 million (about Rs. 889 crore) to assist Assam in its efforts to improve its disaster preparedness and enhance flood forecasting. The multilateral bank stated that around six million individuals will benefit from this project, which is part of a larger investment program worth $500 million for the state. The main aim of the Assam Integrated River Basin Management Project is to build eco-friendly infrastructure in the Beki and Buridehing river basins to lessen the impact of floods and river erosion on the state, ultimately safeguarding around one lakh individuals.

Mar 28, 2023

Baghel Attends All India Steel Conclave

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel attended the All India Steel Conclave at Nava Raipur, Chhattisgarh and appreciated the performance of the state industries during the covid pandemic.
Bhupesh Baghel said the steel industry is the backbone of Chhattisgarh's economy.

EC Chooses Transgender Manjamma Jogati as Poll Icon for the Community

The Election Commission (EC) in the Indian state of Karnataka selected Manjamma Jogati, a transgender folk dancer, as a poll icon to encourage more members of the transgender community to register and vote. Alongside Jogati, several other individuals, including cricketer Rahul Dravid and Jnanapeeth awardee Chandrashekar Kambar, were also chosen as poll ambassadors.

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