General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - December 2016

Dec 2016

Feb 16, 2022

Cabinet Approves Setting Up of G20 Secretariat

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the setting up of a G20 Secretariat which will be responsible for implementation of overall policy decisions and arrangements needed for steering India's upcoming G20 Presidency.
G20 is the premier forum of the 20 largest economies of the world for international economic cooperation that plays an important role in global economic governance. India will hold the Presidency of the G20 for the first time from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023, culminating with the G20 Summit in India in 2023. The country has been a member of the G20 since its inception in 1999.
The G20 Secretariat will be manned by officers and staff from the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Finance, and other relevant line Ministries/Departments and domain knowledge experts. The Secretariat will be functional till February 2024.

Andhra Pradesh Govt. Names K. V. Rajendranath Reddy as DGP

Andhra Pradesh Government transferred Director General of Police (DGP) Gautam Sawang and appointed K. V. Rajendranath Reddy as new DGP. Reddy belongs to the 1992 batch of IPS officers and had served as commissioner of police in Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada earlier. The transfer of Sawang, who is slated for retirement in July 2023 came as a surprise though there were rumours in the official circles about displeasure of Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy over the `inability' of the police machinery in foiling `Chalo Vaijayawada' rally of the government employees who were protesting against the `reduction' in their salaries in the new pay revision a couple of weeks ago. Swang was not given any posting and was asked to report in General Administration (GAD) Deparement. He was appointed as DGP in May 2019 after the victory of the YSR Congress Party in state assembly elections.

Debashis Mitra Takes over as ICAI President; Aniket Sunil Talati Becomes VP

Debashis Mitra took over as the President of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) for the 2022-23 term.
Aniket Sunil Talati was elected as Vice President of the institute, which has more than 340,000 members and over 700,000 students.
Mitra, who is serving his third term in ICAI Council, has been in the accounting profession for more than 34 years. Apart from being a Chartered Accountant, he is also a Cost Accountant and a Company Secretary.
He holds a master's degree in commerce and is also a law graduate as well as a qualified Information Systems Auditor.
Talati, who has a master's degree in commerce, served as Chairman of Ahmedabad Branch of ICAI for the year 2014-15 and as Secretary, WIRC for the year 2017-18.

Feb 15, 2022

Goa Reports 79 per cent Voting in Assembly Polls

Goa registered a very high voter turnout of 78.94 per cent in polling for the 40 Assembly seats which passed off peacefully with no untoward incident reported from any part of the state which witnessed a multi-cornered contest.
As per Chief Electoral Officer Kunal, the highest voting was registered in the Sankhalim constituency in North Goa at 89.61 per cent, while the lowest voter turnout was 70.20 per cent at Benaulim in South Goa.

Party Hopper MLA Balwinder Singh Laddi Back with BJP

Congress MLA Balwinder Singh Laddi from Sri Hargobindpur constituency of Gurdaspur district shifted loyalty to BJP and then again come back to Congress but only to go back to the saffron party within a period of less than two months.
In December 2021, the sitting MLA from Sri Hargobindpur Balwinder Singh Laddi along with the Fatehjang Singh Bajwa, sitting MLA of Congress from the Qadian assembly defected the party to join BJP.
Fatehjang Bajwa is the younger brother of Member Parliament Partap Singh Bajwa. Fatehjang Singh is now BJP's candidate from the Batala assembly constituency.

Ashwani Kumar, Ex-minister, Quits Congress

Former Union Minister Ashwani Kumar quit the Congress, his party of more than four decades, calling it a decision that was "consistent with my dignity".
Ashwani Kumar was Law Minister in the Manmohan Singh-led Congress government between 2009 and 2014.
This is the latest exit from the Congress, weeks after the party lost RPN Singh, another former Union Minister and a big leader in Uttar Pradesh.

Feb 14, 2022

Govt. Approves Rs. 26,275 cr Scheme for Continuation of Police Modernisation

The Modi government approved the continuation of a mega police modernisation scheme for five years up to 2025-26 with a financial outlay of Rs. 26,275 crore.
The Union Home Ministry said that the scheme includes security-related expenditure in Jammu and Kashmir, northeastern states and Maoists-affected areas, for raising new battalions, developing high-tech forensic laboratories and other investigation tools.
This scheme comprises all relevant sub-schemes that contribute to the modernisation and improvement with a total central financial outlay of Rs. 26,275 crore.

Mamata Dissolves TMC National Office-bearers' Committee, Forms 20-member Panel

Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee dissolved the party's national office-bearers' committee, which included her nephew Abhishek Banerjee—the national general secretary, and formed a 20-member working committee to oversee the affairs amid a growing rift.
Asserting her firm control over the party, Banerjee packed the working committee with party veterans who were facing criticism publicly from the TMC's next-generation leaders, backed by Abhishek Banerjee, over holding multiple posts—within the party and the administration.
Banerjee will later name the new office-bearers of the party.
Among the leaders who found a place in the new national working committee are Amit Mitra, Partha Chatterjee, Subrata Bakshi, Sudip Bandopadhyay, Abhishek Banerjee, Anubrata Mondal, Aroop Biswas, Firhad Hakim and Yashwant Sinha.

Hijab Row Erupts in Madhya Pradesh's Satna

The hijab controversy that erupted in a pre-university college in Karnataka hit a college in Madhya Pradesh.
As per report, the fresh controversy over wearing hijab-burqa erupted at an Autonomous PG College in Madhya Pradesh's Satna district after an M.Com student Rukshana Khan arrived at the college wearing hijab to appear in the exam.
In the mean time, students from other groups, including some associated with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), students' wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), opposed the woman wearing hijab-burqa during the examination.
Sensing that the matter could snowball into a major controversy, the college's principal-in-charge, Shivesh Pratap Singh swung into action. He not only advised Rukshana Khan not to wear hijab again in the college, but also took a written undertaking from her that she will wear only college uniform like other students in future.
The political controversy over hijab in Madhya Pradesh had erupted after School Education Minister Inder Singh Paramar supported banning of hijab in schools and also announced that new dress code will be strictly enforced from the next academic year.
Some Congress leaders who belonged to Muslim community opposed the minister's remarks and said that they would oppose MP government's proposal to ban hijab-burqa.

Feb 13, 2022

RSS' Muslim Wing Backs Burqa-clad Girl

Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM), the RSS's Muslim wing, has backed the burqa-clad student who was heckled by youth shouting 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans at a Karnataka college, saying 'purdah' is part of Indian culture.
A video of the girl, Bibi Muskan Khan, confronting the youngsters wearing saffron scarves has gone viral on social media. The group had gathered outside the college demanding a ban on hijab and burqa in educational institutions.
Hijab is a type of 'purdah' which is a part of Indian culture and India society. Even Hindu women in our society, depending on the individual, wear 'purdah'. If Hindu women are free to choose their dress code, the same applies with Muslim.
The MRM was set up in 2002 by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at the initiative of its then chief K.S. Sudarshan to allow the sangh parivar to reach out to the Muslim community on various issues including the vexed Ayodhya Ram Temple dispute.

Manipur Assembly Polls Rescheduled

The Election Commission rescheduled the dates for the two-phase assembly polls in Manipur which will now be held on February 28 and March 5.
Earlier, the polls were to be held on February 27 and March 3.
EC said that the decision is based on inputs, representations, past precedent, logistics, ground situations and "all facts and circumstances in the matter".

Setback for Congress as MP's Brother Joins SAD(B)

Politics makes strange bedfellows and this happened in the Punjab polity after the brother of a Congress Member of Parliament not only joined hands with Shiromani Akali Dal - Badal SAD(B) but also publicly announced to motivate the MP to join Akalis.
On Wednesday, Harpinder Singh Rajan Gill, a staunch Congress activist and brother of Congress MP from Khadoor Sahib Jasbir Singh Dimpa joined SAD(B) in presence of party president Sukhbir Singh Badal and Bikram Singh Majithia, an all-powerful former minister and brother in law of Sukhbir Singh Badal.
Rajan Gill was an aspirant of Congress party's ticket from Khadoor Sahib Assembly constituency but the party chose to nominate the sitting MLA Ramanjit Singh Sikki.

School Bands to Regularly Perform at National War Memorial

School bands will regularly perform at the National War Memorial in New Delhi on a rotational basis. The objective of this initiative is to inculcate the values of patriotism, devotion to duty, courage, and sacrifice among the schoolchildren and increase the participation of people, especially the youth, so that they experience the various facts associated with the ironic war memorial.
The education ministry has directed the Central Board of Secondary Education to prepare a schedule for the bands to perform. The themes and tunes of the band will be decided in coordination with the Directorate of National War Memorial and Museum and Integrated Defence Staff.
The performances will tentatively begin from February 22 ahead of the third anniversary of the memorial.

Feb 12, 2022

India- Bangladesh Webinar on Solid Waste Management

The municipalities of Indore and Dhaka North held a virtual dialogue, for sharing best practises in solid waste management.
Webinar was facilitated by High Commission of India and Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
During the webinar, waste collection methods were shared by Indore Municipal Corporation.
Municipal Corporation of Indore detailed about 100 percent door-to-door segregated waste collection system, GPS-tracked waste collection vehicle and biometric attendance system for municipal cleaners.
Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) officials also shared their best practises and held productive discussions on taking forward the cooperation in solid waste management and other municipal services.
Indore was ranked as the cleanest city of India in cleanliness Survey 2021. Since 2017, the city has won this distinction for five consecutive times because of its much-applauded waste management system including door to door collection, segregation of waste, home composting, central composting facilities and recycling of day waster.

Lata Mangeshkar's Ashes Immersed in Nashik's Ramkund

The family of Lata Mangeshkar bid farewell to the legendary singer, who died on February 6. Lata Mangeshkar's family members visited Nashik and immersed her ashes in the sacred Pavitra Ramkund on the banks of the Godavari River.
Lata's nephew, Adinath Mangeshkar and other relatives were present at the immersion ceremony.
Nashik Purohit Sangh president Satish Shukla conducted the rituals. Nashik civic commissioner Kailas Jadhav and some local politicians were also present on the occasion.

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