General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - December 2016

Dec 2016

Aug 06, 2020

Manoj Sinha to Take Charge as New Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor

Senior BJP leader Manoj Sinha was appointed as the new Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir by President Ram Nath Kovind . Sinha will replace Girish Chandra Murmu who resigned.
Born on July 1, 1959, Sinha was Minister of Communications (independent charge) and Minister of State (MoS), Railways during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first term. Sinha is a three-time BJP MP from parliamentary constituency of Ghazipur in eastern Uttar Pradesh. He was defeated by Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) Afzal Ansari in 2019 Lok Sabha poll.

J&K Lt Governor Girish Chandra Murmu Resigns

Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant-Governor Girish Chandra Murmu resigned. Murmu was the first Lt Governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. He was appointed in October 2019.
As per reports, Murmu has been appointed as the new Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India.
Incidentally, Murmu's resignation comes exactly a year after Article 370 was revoked paving way for the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Murmu, a 1985 batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre, will be replacing Rajiv Mehrishi, a 1978 batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre as CAG.

Atal Innovation Mission Declares Results of ATL Tinkering Marathon 2019

Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) has declared the results of its flagship national annual innovation marathon challenge. The ATL Tinkering Marathon 2019 was held over fifty thousand Atal Tinkering Labs across the country and announced 150 winners of the Marathon. The challenge was executed by AIM in partnership with MyGOV on MyGov's Innovate Platform this year.
42 percent of the winning teams are from rural areas and 57 percent are from government schools. About 45 percent of the winning team students are girls.
This year's marathon was uniquely designed by the students themselves. Phase-I included crowdsourcing of the problems faced by students in the communities surrounding them. It saw over 4300 entries. Phase-II included voting on the shortlisted problem statements. The Marathon had a strong focus on Research preceding the Innovations.
The final phase of solution development received over 1191 entries from students across 29 States and UTs.

Modi Lays Foundation for Ayodha Temple

Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for a Ram temple in Ayodhya, marking a historic accomplishment for his party and government.
The construction of the temple fulfils not only a cherished electoral promise of the Bharatiya Janata Party but also a demand for a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya that dates back centuries.
This demand took the shape of a political campaign in 1984 when the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)—an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which is the ideological parent of the BJP—started the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.

Aug 05, 2020

Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Lays Foundation Stone IIM Sirmaur

Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal along with Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Jai Ram Thakur; Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur and Minister of State for Education Sanjay Dhotre laid the foundation stone of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Sirmaur in Himachal Pradesh.
The Union government had taken a decision in 2014 to establish seven new IIMs, including IIM Sirmaur. On 15 August 2014 it was announced that the IIM for Himachal Pradesh would be set up at Dhaulakuan in Sirmaur district.
I March 2015, the state government allotted 210 acre land at Dhaulakuan for development of the permanent campus of the Institute.
The IIM Sirmaur was operationalised by IIM Lucknow as the mentor institution with the commencement of the first batch of PGP of 20 students, from its temporary campus at Paonta Sahib, Sirmaur.

CISF Takes over Security of Leh's Kushok Bakula Rimpochee Airport

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) took over the security of Leh's Kushok Bakula Rimpochee Airport with a sanctioned strength of more than 180 personnel. The unit will be headed by a Deputy Commandant rank officer. With this induction, total units under CISF security cover raised to 349 including 64 airports across the country.
The airport is located in Western Himalayas of the Ladakh region and serves as the main airport of entire Ladakh. During the winter, Leh airport is the only gateway of Ladakh as there is limited connectivity by road due to heavy snowfall. This is the highest altitude airport of India and operates in extreme weather condition. This is the most tourist intensive airport in India.
CISF Director General Rajesh Ranjan was the chief guest of the induction ceremony. Several other guests including Chief Advisor to Lt. Governor of Ladakh Umang Narula, SDG (APS) M A Ganapathy, CISF IGP Leh Ladakh Satish Khandare, ITBP IG Deepam Seth, AAI ED Security Raj K Mallick, CISF IG Vikram Singh Mann, and Airport Director Sonam Norbu, were present on the occasion. The function was also attended by other senior officials of CISF, ITBP, CRPF, Airports Authority of India, representatives of airlines operators and other stakeholders.

Aug 03, 2020

Home Ministry Seeks 3 more Months to Frame CAA Rules

As per reports, the Home Ministry has sought an additional three months' time for framing rules of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
The plea was made before the Department Related Standing Committee for Subordinate Legislation as according to the Manual on Parliamentary Work, the rules for any legislation should be framed within six months of the presidential assent or an extension must be sought.
The controversial CAA, which facilitates granting of Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim minorities of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, was passed by Parliament nearly eight months ago and had led to protests in different parts of the country.
The home ministry's move came after the panel enquired about the status of the rules for the CAA.

AP Governor Clears Three State-capital Bill and CRDA Repeal Bill 2020

The Governor of Andhra Pradesh (AP) Biswa Bhusan Harichandan gave his assent to the Andhra Pradesh Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions and Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) Repeal Bills – 2020.
The clearance of the decentralisation Bill facilitates the development of Amaravati, Kurnool and Visakhapatnam as the Legislative, Judicial and Executive Capitals respectively.
On the other hand, the repeal (revoke) of the CRDA paves the way for the formation of the Amaravati Metropolitan Region Development Authority.
The two Bills were passed only by the Legislative Assembly twice, first on January 20, 2020 and next on June 16, 2020 and were not cleared by the Legislative Council. The Council Chairman referred the two Bills to Select Committees for wider examinations but the Committees were not constituted all these months.
On the other hand, the government sent the Bills to the Governor for his assent under Article 197 (1) and (2) of the Constitution and, after wide-ranging legal consultations; he gave his assent to the new legislation.
Visakhapatnam will have the Raj Bhavan, the Secretariat and offices of the Heads of Departments, and Amaravati will be the seat of the Legislature. The seat of all State judicial institutions established under the State legislation will be located in Kurnool.

BCAS Issues Guidelines for Drone Operating Systems

Aviation security regulator BCAS issued guidelines for drone operating systems, which act like cockpits on the ground to remotely pilot the unmanned aerial vehicle.
The BCAS listed out rules that should be followed for cyber security, storage facility, training and background check of staff for drone operating systems or remotely piloted aircraft systems.
A remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), its associated remote pilot station, its required command and control links and any other components constitute a remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS).
An RPA or drone is in nano or mini category if it has weight less than 250 grams. If its weight is between 250 grams and 2 kg, it is in the micro category.
According to BCAS, the remote pilot station in the RPAS is of "fixed and exposed" nature as opposed to the "restricted nature" of a commercial plane where the intrusion and use of heavier weapons is less likely.
Therefore, further consideration must be given to the "potential vulnerability" of the premises of the remote pilot stations against unlawful interferenc.
The operator of RPAS must obtain relevant permissions from the local administration and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) before operating the RPAS.

Aug 02, 2020

Dr. Harsh Vardhan Launches Vidyarthi Vigyan Manthan 2020-21

Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan launched 'Vidyarthi Vigyan Manthan, 2020-21'. This initiative is a national programme for popularising science among school students of Class 6th to 11th. It was designed to identify the bright minds with a scientific aptitude among the student community.
While launching the Vidhyarthi Vigyan Manthan, 2020-21, the Minister said that this is a platform to indentify the talent in the field of science and to promote the scientfic acumen among the students. He said, students will help in creating the New India and this initiative will play leading role in it.

Maharashtra Decides to Scrap Pension for Those Who Were Imprisoned During Emergency

The Maharashtra government has decided to scrap the erstwhile BJP-Shiv Sena government's move to give pension to those who fought against the Emergency imposed by the then Congress Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi announced that it had decided to stop giving pensions and said that the state's financial condition due to Covid pandemic was the reason it had decided to stop the scheme.
Announced by the Devendra Fadnavis government in 2018 the scheme was meant for those who had been jailed during the Emergency imposed between 1975 and 1977.
Under the scheme anyone who underwent imprisonment for less than a month or a month would get Rs. 5,000 as pension and for anyone who had undergone three months of imprisonment would get Rs. 10,000 as pension.
The scheme was officially started by the Fadnavis government in January 3, 2019. It provided pension to 3452 people who were jailed during the Emergency in the state.

Aug 01, 2020

AIM Launches 'AIM-iCREST', in Partnership with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Wadhwani Found...

NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog's Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), launched AIM iCREST – an Incubator Capabilities enhancement program for a Robust Ecosystem focused on creating high performing Startups in collaboration with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Wadhwani Foundation, which will provide global expertise.
This is a first of its kind initiative for advancing innovation at scale in India.
Under the initiative, the AIM's incubators will be provided requisite support to foster the incubation enterprise economy in order to enhance their performance.
Also training will be provided to entrepreneurs, through technology driven processes and platforms.
It is Government of India's flagship initiative to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country. Its objective is to develop new programs for fostering innovation in different sectors and to create an umbrella structure to oversee innovation ecosystem of the country.

Gadkari Inaugurates Refurbished Upstream Carriageway of Mahatma Gandhi Setu in Bihar

Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and MSMEs Nitin Gadkari inaugurated the upstream carriageway of Mahatma Gandhi Bridge over river Ganga through video conference in Bihar. The function was presided over by Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar. Union Ministers Shri Ram Vilas Paswan and Shri Ravishankar Prasad, MoS Gen (Retd) V. K. Singh, Shri Ashwani Chaube and Shri Nityanand Rai, Deputy Chief Minister Shri Sushil Kumar Modi, and others attended the function.
This over 5.5 km four lane bridge lies at NH-19 between Patna and Hajipur. It is being constructed at a cost of Rs. 1742 crore. It involves replacement of the existing concrete superstructure of old bridge by new steel deck superstructure. Work on this bridge was started in June 2017. The bridge is schedule to be completed in two parts. The upstream lane has been completed in July 2020. Thereafter the downstream lane shall be taken up and will be completed by 2021.

Modi Govt. Ensures Gender Equality of Muslim Women: Naqvi

Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that August 1 should be recorded as "Muslim Women's Rights Day" in the country as the day marked the anniversary of the law making triple talaq a criminal offence.
Mr. Naqvi was addressing a virtual function organised by his Ministry to mark the first anniversary of the passage of Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019. It was attended by Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani.
Muslim women from Uttam Nagar and Batla House in New Delhi; Greater Noida, Lucknow and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh; Jaipur in Rajasthan; Mumbai in Maharashtra, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu; and Hyderabad participated in the conference.

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