General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - December 2016

Dec 2016

Aug 27, 2019

Eight Kargil Leaders Join BJP

A number of prominent leaders from Kargil, including Haji Anayat Ali who is also the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council chairman, joined the BJP.

Besides Ali, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Kargil, Executive Councilor Mohammad Ali Hasan and six other leaders met BJP working president J P Nadda and joined the party. Most of these leaders, including Anayat Ali, are from People's Democratic Party.
Welcoming them, Ladakh MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal said the entire region, which includes Leh and Kargil districts, is happy about the decision of making it a union territory.

Yediyurappa Appoints Three Deputy Chief Ministers In Karnataka

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of Karnataka named Govind Karjol, CN Ashwath Nnarayan and Laxman Savadi as deputy chief ministers in a move that caused rumblings of discontent among more senior cabinet colleagues of chief minister BS Yediyurappa.
Seventeen ministers were inducted into the Cabinet. The portfolio allocations were made after more than a week and needed two trips by chief minister BS Yediyurappa to New Delhi for discussions with the party's central leadership.
Karjol was given the sought after public works department, Narayan the higher education portfolio and Savadi transport. The choices also indicates caste combinations that the BJP is trying to cater to, Karjol hails from a scheduled caste community. The other two hail from the dominant castes in the state -- Ashwath Narayan is a Vokkaliga and Savadi a Lingayat.

Cong Gets a New Chief In Jharkhand

Congress president Sonia Gandhi appointed former Union minister and tribal leader Rameshwar Oraon the new party chief in the poll-bound state of Jharkhand.
Oraon, a retired 1972-batch Indian Police Service officer, replaces Ajoy Kumar, his junior of 14 years in the service who resigned from the post on a bitter note.
In his August 9, 2019 resignation letter, 57-year-old Kumar, a 1986 batch IPS officer, levelled allegations against some senior party colleagues, including Oraon, Subodh Kant Sahai, Pradeep Balmuchu and Furqan Ansari.

CM Pinarayi Vijayan Inaugurated New Regional Office Norka Roots

The government has always taken a positive stance when it comes to the welfare of Non-Resident Keralites (NRKs) and it is planning an array of new projects in this regard.

CM Pinarayi Vijayan Inaugurated new office building of Norka, which was set up on the sixth floor of MG Road Metro station.

Norka-Roots has already spent around `25 crore in 2018, under the Santhwana scheme, to provide financial support to NRKs returning to their native place.

Pinarayi also presented the Letter of Award to Thayyil Habeeb for the first commercial venture to be launched under the newly opened Business Facilitation Centre. As per the agreement, Habeeb will open his commercial unit at Edappally station.

Tamil Nadu Rolls Out Amma Patrol Vehicles To Check Crimes Against Women, Kids

In the first phase, the 'Amma Patrol' vehicles have been handed over to the 35 All Women Police Stations in Chennai. The patrol service will be in operation in places like school and colleges, shopping malls, railway stations, bus stops, places of worship, IT companies and beaches.
Decked in pink and white, Toyota Innova cars with 'Amma Patrol' sticker placed on it were launched by Chief Minister K Palaniswami, aimed at ensuring the security of women and children in public places.

Under the Centre's Special Women Safety programme in public places scheme, Rs 425 crore was allocated to the city. Besides, the TN government had purchased the patrol vehicles at a cost of Rs 7.50 crore and they are equipped with state of the art facilities like surveillance cameras, GPS, etc.

Govt To Push Aadhaar Enrolment In Kashmir

The Centre plans to intensify Aadhaar enrolments in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), particularly the Kashmir Valley where the penetration of the unique ID that is the key to government benefits is very low, so as to ensure that benefits of welfare schemes reach to all residents.

The process will accelerate once the bifurcation of the region into two Union Territories is complete on October 31, 2019.
Aadhaar is a successful tool for the transfer of subsidies and implementation of welfare schemes. The government is committed for development of J&K, and Aadhaar will be one of the key tools that will help the Centre in fulfilling its commitment.

Aadhaar enrolment has been happening in J&K but certain areas, mainly in the Valley, need special attention, which can be done through banks, post offices and Common Services Centres (CSCs). The ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) is willing to open CSCs at panchayats for this purpose. About 300,000 CSCs help the Centre in implementing its eGovernance programmes throughout the country.

Aug 26, 2019

International Dialogue on South-South and Triangular Cooperation Addressed by Commerce and Indust...

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Railways, Shri Piyush Goyal addressed the International dialogue on South-South and Triangular Cooperation.
The event was held in New Delhi. The World Trade Organisation(WTO) was the key topic addressed.
South-South and Triangular Cooperation was organised by Research and Information System (RIS) and the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation(UNOSSC).
The member countries of WTO have to engage in rule-based, transparent, and non-discriminatory governance required for free trade in a non-discriminatory manner, keeping in mind the interests of member countries with disparate (essentially different in kind) GDP.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) is the target by the year 2030.
The term South-South cooperation is used by policymakers and academics to describe the exchange of resources, technology, and knowledge between developing countries, also known as countries of the Global South as it is a broad framework of collaboration among countries in the south.

Aug 25, 2019

Kiren Rijiju, Bhaichung Bhutia flag-off 'Op-Blue Freedom' dive

Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Kiren Rijiju and former Indian footballer Bhaichung Bhutia made the flag-off dive for Delhi-NCT leg for the Op-Blue Freedom at SPM Swimming Pool Complex.
'Op-Blue Freedom' is a nation-wide Adaptive Scuba Diving Programme for people with disabilities and the able-bodied alike. It comes under the parent project -- Special Forces Adventures. Successful leg of 'Op-Blue Freedom' in Chandigarh was conducted in the last week of July in 2019.
The skill sets those are being imparted by the team hold immense significance for the youths.

Aug 24, 2019

Dr Harsh Vardhan Inaugurates State-Of-The-Art National Food Laboratory

Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan inaugurated the first ever state-of-the-art National Food Laboratory-Delhi, NCR of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in Ghaziabad.
The National Food Laboratory (NFL), Delhi, NCR, former Food Research & Standardized Laboratory (FRSL, Ghaziabad) is one of the two premier referral laboratories under the direct administrative control of FSSAI.
NFL-Delhi, NCR, renovated and operationalized under a unique Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model is the first of its kind venture in the food sector.
It also houses state-of-the-art collaborative training centres namely, The Food Safety Solution Centre (FSSC) and Centre for Microbiological Analysis Training (C-MAT).
NFL-Delhi, NCR symbolizes synchronization of policy driven partnerships and collaboration with a holistic approach and a future vision.

Delhi Ranks As 10th Fastest Growing Market Globally: Knight Frank

Delhi is the 10th fastest growing prime market globally on Knight Frank's Prime Global Cities Index.
The capital region, by virtue of its limited supply of luxury properties, saw a 4.4 per cent rise in weighted average of capital values.
The index tracks the movement in luxury residential prices across 46 cities globally. Luxury residential prices have overall registered an average increase of 1.4 per cent.
Although Berlin leads the index, its rate of annual growth has slowed from 14.1 per cent in March, 2019 to 12.7 per cent in June, 2019. Frankfurt, by comparison, has seen its annual price growth increase from 9.6 per cent to 12 per cent over the same period.
Thirty-five of the 46 cities tracked by the index (76 per cent) registered price growth in the year to June, 2019. Of the 11 that saw prices decline year-on-year, Istanbul (minus 9.9 per cent) and Vancouver (minus 13.6 per cent) were the weakest markets.

Gehlot Inagurates "Renovated Modern Alimco Prosthetic & Orthotic Center" At Kanpur

Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot, Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment inaugurated the 'Renovated ALIMCO Orthotics and Prosthetic Centre (AOPC) and Residential complex building of ALIMCO Headquarters at Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
The concept of "Make in India" is beginning to take shape in the precincts of ALIMCO, Kanpur. Two of the Projects under the modernization plan of ALIMCO has been completed.
ALIMCO will do ToT for development of "Voice Box" for throat cancer patients, and after completions of project, this throat Prosthetic can be made available for general public for approx. Rs.3000/-.
He gave away the advance Diwali gift to ALIMCO's employees by announcing the increase in their limit of Post Retirement Insurance scheme from Rs 3 Lacs to 6 Lacs and increasing their Medical Leaves from 90 to 180.

Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh Top Niti Aayog's Water Index Report

Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Goa have been ranked highest among non-Himalayan states in the Niti Aayog's annual Composite Water Management Index (CWMI) report. Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand are ranked the lowest in the report, the apex think-tank's second.
The CWMI is a collection of country-wide data on water governance and management aimed at encouraging "competitive and cooperative federalism".
States and Union Territories (UTs) have been ranked on the index, which comprises nine themes and 28 indicators across themes. They have been divided into three categories: non-Himalayan states, North-eastern and Himalayan states, and UTs.
Among the Northeastern and Himalayan states, Himachal Pradesh has been adjudged number one in 2017-18, followed by Uttarakhand, Tripura and Assam.
CWMI 2.0 ranks various states for the reference year 2017-18 as against the base year 2016-17.

Aug 23, 2019

UP Designates 10 Cities As 'Model Electric Mobility Cities'

Ten cities in Uttar Pradesh, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency of Varanasi, have been designated as 'Model Electric Mobility Cities' in a policy being rolled out by the Yogi Adityanath government that aims to attract investments worth Rs 40,000 crore into electric vehicle manufacturing by 2024.
Uttar Pradesh, which touts itself as an automobile manufacturing hub with plants of India Yamaha Motor, Honda and New Holland in Greater Noida, and TATA Motors' unit in Lucknow, is rolling out attractive incentives for electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers and aims to create 50,000 new jobs in the area.
In its maiden policy on electric vehicles (EVs), a copy of which was seen by ET, the state promises 100% waiver of registration fee and road tax for the first 100,000 purchasers of EVs. It also plans to set up 200,000 electric charging stations by 2024 and put 1 million EVs, including 1,000 buses, on the road by then.
The policy names Varanasi, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Agra, Prayagraj, Kanpur, Mathura, Ghaziabad, Meerut and NOIDA as 'model EM cities' where efforts will be made to convert 70% of public transport vehicles to EVs by 2030. NOIDA will be the pilot city for this project in 2020.

Government To Achieve Housing For All Two Years Ahead Of 2022 Target

The Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs is set to achieve its target of providing housing for all in 2020 itself, two years before its stated deadline of 2022.
The 2022 target of a pucca home with basic facilities in the name of the lady of every household in the country will be achieved two years in advance as stated in the National Real Estate Development Council's(NAREDCO) convention in New Delhi.

24th Meeting Of Western Zonal Council At Panaji

Union Minister for Home Affairs, Shri Amit Shah chaired the 24th meeting of the Western Zonal Council at Panaji (Goa). Other dignitaries attending the meeting included Chief Minister Gujarat, Shri Vijay Rupani, CM Maharashtra, Shri Devendra Fadnavis, CM Goa, Dr. Pramod Sawant and Administrator of the Union Territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Shri Praful Patel and senior officers from the Central and State Governments.
Addressing the meeting, Shri Shah welcomed all the members of the Council to the 24th meeting and hoped that this would be a fruitful meeting where all the issues having Centre-State and inter-State ramifications will be resolved with consensus.
The Home Minister stated that the West Zone has been instrumental in giving impetus to the Indian economy as the States of the Zone are contributing around 24% to the GDP and 45% to the total exports of the country.

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