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NATIONAL AFFAIRS - December 2016

Dec 2016

Aug 22, 2019

Srinagar, Jammu Mayors Get Status Equivalent To MoS

The mayors of Srinagar and Jammu civic bodies have been granted status equivalent to that of Minister of State (MoS).
The order, issued by additional secretary Subash Chhibber, said the hospitality and protocol department shall make necessary insertion in the J&K State Warrant of Precedence with the approval of the competent authority.
Sanction is hereby accorded to the grant of status equivalent to Minister of State (MoS) to the Mayors of SMC (Srinagar Municipal Corporation) and JMC (Jammu Municipal Corporation) within their territorial jurisdiction.
The elections for the municipal corporations were held in four phases in October, 2019 after a gap of 13 years.
People's Conference leader Junaid Maattu and BJP leader Chander Mohan Gupta are the mayors of SMC and JMC, respectively.

Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram Arrested By CBI

Congress leader P. Chidambaram was arrested by the CBI at his residence where some officers scaled walls to gain entry, hours after the former Union finance minister failed to get reprieve in the INX Media case from the Supreme Court.
Shortly after Chidambaram, 73, made an appearance at the AICC headquarters and addressed a news conference to profess his innocence, the Congress leader was picked up by CBI sleuths an hour after he reached his residence and taken to the nearby headquarters of the agency for questioning.
The CBI and the ED earlier had issued a look-out circular to prevent any attempt by him to leave the country.
Chidambaram is accused of money laundering and of getting kickbacks in the INX Media case.

Yediyurappa Inducts 17 Ministers In First Cabinet Expansion

Karnataka Chief Minister B. S. Yediyurappa expanded his ministry by inducting 17 persons. The expansion came 25 days after he took oath as chief minister.
Governor Vajubhai Vala administered oath to the newly inducted ministers at a programme held in Raj Bhavan.
The list of the newly-inducted ministers is a blend of seniors and a few new faces. The striking feature is that the party has rewarded its political support base of Lingayat community by including seven members from it in addition to Mr. Yediyurappa. Similarly, it has provided a lion's share to Bengaluru by including four MLAs from the city into the ministry.

Khattar Announces Enhancement Of Family Income Limit For Qualifying As BPL Beneficiary

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced that his government has enhanced the income limit for a household to qualify as beneficiary of schemes for the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category.
The limit has been increased from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 per month so as to ensure that maximum eligible families get the benefit of various government schemes.
The chief minister distributed ration card to 37 BPL beneficiaries of Panchkula and Kalka.
In all, 56,315 beneficiaries received ration cards at the special functions organised simultaneously in all 22 districts of the state.
These cards will entitle the beneficiaries for various government facilities like subsidised rates on wheat, rice, sugar and mustard oil.

Rana Among New Faces In Yogi Cabinet

Anandiben Patel included six cabinet ministers, six ministers of state (independent charge) and 11 ministers of the state into the state government amid chants of Har Har Mahadev and Bharat Mata Ki Jai.
The strength of the ministry has now gone up to 56. Adityanath can have 60 ministers as per the rules.
The expansion followed resignations of five ministers and discussions between the BJP leaders and those of its ideological fountainhead, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
It was carried out to fill vacancies as well as to reward performances and maintain a regional and social balance in the ministry.
Four ministers of state (independent charge) Mahendra Singh, Suresh Rana, Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, and Anil Rajbhar have been given cabinet ranks.
New faces in the ministry include 10 from western Uttar Pradesh, five from the state's east, two from the central part and one from the Bundelkhand region. Eight of them belong to Other Backward Classes, three are Dalits, five Brahmins, and three Vaishyas.

Aug 21, 2019

Indian Team Gears Up To Participate In Worldskills International Competition

The 48-member team representing the country at World Skills Kazan 2019 was given a grand sendoff at a ceremony organised by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) under the aegis of Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), to motivate the participants as they gear up to pit their skills against the best in the world.
Nearly 1,500 competitors from 60 countries will compete in 56 skill competitions at this mega event in Kazan, Russia

Flood Will Help Govt Pilot Project On Water Conservation

The surging Yamuna might have temporarily displaced thousands of people but the inundated banks has come as a shot in the arm for the Delhi government, which recently started a pilot project to conserve flood waters to recharge the depleting ground water aquifers on the floodplains.
This is a first-of-its-kind project in the country, which aims to conserve excess water flowing down the river during the monsoon by creating a mega reservoir in the floodplains between Palla and Wazirabad.
Artificial reservoirs are being created on the Yamuna plains of one metre depth in which floodwater will be collected. This water will gradually recharge and come back to Yamuna through a natural process.

Aug 20, 2019

Delhi CM To Flag Off Disabled-Friendly Buses

The first 25 buses of a planned fleet of 4,000, being bought by the Delhi government to augment the city's ailing public transport system, will be flagged off by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The 25 buses will be the first-ever in Delhi to have hydraulic lifts fitted on their rear doors. These lifts will facilitate the differently abled and senior citizens, especially wheelchair-bound passengers for smooth entry and exit.
Apart from being disabled friendly, these buses are equipped with CCTV cameras, GPS, panic buttons and rear surveillance cameras, which will be connected with the transport department's central control room.
These buses will be the first of the 1000-bus package that is being procured directly by the transport department.

MP Govt Signs MOU For Bhopal, Indore Metros

The Madhya Pradesh government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Centre for metro rail systems in Bhopal and Indore.
The tripartite MoUs between the Centre, MP government and Madhya Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MPMRCL) was signed by Madhya Pradesh's minister for Urban Development and Housing Jaivardhan Singh and Union Urban Development and Housing Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
With a total length of 27.82km the Bhopal Metro Rail Project comprises of two corridors at a sanctioning cost of Rs. 6,941.40 crore and the Indore Metro Rail Project with a total length of 31.55km has a sanctioned completion cost of Rs. 7,500.80 crore.

Neeraj Shekhar Elected To RS

Neeraj Shekhar, son of former prime minister Chandra Shekhar, has been elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh.
No other nomination was filed from the seat.
The bypoll was necessitated due to Shekhar's resignation from the RS after joining the BJP. The term of the seat is up to November 25, 2019.

Manmohan Singh Elected Unopposed To RS

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan.
Rajasthan has 10 Rajya Sabha seats, all of which were with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
One of the seats fell vacant after the death of former state BJP president and Rajya Sabha MP Madan Lal Saini in June, 2019.
Government chief whip Mahesh Joshi received the election certificate on Singh's behalf.

Aug 19, 2019

Centre Forms Committee To Rationalise Taxes On Jet Fuel

The Aviation Ministry has formed a committee to rationalise additional taxes that airlines have to pay while uplifting aviation turbine fuel (ATF) at airports across India.
Airlines have to pay charges such as 'throughput charges', 'into plane charges' and 'fuel infrastructure charges' when they take ATF at any airport for their planes.
Aviation Ministry has formed a committee comprising representatives from airlines, airport operators, oil companies, among others.
As per government estimates, if a direct billing mechanism is implemented, airlines would be able to save around Rs.400 crore per year.
In India, aviation turbine fuel accounts for almost 40% of any airline's total expenditure. Therefore, any taxation on ATF always has a huge impact on airline companies.

Lucknow's Iconic Hazratganj Chauraha Renamed As 'Atal Chowk'

Lucknow city's iconic Hazratganj Chauraha has been renamed as the 'Atal Chowk', in honour of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The decision was taken by the Yogi Adityanath government in memory of Vajpayee, who passed away in 2018on August 16 at the age of 93 after a prolonged illness.
The Hazratganj Chauraha in Lucknow is located in the heart of the city near its major shopping area 'Hazratganj'.

Raj To Set Up Heinous Crime Monitoring Unit

Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot announced the formation of a Heinous Crime Monitoring Unit to investigate sensational crimes in a speedy way.
The unit will function under the supervision of ADG (crime) and help in effective pursuance of such cases in court.
The in-charge will be an IG rank officer with one DIG and two SP rank officers, and two law officers. Further in every range and police commissionerate, one additional SP will be part of this unit.

Aug 18, 2019

AAP's Mishra and Party's Women's Wing Chief Richa Join BJP

Disqualified rebel Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Kapil Mishra and the party women's wing chief, Richa Pandey, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
BJP vice-president Shyam Jaju and Delhi unit chief Manoj Tiwari handed over the membership slips to Mishra and Pandey at an event, where Mishra's mother, Annapurna Mishra, a senior BJP leader and former east Delhi mayor, was present .
On August 2, 2019, Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel disqualified Mishra for sharing the stage with prominent BJP leaders and campaigning against the ruling AAP in Delhi in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections 2019.
Mishra, who was elected from Karawal Nagar, has challenged his disqualification in the high court.

India Studying Early Chinese Proposals On Boundary Issue

The 22nd round of the India-China Special Representatives dialogue on the boundary issue will take place in New Delhi.
National Security Adviser Ajit Doval is evaluating the "early harvest" proposals sent by Beijing to build trust between the two sides ahead of the meeting.
The foreign ministers dialogue on August 11-13 (2019) in Beijing and the Special Representative talks are precursors to the October 11-12 (2018) informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in India for which Varanasi is being considered as the potential venue.

Modi Embarks On Two-Day Bhutan Visit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bhutanese counterpart Lotay Tshering held wide ranging talks during which they discussed steps to further expand the bilateral partnership across several sectors as the two countries inked 10 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) to infuse new energy in their ties.
Modi inaugurated 740 MW Mangdechhu hydroelectric power plant and also launched stamps to commemorate five decades of India-Bhutan Hydropower cooperation.
The two countries signed 10 agreements in the field of space research, aviation, information technology, power and education. One of the MOUs include establishment of SATCOM Network in Thimphu for the utilisation of South Asia Satellite.
The two leaders jointly inaugurated the Ground Earth Station and SATCOM network, developed with assistance from ISRO for utilization of South Asia Satellite in Bhutan.
Modi also launched RuPay Card in Bhutan by making a purchase at Simtokha Dzong, built in 1629 by Shabdrung Namgyal, which functions as a monastic and administrative centre and is one of the oldest dzongs in Bhutan.
The two leaders also unveiled e-plaque of the interconnection between India's National Knowledge Network and Bhutan's Druk Research and Education Network.
He also announced to increase the supply of LPG from India from 700 to 1000 MT per month.

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