General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - December 2016

Dec 2016

Aug 17, 2019

Commencement Of Container Train Services By CONCOR At Suranussi

Container Corporation of India Ltd (CONCOR) joined hands to commence container train operations from Suranussi, located near Jalandhar in Firozpur Division of Northern Railway.
A land license agreement was signed at Firozpur Division between Railways and CONCOR at a glittering ceremony graced by TP Singh, GM (Northern Rly); Rajesh Agrawal, DRM/Firozpur; Sanjay Swarup, Director (International Marketing & Ops.)/CONCOR; Kamal Jain, Exe. Director, CONCOR (Northern Region) and other senior officers from railways.

SC Clears Chardham Highway Project

The Supreme Court has cleared the decks for the Chardham highway project, which will connect four holy places in the hills of Uttarakhand through 900-km all-weather roads, by modifying an NGT order to constitute a fresh committee to look into environmental concerns.
It ordered the ministry of environment and forest to form the high-powered committee (HPC).
NGO Citizen for Green Doon had petitioned the apex court, after the National Green Tribunal on September 26, 2018 gave its conditional approval to the connectivity project in view of larger public interest, saying the project would cause an irreversible damage to regional ecology.
The NGT had constituted a committee headed by a former Uttarakhand high court judge to monitor the project.
Hearing the NGO's petition against the project, the apex court bench, comprising justice RF Nariman and Surya Kant only modified September 2018 NGT order by constituting a fresh HPC.

Piyush Goyal Launches CORAS

Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways and Commerce and Industry launched Commando for Railway Security (CORAS) of Indian Railways and new establishment manual for Railway Protection Force at State Entry Road in New Delhi.
VK Yadav, Chairman, Railway Board; Arun Kumar, DG, RPF and TP Singh, General Manager, Northern Railway along with others were present.It has been carved out from young staff of RPF/RPSF.
With an average age between 30 and 35 years, CORAS will always be a motivated staff. There are high physical standards to join it.
Commando Coys shall be deployed in Left Wing Extremism or terrorism-affected areas.Railway Minister Piyush Goyal inducted the Commando for Railway Security (CORAS) and promised to set up a commando training centre in Haryana to modernize and train commandos of the Railway Protection Force (RPF).
The Minister said the RPF's crack commando team of 1,200 officers will get the most modern equipment and world-class training.
This will help train the other 60,000-65,000 fellow officers of RPF. The Minister said a network of CCTV cameras will be set up at every station.

Arnala Police Station 1st To Get ISO certification

The Arnala Coastal police station has become the first ISO 9001:2015 certified police station in Palghar district, for efficient and quality policing.

Aug 16, 2019

Narendra Modi Independence Day 2019 speech

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation from the ramparts of Red Fort on the occasion of 73rd Independence Day. In his speech, which lasted for 92 minutes, PM Modi talked about the key problems facing the nation and how India could remove all obstacles to reach Rs 5-trillion economy mark.

The major highlightes of PM's Independence Day speech are:

India to have chief of defence staff
Rs 100 lakh crore to be invested on infrastructure
PM promotes small family
Promoting exports top priority
PM Modi emphasised on the need to boost exports in his address to the nation.
'Made in India' products should be priority PM Modi said the county should think of consuming local products, improving rural economy and the MSME sector.
Water conservation top priority
Free India from single use plastic

Aug 15, 2019

Govt Launches Swachh Survekshan 2020 And Swachh Nagar App

Swachh Survekshan League 2020 was launched with the objective of sustaining on the ground performance of cities along with continuous monitoring of service level performance on cleanliness.
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched the Swachh Survekshan 2020 (SS 2020), the fifth edition of the annual cleanliness survey.
SBM Water PLUS Protocol, Swachh Nagar app, Swachh Survekshan 2020 Toolkit and AI-enabled mSBM App were also launched.

Punjab CM Dedicates 3rd Phase Of Jung-e-Azadi Memorial To Jallianwala Bagh Massacre Victims

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh dedicated the third phase of the 'Jung-E-Azadi' memorial at Jalandhar to the people who were killed in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the unsung heroes who were incarcerated in the Andaman Cellular jail during the freedom struggle.
The memorial would go a long way in spreading awareness among the younger generations about India's glorious past and the sacrifices made by the hundreds of thousands of people who fought to free Indians from the British shackles.
On the occasion, the chief minister also digitally launched a slew of other projects for Jalandhar district, as part of Rs 450 crore worth of development and welfare projects inaugurated across the state on the eve of Independence Day.

Aamir Khan Launches Mission Shakti Sports Initiative

Film actor Aamir Khan attended the launch function of Mission Shakti, an initiative by Maharashtra minister Sudhir Mungantiwar to train athletes from Chandrapur and Gadchiroli for international events like the Olympics.
Khan felicitated a team of tribal mountaineers who had recently scaled Mount Everest as part of 'Mission Shaurya'.

Aug 14, 2019

SC Rules Out Reopening NRC

The Supreme Court ordered maximum security for National Register of Citizens (NRC) data and ruled out any re-verification or future reopening of the exercise that is currently underway in Assam to identify illegal immigrants.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justice RF Nariman directed NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela to adopt a security regime as provided for protection of Aadhaar data.
The judges ordered that the list of exclusions from the list shall be published on August 31, 2019 only online and family-wise.
The bench said only after an "appropriate security regime" for NRC data is in place, the list of inclusions and exclusions shall be made available to the state and central governments and the registrar general of India.

Chhattisgarh Recognises Forest Rights Claims

Chhattisgarh has become the second state in the country after Odisha to give recognition to forest lands acquired by scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers.
So far, 400,000 individual and 24,000 community forest rights certificates have been distributed in the state while according recognition to 342,000 hectares of land in individual claims and 950,000 hectares of land in community claims.

NGT Stalls Andhra Lift Irrigation Schemes

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed that the Andhra Pradesh government stall the existing lift irrigation schemes of Pattiseema and Purushottapatnam on the Godavari river, constructed by the previous TDP government, pending completion of the Polavaram major irrigation project.
The principal bench of NGT headed by Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, acting on a petition filed by former Congress minister Vatti Vasanth Kumar and 12 others, also ruled that another lift irrigation scheme at Chintalapudi on Godavari river also be stopped forthwith.
It further directed the state government not to proceed with the Rs. 84,000-crore GodavariKrishna-Penna river inter-linking project proposed by the TDP regime.

Metro Ropes In Celebs For 25th Anniversary

As part of the Delhi Metro's 25 year anniversary celebrations, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has roped in celebrities, social activists and healthcare experts in an effort to encourage citizens to ditch private vehicles for the Metro.
A series of video messages are being circulated via the DMRC's Twitter and Facebook pages as part of its #25YearsOlderAndWiser initiative, which includes quizzes, games and facts about the metro.
Padma Shri awardee and president of Heart Care Foundation of India, Dr KK Aggarwal, fashion designer Ritu Beri, senior journalist Rahul Dev, noted athlete Deepa Malik, rally driver Bani Yadav and actor Aparshakti Khurana are part of the video series.

10 SDF Legislators Switch Over To BJP

Ten legislators of the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Delhi. The SDF, a former ally of the BJP, ruled Sikkim for 25 years until it was ousted from power by the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) .
The ruling SKM is part of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance. The SDF won 15 seats while SKM won 17 in the 32-member assembly in the elections.
Two of its leaders got elected from two seats and now, they have to vacate one seat each.

RFID Tags Must For Vehicles To Enter Capital

From August 16,2019, commercial vehicles not equipped with radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags will have to pay fines to enter the national capital from the 13 high tech toll plazas, according to a Supreme Court-appointed panel on air pollution.
Commercial vehicles without the tags will have to shell out twice the Environment Compensation Charge and the toll tax.

Aug 13, 2019

Mewar Royals Claim To Be Ram Descendants

Former Mewar royals have claimed that they are descendants of Lord Ram's son Luv, after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker and member of the erstwhile Jaipur royal family Diya Kumari made a similar claim.
Lakshyaraj Singh of the erstwhile Mewar royal family said Luv had established "Luvkote" and his ancestors had come to Ahad (Mewar), and established the Sisodia dynasty.
BJP MP from Rajsamand Diya Kumari had tweeted that her family is a descendant of Lord Ram's son Kush, a day after a Supreme Court bench headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi had asked, out of curiosity, whether anyone from the Raghuvansha (Lord Ram's dynasty) was still residing in Ayodhya.
The SC is hearing the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case on a daily basis.
Now, the former Mewar royals claim themselves to be descendents of Lord Ram, citing experts and historians like Col James Todd. Quoting content from the "Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan" written by Todd, Singh said while Lord Ram's capital was Ayodhya, his son Luv had established Luvkote or the present-day Lahore.
The sun is the emblem of the Mewar royal family. Lord Ram was a worshipper of Lord Shiva and the Mewar royals worship Eklingnath or Lord Shiva.

UP Govt Creates World Record By Planting Over Crore Saplings

Uttar Pradesh(UP) chief minister(CM) Yogi Adityanath launched the mega greenery plantation drive called "Vriksharopan Mahakumbh" sets a world record by planting over 22 crore saplings in a day.
The state entered the Guinness World Records' for distributing 76,823 saplings simultaneously in six hours across the state.
The 2nd record was made for planting 1.1 lakh saplings in Kasganj in presence of UP governor, Anandi Ben Patel.
The 3rd record was made in Prayagraj for distribution of a record of 66,000 saplings at the same place in a certain time frame.
The 4th record was made for planting 22 crore saplings in a day.
The state announced to plant 25 crore saplings in the Van Mahotsav in 2020. Adityanath unveiled the logo of 'Vriksharopan Mahakumbh' and handed saplings of 'Sahjan' (Drumstick) to 5 rural women.
The CM launched the drive by planting Harishankari, a combination of three sacred trees (peepul, pakar and banyan) at Jaitikheda area in Lucknow.

Draft Agricultural Policy Released By Odisha Government

The Odisha government released a Draft Agricultural Policy 2019 for the agriculture sector and to focus on increasing the income of farmers.
Main Aim: To strengthen the social as well as the economic well-being of the farmers, sharecroppers and landless laborers.
Naveen Patnaik Government claimed that Odisha farmers' incomes grew more than seven times over a span of 13 years.
The draft policy states that comparing the CAGR with other Indian States, Odisha's growth rate emerges as the highest in the country during that period.
Odisha is largely a rural-agrarian economy. Close to 83% of its people live in rural areas and about 61.8% of its 17.5 million work-force is employed in agriculture.
In the 16 years since the beginning of this century (2000-01 to 2016-17), Odisha's agricultural GDP nearly doubled in real terms, clocking an average annual growth rate of about 4.5%, higher than the India average of 3.1%.
The State accounts for 3% of India's agricultural GDP.

Ravidas Temple Demolition In Tughlaqabad, Delhi

Members of the Dalit community held protests and blocked highways, hours after the Supreme Court orders over the demolition of Guru Ravidas temple in Tughlaqabad area in Delhi.
Amid the State-wide protest by Ravidas community over the alleged demolition of a temple in New Delhi on the purported direction of apex court, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention to pacify the community leaders.
Mr. Singh made the appeal to the Prime Minister as community members holding demonstrations under the banner of Guru Ravidas Jayanti Samaroh Samiti called for a nationwide shutdown on August 13, 2019.
It has also decided to observe Independence Day as a 'Black Day' to protest the demolition of the temple in New Delhi's Tughlakabad area.
Historic temple of Shri Guru Ravidas located in Shri Guru Ravidas Marg, New Delhi's Tughalaqabad Village was demolished by the Delhi Development Authority on orders of the Supreme Court inciting intense protests and agitation.

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