General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - December 2016

Dec 2016

Aug 12, 2019

JJP, BSP Form Alliance For Haryana Elections

The Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) — an offshoot of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) — and the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have joined hands for the Haryana assembly elections, due in October in 2019.
BSP general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Satish Chandra Mishra said that the people of Haryana are waiting for a new and "clean government" and this alliance will provide an alternative to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in the state.
Haryana sends 90 members to its state assembly.
The Jannayak Janata Party will contest on 50 seats while the BSP will field its candidates in 40 seats on Haryana.

Aug 11, 2019

IIS Officers Attend All India Annual Conference

The second All India Annual Conference of Indian Information Service Officers was organised at Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra in New Delhi.
The conference was organised with a view to attain greater integration of all media units under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in order to further amplify government communication.
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar conveyed his message to the delegates of the conference wherein he highlighted the importance of feedback along with communicating the programmes and policies of government, stating that the IIS officers are the eyes and ears of the govt.

NDTV Plans Legal Recourse Against CBI

New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) is planning a legal challenge against the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for stopping its co-founders Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy from flying abroad.
The Roys were stopped at the Mumbai airport from catching an overseas flight on a request by the CBI, which had filed a lookout circular against them over a case filed by the agency.
A lookout circular is a notice issued to airports, seaports and immigration authorities to check whether a traveller going abroad is connected with an offence in India.
CBI officials said the circular against Prannoy and Radhika Roy was preventive in nature and there had been no effort to detain them.

President Nod To Increase Number Of SC Judges

President Ram Nath Kovind has signed into law a Bill which seeks to increase the sanctioned strength of judges in the Supreme Court from 30 to 33 besides the Chief Justice of India.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill was passed by Parliament.
The present strength of the court is 31, including the chief justice of India.
After the law takes effect, the sanctioned strength of SC will be 33.

Aug 10, 2019

Konark Sun Temple To Get CISF Cover

The 13th century Sun temple at Konark in Puri district of Odisha will be the first national monument from Odisha to get security cover from Central Industrial Security Force.
Superintending Archaeologist of Bhubaneswar circle of Archaeological Survey of India, Arun Mallik said a little more than 100 CISF jawans would be deployed at the temple.

Govt Campaign On Solid Waste Management From August 15

The Delhi government will launch a campaign on solid waste management across the city.
To make the drive effective, the government has directed all the district magistrates to strategise and roll out the campaign in their respective zones.
The campaign will be launched from August 15, 2019 on Independence Day. It will include door-to-door awareness drives, workshops, competitions involving residential welfare associations and schools.
The campaign intends to involve residents, students, teachers and markets to spread awareness of waste segregation and disposal.

DMK Wins Vellore LS Seat With a Slender Margin

Tamil Nadu's opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam won the Vellore Lok Sabha seatby a slim margin, wresting the constituency from the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in a closely fought election that had been cancelled in April 2018 after the discovery of a large cash hoard.
DMK nominee DM Kathir Anand, son of the party's principal secretary S Duraimurugan, defeated AIADMK candidate A C Shanmugam with a margin of 8,141 votes in the election.

Guidelines Laid Down For Name Change In Goa

Fears that people from outside the state were changing their names to Goan ones to presumably impersonate dead people or lay claim to inheritances, the Goa Legislative Assembly passed a law restricting people from changing their names and which prescribes jail terms of up to three months for violators.
The bill says that a person can change his or her name only if it is wrongly spelt in their birth certificates or has an "unpleasant or distasteful" meaning. The current law is that people can change names without having to state reasons for the same.

Aug 09, 2019

J & K, Ladakh Will Prosper In New Era That Has Begun: PM

In first public address after the government pushed through constitutional changes with regard to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached out to citizens in the state-turned-Union Territory with a vision of peace and development for the future.
Addressing the nation, Modi laid out the rationale for ending Article 370, bifurcating J&K, and making it a Union Territory along with granting a distinct UT status to Ladakh.
He outlined the economic, educational and development opportunities that would now open up for Indian citizens in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh; reassured J&K that its system of political representation would remain intact and that there would be a return to full statehood once the conditions were right; signalled to government employees that their work would be recognised and rewarded; underscored the importance of Panchayat leaders in delivering welfare programmes; acknowledged the difficulties that citizens had to face in the region currently with a promise to ease them eventually.

TMC Wins Back Bongaon After BJP Defectors Return

Trinamool Congress (TMC) wrested majority in Bengal's Bongaon municipality after four councillors, who had switched to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) , returned, making it the third civic body in the state where the ruling party regained majority after losing it to the BJP since the Lok Sabha election results.
Bongaon municipality in North 24 Parganas district has 22 wards. The TMC count stood at 14 with 7 remaining with the BJP.
One councillor was elected with a ticket from the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

2 Delhi Legislators Disqualified Under Anti-Defection Law

Delhi Speaker Ram Niwas Goel disqualified rebel Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs Devinder Sehrawat and Anil Bajpai under the anti-defection law.
Both Sehrawat and Bajpai will move to the High Court against the disqualification orders. The duo had shared the stage with BJP leaders in Delhi during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, which stirred a controversy.
The decision comes after Goel disqualified rebel former Delhi minister Kapil Mishra for campaigning for the BJP.
Sehrawat represented Bijwasan, while Bajpai represented Gandhi Nagar in the Assembly. Both seats now stand vacant. There will, however, not be a bye-elections as the assembly polls in Delhi are likely to be scheduled in less than a year.

Aug 08, 2019

Mufti Tells MPs to Resign from RS

Former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti wants her two members of Parliament to resign from the Rajya Sabha. She passed a message to them, telling them to resign or to face expulsion.
The Peoples Democratic Party, which was in an alliance with the BJP till the latter withdrew support in June 2018, has two members in the Upper House. Mir Fayaz and Nazir Ahmed Laway tore up the Constitution in the Rajya Sabha, soon after the government introduced the move in Rajya Sabha.

Delhi Airport on Alert

Due to increased security ahead of Independence Day celebrations, the Delhi airport operator asked domestic flyers to reach at least three hours in advance and international passengers four hours prior to departure.
The move also comes at a time when security has been heightened across several installations in the country after the Union government's decision to nullify the special status to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcate it into two Union Territories.
The operator also said entry to the meet and greet area will be barred from August 10-20, 2019.

2 crucial bridges being reopened in Andheri

Two crucial connectors are being reopened to light vehicles in Andheri. Oshiwara bridge was reopened, while another at SNDT, Juhu, will be reopened on 09 th August, 2019.
Both were declared dilapidated by BMC, with restrictions being imposed on motorists. The bridges are major connectors to Juhu, Bandra and Santa Cruz.
BMC reopened both arms of the bridge on Oshiwara nullah, near Siddhivinayak temple, which was shut for traffic since June, 2019.
The bridge, which has a nullah running below, had been severely corroded but a re-audit stated that it could be reopened to light vehicles.
Twenty-nine bridges were declared 'dangerous' by BMC after a re-audit was conducted following the Himalaya FOB crash.

Delhi to join league of states with digital anganwadi centres

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, announced that 10,000-odd anganwadi workers in the city will be given smartphones for real-time monitoring of centres.
This makes Delhi the 11th state so far to join the league of digitised anganwadi centres.
The smartphone initiative is in line with Centre's POSHAN Abhiyan scheme, rolled out in 2018, which provides for digitisation of anganwadis across the country and 50% of the total cost of the initiative will be incurred by the Central government.
Smartphones will have pre-installed applications that would enable Aadhaar based registration of people employed in the anganwadi, record their attendance, registering the centre's opening and closing time and sharing daily photographs and details of children being served food.

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