General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - December 2016

Dec 2016

Jul 28, 2019

Panel to Frame RIIN Modalities

The Nagaland government constituted a commission to frame the modalities of creating the Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland.
The RIIN, a register of all the indigenous inhabitants of the State, is required to prevent issuance of indigenous inhabitant certificates to ineligible persons.
A notification on setting up of the panel to develop the modalities was issued, after the administration held meetings with tribal bodies, civil societies and non-Naga communities of the State.
It was decided that the policies and modalities of preparing the RIIN would be framed and made public before the actual enumeration begins.
The notification said the commission would recommend the eligibility criteria to be an indigenous inhabitant, the documents to be acceptable as proof for being an indigenous inhabitant, the manner in which the exercise is to be carried out and any other issue relating to implementation of the RIIN.
The panel would submit its report within three months.
The Commission would be headed by retired Chief Secretary Banuo Z. Jamir as chairman and T. Kiheto Sema and S. Chingwang Konyak as members. Justice (Retd.) Zelre Angami will function as the advisor to the Commission. The Home Commissioner and the Commissioner Nagaland will be ex-officio members of the panel.

Jul 27, 2019

Some JD(S) MLAs Want to Back BJP

A few JD(S) legislators have impressed upon HD Kumaraswamy to extend external support to the BJP government in Karnataka, party MLA and former minister GT Devegowda said but asserted that the former chief minister would take the final decision.
Barely four days after losing power, the JD(S) legislators were a divided lot over their next course of action.
The difference of opinion among the legislators surfaced in a meeting convened by Kumaraswamy on Friday night to decide the party's future course of action in the wake of upheavals in Karnataka politics.

Yediyurappa Takes Oath as CM

B.S. Yediyurappa took oath as the 31st Chief Minister of Karnataka, three days after the collapse of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government, and is set to take the floor test on Monday to prove his majority. This is Yediyurappa's fourth stint at the helm of the State.
Mr. Yediyurappa's first announcements after assuming office were sops for farmers and weavers. He said that an additional sum of Rs. 4,000 in two instalments would be given to farmers from the State government under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, which will take the total benefit to Rs. 10,000, including Rs. 6,000 from the Centre. He also announced, after the Cabinet meeting, waiver of about Rs. 100 crore loans borrowed by weavers before March 31, 2019. He hinted that he would take a re-look into all the programmes of the previous Kumaraswamy government.

Extra Security Forces for J&K

In an unprecedented move, the Home Ministry granted approval for the mobilisation of 100 additional companies of security forces in Jammu & Kashmir.
According to a senior government official, the movement of troops was necessitated as the security forces deployed in Kashmir Valley were stretched in securing the Amarnath Yatra route.
However, the move has raised speculation about the Centre planning to unroll fresh measures in Kashmir.
The move comes despite additional 40,000 security personnel stationed in Kashmir to maintain security of the Amarnath yatra, which concludes on August 15 and already more than two lakh pilgrims have visited the holy shrine in Kashmir.

Jul 26, 2019

Karnataka speaker Disqualifies Three Rebel Lawmakers

Karnataka speaker KR Ramesh Kumar disqualified three rebel lawmakers and said decisions on other dissident MLAs would be pronounced soon, adding to the suspense of government formation in the southern state days after the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition was toppled in a trust vote.
Kumar announced that Congress MLAs Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mahesh Kumathahalli and Ranebennur legislator R Shankar stood disqualified. Jarkiholi and Kumathahalli were part of the 15 MLAs who resigned as legislators earlier in July 2019, bringing the coalition government to the brink of collapse. Shankar has resigned as a minister and pledged support to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The speaker insisted that the disqualified lawmakers couldn't contest election until the term of the current assembly – due to expire in 2023 – is over.
There are disqualification petitions against 14 more MLAs – 13 rebels and one Congress lawmaker who didn't turn up for trust vote –pending before Kumar.
With this decision, the strength of the 225-member assembly comes down to 222. The BJP has 105 MLAs.

Speaker Forms Four House Committees

The Speaker Om Birla formed four parliamentary committees and their chairpersons for the 17th Lok Sabha.
The Public Accounts Committee has Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury as its Chairperson. BJP MP Kirit bhai Solanki has been made the chairman of the committee for welfare of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Ganesh Singh has been made chairman of the committee for welfare of OBCs while Meenakshi Lekhi is the chair of the committee on public undertaking.

Jul 25, 2019

Five Members Bid Farewell to Rajya Sabha

Five members bid an emotional farewell to Rajya Sabha. The five members from Tamil Nadu completed their term.
V Maitreyan, D Raja, K R Arjunan, R Lakshmanan and T Rathinavel, completed their term. Barring Raja was from CPI, all others were from AIADMK.

Aadhar Could be used for State Schemes

The Cabinet approved official changes to Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill 2019 that incorporates a clause to allow the use of Aadhaar data for state schemes and subsidies.
The amendment to the Aadhaar Act entails the use of India's national biometric id by states governments for their schemes that are funded through the 'Consolidated Fund of the State'.
As per Supreme Court order, Aadhaar is allowed where the funds are going for beneficiary schemes coming straight from the central government.
It will enable the subsidies from the central schemes to be transferred from the central fund. Aadhaar can now be used for transferring state subsidies.

Jul 24, 2019

SC Says No to Verification of Draft NRC

The Supreme Court extended the deadline for publication of the final National Citizens Register (NRC) for Assam by a month to August 31, 2019, but rejected the central and Assam government's pleas to conduct 20% sample re-verification of the draft NRC in areas bordering Bangladesh.
The order for the extension of the deadline by a bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and justice Rohinton F Nariman, comes on an application by Prateek Hajela, NRC coordinator, on the grounds that floods in Assam have paralysed the state. The original deadline was July 31, 2019.
Attorney general KK Venugopal, appearing for the centre, stressed on the need for a re-verification exercise before the final National Citizens Register (NRC) is published, contending that several illegal immigrants have been included in the list.

BJP Wins Junagadh Civic Body Polls

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat retained the Junagadh Municipal Corporation (JMC) for the second consecutive term by securing 54 of the 60 seats in the civic body and decimating the Congress to just one seat.
The elections were held on July 19, 2019.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which for the first time opened its account in the civic polls in Saurashtra region, has emerged as the main opposition party by replacing the Congress. The NCP won four seats out of 25 it contested.
In 2015, the Congress had got 15 seats and the BJP 40 in the outgoing municipal corporation.
Like the previous election, the BJP and the Congress contested on all 60 seats and NCP in 25 wards. Three of the NCP winners this time had won on the Congress ticket in 2015.
The Congress has blamed the BJP's "divide and rule politics" for its defeat in the civic polls. The BJP had swept the Lok Sabha polls in Gujarat, bagging all the 26 seats.

SC Draws a Hard Line in Amrapali Verdict

The Supreme Court took away all land assets of Amrapali Group, ordered federal money laundering investigation against its bosses and senior executives, and asked a state-run developer to build nearly 46,000 unfinished flats — a ruling that marks the strongest crackdown yet in the country's real estate sector and one that did not spare government officials and banks for conniving with developers.
Justices Arun Mishra and UU Lalit said the crisis in Amrapali – affecting tens of thousands of families -- was "a serious kind of fraud was played upon the buyers in active connivance with the officials of the Noida and Greater Noida Authorities and that of the banks".
Thus, the judges ruled, banks and administrations of the two cities will not have any claim on Amrapali's unfinished projects, which will now be completed by NBCC India Ltd, though no deadline was set.
Effectively winding up the Amrapali Group's rights to remain in the real estate business, the court cancelled its Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) licence and the leases that it held to build projects across Noida and Greater Noida.
The court also expanded the scope of the ruling to the realty sector at large, ordering the central and state governments to take action against similar builders.
In addition to the flats that Amrapali should have built, it owes Rs.5,000 crore to civic authorities and Rs. 1,000 crore to 10 banks.
There are also cases where Amrapali homebuyers have begun residing in their flats but have been unable to get ownership deeds or essential services since the builder did not clear the requisite dues to complete the handover process.
The court ordered relief for residents in such cases too, directing the authorities to execute the agreements within one month and issue "completion certificates" whether or not the dues are recovered.
Water Works Department of the concerned area and the electricity supplier are directed to provide the connections for water and electricity to homebuyers forthwith in Amrapali projects.
The ruling is a culmination of at least three years of campaigning by homebuyers, who protested in streets and outside government offices before taking their fight to the top court.
Amrapali's director and senior executives have been in custody since October 9, 2018, and some of their personal properties, which was determined to have been bought using laundered money, were attached.
Amrapali "diverted homebuyers' money and siphoned it off to foreign countries. The directors diverted the money by the creation of dummy companies, realising professional fees, creating bogus bills, selling flats at undervalue price, payment of excessive brokerage, etc,", the order observed, making the case for federal investigations.

Karnataka's Coalition Loses Trust Vote

Karnataka's beleaguered coalition government crumbled after losing a trust vote by six votes, capping weeks of political drama and setting the stage for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to stake claim to power in the only southern state it has ruled.
The Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) alliance secured 99 votes in favour and 105 against on a trust vote motion moved in the 225member assembly by chief minister HD Kumaraswamy.
Two Congress, two independent and one Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator stayed away from the vote, as did 15 rebel legislators – 12 from the Congress and three from the JD(S) – whose resignations roughly three weeks ago pushed the 14-month-old government to the brink of collapse.
Kumaraswamy, 59, drove to the governor house shortly afterwards and submitted his resignation. It was immediately accepted but he was asked to continue as caretaker chief minister.

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