General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - December 2016

Dec 2016

Apr 16, 2019

Centre Extends Truce with Naga Militants

The Centre extended the ceasefire agreement by one year with two insurgent groups in Nagaland, while a fresh pact for suspension of operations was signed with another outfit.
A ceasefire is in operation between the Union government and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Neopao Konyak/Kitovi) and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland/Reformation (NSCN/R).
It was decided to extend the suspension of operation agreement with NSCN(NK) and NSCN(R) for a further period of one year with effect from April 28 this year till April 27, 2020.
Meanwhile, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (K-Khango) has also entered into a fresh ceasefire agreement with the Union government for a period of one year.

EC Curbs Campaigning by Yogi, Mayawati, Azam

Shortly after the Supreme Court decided to examine the Election Commission's claims that its powers are limited in the face of hate and communal speeches, the poll panel slapped a 72-hour prohibition on campaigning by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan for violation of the Model Code of Conduct.
A 48-hour campaign ban was also imposed on Union Minister and BJP leader Maneka Gandhi, and BSP chief Mayawati.

Creation of Deputy CAG

A meeting of the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the creation of the additional post of Deputy Comptroller and Auditor-General.
The Deputy CAG shall oversee the coordination among State Audits, the audit of telecommunication and coordinate the various Information Systems initiatives in the Indian Audit & Accounts Department.

Apr 15, 2019

Private Sector Specialists in Government Departments

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has appointed nine non-governmental professionals at Joint Secretary level posts on contract basis in central government departments.
This is the first time, nine private sector specialists were selected for appointment as joint secretaries in central government departments.
These appointments were made in the departments of agriculture, cooperation and farmers welfare, civil aviation, commerce, economic affairs, environment, forest and climate change, new and renewable energy, road transport and highways, and shipping.

BJP Names Two More Candidates for Haryana

The BJP announced names of its remaining two candidates for the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Haryana.
The party has decided to field Haryana cadre IAS officer Brijendera Singh from Hisar. Arvind Sharma, a former Congress MP who joined the BJP, will contest from Rohtak.
He is pitted against sitting Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda, son of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda. Brijendera Singh is son of Union Minister and Rajya Sabha MP Birender Singh.
Earlier, the BJP had announced names of eight candidates for the State, which has a total of 10 Lok Sabha constituencies.

Apr 14, 2019

Nagaland Registers 83.12% Voter Turnout

An overall 83.12% voter turnout was recorded in Nagaland for the lone Lok Sabha constituency on April 11.
For the 26-Aonglenden bypoll, held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha election, around 84.35% voters cast their ballots.
The CEO said that altogether 10,02,670 voters out of the total 12,06,287 exercised their franchise for the Lok Sabha polls in the state.
The voter turnout in the 2014 Lok Sabha poll was 88.25%.
Mr. Sinha said that 5,07,404 were male voters and 4,95,266 female.

Polling in Uttarakhand

According to the final polling percentage released by the Election Commission after collating data received from remote corners of the hill State, a total of 61.50% of the 78.56 lakh voters exercised their franchise on the polling day.
The final polling percentage in Uttarakhand released by the poll body is only slightly lower than 61.67% recorded in the 2014 Lok Sabha poll.
The break-up of the final percentage on all the five seats of the State is Haridwar recorded the highest turnout of 68.92% followed by Nainital which recorded a turnout 68.69%. Tehri recorded 58.30%, Pauri 54.47 and Almora (a reserved seat) 51.82%.
There were 52 candidates in the fray for the five seats of Uttarakhand where the contest was mainly between the BJP and the Congress.

DMK Names Candidates for Four Bypolls

The DMK announced candidates for the four Assembly constituencies for which the by-election will be held on May 19.
Party president M.K. Stalin said that former Minister Senthil Balaji, who recently joined the DMK, would be the candidate for the Aravakurichi constituency.
Former Minister N. Pongalur Palanisami is the candidate for the Sulur constituency, and P. Saravanan will contest in Tiruparankundram.
M.C. Shanmugaiah is the candidate for the Ottapidaram (reserved) constituency. The DMK is the first party to announce its candidates.

Apr 13, 2019

AAP Ties Up with JJP

The Aam Aadmi Party and the Jannayak Janta Party formed an alliance for the Lok Sabha election in Haryana and announced that the latter would contest seven of the 10 seats in the State. The distribution of constituencies and the names of the candidates would be declared later.
The JJP was launched in December 2018 by Dushyant Chautala, grandson of former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala.
Mr. Dushyant Chautala said that it would be a long-term alliance and the two parties will fight together in the Haryana Assembly elections as well.
The decision came two days after AAP called off discussions for an alliance with the Congress as the latter was not ready to give AAP seats in Punjab, Chandigarh and Haryana.

MGP to Withdraw Support in Goa

The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) has resolved to withdraw support to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition government in Goa.
The MGP had been in alliance with the BJP since 2012, it was allied with the Congress from 2007-12. But after the death of late Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, differences emerged between the two parties.
Soon after the new Chief Minister Pramod Sawant appointed MGP's senior leader Sudin Dhavalikar as his deputy, the BJP in a midnight raid in March, engineered a split in the three-member MGP legislative unit and inducted two of its lawmakers into the BJP.
In the Goa Assembly, which currently has 36 members, the BJP-led coalition will continue to be in a majority, despite the MGP's decision to break away from the treasury benches.
While the BJP has 14 lawmakers, it has the support of three lawmakers from the Goa Forward Party and three Independent lawmakers, which takes the coalition's tally to 20 seats, just taking it across the simple majority mark of 19.

Apr 12, 2019

BJP to Contest Highest Number of Lok Sabha Seats

As per reports, the Bharatiya Janata Party may end up contesting the highest number of Lok Sabha seats in its history. It has so far announced 408 Lok Sabha candidates, which is 20 less than its 2014 tally of 428.
According to the party leader, there will be at least 30 more names.
The BJP fielded candidates for 433 seats in 2009, 364 in 2004 and 339 seats in the 1999 polls. Lok Sabha has 543 seats.
The BJP is yet to announce its seven candidates for Delhi and another eight nominees for Uttar Pradesh.
It is yet to finalise names for eight seats in Madhya Pradesh, including Indore and Bhopal.
The BJP's announcement of candidates for the three seats it will contest in alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab, two seats in Haryana and one in Rajasthan, too, is pending.

Lok Sabha Election Phase 1

Phase I of the Lok Sabha election was held across 91 Parliamentary constituencies in 18 States and two Union Territories.
According to the Election Commission, the turnout reported till 6 p.m. stood at 63.69% in Uttar Pradesh. In Andaman and Nicobar, it was 70.67%; 60% in Telangana; 57.85% in Uttarakhand; 69% in Sikkim; 60% in Mizoram; 78% in Nagaland; 78.2% in Manipur; 81.8% in Tripura; 68% in Assam and 81% in West Bengal.
Maharashtra reported 56% turnout, while in Arunchal Pradesh the figure was 66%. The minimum of 50% was reported in Bihar.

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