General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - December 2016

Dec 2016

Apr 06, 2019

Sumitra Mahajan Out of the Fray

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan announced that she would not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha poll as she perceived that the BJP appeared hesitant in declaring a candidate for the Indore seat because of her presence. She has represented the Indore seat eight times and is the longest serving woman MP currently in Parliament.
Ms. Mahajan is on a long list of senior party leaders past the age of 75 who have been quietly put out to pasture with regard to electoral politics. The list is led by former Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani, former Union Ministers Murli Manohar Joshi and Shanta Kumar, senior leader Karia Munda among others.

Relief for National Herald

The Supreme Court stayed the eviction and further proceedings against Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the publishers of the National Herald newspaper, started by India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1938 to advance the freedom movement, from a centrally located building in the national capital.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi ordered the stay of proceedings against AJL under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971 till further notice.

Compensation for Rape Survivor

The Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has directed the State government to provide a compensation of Rs. 3 lakh and a shelter under a government scheme to a minor girl, who became a mother in a residential school. The minor girl was repeatedly assaulted sexually allegedly by a school headmaster in Koraput district in 2017.

Apr 05, 2019

No Kartarpur Meet

India and Pakistan are not expected to hold any more meetings on the Kartarpur corridor before the country's general elections as Islamabad is yet to respond to issues raised by New Delhi.
On March 29, India called off the second meeting with Pakistan to discuss modalities for the corridor, which was scheduled for April 2, over the inclusion of pro-Khalistan activists such as Gopal Chawla and Bisan Singh in a Pakistani committee to facilitate Sikh pilgrims.

Nishad Party Switches to NDA

In a fillip to the caste arithmetic of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, the Nishad Party joined the NDA, less than a week after it walked out of the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance.
Gorakhpur MP Praveen Nishad, who won the seat in a bypoll on a SP ticket in 2018 with BSP support, was also inducted into the BJP. He is the son of Sanjay Nishad, the founder and president of the Nishad Party.

Apr 04, 2019

AAP to Not Contest LS Polls in Maharashtra

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will not be contesting the Lok Saha election in Maharashtra, the party's State convener Brigadier Sudhir Sawant (Retd) announced, citing the need to stop the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Upendra Kushwaha to Contest from Two Seats

RLSP chief and former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha announced that he would contest from two parliamentary constituencies in Bihar.
He will contest from Karakat and Ujiarpur Lok Sabha seats.

The Intangible Seat

On April 11, when the Himalayan State of Sikkim goes to the polls, elections will be held in a unique Assembly constituency that does not exist on the State's map and has no geographical boundaries.
"The 32-Sangha Assembly constituency has no geographical boundary and it is only one-of-its-kind constituency in the country reserved for the monastic community (Sangha)," the office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Sikkim states on its website.
Buddhist monks registered with 51 monasteries in the State are the only ones who can contest and cast their votes for the unique Assembly seat. R. Telang, CEO of Sikkim, said that the number of voters for the Sangha seat this year is 3,293, which includes 3,224 (monks) and 69 (nuns).

Women to March for Change

Women's organisations across India will conduct a mass action, Women March For Change.
Their goal, their communication says, is to encourage women to use their vote to reject the current environment of hate and violence and to claim their constitutional rights as citizens of a democratic republic.
The action has no single owner, it is a loose collective, decentralised, with groups all over the country self-organising events. The team at the core expects marches and protests to happen across metros, smaller towns and villages; an incomplete list on Wednesday evening named 141 events in 20 states.

Apr 03, 2019

India Urges Pakistan to Repatriate Fishermen

India urged Pakistan to provide consular access to fishermen and prisoners who require consular and medical support. As per the Ministry of External Affairs, India had assisted Pakistan in such cases but Islamabad had not reciprocated. There are 385 Indian fishermen whose nationality has been conveyed to Pakistan and who have been languishing in Pakistan jails. It is requested that urgent and concrete steps be taken to repatriate them to India at the earliest, along with their boats.

Open to Alliance with AAP

Congress president Rahul Gandhi said that the party had constructed alliances across the country and was open to one when asked whether there would be a tie-up with the Aam Aadmi Party.

Call for Lok Sabha Elections Boycott

An umbrella organisation of major civil societies and student associations in Mizoram decided to boycott the April 11 election to the lone Mizoram Lok Sabha seat and organise a state-wide indefinite bandh from April 8.
The NGO Coordination Committee said that a decision was taken earlier to boycott the Parliamentary polls if special polling booths are established at the Mizoram-Tripura border Kanhmun village.
The EC is setting up 15 exclusive polling booths in the village for Bru refugees from Mizoram who are housed in six camps in neighbouring Tripura. The step had been taken in the November 2018 Mizoram assembly polls too.

Apr 02, 2019

Karnataka Speaker Accepts Resignation of Umesh Jadhav

Karnataka Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar accepted the resignation of rebel Congress MLA Umesh Jadhav, who is contesting the Lok Sabha election as a BJP candidate.
Jadhav had resigned as MLA of the Chincholi Assembly constituency last month as he was facing proceedings under the Anti-defection laws for violating a whip issued by the Congress party ahead of the Budget session in February.
Jadhav was one of four rebel MLAs who had not attended two meetings of the Congress Legislature Party in January and February.

Congress Includes Sukh Ram in List of Star Campaigners

After allotting party ticket to his grandson Ashray Sharma from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, the Congress has now included former Union Minister Sukh Ram in its list of star campaigners for the state.
Sukh Ram and his grandson had returned to the Congress two days after the BJP denied party ticket to Ashray from Mandi. The former Union Minister, his son Anil Sharma, who is a Cabinet Minister in Jai Ram Thakur-led government in the state, and Ashray had joined the BJP ahead of 2017 assembly elections.

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