General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - December 2016

Dec 2016

Mar 12, 2019

People in Electoral Rolls Can Vote

Allaying fears that people in Assam whose names did not appear in the final draft of the NRC cannot vote in the Lok Sabha polls, Assam's Chief Electoral Officer Mukesh Sahu said that those who figure in the electoral rolls can vote.
There was intense speculation that the 40 lakh people whose names did not appear in the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), published by the government in 2018, would be barred from voting.
Assam will go to polls to elect 14 Lok Sabha members in three phases (April 11, 18 and 23).
There are 2,17,60,604 eligible voters in Assam as of now, including 1,06,27,822 females.
The number of voters is likely to increase as the process for inclusion of the names in electoral rolls is still on. There are 7,06,489 first-time voters.

Mar 11, 2019

Lok Sabha Election 2019

India will vote for the 17th Lok Sabha in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May. The counting of votes will take place on May 23 and result will be declared on the same date as per the Lok Sabha election 2019 schedule announced by the Election Commission of India.
The dates of polling for the seven phases are April 11, 18, 23, 29, May 6, 12, 19. In the first phase, 91 seats across 20 states and UTs will go to polls; Second phase, 97 in 13 States and UTs; Third phase, 115 in 14 States and UTs; Fourth phase, 71 in 9 States and UTs; Fifth phase, 51 in 7 States and UTs; Sixth phase, 59 in 7 States and UTs; Seventh phase, 59 in 8 States and UTs.
The elections are being held for 543 out of the 545 Lok Sabha seats. The remaining two seats are reserved for the Anglo-Indian community, which are nominated by the President.
In 2014, the election for the 16th Lok Sabha took place in nine phases between April 7 and May 12 while the counting of votes took place on May 16.

Mar 09, 2019

Bid to Form New Coalition in Nagaland without BJP

Keeping an eye on the "uncertainties" of the upcoming Lok Sabha election, the opposition Naga People's Front (NPF) in Nagaland has sought to form a "regional coalition" to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party out of governance.
The BJP is the minor partner in the People's Democratic Alliance government headed by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio's Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), which had broken away from the NPF prior to the State election in February 2018.
In a letter to former Chief Minister and NPF Legislature Party leader T.R. Zeliang, 19 legislators of the NPF proposed to form a stable coalition of regional parties indicating they favoured tying up with NDPP and showing the BJP the door.

India to Send Envoy Back to Pakistan

India took a step towards de-escalation of tension with Pakistan and announced that its envoy will return to Islamabad.
Both countries had withdrawn their envoys following a spike in tension after the terror attack in Pulwama and the Indian airstrikes in Balakot.
High Commissioner of India to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria will reach Islamabad on March 9 and resume his duties.
The announcement comes days after Pakistan declared that Prime Minister Imran Khan would send High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood back to Delhi.

Mar 08, 2019

Names for Lok Pal Shortlisted

Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal informed the Supreme Court that names for Lokpal, the anti-corruption ombudsman, have been shortlisted and forwarded to the Selection Committee chaired by the Prime Minister.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi asked Mr. Venugopal to enquire within 10 days about the probable date by which the Selection Committee would meet to finalise the appointment of the first Lokpal Chairperson and members.
As per Mr. Venugopal, 10 names were shortlisted for Lokpal Chairperson and five names each for judicial and non-judicial members.

Congress' First List for U.P. and Gujarat

The Congress announced party president Rahul Gandhi as its candidate from Amethi and Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli.
The party released its first list of 15 Lok Sabha candidates for Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.
Among the 15 candidates announced, four are from Gujarat and 11 from U.P.
In Uttar Pradesh, former Union Ministers and MPs have been named. While Salman Khursid will contest the Farrukhabad seat, R.P.N. Singh has been named from Kushinagar. Jitin Prasad is the candidate for Dhaurahra and Anu Tandon for Unnao.
Former U.P. Congress chief Nirmal Khatri will contest in Faizabad and Salim Sherwani from Badaun. Imran Masood is the candidate for Saharanpur.
In Gujarat, former Congress chief Bharatsinh Solanki has been fielded from Anand, Raju Parmar from Ahmedabad West and Prashant Patel from Vadodara.

Mar 07, 2019

Peace Party May Go Alone

Left with no other option after both SP-BSP alliance and the Congress have refused its bargain on seat-sharing, Peace Party chief Mohammad Ayub said that the party may go alone in Lok Sabha 2019.
The party has decided to change its slogan from 'Tabedaari' to 'Hissedari' (from being servants to stakeholders).
According to Ayub, his party would always side with anti-BJP forces to ensure the ruling party's defeat in the Lok Sabha elections.
The Peace Party played a key role in united opposition's win in parliamentary by-poll in Gorakhpur and Phulpur in 2018.

Congress's Foreign Policy Stance

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met 30 envoys and senior diplomats of G20 nations and neighbouring countries to outline their party's foreign policy stance.
A Pakistani representative was not invited to the interaction, seen as part of the Congress party's outreach to key players in the diplomatic community ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress president made it clear to the diplomats that his party is united and committed to carry forward the fight against terror.
Besides G20 members, envoys and senior diplomats of neighbouring countries such as Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka and key Asian nations such as South Korea attended the meet, where the Congress leadership also shared its economic and political vision.

Indore Cleanest City for Third Year

In the latest Cleanliness Survey, Indore was adjudged India's cleanest city for the third year in a row. The second and third positions were bagged by Ambikapur in Chhattisgarh and Mysuru in Karnataka.
The Swachh Survekshan awards 2019 were conferred by President Ram Nath Kovind in New Delhi. While the New Delhi Municipal Council was given the 'Cleanest Small City' award, Uttarakhand's Gauchar bagged the 'Best Ganga Town'. The 'Cleanest Big City' award has been bagged by Ahmedabad, while Raipur is the 'Fastest Moving Big City'.
Top-ranked cities received a statue of Mahatma Gandhi as a memento for their work towards cleanliness. Swachh Survekshan covered all urban local bodies in the country, making it the largest such cleanliness survey in the world.

NPP Launches Unit in Assam

The National People's Party (NPP), which aims to be the alternative to the Congress and ally BJP in the northeast, launched its unit in Assam with a plan to contest all the 14 Lok Sabha seats in the State.
The launch coincided with the completion of a year of the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government in Meghalaya, where the BJP is a minor partner.
Assam is the sixth north-eastern State where the NPP has made an entry. The Assam unit is headed by retired IPS officer Dilip Kumar Bora.

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