General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - December 2016

Dec 2016

Nov 25, 2018

Centre Looks Abroad for Ideas

The Centre is in talks with experts from Germany, Laos, Austria and Egypt, among others, to evolve a Ganga River Basin Management Plan.

Though it already has a preliminary draft from a consortium of seven IITs, it is in the process of soliciting wider consultation from countries that have such river basin management plans.

Vice-President to Lay Stone for Corridor

Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu will lay the foundation stone for the construction of the visa-free corridor from the Indian side to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur in Pakistan on November 26.

Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari and Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh will be present.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to perform the ground-breaking ceremony for construction work on its side of the border on November 28.

Nov 24, 2018

Delhi's New Chief Secretary

Delhi's Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Kumar Dev has been appointed as the new Chief Secretary in the Delhi government.

Mr. Dev, a 1987-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre, takes over from Anshu Prakash, a 1986-batch officer of the same cadre.

Mr. Prakash had taken over as Delhi Chief Secretary on December 4, 2017.

RTI Request Denied

The Centre has denied a Right to Information (RTI) request for a copy of the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill 2018, which had been notified for introduction in the monsoon session of Parliament.

The Bill sought to give the Centre power to set the tenure and salaries of State and Central Information Commissioners. Critics worry this could threaten the independence of Commissioners. An RTI request for details on the applicants and search committee set up to fill the vacancies on the Central Information Commission (CIC) has also been denied. The CIC is the final appellate authority for all Central public authorities. By December 1, there will be eight vacancies in the 11-member Commission.

Constitution Will Be Available in Braille

The Constitution will be made available in Braille for the first time ahead of the Constitution Day on November 26.

In a joint project undertaken by The Buddhist Association for the Blind along with Saavi Foundation and Swagat Thorat, who started India's first Braille newsletter 'Sparshdnyan' , the Constitution will be made available in five parts in Braille for the benefit of visually challenged individuals.

Nov 23, 2018

IIMC Granted Deemed Varsity Status

The HRD Ministry has issued a Letter of Intent (LoI) to the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) to grant it deemed university status.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) had in August recommended the HRD Ministry to grant deemed university status to the IIMC.

The institute, one of the prestigious journalism schools in the country which functions under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, offers postgraduate diploma courses in journalism, advertising and public relations. The deemed university status will enable the institute to grant degrees instead of diplomas.

Jute Packaging Mandatory for All Food Grains

The government approved a proposal making jute packaging mandatory for all food grains. The decision was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, headed by the Prime Minister. The jute sector in India employs approximately 3.7 lakh workers directly.

Polluting Units Sealed

The North Delhi Municipal Corporation has sealed 124 illegal commercial units, which stored tar oil, in Ashoka Park, near Karol Bagh on the orders of the Supreme Court-mandated Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority. The units were being illegally operated out of a residential area in violation of the provision of the Delhi Master Plan 2021.

Corridor to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur

India and Pakistan will build a corridor on their respective sides to let Sikh pilgrims visit the iconic Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur on the banks of the river Ravi in the neighbouring country.
The plan to build a corridor on the Indian side leading to the border near the gurdwara was among a slew of proposals cleared during a Cabinet meeting to mark Guru Nanak's 550th birth anniversary in 2019.

Nov 22, 2018

Formal Request for Multi-role U.S. Copters

India made a formal request to the U.S. for the purchase of 24 MH-60R Multi-Role Helicopters (MRH) for the Navy in a deal estimated at $2bn. This is among a series of defence procurements and inductions from the U.S. and Russia in the last two months.

The Navy is presently facing a critical shortage of helicopters and several frontline warships are plying with empty helicopter decks. These helicopters are being procured as replacement for 15 Sea King ASW helicopters de-inducted from service in 1991 and one Sea King 42B MRH lost in accident.

Jammu & Kashmir Assembly Dissolved

Jammu & Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik dissolved the state assembly in a contentious decision that may well be challenged in the courts.

The dissolution came after Mehbooba Mufti's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its arch-rival National Conference (NC) teamed up with the Congress for a shot at government formation with the support of 56 legislators in the 87-member assembly. The People's Conference led by Sajjad Lone, later staked a rival claim, saying it had the support of 25 legislators belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and "more than 18" others.

Nov 21, 2018

Kolkata Mayor Resigns from Cabinet

Sovan Chatterjee, one of the key Ministers of the West Bengal government and a close confidant of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, tendered his resignation from the portfolios of Housing Department and Department of Fire and Emergency Services. Mr. Chatterjee, who is also the Mayor of Kolkata, is also expected to relinquish the post.

Reservation for Women

The Odisha Assembly passed a resolution by unanimous voice vote for providing 33% reservation for women in Legislative Assemblies and Parliament.

There are 12 women legislators in the 147-member State Assembly at present.

Sushma Swaraj Not To Contest 2019 Polls

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has announced that she will not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Swaraj, the BJP's most prominent woman leader, is a four-time Lok Sabha MP, and has been member of the Rajya Sabha for three terms. She won from Vidisha for the second time in a row in 2014.

Swaraj entered the Haryana assembly in 1977, and became a minister in the state cabinet at the age of 25. She is a former chief minister of Delhi and has been part of every BJP government at the Centre.

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