General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - December 2016

Dec 2016

Nov 20, 2018

Land Rights to Enclave Dwellers in Bengal

The West Bengal Assembly passed a Bill to give land rights to enclave dwellers in north Bengal, ending an era of uncertain future of the people residing in those enclaves.

Bangladesh and India had exchanged a total of 162 enclaves on August 1, 2015, ending one of the world's most complex border disputes that had lingered for seven decades since Independence.

As per Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, this historic Bill would help the enclave dwellers to get full-fledged status as citizens of India, along with all civic amenities and citizenship rights.

Draft Witness Protection Scheme

The Supreme Court said that it would direct all the states to implement the draft witness protection scheme framed by the Centre in consultation with the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA).

The issue of witness protection scheme had cropped up earlier when the top court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking protection for witnesses in rape cases involving self-styled preacher Asaram Bapu.

Emergency Landing Airstrips on NHs

The Centre has decided to develop 11 emergency landing airstrips on the national highways in different states to operate airplanes when road or rail traffic gets disrupted.

The spots selected were mostly located near sea coasts which get cut off in case of heavy floods or tsunami consequent to earthquakes.

CBI Feud Turns Murkier

A senior Central Bureau of Investigation officer supervising the probe against the agency's special director Rakesh Asthana moved the Supreme Court against his sudden transfer to Nagpur with an explosive petition that levelled charges against high-ranking government officials, two of his seniors, a minister and even the country's top vigilance officer.

Manish Kumar Sinha, deputy inspector general (DIG) of anti-corruption branch, Nagpur filed his application demanding a court-monitored probe by a special investigation team (SIT) into the corruption allegations against Asthana.

Chandan Kumar Sarkar Passes Away

Former Assam minister and senior Congress leader Chandan Kumar Sarkar died at a hospital at Bongaigaon.

Sarkar was elected to the legislative assembly thrice, 1991, 2001 and 2011, from Abhayapuri South constituency and served as the irrigation minister in the third term of the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government.

India and Russia to Sign Navy Deal

India and Russia will hammer out a $500 million contract to build two stealth frigates in Goa that are expected to be delivered by 2027.

Russia's state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport and India's Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) will sign the contract in New Delhi to build the Grigorovich-class 'Project 1135.6' frigates with technology transfer from Russia, which is India's top arms supplier.

India is in talks with the US to secure a waiver from the Countering America's Adversaries through Sanctions Act (Caatsa), arguing that its military is heavily dependent on Russian equipment and the two countries share a unique, time-tested relationship.

Nov 19, 2018

World's Largest Display of Bonsai Trees

Pune-based Bonsai master Prajakta Giridhari Kale has made an entry into the Guinness world record with the world's largest display of Bonsai trees. Kale became the first woman in the world in the field of Bonsai art to have established a new Guinness world record.

With her collection of 3,333 Bonsai trees, Kale broke Swami Ganapathy Sachchidananda's world record of a collection of 2,649 Bonsai trees which was created on December 21, 2016 in Mysuru.

Reservation in Jobs and Educational Institutes for Marathas

The Maharashtra government has accepted the State Backward Class Commission's report and decided to give quota in jobs and educational institutes to the Maratha community.

The reservation will be granted to the community under a new category called 'Socially and Educationally Backward Class' (SEBC) as per the recommendation of the commission. The politically dominant Maratha community constitutes over 30 per cent of the state's population.

Northeastern States Agree to Implement RERA

Nearly two years after the Real Estate Regulation Act (RERA) was enacted by the Parliament, six northeastern states have finally agreed to implement the law, paving way for protecting the interest of home-buyers in these states.

Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim had failed to notify RERA due to land and other issues.

The development comes after a team of the Union Housing and Urban Affairs (HUA) Ministry visited the northeastern states in October and held a workshop with their representatives and discussed the issues coming in the way of notifying the Act.

104-year-old Kalyan Bridge

The central railway dismantled the 104-year-old Patripool Bridge in Kalyan in five hours, taking an hour less than the expected time. The previous demolition, Hancock Bridge near Sandhurst Road station in 2016, took 18 hours.

Motorists from Kalyan use the bridge, which is on the 21-km Kalyan-Shilphata stretch, to reach Dombivli, Thane, Bhiwandi and Navi Mumbai.

Nov 18, 2018

Relief for Gujarat Farmers

The Gujarat government announced a special relief package of Rs. 1,300 crore for approximately 20 lakh farmers in 45 talukas that received less than 400 mm rain in the current year. These talukas have been declared scarcity-hit.

India's First Dedicated Elephant Hospital

India got its first dedicated elephant hospital near the Taj Mahal, complete with wireless digital X-Ray, laser treatment and dental X-ray facilities. The 'jumbo' hospital is the result of a collaboration between the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department and conservation NGO Wildlife SOS.

The veterinary hospital has modern medical facilities for the treatment of elephants in distress.

Located near Agra, the facility is in the Farah block of Mathura, near the Elephant Conservation and Care Center (ECCC) run by Wildlife SOS.

Nov 17, 2018

PM Modi calls for 'great wall of trust'

Ahead of his meeting with President Xi Jinping on the margins of the G20 Summit in Argentina this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke of the need for contacts between India and China to build a "Great Wall of Trust and Cooperation". Modi's remarks came in the form of a message read out to participants of the China-India Youth Dialogue 2018 at the Chinese embassy. Chinese envoy Lou Zhaohui, in his speech at the event, spoke of the need to synergise India's 'Act East' policy with China's 'One Belt, One Road' (OBOR) initiative, which New Delhi doesn't endorse.

Modi and Xi are set to meet for the fourth time this year during the G20 Summit. They have met twice since Wuhan - on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Qingdao in June, and the sidelines of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, in July.

Railways to Set up Medical Colleges

The Indian Railways is planning to establish medical colleges to offer postgraduate courses for doctors at 10 of its existing hospitals across India.

As per reports, the process is in a very nascent stage right now and that the national transporter has already identified 10 hospitals with 300 or more beds across India, where there courses will be taught.

The official said that the proposal has been cleared by the Railway Board and now, the Railways is in the process of getting permissions from the Medical Council of India (MCI).

Acquisition Of Weaponised Predator Drones And Antimissile Shield For Delhi

Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman will embark on a three-day bilateral visit to the US in December first week with the acquisition of weaponised Predator drones and antimissile shield for Delhi on top of the agenda with Pentagon as the two countries take their defence cooperation to the next level. Sitharaman will be the first NDA defence minister to visit Hawaii to honor the renaming of Pacific Command as Indo-Pacific command, recognising the salience of India in east and far east.

According to diplomats based in New Delhi and Washington, Defence Minister Sitharaman will be in the US from December 3 to December 6 and will be hosted by Secretary of Defense James Mattis even as the possibility of US President Donald Trump reshuffling his Cabinet remains a distinct possibility. Apart from her meetings in Washington, Minister Sitharaman will also visit the Mountain View headquarters of Pentagon's defence innovation unit (DIUx), which recently tied up with its Indian counterpart.

During her visit, Sitharaman will also re-pitch for a Presidential waiver on CAATSA for the Indian acquisition of S-400 missile system from Russia; there were some positive signals on this during her meeting with Secretary Mattis on October 19 on the sidelines of the ADMM plus meeting in Singapore.

The two defence ministers are expected to review bilateral defence cooperation and discuss regional environment particularly in context of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the IndoPacific.

New Chief for Naval Dockyard

Rear Admiral Kiran Deshmukh has taken charge as the Admiral Superintendent of Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam from Rear Admiral Amit Bose.

He was commissioned into Indian Navy in March 1986. The Flag Officer is an alumnus of Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Wellington and IIT, Chennai.

Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal Against CBI

The Andhra Pradesh government of N Chandrababu Naidu and the West Bengal government of Mamata Banerjee have both barred the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from exercising authority in their state without express consent in each case, making the point that they doubt the independence of the country's premier investigating agency.

The Telugu Desam Party government, until March an ally of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre, will not allow the CBI to conduct raids or investigations in Andhra Pradesh without its prior approval.

"In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, the government hereby withdraws the general consent accorded (in GO Ms 109) to all the members of the Delhi Special Police Establishment to exercise the powers and jurisdiction under the said Act in the state of Andhra Pradesh," a government order said.

CBI functions under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, which gives it complete jurisdiction over Delhi and allows it to enter other states with the 'general consent' of that state's government. In the absence of such consent, CBI cannot interfere in any case within the limits of states. The Naidu government has vested the state investigation agency with the responsibilities of CBI.

Details of what the Bengal government has done aren't available and it isn't clear whether an order was passed.

Nov 16, 2018

No More Marking Gorkhas as Foreigners

The Assam government has decided to stop marking members of the Gorkha community as suspected foreigners and referring them to foreigners' tribunals. The state government will also move the High Court for relief to members of the community whose cases are pending with the tribunals.

The move comes after a federal ministry of home affairs circular to the Assam government that members of the community who are citizens of India or who have Nepalese documents cannot be marked as suspected foreigners and referred to foreigners tribunals to prove their citizenship.

Ramaphosa Likely to Be R-Day Guest

As per reports, South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa is likely to be the chief guest of the 2019 Republic Day ceremonies.

Mr. Ramaphosa had hosted Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the BRICS summit in Johannesburg in July. He is also expected to take part in the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, to be held in Varanasi from January 21 to 23.

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