General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - December 2016

Dec 2016

Nov 15, 2018

India Votes against UNGA Draft Resolution

India has voted against a UN General Assembly draft resolution on the use of death penalty, saying it goes against the statutory law of the country where an execution is carried out in the 'rarest of rare' cases.

The draft resolution, taken up in the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian, Cultural) of the General Assembly Tuesday, was approved with a recorded vote of 123 in favour, 36 against and 30 abstentions.

Parliament Winter Session

The next Winter Session of Parliament will be held from December 11, 2018 to January 7, 2019.

The winter session of Parliament usually starts in November. However, it will be the second year in a row when it will begin in December.

The session was been delayed this year due to assembly elections in five states.

Punjab Government Fined over Pollution in Rivers

The National Green Tribunal slapped a Rs. 50 crore fine on the Punjab government over pollution in Beas and Satluj Rivers.

The Punjab government has been given two weeks to submit the amount.

Members of AAP in the state had asked NGT to save the two rivers from pollution, primarily caused by sugar mills.

Andhra Pradesh's High Court

As per Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, the Andhra Pradesh High Court will start functioning from the state's new capital, Amravati from January 1, 2019.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi will be invited for inaugurating the high court complex.

The court is currently functioning from Hyderabad, the joint capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Nov 14, 2018

Nod for Faizabad Name Change

The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet approved a proposal to change the name of Faizabad district to Ayodhya, a week after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath made the announcement on the eve of Deepavali.

Along with the district, Faizabad division has also been renamed Ayodhya. The districts of Ambedkar Nagar, Barabanki, Amethi, Faizabad (now Ayodhya) and Sultanpur comprise the administrative division and the contours will remain the same.

Portfolios of Ananth Kumar

President Ram Nath Kovind on the advice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, re-assigned the portfolios held by former Union Minister Ananth Kumar.

Union Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar was given additional charge of Parliamentary Affairs, the Chemicals and Fertilizers portfolio was allotted to D. V. Sadananda Gowda, the Minister for Statistics and Programme Implementation.

Exercise Indra 2018

A joint military exercise between Indian and Russia will begin on 18 November at the Babina Field Firing Ranges, Babina Military Station. The Exercise Indra 2018 will be focused on combating insurgency and will be held under the aegis of United Nations (UN).

Company sized contingents of the 5th Army of the Russian Federation and a Mechanised Infantry Battalion of India will participate in the training exercise which will continue for eleven days.

It is the tenth exercise in the series of Exercise Indra.

Nov 13, 2018

IIM Boards to be Reconstituted

The Boards of Governors (BoG) of the 20 prestigious Indian Institutes of Management would be reconstituted as required by the IIM Act passed last year by December 15, with the Union HRD ministry giving its nod to the process.

According to the ministry, the process was in accordance with the provisions of the IIM Act 2017 and was approved in consultation with the law and justice ministry.

The government has also decided to immediately withdraw government nominees who are in excess of the provisions of the Act. This will pave way for complete control of the institutions by reputed academicians and alumni.

Modi in Varanasi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated infrastructure projects worth over Rs. 2,412 crore, including two major national highways and an inland waterway project.

It was the PM's 15th visit to his constituency in the last four-and-a half years.

The projects inaugurated also included a multi-modal terminal on the Ganga near Ralhupur village as part of the Centre's Jal Marg Vikas Project.

Bilateral Exercise Samudra Shakti

INS Rana of the Eastern Fleet based at Visakhapatnam under the Eastern Naval Command is on deployment to South East Asia and arrived at the port of Surabaya to participate in the inaugural edition of Indian Navy - Indonesian Navy Bilateral Exercise 'Samudra Shakti'.

The aim of the exercise is to strengthen bilateral relations, expand maritime co-operation, enhance inter-operability and exchange best practices.

Nov 12, 2018

Andhra Pradesh Cabinet Expanded

The Chandrababu Naidu cabinet in Andhra Pradesh was expanded with the induction of veteran TDP leader N. Md Farooq and political debutant Kidari Sravan Kumar as ministers, filling vacancies caused by the resignation of two BJP members in March.

With the latest expansion, the cabinet strength stands at 26, the upper limit as per the Constitutional norm.

Renaming of Places Approved in Past One Year

The central government has given consent to the renaming of at least 25 towns and villages across India in the past one year and among the pending proposals is one for the state of West Bengal.

The renaming of a state requires amendment of the Constitution with a simple majority in Parliament. For changing the name of a village or town, an executive order is needed.

Union Minister Ananth Kumar Dies

BJP leader and Union minister Ananth Kumar died in Bengaluru. He was 59.

Kumar, a six-time member of Parliament from the Bengaluru South constituency, held various portfolios in the governments headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and now in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Nov 11, 2018

Cyberattacks Witnessed by India

According to cyber-security firm F-Secure Russia, the US, China and the Netherlands were the top countries from where cybercriminals attacked users in India, with over 6.95 lakh such incidents between January-June 2018.

As per F-Secure, the insights are based on data from "honeypots".

India ranks 21st in the global tally with 6,95,396 attacks hackers across various countries. However, India took the 13th spot in terms of hackers initiating attacks with 73,482 such incidents.

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