General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - December 2016

Dec 2016

Jul 31, 2018

Death Penalty to Child Rape Convicts

The Lok Sabha passed a bill to award death penalty to child rapists. The bill seeks to replace the Criminal Law (amendment) Ordinance promulgated on April 21, which followed protests and widespread outrage after the rape and murder of a minor girl in Kathua.

National Register of Citizens

As per reports, no person, excluded from the draft National Registration of Citizens (NRC) published, will be declared a foreigner as such powers are vested only with tribunals where one can approach for remedies.

The Supreme Court-monitored updating of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a secular exercise and no particular community was targeted, and all genuine Indian nationals will be given adequate opportunities to prove their citizenship.

Taj Mahal in 3 Hands

The fate of the Taj Mahal is now in the hands of K Ram Mohan Rao, RS Prasad (not the minister), and Usha Sharma.

The Supreme Court has named the three, the nodal officers in charge of all matters pertaining to the upkeep and maintenance of the Mughal era monument which is turning yellow in colour due to multiple sources of pollution.

The court has clarified that in future any affidavit in the court on the Taj Mahal will only be filed by one of the three officers.

Purchase of 111 Naval Utility Helicopters

The defence ministry cleared "platform-specific" guidelines for the purchase of 111 naval utility helicopters under the 'strategic partnership' model to replace the Navy's outdated fleet of French-designed Chetak choppers.

Jul 30, 2018

Agreements between India and South Africa

India and South Africa signed three agreements at the annual BRICS Summit in in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The three agreements are:

Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Agricultural Research and Education

Memorandum of Understanding regarding the Setting up of the "Gandhi Mandela Centre of Specialisation for Artisan Skills" in South Africa

Memorandum of Understanding between Indian Space Research Organisation and the South African National Space Agency on Cooperation in the Exploration and uses of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes.

India in Talks to Procure Missile Shield from U.S.

India is in talks with the U.S. to procure an advanced air defence system to defend the National Capital Region (NCR) from aerial attacks. The process for procuring the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System-II (NASAMS-II), estimated at $1 billion, has been initiated.

India is deploying a multi-tiered air defence network to fully secure its airspace from incoming fighter aircraft, missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).

Jul 29, 2018

SC/ST Act

A meagre 27 per cent of people accused of committing atrocities and crimes against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, have been convicted from 2014 to 2016 due to a variety of reasons like delay in lodging FIRs, prosecution unable to prove charges and witnesses turning hostile.

According to a report compiled by the Union Home Ministry, the rate of conviction is low despite the country having 195 exclusive special courts to deal with the alleged crimes against SCs and STs. The figures come amid the ongoing row over the alleged dilution of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Special Consultative Status to Punjab NGO

Punjab based non-profit organisation Patiala Foundation has been accorded "Special Consultative Status" by the United Nations. The recognition confers a set of privileges on the NGO, which has been working in the field of livelihood, tourism and road safety. So far, 3,974 NGOs in the globe have received the recognition.

Foreigners Queue Up for Indian Citizenship

India appears to have become one of the attractive destinations for people across the world to acquire its citizenship.

According to the figures available with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the US nationals are third in the list of 71 countries whose citizens have applied and their requests are pending with the authorities.

The pending requests for acquiring Indian citizenship in all around 4,044 applications are under process at various levels.

Made in India Tank Engines

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman handed over two fully indigenous battle tank engines produced by the Engine Factory Avadi (EFA), a unit of Ordnance Factory Board, to Vice-Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Devraj Anbu.

The engines, V-46-6 and V92S2, power the T-72 Ajeya and the T-90 Bhishma tanks.

Holes in Data Protection Bill

While the draft Bill for protection of personal data of Indian citizens has been welcomed as a positive start, it is not without loopholes, according to various stakeholders who have called for an in-depth consultative process before the Bill becomes a law.

An expert panel headed by Justice B.N. Srikrishna, on Friday, submitted its report on data protection as well as the draft 'The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018' after year-long consultations.

Jul 28, 2018

To develop inner governance through tapping inner resources. . India to Give Flash Flood Warning

India has been designated as a nodal centre for preparing flash-flood forecasts by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

This means India will have to develop a customised model that can issue advance warning of floods in Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand.

A Program on Ethics in Public Governance

In first of its kind event held by any government organization, the Indian Railways organized a programme on Ethics in Public Governance and Launched "Mission Satyanishtha".

Objectives of the mission are:

To train every employee to understand need and value of ethics in personal and public life.
To deal with ethical dilemmas in life and public governance.
To help understand policies of Indian Railways on ethics and integrity and employee's role in upholding same
To develop inner governance through tapping inner resources.

India's First Apache and Chinook Choppers

Aerospace major Boeing has carried out the first flights of India`s Apache and Chinook helicopters destined for delivery in 2019.

Indian industry partners such as Dynamatics is building large sections of Chinook, and the Tata Boeing joint venture in Hyderabad is building the complete fuselage of the Apache.

India will ultimately receive 22 AH-64E Apache attack, and 15 CH-47F (I) Chinook transport helicopters.

LJP Gives Ultimatum to Centre

The Lok Jan Shakti Party (LJP), led by Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, issued an August 9 ultimatum to the Narendra Modi government for removal of the National Green Tribunal Chairman A. K. Goel and restoration of the stringent measures of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Jul 27, 2018

Harpal Cheema Appointed as Leader of Opposition

The Aam Aadmi Party removed Sukhpal Singh Khaira as the Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly and announced Dirba MLA Harpal Singh Cheema would take his place.

No specific reason for replacing Khaira was given by the party.

Anti-trafficking Bill Passed

The Lok Sabha passed a landmark Bill to criminalise and penalise trafficking for exploitative sex, forced and bonded labour, begging, surrogacy and forced marriages.

The Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill is the first standalone legislation to prevent trafficking of persons, especially women and children, provide care, protection and rehabilitation to the victims, prosecute offenders and create a legal, economic and social environment for the victims.

POSHAN Abhiyaan

Union Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) organised the 2nd meeting of National Council on India's Nutrition Challenges under POSHAN Abhiyaan in New Delhi.

It was chaired by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar.

National Council approved inclusion of 32 new districts under POSHAN Abhiyaan in the current year.

POSHAN Abhiyaan (Prime Minister's Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition) was launched in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan in March 2018. It aims to ensure holistic development and adequate nutrition for pregnant women, mothers and children.

Delight for Army Jawans

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has sorted out two long-standing issues impacting promotions of jawans and status of junior commissioned officers (JCO's) in the Army.

The ministry issued an order allowing the career progression scheme for jawans to be applicable from January 1, 2006, and not September 1, 2008. Under the modified assured career-progression scheme, a sepoy gets promoted as Naik after eight years of service; as Havildar after 16 years of service and Naib Subedar after 24 years of service.

Clean Yamuna Project

A day after it observed that there has been no "meaningful progress" on the ground over cleaning of Yamuna in the past three years, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has formed a monitoring committee and directed it to submit an action plan on the issue.

The green panel appointed retired expert member B. S. Sajwan and former Delhi Chief Secretary Shailaja Chandra as members of the committee and directed them to prepare an action plan by September and submit a detailed report by December 31.

Resolution Passed to Rename State

The West Bengal Assembly passed a resolution to rename the state as 'Bangla' in three languages �" Bengali, English and Hindi.

The state will have to wait for the nod from the Home Ministry for a final approval on the resolution.

Earlier, the Centre had rejected the state government's proposals of having three names Bangla (in Bengali), Bengal (in English) and Bangal (in Hindi).

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