General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - February 2017

Feb 2017

May 03, 2021

S. Jaishankar on Four-day Visit to London for G7 Foreign Ministers' Meet

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is on a four-day visit to London primarily to attend a meeting of Foreign Ministers of Group of Seven (G7) rich nations. The United Kingdom has invited India for an in-person G7 Foreign Ministers meeting, for which FMs of Australia, South Korea, South Africa, and the Chair and Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have also been invited.
External Affairs Minister will be visiting London from 3-6 May 2021 to participate in the G7 Foreign Ministers Meeting, at which India has been invited as a guest country. He will thereafter undertake a bilateral visit to the UK.

Assembly Election 2021 Results

The official results for the high-stakes assembly elections held in four states and one Union Territory are almost out now for the majority of the constituencies and barring West Bengal, the predictions of exit polls remained more or less close to the actual results and trends in Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.
As per reports, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) has retained power in West Bengal for the third consecutive time, whereas, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) headed by Pinarayi Vijayan has made the first re-election in 44 years. In Tamil Nadu, MK Stalin's Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has dethroned incumbent Edappadi K Palaniswami's All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), while the Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliances (BJP) have won in Assam and Puducherry.
The LDF broke Kerala's record of voting out every incumbent government for the past four decades and made the first re-election in over 44 years.

May 01, 2021

UP CM Yogi Adityanath Replaces his Team-11 with Team-9

Amid a surge in coronavirus cases, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath replaced his "Team-11", a group of officials tasked with managing the crises, with a new nine-member set of ministers and bureaucrats.
Opposition parties have been slamming Adityanath and Team-11 for their alleged failure to control the pandemic in the country's most populous state.
The CM was also accused of relying too much on bureaucrats, an allegation levelled also by an MLA from the ruling BJP itself.
Unlike Team-11, the new group called "Team- 9" also has two ministers. The nine members head their own committees or departments involved in fighting the pandemic.
"The CM has constituted a new Team-9 for effective management of COVID-19 and related work. This team will directly report to the CM and carry out important work in different fields.

Karnataka Urban Local Body Polls Results 2021

The opposition Congress in Karnataka has trounced the ruling BJP by winning 120 out of the 263 wards in 10 local bodies across eight districts that went to the polls on April 27.
Surprisingly, even the Janata Dal (S) performed better than the BJP by winning 66 seats as against the saffron party`s 57 seats.

Apr 30, 2021

Last Phase of Bengal Polls

Roughly 76% of the electorate voted in the final phase of the West Bengal assembly election, ending a month long poll season that began with a tense political battle between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) but was quickly overshadowed by surging Covid-19 infections.
Voting in three districts and a part of Kolkata saw stray violence in some areas but a sharp spike in Covid cases kept many voters indoor. The provisional turnout of 76.07 % is the lowest of eight phases and came on a day the state posted its highest cases and deaths, 17,403 and 89, respectively.
Results will be declared on May 2, along with those for Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry, where polls ended on April 6.
The number of candidates and voters in the last phase was 2,116 and 72, 811, 254, (number seems wrong) respectively. The turnouts for the first to the seventh phases were 84.63%, 86.11%, 84.61%, 79.90%, 82.49%, 82% and 76.90%, respectively.

Interpol again Refuses Red Notice against Zakir Naik

Interpol has for the third time rejected India's request for a Red Notice (RN) to provisionally arrest controversial television evangelist Zakir Naik while questioning the very basis of invoking money laundering and hate speech charges against Naik in the country.
The fact that he raised money from his religious teachings and spent it is irrelevant and cannot amount to money laundering, Interpol's adjudicating panel noted in its order.
Dismissing the evidence furnished by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for the provisional arrest of Naik for extradition to India, the commission for the control of Interpol's files noted that asking for donations during speeches and the recording or diffusion of speeches were not in itself a criminal act that could constitute the component of criminal offence for money laundering.

Apr 29, 2021

Arun Raste New MD & CEO of NCDEX

Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has given approval to the appointment of Arun Raste as MD and CEO of National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX) for a period of 5 years.
Raste is currently associated with the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) as an Executive Director and prior to NDDB, he has worked with organisations like IDFC First Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, NABARD, ACC Cement, and a non-profit NGO IRFT.

T V Somanathan Finance Secretary

Expenditure Secretary T V Somanathan has been appointed as the finance secretary.
Somanathan, a 1987 batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre, took charge as the finance secretary, a position earlier held by Ajay Bhushan Pandey who superannuated in February.
The senior-most officer among all the secretaries in the finance ministry is designated as the Finance Secretary.

L-G Baijal Now 'Government' in Delhi

The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021, which gives primacy to the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) over the elected government in the city, has come into force.
According to the legislation, the "government" in Delhi means the "Lieutenant Governor" and the city government will now have to seek the opinion of the L-G before taking any executive action.
Parliament had passed the bill last month -- Lok Sabha on March 22 and Rajya Sabha on March 24.
When the bill was passed by Parliament, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had termed it a "sad day for Indian democracy".

Apr 28, 2021

India Ranks 49th in CGGI

India has been ranked 49th in the Chandler Good Government Index (CGGI), which classifies 104 countries in terms of government capabilities and outcomes.
Reuben Abraham, CEO of IDFC Foundation and IDFC Institute, and CGGI Advisory Panel Member, said: "Civil service innovation and capacity building is a key focus for the Indian government. The Chandler Good Government Index shows the importance of measuring and investing in governance capabilities that matter. It highlights a key need for 'pracademics' in government – people who combine a rigorous understanding of research and data with a practical and grounded sense of what governments need to do to succeed."
Finland has topped the CGGI list, in which each country is measured across over 50 open data points. The index focuses on seven pillars: leadership and foresight; robust laws and policies; strong institutions; financial stewardship; attractive marketplace; global influence and reputation; and helping people rise.

Justice Bindal is Acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court

The senior-most Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Rajesh Bindal, was appointed Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta HC. Justice Bindal was transferred to the Calcutta HC four months ago and was functioning as the senior-most Judge there as well.

SC Appointed Panel Suggests Scrapping Railway Project in Western Ghats

Empowered Committee (CEC) constituted by the Supreme Court has recommended withdrawal of the environmental approval to doubling of the single line railway track between Tinaighat in North Karnataka and the port town of Vasco da Gama in Goa. The line cuts across the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats and the CEC said that the project will only marginally enhance railway capacity but cause big damage to the fragile ecosystem of the Western Ghats, an internationally recognised Biodiversity hotspot. The recommendation is being seen as a big win for environmental activists.

Panel to Monitor Air Quality in Delhi-NCR

The Union environment ministry has reconstituted the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas after having disbanded it in March, just five months after it was created.
Earlier this month the Union government promulgated the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Ordinance 2021 and now has issued a notification to constitute the commission.
The chairperson of the commission continues to be MM Kutty, former secretary in the ministry of petroleum and natural gas and former chief secretary of Delhi.

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