General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - May 2018

May 2018

Jan 06, 2024

Punjab Becomes First State to Map All Accident Prone Sites

Punjab became the first state in India to map all 784 accident black spots on the Mappls App, a navigation system developed by MapMyIndia. The announcement was made by Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav.
Citizens navigating using Mappls App will now receive voice alerts in Punjabi alerting the commuters about the black spot ahead, making Punjab the first state to map accident-prone sites as part of the road safety.
An accident black spot is a place where road traffic accidents have historically been concentrated.
MapmyIndia is an Indian technology company that builds digital map data, telematics services, location-based SaaS and GIS AI technologies. The company was founded by Rakesh and Rashmi Verma in 1995 and is headquartered at New Delhi with regional offices in Mumbai and Bengaluru and smaller offices across India. It also has international offices in the San Francisco Bay Area and Tokyo.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal Unveils Logo and Booklet for Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2024

At a curtain-raiser program in New Delhi, Union Minister Piyush Goyal revealed the logo and booklet for the highly anticipated 'Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2024'. Emphasizing India's innovative and holistic approach under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, Goyal encouraged the automotive industry to target a 50% export share, highlighting global economic opportunities.
Scheduled from February 1-3, 2024, at Bharat Mandapam, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, the expo boasts over 600 exhibitors from 50+ countries.

Calcutta High Court Lawyer Sabyasachi Banerjee Part of Commonwealth Expert Team Observing Banglad...

Sabyasachi Banerjee, an advocate and special public prosecutor practicing in the Calcutta High Court, was appointed as a member of the Commonwealth Expert Team (CET) assigned to observe the Bangladesh general elections, slated to be held on January 7.
Besides Banerjee, the team comprises eight other members from all over the world including former Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding.
Banerjee achieved his law degree from University of Pune and was awarded the "best student advocate of India" by Thrissur Law College, Kerala in 2000.
He enrolled with the Delhi Bar Council in 2002 and has been practicing law for 21 years. He has appeared as a special public prosecutor for the Government of West Bengal.

Alka Lamba New Chief of Congress Women Wing

The Congress appointed former Delhi MLA Alka Lamba as its women's wing chief, replacing Netta D'Souza. Lamba was included as a special invitee to the Congress Working Committee some months ago.
A former president of the Delhi University Students' Union, Lamba quit the Congress and joined AAP in 2014. She became an MLA from Chandni Chowk Assembly constituency in 2015. Lamba, however, returned to the Congress in 2019.
The Congress also appointed former DUSU secretary Varun Choudhary as the president of the party's students wing NSUI.

Jan 05, 2024

Kerala CM Launches K-SMART App for Digital Access to Local Govt. Services

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the K-SMART application, aiming to provide digital access to services offered by local self-government bodies through a unified platform across the state.
The Chief Minister said that the government's objective is to leverage advanced technology for the improvement of various sectors in society.
With the introduction of K-SMART (Kerala Solutions for Managing Administrative Reformation and Transformation), services provided by local self-government bodies will now be available at citizens' fingertips.

Czech PM to be Chief Guest at Vibrant Gujarat Summit

The Prime Minister of Czech Republic Petr Fiala is expected to be the Guest of Honour at the 10^th Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit to be held from January 10-12 in Gandhinagar. Besides PM Fiala, Timor-Leste's President José Ramos-Horta, President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Mozambique's President Filipe Nyusi will also be attending. The Prime Minister will open the event on January 10 in Gandhinagar.
The Czech Republic is also a partner country in the 10^th Summit.
The biennial event has become a crucial platform for policymakers, diplomats, business leaders, investors, and corporates to foster collaborations, and partnerships and explore investment opportunities.

Jan 04, 2024

Delhi, Chandigarh, Haryana Have Highest Cybercrime Rate in India

Delhi, Chandigarh and Haryana reported the highest cybercrime rates in the country in 2023 with Haryana's Mewat emerging as a hub of sextortion, a serious online crime.
As against 129 cybercrimes per one lakh population reported nationally last year in 2023, Delhi, Chandigarh and Haryana reported cybercrime rates much higher than the national average at 755, 432 and 381 per one lakh people, respectively.
Of all cyber crimes in 2023, investment frauds made up 38 per cent followed by customer care or refund based or KYC expiry-related frauds; and sextortion which occurs when someone threatens to distribute private material if they refuse to share materials of intimate nature, grant sexual favours or transfer money.

Randhir Jaiswal Takes over as Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson

Randhir Jaiswal assumed the position of the Official Spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, succeeding Arindam Bagchi, who was appointed as India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other international organisations in Geneva.
Arindam Bagchi, a 1995-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer and Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, took over as the spokesperson in March 2021.
Randhir Jaiswal, who succeeded Bagchi, is an officer from the 1998 batch of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and previously served as the Consul General of India to New York. Jaiswal assumed the role of consul general in July 2020, navigating the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, where he played a crucial role in facilitating the repatriation of stranded Indian tourists, students, and diaspora members. He officially concluded his term in New York in November 2023.

France, Germany to Provide 100 Million Euros Finance for AMRUT Mission

France's development agency, AFD, and Germany's KfW Bank are in talks with India to extend a €100 million loan to support the country's urban infrastructure plan, specifically the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0. Negotiations for the loan are scheduled for early 2024, with the signing expected to take place in February.
This follows the countries' collaboration on the City Investments to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain or CITIIS 2.0 program, a four-year initiative focused on urban renewal and sustainable waste management, to which they contributed €100 million each.
Both France and Germany have funded urban transformation projects in India before. France's AFD was part of the CITIIS 1.0 program, which began in 2018.

Jan 03, 2024

Modi Govt. Inked One FTA in 2023

Free trade agreements (FTAs) have proved hard nuts for Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Central Government to crack as of the three trade pacts it had intended to sign before the end of 2023, the government could ink just one with the UAE.
Negotiations for FTAs with Australia and the UK are still a work in progress.
India and Australia have signed a precursor agreement to an FTA. The feeling here is that Canberra has lost steam after its Anthony Albanese-led government began cozying up to China which lowered the punitive import duties it had earlier imposed on some agricultural products.

Jan 02, 2024

Government of India Constitutes Sixteenth Finance Commission with Arvind Panagariya as its Chairman

The government appointed former Niti Aayog vice chairman and Columbia University professor Arvind Panagariya as the chairman of the Sixteenth Finance Commission, which will recommend the tax revenue sharing formula between the Centre and the States for the five-year period beginning April 2026.
The Chairman and other members of the Commission shall hold office from the date on which they respectively assume office up to the date of the submission of report or October 31, 2025, whichever is earlier.
October 2025 is the deadline set for the Commission to submit its recommendations, so that they can be incorporated in the Budget exercise for 2026-27. The Finance Commission usually takes about two years to consult stakeholders in the States and Centre and arrive at their conclusions.
The Finance Commissions are commissions periodically constituted by the President of India under Article 280 of the Indian Constitution to define the financial relations between the central government of India and the individual state governments. The First Commission was established in 1951.

Sagar Parikrama (Phase X) Event from January 1 to 6 2024

Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala along with Minister of State L. Murugan is participating in the Sagar Parikrama (Phase X) organised from January 1 to 6, 2024 at various locations of Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry.
Union Ministers will distribute Kisan Credit Card (KCC) to beneficiaries like fishermen, aqua farmers and other stakeholders during the events to progressive fishermen, particularly coastal fishermen and fish farmers, young fisheries entrepreneurs etc.
The Sagar Parikrama Yatra features the interactions of Minister with fishermen, fish farmers and other relevant stakeholders. Campaigns on KCC and other activities are also being conducted across the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry. State fisheries officials, fishermen representatives, fish-farmers, entrepreneurs, fishermen cooperative society leaders, professionals, scientists, and other stakeholders from across the nation will accompany the events.

India, Pakistan Exchange List of N- Installations

India and Pakistan exchanged the list of nuclear installations between the two countries. This was the 33rd consecutive exchange of lists of nuclear installations between the two countries, the first one having taken place on January 1, 1992.
The lists of nuclear facilities were simultaneously exchanged through diplomatic channels in New Delhi and Islamabad in line with the provisions of the Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations and Facilities.
The agreement was signed on December 31, 1988 and entered into force on January 27, 1991. It stipulates that India and Pakistan should inform each other about the nuclear installations and facilities to be covered under the pact on the first of January of every calendar year.

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