General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - May 2018

May 2018

Feb 24, 2023

Denmark's Crown Prince Frederik André Henrik Christian Pays Five-day Visit to India

Denmark's Crown Prince Frederik André Henrik Christian and Crown Princess Mary Elizabeth paid a five-day visit to India, in the first trip to the country from the Danish Royal family in two decades.
The royal couple visited India at the invitation of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar.
They were accompanied by Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke and Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities Lars Aagaard.
Earlier, Queen Margrethe II, had visited India in 1963 as Crown Princess.

Feb 23, 2023

Minister of Power R. K. Singh Inaugurates 15th Edition of ELECRAMA 2023

At ELECRAMA 2023, the largest solo electrical exhibition in the world held at the India Expo Mart in Greater Noida, the Ministry of Power, Government of India displayed a number of advances in the energy sector.
Cabinet Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy R. K. Singh officially inaugurated the Power Pavilion, ELECRAMA 2023, Vivek Kumar Dewangan, Chairman & Managing Director, REC Limited, and other REC representatives were also present at the inauguration.
PSUs in the power sector, such as REC, PFC, NTPC, NHPC, PGCIL, SJVN, and THDC India Limited, participated in the Power Pavilion, which presented a variety of technologies and activities, including e-mobility, energy transition, green financing, RDSS, smart cities, smart grids, and smart metres.
'Re-imagining the Future: Metamorphosis of the Power Sector in India' was the focus theme of the Power Pavilion, ELECRAMA 2023.

External Affairs Ministry's Annual Flagship Event Asia Economic Dialogue in Pune

External Affairs Ministry's annual flagship event on Geoeconomics, Asia Economic Dialogue was held in Pune, Maharashtra. The principal theme for the Dialogue is 'Asia and the Emerging World Order'. The dialogue also discussed themes such as Global Growth Prospects, How the Global South Will Shape the G20 Agenda and the Metaverse.
The Inaugural Session of the dialogue was a conversation between External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Bhutan Finance Minister Lyonpo Namgay Tshering and Maldives Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer.

Upendra Kushwaha Quits JD(U), Launches New Political Party

Former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha quit the Janata Dal (United), and floated his own political party, the Rashtriya Lok Janta Dal (RLJD). He was named the national president of the new party.
This is not the first time Kushwaha has parted ways with the JD(U) over differences with Kumar. He left the party in 2007 and 2013 as well and returned in 2009 and again in 2021. Earlier also, he formed a outfit, the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP), in 2013 but merged it with the JD(U) in 2021.

Rajeev Raghuvanshi is New DCGI

Rajeev Raghuvanshi is the new Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). His appointment was approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
He took charge at a time when the pharmaceutical manufacturing and regulatory landscape in India is under the scanner, after multiple reports of sub-standard and contaminated drugs exported to various countries in the globe began doing the rounds last November-December. The DCGI heads the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), which is responsible for ensuring quality supply across the country. Raghuvanshi has worked in various roles at some of India's leading pharmaceutical companies.
A Masters from IIT-BHU, and PhD from the National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, Raghuvanshi has worked as the secretary-cum-scientific director of the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission, an autonomous institution under the health ministry that sets standards for all drugs manufactured, sold and consumed in India.

AAP's Shelly Oberoi New Mayor of Delhi

Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Shelly Oberoi won the mayoral election, days after the Supreme Court ordered that nominated members will play no role in the voting process. Oberoi received 150 votes as against BJP candidate Rekha Gupta's 116. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia congratulated Shelly Oberoi for winning the mayoral election.
AAP's Aaley Mohammed Iqbal was elected deputy mayor with 147 votes as against BJP's Kamal Bagri who secured 116 votes.

Feb 22, 2023

Himachal Pradesh Government Dissolves State Staff Selection Commission

The Congress government disbanded the Himachal Pradesh Staff Selection Commission whose functioning was suspended after a paper leak was detected in December last year (2022).
The reports of departmental inquiry and vigilance bureau pointed out irregularities and papers were being leaked and sold to selective people for the past three years following which the state government decided to dissolve the commission with immediate effect.
The ongoing recruitment process from HPSSC was transferred to Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (HPPSC), Shimla, for the convenience of candidates till further alternative arrangements are made or a testing agency is constituted, he said while interacting with media persons.
All examinations would be conducted by HPPSC, and the employees of the Staff Selection Commission were transferred to the "surplus" pool and options will be given to them to join new departments of their choice.

'Goa ki Baat' Programme on 3rd Saturday of every Month

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that his government will start 'Goa Ki Baat' on the lines of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's radio programme 'Mann Ki Baat'.
As per Sawant, every minister of his cabinet will speak to the people of the state during this programme. They will speak about the programmes of their departments and will try to reach the message to the public.

Gulab Chand Kataria Sworn in as Assam Governor

Gulab Chand Kataria was sworn in as the 31st governor of Assam at Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra.
Kataria, a resident of Udaipur in Rajasthan, succeeded Professor Jagdish Mukhi, who demitted office after completing his term.
Prior to his appointment as the Governor, he had served as the Home Minister of Rajasthan and a leader of opposition in the state assembly there.

Power Minister Launches SADUN to Modernise Power Distribution Utilities in South Asia

R. K. Singh, the Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy, launched the South Asia Distribution Utility Network (SADUN), which aims to modernise distribution of utilities in South Asia via knowledge sharing among the region's discoms.
SADUN is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Power, USAID and PFC. Singh said that all the member nations would benefit from the synergy, exchange of experiences and the sharing of vision-enabled by the network.
USAID had conceptualised SADUN in January 2020 based on a consensus among the participants over a need for an initiative which focused on distribution network in the region. Apart from enabling knowledge sharing among discoms and enhancing focus on distribution issues at the regional-level, the network aims to enable utility-to-utility (U2U) connect to reap the benefits of aggregation. USAID has already shared a white paper on SADUN with member nations to get their concurrence on the blueprint of the network and move ahead in the process of implementation.

Feb 21, 2023

B.V.R. Subrahmanyam Appointed NITI Aayog CEO

Former IAS officer B.V.R. Subrahmanyam was appointed the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NITI Aayog by the government. He is replacing Parameswaran Iyer, who has been named the Executive Director of the World Bank.
A 1987-batch Chhattisgarh cadre IAS officer who retired as the commerce secretary, Subrahmanyam has also served in the Prime Minister's Office in the past.
Iyer, a retired 1981-batch IAS officer, was appointed as the executive director, World Bank, and will be posted at the multilateral agency's headquarters at Washington DC for a fixed period of three years in place of 1988 Haryana cadre IAS officer Rajesh Khullar.

Feb 20, 2023

Shiv Pratap Shukla Takes Oath as 29th Governor of Himachal Pradesh

Former Union Minister of State for Finance Shiv PratapShukla took oath as the 29th Governor of Himachal Pradesh at Raj Bhawan. Shukla was administered the oath of office and secrecy by acting Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court Justice Sabina. He took oath in Sanskrit.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu was also present at the swearing-in ceremony. Himachal Chief Secretary PrabodhSaxena read out the warrant of appointment.
A resident of Rudrapur in the Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh, Shukla started his political journey from RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. He joined the BJP in 1983 and was elected as MLA in 1989, 1991, 1993 and 1996. He was elected to Rajya Sabha in 2016.

Northern India's First Nuclear Plant to Come up in Haryana's Gorakhpur

Haryana may soon become home to Northern India's first nuclear plant as a 1,400 MW nuclear power plant is under construction near Gorakhpur village, Haryana.
As per Union Minister of State for Atomic Energy, Jitendra Singh, during Prime Minister NarendraModi's regime, one of the major achievements would be the installation of Nuclear Energy plants in other parts of the country, which were earlier confined mostly to the Southern and Western parts of India.
Gorakhpur Haryana AnuVidyutPariyojana's(GHAVP) having two units of 700 MWe capacity each of Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) indigenous design is under implementation near Gorakhpur village in Fatehabad district in Haryana. Till date, an amount of Rs. 4,906 crore has been spent out of total allocated funds 20,594 crore (Total Financial progress is 23.8% as on date).

MPassport Police App: Police Verification for Passport in just 5 Days

The "mPassport Police App, developed by the consular, passport and visa division of the External Affairs Ministry for law enforcement agencies, was rolled out along with 350 tablets to personnel of the Special Branch of Delhi Police. These personnel are responsible for carrying out verification of antecedents of passport applicants. A new app developed by the external affairs ministry and rolled out in New Delhi is expected to cut the time for police verification of passport applicants to five days and reduce the scope for misuse of the process. The new digital services were launched by Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the 76th Raising Day Parade of Delhi Police.
The passport application will be given a label by the police as per the status of passport and verification. There are 3 status types that a passport may receive, which are clear, adverse and incomplete.

Shinde Faction Gets Shiv Sena Name, Bow and Arrow Symbol

The Election Commission of India (ECI) said that the party name 'Shiv Sena' and the party symbol of bow and arrow will be retained by the Eknath Shinde faction. As per the ECI, the Eknath Shinde faction was supported by MLAs with 76 per cent of the party's winning votes in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls. This was in contrast to the support for Uddhav Thakeray which amounted to just 23.5 per cent.
The two sides have been at loggerheads with each other about being recognised as the 'real Shiv Sena'. They had approached the Election Commission of India to stake claim over the party's name and symbol.
In October 2022, the Election Commission froze the unified Shiv Sena's bow and arrow symbol and gave different names and symbols to the two factions. The Shinde faction was given the name Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena (Balasaheb's Shiv Sena) with two swords and shields as the party symbol. Meanwhile, the Uddhav faction was given the name Shiv Sena – Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray and the mashaal as its symbol.

Manipur Hosts B20 Conference for Delegates from 23 Nations in Imphal

In Manipur, a B20 Conference for the delegates from G20 countries and other invited countries was held n Imphal. The exchange of ideas took place for economic growth.
Delegates from 23 nations consisting of 26 overseas business delegates and 24 diplomats participated in the conference. Interaction in medical tourism, ICT and other sectors were discussed during the conference.
The inaugural function was attended by Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, Union MoS of Commerce and Industries Som Prakash, Union MoS of External Affairs R. K. Ranjan and other senior government officials.
While welcoming the delegates, the Chief Minister highlighted the investment potential in different sectors of the state. He said the law and order situation has improved in the state while the connectivity has expanded.
It may be mentioned that the conference was a part of the official G20 Dialogue Forum for the global business community.
The Business 20 or B20 is a group that represents the private sector within the Group of 20 (G20) Forum. This organization was created to provide a platform for the business community to engage with the G20 and to offer recommendations on policies that can support global economic growth and development.

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