General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - December 2018

Dec 2018

Sep 29, 2021

Fourth Indo-US Health Dialogue

Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar led the Indian delegation at the 4th Indo-US Health Dialogue, held in New Delhi. The US delegation for the dialogue was led by Ms. Loyce Pace, Director, Office of Global Affairs at U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The two-day Dialogue was a platform to deliberate upon multiple ongoing collaborations in the health sector between the two countries.
The issues planned for deliberations in this round also encompassed areas of concern pertaining to strengthening of epidemiological research and surveillance, vaccine development, One Health, zoonotic and vector-borne diseases, health systems and health policies etc.
An MoU was finalised between the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Republic of India and the Department of Health and Human Services of the United States of America, in the field of the health sector, covering issues like Health Safety and Security; Communicable Diseases & Non-Communicable Diseases; Health Systems; and Health Policy.

India Bags IAEA External Auditor Job

India was elected as the external auditor to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a prestigious institution that promotes peaceful use of nuclear energy, for a period of six years from 2022 to 2027 after beating Germany and the United Kingdom among other counties. India's comptroller and auditor general GC Murmu was selected as the external auditor of IAEA and the ministry of external affairs (MEA).
In the first round of voting for the post, Germany got 36 votes, India 30, the UK 8, Russia 11, Turkey 9, Egypt 20, Republic of Korea 2 and the Philippines 7 votes. The second round boiled down to the race between India and Germany with India managing to beat the European country.

Kanhaiya Kumar, Jignesh Mevani Join Congress

Former JNU Students' Union President Kanhaiya Kumar joined the Congress in the presence of party leader Rahul Gandhi at the party's headquarters in New Delhi. Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani extended support to Kumar.
Kumar is a member of the CPI national executive, a top decision-making body of the party, while Mevani is an independent MLA from the Vadgam constituency in Gujarat and convener of Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch (RDAM). In the 2017 Gujarat Assembly election, the Congress party did not field its candidate against Mevani in the Vadgam constituency.

Pan-India Helpline for Senior Citizens

Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment launched India's first Pan-India helpline for senior citizens, called "Elder Line" having a Toll-Free No. 14567. This line will extend support to senior citizens in the challenges and problems they face.
Elder Line will help senior citizens in providing free information and guidance on pension issues, legal issues, on field intervention in cases of abuse, emotional support, rescue and care for homeless senior citizens etc.
Elder Line is a culmination of the initiative of Tata Trusts in collaboration with its partner, Vijayavahini Charitable Foundation. It was launched in collaboration with the Government of Telangana in Hyderabad in 2018, to help the elders there. Tata Trusts continues to engage in strategic philanthropy in order to create deep, wide & irreversible impact. Currently, Tata Trusts & NSE Foundation are working as technical partners and are jointly supporting the Ministry in operationalising Elder Line.
Elder line has been opened by 17 states for their respective geographies, as of now.

Sep 28, 2021

BJP Gets First MP from UT in Rajya Sabha

Union Ministers Sarbananda Sonowal and L. Murugan were elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha from Assam and Madhya Pradesh, respectively.
BJP nominee S. Selvaganapathy was declared elected unopposed to the lone seat in Rajya Sabha from Puducherry, the first time the saffron party has got representation in the Upper House from the Union Territory, while DMK's two nominees, Kanimozhi N V N Somu and K R N Rajeshkumar, were elected without contest from Tamil Nadu.
Sushmita Dev, who left the Congress and joined the Trinamool Congress a little over a month ago, was declared elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha from West Bengal.

Former Goa CM Luizinho Faleiro Resigns as Congress MLA

Former Goa Chief Minister and Congress leader Luizinho Faleiro resigned as member of the state Legislative Assembly and is likely to join the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC).
Faleiro, who represented the Navelim Assembly seat and was recently made the Goa Congress's campaign committee chief in the wake of the state polls due next year.
With his resignation, the Congress's strength in the 40-member House has been reduced to four.

BJP MLA Nimaben Acharya Gujarat Assembly's First Woman Speaker

Veteran legislator Nimaben Acharya was unanimously elected the first woman Speaker of the Gujarat Assembly, which met for the two-day monsoon session.
A three-time BJP MLA and a two-time Congress MLA, Ms. Acharya is one of the senior most MLAs in the State.
The name of the MLA from Bhuj, Kutch, was proposed by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and the Opposition Congress supported her nomination.
For the first time after the formation of Gujarat in 1960, the Assembly has a woman Speaker.
The election has been necessitated after Rajendra Trivedi resigned and joined the Cabinet which took over earlier this month when Vijay Rupani and his entire Cabinet had resigned.

Sep 27, 2021

Yogi Inducts Seven New Ministers

Jitin Prasada, who switched from the Congress to the BJP was inducted in the Yogi Adityanath cabinet while six others took oath as ministers of state.
Jitin Prasada was allotted the technical education portfolio.
The expansion of the council of ministers took place as the BJP prepares for the assembly elections in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh early next year.
The oath was administered by Governor Anandiben Patel at a function in the Gandhi auditorium in the Raj Bhavan in the presence of the Chief Minister.
The new MoS are Paltu Ram, Chhatarpal Gangwar, Sangeeta Balwant Bind, Dharamveer Prajapati, Sanjeev Kumar Gaur and Dinesh Khatik.

Punjab Cabinet Expansion

The oath-taking ceremony of Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi-led Punjab cabinet took place at the Raj Bhawan and saw the induction of new faces.
As of now, Congress MLAs Brahm Mohindra and Manpreet Singh Badal, Tript Singh Bajwa, Aruna Chaudhary, Sukhbinder Sarkaria, and Rana Gurjeet Singh took oath as Cabinet ministers in the Channi-led Punjab Government, at Raj Bhavan in Chandigarh.
They were administered the oath of the office of by Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit.

PM Launches Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, under which a digital health ID will be provided to people that will contain their health records, and asserted that it has the potential to bring revolutionary changes in healthcare.
In his address after the launch, Modi said that the mission marks a new phase in efforts of the last seven years to strengthen health facilities.
The pilot project of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission was announced by the Prime Minister on August 15, 2020.
Currently, Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission is being implemented in a pilot phase in six union territories.

Sep 26, 2021

Anirudh Tiwari is New Punjab Chief Secretary

The new political dispensation in Punjab, headed by Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, has chosen Anirudh Tiwari as the new Chief Secretary. He was serving as the Additional Chief Secretary, Development.
Tiwari replaces Vini Mahajan, handpicked by former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh in June 2020. Mahajan was the first woman to be appointed to the post.

Sep 25, 2021

Former Nagaland Governor R. N. Ravi Resigns as Centre's Interlocutor for Naga Peace Talks

Former Nagaland Governor R. N. Ravi resigned as the Centre's interlocutor for Naga peace talks.
The Ministry of Home Affairs accepted his resignation with immediate effect.
Ravi currently serves as the Governor of Tamil Nadu.
Ravi was leading the peace negotiations with the Nagaland insurgent group NSCN-IM since 2014. He continued his role as the interlocutor even after he was appointed the governor of Nagaland in July 2019.

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