General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - December 2018

Dec 2018

Aug 28, 2021

NERDSD Goal Index Report & Dashboard Launched

NITI Aayog and Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) launched the first edition of the North Eastern Region District Sustainable Development (NERDSD) Goal Index Report and Dashboard 2021-22.
This is the first of its kind region-wide district SDG index in India.
Launch of NERDSD goal index report is also a milestone in the efforts towards localising Sustainable Development Goals across 120 Districts of the north-eastern states of India namely Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Nagaland and Tripura.
This index has been prepared by collaborative efforts of NITI Aayog and DoNER Ministry.
The index was launched in order to facilitate a platform to identify crucial gaps and inform interventions in order to fast track progress towards achieving the SDGs. It measures the performance of the districts across eight States.

PM Modi Chairs 37th PRAGATI Meeting

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the meeting of 37th edition of PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation).
During the meeting, nine agenda items comprising of eight projects and one scheme were taken for review.
PRAGATI meeting is held once every month on the fourth Wednesday. The day is dubbed as PRAGATI Day.
PRAGATI is a platform, enabling the Prime Minister to discuss issues with concerned Central and State officials with full information and visuals of ground-level situation. This platform was launched in 2015. It has been designed by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) team in collaboration with National Informatics Center (NIC). Platform is a three-tier system namely PMO, Union Government Secretaries and Chief Secretaries of States.
Three objectives of PRAGATI are Grievance Redressal, Programme Implementation and Project Monitoring.

Mansukh Mandaviya Takes Charge as Chairperson of Stop TB Partnership Board

Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Shri Mansukh Mandaviya, took charge as the Chairperson of Stop TB Partnership Board on August 26, 2021.
He will hold the position until 2024.
He will now lead the efforts of Stop TB Partnership Secretariat, partners, and TB community in order to reach towards reaching United Nations TB targets by 2022. Thus, it is a milestone moment in the effort of ending TB by 2030.
This partnership was established in the year 2000 in a bid to eliminate tuberculosis (TB) as a public health problem. It comprises of 1500 partner organizations including international organizations, nongovernmental & governmental organizations as well as patient groups. Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland. It is administered by UNOPS since 2015. Earlier, it was hosted by the World Health Organization.
Stop TB Initiative was established after the meeting of the First Session of Ad Hoc Committee on Tuberculosis Epidemic. It was held in London in March 1998.
Stop TB Partnership came up with the Amsterdam Declaration in March 2000 in order to Stop TB.

Aug 27, 2021

Vincent Pala to Head Congress Unit in Meghalaya, Rajesh Thakur in Jharkhand

The Congress changed the guards in the Meghalaya and Jharkhand units of the party. Party MP Vincent Pala was appointed as chief of the Meghalaya unit of the party and MLA Rajesh Thakur was appointed Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee (JPCC) chief.
Pala replaced Celestine Lyngdoh while Thakur replaced Rameshwar Oraon for the state presidential post in Meghalaya and Jharkhand units of the party, respectively.
The party has also appointed four working presidents of JPCC - Geeta Kora, Bandhu Tirkey, Jaleshwar Mahato and Shahzada Anwar.

Govt. Clears Names of 9 Judges for Elevation to Supreme Court

The Narendra Modi-led NDA government has approved all the nine names of judges recommended by the collegium for elevation to the Supreme Court.
Three women are among the 9 names recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium for appointments as judges of the top court.
Justice B. V. Nagarathna of the Karnataka High Court, who is also among the three women judges recommended by the Collegium, is in line to become the first Chief Justice of India.
The nine nominated by the collegiums were four High Court Chief Justices —Vikram Nath (Gujarat), A. S. Oka (Karnataka), Hima Kohli (Telangana) and J. K. Maheshwari (Sikkim) — four High Court judges Justices B. V. Nagarathna (Karnataka), M. M. Sundresh (Madras), C. T. Ravikumar (Kerala) and Bela M. Trivedi (Gujarat), and Senior Advocate P. S. Narasimha.

Punjab 2022 Polls to be Fought under Amarinder's Helm

Just ahead of meeting four Congress dissident Cabinet ministers and three legislators, Punjab affairs in charge and AICC general secretary Harish Rawat clarified that the 2022 Punjab Assembly election would be fought under the leadership of Amarinder Singh amid signs of revolt by the Navjot Singh Sidhu faction.
The legislators reached Dehradun to apprise Rawat about the mood of the public against the Amarinder Singh-led government in the state. They, among 20-odd party legislators, have been demanding replacement of Amarinder Singh as he failed to fulfill the 2017 poll promises.

Assam Inks Pact to Waive Loans of 1.4 m Women Borrowers

As promised in its assembly poll manifesto, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in Assam inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with 38 microfinance institutions and banks to waive off loans taken by poor women in the state.
Signing of the MoU will lead to implementation of the Assam Micro Finance Incentive and Relief Scheme, 2021, prepared earlier by the government and benefit nearly 1.4 million borrowers.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the scheme will have a Rs. 12,000 crore credit portfolio, including about Rs. 7,200 crore to be spent by the government.
The relief scheme will ensure continuity of micro-finance for supporting economic activities of poor households and help eligible customers in overcoming stress in the microfinance sector due to various operational reasons.

Aug 26, 2021

Siva Made Convener of DMK in Puducherry

Opposition leader R. Siva has been made convener of the Puducherry unit of the DMK after the south and north wings of the party were merged.
Former Minister S.P. Sivakumar has been made presidium chairman. The party leadership has also made K.M.P. Logayyan treasurer and appointed eight deputy conveners.
Earlier, Mr. Siva and Mr. Sivakumar were conveners of south and north wings, respectively.

NITI Aayog, WRI Launch Forum for Decarbonisation of Transport Sector

Indian government's think-tank NITI Aayog, in collaboration with World Resources Institute (WRI), launched the Forum for Decarbonising Transport in the country.
Through this forum, the WRI India team, along with NITI Aayog and other project partners, will work in close coordination with all the stakeholders to formulate strategies and develop appropriate business models to accelerate electric mobility in India.
The forum aims to create a platform to initiate dialogues for the development of uniform policies and help achieve specific results in reducing carbon emissions from the transport sector.

Govt. to Launch e-SHRAM Portal

The government launched the e-SHRAM portal to maintain a database of workers in the unorganised sector.
Yadav launched the logo of the e-SHRAM portal, through which the government aims to register 38 crore unorganised workers such as construction labourers, migrant workforce, street vendors, and domestic workers, among others.
On the day of launch of the portal, a national toll free number 14434 was launched to assist and address the queries of the workers seeking registration on the portal.
As part of the initiative, the workers will be issued an e-SHRAM card containing a 12 digit unique number.
The objective behind the move is integration of social security schemes of the government.

Aug 25, 2021

India's Ambassador to US Taranjit Singh Sandhu Meets US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo

Indian ambassador to the United States Taranjit Singh Sandhu and US commerce secretary Gina Raimondo held talks in Washington to discuss the evolving business relationship between the two world powers. The duo stressed the importance of the bilateral commercial relationship and their commitment to the growing business ties in support of the broader strategic relationship.
As per reports, the duo discussed scheduling US-India CEO Forum and US-India Commercial Dialogue and rescheduling of US-India High Technology Cooperation Group meeting. They also discussed US-India technology collaboration and improving digital economy policies to strengthen it.

JD(U) Demands Restoration of Statehood before Holding Assembly Polls in J&K

Janata Dal (United) National President Lalan Singh demanded restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir before holding of Assembly elections in the Union Territory.
The case related to abrogation of Article 370 (in August 2019) is before the Supreme Court and until the matter is resolved by the judiciary, the government should restore statehood to J&K before holding Assembly elections.
He said that his party had opposed the abrogation of Article 370 in Parliament when the bill was tabled but could not save it because we were short of the majority.

'Operation Devi Shakti': India Evacuates over 800 from Afghanistan

India's complex mission to evacuate its citizens and Afghan partners from Kabul after its swift takeover by the Taliban last week has been named as "Operation Devi Shakti".
The name of the operation was known when External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar mentioned it in a tweet while referring to the arrival of a fresh batch of 78 evacuees in Delhi.
So far, India has evacuated over 800 people amid a deteriorating security situation in Kabul and scramble by various nations to rescue their citizens.

Aug 24, 2021

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Tejashwi Yadav Meet PM Modi to Push for Caste Census

Stepping up their campaign for a caste-based census, a delegation of 10 parties from Bihar headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in support of the demand.
Kumar said that all parties from Bihar spoke in one voice on the need for a caste-based census, and asserted that statistics about different castes will help in formulating development schemes effectively as many of them have not benefitted so far in line with their actual population.
According to RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, who was part of the delegation, such a census was in national interest and will be a historic measure and help the poor and the most deprived sections of the society.
Kumar was joined by representatives of all major parties, including the BJP and Congress, as they submitted their demand to Modi.

Abhay Kumar Singh is Joint Secretary in Newly Created Ministry of Cooperation

Abhay Kumar Singh has been appointed as joint secretary in the newly created Ministry of Cooperation which was formed with an aim to strengthen the cooperative movement in the country.
Singh, a 2004-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Bihar cadre, has been appointed as joint secretary in the ministry for a combined tenure of seven years against the newly created post.

Two BJP Councilors, Senior Congress Leaders Join Aam Aadmi Party

Two sitting councillors from BJP and senior Congress leaders joined the Aam Aadmi Party along with their entire teams. BJP councillors Poonam Pawan Sehrawat and Savita Naresh Khatri, former Congress assembly candidate Suresh Kumar and Congress District President Pradeep Sharma, joined the Aam Aadmi Party along with several supporters.
Several BJP-Congress members were inducted to the Aam Aadmi Party in the presence of AAP Chief Spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj, MLA Girish Soni, MLA Rajesh Rishi, MLA Sharad Chauhan, and MLA Jai Bhagwan Upkaar. The new members will work alongside CM Arvind Kejriwal and the fellow MLAs of their region to take their assemblies to new heights, informed Saurabh Bhardwaj.

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