General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - December 2018

Dec 2018

Aug 13, 2021

Sudhir Kumar Saxena Appointed Secretary-Security, Cabinet Secretariat

Senior IPS officer Sudhir Kumar Saxena was appointed Secretary (Security), Cabinet Secretariat.
Saxena, a 1987 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, is currently Special Director General, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
The Secretary (Security) is the administrative head of the Special Protection Group (SPG) that provides security to the prime minister and members of his immediate family residing with him at his official residence.

In a First, Surat Gets Diamond Exhibition-cum-auction Centre

Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) has developed India's first diamond auction-cum-exhibition centre in Surat.
The centre, developed on a 2,200 square feet area at Vesu, will be inaugurated by GJEPC chairman Colin Shah on August 16. The auction centre has come up at a cost of Rs. 4 crore, which was borne by GJEPC.
With the auction centre having all the facilities of safe vaults, locker systems, conference halls, exhibition area with advance security systems, the diamond mining companies can come to Surat for carrying out auction process of diamonds.

Aug 12, 2021

Indore Becomes India's First 'Water Plus' City

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that Indore, which is the country's cleanest city, has now been declared as the first 'water plus' city of India under the Swachh Survekshan 2021.
Swachh Survekshan, which was launch as a part of Swachh Bharat Mission, is an annual survey of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation in cities and towns in India.

Congress Constitutes UP Poll Panel

Gearing up for the Assembly polls next year, the Congress constituted the election committee for Uttar Pradesh, which includes state unit chief Ajay Kumar Lallu and former Union Ministers Salman Khurshid, Rajeev Shukla and R. P. N. Singh.
Apart from 38 members named in the panel, national president/chairperson of AICC organisations/departments from Uttar Pradesh, state heads of frontal organisations, vice-presidents and general secretaries of the UPCC will be its ex-officio members.

Nagaland Opposition, Ruling PDA to Come Together for United Government

The opposition Naga People's Front (NPF), the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), and the BJP, a major ally of the government, have agreed in principle to form an oppositionless "Nagaland United Government" including two Independent MLAs. This follows NPF's July 20 proposal to the NDPP-led People's Democratic Alliance (PDA) to come together for the Naga peace process.
This was resolved in a meeting held at the residential office of Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio with the representatives of all the political parties involved.
Nagaland has had an oppositionless government earlier in 2015 during the third tenure of the NPF-led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland when Congress MLAs joined the government and subsequently merged with the ruling NPF.

Aug 11, 2021

MP Assembly Clears Bill on Death Penalty

The Madhya Pradesh Assembly passed a bill prescribing capital punishment and life imprisonment in cases related to deaths caused by consumption of spurious liquor.
The bill amending the state Excise Act to enhance punishment in spurious liquor cases was presented by Finance and Excise Minister Jagdish Devda, and the legislation came in the wake of the death of a dozen people.
Assembly speaker Girish Gautam declared it passed without any discussion amid sloganeering by Congress legislators who were demanding the implementation of the 27 per cent quota for OBCs in jobs and education announced by the erstwhile Kamal Nath government.
Under the Bill, provisions of life imprisonment and the death penalty have been made in cases related to deaths due to spurious liquor besides imposing a fine of Rs. 20 lakh on culprits.

Gujarat CM Launches eNagar Mobile Application and Portal

Gujarat Chief Minister, Vijay Rupani has launched eNagar mobile application and portal. The eNagar covers 10 modules with 52 services including property tax, professional tax, water & drainage, Complaints and grievance redressal, building permission, fire and emergency services.
Gujarat Urban Development Mission has been appointed as a nodal agency for eNagar project. Total 170 locations including 162 municipalities and 8 Municipal Corporations are covered under the eNagar project.

A. Amuthan is Private Secretary to Puducherry CM

The Lieutenant Governor has appointed A. Amuthan, associate dean (Autonomy and Accreditation) and professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Pondicherry Engineering College, as private secretary to the Chief Minister on deputation.
The appointment order said that he would be on deputation for the tenure of the present Chief Minister or till his services are required by the Chief Minister.

India Invited to Afghanistan Meet

India has been invited for a meeting of regional countries on Afghanistan in Doha later this week, which will see the participation of countries like Turkey and Indonesia as well. The invite was extended during the visit of Qatari special envoy for Counter-Terrorism and Mediation in Conflict Resolution Mutlaq Al Qahtani.
The Regional Conference on Afghanistan is expected to take place on August 12. The meet comes even as Doha is hosting the Troika Plus meet on Wednesday involving the US, Russia, China and Pakistan.

PM Modi Launches Ujjwala 2.0

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Ujjwala 2.0 -- the second phase of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) -- by handing over LPG connections in Mahoba in Uttar Pradesh.
After the formal launch, the Prime Minister distributed free gas connections to 10 women virtually.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath handed over the documents to the women on behalf of the PM.

Aug 10, 2021

Manish Tewari Calls for Vote of No-confidence Motion against NDA Govt.

Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari suggested that the Opposition must consider bringing a vote of a no-confidence motion against the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.
As the logjam in Parliament continues over the issues including farmers' agitation, Pegasus issue and COVID-19 mismanagement, Congress MP tweeted, "Since NDA/BJP Govt is showing a level of obduracy unwitnessed before in annals of Parliamentary Democracy by not discussing l'affaire Pegasus, Farmers agitation and COVID mismanagement joint opposition should seriously consider bringing a vote of no-confidence against NDA/BJP Govt."

Chidamabaram, Jairam Ramesh Poll Observers for Goa, Manipur

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has appointed senior leaders P. Chidamabaram and Jairam Ramesh to oversee election strategies and overall coordination for Goa and Manipur respectively.
Both the states will have elections in the early part of 2022. In the last Assembly elections, though the Congress had emerged as the single largest party in both the States, the BJP formed the government with the help of post poll alliances and some defections from the Congress.

Aug 09, 2021

Passage of 8 Bills Boosts Rajya Sabha Productivity

The passage of eight bills in the Rajya Sabha during the third week of the Monsoon Session has helped increased productivity of the House to 24.2 per cent.
This has gone up from last week when the productivity was 13.70 per cent. In the first week, the Upper House of Parliament registered high productivity of 32.20 per cent, according to the data with the Rajya Sabha research department.
The overall productivity of the House for first three weeks of the Monsoon Session has been 22.60 per cent.

Apna Dal Demands Caste-based Census, Ministry for OBC Welfare

With an eye on the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections next year, the BJP's ally Apna Dal(S) demanded a separate Union ministry for the welfare of the OBC and a caste-based census across the country to ascertain the exact population of the community.
Apna Dal(S), an Uttar Pradesh-based party, is the second ally of the ruling BJP after the JD(U) which has raised the demand for a caste-based census.
The demand assumes significance just months before the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, where the single largest chunk of voters belongs to the OBC category.

Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba Gets Extension

Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba has been given one-year extension by the government.
Gauba, former Union Home Secretary, was in 2019 appointed to the country's top bureaucratic post for two years.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved extension in service to Gauba, a 1982-batch IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre, as Cabinet Secretary for a further period of one-year beyond August 30, 2021.
Gauba is said to be the key architect of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act under which Jammu and Kashmir was divided into two Union territories following the abrogation of the special status given to the erstwhile state under Article 370 of the Constitution.

MP Assembly Publishes Booklet on Unparliamentary Language

Henceforth, when an MLA stands up in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly to talk on anything, he or she can easily refer to a booklet, which mentions words, phrases or sentences that are best avoided during the proceedings of the House as such utterances can get expunged.
On the eve of the four-day long monsoon session, the state Assembly released this 38-page booklet, which lists out a number of unparliamentary words, phrases and sentences - mostly in Hindi.
The collection carries a total of 1,161 words and sentences that were expunged from the records of the Vidhan Sabha since 1954.
It was released at the Vidhan Sabha Bhavan by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, state Congress chief Kamal Nath, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narottam Mishra and Assembly Speaker Girish Gautam.

Karnataka CM Allocates Portfolios

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai allocated portfolios to Ministers in his new cabinet, with most of them retaining the Ministries they had in the previous B. S. Yediyurappa government.
In a surprising move, debutant ministers have got plum portfolios like Araga Jnanendra- Home and V Sunil Kumar- Energy, along with Kannada and Culture.
The Chief Minister who had on Wednesday expanded his new cabinet, by inducting 29 Ministers, had tried to play it safe with by and large retaining old faces, as 23 of them were Ministers in the previous Yediyurappa cabinet, while six were new.
Bommai has retained the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DAPR), Finance, Intelligence, Cabinet Affairs, Bengaluru Development and all unallocated portfolios with himself.

Share on

TCY Analytics (View Subscription Plans)

Subscribe to GK Updates

I want to receive

GK Tags

October GK, September GK, August GK, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, ENVIRONMENT, BUSINESS AND ECONOMY, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, SPORTS, NATIONAL AFFAIRS, DEFENCE, PERSONS IN NEWS, DAYS AND EVENTS, AWARDS AND HONOURS, GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND SCHEMES, GENDER/ HEALTH/ EDUCATION, ART AND CULTURE, BOOKS AND AUTHORS, TOURISM AND HOTEL INDUSTRY AWARENESS, ART AND CULTURE, LAW AND CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Start Discussion

On any topic

Take Tests

Compiled from GK updates

Login

Sign Up

Forgot Password

Download TCY App

Unlock All Services and Enjoy The Premium Benefits

US$ 10

US$ 13

US$ 15

US$ 17

US$ 19

US$ 20

US$ 21

US$ 22

US$ 23

US$ 24

US$ 25

US$ 26