General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - December 2018

Dec 2018

Dec 15, 2020

NITI Proposes 'Surveillance Information Platform' to Boost Public Health

Government think tank NITI Aayog proposed setting up a surveillance information platform to strengthen India's public health surveillance system.
According to a report titled 'Vision 2035: Public Health Surveillance in India: A White Paper', which is jointly prepared by NITI Aayog and University of Manitoba, Canada -India's public health surveillance will be a predictive, responsive, integrated and tiered system of disease and health surveillance.
Going forward, India's public health surveillance will be based on individual Electronic Health Records (EHR) that capture and amalgamate individuals' health-care related information through the use of a unique health identifier (UHID).
According to the Aayog, this is used in every clinical, laboratory, or pharmacy visit and for vertical disease control programmes.

No Winter Session of Parliament This Year

The Centre said that there will be no winter session of Parliament this time because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi confirmed this in a letter responding to Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary, who has demanded for a short Winter Session.
According to Joshi, all parties supported the scrapping of the Winter session in order to curb the spread of coronavirus and hold the Budget Session in January.
It is expected that the Budget session would be held in the last week of January and Budget would be tabled on February 1.

Demands for Renaming Certain Areas Justified

Amid demands by some leaders of the ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh to change names of certain places, state Culture Minister Usha Thakur said that such demands are absolutely valid if they are backed by facts and evidences.
Some leaders of the BJP from Bhopal and Indore have demanded that the existing names of some areas be changed.
If the names of some places in the state are changed on the basis of facts and evidence, and in accordance with the Constitution, then these changes must surely take place.
MP Assembly Speaker and senior BJP leader Rameshwar Sharma recently demanded that the name of Idgah Hills in Bhopal be changed to "Guru Nanak Tekri".
Indore Lok Sabha MP Shankar Lalwani had said that local people wanted the area adjacent to the famous Ganesh temple in Khajrana locality be renamed, either as Ganesh Nagar, Ganesh Dham or Ganesh Colony.

Dec 14, 2020

Telangana CM KCR Seeks Sanction from Centre for Six New Airports in State

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao requested the Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri to speed up the process to build six more airports in the state.
Rao requested the Ministry of Civil Aviation to kindly expedite finalising the sites and getting all statutory clearances on a single-window basis so that the government can commence the infrastructure work.
Telangana had proposed new airports to be built at Basantnagar (Peddapally district), Mamnoor (Warangal urban), Adilabad, Jakranpally (Nizamabad), Devarkadra (Mehboobnagar) and Bhadradri Kothagudem.
Following discussions with the Airports Authority of India (AAI), it was decided that only no-frills airports for smaller aircraft will be developed, which may be expanded in the future for commercial operations depending on demand.

BJP, UPPL and GSP Join Hands for Formation of Bodoland Territorial Council

The BJP decided to join hands with the United Peoples' Party Liberal (UPPL) and the Gana Suraksha Party (GSP) to jointly form the next Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) after the just concluded polls resulted in a hung House. The 40-member new Council will be headed by UPPL Chief Promode Bodo, Sonowal.
The decision was taken following deliberations among North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) convenor and minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, state BJP President Ranjit Dass, BJP National General Secretary and Mangaldoi MP Dilip Saikia, UPPL Chief Promode Bodo and GSP Chief and Kokrajhar MP Naba Kumar Sarania.

Dec 13, 2020

Rivals Congress, BJP Join Hands at Two Places, Ditch Own Allies

In unlikely collaborations, rivals Congress and BJP came together at two places in Rajasthan to thwart local Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP) and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) leaders in the elections for zila pramukhs and panchayat samiti pradhans.
The BTP, a Congress ally which supported Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot during the revolt in his party earlier this year, is upset that the ruling party candidates chose the BJP over it in the tribal Dungarpur district, where the small outfit is trying to expand its influence.
The opposition BJP did not help its ally, Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal's RLP, bag a village head's post in Nagaur district. Instead, its candidates went for an independent nominee, supported also by the Congress.

India and Nepal Inching Closer to Finalise Cross Border Electricity Sales Regulatory Modality

India and Nepal are inching closer to finalize the regulatory modality for allowing Nepali power producers access to Indian power market which will provide an outlet for Nepal's surplus power in the coming months.
The power/energy secretaries of India and Nepal co-chaired the 8th meeting of Joint Steering Committee (JSC) on cooperation in the Power sector that was held through video conference.
Both sides discussed, inter alia, development of suitable rules and guidelines for allowing access to Nepali power producers to Indian markets, development of energy banking mechanism, development of cross border high voltage transmission lines as well as reviewing the progress of the SJVN Limited- developed 900MW Arun-III Hydro Electric Project in Nepal and agreeing to further facilitate its expeditious implementation.

Dec 12, 2020

Govt. Launches Program for Socio-economic Profiling of PM SWANidhi Beneficiaries

The Centre launched a programme for socio-economic profiling of the beneficiaries of the PM Street Vendor's Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) and their families. Based on the socio-economic profiling of PM SVANidhi beneficiaries and their families, various other central schemes will be extended to them according to their eligibility. States and Union territories can also make use of the profiles to facilitate better access to their respective schemes.
Quality Council of India (QCI) has been appointed as the implementing partner for the programme. Before the programme is rolled out in all 125 cities a test program will be conducted in six select cities of Gaya, Indore, Kakching, Nizamabad, Rajkot and Varanasi.

India and Uzbekistan Ink 9 Pacts

India and Uzbekistan signed nine MoUs along with confirmation of a $448 million line of credit during a virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
Uzbekistan in-principle agreed to join the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC), promoted by India, Russia and Iran, which is handicapped by less use. Uzbekistan's use of the corridor would add to the overall improvement of connectivity in the larger Eurasian space.
Uzbekistan has proposed a trilateral dialogue among India, Iran and Uzbekistan to promote connectivity through the India-operated Chabahar port, Joint Secretary (Eurasia) in the Ministry of External Affairs Adarsh Swaika told newspersons. Mirziyoyev wanted to explore the possibility of implementing priority development projects in Uzbekistan as part of the $1billion line of credit offered by India for Central Asian countries during the second meeting of the India-Central Asia Dialogue.

UP Government to Have Directorate of Religious Affairs Department

Uttar Pradesh government announced setting up a directorate of Religious Affairs Department (Dharmarth Karya Vibhag) for the 'smooth functioning of religious activities' in the state.
As per reports, the headquarters of the directorate will be set up in the building provided by Kashi Vishwanath Distinguished Area Development Council in Varanasi district, while another sub-office will be situated in Kailash Mansarovar Bhawan in Ghaziabad.
In the last three and a half years, the state government has made several efforts in giving special recognition to the religious places as well as providing convenience to the devotees.

Uttar Pradesh's Republic Day 2021 Tableaux to Showcase Ayodhya Ram Temple

At the Republic Day Parade in Delhi the tableau of Uttar Pradesh will showcase the upcoming Ram temple in Ayodhya as well as the culture, tradition and art related to the temple town.
As per a release from the state government, the tableaux theme for the 2021 is titled 'Ayodhya: Cultural Heritage Uttar Pradesh'.
It will also exhibit a glimpse of the 'Deepotsav' in Ayodhya. The proposal sent from the Uttar Pradesh government was approved during a meeting held in Delhi regarding the Republic Day parade.
This year, the tableau of the state tied with Odisha's tableaux and was based on the theme 'Sarva Dharma Samabhav'. It mirrored the cultural and religious tourism of Uttar Pradesh.

Dec 11, 2020

India Extends Support to Bangladesh Candidature for WHO Post

India has extended its support to Bangladesh's candidature for the post of executive director (ED) of South-East Asia Regional Office (SEARO) of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Newly appointed Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram Doraiswami conveyed this support when he paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Assam NRC Published Last Year Not Final

The historic National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam published in August last year was only a "supplementary list" and the final document is yet to come out, state coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma has told the Gauhati High Court. In the "supplementary list" of the NRC, over 10,000 names were either wrongly included or excluded and necessary orders have been issued to delete nearly 4,800 "ineligible persons" from the document, Sarma said in an affidavit to the High Court.

J&K Fifth Phase of DDC Election Ends

According to State Election Commissioner (SEC) K.K. Sharma, the fifth phase of District Development Council (DDC) election in Jammu and Kashmir ended with 51.2 per cent voting. The voting across 37 seats passed off peacefully across Jammu and Kashmir.
The voting for sixth phase will take place on December 13.

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