General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - December 2018

Dec 2018

May 20, 2020

Indian Railways Operationalises First 12,000 hp Electric Loco

The Indian Railways has operationalised its first 12,000 hp electric locomotive manufactured locally by French rolling stock manufacturer Alstom.
The locomotive made its maiden commercial run between Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Station to Shivpur.
It has been manufactured at the Madhepura Electric Locomotive Pvt. Ltd. (MELPL), in Bihar, which is a joint venture between the French major and the Indian railways holding an equity share of 74% and 26% respectively.
India became the sixth country in the world to join the club of countries producing high horsepower locomotive indigenously.

Star Ratings of Garbage Free Cities Released

The government released a rating of cities for their garbage management, giving the top 'five-star garbage-free' tag to six cities including Chhattisgarh's Ambikapur and Madhya Pradesh's Indore, while saying that the Swachh Bharat Mission has been the "greatest strength" in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri announced the results of garbage-free star ratings for the cities.
A total of 141 cities have been rated — six of them 5-star, 65 of three-star, 70 one-star.
Apart from Ambikapur and Indore, Gujarat's Rajkot and Surat, Karnataka's Mysore and Maharashtra's Navi Mumbai have been rated five-star.

May 19, 2020

Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, Eight Others Sworn in As Legislative Council Members

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray took oath as a member of the Legislative Council on May 18, 2020.
Thackeray was administered the oath of the office by Council Chairman Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar at a function held at the Vidhan Bhawan in south Mumbai.
Along with Maharashtra CM, eight others were also sworn in to the council including Council Deputy Chairperson Neelam Gorhe (Shiv Sena), four BJP candidates, two NCP candidates and one Congress Candidate.
All the members were elected to the upper house of the Maharashtra state legislature unopposed on May 14, 2020.

J&K Notifies Amended Domicile Certificate Rules

Jammu and Kashmir government notified Jammu and Kashmir Grant of Domicile Certificate (Procedure) Rules, 2020.
These rules prescribe the procedure for issuance of Domicile Certificate, which has been made the basic eligibility condition for appointment to any post under the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Under the rules, 15 days will be required for issuance of the certificate, after which the applicant shall be free to approach an Appellate Authority.

May 18, 2020

Centre Approves Modified DPR of Ujh Multipurpose Project in Jammu and Kashmir

The Centre approved to modification of the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the Ujh multipurpose Project (MPP) located on the river Ujh, main tributaries of river Ravi in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir at the estimated cost of Rs.9,167 crore.
The advisory committee of Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation (DoWR, RD & GR) approved the DPR of Ujh MPP project chaired by Union Secretary U P Singh.

May 17, 2020

Power Distribution Business to be Privatised in Union Territories

Taking a leap towards enhancing private investment in power distribution companies (discoms), Union finance minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman said the power distribution business in the Union Territories (UTs) would be privatised.
This is the first such step after the draft amendments to the Electricity Act, 2003, were made public with the proposal of private participation in electricity distribution.
Delhi is the only Union Territory which has private power discoms — run by Reliance Infrastructure's BSES and Tata Power Delhi Distribution in separate areas. Union Territories directly come under the central government.

NMIS - a Central Online Repository on Migrant Workers - Developed By NDMA

Government of India has allowed the movement of migrant workers by buses and 'Shramik' special trains to enable them to travel to their native places.
In order to capture the information regarding movement of migrants and facilitate the smooth movement of stranded persons across States, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has developed an online Dashboard - National Migrant Information System (NMIS).
The online portal would maintain a central repository on migrant workers and help in speedy inter-State communication/co-ordination to facilitate their smooth movement to native places. It has additional advantages like contact tracing, which may be useful in overall COVID-19 response work.

May 16, 2020

Govt Projects Record Foodgrain Output at 295.67 Million Tonnes for 2019-20

The country is estimated to achieve an all-time high foodgrain production of 295.67 million tonne in 2019-20 crop year, the fourth consecutive year of record production, buoyed by good rains.
According to the data, the estimated output of foodgrain this year (2020) is up 3.67 percent over the year-ago period and has even crossed its target of 291.10 million tonne, which it had set before the beginning of the 2019-20 sowing season.
Total foodgrains production includes crops grown during both kharif (summer) and rabi (winter) seasons.

Ganga River Banks now Part of Rs 4,000 cr Plan for Herbal Cultivation

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed that a corridor of medicinal plants would be created on the banks of the Ganga and for this National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) would identify 800 hectare of land near the river.
The plan is part of a Rs 4,000 crore programme launched for the promotion of herbal cultivation. It forms an important part of a slew of initiatives announced by the minister towards development of agricultural infrastructure, capacity building, logistics and legislative reforms.
The NMPB has supported 2.25 lakh hectare area under cultivation of medicinal plants. Now, 10,00,000 hectares will be covered under herbal cultivation in next two years with the outlay of Rs 4,000 crore.

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