General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - March 2019

Mar 2019

Feb 14, 2021

President Kovind to Open 'Udyanotsav'

President Ram Nath Kovind will open Rashtrapati Bhavan's annual 'Udyanotsav' and the Mughal Gardens will be thrown open for public from February 13, but only with prior online booking.
Besides the Mughal Gardens, visitors will also be allowed in the Rashtrapati Bhavan and Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum. Visitors will also be able to witness the Change of Guard Ceremony.

Nitin Gadkari Launches India's First CNG Tractor

India's first-ever diesel tractor, converted to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), was formally launched by the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari.
The conversion, carried out jointly by Rawmatt Techno Solutions and Tomasetto Achille India, will help farmers increase their income, by lowering the costs and help to create job opportunities in rural India.
CNG is a clean fuel as it has the lowest content of carbon and other pollutants. It is economical as it has zero lead and is non-corrosive, non-dilutive and non-contaminating which helps in increasing the life of the engine, and it requires less regular maintenance. Also, it is the future as at present around 12 million vehicles are already powered by natural gas throughout the world and more companies and municipalities are joining the CNG movement every day.

Feb 13, 2021

TRS Wins Mayoral Posts with AIMIM Extending Last-minute Support

Telangana elected its first female mayor to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), since the creation of the state in 2014.
The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) candidate Gadwal Vijayalakshmi along with deputy mayor Mothe Srilatha Reddy, also from the TRS, won a tightly contested election. Vijayalakshmi defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) candidate Radha Dheeraj Reddy.

Odisha Files Contempt against Andhra Officials for Invading its Territory

The Odisha government has approached the Supreme Court seeking contempt action against officials of the Andhra Pradesh government for notifying Panchayat polls in three villages controlled by it and allegedly violating a status quo ordered by the SC in 1968 on three villages claimed as their territory by the two states.
The dispute over the territorial jurisdiction of 21 districts, popularly known as Kotia Group of villages, first reached the Supreme Court in 1968, when the Odisha government accused the Andhra Pradesh government of trespassing its territory.

India's Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla to Visit Russia

India's Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla will visit Russia next week and this visit will be for a couple of days which will see a number of bilateral meetings. The visit comes even as both sides have been engaged at multiple levels, from cooperation against COVID-19 pandemic to defence.
The visit, in the works for some time, will be the first foreign visit of the top Indian diplomat in 2021. The focus will be on the India-Russia annual summit in 2021, with Russian President Vladimir Putin's India visit. Russia and India have an annual bilateral summit level mechanism that alternates between the two countries.

Karnataka Gets 31st District

Karnataka got its 31st district with the state government issuing an official gazette notification carving out a new Vijayanagara district from the mine-rich Ballari.
The new district will have six taluks and Hosapete will be its headquarters.
Kudligi, Hagaribommana halli, Kotturu, Hoovina Hadagali, and Harapanahalli are the other five taluks.
Ballari district will have five taluks- Ballari, Kurugodu, Siraguppa, Kampli, and Sanduru.
Ballari taluk will remain its headquarters.
On November 18 last year, the state cabinet had given in principle approval for creation of Vijayanagara district.

Feb 12, 2021

Odisha Govt. Approves Re-promulgation of Farm Reform Ordinance

Even as the agitation by farmers demanding repeal of three farm laws rages on across the country, the Naveen Patnaik government decided to re-promulgate the ordinance to reform the Odisha Agricultural Produce Markets Amendment Act to enable geographically restriction-free trade and transaction of agricultural produce including livestock across the state.
The state cabinet which met under the chairmanship of chief minister Naveen Patnaik, gave assent to the re-promulgation of the Odisha Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing promotion and facilitation) Ordinance for the third time, enabling the state to move ahead with the abolition of notified market area in so far as enforcement of regulation by Agricultural Produce and Livestock Market Committee (APLMC) was concerned.
The ordinance would also help the government create an environment for setting up and operating private market yards and farmer consumer market yards (Krushak Bazar), sub-market yard and market sub yard with the aim to enhance competition for the farmer's produce to the advantage of farmers.

Feb 11, 2021

Tamil Nadu Parties United in Call for Single Phase State Elections

Ruling and opposition political parties in Tamil Nadu have urged the Election Commission to make it a single phase assembly election in the state. An election commission delegation, led by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, arrived in Chennai on a two-day visit to assess poll preparedness in Tamil Nadu.
In complaints to the poll body, the DMK alleged deletion of voters' name, spotlighted AIADMK's spending on advertisements in newspapers, among others.
"Previously, we have submitted six representations to the EC for clarifications in the voters' list, but they did not answer," said DMK's organising secretary R.S. Bharathi.
Though the state has always had single-phase elections, all parties made this request following the three-phase voting in Bihar last year amid the Covid-19 pandemic. They had made a similar request when election officials visited the state in December.

Telangana CM Announces Rs. 1,000 crore Scheme for Dalit Empowerment

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao announced the launch of an exclusive scheme for the uplift of Dalits in the state with a budgetary allocation of Rs. 1,000 crore.
As per K. Chandrashekar Rao, the "CM Dalit Empowerment Scheme" would be rolled out in the forthcoming budget.

Priyanka Gandhi set to launch Congress' 'Jai Jawan-Jai Kisan Abhiyan' in UP

All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary and in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is launched her party's 'Jai Jawan Jai Kisan Abhiyan' in UP's Saharanpur district, where she also addressed Kisan Panchayat in Behot area.
Uttar Pradesh Congress called upon this campaign to take on the BJP government on the issue of three farm laws against which the farmers are agitating for more than 70 days at different borders of the national capital.
With this campaign, Congress' strategy is to establish a stronghold among the peasant, especially Jats, Gurjars, and Muslim communities.

Indian Govt. Rules Out Granting Dual Citizenship

The government said that it is not considering any proposal to grant dual citizenship.
Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai also said in Lok Sabha that over 6.76 lakh Indians gave up Indian nationality between 2015 and 2019 and took up citizenship of other countries.

Feb 10, 2021

Shahnawaz Hussain Inducted into Nitish Cabinet

Union minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and BJP's national spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain has finally been rehabilitated in active politics with a position in the Bihar government led by BJP's partner, JD-U's Nitish Kumar.
One of Saffron party's prominent Muslim faces -- apart from union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Rajya Sabha member Syed Zafar Islam, Hussain was the first to be administered the oath of office by Governor Phagu Chauhan at a ceremony held in the Raj Bhavan.
Out of electoral politics since 2014, Hussain was recently named by the BJP as its MLC candidate from Bihar, thus marking his return albeit at the state level.
The Cabinet strength of the Nitish Kumar Government is now 34.

India and China Discuss UNSC Coordination

India and China held consultations on cooperation on issues relating to UN Security Council in an attempt to cool tensions and set the stage for substantial talks on a concrete disengagement schedule in the border areas of eastern Ladakh.
The Chinese delegation was led by Yang Tao from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Indian team by Prakash Gupta, Joint Secretary in MEA. Both sides discussed a wide range of issues on the UNSC agenda. The Indian delegation briefed the Chinese side on India's priorities during its UNSC tenure. Both sides agreed to continue their engagement on key issues on the UNSC agenda, stated a MEA release. India will occupy a seat on UNSC for two years till the end of 2022 while China is one of the five permanent members.

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