General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - November 2019

Nov 2019

Apr 13, 2020

ADB Assures $2.2 Billion Support Package To India For COVID-19 response

The Asian Development Bank has assured India $2.2 billion in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. ADB president Masatsugu Asakawa, who assured FM Nirmala Sitharaman of the multilateral lender's support, commended India's decisive response to the pandemic, including a national health emergency programme.

Maharashtra CM, Cabinet To Take A 60% Pay Cut For This Month

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic sweeping across the country, and to financially assist the state, Maharashtra announced a pay cut for all government employees.
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who is also the state finance minister, said the decision has been taken after consultation with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and various unions of employees.

Freightwalla Launched App To Offer All Remote Services

Freightwalla, a Digital freight forwarding startup, has launched a mobile application to offer all the services. The app is a part of a larger "work from anywhere, anytime" initiative. The startups aim to make logistics and supply chain accessible 24x7, from anywhere, on any device.The apps are to make it possible for logistics managers and business owners to plan, manage and track their shipments right on their mobile screens.

Indian Ministers, MPs To Take 30% Pay Cut For One Year

In the wake of a financial crisis stemming from the new coronavirus pandemic, the Union cabinet cleared an ordinance to cut salaries of all ministers and members of Parliament for a year. Chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the cabinet decided to amend the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament Act through an ordinance, to cut salaries of all ministers, including himself, for a year by 30 percent. This has been done to reflect the social responsibility of parliamentarians.

MHRD Launches 'Bharat Padhe Online' Campaign, Invites Ideas To Improve Online Learning System

The Union Minister of Human Resource Development, MHRD, Ramesh Pokhriyal launched a week-long 'Bharat Padhe Online' campaign. This launch was specifically for crowdsourcing of ideas to improve online education ecosystem of India. Currently due to the COVID19 Lockdown imposed many schools and colleges have opted online platforms for education imparting.

Ahmedabad Railway Station Gets Sanitizing Tunnel

The Ahmedabad Railway station at Kalupur has become the first in the country to install a walk through mass sanitizing tunnel. The tunnel was opened following its final inspection by divisional railway manager Deepak Jha.
The mass sanitizing tunnel is an attempt to ensure that the threat of Covid-19 does not affect the staff and passengers entering the Ahmedabad station at Kalupur.

MHRD launched YUKTI web-portal in New Delhi

Centre launched a web-portal "Young India Combating COVID with Knowledge, Technology and Innovation" (YUKTI) in New Delhi. The web-portal was launched by the Union Minister for Human Resource Development Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal "Nishank."
♦ YUKTI portal is a unique portal and dashboard to monitor and record the efforts and initiatives of the Ministry of Human Resource Development /6
(MHRD). The portal aims to cover the different dimensions of COVID-19 challenges in a very holistic and comprehensive way.
♦ The primary aim is to keep the Indian academic community healthy, both physically & mentally. It also aims to enable a continuous high-quality learning environment for learners. The portal is an effort of MHRD to achieve the goal in these difficult times.
♦ The portal will cover various initiatives and efforts of the institutions in academics, research especially related to COVID-19, social initiatives by institutions and the measures taken for the betterment of the total well-being of the students.
♦ The portal will cover both qualitative and quantitative parameters for the effective delivery of services to the academic community at large.
♦ Through this portal, several institutions can share their strategies for various challenges to tackle COVID-19 and other future initiatives.
♦ The portal will give inputs for better planning and will enable MHRD to monitor effectively its activities for the coming six months.
♦ The portal focuses on establishing a two-way communication channel between the MHRD and the institutions in the country. Through this, the Ministry aims to provide the necessary support system to the institutions.

Mar 31, 2020

Jharkhand Govt launches Pragyaam App for Essential Deliveries

Jharkhand Govt has launched the Pragyaam app to issue e-passes to those working in essential services. Jharkhand CM, Hemant Soren launched this app on March 30, 2020. The District Transport Officers will be responsible to issue e-passes to the vehicles carrying the essentials.
Pragyaam is an android app that can be easily downloaded from Google play store. The locally-designed app will issue passes to those associated with medical supply services, banking, regular supplies, and other essential services.

Team Trifed Van Dhan India shows the way 'Work From Home'

Continuing working from home, located in 27 States of the country, a group of over 500 officials from TRIFED, an organisation under the M/o Tribal Affairs, have unleashed the power of Webinars to keep in touch with each other and keep moving and working.Working on their computers from home, they have raised the bar very high, achieving unbelievable results.
Braving all odds, "The Tech for Tribals", a project to train tribal entrepreneurs at 16 premier IITs &IIMs of the country, was launched on line on 19 March 2020. This scheme will link almost 3.5 lakh tribal entrepreneurs living in villages to the premier institutions of the world.
The Trifed VanDhan GIS based website, the future medium of communication for 50 lakh tribal gatherers was launched on line for testing with 27 State teams participating, on 27 March 2020. TRIFED is arranging atleast 2 team meetings every day and the Team is reaching out to partners to keep moving forward.

Indian Army Prepares to Assist in Virus Response Measures

Amid a nationwide lockdown in response to the coronavirus disease (COVID–19) pandemic, the Indian Army has started training personnel to participate in assisting state authorities in enforcement efforts. India's lockdown, affecting some 1.3 billion people, is the largest national policy response of its type to the ongoing pandemic in the world.
The Indian Army has started training troops on how they might collaborate with law enforcement authorities to make sure that lockdown rules are followed.

Mandatory for Cable Operators to Carry 25 DD, Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha TV Channels

The government asked cable operators to mandatorily broadcast 25 Doordarshan channels and Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha TV, saying "non-carriage" of these channels is liable for action under the law.
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry said action against cable operator could be taken under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995.
The ministry has notified 25 DD and Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha TV channels that are to be mandatorily carried by the multiple system operators (MSOs) and cable operators on their networks.

Mar 30, 2020

PM addresses 10th Episode of 'Mann Ki Baat 2.0'

Addressing the 10th Episode of 'Mann Ki Baat 2.0', Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi apologized for taking tough decisions, reiterated that the battle against COVID 19 required some tough decisions.
He said it was important to keep the people of India safe and expressed confidence that together India will defeat COVID-19.
"The Lockdown will keep the people as well as their families safe and those who are not following the rule of isolation will be in trouble" he cautioned.

Nagaland CM Launches Self Declaration COVID-19 App

Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio launched the Self Declaration COVID19 Nagaland App at Kohima. Mr. Rio in a tweet said, the app will be mandatory for any person who entered Nagaland after March 6, 2020. He added that the app is crucial for tracking and surveillance of high-risk cases.
The app can be downloaded from the website nagalandhealthproject.org. User will be directed to click the menu button and select the nCOVID-19 App. For any technical difficulty in using the app, anyone can contact the phone numbers 9774656952 or 8794944850.

PMO Sets Up High-Level Panels To Deal With Situation Post Lockdown; Restore Normalcy

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) constituted 10 different high-level committees to suggest measures to ramp up healthcare, put the economy back on track, reduce pain and misery of people as quickly as possible post 21-day lockdown imposed to contain the coronavirus pandemic. These committees looking after various aspects will work under the overall guidance of P K Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister.
The initiative is being viewed as pro-active step by the government to deal with multiple challenges, which the outbreak of pandemic COVID-19 has posed and made the country to deal with emergency situation, they said, adding these groups will also work on strategy for restoring normalcy in their respective sectors, including healthcare, in the shortest possible time frame.

Mar 28, 2020

Govt Exempts Procurement Agencies, Mandis, Farming Operations, Farm Workers From Lockdown Rules

To ensure that farmers do not face problem in harvesting of rabi crops in the coming days, the Centre exempted mandis, procurement agencies, farm operations, agri machinery hiring centres as well as intra- and inter-state movement of farm implements from the lockdown rules.
The government has also exempted farm workers as well as manufacturing and packaging units of fertilisers, pesticides and seeds from the lockdown order, according to the latest directive issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust Donates Rs 51 Crore To Combat COVID-19

Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust donated Rs 51 crore to Maharashtra Chief Minister's Relief Fund to fight the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Central and state governments are fully prepared to fight the coronavirus which has caused havoc all over the world. The ad hoc committee of the Trust has decided to pay Rs. 51 crore to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund.

Mar 27, 2020

IIT Madras to host India's first 'Global Hyperloop Pod Competition'

Indian Institute of Technology Madras is organizing India's first Global Hyperloop Pod Competition to increase awareness and enthusiasm about Hyperloop in India. The competition is open globally and the final round will take place in the IIT Madras campus in July 2020.
Called the 'Indian Hyperloop Pod Competition' the objective is to encourage student teams in India and abroad to develop a Hyperloop Pod and compete to build the fastest, most innovative and efficient design and prototype of the relevant technologies in the field. This competition is open to all the engineering colleges across the world, to ideate, design and implement their ideas for the Hyperloop Pods.

Ten key announcements by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman amid COVID-19 lockdown

An insurance cover worth Rs. 50 lakh per person for sanitation workers, ASHA workers, doctors, nurses and paramedics who are on the frontlines of the corona battle.
Each household will receive 5 kg of rice or wheat per month free of cost, in addition to the existing 5 kg ration. They will also get 1 kg of preferred dal free of cost for the next three months.
Farmers will get first installment of Rs. 2,000 of PM Kisan in the first week of April. The measure will benefit around 8.69 crore farmers.
MNREGA wages will be increased from Rs. 182 to Rs. 202 which is likely to benefit 5 crore families.
Women holding Jan Dhan account holders will get an ex-gratia amount of Rs. 500 per month for the next three months.
Free LPG cylinders will be given to Ujjwala beneficiaries for three months which in effect will benefit 8.3 crore BPL families.
Under the Deen Dayal National Livelihood Mission, women self-help groups (SHGs) will be provided collateral-free loans up to Rs. 20 lakh from previous benchmark of Rs.10 lakh.
For the organised sector, the government will pay provident fund contribution of both the employer and the employee, amounting to 24 per cent together, for the next three months. This is for the establishments with up to 100 employees, of which 90 per cent receive a salary of less than Rs. 15,000 per month.
The EPFO regulation will be amended so that workers can withdraw up to 75 per cent of the amount for their contingency expenditure. This will benefit 4.8 crore workers.
For 3.5 crore construction workers, state governments have been directed to use the welfare fund for building and construction labourers which has about Rs. 31,000 crore to help those who are facing economic disruption due to the lockdown.

Maharashtra To Use Indelible Ink To Mark People Suspected Of Coronavirus

The state government of Maharashtra has decided to stamp the left hand of those who have been kept under quarantine amid coronavirus scare in the country. Maharashtra has reported the maximum number of cases of COVID-19.
According to the state health minister Rajesh Tope, the left hand of those under home quarantine will be stamped to identify them easily.

Commerce Ministry Sets Up Help Desk To Resolve Import, Export Issues

The commerce ministry has set up a help desk to resolve export- and import-related issues arising due the coronavirus outbreak.
It was operationalised by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).
It said all issues related to the Department of Commerce or DGFT can be forwarded at this help desk.
In this regard, it said a proforma spreadsheet listing coronavirus-related import and export issues can be sent to ''[email protected]''.
Exporters and importers can also call at toll-free number 1800-111-550.

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