General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - November 2019

Nov 2019

Feb 18, 2020

Women Army Officers Eligible for Permanent Commission, Rules SC

The Supreme Court dismissed the Union government's submissions that women are physiologically weaker than men as a "sex stereotype" and declared that Short Service Commission (SSC) women officers are eligible for permanent commission and command posts in the Army irrespective of their years of service. The verdict came on a nearly 10-year-old appeal filed by the government against a March 12, 2010 decision of the Delhi High Court to grant SSC women officers' permanent commission. The Supreme Court ordered the government to implement its judgment in three months.

Haryana Govt. to Give Rs. 6 Cr to Olympics Gold Medal Winners

Haryana Government announced that the state government will give Rs. 6 crore prize money to players that bag gold medals at the Olympic Games.
Apart from that, the Haryana government will also give Rs. 3 crore to those winning Gold Medal at Asian Games. Similarly, the state government will give Rs. 1.5 crore to those winning Gold Medal at Commonwealth Games.
Haryana Government also decided to give Rs. 15 lakh to each player participating in the Olympic Games. The Haryana Government believes that this will make state and country proud as well as encourage players.
Earlier, winners were given Rs. 5 crore. Apart from Gold Medalist, the silver medalist will get Rs. 1 crore more, while the bronze medalist will be given Rs. 50 lakh more.
The prize money for Asiad and Commonwealth Games winners has also been increased. The gold medalist in the Asian Games will now get Rs. 3 crore instead of two, while the gold medalist in the Commonwealth Games will get Rs. 50 lakh more.
The cash prize money will be given only to players representing Haryana.
According to the new sports policy of Haryana, a new provision has been added to honor the coaches of the players.
Apart from this, the player's stadium will also be given 10 percent of the amount he gets to improve the facilities.

New Ministers in AAP Cabinet

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government on Monday kick-started its third term in Delhi with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal making just three changes to his cabinet of ministers.
The water department, which Kejriwal headed in his previous term, will now be administered by Shakur Basti MLA Satyendar Jain. The environment department will be under Babarpur lawmaker Gopal Rai, who has taken over the post from Kailash Gahlot. These two departments hold significance as they will be working on two key poll promises of the AAP — providing clean, regular water supply and curbing air pollution in the Capital.
Another change is that to the women and child development department, which will now be under Seemapuri MLA Rajendra Pal Gautam, who will also continue as the Social Welfare and SC/ST Minister.

Shaheen Bagh Row: Supreme Court Appoints Mediators to Convince Protestors

The Supreme Court appointed mediators to talk to the protestors at Shaheen Bagh. The Supreme Court said that it is important to talk to them (protesters). Supreme Court also said that whatever is the reason for the protest, it is not good to block a public road.
Supreme Court's bench comprising Justice S. K. Kaul and K. M. Joseph passed the order on February 17, 2020, in the petitions seeking removal of agitators from Shaheen Bagh and clearance of road. Protesters have been sitting on this road for over two months.
The Supreme Court has appointed a team of mediators to talk to Shaheen Bagh's protestors. According to the apex court's orders, Senior Counsel Sanjay Hegde and Advocate Sadhna Ramchandran will talk to the protestors as interlocutors. The Supreme Court said that these mediators will try to convince protestors to shift their demonstration site at an alternative place. The Supreme Court also said that both the lawyers have been given liberty to pick a third person to act as an interlocutor if required. The court has given them a week to submit their report.

Panel for 67% Quota for Native People in House

A home ministry-appointed committee has recommended that two-third seats in the Assam Assembly should be reserved for the indigenous people of the state and 1951 should be the cut-off year to define the local population.
The committee has also suggested creation of a legislative council (Upper House) for Assam and introduction of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) to control the movement of people from outside the state, they said.
For the reservation of seats for indigenous people in Assam Assembly, the 13-member panel has recommended two formulas, including a quota of two-third seats (67%) for them.
In case of reservation of seats in the Assam Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies from the state, all members, except three, have suggested that 67% seats should be reserved for the indigenous people. The remaining three members suggested that the reservation in legislative bodies should be 100%.

Babulal Marandi's JVM Merges with BJP

Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Babulal Marandi has merged his Jharkhand Vikas Morcha with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at an event in Ranchi in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP chief J. P. Nadda.
Marandi went back to his parent party BJP 14 years after he quit the party and formed the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM).
Amit Shah had been trying to bring Babulal Marandi into BJP since I was made BJP chief in 2014.
In 2000, Babulal Marandi became the first Jharkhand chief minister and also the first BJP CM. Marandi had formed JVM later after splitting with BJP.

British MP Denied Entry into India

A British MP who chairs a parliamentary group on Kashmir was denied entry into India on arrival at the New Delhi airport, with officials saying she had been informed in advance of her e-visa's cancellation.
She intended to make a personal visit to New Delhi to meet Indian relatives before travelling to Pakistan for a three-day official visit as a member of the all party parliamentary group for Kashmir. Abrahams told the UK media she "wouldn't be surprised" if the denial of entry was linked with her work with the group.

Centre Lets Ladakh Appoint Non-gazetted Personnel

Following a shortage of personnel, the Union government empowered the Union Territory of Ladakh to formulate its own rules to appoint non-gazetted officials.
As per a senior official, the day-to-day work in Ladakh was getting hampered as the process to reallocate government officials had not been completed, and not many officials were willing to move to the Union Territory.
The erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh by Parliament on August 6, 2019. Thereafter, the Union government appointed a panel to find out officials' preference for posting.

Feb 17, 2020

PM Unveils Statue of Deendayal Upadhyaya in Varanasi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a 63-feet tall statue of former Bhartiya Jana Sangh leader Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya.
The 'Pancha Loha' statue is the tallest statue of the leader in the country. Over 200 artisans have worked for almost a year in order to complete the structure. He also inaugurated the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Memorial Centre.
The Memorial Centre has the engravings of the life and times of Deendayal Upadhyaya. About 30 Odisha craftsmen and artists have worked on the project during 2019.

India Rejects UN Chief's Mediation Offer on Kashmir

India rejected any scope for third party mediation to resolve the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan.
Indian foreign ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar said that Jammu and Kashmir has been is and will continue to be an integral part of India. The issue that needs to be addressed is that of vacation of the territories illegally and forcibly occupied by Pakistan. Further issues, if any, would be discussed bilaterally. There is no role or scope for third party mediation.
The comments come against the backdrop of some remarks made by the UN Secretary General António Guterres who is on a visit to Pakistan.
In his remarks, Guterres had expressed concern over increasing tensions between India and Pakistan as well as over alleged human rights violations in Kashmir.

Fifteenth Finance Commission Forms Panel on Defence & Internal Security Fund

The 15^th Finance Commission set up a five-member group led by 15th Finance Commission Chairman, Nand Kishore (NK) Singh to investigate the need for separate arrangements for funding defense and internal security.
The panel will comprise the following members: A. N. Jha, member of the 15th Finance Commission, Ajay Bhalla, Secretary of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Ajay Kumar, Secretary of Ministry of Defence, T. V. Somanathan, Expenditure Secretary.
This group will test whether a separate mechanism for financing defense and internal security should be put in place, and if so, how this fund would be operationalised.

AAP Leaders Discuss Three-point Plan to Widen National Footprint

Hours after Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet ministers took oath of office and secrecy in Delhi's Ramlila Maidan, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) held a meeting with state executives to discuss the party's expansion plans across the country.
The agenda of the meeting was to discuss two things primarily.
First, the message of the historic win in the Delhi elections, which came purely based on development works, should be disseminated across the country loud and clear. This is the right time to channelise the energy and enthusiasm of the volunteers to expand the party across the nation. Secondly, how this victory can be used as a springboard for expanding the party nationally.

India Inks MoUs with Russia

In a step forward towards addressing the issue of regular spares and support for Russian military equipment with the armed forces, 14 MoUs were signed between Indian and Russian companies for setting up joint ventures covering a range of equipment from modern T-90 tanks to legacy Pechora air defence systems.
The MoUs were signed during the 5th India Russia military industry conference held during the Defexpo 2020 in Lucknow. They come under the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) on joint manufacturing of spares in India signed in September 2019 for mutual cooperation in manufacturing of spares, components, aggregates and other material related to Russian or Soviet-origin arms and defence equipment.

Feb 16, 2020

CDS Dept. Seeks Govt. Nod on Final Structure

The structure of the newly-constituted department of military affairs (DMA), headed by chief of defence staff General Bipin Rawat, is taking shape and will be staffed by one secretary-ranked officer, one additional secretary and five joint secretaries, a senior army officer said on Friday.
The department has sought the government's approval for the appointment of one secretary who will be responsible for transformation and coordination, one three-star ranked additional secretary and three joint secretaries to execute its wide-ranging mandate, said Major General Mukesh Aggarwal, defence advisor to General Rawat.
The DMA will have a total of five joint secretaries, with two having already been posted to the department. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet had last month cleared the appointment of two officers in the DMA — Rajeev Singh Thakur, a 1995 batch IAS officer from Rajasthan cadre, and Shantanu, a 1997 batch officer from Tripura cadre.

Complaint against Former Assam NRC Coordinator Prateek Hajela

A complaint has been lodged against Prateek Hajela, the former Coordinator of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, for allegedly tampering with the records associated with updating the citizenship exercise whose complete list was published in August 2019.
Almost simultaneously, the office of the NRC Coordinator lodged an FIR against Ajupi Baruah, a former associate of Mr. Hajela, for resigning without surrendering the password to the NRC data records system.

Feb 15, 2020

BJP, Cong. to Gain Big as 51 MPs are Set to Retire in April

The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress are expected to win most of the vacancies that will arise in the Rajya Sabha in April 2020 when the term of 51 members comes to an end in April, although both parties will see their strength diminished marginally.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) are expected to make significant gains in the 245-member House. The change in composition, however, is unlikely to worry the BJP, which still does not have a majority in the upper house (nor does the larger NDA grouping it leads). However, this has not stopped the party from pushing through laws in the Rajya Sabha, thanks to support from parties such as the Biju Janata Dal and the YSRCP.
The BJP, which has 82 members in the house, is expected to add 13 members (four down from the 18 it has among the 51). The BJD is likely to win two seats of the three vacancies from Odisha, the BJP will get one. In Andhra Pradesh, the YSRCP will pocket all four seats falling vacant in April. The BJP will also add one seat each from Himachal Pradesh and Haryana to its tally.
The Congress, which has 46 members, is likely to get 10 seats in the upcoming elections. The party will see 11 of its members retiring in April.

J&K Panchayat Bypolls to Start on March 5

The Union Territory's Chief Electoral Officer Shailender Kumar said that by-election to over 12,500 panchayat seats in Jammu and Kashmir would be held in eight phases from March 5.
Polling would be held from March 5 to March 20 and ballots would be used for casting votes.
The first phase of the bypolls will be held on March 5, followed by second on March 7, third on March 9, fourth on March 12, fifth on March 14, sixth on March 16, seventh on March 18 and last on March 20.
The process for filling 11,639 panch seats and 1,011 sarpanch seats will completed by March 26.

Feb 14, 2020

Pulwama Attack Anniversary

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation in paying tribute to the 40 CRPF personnel killed in a terror attack in Pulwama a year ago and said that India will never forget their martyrdom.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, ministers Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani and Hardeep Puri as well as AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal were among those who remembered those killed when a convoy of vehicles carrying security personnel was attacked on February 14, 2019.
On the first anniversary of the Pulwama attack, the CRPF also inaugurated a memorial at Lethpora camp in Srinagar to commemorate the jawans. The names of all the 40 personnel along with their pictures will be part of the memorial along with the motto of the CRPF -- 'Seva and Nishtha' (Service and Loyalty).

Chandrakant Patil Reappointed BJP Maha Unit Chief

Former Maharashtra Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil was reappointed the chief of state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party, while businessman-politician Mangal Prabhat Lodha was again made the head of the Mumbai unit. The state and city presidents are elected for a five-year term.

MEA Renames Two Institutions after Sushma

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced that two key institutions linked to India's foreign policy would be renamed after late External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. The decision to rename the Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra and Foreign Service Institute, both located in New Delhi, was made on the eve of Swaraj's birth anniversary on February 14. Swaraj, India's first full-time Foreign Minister, died at the age of 67 on August 6, 2019.

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