General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - November 2019

Nov 2019

Dec 15, 2019

I-PAC to Help AAP in 2020 Polls

According to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, I-PAC, a political consultancy firm led by Prashant Kishor, joined hands with his party.
The move comes in the run up to the Delhi Assembly elections, which is scheduled to take place early next year (2020).
Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) was one of the main strategists in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's general election campaign in 2014, and the Bihar assembly election campaign in 2015 which brought Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar to power.
Kishor is the national vice president of Janata Dal (United), which is an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the main opposition in Delhi Assembly.

Farooq's Detention Extended by Three Months

The detention of Farooq Abdullah, a three-term Chief Minister of erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and National Conference president, was extended by three months under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA).
Abdullah was among a host of leaders and activists to be detained in August when the Centre moved to abrogate Article 370 and divided the state into two Union Territories of Ladakh and J&K.

FASTag Guidelines Relaxed

The Union government relaxed its rules for the rollout of the mandatory FASTag mechanism of paying at national highways, allowing more collection centres to accept cash payments instead of the previous directive that limited it to 1 – amid fears of traffic chaos once the new rule came into force from December 15, 2019.
In order to incentivise cashless payments and reduce wait times at toll booths, the Union Road Transport and Highways ministry (MoRTH) ordered that all but one booth at National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) facilities must soon be converted to accept only FASTag, a contactless payment device typically pasted on the windscreen of a vehicle.
The NHAI, in a letter sent on December 12, cited a lack of availability of FASTag for new users to seek a 45-day extension to the December 15 deadline, which itself had been pushed from December 1 after authorities noticed a huge rush for new tags – suggesting many had still not bought one.

Dec 14, 2019

Centre Effects Major Bureaucratic Reshuffle

The government affected a major bureaucratic reshuffle appointing senior Indian Administrative Service officer T. V. Somanathan as the expenditure secretary, Ravi Mittal as the I&B secretary, and shifting higher education secretary R. Subrahmanyam to the social justice ministry.
Senior bureaucrat Amit Khare was appointed the new higher education secretary.
The change in the higher education department came against the backdrop of a prolonged agitation over an increase in fee at Jawaharlal Nehru University.

SC Notice to EC over Plea on Election Data

The Supreme Court issued a notice to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on the pleas of two NGOs seeking a probe into alleged discrepancies between voter turnout and the number of votes counted in 347 constituencies during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde tagged the plea of the two NGOs along with the pending matters and listed it for hearing in February 2020.
The plea filed by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Common Cause sought a direction to the Election Commission to formulate a robust procedure to investigate discrepancies in the data in all future elections.
Citing the data of a research conducted by a team of its experts, the ADR said there were serious discrepancies between the number of voters in different constituencies, that is the voter turnout data collated and provided by the EC and the number of votes counted. It claimed that findings of the research revealed several discrepancies, including those in the master summary of 542 constituencies. Discrepancies were found in 347 seats.

Kejriwal Urges Maliwal to End Hunger Strike

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal appealed to Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal to put an end to her hunger strike.
Maliwal had started an indefinite hunger strike in December 2019 in the aftermath of the gang rape and murder of a veterinarian in Hyderabad.
The DCW chief had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to bring legislation to ensure that those individuals accused of rape are convicted and hanged to death within six months of committing the criminal offence.

India, Maldives to Work on Financial Cooperation

India and the Maldives signed an agreement for cooperation between their financial intelligence units and discussed ways to streamline the recruitment of Indian nurses to bolster the Indian Ocean archipelago's healthcare sector.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and his Maldivian counterpart Abdulla Shahid co-chaired the first Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) between the two sides since 2015 and reviewed progress achieved in implementing the agenda for bilateral cooperation.

Dec 13, 2019

Lotus on Passports as Part of Security Features

After Opposition members in Lok Sabha raised the issue of lotus being printed on new passports; the Ministry of External Affairs said that it was part of the enhanced security features to identify fake passports and involves using other national symbols as well on rotation.
As per Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, this symbol is our national flower and is part of the enhanced security features to identify fake passports.
These security features have been introduced as part of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) guidelines.

Sena Gets Home, NCP Finance, Congress Revenue

After Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and six ministers were sworn in, the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government announced the allocation of portfolios.
Among key portfolios, the Shiv Sena got home and urban development departments, while NCP bagged finance. Revenue, energy and public works departments are with the Congress. The ministers said some changes are likely in the allocations between the three parties.
Thackeray did not retain any portfolio, although he may keep a few portfolios such as general administration and Marathi language.
The NCP bagged 16 ministerial berths, while the Shiv Sena got 15 and the Congress 12.

Indonesia Foreign Minister Arrives to India on 2-day Visit

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno L. P. Marsudi arrived in Delhi on a two-day visit to attend the combined session of the Indian Ocean Dialogue and the Delhi Dialogue XI.
The visiting dignitary is scheduled to meet External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and the two ministers will also simultaneously attend the sixth Joint Commission Meeting between India and Indonesia at the Hyderabad House.

Indigenous Groups seek Strict Regulations

Meghalaya does not come under the Inner Line Permit (ILP) regimen -- as no government permission is required to enter the state -- but in November 2019, the Meghalaya Cabinet approved amendments to the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act 2016, which will lead to regulations that would require non-resident visitors to register themselves in the state.
The Act requires a visitor, who desires to stay for more than 24 hours in the state, to fill an online application and get permission for entry. This is ILP by another name. Some tribal communities believe that CAB would enable rights to outsiders in the state. On Tuesday, the Garo Hills of Meghalaya, which sent Agatha Sangma to Parliament, saw her effigies being burnt in several places.
While most of Meghalaya is covered under Sixth Schedule of Constitution and is outside the CAB's ambit, there is a large area (10 square km) within Shillong city called the European Ward, which will fall under CAB purview.

Dec 12, 2019

Gujarat Government Gets Clean Chit in 2002 Riots

The final report of the Commission of Inquiry headed by retired Supreme Court judge, Justice G. T. Nanavati, probing the Godhra train burning incident of February 2002 that left 59 'kar sevaks' dead, the subsequent communal riots that broke out in Gujarat over the following three months, and the role of the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi, along with other ministers and the police, was tabled in the state assembly, and found no pre-meditation or conspiracy in the riots that left over 1,200 people dead.
Giving a clean chit to the current Prime Minister, the 2500-page, nine-volume report stated: "There is no evidence to show that these attacks were either inspired or instigated by any minister of the state."

Parl Panel: New Car Owners Must Prove Parking Space

In view of the increasing pressure on Delhi's roads by private vehicles, a parliamentary committee recommended that registration of such vehicles be allowed only after owners dispose of their old vehicles, and show that they have parking space.
The panel also suggested that insurance premiums be linked to drivers' traffic violation record, which would entail a higher premium for each offence on the roads.
The 31-member department-related parliamentary standing committee on home affairs, headed by Rajya Sabha member Anand Sharma submitted its report titled 'The Management of Worsening Traffic Situation in Delhi' with 107 recommendations to make the city's roads safer for commuters.

Chhattisgarh to Withdraw Cases against Tribals in Maoist-hit Areas

The Chhattisgarh government decided to withdraw over 300 cases pending in different courts against tribals in the Maoism-affected areas of the state.
The ruling Congress had accused the previous Bharatiya Janata Party government of implicating innocent tribals in false cases.
The move comes after recommendations by a high-level committee, headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice A. K. Patnaik.
Based on the recommendation of the committee, the Chhattisgarh government's Law and Legislative Affairs department decided to withdraw the prosecution after reviewing the cases registered against the Scheduled Tribe (ST) people in eight Maoism-affected districts.

Green Signal to Tamil Nadu Civic Polls

The decks for elections to the local bodies in Tamil Nadu have been cleared by the Supreme Court's order to hold the December 27 and 30 polls as per the 2011 census.
The opposition parties in Tamil Nadu led by the DMK had petitioned the Supreme Court seeking postponement of the civic polls alleging the state Election Commission had used 1991 census data for the delimitation and other poll-related determinations like reservations in wards etc, when the 2011 census data should have been used.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde gave the nod to elections after the Tamil Nadu government confirmed using the 2011 census figures for all relevant exercises linked to the upcoming panchayat elections in the state.
This order would serve the ends of justice and the cause of free and fair local bodies' elections in the state.

Manipur Comes under Inner Line Permit Regime

The government notified the extension of the inner line permit (ILP) regime to Manipur, seeking to blunt opposition to the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in the north-eastern state.
The extension was announced by Home Minister Amit Shah in the Lok Sabha.
CAB is not applicable in states that come under the ILP regime. To visit such states, outsiders, including people from other states of the country, need to take permission. Such states also provide protection for locals in terms of land, jobs, and other facilities.
Manipur is the fourth state after Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram where the ILP regime is applicable. The objective of the ILP system is to prevent settlement of other Indian nationals in the states that come under it so as to protect the indigenous population.

Dec 11, 2019

EU Hopes Data Bill Will Converge with European Norms

As per EU ambassador to India Ugo Astuto, the European Union is hoping that India's proposed law on handling digital data will converge with European regulations so that the free flow of data can continue between the two sides.
Astuto also said that the two sides would be well served by starting talks on an investment protection agreement even as they try to move forward with talks on a free trade agreement (FTA) that have been stalled for almost six years.

Free Trade Pacts with ASEAN Countries

The government informed the Rajya Sabha that India would review lopsided trade agreements with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and secure better deals and that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) failed to address India's concerns on trade deficit, which forced the country to not join the pact.
Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Goyal cited growing trade deficit with ASEAN countries during 2010-11 until 2018-19 to state that the earlier trade pacts had been asymmetrical.
A major reason has been that India gave much larger market access to some of these countries but received less in return.

J&K Administration to Decide on Leaders' Release

Union Home Minister Amit Shah claimed that the situation in the Kashmir valley is normal and maintained that a decision on releasing detained political leaders will be taken by the local administration.
Shah's assertion that the central government will not interfere in the matter came after Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury asked the government when political leaders, including sitting Lok Sabha member and former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, would be released.

Relief for BJP in Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh Speaker Narmada Prajapati restored the membership of BJP legislator Prahlad Lodhi, who was convicted by a special court in Bhopal, for attacking government official. The Speaker took the decision after the Supreme Court last week upheld the stay granted by the High Court on his conviction.
Lodhi is the BJP MLA from Pawai constituency in Panna district.

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