General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - January 2020

Jan 2020

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.

Feb 13, 2020

Second Batch of Foreign Envoys Visit Jammu and Kashmir

The second batch of foreign envoys arrived for a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir for a first-hand assessment of the situation in the Union Territory six months after the nullification of Article 370.
The envoys of over 20 countries arrived at the Srinagar airport but could not visit Baramulla town in north Kashmir as per the schedule due to inclement weather.
Those who were part of the delegation include envoys from the European Union, South America and the Gulf countries.

President of India Addresses the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of National Institute of Bank Manage...

The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, graced and addressed the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM) in Pune Maharashtra.
The President said that banks are fulcrum of our economic system. Their efficiency in this role has earned trust and respect of people. Our Constitution promised economic justice for all citizens. Banks were considered the crucial vehicle to deliver this Constitutional commitment. He commended banks for charting out a mandate well beyond their traditional role as a financial intermediary. He said that our banks have done a commendable job in changing banking from an elitist pursuit to a service available to common man. Millions of lives have been touched through direct transfer of funds under various welfare schemes to bank account of poor and needy.

State Government Staff to Work Five Days a Week

In a move that is set to benefit around 10-12 lakh Maharashtra government employees, the state cabinet gave its approval for the five-day working week system, starting February 29.
However, employees will have to work for an additional 45 minutes every day to compensate for the two additional holidays every month. According to the current rules, staffers have a five-day working week twice a month, with every second and fourth Saturday being given as a holiday.

Govt. Treasury Gets Rs. 52L Bounty from Poll Losers

Out of the total 672 candidates who were in fray in the Delhi assembly polls, 529 contestants, including those of national parties, lost their deposits, as per figures from the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer (CEO).
A candidate has to deposit a sum of Rs. 10,000 while filing their nominations. The deposit is forfeited if they fail to secure a sixth (16.66%) of the total valid votes cast in a constituency.
Besides the Congress party that bagged less than 5% of the total votes polled and 67 of its candidates had to forfeit their deposits (including four of its ally the Rashtriya Janata Dal [RJD]). All candidates fielded by four other national parties could not save their deposits.

Assam NRC Goes Offline

Wipro, the company tasked with providing storage space on cloud for keeping National Register of Citizenship (NRC) data in Assam, said that the contract was not renewed by the government due to which the data went offline.
The IT services contract was not renewed by the authorities upon its expiry in October, 2019. However, as a gesture of goodwill, Wipro continued to pay the hosting service fee until January-end, 2020.
Wipro is willing to continue providing these services if the IT services agreement is renewed by the authorities.

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