General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - January 2020

Jan 2020

Jan 07, 2020

Delhi Assembly elections to be held on February 8, counting of votes on February 11

Delhi Assembly elections to be held on February 8. The counting of votes will be done on February 11.
The term of the 70-member Delhi assembly will end on February 22 and a new House has to be constituted before that.
Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is seeking re-election after a massive win in the last assembly polls held in 2015. The AAP won 67 seats and the remaining three went to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

KVIC opens first silk processing plant in Gujarat to boost Patola saree production

Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) inaugurated the first silk processing plant at Surendranagar in Gujarat. This would help cut down the cost of production of silk yarn drastically and increase the sale and availability of raw material for Gujarati 'Patola' sarees locally.
The plant has been set up by a khadi institution at a cost of Rs 75 lakh, in which KVIC has contributed Rs 60 lakh.

Jan 06, 2020

Tamil Nadu assembly session begins in January

Tamil Nadu assembly session began in 2019. Being the first session of the year, it began with the customary address by the state Governor Bunwarilal Purohit. The entire opposition led by the DMK boycotted Governor's speech over the Citizenship Amendment Act, alleged misdeeds in the recent rural local body elections and a host of other issues.
Tamil Nadu maintains the lead in maintaining law and order, industrial growth and good governance. The government would ensure that the interests of the people of all faith are ensured. He thanked the Centre for not signing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, RCEP, to protect the interests of the country's dairy sector.

When masked men and women with sticks bled students, staff at JNU campus

A mob wearing masks and carrying sticks barged into the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus on and attacked students and teachers, prompting protests across the country.
At least 23 students and teachers were injured in the attack, which the Left-back JNU students' union (JNUSU) blamed on the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
The students' group affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has denied the charges.
Here is what happened on 6th January, 2019
As a part of the ongoing agitation against a substantial increase of the hostel fee, JNU teachers had called for a march on the campus at 4pm. Around two hours later, teachers and students said a mob of people entered the campus raising provocative slogans and were armed with sticks and rods with their faces covered. The masked individuals also entered hostels and went around knocking on rooms.

Govt's UJALA, SLNP complete five years of illuminating nation

UJALA and Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) of the central government completed five successful years of illuminating the country. Over 36.13 crore LED bulbs have been distributed across the country through the UJALA initiative. This has resulted in estimated energy savings of 46.92 billion kilowatt-hour per year.
Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) project brought the market transformation in the energy efficiency sector. Prices of LED bulbs being distributed under UJALA programme have fallen to one-tenth of their rates, from 310 rupees in 2015 to 38 rupees in 2018. The switch from inefficient incandescent bulbs to LEDs is helping families reduce their electricity bills while also enabling them to access better brightness in homes.

Jan 05, 2020

Centre Sanctions 2,636 EV Charging Stations In 62 Cities

The government has approved setting up 2,636 electric vehicle charging stations across 62 cities in 24 states and union territories of India under the second phase of FAME India scheme.
The move is meant to encourage manufacturers to launch new electric vehicles models.By installing all these charging stations, it is expected that at least one charging station will be available in most of the selected cities in a grid of 4 km x 4 km, which will boost the confidence of users of electric vehicles in terms of range anxiety and also this will encourage the OEMs to launch the new electric vehicle models which they were hesitant because of lack of charging infrastructure.

Jan 04, 2020

BJP Will Not Move Back on CAA

Union Home Minister Amit Shah claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party will not back out in the issue of CAA even if all of the Opposition parties come together.
Shah said this while speaking at a rally in Jodhpur to kick start the saffron party's national campaign to reach out to people and counter "misleading" information against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Shah also launched a special number and urged people to give a missed a call to show their support to CAA.

Peace and Stability in Region of Utmost Importance: India

India called for restraint and de-escalation of the situation in West Asia following the killing of al-Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in a US airstrike, saying stability in the region is of utmost importance to New Delhi.
The call for restraint came soon after Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei threatened severe revenge for the criminals who bloodied their foul hands with Soleimani's blood. Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif described US action as a dangerous escalation.

DMK, Allies Win Rural Body Polls

In a closely fought contest in polls to rural civic bodies in 27 districts in Tamil Nadu, the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and its allies emerged winners, relegating the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) combine to the second spot.
The polls, held after a gap of eight years, are the first local body elections since the demise of the towering Dravidian leaders J. Jayalalithaa and M. Karunanidhi.

MHA Yet to Frame Rules on New Law

The Union home ministry is yet to frame rules to implement the Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019 (CAA). The law which sparked nationwide protests was cleared by Parliament on December 11, 2019.
Senior ministry officials said that defining a process to establish the identity of those that have faced religious persecution is proving to be "difficult". The law fast-tracks citizenship to persecuted religious minorities, except Muslims, from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
The official, however, added that the ministry is not waiting for the Supreme Court to rule on various pleas against CAA. Several petitions were filed challenging the constitutional validity of the law. On December 18, the SC, while refusing to stay the implementation of CAA, agreed to examine the law's constitutional validity. The apex court is scheduled to hear the petitions on January 22. "There is no direction from the court holding back the government from framing the CAA rules.

Jan 03, 2020

City's First Smog Tower at Lajpat Nagar

Delhi's first smog tower will start working at Lajpat Nagar central market from Friday. The 20-feet-tall tower is fitted with exhaust fans to suck in polluted air and can remove up to 80% of the particulate matter (PM 2.5 and PM10) -- the primary pollutant in Delhi's air.
Following high pollution levels in the national capital, the Supreme Court had in November 2019 asked the Centre and the Delhi government to come up with a roadmap on installing smog towers in the national capital region (NCR) to combat air pollution.
The smog towers were to be installed on the lines of China, which has experimented with this technology.
A proposed pilot project to consider the efficacy of smog towers is being undertaken by the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-Bombay) in collaboration with IIT-Delhi and the University of Minnesota.

Centre Sets Up Desk to Look into Ayodhya Matters

The Union ministry of home affairs has set up a dedicated desk handled by three officers, headed by additional secretary Gyanesh Kumar to look into all matters related to the Supreme Court verdict on the Ayodhya issue, including the formation of a trust for the construction of the Ram temple at the once disputed site.
The creation of an exclusive desk is expected to streamline the work of the trust and also carefully look into the legal aspects involved.

Nineteen CBI Officers Shifted

CBI director Rishi Kumar Shukla transferred 19 senior officers, two DIGs, fourteen SPs and three additional SPs, with immediate effect while claiming that the transfers were being done in public interest. The agency has renewed its policy on transfer according to which no officer will stay in a branch for over five years.

Assam Announces Land Ownership Deeds to Indigenous People

The Assam government announced that it will provide land 'pattas' (ownership deeds) to more than 40,000 landless indigenous people of the state.
The decision was taken after Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal held a review meeting with the revenue and disaster management departments. During the meeting, the CM directed the revenue department officials to take appropriate steps so that the target of giving land deeds to over 1 lakh people in 2020 could be achieved.

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