General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - July 2021

Jul 2021

Jan 08, 2022

India Turns Down Pakistan's Proposal for SAARC Summit

India rejected Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi's proposal for a SAARC summit in Islamabad on grounds that there has been no material change in the situation since the 18th gathering of eight South Asian leaders in Kathmandu in 2014.
The 19th SAARC summit was scheduled to be held in Islamabad in November 2016. But India announced its boycott after a terrorist attack on an Army camp in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir. Subsequently, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, the Maldives and Bhutan also refused to attend the summit, leading to its indefinite postponement.

India, Indonesia FMs Discuss Aceh-Andaman Connectivity

India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Indonesia's Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi discussed a range of issues including the Aceh and Andaman Nicobar Island connectivity.
During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 2018 visit to Indonesia, among several agreements both sides decided to cooperate in connectivity between Andaman and Nicobar Island and Aceh province of Indonesia.
Sabang Port in Aceh is just 90 nautical miles from the Indian islands of Andaman and Nicobar. During the 2018 visit, it was also decided to set up a Joint Task Force to undertake projects for port-related infrastructure in and around Sabang by both the neighboring countries.

Former Jammu and Kashmir CMs to Lose SSG Security Cover

The strength of Special Security Group (SSG) protecting the four former Chief Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir will be reduced.
As per reports, Special Security Group (SSG) Cover of four former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir— Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and Ghulam Nabi Azad— is likely to be taken back as the union territory's administration has decided.
The decision was taken by the Security Review Committee, which reviews the threat perception of important leaders in Jammu and Kashmir.
Among four former chief ministers, three of them reside in Kashmir and only Azad dwells in Dehli. Among them, only Farooq and Azad will have special security as they are covered by Z+ security.
Mehbooba and Omar will get security district police and JK security wing after assessment of threat perception.

Jan 07, 2022

Punjab Panel on PM Security Lapse (Mehtab Singh Gill Committee)

The Punjab Government created a high level team to investigate the security breach of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Following the security breach, the Punjab Government formed the Mehtab Singh Gill Committee. Mr. Gill is a retired judge. The committee also comprises of Home secretary of Punjab. The committee is to produce a report within three days.

Cabinet Approves MoU between India and Turkmenistan on Cooperation in the field of Disaster Manag...

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Turkmenistan on Cooperation in the field of Disaster Management.
The MoU seeks to put in place a system, whereby both India and Turkmenistan will be benefited from the Disaster Management mechanisms of each other and it will help in strengthening the areas of preparedness, response and capacity building in the field of Disaster Management.
At present, India has signed the bilateral / multilateral Agreement / MoU / Joint Declaration of Intent / Memorandum of Cooperation for cooperation in the field of Disaster Management with Switzerland, Russian, SAARC, Germany, Japan, Tajikistan, Mongolia, Bangladesh and Italy.

Pratapsingh Rane Accorded Permanent Cabinet Status by Goa Govt.

Pratapsingh Rane, former Goa Chief Minister and Congress veteran, was accorded permanent status of a cabinet for his service to the coastal state.
The decision to accord him the honour was taken as Rane completed 50 years as a legislator in the Goa Assembly during the current tenure. Rane, also a former speaker, currently represents the Poriem Assembly segment as a Congress MLA.
The state cabinet had resolved that those persons who have completed 50 years as MLA, and were former chief ministers or former speakers, would be given such a status in the future.

Jan 06, 2022

Nepal PM Sher Bahadur Deuba to Meet PM Modi Next Week

Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is scheduled to meet his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit next week as part of his four-day visit to India.
Prime Minister Modi is hosting the Summit from January 10 to 13 in Gujarat.
This will be Deuba's first official visit to India after assuming power in July.
This would be Prime Minister Deuba's second meeting with Modi. Earlier, the two leaders met briefly during the Glasgow Climate Summit in November.

Karnataka's First LNG Terminal

Karnataka Government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Singapore-based LNG Alliance Company to set up the state's first LNG Terminal in Mangalore.
The first LNG terminal will be set up in Karnataka, in collaboration with New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT).
Government has investment Rs. 2,250 crore to set up the terminal.
This project will provide direct employment to around 200 people.
Terminal will be set up as a part of the Union Government's plan to boost alternative fuel market for achieving net zero carbon by 2070.

Ayush Minister Lays Foundation Stone of International Yoga Academy

Union Ayush Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal laid the foundation stone of the Heartfulness International Yoga Academy in Hyderabad, Telangana. He also launched 75 crores suryanamaskar initiative as part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. The academy tries to reach all levels of society through training programmes and these will be overseen by an international team.
This the academy has therapeutic Yoga rooms for consultation, one to one training spaces or small group classes; pre-natal Yoga rooms; a lecture hall with 200 sitting capacity; a full-fledged recording studio with editing suites for pre-recorded wellness programs; a recording Yoga hall fully equipped for Live online Yoga Classes; a Yoga library with books from every Yoga Institutions and access to Yoga research articles.

Jan 05, 2022

Telangana Tops in Highest Number of ODF Villages

Telangana stood first in the country in the list of the highest number of open defecation free (ODF Plus) villages under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) Phase-II programme till December 31, 2021. As many as 13,737 out of 14,200 villages in the State are on the ODF Plus list, which is 96.74%. This was followed by Tamil Nadu with 4,432 villages (35.39%) and Karnataka with 1,511 villages (5.59%). Gujarat took the 17th position with only 83 villages (0.45%).
The State government had enacted a new Telangana Panchayat Raj Act to ensure the holistic development of villages. A secretary has been posted in every panchayat for smooth execution of welfare programmes, close monitoring, digital reporting and to ensure the prevalence of good governance in villages. Multi-purpose workers have been appointed to maintain proper sanitation in villages. There are 12,769 dedicated compost sheds in all gram panchayats. Tankers have also been provided to water the plants for greenery in villages.

Jan 04, 2022

PM Modi Launches State-of-the-art Airport Terminal in Tripura

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new integrated terminal building of the Maharaja Bir Bikram (MBB) Airport during his visit to the state of Tripura. The airport terminal, was built at a cost of about Rs. 450 crore and is expected to be capable of handling around four to five times more passengers than the existing one – which reportedly can manage only 500 passengers at a time.
The new state-of-art terminal building is equipped with modern facilities and supported by the latest information technology (IT) network-integrated system.
The new airport terminal building in Tripura comes as part of the Airport Authority of India (AAI)'s initiative to develop modern, state-of-the-art airports all across the North-East to contribute to the all-around development of the region.

Vini Mahajan Takes over as Jal Shakti Ministry Secretary

Former Punjab Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan assumed the charge as Secretary in the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
Prior to this, she was serving as Punjab Chief Secretary from 26th June 2020. Earlier she served as Additional Chief Secretary of the Departments of Housing & Urban Development, Government of Punjab and Industries & Commerce, IT and Investment Promotion. She was ACS/ Principal Secretary of the Department of Health and Family Welfare since April 2012 for 5 years.

Ajay Kumar Bhalla Releases Three Manuals & Newsletter of Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre

Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla released three manuals and a newsletter of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre.
The manuals are part of a focussed awareness campaign for prevention of cyber crimes and to inculcate cyber hygiene in rural areas, industrial bodies and public. The quarterly newsletter CyberPravah aims to create awareness about recent developments in the field of cyber crimes and cyber crime terminology. Government is spreading mass awareness through various social media handles in the name of CyberDost by providing cyber safety tips at frequent intervals for the public.

Four Additional Judges in Two High Courts Elevated as Permanent Judges

According to the Department of Justice in the Law Ministry, four additional judges, one from the Calcutta High Court and three from the Bombay High Court, were elevated as permanent judges.
One additional judge of the Bombay High Court was also given a fresh one-year term from March 4 this year to continue as an additional judge.

RGI Extends Deadline for Jursidictional Changes for Census

Even as Census enumeration remains postponed indefinitely due to the pandemic, the Centre has extended the deadline for jurisdictional changes for all states up to June 30, 2022. Earlier, the deadline was December 31, 2021.
According to sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs, which oversees the functioning of Registrar General of India, this was done on the request of the states as they have not been able to update the jurisdictional changes for various reasons.
Before every Census, states are required to provide information on changes in the number of notified districts, villages, towns and other administrative units such as tehsils, talukas and police stations in a state since the last Census a decade ago to the RGI. The boundaries of administrative units are frozen three months before commencement of Census. In this period, the data is compiled and shared with RGI which begins its preparatory work for the Census.

Congress Launches Uttarakhand Poll Theme Song, Slogan

The Congress launched the election campaign theme song for the upcoming Uttarakhand elections and said that polls would be fought with people as the face of the party.
Putting up a united front days after intra-party rivalries in the state came to the fore, Congress Uttrakhand campaign head and former chief minister Harish Rawat, state unit chief Ganesh Godiyal, AICC in charge Devendra Yadav and senior leader Pritam Singh said the theme song was a marker of the changing mood of the people.
The punch line of the Congress theme song in the state is 'Teen Tigada Kaam Bigada, Uttarakhand mein nahi aayegi ab Bhajpa dobara' – a pun on the ruling BJP changing three CMs in five years.

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