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Current Affairs for APSC Prelims 2018

(REVISION NOTES from Nov 2017 – October 2018)

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POLITY & GOVERNANCE

Appointment of Second National Judicial Pay Commission

• for recommending pay revision for the subordinate judiciary.
• headed by retired justice of the Supreme Court, J.P.Venkatrama Reddi.

 

TRAI Upholds Net Neutrality

• Net Neutrality is a concept where content and application providers get equal treatment by telecom operators.
• it advocates that individuals should be free to access all content and applications equally, regardless of the source, without Internet Service Providers discriminating against specific online services or websites.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is a statutory body

• Founded on 20 February 1997 – Ram Sewak Sharma (Chairman)

 

PRAGATI

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chaired an interaction through PRAGATI , the ICT-based multimodal platform for Pro-Active Governance and timely implementation.
• Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI) platform was launched in 2015

 

Darpan Project

• Ministry of communications has launched DARPAN (Digital Advancement of Rural Post Office for A New India)
• It aims at realising financial inclusion of un-banked rural population.
• provide a low power technology solution to each Branch Postmaster (BPM) which will enable each of approximately 1.29 Lakhs Branch Post Offices (BOs) to improve the level of services being offered to rural customers across all the states.

 

 Good Governance Day on 25th December

• observed in India on the birth anniversary of former-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
• established in 2014

 

 India’s First Social Audit Law in Meghalaya

• Meghalaya became the first state in India to operationalize a law that makes social audit of government programmes and schemes a part of government practice.
• launched ‘The Meghalaya Community Participation and Public Services Social Audit Act,
• 2017’ that will allow citizens’ participation in the planning of development, selection of beneficiaries, concurrent monitoring of programmes, redress of grievances and audit of works, services and programmes on an annual basis.

Social audits refer to a legally mandated process where potential and existing beneficiaries evaluate the implementation of a programme by comparing official records with ground realities

 

Triple Talaq Bill

• ‘The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017’
• its objective is “to protect the rights of married Muslim women and to prohibit divorce by pronouncing talaq by their husbands”.
• In August 2017, the Supreme Court passed a judgment in the Shayara Bano v UoI on the practice of instant triple talaq, stating that it was “manifestly arbitrary” and “against the basic tenets of Islam”.

 

Plea to bar Politicians from contesting from Two Seats

• A petition was filed in Supreme Court challenging Section 33(7) of Representation of People Act, 1951.
• This section allows politicians to contest Parliamentary as well as Assembly elections from two constituencies

 

18th All India Whips Conference

• at Udaipur, Rajasthan on 8th-9th January 2018
• organized by Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (MoPA).
• The conference focused on the efficient functioning of legislatures.

Whip – an important member of a political party’s parliamentary body, having a central role in ‘Floor Management’ in both the Houses of Parliament and is responsible for discipline within the party.

 

e-Sansad and e-Vidhan projects

• These are mission mode projects of Government of India under Digital India, to make the functioning of Parliament and State Legislatures paperless.

 

Government notifies Electoral Bonds for Political Donations

• In a bid to curb influence of illicit cash in Indian political system, the Finance Ministry has notified the contours of new electoral bonds.
• these bonds will now be the only way to make donations to political parties.
• Political parties, secured at least 1 per cent votes in the last Lok Sabha election or the state Assembly election and are registered under the Representation of the People Act, 1951, will be eligible to receive donations through electoral bonds.

 

Haj Subsidy Abolished

• Haj subsidy funds will be used for educational empowerment of girls and women of minority community.
• In 2012, a constitutional bench of the Supreme Court had directed that the Haj subsidy be done away with.
• All Haj air traffic is now shared by Air India and Saudi Arabia’s national airline. – many beginning to view it as a subsidy for the airline rather than the Muslim community.
• if Haj travel is opened to more airlines, the airfare will be cheaper.
• Many Muslim leaders arguing that it is “un-Islamic” as according to the Quran, only those Muslims who can afford the expenses should perform Haj.

 

Constitution Bench to examine Citizenship Act

• The Supreme Court to examination will include the cut-off date for awarding citizenship to Bangladeshi immigrants in Assam. Section 6A of the Act relates to provisions for citizenship of people covered by the Assam Accord.
• Therefore, this act fixes March 25, 1971 as the cut-off date for granting citizenship to Bangladeshi migrants in Assam.

E-way Bill

• The Government has made it mandatory for all States to implement the national e-way bill system for intra-state movement of goods by June 1 2018.
• The E-way bill, is a document to be generated online under the GST system, when goods of the value of more than ₹50,000 are shipped inter-State or intra-State.

Government e-Marketplace (GeM) 3.0 launched

• Offer standardised and enriched catalogue management, powerful search engine, real time price comparison, template-based Bid and RA creation, demand aggregation, e-EMD, e-PBG, user rating, advanced MIS and analytics and more.
• GeM – aims to transform the way in which procurement of goods and services is done by the Government Ministries/Departments, PSUs, autonomous bodies etc.

 

Panel Recommends Separate Flag for Karnataka

• If adopted with clearance from the MHA, Karnataka will be the second state after Jammu and Kashmir to have an official state flag.
• Constitutional Position – So far, Jammu and Kashmir is only state having separate flag of its own due to special status granted by Article 370 of the Constitution.
• no separate Central or State law to deal with this issue. In addition, the Indian Constitution does not prohibits States to have their own flag.

 

Atal Bhoojal Yojana

• Government of India is going to launch this Water Conservation scheme
• will be implemented by the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation.
• Through this scheme, the underwater level will be raised for providing pure and clean water for the use in agriculture.

 

President approves bill allowing Kambala in karnataka

• making Kambala a legal rural sport in Karnataka.
• The Bill seeks to exempt kambala and bullock-cart racing from the ambit of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960.
• Kambala is an annual buffalo race which is a tradition in the Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts’ farming communit

 

Committee to select 20 ‘Institutes of Eminence’

• N Gopalaswami has been appointed chairperson of the empowered expert committee (EEC) that will be the final authority to select 20 “institutes of eminence”, which will be free from government regulations.
• The institutes of eminence scheme under the Union human resource development (HRD) ministry aims to project Indian institutes to global recognition.
• The 20 selected institutes will enjoy complete academic and administrative autonomy.

 

Mahanadi Water Disputes

• for adjudication of dispute on Mahanadi River Waters. The dispute is between Odisha and Chhattisgarh on sharing the waters of the river Mahanadi.
• The tribunal will consist of a chairman and two other members nominated by the Chief Justice of India from among judges of the Supreme Court or high courts.
• Article 262 of the constitution provides for the adjudication of inter-state water dispute.

 

NITI Forum for Northeast

• created to accelerate the central government’s efforts to spur inclusive growth in the northeastern region of the country.
• To identify constraints that stand in the way of achieving accelerated, inclusive and sustainable economic growth in the eight states of the Northeast region.
• co-chaired by the vice chairman of the Niti Aayog and the DoNER minister.

 

National Financial Reporting Authority to be set up

• National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA), an independent regulatory body to regulate the auditing and accounting standards as well as for oversight of auditing profession in India in line with global best practices.
• under the Companies Act 2013, 15 members including a chairperson, 3 full-time members and a secretary.

 

Arbitration Council of India

• Union cabinet approved the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill providing for creation of the Arbitration Council of India (ACI) which will grade arbitral institutions and accredit arbitrators in the country.
• Currently in India there is a preference to ad-hoc arbitration contrary to the global practice where about 86% of arbitrary awards given in the last decade have been institutional arbitration.

 

 

Andhra Pradesh’s demand for Special Category Status

• The Union government has declined the Andhra Pradesh’s demand of special category status
• Special category status was awarded by the then National Development Council to certain states that were historically disadvantaged as a result of their geography, socio-economic status and other such parameters.
• bases for the grant of SCS status: difficult hilly terrain, low population density, sizeable share of tribal population, strategic location along international borders, economic and infrastructural backwardness, and non-viable nature of the state’s finances.
• SCS was accorded to the eight North Eastern and three Himalayan states (Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and J&K)

 

Maiden Electoral Bond issued

• Electoral Bonds worth Rs 222 crore were sold in its maiden issue in order to fund political parties.
• to increase transparency in electoral funding in India.
• India is the first country to introduce electoral bonds

 

Move to Impeach CJI Dipak Misra

• parties has submitted a notice for an impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra citing five reasons. This is the first such move against the top judge of the apex court in the country.
• minimum of 50 members are required to agree to the motion.

 

MyGov 2.0

• Government’s biggest official digital platform MyGov has recently decided to scale up both the quality and quantity of its audience reach.
• built on open source technology by the NIC

 

Panchayati Raj Act Turns 25 Years

• On April 24, 1993 India conferred the constitutional status on the panchayati raj system.
• The Panchayati Raj Act institutionalized PRIs as the mandatory third tier of governance.
• Representation to the women

 

Indu Malhotra to be First Woman Judge in Supreme Court directly from bar

• Seventh woman judge of SC
• At present Justice R Banumathi appointed in August 2014 is the lone woman judge in the apex court
• in August 2007 SC designated her as Senior Advocate only the 2^nd woman to be elevated by SC

 

Facebook partners with NCW to launch Digital Literacy Programme

• to train women on safe use of internet and social media.

National Informatics Centre (NIC) has set up cloud-enabled National Data Centre @ Bhubaneswar

• offer round-the-clock operations with secure hosting for e-governance applications of ministries and departments.
• It is fourth cloud-enabled National Data Centre of NIC after Delhi, Hyderabad and Pune.

 

The Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2018

• intends to jump-start India as a soughtout business destination in the world.
• It aims to create a conducive regulatory environment for investors to set up and operate businesses.
• Lowering of the specified value of a commercial dispute to Rs 3 lakh from the present 1 crore so that commercial disputes of a reasonable value can be decided by commercial courts.
• Commercial court at the district level
• State government to specify pecuniary value for commercial dispute at district level
• Commercial appellate tribunal

 

RBI Note on Data Localization

• RBI asked all payment companies operating in India to set up data storage facilities within the country in the next six months.

 

EU New Data Norms European Union General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR)

• came in to effect on May 25, 2018.
• amid growing scrutiny about how major tech companies collect and use people’s personal information.
• Gives citizen greater control over personal data
• Citizen’s request to delete data, Right to opt in or opt out, Intimation about data breach, Constitution of supervisory authority, Strengthened regulation, Penalty

 

BharatNet Connect Every Village Home

• Widen the scope of its national broadband project and help every village home surf the web.
• deepening internet penetration which, as of September 2017, 33.22 subscribers per 100 persons.
• Objective: envisages delivering broadband connectivity to 250000 gram panchayats

Law Commission to Codify Personal Laws

• towards bringing a uniform civil code (UCC) for the country
• Currently, different personal laws for Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Parsis and others. – cover matters of property, marriage, divorce, inheritance and succession.
• Article 44 of the Directive Principles sets implementation of uniform civil code as the duty of the State.

North Eastern Council to come under direct control of Home Ministry

• The council is the nodal agency for the economic and social development of the North Eastern region, was till now chaired by the Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Minister.
• Home Minister will be ex-officio chairperson of the Council.
• The DoNER Minister will be Vice Chairman and all the Governors and Chief Ministers of North Eastern States as Members.

Composite Water Management Index by NITI Aayog

• to assess and improve the performance of States/ Union Territories in efficient management of water resources.

7-Star Gram Panchayat Rainbow Scheme by Haryana govt

• give star rankings to its panchayats on the basis of seven social parameters
• Ambala has topped star ranking followed by Gurugram and Karnal.

 

Strategic petroleum reserve at Chandikhol and Padur

• Union Cabinet has approved establishment of additional 6.5 Million Metric Tonne (MMT) Strategic Petroleum Reserves facilities at Chandikhol in Odisha and Padur in Karnataka.
• India, UAE, and Saudi Arabia would create tri-lateral cooperation to secure India’s energy security to check rising oil prices.
• UAE was the first country to supply oil to India’s strategic oil reserve facility in Mangalore.

 

Jaitapur Nuclear plant

• NPCIL to build for construction of 6 nuclear reactors of capacity 1,650 megawatt each at Jaitapur nuclear plant in Ratnagiri district, Maharashtra.

 

 Government declares national targets for off-shore wind power

• 5 GW by 2022 and
• 30 GW by 2030.

 

Suresh Mathur committee to review norms related to Insurance Marketing Firms. 

 

Rail MADAD App (Mobile Application for Desired Assistance During travel)

• to expedite and streamline passenger grievance redressal.

 

Reunite’ App launched to track missing kids

• The Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation has launched mobile
• application “ReUnite” to track and trace missing and abandon children in India.
• developed by Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi‘s NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan.

 

Taj Declaration to beat Plastic Pollution adopted in Agra

• to make the 500-metre area around the historic ivory-white marble monument litter-free and phase out single-use plastic.

Ten New Swachh Iconic Places launched under Swachh Bharat Mission

• Raghavendra Swamy Temple (Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh), Hazardwari Palace (Murshidabad, West Bengal), Brahma Sarovar Temple (Kurukshetra, Haryana), Vidur Kuti (Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh), Mana village (Chamoli, Uttarakhand), Pangong Lake (Leh-Ladakh, J&K), Nagvasuki Temple (Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh), Ima Keithal/market (Imphal, Manipur), Sabarimala Temple (Kerala) and Kanvashram (Uttarakhand) have been taken up in phase III.

EVMs, VVPATs

• VVPAT machines are used to verify that the vote polled by a voter goes to the correct candidate.
• VVPAT prints a slip containing candidate and symbol – chance for the voter to verify their vote

AAI to set up Civil Aviation Research Organisation in Hyderabad.

 

Ravindra Dholakia committee to upgrade norms for state, district level economic data collection.

India join European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

• as the 69th member
• EBRD Founded 1991; Headquarters London
• President – Suma Chakrabarti

 

17th World Sanskrit Conference

• held at Vancouver, Canada from 9th July to 13^th July, 2018.

Gujarat government grants religious minority status to Jews

• third state in India to have granted minority status for Jews, following Maharashtra and West Bengal.
• Union Government accords the status of minority communities to six religious communities
• Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Zoroastrians (Parsis), Buddhists, and Jains.
• The Constitution of India does not define the word minority but refers to the word while according rights to religious and linguistic minorities.
• Article 25 guarantees freedom of religion
• Article 29, rights to promote and preserve their own culture.
• Article 29 forbids discrimination on grounds of race, religion, caste, language, in admission to educational institutions run by the state or receiving
• Article 30 right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice

Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala – Right of Temple Entry

• prohibits women of menstruating age (between 10 and 50 years of age) from entering it, a prohibition enforced under Rule 3(b) of the Kerala Hindu Places of Public Worship (Authorisation of Entry) Rules, 1965.

Election of Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha

• Constitution is silent on the time period within which the Deputy Chairperson of the Upper House should be chosen.
• Article 89(2) states that the Council of States shall choose a member of the Council to be Deputy Chairman

 

Debate on Section 377 of IPC

• Section 377 refers it as ‘unnatural offences’

Bru Community

• Union Home Minister signed an agreement – repatriate displaced Bru families living in Tripura since 1997 to Mizoram

 

Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (2nd Amendment) Bill, 2017

• for no-detention policy in schools. – till the completion of elementary education.

 

Higher Education Financing Agency

• CCEA approved increasing authorized share capital of HEFA to Rs. 10,000 crore from Rs. 2000 crore and approved additional infusing additional government equity of Rs. 5,000 crore.
• HEFA set up as a Non Profit, Non Banking Financing Company (NBFC) for mobilising extra-budgetary resources for building crucial infrastructure in the higher educational institutions.

 

Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education (RISE) Scheme

• to step up investments in infrastructure in premier educational institutions, including health institutions, the government launched Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education (RISE).
• All centrally-funded institutes (CFIs), including central universities, IITs, IIMs, NITs and IISERs can
• borrow from a Rs 1,00,000 crore corpus over next 4 years to expand and build new infrastructure.
• financed through suitably structured Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA).

 

NETA App

• allows voters to rate and review their political representatives.

Bond-i

• World Bank launches world’s first blockchain bond.

Kanyashree Prakalpa

• a West Bengal Government sponsored scheme –
• would not be any ceiling for a family’s annual earnings to be a beneficiary.
• conditional cash transfer scheme aiming at improving the status and well being of the girl child by incentivising schooling of teenage girls and delaying their marriages until the age of 18

Odisha government announced Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY)

• universal health coverage scheme – by providing secondary and tertiary cashless health care assistance up to Rs 5 lakh per family per annum.

 

Meghalaya government made it mandatory for married people to produce marriage certificates for all official purposes.

No Confidence Motion

• Article 75(3) of our Constitution embodies this rule by specifying that the Council of Ministers are collectively responsible to Lok Sabha.
• Lok Sabha rule on NCM: any Lok Sabha MP who can garner the support of 50 colleagues, to
• introduce a motion of no confidence against the Council of Ministers
• during the third Lok Sabha in 1963 that the first one was moved by Acharya J B Kripalani against the government headed by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
• The first successful no-confidence motion in 1979 against the government of Prime Minister Morarji Desai.

 

More Assembly Seats for Sikkim

• The Home Ministry has moved the Union Cabinet to increase the number of seats in the Sikkim Assembly from 32 to 40.
• Inadequate tribal representation: The seats are being increased to accommodate the Limboo and Tamang.

 

Cap on Election Expenses by parties and Candidates

• The EC has asked the government to amend the Representation of People’s Act and Rule 90 of The Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, to introduce a ceiling on campaign expenditure by political parties in the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.
• Limits on expenditure by a candidate: EC imposes limits on campaign expenditure incurred by a candidate, not political parties.
• by a Lok Sabha candidate is capped between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 70 lakh.
• In Assembly elections, ceiling is between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 28 lakh.

 

Government claims RBI has enough power to regulate Banks

• RBI’s Contention
  • Lacuna in 1949 Act: RBI says a banking company is defined in Section 69 (c) of that Act as any company, which transacts the business of banking in India. State Bank of India and nationalized banks, which are PSBs are not companies but corporations formed by statutes, therefore not banking companies. Thus, Banking regulation Act, 1949 does not apply to PSBs in full.
• This forms a great constraint for a regulator and supervisor.

 

Sports University Bill, 2018

• to establish a National Sports University in Manipur.

 

Swadesh Darshan Scheme – Development of North East Circuit

• Governor of Manipur, launched the project “Development of North East Circuit: Imphal & Khongjom”
• covers two sites i.e. Kangla Fort and Khongjom – first project under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme
• Khongjom is the place where the last war of resistance of Anglo Manipur War of 1891 was fought.

 

Swadesh Darshan Scheme

• flagship scheme of Ministry of tourism for development of thematic circuits
• to promote cultural and heritage value of the country by developing world-class infrastructure
• 13 thematic circuits have been identified for development – Buddhist Circuit, North-East India Circuit, Coastal Circuit, Himalayan Circuit, Krishna Circuit, Desert Circuit, Eco Circuit, Wildlife Circuit, Tribal Circuit, Rural Circuit, Spiritual Circuit, Ramayana Circuit, and Heritage Circuit.
• Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive (PRASAD) aims to beautify and improve the amenities and infrastructure at pilgrimage centres of all faiths and harness the value of religious tourism.
• 13 sites – Amritsar, Ajmer, Dwaraka, Mathura, Varanasi, Gaya, Puri, Amaravati, Kanchipuram, Vellankanni, Kedarnath, Kamakhya, and Patna.

 

Srinivas Committee on CSR

• Government sets up Injeti Srinivas High Level Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility.

 

GSTN

• Cabinet approves conversion of GSTN into 100% government entity.

 

Financial inclusion Index

• Government launches Financial Inclusion Index.
• The index has three measurement dimensions (i) Access to financial services (ii) Usage of financial services and (iii) Quality.

www.psbloansin59minutes.com

• Finance Ministry launches web portal to grant loans to MSMEs within hour.

 

Pakyong airport

• PM Narendra Modi inaugurates Sikkim’s first airport.

 

Umeed Scheme

• Union Cabinet has approved the extension of Umeed Scheme for Jammu & Kashmir for one more year during 2018-19.
• Special programme for J&K, implemented under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), launched in J&K in 2013 to encourage rural women to make small savings so that their Self-Help Groups (SHGs) to eventually become bankable at reduced rate of interest.

 

2nd World Hindu Congress

• The 2nd World Hindu Congress was organized in Chicago, United States. It was held to commemorate 125 years of Swami Vivekananda’s historic Chicago address on September 11, 1893.

 

Aadhar Bill as Money Bill

• Aadhar judgment concluded that govt was justified in the passage of the Aadhaar Act as a Money bill.
• Section 7, which enables the use of Aadhaar to avail of any government subsidy, benefit or service for which expenditure is incurred out of the Consolidated Fund of India is the core provision in law and that this makes it a Money bill.
• Article 110: Definition of Money Bill

 

Odisha Plans for Legislative Council

• Article 171: states can have a Legislative Council in addition to the Legislative Assembly.
• Article 169, a Legislative Council can be formed, if the Legislative Assembly of
• the State passes a resolution to that effect by a majority of the total membership of the Assembly
• and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of the Assembly present and voting.
• Parliament can then pass a law to this effect.
• Members: Article 171, the Legislative Council of a state shall not have more than one-third of the total number of MLAs of the state and not less than 40 members. But in J&K, LA has 87 members and the LC 36.
• Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) is six years, with one-third of the members retiring every two years.
• 7 States have MLC – Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, J&K, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.

 

SC Decision on Criminalization of Politics

• The Supreme Court expressed its inability to make a law to check creeping criminalization of the polity
• Section 8 of the Representation of People Act, 1951, bans convicted politicians. But those facing Trial are free to contest elections.

 

State Finance Commission (SFC)

• created by the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments to rationalize and systematize State/sub-State-level fiscal relations in India.
• Article 243I mandated the State Governor to constitute a Finance Commission every five years.
• primary task – rectify growing horizontal imbalances in the delivery of essential public services to citizens.

 

Government sets up Lokpal Search Panel

• to recommend the names of chairman and members of anti-corruption watchdog Lokpal
• Chaired by former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai

 

Setting up of an Independent Payments Regulatory Board (PRB)

• The growth in the financial tech sector has enabled non-banks to play a significant role in payments.
• The government itself is keen to promote digital payment systems and set up a Committee on digital payments in 2016.

 

Delhi launches doorstep delivery of Government Services

• Delhi government has launched its ambitious project Phone-a-sahayak scheme to deliver public services at the doorstep of residents.
• Delhiites can now apply for 40 govt documents to be delivered at their homes for a fee of Rs. 50 per service.
• The applicant would have to call 1076 and mobile sahayak will go to their home and help with filling forms, payment of fees and collection of documents.

 

Government replaced Scientific Advisory Committees (SAC) with PM-STIAC

• scrapped two Scientific Advisory Committees (SAC) for the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, and replaced them with a nine member, Prime Minister’s Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC).
• The PM-STIAC will be chaired by the government’s Principal Scientific Advisor, Dr. K. Vijay Raghavan.

 

Odisha’s Food Security Scheme

• On Gandhi Jayanti, the Odisha government launched its own food security scheme to benefit
• who were left out of the National Food Security Act.

 

Michelle Bachelet appointed as the next United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

• OHCHR was appointed by the UN General Assembly to realise a demand of the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993.

 

Operation Samudra Maitri

• to assist victims of earthquake and tsunami in Central Sulawesi Province of the Republic of Indonesia.

 

E Sreedharan committee to lay down standards for metro rail systems.

 

WEF launches Centre for Fourth Industrial Revolution in India.

 

IWAI has launched Ro-Ro service from Neamati to Manjuli Island in Assam.

 

Mahila Mall, the first mall in the country with an all-women crew will come up in Kozhikode in the month of November.

 

Appointment/Awards

AG Rohatgi – Lokpal Selection Panel as Eminent Jurist

Gita Gopinath has been appointed as Chief Economist of IMF.

Fali S. Nariman  -19th Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence in Public Administration.

Sikkim –  FAO’s Future Policy Gold Award for 100% organic farming.

Seoul Peace Prize for 2018: PM Narendra Modi

 Sharad kumar: appointed as new vigilance commissioner in CVC.

Arvind saxena: Arvind Saxena has been appointed as acting Chairman of UPSC.

World Food Prize 2018- awarded to Lawrence Haddad and Dr. David Nabarro.

Public Affairs Index 2018: Kerala has topped the list of best governed States for third time.

Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel: appointed as a Chairperson of National Green Tribunal.

R S Sharma re-appointed TRAI chairperson.

Rekha Sharma appointed as Chairperson of National Commission for Women.

Ashish Kumar Bhutani appointed CEO of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana

Justice Ranjan Gogoi – Chief Justice of India (46th CJI).

Kamlesh Nilkanth Vyas – Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission.

LK Advani – renominated as Chairman of Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha.

 

Observation Days

June 20: World Refugee Day.

National Statistics Day: June 29

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