1. 26th December as ‘Veer Baal Diwas’
Tags: National News
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi on the auspicious occasion of the Parkash Purab of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, has announced that starting this year, 26th December shall be observed as ‘Veer Bal Diwas’ to mark the martyrdom of Sahibzada Zorawar Singh Ji and Sahibzada Fateh Singh Ji.
- Sahibzada Zorawar Singh Ji and Sahibzada Fateh Singh Ji were two of the four sons of Guru Gobind singhji who were killed by the Mughals during Aurangzeb rule due to treachery .
- Guru Gobind singh ji was the 10th Guru of the Sikhs and Guru Granth Sahib is considered as the 11th Guru of the sikhs .Guru Granth Sahib or Adi Sri Granth Sahib ji is considered to be the holy book of Sikhism and it contains all the actual words spoken by the ten gurus of Sikhism.
Sikh religion was founded by Guru Nanak and he was the first of the ten Gurus of the Sikhs other being Guru Angad, Guru Amar Das , Guru Ram Das, Guru Arjan Dev, Guru Hargobind, guru har rai sahib ,Guru Har Krishan, Guru Teg Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh.
The entire Guru Granth Sahib is written in the Gurumukhi script, official script for writing Punjabi in the State of Punjab.
2. Maldives inks key deals with China
Tags: International News
Maldives and China on 8th January 2022 signed key bilateral agreements during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit, on developing and maintaining infrastructure in the Indian Ocean archipelago, besides agreeing on a visa-free travel arrangement for Maldivians intending to travel to China.
Highlights of his visit:
- Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid and his Chinese counterpart unveiled a special official logo to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations between the countries.
- The visa-waiver agreement between the two countries would allow Maldivians to travel to China on a 30-day visa free basis once the pandemic restrictions are lifted.
- The two governments signed an agreement of ‘Economic and Technical Cooperation’ on grant aid, focusing on social, livelihood, and infrastructure projects.
- The Government of Maldives signed a ‘Letter of Exchange’ on a ‘Feasibility Study of Management and Maintenance of China-Maldives Friendship Bridge’, for Chinese assistance in maintaining the 1.4-km bridge connecting capital Male with the island of Hulhumale.
- The bridge is considered China’s flagship project in the Maldives. Male owes Beijing about $1.4 billion from past loans, which President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s government has sought to “restructure”.
- China also agreed to back a sea-water desalination project and cooperate in the health sector
3. India tops Sri Lanka’s tourism List
Tags: National News
According to the Sri Lanka’s Tourism Development Authority, Indians topped the list of holiday makers in Sri Lanka in the month of October 2021, as the island nation is showing a gradual revitalisation of leisure tourism after being impacted by the pandemic.
The Tourism Authority said:
- The total number of international tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka during October 2021 was 22,771.
- India, the UK, Pakistan, Russia and Germany were the top five international tourist generating markets during October.
- India was the largest source of tourist visits to Sri Lanka with 37 per cent of the total traffic received in October.
- The UK and Pakistan accounted for 10 per cent and 9 percent of the total traffic respectively.
About Sri Lanka
The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a tropical island nation off the southeast coast of the Indian subcontinent. It is separated from the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Munnar and the Palk Strait.
- Capitals: Colombo (Executive and Judicial) and Sri Jayawardenepura (Legislative).
- Official Languages: Sinhala and Tamil
- Currency: Sri Lankan Rupee
- President: Gotabaya Rajapaksha
- Prime Minister: Mahinda Rajapaksha
4. The Election Commission of India has announced the schedule for the assembly election in Goa, Punjab, Manipur, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
Tags: National News
Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said for the 690 Legislative Assembly seats of the five states all elections will be completed in seven phases.
- For 403 seats of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly whose term is ending in May, election will be completed in seven phases i.e. first phase on February 10th, second phase on February 14th, third phase on February 20th, forth phase on February 23rd, fifth phase on February 27th, sixth phase on March 3rd and seventh phase on March 7th respectively.
- For 117 seats of the Punjab Legislative Assembly whose term is ending in March, election will be completed in single phase on February 14.
- For 70 seats of the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly whose term is ending in March, election will be completed in single phase on February 14.
- For 60 seats of the Manipur Legislative Assembly whose term is ending in March, election will be completed in two phases on February 27 and March 3 respectively.
- For 40 seats of the Goa Legislative Assembly whose term is ending in March, election will be completed in single phase on February 14.
- The results of all five states will be announced on March 10.
- Basic preparations will be taken to ensure Covid-19 safe election, hassle-free voter experience and maximum voters participation
- A total of 18.34 crore electors including service voters will take part in this election. Out of this, 8.55 crore are women electors.
- EVMs and VVPATs will be utilized in all the polling stations. Election Commission has already made arrangements to ensure an adequate number of EVMs and VVPATs for the smooth conduct of elections. In case of Senior citizens above 80 years of age, persons with disabilities and Covid-19 patients vote by postal ballot can be cast.
- No yatra, procession, road show, cycle bike, padyatras or vehicle rally or physical rally by political parties will be allowed up to 15 January. The situation will be reviewed and fresh instructions to be issued later.
No victory processions will be allowed after declaration of the results.
5. Opposition Parties demand parliamentary probe into Tek Fog app
Tags: National News
Reacting to a news report that Tek Fog app is being used to spread misinformation, make hate speeches and manipulate social media trends, opposition parties demanded the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs to take up the matter as such apps posed “severe danger” to national security. Separately, they also urged the Supreme Court to take note of news report on Tek Fog app, and have it examined by the expert panel that’s already looking into the alleged use of the Pegasus spyware on some Indian citizens.
What is Tek Fog App
According to “The Wire” Tek Fog is an application software used by the information technology cell of the Bharatiya Janata Party as part of their social media campaigning to spread propaganda.
- Tek Fog was used to manage large number of inauthentic accounts on social media.
- Tek Fog was capable of hacking inactive WhatsApp accounts in order to mass message their contacts with propaganda messages, while impersonating the account owner.
- The App can allow its users to take control of the trends on the social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by 'auto tweeting' and 'auto sharing' tweets and posts.
- The App has a cloud database where citizens store information about their age, occupation, religion, gender, political inclinations, and other physical attributes.
- The app also allows the user to completely delete all the evidence of the past activities they might have performed using the App
6. FCRA nod for Missionaries of Charity restored
Tags: National News
The Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) on Friday restored the FCRA registration of missionaries of Charity (MoC),the Catholic religious congregation set up by Nobel laureate Mother Teresa.
- The Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) registration is mandatory to receive foreign donations.
- The registration of nearly 6,000 NGOs ceased to operate from January 1 as the MHA refused to renew their application or the NGOs did not apply for renewal.
- After this decision by MHA came out, there was a debate in the U.K Parliament, seeking to know if the British government had raised with India the issue of blocking of overseas funds of the MoC or not.
For more details on FCRA kindly refer to the 28th December 2021 post.
7. Shri Rajnath Singh flags-in India’s first multi-dimensional adventure sports expedition conducted by NIMAS in France.
Tags: National News
Defence Minister Shri Rajnath Singh, on January 07, 2022, flagged-in India’s first multi-dimensional adventure sports expedition conducted by National Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports (NIMAS) in France.
- The expedition was conducted in November 2021 and the team was led by Director NIMAS Colonel Sarfaraz Singh, comprising 12 people - eight Army personnel and four youths of Arunachal Pradesh.
- The expedition team participated in winter trekking,cycling, scuba diving and paragliding.
NIMAS (National Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports).
- It comes under the Ministry of Defence.
- It provides specialised training in mountaineering, adventure sports and mountain rescue .
It is located in the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh
8. Election Commission hikes expenditure limit for Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assembly Candidates
Tags: National News
The Election Commission of India declared hike in expenditure limits for Lok Sabha candidates and also for State legislative Assembly candidates. This hike is after the last major hike in 2014. There was a 10% increase in 2020 due to Covid Pandemic.
- This is based on the report of a committee set up by the Election Commission which was set up in October 2021 and was asked to submit its report within 120 days.
- This is notified by The Ministry of Law and Justice through an amendment to the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961.
- The expenditure limit is specified under Rule 90 of the Conduct of Election Rules and any change requires the law ministry’s approval.
- The expenditure limits vary from large states to small states based on population as per the 2001 census.
- The Bigger states include Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and the only UT of Delhi. Rest all other states and UT’s come under small states.
The poll body increased the expenditure limit for the Lok Sabha constituencies to -
- Rs 95 lakh from the earlier threshold of Rs 70 lakh for bigger states and
- Rs 75 lakh from the earlier Rs 54 lakh for smaller states.
Likewise, the expenditure amount has been revised for assembly constituencies to
- Rs 40 lakh from earlier Rs 28 lakh in bigger states and
- Rs 28 lakh from Rs 20 lakh in smaller states
The committee decided based on the following-
- The change in the number of electors(834 million in 2014 to 936 million in 2021) across the States/Union Territories and its bearing on expenditure.
- Change in Cost Inflation Index(an increase of 32.08% from 2014 to 2021-22) and its bearing on the pattern of expenditure incurred by the candidates in recent elections.
- the political parties and other stakeholders like chief electoral officers, election observers etc.
- Other factors which may have bearings on expenditure like changing modes of campaigning, which is gradually shifting to the virtual and social media based digital campaigns.
9. Centre and State forms separate panels to probe PM’s security lapse in Punjab
Tags: National News
- The Centre and the Punjab government formed two separate committees to probe the security lapses that led to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s convoy being stranded for about 20 minutes on a flyover in Ferozepur on 05th January 2022.
- The Union Home Ministry said a three member committee of Sudhir Kumar Saxena, Secretary (Security), Cabinet Secretariat; Balbir Singh, Joint Director, Intelligence Bureau; and S. Suresh, Inspector General, Special Protection Group, will probe the serious lapses “which led to the exposure of the VVIP to grave security risk”.
- Charanjit Singh Channi led Punjab government has also set up a committee comprising Justice Mehtab Singh Gill (retd.) and Anurag Verma, Principal Secretary, Home Affairs, which would “carry out a thorough probe into the lapses that occurred during Prime Minister’s visit to Ferozepur”. The committee will submit its report within three days.
- A three Judge Bench of Supreme Court led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana is also hearing the matter urgently today.
10. Union Cabinet approves a host of foreign agreements
Tags: National News
The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved a host of agreements signed by the Indian government with foreign Governments in a meeting on 6 January 2021.
Some of the approved agreements are :
Turkmenistan :- It approved the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Turkmenistan on Cooperation in the field of Disaster Management.
Spain :- It approved the signing of the Agreement between India and Spain on Cooperation and Mutual Assistance in Customs Matters.
Nepal:- It approved the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Nepal for construction of a bridge over Mahakali River at Dharchula (India)- Dharchula (Nepal).
