Indian Polity - Current Affairs for November, 2015

Bihar unit of the BJP on 29th November elected senior party leader and 7 time Gaya town MLA was Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly. Its winter session will commence on Monday, 30th November 2015. While a total of 243 seats saw a share of 53 for BJP in the assembly elections, party leader Kumar won the Gaya town seat for the seventh time.

Rajasthan government on 20th November 2015 signed 295 MoUs attracting INR 3.3 lakh crore in investments at the time of the Resurgent Partnership Summit 2015. The MoUs aim to provide 239694 lakh jobs within the state and are in different fields such as energy, roads and highways and infrastructure development.

Senior JDU leader Nitish Kumar has been sworn in as Bihar CM for the fifth time on November 20, 2015. The swearing in ceremony was held at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan. Governor Ramnath Kovind administered the oath of office and secrecy to the CM. RJD president Lalu Yadav’s sons MLAs Tejaswi Prasad Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav were also sworn in. JDU, RJD and INC emerged as the winner of the recent Bihar elections through their winning Mahagatbandhan coalition.

Government has advanced the year for making 52.5 lakh people digitally literate under the National Digital Literacy Mission by 2016, instead of 2017. Around 10 lakh persons have already been certified and 8 lakh are in process. Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (DISHA) or National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM) Scheme has been formulated to impart IT training to 52.5 lakh persons, including Anganwadi and ASHA workers and authorised ration dealers in all states/UTs across India. It aims to ensure IT literacy among Indian citizens.

Government of India has signed an MoU with Republic of Korea/South Korea for enhancing the existing air service cooperation between the two nations in an agreement which will strengthen capacity entitlements for both nations and see Korean carriers gaining more access to airports. Air connectivity between the two countries will also be enhanced following this MoU. Two additional points of call-Chennai and Bengaluru have been added to S. Korean carriers. Indian carriers have also been granted additional beyond points as part of the MoU.

The minimum legal age was previously 14 (for girls) and 16(for boys). The unicameral congress voted 87 to 15 for approving the change urged by children’s rights group to eliminate child trafficking and teen pregnancies. UNICEF has estimated that close to 4000 marriages in a year involve girls aged 15 to 19 years and around 4700 of them aged between 10 to 14 years get pregnant each year.

Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram inaugurated National Tribal Crafts Mela ‘Aadishilp’ in New Delhi which provides tribal artisans an important platform to showcase their talents through their products to urban India. Shri Oram said Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Ltd. (TRIFED) through its 44 sales counter all over the country is providing much needed marketing system for tribal products. The exhibition was launched by TRIFED at Delhi Haat from November 2 to 11 and features hand crafted items, handloom products, dry flowers, cane and bamboo products, tribal jewellery, Dhokra craft, tribal weaves, embroidery, tribal paintings and products from artisans across the nation.

In a reshuffle of Karnataka cabinet, recently inducted cabinet rank minister Dr G Parameshwara has been appointed as the new home minister. Incumbent home minister has been reassigned as the new minister for Bengaluru. CM Siddaramaiah has also appointed Vinay Kulkarni as new minister of states for mine and geology.