ACHIEVERS IAS ACADEMY CURRENT AFFAIRS 29-05-2016

1. JP announces 12 candidates for Rajya Sabha polls; Venkaiah

Naidu & Om Prakash Mathur are among the candidates

• BJP today announced 12 candidates for the biennial Rajya Sabha Polls due next month. Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu and Party Vice President Om Prakash Mathur are candidates from Rajasthan.

• Party has nominated Union Rural Development Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh from Haryana and Power Minister Piyush Goyal from Maharashtra

• Similarly Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is the candidate from Karnataka and Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi is from Jharkhand.

• Party's National Vice President Purushottam Rupala will be the candidate from Gujarat.

• Sitting MP from Madhya Pradesh Anil Madhav Dave will be the party nominee from Madhya Pradesh again and former minister Ramvichar Netam will be from Chhattishgarh.

• Former Party State President Gopal Narayan Singh will be party candidate from Bihar.

2. President to present Malti Gyan Peeth Puraskars 2016 today

• President Pranab Mukherjee will present the Malti Gyan Peeth Puraskars for the year

2016 at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan today. • The Malti Gyan Peeth Puraskar was instituted by Mohinder Singh Syngle Education

and Research Society in honour of its founder Mrs Malti Mohinder Singh Syngle, eminent educationist and social worker.

• Every year Government school teachers from Punjab Government’s High and Higher Secondary Schools receive this award for their contributions in the field of education.

3. Kiran Bedi sworn in as Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry

• Former IPS Officer Kiran Bedi was today sworn in as the Lt. Governor of

Puducherry. Justice Huluvady G Ramesh, Hon. Judge of Madras High Court administered the oath of office and secrecy at a function held at Puducherry Raj Nivas.

• The new Lt. governor Kiran Bedi was greeted by the outgoing Chief Minister N Rangasamy as well as the Chief Minister elect and former Union Minister V Narayanasamy.

• After the swearing in Ms. Bedi said that her slogan for the Union Territory is ' Prosperous Puducherry'. She said that her guiding principles are trust, empowerment and accountability.

• She said she had begun her home work with SWOT analysis of the situation in Puducherry. She said there is immense potential for the development of the Union Territory, which is endowed with natural as well as human resources.

• Later talking to media the new LG said there will not be any conflict between the LG and the elected representatives of people.

• She said she believed in synergy between appointees and elected representatives. Ms. Bedi said there will be no tolerance of corruption and the officers will be held accountable for every penny spent.

4. NGT imposes Rs.50 lakh fine on East Coast Railway

• The National Green Tribunal has directed the East Coast Railway to pay Rs. 50 lakh

for operating Jakhapura Railway Siding in Jajpur district without taking consent from the Odisha State Pollution Control Board.

• Hearing a petition, the tribunal asked the East Coast Railway to pay the amount within two months to Jajpur district collector for development of periphery area of the railway siding.

• The Tribunal has invoked its 'Polluter Pays' principle to impose fine on the Railways. • It has also directed the Railways to pay an additional one lakh rupee to the petitioner

as the litigation cost.

5. Odisha govt to construct 19, 000 km roads under PMGSY; 9 lakh houses under PMAY

• The Odisha government has decided to construct 19,000 kilometer roads under the

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and 9 lakh rural housing units under the Prime Minister Awas Yojana in coming three years.

• In a meeting of Central and State government officials of the Rural Development Department under chairmanship of Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi in Bhubaneswar on Saturday.

• Notably, the Odisha government has built a total number of more than 10.8 lakh housing units in rural areas during the period from April 2014 and May 2016.

• Out of this, more than 1.59 lakh houses built under the Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana while the rest under the Indira Awas Yojana.