CURRENT AFFAIRS 2012 NATIONAL AFFAIRS

CURRENT AFFAIRS 2012 NATIONAL

JANUARY

• The Indian Coast Guard ship ICGS Rani Abbakka, the 1st of a series of five inshore patrol vessels (IPV) built at Hindustan Shipyard Ltd, was commissioned at Visakhapatnam on 20 january. The ship, incidentally, is named after Abbakka Mahadevi, the legendary queen of Tulunadu, Karnataka who fought the Portuguese in the latter half of the 16th Century.
• The International Conference on Nanoscience and Technology (ICONSAT - 2012)will be held from January 20 to 23, 2012 at Hyderabad, India. The conference is being organized by International Advanced Research Center for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), Hyderabad. The Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India is the official sponsor of this conference and the above event is a regular biennial feature under its Nano Mission initiative. 
• The first batch of RICs (Resident Identity Cards) was launched by the home ministry at Porthrapur village in Andaman and Nicobar Islands on 21 January 2012. The RIC cards were distributed to all persons above the age of 18 residing in the nine coastal states and four union territories under the National Population Register (NPR) scheme. The NPR scheme is aimed to provide valid identity to all people in these areas to strengthen the security along the country's coastline.
• The Government of India and the World Bank on 20 January 2012 signed an IDA credit of 130 million US dollars to finance the project NERLP (North East Rural Livelihoods Project), to empower rural communities in the North East region to improve their livelihood opportunities.The NERLP will enhance the livelihoods of the rural poor, especially women, unemployed youth of the four participating states of Mizoram, Nagaland,Sikkim and Tripura. 
• The 15th World Sanskrit conference was held from 5 to 10 January 2012 in New Delhi. It was organized by Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan and International Association of Sanskrit Studies. Scholars and delegates attended the six-day event from 32 countries. The 14th World Sanskrit conference was held in Kyoto, Japan.
• The Cabinet Committee on Security approved the setting up of a National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) to counter terrorism effectively. The Ministry of Home Affairs proposed the NCTC. It will be a single window organisation that will gather and disseminate intelligence to central and state security organisations. 
• The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh inaugurated the 10th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas event that was held on 7-9 January 2012 in Jaipur. The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad Bissessar was the Chief Guest of the event. “The Global Indian: Inclusive Growth” was the theme of the event. Prime Minister announced a new Pension and Life Insurance Fund for overseas Indian workers in this event. Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs announced that next Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas-2012 will be held in Dubai for the Gulf region. 
• A United Nations Resource Centre for the North-East was set up at Guwahati,Assam on 2 January 2012. The centre happens to be the first of its kind in the country. The centre was formally inaugurated by the State Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.
• India announced that it became free from bird flu, H5N1 virus. The government made a declaration to this effect on 4 January 2012.

FEB

• In the new version of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act,MGNREGA, Government included more than 25 agriculture and allied activities from 1 April 2012. The new version of act was prepared after receiving a report on revised Operational Guidelines for MGNREGA. The Report was prepared by a committee headed by Planning Commission Member Mihir Shah.
• Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram inaugurated the fourth and final regional hubof the National Security Guard (NSG) in Marol, Mumbai on 23 February 2012. The regional hubs at Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai and Mumbai were set up to reduce the response time and reach the area of operation as quickly as possible. The state-of-the-art training facility at Ibrahimpatnam, Hyderabad will train commandos for southern and western States. 
• President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil on 9 February 2012 released a special commemorative stamp to mark the Golden Jubilee of the India International Centre (IIC) in New Delhi. This centre plays a major role in promoting awareness and creating public opinion.The Stamp priced at five rupees promotes the nations image and depicts the rich diverse culture of the country. 
• The Union government decided to operationalise the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) from 1 March 2012. The NCTC is to be located in the Intelligence Bureau and headed by a Director who will be an officer in the rank of Additional Director, IB. It is having three units, gathering intelligence, analysis of intelligence and carrying out operations. 
• Union cabinet of India on 9 February 2012 approved the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP-2012) to facilitate access to central government owned shareable data and information. The NDSAP policy is designed to promote data sharing and enable access to central government owned data for national planning and development.

MARCH

• Union Rail Minister Dinesh Trivedi, tendered his resignation on 18 March 2012 to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Trivadi was instructed to resign by his party Trinmool Congress as the decision of increasing the rail fares did not go well with the party. Trinmool Congress chief, Mamta Banarjee had vociferously demanded the rollback of fare hikes.Trivedi proposed a hike in passenger fares ranging between 2 paise to 30 paise per kilometre. The decision was taken to improve the ailing condition of Indian Railways. Trivedi, a Loksabha MP from Barrackpore in West Bengal, took over as the Union Rail Minister on 13 July 2011. Trivedi was slated to be the Union Rail Minister by his party Trinmool Congress, after Mamta Banarjee quit the job. It is for the first time in the history of independent India that a Railways Minister has been made to resign just after five days of presenting the budget in the parliament.
• Kotala Gram panchayat of Chandragiri mandal ,Chittoor dist of A.P, has won the central government’s Gram Ratna Award. It has won the award for showing the best results in the development of panchayat. 
• As per UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children Report 2012, some dark facts are revealed. 18 per cent of those below 15 years and 47 per cent of those below 18 years are married in India. Thirty percent of Indian girls aged between 15 and 19 are married.