National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC)

The National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) bill passed by Parliament in August this year has received President's assent. The new law facilitates the setting up of a commission for appointment of judges, replacing the 20-year-old collegium system, which has been under severe criticism. The bill, 124th amendment to the Constitution, grants Constitutional status to the NJAC and its composition which will be headed by the Chief Justice of India. Besides the CJI, the judiciary would be represented by two senior judges of the Supreme Court. Two eminent personalities and the Law Minister will be the other members of the body.

The Planning Commission replace by NITI Aayog

The Planning Commission, which was established in 1950 was on 1st January replaced by a new body, NITI Aayog or National Institution for Transforming India, which will serve as a policy think-tank for the central as well as state governments and have Prime Minister as its chairperson. NITI Aayog will have a CEO and a vice chairperson, to be appointed by the Prime Minister, in addition to some full-time members and two part-time members, while four union ministers would serve as ex-officio members. The NITI Aayog will have a governing council comprising of all state chief ministers and Lt Governors and will work towards fostering a 'co-operative federalism' for providing a "national agenda" to the Centre and states.

#NITIAayog

India launches largest rocket and unmanned capsule

The 630-tonne Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (MK III) blasted off from Sriharikota in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. The new rocket will be able to carry heavier satellites into space. India has successfully launched lighter satellites in recent years, but has faced problems sending up heavier payloads. The new rocket is capable of carrying communication satellites weighing 4,000kg, reports say, meaning India will not have to rely on foreign launchers to do so.  The rocket's main cargo was an Indian-made capsule capable of carrying two to three astronauts into space. #GSLVMKIII #ISRO #CurrentAffairs

New Cabinet Ministers & Minister of States

Shri Narendra Damodar Das Modi has been taken oath as 15th Prime Minister of India along with his cabinet minister & minister of state.

Cabinet Ministers

Minister's Name - Portfolio

Mr. Narendra Damodar Das Modi - Prime Minister of India, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy Department of Space, All important policy issues and all other portfolios not allocated to any Minister.

Mr. Rajnath Singh - Home Minister

Mr. Arun Jaitley - Finance, Corporate Affairs and Information and Broadcasting

Mr. Manohar Parrikar - Defence

Ms. Sushma Swaraj - External Affairs Minister

M Venkaiah Naidu - Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Parliamentary Affairs

Mr. Nitin Gatkari - Road Transport and Highways, Shipping

Mr. Suresh Prabhu - Railway Minister

Ms. Uma Bharti - Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation

Najma A. Heptulla - Minority Affairs

Ram Vilas Paswan - Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

Kalraj Mishra - Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

Ms. Maneka Gandhi - Women and Child Development

Mr. Anant Kumar - Chemicals and Fertilizers

Ravi Shankar Prasad - Communications and Information Technology

Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati - Civil Aviation

Anant Geete - Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises

Harsimrat Kaur Badal - Food Processing Industries

Narendra Singh Tomar - Mines, Steel

Jual Oram - Tribal Affairs Minister

Radha Mohan Singh - Agriculture Minister

Thaawar Chand Gehlot - Social justice and Empowerment

Smriti Irani - Human Resource Development

Jagat Prakash Nadda - Health and Family Welfare

Dr. Harsh Vardhan - Science and Technology and Earth Sciences

Birender Singh - Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water and Sanitation

D V Sadananda Gowda - Law and Justice

Ministers of State (Independent Charge)

Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy - Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (Independent Charge), MOS Parliamentary Affairs

Bandaru Dattatreya - Labour and Employment (Independent Charge)

Dr. Mahesh Sharma - Culture (Independent Charge), Tourism (Independent Charge), MOS Civil Aviation

Gen (Retd) V K Singh - Statistics and Programme (Independent Charge), External Affairs, Overseas Indian Affairs

Inderjit Singh Rao - Planning (Independent Charge), MOS Defence

Santosh Gangwar - Textiles (Independent Charge)

Shripad Yesso Naik - AYUSH (Independent Charge), MOS Health & Family Welfare

Dharmendra Pradhan - Petroleum and Natural Gas (Independent Charge)

Sarbananda Sonowal - Youth Affairs and Sports (Independent Charge)

Prakash Javadekar - Environment, Forest and Climate Change (Independent Charge)

Piyush Goyal - Power (Independent Charge), Coal (Independent Charge), New and Renewable Energy (Independent Charge)

Jitendra Singh - Prime Minister Office, Personnel, Public Grievances &Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Space, Minister of Development of North Eastern Region (Independent Charge)

Nirmala Sitharaman - Commerce and Industry (Independent Charge)

Ministers of State

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi - MOS Minority Affairsation, MOS Parliamentary Affairs

Ram Kripal Yadav - Drinking Water & Sanitation

Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary - Home Affairs

Sanwar Lal Jat - Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation

Mohanbhai Kalyanjibhai Kundariya - Agriculture

Giriraj Singh - Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises

Hansraj Gangaram Ahir - Chemicals & Fertilizers

Manuskhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava - Tribal Affairs

Ram Shankar Katheria - Human Resource Development

Y S Chowdary - Science and Technology and Earth Science

Jayant Sinha - Finance

Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore - Information & Broadcasting

Babul Supriyo - Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation

Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti - Food Processing Industries

Vijay Sampla - Social Justice & Empowerment

GM Siddeshwara - Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises

Manoj Sinha - Railways

Nihal Chand - Panchayati Raj

Upendra Kushwaha - HRD Ministry

P Radhakrishnan - Road Transport and Highways and Shipping

Kiren Rijiju - Home Affairs

Krishan Pal - Social Justice and Empowerment

Sanjeev Kumar Balyan - Agriculture

Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava - Tribal Affairs

Raosaheb Dadarao Danve - Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

Vishnu Deo Sai - Mines, Steel, Labour and Employment

Sudarshan Bhagat - Social Justice and Empowerment

Kapil Dev honoured

Cricket legend Kapil Dev has been honoured with a Lifetime Achievement award at a ceremony in the House of Lords. The award, constituted by the Indo-European Business Forum, was presented to Dev on 24th September 2014 for his contribution to the sport and for his work to uplift poor.

Adil Zainulbhai to head Quality Council of India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appointed former McKinsey India Chairman Adil Zainulbhai as the Chairman of Quality Council of India (QCI). An autonomous body under the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.

UN Tribunal Fixes Maritime Border of India, Bangladesh

Ending years of dispute over the maritime boundary between India and Bangladesh, a UN tribunal on July 8, 2014 announced that Bangladesh will get 19,467 sq km of the total 25,602 sq km disputed area with India in the Bay of Bengal.

By a majority of four votes to one, the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Haque in the Netherlands determined the course of the maritime boundary line between Bangladesh and India in the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf within and beyond 200 nautical miles.

In its verdict, the tribunal nuanimousy decided that it has jurisdiction to identify the land boundary terminus and to delimit the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf between the parties within and beyond 200 nautical miles in the areas where the claims of the parties overlap.