JANUARY 2020 JNANAGANGOTHRI Monthly Current Affairs E …€¦ · JANUARY – 2020 JNANAGANGOTHRI Monthly Current Affairs E-Magazine 2

JANUARY – 2020 JNANAGANGOTHRI Monthly Current Affairs E-Magazine

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Sl.No SUBJECT Pg Nos.

1 STATE 03

2 NATIONAL 06

3 INTERNATIONAL 41

4 SPORTS 51

5 SPECIAL DAYS 52

6 OBITUARY 55

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State 1. 107

th Indian Science Congress

Host by: The University of Agricultural

Sciences

Location: Bengaluru

Inauguration by: Prime Minister

NarendraModi

Theme: science and technology, rural

development‘.

Indian Science Congress Association

(ISCA): is a premier scientific organisation of

India with headquarters at Kolkata, West

Bengal. The association started in the year

1914 in Kolkata and it meets annually in the

first week of January. It has a membership of

more than 30,000 scientists.

2. Sunil Puranik is chairman of Karnataka

Film Academy

The State government appointed director,

producer and actor Sunil Puranik as chairman

of the Karnataka Film Academy. Mr. Puranik

has acted in over 25 films, including Kannada,

Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam, and in TV

serials. He is recipient of the Karnataka

Rajyotsava and Kempegowda awards.

3. ISRO-NITK jointly set up Regional

Academic Centre for Space

Location: National Institute of Technology

(NITK), Surathkal, Karnataka

The centre at NITK is the fourth regional

academic centre for related research and

development in India. The other centers are in

Malaviya National Institute of Technology,

Jaipur; Gauhati University; and in Kurukshetra

University.

MOU: Between National Institute of

Technology Karnataka (NITK)Indian Space

Research Organization (ISRO)to carry out

advanced joint research and development

activities in the area of space technology

applications

Benefit: The center will act as a facilitator for

the promotion of space technology activities in

the southern region comprising Karnataka,

Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu,

Puducherry, Kerala and Lakshadweep.

4. Karnataka Nataka Academy announces

new list of awardees

The Lifetime achievement award announced to

senior actor, G.V. Sharada. It also announced

annual theatre awards to 25 artists.

The prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award

carry a cash prize of Rs. 50,000 while the

Nataka Academy Awards carry Rs. 25,000

each, the Charity Awards carry Rs.5,000 each.

President of the academy: Bhimsen

5. Challakere to be ISRO‟s astronaut training

hub

About: India‘s world-class facility for training

astronauts will be established at Challakere,

Chitradurga district of Karnataka.

ISRO Chairman: K. Sivan


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Training hub: Everything connected with

events and planning of the HSP [Human

Spaceflight Programme] will shift to campus

at Challakere. To establish a self-contained

facility there so that in future, whatever

training and activities doing in Russia for the

Gaganyaan crew can all be done by ISRO in

new training hub.

Gaganyaan mission: The first set of four

astronaut candidates for the first Gaganyaan

mission of 2022 are to train in Russia.

Science City: Challakereis also where premier

scientific establishments have set up adjoining

and interactive campuses on some 10,000

acres. Called the Science City, it houses

facilities of the ISRO, the Defense Research &

Development Organization‘s Advanced

Aeronautical Test Range, the Bhabha Atomic

Research Centre and the Indian Institute of

Science

6. Karnataka High Court sees highest number

of judges at 43

This is the highest number of judges the High

Court has ever had though the court‘s present

total sanctioned strength of the judges is 62.

The newly appointed judges are

MaralurIndrakumarArun,

Engalaguppe Seetharamaiah Indiresh, and

Ravi Venkappa Hosmani.

7. Karnataka State Film Awards 2018

A total of 31 film award winners were

declared, with RaghavendraRajkumar (for his

role in Ammana Mane) and Meghana Raj

honoured (for her role in IruvudellawaBittu)

honored in the Best Actor and Best Actress

categories in the Karnataka State Film Awards

2018.

List of winners: Best Actor: RaghavendraRajkumar

Best Actress: Meghana Raj honoured

Best Film: AaKaralaRatri

Rajkumar Award: Srinivas Murthy

PuttannaKanagal Award: P Sheshadri

Vishnuvardhan Award: BS Basavaraju

Best Director: DayalPadmanabhan

8. Karnataka ranks sixth in India Justice

Report 2019

Report by: Daksh, a city-based organisation

working on research in judiciary, a partner

with Tata Trusts

Parameters: evaluates justice delivery as a

function of performance of four pillars —

police, prisons, judiciary, and access to legal

aid over the last five years.

Karnataka ranks: overall ranking to six,

among 18 large and medium States, Third in

prisons and sixth in police. But it ranks 16th in

judiciary and seventh in legal aid

Top rankings: Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil

Nadu, Punjab, and Haryana rank ahead of the

State in that order.

9. An Industry Meet ahead of „Wings India

2020‟ starts in Bengaluru


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About: Indian aviation and technology leaders

gathered in Bengaluru for industry meet ahead

of ―Wings India 2020‖, Asia‘s largest civil

aviation event. Ministry of Civil Aviation: Pradeep Singh

Kharola Wings India 2020:A flagship event of the

Indian Civil Aviation industry will be held at

Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad from 12-15

March 2020. ‗Wings India 2020‘- a four-day event themed:

―Flying for All‘‘ is an international platform

focused on the new business acquisition,

investments, policy formation and regional

connectivity in the civil aviation industry. Aim: This summit aims to bring all players,

facilitators, and regulators of aviation

fraternity under one roof to explore

opportunities together. It‘s a platform for all

civil aviation sector stakeholders to achieve

greater synergies; learn from best practices of

each other.

10. Nadoja Manu Baligar conferred the

National Poet Kuvempu Award

RashtaKayi Kuvempu Award (25 thousand

cash) was presented to Kannada

SahityaParishad President Manu Baligar at

Kuvempu's 116th Jayanti, Kuvempu Cultural

Festival, organized by the Vivekanam

Rashtriya Kuvimpu Kalanichetana Institute at

Ravindra Kalakshetra in Bangalore.

11. Bengaluru's YashAradhya first motorsports

person to get PM RashtriyaBalPuraskar

YashAradhyareceived the award in a grand

ceremony held at the RashtrapatiBhavanfrom

President Ram NathKovind. The 17-year-old

has been scorching race tracks since the age of

nine. He has 13 championship wins including

over 65 podium finishes and 12 awards to his

credit. The PradhanMantriRashtriyaBalPuruskar:

is India's highest civilian honour bestowed

upon exceptional students from various fields

under the age of 18.

12. Nadoja Manu Baligar conferred the

National Poet Kuvempu Award

RashtaKayiKuvempuAward (25 thousand

cash) was presented to Kannada

SahityaParishad President Manu Baligar at

Kuvempu's 116th Jayanti, Kuvempu Cultural

Festival, organized by the Vivekanam

Rashtriya Kuvimpu Kalanichetana Institute at

RavindraKalakshetra in Bangalore.

13. Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science to

Dr.Prabhakar Kore

About: In recognition of his efforts to establish

and foster the collaboration, Thomas Jefferson

University (TJU), Philadelphia USA has decided

to present Dr. Prabhakar Kore an Honorary

Doctorate.

14. Bendre award for S.L. Bhyrappa

Da. Ra. Bendre National Memorial Trust,

Dharwad, has chosen writer S.L. Bhyrappa for

this year‘s ‗Ambikatanayadatta National

Award‘ (purse of ₹1 lakh).

Other awards won by S.L. Bhyrappa

Padma Shri award, 2016

Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, 2015

Saraswati Samman for his novel Mandra,2011

Sahitya Akademi Award, 1975

15. Karnataka Mini Olympicsin the U-14 age-

group


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Conducted by: the Department of Youth

Empowerment and Sports, Govt. of Karnataka;

the Sports Authority of Karnataka (SAK); and

the Karnataka Olympic Association (KOA)

Minister for Youth Empowerment and

Sports, Rural Development and Panchayati

Raj: K.S. Eshwarappa

About: The Karnataka Mini Olympic Games,

the first event of its sort in the country, a

week-long multi-sport event featuring 18

disciplines, will get under way at various

venues in the city from February

16. Kageri in 3-member panel to review

Speakers' powers

About: Karnataka Speaker

VishweshwarHegdeKageri has been drafted

into a three-member committee to review the

powers of presiding officers under the 10th

Schedule of the Constitution (anti-defection

law).

Other members: The committee is headed by

Rajasthan Speaker C P Joshi and Odisha

Speaker Surjya Narayan Patro is the other

member.

The committee was appointed in the wake of

debates surrounding the anti-defection law and

powers of the Speaker to adjudicate, which

came to fore after 17 legislators of the

Congress-JD(S) resigned, last year.

National 1. Entire Nagaland declared „disturbed area‟

for six more months

The entire state of Nagaland has been declared

a disturbed area for a period of six more

months under the Armed Forces (Special

Powers) Act, AFSPA,

Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act

(AFSPA): 1958 is an act of the Parliament of

India that grants special powers to the Indian

Armed Forces the power to maintain public

order in ―disturbed areas‖. According to The

Disturbed Areas (Special Courts) Act, 1976

once declared ‗disturbed‘, the area has to

maintain status quo for a minimum of 3

months.

2. Government launches web portal to block

stolen, lost mobile phones in Delhi

Minister for Communications, Law &

Justice and Electronics &IT: Ravi Shankar

Prasad

Web portal: Central Equipment Identity

Register (CEIR)

The web portal was first launched in Mumbai.


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Facilitate: request for blocking of stolen or

lost mobile phone by customers; blocking of

such mobile phones across mobile networks;

sharing of traceability data with the Police; and

unblocking of recovered/ found stolen or lost

mobile phones.

3. Indian Navy bans use of smartphones, social

media at naval bases, warships

About: The Indian Navy has banned navy

personnel from using social media and

smartphones at naval bases, dockyards and

onboard warships.

Reason: The stringent step has been taken by

the force after seven Navy personnel were

caught leaking sensitive information to enemy

intelligence agencies on social media.

4. Railways rename RPF as Indian Railway

Protection Force Service

The Railways has renamed its security force

RPF (Railway Protection Force) as Indian

Railway Protection Force Service.

The ministry has accorded organized Group A

status to RPF and renamed it.

5. Finance minister launches $102 trillion

National Infra Pipeline plan

Finance Minister: Nirmala Sitharaman

A task force for the purpose, set up under

economic affairs secretary Atanu Chakraborty

The projects will be spread across 21

ministries and 18 states and Union Territories.

While the Centre and states will contribute

39% each of the projects cost, private sectors

will contribute 22% of the cost. By 2025

expected the private sector contribution to rise

to 30%. Out of the projects included in the

pipeline, 43% are under implementation, 33%

are at conceptual stage and 19% are under

development. The projects belong to sectors

such as power, including renewable, railways,

urban development, irrigation, mobility,

education, health, water and digital sector.

6. 11-day long „Dhanu Jatra‟ begins at Bargarh

in Odisha

About: The Jatra is based on the mythological

story of Lord Krishna and his demon uncle

King Kansa. It is about the episode of Krishna

and Balaram's visit to Mathura to witness the

Dhanu ceremony organized by their (maternal)

uncle King Kansa.

DhanuJatra: is the annual drama-based open-

air theatrical performance celebrated in and

around Bargarh city is considered to be the

world‘s largest open-air theatrical festival that

finds a mention in the Guinness Book of

World Records.

7. ITBP DG SS Deswal gets additional charge

of CRPF

Former DG: RR Bhatnagar

Deswal, a 1984-batch Haryana cadre IPS

officer, will hold the CRPF charge ―till the

appointment and joining of the successor or

until further orders.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF):

is India's largest Central Armed Police Force

and also considered to be World's largest

Paramilitary Force. It functions under the

authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs

(MHA) of the Government of India.


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It came into existence as the Crown

Representative's Police on 27 July 1939. After

Indian Independence, it became the Central

Reserve Police Force on enactment of the

CRPF Act on 28 December 1949.

8. Civil aviation minister launched CACS and

e-BCAS Project

Minister of State (I/C) for Civil Aviation:

Hardeep S Puri

Centralised Access Control System:the

CACS project is aimed to digitize the

employee movement process at the airports.

This multi-layered security system

encompasses the uniqueness of the Airport

Entry Permit (AEP) users, biometric

authentication in addition to PIN-based

identity verification through contactless smart

card technology.

e-BCAS: It is a Training Module Project

envisaged to achieve a ―paperless office‖

under e-Governance initiative of GoI. It‘s

aimed at facilitating external stakeholders to

access BCAS system by digital automation.

9. RBI launches mobile app for visually

challenged

Mobile app: MANI (Mobile Aided Note

Identifier)

Objective: To help visually challenged people

to identify denomination of currency notes.

Application which can also work offline once it

is installed. Through the downloaded app, users

can scan the notes using the camera. The audio

output will give the result in Hindi and English.

RBI Governor:Shaktikanta Das

10. ISRO to set up second launch port

Location: Thoothukodi district in Tamilnadu

Reason: exclusively to launch small satellite

launch vehicles.

ISRO Chairman: K Sivan

Navic: On the lines of GPS navigation system

developed by America, the Indian navigation

system called Navic with the indigenous

atomic clock will be operational with mobile

phone manufacturers coming forward to install

the regional navigation device.

11. India may overtake Germany to become

fourth-largest economy by 2026

Report by: UK-based Centre for Economics

and Business Research (CEBR)

Highlights:

India is expected to become the fourth largest

economy by 2026 and the third largest by

2034.

India is also set to reach a GDP of $5 trillion

by 2026 - 2 years later than the current

government target

India has decisively overtaken both France and

the UK to become the world's fifth-largest

economy in 2019.

World Economic League Table: Is an annual

calculation by CEBR jointly published by

CEBR and Global Construction Perspectives.

The base data for 2019 is taken from the IMF

World Economic Outlook.


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12. Kerala becomes first state to pass Anti-CAA

resolution

About: The Kerala Assembly passed a

resolution demanding scrapping of the

controversial Citizenship Amendment Act

(CAA), becoming the first state in the country

to do so.

Kerala CM: Pinarayi Vijayan

Citizenship amendment act: The Bill seeks

to grant Indian citizenship to illegal migrants

of Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, and Sikh, Parsiand

Christian communities coming from the

Muslim-majority South Asian countries of

Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. It also

seeks to relax the requirement of residence in

India from 11 years to 6 years for these

migrants.

13. SwachhSurvekshan League 2020

Result by: The Ministry of Housing and

Urban Affairs (MoHUA)

Highlight: Indore grabbed the title of India‘s

cleanest city for the fourth consecutive year.

Over 10 lakh population:

First quarter: Indore held the first position

followed by Bhopal and Surat.

Second quarter: Indore, Rajkot and Navi

Mumbai topped the charts.

1 Lakh to 10 Lakh Population:

First quarter: Jamshedpur from Jharkhand

stood first followed by New Delhi Municipal

Corporation (NDMC) and Chhattisgarh‘s

Bilaspur.

Second quarter: while Jamshedpur retained its

first position, second and third position was

replaced by Maharashtra‘s Chandrapur and

Madhya Pradesh‘s Khargone respectively.

Achievers among Cantonment Boards:

First quarter: St Thomas Mount Cantonment

stood first and Jhansi and Delhi Cantonment

held the second and third position respectively.

Second quarter: while Jhansi continued to

hold its second position, Delhi cantonment

moved up to the first place and Jalandhar

cantonment took over the third position.

Overall Ranking

First quarter, Indore, two of the cities of

Maharashtra – Junnar and Lonavala held the

second and third position respecetively.

Second quarter: Indore, Malkapur and

TalegaonDabhade from Maharashtra only

emerged as the second and third winner.

About SwachhSurvekshan League 2020

The SwachhSurvkeshan League 2020 was

launched by the MoHUA last year in June to

monitor and sustain the on-ground cleanliness

performance of cities across India. As part of

the SS league 2020, quarterly cleanliness

assessment of cities and towns in India was

conducted in three quarters – April to June,

July to September and October to December.

Each quarter carried a weightage of 2000

marks.

14. Sand delivery at doorstep in Andhra

Pradesh

About: The Andhra Pradesh Government is

planning to introduce door delivery of sand in

the New Year and as a pilot project it will first

be taken up in Krishna district and then

extended to other districts. The GPS will be

arranged for vehicles carrying sand and strict

steps will be taken to check smuggling of sand

to other states.


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Chief Minister: Y.S Jaganmohan Reddy.

15. Labour Ministry to launch 'Santusht' portal

'Santusht' portal: It helps for speedy

redressal of worker as well as employer

grievances and ensuring effective

implementation of labor laws at the grassroot

level

Initially, Santusht (Hindi for satisfied) would

monitor all services provided by retirement

fund body EPFO and health insurance and

services provider ESIC to formal sector

workers.

Workers and employers can lodge their

complaints on the portal, which would be

managed by an internal monitoring cell

comprising five to six officers.

16. G Babita Rayudu takes charge as Sebi's

executive director

Rayudu will handle legal affairs department,

enforcement department and special

enforcement cell.

17. Indian Railways integrate helpline numbers

into single number - 139

Indian Railways has integrated its helpline

numbers into a single number - 139 for quick

grievance redressal and enquiries by

passengers during their train journeys.

The new helpline number 139 will be available

in twelve languages. It will be based on an

Interactive Voice Response System; will take

over all the existing helpline numbers. It will

be easy for passengers to remember this

number and connect with Railways for all their

needs during train travel.

18. HRD Minister to inaugurate 28th edition of

World Book Fair

Union Minister for Human Resources

Development: Ramesh Pokhriyal

Organized by: National Book Trust

Theme: Gandhi:The Writers' Writer

Location: PragatiMaidan in New Delhi

Other features of the fair will include -- Theme

Pavilion, Authors' Corner, Seminars, Braille

Books, Children's Pavilion and Foreign

Countries' Pavilion.

19. KVIC opens first silk processing plant in

Gujarat

About: Khadi and Village Industries

Commission (KVIC) have opened its first Silk

processing plant in Surendranagar, Gujarat to

boost production of signature PatolaSaree,

while creating livelihoods for women.

PatolaSaree: the trademark Saree of Gujarat is

priced very high and is out of reach of

common women. The raw material is

purchased from Karnataka or West Bengal,

where silk processing units are situated. This

increases the cost of the fabric manifolds.

Chairman of KVIC: VK Saxena

20. Study in Gujarat‟ campaign launched


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Education department of Gujarat government

has launched ‗Study in Gujarat‘ campaign in

order to make Gujarat State an educational hub

at national and international level.

As a part of this campaign, a high level

delegation will hold road shows in western

Asian countries during 15th to 22nd January

2020.

22 private and government universities and 4

colleges are participating in ‗Study in Gujarat‘

campaign.

21. Maharashtra Govt launches „Cyber Safe

Women‟ initiative

Benefit: It will help in educating women about

how the web is used by anti-social elements

and child predators to commit various types of

crimes.

Chief Minister:Uddhav Thackeray

22. Forex reserves hit record high at $457.46 bn

About: The country‘s foreign exchange

reserves swelled by $ 2.520 billion to touch a

record high of $ 457.468 billion in the week to

December 27, according to RBI data.

The increase in reserves was mainly on

account of a gain in foreign currency assets,

major component of the overall reserves,

which surged by $ 2.203 billion to $ 424.936

billion.

Gold reserves: It was increased by $ 260

million to $ 27.392 billion. The country‘s

reserve position with the Fund, however,

increased by $ 58 million to $ 3.7 billion.

Special drawing rights: SDG with the

International Monetary Fund dipped by $ 2

million to $ 1.441 billion.

Forex reserves: are cash and other reserve

assets held by a central bank or other monetary

authority that are primarily available to

balance payments of the country, influence the

foreign exchange rate of its currency, and to

maintain confidence in financial markets.

Special drawing rights (SDR): refer to an

international type of monetary reserve

currency created by the International Monetary

Fund (IMF) in 1969 that operates as a

supplement to the existing money reserves of

member countries.

Gold reserve: is the gold held by a national

central bank, intended mainly as a guarantee to

redeem promises to pay depositors, note

holders (e.g. paper money), or trading peers,

during the eras of the gold standard, and also

as a store of value, or to support the value of

the national currency.

23. Kochi to host global meet on marine

ecosystem

The third international symposium on marine

ecosystems – challenges and opportunities

(MECOS-3) in Central Marine Fisheries

Research Institute to be held inKochi, Kerala

from January 7 to 10

Organized by: the Marine Biological

Association of India

Focus: Discussions on a range of topics,

including the impact of the climate crisis on

marine ecosystems and an unusual warming of

the Arabian Sea and on the UN‘s sustainable

development goal-14 (life under water),

development of small-scale fisheries, recent

developments in aquaculture, eco-labelling and

green fishing technologies.

24. Javadekar to confer first „Antarrashtriya

Yoga Diwas Media Samman‟


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Information and Broadcasting

Minister:PrakashJavadekar

About: ‗Antarrashtriya Yoga Diwas Media

Samman‘ to 30 media houses Acknowledging

the positive role and responsibility of the

media in disseminating the outreach of Yoga

in India and abroad, the Ministry had instituted

the award in June last year to mark the

contribution of media in spreading the

message of Yoga.

Jury head: Justice C. K. Prasad, Chairman

(Press Council of India).

The International Yoga Day: 21 of June,

since 2015.

25. Turtle rehab center comes up in Bihar

About: A first-of-its-kind rehabilitation center

for freshwater turtles will be inaugurated in

Bihar‘s Bhagalpur forest division in January

2020. The rehab center, spread over half a

hectare, will be able to shelter 500 turtles at a

time.

Benefit: center will play a significant role in

treating injured and sick these animals and

their proper upkeep before being returned to

their natural habitat.

Indicators of healthy aquatic ecosystems:

the turtles play a significant role in the river by

scavenging dead organic materials and

diseased fish, controlling fish population as

predators and controlling aquatic plants and

weeds. They are also described as indicators of

healthy aquatic ecosystems.

26. ISRO signs a pact with the astrophysics

institute

MoU: To pave the way for collaboration in the

establishment of optical facilities under the

NETRA Project to track space objects.

NETRA project: an early warning system is

being established in space to detect debris and

other hazards that could pose a danger to

India's space assets, such as satellites and

experimental platforms. Like other space

powers, NETRA will give the country its own

capacity to know the spatial situation.

The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA):

with its headquarters in Bangalore is a

National Research Institute of India. IIA

conducts research primarily in the areas of

astronomy, astrophysics and related subjects. It

is widely recognized as a leading research

center for astrophysics in India.

27. One-fifth of country‟s forests prone to fires:

study

Report by: Forest Survey of India (FSI)(study

carried from 2004 to 2017).

Findings:


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About 21.40 % of forest cover in India is

prone to fires.

The total numbers of alerts issued for each

state from November 2018 to June 2019 were

29,547.

Mizoram recorded the highest number of fire

alerts (2,795).

The seven States of the north-eastern region

accounted for 10,210 fire alerts.

Major reasons for forest fires in the north-east

are slash-and-burn cultivation, commonly

called jhoom or jhum cultivation.

The overall green cover has increased in the

country; the forest cover in the north-east

particularly in Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh

and Nagaland.

Central Indian States also recorded a high

number of forest fire alerts, with Madhya

Pradesh accounting for 2,723 alerts.

28. „Lai Haraoba‟ festival begins in Tripura

Lai Haraoba: A ritualistic festival observed

by Manipuri meitei communities since ancient

times, began in Agartala. The five day long

festival is jointly organized by Department of

Information and Cultural Affairs, Government

of Tripura.

29. Rajiv RaiBhatnagar appointed as Advisor

to J&K LG

Former Director General of Central Reserve

Police Force (CRPF) Rajiv RaiBhatnagar has

been appointed as Advisor to the Lieutenant

Governor of Union Territory of Jammu and

Kashmir.

With this, the Lieutenant Governor of J&K

Union Territory, Girish Chandra Murmu will

have three Advisors. The other two Advisors -

K K Sharma and Farooq Khan were appointed

on November 14, 2019.

30. Mizoram govt to organize ZoKutpui

About: The Mizoram government will be

organizing ZoKutpui (festival) in at least 10

states across India and countries such as US,

Myanmar and Bangladesh.

The move is an attempt to unify and strengthen

the brotherhood among various Mizo tribes

living in different parts of the world.

First edition: will start on January 9 in

Vanghmun in Tripura and will be held over

three days.

Chief Minister:Zoramthanga

31. CISF to observe 2020 as 'year of mobility'

Focus: It will emphasize on taking all

measures for welfare of troops and their

families, creating infrastructure and logistics

like housing, acquiring new land and procuring

modern equipment, training with focus on

physical fitness and sports and leveraging

modern gadgetry and technology on duty.

CISF Director General (DG): Rajesh Ranjan


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32. Commerce and industry minister

inaugurates NSE knowledge hub in New

Delhi

Commerce and Industry & Railways

Minister:Piyush Goyal

The NSE Knowledge Hub: will enhance

skills and help academic institutions in

preparing future-ready talent for the financial

service industry. It is also available on mobile

and attempts to bring together world class

content and learners through this state- of- the-

art and future- ready platform.

33. India's GDP growth rate for 2019-20

estimated at 5%,

Report by: National Statistical Office (NSO)

India's GDP growth is seen dipping to an 11-

year low of the growth in real GDP during

2019-20 is estimated at 5 per cent as compared

to 6.8 per cent in 2018-19, mainly due to poor

showing by manufacturing and construction

sectors, government.

The manufacturing sector output growth will

decelerate to 2 per cent in 2019-20, down from

6.9 per cent in the previous financial year.

GDP data released by the government in

November 2018, the previous low in economic

growth was recorded at 3.1 per cent in 2008-

09.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had also

lowered its forecast for the economic growth

to 5 per cent while announcing its bi-monthly

monetary policy last month.

The estimated growth of real GVA (Gross

Value Added) in 2019-20 is 4.9 per cent as

against 6.6 per cent in 2018-19.

As regards, mining and quarrying sector, the

GVA at basic prices for 2019-20 is estimated

to grow at 1.5 per cent as compared to 1.3 per

cent in 2018-19.

The per capita income at current prices is

estimated at Rs 1,35,050, showing a rise of 6.8

per cent, as compared to Rs 1,26,406 during

2018-19 with the growth rate of 10.0 per cent.

34. 31st International Kite Festival launched in

Ahmedabad

The 31st International Kite Festival has been

launched at Sabarmati river front in

Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

The International Kite Festival: Every year,

Gujarat celebrates The International Kite

Festival (Uttarayan) is regarded as one of the

biggest festivals celebrated.

The festival of Uttarayan marks the day when

winter begins to turn into summer, according

to the Indian calendar. It is the sign for farmers

that the sun is back and that harvest season is

approaching which is called MakaraSankranti.

Chief Minister: Vijay Rupani

35. 2019 7th warmest year recorded in country

since 1901

Report by: Indian Metrological department.

Key findings: 2019 was recorded as the seventh warmest

year since 1901, but the heating was

substantially lower than the highest warming

observed in 2016.

Bihar was the most adversely affected state

during the year, which reported about 650

lives due to heavy rain and floods, heat wave,

lightning, thunderstorm and hailstorm.

The five warmest years on record are 2016

(0.71 degree Celsius), 2009 (0.541 degree

Celsius), 2017 (0.539 degree Celsius), 2010

(0.54 degree Celsius) and 2015 (0.42 degree

Celsius).

11 out of 15 warmest years were during the

recent past fifteen years (2005-2019).

The average temperature over India during the

year 2019 was above normal. During the year,


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 15

annual mean surface air temperature, averaged

over the country, was 0.36 degree Celsius

above (1981-2010 period) average.

The annual rainfall in 2019 over the country as

a whole was 109 per cent of its long period

average (LPA) value for the period 1961-2010.

Heavy rain and flood related incidents

reportedly claimed over 850 lives. Of these,

306 lives were reported from Bihar alone, 136

from Maharashtra, 107 from Uttar Pradesh, 88

from Kerala, 80 from Rajasthan and 43 from

Karnataka.

Heat-wave conditions, which claimed about

350 lives. Of these, 293 lives were reported

from the worst affected state of Bihar alone

during June and 44 lives were reported from

Maharashtra.

Lightning and thunderstorm reportedly

claimed over 380 lives. Of these, 125 lives

were reported from Jharkhand,73 from Bihar,

51 from Maharashtra and 24 each from

Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

36. HP CM launches My Gov portal, CM app

Highlight: Himachal Pradesh with the launch

of this app has become 11th State to have this

facility.

My Gov Himachal Portal and Chief

Minister App: A platform to build a partnership between

Citizens and Government with the help of

technology for growth and development of

India.

It will help people of the State to communicate

their views, suggestions, feedback as well

discontentment if any.

People would be able to get firsthand and

prompt information regarding various policies

and programmes of Government framed for

their welfare.

The general public can also give their valuable

suggestions for making the policies and

programmes more effective and result

oriented.

Himachal Chief Minister: Jai Ram Thakur

37. West Bengal Govt to provide insurance

coverage of Rs 5 lakh to Ganga Sagar

pilgrims

GangasagarMela: Pilgrims assemble at Sagar

Island to take a holy dip at the confluence of

the Hooghly River and the Bay of Bengal on

the occasion of MakarSankranti and offer

Pooja at the Kapil Muni temple.

Chief Minister:Mamata Banerjee

38. Kochi to host Global Investors Meet on 9-10

Jan

ASCEND 2020: Global Investors Meet will

held in Kochi, Kerala, 18 mega projects the

state government will highlight at the meet.

Projects: a Kochi-to-Palakkad integrated

manufacturing cluster, a defence park at

Ottapalam and an electronic hardware park in

Ernakulam district, fiberboard plant in

Perumbavoor and integrated solid waste

management systems at Thiruvananthapuram,

Thrissur and Malappuram.

39. Centre notifies new Wetland Conservation

Rules

New rule: which prohibit setting up or

expansion of industries and disposal of


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 16

construction and demolition waste within the

wetlands.

A wetland or Ramsar sites:It is a land area

that is saturated with water, either permanently

or seasonally, and it takes on the

characteristics of a distinct ecosystem.

Ramsar sites in India: There are total 27

recognized Ramsar sites in India.The

Sunderban Reserve Forest, spread over 4,260

sq. km. with over 2,000 sq. km. of mangrove

forests and creeks, was declared a Ramsar Site

on 1 February 2019 making it the 27th Ramsar

site in India.

The Ramsar Convention:Is an international

treaty for the conservation and sustainable use

of wetlands. It is also known as the

Convention on Wetlands. It is named after the

city of Ramsar in Iran, where the Convention

was signed in 1971.

40. Cabinet approves agreement between India

and Mongolia

Chaired by: Prime Minister NarendraModi

Agreement: On Cooperation in the

Exploration and Uses of Outer Space for

Peaceful and Civilian Purposes.

Benefits: This Agreement would lead to

develop a joint activity in the field of

application of space technologies for the

benefit of humanity. Thus all sections and

regions of the country will get benefited.

41. Cabinet approves MoU between India and

United Kingdom

Memorandum of Understanding

(MoU):Between the Indian Railways and

Department for International Development

(Government of United Kingdom)

Reason: For Enabling Energy Self Sufficiency

for Indian Railways

42. Cabinet approves MoU between India and

Sweden on cooperation in Polar Science

MoU: between Ministry of Earth Sciences

(MoES), India and Ministry of Education and

Research, Sweden.

Benefits: The collaboration between India and

Sweden in polar science will enable sharing of

the expertise available with both Countries.

43. Gujarat to set up Vikram Sarabhai

Children Innovation Center in state

Gujarat Chief Minister:Vijay Rupani

Objective: To identify, nurture and promote

children‘s innovation in the state.

Children‟s Innovation Festival – CIF: has

been organized by Gujarat University Start-ups

and Entrepreneurship Council (GUSEC) - an

incubation centre set up by Gujarat University

in partnership with UNICEF. CIF initiative

was conceptualized to identify, nurture and

support children‘s innovations in the state.

44. The Pulses Conclave 2020

About: India Pulses and Grains Association

(IPGA), the nodal body for India's pulses trade

and industry announced that the fifth edition

'The Pulses Conclave'

Location: Amby Valley City in Lonavala,

Maharashtra.

Highlishts: IPGA expects close to 1500 trade

stakeholders from India and key pulses

exporting countries like the USA, Australia,

Canada, Myanmar, Ethiopia, Uganda,

Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, etc. to

participate in 'The Pulses Conclave 2020' (TPC

2020).

Agenda: As a part of its agenda, will not just

discuss increasing domestic production and

consumption but will also bring to fore other

areas of the trade like improving processing

efficiencies, increasing consumption, exports,

value addition, protein extraction, post-harvest

crop management, etc.


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 17

45. Residential builder finance with buyer

guarantee scheme

About: State Bank of India has announced a

'residential builder finance with buyer

guarantee' (RBBG) scheme.

Aim: It aims at giving a push to residential

sales and improves homebuyers' confidence.

Focus: The scheme will focus on affordable

housing projects priced up to 2.50 crore rupees

in 10 cities initially

Under RBBG, the guarantee would be given

by the bank till the project gets the occupation

certificate (OC).

46. 3. Census India-2021 to begin on 1st April

Census India-2021 will begin on 1st of April

this year and will end on 30th of September.

Census India-2021 will be conducted through

a mobile phone application, moving away

from the traditional pen and paper.

Enumerators of the census will seek the

information of mobile number of the head of

the family, information related to toilets, TV,

Internet, vehicles owned, source of drinking

water besides asking other questions during

the house listing phase of the exercise.

47. India to host naval drill Milan 2020 in

March

Minister of State for Defense:ShripadNaik

Participation: which will witness the

participation of several countries,41 nations

from South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa and

Europe that share defense cooperation with

India have been invited for the drill.

The areas of cooperation include capacity

building, marine domain awareness, training,

hydrography, technical assistance, operational

exercise.

48. Home Minister dedicates National Cyber

Crime Reporting Portal

Location: New Delhi

About: Home MinisterAmit Shah inaugurated

the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre

(I4C) and also dedicated National Cyber

Crime Reporting Portal to the nation.

The scheme to set up I4C was approved in

October 2018 at an estimated cost of around

416 crore rupees.

National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in): is a citizen-centric

initiative that will enable citizens to report

cyber-crimes online through the portal.

49. DPIIT launches paperless licensing process

About: The Department for Promotion of

Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), has

launched paperless licensing process for road

tankers for transportation of petroleum.

Highlight: Moving towards digitization, the

process will include filing the applications

online. Applicants, at each stage of processing


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 18

of the application, will be intimated via SMS

and email, whether discrepancy or grant of

license or approval.

DPIIT: is a central government department

under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

It is responsible for formulation and

implementation of promotional and

developmental measures for growth of the

industrial sector, keeping in view the national

priorities and socio-economic objectives.

The Department in its current form came into

being on 27 January 2019, when the erstwhile

Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion

was renamed to Department for Promotion of

Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

50. Government releases State Energy

Efficiency Index 2019

Minister of State (Independent Charge)

Power and New & Renewable Energy: R K

Singh

Index by: Bureau of Energy Efficiency in

association with Alliance for an Energy

Efficient Economy.

Parameters: the rational comparison,

States/UTs are categorised into 4 groups based

on aggregated Total Primary Energy Supply

(TPES) required to meet the state‘s actual

energy demand (electricity, coal, oil, gas, etc.)

across sectors.

Progressive states/UTs: Under four

categories based on TPES, Haryana, Kerala,

Karnataka, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh,

Uttarakhand, Pondicherry and Chandigarh

have been evaluated as progressive states/UTs

in the State Energy Efficiency Index 2019.

51. 'AmmaVodi' Scheme About: The Andhra Pradesh government

launched the ‗AmmaVodi‘ scheme.

AmmaVodi: Mothers and guardians of school-

going children from lower income groups will

get financial assistance of Rs 15,000 annually

under the scheme.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister: YS Jagan

Mohan Reddy

52. I-T sets up control room with toll free

number

About: The Income-Tax Department has

launched a 24x7 control room to monitor black

money and illegal inducements in poll-bound

Delhi.

The facility will also host a toll-free number-

1800117574 - where people can inform the

department about any activity of use of money

power, illegal distribution of cash among other

such election-related crimes.

53. Naval variant of Light Combat Aircraft

makes its first successful landing

About: The naval version of indigenous Light

Combat Aircraft, LCA, made its first

successful landing on the aircraft carrier INS

Vikramaditya.

Developed by: Defense Research and

Development Organization, DRDO

Highlight: With the successful landing of

Light Combat Aircraft, LCA on aircraft carrier

INS Vikramaditya, India has entered into the

club of selected nations having the capability

to design a fighter jet which can land on an

aircraft carrier.

Light Combat Aircraft: LCA is the smallest

and lightest Multi-Role Supersonic Fighter

Aircraft of its class. The LCA programme

intends to further expand and advance India's

indigenous aerospace capabilities.


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 19

INS Vikramaditya: is the Indian Navy‘s

largest short take-off, but assisted recovery

(STOBAR) aircraft carrier and warship

converted from the Russian Navy‘s

decommissioned Admiral Gorshkov vertical

take-off and landing (VTOL) missile cruiser

carrier. INS Vikramaditya was commissioned

into service in November 2013.

Defense Minister: Rajnath Singh

DRDO Chairman: Dr. G. Satheesh Reddy

54. 150th celebration of Kolkata Port Trust

About: Prime Minister Modi also dedicated a

Commemorative Stamp to mark 150 years of

Kolkata port trust to nation. He announced the

renaming of the Kolkata Port Trust to Dr.

Shyama Prasad Mookerjee Port.

Highlights: Later the Prime Minister handed over a

Cheque of Rs 501 Crore towards final

installment to meet the deficit of pension fund

of retired and existing employees of the

Kolkata Port Trust.

He also felicitated two oldest pensioners of the

Trust- 105 years old NaginaBhagat and 100

years old Naresh Chandra Chakraborty.

Prime Minister also inaugurated the upgraded

Ship Repair Facility of Cochin- Kolkata Ship

Repair Unit at NetajiSubhas Dry Dock. He

also inaugurated the Full Rake Handling

Facility for smooth cargo movement and

improving turnaround time.

The Prime Minister launched mechanization of

Berth No. 3 at Haldia Dock and inaugurated

the KaushalVikas Kendra and

PritilataChhatriAvas for 200 tribal girl students

from Sundarbans.

55. Dharmendra Pradhan launches

PURVODAYA

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas &

Steel: DharmendraPradhan

PURVODAYA: Purvodaya in steel sector is

aimed at driving accelerated development of

Eastern India through establishment of

integrated steel hub in Kolkata, West Bengal.

Objective:To enable swift capacity addition

and improve overall competitiveness of steel

producers both in terms of cost and quality.

Eastern states of India (Odisha, Jharkhand,

Chhattisgarh, West Bengal) and Northern part

of Andhra Pradesh collectively hold 80% of

the country‘s iron ore, 100% of coking coal

and significant portion of chromite, bauxite

and dolomite reserves.

56. SmritiIrani launches Yashaswini Scheme

for Women entrepreneurship in Goa

Yashaswini scheme: Women self-help groups

will be given interest free loans of uptoRs Five

lakh for business.

Adarsha Satari Mahila Mandal Guleli -Sattari,

Umang Self-Help Group, Salcete, Phoenix

Womens Wing Self-Help Group Valpoi -Sattari

were given loans under newly launched

Yashaswini scheme.

Union Minister for Women and Child

Development and Textiles:Smriti Irani

Chief Minister:Pramod Sawant

57. Coast Guard exercise Sahyog-Kaijin‟

Conducted b/w: India and Japan

Location: Chennai


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 20

Japan Coast Guard Ship: ‗Echigo‘

participated

Sahyog-Kaijin: This is the 19th such exercise

being conducted between the two Coast

Guards since 2000.

Aim: It is aimed at further strengthening

bilateral ties and mutual understanding

between the two Coast Guards. It is set to

enhance interoperability in communication and

Search and Rescue procedures and sharing of

best practices.

Director-General of Indian Coast Guard:

Krishnaswamy Natarajan.

58. Govt. launches Central accident database

management system

Developed by: Indian Institute of Technology-

Madras (IIT-M)

Integrated Road Accident Database

(IRAD): that will help in analyzing causes of

road crashes and in devising safety

interventions to reduce such accidents in the

country.

The project costs Rs.258 crore and is being

supported by the World Bank.

Union Minister for Road Transport and

Highways:NitinGadkari

Initial stage: The system will be first piloted

in the six States with highest fatalities from

road crashes — Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh,

Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar

Pradesh.

How it works: The IRAD mobile application

will enable police personnel to enter details

about a road accident, following which a

unique ID will be created for the incident. An

engineer from the local body will receive an

alert. He or she will then visit the accident

siteand feed the required details. Data thus

collected will be analyzed by a team at IIT-M,

suggests if corrective measures in road design

need to be taken.

Over speeding: India sees the largest number

of road fatalities in the world. More than 1.5

lakh people lost their lives in road crashes in

the country in 2018. Of the total people killed

in road crashes in 2018, 48% were between 18

years and 35 years old, and more than 60% of

such fatalities were due to overspending.

59. IOC launches special NATO class diesel for

Indian Navy

About: State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC)

has developed a special class diesel

conforming to NATO grade for use in ships

and vessels of Indian Navy.

Vice Admiral: G S Pabby

Highlight:

IOC has upgraded the specifications of

HFHSD- IN 512 fuel required for Indian Naval

ships. The upgraded fuel now exceeds the MIL

DTL 16844M specifications which is

considered benchmark standard across in the

world.

The fuel possesses the best rheological and

detergent characteristics validated against most

stringent military specifications. It also has

lesser environmental impact due to low

Sulphur content and would result in the better

performance of engines.

This fuel will facilitate the Indian Navy to

enhance its global footprint and will allow

India to fuel the vessels of friendly foreign

countries at places where fuel conforming to

NATO grade is supplied.

IOC refineries were the first ones to make

available 0.5 per cent SulphurMarpol Fuel Oil

that will reduce stack emissions from the

ships.

IOC prepared a specification comprises of 22

parameters against the 20 parameters of MIL

specs for the supply of diesel exclusively for

Indian Navy. The customized HFHSD- IN 512


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 21

has the unique combination of low pour and

Cold filter plugging point (CFPP) and High

Flash Point.

It has the highest cetane number amongst all

marine diesel fuel and exceeds MIL-DTL

16884M specifications in terms of Fuel

Hygiene parameters and other critical

properties.

60. Dibrugarh awarded with Plastic Waste

Management Award 2020

About: Dibrugarh district has been awarded

the Plastic Waste Management Award -2020

for being the best district of India in plastic

waste management category during Swachhta

Hi Sewa 2019.

Organized: the Department of Drinking Water

and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Govt of

India

Swachhta hi Seva 2019: a massive nationwide

awareness and mobilization campaign on

Swachhta, was launched by Prime Minister

NarendraModi at Mathura on September 11,

2019.

61. Fifth edition of Raisina Dialogue

Location: New Delhi on Jan 14.

Organized by: Ministry of External Affairs

and the Observer Research Foundation

The three-day conclave will bring together 700

international participants, of which 40 per cent

of the speakers will be women, emphasizing

India's commitment to gender equality.

Inaugural session: During the inaugural

session, attended by Prime Minister Narendra

Modi, Danish PM and ex-NATO Secretary

General Anders Rasmussen, New Zealand

Prime Minister Helen Clark, former Afghan

President Hamid Karzai, former Canadian

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, former

Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt,

Rasmussen, former Bhutanese premier

TsheringTobgay and former South Korean

Prime Minister Han Seung-soo, discussed

global challenges.

Raisina Dialogue: is a multilateral conference

committed to addressing the most challenging

issues facing the global community. Every

year, global leaders in policy, business, media

and civil society are hosted in New Delhi to

discuss cooperation on a wide range of

pertinent international policy matters.

62. Michael Debabrata Patra appointed as RBI

Deputy Governor

He will be the fourth Deputy Governor of the

RBI and has been appointed to the post for a

period of three years.

MrPatra, who is looking after the Monetary

Policy Department as the Executive Director,

is likely to retain the department, which was

handled by Acharya, as the Deputy Governor.

The RBI, headed by Governor Shaktikanta

Das, can have a maximum of four Deputy

Governors. N S Vishwanathan, B P Kanungo

and M K Jain are the other Deputy Governors

working at the central bank.

63. India, Bangladesh sign MoU


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 22

MoU:

For content exchange programme between All

India Radio and Bangladesh Betar

Coproduction of biopic on Bangladesh

founding father Shiek Mujibar Rahman

Sheikh MujiburRahman:was a Bangladeshi

politician and statesman. He is often called the

father of Bengali nation. He served as the first

President of Bangladesh and later as the Prime

Minister of Bangladesh

Information and Broadcasting Minister:Prakash Javadekar

64. Indian Railways and SBI sign MoU

Memorandum of Understanding: Between

Indian Railways‘ South Central Railway

(SCR) and State Bank of India (SBI) for

‗doorstep banking‘.

About: The MoU will help in direct pickup of

earnings covering all 585 Railway stations

over SCR Zone. With the facility of direct pick

up of cash from all the railway stations it will

save the tedious and complex activity of

movement of cash earnings through 'cash

safes' by trains.

65. Government unveils draft of rare diseases

policy

Report by: Ministry of health and family welfare

The government is in the process of setting up a

National Registry for Rare Diseases at ICMR with

the objective of creating a database of various rare

diseases.

The registry is expected to yield enough

information to be able to arrive at a definition of

rare diseases best suited to the country.

Highlights:

The government will provide a financial

support of up to Rs 15 lakh under its Rashtriya

Arogaya Nidhi scheme for one-time treatment

of rare diseases.

Beneficiaries would not be limited to Below

Poverty Line families, but will also cover 40

per cent of the population eligible as per norms

of the Ayushman Bharat-PradhanMantri Jan

ArogyaYojana for their treatment in

government tertiary hospitals only.

Rare diseases categorized under Group 1, such

as Lysosomal Storage Disorders (LSDs),

immune deficiency disorders, chronic

granulomatous disease, osteopetrosis, Fabry's

disease and liver or kidney transplant, will be

funded under the scheme.

Toset up a digital platform for voluntary

individual and corporate donors to contribute

to the treatment cost of patients of rare

diseases.

Patients suffering from rare diseases,

especially Lysosomal Storage Disorders

(LSDs), often lead a very incapacitating life.

Only about 450 diseases have been recorded in

India from tertiary care hospitals that are

globally considered as rare diseases

The most commonly reported diseases include

Haemophilia, Thalassemia, Sickle-cell

Anaemia and Primary Immuno Deficiency in

children, auto-immune diseases, Lysosomal

storage disorders such as Pompe disease,

Hirschsprung disease, Gaucher's disease,

Cystic Fibrosis, Hemangiomas and certain

forms of muscular dystrophies.

66. Fifth edition of Raisina Dialogue

Location: New Delhi on Jan 14.

Organized by: Ministry of External Affairs

and the Observer Research Foundation


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 23

The three-day conclave will bring together 700

international participants, of which 40 per cent

of the speakers will be women, emphasizing

India's commitment to gender equality.

Inaugural session: During the inaugural

session, attended by Prime Minister

NarendraModi, Danish PM and ex-NATO

Secretary General Anders Rasmussen, New

Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, former

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, former

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper,

former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt,

Rasmussen, former Bhutanese premier

TsheringTobgay and former South Korean

Prime Minister Han Seung-soo, discussed

global challenges.

Raisina Dialogue: is a multilateral conference

committed to addressing the most challenging

issues facing the global community. Every

year, global leaders in policy, business, media

and civil society are hosted in New Delhi to

discuss cooperation on a wide range of

pertinent international policy matters.

67. Michael Debabrata Patra appointed as RBI

Deputy Governor

He will be the fourth Deputy Governor of the

RBI and has been appointed to the post for a

period of three years.

MrPatra, who is looking after the Monetary

Policy Department as the Executive Director,

is likely to retain the department, which was

handled by Acharya, as the Deputy Governor.

The RBI, headed by Governor Shaktikanta

Das, can have a maximum of four Deputy

Governors. N S Vishwanathan, B P Kanungo

and M K Jain are the other Deputy Governors

working at the central bank.

68. India, Bangladesh sign MoU

MoU:

For content exchange programme between All

India Radio and Bangladesh Betar

Coproduction of biopic on Bangladesh

founding father ShiekMujibarRahman

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman:was a Bangladeshi

politician and statesman. He is often called the

father of Bengali nation. He served as the first

President of Bangladesh and later as the Prime

Minister of Bangladesh

Information and Broadcasting

Minister:Prakash Javadekar

69. Indian Railways and SBI sign MoU Memorandum of Understanding: Between

Indian Railways‘ South Central Railway

(SCR) and State Bank of India (SBI) for

‗doorstep banking‘.

About: The MoU will help in direct pickup of

earnings covering all 585 Railway stations

over SCR Zone. With the facility of direct pick

up of cash from all the railway stations it will

save the tedious and complex activity of

movement of cash earnings through 'cash

safes' by trains.

70. Government unveils draft of rare diseases

policy

Report by: Ministry of health and family

welfare

The government is in the process of setting up

a National Registry for Rare Diseases at ICMR


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 24

with the objective of creating a database of

various rare diseases.

The registry is expected to yield enough

information to be able to arrive at a definition

of rare diseases best suited to the country.

Highlights:

The government will provide a financial

support of up to Rs 15 lakh under its

RashtriyaArogayaNidhi scheme for one-time

treatment of rare diseases.

Beneficiaries would not be limited to Below

Poverty Line families, but will also cover 40

per cent of the population eligible as per norms

of the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan

Arogya Yojana for their treatment in

government tertiary hospitals only.

Rare diseases categorized under Group 1, such

as Lysosomal Storage Disorders (LSDs),

immune deficiency disorders, chronic

granulomatous disease, osteopetrosis, Fabry's

disease and liver or kidney transplant, will be

funded under the scheme.

To set up a digital platform for voluntary

individual and corporate donors to contribute

to the treatment cost of patients of rare

diseases.

Patients suffering from rare diseases,

especially Lysosomal Storage Disorders

(LSDs), often lead a very incapacitating life.

Only about 450 diseases have been recorded in

India from tertiary care hospitals that are

globally considered as rare diseases

The most commonly reported diseases include

Haemophilia, Thalassemia, Sickle-cell

Anaemia and Primary Immuno Deficiency in

children, auto-immune diseases, Lysosomal

storage disorders such as Pompe disease,

Hirschsprung disease, Gaucher's disease,

Cystic Fibrosis, Hemangiomas and certain

forms of muscular dystrophies.

71. Mega campaign on fuel conservation

'Saksham' to be launched

Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister:DharmendraPradhan

Saksham: A people centric fuel conservation

mega campaign of Petroleum Conservation

Research Association (PCRA)

During this campaign, PCRA along with Oil

and Gas companies will carry out various

activities like ‗Saksham‘ cycle Day,

cyclothons, and seminars for housewives on

adopting simple fuel saving measure.

Aim: This campaign aims to spread the

message of fuel conservation and greener

environment across India.

72. Anand Prakash Maheshwari takes over as

the new DG of CRPF The 1984-batch IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh

cadre was appointed the new CRPF chief after

its earlier DG R RBhatnagar retired on

December 31.

Maheshwari took over the charge from ITBP

Director General S S Deswal who was given

the additional charge to head the CRPF.

CRPF: is the world's largest paramilitary force

with about 3.25 lakh personnel

73. AlokKansal takes over as General Manager

of Western Railway

AlokKansal, a senior officer of the 1983 batch

of Indian Railway Service of Engineers (IRSE)


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 25

took over the charge as General Manager of

Western Railway.

Prior to his posting as General Manager of W.

Rly, Alok Kansal served as Principal

Executive Director/Civil Engineering

(Planning) at Railway Board.

74. Kerala govt has invoked to challenge

citizenship law under Article 131

About: The CPM-led Kerala government the

first state government to challenge the Act

sought to declare the law as violative of the

principles of equality, freedom and secularism

enshrined in the Constitution.

Citizenship Amendment Act: The new law,

which seeks to give citizenship to six non-

Muslim minority communities from Pakistan,

Bangladesh and Afghanistan, passed by

Parliament in December last year.

Article 131: of the Indian Constitution states:

―Original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court:

Subject to the provisions of this Constitution,

the Supreme Court shall, to the exclusion of

any other court, have original jurisdiction in

any dispute:

Between the Government of India and one or

more States; if and insofar as the dispute

involves any question (whether of law or fact)

on which the existence or extent of a legal

right depends…‖

Article 131, therefore, allows a state to file a

suit in the Supreme Court in case of any

dispute that it may have with the central

government, invoking the court‘s ―original

jurisdiction‖.

75. 3 Kerala cities in Economist list of world's

fastest growing urban regions

Three Kerala cities: Malappuram (rank 1),

Kozhikode (Rank 4) and Kollam (rank 10)—

are among the top-10 fastest growing urban

regions, in terms of population, in the world.

Rankings by: the Economist Intelligence Unit

(EIU).

Other countries: One city from Vietnam (Can

Tho), three from China (Suqian, Suzhou and

Putian), one from Nigeria (Abuja), one from

UAE (Sharjah), and one from Oman (Muscat)

find their place in the list.

Economist Intelligence Unit:which is a part

of the popular Economist Magazine, provides

forecasting and advisory services through

research and analysis.

Growth percentage: The ranking stated that

Malappuram grew 44 per cent from 2015 to

2020,Kozhikode had a growth rate of 34.5 per

cent in the past five years, while Kollam had

31.1 per cent.

Can Tho region in Vietnam secured the second

spot, Suqian in China came third. Thrissur has

secured the 13th spot with a growth rate of

30.2 per cent.

Other Indian cities:Surat (27) and Thiruppur

(30)

76. Madhuri Vijay bags Crossword Book

Award

About: Bengaluru-born, US-based writer

Author Madhuri Vijay has added a resplendent

feather to her literary cap by winning the

coveted Crossword Book Award for her debut

novel on Kashmir.

Novel: ''The Far Field''


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 26

Previous awards: In the 32-year-old author

was crowned the winner of the JCB Prize for

Literature, India''s richest literary award worth

Rs. 25 lakh, and also bagged the Tata

Literature Live First Book Award.

Crossword Book Awards : Currently in its

17th edition, the Crossword Book Awards

were founded in 1998 as an Indian counter to

international literary honours like the Booker

Prize, Commonwealth Writers'' Prize and the

Pulitzer Prize.

The awards celebrate the best and popular

Indian writing and come with a cash prize of

Rs. 3 lakh for winners in the jury award

category, and Rs. 1 lakh for winners in the

popular choice section.

Some of the famous Crossword Book Award

recipients include Rushdie, Seth, Amitav

Ghosh, William Dalrymple and Pankaj Mishra.

77. Vasdev Mohi to be conferred with 29th

Saraswati Samman

About: Eminent Sindhi writer VasdevMohi

will be conferred with 29th SaraswatiSamman.

He has been selected for this prestigious

literary award for his short stories collection-

Chequebook.

Saraswati Samman: is an annual award for

outstanding prose or poetry literary works in

any of the 22 languages of India listed in

Schedule VIII of the Constitution of India.

It was instituted in 1991 by the K. K. Birla

Foundation. It consists of Rs 15lakh, a citation

and a plaque. Candidates are selected from

literary works published in the previous ten

years by a panel that included scholars and

former award winners

78. Prahlad Singh Patel inaugurates special

exhibition on „Indian Heritage in Digital

Space‟

Union Minister of State for Culture and

Tourism: Prahlad Singh Patel

About: a month long special exhibition first of

its kind in India titled Indian Heritage in

Digital Space and a two day long first

international heritage symposium inagurated in

New Delhi.

Organized by: Ministry of State for Culture

and Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

Aim:To create digital installations using 3D

laser scan data, AR, holographic projections

and 3D fabrication, to provide interactive and

immersive experiences showcasing the glory

of Hampi and five Indian monuments namely

KashiVishwanath Temple, Varanasi;

TajMahal, Agra; Sun Temple,Konark;

Ramachandra Temple, Hampi ; and

RaniKiVav, Patan .

79. Om Birla inaugurates 7th Conference of

CPA India Region in Lucknow

Theme: 'ROLE OF LEGISLATORS'

Conference of CPA:Three day conference

would discuss the reforms in legislative

businesses of the assemblies. Such conference

of CPA will held once in 2 years and 6th

conference was held in Patna

LokSabha Speaker: OmBirla

Governor of Madhya Pradesh:LaljiTondon.

Deputy Chairperson of RajyaSabha:

Harivansh

80. IIM-K hosted conclave on „Globalizing

Indian Thought‟


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 27

About: The Indian Institute of Management

Kozhikode (IIM-K) will host an international

conclave on Globalising Indian Thought (GIT)

from January 16 to 18.

Inaugurated by:Prime Minister

NarendraModi

GIT: conclave is platform for the

congregation of academics discussing India‘s

contribution to the world and how India as a

country can re-imagine itself and re-shape

worldviews in the current context

81. Russia to deliver S-400 air defence systems

About: Russia has started production of S-400

long-range surface-to-air missile systems for

India, and all five units will be delivered by

2025.

S-400: long-range surface-to-air missile

systems for India. These missiles allow it to hit

aerial targets at ranges up to 250 km and are

capable of intercepting ballistic missiles across

a 60 km radius, using in both cases a 143 kg

high explosive fragmentation warhead.

82. DV Sadananda Gowda launches APNA

UREA – Sona Ugle” brand of HURL

Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister: D.V.

Sadananda Gowda

Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan Limited

(HURL) was incorporated on 15th June, 2016

as a joint venture company by Coal India

Limited (CIL), NTPC Limited (NTPC) and

Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) as the

lead promoters with Fertilizer Corporation of

India Limited (FCIL) and Hindustan Fertilizer

Corporation Limited (HFCL) as other two

partners.

83. Ravi Shankar Prasad to inaugurate „Centre

of Excellence in Block chain Technology‟ in

Bengaluru

Union Minister for Law & Justice,

Communications and Electronics &

Information Technology: Ravi Shankar

Prasad

Set up by: National Informatics Centre (NIC)

Aim: To provide Block chain as a service and

allowing all stakeholders to benefit from

shared learning, experiences and resources

84. Army conducts biggest airborne exercise of

Special Forces

About: The Indian Army recently carried out

its biggest Airborne Exercise in the North

Eastern Theatre which involved large number

of the Special Force's troops and all kind of air

transport platforms of the Air Force.

Exercise code-name: Winged Raider


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85. Bru-Reang Refugee agreement signed

About: Union Home Minister Amit Shah

presided over the signing of a quadripartite

pact of MHA with the State governments of

Tripura, Mizoram and leaders of Bru

community to permanently settle around

34,000 internally displaced people in Tripura

Reangs or Brus:They are the second largest

ethnic group in Mizoram. Their exodus in

1997 was spurred by violent clashes in Mamith

subdivision, a Reang-dominated area, when

they demanded creation of an autonomous

council that was vehemently opposed by Mizo

groups.

Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Coordination

Committee (MBDPCC) and Mizoram Bru

Indigenous Democratic Movement (MBIDM)

have signed the agreement.

86. World Bank and Government of India Sign

$88 million loan agreement

The Government of India, the Government of

Assam and the World Bank signed a loan

agreement of $88 million for the

implementation of Assam Inland Water

Transport Project

About: A majority of Assam‘s more than 361

ferry routes cross the Brahmaputra or serve its

islands, providing a crucial means of transport

to thousands of commuters in both the urban

and rural areas of the Brahmaputra Valley.

The Assam Inland Water Transport Project

(AIWTP) will help Assam improve the

passenger ferry infrastructure and its services

and strengthen the capacity of the institutions

running the inland water transport.

87. India successfully test-fires K-4 ballistic

missile

About: India has successfully test-fired a

3,500 kilometer range nuclear capable missile

that can be launched from a submarine. The

test of the K-4 ballistic missile was conducted

off the Vizag coast in Andhra Pradesh.

Highlight: With this test, India has moved one

more step towards the induction of this

ballistic missile on the INS Arihant class of

nuclear submarines.

K-4 ballistic missile: The three-meter-tall

missile carries a nuclear warhead of over one

tonne with a circular error probability far

lower than that of Chinese ballistic missiles.

Only the US, Russia and China have

submarine-launched ballistic missiles of 3,500-

kilometre range.

Developed by: Defense Research and

Development Organization (DRDO).

88. 9th International Children's Film Festival

begins in Kolkata

The 9th International Children's Film Festival

begins in Kolkata with the screening of Aizaz

Khan directed Hamid.

The National Award winner Children actor,

TalhaArsad Rishi will inaugurate the festival.

89. Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises

Minister Inaugurates ELECRAMA 2020

Union Minister of Heavy Industries

&Public Enterprises:PrakashJavadekar

Location: Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh

Minister of Power and New and Renewable

Energy (Independent Charge): R K Singh

ELECRAMA: is the flagship showcase of the

Indian electrical industry and a platform to

connect the world with Indian industry in

respect of technology, new trends and

innovation for future energy transition.

90. Manglauru is safest city of India


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About: Manglauru has been listed as 43rd in

the list of 100 safest cities in the world.

Report by: CEO World magazine, New York

Other Indian cities: Vadodara in Gujarat,

Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala,

Ahmedabad in Gujarat and Navi Mumbai in

Maharashtra have found a place in the 100

safest cities.

World safest city: Abu Dhabi in UAE

Most dangerous city: Caracas in Venezuela

91. Andhra Pradesh Assembly passes bill to

establish three capitals

About: The Andhra Pradesh assembly passed

the Capital Region Development Authority

Repeal Bill 2020 and the AP Decentralization

and Inclusive Development of all Regions Bill

2020

Executive capital: Visakhapatnam

Legislative capital: Amravati

Judicial capital: Kurnool

Chief Minister: Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy

92. Ravi Shankar Prasad to inaugurate second

edition of NIC Tech Conclave-2020

Union Minister for Electronics and

Information Technology: Ravi Shankar

Prasad

Location: New Delhi

Organized by: National Informatics Centre

Theme: Technologies for Next-Gen

Governance

NIC Tech Conclave: This Conclave will

contribute immensely to the capacity building

of Government officers across the country and

help in delivering high-quality citizen-centric

services.

93. 12th National Tribal Youth Exchange

Programme inaugurated in Puducherry

Puducherry Lieutenant

Governor:DrKiranBedi

Organized by: Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan

(NYKS) and Puducherry Government

Aim: view to ensure development and

empowerment of the tribal youths.

94. Delhi government released guarantee card

scheme

Delhi chief minister: Arvind Kejriwal

Guarantee Card: The card includes 10

guarantees for Delhi residents including 24x7

drinking water supply and power supply,

affordable homes for the poor, free public bus


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travel for students and appointment of Mohalla

marshals to ensure safety of women.

95. UP Govt launches Mukhya mantra Krishak

Durghatna KalyanYojana

Mukhyamantri Krishak Durghatna Kalyan

Yojana: It will provide financial assistance of

five lakh rupees to family of farmers who die

or become handicapped while working in

fields. The scheme will cover farmers and their

family members in the age group of 18-70

years.

UP CM: Yogi Adityanath

96. Indian Navy Signs MoU with Geological

Survey of India

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU):

Between Indian Navy and Geological Survey

of India

Reason: Sharing of seabed sediments data,

products and expertise for Naval Application

in Meteorology and Oceanography

GSI‘s state-of-the-art oceanic research vessels

SamudraManthan, SamudraKaustubh,

Samudra Shaudhikama and Samudra Ratnakar,

will now be used by Indian Navy‘s rapidly

growing blue water fleet for reliable and

accurate oceanographic modeling to support

their expansive maritime operations in the

Indian Ocean region

97. Dr.Jitendra Singh inaugurates India‟s first

global Mega Science Exhibition “Vigyan

Samagam”

About: The Union Minister of State (I/C)

Ministry of Development of North Eastern

Region, MoS PMO, Personnel, Public

Grievances and Pensions, Atomic Energy and

Space, DrJitendra Singh inaugurated India‘s

first global Mega Science Exhibition ―Vigyan

Samagam‖ at National Science Centre, Delhi.

Organized by: Department of Atomic Energy

(DAE), Department of Science and

Technology (DST) and the National Council

of Science Museums (NCSM)

During the exhibition, Science & Technology

enthusiasts will witness the world-renowned

Mega Science projects and listen to eminent

scientists at the National Science Centre Delhi.

Projects are being showcased by CERN,

FAIR, INO, ITER, LIGO, MACE, SKA and

TMT.

98. IAF deploys Su-30 squadron equipped with

BrahMos missile in Tamil Nadu

About: The Indian Air Force Monday

commissioned the 222 ‗Tiger Sharks‘

squadron of Sukhoi Su-30 MKI fighter jets in

Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, equipped with the

supersonic BrahMos cruise missiles that have

a range of over 300 km.

Chief of Defence Staff: Gen. Bipin Rawat

Air Chief Marshal: Rakesh Bhadauria.

Highlight: This is the first time the Fourth

Generation air dominance fighters have been

based out of the Southern Air Command.

Given the Su-30s‘ maritime strike capability,

the IAF has made this move with an eye on the

increasing Chinese presence in the Indian

Ocean Region (IOR).

Su-30s: The Su-30s have a range of about

1,500 km without mid-air refuelling capacity,

and now come equipped with the 2.5-tonne

air-launched BrahMos.


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99. India opens its first Mahatma Gandhi

convention center in Niger

External Affairs Minister: S. Jaishankar

President of Niger:MahamadouIssoufou

Highlight: It is the first center to be

established in Africa by India to honor the

memory of Mahatma Gandhi whose 150th

Birth Anniversary was observed last year.

Mr. Jaishankar, the first Indian Foreign

Minister to visit the West African country,

arrived in Niamey three-day two-nation trip to

Niger and Tunisia.

100. PM chairs the 32nd PRAGATI interaction

About: Prime Minister NarendraModi chaired

the first PRAGATI meeting of the year 2020.

It marked Prime Minister‘s thirty-second

interaction through PRAGATI .

PRAGATI: the ICT based multi-modal

platform for Pro-Active Governance and

Timely Implementation, involving Central and

State governments.

101. Cabinet approves MoUs among India,

Tunisia and Papua New Guinea

Electoral Commission for elections for

cooperation in the field of electoral

management and administration

About: The Union Cabinet, chaired by the

Prime Minister NarendraModi, has given its

approval for the proposal of the Legislative

Department

MoU: Between Election Commission and

Independent High Authority for Elections of

Tunisia (ISIE) and the Papua New Guinea

Electoral Commission(PNGEC) for elections

for cooperation in the field of electoral

management and administration.

102. Cabinet approves agreement between

India and Brazil

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime

Minister Narendra Modi, has given its

approval for the Agreement between the

Republic of India and the Federative Republic

of Brazil:

Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal

Matters: The Agreement aims to enhance

effectiveness of both the countries in

investigation and prosecution of crime through

cooperation and Mutual Legal Assistance in

Criminal Matters.

Cooperation in the oil and natural gas

sector: Under the MoU, both sides will work

towards establishing cooperation in the E&P


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 32

initiatives in Brazil and India, research &

development in this sector, explore

collaboration in Liquefied Natural Gas projects

in Brazil, India and third countries.

Cooperation in field of Geology and

Mineral Resources: The MoU will provide an

institutional mechanism between Geological

Survey of India, Ministry of Mines of the

Republic of India and Geological Survey of

Brazil – CPRM, Ministry of Mines and Energy

of the Federative Republic of Brazil for

cooperation in field of Geology and Mineral

Resources.

Bilateral cooperation in the field of early

childhood: It will strengthen the bonds of

friendship between the two countries and

increase bilateral cooperation on the issues of

early childhood care. Both countries will

benefit from exchange of best practices of the

respective countries in the field of early

childhood.

103. Ministry of Rural Development signs MoU

with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

About: The Ministry of Rural Development

(MoRD) today signed a Memorandum of

Understanding (MoU) with Bill and Melinda

Gates Foundation (BMGF) under the

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural

Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), for

furthering their mutual objectives of

strengthening grassroots institutions of the

rural poor.

Focus: on improving the lives of India‘s poor

and the marginalized with the aim of reducing

poverty through institutions of marginalized

rural women for promotion of diversified and

gainful self-employment while creating skilled

wage employment opportunities.

104. Dharmendra Pradhan launches SAIL

SERVICE scheme

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas &

Steel: Dharmendra Pradhan

SERVICE (SAIL Employee Rendering

Voluntarism and Initiatives for Community

Engagement): To promote and facilitate

philanthropist activities by the employees in a

structured manner.

105. Vyommitra human robot, developed by

ISRO

Vyommitra: a spacefaring human robot

developed by the Indian Space Research

Organisation. Vyommitra is a 'half-humanoid'

that Isro plans to send to space as part of test

flights that will be undertaken ahead of the

ambitious launch of India's maiden human

spaceflight mission.

Highlight: Vyommitra can "mimic" the

activity of a crew of astronauts and even

"recognize them and respond to their queries.

106. Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda

Prabandhan Puraskar 2020 announced

About: In order to recognize the excellent

work done by individuals and institutions in

India in the field of disaster management, the

award is announced every year by Home

ministry India on 23rd January, the birth

anniversary of NetajiSubhash Chandra Bose.

Award in institution category: Disaster

Mitigation & Management Centre,

Uttarakhand (cash prize of Rs. 51 lakhs)

Award in Individual category: Kumar

Munnan Singh (cash prize of Rs. 5 lakhs)


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 33

107. Subhas Chandra Bose 123rd birth

anniversary

On 23rd

Jan 1897, Netaji was born in Cuttack,

Odisha, known by the slogan "Give me your

blood, and I shall give you freedom.

He was the great freedom fighter who served

India as a valiant warrior and raised the first

Indian National Army (INA), Azad Hind Fauj

in 1943

In the year 1920, he passed the ICS

examination, but on hearing about the

Jallianwalla Bagh massacre he quit his high-

paying ICS job and came back to India from

England in 1921 to join India's struggle for

independence.

Bose act of hoisting the Tricolour for the first

time in Port Blair in 1943 and declaration of

Andaman and Nicobar Islands as first Indian

Territory to be freed from British rule

continues to inspire every Indian.

Subhash Chandra Bose also addresses

Mahatama Gandhi as the "Father of the

Nation".

108. India to help energy rich Ghana expand

clean fuel network

A memorandum of understanding (MoU):

Signed between Indian Oil has and National

Petroleum Authority (NPA) of Ghana

Reason: State run Indian Oil Corporation Ltd

(IOCL) will provide its assistance and

technical expertise in the implementation of

Ghana‘s National LPG Promotion Policy

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana: was

launched by Prime Minister NarendraModi on

May 1st, 2016 in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh. Under

this scheme, 5 Cr LPG connections will be

provided to BPL families with a support of

Rs.1600 per connection in the next 3 years.

It aims to safeguard the health of women &

children by providing them with a clean

cooking fuel – LPG, so that they don‘t have to

compromise their health in smoky kitchens or

wander in unsafe areas collecting firewood.

Indian projects in Africa: Projects completed

by India recently in Africa include the

construction of the presidential office in

Ghana, the National Assembly building in

Gambia, and the Kosti power plant in Sudan.

Africa is a key development partner of India,

garnering a sizeable portion of India‘s lines of

credit assistance.

109. Challa Sreenivasulu Setty appointed

managing director of SBI

ChallaSreenivasuluSettycurrently serving as

the deputy managing director of the SBI, Setty

has been appointed as the MD of the SBI for a

period of three years with effect from the date

of his taking over the charge of the post.

110. India achieves complete phase out of one

the most potent ozone depleting chemical

About: India has successfully achieved the

complete phase out of Hydro

chlorofluorocarbon (HCFC)-141 b, and one of

the most potent ozone depleting chemical after

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

Ozone Depleting Substances (Regulation

and Control) Amendment Rules,2019:the

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate

Change (MoEFCC) brought out a notification

in the Gazette of India through which the

issuance of import license for HCFC-141b is

prohibited from 1st January, 2020 under


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 34

Ozone Depleting Substances (Regulation and

Control) Amendment Rules, 2019 issued under

the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

Complete phase out of HCFC 141 b from the

country in foam sector is among the first at this

scale in Article 5 parties (developing

countries) under the Montreal Protocol.

The Montreal Protocol: on Substances that

Deplete the Ozone Layer (a protocol to the

Vienna Convention for the Protection of the

Ozone Layer) is an international treaty

designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing

out the production of numerous substances that

are responsible for ozone depletion. It was

agreed on 16 September 1987, and entered into

force on 26 August 1989.

111. International Summit on Women in STEM

Organized by: The Department of

Biotechnology in India Habitat Centre, New

Delhi

Theme: ―Visualizing the Future: New

Skylines‖

Aim: To boost the participation of women in

STEM (science, technology, engineering and

mathematics) field for development of

scientific career.

112. India's first e-waste clinic opens in Bhopal

About: India‘s first e-waste clinic is being

opened in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

Benefit: It would enable segregation,

processing and disposal of waste from both

household and commercial units.

Setup by: Central Pollution Control Board-

CPCB and Bhopal Municipal Corporation-

BMC.

CPCB: of India is a statutory organization

under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and

Climate Change. It was established in 1974

under the Water (Prevention and Control of

pollution) Act, 1974. The CPCB is also

entrusted with the powers and functions under

the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution)

Act, 1981.

Chairman of CPCB: S. P. Singh Parihar

113. Nation celebrates 71st Republic Day

Nation celebrated the 71st Republic Day with

a grand military parade and exhibition of its

history, cultural diversity and strategic

weaponry at the Rajpath in the National

Capital.

Chief Guest:President of Brazil

Jair Messias Bolsonaro was the Chief Guest at

the Parade this year.

Republic Day: The Constitution of India,

which was adopted by the Constituent

Assembly on November 26, 1949, came into

effect on January 26, 1950. January 26 was

also chosen as the day to mark Republic Day

because it had been on this day that the Indian

National Congress (INC) proclaimed the

Declaration of Indian Independence in 1929.

This was contrary to the 'dominion' status

offered by the British.

Tableau of Anubhava Mantapa:In the 71st

Republic Day Parade, Karnataka state's tableau

depicted the philosophy of Basaveshwara and

the concept of AnubhavaMantapa (Experience

Centre). The AnubhavaMantapa was the socio-

religious centre that existed in the present-day

BasavaKalyana of Bidar district in Karnataka.

It is regarded as the first religious parliament

in the history of mankind. Basaveshwara was

the saint that professed this philosophy. The

front part of the tableau has the replica of

Basaveshwara preaching his most cherished

value - "Work is Worship".

114. 'Shiv Bhojan' scheme


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About: The Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra

government launched 'Shiv Bhojan' scheme,

Aim: At providing a meal to the poor for just Rs

10, on the occasion of the 71st Republic Day. The

scheme, which was launched on a pilot basis,

thalis or lunch plates would be available to people

at designated centers/ canteens during a stipulated

time in all the districts.

Maharashtra CM: Uddhav Thackeray

115. India's first Super Fab Lab inaugurated

by Kerala CM

Chief Minister:PinarayiVijayan

About: The country's first Super Fab Lab was

launched at the Integrated Startup Complex of

the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM).

Collaboration:The Super Fab Lab will

function in collaboration with the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Highlight: The Fab Labs concept, the only one

outside the U.S., is the brainchild of Dr Neil

Gershenfeld, presently the Director of MIT

Centre for Bits and Atoms, DrGershenfeld was

in the city for nearly a week to personally

supervise setting up of the Super Fab Lab.

Fab Labs: are fabrication laboratories offering

digital fabrication and computation.The state-

of-art facility enables the state to produce

machines locally, for access throughout

Kerala. It can be for business, education and

almost anything.

116. Padma awards 2020

Padma Awards - one of the highest civilian

Awards of the country, are conferred in three

categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma

Bhushan and Padma Shri. The Awards are

given in various disciplines/ fields of activities,

viz.- art, social work, public affairs, science

and engineering, trade and industry, medicine,

literature and education, sports, civil service,

etc.

This year the President has approved

conferment of 141 Padma Awards including 4

duo cases (in a duo case, the Award is counted

as one). The list comprises of 7 Padma

Vibhushan, 16 Padma Bhushan and 118

Padma Shri Awards. 33 of the awardees are

women and the list also includes 18 persons

from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI

and 12 posthumous awardees.

Padma Vibhushan

Name Field State/Country

1. George Fernandes

(Posthumous)

Public

Affairs Bihar

2. ArunJaitley

(Posthumous)

Public

Affairs Delhi

3. Sir AneroodJugnauth Public

Affairs Mauritius

4. M. C. Mary Kom Sports Manipur

5. Chhannulal Mishra Art Uttar Pradesh

6. SushmaSwaraj

(Posthumous)

Public

Affairs Delhi

7.

Sri

VishveshateerthaSwamiji

Sri

PejavaraAdhokhajaMatha

Udupi (Posthumous)

Others-

Spiritualism Karnataka

Padma bhushan

SN Name Field State/Country

8. M. Mumtaz Ali (Sri

M)

Others-

Spiritualism Kerala

9. Syed Muazzem Ali

(Posthumous) Public Affairs Bangladesh

10. MuzaffarHussainBaig Public Affairs Jammu and

Kashmir


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 36

11. AjoyChakravorty Art West

Bengal

12. Manoj Das Literature and

Education Puducherry

13. BalkrishnaDoshi Others-

Architecture Gujarat

14. KrishnammalJagannathan Social Work Tamil Nadu

15. S. C. Jamir Public Affairs Nagaland

16. Anil Prakash Joshi Social Work Uttarakhand

17. Dr. TseringLandol Medicine Ladakh

18. Anand Mahindra Trade and

Industry Maharashtra

19.

Neelakanta Ramakrishna

MadhavaMenon

(Posthumous)

Public Affairs Kerala

20. ManoharGopalkrishna

PrabhuParrikar (Posthumous) Public Affairs Goa

21. Prof. JagdishSheth Literature and

Education USA

22. P. V. Sindhu Sports Telangana

23. VenuSrinivasan Trade and

Industry Tamil Nadu

Padma Shri awardees from Karnataka:

M. P. Ganesh Sports

Dr. Bangalore Gangadhar Medicine

Bharat Goenka Trade and Industry

TulasiGowda Social Work

HarekalaHajabba Social Work

K. V. Sampath Kumar &

Ms. VidushiJayalakshmi

K.S.

Literature and

Education-Journalism

Vijay Sankeshwar Trade and Industry

117. 3rd Global Potato Conclave, Gandhinagar,

Gujarat

About: Prime Minister NarendraModi shall be

addressing the 3rd Global Potato Conclave at

Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

Organized by:Indian Potato Association (IPA) in

collaboration with Indian Council of Agricultural

Research, New Delhi, and ICAR-Central Potato

Research Institute, Shimla and International Potato

Center (CIP), Lima, Peru

The present conclave is the third in the series,

during last two decades two Global Potato

Conferences were organized during 1999, and

2008.

Highlight: The Conclave will provide an

opportunity to bring all stakeholders at one

common platform so that all the issues are

discussed and future plans are made involving

everyone related to the potato sector.

118. Andhra Pradesh assembly passes

resolution to abolish State Legislative

Council

The Andhra Pradesh Assembly has passed a

resolution to abolish the State Legislative Council.

Chief Minister:Jagan Mohan Reddy

Other States with legislative council are: Bihar

Karnataka

Maharashtra

Telangana

Uttar Pradesh


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 37

119. Bodo Accord signed

In the presence of Union Home Minister Amit

Shah, the tripartite agreement was signed by

Assam Chief Minister SarbanandaSonowal,

the top leadership of the four factions of the

NDFB, ABSU (The All Bodo Students'

Union)

ACCORD:

As per the accord, 1,550 militants belonging

to the NDFB lay down their arms on January

30, an economic programme of Rs 1,500 crore

will be implemented in the next three years

with equal contribution of Rs 750 crore each

from the central and state governments.

The existing structure of the Bodoland

Territorial Council (BTC) will be strengthened

with more powers and its seats will be

expanded from 40 to 60.

The name of the BTC will be changed to

Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR).

The BTC currently has control over 30

subjects like education, forests, horticulture

but no jurisdiction over the police, revenue

and general administration departments, which

are controlled by the Assam government.

The BTC was formed under the 6th Schedule

of the Constitution.

Previous Bodo accords: This was the third Bodo accord to be signed in

the last 27 years when the violent movement

for a separate Bodoland state claimed hundreds

of lives, destruction of public and private

properties.

The first Bodo accord was signed with the All

Bodo Students Union in 1993, leading to the

creation of a Bodoland Autonomous Council

with limited political powers.

In 2003, the second Bodo accord was signed

with the militant group Bodo Liberation

Tigers, leading to the formation of a Bodoland

Territorial Council (BTC) with four districts of

Assam -- Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baska and

Udalguri -- called Bodoland Territorial Area

District (BTAD).

The demand for a separate state for the Bodos

has been going on in Assam for about five

decades and several Bodooverground and

militant groups raising it leading to agitations,

protests, violence and many deaths.

120. West Bengal becomes 4th state to pass

anti-CAA resolution

About: West Bengal on became the fourth

opposition-ruled state to pass a resolution against

the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in its

assembly, after Kerala, Punjab and Rajasthan.

Reason: Opponents of the CAA feel it deliberately

excludes Muslims while offering fast-track

citizenship for Pakistani, Afghan and Bangladeshi

illegal immigrants from six minority religious

groups, including Hindus -- provided they entered

India on or before December 31, 2014.

Chief Minister:Mamata Banerjee's All India

Trinamool Party (TMC)

121. India‟s first underwater metro in Kolkata About: Kolkata Metro Rail Corp. expects to

complete its East-West project, which runs partly

under the city‘s Hooghly River, by March 2022

Kolkata Metro: India‘s oldest metro, which

started in 1984 with a North-South service.

122. Dr.Jitendra Singh launches Bhuvan

Panchayat V 3.0 Web portal


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 38

The Union Minister of State (I/C) Ministry

of Development of North Eastern Region:

Dr.Jitendra Singh

Developed by: ISRO

About: ISRO will collaborate with the gram

panchayat members and stakeholders to

understand their data requirements

Portal: The third version of the portal will

provide database visualisation and services for

the benefit of panchayat members, among

others. The project is meant to provide geo-

spatial services to aid gram panchayat

development planning process of the Ministry

of Panchayati Raj.

ISRO chairman: K Sivan

123. Rajnath Singh gives away awards related

to Republic Day 2020

Defence minister : Rajnath Singh

Best tableaus (participated in the Republic

Day Parade)

Assam (theme: 'Land of Unique Craftsmanship

and Culture')

Odisha (RukunaRathaYatra of Lord Lingaraja)

and Uttar Pradesh (theme: 'Sarva Dharma

SamaBhav')

Among the six tableaux from different

ministries/departments, Ministry of Jal

Shakti and National Disaster Response

Force (NDRF) won the joint best Tableaux

award.

The tableau of Central Public Works

Department (CPWD), with the theme

'Kashmir se Kanyakumari', bagged the special

prize for showcasing different parts of the

country decorated with colourful and fragrant

flowers.

124. Lt Gen Satinder Kumar Saini Assumes

Appointment of VCOAS

Before assuming the appointment of Vice

Chief of the Army Staff, the General Officer

was heading the Southern Command of the

Indian Army.

Lt Gen Satinder Kumar Saini is anstudent of

the National Defence Academy and the Indian

Military Academy.

125. 10 more wetlands from India get the

Ramsar site tag

The Ramsar Convention: signed on February

2, 1971, is one of the oldest inter-


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 39

governmental accord signed by members

countries to preserve the ecological character

of their wetlands of international importance.

Aim of the Ramsarlist: To develop and

maintain an international network of wetlands

which are important for the conservation of

global biological diversity and for sustaining

human life through the maintenance of their

ecosystem components, processes and

benefits. Wetlands declared as Ramsar sites

are protected under strict guidelines of the

convention.

Union Environment

Minister:PrakashJavadekar

Ramsarsites in India: With this, the numbers

of Ramsar sites in India are now 37 and the

surface area covered by these sites is now

1,067,939 hectares. Maharashtra gets its first

Ramsar site (NandurMadhameshwar) , Punjab

which already had 3 Ramsar sites adds 3 more

(Keshopur-Miani, Beas Conservation Reserve,

Nangal) and UP with 1 Ramsar site has added

6 more (Nawabganj, Parvati Agra, Saman,

Samaspur, Sandi and SarsaiNawar).

126. Indian Railways commissions first Waste

to Energy Plant in Bhubaneswar

About: Indian Railways has commissioned

country‘s first governmental Waste to Energy

Plant, having capacity of 500 Kg waste per

day, in Mancheswar Carriage Repair

Workshop at Bhubaneswar in East Coast

Railway.

Highlight: This Waste to Energy Plant, a

patented technology called POLYCRACK, is

first-of-its-kind in Indian Railways and fourth

in India. It is world‘s first patented

heterogeneous catalytic process which

converts multiple feed stocks into hydrocarbon

liquid fuels, gas, carbon and water.

Polycrack: This Plant can be fed with all

types of Plastic, Petroleum sludge, Un-

segregated MSW (Municipal Solid Waste)

with moisture up to 50%, E–Waste,

Automobile fluff, Organic waste including

bamboo, garden waste etc., and Jatropha fruit

and palm bunch.

127. Indian Navy Launches 'Operation Vanilla'

Operation Vanilla:The Indian Navy Ship

Airavatwill undertake Humanitarian

Assistance and Disaster Relief mission as part

of 'Operation Vanilla' which has been launched

to provide assistance to the affected population

of Madagascar post devastation caused by

Cyclone Diane.

128. Cabinet approves The Medical

Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment)

Bill

About: The Union Cabinet, chaired by the

Prime Minister ShriNarendraModi, has

approved the Medical Termination of

Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020 to amend

the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act,

1971.

Medical Termination of Pregnancy

Amendment Bill will raise upper limit for

termination of pregnancy from 20 weeks to 24

weeks

129. Cabinet approves official amendments in

the National Commission for Homoeopathy

Bill

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime

Minister NarendraModi, has given its approval

to the official amendments in the National

Commission for Homoeopathy Bill, 2019 for

amending the Homoeopathy Central Council

(HCC) Act, 1973.


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 40

The amendments will: Ensure necessary regulatory reforms in the

field of Homoeopathy education.

Enable transparency and accountability for

protecting the interest of the general public.

The Commission will promote availability of

affordable healthcare services in all parts of

the country.

Background:

The Homoeopathy Central Council (HCC)

Act, 1973 was enacted for constitution of a

Central Council of Homoeopathy for

regulation of education and practice of

Homoeopathy, for maintenance of Central

Register of Homoeopathy and for matters

connected therewith.

130. Harsh VardhanShringla takes charge as

new Foreign Secretary

Harsh VardhanShringla today took charge as

new foreign secretary succeeding Vijay

Gokhale. MrShringla is a 1984-batch officer of

the Indian Foreign Service.

131. NitiAayog aspirational districts

Aspirational districts programme launched in

January 2018.

Top ranks: Chandauli district in Uttar Pradesh has topped

the list of aspirational districts ranked by the

government think tank NitiAayog in

December.

Belangir (Odisha) and YSR (Andhra Pradesh)

have been placed at the second and third

positions, respectively.

Sahibganj (Jharkhand) has been ranked at the

fourth spot and Hailakandi(Assam) at the fifth

place.

Parameters: Health and nutrition, education,

agriculture and water resources, financial

inclusion, skill development and basic

infrastructure

Aim: To transform districts that has shown

relatively lesser progress in key social areas

and has emerged as pockets of under-

development.

132. Taranjit Singh Sandhu appointed India‟s

Ambassador to US

Senior diplomat Taranjit Singh Sandhu will be

the next Indian Ambassador to the United

States. Mr. Sandhu, a 1988 batch officer of the

Indian Foreign Service, is the current Indian

envoy to Sri Lanka and will succeed Harsh

VardhanShringla, who will take charge as the

Foreign Secretary on Wednesday.

External Affairs Minister: Dr. S. Jaishankar

133. India-Bangladesh JT Exercise

SAMPRITI-IX

About: As part of the ongoing Indo-

Bangladesh defense cooperation, a joint

military training exercise SAMPRITI-IX is

being conducted at UMROI, Meghalaya, India

from 03 Feb to 16 Feb 2020.

Exercise SAMPRITI is an important bilateral

defense cooperation endeavour between India

and Bangladesh and will be the ninth edition

of the exercise which is hosted alternately by

both countries.

134. Assam tops in budgetary practices

About: Assam has emerged as the top state in

terms of best practices followed in budget

formulation, followed by Odisha and Andhra

Pradesh.


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 41

Survey by: Transparency International

Parameters: public disclosure, budgetary

process, post budget fiscal management and

efforts to make budget more transparent and

citizen friendly.

Lower ranking: Goa, Maharashtra and

Punjab.

135. 34th SurajkundMela 2020

About: The Surajkund Mela is The World‘s

Largest International Crafts Fair, organized by

the SurajkundMela Authority & Haryana

Tourism in collaboration with Union

Ministries of Tourism, Textiles, Culture and

External Affairs.

Theme State:Himachal Pradesh

SurajkundMela: is a platform for artists

across the globe to showcase their culture and

talent. Hosted annually by the Haryana

Tourism Department

Haryana CM: ManoharLalKhattar

International 1. Guinea-Bissau opposition leader wins

presidential election

In the West African state of Guinea-Bissau,

UmaroSissocoEmbalo has won presidential

elections, picking up 53.55 per cent of votes.

His rival DomingosSimoes Pereira, head of the

country's ruling party PAIGC, bagged 46.45

percent votes.

Reason: To protect its vulnerable coral reefs.

The government has signed a law that restricts

the sale and use of sunscreen and skincare

products that contain a list of ten different

chemicals.

Sunscreen products harm corals: Two

ingredients called oxybenzone and octinoxate.

These are used as sun protection factors as

they absorb ultraviolet light.

Research published in 2015 showed that the

oxybenzone could stunt the growth of baby

corals and was toxic to several different coral

species in laboratory tests.

Palau's President: Tommy Remengesau

2. 2020: Year of the Nurse and the Midwife

About: World Health Organization (WHO)

designated the year 2020 as the ‗Year of the

Nurse and the Midwife‘ in honor of the 200th

birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale.

WHO will also launch of the first-ever State of

the World‘s Nursing report, which will be

launched in 2020. This report will describe the

nursing workforce in WHO Member States

providing an assessment of ‗fitness for

purpose.‘

Florence Nightingale: byname Lady with the

Lamp, (born May 12, 1820, Florence [Italy),

British nurse, statistician, and social reformer

who was the foundational philosopher of

modern nursing.


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 42

Nightingale was put in charge of nursing

British and allied soldiers in Turkey during the

Crimean War. She spent many hours in the

wards, and her night rounds giving personal

care to the wounded established her image as

the ―Lady with the Lamp.‖

3. US kill top Iranian general in Baghdad air

strike

About: The QasemSoleimani, 62-year-old

spearheaded Iranian military operations in the

Middle East as head of Iran's elite Quds Force

was killed at Baghdad airport, along with other

Iran-backed militia figures in a strike ordered

by US President Donald Trump.

Reason: US have called the commander and

the Quds Force terrorists and holds them

responsible for the deaths of hundreds of US

personnel.

Qasem Soleimani: was an Iranian major

general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard

Corps (IRGC) and, from 1998, commander of

its Quds Force, a division primarily

responsible for extraterritorial military and

clandestine operations.

4. Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index

India‟s rank: 34th

(40th rank in 2017)

Index by: World Economic Forum (WEF)

Top position:Spain

Parameters: The Travel and Tourism

Competitiveness Index (TTCI) analyzed 139

countries and scored each according to three

sub-indices: Regulatory Framework; Business

Environment and Infrastructure; and Human,

Cultural and Natural Resources.

5. Army to sign MoU for AK-203 assault rifles

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU):

Between India and Russia

Reason: For the procurement of over 7.5 lakh

AK-203 assault rifles, which are to be

manufactured locally by an India-Russia joint

venture (JV).

Defense Minister:Rajnath Singh

Other small arms: In addition to the AK-203,

the Army recently began inducting the first

batch of 10,000 SIG-716 assault rifles. Troops

engaged in counter insurgency operations in

the Army‘s Northern Command have started

receiving these rifles.

Replacing INSAS: The Army has been

looking to replace the indigenous INSAS

(Indian National Small Arms System) rifles in

use with a modern rifle.

6. 12th edition 'Naseem-Al-Bahr' Naval

exercise

Between: India and Oman

Two ships of the Royal Navy of Oman (RNO)

RNOV Al Rasikh and RNOV Khassab arrived at

Mormugao Port in Goa.

Indian ships: Beas and Subhadra are

participating.

'Naseem-Al-Bahr' (or sea breeze): is a naval

exercise between the Indian Navy and the RNO,

being conducted since 1993.

7. Croatia elects ZoranMilanovic as president


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 43

Party: Social democratic party

Currency: Croatian kuna

Capital: Zagreb

8. Indian-born author wins UK children's

book award

About: India-born author JasbinderBilan has

bagged a coveted UK children's book award.

Novel: 'Asha and the Spirit Bird'(childhood of

author in Himalayan territories)

Bilan will receive 5,000 pounds as the winner of

the award, open to authors resident in the UK and

Ireland and presented annually across five

categories of First Novel, Novel, Biography,

Poetry and Children's Book.

9. Geo-political risk of 2020

Report by: the Eurasia Group

Highlights: India under Prime Minister

NarendraModi has been listed as the fifth

biggest geo-political risk of 2020.

Listis topped by elections in the US and

followed by events and developments like the

US-China technology tug of war on 5G as well

as the trade war between Beijing and

Washington.

10. Israel Reveals Breakthrough in Laser-

Based Aerial Defense System

Uses: the technological development will

enable the long-range targeting and

stabilization of laser beams, allowing them to

intercept targets at great distances.

Effective laser weapons system that can cut

through the iron of rockets and missiles from

kilometers away.‖

Developed by: Defense Ministry in

collaboration with Israeli companies Rafael

Advanced Defense Systems and Elbit Systems.

Defense Minister:Naftali Bennett

11. World's most powerful passports ranking

2020

Report by: Henley & Partners

About: Indian passport has been ranked 84th

(dropped by 2 positions) in the list of world's most

powerful passports in a recent report released by

Henley & Partners.

Indian passport got a score of 58, which means

Indian passport holders can visit 58 countries

without prior visa. India shared the rank with

Mauritania and Tajikistan.

World's 10 most powerful passports:

Japan: 191 countries

Singapore: 190 countries

Germany and South Korea: 189 countries

Finland and Italy: 188 countries

Denmark, Luxembourg and Spain: 187

countries

France and Sweden: 186 countries

Austria, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal and

Switzerland: 185 countries

Belgium, Greece, Norway, UK and USA:

184 countries

Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Malta

and New Zealand: 183

Hungary, Lithuania and Slovakia: 181

12. Haitham bin Tariq al-Said takes over as

Sultan of Oman


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 44

About: Haitham bin Tariq al-Said took over as

Sultan of the Oman after the death of long-time

ruler Qaboos. The new ruler is the cousin of late

Sultan Qaboos. Sultan Qaboos died last evening at

the age of 79 following a prolonged illness.

Qaboos had ruled Oman since 1970 and was the

eighth sultan of the House of Al Said. He was the

longest-serving monarch among the recent Arab

rulers.

13. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen secures

second term

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen secured a

victory in presidential elections with voters

resoundingly handing its first female leader a

second term. Her main rival, Han Kuo-yu of

the China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) party,

has conceded defeat.

14. Statue of Unity finds place in '8 Wonders of

SCO' External Affairs Minister: S Jaishankar

About: The 182-meter tall Statue of Unity in

Gujarat has been included in the Shanghai

Cooperation Organization‘s '8 Wonders of SCO'

list

Eight wonders are: 1. Statue of Unity in India,

2. Archaeological Landscape of Tamgaly in

Kazakhstan,

3. Daming Palace in China,

4. Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan,

5. Heritage of the Mughal Dynasty in

Pakistan,

6. Golden Ring of Russia,

7. Navruz Palace in Tajikistan

8. Historic Centre of Bukhara in Uzbekistan

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization

(SCO): is a Eurasian political, economic, and

security alliance, the creation of which was

announced on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai, China

by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan,

Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan,

the organization has expanded its membership

to eight countries when India and Pakistan

joined SCO as full members on 9 June 2017 at

a summit in Astana.

The Statue of Unity: is a colossal statue of

SardarVallabhbhai Patel (1875–1950), who was

the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home

minister of independent India. It is located in

the state of Gujarat, India. It is the world's

tallest statue with a height of (597 ft) 182

meters. It is located on a river facing the

SardarSarovar Dam on river Narmada.

The project was first announced in 2010;it was

designed by Indian sculptor Ram V. Sutar, and

was inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister

NarendraModi on 31 October 2018, the 143rd

birth anniversary of Patel.

15. ISRO to launch GSAT-30


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 45

About: The Indian space agency ISRO is

collaborating with the European aerospace

company Arianespace to launch its next

telecommunication satellite mission, GSAT-30.

The satellite is due for launch into orbit on Friday,

17 January 2020.

Launch station: Guiana Space Center in Kourou,

French Guiana.

Rocket: the Ariane 5 will be carrying a second

telecommunication satellite for European space

company EutelsatKonnect. The rocket will first

place the GSAT-30 in orbit, followed by the

release of Eutelsat'sKonnect.

GSAT-30: The GSAT-30 was designed and

manufactured by the Indian Space Research

Organization. It will be placed at a longitude of

83° east and will provide high-quality television,

telecommunications and broadcasting services to

the mainland and India's islands.

GSAT-30 has a mission life of 15 years, and will

be replacing the Insat 4A satellite currently in

orbit.

KONNECT: a satellite owned by Eutelsat

communications and manufactured by Thales

Alenia Space, is a new-generation high-throughput

telecom satellite that can deliver services across

Europe and Africa. Weighing around 3,620 kg, It

will provide internet access to both companies and

individuals at speeds of up to 100 Mbps, as per

Eutelsat's website.

16. World Future Energy Summit to begin in

Abu Dhabi

Theme: "Rethinking Global Consumption,

Production, and Investment."

Highlight: World Future Energy Summit is

the Middle East‘s largest future energy and

sustainability event. The 2020 edition includes

exhibition and forum programmes across five

main pillars: energy, solar, water, waste and

smart cities, hosting an unrivalled gathering of

top-level government and business leaders.

The event will showcase 42 of the world‘s

most disruptive innovations, selected from

1,402 global submissions from 128 countries,

related to the future of energy, food,

agriculture and sustainability in space.

17. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev

submits resignation

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has

resigned. Medvedev submitted his resignation

to President Vladimir Putin.

18. Robert Abela wins election to be prime

minister of Malta

Robert Abela won the Labour Party leadership

contest with 57.9% of the vote.

19. Harish Salve appointed Queen's Counsel for

courts of England & Wales

About: The title of Queen's Counsel is usually

awarded to lawyers possessing demonstrated


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 46

skill and expertise in the conduct of advocacy.

The appointment is done by the Queen, on the

advice of the Lord Chancellor. He is advised

by an independent Selection Panel which

makes recommendations.

Harish Salve:Advocate Salve served as a

Solicitor General for India until 2002. He is

known for representing India before the

International Court of Justice in the

KulbhushanJadhav extradition case.

20. 50th World Economic Forum to begin in

Switzerland

About: Union Minister for Commerce and

Industry PiyushGoyal to lead Indian

delegation50th World Economic Forum. 53

heads of state or government from 117

countries are participating in the event.

Theme: 'Stakeholders for a Cohesive and

Sustainable World'

Highlight: Among other highlights of the

forum is Indian actress DeepikaPadukone, who

will be given a WEF crystal award for her

work on mental health while the US rapper

William Adams will be talking about ending

gun violence.

21. China reports SARS-like virus spreads

across country

China reported a mysterious SARS-like virus

has spread across the country, including to

Beijing. A third person was confirmed to have

died and nearly 140 cases were announced.

The new coronavirus strain has caused alarm

because of its connection to Severe Acute

Respiratory Syndrome, which killed nearly

650 people across mainland China and Hong

Kong in 2002-2003.

22. India to setup maritime research

coordination center in Sri Lanka

India's National Security Advisor: Ajit

Doval

Sri Lanka President:GotabayaRajapaksa

India National Security Advisor and Sri Lanka

President discussed setting up a maritime

research coordination center; two countries

also discussed closer military and coastguard

cooperation.

23. RBI ranked sixth among central banks in

buying gold abroad

Report by: World Gold Council (WGC)

About: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

bought 7.5 tonnes of gold last October,

buttressing its foreign exchange reserves to

$450 billion. The RBI holds 625.2 tonnes of

gold, forming 6.6 per cent of its forex reserves

RBI became the sixth largest buyer when it

purchased 25.2 tonnes in first 10 months of

2019 to hedge government‘s sovereign gold

bond issue.

Other rankings: The central banks of China,

Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Poland bought

more than India in 2019.


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 47

24. Truenat MTB, TB diagnostic test developed

in India

About: World Health Organization (WHO)

had mentioned that the India-made Truenat

MTB, a molecular diagnostic test for

pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB and

rifampicin-resistant TB, has high accuracy.

Truenat MTB has ―high diagnostic accuracy as

initial test to diagnose TB and to sequentially

detect rifampicin resistance. It will be used as

an initial test thus replacing sputum smear

microscopy.

Developed by: Truenat is developed by the

Goa-based Molbio Diagnostics. The company

was provided with technical assistance and

resources by the Foundation for Innovative

New Diagnostics (FIND) to help

commercialiseTruenat.

Highlight:

While sputum microscopy has only about 50%

sensitivity, Truenat has been found to have

higher sensitivity and specificity.

While Xpert needs reliable electricity supply

and air-conditioning, Truenat is battery

operated and portable, hence, it can be used in

remote places.

The main cost advantage while using Truenat

will be in the manner the tests are carried out.

Only when samples test positive will the test

for rifampicin resistance be carried out in the

case of Truenat. This is unlike Xpert where

both TB diagnosis and rifampicin resistance

test are done in one go.

25. PM Modi, Nepali PM to inaugurate ICP

Biratnagar

About: The Prime Minister,

ShriNarendraModi, will jointly inaugurate the

second Integrated Check Post (ICP) at

Jogbani-Biratnagar with Prime Minister of

Nepal, Shri K.P. Oli.

The second Integrated Check Post at Jogbani-

Biratnag is built with Indian assistance to

facilitate trade and people‘s movement across

India-Nepal border.

ICP Biratnagar: has been built on 260 acres

of land at a cost of around 140 crore rupees. It

has the facilities for immigration clearance of

foreign passengers, export and import cargo

handling.

Jobgani (Bihar)-Biratnagar: international

trade point is one of the important trade points

between the two countries. Biratnagar is also

the third-largest Revenue Collecting Customs

Office of Nepal.

Boundary sharing:India and Nepal share over

1,850 kilometers- long border

26. Hyderabad, Bengaluru top two among most

dynamic cities in the world

Report by: US-based Jones Lang Lasalle

(JLL)

About: Out of 130 other cities in the world

Hyderabad emerge as the world's most

dynamic city, Bengaluru ranks second place,

Chennai is at fifth and Delhi is at sixth place.

Highlight: Out of 130 dynamic cities in the

world, 7 Indian cities listed in top 20.

27. India ranks 76th on WEF‟s social mobility

index


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 48

About: India ranked 76th among 82 countries

on the social mobility index of the World

Economic Forum (WEF) on account of its

poor performance in improving the quality of

and access to education and health.

The Nordic countries: Denmark, Norway,

Sweden, Finland, Iceland—occupied the top

five positions.

Parameters: health, education, technology,

work, and social protection and inclusive

institutions.

28. India slips 10 places to 51 positionin

Democracy Index

Report by: The Economist Intelligence Unit

About: India slipped 10 places to 51st position

(overall score 6.90) in the 2019 Democracy

Index's global ranking;the primary cause of the

democratic regression was an erosion of civil

liberties in the country.

India's overall score fell from 7.23 in 2018 to

6.90 in the Index that provides a snapshot of

the current state of democracy worldwide for

165 independent states and two territories.

Parameters: electoral process and pluralism;

the functioning of government; political

participation; political culture; and civil

liberties.

Category: Based on their total score, the

countries are classified as one of four types of

regime: "full democracy" (scores greater than

8); flawed democracy (India) - scores greater

than 6 and less than or equal to 8; hybrid

regime - scores greater than 4 and less than or

equal to 6; authoritarian regime - scores less

than or equal to 4".

Top ranks: Topped by Norway, followed by

Iceland and Sweden. Other countries in the top

10 include New Zealand at the fourth place,

Finland (5th), Ireland (6th), Denmark (7th),

Canada (8th), Australia (9th) and Switzerland

(10th).

29. ECI to Host 10th Annual Meeting of the

Forum of the Election Management Bodies

of South Asia

About: The Election Commission of India is

going to host the 10th annual meeting of the

Forum of the Election Management Bodies of

South Asia (FEMBoSA) at New Delhi & an

International Conference on ‗Strengthening

Institutional Capacity‘

Theme: ‗Strengthening Institutional Capacity‘

FEMBoSA: was established at the 3rd

Conference of Heads of Election Management

Bodies (EMBs) of SAARC Countries held at

New Delhi from April 30 to May 2, 2012. The

annual FEMBoSA meeting is held by rotation

among the members. The last (9th) annual

meeting of FEMBoSA was held in Dhaka

Objectives: To promote contact among the

EMBs of the SAARC countries; share

experiences with a view to learning from each

other and cooperate with one another in

enhancing the capabilities of the EMBs

towards conducting free and fair elections.

30. India climbs eight ranks to 72 in Global

Talent Competitive Index

Report by: INSEAD in partnership with The

Adecco Group and Google.

About: India climbed eight positions in a year

to reach rank 72 (rank 80 in 2019) in the

Global Talent Competitive Index (GTCI)

2020.


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 49

Top ranks: Switzerland, USA and Singapore

took the top-three positions in GTCI 2020.

Parameters: enable, attract, grow, retain,

vocational skills and global knowledge skills.

31. India slips two places on global corruption

perception index

Report by: Transparency International

About: India‘s ranking in the Corruption

Perceptions Index (CPI-2019) has slipped from

78 to 80 compared to the previous year

The top ranked countries: are New Zealand

and Denmark, with scores of 87 each, followed

by Finland (86), Singapore (85), Sweden (85)

and Switzerland (85).

Low ranked countries: The countries ranked

at the bottom of the list are Somalia, South

Sudan and Syria with scores of 9, 12 and 13.

32. India ranks 76th on WEF‟s social mobility

index

About: India ranked 76th among 82 countries

on the social mobility index of the World

Economic Forum (WEF) on account of its

poor performance in improving the quality of

and access to education and health.

The Nordic countries: Denmark, Norway,

Sweden, Finland, Iceland—occupied the top

five positions.

Parameters: health, education, technology,

work, and social protection and inclusive

institutions

33. Slovenian Prime Minister MarjanSarec

resigns

Slovenian Prime Minister MarjanSarec

(Slovenia's youngest-ever Prime Minister)

announced for step down and called for fresh

elections, following weeks of rising tensions

within his minority five-party coalition

government.

President:BorutPahor

34. Qatar names Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin

Abdelaziz Al Thani new PM

Qatar appointed a new Prime Minister

replacing Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin

Khalifa Al Thani.

2. French honor for theatre artiste

SanjanaKapoor

About: Theatre person SanjanaKapoor will

receive the prestigious French honour of

‗Chevalier danslOrdre des Arts et des Lettres

(Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) for her

outstanding contribution to the field of theatre.

35. Indian environmental economist

PavanSukhdev wins 2020 Tyler Prize


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About: Renowned Indian environmental

economist and UN Environment Programme

(UNEP) Goodwill Ambassador PavanSukhdev

has won the 2020 Tyler Prize, regarded as the

"Nobel Prize for the Environment" for his

groundbreaking "green economy" work.

Sukhdev, 59, who will receive the award

alongside conservation biologist Gretchen

Daily, They will each receive a gold medallion

and share a USD 200,000 cash prize, it was

announced on Monday.

Tyler Prize:for Environmental Achievement

is one of the oldest international environmental

awards, recognizing individuals who have

contributed in an outstanding manner to the

scientific knowledge and public leadership to

preserve and enhance the global environment,

the Tyler Prize is administered by the

University of Southern California.

36. Bengaluru has the worst traffic in the world

Report by: TomTom(the Netherlands-based

global provider of navigation, traffic and map

products)

About: Bengaluru is the world's most traffic

congested city. India‘s startup hub beat 415

other cities across 57 countries to earn the title

in 2019.Manila in the Philippines came a close

second.

Other Indian cities:Mumbai, Pune and New

Delhi featured in top 10, taking fourth, fifth

and eighth places respectively.

37. India's Gita Sabharwal Appointed UN

Resident Coordinator in Thailand

About: The UN has appointed India's Gita

Sabharwal, who has over two decades of

experience in peace building and social policy,

as the Resident Coordinator in Thailand.

UN Resident Coordinator: Itis the highest-

ranking representative of the UN development

system at the country level. Resident

Coordinators lead UN Country Teams and

coordinate the world body's support to

countries in implementing the 2030 Agenda.

Resident Coordinators are the designated

representatives of the UN Secretary-General

and report to the UN chief.

United Nations Secretary-General: Antonio

Guterres

38. Arvind Krishna elected IBM CEO

About: Indian-origin technology executive

Arvind Krishna has been elected Chief

Executive Officer of American IT giant IBM,

succeeding Virginia Rometty.

Krishna is currently IBM Senior Vice

President for Cloud and Cognitive Software

and will succeed Virginia Rometty


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 51

Indian-origin CEO‟s: of multinational

companies are Microsoft CEO SatyaNadella,

Google and Alphabet CEO SundarPichai,

MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga, PepsiCo‘s

former CEO Indra Nooyi and Adobe CEO

Shantanu Narayen.

Sports 1. Manav Thakkar becomes world no.1 in

International Table Tennis Federation

rankings

About: Young Indian paddler ManavThakkar

became world no.1 in the latest International

Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) rankings in

the Under-21 men's singles category. With

this, Thakkar became the fourth Indian to

achieve the feat after Harmeet Desai, G

Sathiyan and SoumyajitGhosh.

2. IrfanPathan announces retirement from all

forms of Cricket

Indian all-rounder IrfanPathan last played for

India in October 2012. He played 29 Tests,

120 ODIs and 24 T20Is. He was part of the

victorious Indian team at the 2007 World

Twenty20 and was the man-of-the-match in

the final against Pakistan.

3. P.Magesh Chandran lifts 95th Hastings

International Chess title

India‘s P. MageshChandran remained

unbeaten in nine rounds to win the title in the

95th edition of the prestigious Hastings

International Chess Congress in Hastings,

England.

The 36-year old Grand Master (GM) with a

FIDE rating of 2479, remained unbeaten and

finished in clear first place with 7.5 points in

the final round against compatriot G.A. Stany.

4. JaspritBumrah to receive Polly Umrigar

Award

About: The BCCI announced that India's pace

spearhead JaspritBumrah will receive the

prestigious Polly Umrigar Award for his super

performance in international cricket in the 2018-19

season.

PoonamYadav: has claimed the top prize in

women's section and will be awarded the best

international cricketer. The award will be another

feather in the leg-spinner's cap who recently

received the Arjuna Award.

Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award:

KrishnamachariSrikkanth

BCCI Lifetime Achievement Award for

women: Anjum Chopra

5. Momota wins Malaysia Masters crown KentoMomota, defeated former Badminton

world champion Viktor Axelsen to win the

season-opening Malaysia Masters at Axiata

Arena.

Results Men's singles: KentoMomota (Jpn) bt Viktor

Axelsen (Den)

Doubles: Kim Gi Jung-Lee Yong Dae (Kor) bt

Li Jun Hui-Liu Yu Chen (Chn)

Women's singles: Chen Yu Fei (Chn) bt Tai

Tzu Ying (Tai)

Doubles: Li Wen Mei-Zheng Yu (Chn) bt Du

Yue-Li Yin Hui (Chn)

Mixed doubles: Zheng Si Wei-Huang YaQiong

(Chn) bt Wang Yi Lyu-Huang Dong Ping

6. Momota wins Malaysia Masters crown

KentoMomota, defeated former Badminton

world champion Viktor Axelsen to win the

season-opening Malaysia Masters at Axiata

Arena.

Results Men's singles: KentoMomota (Jpn) bt Viktor

Axelsen (Den)


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 52

Doubles: Kim Gi Jung-Lee Yong Dae (Kor) bt

Li Jun Hui-Liu Yu Chen (Chn)

Women's singles: Chen Yu Fei (Chn) bt Tai

Tzu Ying (Tai)

Doubles: Li Wen Mei-Zheng Yu (Chn) bt Du

Yue-Li Yin Hui (Chn)

Mixed doubles: Zheng Si Wei-Huang

YaQiong (Chn) bt Wang Yi Lyu-Huang Dong

Ping

7. Annual ICC awards

The annual ICC awards were declared with

Ben Stokes winning the highest prize in the

form of Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for world

player of the year.

List of winners: Umpire of the year: Richard Illingworth

(England)

T20I Performance of the Year: Deepak

Chahar‘s 6/7 against Bangladesh

ICC Men‘s Emerging Cricketer:

MarnusLabuschagne (Australia)

Associate Cricketer of the Year: Kyle Coetzer

(Scotland)

Spirit of Cricket Award: ViratKohli (India)

ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year: Rohit Sharma

(India)

ICC Test Cricketer of the Year: Pat Cummins

(Australia)

ICC Men‘s Cricketer of the Year (Sir Garfield

Sobers Trophy): Ben Stokes (England)

ICC ODI Team of the Year 2019: Rohit

Sharma, Shai Hope, ViratKohli (c), Babar

Azam, Kane Williamson, Ben Stokes, Jos

Buttler (wk), Mitchell Starc, Trent Boult,

Mohammed Shami, KuldeepYadav

ICC Test Team of the Year 2019:

MayankAgarwal, Tom Latham,

MarnusLabuschagne, ViratKohli (c), Steve

Smith, Ben Stokes, BJ Watling (wk), Pat

Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Neil Wagner,

Nathan Lyon

8. Arjun Munda elected president of Archery

Association of India Minister of Tribal AffairsArjunMunda elected

as president of the suspended Archery

Association of India (AAI).

Elected members: President: Arjun Munda (Jharkhand)

Secretary General: Pramod Chandurkar

(Maharashtra)

Senior Vice-President: Capt Abhimanyu

Sindhu (Haryana)

Treasurer: Rajendar Singh Tomar

(Uttaranchal).

Special days 1. World Braille Day About: The world Braille Day is being celebrated

on Jan 4. The day is marked remembering the

birth anniversary of Louis Braille, French educator

and inventor of a system of reading and writing for

use by the blind or visually impaired. Louis Braille

was born on 4th January 1809 in the town of

Coupvray in northern France.

2. SavitribaiPhule‟s 189th birth anniversary

About: January 3 marks the birthday of the

‗mother of Indian feminism‘ SavitribaiPhule, who

is regarded as the first female teacher of India, a

social reformer, an educationist and a poetess.

Phule, along with her husband JyotiraoPhule,

dedicated her life to the cause of women‘s rights

and education.

She is considered to be an important figure in the

social reform movement, particularly in the state

of Maharashtra (Birthplace).

She opened the very first school for girls in India.

Later, they started 18 more such schools.


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 53

3. 16th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas being

celebrated today

External Affairs Minister:Dr S Jaishankar

About: The day is celebrated every year on

9th

January to mark the contribution of overseas

Indian community in the development of India.

It also commemorates the return of Mahatma

Gandhi from South Africa to India on 9

January 1915.

Established in 2003 the celebratory event is

organized by the Ministry of External Affairs

every year on this day.

4. World Hindi Day being celebrated

January 10

this commemorated every year with

the objective to promote use of Hindi language

abroad. Special functions are being organized

to mark the occasion.

On this day in 2006 the First World Hindi

Conference was organized in Nagpur with the

aim to promote the language worldwide and

since then every year 10th January is being

observed as the World Hindi Day.

5. National Youth Day

About: On the birth anniversary of Swami

Vivekananda, January 12. India celebrates

National Youth Day across the country.

World's Parliament of Religions: Vivekananda

became popular in the western world after his

famous speech at the World's Parliament of

Religions held in Chicago in 1893.

Born as NarendranathDatta on January 12, 1863,

Vivekananda, who was the chief disciple of the

19th-century mystic Ramakrishna Paramhansa,

was the founder of the Ramakrishna Math and the

Ramakrishna Mission at Belur in erstwhile

Bengal.

6. 72nd Army Day

Army day is celebrated on January 15 to

commemorate the day when General (late

Field Marshal) K M Carriappa took over the

command of Army from General Sir F R R

Bucher, the last British Commander-in-Chief

in 1949 and became the first Commander-in-

Chief of Indian Army post Independence.

7. 10th National Voters‟ Day to be celebrated

on 25th January 2020

About: The National Voters‘ Day (NVD) has

been celebrated on January 25 every year since

2011, to mark the Foundation day of Election

Commission of India, which was established

on 25th January 1950.

The main purpose of the NVD celebration is to

encourage, facilitate and maximize the

enrolment, especially for the new voters.

Theme: Electoral Literacy for Stronger

Democracy

Union Minister for Law and Justice: Ravi

Shankar Prasad

8. National Girl Child Day 2020

The National Girl Child Day is celebrated on

January 24, Started by the Ministry of Women

and Child Development and the Government

of India in 2008


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 54

The purpose of the day is to spread awareness

among the people about the inequalities girls

face in India. It also aims towards promoting

awareness about the rights of the girl child and

to increase awareness on the importance of girl

education, and their health and nutrition.

Women and Child Development Minister:

Smriti Irani

9. Field Marshall Cariappa 121st birth

anniversary

Born on 29 January 1898, in Madikeri,

Kodagu,was the first Indian Commander-in-

Chief of the Indian Army. He led Indian forces

on the Western Front during the Indo-Pakistani

War of 1947. He was appointed Commander-

in-Chief of the Indian Army in 1949. He is one

of only two Indian Army officers to hold the

Five-star rank of Field Marshal; the other

being Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw.

10. LalaLajpatRai‟s 155th birth anniversary

LalaLajpatRai, popularly known as Punjab

Kesari, was one of the many key

revolutionaries who fought for India‘s freedom

from British rule.

Born in Punjab on January 28 1865,

LalaLajpatRai was a part of the famous ‗Lal-

Bal-Pal‘ trio. BalGangadharTilak and Bipin

Chandra Pal were the other members.

LalaLajpatRai, BalGangadharTilak and Bipin

Chandra Pal together started the Swadeshi

Movement during the Independence

movement to boycott British goods

LalaLajpatRai also played an instrumental role

in founding the Punjab National Bank (PNB)

in 1894.

A Hindu's Impression, AryaSamaj, Young

India, England‘s debt to India are some of the

books written by the freedom fighter.

In 1928, Rai led the non-violent march against

the Simon Commission, set up by the British

rulers. The slogan ―Simon, go back!‖ became

famous during the Independence movement

He had also helped establish the Dayanand

Anglo-Vedic school system, popularly known

as DAV schools. In present day, there are over

900 DAV schools and 75 colleges across the

country.

In 1921, Rai founded the Servants of the

People Society, which was a non-profit

welfare organization, in Lahore. The society

was shifted to Delhi after 1947.

11. World Leprosy Day

The world observes World Leprosy Day on

January 30, 2020.

Leprosy is a complex disease that is caused by

bacteria called Mycobacterium leprae. Also

called Hansen's disease

The day was initiated in 1954 by French

philanthropist and writer, Raoul Follereau.


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 55

Obituary 1. NCP leader Devi Prasad Tripathi passes

away

Devi Prasad Tripathi, general secretary of the

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), widely

renowned for his erudition and oratory, Dr.

Tripathi, 70, was the party RajyaSabha

member from 2012 to 2016.

2. Sitarist Hameed Khan passes away

Hameed Khan, a noted sitar exponent and

descendant of renowned sitaristUstadRahimat

Khan, passed away in Dharwad. He was 69.

Hameed Khan taught sitar at Karnatak

University‘s College of Music and also at the

family run music school

‗BharateeyaSangeetaVidyalaya‘. He

established ‗KalakeriSangeetVidyalaya‘ at

Kalakeri village near Dharwad, which provides

music lessons to the deprived.

3. Former Karnataka Governor T N

Chaturvedi passes away

He was the 14th Governor of Karnataka. He

was appointed as Governor in 2002 by the

NDA government headed by AtalBihari

Vajpayee.

T N Chaturvedi also served as of Comptroller

and Auditor General of India from 1984 to

1989. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan

in 1991.

4. Kannada scholar Chidananda Murthy

passes away

About: Murthy was known for his work on

Kannada inscriptions. His work played a key role

in deciding the antiquity of the Kannada, which

helped get the language Classical Language status

from the Union government in 2008. He was also

a vocal Kannada activist, leading Kannada Shakti

Kendra in 1970s and 1980s.

He had also launched a campaign to save the

monuments of Hampi. Chief Minister B. S.

Yediyurappa renamed Hyderabad Karnataka — a

group of six districts formerly under the

administration of Nizam of Hyderabad — as

Kalyana Karnataka, as demanded by Murthy.

5. Sultan Qaboos Dies at 79

Internationally, as the longest-serving leader in

the Arab world Oman Sultan Qaboos bin

passes away.

6. Cricketer BapuNadkarni passes away

About: left-arm spinner BapuNadkarni, who

passed away at the age of 86 in Mumbai

Friday.

Rameshchandra Gangaram Nadkarni known

for his economy rate over 41 Test matches was

1.67. While he played in the 1950s and 1960s,

he finished with the fourth best economy rate


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 56

for anyone in history who bowled more than

2,000 balls.

Nadkarnitook 88 Test wickets, 1,414 Test

runs, one Test century, 500 first-class wickets,

8,880 first-class runs and a first-class average

of 40.36.

7. Kobe Bryant, daughter Gianna among 9

killed in helicopter crash in California

Kobe Bryant, one of the greatest basketball

players of all time and an internationally

recognizable NBA superstar, died in a

helicopter crash outside Los Angeles.

He played his entire 20-year career with the

Los Angeles Lakers. He retired in April 2016.

He was twice the NBA scoring champion and

a two-time Olympic champion.


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 57

Documents

JANUARY 2020 JNANAGANGOTHRI Monthly Current Affairs E …€¦ · JANUARY – 2020 JNANAGANGOTHRI Monthly Current Affairs E-Magazine 2