headlines - strutor.com file19. india’s second ftii to be set up in arunachal pradesh 20. haryana...

Headlines

International

1. Nepal bans solo climbers from Everest2. Israel withdraws from UNESCO3. Pakistan approves Chinese yuan for bilateral trade, investment activities4. Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates introduce VAT for first time5. UNESCO enters Turkey’s endangered ‘bird language’ in Intangible Cultural Heritage list6. Six countries enter UN Security Council7. India excludes Pakistan from a SAARC initiative8. World’s biggest cleanliness survey Swachh Sarvekshan 2018 launched9. Himalayan Hydro Expo 2018 kicked off at Kathmandu10. Sushma Swaraj co-chairs fifth meeting of India-Indonesia joint Commission11. Iceland Becomes 1st Country to Legalise Equal Pay12. Saudi Arabia okays India’s plan to ferry Haj pilgrims via sea route13. Former WTO chief, UN envoy Peter Sutherland dies at 7114. China breaks India’s internet monopoly in Nepal15. India signs an MoU with UK on illegal migrants16. WEF Ranks India 30th on Global Manufacturing Index17. PM Modi leaves for Davos to attend World Economic Forum18. WEF ranks India at 62nd place on Inclusive Development Index19. Malta’s Valletta becomes Europe’s Capital of Culture20. India and Vietnam Release First-Ever Commemorative Stamps21. WEF launches Global Centre for Cybersecurity22. Rotavac is First India-designed vaccine to pass WHO Test

National

1. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe named as ICCR chief2. Arunachal Pradesh declared Open Defecation Free3. National Register of Citizens: First draft with 19 million names released4. Assamese, Manipuri versions of PM Modi’s Official website launched5. Pankaj Jain assumes charge as IIFCL Managing Director6. Cruise tourists with e-visa exempted from biometric enrolment7. 171st Araadhanai Music Festival begins in Tamilnadu8. The Centre unveiled the contours of the Electoral Bonds scheme9. GAIL commissions India’s second largest rooftop solar power plant in UP10. Sushma Swaraj to embark on five-day, three nation-visit11. Goa to host third edition of Science Film Festival12. Namami Gange projects worth Rs. 295 crore approved by NMCG13. India’s Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education up by 0.7%14. India’s GDP growth forecasted at 6.5% for 2017-18: CSO15. TIHCL gets RBI nod to operate as NBFC16. Mamata Banerjee unveils official emblem of West Bengal government17. West Bengal bags first prize for implementation of e-tendering process18. Ananthkumar inaugurate 18th All India Whips’ Conference

Current Affairs January - 2018

19. India’s second FTII to be set up in Arunachal Pradesh20. Haryana becomes first state to launch High Risk Pregnancy portal21. Indian Navy & Cochin Port Trust enter into MoU22. PM Modi to inaugurate first PIO Parliamentary Conference in Delhi23. India’s first multi-petaflop supercomputer ‘Pratyush’ dedicated to nation24. Delhi govt launches common card for bus, metro rides25. Gujarat tops logistics performance index chart26. Railways launches new online vendor registration system27. Matunga station enters Limca Book for all-woman staff28. Kovind inaugurate three-day International Dharma Dhamma conference29. UIDAI introduces Virtual ID to strengthen privacy and security of Aadhaar30. Ministry of Railway launches SFOORTI Application31. SEBI ban to spell trouble for Price Waterhouse business in India32. Gallup International Survey: PM Narendra Modi Ranked No. 3 among the world’s Top leaders33. Bhopal Becomes First Railway Station in India to Have Happy Nari Pad Vending Machine34. Trai cuts ISD incoming call termination rate to 30 paise35. 65th meeting of Central Advisory Board of Education held in New Delhi36. India, Israel sign nine agreements to boost cooperation in defence, cybersecurity37. Narendra Modi inaugurates project commencement of Rajasthan Refinery38. Centre sanctions projects over Rs. 10,000 cr in North East for better network connectivity39. IWDRI-2018 concludes successfully; Shri Kiren Rijiju addresses participants40. Israel PM to address India-Israel Business Summit in Mumbai41. India Ratings projects economic growth at 7.1% next fiscal42. Centre, CII ink MoU for development of logistics sector43. Government announces 9 new smart cities44. India To Set Up USD 350 Million Fund To Finance Solar Projects45. India becomes member of Australia Group46. Fourth India International Science Festival to be held in Lucknow47. Arun Jaitley launches National CSR Data Portal & Corporate Data Portal48. MeitY launches new Cyber security initiative49. Raipur organises nation’s first Kachra Mahotsav50. Sushma Swaraj inauguration of Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK)51. Telangana, Tokyo body sign MoU for municipal waste incineration52. AYUSH Minister lays foundation stone for Homeopathy Research Institute in Jaipur53. India to host 16th International Energy Forum meet54. 7th Asia Steel International Conference held in Bhubaneswar55. Kolkata becomes the first Indian metro to get Floating Market56. Himachal Pradesh CM launches ‘Shakti’ app for women’s safety57. Punjab CM launches benefits under Mahatma Gandhi Sarbat Vikas Yojana58. First ever Khadi Haat inaugurated in Delhi59. International bird festival at the Dudhwa National Park60. Indian Navy launched the third Scorpene-class submarine INS Karanj

Banking

1. SBI lowers base rate, BPLR by 30 bps; leaves MCLR unchanged2. 8% GoI savings bond scheme replaced by one paying 7.75%


3. SBI, NABARD tie up to promote joint liability groups in Bengal4. APGVB introduces Desktop ATMs in rural India5. Rs 372.51 crore sanctioned by NABARD to Odisha6. RBI puts Allahabad Bank under prompt corrective action7. SBI may cut minimum balance requirement for savings accounts8. RBI Introduces Rs 10 banknote in Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series9. Paytm Payments Bank, IndusInd tie-up for fixed deposit facility10. World Bank projects India’s GDP to growth to pick up to 7.3% in 2018-1911. PNB ties up with NSFDC for assisting SC families12. IDFC Bank Capital First to merge in Share Swap Deal13. Bank of Baroda partners with Invoicemart as a TReDS partner14. HDFC Bank becomes first Indian bank to cross Rs5 trillion market cap15. Amplus partners with Yes Bank for solar power tie-up16. AU Small Finance Bank inks MoU with LIC to offer PMJJBY schemes17. Mauritius largest source of FDI in India, says RBI18. IOB, NHB tie up for rural housing interest subsidy scheme19. Small finance banks and payment banks to offer Atal Pension Yojana

Appointments

1. Vijay Keshav Gokhale to be new Foreign Secretary2. Former RAW chief Rajinder Khanna appointed as deputy NSA3. Dilip Asbe appointed as MD and CEO of NPCI4. K Sivan appointed as the new chairman of ISRO5. Harjinder Singh appointed as the Chef de Mission for Winter Olympics6. Indian-origin businessman appointed as the WBCSD Chairman7. V J Mathew appointed as Maritime Board Chairman8. Anil Khanna to head IOA Finance Commission9. Vice Admiral AB Singh takes over as Chief of Staff Western Naval Command10. NCDEX appoints Vijay Kumar as MD & CEO11. Facebook appoints American Express CEO as first black board member12. S Selvakumar appointed as CMD of SPMCIL13. Om Prakash Rawat Appointed as New Chief Election Commissioner14. Anandiben Patel appointed as the new Governor of Madhya Pradesh15. Lakhtakia appointed as new DG of National Security Guard16. FICCI appoints Dilip Chenoy as Director General17. S Somnath takes charge as Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre’s director18. Usha Ananthasubramanian becomes first woman chairman of IBA19. Vijay Keshav Gokhale takes charge as the Foreign Secretary20. Indian-American Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen to lead USISPF Board

Sports:

1. Indian golfer Shiv Kapur wins Royal Cup at Pattaya2. Sathiyan becomes India’s highest-ranked player in latest ITTF rankings3. Meghalaya signs host city contract for 39th National Games4. Elina Svitolina wins Brisbane International for 10th WTA title


5. Sports Minister Rathore launches ‘Khelo India’ logo6. Federer-Bencic lead Switzerland to Hopman Cup title7. Gilles Simon wins inaugural Tata Open Maharashtra Tennis trophy title8. Philippe Coutinho Is The Second Most Expensive Player After Neymar9. Anchal Thakur bags bronze – India’s 1st international medal in skiing10. Aditya Mehta won the Kolkata Open 201811. South African Pacer Rabada becomes the youngest No. 1 Test Bowler.12. Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore launches Khelo India Anthem13. Ronaldinho retires from football14. India lifts Blind Cricket World Cup 201815. Siddharth Singh wins Swedish Open junior badminton title16. West Indies to host 2018 Women’s World T2017. Lifter Rakhi Halder creates new national record18. Australian Open 2018 – Complete List Of Winners19. Sharath Kamal wins Table Tennis Nationals20. Prime Minister Narendra Modi Launches first Khelo India School Games

Agreement

1. Cabinet approves Agreement between India, Myanmar on Land Border Crossing2. MoU between India and Israel for cooperation in Oil and Gas Sector3. IICA, IPPB sign MoU to provide training on payment banking4. GCCI and South Korea sign MoU for business cooperation5. Federal Bank ties up with Hedge Equities6. Indian Oil in tie-ups with Israeli firms7. India, Sri Lanka Sign four Agreements for Collaboration in ICT Sector8. Punjab inks MoU with IOC to set up biogas, bio-CNG plants9. Andhra Pradesh-Zurich sign sister state agreement10. India and Cambodia sign four agreements

Important Days

1. National Youth Day – 12 January2. 70th Army Day Celebrated on 15th January 20183. National Voters Day – January 254. BHARAT PARV celebrations at Red Fort from 26th January

Awards:

1. Actor Sudhir Dalvi gets Janakavi P Sawlaram award2. ICC Awards 2017 winners list3. Golden Globes 2018 list of winners4. President Kovind confers Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards5. 63rd Jio Filmfare Awards 2018: Complete winners list6. Shah Rukh Khan honoured with Crystal Award at World Economic Forum7. CM Edappadi K Palaniswami receives UNESCO award


8. Padma Awards announced: Full List of Padma Awards 20189. Grammy Awards winners list in key categories10. Asha Bhosle to get Yash Chopra memorial award11. Parliamentary Group to confer Outstanding Parliamentarian Awards

Miscellaneous

1. Women & Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi to inaugurate online portal NARI2. Health Ministry launches first Online Oncology Tutorial Series3. Indian-origin banker Ravi Menon named best governor of Asia Pacific4. Direct tax collection soared 18.2% during April and December 20175. Paytm launches investment, wealth management, to invest $10 million6. Jeff Bezos has become the richest man in the history7. ISRO successfully launches 100th satellite Cartosat-2 into orbit8. India tops domestic air passenger traffic demand at 16.4%9. India grants Rs. 288 crore aid to develop Kankesanthurai harbour in Sri Lanka10. Kajol named ambassador for Swachh Aadat Swachh Bharat11. ISRO is set to conduct a bungee jump on Chandrayaan 212. Facebook co founder Zuckerberg loses 4th richest persons spot to Zara Founder13. India contributes $50,000 to UN Youth Envoys office14. Digital launch of “I4Fund call for proposal” website at India-Israel Business Summit15. TCS Bags Over USD 690 Million Deal From M&G Prudential16. DIPP arm launches competition for college students17. Exports rise more than 12% riding on engineering goods and petroleum products18. MoS RK Singh attends ISA Forum in Abu Dhabi19. WhatsApp Unveils New Business App For Small And Medium Enterprises20. INS Vikramaditya affiliated to Bihar Regiment, IAF’s No. 6 Squadron21. President Kovind unveils book on self development in Delhi22. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) celebrated its 13th Raising Day23. India to grow at 7.4 percent in 2018: IMF24. ONGC acquires 51.11% stake in HPCL for ₹36,915 crore25. India-ASEAN Business & Investment Conference held in New Delhi26. NIIF makes first investment, partners with DP World27. Government to infuse over Rs. 88,139 cr in PSU banks28. India Ranks 81st On Global Talent Competitiveness Index29. India ranks 177 out of 180 in Environmental Performance Index30. India to host informal WTO Ministerial gathering in March31. Paytm, Alibaba’s AGTech Holdings launch new mobile gaming platform32. Mahatma Gandhi death anniversary: Nation pays tribute on Martyr’s Day33. India cheapest country to live in after South Africa34. Aadhaar is Oxford dictionary’s Hindi word of 201735. CRISIL upgrades outlook on 18 PSBs from negative to stable36. Indian, Vietnamese armies hold first military exercise37. India, ADB sign $250 million loan for rural road projects in five states38. India ranks sixth in the list of wealthiest countries


International

1. Nepal bans solo climbers from Everest

● Nepal has banned solo climbers fromscaling its mountains, including Mount Everest, in a bid to reduce accidents.

● The Nepal cabinet has endorsed a revisionto the Himalayan nation’s mountaineering regulations, banning solo climbing on its mountains. This is one of a string of measures being flagged ahead of the 2018 spring climbing season.

● The cabinet also endorsed a ban on double amputee and blind climbers, although Everest hasdrawn multitudes of mountaineers wanting to overcome their disabilities and achieve theformidable feat.

Important Points: Nepal

➢ Capital: Kathmandu➢ Currency: Nepalese rupee➢ Prime minister: Sher Bahadur Deuba➢ President: Bidhya Devi Bhandari

2. Israel withdraws from UNESCO

● Israel has filed notice to withdraw from theUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) alongside the United States.

● Israel has blasted UNESCO in recent yearsover the organisation’s criticism of Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem and its decision to grant full membership to Palestine in 2011.

● Both Israel and the US – which filed its ownwithdrawal notice in October 2017.

Important Points: UNESCO

➢ Headquarters: Paris, France➢ Founded: 16 November 1945, London, United Kingdom➢ Formation: 16 November 1945➢ Heads: Irina Bokova, Audrey Azoulay


➢ Awards: Peabody Award

3. Pakistan approves Chinese yuan for bilateral trade, investment activities

● Pakistan’s central bank has allowedthe Chinese yuan to be used for bilateral trade and investment activities, ensuring that imports, exports and financing transactions can be denominated in the Chinese currency.

● The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP)stated that the Chinese yuan was an approved foreign currency for denominating foreign currency transactions in Pakistan.

● “SBP has already put in place therequired regulatory framework which facilitates use of yuan in trade and investment transactions”.

Important Point: Pakistan

➢ Capital: Islamabad➢ Prime minister: Shahid Khaqan Abbasi➢ President: Mamnoon Hussain➢ Currency: Pakistani rupee

China ➢ Capital: Beijing➢ Currency: Yuan Renminbi➢ President: Xi Jinping

4. Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates introduce VAT for first time

● Value Added Tax (VAT) has beenintroduced in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for the first time.

● The 5% levy is being applied to themajority of goods and services.

● Gulf states have long attracted foreignworkers with the promise of tax-free living.

● But governments want to increaserevenue in the face of lower oil prices.

● The tax kicked in on 1 January in both countries.


● The UAE estimates that in the first year, VAT income will be around 12 billion dirhams (£2.4bn; $3.3bn).

Important Points; Saudi Arabia

➢ Capital: Riyadh ➢ Currency: Saudi riyal ➢ King: Salman of Saudi Arabia

United Arab Emirates

➢ Capital: Abu Dhabi ➢ Currency: United Arab Emirates dirham ➢ President: Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan

5. UNESCO enters Turkey’s endangered ‘bird language’ in Intangible Cultural Heritage list

● The unusual and very efficient whistle

language used as a means of communication by villagers in remote northern Turkey entered the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

● UNESCO has accepted the “bird language” of Black Sea villagers as an endangered part of world heritage in need of urgent protection. Important points:

Turkey ➢ Capital: Ankara ➢ Currency: Turkish lira ➢ President: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

6. Six countries enter UN Security Council

● Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kuwait,

Peru, Poland and the Netherlands formally joined the ranks of the non-permanent members of the UN Security Council to make a difference.

● The United Nations Security Council has 15 members, including five with permanent seats who have the power to veto resolutions – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

● The six countries who left the UN Security Council on December 31 are Egypt, Italy, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay.


Important Points: United Nations Security Council

➢ Headquarters: New York City, United States➢ Head: Koro Bessho➢ Founded: 24 October 1945

7. India excludes Pakistan from a SAARC initiative

● India has excluded Pakistan from thelist of SAARC member countries with which it will be connecting its state-of-the-art National Knowledge Network (NKN) for sharing scientific databases and remote access to advanced research facilities.

● The government has kicked off theprocess of appointing a telecom company that will connect and extend the NKN to research and education networks in six South Asian

Association of Regional Cooperation member states — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

● Pakistan is the only SAARC nation that has been left out of this initiative.

Important Points: SAARC – South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

➢ Founded: 8 December 1985, Dhaka, Bangladesh➢ Headquarters: Kathmandu, Nepal

8. World’s biggest cleanliness survey Swachh Sarvekshan 2018 launched

● As announced by Prime Minister NarendraModi in his 39th edition of ‘Mann ki Baat’, the Survey Swachh Sarvekshan 2018 will be conducted from the 4th of January to 10th of March.

● The Cleanliness Survey 2018 will be thelargest in the world which will evaluate achievements in cleanliness level of our urban areas.

● The main objective of Swachh Survekshanis to encourage large-scale citizen participation and

create awareness amongst all sections of society about the importance of working together towards making towns and cities a cleaner and better place to live in.


9. Himalayan Hydro Expo 2018 kicked off at Kathmandu

● The Himalayan Hydro Expo 2018 kicked off at Kathmandu, the capital Nepal. President of Nepal Bidya Devi Bhandari inaugurated the exhibition.

● Delegates from various countries including India, China, Austria, Czech Republic and Norway are participating in the expo.

● The basic objective of Expo is to unleash massive hydropower potential of Nepal and bring all stakeholders under one roof.

Important Points: Nepal

➢ Capital: Kathmandu ➢ Currency: Nepalese rupee ➢ Prime minister: Sher Bahadur Deuba ➢ President: Bidhya Devi Bhandari

10. Sushma Swaraj co-chairs fifth meeting of India-Indonesia joint Commission

● External Affairs Minister Sushma

Swaraj who is visiting Indonesia as part of her three-nation tour, co-chaired the fifth meeting of the India-Indonesia Joint Commission with her Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi.

● The countries are agreed to work together for a balanced and sustainable trade by providing greater market access, both in goods and services. Important Points: Indonesia

➢ Capital: Jakarta ➢ Currency: Indonesian rupiah ➢ President: Joko Widodo

11. Iceland Becomes 1st Country to Legalise Equal Pay

● Iceland has become the first country in

the world to legalise equal pay between men and women.

● Under the new rules, companies and government agencies employing at least 25


people will have to obtain government certification of their equal-pay policies. ● The legislation is basically a mechanism that companies and organisations … evaluate every job

that’s being done, and then they get a certification after they confirm the process if they arepaying men and women equally.

Important Points: Iceland

➢ Capital: Reykjavik➢ Currency: Icelandic króna➢ President: Guðni Th. Jóhannesson

12. Saudi Arabia okays India’s plan to ferry Haj pilgrims via sea route

● The Union Minister made the commentafter the signing of annual Haj agreement between India and Saudi Arabia in Mecca.

● Saudi Arabia has given its nod to India’splan to revive the option of ferrying Haj pilgrims via sea route to Jeddah.

● Saudi Arabia has given its nod to revivethe option of sending pilgrims by sea route…Officials from both the countries will discuss all the necessary formalities and

technicalities so that Haj pilgrimage through sea route can be started in the coming years.

Important: Saudi Arabia

➢ Capital: Riyadh➢ Currency: Saudi riyal➢ King: Salman of Saudi Arabia

13. Former WTO chief, UN envoy Peter Sutherland dies at 71

● Irish businessman and diplomat PeterSutherland, who was the first director-general of the World Trade Organization and held top posts in the European Union and the United Nations, has died. He was 71.

● Trained as a lawyer, Sutherland wasIreland’s attorney general between 1981 and 1984.


He was Ireland’s representative on the European Commission between 1985 and 1989.

● Sutherland became founding director-general of the WTO in 1993.

14. China breaks India’s internet monopoly in Nepal

● China on Friday became Nepal’s secondinternet service provider, breaking India’s monopoly in providing internet access to the Himalayan Kingdom.

● The Hong Kong and Beijing based ChinaTelecom Global (CTG) — a company formed in 2012 — has teamed up with Nepal Telecom to provide alternate cyber-connectivity to Nepal.

● But a new terrestrial fiber cable launched in2016 by CTG will now connect Nepal and China through the Jilong (Rasuwagadhi) border gateway.

Media reports in Nepal say that the new fiber link extends to China’s Hong Kong Data Center — one of Asia’s largest global data centers.

15. India signs an MoU with UK on illegal migrants

● India has signed an MoU with the UnitedKingdom to enable the return of illegal Indian migrants within a month of their detection by authorities abroad.

● Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijijuconfirmed that the pact was signed by him and UK Minister of State for Immigration Caroline Nokes in Britain.

16. WEF Ranks India 30th on Global Manufacturing Index

● The World Economic Forum (WEF)released its Global Manufacturing Index putting India on the 30th position.

● Japan topped the rankings on the backof developing the best structure of production in the Geneva-based WEF’s first ‘Readiness for the future of production report’ and is followed


by South Korea, Germany, Switzerland, China, Czech Republic, the US, Sweden, Austria and Ireland in the top 10.

17. PM Modi leaves for Davos to attend World Economic Forum

● Prime Minister Narendra Modi left forDavos, Switzerland to attend the 48th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.

● Modi will be the first prime minister torepresent India at the forum in over 20 years. The last visit by an Indian prime minister to Davos was in 1997 when Deve Gowda led the Indian delegation.

● Under the theme “Creating a shared future in aFractured World”, the meeting aims to set an agenda

to address political, economic and Social challenges of recent times.

Important points: World Economic Forum

➢ Headquarters: Cologny, Switzerland➢ Founder: Klaus Schwab➢ Founded: 1971

18. WEF ranks India at 62nd place on Inclusive Development Index

● India ranked at the 62nd place amongemerging economies on an Inclusive Development Index, much below China’s 26th position and Pakistan’s 47th.

● Norway remains the world’s most inclusiveadvanced economy, while Lithuania again tops the list of emerging economies, the World Economic Forum (WEF) releasing the yearly index here before the start of its annual meeting.

● India was ranked 60th among 79 developing economies last year, as against China’s 15th andPakistan’s 52nd position.

● The top-five most inclusive emerging economies are Lithuania, Hungary, Azerbaijan, Latvia andPoland.

Important points:


World Economic Forum ➢ Headquarters: Cologny, Switzerland ➢ Founder: Klaus Schwab ➢ Founded: 1971

19. Malta’s Valletta becomes Europe’s Capital of Culture

● Malta’s Valletta has been officially

inaugurated as the European Capital of Culture. Over 140 projects and 400 events have been planned in 2018 around three main themes: Island Stories, Future Baroque and Voyages.

● About one-fifth of Malta’s 450,000-strong population was in the streets of the capital as Valletta was officially inaugurated as the European City of Culture.

20. India and Vietnam Release First-Ever Commemorative Stamps

● India and Vietnam released first ever set of

commemorative postage stamps to mark the long-term friendly bilateral relationships between the two countries.

● The stamp was released by AN Nanda, Secretary, Department of Posts. The two set of stamps released carry picture of Sanchi Stupa and Thien Mu Pagoda.

● India-Vietnam relationships have progressed across various domain including

politics, defence, commerce, foreign affairs, defence, energy, education and science. 21. WEF launches Global Centre for Cybersecurity

● The World Economic Forum (WEF) launched new Global Centre for Cybersecurity in a bid to safeguard the world from hackers and growing data breaches, especially from nation-states.

● The center will be headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland and will become operational from March 2018. The Global Centre for Cybersecurity will function as an autonomous organization under WEF. It will


help to build a safe and secure global cyberspace. About World Economic Forum (WEF):

➢ Headquarters: Cologny, Switzerland ➢ Founder: Klaus Schwab ➢ Founded: 1971 ➢ Purpose: Economic ➢ Formerly called: European Management Forum ➢ Leader: Klaus Schwab

22. Rotavac is First India-designed vaccine to pass WHO Test

● The Rotavac vaccine, developed by the

Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech Limited last year, was included in India’s national immunisation programme. To be “pre-qualified” means that the vaccine can be sold internationally to several countries in Africa and South America.

● While several vaccines from India have been pre-qualified, this is the first that was entirely developed locally and, according to experts, is a

sign that there is a credible industrial, scientific and regulatory process in place to develop vaccines in India.

● The Rotavac vaccine protects against childhood diarrhoea caused by the rotavirus and was built

on strain of the virus isolated at the the All India Institute of Medical Sciences here over 30 years ago.

National 1. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe named as ICCR chief

● National vice-president of the BJP, Vinay

Sahasrabuddhe, who is also a member of Rajya Sabha has been appointed the President of Indian Council of Cultural Relations(ICCR).

● He will replace Lokesh Chandra, who was a scholar and thinker, and had been appointed by


the NDA government in October 2014 and has completed his three-year term.

● Sahasrabuddhe is the vice-president of Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini which is South Asia’s only training and research academy for elected representatives and voluntary social workers.

2. Arunachal Pradesh declared Open Defecation Free

● Arunachal Pradesh has been declared

Open Defecation Free. It has become the second state in the North East after Sikkim to achieve the status with the declaration of Upper Subansiri, Siang, and Changlang districts as officially Open Defecation Free.

● Chief Minister Pema Khandu was overwhelmed to find people participating in the construction of toilets even in remote villages along the international borders despite communication bottlenecks, requiring strenuous trekking for days

together, carrying construction materials and ration as head-load.

● The project, undertaken under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin), was carried through after the state government provided an additional incentive of eight thousand rupees per toilet, in addition to the state’s matching share and the support given by the Centre, raising the cost to 20,000 rupees.

3. National Register of Citizens: First draft with 19 million names released

● The first draft of the much-awaited

National Register of Citizens (NRC) for Assam has listed 19 million people out of the 32.9 million applicants as legal Indian citizens in a massive exercise aimed at identifying illegal immigrants in the state that borders Bangladesh.

● People flocked to seva kendras across Assam in large numbers since morning to check whether they figured in the list containing the names of those who were

recognised as citizens of India in the Supreme Court-monitored exercise. 4. Assamese, Manipuri versions of PM Modi’s Official website launched


● The Assamese and Manipuri language versions of Prime Minister’s Official website- www.pmindia.gov.in were launched.

● The website can now be accessed in Assamese and Manipuri in keeping with the requests from

the citizens of the two states.

● Now the PM INDIA website is available in 11 regional languages namely Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu in addition to English and Hindi.

● The initiative is part of the on-going efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reach out to the

people and communicate with them in their own language. 5. Pankaj Jain assumes charge as IIFCL Managing Director

● Pankaj Jain, Joint Secretary in the

Department of Financial Services (DFS), has assumed charge as the Managing Director of India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL).

● He will be holding additional charge of IIFCL along with his present position as Joint Secretary at DFS. IIFCL is a state-owned company focused on infrastructure financing and development.

6. Cruise tourists with e-visa exempted from biometric enrolment

● With a view to promoting cruise tourism in

India, cruise tourists with e-visa will now be exempted from the requirement of biometric enrolment till December 31, 2020.

● This will make immigration clearance of such passengers faster, leaving them with more time to spend on shore.

● The step assumes significance as based on the schedule of arrivals of cruise ships for season 2017-18 and 2019-20, many of the cruise ships coming to India are mega ships with 2,000 -4,000 passengers on board.

7. 171st Araadhanai Music Festival begins in Tamilnadu


● The 171st Araadhanai Music Festival of one of the Trinities of Carnatic music Saint Thyagaraja begins in Thiruvaiyaru, Tamil Nadu. The festival will be inaugurated by Governor Banwarilal Purohit.

● The main function of the festival – the choral singing of Thyagaraja’s five kritis in Ghana ragas.

● Over 1,000 musicians from all over the world are expected to pay homage to Saint Thyagaraja

during the course of the five-day festival. Important points: Tamil Nadu

➢ Capital: Chennai ➢ Chief Minister: Edappadi K. Palaniswami ➢ Governor: Banwarilal Purohit.

8. The Centre unveiled the contours of the Electoral Bonds scheme

● The Centre unveiled the contours of the

Electoral Bonds scheme, which seeks to ensure the flow of clean money to political parties, without revealing the donors’ names.

● Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the electoral bonds will be a bearer instrument in the nature of a Promissory Note and an interest-free banking instrument.

● A citizen of India or a body incorporated in India will be eligible to purchase the bond from specified branches of the State Bank of India.

● The bonds can be purchased for any value in multiples of ₹1,000; ₹10,000; ₹1 lakh; ₹10 lakh;

and ₹1 crore.

● The bonds will not carry the name of the payee and will be valid only for 15 days during which it can be used to make a donation only to certain political parties.

9. GAIL commissions India’s second largest rooftop solar power plant in UP

● State-owned gas utility GAIL India Ltd

has commissioned the country’s second largest rooftop solar power plant in Uttar Pradesh.

● The firm has installed a 5.76 MWp (Mega Watt peak) solar plant at its petrochemical complex at Pata in Uttar Pradesh.


● The plant over the roofs of warehouses covers a total area of 65,000 square meters.

● “With an expected PLF of around 15 percent annually, over 79 lakh KWh (or units) of electricity is targeted to be generated for captive use of India’s largest gas-based petrochemicals plant”.

10. Sushma Swaraj to embark on five-day, three nation-visit

● External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma

Swaraj, will undertake her first visit to three South East Asian countries – Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore.

● The visit is aimed at giving further boost to bilateral relations the South East Asian countries within the framework of India’s Act East Policy.

● On the first leg of this visit, EAM Swaraj will be in Thailand. She will hold an official meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand Don

Pramudwinai.

● During the visit to Indonesia, EAM Swaraj will co-chair the 5th meeting of India-Indonesia Joint Commission.

● Swaraj will inaugurate the Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) of ASEAN countries in

Singapore. 11. Goa to host third edition of Science Film Festival

● Goa will be hosting the third edition of the

Science Film Festival of India between January.

● The festival, titled SCI-FFI Goa, is being organised by the state-based Vidnyan Parishad, Goa’s Department of Science and Technology.

● The competition aims to boost the culture of science films, all the films submitted should be related to science and technology

Important Points: Goa

➢ Capital: Panaji ➢ Chief Minister: Manohar Parrikar


➢ Governor: Mridula Sinha 12. Namami Gange projects worth Rs. 295 crore approved by NMCG

● National Mission for Clean Ganga

(NMCG) has approved five projects worth Rs. 295.01 crore.

● Three projects pertain to sewage management in West Bengal at an estimated cost of Rs 278.6 crore, one relates to sewage management in Uttarakhand at an estimated cost of Rs 4.68 crore and one project worth Rs 11.73 crore is related to ghat improvement works in Varanasi.

Important Points: ➢ Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation Minister: Nitin Gadkari ➢ Minister of Drinking Water and Sanitation: Uma Bharti

13. India’s Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education up by 0.7%

● The country’s Gross Enrolment Ratio

(GER) in higher education has registered an increase from 24.5% in 2015-16 to 25.2% in 2016-17, according to the latest edition of the All India Higher Education Survey (AIHES) launched by Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar.

● Although India aims to attain a GER of 30% by 2020, it’s still much behind countries like China, which, currently, boasts an enrolment ratio of

43.39%. USA’s GER is 85.8% and Pakistan’s is 9.93%. 14. India’s GDP growth forecasted at 6.5% for 2017-18: CSO

● The Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry

of Statistics and Programme Implementation has released the First Advance estimates of national income at constant (2011-12) and current prices, for the financial year 2017-18, forecasting the GDP growth at 6.5% for 2017-18 compared with the growth of 7.1% in 2016-17.


● The Real Gross Value Added (GVA) at basic constant prices (2011-12) is anticipated to increase 6.1% in 2017-18 as against 6.6% growth in 2016-17.

15. TIHCL gets RBI nod to operate as NBFC

● Telangana Industrial Health Clinic Ltd

(TIHCL), a State government initiative, has got RBI clearance to register and function as a non-banking finance company (NBFC).

● It will be the first State promoted and co-financing NBFC.

● It had won the SKOCH Platinum Award in September 2017 under the smart governance category in the MSME segment.

16. Mamata Banerjee unveils official emblem of West Bengal government

● West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee unveiled the official emblem of the state government, which was recently approved by the Centre.

● The logo highlights the Ashoka emblem on the top with the theme of “Biswa Bangla” at the centre. Banerjee has also contributed to the design of the emblem. Important Points:

West Bengal ➢ Capital: Kolkata ➢ Chief Minister: Mamata Banerjee ➢ Governor: Keshari Nath Tripathi

17. West Bengal bags first prize for implementation of e-tendering process

● West Bengal has acquired the first

position for smooth implementation of e-tender process in the state. E-tendre rule for a contract for projects worthy of more than 5 lakhs was started in 2012 in the state to make the process more transparent.

● The main aim was to make tendre process more transparent and mainly corruption-free as many times people pointed the


finger to the process for various irregularities. From the first day of 2018, e-tendre has become mandatory in every department.

Important Points: West Bengal

➢ Capital: Kolkata ➢ Chief Minister: Mamata Banerjee ➢ Governor: Keshari Nath Tripathi

18. Ananthkumar inaugurate 18th All India Whips’ Conference

● Shri Ananthkumar inaugurates the

18th All India Whips’ Conference, which will also consider, inter alia, the rolling out of e-Sansad and e-Vidhan in Parliament and State Legislatures to digitize and make their functioning paperless.

● This Conference is being organized by the Union Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (MoPA) and the Government of Rajasthan.

● e-Sansad and e-Vidhan are mission mode projects of Government of India under Digital India, to make the functioning of Parliament and State Legislatures paperless. MoPA is the Nodal Ministry for implementation of both the projects.

19. India’s second FTII to be set up in Arunachal Pradesh

● Union Minister Jitendra Singh

announced that Arunachal Pradesh would get its first Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), being set up by the Union Government as part of tapping the potential of the Northeastern region.

● This would be the second such one in the country. The first Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) was set up in Pune, an autonomous institute operating under the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

Important points: Film and Television Institute of India (FTII)

➢ Established: 1960 ➢ Chairperson: Anupam Kher ➢ Director: Bhupendra Kainthola


Arunachal Pradesh ➢ Capital: Itanagar ➢ Chief Minister: Pema Khandu ➢ Governor: BD Mishra

20. Haryana becomes first state to launch High Risk Pregnancy portal

● Haryana has achieved the distinction of

becoming the first state in the country to launch High Risk Pregnancy (HRP) Portal.

● This portal not only helps in early identification of high-risk pregnant cases up to the grass-roots level but also ensures their timely referral to the civil hospitals for further management and delivery by specialists.

● This innovative web application has been designed to track every high-risk pregnant woman

till 42 days after delivery, so that she receives adequate treatment during the ante-natal period for the healthy outcome of pregnancy.

Important points: Haryana

➢ Capital: Chandigarh ➢ Chief minister: Manohar Lal Khattar ➢ Governor: Kaptan Singh Solanki

21. Indian Navy & Cochin Port Trust enter into MoU

● The Indian Navy and Cochin Port Trust

(CPT) have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding for utilising the Port’s berthing facility at Mattancherry wharf for Naval ships.

● The Indian Navy had requested for an exclusive berthing facility in Cochin Port for berthing their ships during reconstruction period of their berths.

● In view of the national interest involved, Cochin Port examined the request and decided that Cochin Port’s oldest wharf, Mattancherry Wharf can be spared, since those are not suitable any longer for berthing of big cargo ships due to the limitation of draft and displacement.

Important points:

➢ Cochin Port Chairman in charge: Raveendran P


➢ Chief of the Naval Staff: Sunil Lanba 22. PM Modi to inaugurate first PIO Parliamentary Conference in Delhi

● Prime Minister Narendra Modi

inaugurate the first Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) Parliamentary Conference in the Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra in Delhi on the occasion of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.

● The day is celebrated every year to mark the contribution of the overseas Indian community in the development of India.

● It also commemorates the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to Mumbai on

9 January 1915. ● The biggest delegation will be from Guyana with 20 members of parliament and three mayors.

● The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is held from 7-9 January every year.

23. India’s first multi-petaflop supercomputer ‘Pratyush’ dedicated to nation

● Union Minister of Earth Sciences Dr.

Harsh Vardhan dedicated India’s fastest and first multi-petaflop supercomputer to the nation in Pune.

● The supercomputer named as ‘Pratyush’ meaning the Sun, established at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, will be a national facility for improving weather and climate forecasts and services under the umbrella of the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

● While inaugurating the facility at IITM, Pune, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that it will be India’s number one HPC facility in terms of peak capacity and performance.

24. Delhi govt launches common card for bus, metro rides

● Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal

launched a common card for rides on public buses and the metro, terming it a big step in the city’s transport sector.


● Delhi is the first city in the country to have a common mobility card, which can at present be used on 200 DTC and 50 cluster buses plying on different routes, apart from metro trains.

● The card, which will function like a debit card, will be operational in all DTC and cluster buses

from 1 April. 25. Gujarat tops logistics performance index chart

● Gujarat has topped the logistics

performance index chart, an indicator of the efficiency of logistical services necessary for promoting exports in particular and economic growth in general according to a Report released by Union Minister for Commerce & Industry Suresh Prabhu in New Delhi.

● Among 22 states, Gujarat is followed by Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra on the index.

● The ranking is based on the analysis of perception with regard to eight parameters, including

infrastructure, services, regulatory process and safety of cargo.

● Among the Union Territories, Daman & Diu occupied the top slot followed by Delhi and Chandigarh. As regards the hilly states, Tripura was on top followed by Mizoram and Meghalaya.

26. Railways launches new online vendor registration system

● Research Designs & Standards

Organisation (RDSO), (headquartered at Lucknow), the Railways launched new online vendor registration system.

● This new system provides major improvements and paradigm changes in the registration system over the earlier system.

● Public access to the information, expeditious process completion with defined timelines, simplification of procedures, round-the-year services, availability of all related information on RDSO Website, constant monitoring at all levels, reduction in cycle timelines, regular updating of online data, user-friendly interface etc. are the hallmarks of the new system.

27. Matunga station enters Limca Book for all-woman staff

● The Matunga suburban station on the

Central Railway (CR) has found its way into the


Limca Book of Records for having an all-woman staff.

● The achievement comes six months after Matunga became the first railway station in the country to be run by an all- woman staff.

● The station is being manned exclusively by women staffers since July 2017, a first on the Indian

Railways.

● A team of 41 women staffers at the station includes personnel from the RPF, commercial and operating departments.

28. Kovind inaugurate three-day International Dharma Dhamma conference

● President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurate a

three-day International Dharma-Dhamma conference at Rajgir in Bihar.

● The conference has been jointly organised by India Foundation, Nalanda University, Ministry of External Affairs, Asian-India and Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha.

● The inaugural session, which will be chaired by Mr Kovind, will be attended by Sri Lanka’s foreign Minister Tilak Marapana,

29. UIDAI introduces Virtual ID to strengthen privacy and security of Aadhaar

● The Unique Identification Authority of

India, UIDAI introduces Virtual ID to strengthen privacy and security of Aadhaar number holders.

● The Aadhaar number holder can use the Virtual ID in place of an Aadhaar number whenever authentication or KYC services are performed.

● Aadhaar card holder can generate the Virtual ID from UIDAI website and give for various purposes, including SIM card verification, instead of

sharing the actual 12-digit biometric ID.

● The Virtual ID will be a temporary and revocable 16 digit random number mapped to a person’s Aadhaar number.

30. Ministry of Railway launches SFOORTI Application

In a major digital initiative to help plan the traffic flows and optimize freight operations, Ministry of Railways have launched Smart Freight Operation


Optimisation & Real Time Information (SFOORTI) Application for Freight Managers which provides features for monitoring and managing freight business using Geographic Information System (GIS) Views and Dashboard. Salient features of SFOORTI Application are as below: 1. With this application, movement of freight trains on Geographic Information System (GIS) view can be tracked. 2. Both passenger and freight trains can be tracked over Zones/Divisions/ Sections in single GIS View. 3. Freight business can be monitored. 4. Comparative Analysis of Zonal/Divisional Traffic. 5. Analysis of new traffic captured and traffic lost. 6. This app provides a Bird’s eye view of all Freight Assets in a single window. 7. Provides end to end Rake movement on Geospatial view 8. Expected Traffic at Interchange points to evaluate daily performance can be viewed. 9. Performance of each zone and divisions with respect to loading and utilization of freight assets can be viewed. 10. Sectional performance monitoring for sections, divisions and zones shall help in traffic routing. 31. SEBI ban to spell trouble for Price Waterhouse business in India

● The Securities and Exchange Board of

India’s (SEBI) two-year ban to spell trouble for Price Waterhouse business in India and is also a signal for the auditing profession to pull its socks up.

● Price Waterhouse, the auditing arm of consultancy firm PwC India, is the auditor for 77 companies listed on National Stock Exchange of India.

Important Points: Securities and Exchange Board of India(SEBI)

➢ Chairperson: Ajay Tyagi ➢ Headquarters: Mumbai ➢ Founded: 12 April 1992

32. Gallup International Survey: PM Narendra Modi Ranked No. 3 among the world’s Top leaders

● Gallup International in its annual survey — Opinion of Global Leaders conducted across 50 nations, PM Narendra Modi Ranked No. 3 among the world’s Top leaders.


● The top spot went to French President Emmanuel Macron (net score 21), followed by German chancellor Angela Merkel (net score of 20).

● PM Modi is ranked at number three (net score 8). The ranking puts PM Modi ahead of the likes of

US President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, UK’s PM Theresa May and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu.

33. Bhopal Becomes First Railway Station in India to Have Happy Nari Pad Vending Machine

● Bhopal Railway Station has installed an automated sanitary napkin dispenser.

● The machine – aptly named Happy Nari, was set up on January 1, 2018, perhaps the best gift for women travellers.

● The machine was inaugurated by the senior-most Class Four worker, Anjali Thakur, in the presence of other railway officials.

● The machine dispenses two sanitary napkins at a cost of Rs 5. A local voluntary organisation, Aarushi, supported the installation

of the machine that has a capacity to store 75 napkins at a time. 34. Trai cuts ISD incoming call termination rate to 30 paise

● The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai)

has decided to revise the termination charge for international incoming call to wireline and wireless from Rs 0.53 per minute to Rs 0.30 per minute."

● Its aim was to stymie the 'menace' of grey route of international calling which it said also posed a 'serious threat' to national security. 35. 65th meeting of Central Advisory Board of

Education held in New Delhi

● The 65th Meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) was held under Chairmanship of Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar in New Delhi.


● The Operation Digital Board will be launched in all schools in five years and will be undertaken jointly by Centre, State, Corporate Social Responsibility.

36. India, Israel sign nine agreements to boost cooperation in defence, cybersecurity

● India, Israel sign nine agreements to

boost cooperation including in the areas of cyber security and oil and gas, following delegation-level talks headed by Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Benjamin Netanyahu in Delhi. Here’s the full list.

1. MoU on Cyber Security Cooperation between India and Israel

2. MoU between the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and the Ministry of Energy on Cooperation in Oil and Gas

Sector 3. Protocol between India and Israel on Amendments to the Air Transport Agreement 4. Agreement on Film-co-production between India and Israel 5. MoU between the Central Council for Research in Homeopathy, Ministry of AYUSH and the

Centre for Integrative Complementary Medicine, Shaare Zedek 6. Medical Center on Cooperation in the field of Research in Homeopathic Medicine 7. MoU between Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) and the Technion-Israel

Institute of Technology for cooperation in the field of space 8. Memorandum of Intent between Invest India and Invest in Israel 9. Letter of Intent between IOCL and Phinergy Ltd. For cooperation in the area of metal-air batteries

37. Narendra Modi inaugurates project commencement of Rajasthan Refinery

● Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates

project commencement of Rajasthan Refinery at Pachpadra in Barmer district.

● This is the first oil refinery in the state. The 43,000 crore rupee project is a joint venture between HPCL and the Rajasthan government.

● The refinery is expected to be operational in 4 years and the state will have an additional income of 34,000 crore rupees from it. The project is expected

to generate thousands of direct and indirect jobs. Important Points:


Rajasthan ➢ Capital: Jaipur ➢ Chief Minister: Vasundhara Raje ➢ Governor: Kalyan Singh

38. Centre sanctions projects over Rs. 10,000 cr in North East for better network connectivity

● The Centre has sanctioned projects over

10,000 crore rupees in the North East for better network connectivity.

● 2 MoUs have been signed to cover the uncovered areas in the North East including Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

● The Minister has been given to upgrade the network connection in border areas.

39. IWDRI-2018 concludes successfully; Shri Kiren Rijiju addresses participants

● The two-day International Workshop on

Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (IWDRI) successfully concluded, setting the stage for taking the dialogue on resilient infrastructure forward at the global level.

● The Workshop was organised by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) jointly with United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). MoS (Home) Shri Kiren Rijiju delivered the Valedictory Address.

● The workshop was inaugurated by the Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh.

40. Israel PM to address India-Israel Business Summit in Mumbai

● Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu visit Mumbai during the final leg of his visit to India.

● Mr. Netanyahu then proceed to address the India-Israel Business Summit at the iconic Taj Mahal hotel in south Mumbai, where he will also pay his tributes to the 26/11 terror attacks victims.


● Mr. Netanyahu attend the ‘Shalom Bollywood’ event at the Taj hotel, wherein he will meet

leading Bollywood personalities. Important Points: Israel

➢ Capital: Jerusalem ➢ Currency: Israeli new shekel ➢ Prime minister: Benjamin Netanyahu ➢ President: Reuven Rivlin

41. India Ratings projects economic growth at 7.1% next fiscal

● India Ratings and Research has projected

the country’s economic growth to improve to 7.1 percent next fiscal from 6.5 percent this year, buoyed by robust consumption demand and low commodity prices.

● In its outlook for 2018-19, there will be a gradual pickup in growth momentum owing to structural reforms like GST and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code in place.

● India Ratings, a subsidiary of Fitch Ratings, GDP is expected to grow 7.1 percent year-on-year in 2018-19.

● The projection is a tad lower than 7.4 percent growth estimated by Asian Development Bank and

International Monetary Fund for next fiscal. 42. Centre, CII ink MoU for development of logistics sector

● A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)

was signed with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in the presence of Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu.

● To enhance import and export performance, the Centre has entrusted the task of integrated development of the logistics sector to the Department of Commerce.

43. Government announces 9 new smart cities


● Urban Development Minister Hardeep Singh

Puri announced nine new smart cities in the latest round of the central government’s flagship Smart Cities Mission.

● The nine cities chosen in the fourth round are; Bareilly, Moradabad and Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Erode in Tamil Nadu, Bihar Sharif in Bihar, Silvassa in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Diu in Daman and Diu, Kavaratti in Lakshadweep and Itanagar in Arunachal

Pradesh. 44. India To Set Up USD 350 Million Fund To Finance Solar Projects

● Power Minister R.K. Singh, India will set up a

$350 million fund to finance solar projects, as the country steps up efforts to achieve its ambitious target of adding 175 gigawatts (GW) in renewable energy by 2022.

● India will need at least $125 billion to fund a plan to increase the share of renewable power supply in the country’s grid by 2022, underlining the immense financing challenge ahead.

● The fund was announced by R K Singh, at the first-ever outreach programme of the ISA in Abu Dhabi’s World Future Energy Summit (WFES) 2018.

● Installed renewable power capacity is currently about 60 GW, and India plans to complete the

bidding process by the end of 2019/20 to add a further 115 GW of installed renewable energy capacity by 2022.

45. India becomes member of Australia Group

● After its entry into the Wassenaar Arrangement and

the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), India notched up another success as it became a member of the Australia Group.

● The third of four key global export control regimes that will help pave the way for entry into the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group.

● India became the 43rd member of the Australia Group, an informal forum of countries which seeks to ensure that exports do not contribute to the development of chemical or biological weapons.


Important Points: Australia

➢ Capital: Canberra ➢ Currency: Australian dollar ➢ Prime minister: Malcolm Turnbull ➢ President: Stephen Parry

46. Fourth India International Science Festival to be held in Lucknow

● The fourth edition of the India International

Science Festival will be held in Lucknow.

● The decision to hold the Festival in Lucknow was taken at the first preparatory meeting for the 4th India International Science Festival (IISF).

● India had also set a Guinness Book of World Records, when 2000 school students performed two experiments at the Festival.

Important points:

➢ The 1st IISF was held at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) New Delhi in December 2015. ➢ The second Festival at CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi in December 2016. ➢ The third in the series was held in October 2017 in Chennai.

47. Arun Jaitley launches National CSR Data Portal & Corporate Data Portal

● Shri Arun Jaitley, Union Minister for

Finance and Corporate Affairs launched the National CSR Data Portal & Corporate Data Portal in the presence of Shri P.P. Chaudhary, Minister of State for Corporate Affairs and Law & Justice.

● The initiative is a significant step towards driving accountability and transparency for corporate India.

● By making the portals accessible to general public, it will ensure the high level of compliance and also in institutionalising and be consolidating the CSR activities.

● The dual launched had created a landmark in bringing about 100 percent transparencies in

corporate governance by making public over 4-crore filings of nearly 1.2 million companies.


48. MeitY launches new Cyber security initiative

● The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) launched Cyber Surakshit Bharat - an initiative to strengthen cybersecurity.

● Launched in association with National e-Governance Division (NeGD) and industry partners at an event here, this initiative is the first public-private partnership of its kind and will leverage the expertise of the IT industry in cybersecurity.

● Cyber Surakshit Bharat will be operated on the three principles of Awareness, Education and Enablement.

49. Raipur organises nation’s first Kachra Mahotsav

● The Raipur Municipal Corporation in

Chhattisgarh has organised the city’s first garbage festival. It is the first Kachra Mahotsav in India.

● The aim of the festival to increase awareness, use the waste generated in the city creatively and to showcase multiple techniques for reusing things that are labelled as garbage. Important points: Chhattisgarh

➢ Capital: Raipur ➢ Chief Minister: Raman Singh ➢ Governor: Balram Das Tandon

50. Sushma Swaraj inauguration of Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK)

● The Post Office Passport Seva Kendra

(POPSK) at Karaikal in the Union Territory (UT) of Puducherry was inaugurated by Smt. Sushma Swaraj, Hon’ble Minister for External Affairs.

● The POPSK at Karaikal is the 60th POPSK to have become functional since the launch of the scheme in January 2017.

● The POPSK at Karaikal is the first POPSK to become operational in the UT of Puducherry.


51. Telangana, Tokyo body sign MoU for municipal waste incineration

● The Telangana government had signed a

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Clean Authority of Tokyo in connection with municipal solid waste incineration.

● They will exchange knowledge in municipal solid waste incineration facilities and make an effort to realize human resource exchanges in view of technical cooperation in the future.

52. AYUSH Minister lays foundation stone for Homeopathy Research Institute in Jaipur

● The Minister of State (IC), for AYUSH, Shri

Shripad Yesso Naik laid the foundation stone for Central Research Institute (CRI) in Jaipur.

● This will be the third CRI under the aegis of Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH).

● In his address during the stone laying ceremony, Sh. Naik stated that Ministry of AYUSH is

determined towards a focused infrastructural push to Homoeopathy and other systems of AYUSH.

● The institute is also contributing to the Swasthya Rakshan Program at five adopted villages i.e.

Chharsa, Kumbhawas, Sakatpura, Khoraladkhani, Hanutpura. 53. India to host 16th International Energy Forum meet

● The 16th International Energy Forum (IEF)

Ministerial meeting will be held in New Delhi in April 2018.

● Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan, the meeting will be held on April 2018, which will be hosted by Government of India in New Delhi and co-hosted by the Government of China and South Korea.


● Representatives from 92 countries will be participating in the conference, including 72 member countries of IEF and 20 guest countries.

54. 7th Asia Steel International Conference held in Bhubaneswar

● The 7th Asia Steel International Conference will

be held in Bhubaneswar in February 2018.

● This major conference is held every three years and provides a platform for the exchange of knowledge on various aspects of the global steel industry.

● Around 70 keynote speakers, half of them from overseas countries such as China, Korea, Japan, the

Netherlands, the UK, the US, Germany, Belgium, Canada, etc. Will address the conference.

● The last Asia Steel conference was held in 2015 at Yokohama, Japan. 55. Kolkata becomes the first Indian metro to get Floating Market

● Kolkata becomes the first Indian metro to get

Floating Market the number of shops in this market has doubled due to floating on the water.

● The market located on the eastern edge of the city was inaugurated by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

● The aim is to rehabilitate over 200 shopkeepers from a nearby market that was demolished for the widening of the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass.

● The market will host at least 114 boats, each one accommodating two shops.

Important Points: West Bengal

➢ Capital: Kolkata ➢ Chief minister: Mamata Banerjee ➢ Governor: Keshari Nath Tripathi

56. Himachal Pradesh CM launches ‘Shakti’ app for women’s safety

● Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram

Thakur launched the ‘Shakti’ app, which comes with a panic button, for women’s safety.


● The app was developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) of the Himachal Pradesh government.

● The app would be available in Hindi and English languages and would not require internet

connectivity, adding that shaking the device would trigger the app to send its location through GPS.

● Once triggered, the app would automatically send a message to the nearest police control room

and start recording audio and video after 20 seconds. Important Points: Himachal Pradesh

➢ Capital: Shimla ➢ Chief minister: Jai Ram Thakur ➢ Governor: Acharya Dev Vrat

57. Punjab CM launches benefits under Mahatma Gandhi Sarbat Vikas Yojana

● Punjab chief minister launches the release of

benefits under Mahatma Gandhi Sarbat Vikas Yojana aimed at the inclusive growth of the distressed sections of the society.

● He appealed to the state’s debt-ridden farmers not to commit suicide since his government was committed to the total implementation of its farm debt waiver scheme by November 2018.

Important Points: Punjab

➢ Capital: Chandigarh ➢ Chief Minister: Amarinder Singh ➢ Governor: V. P. Singh Badnore

58. First ever Khadi Haat inaugurated in Delhi

● Marking the 69th Republic Day celebrations,

Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) and New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) have launched the first ever Khadi Haat inaugurated in Delhi.

● The Khadi Haat was inaugurated on January 25 by Union Minister of State Giriraj Singh in Connaught Place here in presence of New Delhi Lok Sabha MP Meenakshi Lekhi, KVIC Chairman V


K Saxena, NDMC Chairman Naresh Kumar and noted fashion designer Ritu Beri among others. 59. International bird festival at the Dudhwa National Park

● A three-day international bird festival will

be held at the Dudhwa National Park here from February 09, 2018 with nearly 200 leading ornithologists expected to attend.

● The purpose of the international bird festival is to promote eco-tourism in Dudhwa and to give it a distinct international identity besides highlighting its traditional Tharu arts, culture and heritage

Important points: ➢ The Dudhwa National Park is a national park in the Terai of Uttar Pradesh, India, and covers an

area of 490.3 km2 (189.3 sq mi), with a buffer zone of 190 km2 (73 sq mi). It is part of the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve.

60. Indian Navy launched the third Scorpene-class submarine INS Karanj

● The Indian Navy launched the third

Scorpene-class submarine INS Karanj, in the sea in Mumbai. The submarine has an overall length of 67.5 meters and a height of about 12.3 metres.

● The submarine was launched at the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd and Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba was the chief guest.

● The first of the Scorpene class submarines, INS Kalvari, was commissioned in Mumbai December

2017.

● The second in the series of a six-submarine project, INS Khanderi, was undergoing sea trials and all the submarines are due to be inducted gradually into the Indian Navy by 2020.

Banking 1. SBI lowers base rate, BPLR by 30 bps; leaves MCLR unchanged

● The State Bank of India ( SBI )

reduced the base rate and benchmark prime lending rates (BPLR) by 30 basis points


each, which will benefit nearly 80 lakh customers on the old pricing regime.

● The nation’s largest lender revised down the base rate to 8.65 percent for existing customers from 8.95 percent, while the BPLR is down from 13.70 percent to 13.40 percent.

● The bank however did not change the marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR)

which would have brought down the cost for all borrowers. The one-year MCLR of the bank stands unchanged at 7.95 percent.

Important Points:

➢ Chairperson: Rajnish Kumar ➢ Headquarters: Mumbai

2. 8% GoI savings bond scheme replaced by one paying 7.75%

● The government replaced its GOI Savings

Bonds, 2003, scheme earning eight percent interest per annum by another which has a lower rate of interest at 7.75 percent.

● The government had announced that its GOI Savings Bonds, 2003, will cease subscription from the close of the banking business.

● “The 8 percent Savings Bonds Scheme, also known as RBI Bonds Scheme, is not being

closed. 8 percent Scheme is being replaced by 7.75 percent Savings Bonds Scheme”. 3. SBI, NABARD tie up to promote joint liability groups in Bengal

● State Bank of India (SBI) and Nabard have

signed an agreement with five NGOs in Bengal for the promotion of 2,500 joint liability groups (JLGs) in select districts of the State.

● JLGs are informal groups of 4-10 members engaged in similar economic activities and willing to jointly undertake the responsibility to repay loans taken by the group from a bank. Important Points: NABARD – National Bank for Agriculture and Rural

Development ➢ Chairpersons: Harsh Kumar Bhanwala ➢ Headquarters: Mumbai

4. APGVB introduces Desktop ATMs in rural India


● Andhra Pradesh Grameena Vikas

Bank (APGVB) has operationalised it’s first desktop ATM at Kasibugga in Mandi Bazar of Warangal in Telangana.

● At the same time regular bank account holders can withdraw money and do other banking activities. With these ATMs, there will be no need for separate ATM rooms, so there is no security issue.

● This is another IT initiative that the bank, which is the biggest under the SBI and among the best regional rural banks (RRBs). There

Important Points: Andhra Pradesh Grameena Vikas Bank (APGVB)

➢ Chairman: Shri. V. Narasi Reddy 5. Rs 372.51 crore sanctioned by NABARD to Odisha

● The NABARD has sanctioned Rs 372.51 crore

loan assistance under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) to Odisha towards irrigation and rural bridge projects for the last quarter of this fiscal.

● NABARD has also sanctioned 14 Rural Bridge Projects under Biju Setu Yojana with RIDF loan assistance of Rs 242.34 crore which would add 6222.89 metres of bridge length, benefiting about 4.56 lakh population in 322 villages of the state.

6. RBI puts Allahabad Bank under prompt corrective action

● The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has

initiated ‘prompt corrective action’ (PCA) against the Allahabad Bank state-run lender over its high bad loans.


● High net non-performing assets (NPA) and a negative return on assets (ROA) for two years in a row has prompted the action, the bank said in a regulatory filing, although it added the action would help improve its risk management, asset quality and profits.

Important Points: Allahabad Bank

➢ Headquarters: Kolkata ➢ CEO: Usha Ananthasubramanian ➢ Founded: 24 April 1865

7. SBI may cut minimum balance requirement for savings accounts

● The State Bank of India (SBI) is planning to

trim its minimum balance requirement. The minimum balance limit is currently Rs 3,000 in urban centres.

● SBI had originally increased the minimum balance requirement to Rs 5,000 in June.

● However, following public backlash the bank brought down the minimum balance requirement to Rs 3,000 in metros, Rs 2,000 in semi-urban and Rs 1,000 in rural centres.

Important points:

➢ SBI Chairperson: Rajnish Kumar ➢ SBI Headquarters: Mumbai

8. RBI Introduces Rs 10 banknote in Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series

● After introducing new Rs 2,000 notes and

colourful Rs 200, Rs 50 notes, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) confirmed that it will shortly issue new banknotes in the Rs 10 denomination.

● The Reserve Bank of India will shortly issue Rs 10 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series.

● The new denomination has the motif of Sun Temple, Konark on the reverse, depicting the country’s cultural heritage. The base colour of the note is Chocolate Brown.

● Dimensions of the note are 63mmx123mm, as opposed to the older notes 63mmx137mm.

9. Paytm Payments Bank, IndusInd tie-up for fixed deposit facility


● Paytm Payments Bank has partnered Induslnd Bank to introduce a facility to create a fixed deposit when the customer balance exceeds Rs 1 lakh at the end of the day.

● Paytm Payments Bank customers can redeem their deposits instantly, anytime without paying

any pre-closure or miscellaneous charges and can earn up to 6.85% annual interest Important points: Paytm

➢ Founder: Vijay Shekhar Sharma ➢ Founded: 2010 ➢ CEO: Vijay Shekhar Sharma ➢ Headquarters: Noida

IndusInd Bank

➢ Headquarters: Mumbai ➢ CEO: Romesh Sobti ➢ Owner: Hinduja Group

10. World Bank projects India’s GDP to growth to pick up to 7.3% in 2018-19

● The 2018 Global Economics Prospect

(GEP) released by the World Bank projects India’s GDP to growth to pick up to 7.3% in 2018-19 and to 7.5% for the next two years.

● In comparison, the figure for the second quarter of the current financial year (July-September 2017) was 6.3%, up from the three-year low of 5.7% in the first quarter.

● The report pegs overall economic growth for 2017 at 6.7%, despite initial setbacks from demonetisation and introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Important points: World Bank

➢ President: Jim Yong Kim ➢ CEO: Kristalina Georgieva ➢ Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States

11. PNB ties up with NSFDC for assisting SC families

● PNB and NSFDC have tied up to provide

financial assistance for economic empowerment of persons belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) families living below Double Poverty Line (DPL).


● A Memorandum of Agreement to this effect was signed by B.M.Padha, Corporate General Manager, Priority Sector & Financial Inclusion Division, PNB and Devanand, General Manager, NSFDC.

● Under this tie-up, PNB would act as a channelising agent for the loan schemes of NSFDC.

Important points: NSFDC – National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation Punjab National Bank (PNB)

➢ Headquarters: New Delhi ➢ CEO: Sunil Mehta

12. IDFC Bank Capital First to merge in Share Swap Deal

● IDFC Bank and Capital First announced that their

respective boards of directors at their meetings held on January 13, 2018, approved a merger of Capital First with IDFC Bank.

● IDFC Bank will issue 139 shares for every 10 shares of Capital First. With this move, IDFC Bank has put the failed amalgamation bid with Shriram Group behind it.Pursuant to the merger which is subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals, IDFC Bank will issue 139 shares for every 10 shares of Capital First.

13. Bank of Baroda partners with Invoicemart as a TReDS partner

● Digital invoice discounting marketplace – Invoicemart has tied up with state-run lender Bank of Baroda to discount invoices for MSMEs.

● Buyers and sellers registered in the marketplace will now be able to access funding from Bank of

Baroda. Invoicemart is a joint venture between Axis Bank Ltd and junction services ltd.

● Bank of Baroda had recently announced that it was stepping up its focus on supply chain financing, to provide loans to MSMEs associated with large corporates.

● TReDS is an online mechanism that helps MSMEs unlock working capital without the hassle of

applying for loans. Important points: Bank of Baroda

➢ Headquarters: Vadodara ➢ CEO: P. S. Jayakumar ➢ Chairman: Ravi Venkatesan

14. HDFC Bank becomes first Indian bank to cross Rs5 trillion market cap


● India’s most-valued lender HDFC Bank crossed

Rs5 trillion market capitalisation for the first time, making it only the third Indian company to achieve this milestone.

● In intraday trade, the stock touched a fresh record high of Rs1,53.75 on the BSE, up 3.31% from its previous close.

● Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) and Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) are the other two companies which crossed market capitalisation of Rs5 trillion.

Important points: HDFC Bank

➢ CEO: Aditya Puri ➢ Headquarters: Mumbai ➢ Founded: August 1994, India

15. Amplus partners with Yes Bank for solar power tie-up

● Amplus Energy Solutions has signed a MoU

with India’s leading bank Yes Bank for a strategic tie-up to co-finance projects in the solar energy sector in India.

● Yes Bank, which has been focussing on funding green energy projects in India, also announced that it will mobilise USD one billion by 2023 for financing solar energy projects in India and USD five billion till 2030.

● The total project’s capacity under the partnership of Amplus Energy Solutions and Yes Bank is

expected to be up to 1,000 MW. Important points: Yes Bank

➢ Headquarters: Mumbai ➢ CEO: Rana Kapoor ➢ Founder: Rana Kapoor

16. AU Small Finance Bank inks MoU with LIC to offer PMJJBY schemes

● Banking finance company AU Small

Finance Bank has signed a MoU with LIC to offer


Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) schemes.

● Under the MoU, LIC will give a life cover of Rs 2 lakh in case of death to the customer at a nominal premium of Rs 330 per annum.

● The company will also offer loans under government’s affordable housing and subsidy schemes

like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

● The product will be targeted for both salaried and self- employed (professional and non-professional) customers in urban, semi-urban and rural areas.

17. Mauritius largest source of FDI in India, says RBI

● Mauritius was the largest source of foreign

investment in India, followed by the US and the UK, according to a census by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

● Singapore and Japan were the next two sources of foreign direct investment (FDI), the Census on Foreign Liabilities and Assets of Indian Direct Investment Companies 2016-17, released by RBI.

● Of the 18,667 companies that participated in the census, 17,020 had FDI/overseas direct

investment in their balance sheets in March 2017. Important Points: Mauritius

➢ Capital: Port Louis ➢ Currency: Mauritian rupee ➢ President: Ameenah Gurib ➢ Prime minister: Pravind Jugnauth

18. IOB, NHB tie up for rural housing interest subsidy scheme

● Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) has signed a MoU

with National Housing Bank (NHB) for the Rural Housing Interest Subsidy Scheme (RHISS) of the Ministry of Rural Development.

● The aim of the RHISS is to provide a subsidy for housing loans taken by those living in rural areas for construction and modifications of their dwelling units.

● The interest subsidy under the scheme is 3 percent for a loan amount of ₹2 lakh for 20 year tenure.


● IOB will be able to extend the benefit of RHISS to its rural home loan customers of its 923 rural

branches spread across India. Important points: Indian Overseas Bank

➢ Headquarters: Chennai ➢ CEO: R. Subramania Kumar ➢ Founder: M. Ct. M. Chidambaram Chettyar

National Housing Bank

➢ Headquarters: New Delhi ➢ CEO: Sriram Kalyanaraman

19. Small finance banks and payment banks to offer Atal Pension Yojana

● The Central government announced Small

Finance Banks and Payments Banks to offer social security scheme Atal Pension Yojana (APY) to their subscribers.

● To strengthen the existing channels of APY distribution, it is felt that these new Payments Banks and Small Finance Banks will provide a boost to the outreach of subscribers under APY.

● Currently, there are 11 Payments Banks and 10 Small Finance Banks that have received the license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to start their operations.

Appointments 1. Vijay Keshav Gokhale to be new Foreign Secretary

● Senior diplomat Vijay Keshav

Gokhale will succeed Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar as the Foreign Secretary, after the latter completes his tenure on January 28.

● “The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Gokhale, Secretary (Economic Relations), Ministry of External Affairs as the Foreign Secretary vice Dr. S Jaishankar, who is completing his tenure on 28.01.2018″.


● Gokhale, who is presently the secretary (economic relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), will serve for a two-year fixed term after his appointment.

2. Former RAW chief Rajinder Khanna appointed as deputy NSA

● Rajinder Khanna, a former chief of the

country’s external intelligence agency RAW, was appointed as the Deputy National Security Adviser (NSA).

● He headed the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) from December 2014 for a fixed two-year period.

● Khanna is at present Officer on Special Duty (Neighbourhood Studies) in the National

Security Council Secretariat. 3. Dilip Asbe appointed as MD and CEO of NPCI

● National Payments Corporation of India

(NPCI), an umbrella organisation for retail payment systems in India, Dilip Asbe appointed as MD and CEO of NPCI organisation.

● Prior to this, Asbe was CEO-in-charge of NPCI.

● Asbe was appointed CEO-in-charge in August last year. He had come in place of AP Hota.

Important Points: NPCI – National Payments Corporation of India

➢ Headquarters: Mumbai ➢ Founded: 2008

4. K Sivan appointed as the new chairman of ISRO

● Renowned scientist K Sivan appointed as

the chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to replace AS Kiran Kumar.


● Sivan, at present Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, will succeed Kumar (who took over as ISRO chairman on 12 January 2015).

● Sivan is popularly known as the “Rocket Man” for his significant contribution in the development

of cryogenic engines for India’s space programme.

● The announcement of Sivan as ISRO chief comes two days ahead of the proposed historic launch of the ISRO’s 100th satellite along with 30 others in a single mission from Sriharikota.

5. Harjinder Singh appointed as the Chef de Mission for Winter Olympics

● The Indian Olympic Association (IOA)

appointed Harjinder Singh as the Chef De Mission for the 23rd Winter Olympic Games to be held in Pyeongchang.

● Singh currently holds the post of General Secretary in the Ice Hockey Association of India.

● On behalf of the IOA, I am pleased to inform that Harjinder Singh has been appointed as a Chef de Mission of Indian Contingent participating in the

Winter Olympics. Important points: Winter Olympics 2018

➢ Location: Pyeongchang County, South Korea ➢ Host city: Pyeongchang, South Korea ➢ Dates: 9 Feb 2018 – 25 Feb 2018 ➢ Opening ceremony: 9 February ➢ Closing ceremony: 25 February ➢ Stadium: Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium

6. Indian-origin businessman appointed as the WBCSD Chairman

● Singapore-based Indian-origin businessman

Sunny Verghese has been appointed as the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Chairman of the Geneva.

● Verghese, 57, Co-Founder and the CEO of Singapore’s agri-business group Olam International Limited, is the first World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Chair from the agri-sector.

● He succeeded Paul Polman, the CEO of Unilever, on January 1 and will serve a two-year term.


7. V J Mathew appointed as Maritime Board Chairman

● The Kerala Cabinet decided to appoint

V J Mathew as the Maritime Board Chairman. Prakash Iyer (Kochi), M.P. Shibu (Cherthala), M.K. Uthaman (Alappuzha), and V. Manilal (Kollam) will be the government nominees on the board.

● Mr. Mathew is the legal adviser to Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited and co-president of the Indian Maritime Association.

8. Anil Khanna to head IOA Finance Commission

● Senior sports administrator Anil Khanna

was named Chairman of the Finance Commission of the Indian Olympic Association, which also formed a four- member advisory committee.

● The IOA also formed a Medical Commission and Games Technical Conduct Committee and nominated office bearers of IOA and National Sports Federations (NSFs) to the Committees.

● The Khanna-led Finance Commission has Sahdev Yadav, Secretary General, Indian Weightlifting Federation and DK Singh, Secretary, Uttarakhand Olympic Association, as members.

9. Vice Admiral AB Singh takes over as Chief of Staff Western Naval Command

● Vice Admiral Ajendra Bahadur Singh, AVSM,

VSM took over as Chief of Staff, Western Naval Command from Vice Admiral Ravneet Singh.

● Vice Admiral AB Singh was the Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Strategic Forces Command prior to his current appointment.


● He was Promoted to Flag Rank in 2012, he has since tenanted the appointments of Flag Officer AOB Project.

● The Flag Officer was awarded Vishisht Seva Medal in 2011 and Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2016

for his exemplary service to the nation. 10. NCDEX appoints Vijay Kumar as MD & CEO

● Leading commodity bourse NCDEX announced

the appointment of Vijay Kumar Venkataraman as the new Managing Director and CEO of the exchange for three years effective.

● He brings over 25 years of experience in leadership roles in the areas of commodity trading and merchandising along with risk management, logistics and operations.

● Kumar is an agro-industry veteran who has worked for companies such as National Bulk Handling Corporation, Cargill, Reliance Industries, Arthur Andersen, ITC Ltd, Britannia and Sharp Group.

Important points: NCDEX – National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange

➢ Headquarters: Mumbai ➢ Founded: 15 December 2003

11. Facebook appoints American Express CEO as first black board member

● Facebook announced that it will bring

Kenneth Chenault, the CEO of American Express, onto its board.

● Chenault will become the first African-American board member at the social media giant.

● His hiring follows a contentious meeting between Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and the Congressional Black Caucus

(CBC). Important points: Facebook

➢ Founded: February 2004, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States ➢ Headquarters: Menlo Park, California, United States


➢ Founders: Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Chris Hughes

12. S Selvakumar appointed as CMD of SPMCIL

● The government appointed as senior IAS officer S

Selvakumar as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd (SPMCIL).

● The state-owned SPMCIL produces bank notes, coins, postage stamps, non-judicial stamps and other official documents.

13. Om Prakash Rawat Appointed as New Chief Election Commissioner

● Om Prakash Rawat appointed as new Chief

Election Commissioner of India.

● Mr Rawat, who is currently an Election Commissioner, will succeed the outgoing Achal Kumar Joti.

● Ashok Lavasa, a former finance secretary and an Indian Administrative Service officer of the 1980 batch, has been appointed as an Election Commissioner, to fill up the

vacancy left behind by Mr Rawat in the three-member poll panel.

● Sunil Arora is currently the other Election Commissioner. 14. Anandiben Patel appointed as the new Governor of Madhya Pradesh

● Former Gujarat chief minister Anandiben

Patel appointed as the new Governor of Madhya Pradesh.

● The President of India is pleased to appoint Anandiben Patel to be the Governor of Madhya Pradesh, with effect from the date she assumes charge of her office.

● 76-year-old Patel was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2014, when incumbent Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister, in August 2016, when she resigned the post.


15. Lakhtakia appointed as new DG of National Security Guard

● Senior IPS officer Sudeep Lakhtakia has been appointed as the new Director General (DG) of the ‘black cats’ commando force National Security Guard (NSG).

● The officer is currently serving as a Special DG in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) headquarters New Delhi.

● He will take over from incumbent S P Singh who will retire from the post of NSG DG on January 31.

16. FICCI appoints Dilip Chenoy as Director General

● Industry Chamber FICCI has appointed Dilip

Chenoy as its Director General.

● Chenoy had been the Managing Director and CEO of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), Director General (DG) of SIAM and Deputy DG of CII.

● He had resigned from NSDC in late 2015 amid reports that the government was unhappy with the

functioning of the skills development body. He was appointed by the previous Congress-led UPA government.

Important points: FICCI – Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry

➢ Founded: 1927 ➢ Headquarters: New Delhi, India ➢ Founders: Ghanshyam Das Birla, Purushottam das Thakurdas

17. S Somnath takes charge as Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre’s director

● ISRO’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre

(LPSC) director S Somnath has taken charge as the new director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC).

● The space centre is Indian Space Research Organisation’s lead centre for launch vehicles. Somnath took up the significant role at a function held in ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru.


● He succeeds K. Sivan, who was appointed as ISRO Chairman recently.

18. Usha Ananthasubramanian becomes first woman chairman of IBA

● Usha Ananthasubramanian, MD and CEO,

Allahabad Bank, has been elected the first woman chairman of Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).

● Usha was elected IBA Chairman for the year 2017-18 by its Managing Committee.

● IBA Chairman’s position fell vacant following the superannuation of Jatinder Bir Singh, who was Chairman and Managing Director of Punjab & Sind Bank, on December 31, 2017.

19. Vijay Keshav Gokhale takes charge as the Foreign Secretary

● Vijay Keshav Gokhale takes charge as the

new foreign secretary for a two-year term. He succeeded former foreign secretary S Jaishankar who completed his term of three-years, including one extended year.

● Gokhale, who joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1981, played a major role in resolving the 73-day-long Doklam standoff between India and China last year.

● The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved Gokhale’s appointment to the post of foreign secretary.

20. Indian-American Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen to lead USISPF Board

● Indian American CEO of Adobe, Shantanu

Narayen, has been elected as the Vice Chairman of the U.S.-India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF).

● The USISPF is a new organization that has been set up to enhance business relations between India and the U.S.


● The USISPF was set up to promote bilateral trade and work on creating meaningful opportunities that have the power to change the lives of citizens.

Sports: 1. Indian golfer Shiv Kapur wins Royal Cup at Pattaya

● Indian golfer Shiv Kapur won the

Royal Cup at Pattaya, which is his third Asian Tour title of 2017. The 35-year-old, who had just one win in almost 11 years till April 2017, has now won three times in last eight months.

● Kapur first won on Asian Tour in his debut season in December 2005, but it took more than 11 years and four months for the next Asian Tour win, which came in April 2017.

● Now, This latest win marks Kapur’s fourth Asian Tour win and sixth international title as he won twice on European Challenge Tour also.

2. Sathiyan becomes India’s highest-ranked player in latest ITTF rankings

● G Sathiyan has become India’s highest-

ranked player in the latest International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) rankings.

● He surpasses his compatriot the legendary Sharath Kamal. Sathiyan, who was nowhere near the top-100 bracket until a few months ago, is the leader at world No. 49, pushing Kamal to the second spot at 51.

● As for the women, Manika Batra is topping the world chart among Indians at 62, while Mouma Das is ranked 74th and Madhurika Patkar is ranked 81st.

Important points: International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF)

➢ Headquarters: Lausanne, Switzerland ➢ President: Thomas Weikert ➢ CEO: Judit Farago ➢ Founded: 1926

3. Meghalaya signs host city contract for 39th National Games


● Meghalaya signed the Host City Contract with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for hosting the 39th National Games in 2022.

● The tripartite contract was signed between the IOA, the Meghalaya State Olympic Association

and the state government here.

● Meghalaya had made the bid to host the 39th National Games after successfully co-hosting the South Asian Games 2017.

Important Points: Meghalaya

➢ Capital: Shillong ➢ Chief Minister: Mukul Sangma ➢ Governor: Ganga Prasad

4. Elina Svitolina wins Brisbane International for 10th WTA title

● Elina Svitolina secured her first WTA

title in Australia with a straight-sets victory in the Brisbane International final, while Nick Kyrgios moved a step closer to claiming his first ATP title on home soil with a semifinal win over defending champion Grigor Dimitrov.

● Third-seeded Svitolina beat Belarusian qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-2, 6-1 in a lopsided night final to win her 10th title on the women’s elite tour.

● Kyrgios hit 19 aces in a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over top-seeded Dimitrov, who was playing his first tournament since winning the season-ending ATP Finals and rising to a career-high No. 3 ranking.

5. Sports Minister Rathore launches ‘Khelo India’ logo

● The vibrant Khelo India logo, reflecting

the freshness, agility and vitality of New India was launched at a ceremony by the Union Minister of State ( I/C) Youth Affairs and Sports Rajyavardhan Rathore at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi.

● The logo also conveys an impression of fitness and competitiveness.


● The three-stroke Khelo India logo, designed by Ogilvy India, has in-built modularity, allowing plenty of adaptability and flexibility into endless pictorial forms.

6. Federer-Bencic lead Switzerland to Hopman Cup title

● Switzerland won their third Hopman Cup as

Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic beat Germany’s Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber 4-3(3) 4-2 in the deciding mixed doubles to secure a 2-1 victory in the final at the Perth Arena.

● It was Federer’s second Hopman Cup triumph after victory in 2001 alongside then world number one Martina Hingis. Important Point:

Switzerland ➢ Currency: Swiss franc ➢ Capital: Bern

7. Gilles Simon wins inaugural Tata Open Maharashtra Tennis trophy title

● Gilles Simon of France has lifted the

inaugural Tata Open Maharashtra Tennis trophy.

● In the summit clash at Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune, the unseeded French player humbled big-serving second-seeded Kevin Anderson in straight sets 7-6, 6-2. Simon is ranked 89 in the world, while Anderson is ranked Fourteen.

● Simon had knocked out defending champion and third seed Roberto Bautista Agut.

Important Point: Maharashtra

➢ Capital: Mumbai ➢ Chief minister: Devendra Fadnavis ➢ Governor: Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao

8. Philippe Coutinho Is The Second Most Expensive Player After Neymar

● Philippe Coutinho is joining Barcelona

after Liverpool agreed to sell the Brazilian in a


deal that makes him one of the most expensive players in soccer history.

● Barcelona did not reveal the cost of the deal for the 25-year-old playmaker but a person familiar with the details told The Associated Press that the transfer is worth 160 million euros ($192 million).

● The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment

publicly about the deal, which would be a club record for Barcelona 9. Anchal Thakur bags bronze – India’s 1st international medal in skiing

● Aanchal Thakur bags bronze made history as

she won India’s 1st international medal in skiing.

● The 21-year-old Manali resident clinched bronze in the coveted Alpine Ejder 3200 Cup organised by the Federation Internationale de Ski (skiing’s international governing body) at the Palandoken Ski Centre in Erzurum, Turkey. She won the medal in the slalom race category.

10. Aditya Mehta won the Kolkata Open 2018

● Professional player Aditya Mehta won the Kolkata Open 2018 International Invitation Snooker Championship here at Hindusthan Club in the city.

● In the thrilling final he defeated Englishman Professional Player Alfie Burden 5-4. Aditya started well with a break of 93 in the opening frame but Alfie countered him with the break of 75 to come at par.

● Aditya made a remarkable comeback and won three frames in a row to win Kolkata Open 2018.

This is his third Kolkata Open title since it’s inception. 11. South African Pacer Rabada becomes the youngest No. 1 Test Bowler.

● South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada becomes the youngest No. 1 Test Bowler.

● He picked up five wickets in the Cape Town Test, has dethroned England’s James Anderson to become the new No.1 bowler in the latest ICC rankings. Rabada became only


the seventh South African bowler to top the ICC Rankings.

● Rabada achieved this feat at the age of 8,261 days, surpassing the record of former England bowler George Lohmann, who became the highest-ranked Test bowler aged 8,288 days in February 1888.

12. Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore launches Khelo India Anthem

● Khelo India School Games 2018, a brainchild of

Olympian and sports minister Rajyavardhan Rathore, will be held at multiple venues across Delhi from January 31.

● The union sports ministry’s ambitious programme, ‘Khelo India’ – an initiative to scout for talent at the grassroots and provide it substantial long-term scholarship – will be launched on January 31.

● Khelo India, for which the government has earmarked R1,756 crore over the next five years, aims to take sports to “all parts of the country.

13. Ronaldinho retires from football

● Brazilian World Cup winner

Ronaldinho has formally confirmed his retirement from football, more than two years since his last appearance as a professional, reports in Brazil.

● The 37-year-old former Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona star, a key member of the Brazil side which won the World Cup in 2002, last played in 2015 during a brief stint with Fluminense.

● Ronaldinho’s career began with Gremio in Porto Alegre, his hometown, before he emerged as a star with French giants PSG. He then spent five years with Barcelona between 2003 and 2008, helping the Catalans win the Champions League in 2006, after being awarded the Ballon D’Or in 2005.

14. India lifts Blind Cricket World Cup 2018

● Sunil Ramesh slammed a superb 93 as

India defeated arch-rivals Pakistan by two wickets in a thrilling summit clash to retain the Blind Cricket World Cup title in Sharjah.


● Ramesh then led the run chase as India overhauled the target with eight balls to spare to retain

the trophy that they had won in 2014 after beating the same opponents at Cape Town, South Africa.

● India struggled in the final stages of their run chase as Pakistan claimed three successive wickets

to gain an upper hand over their arch-rivals. 15. Siddharth Singh wins Swedish Open junior badminton title

● Young Indian shuttler Siddharth Pratap Singh

secured his maiden international title, bagging the Swedish Open Junior International Series with a straight-game victory over Denmark’s Mads Christophersen in the finals in Uppsala, Sweden.

● Playing his first career final, Siddharth defeated Christophersen 21-15, 21-11 in a 33-minute match to claim the men’s singles title.

Important points: Sweden

➢ Capital: Stockholm ➢ Currency: Swedish krona ➢ Prime Minister: Stefan Löfven

16. West Indies to host 2018 Women’s World T20

● The ICC has announced, the 2018 edition of

the Women’s World T20 will be hosted by West Indies in November 2018.

● The three venues were selected by Cricket West Indies – Antigua and Barbuda, Guyana and St Lucia.

● Hosts Windies will defend the title they won with an eight-wicket victory over Australia in Kolkata in 2016.

● The November event in the Caribbean will be the first stand-alone ICC Women’s World Twenty20

after the past five events were played alongside the men’s event. 17. Lifter Rakhi Halder creates new national record

● Rakhi Halder of RSPB created a new

national record in clean and jerk en route to a gold


medal in the 63kg women’s category in the 33rd Women Senior National Weightlifting Championships in Mangalore.

● Rakhi lifted 128 kgs in the clean and jerk for a total of 230 kgs to create a new national record,

bettering Karnam Malleswari’s feat (127 kg) created in Athens in 1999.

● The silver in this category went to S Thasana Chanu of Karnataka (202kg) while the bronze was clinched by AIPSCB’s Amandeep Kaur (191kg).

18. Australian Open 2018 – Complete List Of Winners

The Australian Open 2018 is a tennis tournament held annually in Melbourne Park, Australia. First held in 1905, the tournament is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events of the year – the other three being the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. The 2018 Australian Open is the 106th edition of the tournament.

Here is the complete list of Winners of Australian Open: Men’s Singles:

➢ Winner: Roger Federer (Switzerland) ➢ Runner-Up: Marin Cilic (Croatia)

Women’s Singles:

➢ Winner: Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) ➢ Runner-Up: Simona Halep (Romania)

Men’s Doubles:

➢ Winner: Oliver Marach (Austria) Mate Pavic(Croatia)

➢ Runner-Up: Robert Farah (Colombia) J. Cabal (Colombia) Women’s Doubles:

➢ Winner: Kristina Mladenovic (France) Tímea Babos (Hungary)

➢ Runner-Up: Elena Vesnina (Russia) Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) Mixed Doubles:

➢ Winner: Gabriela Dabrowski (Canada) Mate Pavic (Croatia)

➢ Runner-Up: Timea Babos (Hungary) Rohan Bopanna(India)


19. Sharath Kamal wins Table Tennis Nationals

● Sharath Kamal beat top-seeded Anthony

Amalraj to win the men singles title for the eighth time, equalling the feat of Kamlesh Mehta in the 79th edition of the 11Even Sports Senior Nationals at the Mega Sports Complex in Ranchi.

● Sutirtha Mukherjee from West Bengal emerged the new women champion, beating Hyderabad Nationals winner Manika Batra.

20. Prime Minister Narendra Modi Launches first Khelo India School Games

● Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched

the first Khelo India School Games at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi, on January 31, 2018.

● The Khelo India programme has been introduced in an attempt to revive the sports culture in India at the grass-root level by building a strong framework for all sports played in our country and establishing India as a great sporting nation.

● Talented players identified in priority sports disciplines at various levels by a High-Powered Committee will be provided annual financial assistance of Rs. 5 lakh per annum for 8 years.

● A total of 199 gold medals, 199 silver medals and 275 bronze medals are to be won at the Khelo

India School Games. Agreement 1. Cabinet approves Agreement between India, Myanmar on Land Border Crossing

● The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime

Minister Narendra Modi, approved the Agreement between India and Myanmar on Land Border Crossing.

● The Agreement will facilitate regulation and harmonisation of already existing free movement


rights for people ordinarily residing in the border areas of both countries.

● It will also facilitate movement of people on the basis of valid passports and visas which will enhance economic and social interaction between the two countries.

● The Agreement is an enabling arrangement for movement of people across India-Myanmar

border. Important Points: Myanmar

➢ Capital: Naypyidaw ➢ Currency: Burmese kyat ➢ President: Htin Kyaw ➢ Prime Minister: Aung San Suu Kyi

2. MoU between India and Israel for cooperation in Oil and Gas Sector

● The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime

Minister Narendra Modi approved the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Israel on cooperation in oil and gas sector.

● The cooperation envisaged under the agreement will facilitate promotion of investments in each other’s countries, technology transfer, R&D, conducting joint studies, capacity building of human resources and collaboration in the area of Start-ups.

Important points: Israel


3. IICA, IPPB sign MoU to provide training on payment banking

● Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs

(IICA) and India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) signed an agreement for the training of employees of the latter in the area of payment banking.


● Under the agreement, IICA has been entrusted with the key responsibility of capacity building of

IPPB through training of its officials/employees besides providing research support by instituting Research Chairs in the emerging area of payment banking.

Important points:

➢ India Post Payments Bank MD & CEO: Suresh Sethi 4. GCCI and South Korea sign MoU for business cooperation

● An official delegation from GCCI and South

Korea sign MoU for business cooperation between industries in Gujarat and the East Asian country, with a focus on automobile, defence and textiles sectors.

● The main objective of the MoU is to help Gujarat-based small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to explore opportunities through joint ventures with South Korean firms, especially in areas of automobile, defence and textiles

Important Points: GCCI – Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry MoU – memorandum of understanding Gujarat

➢ Capital: Gandhinagar ➢ Chief Minister: Vijay Rupani ➢ Governor: Om Prakash Kohli

5. Federal Bank ties up with Hedge Equities

● Federal Bank has entered into a strategic

partnership with Hedge Equities Ltd for providing Portfolio Investment Scheme (PIS) services to NRIs.

● A formal agreement was executed here in which Jose K Mathew (EVP & Head Retail Business, Federal Bank) and Alex Babu (MD, Hedge Equities Ltd) exchanged the MoU announcing the tie-up.


6. Indian Oil in tie-ups with Israeli firms

● Indian Oil Corporation has signed letters of

intent (LoI) with Phinergy, an Israeli start-up, and YEDA, a technology spin-off from Israel’s Weizmann Research Institute.

● The agreement with Phinergy allows Indian Oil to work on adoption of advanced energy systems for the domestic market for both mobility and stationary industrial applications.

● The LoI signed with YEDA will allow research collaboration between both the organisations for developing solar to green fuel technologies through concentrated solar thermal route.

Important Points: Israeli


7. India, Sri Lanka Sign four Agreements for Collaboration in ICT Sector

● India, Sri Lanka signed four agreements for

collaboration in Information and communication technology (ICT) sector, setting up of e-office system and connecting of National Knowledge Network (NKN) for collaboration among universities and academics.

● The MoU for cooperation was signed by Union minister for Information Technology Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad with his Sri Lankan counterpart in Colombo.

Important Points: Sri Lanka

➢ Capitals: Colombo, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte ➢ Currency: Sri Lankan rupee ➢ President: Maithripala Sirisena ➢ Prime minister: Ranil Wickremesinghe

8. Punjab inks MoU with IOC to set up biogas, bio-CNG plants


● The Punjab government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Oil Corporation to set up bio-gas and bio-CNG plants in the state.

● The pact is part of the state’s concerted efforts to find sustainable solutions to paddy straw

burning, which has emerged as a major environmental concern. ● The MoU with IOC was signed by Punjab Bureau of Industrial Promotion (PBIP) and Punjab

Energy Development Agency (PEDA) here in the presence of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. Important Points: Punjab

➢ Capital: Chandigarh ➢ Chief Minister: Amarinder Singh ➢ Governor: V. P. Singh Badnore

9. Andhra Pradesh-Zurich sign sister state agreement

● The Andhra Pradesh Government and the

Canton of Zurich signed a letter of intent, to promote mutual prosperity and development.

● The agreement was signed in the presence of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu by Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu and Government Counselor Minister Carmen Walker Spah for sister state relation.

● This will bring the State of Andhra Pradesh and Canton of Zurich closer and ensure that a framework is created, which supports the exchange between both the parties.

10. India and Cambodia sign four agreements

● India and Cambodia signed four agreements

in the field of cultural exchange, an exchange line of credit of $26.9 million, a memorandum of understanding to cooperate in a legal matter and an agreement on prevention of human trafficking.

● The documents were exchanged in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Cambodian PM Hun Sen following delegation-level talks between the two countries. New Delhi has agreed to set up a centre of IT excellence in

Cambodia. Important points: Cambodia


➢ Capital: Phnom Penh ➢ Currency: Cambodian Riel ➢ Prime Minister: Hun Sen ➢ King: Norodom Sihamoni

Important Days 1. National Youth Day – 12 January

● National Youth Day is celebrated in India

when there was a Birthday of the Swami Vivekananda.

● The government has declared National Youth Day from the day of Swami Vivekananda's Birthday and the day is Celebrated as National Youth Day. It is celebrated on the 12th January.

● It is celebrated to create a great awareness amongst the people of India to get them every

knowledge about the Importance of the Rite in India. ● The theme of National Youth Day 2018 – ‘Sankalp Se Siddhi’.

Important point:

➢ In 1984 the Government of India declared the day as the National Youth Day and since 1985 the event is celebrated in India every year.

2. 70th Army Day Celebrated on 15th January 2018

● January 15 is observed every year as Army

Day in India.

● On this day in 1949, Field Marshal Kodandera M Cariappa took over as the first Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army from General Sir Francis Butcher, the last British Commander-in-Chief.

● Army day is dedicated to the soldiers who fought to safeguard the country’s honour. On 70th Army Day, President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime

Minister Narendra Modi greeted the officers and troops of the Indian Army. Every citizen of the country has “unwavering trust and pride” in the Indian Army. The medals awarded by the President of India for gallantry displayed at the battlefield are:

1. Param Vir Chakra (PVC) 2. Mahavir Chakra (MVC) 3. Vir Chakra 4. Sena Medal, Nao Sena Medal, Vayu Sena Medal


5. Mention in Dispatches 6. Chiefs of Staff Commendation Card The Param Vir Chakra is the highest military award. Subedar Major Bana Singh, Naib Subedar Sanjay Kumar and Subedar Yogendra Singh Yadav are the only living recipients of the Pram Vir Chakra award. So far, the Mahavir Chakra has been awarded to 218 martyrs for their selfless courage in the battlefield. Most Mahavir Chakra medals were awarded after Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. Vir Chakra is third in precedence and was first awarded in 1947 to Nadikerianda Bheemaiah and R Kanikasamy for Kashmir war. The second category, the medals are awarded by the President of India for gallantry displayed away from the battlefield: 1. Ashok Chakra 2. Kirti Chakra 3. Shaurya Chakra 4. Sena Medal, Nao Sena Medal, Vayu Sena Medal 5. Mention in Dispatches 6. Chiefs of Staff Commendation Card 3. National Voters Day – January 25

● National Voters Day which is celebrated on

January 25.

● The significance of this day is to encourage youngsters, who have reached the age of 18, of the country to participate in the electoral process, by enrolling or registering themselves in electoral rolls and to exercise their franchise.

● National Voters Day (NVD) Important Points- This year Facebook launches ‘take the pledge’ feature on its platform. Facebook and Election Commission of India announced rolling out a new feature on the platform that will send a reminder to users aged 18 years and above to take the pledge to vote.

● National Voters Day 2018 Theme – “Assessable Elections.”

4. BHARAT PARV celebrations at Red Fort from 26th January

● The “Bharat Parv” event is being organised by

the Government of India at the Red Fort, Delhi from 26th to 31st January, as part of the Republic Day Celebrations.

● The prime objective of organising the event is to generate a patriotic mood, promote the rich cultural diversity of the country, to ensure wider participation of


the general public and to popularise the idea of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat.

● Bharat Parv festival will be organised by the Ministry of Tourism to present the cuisine, ethnic heritage and culture of different states of India to the visitors.

Awards: 1. Actor Sudhir Dalvi gets Janakavi P Sawlaram award

● Actor Sudhir Dalvi was honoured with the

Janakavi P Sawlaram award. The award is jointly given by the Thane Municipal Corporation and the Janakavi P Savlaram Kala Samiti.

● Well-known dancer Jaishree T was bestowed with the Ganga Jamuna award, which is instituted in memory of a popular song written by Sawlaram.

● Dalvi first came to prominence for portraying Guru Vashishta in Ramanand Sagar’s TV series “Ramayan“.

● He also featured on the famous TV show “Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi” and other Hindi

serials. 2. ICC Awards 2017 winners list

The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced its annual awards, honouring players who did well across various formats 2017. Here is ICC Awards 2017 Winners List – Men: 1. Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy Cricketer of the Year – Virat Kohli 2. ICC Test Cricketer of the Year – Steve Smith 3. ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year – Virat Kohli 4. ICC Associate Cricketer of the Year – Rashid Khan 5. T20I Performance of the Year – Yuzvendra Chahal

(India): 6/25 versus England in Bengaluru. 6. Emerging Cricketer of the Year – Hasan Ali (Pakistan) 7. Spirit of Cricket Award – Anya Shrubsole (England women’s team) 8. Umpire of the Year (David Shepherd Trophy) – Marais Erasmus 9. Fans’ Moment of the Year – Pakistan winning the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 beating India in England. 10. ICC Test Team of the Year: Dean Elgar, David Warner, Virat Kohli (captain), Steve Smith, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ben Stokes, Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Mitchell Starc, Kagiso Rabada, James Anderson.


11. ICC ODI Team of the Year: Virat Kohli (captain), David Warner, Rohit Sharma, Babar Azam, AB de Villiers, Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper), Ben Stokes, Trent Boult, Hasan Ali, Rashid Khan, Jasprit Bumrah ICC Awards 2017 – Women’s Winners 1. Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award for Cricketer of the Year – Ellyse Perry (Australia) 2. ODI Player of the Year – Amy Satterthwhite (New Zealand) 3. T20I Player of the Year – Beth Mooney (Australia) 4. Emerging Player of the Year – Beth Mooney 3. Golden Globes 2018 list of winners

Hollywood stars gathered at the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills to celebrate the best of television and film. Seth Meyers hosted the show, where most actors and actresses wore black to protest sexual harassment. List of Golden Globes 2018: MOVIES

● Best motion picture, drama: “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

● Best motion picture, musical or comedy: “Lady Bird”

● Best actress in a motion picture, drama: Frances McDormand, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

● Best actor in a motion picture, drama: Gary Oldman, “Darkest Hour” ● Best actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy: James Franco, “The Disaster Artist” ● Best actress in a motion picture, musical or comedy: Saoirse Ronan, “Lady Bird ● Best supporting actor, any motion picture: Sam Rockwell, “Three Billboards outside Ebbing,

Missouri” ● Best supporting actress, any motion picture: Allison Janney, “I, Tonya” ● Best director: Guillermo del Toro, “The Shape of Water” ● Best original score: Alexandre Desplat, “The Shape of Water” ● Best original song: “This Is Me” (from “The Greatest Showman”) ● Best Screenplay: Martin McDonagh, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” ● Best foreign language film: “In the Fade”

TELEVISION

● Best television series, drama: “The Handmaid’s Tale” ● Best television series, musical or comedy: “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” ● Best limited series or motion picture made for television: “Big Little Lies” ● Best actress in a series, limited series or motion picture made for television: Nicole Kidman, “Big

Little Lies” ● Best actor in a series, limited series or motion picture made for television: Ewan McGregor,

“Fargo”


● Best actress in a television series, drama: Elisabeth Moss, “The Handmaid’s Tale” ● Best actor in a television series, drama: Sterling K. Brown, “This Is Us” ● Best actress in a television series, musical or comedy: Rachel Brosnahan, “The Marvelous Mrs.

Maisel” ● Best actor in a television series, musical or comedy: Aziz Ansari, “Master of None” ● Best supporting actor in a series, limited series or motion picture made for television: Alexander

Skarsgård, “Big Little Lies” ● Best supporting actress in a series, limited series or motion picture made for television: Laura

Dern, “Big Little Lies” 4. President Kovind confers Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards

● President Ram Nath Kovind presented the

Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships and Awards for 2016 to an eminent group of musicians, dancers, and theatre artists.

● The Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships (Akademi Ratna) and Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) are national honours bestowed by the government on performing artists as well as teachers and scholars in the field of performing arts.

5. 63rd Jio Filmfare Awards 2018: Complete winners list

Members of the Hindi film industry came together to celebrate the best of Bollywood in the year 2017 at 63rd Jio Filmfare Awards 2018, held in Mumbai. Here is the complete list of those who won big at the 63rd Jio Filmfare Awards 2018:

➢ Best Film: ‘Hindi Medium’ ➢ Critics’ Award for Best Film: ‘Newton’ ➢ Best Actor In A Leading Role (Female): Vidya

Balan for ‘Tumhari Sulu’ ➢ Best Actor In A Leading Role (Male): Irrfan Khan for ‘Hindi Medium’ ➢ Critics’ Award for Best Actor (Male): Rajkummar Rao for ‘Trapped’ ➢ Critics’ Award for Best Actor (Female): Zaira Wasim for ‘Secret Superstar’ ➢ Best Director: Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari for ‘Bareilly Ki Barfi’ ➢ Best Debut Director: Konkona Sensharma for ‘A Death in the Gunj’ ➢ Best Actor In A Supporting Role (Male): Rajkummar Rao for ‘Bareilly Ki Barfi’ ➢ Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female): Meher Vij for ‘Secret Superstar’ ➢ Best Dialogue: Hitesh Kewalya for ‘Shubh Mangal Saavdhan’ ➢ Best Screenplay: Shubhashish Bhutiani for ‘Mukti Bhavan’ ➢ Best Original Story: Amit Masurkar for ‘Newton’


➢ Best Actor (Male) in a Short Film: Jackie Shroff for ‘Khujli’ ➢ Best Actor (Female) in a Short Film: Shefali Shah for ‘Juice’ ➢ People’s Choice Award for Best Short Film: ‘Anahut’ ➢ Best Short Film (Fiction): ‘Juice’ ➢ Best Short Film (Non-Fiction): ‘Invisible Wings’ ➢ Best Music Album: Pritam for ‘Jagga Jasoos’ ➢ Best Playback Singer (Male): Arijit Singh for ‘Roke na ruke naina’ – ‘Badrinath Ki Dulhania’ ➢ Best Playback Singer (Female): Meghna Mishra for ‘Nachdi phira’ – ‘Secret Superstar’ ➢ Best Lyrics: Amitabh Bhattacharya for ‘Ullu ka pattha’ – ‘Jagga Jasoos’ ➢ Lifetime Achievement Award: Mala Sinha and Bappi Lahiri ➢ Best Choreography: Vijay Ganguly and Ruel Dausan Varindani for ‘Galti se mistake’ – ‘Jagga

Jasoos’ ➢ Best Background Score: Pritam for ‘Jagga Jasoos’ ➢ Best Action: Tom Struthers for ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’ ➢ Best Cinematography: Sirsha Ray for ‘A Death In The Gunj’ ➢ Best Editing: Nitin Baid for ‘Trapped’ ➢ Best Production Design: Parul Sondh for ‘Daddy’ ➢ Best Sound Design: Anish John for ‘Trapped’ ➢ Best Costume: Rohit Chaturvedi for ‘A Death In The Gunj’

6. Shah Rukh Khan honoured with Crystal Award at World Economic Forum

● Superstar Shah Rukh Khan was honoured with

24th Crystal Award at World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

● Shah Rukh Khan received the 24th Crystal Award for “his leadership in championing children’s and women’s rights in India”.

● Shahrukh received the award alongside Elton John and Hollywood actress Cate Blanchett.

7. CM Edappadi K Palaniswami receives UNESCO award

● Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami

received the UNESCO Award of Merit awarded to the iconic Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam (Tiruchy).

● The Award of Merit, 2017, was given by UNESCO Asia Pacific region for the cultural heritage conservation activities taken up at the temple without altering its original splendour.

● Mr Palaniswami congratulated the temple administration for their yeoman service and in achieving the award from UNESCO.


8. Padma Awards announced: Full List of Padma Awards 2018

● The President Ram Nath Kovind approved

the awards for 85 individuals, which includes 3 Padma Vibhushan, 9 Padma Bhushan, and 73 Padma Shri.

● Music maestro Ilayaraja and cricketer M.S. Dhoni were among this year’s 89 Padma awardees, announced by the Centre on the eve of the 69th Republic Day.

List of Padma Awards 2018 Recipients: Padma Shri:

➢ Rajagopalan Vasudevan – Science & Engineering (Innovation) ➢ Subhasini Mistry – Social work ➢ Vijayalakshmi Navaneethakrishnan – Literature & education (affordable education) ➢ Sulagatti Narasamma – Medicine ➢ Yeshi Dhonden – Medicine ➢ Rani and Abhay Bang – Medicine (Affordable Healthcare) ➢ Lentina Ao Thakkar – Social Work (Service) ➢ Romulus Whitaker – Others (Wildlife Conservation) ➢ Sampat Ramteke – Social Work ➢ Sanduk Ruit – Medicine (Ophthalmology) ➢ Arvind Gupta – Literature & education (affordable education) ➢ Lakshmikutty – Medicine (snake bite) ➢ Bhajju Shyam – Art (Painting – Gond Art) ➢ Sudhanshu Biswas – Social service ➢ MR Rajagopal – Medicine (Palliative Care) ➢ Murlikant Petkar – Sports

Padma Bhushan:

➢ Pankaj Advani – Sport (Billiards/Snooker) ➢ Philipose Mar Chrysostom – Others (Spiritualism) ➢ Mahendra Singh Dhoni – Sports (Cricket) ➢ Alexander Kadakin (Foreigner/Posthumous) – Public Affairs ➢ Ramachandran Nagaswamy – Others (Archaeology) ➢ Ved Prakash Nanda – Literature and Education ➢ Laxman Pai – Art (Painting) ➢ Arvind Parikh – Art (Music) ➢ Sharda Sinha – Art (Music)


Padma Vibhushan: ➢ Ilayaraja – Art (Music) ➢ Ghulam Mustafa Khan – Art (Music) ➢ Parameswaran Parameswaran – Literature & Education

9. Grammy Awards winners list in key categories

● The Grammy Awards, the highest honors in

the music industry, were handed out at a ceremony in New York.

● Retro R&B star Bruno Mars was the surprise big winner at the Grammy Awards, with a clean sweep of the top awards including Album, Record and Song of the Year, and six overall. Here is a list of winners in key categories:

➢ Album of the Year: Bruno Mars, 24K Magic. ➢ Record of the Year (for the overall performance of a song): Bruno Mars, 24K Magic. ➢ Song of the Year (for songwriting): Bruno Mars along with songwriters Brody Brown, James

Fauntleroy and Philip Lawrence and production team The Stereotypes, That’s What I Like. ➢ Best New Artist: Alessia Cara ➢ Best Pop Vocal Album: Ed Sheeran, Divide. ➢ Best Pop Solo Performance: Ed Sheeran, Shape of You. ➢ Best Rap Album: Kendrick Lamar, DAMN. ➢ Best Rap Song: Kendrick Lamar, HUMBLE. ➢ Best Rap Performance: Kendrick Lamar, HUMBLE. ➢ Best Rap/Sung Performance: Kendrick Lamar featuring Rihanna, LOYALTY. ➢ Best R&B Album: Bruno Mars, 24K Magic. ➢ Best R&B Song: Bruno Mars, That’s What I Like. ➢ Best R&B Performance: Bruno Mars, That’s What I Like. ➢ Best Rock Album: The War on Drugs, A Deeper Understanding. ➢ Best Rock Performance: Leonard Cohen, You Want It Darker. ➢ Best Alternative Music Album: The National, Sleep Well Beast. ➢ Best World Music Album: Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Shaka Zulu Revisited: 30th Anniversary

Celebration. ➢ Best Dance/Electronic Album: Kraftwerk, 3-D The Catalogue. ➢ Best Music Video: Kendrick Lamar, HUMBLE. ➢ Best Country Album: Chris Stapleton, From a Room, Volume 1.

10. Asha Bhosle to get Yash Chopra memorial award

● Bollywood playback doyenne Asha Bhosle will

be given the ‘Yash Chopra Memorial Award’. She will be the fifth winner of the award.


● Evergreen Asha Bhosle has been giving playback in Hindi films for nearly seven decades,

earning her an entry into the Guinness World Records for recording over 11,000 songs in 20 different languages.

● The award will be presented to Asha Bhosle on February 16, 2018.

● The award has been instituted by the TSR Foundation of T. Subbarami Reddy in memory of

producer-director Yash Chopra, who died in 2012. 11. Parliamentary Group to confer Outstanding Parliamentarian Awards

● The Parliamentary Group has decided to

confer Outstanding Parliamentarian Awards to five MPS (Members of Parliament).

● Former Rajya Sabha MP Dr Najma Heptulla has been selected for this award for the year 2013 while the other awardees include Lok Sabha MP Hukumdev Narayan Yadav for 2014 and Rajya Sabha MP Ghulam Nabi Azad for 2015.

● Lok Sabha MP Dinesh Trivedi has been selected for 2016 while Lok Sabha MP Bhartruhari Mahatab has been chosen for Outstanding Parliamentarian Award for 2017.

Miscellaneous 1. Women & Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi to inaugurate online portal NARI

● Women and Child Development

Minister Maneka Gandhi inaugurate an online portal National Repository of Information for Women (NARI) in New Delhi for the empowerment of women.

● The portal will provide women with easy access to information on government schemes and initiatives for women.

● The portal summarises over 350 government schemes and other important information. It provides links to the Ministries, Departments and autonomous bodies offering these schemes as well as easy access to online applications and grievance redressal.


2. Health Ministry launches first Online Oncology Tutorial Series

● The Union Health Ministry launched the nation’s first digital Online Oncology Tutorial Series, which aims to train doctors across the country in early detection, prevention, palliation, rehabilitation and treatment of various cancers.

● The digital Online Oncology Tutorial Series has been designed by the Tata Memorial Centre in collaboration with the Union Health Ministry, and is part of a national programme that will be rolled out across the country in collaboration with state governments.

3. Indian-origin banker Ravi Menon named best governor of Asia Pacific

● An Indian-origin banker in Singapore

has been named as the best central bank governor in Asia-Pacific for 2018.

● Ravi Menon, managing director of Singapore’s central bank Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), was recognised by the leading UK-based magazine ‘The Banker’ for his contribution in the makeover of Singapore’s financial system.

● Singapore’s Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat was also named the best banker in 2011. He was then as MAS’s managing director.

● Over the last three years, the central bankers of Vietnam, India and Bangladesh were named for

the recognition. 4. Direct tax collection soared 18.2% during April and December 2017

● Direct tax collection soared 18.2% during

April and December of current fiscal at ₹6.56 lakh crore and the provisional numbers for direct tax collection showed an 18.2% growth between April and December.

● The net direct tax collections represent 67% of the total Budget Estimates of direct taxes for FY2017-18 (₹9.8 lakh crore).


● Gross collections (before adjusting for refunds) have increased by 12.6% to ₹7.68 lakh crore from April to December, 2017.

● Refunds to the tune of ₹1.12 lakh crore have been issued during this period and advance tax

collection was up 12.7% at ₹3.18 lakh crore.

● While the growth in corporate income tax advance tax is 10.9%, that in personal income tax advance tax is 21.6%

5. Paytm launches investment, wealth management, to invest $10 million

● Paytm has set up a new entity called Paytm

Money Ltd that will offer investment and wealth management products and will invest close to $10 million upfront in the new entity.

● Paytm Money is the fourth product from One97’s stable after Paytm Mall, Paytm Payments Bank and Paytm wallet; it will be available as a separate mobile application to users.

Important points: Paytm

➢ Founder: Vijay Shekhar Sharma ➢ Founded: 2010 ➢ CEO: Vijay Shekhar Sharma ➢ Headquarters: Noida

6. Jeff Bezos has become the richest man in the history

● Jeff Bezos has become the richest man in

the history, overtaking the wealth Bill Gates ever had to his name.

● The Bloomberg Billionaires Index showed that Bezos’ net worth had hit USD 105.1 billion. It is USD 106 billion currently.

● According to Forbes’ tracker, Bezos has accumulated USD 104.4 billion as net worth.

● Most of Bezos’ wealth comes from his 78.9 million shares of Amazon stock, shares of Amazon had risen by 1.4 percent, adding USD 1.4 billion to his net worth.


Important Points: Amazon

➢ Founder: Jeff Bezos ➢ Founded: 5 July 1994, Seattle, Washington, United States ➢ Headquarters: Seattle, Washington, United States

7. ISRO successfully launches 100th satellite Cartosat-2 into orbit

● The Indian Space and Research

Organization (ISRO) launched the 100th satellite Cartosat-2 into orbit.

● The Cartosat-2 series satellite took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. It is a follow-on mission with the prime objective of providing high-resolution scene-specific spot imagery.

● The 100th mission is the 42nd flight of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C40).

● It is carrying the 710 kg Cartosat-2 series satellite which consists of special panchromatic and

multi-spectral cameras operating in time delay integration mode to deliver high-resolution data. Important Points: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)

➢ Headquarters: Bengaluru ➢ Founder: Vikram Sarabhai ➢ Founded: 15 August 1969 ➢ Director: A. S. Kiran Kumar

8. India tops domestic air passenger traffic demand at 16.4%

● India’s domestic air passenger traffic grew by

16.4 percent in November 2017, topping the growth chart worldwide, global aviation body, the International Air Transport Association.

● Globally, the total revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) increased 8 percent compared to November 2016, the fastest growth rate in five months.

● The available seat kilometres (ASKs) or capacity grew by 6.3 percent.


● The ASK for India was at 10.4 percent, second only to China where capacity grew by 12.9 percent, according to the IATA’s monthly data.

Important points: International Air Transport Association (IATA)

➢ Headquarters: Montreal, Canada ➢ CEO: Alexandre de Juniac ➢ Founded: 19 April 1945, Havana, Cuba

9. India grants Rs. 288 crore aid to develop Kankesanthurai harbour in Sri Lanka

● India has extended a fresh financial assistance of 280 crores for upgrading Kankesanthurai harbour in northern Sri Lanka into a commercial port and strengthening the country’s efforts to become a regional maritime hub.

● Sri Lankas Ministry of Finance and Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) signed an agreement in this regard on January 10.

● In terms of the MoU between India and Sri Lanka for rehabilitation of KKS Harbour, four out of the

six phases of the rehabilitation have already been completed under Indias grant assistance. 10. Kajol named ambassador for Swachh Aadat Swachh Bharat

● Actress Kajol, an active supporter of

eradicating preventable deaths from hygiene-related issues, has become an advocacy ambassador for a Swachh Aadat Swachh Bharat initiative.

● Kajol took to Twitter to urge people to become "swachhta doot" and contribute to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

11. ISRO is set to conduct a bungee jump on Chandrayaan 2

● Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) are set to conduct a breathtaking stunt at Mahendragiri hills in Tamil Nadu. A bungee jump is being planned for Chandrayaan-2 craft as part of soft landing tests using a 100-metre tall crane (as tall as a 10-storeyed building) specially built for the purpose.


● Chandrayaan-2 is India’s most ambitious project as yet consisting of an orbiter, lander and a small rover. If it succeeds, it will be India’s first soft-landing on the Moon, and only the second such landing since the end of the Apollo and Luna missions.

12. Facebook co founder Zuckerberg loses 4th richest persons spot to Zara Founder

● Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has

lost his place as the world's fourth-richest person to Zara Founder Amancio Ortega.

● Zuckerberg's fortune fell by $3.3 billion after he revealed plans to shift users' News Feed towards content from family and friends, instead of content from publishers and businesses.

13. India contributes $50,000 to UN Youth Envoys office

● India has contributed $50,000 to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’s Office of Envoy on Youth to help with its mission of involving young people in the world body’s goals.

● The Youth Envoy’s mission is to promote the engagement of youth and advocate for them across all the four pillars of the UN’s work – sustainable development, human rights, peace and security and humanitarian action.

14. Digital launch of “I4Fund call for proposal” website at India-Israel Business Summit

● Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli

counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu launched the maiden call for joint R&D projects under the ‘India-Israel Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund (I4F)’ during the India-Israel Business Summit on Monday in New Delhi.The “I4Fund Call for Proposal” was announced with the joint launch of the website and the unveiling of the brochure by the two PMs.


● The “India-Israel Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund (I4F)” was announced in July, 2017 during the PM’s visit to Israel. Under this, the Department of Science and Technology, India and the National Innovation Authority of Israel have established a 40 million US dollar Fund.

15. TCS Bags Over USD 690 Million Deal From M&G Prudential

● India’s largest IT services firm Tata

Consultancy Services (TCS) has signed an over GBP 500 million (USD 690 million) deal with M&G Prudential, the UK and European savings and investments business of Prudential plc.

● Under the contract, TCS will digitally transform M&G Prudential’s business and deliver enhanced service for its UK savings and retirement customers.

● The value of this agreement exceeds GBP 500 million (USD 690 million) over 10 years and covers the support of over 4 million customer policies.

Important Points: Tata Consultancy Services

➢ Founded: 1968 ➢ Headquarters: Mumbai ➢ Founders: F. C. Kohli, J. R. D. Tata

16. DIPP arm launches competition for college students

● Cell for IPR Promotion and

Management (CIPAM), under the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP), has launched a competition for college and university students to foster a culture of innovation and creativity in the youth.

● The competition – IPrism – invites students to submit films on piracy and counterfeiting under two categories of 30 and 60 seconds.

● Another category in the competition is a mobile gaming app on intellectual property (IP).

● Cash prizes of Rs 4 lakh will be given to the winning teams along with mementoes and

certificates.


17. Exports rise more than 12% riding on engineering goods and petroleum products

● The Country’s exports grew by 12 points 36 percent in December 2017 to 27 point 03 billion US dollars on account of the strong performance by sectors like engineering goods and petroleum products.

● According to data released by Ministry of Commerce and Industry, exports have been on a positive trajectory since August 2016 to December 2017 with a dip of 1.1 percent in the month of October last year.

● Exports of engineering goods as well as petroleum products showed an increase of over 25 percent in December.

18. MoS RK Singh attends ISA Forum in Abu Dhabi

● Minister of State (Independent Charge)

for Power and New & Renewable Energy, Raj Kumar Singh delivered the keynote address at the ministerial plenary session of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) at Abu Dhabi.

● The International Solar Alliance is a treaty based international inter-governmental alliance of 121 solar resource rich countries or the sunshine countries lying fully or partially between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn

Important Points: United Arab Emirates

➢ Capital: Abu Dhabi ➢ Currency: United Arab Emirates dirham ➢ President: Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan

19. WhatsApp Unveils New Business App For Small And Medium Enterprises

● Popular messaging platform WhatsApp

unveiled a new ‘WhatsApp Business’ app, aimed at small and medium enterprises.

● The free-to-download Android app will make it easier for companies to connect with customers, as well as its 1.3 billion users to chat with businesses.


● WhatsApp Business is available and free to download on Google Play in Indonesia, Italy, Mexico,

the UK and the US, it added.

● Using the business app, SMEs can help customers with useful information such as a business description, email or store addresses and website.

20. INS Vikramaditya affiliated to Bihar Regiment, IAF’s No. 6 Squadron

● Indian Naval Ship (INS) Vikramaditya, the

Indian Navy’s largest ship and its sole aircraft carrier were formally affiliated to the Indian Army’s highly-decorated and battle-hardened Bihar Regiment and the Indian Air Force’s No. 6 Squadron.

● A glittering ceremony was held onboard INS Vikramaditya at the Karwar Naval Base, nestled amongst the picturesque Western Ghats, attended by

Western Naval Command chief Vice Admiral Girish Luthra, and the Army’s Military Secretary Lt General Amarjeet Singh, who is also the Colonel of the Bihar Regiment.

21. President Kovind unveils book on self development in Delhi

● President Ram Nath Kovind unveiled a book

on heartfulness techniques and principles titled ‘The Heartfulness Way’.

● Authored by Kamlesh Patel, widely known as Daaji, the fourth Global Guide of Heartfulness, and Joshua Pollock, a heartfulness trainer and practitioner.

● The book promises to be a treat for those who are curious about what is heartfulness and how it can change our day-to-day lives. It was launched by

Commerce and Industries Minister Suresh Prabhu. 22. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) celebrated its 13th Raising Day

● The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF)

celebrated its 13th Raising Day. The Director Intelligence Bureau, Shri Rajiv Jain was the chief guest on this occasion.

● NDRF highlighted the disaster threat of country and important changes taken place in Disaster Management in India and across the world.


● The “Apex Body for Disaster Management” in India is the National Disaster Management

Authority (NDMA).

● The responsibility for Disaster Management in India’s federal system is that of the State Government.

23. India to grow at 7.4 percent in 2018: IMF

● India is projected to grow at 7.4 percent in 2018

as against China’s 6.8 percent, making it the fastest growing country among emerging economies.

● In its latest World Economic Outlook (WEO) update in Davos, Switzerland on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected a 7.8 percent growth rate for India in 2019.

● In 2017, India’s growth rate dropped to 6.7 percent. Important points: International Monetary Fund (IMF)

➢ Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States ➢ CEO: Christine Lagarde ➢ Founded: 27 December 1945, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States ➢ Formation: 27 December 1945 (72 years ago) ➢ Founders: John Maynard Keynes, Harry Dexter White

24. ONGC acquires 51.11% stake in HPCL for ₹36,915 crore

● Public sector exploration giant ONGC has got

the consent for acquiring controlling stake in fellow PSU Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL).

● According to a statement issued by ONGC, it has entered into a share purchase agreement with the President of India for acquiring the 778,845,375 equity shares of HPCL (representing 51.11 percent of HPCL).

● This acquisition is in line with the government’s objective to combine the Central Public Sector Enterprises to give them the capacity to bear higher risks and avail themselves of economies of scale.

Important points: ONGC – Oil and Natural Gas Corporation


➢ Headquarters: Uttarakhand ➢ CEO: Shashi Shanker ➢ Founded: 14 August 1956

25. India-ASEAN Business & Investment Conference held in New Delhi

● India-ASEAN business and investment

conference held in New Delhi ahead of the landmark commemorative summit meeting on the 25th of January.

● The Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu stresses enhanced connectivity via land to strengthen trade ties.

● Silver jubilee of India-ASEAN partnership is being celebrated in New Delhi on the 25th January with an unprecedented summit meet.

26. NIIF makes first investment, partners with DP World

● National Investment and Infrastructure

Fund (NIIF) makes its first investment; NIIF has partnered with DP World to create an investment platform for ports, terminals, transportation and logistics businesses in India.

● The first close of the NIIF Master Fund took place on October 2017 with contributions from a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and four Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs), viz., HDFC Group, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra

Life and Axis Bank. 27. Government to infuse over Rs. 88,139 cr in PSU banks

● The government announced Rs. 88,139

crore capital infusion in 20 public sector banks (PSBs) during the current fiscal, with IDBI Bank getting the most – Rs. 10,610 crore.

● The unprecedented Rs. 2.1 lakh crore bank recapitalization plan announced in October last year was to be spread over two financial years – 2017-18 and 2018-19.

● Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had undertaken a detailed exercise on the amount of capital to be infused into the PSBs.


28. India Ranks 81st On Global Talent Competitiveness Index

● India has moved up on a global talent

competitiveness index to the 81st position but remains a laggard among the BRICS nations.

● While Switzerland continues to top the list released every year on the first day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting here, India has improved its position from 92nd last year.

● India’s ranking was the worst among the five BRICS countries in 2017 as well when China was ranked 54th, Russian Federation was placed at 56th, followed by South Africa (67) and Brazil (81).

29. India ranks 177 out of 180 in Environmental Performance Index

● India is among the bottom five countries on

the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2018, plummeting 36 places from 141 in 2016, according to a biennial report by Yale and Columbia Universities along with the World Economic Forum.

● While India is at the bottom of the list in the environmental health category, it ranks 177 out of 180 as far as air quality is concerned.

● The report was released on the sidelines of the ongoing World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

30. India to host informal WTO Ministerial gathering in March

● Trade ministers from various countries

including Australia, Japan and Switzerland met for an informal WTO ministerial gathering in Davos.India to host informal WTO Ministerial gathering in March.

● The meeting would be held in New Delhi on March 19-20.

● The meeting, also attended by the US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, was held on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual

summit.


● India was represented by Deepak Jagdish Saksena, ambassador and permanent representative to the WTO.

Important points: World Trade Organization (WTO)

➢ Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland ➢ Founded: 1 January 1995 ➢ Leader: Roberto Azevêdo

31. Paytm, Alibaba’s AGTech Holdings launch new mobile gaming platform

● Mobile payments company Paytm, Alibaba’s

AGTech Holdings launch new mobile gaming platform aimed at mobile users in India.

● The joint venture between Alibaba’s AGTech Holdings and Paytm was originally signed in July 2017.

● AGTech Media currently holds 45% in the joint venture, and Paytm owns the rest.

● At the time of the signing of the agreement, Paytm’s parent company One97 invested $8.8 million

in the venture for its 55% stake, and AGTech Holdings put in $7.2 million for its 45% stake. Important points: Alibaba Group

➢ Executive Chairman: Jack Yun MA ➢ Headquarters: Hangzhou, China ➢ Founded: 4 April 1999

Paytm

➢ Founder: Vijay Shekhar Sharma ➢ Founded: 2010 ➢ CEO: Renu Satti ➢ Headquarters: Noida

32. Mahatma Gandhi death anniversary: Nation pays tribute on Martyr’s Day


● The nation remembers Mahatma Gandhi, as it observes the 70th death anniversary of the father of the nation.

● Gandhi was shot dead 69 years ago on January 30, 1948, by Nathuram Godse.

● President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi

among other leaders will pay their tribute to Gandhi at Rajghat on this occasion.

● President Ram Nath Kovind paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi and tweeted: “On Martyrs’ Day, we gratefully remember Mahatma Gandhi and the countless freedom fighters who sacrificed their all for our Independence.”

33. India cheapest country to live in after South Africa

● India cheapest country to live in after South

Africa. India is ranked second only to South Africa as the cheapest country to live or retire, according to a recent survey of 112 countries.

● The survey by GoBankingRates ranked nations on the bases of four key affordability metrics provided by online pricing database Number. The metrics are: Local purchasing power index, rent index, Groceries index, and Consumer price index.

● India is cheaper than its neighbouring countries like Colombia ranked at 13, Pakistan (14), Nepal (28), Bangladesh (40).

● Among the most expensive countries in the survey are Bermuda (ranked 112), Bahamas (111),

Hong Kong (110), Switzerland (109) and Ghana (108). 34. Aadhaar is Oxford dictionary’s Hindi word of 2017

● Aadhaar is Oxford dictionary’s Hindi word of

2017. The word gained popularity due to Aadhaar card, which was in news 2017 and is likely to remain in highlight this year as well.

● The announcement was made at a session “Oxford Dictionaries’ Hindi Word of the Year” during the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival in Jaipur.

● Other words such as ‘Mitron’, ‘Notebandi’, ‘Gau-Rakshak’ were also considered, but the widespread discussions and debates around ‘Aadhaar’ was the reason it was selected as the word of the year.


35. CRISIL upgrades outlook on 18 PSBs from negative to stable

● Rating agency CRISIL has revised its outlook on

18 public sector banks (PSBs) from “negative” to “stable” after the government announced bank-wise capital infusion and reform plans.

● The revision in outlook is primarily driven by the government’s PSB recapitalisation programme for this fiscal (2017-18). This will improve the financial risk profile of these banks and help them meet Basel-III regulatory capital norms.

● It also provides a cushion against an expected rise in provisioning for non-performing assets (NPAs).

Important points: CRISIL: Credit Rating Information Services Of India Limited

➢ CEO: Ashu Suyash ➢ Headquarters: Mumbai ➢ Founded: 1987

36. Indian, Vietnamese armies hold first military exercise

● Armies of India and Vietnam began a

six-day-long military exercise in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, reflecting growing defence ties between the two countries.

● The exercise named ‘VINBAX’ is the first military exercise between the two countries.

● Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc was in New Delhi to participate in the India-ASEAN

Commemorative summit and attend the Republic Day celebrations. Important points: Vietnam

➢ Capital: Hanoi ➢ Currency: Vietnamese dong ➢ President: Tran Dai Quang ➢ Prime Minister: Nguyen Xuan Phuc

37. India, ADB sign $250 million loan for rural road projects in five states


● The Government of India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a $250 million loan to finance the construction of 6,254 kilometres all-weather rural roads in the States of Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal under the Prime Ministers Rural Roads Program (PMGSY).

● The program is aimed at improving rural connectivity, facilitating safer and more efficient access

to livelihood and socio-economic opportunities for rural communities through improvements to about 12,000 kilometres Rural Roads across the 5 States.

38. India ranks sixth in the list of wealthiest countries

● India has been ranked sixth in the list of

wealthiest countries with the total wealth of 8,230 billion US dollars, while the United States topped the chart. According to a report by New World Wealth.

● India was the best-performing wealth market globally in 2017 as its total wealth swelled from 6,584 billion dollars in 2016 to 8,230 billion dollars in 2017, registering a 25 percent growth.

● The report noted that the United States is the wealthiest country in the world as the total wealth held in

2017 amounted to 64,584 billion dollars, followed by China at the second place with 24,803 billion dollars and Japan with 19,522 billion dollars at third.


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