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| Date | Day | Theme 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| 04 January | World Braille Day | |
| 06 January | Journalist day (in Maharashtra) | |
| 09 January | Pravasi Bhartiya Divas | |
| 10 January | World Hindi Day | |
| 11-17 January | National Road Safety Week | Sadak Suraksha - Jeevan Suraksha. |
| 12 January | National Youth Day | |
| 14 January | Armed Forces Veterans Day | |
| 15 January | Indian Army Day | |
| 18 January | 15th Raising day of NDRF | |
| 19 January | National Immunization day | |
| 24 January | National Girl Child Day | |
| 24 January | International day of education | Learning for people, planet, prosperity and peace. |
| 25 January | National Voters' Day | Electoral Literacy for a Stronger Democracy |
| 25 January | National Tourism Day | |
| 26 January | International Customs Day | Customs fostering Sustainability for people, prosperity and the planet. |
| 26 January | World Leprosy Day | Leprosy isn't what you think |
| 27 January | International day of the commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust | “75 years after Auschwitz – Holocaust Education and Remembrance for Global Justice” |
| 30 January | World Neglected Tropical diseases day |
Postal Ballot facility has been made available for Absentee voters in the category of Super Senior Citizens (over 80 years of age) and Person with Disability in the Delhi Assembly Election. Earlier it was only available to armed forces and those assigned in poll duties.
Qatar scrapped mandatory exit permits for migrant domestic staff and other groups, as part of efforts to boost rights for guest workers amid scrutiny of its record. Previously all foreigners working permanently in the gas-rich country required authorisation from bosses to leave, but now only military personnel will routinely require such a dispensation.
It also dropped the exit visa requirements for other foreign workers including civil servants, oil and gas workers, and employees of government bodies including Qatar Airways. The announcement came after Human Rights Watch published it annual report Tuesday, saying Qatari “reforms have not gone far enough, and implementation has been uneven“.
Qatar has made a series of reforms to its employment regulations since being selected to host the 2022 World Cup. Some two million foreigners work in Qatar, many employed directly or indirectly on vast infrastructure projects for the 2022 World Cup.
Domestic staff must give their employers 72 hours notice before leaving under the new rules. Companies can also designate up to five percent of staff as “responsible” roles, such as those with financial oversight, who will still be required to seek managerial approval to leave.
Arunachal Pradesh has become the first state in the country to initiate the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) ‘red listing’ at the state level. It has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the IUCN.
The MoU was signed by Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Manmohan Singh Negi and the IUCN’s country representative Dr. Vivek Saxena. The environment & forests department is the nodal department for executing the project.
The IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species is a critical indicator of the health of the world’s biodiversity. The project will be spread across 12 months, during which workshops on red list assessment will be conducted by experts from the IUCN.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the agreement to permanently settle Bru-Reang refugees in Tripura, saying it will “greatly help” them. Union Home Minister Amit Shah presided over the signing of a quadripartite pact of MHA with the State governments of Tripura, Mizoram and leaders of Bru community to facilitate permanent settlement of Bru refugees in Tripura with a Rs 600 crore rehabilitation package.
The agreement will benefit around 34,000 Bru refugees living in six camps in Tripura. They were forced to flee Mizoram following ethnic tension in 1997. Reangs or Brus are the second largest ethnic group in Mizoram.
India’s former solicitor general Harish Salve — who charged Re 1 for representing India in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case — has been appointed as Queen’s Counsel (QC) for the courts of England and Wales. This was announced by the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Justice Department.
Salve, the 63-year-old, who was born in Nagpur and studied law at Nagpur University was featured in the list of silk appointments released by the UK Ministry of Justice on January 13. He will formally take silk on March 16 at a ceremony in Westminster Hall after which he will take an oath in the UK High Court.
The title of Queen’s Counsel is usually awarded to lawyers possessing demonstrated skill and expertise in the conduct of advocacy. The appointment is done by the Queen, on the advice of the Lord Chancellor. He is advised by an independent Selection Panel which makes recommendations.
ISRO successfully launched India’s “high power” communication satellite GSAT-30, onboard Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana. GSAT-30 is an operational communication satellite aimed at providing high-quality television, telecommunications and broadcasting services.
The 3,357-kg satellite, was deployed from the lower passenger position of Ariane-5 launch vehicle (VA 251) into to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). EUTELSAT KONNECT – which was produced by Thales Alenia Space for Eutelsat – was riding in the upper position of Ariane 5’s payload arrangement, and was released first in the flight sequence at 27 minutes following liftoff.
GSAT-30 is to serve as replacement to the “aging” INSAT-4A spacecraft services with enhanced coverage. Since the launch of India’s APPLE experimental satellite on Ariane Flight L03 in 1981, Arianespace has orbited 24 satellites, including GSAT-30, for the Indian space agency.
Indian and Japanese coast guards participated in a joint exercise ‘Sahyog-Kaijin’ on January 16. The aim is to strengthen the bond between the two countries. One ship of the Japanese Coast Guard and four ships and an aircraft of the Indian Coast Guard took part in the exercise. The exercise marked demonstrations of search and rescue, external fire-fighting and sharing of best practices.
Led by Commanding Officer Captain Kiyoshi Harada, the ‘Ehigo PLH08’ and the four ships and a Dornier aircraft of Indian Coast Guard participated in the 5-day drill in the Bay of Bengal around 50 nautical miles off Chennai.
The ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2020 will take place between 17 January and 9 February 2020 in South Africa. Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe are automatic qualifiers and have been joined by five regional qualifiers Canada, Japan, Nigeria, Scotland and the UAE.
Indian team, under the captaincy of Priyam Garg, will look to defend the title when it begins its campaign against Sri Lanka at the Oval, Bloemfontein. India are placed in Group ‘A’ and will face New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Japan, who will be making their first-ever appearance in any World Cup.
India is the most successful team in the tournament, having won four titles till date, including the last edition in 2018. After playing Sri Lanka in their first group game, India will facedebutant Japan in their next group match on the 21st of this month.
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani launched the 7th Economic Census process in the state. The Economic Census process organized by the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation with the help of Common Service Centres. Around 40 thousand enumerators will use mobile applications for the first time to gather information under the guidance of 6,500 supervisors.
The enumerators will personally visit door to door for necessary information like members of the family, their economic activity, whether it is shop, office, or factory. It will continue till 30th June 2020. The entire data will be compiled on 30th September 2020. The data of this Economic Census will be classified into the village, taluka, and district-wise to be developed into a National Business Register. This will be a very useful document for application into socio-economic issues of the country.
Lt Col Yuvraj Malik appointed as the Director of the National Book Trust on deputation from the Indian Army. He will replace Sahitya Akademi-awardee writer Rita Chowdhury. He has 15 years of administrative experience in various capacities in government organizations.
He served with the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Home Affairs, Raj Bhawan in Jammu & Kashmir, United Nations Missions in Africa, and several operational areas in administrative and operational assignments, including Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim, Punjab, and Rajasthan.
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