January 2020 Current Affairs

Welcome to the India’s most advanced, updated and accurate website for Current Affairs. In this section you will get all the January 2020 Current Affairs. Focus Merit is fully dynamic and offers high level of accuracy and functionality to read Current Affairs as per your needs. We provide you the functionality for free that even paid subscriptions don’t provide you. We hope to get your support and encouraging response.

Please check our All In one Current Affairs that can make your learning and revision process a lot more easier and precise with options that make this platform unique and the first choice of all aspirants preparing for competitive exams. Make sure to click on underlined text in between current Affairs for additional static and current information.

DateDayTheme 2020
04 January World Braille Day
06 JanuaryJournalist day (in Maharashtra)
09 JanuaryPravasi Bhartiya Divas
10 JanuaryWorld Hindi Day
11-17 JanuaryNational Road Safety WeekSadak Suraksha - Jeevan Suraksha.
12 JanuaryNational Youth Day
14 JanuaryArmed Forces Veterans Day
15 JanuaryIndian Army Day
18 January15th Raising day of NDRF
19 JanuaryNational Immunization day
24 JanuaryNational Girl Child Day
24 JanuaryInternational day of educationLearning for people, planet, prosperity and peace.
25 JanuaryNational Voters' DayElectoral Literacy for a Stronger Democracy
25 JanuaryNational Tourism Day
26 JanuaryInternational Customs DayCustoms fostering Sustainability for people, prosperity and the planet.
26 JanuaryWorld Leprosy DayLeprosy isn't what you think
27 JanuaryInternational day of the commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust “75 years after Auschwitz – Holocaust Education and Remembrance for Global Justice”
30 JanuaryWorld Neglected Tropical diseases day
Click on the Underlined Text for additional Static information.

New Delhi: President launches Pulse Polio Programme for 2020

President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday launched the Pulse Polio program by administering polio drops to children below five years at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. The Pulse Polio programme will be held across the country on Sunday.

Union Health Minister J P Nadda was also present on the occasion. The president has appealed all the parents to administer the pulse polio drop to their children to keep them safe from the disease.

Polio booths have been set up across all states which will remain open from 9 am to 4 pm. The programme is a part of immunization drive of the Central Government to sustain polio eradication from the country.

RBI Ranks 6th among central banks in buying gold abroad in 2019: WGC Report

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was the sixth largest gold buyer abroad in the year 2019, as per the World Gold Council (WGC) report titled, “World Gold Outlook 2020”. The RBI currently holds 625.2 tonnes of gold, which is 6.6 percent of its forex reserves.

RBI bought 7.5 tonnes of gold in October 2019, to increase its foreign exchange reserves to $450 billion. The central banks of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Poland bought more than India in 2019 respectively.

The report is a compilation of lists that rank 28 cities around the world to purchase luxury goods and services. Out of 28 cities, Mumbai was ranked as the cheapest city for purchasing luxury goods and services, while Hong Kong was found to be the most expensive.

CSIR-CCMB workshop on genome for offering customized healthcare

Indian and US researchers, to know the genetic foundation of sicknesses amongst quite a lot of ethnic populations from other portions of the arena, participated in a workshop organised through CSIR-Centre for Mobile and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad.

The workshop focussed on working out genome data in a greater means. The 3-day workshop, began on January 16. Stepped forward data on genome can lend a hand fine-tune genome-assisted healthcare, and may even result in exact, personalised, simpler and economical approaches to healthcare.

The workshop was once attended by around 200 researchers, lots of whom are promising PhD students from analysis institutes, universities, hospitals and lifestyles science corporations in India and the USA.

This workshop organized through the Indo-US Science and Generation Discussion board, supported through the Division of Science and Generation, India, and Division of State, USA, with an intention to create fruitful collaborations between the 2 nations.

‘Rome Ranking Series’ India bags 7 medals in wrestling.

In wrestling, India has bagged seven medals in the Rome Ranking Series. The 25-year-old Bajrang Punia staged a comeback to secure a 4-3 win and clinched gold medal against USA’s Jordan Michael Oliver in the summit showdown of the 65kg freestyle category. The 23-year-old Ravi Kumar bagged the gold medal after defeating Kazakhstan’s Nurbolat Abdualiyev 12-2 in his final 61 kg category.

Earlier, Vinesh Phogat won a gold and Anshu Malik a silver in the women’s competition. In Greco-roman, Gurpreet Singh won a gold in 82 kg category. Sunil Kumar settled for a silver in 97kg category while Sajan Bhanwal got a bronze in the 77 kg category.

Odia Classical Singer Sunanda Patnaik passed away

Eminent Indian classical singer Sunanda Patnaik, who had carved a special identity in Odia music world, passed away following a prolonged illness. She was 85.

Popularly known as ‘Guguma’, Patnaik was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Kolkata where she breathed her last Sunday morning.

Daughter of legendary Odia poet Baikunthanath Patnaik, the veteran singer was born November 7, 1934, and started her career in singing at the All India Radio, Cuttack in 1948 at the age of 14.

Titular Queen of Bhopal, Saleha Sultan passes away

Princess Saleha Sultan, the titular queen of Bhopal and wife of the late Nawab Bashir Yar Jung of the Paigah family, passed away in Hyderabad on Sunday. She was 80. The funeral will take place in Bhopal on Monday. Her husband Nawab Bashir Yar Jung from the Paigah family, whose father constructed the Falaknuma Palace, passed away in 2019.

Princess Saleha was the eldest child of the Nawab of Pataudi senior Hajji Nawab Hafiz Muahmmad Hamidullah Khan and Nawab Begum of Bhopal Sajida Sultan. She was the sister of Nawab Muhammad Mansur Ali Khan Bahadur known as Tiger Pataudi.

Though she was elder to Tiger Pataudi, she was never recognised as the ‘Nawab’ of Bhopal. After the death of Sajid Sultan, the ‘Nawab Begum of Bhopal’, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi was recognised as the head of the royal house of Bhopal and retained that title till his death.

National Disaster Response Force celebrated its 15th Raising Day

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was founded on 18th January 2006. NDRF celebrated its 15th Raising Day on 18th January 2020. Workshops on ‘Urban flooding & challenges’ and ‘Biological Emergencies & New Technology in Disaster Management’ were also conducted during the celebrations.

The Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Nityanand Rai was the chief guest on this occasion and Shri G.V.V. Sarma, Member Secretary, NDMA was the Guest of Honor.

The organization plays an important role in Disaster Management and Community awareness for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in the country. NDRF has saved more than One lakh lives in its 3100 operations and rescued over 6.7 lakh people during disasters.

National Immunization Day observed in India

On January 19, 2020, the National Immunization Day (NID) was observed all over India as a part of Pulse Polio Programme, 2020. Around 17.4 crore children of age less than 5 years were administered polio drops to sustain polio eradication in India. India has eradicated polio completely in 2012.

The National Immunization Day are one of the four strategies that are recommended by the WHO to eradicate polio completely. According to WHO, the NID has to be conducted twice a year at a gap of 2 to 4 weeks. The next round of National Immunization Day is to be held in March 10.

New Delhi: CM releases ‘Guarantee card’ ahead of Assembly Polls

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday released a “guarantee card” listing 10 promises, including free bus rides for students and deployment of ‘mohalla marshals’ for women’s safety, that his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will fulfil if it is re-elected in Delhi.

The card, “10 guarantees of Kejriwal“, also promises to continue the scheme for free electricity up to 200 units, free health facilities, to plant two crore saplings, clean Yamuna river and reduce pollution in Delhi over the next five years.

He will launch a comprehensive manifesto in 7-10 days which will have more things specifically for students, teachers, among others. The “guarantee card” also promises more than 11,000 buses and to increase the length of the Delhi Metro network to over 500 km.

Qatar signs $470 mn solar deal for its first solar energy plant

Gas-rich Qatar signed a $470-million deal to build its first solar energy plant, capable of meeting up to one-tenth of peak national power demand. The capital cost of the venture is 1.7 billion riyals ($470 million), with state firms taking a 60-percent stake and foreign investors 40 percent.

The Al-Kharsaah plant, near the capital, is a 10 square kilometre joint venture with French and Japanese partners due for completion in 2022 ahead of the football World Cup. Eight times the solar power pledged in the World Cup bid will be produced.

Qatar’s ruler, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, vowed at the United Nations last year that the tournament would be carbon neutral, but gave little detail on how this would be achieved. By contrast, Abu Dhabi’s Sweihan plant, one of the world’s largest solar projects, produces 1,177 megawatts.