Focus Merit

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

Indian Oil signs pact with National Petroleum Authority of Ghana

January 23, 2020

Indian Oil has signed an MoU with Ghana’s National Petroleum Authority (NPA) to offer assistance and technical expertise to the country in implementing its National LPG Promotion Policy.

The purpose of this MoU is to strengthen cooperation between the two parties in the field of petroleum, in particular LPG, in which IOC would support the NPA in the successful implementation of the Cylinder Recirculation Model (CRM) of LPG.

Indian Oil will provide support to the NPA in developing Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE) Standards, a licensing, permit and legal framework, the economics for LPG bottling plants, a pricing structure, and a communication strategy.

Katerina Sakellaropoulou elected as first woman president of Greece

January 23, 2020

Katerina Sakellaropoulou, a high court judge and human rights activist, on Wednesday was elected Greece’s first female president by the country’s Parliament with an overwhelming majority. She will succeed current conservative President Prokopis Pavlopoulos, whose five-year term expires in March.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis nominated Sakellaropoulou, who enjoys broad support across the major political parties in Greece. In her first remarks as president-elect, Sakellaropoulou vowed to pursue the “broadest possible consensus” in carrying out her official duties. In 2018, Sakellaropoulou, 63, become the first woman to serve as president of the Council of State, which is Greece’s top administrative court.

Dr N Kumar, VC of TNAU honoured with ‘Harit Ratna Award 2019’

January 23, 2020

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) Vice Chancellor, Prof. (Dr) N Kumar has been conferred with National Award for Agriculture sector namely “Harit Ratna Award 2019”. The award was presented by All India Agricultural Students Association (AIASA) during 5th National Youth Convention held at Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyala, Raipur on January 20.

The award was conferred to him for dissemination of Rs.30 crore entrepreneurship project for attracting youth in agri business activity and his contribution to increase the impact of Fertigation, precision farming, ultra high density planting system for increasing farmers income and involved in increasing awareness of students and their role for welfare of the society and motivated the students to agriculture sector in Tamil Nadu.

Global Mega Science Exhibition “Vigyan Samagam” inaugurated in New Delhi

January 23, 2020

The Union Minister of State (I/C) Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, Dr. Jitendra Singh inaugurated India’s first global Mega Science Exhibition “Vigyan Samagam“. It will be be held from 21 January to 20 March 2020 at National Science Centre, New Delhi.

The exhibition is jointly organized by Department of Science and Technology (DST), Ministry of Science & Technology, GoI and the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) under the ageis of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).

The exhibition aims to highlight the value and impact of fundamental research to a broad cross-section of the audience including students, academician, and industry. The exhibition also aims to further strengthen India’s participation in mega-science Projects.

’12th Democracy Index 2019′ released by Economist Intelligence Unit

January 23, 2020

Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has released the 12th edition of the “Democracy Index 2019: A year of democratic setbacks and popular protest“. Norway topped the Index while North Korea was placed at the bottom of the list. India has been placed at 51st position among 167 countries in the Index and was included in flawed democracy.

Bangladesh has improved its ranking by 8 points and ranked at 80th position compared to 88th position in 2018. However, Bangladesh continues to be placed in the category of hybrid democracies. According to the EIU methodology hybrid regimes are marked by substantial electoral irregularities and government pressure on opposition parties.

According to The Economist Intelligence Unit’s measure of democracy, almost one-half of the world’s population live in a democracy of some sort, although only 5.7% reside in a full democracy. More than one-third of the world’s population live under authoritarian rule, with a large share being in China.

Indian Navy signs MoU with Geological Survey of India for offshore data

January 23, 2020

Indian Navy has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Geological Survey of India (GSI) for ‘Sharing of seabed sediments data, products and expertise for Naval Application in Meteorology and Oceanography’. The MoU was signed on 21 January 2020 between Commodore AA Abhyankar, who heads Indian Navy’s Oceanology and Meteorology Directorate and Shri N Maran, Deputy Director General of GSI.

GSI’s Marine and Coastal survey Division based at Mangaluru has mapped most of India’s 2.1 Million square km Exclusive Economic Zone and has a vast repository of offshore data. This data collected using GSI’s state-of-the-art oceanic research vessels Samudra Manthan, Samudra Kaustubh, Samudra Shaudhikama and Samudra Ratnakar, will now be used by Indian Navy’s rapidly growing blue water fleet for reliable and accurate oceanographic modeling to support their expansive maritime operations in the Indian Ocean region.

ISRO unveils ‘Vyommitra’ robot for Gaganyaan Space Mission

January 23, 2020

‘Vyommitra’ or ‘friend in the sky‘ a female humanoid robot for Gaganyaan Space Mission has been unveiled by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). ISRO has planned to execute two unmanned missions in December 2020 and June 2021, before the Ganganyaan mission. The inaugural session of the “Human Spaceflight and Exploration – Present Challenges and Future Trends” was held in Bengaluru.

ISRO chairman K Sivan stated, the humanoid will simulate human functions in space and also interact with the environment control life support system, it will check whether the system is right. This will be very useful to simulate, as if a human is flying.

Avadi Ordnance Factory doubles the manufacturing capacity of Battle Tanks

January 23, 2020

The engine manufacturing capacity for the battle tanks in the Indian Ordnance Board’s Engines Factory near Chennai has been more than doubled to 750 per annum to meet the increasing demand of the Indian Army. It was earlier fixed at 350 engines per year, as stated by the Board Chairman, Hari Mohan.

The new system is the first to be installed in any of the Ordnance Factories in the country to help increase productivity. The Engine Factory at Avadi is the only unit in the country dedicated to manufacturing fully indigenized engines for the Army’s Main Battle Tanks.

Rs 4300 cr approved to establish permanent campuses for new NITs

January 23, 2020

Union Cabinet approved the Revised Cost Estimates for establishment of permanent campuses of new National Institutes of Technology, NITs, at a total cost of 4371.90 crore rupees for the period till 2021-2022. These NITs will be fully functional from their permanent campuses by 31st March, 2022.

At a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Cabinet approved funds for the NITs in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Puducherry and Delhi. It also approved the extension of tenure of the Commission constituted under Article 340 of the Constitution by six months till 31st July 2020, to examine the issue of sub-categorization within Other Backward Classes in the Central List.

Cabinet has also granted approval to addition of Term of Reference to the existing ToR of the Commission which include studying various Entries in the Central List of OBCs and recommending correction of any repetitions, ambiguities, inconsistencies and errors of spelling or tranion. Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said, Daman will be the capital of newly carved out Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

Nation pays tribute to Subhas Chandra Bose on his 123rd birth anniversary

January 23, 2020

The nation pays tribute to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his 123rd birth anniversary today. It was on this day in 1897, Netaji was born in Cuttack, Odisha. President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have paid tributes to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

In West Bengal, Governor Jaghdeep Dhankhar will pay floral tribute at the statue of Netaji in Kolkata. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will pay homage at a function in Darjeeling this afternoon. State Government is organizing Subhash Utsav in each Blocks of the state.

People from all works of life are visiting the house of Netaji in South Kolkata since early morning to pay their homage to the great hero of the freedom movement. Netaji Research Bureau has also organized programmes in Kolkata on the occasion.

January 2020 Current Affairs

Indian Oil signs pact with National Petroleum Authority of Ghana

Katerina Sakellaropoulou elected as first woman president of Greece

Dr N Kumar, VC of TNAU honoured with ‘Harit Ratna Award 2019’

Global Mega Science Exhibition “Vigyan Samagam” inaugurated in New Delhi

’12th Democracy Index 2019′ released by Economist Intelligence Unit

Indian Navy signs MoU with Geological Survey of India for offshore data

ISRO unveils ‘Vyommitra’ robot for Gaganyaan Space Mission

Avadi Ordnance Factory doubles the manufacturing capacity of Battle Tanks

Rs 4300 cr approved to establish permanent campuses for new NITs

Nation pays tribute to Subhas Chandra Bose on his 123rd birth anniversary

All In One Current Affairs

State-Wise Static GK