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

India, Tunisia, Papua New Guinea to sign MoU on elections

January 23, 2020

The Union cabinet on Wednesday gave its approval allowing the Election Commission (EC) to sign memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with its counterparts in Tunisia and Papua New Guinea.

The EC will enter into MoUs with the Independent High Authority for Elections of Tunisia (ISIE) and the Papua New Guinea Electoral Commission (PNGEC) for cooperation in the field of electoral management and administration.

The Cabinet also gave its nod for the four agreements between India and Brazil in the field of oil and natural gas, Geology and Mineral Resources, mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters and cooperation in the field of early childhood care.

Telangana: Closure of Hindustan Fluorocarbons plant approved

January 23, 2020

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved closure of Hindustan Fluorocarbons Ltd (HFL), a central public sector enterprise with just 88 employees. The decision was taken in a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

HFL has only one plant located at Rudraram, District Sangareddy in Telangana. HFL has been making losses since 2013-14 and has negative net worth. Government granted a interest free loan of over 77 crore rupees to HFL for expenditure exclusively on closure.

Dharmendra Pradhan launches ‘SERVICE’ to promote Philanthropist Activities

January 23, 2020

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel Shri Dharmendra Pradhan launched a scheme ‘SERVICE‘ of SAIL to promote Voluntary Philanthropist Activities (VPA) by its employees.

The scheme called “SAIL Employee Rendering Voluntarism and Initiatives for Community Engagement (SERVICE)” will promote and facilitate philanthropist activities by the employees in a structured manner.

The Minister also launched “SAIL SERVICE” portal for implementation of this Scheme, it shall act as a platform for enabling faster interaction and communication amongst the various stakeholders.

Brexit divorce law approved by UK Parliament

January 23, 2020

The Brexit divorce deal completed its passage through Parliament on Wednesday evening, ensuring that the U.K. will leave the European Union at the end of the month. After passing the upper and lower parliamentary chambers, the Brexit divorce deal that Prime Minister Boris Johnson negotiated with the EU last year now just needs signoff from the queen to become British law.

On the European side, the EU council and commission presidents are due to sign off on the agreement Friday. The European Parliament needs to vote it through next Wednesday, but that step is considered a formality. The passage of the bill through Parliament ends nearly four years of British political paralysis sparked by the vote to leave the EU in 2016.

Mr. Johnson’s commanding majority in Parliament following his December election victory meant that the Brexit deal went through Parliament un-amended. It paves the way for the U.K. to end its 47-year relationship with the EU on the evening of January 31.

Aurobindo Ashram School building inaugurated in Nepal

January 23, 2020

Dr. Ajay Kumar, the Charge d’ Affairs of Embassy of India in Nepal ceremonially inaugurated new building of Aurobindo Ashram School in Thankot, Kathmandu. The programme was attended by Director General, Department of Urban Development and Building Construction of Nepal, Mani Ram Gelal along with political and community leaders.

The three storey building comprises eleven class rooms, three labs, four store rooms, two staff rooms, rooms for – accounts, administration, record, library and principal. It also has examination and multi-purpose hall. The new infrastructure is constructed with the Government of India’s grant assistance of 25 million Nepali rupees.

Decision to declare corona virus outbreak ‘An emergency’

January 23, 2020

The World Health Organization (WHO) is holding a crucial emergency meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss the novel coronavirus outbreak in China. The UN body will decide if the outbreak of a new Chinese strain of coronavirus — cousin of the devastating SARS virus — is “a public health emergency of international concern”.

Such a declaration would be significant. It means the WHO thinks immediate and coordinated international action may be needed to contain the infectant, which has caused nine deaths in China and caused hundreds to fall sick across Asia. Cases have been reported in several places outside China, including Japan and the United States. India has already issued a travel warning. Several countries have also started screening travellers from China to detect symptoms of the infection.

National Data and Analytics Platform to be developed by Niti Aayog

January 24, 2020

Government think-tank Niti Aayog will develop a National Data and Analytics Platform (NDAP) to make all government data accessible to stakeholders in one place powered by a user friendly search engine, seamless navigation and a worldclass user interface.

Data will be provided in a machine-readable format with customisable analytics and will be sourced from different Central and State Ministries and Departments. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) will be developed to keep data updated.

To provide direction, oversee progress, guide on data sources, and address various inter-ministerial issues on collating data there will be a high powered steering committee under the chairmanship of Vice Chairman, Niti Aayog, Rajiv Kumar.

There will also be a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) consisting of sector and technology experts to provide guidance on the development of the platform, management of data, and aligning the platform for user-needs.

Training launch of nuclear-capable missile ‘Ghaznavi’ in Pakistan

January 24, 2020

Pakistan conducted a successful training launch of nuclear-capable surface-to-surface ballistic missile ‘Ghaznavi‘. The missile is capable of delivering multiple types of warheads upto a range of 290 kilometers. The launch aimed at rehearsing operational readiness procedures during day and night, was a part of Field Training Exercise of Army Strategic Forces Command.

The launch was witnessed by Lt Gen Nadeem Zaki Manj, Director General Strategic Plans Division, Commander Army Strategic Forces Command, senior officers from Strategic Plans Division, Army Strategic Forces Command, Scientists and Engineers of the strategic organisations.

RBI buys Rs 10,000 cr long-term and sells Rs 2,950 cr short-term securities

January 24, 2020

The Reserve Bank of India bought Rs 10,000 crore worth of long-term securities and sold Rs 2,950 crore worth of short-term government bonds in the fourth special open market operation (OMO) auctions.

In the OMO purchase auction, the RBI received bids worth Rs 26,887 crore for two types of securities, 7.32 per cent 2024 and 6.45 percent 2029, but accepted only Rs 10,000 crore of bids. For 7.32 per cent-2024, it got 157 bids and accepted 40 bids.

The RBI offered to sell two government securities, 7.80 per cent 2021 and 7.94 per cent 2021, through the OMO. It received Rs 35,375 crore of bids but accepted Rs 2,950 crore of bids.

All-in-one app with multilingual chat-bot launched by City Union Bank

January 24, 2020

City Union Bank has introduced its multilingual interactive voice based all-in-one mobile app, through which the customers can converse with the chat-bot ‘Ask Lakshmi’ of the app in Tamil, English, Hindi or Telugu. They can converse for the general banking needs including transactions such as balance enquiry, mini statement, fund transfer over voice/ text instructions.

This new app covers all the financial and non-financial transactions such as fund transfer, bill payments, opening & closing of deposits, opening & closing of loan on deposits, balance enquiry, statement of account, stop payment of cheque, set card limit, handle wallet/ UPI and invest in Mutual Funds through simple guided interaction.

January 2020 Current Affairs

India, Tunisia, Papua New Guinea to sign MoU on elections

Telangana: Closure of Hindustan Fluorocarbons plant approved

Dharmendra Pradhan launches ‘SERVICE’ to promote Philanthropist Activities

Brexit divorce law approved by UK Parliament

Aurobindo Ashram School building inaugurated in Nepal

Decision to declare corona virus outbreak ‘An emergency’

National Data and Analytics Platform to be developed by Niti Aayog

Training launch of nuclear-capable missile ‘Ghaznavi’ in Pakistan

RBI buys Rs 10,000 cr long-term and sells Rs 2,950 cr short-term securities

All-in-one app with multilingual chat-bot launched by City Union Bank

All In One Current Affairs

State-Wise Static GK