National Affairs
IR sets up its Waste to energy plant at Mancheswar Carriage Repair Workshop in Bhubaneswar, Odisha
The East Coast Railway has successfully commissioned a waste-to-energy plant at Mancheswar Carriage Repair Workshop. The plant, first of its kind in Indian Railways and 4th in the country.
Railway Board Member (Rolling Stock) Rajesh Agarwal inaugurated the East Coast Railway’s (ECoR) waste to energy plant at Mancheswar Carriage Repair workshop in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. It is the fourth waste to energy plant in the country and first plant manufactured by Indian Railways (IR).
About Maharashtra:
- Chief Minister–Naveen Patnaik
- Governor-Ganeshi Lal
- Capital City-Bhubaneswar
Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurates India’s first global Mega Science Exhibition“Vigyan Samagam” in Delhi
The Union Minister of State (I/C) Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said that three-tier teams should be set up for scientific research involving older and younger generations, so that continuity can be maintained in research work.
The exhibition aims to focus the career path in the field of fundamental science and research among the students, academia and industries.
National Data and Analytics Platform will be developed by NITI Aayog
NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog, a policy think tank of the Government of India (GoI),has released the vision document for the National Data and Analytics Platform (NDAP), which contain the latest datasets from several government departments and will also provide tools for analytics and visualisation of data to stakeholders in a user-friendly manner.
The NDAP will take over a period of 1 year for its development process & the 1st version of the platform is expected to be released in 2021.
About NITI Aayog:
- Formed– 1 January 2015
- Headquarters– New Delhi.
- Chairperson– Narendra Modi.
Ministry of Rural Development signs MoU with BMGF under DAY-NRLM for furthering mutual objectives of strengthening grassroots institutions
The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), for furthering their mutual objectives of strengthening grassroots institutions of the rural poor. The MoU was signed by SmtAlkaUpadhyaya, Additional Secretary and Mission Director NRLM on behalf of MoRD and by Shri AlkeshWadhwanion behalf of BMGF in presence of Secretary, Shri Rajesh Bhushan who appreciated the initiative and collaboration between the two parties.
The MoU aims to reduce poverty of India’s poor people through institutions of marginalized rural women as it will lead to self-employment as well as creating skilled wage employment opportunities.
State News
Rajasthan
Jaipur Literature Festival begins in Rajasthan
The Jaipur Literature Festival has commenced in Jaipur. Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot inaugurated the festival. Addressing the inaugural session the Chief Minister said that JLF is the pride of Jaipur.He said that people know the culture of Rajasthan through this literary festival. He said that this is the platform where people can share their views without any hesitation.
Energy minister BD Kalla was also present in the function. About 500 speakers of different fields are participating in the festival, which is currently in its 13th year.
Uttar Pradesh
India’s 1st War Memorial For Animals Is Soon To Open In Meerut, UP
Meerut city in Uttar Pradesh will be host to India’s first war memorial for service animals including dogs, horses and mules. This place will dedicate itself to the contributions and heroics of animals who have helped the army in counter-insurgency operations in Kashmir and in the battlefield during the Kargil War.
Mansi, a labrador breed dog which was awarded the highest honour of animals will top the list of animals to be remembered.
New Delhi
Delhi airport gets a new women-only cab service
In an effort to make women feel safe in New Delhi, an exclusive taxi service named ‘Women with wheels’ has been launched from the Indira Gandhi International Airport in the city on 10th January 2020.
The unique all-women cab service is an initiative by ‘Sakha cabs’. It can be availed for any part of Delhi.
Important Points about Saksha Cabs:
CEO of Sakha Consulting Wings: Arvind Vadera.
International Affairs
Katerina Sakellaropoulou becomes Greece’s first woman president
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.
Switzerland mints world’s smallest gold coin values ¼ Swiss francs
Switzerland state-owned Swiss mint has minted World’s smallest gold coin of 2.96 millimeter (0.12 inches). The coin will feature face of scientist Albert Einstein sticking out his tongue.
It weighs 0.063 grams (1/500 th of an ounce) and has a nominal value of 1/4 Swiss francs (USD United States Dollar- 0.26).
About Switzerland:
- Capital-Bern(De-facto).
- Currency- Swiss franc.
India delivers 30k doses of MR vaccine to Maldives within 72 hours
India today supplied 30,000 doses of Measles and Rubella (MR) vaccine to the Maldives responding swiftly to an emergency request to contain the measles outbreak in the Maldives. The vaccine supply was quickly procured and delivered to Maldives Health Ministry within 72 hours of the request.
Health Minister Abdulla Ameen presented a certificate of appreciation to Indian Ambassador Sunjay Sudhir, to thank the Government of India for this gesture of goodwill and solidarity.
About Maldives:
- Capital- Male
- Currency – Rufiya
World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative: Srilanka tops in supporting breastfeeding women
As per survey conducted by World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi), Sri Lanka ranked 1st out of 97 surveyed countries in supporting breastfeeding women and achieved the status of being the first ever green nation in supporting them.The status has been awarded based on its performance on 10 indicators which WBTi uses to color-code the countries.
Sri Lanka scored 91/100 on 10 parameters policy and programmes and lead to improved breastfeeding practices.
About Sri Lanka:
- President-Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
- Capitals-Colombo, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte.
- Currency-Sri Lankan rupee.
- Prime minister-Mahinda Rajapaksa
Banking & Finance
Vodafone m-pesa’s certificate of authorisation cancelled by RBI
RBI has cancelled Vodafone’ certificate of authorisation after the telecom company surrendered it voluntarily. Customers can make a claim till 30 September 2022.
Vodafone Idea closed the m-pesa after getting merged with the Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank Limited in 2019.
Important Points:
- Vodafone M-pesa Limited Formation: 13 September 2014.
- Vodafone M-pesa Limited Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra.
New India Co-operative Bank(NICB) to be converted as Small Finance Bank
The New India Co-operative Bank (NICB) has been decided to be converted into a Small Finance Bank (SFB) after being agreed by its shareholders under Voluntary Transition of Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks (UCBs) into SFB. NICB will now approach the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) and Central Registrar of Societies for further action.
The bank is currently operating in Maharashtra and Gujarat and has networth of Rs. 230 crores. A minimum of Rs.200 crore is needed to set up an SFB.
About NICB:
- Formation-1968 as Bombay Labour Cooperative Bank Ltd & renamed in 1977.
- Chairman-Ranjit Bhanu.
City Union Bank introduces multilingual Voice based ‘All-In-One’ Application
The City Union Bank is the first Bank in the country to introduce multilingual voice enabled mobile banking App. The customers can converse with the chat-bot ‘Ask Lakshmi’ of the App in Tamil, English, Hindi or Telugu. Customers can converse with this bot for their general banking needs including transactions like Balance enquiry, mini statement, fund transfer over voice/text instructions.
Important Points:
- Headquarters – Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu
- MD & CEO – Dr. N. Kamakodi
Ranks & Reports
Global unemployment projected to rise by around 2.5 million in 2020: UN report
Global unemployment is projected to increase by around 2.5 million in 2020 and almost half a billion people are working fewer paid hours than they would like or lack adequate access to paid work, according to UN’s International Labour Organization report.
Global unemployment was stable for the last 9 years but as global economic growth is slowing down and the number of workers is increasing, in that proportion new jobs are not being created in the market.
Important Points about ILO:
- Headquarters– Geneva, Switzerland
- Director-General– Guy Ryder
Economist Intelligence Unit released Democracy Index 2019
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.
About EIU:
- Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Founded: 1946.
- Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Headquarters: London, England.
Sports News
Maharashtra retains Khelo India Youth Games champions trophy
Maharashtra won its second Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) trophy in a row by grabbing 78 gold, 77 silver and 101 bronze medals. Assam’s swimmer Shivangi Sharma won five gold and two silver medals and became the most successful female player of the tournament.
Haryana came second with 200 medals (68 gold, 60 silver, 72 bronze), followed by Delhi at third with 122 medals (39 gold, 36 silver, 47 bronze).
About Assam:
- Capital of Assam: Dispur;
- Governor of Assam: Jagdish Mukhi.
World Archery lifts suspension on AAI
World Archery on Thursday decided to lift the suspension imposed on the Archery Association of India (AAI).The decision was taken by World Archer’s executive board postal vote and this comes after AAI’s independent elections.
AAI will be required to send a progress report every 3 months to World Archery as the federation instructed to update the constitution athlete membership.
Important Points:
- President- Ugur Erdener.
- Headquarters- Lausanne, Switzerland.
Important Days
National Girl Child Day to be celebrated on January 24
National Girl Child Day will be celebrated on 24 January in Madhya Pradesh on the theme of “Aware girl child-able Madhya Pradesh” (Jagruk Balika-Samarth Madhya Pradesh) under the “Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao” scheme.
About Madhya Pradesh:
- Capital- Bhopal
- Chief Minister (CM)-Kamal Nath.
- Governor- Lalji Tandon.
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