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Current Affairs Pocket PDF – January 2021

Table of Contents
NATIONAL AFFAIRS ........................................................................................................................................................ 5
CABINET APPROVALS ................................................................................................................................................. 5
PARLIAMENT NEWS ................................................................................................................................................... 6
STATEWISE NATIONAL NEWS................................................................................................................................... 6
LAUNCHES & INAUGURATION ................................................................................................................................. 10
FESTIVALS ................................................................................................................................................................. 14
OTHER NATIONAL NEWS ......................................................................................................................................... 15
GOVT SCHEMES ............................................................................................................................................................. 23
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS ........................................................................................................................................... 24
VISITS ............................................................................................................................................................................. 26
INDIAN VISIT ............................................................................................................................................................. 26
FOREIGN VISIT .......................................................................................................................................................... 26
BANKING & FINANCE.................................................................................................................................................... 27
RBI IN NEWS .............................................................................................................................................................. 27
AGREEMENTS & MoUs SIGNED................................................................................................................................ 29
OTHER BANKING NEWS ........................................................................................................................................... 30
FINANCE NEWS ......................................................................................................................................................... 32
ECONOMY & BUSINESS ................................................................................................................................................. 34
GDP & GROWTH RATE .............................................................................................................................................. 34
ECONOMY NEWS ....................................................................................................................................................... 36
BUSINESS NEWS ........................................................................................................................................................ 36
MoU’s & AGREEMENTS ................................................................................................................................................. 37
MoU’s BETWEEN COUNTRY ..................................................................................................................................... 37
MoU’s WITH STATES ................................................................................................................................................. 38
MoU’s BETWEEN ORGANIZATION........................................................................................................................... 40
OTHER MoU’S IN CONTENT FORMAT ..................................................................................................................... 43
APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS ............................................................................................................................. 44
APPOINTMENTS ........................................................................................................................................................ 44
NATIONAL .................................................................................................................................................................. 44
INTERNATIONAL....................................................................................................................................................... 47
COUNTRY AMBASSADORS........................................................................................................................................ 48
RESIGNATIONS .......................................................................................................................................................... 48
OTHER APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS ........................................................................................................... 49
AWARDS ......................................................................................................................................................................... 50

AWARDS IN THE FIELD OF LITERATURE & ACADEMICS ...................................................................................... 50
AWARDS IN THE FIELD OF SOCIAL SERVICE, SCIENCE & BRAVERY ................................................................... 50
OTHER IMPORTANT AWARDS ................................................................................................................................. 51
RECOGNITIONS ......................................................................................................................................................... 54
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS IN CONTENT FORMAT .............................................................................................. 54
SUMMITS, EVENTS & CONFERENCE............................................................................................................................ 55
SUMMITS .................................................................................................................................................................... 55
EVENTS ...................................................................................................................................................................... 56
CONFERENCE ............................................................................................................................................................ 56
COMMITTEES & MEETINGS ......................................................................................................................................... 57
COMMITTEES............................................................................................................................................................. 57
MEETINGS .................................................................................................................................................................. 58
COMMITTEES & MEETINGS IN CONTENT FORMAT .............................................................................................. 60
INDEX ............................................................................................................................................................................. 60
RANKING .................................................................................................................................................................... 60
REPORTS .................................................................................................................................................................... 63
ACQUISITION & MERGERS ........................................................................................................................................... 66
DEFENCE ........................................................................................................................................................................ 69
EXERCISE ................................................................................................................................................................... 69
TESTING ..................................................................................................................................................................... 69
ARMY, NAVY & AIR FORCE NEWS............................................................................................................................ 70
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY............................................................................................................................................. 71
SATELLITES LAUNCHES ........................................................................................................................................... 71
NATIONAL .................................................................................................................................................................. 72
ENVIRONMENT ............................................................................................................................................................. 73
SPORTS ........................................................................................................................................................................... 74
CRICKET ..................................................................................................................................................................... 74
BADMINTON & TENNIS ............................................................................................................................................ 74
ATHLETIC & FOOTBALL ........................................................................................................................................... 75
OTHER SPORTS NEWS .............................................................................................................................................. 75
BOOKS & AUTHORS....................................................................................................................................................... 75
OBITUARY ...................................................................................................................................................................... 78
NATIONAL .................................................................................................................................................................. 78
INTERNATIONAL....................................................................................................................................................... 82
IMPORTANT DAYS ........................................................................................................................................................ 83
APPS & WEB PORTAL ................................................................................................................................................... 87

NATIONAL AFFAIRS
CABINET APPROVALS
Cabinet Approvals on December 30, 2020
On December 30, 2020, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the following
approvals which were detailed by Prakash Keshav Javadekar, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
(I&B).
• Cabinet approves Deepening and Optimization of Paradip Port & Operate and Transfer (BOT)
basis under PPP mode to handle cape size vessels.
• Cabinet approves Industrial Corridor nodes at Krishnapatnam and Tumakuru under CBIC &
Multi Modal Logistics Hub & MMTH at Greater Noida.
• Cabinet approves modified scheme to enhance ethanol distillation capacity in the country.
• Cabinet Approves Export of Akash Missile System and Creates a Committee for faster Approval
of Exports.
• Cabinet approves MoU between India and Bhutan on Cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer
space.
• Cabinet approves Opening of 3 Indian Missions in Estonia, Paraguay and Dominican
Republic…Click here for complete detail
Cabinet approves signing of MoC between India and Japan on Partnership in “Specified Skilled
Worker”
Union Cabinet approved the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) between the Indian and
Japan that pertains to sending Indian “Specified Skilled Worker” to Japan.Indian workers, who qualify
the required skill and Japanese language test can work in 14 specified sectors in Japan.These Indian
workers will also be granted a new status of residence of ‘Specified Skilled Worker’ by the Japanese
Government.
Cabinet Approves Procurement of 83 LCA Tejas from HAL for IAF worth Rs. 45,696 Cr; India-
UAE MoU Approved
On January 13, 2021, as a part of Atmanirbhar programme, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS)
approved the procurement of 83 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) at the cost of Rs. 45,696 Crore for Indian
Air Force (IAF). These include 73 LCA Tejas Mk-1A fighter aircrafts and 10 LCA Tejas Mk-1 Trainer
aircrafts. LCAs are manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). Union Cabinet approved a
MoU on scientific and technical cooperation between the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) and the
National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Cabinet Approves proposal for Mineral Reforms by Amending MMDR Act, 1957
Union Cabinet approved a proposal for mega mineral reforms to generate huge employment
opportunities, reduce imports and increase production by bringing large mineral blocks into auction.
The Major reforms in mining will be implemented through an amendment in section 10A (2)(b) and
10A (2)(c) of the Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act 1957 or MMDR Act, 1957 to
solve legacy issues. The proposal is set to be presented in the Parliament during forthcoming Budget
Session, starting January 27, 2021.
Cabinet approvals on January 20, 2021

• Union Cabinet has given its approval to the new Joint Venture Company (JVC) which will be
incorporated between National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) and Jammu & Kashmir

State Power Development Corporation Ltd (JKSPDC) for an investment of Rs.5281.94 crore in the
850 MW Ratle Hydro Electric (HE) Project on river Chenab of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).
• Union Cabinet approved the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and
Uzbekistan for cooperation in the Solar Energy sector…Click here for more detail.
Cabinet approved Minimum Support Price of Copra for 2021 season

Based on the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), Cabinet
Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has given its approval for the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of
copra for 2021 season. MSP for Fair Average Quality (FAQ) of milling copra is increased by Rs.375 to Rs.
10335/- per quintal for 2021 season from Rs. 9960/- per quintal in 2020.The MSP for ball copra has
been increased by Rs.300/-, to Rs. 10,600/- per quintal for 2021 season from Rs. 10300/- per quintal in
2020. The increase in MSPs will ensure a return of 51.87% for milling copra and 55.76% for ball copra.
PARLIAMENT NEWS
Government Promulgates J&K Reorganisation (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 to merge J&K
Cadre Officers with AGMUT
Government of India promulgated a Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Ordinance 2021
by amending the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019 to merge the Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) cadre of All India
Services Officers like IAS, IPS & Indian Forest Service (IFoS) with the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram
Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre. With this, officers from the Union Territories & above-mentioned
States can now be placed in J&K and vice versa.The ordinance was signed by President Ram Nath
Kovind amended section 13 & 88 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019, it was issued by
the Ministry of Law & Justice.
STATEWISE NATIONAL NEWS

Andhra Pradesh
AK Goswami Sworn in as Chief Justice of AP High Court;Succeeds JK Maheshwari
Arup Kumar(A.K.) Goswami was sworn in as the Chief Justice (CJ) of Andhra Pradesh(AP) High
Court(HC) administered by AP Governor Biswab Bushan Harichandan in Tummalapalli Kalakshetram,
Vijayawada, AP. He succeeds Jitendra Kumar(JK) Maheshwari who is now appointed as the CJ of Sikkim
HC. Prior to his appointment as CJ of Andhra Pradesh HC, he was the CJ of Sikkim HC.
AP Became the First State to Launch Door Delivery of Rations Under PDS
On 21st January 2021, Andhra Pradesh(AP) became the first state to launch door-delivery of rations
under the Public Distribution System(PDS). The scheme will benefit 26,39,363 cardholders throughout
the state. The scheme will cost an additional Rs. 830 crore per annum. To deliver the ration, at a cost of
Rs.539 crore, the AP government has distributed 9260 subsidised vehicles with GPS tracking facilities,
to the eligible unemployed youths.
Assam
Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal Laid Foundation Stone of Rs 184 Crore Science City at Tepesia,
Assam
Assam Chief Minister(CM) Sarbananda Sonowal laid the foundation stone of Science City at Tepesia,
Assam to popularise Science & Technology(S&T) at the grassroot. The total expenditure to build this
science city is Rs 184 crore. The main building of the Science City is being built jointly by the National
Council of Science Museum under the Cultural Affairs department of the Central Government and
Science and Technology Department of the State government.

Delhi
Oakridge Energy, Delhi Govt & Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan joined to Solarise Schools in
Delhi
Oakridge Energy, a Solar energy firm has signed agreements with Delhi Government & Kendriya
Vidyalaya Sangathan to solarise schools in Delhi. The project will be developed by Oakridge &
subsidised under the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy’s (MNRE) capital subsidy scheme for
Government Buildings. Oakridge has set a target to solarise 1, 000 schools & educational institutions by
2022.
Delhi launches first-of-its-kind Fellowship scheme for Artists

Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia launched First-of-its-kind “Street Theatre and Performing
Arts Fellowship” Scheme for Artists. The fellowship will help artists to showcase their craft, which will
help in spreading a taste for art and culture among the people of Delhi. It was started by Sahitya Kala
Parishad under the Department of Arts, Culture & Languages.
Gujarat
Industrial Disputes (Gujarat Amendment) Bill, 2020 gets Presidential Nod
On January 1, 2021, The Industrial Disputes (Gujarat Amendment) Bill, 2020, which was passed in the
state Assembly on September 22, 2020 received the presidential assent. The amendments ensured that
the interests of workers are protected. The aim of the amendment is to increase ease of doing business
by reducing the compliance burden on industries and inclusion of industry-friendly policies.
Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani announced ‘Mukhyamantri Bagayat Vikas Mission’

Govt. of Gujarat is all set for the formation of ‘Mukhyamantri Bagayat Vikas Mission’ or ‘Horticulture
Development Mission’ to accelerate agriculture, horticulture and promote farming of herbal plants in
the state. It aims to double the income of farmers engaged in medicinal and horticulture farming. It was
announced by Gujarat’s Chief Minister (CM) Vijay Rupani during a press conference in Gandhinagar,
Gujarat.
Jammu & Kashmir

J&K approves Adoption of ‘Jammu & Kashmir Industrial Land Allotment Policy, 2021-30’
On January 22, 2021, The Jammu & Kashmir’s (J&K) Administrative Council (AC) under the
chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha gave its approval for the adoption of Jammu &
Kashmir Industrial Land Allotment Policy, 2021-30. The policy aims to achieve inclusive growth for
sustainable industrialisation & employment generation in Jammu & Kashmir. The policy will also cover
the land allotment for health institutions, medi-cities, educational institutions & edu-cities.
Karnataka
Karnataka CM Inaugurated New Building of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences
& Research Centre in Bengaluru
Chief Minister (CM) of Karnataka Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yediyurappa inaugurated the New
Building of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre in Shivajinagar,
Bengaluru (Karnataka) which has 150 seats for the MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery)
course.Also the state has signed three agreements with different firms to impart skill training to the
youths of the state to help them get lucrative jobs abroad.
Karnataka CM launches ‘Avolokana Software’ Transparent e-governance tool

Karnataka Chief Minister (CM), B. S. Yediyurappa launched ‘Avolokana Software’ Transparent e-
governance tool. The software will be used by the Government to monitor & access data on sanctions &

expenditures incurred on 1800 programmes which have been implemented by 39 Departments.
Expenditures & Sanctions on Sustainable Development Goals, Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan, Tribal Sub-
plan & Central Sponsored Schemes will be the main areas of focus.
Karnataka Govt Selects Beneficiaries of Old Age Pensioners by Navodaya App

On January 27, 2021 During the statewide campaign, Karnataka CM B S Yediyurappa Launched a 1st of
its kind initiative in India where, beneficiaries of old-age pensions will be automatically selected using
the Navodaya app and their pension amount will be paid through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)
mode.This model was piloted in Udupi and Ballari districts of the state. Navodaya app is developed in
accordance with the National Education Policy guidelines.
Kerala
Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac presents State Budget for the FY 2021-22
On January 15, 2021, Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac presented the State Budget for the Financial
Year (FY) 2021-22. Aims to make Kerala as a Knowledge economy and announced several schemes to
promote the education sector of Kerala. The Budget has set a target to create 8 Lakh jobs in 2021-22.
The Government has set a target to bring down Revenue Deficit below 1%, reduce Fiscal Deficit &
increase State’s Revenue by 15%.
Budget Estimates for 2021-22
Revenue Receipts INR 1,28, 375.88 Crore
Revenue Expenditure INR 1, 45, 286 Crore
Revenue Deficit INR 16, 910 Crore
Click here for complete Kerala budget detail
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh rolls out ‘Launch Pad Scheme’ to make Youth Self-Reliant
Women & Child Development Department of Madhya Pradesh has rolled out the ‘Launch Pad Scheme’
under which new opportunities of employment will be provided for Boys/Girls who have come out of
institutional supervision of the care institutions of the state and have completed 18 years to make them
self-reliant. The scheme has been launched under the Child Protection Scheme.
Wipro is Set to Act as Knowledge Partner of Madhya Pradesh Government

Wipro group is set to act as the knowledge partner of the Government of Madhya Pradesh(MP) in the
context of the new education policy at the implementation level. WIPRO has taken an initiative to
establish a University in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh and the state government will provide all the
required support to the Azim Premji Foundation to establish a university in the MP. WIPRO will also
establish a Software Development Centre in Bhopal, which will provide more opportunities to the youth
in the field of Information Technology(IT).
Maharashtra
Maharashtra Celebrates Marathi Journalist Day on January 6, 2021
Marathi Journalist day is celebrated every year on January 6 across Maharashtra in the memory of Late
Balshastri Jambhekar, who is known as the ‘Father of Marathi journalism’.The day was selected to
commemorate on January 6 due to the first issue of the first newspaper in Marathi, ‘Darpan’, founded by
Balshastri Jambhekar was issued on January 6, 1832.
Maharashtra CM Launches Agriculture Pump Power Connection Policy 2020

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray launched the Agriculture Pump Power Connection
Policy 2020 to provide uninterrupted power supply to the farmers. He also inaugurated several farm

related initiatives like Solar Energy Land Bank Portal, Krishi Urja Abhiyan Policy 2020 Web Portal, ACF
App developed by Power DISCOM Mahavitaran & Maha Krishi Abhiyan App. He also launched an
Amnesty scheme for farmers to recover their outstanding arrears for electricity bills of agricultural
pumps.
Odisha
Dashboard Launched for Teacher Education Institutes to Improve Quality of Teacher Training:
Odisha
Directorate of Teacher Education(TE) and State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT),
Govt of Odisha in collaboration with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Odisha launched a
Geographic Information System (GIS)-based interactive dashboard for Teacher Education Institutes
(TEIs) to enable TEIs to monitor the annual academic calendar and improve the quality of teacher
training.The technical support for the dashboard is given by Structural Dynamics Research Corporation
(SDRC).
Punjab
Punjab CM Amarinder Singh launches Welfare Schemes; Dedicated January 2021 to Girl Child
The Chief Minister (CM) of Punjab Amarinder Singh virtually launched a set of welfare projects while
dedicating January 2021 as “Dheeyan Di Lohri” from Chandigarh.Under ‘Dheeiyan Di Lohir’, Amarinder
gave five girl children, along with their mothers, a shagun of Rs 5,100 and baby kits for each. Under the
scheme, a series of events will be held every day across districts, beginning with Mohali district,
through the month to mark the occasion of Lohri.
Punjab Cabinet approves One-Time Settlement Scheme for Traders

Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder singh approved the ‘One Time Settlement
(OTS) Scheme for Recovery of Outstanding Dues – 2021’ for Traders to clear their Pending Arrears. The
OTS will help Traders to settle their Pending arrears under the Punjab Value Added Tax Act, 2005 &
Central Sales Tax Act, 1956. It will cost around INR 121.06 Crore to the Punjab Government.
Punjab CM starts Allotment of 7, 219 FPS under ‘Ghar Ghar Rozgar te Karoobaar Mission’
Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Amarinder Singh started the allotment of 7, 219 Fair Price Shops (FPS)
across the state under the ‘Ghar Ghar Rozgar te Karoobaar Mission’. The allotment of FPS will help in
improving the economic condition of people & will strengthen the Public Distribution System (PDS).
Tripura
Tripura Observed 42nd Kokborok Day on 19th January , 2021
On January 19, 2021, Tripura observed the 42nd Kokborok Day to recognise declaration of Kokborok as
an official language of the state of Tripura, India by the state government in the year 1979. Kokborok is
the Sino-Tibetan native language of the Borok (Tripura) people of Tripura and neighbouring areas of
Bangladesh.This language is not included in the 8th schedule of the Constitution of India. The name
‘Kokborok’ is derived from Kok meaning “verbal” and Borok meaning “human”.
Uttarakhand
Justice RS Chauhan Sworn in as CJ of Uttarakhand HC & Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia Appointed as
CJ of Gauhati HC
Justice Raghvendra Singh(R S) Chauhan was sworn in as the Chief Justice(CJ) of Uttarakhand High
Court(HC) administered by Uttarakhand Governor Baby Rani Maurya in Raj Bhawan in Dehradun,
Uttarakhand. He succeeds Justice Ramesh Ranganathan who retired in July, 2020. After his retirement,
Justice Ravi Vijaykumar(R.V.) Malimath was appointed as acting CJ of Uttarakhand HC.The President of

India, Ram Nath Kovind appointed Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, as CJ of Gauhati HC with effect from the
date he assumed charge of his office.
Uttar Pradesh
UP CM Yogi Adityanath Launched Kisan Kalyan Mission to Double Farmers’ Income
On January 6, 2021, Uttar Pradesh government (UP) Chief Minister (CM) Yogi Adityanath launched a 3-
week long campaign namely “Kisan Kalyan Mission” for the state’s farmer welfare and to double their
income. It will be organised in every development block of all 75 districts. As a part of the mission, the
UP government will also felicitate 100 ‘progressive farmers’ by recognizing them as role models. Their
databases will also be prepared by the government.
UP’s ‘Virasat Drive’ Disposed 4.43 Lakh Pending Disputes over Land & Properties
In December 2020, The Government of Uttar Pradesh launched the “Virasat (natural succession) Drive”,
a two-month long campaign to end land disputes over succession rights in villages and to resolve the
property lawsuits at tehsil and district levels. As of 19th January 2021, under this initiative, the officials
of the revenue department have disposed of more than 4.43 lakh cases which were pending for years.
LAUNCHES & INAUGURATION

Prime Minister lays foundation stone of 6 lighthouse projects; PMAY (Urban) Awards-2019
Conferred
On January 1, 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually laid the foundation of six Light House
Projects (LHPs) in Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Rajkot (Gujarat), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Ranchi
(Jharkhand), Agartala (Tripura) and Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh). These will be developed as a part of the
Global Housing Technology Challenge-India (GHTC-India) initiative under which 1,000 houses at each
location are to be constructed in a year (12 months), using six distinct technologies. The PM gave away
annual “Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) Awards-2019” for excellence in six categories for the
implementation of PMAY-U. …Click here for complete detail
Narendra Singh Tomar Inaugurated Virtual Agri India Hackathon 2020

Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare inaugurated the Virtual Agri
India hackathon 2020 in New Delhi. This 2-month event is 1st of its kind and also the largest virtual
event in Indian agriculture history. The hackathon is organised by Pusa Krishi, ICAR – Indian
Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) & Department of
Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare.
India launches 40th Indian Scientific Expedition

Ministry of Earth Science launched the expedition flagged off the 40th Indian Scientific Expedition to
Antarctica (40-ISEA) from the Mormugao Port, Goa. The Expedition will have 43 members and the
chartered ice-class vessel MV Vasiliy Golovnin will take the team to Antarctica. National Centre for Polar
& Ocean Research (NCPOR), Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) is the implementation agency of the
Indian Antarctic Programme. Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) was also part of it.
PM Narendra Modi Virtually Inaugurated National Metrology Conclave 2021

Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated the National Metrology Conclave 2021 on the
theme ‘Metrology for the Inclusive Growth of the Nation’ and also delivered the inaugural address.
Conclave was organized by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research- National Physical
Laboratory (CSIR-NPL). Dr. Harsh Vardhan released a Book titled “Metrology for Inclusive Growth of
India”, edited by Dr. D.K. Aswaland contributed by CSIR-NPL’s Scientists.

Dharmendra Pradhan Inaugurates India’s 1st of its kind Migrant Worker Cell
Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan Inaugurated India’s 1st of its kind Migrant Worker Cell at Surat,
Gujarat and has been created under the ‘National Urban Livelihood Mission Scheme’. An initiative of
Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) it aims to help Migrants from Odia & other parts of the country
working in different industries of Surat.
PM virtually inaugurates Kochi-Mangaluru Natural Gas Pipeline

Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated the 450 Km Long Kochi-Mangaluru Natural
Gas Pipeline. The pipeline has been constructed by GAIL (India) Ltd at a cost of INR 3, 000 crores. The
pipeline will carry natural gas from Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) regasification terminal at Kochi, Kerala
to Mangaluru, Karnataka. PM cited the inauguration of the pipeline as a step towards Government’s
‘One Nation One Gas Grid’.
Harsh Vardhan inaugurates CEPI Centralized Network Lab at DBT-THSTI Faridabad

Union Minister for Science & Technology, Harsh Vardhan virtually inaugurated the Coalition for
Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) Laboratory at the Translational Health Science &
Technology Institute (THSTI), Faridabad. This is the 1st of its Kind in India & one of the Seven labs of
the Global network. The lab is part of the Global network developed by CEPI Foundation, the immediate
mission of the CEPI Lab at THSTI will be to assess the quality of vaccines being developed against
COVID-19.
PM Inaugurates Rewari-Madar Freight Corridor Section of WDFC; flags off World’s 1st Double
Stack Container Train
On January 7, 2021, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated the 306-Km long New
Rewari in Haryana-New Madar in Rajasthan section of Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) &
flagged off the World’s 1st Double Stack Long Haul 1.5 Km Container Train hauled by electric traction
from Atela in Haryana – Kishangarh in Rajasthan. Japan International Cooperation Agency is funding
WDFC.
Amit Shah launches ‘Single Window Clearance System’ for Coal Sector
Union Home Minister Amit Shah virtually launched ‘Single Window Clearance System’ for coal mines.
The platform is expected to ease the process of obtaining clearances for the smooth operationalisation
of coal mines. It will help in reducing the time taken to grant approvals in the sector. The Single Window
Clearance System will also boost Transparency & Ease of Doing Business reforms. Coal is also expected
to be the biggest contributor towards the Government’s vision of making India a 5 Trillion Dollar
Economy by 2024.
Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik inaugurates India’s 1st Fire Park and launches ‘Agnishama Seva’
Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik virtually inaugurated India’s first ‘Fire Park’ at Bhubaneshwar,
Odisha. On that occasion CM Patnaik also launched the virtual platform ‘Agnishama Seva’ to provide
through which 16 fire related services can be availed.The Fire Park is a first of its kind initiative to
provide awareness on fire safety measures, mainly focusing on School and College students.
West Bengal CM Inaugurated 26th Kolkata International Film Festival 2021

On 8th January 2021, Mamata Banerjee Chief Minister of West Bengal inaugurated the 7 day 26th
edition of the Kolkata International Film Festival(KIFF) 2021 (From 8th to 15th January 2021).
Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, the brand ambassador of West Bengal virtually attended the
inaugural ceremony from Mumbai.

Rajnath Singh unveils India’s 1st indigenous driverless metro car developed by BEML
Rajnath Singh, Minister of Defence (MoD) unveiled India’s first indigenously designed and developed
‘Driverless Metro Car’ during a function held at the Bengaluru, Karnataka.Driverless Metro Car’ are
being manufactured by BEML for Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA)
MRS1 project. The project needs 576 cars which will be supplied by January 2024.
Harsh Vardhan Inaugurated CSIR-NIScPR by Merging two old CSIR institutes in New Delhi
Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Health & Family
Welfare inaugurated a new institute of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) i.e. CSIR-
National Institute of Science Communication and Policy Research (CSIR-NIScPR), in New Delhi. This
institute has been established by merging two prestigious institutes of CSIR namely CSIR-National
Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (CSIR-NISCAIR) and CSIR-National
Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies (CSIR-NISTADS).
Harsh Vardhan inaugurated Doppler Weather Radars at Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh
146th Foundation Day of India Meteorological Department (IMD) was held on January 15, 2021 in New
Delhi. It was attended by Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Science & Technology, Earth Sciences. He also
inaugurated Doppler Weather Radars at Mukteshwar ,Uttarakhand (1st of its kind in this state) and
Kufri ,Himachal Pradesh.Doppler Weather Radars in Uttarakhand. The radar has been installed under
the Integrated Himalayan Meteorological Project (IHMP) of the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
NIC, CBSE & AIM, NITI Aayog released e-Book ‘CollabCAD 3D modelling 1.0 ‘, MoU inked
Between NIC & CBSE
A comprehensive e-book on CollabCAD 3D modelling 1.0 was launched by National Informatics Centre
(NIC), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Central Board of Secondary
Education (CBSE), Ministry of Education (MoE) along with Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI
(National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog during a virtual event from New Delhi.Also MoU
was signed between NIC and CBSE for ‘CollabCAD Software Support and Training for Students and
Faculty in Engineering Graphics Curriculum for Class X and XII across CBSE affiliated Schools’ for a
period of 10 years.
Piyush Goyal inaugurated ‘Prarambh’ in New Delhi; Seed fund of Rs 1,000 cr announced by PM
On January 15-16, 2021, a two-day event ‘Prarambh’ – Startup India International Summit 2021 was
virtually organized by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of
Commerce and Industry, Government of India from New Delhi. It was inaugurated by Piyush
Vedprakash Goyal, Ministry of Commerce and Industry. PM Modi addressed during the summit and
announced Rs.1,000-crore ‘Startup India Seed Fund’ for Startups. The members of BIMSTEC (Bay of
Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) countries also participated.
Haryana CM Inaugurates India’s 1st Air Taxi Service from Chandigarh to Hisar
Haryana Chief Minister(CM) Manohar Lal Khattar inaugurated India’s 1st air taxi service from
Chandigarh to the newly constructed Hisar airport in Haryana under Regional Connectivity Scheme –
Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (RCS-UDAN).The airline Aviation Connectivity & Infrastructure Developers
Pvt. Ltd (Air Taxi) will operate the air taxi services and has become the 1st startup airline of India to
assist India with this service.
PM Modi launches 8 Trains to Statue of Unity, Kevadiya to Boost Connectivity

Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi virtually flagged off 8 trains from various parts of India to the
Statue of Unity in Kevadiya, Gujarat to boost connectivity and Tourism. The trains will connect from
Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), Dadar (Maharashtra), Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Hazrat Nizamuddin (New Delhi),

Rewa (Madhya Pradesh), Chennai (Tamil Nadu) & Pratapnagar (Gujarat).Kevadiya Railway Station is
India’s First Railway Station to be certified as a Green Building.
‘SAKSHAM 2021’ Campaign inaugurated by MoPNG Secretary Tarun Kapoor; SAKSHAM 2021
Awards Presented
New Delhi-based Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) launched a month-long pan-
India campaign ‘SAKSHAM 2021 (Sanrakshan Kshamta Mahotsav)’ from January 16, 2021 to February
15 2021 to create awareness about the adverse impact of fossil fuels on health and environment.It was
inaugurated by Secretary Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) and Chairman, PCRA Tarun
Kapoor at New Delhi.The tagline of the campaign is ‘Green and Clean Energy’ (Hindi- ह�रत एवं ��
ऊजा� ).
Kiren Rijiju Inaugurates 1st ever Khelo India Zanskar Winter Sports & Youth Festival 2021 in
Ladakh
Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Youth Affairs and Sports inaugurated the 1st
ever Khelo India Zanskar Winter Sports & Youth Festival 2021 at Padum in Zanskar of Kargil, Ladakh
UT. It will take place for 13 days from January 18-30, 2021 and is organized by Ladakh’s Sports & Youth
Services Department and Tourism Department under the Khelo India program.The Festival is the 1st of
its kind to be organized in Zanskar Valley, Ladakh.
India Africa Trade Council 2021 inaugurated in Chennai, India

On January 22, 2021, the India Africa Trade Council 2021 was inaugurated in Hotel Crowne Plaza,
Chennai (Tamil Nadu) for building up business relations between India and Africa.
It was inaugurated by the Additional Secretary (Africa) Ambassador Nagma Mallick (IFS) Ministry of
External Affairs (MEA), Govt. of India and the Ambassador of Ethiopia in India Dr Tizita Mulugeta
Yimam. Ramakrishan, Founder of Corporate Clinic in Chennai was appointed as the Director of the India
Africa Trade Council during the ceremony in Chennai.
Amit Shah launched ‘Ayushman CAPF’ scheme for Personnel and Dependents of CAPF
Union Minister Amit Shah, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) attended a function in Guwahati, Assam
where he launched the ‘Ayushman CAPF’ scheme for personnel and dependents of the Central Armed
Police Forces (CAPF), which will be fully implemented by May 1, 2021.It will cover around 28 lakh
personnel of CAPF, Assam Rifles and National Security Guard (NSG) and their families under ‘Ayushman
Bharat: Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana’ (AB PM-JAY). MoU was signed between the National Health
Authority (NHA) and MHA in the presence of Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal, MoS for Home Affairs
Nityanand Rai and state Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
MoHFW Minister Harsh Vardhan Inaugurates FICCI Cascade’s 7th Edition of MASCRADE 2021
Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare inaugurated the 7th Edition of
‘MASCRADE 2021’ – Movement against Smuggled & Counterfeit Trade organized by FICCI Cascade
(Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry – Committee Against Smuggling and
Counterfeiting Activities Destroying the Economy) which took place from January 21-22, 2021.The
main aim to serve as a platform for discussion on ways to reduce counterfeiting, smuggling & spurious
products during the post COVID period.
‘Wahrew Bridge’ – India’s Longest Steel Arch Bridge Inaugurated at Meghalaya

On January 22, 2021, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma inaugurated India’s Longest Steel Arch
Bridge ‘Wahrew Bridge’ at Tharia Village in Meghalaya. The 169-metre-long runs over the river
Wahrew.The Bridge was dedicated to Dr Donkupar Roy, Former Chief Minister of Meghalaya with cost

of INR 49.395 Crore .It was allocated under the Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR)
Scheme of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (M-DoNER).
Cargill in Collaboration with UNWFP and CRB Launched Nutrition Programme in Jaipur,
Rajasthan
Cargill in collaboration with the United Nations World Food Programme(UNWFP) and Centre for
Responsible Business (CRB) launched a programme to improve nutrition status and to address the
issue of Malnutrition with child, pregnant and lactating mothers in Jaipur, Rajasthan.The program is
supported by the Department of Women & Child Development, Government of Rajasthan. It is aligned
with the Government of India’s National Nutrition Strategy and the Poshan Abhiyan.
FESTIVALS
96th Edition of Tansen Sangeet Samaroh, Annual Music Festival Hosted in MP
Tansen Sangeet Samaroh 2020, 96th edition of the annual music festival organized to pay tribute to the
Indian Musical Maestro Tansen was held in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh(MP). The event was jointly
organised by Ustad Alauddin Khan Kala Evam Sangeet Academy and Department of Culture,
Government of Madhya Pradesh.Pt Satish Vyas conferred with prestigious Tansen Samman 2020.
Bhopal-based institution Abhinav Kala Parishad was honoured with Raja Mansingh Tomar award 2020.
Kerala to host 4th Global Ayurveda Festival 2021: March 12th to 19th
V Muraleedharan, Union Minister of State for External Affairs and the chairman of Global Ayurveda
Festival announced that the 4th Global Ayurveda Festival 2021(GAF2021),World’s largest festival of
Ayurveda community will be organised in a high-end virtual space from 12th to 19th March 2021 in
Kerala.
Organised by - Centre for Innovation in Science and Social Action (CISSA), the Ayurveda Medical
Association of India (AMAI), the Ayurveda Hospital Management Association.
Festival partner and industry partner - Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries
(FICCI).
A 5 day ‘National Folk Dance Festival’ in Jammu was held from December 26 2020
A 5 day long ‘National Folk Dance Festival’ was held in Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory-
JKUT) from December 26, 2020. It was organised by the North Zone Cultural Centre, Patiala (Ministry of
Culture, Govt. of India) jointly with Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages. Of the
5 days, for the first 3 days, i.e from December 26 to 28, 2020 the festival will be organised at Abhinav
Theatre, Jammu. Artists from Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya
Pradesh, Odisha and Punjab participate in it. The festival was inaugurated by Former Deputy CM,
Kevinder Gupta, S D Singh Jamwal and senior Journalist Sohail Kazmi was also present on the occasion.
Cherry Blossom Mao Festival held in Senapati, Manipur; Virtually Inaugurated by CM N.Biren
Singh
On January 9, 2021, an annual Cherry Blossom Mao Festival was held at Mao in Senapati district,
Manipur. It was virtually inaugurated by Chief Minister (CM) of Manipur Nongthombam Biren Singh
from the CM Secretariat in Imphal, amid COVID-19. The festival marked the beginning of pink season in
the district. Cherry Blossom is also known as Prunus cerasoides, a plant which is popularly known as
Sakura in Japan. It was jointly organised by the Department of Tourism and Indian Council of Cultural
Relations (ICCR), Shillong in association with the Organising Committee Flower Festival, Mao.
24th National Youth Festival 2021 held Virtually

24th National Youth Festival (NYF) 2021 is celebrated to commemorate the birth anniversary (January
12) of youth icon Swami Vivekananda held from 12th to 16th January, 2021. Its closing ceremony was

addressed by Union Minister of Textiles and Women and Child Development Smriti Zubin Irani in New
Delhi in the presence of Union Minister of State (I/C) for Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju. The
theme of the NYF 2021 was ‘YUVAAH – Utsah Naye Bharat Ka’.
• Ministry of Youth Affairs also set to launch big programme on National Girl Child Day on Beti
Bachao Beti Padhao in collaboration with Ministry of Women and Child Development.
• 2nd National Youth Parliament Festival was organized as a part of NYF.
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar Inaugurates State’s 1st Bird Festival ‘Kalrav’

Bihar’s 1st state level bird festival ‘Kalrav’ was held from January 15 to 17, 2021 in Nagi bird Sanctuary
& Nakti bird Sanctuary, Jamui district, Bihar. It was inaugurated by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
.Bihar’s environment, forest and climate change department organised an event at Nagi-Nakti bird
Sanctuary on the inauguration day. During the inauguration of the 3-day festival, bihar CM also
inaugurated a ‘bird awareness centre’ at the sanctuary.
51st International Film Festival of India 2021 held in Goa

51st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) was held from 16 to 24 January 2021 at Dr. Shyama
Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium in Panaji, Goa. Due to COVID-19, it was conducted in hybrid mode i.e.
50 films out of 224 films across various categories are scheduled to be screened online. This hybrid
mode format of IFFI was first in India and in Asia too. It was jointly organized by the Directorate of Film
Festivals (under Ministry of Information and Broadcasting) and the state Government of Goa along with
Entertainment Society of Goa. This year the ‘country of focus section’ was Bangladesh marking its 50th
anniversary of liberation…Click here to know more about IFFI
LS Speaker Om Birla Inaugurates Bharat Parv-2021 Virtual National Festival

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla inaugurated the 5-day Bharat Parv-2021, a virtual National Festival at New
Delhi. The Festival being held from January 26-31, 2021 will take place on a virtual platform –
http://www.bharatparv2021.com/ due to the Pandemic. The overall theme of Bharat Parv will also be
focused towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat. Dekho Apna Desh’.It is an
initiative of the Ministry of Tourism to promote Domestic Tourism i.e Travel of citizens within the
Country and to showcase the Cuisine & Culture of different states of India.
OTHER NATIONAL NEWS

Tripura – Bangladesh ‘Maitre Setu’ will be Open Soon
The Rs 128.69 crores Maitre Setu was started in 2017. It connects South Tripura with Ramgarh of
Bangladesh and provides access to the Chittagong seaport, is all set to be in opening process. The bridge
has been taken over by the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited
(NHIDCL). 1.9 Km long Feni Bridge also known as Maitree Setu is built over River Feni.
TRIFED to Promote Products of North–East in collaboration with DoNER & India Post
Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED) under Ministry of
tribal Affairs (MoTA) formulated a proposal to collaborate with Ministry of Development of North
Eastern Region (DoNER) and India Post for implementing marketing and logistic intervention to
promote traditional tribal products of the North Eastern states. This collaboration is on the lines of the
‘Act East policy’ of the government to promote economic, strategic and cultural relations with Asia-
Pacific region.
Area Around Boundary of Mathikettan Shola National Park as Eco-Sensitive Zone

The central government notified a zero to 1 km area around the boundary of Mathikettan Shola
National Park in Idukki district, Kerala as an Eco-sensitive zone. The area of the Eco-sensitive Zone is

17.5 square kilometres.The notification was issued by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and
Climate Change.
Government Implementing Rs 320 cr project for 5 Ports to Enable Digital Ecosystem

In accordance with the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, the government is implementing a
Rs 320-crore Enterprise Business System (EBS) at five major ports of Mumbai, Chennai, Deendayal,
Paradip, Kolkata (including Haldia) to provide a digital port ecosystem. Also, a centralised web-based
port community system (PCS) has been operationalised across all major ports to enable seamless data
flow between various stakeholders through common interface.
Karnataka’s Hubballi railway station to get World Longest Railway Platform

Karnataka’s Hubballi Railway station officially Shree Siddharoodha Swamiji railway station is set to get
the “world’s longest railway platform” of 1500 plus meters’ length and 10 meters width. The platform
will be inaugurated in March 2021. The construction of the platform is done with an expenditure of Rs.
90 crore.
FSSAI reduces permissible level of Trans-Fatty Acids in oils & fats to 3% for 2021
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) released guidelines to reduce the permissible
level of Trans-Fatty Acids (TFA) in oils and fats to 3% for 2021 & 2% by 2022 from the current
permissible limit of 5%. The change has been brought through an amendment to the Food Safety and
Standards (Prohibition and Restriction on Sales) Regulations.
Patna Meteorological Observatory conferred ‘Centennial Observing Station Status’ by World

Meteorological Organization
Patna Meteorological Observatory established in 1867 , has been conferred the status of ‘Centennial
Observing Station Status’ by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to recognize its
contribution towards long-term meteorological observation exceedingly over 100 years. The decision
to confer the status was taken during the 72nd WMO Executive Council Meeting held virtually from
September-October, 2020.
Indigenously Designed ballastless tracks to be used for High-Speed RRTS trains

National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) will use indigenously designed ballastless
tracks for the country’s first Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS). RRTS technology supports high-
speed trains therefore these tracks will be suitable for high-speed trains running up to 180 kmph and
require low maintenance. The section will be operational by 2023, while the entire 82-km-long corridor
will be completed by 2025.
Interest Rates for Small Savings Schemes for 4th Quarter of 2020-21 Remains Unchanged
The finance ministry notified that the interest rates on small savings schemes including Public
Provident Fund (PPF) and National Savings Certificate (NSC) for 4th quarter of 2020-21 ( January 1 to
March 31, 2021) will remain unchanged from those notified for the third quarter (October 1-December
31, 2020). The Interest rates for small savings schemes are notified by the Finance Ministry on a
quarterly basis.
Tata Power, SIDBI Join Hands for Rooftop Solar Financing for MSMEs
Tata Power partnered with Small Industrial Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to provide a finance
scheme to Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) engaged in rooftop solar segment. The
partnership will overcome the financing barriers for penetration of solar in the MSME sector. This
rooftop solar financing is for the MSME customers of Tata Power for both off-grid and on-grid solar
connections.

MP & AP become 1st group of states to complete 3 reforms stipulated by Ministry of
Finance;provided Additional Financial Assistance
Madhya Pradesh (MP) & Andhra Pradesh (AP) became the 1st Group of States to complete three out of
the Four citizen schemes stipulated by Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance. These two
states have completed the implementation of schemes – One Nation One Ration Card Reforms, Ease of
Doing Business Reforms, & Urban Local Bodies Reforms. The Department of Expenditure, Ministry of
Finance will provide them an additional Financial Assistance of INR 1004 Crore under the newly
launched “Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure” scheme.
Indian Govt’s SLNP and UJALA Programmes Marks their 6th Anniversary on January 5, 2021
UnnatJyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA)and Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) of
Government of India marks their 6th anniversary. Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL)
implements these programmes since their inception on January 5, 2015. Both the programmes were
launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
CCEA Approved Central Sector Scheme for 17 Years for Industrial Development of J&K
Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi has
approved the Central Sector Scheme (CSS) namely “New Industrial Development Scheme for Jammu &
Kashmir (J&K IDS, 2021)” for Industrial Development of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K). The scheme proposed
by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has been approved with a total
outlay of Rs. 28,400 crore upto the year 2037.
NHAI set to operationalise India’s 1st Government Sponsored InvIT by March, 2021
National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is set to operationalise India’s 1st Government Sponsored
Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT) by March, 2021. Around 5-6 Road Projects worth INR 5, 000
crore have been given in-principle approval for transfer to the InvIT. InvIT – It is an Collective
Investment Scheme through which individuals & institutional investors can invest in Infrastructure
projects and earn a small portion of the income as return.
World’s Largest Floating Solar Energy Project at MP set to begin Power Generation by 2022-23
World’s Largest Floating 600 Megawatt (MW) Solar Energy Project which is under construction at
Omkareshwar dam on Narmada river in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh is set to begin power
generation by the year 2022-23. Estimated Investment of the project stands at INR 3, 000 Crore. The
production of electricity will be in about 2000- hectare water areas and the Floating panels will be
installed in the backwaters of Omkareshwar dam.
CDSCO Gives Approval to Vaccines of M/s SII & M/s Bharat Biotech
The Committee of Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) gave approval to M/s Serum
Institute of India(SII), Pune, Maharashtra for Covishield, a Recombinant Chimpanzee Adenovirus
vector vaccine, it encoded the SARS-CoV-2 Spike (S) glycoprotein with technology transfer from
AstraZeneca/Oxford University and to M/s Bharat Biotech for COVAXIN, Whole Virion Inactivated
Coronavirus Vaccine for restricted use in India in emergency situations.
National Board of Wildlife Approved Advisory for Human-Wildlife Conflict Management

Standing Committee of National Board of Wildlife (SC-NBWL) in its 60th meeting has approved the
advisory for management of Human-Wildlife Conflict (HWC) in the country to expedite effective inter-
departmental coordinated actions. The advisory envisages empowering gram panchayats in dealing
with the problematic wild animals as per the section 11 (1) (b) of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
Caracal, a medium sized wildcat found in some parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat included in the list of
critically endangered species.

PM CARES Fund Trust allocates Rs 201.58 cr for installation of PSA Oxygen Plants
Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund Trust has
allocated Rs 201.58 crore for installation of additional 162 Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) Medical
Oxygen Generation Plants with a total capacity of 154.19 MT in 32 States and Union Territories (UTs).
These will be installed inside public health facilities. The procurement of Medical Oxygen Generation
Plants will be done by the Central Medical Supply Store under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
(MoHFW).
Centre Approves New National Highway projects worth Rs 5,801 Cr for Maharashtra
Union Minister Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) informed that
the Central Government has approved Rs. 5,801 Cr for new 1035 km National highway (NH) between
Surat (Gujarat) and Bengaluru (Karnataka) to curb the vehicular pollution in Maharashtra’s Mumbai
and Pune. It is approved under the annual plan of MoRTH. It should be noted that the Annual Plan for
NH works in Maharashtra was approved for Rs. 2,727 Cr. Now, it has been enhanced to Rs. 5,801 Cr.
Overview of Significant Milestones achieved by MoES in 2020

Ministry of Earth Science (MoES), Government of India addresses aspects relating to Earth System
Science and provides weather, climate, ocean, coastal state, hydrological & seismological services. The
services provided by MoES are essential for various agencies & state governments to save human lives
& minimise damages due to natural disaster. One major milestone achieved by MoES in 2020 was the
release of Flash Flood Guidance Services (FFGS), which is the 1st of its kind for South Asian countries
namely India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Govt Plans to Launch Seaplane Services with Airline Operators

The government is in process to launch seaplane services in collaboration with the airline operators on
several routes, including Delhi-Ayodhya. This process was initiated by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping
and Waterways (MoPSW). The services will be launched under a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)
framework. The project will be executed and implemented through Sagarmala Development Company
Ltd (SDCL), which is under the administrative control of MoPSW.
GoI sanctions INR 37.8 Crores for Developing Parashuram Kund in Arunachal Pradesh
Government of India (GoI) has sanctioned INR 37.8 Crores for the Developing Parashuram Kund
Pilgrimage Site at Lohit district, Arunachal Pradesh. It is one of the most sacred places in India and is
visited by a large number of pilgrims during Makar Sankranti.Thousands of Devotees take holy dip in
the Lohit River.
MoE Issued Guidelines for Identification, Admission and Continued education of migrant
children
Ministry of Education (MoE) issued guidelines for identification, admission and continued education of
migrant children for States and UTs during school closure and when the school re-open. These were
issued to reduce the COVID-19 impact for Out of School Children (OoSC). The guidelines are classified
into 6 parts viz:Continued Education for OoSC and Children with Special Needs (CWSN) through
volunteers, local teachers and community participation,Identifying OoSC Children for 6 to 18 years age
to prepare action plan for their enrolment,Enrolment Drives and Awareness Generation,Student
Support while Schools are closed,Student Support on School Reopening and Teacher Capacity Building.
Flipkart, NITI Aayog Partnered to launch revamped Women Entrepreneurship Platform

Flipkart & NITI Aayog have collaborated to launch the updated Women Entrepreneurship Platform
(WEP). WEP is a first of its kind, unified access portal launched by NITI Aayog in 2017 to support

Women Entrepreneurs. The community on WEP platform will connect women entrepreneurs who seek
clarification on GST, funding, effects of the pandemic & progression of already established businesses.
Prakash Javadekar releases Management Effectiveness Evaluation of 146 NP & WLS, 2018-19
Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Prakash Javadekar released the
‘Management Effectiveness Evaluation(MEE) of 146 National Parks & Wildlife Sanctuaries in India,
2018-19’ report. Great Himalayan NP & Tirthan WLS of Himachal Pradesh Scored high and topped
among the National Parks(NP) & Wild Life Santuaries(WLS).
India becomes 2nd Largest Manufacturer of PPE Kits & Suits

Union Minister for Textiles, Smriti Irani has stated that India has become the 2nd Largest Manufacturer
of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Kits & Suits, China is the leading manufacturer. India has
achieved the feat in a record 3 months’ time during the lockdown caused by Pandemic in March 2020.
NHPC Signs Definitive Agreement for implementation of Takeover Plan of 120 MW Rangit-IV
HE Project of JPCL in Sikkim
NHPC Limited (formerly National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Ltd) has signed Definitive
Agreement for implementation of the Approved Resolution Plan for takeover of 120 MW Rangit-IV HE
Project of Jalpower Corporation Limited (JPCL) in Sikkim. The outlay of the project is estimated as
Rs.943.20 Crore. The financial creditors for this agreement are Power Finance Corporation Ltd (PFC)
and Punjab National Bank (PNB).
CBIC introduces Flagship initiative “Liberalised MSME AEO Package” benefiting MSME Sector
Central Board of Indirect Tax & Customs (CBIC) introduced its new flagship initiative “Liberalised
MSME AEO Package” Scheme for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The scheme is a
voluntary compliance programme enabling MSMEs to become Authorised Economic Operations (AEOs),
providing various benefits including faster customs clearance.
GRSE signs USD 12.7 Million Contract with Guyana to Build Ocean-Going Vessel
Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Ltd, Kolkata has signed USD 12.7 Million Contract
with the Harbour Department, Ministry of Public Works, Government of Guyana for the construction of
an Ocean-going vessel which in turn to boost the export initiatives of GRSE.
India set to implement New Foreign Trade Policy 2021-26 from April 1, 2021
Union Ministry of Commerce & Industry has stated that the ‘New Foreign Trade Policy 2021-26’ of India
will come into effect from April 1, 2021. The main mission of the policy would be to make India a leader
in International Trade in the next 5 years.Main objectives are to reach USD 5 Trillion economy by
boosting exports in India from both services & merchandise sectors. Implementation of District Export
Hubs initiative to make each district of India to achieve its potential as an Export hub.
SPMCIL Paid Rs 215.48 Crore Final Dividend to Government

Security Printing & Minting Corporation of India Limited(SPMCIL), paid the final dividend of Rs.215.48
crore to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Government of India for the financial year of 2019-20. In
the previous fiscal (FY19), SPMCIL had paid dividend of Rs.218.48 crores to the central government.
SPMCIL has also achieved Excellent grading for Corporate Governance from Department of Public
Enterprises (DPE) for the year 2019-20.
DoFPD notifies Modified Scheme to Enhance 1G Ethanol Production in India

Department of Food & Public Distribution (DoFPD) has notified a modified scheme to extend financial
assistance for producers of “1st Generation” (1G) Ethanol from feed stocks such as Cereals (rice, wheat,

barley, corn & sorghum), Sugarcane & Sugar Beet. The Main Objective behind the scheme is to achieve
20% Blending of ethanol with Fossil Fuels by 2025 from 2030 (previous target was to achieve 20%
blending by 2030).
Ministry of Railways issued Iron- ore Policy 2021 for Allocation of Rakes & Transportation of
Iron Ore
On January 16, 2021, the Ministry of Railways issued Iron-ore policy 2021 that will govern the
allocation of rakes (train) and transportation of iron-ore w.e.f February 10, 2021. The aim of the policy
is to provide complete logistics support to iron ore customers, thereby helping the iron and steel
industry. Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) will update the features of this new policy in
the Rake Allotment System module.
India’s First Labour Movement Museum to come up at Alappuzha, Kerala

India’s First Labour Movement Museum which showcases the history of the World Labour Movement is
set to be launched in Kerala’s houseboat tourism hub, Alappuzha, Kerala. The New Model Cooperative
Society Limited building has been converted into the Labour Movement Museum. It has been
constructed with a budget of INR 9.95 crores.
INMAS Handed Over MotorBike Ambulance ‘Rakshita’ to CRPF

On January 18, 2021, a bike-based casualty transport emergency vehicle (bike ambulance) namely
‘Rakshita’ was handed over by Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS) to Central
Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in New Delhi. Rakshita is built on a Royal Enfield Classic 350CC. INMAS is a
Delhi based Defence Research & Development Organization (DRDO) laboratory. It was handed over by
Distinguished Scientist (DS) & Director General (DG) – Life Sciences (LS), DRDO, Dr Ajay Kumar Singh to
DG CRPF, Dr Anand Prakash Maheshwari.
India Supplies 2 Mobile Harbour Cranes to Iran’s Chabahar Port

India has supplied a consignment of 2 Mobile Harbour Cranes(MHC) to Iran’s Chabahar port with value
of USD 25 Million under a contract agreement for supply of 6 MHC. 2 MHC arrived from Marghera port,
Italy and was unloaded successfully at Chabahar.A Special Purpose Vehicle namely India Ports Global
Limited (IPGL),Mumbai was incorporated under Shipping ministry as per the bilateral contract was
signed between India and Iran with USD 85million on May 23,2016 for Equipping, Mechanizing and
starting Operations at Shahid Beheshti Port of Chabahar development Phase- I.
MeitY, Amazon collaborate to set up Quantum Computing Applications Lab in India; World’s 1st
to support a Country’s Mission
Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) has partnered with Amazon Web Services
(AWS) to set up a Quantum Computing Applications Lab in the Country. The lab will be the World’s 1st
Quantum Computing Applications Lab to support a National Government’s Mission. India
announced National Mission on Quantum Technologies & Applications (NM-QTA) in the Union Budget
2020-21 with a budget of INR 8000 Crore for a period of 5 years to be implemented by the Department
of Science & Technology (DST).
MP Becomes 1st State to Give Power Subsidy to Farmers through DBT; Received Rs 1,423cr
Additional Borrowing
Madhya Pradesh (MP) has become the first State to give electricity subsidy through Direct Benefit
Transfer (DBT) thereby successfully implementing one out of the three stipulated reforms in the power
sector. This achievement has made it eligible for additional borrowing equivalent to 0.15% of its Gross
State Domestic Product (GSDP). In this regard, the Expenditure Department under the Finance Ministry
already approved Rs 1,423 crore through Open Market Borrowings.

Maharashtra Govt Renamed Nagpur’s Gorewada International Zoo
Maharashtra Government renamed Gorewada International Zoo as “Balasaheb Thackeray Gorewada
International Zoological Park”, in memory of Balasaheb Thackeray, an Indian politician. This zoological
park is situated in Nagpur, Maharashtra and covers about 2,000 hectares of the forest land.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will inaugurate the Indian safari at the zoo on January
26, 2021.
ISGF announces the 7th edition of India Smart Utility Week 2021 from March 2-5, 2021
India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF) is all set to organize the 7th edition of India Smart Utility Week (ISUW
2021) from March 2-5, 2021 in a virtual format. ISUW 2021 will provide a digital platform for
International Conference and Exhibition on Smart Energy and Smart Mobility for Smarter Cities which
will be accessed at www.isuw.in. 5th Edition of ISGF Innovation Awards 2021 will also be organized.
These awards were instituted in 2017 with an aim to recognize organizations, projects, products and
personalities that have set new standards in Electricity, Gas and Water Sectors.
Govt to set up NFPC for faceless penalty proceedings: Faceless Penalty Scheme 2021
As a part of faceless taxation, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has introduced the Faceless
Penalty Scheme 2021 under which penalty will be imposed in a digital format. Faceless penalty scheme
will help boost transparency, compliance for taxpayers. National Faceless Penalty Centres(NFPC),
regional penalty centres, penalty units and review units will be setting up for execution of penalty
proceedings.
Indian Railways Renamed Howrah-Kalka Mail, One of the Oldest Running Train in India as
“Netaji Express”
Indian Railways has renamed the Howrah-Kalka Mail, one of the oldest running trains in India, as
“Netaji Express” with effect on 23rd January 2021, to honour the 125th Birth Anniversary of Subhas
Chandra Bose. The ministry of Railways approved the renaming of Train No. 12311/12312 Howrah-
Kalka Mail on 20th January 2021. The train was first operated on 1st January 1866 as Howrah-
Peshawar Express.
NSDC Partners with California State University to Provide Digital Skills Training in India
the National Skill Development Corporation(NSDC) partnered with California State University, Long
Beach (CSULB) to fulfil the increasing demand for a digitally skilled workforce in India.The initiative is
led by eSkillIndia, the digital skilling unit of NSDC. Under this partnership, the platform of CSULB –
SkillsCommons and Multimedia Education Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT) will
be integrated with NSDC’s eSkillindia.org, to encourage e-learning among the youths of India.
Specialists from Indian AirForce move to Russia for S-400 Missile System Training in Moscow
India is set to send the first group of Military specialists to Russia to train on operating the S-400 air
Defence system in Moscow.India will receive the first batch of the S-400 by the end of 2021. In October
2018, India signed a 5.43 billion USD deal with Russia to procure five S-400, long-range air Defence
systems.S-400 supplies initiative is one of the flagship projects in the Russian-Indian military and
military-technical cooperation. The all five s-400 delivery is expected to be completed by 2025.
CAQM set to partner with Premier Technical Institutions to Establish DSS to Improve Air
Quality in Delhi-NCR Region
Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) is set to partner with Premier Technical Institutions
of the Country to establish a Decision Support System (DSS) for improving the Air Quality in Delhi and
the adjoining National Capital Region (NCR). The institutions are India Meteorological Department
(IMD), Delhi, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, The Energy and Resources Institute

(TERI), IIT Delhi and National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Centre for
Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune. DSS will utilize Artificial Intelligence (AI) for
simulation of scenarios, based on which steps will be taken to improve air quality.
Aurobindo Pharma, Karnataka Antibiotics & Kinvan Bagged 1st 5 Projects Under PLI scheme
Central Government gave its consent for first set of five pharma projects with the total committed
Investment of Rs 3,761.17 crore. It was approved under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme
for promoting domestic manufacture of bulk drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). The
projects are related to the four fermentation-based key starting materials which are all entirely
imported now.These are bagged by Hyderabad (Telangana) based Aurobindo Pharma, Bengaluru
(Karnataka) based Karnataka Antibiotics & Pharmaceuticals, and Kinvan Pvt Ltd located in Mumbai,
Maharashtra.
Harsh Vardhan releases 1st of its Kind Comprehensive NNMS & Framework for use of
Telemedicine
Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) virtually attended the
Foundation day celebrations & Launch of Decadal year of the Indian Council of Medical Research –
National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research (ICMR-NCDIR), Bengaluru, Karnataka. During the
event, he released National Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Monitoring Survey (NNMS) 2017-18, 1st
of its kind complete survey on NCDs using standardised tools & methods and Framework for
Telemedicine use in Management of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease & Stroke in India.
“Ayu Samvad”, Public Awareness Campaign on Ayurveda & COVID-19 Pandemic Organised by
AIIA
“Ayu Samvad” (My Health My Responsibility), one of the largest public awareness campaigns on
Ayurveda and COVID-19 pandemic (in the form of lecture series) is organised by All India Institute of
Ayurveda (AIIA), New Delhi, an apex Ayurveda institute under the Ministry of AYUSH, from 26th
January 2021 to 30th March 2021. The campaign is supported by the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga &
Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH). This campaign is organised in pursuance to the
5th Ayurveda Day theme “Ayurveda for COVID-19 Pandemic”.
MoEFCC releases ‘Marine Mega Fauna Stranding Guidelines’ & ‘National Marine Turtle Action
Plan’
Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister for Environment Forest & Climate Change (MoEFCC) virtually
released ‘Marine MegaFauna Stranding Guidelines’ & ‘National Marine Turtle Action Plan’ in New Delhi
To address stranding and entanglement of Marine MegaFauna Species & Marine Turtles. The documents
will help in long-time conservation of Marine mammals & their habitats. Marine Mega Fauna refers to
the Largest animals which live in the oceans.
India in 3rd Position Globally in Scientific Publications After China and US

Department of Science and Technology (DST), Ministry of Science and Technology has announced that
India is currently in 3rd position globally in scientific publication after China and the United States, with
1,35,788 scientific articles in the year 2018. The data is provided by the US agency, the National Science
Foundation (NSF). India has recorded the fastest average annual growth rate of publications between
2008 and 2018 with 10.73%. India’s growth rate of scientific publication was 12.9 percent, as against
the world average of 4.9 percent.
CCEA approves closure of Scooters India Limited

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the closure of state-owned Scooters India
Limited (SIL). The company is being closed as it has been only accumulating losses. SIL was founded in

1972 and is known for its scooters like Lambretta, Lamby, Vijai Super, Vikram & Lambro. It has
manufactured both Two-wheelers and three-wheelers, however since 1997 it discontinued its 2-
wheeler manufacturing process.
GOVT SCHEMES
RoDTEP Scheme Implemented from January 1, 2021
Ministry of finance has notified that Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP)
scheme will be implemented from January 1, 2021. Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce
and Industry will notify the RoDTEP rates shortly on the basis of the recommendation made by a
committee chaired by Dr. G.K. Pillai, former Commerce and Home Secretary. The benefits of the
reimbursement scheme are extended to all export goods.
Jharkhand Launches ‘Kisan Fasal Rahat Yojana’ – Crop Relief Scheme

Jharkhand has launched the state’s own crop relief scheme ‘Kisan Fasal Rahat Yojana’ which will replace
Government scheme Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). This scheme will provide security
cover to farmers of Jharkhand in cases of crop damage due to natural hazards.Department of
Agriculture, Animal Husbandry & Co-operative, Jharkhand will be the implementing agency of the
scheme.
PMFBY – Crop Insurance Scheme completes 5 years of operation

Government of India’s Crop Insurance Scheme – Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) has
completed 5 years of its operation. It was launched by the Government on 13th January, 2016. The
Scheme is in line with One Nation – One Scheme theme. It replaces 2 existing Crop Insurance schemes –
National Agricultural Insurance Scheme & modified NAIS (National Agricultural Insurance Scheme).
Mahendra Nath Pandey Launches Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 3.0 – 2020-21
Union Minister for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Dr.Mahendra Nath Pandey launched the
third Phase of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY 3.0) 2020-21 with an outlay of INR 948.90
Crore in 717 districts, 28 States/eight UTs across India and made available around 300 Plus Skill
Courses to the youth.It will focus on demand-driven skill development, digital technology & Industry 4.0
skills.
PM Releases Financial Assistance around Rs 2691cr to 6.1 lakh beneficiaries in UP under

PMAY-G
Prime Minister Narendra Modi released financial assistance of around Rs 2691 crores to ~6.1 lakh
beneficiaries in Uttar Pradesh (UP) under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G) through
video conference. PM also wished beneficiaries on the Prakash Purab (Birth Anniversary) of 10th Sikh
Guru, Shri Guru Gobind Singh ji. It was also attended by Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Ministry
of Rural Development; Anandiben Mafatbhai Patel, Governor of UP; and Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister
(CM) of UP.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
India to co-chair Regional Forum to Conserve Wildlife Habitats: Asia Protected Areas
Partnership (APAP)
India is all set to co-chair the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)-supported Asia
Protected Areas Partnership (APAP), a regional forum to conserve wildlife habitats for three years. In
this tenure India will assist other Asian countries in managing their protected areas. India will replace
South Korea which held this position for three years till November, 2020. Notably APAP is chaired by
IUCN Asia and co-chaired by an APAP country member.
India provides NPR 30.66 Crore for Reconstruction of Earthquake Affected Schools in Nepal
India provided a grant assistance of 30.66 Crore Nepalese Rupees (NPR) (~ INR 19.21 Crore) to Nepal
for Reconstruction of Educational Institutions damaged during the 2015 earthquake.India has
reimbursed an amount of NPR 81.98 Crore (~ INR 51.37 Crore) to Nepal for reconstruction projects of
the Education Sector. In another separate meeting, India also granted NPR 44.13 Million (~ INR 2.76
crore) to Nepal under Nepal-Bharat Maitri Development Partnership.
India and France Strategic Dialogue 2021 held in New Delhi; Ajit Doval Represented India
The annual India and France Strategic Dialogue 2021 to discuss regional and global issues was held at
New Delhi where Indian delegation was led by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and French
delegation was represented by Emmanuel Bonne, Diplomatic Advisor to the French President. The last
edition of the Strategic Dialogue was held in February 2020 in Paris, France. It is held with the two
countries as alternating as hosts.
UNICEF, WHO, IFRC and MSF collaborates to stockpile a global Ebola Vaccine
On 12th January, 2021 World’s four leading Health and Humanitarian organisations UNICEF, World
Health Organisation (WHO), International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) collaborated to stockpile a global Ebola Vaccine with financial
assistance from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
ADB, EIB join Hands to Protect Oceans by Supporting Blue Economy

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) joined hands for Clean
and Sustainable Ocean Partnership to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the climate
goals as advised in the Paris Agreement. In this regard, both entities will support the initiatives in Asia
and the Pacific.They will also develop joint technical assistance programs and advisory support to help
their partners in achieving SDGs of blue economy.Healthy oceans are a key priority of ADB’s Strategy
2030.
First India-EU IPR dialogue 2021 held Virtually to Enhance Cooperation in Intellectual
Property Rights
The first India-EU IPR dialogue 2021 was held virtually between European Union (EU) Commission and
Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) to discuss key Intellectual Property
Rights (IPR) issues affecting businesses. Prime Info about India-EU IPR dialogue 2021:
Hosts DPIIT and EU commission
Ravinder, Joint Secretary, DPIIT
Co-Chairs Carlo Pettinato, Head of Unit Investment & IP, Director General (DG) Trade, EU
To further strengthen the relation of both economies
Aim To facilitate enhanced cooperation in the field of IPR

5th India-Singapore Defence Ministers Dialogue 2021 held; Implementing Agreement inked
between IN & RSN
5th India-Singapore Defence Ministers Dialogue held virtually between Union Minister Rajnath Singh,
Ministry of Defence on behalf of India and Dr. Ng Eng Hen, Minister for Defence, on behalf of Singapore.
It was also attended by Defence Secretary of India Dr. Ajay Kumar. The dialogue saw the signing of the
Implementing Agreement on Submarine Rescue Support and Cooperation between the Indian Navy (IN)
and Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN).
Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji Won the Presidency of the UN Human Rights Council
Fijian Ambassador Nazhat Shameem Khan, the chief diplomat of Fiji in Geneva won the Presidency
Election of the United Nations Human Rights Council(UNHRC) with 29 out of 47 votes. Fiji became the
first Pacific Island nations to win the presidency election of the UNHRC. She succeeds Elisabeth Tichy-
Fisslberge of Austria. The Bureau of the Council which includes the President and 4 vice Presidents
from the 5 regional groups serve for a period of a year, in accordance to the annual cycle of the UNHRC.
1st Ever Treaty for Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons adopted by UN comes into Force
‘Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) adopted by the United Nations (UN) General
Assembly came into force from January 22, 2021, it is the first ever international agreement which
prohibits Nuclear Weapons. Until now 86 Nations have signed TPNW & 52 have ratified it. Nuclear-
capable countries – United States, Russia, Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea & Israel
(Undeclared Nuclear Power) did not support the Treaty nor have signed it. Countries rely on Nuclear
weapons of other countries such as 27 members of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) have not
signed the treaty.
NSE Retains World’s Largest Derivatives Exchange Title for 2nd consecutive year in 2020: FIA
In accordance with the Futures Industry Association (FIA), National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE)
remained the world’s largest derivatives exchange for the second consecutive year in 2020 in terms of
number of contracts traded. On the other hand, World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) has ranked it 4th
in terms of cash equities by number of trades for calendar year 2020. In 2020, NSE launched a series of
new products and services. In capital market segment it has listed T-bills (Treasury Bills) and SDLs
(State Development Loans) facilitating investors to transact in these securities.
Bengaluru Emerges as World’s Fastest Growing Mature Tech Ecosystem: Report

Dealroom.co data analysed by London & Partners(the Mayor of London’s international trade and
investment agency) has revealed that Bengaluru, Karnataka has emerged as the world’s fastest growing
mature tech ecosystem, with investment in it increased 5.4 times from USD 1.3 billion in 2016 to USD
7.2 billion in 2020.The list is followed by London, Munich, Berlin, Paris. Mumbai, Maharashtra secures
6th place. Bengaluru secures 6th place in global top 10 for Venture Capital(VC) investment. This list is
topped by Beijing and San Francisco, New York, Shanghai and London.
UNGA adopts resolution to safeguard religious sites across the world

On 21st January, 2021, United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution titled
“Promoting a culture of peace and tolerance to safeguard religious sites”. The resolution was proposed
by Saudi Arabia and was co-sponsored by Arab nations including Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Yemen,
Bahrain, Sudan, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Palestine. India also supported the resolution. The
resolution condemns offences or mockery against religious sites and symbols, rejects the use of
violence to express any point of view.

FDI in India rose by 13% in 2020 but Decreased 42% globally-UNCTAD
In accordance with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s 38th Global
Investment Trends Monitor, after the 1990s, the year 2020 saw a fall down in Global foreign direct
investment (FDI) which decreased 42% to $859 billion from $1.5 trillion in 2019. India met 13%
increase in FDI to $57 billion which is driven by investments in the digital sector. China pocketed a
maximum FDI of $163 billion with 4% increase i.e. it became the world’s largest FDI recipient even
being a place of COVID-19 evolution.Click here for complete detail
India Pledged USD 150,000 to UN Peace Building Fund

On 26th January, 2021, India has pledged USD 150,000 to activities of the United Nations (UN) Peace
Building Fund (PBF) for 2021 during the “High-level Replenishment Conference for the Peacebuilding
Fund”. It was announced by India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador TS Tirumurti.
This pledge is on the lines of 2020 review of the UN peacebuilding architecture which provides a
framework to strengthen peace building collectively.
India signs Strategic Partnership Agreement with IEA for Energy Security
Government of India has signed a Framework for Strategic partnership agreement with the
International Energy Agency (IEA) that will play a crucial role in enhancing global energy security. This
initiative will pave the way for India to become a full-time member of IEA. The IEA Secretariat will be
responsible for implementation of the cooperative activities in India. India will enhance its cooperation
towards energy security with Key inputs from IEA member countries.
Harsh Vardhan Addressed 4th edition of FII Forum 2021; Hosted Virtually from Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia
4th edition of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Forum 2021 was held virtually from Riyadh, Capital
of Saudi Arabia under the theme of “The Neo-Renaissance”. It was hosted by FII Institute. Union
Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Harsh Vardhan addressed the FII Forum 2021. Indian Union
Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Harsh Vardhan addressed the FII Forum 2021 where he
highlighted the following five big impacts of COVID-19. The forum acted as a platform for leaders,
investors and policymakers to find solutions for expanding access to healthcare, train healthcare
workers.
VISITS
INDIAN VISIT
Overview of Nepal Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali’s 3-day visit to India
Foreign Minister of Nepal Pradeep Kumar Gyawali paid a 3-day visit to India from January 14-16, 2021.
Gyawali is the senior-most political leader from Nepal to visit India after the dispute between two
nations when Nepal published a new political map in 2020. During his visit, he Participated in the 6th
India-Nepal Joint Commission Meeting. 6th India-Nepal Joint Commission was co-chaired by EAM
Jaishankar & Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nepal, Pradeep Kumar Gyawali. India assured Nepal that it
would deliver its two Indigenous COVID-19 vaccines – Covishield & Covaxin to combat the pandemic in
Nepal…Click here for more info regarding his visit and deals between two nations.
FOREIGN VISIT
MoS MEA V Muraleedharan’s 3-day visit to UAE; Focus on Welfare of Indian Workers in UAE
Minister of State (MoS) Vellamvelly Muraleedharan, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) paid a three day
visit to United Arab Emirates (UAE) from January 19, 2021 to January 21, 2021 to focus on welfare of

Indian workers in UAE. He was received by Indian Ambassador to the UAE, Pavan Kapoor in UAE. He
inaugurated the classes that offer basic lessons for improving Indian workers’ knowledge in English and
Arabic languages as well as computer skills in the premises of the Delhi Private School (DPS) in Jebel
Ali.
BANKING & FINANCE

RBI IN NEWS
RBI Releases Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2019-20
On December 29, 2020, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released “Report on Trend and Progress of Banking
in India 2019-20” under theme of impact of COVID-19 on banking and non-banking sectors, and the way
forward. This report for the year ended June 30, 2020 has been submitted to the Central Government in
terms of Section 36(2) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. The report presented the performance of
the banking sector, including co-operative banks, and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) during
2019-20….Click here for complete detail
RBI Unveils Digital Payment Index: January 2021

On January 1, 2021, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) introduced the RBI-Digital Payments Index (DPI) to
measure a growth in digital or cashless transactions across the country. It was released on the lines of
the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies as part of the Sixth Bi-monthly Monetary
Policy Statement for 2019-20 dated February 06, 2020. For the index, the RBI has set the base year
2018, i.e. DPI score for March 2018 is set at 100.
RBI Launched Jan 2021 Round of “Consumer Confidence Survey” & “Inflation Expectations
Survey of Households”
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launched the January 2021 round of household surveys namely “Inflation
Expectations Survey of Households (IESH)” and “Consumer Confidence Survey (CCS)” to represent
inflation expectations and consumer confidence. These surveys will act as useful inputs for RBI’s
monetary policy which is scheduled to be announced by Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on February
3-5, 2021. In accordance with RBI’s “Quarterly Basic Statistical Returns (BSR)-1: Outstanding Credit of
Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs), September 2020”, Bank credit growth on y-o-y basis stood at
5.4% in Q2FY21 compared to 5.7% growth in the Q1FY21.
RBI to Introduce LEI for Large-Value Transactions in RTGS/NEFT from April, 2021
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the introduction of Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) for all payment
transactions of Rs 50 crore and above undertaken by entities through Real Time Gross Settlement
(RTGS) and National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT). The directions for the same have been issued
by RBI under Section 10 (2) read with Section 18 of Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (Act 51
of 2007).
RBI announces Operationalization of Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF)

Scheme
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced Operationalization of the Payments Infrastructure Development
Fund (PIDF) Scheme with an initial corpus of INR 345 Crores for three years starting from January 1,
2021 & may be extended for two more years depending upon the progress. An Advisory Council (AC)
under the chairmanship of RBI Deputy Governor BP Kanungo will be responsible for managing the
functioning of PIDF.

RBI cancels Licence of Vasantdada Nagari Sahakari Bank, Osmanabad (Maharashtra)
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cancelled the licence of Osmanabad (Maharashtra)-based Vasantdada
Nagari Sahakari Bank Ltd.to carry on banking business with immediate effect under Section 22(1) read
with Section 56 of Banking Regulation (BR) Act, 1949. The banking business includes acceptance of
deposits and repayment of deposits as defined in Section 5(b) read with Section 56 of the Banking
Regulation Act, 1949.
RBI forms WG to Examine Lending Transactions via Online Portals, Apps

Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has formulated a 6-member Working Group (WG) to study all aspects of
digital lending activities (including lending through online platforms and mobile apps) in the regulated
financial sector as well as by unregulated players so that an appropriate regulatory approach can be put
in place. The group will be chaired by Jayant Kumar Dash, Executive Director, RBI and will submit its
report within three months.
Small Finance Banks’ Assets Grew 150% Annually between FY18-FY20 & NPA ratio
Moderate:RBI
In accordance with an article ‘Small Finance Banks: Balancing Financial Inclusion and Viability’
published in Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) monthly bulletin on January 21, 2021, the assets of Small
Finance Banks (SFBs) between financial years (FY) 2017-18 and 2019-20 have grown 150% annually.
Their share in total assets of the financial sector stood at 0.4% in March 2019. The article prepared by
Richa Saraf and Pallavi Chavan from the RBI’s Department of Supervision provided an overview of SFB’s
business between FY 2017-18 and 2019-20.
• The bad loan ratio or NPA ratio is low among the freshers of India’s financial system.
Notably their NPA remained moderate inception, which states a healthy asset quality.
RBI proposes 4 Layered Bank-Like Norms for NBFCs

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released a Discussion Paper on “Revised Regulatory Framework for NBFCs-
A Scale-Based Approach” on the lines of the announcement made in the Statement on Developmental
and Regulatory Policies on December 4, 2020. It envisages a four-layered regulatory and supervisory
framework for NBFCs namely Base Layer (BL), Middle Layer (ML), Upper Layer (UL) and a possible Top
Layer (TL)…Click here for more detail
Overseas investment by Indian companies fell 42% to $1.45 billion in Dec 2020
In accordance with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, overseas investment by domestic firms fell by
over 42% to USD 1.45 billion in December 2020 in comparison to USD 2.51 billion in December 2019.
Of the total FDI investment, USD 775.41 million was in the form of equity infusion, USD 382.91 million
was in the form of loan, and USD 287.63 million was in the form of issuance of guarantee. In November
2020, the total outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) was also trimmed by 27% to USD 1.06 billion
as compared to October 2020.
RBI issues Framework for Strengthening Grievance Redress Mechanism in Banks

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced a comprehensive framework to strengthen the grievance
redress mechanism in banks and also to provide greater insight into the volume and nature of
complaints received by the banks. The grievance redressed process through Offices of Banking
Ombudsman (OBOs) will continue to remain free for the banks and customers under BO Scheme, 2006
(BOS). This newly introduced framework is on the lines of ‘Statement on Developmental and Regulatory
Policies’ issued as part of the Monetary Policy statement on December 4, 2020. Click here for more
detail

BANKING TECHNOLOGY
IOCL in Partnership with SBI Launches ‘IndianOil – SBI Co-branded RuPay Debit Card’
Indian Oil Corporation Limited(IOCL) in partnership with State Bank of India (SBI) launched ‘IndianOil
– SBI co-branded RuPay Debit Card’. The card was launched by Mr. Shrikant Madhav Vaidya, Chairman
of Indian Oil and Mr. Dinesh Kumar Khara, Chairman of SBI, in a virtual ceremony. This contactless card
can be used anywhere in India.
YES Bank & Aditya Birla Wellness partnered to Launch ‘YES Bank Wellness’ and ‘YES Bank
Wellness Plus’ Credit Cards
YES Bank headquartered at Mumbai, Maharashtra partnered with Aditya Birla Wellness Private Limited
to launch ‘YES Bank Wellness’ and ‘YES Bank Wellness Plus’ Credit Cards.This co-branded wellness
themed credit cards encourages self-care and fitness of consumers and to encourage & promote holistic
health(mental and physical) and wellness of consumers.
Airtel Payments Bank Launched ‘Airtel Safe Pay’, a Safe Mode to Make Digital Payments
Airtel Payments Bank headquartered at New Delhi has launched ‘Airtel Safe Pay’ to protect the
customers when they make digital transactions through Unified Payment Interface (UPI) or net-
banking. This safe payment gateway is free of cost, will and offers protection against phishing, stolen
credentials or passwords, and phone cloning. Customers can make digital transactions across
merchants, online retailers, and transfer money through Airtel Safe Pay. Airtel Payments Bank account
can be opened through a video call using the Airtel Thanks application.
StashFin Partners with SBM Bank India to Launch ‘StashFin SBM card’, a Contactless Prepaid
Card
StashFin entered into partnership with SBM Bank (India) Ltd to launch their co-branded prepaid card,
‘StashFin SBM card’. The card is powered by Visa and has a contactless Europay, MasterCard, and
Visa(EMV) chip, enabling cardholders to have 24×7 access to funds. It has been designed through
collaboration. It acts as a personal overdraft facility, enabling customers to take loans up to Rs 5 Lakhs.
AGREEMENTS & MoUs SIGNED

BANKS SIGNED WITH KEY NOTES
Asian Development Government of India Signed a USD 231 Million (~ INR 1688.5 Crores) Loan
Bank (ADB) (GoI) Agreement for the Assam Power Sector Investment Program
(APSIP) for the construction of Lower Kopili Hydroelectric
Power (LKHEP) plant. This is the 3rd Tranche Loan for the
program which was approved by ADB board in July, 2014.
World Bank Government of India Government of India (GoI), Government of West Bengal (WB)&
(GoI), West Bengal World Bank headquartered at Washington, D.C., United States
(WB) signed USD 105 Million Project (approximately INR 767
Crores) for the West Bengal Inland Water Transport, Logistics
and Spatial Development Project to improve inland water
transport infrastructure in Kolkata, West Bengal. The Loan for
the project is provided by International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (IBRD).
Bandhan Bank Indian Army Bandhan Bank Ltd headquartered at Kolkata, West Bengal
signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the
Indian Army for the Bandhan Bank Shaurya Salary Account.
The serving personnel of Indian Army will be provided the
services of the account through the Bank’s network of banking

outlets. It is a zero-balance salary account with 6% interest on
balance above Rs.1 lakh.
New Development Govt of India(GoI), Govt of India(GoI), Govt of Andhra Pradesh(AP) and New
Bank(NDB) Andhra Development Bank(NDB) headquartered at Shanghai, China
Pradesh(AP) signed loan agreement worth USD 646 million(about Rs 4,736
crore) for 2 projects to upgrade State Highway Network and
District Road Network in AP.The Loan amount of USD 323
million(about Rs 2,368 crore) for each project will be given by
NDB. 2 projects include: Andhra Pradesh Roads and Bridges
Reconstruction Project and Andhra Pradesh Mandal
Connectivity and Rural Connectivity Improvement Project.
Bank of Baroda Small Industries To enable micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)
(BoB) Development Bank customers of the former to apply online for one-time
of India (SIDBI) restructuring (OTR). The eligible MSME entities can get credit
exposure up to Rs 25 crore. The MSME Customer can now
access the web-based portal, ‘Asset Restructuring Module for
MSMEs (ARM-MSME)‘.
Central Bank of NABFOUNDATION Central Bank of India (CBoI) headquartered at Mumbai,
India (CBoI) Maharashtra signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
with NABFOUNDATION to provide working capital for Self-
Help Groups (SHGs) to undertake ‘My Pad My Right’ project,
sponsored by NABARD. As per the MoU, working capital will be
provided by the bank to all SHGs who have an account with it.
The funds will be provided collateral free and at a cheaper rate.
Karnataka Vikas Jai Kisan Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank (KVGB) headquartered at
Grameena Bank Dharwad, Karnataka has signed a Memorandum of
(KVGB) Understanding(MoU) with Jai Kisan, a rural-focused fintech
platform of Greenizon Agritech Consultancy Pvt Ltd to expand
access to financial services for individuals and businesses in
Karnataka, including farmers and non-farmer entrepreneurs.
State Bank of India Mahindra Lifespace To speed up the home loan approvals as well as offer special
(SBI) Developers discounts to customers and employees of both the companies.
It provides various co-promotional activities and outreach
initiatives, customers and employees of SBI and Mahindra
Lifespace.
OTHER BANKING NEWS

RuPay Partnered with RBL Bank to Launch ‘RuPay PoS’
On December 31, 2020, the international card payment service RuPay partnered with RBL Bank to
launch an innovative payment solution for Indian merchants “RuPay PoS” in association with
PayNearby. The announcement for the same was made by National Payments Corporation of India
(NPCI). This collaboration will transform smartphones into merchant Point of Sale (PoS) terminals for
the retailers.
Centre Issues Rs 5,500 cr Zero-Coupon Bonds for P&SB recapitalisation

In a first of its kind move Central Government has issued Rs 5,500 crore in zero-coupon bonds to
recapitalise Punjab and Sind Bank (P&SB) by allowing it to park the paper in its held-to-maturity (HTM)
category at face value rather than the discounted market rate. This move of capital infusion was
approved by the Ministry of Finance on November 10, 2020. The bond will mature in tranches between
2030 to 2035.

PNB Collaborates with IIT Kanpur & FIRST to Set up Fintech Innovation Centre at IIT Kanpur
Campus
Punjab National Bank (PNB) headquartered at NewDelhi partnered with Indian Institute of Technology
(IIT) Kanpur and Foundation for Innovation & Research in Science & Technology (FIRST) to jointly set
up ‘Fintech Innovation Centre (FIC)’, the Punjab National Bank – IIT Kanpur Innovation Centre at the IIT
Kanpur campus. Under this partnership, PNB and IIT Kanpur will set up a FIC to do research and
develop technological solutions to address challenges & explore opportunities in Banking, Financial
Services and Insurance (BFSI) space.
ICICI Bank ties up with Niyo to issue prepaid cards ‘ICICI Bank Niyo Bharat Payroll Card’ to
MSMEs
Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) Bank collaborated with Niyo, a new age
fintech to issue prepaid cards namely ”ICICI Bank Niyo Bharat Payroll Card” to the blue-collar workers
of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). This will enable MSMEs to upload the salaries of their
workers on the card, which the workers can then utilise as per their need and allows an individual to
receive funds upto 1 lakh into the card account. Niyo also offers a multilingual app called ‘Niyo Bharat
Mobile app’ which enable workers to transfer funds
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari Virtually Launched YES Bank’s ‘YES MSME’, a Proposition for
MSMEs
Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister MSME virtually launched YES Bank’s YES MSME to support MSMEs to
expand their business, sustain momentum and accelerate growth. It is a comprehensive proposition to
strengthen MSMEs with speed and easy access to funds, knowledge partnerships and digital solutions.
It will offer collateral-free funding up to INR 5 crore.
SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank remains in the 2020 list of D-SIBs
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the 2020 list of Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs)
under five buckets on the basis of data collected from banks as on March 31, 2020. As per the list SBI,
ICICI, and HDFC continue to be D-SIBs or institutions which are ‘too big to fail (TBTF)’. ICICI Bank and
HDFC Bank are in bucket one while SBI is in bucket three. The assets of the bank exceeding 2% of GDP
(Gross Domestic Product) are considered part of D-SIBs.
Axis Bank Launched ‘AURA’, a Credit Card with Affordable Health and Wellness Benefits
Axis Bank Ltd launched ‘AURA’, a credit card with health and wellness benefits at an affordable price for
its individual users.The features of the card is powered by Poshvine , Decathlon, Practo, Fitternity,
IndushealthPlus, 1MG etc., Through this card, the users can have access to 16 recorded training sessions
for one month.
PPBL Partners with Suryoday SFB to Launch FD Service & Becomes India’s 1st Payment Bank to
Launch the Multi Partner FD Service
Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL) partnered with Suryoday Small Finance Bank(SFB) Ltd to enable its
account holders to avail Fixed Deposit(FD) services. It is to be recalled that PPBL has been offering FD
services in partnership with Induslnd bank with a minimum investment of Rs. 100. PPBL with the
partnership with Suryoday SFB has become the 1st payments bank in India to launch the multi-partner
FD service. Through this service an account holder can select the partnered bank as per their
preference.

SBI Executed Money Market Deals linked to SOFR
State Bank of India (SBI) has executed two inter-bank short term money market deals with pricing
linked to SOFR (Secured Overnight Financing Rate) through its Hong Kong (China) branch. The
transaction states the growth of SBI in Alternate Reference Rates (ARRs).
ARRs are overnight rates which are published at the end of the overnight borrowing period. This means
they are “backward-looking.”
GrayQuest Partners with SBM Bank India to Enhance Access to Quality Education in India
GrayQuest partnered with SBM Bank (India) Limited to help its clients to access affordable funds to pay
their children’s education fees in monthly payments. GrayQuest has partnered with over 2000 leading
schools, colleges and universities across India to enable this kind of payment.
Govt of India Increased Authorized Share Capital of Punjab & Sind Bank From Rs 3,000 Crore
to Rs 10,000 Crore
Government of India has increased the authorised share capital of Punjab & Sind bank to Rs 10,000
crore from Rs 3,000 crore.The government in 2020 had approved to infuse Rs 5,500 crore capital into
the bank by preferential allotment of shares. The fund was approved from Rs 20,000 crore cleared by
the Parliament in September 2020 to infuse capital in Public Sector Banks (PSBs) as part of the 1st
batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2020-21.
IDFC First Bank Enters into Credit Card Business

IDFC First Bank with headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra has entered the credit card business. The
bank will charge interest between 9% and 36% on revolving credit, based on the customer’s track
record, credit score, relationship with the bank and internal scoring. In India the credit card businesses
charge about 40% interest per annum on revolving credit which is about 3.5% per month. It will not
charge interest on cash withdrawals during the 45-day free credit period.
HDFC Bank Partners with CSC to Launch EMI Collection Service for Business Correspondents
HDFC Bank headquarters at Mumbai, Maharashtra and CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd, a Special
Purpose Vehicle (SPV) under the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) had entered
into partnership to launch Equated Monthly Installment(EMI) service that allows Business
Correspondents(BCs) to collect HDFC Bank’s EMIs at CSCs across India.This initiative helps to enable
customers to deposit their overdues without the need to visit bank branches. Business Correspondents
are said to be retail agents engaged by banks to provide banking services at locations other than a bank
branch/Automated Teller Machine-ATM.
FINANCE NEWS
IFSCA Becomes an Associate Member of International Organisation of Securities Commissions
On 1st January 2021, the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) became an
associate member of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions(IOSCO), an international
organisation which sets the global standards for securities markets regulation. The membership will
support IFSCA with a platform to exchange information at global level and regional level in the fields of
common interest.
Bajaj Allianz General Partners with J&K government for PMJAY SEHAT
Bajaj Allianz General Insurance in association with Jammu & Kashmir Government launches health
insurance coverage under Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) Social,
Endeavour for Health, and Telemedicine(SEHAT). This extended scheme was launched by Prime
Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi.

SMCB Becomes India’s 1st Urban Co-operative Bank to Convert into Small Finance Bank under
Voluntary Transition Scheme
Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has issued a scheduled commercial banking license to Shivalik Mercantile
Co-operative Bank (SMCB) headquartered at Saharanpur, UP Ltd to carry on business as a Small
Finance Bank(SFB) under its ‘Scheme on voluntary transition of Urban Co-operative Bank(UCB) into a
Small Finance Bank’. It is the 1st UCB in India to transit to SFB under the scheme. SMCB is renamed as
Shivalik Small Finance Bank (SSFB).
IRDAI mandates Insurers to offer 3 Standard Insurance Products to Cover Risk of Fired & Allied
Perils
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has mandated General Insurance
Companies to offer 3 standard Insurance Products namely – Bharat Griha Raksha, Bharat Sookshma
Udyam Suraksha & Bharat Laghu Udyam Suraksha to cover risk of fire & allied perils from April 1,
2021.The 3 policies will replace the Standard Fire and Special Perils (SFSP) Policy.
PhonePe in Association with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Launches Term Life Insurance
Plans on its Platform
PhonePe headquartered at Bengaluru, Karnataka in partnership with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co
Ltd launched Term Life Insurance plans on its platform.This policy can be availed by PhonePe users
instantly on PhonePe app through an all-digital process without the need of any health check-ups and
paperwork
Universal Sompo General Insurance Company Limited ties-up with Jammu & Kashmir and
Ladakh Finance Corporation
Universal Sompo General Insurance Company Limited has joined hands with Jammu & Kashmir and
Ladakh Finance Corporation (JKIDFC) to initiate comprehensive insurance covers for the customers of
Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. JKIDFC is operational in the entire territory of Jammu, Kashmir and
Ladakh and works towards enhancing industrial growth in this area by providing financial assistance to
various Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) besides others.
Japan Commits Rs 2,113 cr Loan Pact to India to Support COVID-19 Relief Efforts
A loan agreement was signed between India and Japan for JPY (Japanese yen) 30 billion (Rs 2,113
crore) to support India’s efforts at providing social assistance to the poor and vulnerable households
severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.It is named as Covid-19 Crisis Response Support Loan for
Social Protection. Japan’s Covid-related assistance to India amounts to more than Rs 5,800 crore.
India Post Payments Bank Collaborated with FSS to Promote Financial Inclusion
India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) headquartered at New Delhi, Delhi has collaborated with the leading
payment processor and provider of integrated payment products, Financial Software and Systems (FSS)
to promote Financial Inclusion in underserved and unbanked segments of India. To attain this purpose,
IPPB will use FSS’ Aadhaar Enabled Payment System(AePS). The objective of this collaboration to
provide doorstep delivery of banking service to customers in India.
Kotak Mahindra AMC Signed up with Climate Action 100+

Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company (KMAMC) has become a signatory to Climate Action 100+
to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goals. In April 2018, KMAMC became the first domestic AMC to sign up
with the Principles for Responsible Investment supported by the United Nations (UN). Climate Action
100+ is an investor-led initiative to ensure the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters take
necessary action on climate change. It will continue till 2023.

IIFL Home Finance Ltd & Standard Chartered Bank Enters into Co-Lending Arrangement
IIFL Home Finance Ltd and Standard Chartered Bank of India headquartered at Mumbai ,Maharashtra
entered into a co-lending arrangement to extend credit to MSME loans (loan against property). It is to
be noted that this is one of the 1st co-lending arrangements in industry after Reserve Bank of
India(RBI) launched Co-Lending Model (CLM).
ECONOMY & BUSINESS

GDP & GROWTH RATE
ORGANIZATION YEAR RATE
World Bank Financial Year 5.4%
(FY) 2021-22 According to the Global Economic Prospects (GEP-January
2021) report released by the World Bank (WB), India is
expected to grow at 5.4% in the Financial Year (FY) 2021-22
& 5.2% in FY 2022-23 after an expected contraction of 9.6%
in FY 2020/21. The report also highlighted that the Global
Economy is expected to expand by 4% in 2021. The Global
economy is set to have contracted by 4.3 % in 2020.
National Statistical Office FY 2020-21 -7.7%
(NSO) National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and
Programme Implementation (MoSPI) released the First
Advance Estimates of National Income at both Constant
(2011-12) and Current Prices, for FY 2020-21.The growth in
real GDP during 2020-21 is estimated at -7.7% as compared
to the growth rate of 4.2% in 2019-20. It should be noted
that there is a sharp revision of estimates due to restrictions
imposed from 25 March, 2020 amid COVId-19.
ICRA FY2022 10.1%
In accordance with the report by rating agency ICRA
(formerly Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency
of India Limited), India’s real GDP (Gross Domestic Product)
will expand by 10.1% in FY2022 with multi-speed recovery.
However in absolute terms India’s GDP will “mildly” surpass
the levels of FY20. The rating agency had projected a 8%
contraction for FY21.
CARE Ratings FY21 7.8%
CARE Ratings has downgraded its projection of the Centre’s
fiscal deficit to 7.8% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) during
FY21 against its earlier estimate of 9-9.5%. As per this the
Fiscal deficit is likely to be around Rs 15.3 lakh crs. This
revision followed the release of the first advance estimate of
GDP for FY21 by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme
Implementation (MOSPI).
Fitch FY22 11%
Fitch in its report titled, ‘India Set for Slow Medium-Term
Recovery’ has projected that India’s Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) will expand by 11% in 2021-22 in contrary to the
down gradation by 9.4%(-9.4%) in the FY21 fiscal (April
2020 – March 2021). Though the expansion is there, the level

of GDP remain well below its pre-pandemic scenario. This is
due to the decrease in GDP growth more than ten-year low of
4.2% in 2019.
Japanese brokerage FY21 -6.7%
Nomura Japanese brokerage Nomura has upgraded the GDP forecast
for India in 2020-21 to -6.7% from earlier -7.7%. It further
projected the GDP of India to rise to 13.5% in FY22.
International Monetary FY20-21 Contract by 8%(-8%)
Fund (IMF) International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its latest World
Economic Outlook, titled ‘Policy Support and Vaccines
Expected to Lift Activity’ has projected India’s Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) to contract by 8%(-8%) in FY20-21.
Earlier in its October’s forecast, this estimate was -10.3%.It
also projected India’s GDP growth at 11.5% in FY 21-22,
which makes the country the only major economy of the
world to register a double-digit growth 2021 amid the
COVID-19.
Federation of Indian FY2020-21 Contract by 8%(-8%)
Chambers of Commerce & Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry
Industry (FICCI) (FICCI)’s recent Economic Outlook Survey, India’s Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to contract by 8% in (-
8%) in 2020-21. This survey was conducted in January. The
survey projected the Fiscal deficit for 2020-21 at 3.5%.The
median growth forecast for agriculture and allied activities is
pegged at 3.5% growth for 2020-21
UN-DESA FY2020 Contract by 9.6% (-9.6%)
In accordance with the report, titled “World Economic
Situation and Prospects 2021” by the United Nations
Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA),
India’s economy is estimated to contract by 9.6% (-9.6%) in
2020, while it is projected to grow at 7.3% in 2021. This
projection is highest among major economies of the world.
On the global front, the economy is contracted by 4.3%(-
4.3%) in 2020 but it projected a recovery of 4.7% in 2021.
Notably, a fall in the global economy was 2.5 times more than
the contraction during the financial crisis of 2009.
National Statistical Office FY2019-20 4%
(NSO) National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and
Programme Implementation (MoSPI) released the First
Revised Estimates (FRE) which stated that the growth rate of
Indian economy was 4% in FY2019-20. This growth estimate
is lower than the provisional estimates (PE) of FY20 growth
at 4.2% released in May 2020.The estimates cover National
Income, Consumption Expenditure, Saving and Capital
Formation. It has been compiled using industry-wise,
institution-wise detailed information instead of using the
benchmark-indicator method used in PE on May 29, 2020.

ECONOMY NEWS
India’s April-November Fiscal Deficit is 135.1% of full-year target
In accordance with the data released by the Controller General of Accounts(CGA), India’s April-
November fiscal deficit stood at Rs 10.75 lakh crore at the end of November 2020 which is 135.1% of
the Budget Estimate(BE) for FY21, The fiscal deficit at the end of November 2019 had stood at 114.8%
of 2019-20 BE. As per CGA data the total expenditure incurred by the government up to November rose
4.7% to Rs 19.06 lakh crore or 63% of BE.(i.e. Rs.16.6 lakh crore was on revenue account, ₹2.41 lakh
crore was on Capital Account).
FDI Equity Inflows into India grew 21% to USD 35.33 billion during April-October 2020
As per the official data of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Foreign
direct investment (FDI) equity inflows into India grew 21% to USD 35.33 billion(Rs 2.5 lakh
crore)during April-October 2020. In 2019, FDI equity inflows were USD 29.31 billion. From January to
July 2020-2021, the total FDI (including reinvested earnings) increased 11% to USD 46.82 billion from
USD 42.06 billion in April-October 2019.
7th Trade Policy Review of India at WTO acknowledges India’s strong economic growth at
7.4%
India’s seventh Trade Policy Review (TPR) initiated at the World Trade Organization in Geneva,
Switzerland. India’s official delegation for the TPR is headed by the Commerce Secretary, Dr. Anup
Wadhawan. India’s 6th TPR took place in 2015. During the TPR, a comprehensive Report issued by the
WTO Secretariat which acknowledged India’s strong economic growth at 7.4% during in the last five
years i.e. 2015-20.
Equity FDI into India grew 37% to USD 43.85 bn during April-Nov 2020
In accordance with the data by Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Foreign direct investment (FDI)
equity inflow into India was increased by 37% to USD 43.85 billion during April-November 2020
(FY21). It was the highest ever for the first 8 months of a financial year and also 37% more compared to
the first 8 months of FY20 (US$ 32.11 billion). These 8 months also saw the total FDI inflows (including
reinvested earnings) increase by 22% to USD 58.37 billion as compared to the same period of FY20
when it was US$ 47.67.
Global Public Debt to touch 98% of GDP in 2020 amid COVID Crisis: IMF
International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its latest fiscal monitor update on January 28, 2021 has projected
Global public debt to touch 98% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) at the end of 2020 due to severe
challenges imposed to public finances amid COVID-19. It was 84% before COVID-19. In this regard,
Indian government debt will also be elevated at 83% of GDP. The fiscal monitor was released by Vitor
Gaspar, Director of the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department. The maximum lending capacity of the IMF is
USD 1 trillion.
BUSINESS NEWS
BEML receives orders from MoD for the supply of High-Mobility Vehicles to Indian Army
BEML Ltd (previously known as Bharat Earth Movers Limited) has received orders worth ~ INR 758
crores from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for supplying high-mobility vehicles to the Indian army.The
equipment will be manufactured at BEML’s Palakkad Plant in Kerala and will be supplied to Indian
Army in a period of 1 year.The vehicles will play a vital role in the logistics management of the army.

Tesla Inc Registers India subsidiary in Bengaluru, Karnataka
Tesla Inc, United States based Electric car maker has incorporated a fully owned subsidiary in
Bengaluru, Karnataka as a first step to establish a Research & Development (R&D) unit in India. It has
registered with the Registrar of Companies in Bengaluru, Karnataka as ‘Tesla India Motors and Energy
Private Limited’. It is also in the process of setting up a manufacturing plant at Dharwad, Karnataka for
producing electric vehicles in India.
Mastercard Launched Digital Acceleration for Small Businesses Microsite in Asia Pacific
Mastercard launched Digital Acceleration for Small Businesses Microsite across most of its Asia Pacific
websites. The one-stop resource site provides information and resources for Small and Medium
Enterprises(SMEs) to digitize and operate their business more efficiently. Mastercard has partnered
with Wix and Zoho to enhance the resources for SMEs. As per the partnership, Wix and Zoho are
sponsoring online guides and articles on various topics to SMEs from creating an online store to shifting
themselves to online expense management and accounting platform.
MoU’s & AGREEMENTS

MoU’s BETWEEN COUNTRY
COUNTRIES MoU’s WITH FIELD / PURPOSE
Indian Coast 7 Asian Countries Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has signed a Memorandum of
Guard (ICG) Understanding (MoU) with 7 Asian Countries – Japan, Philippines,
Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Indonesia & Vietnam for cooperation
in Maritime Search and Rescue (M-SAR) Operations. ICG-Karnataka
is the coordinator of M-SAR for the Indian Coast. ICG also hosts
national Beacon exercises to test the effectiveness of Satellite-based
SAR systems.
India Japan To boost cooperation in the field of Information & Communication
Technology (ICT) which includes 5G technologies, Smart Cities,
Telecom Security among others. The Agreement was signed by Ravi
Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for Communications on behalf of
India & Takeda Ryota, Minister for Internal Affairs, Japan on behalf
of the Japanese side.
India Japan In order to enhance cooperation in skills development, India and
Japan have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) on January
18, 2021 for operation of the ‘specified skilled worker’ (SSW)
system. This MoC paves the way for Indian workers with required
skills and pass Japanese language tests to get employment in Japan
on a contractual basis. It was signed by Foreign secretary Harsh
Vardhan Shringla and Japan’s ambassador Satoshi Suzuki.
India Bangladesh In order to celebrate the 50 years of India-Bangladesh friendship &
the 100th Birth Anniversary of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, India &
Bangladesh have signed a MoU to design & launch the Pupil Satellite
TV for PC to be completely developed by Students from both
countries. The MoU was signed between SpaceKidz India (SKI) &
Global Law Thinkers Society, an Global Youth Organization of
Bangladesh. The satellite is set to be launched through ISRO’s Polar
Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in 2021.

India Japan The Textile Committee, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India
signed MoU with M/s. Nissenken Quality Evaluation Centre, Japan
through video conferencing to increase export of Textile and Apparel
(T&A) to the Japan market.The purpose of signing is to provide the
necessary support to the textile’s trade and industry to ensure the
quality required by Japanese buyers through testing, Inspection &
Conformity Assessment, etc.
MoU’s WITH STATES

STATE MoU’s WITH FIELD / PURPOSE
Jammu & NAFED On January 1, 2021, The Union Territory Administration of
Kashmir Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) with the National Agricultural
Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED). The
agreement will give a major thrust for marketing the
Horticulture Produce. NAFED will invest INR 1700 Crores for
Implementing High Density Plantations across 5500
Hectares in the next 5 years (2021-25).
Andhra Pradesh University of Cambridge Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD)
Department, Govt of Andhra Pradesh(AP) signed
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with University of
Cambridge. As part of the MoU, the university will offer
training to teachers and students of state municipal schools
to improve their proficiency in the English language. The
MoU is a part of the Transformation Of Municipal Schools
(TOMS) initiative taken up by the MAUD department, AP
govt.
Jammu & NECBDC Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir signed a Memorandum
Kashmir of Understanding (MoU) with the North East Cane and
Bamboo Development Council (NECBDC) to promote
Bamboo Cultivation and related entrepreneurship in the
region. The North East Cane and Bamboo Development
Council (NECBDC) will provide technical guidance in
cultivating various species of Bamboo in the region.
Himachal POWERGRID Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (POWERGRID) has
Pradesh signed an agreement with Himachal Pradesh State Electricity
Board Ltd (HPSEBL) to improve telecom connectivity in the
remote & hilly areas of the state such as Kangra, Una, Mandi,
Kullu, Bilaspur, Sirmour, Palampur, Sundernagar, Banikhet,
Amb, Paonta Sahib, Nahan and others. In regard to this
agreement, POWERGRID will use the 500 Kms Long Optical
Ground Wire (OPGW) laid in HPSEBL Extra High Voltage
(EHV) lines of the state to boost the telecom connectivity.
Madhya Pradesh Kerala To emulate its ‘Responsible Tourism (RT)’ initiative. The
initiative was started by Kerala in 2017 to ensure the
economic well-being of society, social & cultural stability and
environmental protection. The MoU will task Kerala’s RT
Mission to implement RT projects in Madhya Pradesh in a
way which is suitable for the state of MP. A 13-member team
from Bhopal led by Tourism Minister Usha Thakur will visit

different parts of Kerala to gather first-hand knowledge
about implementation of RT in Kerala.
Telangana Gujarat ‘WE Hub’ (Women Entrepreneurship Hub) of Telangana
Government & ‘I-Hub’ (Independent Hub) of Gujarat
Government have virtually signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) to enable & support startups by
women to raise capital in various focus sectors, this is the 1st
time that 2 state Governments have partnered to support
women entrepreneurs. WE Hub is India’s 1st state-led
Incubator exclusively for women entrepreneurs, it was
established in 2017. The partnership will not only benefit
women entrepreneurs from Telangana & Gujarat but also
others from all over India.
Maharashtra BSE BSE (formerly Bombay Stock Exchange) & Government of
Maharashtra have signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) to spread awareness about listing among Small &
Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs) of Maharashtra. The listing
will help SMEs to raise capital from the public capital market.
Rajasthan RSMML & MECL Department of Mines & Geology (DMG), Govt. of Rajasthan
signed a tripartite agreement with Rajasthan State Mines
and Minerals Limited(RSMML) and the Mineral Exploration
Corporation Limited (MECL), Govt of India to take possibility
steps towards study solution mining of potash in the Nagaur-
Ganganagar area of Rajasthan, covering parts of
Sriganganagar, Hanumangarh, and Bikaner districts. MECL
will be the program manager and this will create a path for
solution mining which tends to be established as the 1st
solution mining hub of potash in India.
Gujarat APSEZ MoU was signed between the Gujarat Government and Adani
Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) in the
presence of Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani in
Gandhinagar to set up India’s largest multi-model logistic
park at Virochan Nagar near Sanand in Ahmedabad district
of Gujarat.It was signed by Additional Chief Secretary M.K.
Das and Karan Gautam Adani of Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd.The
park to be developed in 1450 acre with an estimated
investment of Rs 50,000 crore will be completed in 3 years
i.e. by 2023.
Madhya Pradesh IIM Indore On January 22 2021, Indian Institute of Management (IIM),
Indore & Madhya Pradesh Industrial Development
Corporation (MPIDC) signed an Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) to build a roadmap to achieve MP’s
goal of ‘Atmanirbhar Madhya Pradesh’, the agreement will be
valid for a period of three years. IIM Indore will devise
Strategic campaigns for ‘Brand Madhya Pradesh’ as
‘Atmanirbhar Evam Samriddh’.
Karnataka Amazon India Department of Industries & Commerce, Government of
Karnataka and Amazon India has signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) to help enhance e-commerce exports
from the state and also to elevate MSMEs in state to a global

level through Amazon Global Selling, an exports program of
Amazon. As part of the MoU, Amazon will conduct webinars
and workshops for exporters from key MSME clusters like
Bellary, Mysore, Channapatna and others.
Ladakh CSIR Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has
signed MoU with Ladakh Union Territory(UT) to speed up
the development of Ladakh using Science &
Technology(S&T) interventions. The MoU was signed by Dr.
D. Srinivas Reddy, Director, CSIR-IIIM on behalf of CSIR and
Sh. Rigzin Samplel (IAS) Commissioner Secretary Agriculture
and Horticulture from Ladakh UT.
MoU’s BETWEEN ORGANIZATION

ORGANIZATION MoU’s WITH FIELD / PURPOSE
BEL Indian Navy Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) signed a contract with Indian
Navy in New Delhi to supply 20 Indigenously developed Light
Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation Dazzlers
(Laser Dazzlers). The Laser Dazzlers have been developed by
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and
will be manufactured by BEL, Pune Plant. The product has been
designed & developed indigenously for the First Time for Armed
Force.
TRIFED DAY-NRLM On December 31, 2020, TRIFED (Tribal Cooperative Marketing
Development Federation of India) the commercial wing of
Ministry of Tribal Affairs has signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) with Deen Dayal Antyodaya-National
Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) for undertaking
economic support programmes to boost the livelihoods of Tribal
populations of the country & Women Self Help Groups
(SHGs).MoU was signed by Pravir Krishna, Managing Director,
TRIFED & Nagendra Nath Sinha, Secretary of Ministry of Rural
Development (MoRD).
Indian Army Goa Shipyard Ltd On January 1 2021, Indian Army has signed an agreement with
Goa Shipyard Ltd(GSL), a state-run public sector, to procure the
12 high-performance patrol boats to boost its surveillance of
major water bodies like Pangong Tso or Pangong Lake in eastern
Ladakh and its surroundings including those in high altitude
areas. All these patrol boats expect to be delivered from May
2021.
Bharat Electronics Ministry of Ministry of Defence (MoD) has signed a contract with Bharat
Limited Defence Electronics Limited (BEL) for procurement of 4th generation 10
Lynx U2 Fire Control systems for frontline warships of Indian
Navy at a cost of Rs 1,355 crore under Buy (Indian) category in
New Delhi. These will be delivered by BEL over the next five
years.
Defence Research Maharashtra Signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) through which
and Development Metro Rail DRDO will provide technical support for the implementation of
Organisation Corporation advanced biodigester Mk-II technology for treatment of human
(DRDO) (MAHA-METRO) waste (night soil) in the metro rail network.

TRIFED Akhil Bhartiya TRIFED (Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation
Vanvasi Kalyan of India Limited) under Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) & Akhil
Ashram Bhartiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) to establish TRIFOOD Parks in 5 districts
in Madhya Pradesh. The main aim of TRIFOOD is to enhance the
income of tribals through optimal utilization of value addition to
Minor Forest Produces (MFPs) collected by Tribal Forest
Gatherers.
Indian Air Force Institute of Indian Air Force (IAF) and Institute of Defence Studies and
Defence Studies Research (IDSR), Autonomous Institution of Gujarat University
and Research have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enable
IAF officers to enroll for higher studies in the IDSR Institute. The
MoU has been signed as part of IAF’s Project Akashdeep. The
Partnership will help the officers to develop strategic knowledge
& intellectual skills, which will contribute towards formulation
of strategic plan and policies in the advent of hybrid Military
Operations.
Khadi and Village Indo-Tibet Border For supply of 1.72 Lakh Cotton durries every year, which is
Industries Police (ITBP) valued around INR 8.74 crore. The agreement has been signed
Commission (KVIC) for one year and will be renewed hereafter. The agreement was
signed by Deputy Chief Executive Officer of KVIC & Shri Surjeet
Singh Deswal, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), ITBP.
NBCC JKIT On January 4, 2020, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
was signed between NBCC (formerly National Buildings
Construction Corporation Limited) and JK IT Infrastructure
Development Company for establishing Information Technology
(IT) towers in Jammu and Srinagar, Capital Cities of Jammu &
Kashmir at a cost of Rs 50 crore each in 15 months and 17
months respectively. It was signed by the top officials of both
entities in the presence of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.
Flipkart LSC Flipkart has signed a MoU with the Logistics Skill Sector Council
(LSC), first-of-its-kind industry partnership with Flipkart to set
up the industry-first Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru,
Karnataka. LSC is an organisation set up by the Ministry of Skill
Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) through National
Skill Development Corporation of India (NSDC) and Karnataka
Skill Development Centre (KSDC). Upon successful completion of
the training, candidates will be awarded certification under the
National Skill Qualification Framework (NSFQ), which is
equivalent to an undergraduate degree.
IREDA NHPC Limited Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd
(IREDA)virtually signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) with NHPC Limited (formerly known as National
Hydroelectric Power Corporation), to provide its technical
expertise for developing renewable energy projects for the next
5 years. As part of the Agreement, IREDA will undertake Techno-
Financial due diligence (identification of suitable technology for
particular project sites) of Renewable energy and Energy
Efficiency & conservation projects for NHPC.

EESL NHAI Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), National Highways
Authority of India (NHAI) signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) to establish Clean & Energy Efficient
Interventions at NHAI Establishments. EESL will set up Solar
Power Projects, energy efficient LED lighting and EV Charging
stations at NHAI establishments. The MoU was signed in the
presence of Rajeev Sharma, Chairman, EESL & RK Pandey,
Member-Projects, NHAI.
Bharti Airtel NSIC Bharti Airtel signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
with National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) for the digital
transformation of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises
(MSMEs) in order to achieve the goal of “Atma Nirbhar Bharat”.
It was signed by Pechimuthu Udayakumar, Director (Planning &
Marketing), NSIC with Divya Sethi, Head – Emerging Business,
Bharti Airtel.
CSIR-NIO/ NGRI V.I. Il’Ichev Pacific CSIR-NIO of Goa (Council of Scientific & Industrial Research-
Oceanological National Institute of Oceanography) & CSIR-NGRI of Hyderabad
Institute (National Geophysical Research Institute) virtually signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with V.I. Il’Ichev Pacific
Oceanological Institute, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of
Sciences (POI FEB RAS) in the field of Marine Sciences and
Technology.
India’s Bharat Thales India’s Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) under the Ministry of
Dynamics Limited Defence and the United Kingdom’s Thales signed a ‘Teaming
Agreement’ to develop STARStreak Air Defence system in India
under the ‘Make in India’ programme. The “teaming agreement”
was signed by NP Diwakar, Director (Technical),BDL; Alex
Cresswell, CEO Thales and Mr Emmanuelde Roquefeuil, Vice
President (VP) and Country Director, Thales in India during a
virtual ceremony on January 13.
TRIFED IFFDC Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India
Limited (TRIFED), the commercial wing of Ministry of Tribal
Affairs has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with
Indian Farm Forestry Development Co-operative ltd (IFFDC) to
promote Livelihood Generation of Tribal People. Pravir Krishna,
Managing Director of TRIFED & S.P. Singh, Managing Director of
IFFDC signed the MoU.
DRDO MoRTH Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) & Defence
Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) have signed a
MoU to boost collaboration in the field of technical exchange &
cooperation on sustainable Geo-hazard management. The main
objective behind the Agreement is to ensure the safety of road
users on National Highways(NHs) in India against adverse
effects of landslides & other natural calamities.
SIDM Indian Army On the occasion of 25 Years of Army-Industry Partnership with
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) i.e. on January 21, 2021,
Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM), a company of
CII organized a seminar on Army-industry partnership in New
Delhi. The seminar was virtually addressed by Chief of the Army
Staff Manoj Mukund Naravane. The seminar marked the signing

of an memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Indian
Army & SIDM to accelerate indigenisation and innovation under
Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative to reduce dependence on foreign
origin equipment.
MoRTH IIT Roorkee Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) & IIT
Roorkee (IITR) have signed a MoU for Strengthening Research &
Development sectors in Road Sector & continuing of MoRTH
Professorial Chair at IIT Roorkee. The Chair focuses on R&D,
training & teaching in the Development of Highway
Infrastructure. The agreement was signed by Indresh Kumar
Pandey, Director General – Road Development & Special
Secretary, MoRTH & Professor Manoranjan Parida, Deputy
Director and Professor of Civil Engineering, IIT Roorkee.
OTHER MoU’S IN CONTENT FORMAT

NHPC, PDD & J&K Power Development Corporation Signs MoUs to Implement Mega Hydro
Power Projects in J&K
On January 3, 2021 The Power Development Department (PDD), Jammu and Kashmir(J&K); National
Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) Ltd and J&K Power Development Corporation signed many
MoUs to implement & execute mega hydro power projects in J&K. These projects will attract investment
of Rs 35,000 crore for J&K power sector and ensure energy security and 24-hour power supply to J&K.
NHAI signs MoU with IRTE, IDC to Promote Road Safety

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has signed a Tripartite MoU with Institute for Road Traffic
Education (IRTE) and Institute for Development and Communication, Chandigarh (IDC) for promotion
of road safety & collaborate in areas of traffic management under the programme “Capacity building of
Road Safety Management through the Safe Systems Approach Programme”. The MoU was signed in
presence of Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, Chairman of NHAI and Dr. Rohit Baluja, President IRTE and
others.
J&K : Skill Development Department signs MoU with IIT Jammu;Higher Education Department
signs MoU with ICSI
Jammu & Kashmir’s Department of Skill Development signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jammu whereas Department of Higher Education signed an
MoU with Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI). MoU between Department of Skill
Development & IIT Jammu – To increase the skill sets of students, increase their employability by
exposing them to Latest Technologies.
Agreement for Financial Support to STARS project Signed between MoE, DEA & WB
Cabinet approval to the Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States (STARS) under the
Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL) project in Oct 2020, a financial support
agreement was signed between Ministry of Education (MoE), Department of Economic Affairs (DEA),
and World Bank (WB) for the implementation of Rs 5718 crore STARS project on January 29, 2021.
Under the agreement, WB will provide US$ 500 million (approximately Rs. 3700 crore) and the rest will
be shared by participating states for a period of 5 years. 6 participating states are Himachal Pradesh,
Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Odisha.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

APPOINTMENTS
NATIONAL
PERSON NAME APPOINTED ENTITY / PLACE KEY NOTES
AS
P Ravi Kumar Chief Secretary Karnataka On December 31, 2020 IAS officer P Ravi
Kumar was appointed as the 38th Chief
Secretary of Karnataka. He will succeed
T.M. Vijay Bhaskar who will superannuate
on December 31 2020. P Ravi Kumar will
hold this post until May 2022, i.e., till he
attains the age of 60. He was served as the
Additional Chief Secretary(ACS)
of Karnataka govt and was ACS of
Karnataka CM, BS Yediyurappa.
Suneet Sharma Chairman and Railway Board On 31st December 2020, The Appointments
Chief Executive Committee of the Cabinet approved the
Officer (CEO) appointment of Suneet Sharma to become
the New Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer (CEO) of the Railway Board under
the Ministry of Railways. He takes over the
charge from the incumbent VK Yadav upon
the completion of his term as the Chairman
and CEO of the board on 31st December
2020.
Soma Mondal Chairman SAIL Soma Mondal took charge as the chairman
of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL).
She becomes the 1st woman chairperson of
SAIL. She succeeds Anil Kumar Chaudhary
who superannuated on December 31, 2020.
Prior to this appointment Soma Mondal
was serving as the Director (Commercial)
of SAIL.
Major General Gautam Additional Indian Army Indian Army has created a new human right
Chauhan Director cell at its headquarters in New Delhi. Major
General-ADG General Gautam Chauhan has been
appointed as the 1st Additional Director
General-ADG (Human Rights-HR). He will
function under the Indian Army Vice Chief
Lieutenant General SK Saini.
Abhishek Yadav Deputy General All India Football Abhishek Yadav, Former Indian footballer
Secretary Federation (AIFF) appointed as the 1st Deputy General
Secretary of All India Football Federation
(AIFF). It is the first time that a former
national player has been appointed at a
high-ranked position at AIFF. He was the
member of AIFF and has been serving as

national team’s director since January
2018.
Sanjay Kapoor President All-India Chess Sanjay Kapoor(45 years old), representing
Federation (AICF) Uttar Pradesh Chess Sports Association,
was elected as the president of the All-India
Chess Federation (AICF) and became the
youngest president of the federation. He
succeeds PR Venketrama Raja of Tamil
Nadu. Along with him a secretary,
Treasurer, Vice Presidents, joint secretaries
and treasurer also was elected. Bharat
Singh Chauhan was elected as the secretary
for the 3rd time. Naresh Sharma was
elected as Treasurer.
Dr. Rabi Narayan Full-time College of College of Supervisors (CoS), which was set
Mishra Director Supervisors (CoS) up by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in May
2020, has now been fully operationalized
for effective supervision of the regulated
entities. It was functioning in a limited way
in virtual mode since May 2020. CoS will
have a full-time Director. RBI has appointed
Dr. Rabi Narayan Mishra, its former
Executive Director for the same. The full-
time Director supported by an Academic
Advisory Council (AAC).
Sandeep Aggarwal Chairman Telecom Sandeep Aggarwal, MD and Promoter of
Equipment and Paramount Communications Limited, has
Services Export been elected as the new chairman of
Promotion Telecom Equipment and Services Export
Council(TEPC) Promotion Council(TEPC). He will succeed
Shyamal Ghosh, former Telecom Secretary.
Sandeep Aggarwal is also the Chief Mentor
of Telecom committee of PHD Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI).
Vishwavir Ahuja MD & CEO RBL Bank The Board of Directors of RBL Bank
approved the re-appointment of Vishwavir
Ahuja as the Managing Director(MD) &
Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of the Bank for
three years, with effect from June 30, 2021
to June 29, 2024. The bank has
recommended this re-appointment to the
Reserve Bank of India(RBI) for approval.
Siddhartha Mohanty MD Life Insurance Appointments Committee of the Cabinet
Corporation (LIC) (ACC) approved the appointment of
Siddhartha Mohanty as Managing
Director(MD) of Life Insurance Corporation
Sanjeev Kumar Chairman & MD TCIL (LIC). Meanwhile, Sanjeev Kumar has been
appointed as the chairman & MD of
Telecommunications Consultants India

Ltd(TCIL). He succeeds TC Susheel Kumar
who will retire on 31 January, 2021.
Geeta Mittal Chairperson BCCC Justice Geeta Mittal has been appointed as
the new chairperson of Broadcasting
Content Complaints Council (BCCC) and
becomes the 1st woman chairperson of this
council. She succeeds Justice Vikramajit
Sen. She served as the 1st woman Chief
Justice(CJ) of Jammu & Kashmir High Court.
BCCC is the independent self-regulatory
body set up by the Indian Broadcasting
Foundation (IBF) in June 2011 to examine
content related complaints of all non-news
general entertainment channels in India.
Jayati Ghosh High-level Economic and Jayati Ghosh (65 years), Indian
Advisory Board Social Affairs development economist has been
appointed by the United Nations to its 2nd
term of High-level Advisory Board (HLAB-
II) on Economic and Social Affairs.She has
been appointed for a 2-year term on the
board of 20 prominent individuals which
will provide recommendations for the U.N.
Secretary-General to respond to the current
and future socio-economic challenges in the
post-COVID-19 world. UN’s High-level
Advisory Board (HLAB) on Economic and
Social Affairs was first established in June
2018 to strengthen the United Nations
Department of Economic and Social Affairs
(UN DESA).
Swaminathan Managing State Bank of India Appointments Committee of the Cabinet
Janakiraman and Directors(MDs) (SBI) (ACC) has approved the appointment of
Ashwini Kumar Swaminathan Janakiraman and Ashwini
Tewari Kumar Tewari as new Managing
Directors(MDs) of State Bank of India (SBI)
for a period of 3 years. Swaminathan
Janakiraman was serving as the deputy
MD(finance) of SBI.Ashwini Kumar Tewari
was serving as MD and Chief Executive
Officer(CEO)of SBI Card, a subsidiary of SBI.
JK Shivan MD and CEO Dhanlaxmi Bank On January 28, 2021 Dhanlaxmi Bank
headquarters at Thrissur, Kerala appointed
JK Shivan as Managing director and CEO for
a period of 3 years. The appointment is
made with the approval of the Reserve
Bank of India. It is to be recalled that Sunil
Gurbaxani was the MD & CEO of the bank.
JK Shivan is expected to take charge by
February 1, 2021. Dhanlaxmi bank is
currently managed by a Committee of

Directors (COD) and the tenure of which
expires on January 31, 2021.
INTERNATIONAL
PERSON NAME APPOINTED AS ENTITY / PLACE KEY NOTES
Joseph R. Biden President United States of Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Joe Biden) took oath as
Jr. (Joe Biden) America(USA) the 46th President of the United States of
America(USA) at a ceremony organised at
the West Front of the US Capitol building,
Washington, USA. 78-year-old Joe Biden
became the oldest President in the history of
Kamala Harris Vice President USA the USA. He was sworn in by Chief Justice
John Roberts. He belong to Democratic
Political Party. Kamala Harris took oath as
the 49th Vice President. She is the first
woman and first person with south Asian
origin to take the office of Vice President of
the USA.
Faustin-Archange President Central African Faustin-Archange Touadéra has been Re-
Touadéra Republic Elected as the president of the Central
African Republic after securing 53.9% votes,
an absolute majority of votes in the first
round. This is his 2nd term as president of
the country. He belongs to the United Hearts
Movement, which is led by him. He also
served as the Prime Minister of the country
from January 2008 to January 2013. Central
African Republic’s Capital– Bangui and
Currency– Central African CFA franc.
Japarov Sadyr President Kyrgyzstan Japarov Sadyr Nurgojoevich was elected as
Nurgojoevich the president of Kyrgyzstan after securing
nearly 80% votes. He belongs to the
‘Patriotic’ Political Party. He served as the
acting president of the country after the
resignation of Sooronbay Jeenbekov. After
his resignation, Talant Mamytov, speaker of
Kyrgyzstan’s Parliament became the acting
president of the country.
Yoweri Kaguta President Uganda Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has been re-elected
Museveni as the president of Uganda for the 6th term.
He has been president of the country since
29th January 1986, i.e., for about 35 years
and becomes one of Africa’s longest-serving
leaders. He belongs to the National
Resistance Movement(NRM) political party.
He was the 1st African president to receive
the AfrikaVerein Award for excellence in
leadership from the German-Africa Business
Association. Capital: Kampala and Currency:
Ugandan shilling.

Marcelo Rebelo President Portugal Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa(72 years old) has
de Sousa been re-elected as the president of Portugal
for the 2nd term after securing over 60% of
the votes in the election held on January 24,
2021. He belongs to Social Democratic
Party(Partido Social Democrata-PSD). Ana
Gomes came second in the election with
13% of the votes.The capital and currency of
Portugal are Capital- Lisbon(largest city of
Portugal) and Currency– Euro(EUR).
Kaja Kallas Prime Minister Estonia On January 26, 2021 Estonia President
Kersti Kaljulaid appointed Kaja Kallas as the
Prime Minister(PM) of the country. With this
appointment she becomes the 1st female PM
of the country since the nation regained
independence in 1991. She succeeds Jüri
Ratas. She is the leader of the Reform
party.The 15-member Cabinet of Prime
Minister Kaja Kallas is a coalition of 2 parties
namely, Reform Party & Centre
Party.Estonia’s Capital– Tallinn and
Currency– Euro-EUR.
COUNTRY AMBASSADORS
PERSON NAME COUNTRY KEY NOTES
Jayant N ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Jayant N Khobragade has been appointed as India’s next
Khobragade Indonesia Ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia. He
will shortly take charge of the position. He is an Indian
Foreign Service (IFS) officer of the 1995 batch and
currently serves as joint secretary in External Affairs
Ministry, Government of India.
RESIGNATIONS
PERSON NAME RESIGNED AS ENTITY / PLACE
Jüri Ratas Prime Minister Jüri Ratas, Prime Minister (PM) of Estonia and
the leader of the Centre Party resigned following
the Party’s corruption allegations involving the
pandemic relief fund. Kersti Kaljulaid, President
of Estonia has nominated Kaja Kallas, the leader
of the opposition centre right Reform party as a
candidate for the next Prime Minister of Estonia.
Ukhnaa Khurelsukh Prime Minister Ukhnaa Khurelsukh, Prime Minister of Mongolia
resigned following the public protest against the
COVID-19 control measures of the Government.
The Mongolian parliament dominated by Ukhnaa
Khurelsukh’s Mongolian People’s Party voted to
accept the resignation.60 parliamentarians out of

the 63 who attended the session approved the
resignation.
Giuseppe Conte Prime Minister On 26th January 2021, Italian Prime Minister
Giuseppe Conte, an independent technocrat,
resigned after losing the overall majority in the
senate(upper house of the parliament) following
the dispute regarding the spending during the
COVID-19 pandemic. The Italian parliament is
composed of 2 houses,Chamber of Deputies
(Lower House) – 630 member and Senate of the
Republic (Upper house) – 315 members.
Sylvestre Ilunga Ilunkamba Prime Minister Sylvestre Ilunga Ilunkamba, Prime Minister(PM)
of Democratic Republic of the Congo(DRC)
tendered his resignation to Felix Tshisekedi,
President of DRC.The lawmakers of the DRC
voted and approved the motion of censure
against PM Ilunkamba and his coalition
government by 367 to 7 votes during the session
held on 27th January 2021. Sylvestre Ilunga
Ilunkamba was appointed as the Prime Minister
of DRC in May 2019.The DR Congo’s Capital–
Kinshasa and Currency– Congolese franc
OTHER APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

ACC Approves 1-year extension of ISRO Chairman as Space Secretary and Space Commission
Chairman
Appointments Committee of the Cabinet(ACC) approved a 1-year extension of Kailasavadivoo (K) Sivan,
Secretary of Department of Space, Govt of India and Chairman of space commission from January 14,
2021, i.e. up to January 14, 2022 or until further orders. He is currently the chairman of Indian Space
Research Organisation(ISRO).
India sets up High-Level Group headed by Ram Vinay Shahi for South Asia Energy Security
Central Government of India has set up high-level group named “South Asia Group for Energy (SAGE)”
headed by Ram Vinay Shahi for the development of South Asia energy security architecture. It has been
set up under the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)-run think tank Research and Information System
for Developing Countries (RIS).
MoHFW sets up Panel under Preeti Pant to study findings of NFHS-5,2019-20

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has set up a Technical Expert Group under Preeti Pant,
Joint Secretary, MoHFW to examine the findings from the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5),
2019-20. The committee will provide suggestions and policy interventions to improve indicators
regarding Malnutrition, Stunting, Anaemia, and C-section.The committee consists of experts from
Medicine and Nutrition, and also State Programme Officers from Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Madhya
Pradesh.
Justice B L Bhat Gets Another Extension as NCLAT Officiating Chairperson

Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India has again extended the tenure of Justice Bansi Lal
Bhat Bhat as the officiating Chairperson of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal(NCLAT). His
current tenure was scheduled to end on 31st December 2020.

This is the 4th exertion to Justice Bhat since his appointment as the Chairperson on 15th March 2020
for a period of 3 months.
Union MoS Kiren Rijiju gets Additional Charge of AYUSH Ministry

President Ram Nath Kovind, as advised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, temporarily appointed Union
Minister of State(MoS)Kiren Rijiju with additional charge of the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and
Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy (AYUSH) following the hospitalisation and treatment of
Shripad Yesso Naik.
PM Narendra Modi Also Takes Additional Charge of Chairman of Somnath Temple Trust
On January 18, 2021 Prime Minister Narendra Modi was appointed as the chairman of Somnath Trust.
He succeeds former Gujarat Chief Minister late Keshubhai Patel. The trust manages the world famous
Somnath Temple at Prabhas Patan town in Gujarat’s Gir-Somnath district. Narendra Modi is the second
Prime Minister who has been appointed the chairman of the temple trust after former PM Morarji Desai.
AWARDS
AWARDS IN THE FIELD OF LITERATURE & ACADEMICS
AWARD NAME AWARD WINNER FIELD KEY NOTES
Sahitya Gaurav Samman Ramesh Pokhriyal Literature Hindi Writers Guild of Canada
2021 ‘Nishank’ honoured Union Education Minister
Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ with the
Sahitya Gaurav Samman 2021 for his
writings and literature through a
virtual programme. The award
ceremony was organised by Hindi
Writers Guild, Canada.
Michael And Sheila Held Nikhil Srivastava Mathematics Indian mathematician Nikhil
Prize 2021 Srivastava has been named as winner
of Michael And Sheila Held Prize 2021
along with 2 other mathematicians
namely Adam W.
Marcus(American)and Daniel Alan
Spielman(US) by National Academy of
Science(NAS).NAS will award the USD
100,000 prize at 158th NAS Annual
Meeting. They solved the long-
standing questions on the Kadison-
Singer problem and released the
Ramanujan graphs.These Papers on
the questions were published in 2015.
AWARDS IN THE FIELD OF SOCIAL SERVICE, SCIENCE & BRAVERY

SKOCH Awards 2021 Arjun Munda e-Governance On January 16, 2021, the 70th SKOCH
Summit (SKOCH Public Policy Forum)
was held in New Delhi during which
SKOCH Awards 2021 were presented

to different ministries by SKOCH
Group. The SKOCH Challenger Award-
Best Performance in e-Governance was
presented to Ministry of Tribal Affairs
(MoTA) and received by Union
Minister Arjun Munda, (MoTA). 3 Gold
Awards for Its Initiatives. “SKOCH
Challenger Award- Transparency in
Governance” was conferred to Ministry
of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) for
recognizing its IT-led initiatives.
Southern Railway was presented the
SKOCH Silver Award under the
category of excellence in response to
Covid-19. Click here
OTHER IMPORTANT AWARDS

Padma Awards 119 Member Padma Padma Vibhushan, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of
2021 awardees Padma Bhushan and India announced the Padma Awards
Padma Shri 2021. The Padma Awards, one of the
highest civilian Awards of the country are
conferred under 3 categories namely,
Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and
Padma Shri. This year(2021) total 119
Padma awards including 1 duo case (in a
duo case, the Award is counted as one)
were awarded.2021 the President of
India, Ram Nath Kovind has approved
conferment of the awards. Click here
Digital India 24 digital Excellence in Digital President of India, Ram Nath Kovind
Awards(DIA) governance Governance conferred 6th Digital India Awards(DIA)
2020 initiatives/ Ministry/Department 2020 in a virtual awards ceremony.
products (Central) Awards issued to 24 digital governance
initiatives/ products by Government
entities under 7 categories. National
Informatics Centre(NIC) under the
Ministry of Electronics & Information
Technology (MeitY) organized the
awards online. New 2 categories have
been introduced namely, Innovation in
Pandemic category and Exemplary
Product category. Department of Post
won the gold icon award in the category,
‘Excellence in Digital Governance
Ministry/Department (Central)’. Click
here
National Best Delhi Accessible Election On 25th January 2021, at the 11th
Electoral National Voters Day(NVD) event
organised by the Election Commission of

Practices Award India, in this Delhi won the National Best
2020 Electoral Practices Award 2020 under the
Accessible Election category for ensuring
greater accessibility during the assembly
polls in Delhi during February 2020.
Office of Chief Electoral Office(CEO),
Meghalaya received the special award for
its Information Technology(IT)
applications in Elections. Bihar has won
the award under the Electoral
management category and CEO HR
Srinivasan received the award at the NVD
event.
Eminent Engineer Vinod Kumar Yadav Modernisation and Vinod Kumar Yadav, Chairman & CEO of
Award for the Reforms in Indian the Railway Board, Ministry of Railways
year 2020 Railways received the “Eminent Engineer Award
for the year 2020” for his contribution
towards modernisation and reforms in
Indian Railways. The award was
presented by The Institution of
Engineering and Technology (IET) on the
occasion of Engineers Day – 15th
September.
National Energy Kerala Effective Energy Ministry of Power in association with the
Conservation Conservation Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE)
Awards 2020 Programmes organized the 30th National Energy
Conservation Awards 2020 (NECA 2020).
R.K. Singh, Minister of State (Independent
Charge) for Power and New & Renewable
Energy was the Chief Guest of the event.
Energy Management Centre, Kerala
bagged the 1st Prize in the State
Designated Agencies Category for its
effective energy conservation
programmes. Indian Railways bagged 13
awards at NECA 2020.
National Kayakalp District Hospital Kayakalp Scheme Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health
Awards 2019-20 Reasi & Family Welfare Virtually Inaugurated
the 5th National Kayakalp Awards for the
year 2019-20 District Hospital Reasi of
Jammu and Kashmir was awarded the
First Prize of INR 50 Lakhs under
Kayakalp Scheme.JIPMER (Jawaharlal
Institute of Postgraduate Medical
Education & Research), Pondicherry was
awarded the second under the Kayakalp
award for Category Group ‘A’ Central
Government health facilities, hospitals
with more than 1, 000 beds.

Asia-Pacific IKEA India Pvt Ltd Gender-inclusive 1st United Nations(UN) Women 2020
Women’s Workplace category Asia-Pacific Women’s Empowerment
Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Regional award
Principles (WEPs) winners were announced in a ceremony
Regional award on December 15, 2020 in Bangkok,
Thailand. IKEA India Pvt Ltd won this
award in Gender-inclusive Workplace
category. It is the only winner from India.
WeEmpowerAsia programme, a joint
programme by the European Union and
UN Women sponsored the awards in 6
catogeries. Click here
Subhash Chandra Dr. Rajendra Kumar Disaster Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda
Bose Aapda Bhandari Management Prabandhan Puraskar 2021 was awarded
Prabandhan to Dr. Rajendra Kumar Bhandari under
Puraskar 2021 Individual category, while Sustainable
Environment and Ecological
Development Society (SEEDS) received
the award under Institutional category
for their contribution in disaster
management. The award is annually
announced on January 23 on the birth
anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra
Bose.The award was given by
Government of India and it is
administered by National Disaster
Management Authority (NDMA).
Pradhan Mantri 32 children 6 categories Government of India conferred Pradhan
Rashtriya Bal Awardees Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar(PMRBP)
Puraskar(PMRBP) 2021 to 32 children under 6 categories,
2021 namely innovation, scholastic, sports, arts
& culture, social service and bravery.This
award was instituted by the Ministry of
Women and Child
Development(MoWCD), Government of
India in 1996. Chirag Bhansali(16 year
old) received this award for launching his
website and mobile application called
‘Swadeshi Tech’, which acts as an
alternative to Chinese apps. Veer
Kashyap(10-year-old) received this
award for building a board game ‘Corona
Yuga’. Click here
Romain Rolland Le mariage de Novel On January 24, 2021, The Tamil
Book Prize 2021 plaisir translation of a French novel, ‘Le mariage
de plaisir‘ titled “Ullasa Thirumanam”
won the Romain Rolland Book Prize 2021
at the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival
2021, conducted on January 22 – 24,
2021.French part was authored by Tahar

Ben Jelloun and it was translated by Dr
Vengada Soupraya Nayagar in Tamil. The
book was published by Amutharasan
Paulraj of Thadagam Publishers.
Business Shyam Srinivasan Maintaining the Managing Director (MD) and Chief
Standard Banker Steady Growth of the Executive Officer (CEO) of Federal Bank,
of the year for Bank Shyam Srinivasan, was awarded with the
2019-20 Business Standard Banker of the year for
2019-20. The high level 5-member Jury
panel of Business Standard’s chaired by
former Reserve Bank of India deputy
governor S S Mundra.He honoured for
maintaining the steady growth of the
bank, when all other financial institutions
witnessed large stress on asset quality,
received regulatory actions & losses. He
became the CEO of Federal Bank in
September 2010.
RECOGNITIONS
NAME RECOGNITION
General Manoj Mukund(MM) Chief of the Army Staff(COAS) of Indian army undertook a 3 day visit to
Naravane South Korea(officially, Republic of Korea-ROK) from December 28 to 30,
2020. He received a Guard of Honour at Republic of Korea Army(ROKA)
Headquarters at Gyeryong, South Korea.It is the first-ever visit of an
Indian Army COAS to the ROK.
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS IN CONTENT FORMAT

FAO names 4 Asian Tea Cultivation Sites as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems
Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has named 4 Asian Tea Cultivation Sites –
2 from China & 1 each from South Korea & Japan as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems
(GIAHS).
The list of sites are:
Site Country
The Pu’er Traditional Tea Agrosystem China
Fuzhou Jasmine & Tea Culture System China
Traditional tea-grass integrated system in Shizuoka Japan
Traditional Hadong Tea Agrosystem in Hwagae-myeon South Korea
India’s Dr. Raghu Ram Pillarisetti in Queen Elizabeth II’s 2021 New Year’s Honours list
India’s Dr. Raghu Ram Pillarisetti( 54 years old), Director and Consultant Breast Surgeon, KIMS-
USHALAKSHMI Centre for Breast Diseases has been honoured with ‘OBE-Officer of the Most Excellent
Order of the British Empire’ in Queen Elizabeth II’s 2021 New year’s Honours list. This second highest-
ranking Order of the British Empire award (excluding a knighthood/damehood) conferred to him in
recognition of his outstanding services to Breast Cancer care and Surgical Education in India and to
UK/India relations. The award was instituted in 1917 by King George V. Click here to know more about
Honour list

Indian Student among Winners of NASA app Development Challenge
Aryan Jain, a high school student Gurugram is part of the 6-member winning team of National
Aeronautics & Space Administration’s (NASA) Artemis Next-Gen STEM – Moon to Mars App
Development Challenge. The challenge was to develop an app to visualize the Lunar South Pole to assist
in mission planning and exploration activities. The main aim of the NASA Artemis Mission is to land the
first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024.
Philanthropist Ravi Gaikwad awarded “Nelson Mandela” World Humanitarian Award

Ravi Gaikwad, a Philanthropist & Chief of Regional Transport Office, Thane & Konkan Region has been
awarded the “Nelson Mandela” World Humanitarian Award for his dedication & service to humanity.
Coal Ministry conferred ‘Coal Minister’s Award 2020’;launched ‘Project Passion’ of CIL and CHP
in New Delhi
On January 21,2021, the Ministry of Coal had conducted the three events in New Delhi.First presented
Coal Minister’s Award 2020’ for adopting the best & sustainable practices for coal mining in India to
Northern Coalfields Ltd (NCL) in Madhya Pradesh, Central Coalfields Ltd (CCL) in Jharkhand & Western
Coalfields Ltd (WCL) in Maharashtra. Pralhad Joshi virtually inaugurated a new CHP at Krishnashila
Coal Project of NCL in Uttar Pradesh (UP).He also Launched Project Passion’ – Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP) of CIL.
Mukesh Ambani moves to 11th spot in world’s richest billionaires list: Bloomberg Billionaires
Index
In accordance with the latest data by Bloomberg Billionaire Index, as of January 22, 2021, Mukesh
Ambani has now moved up to 11th spot from 12th spot with a total net worth of $79.2 billion (5.78 lakh
crore).The jump comes as the profit of Reliance Industries soared 12.5% to Rs 131 billion during the
Q3(October-December)FY21. The top 2 billionaires of the world, according to the Bloomberg
Billionaires Index are Elon R Musk $202 billion and Jeff Bezos $192 billion.
ICC Introduces ‘ICC Player of the Month’ Awards for Male & Female Cricketers
On January 27, 2021 The International Cricket Council (ICC) introduced the ICC Player of the Month
awards for both male and female cricketers across all forms of international cricket to recognise and
celebrate best performances throughout the year. Every 2nd Monday of the month, the winners will be
announced on the ICC’s digital channels.
SUMMITS, EVENTS & CONFERENCE

SUMMITS
SUMMITS VENUE KEY POINTS
One Planet Summit 4th edition of One Planet Summit (OPS) 2021 was
(OPS) 2021 virtually organized by France, the United Nations (UN)
and the World Bank from Paris (France) to prepare
negotiations for setting global biodiversity targets in
order to protect nature in next decade. The theme of the
- summit is “Let’s act together for nature!”. The event was
opened by Secretary-General of the UN Antonio Manuel de
Oliveira Guterres, French President Emmanuel Macron,
and President of the World Bank Group David Malpass.

The summit was not attended by India, Brazil, Russia, and
the United States (US).
India Digital Summit 15th Edition of India Digital Summit 2021 (IDS 2021)
2021 organized by Internet & Mobile Association of India
(IAMAI) took place virtually from January 19-20, 2021 to
provide a platform for discussion to create a new digital
ecosystem. It was inaugurated by Ravi Shankar Prasad,
- Union Minister of Electronics & Information
Technology.Theme – ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat – Start of New
Decade’. During the event, the 11th India Digital Awards
2021 were also announced.Gujarat Cooperative Milk
Marketing Federation Limited (AMUL) bagged 4 awards
in the event. Click here
Climate Adaptation Government of Netherlands hosted a virtual international
Summit 2021 Climate Adaptation Summit (CAS Online) 2021 with a
support of Global Centre on Adaptation (GCA) from
Amsterdam, Netherlands. Adaptation Action Agenda
- (AAA) has been launched on the summit. Addressed From
Indian side - Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi.
Four overarching themes of CAS 2021 - Accelerating
African Adaptation, Finance & Investment, Youth
Leadership, and Locally Led Adaptation.
EVENTS
EVENTS VENUE KEY POINTS
Convocation of the Tezpur Video On 22nd January 2021, Prime Minister Narendra
University Conference Modi virtually addressed the 18th Convocation of
the Tezpur University of Assam through video
conferencing. PhD scholars and gold medallists
received their degrees and medals in person and the
other students received their diplomas and degrees
over the virtual platform.
CONFERENCE
CONFERENCE VENUE KEY POINTS
International Akhand Two-day Virtual International Akhand Conference ‘EDUCON
Conference ‘EDUCON 2020’ held which was inaugurated by Union Minister
2020’ Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Ministry of Education (MoE).
The Chief Guest of Valedictory Ceremony was Prof Dhirendra
Pal Singh, Chairman, University Grants Commission (UGC),
-
New Delhi.Theme was Envisioning Education for
Transforming Youth to Restore Global Peace. 31-hour long
marathon International Conference was the first of its kind
conference in India.

COMMITTEES & MEETINGS

COMMITTEES
COMMITTEE NAME COMMITTEE HEAD KEY NOTES
7-member committee Raghavendra(R) P Tiwari On December 23, 2020 University Grants
Commission(UGC) has set up a 7-member
committee to look at the possibility and review the
feasibility of holding the Common Entrance
Test(CET) at undergraduate level from the next
academic year(august) in central universities. The
committee is headed by Raghavendra(R) P Tiwari,
Vice-Chancellor of Central University of Punjab.
Committee Gangapuram Kishan Central Government has decided to form a
Reddy committee to protect the language, culture and
land of the Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh.The
committee will be headed by the Minister of State
(MoS) Gangapuram Kishan Reddy and will include
elected representatives from Ladakh, members of
the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council
(LAHDC) and ex-officio members representing the
Government of India and the Ladakh
administration.
10-member empowered RS Sharma Government of India appointed RS Sharma, former
committee chief of Telecom Regulatory Authority of
India(TRAI) as head of a 10-member empowered
committee for administration of COVID-19 vaccine.
On January 16, 2021 India will start its mega
vaccination drive against coronavirus, the world’s
largest inoculation programme. The members of
the committee comprises senior officials from the
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW)
and the Unique Identification Authority of
India(UIDAI). The committee can invite
distinguished persons when there is a need to
deliver the COVID-19 vaccine through Co-WIN app.
High-Level Committee Narendra Modi A High-Level Committee headed by Prime Minister
(PM) Narendra Modi has been constituted to
commemorate the 125th Birth Anniversary of
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The 1-year long
celebrations will begin from 23rd January, 2021.
The celebrations will take place in Delhi, Kolkata &
other places associated with Azad Hind Fauj (INA),
both in India & overseas.
10-Member Advisory Subhash Chandra Khuntia India’s Insurance regulator IRDAI (Insurance
Committee Regulatory and Development Authority of India)
formulated a 10-member advisory committee to
improve the product quality and coverage of the
health insurance in the country. The committee will
be chaired by IRDAI chairman (Presently Dr.

Subhash Chandra Khuntia) and will have tenure of
1 year.
MEETINGS
MEETING NAME VENUE KEY POINTS
India-Vietnam Defence Security 13th India-Vietnam Defence Security Dialogue was
Dialogue held virtually. Dr Ajay Kumar, Defence Secretary,
Government of India & Lt Gen Nguyen Chi Vinh,
Deputy Defence Minister, Socialist Republic of
- Vietnam co-chaired the meeting.During the meeting,
both sides exchanged their views on a plan of action
that emerged from the Virtual Summit between
Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi & Prime
Minister of Vietnam, Nguyen Xuan Phuc in
December, 2020.
Senior Officials Meeting of Arab- Video Conference On January 12, 2021 3rd Senior Officials Meeting of
India Cooperation Forum Arab-India Cooperation Forum was held through
video conference. The meeting was co-chaired by
Sanjay Bhattacharyya, Secretary (CPV&OIA),
Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India
and Ambassador Mohamed Abu Al-Kheir, Assistant
Foreign Minister and Permanent Representative of
Egypt to the League of Arab States. During this
meeting India set to establish a USD 1 million(about
Rs 7.32 crores)financial facility for academic
collaboration with Arab.
Meeting of the North Eastern Shillong, Union Minister Amit Shah, Ministry of Home Affairs
Council (NEC) Meghalaya (MHA) inaugurated and chaired the 2 day 69th
meeting of the North Eastern Council (NEC) in
Shillong, Meghalaya. The focus of the meeting was to
discuss various developmental ongoing and future
projects for the North Eastern region (NER). There,
it was notified that 30% of the Central Government‘s
budget will be used for the development of
underdeveloped areas. Notably, the Union Budget
has been increased by 24 percent to Rs. 3,13,000
crores from 89,000 crores. All NER states were
urged to solve their boundary disputes with other
states including Assam and Arunachal Pradesh by
August 15, 2022.
India-Japan Act East Forum New Delhi India & Japan held the 5th Joint Meeting of the India-
(AEF) Japan Act East Forum (AEF) at New Delhi. Harsh
Vardhan Shringla, Foreign Secretary of India &
Suzuki Satoshi, Ambassador of Japan to India were
the co-chairs of the meeting. AEF was established in
2017 with an objective of modernization of North
Eastern (NE) Region of India.The Modernization
program is part of India’s ‘Act East Policy’ & Japan’s
‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific’.

India-Bangladesh Consular New Delhi The 2nd India-Bangladesh Consular Dialogue 2021
Dialogue 2021 was held in New Delhi to discuss issues related to
consular, visa, and mutual legal assistance matters.
Notably, the bilateral diplomatic ties between both
nations have completed 50 years therefore they
reiterated their commitment to continue to work
towards citizen-centric consular mechanisms. The
next Consular Dialogue will be scheduled in Dhaka,
Bangladesh. Indian Delegation: It was led by Sanjay
Bhattacharyya, Secretary of Consular, Passport &
Visa (CPV) and Overseas Indian Affairs (OIA),
Divisions of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
Joint Steering Committee (JSC) Dhaka, 19th meeting of the Joint Steering Committee (JSC)
on India Bangladesh cooperation Bangladesh on India Bangladesh cooperation in the energy
in the energy sector sector was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh where Indian
delegation was led by the Power Secretary Sanjiv
Nandan Sahai while Power Secretary Md. Habibur
Rahman represented the Bangladesh side. The
committee reviewed the progress of
implementation of the decisions taken during the
last meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) and
JSC.
India-United Kingdom Joint 14th meeting of the India-United Kingdom Joint
Working Group (JWC) on Working Group (JWC) on Counter-Terrorism 2021
Counter-Terrorism 2021 was held virtually on 21st and 22nd January, 2021.
Objective – To strengthen international cooperation
- between two countries to combat the global menace
of terrorism. Indian side - Mahaveer Singhvi, Joint
Secretary for Counter Terrorism in the Ministry of
External Affairs (MEA). United Kingdom (UK) side -
Tom Hurd, Director General, Office of Security and
Counter-Terrorism.
Ministerial Meeting of Asia On 21st January, 2021, Present Chair of the Asia
Cooperation Dialogue 2021 Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), Government of Turkey
hosted the 17th Ministerial Meeting of Asia
Cooperation Dialogue 2021 virtually under the
theme “The New Normal and Safe and Healthy
- Tourism”. Indian side was represented by Ms. Riva
Ganguly Das, Secretary (East), Ministry of External
Affairs. During the meeting, She highlighted that
India is focusing on tourism promotion as a part of
3T’s strategy which includes “Trade, Tourism and
Technology”.
The Davos Agenda 2021 51st Edition of 2021 World Economic Forum (WEF)
Annual Meeting called ‘The Davos Agenda 2021’
took place virtually from January 25-29,
2021.Theme of Davos Agenda – ‘A Crucial Year to
Rebuild Trust’. WEF launched the Global AI
- (Artificial Intelligence) Action Alliance (GAIA). WEF
launched the first-of-its-kind platform called

‘Essential Digital Infrastructure and Services’ –
EDISON Alliance to reduce digital inequalities &
ensure equitable access to digital opportunities for
everyone by 2025.
COMMITTEES & MEETINGS IN CONTENT FORMAT

India set to head 3 Important Committees of UNSC
According to the announcement made by Permanent Representative of India to United Nations (UN) TS
Tirumurti, India will head 3 Important Committees of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) –
Counter-Terrorism Committee (for 2022), Taliban Sanctions Committee (also called the 1988 Sanctions
Committee) & Libya Sanctions Committee. India also began its 8th Term as a non-permanent member of
the UNSC for 2 years(2021-2022).
INDEX
RANKING
INDEX / SURVEY RELEASED BY / KEY NOTES
NAME CONDUCTED BY
Bloomberg Billionaires Bloomberg Billionaires India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, the chairman
Index 2021 and Managing Director of Reliance Industries limited
(RIL) dropped down to 12th spot in the Bloomberg
Billionaires Index 2021 (as on 2nd January 2021).
Zhong Shanshan, referred to as “Lone Wolf”, has
replaced Ambani as Asia’s richest person, he is one of
the fastest in history to achieve the feat.
Top 3 Members:
1. Jeff Bezos, net worth 190 Billion USD
2. Elon R Musk, net worth 170 Billion USD
3. Bill Gates, net worth 132 Billion USD
Henley Passport Henley & Partners India => 85th Rank
Index:Q1 2021 Global On January 2021, a “Henley Passport Index:Q1
Ranking 2021 Global Ranking” released where India was
ranked 85th with visa-free score 58. The visa-free
score states that Indian passport holders get to visit
58 countries without a prior visa. India shared its
rank with Tajikistan.In 2020, India held 84th
position. The index was topped by Japan with visa-
free score of 191. It has been holding the position for
three consecutive years. It was followed
by Singapore with visa-free score of 190
and Germany & South Korea with visa-free score of
189 respectively.
Top 3 Country:
1. Japan
2. Singapore
3. Germany, South Korea Click here

Digital Evolution Tufts University’s Fletcher India => 4th Rank
Scorecard 2020 School in partnership The scorecard is topped by China followed by
with Mastercard Azerbaijan, Indonesia. It should be noted that India
doubled its mobile internet connectivity in the last
four years It will add 350 million smartphones by
2023. The scorecard was published in the Harvard
Business Review in December 2020. Researchers
analysed 90 economies based on a combination of
160 indicators over a 12-year period (2008-2019)
across four supply key drivers.
2020 Hurun Global 500 Hurun Research Institute India => 10th Rank with 11 companies
list 2020 Hurun Global 500 list ,a list of 500 most
valuable companies across the globe, of Hurun
Research features a total of 11 Indian companies.
According to the report India secured the 10th rank
with 11 companies whose total values grew 14% and
reached 805 billion USD (around one third of Indian
GDP).Topped by United States with 242 companies.
Apple tops the list with a value of 2.1 Trillion USD.
Indian Innovation Index NITI Aayog, along with NITI Aayog, along with the Institute for
2020 the Institute for Competitiveness virtually released the 2nd Edition of
Competitiveness Indian Innovation Index 2020. Karnataka topped the
Index in the Major States Category, Delhi topped
among the Union Territories (UT) and Himachal
Pradesh among North-Eastern and Hilly States.
Overall, Indian States have achieved an average score
of 23.4 in the Index. The Index was released by Dr
Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog. Totally
the index has 32 Indicators which are based on 2
dimensions – Enablers (Innovation Inputs) &
Performance Pillars (Innovation Outputs).
Top 3 Major States:
1. Karnataka with the score 42.50
2. Maharashtra with the score 38.03
3. Tamil Nadu with the score 37.91 Click here
International Migration United Nations According to the ‘International Migration 2020-
2020-Highlights report Department of Economic Highlights’ report released by the United Nations
and Social Affairs (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN
DESA) DESA), 18 Million persons from India were living
outside of their country of birth in 2020, thus making
it the world’s largest Transnational Community.
India is followed by Mexico & Russia (11 Million
each), China (10 Million) & the Syrian Arab Republic
(8 Million). At the Global level, the number of
International Migrants outside their country of birth
reached 281 Million in 2020 and it about 3.6% of
the world’s population.
Global Firepower Global Firepower India => 4th Rank
Nations Index 2021 - According to the defence analytics website, Global
Firepower’s Global Firepower Nations Index 2021 -

‘Military Strength ‘Military Strength Ranking’ an annually updated list
Ranking’ of 138 modern military nations, India is ranked 4th
with PwrIndx (Power Index) rating of 0.1214 where
0.0000 rating is considered as ‘perfect’. The ranking
has been topped by the United States of America
(USA). Among regions the index is topped by Asia
and followed by Asia-Pacific, Middle East and
European Union (EU) at 2nd, 3rd, and 4th
respectively.
Top 3 Country:
1. United States of America
2. Russia
3. China Click here
India Justice Report (IJR) Tata Trusts with the According to the 2nd Edition of India Justice Report
2020 support of Centre (IJR) 2020, Maharashtra regained the top spot for
Better Justice Delivery among 18 Large and mid-
sized states (Population over one crore each), it was
followed by Tamil Nadu & Telangana. In the Category
of 7 small states (Population less than one crore
each), Tripura topped the list followed by Sikkim &
Goa. The report was released by Tata Trusts with the
support of Centre for Social Justice, Common Cause,
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, DAKSH,
Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) – Prayas &
Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.
Top 3 Large & Mid sized States:
1. Maharashtra with score 5.77
2. Tamil Nadu with score 5.73
3. Telangana with score 5.64 Click here
Global Climate Risk Germany-based think India => 7th Rank
Index (CRI) 2021 tank Germanwatch India has improved its ranking to 7th in the 16th
edition of “Global Climate Risk Index (CRI) 2021-
Who suffers Most from Extreme Weather Events?
Weather-related Loss Events in 2019 and 2000 to
2019” released by Germany-based think tank
Germanwatch. The top three of the lists are
Mozambique followed by Zimbabwe, and Bahamas.
India was 5th in CRI 2020. Puerto Rico, Myanmar
and Haiti were the top three most affected countries
during the 20-year period.The index provides a list of
worst-hit countries due to extreme weather events in
2019 and 2000-2019. India topped list of having
highest number of fatalities (2,267) and the biggest
economic loss (68,812 million USD) in 2019.
Top 3 Country:
1. Mozambique
2. Zimbabwe
3. The Bahamas Click here

Corruption Perceptions Transparency India => 86th Rank
Index (CPI) 2020 International Transparency International released the 2020
Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) where India’s
rank slipped to 86th with a score of 40 from 80th
rank in 2019 stating a low position as CPI uses a
scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is
very clean.The list has been topped by New Zealand
and Denmark rank at the first position with scores of
88 stating minimum corruption levels. Somalia and
South Sudan rank lowest at 179th position with
scores of 12.
Top 3 Country with Minimum Corruption Level:
1. New Zealand, Denmark
3. Finland, Switzerland, and Singapore Click here
Asia-Pacific Personalised Economist Intelligence India => 10th Rank
Health Index 2020 Unit (EIU) According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)
report ‘Asia-Pacific Personalised Health Index 2020’
developed by the Copenhagen Institute for Future
Studies in partnership with Roche, India with a score
of 36 was ranked at 10 out of 11 Asia Pacific
Countries in terms of adopting Personalised
healthcare & steps taken to provide right care to the
needed person at the right time. Singapore topped
the Index followed by Taiwan & Japan at 2nd & 3rd
positions respectively. The index measures the
performance of countries in 4 categories called ‘Vital
Signs’ through 27 indicators. 11 countries in the Asia
Pacific region which were measured in the index are
Australia, China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and New
Zealand.
Top 3 Country:
1. Singapore
2. Taiwan
3. Japan Click here
REPORTS
REPORT NAME SUBMITTED BY KEY NOTES
Focused Interventions for ‘Make Released by Dr. Harsh Union Minister of Science and Technology,
in India’: post COVID -19 Vardhan Earth Sciences Health & Family Welfare Dr.
Harsh Vardhan, released the Action Agenda for
Atma Nirbhar Bharat (AAAN) prepared by
Technology Information, Forecasting and
Assessment Council (TIFAC) in New Delhi. The
document provided the recommendations
focusing towards local to global to revive the
Indian economy. It should be noted that
earlier TIFAC prepared a report namely
“Focused Interventions for ‘Make in India’:
post COVID -19’ providing foresight towards

the understanding of technology interventions
in key sectors for boosting the economy.
Longitudinal Ageing Study in Dr. Harsh Vardhan Union Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Ministry of
India (LASI) Wave-1 Report 2020 Health & Family Welfare (MoH&FW) virtually
released the Longitudinal Ageing Study in
India (LASI) Wave-1 Report 2020 based on
full–scale national. It is India’s first and the
world’s largest survey providing base for
designing national and state level programmes
and policies for ageing population in India. It
should be noted that LASI is a Government of
India’s (GoI) initiative towards Better Health
Care for Elderly People.
Financial Stability Report (FSR) Reserve Bank of India Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the 22nd
2021 (RBI) issue of its bi-annual Financial Stability Report
(FSR) 2021. It stated that gross non-
performing assets (GNPAs) may rise to 13.5%
by September 2021, from 7.5% in September
2020 under the baseline scenario. The above
mentioned information is based upon the
RBI’s macro stress tests covering the first six
months (April-September) of the FY20-21.
CPCB Report Central Pollution According to a report by the Central Pollution
Control Board Control Board (CPCB), India generated 771,
215 tonnes of Electronic waste (e-waste) in
2018-19, of which only 10% were collected.
In 2017-18, India generated 7, 08, 445 Tonnes
of which only 3.5% was collected.Further the
amount of e-waste generated increased by
32% to 1, 014, 961 tonnes in 2019-20. India
has generated 3.2 Million Tonnes of E-Waste
in 2019.
UNEP Adaptation Gap Report UNEP 5th edition of United Nations Environment
2020 Programme’s (UNEP) Adaptation Gap Report
2020 was launched during a high-level online
press event. The report was produced along
with UNEP DTU Partnership (UDP) and the
World Adaptation Science Programme
(WASP). The annual cost of adaptation to the
effects of climate change for developing
countries is estimated to at least quadruple by
2050.As per the report the actions required by
the Paris Agreement are lagging behind.Even
though nations have met success in planning
and implementation, there is a huge gap faced
by developing countries in financing of these
planning.
Working from home from International Labour International Labour Organization (ILO) in its
invisibility to decent work Organization (ILO) report titled ‘Working from home from
invisibility to decent work’ has highlighted the

need to adopt Global Labour Standards and
improve national-level labour registries for
home-based workers (Industrial home-based
workers, Teleworkers, Digital Platform
workers) & organisations. Prior to COVID-19
crisis i.e 2019, there were 260 Million home-
based workers, which represents 7.9% of
Global employment and 56% of them were
women.
Global Risks Report 2021 World Economic World Economic Forum (WEF) has released
Forum the Global Risks Report 2021, 16th Edition.
The findings of the report are based on the
Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS)
undertaken by over 650 members of WEF’s
diverse leadership communities. The main
objective behind the publishing of the report is
to enable better preparation by Government &
other International Communities during the
times of crisis. The Report is prepared with
Strategic Partners, Marsh McLennan in
Partnership with SK Group and Zurich
Insurance Group.
Asia and the Pacific Regional FAO, UNICEF, WFP and According to the report ‘Asia and the Pacific
Overview of Food Security and WHO Regional Overview of Food Security and
Nutrition 2020: Maternal and Nutrition 2020: Maternal and child diets at the
child diets at the heart of heart of improving nutrition’, based on Global
improving nutrition estimates the number of people facing severe
food insecurity was estimated to double to
265 Million by the end of 2020 due to
pandemic. The report was jointly released by
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO),
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF),
World Food Programme (WFP) and World
Health Organization (WHO). It is the 3rd
Annual Report released by the UN agencies.
Ageing Water Storage UNU-INWEH United Nations University – Institute for
Infrastructure: An Emerging Water, Environment & Health (UNU-INWEH)
Global Risk released a report called ‘Ageing Water Storage
Infrastructure: An Emerging Global Risk’, the
report states that ageing of large dams is an
emerging Global Development issue as they
pose threats to human safety & environment.
In India, around 1, 115 large dams are set to
reach the ~50 years mark by 2025. The report
consists of case studies on decommissioning &
ageing of dams from the United States, France,
Canada, India, Japan, and Zambia & Zimbabwe.
The Inequality Virus Oxfam As per the Indian supplement of Oxfam report
“The Inequality Virus”, the top 100 Indian
billionaires increased their wealth by 35%

during the lockdown to Rs 12,97,822 crore.
The report was released on the opening day of
the World Economic Forum’s ‘Davos
Dialogues’. India ranked 6th in the world after
the United States (US), China, Germany,
Russia, and France where billionaires
increased their wealth in COVID times. India
has the world’s fourth lowest health budget in
terms of its share of government expenditure.
People’s Climate Report UNDP United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) released the results of ‘People’s
Climate Report’ – World’s Largest Survey of
Public Opinion on Climate Change. Around 1.2
Million People participated in the survey, out
of which two-thirds of people (64%) believe
that Climate Change is a Global Emergency.
The survey conducted by UNDP along with
University of Oxford, United Kingdom spanned
50 countries and covered 56% of the World’s
Population.
Global Climate Litigation Report: UNEP UN Environment Programme (UNEP) released
2020 Status Review a report titled “Global Climate Litigation
Report: 2020 Status Review”. The report was
published by UNEP in cooperation with the
Sabin Centre for Climate Change Law at
Columbia University. The report states that
the climate litigation cases increased in recent
years, which has made the courtroom relevant
to the efforts to address climate change across
the globe. The climate litigation cases has
doubled in the last 3 years.
ACQUISITION & MERGERS

IDBI Bank to Sell 23% Stake in IFLI to Ageas Insurance International NV
IDBI Bank has entered into the final stage of selling the 23% stake in IDBI Federal Life Insurance
Company Limited (IFLI) to Ageas Insurance International NV for a consideration of Rs 507
crore.Following this transaction, the joint venture has been rebranded as Ageas Federal Life Insurance
Company Ltd. IDBI Bank is seeking to sell another 4% in IFLI to Federal Bank, for this the bank did not
receive the banking regulator’s clearance.
CCI Approves Acquisitions of API Holdings Private Ltd and Mukand Sumi Special Steel Ltd
Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved the following acquisition under Section 31(1) of the
Competition Act, 2002.
• Acquisition of about 8% equity shareholding in API Holdings Private Limited by TPG Growth V
SF Markets Pte. Ltd.
• Acquisition of 51% of equity share capital of Mukand Sumi Special Steel Ltd(MSSSL) by Jamnalal
Sons Private Ltd ( JSPL).

SBI Mutual Fund Raises its Stake in CSB Bank to 5.01% from 4.96%
On January 1, 2021 SBI Mutual Fund has acquired an additional 86,993 shares in CSB Bank Ltd
(formerly The Catholic Syrian Bank Ltd), which consequently raised its stake in the bank to 5.01% from
4.96% earlier. The acquisition was made through open market purchase.
CCI Approves Acquisition of 100% Shareholding of Columbia Asia Hospitals by Manipal Health
Enterprises
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) gave approval to the acquisition of 100% shareholding of
Columbia Asia Hospitals Private Limited(CAHPL) by Manipal Health Enterprises Private
Limited(MHEPL). After this acquisition MHEPL will become India’s 2nd largest healthcare chain, after
Apollo Hospitals. As per the market sources, the deal has been valued at Rs 2,100 crore.
CCI Approves Acquisitions of Adani Green Energy Ltd, Ecom Express Private Limited & 100%
Acquisition of Virtusa Corporation
Competition Commission of India (CCI) gave approval under Section 31(1) of the Competition Act, 2002
to the minority share capital acquisition in Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL), the renewable energy arm
of the Adani Group by Total SE. CCI gave approval to the proposed combination that envisages
acquisition of stake in Ecom Express Private Limited by PG Esmeralda Limited.
• CCI gave approval to the proposed combination relating to the acquisition of 100% equity
interest and joint control in Virtusa Corporation by Baring Private Equity Asia (BPEA),
Atago Investment Pte Ltd. (GIC Investor) and CPP Investment Board Private Holdings Inc.
(CPPIB Investor).
Tech Mahindra to acquire Payments Technology Services for about ₹66 crore
IT services major, Tech Mahindra is set to acquire 100% share of Hong Kong based Payments
Technology Service Ltd (PTSL) a subsidiary of Fidelity Information Services (FIS) for $9 million (about
Rs.66 Crore) to scale its enterprise payments and banking capabilities. In regard to this acquisition,
Tech Mahindra had signed an memorandum of understanding (MoU) with FIS.
Singapore-based Investment Opportunities raises Stake in PNB Housing Finance to 9.92% from
8.19%
Singapore-based Investment Opportunities V Pte Ltd raised its holdings in PNB Housing Finance to
9.92% from 8.19% during Q3FY21 (Ended December 2020). With this increase, V Pte Ltd now hold 1.67
crore equity shares in PNB Housing Finance at the end of December, against 1.38 crore shares held
three months back. With this, now Punjab National Bank, the promoter, holds 32.65%. The Carlyle
Group held 32.22% in PNB Housing as of September through a group company called Quality
Investment Holdings.
GoI to Sell 10% of its Stake in SAIL through OFS to Raise Rs 2,600 crore as part of its
Disinvestment Drive
Government of India to sell 10% of its stake in Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) through an Offer for
Sale (OFS) route to raise ~Rs 2,600 crore as part of its disinvestment drive.The Govt sells 206.5 million
shares or 5% equity with a 5% green shoe option. After selling of stake the government will hold 65%
stake in SAIL from 75%.
Adani Group & Total SE Signs USD 2.5 billion Deal; Total SE will acquire 20% stake in Adani
Green Energy
Adani Group and Total SE(Total) signed USD 2.5 billion (about Rs 18,000 crore) Deal. Under this
agreement, Total will acquire 20% stake in Adani Green Energy Ltd(AGEL) . In addition to this, Total

will get seats on AGEL Board of Directors and Total will acquire 50% in a 2.35-gigawatt portfolio of
operating solar assets owned by AGEL. This is the third partnership between Total and the Adani group.
J&K Bank board Decided to Transfer 8.23% stake to UT of Ladakh

The board of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) Bank has given its consent to transfer 8.23% J&K government’s
stake (4,58,29,445 Equity Shares), as on October 31, 2019, to the Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh. This
decision is on the lines of implementation of the General Administration Department, Govt. of Jammu
and Kashmir notification on October 30, 2020. One post of director on the Board of the J&K Bank is also
earmarked for Ladakh.
CCI Approves Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd- Flipkart Investments Pvt Ltd Deal, Axis- Max
life Deal & Altico-Ares SSG Deal
Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the acquisition of 7.8% minority stake in Aditya
Birla Fashion and Retail Limited (ABFRL) by Flipkart Investments Private Limited (FIPL), subsidiary of
Flipkart Private Limited (FPL) on a fully diluted basis. The deal is worth Rs 1,500 crore.The acquisition
of Altico Capital India Ltd (Altico) by Ares SSG Capital Management (Singapore) Pte. Ltd (Ares SSG).
• The deal between Max Life Insurance Company Ltd and Axis entities(Axis bank Ltd, Axis
Capital ltd and Axis Securities Ltd). About9% stake in Max life insurance will be acquired
by Axis Bank.
• Axis Capital and Axis Securities will acquire 2% and 1% stake respectively in Max Life
Insurance.
SEBI Gives Approval to Future Group and Reliance Retail Deal

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has given approval to the deal between Future
Group and Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd(RRVL), where Future group will sell its retail, wholesale,
logistics and warehouse businesses to Reliance Retail for Rs 24,713 crore. As a part of the same Scheme,
the retail & wholesale undertaking will be transferred to Reliance Retail and the Fashion Lifestyle
Limited (RRFLL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of RRVL.
The logistics & warehousing undertaking will be transferred to RRVL.
HDFC to Sell its 24.48% Stake in Good Host Spaces Pvt. Ltd for Rs 232.81 Crore
Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) Ltd announced that it will sell its 24.48%
stake(47,75,241 equity shares) in Good Host Spaces Pvt Ltd for Rs 232.81 crore in 4 months. The
details of the buyer is not disclosed. HDFC in 2019 had acquired 25.01% stake (30,52,469 equity
shares) in Good Host from Manipal Integrated Services Pvt Ltd for Rs 69.5 crore.
Adani Total Gas & Torrent Gas Acquires 5% Stake Each in IGX
Adani Total Gas & Torrent Gas has acquired 5% stake each in the Indian Gas Exchange (IGX). This is the
1st time stakes of IGX are sold, as it was wholly-owned by the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX). The total
10% stake has been sold for about Rs 7.38 crore. IGX, an online trading platform to make physical
delivery of natural gas launched in June 2020 is the 1st gas exchange in India to secure authorisation
from Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) under recently notified Gas Exchange
Regulations, 2020.

DEFENCE
EXERCISE
EXERCISE NAME VENUE / PARTICIPATING KEY NOTES
COUNTRIES
Sea Vigil-21 Conducted along the entire The Second Edition of the Biennial Pan-India,
7516 Km coastline & Largest Coastal Defence Exercise ‘Sea Vigil-21’
Exclusive Economic Zone of coordinated by Indian Navy took place from
India January 12-13, 2021. It was conducted along
the entire 7516 Km coastline & Exclusive
Economic Zone of India. The Defence Exercise
involved 13 Coastal States/Union Territories.
It also included the fishing and coastal
communities. The exercise was conducted to
assess the Strengths and Weaknesses of
India’s Coastal Defence & Maritime Security.
Exercise Desert Knight-21 Air Force Station, Jodhpur & Indian Air Force (IAF) and French Air and
(Ex DK-21) India and French Space Force (FASF) participated in the 1st
Edition of Bilateral Air Exercise ‘Exercise
Desert Knight-21 (Ex DK-21)’ held at Air Force
Station, Jodhpur for 5 days from January 20-
24, 2021. The Bilateral 1st of its kind exercise
involved the participation of Rafale fighter jets
from both sides. India & France are also jointly
set to conduct wargames codenamed Exercise
SKYROS in January at Jodhpur.
AMPHEX-21 Andaman & Nicobar group of Indian Navy conducted a Joint Tri-Service
Islands Amphibious Military Exercise ‘AMPHEX-21’ in
Andaman & Nicobar group of Islands from
January 21-25, 2021. Defence Exercise
‘KAVACH’ for defence of Andaman & Nicobar
Islands was also a part of AMPHEX-21
exercise. KAVACH took place in Andaman Sea
& Bay of Bengal under the command of
Andaman & Nicobar Command (ANC), which
is the sole Joint Services Command of the
Country.
TESTING
MISSILES NAME TESTING LOCATION FEATURES
Kalam-5 Private Test Facility at Skyroot Aerospace, an Indian Space Startup successfully
Nagpur, Maharashtra test fired a solid propulsion rocket engine named ‘Kalam-5’
from a Private Test Facility at Nagpur, Maharashtra. It is the
1st Private company of India to successfully design, develop
& test a full solid-fuel rocket stage.
Fatah-1 Pakistan successfully Test-Fired its indigenous ‘Fatah-1’ –
Guided Multi Launch Rocket System (MLRS) which has
capability of precision target engagement deep into the

- enemy territories. The guided MLRS is capable of hitting
targets without leaving behind the unexploded ordnance. It
is a variant of the guided MLRS family which has an
extended range of up to 150 kms.
Shaheen-III Pakistan successfully Test Fired a Nuclear-Capable Surface-
to-Surface ‘Shaheen-III’ Ballistic Missile. The Missile has a
range of 2, 750 Kms and is the Longest-range missile
- developed in Pakistan. This is the 2nd Test of the Missile,
the First Test was carried out in March, 2015. On January 7,
2021 Pakistan successfully test fired the Indigenous ‘Fatah-
1’ – Guided Multi Launch Rocket System (MLRS).
Smart Anti Airfield Coast of Odisha Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) successfully Test
Weapon (SAAW) Fired the Indigenous Smart Anti Airfield Weapon (SAAW)
from the Hawk-i aircraft close to the coast of Odisha. It is
the 1st Smart Weapon to be fired from an Indian Hawk-
Mk132. It has been developed by Research Centre Imarat
(RCI), Hyderabad of Defence Research and Development
Organization (DRDO) under HAL’s Hawk-i Program. SAAW
is a precision strike weapon of 125 kg category, it has a
range of 100 kms.
Akash-NG Integrated Test Range Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)
of Balasore, off the coast successfully conducted the maiden launch of Akash-NG
of Odisha (New Generation) Surface to Air Missile (SAM) from
Integrated Test Range of Balasore, off the coast of Odisha,
along with Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) & Bharat
Electronics Limited (BEL). It has strike range of 30 km.It
was developed by the DRDO laboratory, Research Centre
Imarat (RCI) 96% indigenous content. It has been
developed for the Indian Air Force (IAF) use with an aim of
intercepting high maneuvering low Radar cross-section
(RCS) aerial threats.
ARMY, NAVY & AIR FORCE NEWS

DRDO, Indian Navy Conduct Maiden Trial of First Air-Droppable Container ‘SAHAYAK-NG’
Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) & Indian Navy successfully conducted the
maiden trial of ‘SAHAYAK-NG’ which is India’s 1st indigenously designed and developed Air Droppable
Container. It was dropped from IL 38SD aircraft of the Indian Navy at Goa.
GRSE Delivers 8th & Final Ship of MK IV class ‘IN LCU L-58’ to Indian Navy
On December 31, 2020, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE), Kolkata, West Bengal
delivered the Landing Craft Utility (LCU) MK IV class vessel ‘IN LCU L-58’ (Yard 2099) to the Indian
Navy (IN). The ship will serve in the Andaman & Nicobar Command (ANC), which is India’s 1st & only
tri-service command. LCU L-58 is the final ship in the series of 8 LCUs being manufactured by GRSE for
the Indian Navy.
Harsh Vardhan Inaugurates Coastal Research Vessel ‘Sagar Anveshika’ at Chennai Port
Union Minister for Earth Sciences, Harsh Vardhan launched Coastal Research Vehicle (CRV) ‘Sagar
Anveshika’ at the Chennai Port. The vehicle will be used to carry out environment indexing and
bathymetric (mapping underwater features) in both coastal and offshore waters. It will be used for

research purposes by National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) and has been built by Titagarh
Wagons, Kolkata, West Bengal.
CVRDE Develops Retractable Landing Gear Systems for Tapas & SWiFT UAVs
Retractable Landing Gear (RLG) Systems Indigenously developed by Combat Vehicles Research and
Development of Establishment (CVRDE) (An DRDO Lab) for TAPAS (Tactical Airborne Platform for
Aerial Surveillance-Beyond Horizon-201 or Tapas BH-201 also known as Rustom-II) & SWiFT (Stealth
Wing Flying Testbed) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) was handed over to Dr. S. Venugopal, Director
of Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bengaluru, Karnataka. The systems were handed
over by V. Balamurugan, Director of CVRDE, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
DRDO & Indian Army Developed India’s 1st Indigenous Machine Pistol ASMI
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Armament Research & Development
Establishment (ARDE), Pune (Maharashtra) in collaboration with the Indian Army’s Infantry School,
Mhow has developed India’s first indigenous 9mm machine pistol ASMI. It will replace the 9mm
pistols used by defence forces. Notably it has been developed by a young officer ‘Lt Col Prasad
Bansod’ from Infantry School.
Indian Army signs Contract with ideaForge to Procure SWITCH UAVs

Indian Army has signed USD 20 Million (~ INR 140 Crores) contracts with idea-Forge to procure
unmentioned numbers of high-altitude variant of Indigenous SWITCH UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle)
over a period of 1 year. SWITCH is a Fixed-Wing-Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) UAV and is
capable of being deployed at high altitude and harsh environments. It will serve the purpose of
Surveillance, Reconnaissance missions of the Indian Army in its borders.
India to Procure 21 MiG-29 Fighter Jets and 12 Sukhoi-30 MKI Aircrafts from Russia
Indian Government is set to procure 21 MiG(Mikoyan-Gurevich),29 fighter jets and 12 Sukhoi(Su)-30
MKI(Modernizirovannyi, Kommercheskiy, Indiski) aircrafts from Russia. In addition to this, existing 59
MiG-29 aircrafts will also be upgraded.The Request for Proposal (RFP) for the 21 MiG-29 will shortly be
issued to Russian state-run defence export arm,’Rosoboronexport’.
Indian Naval Fast Attack Craft (IN FAC) T-81 Decommissioned

Indian Naval Fast Attack Craft (IN FAC) T-81 of the Super Dvora MK II class was decommissioned at
Naval Dockyard, Mumbai, Maharashtra. The 25 meters long vessel with 60 tonnes displacement has
served India for more than 20 years. Rear Admiral V Srinivas, Flag Officer Commanding Maharashtra
Naval Area was the Chief Guest on the occasion.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

SATELLITES LAUNCHES
SATELLITE NAME COUNTRY PURPOSE
wood-based space satellite Japan Japan’s Sumitomo Forestry company and Kyoto
University of Japan is all set to launch the world’s first
wood-based space satellite by 2023 to combat the
problem of space junk. In this regard, several wooden
materials are being tested by the research team to find a
suitable one for space missions. According to the
European Space Agency (ESA) statistical model, there are
more than 130 million pieces of anthropogenic space

debris due to human activities. ESA is also planning to
launch a mission to collect space debris in 2025.
Falcon 9 United States of SpaceX successfully created a New World Record by
America launching 143 Satellites in a single mission. The satellites
were launched using the Falcon 9 Reusable rockets from
the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, United
States of America. With this, SpaceX bettered Indian
Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) record of
deploying 104 satellites in a single mission in February
2017. The Launch is also the first dedicated mission for
SpaceX under SmallSat ‘Rideshare’ program called
Transporter-1.
Sri Shakti Sat ISRO Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning to
launch ‘Sri Shakti Sat’ a satellite that was developed by
12 college students with inputs from ISRO. This satellite
will be launched into outer space by Polar Satellite
Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-C51 on February 28, 2021. It was
developed by students of Sri Shakthi Institute of
Engineering and Technology at a cost of Rs. 2.5 Crores.
OTHER SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY NEWS

NATIONAL
Ramesh Pokhriyal lays Foundation stone of ‘TiHAN Foundation’
Union Minister for Education, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ virtually laid the Foundation stone for
‘TiHAN Foundation’ – Technology Innovation Hub at the IIT Hyderabad (IITH). It will be India’s 1st
Testing hub for Autonomous Navigation & Data Acquisition Systems (Terrestrial and Aerial).
Department of Science & Technology, Government of India sanctioned INR 135 Crore to IIT Hyderabad
under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) to establish ‘TiHAN-
IIT Hyderabad’.
Overview of ISRO’s Plan for the Decade 2021-30

Sivan, Secretary of Department of Space (DoS) & Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO) have chalked out the plan for the Decade 2021-30. It has listed both Short-term vision & Long-
term visions.The plan envisions the development of heavy-lift rockets, reusable satellite launch vehicles
& semi-cryogenic engines. In the short term, ISRO has plans to execute diverse missions which are First
Developmental Flight of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) planned to be launched in March,
2021.
India to get 1st Indigenous Diverter Stent & Device for Healing Hole in Heart:DST
Department of Science & Technology (DST) has stated that India will soon get access to India’s 1st
Indigenous flow diverter stent for diverting blood away from Ballooning of Arteries in the brain &
another device which will promote the better healing of the hole in the heart. Sree Chitra Tirunal
Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala an autonomous
institute of DST has entered into Technology Transfer Agreements with Biorad Medisystem, Pune for
the procurement of an Atrial Septal Defect Occluder and an Intracranial Flow Diverter Stents which
have been developed in association with National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore (CSIR-NAL).

MoTA Minister Arjun Munda Virtually Launched “Shramshakti” Digital Data Solution for
Migrant Workers
On January 22, 2021, Union Minister Arjun Munda, Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) virtually launched
a National Migration Support Portal namely “Shramshakti” from New Delhi. Originally, the launch
programme was held at Panjim(Panaji), Goa. The focus of the portal is the smooth formulation of state
and national level programs for migrant workers. He also released a booklet titled ‘Margadarshika’. Goa
is the first destination state of India to set up a dedicated migration cell to address the issues of migrant
workers who come from different States to Goa.
Govt of India Uses RAS platform of MeitY for Processing Feedback on COVID-19 Vaccination
Govt of India uses Rapid Assessment System (RAS) under the COVID Vaccination drive, the world’s
biggest vaccination drive to get feedback from those who get COVID-19 Vaccination. RAS was developed
by National e-Governance Division(NeGD), a division of Ministry of Electronics & Information
Technology (MeitY). RAS platform enables to get online instant feedback for e-services (online as well
as offline through counters) that are offered by the Government of India and State Governments.
CSIR-CMERI Developed 1st Ever WasteWater Treatment Technology Model, Aqua Rejuvenation
Plant’ for Irrigation
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Central Mechanical Engineering Research
Institute(CMERI) developed 1st ever Waste Water Treatment Technology Model, ‘Aqua Rejuvenation
Plant(ARP)’, which was inaugurated by Prof. (Dr.) Harish Hirani, Director, CSIR-CMERI along with
Subhendu Basu at CSIR-CMERI, Durgapur, West Bengal. Integrated Waste Water Rejuvenation Model,
ARP purifies wastewater for Irrigation/Farming purposes.
Ravi Shankar Prasad Launches TEJAS – Visual Intelligence Tool & WAW Portal at Silver Jubilee
event of NICSI
National Informatics Centre Services Incorporated (NICSI), a PSU under National Informatics Centre
(NIC), Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) celebrated 25 Years of its inception.
Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for MeitY who attended the event as Chief Guest released the
TEJAS – A Visual Intelligence Tool,e-Auction India, Work from AnyWhere Portal (WAW),and NIC
Products Portfolio which includes several products to increase the branding of Digital India initiative of
Government.
ENVIRONMENT
2020 is 8th Warmest Year in India Since 1901: IMD
The ‘Statement on Climate of India during 2020’ issued by Climate Research and Services (CRS) of India
Meteorological Department (IMD), Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India mentioned that
2020 was the 8th warmest year in India since nation-wide records commenced in 1901. But, this is
substantially low than the highest warming observed over India during 2016 (+0.71⁰C). As per ‘‘The
State of the Global Climate 2020’’ released by World Meteorological Organisation(WMO), the global
mean surface temperature during January to October, 2020 was +1.2⁰C
‘Euphranta Siruvani’-New Species of Fruit Fly named after Siruvani in Western Ghats
A New Species of Fruit Fly has been named ‘Euphranta Siruvani’ after it was discovered in Siruvani,
Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu. The discovery has been published in the Zootaxa Journal, which has
been authored by K.J. David and K. Sachin from National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources,
Bengaluru, D.L. Hancock from the United Kingdom, Sudhir Singh from Forest Research Institute,

Dehradun & H. Sankaraman from Annamalai University. The fruit fly ‘Euphranta Siruvani’ belongs to
family Tephritidae.
New Species of Ant Discovered: Ooceraea joshii in Kerala & Ooceraea decamera discovered in
Tamil Nadu
The team of researchers led by Himender Bharti of Punjabi University, Patiala discovered two new
species – Ooceraea joshii (in Kerala) and Ooceraea decamera (in Tamil Nadu), first of its kind with 10
segmented antennae among the rare genus Ooceraea in India.The discovery of the team has been
published in ZooKeys, a peer reviewed journal. Ooceraea joshii, named after Prof. Amitabh Joshi, a
distinguished evolutionary biologist
SPORTS
CRICKET
Cricket-India retains Border-Gavaskar Trophy by Defeating Australia in 2020-21 Test Series
India won by defeating Australia in 2020-21 Test Series(4 Match) by 2-1 and retained the Border-
Gavaskar Trophy in 2020-21 Edition. Ajinkya Rahane led the Indian Team in the absence of Virat Kohli
who played only the First Test Match. India created history by defeating Australia for the 1st time at the
Gabba, Brisbane in 32 years.
• Pat Cummins was the Player of the Series for picking up 21 wickets in the series.
• India’s Stand-in Captain Ajinkya Rahane became the 1st Recipient of Mullagh Medal after he
won Man of the Match at the Boxing Day Test held at MCG.
• Australia’s Claire Polosak became the 1st Female Match Official in a Men’s Test Match…Click
here for other interesting fact about this series
BADMINTON & TENNIS

Overview of Yonex Thailand Open 2021 Super 1000 – Badminton Tournament
Yonex Thailand Open 2021 (Level – Super 1000), a first Badminton Tournament in 2021 took place at
Impact arena, Bangkok, Thailand from January 12-17, 2021. It was organized by the Badminton
Association of Thailand & sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). India’s Saina Nehwal
lost in the women’s singles second round to Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan.
• In the Latest World Junior Rankings released by BWF post COVID, In the Men’s Category,
Varun Kapur (Maharashtra) attained his Career-best ranking of World Number 2. In the
Women’s Category, Samiya Imad Farooqi (Telangana) attained her Career-best ranking of
World Number 2.
Winners:
Category Winner Runner-up
Men’s Singles Viktor Axelsen (Denmark) Angus Long (Hong Kong)
Women’s
Singles Carolina Marin (Spain) Tai Tzu-ying (Taiwan)
Goh V Shem & Tan Wee Kiong
Men’s Doubles Lee Yang & Wang Chi-Lin (Taiwan) (Malaysia)
Jongkolphan Kititharakul & Rawinda
Women’s Greysia Polii & Apriyani Rahayu Prajongjai
Doubles (Indonesia) (Thailand)
Dechapol Puavaranukroh & Sapsiree
Taerattanachai Praveen Jordan & Melati Daeva Oktavianti
Mixed Doubles (Thailand) (Malaysia)

ATHLETIC & FOOTBALL
India to host 2022 AFC Women’s Football Asia Cup
India has got the hosting rights from Asian Football Confederation (b) to host 2022’s Women’s Football
Asia Cup. The event is planned to start from 20th January, 2022 to 6th February, 2022. For the first time
the event will feature 12 teams from across Asia. Ahmedabad and Navi Mumbai are the two possible
venues to hold 2022 AFC’s Women’s Football Asia Cup. This event will act as a qualifier to the 2023
FIFA Women’s World Cup that is to be held in Australia and New Zealand. Earlier, India had hosted AFC
Women’s Asia Cup in 1980.
OTHER SPORTS NEWS

Goa’s 14-year old Leon Mendonca becomes India’s 67th Chess Grandmaster
14-year old Leon Mendonca from Goa became India’s 67th Chess Grandmaster (GM) after winning his
third & Final norm at the Vergani Cup, Italy. Mendonca is only the 2nd GM from Goa. He became the
29th Youngest GM in the world. Sergey Karjakin of Russia holds the record for the World’s Youngest
ever GM having qualified for the title at the age of 12 years and 7 months (achieved the title in 2003).
ITBP wins 10th IHAI National Ice Hockey Championships held at Gulmarg, J&K
Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) won the 10th Ice Hockey Association of India (IHAI) National Ice
Hockey Championships by defeating Ladakh in the finals held at Gulmarg Ice Rink, Gulmarg
Development Authority, Jammu & Kashmir (J&K). The event was held from January 16-22, 2021 and
was organized by IHAI. ITBP is one of India’s Primary Border Patrol Organizations responsible for
Managing India’s borders along China’s Tibet Autonomous Region.
Sport Minister Kiren Rijiju Launched the First Reference Material Synthesised by NDTL &
NIPER
Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of Youth Affairs & Sport, launched the indigenously developed Reference
Material(RM), synthesized by collaborative efforts of National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) and
National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Guwahati.It is the 1st RM
synthesized by NDTL and NIPER, Guwahati.He also released the Newsletter of NDTL during the event.
This RM as one of the rarely available RMs which would be used to strengthen anti-doping measures in
the laboratories accredited with the World Anti-Doping Agency(WADA).
BOOKS & AUTHORS

BOOK NAME AUTHOR KEY NOTES
Sabarimala K S Vijayanath On 30th December 2020, Arif Mohammed Khan,
Vijnaanakosham Governor of Kerala released the book titled “Sabarimala
Vijnaanakosham” authored by K S Vijayanath at
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He presented the first
copy of “Sabarimala Vijnaanakosham” to S Sreejith,
Inspector General of Police (Crime Branch) Kerala. He
also presented the Limca Book of World Records
certificate to Swami Maheswarananda who erected a
111 feet Shiv Linga Sthoopa at Maheswaram Sri Siva
parvathi Temple in Chenkal, Thiruvananthapuram,
Kerala.
Right Under Your Nose R Giridharan The book titled ‘Right Under Your Nose’ is authored by
Reserve Bank of India(RBI) Manager R Giridharan. This

is his debut Book. The book is published by Rupa
Publications India Pvt Ltd. The book portrays how
Superintendent Vijay along with his trusted aide Dalvi,
and Journalist Padmini spots the murderer who killed a
woman and a team of scientists.
India’s 71-Year Test: The R Kaushik Ravi Shastri, Former Indian all-rounder and current
Journey to Triumph in head coach of Indian Cricket team released a book titled,
Australia ‘India’s 71-Year Test: The Journey to Triumph in
Australia’ at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney,
Australia. The book is a Bradman Museum initiative and
is authored by R Kaushik, Senior Cricket Journalist. It is
published by Churchill Press.
Making of a General – A Lt. Gen. Konsam Dr Najma Heptulla, Governor of Manipur released a
Himalayan Echo Himalay Singh book titled ‘Making of a General – A Himalayan Echo’
through a virtual mode at Durbar Hall of Raj Bhavan,
Imphal, Manipur. The book is authored by (Redt) Lt.
Gen. Konsam Himalay Singh and is published by Konark
Publishers Pvt Ltd. The book captures the history and
beauty of Manipur and mentions the state as the “Land
of Emeralds”. On the other hand, this State is known as
“Unexplored Paradise”.
Gazing Eastwards: Of Romila Thapar The book titled ‘Gazing Eastwards: Of Buddhist Monks
Buddhist Monks and and Revolutionaries in China, 1957’ was authored by
Revolutionaries in China, Romila Thapar, an Indian historian. The book is
1957 published by Seagull Books London Ltd.She declined the
Padma Bhushan award in 1992 and 2005. The book
accounts a few months that Romila Thapar spent in
China in 1957 along with Sri Lankan art historian Anil
de Silva, where she worked at two cave sites, namely
Maijishan in north China and Dunhuang on the edge of
the Gobi desert in Northwest China.
Unscripted: Vidhu Vinod Chopra The book titled ‘Unscripted: Conversations on Life and
Conversations on Life Cinema’ is authored by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Indian
and Cinema film director, screenwriter and producer and Abhijat
Joshi, Indian screenwriter. ‘Penguin eBury Press’ is the
publisher of the book. The book gives a glance into the
mind, method and madness of Vidhu Vinod Chopra, one
of contemporary Hindi cinema’s best filmmakers.
Manohar Parrikar- Off Waman Subha Prabhu Pramod Sawant, Chief Minister of Goa released a book
the Record titled ‘Manohar Parrikar- Off the Record’. It is authored
by senior journalist Waman Subha Prabhu.The book is a
collection of memories of the author who was with late
Manohar Gopalkrishna Prabhu Parrikar, former CM of
Goa during the journey of his life.
Abdul Kalam- Dr APJM M Venkaiah Naidu, Vice President of India released a
Ninaivugalukku NazemaMaraikayar tamil book titled ‘Abdul Kalam-Ninaivugalukku
Maranamillai Maranamillai’(immortal memories) at Raj Bhavan in
Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It is a biography of late former
President, Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.The book is authored
by Dr APJM NazemaMaraikayar, managing trustee,

Abdul Kalam International Foundation (AIKF) and well-
known space scientist, Dr Y.S. Rajan.
The Population Myth: Dr. S Y Quraishi Dr. S Y Quraishi, former Chief Election
Islam, Family Planning Commissioner(CEC) is set to release his new book titled
and Politics in India “The Population Myth: Islam, Family Planning and
Politics in India”. This book looks into the questions
about the politicisation of demographics in India based
on the standard research of SY Quraishi. The book is
published by HarperCollins India.The book provides a
detailed analysis of the Muslim rate of growth in
consideration with the population data and national and
international reports.
A textbook of Urban Dr. Sameer Sharma Venkaiah Naidu, the Vice President of India virtually
Planning and Geography released the book “A textbook of Urban Planning and
Geography” authored by Dr. Sameer Sharma, the
Director General and CEO of the Indian Institute of
Corporate Affairs in Hyderabad, Telangana.The book is
published by PHI Learning Private Limited. The book
bridges the gap between the urban geography and
urban planning ideas of the west and the experiences of
the Indian cities.
Flying Blind: India’s Mohamed Zeeshan The book titled ‘Flying Blind: India’s Quest for Global
Quest for Global Leadership’ is authored by Mohamed Zeeshan, a foreign
Leadership affairs columnist, consultant and the editor-in-chief of
Freedom Gazette. The book is published by Penguin
Random House. The book describes the difficulties that
stand has an obstacle to the current India’s foreign
policy, each of which have led to many instabilities in
the foreign policy practice, which in turn has affected
India’s interests.
Ten Lessons for a Post– Fareed Zakaria Fareed Zakaria, a CNN host and one of the “top 10 global
Pandemic World thinkers of the last decade” (Foreign Policy), authored
the book titled “Ten Lessons for a Post–Pandemic
World”. The book published by Penguin book speaks
about the nature of the post pandemic world and the
social, political, technological and economical effects
that may take years to develop.
India 2030: The Rise of a Gautam Chikermane Gautam Chikermane, Vice President of Observer
Rajasic Nation Research Foundation authored and edited the book
titled “India 2030: The Rise of a Rajasic Nation”, a
Collection of Essay which describes about the likes of 20
forecasts by 20 thought leaders from India based on 20
themes. The book was published by Penguin eBury
Press. The book features 20 themes on various fields
ranging from education to healthcare, science, energy,
politics and foreign policy, that predicts the evolution of
India in this decade.
The Law of Emergency Dr. Abhishek Singhvi On 23rd January, 2021, one of the Senior Judges of the
Powers: Comparative and Prof. Khagesh Supreme Court of India, Justice N. V. Ramana, along with
Gautam 3 other supreme court judges, Surya Kant, Justice Sanjay

Common Law Kishan Kaul and Justice D. Y. Chandrachud launched a
Perspectives book titled, “The Law of Emergency Powers:
Comparative Common Law Perspectives”.The book was
jointly authored by Dr. Abhishek Singhvi and Prof.
Khagesh Gautam & Published by Springer Publications.
It presents a detailed study on legal and constitutional
provisions of Emergency powers under Article 356.Also
compares the emergency powers of India, USA & UK.
Race With Me! Andre De Grasse & Canadian Olympian Sprinter Andre De Grasse & Robert
Robert Budd Budd authored a motivational picture book titled ‘Race
With Me!’ for children aged 6-10 years. The book is
illustrated by Joseph Osei Bonsu and will be published
by Scholastic Canada in English and French.The book
describes how he overcame the hardships and stays
motivated.The book is expected to be released in July
2021.
Soumitra Chatterjee: A Arjun Sengupta and 86th birth anniversary of Soumitra Chatterjee,
Life in Cinema, Theatre, co-authored by Partha “Soumitra Chatterjee: A Life in Cinema, Theatre, Poetry
Poetry & Painting Mukherjee & Painting”, the authorized biography of Soumitra
Chatterjee was released. The book authored by Arjun
Sengupta and co-authored by Partha Mukherjee was
published by Niyogi Books Private Limited. The book
contains the legacy of Dadasaheb Phalke Awardee
Soumitra Chatterjee, who passed away on 15th
November 2020 at the age of 85.
OBITUARY
NATIONAL
PERSON NAME FIELD BORN PLACE KEY NOTES
Michael Kindo Former Indian Odisha Passed away at the age of 73 due to age
hockey player, related ailments in Rourkela, Odisha.
Olympic Bronze He was born on 20th June 1947 in
medalist Odisha. Michael Kindo received the
Arjuna award in 1972 and became the
first sportsperson of tribal background
to receive the Arjuna award.
Buta Singh Senior leader of Punjab Passed away at the age of 86 in Delhi.
Indian National He was an 8-time Lok Sabha MP and
Congress and former also served as the governor of Bihar.
Home Minister He was in public service for a long time
and served under 4 prime ministers.
He was born on March 21, 1934 in
Jalandhar district, Punjab, British India.
The 4 Prime Ministers for whom he
served include, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv
Gandhi, P.V. Narasimha Rao,
Manmohan Singh.

Colonel Narendra Padma Shri awardee Pakistan An iconic mountaineer who played a
‘Bull’ Kumar vital role in securing the Siachen
Glacier for India passed away at the
age of 87 in Delhi due to age related
ailments. He was born on 8th
December 1933 in Rawalpindi, now in
Pakistan. In 1964, he was the first
Indian to climb Mount Nanda Devi.
Anil Panachooran Malayalam Poet and Kerala Passed away at the age of 55 at
Lyricist Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He has
also acted in films. He is a lawyer by
profession. He was born on November
20, 1969 at Kayamkulam, Alappuzha,
Kerala. His last lyrics were penned for
the movie Within Seconds (2021).
Vilas Patil Undalkar Former Maharashtra Passed away at the age of 82 in Satara,
Cabinet Minister and Maharashtra. He belongs to Indian
7 time MLA - National Congress party. He was born
on 15th July 1938. He is popularly
known as ‘kaka'(Vilaskaka).
A. Madhavan Tamil writer Thiruvananthapuram Tamil writer A. Madhavan, who is the
recipient of Kendra Sahitya Akademi
Award(2015) passed away at the age
of 86 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
He was born on February 7, 1934 in
Thiruvananthapuram. He served as a
member of the expert committee of
Kendra Sahitya Akademi and also was
the founder and president of
Thiruvananthapuram Tamil Sangam.
Madhavsinh Former Chief Gujarat Madhavsinh Solanki, a former Chief
Solanki Minister Minister(CM) of Gujarat who served for
3 terms passed away at the age of 94 in
Gandhinagar, Gujarat. He held
portfolios as union minister of
Planning and also external affairs),
while being a member of Rajya Sabha
from 1988 to 1994. He belongs to
Indian National Congress(INC) party.
He was born on 30 July 1927 in
Gujarat. He was the longest-serving
Chief Minister of Gujarat before
Narendra Modi, who is the current PM
of India.
Turlapati Kutumba Veteran Telugu Vijayawada Passed away at the age of 87 in
Rao Journalist, writer Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh(AP). He is
and orator the 1st journalist from AP to receive
Padma Shri in 2002 for Literature and
education. He was born on August 10,
1933 in Vijayawada. He has written

over 4000 biographies and delivered
over 16000 public speeches which
earned him a slot in the Guinness Book
of World Record.
Shashikumar Astrophysicist and India Prof Shashikumar Madhusudan(M.)
Madhusudan(M.) Mathematician Chitre, globally renowned
Chitre astrophysicist and mathematician
passed away at the age of 84 in
Mumbai, Maharashtra. He is the
recipient of Padma Bhushan. He was
born on May 7, 1936 in India.
D Prakash Rao Padma Shri Awardee Odisha Passed away in Cuttack, Odisha due to
& Renowned Social a Brain Stroke. Prakash Rao hails from
Worker Cuttack, Odisha.A Tea Seller, he was
conferred with Padma Shri in 2019 to
recognize his contribution towards
boosting the value of education among
slum & orphan kids in Cuttack.
Kamal Morarka Former Union Rajasthan Passed away at the age of 74 in
Minister and a Mumbai, Maharashtra. He was born on
renowned 18th June 1946 in Nawalgarh,
businessman and Rajasthan. He has served as vice-
industrialist president of the Board of Control for
Cricket in India (BCCI) and Vice
President of Rajasthan Cricket
Association. He has also served as a
member of Rajya Sabha(1988 to 1994)
from Rajasthan representing Janata
Dal.
Mata Prasad Former Governor Uttar Pradesh Mata Prasad, the former governor of
Arunachal Pradesh and senior leader of
Indian National Congress passed away
at the age of 95 at Lucknow, Uttar
Pradesh.He was born in Machhlishahr
in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh.He promoted
Hindi and authored many books
including a book on Arunachal Pradesh
titled ‘ManoramBhoomi-Arunachal’.He
served as the 8th governor of
Arunachal Pradesh 1993 to 1999, the
longest serving governor of the state.
Ustad Ghulam Legendary Indian Uttar Pradesh Passed away at the age of 89 in
Mustafa Khan classical vocalist and Mumbai, Maharashtra. He was a
musician renowned vocalist and musician of
Rampur-Sahaswan Gharana of
Hindustani classical music. He was
born on March 3, 1931 in Badaun in
Uttar Pradesh. He is a recipient of
many awards including, Padma Shri in
1991, Padma Bhushan in 2006 and

Padma Vibushan in 2018 for arts
among others.
Dr V Shanta Renowned Indian TamilNadu Dr V Shanta, a renowned Indian
Oncologist oncologist and chairman of Cancer
Institute (WIA), Adyar, Chennai,
TamilNadu passed away at the age of
93 in Chennai. She is the recipient of
Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and
Padma Vibushan.She was born on 11th
March 1927, at Mylapore, Chennai. She
is well known for her endeavors to
provide accessibility to good quality
and affordable cancer treatment to all
patients in India.
Unnikrishnan Renowned Kerala On 20th January 2021, renowned
Namboothiri Malayalam actor Malayalam actor, Unnikrishnan
Namboothiri passed away at the age of
98 in Kannur, Kerala. He was born on
19 October 1923 in Payyanur, Kannur,
Kerala. At the age of 76, He won the
national award for his role in the
Malayalam Movie ‘Desadanam”
directed by Jayaraj in 1996.
Narendra Chanchal Indian singer Punjab Who is popular for his devotional
songs(bhajan) passed away at the age
of 80 in New Delhi, Delhi. He also sang
songs in Hindi films. He was born on
October 16, 1940 in Amritsar, Punjab.
He released his biography titled
‘Midnight Singer Narendra Chanchal’
that describes his life, struggles and
hardships leading to achievements.
The book was authored by Georgy
Bhaala.
Prasanta Dora Former Indian West Bengal Passed away at the age of 45 due to
Footballer and Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis’,
Goalie a rare blood disease in Kolkata, West
Bengal. He was born on 4th January
1976 in Kolkata, West Bengal. His
brother Hemanta Dora is also a former
goalkeeper of Indian Football team.
Dr. Shaibal Gupta Patna based social Bihar Passed away at the age of 67 in Patna,
scientist, a Bihar. He hails from Patna, Bihar. He
renowned has been running the ADRI to carry out
Economist and the groundworks in the field of social
Founder of Asian research. He has served as the Director
Development of the Centre for Economic Policy and
Research Institute Public Finance(CEPPF), Government of
(ADRI) Bihar and has also served as the
Director of Andhra Bank.

INTERNATIONAL
PERSON NAME FIELD BORN PLACE KEY NOTES
Modibo Keita Former Prime French Modibo Keita, former Prime Minister of Mali
Minister Sudan(now Mali) passed away at 78. He belongs to Alliance for
Democracy in Mali – Pan-African Party for
Liberty, Solidarity and Justice(ADEMA-PASJ)
political party. He was born on 31 July 1942
Koulikoro, French Sudan(now Mali).
John Fulton(F) Former Left- New Zealand Passed away at the age of 64 at South Island,
Reid Handed Batsman New Zealand. He was born on March 3, 1956, in
New Zealand Auckland, City in the North Island, New
Cricketer Zealand. He also served as the New Zealand
Test captain.
Bob Brett Australian Tennis Australia Passed away at the age of 67. He was born in
coach Melbourne, Australia on 13 November 1953. He
coached German’s Boris Becker and Becker
won 3 of the German’s six career major
titles(grand slam titles), also raised to No. 1 in
the ATP rankingsHe received many awards
including the ATP’s Tim Gullickson Career
Coach award in November 2020.
Neil Sheehan American US Cornelius Mahoney ‘Neil’ Sheehan, an American
journalist journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author
passed away at the age of 84 in Washington
D.C., United States(US) due to complications
from Parkinson’s disease. He was born on
October 27, 1936 in Massachusetts, US. He
received many awards including National Book
Award for Nonfiction in 1988 and the Pulitzer
Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1989 for his
book ‘A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and
America in Vietnam’.
Larry King American US Passed away at the age of 87 due to COVID-
Television and 19 in Los Angeles, California, United States of
Radio Host America. He was born as Lawrence Harvey
Zeiger on 19th November 1933 in Brooklyn,
New York, USA.His acclaimed works includes
his interview show “Larry King Live” in CNN
and Ora Media programmes “Larry King Now”
and “Politicking with Larry King”.
Cloris Leachman American actress US passed away at the age of 94 in Encinitas,
and comedienne & California. She was born in Des Moines, Iowa,
Oscar Awardee, U.S.In 2009, she released her autobiography
Emmy-winning titled, “Cloris-My Autobiography“.She acted in
actress the film titled, ‘The Last Picture Show’ in 1971
for which she won Oscar award in the Best
Supporting Actress Category as well as she won
the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a
Supporting Role.

IMPORTANT DAYS
OBSERVED DATE / WEEK DAYS KEY NOTES
January 4, 2021 World Braille Day 3rd edition of the United Nations(UN) World
Braille Day is annually observed on 4th
January, to promote and create awareness
about the importance of Braille as a means of
communication in the complete realization of
the human rights of the visually impaired and
partially sighted people. The day marks the
birth anniversary of Louis Braille, the French
educator and the inventor of Braille language,
a system of reading and writing for the
visually impaired.
January 6, 2021 World Day of War Orphans Observed annually on January 6 around the
world. The day aim to raise awareness about
the difficult situation of the children who
have been orphaned due to war and the need
to care for these children who live in
traumatic conditions in war-torn areas. The
day was initiated by France based SOS
Enfants En Détresse (SOSEED), a sponsorship
program for orphans.
January 9, 2021 Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Celebrated on January 9, 2021. It will be
celebrated once in every two years to
strengthen the participation of the overseas
Indian community with the government of
India and reconnect them with their roots.
During this day, Prime Minister Narendra
Modi inaugurated PBD Convention 2021
virtually in New Delhi, a flagship event of the
Ministry of External Affairs.This year(2021)
marks the 16th PBD convention. Earlier PBD
was celebrated in the year 2019.Theme of the
16th PBD Convention 2021– “Contributing to
Aatmanirbhar Bharat”.President Santokhi of
Suriname was the chief guest of the PBD
Convention 2021.
January 10, 2021 World Hindi Day World Hindi Day(Vishwa Hindi Divas) is
annually celebrated on January 10 across the
world to promote Hindi language worldwide
and to present Hindi as an international
language. The then Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh declared January 10 as
World Hindi Day in 2006. January 10 has
been selected because on this day the 1st
World Hindi Conference was held in Nagpur,
Maharashtra in 1975

January 12, 2021 National Youth Day (Yuva Celebrated annually on January 12 across
Diwas) India to recognise and honour the teachings
of Swami Vivekananda.This year(2021)
marks the 158th birth anniversary of Swami
Vivekananda. The day also aims to encourage
youth in India to become a better person and
achieve an honourable life that contributed to
the development of the country.
January 14, 2021 Veteran Day Indian Armed Forces annually celebrates the
Veteran Day on 14th January to recognise the
contributions of the veterans of the Indian
Armed Forces.The 14th January 2021 marks
the celebration of the 5th Veteran Day by the
Indian Armed Forces. The day honours and
recognises the service of Field Marshal KM
Cariappa, OBE, the first Commander in Chief
of Indian Armed Forces.
January 15, 2021 Army Day Indian Army annually celebrates the Army
Day on 15th January to honour the
contribution and sacrifices of the Indian
Soldiers who lost their lives in the line of duty
towards the nation.The 15th January 2021
marks the celebration of the 73rd Army Day
by the Indian Army.It remarks Lieutenant
General KM Cariappa was appointed as the
first Indian Commander in Chief of the Indian
Army who took over from General Sir Francis
Butcher, the last British Commander-in-Chief
of India on 15th January 1949.
January 18 to February 17, National Road Safety Ministry of Road Transport and
2021 Month Highway(MoRTH) observes the first National
Road Safety Month from 18th January 2021
to 17th February 2021, instead of the 32nd
National Road Safety Week, to create and
spread awareness about road safety and its
importance in reducing the road accidents in
India.Theme – “Sadak Suraksha- Jeevan
Raksha”. Ministry of Road Transport and
Highway(MoRTH) annually observes the
National Road Safety Week during the second
week of January.
January 19, 2021 NDRF Raising Day The National Disaster Response Force(NDRF)
annually celebrates the NDRF Raising Day on
19th January to mark its formation in 2006.
The 2021 marks the celebration of 16th
NDRF Raising Day. The National Disaster
Response Force(NDRF) came into existence
on 19th January 2006. The National Disaster
Management Authority (NDMA) was

constituted to lay down the policies, plans
and guidelines for disaster management.
January 23, 2021 First Parakram Diwas or Ministry of Culture and Tourism published
Courage Day the gazette notification to annually observe
the 23rd January as Parakram Diwas starting
from 2021.The day honours and remembers
the contributions of Netaji towards the
nation. The government of India has decided
to annually observe the birth anniversary of
the Netaji as “Parakram Diwas” to honour the
service of Netaji towards India. Year-long
celebrations to commemorate 125th birth
anniversary year of Netaji Subhas Chandra
Bose commenced on 23rd January, 2021.
January 24, 2021 International Day of United Nations(UN)’s International Day of
Education Education is annually observed on 24th
January to celebrate the role of education for
peace and development. The annual
celebration of this day is organised by the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in
partnership with partners like Global
Partnership for Education and the Centre for
Interdisciplinary Studies (CRI). The theme of
the 3rd International day of Education is
“Recover and Revitalize Education for the
COVID-19 Generation”.
January 24, 2021 National Girl Child Day National Girl Child Day is observed annually
on January 24 to raise awareness about the
rights of the girl child and importance of their
education, health and nutrition. The year
2021 marks 13th National Girl Child Day. The
initiative was started by the Ministry of
Women and Child Development(MoWCD) in
January 21 to 26, 2021 National Girl Child Week
2008. National Girl Child Week is being
celebrated from January 21 to 26, 2021. On
this occasion, the Govt of India organises
awareness campaigns under Beti Bachao, Beti
Padhao-BBBP (Save the girl child, Educate the
girl child) scheme. Click here
January 25, 2021 National Voters Day Annually celebrated across India on 25th
January to spread awareness among the
voters and to promote informed participation
in the electoral process.25th January 2021,
marks the celebration of the 11th National
Voters Day by Election Commission of India
(ECI). The theme of the National Voters Day
2021 is “Making Our Voters Empowered,
Vigilant, Safe and Informed”. President Ram
Nath Kovind awarded the 2020-2021

National Awards for the Best Electoral
Practices.
January 25, 2021 National Tourism Day Annually observed across India on 25th
January to encourage tourism in India and to
highlight the role of tourism in the economic
development of the nation.The theme of
National Tourism Day 2021 is “Dekho Apna
Desh”. The Ministry of Tourism has been
organising various seminars on the theme
“Dekho Apna Desh” to showcase the cultural
diversity of India and enhance the tourism of
India in 2021.
January 26, 2021 Republic Day of India India celebrated its 72nd Republic Day. On
this date, in 1950 the Constitution of India
came into effect by replacing the Government
of India Act (1935). For the 1st time, a 122-
member Bangladeshi Triservice force
Contingent participated in the Republic Day
Parade. Constitution was adopted by the
Indian Constituent Assembly on 26
November, 1949 and came into effect on 26th
January, 1950 making India a fully
democratic republic. 26 January was chosen
as Republic day as it was on this day that
Indian National Congress (INC) Declared
Purna Swaraj in 1929. President Ram Nath
Kovind approved 455 Gallantry awards &
other Defence decorations to Armed Forces
personnel. Click here
January 26, 2021 International Customs Annually celebrated across the globe on 26th
Day(ICD) January to recognise the contributions and
roles of the customs officials and agencies in
maintaining border security.The World
Customs Organization(WCO) dedicated the
International Customs Day 2021 is dedicated
to the efforts of the customs to emerge from
the pandemic situation.The theme of the
2021 ICD is “Customs bolstering Recovery,
Renewal and Resilience for a sustainable
supply chain”.
January 27, 2021 International Day of United Nations(UN)’s International Day of
Commemoration in Commemoration in memory of the victims of
memory of the victims of the Holocaust (International Holocaust
the Holocaust Remembrance Day) is annually observed
(International Holocaust across the globe on 27th January to
Remembrance Day) commemorate the victims of the Tragedy of
Holocaust during the World War II. The date
marks the anniversary of the liberation of the
Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp
of Auschwitz-Birkenau by Soviet troops on 27

January 1945. The theme of 2021
International Holocaust Remembrance Day
is “Facing the Aftermath: Recovery and
Reconstitution after the Holocaust”.
January 30, 2021 World Neglected Tropical Annually observed across the globe on 30th
Diseases(NTD) Day January to highlight the global commitment
to eliminate Neglected Tropical Diseases that
has affected the most marginalized
communities of the World.The funding for
World NTD Day is provided by the Crown
Prince Court of Abu Dhabi. 30th January
marks the anniversary of the 2012 London
declaration on NTDs. World NTD Day was
one of the initiatives announced on 19th
November 2019, at the gathering of the
global health community under the patronage
of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed
Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and
Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE
Armed Forces.
January 30, 2021 Martyrs’ Day which is also Annually observed across India on 30th
known as “Shaheed Diwas” January to pay respect to the martyrs who
lost their lives during India’s freedom
struggle. The day will also mark the death
anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. 30th
January 2021 marks the 73rd Martyrs Day or
Shaheed Diwas. The day will also mark the
death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Another Martyrs Day is observed in India on
23rd March, the death anniversary of Bhagat
Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru
who were hanged to death by British on 23rd
March 1931 in Lahore, Pakistan.
APPS & WEB PORTAL

APP & WEB NAME LAUNCHED BY PURPOSE
https://toycathon.mic.gov.in. Ministry of On January 5, 2021, an inter-ministerial Initiative,
Education (MoE) Toycathon 2021, was jointly launched by Union
Ramesh Pokhriyal Minister Smriti Zubin Irani, Minister for Women &
& (MoWCD) Child Development (MoWCD), Ministry of Textiles,
Smriti Zubin Irani and Union Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’,
Ministry of Education (MoE) along with Toycathon
Portal (https://toycathon.mic.gov.in.)during the
launch event in New Delhi.
Global Pravasi Rishta Ministry of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) launched Global
External Affairs Pravasi Rishta Portal & Mobile application to
(MEA) connect with 3.12 Crore Indian Diaspora across the
world. Minister of State for External Affairs, V.

Muraleedharan launched the portal. The portal web
interface will be used by Indian Missions whereas
the mobile app will be used by diaspora & Indian
nationals.
https://www.ekhadiindia.com/ Khadi and Village The Khadi and Village Industries Commission
Industries (KVIC) under the Ministry of Micro, Small and
Commission Medium Enterprises(MSME), Government of India
(KVIC) unveiled the e-commerce portal –
https://www.ekhadiindia.com/. This is a first of its
kind government online shopping platform to
enhance rural economy and promote self reliance.
KVIO Ventures Private Limited, a special purpose
company has been incorporated under public
private partnership with KVIC to sell the products
of Khadi and village Industries Institutions under
the trademark “Khadi India”.
e-office Chief of Air Staff, On 31st December 2020, the Chief of Air Staff, Air
Air Chief Marshal Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria launched the “e-
RKS Bhadauria office”, Indian Air Force(IAF) E-governance portal
over a virtual ceremony at the Air Headquarters,
Vayu Bhavan, New Delhi. The portal is developed
and implemented by the National Informatics
Centre (NIC). This indigenously designed portal is
customized to meet the filing system requirements
of IAF.
Freight Business Development Piyush On January 5, 2021, Union Minister Piyush
Portal Vedprakash Goyal Vedprakash Goyal, Ministry of Railways, launched
the first-of-its-kind Indian Railways dedicated
Freight portal “Freight Business Development
Portal” on the lines of ease of doing business. This
portal enables the customers to know the status of
their freight requirement and will replace physical
processes by minimizing human to human
interaction The portal can be accessed at
https://indianrailways.gov.in/#
and https://www.fois.indianrail.gov.in/RailSAHAY.
DigiNest Captain On December 30, 2020, Captain Amarinder Singh,
Amarinder Singh Chief Minister of Punjab virtually launched a mobile
application ‘DigiNest’ to have digital access to the
directory of state govt, people could reach out the
officers easily by calling or sending Email. He also
launched an online Punjab Advertisement Release
Order System to bring transparency and efficiency
in the entire process of releasing State
Government’s advertisements and payments to
media houses.
mPension Manipur App N Biren Singh On January 4, 2021 N Biren Singh, Chief Minister of
Manipur launched mPension Manipur App, that
enables pensioners to update their photograph by

themselves (via online through this App) without
the need to visit the Treasury Offices.
NCD PHC Dell Technologies, Dell Technologies, Ministry of Health and Family
MoHFW & Tata Welfare (MoHFW) & Tata Trusts have collaborated
Trusts to develop a mobile application ‘NCD PHC’ for the
management of Non-Communicable Diseases
(NCDs) at Government Primary Health Centres
(PHCs) across India. The app is based on Dell’s
DigiLifeCare.Target of Dell Technologies is
Transforming lives of 1 billion lives with
technology globally by 2030. The app was formally
launched by Union Minister of Health and Family
Welfare, Dr Harsh Vardhan on Universal Health
Coverage Day (On December 12, 2020).
Satark Nagrik Manoj Sinha Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Jammu & Kashmir
(J&K), Manoj Sinha launched ‘Satark Nagrik’ Mobile
app & Departmental Vigilance Officers (DVO) Portal
of J&K Anti-Corruption Bureau at the Civil
Secretariat, Jammu. Objective of ‘Satark Nagrik’
Mobile app is to facilitate flow of information about
corruption & enable citizens of J&K to submit
grievances with ease and mobility.
(COSFOM) – Awangbow Awangbow Newbai, Minister for Forest,
www.cosfom.mn.gov.in Newbai Environment & Climate Change, Manipur launched
a website for Community-based Sustainable Forest
Management for Water Resource Conservation in
Manipur (COSFOM) – www.cosfom.mn.gov.in at
Sanjenthong, Manipur. COSFOM is a component
under Indo-German Programme ‘Climate Change
Adaption in the Himalaya’. Manipur Forest
Department is the implementing agency and it is
managed by Community Forestry and Water
Conservation Society-Manipur (CF & WCS).
InstaFX ICICI Bank ICICI Bank launched a mobile app, ‘InstaFX’ that
allows authorised money changers, who are the
partners of the bank to help customers of any bank
to obtain ‘ICICI Bank Forex Prepaid Card’ quickly.
Through this app, the forex partners can complete
the Know Your Customer(KYC) verification &
validation of customers digitally and on a real-time
basis. ICICI Bank becomes the 1st bank in India to
offer such facility to money changer.
National Innovation Portal(NIP) Developed by NIF Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Science and
Technology, Earth Sciences and Health and Family
Welfare dedicated the National Innovation
Portal(NIP) to the Nation at an event in New Delhi.
The portal was developed by the National
Innovation Foundation(NIF) – India, an
autonomous body of the Department of Science and
Technology(DST), Government of India. The

innovation portal can be easily accessed by the
citizens to know more about the technologies
which are available in the database.
Regulatory Compliance Portal DPIIT Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal
Trade (DPIIT) has launched a Regulatory
Compliance Portal on January 1, 2021 that will act
as a bridge between citizens, industries and the
Government. It is a first of its kind online repository
of all central and state-level compliances. It should
be noted that DPIIT is the nodal department for
reducing compliance burden among citizens and
businesses. All departments and ministries of
Central Government, States, and Union Territories
(UTs) will examine their relevant rules and
regulations and then implement a simplified Action
Plan for all processes.
Aero India 2021 Rajnath Singh Defence Minister Rajnath Singh launched the
mobile application – Aero India 2021 during the
Apex Committee Meeting in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
The app Aero India 2021 was developed by
EventEdge. This event application will provide an
interactive interface to the issues related to the
13th edition of Aero India 2021, a 3-day business
event which will be conducted from 3rd to 5th
February 2021 in Air Force Station, Yelahanka,
Bengaluru, Karnataka.The theme of the Aero India
Exhibition 2021 is “Runway to a Billion
Opportunities”. Aero India Exhibition 2021 is the
world’s first Hybrid Aerospace and Defence
Exhibition where the business element of the event
will be organised as both physical and virtual.
Krishi Sakha App Bharti AXA Bharti AXA General Insurance headquartered at
General Insurance Mumbai, Maharashtra launched Krishi Sakha App,
a one-stop-shop for Indian farmers that offers
them relevant information to cater their daily
farming needs. It also provides guidance to farmers
to adopt best farming practices and enhance their
productivity. The farmers through this app will also
have access to the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima
Yojana (PMFBY) portal for crop insurance related
information.
Union Budget Mobile App Nirmala On 23rd January 2021, Finance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman Sitharaman launched the “Union Budget Mobile
App” which will provide access to Union Budget
Information to all the stakeholders. For the first
time in History the Budget will be delivered in
paperless form. The app was developed by the
National Informatics Centre (NIC) under the
guidance of the Department of Economic Affairs
(DEA). The mobile app provides complete access to

14 Union Budget documents including the Annual
Financial Statement(Budget) Demand for Grants
(DG), Finance Bill etc.
Udyam Sarathi Yogi Adityanath On occasion of the 71st Foundation Day of Uttar
Pradesh (UP) or Uttar Pradesh Diwas (recognized
as state on January 24, 1950), Chief Minister Yogi
Adityanath launched ‘Udyam Sarathi’ an mobile
app for the Youths of UP to explore self-
employment opportunities. It has been developed
under the One District One Product (ODOP) Scheme
of Uttar Pradesh as per Government’s vision of
‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas and Sabka Vishwas’.
‘Abhyudaya’ and UP Garav Samman’ are other
initiatives launched by UP CM during on occasion of
71st Foundation Day of UP.
GA Questions Asked in Exams

• GA Questions asked in SBI PO Mains 2021 – Jan 29
• SBI Clerk Mains 2020
• IBPS RRB Officer Scale II GBO Exam 2020
• RBI Assistant Mains 2020
• GA Questions Asked in IBPS Clerk Mains Exam 2020 – 90% Questions Covered by AC
• GA Questions asked in SBI PO 2019 Main Exam
• GA Questions asked in SBI Clerk Main Exam 2019
• GA Questions asked in IBPS PO Main Exam 2019
• GA Questions asked in RBI Grade B Prelims Exam 2019
• GA Questions asked in IBPS RRB Clerk Mains Exam 2019
• GA Questions asked in IBPS RRB PO Mains Exam 2019
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Current Affairs Pocket PDF – January 2021

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Cabinet approvals on January 20, 2021

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Cabinet approved Minimum Support Price of Copra for 2021 season

STATEWISE NATIONAL NEWS

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Delhi launches first-of-its-kind Fellowship scheme for Artists

Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani announced ‘Mukhyamantri Bagayat Vikas Mission’

Jammu & Kashmir

Karnataka CM launches ‘Avolokana Software’ Transparent e-governance tool

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Karnataka Govt Selects Beneficiaries of Old Age Pensioners by Navodaya App

Wipro is Set to Act as Knowledge Partner of Madhya Pradesh Government

Maharashtra CM Launches Agriculture Pump Power Connection Policy 2020

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Punjab Cabinet approves One-Time Settlement Scheme for Traders

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LAUNCHES & INAUGURATION

Narendra Singh Tomar Inaugurated Virtual Agri India Hackathon 2020

India launches 40th Indian Scientific Expedition

PM Narendra Modi Virtually Inaugurated National Metrology Conclave 2021

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PM virtually inaugurates Kochi-Mangaluru Natural Gas Pipeline

Harsh Vardhan inaugurates CEPI Centralized Network Lab at DBT-THSTI Faridabad

West Bengal CM Inaugurated 26th Kolkata International Film Festival 2021

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PM Modi launches 8 Trains to Statue of Unity, Kevadiya to Boost Connectivity

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India Africa Trade Council 2021 inaugurated in Chennai, India

‘Wahrew Bridge’ – India’s Longest Steel Arch Bridge Inaugurated at Meghalaya

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24th National Youth Festival 2021 held Virtually

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Bihar CM Nitish Kumar Inaugurates State’s 1st Bird Festival ‘Kalrav’

51st International Film Festival of India 2021 held in Goa

LS Speaker Om Birla Inaugurates Bharat Parv-2021 Virtual National Festival

OTHER NATIONAL NEWS

Area Around Boundary of Mathikettan Shola National Park as Eco-Sensitive Zone

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Government Implementing Rs 320 cr project for 5 Ports to Enable Digital Ecosystem

Karnataka’s Hubballi railway station to get World Longest Railway Platform

Patna Meteorological Observatory conferred ‘Centennial Observing Station Status’ by World

Indigenously Designed ballastless tracks to be used for High-Speed RRTS trains

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National Board of Wildlife Approved Advisory for Human-Wildlife Conflict Management

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Overview of Significant Milestones achieved by MoES in 2020

Govt Plans to Launch Seaplane Services with Airline Operators

Flipkart, NITI Aayog Partnered to launch revamped Women Entrepreneurship Platform

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India becomes 2nd Largest Manufacturer of PPE Kits & Suits