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CURRENT AFFAIRS JANUARY 2020 1) 6 LIGHT HOUSE PROJECTS Prime Minister Shri laid the foundation stone of Light House projects (LHPs) under Global Housing Technology Challenge (GHTC)- at six sites across six States. the project in Indore will not have brick and mortar walls, instead they will use the prefabricated Sandwich Panel system. The light houses in Rajkot will be built using french technology and have monolithic concrete construction technology using tunnel and the house will be more capable of withstanding disasters. In Chennai, US and Finland technologies will use the Precast Concrete system, which will construct the house faster and cheaper. In Ranchi houses will be built using Germany's 3D construction system. Each room will be made separately and then the entire structure will be added in the same way as Lego Blocks toys. He said Houses are being built in Agartala with the steel frames using New Zealand's technology which can withstand major earthquake risk. 's technology is being used in Lucknow, which will not require plaster and paint and will use the entire walls already prepared to build houses faster. 2)INDIAN NAVY EXERCISES OPERATIONAL DEPLOYMENTS

1. Operation Sankalp. Amidst the increasing US – tensions in the Gulf region, since June 2019, IN has been undertaking Maritime Security Operation code-named Op SANKALP in the Gulf Region to ensure safe passage of Indian Flag Merchant Vessels (IFMVs) transiting through the Strait of Hormuz. Since execution, IN has deployed 16 warships and escorted approximately 161 Lakh Tonnes of cargo onboard 156 IFMVs, thereby provided a sense of reassurance to our seafarers, and protecting Indian owned hulls and the trade embarked on them.

2. UN World Food Programme (UN WFP) Escort Mission. IN has been contributing to UN WFP efforts by providing security to vessels carrying food to East African nations. INS Airavat escorted UN WFP chartered ship MV Juist carrying relief food cargo from Berbera to Mogadishu in Somalia from 05-14 June 2020, under challenging sea/ weather conditions. This was the third WFP escort mission undertaken by the IN in last three years.

3. Operation Samudra Setu. IN ships Jalashwa, Shardul, Airavat and Magar were deployed from May – July 2020 for Operation Samudra Setu to undertake repatriation of stranded Indian Nationals in the wake of COVID- 19, from Iran, and . IN ships deployed for Op Samudra Setu evacuated 3992 Indian Nationals including 3551 males, 387 females and 54 children.

4. Mission SAGAR and SAGAR-II. INS Kesari was deployed to the Southern IOR Island nations as part of ‗Mission SAGAR‘ for rendering COVID-19 related assistance from May-June2020.During deployment, the ship provided medicine stores &medical kits to Maldives, , Madagascar, Comoros and . IN Medical Teams embarked onboard the ships also provided medical assistance to Mauritius and Comoros. As part of the follow up humanitarian outreach mission by , Mission SAGAR II, INS Airavat was deployed to deliver 270 MT of humanitarian aid stores to Djibouti, Massawa (Eritrea), Port Sudan and Mombasa, (for South Sudan) from October-November 2020.

EXERCISES WITH FOREIGN NAVIES

5. Naseem-Al-Bahr 2020. IN and Royal Navy of (RNO) bilateral exercise Naseem-Al-Bahr was conducted at/ off Goa from January 07-10 October 2020. RNO ships Al Rasikh and Al Khassab along with IN ships Beas and Subhadra participated in the exercise.

6. INDRA NAVY 2020. IN and Russian Federation Navy (RuFN) bilateral exercise Indra Navy was conducted in Bay of Bengal from 04-05 September 2020. RuFN ships Admiral Tributs, Admiral Vinogrodov, Boris Butoma and IN ships Ranvijay, Kiltan, Shakti participated in the exercise.

7. JIMEX 2020. IN and JMSDF (Japan Maritime Self Defence Force) bilateral exercise JIMEX 2020 was conducted in the Arabian Sea from 26-28 September 2020. JMSDF ships Kaga and Ikazuchi; IN ships Chennai, Tarkash and Deepak, IN aircraft P8I, MIG 29K and integral helicopters of both navies participated in the biennial exercise.

8. BONGO SAGAR 2020. IN and Navy (BN) bilateral exercise Bongosagar 2020 was conducted in North Bay of Bengal from 03-04 October 2020. BN ships Prottoy and Abu Bakr along with Maritime Patrol Aircraft and IN ships Khukri and Kiltan along with Dornier aircaft and integral helicopter participated in the exercise.

9. SLINEX 2020. IN and Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) bilateral exercise SLINEX 2020 was conducted in the Bay of Bengal from 19-21 October 2020. SLN ships Sayura and Gajabahu and IN ships Kiltan and Kamorta along with Dornier aircraft and integral helicopters participated in the exercise. Maiden landing of Advanced Landing Helicopter (ALH) was undertaken onboard SLN Ship Gajabahu during the exercise, to showcase IN’s indigenous capability.

10. MALABAR 2020. Multi-lateral exercise between IN and US Navy (USN), Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) ships and Royal Australian Navy (RAN) was conducted in the IOR from 03-06 and 17 November 2020.

11. SITMEX 2020. Multi-lateral exercise between IN, Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) and Royal Thailand Navy (RTN) was conducted the Eastern IOR from 21-22 November 2020.

12. SIMBEX 2020. IN and Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) bilateral exercise SIMBEX 2020 was conducted in Eastern IOR from 23-25 Nov 2020.

13. PASSEX. The Indian Navy undertakes Passage Exercise (PASSEX) with friendly foreign navy units on opportune occasions to enhance inter-operability and imbibe best practices. Following PASSEXs were undertaken in 2020

3)AGRICULTURE MEASURES A)INCREASE IN PROCUREMENT PRICES MSP payment to farmers for paddy has increased by 2.4 times during the last five years in comparison to the period from 2009-10 to 2013-14. MSP payment to farmers for wheat has increased by 1.77 MSP payment to farmers for pulses has increased by 75 times MSP payment to farmers for oilseeds and copra has increased by 10 times

B) Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) was introduced by the central government in February 2019 under which Rs. 6,000 per year is transferred to the beneficiary farmer‘s account per year in three instalments.Since the inception of the Scheme, more than 1,10,000 crore rupees have been released so far and 10.59 crore farmer families have been benefitted.

C) Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) has completed 4 years of its implementation covering over 23 crore farmer applications and benefitting over 7.2 Crore applicants.

D) A new Soil Health Card Scheme was introduced in the year 2014-15 to optimize usage of nutrients.Soil health cards have been issued free of cost to 10.74 crore farmers in first cycle, i.e., 2015-16 to 2016-17 and 11.75 crore farmers in second cycle i.e. 2017-18 to 2018-19 under a nationwide programme.

E) Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana was initiated in 2015-16 to promote organic farming in the country. 30,934 clusters benefitted. An area of 6.19 lakh ha has been covered and 15.47 lakh farmers have been benefitted. 3.5 lakh farmers are registered on to the dedicated web portal- www.Jaivikkheti.in to market their produce.

F) Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) was launched on 9th August 2020. The aim of the fund is to provide medium to long term debt financing for investment in viable projects for post-harvest management Infrastructure and community farming assets through interest subvention and financial support. The scheme shall be in effect for 10 years i.e. from FY 2020 to FY 2029

G) NBHM HONEY AND BEE MISSION has been launched in 2020 as part of the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. Rs.500 crore for the period 2020-2021 to 2022-2023 has been allocated for the sector. Projects worth Rs. 100 crore is targeted for December 2020.

H) Per Drop more Crops component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY - PDMC) aims to increase water use efficiency at the farm level through precision micro irrigation technologies i.e. drip and sprinkler irrigation systems. Additional 50.1 lakh hectare area has been covered under micro irrigation from the year 2015-16 till date in the country. An amount of Rs. 13309 crores as central assistance has been provided to states under PMKSY since 2015-16.

I) A Micro Irrigation Fund of Rs 5,000 crore has been placed with NABARD. The objective of the fund is to facilitate the States in mobilising resources to increase the coverage under micro irrigation through special and innovation projects.

J) Neem Coated Urea introduced since 2015-16 for reduced use of chemicals, improved soil health, overall increase in crop yields and reduction in the use of urea for non- agricultural purposes.

4)PM dedicated the Kochi - Mangaluru Natural Gas Pipeline to the nation. The 450 km long pipeline has been built by GAIL (India) Ltd. It has transportation capacity of 12 Million Metric Standard Cubic Metres per day, and will carry natural gas from the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Regasification Terminal at Kochi (Kerala) to Mangaluru (Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka), while passing through Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod districts. The total cost of the project was about Rs. 3000 crore and its construction created over 12 lakh man-days of employment. Laying of the pipeline was an engineering challenge as the route of the pipeline necessitated it to cross water bodies at more than 100 locations. This was done through a special technique called Horizontal Directional Drilling method.

5)8TH JANUARY The second and final Session of India’s seventh Trade Policy Review (TPR) concluded today, 8thJanuary 2021, at the World Trade Organization in Geneva. The TPR is an important mechanismunder the WTO‘s monitoring function in which member countries‘ trade and related policies are examined by the WTO with an aim to contribute towards improved adherence to WTO rules, while providing constructive feedback to the Member under review.

6) A High Level Committee, headed by the Prime Minister, has been constituted to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in a befitting manner. High Level Committee will decide on the activities for a one year long commemoration, beginning 23rdJanuary 2021. The Members of the Committee include distinguished citizens, historians, authors, experts, family members of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, as well as eminent persons associated with Azad Hind Fauj (INA). The Committee will lend guidance to the commemoration activities in Delhi, Kolkata and other places associated with Netaji and Azad Hind Fauj, both in India as well as overseas

7) Reserve Bank of India recently released the Digital Payments Index to measure the growth in cashless transactions in India. Digital Payments Index comprises of five broad parameters. These parameters have different weight to measure the penetration of digital payments in the country. The parameters of the Digital Payments Index and its penetration are as follows: Payment Enablers: 25% Payment Infrastructure-Demand Side factors: 10% Payment Infrastructure-Supply Side factors: 15% Payment Performance: 45% Consumer Centricity: 5%

8)China has recently deployed underwater drones called Sea Wing Glider in the Indian Ocean region. The Sea Wing Glider Drone is used for Naval surveillance. It can operate for months under the sea.

9) Ministry of Defence recently signed an agreement with the Bharat Electronics Limited to supply ten LYNX U2 GFCS. It is a Naval Gun Fire Control System. It has been designed to track and engage targets amidst sea clutter. It can accurately track air and surface targets.

10) Australian Government recently announced certain changes to its National Anthem “Advance Australia Fair. The second line of the National Anthem has been changed from ‗For we are young and free‘ to ‗For we are one and free.

11) Assam assembly recently passed the Assam Ease of Doing Business (Amendment) Bill, 2020. The bill makes amendments to the Assam ease of doing business act, 2016.

12)KISAN KALYAN MISSION UP-he Kisan Kalyan mission aims to double the farmer income covering all the Assembly constituencies of the state of Uttar Pradesh. This is to be achieved through campaigns that create awareness among farmers

13)The RoDTEP Scheme was launched in 2020 to boost exports of India in International markets.

14) Every year, the World Braille Day is celebrated on January 4 by and several other international organizations.

15) United States recently passed the Malala Yousafzai Act for Pakistani Women. Act requires the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to award at least 50% of scholarship to Pakistani women between 2020 and 2022. It requires the USAID to leverage investments ..

16) Drug Controller General of India recently announced that it has authorised two COVID-19 vaccines for restricted Emergency Use in India. and COVISHIELD. The COVAXIN is the COVID-19 vaccine developed by and ICMR (Indian council of Medical Research). It was the first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine to be developed in the country. The COVISHIELD vaccine was developed by Oxford University and Astra Zeneca, the pharmaceutical company. Apart from COVAXIN and COVSHIELD the following are the other COVID-19 vaccines in India ZyCoV-D Sputnik V NVX-Cov 2373 Biological E Limited Vaccine HGCO19

17) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to deliver an inaugural address at the National Metrology Conclave on January 4, 2021. AT New Delhi. Theme-Metrology for the Inclusive Growth of the Nation. It is held on the 75th foundation day of CSIR, January 4, 2021.

18) More than 1700 migratory birds died in Pong Dam of Himachal Pradesh under mysterious circumstances. Around 1.15 to 1.2 lakh birds migrate to Pong Dam Bird Sanctuary during winters every year. They nest up to four months in the sanctuary. The Pong Dam is also called the Beas dam. It is an artificial embankment Dam constructed across the Beas river in Himachal Pradesh. The Reservoir created by the dam is called Maharana Pratap Sagar and is a renowned Bird Sanctuary. The dam was constructed for hydroelectric power generation and irrigation.

19) is to initiate the project of Sagarmala Seaplane Services on selected routes. The project aims to provide air connectivity to numerous tourist, religious, remote and unexplored locations near water bodies. This is to make the journey easier and simulate tourism on these new locations. Ultimately the project will contribute to boost the GDP of the country in the long run. The locations included under the Sagarmala Seaplane Services are as follows: Andaman and Nicobar Islands Lakshadweep Islands Guwhati riverfront Yamuna riverfront Umrangso reservoir Mumbai as a hub Dwarka Kandla Khindsi dam Erai Dam

20)Delhi Govt to set up Tamil Academy.

21) Government of India recently launched the 40th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica. ce class vessel MV Vasiliy Golovin. By Ministry of Earth Science. The expectation will e take a team of 40 members to Antarctica and return by April 2021. XL Indian Antarctica expedition has been Limited due to existing challenges of covid-19. It will mainly focus on ongoing scientific projects on ocean observations, climate change, electric and magnetic flux measurements, geology, Re supplying of food, environmental monitoring, fuel, and accomplish the return of the winter crew. Indian Reseach Stations at Antartica are Dakshin Gangotri, Bharti, Maitri

22) Supreme Court allowed the Central Vista Project to go ahead. The Central Vista project aims to renovate 86 acres of land in the Lutyen‘s Garden in New Delhi. It includes Landmark structures of Indian government such as Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament, India Gate and North Block.

23) Government of India is to construct the largest floating solar energy project in the world. The project is to be constructed at Omkareshwar Dam on Narmada river. The project will begin its power generation by 2022 to 2023.

24) National Human Rights Commission recently made recommendations to achieve Zero Manual Scavenging in the country.

25) Government of India recently released the Draft Arctic Policy. The policy ensures that the Arctic resources are explored and used sustainable. Under its policy, India will make sure the it abides by rules and regulations of Arctic Council. India became the observer of Arctic Council in 2013

26) Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Shri Kiren Rijiju recently launched the Assam Rifles Public School as a Khelo India Sports School.

27) Prime Minister recently inaugurated the National Atomic Scale at the National Meteorology Conclave. Atomic Time provides the exact speed at which the clock ticks. In technical words, it measures the actual length of a second. Atomic Clocks deviate only one second in up to 100 million years.

28) World Bank recently released the Global Economic Prospects report. According to the report the Indian economy is to contract by 9.6% in 2020-21. The Indian economy is to recover 5.4 percent in 2021-22. The contraction in Indian economy will be mainly due to sharp decline in household spending and private investment. The informal sector that accounts to four fifth of employment in the country has been badly affected.

29) UJALA (Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All) and SLNP (Street Lighting National Programme) completed six years of successful implementation. The two programmes revamped household and public lighting system across the country. Under UJALA, the EESL distributed 6.69 crores of LED bulbs. It has installed more than 1.14 crores of LED street lights. This has helped to save more than 55.33- billion-kilowatt hour of energy per year. The scheme helped to reduce Greenhouse gas emissions by 38.59 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. The scheme distributed 72 lakhs of LED tube lights and 23 lakhs of energy efficient fans at affordable prices. The EESL installed more than 1.1 crores of LED street lights under SLNP. This helped to save 7.67-billion-kilowatt hour of energy per year. The scheme helped to reduce the greenhouse gas emission by 5.29 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. With the help of the scheme the municipalities were able to save 5,210 crores of Rupees in their electricity bills.

30) RDAI is to introduce standard products covering the risk of fire and allied perils. The policy being introduced is to replace the Standard Fire and Special Perils Policy. It has three main components namely the Bharat Griha Raksha, Bharat Laghu Udyam Suraksha and Bharat Sookshma Udyam Suraksha.

31) Government of India recently formed a committee to protect language, land, culture of Ladakh and ensure participation of citizens in the development of Union Territory. The Committee is to be headed by Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy. It will include elected representatives from Ladakh, central government and Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development

32) Reserve Bank of India recently announced operational guidelines to Payment Infrastructure Development Funds. The main aim of the funds is to deploy more digital payment infrastructure across tier-3 to tier-6 centres and in the north eastern states. 33)PM flagged off the first double stack long-haul container train from New Ateli in Haryana to New Kishanganj in Rajasthan. 34) Reserve Bank of India recently formed an advisory council under former deputy governor N S Vishwanathan to advise the director of the central bank on supervisory colleges. Reserve Bank of India Supervisory Colleges were introduced to reinforce supervisory skills among its regulatory bodies. This was done to facilitate unified and focused training inputs to the supervision staffs. 35) United States Capitol Protests, 2021, has induced calls to invoke 25th Constitutional amendment. The 25th Constitutional amendment lays out how a US President or a Vice President can be replaced or succeeded. It includes resolve issues revolving around unfortunate situations like death, resignation to removal of US .President. 36) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to address be National Youth Parliament. The top winners of the National Youth Parliament will speak before the Prime Minister on January 12 valedictory function. 37) Ambassador of India to the United Nations recently announced that India has been asked to chair three important committees of the Security Council. Counter- Terrorism Committee, Libya Sanctions Committee and Taliban Sanctions Committee. 38) Every year the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is celebrated on January 9.Theme for 2021 Theme: Contributing to Atma Nirbhar Bharat. It is celebrated to mark the contribution of overseas Indian community towards the development of India. Youth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas was celebrated by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports on January 8, 2021. 39) The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (abbr. QSD, also known as the Quad or Asian NATO is an informal strategic forum between the United States, Japan, Australia and India that is maintained by semi-regular summits, information exchanges and military drills between member countries. The forum was initiated as a dialogue in 2007 by then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, with the support of Vice President Dick Cheney of the US, Prime Minister John Howard of Australia and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India. The dialogue was paralleled by joint military exercises of an unprecedented scale, titled Exercise Malabar. The diplomatic and military arrangement was widely viewed as a response to increased Chinese[a] economic and military power, and the Chinese government responded to the Quad by issuing formal diplomatic protests to its members. The first iteration of the Quad ceased to exist following the withdrawal of Australia in February 2008. 40) Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) announced that ISRO will be adopting 100 Atal Tinkering Labs across the country to promote education in the field of STEM, Space education and space technology related Innovations for school students. 41) 5 years ago, on 13th January 2016, the Government of India took a historic step towards strengthening risk coverage of crops for farmers of India and approved the flagship crop insurance scheme - the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). The scheme was conceived as a milestone initiative to provide a comprehensive risk solution at the lowest uniform premium across the country for farmers. The Government of India is committed towards protecting the interests of the farmers. Premium cost over and above the farmer share is equally subsidized by States and GoI. However, GoI shares 90% of the premium subsidy for North Eastern States to promote the uptake in the region. The average sum insured per hectare has increased from ₹15,100 during the pre-PMFBY Schemes to ₹40,700 under PMFBY. 42) In the financial year 2020-2021 (upto 12th January 2021), sales worth Rs. 484 Cr were recorded at the 7064 Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Aushadhi Kendras across all districts of the country selling quality generic medicines. This figure which is 60% higher than the corresponding figures of the previous financial year, has led to savings of approx. Rs. 3000 Cr. to the citizens of this country. 43) Tsar Icicle recently collapsed killing four tourists in Russia. The Vilyuchinsky waterfall in winter is called Tsar Icicle. The Vilyuchinsky waterfall lies in Kamchatka peninsula. It is home to more than one hundred and sixty volcanoes. Of these twenty-nine are still active. Many of these volcanoes are capped with glaciers. 44) Kayakalp Awards are presented by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare annually to the health facilities with the highest standards of sanitation and hygiene. AIIMS Bhubaneswar has received the best central government hospital under Category B of the Kayakalp Awards for cleanliness for the third consecutive time. Earlier, it had received the award in 2018 and 2019 becoming the second cleanliest hospital in the country. Category B holds hospitals with less than thousand beds. JIPMER received the prize under the Group A Central facilities category, hospitals having more than thousand beds. Earlier, it had received second place in 2018-19 and third place in 2017-18. 45) External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar recently addressed the United Nations Security Council open debate. During his address, the minister proposed eight-point action plan

46) Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry recently announced that the new Foreign Trade Policy. 2021-26 is to come into effect from April 1, 2021.

47) United States recently designated Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism. What is US list of State Sponsors of Terrorism? The United States lists the countries that repeatedly provide support for acts of international terrorism under the State Sponsors of Terrorism

48) Union environment Minister shri Prakash Javadekar recently released Management Effectiveness Evaluation report of 146 National Parks and wildlife sanctuaries. The report is first of its kind in the country Around 60% of leopard population, 70% of Asiatic lions and 70% of global tiger population are the main reasons for the thriving of the National parks and wild life sanctuaries in the country. The top five national parks and wildlife sanctuaries in India are Jaldapara National Park of West Bengal, Raiganj wildlife sanctuary, Tirthan wildlife sanctuary, Sainj wildlife sanctuary of Himachal Pradesh and the Great Himalayan National Park. The Turtle Wildlife Sanctuary of Uttar Pradesh, Jai Prakash Narayan Bird Sanctuary of Uttar Pradesh were ranked at the bottom most. The other three bottom most wildlife sanctuaries were located in Rajasthan, Haryana and Assam. There are 903 protected areas in the country. These areas cover five percent of the total geographic area. In the northern region, Great Himalayan and Tirthan Wildlife sanctuary scored the highest. In the southern region, Someshwara wildlife sanctuary and Gulf of Mannar marine national park scored the highest. In the eastern region, Jaldapara Wildlife sanctuary and Raiganj wildlife sanctuary were the highly performers. In the western region, Kuno-Palpur wildlife sanctuary and Pachmarhi wildlife sanctuary were the highest performers. In the north-eastern region, Khangchendzonga National Park and Nongkhyllem wildlife sanctuary of Meghalaya were the highest performers

49) The One Planet Summit was held on January 11, 2021. The summit aims to advance the protection of nature. The One Planet summit is an international event that focused on biodiversity to mobilize commitments to protect the ecosystems and make links to human health. The One Planet Summit aims to promote worldwide ecological transformation. The summit will measure environmental and climate protection combined with innovation and economy. THEME FOR 2021- Let‘s act together for nature. The first One Planet Summit was organised two years since the historic Paris Agreement. It then adopted twelve international commitments IN 2017.

50) The second edition of coastal Defence Exercise Sea Vigil-21 is to be conducted between January 12 and January 13, 2021. The Sea Vigil exercise will be undertaken along the 7,516 kilo metres coastline. It involves all the thirteen coastal states, Union Territories and the Exclusive Economic Zone

51) Every year National Youth Day is celebrated on January 12. It is also called the ―Yuva Diwas‖. The National Youth Day is celebrated to create awareness about rights of people in India. It educates people to behave properly in the country. Theme YUVAAH-Utsah Naye Bharat Ka

52) Reserve Bank of India introduced the Legal Entity Identifier system for all payment transactions of fifty crores and above through NEFT (National Electronic Funds Transfer) and RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement

53) Heritage Conservation Committee is set up under the chairmanship of Additional Secretary, Ministry of Urban Affairs under the provisions of Section 23 in Delhi Building Byelaws, 1983 to protect heritage buildings. Only buildings in and around Delhi are governed by these laws. Similar conservation committees are set up at state levels as well. The local authority should consult the Heritage Conservation Committee before granting permission.

54) Geological Survey of India has found promising concentrations of Vanadium in the Tamang and Depo areas of Arunachal Pradesh. According to Geological Survey of India, the Vanadium mineralisation is geologically similar to the ―Stone Coal‖ Vanadium deposits of China.

55) 15th EAS SUMMIT At the summit, important previous declarations of Kuala Lumpur Declaration (2005), Hanoi Declaration (2010), Bali Declation (2011) and Kuala Lumpur Declaration (2015) were reaffirmed through the new Hanoi Declaration of 2020.The Hanoi declaration emphasized on the ASEAN-centred regional architecture. The summit stressed on the need to further enable East Asia Summit as an effective platform. It stressed upon the effective implementation of Manila Plan of Action to advance the Phnom Penh Declaration (2018-2022) which focuses on East Asia Development Initiative.

56)16th January-Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modilaunched the pan India rollout of COVID-19 vaccination drive via video conferencing today. This is the world‘s largest vaccination program covering the entire length and breadth of the country. A total of 3006 session sites across all States and UTs were virtually connected during the launch.

57)PRARAMBH-Startup India is a flagship initiative of the Government of India, intended to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and startups in the country that will drive sustainable economic growth and generate large-scale employment opportunities. The initiative aims to empower startups grow through innovation and design. The initiative not only brought a sharp focus on startups but catalysed the Indian startup ecosystem and accelerated Indian entrepreneurs building innovative solutions for Indian and global needs. Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India will be organising ‗Prarambh‘ - Startup India International Summit - on 15 and 16 January 2021 in a virtual format. As a noun, ‗Prarambh‘ means ‗an auspicious beginning‘. As a verb, it implies ‗to start‘. Prarambh is expected to bring together top policy makers, industry, academia, investors, startups and all stakeholders from across the globe. In addition to deliberating on good practices from best of the ecosystems across the world, the sessions of the Summit are designed to showcase the spread and depth of entrepreneurship based on innovation in India. The idea is to attain attention of global capital for startups in India, mobilize domestic capital, provide opportunities for accessing international markets to our startups and evolve enabling policy provisions.The first day of the Summit has been devoted to host dignitaries and stakeholders from BIMSTEC member States.

58) Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan passed away. Ghulam Mustafa Khan was born in Badayun, Uttar Pradesh. His mother was the daughter of the great Ustad Inayat Hussain Khan and music was the legacy of his family. Inayat Hussain Khan was also the court musician during the reign of king Wajid Ali Shah and also the son-in-law of the pioneer of Gwalior Gharana Haddu Khan.

59) Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), Delhi based DRDO laboratory, handed over Rakshita, a bike-based casualty transport emergency vehicle to Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)

60The first-ever National Road Safety Month was inaugurated here today, to build awareness about road safety and reduce road accidents in India. During the last few years, a road safety week was being organised, but considering the importance of the issue, a month-long programme has been made this year. The inaugural function was launched by Union Minister for Defence Shri Rajnath Singh and Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways & MSME Shri Nitin Gadkari. Minister of State for RTH, Gen (Retd) Dr VK Singh and CEO, Niti AAYOG, Sh. Amitabh Kant were also present

61) A bird festival is to be organised at Mahananda wildlife Sanctuary in West Bengal. The festival is first of its kind. It is to be organised by Darjeeling Wildlife Division. The Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary has been identified as an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area

62) UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently invited PM Modi to attend G7 summit. UK has invited Australia and South Korea as well.

63) Russia recently announced that it is withdrawing from the ―Open Skies Treaty‖. The treaty allows the signatories to carry out unarmed surveillance flights over each other‘s territories. In 2020, the US announced that it is to leave the Open Skies Treaty. Open Skies Treaty The Open Skies Treaty was signed in 1992 after the Disintegration of the Soviet Union. It was first proposed by the former US President Dwight Eisenhower in 1955 to deescalate cold war tensions. The treaty was signed between NATO (Non-Atlantic Treaty Organization) members and the former Warsaw Pact countries. In 2002, more than 35 countries had signed the treaty. This included US and Russia as well. India is not a signatory of the Open Skies Treaty. The Open Skies Treaty aims to build confidence among its signatories. According to the treaty, a member state can spy on any part of the host nation only after receiving its consent. Also, a member state can take aerial images of the host state after providing a notice before 72 hours

64) Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas recently launched SAKSHAM awareness campaign. The campaign was launched to spread awareness about green energy. About SAKSHAM The campaign will spread awareness about clean energy. It is a one-month long people centric fuel conservation campaign.

65) Recently on Army Day (January 15, 2021), the Indian Army displayed its combat drones that are part of the Swarm Technology. Swarm drones are lightweight drones that carry multiple packages to a single destination at a time. In simple words, multiple drones are engaged in a single operation. 66) University Grants Commission (UGC) recently asked the higher education institutes across the country to establish an office for international affairs. About the Office of International Affairs The Office of International Affairs will be an integral part of internationalisation of higher education in India. They will be responsible for academic and research collaborations with foreign

67) Great Green Wall for Sahel and Sahara Initiative recently received 14 billion USD funds at the recent One Planet Summit for Biodiversity. The funding is to be used to restore degraded land, strengthen resilience, create green jobs and protect biodiversity. Among the financiers, the World Bank has committed 5 billion USD, 6.5 billion USD and Government of France committed 14 billion USD.

68).. US President Donald Trump has become the first president of the country to be impeached twice. Impeachment of Donald Trump The House of Representatives of the United States recently voted to charge President Trump with inciting mob attack on US Congress

69) Reserve Bank of India recently released to the financial stability report for December 2020. This is the 22nd issue of financial stability report of the apex bank. It is released twice a year.

The Gross non-performing assets ratio of the scheduled commercial banks is to increase to 13.5% by September 2021. The net NPA and GNPA ratios continue to decline. The GNPA ratio stood at 7.5% in September 2020. On the other hand, the NNPA the ratio stood at 2.1 % in September 2020 and at 3% in March 2020. According to the financial stability report, the GNPA might increase to 13.5% by September 2021 under baseline scenario. Under severe stress scenario, the GNPA ratio might increase to 14.8% by September 2021. According to the the July 2020 financial stability report prediction GNPA was to increase from 8.5 % in March 2020 to 12.5% by March 2021. Also, the July 2020 financial stability report predicted that the GNPA ratio was to increase to 14.7 % under severe stress test scenario. The loans to corporate have grown to multi quarter high of 5.65 % in March 2020 quarter. The financial stability report says that the long-standing trend of private and public sector banks have been reversed. According to the report, the private bank credit has grown rapidly and the public sector bank credit has declined.

70) Madhya Pradesh has taken the lead in undertaking power sector reforms stipulated by the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance. As part of the reforms, the State has started Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of electricity subsisdy to farmers in one district of the state with effect from December, 2020. Thus, the State has successfully implemented one out of the three stipulated reforms in the power sector.

71) NITI Aayog will release the second edition of the India Innovation Index 2020 on 20 January in a virtual event. The release of the second edition of the index—the first was launched in October 2019—demonstrates the Government‘s continued commitment towards transforming the country into an innovation-driven economy.

The India Innovation Index 2020 seeks to rank the states and union territories based on their relative performance of supporting innovation, and to empower them to improve their innovation polices by highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. The ranking methodology is designed in a way that states can draw lessons from the national leaders in innovation. Hopefully, this will lead to a healthy competition among the states and union territories, thereby fostering competitive federalism.

The states and union territories have been divided into 17 ‗Major States‘, 10 ‗North- East and Hill States‘, and 9 ‗City States and Union Territories‘, for effectively comparing their performance. The states and union territories have been ranked on two broad categories: outcome and governance. Overall, the framework of India Innovation Index 2020 consists of 36 indicators, which include hard data (32 indicators) and four composite indicators.

India Innovation Index 2020 builds on the previous year‘s methodology by introducing more metrics and providing a holistic outlook of the Indian innovation ecosystem. The framework has been updated to include globally considered parameters for measuring innovation (such as the percentage of gross domestic product spent on research and development), while also retaining the parameters specific to the Indian economy.

72) Virgin Orbit recently launched its LauncherOne rocket to the orbit. This is the first successful flight of the rocket. Earlier an unsuccessful launch attempt was made in May 2020. LauncherOne is a two-stage orbital launch vehicle. It is an air- launched rocket. It is capable of carrying small satellite payloads up to 300 kilograms.

73) Iran and six other countries have lost their voting rights in the United Nations General Assembly as they had not paid their dues. The other countries that lost their voting rights were Niger, South Sudan, Zimbabwe, Congo Brazzaville, Central African Republic and Libya

74) The top palm oil producers for the first time are looking for opportunities to run an advocacy campaign in Europe. The largest oil producers of the world Indonesia and Malaysia have sent proposals to hire an advocacy firm to run campaign in Europe through the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries

75) Government of India recently announced that the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose is to be celebrated as ―Parakram Diwas‖. Parakram Diwas means Courage Day. Netaji was born on January 23, 1897. The Central Government and the Bengal Government are to begin the year long celebrations of 125th birth anniversary year on January .

76) India and France are to hold Ex-Desert Knight 21 exercise. It is a bilateral air exercise to be held between Indian Air Force and French air and Space Force. The Ex-Desert Knight 21 is to be held in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. Rafale Fighter Jets are to participate in the exercise.

77) Indian Mountaineering Foundation recently approved a three-member team of mountaineers led by Arjun Vajpai for winter climbing expedition to Mount Trishul. In India, the mountaineering expeditions are taken up only during pre-monsoon and post-monsoon period. For the first time, the Indian Mountaineering Foundation has approved the concept of winter mountaineering.

78) Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Chinese President Xi Jing Ping are to participate in the Davos Agenda Summit. The Davos Agenda Summit is organised by the World Economic Forum. The ―Great Reset Initiative‖ of the World Economic Forum is to be launched during the Davos Agenda Summit. The theme of the Davos Agenda Summit, 2021 is ―Stakeholders for a cohesive and sustainable world‖. The four major objectives that are to be discussed during the Davos Agenda Summit, 2021 are as follows: To address the urgent climate and environmental challenges harming the global economy To transform industries into more inclusive business models To Govern technologies driving the fourth industrial revolution To adapt to social, demographic and technological trends reshaping employment, education and entrepreneurship

79)GABBA BRISBANE INDIA WON CRICKET TEST .MAN OF MATCH RISHAB PANT. NO ASIAN COUNTRY WON IN BRISBANE SO FAR.

80)Santha Adayar Cancer Institute passed away. Dr Shantha joined the cancer institute about six decades ago as a resident medical officer, and since then, devoted her life to the field of oncology.Born in 1927 in a family that believed in educating women, she completed her MBBS in 1949 from the Madras Medical College and specialised in Gynaecology and Obstetrics. In 1954, she joined the Adyar Cancer Institute, founded by Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy, one of the first women graduates of medicine in India and a legislator. After completing her PG in medicine, she assumed the role of the resident medical officer in 1955. She was also trained in Toronto and the UK in advanced cancer care in the 1960s. 81) Pvt. Ltd. Pune is now the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by number of doses produced and sold globally (more than 1.5 billion doses) which includes Polio vaccine as well as Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Hib, BCG, r-Hepatitis B, Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccines. It is estimated that about 65% of the children in the world receive at least one vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute. Serum Institute of India was founded in 1966 by Dr. Cyrus Poonawalla with the aim of manufacturing life-saving immuno-biologicals, which were in shortage in the country and imported at high price. It produced COVISHIELD.

82) Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), a statutory authority under Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, has released today the "Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report" for the Quarter ending 30th September, 2020. This Report provides a broad perspective of the Telecom Services in India and presents the key parameters and growth trends of the Telecom Services as well as Cable TV, DTH & Radio Broadcasting services in India for the period covering 1st July, 2020 to 30 th September, 2020 compiled mainly on the basis of information furnished by the Service Providers.

83) Joseph Robinette Biden Jr became 46th President of USA.A democrat he was Vice President from 2009-17 and hailed from Delta Ware. 84)Kamala Devi Harris 49th Vice President.First female Vice President.Indian Origin from mMannargudi of Tamilnadu she represented California. 85)Trump hailed from Florida.

86) World Economic Forum recently released the sixteenth edition of the Global Risks Report, 2021. The report was released based on the Global Risks Perception Survey undertaken by more than 650 members of World Economic Forum. According to the report, the following will be the short-term (0 to 2 years) risks: Infectious diseases Extreme Weather Events Livelihood Diseases The medium term (3 to 5 years) risks are: IT Infrastructure Breakdown Asset Bubble Burst Price Instability The long term (5 to 10 years) risks are: State Collapse Weapons of Mass Destruction Biodiversity losses 87) Hindustan Aeronautics Limited recently test fired the SAAW (Smart Anti Airfield Weapon) from Hawk aircraft successfully. SAAW was developed by Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO). SAAW is the first smart weapon fired from an Indian Hawk. About SAAW SAAW is a long-range precision guided anti- airfield weapon. The weapon is capable of engaging ground targets .. 88) Indian Army is to conduct a large scale joint military exercise Kavach in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal. The exercise is to be held under the aegis of Andaman and Nicobar Command. About the Exercise The Joint Military Exercise Kavach will involve Indian Navy, Indian Army, Indian Air Force and Indian Coast Guard. 89) Union Cabinet recently approved the Ratle Hydropower Project of 850 MW. The cabinet has nodded to an investment of Rs 5,281.94 crores in the project. The project is located in River Chenab. 90)Karnataka recently launched Avalokana software. The software will enable the state government to access data on expenditures and sanctions incurred on 1,800 programmes. Avolokana software It is a transparent e-governance tool that will provide Assembly constituency wise release of government grants and allocations to different government programmes. 91) Italian Police recently recovered a sixteenth century copy of ―Salvator Mundi‖. Salvator Mundi is the world most expensive painting of Leonardo da Vinci. Salvator Mundi Salvator Mundi is a painting by the Italian renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci. The painting depicts Jesus in Renaissance dress making the sign of cross with his right hand. . 92) Gujarat Government is to patent the Dragon Fruit in the name of ―Kamalam‖. Kamalam is also the name of the BJP state party headquarters in Gujarat. Dragon Fruit The Dragon fruit is a cactus variety fruit. It is widely cultivated in South east Asia, United States, Australia, India, Caribbean islands and Mesoamerica. 93)UN Atomic Energy Commission was founded on 24 January 1946 by the very first resolution of the United Nations General Assembly "to deal with the problems raised by the discovery of atomic energy. 94)PRAGATI PLATFORM t is a multi-purpose and multi-modal platform that is aimed at addressing common man‘s grievances, and simultaneously monitoring and reviewing important programmes and projects of the Government of India as well as projects flagged by State Governments. The PRAGATI platform uniquely bundles three latest technologies: Digital data management, video-conferencing and geo-spatial technology. It also offers a unique combination in the direction of cooperative federalism since it brings on one stage the Secretaries of Government of India and the Chief Secretaries of the States. With this, the Prime Minister is able to discuss the issues with the concerned Central and State officials with full information and latest visuals of the ground level situation. It is a three-tier system (PMO, Union Government Secretaries, and Chief Secretaries of the States) Prime Minister will hold a monthly programme where he will interact with the Government of India Secretaries, and Chief Secretaries through Video-conferencing enabled by data and geo-informatics visuals; The programme will be held once in every month on Fourth Wednesday at 3.30 PM-to be known as PRAGATI Day. Issues to be flagged before the PM are picked up from the available database regarding Public Grievances, on-going Programmes and pending Projects. The system will ride on, strengthen and re-engineer the data bases of the CPGRAMS for grievances, Project Monitoring Group (PMG) and the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. PRAGATI provides an interface and platform for all these three aspects. It will take into consideration various correspondences to PM‘s office by the common people or from high dignitaries of States and/or developers of public projects. The issues flagged are uploaded seven days prior to the PRAGATI day (i.e. on third Wednesday of every month). These issues can be viewed by the Union Government Secretaries and Chief Secretaries after entering into the application. User ID and Password for each of the Union Government Secretaries and Chief Secretaries have been created and made available. Union Government Secretaries and Chief Secretaries will be able to see the issues pertaining to their Department /State. Union Government Secretaries and Chief Secretaries have to put their comments and updates about the flagged issues within three days (i.e. by next Monday). One day - Tuesday is available to the PMO team to review the data entered by the Union Government Secretaries and Chief Secretaries. The design is such, that when PM reviews the issue he should have on his screen the issue as well as the latest updates and visuals regarding the same.

95)Tamilnadu cleared the 34 major investment proposals with a total investment of Rs 52,257 crore. Highlights These new Industrial Policy have the potential to create 93,935 jobs.

96) R. S. Sharma has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer of the Ayushman Bharat scheme or the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana which is an insurance scheme by the National Health Authority‘s (NHA)

97) (UAE) has announced its new citizenship policy. The government has planned to offer citizenship to a select group of foreigners. The UAE has thus become the first Gulf Arab nation that formalized the process of giving expatriates a bigger stake in the economy.

98) he government is considering to introduce a new bill ―National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development Bill, 2021‖ in the ongoing budget session of the parliament. This bill will be passed with the objective of setting up a new development finance institution (DFI) so as to finance the infrastructure projects

99)The last Sunday of January is celebrated as the World Leprosy Day every year. The day is observed all across the world. Highlights The day is celebrated to raise knowledge about the leprosy. It also seeks to propagate the need and importance of eradicating the disease

100) Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, will address the 125th anniversary celebration ‗Prabuddha Bharata‘ which is scheduled to be organized on January 31, 2021. It will be organized by the Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati Prabuddha Bharata It is a monthly magazine of the Ramakrishna Order

101) , Narendra Modi, will inaugurate the Chauri Chaura Centenary celebrations on February 4, 2021. The celebrations will be inaugurated by PM virtually and it will be held in Uttar Pradesh.

102) Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has bagged a contract worth Rs 1390 crore for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project

103) The government has announced for the launch of Start-up India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) on January 29, 2021. Start-up India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) The scheme will be launched with a corpus of Rs 945 crore

104) Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the union territory of Ladakh recently signed an agreement for the development of the Union Territory through Science and Technology (S&T) interventions.

105) Department of School Education and Literacy under the Ministry of Education, and the World Bank have signed the Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States Program (STARS) project on January 28, 2021. The project is a financial support agreement. STARS Project STARS project is a centrally sponsored scheme that seeks to strengthen the school education.

106) The fifth joint meeting of the India-Japan Act East Forum was held between India and Japan on January 28, 2021. The meeting was co-chaired by Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and the Ambassador of Japan to India, Suzuki Satoshi.

107) India joined the world and Light Up Qutub Minar as a sign of unity to combat the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NDT).This was done to mark the second annual World NTD Day that will be observed on January 30th. The World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day highlights the global community‘s commitment to end the diseases. The NDT diseases cause immeasurable suffering among the most marginalized communities of the world. On the occasion of World NTD day, 50 landmarks representing the 25 nations of the world will be lit up. They will celebrate how far the world have come together in beating the NTD. The NTDs are a diverse group of communicable diseases that prevail in tropical and subtropical conditions. These diseases affect more than one billion people every year. In combating the disease, the countries invest billions of dollars every year. 108)India and France will launch the Year of Environment. It will be launched by the Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar and his French counterpart Ms. Barbara Pompili in a bid to strengthen the ecological partnership. Highlights Indo- French partnership on Environment, Biodiversity, Climate Change and other allied areas will be an example for the world. 109) Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has released ‗Marine Mega Fauna Stranding Guidelines‘ and ‗National Marine Turtle Action Plan‘ recently to create a conservation paradigm for the marine mega fauna and marine turtles. 110) Gender Park in Kozhikode, Kerala will open from next month. The park will become functional on the occasion of the second edition of the International Conference on Gender Equality (ICGE-II). The ICGE is an initiative by the Gender Park. The second edition of the conference will be inaugurated with the objective of exploring the measures to boost the economic potential of women and transgender persons. It will help them to be equipped as sustainable entrepreneurs. The conference will be organised under the theme: ―Gender in Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Social Business: The Mediating Role of Empowerment‖. 111)India has extended its ―Vaccine Maitri Initiative‖ to Sri-Lanka now. As per the agreement, India dispatched 500000 doses of Covishield vaccines to Sri Lanka as grant assistance. The vaccine maitri initiative has delivered nearly five million doses to seven countries in the neighbourhood, till date 112) Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, will address the Davos Dialogue of World Economic Forum on January 28, 2021 virtually 113)GOVTS NEW POLICY ON PSU PRIVATISATION The policy will present a road map for the presence of government-owned entities in strategic and non-strategic sectors. This policy was the part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat package that was announced by the Finance Minister in May 2020. It was announced as a coherent policy wherein all the sectors would be opened for private sector participation. The government had also announced to limit the presence of PSUs to one to four in strategic sectors. The government wanted to privatize, merge or bring the remaining companies under a holding company. After this policy will come into force, the government will completely exit from the companies in non-strategic sectors. The timing of the privatization of non-strategic sector companies will be decided on a case-by-case basis. Department of Investment and Public Asset Management had classified 18 sectors as strategic sectors. It includes- fertilisers, telecom, power, banking, defense, and insurance. These sectors have been categorized as the mining & exploration, manufacturing & processing and services.

114) The most active volcano of Indonesia, Mt Merapi, recently erupted with a river of lava and searing gas clouds. 115)BUDGET BORROWINGS- The loans that are taken by any public institution and not by the Centre directly are called as the ―Off-Budget Borrowings‖. The public institution borrows on the directions of the central government. These borrowings are used to fulfil the expenditure needs of the government. Under such borrowing norms, Centre use to finance its expenditures while keeping the debt off the books. Thus, the debt is not counted while calculating the fiscal deficit. The liability of the loan is not formally on the Centre and is not included in the national fiscal deficit. Thus, it helps in keeping the fiscal deficit of the country within acceptable limits. 116) Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is in process of examining if India needs a new central bank digital currency (CBDC) and is exploring ways to operationalise the digital currency. Highlights The statement from the RBI has come in the light of gaining popularity of the private digital currencies, virtual currencies and cryptocurrencies

117) India celebrated its 72nd Republic Day. The Republic Day Parade this year was though muted amid the COVID-19 pandemic and no chief guest was invited. But this year, Bangladesh Army contingent marched down the Rajpat TO COMPLETE 50 YEARS OF Liberation.

118)Recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released the ―World Economic Outlook, 2021‖ report. Key Findings of report The report highlights that, India will witness the strongest growth among the main economies. India‘s economy will expand by 11.5 percent in 2021 as opposed to the 8.8 percent growth that was predicted in October 2020.

119) Global Climate Risk Index was recently released by Germanwatch-a NGO based in Bonn, Germany. In the index, India has been ranked at seventh position among the countries that are most effected by climate change in 2019. As per the report, monsoon continued for a month longer than normal in India in the year 2019. In the period of June to September 2019, 110% of the long-period average was recorded. Heavy rain caused the severe flooding in India that resulted into death of 1,800 across14 states. The flood also caused the displacement of 1.8 million people. As per the report, eight tropical cyclones cam in India. Six of them intensified to be very severe. Report further highlights that, ‗Extremely severe‘ cyclone Fani affected 28 million people and killed 90 people in India and Bangladesh. 120) nited Nations World Economic Situation and Prospects report has said that, the world economy is expected to recover slightly by 4.7 percent in the year 2021. The economy had declined by 4.3 percent in 2020 because of COVID-19 pandemic. The report highlights that, this loss in 2020 was more than double the impact of Global Financial Crisis of 2009.. 121) The annual event that celebrates the spirit of India is being organised virtually from January 26, 2021 till January 31, 2021. Bharat Parv is being organised with the overall theme focusing on the Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat. By Ministry of Tourism. 122)Rajasthan adopted new M Sand Policy 123) The climate adaptation summit was hosted by the Netherlands government on January 25, 2021. The summit was held online and it is being called ―CAS Online‖. The summit was built on the advances of the UN Climate Action Summit. The summit also showcased the pioneering solutions of the climate emergency and sustaining momentum through UNFCCC‘s COP26. CAS will help in delivering the action and inspire the change to help the societies build back better. The organizers of the summit also called for major new funding for agricultural research. They also expanded the access to farmer advisory services, risk management and financial service 124)24th January National Girl child Day 125) The Green tax will reduce the pollution level. It will also make the polluter to pay for creating pollution. Revenue collected from the green tax will be kept in a separate account. The amount will be used for tackling the problem of pollution. The states have been asked to set up state-of-art facilities to monitor the emission. Under the Green Tax norms, the transport vehicles older than eight years will be charged with the green tax at the time of renewal of fitness certificate. They will be charged at the rate of 10 to 25% of road tax. While, the Public transport vehicles like city buses will be paying lower Green Tax. However, the vehicles used in farming like tractor and harvestor will be exempted from the tax.

126)Syed Mustaq Ali -T 20 Trophy Tamilnadu under Dinesh Karthick won defeating Baroda at Ahemedabad.This is second victory after 2006-07.Last year Tamilnadu lost the final to Karnataka by 1 run in the final.