January- NEWS S.NO APPOINTMENTS Page No: 1 Sudeep Lakhtakia appointed as new DG of National Security Guard 01 2 Anandiben Patel appointed as Governor Madhya Pradesh 02 3 JS Rajput nominated as India’s representative to Executive Board of UNESCO 03 AWARDS 4 Asha Bhosle selected for fifth Yash Chopra Memorial Award 04 5 2018 Padma Awards 05 6 Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K Palanichamy receives UNESCO Award 11 7 President felicitates 112 first ladies 12 8 President presents 2016 Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards 13 9 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards 14 Persons-in-news 10 India’s Green Revolution pioneer Dr Gurcharan Singh Kalkat passes away 15 11 Om Prakash Rawat appointed New Chief Election Commissioner 16 12 Anandiben Patel appointed as Governor Madhya Pradesh 17 13 Indu Malhotra: First woman lawyer to be directly promoted as SC judge 18 14 Legendary astronaut, moonwalker John Young passes away 19 15 Former RAW Chief Rajinder Khanna Appointed Deputy National Security Advisor 20 National -News 16 Government launches GeM 3.0 21 17 Thar Link Express receives extension for three more years 22 18 India 6th wealthiest country: New World Wealth Report 23 19 Hicky’s Bengal Gazette: 238th anniversary of India’s first newspaper celebrated 24 20 President Ram Nath Kovind pitches for simultaneous elections 25 21 MHA to set up Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre in New Delhi 26 22 PM Narendra Modi to visit to Palestine, UAE, Oman in February 2018 27 23 India, Lao PDR sign civil aviation cooperation agreement 28 24 President Ram Nath Kovind launches Pulse Polio programme for 2018 29 25 India, Cambodia ink 4 pacts 30 26 India-Japan Smart Grid Pilot Project inaugurated in Panipat 31 27 Government relaxes norms of Atal Pension Yojana to expand coverage 32 28 India to host informal WTO Ministerial gathering in March 2018 33 29 Government launches Rapid Reporting System for the Scheme for Adolescent Girls 34 30 Ministry of Road Transport & Highways inks MoU with IL&FS for construction of 35 Zojila tunnel January- NEWS 31 Government to increase number of ‘AMRIT’ pharmacy stores 4 times 36 32 Government announces 4 new schemes to promote young scientists 37 33 UDAN Phase-II: 325 routes awarded; 40% for North East, hills 38 34 MIS portal for Anganwadi Services Training Programme launched 39 35 India inks $120 million loan agreement with World Bank to fund improved water 40 supply in Uttarakhand 36 First NIIF investment: To set up $3-billion platform with DP World 41 37 Government launches Protocol for Star Rating of Garbage-Free Cities 42 38 Government launches National CSR Data Portal & Corporate Data Portal 43 39 MeitY launches Cyber Surakshit Bharat initiative 44 40 Government announces 9 new Smart Cities 45 41 Website Accessibility Project launched to make 100 websites accessible to persons 46 with disabilities 42 India joins Australia Group export control regime 47 43 India’s First Automatic Early Warning Dissemination System to come up in Odisha 48 44 NITI Aayog launches first course under GIAN Program on Sustainable Urban 49 Planning 45 Government ends Haj subsidy 50 46 Khap Panchayats can’t interfere in marriages of adults: Supreme Court 51 47 International Workshop on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure held in New Delhi 52 48 3rd Raisina Dialogue held in New Delhi 53 49 India, Israel sign 9 agreements in space, defence, cybersecurity 54 50 India contributes $50,000 to UN Youth Envoy’s office 55 51 Delhi is richest state, Jain wealthiest community: NFHS-4 wealth index 56 52 EC constitutes Umesh Sinha Committee for considering social media expansion 57 53 Ministry of Petroleum launches Saksham 2018 Campaign 58 54 January 12: National Youth Day 59 55 4th International Dharma-Dhamma Conference held in Nalanda 60 56 National Youth Festival held in New Delhi 61 57 Committee of Governors submits report to President 62 58 UIDAI introduces 2-tier security to Aadhaar to address privacy concerns 63 59 Cabinet approves fixed term for chairperson and members of National Trust 64 60 Cabinet approves amendments to FDI Policy 65 61 First PIO Parliamentary Conference held in New Delhi 66 62 National anthem not mandatory in cinema halls: SC 67 January- NEWS 63 CCEA approves continuation of Members of Parliament Local Area Development 68 Scheme 64 Government to launch new scheme for free treatment of Hepatitis C 69 65 January 9: Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 70 66 Government to launch e-Sansad and e-Vidhan in Parliament and State 71 67 CBDT relaxes norms for MAT on firms facing insolvency 72 68 HRD Ministry releases All India Higher Education Survey 73 69 26th World Book Fair held in New Delhi with focus on environment 74 70 Income Tax Department launches on-line chat service 75 71 Atal Pension Yojana reaches subscriber base of 80 lakh 76 72 Health Ministry and Tata Memorial Centre launch first digital Online Oncology 77 Tutorial 73 Government launches 7.75% Savings (Taxable) Bonds 2018 78 74 Cabinet approves Indo-Myanmar agreement on land border crossing 79 75 CCEA approves extension of norms for mandatory packaging in Jute Materials 80 76 MHA exempts cruise tourists with e-visa from biometric enrolment till 2020 81 77 Cabinet approves establishment of new AIIMS at Bilaspur 82 78 Fact Sheet: 2G Scam Verdict 83 79 India and Pakistan exchange list of nuclear sites for 27th consecutive year 84 STATE 80 Himachal Pradesh launches Zero Budget Natural Farming project to promote 85 organic farming 81 Punjab Government launches Mahatma Gandhi Sarbat Vikas Yojana 86 82 Kolkata becomes first Indian metro to get floating market 87 83 Maharashtra becomes first state to unveil Public Cloud Policy 88 84 PM inaugurates Rajasthan’s first oil refinery at Barmer 89 85 Kerala Government launches Kerala Accelerator Program for early-stage startups 89 86 Karnataka receives approval for purchase of electric vehicles under FAME India 90 scheme 87 Arunachal Pradesh declared open defecation-free State 91 INTERNATIONAL 88 International Current Affairs Jan 4th Week 2018 92 89 International Current Affairs Jan 3rd Week 2018 93 90 WEF launches Global Centre for Cybersecurity 95 91 Xian smog tower: China builds world’s biggest air purifier 96 January- NEWS 92 10th Global Forum for Food & Agriculture held Berlin 97 93 International Current Affairs Jan 2nd Week 2018 98 94 US puts Pakistan on Special Watch List for severe violations of religious freedom 103 95 Saudi Arabia, UAE introduce VAT for first time 104 ECONOMY-BANKING 96 India becomes third largest producer of crude steel 105 97 Indian economy to grow at 7.4% in 2018: IMFIMF 106 98 India’s richest 1% corner 73% of wealth generation: Oxfam Survey 107 99 India ranked 81st on Global Index of Talent Competitiveness 108 100 ONGC to acquire Government’s entire 51.11% stake in HPCL 109 101 Mauritius was largest source of FDI in India in 2016-2017: RBI 110 102 IRFC’s green bonds: India INX lists 1st debt security at IFSC 111 103 India’s first-ever FDI in fertiliser sector: Yara acquires Tata Chemicals urea plant 112 104 World Bank Report projects 7.3% growth for India in 2018 113 105 Forex Reserves scale record high of $409.366 billion in December 2017 114 SCIENCE-TECHNOLOGY 106 NASA interested in India-made thermal spray coating technology 115 107 Rotavac: First India-designed vaccine to pass WHO test 116 108 China launches two BeiDou-3 navigation satellites into space 117 109 JioCoin: Reliance Jio planning to launch its own cryptocurrency 118 110 SpaceX launches secretive Zuma mission 119 111 NASA to launch two missions — GOLD and ICON to explore the ionosphere 120 ENVIRONMENT 112 India Ranked 177 in Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 121 113 Elcysma Ziroensis: New moth species discovered in Arunachal Pradesh 122 114 Environment Ministry refuses captive breeding of Chiru 123 115 Flamingo festival held at Pulicat lake in Andhra Pradesh 124 1 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 116 Scientists discover four new balsam species in Arunachal Pradesh 125 117 Schistura Larketensis: New species of blind fish discovered inside Meghalaya cave 126 BILLS-ACTS 118 Government notifies the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2017 127 119 Parliament passes Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code Amendment Bill, 2017 128 120 Parliament passes NABARD (Amendment) Bill, 2017 129 January- NEWS DEFENCE 121 VINBAX: Indian, Vietnam hold first military exercise in Jabalpur 130 122 IAF Corporal Jyoti Prakash Nirala posthumously conferred with Ashok Chakra 131 123 OPV Vijaya: Indian Coast Guard patrol vessel launched 132 124 DAC clears procurements of assault rifles and carbines 133 125 Vajra Prahar: Indo-US joint military exercise to be held in Seattle 134 126 Rizhao: China commissions new missile frigate 134 127 Indian Navy decommissions INS Nirbhik and INS Nirghat warships 135 128 Defence Ministry clears Rs.2420 Crore worth contracts for Navy, Army 136 129 China develops underwater surveillance networks in Indian Ocean, South China Sea 137 130 Defence Ministry gives final nod for Barak missiles, PGM bombs 138 SPORTS 131 PM Narendra Modi launches Khelo India School Games 139 132 Australian Open 2018: Roger Federer wins Men’s Singles title 140 133 Vidarbha wins 2017 Ranji Trophy tournament 141 competitiveindia.com January-2018 APPOINTMENTS Sudeep Lakhtakia appointed as new DG of National By sandy On Friday, January 19th, 2018 Security Guard It has special forces mandate and its core operational capability is provided by Special Action Group (SAG) drawn from Indian Army. NSG personnel are often referred as Black Cats because of black dress and black cat insignia worn on their uniform. The NSG is trained to conduct counter terrorist task to including counter hijacking tasks on land, sea, and air, Bomb disposal and Post Blast Senior IPS officer Sudeep Lakhtakia was appointed as Investigation (PBI) and Hostage Rescue new Director General of National Security Guard missions.