Current Affairs Magazine January 2021 FROM THE MD’S DESK .... Content

Dear Aspirants, 1. This is the information BANKING & FINANCE age and knowledge has Page-02 no limit. Gone are the days when people used to depend solely on 2. libraries and books to NATIONAL AFFAIRS gain knowledge. The Page-05 means of procuring knowledge and Anshuman Nayak 3. accessing information B.E. (NIST, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS has undergone a sea Berhampur) change with the advent Page-08 of computers, internet MBA (HR) (UBS, Chandigarh) and smart phones. The 4. internet is the biggest library ever created in human history and seemingly STATE AFFAIRS presents itself as an unlimited and ever growing store Page-11 of knowledge and information. So when my team approached me with the idea of a 5. current affairs magazine of ARIFIN the first question I PEOPLE IN NEWS asked myself was why? What difference can we make? Page-12 There are the news papers, a plethora of similar national level magazines and of course the internet which serve 6. the purpose already. SPORTS The reason I gave my nod was simple. Page-15 (1) With so much of information around, there is the problem of overload; I believe there is still a gap to be bridged when it comes to providing 7. precise, succinct and relevant information. AWARDS (2) It need not be a mere current affairs magazine Page-17 but rather it can be a holistic support system for competitive Exam preparation with question 8. banks, tips and tricks , concepts and practice Miscelaneious exercises, general awareness, traditional GK and more such similar features. Page-22 Hence, the result is this magazine whose editorial team is a blend of youth, energy, knowledge and experience. 9. As explained earlier, I promise my readers two things: Weekly Static Takeaways (1) This is not going to be just another magazine. Page-25 This will be a magazine with a difference. (2) With each new issue, the magazine will get 10. better and better with new and innovative GK&CA QUIZ features,. Page-27 So, watch out, enjoy and benefit!!

1 Current Affairs Magazine January 2021

GST collections for December 2020 highest ever at Rs 1.15 RBI introduces Legal Entity Identifier for NEFT, RTGS lakh crore transactions above Rs 50 crore GST Revenue collection The Reserve Bank of India has introduced Legal recorded to be an all-time high Entity Identifier (LEI) for all payment transactions 174 crore rupees) since the implementation of of value Rs 50 crore and above undertaken by entities Goods and Services Tax in the country. (non-individuals) via Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and National Electronic Funds Transfer The revenue collected is 12 per cent higher than (NEFT). the GST revenues in the corresponding period lasting last financial year. Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) are the This has been due to the combined effect of the Centralised Payment Systems operated by RBI. This economic recovery instruction shall come into effect from April 01, 2021. nation-wide drive against GST evaders. The Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) is a 20-digit number RBI introduces the RBI-Digital Payments Index used to uniquely identify parties to financial Reserve Bank of India has launched a Digital transactions worldwide. Payments Index (DPI) to capture the extent of Reserve Bank has introduced LEI in a phased digitization of digital/electronic payments across the manner for participants in the over the counter (OTC) country. derivative and non-derivative markets as also for This RBI-Digital Payments Index (DPI) has 5 broad large corporate borrowers. parameters that will be used for the measurement of LEI can be obtained from Legal Entity Identifier India deepening and penetration of digital payments. Ltd. (LEIL) which is wholly owned subsidiary of The RBI-DPI comprises of 5 broad parameters that Clearing Corporation of India Ltd (CCIL). enable measurement of deepening and penetration World Bank Projects Indian Economy to Contract By 9.6% of digital payments in the country over different in 2020-21 time periods. World Bank has projected the Indian economy to These parameters are – (i) Payment Enablers (weight contract by 9.6 per cent in the fiscal year 2020-21, in 25%), (ii) Payment Infrastructure – Demand-side its Global Economic Prospects report. World Bank factors (10%), (iii) Payment Infrastructure – Supply- estimates Growth to recover to 5.4 per cent in 2021. side factors (15%), (iv) Payment Performance (45%) Apart from this, the global economy is estimated to and (v) Consumer Centricity (5%). expand by 4 per cent in 2021 by the World Bank. According to the report, global growth is projected The base period for RBI-DPI is March 2018. This to moderate to 3.8 per cent in 2022. means that the DPI score for March 2018 is set at 100. RBI has calculated the DPI for March 2019 and RBI sets up College of Supervisors chaired by N S Viswanathan March 2020 at 153.47 and 207.84 respectively, indicating appreciable growth. RBI-DPI shall be The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set up an published on a semi-annual basis from March 2021 academic advisory council called ‘College of onwards with a lag of 4 months. Supervisors (CoS)’ to further strengthen supervision over regulated entities. ADB & India signs $10 million loan for expanding horticulture in HP The Cos will be headed by former deputy governor N S Viswanathan and will have five other members. Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Govt of India The objective of the council will be to identify areas has signed $10 million project readiness financing where skill building/up-skilling are requir-ed, plan (PRF) for Himachal Pradesh’s horticulture expansion. and develop curricula of all programmes, benchmark This loan agreement will finance piloting activities, along with design and capacity building to expand practices, and develop appropriate teaching horticulture production and farm household income methods, etc. in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh. NSO Projects India’s GDP to contract 7.7% in FY21 It also supports establishment of water user The GDP of India is expected to contract by 7.7 per association (WUAs) on completed irrigation cent in the current fiscal year 2020-21, as per the schemes. first advanced estimates released by the National 2 Current Affairs Magazine January 2021 Statistical Office (NSO), under the Ministry of RBI forms six-member working group to regulate digital Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) lending frauds on January 07, 2021. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set up a working The first advance estimates of GDP of a financial group to study digital lending activities of the year are released before the Union Budget. This data regulated and unregulated players, due to the helps in the budget-making process. growing instances of frauds in digital lending space. IHS Markit: Indian economy to rebound with 8.9% growth The group will suggest steps to regulate digital in FY22 lending including online lending platform and mobile London-based financial services company IHS lending. Markit has projected the Indian economy to rebound The group will evaluate digital lending activities and by 8.9 per cent in the fiscal year 2021-22, beginning assess the penetration and standards of outsourced April 2021. digital lending activities in RBI regulated entities. This upward estimate is based on the backdrop of The six-member panel comprises of following four the significant improvement in domestic economic RBI internal and two external members: activity in the fourth quarter of 2020 by India. Jayant Kumar Dash, Executive Director, RBI ICRA Projects India’s real GDP to expand by 10.1% in FY22 (Chairman) Domestic rating agency ICRA Ratings expects the Ajay Kumar Choudhary, Chief General Manager- real gross domestic product (GDP) of India to grow in-Charge, Department of Supervision (Member) by 10.1% in the financial year 2021-22 (FY2022). P Vasudevan, Chief General Manager, The rating agency ICRA had earlier projected a Department of Payment and Settlement contraction of 7.8% for the ongoing fiscal 2020-21. Systems, RBI (Member) The seemingly-sharp expansion will be led by the Manoranjan Mishra, Chief General Manager, continued normalisation in economic activities as Department of Regulation (Member Secretary) the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines gathers traction Vikram Mehta, Co-founder, Monexo Fintech and the low base. (External Member) RBI slaps Rs 2 crore fine on Deutsche Bank for non- Rahul Sasi, Cyber Security Expert & Founder of compliance CloudSEK (External Member) The Reserve Bank of India has imposed a penalty of IRDAI sets up panel to examine availability of health Rs 2 crore on Deutsche Bank AG for non-compliance insurance products with certain provisions of directions concerning Insurance regulator Insurance Regulatory and interest rate on deposits. Development Authority (IRDAI) has set up a panel The central bank said the statutory inspection of of experts called ‘Health Insurance Advisory Deutsche Bank’s financial position as on March 31, Committee’ to examine the availability of health 2019, and the Risk Assessment Report revealed non- insurance products in the country, considering the compliance with the ‘Reserve Bank of India (Interest need of the Indian society and recommend suitable Rate on Deposits) Directions, 2016’. products and processes. The action was based on the deficiencies in The expert committee will be headed by IRDAI regulatory compliance and was not intended to Chairperson, Subhash Chandra Khuntia and will have a Member (Non-Life) as the vice-chairperson. pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or The committee, which has a term of one year. agreement entered into by the bank with its customers. BofA Securities Projects GDP of India to Contract 6.7% in FY21 India’s retail inflation drops to 4.59 % in December The BofA Securities expects the GDP growth of India for the current financial year 2020-21 to contract by India’s retail inflation fell sharply to 4.59 percent in 6.7 per cent. December, mainly due to declining food prices, government data showed. Apart from this, BofA Securities has projected the Indian economy to grow at 9 per cent in 2021-22 if Retail inflation based on the Consumer Price Index the vaccine distribution is done in the first half of (CPI) was 6.93 per cent in November. the new fiscal year, but it expects GDP growth Food inflation declined to 3.41 per cent in December prospects at just at 6 per cent if the distribution is in 2020, compared to 9.5 per cent in the previous delayed to the second half of 2021-22 (October- month, according to the data released by the March). Ministry of Statistics and Programme UBS Projects GDP of India at -7.5% in 2020-21 Implementation. Swiss brokerage major UBS Investment Bank has The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) factors in retail projected the Indian economy to contract 7.5 per inflation while arriving at its monetary policy. cent in the current fiscal FY21, ending March 2021.

3 Current Affairs Magazine January 2021 UBS further expects the economy to rebound at 11.5 MSMEs will now be able to get ‘ICICI Bank Niyo per cent in FY22. For the FY23, GDP growth is Bharat Payroll Card’ powered by Visa, for their blue- expected to stabilise at 6 per cent. collar workers. Nomura Estimates India’s GDP to contract 6.7% in FY21 With this, MSMEs can upload the salaries of their The Japanese brokerage Nomura has revised workers on the card, which the workers can then upward, the GDP forecast for India in 2020-21 and utilise as per their need seamlessly. now expects it to contract to 6.7 per cent. CARE lowers Centre’s fiscal deficit projection to 7.8% of Nomura has further projected the GDP of India to GDP rise to 13.5 per cent in FY22 (2021-22). CARE Ratings has revised downwards its projection India ranks 4th in ‘Break Out Economies’ of the Centre’s fiscal deficit to 7.8 % of GDP during FY21 against its earlier estimate of 9-9.5 %. Rapidly digitalising India was ranked 4th in “Break Out Economies” in the third edition of the Digital The combined effect of lower revenues & higher Evolution Scorecard developed by Tufts expenditure is likely to push the fiscal deficit to 7.8% University’s Fletcher School in partnership with of GDP. Mastercard. FICCI survey forecasts 8% GDP contraction in FY21 China which leads the countries in the “Break Out The gross domestic product (GDP) of India is Economies” group is more evolved digitally due expected to contract by 8 per cent in 2020-21, mainly to its combination of rapidly growing demand according to the latest Economic Outlook Survey of and innovation. Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Third rank Indonesia, and India, which ranks number Industry (FICCI). four in momentum, have displayed increasing digital Apart from this, FICCI expects the economy to momentum suggesting the potential to rapidly perform much better in the financial year 2021-22 digitalise for both post-COVID economic recovery with a GDP growth rate of 9.6 percent in FY22. and longer-term transformation. IMF revises India’s growth forecast to -8% in FY21 Fitch Ratings Projects GDP of India at -9.4% in FY21 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has pegged The Fitch Ratings expect the gross domestic product the Indian economy to contract by 8 per cent in the (GDP) of India to contract by 9.4 per cent in FY21 current financial year 2020-21, in its latest World (April 2020 to March 2021). Economic Outlook, released on 26 January 2021. Fitch further projects the GDP to expand by 11 per The IMF expects GDP of India to rise to 11.5 per cent in FY22 (April 2021 to March 2022). cent in the next financial year i.e. 2021-22. YES Bank launches wellness themed credit card Apart from this, the IMF projected the global growth Yes Bank has announced its partnership with Aditya to contract at 3.5 per cent in 2020. Birla Wellness Private Limited to launch the ‘YES The global economy is projected to grow by 5.5 per BANK Wellness’ and ‘YES BANK Wellness Plus’ cent in 2021 and 4.2 per cent in 2022 as per the IMF. Credit Cards – aimed at the holistic health, self-care UN projects Indian economy to grow at 7.3% in CY-2021 and wellness of consumers. India’s economic growth is forecast to be 7.3 per Consumers can now enjoy the bouquet of cent in the Calendar Year 2021 by the UN. complementary health benefits by simply registering The Indian economy is estimated to contract by 9.6 on the Aditya Birla Multiply App. per cent in the Calendar year 2020, as per the World Benefits include reward points, diet plans, Economic Situation and Prospects 2021, produced consultations etc by the United Nations Department of Economic and ICICI Bank ties up with fintech Niyo to issue prepaid cards Social Affairs (UNDESA). to MSMEs In addition to this, the global economy is estimated ICICI Bank, a leading Indian private sector bank, to shrink by 4.3 per cent in 2020. The UN has and Niyo, a new age fintech company announced a estimated the Global GDP to recover to 4.7 per cent tie-up to issue prepaid cards to Micro, Small and in 2021. Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) workers.

4 Current Affairs Magazine January 2021

Amazonia-1: developed by National Institute for Minister of State for External Affairs V. Space Research (INPE). It is a Sun synchronous Muraleedharan Global Pravasi (polar) orbiting satellite that will held to monitor the Rishta portal ecosystem of the Amazon rainforest Diaspora across the world. Emirates SkyCargo has executed a cargo charter to The portal will act as a dynamic communication transport Amazonia-1 from Brazil to Chennai. platform between our pravasis, the Ministry of It is due to be sent to space in February 2021. External Affairs and missions abroad. Cabinet approves Multi Modal Logistics Hub at Greater Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) is celebrated on Noida every year to mark the contribution of the Union Cabinet has approved Dept of Promotion of Overseas Indian community in the development of Industry & Internal Trade (DPIIT) proposals for India. construction of various trunk infrastructure PM lays foundation stone of AIIMS at Rajkot in Gujarat components. It includes: Narendra Modi All Krishnapatnam Industrial Area in Andhra India Institute of Medical Sciences Pradesh (estimated cost of Rs. 2,139.44 Rajkot in Gujarat through video conferencing. crore) It will be built at an estimated cost of one thousand Tumakuru Industrial Area in Karnataka (Rs. one hundred 95 crore rupees 1,701.81 crore) completed by mid of 2022. Multi Modal Logistics Hub (MMLH) and 201 acres of land has been allotted near for Multi Modal Transport Hub (MMTH) at the AIIMS project. Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh (Rs. 3,883.80 The state-of-the-art 750-bed hospital crore) a 30-bed AAYUSH block. Govt launches Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia It will have DBT along with MoH&FW, ICMR, and CSIR has PM lays foundation stone of Light House Projects at six launched Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia sites (INSACOG). Narendra Modi Aim: To monitor the genomic variations in SARS- Light House Projects CoV-2 through multi-laboratory network. This vital Technology Challenge India through video research consortium will also assist in developing conferencing. potential vaccines in the future. LHPs showcase It comprises 10 labs. global technologies, materials and processes in the INSACOG: It will have a high level Inter-Ministerial construction sector for the first time in the country. Steering Committee which will provide guidance and LHPs oversight to the consortium specially for policy Madhya Pradesh, Rajkot in Gujarat, Chennai in Tamil matters Nadu, Ranchi in Jharkhand, Agartala in Tripura and India gives $75 million LoC to Cuba for solar parks Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. India has extended a line of credit (LoC) of USD 75 India becomes co-chair of Asia Protected Areas Partnership million (over Rs 500 crore) to Cuba. The line of credit is being provided to finance solar (APAP) parks in Cuba. India has been chosen as the co-chair of the IUCN- The line of credit is as per agreement signed between supported Asia Protected Areas Partnership (APAP) Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) and Banco for a period of three years till November 2023. India Exterior De Cuba for installation of 75 MW will replace South Korea, which held the post for 3 Photovoltaic Solar Parks in the Republic of Cuba. years until November 2020. Banco Exterior De Cuba is a nominated agency of As a co-chair, India would be responsible to assist the Government of Cuba. other Asian countries in managing their protected PM Modi dedicates new Section of Western Dedicated Freight areas. Corridor The APAP is chaired by IUCN (International Union Prime Minister Narendra Modi has dedicated the for Conservation of Nature) Asia and co-chaired by 306-km New Rewari-New Madar section of the an APAP nation member on a rotational basis. Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) to the ISRO to launch first satellite developed entirely by Brazil’s nation. space agency Through video-conferencing, Modi also flagged off ISRO is all set to launch first satellite completely the world’s first double-stack long-haul 1.5-km-long developed in Brazil, named as Amazonia-1 from container train hauled by electric traction from New Satish Dhawan Space Centre Ateli-New Kishangarh. 5 Current Affairs Magazine January 2021 The New Rewari-New Madar section of the WDFC Japan has once again topped the list of being the is situated in Haryana, approximately 79 km in most powerful passport in the world, for the third Mahendragarh and Rewari districts and Rajasthan consecutive year. Japanese citizens can travel to as approximately 227 km in Jaipur, Ajmer, Sikar, Nagaur, many as 191 countries visa-free. Singapore is in and Alwar districts. second place (190) and South Korea ties with India to chair 3 key subsidiary bodies of UN Security Council Germany in third place (189). Syria, Iraq and The Permanent Representative of India to the UN, T Afghanistan are the countries with the worst S Tirumurti has announced that India has been asked passport, with a passport score of 29, 28 and 26 to chair three important committees of the UN respectively. Security Council (UNSC), during its tenure as a non- Suriname’s Indian-origin President to be Republic Day chief permanent member of the powerful 15-nation UN guest body. President of the Republic of Suriname, The three highly significant committees include the Chandrikapersad Santokhi, will be the chief guest at Taliban Sanctions Committee, Counter-Terrorism India’s Republic Day parade on January 26. Committee (CTC) and the Libyan Sanctions India had initially invited Boris Johnson to be the Committee. chief guest but the British PM had to cancel his Among these, India will chair the Counter-Terrorism visit in view of the grim coronavirus situation back Committee of UNSC in 2022, which coincides with home. the 75th anniversary of India’s independence. India began its two-year term at UNSC from January NITI Aayog and Flipkart collaborate to enhance WEP 01, 2021. It is the eighth time that the country has NITI Aayog and Flipkart, have come together to joined UNSC as the non-permanent member. In 2021, launch the revamped Women Entrepreneurship along with India, Norway, Kenya, Ireland and Mexico Platform. joined as non-permanent members in the Council. The Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) is a RS Sharma to head empowered panel for Covid-19 vaccine unified access portal which brings together women The Union government has appointed RS Sharma, from different parts of India to realise their former Trai chief, as the chairperson of an entrepreneurial aspirations. empowered committee for the administration of The idea of the platform was first mooted by Amitabh Covid-19 vaccine. A ten-member team has been Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog who announced the setting- constituted to be headed by Sharma. up of a Women Entrepreneurship Platform in NITI This has come days ahead of the mega vaccination Aayog at the conclusion of the 8th Global drive is to start in India. He has also been included Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) held in Hyderabad as a member of the National Expert Group on Vaccine in 2017, with an overarching theme of ‘Women first, Administration of Covid-19 that was formed in prosperity for all’. August 2020. Centre launches Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 3.0 First time in history, Union Budget 2021 to be paperless The Government of India launched the third phase Union Budget 2021, slated to be presented on of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana on 15 February 1, is going to be completely paperless in January 2021. the wake of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The scheme has been rolled out for the current This will be the first time since independence that financial year, ending March 2021, and will be the budget papers will not be printed. The Centre implemented by the Ministry of Skill Development has received permission for the same from both and Entrepreneurship. houses of parliament. Under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana- The decision has been taken as several people 3.0, skills training would be provided in 600 districts (approximately 100) would be required to stay at the across all states, (except four states including printing press for around a fortnight amid the COVID- Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal) 19 fear. to 8 lakh candidates over next three months with an The budget papers are usually printed at the outlay of Rs 948.90 crore with a focus on Covid- ministry’s in-house printing press in the North Block. related skills. This year’s budget may reportedly witness several The training will be imparted through 729 Pradhan conventions being broken as the traditional ‘Halwa’ Mantri Kaushal Kendras (PMKKs), empanelled non- ceremony, which is a given every year is also not PMKK training centres and more than 200 industrial likely to take place, or a low-key function may be training institutes (ITIs). held with limited gathering in attendance. India Ranks 85 in Henley Passport Index 2021 Further, a five-year PMKVY will be launched in 2021- As per the latest report, India has been ranked 85th 22 with an enhanced target of skilling 1.5 crore youth. among 110 countries, in the Henley Passport Index for PM Modi launches Rs 1,000-crore ‘Startup India Seed Fund’ 2021, with a visa-free score of 58. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched Rs The index presents the original ranking of the 1,000-crore ‘Startup India Seed Fund’ on 16 January world’s most powerful passports, according to the 2021, while addressing the ‘Prarambh: Startup India number of destinations their holders can access International Summit’ 2021. This initiative will help without a prior visa. in setting up new startups and promote their growth.

6 Current Affairs Magazine January 2021 The Startup India Seed Fund would support startups NITI Aayog Releases India Innovation Index 2.0 in need of initial capital to start and grow their NITI Aayog released the second edition of the India business and help budding entrepreneurs pursue Innovation Index on 20 January 2021, along with innovative ideas. the Institute for Competitiveness. The government has been implementing the Fund The innovation index ranking is based on five of Fund Scheme to help startups raise equity capital. enabler parameters (‘Human Capital’, ‘Investment’, Going forward, the government will also help ‘Knowledge Workers’, ‘Business Environment’, startups in raising debt capital. ‘Safety and Legal Environment’), and two Petroleum Ministry launches ‘SAKSHAM’ campaign performance parameters (‘Knowledge Output’ and The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has ‘Knowledge Diffusion’). launched a month-long mass awareness campaign In the ‘Major States’ category, Karnataka occupied titled ‘SAKSHAM’ to spread awareness about the top position, followed by Maharashtra and Tamil green and clean energy. Nadu respectively. The campaign has been organised by the Petroleum In UT and city-states category, Delhi topped Conservation Research Association (PCRA), to followed by Chandigarh. motivate consumers to switch to cleaner fuels and Under the ‘North-Eastern/Hill States’ category, bring in behavioural change to use fossil fuel Himachal Pradesh emerged as the top state. intelligently. India Ranks 7th in Global Climate Risk Index 2021 of SAKSHAM stands for Sanrakshan Kshamata Germanwatch Mahotsav. India has been placed among the top 10 most The pan-India campaign would include various affected countries by climate change, in the Global activities such as cyclotron, farmer workshops, Climate Risk Index 2021 published by the Bonn- seminars, painting competition, CNG vehicle driving based environmental think tank Germanwatch. India contest, etc to spread awareness among masses ranked as the seventh worst-hit country in terms of about the advantages of using clean fuels. climate change in 2019. They include moving towards a gas-based economy, The Global Climate Risk Index 2021 is the 16th edition cleaner use of fossil fuels, greater reliance on of the annual report and has taken into account the domestic sources to drive biofuels and increased data available for 2019 and from 2000 to 2019. use of electric vehicles. Top 3 countries: Mozambique, Zimbabwe and GoI decides to celebrate January 23 as Parakram Diwas Bahamas were the top three most affected countries The birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra in 2019 respectively. Bose, on January 23, as ‘Parakram Diwas’ every year, Top 3 Countries most affected in the past 20 years: the Ministry of Culture announced. Between 2000-2019, Puerto Rico, Myanmar and Haiti The day is celebrated to honour and remember were the countries most affected by the impacts of Netaji’s indomitable spirit and selfless service to the such weather events. nation.

7 Current Affairs Magazine January 2021

Iran names Esmail Qaani as new Commander The 63-year-old president has been in power since Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei named 2016 but has struggled to seize control of vast parts the Deputy Head of the Revolutionary Guards’ of the nation from armed militias. foreign operations arm Esmail Qaani to replace The Central African Republic, a producer of gold Qasem Soleimani as its commander. and diamonds, has a population of 4.7 million. Soleimani was killed in a pre-dawn US strike in Elon Musk overtakes Amazon’s Jeff Bezos to become the Baghdad. world’s richest person Qaani was one of the most decorated commanders According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Tesla of the Guards during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. CEO Elon Musk overtakes Amazon’s Jeff Bezos to WHO designated 2020 as “Year of Nurse and Midwife” become the world’s richest person. Elon Musk had In the honour of 200th birth anniversary of Florence a net worth of more than $188.5 billion. Nightingale, the World Health Organization designated the year 2020 as the “Year of Nurse and A 6% rise in Tesla (TSLA) shares early Thursday Midwife”. lifted the value of its CEO’s stock holdings and This year, WHO is to focus on nursing and midwifery options by $10 billion, taking his net worth to about in order to achieve Universal Health Coverage. $188.5 billion. The organization is leading the development of A more modest rise of less than 2% lifted Bezos’ “World Nursing Report” that is to be launched in Amazon (AMZN) shares by about $3 billion, putting 2020. his net worth at $187 billion. Bill Gates is now a The report is first of its kind. The year is being distant third at $132 billion, according to Bloomberg. dedicated to the midwifery as well as WHO is also a Joe Biden names two Indian-Americans in US National partner of The State of the World’s Midwifery Security Council Campaign. US President-elect Joe Biden named Indian- Biden selects Judge Merrick Garland for attorney general American Sumona Guha as senior director for South President-elect Joe Biden will nominate federal Asia and Tarun Chhabra as senior director for appeals judge Merrick Garland to be the next U.S. Technology and National Security. attorney general. Guha was co-chair of the South Asia foreign policy He serves as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals working group on the Biden-Harris campaign and for the District of Columbia Circuit, one of 13 federal serves on the transition’s State Department Agency appeals courts. Vanita Gupta, the head of the Review Team. Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, During the Obama-Biden Administration, Chhabra will be nominated by Biden as the Associate served on the National Security Council staff as Attorney General, the No. 3 people in the department. Indian-American Raj Iyer becomes U.S. Army’s first CIO director for Strategic Planning and director for Indian-American Dr Raj Iyer has taken over as the Human Rights and National Security Issues, and at first Chief Information Officer of the US Army, after the Pentagon as a speechwriter to the Secretary of the Pentagon created the position in July 2020. Defence. Dr Raj Iyer is one of the highest-ranking Indian- Indonesian Jetliner crashes into the sea after takeoff American civilians in the US Department of Defence. A passenger plane of Indonesia’s Sriwijaya Air Dr Iyer holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering had carrying 62 people on board crashed into waters off been serving as the Principal Advisor to the Secretary Jakarta. The Boeing 737-500 was on an estimated of the Army and directs representation of the 90-minute flight from Jakarta to Pontianak, capital of secretary in matters relating to information West Kalimantan province on Indonesia’s Borneo management/information technology (IT). The island. position of CIO is equivalent to a three-star General. The Sriwijaya Air disappeared from radars four Central African Republic president Touadera wins reelection minutes into its journey to Pontianak in West Faustin-Archange Touadera was re-elected as the Kalimantan province. It is thought to have dropped president of the Central African Republic with more more than 3,000m (10,000ft) in less than a minute. than 53% votes.

8 Current Affairs Magazine January 2021 France hosts 4th One Planet Summit Donald Trump becomes the first U.S. President to be The Government of France organised the fourth ‘One impeached twice Planet Summit’, through videoconferencing, which President Donald Trump was impeached by the U.S. aimed at protecting the world’s biodiversity. House for a historic second time on January 13, The Summit was organised in cooperation with the charged with “incitement of insurrection” over the United Nations and the World Bank. deadly mob siege of the Capitol in a swift and The theme of the Summit was “Let’s act together for stunning collapse of his final days in office. nature!”. He was first impeached in 2019 over his Ukraine dealings. The House voted 232-197 to impeach Mr It was inaugurated by the Secretary-General of the Trump. United Nations António Guterres, French President The proceedings moved at lightning speed, with Emmanuel Macron, and President of the World Bank lawmakers voting just one week after violent pro- Group David Malpass. Mr. Trump loyalists stormed the U.S. Capitol, urged Sadyr Japarov wins the presidential election in Kyrgyzstan on by the President’s calls for them to “fight like The frontrunner in Kyrgyzstan’s presidential hell” against the election results. election, Sadyr Japarov, has won by a landslide. US designates UAE, Bahrain as ‘Major Strategic Partners’ According to the Central Election Commission, Mr The United States has recently designated the Japarov had won 79% of votes cast. Kingdom of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates Mr Japarov, who served time in jail for taking a rival (UAE) as the “major strategic partners” of the hostage, will also have sweeping new presidential country. powers after voters by a similar margin opted to This has been announced before the formal amend the constitution in a referendum. transition of the president’s office from Donald Kyrgyzstan has been in crisis since parliamentary Trump to Joe Biden. This announcement of “major elections last October. The results of those elections strategic partners” was done by Kayleigh McEnany, were disputed, leading to protests and the the White House Press Secretary. resignation of then-President Sooronbay Jeenbekov. Designation as strategic partners will strengthen the existing partnership between the United States, the Indian-American Garima Verma named digital director in Kingdom of Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates. Office of the First Lady Both the countries have been designated for their Incoming First Lady, Jill Biden has named Indian- commitment to countering violent extremism across American Garima Verma as her digital director and the region, exceptional security partnership, and Michael LaRosa press secretary, the Biden transition exemplified by their hosting thousands of United team has announced. States airmen, soldiers, marines, and sailors. She served as audience development and content Pakistan Permits Dubai Royals to Hunt ‘Houbara bustard’ strategist on the Biden-Harris campaign. Pakistan has issued special permission to Sheikh Before joining the campaign, Verma was a volunteer Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the Dubai with the content team, designing graphics for Ruler; the crown prince, and 5 members of the royal distribution to Biden-Harris volunteers across the family for hunting houbara bustard during the 2020- country. 21 hunting season. UN Rights Body elects Fiji in First-Ever Presidential Vote The houbara bustard is a terrestrial bird found in The UN Human Rights Council elected Fiji’s parts of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. The Asian ambassador as its 2021 president in an houbara (Chlamydotis macqueenii) and North unprecedented secret ballot after a diplomatic stand- African houbara (Chlamydotis undulata) are off blocked the usual consensus decision. separate species. NASA targets final test of ‘world’s most powerful rocket’ Fiji’s ambassador in Geneva, Nazhat Shameem Khan, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration who served as the council’s vice president in 2020 (NASA) is looking to carry out the eighth and final and is considered a rights champion, won with 29 test in its “Green Run” test series. out of 47 votes. This eighth stage termed “hot fire,” will bring to an She ran against two other candidates from the UN’s end a series of tests which, NASA says, will Asia-Pacific regional group of countries: Bahrain’s gradually bring together the core stage of the Space ambassador Yusuf Abdulkarim Bucheeri and his Launch System (SLS) to life for the very first time. counterpart from Uzbekistan, Ulugbek Lapasov, The core stage of the SLS will form the backbone of who received 14 and four votes respectively. what NASA says will be the “most powerful rocket

9 Current Affairs Magazine January 2021 in the world” and will power its next-generation government, following protests and public outrage human Moon Missions. over the government’s handling of the COVID-19 Yoweri Museveni wins the sixth term as Uganda’s President pandemic. Uganda’s incumbent President Yoweri Museveni has The 52-year-old served as the Prime Minister of been declared as the winner of the country’s Mongolia from 4 October 2017 to 21 January 2021. presidential election for 2021. Prime Minister Khurelsukh Ukhnaa has submitted Museveni secured 58.64 per cent of the total votes his resignation and a proposal to dissolve his cast, to win the sixth term as the President. The 76- government after hundreds gathered outside the year-old leader is serving as the President of the parliament building to demonstrate against the Republic of Uganda since 1986 and is one of Africa’s policies. longest-serving presidents. Parliament, which is controlled by Khurelsukh’s Netherlands PM Mark Rutte and his entire cabinet quits Mongolian People’s Party, voted overwhelmingly The Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte and his entire to accept his resignation. Cabinet has resigned recently over the childcare Portugal President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa wins second subsidies scandal, in which thousands of families term were wrongly accused of child welfare fraud. The incumbent President of Portugal, Marcelo Joe Biden takes oath as 46th US President Rebelo de Sousa has won a second five-year term Joe Biden became the 46th president of the United States. He swore the oath of office moments after after winning the 2021 Portuguese presidential Kamala Harris, who became America’s first woman election with a landslide victory. vice president, turning the page on Donald Trump’s The 72-year-old former leader of the Social tumultuous four years. Democratic Party won 61 per cent of the total votes. At 78, Biden is the oldest president in US history He is serving as the President of the country since 9 and only the second Roman Catholic president. March 2016 and would start his second term on Biden, who was vice president under Barack Obama March 9, 2021. and first ran for president in 1987, plans to kick off SpaceX breaks ISRO’s Record by launching 143 Satellites his tenure with a flurry of 17 orders. SpaceX successfully launched its ambitious Biden will immediately rejoin the Paris climate accord rideshare mission called Transporter-1, carrying 143 and stop the US exit from the World Health small satellites, and created a new record of Organization and set new paths on immigration, the launching many satellites from a single rocket. environment, Covid-19 and the economy. With this launch, SpaceX broke the record set by China overtakes Germany to run world’s largest current ISRO in February 2017 for deploying 104 satellites account surplus onboard PSLV in a single mission. China overtook Germany to become the country with The SpaceX used two-stage Falcon 9 rocket for the the world’s largest current account surplus in the mission, from the Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape year 2020, as per a survey by the Munich-based Ifo Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The 143 institute. satellites included 133 commercial and government The current account surplus of China more than satellites and 10 Starlink satellites of SpaceX. doubled to $310 billion in 2020, while the current China surpasses United States as largest recipient of FDI account surplus of Germany shrank for the fifth year China was the largest recipient of foreign direct in a row in 2020 to $261 billion. investment (FDI) in 2020, according to a report The United States remained the country with the released by the United Nations Conference on Trade world’s largest current account deficit which rose roughly by a third to $635 billion in 2020 or 3.1% of and Development (UNCTAD). economic output. Japan ranked third with a current China overtook the United States to gain the top account surplus of $158 billion. position in 2020. The country attracted $163 billion Ifo (Information and Forschung) Institute for inflows in 2020, compared to $134 billion attracted Economic Research is a research institution based by the United States. in Munich, Germany, which analyses economic However, in 2019, the United States had received policy. $251 billion in inflows and China received $140 Mongolian Prime Minister Khurelsukh Ukhnaa & his billion. Government Resigns Overall, the global FDI had fallen by 42% in 2020, The Prime Minister of Mongolia, Khurelsukh attracting an inflow of an estimated $859 billion, Ukhnaa, has resigned along with his entire compared to $1.5 trillion in 2019.

10 Current Affairs Magazine January 2021

Gujarat announces its new Solar Power Policy-2021 Patola is the trademark saree of Gujarat. Gujarat Government has announced its new Solar Karnataka Government launches Krishi Sanjeevani Vans Power Policy - 2021 for the next five years. to test soil, water As per the policy, any person, developer or industry The Chief Minister of Karnataka, B.S. Yediyurappa can set up a solar project in its premises or land flagged off 40 Krishi Sanjeevani vans in Bengaluru. without any limit. These vans have been launched by the state A limit of only 50 per cent of sanctioned load/contract Agriculture Department with Central assistance demand for industry to set up the solar project has under National Krishi Vikas Yojana to take up this been removed in the new policy. novel programme. This policy will bring down power cost to industry To take labs to the agriculture fields, study the from Rs. 8 per unit to around Rs. 4.50. conditions and address the needs of the farmers Delhi government sets up Tamil Academy about pest control, the fertility of the soil, weeds Delhi government Department of Art, Culture, and and suitable crops in the existing conditions so that Language has set-up a Tamil academy to promote farmers get support for their farming techniques. the language and culture of the southern state of Depending on the soil, water and pests inflicting Tamil Nadu. the crops, the Agriculture Department personnel can Delhi has a large population of people from Tamil suggest remedies. Nadu and we want to present a platform to the people Kerala becomes 8th State to complete ease of doing business of Delhi to get a taste of the art and culture of Tamil reforms Nadu. Kerala has become the 8th State in the country to The Delhi government has appointed a former successfully undertake “Ease of Doing Business” councillor and member of Delhi Tamil Sangam N Raja reform stipulated by the Department of Expenditure, as the Vice-Chairman of the academy. Ministry of Finance. India’s first Pollinator Park inaugurated in Haldwani, Kerala has become eligible to mobilise additional Uttarakhand financial resources of Rs.2,373 crore through Open Renowned butterfly expert Peter Smetacek Market Borrowings. Permission for the same was inaugurated India’s first pollinator park at Haldwani, issued by the Department of Expenditure on 12th Uttarakhand. January 2021. It has been developed by research wing of Kerala has now joined the seven other States namely, Uttarakhand Forest Department Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, There are over 40 species of butterflies, honeybees, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Telangana, who birds and insects in this park. have completed this reform. ‘Cyber Safe Women’ initiative launched by Maharashtra Govt Maharashtra renames Gorewada international zoo after Bal Maharashtra Government has launched a ‘Cyber Thackeray Safe Women’ initiative under which awareness camps The Maharashtra government has renamed will be held across all the districts of the state Gorewada International Zoo in Nagpur as regarding cyber safety. ‘Balasaheb Thackeray Gorewada International The initiative will help in educating women about Zoological Park. The zoological park will come up how the web is used by anti-social elements and on nearly 2,000 hectares forest land. child predators to commit various types of crimes. Gujarat to Rename Dragon Fruit as ‘Kamalam’ KVIC opens 1st silk processing plant in Gujarat The Gujarat state government has renamed dragon The Khadi and Village Industries Commission fruit as ‘Kamalam’. The move has kept the internet (KVIC) opened its first “Patola Saree” silk in splits and many criticized it using the hashtag processing plant at Surendranagar in Gujarat. #SanskariFruitSabzi. The aim of the plant is to make silk readily available As per Gujarat Chief Minister, the dragon fruit has to Patola saree manufacturers to boost its been renamed Kamalam because of the shape of the production. fruit.

11 Current Affairs Magazine January 2021

Suneet Sharma appointed new Chairman and CEO of the She is the first-ever women-head of the body. She Railway Board replaces Anil Kumar Chaudhary, who superannuated Former Eastern Railway GM Suneet Sharma (SCRA on 31 December 2020. She joined SAIL in 2017 as Officer of the 1978 batch) has been appointed as the the director (commercial). new Chairman and CEO of the Railway Board. Legendary Music Director Shantanu Mohapatra passes away The extended one-year tenure of Sharma’s Legendary Odia musician, Shantanu Mohapatra predecessor, Vinod Kumar Yadav, who also became passed away. He was the first Odia music composer the restructured Board’s first CEO, ended on to work with legends like Lata Mangeshkar, Manna December 31. Dey and Md Rafi and also the first to work in Hindi, Justice Hima Kohli appointed Chief Justice of Telangana Bengali, Assamese and Telugu film industries. High Court Former Union Minister Buta Singh passes away The President of India, in the exercise of the power Former Union Minister and senior Rajasthan conferred by clause (1) of Article 217 of the Congress leader Buta Singh passed away. Constitution of India, appointed the following The veteran politician Buta Singh served as Home Judges as Chief Justices of the High Courts. Minister of India in the Rajiv Gandhi government Dr. S. Muralidhar - Chief Justice of Orissa High Court. from 1986 to 1989. Ms. Hima Kohli- Chief Justice of Telangana High Buta Singh had also served as the Minister of Court. Agriculture and Rural Development. He was a four- Sanjib Banerjee - Chief Justice of Madras High Court. time MP from Jalore-Sirohi Lok Sabha constituency. Pankaj Mithal - Chief Justice of J&K and Ladakh He served as the Chairperson of the National High Court. Commission For Scheduled Cast from 2007 to 2010. Veteran broadcaster Indira Joseph Venniyoor passes away AIIMS’ Prof Suresh Chandra Sharma as first chief of NMC Veteran broadcaster, Indira Joseph Venniyoor The chief of Delhi AIIMS’ ENT head-neck surgery years) passed away at her residence at Poojapura. department, Professor Suresh Chandra Sharma, was She was an Indian news broadcaster and the first English- appointed the chairman of National Medical language news broadcaster of Travancore radio. Commission. She was the wife of well-known literary scholar & The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has art critic the late E.M.J. Venniyoor. approved the appointment of Sharma for a period of Umesh Sinha named deputy election commissioner three years or till the age of 70 years. Umesh Sinha has been named as the deputy election Rakesh Kumar Vats, the secretary-general in the board commissioner in the Election Commission of India. of governors of the Medical Council of India (MCI), Sinha, a 1986-batch IAS officer (retired) is at present has been appointed as the secretary of the Commission serving as secretary-general in the commission. for the similar term. Col Narendra ‘Bull’ Kumar passes away H.K. Joshi appointed as CMD of Shipping Corporation of Colonel (retd) Narendra Kumar, a legendary India mountaineer passed away at the Army’s Research Shipping Corporation of India has appointed Harjeet and Referral hospital. Kaur Joshi as the new Chairperson & Managing He had spotted Pakistani activities around the Director of the company. Siachen glacier in 1984 that helped India secure it She will also hold the additional charge of the post subsequently. of Director (Finance) of the company for a period of He earned the nickname ‘Bull’ for relentlessly 3 months. charging into everything he did. She is a Fellow Member of The Institute of Cost ISRO Chairman K Sivan gets one year extension up to 2022 Accountants of India. The Central Government has approved the extension Former Karnataka Governor T N Chaturvedi passes away of the term of ISRO Chairman K Sivan, for a period Former Governor of Karnataka T N Chaturvedi of one year. He was due to retire on January 14, passed away. He was the 14th Governor of Karnataka 2021. from 2002–2007. Sivan will now continue as ISRO Chairman and He also served as of Comptroller and Auditor General Secretary, Department of Space up to January 14, of India from 1984 to 1989. He was awarded the Padma 2022. He joined ISRO in 1982, has been the chairman Vibhushan in 1991. of the space agency since January 2018. Alex Ellis appointed new British high commissioner to India Soma Mondal takes charge as new SAIL Chairman Alexander Ellis has been appointed British high Soma Mondal has taken over as the new Chairman commissioner to India and will take up the key role of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) with effect later this month. from January 01, 2021.

12 Current Affairs Magazine January 2021 He has held several posts, including deputy national RBI officer Giridharan pens novel ‘Right Under our Nose’ security adviser in the cabinet office, director- A general manager at RBI, R Giridharan has authored general in the department for exiting the European his debut book “Right Under our Nose”. Union, and the British ambassador to Portugal. Ellis In “Right Under Your Nose”, a murderer eliminates succeeds Philip Barton. scientists right under the nose of the police and Karan Bajwa to head Google Cloud in Asia Pacific leaves forensics baffled. Google Cloud has announced the elevation of Karan In response, the chief minister calls upon Vijay, who Bajwa as its new leader for the Asia Pacific. is given an impossible deadline to solve the case Presently, Bajwa leads Google Cloud in India. He before Parliament resumes in a week. will lead all regional revenue and go-to-market Abhishek Yadav appointed as AIFF’s first Deputy General operations for Google Cloud, including on Google Secretary Cloud Platform (GCP) and Google Workspace. He Former India striker Abhishek Yadav has been succeeds Rick Harshman who leaves the appointed as the first deputy general secretary of organisation for a new opportunity. All India Football Federation (AIFF) after the sports Arup Kumar Goswami sworn in as CJ of Andhra Pradesh body decided to create a new post in its hierarchy. High Court The 40-year-old former international, who has played Arup Kumar Goswami was sworn in as the Chief with the likes of Bhaichung Bhutia, Sunil Chhetri, Justice (CJ) of Andhra Pradesh High Court by Mahesh Gawli and Climax Lawrence, has been Governor Biswab Bushan Harichandan in the serving as national team’s director since January presence of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. 2018. Justice Goswami was transferred from the Sikkim Veteran Indian Fashion Designer Satya Paul passes away High Court a few days ago. He replaced J.K. Veteran Fashion designer Satya Paul, best known Maheswari who has been posted as the Chief Justice for reinventing the Indian saree for contemporary of Sikkim High Court. women, has passed away. Oldest living first-class cricketer Alan Burgess passes away Satya Paul launched the first saree boutique in India, The world’s oldest living first-class cricketer Alan L’Affaire, in 1980. In 1986, he launched India’s first Burgess has passed away at the age of 100. A right- designer label, under the brand ‘Satya Paul’, which hand batsman and slow left-arm bowler, Alan has now become one of the premier brands in the appeared in 11 first-class matches for Canterbury country. from 1940/41 to 1951/52 and also for New Zealand Veteran Professor Chitra Ghosh passes away Services in England in 1945. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s niece and eminent Hima Kohli appointed as 1st Woman Chief Justice of academician Chitra Ghosh has passed away. She Telangana High Court made pioneering contributions to academics and The senior-most judge of Delhi High Court, Justice Hima Kohli has been appointed as the new Chief community services and dedicated her life in serving Justice of Telangana High Court. She is the first the people, teaching & inspiring the youth. woman to be sworn in as CJ of Telangana HC. Professor Bose was the former head of the political JK Maheshwari sworn in as Chief Justice of Sikkim High science department at Lady Brabourne College in Court Kolkata. Justice Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari was sworn in Former Gujarat Chief Minister Madhavsinh Solanki passes as the new Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court. away Governor Ganga Prasad administered the oath of Veteran Congress leader Madhavsinh Solanki, who office to Justice Maheshwari during a function held served as former External Affairs Minister of India in Raj Bhavan. and the Chief Minister of Gujarat, has passed away. Chief Justice Arup Kumar Goswami of the Sikkim Padma Shri Awardee Telugu Journalist Turlapati Kutumba High Court has now been transferred for Rao passes away appointment as the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s Veteran journalist and orator (public speaker) Sri Chief Justice. Turlapati Kutumba Rao has passed away. He is Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia appointed as Chief Justice of known for his service to journalism in the Telugu Gauhati High Court language. Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia appointed as Chief Justice He has written over 4000 biographies and delivered of the Gauhati High Court informed the Ministry of over 16000 public speeches which have been Law and Justice. recorded by the Telugu Book of Records as a world The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind in the record. exercise of the power conferred by clause (1) of Rao has received a number of honour for his field of Article 217 of the Constitution of India, appointed work, including the fourth highest Indian civilian Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, Judge of the Uttarakhand award of Padma Shri, in 2002, making him the first High Court, as Chief Justice of the Gauhati High journalist from the state of Andhra Pradesh to receive Court. the award.

13 Current Affairs Magazine January 2021 Pulitzer Prize-winning author & journalist Neil Sheehan The three new appointees will now work with USIBC passes away President Nisha Biswal and the Council’s policy Pulitzer Prize-winning author & journalist Neil directors, for strengthening US-India commercial Sheehan passed away. He covered the Vietnam War relationship for the future. for United Press International and the Times from Vishwavir Ahuja re-appointed as RBL Bank chief 1962 to 1966. The board of directors of RBL Bank has approved He won a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award the re-appointment of Vishwavir Ahuja as the in 1989 for “A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann Managing Director and CEO of the bank for three and America in Vietnam.” years. Indian American writer Ved Mehta passes away The re-appointment is with effect from June 30, 2021, Indian American writer Ved Mehta passed away. The to June 29, 2024, and the same is being recommended Indian-American novelist overcame blindness & to the Reserve Bank of India and shall be subject to was widely known as the 20th-century writer most their approval, the bank said in a regulatory filing. responsible for introducing American readers to He has been MD & CEO of RBL Bank since June 30, India. 2010. Ved Mehta, a longtime writer for The New Yorker Former Union Minister and Industrialist Kamal Morarka whose best-known work, spanning a dozen passes away volumes, explored the vast, turbulent history of Former Union minister and noted industrialist Kamal modern India through the intimate lens of his own Morarka has passed away. He served as the Minister autobiography. of State in Prime Minister’s Office under Prime Social Activist and Padma Shri Awardee D Prakash Rao Minister Chandra Shekhar from 1990 to 1991. passes away The 74-year-old leader, a businessman who was also Noted social activist and Padma Shri winner, D a former BCCI vice president. He was incumbent Prakash Rao has passed away. He was basically a president of Samajwadi Janata Party (Chandra tea seller based in Cuttack, who spent his entire Shekhar). He was elected to Rajya Sabha in 1988. earning to educate slum children, through the school Kiren Rijiju gets additional charge of Ayush Ministry ‘Asha O Ashwasana’, which he started in 2000. Ministry for Sports and Youth Affairs, Kiren Rijiju He was conferred with the prestigious Padma Shri award has been given the additional charge of the Ayush in 2019 for his contribution towards boosting the value of Ministry. He will hold the fort till Shripad Yesso Naik education among slum kids in Cuttack. Apart from this, recovers from an accident. The President has directed that this arrangement Rao was also a well-known blood donor. may continue till Shri Shripad Yesso Naik resumes Dushyant Dave resigns as SC Bar Association (SCBA) his work related to Ministry of AYUSH.” President Padma Award winning Renowned Oncologist Dr V Shanta Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president, passes away Dushyant Dave has resigned from his post with Padma Award winning renowned oncologist Dr V immediate effect, he has forfeited his right to Shanta has passed away. She was the chairperson continue. of Adyar Cancer Institute in Chennai, which she Intel appoints Pat Gelsinger as new CEO joined in 1954. The institute is known for providing Intel has appointed Pat Gelsinger as its new Chief state-of-the-art healthcare to all patients. Executive Officer, effective Feb. 15, 2021. Gelsinger Dr V Shanta was a recipient of the prestigious Padma will also join the Intel board of directors upon Shri (1986) and Padma Bhushan (2006) for her efforts assuming the role. for making quality and affordable cancer treatment He will succeed Bob Swan, who will remain CEO accessible to everyone. She was also awarded the until Feb. 15. Padma Vibhushan and the Ramon Magsaysay TEPC appoints Sandeep Aggarwal as new Chairman awards. The Telecom Equipment and Services Export Govt appoints Siddhartha Mohanty as managing director of Promotion Council (TEPC) has appointed Sandeep LIC Aggarwal as the new Chairman. Aggarwal, the The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has Managing Director and Promoter of Delhi-based appointed Siddhartha Mohanty as the managing Paramount Communications, will take over from director of India’s largest insurer Life Insurance Shyamal Ghosh, ex-Telecom Secretary. Corporation (LIC) from February 1 onwards. TEPC is an independent body set up by the He is currently CEO of LIC Housing Finance Limited. government to promote and develop the export of He will serve as the MD of LIC till his superannuation telecom equipment and services. on June 30, 2023. He will be replacing TC Suseel Kumar, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw selected as one of USIBC vice-chair who is set to retire on January 31, 2021. The US-India Business Council (USIBC) has LIC has four MDs and one chairman. Currently, MR selected three top corporate leaders as the Vice- Kumar is serving as the chairman of the corporation Chairs of 2021 Global Board of Directors of USIBC and TC Suseel Kumar, Vipin Anand, Mukesh Kumar with immediate effect. Gupta, and Raj Kumar are serving as the MDs of LIC.

14 Current Affairs Magazine January 2021 ACC appoints Sanjeev Kumar as new CMD of TCIL Former Arunachal Governor Mata Prasad passes away The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) Former Arunachal Governor Mata Prasad has passed has approved the appointment of Sanjeev Kumar as away at the age of 95. the new Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) of He served as minister in the Congress government Telecommunications Consultants India Limited in Uttar Pradesh in 1988- 89 and appointed as (TCIL). Governor of Arunachal Pradesh in 1993. According to an order from the Department of Veteran Bureaucrat, poet and Hyderabad historian Narendra Luther passes away Personnel & Training (DoPT), Kumar has been Noted historian, author, poet and retired bureaucrat appointed to the post for a period of five years from Narendra Luther has passed. A 1955 batch IAS the date of assumption of the charge of the post, or officer, Luther was closely associated with the till the age of superannuation, or until further orders, history and culture of erstwhile Hyderabad state whichever is earlier. He is currently serving as and its rulers. Director (Technical) in Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Legendary American talk-show host Larry King passes away Limited (MTNL). The iconic American radio and television host, and Sundaram Finance names Rajiv Lochan as MD paid spokesman, Larry King, has passed away. He The board of Sundaram Finance has named Rajiv rose to fame in 1978 as a radio host of The Larry Lochan (director Strategy) as managing director with King Show and then hosted Larry King Live on CNN effect from April 1. Sundaram Finance Ltd has made for about 25 years from 1985 to 2010. top-level changes as the current managing director King has quizzed thousands of world leaders, T.T. Srinivasaraghavan will be retiring on March 31, politicians, entertainers, athletes, and everyday 2020. people for CNN and other news outlets in a career spanning more than six decades.

Leon Mendonca becomes India’s 67th Grandmaster He was part of the Indian men’s team which won a Goa’s 14-year-old Leon Mendonca has become bronze medal in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. India’s 67th chess Grandmaster by winning the third All-rounder Irfan Pathan retires from all forms of cricket and final norm at a tournament in Italy. Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan announced his Mendonca, who achieved the feat at 14 years, 9 retirement from all forms of cricket. months and 17 days, is the second GM from the He last played for India in October 2012. He played coastal State. Chennai player G. Akash, had in July, 29 Tests, 120 ODIs and 24 T20Is. become the country’s 66th Grandmaster. He became He was part of the victorious Indian team at the the 29th Youngest GM in the world. The 1st GM 2007 World Twenty20 and was the man-of-the-match from Goa is Ivana Maria Furtado, she achieved it in in the final against Pakistan. 2011. He made his debut at the age of 19 in 2003. Manav Thakkar becomes world no.1 in ITTF rankings Saurabh Chaudhary wins gold at 63rd National Shooting C’ship Indian paddler Manav Thakkar became world no.1 Indian shooter Saurabh Chaudhary has won the in the latest International Table Tennis Federation men’s 10 metres air pistol gold medal at the 63rd (ITTF) rankings in the Under-21 men’s singles National Shooting Championship in Bhopal, Madhya category. Pradesh. With this, Thakkar became the fourth Indian to Second-placed Sarabjot Singh of Haryana, while achieve the feat after Harmeet Desai, G Sathiyan world number two Abhishek Verma settled for bronze and Soumyajit Ghosh. in a high-quality final. Manav Thakkar achieved the top spot after clinching Abhishek and Sarabjot together won the team gold the Under-21 men’s singles title at the ITTF for Haryana. Sarabjot also won the junior men’s gold. Challenge Plus Benemax-Virgo North American K. Srikkanth & Anjum Chopra to get CK Nayudu Lifetime Open in Markham, Canada. Achievement Award He was also worlded no. 1 in the Under-18 category Krishnamachari Srikkanth & Anjum Chopra will be in February 2018. conferred with the CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award.

15 Current Affairs Magazine January 2021 Krishnamachari Srikkanth will be the recipient of Carolina Marin wins Yonex Thailand Open badminton 2019’s prestigious CK Nayudu Lifetime Award. tournament 2021 Former India women’s captain Anjum Chopra is the Reigning Olympic champion Carolina Marin co-recipient of the lifetime achievement award for bolstered her chances of defending her title in Tokyo the year 2019. later this year after claiming the Thailand Open in Srikkanth and Anjum will be conferred with the Bangkok over top seed Tai Tzu-Ying. Lifetime Achievement award by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for their contributions to The Yonex Thailand Open Super 1000 badminton Indian cricket. tournament was held from 12 January 2021 to 17 Khelo India Ice Hockey Tournament begins in Chiktan, January 2021. It was the first badminton tournament Kargil of 2021 by Badminton World Federation (BWF). Khelo India Ice Hockey Tournament organised at Winners of Singles Title: Chiktan in Kàrgil, Ladakh. For the first time, the Men’s Category: Viktor Axelsen (Denmark) defeated women team of Chiktan also participated in the Khelo Angus Long (Hong Kong) to clinch the Men’s India Games in Kargil district. Singles Title. There are 13 teams from different villages of Chiktan Women’s Category: Carolina Marin (Spain) defeated participating in the tournament, which include 11 Tai Tzu-Ying (Taiwan) to bag the Women’s Singles men’s teams and 2 women’s teams. Title. Dhaka Marathon 2021: Jigmet Dolma from Ladakh wins Winners of Doubles Title: 4th position In the Men’s Doubles, Taiwan’s Lee Yang & Wang Jigmet Dolma from India secured the fourth position Chi-Lin beat Malaysia’s Goh V Shem & Tan Wee in the Dhaka Marathon 2021. Jigmet Dolma is an Kiong to bag the Doubles Title. SPO of Ladakh police. In the marathon, Hicham In the Women’s Doubles, Indonesia’s Greysia Polii Lakohi of Morocco came first in the elite competition & Apriyani Rahayu defeated Thailand’s Jongkolphan of the marathon in men’s category while Angela Jim Kititharakul & Rawinda Prajongjai to clinch the Asunde from Kenya won the women’s category in Doubles Title. the same event. Winners of Mixed Doubles: In the full marathon, among the SAARC and local Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree runners, Bahadur Singh of India became the Taerattanachai defeated Indonesia’s Praveen Jordan & champion in the men’s category and Pushpa Melati Daeva Oktavianti to clinch the mixed doubles title. Bhandari of Nepal became the champion in the women’s category.

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Padma Awards (The Award of Excellence): The Padma awardees includes 29 women. President Ram Nath Kovind has approved conferment 10 persons are from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/ of 119 Padma Awards, including 1 duo case (in a duo OCI. case, the award is counted as one) for the year 2021. The list includes 16 Posthumous awardees and 1 The list comprises 7 Padma Vibhushan, 10 Padma transgender awardee. Bhushan and 102 Padma Shri Awards. List of Padma Awardees 2021

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Mother Teresa Memorial Awardees for Social Justice Girls from 22 countries participated in the event to felicitated win the coveted title. Yessenia Garcia from Paraguay Harmony Foundation hosted the Mother Teresa and Anicia Gaothusi from Botswana became the First Memorial Awards for Social Justice. and second Runners-Up respectively. The theme for 2020 - ‘Celebrating Compassion In Miss Teen International is the world’s oldest running Times Of Covid teen pageant. This year awardees: AIIMS Bhubaneswar receives Kayakalp Award for 3rd time Dr. Anthony Fauci (US) Fr. Fabio Stevenazzi (Milan, Italy) The All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Dr. Pradeep Kumar (Chennai) in Bhubaneswar has proved its mettle once again Cristian Fracassi and Alessandro Romaioli (Italy) for promoting cleanliness, hygiene and creating Sanjay Pandey, IPS (DG Home Guards, Maharashtra) sustainable practices in public health facilities by Vikas Khanna (Manhattan, US) winning the Kayakalp Award Scheme. KK Shailaja (Minister of Health, Kerala) AIIMS Bhubaneswar will get an award of Rs 2 crore Indian girl Sucheta Satish wins Global Child Prodigy Award for the performance. The institute has been adjudged 2020 as the best central government hospital under B A 13-year-old Dubai-based Indian girl Sucheta Satish category for cleanliness for a third consecutive year. has won the 100 Global Child Prodigy Award in Delhi. It had earlier received the award in 2018 as well as in She was awarded for singing in most languages 2019 for becoming second cleanest hospital in the during one concert and the longest live singing concert by a child. country among category B hospitals (less than 1000 Global Child Prodigy Award is a platform to beds) and received Rs one crore as prize money. showcase the talent of children in dance, music, art, Biswajit Chatterjee conferred ‘Indian Personality of the writing, acting, modelling, science, sports etc. Year’ award at IFFI The award is supported by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting International Foundation and Oscar Award-winning Prakash Javadekar announced veteran actor, director music producer AR Rahman among others. and singer Biswajit Chatterjee as the recipient of the Aayushi Dholakia becomes Miss Teen International 2019 ‘Indian Personality of the Year’ award. Aayushi Dholakia has bagged the title of Miss Teen The 84-year-old actor is known for featuring in films International 2019. She also bagged the titles of Best in National like “Bees Saal Baad”, “Night In London” and “April Costume Award and Best in Speech Award. Fool”.

21 Current Affairs Magazine January 2021 Nikhil Srivastava named joint winner of Michael and Sheila Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival was Held Prize held in hybrid mode, there was the physical and Nikhil Srivastava, a young Indian mathematician, virtual screening of 50 films out of 224 films across has been named winner of the prestigious 2021 various categories. Michael and Sheila Held Prize along with two others Bangladesh was a country of focus at the festival. for solving long-standing questions on the Kadison- Singer problem and on Ramanujan graphs. Four films of Bangladesh was included in ‘country Srivastava is currently Associate Professor of of focus’ section. Mathematics at the University of California. The winners of the IFFI awards are listed below: Shyam Srinivasan is Business Standard Banker of the Year Golden Peacock Award for Best Film: Into the Shyam Srinivasan, managing director and chief Darkness executive officer (CEO) of Federal Bank, is the Silver Peacock Award for Best Actor (Male): Business Standard Banker of the Year for 2019-20. Tzu-Chuan Liu, The Silent Forest The award was given for his bank’s consistent healthy Silver Peacock Award for Best Actor (Female): performance at a time when most of its peers witnessed large stress on asset quality, registered losses, or even Zofia Stafiej, I Never Cry invited regulatory actions. Silver Peacock Award for Best Director: Chen- Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar 2021 Nien Ko, The Silent Forest The Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar Best Debut Director Award: Cássio Pereira dos (PMRBP) for the year 2021 has been conferred to 32 Santos, Valentina children, hailing from 32 districts of 21 States/UTs. Special Mention Award: Kripal Kalita, Bridge The PMRBP award is given by the Government of Special Jury Award: Kamin Kalev, February India to the children with exceptional abilities and ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Award: Ameen Nayfeh’s outstanding accomplishments, in the fields of 200 Meters innovation, scholastic, sports, arts & culture, social service and bravery. Indian Personality of the Year Award: Biswajit 51st International Film Festival of India Concludes Chatterjee The 51st edition of International Film Festival of India Lifetime Achievement: Vittorio Storaro (Italian (IFFI) was held from 16 January to 24 January 2021 cinematographer). at Shyamaprasad Stadium near Panaji in Goa.

UNDP and PCMC join hands for ‘first social impact bond’ Alfredo Covelli, an Italy based author has launched his Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, Pune has new book Vahana Masterclass for children and Young recently signed an MoU with United Nations Audience. Development Programme (UNDP) India to co-create The books will be illustrated and published by Scholastic India’s first Social Impact Bond (SIB). India. Alfredo had a keen interest in our Indian culture This is the first time that a government body will act as and mythology which inspired him to write a story on the ‘outcome funder’ in a bond, whereas traditionally Lord Ganesh for children. most government-funded public projects require large and IFSCA becomes Associate Member of IOSCO early investments by the government with a substantial The International Financial Services Centres Authority gestation period of outcomes and involve various kinds (IFSCA) has become an Associate Member of the of risks. International Organization of Securities Commissions A Social Impact Bond also called pay-for-success bond (IOSCO). The Headquarter of IOSCO is at Madrid, Spain. or pay-for-success financing or simply social bond is The IOSCO is the international organization of the basically a contract with public sector authority, where it world’s securities regulators, covering more than 95% of pays for better social outcomes. the world’s securities markets, and is also the global This bond is a form of outcome-based contracting and standard-setter for the securities sector. aims at improving social outcomes for a specific group of GRSE delivers 8th landing craft utility ship to Indian Navy citizens. Kolkata-based Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers The PCMC administration will bear the costs of a public (GRSE) has delivered the Landing Craft Utility (LCU) welfare project associated with the bond if the pre-defined MK IV class vessel ‘IN LCU L-58’ (Yard 2099) to the project targets are fulfilled. Indian Navy. A book titled “Vahana Masterclass” launched by Italian Writer The amphibious ships, to be based in the strategic location Alfredo Covelli of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which is close to various routes leading to the South China Sea.

22 Current Affairs Magazine January 2021 BEL and Indian Navy inks pact for initial supply of Laser A book on India’s tours Down Under by R. Kaushik Dazzlers A book titled ‘India’s 71-Year Test: The Journey to The Indian Navy has signed a contract with the Bharat Triumph in Australia’ and one which reflects on India’s Electronics Limited (BEL), to procure Light Amplification by previous 12 tours Down Under, was launched. Stimulated Emission of Radiation Dazzlers (Laser Dazzlers). The book, a Bradman Museum initiative, is authored by Initially, agreement has been signed for 20 Laser Dazlers. senior cricket scribe R. Kaushik, and it chronicles a rivalry The Laser dazzler technology has been developed by that has given a fillip to Test cricket. Defence Research and Development Organisation Pravasi Bharatiya Divas celebrated on 9 January (DRDO) and would be manufactured by BEL, Pune plant. Pravasi Bharatiya Divas or NRI Day is celebrated every It is the first time that this unique product is indigenously year on January 9 to mark the contribution of the overseas designed and developed for the Armed Forces. Indian community in the development of India. The day World Braille Day: 4 January is celebrated every year to mark the contribution of the The day is celebrated to raise awareness of the importance overseas Indian community in the development of India. of Braille as a means of communication in the full IREDA-NHPC Partnership in Green Energy Projects realization of the human rights for blind and partially NHPC Limited has signed an MOU with the Indian sighted people. Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) for The day is marked remembering the birth anniversary of providing assistance in setting up renewable energy (RE) Louis Braille, the inventor of Braille – for people with projects for the next 5 years. visual disabilities. Louis Braille was born on 4th January The agreement was signed in the presence of Abhay 1809 in the town of Coupvray in northern France. Kumar Singh, NHPC CMD, and IREDA, CMD, Pradip India’s Malavath Poorna scales Antarctica’s Highest Peak Kumar Das. Indian mountaineer Malavath Poorna, the youngest girl NHPC will help in the knowledge and technology transfer to have climbed the world’s highest mountain Mt. Everest and provide consultancy and research services. 5 years ago, accomplished another feat by conquering Under the plan, NHPC will develop 7.5 GW of renewable Mt. Vinson Massif, Antarctica’s highest mountain peak energy projects in the next 3 years. (4,987 mts). “Modi India Calling – 2021” Book Released With this, the 18-year-old becomes the first and youngest A coffee table book named “Modi India Calling – 2021” tribal woman in the world to set foot on the six tallest has been released on the occasion of 16th Pravasi mountain peaks across six continents. Bharatiya Divas. She has already scaled Mt Everest (Asia, 2014), Mt. The book contains various photographs of Prime Minister Kilimanjaro (Africa, 2016), Mt. Elbrus (Europe, 2017), Narendra Modi captured during his “107 overseas and Mt. Aconcagua (South America, 2019), Mt. Cartsnez bilateral visits”. (Oceania region, 2019), and now Mt. Vinson Massif The book is the idea of BJP leader Vijay Jolly and it was (Antarctica, 2019). released by Adesh Gupta, the Delhi BJP president. CSC inks pact with Paytm Payments Bank for sale of FASTags “World Hindi Day” celebrated globally on 10th January Common Service Centres (CSC) e-Governance Services The World Hindi Day is celebrated annually on January India has signed a MOU with Paytm Payments Bank Ltd 10 since 2006 to promote the language at the global stage. (PPBL) for sale of FASTags. The day marks the anniversary of first World Hindi The agreement will facilitate the sale of PPBL FASTags Conference which was inaugurated on January 10, 1975, through the last mile network of 3.6 lakh CSCs, helping by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi. realise the government’s vision of cashless and smooth Coastal defence exercise “Sea Vigil 21” kicks off transit at all toll plazas across the country. A major exercise to test military readiness at sea along the Adani Ports to buy 75% stake in Krishnapatnam Port coastline of the country starts. This is the second edition Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ), of the biennial pan-India coastal defence exercise “Sea India’s largest private sector port operator, has agreed to Vigil-21” will be conducted on January 12 and 13. buy a 75% stake in Krishnapatnam Port Co. Ltd (KPCL) The two-day exercise involving all stakeholders, states at an enterprise value of Rs 13,572 crores. and Central government agencies will set the tempo of The Krishnapatnam Port is located in southern Andhra operations, including “transition from peace to conflict”. Pradesh and is a multi-cargo facility. It will involve all 13 coastal states and Union Territories It handled 54 million tonnes (mt) of cargo in the year along with other maritime stakeholders, including the ended 31 March 2019. fishing and coastal communities. The purchase will accelerate Adani Ports’ plan to expand National Youth Day: 12 January its cargo-handling capacity to 400mt by 2025. National Youth Day is celebrated in India every year on India & Israel successfully test MRSAM air defence system 12 January to commemorate the birth anniversary of India and Israel successfully tested a Medium-Range Swami Vivekananda. Surface-to-Air Missile (MRSAM) defence system. The day was declared by the Government of India in The MRSAM missile defence system has been developed 1984 while the event was first celebrated in 1985. jointly by DRDO and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) The main aim behind this is to make sure that the students to deal with airstrikes by enemy countries. across the country can be encouraged to learn about the Currently being used by all three wings of the Indian Army life, the ideas and philosophy of Swami Vivekananda and as well as Israel Defence Forces (IDF), the air and missile apply them in their lives. defence system was a joint venture of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the IAI.

23 Current Affairs Magazine January 2021 Bharat Biotech inks pact with Precisa Med to supply Covaxin Legendary classical musician Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan to Brazil passes away Bharat Biotech has announced that it has signed an Legendary Indian classical musician and Padma Vibhushan agreement with Precisa Medicamentos for the supply of awardee Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan passed away. its indigenously manufactured Covid-19 vaccine He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1991, the Padma ‘Covaxin’ to Brazil. Bhusan in 2006, and the Padma Vibhushan in 2018. In The supplies of Covaxin will be prioritized for the public 2003, he was also awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi market, through direct procurement by Brazil government. Award, which is the highest recognition given to practising Manipur Guv released book “Making of a General A Indian artists by the Sangeet Natak Akademi. Himalayan Echo” DRDO hands over Motor Bike Ambulance Rakshita to CRPF Manipur Governor, Dr Najma Heptulla has virtually Defence Research and Development Organisation has released a book titled “Making of a General-A Himalayan handed over Motor Bike Ambulance Rakshita to the Echo” authored by (Retd) Lt General Konsam Himalaya Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The bike ambulance Singh at Durbar Hall, Raj Bhavan, Imphal. will help in overcoming the problems faced by Indian The book elegantly summons the essence and imperatives security forces and emergency health care providers. of superior command of one of the most formidable forces The bike ambulances will provide life-saving aid for the in the world. evacuation of injured patients from low-intensity conflict A book titled “The Population Myth: Islam, Family Planning areas. and Politics in India” by Ex-CEC Former chief election commissioner (CEC) S Y Quraishi Rakshita is fitted with a customized reclining Casualty has come out with his book titled “The Population Myth: Evacuation Seat (CES), which can be fitted in and taken Islam, Family Planning and Politics in India”. out as per requirement. The book will hit the stands on February 15, 2021. It has Goa CM releases book ‘Manohar Parrikar – Off the Record’ been published by HarperCollins India. Goa Chief Minister, Pramod Sawant has released a book The book evaluates India’s demographics from a religious ‘Manohar Parrikar- Off the Record’ at a function organized perspective and seeks to demolish two basic myths that at Institute Menezes Braganza hall in the city. The book ‘Islam is against family planning’ and “Muslim rate of has been written by senior journalist Waman Subha growth” is linked to capture political power. Prabhu. Armed Forces Veterans Day: 14 January The book ‘Manohar Parrikar- Off the Record’ is a In India, the Armed Forces Veterans Day is observed collection of memories of Mr Prabhu who happened to each year on 14 January since 2017 to acknowledge and be with late Parrikar during the journey of his life. honour the selfless devotion and sacrifice of our veterans Indo-French Exercise Desert Knight-21 begins in the service of the nation. The day was initially called Indian Air Force and French Air and Space Force are Armistice Day. 2021 marks the 5th Armed Forces conducting a bilateral Air exercise, Ex Desert Knight-21 Veterans Day. in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. DRDO develops India’s first Indigenously-Developed 9mm The exercise marks an important milestone in the series Machine Pistol of engagements between the two Air forces. It is unique India’s first indigenous 9mm Machine Pistol has been as it includes fielding of Rafale aircraft by both sides and jointly developed by DRDO and Indian Army. is indicative of the growing interaction between the two The Machine Pistol fires the in-service 9mm ammunition premiers Air Forces. and sports an upper receiver made from aircraft-grade The French side will participate with Rafale, Airbus A- Aluminium and lower receiver from carbon fibre. 330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport, A-400M Tactical The weapon has huge potential in Armed forces as a Transport aircraft and approximately 175 personnel. personal weapon for heavy weapon detachments, The Indian Air Force aircraft participating in the exercise commanders, tank and aircraft crews, drivers/dispatch will include Rafale, Mirage 2000, Sukhoi-30 MKI among riders, radio/radar operators, Closed Quarter Battle, other aircraft. counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations etc. National Voters’ Day observed on 25 January Ramchandra Guha’s latest book ‘The Commonwealth of India observes “National Voters’ Day” every year on Cricket’ January 25 to encourage more young voters to take part Ramchandra Guha’s latest book ‘The Commonwealth of in the political process. 2021 marks the 11th National Cricket’ would be launching virtually in the Tata Literature Voters’ Day (NVD). Live (The Mumbai Lit fest) this month. The theme of NVD 2021 is, ‘Making Our Voters His latest book juxtaposes his life with his abiding love Empowered, Vigilant, Safe and Informed’. for the game & this conversation could not come at a better time with India and Australia in the midst of an International Day of Education: 24 January enthralling test series. The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 24 In his upcoming book, ‘The commonwealth of cricket: January as International Day of Education, in celebration The most subtle and sophisticated game known to of the role of education for peace and development. mankind’, Guha has penned down his personal account National Girl Child Day: January 24 of being intimately involved with the game starting from In India, the National Girl Child Day (NGCD) is observed annually the time he was a child growing up in Dehradun to his on January 24. The day aims to focus on the inequalities faced by days in college, from his encounters with the best Indian girls, to promote the education, health & nutrition of the girl child, and foreign cricket players to becoming part of the BCCI. and to spread awareness about the rights of a girl child.

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Tata Power Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra. New Development Bank Headquarters Location: Punjab National Bank Headquarters: New Delhi. Shanghai, China. Punjab National Bank CEO: S. S. Mallikarjuna Rao New Development Bank President: Marcos Prado (1Oct 2019). Troyjo. Punjab National Bank Founded: 19 May 1894, Lahore, New Development Bank Founder: BRICS. Pakistan. New Development Bank Founded: 15 July 2014. Punjab National Bank Founders: Lala Lajpat Rai, Dyal Chief Minister of Karnataka: B.S. Yediyurappa; Singh Majithia. Governor: Vajubhai Vala. NITI Aayog Formed: 1 January 2015. Chief of Army Staff: General Manoj Mukund Naravane. NITI Aayog Headquarters: New Delhi. Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) NITI Aayog Chairperson: Narendra Modi. set up on: 2nd April 1990. Flipkart headquarters: Bengaluru, Karnataka. SIDBI Headquarters: Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Flipkart CEO: Kalyan Krishnamurthy. SIDBI Chairman & MD: Devendra Kumar Singh. MD and CEO of India Post Payments Bank (IPPB): J Tata Power CEO: Praveer Sinha. Venkatramu. RBI 25th Governor: Shaktikant Das; Headquarters: India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) Headquarters: New Mumbai; Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata. Delhi. IDBI Bank CEO: Rakesh Sharma. All India Chess Federation Headquarters: Jawaharlal IDBI Bank Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra. Nehru Stadium; Chennai. Suveer Kumar Gupta, MD & CEO of Shivalik Mercantile All India Chess Federation Founded: 1951. Cooperative Bank. All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council HQ: Shivalik Mercantile Cooperative Bank HQ: Saharanpur, Mumbai, Maharashtra. Uttar Pradesh. All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council Founded: Bharat Electronics Limited Chairman & Managing 2005. Director: M V Gowtama. CEO of Google: Sundar Pichai; Headquarters: Bharat Electronics Limited Headquarters: Bengaluru. California, United States. Bharat Electronics Limited Founded: 1954. BofA Securities Headquarters: New York, United States. Chief of Naval Staff: Admiral Karambir Singh. BofA Securities Parent organization: Bank of America. Indian Navy Founded: 26 January 1950. BofA Securities Founded: 1 January 2009. Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Chairman & BofA Securities CEO: Brian T Moynihan. Managing Director: Rear Admiral V K Saxena. Nomura President and Group CEO: Kentaro Okuda. Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Fitch Ratings Headquarters: New York, United States. Headquarters: Kolkata, West Bengal. Fitch Ratings CEO: Paul Taylor. Secretary Department of Defence Research and Fitch Ratings Founder: John Knowles Fitch. Development & Chairman DRDO: Dr G Satheesh Reddy. Fitch Ratings Founded: 1914. DRDO Headquarters: New Delhi. International Union for Conservation of Nature DRDO Established: 1958. Headquarters: Gland, Switzerland. President and CEO of Israel Aerospace Industries: Boaz International Union for Conservation of Nature CEO: Levy. Grethel Aguilar. International Chess Federation President: Arkady International Union for Conservation of Nature Dvorkovich. Founder: Julian Huxley. International Chess Federation Headquarters: International Union for Conservation of Nature Lausanne, Switzerland. Founded: 5 October 1948. International Chess Federation Founded: 20 July 1924. Chief Minister of Karnataka: B.S. Yediyurappa; Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports: Kiren Governor: Vajubhai Vala. Rijiju. President of ADB: Masatsugu Asakawa; Headquarters: Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh: Radha Krishna Mathur. Manila, Philippines. Chairman of ICC: Greg Barclay. ADB Established: 9 December 1966. CEO of ICC: Manu Sawhney. Chief Minister of West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee; Headquarters of ICC: Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Governor: Jagdeep Dhankhar. Chief Minister of Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal; Governor of Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh: Shivraj Singh Delhi: Anil Baijal. Chouhan; Governor: Anandiben Patel. Delhi Minister of Art, Culture, and Language: Manish Chief Minister of Maharashtra: Uddhav Thackeray; Sisodia. Governor: Bhagat Singh Koshyari. 25 Current Affairs Magazine January 2021 Goa Capital: Panaji. Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation Governor of Goa: Bhagat Singh Koshyari. Headquarter: Mumbai, Maharashtra. Chief Minister of Goa: Pramod Sawant. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Headquarters: Mumbai, FSSAI Chairperson: Rita Teaotia. Maharashtra. FSSAI Chief Executive Officer: Arun Singhal. Reserve Bank of India Establishment: 1 April 1935. FSSAI Founded: August 2011. Reserve Bank of IndiaGovernor: Shaktikanta Das. FSSAI Headquarters: New Delhi. Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governors: 4 (Bibhu Serum Institute of India CEO: Adar Poonawalla. Prasad Kanungo, Mahesh Kumar Jain, Michael Serum Institute of IndiaFounder: Cyrus S. Poonawalla. Debabrata Patra, and M Rajeswar Rao). Serum Institute of IndiaFounded: 1966. Deutsche Bank CEO: Christian Sewing. Serum Institute of India Headquarters location: Pune. Deutsche Bank Headquarters: Frankfurt, Germany. President of Pakistan: Arif Alvi. Deutsche Bank Founded: 10 March 1870. Prime Minister of Pakistan: Imran Khan. ICRA Headquarters: Gurgaon, Haryana. IHS Markit CEO: Lance Uggla. ICRA Non-Executive Chairman and Director: Arun IHS Markit Headquarters: London, United Kingdom. Duggal. IHS Markit Founded: 1959. Supreme Court Bar Association Headquarters: New Tesla Founded: 1 July 2003. Delhi, India. Tesla Headquarters: California, United States. Intel Founded: 18 July 1968. All India Football Federation President: Praful Patel Intel Headquarters: Santa Clara, California, United All India Football Federation Vice-President: Subrata States. Dutta. Intel Founders: Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce. All India Football Federation Founded: 23 June 1937. National Institute of Ocean Technology Director: Dr G All India Football Federation Headquarters: Dwarka, A Ramadass. Delhi. National Institute of Ocean Technology HQ: Chennai, Bandhan Bank MD & CEO: Chandra Shekhar Ghosh. Tamil Nadu. Bandhan Bank HQ: Kolkata, West Bengal. Chief of Naval Staff: Admiral Karambir Singh. Bandhan Bank Founded: 2001. Indian Navy Founded: 26 January 1950. Central African Republic Capital: Bangui; IdeaForge CEO: Ankit Mehta. Central African Republic Currency: Central African CFA IdeaForge HQ: Mumbai, Maharashtra. Franc. Secretary Department of Defence Research and Japan Capital: Tokyo. Development & Chairman DRDO: Dr G Satheesh Reddy. Japan Currency: Japanese yen. DRDO Headquarters: New Delhi. Japan Prime minister: Yoshihide Suga. DRDO Established: 1958. Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs: Nirmala France Capital: Paris. Sitharaman. France President: Emmanuel Macron. Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance and France Prime minister: Jean Castex Corporate Affairs: Anurag Singh Thakur. France Currency: Euro. Chief Minister of West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee; Vietnam Capital: Hanoi. Governor: Jagdeep Dhankhar. Vietnam Currency: Vietnamese dong. Chief Minister of Manipur: N. Biren Singh; Governor: Vietnam Prime Minister: Nguyen Xuan Phuc. Najma Heptulla. President of BCCI: Sourav Ganguly. Chief Minister of Odisha: Naveen Patnaik. Headquarters of BCCI: Mumbai, Maharashtra; Odisha Capital: Bhubaneswar. Founded: December 1928. Odisha Governor: Ganeshi Lal. Swami Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Math Kerala CM: Pinarayi Vijayan. and Mission on 1 May 1897. Kerala Governor: Arif Mohammad Khan. In 1898, he established Belur Math. Capital of Indonesia: Jakarta. 28th Chief of Army Staff: General Manoj Mukund The currency of Indonesia: Indonesian rupiah. Naravane. President of Indonesia: Joko Widodo. IRDAI Founded: 1999. Kyrgyzstan Capital: Bishkek; IRDAI Headquarters: Hyderabad, Telangana. Kyrgyzstan Currency: Kyrgyzstani som. Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship: Bharat Biotech Founded: 1996. Mahendra Nath Pandey. Bharat Biotech Headquarters location: Hyderabad. YES bank HQ: Mumbai, Maharashtra. Bharat Biotech Executive director: Dr V Krishna Mohan. YES bank MD&CEO: Prashant Kumar. Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation ICICI Bank Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra. Establishment: 1978. ICICI Bank MD & CEO: Sandeep Bakhshi. Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation ICICI Bank Tagline: Hum Hai Na, Khayal Apka. Chairman: Michael Debabrata Patra (Deputy Governor, UN Human Rights Council Founded: 15 March 2006. RBI). 26 Current Affairs Magazine January 2021 UN Human Rights Council Headquarters: Geneva, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh: YS Jagan Mohan Switzerland. Reddy; Governor: Biswa Bhusan Harichandan. IDFC First Bank CEO: V. Vaidyanathan. Chief Minister of Telangana: K Chandrasekhar Rao; IDFC First Bank Headquarters: Mumbai. Governor: Tamilisai Soundararajan. IDFC First Bank Founded: October 2015. Chief Minister of Assam: Sarbananda Sonowal; Minister of State IC of the Ministry of Statistics and Governor: Prof. Jagdish Mukhi. Programme Implementation: Rao Inderjit Singh. Chief Minister of Sikkim: PS Golay. Headquarter of Bajaj Auto: Pune, Maharashtra. Governor of Sikkim: Ganga Prasad. Managing Director of Bajaj Auto: Rajiv Bajaj.

1. Collab is the new music video application launched by which 14. Which financial institution has approved four India projects major company? including Chhattisgarh’s CHIRAAG and DRIP-2? (a) Amazon (b)Facebook (c)Microsoft (d)Apple (a) ADB (b)AIIB (c)World Bank (d)IMF 2. Which country’s Prime Minister is to attend India’s 15. Which is the first Indian zoological park to receive ISO Republic Day parade as Chief Guest? Certification? (a) United States (c) Australia (a) Nehru Zoological Park (c)United Kingdom (d)New Zealand (b)Arignar Anna Zoological Park 3. Which country has announced referendum to add climate (c)Thiruvananthapuram Zoo goals in its Constitution? (d)Alipore National Park (a)France (b)United Kingdom 16. Communication satellite CMS-01, which was launched (c)New Zealand (d)Germany recently, was launched by which organisation? 4. What is the name of the promotional activity of the India (a) NASA (b)ISRO International Science Festival, which is in the news recently? (c)JAXA (d)ROSCOSMOS (a) Vigyan Yatra (b)Vigyan Parikshit 17. Chinese spacecraft Chang’e 5 has returned to the Earth, (c)Vigyan Sammelan (d)Vigyan Festival carrying samples from which astronomical body? 5. Eswatini, which was in the news recently, for the demise of (a) Jupiter (b)Saturn (c)Moon (d)Sun its Prime Minister, is located in which continent? 18. Which country offered official recognition to Yogasana as a (a) Asia (b)Africa competitive sport? (c)South America (d)Europe (a) Sri Lanka(b)Myanmar (c)Singapore (d)India 6. Prime Minister Modi laid foundation stone for the country’s 19. ‘Great Astronomical Conjunction’, which was seen in the largest renewable energy park in which state? news recently, is the closer appearance of which two planets? (a) Rajasthan (b)Gujarat (a) Jupiter and Saturn (b)Saturn and Venus (c)Punjab (d)Tamil Nadu (c)Jupiter and Venus (d)Mercury and Venus 7. What type of military vehicle is C-454, which was recently 20. Which is the first launch vehicle of the ISRO, that will commissioned at Surat? entirely carry the satellites of private players? (a) Interceptor boat (b)Sea Drone (a) PSLV C 31 (b)PSLV G 7 (c)Offshore Patrol Vessel (d)Hover craft (c)PSLV C 51 (d)PSLV Mark II 8. What is the name of the new digital payment application 21. What is the rank of India in the Doing Business Report launched by India Post Payments Bank? 2020, after the recent update of the World Bank? (a) Post Pay (b)Dak Pay (a) 85 (b)72 (c)63 (d)56 (c)IPPB Pay (d)Dak Digital 22. ASTRA Mk-I Missile, IMSAS and BOSS System, which 9. Who chairs the meeting of the Financial Stability and were handed over to the Armed Forces, were developed by Development Council (FSDC)? which organisation? (a) Prime Minister (b)Finance Minister (a) DRDO (b)OFB (c)BEL (d)HAL (c)RBI Governor (d)NITI Aayog CEO 23. Couscous, the staple food of which region, has been included 10. Which country observes ‘Martyred Intellectuals Day’ on in the UNESCO Cultural Heritage List? December 14? (a) Australia (b)North Africa (a) India (b)Bangladesh (c)North America (d)South Asia (c)Pakistan (d)Sri Lanka 24. Which state launched Public Welfare Portal (PWP) or Jan 11. The North East Power Project, NERPSIP which was seen Kalyan Portal, to consolidate all information about the state in the news recently, is implemented by which organisation? schemes? (a) REC (b)POWERGRID (a) Gujarat (b)Rajasthan (c)NTPC (d)ONGC (c)Punjab (d)Madhya Pradesh 12. Which global institution is to provide USD 1000 mn loan to 25. As per IUCN’s recent assessment, which species in the India, to support MGNREG Scheme? Indian EEZ, are classified as Critically Endangered (CE)? (a) ADB (b)AIIB (c)NDB (d)IMF (a) Sharks, rays and chimaeras 13. Union External Affairs Ministry has launched which category (b)Great Indian Bustards of website, to highlight ‘Brand India’? (c) Black Buck Antelopes (a) Economic Diplomacy website (d) Black shell Turtles and Himalayan Serow (b)Counter Terrorism website 26. Which Union Ministry presents the Pandit Deendayal (c) Cyber Diplomacy website Upadhyay Telecom Skill Excellence Awards? (d) Cultural Growth website 27 Current Affairs Magazine January 2021 (a) Ministry of Skill Development (a) Russia (b)Israel (b) Ministry of Power (c)United States (d)France (c) Ministry of Communication 42. National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), which was (d) Ministry of Electronics and IT making news recently, is based at which city? 27. Who is the author of the book ‘Reporting India’, which was (a) New Delhi (b)Mumbai recently launched? (c)Ahmedabad (d)Pune (a) S Jaishankar (b)Prem Prakash 43. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is to (c)Sushant Sareen (d)Sheela Bhatt establish a Regional Academic Centre for Space (RAC-S) at 28. Who has been conferred with the ‘ASSOCHAM Enterprise which institution? of the Century Award’? (a) IIT- BHU (b)IIT- Guwahati (a) Adi Godrej (b)Mukesh Ambani (c)IISC, Bengaluru (d)IIT- Roorkee (c)Ratan Tata (d)Uday Kotak 44. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, along with which 29. The Indian cricket team scored its lowest ever total in Test Ministry launched a Contest to strengthen CoWIN? cricket against which team? (a)Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (a) England (b)Australia (b)Ministry of Electronics and IT (c)Sri Lanka (d)South Africa (c) Ministry of External Affairs 30. What is the name of the first spokesperson of the Rashtriya (d) Ministry of Education Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), who passed away recently? 45. What is the share of the Centre in the recently approved (a) Madhav Govind Vaidya(b)Motilal Vora Post Matric Scholarship for SC students? (c) Budal Krishnamoorthy(d) Moan Rawale (a) 40% (b)50% (c)60% (d)75% 31. A Committee to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary 46. Which Union Ministry launched ‘Swachhata Abhiyan’ of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, is to be constituted under mobile application to geotag insanitary latrines and manual which Minister? scavengers? (a) Rajnath Singh (b)Amit Shah (a) Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (b) Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (c)S Jai Shankar (d)Piyush Goyal (c) Ministry of Rural Development 32. Which Indian research institution is to set up Dr FC Kohli (d) Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Centre of Excellence for Research? 47. What is the name of the online learning platform for it is, (a) Chennai Mathematical Institute launched by the Skill Development Ministry? (b) Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (a) Bharatskills (b)India Skills (c) Indian Statistical Institute (c)Skill on line (d)Skill on board (d) Indian Institute of Science 48. Which Indian state has announced Rs 10,000 crore worth 33. Which Indian Bank has partnered with Defence Forces for development projects to be completed in 100 days? providing customised banking services? (a) Tamil Nadu (b)Kerala (a) State Bank of India (b)Bank of Baroda (c)Andhra Pradesh (d)Karnataka (c)Punjab National Bank (d)Canara Bank 49. India has appealed against the international arbitration 34. India signed an agreement with which country, to cooperate court’s ruling in favour of which Telecom company? in health and medicine and support ‘Green healthcare’? (a) Jio (b)Vodafone (c)Airtel (d)Orange SA (a) France (b)Brazil (c)Italy (d)Israel 50. The ‘Brahmaputra Aamantran Abhiyaan’, which was seen 35. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been conferred in the news recently, is to be held in which two states? with the ‘Legion of Merit’ honour by which country? (a) Arunachal Pradesh and Assam (a) Russia (b)United States (b) Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya (c)United Kingdom (d)United Arab Emirates (c) Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram 36. What is the theme of the India International Science Festival (d) Assam and Meghalaya 2020? 51. Which state cabinet has approved Dharma Swatantrya (a) Science for Self-Reliant India and Global Welfare (Religious Freedom) Bill 2020? (b) Aatma Nirbhar Vigyanika (a) Andhra Pradesh (b)Madhya Pradesh (c) Science and Covid-19 (c)Odisha (d)Jharkhand (d) Bharat Vigyan 52. Which state has been permitted by the Finance Ministry to 37. The Prime Minister released a postage stamp during the borrow Rs 2731 after it achieved ‘Ease of doing business centenary celebrations of which University? reform? (a) Aligarh Muslim University (a)Gujarat (b)Kerala (c)Rajasthan (d)Odisha (b) Jawaharlal Nehru University 53. Which Municipal Corporation has been selected as the best (c) University of Delhi performing civic body in the country? (d) Banaras Hindu University (a)Chennai (b)Visakhapatnam 38. As per a Lancet report, which issue has caused 1.7 million (c) Cochin (d)Mysuru deaths and economic loss of 1.4% of the GDP, in India? 54. Which Indian organisation is developing ‘Green propulsion’ (a) Covid-19 (b)Air Pollution technology, that was seen in the news recently? (c)Non communicable Diseases (d)Smoking (a)DRDO (b)ISRO (c)BARC (d)OFB 39. The Suspension on Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) 55. The 100th Kisan Rail of India has been flagged off between has been extended till which date? Maharashtra and which other state? (a) March 31, 2021 (b)June 30, 2021 (a)Madhya Pradesh (b)Gujarat (c) September 30, 2021 (d) December 31, 2021 (c)West Bengal (d)Bihar 40. Which Indian bank has launched contactless ‘RuPay Select’ 56. Thoubal Multipurpose Project has been inaugurated in which debit card in association with NPCI? Indian state? (a) State Bank of India (b)Central Bank of India (a)Assam (b)Manipur (c)Punjab National Bank (d)ICICI Bank (c)West Bengal (d)Bihar 41. The MRSAM (Medium Range Surface to Air Missile), 57. Which state announced that it will include the History of which was test-fired recently, was developed in association Sikh gurus in school curriculum? with which country? (a)Bihar (b)Uttar Pradesh (c)Gujarat (d)Madhya Pradesh 28 Current Affairs Magazine January 2021 58. Sunil Kothari, who recently passed away, was associated (a)Sikkim (b)Arunachal Pradesh with which profession? (c)Meghalaya (d) Manipur (a)Dance Historian (b)Cricket commentator 76. K-9 Journal, which was recently released, is associated with Businessman (d)Scientist which field? 59. As per the notification of MoRTH in December 2020, the (a)Medicine (b)Policing (c)Pandemic(d)Robotics validity of expiring Motor Vehicle Documents is extended 77. Which Indian armed force has created a first-of-its kind till which date? ‘Human rights cell’? (a)January 31, 2021 (b)March 31, 2021 (a)Indian Navy (b) Indian Army (c)June 30, 2021 (d)August 31, 2021 (c) Indian Coast Guard (d)Indian Air Force 60. An archaeological site named Pompeii, which was making 78. Sambalpur, where the Prime Minister of India, laid the news recently, is located in which country? foundation stone of IIM, is located in which state? (a)France (b)Italy (c)Germany(d)Greece (a)West Bengal (b)Odisha 61. Which country’s new rules on drones, permit them to fly (c)Bihar (d)Uttarakhand over people and at night in the country? 79. Asian Waterbird Census 2021, which was seen in the news (a)China (b)Russia recently, is to be conducted in which state? (c)United States (d)South Korea (a) Kerala (b)Tamil Nadu 62. Which country is set to join as the sixth member of the (c)Andhra Pradesh (d)Gujarat ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence network? 80. Deepor Beel, which was seen in the news recently, is the (a)India (b)Japan (c)UK (d)Brazil only Ramsar site of which state? 63. As a part of Mission SAGAR-III, Indian Naval Ship INS (a)Sikkim (b)Assam Kiltan as reached which country to deliver relief materials? (c)Arunachal Pradesh (d)Manipur (a)Madagascar (b)Philippines 81. A three-judge bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar (c)Cambodia (d)Laos delivered verdict on which case, by 2:1 majority? 64. ‘Adopt a Heritage’ is a scheme implemented by Ministry (a)Hathras Case (b) Central Vista Project Case of Tourism in association with which Union Ministry? (c) Ayodhya Land Case (d) Covid-19 vaccination case (a)Ministry of Culture 82. As per the recent statement of UNICEF, which country (b) Ministry of Home Affairs recorded the highest number of births on the New Year’s (c) Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Day? (d) Ministry of Tribal Affairs (a)China (b) India(c)United States (d)Indonesia 65. India’s first pollinator park has been established in which 83. ‘Freight Business Development Portal’, which was making state? news, was launched by which Union Ministry? (a)Haryana (b)Uttarakhand (a)Ministry of Commerce and Industry (c)Himachal Pradesh (d)Sikkim (b) Ministry of Railways 66. Estonia, which was seen in the news recently, is a country (c) Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in which continent? (d) Ministry of MSME (a)South America (b)Europe 84. What is the name of the webinar serried launched by the (c)Asia (d)Africa Commerce Ministry, along with NPC and QCI? 67. The Union Cabinet has approved the export of which missile (a)Atmanirbhar Industries (b) Udyog Marathon system of India? (c) MSME Marathon (d) Self-Reliance Series (a)Akash (b)Nag (c)Prithvi (d)Amogha 85. Which organisation has issued a Statement on Climate of 68. Which country’s space agency has recently approved two India during 2020? Sun-exploration heliophysics missions? (a)India Meteorological Department (a) India (b)United States (c)Russia (d)China (b) Ministry of Earth Sciences 69. Which type of Ethanol is made from sources like molasses, (c) Indian Institute of Tropical Studies (d) DRDO sugarcane, sugar beet, sorghum and edible oil seeds? 86. The PM CARES Fund Trust has allocated Rs 201 crores (a)1G ethanol (b)2G ethanol for installation of which equipment? (c)3G ethanol (d)Clean Ethanol (a)Oxygen Generation Plants 70. Which application has been launched by the External Affairs (b) Air Purifiers Ministry to connect with Indian diaspora? (c) RO- Water Purifiers (a)Bharat Connect (b)Global Pravasi Rishta (d) Make Shift Hospitals (c)Hindustan Hamara (d)Bharat Communicate 87. Which organisation recently deployed its all-women team 71. What is the name of the online event launched by Agriculture for contingency duties? Ministry, to promote innovation in agriculture? (a)Central Armed Police Force (a) Atmanirbhar Agri (b) Agri India Hackathon (b) Indo-Tibetan Border Police (c) Kisan Mela (d) Krishi Sammelan (c) National Disaster Response Fund 72. What is the expansion of ‘IUC’, which was recently seen in (d) Central Industrial Security Force the news recently? 88. ‘SwasthVayu’, a Non-invasive Ventilator, which was seen (a)Internet usage charges (b) Intermediate usage charges in the news recently, was developed by which organsiation? (c) Interconnect usage charges(d) Interconnect utility charges (a)DRDO (b)CSIR (c)ISRO (d)BARC 73. Zhong Shanshan, who replaced Mukesh Ambani as Asia’s 89. How many Ministries have partnered for the Toycathon richest person, is from which country? Initiative, which was recently launched (a)Singapore (b)China (c)Japan (d)Thailand (a)Two (b)Four (c)Five (d)Six 74. Who has been appointed as the new Railway Board 90. Which company has partnered with SIDBI, to provide a Chairman and CEO? finance scheme to MSMEs in rooftop solar segment? (a)A K Antony (b)Suneet Sharma (a)Tata Power (b)Mahindra & Mahindra (c)Pradeep Kumar (d)P S Mishra (c)L&T (d)Ashok Leyland 75. China has completed a railway line linking the Tibetan cities 91. Which Union Ministry launched the ‘Longitudinal Ageing of Lhasa and Nyingchi, near the border of which Indian Study of India (LASI)’ report? state? (a)Ministry of Earth Sciences

29 Current Affairs Magazine January 2021 (b) Ministry of Health and Family Welfare 109. World Hindi Day commemorates the anniversary of first (c) Ministry of Commerce and Industry World Hindi Conference held in which state? (d) Ministry of MSME (a)Varanasi (b)Nagpur (c)Pune (d)Delhi 92. How many wildlife species are under recovery programme 110. As per Geological Survey of India (GSI), which Indian state for critically endangered species in India? could contain Vanadium Deposits? (a)12 (b)16 (c)22 (d)35 (a)Jharkhand (b)Bihar 93. Angamaly-Azhutha Sabari rail project, which was making (c)Arunachal Pradesh (d)Odisha news recently, is to be constructed in which state? 111. Which organisation is to adopt 100 Atal Tinkering Labs (a)Karnataka(b)Kerala across the country, to promote ‘STEM’ Education? (c)Tamil Nadu (d)Telangana (a)DRDO (b)ISRO 94. Which High Court recently ruled that advertisement of any (c)BARC (d)Indian Air Force article using the name of any God as illegal? 112. ‘The Heritage Conversation Committee’, which was in the news (a)Madras High Court (b) Bombay High Court (c) Gujarat High Court (d) Guwahati High Court recently, is headed by the official of which Union Ministry? 95. Which country has defaulted on BRICS bank (New (a)Ministry of Home Affairs Development Bank) agreement? (b) Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (a)Brazil (b)South Africa (c) Ministry of Culture (c)India (d)China (d) Ministry of Tourism 96. As per the NSO’s first advanced estimates, what would be 113. What per cent of the total geographic area of India is occupied the GDP growth/contraction in India, in FY 2020-21? by the Protected Areas? (a)+ 3.2% (b)+ 1.2% (c)- 6.4% (d)- 7.7% (a)2.5% (b)5% (c)7.5% (d)10% 97. Who is the head of the panel constituted by the Health 114. ‘Sea Vigil-21’ is a Defence Exercise undertaken by which Ministry, to look into the adverse findings of the NFHS-5? country? (a)Harsh Vardan (b)Preeti Pant (a)India (b)Sri Lanka (c)China(d)United Kingdom (c)Radha Krishnan (d)Abhinav Gupta 115. Which is to be the country in focus at the 51st International 98. ‘Dheeiyan Di Lohri’ and ‘BASERA’ are the recently launched Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa? scheme of which Indian state? (a)France (b)Russia (c)Bangladesh (d)Sri Lanka (a)Rajasthan (b)Punjab 116. Where is the headquarters of the ‘National AIDS Control (c)Uttar Pradesh (d)Bihar Organisation (NACO)’ located? 99. Indian-American Dr Raj Iyer, has been named the first Chief (a)Mumbai (b)Delhi (c)Hyderabad (d)Kolkata Information Officer of the Army of which country? 117. Which arm of the Indian Army is to recruit women as Pilots (a)Singapore(b)USA (c)Japan (d)UK for the first time from next year? 100. ‘Fatah-1’, which was successfully tested, is the indigenous (a)Corps of Signals (b)Armoured Corps Rocket system of which country? (c)Army Aviation Corps (d)Corps of Engineers (a)UAE (b)Israel 118. The Leader of which country has been given a title of (c)Pakistan (d)Afghanistan “General secretary” of the ruling Workers’ Party? 101. As per the recent announcement of the Lok Sabha speaker, which campaign is to be undertaken in schools and colleges? (a)China (b)North Korea (a)Know your MLA (b)Know your MP (c)Thailand (d)Vietnam (c)Know your constituency(d)Know your Constitution 119. Which Union Ministry is to set up a National Faceless 102. Trade Policy Review (TPR), which was making news Penalty Centre? recently, is associated with which organisation? (a)Ministry of Defence (b) Ministry of Finance (a)World Bank (b)WTO (c)IMF (d)FAO (c) Ministry of Commerce and Industry 103. As per the recent guidelines by the UGC, the Institutions (d) Ministry of MSME of Eminence can open how many foreign campuses? 120. Ministry of Minority Affairs has decided to geo-tag all (a)One (b)Three (c)Five (d)Ten Waqf properties in which Indian state/UT? 104. IREDA, which was making news recently, is an organisation (a)Delhi (b)Puducherry under which Ministry? (c)Goa (d)Sikkim (a)Ministry of Power 121. The NASSCOM has partnered with which state’s AI (b) Ministry of New and Renewable Energy mission, to launch an Innovation Factory? (c) Ministry of Communication (a)Tamil Nadu (b)Telangana (d) Ministry of MSME (c)Kerala (d)Karnataka 105. Who is the brand ambassador of West Bengal, who also 122. Which country’s Mars Digger probe named the ‘Mole’ was attended the inaugural ceremony of the Kolkata International declared dead recently? Film Festival? (a)China (b)UAE (c)USA (d)Israel (a)Amitabh Bachchan (b)Shah Rukh Khan 123. Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which was making news recently, (c)Naseeruddin Shah (d)Anil Kapoor passes through which Sea? 106. Union Home Minister is to launch the ‘Single Window (a)Caspian Sea (b)Baltic Sea Clearance System’ in which sector? (c)Red Sea (d)East China Sea (a)Coal Mines (b)DISCOMs 124. Which Listed Large Company won the ICSI National Award (c)Steel Plants (d)Copper Mines 107. The first edition of National Youth Parliament Festival was for Excellence in Corporate Governance? held in which year? (a)PFC (b)ITC (c)NTPC (d)ONGC (a)2015 (b)2017 (c)2019 (d)2020 125. Ice-Stupa, Swasthya Portal and Prayas Dashboard, which 108. The LiDAR survey was started for which high speed rail were making news recently, are the initiatives of which Union project, from Noida? Ministry? (a)Delhi-Varanasi High-Speed Rail Corridor (a)Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (b) Delhi-Patna High-Speed Rail Corridor (b) Ministry of Education (c) Mumbai–Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Corridor (c) Ministry of Tribal Affairs (d) Chennai-Bengaluru High Speed Rail Corridor (d) Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

30 Current Affairs Magazine January 2021 126. Which Indian Armed Force signed a contract with a private 141. Who is the first woman Fighter pilot of India at the Republic company to procure high-altitude SWITCH Drones, for Day parade? USD 20 mn? (a)Bhawana Kanth (b)Mohana Singh (a)Indian Air Force (b) Indian Army (c)Avani Chaturvedi (d)Shivangi (c)Indian Navy (d)Indian Coast Guard 142. ‘Desert Knight-21’, which was making news recently, is 127. With reference to STARStreak Air Defence system, India the Military exercise between India and which country? has recently teamed up with which country? (a)Brazil (b)France (a)Germany (b)Israel (c)Japan (d)United Kingdom (c)Japan (d)United Kingdom 143. Which institution releases the ‘India Innovation Index’? 128. Google has removed the Personal Loan applications in which (a)NITI Aayog (b)CSIR country, amid safety concerns? (c)RBI (d)ISRO (a)China (b)India 144. The birth anniversary of which freedom fighter is to be (c)Pakistan (d)Bangladesh celebrated as “Parakram Diwas” every year? 129. Who is/was the first U.S President to be impeached twice? (a)Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel (a)Bill Clinton (b)Andrew Johnson (b)Subash Chandra Bose (c)Donald Trump (d)Ronald Reagan (c) V D Savarkar (d)Bal Gangadhar Tilak 130. A team of scientists from which organisation has entered 145. Which state has raised the number of working days under China, to probe the source of Coronavirus? MGNREGA from 100 to 150 days? (a)FAO (b)WHO (a)Gujarat (b)Uttarakhand (c)CDC (d)John Hopkins University (c)Himachal Pradesh (d)Tamil Nadu 131. India’s first Labour Movement Museum is to be launched 146. Road Transport and Highways Ministry has partnered with in which state/UT? which organisation for Geo-hazard management? (a)Tamil Nadu (b)Kerala (a)ISRO (b)DRDO (c)BARC (d)CSIR (c)West Bengal (d)Andhra Pradesh 147. ‘Chintan Baithak’ is the Brainstorming Conference cum 132. Which Union Ministry won the SKOCH Challenger Award Review Meeting of which Union Ministry? under “Transparency in Governance” category? (a)Ministry of Communication (a)Ministry of Home Affairs (b) Ministry of Culture (b) Ministry of Panchayati Raj (c) Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (c) Ministry of Law (d) Ministry of Tourism (d) Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development 148. Which state amended Lokayukta bill to make retired High 133. Bhadravati Rapid Action Force (RAF) unit, which was Court Judges also eligible for the post of Lokayukta? making news recently, is the first such unit of which state? (a)Andhra Pradesh (b)Goa (a)Telangana (b)Karnataka (c)Odisha (d)West Bengal (c)Kerala (d)Odisha 149. India signed an agreement with which country for Submarine 134. Who is the Author of the book titled “The Making of Rescue Support and cooperation between the Navies? Aadhaar: World’s Largest Identity Platform” (a)Japan (b)Singapore (c)France Sri Lanka (a)Ram Sewak Sharma (b) Nandan Nilekani 150. Which Public sector Unit has joined hands with Himachal (c) A K Sikri (d) Kris Gopalakrishnan Pradesh, to improve telecom connectivity in the hilly areas? 135. Which Indian Union Minister was conferred with the (a)PFC Ltd (b)PowerGrid (c)REC Ltd (d)GAIL Ltd “Sahitya Gaurav Samman” award by the Hindi Writers 151. Scientists have spotted rare hot UV-bright stars in a Guild, Canada? cluster, using the telescope onboard which satellite? (a)S Jai Shankar (a)AstroSat (b)CartoSat-2 (b) Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ (c)Risat-7E (d)Insat- 4E (c)Amit Shah (d) Jitendra Singh 152. Namrup, which was recently making news for its Urea Plant, 136. The first-ever National Road Safety Month was observed is located in which state? in which year, in India? (a)Assam (b)Chhattisgarh(c)Bihar (d)Uttarakhand (a)2010 (b)2015 (c)2017 (d)2021 153. What is Abell 370, whose picture was recently shared by 137. Indian Farm Forestry Development Co-operative (IFFDC) the NASA? has partnered with which Union Ministry to conduct training (a)Black Hole (b)Exoplanet programs for artisans? (c)Galaxy Cluster (d)Meteor (a)Ministry of Agriculture 154. The ‘1776 Commission report’, which was making news (b) Ministry of Tribal Affairs recently, is associated with which country? (c) Ministry of Commerce and Industry (a) Japan (b)China(c)United States (d)Germany (d) Ministry of MSME 155. When is the statehood day of the three states of Meghalaya, 138. With reference to DRDO, what is ‘Rakshita’, which was Manipur & Tripura celebrated? making news recently? (a) January 19 (b)January 21 (a)Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(b) Bike-based Ambulance (c)January 23 (d)January 25 (c)Air Ambulance (d)Water Ambulance 156. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) proposed a four-tier 139. Which country chaired the recent session of Executive Board regulatory framework for which type of financial of WHO, held in January 2021? institutions? (a)United States (b)India (a)Payment Banks (b)NBFCs (c)China (d)Australia (c)Small Finance Banks (d)Foreign Banks 140. The Central Soil and Materials Research Station (CSMRS), 157. ‘Toshali National Crafts Mela’, which was making news which was making news, functions under which Ministry? recently, was organised in which state/UT? (a)Ministry of Home Affairs (a)Odisha (b)Bihar (b)Ministry of Jal Shakti (c)Uttarakhand (d)Andhra Pradesh (c)Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development 158. Which is the venue of the ‘Exercise Desert Knight 21’? (d) Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (a)Andaman and Nicobar Islands (b)Goa (c) Jodhpur (d)Kolkata

31 Current Affairs Magazine January 2021 159. Road Transport Ministry signed MoU with which 168. Which Indian state/UT launched a new initiative named institution for Research and Development? ‘Jail tourism’? (a)IIT Roorkee (b)NIT Warangal (a)Andaman & Nicobar Islands (b)Maharashtra (c)Central Institute of Road Transport (c)Gujarat (d)West Bengal (d)IIT Chennai 169. The ‘Union Budget’ Mobile application has been developed 160. The Land Allotment Policy 2021-30, which was making by which institution? news recently, was released by which state/UT? (a)National Informatics Centre (a)Karnataka (b)Kerala (b)Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (c)Jammu& Kashmir (d)Gujarat (c) Department of Telecommunications 161. ‘Ooceraea joshii’, is an Ant species recently discovered in (d) National Technical Research Organisation which state? 170. The ‘Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons’ was approved by the United Nations General Assembly in which (a)Telangana (b)Kerala year? (c)Andhra Pradesh (d)Karnataka (a)2000 (b)2003 (c)2012 (d)2017 162. Rajendra Kumar Bhandarim, who was seen in news recently, 171. Udyog Sahayak Enterprises Network (USENET), which is the winner of which award? was making news, is a draft policy proposed by which (a)Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar trade association? (b)Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar (a)CII (b)FICCI (c)Jeevan Raksha Awards (c)NASSCOM (d) ASSOCHAM (d)Ashoka Chakra 172. The Armed Forces of which country participated in the 163. Ayushman CAPF scheme is a joint initiative of National Republic Day Parade of India in the year 2021? Health Authority (NHA) and which Ministry? (a) Nepal (b)Bangladesh (a)Ministry of Defence (c)United Kingdom (d)Bhutan (b) Ministry of Home Affairs 173. Which organisation releases the ‘World Economic Situation (c) Ministry of Education and Prospects 2021’? (d) Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (a) World Bank 164. ‘Shagun’ is a flagship scheme of which Indian state/UT? (b)International Monetary Fund (a) Gujarat (b)Maharashtra (c)United Nations (c)Punjab (d)Madhya Pradesh (d)Asian Development Bank 165. The World Health Organization (WHO) has collaborated 174. ‘Build Back Better recovery plan’, which was seen in the with which company to distribute Covid vaccines under news, is associated with the Head of which country? Covax alliance? (a) New Zealand (b)United States (a)Pfizer (b)Roche (c)Japan (d)China (c)Merck (d)Johnson & Johnson 175. As per the International Monetary Fund, which is the only 166. Mohammed Ishtaye, who was seen in the news recently, is key country that would record a double-digit growth in the Prime Minister of which country? FY22? (a)Palestine (b)Israel (c)Peru (d)Argentina (a)China (b)India (c)United States (d)Germany 167. As per the recent publication of ZSI, which region of India 176. Which country recently signed an order to allow Transgender is home to as many as 428 species? persons to serve in Military roles? (a)Western Ghats (b)Sunderbans (a)Singapore (b)United States (c)Deccan Plateau (d)Himalayan Region (c)New Zealand (d)India

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