31 January 2020 Current Affairs
- 9th India-Bangladesh joint military exercise SAMPRITI-IX to be conducted in Umrong, Meghalaya.
- Vinay Mohan Kwatra designated as the next Ambassador of India to Nepal.
On January 30, 2020, As per the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India (GoI), Shri Vinay Mohan Kwatra, a 1988 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Nepal. He will replace Manjeev Singh Puri.
- OPPO signs MoU with IIT Hyderabad for research on 5G, AI.
Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Corporation Ltd (commonly referred as OPPO),a Chinese consumer electronics and mobile communications company, has signed an MoU (memorandum of understanding) with the Indian Institute of Technology-Hyderabad (IIT-H), Telangana for research on new technologies such as 5G (5th Generation) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
- Bala Devi: 1st Indian woman to sign up for foreign football club, ‘Rangers FC’ of Scotland.
On January 31,2020 Ngangom Bala Devi, 29 years old from Manipur, has become the first Indian woman footballer to get a professional contract from Scotland’s Women Premier League club Rangers (Football Club) for 18-months and to play for jersey No.10 after a successful trial in November, 2019.
30 January 2020 Current Affairs
- 44th International Kolkata Book Fair 2020 (IKBF) begins in Kolkata, West Bengal with Russia as the theme country.
On 28 January 2020 , The 44th edition of Kolkata Book Fair 2020 (IKBF) has commenced at Central Park Mela Ground in SaltLake, Kolkata , West Bengal with Russia as a “Focal Theme Country”. Tyto, a category of bird species consisting of barn owls, grass owls and masked owls was selected as the official Mascot of the Book Fair for the 1st time.
- No charge on UPI, RuPay transactions if MDR is zero: Banks to NPCI.
On January 29, 2020, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), an umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems, has approved part of the banks request to remove interchange fees on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and RuPay card transactions as long as the merchant discount rate (MDR) remains zero.
- What is a coronavirus? Here is your complete visual guide.
Mysterious new strain of coronavirus has killed hundreds in China and infected thousands, including in other countries. Three positive cases have been reported in India, where authorities are working to contain the spread of the pathogen, known as the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV). On January 30, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the new coronavirus epidemic a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, or PHEIC. The same alert was issued for Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo last year, and for Zika in 2016.
29 January 2020 Current Affairs
- Indian Navy launched ‘Operation Vanilla’ to aid the cyclone-hit Madagascar.
On January 28, 2020, the Indian Navy(IN) launched ‘Operation Vanilla’. The purpose of this operation is to support and provide assistance to Tropical Cyclone Diane & flood-hit Madagascar. The Indian Navy Ship(INS) Airavat has been deployed to this mission. Indian Navy is the first responder for Humanitarian and Disaster Relief (HADR) in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
- World’s largest meditation centre opened in Hyderabad, Telangana.
On January 28, 2020 the World’s largest meditation centre was inaugurated at Kanha Shanti Vanam in Hyderabad, Telangana to mark the 75th anniversary of the formation of Shri Ram Chandra Mission (SRCM) and Heartfulness Institute. The center is dedicated to the first guide of Heartfulness Lalaji Maharaji. It can accommodate 1 lakh practitioners at a time.
28 January 2020 Current Affairs
- India’s first underwater metro, ‘Kolkata metro’ to be opened by March 2022.
On January 28,2020 Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) is set to complete its East-West Project, which runs partly under the Hooghly river, West Bengal, by March 2022. It will be India’s first underwater metro. The new metro rail is expected to carry about 900,000 people daily & will take less than a minute to cross a 520-meter underwater tunnel. 74% of the East-West metro project is owned by India’s Railway & remaining 26% by the nation’s Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs.
- WHO has declared the global risk of Noval Coronavirus (2019-nCoV).
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the global risk degree of the novel coronavirus strain 2019-nCoV that cause serious illnesses ranging from the common cold to Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV) from moderate to high .
27 January 2020 Current Affairs
- 1st Ganga-Volga Dialogue of civilizations 2020 between India & Russia held in New Delhi.
On 22 January 2020, The 1st edition of Ganga-Volga Dialogue of Civilizations 2020 based on the theme “Connectivity”, between India & Russia was held in New Delhi.
- BSE signed licensing agreement with ICE Futures Europe.
On January 27, 2020 the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has signed a licensing agreement with the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Futures Europe. ICE is a global exchange and clearing houses operator. Through this pact, the ICE Brent index will be used as a final settlement price for the rupee-denominated Brent future contract of BSE.
26 January 2020 Current Affairs
- RBI increased Investment Limits Under Voluntary Retention Route (VRR) to Rs 1.5lakh crore.
On January 24, 2020, based on the feedback received from the Voluntary Retention Route (VRR) scheme introduced by the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) in 2009, the central bank(RBI) in consultation with the govt. made certain amendments in the scheme to increase its operational flexibility.As per the amendments, the investment limit under VRR has now been increased to Rs 1,50,000 crores (1.5lakh crores) from earlier Rs.75,000 crores. She was honoured for designing the cover of the book ‘Tiffin: Authentic Recipes.
- Graphic designer Sneha pamneja wins Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize 2020 for ‘Tiffin’ at 13th Jaipur Literature Festival.
On January 25, 2020, Sneha Pamneja, a well known Graphic designer based in New Delhi, was awarded Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize 2020, a 1st of its kind award for brilliance in book design, at Jaipur BookMark of ongoing 13th edition of the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) at Diggi Palace Hotel in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
25 January 2020 Current Affairs
- Dept of Biotechnology holds international summit on women in STEM in New Delhi.
On January 24, 2020, The Department of Biotechnology under the aegis of Ministry of Science & Technology has organized a 2-day long International Summit on Women in STEM–“Visualizing the Future: New Skylines” at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi with the aim to increase the participation of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) field for development of scientific career.
- India’s first e-waste clinic opens in Bhopal.
On January 24, 2020 India’s first e-waste clinic was opened in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The e-waste clinic was inaugurated by C K Mishra (Secretary to the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate change,MoEFCC). The e-waste clinic was jointly set up by the Central Pollution Board Control -CPCB and Bhopal Municipal Corporation -BMC.
- Western Union joins hands with Airtel payments bank & Airtel Africa for money transfer service.
On January 22, 2020, Western Union Company, a leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments, has partnered with India’s largest integrated telecommunications services company, Bharti Airtel’s 2 arms– Airtel Payments Bank & Airtel Africa Plc, to enable millions of latter’s customers in India to receive international remittances in their bank accounts & and Mobile Wallets across 14 countries in Africa.
24 January 2020 Current Affairs
- India, Bangladesh signed agreement to upgrade Ashuganj-Akhaura road into 4-lane highway.
On January 24, 2020, India and Bangladesh have signed an agreement to upgrade the 50.58 kilometer long Ashuganj-Akhaura road into a 4-lane highway. The road runs between Ashuganj river port and the Akhaura land port in Bangladesh. The road project is part of the $2 billion second Line of Credit(LoC) extended by India to Bangladesh in 2016.
- Govt think-tank NITI Aayog releases its vision for National Data and Analytics Platform.
On January 23, 2020, NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog, a policy think tank of the Government of India (GoI), has released the vision document for the National Data and Analytics Platform (NDAP), which contain the latest datasets from several government departments and will also provide tools for analytics and visualisation of data to stakeholders in a user-friendly manner.
23 January 2020 Current Affairs
- President Ram Nath Kovind presented the ICCW National Bravery Award 2019 to 10 girls and 12 boys.
President Ram Nath Kovind presented the ICCW National Bravery Award 2019 to 10 girls and 12 boys. He also awarded 16-year-old Muhammed Muhsin, who drowned while saving three of his friends in the rough sea in April 2019, from Kozhikode in Kerala posthumously. He was chosen for the ICCW Abhimanyu Award.
- Cabinet approves over Rs 4300 cr to establish permanent campuses for new NITs.
Union Cabinet on approved to Revised Cost Estimates for establishment of permanent campuses of new National Institutes of Technology, NITs, at a total cost of 90 crore rupees for the period till 2021-2022.
22 January 2020 Current Affairs
- France is to train Indian flight surgeons to enable them to monitor the health of astronauts.
France is to train Indian flight surgeons to enable them to monitor the health of astronauts selected for the human space mission Gaganyaan. The announcement was released on 21 January 2020.
- The government has announced that it is to set up a National Startup Advisory Council on 21 January 2020.
The government has announced that it is to set up a National Startup Advisory Council on 21 January 2020. The council will advise the Centre on measures needed to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and start-ups in India.
