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www.tnpscportal.in Current Affairs January 2018

Current Affairs for the Month of January 2018

Compiled by Sarala Dhavamnaoharan

Important Days

1. January 9 -The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) is celebrated every year to

mark the contribution of Overseas Indian community in the development of

India with the theme of 2018 “Ancient Route, New Journey: Diaspora in the

Dynamic ASEAN INDIA Partnership” This year marks 25 years of ASEAN-

Indian Partnership which is based on centuries-old cultural, religious and

human links, forged on an ancient route of commerce. PBD was chosen to

commemorate the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to India in

1915.

2. January 10 - 25th raising day of the Corps of Army Air Defence.The Corps of

Army Air Defence is one of the active corps of Indian army tasked with

protection of Indian air spaces from enemy aircrafts and missiles, specially

below 5000 feet. The crest of Corps of Army Air Defence portrays a missile in

silver tint, with radar antennae in gold colour fixed on the either side. Its motto

is “(Kill the Enemy in Sky)” has been imprinted on its crest and flag.

3. January 12 - The National Youth Day is observed every year to mark the birth

anniversary of social reformer, philosopher, thinker and youth icon of India

Swami Vivekananda. Observance of the day seeks to propagate the

philosophy and the ideals of Swami Vivekananda for which he lived and

worked. It will also help and act as great source of inspiration for the Indian

Youth.

4. Jan 15 –Indian Army Day is celebrated every yaer to honour Indian soldiers

who fought and sacrificed their lives for India. Army Chief General Bipin

Rawat, Chief of the Naval staff Admiral Sunil Lanba and Air Chief Marshal BS

Dhanoa paid tribute to soldiers at Amar Jawan Jyoti in New Delhi.On 15th Jan

1949, General KM Cariappa became the first commander -in chief of Indian

armed forces after independence.This year marks the 70th Indian army day.

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5. Jan 16 – Goa celebrated the opinion Poll day as Asmitai Dis ( Identity day ) to

mark the historic poll in 1967 in which people of Goa not voted to merge with

Maharashtra.

6. Jan 18-24, 2018 is announced as Girl child Week by Delhi CM Arvind

Kejriwal to celebrate the girl child and spread awareness on gender equality

7. Jan 24- National Girl Child Day.

8. Jan 25- The Election Commission of India (ECI) celebrated 8th National

Voters‟ Day across nation for enhanced participation of citizens in electoral

process with the theme „Accessible Elections‟.

9. Jan 28 - This year the World Leprosy Day is observed on 28. It is observed

internationally every year on last Sunday of January month to raise global

awareness of Leprosy. Observance of the day focuses on target of zero

cases of leprosy-related disabilities in children.

10. Jan 29- World Puzzles Day

11. Jan 29 –Hicky‟s Day. 238th anniversary of India‟s first newspaper the Hicky‟s

Bengal Gazette was celebrated by the journalists and social activists Hicky‟s

Dayis celebrated to pay tributes to the fighter-journalist James Augustus

Hicky who is considered as founder of journalism in India....

12. Jan 30- Martyr‟s day.

13. 2018 to be observed as National Year of Millets to boost production of the

nutrient-rich millets. Earlier in November 2017, India had forwarded proposal to

United Nations (UN) for declaring year 2018 as „International Year of Millets‟.

Tamil Nadu

1. The 171st Araadhanai Music festival of one of the Trinities of Carnatic music

Saint Thyagaraja begins in Thiruvaiyaru, Tamil Nadu on 2nd Jan 2018. This

festival was inaugurated by Governor of TN Banwarilal Purohit.

2. The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Edapadi K Palaniswamy released the e-

Governance policy 2017 booklet. It contains the guidelines for developing IT

infrastructure for the digital initiatives of the government



3. Tamil Nadu government has appointed B. Rajendran(former High Court judge)

as the chairperson of the Real Estate Appellate Tribunal (REAT) for Tamil Nadu

and the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands with an aim to protect

home-buyers and boost investments in the real estate industry

4. Defence Minister Nirmala Seetharaman announced that a Defence Innovation

Centre would be set up by CODISSIA in Coimbatore , to assist small industries

in manufacturing components for the defence sector. Coimbatore District Small

Industries Association ( CODISSIA) will receive initial funding of Rs 20 Cr from

defence ministry.

5. R.S. Puram Police station in Coimbatore , Tamil Nadu has been adjudged as

the best police station in India in SMART Police stations initiative of Union

Ministry of Home Affairs ( MHA).SMART Police stands for S-Sensitive and Strict,

M-Modern with Mobility, A-Alert and Accountable, R- Reliable and Responsible ,

T-Trained and Technosavvy. SMART Police concept was announced by PM

Modi at the 49th annual conference of Director General/Inspector General held in

Guwahati in Nov 2014.

6. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanichamy received UNESCO Award of

Merit awarded to the iconic Srirangam Ranganathaswamy temple in

Tiruchirapalli. The award of merit was awarded by UNESCO Asia Pacific region

for the reconstruction activities undertaken in temple without in least affecting its

traditional splendour and Vedic rituals.

7. Tamil Nadu Awards 2018::Thiruvalluvar Award – Ko. Periyannan ;Ambedkar

Award – Dr.George ;BharathiyarAward – Su. Balasubramanian; Bharathidasan

award –Jeeva Bharathi ; Thiru V. Ka award – Vai. Balakumaran; Periyar Award –

P.Valarmathy; Anna Award – A. Subramanian; Kamarajar Award – Dinakaran;

Ki.Aa. Pe. Viswanathan Award – Maruthanayagam.

8. The Union Government has inked $100 million Loan Agreement with World Bank

for Project to Boost Rural Economy of Tamil Nadu. The project aims to promote

rural enterprises, facilitate their access to finance and create employment

opportunities for youth, particularly women in. selected blocks of Tamil Nadu

across 26 districts.



National

1. Arunachal Pradesh was officially declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) state.

Arunachal Pradesh has total 21 districts and it attained this major cleanliness

feat under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan much before (one year and 10 months

ahead) the national deadline of October 2, 2019. It is second State from

Northeast, after Sikkim and overall fifth state after Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and

Haryana to be declared ODF state. The announcement comes after three

remaining districts – Upper Subansiri, Siang and Changlang were officially

declared ODF. The State government also had launched Swachh Arunachal

Mission on October 2, 2017 at Tawang which envisaged Swachh Protocol

(Cleanliness Protocol) aimed at ensuring sustainability of assets created under

SBM (Gramin).

2. Union Minister of women and Child Development Menaka Sanjay Gandhi

inaugurated the online portal NARI on 2nd Jan 2018 to empower Women. NARI

stands for National Repository of Information for Women. The portal contains

information about schemes being run by both centre as well as the state

governments.

3. Preeti Sudan, Secretary of Health and Family Welfare Ministry on 1st Jan 2018

have launched the allied and health care professionals database portal to ensure

better systems and frameworks for the health care workforce in the country.

4. The state of Nagaland has been declared as a disturbed area till June 2018.

5. Assam published the first draft of National Register of Citizens with 1.9 cr names.

6. India‟s second largest rooftop solar power plant in Uttar Pradesh has

commissioned by state-owned gas utility GAIL India Ltd at GAIL‟s petrochemical

complex at Pata in UP. It is 5.76 MWp (Mega Watt peak) solar plant .The plant

has over roofs of warehouses covers a total area of 65,000 square meters. It is

expected to produce Peak Load Factor (PLF) of around 15% annually, over 79

lakh KWh of electricity. India‟s largest rooftop solar plant was commissioned in

December 2015 by Tata Power Solar in Amritsar, Punjab. It is 12 MWp solar

rooftop project, which produces more than 150 lakh units of power annually. It

offsets over 19,000 tonne of carbon emissions every year.



7. e-Samvad portal-the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD)

launched the portal to provide platform for NGOs and Civil Societies to interact

with the ministry. Through it, NGOs and civil society can provide their feedback,

suggestions, put up grievances, share best practices etc. This will help in

formulation of effective policies and measures for welfare of women and children.

8. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2017 has passed by the

Parliament after it was passed by both the houses. The Bill amends Insolvency

and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016, and replaces Ordinance promulgated in

November 2017 to pave way for tightening loopholes in existing code and make

resolution process more effective. It prohibits certain persons from submitting

resolution plan in case of defaults. These include: (i) wilful defaulters, (ii)

promoters or management of the company if it has outstanding non-performing

debt for over year and (iii) disqualified directors, among others. It inserts

provision to specify that person contravening any provisions of IBC, for which no

penalty has been specified, will be punishable with fine ranging between Rs. 1

lakh to Rs. 2 crore.

9. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Amendment) Bill, 2017

was passed by the Parliament with the approval of Rajya Sabha. Lok Sabha

already had passed the bill in August 2017. The Bill seeks to amend National

Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) Act, 1981. The Act

establishes NABARD for providing and regulating facilities like credit for

agricultural and industrial development in the rural areas. The Bill replaces terms

„small-scale industry‟ and „industry in tiny and decentralised sector‟ with terms

„micro enterprise‟, „small enterprise‟ and „„medium enterprise‟ as defined in

MSME Development Act, 2006. Further, it allows NABARD to provide financial

assistance to banks if they provide loans to the MSMEs. The Bill allows Union

Government to increase capital of NABARD from Rs. 5000 crore to Rs 30,000

crore. Further, it allows Union Government to increase the capital more than Rs

30,000 crore in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), if necessary.

10. Haryana govt has announced to implement the integrated solar based micro

irrigation scheme(ISBMI) in all districts of the state and formed a committee

under the Chairman of Haryana Renewable Energy Development



Agency(HAREDA). This scheme will save electricity and water and will thereby

prove to be economical for farmers.

11. The new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Bilaspur (Himachal

Pradesh) will be set up at cost of Rs.1351 crore under the Pradhan Mantri

Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY).

12. The Union Cabinet has approved the revised model concession agreement for

public private partnership (PPP) projects in major ports to make more investor

friendly. The amendment has stipulated that a Society for Affordable Redressal

of Disputes – Ports (SAROD-PORTS) will be constituted, that shall serve as a

dispute resolution mechanism.

13. Haryana tourism department has announced that 32nd Surajkund International

Crafts Mela, to be held at Surajkund, Faridabad, from 2nd to 15th February 2018.

This fair was organized by Haryana Tourism and Surajkund Fair Authority in

collaboration with Union ministries of tourism, textiles, culture and external

affairs. The theme state for Surajkund International Crafts Mela 2018 is Uttar

Pradesh.

14. The proposals for procurement of 131 Barak missiles for Indian Navy and 240

precision-guided munitions (PGM) for Indian Air Force (IAF) together estimated

at Rs.1,714 cr were cleared by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. It is a

regular procurement through the revenue expenditure. These are SAM(surface-

to-air missiles) designed to be used as a ship-borne anti-missile defence system.

15. The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment)

Bill, 2017 has passed by Lok Sabha to allow government to take up

infrastructure projects within prohibited areas around protected monuments. The

Bill amends the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains

(AMASR) Act, 1958. The Bill amends provision related construction in „prohibited

areas‟ in the parent bill to permit construction of public works in „prohibited areas‟

for public purposes. It introduces definition for „public works‟, which includes

construction of any infrastructure that is financed and carried out by central

government for public purposes.

16. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has exempted cruise tourists arriving with e-

visa from the requirement of biometric enrolment for a period of three years i.e.

till 2020 on request of the Ministry of Shipping. The purpose of the move is to



promote cruise tourism in the country and make India attractive cruise tourist

destination. E-visa facility is being implemented in five major ports viz. Mumbai,

Mormugao, New Mangalore, Cochin and Chennai.

17. The details of electoral bonds for political funding that can be routed by donors to

political parties were announced by the Union Government. It makes India first

country in the world to have such unique bonds for electoral funding. The

electoral bonds scheme was announced in Union Budget 2017 with an aim for

increasing transparency in political funding. Electoral bonds can be purchased

for any value in multiples of Rs.1,000, Rs.10,000, Rs.10 lakh, and Rs.1 crore

from any of the specified branches of State Bank of India (SBI). The electoral

bonds will be available for purchase for a period of 10 days each in months of

January, April, July and October with additional 30 days to be specified by

Central government in year of general election so that this does not become a

parallel currency. It will have a life of 15 days during which they can be used to

make donations to registered political parties. The bond can be encashed by an

eligible political party only through a designated bank account with the authorised

bank.

18. The cabinet committee on economic affairs has approved the implementation of

the Jal Marg Vikas project (JMVP) for capacity augumentation of navigation on

National Waterway -1 (NW-1). The project will be implemented at a cost of

Rs.5369.18 cr with the technical assistance and investment support of the World

Bank. It is expected to be completed by March 2023. The project will cover states

including UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal and major districts such as

Varanasi,Ghazipur,Ballia,Buxar, Chhapra,

Vaishali,Patna,Begusarai,Khagaria,Munger,

Bhagalpur,Sahibganj,Murshidabad,pakur, Hoogly and Kolkatta.

19. Andhra Pradesh Grameena Vikas Bank (APGVB) operationalised its first

desktop ATM at Kasibugga in Mandi Bazar in Warangal, Telangana. It

is specifically meant for rural customer who typically has small cash needs.

APGVB has laid out plans to install 100 such desktop ATMs in different busy

branches. 60 of them will be in Telangana State and 40 in AP branches. The

Tagline of this APGVB is „We are with you!‟



20. Swachh Survekshan –the nationwide cleanliness survey was launched across

India on 4th Jan 2018.The main objective of the survey is to evaluate the

achievements in the cleanliness level in urban areas.it is deemed as the World‟s

biggest survey, it will conducted in over 4000 cities with a population of more

than 40 cr.

21. The cabinet committee on economic affairs has approved the mandatory packing

norms under the Jute Packing Material (JPM) Act, 1987. The approval mandates

that 90 percent of the food grains and 20 per cent of the sugar products shall be

mandatorily packed in jute bags. it‟s provision for 100 % packing of food grains in

jute bags is subject to the ability of the jute industry to meet the requirement.

22. The Haryana government has mandated installation of Solar Photovoltaic Power

plant in new buildings. This has been done in a move to conserve electricity and

use it efficiently.

23. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal launched „Chah Bagichar Dhan

Puraskar Mela 2017-18‟ at a function held at Sarbananda Singha auditorium in

Tinsukia, Assam. Under this scheme people belonging to tea community who

opened bank accounts during demonetisation will be credited Rs 2500 in their

accounts. In the next phase, another 2500 rupees will be credited to accounts

which are continuously operated for 6 months from now.

24. The Dhanu Yatra festival held in Bargarh district of Odishacame to an end on

2nd Jan 2018. It began on 23 December 2017. This festival is based on Krishna

Leela and Mathura Vijay. The Dhanu Yatra festival was held for 11 days. Bargarh

was made to look like Mathura, which is the birthplace and homeland of Lord

Krishna. River Jeera was made to resemble river Yamuna. Amapali region was

transformed into Gopapura. Various artists from different parts of India performed

in the festival.

25. Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) for capacity augmentation of navigation on 1,380-

km Haldia-Varanasi stretch of National Waterway-1 (NW1) implemented on

Ganga river was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs

(CCEA). The project envisages the development of waterway between Allahabad

and Haldia on Ganga River that will cover a distance of 1620 km. The project will

be implemented at a cost of over Rs. 5,370 crore rupees with the technical

assistance and investment support of the World Bank. It is expected to be



completed by March, 2023. The project covers Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand

and West Bengal. The project aims to develop a fairway with three metres depth

to enable commercial navigation of at least 1500 tonne vessels on the river.

26. The procurement of P-8I Training Solution for Indian Navy and Low Intensity

Conflict Electronic Warfare System (LICEWS) for Indian Army was approved by

the Union Ministry of Defence (MoD). LICEWS will be procured from Bharat

Electronics Limited for Rs. 470 crore and the P-8I Training Solution will be

brought from Boeing for Rs.1949.32 crore. The first P-8I aircraft was inducted in

Indian Navy in 2013. As of date, 8 aircraft based at INS Rajali in Tamil Nadu

have been fully integrated into Indian Naval operations. In 2016, MoD placed

follow-on order for 4 additional P-8I and their delivery will begin in 2020. LICEWS

will equip Indian Army with upgraded communications infrastructure that will help

forces to effectively deal with advanced communications systems being used by

terrorist groups.

27. India‟s first digital Online Oncology Tutorial Series designed by Tata Memorial

Centre (a grant-in-aid cancer centre under Department of Atomic Energy,GOI)

was launched by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The Oncology

Tutorial Series aim to train doctors across country to educate them in early

detection, prevention, palliation, rehabilitation and treatment of various cancers.

Oncology literally means a branch of science that deals with tumours and

cancers. The word “onco” means bulk/ mass/ tumor while “-logy” means study.

28. The construction, operation and maintenance of 2-lane bi-directional Zojila

Tunnel on Srinagar-Leh section connecting NH-1A in Jammu and Kashmir was

approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).The Zojila

Tunnel will be situated at an altitude of 11,578 feet on Srinagar-Kargil-Leh

National Highway (NH-1A). The main objective of the project is to provide all

whether connectivity to strategically important Leh region in J&K which at

moment is limited to at best 6 months because of snow on the mountainous

passes and threat of avalanches. Ladakh region remains cut off from rest of the

country during winter months due to heavy snowfall. On completion, it will be

Asia‟s largest 2-lane bi-directional tunnel.

29. Namami Gange projects( Totally 5 projects) worth Rs 295.01 crore was

approved by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG). Out of these 5



projects, three pertain to sewage management in West Bengal, one relates to

sewage management in Uttarakhand and remaining one is related to ghat

improvement works in Uttar Pradesh(Varanasi).

30. Lok Sabha on January 4, 2018 passed a bill to hike the salaries of judges of

Supreme Court and 24 high courts. The bill proposes to raise the monthly salary

of Chief Justice of India to Rs 2.80 lakh from the present Rs. one lakh per

month. Similarly, salary of judges of the Supreme Court and chief justices of the

High Court is to be raised to Rs 2.50 lakh from the current Rs 90000. The bill

also proposes to raise the salary of judges of the high courts, from Rs. 80000 per

month now, to Rs 2.25 lakh per month. The salary hike for judges is in line with

the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission for officers of all-India

services. Once this bill is passed by both the houses of Parliament, it will become

a law and will come into force retrospectively from January 1, 2016. The salaries

and allowances of CJI and Supreme Court judges are charged from

Consolidated Fund of India. The salaries and allowances of state high court

judges including chief justices are charged from Consolidated Fund of State.

However, retired Judges are entitled to pension which is drawn from

Consolidated Fund of India.

31. An MoU for joint funding of Technology Mission for Indian Railways (TMIR) were

signed between three ministries viz Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Human

Resource Development (HRD) and Ministry of Science & Technology. The

percentage division of the funding between the three ministries for Technology

Mission for Indian Railways‟ is Ministry of Railways: 30% ,Ministry of HRD: 25%

and Department of Science & Technology: 25%. The MoU aims to facilitate co-

financing of (TMIR) by investment sharing for identified railway projects for

applied research.

32. Maharashtra State Government has decided to form an education board for non-

English medium schools. Maharashtra State Education Minister, Vinod Tawde

stated that an international education board will be formed to prepare syllabus for

non-English medium schools in Maharashtra. In the first phase, 100 selected

Marathi schools will follow the new syllabus.

33. Centre has approved West Bengal logo designed by CM Mamata Banerjee on

Jan 4, 2017. The logo highlights the “Biswa Bangla” theme with Ashoka Pillars.



34. The residents of Bhanakpur village in Faridabad district of Haryana planned to

begin their day by listening to the national anthem at 8am. This village becomes

first in Haryana and second in India to introduce the

system. Jammikunta (Telangana) become the first village which has

implemented this system. Bhanakpur panchayat has installed 20 loudspeakers to

help over 5,000 villagers sing the national anthem. The village has also installed

22 CCTV cameras.

35. Kolkata‟s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport has become the 5th

airport in India having CAT III B landing system runway 01R and it can be a 24×7

functional airport. It enables flights to land even when visibility is 50 metres with

decision height of 15 meters. List of other airports having similar facilities are

Amritsar, Jaipur , Lucknow, Delhi

36. The 26th edition of annual World Book Fair organised by National Book Trust

(NBT) was held in New Delhi with the theme for this year is „Environment and

Climate Change‟. It focuses on environment issues like climate change, global

warming, and water pollution. European Union was Guest of Honour Country for

this year‟s book fair. The annual book fair saw participation of around 800

publishers from across the country in different languages. The theme for 2016

was „Manushi‟ and had focused on writings on and by women from ancient times

till the present.

37. Atal Pension Yojana (APY) has reached a subscriber base of 80 lakh and is

growing at good pace announced by the Pension Fund Regulatory and

Development Authority of India (PFRDA). Uttar Pradesh is the highest

contributing state at 11.41 lakh APY subscribers, followed by Bihar (8.87 lakh)

and Tamil Nadu (6.60 lakh). APY had replaced Swavalamban scheme. It is

available to all citizens of India in the age group of 18-40 years (thus minimum

period of contribution by subscriber is 20 years).There is no exit to the scheme

before the age of 60. In case of death of subscriber, the spouse of the subscriber

shall be entitled for the same amount of pension till his or her death. Under

scheme, subscriber will receive a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs.1000 to

Rs.5000 per month, depending on his contribution, from age of 60 years.



38. According to latest All India Higher Education Survey (AIHES) released by HRD

Ministry the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education of Indian has

registered an increase from 24.5% in 2015-16 to 25.2% in 2016-17.

39. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Jai Ram Thakur announced setting up of

24X7 „Gudiya helpline„ for reporting crimes against women. ‟Gudiya‟ is a

nickname given to the 16-year-old victim of rape and murder in Kotkhai town.

The incident took place in 2017. Under „Gudiya helpline‟ initiative, three special

crime cells would be set up, one each at Mandi, Shimla and Kangra.

40. India‟s first National Park for differently abled people in Hyderabad.was

inaugurated by State Government of Telangana .At the inauguration, Mr. Rao

stated that Telangana State Government is also planning an Information

technology (IT) park on similar lines.

41. Indian Coast Guard Ship C-161 (ICGS C -161) was commissioned at Porbandar,

Gujarat. It has been built by Bharati Defence and Infrastructure Limited. ICGS C-

161‟s presence will strengthen security along west coast of India and will help in

patrolling to prevent illicit activities such as smuggling, illegal fishing and

infiltration.

42. The three-day annual Flamingo Festival was held at Pulicat lake and Nelapattu

Bird Sanctuary in Sullurpet mandal. Flamingo Festival is held every year to

promote tourism in Pulicat and Nellapattu. Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary is one of the

biggest habitats for some hundreds of pelicans and other birds. It is located

about 20 km north of the Pulicat Lake on the Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu

border.

43. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar after inaugurating 18th All India

Whips‟ Conference in Udaipur, Rajasthan has proposed rolling out of e-Sansad

in Parliament and e-Vidhan in State Legislatures to digitize and make their

functioning paperless. They are mission mode projects of Union Government

under Digital India to make the functioning of Parliament and State Legislatures

paperless. They aim to digitise and make available Parliament and state

legislature documents, including debates, speeches, committee reports and

questions on internet.

44. Mankidia tribe in Odisha as denied habitat rights inside core area of Similipal

Tiger Reserve (STR) in Odisha under historic Scheduled Tribes and Other



Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. State

Forest Department had objected their habitat rights on grounds that tribals could

be attacked by wild animals, especially tigers.

45. Haryana become first state in the country to launch High-Risk Pregnancy (HRP)

portal. The portal will help in early identification of high-risk pregnant cases up to

grass-roots level and ensures their timely referral to civil hospitals. It will help in

increasing pace of decline in Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), Infant Mortality

Rate (IMR) and Still Birth Incidence as morbidity and mortality is quite high in

high risk pregnant cases if not managed timely.

46. Union Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region, Dr Jitendra

Singh announced that Central Government will set up second Film and

Television Institute of Indian (FTII) in Arunachal Pradesh.The first Film and

Television Institute of India (FTII) is located in Pune.

47. Indian Railways has finalised a plan to equip nearly 8500 railway stations across

India (including those in rural and remote areas) with Wi-Fi facilities at

an estimated cost of Rs 700 crore by March 2019. It is to be noted that under

Central Government‟s Digital India initiative, Indian Railways has already

commissioned Wi-Fi services at 216 major stations, providing internet access to

nearly 7 million rail passengers.

48. Central Government has sanctioned the construction of 14460 individual and

community bunkers at a cost of Rs 415.73 crore for people living along the Line

of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB) in Jammu & Kashmir.

49. „TrackChild‟ and „Khoya-Paya‟ web portals have been launched by Ministry of

Women and Child Development to track missing and found children. Apart from

these portals the Ministry of Women and Child Development also provides

support for children in trouble through the dedicated toll free number – 1098.

50. The International Kite Festival started at Sabarmati River Front in Ahmedabad,

Gujarat on 7th Jan 2017. Nearly 149 foreign kite fliers from 44 countries are

taking part in this festival. From India, around 96 kite fliers from 18 states and

290 kite fliers from Gujarat participate in this kite festival.

51. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has launched nearly 249 skill

development centres throughout Assam. These skill development centres aim to

improve skilled manpower in Assam. These centres provide vocational training to



the youth of Assam and help them to be financially independent. Assam

government has signed a MoU with the Government of Singapore already under

which a skill development centre of international standards will be set up in

Mangaldoi.

52. Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Government has announced to launch „Muhafiz‟

scheme, a major welfare initiative for providing institutionalized socio-economic

security to workers in the unorganised sector of the state. „Muhafiz‟ means

„Guardian‟ in English. Under this scheme, 3 lakh workers registered with Jammu

and Kashmir Building and Other Construction Workers‟ Welfare Board

(JKBOCWWB),will be provided accidental, life and disability insurance cover.

The premium for the same will be borne by JKBOCWWB.

53. Indian Navy has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Cochin

Port Trust (CPT) for increasing the berthing capacity of naval ships in Kochi.

Under the MoU, Cochin Port Trust has leased 228 metres of berths at

Mattancherry Wharf to Indian Navy for a period of five years( for lease of Rs. 10

crore per annum)

54. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar inaugurated and laid foundation stones of

around 750 projects, worth more than Rs 500 crore, in Begusarai and Khagaria

districts. These projects were launched during Nitish Kumar‟s state-wide “Vikas

Samiksha Yatra”which began on December 28, 2017.

55. Pratyush-India‟s fastest and first multi-petaflops (PF) supercomputer was

unveiled at Pune-based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM).

„Pratyush‟ meaning Sun. Pratyush is fourth fastest supercomputer in world

dedicated for weather and climate research. It follows supercomputing machines

in Japan, US and United Kingdom.

56. To make the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 more effective and

minimise hardship faced by companies going in for insolvency resolution the

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has announced to relax norms around

levy of minimum alternate tax (MAT) for insolvent companies from financial year

2017-18. Its aim is to bring Zero Tax Companies” into tax realm who do not pay

any tax.

57. „Solar City initiative „ aimed to maximize rooftop solar power use in South and

west Delhi has been launched by BESES Rajdhani Power Ltd. Arouind 150



residential socities were targeted in first phase. This initiative has been launched

in partnership with USAID ( PACE-D) and Indo –German Collaboration.

58. Delhi becomes the first city in India to launch common mobility card for bus and

metro rides. It was launched by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. This card can be used

at 200 Delhi Transport Corporation ( DTC) and 50 buses. This card also behaves

likes a debit card. Thi card will come in to effect from 1st April 2018.

59. Uttar Pradesh govt has directed the district collectors and SP‟s to take action

against unauthorized loudspeakers and public address systems installed at

religious and public places.

60. Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi , announced that Saudi Arabia has

approved India‟s plan to ferry Haj pilgrims through sea route to Jeddah after the

annual Haj agreement signed between Indai and Saudi Arabia in Mecca

61. The first phase of BharatNet project is completed after successfully laying optical

fibre cables (OFC) in more than 1 lakh gram panchayats. BharatNet project

forms backbone for Digital India initiative. It aims to bring high speed broadband

to all 2.5 lakh gram panchayats (GPs) through optical fibre. The project was

approved by Union Cabinet in 2011 as National Optical Fibre Netwok. The

project is being funded by Universal service Obligation Fund (USOF).The second

phase of the project was initiated in November 2017 for connecting the

remaining 1.5 lakh gram panchayats. Government is expecting to concluding it

ahead of schedule by December 2018 and the second phase‟s original target is

March 2019.

62. National Programme for Control of Viral Hepatitis, a new scheme free treatment

of Hepatitis C is rolled out by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

from the 2018-19 financial year. Hepatitis C is infectious disease caused by

blood-borne virus hepatitis C virus (HCV) that primarily affects the liver.

Significant number of people infected with Hepatitis C develop cirrhosis of liver or

liver cancer, which are responsible for 3,99,000 Hepatitis C deaths annually

across the world. Under the new scheme, the focus will be on anti-viral treatment

of Hepatitis C which will be provided free at all government health set-ups. For

this government has embarked budget of Rs 600 crore for the next three years.

63. The Supreme Court has stayed Karnataka High Court order reducing size of

pictorial warnings on packages of tobacco products to 40% of the package



space from earlier 85%. The apex court took decision saying that health of

citizen has primacy and emphasised on importance of public health and harmful

effects of tobacco products.

64. The Union Defence Ministry has sanctioned raising of Territorial Army (TA)

battalion named as Composite Ecological Task Force (CETF) battalion of TA

comprising ex-servicemen of Indian Army as part of its mission to clean the

Ganga by 2020.The CETF battalion will be raised in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh as

a pilot project. For this government has allocated Rs 167 crore under National

Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), the nodal agency for cleaning Ganga. It will

be responsible for monitoring ecological and environmental projects related to

Ganga River, and also raise public awareness through campaigns. It will also

assist government in enforcing pollution control measures, support local civil

administration and police in managing the ghats, and provi de support and

assistance if and when there is flood or natural disaster in region.

65. Bihar government has imposed a ban on manufacture, distribution, sale,

purchase, display and advertisement of electronic cigarettes.(e-cigarettes)

across the state.

66. Central govt has notified the companies ( Amendment )Act,2017. This act now

allowed companies to issue shares at a discount to its creditors in instances

wherein its debt is converted into shares as a part of any statutory resolution

plan/debt restructuring under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016.

67. The first-ever Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) Parliamentary Conference was held

in the Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra (PBK) in New Delhi on the occasion of Pravasi

Bhartiya Diwas (PBD). It was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The

conference was way of reaching out to Indian community overseas. The event

had two Thematic Plenary Sessions – „PIO Parliamentarians: A Journey from

Struggle to Parliament‟ and „Resurgent India: Role of PIO Parliamentarians‟. 124

Members of Parliament (MP) and 17 mayors from 23 countries including UK,

USA, South Africa, Canada, Fiji, Kenya, Mauritius, New Zealand, Sri Lanka

among others participated in this conference.

68. The third meeting of Council of Trade Development and Promotion (CTDP) was

held in New Delhi chaired by Union Minister for Commerce & Industry Suresh

Prabhu. The objective of the meeting was to enhance the Centre‟s cooperation



with the states and union territories in making the latter active partners in

boosting India‟s exports.

69. The playing of national anthem before screening movies in cinema halls is

optional and not mandatory ruled out by the Supreme Court of India.

70. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has given its approval to

continuation of Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme

(MPLADS) till term of 14th Finance Commission i.e. 2020.

71. The Central Government has advised the nation not to use a national flag made

of plastic and asked all the states and Union territories to ensure strict

compliance of the Flag Code in view of the Republic Day.

72. The Union cabinet led by PM Modi has given its approval to a number of

amendments to the FDI policy. These are decided to simplify and liberalise the

FDI policy in India to provide ease of doing business in the country.

73. „Rajyapal –VikasKeRajdoot: Catalytic Role of Governors as Agents for Change

in Society‟ , a report submitted by the Committee of Governors to President Ram

NathKovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan.. Committee of Governors in its report has

described an action-outcome framework to be adopted by Raj Bhavans in their

role as change agents and lists out potential priorities. It comprises ESL

Narasimhan (Governor of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana), BanwarilalPurohit,

(Governor of Tamil Nadu), Ram Naik (Governor of Uttar Pradesh), Tathagata

Roy (Governor of Tripura) and Acharya Devvrat (Governor of Himachal

Pradesh). The Committee was constituted by President during 48th Conference

of Governors in October 2017 to examine role of Governors in taking forward the

developmental process.

74. Charlie-435, a state-of-the-art patrol vessel has commissioned by the Indian

Coast Guard (ICG) at Karaikal in the Union Territory of Puducherry. With

commissioning of Charlie-435, the Coast Guard station at Karaikal now has five

vessels.It was commissioned by Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy.

The patrol vessel „Charlie-435‟ is equipped with modern navigation and

communication system. The vessel will strengthen coastal security between

Chennai and Kanyakumari in the Eastern Coastal region. It will be also of great

help in rescuing fishermen who go adrift in sea due to bad weather.



75. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has introduced two-tier

security feature viz. Virtual ID and Limited KYC to address privacy concerns. The

Virtual ID will be random 16-digit number that can be generated from UIDA‟s

website and give for various purposes, wherever Aadhaar number is necessary

to provide. It will be linked with biometrics of user that will give any authorised

agency limited access of details like name, address and photograph. Using it,

Aadhaar-card holders do not need to share their actual 12-digit biometric ID for

any authentication. User can generate as many Virtual IDs as they want. The

older ID will get automatically cancelled at time new one is generated.

GKTodayThe move aims to strengthen security and privacy of Aadhaar data. It

will also reduce the collection of Aadhaar numbers by various agencies.

76. The sub-committee of Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) looking into

issues of girl‟s education has recommended free and compulsory education for

girls up to post-graduate level across the country. The sub-committee of CABE

will also recommended establishing of exclusive residential degree colleges for

SC/ST women besides provision of providing health and hygiene kits to girls. The

committee also wants schools to maintain academic atmosphere, besides

providing basic amenities like toilets, maintenance, running water, safety

measures and power supply and also appoint a counsellor for adolescent girls.

The sub-committee is likely to submit an interim report to Union Human

Resource Development Ministry during CABE meeting on January 15, 2018.

77. India has missed December 2017 deadline announced for elimination of Kala

Azar (black fever) in 2017-18 Budget by the Union Government. Kala-azar or

visceral leishmaniasis (VL), also known as black fever and Dumdum fever is

most severe form of leishmaniasis. For elimination of Kala Azar, its vector needs

to be eliminated first. But it is very difficult to eliminate vector as it dwells in

wooden structure and escapes various measures to kill it Elimination in this case

is defined as reducing annual incidence of disease to less than 1 case per

10,000 people at the sub-district level. In recent times endemic blocks have

increased from 61 to 68 in 17 districts of Bihar and Jharkhand.

78. The Union Cabinet has decided to fix three-year term of chairperson and the

members of the board of the National Trust, an autonomous body under the

Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. National trust is a statutory body



under Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan),

Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment. Its mandate is to discharge two basic

duties – legal and welfare. It fundamental purpose, is to create enabling

environment, i.e. provide opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (PwD)

through comprehensive support systems which will lead towards development of

an inclusive society.

79. Rajasthan govt has decided to digitize 10,000 pages every day in order to

preserve administrative and historical records of Rajputana‟s princely states.. It

aimed to protect old and fragile documents. This includes a dedicated startup

policy and various e-governance measures.Already around one crore documents

have been digitized. It has decided to digitize 3-4 crore documents that are

considered to be important.

80. President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the 4th International Dharma-Dhamma

Conference on “State and Social Order in Dharma-Dhamma Traditions” was held

at Rajgir in Nalanda district, Bihar. Its central theme was the ideal state and just

social order based on dharmic principles. The conference aimed to facilitate

crosspollination of ideas and foster harmony at global level. The event was

organised as part of commemorative events to celebrate Silver Jubilee (25) year

of ASEAN-India Dialogue Partnership.

81. Union Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports in collaboration with Uttar Pradesh

Government at Gautam Buddha University Greater Noida organised the 22nd

National Youth Festival (NYF) in New Delhi on the occasion of birth anniversary

of Swami Vivekananda, the youth icon of India. This is the first time that the

National Youth Festival is being organized in National Capital Region (NCR). The

first National Youth Festival was held in 1995 ( Bhopal). Its objective is to provide

platform to bring youth of country together in attempt to provide them opportunity

to showcase their talents in various activities. The Theme of 2017 NYF is

„Sankalp Se Siddhi‟

82. The Union Ministry of Railways has launched Smart Freight Operation

Optimisation & Real Time Information (SFOORTI) application to help plan traffic

flows and optimize freight operations. SFOORTI application will help to track

movement of freight trains over Zones/Divisions/Sections on GIS View. Even



passenger trains can be tracked using it. It will help to monitor freight business

along with comparative analysis of Zonal and Divisional Traffic.

83. Kerala Govt permitted Prisoners in Kerala Jails to donate organs to their

relatives. This decision was taken at the cabinet meeting chaired by Pinarayi

Vijayan, Kerala CM

84. 4th ASEAN –India Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and Forestry was held in

New Delhi on 12 Jan 2018.5th Meeting will be held in Brunei, Darussalam in

2019.

85. NITI Aayog to provide rankings to 115 aspirational districts at the

“Transformation of Aspirational Districts‟ conference held in New Delhi.

86. According to data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), India‟s factory

output, measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) rose to 8.4% in

November 2017 from 2% in October 2017. It was highest growth registered by

IIP in 17-months. The previous high was recorded at 8.9% in June, 2016.

87. The captive breeding of Chiru (Tibetan antelope) was refused by the Ministry of

Environment and Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC). It‟s underfur is used

for making famous Shahtoosh shawls. It takes three to five hides to make a

single shawl. Moreover, the wool cannot be sheared or combed and to collect the

fur, the animals have to be killed. At present, Shahtoosh shawls‟ sale and

possession is banned in India and in many countries.

88. For the completion of balance works of North Koel reservoir project, the Union

Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation has

inked Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bihar and Jharkhand. The

project is situated on North Koel river, tributary on Sone River. It aims to provide

irrigation to 111,521 hectares of land annually in most backward and drought

prone areas in Jharkhand and Bihar.. The construction of the projected originally

had started in 1972 and continued till 1993 when it was stopped by the Bihar

forest department over environmental concerns.

89. India –UK “Createch Summit “ will be held in Mumbai on Feb 6, 2018.The

objective of this summit is to celebrate and explore the convergence of creativity

and technology “Createch” and its application across a range of areas.

90. CM of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the 12th International festival of arts

and artists in Bhubaneshwar.



91. Indian Navy decommissioned warships INS Nirbhik and INS Nirghat at Naval

Dockyard, Mumbai. INS Nirbhik has served Indian Navy for 30 years and INS

Nirghat for 28 years

92. India‟s first agricultural-commodity options in Guarseed unveiled by the National

Commodity and Derivatives Exchange Ltd (NCDEX). NCDEX‟s guarseed option

is one of the most liquid contracts on the exchange platform. Its three options

contracts in guarseed will expire in February,March and April 2018. It was

launched by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in New Delhi. Guar gum is

extracted from guar seed which is used by drilling companies to thicken water

mixed with sand and pumped through shale rock cracks to extract gas.

93. IRFC green bonds became first debt security to be listed on exchange at

International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in Gujarat‟s GIFT city. India INX‟s

GSM segment is India‟s first debt listing platform. It allows raising funds in any

currency of choice by both foreign and Indian issuers from investors across the

globe. IRFC is finance arm of Indian Railway.

94. Under the Chairmanship of Union Human Resource Development Minister

Prakash Javadekar, the 65th Meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education

(CABE) was held in New Delhi. During this meet resolution was adopted for the

Operation Digital Board will be launched in all schools in five years and will be

undertaken jointly by Centre, State, Corporate Social Responsibility. CABE also

will ensure to provide Quality, Equity, Accessibility, Accountability and

Affordability in education by pro-active action and plan. Education Ministers of 20

States, representatives of 28 states/UTs, members of CABE, heads of

autonomous organisations, Vice Chancellors of Universities attended the

meeting.

95. The International Workshop on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (IWDRI) was

inaugurated by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi. The workshop

aimed to take this dialogue on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and global

cooperation further It was organised by National Disaster Management Authority

(NDMA) in collaboration with United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction

(UNISDR).



96. Chhattisgarh HC has issued a directive to all trial courts in the state to

mandatorily obtain Aadhaar cards of accused persons and sureties before

issuing release warrant of a prisoner/accused.

97. On 15th Jan 2018, the Unique Identification Authority of India ( UIDAI) approved

authentication based on facial recognition in combination with fingerprint or Iris

scan for Aadhaar users. It will come into effect from 1st July 2018.

98. Punjab signed a MoU with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to set up bio-gas and

bio-CNG plants in the state. This agreement is in line with Punjab state

government‟s efforts to find sustainable solutions to paddy straw burning , which

has emerged a major cause of air pollution in North India.

99. The eighth edition of „National Maritime Search and Rescue Workshop and

Exercise‟- the biennial search and rescue exercise between Indian Coast Guard

(ICG) and Japan Coast Guard (JCG) was held near Chennai, Tamil Nadu in Bay

of Bengal. The aim of the exercise was to augment operational level interaction

and capacity building in areas of search and rescue, pollution response and mari

time law enforcement. It also aimed to share best management practices and

continuation of personnel exchange. Ships and aircraft of Coast Guards from

India and Japan, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force (IAF) and National Institute of

Ocean Technology (NIOT) took part in it.

100. The third edition of the geo-political conference – Raisina Dialogue was

held in New Delhi. It was inaugurated by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu. The theme of the conference for this year is „Managing Disruptive

Transitions: Ideas, Institutions and Idioms‟. Raisina Dialogue is an annual

conference held in New Delhi. It is envisioned to be India‟s flagship conference of

geopolitics and geo-economics. The conference is held jointly by Ministry of

External Affairs and the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), an independent

think tank based in India.

101. State Forests, Department of Sikkim has issued notification titled Sikkim

Forest Tree (Amity & Reverence) Rules 2017. It has allowed people from state to

forge fraternal ties with trees. State government allows any person to associate

with trees standing on his or her private land or on any public land by entering

into Mitini relationship. Person can also adopt tree as if it was his/her own child,

in which tree will be called adopted tree. Person can also adopt or preserve them



in remembrance of a departed relative in which case tree shall be called smriti

tree.. The purpose of this move is to preserve trees by encouraging people to

forge relationship of brotherhood or sisterhood with trees through tradition

practice locally known as Mitini or Mith/Mit

102. Mukshyamantri Kalakar Sahayata Yojana (MMKSY) to provide financial

assistance to the literature and cultural artists of state was launched by Odisha

Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik. The scheme is mainly for the welfare of literature

and cultural artists of the state. It will provide monthly financial assistance of Rs.

1200 to literature and cultural artists of state. As per new eligibility criteria, male

artist can get assistance under after attaining age of 50 years (earlier it was 60

years) and female artist can get it at age of 40 years (earlier it was 50 years).

103. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Ltd

(HRRL) project commencement of oil refinery in Rajasthan‟s Barmer district. It is

first oil refinery to be set up in Rajasthan. The project includes refinery and

petroleum complex of 9 MMTPA capacity. It is expected to be operational in 4

years (2022-23) at a cost of Rs 43000 cr. The project is undertaken as joint

venture between Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and the

Rajasthan government. HPCL owns 74% stake in the project, while the state

government owns 26%.

104. The Union Ministry of Minority Affairs has decided to end Haj subsidy from

this year as a part of its policy to empower minorities with dignity and without

appeasement. The Hajj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, the holiest city

for Muslims. It is mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried out at

least once in their lifetime by all adult Muslims who are physically and financially

capable of undertaking the journey and can support their family during their

absence. This decision to end the subsidy was taken based on the

recommendations of Afzal Amanullah Committee and May 2012 Supreme Court

order. Now onwards, proceeds from Haj subsidy will be used for educational

empowerment and welfare of girls from minority communities.. The committee

had recommended for gradual withdrawal of Haj subsidy. It also had

recommended to allow older Muslim women to travel to haj without male

guardian.



105. The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Union Defence

Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has cleared procurement proposal of 72,400

assault rifles a nd 93,895 carbines on fast track basis for Rs 3,547 crore. The

procurement of assault rifles aims enable the Defence Forces to meet their

immediate requirement for troops deployed on borders. DAC also simplified

„Make II‟ procedure which prescribes guidelines to be followed to develop and

manufacture defence equipment through Indian Industry.

106. 60th edition of India International Garment Fair ( IIGF) held at Pragati

Maidan, New Delhi .

107. Jammu & Kashmir assembly passed grants of horticulture department for

2018-19 for Rs 528.33 Cr.

108.

109. Madhya Pradesh becomes first state to achieve complete door-to –door

garbage collection in all areas under urban bodies.

110. To suggest changes to Section 126 of the Representation of the People

Act, 1951 (RP Act) in view of social media expansion, the Election Commission

(EC) has constituted 14 member committee headed by Umesh Sinha. The

committed will study impact of new media and social media during the “silence

period” i.e. during 48 hours period prior to elections and its implication in view of

Section 126 of RP Act, 1951. It will suggest modifications to the RP Act, 1951and

model code of conduct (MCC).

111. Saksham 2018 (Sanrakshan Kshamta Mahotsav) has launched by the

Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) under the aegis of

Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas. Saksham aims at creating focused

attention on fuel conservation through people centric activities and sensitize

masses about conservation and efficient use of petroleum products leading to

better health and environment.

112. Kerala Accelerator Program -a virtual accelerator program for three

months has been introduced by Kerala Government to promote startups in the

early revenue stage. This program will help startups achieve product-market fit

through a curated customer validation process. It will introduce startups to

investors, relevant customers and industry connects. It will provide both live and



virtual mentoring sessions. It was launched by Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) in

association with Zone Startups India.

113. The iconic Teen Murti Chowk in central New Delhi was renamed as Teen

Murti-Haifa after Israeli City Haifa ,after Haifa was proposed in New Delhi

Municipal Council (NDMC) council meeting during Prime Minister Narendra

Modi‟s visit to Israel in July 2017. The renaming of the iconic war memorial is

aimed at being symbolic gesture of India‟s friendship with Israel. Teen Murti

Chowk was named to mark role of the three cavalry regiments. The three bronze

statues at Teen Murti represent Hyderabad, Jodhpur and Mysore Lancers who

were part of 15 Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade in British Indian Army.

114. According to wealth index released on basis of data from fourth round of

National Family and Health Survey (NFHS-4) Delhi is richest state and Jain

wealthiest community in the country. Bihar is poorest state half of its households

in the bottom quintile. Rajasthan has most equitable wealth distribution with

similar number of households in all quintiles.

115. CM of Bihar, Nitish Kumar launched schemes worth over Rs.200 Cr

during his state wide „Vikas Samiksha yatra‟.

116. Indian Army establishes skill training centre for Kashmiri youths in

Baramulla district of Jammu & Kashmir. The centre will provide two weeks of

specialized training in food processing and information technology.

117. Bikaner camel festival was held in Rajasthan on 13th & 14th Jan

2018.During the festival, camel dances, camel races , camel rides, etc were held.

118. 7th edition of Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav -2018 under the Ek Bharath

Shreshtha Bharat Programme began in Karnataka on Jan 14,2018.This

programme aims to celebrate the idea of unity in diversity by promoting

engagement amongst the people of different states /UT‟s and thereby

strengthening people-people bond. Under this programme Karnataka is paired

with Uttarakhand.

119. Maharashtra Government has approved 1% reservation for orphans in

government jobs and education for orphans in the state under general category.

120. Maharashtra became first state in country to unveil Public Cloud Policy

that virtually mandates state government departments to shift their data storage

onto cloud. The policy will result in additional private sector investments worth



US $2 billion for cloud industry as government is one of biggest creators and

consumers of data. It will aim to generate 5 lakh jobs in next five years.

121. Drug price regulator National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA)

has fixed retail price for 30 drug formulations, including those used for treatment

of diabetes, bacterial infections and high blood pressure. The prices were

fixed/revised under Drugs (Prices Control) Order (DPCO), 2013.

122. Cyber Warrior Police Force (CWPF) and Indian Cyber Crime Coordination

Centre (I4C) is decided to set up by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to tackle

internet-related crimes such as cyber threats, child pornography and online

stalking.

123. India announced setting up of $350 million Solar Development Fund for

financing solar projects under the International Solar Alliance (ISA) at first ever

ISA outreach programmes „International Solar Alliance Forum‟ held in Abu

Dhabi‟s World Future Energy Summit (WFES) 2018.

124. India‟s first automatic Early Warning Dissemination System (EWDS) will

be commissioned by March 2018 in Odisha. The EWDS is a first-of-its-kind

automatic public address system in the country. The project is being

implemented under National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project with World Bank‟s

help. The project aims to establish fool-proof communication system to address

existing gaps in disseminating disaster warning up to community level.

125. Maharashtra Government has approved Nanaji Deshmukh Krishi

Sanjivani Yojna to promote climate-resilient agriculture. It will be roll out in 2018-

19 and continue till 2023-24. The scheme will be implemented in 5,142 villages

across 15 districts. Its objectives are to improve soil quality, develop foodgrain

varieties which can sustain climate variations and effect necessary changes in

the crop pattern as per the availability of water in a particular region. The

Scheme has been named after social activist Nanaji Deshmukh who has worked

in fields of education, health, and rural self-reliance, and has been honoured with

Padma Vibhushan.

126. The Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) launched in

2016 to ensure comprehensive and quality antenatal checkups to pregnant

women across country has crossed one crore mark in antenatal check-ups. It

has provided quality antenatal checkups to pregnant women on the 9th of every



month. Maharashtra has reported largest number of check-ups among non-

empowered action group states and Rajasthan has reported largest number of

check-ups among the empowered action group states.

127. Liveability index was launched by the Union Ministry of Housing and

Urban affairs (MoHUA) to rate 116 Indian cities. It will assess cities on

comprehensive set of 79 parameters. These 79 parameters (57 core indicators

and 22 supporting indicators) are based on four broad pillars: physical

(weightage 45%), institutional (25%), Social (25%) and economic (5%).

128. The Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has launched National

CSR Data Portal & Corporate Data Portal for bringing accountability and

transparency for corporate India.

129. A new batch of 9 smart cities under Smart City Mission was announced by

the Union Minister of Housing and Urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri. With the

addition of these 9 smart cities in the fourth round, the total cities picked up

under Smart City Mission have reached 99. The nine cities include three from

Uttar Pradesh –Moradabad, Bareilly and Saharanpur, Bihar Sharif (Bihar),

Silvassa (Dadra and Nagar Havelli), Erode(Tamil Nadu), Daman and Diu,

Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh) and Kavaratti (Lakshadweep). Under the scheme,

each city will get Rs.500 crore (Rs. 100 crore per year) from the Centre for

implementing various projects.

130. Website Accessibility Project to make 100 websites various State

Governments/UTs accessible to persons with disabilities (Divyangjans) under

Accessible India Campaign was launched by Union Minister for Social Justice

and Empowerment Thaawarchand Gehlot on the occasion of „National

Conference on Improving Accessibility‟.

131. President Ram Nath Kovind on the recommendation of Election

Commission of India (ECI) has disqualified 20 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs

from Delhi, citing that they held offices of profit. In 2016, the ECI had issued

show cause notices to 27 AAP MLAs from Delhi who held offices as

parliamentary secretaries, after petition was filed seeking their disqualification

132. “Stree Swabhiman Initiative” launched by Ministry of Electronics and

Information Technology (MeITY) with an aim to create sustainable model for



providing adolescent girls and women an access to affordable sanitary products

by leveraging Common Service Centres (CSC‟s).

133. Kolkata became first metro city in India to get floating market which was

inaugurated by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The floating

market is located on lake at Patuli in South Kolkata which is 400 metres long and

60 metres wide. The aim of floating market is to rehabilitate over 200

shopkeepers from nearby market that was demolished for the widening of

Eastern Metropolitan Byp ass (EMB) — an important road that connects the

northern parts of Kolkata o the eastern and southern tips. The lake has been

transformed into the floating market similar to the one in Thailand.

134. Pulse Polio Immunization (PPI) Programme for year 2018 have launched

by President Ram Nath Kovind. The event was organised on the eve of the

National Immunisation Day (NID), observed on 28 January. Polio (Poliomyelitis)

is a highly infectious viral disease, which mainly affects young children below age

of 5.

135. Mahatma Gandhi Sarbat Vikas Yojna (MGSVY) for the welfare of the

downtrodden citizen across the state was launched by the Punjab Government.

The objective of scheme is to identify poor and distressed households which

have been deprived of the benefits of the various welfare schemes .It will be on

the line of Antyodaya principles (Antyodaya‟ means rise of the last person) and

will be implemented in the state‟s rural areas.

136. World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meeting will be hosted by

India in March 2018 in New Delhi. The objective of meeting is to discuss ways to

revitalise WTO to ensure predictable and transparent system of rule-making in

the area of international trade. The meeting will be taking place after collapse of

the WTO 11th Ministerial Conference (MC 11) held in Buenos Aires in December

2017.

137. The norms of Atal Pension Yojana (APY) were relaxed by the Union

finance ministry to allow small finance banks and payment banks to offer APY

distribution. The move is expected to help expand coverage of the scheme and

strengthen existing channels of APY distribution.



138. Alpha Design Technologies Ltd. has signed Rs. 45-crore deal with

Ministry of Defence to supply indigenous simulators for gunnery and missile firing

from BMP II vehicles to Indian Army.

139. The Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has inked MoU with

IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd for construction of the 14.150 km long, 2-

lane bi -directional Zojila Tunnel in Jammu & Kashmir. This would be India‟s

longest road tunnel and longest bi-directional tunnel in Asia. On completion, the

tunnel will provide all weather connectivity between Srinagar, Kargil and Leh.

140. India has been ranked 177 among 180 countries in the Environmental

Performance Index (EPI) – 2018.

141. India was ranked sixth in list of wealthiest countries with total wealth of US

$8,230 billion in 2017 according to New World Wealth Report. Top 10 Wealthiest

Countries are United States (1st, total wealth held US $ 64,584 billion), China

(2nd, $24,803 billion), Japan (3rd, $19,522 billion) United Kingdom (4th, $9,919

billion), Germany (5th, $9,660 billion), France (7th, $6,649 billion), Canada (8th,

$6,393 billion), Australia (9th, $6,142 billion) and Italy (10th, $4,276 billion).

142. INS Karanj, Scorpene submarine was launched by Indian Navy at the

Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL), Mumbai, Maharashtra. It the third

Scorpene class submarine built by MDL under ambitious Project 75 of the Indian

Navy. INS Karanj has an overall length of 67.5 metres and height of about 12.3

metres. The first of these, INS Kalvari was commissioned in December 2017 and

second, INS Khanderi is undergoing sea trials. Remaining 4 submarines will be

inducted gradually by 2020. In all, six scorpion submarines being indigenously

built at MDL under Project 75 with help of French naval defence and energy

company DCNS. These are diesel-electric attack submarines equipped with anti-

ship missile. The first four submarines will be conventional, while last two will be

equipped with the Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) system, which will enable

them to stay underwater for longer duration. INS Karanj has been named after

older submarine as per Indian naval tradition that was in operation from 1969 to

2003. It served country for 34 years and was also part of operations in 1971.

143. To Improve Rural Connectivity in 5 States viz. Assam, Chhattisgarh,

Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak

Yojana (PMGSY), the Union Government has inked $250 Million Loan



Agreement with Asian Development Bank (ADB). The program is aimed to

improve rural connectivity, facilitate safer and more efficient access to livelihood

and socio-economic opportunities for rural connectivity, facilitate safer and more

efficient access to livelihood and socio-economic opportunities for rural

communities through improvements to about 12,000 kms Rural Roads across 5

States.

144. India has overtaken US to become the world‟s third largest steel producer

in 2017, according to recent report published by World Steel Association (WSA).

India‟s crude steel production has grown by 6.2% to 101.4 million tonnes (MT) in

2017 compared to 95.5 MT in the previous year. China has remained world

leader by producing 831.7 MT in 2017, up 5.7% from 786.9 MT in the year-ago

period. Japan is second largest global steel producer.

145. While addressing the joint sitting of Parliament on the commencement of

the Budget Session, President Ram Nath Kovind has called for simultaneous

elections to Lok Sabha and state assemblies. He called for sustained debate on

subject of simultaneous elections and urged all political parties to arrive at

consensus on this issue.

146. Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) project to promote organic farming

have been launched by Jai Ram Thakur (CM of Himachal Pradesh.)in the state .

ZBNF is set of natural farming methods where cost of growing and harvesting

plants is zero. It is a farming practice that believes in natural growth of crops

without adding any fertilizers and pesticides or any other foriegn elements. It is

different from organic farming. The project aims to increase agriculture produce

and the income of farmers by the year 2022.

147. The first military exercise (VINBAX-2018) between India and Vietnam was

conducted at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh as a part of joint training undertaken

with friendly foreign countries by Indian Army.

148. Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), an apex coordination

centre was set up in New Delhi to deal with cybercrimes by the Union Home

Ministry.



International

1. According to researchers even a rise of just 2 degree Celsius in global

warming could make over a quarter of the world‟s land to become drier and

desert- like. The change is expected to increase the threat of drought and

wild fires.

2. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) introduced the Value

Added Tax (VAT) for the very first time on 1st Jan 2018.the move is the first

for the Gulf region ,which has long boasted of a tax free system.

3. India and Pakistan on 1st Jan 2018 exchanged 27th lists of their nuclear

installations under an agreement which aims to prevent both sides from

attacking such facilities.This was done through diplomatic channels

simultaneously at New Delhi and Islamabad. The list –exchange come sin

backdrop of a heated arguments between the two nations over the

harassment and ill treatment of jailed Indian national Kulbushan Jadhav‟s

mother and wife by Pakistan

4. Showing zero tolerance towards terrorism, the US President issued a tough

warning to Pakistan and said that the United States will no longer give any

fund to Pakistan.

5. Israel recently confirmed its withdrawal from UNESCO following the

withdrawal of US.

6. The Union Cabinet has approved the MoU signed between Union Ministry of

Road Transport & Highways and „Transport for London‟. It aimed to improve

the overall public transport system and also to promote the use of high

capacity buses in India.

7. The Union Government is planning to sign MoU with Sri Lanka for co-

operation in areas of traditional systems of medicine and homeopathy.

8. The Union Cabinet has approved the MoU signed between India and

Belgium for Co-operation in the field of Information Communication

Technology and Electronics (ICT&E), e-Governance, e-Public Service

Delivery, exchange of experts and cyber security. This MoU was signed on



November 7, 2017 during the State Visit of King Philippe of the Belgium to

India.

9. The Union Cabinet has approved Rs 6809-cr Zojila tunnel project in Jammu

& Kashmir and it will be implemented by

National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation

Limited (NHIDCL) under Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

Zojila pass is situated at an altitude of 11,578 feet on Srinagar-Kargil-Leh

National Highway.

10. The Union Cabinet has approved the MoU between India and Israel for the

co-operation in the Oil and Gas Sector. It aimed to promote investments in

each other‟s countries, technology transfer and Research & Development in

energy sector.

11. The Union Cabinet has apprised of the MoU signed between India and Italy

for the co-operation in the field of renewable energy which was signed on

October 30, 2017 in New Delhi. A Joint Working Committee will be

established to review, monitor and discuss matters relating to areas of

cooperation.

12. The Union Cabinet has approved the agreement between India and Myanmar

on Land Border Crossing. It envisages the regulation of the existing free

movement rights for people residing in the border areas of both countries.

This agreement not only strengthens the people-to-people ties but will also

provide a boost to the economy of the North Eastern India.

13. The United States has placed Pakistan on „Special Watch List‟ for “severe

violations” of religious freedom. It is only country to be put under the newly-

formed list. As per US, Pakistan was placed in this list because it continues to

harass its religious minorities, tolerates extra-judicial violence in the guise of

opposing blasphemy. The Special Watch List is for countries that engage in

or tolerate severe violations of religious freedom but may not rise to level of

„Countries of Particular Concern‟ (CPC). Moreover, US also re-designated

about 10 countries as „Countries of Particular Concern‟ under its International

Religious Freedom (IRF) Act. They are Burma (Myanmar), China, Eritrea,

Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and

Uzbekistan.



14. From January 1, 2018, a new law has come to force in Iceland, under which it

has become illegal to pay men more than women for the same work. Iceland

has thus becomes first country in the world to legalise equal pay. In context of

this news, it is important to note that Iceland has been ranked as world‟s

most gender-equal country by World Economic Forum (WEF) since past nine

years.

15. The United States has suspended more than USD 1.15 billion security

assistance to Pakistan,accusing Islamabad of harbouring terror groups like

the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network within its border.

16. The Himalayan Hydro Expo 2018 is jointly organized by the Independent

Power Producers‟ Association Nepal (IPPAN) and Event Management

Services began at the Exhibition Hall of Bhrikutimandap, in Kathmandu,

Nepal. The expo was inaugurated by Bidya Devi Bhandari, President of

Nepal. Hydro power related products and services are displayed in the expo.

Seminars, discussions and competitions are conducted for students.

17. China is planning to build its second foreign naval base in Pakistan according

to a South China Morning Post (SCMP) report. After Djibouti, in the Horn of

Africa in Indian Ocean , this is the second one. The base in Djibouti was

formally opened in August 2017. China‟s naval base in Pakistan will most

likely come up in Gwadar on the southwestern coast of Balochistan,

Pakistan. From Indian perspective, this news holds strategic significance, as

Gwadar is located at a short distance from Chabahar port in Iran, that is being

jointly developed by Iran, India and Afghanistan. Chabahar port is to be

utilised as trade corridor for Indian exports to Afghanistan, bypassing

Pakistan.

18. As per data released by Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority,

India continued to be Sri Lanka‟s top source of tourists in 2017. As per the

data, India accounted for 384628 tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka in 2017, which

marks 7.8 per cent growth as compared to previous year.

19. Conference on Transformation of Aspirational Districts was held at the Dr.

Ambedkar International Centre, in New Delhi by NITI Aayog. The conference

focused on Prime Minister Narendra Modi‟s vision of a New India by 2022.

Government officials such as Additional Secretary and Joint Secretary have



been made officers in-charge for the transformation of districts initiative of

around 100 districts.

20. World‟s largest ice festival -34th Harbin International ice and snow festival

opened in Harbin ( north-east China).

21. Iran has banned English from being taught in primary schools across the

country after its Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that it will lead to western

culture invasion. This ban applies to government and non government

schools in Iran.

22. Turkey announced plans to extend the ongoing state of emergency for the

sixth time to crack down on individuals connected with failed coup. The

ongoing emergency expires on Jan 19, 2018.The fresh extension will be for

another three months. The state of emergency was first imposed on July

2016.

23. A MoU signed between India and Canada for cooperation in field of Science

& Technology was approved by the Union Cabinet. The MoU will provide

mechanism and help to foster scientific cooperation between Research &

Development (R&D) and academic institutions of India and Canada. Under

this MoU, India-Canada Centre for Innovative Multidisciplinary Partnership to

Accelerate Community Transformation and Sustainability (IC-

IMPACTS)programme will be supported to promote multidisciplinary research

partnerships between both countries. The MoU was concluded by

Department of Science and Technology (DST) with Natural Sciences and

Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada.

24. India and Indonesia held their first bilateral security dialogue in New Delhi to

combat terrorism. From Indian side Ajit Doval ( National security Adviser)and

from Indonesia the meeting was led by H Wiranto, Co-ordinating minister for

political, legal and security affairs.

25. North Korea has agreed to conduct talks with South Korea to reduce military

tensions, to send a delegation to the upcoming winter Olympics 2018 in

Pyeongchang,South Korea.

26. A MoU was signed between South Korea and GCCI (Gujarat Chamber of

Commerce and industry) for co-operation between South Korea and



industries in Gujarat. The MoU focuses on co-operation in automobiles,

defence and textile sectors.

27. CM of Baluchistan, Nawab Sanaullah Zehri , resigned before a no confidence

motion was taken against him in the provincial assembly.

28. During the recent meeting of Afghanistan Defence Minister Tariq Shah

Bahrami, with Chinese Defence Minister Chang Wanquan, China has

announced to provide financial support to construct counter-terrorism base in

Badakshan province of northern Afghanistan that would prevent cross-border

infiltration of the Chinese Uyghur militants.

29. China became Nepal‟s second internet service provider, ending India‟s

monopoly on internet access.

30. South Australia planned to build the World‟s largest thermal Power plant .

31. Two BeiDou-3 satellites has successfully launched by China to provide

navigation and positioning services to countries along Belt and Road initiative

(BRI) by the end of 2018. The two satellites were designated as BeiDou-3 M7

and BeiDou-3 M8 (26th and 27th satellites) in BeiDou Navigation Satellite

System (BDS). This was first launch of the BeiDou satellites in 2018. China is

plannig to send 18 BeiDou-3 satellites into space in 2018.

32. Saudi Arabia‟s first motorshow for women customers was held in Jeddah on

11th Jan 2018. It is to be noted that in Sep 2017, Saudi King Salman had

ordered an end to the ban on Women drivers by June2018.

33. 13th Annual Iron fist joint exercises was conducted by US and Japan military

in California, US.

34. Rizhao, a new missile frigate was commissioned by the People‟s Liberation

Army in a naval port in Dalian, China.The Missile frigate Rizhao is 140 m long

and 16 m wide designed and made by China.

35. India has contributed $50,000 to United Nations (UN) Secretary General

Antonio Guterres‟s Office of Envoy on Youth to help with its mission of

involving young people in the world body‟s goals. The contribution made by

India is voluntary with no strings attached. The Youth Envoy‟s works to raise

international awareness and attention to youth issues among others. Its

mission aims to promote engagement of youth and advocate for them across



all the four pillars of UN‟s work –human rights, peace and security,

sustainable development and humanitarian action.

36. India and Israel have signed nine agreements following delegation-level talks

headed by Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart

Benjamin Netanyahu in New Delhi to boost cooperation in the areas of space,

cyber security and oil and gas between both countries. Netanyahu is first

Israeli Prime Minister to visit India in span of last 15 years and second one

overall. Ariel Sharon was first and only Israeli Prime Minister to visit India in

2003.

37. India and Sri Lanka have signed 4 agreements for collaboration in the ICT(

Information and Communication Technology ) sector, setting up of an e-office

system and connecting of National Knowledge Network ( NKN) for

collaboration among universities and academics. With this, Sri Lanka became

first country to be connected to NKN through Gigabyte (GB) optical fibre

network. The MoU for cooperation was signed by Union minister for

Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad with his Sri Lankan counterpart

in Colombo.

38. Under the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicles Agreement

(MVA), Bangladesh, India and Nepal agreed on text of operating procedures

for passenger vehicle movement (Passenger protocol) in sub-region.

Decision in this regard was taken at meeting of High-level officials of three

countries held in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The passenger protocol agreed upon

is document detailing procedures for cross-border movement of buses and

private vehicles for transport facilitation in sub region. It will be signed by

three countries after completing necessary internal approval processes in

their government.

39. „Vajra Prahar‟- The Indo-US joint military exercise held at Joint Base Lewis-

McChord (JBLM) in Seattle in third week of January in line with the increasing

military cooperation between both countries. The last edition was held in

Jodhpur in March 2017.

40. Wiki Leaks founder Julian Assange was granted Ecuadorian citizenship. It

was announced by Ecuador‟s foreign minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa.



41. Indian peacekeepers in UN Mission in South Sudan ( UNMISS) have a re-

built a key bridge in record time in strife-torn Akoka village of South

Sudan.This bridge will enable people to cross the river and reach a town to

access basic needs.

42. India signed a MoU with UK for the illegal Indian migrants within a month of

their detection by UK authorities.

43. The 10th edition of Global Forum for Food & Agriculture was held in Berlin,

Germany from 18th -20th January 2018. The theme of this year‟s event is

“Shaping the future of livestock – sustainably, responsibly, efficiently”.

44. China has constructed Xian smog tower, an experimental air purifying tower

touted to be the world‟s biggest at height of over 100 meters (328 feet) in an

attempt to fight air pollution.

45. India has joined the Australian Group export control regime, an informal

forum that seeks to ensure that exports do not contribute to the development

of chemical or biological weapons. India is the first South Asian nation to

become its full-time member.

46. India and Cambodia have signed four agreements to boost bilateral

cooperation between both countries after comprehensive talks between

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Cambodian counterpart Samdech Hun

Sen in New Delhi.

47. India and Lao PDR have signed civil aviation cooperation agreement for

providing SkyRev360, a comprehensive e-data gathering, invoicing and

collection system. The agreement was signed between Airports Authority of

India (AAI) and Lao Air Traffic Management, Department of Civil Aviation

under the Government‟s Make in India initiative. It helps to eliminate

inaccuracies errors and delays for better revenue management with less

manual processing.

48. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on four-day official state visit to

Palestine, Oman and UAE in February 2018. This will be the first ever visit by

Indian Prime Minister to Palestine and PM Modi‟s second visit to UAE and

first to Oman.

49. India-Japan Smart Grid Pilot Project was inaugurated in Panipat, Haryana by

State Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in the presence of Japanese



Minister Keniko Sen to solve the various complications faced by the power

distribution sector. The project aims to make electricity distribution network

smarter and disseminate Japanese technologies in India.

50. A new Global Centre for Cyber security headquartered in Geneva,

Switzerland was launched by the World economic forum (WEF) in a bid to

safeguard world from hackers and growing data breaches — especially from

nation-states. The centre will become operational from March 2018.

51. The ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit was held in New Delhi to

celebrate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of sectoral dialogue

between two sides under the theme of “Shared Values, Common Destiny”.

52. India and Vietnam have signed two MoUs to enhance cooperation in field of

information and broadcasting and space co-operation following bilateral

meeting between PM Narendra Modi and his visiting counterpart Nguyen

Xuan Phuc ahead of the India-Asean Commemorative Summit in New Delhi.

53. The agreement of Thar Link Express, second solitary rail service between

India and Pakistan was extended for three more years i.e. till 2021. It was set

to expire in March 2018, but has now been extended to January 31, 2021.

The agreement to link the two countries by rail service through Munabao-

Khokhrapar link was signed in 2006 to facilitate people-to-people contact..

The Thar Express links Jodhpur (India) and Karachi (Pakistan) via Munabao

(Rajasthan)-Khokhrapar (Sindh province) border crossing and carries only

passengers.

Science & Technology :

1. To explore the sun‟s outer atmosphere, Parker Solar Probe is going to launch by

NASA in 2018. It is named after solar astrophysicist Eugene Parker. This is first

time NASA spacecraft named after living person. It has been designed and built

by Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. It is NASA‟s planned

robotic spacecraft to probe outer corona of Sun. It will perform its scientific

investigations in a hazardous region of intense heat and solar radiation.

2. The two new missions named GOLD and ICON to explore the ionosphere,

located 96 km above Earth‟s surface will be launched by the National



Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Global-scale Observations

of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission will be launched in January 2018. It will be

launched in geostationary orbit over Western Hemisphere, about 35,398 km

above earth. It will help in full-disk view of ionosphere and upper atmosphere

beneath it every half hour. Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) will be

launched later this year. It will be launched in low-Earth orbit (LEO) located at

560 km above Earth, like a close-up camera

3. Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) have decided to put joint

efforts for developing eco-friendly firecrackers and arriving at a cost-effective

technology to make e-crackers (electronic-crackers). This research and

development endeavour will initially focus on reduction of pollutants and in future

will develop a solution which would remove the pollutants altogether from the

compositions of firecrackers.

4. Zuma Mission for US government has secretly launched by California-based

Private spaceflight company SpaceX. It was launched on board of SpaceX

Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, US. It is a

secret mission in its nature or purpose and the agency behind it remains a

mystery. SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corporation) is aerospace

manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in

California, US. SpaceX has developed the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 launch

vehicles, both designed to be reusable, thus reducing the cost of launch.

5. Acer has launched new Acer Swift & laptopand claims to be the world‟s thinnest

laptop.It will be available in US from March 2018 and costs $1699.Its thickness is

8.9mm

6. ISRO on 11th Jan 2018 began the 28 hr count down to launch 31 satellites in

Sriharikota , Andhra Pradesh . It will be the first space mission of India in

2018.Among these, 3 satellites will be of India and 28 from six other countries.

These satellites will be launched onboard the PSLV C-40 rocket. This launch

comes 4 months after the rocket failed to deliver the India‟s 8th navigation

satellite in the earth‟s lower orbit on 31st Aug 2017.The PSLV C-39 was

unsuccessful as the heat shield failed to separate.



7. Research designs and Standards Organisation ( RDSO), a research unit of

Ministry of Railways have launched transparent and efficient new online Vendor

Registration system.

8. A new species of moth, scientifically named Elcysma Ziroensis was discovered

by the researchers from Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) from Talley

Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh. Elcysma Ziroensis is commonly called

Apatani Glory, named after a local tribe called Apatani. It was discovered at an

elevation of 1,700m in Ziro.

9. „IPrism‟ for college and university students has been launched by the Cell for IPR

Promotion and Management (CIPAM), in collaboration with the Department of

Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). The IPrism competition aims to foster

culture of innovation and creativity in younger generation. It will provide young

creators unique opportunity to see their creations recognized on national

platform. The one of its kind Intellectual Property (IP) Competition was launched

by CIPAM-DIPP in association with ASSOCHAM and ERICSSON India.

10. NASA scientists have discovered SPT0615-JD, the farthest known galaxy in the

Universe. The image was captured by NASA”S Hubble and Spitzer space

telescopes.

11. India ranked at 30th position among 100 countries on its Global Manufacturing

Index (GMI) by the World Economic Forum (WEF). The index was released as

part of WEF‟s first Readiness for the future of production Report which analysed

development of modern industrial strategies and urges collaborative action.

12. Brazil‟ s security regulator prohibited local investment funds from buying crypto

currencies such as Bitcoin. The prohibition has been imposed stating that crypto

currencies cannot be considered as financial assets.

13. The first course on Sustainable Urban planning using remote sensing and

Geographic Information System (GIS) has been launched by NITI Aayog at IIT

Kanpur‟s outreach centre in Noida. The course aims to give participants state-of-

the-art remote sensing and GIS skills to allow them managing rapidly changing

urban environment of India cities. Its prime focus is on issues such as water

resource management, water pollution and water treatment facilities. This is first

course conducted under Global Initiative on Academic Network (GIAN) Program



of Union Ministry of Human Resource Development. It is actively supported by

NITI Aayog and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

14. A MoU was signed between the Department of Commerce and Confederation

of Indian Industry (CII) for setting-up institutional mechanism for the development

of Logistics sector in the country. They will follow Commerce Ministry‟s roadmap

for modernizing logistics sector and bring it at par with the global best.

15. Bank of Baroda has tied up with Invoicemart, a digital invoice discounting market

place as TreDS partner.

16. RBI stated that all 14 designs of Rs 10 coin are valid and legal tender for

transactions.

17. WhatsApp has launched „business‟ app to help small enterprises to connect

efficiently with their customers. It has been used for Android systems. It has

been released in Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, the UK and the US.

18. Agni-5-Indigenously developed long-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile

was successfully test fired from Abdul Kalam Wheeler Island, Odisha.

19. TRAI has recommended allowing mobile telephony and Internet services for

passengers during air travel in country through both satellite and terrestrial

network. The MCA services should be permitted with minimum 3000 meters

height restriction in Indian airspace for its compatibility with terrestrial mobile

networks.

20. Cyber Surakshit Bharat initiative to strengthen cyber security ecosystem in India

in line Government‟s vision for a „Digital India‟ was launched in association with

National e-Governance Division (NeGD) and industry partners by the Ministry of

Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). It will leverage the expertise of

the IT industry in cyber security.

21. Rotavac became first Indigenously developed vaccine from India to be pre-

qualified by World Health Organisation (WHO). Rotavac conceived and

developed by the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech Limited. It protects against

childhood diarrhoea caused by the rotavirus. It was developed under the joint

collaboration between India and United States in area of medical research..

22. Third version of the Government e-Marketplace (GeM 3.0) was launched by the

Ministry of Commerce & Industry. It aims to enhance transparency, efficiency

and speed in public procurement of goods and services and eliminate corruption.



GeM is an Online Market platform to facilitate procurement of goods and services

by various Ministries and agencies of the Government. It has been envisaged as

National Procurement Portal of India. The earlier version GeM 2.0 was launched

as pilot project in August 2016.

23. High performance computer system (HPC) or supercomputer Mihir (meaning

sun) has inaugurated by Ministry of Earth Science (MoES) at National Centre for

Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), Noida. It is country‟s largest

HPC facility in terms of peak capacity and performance. It also propelled India‟s

ranking to Top 30 in the list of HPC facilities in world. The HCP will provide

facility for improving weather/climate forecasts.

Discoveries

1. A new species of frog named Mewa Singh‟s night frog (Nyctibatrachus

mewasinghi) was discovered by the scientists in Kozhikode‟s Malabar Wildlife

Sanctuary, Kerala in Western Ghats. The new night frog species is light brown in

colour with an off-white underside.

2. Two new species of ginger named Hedychium chingmeianum and

Caulokaempferia dinabandhuensis in easternmost districts of northeast India

have been discovered by the scientists from Botanical Survey of India (BSI).

Hedychium chingmeianum was discovered in Tuensang district in Nagaland. It is

an epiphytic plant and grows on trunks of tall trees. It has reddish stems and

creamy white flowers. Caulokaempferia dinabandhuensis was found growing in

rock crevices, boulders and humus rich soil in the Shirui Hills in Ukhrul in

Manipur. It has beautiful oval-shaped pink flowers which appear in June-July. It

has been named after Mr. Dinabandhu Sahoo. Both the plants belong to the

family of Zingiberaceae, to which the commonly found ginger (Zingiber officinale)

belongs.

3. A new species of blind fish has been discovered inside a cave in East Jaintia hill

districts of Meghalaya. It was named as Schistura larketensis after Larket village

,where the cave has been found.



4. Four new species of balsam from various locations in Eastern Himalayas was

discovered by the scientists in northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. They

are Impatiens haridasanii, Impatiens pseudocitrina, Impatiens nilalohitae and

Impatiens roingensis. India is home to more than 230 balsam species. Their

genus is called Impatiens, signifying impatient nature of their fruits which explode

when touched.

5. Typbar TCV-World‟s first typhoid vaccine clinically proven to be administered to

children from six months of age to adults, and confers long-term protection

against typhoid fever. Typbar Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine (TVC) developed by

Hyderabad based Bharat Biotech for global use got its prequalification from the

World Health Organisation (WHO). Typhoid fever is caused by bacterium

Salmonella Typhi (S. Typhi).

6. For the first time, scientists from Duke University in North Carolina, US have

developed working human skeletal muscle from stem cells using adult skin or

blood cells that were reprogrammed into a juvenile, versatile state in the

laboratory.

7. World‟s fifth largest diamond discovered in Lesotho mine. A 910 carat gem

diamond found from Lesteng Diamond Mine owned by Gem diamonds Ltd.

8. A group of archaeologists has discovered the world‟s biggest flooded cave in

Mexico. The researchers connected two underwater caverns in eastern Mexico

to reveal what is believe to be the biggest flooded cave on the planet. This

discovery could shed light on the ancient Maya civilization.

9. For the first time China have successfully cloned two identical long-tailed

macaques (monkeys), named Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua using same technique

that produced Dolly sheep two decades ago. These two identical long-tailed

macaques were cloned using process called somatic cell nuclear transfer

(SCNT), which involves transferring the nucleus of cell, which includes its DNA,

into egg whose nucleus is removed. This development makes them world‟s first

primates – the order of mammals that includes monkeys, apes and humans – to

be cloned from non-embryoniccell.

Economy/Banking



1. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will soon issue Rs.10 denomination banknotes in

the Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series. It will have motif of Sun Temple, Konark on

the reverse side. Base colour of these new notes will be Chocolate Brown. These

notes will bear signature of Dr. Urjit R. Patel, the current Governor of Reserve

Bank of India.

2. Bank of Cyprus has selected Gemalto, an international digital security

company to supply world‟s first biometric payment card for both chip

and contactless payments.These cards will use fingerprint recognition instead of

a personal identification number (PIN) to authenticate the cardholder.

3. Air India has tied-up with UAE-based First Abu Dhabi Bank, Standard Chartered

Bank and Mashreq Bank to avail loans for acquiring three Boeing 777 aircrafts.

Two of the three B777-300 ER planes will be delivered by end of January 2018,

while one will be delivered in February 2018.

4. According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India‟s foreign exchange (Forex)

reserves have scaled to fresh record high of $409.366 billion as on December

29, 2017. The surge was due to massive spike in foreign currency assets, which

is key component of the reserves. The components of India‟s FOREX Reserves

include Foreign currency assets (FCAs), Gold, Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)

and RBI‟s Reserve position with International Monetary Fund (IMF). FCAs

constitute largest component of Indian Forex Reserves.

5. An on-line chat service has been launched by the Income Tax Department in its

official website www.incometaxindia.gov.in .It has been launched to help

taxpayers get their queries solved. The on-line chat service is provided

from Monday to Friday between 10 am and 6 pm. It is also available on a mobile

application called „AayakarSetu‟. It is available to all Android mobile users.

6. Central Statistics Office (CSO) has announced the first advance estimates of

National Income 2017-18 and stated that growth in India‟s Gross Domestic

Product (GDP) during 2017-18 is estimated at 6.5% as compared to 7.1% in

2016-17. As per CSO estimates, growth in agriculture, forestry and fishing is

likely to slow to 2.1% in 2017-18 as compared to 4.9% in 2016-17. Growth in

manufacturing sector too is expected to slow down to 4.6% in current fiscal as

compared to 7.9% in 2016-17



7. Paytm Payments Bank has announced a partnership with Induslnd Bank .Under

which, its customers‟ account balance exceeding Rs. 1 lakh at the end of day will

be automatically converted to a fixed deposit (FD) with IndusInd Bank. As per the

current norms applicable to Payments Bank, a customer cannot have more than

Rs. 1 lakh in his/her account. Customers whose balance has been converted to

fixed deposit will be able redeem it instantly, at any time, without paying any pre-

closure or miscellaneous charges.

8. RBI (Reserve Bank of India) has approved Telangana Industrial Health Clinic Ltd

(TIHCL) to register and function as a Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC).

Karur Vysya Bank, Vijaya Bank, Canara Bank, Union Bank, SBI (State Bank of

India) and SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India) have showed

interest to partner with TIHCL. TIHCL plans to support 5-10 enterprises per

month in each district. TIHCL had won the SKOCH Platinum Award in

September 2017 under the smart governance category in the MSME segment.

TIHCL will be the first State promoted and co-financing NBFC according to the

statement of its advisor and director. B Yerram Raju

9. China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is planning to issue its first

US dollar-denominated bond with minimum worth of $1 billion by June 2018. The

maturity of the bond will be between three and five years depending on investor

demand at the time.

10. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has announced to relax norms

around levy of minimum alternate tax (MAT) for insolvent companies from

financial year 2017-18. Its aim is to bring Zero Tax Companies” into tax realm

who do not pay any tax. It is ruled by provisions enclosed in section 115JB of

Income Tax Act, 1961.The purpose of the move is to make the Insolvency and

Bankruptcy Code, 2016 more effective and minimise hardship faced by

companies going in for insolvency resolution..

11. A MoU was signed between Punjab National Bank (PNB) and National

Scheduled Castes finance and development Corporation ( NSFDC) to provide

financial assistance to Sc families living below double poverty line( DPL). At

present persons whose family income is below 40000/per annum in rural areas

and Rs 55000 per annum in urban areas are considered to be below double

poverty line.



12. Gujarat has topped logistics ease across different states ( LEADS) index as per

the report released by the union minister of commerce and industry Suresh

Prabhu at the third meeting of council for Trade development and promotion on

8th Jan 2018.LEADS index is a perception based index of mobility of goods and

efficiency of logistics chain. Punjab has acquired second position followed by

Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Among the Union Territories,

Daman & Diu occupied top slot followed by NCT Delhi and Chandigarh. As

regards the hilly states, Tripura was on top followed by Mizoram and Meghalaya.

13. According to the World Bank‟s Global economic prospects report, India‟ s

economy will grow by 6.7% during the current fiscal year, higher than 6.5%

estimated by the Indian government. It further stated that GDP growth is

expected to be 7.3% in 2018-19 and with this growth, India is set to regain the

top spot in World‟s fastest growing economies

14. Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd is planning to create its own cyptocurrency, JioCoin.

The Jiocoin project is being led by Mukesh Ambani‟s elder son Akash Ambani.

15. Yara International, a Norwegian company announced the completion of its

acquisition of Tata Chemicals Ltd‟s 1.2 million tones per annum production

capacity urea plant located at Babrala in Uttar Pradesh. This marks the first

foreign direct investment in India‟s highly regulated urea sector. Its deal value is

Rs2682 cr.

16. The Board of directors of IDFC bank (a private sector bank ) approved the

merger of their bank with Capital First ( a non banking financial firm ).

17. Mauritius was largest source of foreign investment (FDI) in India according to

Census on Foreign Liabilities and Assets of Indian Direct Investment Companies

2016-17 released by Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

18. India‟s first BS-VI-compliant S Class car has unveiled by German auto major

Mercedes-Benz at its Pune facility. The BS-VI-compliant S Class car was

unveiled more than two years ahead of Government‟s deadline of April 2020 for

switching to new BS-VI emission norms. BS-VI-compliant S Class can run on

BS-IV fuel, which will bring down NOx emissions by 68% and PM by 82%. This

will lower the CO2 burden by 13% and fuel demand by 10%. The Union

Government in October 2016 had decided to skip one stage and migrate to BS-

VI directly from BS-IV from April 2020 to fight the growing pollution. At present,



all new vehicles being registered are BS- IV-emission compliant. By switching to

BS-VI, India will join league of US, Japan and European Union, which follow

Euro Stage VI emission norms.

Appointments:

1. Vijay Keshav Gokhale was appointed as Foreign Secretary of India who

succeeds S Jaishankar who will complete his tenure on 28 Jan 2018.

2. Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga was appointed as the new Prime Minister of Mali

3. Om Prakash Singh was appointed as the Director General of Police of Uttar

Pradesh recently

4. AB Mathur was appointed as interlocutor on its behalf to hold talks with

the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA). He is the former special

secretary of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

5. Emami Group announced actor Salman Khan as the brand ambassador for its

edible oil brands. Salman Khan will work with Amitabh Bachchan in promoting

Emami‟s edible oil brands. Emami Healthy & Tasty, Himani Best Choice and

Rasoi are Emami‟s edible oil brands.

6. Rajinder Khanna, former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) chief was

appointed as the Deputy National Security Advisor (NSA) by the Appointment

Committee of the Cabinet (ACC). In his new role, he will assist NSA Ajit Doval

7. T S Tirumurti (IFS) officer of the 1985-batch)was appointed as the Secretary

(Economic Relations) in the External Affairs Ministry. He is currently the High

Commissioner of India to Malaysia. He replaces Vijay Keshav Gokhale who is

recently appointed as Foreign Secretary.

8. Bollywood Actor Akshay Kumar has agreed to partner with Birhanmumbai

Municipal corporation to promote cleanliness in Mumbai under Swachh

Survekshan 2018, the world‟s largest cleanliness survey which will conclude in

March 2018.

9. Dilip Asbe has been appointed as the MD and CEO of National Payments

Corporation of India ( NPCI), an umbrella organization for retail payments in

India



10. Allu Arjun (Telugu film star) was appointed as the brand ambassador of Frooti,

as a part of Parle Agro‟s expansion strategy.

11. AR Rahman was appointed as the brand ambassador of Sikkim tourism. He

will also brand Sikkim on International platforms.

12. Rajesh Ranjan,( IFS officer of 2001 batch ) was appointed as the High

Commissioner of India to Botswana.

13. Sita Ram Mandi was appointed as the new DGP of Himachal Pradesh. He

replaces Sanjay Kumar .

14. Karen Bardley was appointed as the new secretary of state for Northern

Ireland .

15. Rocket scientist K. Sivan has appointed as next Secretary of the Department

of Space and Chairman of Space Commission and Indian Space Research

Organisation (ISRO) by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC). He

will succeed A.S. Kiran Kumar and will have term of three years.

16. Harjinder Singh was appointed as the Chef de Mission for 23rd Winter

Olympic Games 2018 which is scheduled to take place from 9th to 25th

February 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

17. Sunny Verghese, Singapore based Indian –origin businessman has been

appointed as the Chairman of World Business Council for Sustainable

Development ( WBCSD).

18. Senior advocate Indu Malhotra becomes first woman lawyer from the country

to be directly elected for post of judge of the Supreme Court. Overall she will

be seventh woman judge in SC, since it was established 67 years ago. In

1989, Justice M. Fathima Beevi became first woman judge in Supreme Court.

At present, Justice R. Banumathi is lone woman judge in SC which currently

has a strength of 25 judges of total sanctioned strength of 31.

19. Actress Kajol became advocacy ambassador for Swachh Aadat Swachh

Bharat initiative. she will be an active supporter of eradicating preventable

deaths from hygiene related issues.

20. Anil Khanna was appointed as the Chairman of the Finance commission of the

Indian Olympic Association ( IOA)

21. Former Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel was appointed as Governor of

Madhya Pradesh.



22. Senior IPS officer Sudeep Lakhtakia was appointed as new Director General

of National Security Guard (NSG).

23. President Ram Nath Kovind has appointed Election commissioner Om

Prakash Rawat (64) as new Chief Election Commissioner. He will succeed

Achal Kumar Joti who has retired from post. President also appointed former

finance secretary Ashok Lavasa as Election commissioner. Both will have

tenure of six years in office or till he or she attains the age of 65 years,

whichever is earlier.

24. Senior scientist Dr V Narayanan has assumed charge as Director of ISRO‟s

Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC).

25. S Somanath was appointed as Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre

(VSSC).

Awards & Honours

1. Indian origin scientist Prathibha Laxman Gai was honoured with Dame hood by

Queen Elizabeth

2. Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) has won “Samudra Manthan-Caring

Organisation of the Year” award which was organised by Bhandarkar

Shipping. Bhandarkar Shipping is an important publication of the maritime

industry. The objective of this award is to create healthy competition in the

maritime sector. Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) is India‟s number one

container port in terms of volume and efficiency.

3. Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore

(MAS), has been honoured the best central bank governor in Asia-Pacific for

2018 by UK-based magazine, The Banker

4. The 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards honored the best in film and American

television of 2017. This year The Shape of Water had received most overall

nominations of show with seven.

Winners of various awards are as follows: Best Motion Picture Drama: Three

Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Best Motion Picture Musical/Comedy: Lady

Bird. Best Director in Motion Picture-Drama: Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of

Water). Best Actor in Motion Picture-Drama: Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour) as



Winston Churchill. Best Actress in Motion Picture-Drama: Frances McDormand

(Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) as Mildred Hayes. Best Actor in

Motion Picture or Musical or Comedy: James Franco (The Disaster Artist) as

Tommy Wiseau. Best Actress in Motion Picture Musical/Comedy: Saoirse Ronan

(Lady Bird) as Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson. Best Actor in a Supporting role

in Motion Picture: Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) as

Officer Jason Dixon. Best Actress in a Supporting role in Motion Picture: Allison

Janney (I, Tonya) as LaVona Golden. Best Original Score Motion Picture:

Alexandre Desplat (The Shape of Water). Best Original Song: “This Is Me” (Benj

Pasek and Justin Paul) – The Greatest Showman. Best Animated Feature Film:

Coco. Best Foreign Language Film: In the Fade (Germany/France). Cecil B.

DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award: Oprah Winfrey.

5. Bihar CM Nithish Kumar was awarded with First Mufti Mohammed Sayeed

Award for probity in public life .This award was presented by Jammu & Kashmir

Governor NN Vohra at General Zorawar Singh Auditorium in Jammu.

6. Matunga Suburban station in Mumbai enters Limca book of records for

comprising all -woman staff. It became the India‟s first railway station to be

operated by all- woman staff in July 2018 . A total of 41 woman staff are working

at the station.

7. French Government‟s highest order of merit “ Legion of Honour award “ was

given to actor Soumitra Chatterjee at the 42nd International Kolkata Book fair by

French culture Minister Francoise Nyssen . Theme country for the International

Kolkata book fair 2018 is France. This is considered as the world‟s largest book

fair in terms of participants.

8. R. S .Puram Police station House officer T. Jothi ( Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu )

received the India‟s best SMART Police station award at the all India conference

of Director General/ Inspector General of Police held at BSF Academy Tekanpur

in Madhya Pradesh from Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

9. Aanchal Thakur became the first Indian to win an international medal in Skiing ,

by winning a bronze medal in the Alphine Ejder 3200 cup.

10. Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos became the richest person of all time. Eariler this

position was held by Microsoft Founder Bill Gates.



11. The annual survey of Gallup international has placed PM Modi at 3rd rank among

World leaders. The survey was conducted with people from 50 countries. Angela

Merkel , German Chancellor became World no: 1 with a score of 21, French

President Emmanuel Macron became second with a score of 20. Indian PM

Narendra Modi became 3rd rank with a score of 8.

12. Actor Sudhir Dalvi was presented with the Janakavi P Sawalaram award at a

function in Thane, Maharashtra. Dancer Jaishree T was awarded with Ganga

Jamuna award. This award is given in memory of a popular song written by

Sawlaram.

13. President Ram Nath Kovind presented Sangeet Natak Akademi‟s Fellowships

(Akademi Ratna) and Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) for

the year 2016 at function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. 2016 list of

winners :Akademi Fellows are Arvind Parikh, R Vedavalli, Ram Gopal Bajaj,

Sunil Kothari. Akademi Awards 2016 :Music Hindustani Vocal Music: Padma

Talwalkar Hindustani Vocal Music: Prabhakar Karekar. Hindustani Instrumental

Music- Tabla: Arvind Mulgaonkar Hindustani Instrumental Music- Violin: Kala

Ramnath Carnatic Vocal Music: Neela Ramgopal Carnatic Vocal Music: K

Omanakutty. Carnatic Instrumental Music – Mridangam: J Vaidhyanathan

Carnatic Instrumental Music – Violin: Mysore M Manjunath. Other Major

Traditions of Music- Sugam Sangeet: Ratnamala Prakash. Other Major

Traditions of Music – Sugam Sangeet: Ahmed Hussain and Mohd Hussain.

Other Major Traditions of Music – Nata Sankirtana, Manipur: Ningthoujam

Shyamchand Singh Classical Dance :Bharatanatyam: Geeta Chandran. Kathak

Dance-Jitendra Maharaj Kathakali: Kalamandalam Ramachandran Unnithan

Manipuri: Maisnam Kaminikumar Singh Kuchipudi: A B Bala Kondala Rao.

Odissi: Ratikant Mohapatra Sattriya: Haricharan Bhuyan Borbayan Chhau: Gopal

Prasad Dubey Contemporary: Anita R Ratnam. Theatre Playwriting: Kusum

Kumar Direction: Satyabrata Rout Direction: Bipin Kumar Direction: Rajkamal

Nayak. Acting: Gireesan V Acting: Oinam Biramangol Singh Acting: Mohan

Joshi. Theatre Arts – Music for Theatre: Anjana Puri Other Major Traditions of

Theatre- Yakshgana: K Govind Bhat Traditional/ Folk/Tribal

Music/Dance/Theatre and Puppetry: Traditional Theatre (Kalavantulu), Andhra

Pradesh: Annabattula Lakshmi, Mangatayaru and Annabattula Leela Folk Music,



Gujarat: Yogesh Gadhavi Folk Music, Himachal Pradesh: Vidyanand Saraik

Traditional Music, Goa: Somnath D Chari Pala, Odisha: Laxmidhar Rout Mand,

Rajasthan: Chiranji Lal Tanwar Folk Music (chakri), Jammu & Kashmir: Gulzar

Ahmad Ganie Folk Music, Bihar: Braj Kishor Dubey Puppetry: Prabhitangsu Das

Puppetry: Dattatreya Aralikatte Overall Contribution/ Scholarship in the

Performing Arts Avinash Pasricha ,Pappu Venugopal Rao.

14. United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Award for Innovation in

Tourism Enterprise was won by Mangalajodi Ecotourism Trust in Odisha at 14th

UNWTO Awards ceremony held in Madrid, Spain.

15. Asha Bhosle, the legendary playback singer was chosen for fifth edition of Yash

Chopra Memorial Award for her outstanding contribution to the Hindi film

industry.

16. Mehul Garg (10), an Indian origin boy in United Kingdom became youngest

applicant in decade to achieve highest score in Mensa IQ test, beating geniuses

like Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking. He scored maximum score of 162 to

become a member of Mensa. His score is two points higher than Einstein and

Hawking.

17. Prime Minister‟s Shram Awards for the year 2016 was announced by the Ministry

of Labour & Employment to 50 workers including 3 women employed in

Departmental Undertakings & Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) of Central/

State Governments and Private Sector Units employing 500 or more workers.

2016 Shram Awards : Shram Ratna Award: No nomination was found suitable

for it. Shram Bhushan: 12 workers from SAIL, BHEL and TATA Steel Ltd. were

selected. Shram Vir/Shram Veerangana Award: 18 workers from Naval

Dockyard, Ordinance Factory, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam, TATA Steel, Hindalco

Industries, Paradeep Phosphates Ltd., Brahmos Aerospace were selected.

Shram Shree/Shram Devi Award: 20 workers from Cement Corporation of India,

Naval Ship Repair Yard, TATA Motors, Surat Lignite Power Plant, Larsen &

Toubro Ltd. etc were selected.

18. President Ram Nath Kovind has announced names of recipients of year 2018

Padma awards viz. Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.

Padma Vibushan: It is the second highest civilian award.This award goes to1.

Illaiyaraja Art-Music Tamil Nadu 2 Ghulam Mustafa Khan Art-Music Maharashtra



3 Parameswaran Parameswaran Literature and Education Kerala. Padma

Bhushan It is the third highest civilian award.1. Pankaj Advani Sports-

Billiards/Snooker Karnataka 2 Philipose Mar Chrysostom Others-Spiritualism

Kerala 3 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Sports-Cricket Jharkhand 4 Alexander Kadakin

(Foreigner) Public Affairs Russia 5 Ramachandran Nagaswamy Others-

Archaeology Tamil Nadu 6 Ved Prakash Nanda (OCI) Literature and Education

US 7 Laxman Pai Art-Painting Goa 8. Arvind Parikh Art-Music Maharashtra 9

Sharda Sinha Art-Music Bihar. Padma Shri: It is the fourth highest civilian award.

This award is given to 74 recepients. Among those from TamilNadu : V

Nanammal Others-Yoga , Vijayalakshmi Navaneethakrishnan Art-Folk Music .

Rajagopalan Vasudevan Science and Engineering. Romulus Whitaker Others-

Wildlife Conservation.

19. India‟s highest peacetime military decoration Ashok Chakra posthumously

awarded to Indian Air Force (IAF) Garud commando Corporal Jyoti Prakash

Nirala by President Ram Nath kovind. He had laid down his life after gunning

down two terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. He is the third Ashok Chakra for the

IAF and its first for ground combat. Other two IAF officers are Rakesh Sharma

(first and still only Indian citizen to go to space) and Flying Officer Nirmaljit Singh

Sekhon posthumously decorated with the Param Vir Chakra in 1972.

20. .NITI Aayog member Dr Vinod Paul became first Indian to be awarded

prestigious IhsanDoğramacı Family Health Foundation Prize by World Health

Organisation.

21. France‟s highest civilian award, Legion d‟Honneur was awarded to Legendary

Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee (83) .Chatterjee was awarded in recognition of

his remarkable career and his outstanding contribution in promoting Indian

cinema in France and his long-standing attraction for our country. He was

presented the medal by French Ambassador Alexandre Ziegler at a function in

Kolkata, West Bengal.

Outstanding Parliamentarian Awards was conferred to five Members of

Parliament by the parliamentarian Group. They are Dr Najma Heptulla: former

Rajya Sabha MP was selected for this award for the year 2013. Hukumdev

Narayan Yadav, Lok Sabha MP and he was selected for this award for the year

for 2014. Ghulam Nabi Azad MPof Rajya Sabha and was selected for this award



for the year for 2015. Dinesh Trivedi, Lok Sabha MP and was selected for 2016.

Bhartruhari Mahatab, Lok Sabha MP and was selected for 2017.

Sports

1. 2017 Ranji Trophy tournament won by Vidarbha cricket team by defeating Delhi

in the final match held at Holkar stadium in Indore (Madhya Pradesh). It is

Vidarbha‟s first Ranji Trophy title.

2. Ricky Ponting becomes the head coach of IPL team Delhi Daredevils. Ponting

was earlier associated with Indian Premier League champions Mumbai Indians.

3. Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) appointed former captain Hasan Sardar as

the new chief head coach of the national team.

4. The 2nd edition of the Elite Women‟s National Boxing Championship, began in

Haryana. Around 300 top boxers participate in the tournament.It is considered as

selection trials for the upcoming Common Wealth Games and the Asian Games.

5. Julia Goerges won the WTA Auckland Open Tennis title, in Auckland, New

Zealand by defeating Denmark‟s Caroline Wozniacki. Julia Goerges has won the

Auckland singles title for the first time. This was her ninth attempt to win the title.

6. Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic won the Hopman Cup title for Switzerland, in

Perth, Australia. This is the third Hopman Cup title for Switzerland.

7. Vibrant Khelo India logo at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi was

launched by Union Minister of State ( I/C)Youth Affairs and Sports Col

Rajyavardhan Rathore.Three-stroke Khelo India logo has been designed by

Ogilvy India. The logo design has been crowd sourced. It bears the colours of

the national flag.The inaugural Khelo India School Games under the revamped

Khelo India Programme will begin on January 31, 2018.

8. Philippe Coutinho has moved from Liverpool to Barcelona team for 160 million

Euros ($192 million) making this the second most expensive transfer in the world

soccer history.

9. England‟s Sam Todd defeated India‟s Neel Joshi and won the U-15 British junior

Open Squash title held at Birmingham,England.



10. BCCI has suspended cricketer Yusuf Pathan for five months for failing a dope

test.But he is allowed to play from Jan 2018 as the ban was backdated to August

2018.

11. Kolkata Open 2018 International Invitation snooker championship at the

Hindustan Club in Kolkata won by Aditya Mehta by defeating England‟s Alfie

Burden. He won the Kolkata open for the third time.

12. Hyderabad hunters won the 3rd edition of the Premier Badminton championship

by defeating Bengaluru Blasters at Gachibowli indoor statdium in Hyderabad.

13. Assam Hockey won the 8th Hockey India Sub Junior Men National

Championship2018 ( B division) at Hojai Hockey stadium in Assam by defeating

Hockey Rajasthan.

14. Union Minister of Sports Rajyavardhan Rathore launched the official anthem and

mascot of Khelo India School Games in New Delhi. Mascots of Khelo India

School Games are „Vijay the tiger‟ and „Jaya the black buck‟. Official anthem of

Khelo India games is “ Aur Khelna Chahte hain hum….”

15. Ronaldinho, Brazilian World Cup Winner has retired from foot ball.

16. Virat Kohli won the Sir Garfield Sobers cricketer of the year , ICC cricketer of the

year 2017 and ICC ODI cricketer of the year 2017 for his accomplishments in

2017

17. Kagiso Rabada , South Africa fast bowler becomes World‟s highest ranked test

bowler in the MRF Tyres ICC test player rankings.

Books& Authors

1. “ Majuli : Resources and Challenges “ is a book that appreciates the beauty and

challengrs of Majuli in Assam. This book was edited by Sanjib Kumar Borkakoti

and published by Authorspress. This book is a collection of essays written by

experts.

2. Sanjay Manjrekar launched his autobiography named „Imperfect‟ in Mumbai

3. The book titled „The Heartfulness Way „ authored by Kamlesh Patel.



Deaths & obituary:

1. Anwar Jalalpuri ( 71) , the prominent poet who translated the Bhagavad Gita into

Urdu passed away on 2nd Jan 2018.

2. First PAF (Pakistan Air Force) chief Air Marshal Asghar Khan (96yrs) died due to

cardiac arrest in Rawalpindi,Pakistan on 5th January 2018.

3. John Young –the moon walker ,NASA‟s only astronaut to go into space as part

of Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle program, and the first to fly into space six

times passed away in Houston, US. He was 9th man to walk on moon and later

commanded the first space shuttle flight.

4. Peter Sutherland, Former WTO Directopr General passed away recently due to

illness.

5. Shaksham yadhav, powerlifting world Champion 2017, died due to injuries at

The AIIMS Trauma Centre in New Delhi.

6. Asian Games bronze medalist Sukhchain Singh Cheema died in acar accident

in Patiala, Punjab.

7. Sarjubala Devi won gold medal and the best boxer trophy in the National

Women‟s Boxing Championship , in Rohtak, Haryana

8. Sarod Maestro Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta passed away recently in south

Kolkata. He is a recipient of Padma Bhushan award.

9. Gnani Sankaran , tamil writer and journalist passed away in Chennai on 15th Jan

2018.He was the editor of Tamil magazine “ Dheemtharikida”

10. Gurcharan Singh Kalkat (92), noted agricultural scientist and pioneer of India‟s

Green Revolution, passed away in Chandigarh after a brief illness.

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