January 2017 Daily News Current Affairs

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  1. Jan 31, 2017
    1. Finance Ministry will contribute partially to new dedicated railway safety fund named as ‘Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh’ in the upcoming Union Budget 2017-18.
    2. Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) has launched climate change programme to conduct study to assess the status, distribution and conservation of Pheasants and Finches in Central Himalayas. It is long-term monitoring project funded by Oracle and facilitated by CAF-India. It will focus on their conservation in the context of climate change with the help of community participation.
    3. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Presented Economic Survey 2016-17, One day before presenting Union Budget 2017 - 18 (Feb 1, 2017) -
      1. Survey is prepared by chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian.
      2. Growth Forecast - Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2016-17 pegged at 7.1%, down from 7.6% in 2015-16. It will stay between 6.75 % to 7.5% in 2017-18.
      3. Sectoral Growth - Agriculture sector to grow at 4.1% in 2016-17, up from 1.2% in 2015-16. Industrial sector Growth came down to 5.2% in 2016-17, compared to 7.4% in 2015-16. Service sector has grown at 8.9% in 2016-17 (same as 2015-16).
      4. Taxation - Cut in individual Income Tax rates and real estate stamp duties are prescribed. Time table for cutting corporate tax should be accelerated.
      5. Inflation : Consumer Price Index (CPI) based Inflation declined to 4.9 % in 2015-16 from 5.9 % in 2014-15 and stood at 4.8 % during April-December 2016.
      6. Trade - Exports grew 0.7 % to US$ 198.8 billion and During 2016-17 (April-December) imports declined by 7.4 % to US$ 275.4 billion. Trade deficit (Imports - Exports) declined to US$ 76.5 billion in 2016-17 (April-December) as compared to US$ 100.1 billion in corresponding period last year. Current account deficit (CAD) narrowed in the first half (H1) of 2016-17 to 0.3 % of GDP from 1.5 % in H1 of 2015-16 and 1.1 % in 2015-16 full year.
      7. External Debt stood at US$ 484.3 billion at end of Dec 2016.
      8. Government Debt to GDP ratio: It was 68.5% in 2016, down from 69.1% in 2015.
      9. Banking: Suggests setting up public sector asset rehabilitation agency (PSARA) to take charge of large bad loans in banks.
      10. Universal Basic Income (UBI): It is preferred as an alternative to various social welfare schemes in an effort to reduce poverty. UBI would cost between 4 and 5% of GDP.
      11. Rabi crops have been sown in around six crore 16 lakh hectares till date which is about 35 lakh hectares more than last year.
    4. Reserve Bank of India has lifted restrictions on daily withdrawal of money from ATMs (automated teller machines), starting 1 February 2017.
    5. Income Tax Department (ITD) initiated Operation Clean Money to Identify Persons whose Tax Profile does not match with deposits made by them between 9th November to 30th December 2016. It uses complex Data Analytics to accomplish the task.
    6. Dushyant Chautala has been appointed as president of Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI).
    7. Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports reconstituted committee with objective of identifying potential medal prospects for 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games under Target Olympic Podium (TOP) scheme. Committee will be headed by Olympic Gold Medalist Abhinav Bindra.
    8. Government constituted 8 member Task Force for preparing action plan for next three Olympic Games 2020, 2024 and 2028. Members are - Pulella Gopichand, Abhinav Bindra, Rajesh Kalra, Om Pathak, Viren Rasquinha, S. Baldev Singh, Prof. G.L. Khanna and Sandeep Pradhan.
    9. India’s first dedicated space observatory, ASTROSAT has captured rare phenomenon of a small six-billion-year-old vampire star preying on a bigger star.
      1. Vampire star phenomenon is observed when smaller star sucks mass and energy out of the bigger companion star, causing its eventual death.
    10. All India Football Federation (AIFF) launched first-ever Indian Women’s League (IWL) to be held at the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi In January - February 2017, with 6 Teams Participating.
  2. Jan 30, 2017
    1. Home Minister Rajnath Singh presented First National Entrepreneurship awards 2016 in New Delhi in 11 Categories -
      1. Award Track
        1. Agri, Food, & Forestry Products – Wow Momo Foods Private Ltd
        2. Chemicals, Pharma, Bio and other processed material – Saral Design Solutions Private Limited
        3. E-commerce, Logistics, Transport & other Services – JETSETGO Aviation Services
        4. Engineering Services – Swadha Energies
        5. IT &ITES, Financial – Lucideus Tech
        6. SC/ST – JeevAnksh Eco Products Private Limited
        7. Women – S V Engineering and Consultancy Services
      2. Recognition Track
        1. Education institute – RSETI, Karnataka
        2. Incubator – TREC-STEP Tiruchirappalli Regional Engineering College- Science and Technology Entrepreneurs Park
        3. Mentor (Government Sector) – Harkesh Kumar Mital
        4. Mentor (Private Sector) – Mr. Pradeep Gupta (CyberMedia Group)
    2. Denmark became first country to appoint a special digital ambassador to work on building ties with the global tech giants.
    3. Oral cancer is identified as leading cancer type among Indian men with Over 2.60 lakh new oral cancer cases seen annually. Tobacco smokers are 27 times more likely to be afflicted than non-smokers.
    4. According to recent study, mcr-1 gene that makes bacteria resistant to colistin, an antibiotic of last resort was found in China. It was discovered in a wide variety of strains of Escherichia coli (E Coli). Colistin was recently banned for use in agriculture will soon be introduced in clinical use for first time.
    5. Noted French actress Emmanuelle Riva passed away.
    6. Noted British actor John Hurt passed away.
    7. France’s Iris Mittenaere won Miss Universe 2016 at pageant held in Philippines. Haiti's Raquel Pelissier was named as first runner-up while Columbia's Andrea Tovar named second runner-up.
    8. Amulya Kumar Patnaik appointed as new Commissioner of Delhi Police. He succeeded Alok Kumar Verma, who has been appointed as new chief of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
    9. Government appointed A P Singh as interim MD and CEO of India Post Payments Bank (IPPB).
    10. Australian Open Tennis 2017 -
      1. Men's Singles - Roger Federer (Switzerland), by defeating Rafael Nadal (Spain)
      2. Women's Singles - Serena Williams (United States), by defeating Venus Williams (USA)
      3. Men's Doubles - Henri Kontinen (Finland) and John Peers (Australia)
      4. Women's Doubles - Bethanie Mattek - Sands (United States) / Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic)
      5. Mixed Doubles - Abigail Spears (United States) / Juan Sebastián Cabal (Colombia)
    11. Syed Modi Grand Prix Badminton 2017 (Hosted in India at Lucknow (UP)) -
      1. Women’s singles - PV Sindhu (India), by defeating Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska
      2. Men’s Singles - Sameer Verma (India) by defeating B Sai Praneeth (India)
      3. Mixed Doubles - Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy
      4. Women’s Doubles - Kamilla Ryter Juhl and Christina Pedersen from Denmark
    12. Republic Day Parade Awards 2017 -
      1. Best Marching Contingent Among Services - Indian Army’s Madras Engineer Group.
      2. Best Marching Contingent Among paramilitary forces - Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
      3. Tableau representing states - Arunachal Pradesh (depicted Yak dance).
      4. Tableau representing Ministries /Departments - Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship that depicted theme Transforming India through Skill Development.
      5. Special Jury Award - Tableau by Central Public Works Department (CPWD) that depicted Green India-Clean India.
    13. Central Water Commission signed MoUs with IIT Madras and IIS Bengaluru, to help them for procurement of specified equipment and software for enhancing their capability to support dam rehabilitation efforts of CWC.
    14. Ravindra Wijegunaratne, Chief of Sri Lankan Navy Visited India.
    15. Textiles Minister Smriti Zubin Irani inaugurated first Apparel and Garment Making Centre in Meghalaya, near Ampati.
  3. Jan 29, 2017
    1. Jan 29 - Anti-Leprosy Day. It is Held on last Sunday of January. Government launched nationwide “Sparsh Leprosy Awareness Campaign (SLAC)” on this occasion.
    2. Jan 29 - National Immunization Day. President Pranab Mukherjee launched country-wide 2017 Pulse Polio programme on This Occasion.
    3. Special task force for women safety in Delhi has been reconstituted under Chairmanship of Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal.
    4. Online Travel Portal MakeMyTrip accquired Competitor IBIBO for Approx $1.8 (12000 Crores Approx).
    5. Transportation app Uber will launch its on-demand food delivery app ‘UberEATS’ in India.
    6. Vodafone India signed MoU with West Bengal government to invest 3,000 crore for capacity augmentation, during Bengal Global Business Summit 2017.
    7. New Indian Ambassadors Appointed -
      1. Birender Singh Yadav - Burkina Faso
      2. Ashok Warrier - Congo
    8. Derk Segaar has been appointed Director of the New Delhi based United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) covering India and the Bhutan.
    9. BookMyShow acquired Online Movie Ticket Platform MastiTickets for undisclosed amount.
    10. USA President Donald Trump signed order to build a 2000 Miles wall along US border with Mexico and crack down on US cities that shield illegal immigrants.
    11. In Cashless India Scorecard prepared by Walnut app, Gujarat, Telangana and Haryana emerged as the top three states with the highest growth in going cashless.
    12. U.S. healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson buys Switzerland based bio-pharmaceutical firm Actelion for $30 billion (27.9 billion euros).
    13. Ant Financial, Chinese e-commerce Firm Alibaba’s financial arm acquired American money-transfer major MoneyGram for $880 million. 
    14. Future Generali India Insurance Company (FGII) announced bancassurance tie-up with Pune based Bank of Maharashtra.
    15. Film producer and Tennis player Ashok Amritraj has been appointed United Nations Goodwill Ambassador in India for Sustainable Development Goals. 
  4. Jan 28, 2017
    1. Russian 19 Year Old rhythmic gymnast Yana Kudryavtseva retired from competition . She had already won 13 world championships from 2013 to 2015.
    2. HDFC Bank enabled five temples in Kanyakumari district in southern to introduce digital wallets and PoS to enable their devotees to pay donations online.
    3. Ashish Shelar appointed as Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) president.
    4. XCMG, China Based construction machinery company will invest 150 million in India for setting up new manufacturing unit.
    5. Consulate General of India in Dubai announced Diplomats Cricket Championship Cup promote harmonious relationship among diplomatic missions of UAE.
    6. In line with Government's vision for coastal shipping, tourism and regional development, New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) has introduced Car carrier service between Gujarat and Mangaluru.
    7. Securities and Exchange Board of India lowered broker fees by 25 % to 15 rupees per transaction of one crore rupees as part of calibration of various other fees collected by SEBI from different market intermediaries, aimed at reducing overall cost of transactions.
    8. Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran inaugurated Kohli Research Block at International Institute of Information Technology Gachibowli (Hyderabad), as part of Kohli Center on Intelligent Systems (KCIS).
    9. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL)  launched mobile TV service ‘Ditto TV’.
    10. YES Bank launched unique Customizable Savings Account to enable customers to design an account as per their convenience. Yes bank became bank in India to launch such type of account that enables customer to choose features of that suits one’s own lifestyle.
    11. Punjab National Bank and India Post Payments Bank signed MOU to enable IPPB to receive support from PNB for pilot launch of IPPB.
    12. Bharti AXA General Insurance appointed Sanjeev Srinivasan as CEO and Managing Director.
    13. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance acquired 8.41 % stake in Fino Paytech Ltd (FPL) for of 100 crores.
    14. Government signed agreement with National Yuva Cooperative Society to set up 1,000 Janaushadhi Kendras across country.
    15. London Based insurance Firm Lloyd received final approval from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) to set up first branch in India.
    16. Reserve Bank of India imposed penalty of 75 lakhs on Bombay Mercantile Co-operative Bank for violations of norms related to KYC and anti-money laundering.
  5. Jan 27, 2017
    1. Assam Government for first time observed Farmer’s Martyrs day on January 27, 2017 as a Tribute to martyrs of 1894 farmers’ rising at Patharughat.
      1. On 28th January 1894, 140 innocent farmers were massacred and 150 others injured by then colonial British rulers when they rose in protest against the oppressive increase in land revenue.
    2. Finance Ministry granted approval to 12 proposals of Public Sector Banks to raise Approx 2900 crores through preferential allotment. It also allowed United Bank of India to raise INR 200 crores through QIP (Qualified institutional placement) mode.
    3. Maharashtra Government banned use of Purse Seine Nets for fishing, aimed at curbing exploitation of fish by safeguarding fingerlings and its eggs to increase their population.
    4. Election Commission issued limitation for campaign expense per candidate. In Goa and Manipur, the limit on election expenses per candidate is Rs 20 lakh while that in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand is Rs 28 lakh.
    5. Solar power producer Azure Power commissioned 150 MW solar power project in Punjab, largest in North India.
    6. Munich Reincurance Company (Germany Based) opened branch office in Mumbai to service property-casualty, life, health reinsurance markets across India.
    7. Karnataka Bank launched personal accident insurance scheme for savings bank account-holders with name KBL Suraksha. Karnataka Bank also signed MoU with Tirth Agro Technology Pvt Ltd for financing agricultural mechanisation.
    8. SBI Pension Funds Pvt Ltd (subsidiary of SBI) appointed Kumar  Sharadindu as MD & CEO.
    9. Haryana will set up 'Prarambh School for Teachers Education' in Jhajjar District.
    10. US fast-food Chain McDonald’ sold its China and Hong Kong businesses for $2.08 billion to Citic, a Chinese Firm.
  6. Jan 26, 2017
    1. Jan 26, 2017 - 68th Republic Day. Theme is Skill India and Beti Bachao Beti Padhao.
      1. Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi - Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is Chief Guest on this occasion. A contingent of UAE soldiers also marched down the Rajpath. Burj Khalifa tower, the world’s tallest building located in Dubai, was lit up in colors of Tricolor (Indian Flag).
        1. India and UAE MOUs -Mutual Recognition of Certificates of Competency, co-operation in Road Transport and Highways sector and Small and Medium Enterprises and Innovation, Agriculture and Allied Sectors, Maritime Transport, Defence, prevention and combating of human trafficking etc.
      2. Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas and Airborne Early Warning & Control System (AEW&C) developed by DRDO flied past for first time.
      3. For first time, contingent of National Security Guard (popularly known as Black Cat Commandos) took part in parade.
      4. National festival - Bharat Parv showcasing India’s diverse culture, cuisines, handicrafts and catch glimpses of a progressive India began in New Delhi.
      5. Gallantary Awards 2016 -
        1. Total 398 Gallantry and other Defence decorations to Armed Forces personnel announced - including 1 Ashok Chakra, 2 Kirti Chakras, 12 Shaurya Chakras.
        2. Ashok Chakra (country’s highest peacetime military decoration) - Havaldar Hangpan Dada (Rashtriya Rifles).
        3. Kirti Chakra - Prem Bahadur Resmi Magar and Rohit Suri
        4. Shaurya Chakra - Atul Gupta, D Vinay Reddy, Ashik MB, Hanuman Ram Sharan, Gawade Pandurang Mahadev, Rajat Chandra, Deepak Kumar Upadhyay, Ashutosh Kumar, Vijay Kumar, Abdul Qayum, Ashu Singh, Sanjewan Singh.
      6. Jeevan Raksha Padak Awards 2016 given to 36 persons, including Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak - 05, Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak - 08 and Jeevan Raksha Padak - 23 persons.
    2. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully tested indigenously developed cryogenic engine (C25) for upper stage ‘GSLV Mk III’ rocket.   It was first test in series of two tests.  First was for 50 seconds and second planned test will be for 640 seconds.
      1. Cryogenic engines are used in the upper stage of a rocket launch as they provide the maximum thrust to a launcher vehicle. It uses Liquid Oxygen and Liquid Hydrogen propellant combination and can carry heavy payloads to orbits.
    3. Vijay Bhatkar is appointed as chancellor of Nalanda University. He is architect of India’s first supercomputer - Param series.
    4. Indian Navy’s Annual Theatre Readiness Operational Exercise (TROPEX) 2017 conducted off Western Seaboard.
    5. Supreme Court appointed former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai as head of Committee of Administrators to run Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Other members of committee - Ramachandra Guha (Historian), Diana Edulji (Indian women’s team captain) Vikram Limaye (MD of IDFC).
    6. Army Chief Bipin Rawat launched a Whatsapp helpline - 9643300008, to receive grievances of army personnel. It has been done in backdrop of complaints being uploaded by some soldiers on social media.
    7. India’s first Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK) inaugurated at Mysuru (Karnataka). POPSK will offer all passport related services on lines of PSKs (Passport Seva Kendras).
    8. Kerala Government launched e-health program Jeevan Rekha to create electronic health records of a population in Thiruvananthapuram, aiming to provide a centralised database of healthcare information and efficient health service delivery to people.
    9. Arunachal Pradesh government launched Dulari Kanya scheme to check infant mortality in state. Under this, state government will deposit Rs. 20,000 in the bank account of a girl child born in any government hospital.
    10. Pune City Police launched Beat Marshall Monitoring Mobile App to map real-time locations of patrolling teams from police stations on experimental basis.
    11. Ministry of Mines selected A Keshav Krishna for 2016 National Geoscience Award in field of Geo-environmental studies in applied geosciences. While, N Purnachandra Rao is selected for National Geoscience Award in the field of Geophysics.
    12. Three Indian origin persons honored by Order of Australia - Australia’s highest civilian honour. Honored Persons are - Purushottam Sawrikar, Makhan Singh Khangure and Vijay Kumar.
    13. India Post received final payments bank licence from Reserve Bank of India (RBI). India Post is third entity after Bharti Airtel and Paytm to receive final payments bank licence to roll-out Payment banking Operations.
    14. Seven More countries - Lithuania, Gabon, Hungary, Indonesia, Malta, Mauritius and Russia signed Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement for Country-by-Country Reporting (CbC MCAA), taking number of Total signatories to 57.
      1. CbC MCAA is a tax co-operation agreement to enable automatic sharing of country-by-country information. This exchange of information is facilitated as part of Action 13 of base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) Action Plan adopted by OECD and G20 countries in 2013.
    15. Atomic clocks on first satellite IRNSS-1A of the NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation (India's indigenously built satellite-based positioning system)) has developed a technical issue with all 3 of its atomic clocks failing .
      1. ISRO will soon launch one of its back up navigation satellites as a replacement to IRNSS-1A satellite.
      2. Remaining satellites of NavIC constellation (having total 7 satellites) are performing accurately.
    16. Karnataka government will amend to Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (PCA) 1960 for conducting traditional sports of Kambala and bull-cart race in State.
      1. Karnataka state government is following model of Tamil Nadu government to allow Kambala and Cart racing in state. TN Government has already amanded the concerned act few days ago, to allow Bull-Taming sport Jallikattu in State.
    17. First ever Investors’ Summit for north eastern states held in Shillong (capital of Meghalaya) with theme Exploring Opportunities in North East Region. It was inaugurated by Textiles Minister Smriti Zubin Irani.
    18. Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) will set up weather stations in 660 districts of India by 2019, up from 130 districts currently. IMD has tied up with Ministry of Agriculture to use Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) as for weather forecasting observatories. 
    19. Government announced that over 99% of Indians over 18 years of age now have Aadhaar Cards. It means 111 crore Indians (91.7% of Indian population) have been covered under Aadhaar cards.
    20. USA President Donald Trump signed executive order to ban travel of people from 7 Muslim-majority countries in USA for 90 days - Iraq, Iran, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Syria.
      1. He also suspended US Refugee Admissions Programme for 120 days and indefinitely barred entry of refugees from Syria.
      2. Admission of Refugees in 2017 is cut to 50000, less than previously planned figure of 110000.
  7. Jan 25, 2017
    1. Jan 25 - National Voters' Day. 2016 theme is Empowering Young and Future Voters. Jan 25 is marked as National Tourism Day also.
    2. Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd.(POWERGRID) signed MOU with Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (ADWEA).
    3. Padma Awards 2017 -
      1. 89 persons Honored in Padma Awards 2017 - 7 Padma Vibhushan, 7 Padma Bhushan and 75 Padma Shri Awardees.  19 of awardees are women.
        1. Padma Vibhushan (7) -
          1. K J Yesudas
          2. Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
          3. Sharad Pawar
          4. Murli Manohar Joshi
          5. Prof. Udipi Ramachandra Rao
          6. Sunder Lal Patwa (Posthumous)
          7. Late PA Sangma (Posthumous) - Former Lok Sabha Speaker and Chief Minister of Meghalaya.
        2. Padma Bhushan (14)
          1. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
          2. Prof. (Dr.) Devi Prasad Dwivedi
          3. Tehemton Udwadia
          4. Ratna Sundar Maharaj
          5. Swami Niranjana Nanda Saraswati
          6. H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn (Foreigner)
          7. Late Cho Ramaswamy (Posthumous)
        3. Padma Shri (75) -
          1. Smt. Basanti Bisht
          2. Chemanchery Kunhiraman Nair
          3. Smt. Aruna Mohanty
          4. Smt. Bharathi Vishnuvardhan
          5. Sadhu Meher
          6. T K Murthy
          7. Laishram Birendrakumar Singh
          8. Krishna Ram Chaudhary
          9. Smt. Baoa Devi
          10. Tilak Gitai
          11. Dr. Prof. Aekka Yadagiri Rao
          12. Jitendra Haripal
          13. Kailash Kher
          14. Smt. Parassala B Ponnammal
          15. Smt. Sukri Bommagowda
          16. Mukund Nayak
          17. Purushottam Upadhyay
          18. Smt. Anuradha Paudwal
          19. Wareppa Naba Nil
          20. Tripuraneni Hanuman Chowdary
          21. T.K. Viswanathan
          22. Kanwal Sibal
          23. Birkha Bahadur Limboo Muringla
          24. Smt. Eli Ahmed
          25. Dr. Narendra Kohli
          26. Prof. G. Venkatasubbiah
          27. Akkitham Achyuthan Namboothiri
          28. Kashi Nath Pandita
          29. Chamu Krishna Shastry
          30. Harihar Kripalu Tripathi
          31. Michel Danino
          32. Punam Suri
          33. VG Patel
          34. Smt. V Koteswaramma
          35. Balbir Dutt
          36. Smt. Bhawana Somaaya
          37. Vishnu Pandya
          38. Dr. Subroto Das
          39. Dr. (Smt.) Bhakti Yadav
          40. Dr. Mohammed Abdul Waheed
          41. Dr. Madan Madhav Godbole
          42. Dr. Devendra Dayabhai Patel
          43. Prof. Harkishan Singh
          44. Dr. Mukut Minz
          45. Arun Kumar Sharma
          46. Sanjeev Kapoor
          47. Smt. Meenakshi Amma
          48. Genabhai Dargabhai Patel
          49. Chandrakant Pithawa
          50. Prof. Ajoy Kumar Ray
          51. Jitendra Nath Goswami
          52. Chintakindi Mallesham
          53. Daripalli Ramaiah
          54. Girish Bhardwaj
          55. Karimul Hak
          56. Bipin Ganatra
          57. Smt. Nivedita Raghunath Bhide
          58. Appasaheb Dharmadhikari
          59. Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal
          60. Virat Kohli - Cricket
          61. Shekar Naik -Cricket
          62. Vikasa Gowda - Discus Throw
          63. Smt. Deepa Malik - Athletics
          64. Mariyappan Thangavelu- Athletics
          65. Smt. Dipa Karmakar- Athletics
          66. P R Shreejesh- Athletics
          67. Smt. Sakshi Malik- Athletics
          68. Mohan Reddy Venkatrama Bodanapu
          69. Imrat Khan
          70. Anant Agarwal
          71. H.R. Shah
          72. Suniti Solomon (Posthumous)
          73. Asoke Kumar Bhattacharyya (Posthumous)
          74. Dr. Mapuskar (Posthumous)
          75. Anuradha Koirala
    4. India’s National Action Plan on Assessment, Adaptation and Mitigation of Climate Change (NAPCC) to fight climate change will get three new missions - health, coastal zones and waste-to-energy.
      1. Since 2012, PM’s Council on Climate Change India has instituted a NAPCC with eight missions - National Water Mission, Green India Mission, National Solar Mission, National Mission on Sustainable Habitat, National Mission for Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem, National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency, National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture, and National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change.
    5. China built world’s biggest solar park - Longyangxia Dam Solar Park in western province of Qinghai. It covers area of over 27 square km and has capacity to produce 850 MW of power.
    6. India partnered with United Kingdom Experts (led by University of Birmingham) for ASAP-Delhi (An Integrated Study of Air Pollutant Sources in Delhi) Project to address air pollution issues in Delhi.
    7. Nikki Haley became First Indian-American to be appointed as next USA Ambassador to United Nations. Apart from Nikkei Haley, Several Other Indian Americans have became part of Trump’s administration -
      1. Ajit Vardaraj - Chairman of Federal Communications Commission
      2. Seema Verma - Head of medicare and medicaid
      3. Preet Bharara - US attorney for southern District of New York
      4. Uttam Dhillon - Special Assistant to President on ethics and compliance matters  
    8. Over 3.5 lakh people from Gujarat have set up new world record for singing national anthem, breaking previous record of 2.5 Lakh people singing national anthem in Bangladesh in 2014.
    9. Online travel portal MakeMyTrip launched India's first social luxury travel magazine - Luxury Travel Times.
    10. Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2016 by Berlin (Germany) based Transparency International -
      1. India has been ranked 79th out of 176 countries. India Shares 79th Position (Score - 40) with China, Brazil and Belarus.
      2. Top 5 - Denmark and New Zealand (1st, Score -90), Finland (3), Sweden (4), Switzerland (5)
      3. Bottom 5 - Somalia (179th), South Sudan (178th), North Korea (177th), Syria (176th), Yemen (175th)
      4. BRICS - Brazil (79), Russia (131), China (79), South Africa (64)
      5. Neighbours - Pakistan (116), Nepal (131), Sri Lanka (95), Bangladesh (145)
    11. Outdoor trials of genetically modified mosquitoes launched in Jalna district of Maharashtra by British Biotech Firm Oxitec, to demonstrate efficiency of this technique to suppress wild female mosquito populations that transmit dengue, chikungunya and Zika. It uses Release of Insects carrying Dominant Lethal genes (RIDL) technology.
    12. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) prohibited Indian entities from making direct investments in any entity located in Non-Cooperative Countries and Territories (NCCT) as identified by Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
    13. New Governors Appointed -
      1. Assam Banwarilal Purohit has been Given additional charge of Meghalaya.
      2. Nagaland Governor PB Acharya has been given additional charge of Arunachal Pradesh.
    14. Researchers Scripps Research Institute (USA) created world’s first stable semi-synthetic organism, a single-celled bacterium with an expanded genetic code.
      1. Semi-synthetic organism is modified E-coli bacteria created by introducing DNA molecules that are not found in nature in a common bacterium.
      2. Life’s natural genetic code only contains four natural bases- adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), thymine (T). These bases pair forms two base pairs in the DNA ladder. The newly created bacterium has two human-created X and Y bases that grow and divide, much like natural bases.
    15. Pankaj Advani won His 7th National Billiards Championship by defeating Rupesh Shah in Pune (Maharashtra).
    16. Emmy award winning USA actress Mary Tyler Moore passed away.
    17. Russian Ambassador to India, Alexander Kadakin passed away.
    18. Committee of CMs headed by Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu submitted its report. It was formed to prepare road map for rapid adoption of digital payment methods.
      1. Levying a handling charge for cash payments above Rs. 50,000.
      2. Tax breaks must be provided to consumers and merchants using digital modes of payments.
      3. Abolition of merchant discount rate (MDR).
    19. An International meeting on Syrian settlement held in the Astana (capital of Kazakhstan). During This Meet - Russia, Turkey and Iran have agreed on establishment of a trilateral mechanism to jointly monitor ceasefire between Syrian regime and rebels.
    20. Annual Surya Namaskar Yajna OR Health for Humanity Yogathon was recognised in US House of Representative on occasion of its 10th anniversary.
  8. Jan 24, 2017
    1. Jan 24 - National Girl Child Day. 2016 Theme is Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao.
      1. Minister of Women & Child Development, Maneka Gandhi released National Action Plan for Children (NPAC) 2016  on this occasion.
    2. Government approved new scheme for promotion of Rural Housing. It will provide interest subsidy to every rural household not covered under Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana (Grameen). Beneficiary who takes a loan under the scheme would be provided interest subsidy for loan amount upto Rs. 2 Lakhs. National Housing Bank would implement the scheme.
    3. Government launched Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana 2017, to be implemented through Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).
      1. Meant to provide social security during old to and protect elderly persons aged 60 years and above.
      2. It will provide an assured pension based on a guaranteed rate of return of 8% per annum for 10 years, with an option to opt for pension on a monthly / quarterly / halfyearly and annual basis.
    4. Government announced Shram Awards 2015, to be awarded to 56 workers -
      1. Shram Bhushan - 4
      2. Shram Vir/Shram Veerangana - 12
      3. Shree/Shram Devi - 16
    5. Anurag Thakur elected as head of Himachal Pradesh Olympic Association (HPOA).
    6. 2017 Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Badminton -
      1. Women’s singles - Saina Nehwal (India) won by defeating Pornpawee Chochuwong (Thailand).
      2. Men’s Singles - Ng Ka Long (Hong Kong)
      3. Men’s Doubles - Berry Angriawan and Hardianto (Indonesia).
      4. Women’s Doubles - Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai (Thailand).
      5. Mixed Doubles - Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing (Malaysia).
    7. Noted Urdu poet and lyricist Naqsh Lyallpuri passed away (born as Jaswant Rai Sharmaon).
    8. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommended use of Aadhaar-based e-KYC for verification of existing mobile subscribers and for outstation customers.
    9. Mike Pompeo appointed as new Director of CIA (Central Intelligence Agency).
    10. Goa became first state to opt for electronic transmission of postal ballot to service voters in upcoming Assembly polls. This allows service voters (those in defence / para-military forces / diplomatic missions) to download postal vote, cast their vote and send it via e-mail to returning officer.
    11. Cab Aggregator service Ola appointed Vishal Kaul as its chief operating officer (COO).
    12. Delhi International Airport Ltd. (DIAL) won 2016 Golden Peacock Award for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in aviation transport sector, presented during 11th International Conference on CSR.
      1. Golden Peacock Awards were founded by the Institute of Directors in 1991, as benchmark of corporate excellence.
    13. Postal department released a special stamp cover featuring Olympic medalists PV Sindhu, Sakshi Malik and gymnast Dipa Karmakar, titled Golden girls of India – Pride of Nation.
    14. Virat Kohli became fastest Cricket captain to score 1000 runs, achieving this in 17 innings as captain. He took over previous record of South Africa’s AB de Villiers(18 innings).
    15. Goverment ratified 2nd commitment period of Kyoto Protocol on containing emission of Green House Gases (GHGs). Second commitment period of Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 2012 and will expire in 2020, ratified by 75 countries so far.
      1. Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997 to fight global warming by reducing GHGs emission and came into effect in 2005. 1st commitment period under Kyoto Protocol was from 2008-2012 and 2nd commitment period for 2013- 2020 was adopted in 2012 by Doha Amendment of Kyoto Protocol.
      2. Protocol is based on principle of Equity and Common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR). It places obligations on developed nations to undertake mitigation targets to reduce emissions by 5.2% of 1990 levels during 2008-2012 period).
    16. Improved Pinaka multiple rocket launcher successfully test-fired, named as Pinaka mark-II.
    17. Government launched Rubber Soil Information System (RubSIS) online system for recommending appropriate mix of fertilizers to plantations of rubber growers depending upon their soil nature. It was launched for Kottayam (Kerela), largest rubber growing district of India's rubber growing region (Kerela and Tamilnadu). 
    18. India and France signed White Shipping agreement to enable information sharing on maritime traffic and maritime domain awareness in Indian Ocean Region (IOR), during second Joint dialogue on maritime cooperation for IOR in New Delhi.
    19. India signed deal with United Arab Emirates (UAE) to fill half (about 6 million barrels of oil) of an underground crude oil storage facility at Mangaluru (Karnataka), through UAE’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC). India has already filled the other half of Mangaluru storage in Karnataka state with six million barrels of Iranian oil.
      1. India already has filled Vizag storage site in Andhra Pradesh with 7.55 million barrels of Iraqi oil.
      2. Another 18.3 million-barrel facility at Padur in Karnataka is awaiting Bids.
    20. Japan successfully launched its first military communications satellite - Kirameki-2.
  9. Jan 23, 2017
    1. Jan 23 - Birth Anniversary of Great Freedom Fighter Subhas Chandra Bose. He was born in 1897.
    2. Government constituted committee to frame uniform rules for states to avoid delay in proper implementation of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016, to be headed by Secretary from Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD).
    3. Steel Ministry released new draft National Steel Policy 2017, aiming to double India’s domestic steel production capacity to 300 million tonnes by 2030-31. It mentions requirement of INR 10 lakh crore investments to meet production goal and expects creation of 11 lakh new jobs in steel sector.
    4. Scientists spotted a new dark, contorted sunspot that is twice diameter of Earth, using Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) antennas located in Atacama Desert of northern Chile.
    5. Special session of Tamil Nadu Assembly unanimously passed Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act 2017 to lift Supreme Court imposed ban on the traditional sport of Jallikattu. It will now replace ordinance promulgated in this regard by Governor a week earlier. This bill defines jallikattu as a traditional sport involving bulls.
    6. According to Food Standards Agency (FSA) of United Kingdom - chips, potatoes and bread cooked to brown can cause cancer.
      1. When the starchy foods are roasted, grilled or fried for too long at high temperatures (above 120 degree Celsius), it produces carcinogenic chemical Acrylamide. Acrylamide is toxic to DNA and causes cancer.
    7. Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Committee, headed by N.K. Singh has submitted its report on changes in FRBM Act 2003.
    8. India rejected an EU and Canada proposed agreement that aims to incorporate a contentious Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism at World Trade Organisation (WTO) level.
      1. Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism permits companies to drag governments to international arbitration without exhausting the local remedies and It also allows them to claim huge amounts as compensation citing losses due to reasons including policy changes and Others.
      2. India held that only after all local options have been exhausted for settling disputes between a corporate and a government, then the issues can be taken up in international arbitration tribunals.
    9. USA President Donald Trump formally pulled Out USA from Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a mega trade deal of 12 Pacific Rim countries - Australia, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, US and Vietnam.
      1. TPP was set up by Previous USA Prez Barack Obama, aimed to bind US allies against growing Chinese economic impact by easing flow of goods, services and investments among member countries.
      2. Trump also singed first executive order which targets Obamacare (Obama's Health Reforms act).
    10. Pakistan conducted first successful test of Ababeel surface-to-surface medium range ballistic missile with Range 2200 KMs, using Multiple Independent Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology.
    11. Russian Railways will assist Indian trains to travel at 200 Kmph Indian Railways, starting with a feasibility study aimed at upgrading train speeds on the 575 kilometre long Nagpur-Secunderabad route. Presently, Gatimaan Express (H Nizamuddin to Agra Cant) Is fastest Indian train with Top speed 160 KM / H.
    12. As part of alternative mechanism to decide how to use funds raised after stake sales in PSUs, Government transferred role of Advising on utilisation of proceeds from disinvestment from Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) to Department of Economic Affairs.
    13. Nepal launched a 10 year plan to cut reliance on vegetable imports from India and boost domestic production. Nepal imports around 25,000 metric tonnes of vegetables worth INR 5000 Crores every year from India.
    14. Turkish Parliament passed constitutional reform bill to strengthen powers of President. After being accepted by people through a referendum, It will enable President to issue decrees, declare emergency rule, appoint ministers and top state officials and dissolve Parliament. It will also allow incumbent President Tayyip Erdogan to stay in office until 2029.
    15. Researchers from University of Central Florida (USA) have developed a new method for Faster Diagnosis of HIV, Lyme disease, syphilis and rotavirus infections, by combining nanoscience with a magnetic phenomenon.
    16. Punjab National Bank (PNB) launched Contactless Credit Card - Wave N Pay (on Visa Platinum platform), for transactions up to INR 2000.
    17. Kerala Gramin Bank launched FI@School Program to propagate financial literacy among school children.
    18. Tech Firm Apple named as most innovative company of 2016 by Boston Consulting Group’s annual list of corporate innovators. Apple has topped this list for 11th consecutive year. Google ranked second while electric carmaker Tesla is ranked third.
    19. China commissioned its 31st Type 056 class corvette stealth warship named CNS Ezhou.
    20. 2017 Combined Commanders Conference (CCC) held at Indian Military Academy (IMA) in Dehradun.
  10. Jan 22, 2017
    1. Global forum for Food & Agriculture and G-20 agriculture ministers meeting held in Germany, attended by Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh.
    2. 58th India International Garment Fair (IIGF) held in New Delhi. 
    3. Government approved Indian Institute of Management(IIM) Bill 2017, under which the IIMs would be declared as Institutions of National Importance which will enable them togrant degrees to their students.
    4. Indian American entrepreneur Gururaj Deshpande's  Deshpande Foundation will launch India’s largest startup incubation centre at Hubballi (Karnataka).
    5. Delhi Police and Airline IndiGo launched ‘Akhiri Ahuti’ humanitarian initiative under which bodies of North-east residents who pass away in Delhi will be carried to their homes, without any cost.
    6. Dragon Ball Z Son Goku has been selected as ambassador of the 2020 Olympics to be held in Tokyo (Japan).
    7. Telangana Government signed Agreement with French Aerocampus Aquitaine for creaing world class aero skills academy in Hyderabad.
    8. Vishwanath Shetty appointed as Karnataka’s new Lokayukta.
    9. Reliance Defense and Engineering Limited signed contract of INR 916 crores with Defense Ministry for construction of 14 fast patrol vessels for Indian Coast Guard.
    10. India’s First Fanatic Sports Museum opened in Kolkata, Displaying Memorables from cricket, hockey, football, Olympics and Paralympics.
  11. Jan 21, 2017
    1. Jan 21 - Statehood day of Tripura, Meghalaya and Manipur.
    2. Sanjay Sharma appointed as Air Officer-in-Charge Maintenance at Air Headquarters.
    3. Pakistan Returned Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chavan back to India, who had crossed over to Pak Occupied Kashmir from own Krishna in September 16.
    4. Laxmipathy Balaji has been made bowling coach of IPL Cricket Team Kolkata Knight Riders. While, Virender Sehwag has been appointed as Brand Ambassador of Kings XI Punjab.
    5. Noted British war correspondent Clare Hollingworth passed away. He is named for breaking the news that Second World War had started.
    6. India’s factory output, measured by Index of Industrial Production (IIP) registered 5.7% growth in November 2016, fastest growth recorded in over past four years.
    7. India and the UAE held the first meeting of their strategic dialogue in New Delhi to elevate the bilateral relationship to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
    8. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) tightened rules for mergers and amalgamations by Indian companies in a bid to safeguard interests of the public shareholders.
      1. New rules will ensure that all classes of shareholders get an equitable treatment during mergers and acquisitions. Holding of public shareholders post the merger cannot be less than 25%.
      2. e-voting will be mandatory in cases wherein the stake of public shareholders reduces by more than 5% in the merged entity.
    9. Rajiv Gandhi National Aviation University (RGNAU) in partnership with US-India Aviation Cooperation Programme will start its first Executive Development Programme.
  12. Jan 20, 2017
    1. Donald Trump Appointed as 45th President of United States of America.
    2. All India Institute of Medical Sciences New Delhi signed 3 MoUs with NBCC Limited, HSCC Limited and HLL Life Care Ltd.
    3. Government empowered Supreme Court mandated Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) to enforce Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to tackle air pollution in Delhi-NCR.
      1. As per a notification, GRAP can be implemented if the air pollution stays above the emergency level for 48-hours. In such cases, the odd-even scheme may be enforced and construction work can be halted in the national capital.
    4. Indian Space Start-up TeamIndus proposed an opportunity to its donors to leave their name on moon, on paying Rs 500. Names of donors will be micro-engraved on a small-sized aluminium object and placed on the lunar surface which will land on moon on 26 January 2018.
    5. Government of Andhra Pradesh announced INR 100 crore fund of funds to develop financial technology (Fin Tech) startup ecosystem in the State.
    6. Multiplex chain operator PVR Pictures launched its theatre-on-demand service Vkaao as online platform that enables consumers to watch any movie of their choice at a theatre of their choice. Minimum requirement for a show to be confirmed would be 50 seats.
    7. Chad's Moussa Faki Mahamat elected as Chairman of African Union (AU) Commission.
    8. Philipino - American Grandmaster Wesley So won 2017 Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Philippines, defeating Ian Nepomniatchi of Russia.
    9. Tech Firm Cisco accquired AppDynamics for USD 3.7 billion (approx 24400 Crores). Both the companies are USA Based.
    10. T K Kurien, Executive Vice-Chairman of Wipro announced retirement.
  13. Jan 19, 2017
    1. Chinese Table Tennis Olympic champion Li Xiaoxia Announced Retirement.
    2. Bharatiya Janata Party government installed in Arunachal Pradesh with 33 out of 43 MLAs of the Peoples' Party of Arunachal (PPA), led by Chief Minister Prema Khandu joined BJP.
    3. Nagaland's former Minister and former President of Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) K V Pusa passed away.
    4. H S Mahadev Prasad, Minister for Cooperation and Sugar In Karnataka Government has passed away.
    5. Noted British economist Tony Atkinson Passed Away. His research in income distribution influenced studies of poverty and inequality in India.
    6. FIFA Council agreed to expand FIFA World Cup to a 48-team competition from 2026 Onwards.
    7. Portugal Government conferred Knighthood (Grande Oficial da Ordem do Infante da Henrique ) honour on former Indian Minister Eduardo Faleiro.
    8. Rajesh Gopinathan is appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) of Tata IT Firm Consultancy Services (TCS).
    9. Regional Conference of Labour Ministers of Southern States held in Chennai (Tamil Nadu). While, Regional Labour Conference of North-Eastern Region held in Guwahati.
    10. Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council decided to rollout GST (Goods and Services Tax) nationwide on 1 July 2017, deferred from 1 April 2017 Earlier.
  14. Jan 18, 2017
    1. Pentavalent Bio Sciences Pvt Ltd from Bengaluru won Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2016-17, a Joint joint initiative of Tata group and Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C).
    2. First Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) International Television Dance Festival Organized in Hyderabad by Prasar Bharati.
    3. Kozhikode Corporation declared as first Elderly-Friendly corporation in Kerala.
    4. Karnataka Government allowed sale of white Kerosene in open market
    5. Sitalpati Mats (Weaved in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal) has been recognized as an ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’ by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
    6. Indian Women Boxers won 6 Medals at 5th AIBA Nations cup in Ruma(Serbia), led by serbia with 22 medals.
    7. Noted Indian Scientist CV Vishveshwara  Passed Away. He was Indian pioneer in discovery of black hole.
    8. Priya Entertainments pvt Ltd has set up an ecotourism project at Khairabera in Purulia District of West Bengal.
    9. Dairy firm Kwality Ltd signed agreement with bank of Baroda for providing Rs.4,000 crore loan to the farmers from whom the company procures milk. Company has a network of about 3.25 lakh Farmers across about 4,500 villages in uttar Pradesh. Haryana, Rajasthan.
    10. Kerala Governmemt inaugurated 4 lakh square feet IT building - Jyothirmaya.
    11. Siddhartha Murarka appointed as Chairman of Eastern India Regional Council of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI).
    12. Steel minister Birender Singh inaugurated INR 1200 crores Universal Rail Mill at SAIL Bhilai Steel Plant. With this, SAIL commenced commercial production of world’s longest single rail of 130 meters from the new Universal Rail Mill (URM).
    13. Australian Cricketers David Boon, Matthew Hayden and late Betty Wilson Inducted into Australian Cricket's Hall of Fame.
    14. Delhi University became First Public University in india to get a monumental flagpole.
    15. Usain Bolt has been stripped of one of his nine Olympic gold medals because of a doping offence committed by his teammate Nesta Carter during 4*100 m relay gold Race he won at Beijing 2008 Olympics.
  15. Jan 17, 2017
    1. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been given Venezuela’s first-ever Hugo Chavez Prize for Peace and Sovereignty.
    2. British snooker Player Ronnie O’Sullivan won Dafabet Masters title by defeating Joe Perry.
    3. Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal announced Chief Minister’s Award of INR 50000 to be given to District that promotes digital transactions in best way.
    4. Noted American Actor Mary Tyler Moore passed away.
    5. Lalchungnunga, Indian Footballer from Mizoram has been chosen to train at Germany’s top football league Bundesliga for 6 years.
    6. 2017 T20 Blind Cricket World Cup will be held in India During Jan - Feb 2017.
    7. 2017 Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Partnership Summit Held in Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh).
    8. India ranked 6th in list of Eight Great Powers of 2017 list by The American Interest magazine. List is topped by USA, Followed by China, Japan, Russia and Germany as top 5 in same order. Iran is 7th and Israel is ranked 8th.
    9. Madhya Pradesh Government announced total ban on polythene carry bags from May 1, 2017.
    10. 2nd International conference on Pharmaceutical & Medical Device sector - India Pharma & India Medical Device-2017 will be held in February 2017 in Bengaluru (Karnataka).
    11. First Brahmaputra Literary Festival held in Guwahati (Assam).
    12. Dr. Gullapalli N. Rao has been selected to 2017 Ophthalmology Hall of Fame, by American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS). He is founder of LV Prasad Eye Institute (Hyderabad).
    13. North East Film Festival (NEFF) Held at National Film Archive of India (NFAI) in Pune (Maharashtra). 
    14. Tim Barrow appointed as British Ambassador to European Union, after Ivan Rogers Resigned from this post.
    15. Book The People’s President: Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, written by S M Khan has been released..
    16. Eight year old Abbu Ammaz from J&K won Gold Medal in Thai Boxing Championship at National level.
    17. Former wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat's biography Akhada has been launched, written by sports journalist Sourabh Duggal.
    18. Arunachal Pradesh Government signed MOU with National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) to level up Milk revolution in Arunachal Pradesh.
    19. Government announced that pension for all 50 - 55 lakh central government pensioners is increased to Rs. 9,000 and the ex gratis increased from 10-15 lakh to 25-35 lakh.
    20. Noted wax museum Madame Tussauds will open its first Branch in India In Delhi In June 2017. It will showcase Wax statue of Actor Amitabh Bachchan initially, along with several international figures.
  16. Jan 16, 2017
    1. 3rd National conference Jal Manthan III held in New Delhi.
    2. India's Darpan Basak won Young Travel Photographer award 2016. India's Ankit Kumar also won Young Travel Photographer award in Places and Experiences category.
    3. Indian squash player Velavan Senthilkumar won Under-19 British Junior Open Squash 2017 by defeating India's Abhay Singh. Another Indian squash player, Shreyas Mehta won 2017 Scottish Junior Open Squash championship.
    4. Book Magpie Murders, authored by Anthony Horowitz has been released.
    5. Noted sociologist of Poland, Zygmunt Bauman passed away.
    6. World Economic Forum (WEF) released 12th Global Risks Report 2017. As per report, most significant long-term risks worldwide in 2017 are - Extreme weather, Involuntary migration, Major natural catastrophe, Large terrorist attacks and Massive data fraud / theft.
    7. Book My Odyssey: Memoirs of the Man behind the Mangalyaan Mission, authored by K Radhakrishnan has been released.
    8. Noted British Singer Peter Eardley Sarstedt passed away.
    9. Daniel Ortega has been appointed as President of Nicaragua (Central America) for 3rd consecutive term.
    10. International Conference on Disability Communication: Perspectives and Challenges in the 21st Century held in Mumbai (Maharashtra).
    11. Former President of Germany, Roman Herzog passed away.
    12. Pankaj Advani won 3rd Kolkata Open National Invitation Snooker Championship 2017.
    13. Book The Untold Story of Talking Books, authored by Matthew Rubery has been released.
    14. World’s first Gender Literature Festival will be held in Patna (Bihar) in April 2017.
    15. Congress leader and former Union Minister Manish Tiwari has been appointed as senior fellow of US-based think tank Atlantic Council.
    16. Noted US Author William Peter Blatty passed away, best known for his novel “The Exorcist”.
    17. Book An Unsuitable Boy, autobiography of Noted Filmmaker Karan Johar has been released.
    18. International conference for peace talks between Israel and Palestinians held in Paris (France).
    19. Rajeev Singh appointed as new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Prasar Bharti.
    20. Kiran Doshi won The Hindu Prize 2016 for his political novel Jinnah Often Came to Our House.
    21. National Award Winner Filmmaker Deepak Roy passed awasy. He won National award for his movie “Limit to Freedom” in 1996.
    22. Punjab Royals won Pro Wrestling League 2017 by defeating Haryana Hammers.
    23. Praful Patel (President of All India Football Federation) has been appointed as member of FIFA’s Finance Committee for 2017-2021.
    24. Eden Gardens Cricket stadium at Kolkata will become first Indian stadium to have stands named after war heroes. Indian army, who is owner of land on which stadium is located, will finalize names before next International match.
    25. First Singapore satellite - Aoba Velox-III launched into space from International Space Station (ISS), as a joint project between Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Japan’s Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech).
    26. 2nd Pakke - Paga Festival 2017 held at Seijosa in East Kameng District of Arunachal Pradesh. Its aim is to popularise the role of community in conserving endangered species.
    27. Kerala government launched World Bank-aided e - health project across state, envisaging development of Electronic Health Records (HER) of population and automation of all government healthcare institutions.
    28. 10th Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) 2017 held with theme Freedom to dream: India at 70.
    29. Nurturing Excellence in Sports Trust (NEST) launched Khelegi toh Khilegi initiative for Promoting football among girls between age of 10 to 15 years along with National Yuva Cooperative Society.
    30. Book The Future of India, has been authored by Bimal Jalan (former RBI Governor).
  17. Jan 15, 2017
    1. Jan 15 - Indian Army Day. On this day in 1949, Kodandera Madappa Cariappa became first Indian Chief of Indian Army (of independent India).
    2. Chennai Smashers won 2017 Vodafone Premier Badminton League (PBL) tournament by defeating Mumbai Rockets.
    3. India's Kush Bhagat won 3 gold medals in 1st Western Asia Youth Chess Championships in United Arab Emirates (UAE) in all three categories - rapid, blitz and standard.
    4. Noted Congress Leader from Maharashtra, Eknathrao Vikhe-Patil passed away.
    5. Book The Secret Chord has been authored by Geraldine Brooks.
    6. Bargarh Dhanua Jatra festival started in Bargarh in Odisha.
    7. Book Scattered Souls, authored by Shahnaj Bashir has been released.
    8. District collector of Ajmer, Gaurav Goyal has been awarded Scroll of Honor by PM Narendra Modi for encouraging cashless transactions in district.
    9. Archana Nigam is newly appointed as Controller General of Accounts in Department of Expenditure under the Ministry of Finance.
    10. Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal won 2016 Mubadala World Tennis Championship by defeating David Goffin (Belgium).
    11. Former Pakistani Cricketer Imtiaz Ahmed passed away.
    12. Book Just Another Jihadi Jane, authored by Tabish Khair has been released.
    13. V Thiruppugazh has been appointed as Adviser (policy & planning) in National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
    14. HDFC Bank launched chatbot service OnChat to allow users to make payments through Facebook Messenger.
    15. 13th National Ice Skating Championship 2017 held in Gurugram (Haryana).
    16. India’s first bus to run on human and animal waste will start in March 2017 in Kolkata (West Bengal).
    17. 13th Chitwan Elephant Festival held at Chitwan National Park in Kathmandu, Nepal.
    18. 4th Assam International Agri-Horiculture held in Guwahati.
    19. Book The Untold Vajpayee: Politician and Paradox, authored by Ullekh NP has been released.
    20. Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) tied up with Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) for providing capital support to MSME enterprises in India.
    21. Harvest Festival of Pongal celebrated across Tamilnadu.
  18. Jan 14, 2017
    1. Government approved interest waiver for the November and December 2016 for farmers accessing short term crop loans from Cooperative Banks.
    2. Government approved short term borrowings of approx 20000 Crores by National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD), lending to Cooperative Banks at 4.5% rate of interest. Additional capital of 2,000 crore to be provided to NABARD for through Union Budget. This will ensure increased availability of short term crop loans to farmers through Cooperative banks at reduced rate of interest.
    3. First flight under government’s regional connectivity scheme UDAN (Ude Desh Ke Aam Naagrik) will take off in February 2017. RCS aims to boost regional air connectivity and provide various incentives to airlines. Under this, Government will provide subsidy to airlines that operate flights between two regional airports. 43 new airports will be added after implementation of UDAN scheme, in addition to existing 75 airports.
    4. 28th Dantan Gramin Mela inaugurated by President Pranab Mukherjee in West Midnapore district in West Bengal, aimed at displaying rural handicraft skills of local people.
    5. United Nation Security Council (UNSC) approved resolution expressing full support to Gambia’s new President Adama Barrow.
      1. Longtime ruler Yahya Jammeh refused to step down after loosing December 2016 presidential elections. It has deepened political crisis in Gambia.
    6. Himachal Pradesh Government declared Dharamsala as second capital of state. Henceforth, winter session of state legislature will be held in Dharamshala.
    7. World Bank sanctioned INR 1376 crores for complete upgradation and improvement of power system network in Tripura.
    8. USA military launched Geo-3 satellite mounted with Atlas V rocket into space to monitor possible missile attacks from space.
    9. Israel's upgraded ballistic missile shield Arrow-3 system has become operational, jointly developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), USA firm Boeing and funded by USA.
    10. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully maneuvered orbit planes of Mars orbiter Mission (MOM) or Mangalyaan to enhance the capacity of battery and enhance battery life.
    11. Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposed penalty of 206 crores on 7 cement companies for bid-rigging and cartelisation - Shree Cement, UltraTech Cement, Jaiprakash Associates, JK Cement, Ambuja Cements, ACC and JK Lakshmi Cement.
    12. Indian actress Priyanka Chopra won her second People’s Choice Award for Favourite Dramatic TV Actress for TV series Quantico.
    13. English poet Jacob Polley won 2016 TS Eliot Prize for poetry for his collection “Jackself”.
    14. Chinese e-commerce Firm Alibaba became major sponsor of Olympic Games after signing a deal with International Olympic Committee (IOC) that runs until 2028, Including South Korea’s Pyeongchang hosting 2018 winter edition, Japan hosting 2020 summer Olympics in Tokyo and China hosting 2022 winter Olympics in Beijing.
    15. World Economic Forum (WEF), NITI Aayog, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Cornell University will work to develop an India Innovation Index to provide impetus to states to drive innovative spirit. Based on WIPO’s GII (Global Innovation Index), India Innovation Index will be tailored to better reflect of India’s ground reality and include metrics well suited to Indian context for innovation.
    16. According to Status of Education Report (ASER) 2016, Himachal Pradesh Students stand ahead of All Other states in terms of learning outcomes. 
      1. Report found that enrolment rate of students in the age group 6 to 14 in Himachal Pradesh was 99.8%. It secured first rank in achieving learning outcomes in basic reading and mathematics across the country, Followed by Kerala.
      2. Annual Status of Education Report (ASER 2016) released by NGO Pratham. ASER is largest annual household survey in rural India that focuses on the status of children's schooling and basic learning
    17. Health Ministry will launch population based prevention, screening and control programme for five common non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on the occasion of World Cancer Day (4th February). Diseases are - Hypertension, Diabetes, and Cancers of oral cavity, breast and cervix.
    18. Government notified that Co-operative Banks are not authorised to accept deposits under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Deposit Scheme (PMGKDS).
    19. Indian Navy’s largest warship - INS Vikramditya became first warship to be equipped with its own dedicated ATM (Automated Teller Machine), installed by State Bank of India (SBI). 
    20. Bihar government launched Nasha Mukt campaign to make state addidction-free. On this occasion, 11000 km long human chain was formed across state. It is claimed to be world’s largest human chain and broke previous record of 1050 km human chain formed in Bangladesh. 
    21. World Economic Forum and UCSB’s Marine Science Institute (MSI) partnered to improve health of world’s oceans and maritime resources, valued at approx $2.5 trillion per year.
    22. Astronomer Stephen Kane from San Francisco State University (USA) claimed that an exoplanet called Wolf 1061c could be habitable, stating that its faster orbit changes may cause its climate to be quite chaotic.
    23. ISKCON’s Govardhan eco village located in Wada taluka in Thane district (Maharashtra) has been conferred UNWTO Award for Innovation in the category of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO), during UNWTO Awards for Excellence and Innovation in Tourism held at Madrid in Spain. 
    24. S. Jaishankar's appointment as Foreign Secretary has been extended for 1 year.
    25. Anshu Sinha appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC).
  19. Jan 13, 2017
    1. Jones Lang LaSalle’s City Momentum Index (CMI) Released, tracking speed of change of a city’s economy and commercial real estate market.
      1. Bengaluru (Karnataka) is named most dynamic city in the world.
      2. 10 cities - Bengaluru (India), Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), Silicon Valley (US), Shanghai (China), Hyderabad (India), London (UK), Austin (US), Hanoi (Vietnam), Boston (US) and Nairobi (Kenya).
    2. 58th India International Garment Fair (IIGF) began in New Delhi, organized by Apparel Export Promotion Council India (AEPCI).
    3. Airports Authority of India (AAI) received 45 initial bids from 11 parties to fly routes under Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) by Ministry of Civil Aviation. Initial bid proposals covers more than 200 routes and as many as 65 airports, 52 of them not served by any airline and 13 under-served airports.
    4. Madhya Pradesh launched Aanandam programme to help needy persons. Under it, government through volunteers will provide help to needy and economically sound citizens can donate items for the needy persons.
    5. Global Passport Index 2017 released by financial advisory firm Arton Capital. It ranks countries based on the number of nations their citizens can visit without a visa or on arrival visa.
      1. India ranked low at 78th position with visa-free score of 46.
      2. Top 2 - Germany (1st), Singapore (2nd).
      3. Afghanistan’s is least powerful passport. China and Pakistan were ranked 58th and 94th respectively.
    6. Government approved amendment in Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (M-SIPS) for electronics manufacturing, aiming Net Zero imports in electronics by 2020.  Key Amendments are -
      1. Applications will be received under M-SIPS scheme till December 2018 or till such time that an incentive commitment of Rs 10,000 crore is reached, whichever is earlier. On Reaching 10000 crores, review will be held to decide further financial commitments.
    7. United Kingdom unveiled 12-point plan to leave European Union for implementing Brexit deal within 2 years.
    8. 30 More countries applied for joining China-sponsored Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), apart from existing 57 founding members. AIIB was established in 2015 with headquarters in Beijing (China). China is the largest shareholder with 26.6% voting shares. India is second largest shareholder with 7.5% followed by Russia 5.93% and Germany with 4.5%.
    9. A baby has been born using a new type of 3 person IVF to a couple in Ukraine. Doctors used a method called pronuclear transfer. This is world’s second modern three-parent baby, second to a child earlier created using a slightly different method in Mexico. 
    10. West Bengal Government will give legal protection to Hilsa Fish, to check its reducing population. 
    11. Karang Island in Manipur became first cashless island in India. Most of People on Karang island have opted for cashless transactions.
    12. Antonio Tajani (Italy) elected as new President of European Parliament (EP).
    13. Tata Motors appointed N Chandrasekaran as its Chairman.
    14. Kapil Dev inducted into Legends Club ‘Hall of Fame’ at Cricket Club of India in Mumbai.
    15. Scientists named 3 diseases as the next potential global health emergency threat - MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome), Lassa fever and Nipah virus. Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has committed 460 million dollars to speed up vaccine development for these diseases.
      1. Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) was officially launched at World Economic Forum (WEF) Davos after it received $460-million to develop vaccines against 3 emerging highly-contagious and fatal diseases.
    16. Scientists officially named a new endangered species of moth as Neopalpa donaldtrumpi, found in parts of Southern California and Baja, Mexico.
    17. Austrian Physicists created new form of Hydrogen - negatively charged hydrogen clusters, previously unseen form of hydrogen.
    18. According to United Nations World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP), India’s economy will grow by 7.7% in fiscal 2017 and 7.6% in 2018. India will remain the fastest growing large developing economy in world.
    19. Ministry of AYUSH and Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) signed MoUs to co-regulate malpractices in advertisement of AYUSH sector.
    20. Central Government cleared Tamil Nadu government’s proposal to promulgate an ordinance to hold Jallikattu, a traditional bull taming sport. Now, as per Article 213 of Constitution, Tamil Nadu Governor can promulgate ordinance. The ordinance will denotify the bull from the list of performing animals, to ensure that provisions of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (PCA), 1960 will not apply to bull.
      1. Supreme Court imposed ban on Jallikattu in May 2014. The apex court had banned use of bull as performing animals including traditional events like Jallikattu, bullock-cart races.
  20. Jan 12, 2017
    1. Jan 12 - National Youth Day. It is observed to mark birth anniversary of Great social reformer and philosopher Swami Vivekananda.
    2. India Signed US$ 48 million Loan agreement with World bank for Nagaland Health Project
    3. 8th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit held in Gandhinagar (Gujarat). PM Modi announced that India is now sixth largest manufacturing country in the world up from earlier 9th position.
    4. World Economic Outlook (WEO) by International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cut India’s growth rate for the fiscal year 2016–17 to 6.6% from its previous estimate of 7.6%, due to temporary negative consumption shock of demonetisation.
      1. Global growth is forecast at 3.4% in FY17 against 3.1% in FY16.
      2. For China, the growth forecast for FY 2017 was revised upwards, to 6.5%. In 2018, China’s growth rate is projected to be 6% against India’s 7.7%.
    5. Inclusive Development Index (IDI) 2017 in World Economic Forum’s (WEF) ‘Inclusive Growth and Development Report’ -
      1. India ranked 60th among 79 developing countries.
      2. Top 5 developing economies - Lithuania (1st), Azerbaijan (2nd), Hungary (3rd), Poland (4th), Romania (5th).
      3. Top 5 advance economies - Norway (1st), Luxembourg (2nd), Switzerland (3th), Iceland (4th) and Denmark (5th)
      4. BRICS - Russia (13th), China (30th) and Brazil (30th), South Africa (70).
      5. Neighbours - China (15th), Nepal (27th), Bangladesh (36th) and Pakistan (52nd).
    6. Talent competitiveness Index list 2017 released, measuring ability of countries to compete for talent. The index is produced by global business school INSEAD in partnership with Adecco Group and Human Capital Leadership Institute (HCLI) of Singapore.
      1. India ranked 92nd among 118 countries in List.
      2. Top 5 Countries - Switzerland (1st), Singapore (2nd), United Kingdom (3rd), United States (4th), Sweden (5th).
      3. BRICS - China (54th), Russia (56th), South Africa (67th) and Brazil (81st).
      4. Neighbours - Pakistan (111), Bangladesh (113), Sri Lanka (82).
      5. Bottom 5 Nations - Tanzania (114), Mozambique (115), Zimbabwe (116), Burkina Faso (117), Madagascar (118)
    7. Scientists from Tohoku University (Japan) claimed that Silicon (Si) is missing element in Earth’s core, paving way for better understanding of how our world formed. Silicon likely makes up a significant proportion (5%) of Earth’s core after its major constituents iron and nickel.
    8. Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) commissioned a very high resolution (12 km) global deterministic weather prediction model for generating operational weather forecasts, replacing earlier version of horizontal resolution of 25 km. MoES’s operational Ensemble Prediction System (EPS) is upgraded to 12 km by High Performance Computing (HPC) augmented to 10 Peta Flops (PFs) from current 1.2 PFs.
    9. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) approved mission to explore 16 Psyche, an iron-rich asteroid. Mission craft will be launched in 2023, and will arrive at Psyche in 2030.
    10. Election Commission of India (ECI) allotted bicycle symbol of Samajwadi Party to Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh faction (Group), after he proved majority support in party’s structures as per Para 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order.
    11. Scientists at University of Manchester (UK) have developed world’s lightest (40 Grams) high-performance mechanical watch RM 50-03, using graphene. Ultralight watch was made using unique grapheme composite known as Graph TPT.
    12. According to India Meteorological Department’s (IMD), 2016 was warmest year ever on record in India since documenting began in 1901. Average Surface temparature in 2016 in India was +0.91 degree Celsius above average between 1961-1990 period. Before 2016, warmest year on record was 2009 (+0.77 degree Celsius above average).
    13. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised daily cash withdrawal limits from ATMs to INR 10000 from existing 4500. Weekly cash withdrawal limit from Savings Accounts is unchanged at 24,000 and withdrawal limit from current accounts is Hiked to INR 100000 per week from 50000.
    14. BHEL commissioned 2nd unit of capacity 500 MW of Sagardighi Thermal Power Station Phase II in Murshidabad district of West Bengal.
    15. American astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, last man to walk on Moon passed away. He landed on Moon in December 1972 during NASA’s Apollo 17 mission.
    16. Noted actor Bengali Actress Gita Sen (Wife of Mrinal Sen) passed Away.
    17. Noted Chinese linguist Zhou Youguang (father of Pinyin writing system - a system for the romanization of Mandarin Chinese) passed away at age of 111 years.
    18. Farrukh Amonatov of Tajikistan won 15th Delhi International Chess tournament. 
    19. Government approved holding negotiations for Trade Agreement with Peru on trade in goods, services and investment.
    20. 2nd Ministry of External Affairs’ annual Raisina Dialogue (Flagship geo-political conference) held in New Delhi with theme The New Normal: Multilateralism in a multipolar world.
  21. Jan 11, 2017
    1. Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya Visited India. MOU signed for Cooperation in agriculture and allied sector Agreements and India Offered Loan for US$100 million to Kenya for agricultural mechanization.
    2. Israeli Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Uri Ariel Visited India.
    3. 14th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2017, annual global convention for Indian diaspora held in Bangalore.
      1. Theme of this edition is “Redefining Engagement with the Indian Diaspora”.
      2. Portugal Prime Minister, Dr. Antonio Costa is chief guest in PBD 2017. Total 30 People awarded in Pravasi Bharatiya Awards 2017.
      3. PM Narendra Modi launched Pravasi Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PKVY), a skill development program targeted at Indian youth seeking overseas employment to make India the Skill Capital of the World.
    4. India's National Youth Festival 2017 held in Rothak (Haryana) with theme Youth for Digital India.
    5. As per rights group Oxfam, India’s richest 1% now hold a huge 58% of the country’s total wealth, higher than global figure of 50%. 57 billionaires in India now have same wealth ($216 billion) as that of the bottom 70% population of the country. Globally, just 8 billionaires have the wealth as poorest 50 % of population, led by Bill Gates ($75 billion), Amancio Ortega ($67 billion) and Warren Buffett($60.8 billion).
    6. Tamil Nadu government launched Pinakin mobile application to provide information of famous tourist destinations in state.
    7. Madhya Pradesh Government launched Digital Dakiya scheme to encourage cashless transactions. Under it Digital Dakiya (Digital Postman) will visit door to door and train households specially women and elderly people about digitized transactions.
    8. Social network Facebook will introduce new tools in Germany to combat spread of fabricated news stories (fake news).
    9. Japan Signed Agreements with Australia and Indonesia, to enhance Defence ties.
    10. Border Security Force (BSF) launched operation Sard Hawa athe western border of Rajasthan to check infilteration due to dense fog.
    11. RBI Note Mudran printing press located in Mysuru (Karnataka) made record of printing highest number of currency notes. It printed 1.09 Crore notes on a single day, breaking previous world record of 87 Lakh notes printed in an American currency printing press. The press printed 1350 million currency notes in December 2016 by nearly 650 workers.
    12. State General Reserve Fund of Oman (SGRF) and State Bank of India (SBI) have signed pact to infuse $150 million and $50 million respectively in second Oman India Joint Investment Fund (OIJIF), a private equity fund.
    13. Noted actor Rishi Kapoor’s autobiography Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor Uncensored has been released.
    14. Noted political and social activist Mangal Singh Negi passed away.
    15. Immunologist Alexander Rudensky, Shimon Sakaguchi and Fred Ramsdell won 2017 Crafoord Prize, for their discoveries related to regulatory T cells and their role in the immune system.
      1. Crafoord Prize is an annual science prize established in 1980 by Holger Crafoord, a Swedish industrialist and his wife Anna-Greta Crafoord. It is administered by Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (RSAS).
    16. Former Punjab Chief Minister Surjit Singh Barnala passed away.
    17. Gujarat won its First Ranji Trophy title by defeating Mumbai in final held at in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
    18. 14th Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon Held. Olympic and world 800m champion and world record holder, David Rudisha (Kenya) is Ambassador for 14th Mumbai Marathon.
      1. Men's - Tanzania’s Alphonce Simbu (Time - 02:09:32)
      2. Women's - Kenya’s Bornes Kitur (Time 02:29:02)
      3. Indian Men's - Kheta Ram (Time 2:19:51)
      4. Indian women's - Jyoti Gawte (Time 02:50:53)
    19. Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports launched Khelo India National Competitions at Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Swimming Pool Complex in New Delhi, to promote sports at grass-root level.
    20. Committee under chairmanship of Timothy Gonsalves recommended upto 20 % reservation for girl students in IITs to address issue of reducing number of female students entering IITs.
  22. Jan 10, 2017
    1. Jan 10 - World Hindi Day. It is being observed since 2006.
    2. Expert Group under Sumit Bose, that was set up to prepare Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) has submitted its report to Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD). Objective of expert group was to study criteria for allocation of resources to States and identification and prioritization of beneficiaries under various programmes using SECC data.
    3. Russia banned sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2015 as part of its part of a tough anti-tobacco strategy. It will make Russia the first country in the world to completely phase out tobacco. The proposed ban will go into effect in 2033, when the present Russian citizens (now babies) and younger reach adulthood i.e. when they turn 18 years old.
    4. Europe’s first underwater art museum, Museo Atlantico (Atlantic Museum) opened for public in Canary Island in Spain.
    5. Japanese PM Shinzo Abe signed 1-trillion yen ($8.7 billion) aid package to Philippines over next 5 years.
    6. China’s Navy commissioned sophisticated electronic reconnaissance ship CNS Kaiyangxing or Mizar (hull code 856).
    7. IT Firm Tata Consultancy Services appointed Rajesh Gopinathan as its chief executive officer (CEO).
    8. National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) signed MoU with Rajasthan Government for takeover of 1,000 megawatt (MW) Chhabra Thermal Power Plant.
    9. Citi Bank India introduced voice biometrics authentication system for its phone banking clients, replacing current practice of interactive voice response.
    10. Natarajan Chandrasekaran appointed as new Chairman of Tata Sons, India’s largest Business House. He was previously Chief Executive Officer and MD OF TCS (Tata Consultancy Sevices).
    11. Sarita Devi became first female professional boxer from India, after She signed 2 year deal with Sporty Boxing Private Limited, licensing body for professional boxers in India.
    12. First Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) International Television Dance Festival held in Hyderabad (Telangana).
    13. India’s first ever solar powered boat - Aditya launched in Kerala.
    14. As per a recent study, Indian long pepper (widely used for spicing up food) contains a chemical called Piperlongumine (PL) which has anti-cancer properties.
    15. USA lifted 20-year ols trade and financial sanctions on Sudan.
    16. Ecuador taken over from Thailand as chair of Group of 77 (G77) countries of United Nations for 2017.
    17. International Olympic Committee (IOC) disqualified 3 Chinese women’s weightlifting gold medallists at the 2008 Beijing Olympics for doping - Cao Lei, Chen Xiexia and Liu Chunhong.
    18. USA based SpaceX successfully launched constellation of 10 satellites into orbit on board of its two stage Falcon 9 Rocket from California, as part of Virginia-based Iridium’s project McLean.
    19. 62nd Jio Filmfare Awards 2016 -
      1. Best Actor: Aamir Khan (Dangal).
      2. Best Actress: Alia Bhatt (Udta Punjab).
      3. Best Film: Dangal. 
      4. Best Director: Nitesh Tiwari (Dangal).
      5. Lifetime Achievement: Shatrughan Sinha.
      6. Best Debut Director: Ashwini Iyer Tiwari (Nil Battey Sannata).
      7. Best Supporting Actor: Rishi Kapoor (Kapoor & Sons).
      8. Best Supporting Actress: Shabana Azmi (Neerja).
      9. Best Male Debut: Diljit Dosanjh (Udta Punjab).
      10. Best Female Debut: Ritika Singh (Saala Khadoos).
      11. Best Singer (male): Arijit Singh (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil).
      12. Best Singer (female): Neha Bhasin (Sultan).
      13. Best Music Director: Pritam (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil).
      14. Best Lyricist: Amitabh Bhattacharya (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil).
      15. New Category - Film Fare Short Film Awards - Film Chutney won 2 awards - Best Actress (Tisca Chopra) and Best Film (Fiction).
    20. China handed over 2 ships to Pakistan Navy - Hingol and Basol, to safeguard strategic Gwadar port and trade routes under the ambitious China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). China will also provide two more ships to Pakistan Navy which have been named Zhob and Dasht.
  23. Jan 09, 2017
    1. National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi has been declared free from bird flu (H5N8 avian influenza) after consecutive samples collected at 15 days’ intervals from last positive results tested negative.
    2. Saudi Arabia increased India’s annual Haj quota by 34,500. It is biggest hike in nearly three decades. With this, size of India’s Haj quota increased from 1,36,020 to 1,70,520. 
    3. Telangana state government signed MoU with Ministry of Civil Aviation and Airports Authority of India (AAI) for Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS).
      1. Under RCS, air connectivity is be provided to smaller towns by developing small airports and airstrips. Warangal, Kothagudem and Adilabad airports in the states will be developed for better connectivity.
    4. Scientists discovered a new species of gibbon named as ‘Skywalker hoolock gibbon’ living in south-west China’s rainforests.
    5. Engineers from Stanford University have built a low-cost human-powered blood centrifuge that can separate blood into its individual components in only 1.5 minutes. It can spin at speeds of 1,25,000 revolutions per minute and exert centrifugal forces of 30,000 Gs. It is claimed to be fastest spinning object driven by human power.
    6. Indira Gandhi International (IGI) become first in world to adopt performance and benchmarking digital platform - Arc, developed by Green Business Certification Inc (GBCI) and US Green Building Council (USGBC). It will be used by airport operator to measure, manage and improve performance of airport on resource consumption, quality of passenger space and carbon emissions.
    7. Government will make on-road emission tests for vehicles plying on Indian roads mandatory, after Bharat Stage VI norm implement from 2020.
    8. DEFCOM 2017 held in Delhi with theme Infrastructure and Skilled Human Resource for Digital Army, organised jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Indian Army.
    9. Russia amended its laws to allow long-term contracts for spares and support for military equipment supplied to India, allowing Russian Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to enter into long-term agreements for spares with Indian Companies.
    10. Noted E-Commerce Portal Snapdeal appointed Jason Kothari as Chief Strategy & Investment Officer.
    11. German luxury carmaker BMW appointed Vikram Pawah as President of India operations.
    12. Air India will soon reserve six seats in front rows of its aeroplane fleet only for women passengers for their safety. Six seats will be reserved in third row in economy class of the aircraft for female passengers travelling alone.
    13. Daniel Ortega appointed as President of Nicaragua for third consecutive term.
    14. Indian hockey team captain PR Sreejesh became member of International Hockey Federation (FIH) Athletes’ Committee.
    15. Jimmy Adams appointed as new director of West Indies cricket.
    16. Pakistan Government will renovate Katas Raj Hindu temple in Chakwal district of Punjab Province.  
    17. National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog demanded review of provisions of Right To Education (RTE) Act that stipulate children who do not perform well cannot be held back up to 8th Class.
      1. RTE Act aims to provide primary education to all children aged 6 to 14 years and stipulates that no child can be held back in a grade, regardless of his performance, all the way up to the 8th grade.
    18. India signed MoU with Sri Lanka to construct 3000 rain water harvesting systems in Rin Jaffna District at a cost of 300 million Rupees (Sri Lankan).
    19. India and USA signed MoU to collaborate in fields of developmental activities and aid in third world countries.
    20. According to recent World Employment and Social Outlook 2017 by International Labour Organisation (ILO), number of unemployed people in India is expected to rise by 1 lakh in 2017 and another 2 lakh in 2018.
      1. Number of jobless in India will increase from 1.7 croee in 2016 to 1.8 crore in 2018. Note that country’s unemployment rate is expected to go down from 3.5% to 3.4% in 2017.
  24. Jan 08, 2017
    1. HDFC Bank launched IRA (Intelligent Robotic Assistant), a ‘humanoid’ at its Mumbai branch. It will provide smoother customer service, employee assistance, marketing and automate the banking process.
      1. Earlier in November 2016, City Union Bank introduced India’s first banking robot named Lakshmi.
    2. Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) revised Indian Standard on gold hallmarking, making gold jewellery available in 3 grades - 14 carat, 18 carat and 22 carat. Caratage will now also be marked on jewellery in addition to fineness for convenience of consumers.
      1. Caratage for 22 carat jewellery 22K will be marked as 22K916, 18 carat be marked as 18K750 and 14 carat will be marked as 14K585.
      2. Hallmark on gold jewellery will now have four marks - BIS Mark, purity in carat and fineness, assaying centre’s identification mark and jeweller’s identification mark.
    3. Kalyan Krishnamurthy appointed as chief executive officer (CEO) of online retailer Flipkart.
    4. USA President Barack Obama selected 4 Indian-American scientists among 102 researchers for Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) - Pankaj Lal (Montclair State University), Kaushik Chowdhury (Northeastern University), Manish Arora (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai) and Aradhna Tripati (University of California). Vice President Joe Biden was honored by Presidential Medal of Freedom, highest USA civilian honour. 
    5. Researchers from Midwestern University (USA) identified function of the human appendix, often considered of little use.
      1. Human appendix has evolved over 30 times throughout mammalian evolution.
      2. It was found that species with appendix have higher concentrations of immune (lymphoid) tissue in cecum (part of large intestines), suggesting that appendix could serve as a secondary immune organ.
      3. Appendix might also function as a safe house for helpful gut bacteria as lymphatic tissue can stimulate growth of beneficial gut bacteria.
    6. Gujarat government launched India’s first student startup and innovation policy, aimed at providing 200 crores to ideas developed by students. Policy aims to support over 1,000 innovation per year and create pre-incubation support in all universities of Gujarat.
    7. Ministry of Health & Family Welfare will roll out measles-rubella (MR) vaccine in Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) in February 2017.
    8. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) released draft notification of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Dog Breeding and Marketing Rules) 2016. It is aimed at making dog breeders and their marketers accountable and to prevent any cruelty on dogs.
    9. Supreme Court described Endosulfan as highly toxic agrochemical (pesticide). It directed Kerala government to release 500 crore compensation to over 5,000 victims in State.
      1. SC in 2011 had banned use of endosulfan. Endosulfan is a toxic pesticide having hazardous effects on humans. Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in 2011 added it in list of banned substances and phasing it out as an agrichemical. It is banned in over 80 nations due to its ‘high toxicity.
    10. INS Khanderi, second Scorpene class submarine launched in Mumbai. It is the second of six submarines being built at MDL in collaboration with France’s DCNS as part of Project 75 of Indian Navy.
      1. First of series was INS Kalvari, which will be commissioned shortly.
    11. Axis Bank became third Indian Bank to use block chain solutions for its operations, in association with fintech firm Ripple. Axis bank will use Block chain technology for its cross-border remittances.
      1. ICICI Bank was first to announce block chain solutions in for international trade finance and remittances in October 2016, followed up by Yes Bank in January 2017 (In Association with Bajaj Eletricals) and now Axis Bank.
    12. World Bank in its Global Economic Prospects report reduced India’s growth for 2016-17 fiscal to 7% from its previous estimate of 7.6%. Note that India's NITI Aayog estimated growth rate of 8% for 2016-17. World Bank projected a global growth of 2.7% in 2017.
    13. Business process management company WNS acquired US-based Denali Sourcing Services for $40 million.
    14. Real estate portals PropTiger.com and Housing.com merged to form India’s largest online real estate services company.
    15. 8th International Conference and Exhibition on Re-enforced Plastics (ICERP) organized by FRP Institute in Mumbai.
    16. Amitabh Bachchan honored by US Embassy (New Delhi) for his invaluable contributions to US-India partnership on tuberculosis (TB).
    17. 13 time gymnastics world champion Russian rhythmic gymnast Yana Kudryavtseva announced retirement.
    18. Chinese mobile brand Gionee appointed cricketer Virat Kohli and Actress Alia Bhatt as brand ambassadors.
    19. Britain became first country to officially recognise Parkour as a sport. Parkour (also known as freerunning sport) is similar to military obstacle training.
    20. Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) became first state cricket governing body in India to accept all reforms recommended by Lodha Committee on structural reforms in BCCI.
  25. Jan 07, 2017
    1. Antonio Costa, Prime Minister of Portugal Visited India.
      1. He was chief of Guest of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2017, annual global convention for the Indian diaspora held in Bangalore.
      2. MoUs - Defence, Renewable Energy, Marine Research and Resources, Agriculture and Allied Sectors, Information Technology and Electronics, Establishment of an ICCR Chair of Indian Studies in University of Lisbon.
    2. Indian Army successfully conducted ‘user-validation’ trials of indigenous Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) Dhanush.
    3. 74th Golden Globe Awards, ceremony organized at Beverly Hills in California (USA)
      1. La La Land won in 7 categories.
      2. Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award - Meryl Streep
      3. Best Motion Picture Drama - Moonlight.
      4. Best Motion Picture Musical/Comedy - La La Land.
      5. Best Director in Motion Picture -Drama - Damien Chazelle for La La Land.
      6. Best Actor in Motion Picture - Drama - Casey Affleck for Manchester by the Sea.
      7. Best Actress in Motion Picture -Drama - Isabelle Huppert for Elle.
      8. Best Actor in Motion Picture or Musical or Comedy - Ryan Gosling for La La Land.
      9. Best Actress in Motion Picture Musical or Comedy - Emma Stone for La La Land.
      10. Best Actor in a Supporting role in Motion Picture - Aaron Taylor-Johnson for Nocturnal Animals.
      11. Best Actress in a Supporting role in Motion Picture - Viola Davis for Fences.
      12. Best Original Song: “City of Stars” (Justin Hurwitz, Pasek & Paul) for the La La Land.
    4. Central Board for Direct Taxes (CBDT) announced that General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR) will start from April 1, 2017 to check tax evasion and avoidance.
      1. GAAR was announced as part of the 2012-13 Budget speech. But its implementation was repeatedly postponed because opposition by foreign investors.
    5. China enhanced naval patrols in disputed Sankakus islands (Diaoyu islands) under administrative control of Japan in East China Sea. It could anger Japan as both countries doggedly trying to enforce the claims over these uninhabited islands, that are strategically well located and may contain oil reserves.
    6. Indian - American Parag Havaldar named among 18 achievers announced by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscar Academy) for its 2017 Scientific and Technical awards. He was honoured for development of expression-based facial performance-capture technology at Sony Pictures Imageworks. 
    7. Former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani passed away.
    8. Chennai Open Tennis 2017 (Sponsered by Aircel) -
      1. Men's singles - Roberto Bautista Agut (Spain)
      2. Men's doubles - Rohan Bopanna and Jeevan Neduncheziyan (India)
    9. Child sex ratio at birth (SRB) in Haryana for first time touched 900 mark in last two decades, up from 834 in 2011 to 914 in December 2016.
    10. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and French Space agency (CNES) signed agreement in satellite launch technology.
      1. Agreement also signed for equipping Axiom Research Lab’s lunar rover with two latest-generation CASPEX micro-cameras, developed by CNES in partnership with French firm 3DPlus.
        1. Axiom Research Lab is leading Indian NewSpace start-up put forward TeamIndus, the only Indian team competing for the Google Lunar XPRIZE.
        2. XPRIZE is global competition organised by Google for engineers and entrepreneurs to develop low-cost methods of robotic space exploration. It will award $20 million to the first private company that successfully lands a module on the Moon, places a robot that explores at least 500 metres and transmits HD videos and images back to Earth.
    11. Best FIFA Football Awards (held in Zurich, Switzerland)
      1. Best FIFA Male Player player - Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
      2. Best FIFA Female Player - Carli Lloydll (USA).
      3. Best FIFA Men’s Coach - Claudio Ranieri (Italy).
      4. Best FIFA Women’s Coach: Silvia Neid (Germany).
    12. PM Narendra Modi inaugurated Nobel Prize Series Exhibition in Gandhinagar (Gujarat), first conclave of Nobel laureates held in India.
      1. Nine Nobel laureates are attending it and interact with students of Indian Universities.
      2. One of 9 Nobel laureates include India-born scientist Dr Venkatraman Ramakrishnan. He won 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on ribosome structure.
      3. Other eight Nobel laureates are - H C Harmut Michel, Harold Varmus, Richard J Roberts, David J Gross, Serge Haroche, Randy Schekman, W E Moerner and Ada Yonath.
    13. Ministry of Power unveiled world’s largest street light replacement programme in South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) area, under Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL). Under SLNP, 2 lakh street light will be replaced with LED lights in SDMC area, resulting in annual energy savings of 2.65 crore kWh and daily reduction of 22,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases
    14. China successfully launched first commercial mission using updated version of low-cost Kuaizhou-1A rocket, launching 3 satellites - JL-1, CubeSats XY-S1 and Caton-1.
    15. Pakistan successfully test-fired its first Submarine-Launched Cruise Missile (SLCM) Babur-3, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead upto range of 450kms.
    16. Assam Government launched its indigenously-developed e-Wallet Tokapoisa.in, to enable hassle-free online transactions in local language.
    17. Maharashtra Government launched India’s largest public WiFi service - MumbaiWifi, providing 500 Wifi hotspots across various locations across Mumbai. In second phase, state Government will provide 1200 WiFi hotspots by 1 May 2017.
    18. PM Narendra Modi inaugurated India’s first international stock exchange at International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in4 Gujarat International Financial Tech City (GIFT) in Gandhinagar. It is named as International exchange-India (INX) and is subsidiary of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). 
    19. Air India launched Fly For Sure scheme under which passengers can board any other AI flight on the same sector on the same day on missing their booked flight. To avail this, customer has to pay extra INR 2000 while booking ticket.
  26. Jan 06, 2017
    1. Jagdish Singh Khehar sworn in as 44th Chief Justice of India (CJI).
    2. China is setting up world’s highest altitude gravitational wave observatory Ngari No.1, to detect and gather precise data on primordial gravitational waves in Northern Hemisphere. It will be operational by 2021. It is located at 5,250 meters above sea level, 30kms south of Shiquanhe Town in Ngari Prefecture at border with India. High altitude will provide clear sky to detect tiny twists in cosmic light with minimal human activity.
    3. Researchers from USA's Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) developed 3D version of graphene, one of strongest materials. So far Graphene was not able for practical use because of its extreme thinness. 3D version of Graphene is only 5% as dense as steel but is 10 times stronger.
    4. Dan Coats appointed as USA's National Intelligence Director. 
    5. Nana Akufo-Addo appointed as new president of Ghana.
    6. 9th Jaipur International Film Festival (JIFF) held in Jaipur (Rajastha. This year’s Life Time Achievement Award was presented to internationally acclaimed cine-visionary Ramesh Prasad.  
    7. Brisbane International Tennis 2017 -
      1. Men's Singles - Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria)
      2. Women's Singles - Karolína Plíšková (Czech Republic)
      3. Men's Doubles - Thanasi Kokkinakis and Jordan Thompson (Australia)
      4. Women's Doubles - Bethanie Mattek-Sands (United States) and Sania Mirza (India)
    8. Qatar Open tennis 2017 -
      1. Men's Singles - Novak Djokovic (Serbia) defeated Andy Murray (Britain)
      2. Men's Doubles - Spanish Pair Feliciano López and Marc López defeated Philipp Petzschner (Germany) and Alexander Peya (Austria).
    9. Government made Aadhaar Card mandatory for workers in rural areas enrolled under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA). Registered Workers will be required to give proof of possession of Aadhaar card till March 31, 2017. Aim is to prevent leakages of subsidies and ensure that beneficiaries get their due.
    10. Supreme Court asked Election Commission to implement Vote Verifier Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) in electronic voting machines (EVMs) to ensure 100% transparency in elections.
      1. This is second time after 2014 general elections, that SC has directed Election Commission (EC) to implement of VVPAT in EVMs.
      2. VVPAT system ensures free and fair elections as when a voter presses button for a candidate of his choice, a paper ballot containing the serial number, name of the candidate and poll symbol will be printed for the voter.
      3. It allows voters to verify that their votes are casted correctly and detect possible election fraud or malfunction.
    11. Scientists from Botanical Survey of India (BSI) discovered a new species of Zingiber (ginger) from Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The new species has been named as Zingiber pseudosquarrosum and belongs to genus Zingiber.
    12. Noted Actor Om Puri Passed away.
    13. Mahindra Singh Dhoni announced to step down as captain of India’s limited over cricket matches - T-20 and ODI format.
    14. HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar launched web portal ShaGun (ssashagun.nic.in), meant for showcase innovations and progress in Elementary Education sector of India by continuous monitoring of flagship scheme - Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).
    15. 24th Conference of Central and State Statistical Organisations(COCSSO) meet held at Nagpur (Maharashtra).
    16. Alok Kumar Verma has been appointed as Director of CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation).
    17. Ministry of Water Resources constituted committee to assess availability and utilisation of waters of Mahanadi and its tributaries to resolve disputes over sharing of river waters among five states - Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
    18. Pravind Kumar Jugnauth appointed as Prime Minister of Mauritius.
    19. Dr. B.Borooah Cancer Institute Guwahati has been made an affiliate of Tata Memorial Centre for Cancer Mumbai.
    20. India Held fourth joint Indo-Oman Air Exercise Eastern Bridge IV at Air Force Station Jamnagar (Gujarat).
  27. Jan 05, 2017
    1. All India Waqf Conference (Conference of Chiefs of of State Waqf Boards) Held in New Delhi.
    2. Japanese Minister of Economy Trade and Industry, Hiroshige Seko Visited India.
    3. Home Minister Rajnath Singh laid foundation stone of new NDRF campus at Konda Pavuluru in Krishna District of Andhra Pradesh.
    4. Agriculture and Rural Development Minister of Israel, Uri Ariel visited India.
    5. Sarath Chand Took over as Vice Chief of Indian Army.
    6. Minister of State (IC) for Petroleum & Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurated Saksham 2017 (Sanrakshan Kshamta Mahotsav) - aimed to create awareness amongst masses towards judicious utilization and conservation of petroleum products along with use of energy efficient appliances and switching to cleaner fuels.
    7. Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MOCI) launched mobile application named SEZ India. This app has four sections - SEZ Information, Trade Information, Contact Details and SEZ online Transaction.
    8. 25 children (including 12 girls and 13 boys) selected for National Bravery Awards 2016, (Four have been honored posthumously).
    9. Carlos Alberto Fortes Mesquita, Transport Minister of Mozambique Visited India. 
    10. Boris Johnson, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of UK visited India.
    11. Railways unveiled ‘Mission 41K’ to save Rs. 41,000 crore on Indian Railways’ expenditure on energy consumption over next 10 years.
    12. MOUs Signed -
      1. With Serbia for cooperation in Information Technology and Electronics.
      2. With Russia for cooperation in Youth matters.
      3. With Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) for cooperation in outer space exploration.
      4. With Vietnam for cooperation In cyber security.
      5. MSME Cooperation with 21 Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Member Countries. 
    13. Government approved India’s full membership of International Vaccine Institute (IVI) Governing Council. It involves payment of annual contribution of US $ 5,00,000 to the International Vaccine Institute (IVI), South Korea.
    14. Government approved Establishment of Indian Agricultural Research Institute (lARI) Jharkhand, with estimated outlay of 200 crores on 1,000 acre land provided by Government of Jharkhand at Gauria Karma Village in Hazaribag District.
    15. Government approved package for augmentation of Corpus of Credit Guarantee Trust Fund for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) for supporting Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs).
      1. Corpus of Trust increased from 2500 crore to 7500 crores.
      2. Increase coverage of the loans covered under the credit guarantee scheme from Rs. 1 crore to Rs. 2 crore.
      3. Increase coverage of credit guarantee scheme for loans extended to MSEs by NBFCs also.
    16. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved listing 5 government owned General Insurance Companies in stock exchanges - National Insurance Company, New India Assurance Company, Oriental Insurance Company, United India Insurance Company and General Insurance Corporation of India. Shareholding of these Companies will be divested from 100 to 75 %.
    17. National Informatics Centre (NIC) organized National Meet on Grassroot Informatics  at India Habitat Centre in New Delhi.
    18. Government approved excluding States (except Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh) from National Small Savings Fund (NSSF) investments with effect from 1 April 2016. Cabinet also approved one-time loan of Rs 45000 crore from NSSF to Food Corporation of India (FCI) to meet its food subsidy requirements.
      1. Arunachal Pradesh will be given loans to the tune of 100 % of NSSF collections within its territory, while Delhi, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh will be provided with 50 percent of collections.
    19. Minister of Health and Family Welfare, J P Nadda released Indian Food Composition Tables (IFCT) as reference book for all kinds of nutritional evaluations of Food Items in Country. It will make India join elite league of nations with its own complete food composition data base. It was released during International Symposium on Food Composition in Nutrition and Health in Delhi.
  28. Jan 04, 2017
    1. 04 Jan - World Braille Day. It marks birth anniversary of Louis Braille, inventor of Braille script or Braille code.
    2. Government will roll out Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme (TIES) to boost export infrastructure by tying up with States. It will help states to develop their own export strategy in alignment with National Foreign Trade Policy.
    3. Government approved assistance of Rs. 1782 crores for Karnataka as drought relief.
    4. Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) approved setting up Indian Skill Development Services (ISDS), for Training Directorate of MSDE. It will be a Group ‘A’ service and induction to it will take place through Indian Engineering Service Examination (IES) conducted by UPSC. It will have 263 all India posts.
    5. Japan will assist India in development of Chennai, Ahmedabad and Varanasi as smart cities. So far, leading countries have come forward to be associated with development of 15 smart cities in India, including -
      1. United Kingdom - Pune (Maharashtra), Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh) and Indore (Madhya Pradesh)
      2. United States - Visakhapatnam, Ajmer and Allahabad
      3. France - Chandigarh, Puducherry and Nagpur
      4. Germany - Bhubaneswar, Coimbattore and  Kochi.
    6. American It Firm Dell launched world’s first laptop that charges wirelessly - Latitude 7285. It is embedded with wireless receiving coil based on magnetic resonance technology.
    7. NASA will lauch 2 missions - Lucy and Psyche to explore early Solar System.
      1. Lucy - It has been named for a critical hominin fossil set found in Ethiopia in 1974. It will be launched in 2021 and involves sending a robotic spacecraft to study Jupiter’s so-called Trojan asteroids.
      2. Psyche - It will explore a huge, one-of-a-kind metal asteroid 16 Psyche. It will be launched in 2023. Most asteroids are rocky or icy but 16 Psyche is thought to be mostly of iron and nickel, like Earth’s core.
    8. Israel is building world’s tallest solar tower to harness solar energy as part of its ambitious Ashalim project. Centrepiece of this solar tower will be 250 m tall and will be encircled by 50,000 mirrors, known as heliostats.
      1. Solar towers use different method conventional photovoltaic solar panels, which convert sunlight directly into electricity. Instead, solar towers use a solar-thermal method in which thousands of mirrors focus the sun’s rays onto the tower, heating a boiler that creates steam to spin a turbine and generate electricity.
      2. Ashalim project will be Israel’s largest renewable energy project after completion by 2018. It will generate some 310 MW of power.
    9. Government imposed an anti-dumping duty on imports of jute and its products from Nepal and Bangladesh for 5 years, to protect domestic industry.
    10. According to Central Statistics Office (CSO), India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will grow at a slower pace at 7.1% in 2016-17 as compared to 7.6% in 2015-16.
      1. Per capita net national income in 2016-17 is estimated to be Rs. 1,03,007, rise of 10.4% as compared to Rs. 93,293 during 2015-16.
      2. Agriculture, forestry and fishing - likely to grow at 4.1% during 2016-17, as against previous year’s growth rate of 1.2%.
      3. Manufacturing sector - It is estimated to grow by 7.4% in 2016-17 as compared to growth of 9.3% in 2015-16.
    11. Delhi Government approved Good Samaritan Policy to encourage people to help road accident victims in emergency situation. This policy will give bystanders incentive (INR 2000) to help accident victims and more importantly provide them with legal protection.
    12. Astronomers discovered two powerful phenomena in universe - a supermassive black hole and collision of giant galaxy clusters about 2 billion light years from Earth. It was discovered combining data from India’s Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT), NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes.
    13. Pakistan’s former Army chief Raheel Sharif is appointed as head of Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism (IMAFT), a Saudi Arabia-led military coalition of 39 nations. It is based in Riyadh and was created in 2005.
    14. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch record 103 satellites in a single flight in February 2017, most attempted ever by any country. These satellites will be launched using PSLV-C37 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. Of 103 satellites, 100 are micro satellites from foreign nations.
      1. Earlier, ISRO had planned a launch of 83 satellites in January 2017, But launch was delayed and 20 more foreign satellites were added.
    15. Norway became first country in world to switch off FM radio network. Norwegian Parliament approved to shift to Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB).
    16. Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) banned import of skins of reptiles and fur of minks, foxes and chinchillas. It will save lives of animals killed for their exotic skins for leather industry.
    17. Retirement fund body Employees’ Provide Fund Organisation (EPFO) made it mandatory for its pensioners and subscribers to provide either Aadhaar to remain beneficiary of its social security schemes.
      1. EPFO will not transfer subsidy (1.16% of the employee’s salary upto Rs.6,500) towards Employment Pension Scheme (EPS) till Aadhaar number provided. 
    18. Not Residing Indians (NRI) citizens have been allowed to exchange their old 500 and 1,000 rupees notes at Reserve Bank of India (RBII) offices till the 30 June 2017.
    19. Telecom operator Vodafone announced SuperHour scheme - under which it will offer unlimited 3G / 4G data for 1 hour at a starting price of Rs. 16 for pre-paid customers.
    20. Railways launched IRCTC Rail Connect - a new ticketing App to facilitate booking of train tickets in a faster and easier way.
    21. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) amended SEBI (Portfolio Managers) Regulations, 1993 to provide an enabling framework for registration of Eligible Fund Managers (EFMs), aimed to develop fund management industry in India. It make easier for foreign fund managers keen to enter India.
    22. According to research firm Counterpoint, Chinese mobile brands have taken control of 50% of India’s $10-billion smartphone market in 2016, up from 19% in 2015.
    23. Hindustan Zinc Ltd of Vedanta Group received environment clearance for its Rs. 1,200 crore Zawar Mines expansion project in Rajasthan, aimed at expaning production capacity of lead-zinc and ore beneficiation from 1.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 4 MTPA at its Zawar underground mines.
    24. Andhra Pradesh Government announced monetary reward of Rs 100 crore to anyone from state who wins Nobel Prize.
    25. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will send First African - American astronaut Jeanette Epps to International Space Station (ISS) in 2018.
    26. USA First Lady Michelle Obama selected Indian-American Swetha Prabakaran to serve in inaugural Student Advisory Board’s ‘Better Make Room’ education campaign.
  29. Jan 03, 2017
    1. Jan 03 - Birth anniversary of Social Reformer Savitribai Jyotirao Phule, who played important role in improving women's rights in India during British rule. It was also featured by Search Engine Google, Through a Doodle.
    2. China launched its first Direct freight train to London (Britain). It will travel approx 12000 KMs in about 18 days, passing through 6 Nations.
    3. US President Donald Trump appointed Robert Lighthizer as USA Trade negotiator. He will negotiate deals and trade relationships with other countries.
    4. Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry announced discount of 5 rupees to LPG customers on every LPG refill through online payment.
    5. HSBC Expat survey 2016 ranked India at Third Place in terms of offering highest average annual salary to expatriates (Foreign Workers) of $145057 (Approx 7.8 Lac / Month). List was topped by Switzerland followed by Hong Kong.
    6. India's ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) won rights to bid for oil and gas development projects in Iran.
    7. Five Indian Americans took oath as members of US Congress (Senate and House of Chambers). Kamala Harris sworn-in as Senator from California and 4 Other Indian Americans will serve in House of Chambers - Raja Krishnamoorthi, Tulsi Gabbard, Ro Khanna and Ami Bera. Besides, Indian-American Raj Shah also appointed a a key post - Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Communication Director and Research director.
    8. Google launched 2 initiatives - My Business and Digital Unlocked to help small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India capitalise on the digitisation wave faster.
    9. Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched an Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Enforcement Toolkit for Police, to assist them in dealing with the cases relating to Trademarks and Copyrights infringements. Toolkit is developed by Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). 
    10. Minister of Textiles Smriti Irani Launched Bunkar Mitra Helpline for Handloom Weavers toll free number 1800-208-9988. It aims to provide a point of contact to handloom weavers for addressing their queries and seek guidance.
    11. Scientists from University of Limerick (Ireland) claimed to discover a new human digestive system organ (79th Human Organ) - Mesentery. Mesentery connects intestine to the abdomen and was previously thought to consist of fragmented and disparate structures.
    12. Noted Manipur-based historian and litterateur, Gangmumei Kamei passed away.
    13. United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declared 2017 as International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.
    14. IT Firm IBM appointed Karan Bajwa as Managing Director of its India business.
    15. S Padmanabhan appointed as chairman of Tata Power Company, after Cyrus Mistry resigned from post following his ouster from Tata Sons.
    16. 16th meeting of Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) was held in New Delhi.
      1. Central Government established Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) in December 2010 with Finance Minister as Chairman. Idea to create FSDC was first mooted by the Raghuram Rajan Committee on Financial Sector Reforms in 2008.
    17. Indian-American Rajiv J Shah named President of USA's Rockefeller Foundation.
    18. Renowned sitar player Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan passed away.
    19. Jovenel Moise elected as New President of Caribbean Nation Haiti.
    20. Tim Barrow appointed as UK's new ambassador to European Union (EU).
    21. India won 2016 South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Women’s Football Championship title by defeating Bangladesh.
    22. Former Australian cricketer Arthur Morris posthumously inducted into International Cricket Council’s Hall of Fame.
    23. Island Tourism Festival 2017 held at Port Blair, capital of Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
  30. Jan 02, 2017
    1. India and Pakistan exchanged list of their nuclear installations and facilities under Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear installations. This is 26th consecutive exchange of such list, continuing since 1992.
    2. On 2016's Dec 31, CSIR - National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL) added a Leap Second to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) in order to synchronize clocks worldwide with Varying Speeds of Earth's rotation.
      1. Earth's rotation around its own axis is not regular, as sometimes it speeds up and sometimes it slows down, due to various factors including the moon’s gravitational Earth-braking forces that often results in ocean tides.
      2. Since 1972, 37 Leap Seconds have been added at intervals varying. from six months to seven years.
    3. India successfully test-fired its home-grown long range intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) Agni-IV from Abdul Kalam Wheeler Island off Odisha coast. It is 20 metres long and weighs 17 tonnes and can carry 1 tonne nuclear warhead over 4,000 kilometres.
    4. According to data by Finance Ministry, over 26 crore accounts have been opened under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) as of now., with Over 71500 crore rupees deposited in these accounts.
    5. Election Commission (ECI) will introduce mobile based monitoring system to ensure free and fair upcoming 2017 Assembly elections in Punjab.
    6. UN Security Council passed resolution drafted by Russia to endorse a nationwide ceasefire in Syria. 
    7. Central Board of Irrigation and Power named Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) as country’s best power corporation for minimising transmission and distribution (T&D) losses.
    8. Pakistan conferred It’s highest civilian honour ‘Nishan-e-Imtiaz’ on Qamar Bajwa (Army chief) and Zubair Hayat.
    9. Tennis player Andy Murray (Britain) became Youngest ever to have conferred Knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II.
    10. Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh visited Sri Lanka, looking to discuss about solutions to Fishermen Issues.
    11. Andhra Pradesh Government launched NTR Arogya Raksha Scheme to provide medical treatment to the people below Above Poverty Line (APL) at Rs 1200 premium per annum, covering 1044 diseases and up to 2 lakh and free treatment.
    12. Supreme Court removed BCCI President Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke after they failed to implement reforms recommended by Justice Lodha committee.
    13. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) appointed Surekha Marandi as Executive Director (ED).
    14. Antonio Guterres (Portugal) appointed as UN Secretary General.
    15. Karnataka's Cooperation and Sugar Minister H S Mahadeva Prasad passed away.
    16. Finland became first country in Europe to pay its unemployed citizens a basic monthly income of 560 euros (USD 587 approx).
    17. Nepal’s Supreme Court allowed government to go ahead with crucial Constitution amendment bill to accommodate demands of Madhesi and ethnic groups.
    18. Sergey Karjakin (Russia) won Gold medal in World Blitz Chess Championships held in Doha (Qatar), defeating Norway’s Magnus Carlsen.
    19. Ministry of Urban Development launched Swachh Survekshan 2017 to rank 500 cities/towns across on cleanliness with a population of 1 lakh and above. Survey will be conducted by Quality Council of India (QCI).
      1. Swachh Survekshan 2016 had ranked 73 cities and Mysore was ranked on top followed by Chandigarh.
    20. Election Commission of India announced dates for assembly elections in five states - Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa. Counting of votes for all five states will take place on 11 March 2017.
  31. Jan 01, 2017
    1. Anil Khosla appointed as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Eastern Air Command and C HARIKUMAR appointed as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Weestern Air Command.
    2. Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Radha Mohan Singh visited Sri Lanka.
    3. Preeti Sudan appointed as Secretary in Department of Food and Public Distribution (Commonly known as Food Secretary).
    4. Shirish Baban Deotakes appointed as Vice Chief of Indian Air Force.
    5. Anoop Kumar Srivastava appointed as Secretary in Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
    6. Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports constituted a committee to suggest improvements in the National Sports Development Code (NSDC) and functioning of Indian Sports Federation. It will be headed by Injeti Srinivas.
    7. David R. Syiemlieh is appointed as chairman of Union Public Service Commission.
    8. 104th Session of Indian Science Congress held in Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh).
    9. India’s first ‘Uniform and Garment Manufacturer’s Fair’ held in Solapur (Maharashtra).
    10. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) increased daily limit of ATM withdrawal to Rs 4500 from current Rs 2500.
    11. Government approved MOUs -
      1. With Portugal and Kenya for cooperation in Agriculture and allied sectors.
      2. With Uruguay for Cooperation in Customs Matters.
      3. With USA for cooperation in field of cyber Security (India-CERT and USA-CERT). 
    12. International Conference on Yoga for Diabetes held in New Delhi.
    13. 350th Prakash Parv, birth anniversary of 10th Sikh Guru - Guru Gobind Singh ji will be celebrated in January 2017 in Patna (Bihar).
    14. A Festival of India will be organized in Cambodia, Ghana and Netherlands Incuding Several Indian Cultural activities.
    15. India and Kazakhstan signed Protocol to amend Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (DTAC) to avoid Taxation Issues.
    16. New Delhi World Book Fair held at Pragati Maidan with Theme Manushi - Books Written on and by Women.
    17. 104th Indian Science Congress Held in Sri Venkateswara Universitym, Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh).
    18. Japan's Minister of Economy Trade and Industry, Hiroshige Seko Vistted India.
    19. 20th National Conference for e-Governance held in Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), with theme Internet of Things and e-Governance.
    20. Mario Soares, Former Prime Minister of Portugal Passed Away.

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