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• On January 21, 2019, Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura are celebrating their statehood day. It is their 42nd statehood day.


• In the year 1972, all the three states became full-fledged states under the North Eastern Region (Reorganisation) Act, 1971.


• The erstwhile princely states of Tripura and Manipur were merged with India in 1949 and became full-fledged states in 1972.


• Meghalaya was a part of Assam before it was carved out as a full-fledged state under the North Eastern Region (Re-Organisation) Act, 1971.

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• First-term Democratic Senator Kamala Harris of California, a rising party star and outspoken critic of President Donald Trump`s immigration policies, Launched her 2020 campaign for the White House by touting her background as a prosecutor.


• Harris, 54, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, enters the race with the potential advantage of being the Democratic candidate who looks most like the party`s increasingly diverse base of young, female and minority voters.

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• The World Economic Forum (WEF) released a survey ahead of its annual meeting which states that Indians are biggest supporters of international aid. 95 per cent of Indians supported the international aid and expect India to help other nations.


• World Economic Forum worked with Qualtrics to poll over 10000 from different parts of the world.


• South Asian Countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh exhibit widespread support for international aid leaving behind European countries.


• Pakistan and Indonesia are on the second position with 94 per cent of the people’s affirmative replies.


• The Global Average was 70 per cent and developed countries like France, Argentina, Germany and England scored near 60 per cent.

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• Israel opened a new international airport outside its Red Sea resort of Eilat, hoping to boost winter tourism from Europeans and provide an alternative for times of conflict to its main gateway in Tel Aviv.


• Named after an Israeli astronaut lost in the 2003 space shuttle disaster and his eldest son, who died in a 2009 air force accident, the single-runway Ramon is designed for wide-body planes and an annual capacity of 2.5 million passengers.

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• An Earthquake measuring 6 on the Richer scale struck Indonesia's Sumba Region. No immediate tsunami warning was issued or reports of damage or casualties has emerged.


• According to the US Geological Survey (USGS) site, quake originated at a depth of 16.8 kms, nearly 65km SSW of Bogorawatu.

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• Aadhaar Card has been added in the valid travel documents and now Indians under 15 and over 65 age can travel to Nepal and Bhutan if they have a valid Aadhaar Card.


• Earlier Indians under the age brackets of under 15 and over 65 could travel to Nepal and Bhutan by showing their PAN Card, Driving Licence, CGHS card or Ratio card but not Aadhaar Card.


• Other India citizens except these two age bracket are not allowed to travel with Aadhaar Card to these two neighbouring countries.


• Indians do not require VISA to travel to Nepal or Bhutan if they have a valid Passport, Photo identity proof issued by Indian Government or Election ID issued by Election Commission of India.

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• UP government announced to give a monthly pension of Rs 500 to the destitute women in Varanasi. This measure came immediately after the implementation of 10 per cent reservation for economically weak in the general category in the upcoming educational year.


• The Parliament passed the Constitution (124th Amendment) Bill, 2019 in Parliament to grant 10 reservation in education and government jobs to economically weaker individuals belonging to the general category, across religions.


• The reservation is meant for individuals whose annual earning is below Rs 8 lakh and who possess less than 5 acres of agriculture land.


• Yogi Adityanath also announced pension scheme to Hindu seers who are above the age of 60. The scheme is also likely to benefit the seers in Uttar Pradesh.


• The pension will be provided to Hindu sadhus who are above the age of 60. This annoucement was madewhen Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh is hosted Kumbh Mela 2019.

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• The 2nd World Integrated Medicine Forum 2019 on the Regulation of Homeopathic Medical Products will be held in Goa from January 23, 2019. The three-day forum will be inaugurated by AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik.


• The forum is expected to witness participation from 20 countries.


• It is to help strengthen regulatory framework worldwide, to assure that the users of Homoeopathy could have wider access to quality-assured homeopathic medicines.

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• The 15th edition of Pravasi Bhartiya Divas begins at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. The 3 day event is being organized in Varanasi for the first time.


• The theme this year is, 'Role of Indian Diaspora in building New India'. Several world leaders of Indian origin, including the Chief Guest Mr. Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Prime Minister of Mauritius, will take part in the event and share their insights on the theme.

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• The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has set up an 11-member working group under the Chairmanship of former SEBI chief UK Sinha to go into the concept of ‘Group Insolvency’ and suggest a suitable framework.


• This Working Group has been tasked to submit a report within two months recommending a complete regulatory framework to facilitate insolvency resolution and liquidation of corporate debtors in a Group.

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• India surpassed the UK in the 2019 rankings of world’s largest economies by increased rate 1.65% GDP growth. India Is Poised To Become The World’s Fifth Largest Economy.


• France also surpassed the UK in the world’s largest economy rankings in 2019, knocking it from fifth to seventh place with increased rate of 1.7% GDP.


• Due to lower growth rate we may have a trade war in 2019,main focus of tension would be between US-China trade.


• The US was the world’s largest economy with a size of 19.39 trillion dollars, followed by China at 12.23 trillion dollars at the second place in 2017.

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• Nepal’s central bank has banned the use of Indian currency notes of Rs 2,000, Rs 500 and Rs 200 denominations, a move that could affect Indian tourists visiting the Himalayan nation where Indian currency is widely used.


• Nepal Rastra Bank issued a circular prohibiting Nepali travellers, banks and financial institutions from holding or carrying and trading Indian bank notes higher than Rs 100.

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• India’s Ankita Raina won the International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) 25,000-dollar Women’s tournament in Singapore by defeating top seed and world number 122 Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands, by 6-3, 6-2.


• Besides being the first title of the season, it is Ankita’s fourth title at the USD 25k level, and eighth overall.


• Ankita has earned 50 points from this win and has achieved a jump of 35 places to a career-high 168 in the latest WTA singles rankings issued on 21st January 2019.


• She will next play the Fed Cup, starting in the first week of next month at Astana, Kazakhstan.

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• The Khelo India Youth Games concluded at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi in Pune with the host Maharashtra leading the medals table by winning a mammoth 85 gold, 62 silver and 81 bronze for a total of 228 medals in the Games.


• With a total of 228 medals, hosts Maharashtra also walked away with the Overall Trophy at the Khelo India Youth Games.


• Union Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar and Maharashtra Sports Minister Vinod Tawde presented the winning trophy at the closing ceremony in Pune.


• Haryana, stood at second place with 62 gold, 56 silver and 60 bronze for a total of 178 medals.


• Delhi stood third with 48 gold, 37 silver and 51 bronze, a tally of 136 medals.


• Individually, Karnataka swimmer Srihari Nataraj became the most medals winner by competing in seven events in the U-21 category and winning all of them. The 16-year-old’s timing of 26.16 secs in 50m backstroke was a senior national record.


• In the closing ceremony Maharashtra Government announced that there would be one hour of sports every day for students in all schools in the State of Maharashtra.


• The theme of the Games revolved around ‘kheloge toh khiloge’ (if you play, you will prosper).


• About 10,000 participants, including about 6,000 athletes, from across the country participated in this year’s Khelo India Youth Games.

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• US Based Indian poet Ranjani Murali was awarded with the “Woman’s Voice Award” on the last day of Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival (AKLF).


• The Objective of the award is to recognize and encourage creative writing by women in India. The Award carried a cash prize of Rs 1 Lakh along with a citation.


• Ranjani Murali’s second book “Clearly you are ESL” won the Great Indian Poetry Collectives (GIPCs) Editor’s Choice award. Her first book “Blind Screens” was published in July 2017.

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• A grand jallikattu (bull-taming) event held in Pudukottai, Tamil Nadu on January 20, 2019 entered the world record for the maximum number of bulls released into the sporting arena which was over 1,300 and almost double than the previous record.


• The bull taming sporting event, coordinated by Tamil Nadu Health Minister C Vijayabaskar at Viralimalai saw the participation of 1,354 bulls and 424 tamers.


• Two of the participants were killed in the event while 31 men including some spectators were injured.


• The number of 1,354 bulls that participated was almost double than the previous record of 647 two years ago and it is an amazing record for Tamil Nadu.

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• Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research announced that the Centre for Advanced Materials of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) chose Eminent Scientist and Bharat Ratna recipient CNR Rao for the first Sheikh Saud International Prize for Materials Research.


• Professor CNR Rao will be awarded with the first Sheikh Saud International Prize on 25th February 2019 during the international Workshop on Advanced Materials at Ras Al Khairmain, UAE.


• The Award containing a plaque, a medal and a Cash Prize of USD 100000 will be presented by Sheikh Saud to Professor CNR Rao.


• CNR Rao was awarded with the highest Civilian award, Bharat Ratna in 2014 and presently he is working as the Honorary President of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research.

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• Shri Indu Shekhar Jha was appointed the member of Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) and Shri Lalchharlian Pachuauwas appointed as a member of Joint Electricity Regulation Commission for Manipur and Mizoram by Power Ministry.


• Union Minister of State (I\C) for Power and the New & Renewable Energy, Shri R K Singh administered the oath of Office and Secrecy to Indu Shekhar Jha.


• Indu Shekhar Jha was working as the Chief Managing Director of Power gird Corporation of India Limited since 2015 before joining CERC.


• Shri Lachharliana Pachuau has been appointed for the period of five years or age of 65 years whichever is earlier.

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• Walmart backed E-Commerce giant Flipkart promoted its Fashion department head Rishi Vasudev to head Myntra – Jabong’s Fashion and lifestyle categories as an additional responsibility.


• Rishi Vasudev will report to Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy after the formal announcement which is expected in next 10 days.


• Earlier Flipkart has appointed Amar Nagaram as the head of Myntra-Jabong after resignation of its CEO Ananth Narayanan.

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• The Constitutional court of Democratic Republic of Congo confirmed the President’s election victory of Felix Tshisekedi of UDPS party making path for the first peaceful, democratic transfer of Power since Congo’s Independence in 1960.


• The New National Assembly will be installed in Congo on 26th January 2019.


• Felix Tshisekedi won more than 7 million votes or 38 per cent and his opponent Fayulu received 34 per cent votes in the election conducted on 30th December 2018.

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• Microsoft India has launched a new e-commerce platform re-weave.in for handloom weavers under its Project ReWeave.


• This e-commerce platform will help connect artisans to buyers directly, enabling them to expand to newer customers and markets.


• Microsoft in association with the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) also curated a special curriculum in ‘CAD and Color for Handloom Weaving’ to provide digital training in handloom design.

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• Powerful Delta 4 Heavy rocket carrying a U.S. spy satellite lifted off from California.


• The central core booster’s Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-68A engine continued fired until the upper stage’s single RL10B-2 engine ignited to continue the climb to space.


• This was the second attempt after the launch was postponed because of a communication problem between the control center and the launch site.


• National Reconnaissance Office satellites gathers intelligence information for U.S. national security and an array of other purposes including assessing impacts of natural disasters.The alliance already have carried 27 launches for the National Reconnaissance Office over the past 12 years.

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• Siddaganga mutt seer Sri Shivakumara Swamiji, popularly known as “Nadedaduva Devaru” (Walking God) passed away in Tumakuru, Karnataka at the age of 111.


• Siddaganga Swamiji was conferred honorary doctorate by Karnatak University, Dharwad in 1965.