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• On 24 January every year National Girl Child Day is celebrated to highlight the inequalities faced by a majority of the girls in India, importance of education, nutrition, legal rights, medical care and safety of girl children etc.


• The theme of this National Girl Child Day is “Empowering Girls for a Brighter Tomorrow” and celebrating with objectives of generating awareness on the issue of declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and create a positive environment around valuing the girl child.

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• Indian and Japanese Coast Guards started disaster, search and rescue exercises off the cost of Yokohama in Japan. ICGS Shaunak is the main Indian Coast Guard Ship taking part in the drills.


• Rajendra Singh, Chief of Indian Coast Guard and his Japanese counterpart Shuichi Iwanami reviewed the drills.


• The Coast guards of India and Japan was working together after the establishment of deeper ties between the two countries. Japan Coast guard visited India last year whereas in this year Indian coast guard has visited Japan.


• One of Indian Coast Guard’s largest ships, ICGS Shaunak which is a 105 metre class Offshore Patrol Vessel is carrying 100 officers and sailors of Indian Coast Guard.

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• The Israeli and US defence ministries announced that they have successfully tested ballistic missile interceptors deployed at Israeli airbases.


• The tests came a day after the latest deadly exchange of fire between Israel and Iranian forces operating in Syria.


• The Arrow 3 interceptor system, designed to shoot down missiles above the atmosphere, was deployed at air force bases across Israel two years ago.


• The system launched toward the target and successfully completed its mission. It is intended to serve as Israel's highest-altitude missile interception system.


• The test is a major milestone in the operational capabilities of Israel and its ability to defend itself against current and future threats in the region.

Source: Cick Here

• The Ministry of external affairs has confirmed that six Indians died while six others are still missing in the fire incident in the Black Sea involving two ships – Maestro and Candy. Of the six Indians who died, five were from Candy while one was from Maestro.


• The names of the deceased are Pinal Kumar Bharatbhai Tandel, Vikram Singh, Sarvanan Nagarajan, Vishal Dod, Raja Debnarayan Panigrahi and Karankumar Haribhai Tandel.

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• Sri Lanka's Opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa slammed the efforts being made to formulate a new Constitution, saying Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's government does not have political moral to introduce it and should therefore hold fresh polls.


• Two weeks ago Rajapaksa was speaking in parliament on the report of the experts panel presented in the Constitutional assembly by Wickremesinghe.

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• The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi approved the creation of the National Bench of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) to ensure better resolution of GST-related disputes. The National Bench would be set up in New Delhi.


• The National Bench of the Appellate Tribunal will be presided over by the President and shall consist of one technical member (Centre) and one technical member (State).


• The main objective to create the bench is to fast-track the process of GST-related dispute resolution and hear appeals related to disuptes between states, as well as disputes between the Centre and states.


• The creation of the National Bench of GSTAT is based on the recommended by the GST Council and would incur an amount of Rs 92.50 lakh as one-time expenditure, besides the recurring expenditure of Rs 6.86 crore per annum.


• The newly created Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal will act as the forum of second appeal in GST laws and will address the appeals against the orders in first appeals issued by the Appellate Authorities under the Central and State GST Acts.


• The GSTAT has been created by utilising the Section 109 of Chapter XVIII of the CGST Act which empowers the Central Government to constitute, on the recommendation of Council, an Appellate Tribunal for hearing appeals against the orders passed by the Appellate Authority or the Revisional Authority.

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• Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation laid foundation stone for six Namami Ganga project in Agra and Mathura.


• There were four projects in Mathura that cost of Rs 511.74 crore. Out of the four,two were sewage projects. The first one was a integrated sewerage infrastructure in the city on Hybrid Annuity Mode with the motive of ‘One-City-One-Operator’.


• There is also a project for cleaning of 27 Ghats at a cost of Rs 3.60 Crore and to erdicte of Industrial Pollution, there is also a project for upgradation of infrastructure of Textile Printing units at the Mathura Industrial Area at a cost of Rs 13.87 Crore.


• The projects in Agra included Sewage Scheme at 857. 26cr and laying sewer house connections under the AMURT scheme at a cost of 353. 57cr.

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• Tamil nadu Government organsied the 2nd edition of Global Investor summit in Chennai. This summit is to be conculded on January 24, 2019.


• The state government would soon unveil e-vehicle policy to give a boost to electric vehicles manufacturing in the state.


• In the opening ceremony Nirmala sitharaman was the chief guest and the in the closing of the summit vice president Venkaiah Naidu would make his presence.

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• The Maharashtra cabinet approved the implementation of the Centre's Nirbhaya scheme, which seeks to curb crimes against women, for Mumbai.


• The Nirbhaya Fund was initiated in 2013 by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to implement initiatives aimed at enhancing safety and security of women across India.


• It is a non-lapsable fund and the corpus stands at Rs 3,600 crore up to 2018-19. As per the scheme approved by the state cabinet on January 22, the centre will provide Rs 152.20 crore and the Maharashtra government will provide Rs 100.80 crore for the scheme.


• The Centre will provide financial help for the first three years and later all mechanisms like installation of CCTVs at 500 public places will be maintained by the state.


• The Maharashtra state government is also planning to come up with a panic button in a mobile-based application that can be downloaded by women for security.

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• For the first time, India has been ranked in the Bloomberg Innovation Index. India is ranked at the 54th Position with a score of 47.93 out of 100 among the world’s most innovative countries according to the Bloomberg 2019 Innovative Index.


• South Korea has retained its top spot with a score of 87.38, Germany ranked second with a score of 87.30 whereas Finland has been ranked at the third spot with a score of 85.70.


• The Annual Bloomberg Innovation Index ranks countries by analyzing their performances using seven metrics including Research and Development spending, Manufacturing Categories and Concentration of high-tech public computers.


• India, Mexico, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia are the new entrants in the Annual Bloomberg Innovation Index.

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• The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi led Union Cabinet approved the extension of 9.41-km-long Delhi Metro corridor from Dilshad Garden to New Bus Adda in Ghaziabad. The extension will form the second metro line in Ghaziabad and the first metro link connecting the interiors of the city.


• The extended metro corridor will in the form of elevated lines and will comprise eight stations: Shahid Nagar, Raj Bagh, Rajendra Nagar, Shyam Park, Mohan Nagar, Arthala, Hindon River Station and New Bus Adda.


• The newly approved line is the extension of the presently operational Dilshad Garden-Rithala corridor (Line 1) also called the Red Line and after the opening of the new section, the total span of Red Line will become 34.50 km.


• The total completion cost of the project is Rs 1781.21 crore and the centre had approved contribution of Rs 324.87 crore as central financial assistance for extension.


• The project will be implemented by the existing Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of the Government of India and Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) i.e., Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (DMRC).

Source: Cick Here

• Cabinet approves MoC between India and Japan in the field of Food Processing Industry
  
• Cabinet approves Memorandum of Understanding between India and Kuwait for cooperation on the Recruitment of Domestic Workers.


• Cabinet approves Amendment to the ‘Framework on Currency Swap Arrangement for SAARC Member Countries’ to incorporate ‘Standby Swap’ amounting to USD 400 million operated within the overall size of the facility.

• Anushree Jindal, daughter-in-law of JSW Group Chairman Sajjan Jindal has launched her maiden business venture –Svamaan Financial Services, a microfinance company with Rs. 10 Crore “Personal Family Money” as seed capital.


• Reserve Bank of India approved the application of Svamaan Financial Services as an RBI Registered Non-Banking Financial Company – Micro Finance Institution (NBFC – MFI).


• Svamaan Financial Services aims to promote financial inclusion for rural woman and micro-enterprises. It will operate initially in Karnataka and Maharashtra and plans to enter eastern markets of Odisha and Chhatisgarh by 2020.


• The Microfinance company will offer financial services to un-banked and under-banked sections of population and aims to impact the life of over one lakh customer positively by 2021.

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• The Reserve Bank of India has initiated two quarterly surveys named as Industrial Outlook Survey (IOS) and Services and Infrastructure Outlook Survey (SIOS) to examine the Indian Manufacturing, services and infrastructure sector and business situation for the quarter January-March 2019.


• The 85th round of quarterly Industrial Outlook survey would be conducted by Hansa Research Group Pvt. Ltd and it will assesses business sentiments of the current quarter and expectations for the ensuing quarter (April-June 2019).


• The 20th round of Quarterly Services and Infrastructure Outlook Survey (SIOS) will be conducted by Spectrum Planning India Ltd. And it will assesses the business situation from selected companies in the services and Infrastructure sector in the current quarter and their outlook in the ensuing quarter (April-June 2019).

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• India became 4th most attractive investment market for global CEO’s as per PwC Survey conducted over more than 1300 CEOs in 91 countries. The report was released on the first day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting held in Davos, Switzerland.


• India surpassed UK to become 4th most attractive destination where US remained on the top position with 27 per cent votes. India surpassed Japan last year.


• As per the survey, China’s popularity is falling but managed to be the 2nd most attractive followed by Germany in 3rd position.


• 85% of CEO’s believe that Artificial Intelligence would dramatically change their business over the next 5 years. 30 per cent of the global business leader believes that the global economic growth will decline in the next one year.


• India’s popularity falls marginally from 9% to 8% but In terms of CEO’s revenue confidence, India remains the most buoyant territory.

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• Mohammed Shami succeeded the indian record holded by Irfan Pathan to became the fastest Indian bowler to claim 100 ODI wickets. Shami got this milestone at his 56th match where as Irfan got in his 59th match.


• The world record is currently held by Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan.

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• Opener Shikhar Dhawan has become the joint-fastest left-handed batsman to reach 5,000 runs in ODI cricket, achieving the feat during his unbeaten 75-run knock in the first ODI against New Zealand.


• The 33-year-old reached the landmark in his 118th innings, equalling former Windies captain Brian Lara's record. Dhawan is the second fastest Indian batsman to reach the milestone.

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• The 27th edition of saraswati samman award ceremony was held in New Delhi. Eminent Gujarati poet Sitanshu Yashaschandra was awarded for his poetry collection, ‘Vakhar,‘ published in 2009.


• The 27th edition was organised by KK Birla Foundation. His poetry collection ‘Jatayu’ received Sahitya Akademi Award for Gujarati in the year 1987.


• The 26th Saraswati Samman, 2016 was given to Konkani language author Mahabaleshwar Sail for his novel ‘Hawthan’.

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• Shri Ram Nath Kovind, the President of India, presented the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar 2019 at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.


• The awards were presented in the presence of Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, Union Minister for Women and Child Development and other dignitaries.


• The Awards were given in two categories- Bal Shakti Puraskar (erstwhile known as National Child Award) for which 26 children were shortlisted and Bal Kalyan Puraskar (erstwhile known as National Child Welfare Award) for which 2 individuals and 3 institutions were awarded.


• The Bal Shakti Puraskar award which is given in the field of Innovation, Social Service ,Scholastic, Sports, Art & Culture and Bravery carries a cash prize of Rs. one lakh, book vouchers worth Rs. ten thousand, a certificate and a citation.


• The Bal Kalyan Puraskar which is given in the category of individual and institution consists of cash prize of Rs. one lakh, a medal, a citation and a certificate for individual and consists of a cash prize of Rs. five lakh for institution.


• A committee comprising experts from varied disciplines such as sociology, psychology, mathematics, science, art, music and sport selects the winners of the award through a rigorous process of critical analysis.

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• The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), India’s container port got listed in the top 30 container ports.


• It managed to place itself 28th in the list.

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• Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was appointed AICC general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East by her brother and party chief Rahul Gandhi.


• Jyotiraditya Scindia was appointed AICC general secretary for UP West. The party also replaced Ashok Gehlot as AICC general secretary Organisation with K C Venugopal.

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• Kristin Scott Thomas was appointed as the president of the French Academy’s most prestigious ceremony, Cesar Awards. This actress assumed the chair of president after it had been headless for past two years.


• As a President, she will be opening the ceremony, that is set to take place in Paris on February 22.


• Nomination for this year’s award would be unveiled on Jan 23, 2019.


• The President herself is a three-time Cesar nominee for her roles in “I’ve Loved You So Long,” “Leaving,” and “Sarah’s Key.”

Source: Cick Here

• Israel successfully tested the Arrow 3 missile system from Central Israel, it is done in collaboration with American Missile Defense Agency.


• Arrow 3 is considered to be the next step in the defence system, which would help the Israel Miltary Force to attack their enemies from a greater distance and greater height.


• It is a long range anti-ballastic missile.