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• Venezuela's self-proclaimed president Juan Guaido called for two new protests, in an effort to push the military to turn against leader Nicolas Maduro and back a European ultimatum demanding free elections within the week.


• The second, on Saturday, will be a "big national and international rally to back the support of the European Union and the ultimatum" from Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands that they would recognize Guaido as interim president unless Maduro calls elections by February 3.

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• Britain’s health secretary has dismissed as “a negotiating position” the Government’s rejection of any proposal to remove or change the Northern Ireland backstop in the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.


• Matt Hancock said Ireland would not wish to push Britain into a position that meant leaving the European Union without a deal.


• The whole purpose of the backstop is to avoid a hard border, which risks being a consequence of a no-deal Brexit.

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• A Top Trump Administration official has said The US has made "significant progress" in its peace talks with the Taliban to end the 17-year war in Afghanistan.


• Afghanistan-born Khalilzad said this in a series of tweets after six days of talks with the Taliban representatives in Doha, Qatar. He now heads to Kabul for consultations with the elected Afghan government.

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• The Pakistan government declared sugarcane juice as the “national drink” of the country.


• They came at this decision after asking People’s opinion in twitter to choose one among orange ,carrot and sugarcane.

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• The Oxford Dictionaries announced that the word ‘Nari Shakti’ which is derived from Sanskrit has been chosen as the Hindi Word of the year for 2018.


• The Announcement was made during a session at Jaipur Literature Festival which is being held at Diggi Palace in Jaipur, Rajasthan.


• ’Nari Shakti’ is made of two words ‘Nari’ and ‘Shakti’, ‘Nari’ means Women and ‘Shakti’ means Power.

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• Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath launched ‘Yuva Swabhiman Yojana’ for youths of the weak section in urban areas of Madhya Pradesh.


• The scheme was launched in Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh.


• It aims to provide employment to the youth belonging to the weaker section of the society mainly in urban areas of the state.


• Under this scheme, 100 days of employment will be provided.


• Registration of interested urban poor youth under this scheme will start on February 10, 2019.

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• Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik gave his assent to Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill 2014. The bill will grant reservation to people belonging to the Pahari community for government jobs.


• The amendment creates a separate category for the persons belongings to Pahari community, clan or tribe having distinct, cultural ethnic and linguistic identify among the Socially and Educationally Backward classes (other than SC and ST).


• Pahari community also called Pahadi or Parbati belongs to Indo – Aryan ethnic group inhabiting Himalayan region of Nepal and India.


• Pahari community is from old times itself faced economic distress as they wire Socio – economic backward. The main reason for Socio – economic backwardness is their remoteness and inaccessibility of the areas that they have been living in.


• Pahari communities were unable to compete with the other sections of the society as they have less access to education and health care.

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• Highlighting the success of Make in India and contribution of Indian workers, Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal, renamed India’s first indigenous semi-high speed train ‘Train 18’ as ‘Vande Bharat Express’.


• Vande Bharat Express will run from Delhi to Varanasi taking stops at Kanpur and Prayagraj. It has 16 coaches (2 executive chair car and 14 chair car) and will take only eight hours to complete the journey.

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• The Supreme Court postponed the 5-judge constitution bench hearing on Ayodhya case, scheduled for January 29 this year, due to the non-availability of Justice SA Bobde.


• Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi had reconstituted the bench to hear the case. He had included Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice Abdul Nazeer on the bench.

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• Economic Advisory Council of Prime Minister (EAC-PM) headed by NITI Aayog Member Bibek Debroy said in a report that India will continue to grow in the 7 to 7.5 per cent range in the next few years despite global and structural challenges.


• The Growth rate of India may further improve by at least 1 per cent by the reforms designed to address the structural problems of the economy.


• As per the Economic Advisory Council, the macro-economic fundamentals of the economy are sound due to which India will remain one of the fastest growing economy despite global slowdown.

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• The Union Cabinet is expected to soon approve a Relief package for farmers grappling with falling prices of their crops and to tackle distress in the farm sector, according to sources.


• The likely relief package is seen as an attempt to assuage the farming community's discontent ahead of the general elections.

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• Australian T20 cricket team “Brisbane Heat” won their maiden Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) title by defeating Sydney Sixers in the final by three wickets at Drummoyne Oval in Sydney, Australia.


• Sydney Sixers opted to bat first but couldn’t get off to a flying start that they unusually followed throughout the season and could score only 131 runs which was chased by Brisbane Heat with four ball remaining.


• Beth Mooney from ‘Brisbane Heat’ was awarded as the Player of the match for her knock of 65 runs from just 46 balls.


• Ellyse Perry from “Sydney Sixers” was awarded the “Player of the tournament” for scoring highest number of runs in the tournament.


• Teen leg Spinner Georgia Wareham from “Melbourne Renegades” was awarded with the Rebel Young Gun award in the WBBL.

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• World number one Novak Djokovic defeated world number two Rafael Nadal in straight sets in the men's singles final on Sunday to win Australian Open for a record seventh time.


• This is the third time that the 31-year-old Serbian has won three consecutive Grand Slams titles. Djokovic has now won 15 Grand Slam titles, third-most by a male tennis player.

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• Saina Nehwal became the first Indian woman to win Indonesia Masters title after her opponent Carolina Marin pulled out due to injury during the first game in the final.


• Marin was leading the first game 10-4 before being forced to retire due to a knee injury. Nehwal had finished as runner-up in the 2018 edition of the tournament.

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• Assam government entitled the Republic Day Journalism Award 2019 to veteran journalist and former editor Dhirendra Nath Chakraborty.


• The award comprises Rupees one lakh in cash, a citation, the Assamese ‘xoraai’ (the bell metal memento presented as an honour), ‘jaapi‘ (headgear) and an angavastra.


• Chakraborty, former Editor of Dainik Asom, Dainik Janambhumi and Ajir Batori group of newspaper, was honoured for his lifetime contribution to journalism.

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• Lance Naik Nazir Ahmad Wani has been posthumously awarded ‘Ashok Chakra’, India’s highest peacetime gallantry award for his role in a counter-insurgency operation in Kashmir last year. He is Kashmir’s first Ashok Chakra awardee and was also awarded Sena Medal for gallantry twice in 2007 and 2018 for his acts of valour.


• The award will be presented by President Ram Nath Kovind to Lance Naik Wani’s wife Mahajabeen at the Republic Day parade on 26th January 2019.


• Lance Naik Wani was taking part in a counter terrorist operation against six terrorists in Hirapur village near Batgund in Kashmir. Under intense hail of bullets from the terrorists he eliminated the district commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and one foreign terrorist in an act of raw courage.

Source: Cick Here

• Romain Rolland Book Prize for literary translation won by Tamil translation of Andrei Makine’s “La vie d’un homme inconnu” (The Life of an Unknown Man) at the Jaipur Literature Festival.


• The book was translated by S R Kichenamourty. He was the former head of the French department of Pondicherry University. Book is published by Kalachuvadu, a publisher of Tamil modern classics and contemporary fiction writing.


• The books shortlisted include a Malayalam translation of ‘Rvolution dans la Rvolution’(Revolution in the Revolution) and ‘La Leste’ (The Plague) by Rgis Debray and Albert Camus respectively.


• Award includes an invitation to the Paris Book Fair 2019 for the publisher of the work and an invitation for the translator to attend a one-month residency in France.


• India will attend Paris Book Fair as the Guest of Honor. It will be held at March 2019 which brings together publishers and provides them with the opportunity to communicate about their profession.

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• Medical products maker Ascent Meditech appointed Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan as the brand ambassador for its brand ‘Flamingo’.


• Ascent Meditech’s product ranges from orthopaedic, healthcare, wound and injury, till to date it have over 300 products available to 47 countries in the world.

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• Former New Zealand pacer Ewen Chatfield retired from all forms of cricket,he made his debut in 1975.


• Ewen Chatfield retired from international cricket in 1989,then he played for the club for 51 years which gave him his identity.


• He played for the club named “Wellington club Naenae Old Boys”.

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• World Health Organization (WHO) stated more than half of the leprosy cases globally was reported by India although there is a steady decline worldwide in the number of leprosy cases which is estimated to be 2 around Lakh.


• Significant leprosy cases has been detected in South-east Asia region, Brazil, Sub-Saharan Africa and Pacific apart from India.


• WHO said leprosy related ‘discrimination, stigma and prejudice’ were the most powerful barriers in ending the disease. It also stated that disease is 100% curable if detected early.


• Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease which mainly affects the skin, the peripheral nerves, mucosal surfaces of the upper respiratory tract and the eyes.


• WHO’s Global Leprosy Strategy 2016-2020 aims at ending leprosy related discrimination, stigma and prejudice first as it plays a powerful role to achieve a leprosy free world.

A. Pranab Mukherjee B. Manmohan Singh C. P. Chidambaram D. Raghuram Rajan Answer: A

A. Bachendri Pal B. Gautam Gambhir C. Teejan Bai D. Nambi Narayan Answer: B

A. 96 B. 104 C. 112 D. 124 Answer:C

A. Fastrack 18 B. Bullet 18 C. Quix 18 D. Train 18 Answer: D

A. Train 18 B. 23 Humsafar Express C. Antyodaya 10 D. Uday Express 1 Answer: A

A. Madan Mohan Malaviya B. Bhupen Hazarika C. Atal Bihari Vajpayee D. M Karunanidhi Answer: B

A. Myanmar B. Sri Lanka C. Malaysia D. Bhutan Answer: C

A. Rafael Nadal B. Petra Kvitova C. Pete Sampras D. Novak Djokovic Answer: D

A. New Delhi B. Mumbai C. Kolkata D. Bengaluru Answer: B

A. Subhash Chandra Khuntia B. V. K. Saraswat C. Pravin Kutumbe D. Avinash Chander Answer: C

A. Uttar Pradesh B. Bihar C. Madhya Pradesh D. Jharkhand Answer: C

A. Kerala B. Telangana C. Bihar D. Punjab Answer: A

A. Aadhar B. Udyog C. Nari Shakti D. Saksham Answer: C

A. Almora B. Chamoli C. Pithoragarh D. Dehradun Answer: C

A. Ishrat Akhter B. Divya Jain C. Poonam Khetrapal Singh D. Aruna Jayanthi Answer: C

A. Punita Arora B. Padmavathy Bandopadhyay C. Bhavana Kasturi D. Mitali Madhumita Answer: C

A. Trivandrum B. Kochi C. Ernakulam D. Bengaluru Answer: B

A. Mumbai B. New Delhi C. Chennai D. Kochi Answer: A

A. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology B. Ministry of Defence C. NITI Aayog D. Ministry of Home Affairs Answer: B

A. Rafael Nadal B. Roger Federer C. Kei Nishikori D. Novak Djokovic Answer: D

A. Carolina Marin B. Saina Nehwal C. P. V. Sindhu D. Ratchanok Intanon Answer: B

A. Sixth B. Seventh C. Eighth D. Ninth Answer: C

A. Jeev Milkha Singh B. Anirban Lahiri C. Kartik Sharma D. Shubhankar Sharma Answer: C

A. Delhi-Varanasi Express B. Jai Hind Express C. Vande Bharat Express D. Atal Express Answer: C

A. 56 B. 62 C. 78 D. 86 Answer: D

A. Godavari B. Mandovi C. Penna D. Hemavati Answer: B