Jan 2015 current affairs

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January 2015
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Current Affairs January 2015
National Affairs
Planning Commission to be renamed „Niti Ayog‟ – Jan
1
I. The Planning Commission will be renamed ‗Niti
Ayog‘ as part of a plan to restructure the institution
Nationwide „save water‟ drive soon
i. The Union Water Resources Ministry will launch a
―Hamara Jal, Hamara Jeewan‖ initiative to be
adopted in every district of the country during the
India Water Week from January 13 to 17
Mittal appointed Railway Board Chairman
i. A.K. Mittal was appointed as the new Chairman of
Railway Board
ii. Pradeep Kumar, who was General Manager of the
North Central Railway holding additional charge of
Northern Railway, has become new Member Staff
succeeding Mr. Mittal
iii. Navin Tondon, General Manager of South Eastern
Central Railways, has been appointed Member
Electrical
iv. V.K. Gupta, Member Engineering, has been given
additional responsibility of Member Mechanical at
the Board
DBT renamed
i. Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme for LPG, which has
now been renamed (PAHAL) ‗Pratyaksh Hanstantarit
Labh‘ was rolled out in 54 districts from November 15
Radhakrishnan retires as ISRO chief, Shailesh Nayak in
charge
i. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
Chairman K. Radhakrishnan retired
Shailesh Nayak, who is Secretary, Union Earth
Sciences Ministry, will hold additional and interim
charge as Chairman
Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu unveils
'smart village' plan
i. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu
Naidu unveiled a draft of 'Smart Village' plan aimed
at making AP, a top state in the country by 2029
Niti Aayog: Arvind Panagariya slated to be Vice
Chairman – Jan 2
i. Renowned economist Arvind Panagariya is likely to
be appointed Vice Chairman of the revamped
Planning Commission, which has now been named
NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog
Banks open 10.3 cr Jan Dhan accounts, issue 7.28 cr
RuPay cards
i. The finance ministry would enter into 'open
challenge mode' for opening accounts under the
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY) scheme
ii. 10.3 crore accounts have been opened under the
scheme so far
iii. Banks have issued 7.28 crore RuPay Cards as on
December 22
iv. Anurag Jain is the joint secretary (FI) and mission
director of PMJDY
Modi to seek US President Barack Obama‟s help for
entry in Nuclear Suppliers Group
i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi to seek US President
Barack Obama's unequivocal American support to
override opposition from certain European nations
and China for membership of the coveted Nuclear
Suppliers Group (NSG)
ii. Key members of NSG including USA, Russia, France,
Australia and Japan have been supportive of India's
entry
iii. The clean waiver by NSG for India was given in
September 2008 paved the way for several civilian
nuclear pacts that the country signed with the USA,
France, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Namibia,
Canada, UK, Argentina and Australia

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iv. NSG was created in 1975 as a reaction to India's
first nuclear test in 1974 and it has 48 members at
present
R K Srivastava takes over as chief of Airports Authority
of India
i. R K Srivastava took over as the new chairman of
Airports Authority of India (AAI) replacing Sudheer
Raheja
Assam has world‟s highest number of people
internally displaced by conflict
i. A report by the Asian Centre for Human Rights
claims that there are over 3,00,000 internally
displaced persons in Assam, which is the highest in
the world during 2014
Indian-origin man J Y Pillay reappointed as top
advisor to Singapore President
i. Veteran Indian-origin civil servant J Y Pillay was
reappointed as the Chairman of the Presidential
Council of Advisers (CPA) for a period of four years by
Singapore President Tony Tan Keng Yam
L Narashima Reddy appointed as new Chief Justice of
Patna High Court
Environment Management Directorate is the new
wing of the Railways – Jan 3
I. Environment Management Directorate, the new
wing of the Railways, will be responsible for ensuring
effective utilisation of water resources
ii. The Environment Directorate will be headed by an
Advisor- rank official in the railways
iii. There will be six Executive Directors (ED)
iv. All these six EDs will discharge duties connected
with The Environment Management Directorate
BJP government to promote 600 km of inland
waterways
i. The central government is keen on starting inland
waterways of more than 600 kms connecting Andhra
Pradesh and Puducherry for transportation of
commercial goods
ii. The project estimated to cost Rs 2,400 crore, aims to
connect canals between Kakinada in Andhra
Pradesh's Godavari district to Puducherry
iii. National Waterway 4 (NW-4) is currently under
development and connects Andhra Pradesh, Tamil
Nadu and Puducherry. It is being developed by
Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI)
iv. NW-4 had been divided into four major cargo belts
namely Kakinada, Krishna, South Andhra Pradesh and
Chennai
Digital connectivity should become as much a right
as access to school: Modi
i. Modi inaugurated the 102nd Indian Science
Congress at Mumbai University and said Digital
connectivity should become as much a basic right as
access to school
Government plans pilot project to produce urea from
coal in Odisha
i. Government is planning to set up a pilot project to
produce urea from coal in Odisha soon, Union
Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Hansraj
Ahir said
ii. The government was also planning to start generic
medical shops. Three thousand such shops would be
set up in the first phase
Payments banks can issue RuPay debit cards
i. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI),
promoted by the RBI, is a major facilitator to
payments banks as its payment backbone will
provide the remittance infrastructure
ii. The NPCI will also register the new institutions as
clearing house members
iii. A P Hota is the MD & CEO of NPCI
iv. The concept of payments banks is an outcome of
the Nachiket Mor committee‘s report on financial
inclusion

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v. Payments banks can issue RuPay debit cards with
the free insurance cover. But they cannot provide
overdraft facility
Gadkari to launch e-approval for heavy vehicles
i. Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari will launch
the web portal, allowing e-approval for Over
Dimensional (OD) and Over Weight Cargo (OWC)
vehicles
Delhi will have country's first smart city
i. The Narendra Modi-led NDA government has
planned to set up 100 'smart cities' and Union Urban
Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said that
the first such city will come up in the national capital
ii. The ‗smart city‘ will be a complete sub-city, which
would be located in an area of 20-24 hectares,
zoned out of Dwarka, Rohini and Narela
Smart cards soon for unorganised sector workers –
Jan 4 and 5
i. Every worker in the unorganised sector may soon be
issued a smart card with a unique identification
number for accessing social schemes and benefits
ii.The Gujarat launch of such a card, ―U-WIN,‖ On
December 25 in the State was a pilot for launching
the card in all States
Modi launches scheme for LED bulb in Delhi
i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scheme
for LED bulb distribution under domestic efficient
lighting programme (DELP) in Delhi
Govt approves Neutrino Project
i. Union cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra
Modi has approved setting up of India-based
Neutrino Observatory (INO) in Bodi West Hills, Tamil
Nadu
ii. The INO Project Director, and Senior Professor at
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, is
Naba Mondal
iii. An Inter-Institutional Centre for High Energy Physics
(IICHEP) will also be established in Madurai
iv. Government of India has also approved the
construction of a 50,000 tonne magnetised iron
calorimeter detector (ICAL) to study the properties of
the neutrino
v. Prof. K.Vijayraghavan is the Secretary, Department
of Science and Technology, Govt. of India
Mysuru hospital goes organic
i. Bharath Hospital and Institute of Oncology will cater
to its inpatients‘ nutritional requirements out of an
organic farm set up on its Hebbal campus premises
ii. The Focus is on vermicompost method to produce
food for patients out of campus farm
255th birth anniversary of Kattabomman
i. The 255th birth anniversary of legendary freedom
fighter, Veerapandia Kattabomman, was observed
at Panchalankurichi, his birth place in Ottapidaram
taluk on Jan 3
Economist Arvind Panagariya has been appointed to
run Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new Policy
Commission
Centre implementing massive e-governance project
for ESIC
i. The Centre is implementing a Rs 1,900 crore e-
governance project to automate transactions in the
Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC)
ii. Under the project, named 'Panchdeep', a massive
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) would be installed
across the country
iii. The Insured Persons (IP) would get unique biometric
cards under the project
Documentary film to be made by India
i. Subhas Chandra Bose's oldest Japanese associate,
99-yearold Sauchiro Misumi is the subject of a special
documentary film to be made by India
ii. Indian Ambassador to Japan is Deepa Wadhwa
Government to issue commemorative coins in honour
of Jamsetje Tata

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i. The government will issue commemorative coins in
honour of Tata Group founder Jamsetji Nusserwanji
Tata to mark his 175th birth anniversary
ii. Jamsetji Tata, considered as the father of modern
industry in India, will be the first industrialist to be
felicitated by the Indian government in such a
manner
iii. Previously, the government had honoured Jamsetji
by releasing postal stamps - one in 1958 and another
in 1965.
iv. Jamsetje Tata founded Tata Group, was born on
March 3, 1839 in Navsari, in south Gujarat
Every 3 seconds, „Make in India‟ Facebook page
adds one „like‟
'Digital Village'
i. Joining Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Digital India'
programme, ICICI Bank has developed Akodara in
Sabarkantha district of Gujarat into a 'Digital Village'
ii. This 'digital village' was dedicated to the nation by
Modi to mark 60-year celebrations of the group since
the erstwhile ICICI Ltd was set up in 1955
iii. ICICI Bank chief is Chanda Kochhar
Satyarthi to hand over Nobel medal to President – Jan
6 and 7
i. The medal being handed over to Mr. Mukherjee by
the Nobel laureate Mr. Satyrathi at Rashtrapati
Bhavan will be put on display in the Museum in
Rashtrapati Bhavan that was opened to public this
past July.
Google keen to be a part of „Digital India‟ project
i. Vinton Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist at Google said
Google is interested in being helpful to the Digital
India project
Ford announces 25 global experiments, one in India
i. The 25 mobility experiments from Ford include a pilot
project in India - Share-Car - that aims to create a
model for easy vehicle sharing among small
communities
Modi had set up the Task Force last year to leverage
the postal network in India
i. The Task Force had suggested that the government
should set up a holding company under the
Department of Posts for immediate roll out of
banking, insurance and e-commerce services by the
1.55 lakh strong postal network
ii. The holding company should have five different
verticals, and three of them -- banking, insurance and
e-commerce
iii. The panel also suggested establishing Post Bank of
India as a separate entity with a branch in each
district in the first three years
iv. Post Bank of India and Prime Minister's Jan Dhan
Yojana can complement each other for financial
inclusion
Narendra Modi inaugurates Pravasi Bharatiya Divas –
Jan 8
i. The 13th edition of 'Pravasi Bharatiya Divas', a day to
mark the contribution of the overseas Indian
community to the development of India, was
inaugurated by PM Modi in Gujarat
Classical status for Marathi soon
i. The Centre is expediting the process to declare
Marathi a classical language, Maharashtra Minister
for Culture and Marathi language Vinod Tawde said
Atul Khare named head of UN Department of Field
Support
i. Senior Indian diplomat Atul Khare has been named
by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as the head of the
UN department that provides dedicated support to
peacekeeping missions around the world, making him
one of the highest ranking Indian officials in the world
body
Jaitley gives up subsidised LPG- Jan 9
i. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has voluntarily given up
use of subsidised LPG, joining a growing list of well-to-

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do people who have opted to buy cooking gas at
market rate
Governor‟s rule imposed in Jammu and Kashmir
i. President's rule was imposed on Jammu and Kashmir
ii. President Pranab Mukherjee approved Governor N.
N. Vohra's recommendation
India home to 2,00,000 refugees in first half of 2014:
UNHCR
i. The U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in its new Mid-
Year Trends 2014 report said India was home to over
2,00,000 refugees in the first six months of 2014
ii. UNHCR head is Antonio Guterres
iii. Syrians, for the first time, have become the largest
refugee population under UNHCR's mandate
overtaking Afghans, who had held that position for
more than three decades
iv. Afghan refugees remain the largest protracted
refugee population under UNHCR care at second
place
v. Relative to the sizes of their economies the burdens
carried by Ethiopia and Pakistan are greatest
Dope test be made mandatory for applying for govt
job: Punjab Minister
i. Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Surjit
Kumar Jyani has pitched for making dope test
mandatory for candidates applying for government
jobs
Rear Admiral S R Sarma took over as the Admiral
Superintendent
i. Rear Admiral S R Sarma who is a recipient of the
Vishisht Seva Medal for his distinguished service took
over as the Admiral Superintendent, Naval Dockyard
from Rear Admiral Saxena
ii. Rear Admiral Saxena will now assume duties of the
Chief Staff Officer (Technical) at Headquarters,
Western Naval Command, Mumbai
Agra orders 4,000 trucks to convert to CNG for Taj
Mahal's sake
i. The Agra district administration ordered almost 4,000
diesel-run mini pick-up trucks operating in the city to
convert to CNG by July this year
ii. A study revealed that carbon particles from diesel
vehicles along with burning biomass were causing the
Taj, famous for its pristine white marble, to slowly turn
yellow
India‟s first cow minister is Otaram Devasi
i. In October, 2014, Devasi was made minister of Dairy
and Devasthan
ii. Otaram Devasi, is the Rajasthan's minister in charge
of cow affairs
Government offices may soon be cleaned using
liquid made from bovine urine
i. Gaunyle is the name of the cleaning liquid which
will soon be making the Capital's government office
floors sparkle
ii. The NGO that will be supplying the product is the
Holy Cow Foundation headed by Anuradha Modi
iii. Jagdish Bhatia, managing director of Kendriya
Bhandar
DMRC bicycle scheme for green cause
i. Delhi Metro announced a unique initiative under
which commuters will be able to rent a bicycle from a
residential area to reach the nearest Metro station
ii. The ―public bicycle sharing" scheme is aimed at
promoting the cause of "clean and green India"
iii. The facility was inaugurated at Saket Metro station
iv. It will be a cashless transaction and Commuters
can operate the bicycles with the help of a
rechargeable smart card
v. The users have to pay just Rs 10 an hour
vi. DMRC has been running a similar service at the
Vishwavidyalaya Metro station for the past six years.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to be awarded Pravasi
Bharatiya Samman
i. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, has been selected
for a Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award along with 15

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awardees including Guyanese President Donald R
Ramotar and Lord Raj Loomba
PM Modi inaugurated the 'Gandhi Kuteer', a model of
Mahatma Gandhi's residence at Gandhinagar
British High Commissioner to India is Sir James David
Bevan KCMG
Guyana backs India for permanent UN Security
Council seat
i. Guyana pledged its support to India in its bid to
become a permanent member of the powerful
United Nations Security Council
ii. President of Guyana is Donald R Ramotar
100th year of Mahatma Gandhi's return; Department
of Posts released two stamps
i. To commemorate the 100th year of Mahatma
Gandhi's return to India in 1915, the Department of
Posts released two stamps
ii. An album of these stamps would be presented to
Gandhi's former personal assistant Kalyanam during
the event at the Philatelic Bureau on Anna Salai
Meet on International non-communicable diseases
research in Manipal
i. The Department of Internal Medicine and
Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College,
along with the Department of Public Health, Manipal
University would be hosting the Third International
Non-Communicable Diseases Research Meet in
Manipal
An app for women‟s safety – Jan 10
i. The application, ‗m-Indicator,‘ launched by Railway
Minister Suresh Prabhu is a mobile phone application
for women security in Mumbai‘s suburban trains to
avail themselves of immediate help from the Railway
Protection Force with just an SMS.
ii. It does not require GPS or Internet for the RPF to
operate and comes with the automatic location alert
SMS facility that can come in handy during
emergency when the victim is unable to access the
phone
Telecom department to connect 20,000 villages
through optic fibre network by March
i. The telecom department expects to connect 20,000
villages across the country through optic fibre by
March-end under a national broadband network
plan.
ii. Telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will
inaugurate the project commercially in Kerala
BJP wants government to buy London house where Dr
Babasaheb Ambedkar once lived
i. The BJP today asked the government to acquire the
2,050 sq ft, three-storey house in London where Dr
Babasaheb Ambedkar once lived.
Maharashtra government mulls launching web portal
to address public grievances
i. The Maharashtra government is planning to launch
a web portal "Aaple Sarkar" by January 26 to address
public grievances
Former Plan Panel secretary Sindhushree Khullar
appointed NITI Aayog‟s CEO
i. Former Planning Commission Secretary Sindhushree
Khullar was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of
the newly formed NITI Aayog
India to host “The 11th Conference on Corporate
Culture Spirituality”
i. The Art of Living and the World Forum for Ethics in
Business will host a unique international Conference-
'The Corporate Culture and Spirituality' at the Art of
Living International centre
DoT may submit plan to levy Swachh Bharat cess
i. The Cabinet has asked the Department of
Telecommunications ( DoT) to examine if a cess can
be imposed on telecom companies to raise funds for
the Swachh Bharat fund

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Gujarat summit 2015 – Jan 11
i. For the first time in its 10-year history, the Vibrant
Gujarat Summit 2015, will be used as a stage for
business-related diplomacy with the U.S. Secretary of
State John Kerry and U.N. Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon attending the high-profile event
ii. It was started as a brainchild of Mr. Modi in 2003
iii. This year‘s event will see eight countries, Canada,
Japan, China, Australia, the Netherlands, Singapore,
South Africa and the U.S. partnering with the State
iv. In the last six Vibrant Gujarat Summits, the States
signed MoUs worth Rs. 48 lakh crore
v. Gujarat a cultural crossover to the world, says Ban
Ki-moon
vi. Aditya Birla Group will invest Rs 20,000 crore in
Gujarat
vii. Reliance announces Rs 1 lakh crore investments
States urged to take over ESIC-run medical colleges
i. The Centre has requested State governments to
take over the Employee State Insurance Corporation-
run medical colleges
Sarabhai award for SHAR director
i. M.Y.S. Prasad, director of Satish Dhawan Space
Centre, Sriharikota Range (SHAR), has been selected
for the Vikram Sarabhai memorial award to be
presented by the Indian Science Congress
Association (ISCA)
ii. The ISCA, which is a premier scientific organization
of the country established in 1914 in Kolkata, has
been giving this award in alternate years
Facebook most popular social network: US study
i. Facebook is by far the most popular social media
website with its large base of "very active" users
visiting the site daily, a new survey of American
internet users has found
ii. The survey was conducted by the Pew Research
Center
It's the sixth time Governor's rule has been imposed in
Jammu and Kashmir
Fourth Bharatiya Sanskriti Utsav in Kolhapur from
January 19
i. Fourth ‗Bharatiya Sanskriti Utsav‘ (Indian Cultural
Festival) to be held from January 19 to 25, in Karvir
tehsil of Kolhapur district
After 200 years, rare Maratha Empire documents
found in UK
i. A document of 1796-1800 vintage in Nana
Fadnavis's own handwriting has been found in
England
ii. The letter is part of a collection of over 200
documents pertaining to the Maratha Empire, lying
unseen at the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS) of Great
Britain and Ireland in London
ISRO develops fire-resitant emulsion - Jan 12
i. Indian space agency ISRO has developed a low
cost fire-resistant coating which can be used for
protecting rail coaches and buildings
Hindi should be an official language in UN, says
Nepal vice-president Parmananda Jha
i. Nepal's Vice President Parmananda Jha, suggested
that the Hindi language be added to the list of six
official languages in the United Nations
Chandigarh may be the first Indian smart city
i. Chandigarh may be the first Indian smart city,
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said referring to the
NDA's proposal to set up 100 smart cities in the
country
ii. Several countries like Japan, Germany, Sweden,
Singapore, Israel, UK, US, Hong Kong and the
Netherlands have shown interest in building smart
cities in India
Gautam Adani, Sam Walsh to co-chair Australia-India
CEO Forum
i. Adani group chairman Gautam Adani and
Australian mining giant Rio Tinto's CEO Sam Walsh

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have been appointed as the co-chair of the
Australia-India CEO Forum
Voting rights to NRIs through postal ballots
i. The EC‘s recommendations to extend voting rights
to NRIs through postal ballots have been
accepted by the Govt.
ii. The proposal was prepared by a 12-member
committee led by Vinod Zutshi, Deputy Election
Commissioner, for ‗Exploring Feasibility of Alternative
Options for Voting by Overseas Electors‘
iii. So far 114 countries have adopted external voting
and among them are 20 Asian countries
230 hotels join Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Clean
India drive
i. a first of-its-kind initiative, 230 hotels, including 170
major ones, under the Hotel Association of India,
have pledged that more than 500 of their employees
will clean about 230 km of road around their hotels
and clean up around 53 monuments in the country
Andhra Pradesh government plans 15 Mbps
broadband service at Rs 150/month
i. Andhra Pradesh government, led by tech-savvy
Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, plans to provide
broadband connections with peak speed of 15 Mbps
to twelve million households for as low as Rs
150/month in the first stage of its about Rs 5,000-crore
optical fibre project
Gujarat‟s second canal-top 10-MW solar power
project
i. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon dedicated
Gujarat‘s second canal-top 10-MW solar power
project to the nation
ii. The solar panels are arranged on top of the
Vadodara branch of the Sardar Sarovar project
canal, probably a first-of-its-kind project in the world
to generate power
Arvind Panagariya, Vice-chairman of NITI Aayog is an
NRI
Modi said Vivekananda had a great influence on
him
Mars Orbiter team wins US award – Jan 13
i. India's Mars Orbiter programme team has won the
2015 Space Pioneer Award in the science and
engineering category from the US based National
Space Society (NSS)
ii. This award will be presented to an ISRO
representative during the National Space Society's
2015 International Space Development Conference,
the 34th ISDC, to be held in Toronto, Canada
Raghuram Rajan conferred central banker of the year
award
i. RBI chief Raghuram Rajan has been named as the
―governor of the year‖ in the Central Banking Awards
for 2015 by a British magazine
ii. Mr. Rajan was the chief economist of IMF
iii. Jacques de Larosiere wins the Lifetime
Achievement Award after a lengthy struggle for
monetary order
iv. Claudio Borio, head of the monetary and
economic department at the Bank for International
Settlements, was handed the inaugural award for
Economics in Central Banking
v. Christopher Jeffery is the chairman of the Central
Banking Awards Committee and editor of Central
Banking Journal
New Space Secretary and ISRO chief
i. A.S. Kiran Kumar is the new Secretary of the
Department of Space and also Chairman of the
Indian Space Research Organisation and the Space
Commission
ii. Mr. Kumar succeeds K. Radhakrishnan (who retired
on December 31, 2014,) as the eighth chief of the
prestigious Space dispensation
World Bank signs pact for Smart Cities
i. The Government of Gujarat, the Government of
India and the World Bank have entered into a
tripartite agreement in support of Gujarat‘s

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‗swachhta abhiyaan‘ and smart city initiatives, Chief
Minister Anandiben Patel announced
India to hold special programmes in China to attract
tourists
i. India said it will organise a series of special events
across China this year as part of 'Visit India Year'
programme
ii. India's Ambassador to China is Ashok K Kantha
iii. While 2015 will be the 'Visit India Year' in China, next
year will be 'Visit China Year' as part of an
understanding between the two countries
Students to take virtual tour of South Pole
i. Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai, in collaboration
with IceCube South Pole Neutrino Observatory,
Antarctica & Wisconsin ICECUBE Particle Astrophysics
Centre, USA, will host more than 250 students,
teachers and science lovers in a two-hour
programme which will connect Mumbai directly to
South Pole
H.S. Brahma takes over as new Chief Election
Commissioner – Jan 14
i. Hari Shankar Brahma, took over as the 19th Chief
Election Commissioner
Anupam Shrivastava is new BSNL chairman and
managing director – Jan 15
i.b Anupam Shrivastava has been appointed the
chairman and managing director (CMD) of state-run
BSNL
India's first CNG train for the Rewari-Rohtak section
i. The first CNG train has been launched on the
Rewari-Rohtak section of Northern zone
ii. The train will run on dual fuel system - CNG and
diesel - for six days-a-week (except Sunday)
iii. The train comprising of two power cars and six car
coaches has been manufactured by Integral Coach
Factory at Chennai with the CNG conversion kit
being supplied by Cummins
Centre revises buffer norms for foodgrains – Jan 16
i. Norms for buffer stocks had not been revised since
2002
ii. As much as 61.4 million tonnes of foodgrains is
required a year for welfare schemes — Antyodaya
Anna Yojana and for the provision of 5 kg to each
member of a priority household under the National
Food Security Act
iii. The buffer will include five million tonnes of strategic
reserves of wheat and rice
Efforts on to translate Tirukkural into Gujarati language
i. The Central Institute of Classical Tamil has proposed
to translate Tirukkural into Gujarati language
Diwali stamp comes closer to reality
i. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, the Consul
General of India in New York Ambassador
Dnyaneshwar Mulay, Chair of the Diwali Stamp
Project Ranju Batra, and Chair of the National
Advisory Council of South Asian Affairs Ravi Batra
gathered at the Indian Consulate along with
supporters to encourage the U.S. Postal Service to
issue a postage stamp to commemorate the holiday
Diwali
ii. Ms. Maloney also emphasised that USPS had
recognised other major religious and cultural holidays
through stamp issuance including Christmas,
Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Eid
Govt. to notify more than 60 eco-sensitive zones – Jan
17
i. The government aims to notify over 60 sanctuaries
and national parks as ‗eco-sensitive zones‘ this year
ii. Last year, around 40 sanctuaries and national parks
were notified as ‗eco-sensitive zones‘ iii. There are
over 600 sanctuaries and national parks in the country
iv. The government is declaring land falling within 10-
km radius of the boundaries of national parks and
sanctuaries as ‘eco-fragile zones‘ as part of the
action plan envisaged in the ‗Wildlife Conservation
Strategy‘ which was adopted in 2002

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Apprentices Protsahan Yojana(APY)
i. The scheme aims to support one lakh apprentices
during the period upto March 2017
ii. Faridabad Regional Directorates of Apprenticeship
Training (RDAT) received the highest number of
applications
iii. Under the APY scheme, the government will
subsidise 50 per cent of the stipend paid to
apprentices during the first two years of training
National honour for Mandya police
i. The Mandya police have secured the Centre‘s gold
medal and cash award
ii. The Department of Administrative Reforms and
Public Grievances had chosen the project ‗Effective
vehicles database management to trace the owners
of unclaimed vehicles lying in police stations‘ for the
National e-governance Award in the category of
‗Best district-level initiative in citizen-centric service‘
iii. The 18th National Conference on e-governance will
be held in in Gandhinagar, Gujarat
'Margdarshak Mandal' – Jan 18
i. The Bharatiya Janata Party‘s new leadership
dropped its founding fathers, A.B. Vajpayee, L.K.
Advani and M.M. Joshi from the Parliamentary Board
and elevated them to a new body – the
Margdarshak Mandal
ii. The body named 'Margdarshak Mandal' (guiding
group), would include Narendra Modi, Home Minister
Rajnath Singh, AB Vajpayee, LK Advani and MM Joshi
Odds of escaping poverty in India, U.S. same: World
Bank – Jan 20
i. The report, ―Addressing inequality in South Asia,‖
has found that the probability of a poor person
moving out of poverty in India in 2014 was as good as
that in the U.S
Chandrababu Naidu launched the 'Smart Village-
Smart Ward' programme
i. Andhra Pradesh Chief minister Chandrababu Naidu
inaugurated his 'Smart Village- Smart Ward'
programme at Velivennu village in West Godavari
district
ii. The 'Smart Village- Smart Ward' programme aims at
a thorough participation of people in the inclusive
development of the village
National Award for C V Anand – Jan 21
i. Cyberabad Police Commissioner C V Anand has
been selected by Election Commission of India (ECI)
for ‗National Special Award for Best Electoral
Practices 2014‘
Fortis does a first with rare heart implant
i. Doctors at the Fortis Escorts Heart Institute implanted
India‘s first Subcutaneous Implantable Defibrillator (S-
ICD) on a 48-year-old heart patient from Bihar
National Green Tribunal bans old vehicles on Manali-
Rohtang highway – Jan 22
i. Acting tough against the Himachal Pradesh
government for allowing illegal structures and
deforestation in the area, the National Green Tribunal
(NGT) banned vehicles more than 15 years old from
plying on the Manali-Rohtang highway
Cost of Living Index report 2015: India cheapest
country, Switzerland most expensive
i. A new global report on the cost of living index by
country for the year 2015 has revealed that India is
the cheapest country to be live and Switzerland is the
costliest country to live in
ii. Norway and Denmark were part of the top 5
iii. Iceland has also risen in the ranks to become
number 4 this year, up from 10th in 2013
iv. The report was carried out by Numbeo
The Red Sari: „banned‟ biography on Sonia Gandhi
finally released in India
i. The biography on Sonia Gandhi finally got released
in India in January 2015
ii. The 'Dramatized Biography of Sonia Gandhi' was
originally published in October 2010 in Spanish

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ii. The Spanish version of the book is called 'El Sari
Rojo‘
Modi gifts to Obama –Jan 22
i. Modi has presented US President Barack Obama a
set of recordings from American singer Marian
Anderson's visit to India in 1957 and a copy of the first
telegram from America to India's Constituent
Assembly
“Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao” campaign was launched-
Jan 23
i. ―Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao‖ (Save girl child-Educate
girl child) campaign was launched in Panipat,
Haryana
ii. Evergreen Bollywood diva Madhuri Dixit has been
roped in as the brand ambassador
Bengaluru most livable city in India, followed by
Mumbai and Chennai
i. In India, Bangalore, ranked 171st globally, scores
most favourably followed by Mumbai and Chennai
both ranked 182nd
ii. New Delhi (204) is the least livable," according to
Location Ratings for expatriate living conditions
published by ECA International
iii.Singapore is the most livable location in Asia and
the world, followed by Sydney and Adelaide in
Australia
Modi and U.S. President Barack Obama will jointly
address 'Mann Ki Baat‟
i. On January 27, the leaders Prime Minister Narendra
Modi and U.S. President Barack Obama will come
together for a joint address of 'Mann Ki Baat‘, which is
also the first time in the history of public radio
Rajnath to launch website on security apps
i. With an objective to promote innovation in
developing security related web applications, Union
Home Minister Rajnath Singh will soon launch web
portal ‗MySecurity.in‘
ii. The web applications would be made available for
public use
Saraswathi Menon among seven experts nominated
to review UN peace-building architecture
i. Saraswathi Menon, former Director of the Policy
Division in UN Women, nominated by UN chief Ban Ki-
moon will be among the seven expert members of
the Advisory Group to review peace building
architecture
US may help Narendra Modi government achieve
target of 100 gigawatt of solar power
i. The United States may extend funds and supply of
equipment to help India achieve the Narendra Modi
government's target of 100 gigawatt of solar power in
the country by 2022
ii. The recent $4-billion deal was between Indian
Infrastructure Company Adani and America‘s
SunEdison to set up a large photovoltaic
manufacturing facility in the country
India can outpace China in terms of growth, says
Nourel Roubini
i. India has the potential to overtake China in terms of
growth rate in the coming years, provided it
implements reforms in a big way, noted economist
Nourel Roubini said
ITC Maurya to have a platter in Barack Obama's
name – jan 24
i. The iconic Bukhara restaurant at the ITC Maurya
hotel in New Delhi will have a platter in his name
The residence of George Robert Canning, known as
Lord Harris is located in South Mumbai. He was
responsible for introducing cricket in India and was
the Governor of Bombay from 1890 to 1895
Mumbai terror attack mastermind is Hafiz Saeed
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has urged access
to Chittagong Port in Bangladesh

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Vice-President does not salute when he is not the
principal dignitary – Jan 26
i. Keeping with the protocol, the Vice-President does
not offer a salute when he is not the principal
dignitary , Gurdeep Singh Sappal, officer on special
duty to the Vice-President said
Sahitya Akademi Award
i. The Sahitya Akademi award for the year 2014 has
been given to Prabhu Nath Dwivedi for
'Kanakalochanaha'
Obama and 66th Republic Day in India
i. The first U.S. President to be chief guest at parade
was Barack Obama
ii. In another departure from practice, the U.S.
President arrived in his own motorcade and not with
President Pranab Mukherjee
iii. Nuclear-capable Agni missiles — a highlight for the
past several years — were not being featured in the
parade
iv. Obama is also the first American President to visit
India twice
v. For the first time, an all-women's contingent drawn
from the three services featured at the event, while
the Indian Army, the Indian Navy and the Indian Air
Force also fielded all-women contingents
Pooja Thakur - the first lady officer to lead the Inter-
Service Guard of Honour – Jan 25
i. Wing Commander Pooja Thakur became the first
lady officer to lead the Inter-Service Guard of Honour
which was inspected by US President Barack Obama
at Rashtrapati Bhavan
Michelle Obama chooses Indian origin designer
i. The First Lady of US wore a printed floral dress and
coat by Indian born Designer, Bibhu Mohapatra
Arundhathi Subramaniam wins poetry prize
i. Poet Arundhathi Subramaniam won the inaugural
Khushwant Singh Memorial Prize for Poetry for her
work When God is a Traveller
Ramdev, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar decline Padma award
i. Yoga guru Ramdev and spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi
Shankar have declined any Padma award for them
India, U.S. sign three MoUs on smart cities
i. India and United States signed three Memoranda of
Understandings (MoUs) to give a boost to the Centre's
flagship 'smart cities' scheme
ii. The U.S. has agreed to partner with India in
developing three smart cities in Allahabad, Ajmer,
and Visakhapatnam
No evidence of microcredit successfully alleviating
poverty
i. Six studies in four continents, including one in India,
have shown no evidence of microcredit successfully
alleviating poverty, researchers said
ii. It was conducted by researchers affiliated to
Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) and The Abdul
Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at MIT
iii. The studies were done in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Ethiopia, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco and India, with
Hyderabad as the site
Aadhaar database to be embedded with that of EPIC
by 2016
i. The Election Commission has initiated an ambitious
plan to "embed" and synchronise the Aadhaar
database with that of the Electoral Photo ID Card
(EPIC) to minimise complaints of duplication or
forgery of the electoral rolls
ii. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) is H S Brahma
iii. The Aadhaar's parent body is UIDAI
Kejriwal not invited for Republic Day parade
Modi second Indian Prime Minister to receive Obama
i. Narendra Modi received US President Barack
Obama at the Delhi airport, becoming the second

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Indian Prime Minister after Manmohan Singh to
extend this special gesture to Obama
West Bengal‟s Nadia does its own „Swachh Bharat‟
i. West Bengal's Nadia district is poised to complete
building toilets for all its residents by next March,
under a programme which has been shortlisted for
the United Nations global award for public service
ii. The scheme "Sobar Souchagar", meaning toilets for
all, was launched a year before Prime Minister
Narendra Modi kickstarted the "Swachh Bharat'
campaign
IRCTC starts e-catering service on 76 trains, including
Jan Shatabdi and Garib Rath
i. The food will be supplied from 80 IRCTC-run food
plazas and fast food restaurants near various stations
ii. IRCTC had earlier launched the food delivery
services on the Delhi-Amritsar section on a trial basis
India‟s biggest incubation hub to come up in
Hyderabad
i. The Telangana government began the work on T-
Hub, which promises to be India's biggest incubation
facility
ii. Telangana Information Technology Minister K.
Tarakarama Rao laid the foundation stone for the
facility at the International Institute of Information
Technology (IIIT) at Gachibowli
iii. The T-Hub is being set up in collaboration with IIIT,
Hyderabad, Indian School of Business (ISB) and
NALSAR University of Law
BSF daredevils draw praise again from Obama – Jan
26 and 27
i. The bike—borne ‗Janbaaz‘ daredevils of the BSF
came in for praise the third time by US President
Barack Obama who fondly called their stunts
―impressive‖
Not deserving of Bharat Ratna: Amitabh Bachchan
i. Amitabh Bachchan politely disagreed with West
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee‘s suggestion
that he should have been honoured with the Bharat
Ratna instead of Padma Vibhushan
ii. Megastar Amitabh Bachchan was chosen for this
year‘s Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian
award of the country
Furore over omission of 'socialist, secular' from Govt.
advertisement
i. The Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry‘s
Republic Day print advertisement omitted the words
"socialist, secular" in the image of the Preamble to the
Constitution triggering a furore
Modi to hold first meeting of NITI Aayog on February 6
i. The first meeting of the NITI (National Institution for
Transforming India) Aayog is being scheduled on
February 6
Obama supports India's inclusion in U.N
i. At the Siri Fort auditorium President Barack Obama
said US supports India's inclusion as a permanent
member in the UN Security Council
Modi‟s suit creates waves
i. The pinstripe bandhgala suit Prime Minister Narendra
Modi wore during his talks with U.S. President Barack
Obama in Hyderabad House had his full name,
Narendra Damodardas Modi, embroidered on the
fabric vertically down the stripe
Narayana Murthy donates £200,000 for U.K. Gandhi
statue
i. Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy and his family
have donated 200,000 pounds towards the statue of
Mahatma Gandhi planned for Parliament Square in
London, helping in meeting the budget target of
750,000 pounds for the project
Colonel Munindra Nath Rai, died
i. Colonel Munindra Nath Rai, died while battling
fighting terrorists in Kashmir on Jan 27, just 24 hours

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after he was awarded a Republic Day gallantry
medal
ii. He is the highest-ranking military officer to be killed
in the region in nearly a year
Army names Sainik Institute after martyr Naik Neeraj
Kumar – Jan 28
i. Army named a facility for soldiers and general
public in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir after
Naik Neeraj Kumar, who was awarded Ashok Chakra
posthumously on the occasion of Republic Day
National meet on applied Maths to be held in Haveri
i. As many as 10 sessions on advances in the field of
Applied Mathematics would be held during the UGC
sponsored two-day National Conference on Applied
Mathematics being held in Haveri
Eros, RailTel tie up to provide entertainment content in
trains
i. RailTel Corporation of India is a PSU under the
Ministry of Railway which focuses on providing
broadband and VPN services
ii. Eros Now and RailTel have announced a tie-up
through which former's video streaming services will
be launched on latter's broadband
iii. RailTel has launched high-speed Wi-Fi network on
key railway stations
iv. Eros Now is a video on demand portal of the Eros
Group
New National Textiles policy will be unveiled after
Union Budget
i. The new National Textiles Policy, which aims to
achieve $300 billion exports by 2024-25 and envisages
creation of additional 35 million jobs, will be unveiled
after the Union Budget
Historical telegram gifted to President Pranab
Mukherjee by Barack Obama
i. A facsimile of the first telegram sent by 33rd
American President Harry S Truman to the first Indian
Head of State Rajendra Prasad framed in a
personalised plaque was among the gifts given by US
President Barack Obama to President Pranab
Mukherjee
ii. Truman in his telegram on January 26, 1950 had
wished Prasad and people of India on the country
becoming a Republic
Shekhar Sen named chairman of Sangeet Natak
Akademi – Jan 29
i. Eminent singer and theatre director Shekhar Sen has
been appointed the new chairman of Sangeet Natak
Akademi, the country's premier institution for the
performing arts
ii. The eminent singer and theatre director was
recently awarded the Padma Shri on Republic day
for his contribution to the arts
India Post to launch own e-commerce portal like
Amazon or eBay
i. India post is going to launch its own e-commerce
portal in the shape of those like Amazon or eBay soon
22nd edition of International Guwahati Trade Fair
i. The 22nd edition of International Guwahati Trade Fair
(IGTF) will start at Maniram Dewan Trade Centre in
Guwahati
India, Germany to set up working groups on water
management
i. India and Germany decided to set up working
groups on "circular" economy and water
management for restoration of water bodies, waste
management and more efficient use of water
resources
Maharashtra gives nod for field trial of 5 GM crops –
Jan 30
i. The Maharashtra government has given 'no
objection certificate' for field trial of five genetically
modified (GM) crops - brinjal, maize, rice, chickpea
and cotton - in the state
ii. The Committee-headed by Anil Kakodkar had
given clearance for field test of these five GM crops,

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while releasing a report on 'Global status of biotech
crops' by international body ISAAA
World Bank to commit $1 bn in clean India
programme
i. World Bank today said it will commit USD 1 billion in
the government's Swachh Bharat (Clean India)
campaign
ii. World Bank's country director in India is Onno Ruhl
Conference on Social Entrepreneurship inaugurated
i. A three-day 7th National Conference on Social
Entrepreneurship was today inaugurated by the
Director of XLRI - SchooI of Business Management, Fr E
Abraham at XLRI campus
Government releases postal stamps on Swachh
Bharat mission
i. Communication and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad,
Urban Development Minister Vankaiah Naidu and
Rural Development Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh
launched postal stamps for Swachh Bharat mission
Birding fair begins in Jaipur
i. The 18th Indian Birding Fair will be held at the Man
Sagar Lake on January 30
ii. The two-day fair will be dedicated to biodiversity
conservation
iii. The fair aims at conserving the 350-year-old lake
The death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi is
celebrated as Martyrs‟ Day on January 30
India is now entering the Asia equation: Former US
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
i. India is now entering the Asia equation currently
dominated by China, former US Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger has said
Coast Guard 38th raising day - Jan 31
i. 38th anniversary of Indian Coast Guard to be
celebrated on February 1, 2015
ii. The Coast Guard was set up Feb 1, 1977
Agni-V missile's maiden canister-based trial
successful
i. The 17-metre-long, thee-stage solid-fuelled missile,
was developed indigenously by the Defence
Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)
ii. Agni-V is capable of delivering a 1.1 nuclear
warhead over a distance of 5,000 km and the range
of missile can cover most parts of China and Europe
P Chellapandi takes over as Bharatiya Nabhikiya
Vidyut Nigam Limited chief
i. Senior nuclear scientist P Chellapandi took over as
Chairman & Managing Director of Bharatiya
Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (BHAVINI) located at
the nuclear complex at Kalpakkam
Army flags off „Sailab Se Salamati Tak
i. A 19-member cycle expedition team 'Sailab Se
Salamati Tak' (from floods to safety) was flagged off
by the army commemorating the joint effort of
civilians and soldiers during the Kashmir floods last
year
India to commission 5-mt underground oil storages by
October
i. India has decided to commission over 5 million
tonnes of underground crude oil storages by October
to ensure uninterrupted oil supply to the nation for
about two months in the case of disruptions in imports
ii. The first strategic oil reserve of 1.33 million tonnes will
be ready in Visakhapatnam by next month , followed
by two more facilities in Mangalore (1.5 mt) and
Padur (2.5 mt) in the next eight months
iii. Together, the three projects will store crude oil for
13 days
iv. Four more caverns of 12.5 million tonnes capacity
will be built in the second phase, for which the
locations that have been identified include Bikaner,
Rajkot, Chandikhol and Padur
v. The caverns are being developed by Indian
Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL), a special
purpose vehicle of the Oil Industry Development

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Board, a statutory body created for India's energy
security
vi. India — the fourth-biggest energy consumer in the
world after the US, China and Russia — depends on
imports for more than 80% of crude oil
Aadhaar to be used as 'digital identity' for mobile
banking
i. The union government under its ambitious 'Digital
India' programme has decided to use the Aadhaar
number as a "digital identity" for the purpose of
mobile banking
ii. The announcement was made by the secretary,
Department of Electronics & Information Technology,
Government of India, R S Sharma, at the 18th national
conference on e-Governance
Global tenders invited for getting State‟s share of
Tungabhadra waters
i. Global tenders had been invited for expression of
interest to suggest measures for regaining the
legitimate share of the State in the Tungabhadra
reservoir at Hosapate which was flowing unused into
the river
Suvarna Raju is new chairman of Hindustan
Aeronautics Ltd
i. T. Suvarna Raju took over as the 17th chairman of
the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL),
following his predecessor R.K. Tyagi‘s retirement
Business incubation Centre on readymade garment &
handloom in Guwahati
i. Business incubation Centre on Readymade
Garment & Handloom was formally inaugurated by
Union Minister for MSME Kalraj Mishra at Indian
Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE)
International Affairs
Abbas signs onto International Criminal Court after
U.N. loss – Jan 1
i. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed on to
20 international agreements including the Rome
Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), a
day after a bid for independence by 2017 failed at
the United Nations Security Council.
The LED display at the Burj Khalifa night broke the
Guinness World Record for the „Largest LED-
Illuminated Façade‟
China builds world's largest coal mine gas unit to
make power – Jan 2
i. China has built the world's largest facility to turn
excess methane gas from coal mines into electricity,
which could help the communist giant reduce its
emissions
ii. Lu'an Group completed the facility at Shanxi
Province in north China
Ecuador tops list of best countries for retirement – Jan
3
i. Ecuador was named the best country to retire in the
annual global retirement index of 25 best countries
Lithuania 'ready to join euro' in 2015
i. Lithuania will become the 19th member of the
eurozone out of 28 countries in the European Union,
and the last of the Baltic states to join
ii. The UK and Denmark are the only EU states with
opt-outs from the euro
iii. Estonia was the first Baltic state to become a
member of the eurozone in 2011, followed by Latvia
on 1 January 2014
Palestinians delivered to U.N. documents on joining
the Rome Statute of the ICC
i. The Palestinians delivered to U.N. headquarters
documents on joining the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court and other international
treaties
ii. Palestinian U.N. Ambassador is Riyad Mansour
Kerry signs certification for Pakistan – Jan 4 and 5
i. Kerry signs certification Pakistan has taken ―action‖
against terror groups

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ii. The certificate is a condition for the U.S. to disburse
funds under the Kerry-Lugar Bill for civilian aid to
Pakistan that was co-authored by Mr. Kerry in 2009
iii. The U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan is Richard Olson
Asia's largest reverse osmosis plant inaugurated in
Pakistan – Jan 6 and 7
i. Asia‘s largest reverse osmosis plant, having a
capacity to produce two million gallons of water
daily, was inaugurated today in Pakistan‘s drought-
ridden Sindh province
Pakistan president inks bill to set up military courts to
try terrorists
i. A new bill to set up military courts in Pakistan to fast-
track terror-related cases came into effect
ii. Pakistan President is Mamnoon Hussain
Ukraine says Russia behind cyber attack on German
government – Jan 8
i. Ukraine's prime minister blamed Russian intelligence
for a hacker attack against German government
websites which is believed to be the first successful
prolonged attack on German government websites
ii. A group calling itself CyberBerkut claimed
responsibility
iii. "Berkut" refers to the riot squads used by the
government of Ukraine's former president, the pro-
Russian President Viktor Yanukovich
iv. Prime Minister of Ukraine is Arseny Yatseniuk
U.N. confirms Palestinians will be ICC member on April
1
i. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has
confirmed the Palestinians will formally become a
member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on
April 1
Kevin Vickers to become envoy to Ireland - Jan 9
i. Kevin Vickers, the head of security who helped kill a
gunman who stormed Canada's parliament last year,
will be appointed ambassador to Ireland, Canadian
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said
Apparent Islamic State backers hack U.S. military
Twitter feed – Jan 13
i. The Twitter and YouTube accounts for the U.S.
military command that oversees operations in the
Middle East were hacked by people claiming to be
sympathetic toward the Islamic State militant group
Ban Ki-moon asks India to take lead in reaching Paris
climate pact
i. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asked India to
take a leadership role in reaching a "meaningful"
climate change pact in Paris
ii. The UN climate conference to be held in Paris from
November 30 to December 11
Singer Sarah Brightman to blast off to space station –
Jan 15
i. British singer Sarah Brightman will become the
eighth tourist and first professional singer to visit the
International Space Station
ii. Microsoft co-founder Charles Simonyi, made two
trips
World‟s toughest climb conquered – Jan 16
i. Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson became the
first to free climb the 3,000-ft Dawn Wall on the
famous El Capitan rock formation in California‘s
Yosemite National Park in a single expedition
Bangladesh blocks Viber, Tango – Jan 18
i. China steps up drive to integrate Africa with
Maritime Silk Road
China has accelerated its drive to draw Africa into
the Maritime Silk Road — Beijing‘s ambitious
transcontinental initiative
Largest satellite network to provide global internet
access – Jan 20
i. A firm backed by Virgin and Qualcomm is planning
to launch the world's largest-ever satellite network to
provide high-speed Internet access around the world

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Syrian Electronic Army hacks Le Monde Twitter
account – Jan 21
i. French newspaper Le Monde said its Twitter
account and publishing tool were hacked by Syrian
Electronic Army
JFK airport to open a terminal just for animals
i. The world‘s first-ever terminal for animals is set to
open at the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York in
2016 and it will transport 70,000 animals a year once
the $48 million facility becomes operational
Doomsday Clock moved closer to midnight – Jan 23
i. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved its iconic
Doomsday Clock up two minutes on Thursday.
ii. The clock now stands at three minutes to midnight,
the "latest" it's been since 1984
Atacama desert gets one of the world's biggest solar
plants – Jan 24
i. The newly finished PV Salvador solar plant near El
Salvador, in the Atacama desert, northern Chile is
one of the world's biggest solar plants
"National Voters' Day" obseved in Nagaland – Jan 25
i. Nagaland joined the country in observing the
―National Voters‘ Day‖
US jobless claims approach nearly 15-year low – Jan
29
i. The number of Americans filing new claims for
unemployment benefits tumbled last week to its
lowest level in nearly 15 years
Britain marks 50 years since wartime PM Winston
Churchill's funeral
i. Winston Churchill died on January 24, 1965
ii. Britain marked 50 years since the state funeral of
wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill happened
Italy elects senior judge Sergio Mattarella as
president – Jan 31
i. Italian lawmakers elected Sergio Mattarella, a
constitutional court judge and veteran centre-left
politician, as president
ii. He is Italy's 12th president since World War Two
World record of longest distance by a gas-filled
balloon was broken
i. Two balloonists Troy Bradley and Leonid Tiukhtyaev
completed a world record-breaking trans-Pacific
flight
ii. The voyage began in Japan
Business and Economics
LIC International launches co-branded credit card
with UAE's First Gulf Bank – Jan 1
i. India's LIC International and Abu Dhabi -based First
Gulf Bank are planning to introduce a unique co-
branded credit card in the United Arab Emirates
ii. This is the first time that an insurance firm has
entered into a strategic alliance with a bank in the
gulf country
India well on its way to becoming a $5 trillion
economy by 2025
i. India is on its way to become a $5 trillion economy
by 2025 (and thus the third largest on this planet after
China and the US)
ii. By 2018, it will overtake Britain and become the
largest economy in the Commonwealth
iii. Pankaj Ghemawat's Global Connectedness Index
shows India at 126th out of 140 countries ranked
Amul Shatabdi to Flipkart Chandigarh: Govt may
allow corporate houses brand trains and stations
i. The committee headed by former financial services
secretary DK Mittal in its report has said railways can
raise around Rs 8,000 crore through a corporate
branding exercise
ii. This year, may end up boarding Amul Shatabdi to
Flipkart Chandigarh if the railway ministry accepts the
recommendation of a committee set up to improve
the finances of Indian Railways

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November core growth at 5-month high of 6.7%,
deficit at 99%
i. The fiscal deficit touched 99% of the full-year
budget estimate at the end of November
ii. Core sector growth climbed to a five month high of
6.7% in November
iii. The core sector index has a 38% weight in the Index
of Industrial Production (IIP)
iv. GDP growth slipped to 5.3% in the July-September
period from 5.7% in the preceding quarter
Bharat Forge acquires French firm – Jan 2
i. Auto component maker Bharat Forge said it has
acquired France-based Mecanique Generale
Langroise for 11.8 million euros (around Rs 90 crore)
Finance ministry mulls roping in private professionals
for top job at PSBs
i. The finance ministry is considering a proposal to
rope in professionals from the private sector
ii. The changes can only be made by appointments
committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi
iii. If approved, this would be for the first time that
government would invite applications from private
sector for the top posts of state-owned banks
iv. So far, CMDs of PSU banks were selected from
public sector banks only
Exports to Russia may start after regulatory approvals:
Amul
i. Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation
(GCMMF), makers of Amul brand dairy products, had
said it is in discussion with Galactika Group to export
dairy products to Russia and once sealed, Amul
would become the first Indian dairy products maker
to enter into that market
Tata Steel resumes operations at Noamundi iron ore
mine
i. The Noamundi iron ore mine of Tata Steel has
resumed production after a gap of nearly four
months which recently resorted to imports for the first
time in over 100 years of existence
India's manufacturing sector output reaches 2-year
high in Dec: HSBC
i. India's manufacturing sector grew at its fastest pace
in two years in December
The HSBC India Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) -- a
composite gauge designed to give a single-figure
snapshot of manufacturing business conditions --
stood at 54.5 in December
RBI cuts repo rates by 25 basis points – Jan 14
i. The RBI decided to cut the benchmark interest rate
by 0.25 per cent to 7.75 per cent with a view to boost
growth
Global economy to expand by 3 per cent this year
i. The World Bank has projected that Global economy
would expand by three per cent this year
Govt allows direct sale of bio-diesel by manufacturers
– Jan 15
i. The government allowed private manufacturers of
bio-diesel to sell it directly to consumers like Indian
Railways
Trade facilitation pact will cut costs: WTO chief
i. The WTO DG noted that the benefits of the TFA
would be visible to Indian industry
ii. The TFA would bring down trade costs by 15 per
cent, and bolster south-south trade
iii. Director-General of the World Trade Organization
Roberto Azevedo, said the remaining issues under the
Doha Development Agenda (DDA) would need to
be refocused before the Ministerial Conference in
Nigeria at the end of the year
Japanese business presence in India on the rise
i. The number of Japanese companies registered in
India had increased by 13 per cent to 1,209 from
1,072

R.A.C.E
21
ii. Director General of Japan External Trade
Organisation (JETRO) Chennai, Hidehiro Ishiura, said
Maharashtra with 637 establishments toppled Tamil
Nadu (577) from the premier post
AFCONS executes unique float-over system for
ONGC – Jan 21
i. AFCONS Infrastructure Ltd said it has executed a
float-over installation of the HRD Process Platform for
ONGC
ii. The Shapoorji Pallonji Group company has became
the first Indian EPC contractor to install a process
platform under float-over technology on time
iii. This was the second float-over operation to be
carried out in India
SEBI vetting plan to allow banks convert corporate
debt into equity
i. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)
Chairman U.K. Sinha, said that the regulator was
working with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a
formula allowing banks to convert their debt into
equity in corporate
EU lifts ban on Indian mangoes
i. The seven-month ban on Indian mangoes, imposed
last year by the European Union, has been lifted well
in advance of the deadline set for the ban, which
was originally till December 2015.
ii. The EU accounts for more than 50 per cent of total
exports of fruits and vegetables from India
iii. The U.K. is the main destination, followed by the
Netherlands, Germany and Belgium
Petrol costs more than ATF in India
Petrol in India costs more than Aviation Turbine Fuel
(ATF)
i. For the first time, petrol in India costs more than the
superior jet fuel (ATF) used in aeroplanes as the
government has levied a record excise duty on the
fuel used in two-wheelers and cars
Toyota tops in global vehicle sales, beats VW, GM
i. Toyota Motor stayed at the top in global vehicle
sales in 2014, selling 10.23 million vehicles, beating
Volkswagen and General Motors
Facebook's impact on Indian economy pegged at $4
billion
i. Facebook enabled USD 4 billion economic impact
on the Indian economy and contributed to 335,000
jobs in some or the other way during last year,
according to a report by consultancy firm Deloitte
Vodafone appointed Sunil Sood, the first Indian CEO
for the country –Jan 22
i. Vodafone appointed the first Indian CEO, Sunil
Sood, for its India operations
Government to release new series of retail inflation
next month- Jan 23
i. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has been
releasing Consumer Price Indices (CPI) for Rural,
Urban and Combined, at state/UTs and all India level,
since January 2011
ii. Government will release next month a new series of
Consumer Price Index (CPI) with 2012 as base year for
computing retail inflation rate
iii. The first series (revised) would be compiled for
January which will be released on February 12.
iv. From January 2016 onwards, inflation rates would
be compiled using the actual CPI of the revised series
Base year for CPI to be revised this month
i. The Consumer Price Index (CPI), the most important
price gauge in India, is set to undergo base revision
this month from 2010 to 2012
ii. CPI, which tracks inflation at the consumer level,
has become the key measure of inflation for Reserve
Bank of India to decide on monetary policy action
Indonesia to form infrastructure bank to attract private
investment
i. Indonesia's finance ministry said it plans to inject
$1.63 billion into PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur (SMI) and
transform the state-owned financing firm into an

R.A.C.E
22
infrastructure bank to help fund roads, railways and
seaports with private backing
Egypt has signed a gas exploration contract in the
Nile Delta with French energy company Total
Spain's jobless rate falls in 2014 for second straight
year
i. Spain's unemployment rate fell for the second
straight year in 2014 but remains at one of the highest
levels in the European Union
Emami acquires controlling stake in Australia's Fravin
Pty Ltd
i. Emami Ltd has bought 66.67 per cent stake in
Australian company Fravin Pty Ltd, its second
acquisition this fiscal, marking its entry into the organic
products segment
Reserve Bank modifies ECB policy
i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) relaxed norms for the
External Commercial Borrowing (ECBs) by allowing
banks and companies to restructure and reschedule
the existing borrowings
Forex reserves jump by $2.7 billion to touch all-time
high of $322.14 billion: RBI
i. India's foreign exchange reserves has scaled a new
height of $322.14 billion replacing the previous record
of $320.79 billion seen 40 months ago
ZipDial's Valerie Wagoner - Only foreign lady tech
CEO in India – Jan 24
i. Only foreign lady tech CEO in India is now also the
first woman to have founded a company acquired
by Twitter.
ii. She was named a Top Innovator Under 35 for India
by the MIT Technology Review in 2013
ASEAN to declare single market but delays deeper
integration: Malaysia
i. The Southeast Asian bloc, a market of about 600
million people, had set 2015 as a deadline for
integrating the region's vast economies into a single
European Union-style market, with tariffs abolished
and free movement of skilled workers
ii. Mustapa Mohamed, holds the rotating presidency
of the Southeast Asian bloc this year
iii. ASEAN groups together Brunei, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam
RBI asks banks to display loan interest rates on
websites
i. The Reserve Bank asked banks to display loan
interest rates and processing fees on their websites
Kenstar ties up with Amazon – Jan 26
i. In a first, Kenstar has tied up with e-commerce
player Amazon.in to distribute the ACs exclusively
Wipro bags multi-year dealfrom Irish bank
i. Wipro has won a multi-year strategic infrastructure
management contract from Allied Irish Banks plc
(AIB), a leading bank in Ireland
RBI signs MoU with BCB – Jan 27
i. The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday said that it
signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on
―Supervisory Cooperation and Exchange of
Supervisory Information‖ with Banco Central do Brasil
(BCB)
Ashok Leyland unveiled its first zero emissions electric
bus in India, the Ashok Leyland Optare Versa EV, at
the Bus and Special Vehicles show
EBRD chief Sir Suma Chakrabarti to meet FM Arun
Jaitley, RBI governor in India – jan 28
i. The chief of the European Bank for Reconstruction
and Development (EBRD) will travel to India to hold
talks with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and RBI
governor Raghuram Rajan
ii. The visit of Sir Suma Chakrabarti, the Kolkata-born
president of the London-headquartered bank,

R.A.C.E
23
centres around his address at the Delhi Sustainable
Development Summit between February 5-7
Gramin Bank introduces Rupay cards for minors
i. Pragathi Krishna Gramin Bank, headquartered in
Ballari, with jurisdiction over 11 districts, will be the first
Regional Rural Bank (RRB) and one among a few
commercial banks in the country to launch a new
initiative of introducing banking to schoolchildren
ii. M.G. Bhat is the Chairman of the Bank
iii. The bank will distribute Junior ATM Rupay Debit
Cards to schoolchildren above 10 years of age
Suzuki to set up three Gujarat plants in line with 'Make
in India' initiative
i. Japan's Suzuki group plans to set up three plants in
Gujarat's Hansalpur, which will exclusively supply to
Maruti Suzuki India Limited.
ii. Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel laid the
foundation stone for Suzuki's Gujarat vehicle
manufacturing plant
Larsen & Toubro hopes to build nuclear reactors
i. Larsen & Toubro hopes to build nuclear reactors in
partnership with Westinghouse Electric Company and
is exploring other partnerships after India and the US
cleared the way for implementing a bilateral
agreement signed in 2008
ii. L&T signed an agreement with Toshiba-controlled
Westinghouse to manufacture and sell its AP1000
nuclear reactor that runs on pressurised water
technology
iii. L&T, in partnership with the Nuclear Power
Corporation of India, set up a forging facility at Hazira
in Gujarat at an investment of 2,000 crore for the
nuclear power sector
India best positioned among emerging market
economies: report
i. After the taper tantrum scare in May-2013, the
Indian economy has repositioned itself today as a
winner in the EM space, said the ICICI Bank report
ii. India was followed by Hungary and Poland in the
second and third place respectively
iii. Others in the top ten include, Philippines in the
fourth place, Korea (5th), China (6th), Turkey (7th),
Thailand (8th), South Africa (9th) and Indonesia (10th)
place.
iv. Following the announcement by US Federal
Reserve's quantitative easing taper in May 2013, India
got exposed to macroeconomic vulnerability and
joined the Fragile Five pack (India, Brazil, Indonesia,
South Africa, Turkey)
India invites Czech businesses to partner in
infrastructure, R&D, tech – Jan 29
i. India today invited companies from the Czech
Republic to partner in mega infrastructure projects
and in other sectors like research and development,
technology, power and transportation
ii. Secretary (EPA & ER) in the External Affairs Ministry,
Sujata Mehta, invited Czech businesses when
addressing the Indo-Czech Republic Business Forum
organised by Ficci
iii. Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech
Republic is Jan Mladek
UK‟s CDC to invest $25 million in Pristine Logistics – Jan
29
i. UK‘s development finance institution CDC has
announced that it will make a direct investment of
$25 million in Pristine Logistics which is developing,
constructing and operating Greenfield rail freight
terminals across northern, central and eastern India
India not ready for full capital account liberalisation
i. India is not ready for opening its capital account
fully to foreign investors at this point in time as the pros
and cons of such liberalisation are a "contentious
issue", central bank deputy governor H R Khan
RBI cancels license of Kolkata-based Baranagar Co-
operative Bank
i. Reserve Bank of India has cancelled the licence of
Kolkata-based Baranagar Co-operative Bank Ltd as

R.A.C.E
24
the bank turned insolvent and all efforts to revive the
bank had failed
India's FDI increased by 26 per cent in 2014: UN – Jan
30
i. India's FDI increased by 26 per cent in 2014 to nearly
$ 35 billion with maximum growth in the services
sector, a UN report has said
ii. China toppled the US in 2014 as the world's largest
recipient of FDI -- a position that the US had been
holding almost consistently since the 1980's -- though
with a modest increase of 3 per cent, said the latest
'Global Investment Trade Monitor' report released by
United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD)
India-US solar issue: WTO's dispute panel to meet next
week
i.The consultations were followed after the US filed a
complaint in the WTO in February last year alleging
discrimination by India's national solar mission against
American products
ii. As per the procedure of the World Trade
Organisation, consultation is the first stage of a
complaint filed with the global trade body
RBI Deputy Governor welcomes Airtel, Kotak
Mahindra Bank tie-up
Government revises up 2013/14 GDP growth to 6.9 per
cent –Jan 31
i. The economic growth rate was revised upwards to
6.9 per cent for 2013-14, as against 4.7 per cent
estimated earlier, after the government updated the
base year for measuring national accounts
ii. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate for
2013-14 has gone up following adoption of the new
series with base year 2011-12
iii. The rate of expansion was estimated at 4.7 per
cent under the old series that had 2004-05 as base
year
iv. The base year was last revised in January 2010 and
goes under revision every five years
v. Government also introduced the new concepts like
Gross Value Added (GVA) to the economy
ePaisa looks to partner with New India Co-operative
banks, retail chains
i. Startup ePaisa has entered into a partnership with
New India Co-operative Bank, offering its mobile
point-of-sale application to the lender's merchant
customers.
US energy major Chevron Corp to stop its shale gas
exploration in Poland
i. US energy major Chevron Corp said it will stop
exploring for shale gas in Poland
ii. Exxon Mobil, Total and Marathon Oil have also
stopped shale gas exploration in Poland over the past
three years
U.S. regulator sets terms to clear Sun‟s acquisition of
Ranbaxy
i. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries‘ has proposed $4-
billion acquisition of Ranbaxy Laboratories
ii. Divested assets are to be bought by Torrent Pharma
iii. Ranbaxy is currently one of three suppliers of the
Generic minocycline tablets in U.S
Science and Technology
Mutations causing abnormal heart muscle protein
identified – Jan 14
i. Titin, a protein that is part of the mechanism muscles
use to contract and relax, have been implicated as a
cause for dilated cardiomyopathy
Britain‟s missing spacecraft found on Mars – Jan 15
i. Britain‘s infamous ―Beagle 2‖ spacecraft has been
found on Mars – 11 years after it went missing
China starts clinical trial to repair human spinal cord
injury – Jan 17
i. Chinese scientists and doctors began a landmark
clinical trial using a collagen complex and stem cells
to repair damaged human spinal cord

R.A.C.E
25
Deadly TB strains emerged in Asia over 6,000 years
ago – Jan 21
i. An evolutionary geneticist from the National
Museum of Natural History in Paris has decoded the
tuberculosis (TB) genome, suggesting that a
pernicious family of the strain emerged in Asia over
6,000 years ago
New anti-radiation drug tested –Jan 26
i. A new drug lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) that
protects mice days after exposure to radiation may
one day treat side effects of cancer therapy scientists
say
NASA satellite to measure soil moisture on Earth
i. NASA is launched a new remote sensing instrument
in space that will measure the moisture lodged in
Earth's soils
ii. The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) instrument
has three main parts -radar, a radiometer and the
largest rotating mesh antenna ever deployed in
space
Sports
Sachin Tendulkar is all set to lead mass run in Kerala –
Jan 20
i. Sachin Tendulkar who is the goodwill ambassador
for the games, is going to lead over one crore runners
to the streets as part of 'Run Kerala Run,' a
promotional event for the 35th National Games
Paul van Ass appointed as coach of National Men‟s
Hockey team
i. Former Dutch National Hockey team coach Paul
van Ass was on 30 January 2015 appointed as the
head Coach of Indian men's hockey team
India to host ICC Twenty20 World Cup in 2016
i. International Cricket Council (ICC) in its board
meeting in Dubai on 29 January 2015 announced
that India will host the Twenty20 World Cup in 2016
ii. The Twenty20 World Cup will be held in India from
11 March 2016 to 3 April 2016
Russian Popov Ivan won 7th Chennai International
Open Grandmaster Chess title
i. Popov Ivan of Russia on 6 January 2015 won 7th
Chennai International Open Grandmaster Chess title
Cristiano Ronaldo won the 2014 FIFA Ballon d‟Or
Award
i. Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo won the
2014 FIFA Ballon d‘Or award for the best footballer of
the year in the world
ii. It is the third time that Ronaldo has won the Ballon
d‘Or award
Pankaj Advani won National Billiards title for seventh
time
i. Cueist Pankaj Advani won National Billiards
Championship at the Bengal Rowing Club in Kolkata
Viktor Troicki won Men‟s Single title of Sydney
International Tennis Tournament
i. Viktor Troicki of Serbia on 18 January 2015 won
Men‘s Single title of Sydney International Tennis
Tournament
Dwayne Bravo has announced his retirement from
Test cricket
Birth and Death
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose 118th birth anniversary
was on 23 jan – Jan 23
The president of Yemen Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi has
resigned along with his prime minister Khaled Bahah
in protest at the takeover of the capital Sanaa by Shia
Houthi rebels
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz who had
ruled since 2005 died

R.A.C.E
26
Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz was appointed as the
new king of Saudi
Winston Churchill died on January 24, 1965
Iconic cartoonist R K Laxman passes away – Jan 26
Mahatma Gandhi‟s 67th death anniversary on
January 30, 1948 – Jan 30
Awards and Important Days
Padma Awards - one of the highest civilian Awards of
the country, are conferred in three categories,
namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and
Padma Shri
This year the President of India has approved
conferment of Padma Awards to 104 persons as per
the list below. The list comprises of 9 Padma
Vibhushan, 20 Padma Bhushan and 75 Padma Shri
Awardees. 17 of the awardees are women and the
list also includes 17 persons from the category of
foreigners, NRIs, PIOs and 4 Posthumous awardees
Padma Vibhushan
S.
N
o.
Name of the
Awardee
Discipline State/Domi
cile
1 Lal Krishna Advani Public
Affairs
Gujarat
2 Amitabh Bachchan Art Maharashtr
a
3 Prakash Singh
Badal
Public
Affairs
Punjab
4 Dr. D Veerendra
Heggade
Social
Work
Karnataka
5 Mohammad Yusuf
Khan alias Dilip
Kumar
Art Maharashtr
a
6 Jagadguru
Ramanandacharya
Swami
Rambhadracharya
Others Uttar
Pradesh
7 Malur Ramaswamy Science Tamil Nadu
Srinivasan and
Engineerin
g
8 Kottayan K.
Venugopal
Public
Affairs
Delhi
9 Karim Al Hussaini
Aga Khan
(Foreigner)
Trade and
Industry
France/UK
Padma Bhushan
S.
No.
Name of the
Awardees
Discipline State/Do
micile
1 Shri Jahnu
Barua
Art Assam
2 Dr. Vijay Bhatkar Science
and
Engineering
Maharas
htra
3 Swapan
Dasgupta
Literature &
Education
Delhi
4 Swami
Satyamitranand
Giri
Others Uttar
Pradesh
5 N.
Gopalaswami
Civil Service Tamil
Nadu
6 Dr. Subhash C.
Kashyap
Public
Affairs
Delhi
7 Dr. (Pandit)
Gokulotsavji
Maharaj
Art Madhya
Pradesh
8 Dr.
Ambrish Mithal
Medicine Delhi
9 Sudha
Ragunathan
Art Tamil
Nadu
10 Harish Salve Public
Affairs
Delhi
11 Dr. Ashok Seth Medicine Delhi
12 Rajat Sharma Literature &
Education
Delhi
13 Satpal Sports Delhi
14 Shivakumara Others Karnatak

R.A.C.E
27
Swami a
15 Dr. Kharag
Singh Valdiya
Science
and
Engineering
Karnatak
a
16 Professor Manjul
Bhargava
(NRI/PIO)
USA
17 David Frawley
(Vamadeva)
(Foreigner)
Others USA
18 Bill Gates
(Foreigner)
Social Work USA
19 Melinda
Gates (Foreigne
r)
Social Work USA
20 Saichiro Misumi
(Foreigner)
Others Japan
Padma Shri
S.
No.
Names of the
Awardees
Discipline State/Domicil
e
1 Dr. Manjula
Anagani
Medicine Telangana
2 S. Arunan Science
and Engg
Karnataka
3 Kanyakumari
Avasarala
Art Tamil Nadu
4 Dr. Bettina
Sharada Baumer
Literature &
Education
Jammu and
Kashmir
5 Naresh Bedi Art Delhi
6 Ashok Bhagat Social Work Jharkhand
7 Sanjay Leela
Bhansali
Art Maharashtra
8 Dr. Lakshmi
Nandan Bora
Literature &
Education
Assam
9 Dr. Gyan
Chaturvedi
Literature
and
Education
Madhya
Pradesh
10 Professor Yogesh
Kumar Chawla
Medicine Chandigarh
11 Jayakumari
Chikkala
Medicine Delhi
12 Bibek Debroy Literature & Delhi
Education
13 Dr. Sarungbam
Bimola Kumari
Devi
Medicine Manipur
14 Dr. Ashok Gulati Public
Affairs
Delhi
15 Dr. Randeep
Guleria
Medicine Delhi
16 Dr. K. P. Haridas Medicine Kerala
17 Rahul Jain Art Delhi
18 Ravindra Jain Art Maharashtra
19 Dr. Sunil Jogi Literature
and
Education
Delhi
20 Prasoon Joshi Art Maharashtra
21 Dr. Prafulla Kar Art Odisha
22 Saba Anjum Sports Chhattisgarh
23 Ushakiran Khan Literature &
Education
Bihar
24 Dr. Rajesh
Kotecha
Medicine Rajasthan
25 Professor Alka
Kriplani
Medicine Delhi
26 Dr. Harsh Kumar Medicine Delhi
27 Narayana
Purushothama
Mallaya
Literature
and
Education
Kerala
28 Lambert
Mascarenhas
Literature &
Education
Goa
29 Dr. Janak Palta
McGilligan
Social Work Madhya
Pradesh
30 Veerendra Raj
Mehta
Social Work Delhi
31 Tarak Mehta Art Gujarat
32 Neil Herbert
Nongkynrih
Art Meghalaya
33 Chewang
Norphel
Others Jammu and
Kashmir
34 T. V. Mohandas
Pai
Trade and
Industry
Karnataka
35 Dr.Tejas Patel Medicine Gujarat
36 Jadav Molai Others Assam

R.A.C.E
28
Peyang
37 Bimla Poddar Other Uttar Pradesh
38 Dr. N. Prabhakar Science
and Engg
Delhi
39 Dr. Prahalada Maharashtra
40 Dr. Narendra
Prasad
Medicine Bihar
41 Ram Bahadur Rai Literature
and
Education
Delhi
42 Mithali Raj Sports Telangana
43 P. V. Rajaraman Civil
Service
Tamil Nadu
44 J. S. Rajput Literature &
Education
Uttar Pradesh
45 Kota Srinivasa
Rao
Art Andhra
Pradesh
46 Bimal Roy Literature &
Education
West Bengal
47 Shekhar Sen Art Maharashtra
48 Gunvant Shah Literature
and
Education
Gujarat
49 Brahmdev
Sharma (Bhaiji)
Delhi
50 Manu Sharma Uttar Pradesh
51 Yog Raj Sharma Medicine Delhi
52 Vasant Shastri Science
and Engg
Karnataka
53 S. K. Shivkumar Karnataka
54 P. V. Sindhu Sports Telangana
55 Sardara Singh Sports Haryana
56 Arunima Sinha Sports Uttar Pradesh
57 Mahesh Raj Soni Art Rajasthan
58 Dr.Nikhil Tandon Medicine Delhi
59 H. Thegtse
Rinpoche
Social Work Arunachal
Pradesh
60 Dr.Hargovind
Laxmishanker
Trivedi
Medicine Gujarat
61 Huang Baosheng
(Foreigner)
Others China
62 Professor Jacques
Blamont
(Foreigner)
Science
and Engg
France
63 Late Syedna
Mohammad
Burhanuddin
(Posthumous)
Others Maharashtra
64 Jean-Claude
Carriere-Foreigner
Literature &
Education
France
65 Dr. Nandrajan Raj
Chetty (NRI/PIO)
Trade and
Industry
USA
66 George L. Hart
(Foreigner)
Others USA
67 Jagat Guru Amrta
Suryananda
Maha Raja
(NRI/PIO)
Others Portugal
68 Late Meetha Lal
Mehta
(Posthumous)
Social Work Rajasthan
69 Tripti Mukherjee
(NRI/PIO)
Art USA
70 Dr. Dattatreyudu
Nori (NRI/PIO)
Medicine USA
71 Dr. Raghu Rama
Pillarisetti
(NRI/PIO)
Medicine USA
72 Dr. Saumitra
Rawat (NRI/PIO)
Medicine UK
73 Annette
Schmiedchen
(Foreigner)
Literature &
Education
Germany
74 Late Pran Kumar
Sharma
(Posthumous)
Art Delhi
75 Late R.
Vasudevan
(Posthumous)
Civil
Service
Tamil Nadu
JANUARY IMPORTANT DAYS
27 January International Day of Commemoration
in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust
-------

Jan 2015 current affairs

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