Monday, 12 October 2015

CDS-cum-PCS BOOSTER "Current Affairs at a Glance- 2015 January"


1. 
  World Bank released report Scaling the Heights: Social inclusion and sustainable development on Himachal Pradesh.


 -This was first of its kind report prepared by the World Bank for Himachal Pradesh. The report reveals that state has effectively balanced economic growth with social inclusion.

Himachal Pradesh has emerged as one of the states with the best human development outcomes in the country. 

-The performance in poverty reduction, education, women employment and health sectors was much better as compared to other states in India.


2. T Suvarna Raju has taken charge as chairman of state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).


3. Sergio Mattarella elected as President of Italy


4.Serena Williams wins Australian Open 2015 Women’s Singles title 


5. Maharashtra government has given nod to confined genetically modified (GM) food trails in state. State government has granted no-objection certificates (NOC) for open field trials of 5 genetically modified (GM) crops. They are rice, chana (chickpeas), maize, brinjal and cotton.


6. First Canister-based Agni-V missile successfully test-fired

 -Agni-V ICBM is indigenously designed and developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

-Range: 5,500–5,800 km. 

-It will allow India to strike targets across Asia and into Europe

-It is a 3 stage solid fuelled missile with composite motor casing in the second and third stage.

-It carries Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicles (MIRV) payloads. 

-With this, India joined an “elite nuclear club” that also included China, Russia, France, the US, the UK and possibly Israel.

7. On 5 January 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Chairman of NITI Aayog had appointed Former DRDO chief V K Saraswat along with eminent economist Bibek Debroy as its full time members and Arvind Panagariya as its first Vice-Chairman.

8. Senior IPS officer Krishna Chaudhary has been appointed the new Director General (DG) of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

9. Gujarat government has launched Taluka Planning Atlas (TPA) project. 

-Taluka Planning Atlas (TPA) project This project has been undertaken by the state planning department with the help of director of Economics and Statistics, Gujarat and Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geo-Informatics (BISAG). 


-TPA aims to help the local administration in taking effective decisions about the development in respective regions. 


-TPA will provide the maps that will give precise information about the current status of various facilities and schemes. 


-Under this project, an atlas of 100 maps will be compiled to showcase various facilities as well as government schemes at village level in each taluka.


10.Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe appointed as Chairman of African Union 


Robert Mugabe: He has ruled Zimbabwe since independence. He is Zimbabwe’s longest serving President and had assumed office in December 1987.

 11.  Hornbill festival Celebrated in Nagaland.

12. Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) founder Subhash Ghisingh has passed away in New Delhi. 

 13. Eminent singer Shekhar Sen appointed as Chairman of Sangeet Natak Akademi

 14. India will host the World Twenty20 from 11 March to 3 April 2016. While, Ireland and Scotland will host the qualifiers between 6-26 July, 2015.

15. Packaging of foodgrains & sugar in jute material mandatory: CCEA

 With this decision, government is seeking to help the jute sector which generates a lot of livelihoods for farmers and workers. CCEA also has approved providing financial support to the Jute Corporation of India (JCI).

 16. On 28 January 2015, nation paid tributes to national martyr of freedom movement, Lala Lajpat Rai on his 150th birth anniversary.

 17. Hike Messenger introduces free voice calling service to its users 

18. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar appointed as new Foreign Secretary.

19.Kalyan Singh sworn in as Himachal Pradesh Governor.

20. Ancient star with five Earth size planets discovered by astronomers 

 -This star is named as Kepler-444.
 -It is 25 percent smaller than our Sun and is 117 light years from Earth. 
 -It belongs to the first generation of stars and considered as part of one of the oldest systems in the galaxy.
-This star has five known planets which have sizes that fall between Mercury and Venus. 
-These 5 planets are so close to their star that they complete their orbits in fewer than 10 days. 
-This discovery is going to help astronomers learn more about the history of our solar system- Milky Way.


21. Gujarat Technological University launches e-Raksha centre to fight cybercrime in collaboration with Cyber Peace Foundation (CPF)

22. India has challenged a World Trade Organisation (WTO) panel’s ruling that challenges country’s ban on United States (US) poultry product imports. In this regard, India has appealed to the Dispute Settlement Board (DSB) of the WTO.

23. Australian cricketer Sean Abbott has won Bradman young cricketer of the year award 2015.

24. K Durga Prasad appointed as Special DG of CRPF 

25. Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has appointed Divya Prakash Sinha as secretary (security) in the cabinet secretariat.

26. US President Barack Obama has become the first American President to be Chief Guest on Republic Day celebrations. He is also the first American President to visit India twice (earlier he had visited India in November 2010).

27. Eminent cartoonist, illustrator and humorist Rasipuram Laxman passed away in Pune. He was 94.
28. For the first time in the history of India’s Republic Day, all-women contingent from the three forces Army, Air Force and Navy marched down in the parade. 

-Army contingent was led by Capt Divya Ajith. 
-Navy contingent was led by Lieutenant Commander Priya Jeyakumar. 
-Air Force contingent was led by Squadron Leader Sneha Shekhawat.

29. Colombia’s Paulina Vega crowned Miss Universe 2015 


30.  Padma Vibhushan Awards 2015.

 Sr No Name of the Awardee Discipline State/Domicile 
1 L. K. Advani, Public Affairs, Gujarat 
2 Amitabh Bachchan, Art, Maharashtra 
3 Prakash Singh Badal, Public Affairs, Punjab
4 Dr.D.Veerendra Heggade, Social Work, Karnataka
5 Dilip Kumar, Art, Maharashtra
6 Swami Rambhadracharya, Others, Uttar Pradesh
7 Prof. Malur Ramaswamy Srinivasan, Science & Engineering ,Tamil Nadu 
8 Shri Kottayan K. Venugopal, Public Affairs, Delhi 
9 Karim Al Hussaini Aga Khan (Foreigner), Trade & Industry, France/UK
31.India, U.S. sign three MoUs on smart cities 
-These MoUs were signed by the representatives of United States Trade and Development Agency (USTAD) and the respective Chief Secretaries of State Governments of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh in the presence of Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu.
  -These MoU’s seeks to give a boost to Union governments flagship smart cities scheme, by building smart cities in 
Vishakapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. 
Ajmer in Rajasthan. 
Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh.


32. India’s Parupalli Kashyap has won $120,000 Syed Modi India Grand Prix Gold badminton title 2015.

33. Indian ace shuttler Saina Nehwal has clinched the Syed Modi International India Grand Prix Gold badminton title 2015 in the women’s singles category.


34. India will provide fund of Rs 1500 crore to Nepal’s Pancheshwar multi-purpose project on Mahakali river for countering the Kheri floods in Uttar Pradesh.

35.  Wing Commander Pooja Thakur has become the first woman officer to lead the ceremonial Guard of Honour at Rashtrapathi Bhavan

36. National Voters Day observed on 25th January every year

37. Poetess Arundhathi Subramaniam has won the inaugural Khushwant Singh Memorial Prize for Poetry. She has been conferred this prize for her work When God is a Traveller. Her name was announced at a prize ceremony held at Jaipur Literature Festival.

38. Queen Elizabeth II Now Oldest Living Monarch in World.

39. The High Level Committee (HLC) for Restructuring of Food Corporation of India (FCI) chaired by Shanta Kumar has submitted its report to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

-Some Recommendations of Shanta Kumar Committee On procurement related issues:   
-FCI should hand over all procurement operations of wheat, paddy and rice to Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Punjab as they have sufficient experience and reasonable infrastructure for procurement. 
-FCI procurement should focus on eastern belt, where farmers do not get minimum support price.
 


40.Saraswathi Menon, an eminent Indian academician has been named on advisory panel to Review UN Peace-Building Architecture.
- She is among seven experts nominated by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to conduct a policy and institutional review on UN’s peace-building architecture and make recommendations.

41. Jhumpa Lahiri wins DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2015

 42. Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz has passed away. He was 93-year old patriarch. Abdullah’s brother Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is his successor and new King of Saudi Arabia. Salman in turn, has named his half-brother Muqrin as the new crown prince and his heir.

43. Prof Kaptan Singh Solanki sworn-in as governor of Punjab

 44. Union Government has launched ambitious Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao(BBBP) campaign to save and empower girl child. Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Panipat in Haryana.

45. Periyar Tiger Reserve located in Kerala has won the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) biennial award for encouraging local public participation in managing the reserve
 46. Union government has launched a Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) scheme to preserve and rejuvenate the rich cultural heritage of the country. 

-Union governments ambitious Rs 500 crore HRIDAY project was launched by Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu in New Delhi.

- In the initial phase, 12 heritage cities have been identified which will be rejuvenated and developed under HRIDAY. 

-The 12 cities are:  Amritsar, Varanasi, Gaya, Puri, Ajmer, Mathura, Dwarka, Badami, Velankanni, Kanchipuram, Warangal and Amaravati.

47. Cyberabad Police Commissioner (PC) CV Anand has been conferred with the Election Commission of India’s (ECI’s) National Special Category Award for the Best Electoral Practices- 2014.
- He has been bestowed this award for the commendable election related measures taken by him in the area of ‘Expenditure Monitoring and Tackling Money Power’ during the General Elections of 2014.

48. EU decides to lift ban on import of mangoes from India
EU had imposed temporary ban on import of mangoes from in 1 May 2014 after authorities in Brussels found consignments of the premium Alphonso mangoes infested with fruit flies.

49. Punjab government has launched e-stamping project in the state. It was launched by state Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal. 
-This project seeks to computarise revenue departments of the state in order to remove malpractices and end leakage of government revenue. It also seeks to make revenue transactions safe and secure.

50. Union Government has launched Management Information System (MIS) to check progress and implementation of Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana (DAY) scheme in different states.

- MIS aims to check real time progress on skill development and enhancing livelihood opportunities for urban poor under DAY scheme. It was launched by Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) Minister M Venkaiah Naidu.


51. ndia ranked 78th globally in Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) 2014 list of 93 countries in terms of talent competitiveness of its human capital.
52.  India’s Tigers population increases by 30% since 2011 

53. According to the United Nations World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2015 report, India’s growth in terms of GDP is expected to reach 5.9 per cent in 2015 and 6.3 per cent in 2016. 

54. Filmmaker Pahlaj Nihalani was appointed chairperson -Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

55. The World Future Energy Summit 2015 held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

56. Indian-American Frank Islam presented with Martin Luther King Award

 57. According to US scientists, year 2014 was the hottest year on record, with global average temperature increasing about 0.8 degrees Celsius since 1880. It was revealed by two separate analyses carried out by NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

58. South African cricketer AB de Villiers hits fastest century in ODIs

 59. Andhra Pradesh government has signed a pact with the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) to boost sustainable farming in the state.

 60. 5th General Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) held in Abu Dhabi.

61. Viktor Troicki of Serbia has won the men’s single title of Sydney International Tennis tournament 2015.

62.  Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic has won the women’s single title of Sydney International Tennis tournament 2015.

63.irst indigenously-built Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas was handed over to the Indian Air Force (IAF) by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar at ceremony held at Bengaluru, Karanataka.

 64. Union Government has launched Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes Scheme to encourage budding and existing entrepreneurs from Scheduled Castes (SCs)

Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) Limited will be the Sponsor this scheme. While, Settler and Asset Management Company (AMC) will be nodal agency to operate the scheme.

65. Tribal Food Festival-2015 held in New Delhi. It was inaugurated by Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram. It was a 3 day event organized by Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) on behalf of the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

66. India’s Sania Mirza along with her American partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands has won doubles title at the Sydney International Tennis Tournament 2015. 
-Indo-American in the finals defeated top-seeded Americans Abigail Spears and Raquel Kops-Jones by score of 6-3, 6-3. It should be noted that it was fifth WTA title won by Sania and Bethanie together as partner. 
-While, this win is Sania’s first title of the season and 23rd of her career.

67. A British-built space probe Beagle 2 has been found on the surface of Mars, 11 years after it was thought that it was lost on Mars. 

-It was discovered in the high-resolution images taken by HiRISE camera mounted on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

68.Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has been selected for National e-Governance award 2014-15 for its best district level initiative in the country. J&K state has been selected for this award by Department of Administrative Reforms for its e-Panchayat project.

 69.Haryana government announces yoga guru Ramdev its brand ambassador

 70. President Pranab Mukherjee has appointed Harishankar Brahma as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India.

 71.Army Day observed on 15 January.

72. India’s open water swimmer Bhakti Sharma has set a new world record by swimming 1.4 miles in 52 minutes in one degree temperature in the Antarctic Ocean. 

-She has bettered the earlier record of British open water swimmer Lewis Pugh and American swimmer Lynne Cox. She is also the first Asian girl and youngest in the world to achieve this feat.

73. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has handed over Resident Identity Card (RIC) readers to Navy Chief Admiral R K Dhowan and Coast Guard Director General Vice-Admiral A G Thapliyal. 

-As part of RIC Scheme, these maritime security gadgets will be used by security agencies to check identity cards of the residents of coastal areas issued under RIC Scheme. 

-Government had issued more than 65 lakh people mainly residents of coastal villages with identity cards as per RIC Scheme under the National Population Registrar.

74. Eminent Sanskrit scholar Prabhu Nath Dwivedi has been conferred with prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award 2014 for Sanskrit language.

75. M.Y.S. Prasad, director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota Range (SHAR),  selected for the prestigious Vikram Sarabhai memorial award 2014-15.

76. Pope Francis has declared 17th century Indian priest and missionary Joseph Vaz as saint in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

 77. The team of ISRO’s Mars Mission has been awarded 2015 Space Pioneer Award in the Science and Engineering category by National Space Society (NSS).

 78.  Union Urban Development Ministry, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Bill and Milinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) have agreed to partner in Swachh Bharat programme.

 79. Railway Ministry has flagged off India’s first compressed natural gas (CNG) powered train between Rewari and Rohtak in Haryana. It was flagged off by Union Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu at Rewari junction of the Northern Railway zone. 

80. British magazine has named RBI Governor and well-known economist Raghuram Rajan as the Governor of the Year in the Central Banking Awards for 2015.

 81. Well-known Hindi scholar and writer Dr Kamal Kishore Goyanka has been selected for the prestigious Vyas Samman for the year 2014. 

-He has been chosen for this award for his research work ‘Premchand Kee Kahaniyo Kaa Kaalkramanusar Adhyayan’.

82. Government appoints Alur Seelin Kiran Kumar as ISRO chairman.

83. India and Bangladesh inaugurated third border haat in Srinagar-Purba on the Tripura-Bangladesh border.

 84. Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha was appointed Chief Justice of Bangladesh by President Mohammad Abdul Hamid. With this appointment, he has become the first Hindu to hold highest judicial post  in the Muslim-majority country.

 85. Cristiano Ronaldo wins FIFA Ballon d’Or award for the third time

 86. Eminent Economist Arvind Panagariya has taken charge as first Vice-Chairman of the newly-created National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog on 13 January 2015.

87. Sun Temple at Konark, Odhisa has been the coveted with Adarsh Monument tag by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

- Along with Sun Temple, three other monuments of eastern India were given Adarsh Monument tag.

- They are Hazarduari Palace in Murshidabad district of West Bengal. Vaishali-Kolhua in Bihar. Rang Ghar in Sibsagar (Sivasagar) district of Assam

88. Idukki district of Kerala has become first district in India to have high speed Rural Broadband Network i.e. National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) Internet connectivity.

89. Union Government has appointed Pournima Gupte as member (actuary) of Insurance Regulatory Authority of India (IRDA).

 90. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has adopted 4 villages in Vadodara district in Gujarat as part of the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana. He has adopted following 4 villages of Vadodara district: 
-Karnali village 
-Pipaliya village 
-Valida village 
-Baglipura village.

91. Tennis living legend Roger Federer has recorded 1000 titles wins in men’s professional circuit career

 92. In India, January 12 is being observed as National Youth Day. This day marks birth anniversary of social reformer, philosopher and thinker Swami Vivekananda.

93. United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon inaugurated Gujarat’s second canal-top 10-MW solar power project. 

-It is located on 5.5 km stretch of Vadodara branch of Sardar Sarovar project canal. 

-It is implemented by Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL)

94.  People from 11 countries have taken part in First Buddha Heritage Walk in Bihar. 

-In this heritage walk over 500 pilgrims from 11 countries walked through a 13-km-long forest trail. They walked through the trail which Lord Gautam Buddha had taken to reach Rajgir from Bodh Gaya around 2,543 years ago. 
-It was organized by Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation (BSTDC). Buddhist monks from Japan, China, South Korea, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brazil, and India took part in it.

95. Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully tested an advanced electronic warfare (EW) suite. It was tested onboard of the country’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas-PV1.


96. World Hindi Day is being observed on 10 January every year.

97. Appointment Committee of the Cabinet has appointed senior bureaucrat Sindhushree Khullar as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NITI Aayog. 

-She will serve in the post for one year starting from 1st January. She is 1975-batch officer of the Indian Administrative Service’s (IAS) Union Territories cadre. 

-She had retired from the service in March 2013. Earlier, she was member-secretary of Planning Commission.

98. 3 day Flamingo Festival has begun at the famous brackish water of Lake Pulicat in Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary located at Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh. It will be hosted in Doravari Satram mandal, in Nellore district.

99. Chinese Physicist Yu Min awarded State Preeminent Science and Technology Award 2014

 100. Union Government has merged Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) card-holders with Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) card-holders. 

-Union Home Ministry in this regard has issued notification mentioning that all PIO card-holders henceforth are deemed to be OCI card-holders with effect from 9th January 2015. Thus, withdrawing PIO cards with immediate an effect. Now only OCI cards facility with enhanced benefits will exist to provide maximum possible benefits to Indian Diaspora. 
-This notification was announced on the concluding day of 13th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas.

101. Aziz Qureshi sworn in as Governor of Mizoram.

102. NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has achieved a big milestone after it had discovered 1000 exoplanet. In order to achieve this milestone, planet hunting telescope had continuously monitored more than 150,000 stars beyond our solar system.

103. 19th National Youth Festival held in Guwahati, Assam. This festival coincides with the 152nd birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. Theme of this edition of youth festival is Youth for Clean, Green and Progressive India. It aims to spread to spread national integration and harmony.


104. ICICI Bank launches India’s first contactless credit and debit cards

 105. Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan is appointed as the brand ambassador for health sector in Andhra Pradesh.

 106. Union cabinet meeting has approved setting up of India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) project in Bodi West Hills, Tamil Nadu.  This cabinet meeting was headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

 107. Central government has launched the sale of subsidised 5-kg LPG cylinders scheme for Below Poverty Line (BPL) families and others. It was launched by Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in Bhubaneswar, Odhisa.

 108. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched National Programme for LED-based Home and Street Lighting in New Delhi for energy conservation by reducing energy consumption. 

-Along with this programme, PM launched scheme for Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulb distribution under the Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP) and a web-based system to enable consumers in Delhi to register requests for procuring LED bulbs under DELP.

109. Sutirtha Bhattacharya has taken charge as full-time Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Coal India Limited (CIL).

110. International Hindi Conference-2015 (अंतर्राष्ट्रीय हिंदी सम्मलेन-2015) will be hosted by New Jersey, United States in April 2015.

111. Freedom fighter and National Flag designer Pingali Venkayya was honoured by naming All India Radio(AIR) Vijayawada (in Andhra Pradesh) building after him.

 112. Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) Bank has launched its own version of Digital Village Project by adopting entire Akodara Village in Sabarkantha district of Gujarat.

 113. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has decided to prepare a Tea Atlas in India’s North Eastern State Assam. This atlas seeks to create a comprehensive database of the tea gardens and socio-economic condition of its workers in state.

114. Andy Murray has won the ATP World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi.

 115. Union Government has extended the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 for another one year in Assam and has declared the entire ‘state of Assam’ as a ‘Disturbed Area’.
 
116.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the Indian Science Congress 2015 at the Mumbai University. It is the 102nd edition of this congress and Mumbai is hosting it again after the gap of 45 years.

 117. Union Sports Ministry has given nod to Boxing India (BI) as the new governing body for the sport. In this regard, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports (Department of Sports) – Government of India has given the nod as it is a recognised member of the International Boxing Association (AIBA).

 118. IAS officer R K Srivastava took over as the new chairman of Airports Authority of India (AAI)

 119. Central Government has appointed A.K. Mittal as Chairman of Railway Board. His name was cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister.

 120. Delhi police has launched women safety mobile application ‘Himmat’. It was launched by the Union home minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi.

 121. Union government has renamed Planning commission as National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog.

 Key Facts about  National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog 

-It will serve as a ‘Think Tank’ of the government i.e. a directional and policy dynamo. 

-It will also provide governments at the central and state levels with relevant strategic and technical advice across the spectrum of key elements of policy formulation. 

-This includes matters of national and international import on the economic front, dissemination of best practices from within the country as well as from other nations, the infusion of new policy ideas and specific issue-based support 

-It will work towards the following objectives Evolve a shared vision of national development priorities Foster cooperative federalism Develop mechanisms to formulate credible plans at the village level Focus on technology upgradation, among other things. Composition Chairperson– Prime Minister.

- Governing Council– It will consist of- Chief Ministers (of States) and Lt. Governors (of Union Territories). 

Regional Council- It will be formed on need basis. It will compromise Chief Ministers (of States) and Lt. Governors (of Union Territories). 

-Vice-Chairperson- To be appointed by the Prime Minister.

- Members– Full time Basis. 
-Part time members– Maximum of 2. 

-They will from leading universities research organizations and other relevant institutions on a rotational basis. 

-Ex Officio members- Maximum of 4 members of the Union Council of Ministers to be nominated by the Prime Minister. 
-Special invitees- They will be nominated by the Prime Minister and will be experts, specialists and practitioners with relevant domain knowledge as special invitees. 

-Chief Executive Officer- Appointed by the Prime Minister for a fixed tenure, in the rank of Secretary to the Government of India.

- Secretariat– If deemed necessary.

122. Tropical storm Jangmi has hit Surigao del Sur province on northern Mindanao in Philippines. This tropical storm is locally is known as Seniang.

 123. IAS officer M Sathiyavathy has become first woman to be appointed as Director General (DG) of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). 

-She will succeed Prabhat Kumar, to become first woman to become the chief aviation regulator for period of three years till 2017.

124. Government has signed a loan agreement with Asian Development Bank (ADB) for 75 million dollars and 1.8 million dollar grant for Karnataka Integrated Urban Water Management Investment Program (KIUWMIP). 


-This loan fund will be used in the three towns of Byadagi, Davanagere and Harihar of Karnataka under the KIUWMIP.

- This loan seeks to expand and upgrade: urban water supply and sanitation infrastructure, improve water resource planning, monitoring and service delivery, and strengthen operational and administrative capacity in these towns.

125. 13th Pune International Film Festival (PIFF)  held at Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad in Maharashtra from January 8 to 15. This edition of film festival will focus on the theme “War against War”.

126. Tamu Lhochhar festival observed in Nepal on 30th December

 127. Losar festival celebrated in Ladakh.

   
 

 

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