14th-16th January, 2023

1. India and the United States have established a New Working Group to build sustainable supply chains and boost bilateral trade.
2. Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the world’s longest river cruise named Ganga Vilas from Varanasi to Dibrugarh in Assam.
3. Indian Railways is going to run its Bharat Gaurav Deluxe AC Tourist Train on a very special tour “Shri Ram-Janaki Yatra: Ayodhya to Janakpur” covering two most significant pilgrimage sites Ayodhya and Janakpur from the neighbouring countries India and Nepal.
4. Central Govt is planning to launch a five-year National Urban Technology Mission to infuse technological innovations in municipal services and infrastructure of 4,500 urban local bodies in the country.
5. Indian Army and Uttarakhand has signed an MOU for CLAW (Conquest land air and water) Global for the first edition of the ‘Soul of Steel’ challenge.
6. India will establish a Global South Centre of Excellence to undertake research on development solutions for developing countries.
7. IG Drones startup has developed India’s first 5G-enabled drone named Skyhawk, that is capable of vertical take-off and landing.
8. Central Govt has announced to set up India’s first Centre of Excellence in Online Gaming in Shillong, Meghalaya by March 2023 to help startups from the North-East region to build next generation online gaming apps and softwares.
9. Central Govt has announced to launch the 4th phase of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY 0) to train roughly 1,45,050 youth in the North East region of the country.
10. Vidisha, a district of Madhya Pradesh, is the first district ever in India for on-ground implementation of ground-breaking 5G use cases proposed by startups.
11. Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has restored the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) for Himachal Pradesh government employees with immediate effect.
12. Tamil Nadu Assembly has adopted the Tamil Nadu Government Servants (Conditions of Service) Act, 2016 to make Tamil language paper compulsory for recruitment to the State government services.
13. Tripura government has launched a special education programme called ‘Saharsh’ in an effort to encourage social and emotional learning.
14. Rajasthan has implemented the first-ever policy for blindness control in the country to ensure the “Right to Sight”.
15. The bull-taming sport of Jallikattu, also known as ‘Eru Thazhuvuthal’ and ‘Mancuvirattu’, has begun in Madurai district, Tamil Nadu on the occasion of Mattu Pongal.
16. Indian Coast Guard (ICG) ship ‘Kamla Devi’, the Fast Patrol Vessel (FPV), built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), has been delivered to the Indian Coast Guard.
17. Mumbai-based hi-tech engineering company Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has signed an MOU with the Norway-based H2Carrier (H2C) to develop floating green ammonia projects for industrial-scale applications.
18. World Health Organization (WHO) has urged all nations in South-East Asia to take urgent measures against measles.
19. Swedish mining company LKAB has found Europe’s largest known deposit of rare earth elements.
20. Two day-long ‘Think-20’ meeting will be held under G20, to discuss various topics, including ‘Global Governance with LiFE, Values, and Wellbeing’ in Bhopal.
21. United Nations Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) has released the “Levels and trends in child mortality” report.
22. UNICEF has released the “Never Forgotten: The situation of stillbirth around the globe” report.
23. According to the UN’s “World Social Report 2023”, the number of people aged 65+ will double from 761 million in 2021 to 1.6 billion in 2050.
24. According to the “Survival of The Richest” report by Oxfam International, India’s top 1% owned more than 40.5% of its total wealth in 2021.
25. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has released the Rural Health Statistics Report 2021-22.
26. UK-based private equity firm Apax Partners sold 4.3% stake in Shriram Finance Ltd through the open market.
27. China’s Alibaba Group has sold about a 3% stake in One97 Communications, the parent entity of leading Indian mobile payments and financial services company Paytm, for ₹1,031 crore through a block deal.
28. State Bank of India (SBI) has launched e-Bank Guarantee (e-BG) facility in association with National e-Governance Services Limited (NeSL).
29. Garuda Aerospace has partnered with the Union Bank of India (UBI) for the Union Kisan Pushpak Scheme.
30. SEBI has allowed alternative investment funds (AIFs) to participate in the Credit Default Swaps (CDS) market as protection buyers and sellers in a bid to facilitate deepening of the domestic corporate bond segment.
31. SEBI has allowed mutual funds with active Equity-Linked Savings Schemes (ELSS) to launch passive schemes to provide a cost-effective and tax-saving alternative to individual investors.
32. India and China bilateral trade reached all-time high of $135.98 billion in 2022.
33. Jio-BP, a fuels and mobility joint venture between Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and UK-based BP, will build EV charging infrastructure for India unit of French automobile manufacturer named
34. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Group (SMBC Bank) of Japan and Oaktree Capital Management are among those that have submitted expressions of interest (EoIs) for the strategic stake sale in IDBI Bank.
35. CII Business Confidence Index has rebounded to its highest reading in almost two years of 67.6 from 62.2 for the October-December quarter.
36. Cognizant has named Ravi Kumar S as the CEO and a member of the Board, replacing Brian Humphries.
37. The government has extended the tenure of managing director (MD) and CEO of Bank of Baroda Sanjiv Chadha till June 2023.
38. January 15 – Army Day; Theme – In Stride with the Future
39. January 16 – National Startup Day
40. S.S. Rajamouli’s RRR won two trophies — Best Foreign Language Film and Best Song for “Naatu Naatu” — at the Critics Choice Awards (CCA).
41. Barcelona Football Club has won the Spanish Super Cup by defeating Real Madrid FC.
42. Indian pair of Yuki Bhambri-Saketh Myneni won Bangkok Open Challenger 2023.
43. Former Union minister and once the Janata Dal (United)’s chief Sharad Yadav passed away.

National News

1. India and the United States have established a New Working Group to build sustainable supply chains and boost bilateral trade.
   • The working group will initially focus on trade facilitation, digitization of customs procedures, issues related to sustainable finance and the scaling up of innovative clean technologies.
2. Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the world’s longest river cruise named Ganga Vilas from Varanasi to Dibrugarh in Assam.
   • This Ganga cruise will sail for 51-days.
3. Indian Railways is going to run its Bharat Gaurav Deluxe AC Tourist Train on a very special tour “Shri Ram-Janaki Yatra: Ayodhya to Janakpur” covering two most significant pilgrimage sites Ayodhya and Janakpur from the neighbouring countries India and Nepal.
   • The tourist train will include the visit of Nandigram, Sitamarhi, Kashi and Prayagraj as added attractions in the tour.
   • The visit of Ayodhya, Sitamarhi and Prayagraj will be covered in the day halt at the destination.
4. Central Govt is planning to launch a five-year National Urban Technology Mission to infuse technological innovations in municipal services and infrastructure of 4,500 urban local bodies in the country.
   • The mission will be spearheaded by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, will have three major sub-heads.
   • The first sub-head is online governance. The second sub-head would be monitoring and efficient management of the environmental infrastructure of 1,000 cities.
   • Under the mission, sewage treatment, air quality, flood management and water bodies of these cities will be monitored through technological interventions.
5. Indian Army and Uttarakhand has signed an MOU for CLAW (Conquest land air and water) Global for the first edition of the ‘Soul of Steel’ challenge.
   • Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, along with several other ministers and Army veterans, launched the ‘Soul of Steel’ challenge in Dehradun on the occasion of Armed Forces Veterans Day (January 14).
   • The ‘Soul of steel’ challenge is a long-distance triathlon held in Europe which tests an individual’s physical capabilities.
   • The Indian Army plans to organize the ‘Soul of steel’ challenge at least once every year. Anyone between the age group of 18-30 can apply for the challenge that would be spread across a duration of three months.
   • As many as 12 Indians will be shortlisted for the challenge and will be divided into two teams of six participants each. A total of six international teams will participate in the endurance challenge.

6. India will establish a Global South Centre of Excellence to undertake research on development solutions for developing countries.
   • The announcement was made during his opening address at the concluding session of the Voice of Global South virtual summit.
7. IG Drones startup has developed India’s first 5G-enabled drone named Skyhawk, that is capable of vertical take-off and landing.
   • The drone can be used in defence and medical applications, among other sectors.
   • IG Drones is incubated by Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (VSSUT) campus in Odisha’s Sambalpur.
8. Central Govt has announced to set up India’s first Centre of Excellence in Online Gaming in Shillong, Meghalaya by March 2023 to help startups from the North-East region to build next generation online gaming apps and softwares.
   • The centre will be established through the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) under the Digital India Startup Hub.
   • Indian online gaming industry will reach $5 billion in
   • The Ministry of Electronics and IT has announced to set up a state-of-the-art facility under the National Institute of Electronics and IT (NIELIT) to provide training on digital skills to the youth of North-East at Shillong.
9. Central Govt has announced to launch the 4th phase of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY 0) to train roughly 1,45,050 youth in the North East region of the country.
   • The Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship under PMKVY 4.0 has set a target to skill around 60,000 youth in Tripura, 35,000 in Nagaland, and 50,000 youth in Meghalaya across a spectrum of approved courses.

State News

1. Vidisha, a district of Madhya Pradesh, is the first district ever in India for on-ground implementation of ground-breaking 5G use cases proposed by startups.
2. Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has restored the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) for Himachal Pradesh government employees with immediate effect.
   • The CM has also approved a monthly allowance of Rs 1,500 to women aged 18-60. The state govt will also generate one lakh job opportunities in a year.
3. Tamil Nadu Assembly has adopted the Tamil Nadu Government Servants (Conditions of Service) Act, 2016 to make Tamil language paper compulsory for recruitment to the State government services.
4. Tripura government has launched a special education programme called ‘Saharsh’ in an effort to encourage social and emotional learning.
   • Launch – August 2022 in 40 schools in the state on pilot basis
   • Purpose – for empowering children to learn with happiness and contribute to empathetic development
   • Expansion – From January 2023, it will be expanded to all schools in the state
   • The social and emotional learning is the process through which children and adults learn the skills they need to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.
5. Rajasthan has implemented the first-ever policy for blindness control in the country to ensure the “Right to Sight”.
   • The policy is in line with the “Nirogi Rajasthan” (Healthy Rajasthan) campaign of the state, which was launched in 2019.
6. The bull-taming sport of Jallikattu, also known as ‘Eru Thazhuvuthal’ and ‘Mancuvirattu’, has begun in Madurai district, Tamil Nadu on the occasion of Mattu Pongal.

Defence News

1. Indian Coast Guard (ICG) ship ‘Kamla Devi’, the Fast Patrol Vessel (FPV), built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), has been delivered to the Indian Coast Guard.
   • ICGS Kamla Devi was commissioned at Kolkata.

Memorandum of Understanding

1. Mumbai-based hi-tech engineering company Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has signed an MOU with the Norway-based H2Carrier (H2C) to develop floating green ammonia projects for industrial-scale applications.

International News

1. World Health Organization (WHO) has urged all nations in South-East Asia to take urgent measures against measles.
   • By 2019, measles vaccination coverage reached an all-time high of 94% for the first dose and 83% for the second dose. However, in 2021, it was reduced to 86% for first dose and 76% for second dose.
   • This reduction leaves 9 million children unvaccinated for measles and around 5.3 million children partially vaccinated.

2. Swedish mining company LKAB has found Europe’s largest known deposit of rare earth elements.
   • These metals are used in the manufacturing of electric cars and wind turbines, as well as magnets, glass screens, speakers and various other electronics.
3. Two day-long ‘Think-20’ meeting will be held under G20, to discuss various topics, including ‘Global Governance with LiFE, Values, and Wellbeing’ in Bhopal.
   • The first Infrastructure Working Group (IWG) Meeting will be held in Pune under India’s G20 Presidency to focus on various facets of making cities economic centres of growth, financing urban infrastructure, and making it future-ready in all aspects.
     • The IWG meeting will focus on “Financing Cities of Tomorrow: Inclusive, Resilient and Sustainable.”

Reports and Indices

1. United Nations Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) has released the “Levels and trends in child mortality” report.
   • As per the report, more than 5 million children under age 5, including 2.3 million new borns, along with 2.1 million children and youth aged 5 to 24 years – 43% of whom are adolescents – died in 2021.
   • Globally, the under-five mortality rate (U5MR) fell to 38 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2021.
   • Children born in sub-Saharan Africa are subject to the highest risk of childhood death in the world with a U5MR of 74 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2021.
2. UNICEF has released the “Never Forgotten: The situation of stillbirth around the globe”
   • As per the report, there are 53 million babies that have been stillborn since 2000.
   • In 2021, a total of 1.9 million babies were stillborn, an unprecedented high record.
   • In 2021, the global stillbirth rate of 13.9 stillbirths per 1,000 total births.
   • Stillbirths were concentrated in a few countries, with the greatest number found in India, followed by Pakistan, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia and Bangladesh.
   • These six countries accounted for almost half of the estimated global number of stillbirths and 36% of global live births in 2021.
   • The region of sub-Saharan Africa has witnessed a shocking increase in the global number of stillbirths from 26% in 2000 to 45% in 2021.
3. According to the UN’s “World Social Report 2023”, the number of people aged 65+ will double from 761 million in 2021 to 6 billion in 2050.
   • Published by – UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs
   • At present, Northern America and Europe has the highest share of old-age people.
   • Northern Africa, Western Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa will witness an increase in the number of old-age people.
   • The countries are advised to invest in the silver economy (Silver Economy is defined as the market that is being developed around the needs of an ageing population, with a focus on innovation.)
4. According to the “Survival of The Richest” report by Oxfam International, India’s top 1% owned more than 40.5% of its total wealth in 2021.
   • The report was released during the World Economic Forum-Davos 2023 on the theme of ‘Cooperation in a Fragmented World’.
5. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has released the Rural Health Statistics Report 2021-22.
   • The report is an annual publication of MoHFW since the year 1992.
   • The report is based on data uploaded by states and union territories on the Health Management Information System (HMIS)
   • As of 31 March, 2022, the report has revealed that each sub-centre (SC) catered to an average of 5,691 people, each Primary Health Centers (PHC) to 36,049 people and each Community Health Centers (CHC) to 1,64,027 people.
   • As per norms, each SC is supposed to cater to a population of 3,000-5,000, each PHC to a population of 20,000-30,000 and each CHC to a population of 80,000-1,20,000.

Banking and Economy

1. UK-based private equity firm Apax Partners sold 3% stake in Shriram Finance Ltd through the open market.

2. China’s Alibaba Group has sold about a 3% stake in One97 Communications, the parent entity of leading Indian mobile payments and financial services company Paytm, for ₹1,031 crore through a block deal.

3. State Bank of India (SBI) has launched e-Bank Guarantee (e-BG) facility in association with National e-Governance Services Limited (NeSL).
   • A bank guarantee is a kind of guarantee from a lending organization. The bank guarantee signifies that the lending institution ensures that the liabilities of a debtor are going to be met. In other words, if the debtor fails to perform the obligation, the bank will cover it.

4. Garuda Aerospace has partnered with the Union Bank of India (UBI) for the Union Kisan Pushpak Scheme.
   • The Kisan Pushpak Scheme has been launched by the Bank to provide loans to farmers for availing loans for 150 Garuda Agri Kisan drones, developed by Garuda Aerospace.

5. SEBI has allowed alternative investment funds (AIFs) to participate in the Credit Default Swaps (CDS) market as protection buyers and sellers in a bid to facilitate deepening of the domestic corporate bond segment.
   • Under the new norm, Category-I and Category-II AIFs can buy CDS on underlying investment in debt securities only for the purpose of hedging, while Category-III AIFs can purchase CDS for hedging or otherwise, within permissible limits.

6. SEBI has allowed mutual funds with active Equity-Linked Savings Schemes (ELSS) to launch passive schemes to provide a cost-effective and tax-saving alternative to individual investors.
   • Earlier, mutual funds were allowed to either launch an actively-managed ELSS scheme or a passively-managed one but not in both categories.
7. India and China bilateral trade reached all-time high of $135.98 billion in 2022.
   • The trade deficit of India touched $100 billion for the first time.
   • Last year, the trade was $125 billion. This year, it has grown by 4%.
8. Jio-BP, a fuels and mobility joint venture between Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and UK-based BP, will build EV charging infrastructure for India unit of French automobile manufacturer named
   • Jio-bp will install DC fast chargers across Citron’s key dealership network and workshops across the country in phases.
9. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Group (SMBC Bank) of Japan and Oaktree Capital Management are among those that have submitted expressions of interest (EoIs) for the strategic stake sale in IDBI Bank.
   • Oaktree is a US alternative assets firm founded by Howard Marks, one of the world’s most formidable distressed debt investors. The stake being sold is held by the Centre and state-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).
   • The government, which owns 45.48% of IDBI Bank, is looking to divest a 30.48% stake in the lender, alongside state-owned Life Insurance Corp of India (LIC), which will sell a 30.24% stake from its holding of 49.24% in the bank.
10. CII Business Confidence Index has rebounded to its highest reading in almost two years of 67.6 from 62.2 for the October-December quarter.

Appointments

1. Cognizant has named Ravi Kumar S as the CEO and a member of the Board, replacing Brian Humphries.
2. The government has extended the tenure of managing director (MD) and CEO of Bank of Baroda Sanjiv Chadha till June 2023.

Important Days

1. January 15 – Army Day; Theme – In Stride with the Future
2. January 16 – National Startup Day
   • The webinar was organized on this day on the theme of “Founders of Today, Leaders of Tomorrow”.

Awards

1. S. Rajamouli’s RRR won two trophies — Best Foreign Language Film and Best Song for “Naatu Naatu” — at the Critics Choice Awards (CCA).

Sports

1. Barcelona Football Club has won the Spanish Super Cup by defeating Real Madrid FC.
2. Indian pair of Yuki Bhambri-Saketh Myneni won Bangkok Open Challenger 2023.

Miscellaneous

1. Former Union minister and once the Janata Dal (United)’s chief Sharad Yadav passed away.

Start Quiz of 14th-16th January 2023 on Mobile

Start Quiz of 14th-16th January 2023 on Desktop