January 14 – 17, 2016 News
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INDIA
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The
indigenously-built third generation, fire-and-forget anti-tank missile, Nag,
scored a “bull’s eye” and successfully hit the target 4 km away during a night
trial in the Mahajan Field Firing Range
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As per the UN
survey on international migrant trends, India has the highest Diaspora
population in 2015
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National Voters
Day on Jan 25; theme: "inclusive and
qualitative participation"; slogan: "no voter should be left behind"
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MoS for Railways,
Mr. Manoj Sinha released a book “Objective
Railway Engineering - Track, Works & Others”
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Actor-director
Kamal Haasan and film-maker Gautam Ghosh were included in the Shyam Benegal
committee set up by the Union government to look into the censor board issues
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The first reactor
of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP), which is being prepared for the second
fuel cycle operation following refuelling, has so far generated 687.50 crore
units of electricity to ensure a whopping revenue of Rs. 1,565 crore
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68th Army Day on
Jan 15, 2016
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Union Government
released Draft for the Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2015
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Prime Minister,
Mr. Narendra Modi launched the "Start-up India" movement in New Delhi
(Jan 16, 2016)
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President, Mr.
Pranab Mukherjee addressed a group of leading Silicon Valley CEOs,
entrepreneurs, technologists and venture capitalists at Rashtrapati Bhavan
(January 15, 2016) on the eve of the launch of “Start-Up India” initiative
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Prime Minister,
Mr. Narendra Modi unveiled the liberal start-up ecosystem; announces fund of
Rs. 10000 crore to be provided over four years
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Start-Up India
will end licence raj, government will be facilitator: Union Finance Minister,
Mr. Arun Jaitley
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Intolerance and
Start - Ups can't go together: Congress Vice President, Mr. Rahul Gandhi
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Union Health
Minister, Mr. J P Nadda launched Mobile Health Services (to Strengthen Public
Health Infrastructure)
(1) Mobile Academy,
(2) Kilkari,
(3) M-Cessation and
(4) TB Missed Call initiative
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The installed
capacity of solar power in India crossed the milestone of 5,000 MW (on Jan 14,
2016); Rajasthan stands first with 1264 MW followed by Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh,
Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra; Government has set the ambitious target of
generating 100 GW of Solar power by 2021 - 2022 under the National Solar
Mission
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As a follow-up to
Prime Minister's exhortation to Secretaries to come up with ideas for
transformative change in various areas of governance, two Groups of Secretaries
presented their ideas and suggestions on (a) Innovative Budgeting and Effective
Implementation (b) Swachh Bharat and Ganga Rejuvenation, to the Prime Minister
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Jan 17 is
National Immunization Day. Around 17.4 crore children of less than five years
across the country will be given polio drops as part of the drive of Government
of India to sustain polio eradication from the country. [India was removed from the list of countries
with active endemic wild poliovirus transmission by WHO on Feb 24, 2012]
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Union Home
Minister, Mr. Rajnath Singh held a day long interaction with the concerned
national intelligence and investigative agencies and law enforcement officers
of 12 State Governments (Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Jammu & Kashmir, Andhra
Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, Karnataka, Madhya
Pradesh and Maharashtra) and the Union Territory of Delhi to discuss issues
relating to DAESH, also known as ISIL or ISIS
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National
Conference on Sustainable Agriculture and Farmers Welfare was inaugurated at
Gangtok, Sikkim
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Operation Cold:
launched by the Border Security Force to contain infiltration from Pakistan
along the international border in Rajasthan
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The first
“Mahila” troop was commissioned into the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in
Panchkula, Haryana
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For first time in
66 years, no camel contingent at R-Day parade
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An expert
committee will be set up to re-examine the National Policy for Farmers (NPF)
amidst growing number of suicides by farmers
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BILATERAL ISSUES
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China-India
Tourism Year-2016 & Chinese Classical Opera of Goddess Marriage, was
launched in New Delhi
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Government of
Nepal formed a 4-member eminent persons group (EPG) to look into India-Nepal
ties in totality and review all bilateral treaties with India.
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4th India -
Africa Hydrocarbons Conference in New Delhi
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For the first
time LCA Tejas flown in foreign airspace to participate in the Bahrain
International Airshow-2016
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STATES SCAN
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Assam: Despite SC
ban, buffalo fights held in some parts of the State on the occasion of Magh
Bihu festival
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Delhi: A woman
threw ink at Chief Minister, Mr. Arvind Kejriwal as he was addressing a
‘thanksgiving’ session to celebrate the success of the Delhi government’s
odd-even scheme; the claimed she was in possession of proof of an alleged ‘CNG
scam’ linked to the odd-even scheme
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Jharkhand is all
set to beat a record held by a flag in Faridabad, Haryana in March 2015 by
getting the world’s largest Tricolour flying atop the country’s tallest
flagpole at the Pahari temple in Ranchi; flag measuring 99 by 66 feet will be
hoisted at a height of 293 feet
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Kerala: first
State to have a start-up policy that included the setting up of Kochi Startup
Village in partnership with the Union Science and Technology Ministry
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Madhya Pradesh:
country’s first “water tourism” will begin in Madhya Pradesh on Feb 12 - 21,
2016 in Hanuwantiya at Indra Sagar Dam (one of Asia’s largest man-made water
reservoirs) with an aim of attracting more tourists to the state
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Uttar Pradesh:
President, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the Shiv Nadar University and
dedicate it to the nation today at Dadri
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Gujarat: AMAETHON
2016 - international agriculture trade summit at IIM, Ahmedabad
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Jharkhand: to set
up fast track courts for trial of witchcraft-related attacks
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Kerala: Union
Human Resource Development Minister, Ms. Smriti Zubin Irani inaugurated the
permanent campus (Phase I) of Indian Institute of Science Education and
Research (IISER) at Vithura near Thiruvananthapuram.
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Madhya Pradesh
(MP) Government signed four MOUs with Singapore to collaborate in urban
planning, skill development, clean energy and food processing
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Madhya Pradesh:
Chief Minister, Mr. Shivraj Chouhan was awarded with Lee Kuan Yew Exchange
Fellowship for his contribution in development and international harmony
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Maharashtra:
Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar launched two
initiatives SAMEEP and B-Safe by Mumbai Railway Police
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Maharashtra:
Union Minister for Shipping, Mr. Nitin Gadkari inaugurated the second chemical
berth of Mumbai Port
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Maharashtra: 89th
Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan at Pune (Maharashtra's biggest literary
event)
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Odisha: decided
to bring Plus II education under the Mass Education department from the
existing Higher Education department from the 2016-17 academic Year
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Sikkim crowned as
India’s first “fully Organic State”; formal announcement was made by Prime
Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi at sustainable agriculture conference in Gangtok on
January 18
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There are a lot
that the rest of the country could learn from Sikkim: Union Minister for
Agriculture, Mr. Radha Mohan Singh
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Telangana:
government imposed complete ban on procuring, stocking, selling and use of
nylon thread, commonly known as Chinese dor (also referred to as Chinese
manja), used to fly kites during Sankranti festival
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Telangana:
government to offer a road-river-road circuit which promises combination of a
long drive, a pilgrimage, a glimpse of the forest and wildlife and a river
cruise with lunch on board
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The High Level
Committee (HLC) of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) sanctioned 791
crore rupees to the drought affected Telangana.
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TAMIL NADU
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Tamil Nadu
Government Awards (Kamaraj Award, Thiruvalluvar Award, etc) given to the
recipients
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99th birth
anniversary of former Chief Minister, Mr. M. G. Ramachandran (M.G.R) observed
on Jan 17, 2016
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Defying the
Supreme Court ban on conducting jallikattu, organisers in some interior
villages went ahead with the event
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AROUND THE WORLD
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World Health
Organisation declared an end to the deadliest Ebola outbreak ever after no new
cases emerged in Liberia
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Saudi Arabia has
reopened its embassy in Baghdad after a closure that lasted 25 years; The
kingdom closed the embassy in 1990, after Saddam Hussein ordered an invasion of
Saudi ally Kuwait
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Ms. Tsai Ing -
Wen is the new President of Taiwan; becomes the first woman President of Taiwan
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Indonesia:
Project Loon kick started; becomes third country to avail this facility from
Google after New Zealand and Australia
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USA removed a
wide range of sanctions against Iran after International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) confirmed that Iran has met its commitments to roll back its nuclear
programme
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ECONOMICS
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Senior CEOs from
the Republic of Korea called on the Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi. They are
in New Delhi for the Indo-Korea Business Summit
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India signed a
loan agreement with World Bank here for the Neeranchal National Watershed
Project. The project to be implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development
over a six-year period (2016-21) will support the Pradhan Mantri Krishi
Sinchayi Yojana in hydrology and water management, agricultural production
systems, capacity building and monitoring and evaluation
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India on track to
register entire population using Aadhaar: World Bank
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As per the World
Bank lending report, India is the largest recipient of loans from the World
Bank, amounting to $102.1 billion, between 1945 and 2015 (as on July 21, 2015).
The World Bank has been lending funds to India for rural and urban development
projects related to transport, water and irrigation, health, power and
agriculture.
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Capgemini
appoints Srinivas Kandula as CEO of India operation
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Global logistics
provider DHL Express has designated Ken Lee as its Chief Executive Officer for
Asia Pacific region.
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Idea Cellular,
the country's third largest telco by subscribers, has expanded its 4G footprint
with the launch of services across Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and
Punjab. It had earlier launched services across all five southern states
-Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana -to take on its
bigger rivals Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India
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Cochin Port Trust
and CONCOR have entered into a MoU for the running of weekly container train
service from Irugur ICD, Coimbatore to ICTT Vallarpadam, Cochin Port
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China - led Asian
Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) opened for business (on Jan 16, 2016)
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World Bank and
the Indian Railways will work together to create a Railway Development Fund
that will partly finance the $142 billion investment plans for the core
infrastructure plans
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Due to the slow
progress in execution of reform policies, United Nations has reduced its GDP
growth forecast for India for 2016 to 7.5% from 8.2%
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46th World
Economic Forum Meeting at Davos, Switzerland from Jan 20 - 23, 2016
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SPORTS
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Sydney
International 2016: Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis won the women's doubles
title; This is the Indo-Swiss pair's 30th win in a row, second title of 2016
and 11th overall
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Sydney
International 2016: Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia won the Women's Singles; Viktor
Troicki downs Grigor Dimitrov to retain Sydney International title
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Ronaldinho
announced as Brand Ambassador of Nagjee International Club Football Tournament
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Usain Bolt
supports IAAF for clean-up, opposes scrapping world records
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Service and Railways
emerged as championships in Men's and Women's category respectively in the
Senior National Basketball Championships
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14th Delhi
International Open chess title: Russia's Ivan Popov won
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Torch Relay of
the 12th South Asian Games, 2016 was held at Major Dhyan Chand National
Stadium, Delhi; India is hosting the 12th South Asian Games, 2016 in Guwahati
and Shillong from Feb 05 - 16, 2016
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Delhi Acers
crowned champion of PBL - 2016 by defeating Mumbai Rockets in the final
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MISC
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UNICEF presented
David Beckham with Danny Kaye Humanitarian Leadership Award
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NASA’s Juno
mission to Jupiter broke the record to become humanity’s most distant
solar-powered emissary, when the spacecraft reached about 793 million
kilometres from the Sun; Juno will arrive at Jupiter on July 4 this year;
Launched in 2011, NASA's Juno is the first solar-powered spacecraft designed to
operate at such a great distance from the Sun
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Indian-American
professor (Sukanya Chakrabarti) developed Galacto-Seismic method to hunt Dark
Matter
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Prime Minister, Mr.
Narendra Modi has pipped actor Shah Rukh Khan to become second most followed
Indian on social media site Twitter. Actor Amitabh Bachchan is the most
followed Indian on Twitter [Mr. Narendra Modi is the most followed Indian
politician, and the second most followed politician in the world, right after
US President Mr. Barack Obama]
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Astronomers have
discovered the most luminous supernova, called ASAS - SN - 15th, which is up to
50 times brighter than the entire Milky Way galaxy
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BOOKS
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2016 DSC Prize
for South Asian Literature conferred upon Anuradha Roy for her novel "Sleeping on Jupiter"
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The Hindu Lit For
Life 2016 held in Chennai
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Ms. Easterine
Kire, poet, novelist and children's writer from Nagaland won the Hindu Prize
2015 for her novel "When the River
Sleeps"
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The Hindu Young
World-Goodbooks Awards 2016, the first Indian awards to promote excellence in
Indian children’s books, were presented
(1) Sujatha Padmanabhan for "Bumboo...The Donkey who would not budge"
(2) Prbha Mallya for "The Alphabet of Animals and Birds"
(3) Venita Coelho for "Dad as a Dodo"
(4) Vishakha Chanchani for "The house that Sonabai built"
Jan 11 – 13 Jan 14 – 17
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