NATIONAL UPDATES:
1. Om Birla Inaugurates All India Presiding Officers’ Conference in Patna: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has inaugurated the 85th All India Presiding Officers’ Conference (AIPOC) in Patna.The two-day conference is being held on ’75th Anniversary of Constitution: Contribution of Parliament and State legislative bodies in strengthening constitutional values’.This was the third time the state was hosting the programme after a gap of 43 years.
2. Mizoram become first state in Northeast to Distributed Property Cards: Mizoram, the “first among the northeastern states”, has distributed property cards under the Centre’s village survey scheme to 2,909 beneficiaries since April 2023.1,754 property cardholders from 18 villages in the state were among 65 lakh beneficiaries across 10 states and two Union Territories (UT).The Survey of Villages Abadi and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas (SVAMITVA), a scheme of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, provides a ‘Record of Rights’ to village household owners with the issuance of legal ownership cards to property owners by mapping land parcels using drone technology.The SVAMITVA scheme was launched by the prime minister on April 24, 2020. The scheme aimed at creating records of rights in revenue documents for inhabited areas in villages using drone and GIS technology.
3. NIXI announces Internet Governance Internship & Capacity Building Scheme: The National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) has launched the Internet Governance Internship and Capacity Building Scheme. The program aims to build awareness and develop expertise in internet governance (IG) among Indian citizens.The program aims to equip participants with the knowledge to effectively engage in global internet governance processes with I-Star organisations like Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Internet Society or Information Security Operations Center (ISOC), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and collaborate closely with leading experts in the field.The National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) announced the launch of its Internet Governance Internship and Capacity Building Scheme. This programme aims to build awareness and develop expertise in internet governance (IG) among Indian citizens. The programme offers a bi-annual internship with two parallel tracks: a six-month programme and a three-month programme.
4. 20 January – National Penguin Awareness Day: National Penguin Awareness Day is observed annually on 20 January to raise awareness about penguins, their natural habitats, and the challenges they face due to climate change, habitat destruction, and pollution.The day emphasizes the importance of protecting penguin species, many of which are endangered or at risk due to melting ice caps, overfishing, and ocean pollution.
INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:
1. Sarala Aviation unveils prototype for India’s first air taxi: Sarala Aviation, a Bengaluru-based startup unveiled its prototype air taxi, Shunya, at the Bharat Mobility Global Expo.The company aims to launch the electric flying taxis in Bengaluru by 2028 to become the first to introduce urban air transport in India.The Shunya prototype is designed for short trips of 20-30 kms and can reach speeds of upto 250 kmph. The vehicle can accommodate up to six passengers and carry a maximum load of 680 kg, it the highest payload eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) vehicle currently on the market.About Sarla AviationSarla Aviation was founded by Adrian Schmidt, Rakesh Gaonkar, and Shivam Chauhan in October 2023.
2. Nigeria admitted as partner country of BRICS bloc: Nigeria has been admitted as a “partner country” of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, according to Brazil, the group’s chair.BRICS was formed by Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2009, with South Africa added in 2010, as a counterweight to the Group of Seven (G-7) leading industrialised nations.In 2023, the bloc added Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the UAE, while Saudi Arabia has been invited to join.Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia have formally applied to become BRICS members, while a few others have also expressed interest.Nigeria becomes the ninth BRICS partner country, joining Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, and Uzbekistan.
3. Donald Trump Takes Oath as 47th President of United States: Donald Trump has been sworn in as the 47th President of the United States, taking the oath of office for his second term.Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath at the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, DC.JD Vance took the oath as Vice President, administered by Justice Brett Kavanaugh. At 40, Vance became the 50th vice president and the third youngest in US history.External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar represented India at the event, which was attended by several foreign leaders, including Argentina’s President Javier Milei, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, and former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
OTHER UPDATES:
DEFENCE
1. G.P. Singh appointed as Chief of CRPF: Assam police chief Gyanendra Pratap Singh has been appointed Director General of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).Singh is a 1991-batch Indian Police Service officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre.Senior IPS officer Vitul Kumar has been holding officiating charge of the force after the retirement of Anish Dayal Singh on December 31, 2024.Singh, who was earlier posted in the National Investigation Agency (NIA), was sent to Assam as the additional DGP in 2019 in the wake of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) agitation. He later assumed charge as the DGP.
SPORTS
1. Viktor Axelsen, An Se-Young Claim India Open Titles: Olympic champions Viktor Axelsen and An Se-young secured the men’s and women’s singles crowns respectively with dominating wins in lop-sided finals at the India Open Super 750 badminton tournament in New Delhi.Axelsen, a 2017 and 2019 winner, prevailed 21-16 21-8 over last year’s finalist Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong in the men’s singles summit clash, at the KD Jadhav indoor hall which was almost full despite the fact that no Indian was competing in the two finals.In the women’s doubles final, Japan’s Arisa Igarashi and Ayako Sakuramoto beat Kim Hye Jang and Kong Hee Young of South Korea 21-15 21-13. This is only the third tournament together for the Japanese combination with Igarashi, formerly known as Arisa Higashino, making a successful shift to women’s doubles from mixed doubles.In the mixed doubles final, China’s Jiang Zhen Bang and Wei Ya Xin prevailed 21-18 21-17 over French combination of Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
1. Dr. Jitendra Singh dedicates India’s 1st of its kind CSIR Innovation complex in Mumbai: Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh dedicated India’s 1st of its kind CSIR Innovation complex through virtual mode in Mumbai.In order to boost innovation, industry collaboration and employment generation the 6 memorandum of association signed between CSIR and 6 prestigious institutes such as IIT Bombay, icreate, NRDC.The IC Mumbai, spread over nine floors, is equipped with 24 “ready-to-move” incubation labs and furnished office/ networking spaces for innovative start-ups, MSMEs and industry and CSIR labs.
2. India boosts telecom connectivity with Sanchar Saathi App and NBM 2.0 launch: Union Minister of Communications Jyotiraditya M. Scindia has unveiled a series of initiatives, including the Sanchar Saathi Mobile App, the National Broadband Mission (NBM) 2.0, and the inauguration of the Intra Circle Roaming (ICR) facility at Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN)-funded 4G mobile sites.NBM 2.0 aims to connect the remaining 170,000 villages across the country.Launched in 2019, the NBM had targeted broadband access to all villages by 2022 through the laying of an incremental 30 lakh km of optical fibre cable and increase in tower density from 0.42 to 1.0 tower per thousand of population by 2024.
BANKING AND FINANCE
1. IMF retains India’s economic growth outlook at 6.5 % over next 2 Financial Years: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has maintained India’s growth to be solid at 6.5 percent for the next two fiscal years 2025-26 or FY26 and 2026-27 or FY27, as projected in October in an update to its World Economic Outlook released.Meanwhile, Global growth is projected at 3.3 percent both in 2025 and 2026 as per IMF, below the historical average of 3.7 percent.The 2025 forecast remains largely unchanged from the October 2024 World Economic Outlook, with an upward revision for the United States balancing declines in other major economies.
2. HSBC India gets RBI approval to open 20 new branches in 20 cities: HSBC India, the Indian arm of London-headquartered HSBC, has received approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to open 20 branches across 20 cities.With the addition of 20 branches, HSBC India’s branches in the country will reach 46. In 2016 HSBC had 50 branches in the country before it decided to shut down 26. Opening branches is a clear shift in strategy.The cities in which HSBC India will open branches are Amritsar, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Dehradun, Faridabad, Indore, Jalandhar, Kanpur, Ludhiana, Lucknow, Mysuru, Nagpur, Nashik, Navi Mumbai, Patna, Rajkot, Surat, Thiruvananthapuram, Vadodara, and Vishakhapatnam.These locations were chosen for their growing wealth pools, targeting affluent, high-net-worth, and ultra-high-net-worth individuals with domestic and international banking and wealth management needs.
AWARDS AND HONOURS
1. Urbasi Sinha Wins Gates-Cambridge Impact Prize 2025: Prof Urbasi Sinha, a faculty member in the Light and Matter Physics team at the Raman Research Institute (RRI) in Bengaluru, was awarded the Gates-Cambridge Impact Prize 2025.Professor Sinha plays a pivotal role in India’s ‘National Quantum Mission,’ an initiative aimed at propelling the country to the forefront of global quantum innovation. Her leadership is instrumental in fostering research and development in quantum technologies, aligning with national objectives to enhance technological competitiveness.The award ceremony took place in Cambridge, UK, and was hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.The Gates-Cambridge Impact Prize was established to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Gates-Cambridge Scholarship programme.
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