Banking and Financial Awareness:
- IndusInd Bank and Dynamics Inc. announced their plan to introduce the first battery-powered Interactive Payment Cards at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
- The World Economic Forum (WEF) has launched Global Manufacturing Index which is topped by Japan.
- IRFC’s Green Bonds: India INX lists 1st Debt Security at IFSC.
- Amplus Energy Solutions announced entering into a pact with private sector lender Yes Bank for the strategic tie-up to co-finance projects in the solar energy space in India.
- HDFC Bank Becomes 1st Indian Bank to Cross Rs5 trillion Market Capitalisation.
- Bank of Baroda Partners with Invoicemart as a TReDS Partner.
- IDFC Bank, Capital First to merge in Share Swap Deal.
Appointments
- Senior Sports Administrator Anil Khanna was named as the Chairman of the Finance Commission of the IOA (Indian Olympic Association)
- Market regulator SEBI has approved the appointment of Vijay Kumar as Managing Director and CEO of the country’s largest agri-commodity bourse NCDEX.
Honour and Awards
- Australia captain Steve Smith has been crowned the International Cricket Council's Test Player of the Year for the second time.
- Indian captain Virat Kohli has been honoured twice in the ICC's annual awards.
- Actor Sudhir Dalvi Gets Janakavi P Sawlaram Award
Important News- World
- By providing Internet access to Nepal, China has become the second Internet service provider of Nepal, breaking India's monopoly in doing so.
- American and Japanese military forces have launched joint exercise named Iron Fist.
- Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena reimposed a four-decade-long ban on women buying alcohol, just days after his finance minister had lifted the restriction.
- American and Japanese military forces have launched joint exercise named Iron Fist. The 13th annual Iron Fist exercises kicked off in the U.S. western state of California.
- The third edition of the Raisina Dialogue was held in New Delhi. It was inaugurated by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the 16th of January.
- The two-day International Workshop on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (IWDRI) successfully concluded on the 16th of January, setting the stage for taking the dialogue on resilient infrastructure forward at the global level.
- The 10th edition of Global Forum for Food & Agriculture was held in Berlin, Germany from 18th -20th January 2018.
Obituaries
- Famous Cartoonist Chandi Lahiri passed away after a brief period of illness, marking the end of a chapter in Bengal's history of the cartoon. Lahiri was 86.
- Basketball Hall of Famer Jo Jo White, a two-time NBA champion with the Boston Celtics and an Olympic gold medalist, has passed away.
- Former Union Minister Raghunath Jha Passes Away.
- TV actress Charu Rohatgi, known for her roles in serials like 'Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon?' and 'Uttaran', passed away.
- Baldev Raj, the director of the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bengaluru, and a renowned administrator of nuclear power technologies in the country has passed away. He was 70 years old.
Important News- India
- Fourth ASEAN-India Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and Forestry (AIMMAF) was held on 12th January 2018 in New Delhi, India.
- 5th bilateral meeting on cooperation in the field of Traditional Systems of Medicine between India and Malaysia was held in New Delhi.
- In order to sensitize the people of Delhi about the grave issue of air pollution, the government will begin a two-week awareness campaign (Clean air campaign) from 10th Feb 2018.
- A month-long event of the PCRA (Petroleum Conservation Research Association) ‘Saksham 2018’ will commence on the 16th January 2018 in a mega inaugural function to be held at Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi.
- The Minister of State for Tourism, K J Alphons launched the ‘Incredible India Digital Calendar- 2018’.
- External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Bhutan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Lyonpo Damcho Dorji jointly unveiled the 'Special logo' in India and Bhutan through video-conference.
- India and UK have signed two agreements on the return of the illegal Indian migrants and sharing criminal records and intelligence.
- Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in the Indian capital six months after his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, visited Israel becoming the first Indian Prime Minister to do so.
- India and United States, in order to enhance the military co-operation, will be organising another addition of Vajra Prahar military exercise which will be held in Seattle.
- During the India-Israel Business Summit held in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu launched the maiden call for joint R&D projects under the ‘India-Israel Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund (I4F)’
- Ravi Shankar Prasad inaugurates Gigabit Connectivity with Sri Lanka.
- Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM), under the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), has launched a competition for college and university students to foster a culture of innovation and creativity in the youth.
- President Ram Nath Kovind presented the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships and Awards for 2016 to an eminent group of musicians, dancers, and theatre artists.
- Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar announced that the centre has decided to launch “Operation Digital Board” soon across all government schools in India over the next five years to help students view diagrams and presentations through digital tools.
- Prime Minister Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu dedicated to the nation, the iCREATE facility located on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on the 17th of January.
- The 60th edition of India International Garment Fair (IIGF) was inaugurated on the 17th of January by Minister of State for Textiles, Shri Ajay Tamta, at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.
- The NITI Aayog launched the first course on Sustainable Urban planning using remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) at IIT Kanpur’s outreach centre in Noida.
- The Annual Status of Education Report 2017 carried out by NGO Pratham was released in New Delhi.
- India has joined the Australia Group export control regime and has become the 43rd Member of that Group.
Business, Science and Technology
- India successfully tests fired AGNI 5 missile a surface to surface all-weather missile ranging nearly 5000 KM.
Important News- States
- Bhopal becomes the first state to have a ‘Happy Nari’ sanitary napkin vending machine in the railway station.
- Bandicoot Robots will soon replace men in cleaning up sewer holes in Kerala, ending the age-old practice of manual scavenging in Kerala.
- To commemorate 50 years of the Special Olympics programme, a three-day programme was organized in Kerala.
- NFHS-4 wealth index released: Delhi declared the richest state.
- Maharashtra Unveils Public Cloud Policy.
- Centre Sanctions Projects over Rs. 10,000 cr in North East for Better Network Connectivity.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the project commencement of the Rajasthan Refinery at Pachpadra in Barmer district.
Sports News
- Former world silver medallist Sarjubala Devi claimed the gold medal at the National Women’s Boxing Championship.
- Khelo India School Games 2018, a brainchild of Olympian and sports minister Rajyavardhan Rathore, will be held at multiple venues across Delhi from 31st January 2018.
