International News
95th Hastings International Chess Title
- India's P Magesh Chandran lifted the title in the 95th edition of the prestigious Hastings International Chess Congress.
- The 95th Hastings International Chess Congress was held at Hastings in England.
National News
Political Parties Registration Tracking Management System
- The Political Parties Registration Tracking Management System is launched to enable applicants to track the status of the applications on a real-time basis.
- Under the tracking system, the applicants, applying for the party registration will be able to track the progress of applications and will get the status through SMS and e-mail.
‘Visit Nepal Year 2020’ Campaign
- The ambitious campaign is aimed to promote tourism in Nepal and attract 2 million tourists during the year 2020.
- Nepal's Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Yogesh Bhattarai said the government has a goal of making tourism one of the key pillars of Nepali economy.
India to Restrict Non-Essential items Import from China
- India import around Rs 4 Trillion worth non-essential goods from China, as per the Commerce Ministry estimate.
- A total of 371 items will be restricted from March 2020 which includes toys, plastic goods, Sports items, furniture, especially from China.
World’s 2nd Tallest Statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
- The bronze statue is 50 feet tall with a weight of 70 thousand kilograms and is unveiled at the Sardardham campus near Vaishnodevi Circle in Ahmedabad.
- After the Statue of Unity (SoU) of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, situated at Kevadiya in Narmada district of Central Gujarat, It has become the second-highest statue of India’s first home minister.
Antarrastriya Yoga Diwas Media Samman
- Assessment for Prize was done by a jury consisting of 6 members and headed by Justice C.K. Prasad, Press Council of India.
- The Prize will compromise a citation, Plaque and a special trophy.
Banking
December GST Revenue Collection
- The impressive growth of 16% is observed in the GST revenues during the month of December 2019 from domestic transactions, as compared to the Dec 18 collection.
- The government has settled Rs 21,814crore to CGST and Rs 15,366crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement.
RBI has Launched a Mobile App, MANI
- Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launched a mobile app named Mobile Aided Note Identifier (MANI) to help visually challenged people to identify the denomination of currency notes.
- The RBI launched the mobile app considering the reports of problems faced by visually-challenged people in identifying these new currency notes due to the significant changes in the sizes and designs after the demonetization in November 2016.
SBI and NPCI recommendations on Rupay Card
- The worry of SBI and other state-run banks who are the main issuers of the RuPay card is that the government decided to scrap the processing charge on transactions with the card would cause them a revenue loss.
- NPCI is concerned that the action would disincentivise banks to issue RuPay cards and they would instead prefer international rivals of the home-grown payment gateway.
UCO Bank Debt Resolution under NCLT
- The recovery would help the bank to reduce its net losses as the bank had reported net losses for the last 16 quarters.
- Due to high bad loan ratios and a negative return on assets, the UCO bank is still being under Reserve Bank of India's prompt corrective action.
Govt infused Rs 4,360 crore to IOB
- The bank has received the amount as the contribution of the government in the preferential allotment of equity shares during the financial year 2019-20 as the government's investment.
- The Finance Ministry had announced capital infusion of Rs 3,800 crore in August 2019, which was later increased by Rs 5600 crore.
RBI New Norms for UCBs
- The RBI will continue to monitor asset quality, profitability and capital/net worth of UCBs under the revised SAF.
- Depending upon the stress severity, the RBI may ask them to curtail their lending powers, among other safeguards.
Index and Ranking
Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index
- Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index is released by the World Economic Forum.
- In the year 2019, India’s rank in the Index has moved to 34th position from 65th rank in 2013.
Appointments
| Name of the Person | Designation |
| Vinod Kumar Yadav | Chairman of Railway Board |
| Air Marshal Vibhas Pande VSM | Air Officer-in-Charge Maintenance (AOM) of Indian Air Force |
| Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton | New Chancellor of Queen's University in Belfast, Ireland |
Important Days
| Date | Day | Theme |
| 4th January 2020 | World Braille Day | To raise awareness of the importance of Braille as a means of communication in the full realization of the human rights for blind and partially sighted people. |
MoU's Signed
MoU on Ak-203 Assault Rifles
- The faculty is being set up between Rosoboron Exports and Kalashnikov on Russian side with 49.5% equity while Ordnance Factories Board on Indian side with 50% shareholding.
- Army has appointed Major General Sanjeev Senger as the chief Executive Officer of Indo-Russia Rifles Private Limited to ensure timely delivery of weapons.
Science and Technology
ISRO’s Missions in 2020
- Gaganyaan is a fully autonomous spacecraft designed to carry a 3-member crew to orbit at 400 km altitude and safely return to the Earth after a mission duration of up to seven days.
- Also on 31st Dec, the Union Minister Jitendra Singh has said that India will launch Chandrayaan-3 in 2020.
DGCA’s e-Governance Project
- Secretary of Ministry of Civil Aviation, Pradeep Kharola has launched the Phase-1 services of the e-Governance project of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
- The eDGCA project is being implemented with TCS as a Service Provider and PWC as a Project Management Consultant.
Indian Science Congress
- The ISC is a major focal point for scientists, researchers and academicians interested in various aspects of scientific discoveries and technologies and is to be attended by over 15,000 delegates including Nobel laureates, scientists, academicians, students, farmers among others.
- The five-day-long event aims to bring together science fraternity across the world to discuss scientific innovation and research.
Assam Zoo: 1st to Breed Endangered Hargila
- The Assam State Zoo cum Botanical Garden and Aaranyak have jointly attained the successful hatching of a pair of Greater Adjutant chicks (Hargila).
- The Endangered Greater Adjutant stork (Leptoptilosdubius) is one of the rarest species of Storks out of twenty species of Storks in the world.
Sports
5th IHAI National Ice Hockey Championship-2020
- The contest ended in a draw with 4 goals each in the inaugural match in Under-20 Boys category between Chandigarh and Haryana.
- Similarly, the second match between Ladakh Scouts Regiment Centre and Delhi also ended in a draw with 2 goals each.
Manav Thakkar became World no.1 in Latest ITTF Ranking
- Manav Thakkar has now become the fourth Indian to achieve the feat after Harmeet Desai, G Sathiyan and Soumyajit Ghosh.
- He was also part of the Indian men's team which won a bronze medal in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta.
