National
• The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 came into force 15 January 2016. In this regard, Union Ministry of Woman and Child Development has issued orders for enforceable of Act.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has unveiled the ‘Start-up India, Stand-up India’ action plan in New Delhi to boost startup ventures in the country.
• Sikkim has formally become India’s first fully organic state after it successfully implemented organic farming practices on around 75,000 hectares of agricultural land.
• India’s largest tricolour was hoisted atop the tallest pole at Pahari Mandir in Ranchi, by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. This flag will remain hoisted for 24 hours and shall be illuminated with the help of twenty sodium vapour lights at night. It is world’s largest and the highest hoisted Indian flag.
• State owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) has received environmental clearance for a project in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin in Andhra Pradesh.
• The Union cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recommended imposition of President’s Rule in Arunachal Pradesh under Article 356 (1) of the Constitution.
• The first Solar Power operated Mini-Water Supply Plant of Maharashtra was commissioned in Hingna village of Mouda Taluka in Nagpur district.
• With the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court’s order prescribing a dress code for entry into temples kicking in on January 1, a routine visit gained much more significance as men; women and children were told what they had to wear.
• LPG consumers now have a single short number to dial for help in case of gas leaks. Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurated the 24X7 all-India helpline â 1906 â for LPG leaks.
• The Union Government is going to roll out LPG-like Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme for kerosene from 1st April 2016. The scheme in the initial phase will be implemented in selected 26 districts of eight states.
• A friendship bus service between India and Nepal was flagged off via Champawat district in Uttarakhand after a gap of 27 years.
• The Union government has come out with a concept paper proposing to set up a rail regulator for fixing fares and ensuring level-playing field for private investments in railway infrastructure.
• The Union Government has reserved 33 per cent posts of Constables for women in Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) to enhance their representation.
• Jharkhand, a mineral-rich but energy-deficit state has become first state in country to sign Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme with Union Government.
• The Union Cabinet approved the closure of the iconic HMT Watches and offered a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) to its employees as per the 2007 pay scales.
• The Kerala Cabinet decided to adopt the family of Lt. Col. E.K. Niranjan, the NSG commando who was killed in the Pathankot terror attack.
• Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has decided to implement the stricter emission norms of Bharat Stage (BS) VI from 1st April 2020 in a bid to curb vehicular pollution. Government will directly switch over to BS-VI emission norms from the present BS-IV emission norms and completely skip BS-V emission norms altogether.
• “Show me the man and I will show you the rule,” BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha is quoted as saying in the context of politics within the party in his biography “Anything But Khamosh,” released.
• Anti-submarine warfare (ASW) corvette INS Kadmatt has been commission in the Indian Navy by Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral R K Dhowan at naval dockyard in Visakhapatnam.
• India’s first River Information System (RIS) was launched by Union Government facilitate safe and accurate inland waterway navigation. It has been launched in phases and the first phase will cover 145-km stretch of National Waterways 1 (Phase I- Haldia to Farakka) on the Ganges River.
• Union Government has decided to merge Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
• With just days left for Pongal festival to start, the Ministry of Environment and Forests has invoked “culture and tradition” to bring jallikattu back.
• Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has signed cyber security agreement with its counterparts in Malaysia, Singapore and Japan.
• The Union Cabinet has approved proposal of raising of 17 Indian Reserve Battalions (IRBs) in Jammu & Kashmir and 4 Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected states.
• Rajasthan Government along with its power distribution companies (DISCOMS) has signed a MoU to join UDAY (Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana) Scheme.
• India has overtaken Thailand as the world’s largest rice exporter in the year 2015 by shipping (exporting) 10.23 million tonnes of rice.
• India has been ranked 76th out of 168 countries in the recently released 2015 Corruption Perception Index (CPI).
• The list of 20 smart cities out of the 98 shortlisted for the 'Smart Cities Mission' was released. These 20 cities will be the first to receive funds, thus kickstarting the process of developing them into 'smart cities'. The next two years will see the inclusion of 40 and 38 cities, respectively.
• Citizens will be granted a fresh passport under the normal category in a week if their applications are accompanied by three documents - copies of Aadhaar card, electoral photo identity card (EPIC) and PAN card - besides an affidavit in the format of Annexure-I (declaration of citizenship, family details and no criminal record).
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has given its principle approval for the Hybrid Annuity Model for implementing the National Highway Projects.
• The Supreme Court ordered the Centre to set up within four weeks a committee to investigate the living conditions and salary structure of nurses employed in private hospitals and nursing homes.
• Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry Ajay Kumar Singh has launched the MITRA application to ensure protection of women, children and the elderly in time of distress.
• President Pranab Mukherjee has promulgated the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Ordinance, 2016 to make amendments to the Enemy Property Act, 1968.
• Governor’s rule has been imposed in the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) for sixth time as the process of formation new government following the death of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed is taking some time.
• The 24th edition of New Delhi World Book Fair began at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. It was inaugurated by Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani.
• Telangana has become the first State in the country to introduce compulsory gender education at the graduate level. In this regard, state government has introduced bilingual textbook titled Towards a World of Equals on a pilot basis in engineering colleges.
• Scientists at the Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes (CIRB) in Hisar, Haryana have successfully produced a cloned buffalo offspring named Cirb Gaurav.
• The Gujarat government has decided to celebrate the upcoming Republic Day in a unique way. This Republic Day, the most educated girl in each village will hoist the national flag at a government school.
• The Supreme Court issued an interim stay on the Centre's January 2016 notification allowing Jallikattu and bullock cart races.
• In a move to introduce transparency in availability and disbursement of blood units, all blood banks in India have been asked to update realtime stock status in public domain.
• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has changed the languages and also re-defined terms that are not scientifically precise in weather forecasting.
• Union Government has constituted a committee to fast track the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor, meant for connecting two cities with bullet trains.
• State-owned BSNL started 4G services on non-commercial basis in Chandigarh promising broadband speed of up to 100 megabit per second (Mbps).
• The much awaited scheme â Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana â was cleared at the Cabinet meeting, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• The Central government will be setting up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for its ambitious programme Namami Gange or Clean Ganga initiative.
• Anticipating a revenue shortfall because of the ban on liquor from April 1, the Bihar government has decided to impose a 13.5 per cent value added tax on such items as samosa, salted peanuts, sweets, mosquito repellents and a few branded snacks to make up the loss.
• President Pranab Mukherjee has given assent to the Sugar Cess (Amendment) Bill, 2015 to raise the ceiling of a cess as an excise duty on the production of sugar.
• India has decided to become member country of the International Energy Agency - Ocean Energy Systems (IEA-OES) to boost for country’s quest for tapping ocean energy sources.
• Sikkim has become India’s first fully organic state by implementing organic practices on around 75,000 hectares of agricultural land.
• Kerala has become the first Indian state to achieve 100 per cent primary education. Declaration to this effect was made by the Vice President Hamid Ansari during his speech at special ceremony organised at Thiruvananthapuram.
• Union Government has inaugurated Second Liquid Chemical Berth of Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) at Pir Pau, Mumbai.
• The indigenously-built third generation anti-tank missile Nag was successfully test fired at Mahajan Field Firing Range in Rajasthan.
• Union Government has inaugurated the first phase of permanent campus of the Indian Institute of Science Education & Research (IISER) at Vithura in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
• Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has announced that India’s grid-connected solar power generation capacity has crossed the 5,000 Mega Watt (MW) mark.
International
• China has created three new military bodies as part of reforms to modernise its military and improve its fighting capacity.
• Sri Lanka and Pakistan have agreed on the inclusion of services and investment in the bilateral free trade agreement.This would help companies of the two nations to form joint ventures for exports to other nations.
• The announcement from North Korea that it had carried out a nuclear test brought to the frontlines of global attention a phrase not often heard since the Cold War “the H-bomb”.
• The Union cabinet has given its ex-post-facto approval to Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bangladesh for Mode of Operation of Border haats on India-Bangladesh Border signed in 2010. The MoU also seeks to establish new Border Haats along the border after identification of suitable locations in consultation with Bangladesh Government and concerned State Governments.
• The Union Cabinet has given its ex-post facto approval for signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Singapore on cooperation in the field of civil aviation.
• India and France have started their eight-day counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency bilateral military exercise Shakti-2016 in Rajasthan.
• A German historical institute is launching an annotated edition of “Mein Kampf,” the first version of Adolf Hitler’s notorious manifesto to be published in Germany since the end of World War II.
• The absence of government approval has apparently caused the demolition of a giant gold painted statue of Communist China’s founding father Mao Zedong.
• India’s voting rights increase to 2.6 per cent from the current 2.3 per cent, and China’s, to six per cent from 3.8, as per the new division.
• The Bank of Japan will charge lenders that leave too much cash on idle deposit with it, introducing a negative interest rate policy for the first time as it seeks to shore up a stumbling economic recovery.
• United States (US) has removed a wide range of nuclear sanctions against Iran after it has meet its commitments to roll back its nuclear programme.
• French President Francois Hollande has declared what he called “a state of economic emergency” and says it’s time to redefine France’s economic and social model.
• The first Ministerial Meeting of Arab-India Cooperation Forum was held Manama, capital city of Bahrain.
Business and Economy
• Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. has topped in global vehicle sales in 2015 by selling 10.151 million vehicles, beating Volkswagen and General Motors.
• United States (US) based software services exporter Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS) has acquired cloud-based computing firm KBACE Technologies.
• India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed an $80 million loan agreement for improving the infrastructure in the two North-Eastern cities of Agartala and Aizawl.
• This agreement will enable people of both nations to avail retirement benefits in each other’s country and will boost bilateral business linkages.
• The Union Cabinet has given its approval for the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Maldives on cooperation in the field of Health.
• The 15th edition of bilateral exercise by the Indian Coast Guard and its Japanese counterpart titled ‘Sahayog-Kaijin 2016’ has begun off the coast of Chennai, Tamil Nadu in the Bay of Bengal.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the end of Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa after all known chains of transmission have been stopped.
• The government has formed a Kamlesh Chandra committee (One man committee) to examine the wage structure and service conditions of gramin dak sevaks, who are extra-departmental agents recruited by the postal department to serve in rural areas.
• National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hyderabad-based National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) for web-based monitoring of watershed projects.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release the blueprint of ‘Start Up India’ programme which may include a Startups and Entrepreneurship Law to make it easier for setting up new ventures and closing unviable ones, besides clearing regulatory issues that hamper access to finance.
• India’s e-commerce market is likely to touch $38-billion-mark in 2016, a 67 per cent jump over the $23 billion revenue it clocked last year, according to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham).
• Reserve Bank has imposed a penalty of Rs. 1 crore on an SBI associate bank, State Bank of Travancore, for violation of some of its instructions.
• The government has reduced the export duty on iron ore pellets to zero from five per cent, a move that will make the commodity more competitive amid subdued demand and weakening prices.
• Andhra Bank has launched Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) at all its branches in association with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
• Reliance Capital Asset Management (RCAM) has received nod from Competition Commission of India (CCI) to acquire Goldman Sachs’s mutual funds and exchange-traded funds business in India.
• The Cabinet approved conversion of MUDRA Ltd, an NBFC, into MUDRA Bank and also setting up of a Credit Guarantee Fund for loans disbursed under the Pradhan Mantri Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Yojana.
• Taxi-hailing app Uber announced a new start-up mentorship programme in the country in partnership with Invest India called ‘uberEXCHANGE’.
• Tata Trusts and leading global food manufacturer Mars Incorporated have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to work together to advance agriculture development, address malnutrition and improve food safety in India.
• Netflix Inc. launched operations in India, with plans starting at Rs. 500 ($7.50) per month. The company will also offer two other plans priced at Rs. 650 rupees and Rs. 800 rupees.
• The Union Cabinet has approved the Stand Up India Scheme to promote entrepreneurship among Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) and Women entrepreneurs.
• ICICI Bank will partner FINO PayTech to foray into the payments bank space.
• The Global Economic Prospect report published recently by the World Bank (WB) has projected a robust 7.8 per cent growth for the Indian economy in the year 2016.
• Azim Premji, 70, chairman of Wipro, is the most generous Indian of the year for the third time in a row with donations worth Rs. 27,514 crore to the education sector, says Hurun India Philanthropy List 2015.
• The Supreme Court asked the Centre and public sector banking authorities to consider providing reservation to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes employees in promotion to officers’ ranks at all levels.
• Reliance Group, led by billionaire Anil Ambani, will set up a naval ship-building facility near Visakhapatnam at a cost of Rs. 5,000 crore. It is the single biggest investment in Andhra Pradesh after its bifurcation.
• Flipkart appointed Binny Bansal as the Chief Executive Officer and Sachin Bansal as the Executive Chairman.
• Wanda Group said it is buying Hollywood’s Legendary Entertainment, the maker of films such as Batman, for $3.5 billion in the first Chinese acquisition of a major U.S. film company.
• Japanese two-wheeler major Yamaha has inaugurated a 4,000 KW solar power project at its facility in Surajpur, Uttar Pradesh.
• Nearly 8.7 crore employees are in for some good news with the government likely to declare an 8.9 per cent returns on their provident fund savings for 2015-16, the highest rate in five years.
• According to World Bank’s World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends, India is on track to register its entire 1.25 billion population using its Aadhaar digital ID which would help the government to promote the inclusion of disadvantaged groups in its welfare schemes.
• With 60 per cent of the world’s population still offline, institutional and regulatory barriers to efficiency are exacerbating the problem of low and unevenly distributed “digital dividends” from growing Internet penetration across countries, a new World Bank study has found.
• The wealth management offering â ‘SBI Exclusif’ and the start-up branch â ‘SBI InCube’ were rolled out in Bengaluru.
• Chinese President Xi Jinping has formally opened Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in Beijing.
• Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Ltd has launched a new service for algorithm trading test facility for investors on its derivatives and equity platform.
• The Ministry of Finance announced the roadmap for a new set of accounting standards-the Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS)-for scheduled commercial banks, insurance companies and non-banking financial companies.
• India’s digital payment startup company TranServ has launched country’s first Social Mobile Wallet named Udio.
• World No. 22 Viktor Troicki from Serbia has won the 2016 WTA Apia International title of Tennis in the men’s single category.
• Ace Indian Shuttler Pusarla Venkata Sindhu (World No.12) has won the 2016 Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold Badminton title.
Awards
• Former Cricketer Syed Kirmani was honoured with the Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award in Mumbai (Maharashtra) for his contribution to Indian cricket.
• India’s Test captain Virat Kohli was awarded with the Polly Umrigar Trophy for Cricketer of the Year.
• Mitali Raj was bestowed with Best Woman Cricketer Award in senior player category for the season 2014-15.
• The British writer, Kate Atkinson has won the 2015 Costa novel award for her novel God in Ruins, the companion her previous novel to Life After Life.
• Three persons of Indian-origin (PIO), Chennupati Jagadish, Jay Chandra and Sajeev Koshy have been awarded 2016 Medal of the Order of Australia, Australia’s highest civilian honour.
• The Union government has set up a Technical Expert Group to suggest measures to deal with Zika virus. Decision in this regard was taken by high level meeting chaired by Union Health Minister J P Nadda in New Delhi.
• Indian Author and foreign affairs expert has won the prestigious 2016 William E. Colby Award for his book Midnight’s Furies: The Deadly Legacy of India’s Partition.
• Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been chosen for the prestigious K Veeramani Social Justice Award.
• Morton Mower (US), Sir Michael Marmot (UK) have won the prestigious 2015 Prince Mahidol Award for their outstanding achievements in the international healthcare sector.
• Veteran poet Balkrishna Garg was honoured with the second edition of Harikrishna Devsare Baalsahitya Award 2015 for his collection of poems for children titled ‘Baal Geet’.
• The 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony was organized at Beverly Hills, California, United States (US). In this edition of awards, The Revenant won the maximum 3 awards followed by The Martian and Steve Jobs winning 2 awards each.
• The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation has won the National Award on e-Governance 2015-16 for launching the Universal Account Number (UAN).
• Indian writer Anuradha Roy has won the on the prestigious $50,000 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature for her novel ‘Sleeping on Jupiter’.
New Appointments /Resignations
• Former defence secretary R.K. Mathur was sworn in as the eighth Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) by President Pranab Mukherjee at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi.
• India’s third largest IT exporter Wipro Limited announced the appointment of Abid Ali Z. Neemuchwala as the Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board of the company.
• Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan, whose comments on perceived intolerance in the country had created a controversy, ceases to be the mascot for government’s ‘Incredible India’ campaign as the contract for it has expired.
• Senior United Nations (UN) official Filippo Grandi from Italy has taken the charge as new UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). He succeeds Antonio Guterres of Portugal who has retired after heading the Refugee Agency for one decade. He will have tenure of five years.
• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appointed Amitabh Kant as the chief executive officer of NITI Aayog. The appointment will take effect after Mr.Kant retires from service in March.
• Urjit Patel, Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in-charge of the monetary policy department, has been re-appointed for a term of three years.
• A few days after the appointment of Abidali Neemuchwala as CEO of India’s third largest IT services provider, Wipro has made more changes in its senior leadership structure.
• The Supreme Court recalled its December 16 order appointing controversial Justice Virendra Singh, a former judge of Allahabad High Court as Lokayukta of Uttar Pradesh, and named another retired judge as the new ombudsman.
• Dr. Kamlesh Kumar Pandey has been appointed as the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (CCPD) for a period of three years.
• The Indian women’s cricket team scripted history by clinching its maiden Twenty20 series win over three-time world champion Australia with a comprehensive 10-wicket triumph in the rain-truncated second game, in Melbourne.
• Renowned telecom engineer and inventor Sam Pitroda has been appointed as Technology Advisor to the Odisha Government.
• Senior IAS officer Sailesh has been appointed as Registrar General and Census Commissioner (RGCC) of India.
• Homegrown smartphone maker Micromax has appointed Vikas Thapar as its Vice-President for Finance.
• Former Gujarat cadre IAS officer Devender Kumar Sikri has taken oath as the Chairman of Competition Commission of India.
• Pro-Independence Opposition candidate of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Tsai Ing-wen (59) has been elected as first female and 14th President of Taiwan.
• India’s Dinesh Sharma has been elected to the board of directors of the China-sponsored Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
• Tata Motors has appointed former top official of Airbus Guenter Butschek (55) as its Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director. Mr. Butschek will lead all operations of Tata Motors in India and in international markets including South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and South Africa.
Sports
• India has won the 2015 South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) championship for record seventh time. In the final match played at Thiruvanantapuram (Kerala), India defeated defending champion Afghanistan by 2-1 goal score.
• India’s star amputee mountaineer Arunima Sinha has successfully scaled Mount Aconcagua in Argentina as part of her Mission 7 Summits. It was her 5th successful summit of the Mission 7 Summits that she had climbed on December 25, 2016 after starting on December 12, 2015.
• V.V.S. Laxman’s masterly innings of 281 against Australia at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata has been rated as the greatest Test performance of the last 50 years.
• With a strong recommendation to lawmakers to legalise betting in cricket for all except cricket players, officials and administrators, the Supreme Court-appointed Justice R.M. Lodha Committee report said that government servants and ministers should be banned from holding posts in the BCCI.
• Australia withdrew from the ICC Under-19 cricket World Cup in Bangladesh, claiming that the security threat in the country remains as high as it was when the senior team’s Test tour was postponed last year.
• The prestigious Duleep Trophy will return to the domestic first class cricket calendar in the 2016-17 season in a new avatar with matches being day-night affairs played with a pink ball, it was announced.
• Mumbai teenager Pranav Dhanawade scripted history by becoming the first batsman ever to notch up a four-figure score by smashing an unbeaten knock of 1009 in an inter-school tournament in Mumbai.
• Indian shooter Apurvi Chandela broke the world record to gold in the women’s 10 metre air rifle event at the Swedish Cup Grand Prix. Chandela shot 211.2 in the event to surpass the feat of Chinese Olympic gold medallist Yi Siling, who held the record with 211.
• Pakistan’s discarded Test opening batsman Imran Farhat announced his retirement from international cricket in a bid to appear in the Masters Champions League (MCL), which commences in Dubai.
• Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis were on crowned the Australian Open women’s doubles champions after they tamed the spirited Czech duo of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in straight sets for their 36th win in a row.
• World No. 14 Milos Raonic from Canada has won the 2016 WTA Brisbane International Tennis trophy in the men’s single category.
• Ace Indian tennis player Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis have won the 2016 WTA Brisbane International Tennis trophy in the women’s doubles category.
• World No. 4 Stanislas Wawrinka from Switzerland has won the 2016 Chennai Open title of tennis.
• India’s Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis broke a 22-year-old world record by winning their 29th women’s doubles match in a row en route to their entry into the women’s doubles final of the WTA Sydney International, in Sydney.
• Sania &ndashMartina won the Sydney International. This is the Indo-Swiss pair’s 30th win in a row, second title of 2016 and 11th overall. They have now won seven titles on the trot with the Brisbane International crown coming last week and five of them in 2015. The partnership is also an impeccable 11-1 in finals.
• Retired star Marat Safin will become the first Russian to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Death
• Veteran Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan passed away in Mumbai, Maharashtra. He was 92.
• Sarosh Homi Kapadia, the 38th Chief Justice of India, bid farewell to the world in Mumbai. He was 68.
• Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mufti Mohammad Sayeed passed away of multiple organ failure in New Delhi after nearly a week-long hospitalisation. He was 79.
• Marvin Minsky, the pioneer of artificial intelligence passed away on 24 January 2016 in Boston, United States due to cerebral hemorrhage. He was 88.
• Noted Hindi writer and journalist Ravindra Kalia passed away in New Delhi after suffering from liver cirrhosis. He was 78.
• Music Legend David Bowie passed away on 10 January 2015 in New York, United States following a battle with liver cancer. He was 69.
• The first female F1 (Formula One) driver Maria Teresa de Filippis passed away on 8 January 2016 in Italy. She was 89.
• Jacob-Farj-Rafael “JFR” Jacob (Retired Lieutenant General), a key architect in India’s victory in 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War passed away in New Delhi. He was 92.
• Bollywood actor Rajesh Vivek, mainly known for his roles in superhits like ‘Lagaan’ and ‘Swades’, died due to a heart attack in Hyderabad. He was 66.
• British actor Alan Rickman passed away in London, England. He was 69 and was suffering from cancer.
• Former Sikkim Governor and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ventrapragada Rama Rao passed away in Hyderabad, Telangana following an illness. He was 81.
• Renowned Kannada filmmaker and lyricist Geethapriya passed away after a battle with throat cancer in Bengaluru, Karnataka. He was 84.
• The world’s oldest man, a Japanese, died the age of 112 after suffering chronic heart problems.
• Eminent tabla player Pandit Shankar Ghosh passed away in Kolkata, West Bengal following a prolonged illness. He was 80.
Science and Technology
• Scientists have discovered presence of several colonies of an invasive species of snowflake coral (Carijoa riisei) off the coast of Thiruvananthapuram and Kanyakumari.
• India test fired its indigenously-developed surface-to-air Akash missile as part of a user trial from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur.
• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA’s) revamped planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft has discovered more than 100 planets orbiting other stars.
• Chinese scientists have developed a new bio-artificial liver that can help patients to survive from liver failure long enough for an organ transplant.
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has successfully launched the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Jason-3 Ocean-monitoring satellite.
• Popular messaging app WhatsApp said it will stop charging $1 per year subscription fee to go completely free for its users across the world.
Days of the Month
• World Braille Day is annually celebrated on January 4, the birthday of Braille inventor, Louis Braille. The day recognizes the contributions of Louis Braille in helping blind and visually impaired people to read and write.
• National Youth Day in India is celebrated on Swami Vivekananda birthday on 12 January with great joy and happiness.
• Indian Army Day is being observed every year on 15 January in India. This year it will be the 68th Indian Army Day.
• The Election Commission of India (ECI) has celebrated the 6th National Voters' Day across the country on 25th January. Theme for year 2016 is Inclusive and Qualitative Participation.
Current Affair Questions and answers Round Up January, 2016 Current Affairs Round up December, 2015.
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