Top GKToday’s News Headlines-17 January, 2020

INDIA

• Conference of CPA (Commonwealth Parliamentary Association) India Region being held at UP Assembly in Lucknow: January 16-19
• Coast Guards of India and Japan conduct ‘Sahyog-Kaijin’ exercise off the Chennai coast
• Singer Suman Kalyanpur and music director Kuldeep Singh win MP govt.’s National Lata Mangeshkar Awards for 2017 and 2018, respectively
• Agreement signed to settle 34,000 Bru-Reang refugees from Mizoram in Tripura
• Arunachal becomes first state to sign MoU with IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature); to start red-listing of orchids
• IIT-Madras researchers develop device to generate hydrogen fuel from seawater
• WHO endorses ‘TrueNat TB test’ technology developed by Indian scientists to detect Tuberculosis
• International conclave on “Global Indian Thought” organised at IIM Kozhikode; PM unveils Swami Vivekananda’s statue
• IAF rescues trekkers from frozen Zanskar River in the UT of Ladakh; were part of ongoing ‘Chadar Trek’
• Month-long exhibition ‘Indian Heritage in Digital Space’ being organised in New Delhi from January 15 by DST (Department of Science & Technology) & IIT-Delhi
• International Heritage Symposium organised in New Delhi on January 15-16 by DST & IIT-Delhi
• Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) celebrates 5th Annual Day on January 15
• World Bank, centre sign $88 million loan agreement for implementing Assam Inland Water Transport Project to help modernize the state’s passenger river ferry sector
• Ladakh Food Processing Summit “Building Partnerships for Inclusive Growth in Food Processing Sector” organised in Leh
• Mega-science exhibition Vigyan Samagam to be organised in New Delhi from January 21 to March 20 jointly by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and DST
•  Sanrakshan Kshamta Mahotsav – 2020 organised by Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) in New Delhi to promote conservation and efficient use of petroleum products

ECONOMY & CORPORATE

• 51st K-9 Vajra-T gun rolled out at L&T Armoured Systems Complex at Hazira in Gujarat
• Reliance Jio is largest mobile service company with 36.9 crore mobile subscribers: TRAI
• Liquidator will have to deposit unclaimed dividends and undistributed proceeds in Corporate Voluntary Liquidation Account (CVLA) before seeking dissolution of a corporate debtor: Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI)
• Newly appointed Deputy Governor Michael Patra to head Monetary Policy Department at RBI
• Hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts compulsory from January 15, 2021; sales permitted in only three grades of gold — 14, 18 and 22 carats
• Bank of Baroda and Kotak Mahindra Bank exit Equifax Credit Information Services

UN WESP 2020

• Global economy grew 2.3% in 2019: United Nations World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2020 report
• GDP growth estimate for India is 5.7% in the current fiscal and 6.6% in the next fiscal

WORLD

• Qatar scraps mandatory exit permits for migrant domestic staff and others
• Germany announces compensation to power companies for shutdown of their coal-fired power plants by 2038
• US Census: Sikhs included as a separate Ethnic Group for the first time
• Former WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) wrestler Rocky Johnson dies at 75 in US

SPORTS

• Stamp on Chuni Goswami, captain of India’s last Asian Games gold winner football team (1962), issued
• Mohun Bagan merges with RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group’s ATK FC, to be known as ATK-Mohun Bagan
• Kerala govt. awards GV Raja awards to Muhammad Anas (athletics) and PC Thulasi (badminton) in male and female categories respectively
• Indian GM Abhijeet Gupta wins Delhi Open International Grand Masters Chess Championship