Current Affairs - January 23, 2020 Current Affairs

Global Investment Trend Monitor report released by UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development). India among top 10 recipients of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in 2019, attracting USD 49 billion (16% increase from 2018).

Indian shooters Apurvi Chandela and Divyansh Singh Panwar won gold at the Meyton Cup international shooting championship in Austria. The four Indian shooters have already secured Olympic quotas for Tokyo Games 2020. Apurvi won the gold in women's 10m air rifle. She secured a final score of 251.4.

The Pakistan government and the Opposition on January 21 agreed to appoint former bureaucrat Sikandar Sultan Raja as the new Chief Election Commissioner, ending several months of deadlock over key appointments to the election commission.

The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) has elected Ashish Garg as the president and Nagendra D Rao as the vice-president.Ashish Garg, during his tenure as the vice president of ICSI in 2019, served as the chairman of training and educational facilities committee, peer review board, and brand promotion committee.

India has been ranked very low at 76th place out of 82 countries on a new Social Mobility Index compiled by the World Economic Forum, while Denmark has topped the charts.

The Telangana government is planning to test voter identification through a face recognition application on a pilot basis in the municipal elections of 23 January 2020. For the first time, the face recognition software will be used to ascertain the identity of voters in the state.

World's 2,153 billionaires have more wealth than the 4.6 billion people who make up 60% of the planet's population, said NGO Oxfam in its 'Time to Care' report.

The Finance Ministry appointed managing directors (MDs) and chief executive officers (CEOs) of four PSU banks.Bank of India's Executive Director R Koteeswaran has been appointed as MD and CEO of Indian Overseas Bank.

Indian states namely Manipur, Meghalaya, and Tripura celebrated their Statehood Day on 21 January. On 21 January 1972, all three states became full-fledged states under the North Eastern Region (Reorganisation) Act, 1971.

President of India Ram Nath Kovind awarded the 14th Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards at a ceremony held in New Delhi on 20 January 2020. The recipients of the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards constitute works from the year 2018.

Former Test batsman and National selector Man Mohan Sood passed away. He was 80.A batsman with flair to play strokes, Sood made his First-Class debut against Services at FerozeshahKotla in 1957 and played his final Ranji Trophy match against Jammu and Kashmir at Srinagar in 1964.

Quinton de Kock has been named as the new captain of the South Africa One-Day International side, taking over from Faf du Plessis, who is dropped altogether for the three-match series against England next month. Faf du Plessis led South Africa in their disastrous 2019 World Cup campaign and has hinted at international retirement from all formats following the Twenty20 global finals in Australia later this year.

The 12th National Tribal Youth Exchange Programme began in Puducherry on 19 January 2020. The programme was inaugurated by Lieutenant Governor Dr. Kiran Bedi.

The One Nation, One Ration Card scheme will be implemented by 1 June 2020 in India. The announcement was made by the Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on 20 January. Earlier, the scheme was announced to be launched by 30 June 2020. Under the scheme, the beneficiaries can avail of the benefits across the country using the same ration card.

The Finance Ministry appointed managing directors (MDs) and chief executive officers (CEOs) of four PSU banks. Kishore Kumar Sansi, who is currently executive director of Punjab and Sind Bank, will be the new MD and CEO of Vijaya Bank.

On January 21, 2020, the Carbon Disclosure Project, an annual report on carbon reduction activities of different countries and their firms was released by a non-profit organization Global Reporting Initiative.United States topped the list with 135 companies being transparent in their disclosure. Followed by US, Japan ranked second with 83 companies. On the third, fourth and fifth ranks were UK (78), France (51) and India (38) respectively.

The Indian Air Force inducted its first squadron of Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft which are capable of carrying BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. The induction ceremony of the 222 'Tigersharks' fighter squadron was held at Thanjavur airbase.

The coal-belching town of Jharia in Jharkhand continues to be the most polluted city in India, while Delhi has made marginal improvement in reducing its air pollution level, according to a Greenpeace India report released on January 21. Delhi is the 10th-most polluted city in India, according to the report.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to chair the 32nd interaction through the PRAGATI platform on 22 January 2020. He will discuss the Information and Communications Technology, multi-modal platform for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation.

ICICI Bank announced the launch of a 'Cardless Cash Withdrawal' facility from its ATMs on 21 January 2020.ICICI Bank's Cardless Cash Withdrawal service will allow customers to withdraw cash from over 15,000 ATMs of the bank by raising a request on its mobile banking app, iMobile.