Current Affairs - January 31, 2020 Current Affairs

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) appoints its Executive Director, Janak Raj, as a member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). The Monetary Policy Committee takes decisions based on a majority vote. Raj replaces M D Patra recently promoted as Deputy Governor of the RBI.

Assam Rifles constructed a combined war memorial in Nagaland for the 357 Army and Assam Rifles personnel killed. At the same time, fighting insurgency in the northeastern state. The monument was built at Mokokchung, which is also the cultural and intellectual center of Nagaland.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched a Virtual police station along with two other transformational projects of the Odisha Police. Main Aim: To reduce human interface with government offices. The three projects include Virtual Police Station, Road Accident Case Documents Module, and Medico-Legal Opinion System.

India added ten more wetlands to sites protected by the Ramsar Convention, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar. The 10 new ones are NandurMadhameshwar, a first for Maharashtra; Keshopur-Miani, Beas Conservation Reserve and Nangal in Punjab; and Nawabganj, Parvati Agra, Saman, Samaspur, Sandi and Sarai Nawar in Uttar Pradesh.

Harsh Vardhan Shringla took charge as a new foreign secretary succeeding in Vijay Gokhale. Mr. Shringla is a 1984-batch officer of the Indian Foreign Service. Indian Foreign Service Indian Foreign Service is the administrative diplomatic civil service under Group A and Group B of the Central Civil Services of the executive branch of the Government of India.

Indian Navy launches Operation Vanilla to provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief at Madagascar. Operation Vanilla launched to provide assistance to the affected population of Madagascar post devastation caused by Cyclone Diane.

NASA chose Axiom Space to set up at least one habitable commercial module that will be attached to the International Space Station (ISS). The module will be the first retail destination for future commercial spaceflight missions. The blade is expected to house experiments and technology developments for the space scientists. NASA is aiming to enable the development of independent retail destinations in space that can meet its needs in the low-Earth orbit (LEO).

Oxford University Press (OUP) named Samvidhaan as the Oxford Hindi Word of 2019 received widespread attention in the year witness to the spirit of the Indian Constitution being embraced across segments of the society. The Samvidhan Oxford Hindi word of the year and reflects the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of the past year.

Dr. S Jaishankar External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar lays the foundation stone of the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Centre for Empowerment and Livelihoods near the Statue of Unity at Kevadia in Gujarat. The identical Centre will have modern infrastructure, including accommodation for about 100 youth at a time. It will run several free of charge skill courses aligned to the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF).

Bala Devi from Manipur Police becomes the first Indian woman to become a professional footballer in the world. The 29-year-old is currently the leading goal scorer for the Indian national women's team netting 52 in 58 outings since 2010, which makes her the top international goal scorer in the South Asian region.

Nobel laureate Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee conferred the honorary Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) by his alma mater Calcutta University at its annual conference in Kolkata. The acclaimed economist, who was bestowed the D Litt (honoris causa) by CU Vice-chancellor Sonali Chakraborty Banerjee.

Reliance Industries organization will try to work with India's highway authority and individual states to possibly supply a plastics-implanted blend. India, which utilizes around 14 million tons of plastic every year, comes up short on a sorted-out framework for the administration of plastic waste.

UK government launched a 4 million pounds fund in India to support collaborative research into emerging technologies. Innovation Challenge Fund Innovation Challenge Fund will encourage industry and academia to collaborate and develop tech solutions for social, economic, andenvironmental challenges in India.

Star Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra qualified for the Tokyo Olympics with a throw of 87.86 meters at the Athletics Central North East meeting in South Africa. The 22-year-old Asian Games and Commonwealth Games gold medallist breached the Olympic qualification mark of 85 meters in his fourth attempt.

Bengaluru is the world's most traffic-congested city. According to a report by TomTom, the Netherlands-based global provider of navigation, traffic, and map products, Bengaluru takes the top spot this year with drivers in the southern Indian city expecting to spend an average of 71% extra travel time stuck in traffic.

Union Minister of State for PMO Dr. Jitendra Singh launched the Bhuvan Panchayat V3 web Portal that will enhance network application of gram panchayats. The Portal will function with the help of satellite technology developed by ISRO.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is exploring the possibility of setting up a center for advanced defence technology at the Gujarat University's upcoming Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Centre for Extension and Research and Innovation (CERI).

Indian Railways commissioned the country's first governmental waste to energy plant at Bhubaneswar. The national transporter has put in place the governmental Waste to Energy plant in Mancheswar Carriage Repair Workshop, which falls under East Coast Railway. The waste to energy plant been constructed in three months by the railway ministry.

Indian Railways Central Railway zone set to introduce its first AC local train. The train will be flagged off from platform number 18 of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Mumbai. The introduction of AC local train by the Western Railway zone will be the first time the Central Railway will run an AC local train on its domestic services.

Nepal has set an all-new Guinness World Record for the highest altitude fashion show event. Mount Everest Fashion Runway organized by RB Diamonds and KASA Style in support of the Nepal Tourism Board held at 5340 meters (17515 ft) elevation at Kala Patthar near the Everest base camp on January 26.