1.Indian Army Day is celebrated on 15 January every year. India is celebrating 72nd Army Day on 15 January 2020. This day is celebrated every year on this day because today in the year 1949, Field Marshal KM Cariappa took command of the Indian Army from General Francis Butcher. KM Cariappa also led the Indian Army on the western border in the Indo-Pak war in 1947.
2. Michael Devvrat Patra has recently been appointed as the new Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He will replace Viral Acharya. The Reserve Bank of India has four deputy governors who are appointed on the basis of the Governor’s opinion. The other three current deputy governors are NS Vishwanathan, BP Kanungo and MK Jain. Shaktikanta Das is the Governor of RBI.
3. According to the draft Rare Disease Policy recently released by the government, the government will give financial assistance of up to Rs 15 lakh under the National Health Fund Scheme to the needy people for lump sum treatment of rare diseases. The draft also talks about choosing hospitals for crowd funding and for treating rare diseases to provide financial assistance to the victims. Apart from this, a separate digital platform for voluntary crowd funding has also been proposed in this draft.
4. International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the 2019 awards on 15 January 2020. England star all-rounder Ben Stokes has been voted the ICC’s best cricketer of 2019. Virat Kohli was selected for the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award while Rohit Sharma was adjudged the best ODI cricketer. Apart from these, Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins has been selected as the best Test cricketer.
5. Senior IPS officer A P Maheshwari was recently appointed as Director General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). Maheshwari, a 1984 batch Uttar Pradesh cadre officer, is currently Special Secretary (Internal Security) in the Union Home Ministry. He will take over the command of CRPF by 28 February 2021. CRPF is India’s leading internal security force, which is also the largest paramilitary force in the world with over 1.25 lakh personnel.
6. Army Chief Manoj Mukund Narwane said that Army Headquarters has sent many proposals. One of them stated that the soldiers of the Emergency Commission and Short Service Commission who fought in the war against Pakistan during 1965 and 1971 should be given special pension like the Freedom Fighter Samman Pension Scheme. During the 1965 and 1971 wars, a large number of officers were recruited under the Emergency and Short Service Commission due to lack of officers. Officers elected under the Emergency and Shot Service Commission do not get pension due to leaving the army soon after completing their service.
7. According to the ranking provided by Economist Intelligence Unit, three cities in Kerala – Malappuram, Kozhikode and Kollam – are among the top 10 fastest growing urban areas in the world in terms of population growth rate. In this list, Malappuram is placed first, while Kozhikode is placed at the fourth position, while Kollam is at 10th position. The other city of Kerala in the list, Thrissur is ranked 13th, the capital Thiruvananthapuram is 33rd.
8. Three national water policies have been formulated in the country after independence. The first, second and third National Water Policy were framed in the years 1987, 2002 and 2012 respectively. In the National Water Policy, considering water as a natural resource, it has been considered as the basis of life, livelihood, food security and continuous development. There will be significant changes in the water governance structure and its regulatory structure through the new National Water Policy.
9. Ministry of Personnel said in the order that they have been appointed on the basis of one year contract, which will come into effect from January 1, 2020. Earlier Girish Kumar was appointed to this post under the Survey of India in September 2017. This department does the work of national survey and mapping.
10. This year the meeting of SCO heads of government will be held in India. Countries like India, Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan will participate in it. The Taj Mahal of India is among the Seven Wonders of the World. Now the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has included the Statue of Unity in the eighth wonder of the world.
