1. The Union environment ministry launched the Indo-French Year of the Environment along with Barbara Pompili, the French Minister for Ecological Transition.
2. India’s rank has slipped six places to 86th among 180 countries in Transparency International (TI)’s Corruption Perception Index in 2020. This year, New Zealand and Denmark rank at first position with scores of 88. Somalia and South Sudan rank lowest at 179th position with scores of 12.
3. A study by Australia-based Lowy Institute has ranked India 86 out of 98 countries on its Covid performance in the 36 weeks that followed each country’s 100th confirmed case. While New Zealand has scored the highest average score among countries followed by Vietnam, Taiwan Thailand and Cyprus. The United States is among the bottom five.
4. Every year, Martyrs’ Day is observed on January 30 to mark the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, known as the father of the nation, across the country. This year – 73rd Martyrs’ Day.
5. Maharashtra ranks first in the second edition of the India Justice Report (IJR) 2020, that judges states on delivery of justice to people. Maharashtra retained its number one position among 18 large and mid -sized states—each with a population of over one crore —followed by Tamil Nadu, which improved its ranking from third position in 2019, and Telangana.
6. India has seen an exponential increase in the number of scientific publications over the last 10 years and is in the third position globally after China and the US, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) said.
7. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia hosted Future Investment Initiative (FII) with the theme “The Neo-Renaissance.”. The two-day Davos styled summit, would witness global policymakers and business tycoons speaking on a range of topics. The topics will include pharmaceuticals, entertainment and several others.
8. Global e-tailer Amazon India signed an agreement with the Karnataka industries and commerce department to help micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) operating in the state to increase their exports on its global selling platform.
9. Global public debt is estimated to touch 98 per cent of GDP at the end of 2020, International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in its latest fiscal monitor update, according to which India’s government debt is expected to remain elevated at 83 per cent of GDP.