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Current Affairs 26 January 2020

India Celebrates 71st Republic Day on 26 January 2020

Republic Day honours the date on which the Constitution of India came into effect on 26 January 1950. It replaced the Government of India Act (1935) as the governing document of India.
Nation celebrated the 71st Republic Day with a grand military parade and exhibition of its history, cultural diversity and strategic weaponry at the Rajpath in New Delhi on 26 January 2020.
President Ram Nath Kovind unfurled the tricolour and took the salute of the parade.
Chief Guest: President of Brazil Jair Messias Bolsonaro was the Chief Guest at the Parade
Padma Award distribution: Second highest civilian awards in India after Bharat Ratna.
- Every year, on Republic Day, the President of India distributes Padma Awards to the civilians of India.
- Padma Awards are given in three categories – Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri, in decreasing order of importance.
- For 2020, 141 Padma Awards have been announced.
- The list comprises 7 Padma Vibhushan, 16 Padma Bhusan and 118 Padma Shri awards.
- Of this, 34 awardees are women and 18 foreigners while 12 persons are awarded posthumously.
Check the Padma Awards Winners List

Nitin Gadkari Launches Web Portal “GATI” to Monitor Road & Highways Projects

The Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways and MSMEs Shri Nitin Gadkari has launched an online Web Portal ‘GATI’ on the pattern of ‘PRAGATI’, the portal used by the Prime Ministers’ Office (PMO) for monitoring projects.
The GATI portal has been created by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and can be accessed from NHAI Website.
The portal was launched by the minister during the two-days long review meeting of NHAI-Ministry projects in Haryana’s Manesar on 23 & 24 January 2020.
A total of 500 projects (including delayed ones) costing around Rs 3 lakh crore were taken up for review during the meeting.

Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu Dedicates Padi Yubbe Outdoor Stadium to the people of Lower Subansiri

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu dedicated the Padi Yubbe outdoor stadium to the people of Lower Subansiri district in the state.
The stadium has been named after the first Cabinet Minister from Apatani community.
The stadium has a seating capacity of 4000.
The chief minister also unveiled the memorial statue of Padi Yubbe and paid homage to him.

Inaugural Ganga-Volga Dialogue of Civilizations between India and Russia held in New Delhi

The maiden Ganga Volga Dialogue of Civilization took place in New Delhi on 22 January 2020, to provide a platform for enhancing the special and privileged strategic partnership between India and Russia.
The idea of the Dialogue was conceptualized during the October 2018 India-Russia Summit between President Putin and Prime Minister Modi.
The event was inaugurated by India’s Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan.
The Dialogue was organised by the Ministry of External Affairs in collaboration with Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation.
The dominant theme of the Dialogue was Connectivity.
As many as 15 eminent scholars from India and Russia participated in the event to deliberate upon the existing and emerging spheres of bilateral cooperation between the two countries in matter relating to education, culture and civilization, entrepreneurship, innovation and trade routes, among others.

India Inks Agreement with Bangladesh to Upgrade Ashuganj-Akhaura Road into 4-lane Highway

On 23rd January 20202, India and Bangladesh have signed an agreement to upgrade the 50.58 kilometre long road between Ashuganj river port and the Akhaura land port in Bangladesh into a 4-lane highway.
This upgradation project is part of the USD 2 billion second line of credit (LoC) extended by India to Bangladesh in 2016.
The cost of constructing one lane is estimated to be Tk. 3,460 crore.
The project will boost connectivity between Bangladesh and North-eastern part of India as well as facilitate sub-regional connectivity among South and South-east Asian countries.

India’s GDP to grow at 5.0% in FY20 & 5.5% in FY21: India Ratings

India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has projected India’s GDP growth rate for fiscal 2019-2020 at 5 percent, which is a multi-year low.
Ind-Ra expects gross domestic product (GDP) to grow at 5.5 percent in FY21.

Sri Lanka Tops Among 97 Countries in Breast Feeding support Policies and Program; India at 78th Position

Sri Lanka has emerged at top position among 97 countries globally on breastfeeding rate according to a new survey conducted by the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi).
Sri Lanka has scored 91 out of 100 points and is the only country to earn a green color code, which implies best level of performance.
India in the rank: India has been ranked at 78th position with a score of 45, with yellow code.
Lowest Ranking country: Libya is the lowest ranking country with a score of 19 and red color code
The World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi), launched in 2004, assists countries to assess the status of and benchmark the progress in implementation of the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding.
The WBTi report is based on ten parameters of policy and programmes to rank countries. Each parameter has a score of 10.
Based on the score, each country gets the colour code as Red, Yellow, Blue, and Green in ascending order of performance based on the WBTi guideline. Green denotes the best level of performance.

Global Unemployment to increase by around 2.5 million in 2020: ILO Report

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has released a report titled “World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2020” which predicts that unemployment is likelt to increase by around 2.5 million in 2020.
However, the report also revealed that after nine years in decline, the rate of global unemployment remained unchanged in 2019, at 5.4%, and is expected to stay the same for the next two years, due to fluctuations in the population seeking work.

Some Key Finding of the Report

- Over 470 million people globally are working fewer paid hours than they would like to or lack access to paid work.
- Around 188 million people are unemployed globally and another 165 million adults are unable to get enough paid work.
- Also, there are 120 million people who had given up actively searching for work or had less adequate access to jobs.
- Of the global workforce, 61% are in informal employment
- 630 million people, equivalent to one in five of the global workforce, are working but still live in poverty

Cabinet Minister Naqvi Pens Hindi Novel “Balwa”

Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has penned a Hindi novel titled “Balwa”, which loosely translates to turmoil.
The book is scheduled to be released on 28 January 2020, and published by Diamond Pocket Books.
Balwa is a story based on the happenings like communal conflicts, that shook the country in the 90s, and about the kind of people who would be behind those.

International Customs Day: 26 January

The International Customs Day (ICD) is held on 26 January every year to recognise the role of customs officials and agencies and focuses on the working conditions and challenges that customs officers face in their jobs.
Theme 2020: “Customs fostering Sustainability for People, Prosperity and the Planet”.
The day was instituted by the World Customs Organization (WCO) to commemorate the day in 1953 when the inaugural session of the Customs Cooperation Council (CCC) was held in Brussels, Belgium.
In 1994 the CCC was renamed World Customs Organization (WCO).
World Customs Organization (WCO) headquarter- Brussels, Belgium
Membership- 182 countries

Daily Current Affairs – 26 January 2020