Tamil Nadu Agricultural University VC gets Harit Ratna Award

1.Nepal’s newly elected Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota assumes office

Nepal’s newly elected Speaker of House of Representatives, the Lower House of the Parliament, Agni Prasad Sapkota has assumed the office.President Bidya Devi Bhandari administered the oath of office and secrecy to Mr. Saptoka at the President’s House in Kathmandu.

Earlier, ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) lawmaker Agni Prasad Sapkota was unanimously elected Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The post of Speaker was lying vacant since October last year after Mr. Krishna Bahadur Mahara resigned following allegations of attempted rape.

2.Slovenian Prime Minister Marjan Sarec resigns

Slovenian Prime Minister Marjan Sarec announced a step down and called for fresh elections, following weeks of rising tensions within his minority five-party coalition government.Mr Sarec’s resignation came almost at the same time as Finance Minister Andrej Bertoncelj announced that he too would quit in a row over health care funding.

Mr Sarec, is Slovenia’s youngest-ever Prime Minister.

He was previously best known as a comedian and political satirist before he launched himself as an anti-establishment politician.

3.Lala Lajpat Rai Birth Anniversary: 28 January

The year 2020 marks the 155th birth anniversary of Lala Lajpat Rai, one of the greatest freedom fighters of India.Lala Lajpat Rai was born on January 28, 1865, in a Jain Punjabi family in Dhudikae village of Punjab’s Moga district.

Rai was also known as Punjab Kesari.

He played a pivotal role in the Indian freedom struggle.

He was part of the famous radical trio Lal Bal Pal,who advocated the Swadeshi movement in India, involving the boycott of all imported goods and the use of Indian made goods.

To report the political situation of India, in 1928, the British government set up the Commission, headed by Sir John Simon.

When the Commission visited Lahore on October 30, 1928, Lajpat Rai led a non-violent march in protest against it.

4.Government signs ‘Historic’ peace accord with NDFB, ABSU to resolve Assam’s decades-old Bodo issue

The government signed an accord with the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, one of the dreaded insurgent groups of Assam.The pact, described as “historic” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, provides for setting up of a commission to reconstitute the Bodo Territorial Areas District (BTAD) by including new Bodo-dominated villages contiguous to the existing BTAD area and excluding villages with a predominantly non-tribal population.

The All Bodo Students’ Union, which has been spearheading a movement for a Bodoland state since 1972, and another group called United Bodo People’s Organisation were also signatories to the accord.

As per the accord, 1,550 militants belonging to the NDFB will lay down their arms on January 30.

Also an economic programme of Rs 1,500 crore will be implemented in the next three years with equal contribution of Rs 750 crore each from the central and state governments.

5.Biggest DefExpo 2020 to take place in Lucknow

The Defence Expo 2020 in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow city is going to be by far the biggest expo.The number of international companies confirming their presence at the expo has also gone up as compared to previous expos.

The number of companies registered for participating in the 11th edition of the biennial mega defence exhibition, DefExpo 2020, to be held at Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow between February 5-9, 2020; has reached 1,000.

In the DefExpo 2018, held in Chennai, 702 companies had participated.

Thus, it has become by far the biggest ever DefExpo to be held in India.

6.GRSE set to deliver ASW corvette INS Kavaratti to Navy soon

Defence PSU Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) is set to deliver anti-submarine warfare stealth corvette INS Kavaratti to the Navy.’Kavaratti’ is the last of the four Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) stealth corvettes built by the GRSE for the Indian Navy under Project P28.

Three of the four corvettes, INS Kamorta, INS Kadmatt and INS Kiltan were commissioned in 2014, 2016 and 2017 respectively.

The new technology will mean that the warship, which has 90 per cent indigenous components, will also require lower maintenance.

7.Andhra cabinet approves abolition of legislative council

The Andhra Pradesh cabinet has approved the abolition of the legislative council after its chairman referred the three-capital Bill to the select committee on discretionary powers.The assembly had on discussed the happenings that took place in council in the last two days.

Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy asked the Speaker to allow a discussion on whether there was any need to let the council continue to exist, or whether it could be abolished.

The Legislative Council may be dissolved for other reasons but not for the reason that it sent the bills to a select committee.

8.Sunil Mehta takes over as Chief Executive of Indian Banks’ Association

Sunil Mehta took over as Chief Executive Officer of the Indian Banks Association.He succeeds V G Kannan, who stepped down on December 31, 2019.

Sunil Mehta was heading Punjab National Bank, PNB as an MD & CEO.

While serving PNB, Mehta was also appointed as a chairman of IBA in 2018-19.

The term of the CEO of IBA is for three years while the chairman term is for only one year.

IBA is the representative body of the India’s banking sector and works for the development of the banking industry.

9.ATF unanimously nominates Anil Khanna as life President

Senior Sports Administrator Anil Khanna, who recently decided not to contest the President’s post of the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF), was nominated Life President of the continental body.Mr Khanna had served as ATF President from 2005 to 2019 and also ITF Vice President from 2015-19.  

The ATF held the meeting of its Board of Directors in Melbourne and unanimously nominated Mr Khanna as Life President.

He was also appointed Chairman of the ATF Finance Committee.

10.Tamil Nadu Agricultural University VC gets Harit Ratna Award

N Kumar, Vice-Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, has been conferred ‘ ‘Harit Ratna Award 2019’ by the All India Agricultural Students Association.He has been awarded for dissemination of ₹30-crore entrepreneurship project in agri-business and for motivating students to the agriculture sector in the State.

The award was conferred at the 5th National Youth Convention at Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya in Raipur recently.

11.Grammy Awards 2020 announced

The 62nd Annual Grammy Awards announced.

• The show was hosted by Singer-songwriter Alicia Keys.
• Record of the Year: “Bad Guy” Billie Eilish
• Song of the Year: “Bad Guy” Billie Eilish & Finneas O’Connell, songwriters (Billie Eilish)
• Best New Artist: Billie Eilish
• Best Pop Solo Performance: “Truth Hurts” Lizzo
• Best Music Video: Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus, “Old Town Road”
• Best Pop Vocal Album: “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” Billie Eilish
• Best Rap Album: “Igor” Tyler, The Creator
• Best R&B Performance: “Come Home” Anderson.Paak, featuring Andrş 3000
• Best Country Album: “While I’m Livin” Tanya Tucker
• Best Rock Album: “Social Cues” Cage The Elephant
• Best Music Film: “Homecoming” Beyonce
• Best World Music Album: Angelique Kidjo, “Celia”
• Best Spoken Word Album: “Becoming” Michelle Obama
• Best Rap/Sung Performance: “Higher”, DJ Khaled featuring Nipsey Hussle and John Legend