CURRENT AFFAIRS – JANUARY 2015

NATIONAL AFFAIRS• Planning Commission is renamed as 'NITIAayog'.We can expandNITI

Aayogas"NationalInstitutionforTransformingIndiaAayog".• RajnathSinghlaunchedwomensafetymobileapp'Himmat'.• PMNarendraModilaunchednationalprogrammeforLED-basedHomeand

StreetLighting.• UnionCabinetheadedbyPrimeMinisterapprovaltosetuptheIndiabased

NeutrinoObservatory(INO)inTamilNadu.• ICICIlaunchesDigitalVillageProjectinGujarat.• Toll-freehelplinelaunchedforalcoholanddrugaddicts.HelplineNo.is1800-

11-0031 launched by Social Justice and Empowerment Minister ThawarChandGehlot.

• PrimeMinisterreleasedcommemorativepostagestampstomark100yearsofMahatmaGandhi'sreturnhomeSouthAfricatoIndiaon8thJanuary.

• On9JanuaryVistara(withPartnershipofTataGroupandSingaporeAirlines)starteditsfirstflightfromDelhitoMumbai.

• RailwayMinisterSureshPrabhuHaggedofffirstCNGbasedtraininHaryanaon13thJanuary.

• Manmohan Singh adopted Pachim Bekeli Gaon Panchayat under SansadAdarshGramYojana.Somevillageadopted:

PMNarendraModi–JayapurvillageinVaranasi HemaMalini–RavalvillageinUP SachinTendulkar–PuttamrajuKandrikavillage SonaiGandhi–UruvavillageinRaeBareilly,AndhraPradesh• PM Narendra Modi launched Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Scheme on 22

January.• SBIlaunched'ChotaATM's'inKerala.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS• USPresidentBarackObamaarrived in India from25January2015 to27

January2015.

• Fivenewnon-permanentmemberselectedtoUNSecurityCouncil. Angola,Malaysia, New Zealand,Venezuela, and Spain have begun their

twoyeartermreplacingArgentina,Australia,Luxembourg,SouthKoreaandRwanda.

• China launches an officialmilitaryweapons procurementwebsite "www.weain.min.cn"toguaranteetransparencyinarmsprocurement.

• ParisMarchagainstterroron11thJanisthelargestMarchinFrenchhistory.• AustralialaunchesonlinevisapilotprogrammeforIndians.• JapaneseautomakerToyotatopsinGlobalVehicleSales.• SouthKorean Presedent nominates newPrimeMinister LeeWan koo on

23rdJan.• FirstFemaleChurchofEnglandbishopconsecratedinYork.• Italy'slawmakerselectSergioMattarellaasPresident.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY• World'sSmallestGoannalizardspeciesdiscoveredinAustralia.• Chinabuildsworld'slargestCoalMineGasunittogenerateelectricity.• ISROgearsuptolaunchIRNSS1D.• NASA'sKeplerSpaceTelescopefinds1000thAlienPlanet.• ISROMarsOrbiterProgrammeTeamwinsNationalSpaceSociety'sSpace

PioneerAwardforScienceandEngineeringon12January.• India successfully test-fibre surface-to-surface nuclear capable ballistic

Missile'Agni-5'.

SPORTS• TheAustralianOpenTennisTournamentfortheyear2015washeldfrom19th

January2015to1stFebruary2015atMelbournePark,Victoria,Australia.• AndyMurraywonMubadalaWorldTennisChampionship2015.• Karate ismakingapush tobepartof theprogrammefor the2020Tokyo

Olympics.• BrettLeeanAustralianplayerretiresfromallformsofcricketon15thJan.• India's OpenWater Swimmer Bhakti Sharma has set aWorld Record by

swimming1.4miles in52minutes inonedegree temperatureatAntarcticOcean.

• Indiahasbeenconfirmedashostforthe2016'Twenty-20WorldCup',theICCannouncedon29January.

IMPORTANT DAYS• 9thJanuary–PravasiBharatiyaDivas• 10thJanuary–WorldHindiDay• 15thJanuary–IndianArmyDay• 24thJanuary–NationalGirlChildDay• 25thJanuary–NationalVotersDay• 26thJanuary–RepublicDayofIndia

DEATHS• RodTaylordiedon7thJanuary2015–HollywoodActor• PerinRomeshChandradiedon8thJanuary2015–FreedomFighter• Abdullahdiedon23rdJanuary2015–SaudiArabia'sKing• RKLaxmandiedon26thJanuary2015–Cartoonist• MuninderNathRaidiedon27thJanuary2015–RepublicDayMedallist• JaswantSinghRajputdiedon28thJanuary2015–HockeyOlympian

AWARDS AND HONORS• ArundhathiSubramaniam–KhushwantSinghMemorialPrizeforPoetry• ColonelMunindraNathRai–YudhSevaMedal• RaghuramRajan–Governoroftheyear• PaulinaVega(MissColombia)–MissUniverse• NaikNeerajKumarSingh–AshokaChakra• MajorMukundVaradarajan–AshokaChakra• LeelaSamson–NatyaKalaAcharya2015• SyedModiGrandPrixGoldTitle2015 • Men'sSingle–ParupalliKashyap • Women'sSingle–SainaNehwal