2016

GENERAL AWARENESS (JANUARY)

January 1, 2016

SUMIR SETHI

Copyright © 2016
 JANUARY News
New Appointments In India
New Appointment Position
Devender Kumar Sikri Chairman of Competition Commission of India (CCI)
Dr Achyuta Samanta President of 105th Indian Science Congress Association 2017-18
Dr. Urjit R Patel Deputy Governor of RBI
Atulesh Jindal Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)
Dinesh Sharma Indian Member of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)
Gautam H Bambawale India’s High Commissioner to Pakistan
Pawan Kumar Aggarwal CEO of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)
Amitabh Kant CEO of NITI Aayog
Dr. Gyanendra Bandgaiyan DG of National Centre for Good Governance
Shyam Benegal Committee head for revamp of Censor Board
Justice R M Lodha Committee head to look into affairs of BCCI
Sailesh Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India
Alice Vaidyan Chairman of General Insurance Corporation of India
Justice Sanjay Mishra Lokayukta of Uttar Pradesh

National News
The 14th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (PBD) was held on 9 January 2016 in New Delhi.
Delhi The 18th Session of the India-Iran Joint Commission Meeting was held in New Delhi.
New Luxury Super fast express train between Delhi to Varanasi – Mahamana Express.
A 4-day cultural festival ‘Bharat Parv’ was held at Delhi.
Senior National Wrestling Championship was held in New Delhi.
Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur, Rajasthan won the award of the world's best hotel
at the Travellers' Choice award organized by TripAdvisor.
DRDO successfully test-fired Nag anti-tank missile in Rajasthan.
Rajasthan India and France started their eight-day counter terrorism and counter-insurgency
joint exercise Shakti-2016 in Rajasthan.
Rajasthan Government along with its power distribution companies (DISCOMS) has
signed a MoU to join UDAY (Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana) Scheme.
India’s First World Music Festival (February ,2016) will be held in Udaipur, Rajasthan
West Bengal The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is planning to setup a modern Indian
Waterways Hub at Haldia, West Bengal.
Karnataka 103th Indian Science Congress was hosted at University of Mysore, Karnataka
Manipur Manipur suffered a strong 6.8 magnitude earthquake
Mumbai boy, Pranav Dhanawade, created cricket history by scoring 1009* runs.
Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry is organized “Make in India Week” in 1
Maharashtra February 2016 in Mumbai.
Mumbai central has become the first ever railway station in Indian to have free high
speed Internet facility.

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 National conference on e-Governance hosted by Nagpur, Maharashtra.
Dharavi in Mumbai is to get the world’s first slum museum,
From January 1, all police stations in Maharashtra will start registering First
information Reports (FIRs) online and the complainant will get a copy of the
complaint on Whatsapp, along with a SMS confirming the filing.
National Weightlifting Championships held in Patiala.
Punjab 150th birth anniversary of great freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai, also known as
Punjab Kesri. To celebrate this occasion a state level function has been organized in
Punjab and special event will be held at village Dhudi Ke, the birth place of Lala Lajpat
Rai in Moga district.
Telangana Telangana has become the first state in the country to officially accept electronic
motor insurance policies by the name ‘e-Vahan Bima’ .
Uttarakhand A bus service was started after a gap of 27 years from Banbasa border in Uttrakhand.
The Ardh Kumbh Mela formally started on January 12 at Haridwar.
Tamil Naidu Jallikattu was allowed by Central Govt. but stayed by Supreme Court.
Chhattisgarh A Five day National Youth festival was hosted by Naya Raipur, Chhattisgarh
Kerala has become the first Indian State to achieve 100 percent in primary education.
61st National School Athletic meet hosted by Kozhikode, Kerala.
Kerala South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) was hosted by Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
Kerala will host a three-day ‘Nypunyam International Skill Summit and Skill Fiesta
2016’ next month with a view to bridging the gap between the job market
requirement and the skill level of available workforce.
Sikkim Sikkim has become India’s 1st fully Organic State.
Jharkhand India’s largest national Flag was hoisted in Ranchi, Jharkhand
Arunachal State under President’s rule.
Pradesh
Bihar Bihar has decided to give 35% reservation to women in all kind of state government
jobs.
Gujarat International Kite Festival was held at Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Himachal In HP, ‘Nati’ folk dance of Kullu district has made a World record for folk dance by
Pradesh large number.
Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh is implementing the food security law from 1st January 2016.
The Government of Haryana in association with the Confederation of Indian Industry
Haryana (CII) is all set to unfold ‘The Happening Haryana Global Investors’ Summit 2016’
slated to be held at Gurgaon on March 7 and 8, 2016.
Goa Goa launched Goa e-Suvidha Portal, an online project tracking mechanism to fast track
projects.

New Appointments (World)

New Appointment Position
Tsai Ing Wen President of Taiwan
Pavel Filip Prime Minister of Moldova
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa President of Portugal 2
Paul Kaba Thieba Prime Minister of Burkina Faso
Giorgi Kvirikashvili Prime Minister of Georgia

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 International News
China officially ended its controversial one child policy. Chinese lawmakers passed a
China historic decision allowing all couples to have two children from January 1.
China launched Gaofen-4 Earth Observation Satellite.
Liberia Country to be declared free of deadly Ebola disease by WHO.
Singapore Singapore’s Scientists have developed a human like social robot named ‘Nadine’.
Iraq Iraqi forces captured Ramadi (city) in Iraq from ISIS.
Indian consulate in Afghanistan was attacked by heavily armed terrorist ‘Mazar e
Sharif’.
Afghanistan will hold its delayed parliamentary elections on October 15.
Afghanistan Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Afghanistan’s newly-built Parliament
House in Kabul.
Three Mi-25 gunship helicopters supplied by India are to officially join the Afghan
Air Force today.
North Korea North Korea declared that it had detonated its first hydrogen bomb.
Zimbabwe Zimbabwe's Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa announced that the country has
planned to adopt the Chinese Yuan as legal tender.
Philippines Philippines became the first Asian country to approve the sale of the world's first-
ever dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia.
President of France Francois Hollande was the Chief Guest at 67th Republic Day
parade.
France Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with the President of France François
Hollande, on 25 January 2016 laid the foundation stone of the International Solar
Alliance (ISA) headquarters in National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) in
Gwalpahari, Gurgaon.
Military Contingent of France taken part in Republic Day Parade.
India and Australia has signed an agreement for enabling people of both nations to
avail retirement benefits in each other’s country.
Australia Australia declined to take part in forthcoming under-19 World Cup Tournament in
Bangladesh citing security reasons.
2015 Brisbane International Tennis Tournament was hosted by Brisbane, Australia.
The World’s largest blue star sapphire was discovered in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka has maintained its high ranking in 2015 Human Development Index (HDI)
in the South Asia Region.
Sri Lanka began the process to formulate new Constitution.
Jordan Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Jordan for promoting
cooperation in the field of information technology and electronics.
Russia Russia's Rostech State Corporation tied up with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
(HAL) to manufacture at least 200 Kamov 226T light helicopters.
The 18th Session of the India-Iran Joint Commission Meeting was held in New Delhi.
Iran Iran and Airbus signed two agreements covering new aircraft orders and a
comprehensive civil aviation co-operation package. The agreement includes
purchase of 118 new Airbus aircrafts.
Saudi Arabia announced that it has broken off diplomatic ties with Iran. The
announcement was made amid a row over the Saudi execution of a prominent Shia
Saudi Arabia Muslim cleric. 3
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and Kuwait Institute of Scientific
Research (KISR) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in
the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes.
Armenia India and Armenia has signed a Protocol to amend the existing Double Taxation

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 Avoidance Convention (DTAC) to curb instances of tax evasion.

Award/Position/Sports Winner
Jnanpith Award, 2015 Raghuveer Chaudhary
Knighthood Honour in UK Dr. Harpal Singh
‘Cricketer of the Year’ Men - 2015 by BCCI Virat Kohali
‘Cricketer of the Year’ Women - 2015 by BCCI Mithali Raj
No.1 Test Bowler - 2015 by ICC R. Ashwin
Qatar Masters open Chess Tournament Magnus Carlsen
South Asian Football Federation Cup India
76th All India Inter University Athletics Championship Punjabi University
Greatest Test Performance of last 50 years VVS Laxman
No.1 in Junior men’s singles category in BWF ranking Siril Verma
Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture (Drama) The Revenant
Chennai Open tennis Cup Stanislaus Wawrinka
Lal Bahadur Shastri Hockey Tournament ONGC
Global and Asia-Pacific Central Bank Governor - 2015 Raghuram Rajan
30th win in a row Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis
2015 Filmfare award for Best Actor Ranveer Singh
2015 Filmfare award for Best Film Bajirao Mastani
India’s First Premier Badminton League Delhi Acers
Best Hotel in the world by TripAdvisor Umaid Bhawan, Jodhpur
1st T20 Asia Cup Cricket for Blind held in Kochi, Kerala India
Vijay Merchant (U-16) Trophy Punjab
Yash Chopra Memorial Award 2016 Rekha
Vijay Hazare Cricket Trophy 2015 Gujarat
DSC Prize for South Asian Literature Anuradha Roy
Highest civilian honour, the Order of Australia Sajeev Koshy
2015 Sangita Kalanidhi Award Sanjay Subrahmanyam
‘Most generous Indian’ by Hurun India Azim Hashim Premji
Philanthropy List 2015
National Award for e-Governance 2015-16 EPFO
8th Human Rights Award by Amnesty International Henri Tiphagne

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 International Summits held in 2015
10th G20 Meeting 2015 - G20 is made up of the finance ministers and central bank
Antalya, Turkey governors of European Union and 19 countries: Argentina,
G20 Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany,
11th G20 Meeting 2016 – India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia,
Hangzhou, China South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the
United States of America
41st G7 Summit 2015 - The Group of Eight (currently known as Group of Seven) is a
Schloss Elmau, Germany governmental political forum. It was originally formed by
G7 six leading industrial countries and subsequently extended
42nd G7 Summit 2016 - with two additional members – one of which, Russia, has
Shima, Japan been suspended. Since 2014 in effect it comprises seven
nations and the European Union.
Global Global Earth Hour 2015 - Earth Day is an annual event, celebrated on April 22, on
Earth Seoul, South Korea which day events worldwide are held to demonstrate
Hour Global Earth Hour 2016 - support for environmental protection.
Australia
7th BRICS Summit 2015 - BRICS is the acronym for an association of five
BRICS Ufa, Russia major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India,
8th BRICS Summit 2016 - China and South Africa. The grouping was originally known
New Delhi, India as "BRIC" before the inclusion of South Africa in 2010.
4th BIMSTEC Summit 2015 - BIMSTECH – Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multisectoral
BIMSTEC Nepal Technical and Economic Cooperation
Countries: Bangladesh - India – Myanmar – Sri Lanka –
Thailand – Bhutan – Nepal
NATO Summit 2014 - The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is
NATO Wales, United Kingdom an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North
NATO Summit 2016 - Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. NATO's
Warsaw, Poland headquarter is located in Brussels.
27th ASEAN Summit 2015 - Association of Southeast Asian Nations is a political and
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia economic organization of ten Southeast Asian countries. It
ASEAN was formed on 8 August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia,
28th ASEAN Summit 2016 - Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Since then,
Laos membership has expanded to include Brunei,
Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.
102th Indian Science Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) is a premier
Indian Congress 2015 - Mumbai, scientific organization of India with headquarters
Science Maharashtra at Kolkata, West Bengal. The association started in the year
Congress 103rd Indian Science 1914 in Kolkata and it meets annually in the first week of
Congress 2016 - Mysore, January every year. Today, it has membership strength of
Karnataka more than 30,000 scientists.
th
10 East Asia Summit 2015 - East Asia Summit (EAS) is a forum held annually by leaders
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia of, initially, 16 countries in the East Asian and South East
East Asia Asian region. Membership expanded to 18 countries 5
Summit 11th East Asia Summit 2016 - including the United States and Russia at the Sixth EAS in
Laos 2011. EAS meetings are held after annual ASEAN leaders
meetings.

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 27th APEC Summit 2015 – Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a forum for 21
APEC Manila, Philippines Pacific Rim member economies that promotes free trade
28th APEC Summit 2016 - throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
Lima, Peru
India- rd
3 India- Africa Summit India–Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) is the official platform for
Africa 2015- India the African-Indian relations. IAFS will be held once in every
Summit three years.

Miscellaneous
1. Sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik’s Santa Claus sculpture found a place in Limca Book of World
Records. Pattnaik claimed that he had created a 45 feet high sand Santa Claus at Puri beach.
2. New Award category under the National Film Awards titled The Most Film Friendly State/UT.
3. 20th National Youth Festival was inaugurated by Union Road Transport and Highways Minister
Nitin Gadkari in Naya Raipur, Chhattisgarh to mark the National Youth Day.
4. Committee was constituted by the SEBI under the chairmanship of N R Narayan Murthy, co-
founder of Infosys, to suggest measures for development of the alternative investment funds
(AIFs) and startup eco-system in the country.
5. Union Ministry of Finance released the report of the Committee on Revisiting and Revitalising
Public Private Partnership (PPP) Model.
6. Union Ministry of Finance released the draft report of Justice R V Easwar (Retd) Committee to
simplify the provisions of Income-tax Act, 1961.
7. The Civil Aviation Ministry gave clearance for four greenfield airports. The three airports will be
located in Andhra Pradesh and one international airport in Gujarat.
8. Operation Green Hunt, an all-out offensive by India’s paramilitary forces and the state's forces
against the Naxalites came in news on 8 January 2016.
9. The term River Information System (RIS) was in news in the first week of January 2016 as the
Union Ministry of Shipping is set to launch the system for Inland Waterways in the country.
Union Government launched the Phase-I of the River Information System of India in New Delhi.
The Phase-I of the RIS was launched on the Sagar-Farakka stretch of National Waterway-1 on
River Ganges to facilitate safe and accurate navigation.
10. New Crop Insurance Scheme, ‘Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana’ to boost the agricultural sector.
Farmers will pay a uniform premium of only 2 percent for all Kharif crops and 1.5% for all Rabi
crops. In case of annual commercial and horticultural crops, farmers will pay a premium of only 5
percent.
11. LPG-like direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme for kerosene. The scheme will be started from 1
April 2016.
12. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Start-up India initiative to augment startup ecosystem in
the country. Prime Minister also unveiled Start-up India, Stand-up India Action Plan.
13. DRDO successfully test-fired Nag anti-tank missile in Rajasthan.
14. DRDO successfully test fired the new Penetration-Cum Blast (PCB) and Thermobaric (TB)
Ammunition tank at Chandipur, Odisha. This was specially designed for Arjun Main Battle Tank
(MBT).
15. Long Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LRSAM), the missile co-developed by India and Israel, was 6
successfully test-fired.
16. Indigenously developed Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air-to-air missile, Astra, was successfully test
fired. The test was conducted by the Indian Air Force off the coast of Odisha near the Integrated

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 Test Range (ITR), Balasore.
17. Amament Research and Development Establishment successfully test-fired Pinaka II multi barrel
rocket launcher System.
18. Terrorists belonging to Jaish-e- Mohammed, an Islamist militant group, attacked Pathankot Air
Force Station.
19. Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has decided to deploy about 300 women commandos for
undertaking anti-Naxal operations in select Leftwing Extremism-affected states.
20. Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs merged with the Ministry of External Affairs.
21. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh approved the 33 percent posts at constable level to be filled
up by women.
22. The Somnath Temple Trust is all set to become Gujarat’s first temple to deposit its idle gold in the
Gold Monetisation Scheme. The trust has around 35 kg of unused gold.
23. The union government is working on issuing a unique identification number ‘Unorganised
Workers Identification Number’ (U-WIN card) for the workforce engaged in unorganised sector to
facilitate them to access social schemes and benefits.
24. Government decided to implement stricter emission norms of Bharat Stage (BS) VI from April 1,
2020 by skipping BS-V altogether. At present, BS IV norms are followed in parts of India and by
April 1, 2017.
25. The regulation that mobile phone users be paid a compensation of Rs. 1 for every call dropped, up
to a maximum of three calls a day, will come into effect from January 1.
26. A plot of land for India to build its first naval base in the Indian Ocean region has been allocated by
the Seychelles government in the Assumption Island.
27. Country’s retail payment platform NPCI and CSC eGov have jointly launched Aadhaar enabled
payment system that will facilitate government entitlements such as NREGA as well as old age
pension.
28. ICICI Bank will partner FINO PayTech to foray into the payments bank space.
29. The Reserve Bank of India extended the deadline for exchanging pre-2005 currency notes of
various denominations by another six months to 30 June 2016.
30. Andhra Bank launched Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) across all its branches in association
with the National Payments Corporation of India.
31. RBI imposed monetary penalty of one crore rupees on State Bank of Travancore for violation of its
instructions.
32. 644 taxpayers who have opted for the one-time black money compliance window under the Black
Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015.
33. Central Board of Direct Taxes decided that quoting of PAN will be required for transactions of an
amount exceeding Rs. 2 lakh regardless of the mode of payment from January 1, 2016.
34. Amitabh Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra will replace Aamir Khan as new ambassadors of the
Incredible India campaign to market the country to tourists abroad.
35. Nai Manzil scheme was launched for the first time in Jammu and Kashmir. The scheme was
launched for girls in Srinagar in three institutions- Skill Development Centre, University of
Kashmir and two Madarsas.
36. Google India and Indian Railways’ telecom arm RailTel has launched free Rail Wire Public Wi-Fi
service for railway passengers at the Mumbai Central Station.
37. BEPS is an acronym of Base Erosion and Profit Shifting and it was in news in the third week of
January 2016 as India decided to implement these guidelines.
38. India’s digital payment startup company TranServ has launched country’s first Social Mobile
7
Wallet named
39. 6th National Voters’ Day (NVD) was observed across the country on 25 January 2016 by the
Election Commission of India. The theme for the 6th National Voters’ Day is ‘Inclusive and
Qualitative Participation’.

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40. The Andhra Pradesh Government launched Giriputrika Kalyana Pathakam Scheme to support the
tribal women in their quest for livelihood.
41. Ministry of Culture released a commemorative coin of 150 rupees and a circulation coin of 10
rupees on Lala Lajpat Rai.
42. India has overtaken Thailand as the world’s largest rice exporter in the year 2015
43. India test fired its indigenously built surface-to-air Akash missile at Chandipuri in Odisha. It was
as part of a user trial mission.
44. Aparna Kumar, IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, became India's first civil servant to scale Mount
Vinson Massif, the highest peak in the Antarctica.
45. Puducherry launched the MITRA mobile application to ensure safety and security of women in the
Union Territory.

Exercise Between Where

‘Sahyog – Kaijin 2016’ Naval Exercise India - Japan Bay of Bengal
Shakti – 2016 Joint Military Exercise India- France Rajasthan , India

January 2016 Exam Question Paper link –

Punjab Patwari Pre -

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B6v2oBL9UDqBQUpucXM0WC1hWFU&usp=sharing

Important Dates (January)

NRI Day 9 January
National Youth Day 12 January
Army Day 15 January
National Voter’s Day / 25 January
National Tourism Day
Indian Republic Day 26 January
Lala Lajpat Rai BD 28 January
Martyr’s Day 30 January
(Mahatma Gandhi’s
Martyrdom)

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