January, 2021 Current Affairs

Highlights

• R. S. Sharma has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer of the Ayushman Bharat scheme or the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana which is an insurance scheme by the National Health Authority’s (NHA).
• The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has highlighted that the year 2020 the worst year on record.
• The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced its new citizenship policy. The government has planned to offer citizenship to a select group of foreigners. 
• The National Statistical Office (NSO) has released the revised estimates of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data on January 29, 2020.
• Asia-Pacific Personalised Health Index was recently released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). 
• Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey 2020-21 in the Lok Sabha on January 29, 2021.
• Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the union territory of Ladakh recently signed an agreement for the development of the Union Territory through Science and Technology (S&T) interventions.
• The fifth joint meeting of the India-Japan Act East Forum was held between India and Japan on January 28, 2021. The meeting was co-chaired by Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and the Ambassador of Japan to India, Suzuki Satoshi.
•  India joined the world and Light Up Qutub Minar as a sign of unity to combat the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NDT). 
• The Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has released ‘Marine Mega Fauna Stranding Guidelines’ and ‘National Marine Turtle Action Plan’ recently to create a conservation paradigm for the marine mega fauna and marine turtles. 
• The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has released its “Global Climate Litigation Report 2021”.
• Rajasthan has become the 5th state in the country to successfully complete the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) reforms.
• International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released the “World Economic Outlook, 2021” report.
• India and the United Kingdom recently held the 14th meeting of the India-United Kingdom Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism.
• India has celebrated 72nd Republic Day, India has honored 119 people from diverse field with the Padma Awards.
• Elon Musk’s SpaceX has created a new world record. It has launched 143 satellites on a single rocket called Falcon 9 rocket. With the new record, SpaceX has broken the record of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) that has deployed 104 satellites on a single launch in February 2017. 
• The Prime Minister of Nepal, KP Sharma Oli, has been expelled from the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP). 
• The Supreme Court recently upheld the validity of Section 32 A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.
• The Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa recently launched Avalokana software. The software will enable the state government to access data on expenditures and sanctions incurred on 1,800 programmes.
• The Government of India recently announced that the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose is to be celebrated as “Parakram Diwas”. Parakram Diwas means Courage Day. Netaji was born on January 23, 1897.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Chinese President Xi Jing Ping are to participate in the Davos Agenda Summit. The Davos Agenda Summit is organised by the World Economic Forum.
• Bhawana Kanth is to become the first woman fighter pilot to take part in the Republic Day parade. She was one among the first women fighter Pilots inducted in Indian Air Force in 2016.
• A bird festival is to be organised at Mahananda wildlife Sanctuary in West Bengal. The festival is first of its kind. It is to be organised by Darjeeling Wildlife Division.
• The Kayakalp Awards are presented by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare annually to the health facilities with the highest standards of sanitation and hygiene.
• NASA is to launch the mot powerful rocket in the world on January 17, 2021. NASA has named it as the “Space Launch System”.
• The Union Minister Shri Nitin Gadkari is to launch “Khadi Prakritik Paint”. Who Developed Khadi Prakritik Paint? Khadi and Village Industries Commission. What is Khadi Prakritik Paint? The Khadi Prakritik Paint is a non-toxic eco-friendly paint with anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties.
• Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is celebrated on January 9.
• The United States recently passed the Malala Yousafzai Act for Pakistani Women. 
• Argentina recently became the largest Latin American country to legalize abortion.
• The Uttar Pradesh Government is to launch Kisan Kalyan mission.
• China has recently deployed underwater drones called Sea Wing Glider in the Indian Ocean region. The Sea Wing Glider Drone is used for Naval surveillance.

India Innovation Index by NITI Aayog: 2020

Performance of various states:

1. Karnataka is the most innovative state for the second year in a row.
2. Maharashtra pipped Tamil Nadu to the second spot.
3. Bihar was featured at the bottom of the list.

About the index:

The index attempts to create an extensive framework for the continual evaluation of the innovation environment of states and union territories in India and intends to perform the following three functions:

• Ranking of states and UTs based on their index scores.
• Recognizing opportunities and challenges.
• Assisting in tailoring governmental policies to foster innovation.

New President and Vice-President of the USA

Joe Biden

Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. (b. November 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pennsylvania) is the 46th president of the United States. He was inaugurated on January 20, 2021.

He won the 2020 presidential election on November 3, 2020, with 306 electoral votes. 

Kamala Harris

Kamala Harris has become America's first female, first Black and first Asian-American US vice-president. Born to a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, 56-year-old Kamala Harris made history on Wednesday. According to a top White House official, this has further cemented the importance of the relationship between the United States and India. 

Padma Awards 2020

Here is the full list of awardees:

Padma Vibhushan (7)

1. George Fernandes (Posthumous), Public Affairs, Bihar
2. Arun Jaitley (Posthumous), Public Affairs, Delhi
3. Anerood Jugnauth, GCSK Public Affairs, Mauritius
4. M. C. Mary Kom, Sports, Manipur
5. Chhannulal Mishra, Art, Uttar Pradesh
6. Sushma Swaraj (Posthumous), Public Affairs, Delhi
7. Vishveshateertha Swamiji (Posthumous), Others-Spiritualism, Karnataka

Padma Bhushan (16)

8. M. Mumtaz Ali (Sri M), Others-Spiritualism, Kerala
9. Syed Muazzem Ali (Posthumous), Public Affairs, Bangladesh
10. Muzaffar Hussain Baig, Public Affairs, JK
11. Ajoy Chakravorty, Art, West Bengal
12. Manoj Das, Literature & Education, Puducherry
13. Balkrishna Doshi, Others-Architecture, Gujarat
14. Krishnammal Jagannathan, Social Work, Tamil Nadu
15. S. C. Jamir, Public Affairs, Nagaland
16. Anil Prakash Joshi, Social Work, Uttarakhand
17. Tsering Landol, Medicine, Ladakh
18. Anand Mahindra, Trade and Industry, Maharashtra
19. N R Madhava Menon (Posthumous), Public Affairs, Kerala
20. Manohar Parrikar (Posthumous), Public Affairs, Goa
21. Jagdish Sheth, Literature and Education, USA
22. P. V. Sindhu, Sports, Telangana
23. Venu Srinivasan, Trade and Industry, Tamil Nadu

Padma Shri (118)

24. Guru Shashadhar Acharya, Art, Jharkhand
25. Yogi Aeron, Medicine, Uttarakhand
26. Jai Prakash Agarwal, Trade and Industry, Delhi
27. Jagdish Lal Ahuja, Social Work, Punjab
28. Kazi Masum Akhtar, Literature & Education, West Bengal
29. Gloria Arieira, Literature & Education, Brazil
30. Khan Zaheerkhan Bakhtiyarkhan, Sports, Maharashtra
31. Padmavathy Bandopadhyay, Medicine, Uttar Pradesh
32. Sushovan Banerjee, Medicine, West Bengal
33. Digambar Behera, Medicine, Chandigarh
34. Damayanti Beshra, Literature & Education, Odisha

Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar 2021 

 Dr Rajendra Kumar Bhandari in the Individual category and Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society (SEEDS) in Institutional category.

The award carries a cash prize of Rs 51 lakh and a certificate for an institution and Rs 5 lakh and a certificate in case of an individual.

International Film Festival of India (IFFI)

The 51st edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) was held from 16 January to 24 January 2021 at Shyamaprasad Stadium near Panaji in Goa. 

The winners of the IFFI awards are listed below:

• Golden Peacock Award for Best Film: Into the Darkness
• Silver Peacock Award for Best Actor (Male): Tzu-Chuan Liu, The Silent Forest
• Silver Peacock Award for Best Actor (Female):  Zofia Stafiej, I Never Cry
• Silver Peacock Award for Best Director: Chen-Nien Ko, The Silent Forest
• Best Debut Director Award: Cássio Pereira dos Santos, Valentina
• Special Mention Award: Kripal Kalita, Bridge
• Special Jury Award: Kamin Kalev, February
• ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Award: Ameen Nayfeh’s 200 Meters
• Indian Personality of the Year Award: Biswajit Chatterjee
• Lifetime Achievement: Vittorio Storaro (Italian cinematographer).

Dr. Viswanathan Shanta

• Dr. Viswanathan Shanta (1927 – 2021) was an Indian oncologist and the chairperson of Adyar Cancer Institute, Chennai.
• She was best known for her efforts towards making quality and affordable cancer treatment accessible to all patients in her country.
• She was associated with Adyar Cancer Institute since 1955, and held several positions, including that of the director of the institute between 1980 and 1997.
• She served as a member of several national and international committees on health and medicine, including the World Health Organization's Advisory Committee on Health.

Important days in January 2021