• The World Bank retained India's economic growth at 6.9% for financial year 2022-23.In its Global Economic Outlook report, World Bank maintained India's growth outlook has been maintained at the same level as that of its India Economic Update report that was released in December last year.

• Uttarakhand governor Lt Gen Gurmit Singh (retd) gave his consent to the Uttarakhand Public Services (Horizontal Reservation for Women) Bill, 2022, making it an Act, which will now provide 30% horizontal reservation to women of Uttarakhand in state government jobs.
• The Dhami government had tabled the bill in the assembly on November 29 last year, and the House passed it a day later.

• National Youth Day 2023 is observed on the 12th of January 2023.On January 12, 1984, the Indian government declared Swami Vivekananda’s birthday as National Youth Day for the first time.Since then, the day is celebrated nationwide as National Youth Day.
• The government’s primary motivation for making the decision was to improve the quality of life for the people of the country by urging young people to draw inspiration from Swami Vivekananda’s life and accomplishments to revive youngsters’ enduring vitality and boost the economy of the country.
• Theme: 'Viksit Yuva Viksit Bharat'

• The defence ministry has given its go-ahead for the procurement of indigenous anti-tank missiles to be fitted onboard the advanced light helicopter and a new short-range air defence missile, clearing projects worth 4,276 crore.
• The Rajnath Singh-led Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) gave clearance on Tuesday for three capital acquisition proposals - two for the Indian Army and one for the Navy. All projects are under the Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured (IDDM) category.

• The Khelo India Senior Women National Kho Kho league is set to take place at Chandigarh University, Punjab.The league is being organized by the Kho Kho Federation of India and will be held over three phases with full financial support from the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
• A total of 12 teams and close to 200 players are slated to participate.The Kho Kho women’s league for junior and sub-junior age groups is scheduled from January 16 to 19 at the Alberta Ekka Kho Kho stadium in Hotwar, Ranchi.

• Now Punjabi will be taught in public schools in Western Australia. The language is all set to be introduced into the school curriculum. The Australian government is adopting Punjabi as the newest language after a 2021 census showed that it was the fastest-growing language in Australia with more than 239,000 people using it at home, an increase of over 80 per cent from 2016, reported SBS Punjabi.
• The syllabus for pre-primary to year 12 will be developed this year. The move to teach Punjabi in schools was considered after the syllabus included Tamil, Hindi, and Korean languages in 2021.

• The Union government has hiked the interest rates of a few small savings schemes by between 20bps (basis points)  and 110bps for the January-March 2023 quarter. The finance ministry announced this via a circular issued on 30 December 2022.
• The interest rates of schemes like the Senior Citizen Savings Scheme, Monthly Income Savings Scheme, National Savings Certificate (NSC), Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP), and all post-office time deposits (TD) have been hiked.

• Kerala kicked itself into the Guinness Book of World Records, by taking 4500 penalty kicks within a span of 12 hours at the Dream Goal Penalty Shootout organised at the Payyanad Stadium in Malappuram district.
• Former Indian football player U Sharaffali took the first kick at 7.38 am,  while the last kick was taken by the State Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports V Abdurahiman at 7.38 in the evening.

• Jadunama, a book written on veteran writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar by Arvind Mandloi, was released. Javed’s wife, actor Shabana Azmi and children Zoya and Farhan Akhtar were present at the book launch.
• Farhan’s wife, actor Shibani Dandekar also attended the event. Jadunama is about a writer, poet, lyricist, and political activist. It is also about this one man’s struggle since childhood to become what he is today and to create a hallmark of success in everything he does.

• The three-time speaker of the Uttar Pradesh (UP) Legislative Assembly and former Governor of West Bengal Keshri Nath Tripathi passed away at the age of 88 in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh(UP).
• Tripathi was born on 10 November 1934, in Allahabad, UP. He was governor of West Bengal from July 2014 to July 2019. A senior advocate of Allahabad high court, he served as a member of the UP Legislative Assembly 6 times.
• He also served as the Speaker of the UP Legislative Assembly thrice between 1991 and 2004.He was also the president of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar PradeshHe was a poet and an essayist and had penned many books.

Download Daily GK PDF of 12 January 2023