1.  National girl child day was celebrated on 24th January to spread awareness about inequalities faced by girl child.

• India celebrates National Girl Child Day on January 24 annually. It was initiated by Ministry of Women and Child Development in 2008.
• The aim of the day is to spread awareness about inequalities faced by girls in the country. It also promotes awareness about rights of girl child.
• Also, it increases importance of health, education and nutrition of girl child.  The National Girl Child Day also spreads various atrocities faced by girls in their lives.

Foot Notes:
Ministry of Women and Child Development: Smriti Irani

2. India achieves complete phase out of one the most potent ozone depleting chemical.

• Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (EFoCC) recently announced that India has achieved the complete phase out of ozone depleting Hydro Chloro Fluoro Carbons (HCFC). The achievement has its route to the Montreal Protocol
• In order to move towards environment friendly technologies, the Ministry of EFoCC prohibited import of HCFC-141b. The order was issued according to Ozone Depleting substances (Regulation and Control) amendment rules, 2019. The rules were issued under Environment (Protection) act, 1986.
• The use of HCFC-141b by foam manufacturing industries have been come to an end with the stoppage of import of HCFC-141b. This is because, HCFC-141b is not produced in India. The domestic requirements of HCFC-141b so far had been met through imports.

Foot Notes:
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change: Prakash Javadekar

3. Ghana  will replicate the Ujjwala model of LPG connection under the guidance of India.

• Indian Oil has signed a MoU with the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) of Ghana for providing its assistance and technical expertise in the implementation of Ghana's National LPG Promotion Policy.
• LPG coverage in Ghana is 23%. Citizens of Ghana spend hours together at petrol stations to refill their cylinders. Ghana is to fix the issues around LPG with India’s support. Ghana inspired by India’s bottling plants of LPG is to implement its replica aiming to cover 50% of population in the initial stage.
• India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Ghana to provide assistance in Ghana’s National LPG Promotion Policy. The MoU will strengthen cooperation between the countries and will increase the support offered to National Petroleum Authority of Ghana by India.

Foot Notes:
About Ghana
Capital: Accra
Currency: Ghanaian cedi

4. DMMC,  won the 2020 Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar award.

• Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar 2020 was announced on the occasion of Subhash Chandra Bose birth anniversary. Disaster Mitigation & Management Centre (DMMC), Uttarakhand under the institution category won the award. DMMC received a certificate and a cash prize of Rs.51 lakhs. The cash prize will be used by the winning institution for Disaster Management related activities only.
• Disaster Mitigation & Management Centre (DMMC), Uttarakhand under the institution category won the award. DMMC received a certificate and a cash prize of Rs.51 lakhs.
• The cash prize will be used by the winning institution for Disaster Management related activities only.

5. Airtel joins hands with Google cloud to bring G Suite to Indian SMBs.

• Bharti Airtel Limited (also known as Airtel), an Indian global telecommunications services company, has entered into the partnership with cloud computing services provider Google Cloud, under which Airtel will offer services provided by Google’s G Suite to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in India, which are already clients of Airtel’s information and communications technology (ICT) services.
• The G Suite consists of Gmail, Docs, Drive, Calendar and more – apps designed with real-time collaboration & machine intelligence to enhance productivity.
• Airtel has a subscriber base of 325 Million in India, serves to over 2500 large businesses and over 500,000 SMBs.Microsoft also partnered with Reliance Jio to target small and medium businesses in India.

Foot Notes:
About Bharti Airtel Ltd
Headquarters: New Delhi
Chairman: Sunil Bharti Mittal
MD & CEO (India and South Asia): Gopal Vittal

About Google Cloud
Launched: April 7, 2008
CEO: Thomas Kurian

6. Indian Army to induct indigenously upgraded  Artillery gun ‘Sharang’ by March 31, 2020.

• Indian Army (IA) has announced to induct 1st batch of 18 indigenously upgraded ‘Sharang’ artillery guns by March 31, 2020. The announcement was made by the Programme Coordinator of Sharang Brigadier Jayant Kar.
• Sharang: The artillery gun’s barrel upgraded from 130mm to 155mm has a strike range of 39 kilometres and has gone integrated firing range from 0-45 degrees in its trial at the Long Proof Range of Ordnance Factory Khamaria, 16 kilometers from Jabalpur district headquarters in Madhya Pradesh. Previously the strike range was 27 kilometers.
• The contract to upgrade the Sharang artillery gun was undertaken by Gun Carriage Factory (GCF) in Jabalpur with the help of state-owned ordnance factories, and teams from the Army and DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation)

Foot Notes:
Chief of Indian Army: Manoj  Mukund Naravane

7. Book titled The Story of Yoga: From India to the Contemporary World by Alistair Shearer released.

• Book titled “first definitive history” of Yoga, “The Story of Yoga: From India to the Contemporary World” has been written by Scottish cultural historian Alistair Shearer,  will be released by the end of January, 2020 and published by Penguin Random House.The book discusses about the practice of yoga since ancient time in India till now.
• It has been endorsed by the likes of Philip Goldberg, author of “American Veda and the life of Yogananda” , John Zubrzycki, author of Empire of Enchantment: The Story of Indian Magic” and author-politician Shashi Tharoor.

8. Pakistan tests nuclear-capable surface-to-surface ballistic missile ‘Ghaznavi’ of 290-km range

• Pakistan conducted a successful training launch of nuclear-capable surface-to-surface ballistic missile 'Ghaznavi', which can strike targets up to 290 kilometers.
• "The training launch was part of Field Training Exercise of Army Strategic Forces Command aimed at rehearsing operational readiness procedures during day and night," the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the army.
• The launch was witnessed by Lt Gen Nadeem Zaki Manj, Director General Strategic Plans Division, Commander Army Strategic Forces Command, senior officers from Strategic Plans Division, Army Strategic Forces Command, Scientists and Engineers of the strategic organisations, according to the state-run Radio Pakistan.

Foot Notes:
About Pakistan
Prime minister: Imran Khan
Capital: Islamabad
Currency: Pakistani rupee
President: Arif Alvi

9. Global Talent Competitive Index 2020: India improves eight ranks to 72, Switzerland tops the list.

• Global Talent Competitive Index (GTCI) 2020 has been released at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) on January 22, 2020. INSEAD Business School released the GTCI report with the help of Google and Adecco Group.
• This year India climbed eight ranks and secured the 72nd rank in the index. Switzerland is in the first place while the USA and Singapore grabbed the second and third positions respectively. This index shows the ability of countries to make the world progress, retain and attract talent. They are ranked based on their abilities.

Foot Notes:
First position: Switzerland
Second position: USA
Third position: Singapore

10. Uttar Pradesh government implements ‘Mukhyamantri Krishak Durghatna Kalyan Yojana’ for the farmers in the state.

• Uttar Pradesh government has implemented ‘Mukhyamantri Krishak Durghatna Kalyan Yojana’ for the farmers in the state. The assistance of Rs 5 lakh will be provided to the farmers’ family in case of farmer’s death or disabled due to the accident. The age limit of the scheme is between 18 to 70 years.
• This scheme is fully funded by the government of UP.
• With in 45days, the beneficiaries will receive the amount under this scheme.UP government will launch a web portal for this scheme for its easy access.
• The amount will be adjusted for the person who are already receiving benefits from Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana or any other schemes which are  provided by the government.

Foot Notes:
About Uttar Pradesh
Capital city: Lucknow
Chief Minister: Yogi Adityanath
Governor: Anandiben Patel

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Current Affairs 23 January, 2020

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