• On the occasion of the National Girl Child Day, Srishti Goswami became the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand for one day on Sunday.
• Srishti, who hails from Haridwar, attended an official meeting  to review various schemes run by the state government.
• India celebrates the National Girl Child Day, an initiative of the ministry of women and child development, every year on January 24.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi also hailed the accomplishments of India’s daughters in various fields. The central government has undertaken many initiatives that focus on empowering the girl child, including access to education, better healthcare and improving gender sensitivity, he said.

• January 24 is marked as ‘Education Day’ globally to celebrate the role of education for peace and development. 
• This year, International Education Day celebrated on the theme- ‘Recover and revitalise education for the COVID-19 generation’. “Now is the time to power education by stepping up collaboration and international solidarity to place education and lifelong learning at the centre of the recovery,” according to UNESCO.

• The U.S. Census Bureau is suspending efforts to create neighborhood-level statistics on the citizenship and age of residents, using 2020 census data, in the latest rollback of Trump administration census-related initiatives that critics feared would be used to favor Republicans and whites during the drawing of state and local districts.
• As part of an order President Joe Biden signed Wednesday on the 2020 census, the Census Bureau said Friday that it would discontinue efforts to create citizenship tabulations at the city-block level using 2020 census data combined with administrative records.

• In Shillong, the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah inaugurated the 69th Plenary Meeting of the North Eastern Council (NEC) today. 
• Governors and Chief Ministers of the eight North Eastern States along with a large number of delegations of State Governments and Central Ministries were present at the meeting which is schedule to conclude tomorrow. The meeting will discuss various developmental projects currently in progress and future plans for the entire North Eastern region.

• The Halwa ceremony, marking the final stage of the budget making process for Union Budget 2021-22, was held in North Block, New Delhi. Finance Ministry said, a customary Halwa ceremony is performed every year before the lock-in process of Budget preparation begins. 
• The Union Budget will be presented in Parliament on 1st February. Finance Ministry said, in an unprecedented initiative, Union Budget 2021-22 will be delivered in paperless form for the first time.
• On the occasion, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched the - Union Budget Mobile App, for hassle-free access of Budget documents by Members of Parliament and the general public using the simplest form of digital convenience. The mobile App facilitates complete access to 14 Union Budget documents, including the Annual Financial Statement, Demand for Grants and Finance Bill as prescribed by the Constitution.

• Madhya Pradesh has become the first state to get additional funds for capital projects for successfully carrying out reforms in various citizen-centric areas.
• The Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance has allocated additional 660 crore rupees to the state for capital expenditure for undertaking the One Nation, One Ration Card Reforms, Ease of Doing Business Reforms, and Urban Local Bodies Reforms, according to an official statement.

• India’s largest multi-model logistic park will come up at Virochan Nagar near Sanand in Ahmedabad district of Gujarat. The MoU was signed by Additional Chief Secretary M.K. Das and Karan Gautam Adani of Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd.
• According to the details shared by the State Government, the proposed 1,450-acre park will also have a dedicated air cargo complex with 4.6-kilometre long runway to handle even large sized cargo aircraft. 
• The multi-model logistic park will be set up with an estimated investment of Rs 50,000 crore. It will have potential to generate direct and indirect employment for 25,000 persons. The project will be completed in phased manner in next three years. 

• In Chhattisgarh, GPS and panic buttons will be installed in all public passenger vehicles for the safety of women passengers. Transport Minister Mohammad Akbar said that a tracking device and command center will be set up to monitor the vehicles. 
• All new vehicles have these features. In Chhattisgarh, GPS systems and panic buttons will be made compulsory in older vehicles also. The implementation of the scheme will cost around Rs. 15 crore. 60 percent of this expenditure will be borne by the Central Government and 40 percent by the State Government.
• All GPS will have two SIMs so that it remains connected to the network. Three types of passenger vehicles - two-wheelers, e-rickshaws and auto rickshaws, will be exempted from GPS and panic button system. 

• The Ministry of Home Affairs on Saturday announced the Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar for this year and Rajendra Kumar Bhandari has been selected in an individual category along with Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society (SEEDS) in the institutional category for the invaluable contribution and selfless service in India in the field of Disaster Management.
• "The annual award is announced every year on January 23, the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 51 lakh and a certificate in case of an institution and Rs 5 lakh and a certificate in case of an individual," read an official release.
• The ministry informed that the Bhandari and SEEDS were among 371 valid nominations received from institutions and individuals.

• Larry King, the longtime CNN host who became an icon through his interviews with countless newsmakers and his sartorial sensibilities, has died. He was 87.
• King hosted "Larry King Live" on CNN for over 25 years, interviewing presidential candidates, celebrities, athletes, movie stars and everyday people. He retired in 2010 after taping more than 6,000 episodes of the show.
• He battled a number of health problems over the years, suffering several heart attacks. In 1987, he underwent quintuple bypass surgery, inspiring him to establish the Larry King Cardiac Foundation to provide assistance to those without insurance. 

Download Daily GK PDF of 24 January  2021