• India is celebrating the 73rd Republic Day on 26 January 2022. The celebrations this year are special as India is in the 75th year of Independence – being celebrated as ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’. Republic Day marks the date on which the Constitution of India came into effect on 26 January 1950. It replaced the Government of India Act (1935) as the governing document of India.
• According to the Ministry of Defence, for the first time, an Indian Air Force (IAF) will show grand flypast by 75 aircraft or helicopters. A drone show by 1,000 indigenously developed drones has been planned for the ‘Beating the Retreat’ ceremony, along with projection mapping will be shown for the first time. In another first, 480 dancers will perform during the cultural programme at the parade have been selected through a nationwide Vande Bharatam dance competition.

• India and Israel have launched a commemorative logo on January 24, 2022 to mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
• The logo was unveiled jointly by Ambassador of Israel to India Naor Gilon and Indian envoy to Israel, Sanjeev Singla thorugh virtual mode.
• The logo features the respective symbols of the national flags of both countries, that is Ashoka Chakra and the Star of David.
• The symbols forms the numeral 30 depicting the 30th anniversary of bilateral relations.
• The diplomatic relations between Israel and India was established on 29 January 1992.

• The Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya launched the revamped website and mobile app of the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS)  on January 24, 2022.
• The website is www.cghs.gov.in and the mobile app is called “MyCGHS”.
• The new features will benefit more than 40 lakh beneficiaries with real-time information from the convenience of their homes.
• The website has been made 3U compliant, where u stands for Usable, User-Centric and Universally Accessible.

• The Common Services Centers (CSC) has launched a mobile phone application named ”Yogyata” to impart vocational education and skill enhancement opportunities to youth and citizens in rural areas.
• Through this Yogyata App, CSCs aims to provide industry-based skills to youth in rural areas and thereby make them job-ready.
• The enrolments under the app will be carried out by the Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLE).

• City Union Bank, in partnership with GOQii (smarttech-enabled preventive healthcare platform) and  National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has announced the launch of RuPay On –The-Go Payment solution through their Debit Card in a Fitness Watch.
• CUB Easy Pay is a payment method by City Union Bank. Now the bank has integrated this feature of Debit Card in a Fitness Watch. For this Customers need to hold this wristwatch in front of the PoS device during payment like tapping the card on PoS. For payments above Rs. 5,000, customers need to tap and enter their PIN.
• In December 2021, City Union Bank had launched CUB Easy Pay Keychain, a wearable payment device that allows to tap and pay purchases on merchant PoS.

• An amount of Rs 12 crore was transferred from funds of Andhra Pradesh Mahesh Co-op Urban Bank by hackers to various other bank accounts by hacking the server of the AP Mahesh Co-op Urban Bank.
• The amount was not siphoned from the accounts of the customers rather it was transferred from the funds of the bank. Further, the bank’s funds are insured against cyber attacks.
• The head office of AP Mahesh Co-op Urban Bank is located at Hyderabad, Telangana.

• The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has committed to invest USD150 million in the development of data centers that mostly serve Emerging Asia.
• The Beijing-based multilateral development bank, AIIB, will invest the fund through the Keppel Data Centre Fund II (KDCF II).
• This is the first data center project investment by AIIB.
• KDFC II is a closed-end private equity vehicle managed by Singapore-based financial institution, Alpha Investment Partners Limited (Alpha).

• The Oscar-nominated Tamil film ‘Koozhangal’, has bagged the Best Film Award in the Asian Film Competition category at the Dhaka International Film Festival 2022.
• The film has been directed by P S Vinothraj. Famous South Indian actress Nayanthara and her husband Vignesh Shivan are the producer of the film.
• Meanwhile, Malayalam actor Jayasurya won the Best Actor award in the Asian Competition for the movie ‘Sunny’. The film is directed by Ranjith Shankar.

• The President of Armenia, Armen Sarkissian has announced his resignation on 23 January 2022.
• As per Sarkissian, his office is not granted sufficient powers to allow him to be an effective head of state.
• Armen Sarkissian served as the 4th president of Armenia from 9 April 2018 to 23 January 2022.
• He had also served as Prime Minister of Armenia from 4 November 1996 to 20 March 1997.

• Olympian Neeraj Chopra was honoured with Param Vishisht Seva Medal on the eve of Republic Day by President Ram Nath Kovind. He is the first track and field athlete to win a gold medal for India at the Olympics. Neeraj is a Subedar in the Indian Army. He had enrolled in 4 Rajputana Rifles as a direct entry to Naib Subedar in 2016. He was chosen for training at the Mission Olympics Wing and Army Sports Institute in Pune.

• Chopra was conferred with the Arjuna Award in 2018 and Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) in 2020 for his excellence in sports.
• The Haryana state will also showcase the life-size replica of Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra in the form of a tableau during the 2022 Republic Day parade.

Download Daily GK PDF of 26 January 2022