Latest Current Affairs January 20

1. Ex-Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel to be Madhya Pradesh Governor

Former Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel has been appointed governor of Madhya Pradesh. Patel was first woman chief minister of Gujarat and stepped down in the wake of Patidar and Dalit agitation in the state in 2016.

She was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1994. In 1998, she became education minister of Gujarat. She retained the portfolio after being re-elected in 2002 from Patan. In 2012, Patel shifted Ghatlodia in Ahmedabad.

GUJARAT
Capital	Gandhinagar
Chief Minister	Vijay Rupani
National Park in Gujarat
Gir Forest National Park
Vansda National Park
Vansda National Park
Jambughoda Wildlife Sanctuary

2. Romania to have first female prime minister, Viorica Dancila

Viorica Dancila has been named as Romania’s first female PM following the sudden resignation of Mihai Tudose.

Ms Dancila, a member of the European Parliament, is regarded as an ally of the governing Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader Liviu Dragnea. Ms Dancila, 54, is Romania’s third prime minister in seven months.

Romania
Capital	Bucharest
Currency	Romanian leu
President	Klaus Iohannis

3. ICSI confers Honorary Fellow Membership to Shri P.P. Chaudhary

P.P. Chaudhary, Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Law and Justice & Corporate Affairs, was conferred the Honorary Fellowship of Institute of Company secretaries of India (ICSI) at the headquarters of the institute at New Delhi.

Chaudhary has conducted around 11,000 cases, mostly Constitutional Litigations for the last 38 years on matters related to land acquisition, farmers grievances, labour & service, central excise & customs and PILs related to restoration of natural water bodies and dams.

Institute of Company Secretaries of India
The Institute of Company Secretaries of India is a statutory professional body in India with the objective of promoting, regulating and developing the profession of Company Secretaries in India.
Shyam Agrawal	ICSI president

4. Union Government launches 100 accessible websites for Divyangs

The divyang-friendly websites, especially for visually impaired, use features such as screen readers and screen magnifiers, which can relay website content to the user in audio format.

Accessible Websites are those websites into which Persons with Disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web.

The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) initiated a “Website Accessibility Project” for State Government/Union Territories under Accessible India Campaign through ERNET India, an autonomous scientific society under the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), to make total 917 websites accessible and providing funds for the same.

Ministry	Minister	Constituency
Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment	Thawar Chand Gehlot	Shajapur, Madhya Pradesh

5. Govt announces India’s first-ever ‘Livability Index’

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri has announced the commencement of the country’s first-ever ‘Livability Index’ to rank 116 cities.

The housing and urban affairs ministry has decided to assess the livability standard of 116 Indian cities, which include the identified Smart Cities and few more cities with a population of over 1 million.

Ministry	Minister	Constituency
Cabinet minister of Housing and Urban Affairs	Narendra Singh Tomar	Gwalior
Union Minister of State with Independent Charge in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs	Hardeep Singh Puri	─
Minister of State of Housing and Urban Affairs	Rao Inderjit Singh	Gurgaon in Haryana

6. Maharashtra approves Rs 4000-cr for climate resilient agriculture project

The Maharashtra government has approved a Rs 4,000-crore project aimed at promoting climate-resilient agriculture, to be partially funded by the World Bank.

A government resolution (GR) issued the project, named Nanaji Deshmukh Krishi Sanjivani Yojna, will be implemented in 5,142 villages across 15 districts.

The total cost of the project is Rs 4,000 crore, 70 per cent of which will be borne by the World Bank while the state will contribute 30 per cent over six years.

MAHARASHTRA
Capital	Mumbai
Chief Minister	Devendra Fadnavis
Governor	Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao
WORLD BANK
Headquarters	Washington, D.C., United States
President	Jim Yong Kim
CEO	Kristalina Georgieva

7. Telangana, Tokyo body sign MoU for municipal waste incineration

The Telangana government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Clean Authority of Tokyo in connection with municipal solid waste incineration.

The government of Telangana and Clean Authority of Tokyo have signed an MoU for municipal solid waste incineration facilities.

They will exchange knowledge in municipal solid waste incineration facilities and make an effort to realize human resource exchanges in view of technical cooperation in the future.

Telangana
Capital	Hyderabad
Chief Minister	K. Chandrashekar Rao
Governor	E. S. L. Narasimhan

8. Jammu and Kashmir to host international martial arts event

Jammu and Kashmir will host its maiden international martial arts games event in October this year, in which over a dozen countries are expected to participate.

J-K will host first ever international martial arts games, in which over 15 countries are expected to participate, in the first week of October this year in the summer capital Srinagar.

The aim behind hosting the international event in Kashmir is to present a platform for people to people interaction between the people of the valley and rest of Asian countries.

Jammu And Kashmir
Capital	Srinagar (Summer), Jammu (Winter)
Chief Minister	Mehbooba Mufti Sayeed
Governor	Narinder Nath Vohra

9. Odisha launches e-Hospital Management system “OeHMIS”

The state government has launched Odisha e-Hospital Management Information System (OeHMIS) in which paperwork would be reduced and diagnostic reports, prescription details and doctor’s advices would be found at the click of a mouse.

The pilot project, launched by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, will get technical support of the Centre for the Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC).

Odisha
Capital	Bhubaneswar
Chief Minister	Naveen Patnaik
Governor	Senayangba Chubatoshi Jamir
National Park in Odisha
Simlipal National Park
Bhitarkanika National Park
Nandankanan Zoological Park
Wildlife Sanctuary in odisha
Hadahgarh Wildlife Sanctuary
Kotagarh Wildlife Sancuary
Chilika Wildlife Sanctuary

10. Arun Jaitley Launches National CSR Data Portal & Corporate Data Portal

Arun Jaitley, Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs launched the National CSR Data Portal & Corporate Data Portal.

The initiative is a significant step towards driving accountability and transparency for corporate India. By making the portals accessible to general public, it will ensure high level of compliance and also in institutionalising and consolidating the CSR activities.

The National CSR Data Portal will capture information on CSR activities carried out by eligible companies, filed on the MCA21 registry in their financial statements. The filed information provides a snap shot of CSR activities carried out by companies.

11. 4th India International Science Festival to be held in Lucknow

The fourth edition of the India International Science Festival will be held in Lucknow. The decision to hold the Festival in Lucknow was taken at the first preparatory meeting for the 4th India International Science Festival (IISF) chaired by Union Minister for Science & Technology, Environment, Forest & Climate Change and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan.

• The 1st IISF was held at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) New Delhi in December, 2015.
• The second Festival at CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi in December 2016.
• The third in the series was held in October 2017 in Chennai.

12. INS Vikramaditya Formally Affiliated to Bihar Regiment

Indian Naval Ship Vikramaditya, the Indian Navy’s largest ship and its sole aircraft carrier was formally affiliated to the Indian Army’s highly-decorated and battle-hardened Bihar Regiment and the Indian Air Force’s No 6 Squadron that is tasked with maritime strike operations with its Jaguar fighter aircraft.

The event also was an impressive flypast by aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm, led by a formation of Chetak helicopters followed by formation of MiG-29K fighters of the Indian Navy’s 303 Squadron from the Goa-based Naval Air Station, INS Hansa.

13. AU Small Finance Bank Inks MoU with LIC to Offer PMJJBY Scheme

Banking finance company AU Small Finance Bank has signed an MoU with LIC to offer Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY).

Under the MoU, LIC will give a life cover of ₹2 lakh in case of death to the customer at a nominal premium of ₹330 per annum. The aim is to provide best services to the customers under one roof.

The company will also offer loans under government’s affordable housing and subsidy schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

MD and CEO of AU Small Finance Bank	Sanjay Agarwal
CEO of LIC	Vinay Sah
Chairman of LIC	V K Sharma
Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY)
Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana is a government-backed Life insurance scheme in India.
It was formally launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 9 May in Kolkata. Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana is available to people between 18 and 50 years of age with bank accounts. It has an annual premium of ₹330 (US$5.20). The Service tax is exempted on Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana. The amount will be automatically debited from the account. In case of death due to any cause, the payment to the nominee will be ₹2 lakh (US$3,100).

14. Maitre-2 bus services to connect India and Bangladesh

A second passenger bus to Kolkata via Dhaka was started from Agartala, Tripura, to give a boost to the trans-border relationship between India and Bangladesh. The second bus service has been named Maitre-2.

The buses red in color were flagged off by Tripura Road Transport Corporation Chairman Rajendra Reang and MLA Ratan Das in Agartala recently.

The first Maitre bus service was launched in the year 2015. The Kolkata-Dhaka bus link began in June 1999. And a separate Agartala-Dhaka service started in September 2003.

Tripura
Capital	Agartala
Chief Minister	Manik Sarkar
Governor	Tathagata Roy
Bangladesh
Capital	Dhaka
Currency	Bangladeshi taka
Prime minister	Sheikh Hasina
President	Abdul Hamid

15. Russia, EU sign agreements on new cooperation programmes

Russia and the European Union (EU) have signed agreements to finance and implement two new cross-border cooperation programmes for the period until 2020.

The programmes worth 88 million euros ($108 million) involve Russia and its neighbours Lithuania and Poland, both EU members, will focus particularly on the preservation of historical and cultural heritage, the promotion of social inclusiveness, cooperation for a clean natural environment and efficient management of natural resources.

Russia
Capital	Moscow
Currency	Russian ruble
President	Vladimir Putin
European Union
Headquarters	City of Brussels, Belgium
President	Jean-Claude Juncker

16. Iconic Cartoonist Chandi Lahiri Passes Away

Cartoonist Chandi Lahiri breathed his last. Lahiri was 86. orn on March 13, 1931, in Nabadwip, Lahiri was deeply involved in politics as a teenager.

He began his career in 1952 at the ‘Dainik Loksevak’ newspaper as a reporter and took to drawing cartoons in 1961. A year later, he joined ‘Anandabazaar Patrika’ and continued there for 50 years before working with other media outlets.