Latest Current Affairs January 21

1. ‘Hindi Medium’ named Best Film at Filmfare Awards 2018

Saba Qamar’s Bollywood debut, Hindi Medium, with acclaimed actor Irrfan Khan bagged the Best Film award (Popular) at the Filmfare Awards 2o18.

Actor Irrfan Khan won the Filmfare Best Actor in Leading Role (Male) award for Hindi Medium while Vidya Balan bagged the Filmfare Best Actor in Leading Role (Female) Award for Tumhari Sulu at the 63rd Jio Filmfare Awards.

2. Om Prakash Rawat takes over as Chief Election Commissioner

Om Prakash Rawat takes over as the Chief Election Commissioner in place of Achal Kumar Joti, who retired recently.

Ashok Lavasa, who retired recently as Finance Secretary, has been appointed as an Election Commissioner.

Lavasa, a 1980 batch Haryana cadre IAS officer, joins the Commission as the third Commissioner in place of Joti.

3. Manwani appointed chairman of ISB board

The non-executive chairman of Hindustan Unilever Limited, Harish Manwani, has been appointed the new chairman of the Indian School of Business (ISB) Executive Board with effect from April 2018.

He succeeds Adi Godrej, who has been the chairman of the Board since April 2011.

4. ONGC to acquire govt’s entire stake in HPCL for ₹36,915 cr

After some minor hiccups on the issue of valuation, public sector exploration giant ONGC has got the consent for acquiring controlling stake in fellow PSU Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL). The transaction, which will be concluded in the next few days, will be for ₹36,915 crore.

This acquisition is in line with the government’s objective to combine the Central Public Sector Enterprises to give them the capacity to bear higher risks and avail themselves of economies of scale.

5. Government has approved 2018 as National Year of Millets

Nutrient-rich millets have got a boost with the Union government deciding to declare 2018 as the ‘national year of millets’. This decision has been taken following a request by Karnataka, which is the country’s leader in the millet sector.

According to experts, dedicating a year for millets will not only increase awareness about its health benefits, but also result in higher demand for these drought-resistant varieties, resulting in remunerative prices for poor and marginal farmers.

6. CBEC to set up training, resource centre in Hyderabad

Vanaja N Sarna, Chairman, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), New Delhi, laid the foundation stone for the National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics (NACIN) for its Zonal Training Centre at Attapur in Hyderabad.

The new project, which entails construction of the modern training facility, is expected to be developed with an outlay of ₹47 crore. The institute is expected to augment the training infrastructure in the area of GST and taxpayer services.

NACIN is the apex institute of Central Government which takes care of capacity building of civil servants in the field of indirect taxation, particularly in the areas of GST, Customs and Narcotics.

7. Ramayana festival with ASEAN nations

National capital New Delhi will host the Ramayana Festival of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries at the Kamani Auditorium from January 20 to 24.

The five-day gala festival to be organised by Indian Council for Cultural Relations will witness the convergence of top groups from all 10 ASEAN member countries – Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam.

8. TN to host first ever Defence Expo

Tamil Nadu will host its first-ever bi-annual defence exhibition in April. The exhibition will take place from April 11 to 14 and nearly 80 countries are expected to take part in it.

The arrangements will be made for the Navy, Army and Air Force to display their equipment in the exhibition.

9. MEITY launches Cyber Surakshit Bharat

Recognizing the need to strengthen the cybersecurity ecosystem in India, and in alignment with the Honourable Prime Minister’s vision for a ‘Digital India’, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), announced the Cyber Surakshit Bharat initiative in association with National e-Governance Division (NeGD) and industry partners.

Cyber Surakshit Bharat will be operated on the three principles of Awareness, Education and Enablement.

 It will include an awareness program on the importance of cybersecurity; a series of workshops on best practices and enablement of the officials with cybersecurity health tool kits to manage and mitigate cyber threats.

10. Axis Bank partners NGO Srijan to mentor IIM graduates

Axis Bank is partnering with NGO Srijan through an initiative called Buddha Fellowship Programme to help nurture talent for the development sector.

 The bank is mentoring 15 graduates from the Indian Institutes of Management at Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Shillong, who have been taken on board by Srijan as campus hires.

Axis Bank, along with Srijan, recently hosted a day-long event where the graduates had sessions with some of the bank’s business heads as well as other senior honchos.

11. Apple named the world’s most admired company for 2018

Apple has once again taken the top spot in Fortune’s list of the world’s most admired companies. This is Apple’s ninth consecutive year at the top of the list. It is followed by Google parent company Alphabet in second, with Amazon placing third.

This list is distilled from Fortune’s list of the 1,000 largest U.S. companies, along with its Global 500 database.

That group is voted on by executives, directors, and other figures across several industries, with each company assigned ranks in key areas like innovation, people management, and social responsibility.

The companies are then given an overall score. Apple’s score this year was 8.6 with top rankings in each of Fortune’s key reputation attributes.

12. India defeats Pakistan to win Blind Cricket World Cup

India retain Blind Cricket World Cup title after beating arch-rivals Pakistan by two wickets in a thrilling final played at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in UAE.

Chasing a huge 308-run target in 40 overs, India romped home in the penultimate over of the match.