January 2023 Current Affairs

IMPORTANT EVENTS OF JANUARY 2023

 Pravasi Bharatiya Divas or NRI Day 2023 - Jan 7
o Theme of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2023 is "Diaspora: Reliable
Partners for India's Progress in Amrit Kaal.

 Khelo India Youth Game 2022

o Venue – Madhya Pradesh
o Mascot- Cheetah Asha
o Anthem Hindustan Ka Dil D-hadka Do

 World Hindi Day 2023

o Theme :- "Hindi – Traditional Knowledge to Artificial Intelligence".
o Date- 10th January
 80th edition of 2023 Golden Globes Winners
o Best Original Song, Motion Picture “Naatu Naatu,” “RRR”
o Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy -
Colin Farrell, “The Banshees of Inisherin
o Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
--Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once
 Henley Passport Index 2023
o India ranked 85th out of 193 countries.
o Top 3 Countries are
 1. Japan
 2. Singapore
 3. Germany, Spain .
 National Youth Day - January 12 - 160th birth anniversary of Swami
Vivekananda.
o Theme “Viksit Yuva – Viksit Bharat (Developed Youth – Developed
India)”.
o Festival is organized by the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports
in collaboration with Karnataka.
 71st Miss Universe 2022- United States R’Bonney Gabriel
o Venue - New Orleans, Mexico.

 28th Critics Choice Awards - SS Rajamouli’s RRR- Best Song for Naatu
Naatu, and Best Foreign Language film.

 Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Birthday or Netaji Jayanti celebrated as

Parakram Diwas - January 23.

o Netaji started a newspaper called “Swaraj”.

o He had written a book called “The Indian Struggle”.
 o The term “Jai Hind” was coined by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
o With the slogan “Give me blood and I will give you freedom”, he
awakened the country towards fighting against the British.

 Padma Awards 2023 Winners- 6 Padma Vibhushan, 9 Padma Bhushan and

91 Padma Shri Awards.
o Balkrishna Doshi (Posthumous) Others - Architecture
o Zakir Hussain Art
o S M Krishna Public Affairs
o Dilip Mahalanabis (Posthumous) Medicine
o Srinivas Varadhan Science & Engineering
o Mulayam Singh Yadav (Posthumous) Public Affairs
o Padma Shri 2023 from Nagaland - Shri Moa Subong in Art

 ICC AWARDS WINNERS FOR 2022

o Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy: Babar Azam (Pakistan)
o Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy: Nat Sciver (England)
o Men's Test Cricketer of the Year: Ben Stokes (England)
o Men's ODI Cricketer of the Year: Babar Azam
o Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year: Nat Sciver
o Women's Emerging Cricketer of the Year: Renuka Singh (India)
 Australian Open 2023
o Men’s Singles Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
o Women’s Singles A. Sabalenka (Belarus)

 Republic Day 2023: Uttarakhand tableau wins 1st prize

Nagaland Current Affairs

 The total number of voters in Nagaland is 13,17,634, comprising of
13,09,651 general and 7,983 Service electors.

 Number of Polling Stations in the State of Nagaland for Assembly

Elections 2023: 2315, an increase of 5.51% as compared to the Number of
Polling Stations during Nagaland Assembly Elections 2018: 2194.

 Besides Nagaland, Meghalaya , Tripura also conducted Assembly

Elections in 2023.
Banking and Financial Current Affairs
 The Reserve Bank of India announced SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank as
domestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs).
 Bandhan Bank launched 'Jahaan Bandhan, Wahaan Trust' campaign with
brand ambassador Sourav Ganguly.

 State Bank of India (SBI) launched e-Bank Guarantee (e-BG) facility in

association with National e-Governance Services Limited (NeSL).

 India surpassed Japan in terms of auto sales to become the 3rd (Third)-largest
auto market globally.

International Current Affairs

 US- approved the first-ever vaccine for HONEY BEES.

 Indian-origin Sikh woman, Manpreet Monica Singh - first ever female Sikh
judge in US.
 Punjabi - to be taught in public schools in Western Australia.

 Aruna Miller - first Indian-American politician to be sworn in as the Lieutenant

Governor in the state of Maryland,US.

National Current Affairs

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi launch the world's longest river cruise, "Ganga
Vilas" from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh to Dibrugarh, Assam.

 President Droupadi Murmu laid the foundation stone of state-owned energy firm
SJVN's 1,000 MV Bikaner Solar Power Project in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

 Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya inaugurated India's first-ever coal gasification-

based Talcher Fertilizer Plant in Odisha.

 Prime Minister launched Aspirational Block Programme (ABP), which is

aimed at improving the performance of blocks lagging on various
development parameter
 The Centre had announced its intention to launch this initiative in
the Union Budget 2022-23.
 The programme will cover 500 districts across 31 states and
Union Territories initially.
 The 11 Aspirational Blocks of Nagaland include Tobu in Mon,
Tseminyu in Kohima, Wazeho in Phek, Longchem of
Mokokchung, Tening of Peren, Aghunaqa in Dimapur,
 Champang in Wokha, Satoi in Zunheboto, Sakshi in
Longleng, Thonokyu in Noklak and Chessore under
Tuensang district.

 Digital India Startup Hub, through the Software Technology Parks of India- set
up India’s first Centre of Excellence in Online Gaming at Shillong,
Meghalaya.

 National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT)- released

India's first national assessment regulator, PARAKH, which will work on setting
norms, standards, and guidelines for student assessment and evaluation for all
recognized school boards in the country.
o PARAKH stands for The Performance Assessment, Review, and
Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development.
 India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline (IBFPL) would begin supplying diesel
to Bangladesh.

 Prime Minister Modi names 21 largest unnamed islands of Andaman &

Nicobar Islands named after the 21 Param Vir Chakra awardees.

 U-WIN- to digitise India's Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) an

electronic registry for routine vaccinations.

 PepsiCo Foundation, the philanthropic arm of PepsiCo and CARE -launched

‘She Feeds the World’ program in India to strengthen the role of small-scale
women producers through sustainable training and economic support.

 India's first green hydrogen blending operation in the piped natural gas
(PNG) network at NTPC Kawas, Gujarat

 Defence minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the Siyom bridge in Arunachal

Pradesh, along with 27 other infrastructure projects completed by the Border
Roads Organisation (BRO).

 Union Cabinet has approved the naming of Goa's Mopa Greenfield

International Airport at as Manohar International Airport after former
Defence Minister and Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrik.

 MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan launched the Madhya Pradesh

Residential Land Rights scheme (Mukhyamantri Awasiya Bhu Adhikar
Yojana) to distribute free leases of residential land to selected beneficiaries.
The scheme aims to provide free plots to the poor living in rural areas for
building their houses.
  Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan declared Kerala as the first state in the country
to go fully digital in its Banking Service.

 Kollam District under Kerala has become the Country’s First Constitution
Literate District.

 ‘Upper Siang Multipurpose Storage’, India’s largest hydel power project to

date to come up in Arunachal Pradesh.

 Kerala's Wayanad - first district in the country to provide basic documents and
facilities such as Aadhaar cards, ration cards, birth/death certificates, election
ID cards, bank accounts and health insurance to all tribespeople.

 Orange Festival has been organized in Nagaland's Rusoma village to mark

the harvest of organic oranges in the district. The orange festival was held from
24th to 25th January 2023.

 India's first underwater metro service, The Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation
(KMRC) is expected to be completed by December 2023.

 Jammu & Kashmir becomes the first union territory in India to completely
switch to a digital method of administration, leading the way in the digital
transformation of governance.

Schemes/Committees Current Affairs.

 The Union Cabinet approved an initial outlay of Rs 19,744 crore for the
National Green Hydrogen Mission.
o It aims at enhancing domestic production of green hydrogen and
promote the manufacturing of electrolysers — a key constituent for
making Green Hydrogen.

 MAARG (Mentorship, Advisory, Assistance, Resilience, and Growth)

platform launched by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal which is
a portal to facilitate mentorship for start-ups across diverse sectors, and
geographies.

 Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has implemented the policy for
Blindness Control with the objective of 'Right to Sight' making the first state
to have such a policy.

Appointments/Resignations (National & International) Current Affairs.

  Paytm Payments Bank appointed Surinder Chawla as its Managing Director
and CEO.

 Anurag Kumar appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director of

Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL).

 Vikram Dev Dutt - Director General , Directorate of General of Civil Aviation

(DGCA).

 Dr Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi - Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).

Ranks and Reports

 New Delhi ( 99.71 micrograms per cubic metre) - most polluted city in India in
2022 with PM 2.5 levels more than double the safe limit.
o 2nd Haryana's Faridabad (95.64 micrograms per cubic metre)
o 3rd Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad (91.25 micrograms per cubic metre).

 Global Firepower Index ranks the countries based on their potential military
strength.
o 1st US
o 2nd Russia
o 3rd China
o 4th India

 Ernst & Young, released a report titled India@100: Realizing the potential
of a US$26 trillion economy.

Sports Current Affairs

 Hockey India has launched a new metaverse product to tie in with its hosting of
the Men’s World Cup in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela from January 13-29.
‘Hockeyverse’.
 Khelo India Senior Women National Kho Kho league to take place at
Chandigarh University, Punjab.
 Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced Viacom 18 have
grabbed the media rights for the upcoming Women's IPL.
 Kunlavut Vitidsarn from Thailand won the India Open Badminton
Championship 2023 by defeating Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen.
 Germany beat Belgium to win the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023 at the
Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, India.
Summits And Conferences

 Indian Science Congress's 108th edition was officially inaugrated by Prime

Minister Narendra Modi at Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur
University.

 First G-20 meeting will be held in Puducherry on 31st January, 2023.

 Ministry of Jal Shakti organized the "1st All India Annual State Minister
Conference on Water" with the theme of "Water Vision@2027" in Bhopal,
Madhya Pradesh on 5th and 6th January 2023.

 First 15 meetings of the Business 20 (B20) India Inception Meeting will be

held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat from January 22nd to 24th, 2023.

 Election Commission of India (ECI) is hosting the 2nd International

Conference on the theme ‘Use of Technology and Elections Integrity’ in
New Delhi from 23rd to 24th January 2023.

 India’s G-20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant inaugurated India’s first Model G-20
Summit organized by Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini’s Indian Institute of
Democratic Leadership.

Awards & Recognition

 Odisha won the UN-Habitat's World Habitat Awards 2023 for Jaga Mission,
a 5T initiative of the state.

 e-NAM, under Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, has won the
Platinum Award in the Digital Empowerment of Citizens Category in Digital
India Awards 2022 held in New Delhi.

 R Vishnu Prassad awarded “The most distinguished scientist of the year

2022” at Vigyan bhawan, Delhi.

Important Days

 Government of India submitted the proposal for International Year of Millets

(IYM) 2023 which was accepted by the United Nations General Assembly
(UNGA).

 Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry

of Commerce and Industry organized National Startup Day on Jan 16.
  Ministry of Road Transport & Highways observed Road Safety Week from
11th to 17th January 2023, under "Swachhata Pakhwada", to propagate the
cause of safer roads for all.
 United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 24 January as International
Day of Education under the theme “To Invest In People, Prioritize
Education”.

 National Girl Child Day- January 24.

o This day was established in 2008 by the Ministry of Women and Child
Development.
o The Ministry of Education to host the event under the theme "Self
Defense Training for Girls.

 National Voters’ Day - 25th January 2023 under the theme, ‘Nothing Like
Voting, I Vote for Sure’.

 Data Protection Day / Data Privacy Day- January 28 under the theme ‘Think
Privacy First’.

 World Leprosy Day (WLD) 29 January under the theme “Act Now. End
Leprosy.”

Defense Current Affairs

 K9-Vajra self-propelled howitzers which are built in India by Larsen & Toubro
(L&T).

 India successfully carried out test for tactical ballistic missile Prithvi-II from the
Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, Odisha coast.
o Prithvi-II is an indigenously developed surface-to-surface Missile
shortrange ballistic missile (SRBM)
o It has a range of around 250 km to 350 km.

 21st edition of “Varuna" the bilateral naval exercise between India and
France .

 Indian Air Force and the Japan Air Self Defence Force has concluded the
exercise, 'Veer Guardian 2023.