1) Republic Day 2020: India celebrates its 71st Republic Day
The nation celebrated the 71st Republic Day with a grand military parade and exhibition of its history, cultural diversity and strategic weaponry at the Rajpath, Delhi. This day is celebrated by all Indians and 26th of January has been declared as a national holiday by the government of India. The Republic Day ceremony commenced with Prime Minister Narendra Modi paying homage to martyrs at the National War Memorial instead of Amar Jawan Jyoti. The National Flag was unfurled followed by the National Anthem with a booming 21-gun salute.
Important Facts of 71st Republic Day:
•The chief guest for this year’s republic day parade is Brazilian president, Jair Messias Bolsonaro.
•For the first time, a contingent of women bikers of CRPF performed daredevil stunts.
•Jammu and Kashmir participated in the parade for the first time as a Union Territory.
•Meghalaya’s Tableau depicted the Double Decker Living Root Bridge which is a main tourist attraction of the state.
•Telangana’s tableau brought to life its floral festival called Bathukamma.
•The Tableau of Gujarat was on the theme Rani ki Vav – Jal Mandir which is a unique piece of ancient Indian architectural style, construction work and craftsmanship.
•The Air Force tableau displayed models of the Rafale aircraft, Tejas aircraft, Light Combat Helicopter, Akash Missiles System and Astra Missiles.
•The major attraction was fly-past by the newly inducted Chinook and Apache helicopters along with Sukhoi and advanced light helicopters.
•Anti-satellite weapons: Mission Shakti, Army’s battle tank Bhishma was also showcased in the parade.
2) The spirit of India ‘Bharat Parv 2020’ begins at Red Fort
•A festival to celebrate the spirit of India “Bharat Parv 2020” has begun at Red Fort Ground in New Delhi. The objective of Bharat Parv is to encourage people to visit different tourist places of the country and to inculcate the spirit of ‘Dekho Apna Desh’.
•Bharat Parv has many attractions for the public including the display of Tableaux of the Republic Day parade, performance by armed forces bands. The theme of this year’s Bharat Parv is ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ and ‘Celebrating 150 Years of Mahatma Gandhi.
3) India’s 1st e-waste clinic opens in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
•India’s first e-waste clinic is being opened in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. It would enable segregation, processing and disposal of waste from both household and commercial units. The e-waste clinic was inaugurated by C K Mishra (Secretary to the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate change, MoEFCC).
•The e-waste clinic is jointly set up by the Central Pollution Control Board-CPCB and Bhopal Municipal Corporation-BMC. The e-waste clinic is being started on the basis of a three-month pilot project. If this project is successful, e-waste clinics will be established at other places in the country.
•The bus is decorated with e-waste material from outside and inside. A TV has been also installed in it, in which documentary films on the subject of environmental damage caused by e-waste will be shown.
4) West Bengal: Highest Vegetable Producing Indian state in 2018-19
•West Bengal emerged as the top State in vegetable production in 2018-19. West Bengal has overtaken Uttar Pradesh. They produced 29.55 million tonnes (mt) of vegetables last year against 27.70 mt in the year before. Vegetable production in Uttar Pradesh came down to 27.71 mt in 2018-19 from 28.32 mt the previous year. Andhra Pradesh continued to hold on to the pole position in fruits with 17.61 mt, followed by Maharashtra (10.82 mt) and Uttar Pradesh (10.65 mt).
5) U’khand’s DMMC selected for S. C. Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar 2020
•Uttarakhand, Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (in the institution category) and Kumar Munnan Singh (individual category) have been selected for the Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar 2020. This award is given for their commendable work in Disaster Management. The winner institution receives a certificate and a cash prize of Rs 51 lakh and the money is to be used disaster management-related activities only. In the case of the winner being an individual, the person gets a certificate and a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh.
•The award was instituted to recognise the excellent work done by individuals and institutions in India in the field of disaster management. It is announced every year on January 23, the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
6) ‘Innovation Festival’ begins in Arunachal Pradesh
•The ‘Innovation Festival’ kicked off at the Science Centre in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh. The festival is being organized by the Arunachal Pradesh State Council for Science & Technology in collaboration with the National Innovation Foundation. The Innovation Festival, a 1st of its kind in the state. The aim of the festival is to foster the culture of innovation among all people of the state, especially in all the educational institutions.
7) The Hindu Group chairman N. Ram selected for Kerala National Media Award
•The chairman of “The Hindu Group” N. Ram has been selected as the outstanding media person in a national award instituted by Kerala Media Academy. The award was instituted for fearless and brilliant journalistic work at a national level. The award carrying a cash prize of ₹1 lakh, citation and sculpture were announced as part of the academy’s 40th-anniversary celebration.
