Current Affairs in short : 12 January 2020

National Youth Day or Yuva Diwas is observed on 12 January across India. The day is celebrated every year to commemorate the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.

Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath and Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju inaugurated the 23rd National Youth Festival (NYF) 2020 on January 12, the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.

Visakhapatnam will host International Naval event ‘MILAN‘ in March 2020. The theme of the exercise for the year 2020 is ‘Synergy Across the Seas’.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurates the country's first Cyber Crime Prevention Unit AASHVAST in Gandhinagar.He also launched Video Integration and StateWide Advance Security-VISWAS project.

Union Minister for Women and Child Development and Textiles, Smriti Irani launched Yashaswini Scheme for Women entrepreneurship in Goa.

Crime in India has increased by 1.3% in 2018 compared to 2017 with the registration of over 50 lakh cognisable crimes, reveals 2018 edition of ‘Crime in India’ statistics released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

Malappuram (Kerala), Kozhikode (Kerala) and Kollam (Kerala) were the only three cities to make it to the top 10 of the world’s fastest-growing cities.

Haryana, Karnataka and Kerala have topped the State Energy Efficiency Index 2019.

The Nandyal-Yerraguntla section in Guntakal Division of Andhra Pradesh has been declared as the first solar section in South Central Railway. In 2016 August Indian Railways opened Nandyal-Yerraguntla section in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh.

The UP Cabinet approved a proposal to set aside Rs 234 crore for construction of a zoological garden named after Shaheed Ashfaqullah Khan in Gorakhpur. The zoo will come up across over 121 acres. The objective was to attract tourists and increase employment opportunities.

India has deployed its aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya in Arabian Sea. The aircraft carrier was deployed amid the Pakistan-China naval exercise “Sea Guardians” taking place in North Arabian Sea.

An Iranian Revolutionary Guard Commander has said his unit accepts full responsibility for the accidental shoot-down of a Ukrainian passenger plane.

By December 2021, Kashmir will be connected to the rest of the country through the Indian Railways network as the government has set a new deadline for completion of the world’s highest railway bridge – Chenab bridge.

The Forest Advisory Committee, an apex body tasked with adjudicating requests by the industry to raze forest land for commercial ends, has approved a scheme that could allow “forests” to be traded as a commodity. If implemented, it allows the Forest Department to outsource one of its responsibilities of reforesting to non-government agencies.

MohdHaitham bin Tariq al-Said took over as Sultan of Oman after the death of long-time ruler Qaboos.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will now allow consumers to give an e-mandate for recurring payments made through Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

Tamil Nadu Assembly passed two Bills to name a fisheries university and a music varsity after late Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa.

Mortgage lender HDFC has completed the acquisition of majority stake in Apollo Munich Health Insurance for Rs-1,495.81 crore.

Pacer Jasprit Bumrah received the prestigious Polly Umrigar Award for being the best international cricketer (2018-19) at the BCCI’s annual awards.

Agri-cooperative leader and Rajya Sabha MP Chandra Pal Singh has been unanimously elected as Chairman of Krishak Bharati Cooperative Ltd (KRIBHCO).

Eminent Agricultural Scientist Dr M S Swaminathan and well-known social worker, Dr. Gutta Muniratnam were respectively chosen as the first recipients of ‘Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu National Award for Excellence’ and ‘Muppavarapu National Award for Social Service’’.