 Puri, Odisha has been awarded for its initiatives for plastic waste management with the Swachhata Darpan Awards 2019. The award ceremony was held during the Open Defecation Free Sustainability Workshop held in New Delhi. The workshop was organised by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS) and Ministry of Jal Shakti. The Puri District of Odisha has been awarded for successfully managing the plastic wastes in the district with its effective policies by engaging the people of the town through awareness programmes, hence keeping the town’s environment pollution free. The Swachhata Darpan Award 2019 was presented by Indian Bollywood actor Aamir Khan to Puri Municipality Additional Executive Officer Saroj Kumar Swain. |
 The India-Bangladesh Information and Broadcasting Ministers’ Meet 2020 was held in New Delhi. India’s Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Prakash Javadekar and Bangladeshi counterpart Muhammad H Mahmud were representing their respective countries in the meet. The meeting was concluded with the signing of some MoU’s between the two countries. During the meeting, the two ministers signed MoU for content exchange programme between Prasar Bharati and Bangladesh Radio Betar. According to the MoU, Indian content will be aired on Bangladesh Radio Betar and reciprocally All India Radio will air content of Bangladesh Radio Betar. India’s National Film Development Corporation and Bangladesh’s Film Development Corporation has also signed MoU to jointly produce a film as the biopic of Bangladesh’s first president Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The biopic will be based on his life and his works and will be directed by the noted Indian Director Shyam Benegal. The biopic is planned to be released in March 2021 on the occasion of centenary celebrations of Banga Bandhu. Bangladesh will also celebrate “Mujib Year” from March 17, 2020 to March 17, 2021 to commemorate the centenary year of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. During the Meet, India also announced to extend its support for the establishment and development of ‘Bongobondhu Film City’. The above MoU’s are expected to cement the existing relations between the two countries and to take the development in the two countries to an advance level. |
 The global e-commerce firm, Amazon has announced the incremental investment of USD 1 billion in India. The investment will have the prime objective of digitising the small and medium businesses (SMB’s) in India. The firm has also announced its plans to boost its size and scale by exporting worth USD 10 billion of ‘Make in India’ goods by year 2025. |
 Indian Army Officer Captain Tania Shergill, an officer with Army’s Corps of Signals, will be the first woman parade adjutant for the Republic Day parade. A parade adjutant is responsible for the parade. Captain Shergill is an electronics and communications graduate. She was commissioned in March 2017 from the Officer Training Academy, Chennai. |
 The famous Parshuram Kund Mela begins in Arunachal Pradesh. Parshuram Kund is a Hindu pilgrimage centre situated on the Brahmaputra plateau in the lower reaches of the Lohit River. Thousands of pilgrims visit the place in winter every year, especially on the Makar Sankranti day for a holy dip in the sacred kund which is believed to wash away one’s sins. |
 Veteran Odia filmmaker Manmohan Mohapatra passed away. He was considered as the ‘Father of New Wave Odia Cinema’ and won eight national awards consecutively for ‘Best Feature Odia film’. He was born in Khordha, Odisha in 1951 and studied film-making in FTII (The Film and Television Institute of India) Pune, Maharashtra. |
 World no. 1 ranked Japanese badminton player Kento Momota won the Malaysia Masters 2020 title. He defeated Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen 24-22, 21-11. He won a record 11 titles last year. The victory in Malaysia lends credence to Momota’s drive to win the gold in July’s Tokyo Olympics. |
 The 6th meeting of the Island Development Agency (IDA) was chaired by the Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi. The Island Development Agency analysed the developments taken place in favour of the programme “Holistic development of islands”. NITI Aayog has been given the onus of steering the process of “Holistic Development of Islands”. During the meet, initiatives of sustainable development in the identified Islands were taken under Island Development Agency. The initiatives aims to create jobs for the island population by promoting tourism as well as boosting the seafood and coconut-based products export from the Island. The above initiative will be implemented in 5 islands of Lakshadweep as well as 4 islands of Andaman & Nicobar. To strengthen the infrastructure on Islands, projects would be set up to improving air, sea and digital connectivity. By June 2020, Port Blair including 7 other islands in Andaman & Nicobar would be digitally connected via submarine optical fibre cable which would also increase the number of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in Islands. |
 India’s Statue of Unity has become the part of ‘8 Wonders of SCO’ list. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation has included the Statue of Unity in its ‘8 Wonders of SCO’ list. The Statue of Unity is the statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, first Home Minister of the independent India. The 182 metre tall statue is the world’s tallest statue located in Kevadia, Gujarat. The statue was inaugurated on 143rd birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in 2018. |
 The Treasury Department of United States has removed China from the designation as “currency manipulator“. The decision was taken just before the commencement of first phase of US-China trade agreement. In August 2019, China was labeled officially as “currency manipulator” by the United States and also accused China of using yuan to gain “unfair competitive advantage” in trade. This was the first time since 1994 that China was labelled as “currency manipulator”. |
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