• National

Amar Jawan Jyoti merged with Eternal Flame at National War Memorial

• The Amar Jawan Jyoti flame at India Gate has been merged with the Eternal Flame at the National War Memorial, barely 400 metres away on 21st January 2022.
• India Gate was unveiled in 1931 to honour the 70,000 soldiers of British India who gave the supreme sacrifice.
• Amar Jawan Jyoti was built as a tribute to Indian soldiers killed in the 1971 war.
• The National War Memorial, was inaugurated on February 25, 2019, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi where names of as many as 25,942 soldiers have been inscribed on the National War Memorial.

• Miscellaneous

Oxford University Press declares ‘Anxiety’ as Children’s Word of the Year 2021

• The Oxford University Press (OUP) picked up ‘Anxiety’ as the Children’s Word of the Year 2021, based on their recent research.
• Apart from “anxiety” (21%), “challenging” (19%), “isolate” (14%), “wellbeing” (13%) and “resilience” (12%) were the children’s top five words.
• In 2020, Coronavirus was the Children’s Word of the Year by OUP.
• More than 8,000 children across the UK, from 3-9 years of age, were asked to pick the top words they would use.

• Economy and Business

Ujjivan Small Finance Bank launches Platina fixed deposit

• Ujjivan Small Finance Bank launched Platina Fixed Deposit, offering an interest of 15 basis points in addition to the regular Ujjivan SFB term deposit rates.
• Under Platina FD, the interest rate for general people is 7.05 per cent and for senior citizens, this interest rate is 7.80 per cent.
• The minimum fixed deposit amount is 20 lakhs, while the maximum amount will be less than 2 crores.

• States

Tripura, Manipur, Meghalaya celebrate 50th Statehood Day

• 50th Statehood Day of Tripura, Meghalaya, and Manipur was celebrated on 21 January 2022.
• The erstwhile princely states of Tripura and Manipur were merged into the Indian Union in October 1949 and became full-fledged states on January 21, 1972.
• Meghalaya was part of Assam before becoming a full-fledged state on the same day.

• States

Arunachal Pradesh to establish Infrastructure Financing Authority

• The Arunachal Pradesh government aims to expedite infrastructure development by establishing the Arunachal Pradesh Infrastructure Financing Authority.
• The cabinet decided to confer the highest State Award ‘Arunachal Ratna’ on Late K A A Raja, the first Lt Governor of Arunachal Pradesh.
• The cabinet has also decided to formulate District Level Good Governance Index.

• Appointments

Geojit Financial Services appoints Jones George as executive director

• Geojit Financial Services Ltd, an investment services company has appointed Jones George as an Executive Director.
• He has been working as a Chief Digital Officer of the company.
• The company has appointed eminent Chartered Accountant MP Vijay Kumar and noted academician Sebastian Morris as independent members of its board of directors to further succession planning.

• Appointments

Dileep Sanghani Appointed as IFFCO Chairman

• Dileep Sanghani was elected as the 17th chairman of the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO).
• Sanghani is a senior co-operator from Gujarat and the chairman of the Gujarat State Cooperative Marketing Federation Ltd. (GUJCOMASOL), a position he has held since 2017.
• The Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited, or IFFCO was founded in 1967 is a multi-state cooperative society headquartered in New Delhi, India that manufactures and markets fertilizers.

• Appointments

Chanchal Kumar named as new MD of NHIDCL

• Chanchal Kumar has been appointed as the Managing Director, National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL), under the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH). He is appointed in the rank and pay of Additional Secretary.
• He is a 1992 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre, presently Principal Secretary of Bihar’s Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
• The National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited is a fully owned company of the Government of India, set up in 2014.

• Science and Tech

Jahnavi Dangeti becomes first Indian to complete prestigious Nasa programme

• Jahnavi Dangeti, a young girl from Andhra Pradesh, has just completed NASA’s International Air and Space Program (iasp nasa) at the Kennedy Space Centre in Alabama, making her the first Indian to accomplish this feat.
• She is a member of the International Organization of Aspiring Astronauts (IOAA).

• Agreements

First BRICS Sherpas meeting of 2022 held under Chinese chairship

• The first BRICS Sherpas meeting of 2022 was held virtually on January 18-19 2022, with the members thanking India for its BRICS chairship in 2021 and China has taken on the rotating chairmanship of BRICS in 2022.
• China has taken on the rotating chairmanship of BRICS in 2022.
• BRICS is a grouping of five major emerging economies — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

• Obituaries

World’s oldest living man, Saturnino de la Fuente, passes away at 112

• Guinness World Records holder for the oldest person living (male), Saturnino de la Fuente García (Spain) has passed away at the age of 112 years and 341 days.
• Saturnino claimed the record as the oldest person living (male) in September 2021 when he was exactly 112 years and 211 days.
• He was born on February 11, 1909, in the Puente Castro neighbourhood of León in Spain.

• Economy and Business

Ind-Ra Projects India’s GDP Growth Rate at 7.6% in FY23

• India Ratings and Research has projected the real gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of the Indian economy to grow at 7.6 per cent year-on-year in 2022-23.
• Ind-Ra is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Fitch Group.
• Fitch Ratings is an American credit rating agency that is one of the “Big Three” credit rating agencies, the others being Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s.

• Appointments

Vijay Shekhar Sharma named as ambassador of Internet panel on languages UASG

• Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma has been roped in as the Ambassador of Universal Acceptance Steering Group (UASG), a community-based team of industry leaders supported by global internet body ICANN.
• Universal Acceptance Steering Group works on developing standards for languages script not currently used to access the internet.
• The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) aims to help ensure a stable, secure, and unified global Internet based at California, United States.

• Awards

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla wins $1 million Genesis Prize for COVID-19 vaccine

• Pfizer’s Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla has been given the Genesis prize for 2022. It is widely referred to as the “Jewish Nobel Prize”.
• He has been awarded for his efforts in leading the development of a COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine). The award comes with a cash prize of $1 million.

• Sports

Pakistani Skipper Babar Azam Named Captain of ICC Men’s T20I and ODI Team of the Year

• Pakistan captain Babar Azam has been named as the captain of the ICC Men’s ODI Team of the Year for 2021.
• He was also named as the captain of the ICC T20I Team of the Year.
• There were no Indians in the ICC T20I Men’s Team of the Year but Smriti Mandhana found a spot in the Women’s T20I Team of the Year.

• Agreements

Microsoft to acquire video gaming company Activision Blizzard

• Microsoft Corp. is set to acquire game making company, Activision Blizzard Inc., in an all-cash transaction for $68.7 billion. ($95.00 per share).
• This acquisition will boost the competitiveness of Microsoft in the mobile gaming business and virtual-reality technology, across mobile, PC, console and cloud and will provide building blocks for the metaverse.
• Activision Blizzard is famous as the maker of Candy Crush and Call of Duty, Xbox, among other leading video games.