Today’s Top News…

1. Farmers’ Republic Day tractor march in Delhi allowed, claim union leaders. The march will be peaceful, farmers’ unions have said and also urged participants to maintain peace.

2. Maharashtra Government has decided to open up Pune’s Yerwada jail for tourists from Republic Day onwards. The Yerwada and other prisons in Maharashtra have historical prominence as Mahatma Gandhi, Lokmanya Tilak, Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Sarojini Naidu, Subhas Chandra Bose, among others were imprisoned in the Yerwada jail during the freedom struggle. The Poona Pact between Babasaheb Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi was also signed in the Yerwada jail under a banyan tree, which is maintained appropriately to date.

3. Petrol, Diesel Prices Touch All-Time Highs With 4th Price Rise In Week: Petrol price in Delhi to Rs 85.70 per liter and in Mumbai to Rs 92.28. The price for diesel climbed to Rs 75.88 a liter in the national capital and to Rs 82.66 per liter in Mumbai, the price data showed.

4 PM Modi in Kolkata, pays tribute to Subhas Chandra Bose at Netaji Bhavan

5. PM Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday, 23 January, shared the stage on the occasion of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s 125th birth anniversary, PM Modi also announced that the train plying from Howrah, known as Howrah-Kalka Mail, will be renamed as Netaji Express.

6. Politics erupted over Mamata Banerjee’s walk away at the ‘Parakram Diwas’ event on Saturday at Kolkata, with both BJP and TMC claiming ‘insult’. While BJP has claimed it as an insult to Netaji, Trinamool claimed it as an insult to Banerjee herself. The West Bengal CM was met with loud calls of ‘Jai Shri Ram as she ascended the dais to address the crowds at Kolkata’s Victoria memorial where the Centre’s Parakram Divas celebrations – marking Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary were held, leading her to boycott her speech. Terming it an insult to the invitee, she refused to speak at the event as a mark of protest.

7. PM Modi addressed a rally in Assam yesterday, where he also distributed land allotment certificates to indigenous people under a state government program to one lakh beneficiaries.

8. Delhi court sentences AAP MLA Somnath Bharti to 2 years in prison for assaulting AIIMS security staff in a case registered in 2016.

9. Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Yadav to be Shifted to Delhi AIIMS As Health Worsens
He is being treated for a lung infection at a hospital in Ranchi, where he is serving a sentence after he was convicted in the Bihar fodder scam.

10. Maharashtra Karni Sena chief Ajay Sengar has objected to the ‘Tandav’ web series. “We will give Rs 1 crore reward to anyone who slits tongue of those who insults Hindu gods and goddesses in the web-series.” Sengar added that even though ‘Tandav’ makers have apologized to everyone but this is not enough and it will not be accepted.

11. West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday donated a sum of Rs 5,00,001 to a delegation of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra at Raj Bhawan in Kolkata for the construction of the Ram Mandir in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya. Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani Thursday donated Rs five lakh.

12 NCP chief Sharad Pawar visited the Pune city-based Serum Institute of India (SII), where a major fire had broken out two days ago, killing five persons

13. A Supreme Court lawyer has written to the Chief Justice of India seeking his intervention in ending cruelty towards animals. His letter cited a recent incident in which an elephant was set afire by some people in Tamil Nadu who threw a burning tire on it. The jumbo later succumbed to the burn injuries. The video of the incident had gone viral on social media.

14. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) issued guidelines on the safe handling and consumption of meat and poultry eggs in the wake of avian influenza.

15. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday (January 23) said in Tamil Nadu that his party would restructure Goods and Services Tax (GST) and bring in ‘ One tax, minimum tax ‘if voted to power at the Centre.

16. Heritage of the ancient city of Ayodhya, a replica of the Ram temple, a glimpse of ‘Deepotsav’, and various stories from the Ramayana epic have been depicted in the tableau of Uttar Pradesh which will be showcased in the Republic Day parade on January 26.

17. Kashmir received fresh snowfall on Saturday (January 23) which hit the flight operations in the region. As the snowfall continued, all flights were canceled due to poor visibility.

18. CBSE class 10, 12 board exams 2021: Several states like Maharashtra, Bihar, Karnataka, and West Bengal have released their board exam 2021 schedule. As coronavirus cases have witnessed a dip in the last few weeks, several states and cities have also resumed physical classes for students appearing for board exams this year to prepare them for practical exams.

19. The Border Security Force (BSF) on Saturday (January 23, 2021) detected yet another underground tunnel in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district.

20 Women army officers once again move SC for grant of permanent commission, promotions, and benefits: Eleven women army officers have moved the Supreme Court seeking compliance of its February last year directions to the Centre for grant of permanent commission, promotions, and consequential benefits to them “in an inclusive, fair, just and reasonable manner”.

21. Uttar Pradesh Defence Corridor is going to be a part of the upcoming International Aero India-2021 show for the first time in Bengaluru from February 3-5. With more than 463 defense-related companies at Aero India, UP will be a major stakeholder for upcoming defense and aerospace projects.

22. COVID-19: More than 15.37 lakh beneficiaries vaccinated across India so far, says Ministry of Health

23. Coronavirus Cases: 10,654,744
Deaths: 153,365
Recovered: 10,314,73

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1. India, China to hold 9th round of military talks on Sunday to resolve the border dispute

2. The exercise, Sea Dragon 2021, began in Guam earlier this month and will continue till 28 January. Along with India, Japan, the US & Australia, Canada is also participating. The Indian Navy is participating in a multinational anti-submarine warfare exercise with the ‘Quad’ countries, along with Canada, which began in Guam in Western Pacific.

3. India will not reduce the number of troops unless China initiates the process, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said over the eastern Ladakh standoff,

4. The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Saturday (January 23, 2021) thanked India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the support to the global COVID-19 response.

5. The government has sent notices to Chinese apps, including Tiktok, that the order to block them will be continued.

6. Around 20 lakh contracted doses of the ‘Made In India’ Covid-19 vaccines reached Brazil from India in the wee hours of Saturday. The Brazilian President, Jair M Bolsonaro, thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet depicting Hanuman Ji with the “Sanjeevani” herb.

WORLD NEWS

The US President Joe Biden recently proposed to extend New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) Treaty by five years. Russia has welcomed the proposal.

The United Nations recently adopted a resolution to promote a culture of peace and tolerance . The resolution aims to safeguard religious sites spread all over the world.

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed a three-member panel to probe the findings of previous commission that investigated the alleged rights abuses committed by both LTTE and the government troops during the 2009 armed conflict.

Coronavirus Cases:
99,008,183
Deaths: 2,122,715
Recovered: 71,151,013

🚣🚴🏇🏁🏊Sports:

Atalanta Braves legend Henry Louis ‘Hank’ Aaron breathed his last on Friday, January 22, 2021. Regarded as one of the finest baseball players of all-time.

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Facts about India

Jallikattu : Its a bull taming sport in Tamil Nadu which was in practice from 400 BC. It is a part of Pongal celebrations on Mattu Pongal day.

Bull will be released into a crowd of people and multiple human participants attempt to grab the large hump of the bull with both arms and hang on to it while the bull attempts to escape. Participants hold the hump for as long as possible, attempting to bring the bull to a stop. In some cases, participants must ride long enough to remove flags on the bull’s horns.

GK Today

PETA: People of the Ethical Treatment for Animals

😳Why❓❓❓

Why we see One side of the moon

The far side of the moon, as seen by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The reason we only see the one face is because of a phenomenon known as “tidal locking.” The moon rotates on its axis roughly once every 27 days, which is the same amount of time it takes to orbit the Earth

One side of the moon always faces Earth because of what’s called synchronous rotation. That is, the moon rotates, or spins on its axis, in the same length of time it takes to orbit Earth. … For that reason, our moon always one side facing Earth, which we call the moon’s near side.

Current Affairs This Week…