National

Panchayat Mausam Sewa Portal

• India Meteorological Department launched the Panchayat Mausam Sewa Portal, providing weather services for farmers in English, Hindi and twelve regional languages. 
• National Framework of Climate Services (NFCS) was introduced, aiming to reduce losses from extreme weather events.

National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the new campus of the National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics in Andhra Pradesh. 
• He is on a two-day visit to Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

MoU with IIM-A

• Ministry of Panchayati Raj signed an MoU with the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, for training elected representatives and functionaries of the Panchayati Raj institutions.

International

India and Iran

• India and Iran held a wide range of discussion on establishing a long-term cooperation framework on Chabahar port. 
• India has decided to include Farsi (Persian) as one of the nine classical languages of India in New Education Policy.

Economy

World Economic Forum

• The 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum has begun at Davos, Switzerland. 
• The theme of the conference is Rebuilding Trust, emphasizing the focus on exploring the opportunities enabled by the new technologies and their implications on decision-making and global partnership.
• Union Ministers Smriti Irani, Ashwini Vaishnaw and Hardeep Singh Puri will be representing India at the 5-day event.

Multidimensional Poverty in India

• Almost 25 Crore people in India have escaped poverty in the last nine years, according to the NITI Aayog. 
• The planning agency released its discussion paper on Multidimensional Poverty in India since 2005 to 2006, which attempts to study the decline in poverty rates across multiple dimensions. 
• Poverty has declined from over 29 percent to around 11 percent in the last nine years. 
• Uttar Pradesh has registered the largest decline in poverty among Indian states. It is followed by Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Defence

Ex-Ayutthaya

• The Indo-Thai Bilateral Exercise is being named as ‘Ex-Ayutthaya’, which literally translates to ‘The Invincible One’ or ‘Undefeatable’. 
• It symbolises the significance of two of the oldest cities Ayodhya in India and Ayutthaya in Thailand.

Sports

Asia Olympic Qualifiers

• Indian Shooter Yogesh Singh won Gold in Men's 25m Centre Fire Pistol at Asia Olympic Qualifiers in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Meghalaya Games

• President of India, Smt Droupadi Murmu inaugurated the 5th Edition of the Meghalaya Games in Tura, Meghalaya.

Books & Authors

Pranab My Father: A Daughter Remembers

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi was presented a copy of ‘Pranab My Father: A Daughter Remembers’ by Ms Sharmistha Mukherjee, daughter of the former President.

Person in News

Sheel Vardhan Singh

• Sheel Vardhan Singh, former IPS officer took the oath of Office and Secrecy as Member, UPSC.

Miscellaneous

Lithium Exploration & Mining Project

• India has signed an agreement for Lithium Exploration & Mining Project in Argentina. 
• Argentina is the part of “Lithium Triangle” along with Chile and Bolivia with more than half of world’s total lithium resources and having the distinction of having 2nd largest lithium resources, 3rd largest lithium reserves and 4th largest production in world.

Startup Ecosystems

• Gujarat, Kerala and Karnataka have emerged as the best performing states in developing startup ecosystems for budding entrepreneurs, according to the ranking of states and Union territories by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.