1
January- National Committee on Direct Cash Transfers in its
meet with the Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh decided to roll-out,
the Direct Cash Benefits 43 identified districts of the country. The decision
was taken to ensure that the benefits could be transferred electronically into
the bank accounts of the individuals, without making delays and diversions of
any type. A high level meet was conducted on 13 December 2012 with the District
Collectors of thee identified areas and fine tuned information related to steps
that need to be taken in case of Direct Benefits Transfer.
1
January- A senior Scientist from ISRO, S. Ramakrishnan took
over as the Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC),
Thiruvananthapuram. Ramakrishnan carries a four decades of experience in
rocketry and headed the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) at ISRO. He
replaced P S Veeraraghavan.
1
January- India and Pakistan exchanged their nuclear units’
lists as it is customary since 20 years. The list which contains the names of
nuclear units of two countries, are exchanged between India and Pakistan as a
custom and part of an agreement which prevents them from aiming the nuclear
installations of each others’ nations. This is a customary action as a part of
Agreement on Prohibition of Attacks against Nuclear Installations and
Facilities which was signed in December 1988. Apart from this list, the two
nations, as a part of another bilateral agreement signed back in 2008, share
the list of each others’ prisoners in the jails of two countries. The bilateral
agreement was signed between India and Pakistan in May 2008, according to which
a complete list of the citizens of both the countries living in the jails of
other country should be exchanged two times every year on 1 January and in
July.
1
January- Syed Asif Ibrahim, the 1977 Madhya Pradesh cadre
IPS officer took over the office of Intelligence Bureau as a director from Nehchal Sandhu. Alok Joshi, the Haryana
cadre IPS officer on the other hand took over the office of RAW as the
director.
2
January- Chief Justice of India (CJI) Altamas Kabir
inaugurated the first fast-track court in Delhi for dealing with the crimes
against females. The first fast-track court is one among other four fast-track
courts which would deal with the cases of crime against the women. This court
is set up in the Saket Court Complex and the first case to be heard here is
that of the Delhi gangrape which took place on 16 December 2012.
2 January- Union Government
constituted the 14th Finance Commission under former Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) governor Yaga Venugopal Reddy. The Commission would have three full-time
members-
•
Sushma Nath, Former Finance Secretary
•
M. Govind Rao ,Director, NIPFP and
•
Sudipto Mundle Former Acting Chairman of
National Statistical.
The commission has to give its report by
October next year and the recommendations will come into effect from April,
2015 for a five-year period.
2
January- Ministry of Home Affairs ordered foreign tourists not to indulge in
the journalistic activities on their tourist visas. The order was issued by the
Ministry after observing that a lot of foreigners visiting India on their
tourist visa are also involved in covering the events as well as journalistic
activities in India.
The
Home Affairs official cleared that tourist visa was not the appropriate visa
for covering journalistic activities by foreigners. Tourist visa is issued to
the foreigners who do not have residence as well as occupation in India and the
primary objective of their visit is recreation, casual visit for meeting
relatives and friends as well as sightseeing. Any other activity on this
tourist visa was not permissible.
2 January- The government
of Odisha launched the much-sought after public services Delivery System for
citizens under the Odisha Right to Public Service Act, 2012. Under this new
act, people would be getting services like issue of driving license, birth and
death certificates, passport and trade license within a stipulated period of time.
2
January- Justice Amitava Roy
was sworn in as the Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court.The oath was
administered to him at Raj Bhavan by the Governor of Rajasthan Margaret
Alva.With taking over the oath he asserted that there was scope for strengthening
the trial processes related to prevention of atrocities against women. He
acknowledged the need for the courts to reduce the trial time.
2
January- Masaki Asano was appointed as the Deputy Managing
Director of India Yamaha Motor He will report directly to Hiroyuki Suzuki. The
CEO (Chief Executive Officer) and MD (Managing Director) of the Company and his
appointment to this position has also created a new profile in the Yamaha,
which never existed before this.
2
January- Gerda Lerner, the leader in women’s history as well
as the founding member of National Organization for Woman died at Wisconsin.
She was aged 92 years. Lerner died in peace at the assisted-living facility in
the city of Madison. She founded the doctoral programme in the women’s history in
Madison at the University of Wisconsin.
3 January- Urjit Patel was appointed as
theDeputy Governor of theReserve Bank of India . Urjit Patel succeeds Subir
Gokarn, who handled Monetary Policy in RBI. The three-year term of Subir Gokarn
terminated in November 2012 but he was given an extension which ended finally
on 31 December 2012.Urjit Patel was chosen over current Deputy Governor Subir
Gokarn and International Monetary Fund (IMF) economist Kalpana Kochhar.
3
January- US President Barack Obama signed into law the annual
defence policy Bill, authorising 633 billion dollars in defence spending for
2013. Obama in a signing statement expressed that he had strong reservations on
several provisions of the National Defence Authorisation Act 2013. The White House
had earlier threatened to veto the Bill. This provides the Department of
Defence with a spending threshold of 633 billion dollars for 2013. As per
President Barack Obama , In a time when all public servants recognise the need
to eliminate wasteful or duplicative spending, various sections in the Act
limit the Defence Department’s ability to direct scarce resources towards the
highest priorities for our national security.
3 January- Pandit Ram
Sanehi Shukla, the veteran freedom fighter died at the age of 98 at Sahebpur
Village under Madiyahon tehsil. Shukla, who was a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi,
died after surviving a long illness. The last rites of the freedom fighter were
performed at the Manikarnika Ghat of Varanashi with full state honour.
3
January- South Korean court in landmark ruling ordered the
first-ever chemical castration of the country. The sentence of chemical
castration was given to 31-year old pedophile (a person who is
sexually-attracted to children) along with 15 years of jail term. The order was
the first-ever since South Korea passed the law in 2011 allowing chemical
castration or hormonal treatment for offenders who are at the risk of repeating
crimes.
3
January- The Ministry of Civil Aviation constituted a
five-member committee to look into and suggest the measures that can be taken
for cost cutting as well as optimal utilization of resources in Air India. The
committee would be headed by Prof. Ravindra Dholkia of IIM, Ahmedabad. The
Ministry has provided a two months time to Prof. Dholkia and the committee to
submit its report along with interim recommendations, for immediate
implementation.
3
January- Padma Bhushan M.S. Gopalakrishnan, the Violin
maestro died at the age of 82. He died
with the complaints of breathlessness and a brief illness. The violinist was an
expert in Hindustani and Carnatic systems of classical music. Hailing from the
Parur lineage he was a recipient of both Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri and had a
career span of about 75 years. The Music Academy conferred him from the Sangita
Kalanidhi title.
3
January- Ireland’s prestigious Tipperary International Peace
Prize for 2012 was awarded to Malala Yousafzai the teenage schoolgirl from
Pakistan, who was shot by Taliban’s Gunman in October 2012. Malala would be
conferred with the award for her bravery, courage and determination to speak
and support the cause of access to equal education for every child. With this
award, Malala became the second Pakistani National to win the award. Before
this, Lt. Benazir Bhutto was awarded with the same award in 2007.
4 January- Union Home Minister Sushil
Kumar Shinde launched Pilot Project of Crime and Criminal Tracking Systems. The Government launched the
project to make use of technology in bringing greater transparency and
accountability into government functioning, as Crime and Criminal Tracking
Network and Systems (CCTNS) is supposed to be an important step forward in this
direction which requires a significant change management effort. The pilot
launch of the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) Project
would create a nation-wide environment for the real-time sharing of crime and
criminal information and connect approximately 14000 police stations throughout
the country apart from higher offices in police hierarchy.
4
January- Union Science and Technology Minister S. Jaipal
Reddy declared that the Centre’s
allocation for the science and technology and earth sciences ministry had been
doubled for the 12th Plan period. The declaration came in the inauguration
ceremony of Children Science Congress as part of the 100th Indian Science
Congress where Jaipal Reddy announced that in the 12th Five-Year Plan, the
combined planned allocation for science and technology and earth sciences had
been nearly doubled from 33000 crore rupees in the previous Plan period to
around 60000 crore rupees in the present 12th plan period.
4
January- The Nasscom Sector Skills Council (SSC) signed a
memorandum of understanding with NIIT to train one lakh students over the next
three years for business/ knowledge process outsourcing and legal process
outsourcing jobs. Both the organization had jointly introduced two new courses
— Foundation Skills in IT (FSIT) for engineering graduates and Global Business
Foundation Skills (GBFS) for graduates of all streams which directly aims to
train 30000 students in the first year.
4
January- Indian-American Srikanth Srinivasan on 4th January
2013 re-nominated by US President Barack Obama as Federal Judge for the
District of Columbia Circuit. Srikanth Srinivasan is among the 33 federal
judges re-nominated by the President Barack Obama for the US Court of Appeals
and the only Indian American re-nominated by Obama for the District of Columbia
Circuit.
5
January- Indian Tennis player Sania Mirza and her American
partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands lifted the WTA Brisbane International trophy with
a win against Kveta Peschke and Anna-Lena Groenefeld. The second seeded
Indo-American pair Sania Mirza and Bethanie Mattek-Sands defeated fourth seed Anna-Lena Grönefeld of Germany and Czech Keveta Peschke with 4-6
6-4 10-7 in the summit face-off of the 1000000 US dollar event.
5
January- Haradhan Bandopadhyay, the renowned Bengali actor
died in Kolkata after struggling for his
life for 15 days. Haradhan Bandopadhyay was aged 86 years and is survived by
wife and two sons.
6
January- Former South Africa fast bowler, Neil Adcock died
at the age of 81 in Howick, KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. He had
pneumonia and was also suffering from cancer for a long period of time.
6
January- Andy Murray, the third seeded Scottish tennis
player retained his Brisbane International Tennis Title after defeating the
Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov. Murray defeated Dimitrov by 7-6 and 6-4 in straight
sets. This is the first title won by Murray in the year 2013 and twenty-fifth
title of his career. With this win, Murray was successful in winning 78800
dollar and 250 Emirates ATP Ranking Point and Dimitrov ended up with 150
Emirates ATP Ranking Point and 41540 dollar.
7January-
The
three-day 11th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) kicked off in Kochi. The event saw
delightful response from the people with more than 2000 registrations. The
distinctive feature of this year's Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is that this is the
first time that there is going to be an exclusive session on Middle East. The
organizing partner of this year summit is Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce
(ICCC).
7
January- Union Government of India appointed Justice D.K.
Jain as Chairman of the 20th Law Commission of India. Justice Jain would take
on the chair of the Chairman of the Law Commission on 24 January 2012 after he
retires of a Judge of Supreme Court on the same day. The Law Commission is
responsible for offering advices on complex issues to the Government. He would
be heading the commission as its chief for a period of three-years from the
date of being in the office.
7
January- Lionel Messi, the Argentine footballer won FIFA
Ballond’Or Award as a reward to his 91-goal in a year for Barcelona and
Argentina, in the year 2012. Messi voted to be the best player for the fourth
year in a row managed to beat his close competitors, Cristiano Ronaldo of
Spanish champion Real Madrid and Barcelona teammate Andres Iniesta.
7
January- The Chief of the Air Staff, N.A.K. Browne
inaugurated the Medium Lift Helicopter Complex at Phalodi, near Jodhpur. The
complex has been developed with the purpose of raising the new Mi-17 V5
helicopter Unit.
8
January- The Arjun Munda Ministry in Jharkhand resigned and
recommended dissolution of the two-year-old Assembly to the governor in
Ranchi.The decision of his resignation came after his coalition partner, the
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), decided to withdraw its support from the
28-month-long BJP-led coalition government.
8
January- Chief Minister
of Gujarat Narendra Modi inaugurated the biennial(held every second
year) Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors meet by throwing open a mega trade
exhibition that has over one thousand firms from as many as 16 countries
displaying their products. The highlight of the sixth edition of the summit is
an international conference of academic institutions with expected
participation of 200 delegates from 130 institutions from 50 countries.
8
January- Air Marshal Kulwant Singh Gill took over the charge
of National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla as its new Commandant. Kulwant Singh
replaced outgoing Lt. Gen Ashok Singh to take over this post.
8
January- Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) launched the first fast
patrol vessel (FPV), built for the Indian Coast Guard. The vessel which is
named Aadesh was launched by Jayasree Muralidharan, in the presence of M.P.
Muralidharan, Director General of Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and K. Subramaniam,
Chairman and Managing Director of the Coast Guard.
8
January- Usain Bolt, the fastest man of the world and
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the women's 100m Olympic champion won the male and
female Athlete of the Year awards respectively
at Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) Golden Cleats Awards
ceremony which took place at Terra Nova Hotel in St Andrew.
9
January- India successfully test-fired a highly manoeuvrable
version of the 290-km range supersonic cruise missile BrahMos from a naval
warship off the coast of Vishakhapatnam in Bay of Bengal. The missile blasted
off in a pre-designated war scenario taking a ‘double— manoeuvre in S-form’
hitting the designated target ship just one meter above water line. The sheer
velocity and power of hit made the missile rip through the ship’s hull.The
present test firing is considered to be the 34th launch of BrahMos after the
successful October 2012 launch from INS Teg in the Arabian Sea.
9
January- Brij Bihari Lal Butail was unanimously elected as
the new speaker of Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly. Brij Bihari Lal
Butail is the five-time MLA as well as Senior Congress leader. Butail was
elected as the speaker unananimously after the BJP decided that none of its
candidate should field for this designation, leaving him as the only choice.
9
January- Renault Duster was awarded the Car of the Year Award
2013 by the automotive magazine Autocar India at the annual awards night in
Mumbai.
9
January- Malala Yousafzai, 15, the schoolgirl from Pakistan
shot by Taliban for campaigning girls’ education, received France's Simone de
Beauvoir Prize for Women's Freedom in Paris. Malala’s father Ziaudin Yousafzai
received the honour on her behalf. The award is accompanied with 2.5 million
Rupees honorarium.
10
January- PR Fonroche inaugurated a 5 MW Solar Plant at Gajner
near Bikaner in Rajasthan. The project is a part of the 20 MW project of PR
Fonroche that was won by the company through the process of independent bidding
in the National Solar Mission, Phase I Batch II. The next 15 MW plant would be
commissioned officially on 15 January 2013 but the electricity production at
the site at present is in process.The project is the first of the 340 MW
projects, which are being developed under the Phase I Batch II of the Mission.
10
January- The Union Government approved 10 per cent stake
sale in Engineers India Ltd (EIL), which is supposed to bring back a sum of
around 800 crore Rupees to the government.The stake is going to take place this
fiscal, April 2012 to March 2013 and is approved by Cabinet Committee on
Economic Affairs (CCEA).
10
January- GAIL India announced successful commissioning of 5
million tonne capacity Dabhol liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Ratnagiri
in Maharashtra. This is the third LNG terminal. The remaining two are set up at
Dahej and Hazira in Gujarat.
10
January- Manpreet Kaur, 23, of All India Police claimed the
women’s +75kg gold medal in the final day of the National weightlifting
championship at SRM University campus, Uttar Pradesh. Manpreet Kaur lifted 189
kg to secure maiden National title.
10
January- The Union Cabinet approved the Ministry of Rural
Development’s proposal to increase the unit cost under Indira Awaas Yojana
(IAY), keeping under consideration the sharp increase in the cost of materials.
As per the approved cost, unit assistance under the scheme in plain areas had
been increased from 45000 to 70000 rupees and for the hilly and difficult areas
it had been increase from 48500 to 75000 rupees.
11
January- Aaron Swarth, the internet activist and co-founder
of Reditt committed suicide by hanging himself. The 26 years old computer
genius was the developer of the early version of the RSS (Rich Site Summary) –
web feed system was facing federal criminal charges in cases of a controversial
fraud and hacking allegations.
12
January- Koto Okubo, the lady who received the title of
world’s oldest lady alive after the death of Dina Manfredini of United States,
died. The 115 years old Okubo was born on 24 December 1897 in a town near
Tokyo, Japan.
12
January- The 19th Colors Screen Awards were announced on in a
function at Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex. From the list of 119 films released
in 2012, 27 films were green signaled in the Screen Academy Selection singled
for consideration by the Jury. The screen jury comprised the eminent members of
the Indian Film Industry.
13January-
In the prestigious Golden Globe Awards 2013, the hostage-crisis movieArgo
thrashed Lincoln to bag best picture as well as best director awards. Les
Miserables, on the other hand won the awards in best musical or comedy category
with the actors Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman winning one trophy each.
13January-
Rusi Framroze Surti, the former all-rounder of India from Surat died in Mumbai.
Surti was aged 76 years. Surti was often also called poor man's Garry Sobers
and played 26 Test matches for India from the time period of 1960 to 1969. He
played for Rajasthan as well as Gujarat in Ranji Trophy. In Sheffield Shield,
he represented Queensland 35 times.
13January-
Mahinda
Rajapaksa, the President of Sri Lanka, on removed the first woman chief justice
of the country, Shirani Bandarnayake after endorsing her impeachment by the
Parliament that caught her guilty on the corruption charges. It is worth
noticing that Bandarnayake was fired despite widespread protests by the lawyers
as well as others.
14
January- The Supreme Court of India ruled that Khap
Panchayats' diktat on dress code for women and asking them not to carry mobile
is unlawful. A bench of justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai ruled
that such diktats are against the fundamental right to life and asked Khap
Panchayats, which are caste-based councils, to file their replies on the issue.
Right to life is guaranteed to all the citizens of India under Article 21 of
the Constitution of India.
14
January- Halimah Yacob (58) became the first woman and the
9th Speaker of the Singapore Parliament on . She replaced Michael Palmer, the
former People's Action Party MP. Palmer got down from the post of Speaker of
the Parliament and as an MP on 12 December 2012. Prime Minister of Singapore,
Lee Hsien Loong nominated her for the designation of speaker.
15
January- President Pranab Mukherjee presented Krishi Karman
awards for 2011-12 to eight states, which includes the state of UP and Bihar
for improving the food grain production and commendation awards to 10 other
states.
15
January- The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex for second time in
a row touched 2-years high. The shares remained supported inspite of
government’s delayed implementation of the controversial rules related to tax
avoidance.
15
January- India and Vietnam signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) which is directly meant for building capacity and
developing institutional framework and identifying thrust areas and
opportunities for micro, small and medium enterprises in Vietnam.The MoU was
signed during the 4 day state visit of Vice President Hamid Ansari to Vietnam.
16
January- Barrack Obama, the US President proposed extensive
gun control laws, making them stricter. Obama announced a total of 23 executive
measures which would come into effect immediately after his signatures. One of
these measures include requiring the target shooters to keep their guns locked
and also within the range once they are done, instead of carrying it home since
it can fall into the wrong hands.
16
January- Patiala House court complex in New Delhi completely
switched over to the e-stamping facility. Patiala House court complex is one of
the six district courts in New Delhi.
16
January- Chinese President Hu Jintao on appointed the career diplomat and its current
envoy to Singapore Wei Wei as its new Ambassador to India. Wei Wei would be the
successor of Zhang Yan in India.
16
January- The Iranian Cargo Ship MV Amina fled away from the
waters of Sri Lanka after suffering detention by its Navy for about two months
on. Seizure of the ship was done after the DVB Bank obtained orders from the
high Court of Colombo on 12 December 2012 to hold the vessel as it had to
recover millions of dollars.
17
January- The Union Cabinet of India agreed to enforce
President’s Rule in Jharkhand. The central government of India recommended to
the President Pranab Mukherjee, to impose President’s rule in the state. The
former Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Arjun Munda resigned from the office after
his government was concentrated to minority after the withdrawal of support of
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).
17
January- Government Telecom Service Provider MTNL launched its video telephony service in Delhi
and Mumbai, the first by any service provider in these two cities. This service
will change the way people communicate with each other without travelling and
will improve their quality of life in many ways.
18
January- The Supreme Court of India decided that Kerala had
no jurisdiction to investigate into the matter of Italian Marines shooting
incident in which two fishermen were killed on 15 February 2012. The Union
Government was directed by the Supreme Court bench of two Judges comprising
Chief Justice Altamas Kabir and J. Chelameswar for setting up of a special
court for proceeding ahead with the trials of the two Italian Marines namely
Massimilano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, accused of shooting the two
fishermen.
18
January- The metals flagship of Aditya Birla Group, Hindalco
Industries on 18 January 2013 announced that as a part of its corporate
reorganization plan, it has finalized arrangements with Novelis Do Brasil, its
wholly owned subsidiary Novelis for acquiring the bauxite mines and alumina
refinery in Brazil.
19
January- Rahul Gandhi was formally elevated and was
appointed at the position of party Vice-President of Congress at the Chintan
Shivir organised at Jaipur in January 2013. With this appointment, Rahul Gandhi
took over the second highest chair of the oldest political party of the nation,
just after the party-president and her mother Sonia Gandhi. His appointment to
the post came up following the decision made by the Congress Working Committee,
the party's highest decision making body.
20
January- 58th Idea Filmfare Awards were given away at YRF
Studio, Andheri. At the 58th Idea Filmfare Awards, Barfi!, the much-acclaimed
film grabbed seven Black Lady awards while, Kahaani bagged five awards. The
award for the Best Actor was given to Ranbir Kapoor for his deaf-mute
performance in Barfi! Vidya Balan, on the other hand was adjudged as the Best
Actress for Kahaani. Barfi! was awarded with the Best Film award, while
Kahaani’s director Sujoy Ghosh won the Black Lady for the Best Director. The
lifetime achievement award was given away to Yash Chopra posthumously. Yash
Chopra’s wife Pamela collected this award on his behalf.
20
January- Barack Obama, the first mixed race president of the
United States, was sworn in as the President of the country for the second
term. The oath-taking ceremony was quiet as well as brief in the White House
East Room by Justice John Roberts.
20
January- Pranab Mukherjee, the President of India inaugurated the centenary celebrations of the
National Test House at Kolkata, West Bengal. The Governor of West Bengal, H.E.
Mayankote Kelath Narayanan released a book on history of the National Test
House and gifted its first copy to the President on this occasion.
21
January- The Indian Navy commissioned INS Saryu, its largest
shore patrol vessel for the maritime surveillance around Andaman and Nicobar
Islands. INS Saryu, the 105 meter vessel is built at Goa Shipyard Limited is
the first among the four new class naval Off Shore Patrol Vessels (NOPVs) to be
commissioned, rest would be commissioned by the Indian Navy in next one and a
half year or so.
21
January- The Supreme Court of India banned the tourists to
pass from Andaman Nicobar Trunk Road which passes through an area which is
Jarawas habitat. The Andaman Nicobar Trunk Road leads to the Limestone Cave. A
bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and H.L. Gokhale ordered that the directives of
the court which were issued in 2012 should be followed strictly.
21
January- The Union Government of India hiked the import duty on Gold and Platinum
from 4 percent to 6 percent. The step of the Government came in effect to
control the import of the precious metals leading a widening gap in the Current
Account Deficit of the country as the import of gold has shown tumbling effects
on different economic fronts and has also played a major role in distortion of
the balance of trade.
21
January- The War Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh constituted
for conducting trials against those, who committed atrocities during the
Bangladesh Liberation War 1971 pronounced its first verdict and ordered death
sentence against Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the Jamaat-e-Islami leader.
21
January- India and Sri Lanka after the 8th round meet of the
Joint India-Sri Lanka Commission on 22 January 2013 at New Delhi inked two
agreements. The External Affairs Ministers of India, Salman Khurshid and Sri
Lanka, G L Peiris signed the following Agreements. The Joint Commission Meeting
(JCM) was preceded by the Senior Officials Meeting at the level of the Foreign
Secretaries of the two countries.During the Joint Commission meet both the
sides discussed bilateral relations that included development cooperation,
trade, investment, power, science and technology, health, agriculture,
connectivity, people to people contacts, culture and education.
21
January- The National Mission for Empowerment of Women
(NMEW) in collaboration with the Lawyers Collective Women’s Rights Initiative
(LCWRI), supported by UN Women held the Sixth National Conference on
implementation of PWDVA (Protection of Women of from Domestic Violence Act),
2005 .The Sixth Monitoring and Evaluation Report titled Staying Alive:
Evaluating Court Orders was released at the National Conference along with the
release of the Best Practices Manual on
the implementation ofPWDV Act 2005 and a Resource Tool for Monitoring &
Evaluation of PWDV Act 2005.
22
January- The Election Commission (EC) of India announced
Saina Nehwal and Mary Kom as the National Icons to help promote, voter
participation in India. Saina Nehwal and Mary Kom, both are Olympic Bronze
Medalists in the London Olympics 2012, in Badminton and Boxing respectively.
23
January- The Justice Verma panel, which is a 3-member
commission created to review the laws for sexual crimes submitted the report to
the Government of India. Justice Verma panel was created after the brutal gang
rape of the Para-medical student on 16 December 2012. Former Chief Justice of
India, Justice JS Verma headed the commission and reviewed the laws on sexual
crimes which exist already. The report was prepared by the panel in its 30-day
deadline. The former CJI described that there were more than 80000 suggestions
from the length and breadth of India as well as abroad after 5 January 2013 was
declared as the deadline for receiving comments from common man in order to
refurbish the present legislation that deals with the sex offenders.
24 January- David Coleman
Headley, the Pakistani-American and the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai Terror
Attack 2008 was sentenced to 35 years in Prison by a U.S. Court. The Court
sentence would be followed by a five years of supervised release. The sentence
was pronounced by the U.S. Federal District Court Judge Harry Leinenweber, who
said that Headley was a terrorist and numerous crimes were committed by Headley
but his confessions turned up to be the reason that lenient sentences were
issued for him.
24
January- Delhi Health Minister A.K. Walia announced that leprosy was eliminated from the state as
public health problem, as per the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines.
There was a huge decline in the rate of this disease. The rate declined from
4.5 cases per 10000 population in 2001 to 0.8 cases per 10000 population in
2013.
25
January- The Union Government of India on the eve of the
64th Republic Day function announced the Padma Awards 2013. Pranab Mukherjee,
the President of Union of India approved 108 Padma Awards. Four people have
been conferred with Padma Vibhusan, twenty four are conferred with Padma
Bhushan and 80 people would receive Padma Shree Awards. Out of all the awardees
twenty-four are ladies and 11 people belong to categories like NRIs, PIOs, Foreigners
and Posthumous awardees.
25
January- The Election Commission of India celebrated the 3rd
National Voters’ Day across the country . The theme for the 3rd NVD
isInclusion. NVD functions were held at more than 6.5 lakh locations across the
country covering nearly all 8.5 lakh Polling Stations. Around 46000 Educational
Institutions also celebrated National Voters’ Day. Around 4867 Youth Voter
Festivals have been held across the states to engage youth in the registration
process. The National Function to mark the 3rd National Voters’ Day was held at
Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
25
January- As per the Czech Republic Presidential election
results declared, Milos Zeman won and thus became the country’s first elected
President through direct elections. He won 55 percent as compared with 45
percent of Karel Schwarzenberg. Milos Zeman is the former Prime Minister of
Czech Republic and head of the Party of Civic Rights-Zemanovci (SPOZ) while
Karel Schwarzenberg is foreign minister in the present centre-right coalition
government. Zeman succeeds Vaclav Klaus.The main issues in the election were
anti-corruption measures, national security, accession to the eurozone,
appointment of judges and Presidential pardons of convicts.
25 January- Milos Zeman became Czech
Republic’s first directly elected President as per the Czech Republic
Presidential election results declared. He won 55 percent as compared with 45
percent of Karel Schwarzenberg. Milos Zeman is the former Prime Minister of
Czech Republic and head of the Party of Civic Rights-Zemanovci (SPOZ) while
Karel Schwarzenberg is foreign minister in the present centre-right coalition
government. Zeman succeeds Vaclav Klaus as the President of Czech Republic.
26
January- Major Abup J Manjali of the Rashtriya Rifles was
selected for the award of Kirti Chakra for his extraordinary bravery efforts in
counter- terrorist operations in Jammu and Kashmir. Major Manjali will be
awarded
26
January- India celebrated its 64th Republic Day on 26 January
2013. Unfurling of National flag, the rich cultural heritage, and nation's
achievements in various fields were the highlights of Republic Day Parade at
Rajpath in Delhi. The well-turned out and synchronised military and police
formations led by General Officer Commanding (Delhi) Lt General Subroto Mitra
marched proudly to the tunes of bands through the Rajpath where President
Pranab Mukherjee, the Supreme Commander of Armed Forces, took salute for the
first time after assuming office in July 2012. The impressive march-past was
watched by Chief Guest, King of Bhutan Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk.
26
January- Victoria Azarenka of Belarus won the Women’s
Singles title of the Australian Open Tennis tournament at Melbourne. The World
Number One defeated Li Na of China, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the final to win the title
for the second successive time.
26
January- India successfully test fired an underwater
ballistic missile, K-15(code-named Bo5), with a strike range of around700
kilometres, from an underwater platform in Bay of Bengal. The medium range K-5
ballistic missile was test-fired from an underwater pontoon and all parameters
of the test firing were met.
27
January- China successfully performed the second interceptor
missile test. The test was -said to be of the defensive nature without
targeting any other country. This is for the second time that China announced
testing such a missile. Likewise, the anti-missile interception test was
conducted successfully on 11 January 2010 earlier. No detailed information was
revealed.
27
January- Novak Djokovic of Serbia defeated Andy Murray of UK
in four sets to win Australian Open 2013 final. The tournament was held in
Melbourne. It was Djokovik’s third consecutive Australian Open title and fourth
overall. Nine other tennis players had won consecutive Australian open
tournament, but none three straight years. Djokovic had five break-point
chances in the opening set, including four after having Murray at 0-40 in the
seventh game, but couldn’t convert any of them. In 2012, Djokovic had started
with an epic 5-hour, 53-minute five-set win over Rafael Nadal at the Australian
Open, the longest Grand Slam final.
28
January- A business tycoon from Taiwan with interests mainly
in China declared that he was funding the Asia's Nobel Prizes for outstanding
achievements in natural and social sciences. Samuel Yin, the head of Ruentex
Group announced that he would establish Tang Prize Foundation which would have
an initial donation of 103 million dollar.
28
January- Iran announced that it had successfully sent into
space a monkey. While declaring the sending of a monkey into space, Iran also
declared that it was yet another step towards the space flight goal of Tehran. The
rocket called Pishgam (meaning Pioneer) reached at a height of 120 km. Though
the details about timing or the location were not disclosed, but Iran declared
that the monkey had come back to the Earth successfully.
28
January- The Union Minister for Commerce launched an eBiz
portal at the CII Partnership Summit in Agra . The portal is
India’sGovernment-to-Business (G2B) portal developed by Infosys in a Public
Private Partnership (PPP) Model. This Mission Mode Project will mark a paradigm
shift in the Government’s approach to providing Government-to-Business (G2B)
services for India’s investor and business communities.
28
January- India and Bangladesh signed two landmark agreements on extradition
of criminals and terrorists and liberalising the visa regime. However, refusal
provisions were incorporated into the extradition treaty. If extradition of
someone poses a threat to national security, a nation has the right to refuse
the deportation request. Moreover, no
political detainee will be brought under the purview of the extradition treaty. In case of a controversy
during an extradition process, the matter will be resolved according to the
laws of the country concerned. The other agreement has provision for a
friendlier visa regime for citizens of Bangladesh. Businessmen will be provided
a five-year, multiple-entry visa. Those travelling on medical grounds will be
eligible for a two-year, multiple-entry visa, which could be extended for one
more year.
28
January- Mumbai won its 40th Ranji trophy at Wankhede
Stadium in Mumbai. Mumbai won the final match against Saurashtra by an inning
and 125 runs on the third day of Ranji Trophy final. The Mumbai team so far has
played in 44 finals of Ranji Trophy. Mumbai in their first inning scored 355
runs while Saurashtra in reply could manage only 148. In its second inning
Saurashtra was bundled out for merely 82. Mumbai pacers Ajit Agarkar (4-15) and
Dhawal Kulkarni (5-32 & 9-56) did an excellent job. Wasim Jaffar was
declared Man of the Match. Ajit Agarkar was the captain of the winning team.
28
January- India and Australia agreed to concentrate on
priority areas like energy and food security for mutual benefit of the two
countries. At the 14th Session of the India - Australia Joint Ministerial
Commission held in New Delhi, the two sides underlined the importance of a
solid institutional framework to facilitate future growth in bilateral trade
and investment. The Commission was co-chaired by Minister of Commerce, Industry
and Textiles Anand Sharma and his Australian counterpart, Craig Emerson.
29 January- The Rajasthan
High Court stayed the state government's decision for giving 4 per cent
additional reservation to Gurjar,Raika-Rebari,Gadia Luhar and Banjara
communities. The division bench of the Rajasthan High Court presided by Justice
N.K. Jain stayed this order. Final hearing of this case will be on 19 February
2013. Earlier on 28 November 2012, the Rajasthan Government announced to
provide 4% more reservation in government jobs to Gurjar and 4 other
communities under Special Backward Category.
29
January- The Centre
resolved the issue of CST compensation with the states. The centre agreed
for a lower payment of 34000 crore rupees for phasing out the Central Sales
Tax. It paves the way for implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
The agreement between centre and states was announced following the meeting of
State Finance Ministers at Bhubaneshwar. The Centre agreed to pay this
compensation amount to the states.
29
January- The Information and Broadcasting Ministry on 29
January 2013 constituted a seven-member expert committee to review the
institutional framework of Prasar Bharti. The committee will be headed by the
Advisor to the Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure, Sam
Pitroda. The committee will have Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar as its
convener.
29
January- Tiger Woods
won his 75th PGA Tour title in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey
Pines. Woods entered into the fifth day of play with a six-shot lead over his
closest competitors, Brandt Snedeker and Nick Watney. Although, he was far from
his fluent best and he dropped four strokes in three holes from the 15th, it
did not stop his progress to victory and he finished on 14 under par .He parred
his first five holes without any problem before birdieing the 13th after two
putting from 52 feet.
30
January- World anti Leprosy Day was observed on 30 January
2013 to focus attention and create awareness about the air-borne disease. The
day is chosen in the memory of Mahatma Gandhi, who took a keen interest in the
eradication of leprosy and the plight of people affected by it. Several
programmes are being organised across India to galvanise people to fight the
stigma and discrimination against leprosy which is now completely curable.
31
January- NASA launched a new communication satellite to stay
in touch with its space station astronauts and relay more Hubble telescope
images. An unmanned Atlas V rocket blasted into the starry night sky carrying
the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) from Cape Canaveral. This is the
11th TDRS satellite to be launched by NASA. The space agency uses the orbiting
network to communicate with astronauts living on the International Space
Station. The first TDRS spacecraft flew in 1983.
31
January- P.R. Vasudeva Rao became the Director of the Indira
Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) at Kalpakkam. He succeeded S.C
Chetal, who has now retired. Dr. Rao was earlier the Director, Chemistry Group
in IGCAR and is also a specialist in the field of actinide chemistry as well as
a few areas of chemistry of nuclear fuel cycle. In IGCAR, Dr. Rao led various
R&D programmes related to the field of chemistry.
