Daily G.K current affairs of 31 Jan 2019

This post contains important current affairs (National, International, Business and Sports) of 31 January 2019. Very useful to prepare for the General Knowledge section of various competitive and recruitment exams.

• India is going to host the G20 annual summit is 2022 when it celebrates its 75th year of independence and in order exploit it to the full extent, capacity augmentation of available resources and efficient addressal of organizational challenges must be done on time to fill the infrastructure, management and intellectual gap. Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi requested Italy to host the 2021 G20 summit instead of 2022 summit which was accepted by Italy.
• Scientists have developed an artificial pancreas smartphone app that will help in regulating blood sugar levels in diabetes patients. This app is capable of interfacing wirelessly with glucose monitors, insulin pump devices, and decision-making algorithms. A clinical trial showed that the artificial pancreas system (iAPS) app is safe. The app is effective in regulating glucose levels under challenging conditions and is suitable for use in unconstrained environments.
• Southern Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Association organized the South India MSME Summit-2019 at Bengaluru. Basavaraj S Javali chaired the event. The summit is held with a motive to find solution for their major problems like absence of good infrastructure, technology issues, marketing, procurement issues, regulatory issues, red tape, harassment and victimization.

• The Maharashtra government has launched a special scheme to curb infant deaths. The scheme is applicable only for the first child and will benefit around four lakh women across the state, Women. Each kit contains a blanket, a small mattress, a towel, a thermometer, baby oil, shampoo, toys, nail-cutter, gloves, socks, among other things. The cost of the kit is around Rs 2,000. For this cause, Child Development Minister Pankaja Munde distributed baby-care kits to the children born in primary health centres and government hospitals. 
  
• ISRO Unveils Human Space Flight Centre in Bengaluru. It aims to send humans to space by December 2021 through its Gaganyaan mission. The Centre is dedicated to developing critical technologies for human space missions. 
• January 30 is celebrated as Martyrs Day to honour the brave martyrs of India who have sacrificed their lives for the country. On the occasion of Martyrs Day, the President, the Vice President, the Prime Minister, the Defence Minister, and the three Service Chiefs gather at the Gandhiji's samadhi at Raj Ghat memorial and lay wreaths. Bugles are blown sounding the Last Post. A two-minute silence in memory of Indian martyrs is observed across the country at 11 AM and participants hold all-religion prayers and sing tributes in the honour of Martyrs. 
• Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has launched the National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP) to attract talent and strengthen higher agricultural education in the country. It is inaugurated at the fourth Convention of 2-day "Agrivision-2019" organized by Vidyarthi Kalyan Nyas in Pusa, New Delhi. This project (Rs 1100 crore) is to be funded by the World Bank and the Indian Government on a 50:50 basis. To enhance the participation of students in agricultural business, READY (Rural Entrepreneurship Awareness Development Yojana) is also provided to the students. 
• The 8-member Lokpal search panel hold its first meeting to select members of anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal. The committee, headed by former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, is understood to have discussed modalities related to the appointments of the chief and members of Lokpal. The meeting comes days after the Supreme Court set up a February-end deadline for the search committee to send a panel of names who could be considered for the appointment as chairman and members of Lokpal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led selection committee. The Lokpal Act, which envisages establishment of the anti-graft body Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in states to look into cases of corruption against certain categories of public servants, was passed in 2013. 
• Uttar Pradesh state cabinet has approved construction of a four-lane Ganga Expressway connecting Prayagraj to Western Utter Pradesh which would cost about 36,000 crore rupees. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath stated that this expressway will provide better connectivity to Prayagraj. Ganga Expressway will be 600 kilometres long and can be expanded to six-lane in future. Chief Minister also stated that after completion it would be longest in the world. 
• Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) has been conferred ODF++ (Open Defecation Free Plus Plus) status by the Swachh Bharat Mission in the run-up to the Swachh Survekshan rankings. Swachh Bharat Mission: Launched on: October 2014 Launched by: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Aim: To eliminate open defecation through the construction of household-owned and community-owned toilets During the period of 2014 to 2019, it aimed to clean up the streets, roads, and infrastructure of India's cities, towns, and rural areas.
• K.J. Alphons, Union Minister for Tourism has inaugurated the first project under the Swadesh Darshan Project of the Union Ministry of Tourism at the Zero Point, Gangtok, Sikkim. This project was sanctioned by the Ministry of Tourism in June 2015 for Rs. 98.05 crores. Swadesh Darshan Scheme is one of the flagship scheme of Ministry of tourism for development of thematic circuits in the country in a planned manner. Under this scheme, the Government is focussing on the development of quality infrastructure in the country with the objective of providing better experience and facilities to the visitors and on fostering economic growth.
• Senior diplomat Sunjay Sudhir was appointed as India's Ambassador to the Maldives.He presently works as a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas,which he will be resigning shortly. Also,government appointed Vinay Singh Chauhan as the Ambassador of India to Burkina Faso who is presently Consulate General of India. 
• Union Minister Piyush Goyal received the Carnot prize for his work towards sustainable energy solutions from University of Pennsylvania in New Delhi. This award rewards the works done by Piyush Goyal to reform the electricity sector and extended access to electricity to 18,000 villages.

• 30th January 2019, is celebrated as World Leprosy Eradication Day which stresses the need of eradicating the disease. It also brings to light the discrimination and stigma that people suffer from society every day. This year's theme for World Leprosy Day is 'ending discrimination, stigma, and prejudice'. Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease is a highly contagious infection caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae. 
• Dubai International Airport (DXB) retained its position as the world's busiest airport for international customer numbers for the fifth consecutive year with annual traffic for 2018 with Indian travellers emerging as the largest source of traffic for the airport which registered a record footfall of over 89 million. It overtook the crown of the world's busiest hub for international travel from London's Heathrow in 2014. The Dubai International Airport (DXB) was opened for civil aviation in July 1937. 
• The central banks of the UAE and Saudi Arabia have launched a common digital currency called "Aber", which will be used in financial settlements between the two countries through Blockchains and Distributed Ledgers technologies. Through this digital currency, both the United Arab Emirates Central Bank (UAECB) and the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) are studying the impact on the improvement and reduction of remittance costs and the assessments of risks. 
• UNESCO has declared 2019 as the International Year of the Period Table of Chemical Elements to commemorate the 150th birthday of the periodic table of chemical elements. The Periodic table of the Chemical elements was first published by Russian scientist Dmitry Mendeleev in the year 1869.
• The 3rd International Stock Taking Conference on Tiger Conservation was held in New Delhi on January 28, 2019. The 2-day conference was hosted by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in close collaboration with the Global Tiger Forum (GTA) which is an International, Intergovernmental Organization for conserving tigers in the world. In it, the 13 tiger range countries discussed on the status of the Global Tiger Recovery Program (GTRP) besides deliberations on combating wildlife trafficking. This is the second stock taking conference held in India after 2012. The major outcome of the Conference is expected to be course correction in strategies envisaged in Global and National Tiger Recovery Programs (GTRP/NTRP) which shall take tiger conservation forward to the intended goal as outlined in St. Petersburg, Russia.

• Mukul Nagpaul became the first Indian from Ludhiana in Punjab to compete in the Ironman Triathlon Malaysia. Nagpaul, who has in the past ran the World's Highest Barefoot Marathon to raise funds for the rehabilitation of stray dogs affected by the floods in Kerala. And the triathlon includes swimming a distance of 3.8 km, cycling a distance of 180 km and running a distance of 42.2 km in one stretch.

This "Daily Current Affairs" course of Vidyaguide is trusted by thousands of students preparing for various aptitude and entrance exams that feature a General Knowledge section.

Easily the most preferred preparation material for students and aspirants for the following:

• MBA entrance exams like IIFT, TISS and SNAP which feature a General Knowledge Section. 
• Banking exams such as IBPS Bank PO and Bank Clerk Exams, SBI PO Exams, RBI Competitive Exam, IBPS RRB and SO exams
• UPSC Competitive Exams such as the CSAT exam
• SSC Exams such as SSC CGL and SSC CHSL
• L.I.C and other Insurance Exams
• Railway Recruitment Exams