| India's first female footballer to bag a professional contract from a foreign club (Rangers FC) | Bala Devi |
| The theme of World Sustainable Development Summit 2020 organised in New Delhi from 29 to 31 January 2020 | Towards 2023: Making the Decade Count |
| The Indian environmentalist who has been awarded the 2020 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement along with Gretchen C. Daily from USA (Award given by University of Southern California) | Pavan Sukhdev |
| The Hindi word which has been declared the Hindi Word of the year 2019 by Oxford University Press | Samvidhan |
| The venue of the 3rd Global Potato Conclave held from 28 January to 31 January 2020 | Gandhinagar, Gujarat |
| The State which passed a resolution in its Legislative Assembly to abolish its Legislative Council | Andhra Pradesh |
| The American professional basketball player (aged 41 years) who died in a helicopter crash in California on 26 January 2020 | Kobe Bryant |
| The operation launched by Indian Navy to undertake Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief mission in Madagascar post devastation caused by Cyclone Diane | Operation Vanilla |
| The theme of National Voters Day observed on 25 January 2020 | Electoral Literacy for Stronger Democracy |
| The theme of International Day of Education observed on 24 January 2020 | Learning for people, planet, prosperity and peace |
| The ozone depleting chemical which has been successfully and completely been phased out by India | Hydrochlorofluocarbon (HCFC)-141b |
| The Air Force station in Tamil Nadu which has been chosen for induction of Sukhoi 30MKI aircraft in 222 Squadron (Tigersharks) | Thanjavur |
| The venue of the 5th Science Film Festival of India being held from 15 to 18 Jan 2020 | Panaji, Goa |
| The well-known social worker and founder of Rashtriya Seva Samiti who has been chosen for Muppavarapu National Award for Social Service instituted by the Swarna Bharat Trust | Gutta Muniratnam |
| The agricultural scientist who has been chosen for the Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu National Award for Excellence instituted by the Muppavarapu Foundation for his contribution to agriculture | MS Swaminathan |
| The temperature which has been made default setting for airconditioners with effect from 01.01.2020 by the Central Govt in consultation with Bureau of Energy Efficiency | 24o Celsius |
| The Indian cricketer who has announced retirement from all forms of cricket after having played 29 tests, 120 ODIs and 24 T20Is | Irfan Pathan |
| The year 2020 has been declared by World Health Organisation as the year of | Nurse and Midwife |
| The 13-year old Indian girl who has won Global Child Prodigy Award in Dubai for her talent in being able to sing in 120 languages | Sucheta Satish |
| The north-eastern state which has been declared a disturbed area under the AFSPA Act for a period of 6 more months | Nagaland |
| The editor-in-chief of Jagran who has been chosen to be honoured with the Lokmanya Tilak National Journalism Award by the Kesari-Maratha Trust | Sanjay Gupta |
| The mobile app launched by the Reserve Bank of India to help visually challenged persons in identifying currency notes is named | MANI (Mobile Aided Note Identifier) |
| The place in Tamil Nadu which is the proposed site for India's second spaceport (launch site for satellites) | Thoothukodi |
| The theme of 28th edition of New Delhi World Book Fair 2020 inaugurated by the Union HRD Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ | Gandhi: Writer’s Writer |
| The venue of 107th Indian Science Congress held from 03 to 07 Jan with the theme Science and Technology: Rural Development | University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru |
| The 5 cities in which Young Scientists Laboratories of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) were inaugurated by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi recently | Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad |
Chief Guest: Jair Bolsonaro, President of Brazil
Best Marching Contingent (Armed Forces): Indian Air Force
Best Marching Contingent (CAPFs): CISF
Best Tableau - States: 1. Assam; 2. Odisha and Uttar Pradesh
Best Tableau - Ministries and Departments: Jal Jeevan Mission and NDRF
Special Prize: Central Public Works Department for their tableau which based on the theme - Kashmir se Kanyakumari.
Released by: Transparency International
Rankings
| Ranking | Country | Ranking | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Denmark | 80 | China |
| 1. | New Zealand | 80 | India |
| 3. | Finland | 93 | Sri Lanka |
| 4. | Singapore | 113 | Sri Lanka |
| 4. | Sweden | 120 | Pakistan |
Note: Somalia is ranked at the bottom rank of 180
Institution Category: Disaster Mitigation & Management Centre, Uttarakhand
Individual Category: Shri Kumar Munnan Singh (Founder member of NDMA)
Best Motion Picture (Drama): 1917
Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy): Once upon a time Hollywood
Best Performance in a Motion Picture – Drama
Best Performance in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
The film which received the most nominations (6) - Marriage Story
Launch date: 17 Jan 20
Launched from: Kourou, French Guiana
Launch vehicle: Arian 5 VA-251
GSAT-30 has a lift-off mass of 3357 kg. It will replace INSAT-4A. The satellite will provide communication services to Indian mainland and islands through Ku-band and wide coverage covering Gulf countries, a large number of Asian countries and Australia through C-band”.
Released by: Economic Intelligence Unit
Rankings
| Ranking | Country | Ranking | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Norway | 51 | India |
| 2. | Iceland | 69 | Sri Lanka |
| 3. | Sweden | 80 | Bangladesh |
| 4. | New Zealand | 92 | Nepal |
| 5. | Finland | 108 | Pakistan |
Note: India has slipped from its 2018 rank of 42
The Central Government has notified the structure of the National Startup Advisory Council to advise the Government on measures needed to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and startups in the country to drive sustainable economic growth and generate large scale employment opportunities.
The National Startup Advisory Council will be chaired by Minister for Commerce & Industry.
The Council will consist of the non-official members, to be nominated by Central Government, from various categories like founders of successful startups, veterans who have grown and scaled companies in India, persons capable of representing interests of investors into startups, persons capable of representing interests of incubators and accelerators and representatives of associations of stakeholders of startups and representatives of industry associations.
The term of the non-official members of the Startup Advisory Council will be for a period of two years.
The nominees of the concerned Ministries/Departments/Organisations, not below the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India, will be ex-officio members of the Council. Joint Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade will be the Convener of the Council.
Released by: World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum’s Global Social Mobility Index provides a new, holistic assessment of 82 global economies according to their performance on five key dimensions of social mobility viz: 1. Health; 2. Education (access, quality and equity, lifelong learning); 3. Technology; 4. Work (opportunities, wages, conditions); 5. Protection and Institutions (social protection and inclusive institutions).
Rankings
| Ranking | Country | Ranking | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Denmark | 45 | China |
| 2. | Norway | 59 | Sri Lanka |
| 3. | Finland | 76 | India |
| 4. | Sweden | 78 | Bangladesh |
| 5. | Iceland | 79 | Pakistan |
Indian Railways has integrated railway helplines into single number 139 for the passengers for quick grievance redressal and enquiry during their journey. It has discontinued all other helpline numbers
Menu of 139 Helpline (IVRS) is as under:
Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award: Krishnamachari Srikanth
BCCI Lifetime Achievemnt Award for Women: Anjum Chopra
BCCI Special Award: Dilip Doshi
Dilip Sardesai Award - Highest Run Getter in Test Cricket: Cheteshwar Pujara
Dilip Sardesai Award - Highest Wickets in Test Cricket: Jasprit Bumrah
Highest Run Getter in ODIs - Women: Smriti Mandhana
Highest Wickets in ODIs - Women: Jhulan Goswami
Polly Umrigar Award Best International Cricketer - Men: Jasprit Bumrah
Best International Cricketer - Women: Poonam Yadav
Best International Debut - Men: Mayank Agarwal
Best International Debut - Women: Shafali Verma
Public Affairs: Shri George Fernandes (Posthumous)
Public Affairs: Shri Arun Jaitley (Posthumous)
Public Affairs: Smt Sushma Swaraj (Posthumous)
Public Affairs: Sir Anerood Jugnauth GCSK (Mauritius)
Sports: Smt MC Mary Kom
Art: Shri Chhannulal Mishra
Others-Spiritualism: Shri Vishveshatheertha Swamiji Shri Pejavara Adhokhaja Matha Udupi (Posthumous)
Public Affairs: 1. Shri Syed Muazzem Ali (Posthumous)(Bangladesh), 2. Shri Muzaffar Hussain Baig, 3. Shri SC Jamir, 4. Shri Neelakanta Ramakrishna Madhava Menon (Posthumous), 5. Shri Manohar Gopalkrishna Prabhu Parrikar (Posthumous)
Social Work: 1. Ms Krishnammal Jagannathan, 2. Shri Anil Prakash Joshi
Trade and Industry: 1. Shri Anand Mahindra, 2. Shri Venu Srinivasan
Medicine: Dr. Tsering Landol
Art: Shri Ajoy Chakravorty
Literature & Education: 1. Shri Manoj Das, 2. Prof Jagdish Sheth (USA)
Sports: Ms. PV Sindhu
Others-Spiritualism: Shri M Mumtaz Ali
Others-Architecture: Shri Balkrishna Doshi
MANI - Mobile Aided Note Identifier
Asha and the Spirit Bird by Jasbindar Bilan (Winner of United Kingdom Costa Children's Award