Dear Readers, Here we have given the list of Important Weekly Current Affairs of Jan 08th to 14th Jan 2024. Candidates those who are preparing for Upcoming SBIClerk 2024 and other competitive exams can make use of it.

Weekly Current Affairs January 08th  to 14th PDF Download

CURRENT AFFAIRS: IMPORTANT DAYS

• NRI Day 2024 or Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2024 is observed on the 9th of January 2024.

• World Hindi Day 2024 is observed on the 10th of January 2024.

• National Human Trafficking Awareness Day 2024 is observed on the 11th January 2024.

• National Youth Day 2024 is observed on the 12th January 2024.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL NEWS

• During the Global Investors Meet, discussions were held on climate change missions, circular economy, AI, and providing a robust environment for start-ups and SMEs
• Gujarat is all set to host the tenth edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit commencing at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar.
• India has topped the list of source markets for tourism into Sri Lanka in 2023.
• India started its four-year term as a member of the United Nations Statistical Commission.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the country's largest Global Trade show at Gandhinagar one day ahead of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024.
• Selected GST payers will not be able to generate e-way bills without details of e-invoice with effect from March 1, 2024.

• The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is organising the Startup India Innovation Week 2024 from 10^th January to bring together the country’s startups, entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, and other stakeholders.
• Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI) has released a report on 'Engendering Land Ports in India' in New Delhi.
• The Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari inaugurated 29 National Highway projects with an investment of more than Rs 4,000 crore in Hoshiarpur, Punjab.
• Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 27th National Youth Festival in Nashik, Maharashtra on 12th January and will address the youth of the nation.
• The first phase of the proposed greenfield port at Galathea Bay in Great Nicobar Island is expected to be built at a cost of ₹18,000 crore.
• ITC, a prominent Indian conglomerate, has joined forces with Microsoft and Skymet to address the escalating challenges faced by tobacco farmers in India due to climate change.

• Prime Minister inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of a slew of development projects worth over 30,500 crore rupees in Maharashtra.
• Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers & Health and Family Welfare virtually inaugurated the permanent campus of National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) in Guwahati, Assam
• The National Surveillance Programme for Aquatic Animal Diseases (NSPAAD) project has introduced a mobile app ‘Report Fish Disease’ to track and monitor fish diseases across the country
• The Union Health Ministry announced the implementation of the revised Schedule M as part of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945
• The Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers recently conveyed the government's decision on the Price of Urea Gold to all fertilizer manufacturing companies.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of multiple development projects worth over 30,500 crore rupees in Maharashtra.
• The Direct Tax collections have recorded over 17 lakh crore rupee in the current fiscal so far, which is about 17 per cent higher than the gross collections for the same period last year

CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• Kyrgyzstan has officially declared the snow leopard as its national symbol.
• A group from Russia is poised to be the first known tourists allowed into North Korea since anti-pandemic border lockdowns began in early 2020, according to a post from Russian provincial authorities and a Western tour guide.
• The United States and the United Kingdom joined forces to launch a retaliatory attack against Iran-based rebel group Houthis in Yemen shortly after the group claimed responsibility for a string of attacks against cargo ships and vessels travelling through the Red Sea.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: STATE NEWS

• West Bengal has achieved Geographical Indication (GI) tags for 5 more products as part of the National GI Drive Mission.
• Arunachal Pradesh's ginger, locally known as Adi Kekir, handmade carpets and Wancho wooden craft have secured the Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
• Lal Bahadur Shastri was born on 2nd October 1904 at Mughalsarai, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Lal Bahadur Shastri breathed his last in Tashkent on January 11, 1966.
• India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves have reached the highest level in the last 21 months.
• 'Gunotsav 2024' has been launched by the Assam Government for holistic assessment of students' performance.
• The Similipal kai chutney made with red weaver ants by the tribal people of Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district (Odisha) received the geographical identity tag.

• The South Korean firm Simmtech has signed an MoU with the state government to set up its plan close to Micron in Sanand near Ahmedabad city.
• The Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) or Atal Setu, longest sea bridge in India is set to be inaugurated by the prime minister Narendra Modi.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 27th National Youth Festival at Nashik in Maharashtra.
• Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated the direct flight of IndiGo Airlines from Ayodhya to Ahmedabad through Video conferencing.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BUSINESS NEWS

• The National Statistical Office has released its second advance estimate for the Indian Economy.
• Tata Motors introduced the first pure electric vehicle (EV) architecture called ‘acti.ev’, which will underpin its future portfolio of EVs such as Punch, Sierra, Harrier and Curvv
• HFCL Ltd (HFCL) has secured a Rs 1,127 crore order from Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) aimed at transforming the Optical Transport Network (OTN) infrastructure across the state-owned telco's pan India network.

• The National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) is releasing the All India Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Base 2012=100 and corresponding Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) for Rural (R), Urban (U) and Combined (C) for the month of December 2023.
• For the month of November 2023, the Quick Estimates of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) with base 2011-12 stands at 141.0.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND ECONOMY

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) updated Know Your Customer (KYC) norms for politically exposed persons (PEPs) who transact with regulated entities (REs), seeking to comply with the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
• Narayana Health has received approval from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) to venture into the health insurance business in India.
• The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has made adjustments to the regulatory framework for Online Bond Platform Providers (OBPPs) to improve the ease of doing business.
• The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has relaxed guidelines for the settlement of running accounts of clients' funds or securities held with stockbrokers.

• Capital market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Board’s November 2023 decision to extend the requirement of mandatory appointment of custodians has become effective.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted a payment aggregator (PA) licence to Tata Payments, Tata group’s digital payments app.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has tightened rules for the issuance of short term Commercial Papers (CPs) and Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs), with an initial maturity of up to one year.
• Sustainable Energy Infra Trust, a renewable energy infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) backed by Mahindra group, is raising Rs 2,500 crore in a round led by Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) with participation from domestic institutional investors (DIIs).
• Edu-fintech startup LEO1, in collaboration with NSDL Payments Bank and with MasterCard as network partner, launched India’s first numberless Prepaid ID card for students and educational institutions.

• Insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is planning to acquire up to 10 percent equity stake in a company promoted by the National Housing Bank (NHB).
• India’s mutual fund assets crossed the Rs 50-trillion mark for the first time in December 2023, hitting RS 50.77 trillion, data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi)
• During the quarter ended December 31, 2023, the Reserve Bank of India has received one application under the Guidelines for ‘on tap’ Licensing of Small Finance Banks in the Private Sector dated December 05, 2019 from Fino Payments Bank Limited.
• Bank of Baroda (BoB) has crossed the milestone of issuing 1,000 electronic Bank Guarantees (e-BGs) for trade finance on the National E-Governance Services Ltd (NeSL) platform within eight months of the launch of e-BGs.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONOURS

• India’s best-performing athletes were conferred with the national sports awards by President Droupadi Murmu in a regal ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan where para archer and sports bigwig, Sheetal Devi from Jammu and Kashmir was also conferred with Arjuna Award.
• Former President Ram Nath Kovind will confer Post Graduate Diploma degrees at the 55th Convocation ceremony of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) in New Delhi.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

• Senthil Pandian, a 2002 IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, has been appointed as India's ambassador to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva.
• Govindayapalli Ram Mohan Rao has been appointed as Executive Director of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
• Indra Mani Pandey, a veteran diplomat and a 1990-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, has taken charge as the new Secretary General of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).
• The government has appointed senior bureaucrat Vikas Sheel as the Executive Director (ED) of Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila, Philippines.
• Supreme Court judge Justice BR Gavai has been nominated as the Chairman of the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee (SCLSC), replacing Justice Sanjiv Khanna – the senior most judge of the top court after the Chief Justice of India (CJI).
• P Santhosh, Chief General Manager at Canara Bank, appointed as Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of National Asset Reconstruction Company Limited (NARCL).
• Vice Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi assumed the charge of Vice Chief of the Indian Navy.
• Indian Olympic Association (IOA) appointed Indian Premier League side Rajasthan Royals' former official Raghuram Iyer as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), a year after it was due and following repeated reminders from the IOC.
• Nadia Calviño assumed the role of President of the European Investment Bank (EIB).
• China named naval commander General Dong Jun as the new defence minister, two months after the summary dismissal of General Li Shangfu without any explanation.
• Rear Admiral Upal Kundu, an esteemed alumnus of the Indian Naval Academy, has recently taken over as the Chief of Staff at the Southern Naval Command (SNC).
• Awami League President Sheikh Hasina will be sworn in as Prime Minister of Bangladesh for the fourth straight term.
• India has recently appointed Senthil Pandian C as its Ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO), marking a significant development in the country’s representation on the global trade stage.
• The party of Bhutan's former prime minister Tshering Tobgay won general elections with nearly two-thirds of seats in parliament.
• The slaughter and sale of dogs for their meat is to become illegal in South Korea after MPs backed a new law.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: RANKING AND REPORTS

• The International Labour Organization (ILO), global unemployment rate is expected to inch up to 5.2 percent this year primarily because of a rise in joblessness in advanced economies.

• Bloomberg Emerging Market (EM) Local Currency Index will include the Indian government’s Fully Accessible Route (FAR) bonds.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: MOUS AND AGREEMENT

• State-owned CIL has entered into an initial pact with EdCIL (India) Ltd for an education initiative in 11 mining districts of Jharkhan
• Indian Railways has signed an MoU with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to reduce energy and water consumption lowering GHG emissions.
• NHPC has signed an MoU with Gujarat Power Corporation Limited, Government of Gujarat for investment in the proposed 750 MW Kuppa Pumped Hydro Storage Project.
• At the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, India exchanged four MOUs with the UAE.
• NTPC Green Energy Ltd (NGEL) has entered into MoUs with Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (GSPC) and Gujarat Pipavav Port Ltd. (GPPL) during the three-day Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024, being held in Gandhinagar.
• The India-UAE Business Summit was held on 10th January 2024 to strengthen bilateral ties between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as part of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully demonstrated a fuel cell that utilises hydrogen and oxygen to generate electricity, producing heat and water as byproducts.
• Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched its first batch of Starlink satellites with direct-to-cell capability aboard the Falcon 9 spacecraft.
• Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have created a COVID-19 vaccine that can remain stable in high temperatures, and is reportedly capable of combating all existing strains of SARS-CoV-2.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: DEFENCE NEWS

• The Indian Navy's elite marine commandos successfully rescued 21 crew members, including 15 Indians, from the Liberian-flagged vessel MV Lila Norfolk.
• The Indian Navy unveiled a new design for Admirals' epaulettes, drawing inspiration from the legacy of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
• Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted a successful flight-test of the New Generation AKASH (AKASH-NG) missile from the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur off the coast of Odisha.
• The Navy received the first medium altitude long endurance (MALE) drone made in India by Adani Defence & Aerospace (ADA) in collaboration with Israeli firm Elbit.
• India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) & and Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL – a subsidiary of Vedanta Group) join forces to pioneer inclusive financial solutions

CURRENT AFFAIRS: ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS

• Avenue Capital-backed Asset Reconstruction Company of India (Arcil) has acquired nearly ₹1,100 crore in small-ticket loans from RBL Bank and Bandhan Bank in two separate transactions.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: SPORTS NEWS

• Tata Steel Chess tournament 2024 will begin at Wijk aan Zee in the Netherlands
• Reigning Asian champion Aman Sehrawat won the Gold medal in Men’s 57kg at the Zagreb Open 2024 Wrestling Tournament in Croatia
• Media_SAIIn Women's shooting, Rhythm Sangwan bagged the Bronze medal in the 25-meter Pistol event at the Asian Shooting Championship in Jakarta, Indonesia

CURRENT AFFAIRS: OBITUARIES

• Bablu, India's oldest sloth bear, has passed away at the age of 36 in Bhopal Zoo