DAILY GK 26-27 JAN 2026
1.
PRESIDENT OF
OCA
·
Veteran Indian
sports administrator and 5-time Olympic shooter Randhir Singh announced
the end of his tenure as President of
the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) prematurely due to health issues.
·
Following his
resignation, the members of OCA elected Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani who
is currently serving as the President of Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC), as
their new President during the General
Assembly in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
·
In September
2024, Randhir Singh scripted history becoming the 1st Indian to be elected as
President of OCA for a 4-year term (till 2028) during the 44th General
Assembly of the continental body held in New Delhi.
2.
BETI BACHAO BETI PADHAO
CAMPAIGN COMPLETED 11 YEARS
·
The
Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme, a flagship
initiative of Government of India (GoI) which aims to protect, educate, and
empower the girl child in India, completed 11 years of successful
implementation.
·
The scheme was
originally launched by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi on January 22,
2015 in Panipat, Haryana.
·
It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS)
which means 100% funding by the
Central Government in all districts of the country under Sambal vertical of
‘Mission Shakti’.
·
Aim is to address the decreasing Child Sex Ratio (CSR),
prevent gender -biased sex-selective elimination and promote the survival,
protection and education of the girl child.
·
Originally,
the scheme was a joint initiative of the Ministry of Women and Child
Development (MoWCD), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and the
Ministry of Education (MoE).
·
Later, MoWCD
collaborated with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE)
and Ministry of Minority Affairs (MoMA) to expand the scope of BBBP.
·
As per GoI’s
data, due to the efforts made under BBBP scheme, the Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB)
has increased from around 918 (in 2014-15) to 930 (in 2023-24) at the
national level.
·
Also, the
Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for girls at the secondary level (Class 9-10) in
India has witnessed significant improvement, increasing from 75.51% (in
2014-15) to 78.0% (in 2023-24).
3.
ECI HOSTS
INDIA INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON DEMOCRACY
·
The Election
Commission of India (ECI) hosted the inaugural India International Conference on Democracy and Election Management
(IICDEM 2026) at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi.
·
The three-day
international conference was organised
by the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) under the aegis of the ECI.
·
Theme: “Democracy for
an inclusive, peaceful, resilient, and sustainable world”.
·
The ECI
launched the ECINET (Election Commission of India Network) at the IICDEM 2026.
·
ECINET provides voter registration, Know Your
Candidate (KYC), e-Voter Identification(ID) cards (e-EPIC) download, and
Book-a-Call facilities with Booth Level Officers (BLOs), while also
offering services for Divyang (Saksham) citizens and access to election-related
learning material.
·
It has been
developed in English along with all 22
scheduled languages of India.
·
India and Namibia
signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on election management on
the sidelines of IICDEM 2026.
·
The ECI
concluded the three-day IICDEM 2026 with the unanimous adoption of the ‘Delhi Declaration 2026’.
·
The IIIDEM was established in 2011 to train and equip
election officials and stakeholders for the conduct of free, fair, credible,
and error-free elections.
4.
3RD INLAND
WATERWAYS DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL
·
The 3rd
meeting of the Inland Waterways
Development Council (IWDC 3.0) was held in Kochi, Kerala,
under the chairmanship of Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal,
Ministry of Ports, Shipping and
Waterways (MoPSW), to review progress in the inland water transport sector.
·
India has 111 National Waterways across 23 states and
4 Union Territories (UTs); 32 are
operational for cargo and passenger transport, with the Inland Waterways
Authority of India (IWAI), under MoPSW, responsible for their development,
maintenance, and regulation.
5.
FIRST HUMANOID
ROBOT ‘ASC ARJUN’ BY INDIAN RAILWAY
·
Indian
Railways (IR) deployed its first
humanoid robot, ‘ASC ARJUN’, at Visakhapatnam
Railway Station, East Coast Railway (ECoR), Andhra Pradesh (AP), to enhance
passenger safety, station security, and operational efficiency, under the
supervision of the Railway Protection Force (RPF).
·
Indian
Railways Humanoid Robot ASC ARJUN -Detects intruders via
Face Recognition System (FRS) with real-time Internet of Things (IoT) alerts to
Railway Protection Force (RPF) control rooms.
·
Crowd
Management: Uses Artificial Intelligence
(AI)-based monitoring, automated announcements, semi-autonomous platform
patrolling, and fire & smoke detection to manage passenger density and
enhance safety.
6.
INDIA
CELEBRATES 77TH REPUBLIC DAY
·
India
celebrated its 77th Republic Day (R-Day) on 26 January 2026,
commemorating the adoption of the Constitution of India on January 26, 1950.
·
The Republic
Day parades and events took place at
Kartavya Path (formerly known as Rajpath) in New Delhi.
·
President of
India Droupadi Murmu unfurled the
National Flag, followed by the National Anthem and a 21-gun salute using 105-millimeter (mm) Light Field Guns by
the 1721 Ceremonial Battery of the 172 Field Regiment.
·
Theme: 150 Years
of Vande Mataram.
·
Antonio Costa,
President of the European
Council; and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, participated at the event as Chief Guest, marking
the first time the top leaders of the EU
were invited together.
·
Oscar-winning composer M.M. Keeravani composed a special
musical piece for the Republic Day Parade 2026, with the performance
marking the 150th anniversary of the Vande Mataram.
·
The parade was commanded by Lieutenant
General Bhavnish Kumar, General Officer Commanding, Delhi Area, while Major General Navraj Dhillon, Chief of
Staff (CoS), Headquarters(HQ) Delhi Area served as the Parade Second-in-Command.
·
Hypersonic
Arsenal Unveiled: Defence Research and Development
Organization (DRDO), under the Ministry of Defence (MoD), showcased its first
Long Range Anti-Ship Hypersonic Missile (LR-AShM), developed by the DRDO.
·
The Beating Retreat will be held on 29 January
2026 at Vijay Chowk (New Delhi).
7.
MP DECLARES
2026 AS ‘YEAR OF AGRICULTURE’
·
Governor of
Madhya Pradesh (MP) Mangubhai Patel, announced that MP will observe 2026 as the ‘Year of Agriculture’ Under
the theme “Prosperous Farmers, Prosperous State”.
·
MP capital
-Bhopal.
8.
PFRDA
CONSTITUTES SAARG COMMITTEE NPS REVIEW
·
The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development
Authority (PFRDA) constituted a high-level Strategic Asset Allocation and Risk
Governance (SAARG) Committee, chaired
by Narayan Ramachandran, to review,
recommend, and modernise the investment framework under the National Pension
System (NPS).
·
The
10-member committee includes eminent experts from capital markets, asset
management, and securities law, with an Executive Director (ED) from PFRDA as a
member.
·
The PFRDA was initially set up by the
Government of India(GoI) on 23 August
2003 as an interim body to promote,
regulate, and develop the pension sector, and was later established as a statutory authority on
1 February 2014 under the PFRDA Act,
2013.
·
Chairman –
Sivasubramanian Ramann.
·
Headquarters – New
Delhi.
9.
EU
COMMISSION’S PRESIDENT VISIT TO INDIA
·
Ursula von
der Leyen, President
of the European Union (EU) Commission and Antonio Luis Santos da
Costa, President of the EU
Council were on an official visit to India from January 25 to
January 27, 2026, as the Chief
Guests for the 77th Republic
Day of India.
·
Both leaders
were accompanied by a high-level delegation including KajaKallas, Vice-President
(VP) of the EU Commission, which marked her
first official visit to India.
·
16th
India-EU Summit: PM Narendra Modi along with the President
of EU Council Costa and President of EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen
co-chaired the summit held in New Delhi.
·
Both India
and the EU endorsed the “2030 Joint India-EU Comprehensive Strategic
Agenda” for the next 5 years.
·
The key
highlight of the summit was the announcement of the conclusion of India-EU
Free Trade Agreement(FTA) negotiations which is described as ‘Mother
of All Deals’.
·
India-EU FTA
has now become India’s 22nd FTA partner.
10. PFRDA
LAUNCHES ‘NPS SWASTHYA PENSION SCHEME’
·
The Pension
Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) introduced a
new health-linked pension offering, ‘NPS
(National Pension System) Swasthya Pension Scheme’.
·
The scheme
was launched as a Proof of Concept (PoC) under
its Regulatory Sandbox framework, aimed to integrate health-related benefits
within the NPS.
·
This newly
launched pension scheme will operate as
a specific sector scheme under the Multiple Scheme Framework (MSF).
·
Under
the pilot, the scheme will be launched by Pension Funds (PFs) for a limited time period,
with prior approval from PFRDA.
·
Any Indian
citizen is eligible to enrol under the
new scheme provided he/she must have a Common
Scheme Account(CSA), if not already available.
·
Under the
new scheme, eligible subscribers will be
permitted to make partial
withdrawals for medical expenses, up to 25% of their own
contributions, with no restrictions on
the number of withdrawals, after a minimum corpus of Rs 50,000 is
accumulated.
·
In cases of critical inpatient treatment where
expenses exceed 70% of the available corpus, then in such
cases, eligible subscribers will be
allowed to make a premature exit with a 100% lump-sum
withdrawal solely for meeting the medical expenses.
11. NITI
AAYOG LAUNCHES ‘SAMPOORNATA ABHIYAN 2.0’
·
The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog launched
‘Sampoornata Abhiyan 2.0’ campaign to ensure essential services reach the most remote and underserved
populations.
·
The
initiative aims to fast-track development and achieve 100% saturation of key
development indicators across India’s Aspirational
Districts and Aspirational Blocks.
·
The 3
months campaign will run from January 28 to April 14,
2026.
·
The campaign
expands the Sampoorna Abhiyan 2024 across 112 Aspirational
Districts and 513 Aspirational Blocks under the
AD & BP.
·
NITI Aayog Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) – B.V.R Subrahmanyam.
·
Headquarters
– New
Delhi.
·
Established
– 2015.
12.
GOI NOTIFIES
‘COKING COAL’ AS CRITICAL MINERAL
·
The Government of India (GoI) notified ‘Coking Coal’ as a critical and strategic
mineral under the Mines and
Minerals (Development and Regulation) (MMDR) Act, 1957.
·
This move
aimed to reduce India’s heavy dependence
on imports and strengthen the domestic steel supply chain.
·
Despite the rich coking coal resources, imports
increased from 51.20 million tonnes(MT) (in 2020-21) to 57.8MT (in 2024-25).
·
Currently, nearly
95% of the coking coal requirement for the steel sector is met through imports which lead
to a large foreign exchange outgo.
