The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has teamed up with an NGO, Apple Home for Orphan Kids at Neknampur of Manikonda, to bridge the gap between the hungry and food wastage with the concept ‘Feed the Need’.

On 10 January 2019, Government in Chhattisgarh withdrew the general consent accorded to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe cases in the state. The state government has conveyed the decision to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the Department of Personnel and Training. CBI cannot initiate any investigation without the consent of the state government after this decision. Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal have already withdrawn the general consent given to the CBI.

The 76th Golden Awards were concluded on 7th Jan 2019. At the 76th Golden Globe Awards, Roma earned a nomination for Best Screenplay, and received the awards for Best Director and Best Foreign Language Film.

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), the Railways’ subsidiary, will offer insurance of up to INR50 lakh for free for air passengers who book their tickets through its portal. IRCTC has tied up with Bharti-Axa for the offer.

Goods and Service Tax exemption limit doubled to give relief to small businesses.

On January 11, 2019,Sikkim,though being a smallest state have set a initiative to introduce UBI in the entire nation.Sikkim’s long lasting chief minister and head of sikkim’s ruling party(sikkim democratic front) Pawan kumar chamling, quoted that if everything goes right then sikkim would be the first state to implement Universal Basic Income (UBI) system and execute it by 2022.This scheme is also regarded as an alternative to social welfare programmes with benefits towards reducing poverty.

India is set to become the third-largest consumer market behind only the US and China and consumer spending in India is expected to grow from USD 1.5 trillion at present to nearly USD 6 trillion by 2030, as per a World Economic Forum report. The WEF report titled ‘Future of Consumption in Fast-Growth Consumer Market – India’ noted that growth of the middle class will lift nearly 25 million households out of poverty.

According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, islands in Andaman will soon be connected by seaplanes that can land on or take-off from the water. To facilitate the same, the government has approved flight operations on 13 water aerodrome routes under the Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme.

On 10th January 2019, an initiative was launched to bring Indian IT companies and Chinese enterprises closer on a single artificial intelligence enabled platform, Sino- Indian Digital Collaboration Plaza (SIDCOP). The Sino-Indian Digital Collaboration Plaza (SIDCOP) is a partnership between the National Association of Software & Services Companies (Nasscom) and municipal governments of Guiyang and Dalian in China. Domestic IT enterprises are renowned for their expertise in business transformation and operational optimization by using IT tools in complex business environments. The development assumes significance as Indian IT sector is seeking greater market access in China. This platform could be useful to connect with top providers from India and help Chinese enterprises source the right solution providers for their projects.

The value of monthly transactions made using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) crossed the Rs 1-lakh-crore mark for the first time in December 2018, show data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

The 124th Constitution Amendment Bill, 2019 to award 10% reservation to economically weaker sections was passed with a majority in Rajya Sabha. It was already passed in Lok Sabha.

On December 31, 2018, in its report titled ‘Growth Outlook for 2019’, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) stated that India will remain the fastest growing major economy with GDP growth estimated to be 7.5% in FY19. The reasons cited for the growth are: Better demand conditions, settled GST implementation, capacity expansion resulting from growing investments in infrastructure and better credit inflow especially in the service sector (that is of 24%).

The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development on January 9, 2018 launched an online campaign, ‘Web – Wonder Women’ also known as ‘#www’. The Campaign aims to discover and celebrate the exceptional achievements of women, who have been driving positive agenda of social change via social media.

On 7th January 2019, NASA’s transiting exoplanet survey satellite (TESS) has discovered a planet named HD21749b orbiting around the star HD 21749, which lies about 53 light years from earth in the faint constellation reticulum. TESS does this work by carving the sky up into overlapping sectors, studying each one for 27 days at a time. Discovery team leader Diana Drogomir, institute of astrophysics and space research said that the planet has a density of water, a thick atmosphere and has an average surface temperature around 300 degrees Fahrenheit. HD 21749b completes one orbit of its host star, which is nearly as bright as our sun, every 36 earth days. It is a “sub Neptune”, around three times bigger than earth and 23 times more massive then earth, which means it’s likely gaseous rather than rocky.

Prime Minister of Norway Erna Solberg and Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks in New Delhi on 8 January 2019. The two countries signed a MoU on ‘India-Norway Ocean Dialogue’. The MoU was signed for the establishment of the Joint Task Force on ‘Blue Economy’ in order to promote multi-sectoral cooperation in various aspects of Blue Economy.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) pavilion received ‘Exhibitor of the Year Award’ at 106th Indian Science Congress (ISC-2019) held at Lovely Professional University (LPU), Phagwara, Punjab. The pavilion narrated the saga of self-reliance & national pride with the ‘Make in India’ spirit, which gained a lot of attention from visitors who also got an opportunity to interact with DRDO’s scientists. The DRDO also showcased various Life Sciences Products like Portable Chemical Agent Detector, Full body protector for women, underwater breathing apparatus for T-90 tank crew and Ready-to-Eat Packaged Foods. Further, the DRDO pavilion also provided information on the pan India online competition, ‘Kalam’s Vision; Dare to Dream’.

Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi has dropped out of the high-powered selection panel that is to decide Alok Verma’s case as he was a member of the Supreme Court bench that reinstated Verma as CBI director on January 8, 2019.

Union Cabinet has approved 10 per cent reservation in direct recruitments and for admission in higher educational institutions for the economically backward section in the general category.

A five-Judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi has been constituted to hear the title suit in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid Ayodhya case, which will begin hearing on January 10, 2019.

Ministry of Civil Aviation and FICCI is organizing first-ever 2 day Global Aviation Summit (GAS) from 15 to 16 January 2019 in Mumbai. Theme of the GAS 2019 is Flying for all

The Lok Sabha has passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. The Bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to make illegal migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, eligible for citizenship.

The Government of India (GoI) has amalgamated three Regional Rural Banks (RRB) — Punjab Gramin Bank, Malwa Gramin Bank and Sutlej Gramin Bank — into a single RRB with effect from January 1. The sponsor banks of the RRBs are National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), the Government of Punjab and Punjab National Bank (PNB), State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab and Sind Bank.

The Lok Sabha has passed the Constitution 124th (Amendment) Bill, 2019 to provide 10% reservation to economically backward sections (EWS) in the General category.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched road and underground sewerage system projects in Maharashtra on 9 January 2019. He also laid the foundation stone for a ₹1,811 crore housing project of 30,000 units under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. The housing project will benefit the homeless poor like rag pickers, rickshaw pullers, textile and beedi workers.