Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has said that India will witness strong economic growth in 2019, despite external vulnerabilities arising from rising oil prices, the US-China trade war and America’s monetary tightening.

In its growth outlook for 2019, the industry body said, its optimism is buttressed by strong drivers emanating from services and infrastructure sectors and better demand conditions arising out of spending occasioned by the general elections due in early 2019.

In a statement, CII said, better demand conditions, settled GST implementation, capacity expansion from growing investments in infrastructure, continuing positive effects of reform policies and improved credit offtake will sustain the robust GDP growth in the range of 7.5 per cent in 2019.

The 106th Indian Science Congress (ISC-2019) has been inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Jalandhar, Punjab from 3rd January 2019. The theme of the 5-day science congress is ‘Future India: Science & Technology’. Approx 30,000 delegates, including 300 top scientists and Nobel Laureates from across world are attending the congress. In it, around 100 plus conferences and events of scientific and technology origin will also be held, where eminent personalities from DRDO, ISRO, DST, AIIMS, UGC, AICTE, and many elite universities of the USA, UK, India and other countries will participate. The event will play a pivotal role in stimulating scientific research effort and raising the scientific temperament in the country and the world. There will also be four parallel mega events, including the children’s science conference; women’s science conference; science communicators’ meet; and, science exhibition. The exhibition will see participation from the national and international science companies, especially from the US, Australia, Germany and Switzerland.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) appointed Pramod Kumar Singh as its secretary, Prior to this, P K Singh was adviser (law). The Commission was established in 2003 to replace the erstwhile Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission.

On January 2, US-based Kathak exponent Anindita Neogy Anaam has been honoured with the National Nritya Shiromani award for promoting the dance form across the world. The award was conferred on her in Cuttack at the 10th Cuttack Mahotsav : International Dance and Music festival in Odisha. The fest is organised by Utkal Yuva Sanskrutik Sangh (UYSS) in association with Cuttack district administration. Anindita Anaam is also recipient of prestigious national awards like Jayadev Rashtriya Puraskar and Bidagdha Nartaki Samman for her outstanding achievement in the preservation and promotion of Indian art in India and abroad.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has recently launched Samwad with Students as part of its outreach programme. The Indian Space agency will engage youngsters across the country in activities concerning space science under this programme. The new conversation mission will inspire students cutting across schools and colleges. During the inauguration in Bengaluru, 40 students and 10 teachers from select schools interacted with ISRO Chairman Dr. K Sivan about the Indian Space Programme and their benefits to the common man.

Railway minister Piyush Goel announced that the HoneyBee Plan in Assam that kept elephants away from the tracks will be expanded to other areas of the country

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic defeated defending champion Kevin Anderson of South Africa 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 to win the Mubadala World Tennis Championship for the 4th time at Abu Dhabi International Tennis Centre ,Abu Dhabi.

 ESAF Small Finance Bank which received the first banking license in Kerala since independence has got RBI approval to operate as scheduled bank. This makes Thrissur-based ESAF small finance bank (SFB) the 5th scheduled bank from Kerala.

The government of Pakistan has decided to launch Panda Bonds to raise loans from Chinese capital markets.

A Panda bond is a Chinese renminbi-denominated bond from a non-Chinese issuer, sold in the People’s Republic of China. These bonds were first issued in 2005 by the International Finance Corporation and the Asian Development Bank.

French finance minister Bruno Le Maire announced the introduction of a GAFA tax—named after Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon—on large technology and internet companies in France from 1 January 2019. The French proposal is set to target only those profitable companies that have heavy annual global revenue.

The rationale behind devising a separate framework to tax online service providers is this: existing tax norms that are framed envisaging brick and mortar business models are not suitable to regulate online services. This is because the digital economy is characterized by a unique system of value creation resulting from a combination of factors such as sales functions, algorithms and personal information of users. What distinguishes technology companies from traditional businesses is user participation in creating value, which, in turn, translates into revenue. Although using consumer data to improve businesses is not exclusive to the digital economy, the unique ability of digital businesses lies in their power to analyse big data collected via constant user interaction and data mining.

1. Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) day is observed on 1 January. 
2. The DRDO was established in 1958 with just 10 laboratories to enhance the research work in defence sector. 
3. Dr. G Satheesh Reddy is the Chairman of DRDO.
4. DRDO works under the Department of Defence Research and Development of Ministry of Defence.

Doctors at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) have come up with a mobile app that helps people reduce mobile usage. The Service for Healthy Use of Technology (SHUT) clinic has developed a Digital Detox app that has been found to be effective in bringing about behavioural changes. The app, available on Google Playstore as ‘Digital Detox by Shut Clinic,’ requires you to register. Once you sign up, it tracks your pattern of mobile usage every week and offers self-help strategies

In Assam, the third Dwijing Festival 2018 has started on the bank of Aye river at Chirang district on December 27. Around 15 lakh tourists are expected to participate in the 12 day long festival. Adventure sports, food mart, cultural events, traditional games are being organized in the fest. Participants from Thailand, Bhutan and Bangladesh are also taken part in the festival. The festival provides livelihood opportunities for the local people and focuses on business activities for better economic generation through rural tourism.

On January 1, 2019, the Department of Financial Services announced appointment of Hemant Bhargava, Managing Director, Life Insurance Corporation of India, as the Acting Chairman. This was done after VK Sharma retired from the position at LIC on December 31. While, he is a contender for the post of Full-Time Chairman at the state-owned life insurer, his retirement is due in July 2019. Therefore, the Banks Board Bureau has called eight candidates for interviews for the posts of Chairman and MD on January 4.

Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro took office on January 1, 2019 and used his inaugural speech to promise to build a “society without discrimination or division”. The 63-year-old Bolsonaro is seen as a deeply divisive figure whose racist, homophobic and misogynistic remarks have angered many.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on January 2, 2019 approved the ‘Scheme of Amalgamation’ for merger of Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank. The amalgamation will be the first-ever three-way consolidation of banks in India. The merger of Bank of Baroda, Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank was proposed by the Union Finance Ministry on September 17, 2018.

Justice Thottathil Bhaskaran Nair Radhakrishnan was on January 1, 2018 sworn in as the first Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court. Prior to this, Justice Radhakrishnan had been serving as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad for both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi renamed three islands of Andaman and Nicobar after Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose on December 30, 2018. These three islands are – Ross Island, Neil Island and Havelock Island.

Justice AK Sikri was nominated as the Executive Chairman of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA). The post got vacant after the retirement of Justice Madan B Lokur.

The Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) for Middle Income Group (MIG) Scheme has been extended by another 12 months till 31.03.2020. Till December 30 this year, around 3,39,713 beneficiaries have availed the CLSS under the PMAY (Urban)

As per 2nd schedule of the RBI Act of 1934, the ESAF Small Finance Bank (SFB) Ltd has got approval from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as a scheduled bank. This makes ESAF the fifth scheduled bank from Kerala after Federal Bank, South Indian Bank, Catholic Syrian Bank, and Dhanlaxmi Bank. Being a scheduled bank, ESAF can step up resource mobilisation through the issue of certificate of deposits and inter-bank borrowings at competitive rates of interest. The bank can also seek funds from trusts, associations, religious institutions and mutual funds. It will also enable the bank to avail higher refinance facility. It will also assume more responsibility for the implementation of government schemes and Aadhaar enrolment services. ESAF has a presence in urban, semi-urban, rural and unbanked rural areas with a network of 432 banking outlets across 13 States. The headquarters of ESAF is located at Thrissur, Kerala.

On December 26, 2018, ARPAnet head and early internet pioneer Larry Roberts died at 81. He was the program manager for ARPAnet (precursor to the internet), and conceptualised the computer-to-computer networks in the 1960s. Later he formed his company Telenet and to commercialise packet switching technology.

The Government of India has appointed Sudhir Bhargava, an information commissioner in the Central Information Commission the new chief information commissioner. The government has also appointed four new information commissioners. President Ram Nath Kovind has approved the appointment of former bureaucrats Yashwardhan Kumar Sinha, Vanaja N Sarna, Neeraj Kumar Gupta and Suresh Chandra as the new information commissioners. The appointments came weeks after the Supreme Court had asked the Centre to disclose the process of appointment of the members of the Central Information Commission, including details on applicants and search committees. The court had asked the government to maintain transparency in the process.

On 31st December, 2018, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s alliance won Bangladesh’s election with a thumping majority giving her a third straight term. The alliance dominated by her Awami League, won 287 of the 298 seats for which results have been declared, the commission said. There are 300 constituencies in the country. The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which boycotted the last poll in 2014, won just 6 seats

On December 30, 2018, Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi embarked on a day long visit to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.On December 30, 2018, Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, visited Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. On this occasion, he announced renaming of three islands of Andaman and Nicobar.
The 3 islands are:
• The Ross Island was renamed as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Dweep,
• The Neil Island would now be known as Shaheed Dweep and
• The Havelock Island as Swaraj Dweep