NEWS 21/01/2021. NEWS for 22nd JAN (FRIDAY) 1. Joe Biden, the 46th President of the United States and Kamala Harris, the first woman vice president have been inaugurated at the US Capitol on January 20. 2. Thales, a French Multinational Company has signed an agreement with the Bharat Dynamics Limited, a Government of India enterprise to jointly work on STARStreak Air Defence System. The minimum range of the system is 0.3 km and the maximum range is 7 km. The range of STARStreak System II variant is more than 7 km. 3. Recently on Army Day the Indian Army displayed its combat drones that are part of the Swarm Technology. The drones are lightweight drones that carry multiple packages to a single destination at a time. An offensive swarm drone system simulates taking down a range of targets, ranging from tanks, terror camps, helipads and fuel dumps 4. The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently invited PM Modi to attend G7 summit. The decisions taken at G7 have huge impact globally as the members are the major economic powers. 5. The World bank, Government of India and Government of West Bengal recently signed a 105 million USD agreement. The fund has been allocated to the West Bengal inland water transport, logistics and special development project. 6. India defeated Australia by three wickets in the series-deciding fourth Test played at Brisbane to win the series 2-1. Rishabh Pant was declared the Man of the match, while Pat Cummins bagged the Man of the sereis. 7. The Air forces of India and France kicked off a five-day joint bilateral air exercise at Air force station Jodhpur on 20th Jan named Desert Knight - 21 with a raft of aircrafts, including Rafale fighters jets, Mirage 2000s, Sukhoi-30s, mid-air refuellers and airborne warning and control system (AWACS) platforms. 8. India was ranked 4th in the global firepower index. The Global Firepower Index ranks the countries based on their potential military strength. It ranked 138 countries. The United States topped the index. The US was followed by Russia. China was ranked third. Japan was ranked fifth. South Korea was ranked sixth . 9. India will provide COVID-19 vaccines under grant assistance to Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Seychelles. Shipments will also be sent to Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Mauritius after necessary regulatory clearances. 10. The newly inducted Rafale fighter aircraft will feature in the Republic Day parade and culminate the flypast by carrying out the 'Vertical Charlie' formation. Flight lieutenant Bhawana Kanth to take part in R-Day parade, first woman fighter pilot to do so. 11. India has supplied a consignment of two Mobile Harbour Cranes (MHC) to Iran’s Chabahar port, with a total contract value of over USD 25 Million under a contract agreement for supply of 6 MHC. 12. India and Japan signed Memorandum of Understanding to enhance cooperation in various fields. 13. PM Modi launched the pan India rollout of COVID-19 vaccination drive via video conferencing on 16th of Jan. This is the world's largest vaccination programme. The government has already purchased 1.1 crore COVISHIELD vaccine doses and 55 lakh COVAXIN vaccine shots. 14. Ex-IITians' company ideaForge bagged 130-cr order from Indian Army to make homemade drones. An "undisclosed quantity" of a high-altitude variant of SWITCH unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will soon be in the possession of the Indian Army. 15. Union Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports Kiren Rijiju launched the Khelo India State Centre of Excellence (KISCE) at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Pune. < < Back