The Assam government will carry out 'Gunotsav 2024', a state-wide exercise to evaluate the performance of nearly 40 lakh students, from January 3 to February 8.

• Gunotsav is an effort of Government of Assam to track the performance of every child in elementary level, assess their individual learning gap and devise remedial measures to be taken for their improvement.
• Announcing this year's evaluation process at a press conference here, Education Minister Ranoj Pegu said the exercise will help in ensuring quality education with improved learning outcomes.
• The exercise will be carried out at 43,498 government schools across 35 districts of the state, covering 39,63,542 students.
• Gunotsav is an effort of Government of Assam to track the performance of every child in elementary level, assess their individual learning gap and devise remedial measures to be taken for their improvement.

January 6 marks the World Day of War Orphans, dedicated to recognising the challenges faced by children orphaned due to the impacts of war, invasions, or military conflicts.

Founded by the humanitarian organisation SOS – Enfants en Detresse (SOSEED) in France, the day serves as a poignant reminder of the global plight of war orphans.

• SOSEED operates internationally, striving to safeguard orphans and children from mistreatment and abuse.
• This year, heightened conflicts, such as those in Gaza and Israel, Russia and Ukraine, Armenia and Azerbaijan, or the factions in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, have unfortunately resulted in an increased number of war orphans.
• The World Day of War Orphans stands as a call to action for collective efforts to address the needs and hardships of these vulnerable children. 
• This year’s theme is “Standing Up for War-Affected Children” and is meant to focus global attention on the challenges these children face and how to best meet their needs. 

The government plans to set up ‘Bharat Park’, an India-specific trade zone with a showroom and warehouse in the UAE.

• Goods Made in India will be displayed and stored for the global audience in the Park.
• Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Textiles and Commerce said the Bharat Park will facilitate other countries to buy Indian goods and the payment will be secured in UAE.
• Urging the industry to maintain the quality of goods exported from India, he said the Bureau of Indian Standard will spend ?40 crore to set up 21 testing laboratories at various places in India.

India's economy is poised to showcase strong growth, with a projected expansion of 7.3 per cent in the current fiscal year ending in March, according to the first advance estimates of annual gross domestic product (GDP) released by the National Statistics Office.

The outlook aligns with the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) recent adjustment of its growth forecast, upgrading it to 7 per cent from the earlier estimate of 6.5 per cent.

The central bank's revised projection was indicative of India's favourable economic conditions and positive trends in various sectors.

The Union Cabinet has approved the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Guyana.The MoU, set to bolster cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector, reflects a renewed commitment to sustainable energy practices and strategic global partnerships.

The proposed MoU encompasses a comprehensive range of collaboration across the hydrocarbon value chain, underscoring the depth of engagement between the two nations. Key components of the agreement include:

1. Crude Oil Sourcing from Guyana 

2. Participation in Exploration and Production (E&P) Sector

3. Capacity Building and Bilateral Trade Strengthening

4. Collaboration in Natural Gas Sector

5. Regulatory Policy Framework Development

6. Clean Energy Initiatives

Guyana has recently emerged as a noteworthy player in the global oil and gas sector, becoming the world's newest oil producer. India, on the other hand, stands as the world's third-largest energy consumer and is focusing on diversifying crude oil sources and acquiring quality overseas assets to enhance strategic maneuverability.

The 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. 

The CEO will be an ex-officio member of the Executive Council without voting rights. He is not an elected member but a salaried official.

Iyer had earlier served as CEO of IPL sides Rajasthan Royals and Rising Pune Supergiants.

As per the new Constitution drafted by a Supreme Court-constituted panel and approved by the IOC, the IOA was to appoint a CEO who would perform the functions of the erstwhile secretary general, within a month after taking charge of the new executive council led by PT Usha on December 10, 2022.

India’s foreign exchange reserves rose $2.759 billion to $623.20 billion in the week ended December 29, 2023. The reserves are now at the highest level in the last 21 months.

• The reserves perked up mainly on the back of two components – foreign currency assets (FCA) and gold holdings were up by $1.869 billion and $853 million, respectively, during the reporting week.
• FCA comprise multi-currency assets that are held in multi-asset portfolios.
• The assets include investment in securities, deposits with other central banks and the BIS, and deposits with commercial banks overseas.

January 5 is observed as National Birds Day in some parts of the world. It is aimed at raising awareness for the conservation of avian species that have been adversely affected by habitat destruction, reducing food choices and climate change. 

To mark the day this year, India's Union Cabinet Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav, made a call for saving the wetlands to preserve bird populations in the country.  

The theme of the National Birds Day 2024 is ‘Right To Fight’. It signifies the flight of a bird that represents freedom. 

With this campaign, the Avian Welfare Coalition Alliance intends to diminish the suffering of birds by raising public attention to the damaging bird trade, the real factors of cruel bird breeding mills and the ways of working on the government assistance of birds currently in captivity.

SEBI appointed Govindayapalli Ram Mohan Rao as the executive director who will handle the departments of investigation and internal inspection.

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj’s innovative efforts in leveraging technology to enhance the efficacy and accountability in the implementation of SVAMITVA Scheme were acknowledged as outstanding and transformative on previous occasions as well.

SVAMITVA Scheme had won the prestigious Gold Prize in National Awards for e-Governance 2023 in the category “Use of Emerging Technology for Providing Citizen-Centric Services” .

Scheme was organized by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions at Indore, Madhya Pradesh in October 2023.

GAIL has inked a multibillion dollar deal for sourcing one million tonne of LNG annually for 10 years from commodities trading giant Vitol, marking the state-run utility's first long-term deal in a decade amid rising domestic demand. 

Vitol will start shipping super-chilled gas from 2026, even as GAIL is negotiating more such deals with others in view of a projected demand of 500 mcmd by 2030 from 155 at present. 

Indian companies are investing billions of dollars to build natural gas infrastructure and are scouting for long-tern LNG imports deals as the nation wants to raise the share of natural gas in its energy mix to 15% by 2030 from the current 6.3%.