POLITICAL & SOCIAL:

• The Supreme Court passed a rule that denotes the seeking for votes in the name of religion, caste or creed will be deemed as a corrupt practice and not permissible.
• The Election Commission has set the campaign expenses limit per candidate between Rs 20 lakh & Rs 28 lakh in the five states where assembly polls will be held later this year.
• The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is estimated at 7.1% in 2016-17 as compared to 7.6% in 2015-16.
• The Supreme Court removed Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Anurag Thakur for allegedly lying on the oath.
• Disabled persons might get 5% reservation in higher education institutions & 3 to 4% in govt jobs according to the Disabilities Bill which will be passed by April 2017.
• Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar was sworn in as the Chief Justice of India.
• Textile Minister Smriti Irani has launched a ‘Bunkar Mitra Handloom Helpline Centre where professional queries of weavers will be answered by the experts in the field.
• David R Syiemlieh has been appointed as the Chairman of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
• According to latest data released by Finance Ministry, over 26 crore accounts have been opened under ‘Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)’ across the country till date.
• The Centre has approved an assistance of over Rs 1782.44 crore for Karnataka, this will be given to the state from Natural Disaster Relief Fund as drought relief.
• The Election Commission of India announced the dates for the assembly elections in UP, Punjab, Manipur, Uttarakhand & Goa at a press conference.
• Telangana and Assam signed MoUs for being a part of the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojna (UDAY). Meanwhile, Union Minister Piyush Goyal has launched the Web Portal & Mobile App.

BUSINESS:

• Consumer Affairs department stated that the ‘Service Charges’ in restaurants is optional.
• India’s largest LNG importer ‘Petronet’ has signed an agreement to set up a $950 million liquefied natural gas import project in Bangladesh.
• Over 30 Indian origin innovators, entrepreneurs & leaders have been featured in the 2017 edition of Forbes’ list of super achievers under the age of 30.
• National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) Chairman & Managing Director K M Singh has been conferred the Power & Energy Persona’s Award for Individual Excellence.
• Tata Power has said that S Padmanabhan has been nominated as chairman of the board of directors of the company.
• The government has allowed 12 lenders to raise nearly Rs 3,000 crore via preferential shares.
• To make it easier for foreign fund managers keen to India, Sebi has notified rules under a relaxed regulatory regime.
• Bank of Baroda has launched an agricultural investment credit for the farmers of Rajasthan.
• Housing, auto & corporate loans are all set to become cheaper with half a dozen PSU and Private Banks reducing benchmark lending rate by up to 1.48%.
• Paytm Payments Bank, owned by One97 Communications & its founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, received an approval to formally launch its services from the RBI.

SPORTS:

• Mahindra Singh Dhoni has announced to step down as captain of Team India’s limited over matches. He will be available for selection for the ODI & T20.
• Virat Kohli was officially appointed as TeamIndia’s captain for all three formats of the game.
• Abhinav Bindra & Prakash Padukone are part of the nine-member government panel formed to make recommendations for bringing out a comprehensive National Sports Development Code.
• Pakistan Cricketer Younis Khan created history at the Sydney Cricket Ground smashing his 34^th century & his fourth against Australia. This made him the second cricketer to hit a century in all 10 Test playing nations.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

• Twitter was on fire slamming the convicts regarding the Bengaluru mass molestation issues, the CCTV footages went viral on social media with hashtags #ShameBengaluru
• Veteran Indian actor Om Puri has passed away. The actor had an illustrious film career, spanning four decades.
• Bigg Boss contestant Payal Rohatgi slammed Jet Airways using Social Media and got massively trolled.
• Aamir Khan’s Dangal surpassed Bajrangi Bhaijan’s box office collections with whopping 500+ crore collections.
  
• Over 14 Billion WhatsApp messages were shared in India on the eve of NewYear 
• XXX’s popular protagonist, Vin Diesel praised Bollywood Queen DeepikaPadukone on her birthday posting a picture stating ‘Blessed To Know You And Call You A Real Friend’.
• Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal Faced Shoe Attack While Addressing Rally! Twitterati Burst Into Laughter!