January 2nd Current Affairs

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Current Affairs Jan 2nd

• Recruitment.Guru

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This Day in History 

• In the year, 1570 Tsar Ivan the Terribles march
  to Novgorod begins.
• Mahatma Gandhi begins a march for peace in
  East-Bengali on this day in the year 1947.
• American anarcho-syndicalist union known as the
  Industrial Workers of the World forms took place
  in 1905.

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Govt to set up Centre on Brahmaputra studies at
IIT-Guwahati.

• A high-powered panel of the Brahmaputra Board has
  approved Rs 237 crore project for the protection
  of Majuli Island in Assam from flood and erosion.
• The Centre for Brahmaputra studies will cover
  multi-disciplinary aspects of hydrology,
  environment, inland waterways, agriculture and
  sociology.
• Majuli Island, with an area of 524.29 sq km, is
  the worlds largest river island.

4
The two-plus-two dialogue between India and US to
begin in April.

• The first so-called two-plus-two dialogue between
  India and the US will be held in April, and
  Pakistan, Afghanistan, an alternative to
  Chinas One Belt One Road (OBOR) plan.
• The countries will discuss the ramifications of
  UN-designated global terrorist Hafiz Saeeds
  entry into Pakistani politics despite a 10
  million bounty.
• External affairs minister Sushma
  Swaraj and defence minister Nirmala
  Sitharaman will meet for a day with their
  counterparts in the US, secretary of state Rex
  Tillerson and defence secretary James Mattis on
  April 18 or April 19.

5
Saudi and UAE introduce VAT in a first for the
Gulf.

• The United Arab Emirates and Saudi
  Arabia have introduced value-added tax from
  Monday, a first for the Gulf which has long
  prided itself on its tax-free, cradle-to-grave
  welfare system.
• Saudi Arabia compounded the New Year blow for
  motorists with an unannounced hike of up to 127
  in petrol prices.
• The 5 sales tax applies to most goods and
  services and analysts project that the two
  governments could raise as much as 21 billion in
  2018.

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ONGC makes significant oil, gas discovery in the
Arabian Sea.

• State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has
  made a significant oil and gas discovery to the
  west of its prime Mumbai High fields in the
  Arabian Sea.
• Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the
  discovery was made in the well WO-24-3 drilled
  west of Mumbai High fields.
• The discovery has indicated potential in-place
  reserves of about 29.74 million tonnes of oil and
  oil equivalent gas.

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Govt appoints Vijay Keshav Gokhale as foreign
secretary.

• Senior diplomat Vijay Keshav Gokhale on Monday
  took the appointment as foreign secretary for a
  two-year fixed term.
• Gokhale, a 1981 batch officer of the Indian
  Foreign Service (IFS), was Indias envoy to
  China.
• Jaishankar was appointed foreign secretary on
  January 29, 2015, for two years. He was given a
  one-year extension in January last year.

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Vidarbha lifts maiden Ranji Trophy title after
beating Delhi.

• Vidarbha won their maiden Ranji Trophy title by
  beating Delhi by nine wickets in the final in
  Indore.
• Ranji Team Vidarbha had to chase a target of 29
  to lift their maiden Ranji Trophy title.
• This was Jaffers 9th Ranji Trophy final and hes
  ended up on the winning side every time.

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