* International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust (International Holocaust Remembrance Day) is observed on 27 January.

* January 27 is International Holocaust Remebrance Day, marking the anniversary of the Allied liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp, 77 years ago.


The 2022 Theme : In 2022, the theme guiding the United Nations Holocaust remembrance and education is “Memory, Dignity and Justice”.

The objective of the day is to commemorate the anniversary of the tragedy of the Holocaust that occurred during the Second World War.

 

History of the day : A genocide occurred during World War II in which Nazi Germany, aided by its collaborators, systematically murdered some six million European Jews, around two-thirds of the Jewish population of Europe, between 1941 and 1945. United Nations designated the day in 2005 to serve as a date for official commemoration of the victims of the Nazi regime and to promote Holocaust education throughout the world.

The Kerala Bird Atlas (KBA), the first-of-its-kind state-level bird atlas in India, has created solid baseline data about the distribution and abundance of various bird species across all major habitats giving an impetus for futuristic studies.

 

Conducted as a citizen science-driven exercise with the participation of over 1000 volunteers of the bird watching community, KBA was prepared based on systematic surveys held twice over 60 days a year during the wet (July to September) and dry (January to March) seasons between 2015 and 2020.

 

KBA accounted for nearly three lakh records of 361 species, including 94 very rare species, 103 rare species, 110 common species, 44 very common species, and 10 most abundant species. “KBA offers authentic, consistent and comparable data through random sampling from the geographical terrain split into nearly 4000 grids. We are in the process of bringing out papers on interesting trends based on a deep scientific analysis of solid data besides making futuristic predictions. It would be exciting to undertake a similar exercise between 2025 and 2030 giving an insight into the changes in the decade since the first KBA,” said P.O. Nameer, one of the State level coordinators of KBA..

Source : The Hindu

India's electronics goods exports surged by 49% year-on-year to $11 billion in April-December 2021 period as against $7.4 billion recorded in the corresponding period of last year, the government data showed on Thursday.

 

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on January 24, 2022, released the second volume of a 5-year roadmap and Vision Document for the Electronics Sector. The first volume was released in November 2021.

Source : ANI News

Though the Tata Group continues to be the only Indian representative among the top 100 most valued brands globally, its ranking has slipped by one position to 78 this year, from 77 last year. The brand value of Tata Group is US$23.9 billion.

 

 

Meanwhile, Reliance Industries (RIL) slipped to the 236th spot, down from 229 last year. It’s subsidiary, Jio, too, slid in the ranking, falling from 409 in 2021 to 451 this year, the lowest ranked Indian firm in the top 500, according to the report. It’s competitor Airtel saw a rise in ranking from 323 last year to 269 this year.

 

Mahindra group’s ranking slipped 22 positions to 364 in 2022, from 342 in 2021. While L&T was stable at the 417th position, HDFC Bank saw its ranking slide from 295 last year to 319 in 2022.

The CPI ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption on a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

 

* The CPI global average remains unchanged at 43 for the tenth year in a row, and two-thirds of countries score below 50.

 

* The top countries on the Index are Denmark (88), Finland (88) and New Zealand (88), all of which also rank in the top 10 per cent in the world on the Democracy Index civil liberties score.

 

* Somalia (13), Syria (13) and South Sudan (11) remain at the bottom of the CPI. Syria is also ranked last in civil liberties (Somalia and South Sudan are unrated).

 

27 countries – among them Cyprus (53), Lebanon (24) and Honduras (23) – are all at historic lows this year.

 

In the last decade, 154 countries have either declined or made no significant progress.

 

* Since 2012, 23 countries have significantly declined on the CPI – including advanced economies such as Australia (73), Canada (74) and the United States (67), the latter dropping out of the top 25 countries on the Index for the first time.

 

* 25 countries have significantly improved their scores, including Estonia (74), Seychelles (70) and Armenia (49).

Source : Transparency

The ministry of environment, forest and climate change on approved the conversion of the Ramgarh Vishdhari Sanctuary in Rajasthan’s Bundi district into the 4th Tiger Reserve in the state.

 

Ramgarh Vishdhari Wildlife Sanctuary, which is among the proposed five sites in the country, is expected to be formally notified as Tiger Reserve (TR) soon before the Global Tiger Summit, which is to be held at Vladivostok, Russia. 

 

The Centre also announced the development during the 4th Asia ministerial conference on tiger conservation. The Centre has already given its approval of granting tiger reserve status to Ramgarh Vishdhari Wildlife Sanctuary, along with MM Hills in Karnataka, Guru Ghasidas National Park in Chhattisgarh.

India's rank improved one place to 85th among 180 countries in a corruption perception index (CPI) of 2021, according to a new report by Transparency International which, however, raised concern over the country's democratic status.

 

The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and business people, uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

 

 

Among those with weak scores are some of the world's most populous countries such as China (45) and India (40), and other large economies such as Indonesia (38), Pakistan (28) and Bangladesh (26), the report by the anti-corruption watchdog said.

 

India's rank improved by one place to 85th in 2021 from 86th in 2020, according to the index.

Source : Business Standard

Apple is not only a hugely valuable company, but it’s also the world’s most valuable brand "Apple" – a title it lost for five years before winning back the top slot last year and retaining it this year.

 

The annual Brand Finance Global 500 index sets out to calculate the value of just the brand, distinct from the value of the company…

 

1. Apple

2. Amazon

3. Google

4. Microsoft

5. Walmart

6. Samsung

7. Facebook

8. ICBC (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China)

9. Huawei

10. Verizon

 

Apple has retained the title of the world’s most valuable brand following a 35% increase to US$355.1 billion – the highest brand value ever recorded in the Brand Finance Global 500 ranking.

 

Apple had a stellar 2021, highlighted by its achievement at the start of 2022 – being the first company to reach a US$3 trillion market valuation. The tech giant’s success historically lied in honing its core brand positioning, but its more recent growth can be attributed to the company’s recognition that its brand can be applied effectively to a much broader range of services.

Source : 9to5mac

 

The International Customs Day (ICD) is celebrated on 26th January to commemorate the inaugural session of the World Customs Organisation (WCO), which was held on this day in 1953. The day also raises awareness about the importance of customs authorities and their role in the smooth movement of goods across borders.

 

Customs authorities are extremely important in facilitating legitimate trade and helping governments levy tariffs, and earn revenue, from the movement of goods across international borders. These authorities also coordinate to prevent illegal trade in products such as body parts of endangered species like rhino horns, drugs and other prohibited substances.

International Customs Day 2022 Theme : This year, the theme chosen by WCO for ICD is ‘Scaling up Customs Digital Transformation by Embracing a Data Culture and Building a Data Ecosystem’. In 2021, the theme was ‘Customs bolstering Recovery, Renewal and Resilience’.

India and Israel have launched a commemorative logo to mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries. The logo was unveiled virtually yesterday at an online event in the presence of Ambassador of Israel to India Naor Gilon and Indian envoy to Israel, Sanjeev Singla.  

 

The logo features the Star of David and the Ashoka Chakra- the two symbols that adorn the national flags of both countries- and forms the numeral 30 depicting the 30th anniversary of bilateral relations. This special logo symbolises the strong friendship, love and admiration that exists between the people of the two nations. It also depicts the growing strategic partnership between the two sides.  

 

Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador Sanjeev Singla said, India is proud to mark the 30th anniversary of its bilateral relations with Israel and look forward to using the special logo throughout the year to celebrate this special milestone.

 

Israel and India established diplomatic relations on 29th of January 1992. The 30th anniversary of relations between Israel and India will be marked throughout the year with an elaborate array of cultural events.

Source : All India Radio