Shaktikanta Das, The governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has been named ‘Central Banker of the Year 2020 – Asia-Pacific’ by The Banker.

The Banker is a London-based international financial affairs publication owned by The Financial Times. It is known for its annual rankings of the world's top banks. The 2020 list“celebrates the officials that have best managed to stimulate growth and stabilise their economy”.

The publication named Das as the 2020 Central Banker in the Asia-Pacific region, and stated that the RBI chief had brought in measures to tighten rules around shadow banking and brought Indian banking up to standards through a “restrained approach to governance”.

Ajit Kumar, the new Chairman of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, has Chennai link as he was the Principal Chief Commissioner of GST Zone for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and Principal Chief Commissioner of Customs zones in Chennai prior to his posting. In his 36-year career, Ajit Kumar, a 1984 batch IRS officer and an alumni of Rashtriya Military School, has worked in many capacities in the department including the Directorate of Vigilance at New Delhi, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence at Mumbai, a release stated.  

Son of an army officer, he hails from Calicut, Kerala and joined the Customs department in the year 1984. He was awarded the Meritorious Service Certificate for his work in the year 1991 by the CBEC.  He has worked in many Customs and Central Excise formations and also in Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Directorate of Vigilance, Narcotics Control Bureau, Directorate of Systems. 

Over 73 lakh candidates trained under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana. Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship RK Singh said this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha yesterday. He said, the Ministry is implementing the scheme with an objective to provide skilling to one crore youth across the country.

Mr Singh said, under the scheme, the focus on employment has been significantly enhanced and candidates have been placed in various sectors and industries.

The government in its budget 2020 has announced a National Mission on Quantum Technologies & Applications (NM-QTA) with a total budget outlay of Rs 8000 Crore for a period of five years to be implemented by the Department of Science & Technology (DST).

Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in Union Budget 2020 speech said that the new economy is based on innovations that disrupt established business models. Artificial intelligence, Internet-of-Things (IoT), 3D printing, drones, DNA data storage, quantum computing, etc., are re-writing the world economic order.”

Quantum technologies are rapidly developing globally with a huge disruptive potential. The next generation transformative technologies that will receive a push under this mission include quantum computers and computing, quantum communication, quantum key distribution, encryption, crypt analysis, quantum devices, quantum sensing, quantum materials, quantum clock and so on. The areas of focus for the Mission will be in fundamental science, translation, technology development, human and infrastructural resource generation, innovation and start-ups to address issues concerning national priorities.

Central Board of Direct Taxes has said that The Finance Bill, 2020 has proposed that an Indian citizen shall be deemed to be resident in India if he or she is not liable to be taxed in any country or jurisdiction. 

It said that the new provision in Finance Bill, 2020 is not intended to include in tax net those Indian citizens who are bonafide workers in other countries. 

CBDT issued a clarification on the new provision pertaining to residence in India saying this is an anti-abuse provision since it is noticed that some Indian citizens shift their stay in low or no tax jurisdiction countries to avoid payment of tax in India. 

CBDT noted that the interpretation by some section of the media that Indians who are bonafide workers in other countries, including in the Middle East, and who are not liable to tax in these countries, will be taxed in India on the income that they have earned there is incorrect. 

Madhya Pradesh has bagged the first position for the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana. Union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani will present this award to Madhya Pradesh at a function in New Delhi today.

Madhya Pradesh Minister for Women and Child Development Imarti Devi and Principal Secretary Anupam Rajan will receive the award. Indore district has also bagged the first place for better performance of the scheme. AIR correspondent reports that the main objective of the Matru Vandana Yojana is to provide incentives of five thousand rupees for the loss of wages of working women and to ensure their proper rest and nutrition during pregnancy. The payment of the incentive amount is deposited directly into the bank account.

In Madhya Pradesh, more than 14 lakh 55 thousand beneficiaries have been registered under the Pradhan Mantri Matra Vandana Yojana. The first installment has been paid to about 13 lakh 40 thousand women, while second installment to around 12 lakh and third installment has been paid to 8 lakh 80 thousand beneficiaries.

In tennis, Serbia's Novak Djokovic won his record 8th Men's singles title in Australian Open at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne yesterday.

He beat first-time Australian Open finalist Dominic Thiem  of Austria.

The men's doubles title was clinched by Joe Salisbury of UK and American Rajeev Ram who beat Australia's Luke Saville and Max Purcell.

Indian women's team captain Rani Rampal became the first-ever hockey player to win the prestigious 'World Games Athlete of the Year' award.

The World Games announced the winner last night after 20 days of polling in January this year by sports fans worldwide.

Congratulating Rani, the World Games said with 1,99,477 votes, she is the clear winner of the Athlete of the Year race. All in all, over 7,05,610 votes were cast during the poll.

Last year, India won the FIH Series Finals, and Rani was named Player of the Tournament.

Under Rani's leadership, the Indian women's team qualified for just the third Olympic Games in its history.

Rani, who was recently named among the Padma Shri awardees, dedicated the award to the entire hockey fraternity, her team and the country.

A 60-year-old pharmacy worker has become the first deaf person on record to row an ocean by finishing a 3,000-mile journey across the Atlantic. Mo O'Brien and her fellow crew members, including her daughter, landed on the Caribbean island of Antigua 49 days after setting out from the Canary Island of La Gomera in December.

Their arrival late yesterday local time makes them the fastest female trio to complete the challenge. The Ocean Rowing Society, which is responsible for monitoring ocean rowing records, confirmed the world first. Ms O'Brien, rowed almost 3,000 miles (4,800km) of Atlantic Ocean with her daughter Bird Watts, and their friend Claire Allinson.

Well-known theatre person Sanjana Kapoor will receive the prestigious French honour of ‘Chevalier dans lOrdre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) for her outstanding contribution to the field of theatre.

French Minister of Culture Franck Riester, who’s currently on an official India visit, will confer the insignia of the distinction on Kapoor in a special investiture ceremony on January 28 at the French embassy in New Delhi.

Kapoor was born in an illustrious family of Indian and English theatre personalities -- Shashi Kapoor and Jennifer Kendal. She debuted on screen with Aparna Sen’s 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981) and played the leading actor in Hero Hiralal (1989). She also appeared in Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay (1988).