Important Current Affairs 15th January 2019

National News

PM Modi greets soldiers, ex-servicemen and their families on occasion of Army Day
•    Prime Minister Narendra Modi has greeted the soldiers, ex-servicemen and their families on the occasion of Army Day.
•    Mr Modi said, he bows to their indomitable courage and bravery.

2-day Global Aviation Summit 2019 to take off in Mumbai today 
•    A two-day Global Aviation Summit 2019 will take off in Mumbai today. 
•    This will be the first-of-its-kind event in the world with participation from more than 86 countries.
•    India is among the fastest growing aviation sector. 
•    Vision 2040 for aviation sector and the Air Cargo Policy will also be unveiled during the summit.
•    The Global Aviation Summit with a theme “Flying for all - especially the next 6 Billion”, being organised by Ministry of Civil Aviation in association with FICCI.

World's largest religious and cultural human congregation - Kumbh Mela begins in UP 
•    The world's largest religious and cultural human congregation -Kumbh 2019 began at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh early this morning. 
•    The Mela commenced with the holy dip at Sangam, the confluence of rivers Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati. 
•    According to the Mela's administration, 75 lakh to one crore devotees have taken the Royal bath since early morning.

SC issues notice to Centre against order allowing agencies to monitor computers 
•    The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Centre on a plea challenging the government's notification authorising 10 central agencies to intercept, monitor and decrypt any computer system.
•    A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and justices Ashok Bhushan and S K Kaul yesterday sought the Centre's response within six weeks and said it would hear arguments on the interim stay after the parties are served the notices.

Sports

Shakil Ahmed sets world record in indoor rowing
•    Asian Cup gold medallist Shakil Ahmed has added one more feather to his cap when he set up a world record in indoor rowing by completing one lakh metres in above-40 years category in Kolkata. 
•    Shakil began his record-setting indoor rowing feat in Salt Lake stadium complex at 8 a.m. yesterday and achieved the milestone of covering one lakh metres of simulated distance in 10 hours.

Stephen Constantine steps down as coach of Indian football team 
•    Stephen Constantine has decided to step down as the head coach of the Indian football team following team's exit from 2019 AFC Asian Cup. 
•    India went down fighting against Bahrain in their last Group A match on Monday.
•    The 56-year-old Constantine, who had earlier coached India from 2002 to 2005, was handed over reins of the team again in 2015. He guided India to the Asian Cup after a gap of eight years.

Economy and Banking

Reserve Bank of India slaps Rs 1 crore penalty on Bajaj Finance 
•    The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a penalty of Rs 1 crore on Bajaj Finance Ltd, a non-banking financial company (NBFC), for violating "fair practices code".
•    This action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the NBFC with its customers
•    Bajaj Finance is into businesses such as consumer finance, SME finance and commercial lending.