Important Current Affairs 28th January 2020

National  

Bharat Parv 2020' begins at Red Fort to celebrate spirit of India 
 
●The ‘Bharat Parv 2020’ is being held at Red Fort ground in New Delhi from 26 to 31 January 2020 to celebrate the spirit of India. 
●The Bharat Parv festival is organised every year by the Government of India as a part of Republic Day celebrations, to encourage people to visit different tourism places of the country and to inculcate the spirit of ‘Dekho Apna Desh’ (See Your Country). 
●The theme of 2020 Bharat Parv is ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ and ‘Celebrating 150 Years of Mahatma Gandhi. Samvidhaan’ Chosen as Oxford’s Hindi word of 2019 
●The word Samvidhaan’ (Constitution) has been chosen as the Oxford Hindi Word of 2019 by the Oxford University Press (OUP). 
●The Oxford Hindi Word of the Year is a word or expression that has attracted a great deal of attention and reflects the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of the past year. 
●‘Samvidhaan’ means a body of fundamental principles or  established precedents according to which a state or other organisation is acknowledged to be governed. 
  
Andhra Pradesh Assembly passes resolution to abolish Legislative Council 
 
●The Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly unanimously passed a resolution on January 27, 2020 to abolish the state legislative council.  

The state cabinet had approved the resolution earlier in the day. The proposal will now be sent to the centre for further action. 
  
●The one-line resolution to abolish the state council was passed in the assembly by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy. The resolution was passed with 133 members voting in favour of it.  This was announced by assembly speaker Tammineni Seetharam. 
 
Maharashtra govt launches ‘Shiv Bhojan’ scheme 
 
●Maharashtra government launched ‘Shiv Bhojan’ scheme. The scheme aims to provide a meal to the poor for just 10 rupees, on the occasion of the 71st Republic Day.  
●Under the scheme, which has been launched on a pilot basis, thalis or lunch plates would be available to people at designated centres/ canteens during a stipulated time in all the districts. 
 
GRSE set to deliver anti-submarine warfare corvette INS Kavaratti to Navy soon 
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•Defence PSU Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) is set to deliver anti-submarine warfare stealth corvette INS Kavaratti to the Indian Navy. INS Kavaratti is 104th warship constructed by GRSE.  
•INS Kavaratti can be used during nuclear, chemical and biological warfare conditions and its weapons and sensors suite is predominantly indigenous.

Banking and Economy 

Indian Bank Association (IBA) appoints Punjab National Bank's former MD and CEO Sunil Mehta as its chief executive. 
 
●Sunil Mehta took over as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA). He will replace VG Kannan, who resigned from office as chief executive of IBA on December 31, 2019.  
●The term of the CEO of IBA is for 3 years. At present, the managing committee of IBA has SBI chief Rajnish Kumar as Chairman for the year 2019-20 along with 3 deputy chairmen and honorary secretary. 

 
Awards 

Assam tableau wins first prize at 71st Republic Day parade 
 
●Assam tableau wins first prize at 71st Republic Day parade.  Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today gave away Best Tableaux  awards for Republic Day Parade, 2020 in New Delhi. 
●The tableaux of National Disaster Relief Force and Jal Shakti  Mission were chosen as the best among the Ministries and  Departments. 

Appointment 

 Taranjit Singh Sandhu appointed India’s Ambassador to US 
●Taranjit Singh Sandhu takes charge as the new Indian Ambassador to the United States. Sandhu, a 1988-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, is  currently posted as High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka.  
●He replaces Harsh Vardhan Shringla as India's envoy in Washington. Shringla named as India's next foreign secretary.