Today's Event – 1st January 2022

• 45 BC – The Julian calendar takes effect as the civil calendar of the Roman Empire, establishing January 1 as the new date of the new year. 

• 42 BC – The Roman Senate posthumously deifies Julius Caesar. 

• 193 – The Senate chooses Pertinax against his will to succeed Commodus as Roman emperor. 

• 404 – Saint Telemachus tries to stop a gladiatorial fight in a Roman amphitheatre, and is stoned to death by the crowd. This act impresses the Christian Emperor Honorius, who issues a historic ban on gladiatorial fights

• 417 – Emperor Honorius forces Galla Placidia into marriage to Constantius, his famous general (magister militum) (probable). 

• 1001 – Grand Prince Stephen I of Hungary is named the first King of Hungary by Pope Sylvester II (probable). 

• 1068 – Romanos IV Diogenes marries Eudokia Makrembolitissa and is crowned Byzantine Emperor. 

• 1259 – Michael VIII Palaiologos is proclaimed co-emperor of the Empire of Nicaea with his ward John IV Laskaris. 

• 1438 – Albert II of Habsburg is crowned King of Hungary. 

• 1500 – Portuguese explorer Pedro Alvarez Cabral discovers the coast of Brazil. 

• 1502 – The present-day location of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is first explored by the Portuguese. 

• 1515 – Twenty-year-old Francis, Duke of Brittany, succeeds to the French throne following the death of his father-in-law, Louis XII. 

• 1527 – Croatian nobles elect Ferdinand I, Archduke of Austria as King of Croatia in the 1527 election in Cetin.

• 1600 – Scotland recognises January 1 as the start of the year, instead of March 25. 

• 1604 – The Masque of Indian and China Knights is performed by courtiers of James VI and I at Hampton Court. 

• 1651 – Charles II is crowned King of Scotland. 

• 1700 – Russia begins using the Anno Domini era instead of the Anno Mundi era of the Byzantine Empire. 

• 1707 – John V is proclaimed King of Portugal and the Algarves in Lisbon. 

• 1739 – Bouvet Island, the world's remotest island, is discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier. 

• 1772 – The first traveler's cheques, which could be used in 90 European cities, are issued by the London Credit Exchange Company. 

• 1773 – The hymn that became known as "Amazing Grace", then titled "1 Chronicles 17:16–17", is first used to accompany a sermon led by John Newton in the town of Olney, Buckinghamshire, England.

• 1776 – General George Washington hoists the first United States flag, the Grand Union Flag, at Prospect Hill. 

• 1781 – American Revolutionary War: One thousand five hundred soldiers of the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment under General Anthony Wayne's command rebel against the Continental Army's winter camp in Morristown, New Jersey in the Pennsylvania Line Mutiny of 1781. 

• 1788 – First edition of The Times of London, previously The Daily Universal Register, is published. 

• 1801 – The legislative union of Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland is completed, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is proclaimed. 

• 1801 – Ceres, the largest and first known object in the Asteroid belt, is discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi. 

• 1804 – French rule ends in Haiti. Haiti becomes the first black-majority republic and second independent country in North America after the United States. 

• 1806 – The French Republican Calendar is abolished. 

• 1808 – The United States bans the importation of slaves. 

• 1810 – Major-General Lachlan Macquarie officially becomes Governor of New South Wales. 

• 1822 – The Greek Constitution of 1822 is adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus.

• 1822 – The Greek Constitution of 1822 is adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus. 

• 1834 – Most of Germany forms the Zollverein customs union, the first such union between sovereign states. 

• 1847 – The world's first "Mercy" Hospital is founded in Pittsburgh, United States, by a group of Sisters of Mercy from Ireland; the name will go on to grace over 30 major hospitals throughout the world.

• 1860 – The first Polish stamp is issued, replacing the Russian stamps previously in use. 

• 1861 – Liberal forces supporting Benito Juárez enter Mexico City. 

• 1863 – American Civil War: The Emancipation Proclamation takes effect in Confederate territory. 

• 1877 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom is proclaimed Empress of India.[40]

• 1885 – Twenty-five nations adopt Sandford Fleming's proposal for standard time (and also, time zones). 

• 1890 – Eritrea is consolidated into a colony by the Italian government. 

• 1892 – Ellis Island begins processing immigrants into the United States. 

• 1898 – New York, New York annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The four initial boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx, are joined on January 25 by Staten Island to create the modern city of five boroughs.

• 1899 – Spanish rule ends in Cuba. 

• 1900 – Nigeria becomes British protectorate with Frederick Lugard as high commissioner

• 1901 – The Southern Nigeria Protectorate is established within the British Empire. 

• 1901 – The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia; Edmund Barton is appointed the first Prime Minister. 

• 1902 – The first American college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl between Michigan and Stanford, is held in Pasadena, California. 

• 1910 – Captain David Beatty is promoted to Rear admiral, and becomes the youngest admiral in the Royal Navy (except for Royal family members) since Horatio Nelson. 

• 1912 – The Republic of China is established. 

• 1914 – The SPT Airboat Line becomes the world's first scheduled airline to use a winged aircraft. 

• 1923 – Britain's Railways are grouped into the Big Four: LNER, GWR, SR, and LMS. 

• 1927 – New Mexican oil legislation goes into effect, leading to the formal outbreak of the Cristero War. 

• 1928 – Boris Bazhanov defects through Iran. He is the only assistant of Joseph Stalin's secretariat to have defected from the Eastern Bloc. 

• 1929 – The former municipalities of Point Grey, British Columbia and South Vancouver, British Columbia are amalgamated into Vancouver. 

• 1932 – The United States Post Office Department issues a set of 12 stamps commemorating the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth. 

• 1934 – Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay becomes a United States federal prison. 

• 1934 – A "Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring" comes into effect in Nazi Germany. 

• 1942 – The Declaration by United Nations is signed by twenty-six nations

• 1947 – The Canadian Citizenship Act 1946 comes into effect, converting British subjects into Canadian citizens. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes the first Canadian citizen.

• 1948 – The British railway network is nationalized to form British Railways

• 1949 – United Nations cease-fire takes effect in Kashmir from one minute before midnight. War between India and Pakistan stops accordingly. 

• 1956 – Sudan achieves independence from Egypt and the United Kingdom. 

• 1957 – George Town, Penang, is made a city by a royal charter of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

• 1957 – Lèse majesté in Thailand is strengthened to include "insult" and changed to a crime against national security, after the Thai criminal code of 1956 went into effect

• 1958 – The European Economic Community is established. 

• 1959 – Cuban Revolution: Fulgencio Batista, dictator of Cuba, is overthrown by Fidel Castro's forces. 

• 1960 – Cameroon achieves independence from France and the United Kingdom. 

• 1962 – Western Samoa achieves independence from New Zealand; its name is changed to the Independent State of Western Samoa. 

• 1964 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is divided into the independent republics of Zambia and Malawi, and the British-controlled Rhodesia. 

• 1965 – The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan is founded in Kabul, Afghanistan. 

• 1970 – The defined beginning of Unix time, at 00:00:00

• 1971 – Cigarette advertisements are banned on American television.  

• 1973 – Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom are admitted into the European Economic Community. 

• 1976 – A bomb explodes on board Middle East Airlines Flight 438 over Qaisumah, Saudi Arabia, killing all 81 people on board. 

• 1978 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747, crashes into the Arabian Sea off the coast of Bombay, India, due to instrument failure, spatial disorientation, and pilot error, killing all 213 people on board

• 1979 – Normal diplomatic relations are established between the People's Republic of China and the United States. 

• 1981 – Greece is admitted into the European Community. 

• 1982 – Peruvian Javier Pérez de Cuéllar becomes the first Latin American to hold the title of Secretary-General of the United Nations. 

• 1983 – The ARPANET officially changes to using TCP/IP, the Internet Protocol, effectively creating the Internet. 

• 1984 – The original American Telephone & Telegraph Company is divested of its 22 Bell System companies as a result of the settlement of the 1974 United States Department of Justice antitrust suit against AT&T. 

• 1984 – Brunei becomes independent of the United Kingdom

• 1985 – The first British mobile phone call is made by Michael Harrison to his father Sir Ernest Harrison, chairman of Vodafone. 

• 1987 – The Isleta Pueblo tribe elect Verna Williamson to be their first female governor. 

• 1988 – The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America comes into existence, creating the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States. 

• 1989 – The Montreal Protocol comes into force, stopping the use of chemicals contributing to ozone depletion. 

• 1990 – David Dinkins is sworn in as New York City's first black mayor. 

• 1993 – Dissolution of Czechoslovakia: Czechoslovakia is divided into the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. 

• 1994 – The Zapatista Army of National Liberation initiates twelve days of armed conflict in the Mexican state of Chiapas. 

• 1994 – The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) comes into effect. 

• 1995 – The World Trade Organization comes into being. 

• 1995 – The Draupner wave in the North Sea in Norway is detected, confirming the existence of freak waves. 

• 1995 – Austria, Finland and Sweden join the EU. 

• 1998 – Following a currency reform, Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence. 

• 1999 – Euro currency is introduced in 11 member nations of the European Union (with the exception of the United Kingdom, Denmark, Greece and Sweden; Greece adopts the euro two years later)

• 2004 – In a vote of confidence, General Pervez Musharraf wins 658 out of 1,170 votes in the Electoral College of Pakistan, and according to Article 41(8) of the Constitution of Pakistan, is "deemed to be elected" to the office of President until October 2007.

• 2007 – Bulgaria and Romania join the EU. 

• 2007 – Adam Air Flight 574 breaks apart in mid-air and crashes near the Makassar Strait, Indonesia, killing all 102 people on board. 

• 2009 – Sixty-six people die in a nightclub fire in Bangkok, Thailand

• 2011 – Estonia officially adopts the Euro currency and becomes the 17th Eurozone country.

• 2015 – The Eurasian Economic Union comes into effect, creating a political and economic union between Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

National Events- 

•  Pakistan and India on Saturday exchanged a list of their nuclear installations that cannot be attacked in case of an escalation in hostilities, as part of an annual ritual that has been in practice between the two neighbours for more than three decades, a Foreign Office statement said here.

•  India logged 22,775 fresh Covid-19 cases on Saturday, making it the highest single-day rise since October 6. The Centre also said that 161 new Omicron cases have been detected in India, taking the country’s tally up to 1,431. Of the 1,431 patients, 374 have either recuperated or migrated.

•  Observing that many economic indicators are better than the pre-Covid times, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday said Coronavirus has posed challenges but it cannot stop India’s pace. He also emphasised that the country needs to further accelerate its pace in 2022.

•  IIT Delhi, Jamia Millia Islamia, Indian Medical Association and Nehru Memorial Museum and Library are among nearly 6,000 entities whose FCRA registration deemed to have ceased on Saturday.

• India on Saturday sent 5 lakh doses of its indigenous Covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin , to Afghanistan. “Today, India supplied the next batch of humanitarian assistance consisting of 500,000 doses of COVID vaccine (COVAXIN) to Afghanistan. The same was handed over to the Indira Gandhi Hospital, Kabul,” said the Ministry of External Affairs. Another batch of additional 500,000 doses would be supplied in the coming weeks.

International Events- 

• After tough talk between Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin over the Russian troop buildup on the Ukraine border, both sides insist they are hopeful that a pathway to easing tensions could open during diplomatic talks set for January. 

•  China opened an embassy in Nicaragua on Friday for the first time since 1990, acting just over three weeks since President Daniel Ortega’s government broke off relations with Taiwan.

•  Israel has begun delivering a fourth vaccine dose for people most vulnerable to coronavirus, becoming one of the first countries to do so, as it prepares for a wave of infections driven by the omicron variant.

•  South Africans of all walks of life paid their respects to Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace Prize winning Anglican archbishop, whose plain pine casket is on view in St Georges Anglican Cathedral in Cape Town on Friday.

• All-weather allies Pakistan and China have agreed to use the full potential of the strategic Gwadar Port in Balochistan province, a major project under the CPEC that provides the Communist-giant an opening to the Arabian Sea.

Job alerts-

• AIIMS Mangalagiri Jobs for Senior Resident, Demonstrator and other posts. Last date 27 January 2022

• Indira Gandhi Hospital Jobs for Nursing Officers and other posts. Last date 08 January 2022

• Shipping Corporation of India Limited Jobs for Masters, Marine Engineer and other posts. Last date 16 January 2022

Sports-

• It’s the first day of the new year and Pro Kabaddi League 2021 has a triple-header to start 2022. U Mumba and U.P. Yoddha will kick off the day’s proceedings at 7.30 PM and their battle will be followed by some Southern Derby action, as the Bengaluru Bulls will take on the Telugu Titans at 8.30 PM. League-leaders Dabang Delhi K.C. will feature in the main event, going head-to-head against the Tamil Thalaivas at 9.30 PM. 

•  Pakistan captain Babar Azam has termed the jinx-breaking win over India in the T20 World Cup as the “best moment” for his team in the year gone by.

•  The English cricketers should not miss international duty at the expense of playing in the IPL, former England captain Michael Atherton has said in the wake of the team’s disastrous Ashes campaign in Australia.

•  As the entire country basks in the fervor and festive spirit of the New Year, sport stars from across the world sent in their wishes for the year ahead. From Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli to HS Prannoy to Saina Nehwal and Rani Rampal, several sportspersons flocked to social media to wish their fans a Happy Diwali.

• New Zealand batsman Devon Conway said that it is a very special feeling after scoring his maiden century at home. He also acknowledged the support that senior batsman Ross Taylor provided while in the middle when Conway smashed his hundred. Conway started 2022 with a solid century as he scored 122 runs at stumps on day 1. Also, Conway became the sixth batsman to hit a century in the first innings at home and away matches.

Technology-

• After the massive tax evasion of GST by cryptocurrency service provider WazirX, the Directorate General of GST Intelligence has come down heavily on cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the country, said sources. 

•  BlackBerry has already bitten the dust in the smartphone market and lost its charm as even its devoted fans are nowadays perhaps using an iPhone or an Android handset. But still, as some people might be using a BlackBerry phone, the Canadian company has reiterated that its devices will no longer be able to support legacy services over cellular and Wi-Fi connectivity starting next week. The company initially announced the move in September last year but extended its service as “an expression of thanks” to its loyal customers and partners. The update is notably not applicable to BlackBerry phones based on the Android operating system.

•  PUBG: New State is getting a new map and the first batch of major updates, publisher Krafton has announced as a part of its New Year message to the community. The South Korean company has also given a sneak peek of the upcoming map ahead of its official debut. PUBG: New State was launched in India and around the world in November as the latest battle royale title for mobile gamers — after PUBG Mobile and India-exclusive Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI).

•  China is mining Western social media to equip its military and police with information on foreign targets, according to a new report by The Washington Post. This revelation was made following the review of hundreds of Chinese bidding documents, contracts, and company filings.

• The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Friday ordered a detailed probe against technology major Apple for alleged unfair business practices with respect to its App Store.

Economy – 

•  Food aggregators like Swiggy and Zomato will have to collect and deposit tax at 5 per cent rate beginning Saturday, a move which will widen the tax base as food vendors who are currently outside the GST threshold will become liable to GST when provided through these online platforms.

•  The nation registered a current account deficit (CAD) of $9.6 billion (1.3 per cent of GDP) in the second quarter ended September of 2021-22, as against a surplus of $6.6 billion (0.9 per cent of GDP) in the first quarter and $15.3 billion (2.4 per cent of GDP) in the year-ago period (Q2 of 2020-21).

•  Sensex shot up 460 points at 58,253.82 while the NSE Nifty Index rose 150 points to 17,354.05. Experts expressed cautious optimism about the market’s performance in 2022 even though the horizon is cluttered with many uncertainties

•  Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Mumbai Zone said it has detected GST evasion of Rs 40.5 crore on commission earned by cryptocurrency exchange WazirX. The tax department recovered Rs 49.2 crore from the company as GST dues plus interest and taxes on Thursday evening.

• The Income Tax Department said Friday it had conducted pan-India search and seizure operations against several “foreign controlled” mobile communication and handset companies for tax evasion by inflating expenses and not revealing remittance in nature of royalty. The operations took place on December 21 across 11 states — Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Assam, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bihar, Rajasthan, Delhi, and some parts of NCR. “The search action has revealed that two major companies have made remittance in the nature of royalty, to and on behalf of its group companies location abroad, which aggregates to more than Rs 5,500 crore. The claim of such expenses does not seem to be appropriate in light of the facts and evidence gathered during the search action,” the I-T Department said in a release.

Local –

• Delhi, which has been witnessing a sharp uptick in Omicron cases, recorded 31 of them in the last 24 hours, taking the total tally to 351 

•  Mumbai reported 6,347 fresh Covid-19 cases, one death and 451 recoveries on Saturday. The city had recorded 5,631 infections on Friday.

• The surge in the number of Covid-19 cases in West Bengal continued unabated over the last 24 hours as the state registered 3,451 fresh cases, with Kolkata alone accounting for 1,954 of them. 

•  With Tamil Nadu witnessing a spike in the number of coronavirus cases, the state government on Friday imposed a number of restrictions, including putting a cap on attendees of marriage and death-related events and halving the number of customers in different types of commercial establishments.

•  Karnataka breached the thousand-mark in the single-day spike in cases as the state Saturday recorded 1,033 fresh Covid cases of which Bengaluru Urban reported 810 cases. The total number of active cases in Karnataka now stands at 9,386 of which 7,876 are in Bengaluru. The last time when the state had seen over 1,000 cases in a single day was on September 9 last year when it recorded 1,074 cases.

Person in News – 

•  Comedic actress Betty White, who capped a career of more than 80 years by becoming America’s geriatric sweetheart after Emmy-winning roles on television sitcoms “The Golden Girls” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” died on Friday, less than three weeks shy of her 100th birthday.

GK – 

Which Union Ministry is implementing ‘Gram Ujala programme’?

[A] Ministry of Power
[B] Ministry of Rural Development
[C] Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
[D] Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

Which Asian Country recently unveiled its National Security Policy (NSP)?

[A] Sri Lanka
[B] Pakistan
[C] Afghanistan
[D] Bangladesh

The latest version of ‘Consumer Protection Act’ was passed in which year?

[A] 2010
[B] 2015
[C] 2019
[D] 2021

Which state’s legislative council has passed a bill to give more powers to Higher Education Minister in the state-run varsities?

[A] Andhra Pradesh
[B] Maharashtra
[C] Telangana
[D] Tamil Nadu

As per the Ratings agency ICRA, what is the estimated real GDP Growth of India in FY 2022?

[A] 12.5 %
[B] 11 %
[C] 10%
[D] 9%