Hingis, Paes win
Filmfare awards announced
Union Government released Commemorative Postage stamps with Swachh Bharat Mission as theme
Djokovic wins Australian Open
NASA launches Earth-observing satellite
- i. The seventh seeds were in their first major outing as a pairing and drew on all their experience to down the third seeds, France’s Kristina Mladenovic and Canadian Daniel Nester, 6-4, 6-3.
- ii. Hingis, the holder of five Grand Slam singles titles, now has 11 major doubles crowns — nine women’s and two mixed.
- iii. Paes, 41, has won eight men’s doubles and seven mixed doubles Grand Slams and said he planned to aim for more, with retirement not on his mind.
- i. 18th National Conference on e-Governance was held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat from 30 January 2015 to 31 January 2015
- ii. The main Theme of the Conference was Digital Governance – New Frontiers. The focus sector was Skill Development & Employability.
- iii. The conference was organised jointly by Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG) under Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions and Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) under Ministry of Communications & Information Technology.
- iv. Chief Minister of Gujarat Anandiben Patel and the Minister of State in the Prime Minister Office and Personnel distributed National e-Governance Awards for the year 2014-15 in 12 different categories concerning various aspects of e-Governance.
Filmfare awards announced
- i. Vikas Bahl's coming-of-age drama Queen triumphed at the 60th Filmfare awards, winning in key categories including best film, best director and best actress for its lead star Kangana Ranaut.
- ii. Vishal Bhardwaj's Shakespearean tale 'Haider' bagged five wins which includes a black lady for Shahid Kapoor in the best actor category and best supporting honours for Tabu and Kay Kay Menon.
- iii. Alia Bhatt bagged the best actress (Critics) trophy for Highway and Sanjay Mishra won the best actor (Critics) for his outstanding performance in Ankhon Dekhi, which also earned director-writer Rajat Kapoor the best story gong.
- iv. Ankit Tiwari won best male playback singer for Galiyaan from Ek Villain and Kanika Kapoor was named best female playback singer for Baby Doll from Ragini MMS 2.
- v. Trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy won best music director for their work in 2 States. Best lyrics honour went to Rashmi Singh for Muskurane from 'CityLights'
Union Government released Commemorative Postage stamps with Swachh Bharat Mission as theme
- i. The Commemorative Postage stamps on the theme of Swachh Bharat Mission were released on 30 January 2015 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi to mark the Martyrdom Day of Mahatma Gandhi.
- ii. The stamps were released by the Union Ministry for Communications & Information Technology.
- iii. The design of the stamps was selected through a competition among the children on the theme of Swachh Bharat Mission.
- iv. The Swachh Bharat Mission was launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 2 October 2014, on the occasion of Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
- i. At Melbourne on Sunday, Djokovic won his fifth Australian Open crown, beating Andy Murray 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-0 in an old fashioned slugfest where the pair went toe-to-toe like two prize fighters before the Serb knocked the Scotsman out.
- ii. The only man to win more Australian titles than Djokovic is Roy Emerson, who chalked up six in the 1960s.
- iii. Murray put Djokovic under immediate pressure with three break points in the third game of the opening set, played in cool and windy conditions on Rod Laver Arena.
NASA launches Earth-observing satellite
- i. It is on a mission to track the amount of water locked in soil, which may help residents in low-lying regions brace for floods or farmers get ready for drought conditions.
- ii. A Delta 2 rocket carrying Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite was launched early Saturday from Vandenberg Air Force Base on California’s central coast.
- iii. Besides the satellite, the rocket also carried three research nanosatellites for JPL, Montana State University and California Polytechnic State University.