National Girl Child Day is observed on 24 January 2015 across the nation. This celebration was started to offer more supports and new opportunities to the girls in the country. It is celebrated to increase the awareness among people about all the inequalities faced by the girl child in the society. This day is being observed every year on 24 January since 2008.

National Youth Day was observed across India on 12 January 2015. The day is observed annually to mark the birth anniversary of social reformer, philosopher and thinker Swami Vivekananda. This is the 152nd birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda and his birth anniversary is being celebrated as National Youth Day in India since 1985.The Union Government in 1984 had declared that 12 January, the birthday of Swami Vivekananda will be observed as the National Youth Day.Swami Vivekananda’s lectures and writings are a source of inspiration for youth and have motivated numerous youth organisation.His writings derive their inspiration from Indian spiritual tradition and the broad outlook of his Master Sri Ramakrishna. All his teachings can be found in The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, in nine volumes, published by Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata. Swami Vivekananda was born on 12 January 1863 as Narendra Nath Datta and regarded as a patriotic saint of India.

In the month of January 2015, High-level committee (HLC) headed by former Cabinet Secretary T S R Subramanium submitted its report to Union Government. In its recommendation, the committee suggested single window clearance mechanism for green nods.The committee has suggested an umbrella law to help set up new national and state-level regulators that would also take the powers of the existing pollution control boards. The law – Environmental Management Act – would do away with the need for separate Acts to regulate air and water pollution that empower states to give the consent to operate and establish industrial units.

The Vice President of India M.Hamid Ansari on 8 January released a book entitled “The Indian Parliament – A Critical Apprisal”. The book is authored by Prof. Sudha Pai and Avinash Kumar of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.The book examines the credibility and legitimacy of the Indian Parliament and has scrutinised various aspects of its functioning.

NRDC —- National Research and Development Corporation

POTA —- Prevention of Terrorism Act

SAFTA — South Asian Free Trade Agreement

SAIL —- Steel Authority of India Limited

UNDP —- United Nations Development Programme

VSSC — Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre

Australia’s national airline Qantas was named as the world’s safest airline by AirlineRatings.com on 6 January. Qantas, which is in its 95th year of operation, was hailed for “an extraordinary record of firsts” in terms of its safety history and ranked the best of 449 airlines, including low-cost carriers, assessed by the website.

Miss Colombia Paulina Vega was crowned as Miss Universe 2015 at the final of the beauty pageant held in Miami on 25 January 2015. Vega, a 22-year-old student of business administration from Barranquilla, Colombia was crowned by the 2014 pageant winner Venezuelan Gabriela Isler.With this, Vega became the second beauty queen from Colombia to win the title. Luz Marina Zuluaga became the first Colombian to win the crown in 1956.