• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated 106th Indian Science Congress on 3rd January in Jalandhar, Panjab. 

• The theme of this event is 'Future India: Science and Technology'.

• It will be hosted by Lovely Professional University(PLU), Jalandhar.

• Union Cabinet has approved the merger of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank with Bank of Baroda.

• The merger will come into force on April 1.

• Following the merger of these three Banks, Bank of Baroda will become third largest bank in India after the State Bank of India and HDFC Bank in terms of assets.

• The government has appointed Hemant Bhargava as interim Chairman of Life Insurance Corporation.

• He succeeded V K Sharma.

• Hemant Bhargava was appointed as Managing Director(MD) of  Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) in February 2017, Apart from Bhargava, there are two more Managing Director(MD) of LIC currently.

• On 1 January 2019, Saurabh Kumar has been appointed as the Director General of Ordnance Factories (DGOF) and chairman of the Ordnance Factory Board in Kolkata.

• He is a 1982-batch Indian Ordnance Factory Service Officer, is an M-tech in mechanical engineering from IIT, Kanpur.

• Veteran Cricket Coach Ramakant Archerakar passed away aged 86 in Mumbai on 2nd January 2019.

• He was Sachin Tendulkar's Cricket Coach.

• He was honored with one of the country's highest civilian award, Padma Shri and also honored with the 'lifetime achievement award' in 2010

• He was also honored with Dronacharya Award in 1990 for outstanding coaches in sports and games.