• In November last year, Arif Mohammad Khan had become the first alpine skier from the country to win a quota for the Winter Olympics by accumulating requisite FIS (International Ski Federation) points.

• Arif, who hails from Tangmarg of Baramulla district (Jammu & Kashmir), had achieved the qualification in the final FIS Qualification held in Dubai. With the Winter Games scheduled to begin on February 4 in Beijing, China, the 31-year-old Arif is set to fly off for the venue on jan 31 .

• Despite him being the pioneering force for the sport in the country, Arif is aiming for the top-30 finish in the quadrennial event. Arif will take part in the Slalom and Giant Slalom events in the showpiece event. He firmly believes that the country can be developed into a favourite spot for skiing in the next four or five years.

• The skier was included in the Target Olympics Podium Scheme (TOPS) recently. After qualifying for the Games, he trained in Santa Caterina, Italy.

• After completing the training in Italy, Arif did elevation training at his hometown. 

• Enforcement Directorate officer Rajeshwar Singh has been granted voluntary retirement from service (VRS) by the Union government.

• He is expected to join the BJP and contest the upcoming Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.

•  Mumbai Police have arrested YouTuber 'Hindustani Bhau' alias Vikas Fhatak and one more person in connection with a protest by students near the residence of Maharashtra Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad.

• The police took the action against the 41-year-old YouTuber after it emerged that he had asked students to assemble in Dharavi area of Mumbai near Gaikwad's residence to demand the cancellation of offline exams for classes 10 and 12 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The police also arrested Ikrar Khan Wakhar Khan (25) for his alleged role in the students' protest.

• Hindustani Bhau, who participated in reality TV show "Bigg Boss 13", is popular for his videos that are marked by the unique delivery of slang words through which he mainly targets Pakistan and other YouTubers from the neighbouring country.

• Senior IAS officer Usha Sharma was appointed as the chief secretary of Rajasthan.

• The 1985 batch officer is only the second woman to occupy the top-most bureaucratic position in the state.

• The Ashok Gehlot government had in 2009 appointed Kushal Singh as the first woman chief secretary of the state.

Teenager Unnati Hooda became the youngest Indian to win a Super 100 tournament as she beat compatriot Smit Toshniwal in straight games to claim the women's singles title while unseeded Kiran George emerged triumphant in the men's singles final of the USD 75,000 Odisha Open badminton tournament.

The 21-year-old George prevailed over Priyanshu Rajawat 21-15 14-21 21-18 to clinch the men's singles title after battling hard for 58 minutes.

Unnati won 21-18 21-11 to be crowned the Odisha Open champion for the first time.

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand defeated Sanyogita Ghorpade and Shruti Mishra 21-12 21-10 to claim the women's doubles title.

In the mixed doubles final, India's MR Arjun and Jolly suffered a 16-21 20-22 defeat at the hands of Sri Lankan duo Sachin Dias and Thilini Hendadahewa in a match that lasted 36 minutes.

• The Madhya Pradesh forest department has sent a draft to the state government to allow the killing of 'nilgai' and wild boars which damage crops of farmers.
• Following strict rules issued in 2000 and 2003 pertaining to the hunting of blue bulls and boars, respectively, no animal was killed, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) Alok Kumar  said .
• The state government now wants to simplify the rules following complaints from farmers that their crops were being destroyed by these animals.
• Madhya Pradesh, specially western part of the state, has a huge population of nilgai (blue bulls) and wild boars.
• In 2012, the MP government had tried to simplify rules for the hunting/killing of these two animals, but faced strong opposition from animal rights activists, including Maneka Gandhi, and some religious leaders, said Sartaj Singh, who was the state's forest minister at that time.

• At least six people have been killed and several others injured after an electric bus lost control and mowed down several bystanders near the Tat Mill crossroad in Kanpur on Jan 30.

• The country's largest power producer-the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Limited is finding itself "caught in the crossfire" following the recent violent protests over alleged irregularities in the Railway Recruitment Board's results of Non-technical popular categories (NTPC) exam.
• The NTPC Limited has said that the recent protests were "hurting its reputation" due to the match in abbreviated form of Non-Technical Popular Categories (NTPC) of Railway Recruitment Board.
• The NTPC Limited has urged the Railway Recruitment Board to rename the exam that had sparked violent protests in the country.