• Eminent social worker Shanti Devi passed away at the Seva Samaj Ashram in Rayagada district. She was 88.

• Shanti was conferred the Padma Shri-2021 for serving the poor in the undivided Koraput district for the last six decades.

• inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and Vinoba Bhave, she had left college at the age of 17 and moved to Koraput district with an aim to work for the poor in one of the most backward regions. She was accompanied by her husband Dr Ratan Das, for helping the poor.

• Shanti founded Seva Samaj in undivided Koraput in 1964 and had been working for the tribals and destitute children ever since. She worked to wipe out a skin disease called YAWS and cured over 4,000 infected persons in Sankhalapadar village in Rayagada district.

• With her team of 50 social workers and 500 volunteers, she was managing three child care institutions, an educational complex for ST girls and several creche centres in southern Odisha till her last breath.

As a part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav commemorating 75 years of India's independence, the "grandest flypast ever" with 75 aircraft will take place over Rajpath in Delhi during Republic Day celebrations

These 75 aircraft will also include five Rafale.

17 Jaguar fighter aircraft will fly in the shape of '75' to celebrate Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.

Navy's MiG29K and P-8I surveillance aircraft will also fly in the Varuna formation.

• India will celebrate its 73rd Republic Day on January 26 this year, honouring the historic date when the country completed its transition towards becoming an independent republic after the Constitution came into effect. As part of the celebrations, an annual Republic Day parade is held in Delhi's Rajpath.

• Prof M K Prasad, renowned environmentalist, botanist, and educator, who successfully spearheaded the Save Silent Valley movement in the 1970s, passed away. He was 89.

• Prof Prasad was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Kochi for Covid19 for a week or so before he breathed his last.

• COVID-19 inoculation guidelines issued by the Union Health Ministry do not envisage forcible vaccination without obtaining the consent of an individual, the Centre has told the Supreme Court.

• The Health Ministry in an affidavit filed before the top court submitted that India's vaccination programme is the largest in the world and as on January 11, 2022, a total of 1,52,95,43,602 doses have been administered.

• It said that 90.84 per cent of the eligible adult population has received their first dose of the vaccine and 61 per cent has received their second dose as well.

• On the issue of exempting persons with disabilities from producing vaccination certificates, the Centre told the apex court that it has not issued any SOP that makes it mandatory to carry the vaccination certificate for any purpose.

• The Centre said this in its affidavit filed in response to a plea by NGO Evara Foundation seeking door-to-door, priority COVID-19 vaccination for persons with disabilities.

• The Election Commission has decided to hold the single-phase assembly polls in Punjab on February 20 instead of February 14 in view of Guru Ravidas Jayanti.

• Several political parties had approached the EC to postpone the polls in the state in view of Ravidas Jayanti on February 16.

• Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, BJP and its allies, and the BSP had urged the poll panel to postpone the date of voting as lakhs of followers of Guru Ravidas travel to Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh to celebrate the day.

After the Congress denied ticket to him for the upcoming Punjab assembly polls, Moga MLA Harjot Kamal has joined the BJP  in the presence of its senior leadership, including Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat

• Abdullah Azam, the son of senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, was released from Sitapur jail.

• Abdullah Azam and his father were lodged in Sitapur jail after they were shifted from Rampur jail on 27 February 2020.

• Former Uttar Pradesh Minister and BSP MLA Ramveer Upadhyay joined the BJP.

• This came a day after the sitting MLA from Sadabad seat in Hathras district resigned from the Mayawati-led BSP, alleging that the party had deviated from the principles of its founder Kanshi Ram.