News in Short

• Australia has added the U.S.-based far-right extremist group National Socialist Order and planned to add entire Palestinian group Hamas to its list of outlawed terrorist organisations.
• The National Socialist Order, formerly known as Atomwaffen Division, joins Islamist groups Hay’atTahrir al-Sham and Hurras al-Din in being added to the list.
• Hamas’ military wing, Hamas’ Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, has been listed as a terrorist organisation since 2003.
• The National Socialist Order is only the third far-right group to be designated by Australia as a terrorist organisation.

• The Supreme Court set aside the Punjab & Haryana High Court’s order staying the Haryana government’s law on providing 75 per cent reservation in private sector jobs to local candidates.
• The court asked the high court to decide on the issue within a month and directed the state government not to take any coercive steps against the employers for the time being.
• In November last year, Chief Minister Manohar LalKhattar had said the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act, 2020, will be made applicable with effect from January 15 this year.

• Tata Trusts Chairman Ratan Tata has been honoured with the Assam Baibhav, the state’s highest civilian award.
• Mr Tata has made exceptional contribution towards furthering cancer care in Assam. The Assam Baibhav Award carries a citation, a medal and Rs 5 lakh cash.
• The award was to be given to Tata at a ceremony on January 24 but he could not attend it due to personal reasons.

• Eminent Kannada literatteur Dr ChennaveeraKanavi passed away at the age of 94 in the SDM Hospital in Dharwad.
• Kanavi had penned more than 15 books, which were compilation of poems, collection of essays and various other books.
• He had won the Sahitya Akademi award for his book ‘Jeevadhwani’. Besides, he received the Rajyotsava Award, Pampa Award, Nadoja title, Nrupathunga award, SahityaBangara Award and several other awards.

• India and Mumbai batsman ShreyasIyer has been named as the captain for IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders.
• Iyer had missed the first part of IPL 2021 in India due to a shoulder injury. He had to leave Delhi Capital’s leadership role and the team’s captaincy was handed over to Rishabh Pant.
• This will be the second time Iyer will be captaining a side in the IPL after doing the same job for his former team Delhi Capitals from mid-2018 season till 2020.