As per the Trends in International Arms Transfers-2018 report, India is the __________ largest importer of weapons in the world.

The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has won the First Prize in the category of TV Cinema Spot at the prestigious international Golden City Gate Tourism Awards 2019. The awards were received by Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary, Tourism at ITB, Berlin.

The Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) 2019 has released by INSEAD, Adecco Group and Tata Communications recently. In the GTCI 2019 India ranks 80 while Singapore takes the lead in this region. This year's report has a special focus on entrepreneurial talent - how it is being encouraged, nurtured and developed throughout the world and how this affects the relative competitiveness of different economies. The report measures levels of Global Talent Competitiveness by looking at 68 variables. The 2019 index covers 125 national economies and 114 cities (respectively 119 and 90 in 2018) across all groups of income and levels of development. In this sixth edition, Switzerland continues to lead the 2019 Global Talent Competitiveness index, while Singapore and the United States come in second and third respectively.

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has released the 2019 Index of Cancer Preparedness (ICP) in which India's overall rank is 19th out of 28 countries, with a score of 64.9. Australia tops the ICP, followed by the Netherlands and Germany.

India-Bangladesh jointly inaugurated 4 development projects. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina jointly unveiled e-plaques for development projects in Bangladesh through video conferencing. This was the sixth such video conference between PM Modi and Prime Minister Hasina. It includes Supply of buses and trucks; Inauguration of 36 community clinics; Inauguration of 11 water treatment plants; Extension of National Knowledge Network to Bangladesh.

The Union Cabinet approved the submission of India's second Biennial Update Report (BUR) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). BUR has been prepared based on a range of studies conducted at the national level. The scope of BUR is to provide an update to India's first BUR to UNFCCC. The Five major components of Biennial Update Report (BUR) are

A report by World Economic Forum stated that India is set to become the world's third largest consumer market behind only USA and China by 2030. The report was titled as 'Future of Consumption in Fast-Growth Consumer Market - India'. As per the report, consumer spending in India is expected to grow from 1.5 trillion US dollar at present to six trillion US dollar by 2030. With the annual GDP growth rate of 7.5 percent, India is currently the world's sixth largest economy.

The Union Cabinet approved the 3 MoU's between India and Saudi Arabia. The Union Cabinet approved the MoU between India and Saudi Arabia on establishing a mechanism for Investment Infrastructure in India. The MoU provides for engaging with the institutions of Saudi Arabia to attract potential investment into the infrastructure sector of India. The aim is to boost the infrastructure development in India, creating more jobs, growing ancillary industries and finally lead to the growth in GDP and overall economic prosperity.

India is likely to surpass the United Kingdom in the world's largest economy rankings in 2019, to become the world's fifth largest economy, according to a report by global consultancy firm PwC. PwC's Global Economy Watch report projects real GDP growth of 1.6% for the UK, 1.7% for France and 7.6% for India in 2019.

The Lok Sabha passed the 'DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2019' on 8 January 2019. It seeks to provide regulation for the use and application of DNA technology for the purpose of establishing the identity of a certain category of persons. The bill also seeks to establish a 'National DNA Data Bank' and 'Regional DNA Data Banks'.

The Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) of the US Chambers of Commerce has recently released its International IP Index for Year 2019. In it, India has moved up 8 places to rank 36th among 50 economies in the 2019 Index.The improvement reflects important reforms implemented by Indian policymakers towards building and sustaining an innovation ecosystem for domestic entrepreneurs and foreign investors alike. The report also focuses on thorny issues. According to the report, the key problems in India include barriers to licensing and technology transfer, strict registration requirements, limited framework for the protection of bio-pharmaceutical IP rights, patentability requirements outside international standards, lengthy pre-grant opposition proceedings and previously used compulsory licensing for commercial and non-emergency situations. The index ranks countries based on 45 indicators covering patent, trademark, copyright and trade secrets protection.