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August 2018

Current Affair

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Important Days Date Day Extra Info

01 August Earth Overshoot Day 01 August – 07 August

World Breast Feeding Week

06 August Hiroshima Day, Anti-Nuclear Day 07 August National Handloom Day

09 August Quit India Day 76th Anniversary. Also called Kranti Diwas or August Kranti Diwas

09 August International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

Theme 2018 – ‘Indigenous peoples’ migration and movement’

09 August Nagasaki Day 10 August World Bio Fuel Day

12 August International Youth Day Theme 2018 – ‘Safe space for Youth’

12 August World Elephant Day 15 August India’s Independence Day 72nd Independence Day

19 August World Photography Day 19 August Humanitarian Day 20 August World Mosquito Day 21 August World Senior Citizen Day

21 August International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism

23 August International Day for the

Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition

29 August National Sports Day To mark the birthday of the hockey player Dhyan Chand

30 August Small Industry Day

30 August International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances

MOU Industry/States/Others The Union Ministry of Water Resources, the NABARD and the National Water Development Agency (NWDA)

signed a revised Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) for funding of central share of 99 prioritised irrigation

projects under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY).

National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) signed an MoU with SME Corporation Malaysia for exchange of

information and cooperation in areas such as policies to aid development of small and medium businesses

(SMBs) in the two countries.

Prasar Bharati and Mizzima Media Group of Myanmar signed an MoU to realize cooperation and collaboration

in broadcasting and content sharing.

A Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) was signed between the National Skill Development Corporation

(NSDC) and National Health Agency (NHA), to provide capacity building for Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana

(PMJAY) to ensure effective rollout and continued quality implementation.

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Appointments and Resignations

Name Post Set to Replace and other info

President Ram Nath Kovind gave Madhya Pradesh Governor Anadiben Patel additional charge of Chhattisgarh following the demise of its Governor Balramji Dass Tandon.

Arun Jaitley Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs

He took charge after a 3 month interval. In Mr. Jaitley’s absence, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal took care of Finance and Corporate Affairs.

M.K. Stalin DMK President Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is a state political party in the state of Tamil Nadu and Union Territory of Puducherry.

Balesh Sharma Vodafone Idea’s first CEO The merger of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular is complete after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved the merger, creating India’s largest telecom operator with over 400 million subscribers, a joint statement by the two companies said on 31 August.

G Satheesh Reddy Chairman of the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO)

S Christopher

Satya Pal Malik Governor of Jammu & Kashmir Will replace NN Vohra

Lal Ji Tandon Governor of Bihar Will replace Satya Pal Malik

Satyadeo Narayan Arya Governor of Haryana Will replace Kaptan Singh Solanki

Kaptan Singh Solanki Governor of Tripura Will replace Tathagata Roy

Tathagata Roy Governor of Meghalaya Will replace Ganga Prasad

Ganga Prasad Governor of Sikkim Will replace Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil

Baby Rani Maurya Governor of Uttarakhand Will replace Krishan Kant Paul

Sandeep Bakhshi Chief Operating Officer (COO) of ICICI Bank

Rana Kapoor Yes Bank CEO Re-appointed

Prachi Mishra Managing Director and Chief India Economist of Goldman Sachs

Ashish Kumar Bhutani Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)

Geeta Mittal First woman judge of J&K High Court

Ram Sewak Sharma Chairperson of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)

Re-appointed for 2 years

Rekha Sharma Chairperson of National Commission for Women

Lalitha Kumarmangalam (had demitted office in September 2017)

Justice Manjula Chellur Chairperson of Appellate Tribunal for Electricity

Justice Ranjana P. Desai (who retired on November 30, 2017)

N Raghuram Chairman of the International Nitrogen Initiative (INI)

Raghuram is the first Indian and Asian to be elected to the Chair. He will succeed Mark Sutton of the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Edinburgh.

Uday Kumar Varma Assocham Secretary General Actor Akshay Kumar Road Safety Brand Ambassador By Road Transport & Highways MInistry

Raveena Tandon Brand Ambassador of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP)

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Parineeti Chopra Brand Ambassador of fashion brand Rangriti by Biba Apparels Pvt Ltd

Satya S. Tripathi Assistant Secretary-General at UN Environment Programme’s New York office

Michelle Bachelet (Chile’s twice-serving president)

UN Human Rights Chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein

Emmerson Mnangagwa

President of Zimbabwe

Iván Duque Márquez President of Columbia Juan Manuel Santos Calderón

Mario Abdo Benítez President of Paraguay Horacio Cartes

Ibrahim Boubacar Keita

President of Mali Re-elected for a 5 year term

Scott Morrison Prime Minister of Australia Malcolm Turnbull

Imran Khan Prime Minister of Pakistan Shahid Khaqan Abbasi

RESIGNATIONS: Anil Ambani resigned as director of Reliance Naval and Engineering.

National Housing Bank (NHB) Managing Director Sriram Kalyanaraman has resigned amidst allegations of favouring housing finance companies.

Indian origin business executive Indra K. Nooyi will step down as the Chief Executive of global food and beverages major PepsiCo, Inc. in October.

Allahabad Bank’s MD and CEO Usha Ananthasubramanian was fired on her last day in office, in relation to the PNB scam. She had served as the CEO and Managing Director of PNB from 2015 to 2017, and was named in the CBI chargesheet.

Ajay Data, Founder & CEO of Data XGen Plus and a global leader in email linguistic services, is selected as a new council member of Country Code Supporting Organisation (ccNSO). Ajay Data is the first Indian to have been selected as a member of ccNSO.

The Asia-Pacific Institute of Broadcasting Development (AIBD) elected Fayyaz Sheheryar, Director-General of All

India Radio, as its new President. This is the first time India has been elected for the position of president of

AIBD.

National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Harivansh Narayan Singh was announced as the new Rajya Sabha

Deputy Chairman after he received 125 votes, while Congress’ BK Hariprasad got 105 votes out of the total 332.

The Indian Banks’ Association has appointed Egon Zehnder International (Headquarters – Zürich, Switzerland)

as a ‘Knowledge Partner’ to the Banks Board Bureau to design, implement and institutionalise a flagship

leadership development strategy for public sector banks in India.

Awards and Recognitions

Award Name Person/Institution Extra Knowledge

Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award

Gopalkrishna Gandhi He is former West Bengal Governor

“Shalaka Samman” for 2017-18 Javed Akhtar Hindi Academy Delhi gave the award

Hindu Playwright Award 2018 Annie Zaidi Award for her play Untitled-1

Legion of Merit (Degree of Commander)

General Dalbir Singh Suhag (Retired)

Awarded by US government for exceptionally meritorious service as chief of the Army staff, Indian Army

Dr B.C. Roy National Award Eminent neurosurgeon Dr B.K. Misra

As Eminent Medical Person of the Year award

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Outstanding Parliamentarians Award for the year 2013 was given to Manipur’s Governor and five time Rajya

Sabha member Dr Najma A. Heptulla and for year 2014, the award was presented to Bharatiya Janata Party’s

(BJP) Lok Sabha member Hukumdev Narayan Yadav.

President Ram Nath Kovind presented Outstanding Parliamentarians Award for the year 2015 to Congress

leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Trinamool Congress’ Dinesh Trivedi was also honoured by the Outstanding Parliamentarians Award for the

year 2016.

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Member of Parliament (MP) from Odisha’s Cuttack Bhartruhari Mahatab was also

honoured with the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award for 2017.

K. Anvar Sadath, vice chairman and executive director of Kerala Infrastructure and Technology For Education

(KITE), has become the first Indian to receive The International Contributions Award.

An Indian-born, Australian-raised mathematics genius Akshay Venkatesh has been awarded the Fields Medal,

which is often called the Nobel Prize of mathematics.

Shimla-based filmmaker Devkanya Lotheta’s film “Behind the Bars” has won the first prize under the Short

Film Award Scheme — 2018 of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

Indian-American high school student Avi Goel has won the world championship at the International Geography

Bee’s junior varsity division which was held in Berlin, Germany. 14-year old Avi is a tenth grader at Silver

Creek High School in Evergreen, San Jose, California.

Nobel Prize-winning scientist Marie Curie was the most influential woman in history, Britain’s BBC found in a

poll, highlighting her role in curing cancer. Readers of BBC History magazine ranked Polish-born Madam Curie

at the top of a list of 100 women who changed the world, for becoming the first person to win two Nobel Prizes

and for her research into radioactivity – a word that she coined.

“Lost in Transaltion” actress Scarlett Johansson (American actress and singer) has been named as the world’s

highest paid female actress by Forbes.

Smitha V. Crishna, a third-generation heir of the Godrej family, ranks first in the Kotak Wealth Hurun-Leading

Wealthy Women 2018 list with an estimated wealth of ₹ 37,570 crore. Ms. “mitha owns one-fifth of the Godrej

Group.

Delhi government’s additional director of health S K Arora has been awarded the prestigious WHO World No

Tobacco Day 2017 Award for his extraordinary contribution towards tobacco control.

Reliance Power said its wholly-owned subsidiary Reliance Power Netherlands BV has won an international

arbitration award of $56 million (Rs 390 crore).

PepsiCo’s India-born CEO Indra Nooyi will be honoured with the Game Changer of the Year award by a global

cultural organisation in recognition of her business achievements, humanitarian record and advocacy for

women and girls around the world.

Two Indian nationals, Bharat Vatwani and Sonam Wangchuk, were given the Ramon Magsaysay award,

popularly known as Asia’s Nobel Prize.

Vatwani has dedicated his life for rescuing mentally ill people from the streets of India — who number around

400,000 according to estimates — and providing them with shelter and treatment through his Shraddha

Rehabilitaion Foundation.

Wangchuk has been recognised for “his uniquely systematic, collaborative and community—driven reform of

learning systems in remote northern India, thus improving the life opportunities of Ladakhi youth, and his

constructive engagement of all sectors in local society to harness science and culture creatively for economic

progress, thus setting an example for minority peoples in the world”.

Indian poet-diplomat Abhay K. has become the first Indian poet invited to record his poems at the Library of

Congress in Washington D.C. in ‘The Poet and the Poem’ series conducted by poet Grace Cavalieri.

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Conference and Summits

Summit Place Extra Knowledge

National Conference on Child Marriage New Delhi

Motivating & Attracting Youth in Agriculture (MAYA)

New Delhi

Investors’ Conference for the Holistic Development of Islands

Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra, New Delhi

NITI Aayog hosted the conference

Fifth act east business show Meghalaya The show was hosted to strengthen business ties between ASEAN countries northeastern states.

ATAL (Arunachal Transformation & Aspirational Leadership) Conclave

Arunachal Pradesh To be held in September

India Baja 2018 Jaisalmer, Rajasthan

It is the Indian edition of the greatest challenge of all extreme motorsport competitions in the world

‘One District One Product’ Summit Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh

Under the ‘One District One Product’ scheme, the state government has set a goal of providing employment to 25 lakh people in five years through the financial assistance of Rs. 25,000 crores.

4th Annual Sustainable Smart Cities India Conference

Bengaluru, Karnataka

Bengaluru Space Expo Bengaluru, Karnataka

To be held in September. Theme – Creating dynamism in Indian space ecosystem

6th International Buddhist Conclave 2018

New Delhi and Ajanta (Maharashtra)

World’s largest Water Colour Festival Ranchi, Jharkhand India-Kenya Joint Trade Committee Meeting

Nairobi, Kenya

Indian Ocean Conference Hanoi, Vietnam Theme - Building Regional Architectures

11th World Hindi Conference Port Louis, Mauritius

Theme - “Hindi World and Indian Culture” or “Hindi Vishwa Aur Bharatiy Sanskriti”.

24th World Congress of Philosophy (WCP)

Beijing, China Theme - “Learning To Be Human”

Mountain Echoes Literature Festival Thimphu, Bhutan

4th Asian Electoral Stakeholders Forum Colombo, Sri Lanka Theme - Advancing Election Transparency and Integrity: Promoting and Defending Democracy Together

G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting

Salta, Argentina Theme - Building consensus for fair and sustainable development

Nepal-India Literature Festival 2018 Birgunj, Nepal Special meeting of Senior Officials of the Bay of Bengal Initiatives for Multi-Sectoral, Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)

Kathmandu, Nepal Theme - Towards a peaceful, Prosperous and Sustainable Bay of Bengal Region

First SAARC Agri Cooperative Business Forum

Kathmandu, Nepal Theme - Organizing and Strengthening Family Farmers

6th RCEP Trade Ministers’ Meeting Singapore

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International News An intertidal art gallery, filled with around 30 sculptures acting as a habitat for coral and other marine species,

was opened in the Maldives. The gallery, called the Coralarium, is located at the Fairmont Maldives Sirru Fen Fushi resort.

Chinese scientists claimed to have created the world’ first single-chromosome yeast while not affecting the majority of its functions, a breakthrough that could help in furthering research related to aging and diseases in humans.

India plans to launch an “Understanding India” programme in China to “demystify” the country and create a better understanding of it.

Typhoon Jongdari made landfall in Shanghai’s coastal Jinshan district, according to the National Meteorological Centre. The situation has been handled in a timely manner and the rain has weakened, it said.

Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port is gearing up to become a leading port in the Indian Ocean region. The location of the port had always been extremely advantageous as it was located just a little less than half a nautical mile from the sea lanes.

In Sri Lanka, the ten-day festival of the historic Esala Maha Perehera began In Kandy with a grand procession. The procession set off from the biggest Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka, Sri Dalada Maligawa at an auspicious time.

India handed over the first lot of houses built for Indian-origin people in Sri Lanka’s tea plantation areas on 12th August, 2018. India had committed 60,000 houses under the ‘innovative Indian housing project’. It is the largest Indian assistance project in any country with a grant of over USD 350 million.

In a ceremony on the sidelines of the 51st ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Singapore, Iran officially joined

the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia.

Japan has pipped China as the world’s second-largest stock market. The Chinese market was worth $6.09

trillion next to Japan’s $6.17 trillion.

Facebook announced the launch of a “Digital Literacy Library” to help young people build the skills they need

to safely enjoy online technology.

Apple Inc. became the first U.S.-based company with a market value of $1 trillion, four decades after it was co-

founded by Steve Jobs in a Silicon Valley garage and later revolutionized the worlds of computing, music and

mobile communications.

Typhoon Jongdari made landfall in Shanghai’s coastal Jinshan district, according to the National Meteorological

Centre. The situation has been handled in a timely manner and the rain has weakened, it said.

The Indian Embassy in Nepal handed over 30 ambulances and six buses to various hospitals, non-profit

charitable organizations and educational institutions of Nepal on the occasion of India’s 72nd Independence

Day.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj inaugurated ‘Panini Language Laboratory’ at Mahatma Gandhi

Institute (MGI) at Port Louis in Mauritius.

An influential American lawmaker has said she would introduce a historic legislation to posthumously award

Mahatma Gandhi a Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award in the US, for inspiring peaceful

movements for civil rights around the world.

Iran unveiled its first domestic fighter jet with President Hassan Rouhani insisting that Tehran’s military

strength was only designed to deter enemies and create “lasting peace”.

Scientists have set a new Guinness World Record by creating the smallest medical robot – a device measuring

just 120 nanometres that could assist in future cancer and Alzheimer’s treatments.

National News The Union Cabinet at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved raising of Extra

Budgetary Resources (EBR) of Rs 15,000 crore through NABARD for the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) during 2018-19.

The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) launched a dedicated portal to connect cargo owners and shippers with real time data on availability of vessels. Named as the ‘Forum of Cargo-Owners and Logistics-Operators’ (FOCAL), the link of the portal is available on the homepage of IWAI.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi set rolling a new slogan, ‘Saaf Niyat, Sahi Vikas’, about his government as he gave away over 1 lakh houses to women under the flagship Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (rural) scheme, calling it a Rakshabandhan gift.

The Supreme Court will have three serving women judges for the first time, after the Centre cleared the elevation of Madras High Court Chief Justice Indira Banerjee.

The other two judges are R Banumathi, appointed in August 2014, and Indu Malhotra, appointed in April 2018. Notably, SC will have a total of 22 male judges including two new male appointees.

Ranchi man Ranjit Srivastava,38, has developed Indian version of ‘Sophia,’ a social humanoid robot developed by a Hong Kong based company, named Rashmi which can speak Hindi, Bhojpuri and Marathi along with English.

FICCI Ladies Organisation, the women’s wing of Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has launched a mobile application “WOW” (Wellness of Women) aimed at creating awareness on preventive healthcare. This easy to use platform allows users to talk to doctors through video conferencing or connect with them via voice or email.

Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) has launched the Mission Solar Charkha for implementation of 50 Solar Charkha Clusters across the country with a budget of Rs.550 crore for the year 2018-19 and 2019-20. The scheme will generate direct employment to nearly one lakh persons.

The Ministry of Culture launched a scheme called “Seva Bhoj Yojna” to reimburse central share of CGST and IGST on food, prasad, langar or bhandara offered by religious and charitable institutions. The scheme has a total outlay of Rs 325.00 crore for financial years 2018-19 and 2019-20.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the first extension of Concessional Financing Scheme (CFS) to support Indian Entities bidding for strategically important infrastructure projects abroad for five years till 2023.

In order to sustain and accelerate the adoption of energy efficient textile technologies in the power loom sector and cost savings due to use of such technology, Ministry of Textiles and Ministry of Power (GoI) have joined hands under the initiative SAATHI (Sustainable and Accelerated Adoption of efficient Textile technologies to Help Small Industries).

Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu launched a logo and tagline for Geographical Indications (GI) to increase awareness about intellectual property rights (IPRs) in the country.

The Governor of Manipur, Dr. Najma A. Heptulla inaugurated the project ‘Development of North East Circuit: Imphal & Khongjom’ implemented under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme of Ministry of Tourism, Government of India on August 14. The project is the first project to be completed under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme of the Government of India.

The project which covers two sites – Kangla Fort in Imphal and Khongjom was taken up at an estimated cost of Rs. 72,22,82607 under the Union Ministry of Tourism.

The central government launched an online management system – Bidder Information Management System (BIMS)– to expedite land acquisition and the bidding process for road construction.

PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) and Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) have signed an MoU to establish India-Nepal Centre in Kathmandu, Nepal. It will further strengthen economic engagement between the two countries.

The Government of India has released 470 million Nepali rupees grant for Terai roads project in Nepal. The amount has been released to maintain fund liquidity for the ongoing construction of 14 road packages under Postal Highway Project.

PM Modi inaugurated 400-bed Nepal-Bharat Maitri Pashupati Dharamshala in Kathmandu, Nepal. The Nepal Bharat Maitri Pashupati Dharamshala has been built by the Government of India with an assistance of over 20 crore Nepali rupees.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the occasion of Independence Day, announced the launch of ‘Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyaan’ on September 25. The scheme is the flagship project of Ayushman Bharat, the national healthcare policy launched by the Government earlier this year. Ayushman Bharat, also refered to as ‘Modicare’, was launched by the Government of India in February this year.

A mere 19 per cent of people in the 15-65 age group use Internet in India, according to a report named “AfterAccess: ICT access and use in India and the Global South”. It was published by Lirneasia, a policy and regulation think tank in collaboration with the Cellular Operators Association of India.

The Union Cabinet gave its approval for the joint issue of postage stamps between India and South Africa on

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the theme of 20 years of strategic partnership between the two countries. A commemorative postage stamp, released in June, depicts the images of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh thinker Deendayal Upadhyaya and Oliver Reginald Tambo of South Africa.

The Ministry of HRD has embarked on a major and new initiative Project called ‘Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds’ (SWAYAM), which will provide one integrated platform and portal for online courses. This covers all higher education subjects and skill sector courses.

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Aviation Suresh Prabhu launched ‘Niryat Mitra’ – mobile App in New Delhi. It provides wide range of information required to undertake international trade right from the policy provisions for export and import, applicable GST rate, available export incentives, tariff, preferential tariff, market access requirements – SPS and TBT measures.

HRD Minister has said that IIT-PAL lectures would now be available in handheld devices via the ‘SWAYAM’ portal in order to reduce students’ dependence on coaching classes.

On the occasion of “World Biofuel Day 2018” on 10th August, PM Narendra Modi unveiled a Booklet on “National Policy on Biofuels 2018”, and launched “Pro Active and Responsive facilitation by Interactive and Virtuous Environmental Single window Hub”[PARIVESH].

Giving a boost to rural road connectivity, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the continuation of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) beyond the 12th five year plan period.

Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry announced a spending of Rs 418 crore from 2018-20 on collaborative research between Indian and foreign institutes under the ‘Scheme for promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration’ (SPARC).

Santhali has become the first Indian tribal language to get a Wikipedia edition in its own script after the Santhali Wikipedia went live earlier this month. Santhali is written in Ol Chiki script and spoken by 6.4 million people, according to the 2001 census, in India alone and its speakers live mostly in Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Assam. It is also spoken in Bangladesh and Nepal.

The civil aviation ministry has approved a proposal for setting up of water aerodromes in the country, with Chilika Lake in Odisha, Sardar Sarovar Dam and Sabarmati River Front in Gujarat being identified in the first phase for development of such facilities.

The Union Government has unlocked green funds worth over Rs 66,000 crore to increase the country’s forest cover.

The Minister of State for Culture (I/C) and Minister of State for Environment Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Mahesh Sharma inaugurated an exhibition entitled ‘Prathibandhit Sahitya mein Swatantrata Sangram’ (Freedom Movement through Proscribed Literature) in the premises of National Archives of India, in New Delhi.

NITI Aayog has launched “Pitch to MOVE” – a mobility pitch competition that aims to provide budding entrepreneurs of India a unique opportunity to pitch their business ideas to a distinguished jury.

In the wake of PM Modi’s vision for creating digital museums at stations using QR code, Ministry of Railway has made “digital screens” operational at 22 stations on this Independence Day (15.08.2018) as an innovative low cost solution to spread awareness among public about the opulent heritage of Indian Railways. Being initiated on a pilot basis, the project aims at showcasing the legacy of Indian Railways through one to two minute-long movie clips on digital LED screens at the entrance gate of railway stations and also at different comfort areas.

Urdu author Ismat Chughtai, known for her literary works exploring free speech, social liberation, and gender equality, was on 21st August paid homage by search engine giant Google with a colourful doodle on her 107th birthday.

INS Vikramaditya, India’s only aircraft carrier, is going to be fitted with marine hydraulic system for the first time as part of its upgrade that will give an edge to the air-capable wing of the ship.

IIT-Kharagpur launched its Re-Water Research Institute, which will primarily look at treating and converting sewage water into potable water. The pilot plant at IIT-Kharagpur is expected to be ready by March 2019.

The health ministry issued new images for the pictorial warning on packs of cigarette and other tobacco products. The new pictures, which will be used with effect from September 1, will have to be accompanied with a quitline number.

According to a health ministry order, all packs of tobacco products must have “tobacco causes cancer” and “tobacco causes painful death” written in white on a red background, and the words “quit today call 1800-11-2356” in white on a black background along with the pictorial warning.

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The Centre declared the Kerala floods a ‘calamity of severe nature’, amid demands for declaring it a national disaster.

Under its scheme SPARC to forge international research partnerships, the Human Research Development (HRD) Ministry will fund 600 projects in top-ranked institutes with a total of about Rs 400 crore, according to the IIT- Kharagpur, the coordinating centre for the scheme. SPARC – Scheme for promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration

After the launch of the government e-marketplace (GeM), the centre is trying to replicate its success at a much larger scale by bringing together all logistics players on one platform through a national logistics e-marketplace for better price discovery and reducing logistics cost.

The test run for the online logistics marketplace is likely to begin by March 2019.

The highest pollution is due to transport in the national capital of Delhi. At the same time, Madhya Pradesh’s capital Bhopal has the lowest level of pollution.

The Center for Science and Environment (CSE) has released the report named The Urban Commute after studying 14 cities in the country. The cities which CSE has studied include Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Jaipur, Lucknow, Kochi, Bhopal, Vijayawada and Chandigarh.

Aptly called Neta app, which was unveiled by former President Pranab Mukherjee, the technology platform will let users rate their MLAs and MPs and is being billed as an instrument to gauge voter sentiment across constituencies in the country. The app is created by 27-year-old entrepreneur Pratham Mittal.

Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal flagged off Kathgodam-Dehradun Naini-Doon Janshatabdi Express via video conferencing from Rail Bhavan. The new train will be providing direct connectivity between two important hill stations of Uttarakhand– Mussoorie and Nainital.

In a major decision, the defence ministry approved procurement of 111 utility helicopters for the navy at a cost of overRs 21,000 crore. Ministry cleared procurement proposals worth nearly Rs 46,000 crore which included the acquisition of the helicopters.

Real average daily wages in India almost doubled in the first two decades after economic reforms, but low pay and wage inequality remains a serious challenge to inclusive growth, the International Labour Organization warned in its India Wage Report published recently.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said 126 MW wind power capacity, part of country’s first inter state transmission system (ISTS) auction, is commissioned in Bhuj,Gujarat.

The committee on review of penal provisions of Company Act 2013 submitted its final report to Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley in New Delhi. The Committee (Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Injeti Srinivas) was constituted by the government last month to review the existing framework dealing with offences under the Companies Act, 2013 and related matters and make recommendations to promote better corporate compliance.

No-frills airline SpiceJet today operated India’s first test flight powered by biojet fuel, marking a new chapter in the fast-growing domestic aviation sector. The nearly 45-minute flight from Dehradun to the national capital was operated with a Bombardier Q400 aircraft, partially powered by biojet fuel made from Jatropha plant.

An MoU was signed for the implementation of 362-km Indore-Manmad New Railway Line Project in New Delhi. Talking about the project, Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said, the first of its kind of project will not only reduce the distance by a huge margin but also boost the developmental process of the tribal areas along the line.

Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) here with 6 states for the construction of the Lakhwar multi-purpose project in the upper Yamuna basin to deal with water crisis. Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh (Yogi Adityanath), Rajasthan (Vasundhara Raje Scindia), Uttarakhand (Trivendra Singh Rawat), Himachal Pradesh (Jai Ram Thakur), Haryana (Manohar Lal Khattar) and (Delhi Arvind Kejriwal) signed the MoU. Under the agreement, the 204-metres high project will be constructed near Uttarakhand’s Lohari village with live storage capacity of 330.66 million cubic metres (MCM).

Understanding the importance of regional languages in India, search giant Google has announced a new program that will empower offline newspapers and magazines in India to bring their content online. Announced during the fourth edition of ‘Google for India’ event, the Project Navlekha claims to bring offline content online in just a few clicks. Google is using its expertise in artificial intelligence for Project Navlekha, using which, it will quickly render any PDF with Indian language content into editable text, overcoming issues that usually occur when you try to copy text in Indian languages from a PDF.

The Centre has sanctioned Rs 730 crore for the Gujarat’s Sardar Sarovar Dam project on the Narmada river for

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the current year and also committed soft loan of Rs 1,500 crore for the state’s other irrigation projects, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said on 28 August.

The third edition of World’s Biggest Open Innovation Model – Smart India Hackathon 2019 was launched by the Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Shri Prakash Javadekar in New Delhi.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for the umbrella scheme “Ocean Services, Technology, Observations, Resources Modelling and Science (O-SMART)”, for implementation during the period from 2017-18 to 2019-20 at an overall cost ofRs.1623 crore.

The Union cabinet approved an additional 2 per cent hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) for central government employees. The hike will come into effect from July 1, 2018.

In a bid to increase its market share in India’s payments market, Google rebranded its payments app Google Tez into Google Pay, introduced new features and widened its scope with new tie-ups. Launched first in India last year as Google Tez, the re-branded Google Pay will now be offered in other countries too. Google said it will be unifying all of Google’s payment offerings globally.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has been invited by the United Nations (UN) to deliver a keynote address at an event, titled ‘Financing Sustainable Agriculture: Global Challenges and Opportunities’ – to be organised on the sideline of the annual UN General Assembly in New York on September 24.

NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr.Rajiv Kumar, and Chief Executive Officer Shri. Amitabh Kant, unveiled a series of events to take place in the‘Mobility Week’ from 31 August to 6 September 2018, in the run up to MOVE: The Global Mobility Summit 2018 on 7 and 8 September 2018 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. The Summit will be inaugurated by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India.

Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar has launched the Innovation Cell and Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements, ARIIA in New Delhi.

State News

Andhra Pradesh The Andhra Pradesh Government has approved the “Mukhyamantri Yuva Nestam” scheme that makes

unemployed youth in the state, eligible of receiving Rs 1000 per month from the government.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister unveiled the world’s first-ever high energy storage device in Amaravati, Andhra

Pradesh. The thermal battery, first-of-its-kind anywhere in the world, is a revolutionary and disruptive

technology patented by Dr. Patrick Glynn in 2016 in India.

Assam

Amid tight security, the second and the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) of Assam was

released in Guwahati. Out of 3,29,91,384 total applicants, 2,89,83,677 people have been found eligible to be

included in the National Register of Citizens.

In Assam, the Panchayat and Rural Development Department has stressed on accelerating the pace of overall

development of rural areas through successful implementation of various programmes. The department has

also taken steps for conducting a door to door survey under Prime Minister Awas Yojna Grameen

The Central Government which aims to improve digital connectivity and infuse digital literacy in all the states

of the country, recently launched the ‘Digital Northeast Vision Document 2022’ in Guwahati.

Bihar Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has launched an ambitious scheme - ‘Mukhyamantri Kanya Utthan Yojana’ - which

promises to provide Rs 54,100 from the birth of a girl child till she graduates.

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh announced that Chhattisgarh is the first among the 28 other states in

the country to provide Right to Skills’ Development to the youth

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Delhi

Delhi has toppled Gujarat from the top spot in a list of 21 states and union territories with the most investment potential, according to a report by economic think-tank NCAER.

Parts of the national capital will now enjoy free Wi-Fi and high-speed broadband as Union Home Minister

Rajnath Singh launched a slew of “smart city” projects in a function.

Ahead of the Independence Day, the Delhi Police inducted India’s first all-woman Special Weapons and Tactics

(SWAT) team for anti-terrorist operations.

Goa Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar flagged off the Goa Tourism

Development Corporation’s app-based taxi service called “GoaMiles” in Panaji. “GoaMiles”, would ensure that

commuters are not cheated and at the same time would increase the earnings of taxi drivers by “two to three”

times.

Haryana

Expanding its infrastructure footprint in India, online retail major Amazon India opened its largest fulfilment

centre (FC) in Haryana with a view to enhance customer experience ahead of the festive season.

CM Manohar Lal Khattar dedicated the state’s first civil airport at Hisar to the people of Haryana, saying it

would open the possibilities of creating an economic corridor and vibrant industrial ecosystem.

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur launched an awareness campaign named “Horn Not Ok” along

with a statewide mobile app “Shoor Nahin” or no noise in Shimla and Manali. The mobile app “Shoor Nahin”, is

an initiative to check noise pollution in the state. The app has been developed to report any noise pollution

complaint to authorities.

Karnataka

The government of Karnataka launched the ‘Swachhameva Jayate’ campaign in a bid to step up the cleanliness

and hygiene efforts of the state. It programme, implemented by the Rural Decelopment and Panchayat Raj

Department of the state, will first focus on rural areas.

Karnataka launched a round-the-clock information and grievance helpline for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and

Scheduled Tribes (STs) across the state. ‘Kalyana Kendra’ (welfare centre) helpline will allow members of

these communities to get information on the state’s welfare programmes for them as well as register

complaints.

The helpline telephone number is 080-22634300 while Whatsapp and text messaging services can be accessed

on 9901100000.

Kerala Kerala, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Punjab have emerged as the top performers in the first

ever State Energy Efficiency Index released by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) with Kerala leading the chart.

Industry chamber CII said a task force chaired by its former President Kris Gopalakrishnan is working on

comprehensive relief for flood-affected in Kerala in coordination with the state and district administrations.

The Union Ministry of Earth Sciences has decided to set up a cyclone-warning centre in Thiruvananthapuram. At present, national weather forecaster India Meteorological Department (IMD) has cyclone warning centres

only in Chennai, Vishakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Mumbai.

HDFC Bank has announced that it will adopt 30 villages in flood-hit Kerala as part of its long-term relief and

rehabilitation efforts.This initiative is aimed at helping people in the worst-hit parts of the State recover.

Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan launched Dial 100 Mobile app, which will help the needy at the

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time of emergency. According to Chouhan, as soon as police receive the call through Dial 100 application,

Madhya Pradesh Police will reach the location as soon as possible.

In Madhya Pradesh, in a first of its kind initiative, “Mil -Banche”, an interactive programme between schools

and society is being organized in all government schools of the state.

Maharashtra A special film festival on the theme “Freedom Struggle and Freedom Fighters” was held in Mumbai,

Maharashtra on 15th August. The festival was organized by the Films Division to mark India’s 72nd

Independence Day.

Nearly two years after a resolution was passed in the Maharashtra Assembly, Chhatrapati Shivaji International

Airport has finally been rechristened as Chhatrapati Shivaji ‘Maharaj’ International Airport. Mumbai’s airport

was formerly known as Sahar International Airport. It was renamed as Chhatrapati Shivaji International

Airport in 1999.

Manipur

The Lok Sabha passed the National Sports University bill, 2017, which seeks to establish a National Sports

University in Manipur to promote sports education.

Odisha

The Odisha government would reward people on returning used bottles and Orissa State Cooperative Milk

Producers Federation (OMFED) polythene containers from October this year.

Union Minister for Oil and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan launched Prime Minister Narendra Modi

authored book ‘Exam Warriors’ in Odisha’s Bhubaneswar city in Odia language.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced a universal health scheme – Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) –in the state that will benefit 70 lakh families.

The Odisha Government has tied up with Japan for its mega investment Conclave 2018 to take place in

November this year. The state has already identified 600 acres near capital city Bhubaneswar that could serve

as a dedicated industrial park for Japanese investors.

While Japan will be ‘Country Partner’ to the Make in Odisha conclave, SBI is banking partner for the event.

The Odisha government is setting up a world-class interpretation centre at Dangamal near Bhitarkanika

National Park to showcase its efforts in protecting crocodiles and preserving its rich mangrove diversity.

CM Naveen Patnaik launched ‘My Heart Beats for Hockey’ campaign, a promotional event that aims to spread

the passion and love for the game ahead of the Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup 2018.

CM launched the ‘Mu Hero…Mu Odisha’ Campaign in Cuttack that aims to recognise exemplary works by Odia

boys and girls towards social transformation.

The Odisha government signed a memorandum of understanding with US-based ‘Malaria No More’ and India-

based Malaria Elimination Trust to curb Malaria menace in the state.

NSIC Integrated Marketing Development Centre for MSMEs inaugurated in Bhubaneshwar

Punjab

Punjab Minister announced that Punjab, the first state in India to launch a mobile app ‘i-Hariyali’ to supply free

saplings, has provided 13 lakh saplings to people through this endeavour so far.

Rajasthan Rajasthan has become the first Indian state to implement the national policy on biofuels unveiled by the centre

in May this year. High-power Biofuel Authority approved this implementation.

On the eve of Independence Day, the Rajasthan government will organise a human chain along the 650-km-

long Pakistan border under a programme, ‘Shahadat ko Salam’. The programme will be organised by the state

government with the help of Border Security Force and the Army on August 14.

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Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje announced that the state will observe September as the “month of nutrition” to

create awareness among people living in the state.

Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje inaugurated the Bhamashah Techno Hub in Jhalana Industrial Area of Jaipur.

She said the country’s biggest centre equipped with the ultra-modern technology will help around 700

entrepreneurs to work under one roof and realise their dreams.

Sikkim The Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve in Sikkim has become the 11th Biosphere Reserve from India that

has been included in the UNESCO designated World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR).

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami inaugurated ‘India’s tallest film studio’ built by Federation

of Film employees Union of South India on August 26 in Kalaignar city, Paiyanur. The studio is named after

former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran. Various floors in this studio will also get their names after former

Chief Ministers who were a part of the film industry.

CM E.Palanisamy launched an app and a website www.plasticpollutionfreetn.org on plastic pollution free

Tamilnadu. He announced the appointment of actors Suriya, Karthi, Jyothika and Vivek as brand ambassadors

of the state’s plastic-free Tamil Nadu campaign and to promote eco-friendly bags. The State Government has

announced that plastic will be banned from January 1 2019.

Telangana The government of Telangana signed MoUs with Tech Mahindra, Nucleus Vision and Eleven01 Foundation to

launch India’s first Blockchain District (Hyderabad), which will provide a complete ecosystem for the growth

of blockchain technology.

National Wildlife Genetic Resource Bank (NWGRB) was inaugurated at Centre for Cellular and Molecular

Biology’s (CCMB) Laboratory of Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES) facility in Hyderabad,

Telangana.

The 72nd Independence Day was celebrated in Telangana with the launch of two major schemes – free eye

screening for all citizens and life insurance for farmers.

Under ‘Kanti Velugu’, the entire population of 3.7 crore will be provided free eye care. The authorities will not

only conduct eye screening but will also provide free medicines, spectacles and arrange for free surgeries, if

required. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao also announced the implementation of another scheme, ‘Rytu

Bima’, aimed at providing life insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh to every farmer.

Tripura

In an effort to boost ties between India and Japan in the bamboo craft sector, a team from the Japanese

embassy in New Delhi and stakeholders in the bamboo handicraft sector of Tripura took part in a workshop

called ‘Bridging Japan and India by Bamboo’.

Uttarakhand The Uttarakhand High Court banned the commercial use of elephants in Corbett Tiger Reserve besides

restricting the number of vehicles entering its ranges in a day to 100.

Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah inaugurated the new Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction railway

station, which was earlier known as Mughalsarai.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched a defence

industrial corridor in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. The move is part of the government’s efforts to develop

specialised zones dedicated to defence production in the state. Six nodal points, Agra, Aligarh, Lucknow,

Kanpur, Chitrakoot and Jhansi have been identified in state for the corridor. Another defence corridor was also

launched in Tamil Nadu.

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West Bengal The city of Kolkata will be the venue for the next event of the ‘CuppaSchoola’ karate tournament, run by the

Indian Professional Karate Council (IPKC) and the Boutspro Ultimate Karate League.

Finance and Banking News The World Bank has priced the world’s first public bond created and managed using only blockchain in $100

million ($73.16 million) deal designed to test how the technology might improve decades-old bond sales

practices.

A central government report has ranked Punjab National Bank (PNB) as the best PSU bank in the overall digital

transactions category in India.

A major deadline in the process of resolving the country’s most pressing corporate and banking problem of

NPAs, or bad loans, ended on 27th August with the RBI having set a six-month time frame for finalising

resolution plans for around 70 large stressed accounts worth over Rs 3.8 lakh crore.

All the 1.55 lakh post offices in the country would be linked to the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) system by

December 31, 2018. The India Post Payments Bank is scheduled to be launched nation-wide on September 1.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for revision of the

project outlay for setting up of India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) from Rs. 800 crore to Rs. 1,435 crore. IPPB

services shall be available at 650 IPPB branches and 3250 Access Points from 1st September 2018 and in all

1.55 lakh post offices (Access Points) by December 2018.

Mauritius-based SBM Group has received Reserve Bank of India’s approval to operate in the country through a

wholly-owned subsidiary route — the first foreign lender to receive such a licence after local incorporation

was introduced in 2013.

French company IDEMIA has become the first company to be given the certification to manufacture and

personalise RuPay chip contact and contactless cards on the qSPARC v2 platform. The certification is issued by

the National Payments Corporation of India.

India’s co-operative banking sector is set to undergo a transformation with the concept of Umbrella

Organisation (UO) of Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs) seen as an answer to issues plaguing the sector.

Gujarat is the first State in the country to have an UO for the UCB sector.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will transfer Rs 50,000 crore as surplus to the central government for the year

ended June 30, 2018.

As many as 21 public sector banks (PSBs) and three major private sector lenders have collected a whopping Rs

5,000 crore from customers for non-maintenance of minimum balance in their accounts in 2017-18.

State Bank of India (SBI) launched the Multi-Option Payment Acceptance Device or MOPAD, a unified payment

option that accepts multiple payment methods. Under this, customers will be able to pay through credit or

debit cards, Bharat QR, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and SBI Buddy (e-wallet) at a Point of Sale (PoS)

terminal. This initiative aims at providing digital convenience to customers and ease of doing business for

merchants at the same time.

Country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) is considered to be the most patriotic brand, according to a

survey conducted by UK-based online market research and data analytics firm YouGov, followed by Tata

Motors, Patanjali, Reliance Jio and BSNL. Around 16% respondents ranked SBI to be the most patriotic brand

overall, followed by Tata Motors and Patanjali with 8% each, and Reliance Jio and BSNL with 6% each.

Axis Bank has become the first bank in the country to introduce Iris Scan Authentication feature for Aadhaar-

based transactions through its micro ATM tablets.

Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) has launched a new digital platform ‘MyDeal’ to simplify

capital raising process through capital markets by providing real-time access to information such as investors’

feedback, profiles, client orders and deal pricing.

DBS Bank has been named the world’s best bank by Global Finance magazine, in a reflection of its ability to

invest in digital innovation while still maintaining stable operations for its customers.

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DBS is the first Asian bank to receive the accolade from the New York-based publication, which last year gave

the title to ING Bank.

Karnataka Vikas Grameen Bank launched a new deposit scheme ‘Vikas Bonanza 456’, offering higher rate of

interest. The scheme is applicable to all segments of depositors.

Fino Payments Bank has been barred by the Reserve Bank of India from adding new customers since the end of

May 2018.

HDFC Life Insurance Company inked an agreement with Vijaya Bank to tap customers of the state-owned

lender.

Edelweiss Tokio Life insurance and Fincare Small Finance Bank (SFB) have announced a bancassurance

partnership. The stated aim is to push life insurance to the rural population.

Exim Bank of India has signed a multilateral cooperation agreement with member development banks of

BRICS to undertake “collaborative research” in distributed ledger/blockchain technology.

Bajaj Allianz General Insurance has entered into a bancassurance deal with Vijaya Bank. This corporate agency

agreement will enable distribution of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance products through the bank’s network of

2,129 branches across the country.

In an effort to offer hassle-free and seamless financing options to its customers, Bajaj Finance Ltd., the lending

arm of Bajaj Finserv along with RBL Bank Ltd. offer interest-free cash withdrawal facility for up to 50 days

through Bajaj Finserv RBL Bank SuperCard.

Airtel Payments Bank has tied up with Bharti Axa Life Insurance to offer the bank’s customers insurance cover

under the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY). With this, Airtel Payments Bank also becomes

the first payments bank in India to offer the Government of India-backed life insurance scheme.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hiked the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.50 percent while maintain neutral

stance on the stability in the market. The six member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) said that its decision

is consistent with the neutral stance of monetary policy in consonance with the objective of achieving the

medium-term target for consumer price index (CPI) inflation of 4 percent.

Highlighting the inflation, the MPC projected 4.6 percent in Q2FY19, 4.8 percent in H2 of FY19 and 5 percent in

Q1FY20. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel said that Monetary Policy committee (MPC) has

projected the GDP growth at 7.4% for this fiscal year as in the June statement.

Current Rates: Repo Rate: 6.50% Reverse Repo Rate: 6.25% Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) Rate: 6.75% Bank Rate: 6.75% Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR): 4% Statutory liquidity ratio (SLR): 19.5%

Business News Telecom major Bharti Airtel launched its “Bandwith on Demand” platform globally to enable businesses manage

bandwidth requirements on a real-time basis.

Bandhan Bank has surpassed YES Bank’s market capitalisation (market cap) to become the sixth most valuable

private sector bank and seventh most valued listed lender.

Reliance Industries announced that its telecom subsidiary Jio has entered into an MoU with State Bank of India

(SBI) to deepen their digital partnership.

PayPal, a global technology platform and digital payments leader, has announced its strategic partnership with

HDFC Bank to offer safer, faster and convenient payment experiences for the bank’s card holders.

Digital payments major Paytm announced the acquisition of Bengaluru-based smart-savings management start-

up Balance Tech for an undisclosed amount.

Paytm has partnered with Alibaba to start its cloud business in Bengaluru. This will provide AI tools to

developers, startups and enterprises with CRM, campaign management and payment solutions.

Retail giant Walmart Inc. acquired approximately 77 per cent stake in e-commerce major Flipkart. Remainder of

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the business is held by other shareholders, including Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, Tencent, Tiger Global

and Microsoft Corp.

The Competition Commission has cleared US retail giant Walmart’s proposed acquisition of Flipkart, a deal

estimated to be worth $16 billion. In May, Walmart announced acquisition of 77 per cent stake of Flipkart in its

biggest takeover till date.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the acquisition of food and agri products

manufacturer Ruchi Soya by consumer edible oils major Adani Wilmar.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has launched BSNL WINGS, a VOIP based service. In WINGS, there is no SIM or

cable wiring as is a VOIP service through an app. The WINGS service offers unlimited free audio/video calling for

one year.

Online retailer Flipkart has acquired AI-led speech recognition Liv.ai, in a bid to target the next 200 million

online shoppers.

Online retailer Flipkart has launched an independent platform for refurbished products, starting with a mobile

site. Called ‘2GUD’, the platform initially offers smartphones, laptops, tablets and electronic accessories, with

large appliances to be added soon. Prices will vary from 50-80% of the original product’s price depending on the

level of certification.

Digital marketplace for financial services Freecharge has announced the launch of a new category of service

offering in partnership with AbhiBus.

The merger of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular is complete after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)

approved the merger, creating India’s largest telecom operator with over 400 million subscribers. Now -

Vodafone Idea Limited

Economy News The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council in its meeting decided to start a pilot project to give 20 per cent

cashback of the GST paid to incentivise digital payment in the country.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has emerged as the top source of inward remittances, while Kerala has

received the maximum funds sent from abroad, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s survey of inward

remittances for 2016-17.

India’s foreign exchange (Forex) reserves plunged by $1.82 billion during the week ended August 10. According

to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) weekly statistical supplement, the overall forex reserves plunged to $400.88

billion from $402.70 billion reported for the week ended August 3.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) drastically cut the timeline for listing of debt securities to 6

days from 12 days at present. This will make the existing process of issuance of such securities simpler and cost-

effective. The new rule would be applicable for all public issues of debt securities from October 1, 2018.

All India Financial Inclusion Survey (NAFIS), conducted by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural

Development (NABARD), revealed that farm households register higher income than the families solely

dependent on non-farm livelihood activities in rural areas.

The Receivables Exchange of India (RXIL) (Headquarters – Mumbai, Maharashtra) said that the Hindustan

Aeronautics (HAL) has become the first public sector enterprise to make a transaction on the “TReDS platform”.

No ATM will be replenished with cash after 9pm in cities and 6pm in rural areas from next year, and two armed

guards will accompany crisp notes in transit as per a new directive issued by the home ministry.

The deadline for putting money in the ATMs located in Maoist-hit areas is 4 pm while private cash handling

agencies must collect money from the banks in the first half of the day and transport notes only in armoured

vehicles.

The new Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) would come into effect from February 8, 2019 in view of the

spurt in incidents of attacks on cash vans, cash vaults, ATM frauds and other internal frauds leading to increased

sense of insecurity.

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Individual city, region and company commitments in India could reduce emissions to 225-255 MtCO2e/year by

2030, more than the emissions generated by the country’s industrial processes in 2014, a new international

study said on 30 August. The study comes from Data-Driven Yale, New Climate Institute, PBL Environmental

Assessment Agency in partnership with CDP and is the most comprehensive assessment to date of sub-national

commitments to reduce greenhouse gases.

FDI In Country Rises 23% To About 13 Billion Dollars In 1st Quarter. Singapore was the largest source of FDI

during April to June quarter with 6.52 billion dollars.

India’s economy is expected to clock GDP growth of 7.5% in this financial year according to a Morgan Stanley report. The growth recovery will remain robust, supported initially by consumption and exports.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), India’s GDP is poised to grow by 7.3 per cent in the 2018-

19 fiscal and 7.5 per cent in 2019-20 on strengthening of investment and robust private consumption.

The Indian economy is expected to grow at 7.4% in the current fiscal, higher than the previous year, according to

Ficci’s Economic Outlook Survey.

India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has revised down its FY19 economic growth forecast to 7.2% from 7.4% earlier.

India’s current account deficit (CAD) is expected to widen to 2.8 percent of the GDP in this financial year, says a

Nomura report.

Indian economy clocked double digit growth in 2006-07: The new estimates released by a government

constituted committee suggest that GDP growth in the period 2004-05 to 2011-12 may have been higher than

reckoned earlier. According to the report, the growth of the Indian economy is 0.3 to 0.5 percentage points

higher for each year.

The country’s GDP is expected to grow by 7.7% in the April-June quarter on the back of a pick-up in leading

indicators like cement production, sale of vehicles and bank credit, according to State Bank of India (SBI).

Global credit ratings firm Moody’s Investors Service expects the Indian economy to grow by around 7.5% in

2018 and 2019.

State Bank of India said it has ‘set its house in order’ and the credit growth is expected to see 10 per cent growth

by the end of the current fiscal.

The Reserve Bank expects India’s economic growth rate to grow at 7.4% in the current financial year on pick up

in industrial activity and good monsoon.

India’s GDP grew at 8.2 per cent in 2018-19 Q1, government data showed on 31 August.

Science & Technology Google has released its latest version of Android Opera ting System — Android 9 Pie, which harnesses the

power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to predict how users would like to experience their devices while offering a

smoother navigation system and an easier way to track and limit usage of apps.

After nearly twenty years, the record of the most distant radio galaxy ever discovered has been broken. A team

led by Leiden PhD student Aayush Saxena has found a radio galaxy from a time when the universe was only 7%

of its current age, at a distance of 12 billion light years. The team used the Giant Meter wave Radio Telescope

(GMRT) in India to initially identify the radio galaxy. The distance to this galaxy was then determined using the

Gemini Telescope on Hawaii and the Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona by measuring the redshift of the

galaxy.

NASA launched its historic small car-size probe to “touch the Sun” from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in

Florida. The probe is named after Eugene Parker, a solar physicist who in 1958 first predicted the existence of

the solar wind, the stream of charged particles and magnetic fields that flow continuously from the Sun.

The launch of the Parker Solar Probe will set it on a journey all the way to the Sun’s atmosphere, or corona —

closer to the Sun than any spacecraft in history.

Indian space agency ISRO will launch GSAT-32 satellite in October 2019 to replace GSAT-6A which stopped

communicating a few days after its launch on March 29.

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The lander on the Chandrayaan-2 mission, which is scheduled to be launched in January 2019 will be named

‘Vikram’ after Vikram Sarabhai, the father of Indian space programme. The Indian Space Research Organisation

(ISRO) has got clearance from the space commission.

After conquering the moon and Mars, the India Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has set its sights on

the sun with the Aditya-L1 mission. (ISRO) chairman K Sivan announced that Aditya-L1, India’s maiden

mission to the Sun, will be launched in 2019. The main aim of the solar mission is to improve our

understanding of “dynamical processes of the sun,” and help resolve some outstanding questions in solar

physics.

For the first time, India’s space agency is planning to put an Indian astronaut for seven days in space at a cost

less than Rs 10,000 crore as part of its manned mission by 2022, ISRO Chairman K. Sivan announced.

NASA is launching a laser-armed satellite that will measure in unprecedented detail changes in the heights of

Earth’s polar ice to understand what is causing ice sheets to melt fast. In recent years, contributions of melt

from the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica alone have raised global sea level by more than a millimeter a

year, accounting for approximately one-third of observed sea level rise, and the rate is increasing. Called the

Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2), the mission is scheduled to be launched from Vandenberg

Air Force Base in California in September.

Defence News An indigenously designed and developed landing gear for the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-Rustom II has

been successfully tested. The landing gear developed by a Defence Research and Development Organisation

(DRDO) laboratory has undergone low-speed and high-speed taxi trial in Chitradurga, Karnataka.

India successfully test-fired the endo-atmospheric Advanced Air Defence (AAD) interceptor missile, which is a

part of the country’s ballistic missile defence (BMD) shield against a multiple target scenario.

The indigenously developed Helicopter launched Anti-Tank Guided Missile ‘HELINA’ was successfully flight

tested from an Army Helicopter in Rajasthan’s Pokhran. HeliNA stands for Helicopter-launched Nag and is a

variant of the Nag anti-tank guided missile which is launched from land.

India has successfully test-fired indigenously designed and developed long-range precision-guided anti-airfield

bomb that was dropped from an Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft. The Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon (SAAW)

system was successfully tested at the Chandan firing range in Rajasthan.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Exercise began to bring Indian and Pakistani militaries to

participate for the first time in a joint exercise under the anti-terror setting.

The six-day SCO Exercise, which has brought the two countries together for the Exercise Peaceful Mission

2018, will continue till August 29 at Chebarkul town in Chelyabinsk Oblast in Russia.

The Indian army has conducted the final co-ordinating conference for the Joint Military Exercise (MILEX-18) in

Pune. MILEX-18 will be held at the Foreign Training Node at Aundh Military Station in Pune, Maharashtra in

September.

In an effort to foster a spirit of friendship and take defence ties to a new level, Armies of India and Thailand

have started joint exercise “Maitree 2018” from August 6 in Chachoengsao Province of Thailand. The two-week

long platoon level military exercise called ‘Exercise Maitree 2018’ in Jammu & Kashmir’s Srinagar.

It was decided to step up military-to-military engagement by commencing bilateral navy exercises. In addition,

both countries will explore enhancement of ongoing joint exercises, the MAITREE counter-insurgency and

counter- terrorism Army Exercise as well as their SIAM BHARAT Air Force exercise.

After having been deployed to the South China Sea and Pacific Ocean for over four months, which included

representing Indian Navy in multinational exercises MALABAR 18 at Guam and RIMPAC 18 at Hawaii, INS

Sahyadri entered the Port of Darwin, Australia on 29 Aug 18 to participate in Exercise KAKADU 2018.

The multi-purpose Barak 8 missile defence system, jointly developed by India and Israel, will be procured by

the Israeli Navy to protect its economic zones and strategic facilities from diversified threats and the sales for

it have exceeded USD 5 billion. Barak-8 is an operational air and missile defense system used by the Israeli

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Navy as well as by the Indian Navy and air forces.

The first-ever joint air exercise involving the Indian Air Force and the Royal Malaysian Air Force commenced at

Subang Air Base in Malaysia.It is the inaugural bilateral exercise between IAF & RMAF.The exercise seeks to

deepen defense and military ties between the two countries. The exercise in Malaysia will be called Exercise

Elang Shakti.

Sports News

Tournament Winner Other Info

8th Women’s Hockey World Cup title Netherlands Beat Ireland [held in Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre, London (England)]

SAFF U-15 Championship (Women) India Beat Bangladesh (Tournament held at Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu, Bhutan)

FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup France 2018

Japan Beat Spain

Cincinnati Masters 2018 (2018 Western & Southern Open)

Novak Djokovic Beat Roger Federer

Rogers Cup 2018 Rafael Nadal Belgian Grand Prix 2018 Sebastian Vettel Beat Lewis Hamilton

Sports Former India off-spinner Ramesh Powar has been officially appointed head coach of the women’s national

team until the ICC World T20 scheduled for November 2018.

Former India opener Lalchand Rajput has been appointed as the head coach of Zimbabwe National Cricket team.

India football team captain Sunil Chhetri has been adjudged the Best Sportsperson of the Country by the

Calcutta Sports Journalists’ Club.

Veteran Indian pacer Jhulan Goswami has decided to call it quits from Twenty-20 Internationals (T20Is). Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra won a gold medal in the Savo Games in Lapinlahti, Finland. Indian golfer Viraj Madappa won his maiden title on the Asian Tour at Take Solutions Masters in Bengaluru as

he carded a four-under 67 in the fourth and final round to claim a two-shot victory.

Ace Indian shuttler P V Sindhu finished second best yet again in a major tournament final as she went down

tamely to Carolina Marin of Spain in the World Championships’ women’s singles title clash at Nanjing, China.

Sports Minister of India, Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, launched the Rugby World Cup 2019 Trophy Tour in

India, welcoming the Webb Ellis Cup to Delhi. This is the coveted trophy’s first visit to India as part of the

Rugby World Cup 2019 Trophy Tour, which is visiting 18 nations in the countdown to Japan 2019, the first

Rugby World Cup to be played in Asia.

India’s under-20 team won over Argentina under-20 in the final group stage match of the COTIF Cup held in

Valencia’s Els Arcs Stadium. India was playing in the tournament for the first time.

Indian football team have climbed one spot to attain the 96th position in the recently updated FIFA rankings in

August 2018.

International Master Nihal Sarin became the 53rd Grandmaster of India despite losing his final round game to

Richard Rapport of Hungary in the ninth and final round of Abu Dhabi Masters.

R Vaishali has became India’s latest Woman Grandmaster (WGM).

23rd Asian Athletics Championships will be held in Qatar’s capital city of Doha, from April 19 to April 24, 2019.

The six-day competition will be held at the Khalifa International Stadium.

India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar withstood intense pressure and produced one of the best shots of the week on the

17th hole which eventually sealed his ninth Asian Tour win at the Fiji International golf tournament in Fiji.

India skipper Virat Kohli topped the ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen, riding on his brilliant century

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against England in the opening Test at Edgbaston.

Women’s Hockey World Cup: India have jumped a place to be 9th in the world rankings announced by

International Hockey Federation (FIH).

A facial recognition system will be used across an Olympics for the first time as Tokyo organizers work to keep

security tight and efficient at dozens of venues during the 2020 Games.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) have signed an

agreement for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to host the prestigious Asia Cup 2018 scheduled to take place in

September.

Former Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. The

36- year-old, who bid adieu to international cricket in November 2015, said that he had hoped to continue

playing for domestic T20 leagues, but his body has started to shut down.

Teen cyclist Esow Alben has created history by claiming India’s first ever medal – a silver- at the UCI Junior

Track Cycling World Championships in Aigle, Switzerland.

Serena Williams was the highest paid female athlete for a third consecutive year in 2018, according to an

annual list published by Forbes.

The Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) appointed former batting stalwart Rashmi Ranjan Parida as the coach of

the Odisha cricket team.

Mohammad Irfan has set a new world record of being the most economical bowler in the T20 cricket while

playing for Barbados Tridents in the ongoing 2018 Caribbean Premier League (CPL).

The 2019 Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships will be held in the North Korean capital

Pyongyang.

Former wicketkeeper Mohan Chaturvedi has been named as replacement for Rajat Bhatia in the senior

selection committee of the Delhi and District Cricket Association.

New Zealand spinner Morna Nielsen has announced her retirement from all forms of cricket as she aims to

shift her focus on being a structural engineer.

England’s Jamie Vardy retireed from international football.

Veteran German striker Mario Gomez has announced his retirement from international football. Asian Games

2018 begin with explosive opening ceremony in Jakarta

The 2018 Asian Games began on August 18 with a grand opening ceremony at Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The 18th Asian Games held in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang and this was the first time the

Asian Games are co-hosted in two cities. The Indonesian capital of Jakarta hosted the Games earlier in 1962.

Palembang is the capital of the South Sumatra Province.

Javelin Thrower Neeraj Chopra was India’s flag-bearer at the glittering opening ceremony.

Motto of the games is “Energy of Asia”

2022 Asian Games will be held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.

China led the medal table for the tenth consecutive time. It won a total of 289 medals including 132 Gold, 92

Silver and 65 Bronze medals.

Japanese swimmer Rikako Ikee was announced as the most valuable player (MVP) of the Games.

India brought home a total of 69 medals – 15 gold, 24 silver and 30 bronze from the Asian Games 2018 in

Indonesia to surpass the medal count from 2010 Games in Guangzhou, China. This is also India’s best ever

overall medal tally, equalling country’s joint-best effort at the Asian Games since the inaugural edition in 1951.

The total of 24 silver medals is also the highest ever in Asiad history for India.

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Here is a list of all the Indian athletes who have won a medal at the 2018 Asian Games.

Player Sport Category Medal Bajrang Punia Wrestling Men's Freestyle 65 kg Gold Vinesh Phogat Wrestling Women's Freestyle 50 kg Gold Saurabh Chaudhary Shooting Men's 10m Air Pistol Gold Rahi Jeevan Sarnobat Shooting Women's 25m Pistol Gold India Men's team Rowing Men's Quadruple sculls Gold Rohan Manchanda Bopanna/Divij Sharan Tennis Men's doubles Gold Tajinderpal Singh Toor Athletics Men's Shot put Gold Neeraj Chopra Athletics Men's Javelin throw Gold Manjit Singh Athletics Men's 800m Gold Arpinder Singh Athletics Men's Triple jump Gold Swapna Barman Athletics Women's Heptathlon Gold Jinson Johnson Athletics Men's 1500m Gold India Women's team Athletics Women's 4 x 400m Relay Gold Amit Boxing Men's Light Fly (49kg) Gold Pranab Bardhan/Shibnath Sarkar Bridge Men's Pair Gold Deepak Kumar Shooting 10m Air Rifle Men Silver Lakshay Sheoran Shooting Trap Men Silver Sanjeev Rajput Shooting Men's 50m Rifle Silver Shardul Vihan Shooting Men Double Trap Silver India Women's team Kabaddi Women's Team Silver Hima Das Athletics Women's 400m Silver Yahiya Muhammed Anas Athletics Men's 400m Silver Dutee Chand Athletics Women's 100m Silver India Men's team Equestrian - Jumping Eventing Team Jumping Silver Fouaad Mirza Equestrian - Jumping Eventing Individual Jumping Silver Dharun Ayyasamy Athletics Men's 400m Hurdles Silver Sudha Singh Athletics Women's 3000m Steeplechase Silver Neena Varakil Athletics Women's Long jump Silver India Men's team Archery Men's Compound Team Silver India Women's team Women's Compound Team Archery Silver Jinson Johnson Athletics Men's 800m Silver Pincky Balhara Kurash Women's -52kg Silver India Mixed team Athletics Mixed 4 x 400m Relay Silver P. V Sindhu Badminton Women's singles Silver Dutee Chand Athletics Women's 200m Silver India Men's team Athletics Men's 4 x 400m Relay Silver Gautham Varsha/Sweta Shervegar Sailing Women 49er FX Silver India Women's team Field hockey Women's Tournament Silver India Women's team Squash Women's Team Silver Apurvi Chandela/Ravi Kumar Shooting 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team Bronze Abhishek Verma Shooting Men's 10m Air Pistol Bronze India Men's team Divya Kakran

Sepak takraw Wrestling Men's Team Regu Women's Freestyle 68 kg

Bronze Bronze

Naorem Roshibina Devi Wushu Women's Sanda -60kg Bronze Santosh Kumar Wushu Men's Sanda -56kg Bronze Surya Bhanu Partap Singh Wushu Men's Sanda -60kg Bronze Grewal Narender Wushu Men's Sanda -65kg Bronze Ankita Raina Tennis Women's singles Bronze India Men's team Kabaddi Men's Team Bronze Dushyant Rowing Men's Lightweight Single Sculls Bronze Rohit Kumar/Bhagwan Singh Rowing Men's Lightweight double sculls Bronze Heena Sidhu Shooting Women 10m Air Pistol Bronze Prajnesh Prabhakharan Tennis Men's singles Bronze Dipika Pallikal Squash Women's Singles Bronze

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Joshana Chinappa Squash Women's Singles Bronze Saurav Ghosal Squash Men's Singles Bronze India Mixed team Bridge Mixed Team Bronze India Men's team Bridge Men's Team Bronze Saina Nehwal Badminton Women's singles Bronze India Men's team Table tennis Men's team Bronze Malaprabha Yallappa Jadhav Kurash Women's -52kg Bronze Sharath Kamal Achanta/Manika Batra Table tennis Mixed Doubles Bronze Seema Punia throw

Athletics Women's Discus Bronze

Chitra Palakeezh Unnikrishnan Athletics Women's 1500m Bronze India Men's team Squash Men's Team Bronze Harshita Tomar Sailing Open Laser 4.7 Bronze Varun Thakkar/Ganapathy Chengappa Sailing Men 49er Bronze Vikas Krishnan Boxing Men's Middle (75kg) Bronze India Men's team Field hockey Men's Tournament Bronze

Committee

Head of Committee Purpose

Shiv Pratap Shukla Committee to look after the issues of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)

Suresh Prabhu The government has set up a four-member group of ministers (GoM) headed by trade minister Suresh Prabhu to advise prime minister Narendra Modi on whether to continue with or withdraw from the 16-member Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations.

Somnath Bharti To tackle the growing menace of stray dogs and monkeys in the state, the Delhi Assembly constituted a five-member committee for the same.

B Sesikeran The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has decided to form a three- member committee to look into the draft food labelling and display regulations. The regulations have proposed making red colour-coded labels mandatory on packaged food products which are high in fat, sugar and salt contents.

S J Vazifdar The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has appointed former Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice S J Vazifdar as head of a three-member committee to decide mining company Vedanta’s plea challenging closure of its Sterlite copper plant at Tuticorin.

K Vijay Raghavan The central government constituted a new 21-member advisory panel on science, technology and innovation under the chairmanship of Principal Scientific Advisor, K Vijay Raghavan, that will also co-ordinate the implementation of programmes through various bodies. The panel, called the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC) will replace the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Prime Minister and to the Cabinet.

Central government has constituted a coordination committee headed by the Narendra Kumar, Central Water

Commission (CWC) Chairman to coordinate the discharge of floodwaters from inter-State projects involving

Kerala and Tamil Nadu, including Mullaperiyar and Aliyar. The committee will monitor the situation at

Mullaperiyar dam in view of rising water level and continued heavy inflow.

Rankings Index India’s Rank Other Information

Global Innovation Index (GII) 2018 57th 1st – Switzerland. Global Innovation Index 2018 was launched in New Delhi this year.

The Austrian capital of Vienna is ranked first in the Economist Intelligence Units’ (EIU) latest Global Liveability

Survey, which found 68 cities to have improved their rankings over the last year with declines in just nine

cities. New Delhi at 112 rank topped among six South Asian cities with Mumbai following at position 117.

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Rankings (Persons, Cities, Organizations and Others) Pune is the most liveable city, followed closely by Navi Mumbai and Greater Mumbai in a ranking of 111 Indian

cities with the national capital ranked at a lowly 65 on the Ease of Living Index released by the government. The

Ease of Living Index was launched by Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

Jodhpur and Marwar in Rajasthan were declared the cleanest railway stations, while Varanasi, the prime

minister’s Lok Sabha constituency, slipped to the 69th position in the third cleanliness survey released on 13th

August 2018.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led telecom startup Reliance Jio has been ranked number one on Fortune’s global

list for rapidly expanding access to the Internet.

The Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) has emerged as the second fastest growing airport in the world in

the first half of 2018 in terms of actual growth in number of passengers. Only Haneda International has bettered

KIA’s growth. New Delhi’s airport is placed 6th while Hyderabad is placed 17th in terms of actual growth of

passengers.

Loans from Banks

From To Amount Purpose

NABARD Haryana Rs 772 crore For eight water projects in the rural areas of Haryana

German bank KfW

Rural Electrification Corporation (REC)[India]

EUR 200 million

The fund will be used to finance clean energy projects in India.

World Bank India Rs 929.89 crore

World Bank has approved this financial assistance for a water supply and sewerage project for the state capital Himachal Pradesh, Shimla.

Asian Development Bank (ADB)

India USD 346 million

Loan agreement to finance improvement of over 400 kilometers of state highways that will enhance connectivity and access to economic centres across 12 districts in Karnataka.

ADB India USD 375 million

For expanding irrigation networks and system efficiency in Madhya Pradesh. The project will support the efforts of government of Madhya Pradesh for irrigation expansion and modernisation plan by maximising irrigation efficiency and water productivity.

World Bank India USD 300 million

They signed 220 million dollar Loan Agreement and an 80 million Guarantee Agreement for the Efficiency Scale-Up Program.

Books Book Author Other Info

The Unending Game: A Former R&AW Chief’s Insights into Espionage

Vikram Sood Vikram Sood is the former head of India’s foreign intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing from 2000 to 2003. The book covers some of the most exciting aspects of intelligence failures and successes.

“The Book of Untold Stories”

Actress Manisha Koirala

Manisha, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2012, will reportedly be authoring the book about the experience of surviving the illness.

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281 and Beyond Cricketer VVS Laxman

Westland Publications will release the former Indian cricketer’s autobiography.

Atal Ji Ne Kaha Brijendra Rehi “Atal Ji Ne Kaha” is the latest of the books on the BJP patriarch and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee launched with a message by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who says the life of the stalwart from Jana Sangh days to “sanyas” from politics in 2007 is a golden document, dedicated to the nation.

Australian Spin legend Shane Warne will talk about his extraordinary cricketing career and his life off the pitch besides unveiling several unknown facts in his autobiography. His memoir “No Spin” will have a global release on October 4.

Minister of State for Culture Mahesh Sharma released three books, including one on “secret broadcasts” during

the Quit India movement, at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA). The books are titled

“Jewellery: A Scientific Study of Social Tradition”, “Ghats of Banaras” and “Untold Story of Broadcasting”.

“Untold Story of Broadcasting” authored by historian Gautam Chatterjee, is about hidden developments during

the 1942 Quit India movement — the “secret broadcasts” of the time — and the contribution of political leader

Ram Manohar Lohia in the movement.

The second book, “Jewellery”, written by author-journalist Gulab Kothari, examines a ritualistic use of

jewellery worn on occasions, and the meaning of possessing jewellery in an Indian context.

Another book, “Ghats of Banaras” has been co-authored by IGNCA Cultural Informatics Director Pratapanand

Jha and Sachidanand Joshi. It is a monograph highlighting the importance of ghats, and is derived out of a

documentation conducted at Varanasi.

Congress MP Kapil Sibal will be releasing a new book titled “Shades of Truth: A Journey Derailed” arguing that

the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government “revels in the past” and debunking the claim of “Acche

Din” that the BJP made in the run up to 2014 general elections.

Obituaries

Name Profession Other Info

M. Karunanidhi Politician Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President (DMK - political party in the state of Tamil Nadu and Union Territory of Puducherry)

Somnath Chatterjee Politician Former Lok Sabha Speaker

RK Dhawan Politician Balramji Dass Tandon Politician He was the then Chhattisgarh Governor

Gurudas Kamat Politician Kuldip Nayar Journalist

Mony K. Mathew Journalist He retired as senior assistant editor at The Hindu- BusinessLine

Umbayee Malayalam Ghazal singer

Chemmanam Chacko Malayalam poet He was noted Malayalam poet and Sahitya Akademi awarde

Krishna Shripadrao Deshpande

Library scientist

Sumatheendra Nadig Kannada writer Sujata Kumar Actress Debu Bose Odia Actor Hakkam Singh Player Former Indian hockey player

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Ajit Wadekar Player Former India cricket captain Gopal Bose Player Former India One-Day International (ODI) cricketer

Jarrod Lyle Australian Golfer V.S. Naipaul Author British novelist and Nobel Prize winner for

Literature Aretha Franklin American Singer

Uri Avnery Israeli Journalist And Peace Activist

Kofi Annan Ghanaian diplomat Former UN Secretary-General and Nobel Prize Laureate

John McCain Politician Served as a United States Senator

Neil Simon American playwright

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee passed away on 16th August 2018 in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi after a long illness. The 93-year-old BJP leader was suffering from multiple ailments.

About Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Born in the family of a humble school teacher on December 25, 1924, in Gwalior Madhya Pradesh, Vajpayee entered politics during the Quit India movement in 1942.

Three-time Prime Minister, Vajpayee was the first and the only non-Congress Prime Minister to serve a full five- year term from 1999 to 2004; and for short periods of 13 days in 1996 and 13 months in 1998.

Vajpayee was elected to Lok Sabha from Lucknow in 1991, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2004. He was elected to the Lok Sabha seven times and twice to the Rajya Sabha. He was the first external affairs minister to deliver a speech in the UN Assembly in Hindi. He was conferred India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, by the President of India, Pranab

Mukherjee in 2015. He was also conferred Padma Vibhushan in 1992. The Modi government declared in 2014 that Vajpayee’s birthday, 25 December, would be marked as Good

Governance Day. Apart from politician with great oratory skills, Vajpayee was also an acclaimed writer who wrote several

poems. His poems include – Meri Ikyavana Kavitaem (1995), Meri Ikyavana Kavitaem (Hindi Edition, 1995), Sreshtha

Kabita (1997), Nayi Disha – An Album with Jagjit Singh (1995), Kya Khoya Kya Paya: Atal Bihari Vajapeyi, Vyaktitva Aur Kavitaem (Hindi Edition, 1999), Samvedna – An Album with Jagjit Singh (1995), Twenty-One Poems (2003).

Some of his books are as – India’s Foreign Policy: New Dimensions (1977), Assam Problem: Repression no Solution (1981), Atal Bihari Vaj Mem Tina Dasaka (1992), Pradhan Mantri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ke Chune Hue Bhashana (2000), Values, Vision & Verses of Vajpayee: India’s Man of Destiny (2001), National Integration (1961), Dynamics of an Open Society (1977), Kucha Lekha, Kucha Bhashana (1996), Sekyularavada: Bharatiya Parikalpana (Da. Rajendra Prasada Smaraka Vyakhyanamala) (1996), Rajaniti ki Rapatili Rahem (1997), Back to Square One (1998), Decisive Days (1999), Sakti Se Santi (1999), India’s Perspectives on ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific Region (2003)

Announcements done after his death In a tribute to former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Yogi Adityanath led BJP government has decided to

name proposed Bundelkhand Expressway as “Atal Path” in the memory of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari

Vajpayee. The Expressway will pass through Bateshwar, Agra, the ancestral village of the former PM.

Following are the places in Jharkhand which will be renamed:

o Under the Health Care and Family Welfare Department, Medical College Palamu will be renamed as Atal

Bihari Vajpayee Medical College, Palamu.

o Under Transport (Civil Aviation) Dept. Jharkhand and Shipping Ministry Government of India,

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Sahibganj Harbour will be renamed as Atal Bihari Vajpayee Harbour Sahibganj.

o Under the Transport Dept. Jharkhand and Civil Aviation, Government of India, it has been

recommended that the under-construction Deoghar Airport is named as Atal Bihari Vajpayee Airport

Deoghar.

o Under High Technical Education and Skill Department, Professional College Jamshedpur is renamed as

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Professional College Jamshedpur. Under Urban Development and Housing

Department (under construction) Convention Centre Ranchi is to be renamed as Atal Convention

Centre Ranchi.

o Under IT and Governance Dept. Jharkhand Innovation Lab will be renamed as Atal Innovation Live. The

8- lane road from GOI Building to Kako Math in Dhanbad district will be named as Atal Marg.

AIIMS Mangalagiri (Andhra Pradesh) will be named after former PM of India, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi announced that the School of Management and

Entrepreneurship will be renamed to Atal Bihari Vajpayee School of Management and Entrepreneurship.