31-October

‘Prosperity Index’ ranking of 142 countries compiled by London-based Legatum Institute. 1. Norway 2. Switzerland 3. Canada 4. Sweden 5. New Zealand 51. China 60. Sri lanka 102. Nepal 103. Bangladesh 106. India from 101 India has developed a new tactical surface-to-surface missile ‘Pragati’ with a range between 60-170 km is based on the Prahaar missile developed by the DRDO for the Army The world’s first Bitcoin ATM machine which can exchange digital currency - Bitcoins -for any official currency has launched in Vancouver, Canada on 29 October 2013. The ATM machine, named Robocoin India has given Bhutan one hundred crore rupees as assistance for the new government ’s stimulus plan. India’s Ambassador to Bhutan V. P Haran Eurozone inflation in October dropped to 0.7% due to steep fall in energy prices, its lowest since February 2010. Core inflation, which does not include energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, also fell from an annual rate of 1.4% to 1.1%. 24-October United Nations’ Day is celebrated today since 1948. The theme of this year is-‘Partnerships for Global Progress’.

Martha Dodray was selected by the United Nations Foundation (UNF) for her extraordinary work to eradicate polio.

World Development Information Day is observed today 1972

Yahoo acquires image-recognition startup LookFlow

Manna Dey died in a Bangalore hospital yesterday. He was 94.

GIRO Advisory Group (GAG) to implement a national Indian Bill Payment System. which is headed by Prof. Umesh Bellur, Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

A CBI court here yesterday sentenced former Chairman and Managing Director of Indian Bank M Gopalakrishnan

the world’s best multinational company to work for 1. Google 2. software developer SAS Institute 3. network storage provider NetApp 4. Microsoft 5. W.L Gore & Associates 6. Kimberly-Clark personal and household goods maker 7. hospitality giant Marriott 8. consumer goods firm Diageo 9. National Instruments 10. IT company Cisco Sebi has disqualified Cals Refineries from issuing equity shares and any other security for a further eight years, as the company was found guilty in a case involving irregularities in issuance of Global Depository Receipts (GDRs). Carol Burnett Honoured With the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor The Reserve Bank has received till date USD 10.1 billion under the special concessional window for swapping Foreign Currency Non-Resident (Banks) Deposits and Overseas Foreign Currency Borrowings swap fresh FCNR(B) dollar funds, mobilised for a minimum tenor of three years, at a fixed rate of 3.5 per cent per annum for the tenor of the deposit. Moscow hosted the 14th India-Russia Annual Summit. Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh and the President of Russia Vladimir Putin co-chaired the summit. GAIL signed a Gas Cooperation Agreement (GCA) with the Department of Industries, Government of Bihar for development of natural gas infrastructure and city gas network in Bihar. GAIL Chairman and Managing Director- B.C. Tripathi GAIL is laying a 2,050 kilometre gas pipeline from Haldia in West Bengal to Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh, of which about 621 km will pass through 14 districts of Bihar. The Government of India said it has allocated Rs 2,000 crore to State Bank of India and Rs 1,800 crore to IDBI Bank as part of its plan to infuse Rs 14,000 crore in fresh capital to 20 public sector banks.

Tata-SIA Airlines—the joint venture with Tata Group holding a controlling 51% stake and Singapore Airlines with 49%. The new airline will be launched with an initial investment of USD 100 million that would include a foreign direct investment component of USD 49 million.

The Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) and YES Bank have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) yesterday to explore avenues for mutually beneficial knowledge sharing in food processing and agricultural sectors.

the brand ambassador for Philips- Ranbir Kapoor

The Sports Ministry and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) have launched ‘India Sports 2014′ at the 5th Global Sports Summit to promote sports among youth in India.

India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra) expects India's GDP growth to remain sluggish at 4.9 per cent in the current financial year, due to a mix of domestic and external factors. Lawrence R Klein developed the statistical models there known as the Wharton Models which got him his Nobel Prize in 1980 in Economics The India’s first spacecraft PSLV-C 25 is scheduled for launch on November 5th from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. ISRO Director for Publicity D P Karnik

23-October

Sakharov Prize- Mayanmar’s opposition political party leader Aung Suu Kyi

India Post has released a commemorative postage stamp on the Golden Jubilee of Bhakra Dam yesterday.

Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio Infocomm received unified licence on Monday

Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) marked its re-entry into India after five years by opening a branch in Mumbai. In 2008, BII was bought over by Malaysia-based Maybank, which holds 88 per cent in BII. Rahardja Alimhamzah, Managing Director, BII

Canara Bank has signed a MoU with industry body CII to facilitate cheaper credit access to micro, small and medium enterprises.

22-October

the country’s top business destination as per a new survey, conducted by Global Initiative for Restructuring Environment and Management (GIREM) and real estate consultancy firm DTZ. 1. Bangalore 2. Chennai 3. Mumbai 4. Pune 5. Indore 6. Bhubaneswar 7. Coimbatore 8. Ahmedabad

9. Nagpur 10. Kochi Tata Steel on 21 October 2013 won a new contract to supply Britain's Network Rail with more than 95 percent of its rails for at least five years. The 2nd meeting of the India- Philippines joint commission on bilateral cooperation was held on 21 October 2013 in Manila. the Albert F. Del Rosario, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Philippines the Salman Khurshid, Minister of External Affairs of the of India. Chief Justice of Madras High Court- Justice Rajesh Kumar Agrawal

the president of the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF)- Rajya Sabha MP Kanwar Deep Singh

Bhavina Hashmukhbhai Patel became the first Indian to win silver at the 2013 ITTF Para table tennis Asian regional championships in Beijing yesterday. Bhavina lost to top-seed Zhang Miao of China

21-October

Canara Bank, Pune Circle has launched a CASA Carnival in all its branches in Pune and in 14 districts of Maharashtra, to mobilise Savings and Current Accounts through door-to-door and shop-to-shop campaign.

TATA with Singapore Airlines(SIA) are making the initial investment of USD 100 million to launch the airline,which may take off next year, after getting all clearances.

India's Revenue Secretary- Sumit Bose Chairman of Bangladesh National Revenue Board Muhammad Ghulam Hossain Fortune Top 50 Women Business Leaders-2013 1. Petrobras' CEO Maria Das Gracas Foster 2. Turkish conglomerate Sabanci Holding's Guler Sabanci 3. Australian banking giant Westpac's CEO Gail Kelly 4. ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar 17. National Stock Exchange chief Chitra Ramkrishna 32. Axis Bank's Shikha Sharma 42. HSBC's Naina Lal Kidwai Roboticists Rich Walker and Matthew Godden of Shadow Robot Co in England put together the bionic man. ‘ Jorge Lorenzo won the Australian Grand Prix on 20 October 2013 at the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix in Phillip Island.

Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana for over five million overseas workers in Dubai.

Chad, Chile, Lithuania, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia elected to seats as non-permanent members by the United Nations Security Council in the 15-member Council last week. The New Council members will replace Azerbaijan, Guatemala, Morocco, Pakistan and Togo.

Israel Government has recognized New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg as the first ever recipient of the $1 million Genesis Prize, an award also known as the “Jewish Nobel Prize.”

Ten regional parties of North East India have formed the North East Regional Political Front (NERPF).The North East Regional Political Front will work to safeguard the political ,economic, social and ethnic identity of the people of the North East region. Neiphiu Rio, the Nagaland chief minister has been appointed as NERPF convener and Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, Asom Gana Parishad President has been appointed as NERPF’s chief advisor.

the Judge of the High Court of Manipur today- Justice Lakshmi Kanta Mohapatra

Managing Director of PNB MetLife- Tarun Chugh

North Zone and South Zone have been declared joint winners of the Duleep Cup cricket Trophy

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza has broken back into the top 10 of the world women’s doubles by gaining two spots to ninth place in the latest WTA Team Rankings issued on Monday.

India’s Squash player Dipika Pallikal won the Macau Open title at Macau, China yesterday. This was Dipika Pallikal’s seventh Women’s Squash Association title and she is the first Indian woman to break into the top 10 in the WSA rankings.

20-October

World Osteoporosis Day is observed today.

Brazilian energy giant Petrobras’ CEO, Maria Das Gracas Foster topped the Fortune magazine’s global list of top-50 women business leaders followed by Turkish conglomerate Sabanci Holding’s Guler Sabanci at the second and Australian banking giant Westpac’s CEO Gail Kelly at the third.

first Yash Chopra Memorial Award- Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar

the new Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court- Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre

The new air traffic control (ATC) tower in Mumbai at a height of 84 metres

the new Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) has several new functionalities advance liquidity features

gridlock resolution mechanism hybrid settlement facility facility to accept future value-dated transactions options to process multi-currency transactions. An SHG is a homogeneous group, comprising 15-20 members (mostly women), where members first pool in their savings and give out small loans to needy members. Once the SHG successfully undertakes savings and credit operations from its own resources, it can borrow from a bank (SHG-BLP) to enhance its pool of resources. The ‘Status of Microfinance in India’ report observed that a successful programme such as the SHG-BLP, which could link millions of rural poor to the formal banking system, could have been the main instrument for financial literacy and financial inclusion in the country. The Government and the RBI hold 99.50 per cent and 0.50 per cent stake, respectively, in Nabard. Malayalam Music Composer K. Raghavan Passed away ‘Corporate Sustainability Stewardship’ award - Infosys Ltd

Shreekant Javalgekar, Managing Director and CEO of the Multi-Commodity Exchange, resigned today

Prime Minister of Hungary- Viktor Orban

China’s Ding Junhui won the 2013 Indian Open Snooker title with a 5-0 victory over Aditya Mehta of India in New Delhi on 18 October 2013.

18-October

the first founders’ award from the Elton John AIDS Foundation- Hilary Clinton

the Chairperson of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC)- Gireesh B. Pradhan, former Secretary of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

Micromax has roped in Hollywood star Hugh Jackman as its brand ambassador

new Managing Director, Publishing giant Pearson- Deepak Mehrotra

president, the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA)- Sharad Pawar

the first-ever Indian to reach the final of a professional snooker tournament - Aditya Mehta the Indian Open

The Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh on 18 October 2013 released a book on Indian painting written by Prof. B.N. Goswami in New Delhi.

Maya Angelou The 85—year—old author, poet, dancer and actress a longtime resident of North Carolina accepts Mailer Center award

Manipur Defeated Haryana to Lift Girls' title of 54th Subroto Cup Football Tournament

Sarojini Varadappan, the Renowned Social Worker Died at 92. She was a daughter of the former Tamil Nadu chief minister M Bhakthavatsalam. 17-October

The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty 1993 was observed today. Theme for 2013 is, “Working together towards a world without discrimination: Building on the experience and knowledge of people in extreme poverty”.

Canada will offer honorary citizenship to Pakistani teenage activist Malala Yousafzai. Nelson Mandela, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, British business magnate Aga Khan and Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg.

The winners of 2013 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition- South African photographer Greg du Toit.

Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013- Indian photographer Udayan Rao Pawar

the Dr Guislain ‘Breaking the Chains of Stigma’ award- The Nepalese founder of Koshish, Matrika Prasad Devkota

Masters champion Adam Scott won the four-man PGA Grand Slam of Golf in Bermuda

a new book titled “1283” by Brazilian football legend Pele

Justice M B Shah Commission- to probe illegal mining across the country

the Managing Director and CEO of Philips Electronics India Ltd- A. Krishnakumar

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 17 October 2013 enhanced the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of wheat by 50 rupees per quintal to 1400 rupees for the fiscal, starting April 2014.

appointment of a three-member supervisory committee headed by a representative of the Central Water Commission on construction of Babhli Barrage issue. The Babhli project / barrage is a controversial reservoir project being constructed by Maharashtra state across the river Godavari.

Hilary Clinton was awarded the first founders’ award from the Elton John AIDS Foundation in New York on 15 October 2013 for her work to help HIV/AIDS victims. Book Walking With Giants— a lesson in modern Indian history , a memoir written by former Finance Secretary G. Ramachandran. The foreword to the book is written by Y. V. Reddy, chairman, 14th Finance Commission, and a former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Ramachandran’s book “strikes the middle path” in representing the views of politicians and bureaucrats. Top English Premier League side Liverpool on 16 October 2013 launched a residential football academy in Pune in partnership with city-based DSK Shivajians FC. The academy was named as LFC International Football Academy DSK. Private sector lender Yes Bank and credit rating company Care Ratings have entered into an agreement to offer services and products in the small and medium enterprise (SME) segment. G P Deshpande won acclaim for his plays including Udhvasta Dharmashala and Satyashodhak.

16-October

The World Food Day is being observed across the world today Established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations in 1979. The theme for this year is “Sustainable Food Systems for Food Security and Nutrition.”

Eleanor Catton won the 2013 Man Booker prize for English fiction yesterday for her novel “The Luminaries” to become the youngest winner in the award’s 45-year history.

the world’s biggest oil producer- The United States overtaken Saudi Arabia

the new Chairman of the Railway Board- Arunendra Kumar

Chairperson, The Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI)- Anand Mahindra

The World Bank has lowered India’s economic growth forecast for the current fiscal to 4.7% today compared to earlier forecast of 6.1% projected in April this year. India’s GDP growth is, however, expected to accelerate to 6.2% in 2014-15. The World Bank’s latest India GDP growth forecast for the current fiscal is higher than the International Monetary Fund’s recent downward revised projection of 4.25% for financial year 2013-14.

Former India pacer Ajit Agarkar announced retirement from all forms of after 16-year of career

The Reserve Bank of India has rejected IIFCL’s proposal to provide takeout finance at the latter’s wholly-owned London subsidiary. The RBI has contended that takeout at London will not be

appropriate as it could end up benefiting foreign banks, which provided ECBs to Indian infrastructure developers.

The 2013 Global Hunger Index (GHI), released on 14 October 2013 by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Welthungerhilfe, and Concern Worldwide. India has moved from 65 to 63 in the Global Hunger Index The GHI combines three equally weighted indicators into one score: i. The proportion of people who are undernourished. ii. The proportion of children under five who are underweight. iii. The mortality rate of children younger than age five. MB Shah Commission submits final report on illegal mining Powerful Typhoon Wipha caused destruction in Japan

15-October

India’s Retail inflation, measured by Consumer Price Index, jumped to 9.84% in September compared to 9.52% in previous month of August due to increase in Vegetable prices. Retail inflation for rural and urban areas in September stood at 9.71 per cent and 9.93 per cent, respectively.

“International Day of Rural women” is observed today

Novak Djokovic defeated Juan Del Potro by 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3) to win a second straight trophy at the Shanghai Masters in China.

Iravathram Mahadevan received prestigious Tolkappiyar award for his immense contribution in the area of Epigraphy.

Indian Navy inducted its largest offshore patrol vessel INS Sunayna into service at Kochi today.

head coach of the Indian men’s hockey team- Australian Terry Walsh

India on Tuesday signed an agreement with Finland to produce indigenous ethanol and reduce country’s dependence on its import. The agreement was inked between Finnish Minister for European Affairs Alexander Stubb and India’s Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Panabaka Lakshmi in New Delhi Indian actor Kumar Pallana, who played the memorable role of a janitor in Tom Hanks starrer 'The Terminal' and worked in many Wes Anderson movies, has died. He was 94.

Oscar Hijuelos, the Cuban-American writer died on 13 October 2013 in New York City. He was 62 years old and died because of heart attack. He was the first Latino to win the Pulitzer Prize.

14-October

International Day for Disaster Reduction was observed on 13th October. theme of year 2013 was “Living with Disability and Disasters”.

US trio Lars Peter Hansen, Eugene Fama and Robert Shiller won the Nobel Prize 2013 for Economics yesterday for their groundbreaking work on spotting trends in asset markets.

lead the UN’s joint mission with the chemical weapons watchdog tasked with eliminating Syria’s arsenal- Sigrid Kaag

Internet giant Yahoo has acquired tech company Bread, a URL shortner that allows users to design then target advertisements to readers who click on their links.

the Japanese Grand Prix- Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel

Golden Peacock Award for ‘HR Excellence for 2013’- Muthoot Finance Ltd

ING Vysya ties up with IRCTC to offer online ticketing services

National Housing Bank (NHB) has joined hands with UK Government's Department for International Development (DFID) to launch an affordable housing project that will operate in eight low-income States Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. DFID has committed pound sterling 50 million (about Rs 500 crore) over 7 years (2013-19). BSLI Savings Plan, with guaranteed additions for the first five years of the policy term. The minimum sum assured for this plan is Rs 30,000.

OVL, which has stakes in the A-1 and A-3 gas discovery blocks and three other offshore acreages in Myanmar got Blocks B-2 (Zebyutaung-Nandaw) and EP-3 (Thegon-Shwegu).

Sanam Singh and Vijayant Malik won the ITF Doubles Title 2013 defeated fourth seeded pair of Evan King (USA) and Costin Paval (Romania).

Varun Arora won UN Award for his creation Open Curriculum, an online platform for local educational material for standard, primary and secondary schooling.

12-October

World Arthritis Day is observed today.

China and the European Central Bank have signed a currency swap agreement worth 350 bn yuan (USD 57 billion).

The India Post has launched instant electronic money transfer service in partnership with Wall Street Exchange, (a company of UAE’s Emirates Post Group) in New Delhi today. through “Instant Cash” product of the Emirates Post Group

The Tata group has launched the third edition of ‘Tata First Dot powered by NEN,’ a platform for student entrepreneurship.

book The Third Curve: The End of Growth as We Know It- movie director Mansoor Khan

IMF-World Bank Annual meeting kick off in Washington D.C. (11-13 Oct)

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) will be making in mandatory for insurers to offer insurance cover for people living with HIV/AIDS from April 1, 2014. Usha Ananthasubramanian, first CEO of the India’s all women bank. The Reserve Bank of India infused liquidity aggregating Rs 19,000 crore into the banking system through a seven-day term repo auction on Friday. To borrow funds for seven days, banks put in bids in the 7.60 per cent to 8.96 per cent range, according to a RBI statement. Banks can borrow up to 0.25 per cent of their deposits under the term repo, provided they have surplus government securities.

11-October

International Day of the Girl Child observed today. The theme for the year 2013 is “Innovating for Girls’ Education”.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) won the Nobel peace prize 2013. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is an intergovernmental organisation, located in The Hague, Netherlands.

The Empowered Committee led by Mukul Mudgal submitted- on issues concerning the Cinematograph Act to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Chairman and Managing Director, GAIL (India)- B.C. Tripathi

Government of India on 10 October 2013 signed agreements with seven countries Australia, Cambodia, Singapore, Brunei, New Zealand, Lao PDR and Myanmar, who pledged their commitment to the Nalanda University project in Bihar in the sidelines of East Asia Summit in Brunei.

China has already committed 1 million Dollars for the project, Singapore has pledged 5-6 million Dollars and Australia about 1 million Australian dollars and all these funds have been committed on voluntary basis. China the People's Bank of China (PBOC) on 10 October 2013 signed a 350 Billion Yuan (45 billion Euro) currency swap agreement with the European Union Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan abducted by Gunmen The Tata group has launched the third edition of ‘Tata First Dot powered by NEN,’ a platform for student entrepreneurship. The eleventh annual international life sciences conference, BioAsia 2014, will kick off in Hyderabad from February 17-19. “Innovate and Evolve”— this will be the theme. Shakthi Nagappan, CEO BioAsia. Khurshid to co-chair India-Brazil jt commission meeting next week Cyclonic Storm Phailin hit the Andaman and Nicobar Islands

10-October

The World Mental Health Day is observed today. The theme for the year 2013 is “Mental health and older adults”. in 1992 at the initiative of the World Federation for Mental Health, a global mental health organization with members and contacts in more than 150 countries.

the new Chairman of Federal Reserves- Janet Yellen (67)

UK is to host next year’s Nato (North Atlantic Treaty Org.) summit for the first time since the end of the cold war in 1990.

Canadian Author Alice Munro won Nobel Prize 2013 in literature for her short stories that focus on the frailties of the human condition. With this she became the first Canadian woman to win the Nobel Prize

European Union’s (EU) Sakharov human rights prize 2013- Malala Yousafzai

the new Chairman of Indian Oil Corporation.- B Ashok, executive director (ED) in charge of retail sales. He will succeed R S Butola

the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration- Eminent agricultural scientist Dr. M.S Swaminathan

Deputy Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), State Bank of India- Rajendra Kumar Saraf

To boost mobile banking, the Reserve Bank of India has formed a technical committee to examine the feasibility of encrypted SMS-based fund transfers. Transfers that can be facilitated using an application that can run on any mobile handset. B. Sambamurthy, Director, Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology, will chair the committee and Vijay Chugh, Chief General Manager at RBI will be the member secretary. The members of the committee will include officials of State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank and Chief Information Officer of Vodafone India, Anthony Thomas. The UN owes $80 million to India, the most it has to pay to any country, for costs relating to peacekeeping operations, a top official said.

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has launched a $1-billion offshore bond programme, touted as the largest of its kind in the offshore rupee market, to strengthen India’s capital markets and attract greater foreign investment. Jin-Yong Cai, IFC’s CEO

.The West Bengal Government today confirmed accepting IndianOil’s bid for state shareholding in sick Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd. Bengal holds nearly 40 per cent stake in the joint sector company.

Well-known Telugu Film Actor Srihari Died

Akshay Kumar's upcoming film "Boss" has entered the Guinness World Records for having the largest poster in the world. The width of the poster is 193 feet and 1 inch while its height is 180 feet and 2 inches.

9-October

World Post Day is celebrated today. Today is the anniversary of the establishment of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in 1874 in the Swiss capital, Berne. It was declared World Post Day by the UPU Congress held in Tokyo, Japan, in 1969.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2013 - Michael Levitt, a British and US citizen of Stanford University, US-Austrian Martin Karplus of Strasbourg University and US-Israeli Arieh Warshel of the University of Southern California

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lowered the growth projection for India to 3.8% in 2013-14 compared to earlier growth projection of 5.6% it had made in July.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today restricted foreign institutional investors (FIIs) to purchase shares in Great Eastern Shipping Company and Kajaria Ceramics as the foreign equity shareholding have reached the trigger limit of 24%.

Tata Power has finalized a deal to acquire AES Saurashtra Windfarms, a subsidiary of US-based AES Corp, which owns a 39.2 MW wind energy farm in Gujarat.

India’s exports jumped by 11.15% in September compared to same month last year to USD 27.64 billion while imports dropped by 18.10% compared to same month last year to USD 34.43 in the same month. Imports dropped due to steep drop in Crude Oil and Gold import, resulting in trade deficit of USD 6.7 billion in September which is the lowest in last 30 months. Trade deficit in the first half of the current fiscal stood at USD 80.12 billion which was lower than the USD 91.81 billion recorded in the same period last fiscal year.

Imports of gold and silver dropped by more than 82% to USD 0.8 billion in September from USD 4.6 billion in the same month last year. Oil imports were also declined by about 5.94% to USD 13.19 billion as well. Government has recently taken some measures to hike import duties on gold, silver and platinum and restricted import of LCD televisions which are the main reasons behind dropping imports.

India’s current account deficit rose to 4.9% of GDP in the second quarter of the current fiscal year which has become the key concern for the Government. This low trade deficit will provide some respite to Government and RBI now and reduce some pressure on India Rupee.

23rd ASEAN Summit 2013 begins in Brunei Darussalam. Brunei Darussalam’s theme for the Chairmanship is “Our People, Our Future Together”.

UK to host 2014 NATO summit. NATO Headquarter: Brussels, Belgium

The Finance Ministry expects the economic growth in the current fiscal to improve to 5.5 per cent from 5 per cent last year. the Economic Survey had anticipated the growth to be in the range of 6.1 to 6.7 per cent for 2013—14 despite the low growth in previous fiscal.

Food Minister- K. V. Thomas

The Prime Minister said this in a departure statement prior to leaving for Brunei to participate in the 11th India-Association of East Asian Nations Summit and the 8th East Asia Summit.

Walmart 100 per cent ownership of the Best Price Modern Wholesale cash and carry business. As part of the proposed transactions, Bharti will acquire the USD 100 million worth Compulsory Convertible Debentures (CCDs) held by Walmart in Cedar Support Services, a company owned and controlled by Bharti.

Plastic Parks for the promotion of downstream plastic processing industries to be implemented by the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals envisages setting up of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), which would provide infrastructure and common facilities for the industries.

Global payments solutions provider Visa today announced its partnership with Micro Pension Foundation to launch pension scheme for low-income groups in the rural areas to save for their

future. The companies have tied up with old private sector lender Ratnakar Bank for the cash-in and cash-out services.

Queen's Baton Relay for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games is all set to get under way in London. The 2014 Commonwealth Games, officially the XX Commonwealth Games, will be held in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom over 11 days of competition from 23 July to 3 August 2014. Mulatu Teshome new president of Ethiopia The Union Cabinet today approved official amendments to the UIDAI Bill. This will give statutory status to UIDAI which is responsible for issuing the Aadhar number.

8-October

Peter Higgs of United Kingdom and Francois Englert of Belgium were jointly awarded Nobel Prize for Physics 2013 for their work on theory of Higgs boson, the ‘God particle’.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects global growth of 2.9% this year, a cut of 0.3% from July’s estimate. In 2014 it expects global growth of 3.6%, down by 0.2%.

The Indian Air Force Day is celebrated today

The three-member probe panel to investigate IPL 6 spot-fixing scandal will be headed by - Mukul Mudgal

The UIDAI, which issues 12-digit Aadhaar numbers to residents, currently operates through an executive order.

the Pravsi Doha Basheer award- Veteran Malayalam film actor Madhu

Chairman & Managing Director of India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL)- SB Nayar

Appointment Committee of Cabinet (ACC) chaired by the Prime Minister

next Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment- Gauri Kumar, will replace Dr Mrutyunjay Sarangi

brand ambassador for India of Japan-based Line Corporation- Katrina Kaif

Canara Bank and Apollo Munich Health Insurance (AMHI) have entered into a bancassurance tie-up. AMHI products will be distributed in over 4,200 branches of Canara Bank

Indian cyclist Deborah won a gold medal in the women’s junior individual sprint at Asian Cycling Confederation (ACC) Track Asia Cup in Thailand yesterday.

Industry lobby All-India Association of Industries, AIAI today said it has entered into an agreement with the Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry to promote trade between the two countries.

P Chidambaram to attend IMF-World Bank meet today

Tata Power has inked a deal to acquire AES Saurashtra Windfarms, a subsidiary of US-based AES Corp, which owns a 39.2 MW wind energy farm in Gujarat, Tata Power said Tuesday.

Tata Power to set up coal-fired plant in Myanmar. In Myanmar, the power plant is proposed to be located in Ngayok Kaung, Ayeyarwaddy region.

Indian Cyclist Deborah Won Two Gold Medals at ACC Track Asia Cup

Jairam Ramesh announced that Bihar's food subsidy will increase from 5500 crore Rupees to 11500 crore Rupees, under the National Food Security Act. This means that the allocation of foodgrain will increase from 28 lakh tonnes to 56 lakh tonnes. Uttar Pradesh will get 96 lakh tones of foodgrains per annum under the National Food Security Act in comparison to the current allotment of 65 lakh tonnes. Gujarat, in the meanwhile, will get 24 lakh tonnes from the current allocation of 13.5 lakh tonnes per annum at present.

7-October

World Habitat day is observed today. The theme of the World Habitat Day 2013 is “Urban Mobility to encourage people to shift towards more sustainable modes of transportation”.

James Rothman and Randy Schekman of USA and German-born Thomas Suedhof have won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work on how the cell organises its transport system.

CV Wigneswaran was sworn in today as the first elected Tamil Chief Minister of Northern Province

Iran has won the 17th Asia Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship as they beat South Korean team in three straight sets 25-19,25-22, 25-19 in Dubai yesterday.

A.P. Shah to head a committee to work on broad guidelines for protection of good Samaritans rendering assistance to accident victims.

Arundhati Bhattacharya has been appointed as the Chairman of India’s largest bank, State Bank of India. She will succeed Pratip Chaudhuri.

financial services secretary- Rajiv Takru

India successfully test-fired its indigenously developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missile with a strike range of 350 km from a test range at Chandipur today.

the Golden Peacock Award for excellence in corporate governance 2013- Canara Bank

Chairman and Managing Director, Canara Bank- R K Dubey

the International Press Institute (IPI) India Award for Excellence in Journalism- Karan Thapar, the well-known television journalist

The long-delayed aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya will be inducted into the Indian Navy

the brand ambassador for Future Groups Fashion at Big Bazaar- Shikhar Dhawans

President Pranab Mukherjee, who is in turkey as part of his two-nation tours will hold talks with the top leadership of Turkish capital Ankara on Monday.

Mukul Mudgal member panel to probe IPL spot-fixing

World Bank lowers 2013 growth forecast for East Asian developing countries to 7.1%

foundation stone of Mega Food Park in Jagdishpur, Amethi . The project is aimed to create 2,500 jobs and generate Rs 450 crore revenue.

India on Monday test-fired its indigenously developed nuclear-capable surface-to-surface Prithvi-II missile with a strike range of 350 km from a test range at Chandipur, about 15 kms from Odisha.

Cambodian director Rithy Panh received the Asian Filmmaker of the Year award at the Busan International Film Festival on Friday for his efforts to save his country's cinematic heritage. The award comes after his documentary "The Missing Picture", Note: Cambodia King: Norodom Sihamoni Cambodia PM: Hun Sen Cambodia capital: Phnom Penh Currency: Riel Kochi to host “Reel Earth” Environmental film festival Daocheng Yading Airport, located 4,411 meters above sea level in Daocheng county in Garzi Tibetan autonomous prefecture in Sichuan province, began operations on Monday.

6-October

in charge of international trade, USA- Indian-American Arun M Kumar

Novak Djokovic won his fourth China Open title in five years , after defeating Rafael Nadal by 6-3, 6-4 in the final match in Beijing today

Serena Williams beats Jelena Jankovic to win China Open

Del Potro Defeated Raonic to Win Japan Open Tennis Championship 2013

Pakistan on 5 October 2013 defeated India in the final of the Under-19 Asian Rugby Championship 2013 in Lahore. Suraj Veer Sharma was the captain of Indian team while Daud Gull was the captain of Pakistan team.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel won the Korean Grand Prix. Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen finished second and Lotus’s Romain Grosjean finished third in the same race.

Ireland and Afghanistan have qualified directly for the ICC World Cup Cricket

India and Bangladesh have launched a 500 MW grid and 1320 megawatt Maitri MW Thermal station

Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS)- As per scheme, 80 new universities will be created by converting autonomous colleges or colleges in a cluster to State universities during the 12th Plan period.

Managing Director of Corporation Bank.- S.R. Bansal Before that, he was an Executive Director at Punjab National Bank.

inducted into the prestigious National Academy of Engineering in the US- Former Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata

head the accomplished jury for the Seventh Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) to be held in Brisbane- Veteran director Shyam Benegal

Rohan Bopanna along with his French partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin won the Japan Open Men’s doubles trophy after defeating pair of Jamie Murray and John Peers by 7-6 (5) 6-4 today.

India’s Sania Mirza and her partner Cara Black won the China Open Women’s doubles title after defeating Spain’s Parra Santonja and Russian Vera Dushevina by 6-2, 6-2 in the final match today.

Kalpana Devi won India’s first IJF Grand Prix medal when she grabbed a bronze in 52kg weight category at the Judo Tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. She defeated Zarifa Sultonova of Uzbekistan but lost to Gili Cohen of Israel. She also won a bronze medal in the Women’s World Cup Judo Championships held in September 2010 in Uzbekistan.

5-October

The 'Maitri' thermal power project is being developed by the Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company, a joint venture between NTPC and Bangladesh Power Development Board.

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development has sanctioned Rs 40.35 crore for rural water supply scheme in the Union Territory of Puducherry under Nabard’s Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF).

The American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI)-The American Heart Association (AHA) Liaison Committee, chaired by Vemuri S Murthy has joined hands with a leading NGO fostering cardiac care in US to reduce the incidence of mortality from growing number of heart attacks in India and the US.

A Sharia Court conducted solely by women with an aim to redress the grievances of Muslim women has started functioning in pune Set up here by Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA). Saeeda Jamadar, President of the Court’s Pune branch

Gurbir Grewal was formally nominated by Governor Chris Christie to be the next Bergen county prosecutor, a local media report said.

Veteran director Shyam Benegal will head the accomplished jury for the Seventh Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) to be held in Brisbane on December

4-October

Portugal’s Cyclist Luis Leao Pinto won the 9th MTB Himalaya 2013 cycle race, which concluded in Shimla this week.

The Reserve Bank today set up a three-member committee under former Governor Bimal Jalan, Usha Thorat (former RBI Deputy Governor), C B Bhave (former Sebi chairman) and Nachiket Mor (financial sector expert) to scrutinise applications for new bank licences

the lifetime achievement award in biotechnology by the Association of Biotechnology and Pharmacy (ABAP).- Utpal Bhadra

In the World Bank Report, India came as the top beneficiary with foreign remittances worth 71 billion dollars followed by China with 60 billion dollars and the Philippines which got 26 billion dollars.

Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupa

As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts, ICICI Bank today opened skill training academy in Jaipur to provide vocational training to youth from economically weaker section of the society.

S. Varadarajan took over charge as chairman and managing director (CMD) of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL). S.Varadarajan has succeeded R.K. Singh.

The Indian Railways on 3 October 2013 signed a pact with Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) to set up the country's biggest Forged Wheel plant at Lalganj, Raebarelli in Uttar Pradesh. The Plant to be set with an investment of about 1100 crore Rupees. The quality of wheel manufactured in the plant will be tested and certified by International certifying agency TTCI, USA.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 3 October 2013 cleared Jet Airways proposed sale of 24 per cent equity to Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways

India today unveiled its first indigenously developed vaccine for treating Japanese Encephalitis, a mosquito-borne viral disease that affects the brain. The manufacturer of the vaccine named JENVAC.

Portuguese sensation Luis Leao Pinto emerged overall winners at the 9th MTB Himalaya 2013, which concluded in Shimla on 3 October 2013.

3-October

world’s top university by the Times Higher Education Global Ranking.

1. The California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

2. Oxford University

3. Stanford University

4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Gambian Government announced that it is pulling out of the Commonwealth with immediate effect.

Cognizant announced today that it would acquire ValueSource NV, a subsidiary of Belgium

India has been ranked at 78th position out of 122 countries on global Human Capital Index published by the World Economic Forum.

Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2013-14- Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and Kanpur in the 351-400 band. The new entrants join IIT Kharagpur, which slipped from 226-250 into the 351-400 group, and IIT Roorkee, which retained its place in the 351-400 band.

a four member committee headed by Arvind Mayaram, Economic Affairs Secretary, to clear the ambiguity between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Foreign Institutional Investment (FII) terms.

3M Healthcare, the healthcare division of 3M India, has won the Sterilization Services Company of the Year award at the Frost & Sullivan’s fifth annual India Healthcare Excellence Awards 2013.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and USA based Intrexon Corporation setting up a joint venture to develop controllable gene-based therapies for the treatment of eye diseases.

Sunil Singhania, a chartered financial analyst, has been elected to the Global Board of CFA Institute, a global association of investment professionals.

ADB cuts India's growth forecast to 4.7 percent

The committee headed by Arvind Mayaram, Economic Affairs Secretary was set up to clear the ambiguity between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Foreign Institutional Investment (FII).

Prime Minister of Belgium- Elio De Rupo

2-October

Cognizant Technology Solutions has acquired the Equinox Consulting, a financial services consulting firm based in France.

European Central Bank president Mario Draghi

former Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri was the first person to be posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna

chairman of Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank (KVGB), a regional rural bank sponsored by Syndicate Bank- Ashok Reddy Nukala

The Sahara group has acquired an iconic gothic country house in Windsor in the UK for 27 million pounds (about Rs 256 crore). Draculas Den will be Sahara’s UK HQ.

1-October

The International Day of Older Persons is being celebrated today. The theme for 2013 is ‘The Future we want: What older persons are saying’.

the world’s most valuable brands 1. Apple’s brand as USD 98.3 billion 2. Google’s brand as USD 93.3 billion 3. Cola’s brand was worth USD 79.2 billion

4. IBM 5. Microsoft with a brand value of USD 59.5 billion The Czech Republic’s Seventh seed Petra Kvitova defeated fifth seeded Germany’s Angelique Kerber by 6-2, 0-6, 6-3 in the final to win singles title at WTA Pan Pacific Open at Tokyo. India’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.- Former Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai Friendship award by China- A senior Indian journalist, Ravi Shankar Narsimhan The Vice President of India, M. Hamid Ansari released a commemorative postage stamp in the memory of Baba Jumdev at a function in Gondia, Maharashtra yesterday. Aga Khan, a Swiss-Born Philanthropist and Muslim Spiritual Leader visited India in September. The Reserve Bank of India will infuse Rs 10,000 crore by purchasing government securities next week in order to ease liquidity in the market. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries India's biggest drug maker by market capital and USA based Intrexon Corporation, a leading player in synthetic biology announced on 2 October 2013 to establish a joint venture to develop controllable gene-based therapies for the treatment of eye diseases. Mythily Sivaraman Wrote A Book Haunted by Fire Essays On Caste, Class, Exploitation And Emancipation Finance Ministry on Tuesday said economy will grow by over 5 percent in the current fiscal on back of high farm productivity and investments and promised more steps to boost growth. The Current Account Deficit (CAD), Mayaram said, was expected to be less than USD 70 billion or 3.7 percent of GDP for the full fiscal. Mozambique capital- Maputo India is the 8th largest foreign investor in Mozambique with total investments estimated at more than $500 million. i. Armando Emílio Guebuza is a Mozambican politician and the President of Mozambique since 2005. ii. Alberto Vaquina is the Prime Minister of Mozambique. iii. Capital of Mozambique - Maputo iv. Currency of Mozambique - Mozambican metical

The Reserve Bank of India will infuse 10 thousand crore rupees by purchasing government securities on 7 October, to ease liquidity in the market. Indian basketball team win bronze at KFC U-21 3ON3 International Challenge The Czech Republican tennis player Petra Kvitova defeated Germany's Angelique Kerber in the final to win singles title at WTA Pan Pacific Open at Tokyo.

30-Sep

World Heart Day across the world. This year’s theme addresses the importance of a life-course approach to the prevention and control of cardiovascular disease (CVD) with a focus on women and children. organized by the World Heart Federation and has been celebrated annually since 1999. the Permanent Representative of India to UNESCO, Paris with the rank of Ambassador.- Ruchira Kamboj was appointed. She will succeed VS Oberoi. Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award- Rafiq Kathwari, an Indian-American poet The current account deficit came as narrower than expected at USD 21.8 billion, or 4.9% of gross domestic product in the first quarter (April-June) of current financial year. chairman of the IPL- Ranjib Biswal India beat Malaysia 3-0 in the final match held at Taman Daya Stadium in Malaysia yesterday to win the Sultan of Johor Cup U21 hockey tournament. Former Junior World Champion Nikhat Zareen (54kg) won silver in the AIBA World Youth Boxing Championship held in Albena, Bulgaria this weekend. Vice President of India released a commemorative postage stamp of Baba Jumdev India Blue cricket squad won the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy by defeating Delhi by 50 runs in the final at the Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore on 29 September 2013. Leaders of BRICS announced to Set up 100 Billion US Dollars Fund

28-Sep

World Rabies Day is observed today. The theme for 2013 is “Rabies: Understand it to defeat it.” The World Rabies Day is observed each year on 28th September- on the death anniversary of Louis Pasteur who developed the first rabies vaccine.

Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award (Harvard Humanitarian of the year) by Harvard University.- Malala Yousafzai Miss World 2013 at the Bali Nasa Dua Convention Center in Bali, Indonesia today.- Misss Philippines Megan Young first runner-up- Miss France, Marine Lorphelin second runner up- Miss Ghana Carranzar Naa Okailey Shooter second executive director of Vijaya Bank- B S Rama Rao Sania Mirza won her fourth title of the season and 18th overall after she defeated Liezel Huber and Hao Ching Chan along with her partner Zimbabwe’s Cara Black to lift the Pan Pacific Open trophy in Tokyo today

27-Sep

World Tourism Day is celebrated today. The 2013 theme for World Tourism Day is “Tourism and Water: Protecting our Common Future”. Judge, US Courts of Appeal for the District of Columbia Circuit- Trailblazer Sri Srinivasan, first Indian American Swedish Right Livelihood Award- Paul Walker (US anti-chemical weapons campaigner), Raji Sourani (Palestinian human rights activist), Denis Mukwege (Congolese surgeon), Hans Herren (Swiss food security expert) Sanjay Govind Dhande, former director of IIT Kanpur, has been appointed as a member of UGC for a term of three years. Anupam Shah has taken over as the new Chairman of the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC). The Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) has appointed Sundeep Sikka, Reliance MF President and Chief Executive, as its Chairman

The Indian Newspaper Society (INS) has elected Ravindra Kumar, Editor of ‘The Statesman’ newspaper as its president for the year 2013-14. He succeeds K N Tilak Kumar of Deccan Herald and Prajavani. Kiran B Vadodaria (Sambhaav Metro) has been elected as Deputy President and P V Chandran of ’Grihalakshmi’ has been as Vice President.

RBI governor Raghuram G Rajan has been awarded the Fifth Deutsche Bank Prize

The University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Law has presented Anna Hazare with the inaugural Allard Prize for International Integrity at Vancouver, Canada. Pond’s Femina Miss India World 2013 Navneet Kaur Dhillon won the Multimedia Award at the Miss World 2013 in Indonesia today. Former Under-14 World Champion and Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi won bronze medal at the World Junior Chess Championship India beat China in the 8th Asia Cup Women hockey tournament at Kuala Lumpur to win the Bronze.

26-Sep

Online commerce major eBay Inc has agreed to acquire payment platform Braintree for about USD 800 million in cash Finland capital Helsinki bagged the top spot for the world’s most honest city in the survey. India’s financial capital Mumbai has been named the world’s second-most honest city, according to a survey of 16 cities worldwide.

25-Sep

Former South Africa president Nelson Mandela was honoured with the Humanitarian Achievement Award 2013 Australia has unveiled its most powerful super computer, Raijin today in Canberra. Chinese paddler Liu Shiwen won women’s table tennis World Cup after defeating teammate Wu Yang at the tournament, held in Kobe, Japan. The government has announced setting up of the Seventh Central Pay Commission today before Parliament election next year recommendations are to be implemented from the 1st of January, 2016. A high-level panel, headed by Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram on the alleged irregularities at the National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL). Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX) has an interim Chairman in R.M. Premkumar

24-Sep

India environmentalist Bunker Roy and Pakistan’s teenage education activist Malala Yousafzai won the “Clinton Global Citizens Awards” for the year 2013. Hun Sen, 61, who has been in power for 28 years, was sworn as Cambodian prime Government of India has appointed Justice Vangala Eswaraiah, former Acting Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court, as the Chairperson of the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) yesterday. Global credit rating agency, Moody’s has lowered its outlook for India’s GDP growth to 4.5% for current financial year 2013-14 from earlier projection of 5.5%.

23-Sep

World Rose Day, i.e. Cancer prevention day was observed yesterday (22nd September 2013) across the world. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel has secured a third term in office

“Seekho Aur Kamao” (Learn and Earn) Progrmme Launched by Union Government of India. Union Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India launched a central sector scheme for Skill Development of Minorities today. Main objective of the scheme is to bring down unemployment rate of minorities during 12th Plan period (2012-17).

The ‘Committee on Comprehensive Financial Services for Small Businesses and Low-Income Households’ headed by Nachiket Mor, member on the RBI’s Central Board of Directors.

Deutsche Bank has become the first bank in India to use the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s window to swap fresh foreign currency non-resident (bank), or FCNR (B), dollar funds. Deutsche Bank has raised about $450 million FCNR (B) deposits from about 10 non-resident Indians and swapped it with the central bank.

PepsiCo Inc. has appointed Sanjeev Chadha to the position of Chief Executive Officer, Asia, Middle East and Africa (AMEA).

India’s Deepika Kumari has settled for a silver medal at the Archery World Cup in Paris, France. Deepika lost to the Korean Olympic champion Ok-Hee Yun

Grappler Sandeep Tulsi Yadav has created history by winning India’s first-ever medal in the 66kg Greco-Roman category at the Senior World Wrestling Championships in Budapest

Virat Kohli was appointed as the brand ambassador of the Border Security Force (BSF) yesterday.

22-Sep

The International Day of Peace, also known as World Peace Day, is observed yesterday (21th September) across the world.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel cruised to a third straight Singapore Grand Prix victory today

Assam government launched ‘Swavalamban Pension Scheme’. As per the scheme named ‘Swavalamban Pension Scheme’, a person with a minimum contribution of Rs 1,000 per year will get an equal amount of contribution from the govt. The aggregator for the scheme in the state will be Assam Gramin Vikash Bank and Alankit Assignment, while the fund managers are SBI Pension Fund, LIC and UTI.

Justice Darmar Murugesan, the former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, has been appointed as member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)

Jawaid Akhtar, the Chairman of Coffee Board of India, was elected as the Chairperson of the International Coffee Council at the meetings of the International Coffee Organization

Actor Aamir Khan has been selected for a U.S. award for his television show ‘Satyamev Jayate’ along with eminent American director Kathryn Bigelow and the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC).

National award-winning Gujarati film ‘The Good Road’, a lost-and-found story of a small boy, nominated to represent India in the Best Foreign Film category at next year’s Oscars. Produced by the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) and directed by first-timer Gyan Correa, The Good Road won the National Award for Best Gujarati Film. The film defeated other widely appreciated film “The Lunchbox”, “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag”, “English Vinglish” and “Vishwaroopam” to make into the final one.

India will build the world’s largest solar plant to generate 4,000 mw from sunlight near the Sambhar lake in Rajasthan

20-Sep

Obabiyi Aishah Ajibola of Nigeria becomes World Muslimah 2013 during the third Annual Award of World Muslimah in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Veteran Time magazine writer Nancy Gibbs has been appointed as the Managing Editor of Time Magazine. She succeeded Richard Stengel

WTO lowers growth projection for world trade in 2013 to 2.5% compared 3.3% projected in April and 4.3% earlier in the year.

Former Nintendo Company Limited President Hiroshi Yamauchi, who built the company into a video game giant from a maker of playing cards during, died

India’s IT Services Company, Infosys has launched Finacle 11E, latest version of its core banking solution. It will be an advanced universal banking solution that simplifies banking operations.

Tata Steel Ltd has appointed TV Narendran as managing director-designate, India and South East Asia. He will succeed HM Nerurkar.

Rapid Metro would be the country’s first metro rail system developed in the public-private partnership mode, at a cost of about Rs 1,100 crore.

Mohemmadan Sporting won the 126th Durand Cup Football tournament after defeating ONCG in the final match today held at the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi.

Indian wrestlers earned a maiden World Cup berth after the team’s best-ever sixth-place finish in men’s free-style at the World Championships in Budapest.

19-Sep

Justice Prafulla Chandra Pant, Judge of the High Court of Uttarakhand was appointed as the new Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court. He took over from Justice T.Nandakumar Singh

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee named the upcoming airport at Andal near Durgapur in Bardhman district as “Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport” today. Nazrul Islam, a Bengali poet is popularly known as ‘bidrohi kobi’ (rebel poet). He was born in Churulia village in the same district (of Bardhaman).

India’s industrialist and former chairman of Tata sons, Ratan Tata was nominated as a member of the board of trustees of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is a foreign-policy think tank with centers in Washington, D.C., Moscow, Beirut, Beijing, and Brussels. Founded in 1910.

The Government has announced that it will infuse Rs 14,000 crore in public sector banks within next few days, Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Takru said today.

18-Sep

Tony Abbott was sworn in as Australia’s Prime Minister

Former Toyota Motor Corp President and Chairman Eiji Toyoda, a key figure in firm’s rise to become one of the world’s biggest carmakers, passed away

The board of National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) has appointed Saji Cherian as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer with effect from September 16, 2013.

India won a bronze medal with another 19 year old Bajrang winning bronze in the 60 kg freestyle category at the ongoing World Wrestling Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

17-Sep

Malala Yousafzai will receive Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award along with American singer and human rights activist Harry Belafonte at ceremony Tuesday evening in Dublin, Ireland.

China opens the world’s highest airport in Daocheng.Yading airport in Daocheng county of Garzi Tibetan autonomous region of China stands at 4,411 metre above sea level.

Google acquires popular smartphone apps “Bump” which is used to share smartphone files like contacts, pictures or other data.

Global mining giant Vedanta Resources has appointed Tom Albanese, former Chief Executive of Rio Tinto, as chairman of its subsidiary Vedanta Resources Holdings Ltd.

P. Sudhakar took over as the Chairman & Managing Director of the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) yesterday.

Supreme Court advocate Muhammad Irshad Hanif authored the translation of Kanoon Lugat, an Urdu law dictionary. The Urdu legal dictionary has a foreword written by former Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir.

YES Bank has become the first bank to raise funds overseas using the swap loan facility provided by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last week. It has raised USD 255 million ($180 million and €58 million) by way of dual currency, multi-tenor syndicated loan facility.

Bollywood actor John Abraham was conferred the “Pride of the Nation award”

Abhinav Shiv Tiwari’s “OASS”, a movie on human trafficking, was named the best film at the second edition of the Ladakh International Film Festival (LIFF). It also won the best screenplay, and Divya Chhetri was awarded the best actress for the same movie.

Indian wrestler Amit Kumar won Silver Medal in 55 Kg Free Style category in the Senior World Wrestling Championship 2013 being held at Budapest, Hungary. In the semifinal round, he defeated Turkish Wrestler Sezar Akgul by 8-0 points but in the final, he was defeated by Iranian wrestler Rahimi Hassan Farma by 1-2 points.

16-Sep

International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer was observed today (16th September) across the world. The theme for the year 2013 is “A healthy atmosphere, the Future We Want”.

24-year-old Nina Davuluri became the first contestant of Indian heritage to win the Miss America pageant after winning Miss New York title.

Novak Djokovic slightly increased his lead over US Open Champion Rafael Nadal in the latest men’s tennis ranking released by the ATP today.

Two Indian girls have scripted history by becoming the first twins ever to climb Mount Everest together. 21-year-old Tashi and Nancy Malik from Dehra Dun achieved this feat by successfully reaching the world’s highest mountain peak at 8,848 meters

P V Sindhu will lead the Indian team at the two lakh US Dollar Super Series Badminton tournament, starting in Tokyo tomorrow

15-Sep

The Epsilon rocket is about half the size of Japan’s previous generation of space vehicles, and uses artificial intelligence to perform safety checks. Also the cost to develop this rocket will be nearly half compared to its predecessors.

Syria President Bashar al-Assad

Engineer’s day is celebrated today (15th September) across the country

Hindi Diwas is being observed all over the country on Saturday (14th September).

India successfully conducted a second test flight of its indigenously developed nuclear- capable ‘Agni-V’ long-range ballistic missile, which has a strike range of more than 5000 km, from the Wheeler Island off Odisha coast today.

The Government has appointed M.K. Goel, who is also the Director (Commercial), as the Chairman and Managing Director of Power Finance Corporation Ltd (PFC). He succeeds Satnam Singh

The government approved the proposal of Rs 700 crore capital infusion in Export-Import Bank of India to support future growth of the lender.

13-Sep

UN Human Rights forum begins in Beijing. The two-day forum will focus on constructing an environment for sustainable human rights development.

Michael Dell clinched shareholder approval for his USD 25 billion offer to buy and take Dell private

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was conferred the Indira Gandhi peace prize, by President Pranab Mukherjee yesterday. Nobel Peace Prize winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is the first democratically elected woman head of state of any African country.

Ray Dolby, the American Engineer and the pioneer of noise reduction in audio recordings died

Reserve Bank of India has formed an expert committee for examining its Current Monetary Policy Framework. The committee will be responsible to recommend the measures to revise and strengthen the Monetary Policy Framework, by making it more transparent and predictable. Dr. Urjit Patel, Deputy Governor of RBI, will head the Committee.

Prime Minister’s key economic advisor C Rangarajan has lowered the growth forecast for the current fiscal to 5.3% from 6.4% projected earlier

Delhi has the highest par capital annual income in the country. The per capita annual income in the national capital has increased to Rs. 2.01 lakh.

12-Sep

IT outsourcing company iGate Corp has appointed former Infosys board member Ashok Vemuri as its chief executive officer (CEO), four months after sacking its CEO Phaneesh Murthy

Afghanistan defeated Indian football team by by 2-0 at Dashrath Rangashala stadium in Kathmandu yesterday to win the South Asian Football Federations (SAFF) Championship 2013.

The delegates of 11 countries comprising of WHO-SEAR (World Health Organization’s South-East Asia Region) region elected Indian nominee Poonam Khetarpal Singh, a former IAS officer as regional director at the 31st meeting of health ministers and 66th session of WHO regional committee for South-East Asia.

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan has been honoured with the Global Diversity Award 2013 at the State Room of Britain’s House of Commons in London.

Karur Vysya Bank has won Best Banker Growth-Mid Sized award in the second edition of The Sunday Standard Best Bankers’ Awards 2013.

Religare Health Insurance today has signed a deal with Union Bank of India to market its product and service bouquet through the distribution network of Union Bank of India. With this, Union Bank becomes the first PSB to enter into a tie up for distribution of health insurance products of a standalone health insurer viz., Religare Health Insurance.

11-Sep

Former German lawyer and fencing Olympic gold medalist, Mr Thomas Bach has been elected as the new President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). He replaced 71-year-old Jacques Rogge

India’s Vice President Dr.M.Haamid Ansari has suggested implementation of Venkatachelliah Commission’s recommendations to ensure that elected representatives of Parliament and legislatures get at least 50% of the votes cast.

Aditya Birla Group firm UltraTech Cement has announced that it would acquire Gujarat cement unit of 4.8 million tonnes per annum capacity from Jaypee Cement Corp for Rs 3,800 crore.

Veteran midfielder Ritu Rani will lead an 18-member Indian women’s hockey team in the eighth Asia Cup to be played in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from September 21 to 27. The 18-member squad will have another mid-fielder Chanchan Devi Thokchom (88 caps) as the vice-captain.

10-Sep

The Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation announced the recipients of the USD 250,000 prestigious Lasker Awards for medical research and contributions to public health yesterday. Two scientists who illuminated how brain cells communicate, three researchers who developed implants that let deaf people hear and philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates have won the award.

Italian director Gianfranco Rosi’s documentary “Holy GRA”, which looks into everyday life off a Rome ring road, won the Golden Lion for best movie at the Venice film festival last week. Greece’s Themis Panou won the best actor prize for his role as father to a family which harbours a deep secret in Alexandros Avranas’s “Miss Violence”. Elena Cotta won the best actress award for her role in “Via Castellana Bandiera”.

Rafael Nadal won his second US Open title and 13th Grand Slam title when he defeated world number one Novak Djokovic

Chhattisgarh has bagged the National Literacy Award. This is for the first time that state has received awards in all the three categories- state, district and panchayat. State school education minister Brijmohan Agrawal received the award from President Pranab Mukherjee on the occasion of International Literacy Day at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, on Sunday.

India’s northeastern state of Tripura achieved the first position in literacy with 94.65% literacy rate, higher than Kerala’s (93.9%). Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar announced the same last Sunday.

Japanese conglomerate Toshiba Corporation agreed to acquire major part of Hyderabad based Vijai Electricals Ltd.’s transmission and distribution (T&D) business for approximately USD 200 million.

9-Sep

Indian American Kavita Shukla won INDEX design award for her innovative design, FreshPaper that helps keep food fresh for a longer period, last week.

World number one Serena Williams won her fifth US Open title, and second in a row, by defeating second-ranked Victoria Azarenka.

Nitish Kumar (Indian Statistical Service – 2001) has been appointed as Director, Central Vigilance Commission. He will replace P K Chakraborty CSS who superannuated recently.

Leander Paes made history yesterday by becoming the oldest man, at 40, to win a Grand Slam event in the open era. He, partnering Radek Stepanek, won the US men’s doubles title after defeating Number 2 seeds Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares. The last over-40 player to win a major title was the legendary Martina Navratilova, who was 46 when she won the Australian and Wimbledon mixed doubles with Paes in 2003.

8-Sep

International Literacy Day was observed today (8th September) across the world.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel won Italy Grand Prix held today

Indian Parliament has passed the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill-2013 with the Rajya Sabha approving it by a voice vote. The Lok Sabha had passed it earlier. The Bill prohibits employment of manual scavengers, manual cleaning of sewers and septic tanks without protective equipment and construction of insanitary latrines.

The Foreign Investment Promotion Board has cleared gold-loan company Muthoot Finance’s proposal to set up white-label ATMs in the country

Reliance Communications Ltd has appointed Deepak Khanna as CEO, India Enterprise.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor Vice-Chairman Vikram Kirloskar has been elected as the new President of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). At the same time, Ashok Leyland Managing Director Vinod Dasari has been elected as the new Vice-President.

6-Sep

Famous Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie will receive an Honorary Oscar in recognition of her humanitarian work, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced yesterday.

India and Japan have decided to expand their currency swap arrangement from USD 15 billion to USD 50 billion to strengthen bilateral financial cooperation and stabilize the global financial markets. Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso Indian Police Service (IPS) Sanjeev Dayal has been appointed as head of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force.

5-Sep

The two-day summit of the Group of Twenty (G-20) has begun at St. Peters burg in Russia on Thursday (September 5). The Rajya Sabha has passed the constitutional amendment bill today that seeks to create a judicial appointments commission for making recommendations on appointments in the higher judiciary. Mrs. Deepak Sandhu took over as the Chief Information Commissioner today and replaced Satyanand Mishra.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has appointed Rakesh Sood, India’s former Ambassador to Nepal, Afghanistan and France and the country’s first Ambassador in charge of Disarmament in Geneva, as his new Special Envoy for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation.

Noted Indian homeopath Mukesh Batra has been honoured with Asia’s “most promising leader” award at a recent function in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for pioneering work in healthcare, using natural medicine. ICICI Bank, India’s largest private sector bank, launched its ‘Branch on Wheels’ to offer basic banking services in remote areas which have so far been devoid of banking facilities.

Global ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded the subordinated debt (subdebt) and junior subordinated debt ratings of 11 Indian banks. The 11 banks are State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Canara Bank, IDBI Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Syndicate Bank, Union Bank of India and top three private banks ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank.

4-Sep

Switzerland retained the no 1 rank for its competitiveness for fifth year in a row while Singapore and Finland remain in second and third positions respectively, as per the annual Global Competitiveness Report 2013-2014. Germany moves up two places at 4th position and United States has reversed its four-year downward trend to occupy 5th position. Two other Asian economies, Hong Kong SAR (7th) and Japan (9th), also feature in the top ten of the rankings of 148 economies in the same list.

The Lok Sabha has passed the Pension Fund Regulatory and Develpment Authority Bill, 2011 today.

India has slipped to 60th position in terms of its competitiveness globally, while Switzerland has retained its top rank, as per the annual Global Competitiveness Report 2013-2014. This is India’s lowest ever rank in the competitive index which is 31 ranks lower than rank obtained by its neighbor China.

Private sector insurer Bajaj Allianz has appointed Anuj Agarwal as the Managing Director and officiating Chief Executive Officer today.

Verizon to acquire Vodafone’s 45% stake in its US business for USD 130 billion; one of the largest deals in corporate history

Poet Haraprasad Das was conferred the Moortidevi Award for 2012 for ‘Vamsha, a poetic recreation of the Mahabharata in contemporary idiom, which has been hailed as a post-modern masterpiece.

2-Sep

India Air Force’s has formally inducted its biggest 70-tonne C-17 heavy-lift transport aircraft into service at the Hindon Air Base today. The C-17 Globemaster III aircraft has been procured from the US under a deal expected to be over Rs 20,000 crore. will replace the Russian IL-76 as the biggest aircraft in the IAF inventory till now.

Senior IAS officer G Mohan Kumar has been appointed as Secretary in Ministry of Steel. He will succeed D R S Chaudhary who superannuated recently.

Saina Nehwal-led Hyderabad Hotshots won the inaugural Indian Badminton League after defeating Awadhe Warriors by 3-1 in the finals at the NSCI Stadium on Saturday

South Korea beat India 4-3 in the Asia Cup Hockey final at Ipoh, Malaysia yesterday to win the cup. From Asian continent, India, South Korea and Malaysia have qualified for the Hockey World Cup to be held at The Hague, Netherlands.

India’s Bhuvana Kalva won her maiden 10000 US dollars ITF women singles title after defeating sixth-seeded Akari Inoue of Japan by 6-4, 7-5 in the final match at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association complex.

31 August

N R Narayana Murthy has stepped down as chairman of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) after taking charge as executive chairman of Infosys.

Justice Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana, judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court has been appointed as the new Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court. He took over from Justice Badar Durrez Ahmad.

Brigalia Bam, former head of South Africa’s election body, won the prestigious Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Peace and Reconciliation for her commitment to democracy.

Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery won the UEFA Best Player in Europe award for 2012/13 in recognition for his part in Bayern’s unprecedented Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup treble.

Indian parliament has passed the land acquisition bill which protects consent of landowners and steep hikes in compensation amid land acquisition related issues across the country.

India’s first exclusive defence satellite GSAT-7 was successfully launched by European space consortium Arianespace’s Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou spaceport in French Guiana on Friday.

The government has set up a 7-member Tax Administration Reform Commission (TARC) to revisit tax laws and suggest measures for putting in place a stable and non-adversarial tax administration. This commission will be headed by Parthasarathi Shome.

ONGC Videsh Ltd Managing Director, D.K. Sarraf, has been appointed as the Chairman & Managing Director of ONGC, India’s largest Oil and Gas PSU. He will succeed Sudhir Vasudeva

Kapil Parakh, an Indian-origin cardiologist working in Washington area, is among a dozen people chosen by the White House for its prestigious fellowship programme for 2013-14.

India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth dropped to 4.4% for the first quarter of the current financial year which was much lower compared to 4.8% GDP growth in the previous quarter.

29 August

National Sports Day is being celebrated today

Moody’s currently has a “Baa3″ sovereign rating on India, or its lowest investment-grade rating, with a “stable” outlook.

27 August

The United Nations General Assembly has declared April 6 as the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace last week.

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon has appointed a Pakistani army general, Lt Gen Maqsood Ahmed, as the Military Adviser for United Nations Peacekeeping Operations yesterday. He will replace Senegal’s Lt Gen Babacar Gaye.

Pakistani Teenage activist MalalaYousafzai has won the prestigious International Children’s Peace Prize.

L C Goyal (IAS – Kerala, 1979) has been appointed as the new Secretary in the ministry of Rural Development. He will succeed Subrahmanyam Vijay Kumar.

Bollywood actor and UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) Goodwill Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan has joined the UN and its humanitarian partners to promote The World Needs More global campaign last week.

India’s biggest oil explorer at foreign lands, ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) has agreed to acquire 10% stake in an offshore gas field in Mozambique from US firm Anadarko Petroleum for USD 2.6 billion.

Indian tennis player Sania Mirza won the women’s doubles trophy at the WTA New Haven Open along with her partner Jie Zheng of China last week. Third seeded Sania and Jie defeated the second-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues and Katarina Srebotnik

26 August

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel won the Belgian Grand Prix

The Indian under-23 team lifted the ACC Emerging Trophy tournament after defeating arch-rivals Pakistan

Indian team of Deepika Kumari, Laishram Bombayla Devi and Rimil Buriuly defeated the top seeded Korean team of Yun Ok-Hee, Ki Bo Bae, and Joo Hyun Jung by 219-215 to win the Gold Medal.

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has been appointed as the chairman of Bengal’s cricket coaching committee.

23 August

a national e-mail policy to protect privacy of email users in the country. the proposed policy all government departments and Indian embassies are being asked to use NIC server for their email correspondence.

Ashwani Kumar has been appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as his Special Envoy to visit Japan.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), India’s Insurance regulator, has imposed a penalty of 3.10 crore rupees on Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has received its third Boeing C-17 Globemaster III

The Central Govenment has appointed V Kannan as Chairman & Managing Director of Vijaya Bank

The Central Government has also appointed Suresh N Patel as Executive Director of Oriental Bank of Commerce.

Sohan Roy, director of the film ‘Dam 999’ and chief executive of Aries group of companies, has been conferred with the Rajiv Gandhi Shiromani Award.

22 August

The President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe was sworn in for 7th term as Head of State.

Nishi Vasudeva has been selected to head Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL). With this she becomes the first woman ever to head a Navranta PSU

Global credit rating agency, Fitch Ratings maintained its stable outlook for India’s BBB- rating, gives much awaited respite to the Indian Government amid fear of a credit rating downgrade

21 August

Pumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, of South Africa, took over as the new head of the the UN Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women (UN Women)

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has landed its C-130J Super Hercules Transport Plane at the recently-activated airstrip of Daulat Beg Oldie Sector in Ladakh. The Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) airstrip is located at 16614 feet in Ladakh which is also the World’s highest airstrip.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced that it would buy long-term government bonds worth of Rs 8000 crore to pump more liquidity into the India’s banking system.

Global Credit Rating agency Standard & Poor’s maintains its negative outlook on India’s BBB- sovereign credit rating.

20 August

World Humanitarian Day was observed yesterday (19th August). The theme for 2013 is – “The World Needs More”.

Famous golfer Tiger Woods secured first rank with the annual income of USD 78.1 million in the recent Forbes list of highest-paid athletes.

Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova topped the list with annual income of USD 29 million.

Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana Divas is being observed today (20th August) on his 69th birth anniversary.

Shri Ratan Thiyam has been appointed as the Chairperson of the NationalSchool of Drama Society

Professor of economics, conservationist and mountaineer Harshwanti Bisht was selected for the Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal

The Reserve Bank of India notified the hike in the investment ceiling for foreign direct investment (FDI) in Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs) from existing 49% to 74% to attract more FDI

Kush Kumar won the first gold for India after defeating Mohammad Syafiq Mohd. Kamal of Malaysia. by 11-9, 5-11, 11-9, 11-7 in the boys’ squash final in the second Asian Youth Games at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Centre yesterday.

18 August

Yahoo Inc has appointed veteran technology executive and Silicon Valley investor Maynard Webb as its new chairman. He replaced Fred Amoroso.

For the first time, the Election Commission or EC would be using the paper trail system along with the Electronic Voting Machines in the Nagaland by-election scheduled to be held on September 4. The system, called the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail system (VVPAT), will accompany the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM).

Senior IPS officer Dilip Trivedi has been appointed the Director General of CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force). He succeeded Pranay Sahay

Desh Prem Azad, former coach of cricketer Kapil Dev, passed away

India’s Satywart Kadian has won a bronze medal in the 96-kg freestyle category at the World Junior Wrestling Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.

16 August

A major fire broke out on board of Indian submarine INS Sindhurakshak at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai this week.

India has signed a loan agreement with the World Bank worth of USD 100 million for its Low Income Housing Finance Project.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Centre signed an agreement for USD 300 million additional loan to upgrade 254 Kms of deteriorated highways in northern and southern Bihar.

13 August

International Youth Day was observed yesterday (12th August) across the world. The theme of 2013 is “Youth Migration: Moving Development Forward”.

Ibrahim Boubacar Keita won Mali’s Presidential elections yesterday by defeating his opponent Soumalia Cisse.

India launched its first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant yesterday, joining the elite club of nations with the capability of designing and building a warship of this size and capability.

India’s Trap shooter Ronjan Sodhi, the first Indian to win two back-to-back World Cup gold medals, has been recommended for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna. Cricketer Virat Kohli, golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar and Badminton Player P V Sindhu were among the 14 sportspersons picked for the Arjuna award by the selection committee.

Sagarika Ghosh won the Cadet Girls singles title while Birdie Boro had to be satisfied with a silver in the Cadet Boys singles at the Guatemala Junior and Cadet Open Table Tennis championships.

11 August

Famous scientist Vinod Prakash Sharma won the Gujar Mal Modi Award

India’s rising shuttler P V Sindhu settled for a bronze medal at the World Championships after suffering a straight-game defeat against world number three Ratchanok Inthanon in the semifinals yesterday.

India’s Sudhakar Jayant has won gold medal at the IWF World Masters weightlifting championships, held in Turin, Italy.

9 August

the new Companies Bill would require companies that meet certain set of criteria, to spend at least two percent of their average profits in the last three years towards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities.

Rakesh Sethi has taken charge as the Executive Director of the Union Bank of India.

Rising shuttler P V Sindhu on has created history yesterday by becoming the first Indian woman singles player to ensure a medal at the World Badminton Championships at Guangzhou, China.

Indian wrestler Virender Singh won a gold medal in the men’s 74 kg freestyle event at the Deaflympics in Bulgaria today. The Delhi-based deaf and mute Indian defeated Oguz Donder of Turkey to win the coveted medal.

6 August

Organ Donation Day is observed today (6th August).

Japan unveiled its biggest warship since World War II, “Izumo”

CLSA has lowered India’s growth forecast for the current fiscal year 2013-14 to 5.2% from earlier forecast of 5.5%.

Telecommunication major Vodafone India in association with ICICI bank has started a unique money transfer and payment service “M-Pesa” in Bihar and Jharkhand

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos acquires Washington post for USD 250 million

Jeffrey P Bezos, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Amazon. Donald E. Graham, third generation of the Graham family, is the current Chairman and Chief Executive of the newspaper company.

5 August

Samantha Power has been appointed as the US ambassador to United Nations and she took oath for the same. She succeeded Susan Rice, now the President Barack Obama’s National Security Adviser.

4 August

Ruta Meilutyte of Lithiania became the first swimmer to break a world record at the 15th FINA World Championships as she won the 100 metres in 1 minute and 4.35 seconds. The 15th FINA World Championships are currently held in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

Indian girls created history by winning country’s first ever bronze medal in the junior women hockey World Cup as they defeated England

2 August

The Cabinet has cleared the proposal for sale of 10% government stake in Indian Oil Corporation(IOC), which may fetch around Rs 3,695 crore to the Indian Government at the current market price. The IOC stock price closed at Rs 192.90, down 1.46% on the BSE following the news. Currently Government holds 78.92% stake in IOC and after the divestment the stake would come down to 68.92%.

The Government has formally announced the appointment of noted theatre person, Waman Kendre, as the new Director of National School of Drama yesterday. He replaced the outgoing Director of NSD, Anuradha Kapur.

31 July

Metro Man E. Sreedharan has been selected for the prestigious Lokmanya Tilak award for 2013 for his outstanding contribution to society.

India’s Aditya Mehta won gold medal of World Snooker Championship at Colombia today. He defeated China’s Liang Wenbo

30 July

India-born Mamnoon Hussain, a close aide of Prime Minister Nawqaz Sharif, was elected as the 12th President of Pakistan today.

Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan was chosen for the 21st Rajiv Gandhi National Sadhbhavna Award for his contribution towards promotion of communal harmony and peace.

India wins the second edition of the South Asian Football Federation Championship after defeating Nepal at Dashrath Stadium in Kathmandu

RBI also cut the GDP growth forecast for FY14 to 5.5% from earlier forecast of 5.7%

29 July

Lewis Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix from pole position yesterday to clinch his first victory of this season

the Jet-Etihad proposal involves Etihad buying 24% equity in Jet Airways at a cost of Rs 2,058 crore. This is the largest FDI proposal in the civil aviation sector till now.

World’s leading ad agencies, France’s Publicis and US firm Omnicom have announced a merger to create the world’s biggest advertising company worth of USD 35.1 billion. Post-merger, the new company will be known as “Publicis Omnicom Groupe “ and Omnicom chief executive John Wren and Publicis Groupe boss Maurice Levy are to become joint CEOs of the merged entity.

28 July

World Hepatitis Day is observed across the world today. The theme for the year 2013 is “This is Hepatitis, Know it, Confront it”

26 July

In order to make sanitation for all a global development priority, the United Nations General Assembly has designated 19th November as World Toilet Day

Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden was awarded German “Whistleblower Prize” for 2013 yesterday which is worth of USD 3,900.

Britain’s Chris Froome won the 100th edition of the Tour de France.

INSAT 3D, India’s advanced and most sophisticated weather satellite, was launched successfully in the early hours of today, 26th July, 2013 by European space consortium Arianespace’s Ariane 5 ECA VA214 rocket launched INSAT-3D and Alphasat satellites from Kourou, French Guiana.

DLF Limited to sell its 74% stake in a life insurance joint venture with Prudential International Insurance Holdings Ltd (PIIHL) named as DLF Pramerica Life Insurance Co. Ltd to Dewan Housing Finance Corp.

FMCG major Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) has appointed Sanjiv Mehta as its new CEO and Managing Director.

24 July

The Ramon Magsaysay Award 1) Ernesto Domingo (Philippines) for his exemplary embrace of the social mission of medical science and his profession, 2) Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (Corruption Eradication Commission) (Indonesia) for its successful campaign against corruption in Indonesia, 3) Lahpai Seng Raw (Myanmar) for her quietly inspiring and inclusive leadership, 4) Habiba Sarabi (Afghanistan) for her bold exercise of leadership to build up a functioning provincial government against great odds 5) Shakti Samuha (“Power Group”) (Nepal) for transforming their lives in service to other human trafficking survivors, their passionate dedication towards rooting out a pernicious social evil in Nepal.

Suresh Chandra Mohanty has been appointed as the new President of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India for the year 2013-14 today.

Wipro Chairman Azim Premji has been awarded the Asian Business Leaders Award 2013 for his “impressive business credentials” and service to society by London-based Asia House.

23 July

Poverty ratio in the country has declined to 21.9% in 2011-12 from 37.2% in 2004-05 due to increase in per capita consumption, as per the Planning Commission report published today. The percentage of persons below poverty line in 2011-12 has been estimated at 25.7% in rural areas, 13.7% in urban areas and 21.9% for the country as a whole compared to 41.8%, 25.7% and 37.2% respectively in 2004-05.

RBI has reduced the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) for each bank from 1% of the total deposits to 0.5%. RBI has also asked banks to maintain higher average CRR (cash reserve ratio) of 99% of the requirement on daily basis as against earlier 70%.

Abdul Rahim Rather, the Finance Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, has been appointed as the new Chairman of GST Panel by the Empowered Committee of States’ Finance Ministers on GST. He replaced Sushil Kumar Modi.

Arvind Sharma, the Chairman and CEO of Leo Burnett, India subcontinent was re-elected as the President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI)

22 July

World number one Serena Williams won Swedish Open title after beating Sweden’s Johanna Larsson

The government has allowed Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), to pass orders like search and seizure, attachment of properties, arrest and detention of defaulters.

Satish Babu, Director, International Centre for Free and Open Source Software (ICFOSS), has been elected to the 2014 Nominating Committee of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Numbers and Names (ICANN).

Indian athlete Devendra Jhajharia has created history today by becoming the first differently-abled Indian to win a gold medal at the IPC Athletics World Championships in France. He won the gold medal in javelin throw at the sixth edition of the event.

India has won a Gold medal in the Women’s Recurve Team event at the Archery World Cup Stage-3 in Medellin, Colombia. India’s Deepika Kumari, Laishram Bombayla Devi and Rimil Biruly defeated the top seeded Chinese Cheng Ming, Xu Jing and Cui Yuanyuan

21 July

China Saturday successfully launched three satellites for scientific experiments, authorities said. The Chuangxin-3, Shiyan-7 and Shijian-15 satellites were boosted by a Long March-4C carrier rocket

The veteran Parliamentarian Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil has sworn in as the new Governor of Sikkim.

Indian tennis players of Purav Raja and Divij Sharan have clinched its first ever ATP title, by winning the Colombia Open Tennis tournament in Bogota. In the Men’s Doubles title clash, the fourth seeded Indian duo defeated the higher seeded French-Dutch combination of Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Igor Sijsling

19 July

US President Barack Obama has nominated Nisha Desai Biswal, an accomplished Indian-American administrator, to head the South Asia bureau in the US state department.

Justice P Sathasivam sworn in as the 40th Chief Justice of India (CJI) today by President Pranab Mukherjee.

Former South Africa player Dave Staniforth has been appointed as goalkeeping coach and strategic analyst of the Indian senior and junior men’s hockey teams.

18 July

Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India launched the nation-wide National Tobacco Control Campaign known as- “Tears you apart”. The aim of the campaign is to raise the public awareness regarding dangers of smokeless tobacco which is consumed by millions of Indians every day. The Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) revealed that around 21 crore Indians make use of the smokeless tobacco.

The Reserve Bank opened a special borrowing window of Rs 25,000 crore to help the crisis-ridden mutual funds tide over liquidity problems

world’s largest steel maker ArcelorMittal scrapped its USD 12 billion (Rs 50,000 crore) steel plant in Odisha

17 July

Real Madrid has been named as the most valuable club in the list of the world’s 50 most valuable sports teams released by Forbes yesterday.

Dr Nirmalya Kumar, Professor of Marketing at the London Business School, will join Tata Sons as Member – Group Executive Council reporting to the Chairman, Cyrus P. Mistry.

16 July

Indian government has raised FDI limits in two sectors today in order to attract more foreign inflow in the country. FDI limit in telecom has been increased from 74% to 100% and for defence sector FDI limit has been increased from 26% to 49%.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has lowered India’s growth forecast to 5.8% for current financial year 2013-14 from earlier forecast of 6% announced in April this year

The finance ministry has identified Usha Ananthasubramanian, executive director of Punjab National Bank, to be the chief executive of Bhartiya Mahila Bank, which will launch its operations from November with six branches.

Santosh B Nayar has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the Industrial Financial Corporation of India (IFCI).

The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT), a quasi-judicial body that hears cases related to market regulator SEBI, has appointed Justice J.P. Devadhar as its Presiding Officer.

Indian boxing team has bagged nine medals, including four gold, in the Golden Glove of Vojvodina, an international boxing tournament being held in Kikinda, Serbia. A Silambarasan (52kg) and Manish Solanki (69kg) bagged the gold medal in the men’s section while Rajesh Kumari (48kg) and Chanda Udanshive (51kg) won the same in the women’s division. India’s tally also included five Silver medals which came through Lalitha Prasad (49kg), Neeraj Parashar (64kg) (men’s category), Marthamma Sattivada (64kg), Diksha (91kg) and Pema Chotan (+91kg) (women’s category). Silambarasan was declared the “Best Fighter of the Tournament’.

15 July

The telegram counter closed at 11:45 PM and the 163-year old telegram service in the country comes to an end.

Indian shooter, Kynan Chenai has won a trap gold medal in the Singapore Open Shooting Championships.

Grandmaster and former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta won the Commonwealth Chess Championship.

14 July

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) defeated Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) to capture power in Bhutan’s second general election yesterday. PDP president Tshering Tobgay (47) is likely to be the next prime minister.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, a former deputy president of South Africa and women’s advocate, as the new head of the United Nations body.

ElBaradei sworn in as Egypt’s new vice-president.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren sworn-in as ninth Chief Minister of Jharkhand

Shalini Singh, a Deputy Editor withThe Hindu, won the prestigious Prem Bhatia Award for Political Reporting-2013.

13 July

US Telecom giant AT&T has announced plans to acquire mobile carrier Leap Wireless in a deal worth at least USD 4 billion

11 July

World Population Day is observed today. The theme for 2013 is “Adolescent pregnancy with an aspiration of safe childbirth and that each pregnancy is wanted”.

ICC announced today, former Australia spinner Shane Warne will be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame on July 19

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved disinvestment of government stake in State Trading Corporation (STC) and ITDC, which would fetch around 30 crore Rs for the government.

The Union Cabinet has accorded in-principle approval for formation of a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The CAA will replace the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), as new aviation regulator with full operational and financial autonomy.

The IMF has projected world economic growth rate at 3.1% for 2013 and 3.8% for 2014 due to slower economic recovery process. The IMF has also predicted that the overall growth rate in the developing countries would be around 5%

Noted Maestro Zubin Mehta has been named for the Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony for the year 2013 in recognition of his outstanding contribution to cultural harmony.

Dr Laxman Singh Rathore, Director General of Meteorology & Permanent Representative of India with World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has been selected as Co-Vice Chairman of Intergovernmental Board of Climate Services (IBCS)

Karnataka Government has launched a new program named “‘Anna Bhagya’” today. By this program, Government wants to distribute 30 kg rice at one rupee per Kg to over 98 lakh BPL and Antyodaya card holders in the state. This program will cost Rs 4400 crore every month

The Finance Ministry has notified the formation of Kerala Gramin Bank by merging the South and North Malabar Gramin banks, the two regional rural banks of Kerala. The headquarters of the new bank will be at Malappuram and is sponsored by Canara Bank.

Ahmedabad-based company eInfochips won the ‘Company of the Year’ award in the semiconductor and product design category at the India Electronics Awards 2013.

Olympian Maharaj Krishan Kaushik has been appointed as a coach of the senior men’s hockey team today

9 July

EU Finance Ministers have given final approval for Latvia to join the eurozone on 1st January. Following this, The Latvian currency, the lat, will be converted into euros at a rate of 0.7028 lats per euro. Latvia thus becomes the 18th — and the second Baltic nation — to use the common currency.

Former Delhi Police commissioner Krishan Kant Paul has been appointed as the new governor of Meghalaya. He will replace Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary. Meghalaya High Court Chief Justice T. Meena Kumari.

Jamia Millia Islamia, vice-chancellor Najeeb Jung, has been appointed as Delhi lieutenant-governor. He will replace Tejendra Khanna.

Punjab Congress chief Virendra Kataria has been appointed as lieutenant-governor of Puducherry. He will succeed Iqbal Singh.

Lt Gen (retired) A K Singh has been appointed as lieutenant-governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands. He will replace Lt Gen (retired) Bhopinder Singh.

India’s largest IT services company TCS has replaced its group firm Tata Steel as the country’s most admired company, as per a Fortune list released today. TCS is followed by Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Infosys and SBI in the top-five list.

India’s largest IT services company TCS has replaced its group firm Tata Steel as the country’s most admired company, as per a Fortune list released today. TCS is followed by Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Infosys and SBI in the top-five list.

Rajeev Rishi has been appointed as the new Chairman and Managing Director of Central Bank of India

Indian woman shooter Lajja Goswami has bagged a silver medal in 50 meter riffle three position in I S S F, World Shooting Championship in Spain. Italy’s Petra Jublesing bagged gold in this event.

Indian women weightlifters won the team title in the just concluded Asian Junior Championships at Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan.

8 July

Sebastian Vettel won the German Grand Prix The Central government has appointed S. B. Mainak, Executive Director, LIC, as Managing Director of the state-owned life insurance giant. Vidya Balan got the Best Actress award for her performance in Kahaani and Ranbir Kapoor won the Best Actor award for Barfi at 14th IIFA (International Indian Film Academy) awards 2013 held in Macau. Barfi also won the award for best film. The Basketball Federation of India (BFI) has appointment Spain’s Francisco Garcia as head coach of the Indian senior women’s basketball team. Shiva Thapa (56kg) has become the youngest pugilist from India to won a gold medal at the Asian Championships at Amman, Jordan, today

7 July

Scottish Andy Murray defeated top seeded Novak Djokovic by 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 today to become the first Briton to win the Wimbledon men’s singles title since 1936. UAE Exchange, one of the largest foreign exchange firms in the UAE, has applied to RBI for a banking license in India.

6 July

French 15th seed Marion Bartoli defeated Germany’s 23rd seed Sabine Lisicki 6-1, 6-4 in straight sets to win her maiden Wimbledon title at the All England Club in London today.

World soccer body FIFA again banned Iraq from holding any friendly football matches due to increasing violence. R. Chandrasekhar took overe as Nasscom President. He will succeed current Nasscom President Som Mittal. M S Raghavan has been appointed as the new chairman and managing director (CMD) of IDBI Bank. the previous chairman R K Malla had demitted his office.

India’s largest stock market National Stock Exchange (NSE) has launched ”LIX 15” index, which will be available in the derivatives segment. This index will help to provide exposure to the liquid stocks. Marissa Mayer-led Yahoo has acquired email and address book management app Xobni.

The food security programme will be the biggest in the world with the government spending estimated at Rs 125,000 crore annually on supply of about 62 million tonnes of rice, wheat and coarse cereals to 67 per cent of the population.

Young all-rounder Parveez Rasool has created history today by becoming the first cricketer from Jammu and Kashmir

India’s Vikas Gowda brought India’s its first gold in the 20th Asian Athletics Championships in Pune yesterday. MR Poovama too produced an admirable show to bag the women’s 400m silver (clocking 53.37s) and Ratiram Saini won a bronze in the men’s 10,000m at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex.

4 July

Douglas C. Engelbart, one of the inventors of the computer mouse and a computer visionary, has died at the age of 88 on Tuesday evening at his home in Atherton Vandana Gandhi, Founder & CEO of British Orchard Nursery, has been awarded with the prestigious Emirates Woman Award for business excellence

3 July

Britain’s Mark Cavendish won fifth stage of the Tour de France in Marseille Himachal Pradesh was declared as the first Smoke-free state of the country yesterday. The declaration was made in compliance to Section 4 of the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) 2003. Himachal Pradesh achieved 85.42 percent compliance with the relevant parameters to be declared as the smoke-free state. Leo Puri has been appointed as Managing Director of UTI Mutual Fund. India’s young Grand Master Parimarjan Negi has won the Continental Chess Association Open title in Washington. Global Innovation Index 2013 report was published by Cornell University, INSEAD, World Intellectual Property Organisation and the Confederation of Indian Industry In the global rankings, Switzerland and Sweden topped in innovation, followed by the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the United States.

Global professional services firm Ernst & Young has appointed EY Mark Weinberger, who previously served as the Global and Americas Head of Tax, as its new Global Chairman and CEO. ISRO has launched India’s first navigation satellite the IRNSS-1A. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV C22) was launched at 11.41pm from Satish Dawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

the National Cyber Security Policy 2013. the new policy will prevent cyber-attacks and crimes and reduce national vulnerability to such attacks. It will cater to the cyber security requirements of government and non-government entities at the national and international levels. The policy will help in safeguarding the critical infrastructure like Air Defence system, nuclear plants, banking system, power infrastructure, telecommunication system and many more to secure country’s economic stability.

Sujata Singh, currently envoy to Germany, has been appointed as India’s next Foreign Secretary Former Delhi Police commissioner K K Paul has been appointed as new governor of Meghalaya. Sunil Soni has been appointed as Director General of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). He replaced Sharad Gupta. BIS, a body under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, is into formulation of standards for all segments of industry and business. It also certifies products, popularly known as ISI mark, certification of imported products and hallmarking of jewellery. Mahindra Two Wheelers today launched its new motorcycle ‘Centuro’ in the highly competitive 100-110 cc segment.

India has been ranked 66th among 142 countries in the Global Innovation Index 2013, and first in the Central and South Asia region in the innovation efficiency ratio (which reflects the innovation output per unit of input in the economy). The report, published by Cornell University, INSEAD, World Intellectual Property Organisation and the Confederation of Indian Industry, studied the emergence of local innovation eco-systems.

1 July

Croatia joined the European Union yesterday midnight as the 28th member of the Union. Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic. Croatia is the first new EU member since Bulgaria and Romania joined in 2007. Brazilian side crushed world and European champions Spain by 3-0 win in the Confederations Cup final on Sunday. Brazil team was led by 21-year-old striker Neymar

Post the final match of Confederations Cup, Fernando José Torres of Spain was awarded with the Golden Boot Award, while Fred of Brazil won the Silver Boot Award. The Bronze Boot Award was given away to Neymar. Germany’s Nico Rosberg won a dramatic British Grand Prix for Mercedes The Delhi Metro has taken over the operations of Airport Express link in Delhi from Sunday midnight as Reliance Infra refused to run the Metro line. Presidential, Asian Athletics Association- Qatar’s Dahlan Jumaan Al-Hamad RBI has issued the master circular revising certain guidelines related to bank Know Your Customer (KYC) policy today. It suggests creating Unique Customers Identification Code (UCIC) while bringing changes in new account opening process. INS Trikand, built in Russia, was commissioned into the Indian Navy at Kaliningrad, Russia by Vice Admiral R K Dhowan, the Vice Chief of the Naval Staff, Indian Navy. India’s largest two wheeler company, Her MotoCorp, has acquired 49.2% stake in US-based high-end motorcycle maker Erik Buell Racing (EBR) for USD 25 million.