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RBI/ BANKING/BUSINESS NEWS THIS MONTH

28 August: Largest private lender ICICI Bank launched the country's first mortgage guarantee-

backed home loan product that will expand the credit amount and increase the tenure for an

additional fee as well. According to ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar it will help

customers raise the eligible amount by up to 20 percent and increase the tenure by up to 7

years. ‘ICICI Bank Extraa Home Loans’ can be availed only after paying a one-time mortgage

guarantee fee to be paid at the start.

27 August: Multi-Commodity Exchange of India (MCX), India's leading commodity exchange, has

signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with GIFT SEZ Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of

Gujarat International Finance Tec-City Company Ltd. (GIFTCL) for developing an international

exchange in GIFT city. As per the agreement, MCX will provide an electronic platform for

facilitating trading, clearing and settlement of securities, commodities, interest rates, currencies,

other classes of assets and derivatives to international investors in GIFT SEZ-IFSC (International

Financial Services Centre).

27 August: Setting September 28 as the date for merger of Forward Markets Commission (FMC)

with itself, Sebi announced new norms for commodities derivatives market under which

exchanges and brokers in this segment will need to comply with rules applicable to their stock

market peers. The new regulations will also come into force on September 28. These norms will

enable functioning of the commodities derivatives market and its brokers under Sebi norms and

integration of commodities derivatives and securities trading in an orderly manner.

25 August: Bandhan Bank began operations as a full-fledged lender across the country. It has

started operations with 1.43 crore accounts, a loan book of around Rs.10,500 crore and 19,500

employees. To begin with, it has got 501 branches, 2022 service centres and 50 ATMs across 24

states. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley inaugurated its operations at the Science City Auditorium in

Kolkata. Bandhan, which started as an NGO in 2001 and later turned into a microfinance

institute, is the first MFI to become a universal bank. Chandra Shekhar Ghosh is the founder-MD

and CEO of Bandhan Bank.

24 August: The Reserve Bank of India issued a notification, according to which banks can extend

loan repayment period up to 5 years in case 50% crop is damaged due to natural calamities like

drought and flood. However, if crop damage is 33%, the loan repayment period can be extended

up to 2 years, including one year of moratorium.

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24 August: India-based micro-irrigation firm Jain Irrigation Systems is the sole company from the

country named in Fortune magazine's inaugural 'Change the World' list of companies making

significant progress in addressing major social problems as a part of their core business strategy.

Jain Irrigation ranks 7th on the list of 50 companies on Fortune's new "Change the World list"

that has been topped by UK-based Vodafone and Kenyan telecom Safaricom and includes

Bangladesh-based Grameen Bank and Afghan telecom company Roshan.

21 August: The Reserve Bank of India granted its in-principle approval to setting up

Payments Banks to 11 entities. These are Aditya Birla Nuvo, Airtel M Commerce

Services, Cholamandalam Distribution Services, Department of Posts, Fino PayTech,

National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL), Reliance Industries, Tech Mahindra, Vodafone

m-pesa, Dilip Shanghvi and Vijay S. Sharma. The two individuals to get RBI’s approval –

Dilip Shanghvi and Vijay S. Sharma, are associated with Sun Pharma and Paytm

respectively. Payments banks will be the entities which will be mainly involved in

remittance services and will be allowed to accept deposits up to Rs. 1 lakh but cannot

lend. They can also issue debit cards and offer internet banking but will be not allowed

to issue credit cards.

20 August: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has launched two funds by Small

Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), a fund of funds with total corpus of Rs

12,000 crore. The funds are Rs 2,000-crore India Aspiration Fund (IAF) and SIDBI Make In

India Loan For Enterprises (SMILE) scheme with an investment size of Rs 10,000 crore.

20 August: The State Bank of India has launched its mobile wallet — State Bank Buddy

— in collaboration with Accenture and MasterCard. The mobile wallet app is available in

13 languages on Google Play Store.The bank said the wallet will soon be available in the

Apple App Store as well.

20 August: The Indian government's recent steps to support the capitalisation of public

sector banks won't fully resolve their looming capital shortfall, according to a Standard

& Poor's report. The government has recently announced its plan to allocate capital to

each of the banks for fiscal 2016-2019 (ending March 31), increase the capital allocation

for fiscal 2016, and commit to further allocation in the next few years if needed. The

government has earmarked Indian rupee (INR) 0.7 trillion (US$11 billion) for capital

infusions for 2016-2019.

20 August: To fund the unfunded, the Finance Ministry plans to launch a month long

campaign for loans under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana and hopes to double loan

disbursement to the small business sector to over Rs 1 lakh crore during the fiscal.

20 August: The Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), the major player in the insurance sector

launched its new endowment plus ULIP product. Mr B K Panda, Sr Divisional Manager

LICI, Guwahati, along with Mr S Biswas, Manager Sales officially launched the policy.

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18 August: The Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a new campaign 'Start-up

India, Stand-up India' to promote bank financing for start-ups and offer incentives to

boost entrepreneurship and job creation. The campaign was launched during the

celebrations of 69th Independence Day at Red Fort, Delhi. The initiative is aimed at

encouraging entrepreneurship among the youth of India.

18 August: Government appointed new heads in five Public Sector Banks. Bank of

Baroda (BoB) and Canara Bank have become the first public sector banks which will be

headed by private sector professionals. P.S. Jayakumar (53), who currently heads realty

firm VBHC Value Homes, has been appointed as the managing director & chief executive

officer of Bank of Baroda. MD and CEO of private sector lender Laxmi Vilas Bank Rakesh

Sharma (57) will head Canara Bank. M.O. Rego (Deputy Managing Director, IDBI Bank),

Kishore Kharat Piraji (Executive Director, Union Bank of India), and Usha

Ananthasubramanian (CMD, Bhartiya Mahila Bank) are the new MD and CEOs of Bank of

India, IDBI Bank and Punjab National Bank, respectively.

18 August: Reserve Bank of India notified the Union Budget 2015-16 Interest Subvention

Scheme (ISS) and asked all banks to provide interest concession of 2 percent on short

term crop loans of up to 3 lakh rupees. The central bank in its notification said that

interest subvention of 2 percent per annum will be made available to public and private

sector banks.

17 August: The Reserve Bank of India paid a dividend of nearly Rs. 66,000 crore to the

government, the highest ever from the central bank in its 80-year history, and 22% more

than it paid last year. On a point to point basis, RBI's dividend payment to the

government is up more than four times in as many years. This payment can help ease

the government's finances, help meet its fiscal deficit targets, provide liquidity to the

system so that the rate of interest remains low.

17 August: The programme to pay cash subsidy to cooking gas LPG consumers has been

recognised by Guinness Book of World Records as the largest cash transfer programme

in the world. The Direct Benefit Transfer on LPG (DBTL), or Pratyaksha Hastaantarit

Laabh (PAHAL) scheme, was launched in 54 districts on November 15, 2014 and all over

the country from January 1, 2015 with a view to provide subsidy to the right beneficiary

and to cut diversion and subsidised fuel being consumed by unintended segments like

restaurants and other commercial establishments.

17 August: The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI)

allowed banks to tie up with insurance companies. This decision is taken on the basis of

'Bancasurance' guidelines soon to be notified. Prior to this decision no bank was allowed

to tie up with more than one insurance company. Now, according to the new

bancassurance guidelines banks can tie up with a maximum of 9 insurers from three

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segments —life, non–life and standalone health insurers — as part of the new. While

such a tie-up will not be mandatory on the banks.

13 August: Wipro Chairman Azim Premji and HCL founder Shiv Nadar are the only two

Indian tycoons in the top 20 richest people in the world of technology, according to an

inaugural list by Forbes that has been topped by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Premji

is ranked 13th on Forbes' first ever list of '100 Richest People In Tech', followed by

Nadar on the 14th spot. Premji, 70, who has a net

worth of $ 17.4 billion, is among Asia's most generous tycoons. Nadar has a net worth of

$ 14.4 billion.

13 August: The Financing Agreement for World Bank assistance of US$ 104 million for

Additional Financing under National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project-I (NCRMP-I) was

signed between Government of India and the World Bank. The objective of Additional

Financing under NCRMP-I is to reduce the vulnerability of coastal communities to

cyclone and other hydro meteorological hazards in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

13 August: The Financing Agreement for World Bank assistance of US$ 308.40 million

for National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project-II (NCRMP-II) was signed between

Government of India and the World Bank. The objective of NCRMP-II is to reduce

vulnerability to cyclone and other hydro-meteorological hazards of coastal communities

in the States of Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and West Bengal.

12 August: In view of the forthcoming festival of Raksha Bandhan, a special enrolment

drive, “Suraksha Bandhan”, is being launched by participating banks and insurance

companies for enrolling bank account holders in Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana

(PMSBY) and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY). The “Suraksha

Bandhan” drive aims to take forward the Government’s objective of creating a universal

social security system in the country. It is targeted especially at the poor and the under-

privileged.

11 August: In a report on ‘Working Conditions of Women in Public Sector Banks’ a

parliamentary panel has recommended making at least 15 per cent public sector banks

branches all-women offices to provide safe and convenient work environment to

women in the banking sector. The PSBs have a total staff strength of about 8, 57, 868. Of

this, women employees account for 1, 96, 374, constituting 24 per cent of the total

workforce as of September, 2014.

11 August: Payment system running companies in India like Airtel, Vodafone,

OneMobikvik etc. who have applied for licence with Reserve Bank of India (RBI), might

have to be under control of the two regulators. They will contnue to be regulated by the

RBI, and after the Indian Financial Code (IFC) is implemented the proposed financial

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authority will also superwise them. Regulation of banking sector, the systematically

important payment systems and authorized dealerships shall remain with RBI.

11 August: The Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana launched by the Government of India on

August 15, 2014, is set to close on August 14, 2015. Administered by the Life Insurance

Corporation (LIC) of India, the scheme is aimed at the welfare of the senior citizens of

the country, offering a yield of 9.38 per cent annually.

11 August: ICICI Bank has launched its ‘Saral-Rural Housing Loan’ at base rate of 9.7 per

cent for borrowers from the rural areas.The loan would range from Rs. 5-15 lakh for a

period of 3–20 years and the loan could be up to 90 per cent of the property value.The

offer would be available in 189 cities across the country.

8 August: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed banks to shift, merge or close

branches in urban areas without seeking its prior permission. According to RBI banks can

shift, merge or close all branches except rural branches and sole semi-urban branches at

their discretion. Shifting, merging or closing a branch in a rural area or a sole branch in a

semi-urban area would, however, continue to require prior permission from RBI. RBI

took this decision to give extra freedom to banks.

8 August: In a historic move, retirement fund body Employees' Provident Fund

Organisation (EPFO) kickstarted the process of investing in the stock market, with an

initial corpus of around Rs. 5,000 crore to be invested through Exchange Traded Funds

(ETFs) in the current fiscal. It invested in the major shares of SENSEX and NIFTY. Next

year this investment woud increase upto 15,000 crore rupees. Labour Minister Bandaru

Dattatreya announced the first investment.

8 August: Federal Bank launched India’s first Mobile App for Bank Account Opening in

Mumbai. Federal Bank has introduced this unique facility of Mobile based Bank Account

Opening as an upgrade to FedBook, its e-Passbook App, launched two years ago. With

the new avatar of FedBook, anyone having an Aadhaar Card and PAN Card can now

open a Savings Bank Account and get their Account Number instantly using a mobile

from anywhere at any time. Further, the account can also be funded with an initial

remittance through online fund transfer up to a maximum amount of Rs. 10000.

5 August: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept its interest rates unchanged in its third

bi-monthly monetary policy review. The Reserve Bank of India retained the growth

target for 2015-16 at 7.6 percent. The Repo Rate is retained at 7.25 percent, the Reverse

Repo Rate at 6.25 percent, Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR)

at 4 percent and 21.5 percent, respectively

5 August: Snapdeal, an online marketplace, and HDFC Bank launched a co-branded

credit card, 'Snapdeal HDFC Bank credit card' in partnership with Visa. This partnership

aims at encouraging more customers from tier-2 and tier-3 markets to adapt to digital

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payments. Snapdeal will also give reward points to customers for making digital

payments through the co-branded card.

4 August: The executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved

the disbursement of about USD 1.7 billion to Ukraine. The IMF has pledged USD 17.5

billion in total financial assistance over four years. Thus, the total amount of financing of

Ukraine from the Fund will reach 6.68 billion. This financing is aimed at restoring the

country's economy, empowering public finance system and maintaining financial

stability.

3 August: Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) launched “Kotak Bharat”, mobile banking app

primarily for “un-banked” regions. “Kotak Bharat” is the ‘inclusive digital banking’ app

launched by KMB that is primarily targeted to benefit customers in the under-banked

and un-banked regions, who can access its services in their preferred language. One

major benefit of this app is that it requires no internet connectivity. The app is Android-

based. It works on the existing SMS banking.

3 August: BNP Paribas, a multi-national bank announced to acquire Indian retail

brokerage firm Sharekhan Limited. BNP Paribas is the leading French bank with

worldwide presence. Currently, BNP Paribas has a presence in India through Geojit BNP

Paribas in which it holds a stake of about 33%. Sharekhan was set up in 2000 by

Mumbai-based entrepreneur Shripal Morakhia.

1 August: According to Global rating agency Moody's Indian economy started recovering

by the end of 2014 but till now no big recovery is seen. According to Moody's

accommodative monetary policy will lift the GDP (gross domestic product) to 7.6% in

2015, increasing to 8% in 2016. However, Moody’s pointed out that India’s true

potential GDP growth lies somewhere near 10%.

1 August: According to a survey released by leading global management consulting firm

AT Kearney, India has fallen four spots to 11th place in attracting Foreign Direct

Investment (FDI) during 2014. According to a latest survey titled Foreign Direct

Investment Confidence Index 2015 commissioned by AT Kearney India attracted $35

billion as FDI in 2014. India lost its top 10 position for the first time since 2002. The US

topped the Index for the third straight year followed by China.

NATION THIS MONTH

31 August: Union Govt. announced the list of 98 cities and towns selected under Smart

Cities Mission. Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of allocated cities (13) in the Smart

Cities Mission as announced by M. Venkaiah Naidu, the Union Minister of Urban

development. However, only 12 cities have been shortlisted from Uttar Pradesh against

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13 cities allocated to the state and one city will be nominated later for which there is a

tussle between Meerut and Raibareilly. Tamil Nadu has been allocated 12 cities,

followed by 10 from Maharashtra and 7 from Madhya Pradesh. Centre has earmarked

Rs. 48,000 crore for development of 100 smart cities.

31 August: Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO), the largest producer

and marketer of fertilisers in the country, strengthening the Make in India campaign

started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi by joining hands with the global player in

agrochemicals business, Mitsubishi Corporation, Japan, to form a joint venture company

IFFCO-MC Crop Science Private Limited. IFFCO will hold 51 per cent stake in the

company and rest will be with Mitsubishi Corporation, Japan. The company will

manufacture the high quality agrochemicals in India. The company was formally

launched at IFFCO’s Head Office in New Delhi

31 August: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully placed

communication satellite GSAT-6 in earth’s orbit through GSLV D-6 rocket. GSAT-6 will

provide S-band communication services in the country. It is aimed at primarily

benefiting the country’s strategic users and other specific authorised users. The cuboid-

shaped satellite with a mission life of nine years also includes a first-of-its-kind S-Band

unfurlable antenna with a diameter of six metre. This is the largest antenna ISRO has

ever made for a satellite. It was also the 25th home-made communications satellite

launched by ISRO using the Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).

31 August: NITI Aayog launched India Energy Security Scenarios (IESS) 2047, an

interactive energy scenario building tool that aims to explore a range of potential future

energy scenarios for India, for diverse energy demand and supply sectors leading up to

2047. It explores India’s possible energy scenarios across energy supply sectors such as

solar, wind, bio fuels, oil, gas, coal and nuclear, etc and emphasis their use. It is also a

systematic system of analyzing the energy demand of sectors such as transport,

industry, agriculture, cooking and lighting appliances.

27 August: The Union government launched a telemedicine initiative 'Sehat' in

collaboration with Apollo Hospitals to provide healthcare facilities in rural areas. The

initiative was launched by Union Communication and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad at

a function in New Delhi. Under the initiative people will be able to consult doctors

through video link and also order generic drugs. It will also help in providing quality and

affordable healthcare in rural areas.

27 August: Andhra Pradesh Government and Tata Trust signed a Memorandum of

Understanding (MoU) to develop 264 villages of the Vijayawada parliamentary

constituency. These villages will also be developed as smart villages. Under this scheme

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trust will work on all round development of villages including education, drinking water,

health and nutrition, youth self-employment for the youth, fish production, etc.

27 August: Adani Group, has inked a pact with the Chhattisgarh government to invest

over Rs. 25,000 crore for two projects. These projects are setting up urea and power

project as well as rice bran oil extraction plant in the state. The MoU was signed with

the Adani Group in the presence of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh. Both the

projects has the potential to give employment to 10,600 local people in the state in both

direct and indirect forms.

26 August: DRDO has tied up with Patanjali Yogpeeth of yoga guru Baba Ramdev for

manufacturing and marketing some of the herbal supplements and food products

developed by DRDO. An agreement to this effect was signed between DRDO's Defence

Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR) and Patanjali Yogpeeth. The move will

enable herbal products developed by DRDO to get more customers in the civilian

market.

25 August: Madhya Pradesh's state energy minister Rajendra Shukla announced that the

state will house world's largest 750 Mega Watts(MW) solar power station in Rewa

district. The plant will start generating solar energy by March 2017. The project - Rewa

Ultra Mega Solar - is a joint venture of Solar Energy Corporation of India and MP Urja

Vikas Nigam, where in both parties have 50 per cent stake.

22 August: The Rajasthan government entered into an agreement with Future

Consumer Enterprise Ltd. (FCEL) to modernise the Public Distribution System (PDS) by

providing multi-brand consumer goods at competitive prices to public through fair price

shops. Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje launched the initiative, "Annapurna Bhandar

Yojna", a public private partnership (PPP) scheme touted as the first of its kind in the

country after Rajasthan State Food and Civil Supplies Corporation and FCEL signed an

agreement.

22 August: Union government launched “Vidya Lakshmi” portal, India's first dedicated

portal for the benefit of students seeking educational loans. It is the first of its kind

portal providing single window for students to access information and make

applications for educational loans provided by banks and also government scholarships.

5 PSU banks (SBI, IDBI Bank, Bank of India, Canara Bank and Union Bank of India) have

integrated their educational loan products to the “Vidya Lakshmi” portal initially, so far

13 banks have registered their 22 educational loan schemes on it.

22 August: The Union government announced that the Bharat Stage-IV (BS-IV) emission

norms will come into force across the country from 1 April 2017. The move from BS-III

to -IV is supposed to halve the particulate matter from cars (0.0250 g per km) and

reduce pollution. BS-IV was first implemented from April 2010 in the national capital

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region and Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad,

Secunderabad, Kanpur, Pune, Surat, Agra, Lucknow and Solapur.

20 August: Domestic airlines carried 67.45 lakh passengers in July this year, an increase

of 29.31 per cent over the 52.16 lakh passengers during the same period in the previous

year. The latest data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) shows

that IndiGo remained the market leader having flown 24.17 lakh passengers. Jet Airways

took the second position (13.35 lakh passengers) followed by Air India at 10.94 lakh

passengers.

19 August: IndiGo, India’s biggest airline by market share signed a huge $26.55 billion

order for purchasing 250 aircrafts from Europe’s Airbus company, which is the largest

ever order (by volume) for Airbus. It had earlier placed a provisional order for supply of

250 narrow-body A320neo aircrafts from Airbus during October 2014. The company

confirmed that provisional order with Airbus. This order worth $26.55 billion is the

largest supply order for Airbus by volume, i.e., the number of aircrafts to be supplied. It

is also the second-largest order by value for Airbus.

19 August: Tamil Nadu led in employment generation in manufacturing sector in the

country in 2012-13, according to an analysis done by the Associated Chambers of

Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM). Tamil Nadu was the leading State in

employment generation in the country, generating as much as 15.2% of country’s

manufacturing sector jobs during 2012-13. During this period Tamil Nadu and West

Bengal recorded a positive growth, while others saw a significant decline.

17 August: Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu announced an investment of Rs. 8.50 lakh

crore in Haryana in the next five years to strengthen rail network in the state. Prabhu,

who is a Rajya Sabha MP from Haryana, also assured that a rail coach factory would be

set up in the state. To provide smooth journey to the passengers, it has been decided to

develop 400 world class railway stations throughout the country.

14 August: Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association (TEEMA) signed

a pact with Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) for establishing

Taiwan Electronic Manufacturing Cluster (TEMC) in Benguluru with an investment of

$500 million. This manufacturing cluster will be established at 100-acre Devanahally IT

park.

12 August: The Government has launched the School Nursery Yojana, an initiative to

bring students closer to nature, by involving them in raising of saplings in nurseries

created in schools. The underlying theme of the Yojana is to plant a tree for sustainable

future and to make the nation clean and green. Under the Yojana, students will sow the

seeds, grow saplings in the school nursery, as part of practical exercise for Biology

classes and extra-curricular activities for students of other streams.

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12 August: Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad launched a new mobile app named

Disha to promote digital literacy in Bihar. The app aims to help people learn about

computers and Internet through self learning modules. The app also aims to offer digital

literacy to tribal and Dalit women in the state. The app can be downloaded for free from

the Google Play Store. The Ministry also launched Disha handbook that has pictographic

lessons on computers operations. The Disha handbook is framed by the Common

Service Centres (CSCs) for the purpose of digital literacy.

12 August: Dr. Najma Heptulla, the Union Minister for Minority Affairs launched a new

Central Sector Scheme – Nai Manzil in Patna. The scheme “Nai Manzil” scheme will

address educational and livelihood needs of minority communities in general and

muslims in particular as it lags behind other minority communities in terms of

educational attainments. It is a new direction and a new goal for the all out of

school/dropped out students and those studying in Madrasas.

11 August: On the 10th August in the afternoon, in many parts of north India, including

Delhi-NCR, tremors of Earthquake were felt. The epicenter was Hindukush in

Afghanistan, the earth was trembling in the national capital for nearly 40 seconds. Apart

from Delhi-NCR, shocks were also felt in Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan,

Uttar Pradesh and Srinagar. The intensity of the earthquake was 6.2.

11 August: For the first time Department of Science and Technology (DST) has decided

to fund research on the impact of yoga and meditation on human health. Research and

studies on yoga have so far remained within the domain of AYUSH, a government

department whose mandate is to promote traditional medicine, including ayurveda,

unani and homeopathy.

11 August: There has been a rush for registration of political parties, with as many as

239 new outfits enrolling themselves with the Election Commission between March,

2014 and July this year, taking their number to 1,866. Out of these, 56 are recognised as

registered national or state parties, while the rest are “unrecognised, registered”

parties.

10 August: As per India State of Forest Report – 2013, the total forest cover in the

country is 697,898 square kilometers which is 21.23% of the total geographical area of

the country. There is a net increase of 5871 square kilometers in the forest cover of the

country as compared with India State of Forest Report – 2011. It is also been mentioned

in the report that the density of population has increased in the states of Maharashtra,

Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Jharkhand.

10 August: The Centre is going to extend the facility of E-Tourist Visa to 36 more

countries from the 15th of this month. With this addition, the total count of countries

under the scheme will go upto 113. Simultaneously, the Centre is going to add 7 more

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Indian airports as designated airports for entry on E-Tourist Visa from the 15th of this

month. With this, the total number of designated airports will become 16. The Centre

launched this scheme in November last year. Since the launch of this scheme more than

2 lakhs e-Tourist Visas have been issued till now.

7 August: President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated “Navachara Kaksh”, a science and

innovation museum in the Rashtrapati Bhavan campus. The museum aims to spark

curiosity about technology among children visiting the Presidential Estate. It has been

established with the assistance of the chip-maker Intel while many of the innovations

are by Indian students.

7 August: State-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) inked Memorandum of Understanding

(MOU) with government aided telecom companies BSNL and MTNL for another term of

3 years. PNB, BSNL and MTNL had joined hands together in year 2004 and since then

BSNL & MTNL are the primary IT link providers for providing connectivity to branches,

ATMS and service outlets of the Bank.

6 August: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will be launching nine nano / micro

satellites for United States during 2015-16 time frame. This will be the first time that

ISRO will launch US satellites. Antrix Corporation Ltd, the commercial arm of ISRO, has

signed agreement to launch about nine nano/micro (US) satellites during 2015-2016

time frame. These satellites will go as piggyback on PSLV's (Polar Satellite Launch

Vehicle). So far, 45 satellites belonging to international customers from 19 countries

have been launched successfully by ISRO's satellite launch vehicles.

6 August: Rural Development Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh launched a web portal

SAMANVAY. It contains a compilation of all schemes of both Union and State

governments for Gram Panchayats. SAMANVAY was launched with an aim to help MPs

in utilising relevant schemes in the planning and implementation of Saansad Adarsh

Gram Yojana. More than 1800 state schemes from across all states have been

documented in SAMANVAY.

4 August: Kochi (Kerala) naval harbour of Indian Navy became the first in the country to

get the Integrated Underwater Harbour Defence and Surveillance System (IUHDSS), an

automated system capable of detecting, identifying, tracking and generating warning for

surface and underwater threats. IUHDSS is a state-of-the-art naval defence system

which will enable operators to foresee, and respond to, surface and sub-surface threats

to vital assets along the harbour and warships in the quay. It was designed by Israeli

Aerospace Industries (IAI).

4 August: According to data released from the 68th round of the National Sample

Survey (NSS) on fuel used for cooking and lighting, the percentage of rural population in

the country still used firewood for cooking in 2011-12 was 67.3%. The data relate to a

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survey conducted by the NSSO on a nationally representative sample during 2011-12.

According to the survey Tamil Nadu had the highest use of LPG among rural households

during 2011-12.

1 August: The Union Cabinet approved amendments proposed by Rajya Sabha Select

Committee on Goods and Services Tax (GST) Constitution Amendment Bill, 2014.

According to the recommendations of Rajya Sabha Select Committee compensation to

the states should be made for 5 years for any revenue loss due to introduction of GST.

3 August: Union Government has decided to celebrate first National Handloom Day on

7th August. This day will be celebrated every year as National Handloom Day. It was

announced by Union Textiles Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar in both the Houses of

Parliament. Observance of this day aims at development of handloom weavers in the

country. It also seeks to promote genuine, global quality handloom in international

market.

1 August: India had 2.6 million cases of Tuberculosis as per the latest count and ranks

14th among 22 high TB burden countries globally. As per WHO Global Tuberculosis

Report 2014, in India, the estimated prevalence of TB is 2.6 million cases.

GLOBE- TROT THIS MONTH

28 August: Seychelles President James Alix Michel arrived in New Delhi on a three-day

State Visit to India. During his visit five agreements including an information exchange

agreement with respect to taxes, a Memorandum of Understanding for the supply of a

Dornier aircraft, an air services agreement, a protocol on framework of cooperation in

the field of the blue economy and a MoU relating to agriculture research and education

have been signed between the two countries. The Indian Prime Minister also announced

the gifting of one more Interceptor Coastguard boat to Seychelles, in addition to the

Dornier aircraft.

27 August: Seeking to inject new momentum in their ties, India and Egypt decided to

put in place a bilateral framework for enhancing cooperation in key areas of security,

counter-terrorism, defence and investments during the visit of India's Foreign Minister

Sushma Swaraj to Egypt. Both sides inked two agreements, including an MoU on

Cooperation in the field of Tourism and an MoU between the Council of Scientific and

Industrial Research (CSIR) of India and the National Research Center (NRC) of Egypt for

Scientific and Technical Cooperation.

27 August: A Singapore company has donated $10 million to build the central library in

the Nalanda International University in Bihar. The library's design will be made by RSP

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company and Ahmedabad-based Vastushilp Consultant. A tripatrite MoU was signed in

Rajgir by the RSP company, Vastushilp Consultant and Nalanda University for the design

and construction of the library. Spread over 446 acres, the university's new campus

would come up in Nalanda district's Rajgir city. Former Singapore foreign minister

George Yeo is the new chancellor of the university.

26 August: India signed an agreement with Nepal to lay an oil pipeline from Raxaul in

Bihar to Amlekhgunj in Nepal to supply petrol, diesel and ATF to Nepal. The 41 kilometre

pipeline -- 2 km in India and 39 km in Nepal -- will initially supply petrol, diesel and

kerosene. It will be built by IOC at a cost of Rs. 200 crore. This will be the first trans-

national petroleum pipeline in South Asia.

26 August: India and Australia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on

cooperation in the fields of education, training and research. The MoU was signed by

Smriti Irani, Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Government of India and

Christopher Pyne MP, Minister for Education and Training, Government of Australia

after the 3rd meeting of the Australia-India Education Council (AIEC), held in New Delhi.

The MoU will help intensify existing partnerships between India and Australia in higher

education & research, including technical and professional education, schools,

vocational education and training and will open up new and innovative areas of

cooperation.

24 August: India removed Iran from the list of countries put under the restricted visa

category or the prior referral category (PRC) of countries. India sees Iran as a key

supporter in the wake of the growing threats and influence of Islamist terror groups

such as the Islamic State in Central Asia. India has liberalised its visa policy for Iran and

struck it off the prior referral category of countries. Three categories of visas –

employment, conference, students and research visa-were on the restricted list till now.

24 August: India became the fourth country after Russia, Great Britain and China to

have a hotline (direct secure line of communication) with the US President. The hotline

has been established with the purpose of direct and secure communication between

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama. This was

disclosed by Peter R. Lavoy, special assistant to US President and senior director for

South Asian Affairs at the National Security Council of the White House.

22 August: Prasar Bharti and Digital Television Russia signed a memorandum of

understanding for cooperation which will set the stage for a new media era in both the

countries. This purposeful and meaningful MoU was inked in New Delhi. The MoU is

aimed at co-producing TV programmes, repackaging and dubbing popular programmes

from the both countries. It also covers technology modernisation, news exchange and

programmes.

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22 August: The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its

approval for the signing of the revised Air Services Agreement (ASA) between India and

Seychelles to modernize and update the existing ASA signed on 30.10.1978. The ASA

signifies an important landmark in the civil aviation relations between India and

Seychelles and has the potential to spur greater trade, investment, tourism and cultural

exchanges between the two countries. As a result of this agreement, the number of

flights between India and Seychelles has been increased from three per week to seven

per week.

21 August: Pakistan and Russia signed a landmark defence deal that includes the sale of four

Mi-35 'Hind-E' attack helicopters to Pakistan. The agreement was signed by top defence officials

from Pakistan and Russia in Rawalpindi. Pakistan will use these helicopters in its anti-terrorist

campaign.

19 August: To boost economic ties, the UAE agreed to increase investments in India to $75

billion (about Rs. 5 lakh crore) including through a dedicated infrastructure fund, while the two

nations will raise their bilateral trade to nearly $100 billion in five years. UAE's investment would

support investment in India's plans for rapid expansion of next generation infrastructure,

especially in railways, ports, roads, airports and industrial corridors and parks.

19 August: Small Farmers’ Agri Business Consortium (SFAC) has been mandated as the lead

promoter of National Agriculture Market (NAM), the national e-market for agriculture

commodities, as announced by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC). Small

Farmers’ Agri Business Consortium (SFAC) is a registered society of DAC. It has been mandated

as the lead promoter of India’s e-market for agriculture commodities under the umbrella of the

National Agriculture Market.

17 August: India and Slovak Republic have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on

technical cooperation in railway sector. The MoU was signed between India's Union Ministry of

Railways and the Ministry of Transport, Construction and Regional Development of the Slovak

Republic. The MoU will be valid for a period of two years and after completion of valid term it

will be automatically renewed for further successive period of two years at a time.

14 August: China and Pakistan signed 20 cooperation agreements, worth 10.35 billion yuan

(US$1.6 billion), and issued the "Karamay Manifesto" on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor

(CPEC), a major project in China's proposed Belt and Road Initiatives. The two countries pledged

to boost bilateral economic development through energy and power projects, and will also

cooperate in education and health care.

14 August: South Korean steelmaker POSCO signed an agreement with a unit of India’s Uttam

Galva Group to set up a steel plant with annual production of 3 million tons at an investment of

nearly Rs. 20,000 crores in the western state of Maharashtra. Under the new proposed joint

venture, POSCO and Shree Uttam Steel & Power Ltd., will build a plant in Satarda.

14 August: The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its approval

for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the India and Nepal for the

construction of a petroleum products pipeline from Raxaul (India) to Amlekhgunj (Nepal). The

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MoU will promote bilateral cooperation in the oil and gas sector and secure long term supply of

petroleum products to Nepal.

13 August: In an important development in the process of evolving a new constitution for Nepal,

Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and top leaders of CPN-UML, Nepali Congress, Unified CPN-Maoist

and Madhesi Peoples Rights Forum Democratic (MPRFD) reached the landmark agreement to

divide Nepal into six provinces, each sharing its border with India. Dividing the state was one of

the thorny issues of the new constitution.

13 August: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a high-level summit on sustainable

development hosted by the UN on September 25 and will also travel to San Francisco during his

US visit, becoming the fourth Indian premier to visit America’s West Coast. The United Nations

summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda will be held from September 25

to 27 in New York and will be convened as a high-level plenary meeting of the General

Assembly.

12 August: Thomas Cook (India) Limited announced acquiring Kuoni Group’s travel businesses in

India and Hong Kong for Rs. 535 crore. It is a very big deal in India's Tourism sector. The deal

includes outbound travel brand SOTC and destination management brand SITA. India-born

entrepreneur Prem Watsa backs Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. The deal to acquire Kuoni Group’s

travel businesses in India and Hong Kong is the third acquisition by it in the last two years.

10 August: India and Myanmar inked an agreement to set up Centre of Excellence in Software

Development and Training (CESDT) in Myanmar. The project to be set up with the financial

support through ASEAN-India Cooperation fund will be implemented by C-DAC. The project

envisages setting up of a state of the art Information and Communication Technology Centre,

imparting intensive teachers training, extending support for ICT curriculum development, and

will be accredited as an authorized Centre of C-DAC

10 August: Global electronic manufacturing giant Foxconn announced to invest $ 5 billion over

the next five years in Maharashtra to establish electronic manufacturing plant in the state.

Foxconn is a Taiwan-based company. According to Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou the facility in

Maharashtra will focus on research and development as well as manufacturing, and the

company has chosen the state for being a financial centre, availability of quality talent and

software-hardware integration facilities.

8 August: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi opened a new USD 9 billion Suez Canal amid

lavish celebrations as Egypt unveiled its 'gift to the world', the historic waterway that will run

parallel to the existing one amid hopes of boosting the country's ailing economy.

8 August: India and Mozambique signed Memorandum of understanding (MoU) to deepen

cooperation in New and Renewable Energy Sector. The agreement was signed during the official

visit of Filipe Nyusi, President of Mozambique to India. Moreover, both nations also agreed to

intensify cooperation in maritime security and ocean economy as both the countries have large

coastlines and are linked by Indian Ocean.

7 August: NASA has extended a contract with Russia's space agency for $490 million to carry US

astronauts to the International Space Station amid a lack of Congressional funding. The United

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States will continue to rely exclusively on Russia to take astronauts to the orbiting outpost under

the new contract, which runs until 2019, even as relations between the two countries have

reached their lowest point since the Cold War.

7 August: In a historic first, a Chinese DNA experiment is set to fly on the International Space

Station (ISS) as per the agreement signed between a US private firm and a research group from

the Beijing Institute of Technology. The agreement was reached between the Houston-based

NanoRacks and Beijing Institute of Technology. The Chinese team, led by Professor Deng Yulin,

will shell out nearly $200,000 to NanoRacks for the delivery of the experiment to the ISS on

board a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

7 August: The International Labour Organisation (ILO) and FICCI took their partnership to the

next level by signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to impart training to MSMEs to

make them competitive and boost productivity. This is the second phase of the signing of SCORE

Global Programme, wherein national institutes provide training to MSMEs. In line with the

objective of Sustaining Competitive and Responsible Enterprises (SCORE), ILO is entrusted with

building capacity of FICCI in three phases.

6 August: The 48th ASEAN foreign ministers' meet opened in Kualalumpur, drawing

representatives from 10 Southeast Asian countries. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations

(ASEAN) is in its final stages to establish a single community by the end of 2015, which involves a

plan to create a common economic, political-security and socio-cultural region.

5 August: The 193 member states of the United Nations reached agreement on a new

Sustainable Development Agenda for the next 15 years (2015-2030). It calls for eradicating

poverty and hunger, achieving gender equality, improving living standards and taking urgent

action to combat climate change. The draft agreement outlines 17 goals with 169 specific

targets. With this agreement, the document called "Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda

for Sustainable Development" will be adopted at a UN summit just before the annual meeting of

world leaders at the General Assembly in September 2015.

5 August: A path-breaking peace treaty was signed between the Union Govt. and the Naga

rebels led by the National Socialist Council of Nagalim-IM (NSCN-IM) on 03 August 2015. This

treaty thus brings to end the ongoing peace talks between the Naga rebels and the Union

Government. These talks had started in 1997. The treaty is expected to bring under control the

decades-old insurgency problem in the North-East India including Nagaland.

4 August: CERN announced to formally confer its associate membership to Pakistan. With this

Pakistan received a huge boost for its nuclear programme. Pakistan thus became the first

member of CERN among Asian countries and the first non-European member of this prestigious

organization. The associate membership will open a new era of cooperation that will strengthen

the long-term partnership between CERN and the Pakistani scientific community.

4 August: South Sudan became the latest and the 206th member of the International Olympic

Committee (IOC) at committee’s ongoing annual meet at Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). The

significance of its inclusion is that this was done despite the ongoing fighting in the South Sudan.

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With the country now officially part of the IOC, it can send a team to next year’s Rio Summer

Olympics who can compete under its own flag.

4 August: On August 21, India will host the heads of 14 island nations at the Forum for India-

Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC), in what is seen as a first step towards greater engagement

with the region, which is important from an economic and geostrategic standpoint. The

upcoming summit in Jaipur is expected to pave the way for agreements in agriculture, food

processing, fisheries, solar energy, e-networks for coordination in telemedicine and tele-

education, space cooperation and climate change.

3 August: Ending more than four decades of wait India and Bangladesh implemented their

landmark Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) on 01 August 2015. India and Bangladesh started the

exchange of 162 adversely-held enclaves. While India handed over 51 enclaves, comprising

7,110 acres to Bangladesh, the neighbouring country given India 111 enclaves comprising

around 17,160 acres.

1 August: Singapore has appointed Indian-origin businessman Karan Singh Thakral as the

country's Non-Resident Ambassador to Denmark. Karan Singh Thakral (81) has served as

Singapore's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka. He is an Executive Director in the Thakral Group of

Companies. Thakral is chairman of the South Asia Business Group and 'Business India' in

Singapore as well as chairman of Givo Limited in India.

1 August: A Chinese firm has set up the world’s first unmanned factory at Dongguan city where

all the processes are operated by robots. Changying Precision Technology Company, known as

the "world factory", which manufactures cell phone modules has 60 robot arms. This has

reduced China's dependence on manual workers. In the plant, all the processes are operated by

computer- controlled robots, computer numerical control machining equipment, unmanned

transport trucks and automated warehouse equipment.

APPOINTMENTS/RESIGNATIONS THIS MONTH

31 August: Former India Captain Dilip Vengsarkar elected as the President of the

Association of Indian Statisticians and Scorers of India (ACSSI). He was elected

unopposed during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of ACSSI. At present, Vengsarkar

is the Vice President of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA). Also, Dara

Pochkhanawalla and Ganesh Iyer were elected as the two vice presidents of the

organisation.

31 August: Dr. Kandakatla Manohar was appointed as the Director of Nizams Institute of

Medical Sciences (NIMS) of Hyderabad. His appointment was approved by the

Telangana Government. He succeeded Dr. L. Narendranath. Manohar is a native of

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Penchikalapeta of Warangal district and is working as the Superintendent of the MGM

Hospital in Warangal.

28 August: UNICEF appointed reigning World No. 1 Novak Djokovic as goodwill

ambassador for the UN Fund for Children. In his new role, he will focus on children's

rights and development. The 28-year-old Serbian was first associated with UNICEF in the

year 2011. At that time he was appointed as UNICEF ambassador in Serbia. He has

already worked to help vulnerable children through his role as UNICEF Serbia

ambassador.

28 August: Neerja Mathur has assumed the charge of Member of Joint Electricity

Regulatory Commission (JERC) for Goa and UTs. Mathur was administrated the Oath of

Office by Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal and New and Renewable

Energy. She was the Chairperson CEA from November 2013 to December 2014. JERC is

the electricity regulatory body for all Union Territories except Delhi.

28 August: Dr. Girish Sahni assumed charge as the Director General of the Council of

Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Additionally, Sahni will also serve as Secretary,

Department of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR), Union Ministry of Science &

Technology. Previously, Sahni had been the Director of CSIR-Institute of Microbial

Technology (CSIR-IMTECH), Chandigarh.

26 August: An Indian-origin businessman has been appointed as the new chief executive

officer of the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange in the UAE. Gaurang Desai, one of

the founding members of the team that setup DGCX in 2005, is ideal to take the

Exchange to its next stage of development. Desai will be tasked with heading the

exchange's operations in the Middle East and beyond.

26 August: Indian-American Vince Chhabria was appointed as the full-time federal judge

of California court by President Barack Obama. The 46-year-old Chhabria is the Bay

Area's first Indian-American federal judge. Along with Chhabria, Obama also elevated 10

other people as the full-time judge in the third largest US state California.

25 August: Veteran actor-director Amol Palekar has been appointed as chairman of

India's Oscar jury, which will select the country's official entry in the best foreign film

category of the 88th Academy Awards. The "Gol Maal" star, 70, whose film "Paheli" was

India's official entry for the Academy Awards in 2005, will be heading the 17-member

jury.

24 August: Noted academician and former Vice-Chancellor of the Jammu University

Amitabh Mattoo was appointed as Advisor to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Chief Minister

Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Mattoo (53) will have the status of a Cabinet Minister. Born

in Srinagar, Mattoo has been the Chief Executive Officer and inaugural Director of the

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Australia India Institute and Professor of International Relations at the University of

Melbourne in Australia.

22 August: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has resigned, as he went on the

offensive to defend the country's massive bailout after it triggered a rebellion within his

own hard-left party. Tsipras did not give a date for the new polls but they are expected

to be held on September 20.

22 August: Union government appointed Ashwani Lohani as the new chief of national

carrier Air India. Ashwani Lohani is an Indian Railway Service officer of the 1980 batch

and is currently serving as Managing Director of the Madhya Pradesh Tourism

Development Corporation (MPTDC). He will succeed Rohit Nandan whose three-year

term ended last year and who was on a one-year extension till the government was able

to find a new chief for Air India.

21 August: In a move set to further strengthen education ties with India, Australian

government appointed former cricketer Adam Gilchrist as nation's inaugural

ambassador to India on education. The announcement was made by the Minister for

Education and Training Christopher Pyne prior to attending the Annual Ministerial

Dialogue and third Australia-India Education Council meeting in New Delhi.

21 August: Veteran actor Anupam Kher has been appointed as the UN ambassador of

the 'HeForShe' campaign for gender equality. The 'HeForShe' campaign has been

initiated by UN Women. Its goal is to engage men as agents of change for the

achievement of gender equality and women's rights, by encouraging them to take

action against inequalities faced by women and girls.

21 August: Raffi Freedman-Gurspan is the first openly transgender White House staff

member, appointed by President Barack Obama. She was a former policy adviser at the

National Center for Transgender Equality and will serve as an outreach and recruitment

director in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel. This is one of several steps

the Obama administration has taken to show support for the LGBT community.

20 August: Britain's Sebastian Coe was elected as new International Association of

Athletics Federation (IAAF) president at the 50th IAAF Congress

20 August: Athletics Federation of India President Adille Sumariwalla was elected as

one of the members of the prestigious Council of the IAAF, the global governing body of

the sport. Sumariwalla is the first Indian to be elected in the IAAF Council.

19 August: Union Government appointed former Cabinet Secretary Ajit Kumar Seth as

the Chairman of the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB). He was appointed for a

period of three years or till he attains 65 years of age. Seth succeeded Atul Chaturvedi,

who has completed his tenure. Seth is a 1974-batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.

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17 August: Om Prakash Rawat, a 1977 batch Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer

of Madhya Pradesh cadre was appointed as the Election Commissioner of India. His

appointment will come into effect from the day he assumes office. With Rawat’s

appointment, the sole vacancy in the three-member poll body has been filled. Rawat

will have tenure of more than three years which will end in December 2018. He had

retired from government service in December 2014. Naseem Zaidi is the Chief Election

Commissioner and Achal Kumar Jyoti is the other Election Commissioner.

14 August: Sudhakar Shetty of Maharashtra was unanimously elected as the President

of the Gymnastics Federation of India (GFI). He will have a four year term. He succeeds

Jaspal Singh Kandhari. Shantikumar Singh has been appointed as general secretary, Gian

Singh as treasurer and Riyaz Bhati as Vice President. Elections for the executive

committee of Federation were attended by 35 members from 18 States and Units.

14 August: Larsen & Toubro has announced to appoint Sanjay Jalona as chief executive

officer (CEO) and managing director (MD) of its wholly-owned subsidiary L&T Infotech.

Prior to joining L&T Infotech, Jalona was with Infosys as executive vice president. During

his 15 years at Infosys, he had held senior leadership positions across USA, Europe and

India.

12 August: India-born Sundar Pichai was named CEO of Google by the company's

founders Larry Page and Sergei Brin in course of a re-organization that created a mother

company called Alphabet. All the companies of Google will work in collaboration with

Alphabet. Pichai, 43, is a Chennai native and a passout of IIT Kharagpur. Page will be CEO

of Alphabet.

10 August: President Pranab Mukherjee appointed new Governors for Bihar and

Himachal Pradesh. Acharya Dev Vrat has been appointed the Governor of Himachal

Pradesh. Ram Nath Kovind, a BJP politician from UP, has been named governor of Bihar.

10 August: Global technology and consultancy giant Accenture elevated Rekha M.

Menon as chairman of its India operations. It has also roped in Anindya Basu as the

managing director (MD) in India. These appointments are effective from August 21,

2015.

8 August: Amitava Ghosh was appointed as Vice President (Engineering) of e-commerce

portal Snapdeal. As a Vice President-engineering, Ghosh will head company’s

technology innovation centre in Bengaluru. Prior to this appointment, he was the Chief

Technology Officer (CTO) at TaxiForSure. Earlier, he was serving as the Head of Indian

engineering team of Tribune Digital Ventures.

7 August: President Mamnoon Hussain approved Justice Jawad S. Khawaja’s

appointment as new Chief Justice with effect from August 17 after retirement of Justice

Nasir-ul-Mulk. Justice Jawad S Khawaja will take charge as Chief Justice from August 17.

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Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk is set to retire on August 16 after completing his tenure. Justice

Khawaja is the senior most judge in the ranks after Justice Mulk’s retirement.

7 August: Indian-American Atul Keshap has been confirmed as the U.S. Ambassador to

Sri Lanka and Maldives, becoming the second Indian-origin diplomat to be posted to the

region after Richard Rahul Verma. Keshap (44), a former official at the US Embassy in

India, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the country’s envoy which would be his first

Ambassadorial posting. He is currently working as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in

South and Central Asian Affairs Bureau of State Department.

6 August: Alibaba named former Goldman Sachs vice president Michael Evans as

President, putting him in charge of the Chinese e-commerce company's global

expansion. Goldman Sachs veteran Michael Evans will take over the role of president of

Alibaba Group with immediate effect. Evans will lead the company's expansion outside

China and help develop its international plans for growth.

6 August: Senior IPS officer Ashok Prasad has been appointed as Secretary of Home

Ministry's crucial Internal Security division. Prasad is a 1979 batch IPS officer of Andhra

Pradesh cadre. He was appointed as Special Secretary (Internal Security) in Home

Ministry on December 31, 2014. Prior to that, Prasad was posted as Special Director in

Intelligence Bureau.

4 August: Ved Prakash Mahawar took over as Director (Onshore) of state-owned Oil and

Natural Gas Corp (ONGC). As Director (Onshore), a board level position, he will be

directly looking after all the onshore operations spread across the country which

significantly contribute towards ONGC's overall physical performance. He replaces

Ashok Verma, who superannuated.

4 August: Ganga Ram Agarwal, an officer of the Indian railway services of electrical

engineering (IRSEE), has been posted as the new secretary of the railway board. He

takes over from P.C. Gajbhiye, who superannuated. Prior to this, Agarwal was working

as chief electrical engineer, central railway.

AWARDS/HONOURS/WORLD TITLES/NEW DISCOVERIES THIS MONTH

31 August: Global wealth assessment company, Wealth-X released the report related to

the list of Top 20 Wealthiest People under 35. As per the report, Facebook co-founder

and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the wealthiest individual under the age of 35, with a

personal fortune of 41.6 billion US dollars. Zuckerberg is followed by Facebook co-

founder Dustin Moskovitz, who claimed the second place on the list with an estimated

net worth of 9.3 billion US dollars and with Country Garden Holdings's Huiyan Yang on

the third spot with an estimated net worth of 5.9 billion US dollars.

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28 August: Indian-American teen Perry Alagappan received the 2015 Stockholm Junior

Water Prize (also known as the Nobel Prize for Water). While Rajendra Singh, popularly

known as "waterman of India" was honoured in the senior category. Crown Princess

Victoria of Sweden presented the prize at an award ceremony during the World Water

Week in Stockholm.

28 August: The Research Centre Imarat (RCI), the avionics laboratory of the DRDO

missile complex received the PSU summit award 2015. RCI director G. Satheesh Reddy

received the prestigious award during the Elets Technomedia 2nd annual PSU summit in

New Delhi. RCI was chosen for the award for its seminal contributions towards IT

enablement of Organisation through ERP and promotion of ICT.

27 August: A Syrian woman journalist has been awarded the 2015 Peter Mackler Award

for Courageous and Ethical Journalism. She has been awarded for her efforts to train

citizen reporters in the war-ravaged country. Zaina Erhaim will be presented the Peter

Mackler Award in a ceremony to be held in National Press Club in Washington in

October 2015.

26 August: Chinese writer Liu Cixin's science fiction novel 'The Three-Body Problem' has

won the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel. With this award Liu Cixin has become the first

Chinese citizens to win the Hugo Award. 52-year-old Chinese writer Liu Cixin was

presented the Hugo Award in the 73rd World Science Fiction Festival held in

Washington. He is also the first Asian to get the honor.

24 August: Historian and writer Babasaheb Purandare was awarded with Maharashtra

Bhushan Award 2015. He was bestowed this award in literature category by

Maharashtra Governor C. Vidyasagar Rao at a function held at Raj Bhavan, Mumbai. He

was credited with writing the first historical work on 16th century Great Maratha king

Chattrapati Shivaji. Babasaheb Purandare is popularly known as Shiv Shahir, Shivaji’s

poet.

24 August: India’s High Commissioner to Singapore, Vijay Singh Thakur, has received

‘Asian of the Year 2014’ award by leading Singapore daily The Straits Times, on behalf of

Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi was given the award in December last year for

putting focus on India’s development and getting the world “excited” about the

prospects of the country again.

22 August: Hindustan Unilever, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Sun Pharma

Industries are the three Indian companies that have been named among the world's 100

most innovative companies by Forbes in a list that has been topped by Tesla Motors.

Hindustan Unilever has been ranked 41 on the list, followed by TCS at rank 64 and Sun

Pharma at rank 71 in the Forbes list of 'The World's Most Innovative Companies'. The list

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has been topped by Elon Musk's California-Based Tesla Motors which has a market

capitalization of USD 25.5 billion.

21 August: Manasvi Noel of Mississauga city has been crowned Miss India-Canada 2015

at the 25th edition of the annual beauty pageant organised in Toronto, Canada. The

Dubai-born Noel won the esteemed title among the final top contenders of this event.

In the event, bollywood actress Preity Zinta was also presented with the Special

Achievement Award for her contribution to Indian and international cinema.

21 August: Bangladesh-born British citizen (novelist) Zia Haider Rahman won Britain's

oldest literary award the James Tait Black award 2015 for his debut novel ‘In the Light of

What We Know’. He received this prize during the 2015 Edinburgh international book

festival.

18 August: Prof. Mustansir Barma won the prestigious Gujar Mal Modi Award for

Innovative Science and Technology for the year 2015. He was awarded for his

commendable contribution in the field of Science and Technology. He received the

award from Vice President of India Hamid Ansari at a ceremony in New Delhi. Barma, a

distinguished Professor and former Director of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research,

Mumbai, has made immense contribution in the field of Statistical Physics in India.

18 August: Amitabh Bachchan starrer Hindi film "Piku" won the Best Film Award at

Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM -2015). The award ceremony was held on the

occasion of India's 69th Independence Day. Piku won the award of Best Film and Shoojit

Sircar won award of Best Director at IFFM.

18 August: Noted Urdu litterateur Shamim Hanfi has been selected for the first

Jnangarima Manad Alankaran award, instituted by the Bharatiya Jnanpith in the year

2015. The award marks the seven decades of Jnanpith. Hanfi was selected for the award

in a meeting of jury members chaired by Hindi author Vishwanath Tripathi. The

Jnangarima Manad Alankaran award comprises a monthly honorarium for one year.

17 August: The two young men from Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir, who

overpowered and caught alive Naveed alias Mohammad Usman, a Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)

terrorist last week, were given Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Bravery award for showing

exemplary courage. Rakesh Sharma and Vikramjit were felicitated and given the award

by the All India Anti Terrorist Front (AIATF) chairman M.S. Bitta and Bollywood actor

Suniel Shetty. The duo were given cash prize of Rs. 1 lakh each

17 August: Bollywood actress Parineeti Chopra will be the Grand Marshall and guest of

honour at the prestigious New York India Day Parade to be held in New York this year.

The non resident Indians (NRIs) on August 16 will gather in New York from all across

North America to celebrate the independence of India.

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17 August: Marathi writer Prof Shyam Manohar has been selected for the Kuvempu

Rashtriya Puraskar-2015. It is a national award instituted in memory of famous Kannada

poet Kuvempu. The prestigious award carries a cash award of five lakh rupees. He will

be honoured with the award in Kuppali, Karnataka on 29 December 2015, which is his

birth anniversary. Shyam Manohar is the author of eight short story works, eight plays

and many critical essays. Shyam Manohar is a retired professor from S.P. College, Pune.

14 August: India has regained its top spot as Abu Dhabi's largest international source

market as guest arrivals into the emirate in the first six months of the year reached

more than 1.98 million. According to the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA

Abu Dhabi) India is at the top spot, seeing 1,27,312 Indian nationals arriving into the

emirate. India is closely followed by the UK, China, Germany and the US as the largest

overseas markets.

13 August: Versatile Marathi theatre actor, drama director, producer and songwriter

Bhalchandra Pendharkar passed away in Mumbai after a brief illness, at the age of 94.

Among Pendharkar's most memorable contributions to the field of theatre were plays

like 'Duritanche Timir Jaavo', 'Panditrao Jagannath' and 'Gita Gaati Dnyaneshwar'. He

was awarded many awards including Bal Gandharva Puraskar and Vishnudas Bhave

Puraskar.

13 August: Suhasini Haidar, Diplomatic and Strategic Affairs Editor at 'The Hindu'

newspaper, was presented the Prem Bhatia Memorial Award for Excellence in Political

Reporting and Analysis, 2014. While 'The Times of India' newspaper's journalist Priyanka

Kakodkar was presented with the Prem Bhatia award for excellence in environmental

and development reporting, 2014.

13 August: Kochi became the first Indian city to be a member of Beijing headquartered

World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) Council. Kochi became the member of the

council on ground of its partnerships in culture, sports and tourism. Kochi's cuisine,

martial arts and snake and dragon boat races fulfill the set ground for membership.

12 August: President Pranab Mukherjee presented the 24th Saraswati Samman for 2014

to Kannada writer and former Union Minister Dr. M. Veerappa Moily for his epic “Sri

Ramayana Mahanveshanam” written in Kannada. He is the second author to get this

award in Kannada. Moily's award-winning epic “Sri Ramayana Mahanveshanam” was

published in 2007. So far it has been translated in Hindi, English, Tamil and Telugu

languages.

12 August: As per the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) 2015, of the World

Economic Forum, rank of India has improved significantly to 52nd in 2015 from 65th in

2013. Improving ranking of India from 65th to 52nd position in travel and tourism

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competitiveness index had been set as a target in the Result Framework Document

(RFD) of Ministry of Tourism for the year 2014-15.

11 August: Mysore city in Karnataka has topped the Swachh Bharat Rankings of 476

cities in the country with three more from the State figuring in the top 10. West

Bengal does well with 25 cities/towns from the State finding a place in the top 100

cities. These rankings are based on the extent of open defecation and solid waste

management practices in these cities. The city of Mysore leads the cities with minimal

open defecation and extensive adoption of solid waste management practices.

10 August: Zhanna Nemtsova, the daughter of slain Russian opposition politician Boris

Nemtsov, has been awarded Poland’s Solidarity Prize 2015. Nemtsova received the

award for championing democracy and human rights. Zhanna Nemtsova received prize

money of 1.1 million US dollars.

8 August: Arvind Kumar Singh, senior journalist of Rajya Sabha TV has been awarded

with top most award of Agricultural Journalism, the Chaudhary Charan Singh Award for

Excellence in Journalism in Agricultural Research and Development, 2014. Prime

Minister Narendra Modi presented the award to Singh in electronic media category at

the Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s 87th foundation day celebrations. Singh is a

well known Hindi writer and journalist.

8 August: Delhi Government reconstituted the Urdu Academy which will comprise of 19

Urdu poets, renowned academicians, and authors. Dr. Majid Deobandi was appointed as

the Vice-Chairperson of the Academy. Deobandi is a very well known and popular figure

in the Urdu Circle.

7 August: Microsoft's Bill Gates tops the first Forbes list of the richest global tech

billionaires. Gates led the group with an estimated worth of $79.6 billion, trailed by

Oracle founder Larry Ellison at $50 billion. Jeff Bezos of Amazon came at third with net

worth of $47.8 billion. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg snared the number four

position ($41.2 billion), followed by Google founders Larry Page ($33.4 billion) and

Sergey Brin ($32.8 billion).

6 August: The Ramanujan Prize for 2015 has been won by mathematician Amalendu

Krishna of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. Dr. Krishna has been

recognised for outstanding contributions in the area of algebraic K-theory, algebraic

cycles and the theory of motives. The prize is awarded jointly by the International

Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Italy, the Department of Science and Technology,

Government of India, and the International Mathematical Union (IMU) to a person

under 45 working in a developing country.

6 August: Bollywood actors Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar are

among the world’s top ten highest-paid actors in Forbes first global list of actors from

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Hollywood to Hong Kong and Bollywood. Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan entered

the list in joint seventh place, with estimated earnings of $33.5 million in the past year.

Akshay Kumar follows behind in ninth place with $32.5 million. Robert Downey Jr

topped the list with estimated total earnings of $80 million while Jackie Chan came

comes on second position with a $50 million pay packet.

5 August: Hindi litterateur Kashinath Singh has been chosen for the Uttar Pradesh's

highest literary award Bharat Bharti for the year 2014. The award is given by UP Hindi

Sansthan every year. It carries a cash prize of 5 lakh rupees. Singh has penned many

novels and short stories. One of his most famous novel is Kashi ka Assi, which captures

the vibrant hues of Banaras.

5 August: Veteran author Rangnath Ramdayal Tiwari was awarded 'Hindi Ratna

Samman'. He was conferred with the honour at a ceremony held in Hindi Bhawan

auditorium in Delhi. Rangnath Ramdayal Tiwari is the 18th recipient of Hindi Ratna

Samman. It carries a citation and a cash prize of Rs.1 lakh.

3 August: Fourteen years old Master Prabhroop Sekhon won two gold medals in 300

metre and 500 metre Roller Skating at the Special Olympics World Summer Games. The

event is being held at Los Angeles, USA. Sekhon is a student of ASHA School in Lucknow

Cantt where he was coached and selected for various camps at State and National level

as one amongst the 241 participants representing India.

1 August: Garth Brooks has been named as the highest-paid country singer in the music

industry, according to a new Forbes report. He has made $90 million over the past year.

Toby Keith’s occupied second place on the list with USD 53 million earnings. Jason

Aldean comes in at number three with an estimated USD 43.5 million.

1 August: Anuradha Roy is the lone Indian author among 13 international authors long-

listed for the 2015 Man Booker Prize as announced by the Booker Prize Committee.

Anuradha Roy was picked for her third novel “Sleeping on Jupiter”. This book has

exposed the hypocrisies of Indian society. British-Indian Sunjeev Sahota was also among

the 13 long-listed authors for his book “The Year of the Runaways”.

1 August: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has topped the list of the world's

wealthiest private foundations established by living ultra high net worth (UHNW)

individuals, according to a Wealth-X report. It has total assets of $43.4 billion. Li Ka Shing

Foundation, founded by Hong Kong business magnate Li Ka-Shing, ranked second with

$8.1 billion assets followed by Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation ($6.4 billion) and

Bloomberg Philanthropies ($5.4 billion) in the third and fourth place, respectively.

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SPORTS NEWS THIS MONTH

31 August: Sprint king Jamaica’s Usain Bolt completed a perfect sprint double over his

rival Justin Gatlin (America) by winning the 200 metres at the 2015 Beijing World

Athletics Championships. It is his second gold medal of the Championship. The 29-year-

old Jamaican clocked 19.55 secs to beat a strong field. Gatlin managed 19.74 seconds to

finish second, ahead of South African Anaso Jobodwana, who created a national record

with 19.87 seconds.

31 August: South Africa's One Day International team captain AB de Villiers became the

fastest batsman to reach 8000 One Day International (ODI) runs. He achieved the fete

during the third ODI against New Zealand in Durban which South Africa won by 62 runs.

De Villiers, who went past 8000 runs in just his 182 innings, broke the previous record

held by former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly.

28 August: Kenya's policeman Nicholas Bett made history in China becoming the first

Kenyan to win a gold medal in a short distance race at world stage. Bett won the men’s

400m hurdles race at the 15th IAAF World Championships in Beijing in 47.79 world

leading time, beating Russia’s Dennis Kudryavsten. Kudryavsten finished in 48.05, while

Geffrey Gibson of Bahamas won the bronze medal in 48.17.

28 August: For the first time in the history of Weightlifting India has got the hosting

rights of an international tournament. India will host the Commonwealth Youth, Junior

and Senior Weightlifting Championship from 11 to 15 October in Pune. From India 40

weightlifters, including 11 youth, 16 junior and 13 seniors will participate in this

championship.

27 August: Wrestling coach Anoop Singh and Paralympics coach Naval Singh were

among the five names officially approved by the Sports Ministry for the prestigious

Dronacharya Award this year. Based on the recommendations of the Committee and

after due scrutiny, Anoop and Naval’s names were approved on the basis of current

performance (2011-2014), while Nihar Amin (swimming), S.R. Singh (boxing) and

Harbans Singh (athletics) were selected in the ‘Lifetime Achievement Category’ in which

achievements over a period of 20 years is taken into account.

26 August: International Hockey Federation has announced that Chhattisgarh capital

Raipur will host the 2015 FIH Hockey World League (HWL) Final that is scheduled to be

held between 27 November and 6 December 2015. It is the first time when Raipur has

been selected to host HWL. The competitions will be held at the Raipur International

Hockey Stadium and teams of eight countries, Australia, the Netherlands, Germany,

Belgium, Great Britain, Argentina, host India and Canada will participate in it

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26 August: Olympic and world champion Jamaica's sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce

retained Women’s 100 meters gold at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics by

finishing the race in 10.76 seconds. This is Pryce's third consecutive title. The silver

medal was won by Dafne Schippers (10.81) of Netherlands and the Bronze went to Tori

Bowie (the USA) who completed the race in 10.86 seconds.

26 August: World number one Serena Williams beat third seed Simona Halep (Romania)

in the finals to win the Cincinnati Tennis Tournament title. Serena Williams won 6-3 7-6

(7-5) to see off Halep. This was Serena's second Cincinnati title and 69th singles crown

of her career. Earlier she won this title in 2014.

26 August: British Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the Belgian Grand Prix finishing

ahead of teammate Mercedes team driver Nico Rosberg and French Lotus driver Romain

Grosjean. Hamilton finished the 43 laps in 1:23:40.387, winning his sixth race of the

year. The 30-year-old Hamilton has now won 39 races in his career.

25 August: Swiss player Roger Federer defeated world number one Novak Djokovic to

win his seventh Cincinnati Masters Tennis title. The 34-year-old Federer knocked out

Britain's Andy Murray in the semi-final and recorded a 7-6, 6-3 win after defeating

Djokovic in the finals.

25 August: Usain Bolt of Jamaica produced one of his greatest races ever to retain the

world 100m title at IAAF World Championships at Beijing’s Nest Stadium. He thus

defeated the clear favourite Justin Gatlin (US) by one hundredth of a second. Bolt

completed the race in 9.79 seconds as he came past a faltering Gatlin at the death to

snatch victory by one hundredth of a second. Gatlin finished the race in 9.80 seconds.

Canada’s Andre de Grasse and America's Trayvon Bromell were both awarded bronzes

in 9.92 seconds.

25 August: U Mumba won the STAR Sports Pro-Kabaddi League (PKL) title for 2015. U

Mumba team (Mumbai) won the STAR Sports ProKabaddi League’s second season as

they defeated Bengaluru Bulls (Bengaluru) team in the finals by 36-30. The final was

played at Mumbai’s National Sports Club of India. This is the first ProKabaddi League

title for U Mumba. Telugu Titans beat Patna Pirates 34-26 to finish third. The first season

of PKL was won by Jaipur Pink Panthers (Jaipur) last year.

25 August: India’s young and talented Aditi Ashok of Bengaluru became the first Indian

to win British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship at the Moortown Golf Club at Leeds,

United Kingdom. Aditi shot a total of 11-under 285 at the par 74 club. 17-year-old Aditi

is not only the first Indian to take the title, but also the youngest-ever winner of the

tournament.

25 August: Sri Lankan batsman Kumar Sangakkara retired from international cricket

after playing his last Test match. He played his final match against India in Colombo.

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Kumar Sangakkara has been dismissed for 18 when Ashwin edged a catch to Murali

Vijay. Sangakkara amassed 63 centuries in both One day and Test cricket and scored

more than 10,000 runs in both the formats in his 15-year-long career.

25 August: England cricket team won 2015 Ashes Test series, 3-2 against Australia at

England. In the fifth and final match of the series, Australia defeated England by an

innings and 46 runs at Ovals. England had already clinched the series with victories in

three of the first four games.

24 August: Eritrea's Ghirmay Ghebreslassie claimed the first gold medal of the World

Atheletics Championships men's marathon organised in Beijing. Ghebreslassie, who

became the youngest ever world marathon winner in just his fourth race, completed the

42.195 kilometers race in 2hr 12min 27sec

22 August: World No.1 shuttler Saina Nehwal signed an exclusive management contract

with leading management and marketing company IOS Sports and Entertainment for a

period of two years. IOS is targeting around Rs. 25 crore over two years, depending

upon her performance in the 2016 Rio Olympics and her stability in the rankings. The

announcement comes just after Saina won a silver medal at the World Championship in

Jakarta.

22 August: Athletic Bilbao claimed their first title in 31 years after defeating Barcelona

5-1 in the Spanish Super Cup 2015. Following their 4-0 first leg win, the Basque side

followed that up with a hard-fought 1-1 draw at the Camp Nou to win their first trophy

since 1984 when they claimed they league/cup double.

19 August: Goalkeeper of India's national football team Aditi Chauhan has signed a deal

with English Premier League (EPL) club West Ham United Ladies team, becoming the

first woman player from the country to play for a first eleven of a top club in England.

Aditi was a late addition to their squad during pre-season. West Ham Ladies are

currently in the Football Association's (FA) Women's Premier League Southern Division,

a league in the third level in the women's football structure in England.

19 August: India's Abhishek Verma won the gold medal in the compound men's

individual section in the Archery World Cup Stage 3 competition at Wroclaw, Poland.

The Asian Games silver medalist defeated Esmaeil Ebadi of Iran 148 -145. At the Incehon

2014 Asian Games, Ebadi defeated Verma 141-145. Apart from this, India's recurve

mixed pair of Deepika Kumari and Mangal Singh Champia won silver at the World Cup

stage 3. The duo faced defeat by Mexican pair of Aida Roman and Juan Rene Serrano.

19 August: Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri created history by becoming the first from the

country to finish inside the top-five of a major golf tournament. 28-year old Anirban

Lahiri scaled a new high for Indian golf by becoming the first from the country to finish

inside the top-five of a Major as he ended the prestigious PGA Championships at

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Wisconsin (USA) at fifth place. The tournament was won by Jason Day, who finally won a

Major, after nine top-10 finishes. Branden Grace and Justin Rose were third and fourth,

while Lahiri tied with Brooks Koepka for fifth place.

18 August: India’s ace shuttler Saina Nehwal became the first Indian to win silver at the

World Badminton Championship. She lost the women's singles summit clash to Spain's

Carolina Marin 16-21, 19-21 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Olympic bronze medallist Saina had

reached the finals of the event by defeating Indonesia's Lindaweni Fanetri. This was

India's fifth medal at the World Badminton Championship.

18 August: Top seed Chinese player Chen Long retained men's title at the World

Badminton Championship in Jakarta by defeating Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei. Long

stormed to a 21-14, 21-17 victory in just over an hour by defeating world's no. two

player Wei. This is Chong Wei's fourth consecutive world championships silver medal.

18 August: Indian batsman Ajinkya Rahane created a world record as he became the

first player to take eight catches in a Test match. Rahane achieved the feat during the

first Test against Sri Lanka at Galle when he caught catch of Rangana Herath. Prior to

this Yajurvindra Singh (India), Greg Chappell (Australia), Hashan Tilakaratne (Sri Lanka),

Stephen Fleming (New Zealand) and Mathew Hayden (Australia) made a record of 7

catches in a match.

14 August: FIFA has appointed François Carrard as the independent chairman of the

2016 FIFA Reform Committee. He was former Director General of the International

Olympic Committee (IOC). Carrard will head 11-member reform committee for bringing

structural reforms in scandal-plagued FIFA.

14 August: Grandmaster and former national champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly

defeated Zhang Zhong of Singapore and secured the silver medal in the Asian

Continental Chess Championship 2015 that concluded in Al Ain, UAE. Out of the six

medals at stake, the Indians won three with S.P. Sethuraman winning the bronze in the

open while S. Vijayalakshmi got the bronze in the women's section that was held

simultaneously. UAE Grandmaster A.R. Salem Saleh won gold medal.

13 August: India's star of cue sports Pankaj Advani clinched his 13th world title after

winning the World 6-Red Snooker Championship held in Karachi, Pakistan. Defending

champion Advani outplayed Chinese Yan Bingtao 6-2, stamping his authority on the

green baize in the final. The final started off with a bang with the Bangalore cueist racing

to a rapid 3-0 lead in the best-of-11 final.

13 August: London Olympics-2012 bronze medallist Gagan Narang finished fifth in the

men's 10 metre Air Rifle event at the Shooting World Cup. Gagan gave a better account

of himself in the final, moving up three positions with a score of 144.5. Cao Yifei of China

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won the gold with a final round score of 207.4, while Kim Sang Do (206.9) of South

Korea finished with the silver and Petar Gorsa (186.5) of Croatia bagged the bronze.

12 August: World's fifth seeded Japan`s Kei Nishikori defeated big-serving American

John Isner 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to win the Washington Open and capture his 10th career ATP

title. The 25-year-old Asia's number one won his third crown of the season by defeating

eighth seeded Isner.

12 August: Senior India hockey player Gurbaj Singh was suspended for 9 months for

indulging in groupism and creating disharmony within the team. This suspension means

that Gurbaj will be unable to play for India till 9 May 2016. The decision to suspend

Gurbaj was taken after a meeting of Hockey India's disciplinary committee headed by

Harbinder Singh with the midfielder and former India coach Jude Felix.

10 August: Michael Phelps clocked a stunning 1min 52.94sec to win the 200m butterfly

at the US swimming championships 2015. Matt Conger came at second place with 1min

54.54sec. Phelps has posed the fastest time in the world this year -- eclipsing Hungarian

Laszlo Cseh's world championship-winning time of 1:53.48. It's the fastest time Phelps

has produced in the event since he set the world record of 1:51.51 in 2009.

8 August: Katie Ledecky picked up her fourth gold medal at 2015 FINA World

Championships in Kazan, Russia as the United States won the women's 4x200m freestyle

title. Ledecky touched the wall in 7min 45.37sec. Italy won silver medal whereas China

came third and won bronze medal.

6 August: The performance of Indian contingent at the 2015 Special World Summer

Games held in Los Angeles, USA has been outstanding. India won a total of 173 medals,

including 47 Gold, 54 Silver and 72 Bronze. In comparison India had won 156 medals (56

Gold, 48 Silver and 52 Bronze) in the last edition of the games held at Athens, Greece.

5 August: Ace Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar clinched the women's vault bronze medal

at the 6th Senior ART Gymnastics Asian Championships at Hiroshima, Japan. Dipa, who

won a bronze in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, stood third at the podium

with 14.725 points. Chinese Yan Wang defended her title with 14.988 points and won

gold medal. Japanese Sae Miyakawa with 14.812 points won silver medal.

5 August: Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal defeated Italian Fabio Fognini 7-5 7-5 to

win the Hamburg Open and clinch his third title of the year. It is the 67th singles title of

the 29-year-old's career and his third in Hamburg, where he last won in 2008. Nadal,

who had played 14 Grand Slams, has now won his 47th title on clay.

4 August: Indian women's recurve team of Deepika Kumari, Laxmirani Majhi and Rimil

Buriuly won a silver medal at the World Archery Championships in Copenhagen,

Denmark. In the Summit clash, the Indian trio lost the World Championship final to top

seeded Russians 4-5. The Russian team that defeated the Indian trio was comprised of

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Inna Stepanova, Ksenia Perova and Tuyana Dashidorzhieva. It is India's second silver in

the ongoing World Archery Championships where compound archer Rajat Chauhan

opened the account with a historic individual medal.

4 August: Golfer Ranveer Singh Saini created history by becoming the first Indian to win

a Gold medal at the Special Olympics World Games. The 14-year-old autistic golfer

achieved the feat in GF Golf-Level 2 Alternate Shot Team Play event. Ranveer and his

partner Monica Jajoo were nine shots clear of joint second-placed teams from Hong

Kong (Tsz Leung Chung-Ka Kit Lam) and Nippon (Takefumi Hiyoshi-Tadatoshi Sakai).

4 August: Indian squash champion Joshna Chinappa won the women’s squash title in

the 15000 US Dollar Victorian Open WSA Event in Melbourne, Australia. In the final

clash, Chinappa defeated second seeded Line Hansen of Denmark 11-5, 11-4, 11-9. This

was tenth WSA title for 28-year-old Joshna, the last being the Richmond Open title win

in April 2014.

3 August: China's capital Beijing was chosen by the International Olympic Committee

(IOC) to host the 2022 Winter Olympics in a secret ballot held at a convention centre in

Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). It thus became the first city to be awarded both Summer and

Winter Games in more than 120 years of Olympic history. Beijing had hosted the

Summer Olympics in 2008.

3 August: India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was presented the Arjuna Award

which was conferred. on him last year, by the Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.

Ashwin was not present during the Award Ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan on

August 29, 2014 as he was a part of the India ODI team, which was touring England at

that time.

1 August: The Airports Authority of India dethroned Petroleum Sports Promotion Board

(PSPB) to win the youth girls team title in the 45th All India International Table Tennis

Championships. In the finals, the men and women teams of PSPB defeated Railway

Sports Promotion Board and Reserve Bank of India respectively to win the title.

EULOGIES THIS MONTH

24 August: Arthur Morris, one of Australia's finest opening batsmen and a key

member of Don Bradman's 'Invincibles' side, has died aged 93. Left-hander

Morris scored 3,533 runs in 46 Tests at an average of 46.48 and was named in

Australia's team of the century in 2000. It was the 1948 tour of England where

Morris had his crowning moment, scoring the most runs as the "Invincibles"

went unbeaten throughout.

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20 August: Malayalam actor Paravoor Bharathan, who acted in nearly 300

regional films, died in Kerala.

19 August: President Pranab Mukherjee's wife Suvra Mukherjee passed away.

The President's wife, Suvra Mukherjee, had been ill for some time. Country's

First Lady founded the 'Geetanjali Troupe', whose mission is to propagate

Rabindranath Tagore's philosophy as expressed through his songs and dance-

dramas.

14 August: Om Prakash Munjal, Co-Chairman of Hero Cycles Ltd. And a leading

industrialist, passed away in Ludhiana. He was 87.

8 August: Colonel Harwant Singh (retd), a World War-II hero, died at Patiala. He

was 95. He was officer-in-charge of the flag hoisting ceremony on the first

Independence Day of India in 1947. Commissioned in 2nd battalion of the Sikh

Regiment in September 1941, Singh served in Iraq, Palestine, North Africa,

Cyprus and Italy during World War-II for the British Army flag hoisting ceremony.

6 August: Senior Congress leader and former Punjab Minister Chaudhary Jagjit

Singh died. He was 82. Jagjit, a prominent Dalit leader, became an MLA for the

first time in 1980.

5 August: Former Madhya Pradesh minister and senior BJP leader Jagannath

Singh passed away after prolonged illness. He was 69. Singh had served as state

labour minister during 2008-2013 in the BJP government

3 August: Sir Peter O’Sullevan, an iconic British Horse Racing commentator

passed away at the age of 97. Sir Peter O’Sullevan was a former racing

commentator associated with the BBC. He was known simply as “The Voice of

Racing” throughout five decades at the microphone.

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS THIS MONTH

31 August: China launched its Yaogan-27 remote sensing satellite into space from

Taiyuan launch site in Shanxi province, north China. The satellite will mainly be used for

experiments, land surveys, crop yield estimates and disaster prevention. Yaogan-27 was

carried into space by a Long March-4C rocket. China launched the first "Yaogan" series

satellite, Yaogan-1, in 2006.

28 August: India has 2.87 million people who have no faith in any religion — 0.24% of

the country's population of 1.21 billion — according to the religious data of 2011

census, which was the first to include a 'non-faith' category. The figure includes atheists,

rationalists as well as those not interested in any religion but believe in some 'unknown'

force. A majority of people (1,643,640) who ticked the non-faith category live in rural

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areas as compared to those in urban areas (1,223,663). Uttar Pradesh accounts for the

most people registered as 'non-faith' (582,000) than any other state.

27 August: The religion-wise population data released by the Government indicated a

rise in the proportion of Muslim population in the country in comparison to Hindu

population during 2001-2011. The Registrar-General and Census Commissioner of India

released the data on Population by Religious Communities of Census 2011. According to

it the total population of India is 121.09 crore. According to the census, in the country

Hindu population is 96.63 crore (79.8%); Muslim 17.22 crore (14.2%); Christian 2.78

crore (2.3%); Sikh 2.08 crore (1.7%); Buddhist 0.84 crore (0.7%); Jain 0.45 crore (0.4%).

25 August: Cochin International Airport (Kochi) became the first in the world to operate

completely on solar power. The 12 MWp solar power-plant at Cochin International

Airport, Kochi, Kerala was inaugurated by Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. This

solar power plant comprises of 46,150 solar panels and is laid across 45 acres near the

cargo complex of the airport. This makes it the first airport in the world to operate

completely on solar power. The plant was installed by the Kolkata-based Vikram Solar

Pvt. Ltd.

24 August: The book titled Making India Awesome authored by Chetan Bhagat was

released by Rupa Publications. This is the second non-fiction book written by the

country’s biggest-selling writer Chetan Bhagat. His first non-fiction book was What

Young India Wants which was well received by the readers. Making India Awesome is a

collection of essays.

21 August: Wang Jianlin, Chairman of China's property and entertainment giant Dalian Wanda

Group, has overtaken Hong Kong's Li Ka-shing to become the richest Chinese in the world,

according to the new Hurun Rich List. Wang's wealth increased more than 50 percent year on

year to 260 billion yuan (40.6 billion U.S. dollars) as of early June. Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing,

87, was the second richest with a fortune of 200 billion yuan and Jack Ma, founder and chairman

of Internet giant Alibaba, was named third richest with wealth of 165 billion yuan.

21 August: Taj Mahal has made it to the top five of a prestigious new list of the world's best

tourist attractions. Travel Guide Book Lonely Planet's ‘Ultimate Travelist’ list ranks the Taj Mahal

built in Agra by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as the fifth most attractive travel hotspot in the

world and describes it as a "magnificent Mughal masterpiece". The Temples of Angkor Wat, a

UNESCO World Heritage site in northern Cambodia, tops the list. The Great Barrier Reef in

Australia comes in at number two, the Inca city of Machu Picchu in Peru at number three, and

the Great Wall of China at four.

21 August: United National Party (UNP) led United National Front for Good Governance

(UNFGG) coalition with 106 seats emerged as the winner in the 2015 Parliamentary elections of

Sri Lanka. But it failed to secure absolute majority in the Parliament of 225 members. UNP led by

incumbent Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe emerged the winner with his alliance taking 45

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percent of the vote cast, or about 51 lakh votes. The main opposition party the United People’s

Freedom Alliance (UPFA) that is an alliance led by Mahinda Rajapaksa was able to secure 95

seats with 42 percent of votes.

20 August: Islamic leaders from 20 countries who have gathered at the International Islamic

Climate Change Symposium in Istanbul, Turkey, issued a ‘Declaration on climate change’ which

calls for phasing out of greenhouse gas emissions. The declaration, replete with quotes from the

Qur’an, calls upon the world, particularly the 1.6 billion Muslims, to protect the planet from

being destroyed by human activity.

20 August: A NASA spacecraft has confirmed for the first time that the Moon’s thin atmosphere

contains neon, a gas commonly used in electric signs on Earth because of its intense glow.

There’s not enough neon to make Moon visibly glow because the Moon’s atmosphere is

extremely tenuous. A dense atmosphere like Earth’s is relatively rare in our solar system

because an object has to be sufficiently massive to have enough gravity to hold onto it.

19 August: The Union Minister of Civil Aviation Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Union Minister of

State for Civil Aviation, Culture (Independent Charge) and Tourism (Independent Charge), Dr.

Mahesh Sharma jointly inaugurated direct flight of Air India’s budget arm, Air India Express,

between Varanasi and Sharjah (UAE). The Varanasi-Sharjah flight, IX 183, took off from Lal

Bahadur Shastri International Airport, Varanasi with 170 passengers.

18 August: UAE government announced its historical decision to allot land for building first

temple in Abu Dhabi during PM Narendra Modi's two day (16th and 17th August) visit. Prime

Minister Modi visited the famous Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. There are two

temples in Dubai. One of Lord Shiva and the other one of Lord Krishna, but there is not a single

temple in UAE's capital Abu Dhabi.

17 August: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) fully commissioned and started

commercial production of its indigenous titanium sponge plant. With the commissioning of this

plant, India has become the seventh country in the world producing titanium sponge

commercially. ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (Ahmedabad) established India's first

titanium sponge plant at Chavara in Kerala’s Kollam district. Titanium sponge is used primarily

for space and defence applications.

11 August: The largest ever rainfall in over a century by Super Typhoon Soudelor in China had

forced evacuation of more than 3.34 lakh people. More than 550,000 people and 19,600

hectares of crops in ten cities were affected by the typhoon.

11 August: Overtaking the CIA, FBI, NASA and the Pakistani army Indian army once again has

reached the top of popularity on social networking site Facebook. Indian Army Facebook page

has now figured in the "People Talking About That" (PTAT) ranking in terms of popularity. It was

the second time within a few months, when the Indian Army Facebook page topped the list.

10 August: A global satellite for earth observation and disaster risk reduction - GlobalSat for DRR

- proposed under the UN framework is to be dedicated to A.P.J. Abdul Kalam as a tribute to the

vision of the Missile Man of India and former Indian President who died on July 27. The

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"GlobalSat for DRR" is a UN-driven global initiative on sharing space technology for disaster risk

reduction.

7 August: India’s biggest telescope – Multi-Application Solar Telescope (MAST) was inaugurated

at Udaipur (Rajasthan). MAST would help in the study of movements of stars and sun even in

day time. MAST has been installed at the Udaipur Solar Observatory, where it is surrounded by

water to keep temperature pleasant. Authorised by the Ministry of Science and Technology,

MAST has been funded by the Department of Space. So far Rs. 26 crore has been spent on the

project

7 August: The US space agency NASA has named Kirk Shireman as the new manager of its

International Space Station (ISS) Program, based at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Shireman has served as deputy director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston since 2013.

Shireman succeeds Michael Suffredini

5 August: NASA sets up a new traffic monitoring process to avoid spacecraft collisions on Mars.

The system involves process of traffic monitoring, communication and maneuver planning. The

step was taken after addition of two new spacecraft, namely NASA's Mars Atmosphere and

Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) and India's Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan), to orbit the Mars

has gone up to five.

3 August: An automobile group Volkswagen replaced Japanese auto giant Toyota to emerge as

the world’s largest-selling vehicle maker in the first half of 2015. It was for the first time in the

history of automobiles when Germany's automobile group Volkswagen overtook Toyota in global

vehicle sales. It sold 5.04 million cars between January and June 2015, which is slightly more

than the 5.02 million sold by Toyota during the same period.

RECURRING TERMS

(1) A P Shah Committee recommends MAT relief to FIIs

Union Finance Ministry appointed committee chaired by retired SC judge A P Shah has

recommended that Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) should not be imposed on FIIs

retrospectively for the period preceding 1st April 2015 This recommendation is considered

as a big relief to FIIs as government had exempted them from MAT starting April 1, 2015 in

the Union Budget for 2015-16 but had not made the clarification retrospective imposition.

In its report committee has mention that there is no legal basis for levying 20 per cent MAT

on past capital gains of FIIs.

Background

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Union Finance Ministry had appointed this 3 member Committee on the issue of levying

MAT on capital gains made by FIIs retrospectively.

Members of Committee: A P Shah (Chairman), Dr. Girish Ahuja and Dr. Ashok Lahiri.

The committee was constituted after the tax department had sent legal notices to 68

FIIs demanding around six hundred crore rupees as MAT dues of previous years. This

had raked up a MAT controversy within FIIs and they had moved to court challenging

this tax imposition.

(2) Government launched education loan portal for students seeking loans

On 20 August 2015, Government launched a web-based portal www.vidyalakshmi.co.in for the

students seeking educational loans. In order to ensure that no student misses out on higher

education due to lack of funds, finance minister in the Union Budget for 2015-16 had proposed

to set a fully IT-based Student Financial Aid Authority.

In line with this proposal this portal was launched with an aim to administer and monitor

scholarship as well as educational loan schemes under the Pradhan Mantri Vidya Lakshmi

Karyakram (PMVLK). The launch of this portal also aims to bring all banks providing educational

loans under one roof.

About the portal:

The portal has been developed and maintained by NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure

Limited (NSDL e-Gov) under the guidance of Ministry of Finance, Department of Higher

Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development and Indian Banks’ Association

(IBA).

It is a first of its kind portal that provides access to information and makes application

for educational loans provided by banks and also government scholarships under a

single window.

The portal also has a provision to apply to multiple banks for educational loans and

facility for banks to download students’ loan applications among others.

It also carter facility for banks to upload loan processing status and students can view

status of their loan application and linkage to National Scholarship Portal for

information and application for government scholarships on the dashboard of the

portal.

Up till now over 13 banks have registered and 22 educational loan schemes on the

Vidya Lakshmi Portal.

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SBI, Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Canara Bank & Union Bank of India have integrated their

system with the portal for providing loan processing status to students.

Note: PMVLK was launched on 15 July 2015 under the government’s ambitious National

Skill Development Mission.

(3) BSE extends direct market access facility to foreign portfolio investors (FPI)

On 19 August the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has extended the direct market access facility

(DMA) to foreign portfolio investors (FPI).

Henceforth, the foreign investors will have direct access to the exchange trading system in Indian

stock market without any manual interventions of the broker.

Earlier FPI had to conduct stock exchange trading in BSE through the broker who used to manually

place the orders on their behalf.

According to SEBI regulations FPI seeking to avail DMA facility would not have to enter into a

separate ‘broker- client agreement’ and it would be replaced by a simpler ‘terms and conditions’

document.

Broker’s role:

Henceforth the broker have to specifically authorize their clients and have to provide a

technologically secure DMA system to their FPI clients.

They are obliged to maintain client KYC records relating to exchange trading and have to

maintain client margins in a separate bank account and also have to send settlement

updates to the client including delivery/payment schedules.

Implications:

This step by BSE will provide FPI clients a direct control over their orders, now they can

execute orders faster, secure and in transparent manner.

It will increase liquidity in stock exchange market and will have lower impact costs for

large orders.

The FPI clients can now audit trails in better way and can use hedging and arbitrage

opportunities through the use of decision support tools i.e. algorithms for trading in

better way.

About BSE:

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Bombay Stock Exchange is the oldest stock exchange in Asia formed by eight native stock

brokers association in 1875 located at Dala street, Mumbai.

It got temporary approval by Bombay government in 1927 and permanent approval by Indian

Government on 31 Aug 1957.

Today it is 10th largest stock market in the world by market capitalization at $1.7 trillion and

has more than 5,000 companies listed in it.

(4) Reserve Bank of India granted ‘in-principle’ approval to 11 applicants to start a payments

bank

Reserve Bank of India granted ‘in-principle’ approval to 11 applicants to start payments banks.

The Committee of the Central Board (CCB) of RBI has selected 11 entities among the 41

applicant who has the reach and the technological and financial strength to provide service to

the customers and promote government’s initiative of financial inclusion across the country.

The selected applicants are:

Reliance Industries

Airtel M Commerce Services

Tech Mahindra

Vodafone m-pesa

Aditya Birla Nuvo

Department of Posts

Cholamandalam Distribution Services

Fino PayTech

PayTm

National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL)

Sun Pharma.

As per RBI notification for Payment Banks:

RBI has given ‘in principle’ approval to these 11 applicants to set payment banks is valid

for 18 month period.

The payments banks will be able to take deposits and remittances, internet banking and

other specified services but cannot undertake lending services.

Their holding are restricted to a maximum balance of Rs 1 lakh per individual customer.

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They can issue ATM/debit cards but not credit cards and can also issue other prepaid

payment instruments.

They can distribute non-risk sharing simple financial products like mutual funds and

insurance products.

Non resident Indians will not be allowed to open accounts in payment banks

Finance Minister had directed RBI to create a framework for licensing payment banks so

as to meet government’s financial inclusion target.

It is mandatory for payment banks to hold minimum capital of Rs. 100 crore. FDI of 74

per cent is allowed in payment bank.

It is mandatory for payment banks to hold minimum capital of Rs. 100 crore. FDI of 74

per cent is allowed in payment bank.

Selection: The applicants were detailed inspected by an External Advisory Committee (EAC)

under the Chairmanship of Dr. Nachiket Mor the Director, Central Board of the Reserve

Bank of India.

ABBREVIATIONS THIS MONTH

ABBREVIATIONS

ALM- Asset Liability Management

IRDA- Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority

DSCR- Debt Service Coverage Ratio

NPV- Net Present Value

IRDA- Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India

CAR- Capital Adequacy Ratio

NSE- National Stock Exchange

CIBIL- Credit Information Bureau of India Limited

FCNR- Foreign Currency Non Resident Deposit Accounts

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SLR- Statutory Liquidity Ratio

GDP – Gross Domestic Product

INR- Indian Rupee

NHB – National Housing Bank

ISO – International Standards Organization

ICICI =Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India

AFS – Available For Sale

USD – US Dollars

ATM – Asynchronous Transfer Mode

CAG -Controller and Auditor General of India

DD -Demand Draft

FDI – Foreign Direct Investment

BSCS- Basel Committee on Banking Supervision

SME- Small and Medium Industries

ASSOCHAM- Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India

NBFC- Non Banking Finance Companies

BOE- Bill of Exchange

MCA- Ministry Of Company Affairs

ICRA- Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency of India Limited

SHG- Self Help Group

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NEFT- National Electronic Fund Transfer

SEBI- Securities and Exchange Board of India

KYC- Know Your Customer

LIC- Life Insurance Corporation of India

SIDBI- Small Industries Development Bank of India

NBFC- Non Banking Finance Companies

BCSBI- Banking Codes and Standards Board of India

RBI- Reserve Bank of India

KCC- Kisan Credit Card

RTGS- Real Time Gross Settlement

NRI- Non Resident Indian

LAMPS- Large Sized Adivasi Multipurpose Societies

NABARD- National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development

EXIM bank- Export and Import Bank of India

IMPORTANT DAYS THIS MONTH

August 6: Hiroshima Day

August 6: Anti Nuclear Day

August 9: Quit India Movement Day

August 9: Nagasaki Day

August 12: International youth Day

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August 14: Pakistan's Independence Day

August 15: India's Independence Day

August 19: World Humanitarian Day

August 19: World Photography Day

August 20: Sadbhavana Diwas

August 29: National Sports Day of India (Dhyanchand's Birth Day)

August 30: Small Industry Day

SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE MONTH

(1) Union Government announces Rs 1.25 lakh crore special package for Bihar

Union Government has announced 1.25 lakh crore rupees special package for poll bound Bihar

as part of Prime Minister’s Bihar Package. It was announced by the Prime Minister Narendra

Modi in Arrah, Bihar.It was announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Arrah, Bihar.

Key facts

The special package to Bihar was declared in line with the on-going national social sector

schemes of Union Government. These schemes are Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana,

Atal Pension Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana,

Free LPG connections to BPL and Swachh Vidyalaya Abhiyan.

Roads and Railways: Off the total package amount around 55 thousand crore rupees will be

spent on 4 laning and widening of highways. It will include construction of bridges across Sone,

Kosi and Ganga, rivers and 12 Rail overbridges. Besides, around 14 thousand crore rupees will

be provided for rural roads. Barauni Refinery: Over 21,000 crore rupees will be allocated for

expansion of Barauni Refinery and setting up of new Petrochemical Plant along with

construction of Gas pipelines and massive expansion in domestic LPG connections.

Electrification: Around 16,000 crore rupees will be earmarked for electrification of villages and

towns and over 3000 crore rupees for farmers welfare.

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Other investments: It will include over 40500 crore rupees which is unspent amount of 2013

Package given to state for the ongoing works of National Highways and Ultra Mega Power

Project in Banka.

(2) ICICI Bank launches ‘Smart Vault’ digital locker facility

India’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank has launched ‘Smart Vault’ first of its kind

fully automated digital locker facility in India. It was launched by Managing Director (MD)

and CEO of ICICI Bank, Chanda Kochhar in New Delhi.

Key features of Smart Vault’

The locker is equipped with multi-layer security system, including PIN, biometric and

debit cards authentication.

This system has been designed in lines with Make In India programme as it has been

manufactured and designed by Indian partners of ICICI Bank.

Customers can access the vault without any intervention by the branch staff and the

facility will be available to customers even on weekends and post banking hours.

The vault facility uses advance robotic technology to access the lockers from the safe

vault.

The lockers will be available in three different sizes and charges will depend on the

size.

(3) Special Olympics World Games Los Angeles 2015 (LA2015)

With 6500 athletes and 2000 coaches representing 165 countries, along with 30000 volunteers

and an anticipated 500000 spectators, the 2015 Special Olympics World Games – being staged in

Los Angeles between 25 July 25 and 2 August 2015 – will be the largest sports and humanitarian

event anywhere in the world in 2015. It is also the single biggest event in Los Angeles since the

1984 Olympic Games.

Honorary Chairs of the Games are President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, with

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and California Governor Jerry Brown serving as Honorary Hosts.

Fourteen year old Master Prabhroop Sekhon on 31 July 2015 won two gold medals in 300 metre

and 500 metre Roller Skating at the Special Olympics World Summer Games. The event is being

held at Los Angeles, USA.

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Sekhon is a student of ASHA School in Lucknow Cantt where he was coached and selected for

various camps at State and National level as one amongst the 241 participants representing India.

He has been a student of ASHA School since Sep 2013.

An Autistic student, Prabhroop Sekhon is the son of a serving Air Force Officer, Group Captain BS

Sekhon.

(4) 48th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ meet held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The 48th ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Foreign Ministers’ meet was held

in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia between 4 August and 6 August 2015. The meet was chaired

by Anifah Aman, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia.

The meet was held under the theme "Our People, Our Community, Our Vision", to create an

ASEAN Community which is truly people-oriented, people-centred comprising all areas of

cooperation.

The foreign ministers of ASEAN had a productive discussion revolving round the theme

of the meet.

They also discussed regional and international issues as well as their ongoing efforts to

maintain peace, stability and prosperity in the region.

ASEAN is a political and economic organisation of ten Southeast Asian countries. It was

formed on 8 August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and

Thailand. Since then, membership has expanded to include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos,

Myanmar (Burma), and Vietnam.

The group aims to accelerating economic growth, social progress, and socio-cultural

evolution among its members, protection of regional peace and stability, and

opportunities for member countries to resolve differences peacefully.

Besides, the ASEAN foreign ministers meet was participated by India’s Minister of State

for External Affairs of India Gen (Retd) VK Singh. On the sidelines of the of ASEAN-India

Foreign Ministers' meet, Singh held talks with the foreign ministers of ASEAN countries.