Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has recently conferred the Biju Patnaik Award for Scientific Excellence for the year 2016 to Prof Digambar Behera. Behera is senior professor and Head, Department of Pulmo nary Medicine, PGIMER in Chandigarh. Beside this, Prof Prasanta Mohapatra, a professor at the University of California, was also conferred this award for 2015.
The first edition of Rural Games or Grameen Khel Mahotsav will kick-start from Delhi and will take place between 28th August to 3rd September 2017. The purpose of the Rural Games is to popularize the indigenous games like wrestling and athletics and will also have fun games like Matka Race, Tug of War for senior citizens. In the first stage, the games will be held in Alipur, Mehrauli, Nangloi, Najafgarh and Shahadara where ten thousand youngsters will participate.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) appointed committee on Household Finance has recently recommended that banks should link their home loan rates to the RBI’s repo rate, the rate at which it lends to banks. The committee, whose recommendations are not binding, suggests that this will allow for better and more transparent transmission of interest rates in the economy to individuals.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has recently signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Institute of Chartered Accounta nts of Nepal (ICAN) to establish mutual co-operation for the advancement of accounting knowledge, professional and intellectual development, advancing the interests of their respective members and positively contributing to the development of the accounting profession in Nepal, India.
Venkaiah Naidu, the Vice President of India, will officially launch the Sports Ministry’s much- awaited National Sports Talent Search Portal at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on August 28, 2017. The portal will provide a three step simple process for registration, profile creation and upload of achievements.
Nirmala Sitharaman, the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, has constituted a task force on Artificial Intelligence (AI) for India’s economic transformation. The 18-member panel, headed by Dr. V. Kamakoti of IIT Madras, will comprise of experts, academics, researchers and industry leaders. It will explore possibilities to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) for development across various fields.
Jay Thomas (69), the well-known comic and character actor, has passed away in California, United States. In addition to playing Eddie LeBec in “Cheers”, Jay played obnoxious TV talk show host Jerry Gold on “Murphy Brown” from 1989 until 1998, and also had his own sit-com, “Love and War”, from 1992 until 1995.
The Chitwan National Park (CNP) is located in the subtropical Inner Terai lowlands of south-central Nepal and covers an area of 932 square kilometres. The park is considered to have the highest population density of sloth bears with an estimated 200 to 250 individuals.
Saina Nehwal from India has won bronze in the 2017 women’s singles World Bad minton championships (WBC). In the first women’s singles semi-final at Glasgow, Nehwal lost to Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in three games 12-21, 21-17, 21-10. It must be noted that Okuhara is the first shuttler from Japan to reach the finals of World Championship.
Sushma Swaraj, the Union External Affairs Minister, will inaugurate India’s first Videsh Bhavan on August 27, 2017 at the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai, Maharashtra. As a first pilot project, four offices of MEA – Regional Passport Office (RPO), Protector of Emigrants (PoE) office, Branch Secretariat and Regional Office of ICCR – have been assimilated and brought under one roof at the state-of-art office
Andhra Pradesh’s Eastern Power Distribution Company Ltd (EPDCL) and the Southern Power Distribution Corporation of AP Ltd. (SPDCL) have become the India’s first state-owned distribution companies to accept payments through Bharat QR. The Bharat QR is the world’s first interoperable quick response code acceptance solution launched by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Nandan Nilekani, the Infosys co-founder and the architect of Aadhaar, has been appointed as the new non-executive chairman of the board of directors of Infosys. The sweeping changes have been made to the board in an attempt to restore stability after the resignation of Vishal Sikka as CEO, and a bitter rift between Narayana Murthy and the board came to the fore.
Tony de Brum (72), the former Marshall Islands foreign, has passed away in Majuro, Marshall Islands on August 22, 2017. He was the leading advocate for the landmark Paris Agreement and an internationally recognised voice in the fight against climate change. de Brum also fought against nuclear weapons and for his nation’s independence.
The Union Cabinet has recently increased the ‘creamy layer’ ceiling for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category to Rs 8 lakh per annum from the existing Rs 6 lakh for central government jobs. With this, those in the OBC category earning up to Rs 8 lakh per annum would now get reservation benefits.
The Haryana government will organize Digital Haryana Summit (DHS) in Guru gram on September 15, 2017 to discuss issues like digital governance, smart living in cities and villages, citizen partner ship, entrepreneurship, skilling and geogovernance and sustainability, among others. NASSCOM will be partner for this event and the summit would be organised as a part of the state’s Swarna Jayanti celebrations.
The book “I Do What I Do” has been authored by Rahguram Rajan, the former RBI governor. This book conveys what it was like to be at the helm of RBI in those turbulent but exciting times. Rajan explains economic concepts in a readily accessible way.
Sanjivani Jadhav from India, a marathon runner from Nashik, has clinched silver medal in the women’s 10,000-metre at the 29th World University Games in Taipei, Taiwan on August 24, 2017. Earlier, she won a bronze in the 5000 metres at the Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar in July 2017.
According to 2017 report by the United Nations World Tourism (UNWTO), the island of Tuvalu was the least visited country in 2016. Only 2,000 people ventured to the South Pacific paradise of Tuvalu in 2016. The latest report reveals that there are 15 least-visited countries globally.
The Murlen National Park (MNP) is located in the Champhai district of Mizoram and covers an area of 200 square kilometres. The tropical, semi-evergreen and sub montane Forests of Murlen are home to a rich variety of flora and fauna. It is home to the tiger, leopard, sambar, barking deer, Malayan giant squirrel, Hume’s pheasant, etc.
In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court has declared right to privacy a fundamental right under the constitution on August 24, 2017. A nine-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar ruled that right to privacy is an intrinsic part of Right to Life and Personal Liberty under Article 21 and entire Part III of the Constitution.
The International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is observed every year by UNESCO on August 23 to pay tribute to all those who fought for freedom, and, in their name, to continue teaching about their story and the values therein
Microsoft has launched its ‘Project Brainwave’ deep learning acceleration platform for real-time artificial intelligence (AI). With the help of ultra-low latency, the system processes requests as fast as it receives them.
The first edition of Miss Transqueen India, a beauty pageant for transgenders, will take place in Gurugram, Haryana on August 27, 2017. Like other beauty pageants, the contestants will have to go through swimming costume, traditional wear, evening gown and question-answer rounds.
Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Minister of Odisha, has launched a grid-connected rooftop solar programme through the net-metering system at the State Secretariat in Bhubaneshwar in a bid to enable public participation to harness renewable energy.
The Karnataka Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with software giant Microsoft India to develop a unique “farm price forecasting model” using latest IT tools in a bid to help farmers, administrators and other stakeholders to understand the market behaviour in advance
The 2017 International Military Music Festival “Spasskaya Tower” has started in Moscow, Russia on August 24 and will continue till September 3, 2017. The Indian Navy Band “Tri- Services” is participating in the fest.
Rajiv Bansal, the 1988 batch IAS officer of Nagaland cadre, has been appointed as the new Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Air India for three months. Bansal, who is additional secretary and financial adviser at the petroleum ministry, will replace Ashwani Lohani — who has been appointed as the Chairman of Railway Board.
The 9th meeting of heads of Governments of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states on disaster prevention and relief has started at Choplon Ata in Kyrgyz Republic on August 24, 2017. The 2-day meeting will focus on prevention and elimination of emergency situations. The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is leading the Indian delegation which includes senior officers from Home and External Affairs Ministries and National Disaster Management Authority
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