booster august
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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.