August, 2016 current affair’s

1.      The "Make in India" conference will be held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha in December 2016. The conference would be organized by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to attract investment in the state as well as in the country.

2.      Rani Singh Nair, a 1979-batch IRS officer of the income-tax cadre, has been appointed as the new chairperson of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). She succeeded Atulesh Jindal and will be in office till October 31, 2016. Earlier, she was a member of legislation and computerization department in the CBDT.

3.      The book "Tipu Sultan's Search for Legitimacy: Islam and Kingship in a Hindu Domain" has been authored by Kate Brittlebank. The book focuses upon the methods adopted by Tipu Sultan to establish his legitimacy as a parvenu ruler. It throws light on how Tipu perceived himself and why he acted in certain ways at certain times.

4.      Lokesh Rahul has recently scored 158 runs in the 2nd cricket test against West Indies at Kingston, Jamaica. With this, India lead by 162 runs with 5 wickets remaining in the 1st innings.

5.      India will host the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup in October 2016. In it, 12 countries viz. India, USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Iran, Poland, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Korea, Japan and Kenya will participate.

6.      Lewis Hamilton, a British Formula One Mercedes racing driver, has won the 2016 German Grand Prix title of Formula One. It is his 6th title of the 2016 season after Monaco Grand Prix, Canadian Grand Prix, Austrian Grand Prix, British Grand Prix and Hungarian Grand Prix.

7.      Skydiver Luke Aikins from United States has become the first person in the world to jump without a parachute and landed safely in a net in Simi Valley, southern California. He achieved this feat after successfully free falling from aeroplane from height of 25,000 feet (mid-tropospheric altitude) in 2-minutes into the 100x100ft net without a parachute or wing suit.

8.      The Kerala Anti-corruption Index (KAI), the first of its kind in India, will be launched by the Kerala government under its "zero tolerance to corruption" policy. The initiative will have a set of proxy indicators to measure the graphs of corruption in all spheres of society. The programme will be implemented by the Kerala Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau. The purpose of the index is to develop a durable and sustainable mechanism to check corruption, which is possible only by sensitizing and empowering general public.

9.      Pirates The Patna Pirates has won the 4th edition of STAR Sports-ProKabaddi League by defeating Jaipur Pink Panthers by 37-29 score at Gachibowli Stadium, Hyderabad, Telangana. With this win, Patna Pirates has become first Kabaddi team to won the title twice and the only champions to have defended their title.

10.  The Keibul Lamjao National Park is located in the Bishnupur district, Manipur. It is the only floating park in the world and an integral part of Loktak Lake.

11.  The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has recently tied up with MobiKwik, the Gurgaon-based mobile wallet company, to enable railway passengers to make e-cash payments on the IRCTC's e-catering app "Food on Track". The app allows passengers to book and get food from their preferred restaurants, delivered right at their train coaches. Apart from this, MobiKwik is also powering payments for IRCTC Connect Android App, which allows users to book railway tickets instantly. MobiKwik is a mobile wallet and online payment system where a user can store money to make mobile and DTH recharge, pay utility bills and shop using wallet with over 50,000 merchants.

12.  The Andhra Pradesh government has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Japan to develop a food value chain in the state. Under the MoU, Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) will encourage direct investments by Japanese companies in the fields of agriculture and food-related industry in Andhra Pradesh. Apart from this, MAFF will also establish food industrial parks and develop cold chains.

13.  Syed Nayeemuddin, the former India football team captain, has been conferred with the Mohun Bagan FC's prestigious Mohun Bagan Ratna (jewel) for 2016. With this, he became the 16th recipient of the prestigious award, which is bestowed upon a person for making a seminal contribution to the success of the club. Nayeemuddin is the only athlete to won the Arjuna Award and Dronacharya Award for his contribution to football both as a player and coach.

14.  Dilip Rath is the newly appointed chairman of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). He will be on the post until the appointment of a regular incumbent. He succeeded T Nandakumar, who recently resigned before his 5-year term ended. Currently, Rath is the managing director of NDDB.

15.  Bhaskar Khulbe, a 1983 batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre, has been appointed as the new Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Previously, he was the additional secretary in Prime Minister's Office (PMO). 

16.  The book "India Rising: Fresh Hope, New Fears" has been authored by Ravi Velloor, an associate editor of Singapore newspaper The Straits Times. It chronicles India's journey in the decade before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rise. The book captures the notable events of the years under former India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and examines how the country dealt with those issues.

17.  The 2016 SAARC Home Ministers' conference will be held in Islamabad, Pakistan. The focus of the conference is on strengthening networking among police authorities of SAARC member-countries and increasing information-sharing among law enforcement agencies. It also focus on issues of a coordinated fight against terrorism, illegal trafficking in narcotic drugs and small arms. From India, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will attend the conference.

18.  The Aadi Perukku festival, the thanksgiving festival to rivers, has celebrated with traditional gaiety in Tamil Nadu. The festival is celebrated on 18th of Aadi month in Tamil calendar year in gratitude to water bodies especially Cauvery river. The Cauvery River, the lifeline of delta farmers, is worshipped with traditional gaiety in Salem Erode Trichy and Thanjavur. The river is considered as the bride and the Sea bridegroom and rituals are conducted with great fanfare in delta region including Poompuhar.

19.  Novak Djokovic from Serbia has won the 2016 ATP Toronto Masters, also known as the Rogers club title in the men's single category, in Toronto by defeating Kei Nishikori by 6-3, 7-5 in the final to clinch his 66th career title and 4th Canadian title. With this, he became the first player to clinch 30 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles.

20.  The traditional farm festival of Hareli has celebrated in Chhattisgarh on August 2, 2016. The festival marks the beginning of Shravan month (the holy month of Hindus). The farmers across the state worship their equipments and cows on this festival. During this festival, the Goddess 'Kutki Dai' is the presiding deity worshiped for good crops. The day also marks the beginning of famous Bastar Dussehra Mahaparv, a 75-day unique festival of tribal heartland of Chhattisgarh. The unique rituals of this more than 500- year-old festival creates bonhomie between people in the region.

21.  N Chandra, the bollywood film-maker, will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award at the 8th edition of Goa State Film Festival 2016, which is scheduled to be held on August 5-8, 2016. Chandra is known for his films such as Ankush, Pratighaat, Tezaab and Narsimha. 

22.  The severe tropical typhoon Nida, also called Tropical Storm Carina in Philippines, has recently hit the China's Guangdong Province. The gale-force wind with up to 150 km/hr has caused heavy rain followed the tropical typhoon. This is the strongest typhoon to hit the Pearl River Delta since 1983. It was caused by a tropical depression that had developed about 1,020 km to the east-southeast of Manila, Philippines. The cyclonic system was located within a favorable environment for development of cyclone with low vertical wind shear and very warm sea surface temperatures.

23.  Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also known as Prachanda, is the newly elected Prime Minister of Nepal. He is the chairman of Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist-Centre).

24.  Prof. Ahmed Zewail (70), Egyptian Chemist and Nobel Laureate, has recently passed away in United States. Zewail won the Nobel Chemistry Prize in 1999 for his pioneering work in femtochemistry, the study of chemical reactions in ultra-short time scales. He was professor at the California Institute of Technology and a Science Advisor to President Barack Obama and was the first Arab scientist to win the Nobel Prize.

25.  Manoj Sinha, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Communications, has recently launched Twitter Sewa service to address the common man's complaints regarding telecom and postal services. The complaints will be lodge through Twitter handle "@manojsinhabjp". People can use 4 commands to escalate their complaints viz.#DoTSewa, #BSNLSewa, #MTNLSewa, #PostalSewa. The platform will also address the grievances that are raised against private players. 

26.  Rajasthan has become the first Indian state to approve sewage and waste water policy. As per the policy, all district headquarters, heritage cities and cities in the state which have more than one lakh population will be included. In it, treated waste water will be used in irrigation and agricultural work. The requirement of next 30 years will be covered in this policy. It will be compulsory for every house in the state to connect with sewage system in those cities which have 100% sewage system in next 5 years.

27.  Technocrat Anant Maheshwari has been appointed as the new President of Microsoft India, a subsidiary of US based software giant Microsoft Inc. He will succeed Bhaskar Pramanik in March 2017. Maheshwari will be responsible for Microsoft's entire product, service and support offerings across India.

28.  Anita Gopalan, the translator and artist, has won the 2016 PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants for her English translation of Hindi novel "Simsim" by Geet Chaturvedi. Gopalan will be honoured at the 2017 PEN Literary Awards Ceremony in New York in February 2017. PEN America is a renowned literary organization of the United States.

29.  The Town and Country Planning (TCP) department of Himachal Pradesh government has recently launched citizen governance mobile App "HIM TCP" to take different vital services online. The App ensures easy and single point access to the services and other functions of the department. With this, the TCP department would be able to process new and pending applications, no objection certificates, handling payments, issuing notifications and scheduled inspections speedily. The citizens would also check the status of their applications and pay fees online. 

30.  The book "Until the Lions: Echoes from the Mahabharata" has been authored by Karthika Nair. It is a poetic retelling of the Mahabharata from the perspective of many of its minor characters.

31.  The World Economic Forum (WEF) India Economic Summit will be held in New Delhi on October 6-7, 2016. The theme of the summit is "Fostering an Inclusive India through Digital Transformation" and it will be attended by over 500 business and political leaders.

32.  The State Bank of India ( SBI) has recently launched cheaper home loan schemes for defence and other government employees with installment tenure extending up to 75 years of age. It will offer two new home loan products 'SBI Privilege Home Loan' for government employees and 'SBI Shaurya Home Loan' for defence personnel without any processing fee. Under the new SBI scheme, there will be a lower EMI burden post retirement and 0.05 % concession over the home loan interest for 7th Pay Commission beneficiaries.

33.  Angela Ruggiero, the former Olympic ice hockey gold medalist from United States, has been elected as the new chair of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)'s Athletes' Commission. She will succeed Claudia Bokel,whose 4-year term is expiring at the end of the 2016 Rio Olympics. Currently, Ruggiero is the Vice-Chair of the Commission. The IOC Athletes' Commission is a body maintained by the International Olympic Committee for the purpose of representing athletes.

34.  India's first underground museum will be opened at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on October 2, 2016. The museum showcases a collection of relics associated with each of the past presidents of India along with a range of vestiges reflecting upon the history of India's freedom struggle. Approx Rs. 80 crores were spent in creating this museum, which took almost two years to complete.

35.  Indian Railways will build India's longest tunnel and world's tallest girder rail bridge on the Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal new broad gauge railway line in Manipur. The 111-km long line already has 37 tunnels on it. The new tunnel will be 11.55 km long, more than the famous Pir Panjal tunnel on the Banihal-Qazigund line. The rail bridge with height of 141m will surpass the existing tallest bridge in Europe which has a height of 139m.

36.  Cherupalli Vivek Teja, an International Martial artist from India, has won the World Martial Arts Championships (WMAC) in Sydney, Australia and became the World Karate Champion (All Styles). He defeated Australian taekwondo Matthew Rose in the final to clinch the title.

37.  Youssef Chahed, the former local and regional affairs minister, has been appointed as the new Prime Minister of Tunisia by the Tunisia's President Beji Caid Essebsi. He succeeded Habib Essid, who lost vote of no-confidence in the parliament because of his handling of economic reforms and security. Chahed nomination is likely to be approved by a Parliamentary vote, as required. If Chahed wins the backing of parliament, he will be the Tunisia's youngest premier since it won independence from France in 1956. He would also be Tunisia's 7th Prime Minister in less than 6 years since the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

38.  The festival titled "Amazing North-East…Paradise Unexplored" will be held at the India International centre in New Delhi to promote the rich folk culture of North-East India. The festival will showcase the various music and dances of North-East India and will also serve as a medium to draw the audience's attention to the hardships faced by the people living in the region and encourage more support from the citizens of the rest of the country. The festival will be organised by the city-based NGO Life of Vision Foundation.

39.  Abhinav Bindra, the 2008 Beijing Olympic gold medallist, will be flag bearer from India in the opening ceremony of the 2016 Rio Olympics on August 5 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is his 5th appearance at the Olympic Games. Apart from this, Bindra is also one of the India's goodwill ambassadors for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Others are Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar, Bollywood actor Salman Khan and music maestro AR Rahman.

40.  The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently launched "Sachet" portal to curb illegal and unauthorized pooling of funds by unscrupulous firms. The portal "sachet.rbi.org.in" will help public to obtain information about entities allowed to collect deposits. The portal will facilitate filing, tracking of complaints, besides providing information about whether any particular entity is registered with any regulator or is permitted to accept deposits.

41.  The book "Grassroots Innovation" has been authored by Prof. Anil K. Gupta of IIM Ahmedabad, who is also the Vice Chairman of National Innovation Foundation. The book is about the stories of extraordinary men and women who are silently contributing to the innovation movement for the economic development and advancement of society.

42.  Shubha Mudgal, the hindustani classical singer, will be honoured with the 23rd edition of Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award 2016 for her outstanding contribution towards the promotion of communal harmony, peace and goodwill. The award carries a citation and cash award of Rs. 10 lakh and would be presented to Mudgal on August 20, 2016,the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

43.  Mahim Bora (92), the well-known Assamese litterateur, has recently passed away in Nagaon district, Assam . His literary works include Kathanibari Ghat, Bohubhuji Tribhuj, Eai Nadir Sonte, Mai Pippali Aru Puja, etc.

44.  The Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has inaugurated the 2nd edition of India International Footwear Fair (IIFF) 2016 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. The fair is the premier specialized B2B event of the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) and Confederation of Indian Footwear Industries (CIFI). 

45.  The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has added 5 sports viz. baseball/softball, karate, skateboard, sports climbing and surfing to the sports programme for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. With this, the 2020 Tokyo Games will feature 33 sports and about 11,000 athletes, compared to the usual number of 28 sports and 10,500 athletes.

46.  Tourism will organize 'Freedom Ride', an exclusive bike rally will be held on August 15, 2016. The Freedom Ride rally will give bikers an experience of Goa's beautiful landscape during the monsoons while exploring its treasures packed with Churches, Rivers, Beaches, Temples, Villages and much more. Only two riders per bike will be permitted. The charges include Rs.800 per person for advance bookings and Rs. 1000 for spot bookings. The well known historian Sanjeev Sardesai will guide the bikers and give insights into Goa's history, culture and traditions during the rally.

47.  Nita Ambani, founder chairperson of Reliance Foundation and owner of the Mumbai Indians cricket team franchise, has been elected as an individual member of International Olympic Committee. With this, she became the first Indian woman to join the prestigious body which governs Olympic sports in the world. Nita is the only current active individual member of the IOC from India and will serve the world body till the age of 70.

48.  India's first tiger cell will set up at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) campus in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been signed between the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and WII. The cell will house a database of tigers as well as DNA and stripes samples of the big cats from over 50 tiger reserves and will aid conservation efforts by preventing poaching and providing an update on tiger numbers.

49.  The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has recently signed cyber security MoU with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur. The key highlights of the MoU includes cooperation for cyber security research in financial markets, developing and fostering an environment to deal with current & future cyber security challenges and develop tools to strengthen cyber security and advise BSE in its cyber related issues.

50.  The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has constituted Dr. Tarun Ramadorai committee to study various facets of household finance in India and benchmark India's position against both the peer countries and advanced countries. The committee will also study the reasons behind the deviation of financial allocations of Indian households like the large household allocation to gold. It will evaluate the design of new systems and the redesign of existing systems of incentives and regulations to encourage and enable better participation by Indian households in formal financial markets.

51.  The Odisha government has recently launched a new website of the state Home department to enable the differently-abled persons to see and hear the website. The portal facilitates access to all directorates or departments along with various citizen services like Secretariat Pass, Tracking the Missing Child, Reservation of Odisha Bhawan, Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems and other such services. The portal also has a women and employee corner.

52.  The National Handloom Day is celebrated in India on August 7 to mark a 1905 movement that boycotted British products in favour of the revival of domestic ones.

53.  The Union Government has set a Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) target of 4 % (plus or minus 2 %) for the period from August 2016 to March 31, 2021 under monetary policy framework. As per section 45ZA of the RBI Act 1934, the Union Government has set the inflation target in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Dr. Raghuram Rajan. For this, Union Government will soon set-up Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to adhere to the target till March 31, 2021. The key advantage of a target is that it allows the MPC to recognise the short run trade-offs between inflation and growth but enables it to pursue the inflation target in the long run over the course of a business cycle.

54.  The Telangana Irrigation Department has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for setting up a Telangana Water Resources Information System (TWRIS) on the 'Bhuvan' web portal. The purpose of the TWRIS is to capture every field-level irrigation network including dams/barrages, anicuts, main and field channels, etc. and mark every irrigation structure on satellite visualisation tool Bhuvan (similar to Google Earth). The project will be completed in one year and will cover all major, medium and minor irrigation projects.

55.  Takehiko Nakao has been re-elected for a 2nd term as the President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which is beginning from November 2016. With this, he will remain head of the ADB till 2021. Nakao was first elected to the role in 2013 to serve the remaining three and a half years of the term of his predecessor, Haruhiko Kuroda.

56.  The Union Health Minister J P Nadda has recently launched a nation-wide programme "Mothers' Absolute Affection (MAA)" to promote breast-feeding. Madhuri Dixit Nene is the brand ambassador of this campaign, which is an intensified program for the promotion of breast-feeding along with UNICEF India.

57.  Vijay Rupani is the newly appointed chief minister of Gujarat. Prior to this, he was the State BJP President of Gujarat.

58.  China has successfully launched the first mobile telecom satellite "Tiantong-01" into orbit from Xichang Satellite Launch Centre with the help of Long March-3B carrier rocket. It will establish a mobile network with ground facilities, providing services for China, the Middle East, Africa and other areas.

59.  Rajesh Mokashi has been appointed as the Managing Director & CEO of the Credit Analysis and Research Limited (CARE). The CARE Ratings provides credit rating that helps the corporate to raise capital for their various requirements. He will succeeded Dr Dogra , whose tenure will end on August 21, 2016. Presently, Mokashi, who has been with the credit rating agency since inception in 1993, is the Deputy Managing Director.

60.  The theme of the 2016 Rio Olympics is "World peace and Environment". It is the 31st edition of Summer Olympic Games, which has recently started at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from August 5 and will be continue till August 21, 2016. The motto of the Rio 2016 is "A new world" and the official mascot is Vinicius. In it, 207 countries and the refugee teams are taking part.

61.  The Tamil Nadu government has recently launched an online service for consumers to apply for low-tension service connections. With this, consumers can now apply online to secure a new low-tension (LT) service connection, upload all necessary documents on the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) website and also make payment for this purpose. Currently, people have to contact the respective TANGEDCO offices with filled-in forms to apply for new LT connections.

62.  The Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has recently launched Baristha Bunakar Sahayata Yojana (BBSY), a pension scheme for weaver community in the state. As per the scheme, the state government would provide Rs. 500 pension to the weavers, on the occasion of National Handloom Day. Under the pension scheme, the beneficiary must have worked at least preceding 20 years in the weaving profession and attained 60 years to avail the benefits. The weavers, who have attained 80 years of age, would get. Rs 700 pension per month. The pension would be transferred directly to the bank account of the weavers.

63.  The International Meeting on Counter Terrorism will be held at Bali, Indonesia on August 10, 2016. This is first of its kind meeting, which aims to strengthen the international cooperation network in addressing the growing threat of cross-border movement of terrorism from the aspects of actor, information and also financing. The theme of the multilateral meeting is "Countering Cross-Border movement of Terrorism". From India, the Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju will attend the meeting.

64.  The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has signed pact with Manipur government to provide improved hospitality and tourism services to their customers by making joint use of their capabilities and facilities. The pact also aims to explore involvement of Self Help Groups (SHGs) in catering activities, setting up of water vending machines, use of Rail Neer (IRCTC's packaged water) and development of lounges and greeting services for tourists. Both IRCTC and the Manipur government would market each other's products and services.

65.  Abhijeet Gupta, an Indian Grandmaster and former world junior champion, has recently won the 2016 Commonwealth Chess championship in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

66.  The Union Minister of Urban Development M.Venkaiah Naidu has recently launched Swachh Suvekshan-2017 project in New Delhi to assess and rank 500 cities based on levels of sanitation and efforts made by respective urban local bodies. It also aims to capture progress towards achieving Open Defecation Free status. Therefore, to promote people's participation , the ministry has launched Swachhata Helpline '1969' and Swachhata App. With this, citizens can seek information about the ways of participating in the cleanliness mission and can also enquire about the status of their applications for construction of toilets. Apart from this, ministry has also launched 'Asli Tarakki' campaign to highlight the need for construction of toilets and using them.

67.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently launched the phase-1 of Mission Bhagiratha at Komatibanda in Medak district, Telangana. It is a flagship project of the Telangana government to provide safe drinking water through a pipeline to every household in the state. The project aims to provide 100 liters of clean drinking water per person in rural households and 150 liters per person in urban households. The purpose of the Mission Bhagiratha is to provide water to about 25,000 rural habitations and 67 urban habitations. The deadline for water to reach these households is March 2018.

68.  Vietnam Veedu Sundaram (76), the well-known Tamil scriptwriter and director, has recently passed away in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Sundaram worked for more than 350 films in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi and was known as the founder of social mythology. The well known movies which he wrote include Vietnam Veedu, Gnana Oli, Gruhapravesam, Justice Gopinath, Anaan Oru Koyil, etc.

69.  The book "Gulbadan: Portrait of a Rose Princess at the Mughal Court" has been authored by Margaret Rumer Godden. It is the story of Gulbadan Begum (or Princess Rosebody) , who was the last daughter of Babur and in her lifetime witnessed the rules of her father Babur, brother Humayun and nephew Akbar. The book portrays the vivid life story of Princess Rosebody and her life in the 16th century Mughal royal family in India.

70.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch a 15-day programme titled " Azadi 70- Yaad Karo Kurbani (Freedom Fortnight) " on August 9, 2016 to commemorate freedom fighters on the 70th year of India's Independence and 75th anniversary of the Quit India Movement from the birth place of freedom fighter Chandrashekhar Azaz at Alirajpur district, Madhya Pradesh.

71.  The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has kept policy rates unchanged in the recently released 3rd bi-monthly monetary policy review for FY 2016-17. The repo rate at which RBI lends to the system has been retained at 6.5 %, while the reverse repo rate which is paid to banks has been maintained at 6 %. The RBI has also kept the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) unchanged at 4.0 % and 21.25 %. The Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate have been kept at 7%.

72.  Kalikho Pul (47), the former Arunachal Chief Minister, has recently found dead at the chief minister's official residence which he was yet to vacate in Itanagar.

73.  The International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples is observed every year on August 9 to promote and protect the rights of the world's indigenous population. The 2016 theme "Indigenous Peoples' Right to Education" is devoted to the right to education of indigenous people as a critical education gap exists between indigenous peoples and the general population.

74.  To mark the 70th anniversary of India's Independence from the British rule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has released a theme song "70 Saal Azadi Yaad Karo Kurbani" for Tiranga Yatra, which will be organised from August 16 to 23, 2016 across the country. The theme song has been composed by Dr. Kesiraju Srinivas, who is popularly known as Ghazal Srinivas. The yatra will be the symbol of social harmony and unity in India and will also highlight the contributions of freedom fighters and martyrs among the school children during the celebration.

75.  The Maharashtra Government has recently launched "Quit India 2-from Swaraaj to Suraaj" initiative at the historic August Kranti Maidan (or Gowalia Tank ) in Mumbai to mark the Platinum Jubilee celebration of the 1942 Quit India Movement. The initiative would emphasize on freedom from illiteracy, farmer suicide, wastage of water, addiction among youth and corruption.The August Kranti Maidan is the same park where Mahatma Gandhi launched the movement of disobedience on August 8 ,1942 and gave the clarion call of 'Do or Die' for independence from Britishers.

76.  The first National Conference of Investigation Agencies will be held on August 12-13, 2016 at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. The conference will be organized by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) in coordination with National Investigation Agency ( NIA). The purpose of the conference is to provide an annual national platform to all the officers of law enforcement agencies engaged in investigation tasks to discuss the latest laws and judgments and their implications for investigation and prosecution and to deliberate on new legislation/ criminal law amendments and systematic changes for meeting new challenges in investigation.

77.  The National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC), an Indian public sector company, has recently listed the world's first Indian green Masala bond on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). With this, NTPC has become the first-ever Indian quasi-sovereign to issue a Masala bond on LSE. The bond is Climate Bonds Initiative certified and will be listed on London Stock Exchange's green bonds segment. NTPC will invest the proceeds of the green Masala bond in the renewable energy market as it seeks to add more wind and solar power projects to its portfolio to support the Indian government's ambition to generate 175GW of renewable energy by 2022.

78.  M. S. Subbulakshmi, legendary Indian carnatic vocalist, will be honoured at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on India's 70th Independence Day (August 15, 2016). To pay homage to Subbulakshmi's birth centenary, Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman will perform at UNGA in New York, United States. With this, Rahman will become only the 2nd Indian artist after Subbulakshmi to perform at the UN after she was invited for a performance 50 years ago. The concert will be organized by the Indian mission in co-ordination with Chennai-based Sankara Nethralaya, a not-for-profit eye institution, at the UNGA.

79.  The first-ever SAARC Young Parliamentarians Conference (YPC) on 'Peace and Harmony for Development' will be held from August 16 to 18, 2016 in Islamabad, Pakistan. The SAARC YPC 2016 intends to offer young parliamentarians' narrative as a prelude to the 19th SAARC summit that Pakistan will be hosting in November 2016. From India, a 3-member Parliamentary delegation will attend the SAARC YPC 2016.

80.  The 5-day event "Tomorrow's India Global Summit" will be held in Seoul, South Korea. It is an initiative of the Global Social India Foundation to provide a platform to offer expansion and investment opportunities for Indian start-up community, MSMEs and corporate businesses. It also helps students and educationists to learn, adapt and discover the global education system. The agenda for the summit includes panel discussions, sector specific company presentations, case study by various global conglomerates and networking dinners for the business delegates.

81.  TKV Desikachar (78), the well-known Yoga Guru, has recently passed away in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He was known for transforming the way yoga was practiced and turned it into both a wellness concept and a therapy. Desikachar also founded the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram where today about 1000 students visit every month to learn yoga.

82.  India's first repository on tigers will be set up by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) under its new Tiger Cell at Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The cell will have a database of tigers from over 50 reserves around the country along with their DNA and stripes samples to keep a track on their numbers. If a tiger skin is recovered, the tiger cell will help in locating the area from where it came from. The purpose of the repository is to aid conservation efforts by keeping an update on tiger numbers as well as tracking poaching incidents throughout the country. The tiger cell will be funded by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), which is a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment. It will also give clearance to development projects in areas with tiger population.

83.  K M Hanumantharayappa has been appointed as the new Chairman of Central Silk Board (CSB) for a period of 3 years. He succeeded N S Bissegowda. Hanumantharayappa is a senior political leader from BJP and hails from Doddaballapura, a traditional silk weaving cluster in Karnataka. The CSB is a statutory body under Union Ministry of Textiles and is a national organization for overall development of silk industry

84.  The book "What Lies Between Us" has been authored by Nayomi Munaweera. It is a novel that sets out to explain one such crime and the possible causes behind it. It is the confession of a woman, driven by the demons of her past to commit a single and possibly unforgivable crime.

85.  The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with IIT-Kharagpur for research project to develop technology to construct long lasting maintenance free highways in India. IIT-Kharagpur will develop 'Paneled Cement Concrete Pavements' for highways. The duration of the research project is 3 years.

86.  The Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has recently launched a social media campaign to mark Daughters' Day on August 11, 2016. The entire week will be celebrated as Daughters' Week as part of government's 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' programme to check female foeticide, improve sex ratio and educate girls across India. The ministry has also invited people to tweet their pictures with their daughters-in-law and grand-daughters with #BBPDaughtersWeek.

87.  The Union government will constitute a committee to review e-commerce rules.It will be headed by the NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant. The committee will look at all the issues including Foreign Direct Investment ( FDI) norms pertaining to the fast-growing e-commerce industry in India. The committee would also suggest ways to further promote the growth of the sector.

88.  China has successfully launched "Gaofen-3" an earth observation satellite into orbit by the Long March 4C rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in Shanxi Province. The Gaofen-3 is China's first low-orbit remote sensing satellite and is capable of capturing high-resolution images accurate down to about 1m. It will be used for disaster warning, weather forecasting, water resource assessments and the protection of maritime rights. The satellite has a lifespan of 8 years and will operate as an all-weather 24-hour observation platform.

89.  Panchu Arunachalam (75), the well-known film producer, script and screenplay writer and lyricist, has recently passed away in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

90.  The Mihir Shah committee, which was formed to restructure the water agencies, is recently in news because of its recommendations to set up new National Water Commission (NWC). As per the recommendations, NWC will be an autonomous body and will have a countrywide base and mandate and greater human-power. The committee has also warned against the perils of interlinking of rivers and dependence on large dam projects. Beside this, the committee has also suggested that there is no need to restructure water agencies viz. Central Water Commission (CWC) and the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB). The committee was set up by the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, which has submitted its report in July 2016.

91.  The Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has launched a data bank Portal of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in New Delhi. The purpose of the portal is to gather information about MSMEs. Through data bank, the census of MSMEs will be carried out online. Beside this, an Online Finance Facilitation Web Portal has also launched to provide collective funding options for MSMEs. Till date, 6 Online Finance Facilitation Centres in Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Guwahati, Lucknow, Peenya near Bangaluru and Delhi have been opened and six more will be unveiled in the near future.

92.  The International Biodiesel Day is observed every year on August 10 to create awareness about the importance of non-fossil fuels. 

93.  To mark the 70th Independence Day, the Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has launched the Independence Day Film Festival (IDFF) at Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi on August 12, which will be continued till August 18, 2016. In it, the motivational and inspiring films will be screened such as Gandhi, Shaheed, Upkar, Ayirathi Thollayirathi Irupathi Onnu, Haqueeqat, Border, Lagaan, Chak De India, Mary Kom and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, I Am Kalam, etc. The purpose of the festival is to know about the freedom movement of India among Indian citizens, mainly younger generation.

94.  The International Youth Day (IYD) is observed every year on August 12 to focus on the leading role of young people in ensuring poverty eradication and achieving sustainable development through sustainable consumption and production. The 2016 theme is "The Road to 2030: Eradicating Poverty and Achieving Sustainable Consumption and Production".

95.  The Assam Government has recently launched Rhino horn verification process for verifying the genuineness of the rhino horns, which were recovered since 1980s and stored in various treasuries. The process of verification will be conducted by 12-member Rhino Horn Verification Committee, which is headed by Mohan Chandra Malakar, the former forest officer and former Assam State Information Commissioner.

96.  Assam has become the first Indian state to ratify the GST Constitution Amendment Bill, which is recently passed by the Parliament of India. The 122nd Constitution amendment bill needs to be ratified by 50% of the Indian states before it can be sent for Presidential assent.The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is India's most important indirect tax reform since Independence. Under it, a single rate of GST will replace various taxes to ensure seamless transfer of goods and services.

97.  The 12-day long Krishna Pushkar festival has started in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The festival comes once in every 12 years. A daily 'harati' programme will be organised at Ibrahimpatnam near Vijayawada, where the Godavari flows into Krishna. The Andhra Pradesh government has launched a website krishnapushkaram.ap.gov.in containing exhaustive information about the event. A GPS-based mobile application has also been launched for people to obtain information on ghats, the rush, bus services, etc.

98.  The first Indian TV channel on higher education and skill development has been launched by Millionlights (an education content provider) in partnership with DEN Manoranjan Satellite in Pune, Maharashtra. The purpose of the Millionlights is to create a landscape of content, delivery platforms and certifications leading to higher employability.

99.  The Syndicate Bank has recently launched a digital transformation program "Project Ananya" to focus on improved customer service and to offer latest in digital banking services. The project would provide customers with best services while improving and modernizing the whole bank. The project will also focus on improving business through increased sales and service and also in the HR policies and practices of the bank.

100.    Hanif Mohammad (81), a former Pakistani cricketer, has recently passed away in Karachi, Pakistan. He was honoured as the original Little Master, a title later assumed by Sunny Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar.

101.    India's first touch-and-feel garden for visually impaired has been inaugurated by the Kerala Assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan on the Calicut University campus in Thenjipalam, Kerala. The garden with nearly 6 dozen aromatic plants will provide the visually impaired a unique opportunity of learning. They can study the plants not only by touching, feeling, smelling and tasting them, but also through audio inputs to get complete information about them.

102.    India's first facility to produce nickel, a metal for which India is completely dependent on imports, has been launched by the Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL) at its Indian Copper Complex (ICC) at Ghatshila in Jharkhand. The new facility "Nickel, Copper and Acid Recovery Plant" is the first facility in India to produce nickel metal of London Metal Exchange (LME) grade from primary resource. The annual demand for pure nickel in India is around 45,000 MT and its domestic market is totally dependent on import.

103.    Dipika Pallikal, India's top squash player, has won the PSA Australian Open by defeating Mayar Hany of Egypt in final by 10-12, 11-5, 11-6, 11-4 in Melbourne, Australia. It is her first title of 2016.

104.    The Union Government has constituted a National Committee on Trade Facilitation (NCTF) under the Chairmanship Pradeep Kumar Sinha, who is the Cabinet Secretary of India, to develop the pan-India road map for trade facilitation.The NCTF has been constituted in line with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) pact in April 2016 on Trade Facilitation Agreement (FTA), which India also ratified. The committee will facilitate domestic coordination and implementation of the TFA provisions. It will also synergise the various trade facilitation perspectives across the country and focus on an outreach programme for sensitization of stakeholders about it.

105.    The World Elephant Day is observed every year on August 12 to create awareness of the urgent plight of African and Asian elephants, and to share knowledge and positive solutions for the better care and management of captive and wild elephants.

106.    Justice Manjula Chellur will be the new Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court. She will succeed CJ Dhirendra Hiralal Waghela on or before August 24, 2016. Currently, Justice Chellur is the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court.

107.    Na Muthukumar (41), the two time national award-winning Tamil film lyricist, has recently passed away in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Muthukumar has written more than 1,000 lyrics in various movies and also penned novel "Silk City" in Tamil.

108.    The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has recently tied up with Union Bank of India (UBI) to launch an USSD based *99# mobile application for their customers. The Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) is a GSM based technology i.e. used to send text between a mobile phone and an application program in the network. The *99# mobile app provides basic banking facilities like checking account balance, sending money, Mobile PIN (MPIN) management and value added services like checking Aadhaar linked overdraft status and PMJDY account overdraft status. It is also available in 10 languages.

109.    The National Association of Software and Services (NASSCOM), an apex IT industry body in India, has recently launched its startup warehouse at Sunrise Startup Village at Rushikonda in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. This is the 1st such facility for young IT professionals in Andhra Pradesh.The warehouse would provide affordable co-working space with incubation for 6 months and is considered to be a wonderful opportunity for technology startups with plug and play work environment and regular community events for mentorship and bringing venture capitalists and angel investors to spot viable startups with out-of-the-box ideas.

110.    The book "The Gospel of Yudas" has been authored by K.R. Meera. The book raises alarmingly pertinent questions about the politics of faithfulness and the price of idealism.It is also a deeply human story about sorrow, redemption and love.

111.    India's first-ever bio-CNG plant for public vehicles has been inaugurated in Pune, Maharashtra. The plant will be commissioned by city-based Primove Engineering Private Limited and will use agricultural residue to generate CNG which can be used in automobiles as fuel. It was jointly inaugurated by Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari and Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. The bio-fuel will help in reducing the import of diesel up to 50 % and thus the huge amount of Foreign Exchange will be saved. 

112.    India's first Nuclear Suppliers' insurance policy for Right to Recourse' has been launched by India Nuclear Insurance Pool (INIP). It was unveiled by Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chairman Sekhar Basu in Mumbai, Maharashtra. INIP is the 27th global nuclear insurance pool which was launched by state run General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re), in association with non-life insurance companies. Both New India Assurance Co (NIAC) and INIP will issue the policy and administer the claims on behalf of the pool.

113.    The book "Police and Counter Insurgency — The Untold Story of Tripura's COIN Campaign" has been authored by Kuldeep Kumar, the senior IPS officer, who led the Special Forces (SF) of the Tripura State Police. The book is a timely reminder for strategists, social activists and scholars struggling for solutions to insurgency. This book makes a case for the increased role of local/state police in counterinsurgency (COIN) operations by citing the successful implementation of this strategy in the state of Tripura led by the author himself. This makes Tripura the only state after Punjab and Andhra Pradesh where the police have taken full control of such operations.

114.    Andy Murray, a British professional tennis player, has won the gold medal in the 2016 Rio Olympic men's singles tennis tournament by defeating Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro in final by 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. With this, Murray successfully retained his title as Olympic champion and became the first in the history of the sport to win the prize back to back.

115.    Havildar Hangpan Dada has been posthumously honoured with the Ashok Chakra, India's highest award for gallantry during peace time, on the eve of 70th Independence Day 2016 by President Pranab Mukherjee. He belonged to the Assam Regiment/35th Battalion of the Rashtriya Rifles. Dada had shown exemplary courage, devotion and gallantry beyond the call of duty during an encounter with a group of terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir and died in Kupwara on May 27, 2016 after killing 3 terrorists. In all, 82 Gallantry Awards have been awarded this year to armed forces personnel and members of paramilitary forces. They include one Ashok Chakra, 14 Shaurya Chakras, 63 Sena Medals (Gallantry), two Nao Sena Medals (Gallantry) and two Vayu Sena Medals (Gallantry).

116.    The world's first hack-proof quantum communication satellite will be launched by China, which boasts of hack-proof ultra high security features to prevent wiretapping and intercepts. The quantum key technology boasts ultra-high security as a photon can be neither separated nor duplicated, so it is impossible to wiretap or intercept the information transmitting through it.

117.    Edgar Lungu, the leader of the Patriotic Front (PF), has been re-elected as the new President of Zambia. He won the election by 50.35 % of the vote against 47.67 % for Hichilema of the United Party for National Development (UPND).

118.    The theme of the 2016 Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) is "Women Empowerment". The excerpts of the 2016 IIFM awards are Sonam Kapoor won the best actress award for her performance in Neerja Bhanot's biopic "Neerja" and Nawazuddin Siddiqui bagged the best actor award for his role of psycho serial killer in "Raman Raghav 2.0", ShakunBatra (Best Director) and Thithi (Best Indie Film). Beside this, Rishi Kapoor was honoured with the lifetime achievement award for excellence in cinema. The IFFM is a Victorian Government initiative that aims to strengthen ties between the Indian film industry and Victoria.

119.    The sailing campaign "Jal Tarang" has been started from Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh. The purpose of the 12-day sailing campaign is to strengthen the national unity and integrity. Under the campaign, the cadets would cover nearly 415 kilometers distance in Beas River to reach different locations.

120.    T A Razzaq (58), the noted Malayalam script writer, has recently passed away at Kochi, Kerala. He was known for exploring themes of human virtues and relationships. Razzaq, who began his career as a scriptwriter in 1991 for Mohanlal-starred "Vishnulokam", worked for about 30 Malayalam movies and contributed hits like "Perumazhakkalam" to the Malayalam film world.

121.    India has been ranked 66th in the 2016 Global Innovation Index (GII), according to the latest released report by Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The list is topped by Switzerland, followed by Sweden, the UK, the US, Finland and Singapore.

122.    The Maharashtra government has recently launched India's first comprehensive 'Crime Criminal Tracking Network System' (CCTNS) through 42 cyber labs in Mumbai on August 15, 2016. Under the CCTNS, all police stations in the state will be linked with one another for sharing information about crimes in their respective jurisdictions and pave the way for a digital police force in Maharashtra.

123.    P Shanmugam, the Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI)'s Principal Scientist, has bagged the 2016 Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Award for meritorious services in the Higher Education Department of Tamil Nadu at Fort St George in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It is awarded by the Government of Tamil Nadu, which consists of a certificate, Rs. 5 lakh cheque and 8 gram gold medal.

124.    The 2016 South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) youth parliamentarians conference on "Peace and Harmony for Development" has started from August 16 in Islamabad, Pakistan and will continue till August 18. From India, Lok Sabha MP Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo is leading the 3-member Indian delegation.

125.    Gurdial Singh (83), the world famous prominent Punjabi writer, novelist and short story writer and Jnanpith awardee, has recently passed away at Bathinda, Punjab. His notable works include Anhoe, Addh Chanani Raat, Anhe Ghore Da Daan, etc.

126.    The first National Conference of Investigating Agencies was held from August 12 to 13, 2016 at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. The two-day conference was inaugurated by the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The conference was attended by more than 100 delegates from States/UTs/Central Police Organizations.

127.    Purohit Banwarilal Purohit, a 3-time former member of Lok Sabha from Nagpur and Managing Editor of Central India's daily 'The Hitavada',has been appointed as the new Governor of Assam. He will succeed Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya.

128.    A.R. Rahman,the Oscar-winning music maestro, has been honoured by the New York-based Tamil Sangam with its Tamil Ratna Award. Rahman was bestowed with the award after his concert at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to honour M.S. Subbulakshmi's birth centenary. The concert was sponsored by the India's UN Mission and Sankara Nethralaya, a Chennai-based charity organisation.

129.    The book "A Book of Light: When a Loved One Has a Different Mind" has been authored by Jerry Pinto. The book is a collection of stories from people who recount their experiences of living with loved ones with a mental illness. In a society where the subject is rarely discussed openly, even among family, the book reminds us that we need many more such personal accounts.

130.    Najma Heptullah, the former Union Minister for Minority Affairs, has been appointed as the new Governor of Manipur. She will succeed V Shanmuganathan, Governor of Meghalaya, who was holding additional charge as Manipur Governor since September 2015.

131.    Freestyle wrestler Sakshi Malik has won India's first medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games by clinching the bronze in the 58kg category. With this victory, she created history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to win an Olympic medal.

132.    The world's largest (longest) aircraft the Airlander 10 has successfully made its first flight at an airfield in Cardington in central England. It is a hybrid airship made by Hybrid Air Vehicles in United Kingdom. The 92-metre-long and helium-filled aircraft can fly at up to 4,880 m and reach speeds of 148 km/hr. It can stay airborne for more than 2 weeks unmanned and up to 5 days if manned and can also be used for commercial purpose.

133.    The Union Power Ministry has recently launched Transmission App for Real Time Monitoring and Growth (TARANG) mobile app to monitor execution of the under construction power transmission projects in New Delhi. The mobile app is a powerful monitoring tool that tracks upcoming transmission projects and monitor the progress of Inter-State and Intra-State transmission systems in India. Apart from this, the Union Power Ministry has launched "e-Trans" & "DEEP" e-bidding web portals a portal for electronic bidding and e-reverse auction of tariff-based electricity transmission projects to increase transparency in transmission sector. The portal is launched to mark a shift from present manual auction process to electronic mode for determining the lowest bidder for the projects.

134.    Gobind Tej (88), the noted actor and director, has recently passed away in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. In a career of over 50 years, he has contributed in many Odia feature films either as an actor, director or producer. His notable works include Kedar Gouri,Bandhan, Krushna Sudama, Dharitri, Bandhu Mohanty, Mana Akasha, Gouri, etc.

135.    India is hosting the 3rd edition of World Trauma Congress (WTC), which is recently inaugurated by Union Health Minister J P Nadda at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi on August 18, 2016. The main purpose of the WTC is to exchange ideas, experiences and lessons learned about the role of internationally accepted systems and protocols in the field of trauma care, mass causality incidents and disasters.

136.    The Government of India has recently signed a short-term route agreement with Bangladesh for the movement of petroleum goods from Assam to Tripura on humanitarian grounds through the territory of Bangladesh, as the normal Indian roads for oil transportation have been badly damaged by the recent flood. With this pact, India can easily carry Petroleum Goods viz. Motor Spirit, High Speed Diesel, Superior Kerosene Oil and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) from Assam to Tripura till September 2016.

137.    The 7th edition of Mountain Echoes Literary Festival 2016 will be held in Thimpu, Bhutan from August 26 to August 28. This year, the focus is on climate change, women's voices and travel writing. It will feature a range of themes like climate change, women's voices, travel writing and love and relationships in the form of exhibitions, workshops and cultural performances. It is an initiative of India-Bhutan Foundation in association with Siyahi, a literary organisation.

138.    The book "The Orphanage of Words" has been authored by Shinie Antony. It is about loss and the mechanisms to cope with it.

139.    The Ministry of Mines has recently launched web portal for Star Rating of major mineral mines. The scheme of star Rating will be a vital step for ensuring compliance of environmental protection and social responsibility by the mining sector and has given a deadline for Star Rating of all mines by December 31, 2016. The main purpose of this system is to bring all mines to a minimum standard of Star Rating in the shortest possible time frame to adopt sustainable practices. The positive impact of getting higher Star Rating will drive miners to quickly adopt sustainable mining practices. A web enabled online system for evaluation of measures has been developed with the help of National Institute of Smart Governance (NISG), Hyderabad.

140.    The world's highest and longest glass-bottomed bridge will open to visitors at Zhangjiajie in Hunan province, China. The 430 m long, 6 m wide bridge, concreted with 99 panes of three-layer transparent glasses and connects two mountain cliffs of Avatar Mountain and stands 300m above ground. A maximum of 8,000 visitors are allowed to cross the bridge every day and a reservation must be made one day prior to visiting. The bridge has set 10 world records for its design and construction.

141.    Carolina Marin, a badminton player from Spain, has won women's badminton singles gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics by defeating P V Sindhu in final by 19-21, 21-12 and 21-15. Though, P V Sindhu has created history by becoming first Indian female shuttler to grab Olympic silver in Women's Singles Badminton in 2016 Olympics. With this, Sindhu has also became the 2nd Indian female shuttler to win an Olympic medal after Saina Nehwal's Bronze medal at 2012 London Olympics.

142.    The 2016 BRICS women Parliamentarian conference has started in Jaipur, Rajasthan. The 2-day conference has been inaugurated by Lok sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. In it, around 42 women parliamentarians from the BRICS countries are participating.

143.    The 2016 Youth Voters' Festival will be held in Nagaland from September 5 to 9, 2016. The 5-day festival will be held under the directives of the Election Commission of India (ECI). The purpose of the festival is to increase the electoral participation through voter registration and turnout to increase the qualitative participation in terms of ethical and informed voting and to provide a continuous electoral and democracy education to the people.

144.    Sunita Jain, Hindi scholar and writer, has been conferred with the prestigious 25th edition of Vyas Samman 2015 for her poetry collection "Kshama" West Bengal Governor K N Tripathi. The award, instituted by the K K Birla Foundation, carries a cash prize of Rs 2.50 lakh and is given annually to outstanding literary work in Hindi authored by an Indian citizen.

145.    The World Humanitarian Day (WHD) is observed every year on August 19 to recognize the aid workers who risk their lives in humanitarian service and mobilizes people to advocate for humanitarian action. The 2016 theme is "One Humanity" to stress on the worth of shared human experiences that bind people together across divides and create a common responsibility to demand action for the most vulnerable at risk of being left behind. Beside this, the 2016 WHD digital campaign "The World You'd Rather" has also launched to bring into light the very real scenarios faced by people in crisis.

146.    The book "The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History" has been authored by Sanjeev Sanyal. It is an amazing journey of Indian Ocean through medieval geopolitics and eyewitness accounts of long-lost cities to the latest genetic discoveries about human origins,bringing alive a region that has defined civilization from the very beginning.

147.    As per the latest report "State of ICT in Asia and the Pacific 2016: Uncovering the Widening Broadband Divide" by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), India has been ranked 39th in terms of fixed broadband adoption in the list of 53 Asia Pacific countries. The list is topped by the Hong Kong, New Zealand, Japan, Macao, Australia and Singapore.

148.    The ICICI Bank has recently launched Asia's first payment service "iMobile SmartKeys" using a smartphone keyboard , to make mobile payments easier. With this, 'iMobile' users will be able to make quick and secure payments on any mobile application including chat, messenger, email, games or search browser without having to exit their current application in their smartphone. By using 'iMobile SmartKeys', customers can transfer money to their registered beneficiaries, pay their utility bills as well as recharge their mobile numbers, which are classified as 'Favourites' in their iMobile app.

149.    The Uttar Pradesh government will honour Sakshi Malik, the first Indian woman wrestler to win a medal in 2016 Rio Olympics, with the coveted Rani Laxmi Bai award.The award consists of a bronze statue of Rani Laxmi Bai, a scroll and a cash reward of Rs 3.11 lakh and is given to meritorious sportspersons who excel at national/international level.

150.    Urjit Patel, the well-known economist and banker, has been appointed as the new Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He will succeed Dr. Raghuram Rajan on September 4, 2016. Currently, he is the deputy Governor of RBI.

151.    Kamal Haasan, the well-known film actor, has been chosen for the coveted French honour of Chevalier de L'Ordre Arts et Lettres (or The Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters). The Order is part of France's premier award. He will be the 2nd Tamil actor after thespian Sivaji Ganesan to be honoured with the French award.

152.    The well-known scientist P D Gupta has been appointed as the new Vice Chancellor of Mumbai-based Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI) for 5 years. The HBNI is an aided institution of the Department of Atomic Energy and is a deemed to be university under the UGC Act. The institute is dedicated to encourage pursuit of excellence in sciences (including engineering sciences) and mathematics in a manner that has major significance for the progress of indigenous nuclear technological capability.

153.    The 2nd edition of BRICS Disaster Management conference 2016 has started in Udaipur, Rajasthan from August 22 to focus on two themes of 'Flood Risk Management' and 'Forecasting of Extreme Weather Events in the context of Changing Climate'. The purpose of the 2-day meeting is to share experiences on flood risk management, current systems in each country for forecasting extreme weather events and to identify opportunities for collaboration between institutions of respective BRICS countries in the area of flood risk management and extreme weather-related events.

154.    The Andhra Pradesh Police has recently launched the DNA Index System (DIS), the first-of-its-kind initiative that allows generation of DNA profiles from live samples like saliva and blood stains within 90 to 120 minutes. The DNA profiling plays a crucial role in solving crimes and also has the potential to link a series of crimes by placing the suspects by linking them with the crime scene. It could also help the suspects prove their innocence. The system uses the latest DNA technology tool (also known as RapidHIT DNA System) developed by IntegenX of USA.

155.    As per the latest report by Assocham in association with Thought Arbitrage Research Institute, India is home to 3rd largest number of technology-driven start-ups in the world.The top two positions are acquired by US and UK. The study has also revealed that Bengaluru is host to the largest share of technology start-ups in India,followed by Delhi NCR and Mumbai. The study recommended that synergizing 'Startup India' with 'Make in India' and 'Digital India' initiatives has the potential to expand the domestic ecosystem for new entrepreneurs.

156.    The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Microsoft India to offer telecom and IT solutions for big businesses to meet the demand for IT and cloud services. The MoU will help audio and video needs of the BSNL's enterprise customers, including government organizations.

157.    The World Mosquito Day is observed every year on August 20 to raise awareness about the causes of malaria and how it can be prevented and also to fundraise for research into the cure of malaria. The day also marks the historic discovery by British doctor Sir Ronald Ross in 1897 that female Anopheles mosquitoes transmit malaria between humans and that laid foundations for scientists across the world to better understand the deadly role of mosquitoes in disease transmission and come up with effective innovative interventions.

158.    Subrata Banerjee (71), the former international umpire, has recently passed away in Kolkata, West Bengal. His international career lasted for 15 years, with the match between India and Kenya in Gwalior in May 1998 marking his final international appearance. He also worked as an umpire coach for the BCCI in addition to serving as an umpire's educator.

159.    N Ramachandran, the President of Indian Olympic Association (IOA), has bestowed with the Olympic Order for his outstanding services to the Olympic movement. It is awarded by Thomas Bach, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).The Olympic Order is the highest award of the Olympic Movement and is awarded for particularly distinguished contributions to the Olympic Movement i.e. recognition of efforts worthy of merit in the cause of sport.

160.    The book "Selection Day" has been authored by Aravind Adiga, the man booker prize-winning author. The novel is a moving, unsettling and absorbing story of aspiration and its discontents in contemporary urban India. The vehicle of the aspirations is cricket; more specifically, batting. It is one of the finest novels written about the game, combining astute judgments with accounts of individual innings marked by an unremarkable lyricism.

161.    R S Sodhi, the Managing Director of Amul, has been appointed as the new independent director on the board of India Post Payment Banks (IPPB), the payments bank arm of postal department. He is one of the 5 independent members to be appointed on the board, which is set to be operational in March 2017. The payments bank allows mobile firms, supermarket chains and others to cater to banking requirements of individuals and small businesses. It will be set up as a differentiated bank and will confine its activities to acceptance of demand deposits, remittance services, Internet banking and other specified services.

162.    The novel "One Indian Girl" has been authored by Chetan Bhagat. The new novel of Chetan is about an Indian girl who is intelligent and successful, because of which she finds it difficult to get love.

163.    Freestyle wrestler Sakshi Malik was the flag bearer from India in the closing ceremony of the 2016 Rio Olympics on August 21 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She won India's first medal at the Rio Olympic Games by clinching the bronze in the 58kg category and created history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to win an Olympic medal.

164.    Maharashtra has become the first Indian state to draft its own internal security act "2016 Maharashtra Protection of Internal Security Act (MPISA)". The draft act has defined internal security as a situation posing threat to state within its borders, either caused or provoked, prompted, or proxy by a hostile foreign power, perpetrated even by such groups that use a failed, failing or weak hostile foreign power, causing insurgency, terrorism or any other subversive act targeting innocent citizens, causing animosity between groups, violence, destroy, or attempt to destroy public and private establishments.

165.    VP Singh Badnore has been sworn-in as the new Governor of Punjab and also as the Administrator of Chandigarh. He was administered the oath of office by Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice SJ Vazifdar at Punjab Raj Bhawan, Chandigarh. He succeeded Kaptan Singh Solanki, who is also the Governor of Haryana and was holding additional charge of Punjab Governor and Administrator of Chandigarh since January 2015.

166.    The 2016 Kabaddi World Cup will be held in Ahmedabad, Gujarat from October 7 to 22. In it, 12 Kabaddi teams from around the world viz. India, USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Iran, Poland, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Korea, Japan and Kenya will participate. Star Sports will be the official broadcaster of the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup and the matches will be aired exclusively on the Star Sports network and HotStar.

167.    The 2016 Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna will be conferred on 4 athletes viz. Olympic medallists P.V. Sindhu and Sakshi Malik, ace gymnast Dipa Karmakar and shooter Jitu Rai.This is for the first time the India's highest sporting award has been conferred on 4 athletes. The awards will be distributed by President Pranab Mukherjee on August 29,2016.

168.    The 2016 Dronacharya Award will be conferred on 6 coaches viz. Dipa Karmakar's coach, Bishweshwar Nandi (Gymnastics), India Test team captain Virat Kohli's mentor Raj Kumar Sharma (Cricket), Nagapuri Ramesh (Athletics), Sagar Mal Dhayal (Boxing), S. Pradeep Kumar (swimming) and Mahabir Singh (wrestling). Beside this, 15 sportspersons will be honoured with the Arjuna Award and 3 with the Dhyan Chand Award. The awards will be distributed by President Pranab Mukherjee on August 29, 2016.

169.    O P Jaisha, an Indian track and field athlete from Kerala, is recently in news because of her allege allegation against Indian officials, who did not arrange for water and energy drinks during her race in the 2016 Rio Olympics run under scorching heat. To investigate on this matter, The Union Sports Ministry has constituted 2-member committee consisting of Onkar Kedia, Joint Secretary (Sports) and Vivek Narayan, Director (Sports) to inquire into the allegations of Marathon runner O.P.Jaisha. The committee will submit its report in 7 days.

170.    Indian Railways has partnered with Google for digitizing and showcasing its heritage on digital platforms. Beside this, Google will also help Indian Railways to create a digital repository for universal online access free of cost. Regarding to this, an agreement will be signed between National Rail Museum and Google Cultural Institute (GCI). The GCI is a non-profit organization that partners with cultural organisations to bring world's cultural heritage online. Currently, Google is working with the railways in providing free Wi-Fi service at 100 stations.

171.    Maharashtra has become the first Indian state to sign an agreement with the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation to develop 10 non-functional regional airports/ airstrips.The fully subsidized Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) seeks to cap ticket prices so as to make flying more affordable and accessible to the common man. The RCS is part of the ambitious National Civil Aviation Policy 2016 cleared by the Cabinet on June 2016. The 10 airports to be developed under the plan are Kolhapur, Shirdi, Amravati, Gondia,Nashik, Jalgaon, Nanded, Solapur, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg. The state will contribute 20 % cost of viability gap funding and the rest will be borne by the Centre. These airports will be provided with roads, rail, metro and waterway connectivity. 

172.    India has recently signed pact with Germany on vocational training, which aims to foster conditions to create and improve workplace-based vocational training in India's industrial clusters. As per the pact, German technical assistance will be used to increase industry institute partnerships between Indian and German organizations, build capacity of local training institutions and foster industry linkages which will help adapt elements of the German dual system into the Indian context.

173.    The former Singaporean President S R Nathan (92) has recently passed away in Singapore. He was the 6th and longest-serving president in President of Singapore and was in office for two terms from 1999 to 2011.

174.    China has recently launched its first Tibetan-language search engine 'Yongzin'. In the Tibetan language, Yongzin means "master" or "teacher". The search engine will serve as a unified portal for all major Tibetan-language websites in China. It has 8 sections for news, websites, images, videos, music, encyclopedia, literature and forums.

175.    Recently, the Maharashtra government has offered a government job to steeplechase athlete Lalita Babar, who became the first Indian after P T Usha to reach the final of any track event at the Olympics in 32 years. In the 2016 Rio Olympics, Babar who hails from Satara district of Maharashtra, finished 10th in the final of 3000m woman steeplechase with a time of 9:22.74.

176.    The world's largest indoor theme park will open in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) to lure back some of the tourists and residents who often flee abroad during the scorching desert summer.

177.    The first Asian Science and Technology (S&T) Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) was held at Bangkok in Thailand on August 23-24, 2016. The purpose of the conference was to discuss the key issues, challenges, needs and opportunities in application of science in policy making and share good practices from the regionFrom India, Union Minister of Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju, a UN designated DRR Champion for the Asia Region, addressed the conference.

178.    The first BRICS Film Festival will be held at the Sirifort Auditorium Complex, New Delhi from September 2 to 6, 2016. The film festival will be act as a platform for people of the film industry of member countries to explore areas of cooperation in the domain of cinema, culture and cuisine. The festival will also celebrate the excellence of cinema by rewarding film makers, actors, producers and directors.

179.    The book "Theatres of Democracy: Between the Epic and the Everyday – Selected Essays" has been authored by Shiv Visvanathan. It provides fascinating insights into science and religion, politics and society, cricket and film in contemporary India.

180.    The Union government has recently launched Accessible E-Library 'Sugamya Pustakalaya' for Divyang in New Delhi under Prime Minister's Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan. It is an online library for Divyang and houses publications across diverse subjects and languages and multiple accessible formats. The books are available in Accessible formats for people with visual impairment and other print disabilities. Over 2 lakhs books in diverse languages will be there. The online library has been created in collaboration with National Institute of Visually Handicapped, member organisations of Daisy Forum of India and Bookshare.

181.    K K Sreedharan Nair (86), the former editor of Mathrubhumi magazine, has recently passed away in Kochi, Kerala. It is an Indian general interest weekly magazine published by the Mathrubumi Printing and Publishing Company in Kozhikode, Kerala.

182.    Dr. Akhlaq Ur Rahman Kidwai (96), a freedom fighter, distinguished Parliamentarian and administrator, has recently passed away. He was the former Governor of Bihar, West Bengal, Haryana and Rajasthan and a recipient of Padma Vibhushan.

183.    The Conference on "International Arbitration in BRICS: Challenges, Opportunities and Road ahead" will be held on August 27, 2016 at Vigyan Bhawan, in New Delhi. It is being organized by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India with the support of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and Indian Council of Arbitration (ICA). The purpose of conference is to asses, evaluate and debate ideas and insights regarding dispute resolution mechanism and arbitration which are integral to economic growth and stability.

184.    The first Children Court of South India has launched at the Nampally Criminal Courts Complex in Hyderabad to fast disposal of cases related to children. This court is a child-friendly court and 6th in India with features like separate waiting rooms for children and a video camera trial for the accused, mandated under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act-2012.

185.    President Pranab Mukherjee has recently launched Akashvani Maitree channel at Raj Bhawan in Kolkata, West Bengal for Bengali listeners. The channel is a unique venture of All India Radio (AIR) and is aimed to strengthen cultural, economic, political & emotional bonding ties between India and Bangladesh. It will be a common platform for blending content both from India and Bangladesh and preserving Bengali culture. The channel will be broadcast from a state-of-the-art brand new high power 1000Kw DRM transmitter with a capacity to reach the entire length and breadth of Bangladesh through medium wave and will be also available globally on its website and mobile app.

186.    Abhinav Bindra has been named as the Chairman of a 5-member National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) review committee to probe the shooters' Rio Games debacle but has recused himself from questioning them as he was himself a part of the team. The committee will examine and the causes behind shooting not securing any medals at the Rio Olympics. The committee is also mandated to recommend concrete steps that NRAI must immediately undertake to ensure that this is not repeated in future Olympics.

187.    South Korea will be the focus country at the 47th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2016, which will be held in Goa on November 2016. In 2016 IFFI, South Korea's movies will be showcased and well-known film personalities will also attend the festival.

188.    The book "An Intimate History of Killing: Face to Face Killing in Twentieth Century Warfare" authored by Joanna Bourke, which reveals a simple truth: men and women derive pleasure from officially sanctioned killing

189.    Dr. G. Satheesh Reddy, the Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister and DRDO's DG (Missiles & Strategic Systems), has won the first IEI-IEEE Award for Engineering Excellence-2015 in recognition of his significant national contributions towards missiles and aerospace technologies.

190.    The Dr. Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary is located on western tip of the Island of Chorao along the Mandovi River in Goa. The sanctuary is an estuarine mangrove habitat and is named after Salim Ali, the famous Indian ornithologist. The sanctuary is host to little bittern, black bittern, red knot, jack snipe, pied avocet, striated heron, western reef heron, mudskippers, fiddler crabs, etc.

191.    Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese footballer who plays for Spanish club Real Madrid and the Portugal national team, has won the UEFA Best Player in Europe award for the year 2016. This is 2nd time he has won this award after 2014. In 2015, he had scored 35 goals for Real Madrid and 16 goals in Champions League competition. He scored 3 goals for Portugal national team at Euro 2016.

192.    Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, the Union Women and Child Development Minister, has recently launched Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) e-box in New Delhi. POCSO e-box is an online complaint management system for easy and direct reporting of sexual offences against children and timely action against the offenders under the POCSO Act, 2012. It is an initiative of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, for direct online reporting of child sexual Abuse.

193.    The 4th edition of Mother Teresa International Film Festival (MTIFF) 2016 has started in Kolkata, West Bengal on August 26. The 4-day-long movie carnival at the state-run Nandan multiplex is screening a selection of 23 best foreign and Indian films ever made on or inspired by Teresa. It is organized by the Archdiocese of Kolkata, Missionaries of Charity and SIGNIS India (Indian chapter of World Catholic Association for Communication). The Roman Catholic nun Mother Teresa, who passed away in 1997 after serving the poor and sick on the streets of Kolkata for 45 years, will be declared a saint by Pope Francis in the Vatican City on September 2016.

194.    Shaktikanta Das, an Economic affairs secretary, has represented India at the 2016 South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) finance ministers' conference on 25-26 August at Islamabad, Pakistan.

195.    Turkey has recently launched a major military operation "Euphrates Shield" against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) to liberate the strategic Syrian city of Jarablus on the border with Turkey. The Euphrates Shield operation is considered to be the first Turkish ground intervention in Syria since the Syrian crisis started in 2011.

196.    The 128th edition of Durand Football Cup Tournament 2016 will be started from August 28, 2016 and will continue till September 11, 2016. In the current edition, 8 teams from Indian League of All India Football Federation and four Services teams will participate. The cash prizes of Rs 45 lakh and Rs 20 lakh is instituted for the winners and runners up teams respectively and the teams reaching the semi-finals will also receive a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh each. The Durand Cup is a prestigious football tournament of India and is the oldest tournament in Asia and 3rd oldest in the world after Football Association Cup of England and Scotland Football Association Cup.

197.    India has been ranked 77th out of 171 countries on the World Risk Index 2016. The list is topped by Island state of Vanuatu. The index is part of the World Risk Report 2016, which is recently released by the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and Bundnis Entwicklung Hilft in cooperation with the University of Stuttgart in Germany. The index assessed the risk of disaster in 171 countries through the combined analysis of natural hazards and societal vulnerabilities.

198.    Karnataka will host the 15th edition of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBS) 2017 in Bengaluru for 3 days from January 7, 2017. The theme of 2017 PBS is "Redefined Engagement With Indian Diaspora". The PBS convention is held on January 9th each year to commemorate the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa in 1915. It is celebrated to mark the contribution of the overseas Indian community to the development of the country.

199.    The world's first self-driving taxi service has been launched by Singapore-based nuTonomy, an autonomous vehicle software startup. The company has started this service with small 6 cars. During the trial, the cars – modified Renault Zoe and Mitsubishi i-MiEV electrics – have a driver in front who is prepared to take back the wheel and a researcher in back who watches the car's computers. Each car is fitted with six sets of Lidar – a detection system that uses lasers to operate like radar – including one that constantly spins on the roof. There are also two cameras on the dashboard to scan for obstacles and detect changes in traffic lights.

200.    The 19th edition of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit 2016 will be held in Islamabad Pakistan on November 9 and 10. The leaders of SAARC member states and 9 observers countries will attend the summit. To successfully hold the summit, a SAARC Summit Cell has recently constituted by the Pakistan government. The SAARC Summit Cell will closely work with all stakeholders and concerned authorities in Pakistan and is headed by Ambassador Amjad Sial, who is a senior diplomat and Pakistan's nominee for the next SAARC Secretary General.

201.    The Union Finance Ministry has constituted a high-level committee to suggest steps to promote card payments through incentives like tax rebates and cash back schemes, with an aim to discourage cash transactions. The committee will be headed by Principle Adviser for social sector in NITI Aayog and former Finance Secretary Ratan P Watal. The committee will review the payments system in India and will also study feasibility of creating a payments history of all card/digital payments and ensure that merchants/consumers can leverage the data to access instant, low cost micro-credit through digital means and create necessary linkage between the payment history and credit information. The committee will also study and recommend need for changes, if any, in the regulatory mechanism under various laws, relevant for the purpose of promotion of payments by digital modes.

202.    Dr. Bibhuti Lahkar, an ecologist and conservation activist from India, has become the first Asian and the first individual from Assam to be nominated for the prestigious Heritage Heroes Award-2016 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The award is aimed to recognize the outstanding efforts of conservationists around the world in making a difference in the conservation of World Heritage sites in challenging situations. Dr. Lahkar has been working to save the grasslands, flora and fauna of Manas National Park area for the past two decades and is currently engaged as Manas Landscape Administrator for Aaranyak, an NGO working for biodiversity conservation in North East India. The recipient for the award will be selected through online voting through the website www.iucn.org.

203.    Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) has launched a new digital technology platform "DiGi SENSE 1.0" to enable fleet owners to track their Mahindra vehicles in real time basis. The new digital platform will be able to empower owners, fleet operators, drivers, dealers and service teams to access vital information about their vehicles, trucks, tractors or construction equipment on a real-time basis from the driver's seat and afar. The new platform will enable customers to digitally build knowledge about the performance and location of their vehicles. With this, Mahindra has become the first Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) in India to integrate its product line-up onto a cloud-based technology platform.

204.    The Subroto Cup Football Tournament is one of the famous inter-school football tournaments in India. It is in news because the Subroto Mukerjee Sports Education Society (SMSES), which organizes the football tournament, has been bestowed with National Sports Award 'Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar-2016' for 'Sports for Development' category by Union Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports. The Subroto Cup is conducted every year by the Indian Air Force, with support from Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports.

205.    The 6th edition of Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) 2016 has held in Nairobi, Kenya on August 27-28, 2016. This is the first time that the conference is held in Africa. The main themes of the summit were to promote structural economic transformation through economic diversification and industrialization, to promote resilient health systems for quality of life and to promote social stability.

206.    Nico Rosberg, a German Formula One Mercedes driver, has won the 2016 Belgian Formula One Grand Prix at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Stavelot, Belgium.

207.    The National Sports Day is celebrated on August 29 in India to mark the birth anniversary of Dhyan Chand, the hockey player who won gold medals for India in the years 1928,1932 and 1936.

208.    India's first textile university will set-up at Surat, Gujarat to create a complete eco system for the textile industry in Gujarat and India. The objective of the university is to provide all kind of support including technology, research and development (R&D), skilled manpower, etc. The state government will fund about Rs 800-900 crore for the university, which is expected to get operational in the next one and a half years.

209.    Dr. Dinanath Pathy (74), the noted painter, writer and art historian, has recently passed away in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. He was one of the pioneers of the art movement in Odisha, who dedicated his life to promotion of Odia art all over the world though his art work, poetry and teaching. Pathy published over 60 books on classical, traditional, tribal, folk, rural and contemporary art of Odisha in Odia, English and German languages. Some of them are Sayonara, Punarnava, Chilika Panire Chhai, Digapandhi Ra Drawing Master, etc.

210.    Indian Navy has set-up a high level committee to find out the extent of Scorpene submarine data leak and the damage to the Navy. The committee will be headed by Deputy Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Ashok Kumar. Based on the report of the committee, Indian Navy will see what mitigation measures need to be taken.

211.    The Madhukar Gupta committee on border protection has submitted its report to the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The committee was formed to strengthen border protection and to address the issue of gaps and vulnerability in border fencing along Indo-Pakistan Border. The panel has made a detailed study on threat perception, field visits and made a detailed recommendations pertaining to strengthening of border protection on Indo-Pakistan Border.

212.    The T V S N Prasad expert committee on alternatives to pellet guns has submitted its report to Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi in New Delhi. The committee was formed in the backdrop of casualties and serious injuries caused by pellet guns during the ongoing unrest in Kashmir valley. It was set up to explore the possible alternatives to pellet guns as non-lethal weapons.

213.    The 2016 BRICS Convention on Tourism will be held at Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh from September 1 to promote intra-regional tourism. The 2- day event will consists of inter- Governmental exchange of views and ideas, panel discussions on technology, innovation in Tourism, and cooperation between the BRICS countries for promoting intra-regional tourism.

214.    The Karnataka Bank has recently launched "KBL-SMARTz", a mobile application (app) built on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platform of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). The UPI is a new initiative from NPCI in the digital payments ecosystem. The interface is designed to enable customers across UPI member banks to pay and collect money from their smartphones without entering any bank account information.

215.    The well-known author Padma Sachdev has awarded the prestigious Saraswati Samman for the year 2015 for her autobiography 'Chitt-Chete' in Dogri language. She was felicitated by Delhi's Lt Governor Najeeb Jung in New Delhi. The award is given every year for an outstanding literary work written in any Indian language by an Indian citizen, published during the last 10 years. The award carries a sum of Rs 15 lakh besides a citation and a plaque.

216.    The United Nations' (UN) International Day against Nuclear Tests is observed every year on August 29 to raise public awareness and education about the effects of global nuclear weapon tests. The day aims to end nuclear testing and to promote peace and security.

217.    India's first military heritage website "coloursofglory.org" has recently launched by Glory Foundation. The foundation will conduct various awareness programs throughout major cities in India to educate the people about the Nation's military history and heritage. The programs will be in the nature of exhibitions, films, seminars and talks.

218.    The world famous Velankanni our lady of health basilica annual feast has started on August 29, 2016 at Vellankan shrine, near Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu. In the 10-day long festival, lakhs of devotees are expected to throng the shrine. Velankanni attracts millions of people throughout the year. It was some 550 years ago, the Our Lady appeared with the infant Jesus in her arms to a poor and innocent boy who was carrying milk to Nagapattinam. Ever since, millions of people irrespective of their caste, creed, colour and nationality visit the shrine and pray.

219.    As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s annual report 2015-16, India's GDP growth forecast for FY 17 is 7.6 %. The report highlights that the passage of Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill will mark a new era in co-operative fiscal federalism and a growing political consensus for economic reforms.

220.    The 8th edition of meeting of Heads of SAARC Statistical Organizations (SAARCSTAT) 2016 has started in New Delhi on August 29. The theme of this meeting is "Trade Statistics – Merchandise & Services". 

221.    The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), India's largest paramilitary force, has appointed Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu as its brand ambassador and will bestow the honorary rank of Commandant on the ace badminton player. Sindhu will be honoured and presented the rank badges and camouflage combat fatigues of the CRPF at a ceremonial event. This is a symbolic representation, with no salary or fee being given to the sports star. A Commandant rank in the CRPF is equivalent to the position of a Superintendent of Police (SP) and such an officer commands a battalion of about 1,000 personnel, when posted in field operations.

222.    As per the recently released report titled "Connecting to Complete 2016", India has been ranked 35th out of 160 countries in the World Bank's Logistics Performance Index (LPI) 2016. The LPI is an interactive benchmarking tool created to help countries identify the challenges and opportunities they face in their performance on trade logistics and what they can do to improve their performance. The LPI report is published by World Bank in every 2 years.

223.    The annual joint disaster relief exercise "Prakampana-2016" has started at Eastern Naval Command Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh on August 30, 2016. The exercise is based on relief and assistance in case of a super cyclone and is conducted by Indian Navy. Several dignitaries from various Central and State Government agencies and experts in the field of disaster management are participating in the exercise in addition to armed forces viz. Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force.

224.    On September 8, 2016, Majuli will become the first river island district of India. It will be upgraded to a district from sub-division by the Assam Government. The island is inhabited mostly by Mishing tribal people and is the hub of Assamese neo-Vaishnavite culture. It was formed due to course changes by the river Brahmaputra and its tributaries, mainly the Lohit. It covers an area of around 340 miles and is one of the prime tourist destinations of North East.

225.    India has recently signed the bilateral Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) with the United States in Washington DC, which will give the militaries of both countries access to each other's facilities for supplies and repairs. It was signed between Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and US counterpart Ashton Carter to facilitate opportunities for practical engagement and exchange. LEMOA will increase the operational capacity of the Indian armed forces, including in their response to humanitarian crises or disaster relief.

226.    Gujarat has become the first Indian state to distribute 2 crore LED bulbs under the Centre's Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) scheme. The state has reached this milestone in just 96 days and over 42 lakh households have already benefited from the scheme. Alongside the savings, the state has also gained from daily CO2 emission reduction of 5,000 tonnes.

227.    The Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) has signed a Memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Amar Chitra Katha to publish and distribute a special edition of the comic book on Swachh Bharat Mission. The 32-page comic book will carry messages pertaining to sanitation and solid waste components of Swachh Bharat Mission.

228.    The Union Government has recently approved the scheme for grant of Permanent Residency Status (PRS) to foreign investors to encourage foreign investment in India and facilitate Make in India Programme. As per the scheme, the PRS will be granted for a period of 10 years with multiple entry. This can be reviewed for another 10 years if the PRS holder has not come to adverse notice. The scheme will be applicable only to foreign investors fulfilling the prescribed eligibility conditions, his/her spouse and dependents. In order to avail this scheme, the foreign investor will have to invest at least Rs. 10 crore in over 18 months or Rs.25 crore in 36 months, apart from generating employment for a minimum of 20 resident Indians every financial year.

229.    The annual joint disaster relief exercise "SAHAYATA-2016" will be conducted by Indian Air Force from September 14 to 16, 2016 at Air Force Station Bhuj, Gujarat. This exercise is primarily aimed at preparing the Forces to undertake rescue and relief operations during major earthquakes of Western region.

230.    The book "The Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi: An Inside Job?" has been authored by Neena Gopal, the first Indian woman journalist to cover the Gulf War and the liberation of Kuwait. This book reveals about great conspiracies and intrigue happened within the Congress party and it has also attempted to explode the myth and seeks to find why Rajiv Gandhi, the former prime minister of India, was killed if he was not likely to return to power in the 1991 mid-term elections?