25-26 August 2015 Hindi

Raipur to host 2015 FIH Hockey World League Final

Chhattisgarh capital Raipur will host the 2015 FIH Hockey World League (HWL) Final that is scheduled to be held between 27 November and 6 December 2015. It is the second edition of the World League Final.

The announcement in this regard was made by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) president Leandro Negre in the third week of August 2015.

The competitions will be held at the 3000 capacity Raipur International Hockey Stadium that was opened as a dedicated hockey facility in August 2014.

The tournament will feature eight teams, who qualified through the HWL semi-finals in Buenos Aires (Brazil) and Antwerp (Belgium). They include world number one ranking Australia, Netherlands (2), Germany (3), Belgium (4), Great Britain (5), Argentina (6), India (8) and Canada (13).

Incidentally,India was the host for the inaugural event that was held in January 2014 in New Delhi. It was won by Netherlands.

Further, India is also poised to host the third edition of the biannual event in 2017.

Two Guatemala ministers resigned amidst allegations of import bribery scandal

Guatemala’s Finance Minister and Communication Minister Dorval Carias and Victor Corado respectively on 24 August 2015 resigned from their positions.

The resignations were the result of mounting allegations against officials and ministers in the government including the President Otto Perez for their involvement in the La Linea (the line) import bribery scheme.

Due to the same allegations, three other ministers resigned in the third week of August 2015.

Earlier, in May 2015 the Vice-President Roxana Baldetti resigned from her position after a UN anti-corruption investigation unit arrested 24 individuals including her personal secretary for their involvement in the scheme.

Under the La Linea import bribery scheme, officials received bribes to reduce duties paid by importers.

Jains held nationwide protests against ban on Santhara by Rajasthan High Court

Santhara: Jain practice of facing death voluntarily at the end of one's life.

The term Santhara was in news in the month of August 2015 as Jains held protest against the ban imposed by the Rajasthan High Court against the practice of Santhara ritual on 10 August 2015.

The court termed it as a criminal offence under the Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Santhara, an ancient ritual also called Sallekhana or Samadhi-marana or Sanyasana-marana, is the voluntary starvation to embrace death. Its purpose is to purge old karmas and prevent the creation of new ones. There is a similar Hindu practice known as Prayopavesa or sanjeevan samadhi.

Sallekhana, made up from two words sal (meaning 'properly') and lekhana, which means to thin out, is a highly respected practice among the members of the Jain community.

It is prescribed both for the householder (sravakas) and ascetics. It is allowed only when a person suffering from incurable disease or great disability or when a person is nearing his end. The Swetambar sect of the community practises this ritual.

Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the Maurya Empire, died by observing the vow of Sallekhana atop Chandragiri Hill at Śravaṇa Beḷgoḷa in Karnataka in the third century BC.

Amol Palekar appointed as Chairman of India's Oscar jury

Veteran actor and director Amol Palekar on 24 August 2015 was appointed as the Chairman of India's Oscar jury by Film Federation of India (FFI). He succeeded Hriharan and Goutam Ghose as the chairman of the committee.
He will head the 17-member jury from 17 September to 24 September 2015 that will select the country's official entry in the best foreign film category of the 88th Academy Awards. The 88th Academy Awards will be held in Los Angeles on 28 February 2016.

Amol Palekar
• Amol Palekar (70) is an Indian actor and a director and producer of Hindi and Marathi cinema.
• His directorial film Paheli was chosen as India’s official entry for the Academy Awards in 2005.
• He is known for his roles in films like Rajnigandha, Chhoti Si Baat, Chitchor and Golmaal.
• He has also directed National Award-winning films like Dhyaas Parva and Quest.
• He was last seen in the Marathi film Samantar with Sharmila Tagore.
• At present he is seen on the TV show Ek Nayi Ummeed- Roshni.
In 2014, Liar’s Dice, a road drama that starred Geetanjali Thapa and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in lead roles, was selected as India’s official entry to the Best Foreign Film category of Oscars. The film failed to make it to the top five.
Indian films that made it to the top five at the Academy Awards include Mother India, Salaam Bombay! and Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India.

North, South Korea agreed to defuse military tensions along the border

North Korea and South Korea on 25 August 2015 reached an accord to diffuse military tensions between the two countries. Further, both the countries also agreed to take measures to improve bilateral relations.

The agreement was reached at the border village of Panmunjom after the inter-Korean high-level meeting that took place between 22 August and 24 August 2015.

Historically, Panmunjom assumed significance as the Koreas agreed to the 1953 ceasefire at this village that stopped fighting in the Korean War.

The tensions between the two countries were trigged by land mining explosions on 4 August 2015 along the South Korean part of the border that injured two South Korean military personnel.

Highlights of the bilateral agreement

• The South and the North agreed to hold meetings between government authorities at an early date, either in Seoul or in Pyongyang, that are aimed at improving inter-Korean relations, and to conduct dialogue and negotiations on a range of areas in the period ahead.
• The North expressed regret over the injuries of the soldiers of the South caused by the recent landmine explosions that took place in the southern area of the Demilitarized Zone along the Military Demarcation Line.
•As long as no abnormal incident occurs, the South agreed to suspend all loudspeaker broadcasts along the Military Demarcation Line, effective 12:00 pm. 25 August 2015.
• The North agreed to lift its quasi-state of war.
• The South and the North agreed to arrange reunions of separated families on the occasion of Chuseok and continue such reunions in the future and, to this end, to hold working-level Red Cross meetings in early September 2015.
• The South and the North agreed to boost non-governmental exchanges in a wide range of fields.

Union Government released Postal stamp on Ashoka

Union Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on 24 August 2015 released a commemorative postal stamp on emperor Ashoka. The postal stamp of 5 rupees will be available for sale in the post offices.
Prasad announced to release the postal stamp during a Bharatiya Janata Party function to celebrate the birth anniversary of Ashoka.

Ashoka
Ashoka Maurya (commonly known as Ashoka and Ashoka the Great), was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost the entire Indian subcontinent between 269 BCE to 232 BCE.
He was born to the Mauryan emperor Bindusara and a relatively lower ranked wife of his, Dharma. He was the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, founder of Mauryan dynasty.

One of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over a realm that stretched from the Hindu Kush Mountains in the west to Bengal in the East and covered the entire Indian subcontinent except parts of present-day Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
The empire's capital was Pataliputra (in Magadha, present-day Bihar), with provincial capitals at Taxila and Ujjain.

Scientists identified THSD7A gene as primarily responsible for obesity in Indians

Scientists belonging to various research organizations in India identified THSD7A as primarily responsible for obesity in Indians.

The research was published in the International Journal of Obesity in the first week of August 2015. It was led by the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad.

Focus of the study

India inhabited by the first out-of-Africa human population. Moreover, contemporary Indian populations are admixture of 2 ancestors: ANI (ancestral north Indians) and ASI (ancestral south Indians). While ANI is related to Europeans, ASI is not related to any group outside Indian-subcontinent.

The present research was aimed at finding novel genetic loci associated with Body Mass Index (BMI). As part of the research scientists discovered that rs1526538, an intronic SNP of THSD7A is significantly associated with obesity.

About THSD7A gene

THSD7A is neural N-glycoprotein, which promotes angiogenesis and angiogenesis in turn modulates obesity, adipose metabolism and insulin sensitivity.

The gene is present in everyone. But when there is a mutation to the gene, there is a likelihood that the person carrying the mutated gene will end up being obese.

However, the gene mutation is not found in all obese people. Similarly, the gene mutation was also found in very small number of underweight people. That is because obesity is a multigenic condition.

Further, there is a possibility that the SNP marker of THSD7A may be associated with obesity in other South Asian population.

Importance of the study

The discovery is of particular importance as scientists will help in drug target, early detection of obesity and treatment. It is also pertinent to note that obesity linked health risks such as cardio vascular have been on rise in the country in recent times.

Indian-American Vince Chhabria appointed as a full-time federal judge by Obama

Indian-American Vince Chhabria was on 24 August 2015 was appointed as the full-time federal judge of California court by President Barack Obama. The 46-year-old Chhabria is the Bay Area's first Indian-American federal judge.
Along with Chhabria, Obama also elevated 10 other people as the full-time judge in the third largest US state California. All 11 Obama appointees sailed through Senate confirmation hearings, which helped in filling the 11 of 14 vacancies in the court for the northern district of California.

Chhabria was confirmed in 2014 to a seat in San Francisco. He once clerked for US Supreme Court Judge Stephen Breyer, as well as his brother, San Francisco federal judge Charles Breyer. He has issued significant decisions allowing cases, including that of labour laws, against transport companies Uber and Lyft's models to proceed.
Earlier, Obama had nominated Chhabria, then 43, to serve as a federal judge in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.
Vince Chhabria
• He was born in San Francisco after his father came to the US from Mumbai on a college scholarship.
• He graduated with honours from University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall) and the University of California, Santa Cruz.
• Prior to public service, he worked in the private sector, first as an associate at Keker & Van Nest and later at Covington & Burling.

Syrian woman Journalist Zaina Erhaim awarded with Peter Mackler Award 2015

Syrian woman journalist Zaina Erhaim on 22 August 2015 won the esteemed 2015 Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism. She was bestowed this award for her efforts to train citizen reporters in her war-ravaged country.

She will be presented with this award at a ceremony to be held at the National Press Club in Washington in October 2015.
Zaina Erhaim, currently, lives and works in Aleppo, Syria. Over the last two years, she has trained about 100 citizen reporters from inside Syria, approximately one third of them are women, in print and TV journalism.
Erhaim is also the Syria project coordinator for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), an international organization that support journalists in countries undergoing conflict, crisis, or transition.
About the Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism
• The Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism was founded in June, 2008 to honor the memory of Peter Mackler, a Brooklyn-born thirty-five year veteran journalist who championed ethical journalism and freedom of expression.
• The Peter Mackler award rewards journalists who fight courageously and ethically to report the news in countries where freedom of the press is either not guaranteed or not recognized.
• The Award is administered by Global Media Forum, the US branch of Reporters Without Borders, and Agence France-Presse.

Justice ML Tahaliyani sworn-in as Lokayukta of Maharashtra

Justice Madanlal Laxmandas Tahaliyani, a retired judge of the Bombay High Court, was sworn-in as the new Lokayukta of Maharashtra on 24 August 2015. Governor Vidyasagar Rao administered the oath of office to Justice Tahaliyani at Raj Bhavan Raj Bhavan’s Darbar Hall in Mumbai.
Justice Tahaliyani succeeded Justice (retd.) PB Gaikwad, whose term as Lokayukta ended on 1 July 2014.
Due to his passion for nature, often he was called as a Green Judge and he presided over several high-profile trials, including the 26/11 attacks, Gulshan Kumar murder and the money laundering case involving businessman Hasan Ali.

On 29 August 2012, he was lauded by Supreme Court of India for his role of conducting the trial proceedings and maintaining the record of the case in an exemplary manner in the Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab versus State of Maharashtra case.
Justice Tahaliyani
• He studied law in Nagpur before being appointed as the Metropolitan Magistrate in 1987 at the Bandra Metropolitan Court.
• He was appointed as Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Mumbai, in 1994 and Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Mumbai, in 1997. Some other posts held by him included
a) Judge of Bombay City Civil Court in 1997
b) Registrar (Inspection) High Court of Bombay in 2008
c) 2nd Additional Principal Judge, City Civil Court, Mumbai, in 2009
d) 1st Additional Principal Judge in 2009
e) Principal Judge Bombay City Civil Court in 2010
f) He was elevated a as High Court Judge on 18 March 2011

India, Australia signed MoU on cooperation in fields of education, training and research

India and Australia on 24 August 2015 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the fields of education, training and research. The MoU was signed by Smriti Irani, Union Minister of Human Resource Development and Christopher Pyne MP, Minister for Education and Training, Australia.

The MoU will help intensify existing partnerships between India and Australia in higher education & research, including technical and professional education, schools, vocational education and training and will open up new and innovative areas of cooperation.
The MoU was signed during the meeting of the Australia-India Education Council (AIEC) in New Delhi.

Objectives of this MoU
• Expansion of Australia India Education Council membership from time to time to ensure appropriate representation from academia, policy makers and industry.
• Strengthening of the policy dialogue and exchange in areas of mutual benefit, including qualification and quality frameworks and standards for education, research and training.
• It will support mobility of students and faculty members through formal exchange programs, internships and other modalities.
• It will improve credit transfer arrangements and work towards qualifications recognition between Australia and India.
• Supporting and organizing professional development programmes for subject experts, educational administrators, faculty members and teachers.
• Encouraging twinning arrangements between institutions of higher learning and organisation of joint research programmes and publications.
• Sharing best practice education materials including research materials, publications, and educational literature.
• Supporting skills development through joint conferences, seminars, policy dialogue and technical cooperation in national standards development.
• It will develop bilateral programmes between institutions of educational excellence in technical, vocational, schools and higher education, subject to availability of funds.
Joint Communique between India and Australia
In spite of the MoU, a Joint Communique was also issued at the end of the AIEC meeting.
The Communique commended the significant progress made by the Working Groups across the key areas of skills, higher education and research, student mobility and welfare, quality assurance and qualifications recognition.
The Communique emphasized that the Global Initiative for Academic Networks (GIAN), launched by the Union Government, would enable academic interaction to mutual benefit. Both countries agreed for a total joint financial commitment of up to 1.0 million US dollars for various activities under Educational Cooperation.
About Australia-India Education Council (AIEC)
The AIEC is a bi-national body established in 2011 as a commitment by the Education Ministers of India and Australia to guide the strategic direction of the education, training and research partnership.
The AIEC, which is co-chaired by Education Ministers on both sides, consists of academia, industry and government and meets in conjunction with the annual Australia-India Ministerial Dialogue on Education Cooperation.

NITI Aayog decided to set up expert group to draft Model Land Leasing Law

NITI Aayog on 24 August 2015 decided to set up an experts committee to prepare a model land leasing law, which can be adopted by states as per their local needs.
The decision on the matter was taken at a meeting of Chief Secretaries and Principal Secretaries of Revenue and Land, which was chaired by Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog Arvind Panagariya.
The representatives of the states generally agreed that land leasing, updating of land records and land titling would be win-win steps for all affected parties and expressed keen interest in making progress on them in the months to come.

Highlights of the decisions taken during the meet are
• It was agreed that the NITI Aayog Vice-Chairperson will appoint a committee of experts to prepare a model land leasing law that the states can adopt to suit their local needs.
• The NITI Aayog in consultation with the Department of Land Resources will assist the interested states in moving forward with updating and digitising land records in accordance with the best practices.
• Land related issues such as land leasing, updating and digitisation of land records and land titling are important state issues in need of a fresh look and possible actions by the states.
The Aayog said, in most cases, the states enacted land-leasing laws post-independence. However, due to one or other reasons these laws heavily discouraged leasing and sub-leasing of land. It said, in the longer run, the laws ended up affecting both landowners and tenants adversely.

105-year-old Urdu copy of Ramcharitmanas written by Shiv Brat Lal found

Urdu copy of 105-year-old Shri Ramcharitmanas was found from a scrap market at Hauz Khas in New Delhi. The book written by Shiv Brat Lal, a native of Bhadohi district, in 1904 and was later printed at Lahore’s Half-Tone press in 1910 was found in a pile of torn books three years ago.
The book was bought for 600 rupees by the Sankat Mochan temple priest family.

The copy carries a prologue of 20 pages and has four hand-drawn photographs, in which one photograph not only carries the pictures of Lord Ram, Sita, Laxman and Hanuman but also of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh.
How the book was discovered?
The family of the priest discovered the Urdu copy of the book, while searching for an ancient manuscript of Sri Ramcharitmanas, which was stolen along with other precious articles related to Goswami Tulsidas from the Sankat Mochan temple at Tulsi Ghat. The team from the Sankat Mochan temple was searching for the manuscript after it was stolen from the temple.

eBird India Taxonomists reclassified Indian bird species

The taxonomists from eBird India on 17 August 2015 reclassified some of the famous India bird species. The taxonomists gave out a list of species that includes all species, subspecies groups, hybrids, intergrades, spuhs, slashes, domestics, and forms.

The renaming of birds and associated changes are inevitable as new techniques and better understanding of taxonomy cause a rearrangement, even in a relatively well-studied group of creatures like birds.

Here are the few changes:
• The majestic Asian Paradise Flycatcher bird will now be known as Indian Paradise Flycatcher, following a new taxonomic assessment. However, it will retain its scientific name Terpsiphone paradisi and remain the parent species.
• Bird taxonomists have separated the subspecies found in the Nicobars. The new subspecies has been rechristened as Blyth’s Paradise Flycatcher will a new scientific name Terpsiphone affinis nicobarica.
• Besides the Indian Paradise Flycatcher, a few more bird species found in India and other parts of the world have been renamed this month as part of an annual exercise.
• The Purple Swamphen found in India has been reclassified as Grey-headed Swamphen and it will carry the scientific name Porhyrio poliocephalus. The literal meaning of poliocephalus is grey-headed.
• Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) has now got a new species. The buzzard, found in the Himalayas, will from now be known as Buteo buteo burmanicus.
• Taxonomists have split the Scaly Thrush into four species. These are Nilgiri Thrush (Zoothera neilgherriensis) of the Western Ghats, the Scaly Thrush (Zoothera dauma) of central, northern and north-eastern India, Thrush (Zoothera imbricata), which is endemic to Sri Lanka.

About eBird India Taxonomists
eBird India is an online platform of ornithologists and birders. Each year, the ebird taxonomists release the updated list of birds and their species in the month of August. While, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology maintains the ever-changing list of species, subspecies, English names, and approximate distributions.
The taxonomists use the technique of Molecular taxonomy as the tool for identifying species. If two individuals of a species show genetic differences or exhibit genetic distances in its DNA analysis, such individuals can be considered as belonging to two different species.

India, Nepal signed of MoU for construction of Petroleum Products Pipeline

India and Nepal on 24 August 2015 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for constructing a Petroleum Product Pipeline which will be built from Raxaul in India to Amlekhgunj in Nepal.

The MoU was signed by Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Sunil Bahadur Thapa, Minister of Commerce and Supplies of Nepal.
Highlights of the MoU
• As per the MoU, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) will do reengineering of the Amlekhgunj petroleum depot to make it compatible with receiving petroleum products by pipeline.
• The 41 km pipeline (2 km in India and 39 km in Nepal) will initially supply Petrol, Diesel and Kerosene.
• It will be constructed by Indian Oil Corporation at a cost of 200 crore rupees from its own budget. While, Nepal Oil Corporation will invest 75 crore to develop additional facilities in Amlekhgunj depot.
• It will take IOC 30 months to complete the project after receipt of necessary statutory clearances from Government of Nepal.
The construction of this pipeline will ensure smooth, cost effective and environment friendly supply of petroleum products to Nepal. This would be the first transnational petroleum pipeline in South Asia.

Veteran journalist Pranab Kumar Borah passed away

Veteran journalist Pranab Kumar Borah passed away on 24 August 2015 at his residence at Morikolong, Assam following a brief illness. He was 63. He is survived by wife, a son and a daughter.

Borah was associated with the prominent Assamese daily newspapers like Dainik Janambhumi, The Sentinel Group, Doordarshan and Bishmoi. He was the pioneer in arranging the first Book Fair of the state, that was held at Nagaon in 1978.
Borah was also an uncompromising journalist who always fought for justice.

26 August

NGT directed civic authorities to impose 20000 rupees fine on polluters of Hindon River

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on 24 August 2015 directed the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) and the civic authorities of Ghaziabad to impose 20000 rupees fine on polluters of Hindon River.

Further, the tribunal also ordered the authorities to clear the entire municipal solid waste and construction debris dumped along the canal by 26 August 2015.

These directions were issued by the bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar during the hearing of a litigation filed by JP Sharma, a Delhi resident, against the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).

About Hindon River

• It is a tributary of Yamuna River and originates in the Saharanpur District of Uttar Pradesh in Lower Himalayan Range.
• It flows between Ganges and Yamuna rivers, for 400 kilometres through the districts of Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Baghpat , Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Noida before joining Yamuna river just outside Delhi.
• It is one of the highly polluted rivers in the Ganges Basin as it flows through highly populated and polluted areas of Uttar Pradesh.

Union Government launched 'Sehat' to provide healthcare facilities in rural areas

The Union government on 25 August 2015 launched a telemedicine initiative 'Sehat' in collaboration with Apollo Hospitals to provide healthcare facilities in rural areas.
The initiative was launched by Union Communication and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad at a function in New Delhi.

Under the initiative people will be able to consult doctors through video link and also order generic drugs. It will also help in providing quality and affordable healthcare is one of the emerging needs for citizens in rural areas.
The Common Service Centres (CSCs) have been delivering tele-consultation services with support from Apollo and Medanta Hospitals in some areas. These CSCs will also provide diagnostic services and promote sale of generic drugs through collaboration with Health Ministry by setting up Jan Aushadhi Stores.
Now, with this initiative, the tele-consultation services are being extended to 60000 centres across the country.

India, Egypt signed two MoUs to deepen bilateral cooperation

India and Egypt on 24 August 2015 signed two Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) to enhance bilateral cooperation.

They were signed in Egypt’s capital Cairo during the visit of External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to Egypt and they were

MoU on Cooperation in the field of Tourism

Aimed at enhancing bilateral cooperation in Tourism, Hospitality and Human Resource Development; Draw up a road map for enhancing cooperation; establish a Joint Working Group (JWG) on tourism cooperation.

MoU on scientific and technical Cooperation

It was signed between the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the National Research Center (NRC) of Egypt.

It will support promotion and extension of cooperation in Scientific Research and Technology Development in fields of mutual interest; Cooperate on common intellectual property rights; Develop Working Program to review the implementation of MoU; Establish Joint Committee; Exchange of scientists, scholars, information; Joint Research Programmes in water desalination, solar energy, medicine and affordable health care, setting up joint laboratories, etc.

AP Government, Tata Trust signed MoU to develop villages of Vijayawada parliamentary constituency

Andhra Pradesh Government and the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust on 24 August 2015 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop 264 villages of the Vijayawada parliamentary constituency.

The MoU was signed in Vijayawada in the presence of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and the chairman of the Tata trust Ratan Tata.

Key Features of the MoU

• All round development of villages will be taken up including health, education, drinking water and self employment for the youth.
• About 2.5 lakh households of the constituency will benefit under this initiative.
• Special emphasis will be given for the development of bamboo cultivation and marketing and Self Help Groups.
• Funds will be provided by the Union Government through MP Local Area Development Scheme (MP LADS), State Government and the Tata Trust.

Indian Army inaugurated Jaisalmer War Museum and Laungewala War Memorial

‘Jaisalmer War Museum’ established in the Military Station of Jaisalmer, Rajasthan was inaugurated on 24 August 2015. The museum was inaugurated by Lieutenant General Ashok Singh, General Officer Commanding in Chief of Southern Command to mark the Golden Jubilee Commemoration Year of 1965 Indo Pak War.
The War Museum is located 10 km short of Jaisalmer on the Jaisalmer - Jodhpur Highway.

Jaisalmer War Museum
• It carries two large Information Display Halls, an Audio Visual Room and a souvenir shop.
• There are a large number of captured war trophies and own vintage equipment on display to include tanks, guns and military vehicles.
• The Indian Air Force has presented a Hunter aircraft for the museum, which was used during the Battle for Laungewala in 1971 Indo Pak War.
• The entry to the war museum is free for all visitors.
Besides, to commemorate Battle of Laungewala that was fought on 4 December and 5 December 1971, a War Memorial was constructed and inaugurated at the very site where the Pakistani offensive was blunted. The memorial has a state of art audio visual theatre for screening the movies on the Battle of Laungewala. Located just two hours away from Jaisalmer, the memorial is open seven days a week and the entry is free for visitors.

Second Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) Summit held in Jaipur

The Second Forum for India-Pacific Island Cooperation Summit was held on 21 August 2015 in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

Besides the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the summit was attended by heads of states and governments and key officials of the 14 pacific island nations of the group.

During the summit the leaders discussed common areas of cooperation including marine resources exploration, oil and natural gas, mining, IT, health care, fishing, marine research and space collaboration, climate change, UN reforms.

Further, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also held bilateral dialogue with various heads of governments on the sidelines of the summit.

About FIPIC

• It was first concepualised during the visit of Narendra Modi to Fiji in November 2014 to deepen India’s external relations with pacific island nations.
• The first summit was held in Fiji’s capital Suva in the third week of November 2014.
• Apart from India fourteen pacific island countries in the group are: Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
• The grouping is part of India’s Act East policy aimed at augmenting India’s proactive presence in East Asia and Pacific region.

Rajasthan Government approved Arogya Rajasthan campaign

Rajasthan State Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on 25 August 2015 approved the launch of Arogya Rajasthan campaign. The campaign will be held from December 2015 to March 2016.
The three-month campaign will help in collection and compilation of health data of the rural population in the state. During the campaign, the rural residents would be issued health cards based on spot diagnoses. The cards would be used for further treatment and follow-up of patients.

The cabinet also approved a drive to collect health information of citizens to build an online datatbase, which will be held between 15 September and 31 October 2015. The campaign Health camps will be organised at gram panchayat level and every citizen will be issued a Health Card.

Fortune released maiden Change the World List

Fortune, an American business magazine, on 20 August 2015 released its maiden Change the World List.

It listed out the companies that have made significant progress in addressing major social problems as a part of their core business strategy.

The list consists of a range of companies including telecommunications (Vodafone), retailing (Walmart), automobiles (Ford; Toyota) and information technology (Google; Facebook, IBM).

Highlights of Change the World List

• Among the 51 companies it listed out the UK based Vodafone and Kenya based safaricom together ranked no.1 in the list. The joint service M-Pesa lets people who lack bank accounts use their smart phones to save and transfer money, receive pensions, and pay bills is. At present 42 percent of Kenya’s GDP is transacted through it.
• The second rank was given to the search engine giant Google (Alphabet) that provides various communication tools to bridge gaps across the space and time.
• While Toyota automobile company was place at the third position, retail giant Walmart was at the fourth.
• Bangladesh based Grameen Bank was at the 12th position that helped millions of people to overcome poverty.
• Other important companies that are in the list are Alibaba, Starbucks, Unilever, Nike and Twitter.

BRIDGE programme of Australia extended to include Navodaya Schools

BRIDGE programme: Building Regional Intercultural Dialogue and Growing Engagement programme
Australia’s BRIDGE Programme was in news in August 2015. The programme that is run by Australian Schools in collaboration with Indian Schools came in news on 24 August 2015 after Australia agreed to include Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs).

The agreement was reached during the 3rd Australia-India Education Council (AIEC) meeting held in New Delhi chaired by the Education Minister of both the countries.
The Australia-India BRIDGE school partnerships project, which is currently confined to private schools, will connect Australian and Indian schools and focus on building teacher capability across key learning areas, including science, technology, engineering and mathematics, information and communication technologies, intercultural understanding, values and inclusive education.

RGI released Census 2011 on Population by Religious Communities

The Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (RGI) on 25 August 2015 released the data on Census 2011 on Population by Religious Communities. The distribution is total population by six major religious communities namely, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain besides Other Religions and Persuasions and Religion not stated.

As per the Census 2011, the Total Population in 2011 was 121.09 crores. Here is the list of Population by Religious Communities based on Census 2011:

Religion	Population
Hindu	96.63 crores (79.8%)
Muslim	17.22 crores (14.2%)
Christian	2.78 crores (2.3%)
Sikh	2.08 crores (1.7%)
Buddhist	0.84 crores (0.7%)
Jain	0.45 crores (0.4%)
Other Religions & Persuasions	0.79 crores (0.7%)
Religion Not Stated	0.29 crores (0.2%)

Proportion

The proportion of Hindu population to total population in 2011 has declined by 0.7 percentage point (PP) while the proportion of Sikh population has declined by 0.2 PP and the Buddhist population declined by 0.1 PP during the decade 2001-2011.

The proportion of Muslim population to total population has increased by 0.8 PP. There has been no significant change in the proportion of Christians and Jains.

Growth Rate

The growth rate of population in the decade 2001-2011 was 17.7 percent. The growth rate of population of the different religious communities in the same period was- Hindus at 16.8 percent; Muslim at 24.6 percent; Christian at 15.5 percent; Sikh at 8.4 percent; Buddhist at 6.1 percent and Jain at 5.4 percent.
The Muslim population grew at a faster rate than the Hindu population, but the gap between the two growth rates is narrowing fast. The data shows that between 2001 and 2011, Hindu population grew by 16.76 percent, while population of Muslims grew by 24.6 percent. The population of both communities grew much faster during the 1991-2001 with Hindus at 19.92 percent and Muslims at 29.52 percent.
The Muslim community has registered a moderate 0.8 percent growth to touch 17.22 crore between 2001 and 2011, up from 13.8 crore between 1991-2001, while Hindus population showed a decline by 0.7 percent at 96.63 crore during the period.
Though there is the decadal increase in share of Muslim population, however, their growth rate is lower than the previous decade 1991-2001.

India, Seychelles signed five Agreements/MoUs to improve bilateral relations

India and Seychelles on 26 August 2015 signed five agreements/Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) aimed at improving bilateral relations in New Delhi.

They were signed in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Seychelles President James Michel during the latter’s visit to India.

List of Agreements/MoUs

• Air Services Agreement.
• MoU for providing one Dornier Maritime Aircraft.
• Agreement for exchange of information with respect to Taxes.
• MoU between Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Seychelles Agricultural Agency for Cooperation in agricultural research and education.
• Protocol on framework of cooperation in the field of Blue Economy between India and Seychelles.

Rajasthan Government and FCEL inked agreement to launch Annapurna Bhandar Yojana

Rajasthan State Food and Civil Supplies Corporation (RSFCSC) and Kishore Biyani-led Future Consumer Enterprise Ltd (FCEL) on 20 August 2015 inked an agreement to launch the Annapurna Bhandar Yojna, which is a Public Private Distribution Scheme, the first-of-its kind in India.
The agreement was signed in presence of Vasundhra Raje, Chief Minister of Rajasthan in Jaipur.
The agreement was signed with an aim to provide better quality multi-brand consumer goods at competitive prices to the public of the state through Fair Price Shops (FPS).

Under the Yojna, Annapurna Bhandars will emerge as malls in rural areas of Rajasthan and in the first phase, the scheme would be operational through five thousand Fair Price Shops in the state.
As a pilot run, this scheme was launched through five shops in Jaipur city and one at Udaipur by supplying multi-brand daily consumption products.
The PPP agreement enables Rajasthan State Food and Civil Supplies Corporation in implementation of its function of providing non-PDS (Public Distribution System) items at affordable prices to general public through Fair Price Shops.
Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje said this scheme will become India’s biggest entrepreneurship drive with five thousand fair price shop dealers turning into entrepreneurs with Annapurna Bhandars

PayU India tied-up with redBus to attract customers to use its wallet PayU Money

PayU India on 25 August 2015 tied-up with online bus ticketing platform redBus to offer cash-back discounts to customers who use its wallet PayU Money to buy tickets.

Today, around 50 percent of bookings on redBus are through the PayU Wallet. This tie-up is expected to increase the wallet customers from the current 5 million users to 20 million by 2015 end. However, payments on redBus can also be made with credit and debit cards, net banking and cash on delivery.
Established in 2011, PayU India is part of Naspers Group which owns companies such as red-Bus, OLX and Goibibo. The company is now forming similar alliances in the travel booking space and integrating with sites such as Makemytrip, Goibibo and Cleartrip.

Australia-India Education Council (AIEC) meeting concluded in New Delhi

Australia-India Education Council (AIEC) annual meeting concluded in New Delhi on 24 August 2015. This was the third annual meeting of the AIEC.
The meeting was chaired by Union Minister of Human Resource Development Smriti Zubin Irani and Australia’s Minister for Education and Training Christopher Pyne.

Main Outcomes of the meeting
• India and Australia agreed to extend the Australia-India BRIDGE school partnerships project to include Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs).BRIDGE – Building Regional Intercultural Dialogue and Growing Engagement – is currently confined to private schools only.
• A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the fields of education, training and research was inked
• The two nations agreed for a total joint financial commitment of up to 1 million Australian dollars for various activities under Educational Cooperation
• Both the countries issued a Joint Communiqué commending the significant progress made in the areas of skills, higher education and research among others and welcomed the extension of collaborative activity to include engagement in the schools sector.
• The communiqué also emphasized that the Global Initiative for Academic Networks (GIAN), launched by India, would enable interaction between the Indian and Australian academicians to mutual benefit.
Besides, Australian Minister Christopher Pyne also announced former cricketer Adam Gilchrist as the Australia-India Education Ambassador. He will help project the quality of Australian education and strengthen the bilateral education, training and research relationships.

About Australia-India Education Council (AIEC)
The AIEC is a bi-national body established in 2011 as a commitment by the Education Ministers of India and Australia to guide the strategic direction of the education, training and research partnership between the two countries. The AIEC, which is co-chaired by Education Ministers on both sides, consists of academia, industry and government and meets in conjunction with the annual Australia-India Ministerial Dialogue on Education Cooperation.

SAI launched School Sports Promotion Foundation

The Sports Authority of India (SAI) on 24 August 2015 launched the School SportsPromotion Foundation with an aim to tap the sporting talent at the school level.

The SportsPromotion Foundation aims to reach out to around 100000 secondary and senior secondary schools irrespective of their ownership, economic or social strata they operate in or the board they are affiliated to.

Functions of School Sports Promotion Foundation
• The foundation will organise sports tournaments across the country to identify talent and nurture it and take them through the city, district, state, zonal and national level of competitive sport.
•At the next level, it will arrange to provide sports coaching to those talented youth who are identified through these tournaments at all levels.
• School Sports Promotion Foundation will roll out Football and Cricket in the first year of its operations.
• In the second year, other sports like Tennis, Basketball and Athletics will be introduced and rural, sub-urban elementary schools with a strong focus on rural sports would be included in the programme.

Study titled the Future of Forests: Emissions from Tropical Deforestation, 2016-2050 released

The Washington-based Center for Global Development (CGD) on 24 August 2015 released a report on the future of tropical deforestation from 2016-2050 with and without carbon pricing policies.
The study says that in next 35 years, an area of tropical forest equivalent to the size of India will be deforested. If current trends continue, tropical deforestation will add 169 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by 2050, the equivalent of running 44000 coal-fired power plants for a year.

Highlights of the study
• In the absence of new forest conservation policies, 289 million hectares of tropical forest will be cleared from 2016-2050—an area about the size of India and one-seventh of Earth’s tropical forest area in the year 2000.
• It projects that this tropical deforestation will release 169 GtCO2 to the atmosphere from 2016-2050—one-sixth of the remaining carbon that can be emitted if the rise in Earth’s temperature is to be likely held below 2 °C.
• It estimates that a universally applied carbon price of 20/tCO2 dollar from 2016-2050 would avoid 41 GtCO2 of emissions from tropical deforestation while a carbon price of 50/tCO2 dollar would avoid 77 GtCO2. These prices correspond to average costs to land users of 9/tCO2 dollar and 21/tCO2 dollar respectively.
• It corroborates the conclusions of previous studies that reducing tropical deforestation is a sizable and low-cost option for mitigating climate change.
• In contrast to previous studies, it was projected that the amount of emissions that can be avoided at low-cost by reducing tropical deforestation will increase rather than decrease in future decades.
• It says that 89% of potential low-cost emission reductions are located in the 47 tropical countries that have already signaled their intention to reduce emissions from deforestation in exchange for performance-based finance.

It suggests that if all tropical countries implemented anti-deforestation policies as effective as those in the Brazilian Amazon post-2004 then 60 GtCO2 of emissions would be avoided.
The study
CGD’s study is based on 8 million observations of historical forest loss spanning 101 tropical countries. In the study, the spatial projections of future deforestation incorporated topography, accessibility, protected status, potential agricultural revenue, and a robust observed inverted-U-shaped trajectory of forest cover loss with respect to remaining forest cover.

Ananth Padmanabhan appointed as CEO of HarperCollins India

Ananth Padmanabhan was on 25 August 2015 appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of HarperCollins India with effect from October 2015. Padmanabhan succeeded P M Sukumar.

Padmanabhan will have overall responsibility for all divisions of the business and will report to Charlie Redmayne, CEO of HarperCollins UK. While the responsibility for running the day to day Collins India education business remains with Krishna Naroor.
Presently, Padmanabhan is working as a Senior Vice President of Sales at Penguin Random House. He has a total of 20 years of experience in the publishing sector.
He has served on the Management Executive level and was responsible for sales, local acquisition and publishing strategy and local digital strategy at Penguin Random House. He is also a writer and his first book Play with Me was published in 2015.

Formation of a new HarperCollins India Board
HarperCollins also announced the formation of a new HarperCollins India Board. The board includes Redmayne; Padmanabhan; Colin Hughes; Ed Kielbasiewicz; Alex Beecroft; and Amit Abrol.
Krishna Naroor will also join the board.

Girish Sahni assumed charge as Director General of CSIR

Girish Sahni on 26 August 2015 assumed charge as the Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) with effect from the 24 August 2015. Additionally, Sahni will also serve as Secretary, Department of Scientific & Industrial Research, Union Ministry of Science & Technology.

Previously, Sahni had been the Director of CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology (CSIR-IMTECH), Chandigarh.

Born on 2 March 1956, Sahni specializes in Protein Engineering, Molecular Biology, and Biotechnology. He is internationally recognized for his research contributions. He is Fellow of Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi; Indian Academy of Science, Bangalore, and NASI, Allahabad.

About Girish Sahni
• Sahni has contributed significantly in the area of protein cardiovascular drugs especially clot busters and their mode of action in the human body.
• The team led by him is responsible for producing technology for India’s first indigenous clot bluster drug, natural streptokinase (underbrand name STPase marketed by Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Ahmedabad).
• His team has also developed a novel life-saver thrombolytic drug (Clot-specific streptokinase), India’s first bio-therapeutic molecule which is not a Biosimilar. This drug has been patented worldwide.
• Recently, the team led by him developed fourth-generation Anti-thrombotic clot busters, the first of its kind in the world.
• He has received many awards for his contributions including National Biotechnology Product Development Award 2002, CSIR Technology Shield 2001-2002, The Vasvik Industrial Award 2000, Ranbaxy Award in Pharmaceutical Sciences 2003 and Vigyan Rattan Award 2014