August 2018 (for IIFT/SNAP/MICAT/XAT/TISSNET/CMAT)

India:

 The Gujarat government has given religious minority status to its Jewish Community.
 Niti Aayog has proposed 15-point action plan named ―Breathe India‖ for combating air pollution in ten
most polluted cities in the country.
 The Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation has launched a video
contest titled ―Jal Bachao, Video Banao, Puruskar Pao‖ to apprise people about important issues of
water conservation and water management.
 The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has issued an order allowing photography within the premises
of all centrally protected monuments/sites except at Ajanta Caves, Leh Palace and Taj Mahal.
 Sulabh Jal is world cheapest drinking water in the world. An innovative cost-effective drinking water
project in Darbhanga, Bihar which will provide water at 50paise/litre. It has been launched by Sulabh
International, the creator of Sulabh Shauchalaya.
 Niti Aayog has proposed 15-point action plan named ―Breathe India‖ for combating air pollution in ten
most polluted cities in the country. According to a recent WHO database (2018), Kanpur, Faridabad,
Gaya, Varanasi, Agra, Gurgaon, Muzaffarpur, Lucknow and Patna are the top ten most polluted cities in
India.
 The 17th World Sanskrit Conference 2018 took place in Vancouver, Canada.
 Indian naval ship INS Sumitra became the first-ever warship to enter port of Sabang in Indonesia.
 India's Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) project has bagged World Bank's internal award
for exceptional performance in achieving many development goals.
 ―Victorian and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai " was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage list. Later
on it has been renamed as ―Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai‖ on recommendation
of UNESCO.
 Odisha Government has signed a MoU with RIMES. The Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early
Warning System for Africa and Asia (RIMES) is an international and intergovernmental institution,
owned and managed by its Member States, for the generation and application of early warning
information. RIMES evolved from the efforts of countries in Africa and Asia, in the aftermath of the 2004
Indian Ocean tsunami, to establish a regional early warning system within a multi-hazard framework for
the generation and communication of early warning information, and capacity building for preparedness
and response to trans-boundary hazards. RIMES was established on 30 April 2009, and was registered
with the United Nations on 1 July 2009. RIMES operates from its regional early warning center located
at the campus of the Asian Institute of Technology in Pathumthani, Thailand.
 Bhitarkanika national park in Odisha has become the largest habitat of the endangered estuarine
crocodiles in India with a record number of 101 nesting sites.
 The government has set up a 13-member committee for Sub-National Accounts will be headed by
Ravindra H Dholakia, a retired professor of IIM Ahmedabad. It would review the concepts, definitions,
classifications, data conventions, data sources and data requirements for preparation of State Domestic
Product (SDP) and District Domestic Product (DDP).
 ‗Behdienkhlam‘ is the annual cultural festival held in Jowai, Meghalaya.
 Election Commission of India has launched a mobile app, called ‗Cvigil,‘ for citizens to report any
violation of the model code of conduct during elections.
 The National Health Agency (NHA), the apex body for implementation of the Centre's ambitious
Ayushman Bharat (National Health Protection Scheme).
 Riang or Bru are one of the 21 scheduled tribes of the Indian state of Tripura. The Bru are the second
most populous tribe of Tripura after the Tripuris. More than 30,000 people belonging to the Bru
community, who fled from Mizoram to Tripura in 1997 in the wake of inter-community violence, are set to
be repatriated to Mizoram.
 India‘s first biofortified sorghum (jowar) named Parbhani Shakti containing higher iron and zinc than
regular sorghum was formally launched. This improved sorghum variety has been developed by
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid-Tropics (ICRISAT).
 The Uttarakhand high court declared the entire animal kingdom, including birds and aquatic animals, as
a legal entity having rights of a ―living person‖. This comes a year after the court accorded the status of
―living entity‖ to the Ganga and Yamuna rivers (in March 2017) which was stayed by Supreme Court.
 Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel has been appointed the chairperson of National Green Tribunal (NGT).

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  The Law Commission of India has recommended regulated gambling and betting in sports to check
fraud and money laundering in its report. The report titled Legal Framework: Gambling and Sports
Betting Including in Cricket in India suggests a three-pronged strategy—reforming the existing gambling
(lottery, horse racing) market, regulating gambling and introducing stringent and overarching
regulations.
 NEIAH stands for North East Institute of Ayurveda & Homeopathy. 2nd phase of construction of NEIAH
started in Shillong.
 Rajasthan becomes the first state to implement Centre‘s ‗Biofuel Policy. Food grains can now be used
for producing ethanol during surplus production years, according to the national policy on biofuels. The
Policy expands the scope of raw material for ethanol production by allowing use of Sugarcane Juice,
Sugar containing materials like Sugar Beet, Sweet Sorghum, Starch containing materials like Corn,
Cassava, Damaged food grains like wheat, broken rice, Rotten Potatoes, unfit for human consumption
for ethanol production.
 The Ministry of Culture, Government of India launched the new scheme Seva Bhoj Yojna. The Objective
of the Scheme is to reimburse the CGST and IGST to Religious/Charitable Institutions who provide
Food free of cost without any discrimination to Public/Devotees.
 The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) has launched Mission Solar Charkha for
implementation of 50 Solar Charkha Clusters throughout India. The budget for this mission is: Rs 550
crore for 2018-19 and 2019-20.
 Ministry of Textiles and Ministry of Power have joined hands under the initiative SAATHI(Sustainable
and Accelerated Adoption of efficient Textile technologies to Help Small Industries) in order to sustain
and accelerate the adoption of energy efficient textile technologies in the powerloom sector.
 The Parliament passed the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2018 that ensures severe punishment for
those convicted of raping girls below 12 years of age. This bill will replace the Criminal Law Ordinance.
 President RamNath Kovind gives away Outstanding Parliamentarian awards from 2013-2017. The
winners for the year 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 are Dr.Najma Heptullah, Hukum Dev Narayan,
Ghulam Nabi Azad, Dinesh Trivedi and Bhartruhari Mahtab respectively.
 UNESCO designated World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) included Khangchendzonga
Biosphere Reserve in its list. It is India‘s 11th Biosphere Reserve that has been included so far.
 The agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh has announced that government would implement
Swaminathan Committee‘s report to improve living standards of farmers and upliftment of farm sector.
 Parliament passed the National Sports University Bill 2018, as the Rajya Sabha approved it. This Bill
aims to set up a first-of-its-kind National Sports University in Manipur to promote sports.
 Gurugram has been declared as India‘s most polluted city out of 62 cities in the country by Central
Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in its Air quality index (AQI).
 Operation ―Madad‖ was launched by the Southern Naval Command (SNC) at Kochi, in Kerala, to assist
the Kerala state administration and to carry out disaster relief operations due to the floods.
 President Ram Nath Kovind has given assent to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018, that provides
death penalty for convicts accused of raping girls below the age of 12 years.It will further amend the
Indian Penal Code, Indian Evidence Act, 1872, the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the Protection
of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.
 Jodhpur in Rajasthan topped in the cleanest railway station in the recent ranking of the ‗Swach Rail‘ (A1
category). Marwar in Rajasthan topped the list in A category.
 Justice Gita Mittal became the first-ever woman Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court.
 Rekha Sharma has been appointed the chairperson of National Commission for Women (NCW).
 The 76th anniversary of Quit India movement named as August Kranti Day was observed in India.

Sports:

 Former Indian cricket captain Rahul Dravid and Australian captain Ricky Ponting have been inducted
into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame for their achievements in international cricket.
 Australia won the Champions Trophy hockey 2018 in Breda, the Netherlands. Defeated India in the final.
 Mahendra Singh Dhoni has become the third Indian cricketer to play 500 international matches. The
other to achieve this record are Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.
 Former India spinner Ramesh Powar has been appointed as head coach of the women‘s national cricket
team till the ICC World T20.

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  Indian golfer Viraj Madappa became the youngest Indian to win on the Asian Tour, as he won his first
title on the Asian Tour at Take Solutions Masters in Bengaluru.

World:

 The UN Security Council has adopted a resolution aimed at a framework for mainstreaming protection,
rights, well-being and empowerment of children throughout the conflict cycle. Resolution 2427, which
won unanimous approval of the 15 members of the council on Monday, strongly condemns the
recruitment and use of children by parties to armed conflict as well as their re-recruitment, killing and
maiming, rape and other forms of sexual violence, and abductions.
 The Portuguese parliament approved a law that will allow citizens to change their gender and name
from the age of 16 without a medical report showing identity disruption. Portugal has become the sixth
European country to grant the right following Denmark, Malta, Sweden, Ireland and Norway.
 India has become the 69th shareholder of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(EBRD).
 United Nation Chief is Antonio Guterres from Portugal.
 The Swedish Academy will not give Noble Prize in Literature this year. While next year two winners will
be announced.
 Michael Ondaatje's 'The English Patient' won the special one-off Golden Man Booker Prize to mark the
50th anniversary of the literary award at the Man Booker 50 Festival in London.
 Ishwar Sharma has been named the ―British Indian of the Year‖ 2018 for his achievements in Yoga.
 Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani has overtaken Alibaba Group's Jack Ma to
become Asia's richest person.Ambani was estimated to be worth $44.3 billion.
 Donald Trump is most followed world leader on Twitter followed by Pope Francis and Narendra Modi.
 The President of World Bank is Jim Yong Kim. World Bank will provide assistance to Bangladesh for
managing Rohingya crisis.
 Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA)
between the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) (Brunei,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam) and the
six Asia-Pacific states with which ASEAN has existing free trade agreements (Australia, China, India,
Japan, South Korea and New Zealand). The objective of launching RCEP negotiations is to achieve a
modern, comprehensive, high-quality, and mutually beneficial economic partnership agreement among
the ASEAN Member States and ASEAN‘s FTA partners. The RCEP negotiations commenced in early
2013.
 Indian Government will operate the loss-making Mattala International Airport in Southern SriLanka on
joint-venture basis . Mattala airport is named after former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.
 HDFC Bank overtook Russia's Sberbank to become the most valuable bank in the emerging market
outside China. HDFC Bank‘s current market capitalisation is $78.4 billion against Sberbank's $74.4
billion.
 Harmeet Singh has become the first Sikh man to be hired as an anchor by a news channel in Pakistan.
Recently, Manmeet Kaur had become the first female Sikh reporter of Pakistan.
 Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wins Mexico‘s presidency election. He replaced President Enrique Peña
Nieto.
 Exercise Maitree is an Annual Joint military exercise between Indian Army and Royal Thai Army.
 Akshay Venkatesh, an Indian-Australian mathematician, was awarded the Fields medal at the
International Congress of Mathematicians in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Other 3 winners of Fields medal
are:Caucher Birkar,Peter Scholze,Alessio Figalli.
 Incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa of ZANU-PF party has been re-elected as Zimbabwe‘s president.
 51st ASEAN Foreign Ministers‘ Meeting was held in Singapore chaired by Singapore Prime Minister Lee
Hsien Loong.
 Vienna for the first time topped the Economist Intelligence Unit‘s Global Liveability Index as ‗world‘s
most pleasant city to live in‘. Osaka, Calgary and Sydney ranked 3rd, 4th and 5th. Among Indian Cities,
New Delhi tops the Index by attaining 112th Position, Mumbai Ranks next at 117th Position.
 Santhali has become the first Indian tribal language to get a Wikipedia edition in its own script.
Raghunath Murmu created the Ol Chiki script.

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  Colombia‘s President-elect 42-year-old Ivan Duque has been sworn in as the country‘s 60th president.
He replaced Juan Manuel Santos and became the youngest president in Colombia‘s recent history.

Business:

 The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) constituted a 10 Member Committee, headed by the Secretary
of Ministry of Corporate Affairs Injeti Srinivas to review Companies Act 2013. With an Objective to
review penal provisions of the act and to examine ‗de- criminalisation‘ of certain offences.
 Indian-origin technology executives Jayshree Ullal and Neerja Sethi have made it to the Forbes' list of
America's 60 richest self-made women. Ullal is ranked 18th in the list of 60 self-made women Sethi is
ranked 21st in the list of 60 women.
 The Reserve Bank of India has issued licence to Bank of China to launch operations in India.
 LIC will be acquiring 51% stake in IDBI Bank.

nd
Japan has overtaken China as world‘s 2 largest stock market. USA is at the top.
 Morgan Stanley has predicted, India‘s gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 7.5 % in this financial
year 2018 – 2019.
 Apple is the world‘s first publicly traded company to be valued at USD 1 trillion.
 Digital payments major Paytm has acquired Bengaluru-based savings management start-up, Balance
Technology, for an undisclosed amount.

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