Updates reported from 1-15
15 August
News
Chandrayaan-22 detects water on Moon
US gives approval to extra vaccine dosage The United States has given its approval to
for people with weakened immunity
Indore is the first Water Plus certified
city
Narration
Chandrayaan-22 has detected the presence of
water molecules on the lunar surface. As per
the recently published paper, the initial data
analysis from IIRS demonstrated the
presence of lunar hydration and detection of
OH and H2O signatures on the moon.
an extra dose of the COVID-19 19 vaccine for
people with weakened immune systems. The
US FDA granted emergency use
authorization for the third vaccine dose of
Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 19 vaccines.
The move came at a time when the US has
been witnessing a surge in Delta variant
cases.
Indore in Madhya Pradesh has been declared
as the country’s first ‘Water Plus’ certified
city under the Swachh Survekshan 2021.
Indore is MP’s commercial capital and also
the country’s cleanest city. The news was
shared by the Chief Minister of Madhya
Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
2
Gold Medalist Neeraj Chopra ranks No. 2 An Indian Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra
in World Athletics Rankings
First case of Marburg Virus in West
Africa
Mixing Covaxin and Covishield gets a
nod from DCGI
Vinesh Phogat suspended forr indiscipline
127th Constitution Amendment Bill
Veteran actor Anupam Shyam passes
away
has been ranked No. 2 in the latest World
Athletics Rankings after his performance in
the Tokyo Olympics. Chopra created history
in Olympics by becoming the first Indian to
win a gold in track and field. He had thrown
javelin to a distance of 87.58 km.
West Africa has confirmed the first case of
the contagious Marburg virus in Guinea.
This virus belongs to the family of the Ebola
Virus. As per WHO, the Marburg virus is a
highly virulent disease and is able to cause
hemorrhagic fever, with a fatality rate of up
to 88%.
The Drugs Controller and General of India
have approved the study on mixing the
Covaxin and Covishield vaccines. A study
conducted by ICMR earlier had revealed
that the combination of Covishield and
Covaxin can give better safety results.
The Wrestling Federation of India has
suspended Vinesh Phogat due to indiscipline
during her Tokyo Olympics campaign. The
federation issued a notice to Phogat
announcing the temporary ban on three
charges. She has been given time to reply to
the notice until August 16.
The Government has introduced the 12th
Constitution Amendment Bill in Lok Sabha.
The bill seeks to restore the State
Government’s power to make their own
OBC lists. The opposition parties have also
given their support to the bill.
Anupam Shyam, know for his role in the
popular TV series Man Ki Awaaz Pratigya,
passed away at the age of 63 due to multiple
organ failure. He was admitted to the
hospital last week because of a kidney
infection and was put on a ventilator. He
was also known for his role in films like
Bandit Queen and Slumdog Millionaire.
3
PM DAKSH mobile app and portal
launched
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award named
as Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna
Award
Drones not allowed within 25 km of the
International border
Ayodhya’s Ram Temple to be opened by
December 2023
Indian men’s hockey team wins
ns bronze in
Olympics 2020
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code
(Amendment) Bill passed
The Government has launched the PM- PM
Daksh portal and mobile app in order
or to
make the skill development schemes
accessible to the target groups. With this, the
youths of the target groups will be able to
avail the benefits of the skill development
programmes more easily. PM-Daksh Daksh Yojana
is being implemented by the government
from 2021-22.
Prime Minister Modi announced that the
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award will now
be known as the Major Dhyan Chand Khel
Ratna Award. The highest honour in sports
has been renamed in honour of Hockey
wizard Dhyan Chand. The Prime Minister
also informed that the decision has been
taken at the request of citizens across India.
The Civil Aviation Ministry has said
sai that no
Unmanned Aircraft System will be allowed
to fly within 25 km of International Borders.
It includes Line of Control, Actual Ground
Position Line, and Line of Actual Control.
Ram Temple in Ayodhya will be open for
the devotees by December 2023. The
construction work of the temple is scheduled
to be completed by the year 2025.
Reportedly, the first floor of the temple and
main Garbha Griha will be ready by
December 2023.
The men’s hockey team of India has won
the bronze medal after a 5-4
4 victory over
Germany at the Tokyo Olympics Games
2020. The Indian hockey team has brought
home the country’s first Olympic medal in
hockey after 41 years. India had won the last
Olympic medal (a gold medal) in Hockey in
1980.
Parliament has passed the Insolvency and
Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
It was approved by Rajya Sabha amidst
uproar. The bill aims at introducing an
alternate insolvency resolution process for
MSMEs.
4
India’s third Olympic medal won by
Lovlina Borgohain
Bhubaneshwar first city to achieve 100%
vaccination
PV Sindhu wins bronze in Olympics 2020
India takes over Presidency of UNSC
Myanmar’s military leader declares
himself PM
Lovlina Borgohain (Assam) has won
India’s third Olympic medal. Lovlina has
become the second Indian female boxer
after Maryy Kom (Manipur) to win an
Olympic Bronze medal. This is the
country’s third medal at the ongoing
Olympics 2020 after PV Sindhu (Andhra
Pradesh) won bronze and Mirabai Chanu
(Manipur) won silver.
Bhubaneshwar
shwar in Odisha has become the
first city in the country to achieve 100%
vaccination coverage against Coronavirus.
Reportedly, 18 lakh 16 thousand people in
the city have been vaccinated. Around 1
lakh migrant population have also been
vaccinated with the first dose of COVID
vaccine.
PV Sindhu won a bronze medal in an
Olympics match on August 1, 2021. She
defeated China’s He Bingjiao. With this,
Sindhu has also become the first woman
from India to clinch two Olympic medals.
m
She has become the second Indian after
Sushil Kumar to win two individual
Olympics medals
India took over the Presidency of the UN
Security Council on August 1, 2021. The
country assumed the rotational presidency of
the 15 nation UNSC from France. This will
be India’s first UNSC Presidency during its
2021-22 tenure as a non-permanent
permanent member
of the Security Council. India last assumed
the presidency ten years ago.
Myanmar’s
mar’s military leader Min Aung
Hlaing has declared himself the Prime
Minister of the country. He also announced
that he plans to be in charge for 2 years
during an extended state of emergency and
will hold elections in 2023. In February
2021, Myanmar’s democratically
ocratically elected
government was overthrown by a military
coup.
5
Abdul Ghani Baradar likely to be the new Abdul Ghani Baradar, Taliban leader, is
President of Afghanistan likely to be the new President of
Afghanistan. As the country faces severe
politicall turmoil with the collapse of its
government, Baradar is expected to be the
new President of the country. He is a co-co
founder of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Updates reported from 16-31

31 July

News Narration
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Lok Sabha passed the Insolvency and
Code (Amendment) Bill, 2021, Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
passed The bill aims at introducing an alternative
insolvency resolution process for MSMEs,
called the pre-packaged
packaged insolvency
resolution process

Juvenile Justice (Care and
Protection of Children)
Amendment Bill, 2021 passed
Rajya Sabha passed the Juvenile Justice
(Care and Protection of Children)
Amendment Bill, 2021. The bill amends the
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of
Children) Act, 2015. The amendment was
taken
en up after it was found that over 7,600
children were living in extremely poor
conditions

Basavaraj Somappa Bommai is Senior BJP leader and son of the former CM
the new Chief Minister of of Karnataka, Basavaraj Somappa Bommai
Karnataka has become the 23rd Chief Minister of the
state. His oath ceremony was administered
by Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot. Former
CM Yediyurappa had earlier resigned
because of internal party pressure

Najib Mikati became new PM This will be Mikati’s third time serving
ving as the
of Lebanon Prime Minister of the country

6
Ariel Henry became the new
Prime Minister of Haiti
Henry become the PM, amid the ongoing
political turmoil because of the assassination
of President Jovenel Moise. Aerial Henry will
lead the country until a new President is
elected in September 2021

2032 Olympics to be hosted
by Brisbane
Brisbane won the right to host at the 138th
session of IOC members in Tokyo. With this,
the Olympics will be back to Australia after
32 years when Sydney had hosted it in 2000.
Melbourne was the first city in Australia to
host the event in 1956

Saudi Arabia allowed women
to attend Hajj without a male
guardian
Saudi Arabia also removed the requirement
of a male guardian for women attending
Hajj. The move by Saudi has been hailed by
the female pilgrims, as it follows the
Kingdom’s efforts to expand women’s rights.

Updates reported from 1-15

15 July

News Narration

Cristiano Ronaldo won The captain of Portugal football team was

the Golden boot at Euro honored after finishing as the top goalscorer.
2020 Ronaldo scored five goals for Portugal, same as
Patrick Schick of the Czech Republic

Italy won UEFA Euro 2020 They beat England 3-2 in penalty shoot-out
out
championship

Copa America 2020 Argentina beat Brazil 1-0 to win the title

Sher Bahadur Deuba After the order of Nepal’s Supreme Court,

became new Nepal PM President Bidya Devi Bhandari issued a letter
about Deuba’s announcement. As per the order,
the House of Representatives was also been
reinstated

7
Ladakh became the first The vaccinated population also includes the
UT to achieve 100% first guest population in the UT. A total of 89,404
COVID-19 vaccine dose citizens from all the eligible groups have been
coverage vaccinated with the first dose

West Indies player Chris He achieved this feat during the third T20I match
Gayle scored 14,000 runs between West Indies and Australia
in T20 history

Cryptocurrency Bill in the The bill suggests a ban on private

monsoon session of cryptocurrencies in India & facilitates the
Parliament creation of an official digital currency. The new
bill was taken up in the budget session of the
Parliament

Uttar Pradesh population The UP Government announced a new

bill, 2021 population bill on World Population Day on July
11, 2021. The
he draft of the population bill,
prepared by the UP Law Commission, aims at
controlling the population menace in the state.
UP is India’s most populous state, with a
population of around 220 million

International Cricket Sawhney came under the scanner for his conduct
Council CEO Manu during an internal audit by
Sawhney to exit with PricewaterhouseCoopers. Geoff Allardice will be
immediate effect the Acting CEO

Key portfolio changes Law & Justice - Kiren Rijiju

after cabinet reshuffle Railways - Ashwini Vaishnaw
PNG, Housing & Urban Affairs - Hardeep Singh
Puri
Health - Mansukh Mandavia
Civil aviation - Jyotiraditya Scindia
Co-operation - Amit Shah
Education, Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship - Dharmendra Pradhan dhan
Sports, I&B - Anurag Thakur

8
Government formed The ministry has been established with an aim of
Ministry of Cooperation, implementing the vision of ‘Sahkar se Samriddhi’
headed by Amit Shah or prosperity through cooperation

Jeff Bezos stepped down He resigned from his post 27 years after he
as CEO of Amazon founded the e-commerce
commerce company in a garage in
1994. CEO of Amazon Web Services Andy Jassy
succeeded Bezos as the new Amazon CEO. EO. Bezos
served as its CEO from April 2016 to July 2021

Updates reported from 16-30

30 June
News Narration

Atmanirbhar Krishi App launched The Government has launched Atma

Nirbhar Krishi App to provide the farmers
of the country with weather alerts and
actionable agricultural insights. It has
been available on the basic phone with
the information comprehensible to the
farmers which will also help in enhancing
the inclusivity in decision making.

T20 World Cup in UAE The International Cricket Council

ouncil has
confirmed that the ICC Men’s T20 World
Cup 2021 will be held in UAE and Oman
because of the ongoing COVID-19 19
situation in India. The tournament will
take place from October 17 till November
14, 2021, and BCCI will retain the hosting
rights.

9
Shafali Verma becomes the
youngest cricketer to debut in all Indian cricketer to debut in all formats.
formats of cricket
China launched bullet train near
the Indian border
Montek Ahluwalia became a
member of a group formed by
IMF, World Bank
Ebrahim Raisi becomes 8th
President of Iran
Shafali Verma hass become the youngest
She was picked for the first ODI against
England women. At the age of 17 years
and 150 days, Verma made her ODI debut
to achieve the feat and became the 5th
youngest cricketer on the list which
whic is
headed by Mujeeb Ur Rahman of
Afghanistan
China inaugurated its first fully electrified
bullet train in the Himalayan region of
Tibet. It connects provincial capital Lhasa
and Nyingchi, a town close to Arunachal
Pradesh. The train near the Indian border
will certainly give a strategic advantage to
the Chinese Government in case of a
conflict between the two countries
Montek Ahluwalia has become a member
of the High-Level
Level Advisory Group formed
by the IMF and World Bank. The group
has been formed amid the crisis posed by
pandemics and climate change. Ahluwalia
is a distinguished fellow at the Center for
Social and Economic Progress. He was
also the former deputy chairman of the
Planning Commission of India.
Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s ultra-conservative
conservative
cleric and judiciary chief, has been
elected as the 8th President of the
country. As per Iran’s Interior Ministry,
Ebrahim Raisi won 61.95% of the vote
during the Presidential elections in the
country. The new President will take up
office in early August 2021, replacing the
moderate President Hassan Rouhani.
10
Aashish Chandorkar appointed as The Indian Government has appointed
Director at India’s WTO mission Aashish Chandorkar as ‘Counsellor’ in
India’s Permanent Mission in World Trade
Organisation for three years. It will be the
first time that a private person has been
appointed to the mission. Aashish
Chandorkar is the co-founder
founder of
Bengaluru-based
based think tank Smahi
Foundation of Policy and Research.

Hydrogen Task Force launched
by India and the US
This was a part of strategic Clean Energy
partnership in order to boost India’s
energy security efforts. The Hydrogen
Task Force will represent the government
and industry stakeholders. It will also
study innovative policy options, assess
technology status and make
recommendations

Naftali Bennett became new PM He ended the 12-year

of Israel
Serbian Tennis Player Novak
Djokovic won the 19th Grand
Slam
year rule of Netanyahu.
The 12 member Knesset approved the
new coalition government in the country
and voted the religious-nationalist
nationalist as the
new premier of Israel
The star tennis player from Serbia, Novak
Djokovic won the 19th Grand Slam in the
French Open Final. He became the first
tennis player to win all the four majors
twice. In the French Open Final, the
player defeated 22 years old Stefanos
Tsitsipas

Social media giant Twitter lost
intermediary status
Twitter, a social media giant, lost
immunity in India as the platform failed
to comply with the new social media
guidelines of the Indian Government.
Twitter will no longer be protected under
Section 79 of the IT Act and will now be
liable for all the content on its platform

11
Satya Nadella became
ecame the new
Microsoft chairman
China sent three astronauts to its The first three men crew was launched by
new Space Station
Updates reported from 1-15
15 June
Position
President, CII
Grievance Officer, WhatsApp
Election Commissioners
Chairman (Interim), Central Board of
Direct Taxes
Director, CBI
Chairman, National Human Rights
Commission of India
Chairman, National Committee of
Scheduled Castes
Secretary General, UN Conference on Rebecca Grynspan
Trade and development
President, UN General Assembly
New York
News
Nadella, the current CEO replaced John
Thompson from the position. Earlier in
2014, he had replaced Steve Ballmer as
the CEO
China to its new Space Station. This was
the country’s first crewed mission in five
years. The 3 astronauts traveled in
Shenzhou-12 12 spaceship. It was also the
3rd of the 11 missions required to
complete the country’s space station by
2022.
Appointments
TV Narendran
Paresh B Lal
Anup Chandra Pandey, Rajiv Kumar
Jagannath Bidyadhar Mohapatra
Subodh Kumar Jaiswal
Arun Kumar Mishra
Vijay Sampla
Abdullah Shahid
Narration
12
French open 2021
Pulitzer Prize 2021
China ended two child policy
Business Awareness
Key Corporate Positions
Position
Chairman, SBI
MD, SBI
CEO, IBM
CEO, Alphabet Inc.
MD, Microsoft India
MD & CEO, Vodafone-Idea
Chairman & MD, ITC
MD & CEO, Yes Bank
CMD, SIDBI
CEO, HDFC Bank
Men’s singles - Novak Djokovic Beat
Stefanos Tsitsipas to win his 19th
Grand Slam title. He has become the
first tennis player to win all the four
majors twice
Women’s singles - Barbora
Krejčíková won the Women's Singles
tennis title at the 2021 French Open,
defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
in the final, 6–1, 2–6, 6–4
Megha Rajagopalan won the Prize for
innovative investigative reports
exposing infrastructure of prisons
and mass internment camps which
were built secretly by China and
detained Muslims in Xinjiang region
The decision was taken by the
government after the data over the
past decade indicated the slowest
population growth in the country
Personality
Dinesh Kumar Khara
1. Ashwani Bhatia, 2. C.S. Setty
3. J Swaminathan, 4. Ashwini Kumar Tewari
Arvind Krishna
Sundar Pichai
Rajiv Kumar
Ravinder Takkar
Sanjiv Puri
Prashant Kumar
S Ramann
Shashidhar Jagdishan
13
CEO, Standard Chartered India Zarin Daruwala
Chairman, Tata Sons N. Chandrasekaran
CEO, Infosys Salil Parekh
MD & CEO, NSE Vikram Limaye
MD & CEO, BSE Ashishkumar Chauhan
MD & CEO, NCDEX Vijay Kumar Venkataraman
CEO & MD, MCX P S Reddy
Chairman, NASSCOM UB Pravin Rao
Chairman, LIC M R Kumar
Head, Whatsapp India Abhijit Bose
MD & CEO, Paytm Payments Bank Satish Kumar Gupta
MD & CEO, IDBI Bank Rakesh Sharma
VP & MD, Facebook India Ajit Mohan
CEO & MD, Axis Bank Amitabh Chaudhry
COO & MD, ICICI Sandeep Bakshi
MD, Colgate-Palmolive
Palmolive India Ram Raghavan
President, FICCI Uday Shankar
President, ASSOCHAM Vineet Agarwal

Business Awards
Title Category Awardee
ASSOCHAM Award Enterprise of the Century Ratan Tata
2020
EY Entrepreneur of Lifetime Achievement Prathap Chandra Reddy,
The Year Awards (Apollo Hospitals)
2020 EY Entrepreneur of 2020 Harsh Mariwala (Marico)
Business Transformation Byju Raveendran (BYJU’S)
award
Start--up category award Peyush Bansal (Lenskart
Solutions)
Lifetime Achievement Cyrus Poonawalla (Serum
award Institute of India)
Forbes India
Best CEO - Private Sector Salil Parekh (Infosys)
Leadership Awards
Entrepreneur of the Year Byju Raveendran (Byju’s)
2020
GenNext Entrepreneur of Sharvil Patel (Cadila
the Year Healthcare)

14
Business, economy & trade

News Narration
Global predictions on Global forecasting firm Oxford Economics lowered
Indian economy India’s GDP growth forecast for FY 2021
2021-22 from
11.8% to 10.2%. This follows earlier projections by
IMF - 12.5%, S&P Global Rankings - 11%, Economic
Survey of India - 11%, RBI - 10.5% for FY 2021-22
2021

Flipkart acquired Cleartrip All Cleartrip employees will be retained. Cleartrip

for USD 40 million in will continue to operate as a separate brand and
distress sale work closely with
th Flipkart to further develop
technology solutions

China became world's New investments by overseas businesses into the

leading FDI destination, US, which held the top spot for decades, fell by
49% in 2020. China, which was since long ranked at
surpassing the US, as per
the second spot, saw 4% upsurge in direct
UNCTAD investments by foreign companies

The Indian Oil Octane ratings are a measure of a fuel's ability to

Corporation launched the avoid knock. It will initially be available at select
first ever 100 Octane IOC outlets in 10 cities
petrol ‘XP 100’ in the
country

RBI’s Internal Working Internal Working Group (IWG) headed by PK

Group (IWG) Mohanty recommended the guarded entry of
recommendations corporate houses into the banking space,
conversion
ion of NBFCs into banks and Payment Banks
into SFB, hike in promoters’ stake, amongst others

15
Finance Minister Key Highlights
announced Economic
● Production Linked Incentive Scheme for 10
Stimulus Package 4.0
sectors. Rs 1.46 trillion to be allotted
● Rs 6,940 crore scheme to promote manufacture
of API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients)
● Rs 18,000 crores allocated to Pradhan Mantri
Awas Yojana (Urban). The implementation of the
programme will generate 7.8 million jobs
● Rs 10,200 crores for industrial infras
infrastructure,
green energy and defence equipment
Rs 3,000 crores for IDEAS Scheme
Rs 10,000 crores to Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan
Yojana, to be utilised for MGNREGA or for Pradhan
Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.
Rs 65,000 crores was allocated for fertilizer
subsidies
Rs 6,000 crores for National Investment and
Infrastructure Funds

Line of Credit for central India announced an additional Line of Credit worth
Asia USD 1 billion for development projects in Central
Asian countries
India was the 9th largest In its World Investment Report 2020, The UN
recipient of FDI in 2019 Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
reported that India received USD 51 billion of
foreign investments in 2019

16