Notes:
Mohammed Ayazuddin Patel, a Kalaburagi-based artist, has bagged the Senior Fellowship Award for 2016-17 instituted by the Centre for Cultural Resources and Training Centre, an autonomous organisation under the Union Ministry of Culture. The fellowship, which carries a cash of Rs 4.8 lakh, is offered to those eligible to work on a particular subject in the field of art and culture for two years. Mr. Patel is selected to work on Deccan Heritage with a special reference to Bahmani Sultanate through his digital painting. He is the only artist from Karnataka selected for the fellowship for the year. Mr. Patel has extensively travelled across the globe and exhibited his artworks in 24 countries. He is also the recipient of National Lalitkala Academy award in 2014. As a freelance artist, he is currently serving as member of the Karnataka Lalithakala Academy.

Notes:
On July 26, Bollywood actress Sharmila Tagore has been conferred D Litt (Honoris Causa) by West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi at a special convocation of Kazi Nazrul University (KNU) held at the Raj Bhawan. Tripathi, who is also the university Chancellor, also conferred D.Sc. (Honoris Causa) on renowned scientist at the Bhaba Atomic Research Centre, S M Yusuf at the same occasion. Beside this, Kazi Nazrul University had conferred honorary D Litt on Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during its third convocation at its Asansol campus on May 26.

Notes:
Swapan Sarkar (67), the Veteran sports journalist, has passed away in New Delhi on July 26, 2018. He was a versatile sports writer and covered football, tennis, cricket, badminton, table tennis and athletics for his publications. He worked for a number of dailies and was also the Delhi sports correspondent of Ananda Bazaar Patrika (ABP) from mid 1990’s. Earlier, he had worked for Kolkata’s english daily Amrita Bazar Patrika (ABP) and Northern India Patrika. He has briefly worked for Gujarat Samachar. Sarkar was a regular in the Delhi sports circuit having covered events like 1982 Asian Games, 2010 Commonwealth Games along with tournaments like Nehru Cup, Federation Cup, Durand Cup and DCM. He has also covered events like Davis Cup, National Athletics meet.

Notes:
The museum for all former Prime Ministers of India will be constructed in the Teen Murti Bhavan complex that houses the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) in New Delhi. The decision was taken at the 43rd annual general meeting of the NMML chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on July 26, 2018. The Teen Murti Bhavan complex is spread over 25 acres and the present museum for Jawaharlal Nehru occupied half an acre. The new museum would be constructed at a cost of Rs 270 crore and will be separate from the existing structure of the Nehru Memorial. The NMML, as per the Memorandum of Association, is mandated with five tasks and maintenance of a museum of Nehru “personalia, memorabilia’’, and other objects pertaining to his life and the freedom movement is just one of them. The other tasks include acquiring, maintaining and preserving papers of nationalist leaders of modern India and other eminent Indians; establishing and maintaining a library on the history of modern India; and facilitating research in modern Indian history.

Notes:
The ambitious scheme of Chhattisgarh government “Sanchar Kranti Yojna” has been launched by President Ram Nath Kovind at Jagdalpur in the Naxal-affected Bastar region of the state on July 27, 2018. Under the scheme, 50 lakh smartphones will be distributed free of cost to rural households, urban poor and college students across the state. The scheme, at an outlay of Rs 1,467.90 crore, is aimed at increasing mobile penetration in a state, which is the lowest in the country at 29% against the national average of 68%.

Notes:
The Global Disability Summit 2018 was held at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, England on 24th July 2018. It was co-hosted by the UK government with the International Disability Alliance (IDA) and the Government of Kenya to galvanize global efforts to address disability inclusion around the world. The motto of the Conference was to firm up the commitments of the country leaders towards the cause of persons with disabilities. From India, Thaawarchand Gehlot, the Union Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment, attended the summit. Besides India, global leaders from more than 40 countries attended the summit and have committed themselves to work in the direction of economic empowerment of persons with disabilities. The purpose of the summit was to raise global attention and focus on a neglected area.

Notes:
The book ‘Gandhi: The Years That Changed The World (1914-1948)’ has been authored by Ramachandra Guha, the renowned historian and author. It will be published by Penguin Random House India and will come in public domain in September 2018. As per sources, the book will not only narrate the story of Gandhi’s life, from his departure from South Africa to his dramatic assassination in 1948, but also the history of our freedom movement and its many strands. The book will also include new readings of Gandhi ji’s arguments with B.R. Ambedkar, Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Subhas Chandra Bose, among others.

Notes:
The citizen centric online portal “Innovate India Platform” has been jointly launched by NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and MyGov on July 26, 2018. The portal will serve as the common point for all the innovation happening across the nation. Through the portal, users can view, comment, share, and rate the innovations crowdsourced on the #InnovateIndia platform. They can view the leaderboard which is calculated based on the votes on each innovation. Citizens can also share their or other organisations’ innovation on the platform by logging into the MyGov website. These innovations can also be shared on various social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter.

Notes:
The Government of India (GoI) has approved a new scheme ” Mahila Shakti Kendra” to empower rural women through community participation. The cost for implementing the scheme from 2017-18 up to 2019-20 would be shared in the 60:40 ratio between the Centre and states, except for North East and Special Category States where the ratio is 90:10. The scheme is envisaged to work at various levels and at the national level (domain based knowledge support) and state level (State Resource Centre for Women) technical support to the respective governments on issues related to women is provided. This information was given by Minister of State for Women and Child Development, DR. Virendra Kumar in reply to an Unstarred Question in the Rajya Sabha on July 26, 2018.

Notes:
Two Indians, Dr. Bharat Vatwani and Sonam Wangchuk are named among the six winners of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for the year 2018. The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation stated in its citation that Vatwani is being recognised for his tremendous courage and healing compassion in embracing India’s mentally-afflicted destitutes. Wangchuk has been recognised for his uniquely systematic, collaborative and community-driven reform of learning systems in remote northern India, improving the life opportunities of Ladakhi youth in Jammu and Kashmir. The others award winners are from Cambodia, East Timor, Philippines and Vietnam. The Magsaysay Award winners will each receive a certificate, a medallion bearing the image of the late Filipino leader Ramon Magsaysay, and a cash prize. They will be conferred with the Magsaysay Award during a formal presentation ceremony at the Cultural Centre in the Philippines on August 31, 2018. The award is often referred to as the Asian version of the Nobel Prize.