Notes:
The 10-day festival of the historic Esala Maha Perehera has started in Kandy, Sri Lanka on August 17 with a grand procession. The procession set off from the biggest Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka, Sri Dalada Maligawa at an auspicious time. The Esala Perahera is one of the oldest and grandest of all Buddhist festivals in Sri Lanka, featuring dancers, jugglers, musicians, fire-breathers and lavishly decorated elephants. This is held in Esala (July or August) which is the month that is believed to commemorate the first teaching given by the Buddha after he attained enlightenment. The purpose of the procession is to beseech the blessings of the Gods to obtain rain for the cultivation of crops and to enrich the lands of the kingdom. This ritual is performed by carrying the sacred tooth relic of the Buddha through the streets and is considered as one of the most beautiful pageants in Asia. The festival ends with the traditional diya-kepeema ritual, a water cutting ceremony which is held at the Mahaweli River at Getambe, Kandy.

Notes:
On August 17, the 2018 International Conference on Recent Advances in Food Processing Technology (iCRAFPT) has started at Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology (IIFPT), Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu with theme “Doubling farmers’ income through food processing”. The 3-day conference is the valuable and important platform for inspiring international and interdisciplinary exchange at the forefront of food research. In it, internationally renowned speakers will share their research experiences in the areas of advances in food engineering and its industrial applications, food product development, food biotechnology, nano foods. The IIFPT is the premier national Institute working under the administrative control of Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) and its headquarters is located in Thanjavur.

Notes:
Teen cyclist Esow Alben (17) has scripted history by winning the India’s first junior cycling World Cup medal — a silver at the men’s keirin event in the UCI Junior Track Cycling World 2018. He put enormous pressure on Czech Republic’s Jakub Stastny in the final sprint before settling for the silver medal. Esow finished just 0.017 seconds behind gold medallist Stastny in the thrilling photo-finish of a race. Alben, who hails from Andaman & Nicobar Islands, trains in Delhi at the Sports Authority of India (SAI)’s National Cycling Academy (NCA). Esow is now the top-ranked junior cyclist for the sprint event and is No. 3 for keirin, where the cyclists sprint for victory on a track following a controlled start.

Notes:
The IIT Kharagpur has decided to set up a Re-Water Research Center to replenish and rejuvenate water resources. It will be seed-funded by two alumni members – Aneesh Reddy & Aditya Choubey. The purpose of the ‘Aditya Choubey Center for Re-Water Research’ is to tackle the challenge of resolving two burning issues faced by urban India – sewage disposal and access to clean potable water. The institute will set up an on-campus plant which will convert 1.35 million litre of sewage water from the hostels to 1.2 million litre of potable water, on a daily basis. The project is being developed to attract potential entrepreneurs and government agencies to take up sewage treatment at a large scale and with a business model for banks to gain confidence in funding such businesses. The pilot plant is expected to be ready by March 2019.

Notes:
KS Srinivas, a 1997 batch IAS officer of the Kerala cadre, has been appointed the new Chairman of Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA). Prior to this post, he served as Joint Secretary in Department of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare. The MPEDA was constituted in 1972 under the MPEDA Act 1972 and is headquartered at Kochi. It is given the mandate to promote the marine products industry with special reference to exports from the country. It is also empowered to carry out inspection of marine products, its raw material, fixing standards, specifications and training as well as take all necessary steps for marketing the seafood overseas.

Notes:
Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has been re-elected as the new President of Mali for a five-year term after winning a landslide in a runoff ballot. He picked up 67.17% of the vote against 32.83% for opposition challenger and former finance minister Soumaila Cisse. Keita will take office on September and his immediate challenges include strengthening a 2015 peace accord between the government, its allies, and former Tuareg rebels. Mali is a landlocked nation home to at least 20 ethnic groups where the majority of people live on less than $2 a day.

Notes:
Aretha Franklin (76), the legendary US singer and pianist, has passed away in Michigan, U.S on August 16, 2018. The “Queen of Soul” was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and made her debut in 1961. Her style on such hits as “Respect” and “Natural Woman” attracted fans all over the world. She received the Grammy Award 18 times and was the first female vocalist to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Franklin performed at the inaugurations of three Presidents of the United States — Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama.

Notes:
Rajabhau Godse (57), the former Shiv Sena Member of Parliament (MP) from Nashik , has passed away in Nasik, Maharashtra on August 17, 2018. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Nashik constituency in 1996. He had also been the city and district unit chief of the Sena after starting his political career as Sarpanch of village Sansari in the district.

Notes:
The 11th World Hindi Conference 2018 (WHC) has started in Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius, with theme “Hindi World and Indian Culture” on August 18. It was organized by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India (GoI) in association with the Government of Mauritius. More than 2000 delegates from India and various countries of the world will deliberate on 8 subtopics on 2018 theme during the 3-day conference. The aim of the Conference is to expand the reach of the Hindi language at a global level. The WHC was started in 1975 to make the Hindi language a medium of service and knowledge and enable it to move forward with the time. Since then, Hindi has made remarkable progress and it has become one of the prominent languages of the world.

Notes:
India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has revised down India’s GDP growth to 7.2% for FY19 from 7.4% earlier in its latest report titled ‘Mid-year FY19 Outlook’. The key reason for this is the upward revision in the estimation of inflation for 2018-19 due to increasing crude oil prices and the government’s decision to fix the minimum support prices of all kharif crops at 1.5 times the production cost. On rupee, the rating agency stated that in 2018, rupee has already depreciated 7.7% till July in response to elevated global turbulence, worsening of current account, rising inflation and concerns related to fiscal deficit. It expects the aggregate fiscal deficit of the states to moderate to 2.8% of GDP. Ind-Ra is one of the India’s most respected credit rating agency that provides ratings, research and rigorous analytics of market in India. The headquarters of Ind-Ra is located in Mumbai and is belong to Fitch group.