Notes:
The two-day Chief Electoral Officers’ Conference of all States and Union Territories has been inaugurated by Chief Election Commissioner Achal Kumar Joti and Election Commissioner OP Rawat in New Delhi on August 18, 2017. The event is being organised by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to review performance as well as to explore new initiatives and improve the election management and voter experience. The conference stressed on the need of providing E-services to stakeholders and emphasised the requirement to develop E-Payment gateways for various election services of Election commission. It also stressed the need for extensive training programmes on Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) as the ECI has decided to conduct all future elections using it along with Electronic Voting Machines.

Notes:
Arun Jaitley, the Union Minister of Finance, Defense and Corporate Affairs, was the Chief Guest at the National Conference on ” Insolvency and Bankruptcy: Changing Paradigm”, which was held at Mumbai on August 19, 2017. Besides inaugurating the conference, Jaitley also launched the website for National federation for corporate governance. The one-day National Conference is being jointly organized by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), National Foundation for Corporate Governance (NFCG) and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) to facilitate the better understanding of intricacies of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC)- 2016, share the experiences gained during the initial nine months and also discuss the challenges that need to be overcome.

Notes:
The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has constituted a technical committee for the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which is proposed to be held from November 20-28, 2017 in Goa. The technical committee will have 12 members and will be chaired by Nagesh Kukunoor. The I&B ministry has also constituted a steering committee which will have 13 members, including film director Nagesh Kukunoor, lyricist Prasoon Joshi, Jahnu Barua (convener), Piyush Pandey, creative director of Ogilvy & Mather (India), and film director and producer Shoojit Sarcar. The director of NFDC is also a member of the committee.

Notes:
The World Humanitarian Day (WHD) is observed every year on August 19 to pay tribute to aid workers who risk their lives in humanitarian service, and to rally support for people affected by crises around the world. The 2017 WHD campaign “#NotATarget” follows the UN Secretary-General’s report on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, which was launched recently. Through a global online campaign, United Nations (UN) in partnership with Facebook Live will raise voices to advocate for the most vulnerable people in war zones, and demand that world leaders do everything in their power to protect civilians in conflict.

Notes:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently appointed career diplomat Nikolay Kudashev as Russia’s new ambassador to India. The appointment of Kudashev comes nearly seven months after the death of Russia’s previous ambassador to India Alexander Kadakin. Kudashev, a specialist in South East Asia, is currently the Deputy Director General Secretariat of the Ministry of foreign Affairs of Russia.

Notes:
The Dr Vishwanath Karad MIT World Peace University (MITWPU), the first of its kind in India, has recently inaugurated by chief minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis in Pune. The purpose of the university is to visualize education through a holistic outlook of knowledge building to establish peace and harmony in the world. Beside this, a two-day ‘Global Summit Science and Spirituality for World Peace’ was also organised at Swami Vivekananda Mandap at MIT World Peace University to discuss issues of national and international importance and how a different outlook towards education could solve many of them.

Notes:
Tata Power has become the first power utility to introduce a QR code based bill payments system in India. The QR code linked to Unified Payments Interface (UPI) will be printed on the electricity bills. The customers can scan the QR code with BHIM app or any other UPI linked bank app and pay their bills without any hassle. The bill details will be displayed on the app, post which the customer can authorise the payment within a few seconds and his bill will be paid instantaneously. Some of the advantages of QR code service are that the consumer need not visit any Tata Power bill collection/ customer relation centre or any other payment avenues and can make the payment from the comfort of his home/office or on-the-go. The Tata Power Company Limited is an Indian electric utility company based in Mumbai, Maharashtra and is part of the Tata Group.

Notes:
Dr. Mamta Suri has taken charge as Executive Director of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) in New Delhi on August 16, 2017. Before joining IBBI, Dr. Suri was serving as Chief General Manager, Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDAI). The IBBI is the regulator for overseeing insolvency proceedings and entities like Insolvency Professional Agencies (IPA), Insolvency Professionals (IP) and Information Utilities (IU) in India. Madhusudan Sahoo is the current chairman of the organization.

Notes:
The 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup will be held in India from October 6 to 28, which is first-ever FIFA tournament in India. It is in news because the curtain raiser function for FIFA U-17 World Cup was held in Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi on August 19, 2017. The trophy for FIFA World Cup was also displayed at the stadium. The objective of the programme was to promote football in India, especially among children and youth.

Notes:
The Periyar National Park (PNR) is a protected area near Thekkady in the districts of Idukki, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta in Kerala and covers an area of 925 km2. It is notable as both elephant reserve and tiger reserve. The park is made up of tropical evergreen and moist deciduous forests, grasslands, stands of eucalyptus, and lake and river ecosystems. It is surrounded by agricultural regions such as tea, cardamom, and coffee. It is also home to gaur, sambar, wild pig, Indian giant squirrel, Travancore flying squirrel, jungle cat, sloth bear, Nilgiri tahr, lion-tailed macaque, Nilgiri langur, etc.