Notes:
In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court has declared right to privacy a fundamental right under the constitution on August 24, 2017. A nine-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar ruled that right to privacy is an intrinsic part of Right to Life and Personal Liberty under Article 21 and entire Part III of the Constitution. The ruling on the highly contentious issue was to deal with a batch of petitions challenging the Centre’s move to make Aadhaar mandatory for availing the benefits of various social welfare schemes. Others members of the bench comprising Justices J Chelameswar, S A Bobde, R K Agrawal, R F Nariman, A M Sapre, D Y Chandrachud, S K Kaul and S Abdul Nazeer also shared the same view. The nine judges unanimously overruled the two earlier judgements of the apex court that right to privacy is not protected under the Constitution.

Notes:
The International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is observed every year by UNESCO on August 23 to pay tribute to all those who fought for freedom, and, in their name, to continue teaching about their story and the values therein.

Notes:
Microsoft has launched its ‘Project Brainwave’ deep learning acceleration platform for real-time artificial intelligence (AI). With the help of ultra-low latency, the system processes requests as fast as it receives them. The ‘Project Brainwave’ uses the massive Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) infrastructure that Microsoft has been deploying over the past few years. The real-time AI is becoming increasingly important as cloud infrastructures process live data streams, whether they be search queries, videos, sensor streams, or interactions with users.

Notes:
The first edition of Miss Transqueen India, a beauty pageant for transgenders, will take place in Gurugram, Haryana on August 27, 2017. Like other beauty pageants, the contestants will have to go through swimming costume, traditional wear, evening gown and question-answer rounds. The winner will go to Thailand for Miss International Queen and the first runner-up will compete at Miss Transsexual Australia.

Notes:
Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Minister of Odisha, has launched a grid-connected rooftop solar programme through the net-metering system at the State Secretariat in Bhubaneshwar in a bid to enable public participation to harness renewable energy. The State government will provide 30% subsidy to the consumers belonging to residential and institutional segments as well as to registered societies and trusts. At present, current investment for installation of a rooftop project is around Rs 70,000 per KW. The web portal “www.rtsodisha.gov.in” was also launched that will provide an opportunity to the stakeholders to interact with customers for timely delivery of services online. Under the programme, consumers can instal solar plants on their rooftops and consume the generated solar power during day time. Excess power can be sold to the grid at 220 v/440 v levels through service cables. The program is being implemented by Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA).

Notes:
The Karnataka Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with software giant Microsoft India to develop a unique “farm price forecasting model” using latest IT tools in a bid to help farmers, administrators and other stakeholders to understand the market behaviour in advance. The proposed initiative is said to be the first-of-its-kind in the country as it is a multi-variate one that takes into consideration various factors beyond the conventional supply-demand equation while forecasting the prices for crops. It will examine a slew of related factors including weather, rainfall and external factors that impact market behaviour. The model is expected to be in place for major crops by next kharif crops.

Notes:
The 2017 International Military Music Festival “Spasskaya Tower” has started in Moscow, Russia on August 24 and will continue till September 3, 2017. The Indian Navy Band “Tri- Services” is participating in the fest. It is the parade of the best military music bands of Russia and other countries that takes place every year at Red Square in Moscow. This Music Festival is a mega event, where military musicians represent the variety of national, artistic and military traditions of the world. Every year about 1500 musicians, military men and other artists from around 40 countries perform at the “Spasskaya Tower”. The Festival is duly considered one of the largest international events in Russia and attracts tremendous response of the general public.

Notes:
The Palamau Tiger Reserve (PTR) is located in Latehar District of Jharkhand and covers an area of 1,129.93 square kilometres. Apart from tigers and elephants, leopards, gaurs, sambars and wild dogs live in the reserve. It forms part of Betla National Park and Palamau Wildlife Sanctuary.

Notes:
Rajiv Bansal, the 1988 batch IAS officer of Nagaland cadre, has been appointed as the new Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Air India for three months. Bansal, who is additional secretary and financial adviser at the petroleum ministry, will replace Ashwani Lohani — who has been appointed as the Chairman of Railway Board. It must be noted that Bansal is taking over as Air India CMD at a time when the government is working on the modalities for the disinvestment of the loss-making national carrier. He had served at the civil aviation ministry between 2006 and 2008.

Notes:
The 9th meeting of heads of Governments of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states on disaster prevention and relief has started at Choplon Ata in Kyrgyz Republic on August 24, 2017. The 2-day meeting will focus on prevention and elimination of emergency situations. The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is leading the Indian delegation which includes senior officers from Home and External Affairs Ministries and National Disaster Management Authority. The participation of India as SCO Member will open additional opportunities for giving new impetus to the development of international cooperation in the field of protecting the population and territories from emergency situations within the framework of the Organisation.