Notes:
Sushma Swaraj, the Union External Affairs Minister, will inaugurate India’s first Videsh Bhavan on August 27, 2017 at the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai, Maharashtra. As a first pilot project, four offices of MEA – Regional Passport Office (RPO), Protector of Emigrants (PoE) office, Branch Secretariat and Regional Office of ICCR – have been assimilated and brought under one roof at the state-of-art office. The pilot project of the Videsh Bhavan of Mumbai is part of the Centre’s policy to bring together different offices of the MEA under a single roof and work closely with states as more and more Indians are going abroad for employment, education, business and tourism. In other words, the “Videsh Bhavan” at Mumbai is the first integrated office complex of the Ministry of External Affairs established in any State of India.

Notes:
Andhra Pradesh’s Eastern Power Distribution Company Ltd (EPDCL) and the Southern Power Distribution Corporation of AP Ltd. (SPDCL) have become the India’s first state-owned distribution companies to accept payments through Bharat QR. The Bharat QR is the world’s first interoperable quick response code acceptance solution launched by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). It is secure, network-agnostic interface that enables customers to use their smartphones to make payments without divulging information like card numbers and CVV. To pay power bills via Bharat QR, customers must log in to their bank’s app and scan the QR code on their electricity bill for instant payment. Alternatively, they may enter their unique customer IDs online and generate a QR code that can be scanned using their bank’s app.

Notes:
Nandan Nilekani, the Infosys co-founder and the architect of Aadhaar, has been appointed as the new non-executive chairman of the board of directors of Infosys. The sweeping changes have been made to the board in an attempt to restore stability after the resignation of Vishal Sikka as CEO, and a bitter rift between Narayana Murthy and the board came to the fore. Nilekani’s appointment will allow Infosys to focus on the strategic changes it needs to make in order to capitalize on the attractive opportunities in the years ahead. Nilekani served as Infosys’s CEO from 2002 to 2007.

Notes:
Tony de Brum (72), the former Marshall Islands foreign, has passed away in Majuro, Marshall Islands on August 22, 2017. He was the leading advocate for the landmark Paris Agreement and an internationally recognised voice in the fight against climate change. de Brum also fought against nuclear weapons and for his nation’s independence.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet has recently increased the ‘creamy layer’ ceiling for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category to Rs 8 lakh per annum from the existing Rs 6 lakh for central government jobs. With this, those in the OBC category earning up to Rs 8 lakh per annum would now get reservation benefits.

Notes:
The Haryana government will organize Digital Haryana Summit (DHS) in Gurugram on September 15, 2017 to discuss issues like digital governance, smart living in cities and villages, citizen partnership, entrepreneurship, skilling and geo-governance and sustainability, among others. The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) will be partner for this event and the summit would be organised as a part of the state’s Swarna Jayanti celebrations. The purpose of the summit is to bring together different stakeholders and develop a singular agenda for the digital transformation of Haryana, in line with the Digital India initiative.

Notes:
The book “I Do What I Do” has been authored by Rahguram Rajan, the former RBI governor. This book conveys what it was like to be at the helm of RBI in those turbulent but exciting times. Rajan explains economic concepts in a readily accessible way. Equally, he addresses key issues that are not in any banking manual but essential to growth: the need for tolerance and respect to assure India’s economic progress, for instance, or the connection between political freedom and prosperity. The book is published by HarperCollins India and will be launched in Chennai on 4th September 2017, exactly a year after Rajan quit as RBI governor.

Notes:
Sanjivani Jadhav from India, a marathon runner from Nashik, has clinched silver medal in the women’s 10,000-metre at the 29th World University Games in Taipei, Taiwan on August 24, 2017. Earlier, she won a bronze in the 5000 metres at the Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar in July 2017.

Notes:
According to 2017 report by the United Nations World Tourism (UNWTO), the island of Tuvalu was the least visited country in 2016. Only 2,000 people ventured to the South Pacific paradise of Tuvalu in 2016. The latest report reveals that there are 15 least-visited countries globally. Kiribati is the 2nd least visited country, followed by Sao Tome and Principe, Montserrat, Comoros, Djibouti, San Marino, Timor-Leste, Liechtenstein, Sierra Leone, Anguilla, Moldova, Bangladesh, Bhutan and French Guiana.

Notes:
The Murlen National Park (MNP) is located in the Champhai district of Mizoram and covers an area of 200 square kilometres. The tropical, semi-evergreen and sub montane Forests of Murlen are home to a rich variety of flora and fauna. It is home to the tiger, leopard, sambar, barking deer, Malayan giant squirrel, Hume’s pheasant, etc. About 15 species of mammals, 150 species of birds, 35 species of Medicinal plants, 2 species of bamboos, and 4 species of orchids so far have been recorded in this Park.