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The Kerala government has recently launched a new ‘E-Waste Disposal’ scheme in its state schools with an aim to process the electronic waste in the IT labs, offices and stores. Through this scheme, over 1 crore kilogram of e-waste from over 10,000 schools and offices will be scientifically recycle, and the funds earned through this e-waste disposal will be used to buy new computers for the same institutions. The E-waste includes old monitors, mouses, keyboards and UPS, among other things that have been lying unused since 2000 in the state. The programme is a joint initiative of Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE), formerly IT@School project and Clean Kerala Company.

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Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has recently conferred the Biju Patnaik Award for Scientific Excellence for the year 2016 to Prof Digambar Behera. Behera is senior professor and Head, Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh. Beside this, Prof Prasanta Mohapatra, a professor at the University of California, was also conferred this award for 2015. The award was instituted by Odisha Bigyan Academy (OBA) and is given to any Odia scientist working anywhere in India or abroad each year for his/her lifetime research contributions in the field of science and technology.

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The first edition of Rural Games or Grameen Khel Mahotsav will kick-start from Delhi and will take place between 28th August to 3rd September 2017. The purpose of the Rural Games is to popularize the indigenous games like wrestling and athletics and will also have fun games like Matka Race, Tug of War for senior citizens. In the first stage, the games will be held in Alipur, Mehrauli, Nangloi, Najafgarh and Shahadara where ten thousand youngsters will participate. The Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports will also launch sports talent search portal. The portal will enable any person from across country to upload his information and as per that the Ministry will tap their talent and train them further in their respective disciplines.

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) appointed committee on Household Finance has recently recommended that banks should link their home loan rates to the RBI’s repo rate, the rate at which it lends to banks. The committee, whose recommendations are not binding, suggests that this will allow for better and more transparent transmission of interest rates in the economy to individuals. As per recommendations, banks should quote loans to customers using the RBI repo rate rather than based on their own MCLR rates. This would make it easier for customers to compare rates at the time of purchase. The committee was chaired by Dr Tarun Ramadorai, who is Professor of Financial Economics, Imperial College Business School in London. The committee has also recommended that all banks use the same reset period of one month for loans. Under the current system, floating rate loans have a fixation period of roughly one year. The report argues that the current system impedes monetary transmission mechanism and does not allow borrowers to immediately benefit from interest rate drops.

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The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has recently signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nepal (ICAN) to establish mutual co-operation for the advancement of accounting knowledge, professional and intellectual development, advancing the interests of their respective members and positively contributing to the development of the accounting profession in Nepal and India. ICAI has a membership base of over 5,000 members in Nepal. The ICAI was established on July 1, 1949 as a statutory body under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 enacted by the to regulate the profession of Chartered Accountancy in India. Its headquarters is located in New Delhi.

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Venkaiah Naidu, the Vice President of India, will officially launch the Sports Ministry’s much- awaited National Sports Talent Search Portal at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on August 28, 2017. The portal will provide a three step simple process for registration, profile creation and upload of achievements. Approx 1000 kids will be selected and they will receive scholarships of Rs 5 lakh per year for eight years. It will be available in English and other regional languages so that it is easier for any boy or girl who is talented in a particular sport to upload his or her achievements from any part of the country. The portal will also be available as App which can be downloaded on smartphones.

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Nirmala Sitharaman, the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, has constituted a task force on Artificial Intelligence (AI) for India’s economic transformation. The 18-member panel, headed by Dr. V. Kamakoti of IIT Madras, will comprise of experts, academics, researchers and industry leaders. It will explore possibilities to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) for development across various fields. In addition to regular members, it will have official participation from NITI Aayog, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Department of Science & Technology, UIDAI and DRDO. The task force will submit concrete and implementable recommendations for government, industry and research institutions.

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Jay Thomas (69), the well-known comic and character actor, has passed away in California, United States. In addition to playing Eddie LeBec in “Cheers”, Jay played obnoxious TV talk show host Jerry Gold on “Murphy Brown” from 1989 until 1998, and also had his own sit-com, “Love and War”, from 1992 until 1995. He was also a regular guest on David Letterman’s talk show during the festive season.

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The Chitwan National Park (CNP) is located in the subtropical Inner Terai lowlands of south-central Nepal and covers an area of 932 square kilometres. The park is considered to have the highest population density of sloth bears with an estimated 200 to 250 individuals. It is also home to golden jackals, fishing cats, jungle cats, leopard cats, large and small Indian civets, Asian palm civets, crab-eating mongooses and yellow-throated martens.

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Saina Nehwal from India has won bronze in the 2017 women’s singles World Badminton championships (WBC). In the first women’s singles semi-final at Glasgow, Nehwal lost to Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in three games 12-21, 21-17, 21-10. It must be noted that Okuhara is the first shuttler from Japan to reach the finals of World Championship. Apart from this, Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu from India has won 2nd Women’s Singles semi-final by defeating Chinese Chen Yufei 21-13 21-10 on August 26, 2017 and reached at finals of the World championship.