Notes:
Yisrael Kristal (113), the world’s oldest man who lived through both World Wars, has passed away in Haifa, Israel on August 11, 2017. He was officially recognised as the world’s oldest man by the Guinness Book of Records in March 2016. Kristal, a Polish-Israeli supercentenarian, became the world’s oldest recognized Holocaust survivor in 2014 and the world’s oldest man in 2016.

Notes:
India’s first-ever railways disaster management centre is expected to come up near Bengaluru, Karnataka by 2018 and will be used to replicate train accidents to improve rescue operation efforts. It will also have a virtual reality centre for analyzing railway accidents. The focus is on imparting state-of-the-art training on rescue, medical relief and rolling stock restoration techniques in a classroom and also using various simulated teaching aids. Though, it is the practical reproduction of accidents on site and the ensuing rescue operations that are being touted as the big ticket venture.

Notes:
The Rajiv Gandhi National Aviation University (RGNAU), which is India’s first-ever aviation university, will soon be inaugurated at Fursatganj in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh. The central university is planned as an autonomous body under the administrative control of the Ministry of Civil Aviation with an aim to facilitate and promote aviation studies, teaching, training and research. Air Vice Marshal (retired) Nalin Tandon has been appointed as the Vice Chancellor. 

Notes:
The Karnataka government and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi have launched ‘Indira Canteen’ in Bengaluru with an aim to reach out to the poorer sections of the society. The canteens will offer breakfast at Rs 5 and lunch and dinner at Rs 10 per plate. Of a total of proposed 198 canteens, 101 were launched on August 16, 2017 and the rest would start functioning from October 2, 2017.

Notes:
S Paul (88), the veteran photographer, has passed away in New Delhi on August 16, 2017. He was a self-taught photographer who discovered his passion for the art as a teenager. He joined The Indian Express in the 1960s and retired from the newspaper in 1989. Paul received recognition and fame as a professional photographer when his pictures were selected for publication in three renowned British publications — Amateur Photographer, Miniature Camera and Miniature Camera World. B&W Magazine of US had described him as ‘The Henry Cartier-Bresson of India’. Apart from other recognitions, Paul was the first Indian to be profiled by The British Journal of Photography in 1967. He was the first Indian to win the Nikon International Photo Contest in 1971. Paul was born on 19 August, 1929 in Jhang, Pakistan. He moved to India after Partition and his family shifted to Shimla. His younger brother, Raghu Rai, is also a renowned photographer

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:
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:
MK Damodaran (77), the veteran lawyer and former Advocate General of Kerala, has passed away in Kochi, Kerala. He was one of the most popular figures at the Kerala High Court and was well known for defending the Naxalites during the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. He was expert in both criminal and civil cases and was jailed during the Emergency period 1975-77.

Notes:
The Mrugavani National Park (MNP) is located at Chilkur in Hyderabad, Telangana State and covers an area of 3.6 square kilometers. It is home to Cheetal, Sambar, Wild boar, Jungle Cat, Civet Cat, Mongoose Monitor Lizard, Python, Russell Viper, King Cobra, etc., and has 600 different types of plant life.

Notes:
Home Minister Rajnath Singh has launched digital police portal under Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems Project (CCTNS) on August 21, 2017. The portal is a smart policing initiative to provide services to citizens and aid efficient police investigation. It is a platform for citizens to file online crime related complaints and also request for antecedent verification. The portal will also provide access to authorized persons to use National Database of crime records for the purpose of investigation. In addition, central investigating and research agencies have also been provided logins to the portal to access crime statistics. Till date, the CCTNS national database has around seven crore records of old and new criminal cases.