CONFERENCES BRICS Business Council Meeting Held In Johannesburg The first BRICS Business Council Meeting was held on 19 – 20 August 2013 in Johannesburg , South Africa.The objective of the meet is aiming to increase the trade and investment ties between participating economies.The two-day meeting was attended by the Chairpersons of the respective chapters of the BRICS Business Council that attended the meeting are: Jose Rubens de la Rosa (Brazil), Sergey Katyrin (Russian Federation), Onkar Kanwar (India) and MA Zehua (China).The meeting was chaired by Patrice Motsepe, Chairman of the South African and BRICS Business Council.In a joint statement following the first BRICS Business Council meeting ,the council made several recommendations include’s urging governments to facilitate convenience in expediting multiple entry business visas for longer periods, as well as considering a proposal to create a BRICS business travel card ; Enhancing connectivity; and – Creating a BRICS business portal, which will be facilitated by the BRICS Business Council Secretariat, among others.The council has agreed to work together in areas such as infrastructure, mining and mineral beneficiation, value-added manufacturing development, skills development and sustainable development.BRICS an acronym for the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa group of countries.The BRICS Business Council was established during the 2013 BRICS Summit in Durban in March, with South African businessman Patrice Motsepe named chairman of the body. Second ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting – Plus Held In Brunei The 2nd ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus has concluded in Brunei on 29 August .Defense ministers from ASEAN signed a declaration of commitment to enhance peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region.They committed to adhere to the principles of equality, mutual respect, mutual benefit and respect for international laws in the handling of disputes. The defense ministers also agreed to promote better understanding and confidence-building measures among defense establishments.ASEAN Defence minister’s meeting firstly convened in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi on October 12, 2010, the regional event has involved 18 member states, including ministers from the 10 ASEAN nations.ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting – Plus was established in 2010.This forum is convened every two years.The third ADMM-Plus is scheduled to be held in Malaysia in 2015. AWARDS & HONOURS Malayalam Poetess Sugathakumari Awarded With ‘ Saraswati Samman 2013 ‘ On 2 August Renowned Malayalam poetess and social activist Sugathakumari has been conferred with the prestigious Saraswati Samman 2012 for Manalezhuthu (the Writings on the Sand), a collection of poems in Malayalam.Manalezhuthu was published in the year 2006.Saraswati Samman Award was instituted by KK Birla Foundation in 1991.This award is given every year to the literary work in any Indian language which is the part of Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. US Presidential Medal To Bill Clinton and Oprah Winfrey On 8 August Barack Obama, the US President would confer the Presidential Medal of Freedom on former US President, Bill Clinton and talk show queen, Oprah Winfrey. It is the highest civilian honour of America. Indian American Professor Received Top US Environmental Award On 16 August An Indian American professor of biological and agricultural engineering has been recognised by a top US environmental and water resources institute for his pioneering work in hydrology. Vijay P Singh, professor and Caroline ; William N Lehrer distinguished chair in the department of biological and agricultural engineering at Texas A&M University, was named a recipient of the 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Society of Civil Engineers Environmental and Water Resources Institute (ASCE-EWRI).Singh is an internationally recognised and pre-eminent engineer specialising in water resources engineering and hydrology. His work has developed the application of kinematic wave theory to the point where it is widely used throughout the world in hydrologic models used for water resource modelling, flood planning and hydrologic design. Harshwanti Bisht Selected For “Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal 2013 “ On 12 August Professor of economics, and conservationist, and mountaineer Dr. Harshwanti Bisht has been selected to receive the “Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal 2013″.The award is presented for remarkable service in the conservation of culture and nature in mountainous regions.In 2003 the Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal was initiated by unanimous resolution of the Namche Conference: Parks, People and Mountain Tourism. Malala Yousafzai Wins International Children’s Peace Prize On 27 August Pakistani school pupil and education activist Malala Yousafzai won the International Children’s Peace Prize 2013. The peace prize carries a cash value of 100000 euros (133000 US dollars) which is invested in projects relating to the winner’s cause. The International Children’s Peace Prize is an initiative of the Amsterdem-based Dutch KidsRights Foundation. It was launched in the year 2005 by former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, when he chaired the Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Rome. Since then, the prize has been awarded every year by a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. The prize is presented annually to an exceptional child, whose courageous or otherwise remarkable actions have made a difference in countering problems, which affect children around the world. Mandela Is The First Recipient Of ‘Mahathir Award ‘ For Global Peace On 27 August Former South African President Nelson Mandela was awarded the first Lifetime Campaigner for Peace and Freedom of the Mahathir Award for Global Peace .Current South African President Jacob Zuma received the award on behalf of Mandela, who is in a critical condition in a hospital in Pretoria.The Mahathir Award for Global Peace is a peace award instituted by the Mahathir Global Peace Foundation. The foundation was formed to contribute to worldwide peace efforts.Mahathir bin Mohamad is a Malaysian politician who was the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia. He held the post for 22 years from 1981 to 2003, making him Malaysia’s longest serving Prime Minister. SPORTS & GAMES India Won Bronze Medal at Junior Women Hockey World Cup On 4 August Indian Junior Women Hockey team won its first ever Bronze medal in ERGO Hockey Junior World Cup at Monchengladbac, Germany .India defeated England by 3-2 in a penalty shoot-out.Indian forward Rani was declared the Best Player of the ERGO Junior Women Hockey World Cup 2013.The Netherland team won the final against Argentina and clinched the trophy for a record third time. Parimarjan Negi Won Politiken Cup On 4 August Indian Grandmaster Parimarjan won the Denmark’s Politiken Cup at Copenhagen, Denmark by gaining 9 out of the total possible 10 points. He defeated the seventh seed, Italian Sabino Brunello in just 31 moves of Ruy Lopez. Jadeja First Indian After Kumble To Top ODI Bowlers’ List On 4 August Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja became the first Indian bowler to top the bowlers’ chart in the latest ICC ODI Player Rankings after former captain Anil Kumble claimed the pole position way back in 1996.Overall, Jadeja is the fourth India bowler after Kapil Dev (March 1989), Maninder Singh (December 1987-November 1988) and Kumble to claim the number-one spot in ODIs. Franklin Wins Record 6 Golds at World Swimming Championships On 5 August American swimmer Missy Franklin became the first woman to win six gold medals at a world-championships.She claimed her record sixth gold medal of the world championships , swimming the leadoff leg for the Americans in the 400-meter medley relay in Barcelona, Spain.Missy Franklin won four golds and a bronze at the 2012 London Games, joins American men Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz as well as German woman Kristin Otto with six golds in either a world or Olympic competition.Franklin became the winningest female swimmer ever at a world meet, eclipsing the record that was shared by Tracy Caulkins, who won five times in 1978, and Libby Trickett, who did it in 2007. PV Sindhu Won Bronze Medal at World Badminton Championships On 10 August Indian shuttler P V Sindhu lost to the Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand in the semi-final match at the World Badminton Championships at Guangzhou, China.P V Sindhu now became the only second Indian singles player to win a medal after Prakash Padukone .Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa had won the doubles bronze in London in 2011. World Badminton Championship 2013 Winners Women’s Singles :- Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon won the women’s singles title ,after defeated Li Xuerui (China) in the final at the World Badminton Championships at Guangzhou.This is the first time any shuttler from Thailand has won a gold at the Worlds in any category. Men’s Singles :- China’s Lin Dan reinforced his claim to being the greatest badminton player in history after he defeated arch rival Malaysian Lee Chong Wei in the World Championship final to become the first man to win five world singles titles. Rogers Cup Tennis Tournament 2013 Winners Women’s Singles :- On 11 August Serena Williams (U.S) won the Rogers Cup Tennis Tournament Women’s singles title ,after defeated Romania’s Sorana Cirstea in the final at Montreal (Canada).Serena Williams won the Rogers Cup women’s title for the third time. Men’s Singles :- Rafael Nadal (Spain) won his third Rogers Cup Men’s Singles title , after defeated Canada’s Milos Raonic in the final. Marion Bartoli Retires From Tennis On 14 August Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli of France announces her retirement from professional tennis.She announced the retirement after losing in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters to Romania’s Simona Halep. She is ranked seventh in the world.Besides Wimbledon 2013, Bartoli won seven other WTA Tour titles, the first one was in Auckland in 2006. Recently she won two tournaments both in 2011 at Eastbourne and Osaka, Japan, prior to Wimbledon. 2013 World Championships in Athletics Winners The 14th World Championships in Athletics are held in Moscow, Russia from 10–18 August 2013. Russia (17 medals )topped the medal table with seven gold, four silver, and six bronze medals.The US (25 medals) came in second place at the event, receiving six gold, 13 silver, and six bronze medals. Jamaica (19 medals )placed third, with its athletes earning six gold, two silver, and one bronze. Winners Of The 2013 World Championships in Athletics :- * Jamaica’s Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce both won three gold medals in the men’s and women’s 100 m, 200 m and 4 x 100 m relay respectively to become the most successful athletes at the event.Usain Bolt moved to the top of the all-time World Championships medal table by winning three gold medals.It was Bolt’s second three gold performance at the World Championships.With this victory Usain Bolt has joined the club of highest (8) gold medal winners list along with American women’s 200m specialist Allyson Felix, and retired US track stars Carl Lewis and Michael Johnson including relays. * Christina Obergfoll of Germany won the women’s javelin title with a throw of 69.05 metres . * French athlete Teddy Tamgho claimed gold in the men’s triple jump event ,, with a jump measuring 18.04m. * In the Men’s 1, 500 metres race Kenyan Asbel Kiprop ( 3min:36.2 sec) won the gold and Eunice Jepkoech Sum of Kenya won gold in Women’s 800 metres race (1min :57.38 sec) * Women’s 10,000 meters Race :- Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) *Men’s 10,000 meters Race :- Double Olympic champion Mo Farah of Britain created history once again in Moscow as he became the first British man to win a 10,000m world title.The Somalia-born Mo Farah went down in the history books as just the second man to win the 5000 and 10,000m races at the Olympics and the world championships. * Men’s 20 kilometres Walk :- Aleksandr Ivanov (Russia) * Women’s Marathon :- Kenya’s Edna Ngeringwony Kiplagat becomes the first women in history to defend her world championship marathon title. * Shot put :- New Zealand’s Valerie Adams has become the first woman to win four individual world athletics titles in the same event. * Men’s 110 metres Hurdles :- David Oliver (USA) * Men’s 400metres Hurdles :- Jehu Gordon (Trinidad) * Women’s 400 metres Hurdles :- Zuzana Hejnova (Czech Republic ) * Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva won gold..Yelena Isinbayeva is a two-time Olympic gold medalist (2004 and 2008), a three-time World Champion (2005, 2007 and 2013), the current world record holder in the event, who is widely considered the greatest female pole-vaulter of all time. Cincinnati Tennis Tournament 2013 Winners Women’s Singles :- On 18 August Victoria Azarenka of Belarus won the Cincinnati Tennis Tournament women’s singles title.Azarenka defeated Serena Williams of the U.S in the final at Cincinnati (U.S ) Men’s Singles :- In the Men’s category Rafael Nadal (Spain) has won the Cincinnati Tennis Tournament title for the first time.He defeated John Isner (U.S) in the final.Nadal’s five Masters titles this season are a career best. He’s tied with Novak Djokovic for most Masters titles in a season since 1990. He’s won seven of the nine Masters events during his career. Sania Mirza – Jie Zheng pair Won New Haven Open Title On 24 August India’s Sania Mirza won the women’s doubles title at the New Haven Open Tennis tournament along with her partner Jie Zheng of China.Sania and Jie defeated the pair of Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spain) and Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) in the final at Yale.This is Sania Mirza’s 17th WTA doubles title and the third Title in 2013. Australia’s Aaron Finch Hits T20 World Record Australian batsman Aaron Finch hit a new record in Twenty20 Internationals in Southampton (England), when he scored 156 runs off 63 balls against England at Southampton on 29 August.Finch mashed 14 sixes and 11 fours in his innings and surpassed the previous international record of 123, scored by New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum.In the process he also became the first Australian to score a T20 international century. ECONOMY Union Cabinet Approved the Setting up of ‘Bharatiya Mahila Bank ‘ On 8 August the Union Cabinet approved the proposal for setting up of ‘ Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) ‘ with an initial corpus of Rs 1,000 crore.The proposed bank will be headquartered in New Delhi.The Mahila Bank will start with 6 branches — one each in north, south, east, west, central and north eastern part of the country.The proposed bank is likely to begin operations by November this year. India Signed Agreement With World Bank For Low Income Housing Finance Project On 14 August the government of India and the World Bank signed a $100 million credit agreement aimed at helping low-income households in Indian cities access loans to purchase, build or upgrade their dwellings.The Low Income Housing Finance Project would be implemented by the National Housing Bank (NHB).The credit agreement for the Low Income Housing Finance Project was signed between the Government of India, National Housing Bank (NHB) and World Bank in New Delhi. Muslims Have Lowest Living Standard In India According to the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) study titled ‘Employment and Unemployment Situation Among Major Religious Groups in India’ among various religious groups,Muslims have the lowest living standard in the country * According to the survey data , Muslims average per capita expenditure of just Rs 32.66 in a day.At the other end of the spectrum, Sikh community enjoys a much better lifestyle as the average per capita spending among them is Rs 55.30 per day, while the same for Hindus is Rs 37.50. For Christians it is Rs 51.43. * At all-India level, the average monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) of a Sikh household was Rs 1,659 while that for a Muslim household was Rs 980 in 2009-10.The average MPCE for Hindus and Christians were Rs 1,125 and Rs 1,543, respectively.The survey said that average monthly per capita consumption at all-India level was Rs 901 in villages and Rs1,773 in cities. Overall, the average MPCE was Rs 1,128. * Muslims were at the bottom in rural areas, with an average MPCE of Rs 833, followed by Hindus at Rs 888, Christians at Rs1,296 and Sikhs 1,498. * In urban areas, Muslims’ average MPCE was also the lowest at Rs 1,272 followed by Hindus at Rs 1,797, Christians Rs 2,053 and Sikhs at Rs 2,180. Per Capita Income Up 6.7% in 2004-12 On 25 August According to official sources data ,the per capita income in the country increased 6.7 per cent per annum during 2004-05 to 2011-12, while the percentage of poor declined by 2.2 per cent over the period.For 2011-12, the Planning Commission has estimated percentage of people living below the poverty line at 21.9 per cent.The poverty line in 2011-12 in terms of monthly per capita consumption expenditure was estimated at Rs 816 in rural areas and Rs 1,000 in urban areas.State-wise, Uttar Pradesh had highest number of people living below poverty line during 2011-12 at 598.19 people below poverty line out of every lakh.It was followed by Bihar at 358.15 people (per lakh), Madhya Pradesh 234.04 people, Maharashtra 197.92 people and West Bengal at 184.98 people living below the poverty line. 27 crore People Live Below Poverty Line In India India’s population was estimated at 123 crore as of March 1, 2012, while as many as 27 crore people lived below the poverty line in 2011-12, Minister of State for Planning Rajeev Shukla explained in a written reply to Rajya Sabha on 29 August.As per the Population Census of 2011 conduced by the Office of Registrar General of India, the population in the country was estimated at 121 crore as of March 1, 2011.The poverty ratio in the country has decreased to 21.9 per cent in 2011-12 from 37.2 per cent in 2004-05.The rate of decline between 2004-05 and 2011-12 is three times faster than experienced between 1993-94 and 2004-05.As per the Millennium Development Goals Report 2013, the poverty rate in India fell from 49 per cent in 1994 to 42 per cent in 2005 and 33 per cent in 2010. 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Posted on: Thu, 26 Sep 2013 10:53:17 +0000