1. Sri Lankan Parliamentary Elections – Rajapaksa defeated
(i)Former Sri Lankan President and parliamentary candidate Mahinda Rajapaksa was defeated in the country’s parliamentary elections as support mounted for his rival Ranil Wikremesinghe.
(ii) As per the results, Wickremesinghe’s United National Party won 106 out of 225 seats in the parliament while Rajapaksa’s United People’s Freedom Alliance secured 95.
(iii)Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, expressed his gratitude and said the voters had endorsed his administration’s good governance and consensual politics.
2. RBI clears 11 payments banks
(i) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) ‘in principle’ cleared 11 entities – including the department of post, top conglomerates such as the Reliance Industries, Vodafone, Aditya Birla Group, Airtel and several tech and finance companies- to set up payments banks.
(ii) Unlike the universal/regular banks, payments banks can accept deposits only up to Rs.1 lakh and cannot extend loans. Further, they can only issue debit cards.
(iii) These banks can only deposit money in government bonds. Other services are similar to that of regular banks.
Names of the 11 entities: Aditya Birla Nuvo, Airtel M Commerce Services, Cholamandalam Distribution Services, Department of Posts, Fino PayTech, National Securities Depository, Reliance Industries, Dilip Shantilal Shanghvi, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Tech Mahindra and Vodafone M-Pesa
3. Future Group to manage ration shops in Rajasthan
(i) Kishore Biyani’s Future Group, India’s largest retailer is set to manage overall public distribution system (PDS) and ration shops in Rajasthan, which will then be rebranded as Annapurna Bhandar.
(ii) An agreement between the Rajasthan State Food & Civil Supplies Corp (RSFCSC) and Future Group was signed in the presence of Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje on August 20.
4. Three Indian firms figure among the world’s most innovative companies
(i) Forbes magazine’s annual list of The World’s Most Innovative Companies includes names of three Indian firms namely, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Sun Pharma Industries.
(ii) Hindustan Unilever has been ranked 41st on the list, followed by TCS at 64th spot and Sun Pharma ranked 71st.
(iii) The list is topped by California-based Tesla Motors known for making wholly electric vehicles. It is headed by Elon Musk.
5. Sex crimes highest in Delhi – NCRB Data
(i) According National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) data for 2014, Delhi had the largest number of reported rape cases, i.e. 1,813 for every 100,000 citizens. Mumbai figured second with 607 reported cases and Hyderabad is third with 126 cases
(ii) In addition, almost all of India’s custodial rape – 189 of 197 cases – was reported in Uttar Pradesh, whereas Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh recorded highest number of alleged gang rapes.
(iii) For the first time, NCRB also tabulated data on crime against senior citizens, according to which the most number of elderly citizens were killed in UP-174, followed by Tamil Nadu (173) and Maharashtra (170).
6. Adam Gilchrist to be Australia’s education ambassador to India
(i) As a result of the Australian government’s efforts to strengthen education ties with India, Minister for Education and Training Christopher Pyne announced the appointment of former cricketer Adam Gilchrist as the first education ambassador to India.
(ii) Pyne is in Delhi to attend the Annual Ministerial Dialogue and the third Australia-India Education Council meeting on August 24.
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