1. Prime Minister launches 'Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana
i. The 'Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana', an ambitious financial inclusion scheme under which the government intends to provide every household with a bank account and insurance cover, was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.
ii. The scheme, about which Modi made the announcement in his Independence Day speech, was launched across the country simultaneously amid his emphasis that it lies at the core of "our development philosophy of 'Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas'".
iii. '1.5 crore bank accounts will be opened on first day of Jan Dhan Yojana'
iv. Jan Dhan Yojana, a dream project to open at least one bank account to every household.
v. Noting that 10 crore people do not have bank account, the Finance Minister aims to cover 7.5 crore people under Jan Dhan Yojana by January 25, 2015.
vi. As a first step, under the scheme, every account holder will get a 'RuPay' debit card with Rs 30,000 life insurance besides accidental insurance of up to Rs 1 lakh.
vii. The scheme will provide overdraft, debt card facility," she said. "Jan Dhan Yojana will provide accidental insurance cover,".
2. Erdogan to be sworn in as Turkey's new president
i. Turkey's outgoing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to be sworn in as president on Thursday to extend his more than decade-long domination of the country.
ii. Erdogan was due to take his oath of office at 1100 GMT (1630 IST) in Ankara and usher in a new era for Turkey, where he is expected to push for a new constitution and seek to further transform the country with development projects.
iii. Taking over Erdogan's post of prime minister is Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, a long standing ally who is expected to do little to challenge the Turkish number one.
3. Iran's Mirzakhani first woman to win prestigious math prize
i. An Iranian-born mathematician has become the first woman to win a prestigious global prize known as the Field Medal, the International Congress of Mathematicians has announced.
ii. Maryam Mirzakhani, a Harvard educated mathematician and professor at Stanford University in California, was one of four winners announced at the group's conference in Seoul.
iii. An expert in the geometry of unusual forms, she has come up with novel ways to calculate the volumes of oddly-shaped hyperbolic surfaces, which can be curved like a saddle or curly like a piece of crochet.
iv. Mirzakhani was born in Tehran in 1977 and earned her PhD in 2004 from Harvard University.
v. She has previously won the 2009 Blumenthal Award for the Advancement of Research in Pure Mathematics and the 2013 Satter Prize of the American Mathematical Society.
vi. The Fields Medal is given out every four years, to four separate winners.
vii. The other three winners this year were Artur Avila of France, Manjul Bhargava of Princeton University in New Jersey, and Martin Hairer of the University of Warwick in Britain.
4. IOC removes four independent directors appointed by UPA
i. After Governors, the Narendra Modi government is removing independent directors appointed by the previous UPA regime on PSU boards, beginning with sacking of four directors on the board of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).
ii. IOC, the nation’s largest oil company, in a filing to the stock exchanges said, “K Jairaj, Nesar Ahmad, Sunil Krishna and Sayan Chatterjee have ceased to be Independent Directors on the Board of the company on August 27, 2014
iii. All the four directors were appointed to IOC board in March this year for a three-year term. Their appointment was to be confirmed/ratified by the company shareholders but IOC did not move a resolution to this effect at its annual general meeting (AGM) in Mumbai yesterday, leading to their cessation.
iv. The new government wants to change all previous UPA appointed directors but to start with it is looking at appointments that need confirmation now, they said.
5. Centre notifies minimum monthly pension, wage ceiling enhancement
i. Government has notified minimum monthly pension of 1,000 rupees and a higher wage ceiling enhancement to15,000 from 6,500 rupees for social security schemes run by retirement fund manager Employees Provident Fund Organisation.
ii. Both schemes will be implemented from 1st September of the next month. According to EPFO estimates, the raising of wage ceiling is expected to bring 50 lakh more workers under the ambit of social security schemes run by it.
iii. The government decision to fix pension of 1,000 rupees will benefit 28 lakh people including 5 lakh widow pensioners, who get less than this amount at present.
iv. EPFO had recently retained rate of interest to 8.75 per cent on provident fund deposits for the current fiscal year 2014-15.
6. SC directs DLF to pay Rs 630 cr fine imposed by CCI
i. Real estate major DLF was on Wednesday directed by the Supreme Court to deposit Rs 630 crore fine slapped on it by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for allegedly resorting to unfair business practices.
ii. The apex court said the total ammount will be deposited within three months with its Registry pending the outcome of the appeal filed by DLF against May 19 order of Competition Appellate Tribunal's upholding the penalty of Rs 630 crore imposed by the CCI.
iii. The bench said so far as the interest on the amount was concerned it has to be determined as per the November 9, 2011 order of the CCI that was fixed at 9 per cent.
iv. It also directed DLF to file a fresh undertaking that in the event of dismissal of the appeal it will pay such amount as directed by the court.
v. DLF pleaded that it should be granted at least six months time to deposit the amount.
7. SRK becomes Interpol’s Ambassador of ‘Turn Back Crime’ campaign
i. Modern-era ‘Don’ Shah Rukh Khan has become the first Indian actor to be roped in as Ambassador of Interpol’s initiative ‘Turn Back Crime’ campaign, aimed at promoting greater awareness on how to prevent crime.
ii. The actor who gave new twist to Amitabh Bachchan’s character ‘Don’ in the Farhan Akhtar’s remake of the movie, tweeted late night yesterday, “Don on the right side of Interpol. How ironically cool is that...ha ha.”
iii. “Honoured to be the Ambassador for Turn Back Crime, the Interpol initiative. Thanx Mr. Noble for the opportunity,” the actor wrote on his social media page.
iv. The ‘Turn Back Crime’ campaign is aimed at raising public awareness that organised crime is often involved in seemingly unrelated crimes.
8. India beat England by 133 runs in second ODI
i. India defeated England by 133 runs under the Duckworth/Lewis method in the second One—day International match in Cardiff on Wednesday.
ii. Invited to bat, India scored 304 for six and then bowled out the hosts for 161 in 38.1 overs at Sophia Gardens.
iii. As per the revised target after the rain interruption, England needed 295 runs in 47 overs.
Brief Scores:
India: 304 for 6 in 50 overs (Suresh Raina 100, MS Dhoni 52; Chris Woakes 4/52)
England: 161 in 38.1 overs (Alex Hales 40; Ravindra Jadeja 4/28)
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