IMoT s Newsletter. September2017 Issue #9. Inside..! Editorial. September Month:

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1 IMoT s Newsletter Progress Through Knowledge Sharing September2017 Issue #9 Click here for our Monthly Newsletter Subscription Inside..! What are the biggest problems faced by farmers in India? Can it be solved through use of technology? Peroorkada A Residential Locality in Trivandrum That Inspires India in Waste Management at Source! GM crops: A technology to be regulated not to be avoided!!! Quiz, Puzzle, Mobile App, Vegetable, Fruit, Flower and Tree of the Month. Opportunities September 17 Last Month in a Page August 17 September Month: Click here to see the Specialty of the Month Subscribe here: Please click here to subscribe to our Monthly Newsletter Greetings, Editorial Dear Readers, we are happy to announce that from this edition, our Newsletter will encompass Tamil articles. IMoT forum runs a parallel section for Tamil articles under the banner Kalanipoo. For articles other than those published here, please visit Every year we celebrate September 5th as Teachers Day in India to commemorate the birth anniversary of our ex-president Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan who was also one of the first Bharath Ratna awardees. This Teachers day, let us take a pledge that each and every one of us will help in someone s education. We can bear someone s education expenses or spend a few hours teaching some underprivileged children. There are hundreds and thousands of people who lack basic education which now is a fundamental right. We have had leaders like Kamarajar who initiated measures to make basic education accessible for all. We need measures to improve the quality of education and impart skills as a basic component of it. Enjoy Reading! Enjoy Sharing! - B Ashwin Kumar HEADWAYS OF IMOT JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST Feedback Link: Please click here to send us feedback to improve more and also to share IgnitedMinds_IMOT IgnitedMinds_IMOT N O. OF N E W S L E T T E R S U B S C R I B E R S N O OF W R I T E- U P S T W I T T E R F O L L O W E R S I N S T A G R A M F O L L O W E R S F A C E B O O K P A G E F O L L O W E R S A V E R A G E P A G E V I E W S/ DAY Content & Editing Ram Sundar Ashwin Kumar Vishnuram Vignesh Ragul Kannan Sowparanika Harikishore Venkatesh Jayalani

2 App of the month THREE ROSES App URL: App launched by: Department of Agriculture, Department of Tourism, Department of External Affairs The past releases of IMoT s mobile application were about Agriculture, Renewable Energy, Banking and Acts. Every single release had an app only. To break this chain, now we have come up with 3 different applications covering Agri Market, Tourism and External Affairs. All the 3 apps have been released by the concerned Departments of Indian Government. App : 1 Daily Market Prices In the name of this app itself, we can conclude that we will be getting the daily wholesale prices of the varieties at max, min and moderate levels. All the prices of the different markets, states and varieties will be shown. The heart of the app is data which is provided by the AGMARKNET Portal of India. Good initiative and has a better User-Interface and more varieties. What are the biggest problems faced by farmers in India? Can it be solved through use of technology? Indian farmers faced multitude of problems, both before and after independence. The former was due to colonial exploitation and latter due to middlemen exploitation. Problems of Indian farmer Fragmented land holdings - Indian landholdings are so small that makes little marketable surplus. This makes them to go for subsistence agriculture and also makes in unfeasible for mechanization. Looting Middle men - Most of the farmers are left with small volume of produce. Taking them to Government mandi will be a burden as transportation costs, storage costs adds up. So they sell it to middle men at distress price. The middlemen will make it to Mandi and get lucrative prices that are often not shared with farmers. Read more. Gamble of Monsoon - Indian Monsoon is always a gamble of Monsoon. If it doesn t rain farmers will be worst hit of drought and famine. You might think he will be happy if it rains adequately. But the answer is NO. Because in one extreme his crop would be flooded or he would not get good price due to high supply in Market. This happened 2017, when prices of Onion, Pulses went down due to good production after two years of below normal Monsoon. So whether it rains or doesn t rain. Farmers suffer. Victim of its past success - Past success of Green revolution has put Agriculture sector into Chakravyuh' of Hybrid seeds - Urea dumping farming. Farmers and Research institutions are still struggling to get out of that unsustainable - high input cost farming. Ignoring Women farmers - No policy measures have been evolved to protect or help women farmers who predominantly suffer in Agriculture. Agriculture will not develop if the schemes, policies, inventions and benefits doesn't reach the other half of agrarians who happens to be women farmer. Read: Women Farmers - The Hidden face of Agriculture - IMoT Forum 2 P a g e w w w. i m o t f o r u m. c o m S e p t e m b e r 2017

3 Developer: CDAC Mumbai Suitable for: Android 4.0 Current version: 1.0 App : 2 Incredible India Ministry of Tourism s app, Incredible India not only assists domestic tourists, but also helps foreigners. By enabling the GPS of your mobile phone after installation, you will be provided with the information about Ministry of Tourism recognized tourism service providers namely approved Inbound Tour Operators, Travel Agents, Adventure Tour Operator, Classified hotels and Regional Level Tourist Guides available in respective cities/ Tourist centers. Developer: Ministry of Tourism Suitable for: Android and up Current version: 1.8 App : 3 mpassport Seva To get the general information of applying passport, fee details, status tracker, document advisor, appointment availabilities we can go with it. MEA with a view to provide mobile enablement of public services, has launched a Mobile Application mpassport Seva to offer a wide variety of services to smartphone users such as Passport application status tracking, etc. Developer: Consular, Passport and Visa (CPV) Division Suitable for: Android and up Current version: 2.6 S. Vignesh is an Energy and Environmental Engineer. He is Cycle of Indebtedness - Economists make hue and cry when farmers demand Farm loan waiver. But they need to think about farm credit and credit accessibility to farmers. Nearly 40 % of farmers are getting their farm loans through formal sources. Rest all depend on Money lenders and landowners. The crop insurance policy has long been less favourable to farmers. We have to wait to see the result of PM fasal bima yojana. New threats of Global Warming - Noted agricultural scientist, M S Swaminathan already pointed out that the one degree Celsius rise in temperature could lead to wheat yield losses of around 6 million tonnes per year in India. He also insisted that increase in temperature not only affects the grain output but is also critical in terms of grain filling and pest attack. Read more about Climate change and Agrarian distress in India that goes in length and breadth about the issue. Read more. Government policies - Government policies like MSP favouring certain crops, poor allocation for agricultural R & D - less than 1% of GDP very low compared to other emerging economies. Week extension networks, supply infrastructure all ads to farmers worries. Read The reasons why Farmers protest are more frequent and intense across India?! - IMoT Forum to know How recent policy measures of NDA Government caused wide protest across country. Read more. The problems are still numerous. I tried to restrict myself with the most worrisome one. (Solutions are given correspondingly to the problem stated above.. follow the numbers) How to solve it through technology? 1. Smart machineries like drones and robots to work in fragmented lands. These small machines can do all sort of works from checking the field level, sowing, spraying and monitoring. But the cost of such smart miniature farm machineries should be subsidised to make it affordable. 2. E- NAM virtual market introduced by GoI is set to reduce middleman problem and also ensure easy marketing across states. 3. Smart sensors with precision farming help to get out of drought adversities by targeted input delivery. It requires minimum input and also reduces cost of production. Already Micro irrigations are helping rainfed farmers in drought conditions. 4. Organic farming is the way out for sustainable farming. Hyper spectral imaging (can be used in mobile cameras) are used to check pesticide and other chemical residue in plants. This speeds up organic certification process. 5. Women farmers don't enjoy entitlement to their land. GoI is in process of digitisation of land records. In this process women farmers of that family can also be done to get their Rights. Further smart farm tools and machineries must be gender neutral in its accessibility. 6. Access to farm credit by technological solution is already yielding results through Jan Dhan Account - Aadhaar - Mobile Trinity. Once they enter formal 3 P a g e w w w. i m o t f o r u m. c o m S e p t e m b e r 2017

4 interested in Renewable Energy Technologies, Environmental Management and Multi-Media) Answers for last month Puzzle A woman shoots her husband, then holds him under water for five minutes. Finally, she hangs him. Five minutes later they enjoy a wonderful dinner together. How can this be? Ans: She took a photo of him and developed it in the dark room. 2 in a corner, 1 in a room, 0 in house but 1 in shelter. What am I? Ans: Letter R. Puzzle for the month You are on an island in the middle of a lake. The lake is in a remote part of ladakh and there has never been a bridge connecting the island to the mainland. Every day a tractor and wagon gives hayrides around the island. Puzzled as to how the tractor had gotten onto the island, you ask around and find out that the tractor was not transported to the island by boat or by air. Nor was it built on the island. Explain how the tractor got there? I have 2 coins. One is minted as Rajendra Chozha I and another is minted as Rajendra Chozha III. One coin is original and another is fake. Identify the original and fake. banking system, I believe they can get credit, insurance and subsidies without any leakages. 7. Climate Resilience Farming (CRF) depends mostly on technological tools like smart weather forecast using Big data analytics. Plant biotechnology has taken CRF to new level by developing short duration varieties, submerged crop varieties for coastal regions, drought resistant varieties for arid areas are noteworthy. 8. Huge R&D investment is required for development of smart and technological solutions to Agricultural problems of India. Advocating use of Drones and smart phones to assess crop failures in PM fasal bima yojna crop insurance scheme, e NAM are few Policy initiatives. But there is huge scope for government to solve farmer s problems by technological solution. Both public and private players are trying to revive agriculture through technological solutions. But it doesn't receive such attraction like Smart India mission and Digital India mission. Hope this digital savvy government will make a similar push in agriculture sector to solve long - persistent - recurrent - vicious problems of INDIAN farmers. This was originally answered for Quora Question What are the biggest problems faced by farmers in India? What problems can be solved through use of technology? by Ram Sundar. - Ram Sundar.S is a graduate in Horticulture. Loves to read books, gardening, debating and now blogging. He write on topics Agri Politics and Horticulture. He is also the founder and Admin of this Agri Forum. sundar.ram94@gmail.com Peroorkada A Residential Locality In Trivandrum That Inspires India In Waste Management At Source! In 2017, with the urban population having risen, the amount of waste generated has also increased. Collection of municipal waste is one of the greatest challenges faced by the urban local bodies. Processing the collected waste is another near impossible task as the segregation of degradable and non-degradable has always been a concept which the Indians never understood. The rules of Municipal Solid Waste Management 2000 (MSWM) state that waste should be segregated and composted, if not composted, should be recycled; the waste that are neither compostable nor recyclable can be dumped in landfills. But, we have forgotten about segregation, composting and recycling. The only solution we find is dumping in landfills and hence we are in the process of creating more Dumpyards like Vellalore, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. 4 P a g e w w w. i m o t f o r u m. c o m S e p t e m b e r 2017

5 Quiz of the Month 1. World s 1 st meltdown proof Nuclear Reactor was built in? China Japan Russia Israel 2. Which of the following is/are correct regarding TAPI pipeline. (i) It is a natural gas pipeline connecting Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. (ii) It is developed by Asian Development Bank. (i) only (ii) only Both (i) & (ii) Neither (i) nor (ii) 3. India s 1st Railway Disaster Management Village is to be developed in the outskirts of. Hyderabad Lucknow Mumbai Bangalore 4. Limited edition of silver coin of Lord Krishna is released on Janmashtami by which Country? Republic of Chad Republic of Congo Namibia Botswana 5. Google announces new name for latest version of Android Operating System. What is it? Oreo Cookies Doughnut Noughat Chennai is followed by Kolkata (0.66 kg), Delhi (0.65 kg), Hyderabad (0.65 kg) and Bangalore (0.5 kg). The waste generated in Chennai again goes to dump yards at Perungudi (228 acres) and Kodungaiyur (270 acres). Another study states that 68% of the municipal waste generated in Chennai is residential waste of which 32.3 % is green waste. The initiatives by the Chennai Corporation to make people segregate the waste before being collected by the sanitary workers has only resulted in vain. Time and again it is proved that the government initiatives cannot succeed without people s co-operation and interest. The case in Thiruavananthapuram was much different where the people had to dump their waste in their own land as no corporation worker comes to collect them. It was this point that made Peroorkada, a residential locality in Thiruvananthapuram. Click here to read more. - Aathira Suresh is a B.Tech Biotech Graduate interested in debating, writing and blogging. GM crops: A technology to be regulated not to be avoided!!! In our previous articles, we emphasized our readers to understand the basic phenomenon behind GM technology, its applications, how GMOs are being produced with a case study of Bt technology and its acceptable safety. In this issue, we have made efforts to shed light on to prove logically that the GMOs are no different from the crops developed through other technologies. We hope it will thereby enable the readers and anti-gm forces towards better understanding of this science. Overlooking safety Reason behind GMOs fear? Initial threat started with the name given for the products of this science as, Genetically Modified Organisms or GMOs. As we suggested in our earlier issues GMO is actually a misnomer, which should actually be called as Genetically Engineered organism (GE), as genetic modification is a natural process occurring in all the living organisms over time. The natural DNA modifications such as addition, deletion, swapping mechanisms has caused tremendous changes in the crop plants and given us several advantageous traits which were accepted in the name of conventional plant breeding. One should understand that GM crops are also made by mimicking these natural modifications. Nevertheless, it is the similar natural genetic modifications which had evolved us from a tree climbing primate ancestor to a land-ruling Homo sapiens. Here, we should learn from nature that the genetic modifications are not always bad, particularly if you believe yourself superior than our ancestral apes. In fact, one should be thankful to those genetic modifications which have made us. 5 P a g e w w w. i m o t f o r u m. c o m S e p t e m b e r 2017

6 Answers for the Quiz 1. China 2. Both (i) & (ii) 3. Bangalore 4. Republic of Chad 5. Oreo Mutation breeding, a conventional plant breeding approach, which involves exposing radiations (like gamma rays, X-rays) or chemical mutagens (like EMS, DMS) on target seeds to create crop plants with advantages traits (say reduced height, increased yield, disease resistance, etc.). Then the radiation or chemical exposed seeds are sown and crops with required traits will be chosen from a mixture of randomly modified traits. Varieties of several crop species developed by this method were being commercialized from 1930 s and reaching our plates without any biosafety tests or trials. It is the tag Conventionally bred variety which relaxes it from biosafety tests. As both mutation breeding and GM technology creates changes in the DNA. Is it not a bias to treat products of mutation breeding and GMOs differently? Yes, it is a bias! Considering the high level of randomness in creating genetic modification, it is indeed the GM crops are more trustworthy than seeds from mutation breeding. Furthermore, the present generation genome edited crops are relatively safer than earlier versions of GM crops for the reason that no newer genes are inserted and, only one or few genes are disrupted by targeted deletions. Several anti-gm activists/scientists claim that we don t know how the newly inserted gene from a different organism (e.g. microbes) would behave in the newer environment (genome of plant). Although not experimentally proven, they claim that it may poses serious threat to the consumers and environment by producing toxic gene products. Moreover, it may behave differently (than expected) once it gets transferred into its related plants or weeds. Answering all those suspicious questions on GE crops and its products, stringent biosafety tests are being conducted in laboratory and fields before its commercialization. It is those biosafety tests which consumes three fourth of amount that is being spend on to commercialize final GM product. For instance if three years were spent for developing GM rice in any institute or private enterprise, it is expected to take additional 7-8 years to complete all the biosafety and field trials to come up with the final GM product. However it is unreasonable, rather unscientific; when anti-gm groups still questions about the long-term effects and the safety of GM products on consumers after such pain-stacking efforts. If we have to address the query made regarding long-term effect, we need to do biosafety tests for about hundred years. But will it not be foolish to come out with a product/solution on a year 2130 for the problem aroused during 2030? If safety is the only priority concern, then is it safe to use electricity, vehicles, fuels, gasoline which may harm you at any time? The recent train accidents in India illustrate that we do have threat in day to day life. Have we stopped using those things? Deliberately no! We still continue using them in spite of drastic 6 P a g e w w w. i m o t f o r u m. c o m S e p t e m b e r 2017

7 Flower of the month - HIBISCUS - Hibiscus rosa sinensis, Indigenous plant, belongs to tha Malvaceae family. - Stem cuttings are used for propagation. - Anthocyanin (anti-oxidant) is responsible for red colour of the flower. - Used to make herbal teas which is used for reducing blood pressure and cholesterol.. Vegetable of the month - BROCCOLI - Brassica olearaceae varitalica, Temperate vegetable, belongs to the family Brassicaceae (Cruciferae). - Propagation is done by seeds. - It is a good source of fibre and is especially rich in panthothenic acid (Vit-B5) required for the normal functioning of the body. - It is native to eastern Mediterranean. tragedies we face. But we learn how to keep them under our control. Then why does one blindly disagree with GMOs which aims to serve us with all the safety data? Public and anti-gm groups should analyze deeply and realize the ultimate purpose of those GM foods which come as a realistic solution to solve our present day crisis. Recently in an article on newspaper, The Hindu, Prof. M.S. Swaminathan mentioned, Genetic modification has both advantages and disadvantages. One has to measure the risks and benefits before arriving at a conclusion and moreover we need an efficient regulatory mechanism for GM in India. India has a much completed system of regulating GM crops and its products in the country. But as mentioned by the agronomist M.S. Swaminathan, we need deliberate and transparent regulatory guidelines for GM crops for making use of this science successful for the welfare of farmers and consumers. Needed science at needy situations Is GM technology the only solution available? Not really. But can t be avoided though!! Before starting research for a particular problem one should look for the options available in the natural germplasm for desirable traits (disease resistance, pests resistance, drought tolerance etc.) and if available, the scientist can adapt marker assisted breeding (MAB) or conventional crop breeding methods. If no solution can be made through available MAB or conventional techniques, one should go for genetic engineering aimed at developing the crop varieties with desired traits. The best example is the Bt cotton which created a greater impact on bollworm control and increased production while conventional methods failed to give such plausible solution. In addition, it has a wider scope to solve current agrarian crisis such as drought, nutrient deficiency, heat, etc. Apart from agrarian crisis, GMO has a greater potential to fight malnutrition. Most anti-gm activists claim that malnutrition can be solved by the supplement of available sources such as fruits, vegetables and medicinal supplements (like tablets). Can that be possible and economically feasible at the current population? If so, is it possible to fulfil the daily requirement of vitamin-a by providing vit-a rich fruits and leafy vegetables to all sufferers? The answer is no at the present condition. As per ICAR report, our country produces only half the quantity of fruits and vegetables than required, although we have achieved selfsufficiency food grain (cereals) production long back. Hence, even if every Indian citizen is economically sound enough to afford fruits needed to fulfill our daily requirement, only half of the Indian citizens can make through it. In reality, we still depend on imports even to partly satisfy our nutritional need. It must be 7 P a g e w w w. i m o t f o r u m. c o m S e p t e m b e r 2017

8 Tree of the month - PORTIA - Thespesia populnea, belongs to the family Malvaceae,native to India. - The green bark is chewed as an aphrodisiac. - In addition to that yellow dye is prepared from flower and fruits and red dye is from barks. - Seeds are used to raise these trees. remembered that imported fruits are costly and so the poor can t afford it. Also, the subsidized foods provided by the government are mostly cereals which have far less quantity of vitamins. Golden rice is a cheaper alternative and a feasible way to feed several million children in Asia and Africa suffering from vit-a deficiency. It is an injustice committed to the malnourished children and their parents, when the anti-gm people protest against its release. If the parents of those sufferers were asked, they will deliberately say yes to this product. What are we going to do with generated biosafety data of golden rice after 50 or 100 years, seeing children suffering in front of our eyes now? We need to understand and accept science, rather than believing on unscientific myths. We hope the people would see the science with human face to substantially contribute for attaining the millennium development goals. In the upcoming issue we will discuss on the functioning of GMO regulatory bodies and policies of India and other GM concerns. (Godwin James, Ram Sankar. C, Nandha Kumar. S and Ragavendran Abbai are Biotechnology graduates currently pursuing post graduate in their field.) Cartoon of the month Fruit of the month - DRAGON FRUIT - Hylocerus undatus, belongs to the family Cactaceae,native to Central America. - Propagation is done by stem cuttings. - Rich in phytonutrients and Vitamin C. - For its Anti-septic property, it is used in herbal medicines. 8 P a g e w w w. i m o t f o r u m. c o m S e p t e m b e r 2017

9 கல ச ச ற கள Anabolism Aridity Apiary Antitranspirant Anti-feedant Fertigation Herbigation Rainfed Climate change Mangrove forest Waste segregation Nuclear reactor Radioactivity Nonconventi onal energy Purification/ refinement Zinc Electrical conduction Coral reef Hypothesis Capacitor Perigee Apogee Tidal energy வளர ம ற றம வறட ச ந ல த ன வளர ப டம ந ர வ ப த க க த ட ப ப உண ட ப ன கள உரப னம கலளக சக ள ள னம ம ன வ ர ர வந ல ம ற றம த ப ப ந ம / ச ரப ப ண ல க க ட கள க ப ல ரம ப ர த ல அண உல கத ர யக கம மரப ர எர க த ச த த கர ப ப த த ந கம ம ன கடத த வளப லற கர த தக ள ம ன த க க அண லமந ல உச ந ல அல ஆற றல ஆட த சனட ட க க ம தவள ண ச ழ ல க க ம உள ள ச டர ப!! மக ப ரதத த ன பத ன ழ ந ட கள னப ர க க ப றக பத ன ட ட வத ந ள இரத தக கறற பட ந த ஆய தங கற ஆட ம தத த ன னப த க வ ர ஆற ற ல னவள ம ஓட ம னப த ச த தம ன ய த ர கள என ற ம அத ல த ன ஆட னபர க க பத ன ட ட வத ந ள னக ண ட ட க னற ம என ற ம, இறந த னப நம ம ன ன ர கள க க க ண க றக ன ல த த ம வ தம கத த ன ஆட வ ழ னக ண ட ட க னற ம என ற ம, னதன னமற க பர வ மறழக க ப றக ஆற ற ல னவள ம னபர க னகட த த ஆட ம தத த ல வர ம னப த, ந லத றத உழவ ன ய த, ந ற ற நட ட ல த ன அட த த வர ம றத னப ங கல ன னப த அதற அற வறட ன ய ய ம ட ய ம என பறத உணர ந த அதற க க ந ர ன னபர றமறய னக ண ட ட ம ந ன ஆட பத ன ட ட என ற ம பல வரல ற கள இந த ஆட பத ன ட ட ற க இர க க ன றத. அந ஆட ம த த ன ச றப ப ந ட கள ல த ங க ய ச ட வத ம, ஊஞ ல ஆட மக ழ வத ம, ஆற ற ல ம லளப ர வ ட வத ம ம க க யம னலவ. அத ல ம லளப ர, அந ந ட கள ல தவள ண லமக க ம க ம க க யம ன க ம. நவ ன யங கலள ஒர ச ற ய மண ட ட ய ல ஒர வ ரம வ ட ட ல வளர த த, ஊர ச த வ ல லவத த, க ம ம ட ட ட ஏர ய ல அல த க ளத த ல வ ட வ ர கள. ம லளப ர என றத ம ம க க யம க இந தநரத த ல ந லனவ க க வர வத. னமல ம னத டர ந த பட க க -. கவ யர ன உ க வர ற ற க தக ஒர க கத ல ஏற ட த த ம க ழட அகழ வ ய வ! நமத பள ள ய ன இற த ஆண ட ல எட த த ப றகப படத றத இப னப த ப ர க க ம னப த அத ஒர க லம என பத னப ன ற ஒர ம த ர ய ப ர ப ப அறடயக க ட க றத, அந த ம த ர ய உணர வ கற த த ண ட ய ஆக கங கள இந த னத ல ல யல அகழ வ ய வ ன ம லம ஏற பட க றத. தம ழர கள, ந ங கள ம த தக ட, ந ங கள த ன ந கர கத த ன ம ன ன ட, உங கள டம னம ழ னய இல ல த க லத த ல எங கள டம ப லவர கன இர ந த ர கள, இப பட தம ழர தம னபர றமறய எத தற ந ற க க த த ன வ ய வல க கக க ற க னக ண ட ர ப பத, அத தற க க ம ஆத ரம னதட ம ம யற ச த ன னத ல ல யல அகழ வ ய வ ம றற. அட த த நம தம ழர பண ப ட ட ல ம க க யம த கக கர தப பட ம ங க இலக க யம ம, அந த ங கம அறமந த ர ந தத க க றப பட ம மத றர பற ற ய ம ஒர னதள வ ஆத ரங கற த ரட ட வத ல நம ந ட ட ல னத ல ல யல ஆய வ ம க க ய பங க வக க க றத. அத ல ஒர னபர ய த ர ப ப ம ற ய க அறமந த ர க க றத, இந த க ழட னத ல ல யல அகழ வ ய வ. னமல ம னத டர ந த பட க க -. கவ யர ன. 9 P a g e w w w. i m o t f o r u m. c o m S e p t e m b e r 2017

10 Month in a Page August 2017 Aug 1 NITI Ayog Vice Chairman Aravind Pangariya resigned. Aug 2 RBI cut its basis points by 25 in its third bi-monthly policy. Railway launches e-pay later scheme (Book now and pay later).travelers can pre-book tickets by 5 days & have a Aug 3 provision for paying after 14 days of travel. Aug 4 Country s 1 st Heli Taxi service launched in Bangalore. Rajiv Kumar appointed as New Vice Chairman of NITI Ayog. Aug 5 UP CM makes Bollywood Actor Akshay Kumar as Brand Ambassador for Swatch Bharat Mission in UP. Aug 6 Venkaiah Naidu elected as 13 th Vice President of India. Aug 7 Ankit Mittal of India won gold in Asian Shotgun Championship held at Kazakhstan. Aug 8 Goa declares Coconut tree as its state tree. Kerala & Haryana tops in the report released by Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation in access of toilet to rural Aug 9 households. Aug 10 No insurance will be provided for vehicle until the submission of Pollution under Control (PUC) certificate says SC. IT Ministry asks Social Networking Sites to remove the links of Blue Whale Game following the allegation of two Aug 11 Suicides in India. MoEF released the report titled All India Elephant Estimation on World Elephant Day. India homes for 27,312 Aug 12 Asian elephant in world. Aug 13 Gorakhpur (UP) tragedy - 60 children died in Baba Raghav Das Medical College due to insufficient supply of Oxygen. Aug 14 India Beat Sri Lanka in test series as 3-0 in cricket. (Claimed its first 3-0 series win in overseas) Aug st Independence Day of India celebrated. Aug 16 Partition Museum (Ind - Pak) was opened in Amritsar, Punjab. Aug 17 Saudi Arabia opens its Salwa border for Haj Pilgrimages of Qatar despite its economic sanction on Qatar. Aug 18 Export of Gold above 22 carat is banned. Aug 19 World s 1 st Cyber Court for e-commerce hub opened in China. Aug 20 Indians top In H1-B Visa seekers from USA. Aug 21 OPS sworn as a new Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu besides the merger of two parties within ADMK. Aug 22 Travis Chinnah appointed as First Tamil Chief in Sri Lankan Navy. Aug 23 Typhoon Hato hits Hongkong. Aug 24 SC declares Right to Equality as a Fundamental Right. Aug 25 RBI started Issuing New Rupees 200 denomination notes. Aug 26 Half a million people take part in a peace march in Barcelona, following terrorist attacks Aug 27 A Mega Rally was conducted under Lalu Prasad to display opposition unity against the BJP with Mamata Banerjee, SP President Akhilesh Yadav along with Congress General Secretary C P Joshi in Patna. Aug 28 Dipak Misra Sworn as a New CJI (Chief Justice of India) of India. Aug 29 Flood hits Mumbai besides a heavy rain lives lost. Aug 30 Prime Minister Modi dedicated a hanging bridge built across the Chambal River at Kota, Rajasthan to the Nation. Aug 31 ISRO set to launch its first private satellite IRNSS-1H today. -Ragul Kannan is a B.Tech Energy and Environmental Engineering Graduate who is interested in Current Affairs, Sustainable Environment and Renewable Energy. 10 P a g e w w w. i m o t f o r u m. c o m S e p t e m b e r 2017