JANUARY 2015 ONE LINERS

JANUARY 2015 ONE LINERS 
One liner for the month of January 2015 covers all the important events which have the potential to be asked in various competitive exams. The students will find these one liners of immense help during their course of preparation.

• Person who was appointed as the Chairman of Railway Board on 31 December 2014 - A.K. Mittal

• Person who retired as the Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on 31 December 2014 - Koppillil Radhakrishnan

• Union Government on 31 December 2014 appointed a person as Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) - M Sathiyavathy

• Union Government on 1 January 2014 set up a body to replace the 65 year old Planning Commission - National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog
• Chrysopelea taprobanica, the flying snake of Sri Lanka was sighted in - Seshachalam Biosphere Reserve of Andhra Pradesh, India
• An American country music singer famous for his humorous novelty songs died on 2 January 2015 at Nashville - Little Jimmy Dickens

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 2 January 2015 relaxed Know-Your-Customers (KYC) rules for - Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) 

• 18 kilometer long Jaffna-Kankasanthurai rail track in North Sri Lanka inaugurated on 2 January 2015 was restored by - IRCON

• Senior Scientist and former Chairman of ISRO who was credited for creation of the Garner-Gowarikar theory died on 2 January 2015 - Vasant Ranchhod Gowarikar

• Former Sri Lankan cricket captain, who on 3 January 2015 became the fastest cricketer to reach 12000 Test runs - Kumar Sangakkara
• Tennis player who won the ATP World Tennis Championship at Zayed Sports City in Abu Dhabi on 4 January 2015 - Andy Murray
• Israel on 3 January 2015 decided to stop the transfer of about 500 million shekels (127.6 million US dollars) of taxes to - the Palestinian Authority Government

• Scientists at University of Southampton, UK are planning to grow lettuce on Mars in 2018 under - the Project #LettuceOnMars

• Independent candidate and transgender who on 4 January 2015 won the Mayoral election in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh Municipal Corporation - Madhu Kinnar
• China's deep sea manned submersible that on 2 January 2015 started exploration for the first time in the southwestern Indian Ocean – Jiaolong, named after a mythical dragon

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 5 January 2015 appointed an economist as the Vice Chairman of National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog - Arvind Panagariya

• A new Android app to detect International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) catchers was launched in last week of December 2014 - SnoopSnitch
• Bangalore-based drug firm Jubilant Biosys Ltd on 5 January 2015 received final approval of the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for its generic drugs - Mycophenolate Mofetil and Rizatriptan.
• Union Government on 5 January 2015 aligned the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy with the upgraded - National Industrial Classification (NIC) - 2008

• Person named as the Business person of the Year for 2014 on 6 January 2015 by Fortune magazine - Larry Page, the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Google

• Bihar Government on 6 January 2015 increased the duration of maternity leave to 180 days from – 135 days 
• President Pranab Mukherjee on 6 January 2015 signed the Ordinance that amends’ Citizenship Act, 1955 to provide life-long Indian visa facility to - Person of Indian Origin (PIO) 
• Person who was appointed as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President of Maharashtra on 6 January 2015 - Raosaheb Patil Danve

• High-level committee (HLC) that in its report has suggested single window clearance mechanism for environment projects was headed by - former Cabinet Secretary T S R Subramanium

• The ordinance that paves the way for plying of e-rickshaws on roads of the National Capital Region (NCT) and was signed by the President Pranab Mukherjee on 7 January 2015 - the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988

• A French satirical weekly magazine’s Paris office was attacked by three masked gunmen on 7 January 2014 - Charlie Hebdo

• AirlineRatings.com on 6 January 2015 named an airline as the world’s safest - Australia’s national airline Qantas

• New Zealand on 7 January 2015 won the 2-match Test series played against Sri Lanka by 2-0, the second and final test match was played at - Basin Reserve in Wellington

• Jharkhand Assembly on 8 January 2015 unanimously adopted a resolution urging state government to send a proposal to Union Government for setting up a bench of the Jharkhand High Court in – Dumka, the sub-capital of Jharkhand. 

• Name of the new antibiotic that was discovered by a team of scientists from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts - Teixobactin
• To counter the deadly bluetongue disease, a vaccine was launched on 8 January 2015 by Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL) - Raksha Blu

• 2015 Chennai Open title of tennis was won by - Stanislas Wawrinka 
• Forest and wild life department on 11 January 2015 shut down a bird sanctuary on Gurgaon-Farrukh Nagar Road for one week after 47 migratory birds were found dead - Sultanpur National Park

• The United States announced that it will host an international Anti-terror Summit in Washington – on 18 February 2015

• National Youth Day was observed across India on 12 January 2015 to mark the birth anniversary of - Swami Vivekananda
• Australia on 10 January 2015 won the 4-match test series played against India by 2-0 - Border-Gavaskar Test series

• House of Representatives of the United States on 9 January 2015 passed a legislation approving construction of a controversial - Keystone XL oil pipeline.
• Delhi Legislative Assembly elections 2015 will be held in a single phase on - 7 February 2015 

• Ordinance that amends a law to pave way for introduction of competitive bidding for allocation of mines of iron ore and other non-coal minerals - the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation (MMDR) Act, 1957
• Indian professional golfer on 12 January 2015 was voted as the 2014 Players’ Player of the year in Asian Tour - Anirban Lahiri

• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a central bank for cooperation in the field of central banking - the European Central Bank (ECB)

• Union Government on 13 January 2015 removed the Chairman of Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) - Avinash Chander
• The United States (US) Department of State on 13 January 2015 designated Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) chief as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist - Maulana Fazlullah, also known as Mullah Fazlullah
• The first Border 'Haat' (market) along Tripura-Bangladesh frontier was opened on 13 January 2015 at - Srinagar (Tripura, India) - Purba Madhugram (Feni, Bangladesh). 

• Tamil Novel titled Madhorubhagan that was in debate due to controversy on its content was authored by - Perumal Murugan

• The open water swimming champion of India who set a world record by swimming 1.4 miles in 52 minutes in one degree temperature in the Antarctic Ocean - Bhakti Sharma

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its bi-monthly monetary policy statement cut its main lending rate (Repo Rate) by - 0.25 percent 

• Scientific name of the critically endangered forest owlet that was sighted in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh by a Pune-based conservation society - Athene blewitti

• India observed the 67th Army Day on - 15 January 2015

• Main kit sponsor of Indian cricket team’s new kit for One Day International (ODI) that was launched on 15 January 2015 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia - Nike
• Person who was appointed as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) by President Pranab Mukherjee on 15 January 2015 - Hari Shankar Bramha

• Chairperson of Central Board of Film Certification, (CBFC) who resigned on 16 January 2015 - Leela Samson
• Person who demitted his office as Chief Election Commissioner on 15 January 2015 after attaining the upper age limit - Veeravalli Sundaram Sampath

• Reserve Bank of India on 15 January 2015 issued final guidelines for banks who are acting as - insurance brokers

• Maritime Security Gadget that was handed over to Navy Chief Admiral RK Dhowan and Coast Guard Director General Vice-Admiral AG Thapliyal by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh - Resident Identity Card (RIC) readers
• Two fast patrol vessels which were commission at Mormugao Port of Vasco in Goa by Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on 19 January 2015 - ICG Amogh and ICG Ameya

• Two institutes who inked Memorandum of Collaboration (MoC) to enhance exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons and alternate sources of energy – ONGC and pan-IIT

• Union Government on 19 January 2015 prohibited imports of all kind of mobile handsets with - fake or duplicate Unique Identity Numbers

• Person who succeeded Leela Samson as the Chairman of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) - Filmmaker Pahlaj Nihalani 
• Team that won the 10th Savio Cup All India Basketball tournament 2015 - Oil & Natural Gas Corporation

NOVEMBER 2014 ONE LINERS

NOVEMBER 2014 ONE LINERS 
One liner for the month of November 2014 covers all the important events which have the potential to be asked in various competitive exams. The students will find these one liners of immense help during their course of preparation.

• Former Chairman of Union Carbide Corporation who was blamed for the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy died. At the age of 92 -Warren M Anderson

• Seven Indian sailors who were held in captivity by the Somali pirates off the coast of Somalia for four years were released in -Harardhere

• 2014-15 Duleep Trophy title of cricket was won by -Central Zone 

• Germany’s historic wrought-iron gate bearing the Nazis’ cynical slogan that was stolen from the former Dachau concentration camp had slogan -Arbeit macht frei means Work Sets You Free

• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on 2 November 2014 released IPCC's Synthesis Report (SYR) of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) in -Copenhagen

• Government of Iraq said that the militants of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have executed 322 members of -an Iraqi Al-Bu Nimr tribe in western Anbar province
• Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on 2 November 2014 signed -Indian Ocean Rim Association Charter

• World Trade Center of US re-opened its new tower for business after the original tower were destroyed in -the 9/11 terrorist attack

• Justice Mukul Mudgal Committee on 3 November 2014 submitted its final report on -IPL Spot fixing to the Supreme Court
• Google India created Indian Language Internet Alliance in partnership with various content providers to make available-local language content of India on the internet

• Person appointed as the Union Financial Services Secretary (FSS) on 3 November 2014 -Hasmukh Adhia 

• Country that on 3 November 2014 agreed to support Indian government’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) in its probe to unearth black money - Mauritius

• Israel’s Parliament on 5 November 2014 passed law to block the release of - Palestinian prisoners convicted for murder in any future, peace negotiations

• A Torpedo Recovery Vessel of Indian Navy sank off the Visakhapatnam coast during a naval exercise - TRV-72

• US Navy SEAL commando who shot Osama bin Laden at his Pakistan hideout in Abbottobad on 2 May 2011 revealed his identity - Robert O’Neill 

• Committed to protect declining shark population an airways that banned shipment of shark fins - Jet Airways 

• Cristiano Ronaldo was presented with 2013-14 European Golden Boot award, he shared the prize with - Luis Suarez, having scored 31 times

• The Quickest cricketer in the history to score 6000 ODI run mark and overtook legendary West Indian Vivian Richards' record - Virat Kohli
• Governor of Gujarat signed the Gujarat Local Authorities Laws (Amendment) Bill 2009 that makes - compulsorily vote in local body elections

• Indian Men’s Hockey team won four match series against Australia, 3-1 played at - Perth Hockey Stadium, Australia 
• Germany celebrated the 25th anniversary of fall of the Berlin Wall - 9 November 2014

• Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government in Haryana decided to reverse the retirement age of state employees by - two years

• To provide access of electricity to rural households across the country, Union Government on 20 November 2014 approved launch of a programme - Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DUGJY) 

• Union Cabinet chaired approved signing and ratifying of - the SAARC Regional Railways Agreement by India, as a member State of SAARC.
• The Duchess of Alba, Spain's richest woman who has died aged 88 in Seville - Maria del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart
• An Assam-based NGO working for the conservation of nature along with Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) won 2014 United Nations Lighthouse Activities award – Aaranyak is the NGO of Assam

• Australian cricketer who went into induced coma after a bouncer ball of Sean Abbott hit back of his head at Sydney Cricket Ground - Phillip Hughes

• South Korean paleontologists discovered fossilised skeleton of one of the smallest species of dinosaur in rare condition - Theropod
• To achieve the objective of cleanliness across India, the Union government launched - the Swachh Bharat Kosh guidelines

• Israeli Cabinet approved a bill that calls Israel the nation of the Jewish people, the bill is titled - Israel, the Nation-State of the Jewish People

• The Supreme Court of India on 27 November 2014 observed that an Indian Premier League (IPL) team should be disqualified without any further enquiry - Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

• Pakistan-origin Bollywood actress Veena Malik was sentenced to 26 years in jail on 26 November 2014 by an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) for appearing in mock Geo TV wedding scene in which religious song played in background about - the wedding of the Prophet Muhammad's daughter 

• The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on 26 November 2014 held that all vehicles which are more than 15-years-old would not be permitted to ply on - Delhi roads

• Biography titled My Name is Abu Salem was released on underworld gangster Abu Salem has been written by - S Hussain Zaidi and published by Penguin

• 2010 Commonwealth Games gold-medalist boxer who on 26 November 2014 received the prestigious Arjuna Award by Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal after he took the legal route for the same - Manoj Kumar

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 30 November 2014 devised another acronym and urged police to act – SMART (S for strict but sensitive, M for modern and mobile, A for alert and accountable, R for reliable and responsive and T for techno-savvy and trained)
• NASA celebrated the 50th anniversary of its first mission to Mars, named - Mariner 4 

• The critically endangered Forest Owlet (Athene blewitti) spotted in - Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary in Palghar District of Maharashtra
• Book titled Next China-India War - World's First Water War – 2029 is authored by - former Army chief General Sundarajan Padmanabhan 

• Priyanka Chopra and Freida Pinto launched a multi-level global campaign in New Delhi - Girl Rising 
• The UK's first bus powered entirely by human and food waste has gone into service between -Bristol and Bath

• UK unveiled statute of an Indian-origin fighter pilot who had served in Britain’s Royal Air Force during the Second World War - Mahinder Singh Pujji

OCTOBER 2014 ONE LINERS

OCTOBER 2014 ONE LINERS
One liner for the month of October 2014 covers all the important events which have the potential to be asked in various competitive exams. The students will find these one liners of immense help during their course of preparation.
• Union government accorded in-principle approval for setting up six more STPIs in - Odisha 

• In Uttar Pradesh, an army chopper that crashed in Bareilly killed three officials including - two Majors and a pilot
• The Reserve Bank of India relaxed Know Your Customer (KYC) norms by allowing - self-certification of documents for opening bank accounts
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched - Swachh Bharat (Clean India) campaign 
• Thirty two people were killed in a stampede that occurred at the main Dussehra event at - Gandhi Maidan in Patna
• Indo-Bangladesh Joint Rafting Expedition was conducted on the - Siyom River in West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the countrymen over radio for the first time in his programme - Mann Ki Baat

• World Animal Day was observed across the world on - 4 October 
• Rajasthan became first Indian state to start olive refinery that is located in - Lunkaransar area of Bikaner
• NASA’s Earth Observatory claimed that world’s fourth-largest lake has dried and is at the verge of vanish - Aral Sea
• ISIS militants beheaded British aid worker - Alan Henning
• In Cricket Chennai Super Kings (CSK) won - the Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) 2014 title 

• Bollywood actor who 2014 received Global Diversity Award 2014 at the Britain’s House of Commons - Shah Rukh Khan

• Researchers at University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s Appalachian Laboratory have developed a tool to overcome the major challenge of predicting - how organisms may respond to climate change

• A reputed newspaper of United States that issued an apology to its readers for its racist cartoon on India’s Mars Mission - The New York Times
• USA Swimming suspended Olympic champion swimmer from all competition for six months for violating the organization's code of conduct - Michael Phelps

• Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni became the co-owner of the Indian Super League franchise - Chennaiyin FC
• Britain and Ireland inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on - new joint Visa cooperation
• The Mauritian parliament was dissolved to pave the way for elections that could - lead to changes in the country's constitution

• Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh launched the ingeniously manufactured - Broad Spectrum Confocal Microscope that generates 3D images of objects

• Madhava Menon panel submitted its report to Supreme Court with guidelines on - government ads

• Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was bestowed an honorary knighthood from - Queen Elizabeth II

• A book titled Syntheism – Creating God in The Internet Age is authored by - Alexander Bard

• Georgetown University’s first Hindu priest (Chaplain) is - Pratima Dharm 

• Author of book Worthy Fights: A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace - Leon Panetta, and Jim Newton

• World Post Day was observed globally on - 9 October 

• Chairperson of Sangeet Natak Akademi who tendered her resignation - Leela Samson 
• The US Department of Defence, Pentagon, approved - two previously-stalled technology transfer licences to India
• Roger Federer won his maiden ATP Shanghai Masters trophy by defeating - Gilles Simon

• Cyclonic Storm Hudhud that struck the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. Its name was kept on the national bird of Israel - Hoopoe bird

• Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) removed former IPL Commissioner - Lalit Modi as its President

• National Kishore Kumar Award for 2012-13 was conferred on noted lyricist - Sameer 

• Indian shuttler who won the 50000 dollar Dutch Open Grand Prix badminton tournament - Ajay Jayaram
• According to contingent sponsors Samsung India Most Valuable Player of India’s Incheon Asian Games campaign was - MC Mary Kom 

• British lawmakers voted in favour to recognise Palestine as - an official state

• Scientists from the Australian National University (ANU) based in Canberra found that the sea levels have risen more in past century - as compared to any century in past 6000 years
• Germany’s President honoured the bravery of peaceful protesters - who stood up to the communist dictatorship in East Germany 25 years ago

• Australian author Richard Flanagan won the 50000 pounds Man Booker Prize for his wartime novel - The Narrow Road to the Deep North
• Global Handwashing Day (GHD) was observed across the world on - 15 October
• Author of book, Final Test: Exit Sachin Tendulkar - Dilip D’Souza
• International Day for the Eradication of Poverty was observed across the world on - 17 October
• India and Norway signed 13 agreements during state visit of - President Pranab Mukherjee
• ISRO repositioned its Mars Orbiter, Mangalyaan as a precautionary step against the expected -Comet Siding Spring that was supposed to fly by Mars
• Union Government appointed US-based economist Arvind Subramanian as - Chief Economic Advisor (CEA)

• Venezuela, Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand and Spain were elected as non-permanent members of - United Nations Security Council

• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved appointment of Rajiv Mehrishi as - the Union Finance Secretary in Department of Economic Affairs
• Indian-origin Singaporean poet and writer who was named for the 2014 Cultural Medallion, the highest cultural award of Singapore - KTM Iqbal
• The Union Urban Development Ministry appointed PSN Rao as the new Chairman of - the Delhi Urban Art Commission
• The Reserve Bank of India signed a pact with the Central Bank of Kenya for - Supervisory Cooperation and Exchange of Supervisory Information

• Dr. Raghuram Rajan was conferred with - Euromoney’s Central Bank Governor of the Year Award 2014
• Britain would use an act to charge citizens who prefer to fight with ISIS insurgents in Iraq and Syria - Treason Act of 1351
• Astronomers in October 2014 discovered a new planet that resembles Uranus in a binary star system 25000 light-years away near - the constellation Sagittarius
• India successfully defended its Sultan of Johor Cup (SOJC) Under-21 Hockey title at - Taman Daya Hockey Stadium, Johor Bohru, Malaysia

• India was re-elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) - for the period of 2015 to 2017
• Union Government ordered merger of the scam-hit firm, National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) with its holding company Financial Technologies India Ltd (FTIL) and invoked - Section 396 of the Companies Act for the merger
• 2014 Liberty Medal was conferred at the National Constitution Centre in Philadelphia to - Malala Yousafzai
• Retirement fund body Employees' Provident Fund Organisation has started a new facility to transfer provident funds of foreign employees to - bank accounts in their own countries
• India and China have agreed to step up engagements between their militaries by setting up hotlines between the Army headquarters - to address incidents of incursions 
• The US has tightened its guidelines for health workers who are treating patients with Ebola virus - calling for new competency training
• For abrupt cancellation of their tour to India, BCCI will initiate legal proceedings against - West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) 
• The 2014 Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge was won by - Sahil Doshi, an Indian-American student 
• Ashwika Kapur became the first Indian woman to win prestigious Wildscreen Panda Award for her film - Sirocco - how a dud became a stud

• Noted freedom fighter who worked for Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's Azad Hind Fauj died after prolonged illness in Almora, Uttarakhand - Jagdish Sharan Pande
• Senior Google vice-president who broke the world altitude record for highest free-fall parachute jump set by Austrian Felix Baumgartner is  – Alan Eustace

• International Boxing Association (AIBA) provisionally suspended Indian boxer for protesting against a controversial verdict, at 2014 Incheon Asian Games - Laishram Sarita Devi

• South Africa's football captain and goalkeeper who died on 26 October 2014 after being shot - Senzo Meyiwa
• First BJP leader and first non-jay person in 18-years to be sworn-in as the tenth Chief Minister of Haryana - Manohar Lal Khattar

• Sania Mirza of India and Cara Black of Zimbabwe won the doubles title of - the BNP Paribas Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Finals Singapore

• The Union Finance Ministry on 27 October 2014 launched a dedicated website for - Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana
• Brazilian incumbent President was re-elected for her second four-year term - Dilma Rousseff of center-left Workers’ Party 
• 68th Infantry Day was observed across India to pay homage to war heroes on - 27 October 

• Person who was described as a Soviet Spy by the declassified documents of the National Archives of Britain - Former Indian ambassador, Arathil Candeth Narayan Nambiar
• Telecom giant of Japan that has pledged to make an investment of 10 billion US dollars in India's IT and communications sector in coming years - SoftBank

• First copy of book titled Tulsi Smriti Granth on Acharya Tulsi was received by - the President Pranab Mukhejee 

• Union Finance Ministry canceled the current selection process for the posts of Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) and Executive Director (ED) of - Public Sector Banks
• Union Government submitted list of 627 Indians holding black money abroad to the Supreme Court (SC) after it was - harshly rapped for providing a protective shield to account holders

• Taiwan banned its government officials from higher studies in mainland China for - national security reasons

• India and Saudi Arabia agreed to cooperate in different areas of - hydrocarbon sector

• 2014 World’s Children Prize was awarded to - Malala Yousafzai 
• 2014 World's Children's honorary awards were given to - Indira Ranamagar and John Wood
• Sachin Tendulkar and Steve Waugh entered - Bradman Hall of Fame

AUGUST 2014 ONE LINERS

AUGUST 2014 ONE LINERS
One liner for the month of August 2014 covers all the important events which have the potential to be asked in various competitive exams. The students will find these one liners of immense help during their course of preparation.

• SC appointed a commission to probe the 2006 Meerut Fire tragedy under the chairmanship of - former Justice SB Sinha
• Arunachal Pradesh Assembly passed the Arunachal Pradesh District Planning Committee (Amendment) Bill, 2014 to pave a way for - panchayats and municipalities to participate in planning process in the districts

• Person who took charge as the fourth Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) - Subhash Sheoratan Mundra

• An autobiography titled One Life is Not Enough is authored by - Natwar Singh

• First Indian woman gymnast to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games - Dipa Karmarkar, she bagged a bronze in the vault event

• Person who won the Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award 2014 for his contribution towards promotion of Communal harmony & peace and goodwill - Muzaffar Ali 
• Earthquake of magnitude 6.1 on Richter scale that killed about 380 people and injured about 1800 others struck in - southwest Yunnan province of China
• XX Commonwealth Games, Glasgow 2014 came to an end on 3 August 2014 at -Hampden Park stadium 

• John Kerry, the US Secretary of State was on a three-day visit to India to co-chair - Fifth Indo-US Strategic dialogue with Sushma Swaraj

• Preliminary report of GSI pointed deforestation and leveling of ground for cultivation as primary cause for landslide in - Malin village, Pune
• NASA announced that it will send a new rover Mars 2020 mission capable of making oxygen on the red planet with the help of - MOXIE

• Team of researchers led by Dr Livio Favaro in Italy decoded the language of an animal - African penguins (jackass penguin) 
• For distribution of Doordarshan’s overseas India channel, DD India on a DTH platform, Prasar Bharti inked MoU with - Deutsche Welle of Germany

• In the wake of an alleged chopper scam, India put on hold all defence procurements from the Italian company - Finmeccannica and its affiliate firms 

• The creator of cartoon character, Chacha Chaudhary died due to cancer of the intestine – Pran Kumar Sharma

• To empower SEBI to crackdown on fraudulent investment schemes the parliament passed - Securities Laws (Amendment) Bill 2014 

• Russian President signed decree that bans imports of agricultural products from all countries that have - imposed sanctions on Russia over Ukraine crisis
• Tamil Nadu bill that removes restrictions on the entry of dhoti-clad men in recreation clubs, hotels, theatres and malls in the state - Tamil Nadu Entry into Public Places (Removal of restriction on dress) Bill, 2014

• UK destroyed 190 metric tonnes of Syrian Arab Republic at a commercial facility in - Ellesmere Port

• US launched air strike against ISIS militants in Iraq on 8 August 2014 - near Erbil in northern Iraq

• The head of the Uttarkhand Government constituted committee to conduct a detailed survey of the industries using silica dust in the state - S Raju 

• UNHRCs three member International Inquiry Commission to probe possible war crimes and human rights violations during conflict in Gaza will be headed by - William Schabas 

• Indian-origin mathematician who was awarded the prestigious Fields Medal at the IMU International Congress of Mathematicians in Seoul - Manjul Bhargava

• Himachal Pradesh  was selected to host - India’s first Para-gliding World Cup in 2015

• To benefit of citizens aged 60 years and above, the Union Government on 14 August 2014 re-launched - Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana (VPBY) 

• India called-off the high-level talks with Pakistan after the Pakistan High Commissioner invited - Kashmiri separatist Hurriyat leaders in Delhi for a meet

• England won the 5-match test-series played against India, 3-1 to win - Pataudi Trophy

• India signed MoU with Czech Republic on - technical cooperation in railway sector
• Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi on 16 August 2014 dedicated India’s indigenously designed warship - INS Kolkata (D63) 

• SC issued notice to government seeking response on amendment of - Article 348 of Constitution
• Book titled Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi: An Inside Job? is authored by - Faraz Ahmad 

• Landslides struck in Hiroshima prefecture in western Japan’s city - Asaminami and Asakita wards

• Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh launched a Plan Scheme named - Mainstreaming Civil Defence in Disaster Risk Reduction

• World’s first Hindu eco-temple that was opened in Kingsbury of northwest London, United Kingdom is named - Shree Swaminarayan Mandir
• NHRC issued notice to HP government to give report on depressing state of sex ratio of Una district after the sex ratio went down to - 500 girls per 1000 boys

• Union Cabinet gave its nod to a proposal to raise the mining royalty rates with few exceptions like - coal and lignite

• Junta-picked National Legislative Assembly (NLA) elected Thai coup leader Prayuth Chan-ocha as the - Prime Minister of Thailand 

• Punjabi film that depicts the lives of the assassins of former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, whose release was withheld by Union I&B ministry - Kaum de Heere

• To meet the irrigation needs of all farmers across the country, Prime Minister announced - Pradhan Mantri Krishi Seenchayi Yojana

• South Africa announced the plan to curb illegal hunts for rhino horn under which about 500 rhinos would be evacuated from - Kruger National Park
• Hockey India on 21 August 2014 added Hockey Madhya Pradesh as its - 23rd associate member
• Jnanpith awardee and renowned Kannada writer - U R Ananthamurthy died 

• SC issued notice to Union Government to respond on the issue of asking Governors to quit or face dismissal within six weeks on the writ petition filed by - Uttarakhand Governor Aziz Qureshi
• Union Defence Minister Arun Jaitley commissioned India’s first indigenously-built stealth Anti-Submarine Warfare - INS Kamorta in the Indian Navy

• Not Just an Accountant is a book authored by - Former CAG Vinod Rai
• The noted Malayalam drama and film actor died on 25 August 2014 at Chengottukavu in Kozhikode, Kerala - Chemancherry Narayanan Nair
• To provide online marketing platform to handloom weavers and boost the sector and empower the weavers and boost manufacturing in the country Union Government signed MoU with a leading online market service provider – Flipkart

• The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on 25 August 2014 imposed a combined penalty of more than 2500 crore rupees on 14 car companies and the maximum penalty was on – Tata Motors

• Director of Film Gandhi, a 1982 epic biographical film on the life of the Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was - Richard Attenborough

• The 1982 epic biographical film on the life of the Mahatma Gandhi fetched first Oscar award to an Indian in 1983, the person was – Bhanu Athaiya for Best Costume Design

• To gain intelligence on the activities of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants in Syria, the US President Barack Obama on 26 August 2014 authorised - surveillance flights over Syria

• Indian Air Force (IAF) and Russian Federation Air Force (RFAF) on 25 August 2014 started Indo-Russian Air Force Exercise at Astrakhan region, near the Caspian Sea in Russia, named - Avia Indra-2014 

• Six years after 26/11 terror attack of Mumbai a building was reopened – Nariman House of Mumbai

• Jaipur Pink Panther (JPP) owned by Abhisek Bachchan on 31 August 2014 won the inaugural title of the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi Leagu after defeating - U Mumba 35-24 at the NSCI Stadium in Mumbai
• Renowned Telugu filmmaker who also served as art Consultant for Ford Foundation sponsored The Southern Language Book Trust died on 31 August 2014 in Chennai - Sattiraju Lakshminarayana nicknamed Bapu