Current Affairs August 2016 - Reports

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News 1 - India’s ranking as business destination improves: Survey

India’s ranking as a business destination has improved as per a recent survey of Transparency International. It now ranks 76^th as compared to the 94^th position it held earlier. As per a World Bank report on ease of doing business, India’s position has improved to 130 this year from the 142^nd position last year among the 189 countries surveyed

Transparency International e.V. (TI) is an international non-governmental organization which is based in Berlin, Germany. Transparency International has the legal status of a German registered voluntary association (Eingetragener Verein) and serves as an umbrella organization.

News 2 - Azim Premji and Shiv Nadar in Forbes list of 100 richest tech tycoon

Wipro chairman Azim Premji and HCL cofounder Shiv Nadar are the only two billionaires from India in Forbes’ list of the world’s 100 richest people in technology.

Mr. Premji ranks 13^th on the list with a net worth of $16 billion and Mr. Nadar comes in on the 17^th spot with $11.6 billion of net worth. The ‘100 Richest Tech Billionaires In The World 2016’ list has been topped by Microsoft founder Bill Gates with an estimated fortune of $78 billion.

News 3 - Melbourne city ranked as the Most Livable City

The Global Livability Ranking, released by The Economist declared Australia’s Melbourne city as the world’s most livable city for the sixth consecutive year. This ranking scored 140 cities on health care, infrastructure, culture, environment and stability.

Adelaide and Perth ranked fifth and seventh respectively. Other top 10 cities include Vienna ranked No 2 and Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, Auckland, Helsinki and Hamburg.

News 4 - Seven Indian companies among top 200 carbon clean firms

Seven Indian companies have made it to a carbon-clean list of 200 largest companies worldwide ranked by their total clean-energy revenues. The list is topped by Japan's Toyota Motor followed by Germany's Siemens AG. The ranking has been done by As You Sow and Corporate Knights.

Among Indian companies are Suzlon Energy at 68 rank for its wind farms, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd at 106 for its wind electric generators and solar cells, and Tata Chemicals at 114 for chemicals for biodiesel, solar energy, and fuel cells. Thermax Ltd is at 139 and Exide Indus at 153 for electric storage batteries. Besides, IDFC Ltd is at 155 for its green infrastructure financing and Havells India at 166 for energy meters.

News 5 - India jumps 15 places in Global Innovation Index

India jumped 15 places from last year 81 position and ranked 66th this year in a list of most innovative economies in the latest report of Global Innovation Index report released by UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). India was also ranked 2^nd most innovative middle income economy in world.

The report has ranked India among the top 50 economies overall in two pillars: Market sophistication, 33, and Knowledge and technology out-puts, 43.

News 6 - Cipla, Godrej recognized in Fortune ‘Change the World’ list

India’s pharmaceutical giant Cipla Ltd and consumer goods conglomerate Godrej have been ranked 46th and 48th respectively in a list of 50 global firms recognized by Fortune magazine.

The Fortune 2016 “Change the World list” recognizes companies that have had a positive social impact through activities that are part of their core business strategy. The list boasts powerful naames like British pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (1), Nestlé (5), Mastercard (7) and Walmart (15).

News 7 - Forbes top 200 America's top wealth advisors list includes four Indianorigin persons

According to the list released by Forbes, of top 200 America's top wealth advisors who collectively manage USD 675 billion, four Indian-origin persons were included among the list. Raj Sharma and Ash Chopra, both working in Merrill Lynch were placed at 17^th and 129^th position respectively.

Sonny Kothari of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management was placed at 176^th position and Raju Pathak of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management was placed at 184^th position. Advisors associated with big warehouses topped the list, including Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and UBS Regarding services.

News 8 - India ranks 39^th in Asia Pacific on fixed broadband

In a recently released report, ‘State of ICT in Asia and the Pacific 2016: Uncovering the Widening Broadband Divide’, published by United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), India ranks a low 39^th in terms of fixed broadband adoption in the list of 53 Asia Pacific countries.

Hong Kong, New Zealand, Japan, Macao, Australia and Singapore topped the list. India ranks lower than countries such as Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Bangladesh. In India, just 1.35 of its citizens have subscribed to fixed broadband service in 2015.

News 9 - India world’s third biggest tech start-up hub

India is home to the third largest number of technology-driven start-ups in the world. USA and UK take the first and second position in the list with more than 47,000 and over 4,500 start-ups respectively. India’s tech start-ups numbered around 4,200 up to 2015. The study was done by ASSOCHAM in association with Thought Arbitrage Research Institute.

Bengaluru is host to the largest share of technology start-ups in India, followed by Delhi NCR and Mumbai.

News 10 - Singapore ranked 6^th in Global Innovation Index

Singapore has been ranked the sixth place around the globe in the Global Innovation Index, 2016. It tops in the Asia Pacific region in the annual released index, one place up from the position last year. The country's improved ranking was driven not just by its performance but also adjustment to survey methodology, such as the addition of new indicators.

Switzerland, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States of America and Finland have been placed ahead of Singapore as the top 5 in the index, while Ireland, Denmark, Netherlands and Germany follow, including in the top 10 most-innovative economies.

News 11 - Forbes released list of The World's Highest-Paid Actresses 2016

Forbes released the list of The World's HighestPaid Actresses 2016. Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence, with earnings of 46 million US dollars, topped the list for the second consecutive year.

Melissa McCarthy with $33 million ranked second in the list followed by Scarlett Johansson (25 million US dollars) and Jennifer Aniston (21 million US dollars) at third and fourth position respectively. Chinese actress Fan Bingbing (17 million US dollars) took the fifth spot in the list. India's Deepika Padukone, at number 10, is the only newcomer to the ranking.

News 12 - India ranked at 7^th among 10 wealthiest countries

As per the rankings in the "W10: The 10 wealthiest countries in the world" report released by the New World Wealth in August 2016, India is the seventh richest country in the world with a total individual wealth of 5600 billion US dollars. The ranking of India as one of the top 10 wealthiest countries in the world is largely because of its large population.

The United States topped the chart with total individual wealth held at 48900 billion US dollars. Others in the top 10 club include:

News 13 - Forbes releases Sixth Annual List of the World's Most Innovative Companies 2016

Five major Indian companies have been ranked among Forbes’s list of ‘The World’s Most Innovative Companies’. At number 18, Asian Paints is the highest-ranked Indian company in the list. Others include Hindustan Unilever (31), Tata Consultancy Services (66), Sun Pharma (73) and Larsen & Toubro (89).

The 100 companies ranked on the list are based on their creative disruption, potential for innovation and investor interest. The companies also need to have seven years of financial data and $10 billion in market capitalisation. Tesla Motors topped the list for the second consecutive year followed by Salesforce, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Incyte and Alexion Pharmaceuticals in the top five respectively.

News 14 - Shahrukh, Akshay, Salman & Big B among top 20 highest-paid actors globally

The list of the world’s top 20 highest-paid actors compiled by Forbes magazine included four Bollywood actors. Shah Rukh Khan, with $33 million in earnings, stood at the 8^th position, Akshay Kumar was at number 10 with $31.5 million, Salman Khan was 14^th with $28.5 million earnings and Amitabh Bachchan stood at 18th with $20 million.

Dwayne Johnson, with an income of $64.5 million topped the list. Robert Downey Jr., Jackie Chan, Matt Damon, Tom Cruise and Johnny Depp were the others in the top 5 respectively.

News 15 - India ranked 77^th in the World Risk Report 2016

United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and Bundnis Entwicklung Hilft in cooperation with the University of Stuttgart in Germany released the World Risk Report 2016. The report ranks 171 countries according to their risk of becoming a victim of a disaster as a result of natural hazards such as floods, cyclones, or earthquakes.

India is ranked 77^th on the World Risk Index - marginally better positioned than Pakistan which is placed at 72. Bangladesh is among the top five countries in the report. The island state of Vanuatu was ranked number one.

News 16 - World population to reach 9.9 billion in 2050: PRB report

The world population will reach 9.9 billion in 2050, increasing by 33% from an estimated 7.4 billion now, according to a report published by Population Reference Bureau (PRB). The world population would hit 10 billion in 2053.

According to PRB's projections, the combined population of the world's least developed countries will double by 2050 to 1.9 billion. The population in 29 countries will more than double, while 42 countries will register declines. According to the estimates of current population, over 25% of the world's population is under 15 years of age.

News 17 - Crime against SC, ST & Women declined in 2015

The report - Crime in India, 2015 revealed that crime against Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes and Women have declined in 2015 as compared to 2014. 10914 incidents of crime were reported against STs as against 11451 cases in 2014, registering a decline of 4.7%.

Nearly 45 thousand crime related incidents were reported against SCs in 2015 as compared to over 47 thousand cases in 2014, registering a decline of 4.4%. It said, over 3.27 lakh cases have been recorded against women in 2015 as against over 3.37 lakh cases in 2014 which reflects a decline of 3.1%.