Daily Current Affairs - 21 August

• Landslides struck Japan's Hiroshima prefecture
• India celebrated 68th Independence Day on 15 August 2014
• Senior MP KV Thomas appointed as Chairman of PAC
  => PAC : Public Accounts Commission
• Mainstreaming Civil Defence in Disaster Risk Reduction Scheme launched
• World’s first Hindu eco-temple Shree Swaminarayan Mandir opened in UK
•  The BRAIN Initiative: A Project for mapping brain activity
• Manipur Court orders release of human rights activist Irom Sharmila
  
• NHRC issued notice to Himachal Pradesh government on alarming sex ratio in Una
  => National Human Rights Commission
• Filmmaker Muzaffar Ali presented with 22nd Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award
• Union Cabinet approved the Nagpur Metro Rail Project
• Union government issued draft rules to empower Forward Markets Commission (FMC)
• SC fined 14 states and 1 UT for not responding to Law Commission's report
•        Chief Prayuth Chan-ocha elected new PM of Thailand
•      Bangladesh to join BRICS Bank
•      RBI issues guidelines for NBFCs on lending against shares
•       PM dedicates Ranchi-Dharamjaygarh-Sipat transmission line to the nation
•       Australian Cyril Baldock is oldest to swim English Channel
• Partha Mitra, Neuroscientist, awarded EAGER Research Grant for Brain Initiative
• Life Sciences IT Outsourcing Leader is HCL Technologies
• Norms for NBFC lending against shares tightened by RBI
• Wireless Charger to Mobile Phones and Laptops
• New Brand Ambassadors of Seagram’s Royal Stag are Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh