A wave of arson and bombing attacks overnight hit Thailand’s southernmost provinces, which for almost two decades have been the scene of an active Muslim separatist insurgency.

At least 17 attacks occurred  on Aug 16 night in Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala provinces, mostly at convenience stores and gas stations, military spokesperson Pramote Promin said. Three civilians were reported injured. There have been no claims of responsibility.

More than 7,300 people have been killed since the insurgency began in 2004 in the three provinces, the only ones with Muslim majorities in Buddhist-dominated Thailand. Attacks have also taken place in neighboring Songkhla province.

Muslim residents have long charged they are treated like second-class citizens in Thailand, and separatist movements have been periodically active for decades. Heavy-handed crackdowns have fueled the discontent.

The attacks are the most high-profile ones since early April, when the Thai government and BRN — Barisan Revolusi Nasional Melayu Patani, believed to be the biggest of several insurgent groups— agreed to halt violence during the Muslim holy period of Ramadan. In other violence since then, two Thai army ordnance experts on duty were killed by a bomb later that month.

Wolfgang Petersen, the German filmmaker whose World War II submarine epic "Das Boot" propelled him into a blockbuster Hollywood career that included the films "In the Line of Fire," "Air Force One" and "The Perfect Storm," has died. He was 81.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on  Aug 17 said nearly 60 per cent of all the vaccines used in the world are produced in India and over the decades, the country has made a remarkable contribution to vaccinating the world.

India today is double dosing every citizen and producing Covid-19 vaccines even during the lockdown period, she added.

Public sector lender State Bank of India (SBI) on  Aug 16 opened its dedicated branch for start-ups in Koramangala, and it plans to roll out two more - Gurugram and Hyderabad- in the next six months.

SBI Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara, who was in Bengaluru to inaugurate the new branch said, they are opening the first branch in the start-up capital of India.

The Koramangala start-up branch has also entered into MoUs with the Karnataka government initiatives such as Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS) and Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KEDEM) to support the entire start-up ecosystem in Karnataka.

The bank has provided debt to 104 start-ups so far aggregating to Rs 250 crore over the last 18 months.

SBI also has an equity allocation, and it has already invested Rs 5,000-6,000 crore in businesses including start-ups, fund of funds, and so on.

The dedicated branch will act as a hub and provide various services to start-ups starting from the formation of the entity till IPOs (Initial Public Offering) and FPOs (Follow-on Public Offers) of the companies. Apart from this, the branch will also have specialist teams for capital markets assisting in equity raise and registration facilities.

The branch will also cater to the requirements of the private equity, venture capital funds and the AIFs (Alternative Investment Funds).

SBI chairman said about 50% of start-ups in the country are supported through equity funding, which is a big market.

Amitabh Chaudhary, the former BCCI acting secretary and president of Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) died of heart attack. He was 58.

A retired senior IPS officer, who rose to the rank of IGP with the Jharkhand Police, the former top cop was also the chairman of Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC).

An IIT Kharagpur alumnus, Chaudhary was instrumental in getting the first-class status for Jharkhand after BCCI disbanded the Bihar Cricket Association during the late Jagmohan Dalmiya's tenure in the early part of the new millennium.

Q1. Name the public sector lender  which has  opened its dedicated branch for start-ups in Koramangala, Bengaluru and it plans to roll out two more - Gurugram and Hyderabad- in the next six months ?

1. Central Bank of India
2. Bank of Baroda
3. State Bank of India
4. Punjab National Bank
5. None of These 

Q2. What amount the  Union Cabinet  has earmarked towards the interest subvention scheme to help banks provide short-term agriculture loans of up to Rs 3 lakh at a rate of 7 per cent ?

1. Rs 11, 146 crore
2. Rs 14,532 crore
3. Rs 24,765 crore
4. Rs 34,856 crore
5. None of These

Q3. The government had introduced Interest Subvention Scheme (ISS) to provide short-term credit to farmers at subsidised interest rates which is now renamed as

1. Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS)
2. Upgraded Interest Subvention Scheme (UISS)
3. High Interest Subvention Scheme (HISS)
4. Modernised Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS)
5. None of These

Q4. Name the German filmmaker whose World War II submarine epic "Das Boot" propelled him into a blockbuster Hollywood career that included the films "In the Line of Fire," "Air Force One" and "The Perfect Storm"  and who has died recently ?

1. Robert Wiene
2. Wolfgang Petersen
3. Wolfgang Becker 
4. Tom Tykwer
5.  None of These

Q5. Name  the former BCCI acting secretary and president of Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) died of heart attack recently ?

1. Pankaj Gupta
2. M.G. Bhave
3. A.N. Ghose
4. Amitabh Chaudhary
5. None of These

Answers

1----------------3   State Bank of India

2---------------4   Rs 34,856 crore

3---------------1   Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS)

4--------------2   Wolfgang Petersen

5----------------4   Amitabh Chaudhary

A week after Nitish Kumar took over as Bihar Chief Minister, nearly 31 new ministers from various parties were inducted into his cabinet on Aug 16.

The ministers in the 'Mahagathbandhan' government include Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Tej Pratap Yadav and Alok Mehta.

Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Bijendra Yadav (both JDU), Tej Pratap Yadav, Alok Mehta (both RJD) and Afaque Alam (Congress) took oath in the first batch of the Bihar cabinet expansion.

Shravan Kumar, Ashok Choudhary, Leshi Singh (all JDU), Surendra Prasad Yadav and Ramanand Yadav (both RJD) also took oath in the second batch of the expansion.

Sanjay Jha, Madan Sahni (both JDU), Kumar Sarvajeet, Lalit Yadav (both RJD) and Santosh Kumar Suman (HAM) took oath during the third batch of Bihar cabinet expansion.

Sheela Kumari, Sunil Kumar (both JDU), Samir Kumar Mahaseth, Chandrashekhar (both RJD) and Sumit Kumar Singh (Independent) also took oath in the following batch.

Mohd Zama Khan, Jayant Raj (both JDU), Jitendra Kumar Rai, Anita Devi and Sudhakar Singh (all RJD) take oath in fifth batch of Bihar cabinet expansion.

The Bihar cabinet can have up to 36 ministers, including the Chief Minister. Some ministerial berths will be kept vacant for future cabinet expansion.

Nitish Kumar had broken away from the BJP and formed a government with the RJD and other parties earlier this month. The Chief Minister and his deputy - RJD's Tejashwi Yadav - took oath on August 10.

BJP MLA and former Bihar minister Subhash Singh passed away on  Aug 16 following prolonged illness.

Singh, 59, had been admitted to AIIMS, New Delhi where he breathed his last in the morning

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed grief over the death of Singh, who represented the Gopalganj assembly seat, and had served as the minister for cooperatives in the NDA government that fell last week