Ratan Thiyam

Ratan Thiyam appointed as the Chairperson of the National School of Drama by the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee. His term will be of 4 years. Ratan Thiyam is an Indian playwright and theatre director, and the winner of Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1987, one of leading figures of the "theatre of roots" movement in Indian theatre, which started in 1970s.

He is a painter-playwright-actor-director by profession, and the founder director of Chorus Repertory Theatre in Imphal. He is the theatre director of some of the renowned plays such as Chakravyuh and Urubhangam.

Internet.org

Social networking giant Facebook joined forces with six other technology giants to launch Internet.org with an aim to make Internet access affordable for people across the globe. internet.org is an initiative of  seven technology giants namely Facebook, Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm and Samsung.The initiative will see the partners collaborate on developing lower-cost, higher-quality smartphones and deploying Internet access in undeserved communities. The founding members of Internet.org will develop joint projects, share knowledge, and mobilise industry and governments to bring the world online

The World Needs More

Renowned Film actor  and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan  joined the UN and its humanitarian partners to promote The World Needs More global campaign. The campaign seeks to turn words into real assistance for communities affected by humanitarian crises. It was launched on 19 August 2013.

The World Needs More campaign was produced in collaboration with Leo Burnett New York that allows brands and the public to sponsor a word (such as Education, Inclusion, Strength, Empowerment or Dialogue) they believe the world could use more of. Gucci, Intel, Western Union, Barclays Bank, and Crescent Enterprises have already sponsored words. Besides Amitabh Bachchan, international celebrities who have supported the campaign, includes Beyonce, Kid President, Susan Sarandon, Jennifer Lopez, LL Cool J, Geena Davis, Trey Songz and Christina Applegate.

Anjana Dhavalu Thamke

Anjana Dhavalu Thamake won the third gold for India by winning the girl's 800m race on the concluding day of the track and field events in the second Asian Youth Games held at Nanjing, China. Thamake clocked a personal best of two minutes 11.47 seconds to bag the gold ahead of Savinder Kaur of Malaysia and Sri Lanka's K Dilhani Fernando.

Anjana Thamake, who was participating as an Independent Olympic Athlete as India is serving a ban, led the eight-athlete field all through and won the race comfortably.

National Media Centre

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Saturday inaugurated the National Media Centre here on Raisina Road which is said to be equipped with the latest technologies of information dissemination.  the National Media Centre has been constructed by the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) at a cost of Rs. 60 crore over a period of three years.

The Centre is equipped with a wi-fi enabled press conference hall for 283 media persons, a briefing room for about 60 persons, 24 work stations for journalists, a library, media lounge with wi-fi facilities and a cafeteria. Reports state other facilities at the Centre are optic fibre Internet backbone with redundancy, mini data centre for application development and hosting webcast, including live webcast, Video feed to TV channels, IT facilities to media persons in work area and lounge, Internet telephony and AV Video Wall.

Ashes Test Series

Ashes Test Series-2013  won by England cricket team  3-0 against Australia on 25 August 2013 at England. England and Australia drew the fifth Test as the Ashes series ended in a dramatic draw on the final day at The Oval.  With this fifth test match draw England finished the five-match contest as 3-0 winners having triumphed in three successive Test series against Australia for the first time since the 1950s. 

England retained the Ashes after the third Test match was drawn to give them an unassailable 2–0 lead in the series. England took an unbeatable 3–0 lead in the series with a 74-run win in the fourth Test at Chester-le-Street. Alastair Cook captained the England Side in the tournament, whereas, Michael Clarke captained the Australian team.

International Children’s Peace Prize 2013

Malala Yousafzai  won the International Children’s Peace Prize 2013. She will receive the award from 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner and women's rights campaigner Tawakkol Karman at a ceremony in The Hague on 6 September 2013. The peace prize carries a cash value of 100000 euros (133000 US dollars) which is invested in projects relating to the winner's cause. Malala campaigned for girls' right to education.
                                                
The International Children's Peace Prize is an initiative of the Amsterdam based Dutch Kids Rights Foundation. It was launched in the year 2005 by former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, when he chaired the Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Rome. Since then, the prize has been awarded every year by a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

Dhyan Chand-The Wizard of Hockey

Dhyan Chand, The graphic biography on former Indian Hockey player Dhyan Chand titled Dhyan Chand-The Wizard of Hockey was launched  in New Delhi on 29 August 2013. The biography was launched on the National Sports Day to commemorate the 108th birth anniversary of the legend. The graphic biography is the first-of-its-kind book on a sportsman.

The book has been written by Luis Fernandes, who researched extensively on the subject. The book is being printed by comic-series publication Amar Chitra Katha. The book focussed on Dhyan Chand’s achievements and goal-scoring feats at 1928, 1932 and 1936 Olympics that got him the title The Wizard.