Current Affairs - Politics

Om Birla of the Bharatiya Janata Party is the current Speaker who presides over the 17th Lok Sabha.

Pakistan's 329 newly-elected members, including Imran Khan, of the National Assembly took the oath on 13th August. Imran Khan is all set to form the next government, only the second democratic transition of power in the country. Speaker Ayaz Sadiq administered the oath to the leaders in the 342-member house. Imran Khan and other prominent leaders including Shahbaz Sharif, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and former President Asif Ali Zardari also took the oath. The maiden session of the 15th National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament, happened after the swearing of the members. The PTI's final tally reached 158 after it was allotted 28 out of 60 seats reserved for women and 10 seats reserved for minorities.

David Douglas Duncan, a photographer who changed the role of war photography by projecting the sufferings of soldiers in Korea and Vietnam, passed away after suffering from a lung infection, in France. He became a combat photographer during World War II. His major was during the Korean War. He released those photos as a book named This is War!. He donated the earnings from that to widows and orphans of soldiers.

National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate and former Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind will be India's 14th President of the country. He defeated opposition's Meira Kumar, a former Lok Sabha speaker, winning more than 65 percent of the votes in the Electoral College. A total of 32 polling stations including the one in Parliament House was set up in various states and a total number of 4,896 electors, 4,120 MLAs and 776 elected MPs are eligible to cast their ballot.

Minister of culture and tourism Mahesh Sharma launched the National Mission on Cultural Mapping of India in the city. Under the mission, the government will hold a "talent hunt" for artists of various genres and give them a platform to showcase their talent on the national stage. The artists can register themselves on the cultural mapping portal, after which they will be given a unique ID.