GK Update: 18th septmber, 2016 (English)

i. Sports Minister Vijay Goel conferred Arjuna Awards on cricketers Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane at a function in New Delhi.

ii. Sharma was given the award for 2015 and Rahane for 2016.

i. All India Radio (AIR) has been launched a website and mobile app for its Balochi service to reach people who speak this language across the globe.

ii. The move to start an AIR web service comes in the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech in which he had brought up the issue of Pakistani atrocities on people of Balochistan and PoK.

i. India and Sri Lanka Signed MoU to support livelihood of the fishing and farming communities by providing them equipment worth USD 2 million in the country’s southern Hambantota district.

ii. The agreement was signed by Y K Sinha, High Commissioner of India and W M M R Adikari, Secretary, Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development in the presence of Mahinda Amaraweera, Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development.

i. Ujjivan Financial Services Ltd, a microfinance institution, has won the Platinum Award for Inclusive Insurance at the SKOCH Insurance Awards 2016.

i. Mobile payment and commerce platform Paytm has tied up with the country’s largest rail ticketing platform IRCTC to enable digital payments for travellers.

ii. The Paytm Wallet is already accepted on the IRCTC platform and is in addition to the native integration of Paytm’s payment gateway to the IRCTC application

i. The Telangana government has been signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Goa government to help the latter in information technology (IT) development.

ii. Through this MoU, Telangana will help the Goa government in formulating relevant policies.

i. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited on Friday has been conferred the prestigious membership of the Asia-Pacific Aerospace Quality Group (APAQG)under the category ‘Full Member with voting rights’.

ii. This makes India the seventh nation to join the APAQG under the International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG).

i. V K Sharma, who is currently one of the two managing directors at Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), has taken additional charge as Chairman, LIC of India.ii. Sharma joined LIC in the year 1981 as a Direct Recruit Officer.

i. Former Italian president, prime minister and central bank governor Carlo Azeglio Ciampi has died at the age of 95.

i. Legendary playwright Edward Albee, widely considered one of the greats of his generation, has died at the age of 88.

ii. A three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, he was arguably America’s greatest living playwright after the deaths of Arthur Miller and August Wilson in 2005.