Current Affairs Update – 16 to 20 September, 2016

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB)
  approved to dole out $631 million for developing India’s first coastal
  industrial corridor along the Vishakapatnam-Chennai coastline.
• Out of the total grant released
  by the ADB, $500 million would be invested in infrastructural development while
  the remaining would be used for industrial policy and business promotion.
• This is the first phase of
  development in the 2,500-kilometre-long East Coast Economic Corridor project
  that is being considered cruciual in spurring development in India’s eastern
  coast and establishing seamless trade links with South and Southeast Asia.
• The financial institution
  estimated a fourfold increase worth $64 billion in the annual industrial output
  along the corridor by 2025.
• The 800-kilometre-long coastline,
  extending from Kolkata in West Bengal to Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu, will connect
  four regional economic hubs-Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Amaravati, and
  Yerpedu-Srikalahasti-and other neraby industrial areas.
• The Urban Climate Change
  Resilience Trust Fund will be making a grant of $6 million, which will be
  utilised in building infrastructure reislilent to climate change and for
  managing costs incurred by the local government along the corridor.    
• In addition to this, the Indian
  government will also make an investment of $215 million to the project that is
  going to cost $846 million.

• India’s largest payment and
  commerce platform Paytm, on Tuesday, announced partnership with the National
  Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to enable cashless transaction on highway
  tolls across the country.
• The Paytm FASTag will allow
  commuters to pass through 350 toll plazas covering 55,000 kms, without having
  to stop. The vehicle tag employs RFID technology to allow cashless toll fee
  payment with the Paytm wallet. Paytm aims to collect over Rs. 1,800 crore in
  toll charges in the coming months, said Kiran Vasireddy, Senior Vice President,
  Paytm.
• He said cash transactions slows
  down traffic at important toll plazas as attendants and motorists are left
  grappling with the hassles of dealing in loose change. The roll-out of
  Paytm-enabled FASTag will come as a relief to both commuters and toll plaza attendants
  and help towards the national cause of saving fuel.
• With this move, Paytm is inching
  closer to its vision of making cashless transactions a way of life across
  India. This will propel India towards becoming a cashless economy in the truest
  sense of the word, he added.

• Arun Shrivastava, Managing
  Director and Chief Executive Officer of Syndicate Bank, opened the bank’s
  national processing centre in Manipal on Tuesday.
• This centre is part of the
  business process re-engineering (BPR) pillar of ‘Project Ananya’.
• (‘Project Ananya’, which is a
  transformation programme initiated by the bank, has four pillars. They are:
  BPR, digital banking, sales and CRM, and HR development.)
• KT Rai, General Manager of the
  bank, who is in charge of ‘Project Ananya’, said that this digitally enabled
  processing centre will cater to a number of processes for branches across
  India.

• State-owned refiner Indian Oil
  Corporation (IOC) and GAIL India will sign a pact on Wednesday to take 49 per
  cent stake in Adani Group’s Rs 5,000-crore Dhamra LNG project in Odisha.
• While IOC will take 38 per cent,
  GAIL will pick 11 per cent stake in the proposed 5-million tonne a year
  liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal at Dhamra by financial year
  2018-19.
• Adani Petroleum Terminal will
  hold 49 per cent in Dhamra LNG Terminal 
  — the firm setting up the LNG plant. The remaining 2 per cent interest
  will be held by financial institutions.
• Sources said a formal agreement
  signing ceremony is planned on Wednesday where Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan,
  who also hails from Odisha, will also be present.

• Taxi-hailing app Uber on Tuesday
  signed a pact with technology start-up incubator T-Hub, set up by Telangana
  government, for UberExchange programme.
• As part of the deal, T-Hub will
  be leveraging its expertise in shortlisting 20 start-ups through existing network
  of both the organisations, according to Eric Alexander, Head of Business, Uber
  Asia.
• T-Hub will invite start-ups to
  apply for the UberExchange programme through an online application process and
  encourage participation and representation from start-ups across the country,
  Alexander said.

• Union Government on 18 September
  2016 notified the new import policy for marble and travertine blocks and marble
  and granite slabs. The policy will come into effect from 1 October 2016.
• The new policy ends the
  quantitative restriction on the import of marble and travertine blocks as well
  as the cumbersome and restrictive import licensing system.
• The Minimum Import Price (MIP)
  for marble blocks has been reduced to 200 US dollar per metric ton. The basic
  customs duty on import of marble and travertine blocks has been increased from
  10 percent to 40 percent to address the interest of domestic producers.
• Similarly, the MIP on the import
  of marble slabs is being reduced to 40 US dollar per square metre and the basic
  customs duty on the import of marble slabs is doubled to 20 percent.
• The MIP on the import of granite
  slabs has been reduced to 50 US Dollars per square metre and the basic customs
  duty on import of granite slabs has been doubled to 20 percent.

• The Union Government approved
  projects worth 500 crore rupees for integrated development of tourism in Jammu
  and Kashmir under Swadesh Darshan scheme.
• The Central Sanctioning and
  Monitoring Committee for the scheme approved the projects as part of
  Development Package of Prime Minister Reconstruction Plan (PMRP).
• The new projects include
  Integrated Development of Tourist facilities at Mantalai – Sudhmahadev –
  Patnitop Circuit (for 99.99 Crore rupees), Baramulla-Kupwara-Leh circuit (for
  99.98 Crore rupees), Rajouri – Bafliyaz – Shopian – Pulwama Circuit (for 99.99
  Crore rupees) and Anantnag-Kishtwar- Pahalgam – Daksum – Ranjit Sagar Dam
  Circuit (for.99.75 Crore rupees).
• Nearly 100 crore rupees have been
  approved for integrated development of tourist facilities in lieu of damaged
  assets in the floods.

• India and Nepal on 16 September
  2016 signed three MoUs and agreements to enhance the bilateral agreement
  between the two nations.
• The agreements were inked during
  the four-day-visit (from 15 September to 18 September 2016) of Nepal Prime
  Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda to India.

• MoU for project management
  consultancy services for upgradation/improvement of road infrastructure in
  Terai area of Nepal – The services will be provided by NHIDCL in pursuance of
  the MoU signed on 20 February 2016.
• First Amendatory Dollar credit
  line agreement between Nepal and EXIM Bank: Amendatory agreement to 1 billion
  US dollar Line of Credit agreement signed on 25 November 2014, enabling
  reapportioning of unutilised funds for post-earthquake reconstruction projects
  in Nepal.
• Dollar Credit line agreement
  between Nepal and EXIM Bank: New Line of Credit agreement for 750 million US
  dollar for post-earthquake reconstruction projects in Nepal.

• India and Sri Lanka on 15
  September 2016 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to support livelihood
  of the fishing and farming communities in Hambantota district of Sri Lanka.
• The project envisages gift of
  equipment and tools such as grub hoes, bicycles, life jackets and sewing
  machines, worth 300 million SLR, to the fishing and farming communities in
  Hambantota district. Part of the grant is expected to be used for developing
  fisheries villages under a national programme.
• More than 75000 people across the
  district will get direct benefit from the project. The project will be
  implemented in consultation with the relevant local authorities.

• The government on Tuesday
  announced 27 cities as a new batch of Smart Cities. In the third round of
  competition, Venkaiah Naidu, the Minister for Urban Development, announced the
  list of new cities.
• Maharashtra tops the list with
  five cities — Aurangabad, Kalyan-Dombivli, Nagpur, Nashik and Thane — while
  Tamil Nadu and Karnatak come second with four cities each. Tamil Nadu has
  Madurai, Salem, Thanjavur and Vellore, while Karnataka has Hubli-Dharwad,
  Mangaluru, Shivamogga and Tumakuru.

• India on 20 September 2016
  successfully test-fired the most advanced surface-to-air missile ‘Barak-8’ off
  the Odisha coast. The long-range nuclear capable ballistic missile, developed
  jointly with Israel, was launched from a mobile launcher at the Integrated Test
  Range in Chandipur in Balasore district.
• The 4.5-meter missile weighs
  around 3 tonnes and can carry a payload of 70 kilograms. The system also
  includes a Multi-Functional Surveillance and Threat Alert Radar (MF STAR) for
  detection, tracking and guidance of the missile.
• The missile swung into action
  after getting a signal from the radars to intercept a moving aerial target
  supported by an unmanned air vehicle ‘Banshee’ over the Bay of Bengal.
• As a precautionary measure,
  Balasore district administration had made adequate arrangements to temporarily
  shift 3700 people residing within the 2.5 km radius. The fishermen were also
  asked not to venture into the sea during the launch.

• A committee set up by the Union
  Government said that the Delhi government splurged the exchequer’s money on
  advertisements projecting Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his party that
  violated Supreme Court guidelines.
• The three-member panel headed by
  former Chief Election Commissioner BB Tandon has asked the Delhi government to
  reimburse the money expenditure since the violation of the Supreme Court order
  of 13 May 2015, has taken place. The other two members of the panel were adman
  Piyush Pandey and journalist Rajat Sharma.

• Indian Railways on 19 September
  2016 launched Yatri Mitra Sewa to facilitate access to wheelchairs, battery
  operated cars and porter services. The service was launched to make rail travel
  comfortable for elderly, differently-abled and ailing travelers.

• Yatri Mitra or Passenger Friend
  service can be an assistant or any other person nominated for the purpose.
• The service will be available at
  major railway stations across the country.
• It can be availed at the time of
  online booking of tickets by calling or messaging 139 or by simply dialling a
  dedicated mobile phone number to be activated for the purpose.
• Passengers can also access the
  Mobile app to avail the service in the future. The App will be developed by the
  Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS).
• Once the service is booked, the
  IRCTC will ensure the Yatri Mitra receive the passenger at the entrance of the
  station and help in boarding the train safely.

• The Cauvery Supervisory Committee
  headed by Shashi Shekhar on 19 September 2016 directed Karnataka to release
  3000 cusecs of water per day to Tamil Nadu. As per the committee’s direction,
  Karnataka will have to release 3000 cusecs water per day from 21 to 30
  September 2016 to Tamil Nadu.
• The other members of the
  committee are Chief Secretaries of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry
  and Central Water Commission chairman. It will once again meet in October 2016.
• It seems that the decision of the
  committee will go in vain as no consensus was reached between the two states
  regarding the release of water. Karnataka had opposed the release of water due
  to ground reality and drinking water problems in the state.
• Earlier on 5 September 2016, the
  Supreme Court asked Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to approach the panel and till
  then asked Karnataka to release 15000 cusecs of water per day for 10 days to
  Tamil Nadu. Later on 12 September, it revised the limit to 12000 cusecs per day
  till 20 September 2016.

• Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
  (HAL) was on 16 September 2016 conferred with the prestigious membership of the
  Asia-Pacific Aerospace Quality Group (APAQG) under the category Full Member
  with voting rights.
• With this, India became the
  seventh nation to join the APAQG under TRHE International Aerospace Quality
  Group (IAQG). The other nations of APAQG are China, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia,
  Singapore and Japan.

• A once-in-12-years festival of
  Buddhist spirituality, culture and tradition began on 16 September 2016 at the
  Hemis monastery of Drukpa lineage in Ladakh region of India. The festival will
  conclude on 22 September 2016.
• Hundreds of thousands of monks,
  devotees and tourists have reached Ladakh for the Naropa Festival, which is
  also called as the Kumbh Mela of the Himalayas.
• The Naropa Festival draws huge
  numbers of Buddhists, especially those from the Drukpa branch which is
  traditionally practised in Ladakh and Bhutan.
• Dancers in bright, silk costumes
  and striking headgear performed to drum and pipe music as part of the festival
  being held in a mountain village to commemorate the 1000th birth anniversary of
  Buddhist saint Naropa.

• Union Human Resource Development
  Minister Prakash Javadekar on 19 September 2016 inaugurated the super computer
  PARAM ISHAN at IIT Guwahati campus.
• Students and faculty members of
  IIT Guwahati are expected to derive huge benefit from the facility.
• It is the fastest and most
  powerful computer in North East, Eastern and Southern region.
• It has been jointly developed by
  IIT Guwahati and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, C -DAC.

• The Guided Missile Destroyer,
  Mormugao, second ship of Project 15B,was launched on 17 September 2016 at
  Mazagaon Dock Ship Builders Limited (MDL), Mumbai.
• This marks a significant
  milestone in the annals of the Indigenous Warship design and construction
  programme of India.
• Project 15B ships feature cutting
  edge advanced technology and are comparable to the best ships of similar class
  anywhere in the world.

• The Ministry of Environment,
  Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) on 15 September 2016 announced an ambitious
  collaborative R&D programme to develop next generation, sustainable
  refrigerant technologies as alternatives to HFCs.
• This R&D initiative brings
  together Government, research institutes, industry and civil society to develop
  long term technology solutions to mitigate impact of currently used refrigerant
  gases on the ozone layer and climate. With this initiative, India reaffirms its
  commitment to working with all other nations to safeguard the Earth’s natural
  ecosystem.

• The Council of Scientific &
  Industrial Research and its allied institutions
• Department of Science and
  Technology
• Centre for Atmospheric &
  Oceanic Sciences as well as key industry players in the sector
• Members of this initiative have
  already had multiple rounds of consultation to reach a consensus on the
  contours and decide on the roadmap for this initiative.

• In a step to ensure that the
  details of Aadhaar is not misused, the Unique Identification Authority of India
  (UIDAI) asked agencies in possession of Aadhaar number of an individual to not
  publish or post the information publicly.
• It said that the agencies will
  have to ensure security and confidentiality of the 12-digit resident
  identification number under the Aadhaar Act.

• The core biometric information,
  collected by the Authority, cannot be shared with anyone for any reason.
• Any violation of the Aadhaar Act
  will constitute an offence and is punishable under the Act.
• The agencies that collect the
  Aadhaar number will also have to specify whether submission of the number or
  proof of Aadhaar is mandatory or voluntary.
• The regulations also provide for
  obtaining consent of the Aadhaar number holder for collection, storage and use
  of the same for specified purposes.

• Yudh Abhyas 2016, a joint military
  training exercise of Indian and US Armies, commenced at Chaubattia,
  Uttarakhand.
• Company strength army personnel
  from USA and an equal number of Indian soldiers are taking part in the two
  weeks long joint training exercise. The exercise will see them hone their
  tactical and technical skills in countering insurgency and terrorism in a UN
  Peace Keeping scenario involving a combined deployment at a Brigade level.
• During the exercise, the two
  sides will jointly train, plan and execute series of well developed tactical
  drills for neutralization of likely threats that may be encountered in UN peace
  keeping operations.

• Haryana Chief Minister Manohar
  Lal Khattar on 18 September 2016 announced Charkhi Dadri as the 22nd district
  of the state.
• The state CM made the
  announcement at a public rally in Dadri in Bhiwani district. He also announced
  that developmental projects worth 112 crore rupees had already been completed
  in the Dadri assembly segment during the two year tenure of his government.
• On the other hand, Khattar also
  inaugurated nine development projects worth 45 crore rupees in Dadri.

• Indian test skipper Virat Kohli
  was on 17 September 2016 appointed as Brand Ambassador of state-owned Punjab
  National Bank (PNB). Kohli has been an Account Holder of the bank since the age
  of 16 years.
• Since its inception in 1895, PNB
  has been people’s bank serving millions of customers throughout India. Over the
  years, the Bank has established itself as a major player in Indian banking
  space.
• The bank undertook this move to
  improve its image which has taken a hit due to rising bad loans.
• For the first quarter that ended
  in June 2016, the bank’s profit declined by a 58 percent to 306 crore rupees on
  account of mounting bad loans. During the quarter, provision towards
  non-performing assets (NPAs) jumped almost three-fold to 3620 crore rupees from
  1291 crore rupees.

• Junaid Ahmad has become the World
  Bank’s Country Director for India, replacing Onno Ruhl who served a four-year
  term based out of the national capital.
• Hailing from Bangladesh, Ahmad
  was Chief of Staff to the World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim before being
  elevated to the current position.
• Ahmad holds a PhD in Applied
  Economics from Stanford University, a Masters in Public Administration from
  Harvard University, and a BA in Economics from Brown University.
• India is the World Bank Group’s
  largest client, it said.
• As of June 2016, the bank’s net
  commitments to India stood at $27 billion (International Bank for
  Reconstruction and Development $16 billion, International Development
  Association $11 billion) across 95 projects.

• GlaxoSmithKline said on Tuesday
  it had chosen Emma Walmsley, head of consumer healthcare, as its new chief
  executive, after considering internal and external candidates.
• Walmsley, who joined Britain’s
  biggest drugmaker in 2010 from L’Oreal, will replace Andrew Witty who had
  previously announced his decision to retire on March 31, 2017.
• The decision will disappoint
  investors such as Neil Woodford, a top shareholder and a critic of the
  drugmaker’s current structure, who had wanted to see an outsider replace Witty.
  However, Walmsley had always been tipped as a strong internal candidate, along
  with pharmaceuticals boss Abbas Hussain and manufacturing head Roger Connor.
• Her appointment is likely to be
  seen as a signal that GSK will retain the consumer business as a core part of
  its operations.

• Jet Airways has appointed its
  senior vice president (products and services) Jayraj Shanmugam as its new chief
  commercial officer.
• The post of chief commercial
  officer was vacant for about a year following the resignation of Raj Sivakumar.
  The airline is yet to fill up the post of a full time of chief executive
  officer and its chief financial officer Amit Agarwal holds charge as acting
  CEO.
• In other management changes the
  airline’s senior vice president (sales and marketing) Colin Neubronner recently
  moved to Singapore and will be in charge of Gulf and South East Asia operations
  while airline’s vice president (global sales) Suresh Makhija has quit the
  organisation.

• Anandi Ramalingam on 16 September
  2016 assumed charge as functional/whole time director of Bharat Electronics
  Limited (BEL).
• Ramalingam has assumed charge as
  Director Marketing. It is the first time that a woman has been appointed as the
  Director of the company.
• Earlier, Ramalingam served as the
  General Manager heading the Military Communication Strategic Business Unit
  (SBU) at BEL’s Bangalore Complex.
• Ramalingam had joined
  BEL-Bengaluru in March 1985 after completing her BE in Electronics and Communication
  engineering from the PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore.

• An Indian-origin South African
  Ravi Reddy was on 18 September 2016 appointed as the Head of International
  Society for Blood Transfusion (ISBT), headquartered in Amsterdam.
• With this, Reddy became the first
  person from the African continent to head ISBT, a global organisation of
  medicine professionals working for the safety of blood transfusion worldwide.
• The ISBT, now with 100 member
  countries, was established in 1935 as a platform for exchanging knowledge and
  advancing the blood-transfusion practice.

• President Pranab Mukherjee on 17
  September 2016 appointed Alka Sirohi, a member of the Union Public Service
  Commission (UPSC) as its Chairman.
• Sirohi’s appointment will be
  effective from 21 September 2016.
• Sirohi was sworn in as Member of
  UPSC in January 2012, after a long and successful career in the Indian
  Administrative Service (IAS).
• Sirohi will succeed Deepak Gupta,
  who will be attaining 65 years of age on 20 September 2016.
• In November 2014, Gupta was
  appointed as the UPSC chief, breaking away from the tradition of appointing the
  chief from the serving members of the commission.

• Nadia Murad Basee Taha, who
  survived trafficking at the hands of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
  (ISIL), on 16 September 2016, was appointed the United Nations Office on Drugs
  and Crime (UNODC) Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human
  Trafficking.
• The appointment marks the first
  time a survivor of atrocities is bestowed with this distinction.
• The induction ceremony took place
  in the United Nations Trusteeship Council Chamber in the New York United
  Nations Headquarters.

• The Chinese and Russian navies on
  19 September 2016 concluded Joint Sea-2016, eight days of naval exercises, in
  the South China Sea.
• The Joint Sea-2016 was launched
  as a sign of growing cooperation between their armed forces against the
  backdrop of regional territorial disputes.
• The exercises was conducted
  following a spike in tensions after Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague
  rejected China’s claims in the South China Sea and slammed it for causing
  environmental damage there.

• Hearing-impaired Indian shooter
  Priyesha Deshmukh on 14 September 2016 won the bronze medal in her first-ever
  international competition at the first World Deaf Shooting Championships.
• The Championships was held in
  Kazan, Russia from 7 September to 15 September 2016.
• Deshmukh won the bronze in the
  10m air rifle category.
• The shooter won the medal after
  scoring 180.4 points.
• Deshmukh had qualified for the
  medal round after scoring 404.9 in the qualification round.

• The 2016 Track Asia Cup concluded
  on 16 September 2016 at the Cycling Velodrome in IG Stadium in New Delhi. Hong
  Kong topped the chart with 18 medals which comprise 11 Gold, four Silvers and
  three bronze.
• On the other hand, India the
  hosts of the tournament ended their campaign at second position with 16 medals,
  including five gold, four Silver and seven bronze.
• India’s Deborah Herold, in her
  Final Sprint event, clinched the top position with a time of 12.576 minutes and
  12.493 minutes in the first and second rounds, respectively. She beat Zhaojuan
  of Hong Kong, who clocked 12.820 minutes and 12.734 minutes in both the rounds
  to settle for silver. The third position was taken by Farina Shawati of
  Malaysia with a time of 12.552 and 12.342.

• Indian shooters clinched seven
  medals, including three gold, on the opening day of the International Shooting
  Sport Federation (ISSF) Junior World Cup for pistol, rifle and shotgun at
  Gabala in Azerbaijan.
• A total of 279 junior athletes,
  representing 27 countries, are battling it out in 18 events.
• Subhankar Pramanick: He clinched
  gold medal in 50-metre rifle prone event. The Indian shot 205.5 overall to finish
  top of the podium. Czech Republic’s Filip Nepejchal (205.2) followed in second
  position, while Romania’s Dragomir Iordache (185.1) was placed third at the end
  of the finals.
• Subhankar, along with team-mates
  Fateh Singh Dhillon and Ajaey Nithish, also helped the Indian team to win a
  silver in the event.
• Sambhaji Patil: He won the junior
  men’s 25-metre standard pistol event by shooting 562 to easily beat Australians
  Sergei Evglevski and James Ashmore.

• Eminent Malayalam critic and
  academician M Leelavathy was on 17 September 2016 chosen for the prestigious N
  Mohanan Suvarna Mudra Award 2016, instituted in memory of well-known short
  story writer N Mohanan.
• An expert panel comprising
  journalists M G Radhakrishnan and M Saritha Varma and Athmaraman, selected
  Leelavathy for the biennial award considering her contributions to Malayalam
  language and literature.

• The 68th Annual Primetime Emmy
  Awards was announced on 18 September 2016 at the Microsoft Theater, Los
  Angeles, California, U.S.
• The Game of Thrones won best
  drama series at the 2016 Primetime Emmy Awards, while Veep took home the top
  comedy award.
• The People v. O.J. Simpson:
  American Crime Story also earned several awards, while Julia Louis-Dreyfus won
  her fifth consecutive Emmy in the lead comedy actress category.

• Novel titled His Bloody Project
  by Graeme Macrae Burnet was in news in September 2016. It came in news after
  being shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker prize.
• His Bloody Project, a crime
  thriller, narrates a story in which a triple murder in a remote community in
  the Scottish Highlands leads to arrest of a young man, Roderick Macrae. It
  talks about a memoir by the accused that makes it clear that he is guilty;
  however, the country’s finest legal and psychiatric minds fails to uncover what
  drove him to commit such merciless acts of violence.
• It is one of the six books that
  were shortlisted for the £50,000 award that will be announced on 25 October at
  Guildhall. 

The other five books are

• The Sellout by Paul Beatty
• Hot Milk by Deborah Levy
• Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh
• All That Man Is by David Szalay
• Do Not Say We Have Nothing by
  Madeleine Thien

• India-born researcher Dinesh
  Bharadia on 14 September 2016 was chosen for the prestigious Marconi Society
  Paul Baran Young Scholar Award.
• Bharadia was chosen for his
  contribution to send and receive radio (wireless) signals, including mobile
  telephony and data on the same channel. His research disproved a 150-years long
  assumption that it is not possible for a radio to receive and transmit on the
  same frequency band because of the interference that results.
• Bharadia will receive the award
  at a ceremony in Mountain View, California, on 2 November 2016.

• Sports Minister Vijay Goel
  conferred Arjuna Awards on cricketers Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane at a
  function in New Delhi. Sharma was given the award for 2015 and Rahane for 2016.
• Earlier, the two cricketers could
  not receive the awards from the President Pranab Mukherjee as they were
  participating in international tournaments.
• The Arjuna Awards, instituted in
  1961, are given to sportspersons for consistently outstanding performance for
  four years preceding the year of award and who have also shown qualities of
  leadership, sportsmanship and a sense of discipline. The awardees are given a
  statuette, a certificate, ceremonial dress and award money of 5 lakh rupees.

• The 2016 International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone
  Layer was observed across the world on 16 September 2016. The theme for the
  year 2016 is Ozone and climate: Restored by a world united.
• The theme for the 2016 International Ozone Day recognizes
  the collective efforts of the parties to the Vienna Convention and the Montreal
  Protocol towards the restoration of the ozone layer over the past three decades
  and the global commitment to combat climate change.
• The UN General Assembly in 1994 proclaimed 16 September as
  the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer to commemorate
  the date of the signing of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the
  Ozone Layer in 1987.

• Pulitzer-winning US playwright Edward Albee passed away on
  16 September 2016 following a brief illness in Montauk, New York. He was 88.
• He authored many of the masterpieces such as Who’s Afraid of
  Virginia Woolf?

Regards

Team ExamPundit