GK and Current Affairs Updates

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. has received capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi) approval to raise an estimated Rs.5,000 crore through an initial public offering, the first by an insurer in India and the biggest in nearly six years.
•    The company, which filed the draft red herring prospectus with the Sebi on 18 July, got the regulator’s approval on 2 September, as per the latest update. 
•    The insurer is a venture between banking major ICICI Bank and UK’s Prudential Corporation Holdings. 
•    Singapore’s Temasek and PremjiInvest are also shareholders.
•    ICICI Bank has around 68% stake in the insurer, while Prudential has 26%.
•    The public offer comprises 181.34 million equity shares of ICICI Prudential Life, representing about 12.65% of its equity share capital for cash, through an offer for sale by ICICI Bank, as per the draft papers.
•    Prudential will not dilute its stake in the IPO of ICICI Prudential Life, while ICICI Bank will be selling its 12.65% stake.

The Union Government has approved 450 crore rupees for Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Sikkim under the Swadesh Darshan scheme. 
•    It was approved by the Union Tourism Ministry for the development of Heritage circuit in Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Ramayana Circuit in Uttar Pradesh, North East Circuit in Sikkim and Coastal Circuit of Tamil Nadu. 
•    The Heritage Circuit in Uttarakhand: It covers Jageshwar-Devidhura-Katarmal-Baijnath sites with total project cost of approximately 83 crores rupees. 
•    Coastal circuit in Tamil Nadu: It envisages development of Chennai-Mamamallapuram-Rameshwaram-Manpadu-Kanyakumari. 
•    The total project cost is of approximately 100 crores. 
•    Ramayana Circuit in Uttar Pradesh: It envisages development of two destinations, Chitrakoot and Shringverpur. 
•    North East circuit in Sikkim: It includes development of cultural centre, paragliding centre and craft bazaar for mountaineering and meditation hall at approximate project cost of 95 crores. 
•    The Heritage Circuit in Madhya Pradesh: It covers developing Tourism Infrastructure Gwalior-Orchha-Khajuraho-Chanderi-Bhimbetka-Mandu. 
•    The total project cost is of approximately 100 crore rupees.

Shri Bandaru Dattatreya , the Minister of State for Labour and Employment inaugurated the first phase of Tele-medicine services of ESIC here today for providing specialist medical services at a distance to insured workers. 
•    With this Employees State Insurance Corporation’s(ESIC) Model Hospital Basaidarapur has been connected with three ESIS dispensaries at Katihar (Bihar), Unnao (UP) and Rudarpur (Uttrachal). 
•    As the three dispansaries came live on line , the Minister interacted with staff and patients at these centres. 
•    In all, three specialized ESIC Hospitals will be connected with eight ESI Dispensaries at remote locations of the country where there are no specialized ESI healthcare services available. 
•    These include hospital at Rajaji Nagar in Bengaluru to be connected to dispensaries at Korba and Khursipar Bhilai,in Chhattisgarh. 
•    The other hospital Joka in Kolkatta to be connected to dispensaries at Shillong, Agartala and Andaman & Nicobar. 
•    Secretary Labour, OSD Labour, Members, ESI Corporation, Director General, ESIC and other dignitaries’ also graced the occasion.

Troops of Indian and Kazakhstan Army on 7 September 2016 began the joint exercise 'PRABAL DOSTYK – 16'. 
•    The exercise being conducted in Karaganda region of Kazakhstan will conclude on 17 September 2016.
•    Prabal Dostyk meaning Robust Friendship is a significant step towards fostering military as well as diplomatic ties between both countries.
•    The Indian Army is being represented by platoon strength.
•    The Kazakhstan Army contingent comprise of platoon from Special Operating Force’s Unit.
•    The exercise will be conducted in two stages
•    First stage will be to familiarize with each other’s tactics, drills, weapons & equipment
•    In Second stage troops of both the armies will graduate to jointly execute a helicopter borne operation in a simulated environment. 
•    Combat battle drills and physical fitness will be the focal point of the exercise.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on 6 September 2016 successfully completed test flight of indigenous Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) Bengaluru.
•    The HAL LUH is a light, single-engine helicopter that is powered by the Safran HE Ardiden-1U engine.
•    In addition to two pilots, the helicopter can fly six passengers at sea level, with load capacity reducing with altitude.
•    The LUH’s engine delivers 750 kilowatts of power, permits flight operations at as high as 6500 metres.
•    Limited series production will be done in Bengaluru, and the 610-acre Tumakuru unit is slated to commence production in 2018-19.  
•    The Tumakuru plant will ship about 30 LUHs annually, starting in 2019-20.
•    In phase II, the production will be ramped up to 60 helicopters per year.
•    HAL intends to speed up flight-testing of the LUH by distributing it over three prototypes.
•    HAL hopes to obtain initial operational certification by end-2017.
 

European Space Agency released a photo of the washing machine-sized robot lab on the comet’s rough surface, one of its three legs thrust dramatically into the air.
•    This was the first sighting of Philae since its rough landing in November 2014. 
•    The image was captured by Rosetta’s OSIRIS narrow-angle camera on Friday and downloaded two days later — just weeks before the official end of the groundbreaking science mission to unravel the mysteries of life on Earth.
•    The Twitter page of Philae, its communications unit switched off in July, remained silent.
•    The 100kg probe touched down on comet 67P in November 2014, after a 10-year, 6.5 billion kilometre journey piggybacking on Rosetta.
•    Philae bounced several times after its harpoons failed to fire, and ended up in a ditch shadowed from the Sun’s battery-replenishing rays.

A large number of protesters at Mandya - the heartland of the Cauvery basin around 100 km from Bengaluru - blocked traffic for the second day against the court's ruling that Karnataka should release 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu for 10 days, nearly twice what it had been sharing.
•    The protesters also cooked in large pots and played volleyball on the highway. 
•    The police have barricaded roads to Mandya, where schools and colleges have been closed till tomorrow. 
•    Protests on the highway have affected traffic between two major cities, Bengaluru and Mysuru.
•    Security has also been raised at dams as protests spread to various parts of the district. A group also stood neck deep in the river.
•    A large protest has also been organized at state capital Bengaluru and on Friday, political parties have called for a shutdown in Karnataka.
•    Tamil Nadu had moved court after Karnataka released far less water this year than was decided in 2007 by a court-appointed tribunal.

Militants set off three bombs in the Afghan capital on Monday and engaged security forces in a gun battle through the night. 
•    Twin blasts near the Afghan Defense Ministry killed at least 35 people, including four Afghan soldiers and a deputy brigade commander, according to Gen. Muhammad Radmanish, deputy spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry. 
•    More than 100 others were injured. 
•    The first bomb went off near a collection of government offices — the defense ministry, the administrative office of the presidential palace, and district police headquarters — at the time when workers would be heading home.
•    As people rushed to help the wounded, a suicide bomber set off a second blast.
•    The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was targeting the ministry of defense.
•    One assailant detonated a car bomb outside a building belonging to CARE, a U.S.-based charity organization, while three others entered the building. 

Maharashtra Government today announced a cash reward of Rs 75 lakh to steeplechase specialist from the state Lalita Babar, who finished a creditable 10th at the Rio Olympics, and Rs 50 lakh to bronze medallist wrestler Sakshi Malik.
•    Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who announced these cash rewards, said the five athletes from Maharashtra who took part in the last months Games will get Rs 50 lakh each.
•    He also gave a cash award of Rs 75 lakh to Olympic silver medallist in womens badminton singles P V Sindhu and Rs 25 lakh to her coach P Gopichand.
•    For the sportpersons who represented India in the (Rio) Olympics and were from Maharashtra, we would like to give a cash award of Rs 50 lakh each to them. 
•    These sportpersons are Ayonika Paul, Prarthana Thombare, Dattu Bhonkanal, Devraj Walmiki and Kavita Raut.

PayPal's partnership follows a similar deal with MasterCard's larger rival Visa Inc in July as the company looks to expand its payments network.
•    As part of the deal, MasterCard will allow PayPal users to withdraw cash from their accounts using a debit card and also waive the digital wallet fee it currently charges PayPal.
•    The two companies have an existing partnership for co-branded consumer credit cards in the United States and Puerto Rico.
•    PayPal, spun off from e-commerce company eBay Inc last year, has focused on aggressive growth.
•    The company's revenue in the second quarter rose more than 15 percent to $2.65 billion from a year earlier and the volume of payments it processes jumped 28 percent to $86.21 billion.
•    PayPal is also in discussions with banks that issue cards, to explore new products and partnerships, the Journal report said, citing people familiar with the matter.