Shah Rukh Khan Conferred with Honorary Doctorate for promoting Urdu Language

• Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad, conferred the Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan with the honorary doctorate on December 26, 2016, for his contribution towards promotion of Urdu culture.
• Shahrukh Khan was awarded the ‘honorius causa’ (doctor of letters) at the 6th Convocation of the University by the Chancellor, Zafar Sareshwala.
• Besides, Shah Rukh Khan, Sanjiv Saraf founder of Rekhta Foundation was also conferred the honorary doctorate for the contribution in the promotion of Urdu language and culture.

Rajasthani writer Satya Narayan chosen for 2016 Bihari Puraskar

• Eminent Rajasthani litterateur Dr Satya Narayan was chosen for the 26th Bihari Puraskar 2016 by the K K Birla Foundation. He was been chosen for his Hindi book titled Yeh Ek Dunia published in 2010.
• His Yeh Ek Dunia is a meticulous depiction of various circumstances of life in contemporary world. In it he has built a model of new creativity and attempts to enter unseen aspects or dimensions, where human experiences and conscience are more important than life situations of contemporary time zone.

Tata Motors roped Akshay Kumar As Brand Ambassador For Commerical Vehicles

• Bollywood star Akshay Kumar is appointed as brand ambassador for Tata Motor’s commercial vehicle (CV) business unit on December 27, 2016.
• Akshay will start his role as ambassador for commercial vehicles will be supported by a multi-media campaign which will begin from January 2017.
• He will also involved in the Tata Motor’s marketing and customer experience initiatives.

Farmers get additional 60 days to repay crop loans: RBI

• In a relief to farmers hit by demonetisation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given an additional 60 days to repay their crop loans due in November-December, 2016 and prompt repayment would be eligible for the extra 3% interest subsidy.
• The government has been implementing the Interest Subvention Scheme since 2006-07. As per the scheme for the year 2016-17 besides subvention of 2 per cent per annum, an additional interest subvention of 3 per cent is also provided to prompt payee farmers from the date of disbursement of the crop loan.

Virat Kohli named captain of Cricket Australia’s ODI team of the year

• Indian Test cricket captain Virat Kohli has been named as the captain of Cricket Australia’s ODI team of the year. He was preferred over Australian captain Steve Smith. Recently he was also named the captain of ICC’s ODI team of the year.
• Out of 10 ODI matches played by Virat Kohli in 2016, he scored a score of 45+ in 8 matches and has an average of greater than 90 in successful run chase for India.
• Another Indian cricketer who got place in the Cricket Australia’s ODI team is Jasprit Bumrah. The unorthodox pace bowler had a great first year in international cricket.
• Cricket Australia’s ODI Team of Year: Virat Kohli (India, captain), David Warner (Australia), Quinton de Kock (wk) (South Africa), Steve Smith (Australia), Babar Azam (Pakistan), Mitchell Marsh (Australia), Jos Buttler (England), Jasprit Bumrah (India), Imran Tahir (South Africa).