DAILY GK 16-18 SEP 2026

 DAILY GK 16-18 SEP 2026

1.       8TH WOMEN’S T20 ASIA CUP 2026

·         The Indian Women’s Cricket Team won their record-extending 8th title in the 2026 Women’s Twenty20 (T20) Asia Cup title by defeating Sri Lanka by 72 runs in the final, in Dubai.

·         The 2026 Women’s T20 Asia Cup was the sixth edition of the Women’s T20 Asia Cup and the tenth overall Women’s Asia Cup.

·         The 2026 edition was held from 28 August to 13 September 2026.

·         Shafali Verma (68 off 39) named as Player of the Match and Smriti Mandhana (59 off 39) named as Top Performer.

 


2.       WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS 2029- NAIROBI

·         World Athletics (WA) President Sebastian Coe announced Nairobi, Kenya, as host of the World Athletics Championships 2029, marking the first-ever edition in Africa, following a council decision in Budapest, Hungary.

·         The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) selected Munich Football Arena, Germany, to host the 2028 final and Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain, for the 2029 final.

 

3.       INDIA–USA JOINT MILITARY EXERCISE ‘YUDH ABHYAS 2026’

·         The 22nd edition of Exercise “Yudh Abhyas 2026”, an annual bilateral military exercise between the Indian Army (IA) and US Army, commenced at Bikaner, Rajasthan and Auli, Uttarakhand, India.

·         The exercise includes a Command Post Exercise (CPX) for operational planning and coordination, a Field Training Exercise (FTX) featuring tactical drills and joint manoeuvres, and concludes with a live-fire demonstration showcasing integrated combat capabilities.

 

4.       INDIA-MALAYSIA MARITIME EXERCISE ‘SAMUDRA LAKSAMANA’

·         The 4th edition of Exercise ‘Samudra Laksamana’, a bilateral maritime exercise between the Indian Navy (IN) and the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN), was conducted at Lumut, Malaysia.

·         The exercise comprises a Harbour Phase followed by a Sea Phase.

 

5.       BOOK ‘A CENTURY OF SERVICE – THE RSS IN 100 ACTS OF SEVA’

·         Vice President (VP) C.P. Radhakrishnan released the book titled “A Century of Service – The RSS in 100 Acts of Seva” authored by Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan, former Governor of Telangana.

·         The book presents a collection of 100 acts of seva (service), highlighting the service initiatives associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) throughout its century-long journey.

·         Theme: Nation-Building Through Character-Building.

 

6.       HIMALAYA DIWAS 2026 – SEPTEMBER 9

·         Himalaya Diwas, or Himalaya Day, is observed annually across India on 9 September to raise awareness about the importance of the Himalayan mountain range and the need to protect its fragile ecosystem.

·         Himalaya Diwas was first observed in Uttarakhand in 2010 through an initiative led by environmentalists including Sunderlal Bahuguna, Anil Prakash Joshi and Radha Behen.

·         The first state-recognised observance was held on 9 September 2015.

 

7.       WORLD EV DAY 2026 – SEPTEMBER 9 

·         World Electric Vehicle (EV) Day, observed annually on 9 September.

·         2026 Theme: “Switching Electric: driving down the cost of motoring”.

·         World EV Day was founded in 2020 by Ade Thomas of Green.TV, UK based media company, in partnership with Asea Brown Boveri (ABB), a Switzerland-based global technology company.

·         The first edition of the World EV Day was observed on September 9, 2020.

 

8.       WORLD SUICIDE PREVENTION DAY 2026– SEPTEMBER 10 

·         World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) is observed annually across the globe on 10 September to raise awareness, reduce stigma and support suicide prevention efforts worldwide.

·         2024-26 Theme: “Changing the Narrative on Suicide’ with the call to action ‘Start the Conversation”.

·         The inaugural WSPD was held on September 10, 2003, in Stockholm, Sweden.

 

9.       HINDI DIWAS 2026 – SEPTEMBER 14

·         Hindi Diwas, also known as Hindi Day, is observed annually across India on September 14 to mark the Constituent Assembly’s 1949 decision to adopt Hindi in the Devanagari script as one of the 22 official languages of India.

·         At the 1918 Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, Mahatma Gandhi proposed making Hindi the national language.

·         In 1953, former PM Jawaharlal Nehru declared that September 14 would be observed annually as Hindi Diwas, which also marks the birth anniversary of Beohar Rajendra Simha.

·         Union Minister Amit Shah, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) addressed the inaugural session of Hindi Diwas 2026 and the 6th All India Official Language Conference in Mumbai.

 

10.    NATIONAL ENGINEER’S DAY 2026 – SEPTEMBER 15 

·         National Engineers’ Day is observed annually in India on 15 September to commemorate the birth anniversary of Bharat Ratna Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya and honour his outstanding contributions to engineering, nation-building and education.

·         In 1968, the Government of India (GoI) designated 15 September, the birth anniversary of Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, as National Engineers’ Day.

·         The first National Engineers’ Day was celebrated on 15 September 1968.

 

11.    INTERNATIONAL DAY OF DEMOCRACY 2026 – SEPTEMBER 15 

·         The United Nations (UN) International Day of Democracy (IDD) is observed globally on 15 September to promote awareness about democratic values and encourage governments to strengthen and uphold democracy.

·         IDD Theme 2026: “Bring human rights into focus”.

·         The IDD was initiated at the request of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the global organisation of national parliaments.

·         The IDD was first observed on 15 September 2008.

 

12.    INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE OZONE LAYER 2026 – SEPTEMBER 16

·         The United Nations (UN) International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, also known as World Ozone Day (WOD) or Global Ozone Day, is observed annually on 16 September to raise awareness about the importance of the ozone layer and the effects of its depletion on global warming and climate change.

·         2026 Theme: Global action for a cooler planet.

·         The International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer was first observed on 16 September 1995.

·         The date marks the signing of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer in 1987.

 

13.    RBI GRANTS PAYMENT AGGREGATOR LICENCE TO PLUXEE INDIA

·         The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) authorised Pluxee India as a Payment Aggregator for online and physical (PA-O and PA-P) point-of-sale transactions, enabling merchant onboarding and payment processing across India.

About Payment Aggregator Licence to Pluxee India:

·         The PA licence enables payment collection, settlement, refund management, and support for multiple payment modes including cards, Quick Response (QR) codes, Near Field Communication (NFC)-based payments, and online transactions.

 

14.    GLOBAL FINTECH FEST 2026

·         The 7th edition of Global Fintech Fest (GFF 2026) was held in Mumbai.

·         Theme: This year’s GFF was held under the theme of “Potential to Impact: Agentic AI | Tokenisation | Quantum: Trusted, Connected, Global Systems for Inclusive Finance”, builds upon three foundational technologies i.e. Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI); Tokenization; Quantum.

·         Organisers: The Payments Council of India (PCI), National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Fintech Convergence Council (FCC) were the principal organisers of GFF.

·         UFF as 2nd SRO for Fintech: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) formally recognised Unified Fintech Forum (UFF) as the second Self-regulatory Organisation (SRO) for the fintech sector in India.

·         Expansion of MultiCurrency Forex Services: Also, RBI launched multicurrency forex exchange services on Bharat Connect, expanding the existing forex services on the platform other than the United States Dollar (USD) to add 5 new currencies such as: the Euro (EUR), British Pound (GBP), Canadian Dollar (CAD), Swiss Franc (CHF), and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Dirham (AED).

·         Demat 2.0 pilot: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) launched Demat 2.0 pilot project for tokenisation of corporate bonds using Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT).

·         AI Model for Retail Banking: The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) launched India’s 1st sovereign Artificial Intelligence (AI) compact model called “Finance Model for India (FiMI) Banking”, designed specifically for the Indian retail banking use cases.

·         Award: Wibmo, a PayU company and full-stack Pay Tech provider, won the Best Digital Banking Security Practices, a sub-category under the “Excellence in Banking Tech” category, in recognition for its Wibmo Intelligent Authentication Suite with Risk-Based Authentication.

 

15.    NO CHARGES ON UPI TRANSACTION OF UPTO RS 2,000

·         The Ministry of Finance (MoF) notified that banks and payment system providers cannot impose any direct or indirect charges on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions up to Rs 2,000 and payments made through RuPay-powered debit cards.

·         The Central Government (CG) specifies the following electronic modes of payment, namely:

·         Debit Card powered by RuPay and UPI transactions upto Rs. 2,000.

·         The CG prohibits banks and system providers from imposing, directly or indirectly, any MDR (Merchant Discount Rate) charges on a person making or receiving payments using debit cards powered by RuPay and UPI transactions up to Rs 2,000.