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December 2013 Month Current Affairs
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

First ever lunar rover mission will be launched by China in few days to create history. The
mission will land an unmanned spacecraft on the lunar surface from Xichang Satellite
Launch Center and is called “Chang’e-3 moon rover”. For the first time China is sending an
unmanned spacecraft to land surface and will conduct survey on the moon.



USA has not included some countries along with India and China to reduce their dependence
on Iranian oil as the US is leading an international effort of imposing tough sanctions on
Tehran. Some countries including Republic of Korea, Turkey and Taiwan which have reduced
the purchases of Iranian crude oil and have qualified for an exception to sanctions under the
National Defence Authorisation Act.



Deputy Prime Minister Ziad Bahaaeeddin of Egypt and EU foreign policy chief Catherine
Marie Ashton signed an agreement on children’s education and to eradicate poverty.
Through the financial agreement, European Union granted Egypt worth 122 million dollar
(€90 million) to reduce the financial crisis.



Haryana became the fortunate state to have India’s 1st Synthetic Rubber Plant. Union
Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily inaugurated the country’s first e-SBR (styrene butadiene
rubber) unit in Panipat, Haryana. Indian Synthetic Rubber Ltd (ISRL), a joint venture
promoted by Indian Oil, Taiwan, and Japan Bank for International Cooperation and Mizuho
Corporation Bank set up the unit. The plant with the project of worth Rs 958 crore will
produce 120 kilo tonnes synthetic rubber every year. This rubber will be used in industrial
units for manufacturing automobile and daily need products. The capacity of the plant to 220
KT will be increased in two years.



Belgium will open a Consulate General of Belgium in Chennai which will maintain coordinal
relation with Belgium as a very good number of Chennai based people are employed in this
country. Princess Astrid, Representative of the King of Belgium has launched the second
Consulate General and the third diplomatic mission to expand of the bilateral ties with India.
The move which will reflect the expansion in Belgium-India relations and accommodates
trading of 15 billion mainly trading of diamonds between the two countries. Currently, 160
Belgium companies are working in India maximum in South India.

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

Emperor of Japan Akihito and his wife Empress Michiko have arrived in New Delhi for their
6-days visit to India. This the first visit of the Japanese imperial couple to India and their
first visit to any South Asian country since he assumed his office. Before this, the couple
visited Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi just after their visit when they were young.
Japanese Emperor Akihito took over as Emperor in 1990 after death of his father Emperor
Hirohito. The couple will also visit Rashtrapati Bhawan for second time.



Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has finally nodded the approval
of creating a Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad) in Assam to provide "extensive"
representation to the people. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka,
Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh have a Legislative Council from 2011. Rajasthan is also
waiting for their Legislative Council which was introduced in Parliament and is pending with
the Standing Committee till now. Assam passed a resolution bill to create state Legislative
Assembly in 2005 and 2010 which has been now approved.



Maharashtra's promising batsman Vijay Zol has been selected captain of the Indian under-19
team that will compete or the ACC Asia Cup which will be held in UAE from December
28.The selectors also retained Kerala wicketkeeper Sanju Vishwanadh as vice-captain who
was part of the Under-19 team for the Asia Cup in 2012. Zol hogged the limelight when he
scored an unbeaten 451 during a under 19 match in 2011. Last year in the U-19 World Cup, he
scored 151 runs. In this tournament, India, Pakistan, UAE, Nepal (Group A) and Bangladesh,
Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Malaysia (Group B) will compete for Asia Cup.



The fast bowler of Indian Railways Karan Thakur has set a record as he has become the first
bowler to take all 10 wickets in an innings of CK Naidu Trophy. He is the fourth Indian
bowler to make this record. Earlier in 1955-56, Pregmanshu Chatterjee grabbed the entire
wicket in a Ranji Trophy match against Assam, Predeep Sundaram against Vidarbha and last
but not the only list in 1999, Anil Kumble set this record against Pakistan. He took all 10
wickets at 28.5 over against Baroda.



To raise awareness on AIDS across the globe, World AIDS Day was observed on 1 December
2013. The theme for this year 2013 World AIDS Day focuses on preventing HIV
transmission: “Getting to Zero” that means to be zero infections and zero AIDS/HIV related
deaths. The first global AIDS day was observed on December 1, 1988 to draw attention
towards the fight against AIDS. Till now more than 36 million people have lost their life after
the discovery of this virus. As per World Health Organisation’s data, around 35.3 million
people were living with HIV in 2012. Various programmes and events were held to mark
World AIDS Day.



Portuguese film "Beatriz's War" bagged the Golden Peacock award for the best film at the
44th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2013 held at Panaji, Goa. This is the first

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Punjabi film to win the prestigious IFFI award. Bety Reis and Luigi Acquisto directed the
film which is the story of a woman’s conviction to remain true to the man she is in love with.
The award carries a certificate, Golden Peacock and cash prize of Rs. 40 lakh, which is
equally shared by the producer and director. Bengali film director Kaushik Ganguli grabbed
won Best Director award for his film ‘Apur Panchali’.



The department of posts, New Delhi recently launched Express & Business Parcel service
through 30 post offices in 20 cities of Delhi region. The premium service provides promoting
e-Commerce market in the country by offering reliable and cost efficient service solutions
through post offices. The service is accessible for retail as well as wholesale customers.



Francois Richier, the French Ambassador to India started his 3-day visit to Bihar. His trip
aimed at enhancing the range of Indo-French cooperation and also to expand forwardlooking projects in various fields, especially in education, economic affairs, science and
culture. Ambassador Richier will also meet the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to have
discussion over the possible areas of cooperation. Later Bihar business community will have
a meeting with Envoy in Patna. Till now, only a few French companies have started to
connect with Bihar.



Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan appointed J.S. Saharia IAS officer of 1978
batch as the new chief secretary of Maharashtra in place of Jayant Kumar Banthia. Banthia is
an IAS officer of 1977 batch. He was Maharashtra Chief Secretary since June 2012.



M.V. Tanksale, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Central Bank of India (CBI) has
become the new Chief Executive of India Banks’ Association for 2013-14. He has taken
charge after present Chief Executive K. Ramakrishnan, Chairman & Managing Director of
Andhra Bank, completes his term at the end of this month and was associated from 2008.



“Fast & Furious” movie fame US Actor Paul Walker Died in Car Accident in Southern
California. 40 year old Paul was working on “Fast & Furious” movie when he lost his life. He
is famous for playing the character named Brian O'Conner in the 'Fast & Furious' film series.
When he was back from his organization's charity event, this incident happened. His last
movie, a suspense drama “Hours” will be released in December 2013.



Women's Singles trophy in Macau Open Grand Prix Gold Badminton Tournament was
grabbed by Indian Shuttler PV Sindhu. Sindhu has beaten seventh seed Canadian Li Michelle
in straight sets of 21-15 and 21-12. After this triumph, Sindhu has clinched yet another TierIII title this season, after the Malaysia Open Grand Prix in May. Now, she has become India's
first women's singles medallist at the World Championship of 2013. Since Prakash Padukone

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won a bronze in the 1983 edition, it was India's first singles medal at the World
Championships.


Indian golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar clinched his fifth Asian Tour title after carding a steady 16under-268 for the week in Indonesia. Last week, Bhullar gave a memorable performance
during the World Cup of Golf and won by firing a bogey-free 68.



India successfully test-fired nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missile with a strike of its full range of
350 km from Chandipur in Odisha on Sunday. The surface-to-surface Prithvi-II was fired by
the personnel of Strategic Forces Command (SFC) at around 10:05 am as part of regular
training. The missile rose from from a mobile launcher in salvo mode from launch complex-3
of the Integrated Test Range near the pre-designated target in Odisha with an accuracy of
less than 15 km. The missile was developed by the Defence Research and Development
Organisation (DRDO) under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme
(IGMDP) as part of training exercise.



India announced to give $1 million contribution to the trust of Organisation for Prohibition
of Chemical Weapons at “The Hague” for the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons. This
move of India will deepen its case for inclusion in Geneva-II conference held in January.
Ministry of External Affairs Salman Khursheed said India has also offered the experts’
services to help in the destruction of Damascus’ chemical weapons arsenal.



Assam Bengal Navigation Company’s ‘Brahmaputra Cruises’ has made its way as one of the
top 10 Most Adventurous Cruises in the World for 2013 which was recognised by CNN
International. It stood on sixth place among the cruises like the Antartica, Australia, the
Amazon, the North Pole, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. What attracts and compel people to
visit the Brahmaputra Cruise is its wildlife viewing, both by jeep and on elephant back,
exploring towns in cycle rickshaws, village walks, barbecues on deserted river islands, visits
to tea gardens and archaeological sites, dance performances, craft workshops and pilgrimage
centres.



India will raise stick to the stand on Food Security in three days WTO Ministerial Conference
which will begin in Bali, Indonesia. Anand Sharma Minister of Industry & Commerce talked
about WTO related issues while Rob Davies, Trade Minister of South Africa discussed about
sidelines of WTO Ministerial at Bali.



Indian Cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has claimed the LG People's Choice
Award. Sanjay Patel, Secretary of BCCI received the award on behalf of Dhoni as he is in
South Africa with the India cricket team. With this honour, Dhoni has become the second
Indian cricketer to grab the prize after former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. Also he is
the third cricketer to receive this award after Sachin Tendulkar and Sri Lanka's Kumar

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Sangakkara. Dhoni was voted to the award by the general public and beat off strong
competition for the award from South Africa's AB de Villiers, England's Alastair Cook, and
Australia's Michael Clarke and India's Virat Kohli.


Asia Pacific Council for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (AFACT) announced
Directorate General of Foreign Trade’s e-BRC project as the winner of 2013 e ASIA Award
under Trade Facilitation category in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The Electronic Bank
Realization Certificate (e-BRC) project automatically transmits foreign exchange realisation
export based information from the particular banks to Directorate General of Foreign Trade
(DGFT).



India's first President Dr.Rajendra Prasad’s birth anniversary was celebrated across the
nation on December 3. Various programmes and events were held in school, colleges and
government offices to commemorate his birth anniversary. Due to his popularity, he is also
called “Deshratna”. He was a freedom fighter and was the first President of the country after
the Indian Constitution was framed.



Pravin Tambe is new and surprise entry in the Mumbai Ranji Trophy which will lead
Jharkhand in the four-day Group A match which will be held at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
from December 6. 42 year old leg spinner Tambe is being called a surprise entrant who
hogged the limelight in Champions League and T20 cricket while playing for Rajasthan
Royals in IPL’s last season.



29th Junior National Athletics Championships commenced in Bangalore from December. The
five-day championship will observe approximate 2,000 athletes across the globe while 125
events in eight age-group competitions, four for boys and an equal number for the girls will
be held. Those athletics who will perform well in this championship will qualify for World
Junior Championships at Eugene, United States and Asian Junior Championships in Chinese
Taipei that will be held in 2014.



The United Nations (UN) International Day of Persons with Disabilities was observed
peacefully on December 3 across the globe to raise the awareness about issues that affect
people with disabilities worldwide. According to United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Approximate 15 percent of the world’s population consists
people with disabilities. The 21st anniversary of International Day of People with Disability
was celebrated with theme “Break Barriers, Open Doors: for an inclusive society and
development for all”.



To raise awareness about the prevention of human trafficking and the exploitation of human
being, the United Nations’ (UN) International Day for Abolition of Slavery was observed
worldwide on December 2.The day is observed annually to remind people that modern

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slavery works against human rights. To eradicate slavery, human trafficking, forced marriage
and other forms of slavery, the International Labour Organization (ILO) is going to start new
campaign with well-known artists, athletes and advocates.


Kabul observed the first ever India-Afghanistan Innovation Partnership Fair on 3 December
2013. The two day India-Afghanistan Innovation Partnership Fair was launched by Amar
Sinha, India's Ambassador to Afghanistan has inaugurated the India-Afghanistan Innovation
Partnership Fair. Around 20 Indians and 25 Afghani participants are displaying their
innovations in the fair. Recently, Afghanistan and India inked a Strategic Partnership
Agreement which will deepen multi-faceted relations between the two countries.



Many Indians and the Indian Navy celebrated Navy Day on December 4 to honour the
country’s navy and its maritime operations during the 1971 Indo-Pak war. To commemorate
this day, Indian Naval band performed at the Arabian Sea in Mumbai. Sailors also twirled
rifles during these celebrations at the Arabian Sea. Navy Commandos showed their skills and
performed during a rehearsal for Naval Day celebrations at the Arabian Sea during Naval
Day celebrations. Thousands of people travelled to watch a range of events, including a
parade and a show of naval ships.



Once again India retained its ranking in Global Corruption Perception Index 2013. India was
ranked 94th out of 177 countries in Transparency International’s Global Corruption
Perception Index 2013 released on 4 December 2013. In 2012, India was also ranked 94 out
of 176 countries with 36 points on a scale of 0-100. Denmark and New Zealand topped the
index with a score of 91. North Korea, Afghanistan and Somalia have scored very low with
score 8 and ranked at the bottom of the index.



Considered as one of the biggest telecom event in South Asia, India Telecom Conference
2013 will step into its 8th edition when it will be inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh from 5th December at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. The three-day
international exhibition-cum-conference will be jointly organized by FICCI and Department
of Telecommunications (DoT), Government of India. The event will focus on understanding
the current and budding trends and technologies in telecom sector. 'Internet of People to
Internet of Things - Future of Communications' is the theme of this year event.
This
event will address the possibilities emerging from the new world of 'Internet of Things'. India
Telecom will see participation from more than 40 buyers from more than 18 countries to
explore business opportunities with India's booming telecom sector.



Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched a 722 million dollar or Rs 4,500 crore gas
pipeline project which will link Dabhol in Maharashtra's gas pipeline to that of Bangalore.
1,000 km-long gas pipeline project has been developed by the state-run Gas Authority of
India Limited (GAIL). The inauguration ceremony of gas pipeline project was held at the

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opening of the 8th Asia Gas Partnership Summit organised jointly by GAIL and the
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). India’s PM Dr
Manmohan Singh dedicated this pipeline to the country that has a capacity of 16 million
standard cubic feet per day (MMSCMD) of natural gas that can produce 3,000 mega watt of
clean energy. The gas pipeline connecting Dabhol to Bangalore will traverse through
Belgaum, Bellary, Chitradurga, Bangalore Rural and Bangalore Urban districts. The gas
pipeline will pass through 20 railway crossings, 18 National Highways, 83 cased crossings,
382 other road crossings, 276 water body and 11 major river crossings.


The Indian cricket team continued to be on top position in the latest issued International
Cricket Council (ICC) ODI rankings in Dubai. Indian cricketer Virat Kohli remains highestranked ODI player while South African captain AB de Villiers stood on second place. The new
entrant in this list is Indian cricketer Shikhar Dhawan who has made it to the top 10 in the
ranking for ODI batsmen for the first time in his career. He ranked on 9th place.



India has reclaimed its second position in the ICC Test rankings. The list was released by the
International Cricket Council in Dubai. R Ashwin is the highest-ranked all rounder player in
the Test rankings. South Africa has topped this list with 119 points. Cheteshwar Pujara is on
6th place as the best-placed Indian batsman while Virat Kohli followed him on 20th rank.



The new Adidas official World Cup match ball “Brazuka” was presented to the world on 3
December 2013 by manufacturers Adidas in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Named, “Brazuka” which
is an informal local term which means "Brazilian", or is related to a Brazilian way of life. The
ball is on sale now following its official unveiling. The term 'Brazuca' has been given to the
ball after a public voting which involved one million football fans in the host nation Brazil.
The colours and ribbon design of the ball panels represents the traditional multi-coloured
wrist bracelets which is worn in the country, besides reflecting the vibrancy and fun
associated with football in Brazil.



Xavier Bettel is the new Prime Minister of Luxembourg. Making the history, Luxembourg has
got its first gay PM that paved the way for the introduction of social reforms such as same-sex
marriage. Bettel has replaced Jean-Claude Juncker, who was the European Union's longestserving head of government with 19 years in power. Also with this new change, Etienne
Schneider, Deputy PM is also a gay, is expected to pioneer other changes like replacing
religious instruction in school with more general ethics classes.



To commemorate and recognize the work done by millions of volunteers who help in
encouraging growth and deliver assistance to people who are in need, International
Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development, was observed on December 5
worldwide. The day which provides an opportunity to volunteers to work together and

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encourage their assistance at local, national and international level was observed with the
theme “YOUNG GLOBAL ACTIVE”.


A new postal stamp on the largest and most powerful aircraft carrier of Indian Navy INS
Vikramaditya was released by Indian President Pranab Mukherjee. The postal stamp and
first day cover on the aircraft carrier that was commissioned in the Navy was released at a
function hosted by DK Joshi, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral on the occasion of Navy Day.



The Foreign Minister of Egypt, Nabil Fahmy is on a three day visit to India. He will meet
Salman Khurshid External Affairs Minister of India and will discuss on a wide range of
bilateral as well as regional issues. During the meeting, the two sides are expected to review
bilateral ties and identify newer areas of bilateral cooperation. Besides, both countries are
also expected to discuss for approving to establish a Centre of Excellence in Information
Technology at the Al Azhar University in Cairo. The centre will be set up to train 500
students annually as a project under the India-Africa Forum Summit. Bilateral trade between
the two countries stood at $ 5.4 billion.



The senior most Information Commissioner and Sushma Singh will be the new chief
information commissioner (CIC). A high level committee comprising Manmohan Singh,
Prime Minister of India, Sushma Swaraj, leader of opposition in Lok Sabha and Kapil Sibbal,
Minister of Law recommended Singh's name for the coveted assignment. Singh, a former IAS
officer of the 1972 batch, retired on May 31, 2009. As chief secretary, Singh will succeed
Deepak Sandhu, who completes her term and will be the second woman to become CIC after
Sandhu.



A team led by a scientist of Oxford has discovered a new Malaria Vaccine. The mosquitoborne disease that causes Malaria is known to be one of the world's most rapidly spreading
diseases. Malaria vaccine has been exposed to have a protective outcome through a
satisfactorily high immune response involving cells called CD8 T cells.



The Metro Cash & Carry India was conferred the CII National Award for Food Safety 2031 at
the 8th Food Safety and Quality Summit in New Delhi . The award was given in recognition of
the company's commitment to suppliers and vendors. The award on behalf of Metro Cash &
Carry was received by Srinivas Ranganathaiah, Head - Quality Assurance, Jyoti Gurung,
Senior General Manager - Operations, Arun Methan - General Manager, Quality Assurance
and Sudha M R - Quality Manager from the Chairman of the Food Safety & Standards
Authority of India (FSSAI) Chandramouli.



India is crowned the Men's Kabaddi World Cup champions after beating Spain 55-27.
Retaining the men’s title of the Pearls Kabaddi World Cup, Indian men registered their
second win of the 2013 Kabaddi World Cup while women's team smashed Kenya by 56-21.

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

Jordan has made its way to be chosen as a Non-Permanent Member in UN Security Council. .
UN General Assembly replaced Saudi Arabia by Jordan. Earlier Saudi Arabia was chosen as a
non permanent member but Saudi Arabia rejected the seat as UN council could not stop the
war in Syria and took action on other Middle East issues. Jordan received 178 votes in a
secret voting by 179 members of the General Assembly.



The Mahaparinirvan Divas (death anniversary) of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar was observed on
December 6 nationwide. Floral tributes were paid to the father of the Indian Constitution on
his 58th Mahaparinirvan Diwas. Maharashtra Government has started special trains, BEST
buses and local trains to commemorate the Bharat Ratna awardee Ambedkar.



The International Civil Aviation Day was celebrated on 7th December to draw the attention
towards civil aviation for social and economic development worldwide. This year’s
observance of International Civil Aviation Day was held under the theme “Evolving to Meet
the Challenges of the 21st Century Air Transport” to focus on promoting the security and
competence of air transportation.



The world cities day will be observed every year on October 31 after United Nations General
Assembly committee adopted a resolution on human settlement from 2014. The resolution
was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly Economic and Financial Committee.



Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü of Turkey will start his second term after his re-appointment as
the new Director-General of the OPCW. He is the third person to hold office since the
Organisation was established in 1997. Üzümcü was reappointed at the 18th Session of the
Conference of State Parties. Üzümcü joined the organisation as Director-General in 2010
and eliminated Syria’s chemical weapons in the midst of an active war by OPCW. Also OPCW
was awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize 201 3 in recognition of 16 years of achievement.



Pakistani teenage activist 15 years old Malala Yousafzai will receive United Nations Human
Rights Prize 2013 in acknowledgment of her exceptional achievement in human rights. This
award had been earlier given to legends like late South African icon Nelson Mandela. The UN
Prize in the Field of Human Rights is awarded every five years by the General Assembly. She
will receive the award at the UN headquarters in United Nations on 10th December to
commemorate the 65th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (UDHR).



India's economic confidence jumped sharply by 11 points to 51 per cent in the month of
November compared to October, according to the 'Ipsos Economic Pulse of the World'
survey. According to this global research firm, this makes India the seventh most
economically confident country in the world. The survey was conducted among 18,083
people in 24 countries.

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

Gandhi of South Africa & Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nelson Mandela alias Madiba died at
95 at his home in Johannesburg after a prolonged illness due to lung infection. South Africa's
first elected black President, Mandela was the only foreigners who received India’s highest
civilian and most prestigious award “Bharat Ratna” and Mahatma Gandhi peace award. The
South African icon, Mandela, was imprisoned for 27 years to stop racism and to stop violence
between white and black people.



India has grabbed the right to host Under-17 FIFA World Cup in 2017 by the FIFA executive
committee during their meeting in Brazil. The other competing countries that were in the
race to host the biggest ever football tournament includes Ireland, South Africa and
Uzbekistan. for the first time in its history, India will take part in the 24-nation tournament.



United Nations Women (United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment
of Women) gets financial aid of USD 1 million from India for the financial year 2013- 2014.
Asoke K Mukerji, India’s Representative to the UN has given a cheque to Phumzile MlamboNgcuka, Secretary General and Executive Director of UN Women. This financial aid is the
fourth instalment of India's multi-year pledge to give USD 5 million as core predictable
funding to UN Women's resources.



Now this has become mandatory that now Indians will have to pay fees online through debit
or credit cards or via e-wallet for British visa. The new initiative and effort has been taken by
Thomas Greig, UK's Immigration Regional Director for Central and South Asia to update the
visa application process and also to cut costs in the management of visa operations that will
keep visa fees relatively low. From December 16, British Visa payment through cash or
demand draft will be stopped. For this, applicants will have to open an e-wallet account for
the online payment.



A global security summit called Manama Dialogue that drew policy makers, top military
officials and senior government officials started from December 6 ended today in Manama,
Bahrain. Salman Khurshid, External Affairs Minister of India participated in the three day
long summit that discussed Iran nuclear talks, GCC integration and military co-operation,
crisis in Syria, sectarianism and extremism. Bahrain Ministry of foreign affairs and Londonbased International Institute for Strategic Studies, IISS jointly organised the global summit.
In this event, a good numbers of, defence and security officials, leaders and strategic thinkers
participated to improve regional and global security.



A health card was jointly launched by Indian Bank and Apollo Hospitals. The card will
provide the health services on a discount to the selected customers of the bank. The
beneficiary clients will receive fees and pharma products, room charges, investigation fees
and medical check up with discounts up to 20% from the Apollo Hospitals. A special card
with free of cost will be rewarded to its customers.

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

Finally Union Cabinet approved Telangana draft Bill to form the ten districts. India’s
29th state Telangana will have 10 districts while 13 districts have been allotted to Andhra
Pradesh whereas the capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana will be Hyderabad for period
of 10 years. Under Article 371-D of the Constitution, both the states will get special status for
equitable chances for education and employment.



The 8th Asia Gas Partnership Summit AGPS 2013, a two day international biennial event was
held on December 3 and 4 2013 in New Delhi which was jointly organised by GAIL (India)
Limited and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). The theme
of the 8th AGPS is “Asian Gas Market: Challenges and Opportunities in the Changing
Paradigm”. About 46 speakers from 16 countries and over 800 delegates including industry
leaders had visited the summit.



Miss Venezuela Alyz Henrich bagged the Miss Earth title during the 13th Miss Earth
coronation night at Versailles Palace, Philippines winning streak in the global competition.
Henrich was crowned Miss Earth 2013, beating 87 other international delegates. She was
crowned by Czech Republican Tereza Fajksova, the Miss Earth 2012. Sobhita Dhulipala who
represented India in this beauty pageant could not make her way in the list of top 16 but she
bagged the Miss Photogenic and the Miss Eco Beauty Title during the contest.



Men's Hero Hockey Junior World Cup 2013 commenced in New Delhi with much
enthusiasm. South African star Gregg Clark is coaching the Indian hockey team. In the
beginning, India campaigned against Netherlands. In the Indian team, team captain
Manpreet Singh and midfielders Kothajit Singh are central figure while one of the matches
will be played at the Major Dhyand Chan National Hockey Stadium.



The much-awaited 2014 FIFA World Cup kicked off from June 12 in Sao Polo, Brazil. In the
opening match of the 2014 World Cup, Brazil will play against Croatia. England will
campaign against Italy who smashed them in Euro 2012, in Manaus. 32 teams will be playing
in a month long tournament.



Eight export processing and industrial zones will be set up by Sri Lanka’s Board of
Investment across the nation that will begin functioning in 2014. The zones will bring foreign
investment and rural areas will have economic development. Vavuniya in the North will be
the largest among the eight zones that will retrieve economic activities after the civil war.
According to Lakshman Yapa Abeywardana, Investment Promotion Minister of Sri Lanka,
the three of the economic zones will be at Hambantota in the south. Srilankan government
has invested profoundly to expand the region as a commercial and industrial hub.



After securing 28 seats over 70 seats in Delhi Assembly elections that led to the eligibility
criteria as a State Party, Election Commission has finally approved Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)

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as State Party in Delhi. With 28 seats, AAP in its debut elections has emerged as the second
biggest party after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It’s worth to be mentioned, that Election
Commission had registered Aam Aadmi Party as a political party in March 2013.


By making a hattrick victory in three states, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the state
assembly election in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Also, BJP emerged as the
largest party in Delhi assembly while “AAP” in its debut elections have emerged as the second
biggest party after BJP pushing the ruling party Congress as the third party. BJP won 49
seats in Chhattisgarh, 161 seats in Madhya Pradesh and 162 seats in Rajasthan. Presently,
BJP leader Raman Singh is the Chief Minister in Chhattisgarh, BJP leader Shivraj Singh
Chouhan in Madhya Pradesh and Congress Party leader Ashok Gehlot is the Chief Minister of
Rajasthan.



To remember the sacrifices made by Indian army to protect Indian borders, Armed Forces
Flag Day was observed on December 7 nationwide. Since 1949, to salute the Indian martyrs,
this day is observed every year in India. On this very day, Army officials donate and grants
charity to various welfare institutions related to welfare of ex-servicemen and their families.
Also Indians donate funds to distribute Indian flags to show gratefulness and admiration to
the Indian military.



The Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir declared the announcement of the resignation of the
Vice President of Sudan, Ali Osman Taha in Khartoum. Lieutenant General Bakri Hassan
Saleh will replace Taha while Hasbo Mohamed Abdulrahman will be the newly elected
second Vice President. Taha, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sudan, was the main
negotiator of Comprehensive Peace Agreement of Sudan in 2005 that ended Sudanese Civil
War.



Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister of Delhi has resigned after Indian Congress party lost the
majority votes in the Delhi Assembly polls. Lt Governor received her resignation. Arvind
Kejriwal of Aam Aadmi Party thrashed Sheila Dikshit by over 5000 votes in her constituency
in New Delhi. Dikshit has been Chief Minister of Delhi for three times.



Former Pakistani cricket captain Waqar Younis and former Australian wicket-keeper Adam
Gilchrist have made it to the ICC's Hall of Fame. Waqar is the 70th male cricketer to make it
to the hall of fame, with Gilchrist as 71st male members.



A new nine-hole golf course has been launched by former India captain Kapil Dev in Pune.
Paranjape Schemes (Construction) Limited has developed the course that includes 250-yard
of golf academy area. The golf course has been built on 1 lakh square-feet area. Also, 3 lakes
are part of this Golf Course.

12




South Africa smashed India by 134 runs to secure ODI series. South Africa has snatched the
series against India by 2-0 lead win in the second one-day in Durban, South Africa on
Sunday. South Africa had scored 280/6 in the given 49 overs before crushing India out for
146 in 35.1 over.



Afghanistan and Iran inked a friendship pact for longest security, political, cultural and
economic cooperation on December 10 in Iran. Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan’s President and
Hassan Rouhani, President of Iran signed this bilateral friendship and security pact to
strengthen the relationship between these two countries. The pact includes regional security
issue where both the counries will pressurize US to withdraw 8,000 to 12,000 US troops
from Afghanistan.



A ray of hope for Indian Congress Party. Congress won Mizoram polls again. After losing
polls in four states, Congress secured 32 of the 40 seats in Mizoram. The four-time Chief
Minister Lal Thanhawla has swept the polls in Indian State of Mizoram and is all set to
continue as Chief Minister of the State for fifth term in a row. Thanhawla has won from both
Serchhip and Hrangturzo seats he had contested in election.



Central government has sanctioned a special financial package of Rs 7346 crore for relief and
reconstruction of the floods-affected government tourist facilities in Uttarakhand. The
financial aid comes as a relief to the tourism industry in Uttarakhand which is hit by the
floods. The Cabinet Committee on Uttrakhand that will be headed by Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh, the finance will be given to centre-aided schemes and the National
Disaster Relief Fund. This decision was taken during a meeting held in New Delhi.



The world celebrated International Anti-Corruption on December 9 to raise awareness to
eradicate poverty and suggesting the ways to fight from corruption. This year theme is, “Act
against Corruption Today”. International Anti-Corruption Day has been announced by The
UN General Assembly on December 9. The step was taken to make people aware about
corruption and ways to combat it



To bring in light the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Human Rights Day was
observed worldwide on December 10. This year theme is, “20 Years Working for Your
Rights”. This programme was organised by national Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on
this Day. In 1950, the UN General Assembly proclaimed 10 December as Human Rights Day
to highlight the importance of human rights and finally in 1993, the United Nations General
Assembly created the High Commissioner for the encouragement and safety of all human
rights. On this day, the UN Human Rights Prize is given to those people or organisations who
have done work in the field of human rights.

13




Former senior executive of Nokia, D. Shivakumar has been appointed as the Chairman and
CEO of PepsiCo India region. He will deploy the Rs 33,000 crore investments in India, as per
the announcement made by PepsiCo last month.



The former Foreign Secretary of India, Ranjan Mathai, has been chosen as the India's High
Commissioner to the UK. 61-year old Mathai will replace Jaimini Bhagwati who retired
recently from this post.



The 29th Junior National Athletics Championships has been topped by Kerala that
concluded on 7 December. Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru observed the
championship. Kerald won championship with a 585 score while Tamilnadu stood at the
second place. Haryana was on third placed. In the 29 year old history of the event, Kerala has
been the champion for 19th time.
Chitra Magimairajan has grabbed the bronze medal in the IBSF World Snooker
Championship held at Daugvapils, Latvia. Wendy Jans of Belgium defeated her 4-1 in
the semi finals. In the final, Jans fruitfully secured her title by smashing Chunxia Shi
of China 5-3. Zhou Yuelong of China crushed Zhao Xintong 8-3 in the men’s final to
snatch the IBSF title. Now in November 2014, Bangalore will observe the next edition
of the IBSF World Snooker Championship.



Uruguay is now all set to fully legalize Marijuana Trade. This way Uruguay has become the
world’s first country for legalizing marijuana which is an illegal drug in many countries.
Marijuana is a product of the hemp plant- Cannabis sativa. It works as a hallucinogen,
depressant or depressant. As per the new law, citizen of Uruguay above 18 years old can will
be allowed to buy up to 40 grams drug in a month but tourists have not been included. The
law is being criticized in country a lot.



India’s Navratna Company Coal India Ltd is going to pay Rs 1,773 crore as penalty has been
imposed by the country’s fair trade regulator for abusing its leading position. Recently the
Competition Commission of India (CCI) has issued an order after customers and subsidiaries
of CIL filed two complaints against CIL.



Indian central government has sanctioned a special financial package of Rs 374 million to
construct embankments on 3 border rivers to control floods floods-affected area in Nepal and
India. Ranjit Rae, Indian Ambassador had given the cheque to Minister for Energy, Irrigation
and Science and Technology of Nepal, Umakant Jha. The financial aid is a relief to the
tourism industry in Nepal which is hit by the floods. This decision was taken by the IndiaNepal Joint Committee on Inundation and Flood Management during a meeting held in
Nepal.

14




After reaching second top position in Delhi Assembly poll as a debutant, the Aam Aadmi
Party (AAP) will be soon contesting election for all 90 seats in Haryana Assembly polls in
upcoming 2014 election. Issues like Health, poor education and sewerage will be raised by
AAP in Haryana.



Eminent and veteran Indian social activist Anna Hazare has commenced his fast for Lokpal
Bill under the auspices of his new organization, Jantantra Morcha. He sat on indefinite
hunger strike near the Yadavbaba temple in the village to pass Jan Lokpal Bill that is also
represented as the Citizen's Ombudsman Bill. The bill is to be passed to stop corruption and
to investigate cases of corruption.



After making a mark in Rajasthan Assembly poll, Vasundhara Raje, leader of BJP will sworn
in as chief minister on Dec 13. For this, she met Margaret Alva, Governor of Rajasthan to
form the government in the Rajasthan. This will be her second time stint as Chief Minister of
Rajasthan. Before this, she served as CM from 2003 to 2008.



Sumit Bose will be new Finance Secretary after being appointed by the Appointment
Committee of Cabinet. The 1976 batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer, Bose will replace R
S Gujral, 1976 batch Haryana cadre. Gujral retired last month who was also looking after the
expenditure department. Now Ratan P Watal has been appointed as secretary in the
expenditure department.



Mary Barra has been named the new chief executive of General Motors by the major car
manufacturing company. She will be the first woman to lead the car company in the United
States. 51 year old Barra will succeed Dan Akerson, Detroit-based General Motors (GM).
Before this, Barra has worked as senior Vice-President in global product development since
2011. For 33 years, she has also served as General Manager in engineering, management
positions and manufacturing.



Maharaja Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wodeyar Bahadur, the last King of the former
Mysore royal family has passed away after heart attack in Bangalore. He was also known as
Srikanta Wadeyar and was Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wodiyar’s only son. Under
Wodeyar dynasty, he was the last king of Mysore Kingdom. The Kingdom of Mysore was
ruled between 1399 and 1950 by Wodeyar dynasty.



According to India’s top court Supreme Court, Homosexuality is a crime. On 11 December,
Supreme Court Justice G.S Singhvi and S.J Mukhopadhaya have upheld Delhi High Court’s
verdict that pronounced homosexuality is not a punishable offence. After this verdict, gay
activists in all over the India looked visibly upset and criticized Supreme Court for this
verdict.

15




Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd has inked a telecom infrastructure-sharing
pact with Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Airtel Ltd. After this accord, the competition between two of
India’s biggest business groups ended. Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd is a unit of Reliance
Industries Ltd (RIL) while Bharti Airtel Ltd is India’s biggest mobile phone service provider.
The major tie up may lead to cost savings to a large extent. This business venture will form
nation’s largest, fourth generation of mobile communication technology next year.



The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the overseas arm of stateowned Oil, ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) and Oil And Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC)
and Co-ordinating Ministry for Strategic Sectors (MICSE) of the Republic of Ecuador to
assess Exploration and production (E&P) opportunities in Ecuador. The pact was signed by
DK Sarraf, MD & CEO, ONGC Videsh and Rafael Poveda Bonilla on behalf of MICSE in New
Delhi. According to agreement, MICSE will give information to ONGC Videsh Limited
regarding the oil and gas projects in Ecuador and OVL will assess to spot the projects of its
interest and it will offer participation in such projects through precise definitive agreements.



New Lokayukta of Gujarat is Justice D.P Buch. Buch sworn in as Lokayukta is a retired judge
of the Gujarat High Court. In the presence of Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Assembly
Speaker Vajubhai Vala, Governor Kamla Beniwal of Gujrat administered him the oath of
Lokayukta at Raj Bhavan.



68 years old Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro has been named for the Economic Times
Lifetime Achievement Award 2013 for Corporate Excellence for his outstanding
responsibility in creating India's third-largest software exporter. He was also identified for
the remarkable scale of his philanthropy. He received ET Awards in Mumbai. A jury headed
by Anshu Jain, co-CEO of Deutsche Bank decided the 2013 ET Awards that is given by the
news paper Economic Times in the field of corporate and government policies, business and
economies in India.



The Chairman of Tamilnadu based political party Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam
(DMDK), Panruti S. Ramachandran, announced his retirement from active politics. 76 year
old Ramachandran will also leave the post of Member of Legislative Assembly and for that he
gave his resignation to P Dhanpal, the Assembly Speaker. Ramachandran resigned from his
Alandur constituency due to the health grounds.



Justice GS Singhvi, the senior most judge of Supreme Court of India was retired on
December 11 after a successful tenure of 6 years as a Judge of Supreme Court of India. 65
year old Singhvi was one of the judges of Supreme Court who gave verdict against
homosexuality in India on December 11.

16




An American retired professional boxer and world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson has
been banned from entering Britain. The 47-year-old was not allowed to enter UK, as per the
UK immigration law, it doesn’t allow anyone from entering the country who has been
sentenced to more than 4 years in prison. In 1992, Tyson has been convicted of raping a
teenage beauty queen. So that’s why he had to cancel the promotion of his new
autobiography ‘Undisputed Truth’ in London.



Naypyitaw, the new state capital of Myanmar observed the beginning of 27th edition of South
East Asian Games, the biggest sporting event in South East Asia on 11 December. The 12
days biannual multi-sport event involves altogether 34 events with involvement from 11
Countries. “Green, Clean and Friendship” is the theme for 2013 SEA Game. Winners will get
more than 1500 medals in SEA Games that is scheduled from 11 to 22 December.



Apple iPhone ban case to have some products by Apple has been lost by Samsung
Electronics Co Ltd in South Korea. Going back to past, in March 2012 Samsung had filed a
petition which says that Apple had breached 3 patents on technology for handling and
demonstrating text and messages from its Galaxy product range.



According to United Nations children's agency (UNICEF), around 230 million children under
the age of five were never registered. It means those who don’t have birth registration, will
not get the facility of health care, education and social security. This data globally amounts to
1 in 3 children under 5. Aouth Asia and sub-Saharan Africa has got the lowest levels of birth
registration.



For the third consecutive term, Raman Singh was sworn in as Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh.
61 year old Singh, an Ayurvedic doctor-turned-politician was administered oath by Shekhar
Dutt, Governor of Chhattisgarh in Raipur.

Also Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the BJP leader will again sworn-in as the CM of Madhya Pradesh for the
third consecutive time. Ram Naresh Yadav, the Governor of Madhya Pradesh administered him oath
in Bhopal. After this victory, Chouhan has now become BJP’s third CM for the third consecutive term
after Narendra Modi and Raman Singh.
Meanwhile for the fifth time and a second consecutive term, Lal Thanhawla will be sworn in as Chief
Minister of Mizoram after a massive victory in Mizoram Assembly polls. Governor of Mizoram
Vakkom B Purushothaman will administer 71 year old Thanhawla the oath at a ceremony which will
be organised at the Raj Bhavan in Aizawl.


For promotion and protection of bilateral investments, United Arab Emirates and India have
inked an agreement called Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement
(BIPPA) that will bring and increase fresh capital investments of UAE in India. The Minister

17


of State for Financial Affairs of UAE Obaid Humaid Al Tayer and Minister of State for
Finance of India Namo Narain Meena signed the agreement. Now after this pact, India-GCC
Free Trade agreement may also happen in future. With the total bilateral trade of 75 billion
dollars, India and UAE are the largest trading partners of each other. About 3 billion dollar in
India is being invested by UAE.


The Catholic Church's new leader Pope Francis has been named for Time magazine’s 'Person
of the Year 2013. For the first time, the world spiritual and religious leader has got an award
by the international media’s most prestigious award. In this voting race, the Pope has beaten
out N.S.A. Leaker Edward Snowden. Also Singer Miley Cyrus, President of the United States
Barack Obama, Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos, Gay rights activist Edith Windsor, President of
Syria Bashar Assad, President of Iran Hassan Rouhani and Texas Senator Ted Cruz were in
this year’s list.



The 2013 ESCAP-Sasakawa Award for disability-inclusive HR policy award has been grabbed
by Wipro. In cooperation with The Nippon Foundation (TNF) and the Asia-Pacific
Development Center on Disability (APCD), the award for Disability-Inclusive Business was
established to identify and honour companies that have made a major breakthrough in
engaging and hiring people with disabilities in their daily operations. The award has been
started with the motive that shows persons with disabilities as an intact workforce. Wipro
was recognised amongst all the nominations across 62 countries for its initiatives in hiring
employees with disabilities.



India’s badminton player Saina Nehwal was smashed by the World No.1 and Olympic
Champion Chinese Li Xuerui in the Group-B match of BWF World Super Series finals
Badminton Tournament. Seemed it was bad event for Saina. First she lost match by Li with
9-21 and 14-21 then earlier in the opening match she lost to Japan's Minatsu Mitani with 2119, 22-24 and 19-21 respectively in three matches.



South Africa grabbed the ODI match series from India with 2-0. The third day match was
cancelled due to heavy rain and later host South Africa was declared the winner. Though
South Africa had already clinched the series, with registering victory in the first two ODIs.



Women's Kabaddi World Cup has been won by India for the third consecutive time. Indian
women smashed debutant New Zealand with 49-21 in the summit clash played in Jalandhar.
A first-place prize of Rs one crore will be taken by Indian women team while Anu Rani was
declared the best stopper and Ram Bateri was adjudged the best raider. Both players received
a Maruti Alto car.



Abdul Kader Mullah, Islamist leader of Bangladesh was hanged to death for 1971 war crimes
at the Dhaka Central Jail in Bangladesh. He was convicted for genocides by Bangladesh's

18


International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) during the Bangladesh’s 1971 freedom war with
Pakistan. He is the first politician of Bangladesh to be hanged for such crimes.


The Supreme Court of India has finally granted bail to Lalu Prasad, Rashtriya Janta Dal Chief
who was behind the bars after being granted to a five-year jail in a fodder scam. Lalu who
was in Jail for the last two months when a special CBI court of Ranchi convicted him in the
fodder scam case during his regime involving fraudulent of Rs 37.7 crore from Chaibasa
Treasury. Chief Justice P Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi of Supreme Court approved
his bail in the case after observing that many convicts have already been granted bail in this
sort of case.



Tata Relief Committee has signed a MoU with Uttarakhand to provide financial assistance to
restoration and reconstruction in the flood hit areas of Uttarakhand. As per MoU deal, the
Tata Relief Committee will help in reconstruction, vocational skill training, health and
creating livelihoods. Also It will assist in providing formal allocation of 9 villages. Earlier
Tata relief committee had also provide medical assistance, food package, rehabilitation
programmes across Bageshwar, Rudraprayag, Pithoragarh, Chamoli and Uttarkashi districts.



Devyani Khobragade, India’s Deputy Consul General for Political, Economic, Commercial
and Women’s Affairs was arrested for allegedly presenting fraudulent documents of visa and
was later held in US. 39 year old Khobragade presented false and fraudulent statements to
the US Department of State for a visa applicationas a babysitter and housekeeper at her
home in New York.



Krish Iyer has been chosen to be new President and CEO of Walmart India. He will succeed
interim CEO Ramnik Narsey who will be taking over as senior vice president in Walmart
International. Earlier, Iyer was Managing Director (MD) and CEO at Piramyd Retail Ltd.



Lieutenant General Dalbir Singh Suhag has been appointed as the Vice Chief of Army Staff
(VCoAS). Eastern Army Command, Suhag will succeed Lieutenant General SK Singh from 31
December who will be retiring soon.



Again Bollywood King Khan Shah Rukh Khan has secured his second position in Forbes
'Celebrity List'. Forbes has named him the 'most powerful celebrity of 2013' for consecutively
second time. The 48-year-old actor made it to the top 100 with Mahendra Singh Dhoni,
Indian cricket captain stood at third spot. Bollywood star Salman Khan, Sachin Tendulkar,
Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, Bollywood action star Akshay Kumar, Bollywood actress
Kareena Kapoor, Indian cricketer Virendra Sehwag and Indian actor Ranbir Kapoor. While
Indian Cricketer Virat Kohli is the youngest celebrity to reach the top 10 this year.

19




Budding Indian cricketer and Test batsman Cheteshwar Pujara has grabbed ‘Emerging
Cricketer of the Year' trophy when the ICC Annual award was held in Dubai. For the first
time Pujara became the second fastest Indian to get 1000 Test runs while scoring double
hundred against Australia in Hyderabad. Also Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Indian cricket captain
bagged ICC Annual award while Michael Clarke Australian cricket captain grabbed the Sir
Garfield Sobers trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year. He was also chosen as the ICC Test
Cricketer of the Year.



Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom, Olympic medal-winning boxer autobiography entitled
“Unbreakable” was revealed by the Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan. The Rajiv
Gandhi Khel Ratna and Arjuna Awardee Mary has depicted her struggles and achievement
through her autobiography. Padma Shree Awardee Mary has penned down her story to share
about her personal and professional life for her fans. Mary had clinched bronze at
2012Summer Olympics held in London.



Now UNAIDS has taken a step while urging India to decriminalise gay sex in India while
opposing Supreme Court verdict which has said that homosexuality is a crime and comes
under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code . According to UNAIDS, in order to protect the
human rights of lesbian, gay, transgender sexual and bisexual, the verdict should be repealed
as its against adult consensual same sex sexual conduct. It’s worth mentioning here that few
days back Indian Supreme Court had stroke down Delhi High Court’s verdict that has
supported decriminalising gay sex.



Harsh Bhanwala has been appointed as new Chairman of the National Bank for Agriculture
and Rural Development (NABARD) by the central government. Bhanwala has replaced
Prakash Bakshi who got retired as NABARD Chairman way back to three months. Earlier,
Bhanwala was serving as an Executive Director in India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd
(IIFCL).



Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan has grabbed the best actor award in 10th Dubai International
Film Festival for his outstanding performance in bollywood film “The Lunchbox”. He won
this award for his film in the Muhr Asia Africa Feature Category. Well-known filmmaker
Shekhar Kapur headed the jury at the Dubai International Film Festival. Also in the same
category, the Writer-Director of the film Ritesh Batra received a special mention for
screenplay for “The Lunchbox”.



Babul Phukan former Indian footballer has passed away after a prolonged illness in
Guwahati, Assam. The 49-year-old Phukan had represented Assam 9 times in the Santosh
trophy. The former Indian footballer had played several international matches in Italy,
Germany and England. He had also represented Assam sub junior, junior and Santosh
Trophy teams.

20




Sis Ram Ola, Union Labour and Employment Minister has died after a prolonged illness in
Gurgaon. Padma Shri awardee 86-year-old the Congress and Jat leader Sis Ram Ola was not
in a good health for a long time due to various ailments. He has been Union Cabinet Minister
of Labour and Employment, Union Cabinet Minister of Mines, Union Minister of State for
Chemicals and Fertilizers (Independent Charge), Union Minister of State for Water
Resources (Independent Charge) and a member of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly. He
used to represent the Jhunjhunu constituency of Rajasthan.



Joan Fontaine, an Academy Award-winning actress has passed away in her sleep in
California. 96 year old Joan had starred in the Alfred Hitchcock’s thrillers Suspicion as a
naive wife and Rebecca. Joan who also acted in Jane Eyre, The Women and Born to be bad
was the only actor to receive an Academy Award for her lead part in a Hitchcock film. Joan
de Beauvoir de Havilland was Joan’s real name and fellow actress Olivia de Havilland was
her sister.



Prakash Nanjappa of Karnataka and Malaika Goel of Punjab have clinched Gold at the 57th
National Shooting Championship which has been held in Tughlakabad in their respective
categories. Prakash grabbed Gold in 50-meter free pistol whereas the 16-year-old Malaika
secured the Gold in women’s 10-meter air pistol. Hogging into limelight, Malaika smashed
experienced Harveen Srao by 5.3 points in the final to clinch the gold. Prior to this, she had
also crushed Olympians Annu Raj Singh and Heena Sidhu to make it to the final.



Germany thrashed France while registering record of sixth world title at Hero Junior Men’s
Hockey World Cup held at the floodlit Major Dhyan Chand Stadium in New Delhi. Germany
retained its title by defeating France by 5-2 victory in the final. Both the teams performed
outstanding to clinch the title. Germany’s five goals was rode by Wellen, Jonas Gomoll and
Christopher Ruhr two in a row.



India has defeated Pakistan in the fourth World Cup Kabaddi organised at the Guru Nanak
Stadium in Ludhiana. India clinched the match with 48-39 while retaining the title
consecutive fourth time. India received Rs two crore award while Pakistan bagged the
runners-up trophy and Rs one crore.



Michelle Bachelet has again won presidential vote in Chile. Left wing candidate Bachelet’s
grabbed 62 % of the votes which was the biggest presidential victory in eight decades. a
moderate socialist Bachelet defeated her rival of the ruling conservative Evelyn Matthei who
received only 37 % votes which was the worst and least votes in two decades. Bachelet has
promised that she will spend a lot on education, will improve health facility and will diminish
the gap between rich and poor.

21




For the third time, German Chancellor Angela Markel has been voted as the country’s head of
government. The 59-year-old Markel won the vote by parliamentarians. She will be soon of
appointed by Joachim Gauck, President of Germany at the President’s official residence that
is Berlin’s Bellevue Palace.



An insurance coverage for Ganga Sagar pilgrims will be soon inaugurated by the West Bengal
government this year. Javed Khan, West Bengal disaster management Minister said that 5
lakh rupees will be compensated in the death of any pilgrim and for the injured Rs 50,000
each under the insurance coverage. Also during the Ganga Sagar Mela, Disaster Management
department will soon open fire fighting stations at Sagar Island in middle of January.



CVR Rajendran has been appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director of Andhra Bank
by Union Ministry of Finance, Government of India. He will remain on this post for a period
of five years or until superannuation in April 2015. Before this, He was serving as an
Executive Director of Bank of Maharashtra. He also served as of General Manager (GM) of
the treasury and information technology division of Corporation Bank.



Tennis player Andy Murray has been named as BBC 'Sports Personality of the year' 2013. The
tennis ace is the first British tennis player to clinch the Wimbledon in 77 years and was
presented the award in Miami. He grabbed this award after his landslide victory against
Novak Djokovic in July this year. Leigh Halfpenny, the Wales and Lions rugby star secured
second place in this ranking while champion jockey Tony McCoy stood on third



Mumbai University has released a book titled ‘Nirbhaya: Ek Atmachintan’ to remember
Nirbhaya on December 16 after a year since the brutal gang rape of the Delhi paramedical
student. The varsity launched the book which has compiled thoughts, inputs and issues
related to women's empowerment and their security. Several eminent and veteran writers
and philosophers have contributed for this book to make awareness about women
empowerment in India.



Sandeep Acharya, the Indian Idol-2 winner Sandeep Acharya has passed away at a hospital in
Gurgaon on Sunday. Winner of the second season of Indian Idol, Acharya belonged to
Rajasthan. The 29-year-old singer had been suffering from jaundice for fourteen days.
Acharya was neglecting his health for many days and was admitted at a local hospital in
Bikaner in a critical condition. Later, he was referred to Gurgaon hospital.



Atsedu Tsegay, an Ethiopian Runner is the winner of Men's Delhi Half Marathon 2013. He
made record of 21.097 km within 59 minutes 10 seconds by creating a new race record. He
broke Deriba Merga’s previous record of 59 minutes 15 seconds since 2008. While Kenyan
Geoffrey Kipsang, a former junior world champion stood second and his compatriot Wilson
Kiprop came third. From India, FG. Laxman with a timing of 1 hour 04 minutes and 44

22


seconds was the top finisher for India. Meanwhile, Kenyan athlete Florence Kiplagat with a
timing of 1 hour 07 minutes and 58 seconds is the winner of Women's Delhi Half Marathon
2013. Gladys Cherono stood second while Lucy Kabuu came third. Preeja Sreedharan was the
top finisher was among the Indian athletes with a timing of 1 hour 20 minutes 04 seconds.


West Indies off spinner Shane Shillingford has been suspended by the International Cricket
Council (ICC) from bowling in international matches because of over action. His bowling arm
exceeded the 15-degree level of tolerance allowed under regulations as per an independent
biomechanical analysis. Also Marlon Samuels, Shillingford’s teammate and fellow-off
spinner followed his quicker deliveries on similar grounds while bowling. He was found
guilty during last month’s test match between India and West Indies.



A nine metre bronze statue of late Nelson Mandela, an anti-apartheid icon was unveiled in
Pretoria, South Africa. The 9 metre gigantic bronze statue was revealed after Mandela was
buried in his childhood village of Qunu. As part of commemorating Reconciliation Day on
December 16, South African President Jacob Zuma unveiled statue amidst 21-gun salute and
a fly-past by military aircraft at the Union Buildings. Union buildings is special for so many
reasons, as statue of Barry Hertzog, former Prime Minister of South Africa was mounted
here. Also, 90 year old Mandela was announced as South Africa's first democratically-elected
President in 1994 here only. It’s worth mentioning here that the Union Buildings is marking
its centenary this year.



French carmaker Renault has inked a pact for $1.3 billion joint venture agreement with
China to construct a joint-venture plant costing 7.76 billion yuan ($1.28 billion) in central
China. The pact has been signed with the Dongfeng Motor Group Co of China and Renault,
that has an alliance with Japan’s Nissan to produce cars in the central Chinese province of
Hubei. 150,000 cars will be the initial designed production capacity annually from 2016.



To present a small token of gratitude to the great leader and former Punjab Chief Minister
Sardar Beant Singh, a stamp has been released by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in
New Delhi. Sardar Beant Singh is remembered for providing tough and extraordinary
leadership to Punjab in very troubled times. He brought normalcy in Punjab after years of
terrorist violence.



Under ‘Project Udaan, an initiative of the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, about 2,200
youth from Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) are getting trained across the country by 29
corporates. Started with the aim of providing skills to 40,000 youth over a period of five
years, the National Skills Development Corporation and the Ministry of Home Affairs and
industry is running project Udaan that targets the youngsters of J&K , who are seeking global
and local opportunities which includes post-graduates, graduates and three-year engineering
diploma holders.

23




On 18 December, the International Migrants Day was observed worldwide. In 2013, the
international migrant number has reached 232 million worldwide. On 18 December 1990,
the General Assembly adopted the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights
of all migrant workers and members of their families. The day is observed to make migration
work for societies of origin, migrants and societies of destination alike.



Oscar Fernandes, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways has got additional charge
of the Ministry of Labour and Employment. He has been given additional charge after the
demise of Sis Ram Ola, a veteran Congress leader from Rajasthan who was the former
Minister of Labour and Employment



England was thrashed by Australia to clinch Test cricket series and reclaimed Ashes t for the
first time in seven years with 3-0 lead in the five-match series. The first two Tests in Brisbane
and Adelaide was won by Australia easily and crushed England with a 150-run victory in the
third Test in Perth.



Teen sensation and one of the fastest rising stars of Indian squash Mahesh Mangaonkar has
become first Indian to clinch IMET Open in Bratislava, Slovakia. The World No.98 and the
19-year-old from Mumbai crushed defending champion Scottish Greg Lobban, who is the
No.2 seed with 7-11 11-8 11-4 6-11 11-7 to secure the title.



Kerala will soon observe thefirst high altitude cricket stadium in South India which will be
inaugurated in Wynad district of Kerala. The Kerala Cricket Association owns the stadium
which is situated about 2800 feet above sea-level. Nikhil Kumar, Kerala Governor
inaugurated the stadium can put up about 10,000 spectators amidst much pomp and show.



Yahoo, an American multinational Internet corporation is again in news to acquire content
delivery network provider 'PeerCDN' in order to sort out its mail issues. Now the question is
what is 'PeerCDN'. 'PeerCDN' is content delivery network provider which provides videos,
images, texts and downloads through a peer-to- peer network technology of people that is
currently visiting a website using WebRTC, its a real-time communication technology, rather
than using an additional software. It lessens website provider’s bandwidth costs by letting
visitors share the load.



After a massive rage and oppositions and fast, India is celebrating as Lokpal Bill was cleared
in Lok Sabha as it was amended by the Rajya Sabha after a short discussion and later Anna
Hazare ended his fast. The reason to create this bill is the key bill to create an anti-graft
ombudsman which focuses to lessen corruption in country. Also CBI, Prime Minister will also
come in its purview to stop the menace of corruption.

24




India and Macedonia have inked a pact in bid to a new double taxation avoidance agreement
(DTAA) that gives banking information for tax administration purposes and many other
benefits related to tax. Salman Khurshid, External Affairs Minister of India and Nikola
Poposki, Macedonia’s Foreign Minister have signed the agreement according to which
interest, dividend, Business income, Capital gains on securities and royalty will be paid tax in
the source country and tax rate will not exceed 10 percent.



India and the Arab League have signed a MoU to strengthen political, trade and cultural
relations of both the countries. External Affairs Minister of India Salman Khurshid Secretary
General of the League of Arab States Nabil Elaraby signed the pact during Elaraby visited
India.



Kutch, Gujarat observed Rann Utsav, a cultural festival of Gujarat. Gujarat Tourism Minister
Saurabh Patel inaugurated the two-month long cultural festival at Kutch. The festival draws
attention of a vast number of domestic and international tourists.



The great train robber Ronnie Biggs who is known for his role in the 1963 Great Train
Robbery has passed away. He died at the age of 84. Four years ago, he had been released
from prison on sympathetic grounds due to ill health. He had also suffered several strokes in
prison. He was involved in the gang robbery of the Glasgow-to-London Royal Mail train of
worth £2.6 million.



Head of Travancore royal family, Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma that ruled south
Kerala before Independence has passed away after cardiac arrest. Varma was also the
Chairman of the “ Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple” where a treasure worth Rs one lakh
crore was discovered. 92 years old Varma was known as the younger brother Chithira Tirunal
Balarama Varma , the last ruler of Travancore. He took charge as the head of the royal family
after the demise of Balarama Varma.



The Poovar Island Resort has been named for the National Energy Conservation Award 2013
by the Union Ministry of Power. The resort aims to attain ‘energy-neutral’ status by
protecting energy and tapping into non-conventional sources for generation. Managing
Director of Poovar Island. M.R. Narayanan has received the award from Pranab Mukherjee,
President of India at a ceremony held in Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. For the award, above
800 industrial units and establishments were in the fray.



Famous historian Bipan Chandra has been awarded with Itihas Ratna from Asiatic Society
Bihar. Chandra received this award on his 86th birthday. After this honour, he has become
the fourth historian who has been awarded with the Itihas Ratna by the society. O.P. Jaiswal,
the Secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bihar honoured him at the Jawaharlal Nehru

25


University (JNU) Campus, New Delhi. One of his famous books is “ The Rise and Growth of
Economic Nationalism”.


The 2nd edition of Syria Donor’s conference will be hosted by Kuwait in January 2014. The
event will be chaired by Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of United Nation. Nigel Fisher,
Assistant Secretary-General and Regional Humanitarian Coordinator of United Nations
disclosed this news in Kuwait city. About 60 - 65 governments have been invited to make
their pledges next month. It’s worth mentioning here that the first Syria Donor’s conference
was also hosted by Kuwait where above 1.5 billion dollars was raised for Syria.



The Gaia satellite, one of the most ambitious space missions in history will be soon launched
by Europe. The 740 million-euro observatory is going to assess the exact positions and
distances to more than a billion stars. This should give us the first reasonable picture of how
our Milky Way galaxy is created. Gaia's remarkable sensitivity will guide also to the discovery
of many thousands of previously unobserved objects, including new planets and asteroids.
The European Space Agency satellite will be sent up on a Soyuz rocket.



India’s economic growth rate will remain subdued at 4.8% in 2013, says a United Nations
report. India’s economy is forecast to expand at a pace of 3 % in 2014. UN has also warned
that budding markets should be ready to deal with the impact of US Federal Reserve’s
quantitative easing agenda. In the same way, it has trimmed the growth projection for 2014
to 5.3 %, down 1.2 % from earlier forecast. The UN expects India to develop by 5.7% in 2015.
India’s growth in the first half of 2013-14 maintained at 4.6%. To achieve 5% growth in this
financial year, the economy has to develop by 5.4 % in the second half.



The 52nd anniversary of liberation day of Goa was celebrated from the Portuguese yoke. On
19 December 1961, Goa was liberated from the Portuguese after a prolonged and long
freedom struggle. For this, the operation Vijay was conducted by the Indian Army to liberate
Goa. On this occasion, most of the people from all walks of life willingly participated in
various programmes. Justice Mohit S Shah, the Chief Justice of Mumbai High Court laid the
foundation stone of the new building of High Court of Bombay in Goa.



Former India captain Kapil Dev will receive the Col. C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement
Award for 2013. Kapil, who captained India its first World Cup victory in 1983. He was
unanimously selected for this honour by BCCI president N. Srinivasan, Senior Journalist
Ayaz Memon and Patel. A trophy, a citation, and a cheque for Rs. 25 lakh will be included in
this award. Kapil who is also called ‘Haryana Hurricane’ will receive the award at the BCCI
awards ceremony for the year 2012-13.



According to the International Association of Public Transport (IAPT) study, Kolkata has
topped in public transport among Indian cities. The city has been ranked 31st which is the

26


highest among the six cities in India as per the survey. The study titled Future of Urban
Mobility 2.0was conducted for 84 cities worldwide in collaboration with a management
consultant based in Boston called Arthur D Little. According to the study, Kolkata has been
considered as the most progressive city in the country.


Career diplomat Abdul Basit will soon be appointed as Pakistan’s new High Commissioner to
India. Earlier 55 years old Basit wanted to serve as Foreign Secretary but later the
government made few changes in proposed appointments. Basit will succeed former Foreign
Secretary Salman Bashir in New Delhi soon.



India clinched Asia-Pacific Junior Golf team titles in both boy’s and girl’s team sections held
at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC). In the Asia Pacific Junior Golf Championship, it was
India’s first ever victory. The team of Viraj Madappa and Manu Gandas helped India ‘A’ to
clinch the team title in the boy’s category. On the other hand, the team of Aditi and Ridhima
Dilawari took India ‘B’ to grab the team title in the girl’s category.



World and European champions Spain has ranked top in the final FIFA world rankings of the
year 2013 for sixth time in a row. As per football world governing body’s rankings, Spain
topped the ranking with an unchanged top 10. Soon Spain is going into World Cup year
ahead of Germany and Argentina. The final results of recent 30 international matches were
taken into consideration for the current ranking. Portugal, Colombia, Uruguay, Italy,
Netherlands, Switzerland and Brazil completed the leading 10.



Olympic bronze medallist Indian badminton player Saina Nehwal slipped two places to
World No.8. Due to her poor form in this season, in the women’s singles rankings, she has
dropped two places to No. 8 according to the Badminton World Federation (BWF). South
Korean Yeon Ju Bae and Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying overtook Sania. Though, P. V. Sindhu
sustained at her position No. 11. If we talk about men’s singles rankings, Parupalli Kashyap
reserved the 14th position and Ajay Jayaram raised a place to 24th. Unfortunately, none
Indian figures have made in to the top 25 of the men’s, women’s and mixed doubles rankings.



Recently Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a pardon decree after that Russian oil
tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has become a free man and flied for Germany. Khodorkovsky
has already spent over 10 years in jail and walked out of the jail 8 months before his
scheduled release. Khordorkovsky was former richest man in Russia and was tope political
enemy of Putin. He was convicted of crimes including money laundering, theft and fraud and
was arrested in 2003.

27




Career diplomat Aizaz Chaudhry will soon be appointed as Pakistan’s new Foreign Secretary
by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He was one of the key officials who handled the
effect of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, as new Foreign Secretary. He will replace Current Foreign
Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani who will be soon selected as Pakistan’s new Ambassador to the
US. Chaudhry, earlier served as additional Foreign Secretary and Foreign Office spokesman.



Indian central government will provide financial assistance of Rs 6,600-crore for sugar mills.
Government has cleared interest-free loans to deduce cane farmer arrears and also proposal
on raising grain buffer stocks to government. For a combined Rs 6,600 crore of interest-free
loans, Sugar mills will be eligible to pay debts to cane farmers and also to sell sugar without
any quantitative restriction. A proposal in this regard was passed by the Cabinet Committee
on Economic Affairs (CCEA).



By 2020, after the US and China India will soon become the 3rd largest aviation market in
world. This was said by Civil Aviation Secretary KN Shrivastava. Presently, the Indian
aviation market is observing 117 million domestic and 43 million international passengers.
Also currently after China, India's domestic aviation market is the 2nd highest growing
market at world level and it is the ninth largest civil aviation market in the world.



India's indigenously-designed Light Combat Aircraft, Tejas aircraft has received initial
operation clearance (IOC-II). AK Antony, India’s defence minister has handed over Release
to Service Document (RTS) to NAK Brown, chief of the Indian Air Force. This RTS will make
the way for the introduction of Tejas into the Indian Air Force (IAF).



The prominent CSI Nihilent National e-Governance Award 2012-13 has been given to the
Petroleum Ministry by Computer Society of India for implementing project ‘Lakshya’ which
is focused at improving LPG distribution. Neeraj Mittal, Joint Secretary, Marketing, Ministry
of Petroleum and Natural Gas received the award for the Project Lakshya- Empowering
Consumers: Transparent Supply Chain and Efficient Subsidy Administration in
Vishakhapatnam as part of 48th Annual Convention of Computer Society of India (CSI2013).



Javed Akthar Bollywood lyricist-scriptwriter, Mridula Garg Hindi novelist and Subodh
Sarkar renowned Bengali poet has been chosen for this year Sahitya Akademi Awards.
Akhtar’s “Lava”, his compilation of 55 Urdu poems has been selected for this coveted award.



Sushma Singh has sworn in as the new Chief Information Commissioner of India. Singh was
appointed new CIC by President Pranab Mukherjee. After Deepak Sandhu, former CIC, she is
the second woman to become CIC. Earlier, she served as Panchyati Raj, the Development of
the North East Region (DONER) and Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministries

28


of Information & Broadcasting. Singh was selected by Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha
Sushma Swaraj, Law Minister Kapil Sibal and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.


Shocking news for Infosys. V. Balakrishnan has resigned from his post as Director of Infosys.
This is 8th big exit from Infosys. He was earlier

Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at India's second largest information technology (IT) firm Infosys and
is Head of Infosys BPO, India Business Unit, Finacle and in addition to being the Chairman of
Infosys Lodestone. He will work till December 31, 201. He was also in the race to become next chief
executive officer (CEO) of Infosys after the current CEO S.D. Shibulal retires in 2015.


Fourth and a new research station of China, Taishan was opened in Antarctica in the
southern pole. The station focuses to provide a base for research on remote satellite sensing
and bio-ecology. The Supreme Court Bar Association has been in the alliance of the
movement for upholding, maintaining and consolidation of the constitutional values of
independence of Judiciary, rule of law and democracy from its very beginning.



First telecommunications Satellite Tupak Katari of Bolivia was launched recently. Bolivia’s
first telecommunication satellite has been named upon an indigenous national hero, who
fought during the 18th century Spanish colonial rule. The telecommunications satellite
blasted off from a base in China. In South America, Bolivia is one of the last countries to have
its own satellite.



Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed is new Prime Minister of Somalia. Somalian Parliament approved
Ahmed as Prime Minister. He succeeded outgoing Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon who
was expelled in November 2013 over policy differences by the Parliament following a rift with
the Somali President. Nicholas Kay, the head of the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia
(UNSOM) welcomed Abdiweli



The prestigious India Pride Award for Excellence 2013 in Central PSUs was grabbed by
IRCON International Limited in India Image Enhancement. Mohan Tiwari, the CMD of
IRCON received the award from M.M. Pallam Raju, the Union Minister for Human
Resources Development.



Usha Sangwan has been selected as first woman Managing Director (MD) of the Life
Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) by the central Government. She has got the honour to
be the first woman director of LIC in six decades of LIC’s establishment. After almost two
years, LIC is set to function at its full strength of four MDs with this appointment. Usha
Sangwan, Sushobhan Sarkar, S B Mainak and V K Sharma are four MDs of LIC.

29




Senior advocate P.H. Parekh has been elected as the new President of the Supreme Court Bar
Association (SCBA) for 2013-14. This is Parekh’s 6th term as SCBA President. V. Shekar has
been appointed as the new Vice-President of SCBA, Vikas Bansal as new treasurer, Sandeep
Singh as new assistant secretary and Rajesh Pathak as the new assistant treasurer of the
SCBA.



S. Jaishankar will be the new Indian envoy to US to take charge amidst a rampant diplomatic
row over the arrest of senior diplomat Devyani Khobragade on alleged visa fraud charges. Till
now Jaishankar was India’s Ambassador to China when bilateral ties threaten to hit a low in
more than a decade now. Jaishankar is known as one of the brightest Foreign Service officials
who played a key role in the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal. His first task would be to check
the relationship from getting derailed any further.



Jayanthi Natrajan has resigned as Environment and Forests Minister from the Union
Cabinet. Ahead of general elections-2014, she will play a bigger role in the Congress party. As
advised by the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, President Pranab Mukherjee has
accepted Natrajan's resignation. M. Veerappa Moily, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas
has been given additional charge of the Ministry of Environment and Forests.



On 23 December, Kisan Diwas was observed across India to celebrate the birthday of
Chaudhary Charan Singh. Farmer seminars were organised at the district, divisional and
block levels on this occasion. Political leaders paid tributes to Chaudhary Charan Singh, the
fifth Prime Minister of India on his 11th birth anniversary.



An iPhone agreement was signed between US computer giant Apple and China Mobile. Apple
signed the deal to bring its iPhone to China Mobile the world's largest carrier. Chine Mobile
has 760 million customers and it will make 5s and 5c, the two largest iPhone models,
available from January. China Mobile was one of three networks to be awarded with China's
first 4G licences last month.



Inflation indexed saving bonds that offer security to retail investors from price rise has been
launched by Indian government. The inflation indexed saving bond is open for subscription
from December 23 to 31. The Rs 5000 is the minimum limit for investment and the
maximum is Rs 5 lakh per applicant every year. Also, qualified investors can approach these
3 private sector banks -ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank and also Stock Holding
Corporation of India. Consumer Price Index (CPI) has been linked with interest rate and also
the principal on half-yearly basis and paid at the time of maturity.



Chairman of Xpro India Limited, Sidharth Birla has been appointed as the new President of
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). He replaced Naina Lal
Kidwai, former Head of HSBC India Country. Jyotsna Suri, Chairperson and Managing

30


Director (CMD) of Bharat Hotels has been elected as Senior Vice-President of FICCI, the
largest and oldest apex business organization in India and Harshavardhan Neotia, Chairman
of Ambuja Neotia group has been named as Vice-President of FICCI.


England cricket player Graeme Swann has declared his retirement from international and
first-class cricket after England lost the coveted Ashes series. In Perth, in the third Test
match England was 3-0 behind Australia in the five-test series. Australia's Ashes tormentor
was Swann. He played an important role in England's run of 3 successive series winning
against their arch-rivals Australia.



Famous Kannada writer, poet and researcher G.S. Shivarudrappa who was also called as
Rashtrakavi has passed away at his residence in Bangalore after prolonged illness. He died at
the age of 87. In 2006, Shivarudrappa was awarded with the title of Rashtrakavi by the
Karnataka government in 2006. For his literary contribution, the writer has also bagged the
Central Sahitya Akademi Award in 1984. He has also received several awards including the
Soviet Land Nehru Award and Karnataka State Sahitya Academy.



Pran Chopra, veteran journalist has died recently. The famous and experienced journalist
commenced his journalistic career in 1941 in civil and military gazette. He served All India
Radio as a War Correspondent in China and Vietnam in 1940. He has written the foreword of
the book “If I’m Assassinated”, a book by former Pakistan Prime Minister, Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto.



Michiaki Takahashi who discovered a vaccine for the chicken pox has passed away due to
cardiac arrest in Osaka, Japan. He died at the age of 85. He developed chicken pox vaccine in
1972. After few years, Japan and some other countries had also begun vaccination programs.
The vaccine’s work was not to treat the disease, but it driven immune systems to produce
antibodies. In 1995, the Food and Drug Administration of United States (US) approved the
first chickenpox vaccine.



Indian bowler, Zaheer khan has become the fourth Indian after claiming 300 wickets in Test
cricket. He took his 300th wicket in international test cricket of Jacques Kallis on the 5th day
of the first cricket test match against South Africa at the Wanderers Stadium in
Johannesburg. After this, his name has been included among those bowlers Anil Kumble,
Kapil Dev and Harbhajan Singh, who has taken 300 wickets. After Wasim Akram of Pakistan
and Chaminda Vaas of Sri Lanka, he also became the most successful left arm fast bowler.



Amidst nail-biting draw, t he first cricket Test of the 2-match series between India and South
Africa ended in Johannesburg. Superb centuries by AB de Villiers and Faf Du Plessis
succeeded in chasing nearly world record run of 458 runs. The final and second test of the
series will be played from today in Durban.

31




Election Commission of India has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with
Yemen when V.S. Sampath India’s Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) visited to Yemen.
Yemen has sought India’s expertise in electoral roll preparations, cooperation and election
management. At the invitation of President of the Supreme Commission for Elections and
Referendum (SCER) of Yemen Judge Mohammed Hussain Al-Hakim, Sampath is presently
on a visit to the country.



An electricity import deal with India will be inked by Pakistan for import of electricity from
India to prevail over a crippling power crisis.

In the beginning, about 500MW of electricity will be supplied by India and this plan could be
implemented within a year by laying a transmission line. Pakistan can import 2,000-2,500MW of
power from India to deal with the severe shortage. Also, the international court has allowed India to
divert water from the Neelum Jhelum River for the Kishanganga Dam in Indian-controlled Kashmir.


AGNI-III the nuclear capable ballistic missile has been successfully test fired by Indian Army.
AGNI-III, the surface-to-surface missile with the full range of 3000 km has been test fired
from the Wheeler Island of Odisha Coast. Strategic Forces Command (SFC) of the Indian
Army with the logistic support from the Defence Research and Development Organisation
(DRDO) conducted the test fire of Agni-III missile that is powered by a two-stage solid
propellant system.



To spread e-literacy, Indian government has launched e-inclusion project to spread e-literacy
to make people e-literate. The project is an initiative to make at least one individual in every
household e-literate. Also through this project, IT training will be imparted to economically
weaker sections of the society including rural women, ST and SC. In beginning, about 45,000
people will get training under this programme.



Sword of Honour award considered to be Oscar of the Safety World has been bagged by Rajiv
Gandhi International Airport of Hyderabad. With this award, the airport became the first
airport in India to receive this award. The airport is operated by GMR Hyderabad
International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) which received award in recognition of safety
management systems from the British Safety Council for health and safety works and also
for its effective implementation of occupational health at the airport. In the British Safety
Council’s audit Programme, the Organization has achieved 5-star certification.



A senior IAS officer, Rajendra Kumar has been tipped to become the Principal Secreatry to
Kejriwal, who may be sworn-in as Chief Minister of Delhi soon. Currently, 47-year-old
Kumar is a Higher Education Secretary and an alumnus of IIT-Kharagpur. In the meantime,
newly elected AAP MLAs Somnath Bharti from Malviya Nagar, Rakhi Birla from Mangolpuri
constituency and Manish Sisodia from Patparganj are tipped to become Ministers.

32




The former Home Secretary Vinod Kumar Duggal has been appointed as the new Governor
of Manipur. He will succeed Ashwani Kumar, the current governor of Manipur and he was an
additional charge of Manipur till Duggal appointment, while also being a Governor of
Nagaland. From July 2013, Manipur Governor post was vacant when Gurbachan Singh
Jagat, the former Police Chief of Jammu and Kashmir, tenure of five years had ended. Duggal
will soon take the charge.



Russia's Mikhail Kalashnikov who is known as the designer of fabled AK-47 automatic rifle
has died in the Udmurtia region where he used to work. He passed away at the age of 94. AK47, the designed weapon by Kalashnikov became synonymous with killing but later AK-47
was seen in the Soviet Union as a national hero and symbol of Moscow's proud military past.
“Kalashnikov's Automatic” name goes for AK-47 with the year it was designed, 1947. AK-47
is used in armies and guerrilla groups around the world.



The men’s singles crown of the Senior National Badminton Championship was clinched by
Srikanth by defeating M V Guru Sai Dutt with 21-13, 22-20 in the finals. PV Sindhu crushed
the Junior National Champion Rituparna Das 21-17, 21-11 in the Women’s singles. The
second seeded Pranav Chopra and Akshay Devalkar grabbed the men's doubles by defeating
the top seeds Munnu Atri and Sumit Reddy 21-19, 21-17 to secure the title. Since 2009 Jwala
Gutta and Ashwani Punnappa crushed top seeds Pradnya Gadre and Siki Reddy N 21-17 2116 to secure the women's doubles title for the first time. Aparna Balan and Arun Vishnu,
defending mixed doubles champions retained the title by conquering Tarun Kona and
Ashwini Ponnappa 21-10 21-17.



After the successful implementation of cash subsidy on LPG for below poverty line families,
Indian government is set up to launch direct transfer of cash subsidy on kerosene. The
scheme known as DTCK (direct transfer of cash subsidy on PDS kerosene) would be covered
under two phases. Under the subsidy, seven districts of three states would be covered in the
first phase. Initially, the scheme would be launched in north Goa, Ajmer, Udaipur, Alwar,
Nandurbar, Amrawati and Wardha covering Maharashtra and Rajasthan.



Soon 1,000 and 500 rupee notes will be used in circulation in Nepal as both Nepal and India
has agreed to allow circulation of Rs.500 and Rs.1, 000 denominations in Nepal. Earlier
there was a ban in Nepal for over a decade to use Indian bank notes above Rs.100 within
Nepalese territory but after Nepal-India Inter Governmental Committee (ICG) meeting, both
countries decided to commence the circulation in Nepal of these denominations.



Focusing on to reduce rash and drunken driving during the festive season, Vodafone has
launched a unique initiative called ‘Safe Drive Campaign. One of India’s leading
telecommunication service providers, Vodafone’s initiative was launched in association with
Motors Vehicle Department. As a part of this campaign, people will be urged two-wheeler

33


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