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December 2014

Current Affairs

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DECEMBER 2014 CURRENT AFFAIRS www.Gr8AmbitionZ.com

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Q uick Rev iew o f December 2014

Awards & Honors

Amitabh Bachchan - ANR national award 2014

Amitabh Bachchan - Yash Chopra

Memorial

National Award

Azim Premji - Swiss Ambassador’s Award

Baichung Bhutia - AFC 'Hall of Fame' Award

Canara Bank - Niryat Bandhu Silver Trophy

Chandrasekhara Reddy - Sahitya Akademi Award

(Telugu) 2014

Cristiano Ronaldo - Europe’s best football player of

the year 2014

Dr. K. Radhakrishnan - one of Top 10 Scientists of2014

Duncan Campbell - Turner Prize 2014

Emma Watson - Feminist of the year 2014

Fidel Castro - China’s Confucius Peace Prize

Narendra Modi - Asian of the Year 2014

Rolene Strauss - Miss World 2014

Tamil Nadu - Krishi Karman Award

Tim Howard (Goalkeeper) - Player of The Year 2014

Venu Srinivasan - Honorary Citizen of Busan, Korea

Xu Youyu - Olof Palme Human Rights Prize

Bharat Ratna

o Atal Bihari Vajpayee (Former Prime Minister)

o Madan Mohan Malaviya (Freedom Fighter)

PETA People of the Year Awards 2014

o KS Radhakrishnan - Man of the Year

o Jacqueline Fernandez - Woman of the Year

National Energy Conservation Award 2014

o Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC)

o

South Central Railway (SCR)

New Appointments

Amit Priyavadan Mehta - Federal Judge, US Senate

Anerood Jugnauth - Prime Minister, Mauritius

Anil Kumar Sinha - Director, CBI

Anurag Jain - Joint Secretary, Prime Minister's

Office

Ashley Westwood - Indian football coach

Aziz Qureshi - Governor, Mizoram

Beji Caid Essebsi - President, Tunisia

Chandrakant Karadalli - President, 2nd Sahitya

Sammelana

Dhananjay Munde - Leader of Opposition (LoP) in

Maharashtra council

Dineshwar Sharma - Chief, Intelligence Bureau

Jairam Ramesh - Member, International Advisory

Board (IAB)

Jyotsna Suri - FICCI president

Krishan Kant Paul - Governor, Meghalaya

O. P Singh - Director General, National Disaster

Response Force (NDRF)

Prakash Mishra - Director General, CRPF

R.K. Srivastava - Chairman Airports Authority ofIndia (AAI)

Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil - LoP in Maharashtra

Assembly

Raghubar Das - New Chief Minister of Jharkhand

Rajinder Khanna - Chief, Research & Analysis Wing

(RAW)

Randhir Singh - Honorary Member, IOC

Raninder Singh - 1st Indian Member, International

Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF)

Richard Rahul Verma - US Ambassador to India

(first Indian-American)

Ricky Ponting - Head Coach, Mumbai Indians

Ritu Mallya - Director, MCF board

S Ravi - Umpire (among 25), ICC ODI World Cup

2015

Sachin Tendulkar - Ambassador, Cricket World Cup

2015

Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan - Chief Election

Commissioner, Pakistan Shailesh Nayak - Ad-hoc Chairman, ISRO

Shriti Vadera - Chairman, Santander UK (first

woman to head a major British bank)

Thomas D’Souza - President, Karnataka Film

Chamber of Commerce

Deaths

Abdul Rahman Antulay - Former Maharashtra CM

B. G. Verghese - Journalist, Ramon Magsaysay

Award winner

Billie Whitelaw - English Actress












Bobby Keys - American saxophonist

Booth Colman - Actor (Star Trek)

Chakri - Telugu Music director

Chunibhai Vaidya - Freedom Fighter

Deven Verma - Bollywood actor-comedian Fabiola - Belgium’s Former Queen

G. Venkataswamy (KaKa) - Congress Leader

Grihanandan Singh - Hockey Olympian

Hillel Oscar - Former Israel captain and umpire

Jarbom Gamlin - Former Arunachal Chief Minister

Joe Cocker - British Singer

K. Balachander - Tamil Director

Michel du Cille - Photographer (3 Time Pulitzer Prize

winner)

Nedanuri Krishnamurthy - Carnatic vocalist

Piratla Venkateswarlu - Veteran Journalist

Radwa Ashour - Egyptian novelist

Ralph Henry Baer - Video Game Developer

S. Balasubramanian - Chief, Vikatan Group

S. Narayanan - Chairman, India Motor Parts &

Accessories Ltd (IMPAL)

S.V. Krishnamurthy - Veteran music critic

Saiyid Hamid - Educationist, reformist, author

Subhash Chougule - founder-president, Ajanta Film

Society

V.R. Krishna Iyer - Former Supreme Court Judge

Virna Lisi - Actress, Italy

Important Days

December 1 – World AIDS Day

December 2

o

International Day for the Abolition ofSlavery

o World Computer Literacy Day

December 3

o International Day of Persons with

Disabilities

Theme - sustainable development

o 30 Years of Bhopal gas tragedy

December 4 - 43rd Navy Day

December 5

o International Year of Soils

o International Volunteer Day

December 6 - Mahaparinirwan Diwas

December 7

o Armed Forces Flag Day

o International Civil Aviation Day

December 8 - submarine day

December 9 - International Anti-Corruption Day

o 2014 Theme: Break the corruption chain

December 10 - Human Rights Day

o Theme for 2014: Human Rights 365

December 11 -

o International Mountain Day

2014 Theme: Mountain Farming

December 12 - Jamhuri Day

December 14 - National Energy Conservation Day

December 16 - Vijay Diwas(Victory Day) December 18 -

o International Migrants Day

o Minorities Rights Day

December 19 - Goa Liberation Day

December 20 - International Human Solidarity Day

December 22 - National Mathematics Day

December 23

o National Kisan Diwas (National Farmers

Day)

o

National Day of Japan

December 24 - National Consumers Day

December 25 - Good Governance Day

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International Affairs

December 1

1st December is World AIDS Day

o The 2014 theme for World AIDS Day is “Focus, Partner, Achieve: An AIDS-free Generation.”

o The number of new HIV infections in India has come down by 57 percent and related deaths by 25 per cent

in the last decade.

An Egypt court declared Islamic State Group as a terrorist organization and banned it in the country.

o Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis or Champions of Jerusalem, a jihadi group based in the Sinai Peninsula that regularly

attacks Egyptian security forces, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group earlier this month.

Earth's most abundant mineral named as Bridgmanite.

o Team of American geologists named Bridgmanite as the most abundant mineral on earth.

o

Bridgmanite was named in the honour of physicist Percy Bridgman who won the Nobel Prize in Physics forhis fundamental contributions to high-pressure physics in the year 1946.

UN climate summit begins in Peru.

o Officials from over 190 nations, including India, on Monday converged in Lima at the UN climate summit to

negotiate on a new ambitious and binding deal to cut global carbon emissions, in the last chance to reach

on a historic deal to be signed next year in Paris.

o During the 12-day summit in the Peruvian capital, countries will put forward what they plan to contribute to

the 2015 pact in the form of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) by the first quarter of

2015, well in advance of the Paris conference in December.

o Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar leads India's 17- member delegation to negotiate terms for the

final agreement to be signed in Paris, which will take effect in 2020.

December 2

A court in Egypt has dropped charges against former President Hosni Mubarak over the killing of 239

protesters during the 2011 uprising against him.

o The Cairo court erupted in cheers when the judge said Mubarak should not have been a defendant in the

case as the charges against him were added late. Charges against seven senior ex-officials were also

dropped.

o The decision could be appealed. Victims' relatives waiting outside expressed dismay and frustration. And

later police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd of about 2,000 people who gathered near Tahrir Square tovoice their opposition to the decision.

India and France agreed to overcome differences and fast-track ongoing negotiations for the purchase of 126

Rafale fighter jets from France, a Defence Ministry spokesperson said.

o The decision came during discussions between visiting French Defence Minister Yves Le Drian and his Indian

counterpart, Manohar Parrikar. Both sides also decided to expand strategic cooperation, the official added.

o Negotiations have been going on since 2012 when India selected Dassault Rafale from among competing

medium multi-role combat aircraft. Differences cropped up between the two sides on delivery guarantees

and price.












China and Maldives a major element of the Beijing-sponsored Maritime Silk Road project — have signed an

accord to conduct preliminary study on constructing a bridge that would connect capital Male with the city’s

international airport.

o Xinhua is reporting that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a pre-feasibility study of the project

has been signed. This would be followed by a full-scale project feasibility study, yielding a design plan, which

would result in the two sides exploring possible funding options for the project.

o In September, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in Male that he hoped that the bridge would be named

''China-Maldives Friendship Bridge''. Analysts point out that the project underscores a deepening

engagement between China and Maldives, which is a major cog in the establishment of the 21st century

Maritime Silk Route visualised by China.

December 3

U.S. President Barack Obama praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to shake up the ''bureaucratic

inertia'' in India, less than a month after he described the Indian leader as a ''man of action''.

o

However, Mr. Obama said that this was a long-term project and one would have to see how successful

Prime Minister Modi is in his efforts.

o ''Modi has impressed me so far with his willingness to shake up the bureaucratic inertia inside of India. But

that is a long-term project and well have to see how successful he is'', Mr. Obama told a business

roundtable, which was attended by top corporate leaders of the country. The roundtable was organised to

discuss the current economic condition of the US and across the globe.

India, backed by the United States, opposed a U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) resolution calling on New Delhi

to voluntarily abandon its nuclear weapons.

o The resolution, which also targeted Israel and Pakistan, was, however, passed overwhelmingly.

o

The U.S. joined India to vote against a key part of the resolution on achieving a nuclear weapons-free worldthat called on India, Israel and Pakistan to immediately and unconditionally accede to the Nuclear Non-

proliferation Treaty and put all their nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.

In a historic initiative to eradicate modern slavery and human trafficking, leaders of the Christian as well as

Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim faiths jointly committed to stamp put slavery from all parts of the world.

o Indian spiritual leader Mata Amritanandamayi also joined hands with world faith leaders in meeting Pope

Francis at the Vatican , declaring her commitment to end the global scourge by 2020.

o The leaders signed the Joint Declaration of Religious Leaders against Modern Slavery to underline that

modern slavery, in terms of human trafficking, forced labour and prostitution, is a crime against humanity,

and must be recognised as such by everyone and by all nations. The declaration also affirmed that any

relationship that fails to respect the fundamental conviction that all people are equal and have the same

freedom and dignity, is a crime.

o With the ministerial-level talks to begin next week at the UN climate summit, India said its position remains

very strong on the need for a balanced inclusion of adaptation efforts in the 2015 Paris agreement and less

focus on mitigation.

o Sushil Kumar, interim head of the Indian delegation at the talks, said the first two days of the 12-day

conference are “off to a good start” with discussions on adaptation and finance underway.

o He said that countries participated in sessions for the adaptation and finance groups. ''Developing countries

are talking quite a bit about adaptation, but not developed countries'', he said.

December 4












Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Robin K. Dhowan said that all countries should respect freedom of navigation

in international waters in accordance with the principle of global commons. He was referring to the Chinese

claims in the South China Sea.

o Addressing the annual press conference on the eve of the Navy Day, he asserted that the Navy’s area of

operations extend to where India’s strategic interests take it.

o Commenting on the Sindhurakshak submarine tragedy in which an onboard explosion sank it, Admiral

Dhowan said that the board of inquiry has submitted its report and it was being evaluated.

o “There are a series of issues that led to the accident. There are aspects related to handling equipment in

submarines. When procedures are not followed, there is room for error and accidents can happen. It is an

aspect related to handling of equipment,” he said on the likely cause of the accident.

China is expected to build 8,500 km of subway systems by 2020, giving it the world’s longest metro rail

network, the government.

o Nineteen cities have recently extended their metro systems, with total mileage expected to hit 3,000 km by

the end of the year, Chinese Minister of Transport, Yang Chuantang was quoted as saying by state—run

China Daily.o Public transit, especially the subway, has had a major effect on easing congestion in Beijing, and the

government will inject more funding to promote its development, Dai Junliang, deputy mayor of Beijing

said.

o Four new subway lines will open to the public this month, which will extend the capital’s subway to 527

kms, the longest in the country.

Telling rich nations that they cannot be absolved of their past ''sins'', India said developed countries should

compensate developing nations for the effects their greenhouse gas emissions have had on climate.

o On the third day of the climate summit in the Peruvian capital, India said it was “not equitable to talk about

what a country is emitting now” because that country could be at present reducing their emissions.

o

''This fact does not absolve them [rich nations] of all [past] sins'', Additional Secretary in the Ministry of

Environment Susheel Kumar, who is the interim head of the Indian delegation, said.

o He said India believed that developed countries should be held responsible for their high levels of

emissions, which have caused harm to developing countries. That responsibility should come in the form of

compensation and a fair 2015 Paris agreement.

Further strengthening ties between India and Japan, the two countries will soon work together in areas of

cyber security and Green Information and Communication technology (ICT). The decision was taken at the

India-Japan Joint Working Group meeting on ICT that was held in the national capital Delhi.

o "Ministry for Communication and Information Technology (MCIT) in India and Ministry of Internal Affairs

and Communication (MIC), Japan will coordinate the activities for taking these projects forward by involvingindustrial partners in both the countries. They will aim towards implementation of these joint projects by

early 2015'', said the MCIT in a statement.

o The two countries announced the decision to work on the following five areas which are to be implemented

as India-Japan joint projects.

o GreenICT - Green Mobile Base Station project.

o Cyber Security Cooperation - Japan-India Combat Spam project.

o Cooperative project for detecting symptoms and quick response to cyber attacks (PRACTICE).

o ICT for Disaster Management (ICT4DM)- ICT Use in disaster-affected areas project.

o ICT Application for Social and Economic Challenges- National ID Application and Utilization Platform project.

December 5












A 1962 Nobel Prize medal won by biologist James Watson for the discovery of the structure of DNA has

fetched more than USD 4.7 million, setting a world record for any Nobel Prize sold at auction.

o The medal was sold to an anonymous telephone bidder for a record-setting price of USD 4,757,000, marking

the first time a living Nobel laureate sold his gold medal.

o The amount fetched by the Nobel Prize medal at Christie’s New York auction surpassed the USD 2.2 million

prices that were paid last year for the medal once owned by Watson’s late colleague, Francis Crick,

‘nbcnews.com’ reported.

China’s anti-corruption campaign has targeted a former state security chief and a one-time Politburo member,

who is now facing arrest after being sacked from the Communist Party of China (CPC).

o The decision to expel Zhou Yongkang, a former member of the StandingCommittee of the Political Bureau

was taken on by the Politburo of the CPC. Zhou is the highest-ranking official probed for corruption since

1949.

o The daily said that the meeting also decided to transfer Zhou’s suspected criminal case to the judicial organs

for legal prosecution.The Supreme People's Procuratorate opened an investigation into Zhou's suspected

crimes and decided to arrest him. The India-U.S. defense relationship may now get personal attention with strong India-backer Ashton Carter on

Friday nominated by President Barack Obama for the key post of the Defence Secretary.

o A close Obama confidant, Carter, 60, has served in his administration, in particular at the Pentagon, in

various capacities — the last being that of the Deputy Secretary of Defence from October 2011 to December

2013.

o During that period he was also the Pentagon’s point person on India, launching the path-breaking Defence

Trade and Technology Initiative.

Air India signed a Memorandum of Understanding with NBCC towards implemetation of the monetisation of

assests of Air India.

o The MoU was signed at Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan by CMD Air India Shri Rohit Nandan and Dr. Anoop Kumar

Mittal, CMD, NBCC, in the presence of Minister for Civil Aviation Shri Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati and

Minister for Urban Development Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu.

o Other dignitaries present were MoS for Civil Aviation Shri Mahesh Sharma, MoS for Urban Development

Shri Babul Supriyo.

December 6

For the first time in 18 years, India ranks as less corrupt than China in the Annual Corruption Survey by global

watchdog Transparency International.

o

In its annual survey of 175 countries, India ranks 85th (improved by jumping 10 places).

o China, on the other hand has fallen 20 places to rank 100th

o This is the first time since the rankings started in 1996 that India is perceived to be less corrupt than China.

Members of parliament voted Somalia's prime minister out of office for the second time in a year; a move

Western donor warned would threaten the war-torn nation's fragile recovery.

o Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed had been embroiled in a row over a Cabinet reshuffle with President

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who had overruled the changes.

o The Prime Minister had been in office for just under a year after his predecessor, who also argued about the

composition of the cabinet and been accused of poor performance, was voted out.

Britain will broaden its military footprint in the Middle East with the establishment of a permanent militarybase at the Mina Salman Port in Bahrain.












o An agreement on this was signed in Manama by the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond

and Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa.

o The naval base will become the springboard for Britain’s involvement in the Middle East, most importantly

its operations in Iraq as part of the U.S.-led coalition against the armies of the Islamic State.The U.K. already

has four mine-hunter warships permanently based in Bahrain that supports British destroyers and frigates

in the Gulf.

India and Russia signed an Inter-Governmental Agreement for designing, developing and producing the Multi

Role Fighter Aircraft. The announcement was made by Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar during the

parliamentary session.

o Moreover, Indian Fighter aircraft MIG 21 is being phased out and aircrafts MIG 29 are being procured from

Russia. With the fifth generation stealth technology, the aircraft strikes would be high as they cannot be

immediately detected by radar.

o However, no deal has been struck with Russia for procurement of Fighter Aircraft equipped with stealth

technology. Till date, no agreement has been signed with any country for the procurement or purchase of

fighter aircrafts.

December 7

The Beijing-based China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) has launched another mega project in Sri

Lanka to construct a water supply system in Gampaha district.

o The US $230 million water supply project is the largest ever undertaken by the Sri Lankan government,

Xinhua reported quoting a government official.

o The CMEC in May 2013 entered into a master contract with the National Water Supply & Drainage Board of

Sri Lanka for the construction of Gampaha, Attanagalle and Minuwangoda Integrated Water Supply Scheme.

o

The project was launched with the inaugural laying of pipe by Economic Development Minister BasilRajapaksa in the town of Mahara. We are doing this for the community. Its a very important project and we

are grateful for the Chinese government for supporting us in this. This is something that has great social

worth,` Rajapaksa was quoted as saying at the inauguration ceremony.

China launched a major scheme to expand its large network of nuclear power plants, brushing aside remarks

by its atomic regulator that the new Chinese technology is still not completely up to standards.

o The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, announced plans to

develop offshore nuclear power projects. Its spokesman Li Pumin assured that all projects will comply with

the highest international security standards.

o Head of National Energy Administration's nuclear power department, Liu Baohua, said efforts to draft

administrative rules for nuclear power development have been heightened.

December 8

The US and NATO ceremonially ended their combat mission in Afghanistan, 13 years after the September 11

terror attacks sparked their invasion of the country to topple the Taliban-led government.

o NATO’s International Security Assistance Force Joint Command, which was in charge of combat operations,

lowered its flag, formally ending its deployment.

o US Gen. John F. Campbell, commander of NATO and US forces, said that the mission now would transition

to a training and support role for Afghanistan’s own security forces, which have led the fight against the

Taliban insurgents since mid-2013.












A Boeing aircraft has completed the world’s first flight using ‘green diesel’, a sustainable biofuel made from

vegetable oils, waste cooking oil and animal fats.

o The company powered its ecoDemonstrator 787 flight test airplane with a blend of 15 per cent green diesel

and 85 per cent petroleum jet fuel in the left engine.

o ''Green diesel offers a tremendous opportunity to make sustainable aviation biofuel more available and

more affordable for our customers'', said Julie Felgar, managing director of Environmental Strategy and

Integration, Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

December 9

China rejected UN arbitration to resolve the South China Sea (SCS) maritime dispute with its neighbors,

asserting that it should be settled through direct bilateral negotiations.

o As the deadline to respond to UN mediation sought by the Philippines to arbitrate its maritime dispute with

China over the South China Sea inched close, Beijing issued a lengthy explanation rejecting international

arbitration asserting that it should be settled through direct bilateral negotiations.

o

The Philippines had approached the UN body last year questioning China's claims to the Spratly islands,

called Nansha islands by Beijing, and the waters around them.

The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), the political risk insurance and credit enhancement

arm of the World Bank Group, announced that Bhutan has fulfilled all of its membership requirements to

become MIGA’s 181st member.

o Bhutan’s membership in MIGA means that direct foreign investment into the country is eligible for the

Agency’s investment guarantees. Investors from Bhutan going into MIGA’s other developing member

countries may also receive coverage for their investments.

France has signed an agreement with the United States under which it will compensate Nazi Holocaust

survivors who are Americans or others and were deported from France from a fund totaling $60 million.o The agreement was signed on and will come into effect following approval by the French parliament,

according to the U.S. Department of State which defined the terms of the deal last week.

o According to the agreement, $60 million will be used by the U.S. to create a fund to compensate those

Holocaust survivors, their spouses and children who claim it and fulfill the requirements.

o The agreement aims to pay those people who were deported from France to Nazi concentration camps

through the French rail company SNCF during the country's occupation by the Germans between 1940 and

1944.

December 10

After successfully competing for high-speed rail links abroad, China now wants to develop world class nuclear

technology — a move that would not only lighten its carbon footprint, but also help it emerge as a major

exporter of atomic power.

o Last week, China decided to set up an undisclosed number of shore-based nuclear power plants, lifting the

ban on new ventures that was imposed in the aftermath of the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in

Japan.

o The London-based World Nuclear News website reported that days after the Fukushima accident, China’s

State Council decided to halt approvals and licensing for new reactors until a safety plan was in place.

o Currently, China runs 21 nuclear power reactors, generating 19,095 MW of power. An additional 27 units

are under construction, which would yield around 30,000 MW of electricity, when completed.












Zimbabwe's vice president, once seen as Robert Mugabe's heir apparent, has been fired along with eight

Cabinet allies, the government said as the veteran leader purged his foes.

o As the elderly head of state sought to quell infighting over his successor, the chief secretary to the Cabinet,

Misheck Sibanda, said in a terse statement that Joice Mujuru had been fired.

o Also sacked were her allies in the ministries of energy, public service, and half a dozen other departments,

he said.

o The move caps a long campaign by Mugabe and his closest lieutenants to isolate the 59-year-old Mujuru

and her supporters.

December 11

Google said it plans to close its news-linking service in Spain in response to legislation under which publishers

will soon be able to force Internet sites to pay for re-publishing headlines or snippets of news.

o In a statement, the search giant said the new law makes the Google News service unsustainable and that it

will remove Spanish publishers from Google News sites worldwide and shut down this service in Spain on 16

December.

o The move also means readers in Latin America and around the globe will no longer find links to articles from

any Spanish news publishers on Google News.

o The change to the copyright law, which is set to take effect in January, only applies to news aggregation

sites such as Google News or domestic rival Meneame.

The Prime Minister of Crimea, the former Ukrainian territory annexed by Russia, arrived for unofficial talks in

New Delhi as President Vladimir Putin met Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a summit.

o Sergey Aksyonov met a Mumbai businessman to discuss boosting trade with the Black Sea region. India

does not support Western sanctions against Russia, but the meeting may prove an irritant before President

Barack Obama visits India in January 2015.o Russian officials declined to comment, but a senior diplomat arrived with Mr. Aksyonov at an upscale New

Delhi hotel for the meeting to sign a memorandum with a business group called the Indian-Crimean

Partnership.

Russia's state-owned Rosatom said it would supply 12 nuclear energy reactors for India over 20 years, under

an agreement aimed at boosting nuclear energy cooperation signed by the two countries during a summit in

New Delhi.

o A 1,000-megawatt reactor is operating at the Russian-built Kudankulam power station in Tamil Nadu, with a

second due to come onstream in 2015.

o Russian President Vladimir Putin had been pushing for Rosatom to increase the number of reactors it could

supply to as many as 25.

o Indian officials say that a total of six reactors will be built at Kudankulam, with a further six to follow at a

site that has not yet been determined.

December 12

US passes bill to use force against Integrated Scientific Information System (ISIS).

o A key US Congressional committee has passed a bill authorising use of military force against the dreaded

Islamist State militant group that has seized swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.

o The Authorisation for Use of Military Force (AUMF) bill allows the President to use military force against ISIS

for up to three years. US court jails Indian for running Ponzi scheme.












o A 37-year-old Indian Sachin Uppal has been sentenced to over five years in prison for running a USD 3.8

million Ponzi scheme whose victims include several of his family friends.

o According to court documents, Uppal ran a trading company from July 2007 through September 2013 but

was not a licensed investment adviser. He marketed his company to potential investors and solicited

investor funds, describing it as a ''hedge fund''.

o Several of Uppal’s victims were family friends. This phenomenon, known as ‘affinity fraud’, often targets

members of identifiable groups, such as a religious or ethnic communities or clubs.

Indonesian editor accused of blasphemy for cartoon.

o Indonesian police accused the top editor Meidyatama Suryodiningrat of a leading English-language

newspaper of blasphemy after the paper published a cartoon depicting the flag of the militant Islamic State

group that allegedly insulted Islam.

o The cartoon published July 3 put a skull and crossbones in the black-and-white flag of the militant Islamic

State group and left sacred phrases in Arabic, including ''Allah'', that appear on the flag inside the skull.

December 13

Talk, or the whole region will suffer: Pakistan delegation.

o Mr. Leghari is leading a 12-member Pakistani Parliamentary delegation to India for the sixth round of

Pakistan-India Parliamentary Dialogue, an initiative by the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and

Transparency

o The Dialogue was co-chaired by Mr. Leghari, from the Pakistani side and Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar, senior

Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member, from India. The Indian side had 25 participants.

o Mr. Leghari said there was something wrong on the Indian side with respect to talks. ''Nawaz Sharif has

always been ready to talk. Talks for talks are necessary'', he said “We have a strong appetite for improving

relations and peace, but talks are not a concession from Pakistan. Talk if you want to or else the wholeregion will suffer.

Lima talks : New draft text introduced without consultation.

o Former Vice President of the Unites States Al Gore, former President of Mexico Felipe Calderon, U.N.

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Peru's President Ollanta Humala, and Peru's Environment Minister and

President of the COP, Manuel Pulgar Vidal, gathered at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Lima, Peru.

o Delegates from more than 190 countries are meeting in Lima, to work on drafts for a global climate deal

that is supposed to be adopted next year in Paris.

Islamic State Twitter account handler arrested.

o Mehdi Masroor Biswas, the handler of a pro-Islamic State twitter account @ShamiWitness, was

apprehended in Jalahalli, Bengaluru.

o He was particularly close to the English-speaking terrorists of ISIS and became a source of incitement and

information for the new recruits trying to join ISIS/ISIL.

o The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) also translated as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is

known for killing dozens of people at a time and carrying out public executions, crucifixions and other acts.

It has taken over large swaths of northern and western Iraq.

December 14

Japan’s ruling coalition won a resounding victory.

o

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on 14 December 2014 was re-elected for another four-year term.












o He was re-elected after Japan's ruling coalition (Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito) won a two thirds

majority in the Snap elections held for the Lower House (House of Representatives) of the Bicameral

legislature, the National Diet.

o The elections saw the voter turnout at 52.7 percent, which was a post-World War II record low. The turn-

out was also down nearly 7 percentage points from the previous lower house election in 2012.

Lima climate change talks reach global warming agreement:

o International negotiators at the Lima climate change talks have agreed on a plan to fight global warming

that would for the first time commit all countries to cutting their greenhouse gas emissions.

o The plan, agreed at United Nations talks was hailed as an important first step towards a climate change deal

due to be finalized in Paris next year.

o The proposals call on countries to reveal how they will cut carbon pollution, ideally by March next year.

December 16

Pakistani Taliban kills 141 people in Peshawar.

o

Taliban gunmen attacked a military-run school and killed 141 people 132 were children and nine were staff

members.

o The militant outfit claimed the responsibility for the attack and said that it was a revenge for the military's

operation against militants in the North Waziristan tribal area close to Peshawar. Presently, Pakistan’s

military is carrying out Operation Zarb-e-Azb and Operation Khyber-I against militants of the nation.

o Back Ground:

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) also known as Pakistan Taliban.

Headquarters: North Waziristan.

Leaders: Maulana Fazlullah.

December 17

U.N. Security Council renews cross-border Aid Delivery to Syria for a Year.

o The U.N. Security Council renewed for 12 months its authorization for humanitarian access without Syrian

government consent into rebel-held areas of Syria at four border crossings from Turkey, Iraq and Jordan.

o The resolutions authorized aid deliveries across Al Yarubiyah on the Iraq border, Al-Ramtha from Jordan and

Bab al-Salam and Bab al-Hawa from Turkey.

o The UN says some 12.2 million Syrians now need humanitarian aid, an increase of 2.9 million people in just

10 months. Nearly half of the Syrian population is displaced with more than 7.6 million internally displaced

and over 3 million refugees in neighbouring states.

U.S. slaps Sanctions on oil trading firms of Switzerland, Netherlands Companies over Syria.

o The United States slapped sanctions on Dutch and Swiss oil trading firms for their dealings with the Syrian

government, which has been engaged in bloody civil war with rebel forces

o The U.S. Treasury put Netherlands-based Staroil B.V. as well as two Swiss-based firms, Rixo International

Trading Ltd and Bluemarine SA, on its list of sanctioned entities, which effectively cuts them off from the

U.S. financial system.

o The US Treasury also put sanctions on several officials from the firms, as well as on a Company based in

Syria and another from the United Arab Emirates

December 18

UN General Assembly wants to refer North Korea to ICC for human right abuses.












o The U.N. General Assembly formally adopted a landmark resolution calling for referring North Korea to the

International Criminal Court for human rights violations.

o The resolution has drawn keen attention because it would be the first-ever U.N. resolution calling for the

North's referral to the ICC.

o The UNGA adopted the resolution with 116 accepted votes to 20 rejected votes. More than 50 countries

abstained from voting

o The resolution also called UNGA to consider targeted sanctions against the Pyongyang leadership for the

repression of civilians in North Korea.

December 19

Pakistan beats India in race to become CERN associate member.

o Pakistan became Associate Member Sate of CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research).

o Pakistan had applied for the CERN associate membership in February 2013.

o CERN Director-General Rolf Heuer and the Chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, Ansar

Parvez, signed a document in the presence of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

o Associate Membership will allow Pakistan to participate in the governance of CERN, through attending the

meetings of the CERN Council and allow Pakistani scientists to become members of the CERN staff, and to

participate in CERN’s training and career-development programmes.

o India along with Japan and Russia have observer status.

o India was given "Observer" status in Cern in 2002.

o About CERN:

European Organization for Nuclear Research Known as CERN.

CERN discovered the Higgs Boson popularly known as the "God particle".

Headquarters: Geneve, Switzerland.

Membership: 21 member states and 7 observers.

President: Agnieszka Zalewska.

Lakhvi booked again; to remain in jail.

o Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a key planner of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, is still detained at a Pakistani jail despite

being granted bail by an anti-terrorism court.

o Lakhvi (54) was detained for three months under Maintenance of Public Order (MPO).

o Lakhvi was to be freed from Adiala Jail Rawalpindi but the government detained him there for three months

under the 16 MPO(Maintenance of Public Order) Previously, Pakistan court granted bail to 26/11 accused

Lakhvi.

o

LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, one the seven Pakistani nationalsaccused of planning and abetting the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, was granted bail on by the Anti-

Terrorism Court(ATC).

o The ATC granted the bail on a bond of Pakistani Rs. 500,000.

o Seven accused are facing trial in connection with the Mumbai attacks case.

December 20

Ebola death toll in 3 African countries crosses 7000.

o The three African countries(Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone) hit hardest by Ebola have now recorded 7,373

deaths among 19,031 cases known till now reported by World Health Organization (WHO).o About EBOLA :












Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976.

In 1976, Ebola (named after the Ebola River in Zaire) first emerged in Sudan and Zaire.

Therapeutic drug for Ebola: Zmapp developed by Mapp Biopharmaceutical.

December 21

Arrest warrant issued against Pakistan Taliban chief Fazlullah for attack on Karachi airport.

o Anti-terrorism court (ATC) issued non-bailable arrest warrants against TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan)

chief Mullah Fazlullah, spokesman Shahidullah Shahid and six other as the main accused in the terrorist

attack on the Karachi airport in June.

o ATC judge in Karachi, Bashir Ahmed Khoso issued the warrants for the absconders and asked the

investigating officer to arrest and produce them in court by January 8 after the inquiry team submitted its

investigation report before the court.

o About ATC:

Anti Terrorism Court was established in Pakistan, under Nawaz Sharif’s government, to deal with

terrorism cases.

It has been created by the 1997 Anti-Terrorist Act, amended on 24 October 1998.

India exports first warship ‘CGS Barracuda’ to Mauritius.

o The warship, christened CGS Barracuda, will be handed over to the Mauritius coast guard, and is expected

to cost $50 million ( Rs. 300 crore).

o CGS Barracuda’ built by defence PSU Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited (GRSE) in Kolkata,

the $58.5 million ‘CGS Barracuda’ measures 74.10m in length.

o It is capable of moving at a maximum speed of 22 knots with an approximate displacement of 1350 tonnes.

o It has been designed for the usual OPV tasks - anti-piracy, anti-smuggling, anti-poaching and search and

rescue. The additional capabilities include: pollution response, external fire fighting, and the movement bysea of troops.

o About :

GRSE (Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd).

Established: 1884.

Nationalized: 1960.

Headquarters: Kolkata.

Chairman and managing director: Rear Admiral A.K. Verma.

December 22

Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany agreed to hold new round of peace talks on Ukraine.

o The negotiations talks will be held in Belarusian capital, Minsk on 24 December and 26 December 2014.

o The talks will involve Ukraine, Russia, pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, and the Organization for

Security and Cooperation in Europe.

o The agreement to hold a new peace talks was reached during a conference call between Ukrainian

President Petro Poroshenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande and

German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

o The conflict in eastern Ukraine between government forces and pro-Russia separatists has killed more than

4,700 people, according to the United Nations.

WTCIS signs agreement with NIESBUD to promote small businesses.












o The World Trade Center India Services Council (WTCIS) has signed an agreement with National Institute for

Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD) to promote and develop small businesses in

the country.

o NIESBUD is an organisation under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, which is engaged in

training, consultancy as well as research, to promote entrepreneurship.

o WTCIS would assist NIESBUD in promotion and development of entrepreneurial environment through

training, research and consultancy, besides assisting organisations in developing and promoting

entrepreneurship and self-employment.

o WTCIS Director : Khair Ull Nissa.

o Director General, NIESBUD : Mr. Arun Kumar Jha.

December 24

Japan's Parliament re-elected Shinzo Abe as Prime Minister.

December 26

World's biggest software maker Microsoft's chief executive officer Satya Nadella met Indian Prime Minister

Narendra Modi at Delhi.

o He is the third major tech executive to meet PM Modi, after Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Facebook's Mark

Zuckerberg.

o He said the company is looking forward to partner with the Digital India and Make in India programmes of

the government.

December 27

India has announced one million US dollar contribution to United Nation (UN) fund and Social Commission for

Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) for strengthening early warning systems for natural disasters.

o The decision comes ten years after a massive Tsunami triggered by an earthquake smashed the coastline of

around 14 nations.

December 28

The NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) formally ended its war in Afghanistan, holding a low-key

ceremony in Kabul after 13 years of conflict that have left the country in the grip of worsening insurgent

violence.

o

US General John Campbell

, who is the commander of US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)led the ceremony

December 29

Eighth Meeting of the India – Republic of Korea Joint Commission in Seoul

o In boost to their strategic ties, India and South Korea has decided to enhance cooperation in sectors like

shipbuilding, electronics, defence production, infrastructure and energy besides outlining mutual interest in

areas of nuclear energy and cyber security.

o Indian External Affairs Minister - Sushma Swaraj

o

South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs - Yun Byung-se












National Affairs

December 1

PM offers power to Bangladesh.

o Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India was ready to sell power to neighbouring Bangladesh.

o Dedicating to the nation the second unit of the 726-MW gas-based power plant at Palatana, 60km south of

Agartala, capital of Tripura, Mr. Modi expressed his gratitude to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

for allowing transhipment of heavy machinery to the plant.

o The Prime Minister responded to Tawfique-e-Elahi Choudhury, senior energy adviser to Bangladesh Prime

Minister Sheikh Hasina, expressing an interest to import power from India. “We are now importing 500 MW

electricity from India and want 500MW more,” he told the gathering at the plant of ONGC Tripura Power

Company (OTPC).

PM announces Rs. 28,000 crore for new rail projects in northeast.o Focusing on improving connectivity to the northeast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Centre would

provide Rs. 28,000 crore for laying new railway lines in the region and develop the "untapped" tourism

potential of the area.

o The Prime Minister also said that the Centre has sanctioned Rs. 5000 crore to provide 2G mobile coverage in

this area for comprehensive telecom development plan of the northeast region.

December 2

SC permits Sahara to sell 4 properties worth over Rs. 2,700 crore.

o The Supreme Court permitted the Sahara Group to proceed with the sale of four domestic properties, which

is likely to fetch Rs. 2,710 crore, in its bid to raise Rs. 10,000 crore for the release of its jailed chief Subrata

Roy.

o The court allowed the group to sell properties in Jodhpur, Pune, Chauma in Gurgaon and Vasai in Mumbai

after it was satisfied that the transactions were in accordance with its June 4 order.

o This order had stated that “such sales are not for a price lower than the estimated value indicated in the

statement filed before this Court or the circle rates fixed for the area in which such properties are situated”.

o A bench headed by Justice T.S. Thakur was told that the transactions for these properties would be

completed by May 2015 and in the meantime, the purchasers would deposit post-dated cheques in the

name of SEBI-Sahara refund account with undertakings that those would be honoured on due dates.

Centre sanctions Rs. 17.48 crore to restore Jammu border fence.o The Central Government has sanctioned Rs. 17.48 crore for the restoration of a 24km long fence and

floodlights along the Indo-Pakistan border in Jammu that were damanged in the recent floods.

o The Union Home Ministry also informed the Lok Sabha that under the modernisation plan, the governemnt

has approved 95 Long-Range Reconnaissance and Observation System for Border Security Force (BSF) at an

estimated cost of Rs. 237 crore.

o Strengthening security along the Indo-China border, the government has sanctioned 35 new border

outposts, 22 of which have already been set up. The remaining will become functional by 2016. While 27

Indo-Tibet Border Police priority roads are being constructed, to ensure connectivity to all the border

outposts and patrolling points, 34 more roads have been approved.

Doval meets Rajapaksa, Opposition leaders in Sri Lanka.

o National Security Adviser Ajit Doval called on President Mahinda Rajapaksa.












o Mr. Doval earlier had bilateral meetings with Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris and Defence Secretary

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, according to a press release from the Indian High Commission in Colombo.

o According to a statement from the President’s office, Mr. Doval expressed ''much satisfaction on the quality

and range of relations between Sri Lanka and India''. Mr. Rajapaksa and the NSA also discussed ways of

strengthening ties further, it said. Indian High Commissioner Sri Lanka Y.K. Sinha was among those present

at the meeting.

o Mr. Doval was in Sri Lanka on a two-day visit to participate in ‘Galle Dialogue’, organised by the Ministry of

Defence.

December 3

Sachin Tendulkar to lead Kerala in a run ahead of National Games.

o Sports-mad Kerala will launch itself into a frenzied run ahead of the start of 35th National Games with brand

ambassador and cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, no less, in the lead.

o Styled Run Kerala Run, the group run is being organised across the State to celebrate the historic event

when the State is hosting the Games after a gap of 28 years.

o The run will be taken out between January 20 and 22, 2015, to declare solidarity with the Games and

welcome sportspersons, sports organisers, and sports lovers from different parts of the country.

The National Games will be held from January 31, 2015 to February 14, 2015.

o The final round of preparations at the main centres, including the Greenfield stadium at Karyavattom near

the capital city where the opening and the closing ceremonies will be held, is nearing completion.

India first to adopt monitoring framework on non-communicable diseases.

o India was the first country to adopt the Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) global monitoring framework

and action plan, Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda.

o

A comprehensive national action plan was organised by the health ministry and the World HealthOrganisation(WHO) Country office for India in Guwahati (November 29-30, 2013), Bengaluru (December 13-

14, 2013) and Delhi (December 19-20, 2013), said Nadda in a written reply.

o "Participants included over 250 senior health officials from the national, sub-national level (from all states

and union territories), experts and civil society representatives'', Nadda said.

o "Various NCD programmes are being implemented in the country such as the National Programme of Health

Care of Elderly (NPHCE), the National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB) and the National Mental

Health Programme (NMHP)'', he added.

Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu assuages fears over privatisation of Railways.

o Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu said the Centre was seeking private capital investment in cash-

strapped Railways to meet the resource crunch and it does not amount to Privatisation as the Railways

unions claim.

o "We want to get private participation but that does not mean we want to privatise railway's operations'', he

said, addressing an Asia Society event through video conferencing.

o Prabhu, who took over as the Rail Minister recently, said that some people, especially the unions, "do not

understand" the difference between merely getting private capital and privatisation.

o "There are unions who feel that Railways is going to be privatised, government will not own Railways

anymore. Railways will continue to be an important, dominant part of India's social-economic culture and

Government of India will make sure that we've proper trade-offs between private participation which can

come through proper regulatory framework'', he said, seeking to assuage the concerns.

December 4












Govt officials, HDIL chairman booked for irregularities in Bandra slum rehabilitation project.

o An FIR has been registered against principle secretaries of Maharashtra’s housing and woman and child

development departments, HDIL Group chairman and the company’s ten directors in connection with

alleged irregularities in Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) project in suburban Bandra, the Anti-Corruption

Bureau.

o The accused were booked following a sessions court order which directed the ACB to probe the matter

brought before it by a complainant.

o The FIR was filed against Principle Secretary (Housing) Debashish Chakrabarty, Principal Secretary (Woman

and Child Development) Ujjwal Uke, HDIL Group Chairman and the company’s ten directors.

o They have been charged under relevant IPC sections including 166 (public servant disobeying law, with

intent to cause injury to any person), 167 (public servant framing incorrect document with intent to cause

injury), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable

security, will, etc), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record), 409 (criminal breach of

trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent) and 34 (acts done by several persons in

furtherance of common intention) and sections pertaining to the Prevention of Corruption Act. Union Finance Ministry constituted High Level Committee to hear industry's tax issues.

o The Union Finance Ministry on constituted a High Level Committee (HLC) to interact with trade and industry

on tax-related issues on a regular basis. The high level committee will be headed by former Chief Economic

Advisor (CEA) Ashok Lahiri.

o Other two members of the committee are Sidhartha Pradhan, retired member of the Settlement

Commission (Income Tax and Wealth Tax) and Gautam Ray, retired DG (Audit) of the Customs and Central

Excise.

o In 2014-15 Budget speech, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced the government's intention

to set up a high level committee to interact with trade and industry on a regular basis and ascertain areas

where clarity in tax laws was required.

o This was among several measures that the NDA government had unveiled to boost the confidence of tax

payers and provide certainty and clarity in tax laws. December 5

E-rickshaws to be back soon; govt approves changes in law.

o Paving the way for return of e-rickshaws on roads of the National Capital, the Cabinet approved

amendments to the Motor Vehicle Act that will ease the norms for obtaining a licence to drive the battery

operated vehicles.

o The e-rickshaws had gone off road after the Delhi High Court banned plying of these vehicles on safety

concerns. The approved changes, which also include adding definition of e-rickshaws and e-carts to the Act,

will help these vehicles get the legal status. Private entity cannot hold more than 26% in coal venture.

o A private sector entity cannot own more than 26 per cent stake in public-private joint ventures for coal

block allocations. However, if it is more than one private sector entity, the structure should be such that its

stake does not exceed 49 per cent.

o ''This will ensure that the private party cannot veto board decisions'', a senior Coal Ministry official said.

o This will also enable Government entities to retain the majority stake. In seeking the Cabinet’s nod for the

Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2014 to replace the ordinance, the Government has proposed this

change.

o A total of 92 blocks are being offered under the first round.

HDFC Bank rules out a JV for payment ban.












o HDFC Bank has become the first in the sector to rule out a joint venture partnership with any applicant for

one of the proposed Payment banks.

o ''We will not do a joint venture for this. We are a full bank ourselves and don’t need to form an alliance'',

said Aditya Puri, managing director.

o In final guidelines issued last week, the Reserve Bank of India has allowed entities to form an alliance with a

lender to form a PB. The idea is that PBs would tap unbanked areas and such an alliance would help.

December 5

Singapore daily, The Straits Times chooses PM NarendraModi as Asian of the Year 2014.

December 6

Shiv Sena joins BJP govt in Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis ministry expanded.

o Weeks after squabbling over allocation of portfolios, the Shiv Sena finally joined the BJP-led government in

Maharashtra, when Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expanded his 34-day-old cabinet.

o Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao administered the oath of office to 20 ministers, including 10 from BJP. Ten

cabinet ministers, five each from BJP and Sena, were sworn in.

o Cabinet ministers who took the oath were Girish Bapat (BJP), Girish Mahajan (BJP), Diwakar Raote (Shiv

Sena), Subhash Desai (SS), Ramdas Kadam (SS), Eknath Shinde (SS), Chandrashekhar Bawankule (BJP),

Babanrao Lonikar (BJP), Dr. Deepak Sawant (SS) and Rajkumar Badole (BJP).

o Ministers of state sworn in were Ram Shinde (BJP), Vijay Deshmukh (BJP), Sanjay Rathod (Shiv Sena), Dada

Bhuse (SS), Vijay Shivtare (SS), Deepak Kesarkar (SS), Raje Amrish Atram (BJP), Ravindra Waikar (SS), Dr.

Ranjit Patil (BJP) and Pravin Pote (BJP).

December 7

India sets new world record for largest human flag.

o India set a new world record for the largest human flag, formed by over 50,000 volunteers, beating the

previous record held by Pakistan.

o The event saw about 1.5 lakh volunteers, mainly youth, turn up for the event at YMCA Grounds even as

50,000 of them formed the tricolour, Governor of Rotary 3230, organiser of the ‘My Flag My India’

campaign, ISAK Nazar, told reporters.

o The Guinness World Record for the largest human flag was previously held by the Sports Club of Lahore

with 28,957 people forming the flag, he said.

December 8

Delhi govt bans Uber cab service following 'rape' incident.

o Delhi government banned all operations by private cab service Uber with immediate effect and blacklisted it

from providing any transport service in the national capital in the wake of the alleged rape incident in a taxi

plying for it.

o The action came a day after a taxi driver employed by Uber was arrested from Mathura for allegedly raping

a 27-year-old woman executive in his cab.

o "The transport department has banned all activities related to providing of any transport service by

www.uber.com with immediate effect. The department has also blacklisted the company from providing

any transport service in the NCT of Delhi in future," the Delhi government said in a statement.



http://www.uber.com/





http://www.uber.com/






December 9

Subramanian Committee on Leveraging the Post Office Network submitted report to Union government.

o Subramanian Committee on Leveraging the Post Office Network on 4 December 2014 submitted its report

to the Union Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.

o

The objective of the Committee was to transform the Post Office Network in keeping with changing market

trends and competition.

o The committee has made around 181 recommendations to make the post office competitive and efficient.

These recommendations ranges from formulation of a New Postal Law to New Organisational design of

India Post to Extension of Post Office network in rural areas.

December 10

BHEL commissioned Nyaborongo Hydro Power Plant in Rwanda.

o Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) successfully commissioned a 28 MW Nyaborongo Hydro Electric

Project in Rwanda on turnkey basis.o With the commissioning of this project, the installed generating capacity of Republic of Rwanda has gone up

by 24 percent from 119 MW to 147 MW.

o BHEL's scope of work in the contract included turnkey execution for the Nyaborongo hydro power project

comprising two hydro generating units of 14 MW each.

Government decided to remove sec 309 from IPC.

o The government on 10 December decriminalised attempt to commit suicide. It has decided to repeal

Section 309 from the Indian Penal Code (IPC), claiming support of 18 states and 4 Union Territories.

o Section 309 of IPC makes the act punishable with jail term of up to one year and fine. The Law Commission

of India had in its 210th Report, recommended that Section 309.

Narendra Modi government is committed to provide housing to all by 2022.

o Housing and urban poverty Allevation minister, M. Venkaiah naidu said that to provide houses to 3 crore

homeless people of the country is a serious challenge and the government is also contemplating a new

scheme of integrated housing for economically poor people.

o The government will also developed children and disabled friendly cities.

December 11

Nirmala says No compromise at WTO.

o Minister of State (Independent) for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman assured the Rajya Sabha on

Wednesday that the government would not compromise on national interests during WTO negotiations.

She said the new decisions of the General Council were ''an improvement'' upon the Bali agreement which

was ''imperfect''.

o Asserting that it was the sovereign right of the country to do course correction, she said that under the new

decisions, WTO members would not challenge the public stockholding programmes of developing countries

for food security purposes which would remain in perpetuity until a permanent solution regarding the issue

was ''agreed and adopted''.

Approval for amendments to Lokpal Act.

o The approved amendments to the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act pave the way for the inclusion of Congress

leader Mallikarjun Kharge in the selection panel.












o “The Act, as now proposed to be amended, seeks to provide for the alternative of leader of the single

largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha, an official release said.

India seek road maps for commitments to climate fund.

o Union Minister of State for Environment Prakash Javadekar called for a clear road map for funding while

appreciating the contributions to the GCF.

o Mr. Javadekar, in an attempt to infuse some life to the dying Adaptation Fund, lauded Germany’s

contribution of €55 million to the fund announced and suggested this could be the implementing arm of the

GCF.

o He said the world would need to spend annually $600 billion to $1500 billion on climate actions and if there

was no clear road map then outcomes would be sub optimal.

December 12

Lok Sabha passes Bill on coal block allocations.

o Lok Sabha passed a bill which provides for fresh auction of 204 coal blocks de-allocated by the Supreme

Court in September with the government allaying apprehensions of some parties that the legislation would

lead to privatisation of the sector.

o The Bill provides for "allocation of coal mines and vesting of the right, title and interest in and over the land

and mine infrastructure, together with mining leases, to successful bidders and allot through a transparent

bidding process.

o Contending that new law will encourage transparency as allocation would be made through e-auction;

Piyush Goyal said the effort was to undo the damage caused during the previous UPA government when

coal blocks were "given free".

o Coal Minister : Piyush Goyal.

December 13

Three-day wine festival will begin in Mysuru from December 26.

o The second edition of the three-day wine festival, jointly organized by the Karnataka Wine Board,

Bengaluru, and Department of Horticulture, will be held in the city from December 26.

o The best of red wine, white wine, and sparkling wine, will be made available for tasting under one roof.

National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) is ready to take off.

o Nearly a year after it was launched and funds were released by the Centre, the National Urban Health

Mission (NUHM) is yet to take off.

o The Centre had on January 17 approved the State’s NUHM Program Implementation Plan (PIP) of Rs. 138.9

crore.

o This scheme was launched to provide primary healthcare for the poor in cities and towns with a population

of over 50,000 NUHM was one of the flagship programs of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)

government.

Right time to adopt mechanization, CREDAI advises builders.

o A two-day international seminar on ‘Industrialization in construction’ organized by the Mysuru chapter of

CREDAI and Builders’ Association of India (BAI).

o CREDAI: Confederation of real estate developers association of india.

o R. Nagaraj, president of the State unit of Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India

(CREDAI).












December 14

Government calendar may have mobile app version.

o For the first time, the new government calendar, brought out every year by the Information and

Broadcasting Ministry, may come in a mobile phone app avatar also.

o

The calendar which has 'Clean Green India' as its theme and will highlight the government's flagship

schemes and initiatives will be launched in the coming days.

Make tax evasion serious crime : SIT chief.

o Tax evasion needs to be made a serious “criminal offence” to force foreign countries to reveal names and

account details of Indians stashing illicit wealth abroad, the Special Investigation Team on black money has

said.

o At present, tax evasion is a civil offence in India and it is dealt under the Income Tax Act, 1961, while forex

violations are dealt under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). Both laws are civil in nature and

do not have criminal proceedings attached as such.

Prize money will be spent on deprived children said Kailash Satyarthi.o He had received Noble prize for peace along with Malala Yousufzai in December.

o He and his wife Sumedha, placed the Nobel medal and pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat in New

Delhi.

o He congratulated the Indian media for raising issues of children from time to time.

December 15

National Research Centre on tribal issues in Odisha.

o Indian Government has agreed in principle to set up a National Research Centre on tribal issues in Odisha.

o All national level research studies and seminars on the subject are to be organized at the proposed centre.

The Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Amendment Bill, 2014 passed by the Lok Sabha.

o The Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Amendment Bill has been passed by the Lok

Sabha. The Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants), Act, 1971 was enacted to provide for

speedy machinery for the eviction of unauthorized occupants from public premises.

o This Act has been amended three times earlier, in the years 1980, 1984 and 1994.

o The present proposal seeks 4th amendment to the Act. Major objective of the amendment bill is to bring

the properties of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and other Metro Rails which may come up in future.

Narendra Modi has launched a New Campaign against the Drug Addiction

o In the third edition of ''Mann Ki Baat'', his now-popular radio address to the nation, the Prime Minister said

drug abuse was a “psycho-social-medical” problem and needed to be addressed as such.o He commended the news media for their role in spreading awareness of the menace, and assured the

nation that a helpline would be set up soon to address the issue better.

Energy research centre opened in Tamil Nadu.

o Former President of India, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam inaugurated the Centre of Excellence for Energy Research at

Sathyabama University.

o The centre is funded by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India and

aims to enhance the quality and quantity of basic and applied research programmes in energy studies.

ONGC officials conduct peace meet in Devakottai (Tamil Nadu).

o The public-sector Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) has decided to take the local people into

confidence, before launching geophysical and seismic surveys to avoid conflicts with them.












December 16

Union Government banned ISIS -Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in India.

o The Union Government banned Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) under Unlawful Activities (Prevention)

Act. The action came few days after an engineer was detained for running a popular Twitter account that

praised the militant group’s military campaign.

o The aim of the ban is to limit the activities of the West Asia group which has carved out swathes of territory

in Iraq and Syria.

o Until now, India had held off on a ban on Islamic State, because of the group’s lack of activity in the country

and worries over the fate of 39 Indian construction workers missing in Iraq this year, who are believed to be

held by the group.

National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Amendment Bill, 2014 passed by the Lok Sabha.

o The National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Amendment Bill, 2014 was introduced in

the Lok Sabha by the Minister of Urban Development, Mr. Venkaiah Naidu. The Bill seeks to amend the

National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second Act, 2011.o The Bill seeks to amend the National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second Act, 2011 as

the deadlines provided under the 2011 Act expires on 31 December 2014.

The National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second Act, 2011 seeks to do the following :

(1) Relocate slum dwellers and Jhuggi-Jhompri clusters in accordance with the provisions of the Delhi Shelter

Improvement Board Act, 2010 and the Master Plan for Delhi, 2021.

(2) Regulate street vendors in accordance with the policy for street vendors outlined in the Master Plan for Delhi,

2021.

(3) Regularise unauthorised colonies, village abadi areas (and their extensions).

(4) Create a policy for farm houses constructed beyond permissible limits.

(5)

Create a policy or plan for all other areas of the National Capital Territory of Delhi in keeping with the MasterPlan for Delhi, 2021.

Union government announced to give 5 year visa to minorities from neighboring countries.

o Union Government announced that members of the minority communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and

Bangladesh will be given five years visa as part of government's effort to address their grievances and

accord citizenship in future. Earlier, they were granted one-year visa.

o The long-term visa for five years will be issued initially by the Home Ministry on the specific

recommendation of the state government or union territory administration.

December 17

Companies Act amendments passed by Lok Sabha.

o The Lok Sabha passed the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2014, after Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley

told the house that some of the original provisions were only posing hurdles to doing business in the

country.

o Under the new norms proposed, the paid-up capital criteria has been scrapped, while threshold limits for

various transactions for getting shareholders' nod has now been stipulated.

GoI Calendar for 2015 launched by Arun Jaitley.

o Union Minister for Finance Arun Jaitley launched the Government of India's calendar for 2015.

o Launching the calendar Jaitley said that it provided a platform for converging the two key flagship schemes

of the government – Swachh Bharat and Digital India.












o The calendar combines the conventional and technological modes of communicating the initiatives of the

government and while the theme of ‘Swachh Bharat’ was portrayed visually in the conventional mode, the

mobile application of the calendar reiterated the government’s vision of taking the idea of ‘Digital India’

forward

o Theme of this calendar is : ‘Clean India Green India’.

December 18

The Lok Sabha passed the Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill, 2014 by voice vote.

o The bill intends to regularise e-rickshaws and provide driving licenses for battery-operated vehicles to ply in

the national capital and other places of the country.

o Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said now an e-rickshaw having capacity of 2000 watt will be allowed to ply

on city roads. He said, a loan at a rate of 4 per cent interest will be given to the driver for purchasing the e-

rickshaw so that he or she can become the owner.

o Voice vote : A voice vote is used in Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and state assemblies to vote for certain

resolutions. It is used when there is a wide agreement on issues and in some cases where the house is not in

order.

SC directed Union government to complete fencing along Indo-Bangladesh border in 3 months.

o The Supreme Court asked the central government to complete the fencing of the India-Bangladesh border

where it has not been done to check illegal immigration.

o The Union (central government) will take all effective steps to complete the fencing (double coiled wire

fencing) in such parts/ portions of the Indo-Bangla border (including the state of Assam) where presently

fencing is yet to be completed.

December 19

Union Government introduced Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill to facilitate introduction of GST.

o Union Government introduced the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014 in the Lok Sabha. The

introduction of this Bill will facilitate the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime in India.

o About Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill :

It provides for constitution of a Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council to recommend to the Union and

States on the inclusion and exclusion of goods and services.

It brings petroleum crude, high speed diesel, motor spirit, natural gas, aviation turbine fuel and tobacco

and tobacco products within the purview of Union List and State list.

It proposes an additional tax on supply of goods, not exceeding one percent, in the course of inter-

State trade will be levied and collected by the Union for a period of two years and apportioned to the

States.

December 20

Housing for All scheme.

o The Centre has assured of Housing for All by 2022 under the Sardar Patel National Mission for Urban

Housing, but reviewing the earlier model of this flagship programme, then known as the Rajiv Awas Yojana

(RAY), a Standing Committee on Urban Development in its report has noted that the programme has failed

to take off for lack of proper planning.

o

RAY, launched in two phases was set up for a “slum free India” with inclusive and equitable cities, wherecitizen have access to basic civic infrastructure and social amenities and decent shelter.












o The preparatory phase was for a period of two years with a target of 195 cities. The implementation phase

was approved in September 2013.

CBI asked to file note on probe into Azad photo morphing case.

o The Delhi High Court asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to file in a sealed cover its “self-contained

note” on an inquiry into the alleged morphing of a photograph of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Union

Minister of Minority Affairs Najma Heptulla.

o The photo was published in an Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) publication in 2005 when Ms.

Heptulla was heading the body.

o In a status report submitted to the court, the CBI had informed that the allegation could not be

substantiated for lack of sufficient evidence.

December 21

Efforts to digitally educate 6 lakh ASHA workers: Ravishankar.

o Centre is working to make around 6 lakh 'ASHA' workers digitally educated and well connected for better

healthcare of mother and new born children.

o About ASHA :

o Digitally educated ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers through better connectivity would be

told to keep track of health of mother and new born child by reminding them of nutritional food intake and

protection against diseases like anemia.

o Under "India Newborn Action Plan (INAP)'', launched in September this year, ASHA workers have been told

to track mothers who have delivered new children in their surrounding and keep a chart of them and

provide them timely suggestion about health care and nutritional needs.

o ASHA : Accredited Social Health Activist

o

Union Information Technology Minister : Ravishankar Prasad. Central University of Orissa to launch MA in Sanskrit.

o Considering the importance of the ancient language, the Central University of Orissa, Koraput, is all set to

launch a new post graduate course in Sanskrit from the next academic session.

o The decision was taken in the meeting of the Executive Council of the University held under the

chairmanship of Vice Chancellor Prof Mohammad Miyan.

o Initially the university would begin with two year MA programme and later it would start research

programmes in Sanskrit.

Centre to bring heritage conservation scheme for 12 cities.

o The Centre would soon launch a Rs 500 crore scheme for conservation of heritage and development of 12

cities across the country.

o The 12 cities would be covered under the National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana

(HRIDAY), which is likely to be rolled out next month. The 12 cities are Amritsar, Varanasi, Gaya, Puri, Ajmer,

Mathura, Dwarka, Badami, Velankanni, Kanchipuram, Warangal (Telangana) and Amaravati (Andhra

Pradesh).

o The towns selected in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Amaravati (in Guntur district) and Warangal

respectively, have rich heritage and culture.

o Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu.

o Warangal was the capital of Kakatiya dynasty, while Amaravati, situated on the banks of river Krishna, was

the capital of Satavahanas in the 2nd Century, besides being a major Buddhist centre.

December 22












Walmart to open new cash and carry store in Agra.

o Walmart, after a gap of two years, will open a new cash and carry store in Agra as it returns focus on India.

o The US-based retail major, which opened its last store in Bhopal towards the end of 2012, has said it will

focus on cash-and-carry business in the country in the absence of clarity on foreign direct investment (FDI)

in multi-brand retail trade.

o American retail major Walmart runs 20 cash and carry stores, under the Best Price brand, across 9 states.

Section 309 of IPC: Attempt to Suicide removed.

o Section 309 Indian Penal Code (IPC) was in news recently as Union Home Ministry decided to remove this

Section, thus decriminalizing attempt to suicide.

o According to Section 309 of IPC, any person, who attempts to suicide will be treated as criminal offence and

person who charged with section 309 of IPC will face up to one year in prison and a fine.

o With the recent decision of Union Home Ministry decriminalizing attempt to suicide now suicide will not be

taken as criminal offence. 20th Law Commission had recommended decriminalising attempt to suicide and

removing the section 309 IPC.

o

France was the first country to decriminalise attempted suicide after the French Revolution.

December 23

Gadkari Announced Investments In Ports, Roads In Bengal.

o Minister for shipping, road transport and highways Nitin announced massive investments in ports and roads

sector in West Bengal which would help boost the state's economy.

o Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) along with the state government would construct a port in the Sagar Islands at an

investment of Rs. 12,000 crore.

o In addition to the Sagar port, Gadkari had also announced additional investments of Rs. 3350 crore in the

port sector like floating storages, dry bulk cargo handling terminal among others.o Minister for shipping, road transport and highways : Nitin Gadkari.

Government constitutes Committee to look into grievances related to 1984 riots.

o The Government constituted a Committee to look into various grievances relating to the 1984 anti-Sikh

riots.

o The Committee comprises of Mr. Justice G.P. Mathur (Retired Judge of Supreme Court of India) as Chairman

and Shri J.P. Aggarwal, Joint Secretary (Judicial) in the Ministry of Home Affairs as Member Secretary.

o Cause for constituting the committee:

o The Committee shall oversee the implementation of the payment of enhanced compensation of Rupees 5

lakh per person killed during the 1984 riots, as approved by the Union Cabinet.

o

The Committee shall further look into the need for constitution of Special Investigation Team (SIT) for

investigating the cases of 1984 riots and submit its report within three months.

Vijay Kelkar committee recommends autonomous status for Vidarbha.

o The committee headed by the well-known economist Vijay Kelkar has recommended autonomous status for

Vidarbha, noting that the region’s population feels neglected. It has also recommended shifting of the state

secretariat to Nagpur, the state’s second capital, for the month of December every year.

o The committee has said that Vidarbha should get autonomous status on the lines of Meghalaya. The north-

eastern state was granted an autonomous status in 1969, when it was a part of Assam, by the 24th

constitutional amendment.

o The autonomous status can be an alternative for separate statehood for the region, the report says, adding

that all the important finance-related portfolios should be allocated to the leaders from Vidarbha.












December 25

1st Good Governance Day observed in India

o This day is 90 birth anniversary of former Prime Minister (Bharat Ratna) Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

o The Union Health & Family Welfare Minister J.P. Nadda on 'Good Governance Day' has launched a new

scheme, 'Mission Indradhanush' that aims to cover all un-vaccinated or partially vaccinated children by the

year 2020, against seven vaccine preventable diseases.

o The diseases that come under the mission are diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis,

measles and hepatitis B.

December 26

10th anniversary of Tsunami was observed

o On this day in 2004, more than 230,000 people were killed due to this natural calamity.

o With a magnitude of Mw 9.1–9.3, it is the third-largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph.

o

It had the longest duration of faulting ever observed, between 8.3 and 10 minutes.o It caused the entire planet to vibrate as much as 1 centimeter (0.4 inches) and triggered other earthquakes

as far away as Alaska.

The much awaited helpline for tourists and 'Welcome Card' for foreign visitors was launched by the Tourism

Minister Mahesh Sharma.

o The bi-lingual helpline number 1800-111-363 was made operational by Tourism Ministry as part of Good

Governance Day celebrations.

o A tourist (domestic/foreigner) can call the number from anywhere now if he or she wants to lodge any

complaint or know about any particular tourism site, said the official.

December 28

Raghubar Das was sworn-in as the new Chief Minister of Jharkhand

Delhi recorded the lowest temperature in past five years with the mercury dipping to 2.6 degrees celsius, five

notches below normal and dense fog affecting 55 flights and about 70 trains.

December 29

SMART Policing

o Taking cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pitch for SMART Policing, the Home Ministry has decided

to establish one such model police station in each state and has asked the state governments to submit

their proposal by January 31, 2015.

o The Prime Minister had said at a meeting of the country’s top police brass in Guwahati last month that he

wanted a force which takes care of the country’s law and order in an efficient and SMART manner.

o SMART Policing

o S for Strict but Sensitive

o M for Modern and Mobile

o A for Alert and Accountable

o R for Reliable and Responsive and

o T for Techno-savvy and Trained

December 31












First 1,000 MW unit of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project begins commercial power generation, after getting

approval from the following permission by NPCIL (Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd).

President Pranab Mukherjee gives nod to the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) bill that seeks

to scrap the collegium system of appointing judges to higher judiciary.

The Uttar Pradesh government has declared the Amir Khan starrer film 'PK' tax free in the state.

Science & Technology

December 5

Orion spacecraft marks dawn of new chapter in space exploration: US.

o The successful test flight of the Orion spacecraft is the dawn of a new chapter in space exploration, the

White House said after NASA’s unmanned spacecraft completed its first test flight.

o Orion is expected to take up its first crew in 2021.

o

After a successful launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy

rocket at 7:05 a.m. local time this morning, Orion orbited the Earth twice, reaching speeds of 20,000 miles

per hour and travelling through belts of intense radiation before enduring a fiery, 4,000 degree F re-entry

into Earth’s atmosphere.

December 9

Typhoon Hagupit hit Philippines.

o The death toll from Typhoon Hagupit rose on Dec. 8 as the storm continued across the Philippines,

weakening as it approached the Manila area late in the day.

o

The number of dead in the storm climbed to 21, said Gwendolyn Pang, secretary general of the Philippine

Red Cross. Of those, 16 were killed in the city of Borongan, on the eastern edge of Samar Island, near where

the typhoon made landfall evening.

Advanced version of Mark-II Pinaka Rocket successfully test-fired.

o Advanced version of Mark-II Pinaka Rocket was successfully test fired using a multi-barrel launcher from

Proof & Experimental Establishment (PXE) at Chandipur, Odisha.

o Though it has been inducted into the Army and the present trials were conducted with some

improvements.

o Advance version of Mark-II rocket which was developed to supplement artillery guns has a range of more

than 60 km and capable of acting as a force-multiplier.

December 10

Cadila launches cheaper copy of world's top-selling anti-inflammatory drug.

o Drugmaker Cadila Healthcare said on Tuesday it launched in India the first biosimilar version of the anti-

inflammatory medicine adalimumab, the world's top-selling drug, at a fifth of its US price.

o The drug's branded version is sold under the name Humira by US firm AbbVie, and costs $1,000 for a vial in

the United States. Humira had sales of $3.26 billion in the quarter ended September, accounting for 65 per

cent of AbbVie's total revenue.

December 12












Germany drug maker Bayer fails to block generic version of cancer drug Nexavar in India.

o German drug maker Bayer has failed in a last-ditch attempt to block the sale of a cheap generic version of

its cancer drug Nexavar in India, after the country's Supreme Court ruled against it.

o Natco was first given permission by the Indian patents office in 2012 to sell generic Nexavar at 8,800 rupees

($141) for a month's dose, a fraction of Bayer's price of 280,000 rupees. Bayer challenged this decision in

the long-running case.

o Indian generics group Natco Pharma said the highest court had dismissed Bayer's challenge to a compulsory

licence allowing it to sell a copycat version of the medicine, which is used to treat kidney and liver cancer.

December 13

Astrobotic, promises to send mementos to moon.

o A US company, Astrobotic, promises to make this a reality with its "postal service" called “MoonMail”.

Major life events like graduations, weddings, birthdays and indeed a loved one's memory can be

commemorated on the moon.

o

With Moon Mail, people from around the world can send a memento on Astrobotic's lunar lander was said

by company CEO John Thornton.

o With its partner, the Carnegie Mellon University, Astrobotic is pursuing the Google Lunar XPRIZE and is

scheduled to launch the first mission within the next two years.

o About ''MoonMail'':

After the lunar landing, Moon Mail participants will receive images and videos of the moon pod on the

moon, attached to Astrobotic's lander, the company said on its website, adding that these photos will

be the official record of permanent commemoration on the moon.

o The Google Lunar XPRIZE is a $30 million competition to land a privately-funded robot on the moon.

o

After the lunar landing, MoonMail participants will receive images and videos of the moon pod on themoon, attached to Astrobotic's lander, the company said on its website, adding that these photos will be

the official record of permanent commemoration on the moon.

December 14

China develops invisible 'pain beam' to disperse crowds.

o China has developed a long range and non-lethal 'pain beam' weapon that can be used to break up riots or

protests from a distance named poly WB-1.

o Poly WB-1 is similar to the Active Denial System (ADS) created by Raytheon, which was sent to Afghanistan

with the United States military, but was not used in combat and recalled in 2010.

o

About poly WB-1

o The Poly WB-1 was unveiled at an air show in China and it uses a millimeter-wave beam that can travel

distances of up to One kilometer.

o Once the beam comes in contact with a person, the beam disperses the crowd through heating up water

molecules just below the skin causing intense pain resulting into recoiling of the person. But if longer busts

are made at certain frequencies, it will cause the flesh to burn and blister.

o China developed the weapon for naval applications to deal with confrontation in non-lethal ways. The WB-1

will be mounted in ships, majorly in those patrolling disputed waters.

December 16

Horse domestication history revealed by Ancient DNA.












o Ancient DNA discovered by researchers revealing the history of horse domestication for the first time.

o A team of researchers examined the DNA of 29 horse bones, which were found in the Siberian permafrost -

dating from 16,000 and 43,000 years ago.

o Genes active in the cerebrum likewise experienced assortment. Variations connected to social conduct,

learning, terror reaction, and friendliness are all more profuse in domesticated horses.

December 17

Lens-free microscope can detect cancer at the cellular level.

o UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) Institute researchers have developed a lens-free microscope

that can be used to detect the presence of cancer or other cell-level abnormalities with the same accuracy

as larger and more expensive optical microscopes.

o The study was conducted by the team of researchers including Aydogan Ozcan, professor of electrical

engineering and bioengineering at University of California.

o The team tested the device by studying Papanicolaou smears, human breast section which indicated

cervical cancer, tissue specimens containing cancerous breast cells and blood samples containing sickle cell

anaemia.

o The lens-free device produced images that were many hundred times larger in area than those captured by

conventional bright-field optical microscopes.

December 18

ISRO launches India’s biggest rocket GSLV-Mark III.

o The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched India’s heaviest rocket

Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III carrying Crew module Atmospheric Reentry Experiment

(CARE) from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.o GSLV-Mark III is designed to be a three stage vehicle:

o First stage:

Comprises two identical S200 Large Solid Booster (LSB) with 200 tonne solid propellant, these boosters

burn for 130 seconds and produce a peak thrust of about 5,150 kilonewtons (525 tf) each.

o Second stage:

The L110 re-startable liquid stage,In flight, as the thrust from the S200 boosters begins to tail off, the

decline in acceleration is sensed by the rocket’s onboard sensors and the twin Vikas engines on the

‘L110’ liquid propellant core stage are then ignited. Before the S200s separate and fall away from the

rocket, the solid boosters as well as the Vikas engines operate together for a short period of time.

o

Third stage:

The cryogenic upper stage is designated the C-25 and will be powered by the Indian-developed CE-20

engine burning LOX andLH2, producing 20 tonnes-force (200 kN) of thrust. The C-25 will be 4 metres

(13 ft) in diameter and 8.2 metres (27 ft) long, and contain 25 tonnes of propellant

o GSLV Mark III:

Project director : S. Somanath.

Weight : 630 Tonne.

Payload : 4 Tonne in to Geosynchronous Transfer orbit (GTO).

Height : 42.4 M.

Budget : 155 crore. Back Ground:












ISRO:

Head quarters : Bangalore, India.

Established: 15-August-1969.

Chairman : Dr. K. Radhakrishnan.

December 19

NASA's Kepler Spacecraft discovers ‘super-Earth’.

o The first planet discovered by NASA's Kepler spacecraft during its K2 mission, a "super Earth" called HIP

116454b. The planet has a diameter of 20,000 miles, weighs 12 times as much as Earth and orbits its star

once every 9.1 days.

o About Kepler (spacecraft).

Kepler is a space observatory launched by NASA to discover Earth-like planets orbiting other stars The

spacecraft, named after the Renaissance astronomer Johannes Kepler was launched on March 7, 2009.

HIP 116454b and its star are 180 light-years from Earth, toward the constellation Pisces.

Operator : NASA/ LASP.

Launched : March 7, 2009.

Manufacturer : Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp.

DRDO tests 1000 kg class indigenous guided glide bomb.

o Defence Research and Development Org (DRDO) successfully tested a 1000 kg glide bomb designed and

developed by it and it was successfully tested in the Bay of Bengal off the Odisha coast.

o The bomb was dropped by an Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft. The flight of the glide bomb was monitored by

radars and electro-optic systems stationed at Integrated Test Range (ITR).

o Director : Avinash Chander.

o

Headquarters : DRDO Bhavan, New Delhi.

December 21

4D printing to create shape changing structures.

o Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology have used a technology called four dimensional

(4D) printing to create a structure that can change shape without external intervention.

o Four dimensional printing involves 3D printing items that are designed to change shape after they are

printed.

o A dog is born deformed printing technology in three American researchers have successfully designed and

equipped with artificial limbs.

o The researchers printed the shape-shifting 3D structure using two materials — a stiff plastic, and a "secret"

water absorbent material that could double in volume when submerged in water.

December 23

Taiwan launched its First Domestically Built Missile warship Tuo Chiang.

o Taiwan launched its largest ever missile ship as the island strives to modernise its armed forces in response

to a perceived threat from China.

o The 500-tonne corvette named Tuo Chiang (Tuo River) is the first of its kind ever produced by Taiwan.

o The ship is scheduled to be deployed in Taiwan waters after further tests in March 2015.

o

The ship is armed with 16 missiles including eight supersonic Hsiung-feng III (Brave Wind) anti-ship missiles.












o The sleek twin-hulled ship uses stealth technology to reduce the reflection of radar waves, making it harder

to detect.

o About Tuo Chiang

Taiwan Defense minister : Yen Ming.

The Tuo Chiang’s first captain : Lt. Commander Wang Te-chien.

Costs : 66.2 million US.

Speed : 38 knots per hour.

Measures : 198 feet long and 46 feet wide.

It can carry a crew of 4.

December 23

Russia successfully test-launched its newest heavy-class Angara rocket, which has been developed with a view

to launching manned spacecraft, the defence ministry said.

December 29

The Yahoo Directory, the core part of how Yahoo itself began in 1994, officially closed, five days ahead of

when Yahoo had said the end would come.

December 31

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairperson K Radhakrishnan retires.

o The tenure of Radhakrishnan as ISRO chief, secretary, Department of Space and Chairman, Space

Commission was ended in August 2014. But it was extended by four months till December 31, 2014 on

"functional grounds and in public interest."

o Radhakrishnan, a recipient of Padma- Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, was recently chosen as one

of the top ten scientific personalities in 2014 by Nature Science Journal.

o The government has appointed Shailesh Nayak, secretary in the ministry of earth sciences, as the ad-hoc

chairman of ISRO.

Internet Explorer, Microsoft Corporation’s venerable but often despised web browser, may be on its way out,

it has been claimed.

o The new browser, codenamed at this point as Spartan, will be unveiled on 21st January 2015, in the

company’s hometown of Redmond, Washington, when Microsoft shows off Windows 10 for the first time.

SportsDecember 1

Khurram Khan of UAE becomes oldest captain to score international century.

o United Arab Emirates (UAE) captain Khurram Khan‘s match winning 132 not out against Afghanistan on

November 30, put him in the top of the list of the oldest captains to score century in any forms of

international cricket.

o He also became the oldest player to score 100 in One-day International (ODI) history.

o

The UAE skipper is now on the seventh position of the list of oldest international cricketer to score a centuryin any forms. He was 43 years 162 days old when achieve this feat.












December 2

ICC ODI rankings : Virat Kohli retains 2nd spot; Dhoni slips to 9th.

o In the latest ICC ODI rankings, India's Virat Kohli remain at the second spot in the batsmen rankings while

captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has slipped a place to be at the ninth position.

o

In the team rankings, India has held on to their position and continues to occupy second spot in the team

standings.

o Medium pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar has dropped a place to be eighth in the bowlers' rankings while left-arm

spinner Ravindra Jadeja is sitting on ninth.

December 3

East Zone won 2014-15 Deodhar Trophy of cricket.

o East Zone won the 2014-15 Deodhar Trophy of cricket on 3 December 2014 by defeating West Zone by 24

runs. The final match was played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

o

This was the first Deodhar Trophy win for East Zone after 11 seasons.o Pacer Ashok Dinda of East Zone who bagged 4 wickets was adjudged man of the match.

o Captain of East Zone : Manoj Tiwary.

o Captain of West Zone : Yusuf Pathan.

Ravi in ICC panel of umpires for World Cup.

o Indian umpire S. Ravi named in a 25-member list of match officials for next year’s ICC ODI World Cup in

Australia and New Zealand.

o ''The team includes five officials from the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees, 12 umpires from the

Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and eight umpires from the Emirates International Panel of ICC

Umpires'', the ICC said in a statement.

o

The match referees are David Boon, Chris Broad, Jeff Crowe, Ranjan Madugalle and Roshan Mahanama.

o The elite panel umpires in the list are Aleem Dar, Billy Bowden, Bruce Oxenford, Ian Gould, Kumar

Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Nigel Llong, Paul Reiffel, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Rod

Tucker and Steve Davis.

December 4

Indian Oil won Beighton Cup Hockey tournament.

o Indian Oil won the 119th Beighton Cup Hockey tournament on 4 December 2014. In the final match played

at the SAI Eastern Centre in Kolkata the Indian Oil defeated the Punjab National Bank in tie-breaker by 5-4

goals.o The match ended in a draw at 2-2 goals at the schedule time of the game.

o The awards of the tournament were presented by the West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathy.

December 5

Champions Trophy Hockey in Bhubaneswar Starts from December 6th.

o Hockey India (HI) announced the commencement of online ticket sales for the much-awaited Hero Hockey

Champions Trophy to be held at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha from December 6th - 14th

2014.

o

The top eight teams of the world are taking part in the event, which will end on December 14.












December 7

India beat Pakistan to win cricket World Cup for the Blind 2014.

o India defeated defending champions Pakistan to win the 4th Cricket World Cup for the Blind. The Indian

visually impaired cricket team won the Cricket World Cup for the Blind in Cape Town.

Kenyan Amos Meindi wins 29th Pune International full Marathon.

o Kenyan Amos Meindi won the 29th Pune International full Marathon. African runners continued to imprint

their stealth and stamina on the 42.175 Km annual marathon event. Ethiopian Regassa Bezida was the

runner up and compatriot Teresse stood third.

o Nancy Wambua won the women's half marathon in 71 minutes and 55 seconds. Kenyan Herlen Musyoka

and Ethiopian Timbit won the second and third title. Twenty five thousand runners including 150 from the

foreign countries ran in the marathon this year.

December 8

Gwladys Nocera of France won Hero Women's Indian Golf Open 2014.o Gwladys Nocera of France won the Hero Women's Indian Golf Open 2014 at the Delhi Golf Club. She

received the prize money of 300000 US dollars.

o She won her first title of the 2014 season with a score 11 under par total of 208.

o Hannah Burke of England, Fabienne In-Albon of Switzerland and Hyeon Seo Kang of South Korea tied for

second position while Vaishavi Sinha of India finished at fifth position.

Mumbai lad Dev Shah wins Under-7 World Schools Chess Championships in Brazil

o Dev, a trainee of South Mumbai Chess Academy and student of Dhrubhai Ambani School, was among three

boys who scored the highest score, 7.5 points out of 9, to tie with Ochirbat Lkhahvajamts of Mongolia and

Sindarov Islombek of Uzbekistan.

o

The youngest Indian to become a rated chess player, seven-year-old Dev Shah, has become the world

champion in the Under-7 category in the World Schools Chess Championships that concluded at Juiz de Fora

in Brazil.

December 9

No DRS for India-Australia Test series.

o With India continuing its criticism of the Decision Review System in its current form, the technology will not

be used in the four-Test series against Australia, starting in Adelaide on December 9

o The DRS will not be used this summer in Australia for the first time since India toured the country in 2011-

12.

o About DRS:

The Umpire Decision Review System (abbreviated as UDRS or DRS) is a technology-based system used

in the sport of cricket.

o The system was first introduced in Test cricket, for the sole purpose of reviewing controversial decisions

made by the on-field umpires in the case of whether or not a batsman had been dismissed. The system was

first tested in an India v Sri Lanka game in 2008.

o DRS have been a regular source of frustration for fans and officials, but much of this has come down to

umpires’ interpretation rather than faults in the technology.

December 10












Randhir Singh Named Honorary Member of International Olympic Committee.

o Former Indian Olympic Association (IOA) secretary General Randhir Singh has been made the honorary

member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the just-concluded extraordinary session of the

world's apex sports body in Monaco.

o The 68-year-old Randhir, who served as the secretary general of the IOA from 1987 to 2012, was named for

the prestigious honorary membership of the IOC after serving as a full member of the world body from India

from 2001 to 2014.

o He was made an honorary member during the two-day extraordinary IOC session in Monaco from

December 8 to 9.

December 11

Finally, Sarita receives her Asian Games bronze medal.

o Boxer Sarita Devi finally received her Asian Games bronze medal which she had refused at the victory

ceremony in Incheon under controversial circumstances with the Indian Olympic Association secretary-

general Rajeev Mehta presenting it to her.

o Sarita was provisionally suspended by the International Boxing Federation (AIBA) after she refused to accept

her medal following a controversial semifinal loss in the Asian Games.

December 12

Maharashtra govt. declares ''Dahi Handi'' as an adventurous game.

o The Maharashtra government in December, 2014 declared Dahi Handi ( Human pyramids formed on the

occasion of Krishan Janmashtami) as "adventurous sport" in order to make it a safe sport.

o Announcing the decision in the Maharashtra Assembly, State Education Minister Vinod Tawade said that

Dahi Handi is a traditional sport in Maharashtra.o Mr.Tawade also said that the State Government intended to make Dahi Handi an international sport.

December 13

Virat Kohli's Career-Best Goes in Vain.

o Kohli becomes the second player to score twin centuries on his captaincy against Australia.

o The first player to do so was former Australian Captain “Greg Chappel” against West Indies in 1975.

o India virtually snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, slumping to an agonising 48-run loss in the pulsating

first Test against Australia despite captain Virat Kohli's gallant second successive hundred in the match.

December 14

Champions trophy Hockey 2014 won by Germany.

o Germany beat Pakistan 2-0 to win Champions Trophy Hockey 2014.

o Germany emerged victorious in the Hockey Champions Trophy, beating Pakistan 2-0 in a pulsating final at a

packed Kalinga stadium, Bhubaneswar on 14 December 2014.

o Winner : Germany.

o Runner : Pakistan.

o 3rd : Australia.

o 4th : India.

o

Top Goal Scorer: Jeroen Hertzberger-Netherlands.












o Player of the Tournament: Moritz Furste-Germany.

o Goal keeper of the Tournament: Sreejesh Ravindran-India.

o Young player of the Tournament: Akashdeep singh–India.

December 15

World Hockey Body Suspends Two Pakistani Players.

o Two Pakistani field hockey players were suspended and one was reprimanded for making obscene gestures

after their team's semi-final win over hosts India in the Champions Trophy semi-final, the sport's governing

body said.

o Muhammad Tousiq and reserve goalkeeper Ali Amjad were handed a one-match ban that sidelined them

from the final of the eight-nation tournament against Germany later in Bhubaneswar.

o As the final hooter sounded 4-3 thriller, excited Pakistani players took off their shirts and made rude

gestures towards Indian fans at the packed 7,000-capacity Kalinga stadium.

Steve Smith Named As Australia’s Test Captain.

o

Steve Smith has been named as Australia’s 45th Test captain after Michael Clarke was ruled out of the rest

of the four-Test series against India.

o Steve will thus become Australia’s 45th Test captain and at the age of 25 will also be one of country’s

youngest captains.

London Classic Chess Championship.

o Vishwanath Anand has won the London Chess Classic Super-Six Tournament ahead of Vladimir Kramnik and

Anish Giri on tiebreak.

December 16

Thierry Henry retires from Professional Foot ball.o Thierry Henry has announced his retirement from football and that he will return to London to take up a

role in the media.

o Henry, 37, a world and European champion with France, and the all-time top scorer at English Premier

League club Arsenal with 226 goals in 370 appearances.

o He was playing for France International, New York bulls, Monaco, Juventus, Arsenal, Barcelona, and the Red

bulls.

Tata Open India International Challenge Badminton Tournament closes.

o The respect ive t it les won by

Men’s Singles : H.S. Prannoy defeats Gurusai Dutt.

Women’s Singles: Ruthvika Shivani defeats Arundathi Pantwane.

Women's Doubles : Aparna Balan/ Prajakta Sawant defeat J. Meghana/ K. Maneesha.

o Men's Doubles: Manu Attri/ B. Sumeeth Reddy defeat Shlok Ramachandran/ Sanyam Shukla.

o Mixed Doubles: Manu Attri/ N. Sikki Reddy defeat Akshay Dewalkar/ Pradnya Gadre.

Army’s ace shooter Jitu Rai broke his national record.

o Army’s ace shooter Jitu Rai broke his national record to clinch the gold medal in the 10m men’s pistol event

of the 58th National shooting championship.

o Rai aggregated 202.3 points, an improvement upon his 199.4 achieved at the 2014 Munich World Cup.

o Shahzar Rizvi of Air Force with 198.8 points won the silver and Karnataka’s P.N. Prakash with 176 points the

bronze. Women’s 25 meter event












o Gold : Rahi Sarnobat belongs to Maharashtra.

o Silver : Surabhi Pathak belongs to Madhya Pradesh.

o Bronze : Anisa Sayyed belongs to bronze.

December 18

AIBA bans Saritha Devi.

o Indian women boxer L. Saritha Devi was handed a one-year ban by the International Boxing Association

(AIBA) for refusing to accept her bronze medal at the Asian Games.

o But the punishment is unlikely to hurt her career too badly as she would be available to compete in the

2016 Olympic qualifiers.

o Saritha, who had refused to accept the medal to protest her controversial semifinal bout loss, has been

banned retrospectively from October 1, 2014 to October 1, 2015 and fined 1000 Swiss francs.

o AIBA also has ban the India’s Foreign boxing coach B.I. Fernandez for two years, clears national coach G.S.

Sandhu.

Djokovic and Serena bag ITF awards.

o Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams were named the Men’s and Women’s world champions for 2014

respectively by the International Tennis Federation (ITF).

o It is fourth time that Djokovic has taken the top award after he won the Wimbledon and the ATP World

Tour finals and finished the year ranked No.1 in the world by the ATP. Djokovic belongs to Serbia country.

o Serena won the US open, the 18th Grand Slam of her career, the ATP Tour Championship and was also

ranked No.1 by the WTA. At 33 she is the oldest player ever to be named an ITF Singles World Champion.

Serena Williams belongs to USA.

National Shooting Championship.

o

Shital Thorat won the Women’s 10m air pistol title in the 58th National Shooting Championship.o Winner: Shital Thorat (Maharashtra).

o Runner : Harveen Sarao (Punjab).

o Junior Women :

o Winner: Yashaswini Deswal (Haryana).

o Runner: Nayani Bharaswaj (Haryana).

Steeve Guenot, a wrestler suspended for one year.

o Former Olympic Champion Steeve Guenot was suspended for one year by French anti-doping agency for

missing doping tests.

o Guenot, who has been suspended until July 30, 2015 will not appeal the decision, meaning that he won’t be

able to compete at the European Games in Baku next June.

FIFA releases Year-end Rankings.

(1) Germany

(2) Argentina

(3) Colombia

(4) Belgium

(5) The Netherlands

December 20

NewZealand clinches Haier Cup 2014 against Pakistan.












o Newzealand beat Pakistan by 68 runs in the fifth and final day-night One-Day International, taking the five-

match series 3-2.

o Man of the Series: K.S. Williamson (New Zealand).

Morgan replaces Cook as England’s ODI captain.

o Eoin Morgan has replaced Alistair Cook as England’s World Cup captain, the England and Wales Cricket

Board announced.

o He will lead the team at world cup in Australia and Newzealand.

India wins 5th Kabaddi World Cup 2014 beating Pakistan.

o The Indian men’s team continued their winning streak by clinching the fifth kabaddi World Cup, while the

women’s side bagged the crown for the fourth consecutive time.

o The Indian men defeated Pakistan 45-42 for the fourth time, while the women beat New Zealand 36-27 for

the second time in a row.

o This tournament was held in Punjab, India.

o In women section winner Indian team got a prize of one crore rupees, a trophy and a gold medal while

runners up Newzeland team got a prize of 51 lakh rupees, a trophy and a silver medal.o In men section winner Indian team got rupees two crore, a trophy, a gold medal and a tractor for each

player.

Nicol David wins eighth title at World Squash Championship.

o The Malaysian world number one Nicol David defeats the Egyptian Player Raneem el Weleily.

o This tournament was held in Cairo, Egypt.

o Prize money:

o Winner: 22,950 US Dollars.

o Runner: 15,525 US Dollars.

Boxing India not recognized by Indian Olympic Association.

o Indian Olympic Association (IOA) refused to give official sanction to Boxing India (BI) because BI elections

were held without consulting IOA.

o N. Ramachandran, president of the Indian Olympic Association, has categorically stated that the Indian

Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) will be the official body and not Boxing India. He added that boxing

affairs will now be handled by IOA’S committee.

Indian Super League maiden title won by Atletico de Kolkata.

o Indian Super League maiden title won by Atletico de Kolkata by defeating Kerala Blasters in final match.

o Kolkata’s co-owner is Ganguly and Kerala’s co-owner is Sachin.

o Prize money :

o

Winner: Atletico de Kolkata – 8 crores.o Runner: Kerala Blasters – 4 crores.

o Hero of the league: Iain Edward Hume (Kerala).

o Golden boot: Elano blumer (Chennai).

o Emerging player of the league: Sandesh Kishan (Kerala).

o Hero of the Match: Rafeekh (Kolkata)

December 21

Atwal wins Dubai Open Golf title.

o Arjun atwal won the Dubai open golf championship by defeating South Korean “Wang Jung”.

o Atwal is an Indian golf player he belongs to West Bengal State.












o Arjun Singh Atwal is an Indian professional golfer who has played on the Asian Tour and the European Tour

and is the first player born in India to become a member of, and later win a tournament on the U.S.-based

PGA Tour.

Om Prakash Chouhan wins Tata Open golf tournament.

o 13th Tata open golf tournament was won by Om Prakash Chouhan at Jamshedpur in Jharkhand.

o Prize Money: 75 lakhs.

Navaneeth Prabhu wins in Under 13 squash championship.

o Navaneeth Prabhu defeated Nicolas Chee of Malaysia in the boys’ under-13 final of the Singapore junior

open squash.

Afridi announces his retirement.

o Pakistan all-rounder “Shahid Afridi” announced his retirement time.

o He declared that he would retire from the International cricket after 2015 World cup.

India keeps the youth chess Olympiad title.

o India retained the title in the Youth Chess Olympiad at Gyor, Hungary.

o

In the 10th and final round top-seeded India, comprising Diptayan Ghosh, Karthikeyan Murali, AravindChithamabaram, B. Kumaran and G.K. Monisha, defeated Turkey 3-1.

o Team standings:

(1) India

(2) Russia

(3) Iran

(4) Hungary

December 22

Abhinav Bindra has won a gold medal in 58th National shooting Championshipo Olympic medalists Abhinav Bindra and Vijay Kumar clinched a gold medal each in 10-metre air rifle and 25-

metre standard pistol events respectively at the 58th National Shooting Championship.

o 10 meters air rifle:

Gold: Abhinav Bindra.

Silver: Satyendra Singh.

Bronze: Sanjeev Rajput.

o 25 meters standard:

Gold: Vijay kumar.

Silver: Gurpreet singh.

Bronze: Omkar singh.

58th National shooting Championship:

o Venue: Pune, Maharashtra

Holder appointed as West indies ODI Captain.

o Johnson Holder replaced the former captain Dwayne Bravo as West Indies ODI Captain.

o He will lead the team in ODI Series against South Africa.

Sachin Tendulkar named as Cricket World Cup 2015 Ambassador.

o The International Cricket Council announced Sachin Tendulkar as the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

ambassador.

o

The 11th edition of cricket world cup hosted Australia and Newzeland.o Sachin played 6 editions in his career.












World Super Series Badminton tournament Closed.

o Indian Badminton stars Saina Nehwal and Srikanth were lost their games in semi final against Tai Tzu Ying

and Chen Long respectively.

o Men’s Singles:

Winner: Chen Long (China).

Runner: Hans Kristian Vittinghus (Denmark).

o Women’s Singles:

Winner: Tai Tzu Ying (Taiwan).

Runner: Sung Ji-hyun (South Korea).

o Men’s Doubles:

Winner: Lee Yong-dae/ Yoo Yeon-seong (South Korea).

Runner: Chai Biao/ Hong Wei (China).

o Women’s Double:

Winner: Misaki Matsutomo/ Ayaka Takahashi (Japan).

Runner: Tian Qing/ Zhao Yunle (China).o Mixed Doubles:

Winner: Zhang Nan/ Zhao Yunlei (China).

Runner: Liu Cheng/ Bao Yixin (China).

PCB issue show cause notice to five players.

o Pakistan cricket authorities have issued show cause notices to five national team players, including senior

all-rounder Shahid Afridi, for taking part in a commercial without PCB permission.

o The other players are Mohammed Irfan, Wahad Riaz, Anwar Ali, Fawad Alam.

December 23

India women win South Asian volley ball Championship.

o India clinched the South Asian women’s invitational volley ball championship.

o India defeated Bangladesh in their last league match to win the title.

o Venue: Katmandu.

o Winner: India.

o 2nd: Nepal.

o 3rd: Sri Lanka.

India clinch gold medal in World Under-16 Chess Olympiad.

o India bagged the gold medal in under-16 chess Olympiad. India beat turkey in the 10th final round to clinch

the title.

o Gold: India.

o Silver: Russia.

o Bronze: Iran.

o Venue: Hungary.

December 27

Ankita Raina wins the 25,000 US dollar ITF singles Tennis title at Pune.

o The 21-year old Ahmedabad-born player defeated British teenager Katy Dunne in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 in

the final.o She became the first Indian to clinch the title in the tournament after 14 years.












o Radhika Tulpule, the then national women's champion, had won it in the inaugural year of the tournament.

December 28

o The BCCI has banned discarded India left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha from bowling in competitive matches

due to suspect action as he will be heading to Chennai for taking corrective measures.

December 30

Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has decided to retire from Test cricket, citing strain of playing all

formats.

o The 33-year-old, who made his debut in 2005 and was captain for 60 of his 90 Tests, quit after India drew

the third Test against Australia.

o In 60 matches as captain, Dhoni had a decent 27 wins, 18 losses and 15 draws to show.

o In the 90 Tests that he was part of, Dhoni scored 4876 runs at an average of 38.09 with six hundreds and 33

50s to his credit.

o The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) called Dhoni "one of India's greatest Test captains".

o Virat Kohli will be the captain of the Indian Team for the Fourth and Final Test against Australia to be played

in Sydney from the 6th of January 2015

December 31

Portuguese football phenomenon Cristiano Ronaldo was voted by European sports reporters Europe’s best

football player of the year 2014 (for the second year in a row).

Banking Aw areness

December 1

India’s forex reserves down $672.4 mn to $314.87 billion.

o Foreign currency assets, which form a bulk of the total reserves, fell $664.3 million during the same period.

o Gold reserves remained unchanged at $19.73 million.

o Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and the country’s reserve position in the International Monetary Fund fell by

$5.9 million and $2.2 million, respectively.

Online MSME loan facility by Karnataka Bank.

o Karnataka Bank Ltd, launched an online facility for loan application on the bank’s MSME (micro, small and

medium enterprises) portal.

o It will be taken up at the branch of customers’ choice for further processing. The system will also enable

tracking of the status of the application, wherein the applicant will receive intimation through e-mail.

December 2

HDFC bank’s Blood donation worldwide drive.

o HDFC bank is conducting a blood donation drive. This is worldwide blood donation drive, the bank will

organize 3 donations camps in Mangluru that will held on 5th December, 2014.

o The drive organized by the bank last year was considered as the largest effort of its kind across the globe,

with 61,902 participants stepping forward to give blood in a single day.












o With the intent to promote this blood donation perspective and encourage more people towards it the

bank will organize the camp in more cities and towns this time.

SBI gets pact with Nissan.

o The bank has planned to offer easy Vehicle loan schemes to its customers through this tie up. The bank is

delighted to work with one the retail networking company- Nissan.

o Through this tie up the Nissan will get the chance to reach the wide network of SBI bank spread all across

the country.

o As per the agreement, the tie-up will help Nissan customers to avail vehicle loans at competitive rate of

interests from SBI banks. The bank will be offering attractive schemes to the customers, including the

longest repayment tenure 7 years. The loan will be offered at the rate of 10.40% p.a.to the Women and

10.45 to men.

RBI issued final guidelines for the Bharat Bill Payment System.

o The Reserve Bank of India issued final guidelines for the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS).

o The BBPS is an integrated bill payment system offering inter-operable and accessible bill payment service to

customers through a network of agents, enabling multiple payment modes, and providing instantconfirmation of payment.

o The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) will function as the authorised Bharat Bill Payment

Central Unit (BBPCU) to set the standards for BBPS processes which need to be adhered to by all operating

units (Bharat Bill Payment Operating Units - BBPOUs) under the system.

o The prospective participants of the BBPS system are advised to interact with the NPCI to work out the

modalities.

o The apex bank has set a 100 crore rupees net worth and domestic registration as qualifying conditions for

those seeking to be authorised collection agents.

o Background

The Committee was set up under the chairmanship of G. Padmanabhan, Executive Director, Reserve

Bank of India to study the feasibility of implementation of an electronic GIRO payment system in the

country.

Subsequently, based on the recommendations of the Committee, a GIRO Advisory Group was

constituted under the Chairmanship of Prof. Umesh Bellur, IIT Bombay, with the objective of defining a

framework that enables the creation of pan India touch points for bill payments by customers in the

country, irrespective of the geographical location of the billers.

RBI’s bi-monthly monetary policy statement:

o Short-term lending (repo) rate unchanged at 8 per cent.

o

Cash reserve ratio (CRR) unchanged at 4 per cent.o Statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) retained at 22 per cent to unlock banking funds.

o GDP growth for current fiscal estimated at 5.5 per cent.

o Projects retail inflation at 6 per cent by March 2015-end.

o Projects retail inflation to lower in November, rise again in December.

o Says change in monetary policy stance at the current juncture is premature.

o Hints at lowering policy rate early next year, if fiscal, inflation conditions improve.

o Weak revenue realisation a threat to fiscal deficit target.

o Next bi-monthly policy statement on February 3.

Syndicate Bank raises Rs. 750 crore to strengthen capital base.

o

Syndicate Bank has raised Tier II capital of Rs. 750 crore through a bond offering to augment long term

resources and strengthen its capital base.












o In a statement, the bank said it has raised unsecured non-convertible reedemable 10 year Basel III

compliant Tier II bond of Rs. 750 crore at 8.95 per cent on a private placement basis. The bond issue was

closed.

o Syndicate Bank's bond issue was assigned AA+ rating both by ICRA and CARE.

December 3

HDFC ERGO, Deutsche Bank tie up.

o HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company and Deutsche Bank announced their partnership to distribute non-

life insurance products.

o According to a release issued by the companies, HDFC ERGO will offer a bouquet of non-life insurance

products like Motor Insurance, Travel Insurance, Home Insurance, Commercial Insurance, Personal Accident

Insurance, Critical Illness Insurance, etc. to Deutsche Bank customers.

o About HDFC BANK

MD: Aditya Puri.

Headquarters: Mumbai.

o About Deutsche BANK

Headquarters: Frankfurt, Germany.

Canara Bank wins Niryat Bandhu Silver Trophy.

o Canara Bank has been conferred with the Niryat Bandhu Silver Trophy in the in the banks category for its

support services rendered for promotion of exports.

o President Pranab Mukherjee handed over the trophy to Canara Bank Executive Director in Delhi.

o The bank’s export credit outstanding stood at Rs. 11,546 crores as of September 30, 2014.

About Niryat Shree and Niryat Bandhu awards

o

President gives away Niryat Shree, Niryat Bandhu awards of Federation of Indian Export Organisation forpromotion of exports.

o The President gave away 52 awards — 46 Niryat Shree Awards to exporters for their performance in 12

categories, which cover agriculture, plantation products; chemicals, drugs, pharma and allied products;

engineering; gems and jewellery, handicrafts, carpets; textiles, leather, service providers; and 6 Niryat

Bandhu Awards to Export Promotion Councils and Banks for their support to the exporting community.

o In Niryat Bandhu category, Canara Bank wins gold trophy while Bank of India bags silver.

o MIOT Hospitals Limited gets Niryat Shree gold for topping in foreign exchange earnings.

RBI is planning to raise cap on foreign investments in sovereign bonds.

o The Reserve Bank of India, over time, will expand the limits for foreign investment in sovereign bonds and it

has a schedule for such expansion, according to Governor Raghuram Rajan.

o The present limit for investment by SEBI-registered Foreign Institutional Investors, Qualified Foreign

Investors and long-term investors and Registered Foreign Portfolio Investor in Government Securities is $30

billion.

o While Rajan did not specify the new limit he said that the schedule for the expansion in foreign investment

limit in sovereign bonds will be consistent with the country’s ability to absorb capital inflows.

Central Bank to raise Rs. 626.23 crore from preferential issue to LIC.

o Central Bank of India said it would raise about Rs. 626 crore through preferential allotment of shares to

country’s largest insurer LIC to fund business growth.

o The capital raising committee of the board approved raising of additional equity capital by issuance of up to

8.28 crore shares at Rs. 75.55 a equity, Central Bank of India said in a statement.












o Thus, the bank would raise Rs. 626.23 crore by allotting shares on preferential basis to LIC.

SBI Card launches co-branded card with Future Group.

o SBI Card launched a co-branded credit card with Fashion at Big Bazaar (fbb), the fashion destination of the

Future Group, offering 10 per cent discount on fashion apparel.

o The co-branded Styleup Card will come with Rs. 500 joining gift and will offer a lifetime flat 10 per cent

discount on fashion apparel, footwear at all fbb and Big Bazaar stores, a joint statement said.

o Banks will also be held accountable to facilitate the redress of grievances stemming from its sale of third-

party products.

RBI issues norms for trading platform for MSME receivables.

o To help micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday

permitted setting up of an exchange-based trading platform to facilitate financing of bills raised by such

small entities to corporate and other buyers, including government departments and PSUs.

o Issuing detailed guidelines in this regard, RBI said the Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) should

have a minimum paid up equity capital of Rs. 25 crore and non-promoters would not hold over 10 per cent

of the equity capital of TReDS.o Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), despite the important role played by them in the economic

fabric of the country, continue to face constraints in obtaining adequate finance, particularly in terms of

their ability to convert their trade receivables into liquid funds.

o TReDS will facilitate financing of invoices. bills of MSMEs drawn on corporate and other buyers, including

government departments and PSUs by way of discounting.

Union Cabinet approved Regional Rural Banks (Amendment) Bill, 2013.

o The Bill seeks to amend the Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) Act, 1976.

o The cabinet also decided that the term of the non-official directors appointed by the Union Government will

be fixed and should not exceed three years.

o

Highlights

The Bill removes the five year upper limit mandated for Sponsor Banks to subscribe to the share capital

of RRBs, train their personnel and provide managerial and financial assistance, thus allowing such

assistance to continue beyond this duration.

It increases the authorized capital of RRBs from 5 crore rupees to 500 crore rupees and the threshold

limit from 25 lakh rupees to 1 crore rupees.

It increases the ability of Union government to specify the capital issued by an RRB from earlier 25 lakh

rupees – 1 crore rupees to 1 crore rupees and beyond.

At present the shareholding pattern of RRB is 50 percent is subscribed to by the Union government, 15

percent by the concerned state government and 35 percent by the Sponsor Bank. The Bill permits anRRB to raise capital from other sources in addition to Union government, concerned State government

and Sponsor Bank. In such case, however, the combined shareholding of the Union government and

the Sponsor Bank shall not be less than 51 percent.

It requires Union government to consult the concerned state government if the latter’s level of

shareholding falls below 15 percent.

The Bill provides for the appointment of Board of Directors by other entities also in addition to the

nominations made by the Union government, the concerned state government, the Reserve Bank of

India, NABARD and the Sponsor Bank. However, such nomination by other entities shall be in

proportion to the share held by such entities.












The Bill removes the specification that the term of a director shall not exceed two years and that he

shall be eligible for re-nomination. However, this is only for directors other than those appointed by

the central government.

It retains the two year maximum term for directors appointed by the central government. Further, it

states that such a director shall be eligible for re-nomination provided that he does not hold office for

more than four years.

o As per the Act, the books of an RRB should be closed and balanced as on December 31 every year. The Bill

changes the above date to March 31.

December 4

RBI doubles limit of prepaid instruments to Rs. 1 lakh.

o A few days after issuing the final guidelines for niche banks, RBI has now allowed PPIs to issue cards with

balance of up to Rs. 1 lakh. Earlier, the limit was Rs. 50,000.

o RBI has also introduced a new category of ''open system PPIs''. With this, a card can now be issued to the

dependant or family member only if the account is fully Know Your Customer compliant (KYC). And only one

card per beneficiary can be introduced.

o For such PPIs, the maximum cash out allowed per month is Rs. 25,000 and Rs. 10,000 per transaction.

o Now, banks can also issue rupee denominated cards to foreign travelers and to NRIs. By overseas branches

of banks in India directly or by cobranding with the exchange houses/money transmitters. The maximum

amount to be loaded on these cards is Rs. 2 lakhs but the cash withdrawal from these cards is restricted to

Rs. 50,000 every month.

o Apart from this RBI has also increased the validity of gift cards from one year to three years.

o About Prepaid Payment Instruments in India

Closed System Payment Instruments: These are payment instruments generally issued by businessestablishments for use at their respective establishment only. These instruments do not permit cash

withdrawal or redemption.

Semi-Closed System Payment Instruments: These are payment instruments which are redeemable at a

group of clearly identified merchant locations/ establishments which contract specifically with the

issuer to accept the payment instrument. These instruments do not permit cash withdrawal or

redemption by the holder.

Semi-open System Payment Instruments: These are payment instruments which can be used for

purchase of goods and services at any card accepting merchant locations (Point of sale terminals).

These instruments do not permit cash withdrawal or redemption by the holder.

Open System Payment Instruments: These are payment instruments which can be used for purchaseof goods and services and also permit cash withdrawal at ATMs.

Mobile Prepaid Instruments: The prepaid talk time issued by mobile service providers. This value of

talk time can also be used for purchase of 'value added service' from the mobile service provider or

third-party service providers.

Net Owned Funds: For the purpose of these guidelines "Net owned Fund" (NOF) will consist of paid up

equity capital, free reserves, balance in share premium account and capital reserves representing

surplus arising out of sale proceeds of assets but not reserves created by revaluation of assets.

Open system PPIs (New one now released by RBI).

RBI releases final charter of customer rights.












o According to the notification, ''The customer should not be unfairly discriminated against on grounds such

as gender, age, religion, caste and physical ability when offering and delivering financial products''.

o In case of a violation of the charter, the affected customer can escalate the matter through the chief

customer relations officer of the service provider concerned, which can be further escalated to the banking

ombudsman, if necessary.

o If a problem is systemic or if the sums of money involved are large, the regulator could step in.

o It has also been communicated to the banks that the customers’ personal information should be kept

confidential unless the customer gives a go ahead for it to be shared. Customers have the right to

protection from all kinds of communications, electronic or otherwise, which infringe upon their privacy, said

the charter.

December 5

PSU bank ATMs will be able to print in Hindi soon.

o ATMs installed by state-owned banks will soon have the facility for issuing the transaction receipt in Hindi,

finance minister Arun Jaitley said in response to a question in the Lok Sabha.

o The government has instructed public sector banks (PSBs) to install those ATM machines which can produce

receipts in both Hindi and English languages.

o PSBs have been advised to ensure that all ATM machines have facility of doing transactions/ printing in

Hindi as well as in English.

o Most ATMs have a bilingual option on their home screens. Some machines, like those installed by ICICI Bank

offer a regional language option as well in non-Hindi speaking states.

ICICI Bank ties up with price comparison app Zopper.

o ICICI Bank, the country’s largest private sector lender, has tied up with Zopper, an e-commerce app for

offline and online price comparison.o This will allow ICICI debit and credit card holders to avail themselves of exclusive discounts at retail stores in

their city, which are powered by the Zopper app iii. To be eligible for this offer, ICICI Bank customers need

to download the Zopper app on their smartphone, the company said in a statement.

o This deal helps Zopper to increase its user base, as ICICI Bank promotes the scheme to its customers via

SMS, email, ATMs, etc. An ICICI customer can then download Zopper app to see and avail of offers in their

city.

o This unique partnership between Zopper & ICICI has invigorated the retail ecosystem in areas under ambit.

Merchants are getting more footfalls and ICICI customers are getting exclusive discounts.

December 6

ICICI Bank sells Russian subsidiary to Sovcombank.

o The board of country’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank approved sale of the bank’s shareholding in

its Russian subsidiary ICICI Bank Eurasia, to a third party Sovcombank.

o ICICI Bank Eurasia accounted for less than 0.1 per cent of ICICI Bank’s consolidated total assets at that date

and consolidated profit after tax for the period, the BSE release said.

Sukanaya Samridhi account for Girl Child.

o Central govt. has come up with a new deposit scheme for the girl child ‘Sukanya Samridhi Account’ a small

deposit scheme for girl children to provide for their higher education and marriage.

o

Through this scheme the savings account for the children girls can be opened in banks and post offices.












o After the completion of age of 10 years of the child, the child can herself operate the account. The scheme

is aimed at garnering small savings and channelising them for development of infrastructure.

o Minimum & Maximum Limits:

An account can be opened with Rs. 1,000. It is required to deposit at least Rs. 1,000 or more in

multiples of Rs. 100 every year. If the minimum amount is not deposited, there will be a fine of Rs. 50

for every year of defaults.

One can deposit maximum of Rs. 1.5 lakh in one financial year. This is the same amount on which tax

benefit is available under Section 80C of Income Tax.

o Withdrawal norms:

The deposit is required to be made for 14 years from the date of opening of account, which will be

operated by the parents or legal guardian till the girl child attains the age of 10 years, after which she

can operate the account while parents can deposit the money.

Though the account will mature in 21 years from the date of opening of account, one can withdraw half

of the balance (at the end of preceding financial year) for higher education and marriage, but only after

the girl attains the age of 18 years. The account will be closed if the girl marries before the maturityperiod.

December 7

Vidya Suraksha- insurance scheme for students by federal Bank.

o Federal Bank has joined hands with kotak Life Insurance. In association with the Kotak Life insurance the

bank will launch an insurance scheme for the students.

o The scheme named Vidya Suraksha is specially designed for the students.

o The scheme also offers the insurance protection to the students up to the extent of loan liability in event of

death. Federal Bank won the HR excellence Award.

o Federal Bank has been awarded with HR excellence award. According to the reports, recently the

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and publishers of magazine ‘Banking Frontiers’ gave away the award

to the Federal Bank.

o The 5th CII National HR Excellence Confluence held in New Delhi the bank won this award. At the ceremony

the banking frontiers awarded the HR of the bank for the Best HR Practices and Star Practitioner Award.

December 8

A group of banks to allow inter-bank fund transfer through ATM.

o

A group of banks including Yes Bank, Union bank of India, Canara Bank, Andhra Bank and Saraswat co-op

bank have decided to provide the interbank fund transferring through the ATM cards.

o The customers of these banks will get the facility to transfer the amount from their own bank to any of

these banks easily by visiting the ATMs.

ICICI Bank caps free transactions at own ATMs at five.

o The country’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank has announced a hike in its ATM charges for savings

account holders from January 1.

o Under the new method, the number of free transactions in a month is fixed at five using own ATMs, while it

has been capped at three for other banks’ machines.

o

After exceeding the free transaction limits, customers will have to pay Rs. 20 per financial transactionexcluding service tax and Rs. 8.50 for every non-financial transaction, it said.












Kotak Mahindra launches savings account of older customers.

o Kotak Mahindra Bank launched a savings account product for older customers aged over 55 years to offer

priority service with discounted offerings.

o Grand is a unique savings bank account, tailored exclusively for customers 55 years and above. Grand has

been designed keeping in mind their need for hassle-free banking, financial independence and personal

attention, the bank said in a statement.

o Additionally, customers will get 100 per cent issuance charge waiver on best complimentary cards and 25

per cent issuance charge waiver on a travel card.

o Grand also enables customers to make bill payments by registering online or at Kotak Mahindra branches.

SBI to take part in Arab Asia Business Partnership Summit 2014.

o The State Bank of India (SBI) will participate at a summit in Bahrain aimed at strengthening trade and

industrial business related banking requirements between Indian and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

o The theme of the event scheduled from December 9-12, is 'Reinventing Regional Markets', which has been

organised in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

RBI eases norms for White Label ATM operators.o White Label ATM (WLA) or Non-banking ATMs can now accept international cards and also source cash

supply from other than banks.

o The Reserve Bank of India provided a breather to WLA operators by allowing them to accept international

credit/debit/prepaid cards.

o Cash sourcing

o In addition, RBI has enabled delinking of cash supply from sponsor banks. WLA operators may now tie up

with other commercial banks for cash supply at WLAs. Earlier, the cash supply had to be managed only

through a sponsor bank which limited the scope of cash management for the operators.

o The RBI added that while the cash would be owned by the WLA operators, the responsibility of ensuring the

quality and genuineness of cash loaded at such WLAs would be that of the cash supplier bank.

o Further, the WLA operators who have been authorised and have commenced operations are required to

intimate RBI regarding commencement of the services, the banking regulator added.

o WLAs permitted by RBI

o RBI has so far authorised seven companies to set up WLAs -- Tata Communications Payment Solutions,

Prizm Payment Services, Muthoot Finance, Vakrangee, BTI Payments, Srei Infrastructure Finance, and

RiddiSiddhi Bullions Ltd.

December 10

Axis Bank starts 20-year home loan scheme at fixed rate of 10.4 per cent for loans of up to Rs. 50 lakh.

o The limited period offer is only for affordable housing segment for loan size of up to Rs. 50 lakh.

o The new offer is 25 bps, or 0.25 per cent, above its base rate (below which it cannot lend), currently pegged

at 10.15 per cent.

December 11

SBI launches first home-grown economic indicator.

o The public sector lender has created two indices - the SBI Monthly Composite Index and the SBI Yearly

Composite Index. Both fulfil complementary purposes such as month-on-month sentiment movement and

year-on-year growth forecast, respectively.o The indices will be released every month after Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) credit growth numbers.












o State Bank of India (SBI) launched a tool that will primarily track manufacturing activity to offer a forward-

looking economic trends, giving the country another monthly economic index.

December 16

RBI increased RTGS business hours to 12 hours on weekdays.o The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) increased RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement) business hours from 7.30

hours to 12 hours. With this, now the business hours for RTGS will be 8 am to 8 pm on weekdays as against

the earlier 9 am to 4.30 pm.

o The RTGS business hours has been increased from earlier 5 hours to 7.30 hours, that is, now a consumer will

be able to transfer fund online between 8 am to 3.30 pm as against the earlier timings of 9 am to 2 pm.

o Back ground:

o The current minimum amount that can be transferred through RTGS channel is 2 lakh rupees. The amount

below 2 lakh rupees can also be transferred online via NEFT (National Electronic Fund Transfer).

o The RBI revised the RTGS business hours to meet the market expectation.

o

There has been demand for extending business hours of the RTGS system to facilitate customer and inter-

bank transactions and also to facilitate other market obligations to settle in the RTGS system.

December 17

Existing account enough to avail Pradhan Manthri Jan Dhan Yojana benefits.

o A person who is already having a bank account with any bank, will just have to get issued a RuPay card in his

existing account to get benefit of accidental insurance

o Accidental insurance of Rs. 1 lakh will be available to all RuPay card holders between 18-70 years. They will

need to use their RuPay card once in 45 days of receipt of the card to get the benefit.

o

The accidental claim intimation should be given to bank within 30 days from the date of accident.

December 18

Swiss National Bank imposes negative interest rates.

o The Swiss National Bank (SNB) said it would impose negative interest rates on cash held by other banks at

the central bank.

o The SNB said it would impose an interest rate of -0.25 per cent on sight deposit account balances of over 10

million Swiss francs.

o It would like to expand its three-month Libor target range to -0.75 per cent to -0.25 per cent. The measures

will take effect from January 2022.

December 22

HDFC Bank nears record high as FIPB clears FDI proposal.

o The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) cleared the proposal of bank to expand its equity base by

up to Rs. 10,000 crore.

o The board, headed by Economic Affairs Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, has approved the bank’s proposal adding

the proposal will now go to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs that vets all foreign investment

proposals in excess of Rs. 1,200 crore.

o DFC Bank sought fresh FIPB clearance for expanding equity. It already has shareholders' nod to raise up to

Rs. 10,000 crore.











A defaulter who deliberately stonewalls legitimate efforts is a non-cooperative borrower: RBI.

o A non-cooperative borrower is one who does not engage constructively with his lender by defaulting in

timely repayment of dues while having ability to pay, thwarting lenders’ efforts for recovery of their dues by

not providing necessary information sought, denying access to assets financed/collateral securities,

obstructing sale of securities, etc told RBI.

o For Companies:

o A non-cooperative borrower in case of a company will include, besides the company, its promoters and

directors (excluding independent directors and directors nominated by the Government and the lending

institutions).

o In case of business enterprises (other than companies), non-cooperative borrowers would include persons,

who are in-charge and responsible for the management of the affairs of the business enterprise.

December 23

RBI extends deadline to exchange pre-2005 notes till June 30.

o

The deadline for exchanging pre-2005 currency notes of various denominations, including Rs. 500 and Rs.

1,000, has been extended by another six months till June 30, 2015.

o Currency notes issued before 2005 do not have the year of printing on the reverse side. In notes issued post

2005, the year of printing is visible at the bottom on the reverse. Post-2005 notes have added security

features and help in curbing the menace of fake currency.

o Seeking cooperation for withdrawing pre-2005 currency notes from circulation, the RBI has asked the public

to deposit the old design notes in their bank accounts or exchange them at a bank branch convenient to

them.

Agreement signed between the People's Bank of China (PBOC) and Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).

o

The central banks of China and Nepal have signed a supplementary agreement to expand the use of localcurrencies for border trade.

o The agreement was signed between the People's Bank of China (PBOC) and Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) The

agreement will boost bilateral trade and investment ties between the China and Nepal.

o The China and Nepal also signed a memorandum of understanding on anti-money laundering and anti-

terrorism cooperation.

o PBOC (People's Bank of China) Governor: Zhou Xiaochuan,

Currency: Yuan.

o Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB): Yubaraj Khatiwada,

Currency: Rupee.

December 29

Delhi has become the First City to achieve 100 per cent enrolment under Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojana

(PMJDY).

Bank accounts of more than 31.63 lakh families have been opened under the scheme in the national

capital.

All th B t



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