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Current Affairs

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December 2014

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December Month Current Affairs

NATIONAL 1. India's Modi vows to halt illegal immigrants from

Bangladesh - dec 1

i. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi stepped up

against illegal immigration from Bangladesh,

vowing to halt the unauthorized flow of citizens

from the neighboring country into the northeastern

state of Assam.

2. Modi dedicates Tripura power plant to nation

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the

nation the second unit of the 726 MW gas-based

power plant at Palatana in Tripura and added

India now has capacity to export power and is

ready to sell power to neighbouring Bangladesh

3. Prime Minister‟s Office (PMO) refuses to share

Netaji files

i. Government has refused to make the files on

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose public, in response to

an RTI application filed by activist Subhash

Chandra Agrawal

4. Haryana has the highest number of gender-

critical districts

High-level panel counsels caution on GM food

crops

i. The government-appointed High Level

Committee (HLC) to review environmental laws

and HLC has a new proposed law called the

Environment Laws (Management) Act (ELMA)

ii. It also sounded a note of caution on genetically

modified (GM) food crops

5. Agni-IV launch successful –Dec 2

i. India has successfully test-fired Agni-IV strategic

missile with a covering range of 4,000 km from the

Wheeler Island, off the Odisha Coast.

6. France expressed desire to be part of „Make in

India‟

i. French Defence Minister Yves Le Drian has

expressed the desire of France to be part of the

―Make in India‖ initiative

7. India votes against UNGA resolution on nuclear

weapons – Dec 3

i. India, along with the US and Pakistan, has voted

against a provision in a UN resolution calling on to

"promptly" accede to the NPT (non-proliferation

treaty) as non-nuclear- weapon nation "without

conditions" and to place all its nuclear facilities

under ( IAEA) International Atomic Energy Agency

safeguards

8. Sailing to Agra on Yamuna to be reality soon

i.People will soon be able to go to Agra sailing on

the Yamuna

ii. The Netherlands government has agreed to

come out with a technical report for the project

which includes specifications regarding

construction of barrages and two water-terminals

at both ends of Yamuna

9. Anil Sinha appointed as new CBI Chief

i. Anil Kumar Sinha assumed the charge as Director

of the CBI

ii. Mr. Sinha is the third consecutive chief of the

agency from Bihar following Ranjit Sinha and A.P.

Singh

10. Bhopal gas tragedy anniversary is Dec 3

i. The 30th anniversary of one of the worst industrial

disasters of the world caused by Union Carbide of

Dow Chemicals in Bhopal , was held today

11. LIC union appeals against FDI hike in insurance

i. The government prepares to introduce

amendments to the Insurance Act and the All-

India LIC Employees Federation (AILEF) has

appealed to the Members of Parliament not to

raise the foreign direct investment limit in the

sector beyond the current 26 per cent

12. Bill to repeal 90 Acts introduced in Lok Sabha –

Dec 4

i. Law Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda introduced

The Repealing and Amending (Second) Bill, 2014,

which seeks to remove certain Amendment Acts




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ii. This is the first time since 2001 that such an

exercise is being undertaken by the Law Ministry

iii. The Amendment Acts which are sought to be

repealed include the Salary, Allowances and

Pension of Members of Parliament (Amendment)

Act, 2010, The Supreme Court (Number of Judges)

Amendment Act, 2008, The Wakf (Amendment)

Act, 2013 and the Banking Laws (Amendment)

Act, 2012

iv. Over a hundred Acts have been repealed

between 1950 and 2001

13. India‟s 43rd Navy Day

i. India on December 4 celebrated 43rd Navy Day,

with Chief of Naval staff Admiral Robin K Dhowan,

Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha and Army Chief Lt

General Dalbir Singh Suhag

14. Cabinet clears changes to Companies Act

i. The government, cleared a slew of changes to

Companies Act

ii. The changes are expected to improve India‘s

global ranking from a very low 142nd position in

the latest World Bank report

15. Wipro's Premji gets Swiss Ambassador's Award

i. Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Ltd has received

the 'Swiss Ambassador's Award for inspirational and

socially responsible leadership

ii. Swiss Ambassador to India is Dr. Linus von

Castelmur

16. End of the road for Delhi's old cars

i. The National Green Tribunal has banned all

vehicles older than 15 years from the streets of the

capital, New Delhi

ii. World Health Organization study of 1,600 cities

released in May found India's capital had the

world's dirtiest air

17. Kumar P Barve the first Indian-American to be

elected to a US state legislature – Dec 5

i. Kumar P Barve, the first Indian-American to be

elected to a US state legislature, is set to lead a

new House panel in Maryland.

18. Don't replace Mahatma Gandhi on banknotes:

RBI panel

i. A Reserve Bank panel has decided against the

inclusion of any other national leader's image on

banknotes

ii. RBI had constituted a Committee for designing

future currency note in October 2010

19. No more subsidised kerosene through PDS

i. The Centre plans to provide subsidised kerosene

only to un-electrified households.

ii. States which have achieved near 100 per cent

electrification will be incentivised to become

kerosene-free

iii. Un-electrified households will be given the

choice between cash subsidy in lieu of kerosene

allocation and upfront subsidy for greener solar

lighting systems

20. PM Narendra Modi named Asian of the Year by

Singapore daily

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was named " Asian

of the Year" for being development-focused

leader of India by editors of Singapore's leading

daily, The Straits Times.

21. Meghalaya finally on India's railway map

i. Meghalaya was recently added to the country's

railway map with Prime Minister Narendra Modi

flagging off a first passenger to the northeastern

state

ii. Meghalaya, which was the only state among

the seven sisters of the Northeast not having any

railway line

22. India sends aircraft, vessels to resolve water

crisis in Male

i. The Maldivian capital faced an acute water crisis

after a fire in the city's water treatment plant

ii. India sent an IAF transport aircraft and naval

vessels carrying a large consignment of water to

meet the immediate requirement of over 100,000

people

23. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar 58th death

anniversary –Dec 6

i. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, who died Dec 6, 1956

was independent India‘s first law minister and the

principal architect of the Constitution of India.




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ii. In 1990, Ambedkar was posthumously conferred

the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of

India.

iii. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar death anniversary on

Dec 6 is observed as ‗Mahaparinirvan Din‘

24. Frontline magazine has been selected as the

„Most Promising Brand of the Year‟

i. Frontline magazine of The Hindu Group has been

selected as the ‗Most Promising Brand of the Year‘

in the Media & Entertainment (English Magazines,

India) category by the World Brands Review

Corporation, a Noida-based branding

organisation

ii. The award will be presented at the World Brands

Summit 2014 to be held in Dubai

25. World Bank Group experts Team in India

i. World Bank Group experts Team in India on Prime

Minister Narendra Modi‘s request

ii. World Bank president is Jim Yong Kim

iii. India's is at 142among 189 countries ranked for

doing Business, down from 140 last year

iv. Sylvia Solf is the Global Product Lead of

Indicator-based Reform Advisory of the World Bank

Group‘s Trade & Competitiveness Practice

26. Women-centric reports win IPI Award

i. Hindustan Times and The Week were presented

the International Press Institute — India Award by

Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar

27. Indians top list of new migrants in Australia

i. Indians have topped the list of new migrants in

Australia with over 40,000 applying to migrate

during 2012-13, according the statistics from the

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and

Development

28. Bangalore and Chennai have joined the 100

Resilient Cities network –Dec 7

i. Bangalore and Chennai have joined the 100

Resilient Cities network

ii. The two Indian cities were chosen among 331

applications from cities around the world for 100

RC network, pioneered by the Rockefeller

Foundation, New York.

iii. African Development Bank President is Donald

Kaberuk

iv. President and CEO of the Asia Society is Josette

Sheeran

29. Isro‟s communication satellite GSAT-16

launched

i. India's communication satellite GSAT-16 was

successfully launched by the Ariane-5 launch

vehicle VA221 of Arianespace from Kourou, French

Guiana

ii. It is configured to carry a total of 48

communication transponders, the largest number

of transponders carried by a communication

satellite developed by ISRO so far, Isro chairman Dr

K Radhakrishnan told

30. 2nd Lok Adalat settles 1.25 crore cases in a day

i. The Second National Lok Adalat held across the

country on Dec 6 organised by the National Legal

Service Authority (NALSA) has reduced backlog by

about nine percent in all the States

31. Modi looks to Bihar for future of farming – Dec 8

i. India produces 23-24 million tonnes of corn, with

Bihar accounting for nearly 3 million tonnes

ii. The daily corn arrival in the Gulab Bagh mandi is

around 5,000 tonnes a day

iii. NCDEX last year launched a new contract

setting Bihar's Gulab Bagh as a delivery centre

iv. Amit Sachdev, is the India representative of the

U.S. Grains Council

32. Wi-Fi service launched at New Delhi railway

station

i. Wi-Fi service has been launched at New Delhi

station

ii. The project is being implemented by RailTel, a

railway PSU

33. Old laptop batteries could power slums in India

i. Discarded laptop batteries still have enough life

in them to power slums in India and other

developing countries, a new study by IBM India

has found

34. Karnataka launches country's first multi-mode

mobile governance –Dec 9




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i. President Pranab Mukherjee launched what is

considered the country's first and the world's

largest multi-mode mobile governance platform

with over 4,500 services called 'Karnataka

MobileOne'

ii. It is a unified mobile platform for delivery of

citizens' services

iii. The Karnataka Mobile One platform services will

be availed even on simple low-end phones

through integrated voice response (IVR), SMS or

Mobile Web

iv. Karnataka Governor is Vajubhai Vala and Chief

Minister is Siddaramaiah

35. Singapore to design master plan for Andhra's

new capital

i. The Governments of Singapore and Andhra

Pradesh signed a memorandum of understanding

under which the former will design a master plan

for building the state's new capital near

Vijayawada

ii. A joint working group of the two governments, to

be co- chaired by Chief Minister N Chandrababu

Naidu and Singapore's second Minister for Trade

and Industry S Iswaran, is being set up

36. Sonia Gandhi doesn‟t celebrate her birthday

i. Sonia Gandhi, who turned 68, has decided not to

celebrate her birthday in view of terror and Naxal

attacks in Jammu and Kashmir and Chhattisgarh

respectively.

37. Radio taxis like Uber banned in Delhi

i. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs is considering

issuing an advisory to all states to ban cab-booking

services like Uber, after six radio taxis were banned

in Delhi

38. Will help India down clean energy path: World

Bank chief Jim Yong Kim

The World Bank will do everything it can to help

India achieve the goal of clean energy to all,

President of the international financial institution

Jim Yong Kim has said.

39. Tribute paid to 1.5 million Indian soldiers who

fought in World War I – Dec 10

i. India has paid tribute to the 1.5 million Indian

soldiers in the UK who fought along with British

troops during the World War I.

ii. India's High Commissioner to the UK, Ranjan

Mathai spoke at a World War 1 commemorative

event held at the Gandhi Hall of the Indian High

Commission on Dec 9

40. Uber gets blaclklisted in Delhi

i. Uber has been banned and blacklisted from

operating in the city by Delhi government

41. Central government to decriminalise attempt to

commit suicide

i. The Home Ministry has informed Parliament that

attempt to suicide will no longer be treated as a

criminal offence

42. Special Assam tea to be served at the grand

Nobel Prize banquet

i. For the first time, the Nobel Museum Tea Blend,

created in honour of the scientist and Nobel

creator Alfred Nobel, will form a part of the Nobel

Banquet.

ii. The blend is made of Assam and Chinese

Keemun tea

iii. The Nobel Museum Tea Blend was created in

collaboration with tea specialist Vernon Mauris

and is also sold exclusively at the Nobel Museum

iv. Assam produces about 620 million kg of tea

annually which is around 52 per cent of India's

total tea output

v. Assam Chief Minister is Tarun Gogoi

vi. The Assam government has already declared

tea as the state‘s official state drink

43. Cadila launches first cheaper copy of world‟s

top-selling drug

i. Drugmaker Cadila Healthcare Ltd said 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 U.S. price

ii. The company will launch its version under the

name Exemptia




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44. Richard Rahul Verma to be US Ambassador to

India

i. Richard Rahul Verma Verma, 46, is the first Indian-

American to be the US Ambassador to India

ii. The US Embassy in New Delhi is currently headed

by a charge d'affaires, Kathleen Stephens

45. Bhutan, not India was first to recognise

Bangladesh

i. Foreign Secretary of the Government of

Bagladesh M Shahidul Haque told Bhutan and not

India was the first to recognise Bangladesh as an

independent nation

46. Cabinet approves Insurance Bill –Dec 11

i. Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Select Committee

Chandan Mitra tabled the report on the Insurance

Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2008, recommending a

hike in FDI in insurance sector from 26 to 49 per

cent

47. Wi-Fi-enabled public spaces soon

i. Discussions are under way to provide free Wi-Fi in

public places such as railway stations, museums

and airports under the Digital India programme

48. Gas customers can get mini 5-kg cylinder at

subsidised rate

i. Gas customers can get mini 5-kg cylinder at

subsidised rate

ii. Consumers can avail of 34 cylinders of 5-kg in a

year at subsidised rates

49. Russia to stay India's top defence partner

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi told President

Vladimir Putin that Russia will remain India's top

defence supplier

50. Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh and

Telangana ban app-based taxis

US may include Gujarati language in visa process

i. The United States may include Gujarati language

in its visa procedure for the convenience of

people from the state planning to travel there , US

consulate's vice consul Cheryl Collins said,

according to a release issued here by Travel

Agents Association of India's (TAAI) Saurashtra

Chapter

51. Delhi is planning to acquire Unmanned Aerial

Vehicles (UAVs) from America.

i. This is a part of the Indo-US Defence Technology

and Trade Initiative (DTTI)

ii. Appointment of Ashton Carter as US Defence

Secretary is considered to be good news for DTTI

since It was Carter who as Deputy Defence

Secretary initiated DTTI

52. US said it is not involved in any agreement on

climate with India

i. India is a ―very important player‖ in the climate

change negotiations and no agreement has been

involved on climate with India, the US said

53. Crimean leader in New Delhi during Vladimir

Putin visit

i. Sergey Aksyonov , The leader of Crimea, the

former Ukrainian territory annexed by Russia,

arrived for unofficial talks in New Delhi to sign a

memorandum with a business group called the

Indian-Crimean Partnership chaired Gul Kripalani,

a seafood merchant

ii. India‘s Ministry of External Affairs said it was not

officially aware of the Crimean visit and that

Aksyonov was not a member of Putin‘s

delegation.

54. India ranks last among BRICS nations web

Index

i. India ranks behind China and other BRICS nations

in a comprehensive index aimed at measuring the

Internet‘s contribution to social, economic and

political progress.

ii. India ranks 48 in Web index rank

iii. Sir Tim Berners-Lee is the inventor of the World

Wide Web

55. Putin arrived in India;Talks on nuclear reactors

i. Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in India as

a 24-hour visit for the annual bilateral summit

ii. Russia's state-owned Rosatom said it would

supply 12 nuclear energy reactors for India over 20

years, under an agreement

iii. President Vladimir Putin had been pushing

for Rosatom to increase the number of reactors it

could supply to as many as 25.




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iv. Indian officials say that a total of six reactors will

be built at Kudankulam

56. INS Kolkata to fire long range missile in 2015 –

Dec 12 &13

i. Stealth destroyer INS Kolkata , the largest warship

built in India, will fire a long-range surface-to-air

missile (LR-SAM) in 2015

ii. The vertical launch units of the LR-SAM are also

called Barak 8

iii. The MF-STAR [multifunction surveillance and

threat alert radar] guides the missiles

iv. It is jointly developed by the Israeli Aerospace

Industry and the Defence Research and

Development Organisation (DRDO)

57. „U.P. tops in attacks on journalists‟

i. Uttar Pradesh accounted for 72 per cent of the

total cases relating to attacks on journalists in the

country this year, according to the National Crime

Records Bureau (NCRB)

ii. Bihar came in second with 8 cases and the

highest number of arrests was made in Madhya

Pradesh

58. The Russian Direct Investment Fund to team up

with an Indian partner

i. The Russian Direct Investment Fund will team up

with an Indian partner to invest $1 billion in

infrastructure and hydroelectric projects in Asia's

third-largest economy

ii. Russia and India have agreed to assemble 400

twin-engined helicopters a year in India, Deputy

Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said

59. Molecular studies on spices from Pattanam site

i. Spices Board has initiated procedures to assist

research studies on archeobotanical samples of

spices received from the Pattanam

site exacavations

ii. The Pattanam excavations are aimed at

unveiling evidence on life patterns that existed in

the area from the iron age to the present

iii. Molecular marker studies can reveal the genetic

makeup of organisms

60. Bio-incubator launched

i. An incubator for biotechnology start-ups was

launched at IIT-M Research Park set up with a Rs.

12 crore fund from the Biotechnology Industry

Research Assistance Council (BIRAC)

61. Arsenic contamination in ground water – Dec

13

i. Arsenic contamination in groundwater has

affected nearly 70 million people in 86 districts

across 10 States

ii. Dr. Joshi tabled the first report of the Committee

on Estimates on ‗Occurrence of High Arsenic

Content in Ground Water‘ in the Lok Sabha

iii. West Bengal is the affected worst and some

other states affected are Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand,

Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Karnataka, Manipur,

Punjab and U.P

62. India extends price caps to 52 more essential

drugs

i. India has extended price caps to 52 drugs

deemed essential by the government

ii. Indian law allows the National Pharmaceutical

Pricing Authority (NPPA) regulator to fix prices of

drugs on a list of essential medicines

63. Indians in HSBC list hold Rs. 4,479 crore black

money

i. India had received the list of 628 Indians who

hold accounts in HSBC‘s Geneva branch from the

French government

ii. There are 427 actionable cases that collectively

hold a sum of Rs 4,479 crore

iii. The Income Tax Department initiated action

against 79 of the account holders. The disclosure is

as per the direction of Special Investigation Team

(SIT)

64. U.S. upset at India-Russia deals

i. The US cautioned that it was not the right time to

have trade deals with Moscow because of a series

of international sanctions against it

ii. President Putin and PM Modi said ―India and

Russia oppose economic sanctions that do not

have the approval of the United Nations Security

Council.‖




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iii. The Russian Consul-General in Mumbai is Alexey

Novikov

65. Jairam Ramesh to serve as a member of the

International Advisory Board (IAB) – Dec 14

i. Former Union minister JairamRamesh has

accepted the offer to serve as a member of the

International Advisory Board (IAB) which gives

strategic policy advice to the Executive Director of

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on

the programmatic direction of International

Environmental Technology Centre (IETC)

ii. The IETC is based in Osaka, Japan

66. Ministry to add lightning to the list of notified

disasters

i. The Ministry has moved a proposal to the 14th

Finance Commission, suggesting inclusion of

lightning in the list of notified disasters eligible for

assistance from national and state disaster relief

funds

67. “Kalpana Chawla Medical University “ to be

setup by Haryana government

i. The Haryana government has decided to set up

the largest medical university ―Kalpana Chawla

Medical University ―in Karnal, the home town of

famous U.S. astronaut Kalpana Chawla

68. Dineshwar Sharma new IB chief

i. Dineshwar Sharma, a Bihar-born, Kerala-cadre

Indian Police Service officer of the 1979 batch, will

be the new chief of the Intelligence Bureau.

69. Modi pays tribute to martyrs of Dec 13, 2001

Parliament attack

Modi wants 'drug-free India'

i. Voicing concern over the "devastating" drug

addiction menace, Prime Minister Narendra Modi

said society as well as the government will have to

work together to fight this problem and that a

helpline would be set up soon to assist those

seeking solutions

70. India to provide software, mirrors for largest-

ever telescope

i. India will provide software, vital mirrors and

control systems to build the "largest-ever"

telescope ,‖ The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) ―

which will be located just below the summit of

Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii

71. Modi pays tributes to Patel on his death

anniversary – Dec15

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to the

country‘s first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai

Patel , Known as the ‗Iron Man‘ of India, on his

death anniversary

72. Mosquito coils, incense sticks contain

carcinogens

i. Inhaling smoke emitted by mosquito coils and

incense sticks is not only harmful to the lungs, but

can also cause cancer

ii. The 48th National Conference of Indian College

of Allergy, Asthma and Applied Immunology was

held at JSS Hospital

iii. Burning one mosquito coil in a closed room

amounts to smoking roughly 100 cigarettes

73. Good Governance Day on Dec 25

i. The birthday of Mr. Vajpayee and Madan Mohan

Malviya will be celebrated as ‗Good Governance

Day‘ on December 25

ii. Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya was the

President of the Indian National Congress on two

occasions

iii. He founded the Asia‘s largest residential

university - Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Scouting

in India and an English-newspaper, The Leader

74. INS Arihant launched in 2009 is the first in the

series of nuclear-powered ballistic submarines

being manufactured indigenously

Government launches Rashtriya Gokul Mission for

indigenous cattle –Dec 16

i. To conserve and develop indigenous bovine

breeds, government has launched 'Rashtriya

Gokul Mission' under the National Programme for

Bovine Breeding and Dairy Development (NPBBD).

ii. The scheme has two components – National

Programme for Bovine Breeding and National

Programme for Dairy Development




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75. India 3rd on black money list

i. India is third globally for black money stashed

abroad with an estimated USD 94.76 billion (nearly

Rs 6 lakh crore) illicit wealth outflows in 2012.

ii. China is on the top with USD 249.57 billion,

followed by Russia with USD 122.86 billion in terms

of the quantum of black money moving out of a

country for 2012

76. 45th anniversary of 1971 Indo-Pak War

i. It is the 45th anniversary of the gory 1971 war

between India and Pakistan which led to the

liberation of Bangladesh

77. E-rickshaws to ply Kolkata streets soon

i. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has

come up with a plan to upgrade the hand pulled

rickshaw vehicle to a battery powered variant

following the ban of rickshaw transport in this city

ii. Parliament cleared an amendment to the Motor

Vehicles Act, 1988, to include provisions for e-

rickshaws paving the way to lift the ongoing ban

on e-rickshaws in Delhi NCR as well as other

regions.

iii. They are Termed green rickshaws

78. India bans Islamic State

i. India declared a ban on Islamic State

ii. India has the world's third-largest population of

Muslims

79. US Senate approves Vivek Murthy as new

surgeon general

i. 37-year-old Indian-American Vivek Murthy has

become the youngest-ever US Surgeon General

after being confirmed by the Senate

ii. Murthy has been endorsed by over 100 health

organisations

iii. Congressman Ami Bera, is the only Indian-

American lawmaker in the current Congress

80. Modi missed to be as the “Person Of the Year”

in Times –Dec 17

i. Time's editors have decided to give the Time

magazine‘s Person of the Year cover to Ebola

workers instead of PM Narendra Modi

81. Planning Commission to be closed and

replaced

i. Planning Commission is to be replaced with a

new-age institution in the New Year

ii. It has commissioned 12 five-year plans and six

annual plans involving fund outlays of over Rs 200

lakh crore in its 65-year-history

iii. The Plan Panel, as it is commonly known as, was

set up by a simple government resolution in March

1950

82. Gujarat‟s Dharmaj village has over Rs 1,000

crore in NRI deposits

i. The tiny Dharmaj village in Anand district, , has a

population of only 11,333 but has as many as 13

banks.

ii. NRIs in this village have been depositing money

in banks and post offices and today it has grown

to over Rs 1,000 crore, making it one of the richest

villages in the country and with the highest NRI

deposits

83. Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana: No fresh

account needed to get benefits of scheme

i. Government said persons already having bank

account need not open a fresh one to avail

benefits of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana

(PMJDY)

ii. He/she will just have to get issued a RuPay card

in his existing account to get benefit of accidental

insurance," a Finance Ministry statement said

84. Government launches 'Clean India, Green

India' calender

i. ‗Clean India Green India‘ is the theme of the

Indian government‘s calendar for 2015 that was

released by Information and Broadcasting Minister

Arun Jaitley, who also launched a mobile app to

download its digital version.

ii. This year‘s calendar release has converged two

of the government programmes in one —

Swachch Bharat and Digital India.

85. Honour for DRDO centre chief

i. G. Satheesh Reddy, Director, Research Centre

Imarat (RCI), was given the Honorary Fellowship of

the Computer Society of India (CSI) during its

annual convention and golden jubilee

celebrations




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ii. The RCI is an important missile-making complex

of the Defence Research and Development

Organisation

86. Chennai drawing up rules to allow app-based

taxi aggregators to operate

i. Transport authorities in Chennai have drawn up

the contours of a new regulatory regime for the

taxi business that will make Chennai the first city to

implement a new regulatory regime for taxi

aggregators such as Uber and Olacabs

87. Plaint against Google over map

i. The Survey of India has filed a police complaint

here against Google for ―wrong depiction‖ of

India‘s map

88. Film on Vidarbha cotton farmers makes it to

Oscar long-list

i. 'Kapus Kondyachi Goshta' (The Unending Story),

directed by Mrunalini Bhosale, made it to the

contention list in the ‗Best Picture‘ category of the

87th Academy Awards, popularly called the

Oscars

89. PETA India names ex-SC judge „Man of the

Year‟

i. Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez and

former Supreme Court judge KS Radhakrishnan

have been given PETA India‘s People of the Year

award for their contribution towards the protection

of animals

ii. The animal rights organisation named Ms.

Fernandez as ‗Woman of the Year‘ and justice

(retd) Radhakrishnan as ‗Man of the Year‘

iii. PETA U.K. director is Mimi Bekhechi

90. Consult SC before appointing CVC – Dec 18

i. The Supreme Court told the government to

consult it before appointing the Central Vigilance

Commissioner and Vigilance Commissioner

ii. The hearing was on a PIL filed by NGO Centre for

Integrity, Governance and Training in Vigilance

Administration that the government had not given

wide publicity to the vacancies in the top anti-

corruption body after the completion of tenure of

then CVC Pradip Kumar and then VC J.M. Garg

iii. The petition had said that for being appointed

as the CVC or a Vigilance Commissioner, a

candidate must have experience in the area as

provided in the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, 2013

91. HAL has been conferred the PSE Excellence

Award 2014

i. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has been

conferred the PSE Excellence Award 2014 for

‗Corporate Governance & Innovation in Business‘

by the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) at the

5th Summit on ―India: Public Sector Agenda‖

92. The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC)

approved new deals

i. The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired

by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, approved

deals estimated at about Rs. 4,400 crore but

deferred a decision on an Avro aircraft

replacement for the Indian Air Force

ii. It approved upgrade of Army‘s ‗Samyukta‘

electronic warfare system by Bharat Electronic

Limited (BEL) and life extension of the airbags on

the Army‘s P-7 platforms by the Aerial Delivery

Research & Development Establishment (ADRDE)

lab in Agra

93. India takes first step towards manned space

mission

i. ISRO successfully tests the atmospheric re-entry of

a crew module, CARE (Crew Module Atmospheric

Re-entry Experiment) after its heaviest launch

vehicle GSLV Mark-III (LVM 3Xmission ) blasts off

from Satish Dhawan Space Centre , Sriharikota

ii. The crew module splashed down in Bay of

Bengal and the module would be tracked by

Indian Coast Guard ships and then taken to

Kamarajar Port in Ennore near Chennai, from

where it would be shifted to Vikram Sarabhai

Space Centre at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala

iii. A heavy duty cryogenic engine is still under

development in one of the ISRO labs at

Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu

iv. ISRO's commercial arm Antrix Corporation

Limited.




11

94. Indians will now be able to sit for US CPA Exam

in Middle East

i. Indian citizens will now be able to appear for the

uniform Certified Public Accountants (CPA)

examination, the only licenced qualification for

accounting in the Middle East.

ii. The announcement was made by the American

Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA),

National Association of State Boards of

Accountancy (NASBA) and Prometric.

iii. Michael Decker, is AICPA Vice President of

Exams.

iv. NASBA‘s Executive Vice President and Chief

Operating Officer is Colleen K Conrad

95. India ranks 93rd in Forbes' list of best nations for

business – Dec 19

i. India ranked 93rd out of 146 nations, in Forbes' list

of best nations for business

ii. The US ranks 18th in the Forbes list, down four

spots from last year

iii. India ranked 122 on the trade freedom index,

135 in monetary freedom, 120 in technology, 122 in

tax burden and 128 in red tape.

iv. It fared well on the market performance index,

ranking third, and 7th on investor protection. It

ranked 78th on the corruption parameter and 55

on property rights.

v. Denmark topped Forbes' 9th annual ranking of

the Best Countries for Business, followed by Hong

Kong, New Zealand, Ireland and Sweden

vi. Forbes determined the Best Countries for

Business by grading 146 nations on 11 different

factors

96. IVRCL to exit Chennai Water Desalination

i. IVRCL Signs binding pact to sell stake in Chennai

Water Desalination Ltd (CWDL) to Dubai‘s Utico

ii. A joint venture between IVRCL and Befesa Aqua

of Spain, CWDL is a 100-million litre a day seawater

desalination project, located in Minjur, near

Chennai

97. Richard Verma to be sworn-in as US

Ambassador to India

i. Richard Rahul Verma will be sworn-in as US

Ambassador to India, becoming the first Indian-

American to hold the post

98. Surat partners with Microsoft to become a

Smart City

i. Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) and Microsoft

India have announced their partnership to

transform Surat into a smart city.

99. e-SamikSha: A new digital monitor for

bureaucracy to rein in slackers

i. Modi Sarkar has launched a brand new digital

platform — called e-SamikSha — that allows

sarkar's top bosses a real-time clear view of intra

and inter-departmental file movements

ii. Developed by the cabinet secretariat with

technical support from the National Informatics

Centre (NIC), e-SamikSha — the second 'S' in

uppercase is how it's officially written

iii. e-SamikSha is both a project monitoring system

as well as an audit trail of the bureaucracy's

efficiency.

iv. Every task is assigned four status descriptors -

Not Started, Under Implementation, Implemented

and No Further Action Required

v. The PM navigates through e-SamikSha via a

digital dashboard that has customised drop-down

windows - each allowing him to see progress in

different areas

vi. "Aasaan hai - Shuru to Karein" (It's easy - let's at

least start) and "Monitor, Follow Up, Action" are the

taglines assigned by the government to e-

SamikSha

vii. The software application that runs the system is

hosted at NIC's National Data Centre in Delhi.

viii. The human resources ministry has its own twist

to e-SamikSha, calling it HRD-SamikSha

100. Housing for all scheme –Dec 20

i. The Centre has assured of Housing for All by 2022

under the Sardar Patel National Mission for Urban

Housing, but it is reviewing the earlier model of this

flagship programme, then known as the Rajiv

Awas Yojana (RAY)




12

101. India tests glide bomb

i. A 1000-kg ―glide bomb‖, designed and

developed by the Defence Research and

Development Organisation (DRDO), was

successfully tested

102. Pranab hands over war recordings to

Bangladeshi counterpart

i. President Pranab Mukherjee handed over the

recordings of transmissions made by All India Radio

and Doordarshan during the Liberation War of

1971 to Bangladeshi President Abdul Hamid

103. 8.75% interest on PF for 2014-15

i. Over five crore provident fund subscribers

governed by the EPFO will get 8.75 per cent

interest on their deposits for the current fiscal

104. India exports first warship; delivers patrol

vessel to Mauritius

i. By delivering an offshore patrol vessel to

Mauritius, India exported its first warship

ii. Defence PSU Garden Reach Shipbuilders and

Engineers Limited ( GRSE) in Kolkata,built the $58.5

million 'CGS Barracuda'

iii. Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh

said it as a red-letter day in the history of ship-

building in India

105. Google plans to open own campus in

Hyderabad –Dec 21

i. Internet giant Google plans to open its own

"permanent and big" campus in Hyderabad and is

set to sign an MoU with Telangana government

shortly to take up the venture

ii. It will be the third campus they will have after

the US and the UK

iii. Telangana IT, Electronics and Communications

Secretary is Harpreet Singh

106. India looks to sway Americans with nuclear

power insurance plan

i. India is offering to set up an insurance pool to

indemnify global nuclear suppliers against liability

in the case of a nuclear accident

ii. R.K. Sinha is the Chairman of India's Atomic

Energy Commission

iii. State-run reinsurer GIC Re is preparing a

proposal to build a "nuclear insurance pool"

107. RAW, CRPF get new chiefs

i. Rajinder Khanna will be the new chief of the

Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India‘s external

intelligence agency

ii. Prakash Mishra, Special Secretary (Internal

Security) in the Union Home Ministry, will be the

new Director-General of the Central Reserve

Police Force (CRPF)

iii. Alok Joshi, retires as RAW chief on December 31

108. NSDA shortlists 5 proposals for skills

development – Dec 22

i. The National Skill Development Agency has

received 129 proposals and shortlisted five namely,

I-Saksham: an innovative education delivery

model ; Learn and Earn Model: a self-financing

training model; Urban Micro Business Centre: an

entrepreneurship and livelihood hub for slum

communities; Learning Kit: for training in the

construction sector; and a Welding Simulator

ii. NSDA is an autonomous body under the Ministry

of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship

iii. The Committee is headed by S Ramadorai,

Chairman of National Skill Development Agency

as well as the National Skill Development

Corporation (NSDC)

109. Prakash Mishra takes over as CRPF DG

i. Prakash Mishra took over as the new chief of

country‘s largest paramilitary and lead anti-Naxal

operations force CRPF

110. Pravasi Bharatiya Divas conference in Gujarat

i. The government‘s plans to hold the Pravasi

Bharatiya Divas conference for overseas Indians in

Gujarat, along with the Gujarat government‘s big

investor summit, Vibrant Gujarat

ii. Gujarat Chief Minister is Anandiben Patel

111. Only 17% have health insurance cover

i. Only 21.62 crore people, or 17 per cent of the

total population, were covered by health

insurance at the end of March 2014




13

ii. The estimate, prepared by the Insurance

Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is

sharply lower than that of the World Bank

112. Govt proposes to increase wage ceiling for

ESIC

i. Government proposes to increase wage ceiling

for availing Employees‘ State Insurance

Corporation (ESIC) benefits under the ESI Act after

improving medical services

113. The first prototype (NP1) of Naval Light

Combat Aircraft (LCA) test successful – Dec 23

i. The first prototype (NP1) of Naval Light Combat

Aircraft (LCA), the first indigenously designed and

developed 4th plus generation combat aircraft

designed to operate from the decks of air-craft

carriers, had a successful first flight from ski-jump

facility of shore-based test facility at INS Hansa in

Goa.

ii. Piloted by Commodore Jaideep Maolankar, the

Chief Test Pilot of National Flight Test Centre, the

aircraft had a perfect flight

114. 3 sites shortlisted for new secretariat in delhi –

Dec 23

i. Government has chosen locations in central

Delhi to build a massive new secretariat

ii. The identified localities fall in Lodhi Estate,

Pragati Maidan and its surrounding areas, and

Sunehri Bagh region near Udyog Bhawan

115. Nathuram Godse‟s account of Bapu

assassination goes for reprint

i. A revised English translation of the book "Why I

Assassinated Gandhi" authored by Gopal Godse

and containing Nathuram Vinayak Godse's

statement at his trial along with the judgment and

his will, is now heading for a reprint, according to

publisher

ii. Virender Mehra, who has compiled and edited

the book published by Delhi-based Farsight

Publishers and Distributors

iii. On January 30, 1948, Nathuram Godse shot to

death Mahatma Gandhi

iv.First penned in Marathi, the book was printed in

Hindi in 1970 and in English in 1993 by Delhi-based

Surya Bharti Prakashan

116. Government plans to have all cabinet files in

electronic format from January – Dec 24

i. In a step towards creating a paperless office for

achieving better governance, the government

plans to have all cabinet files in electronic format

from January 2015 onwards.

117. Atal Bihari Vajpayee & Madan Mohan Malviya

to get Bharat Ratna award

i. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and

educationist Madan Mohan Malviya were chosen

for the country's highest civilian award Bharat

Ratna

ii. The announcement came ahead of Vajpayee's

90th birthday on Dec 25

118. Jharkhand Assembly election results: BJP,

allies set to form government in Jharkhand

i. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which is all set

to form the government in Jharkhand though

technically it will still be a minority government

ii. BJP National Vice-president Raghubar Das won

Jamshedpur East

iii. BJP and its ally All Jharkhand Students Union

Party (AJSU) have won 41 seats

iv. Marandi, Jharkhand's first chief minister, lost from

both Dhanwar and Giridih

v. Chief Minister Hemant Soren from Jharkhand

Mukti Morcha (JMM) won Barhait seat

119. Mobile monitoring system for MGNREGA

i. The Union Ministry of Rural Development is likely

to introduce a Mobile Monitoring System for

effective implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act

(MGNREGA)

ii. The monitoring system will be introduced on a

pilot basis to allow real time monitoring of all works,

workers attendance and work site measurement

120. Two new plans inaugurated by PM Modi – Dec

25 & 26

i. Madan Mohan Malviya National Mission on

Teachers and Teaching was launched by the PM




14

to mark the birth anniversary of founder of Banaras

Hindu University, Madan Mohan Malviya

ii. 'Varanasi Mahotsav' that would revive local

crafts and help local artisans was also launched

iii. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also ruled out any

plans to privatise Indian Railways

121. First successful Recovery of test fired weapons

in underwater successfully done

i. Naval Science and Technological Laboratory,

with assistance from the National Institute of

Ocean Technology (NIOT), has achieved the task

of retrieving torpedoes and other underwater

weapons embedded in the sea

ii. NSTL took up a three-day joint mission with NIOT

of Chennai off the coast of Visakhapatnam

iii. Ocean research vessel Sagar Nidhi and deep

sea Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) of NIOT

which was fitted with a special grabber system

was designed by NSTL

iv. Director of NSTL is C.D. Malleswar and Director

of NIOT is M.A. Atmanand

v. Director General Naval Systems and Materials

(NS & M) of DRDO is V. Bhujanga Rao

vi. Scientific Advisor to Defence Ministry and DG of

DRDO is Avinash Chander

vii. Secretary to the Ministry of Earth Sciences is

Shailesh Nayak

122. Snapdeal, India Post partners to bring weavers

online

i. Snapdeal has partnered India Post to jointly work

on bringing thousands of weavers and artisans

from Varanasi through its website

ii. India Post had partnered with Snapdeal to reach

out to the philatelists to offer stamps priced

between Rs 300 and Rs 5,500

iii. India Post is world‘s most widely distributed

postal system

123. DRDO conducts maiden test-flight of Panchi

i. Panchi, the wheeled version of the unmanned

aerial vehicle (UAV) Nishant, capable of taking off

from and landing on small airstrips, had its maiden

flight

ii. Panchi was designed and developed by the

Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), a

Defence Research and Development

Organisation (DRDO) facility at Bengaluru

iii. K. Tamilmani is the Director-General

(Aeronautical Systems) of the DRDO

iv. Anil Kumar Agarwal is the Project Director of

Panchi

124. NOTA votes high in reserved seats

i. None Of The Above (NOTA) votes were cast in

reserved seats than in general seats in the States,

data showed

125. Government to set up Consumer Care Centres

in major cities soon

i. The government is in the process of setting up

Consumer Care Centres ( Grahak Suvidha

Kendras) to provide counselling to consumers for

redressal of their grievances and assist them in

registering their complaints in the appropriate

consumer for a

ii. The Centres will be set up at New Delhi,

Lucknow, Chandigarh, Bangalore, Chennai,

Hyderabad, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Pune,

Bhubaneswar, Patna, Kolkata, Guwahati, Shillong,

Raipur and Bhopal.

126. China challenges India‟s position as world‟s

top diamond polisher

i. India's long-held position as the world's top

diamond polisher is being challenged by soaring

output from China

ii. Most of the world's diamond output is sent to

India for cutting and polishing before being

retailed around the world

iii. India is to seek help from ally and top rough

diamond supplier Russia to defend its market share

127. Britain PM David Cameron accords “top

priority” to India in 2014

i. India-UK ties touched a new high in 2014 with

British Premier David Cameron according "top

priority" to India in UK's foreign policy

128. Raghuvar Das to be first non-tribal chief

minister of Jharkhand




15

i. Raghuvar Das, national vice-president of BJP will

be the first non-tribal Chief Minister of Jharkhand

129. India gives $1 million to ESCAP Trust fund –

Dec 27 to 30

i. India announced a contribution of $1 million to a

UN fund, United Nations Economic and Social

Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Multi–

Donor Trust Fund for Tsunami, Disaster and Climate

Preparedness in Indian Ocean and Southeast

Asian countries

ii. Ambassador of India to Thailand is Harsh

Vardhan Shringla

130. Govt. to buy indigenous electronic products

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ordered all

Ministries to give preference to electronic products

from domestic manufacturers

131. Sushma to chair India-South Korea meet

i. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will chair

the 8th session of the India-South Korea joint

commission meeting along with her South Korean

counterpart Yun Byung-se

132. Government employees have to disclose

deposits in foreign banks under Lokpal Act

i. Under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, the

Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has

effected some changes in the form, making it

mandatory for government employees to disclose

deposits in foreign banks

133. Electronic development fund for start-ups

soon: Ravi Shankar Prasad

i. Union Communication and Information

Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the

government will set up an electronic development

fund for start-ups across the country

134. India invites Korean companies to make 'bold'

investments

i. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj invited

Korean companies to make "bold investments" at

the 8th session of the India-South Korea joint

commission meeting

135. Model police stations in every State soon

i. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh announced

the decision of his Ministry to establish one model

of SMART police stations in each State soon

136. MHA notifies reconstitution of NDMA

i. The Union Home Ministry issued notification of

reconstitution of the National Disaster

Management Authority

ii. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is also NDMA

chairman, has nominated

Health Safety and Environment Group, BARC,

Director, D.N. Sharma,

Programme Adviser to UNDP (New York) Kamal

Kishore and

Lieutenant-General (retired) N.C. Marwah as its

members

iii. Mr. Kishore is an adviser with the Disaster

Reduction and Recovery Team of the UNDP

iv. Lt. Gen. Marwah was Chief of the Integrated

Defence Staff to the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff

Committee

137. ISRO's Radhakrishnan in Nature journal's top

ten list

i. Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, Chairman of the Indian

Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is one of the

2014 top ten scientists chosen by the prestigious

journal Nature

138. Congress marks 130th Foundation Day

i. Congress celebrated its 130th Foundation Day on

Dec 29 at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi

139. Mumbai builder proposes world's tallest

building in Surat – Dec 31

i. Harihara Mahapatra, a Mumbai-based real

estate developer, has shown interest in

constructing a 1.2 km tall tower, what he claims

would be the world's tallest

ii. Mahapatra has proposed the tower in the

upcoming Dream City project at Khajod, Surat

140. BRO to be brought exclusively under Defence

Ministry

i. In a bid to boost India's border road connectivity

especially along China, the Border Roads

Organisation (BRO) will be entirely brought under




16

the Ministry of Defence by the next budget ,

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said

141. Modi for merging job and irrigation schemes

i. Mr Modi spoke of integrating MGNREGA, the rural

jobs employment scheme, with creating irrigation

assets under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai

Yojana (PMKSY)

ii. PMKSY was introduced earlier by Finance

Minister Arun Jaitley with focus on assured

irrigation to mitigate risk to farmers and aims to

provide Soil Health Card to farmers to know the

status and production capability of farm soil

142. Microsoft sues Indian company for technical

support scam

i. Microsoft has sued an Indian company C-Cubed

Solutions along with several other entities alleging

that they misused its name and registered

trademarks while providing fraudulent technical

support services to unsuspecting consumers

ii. Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit filed a civil lawsuit

in the Central District of California

143. Modi government to merge PIO and OCI

cards

i. The home ministry will soon bring an ordinance to

amend the Indian Citizenship Act of 1955 and this

was likely to be done before January 7

inauguration of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in

Gandhinagar

ii. The PIO and OCI cards are expected to be

merged into a new scheme that will be called

Indian Overseas Cardholder

iii. The government has issued nearly 53,000 PIO

cards so far, while around 10 lakh people have

been granted OCI status

144. Connaught Place sixth most expensive prime

office market in world

i. Connaught Place, Delhi‘s central business district

(CBD) has been ranked the sixth most expensive

prime office market in the world

145. Tata, Reliance, Mahindra collaborate with

startup to find the next big idea

i. GenNext Ventures, the venture capital arm of

Reliance Industries has partnered with Microsoft

Ventures to launch the GenNext Innovation Hub ,

an accelerator to support entrepreneurs in areas

like technology , user experience, design and go-

to-market strategy

ii. Mahindra Group, earlier this year, launched the

$1-million Rise prize that has two challenges –the

mobility challenge that seeks solutions for driverless

cars in India and the solar challenge

iii.A few years ago, the Tata Group launched the

Tata First Dot initiative to foster student

entrepreneurship in the country

146. PETA honour for Modi and Rekha: Narendra

Modi and actor Rekha, who both follow a

vegetarian diet, have been crowned ‗hottest

vegetarian celebrities‘ by animal rights

organisation PETA India for making plant-based

foods more popular than ever in 2014

INTERNATIONAL 147. China refuses to let British lawmakers visit

Hong Kong- dec 1

i. British lawmakers will not be allowed to enter

Hong Kong as part of an inquiry into Britain's

relations with its former colony

148. Le Pen dynasty mark French National Front

congress

i. France's far-right National Front re-elected its

leader Marine Le Pen

149. Canada's Jean chosen to lead organization of

Francophone states

i. Canadian candidate Michaelle Jean, a former

governor general of Canada, was chosen as the

next head of the international organization of

Francophone nations (OIF)

150. Adolf Eichmann‟s top aide presumed dead in

Syria –Dec 2

i. One of the world's most wanted war criminals

Alois Brunner, the reputed top lieutenant of Nazi

mastermind Adolf Eichmann, is presumed to have

died at least four years ago in Syria




17

151. Putin drops South Stream gas pipeline to EU

i. Russia scrapped the South Stream pipeline

project to supply gas to southern Europe without

crossing Ukraine citing EU objections

152. Ukrainian PM reports accident at nuclear

power plant – Dec 3

i. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said an

accident had occurred at the Zaporizhye nuclear

power plant (NPP) in south-east Ukraine

ii.The new energy minister of Ukraine is Volodymyr

Demchyshyn

153. China and Turkey fall behind in global

corruption index

i. Turkey and China's rating on perceived

corruption has fallen steeply, according to

Transparency International (TI)

ii. The Berlin-based organisation published its 2014

Corruption Perceptions Index of 175 countries

iii. TI Chairman is Jose Ugaz

154. North Korea orders everyone sharing leader's

name to change it

i. North Korea has ordered people who share the

name of leader Kim Jong Un to change their

names, South Korea's state-run KBS television

reported.

ii. North Korea imposed similar bans on the use of

the names of its two former leaders, Kim‘s father,

Kim Jong II, and grandfather, Kim II Sung

155. Japanese asteroid probe sets off on six-year

journey

i. A Japanese space probe named Hayabusa 2

blasted off, setting off on a six-year round trip to an

asteroid for samples that scientists hope will help

reveal the origins of life.

ii. Hayabusa means peregrine falcon in Japanese

iii. The probe's target is the one called 1999 JU3

iv. The probe is expected to arrive at the asteroid

in mid-2018 and return with samples in 2020, the

year that Tokyo hosts the Summer Olympic Games.

156. Mosquito-borne chikungunya now spreading

rapidly through South Pacific

i. Chikungunya, a debilitating mosquito-borne viral

disease, has taken hold in French Polynesia,

spreading rapidly and threatening neighbouring

Pacific nations

157. French parliament votes for recognition of

Palestinian state

i. French lawmakers urged their government to

recognise Palestine

ii. It comes after Sweden became the biggest

Western European country to recognise Palestine,

and parliaments in Spain, Britain and Ireland held

votes in which they backed non-binding

resolutions in favour of recognition

158. India to press G20 for deadline to cut

remittance costs

i.India will press the Group of 20 economies to set a

two-year deadline to reduce the cost of

international money transfers, potentially saving

more than $20 billion for developing countries.

ii. India is the world's largest recipient of

remittances with about $70 billion a year - won the

backing of G20 leaders last month in Brisbane to

cut the average cost of sending money home to 5

percent.

159. Taiwan names new premier in cabinet

reshuffle

i. Taiwan named Vice Premier Mao Chi-kuo as the

island's new premier, in a cabinet reshuffle

160. Swedish PM calls first snap vote in 50 years

i. Sweden called its first snap election for more

than half a century in March after a far-right party

helped defeat the centre-left minority

government's first budget in parliament

161. This year may be warmest on record as

oceans heat up - WMO

i. Record high ocean temperatures will make 2014

the hottest year on record, or at least among the

very warmest the World Meteorological

Organization (WMO) said during 190-nation talks in

Lima

Britain to scrap air travel taxes for children

British finance minister George Osborne said he

would scrap an air travel tax charged for children

162. Landlocked Central Asia gets shorter railway

link to Persian Gulf




18

i. Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Iran inaugurated a

new railway route that will improve Central Asia's

access to markets in the Middle East and South

Asia.

ii. The 925-km (578-mile) stretch of railway, built

jointly by the three Caspian neighbours, will ease

the exchange of goods of countries lying along

the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf

iii. It will also accelerate shipments of goods

between the Persian Gulf and South Asia on the

one hand and Russia and Europe on the other

163. Britain says will pay off World War One-era

debt in full next March

i. Britain will pay off all of its debt used to fund

World War One next March, when it redeems a

government bond first issued more than 80 years

ago to help pay for the conflict

164. Alabama anti-discrimination bill to be named

after Apple's Tim Cook

i. An anti-discrimination bill championed by

Alabama's lawmaker will bear the name of Apple

Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook

165. Thai king cancels 87th birthday appearance

on doctors' orders

i. Thailand‘s King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world‘s

longest-reigning monarch cancelled a public

appearance on his 87th birthday on Dec,5 on the

advice of doctors.

166. China asks U.S. to help hunt more than 100

„economic fugitives‟

i. China has asked the United States to help it track

down more than 100 people suspected of

corruption and who China believes are in the

United States

167. Third member of U.N. mission in Liberia

contracts Ebola

i. A U.N. peacekeeper in Liberia has contracted

Ebola and is being treated in the capital,

Monrovia, becoming the third member of the

mission infected by the virus since the outbreak

began, The United Nations Mission in Liberia

(UNMIL) said

168. Snowden film 'CitizenFour' wins top

documentary award –Dec 6

i. CitizenFour, filmmaker and a shared Pulitzer Prize

winner in 2014, Laura Poitras's, documentary

about National Security Agency whistleblower

Edward Snowden, was given the top award for

best feature by the International Documentary

Association.

ii. It was also nominated for an Independent Spirit

Award in November and is among 15 films

advancing in the Oscars best documentary race

169. ICC prosecutor drops charges against Kenyan

president

i. Prosecutors dropped charges of crimes against

humanity against Kenyan President Uhuru

Kenyatta, marking a failure for the International

Criminal Court in the highest-profile case in its 11-

year history.

170. German state elects reform communist leader

in historic shift

i. The reform communist Left party took power in a

German state for the first time since reunification,

ending a quarter century of conservative rule in

Thuringia

171. NASA‟s New Horizons Spacecraft

Awakens from Hibernation –Dec 7

i. After a voyage of nearly nine years—the farthest

any space mission has ever traveled to reach its

primary target NASA‘s New Horizons spacecraft

came out of hibernation today for its long-awaited

2015 encounter with the Pluto system.

172. Somali prime minister voted out of office by

lawmakers

i. Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed was voted

out of office for the second time in a year

173. Defeated Scottish nationalist leader to run for

UK parliament in 2015 – Dec 8

i. Former Scottish nationalist leader Alex Salmond

said he would run for a seat in the British

parliament at next May's election in order to help

ensure Scotland gets the extra powers it was

promised.




19

174. Paris mayor wants to ban diesel cars by 2020

to fight pollution

i. The mayor of Paris called for diesel cars to be

banned from the French capital by 2020

175. Survivors commemorate 73rd anniversary of

Pearl Harbor attack

i. The 73rd commemoration ceremony was held on

Dec 7 in the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center's main lawn

for attacks in the Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941

176. Britain's Prince William at the White House –

Dec 9

i. Britain's Prince William was at the White House,

covering topics with President Barack Obama from

the illegal wildlife trade to the birth of a baby

named Prince George.

177. Israel's parliament to dissolve itself by vote

i. Israel's parliament voted to dissolve itself in

preparation for an early general election on

March 17, after a crisis set in motion by Prime

Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's dismissal of two

ministers.

178. Philippines: Typhoon Hagupit hit and

weakened

i. Philippines was hit by Typhoon Hagupit which

weakened to a tropical storm as it moved close to

the Philippine capital

179. Anglican leader says plight of hungry in Britain

more shocking than in Africa

i. The Archbishop of Canterbury has said he found

seeing the hungry in Britain to be less serious but

more shocking than the plight of those starving in

some places in Africa

180. France‟s last hostage returns home – Dec 10

i. France's last hostage abroad returned home

after three years in captivity by al Qaeda's North

African wing AQIM in northern Mali

181. Dutch to begin assembling MH17 wreckage

i. Crash investigators will try to reconstruct the

Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 that was shot down

over eastern Ukraine in July from wreckage that

was brought by truck to a Dutch air force hangar

on Dec 9

182. Norovirus Outbreak Sickens 200 Passengers

Aboard Dawn Princess Cruise Ship

i. Health authorities in New Zealand said that about

200 passengers in the cruise ship, Dawn Princess

have been sickened by an outbreak of norovirus.

183. World‟s longest train journey concludes in

Madrid

i. The longest train journey in history was finally over

covering 13,052 kms between the Chinese city of

Yiwu and the Spanish capital Madrid

ii. Mayor of Madrid Ana Botella said that the 13,052

kms of railway had made a historic feat

184. Pakistan eighth most dangerous country in the

world

i. Pakistan is placed eighth in the list of the most

dangerous countries in the world which is led by

Iraq, according to a US-based intelligence think

tank

ii. Afghanistan, the only other South Asian country

in the list, is placed fourth in the Country Threat

Index (CTI)

iii. The other countries in the top 10 are Nigeria

(second), Somalia (third) followed by Yemen (five),

Syria (six), Libya (seven), Egypt (nine) and Kenya

(10).

iv. There are a total of 45 countries with a CTI

greater than zero

185. ICC refers Libya to UN Security Council –Dec

11

i. The International Criminal Court said Libya had

violated an obligation to hand over murder

suspect Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and it referred the

matter to the U.N. Security Council

186. Ebola survivors, doctors named “person of the

year” by Time

i. Time magazine named those fighting Ebola its

2014 ―Person of the Year‖

187. Airlines body calls for UN to regulate anti-

aircraft weaponry

i. Global airlines body IATA has called on the UN to

regulate anti-aircraft weaponry in a similar way to

chemical weapons




20

188. Clean-up of Israeli desert oil spill could take

years

i. Between 3 and 5 million litres of oil leaked into

Evrona desert in Israel reserve could take years to

clean, Ecologists said

189. Bera and George Holding to be co-chairs of

Congressional India Caucus –Dec 12 &13

i. Ami Bera, the lone Indian- American serving in

the Congress and his Republican colleague

George Holding would be the new co-chairs of

the powerful Congressional Caucus on India

190. Zimbabwe's Mnangagwa was sworn in

i. Zimbabwe‘s Vice President Emmerson

Mnangagwa was sworn in, cementing his status as

the leading candidate to succeed his 90-year-old

boss Robert Mugabe, the country‘s sole ruler since

independence from Britain in 1980

191. Federation Tower: Tallest skyscraper in Europe

built in Russia

i. The Federation Tower - a key project of Moscow

city, is slated to be the tallest skyscraper building

business complex in Europe by the time of its

completion.

192. First national Memorial Day for the Nanjing

Massacre

i. Chinese President Xi Jinping marked the

country‘s first national Memorial Day for the

Nanjing Massacre that reminds the 300,000

Chinese people massacred in 1937 by Japanese

troops

193. China bans national anthem at weddings and

funerals

i.China's national anthem can no longer be

performed at weddings, funerals, balls or other

non-political functions

ii. China's national anthem is "The March of the

Volunteers"

194. Paris bans on open-hearth chimney fires

i. Nine local authorities in the greater Paris region

have signed the ban on open-hearth chimney

fires, since it is blamed for an increase in airborne

pollutants by the World Health Organisation to

cause various pulmonary diseases.

195. United Nations declares June 21 International

Day of Yoga

i. The United Nations, 193-member U.N. General

Assembly declared that June 21 will be

International Day of Yoga, adopting a measure

proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi

196. Uganda's Museveni calls on African nations to

quit the ICC

i. Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni called on

African nations to drop out of the treaty

establishing the International Criminal Court

197. 500+ Organizations Launch Global Coalition to

Accelerate Access to Universal Health Coverage –

Dec 14

i. A new global coalition of more than 500 leading

health and development organizations

worldwide was launched on dec 12

ii. On first-ever Universal Health Coverage Day, all

countries urged to make quality health coverage

accessible to everyone, everywhere.

iii. Universal Health Coverage Day marks the two-

year anniversary of a United Nations resolution,

unanimously passed on 12 December 2012

198. Sudan's Bashir claims victory over ICC

i. Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir claimed victory

over the International Criminal Court

ii. The Hague-based court indicted Bashir in 2009

for war crimes in suppressing the Darfur revolt

199. EU funds help Poland build 'ghost' airports

i. The European Union has given Poland more than

100 million euros ($125 million) to build at least

three "ghost" airports

ii. Around 80 airports in Europe attract fewer than 1

million passengers a year according to industry

body Airports Council International

iii. Krawczyk is the president of the Employers‘

Group of the European Economic and Social

Committee, a Brussels-based consultative body

that advises on EU decision-making

200. U.N. talks agree building blocks for new-style

climate deal in 2015




21

i. About 190 nations agreed the building blocks of

a new-style global deal due in 2015 to combat

climate change

ii. Christiana Figueres is the U.N.'s climate chief

iii. China is now the biggest greenhouse gas

emitter ahead of the United States, the EU and

India

201. Denmark to claim slice of continental shelf in

Arctic Ocean – Dec15

i. Denmark will claim ownership of around 900,000

square kilometres of the continental shelf in the

Arctic Ocean by filing documents to United

Nations.

ii. The minister of foreign affairs is Martin Lidegaard

202. Canada, China to sign deal on return of

fugitives‟ seized assets

i. Canada is set to sign a deal with China to return

ill-gotten assets seized from those suspected of

economic crimes

ii. Canada's ambassador to China is Guy Saint-

Jacques and Canadian Foreign Minister is John

Baird

iii. China has extradition pacts with 39 countries

203. Russia says it wants east Ukraine to stay with

Kiev –Dec 16

i. Moscow wants Ukraine to carry out a

constitutional reform to allow more autonomy to

Russian-speaking eastern regions that would then

stay with Kiev, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said

204. Robot flies to Germany as airline passenger

from Los Angeles

i. A humanoid robot named Athena boarded a

flight for Germany at Los Angeles International

Airport becoming what was billed as the first robot

traveling as a paid passenger on an airline

205. Italy reports outbreak of H5N8 bird flu in

Venice region – OIE –Dec 17

i. Italy has reported an outbreak of the highly

pathogenic H5N8 bird flu virus on a turkey farm in

the northeastern part of the country near Venice,

the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said

206. S.Korea cancer victims bring class action

against nuclear operator

i. A group of South Korean thyroid cancer patients

living near nuclear plants have filed the country's

first class action suit against the operator Korea

Hydro and Nuclear Power Co Ltd (KHNP), after an

October court ruling in favour of a plaintiff

claiming a link between radiation and the

cancer.

207. Church of England appoints its first woman

bishop

i. The Church of England appointed its first ever

female bishop named Reverend Libby Lane, 48, as

the new Bishop of Stockport in northern England

208. Netanyahu calls on EU to keep Hamas on

terrorist list

i. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called

on the European Union to keep Islamist militant

group Hamas on its list of terrorist organisations,

after an EU court ruled it should be removed.

209. NASA rover finds organic molecules, methane

gas on Mars

i. NASA‘s Mars rover Curiosity has found carbon-

containing compounds in samples drilled out of an

ancient rock, the first definitive detection of

organics on the surface

210. Russia invites N.Korea leader for May visit

i. Russia has invited North Korean leader Kim Jong

Un to attend a May ceremony marking the end of

World War Two

211. Italy's president hints at possible retirement

date

i. Giorgio Napolitano, Italy's 89-year-old president

who helped to guarantee the country's political

stability during a period of upheaval, hinted he

might retire early next year.

212. Alibaba's Jack Ma biggest billionaire gainer of

2014: Wealth-X

i. Alibaba founder and executive chairman Jack

Ma is this year's biggest financial gainer as the

billionaire entrepreneur's fortune has swelled by a

whopping $18.5 billion this year to $29.2 billion

ii. Warren Buffett stood at second place, Gates

earned third place , Mark Zuckerberg was ranked




22

fourth followed by telecommunications company

Altice's founder Patrick Drahi on the Wealth-X list

iii. The individual who lost the most money this year

is Russian energy tycoon Leonid Mikhelson

213. U.S. to open embassy in Cuba – Dec 18

i. The United States is planning to open an embassy

in Cuba

214. A sequel to late Nelson Mandela's

autobiography is to be published in 2015

i. A sequel to the late Nelson Mandela's

autobiography "The Long Walk to Freedom" is to

be published in South Africa next year

ii. Mandela began writing in 1998, the book titled

"The Presidential Years"

215. Ukraine leader wants to join "Euro-Atlantic"

security alliance

i. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he had

decided his country should set out on a course

towards Euro-Atlantic security integration

ii. The previous Ukrainian president, the pro-

Moscow Viktor Yanukovich, changed Ukraine's

foreign policy strategy to remove eventual NATO

accession as an aspiration

216. U.S., Cuba restore ties after 50 years

i. The United States and Cuba agreed to restore

diplomatic ties that Washington severed more

than 50 years ago

ii. The Vatican and Canada facilitated the deal

217. Russia is a strategic problem for the EU – Tusk

– Dec 19

i. Russia's approach to Ukraine and to the

European Union is a challenge to the 28-nation

bloc said the new president of the European

Council, Donald Tusk

218. Sierra Leone's leading doctor dies of Ebola

i. Sierra Leone's leading doctor Victor

Willoughby died of Ebola before the drug, ZMab,

transported in frozen form on a Brussels could thaw

219. Climate change could cut world food output

18 percent by 2050

Global warming could cause an 18 percent drop

in world food production by 2050, but investments

in irrigation and infrastructure, and moving food

output to different regions, could reduce the loss

according to the study published in the journal

Environmental Research Letters

220. Russia calls new sanctions on Crimea

"collective punishment" –Dec 20

i. The Russian Foreign Ministry denounced new

Western sanctions against Ukraine's Crimea region

as a "collective punishment"

221. China's Xi preaches diversification in

gambling hub Macau

i. Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the world's

biggest gambling hub, Macau, to accelerate

diversification

ii. Xi was in Macau to celebrate the 15th

anniversary of the former Portuguese colony's

handover to Chinese rule

222. Britain could allow women in army close

combat role from 2016

i. Britain might allow women to fight in close

combat roles for the first time from 2016, the

defence secretary said

ii. The United States, Australia and Canada are

among those nations which already have women

in close combat roles

223. Etihad to launch A-380 service with three-

room suite –Dec 21

i. Etihad‘s first Airbus A380 which has the ultra-

luxurious ―Residence by Etihad‖ will be the only

three-room suite in the sky

224. China completes first high-speed train through

karst region

i. China's first high-speed railway network spanning

857 km through the country's southwest karst

regions was completed

ii. Guizhou has the world's most typical karst

plateau landscape, which was inducted as a

UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007

225. Pope names new prelate who runs Vatican

during papal transitions

i. Pope Francis named French Cardinal Jean-Louis

Tauran as the new camerlengo, or chamberlain,

the cardinal who runs the Vatican after the death

or resignation of a pontiff




23

226. S. Korea nuclear plant operator says hacked,

but no risk to reactors – Dec 22

i. Computer systems at South Korea‘s nuclear plant

operator have been hacked, but only non-critical

data has been lost and there is no risk to the safety

of nuclear installations including the country's 23

atomic reactors, the company and the

government said

227. Tunisia's Essebsi campaign claims vote victory

i. Tunisian presidential candidate Beji Caid Essebsi

claimed victory in run-off election, which is seen as

the final step to full democracy nearly four years

after an uprising ousted autocrat Zine El-Abidine

Ben Ali

228. Haitian Health minister named as Haiti's new

interim prime minister

i. Haitian Health Minister Florence Duperval

Guillaume was named interim prime minister to

replace Laurent Lamothe, who resigned

229. Obama picks Sally Yates for No. 2 spot at

Justice Department – Dec 23

i. Sally Yates nominated, as federal prosecutor for

the Northern District of Georgia, to fill the second-

highest ranking position at the Justice Department

230. Former Bangladeshi minister Syed

Mohammad Kaisar sentenced to death for war

crimes

i. A former Bangladeshi minister Syed Mohammad

Kaisar was sentenced to death by a special

tribunal for committing crimes against humanity by

siding with Pakistani troops during the country's

1971 liberation war

231. Mexico calls for larger, more diverse U.N.

Security Council- Dec 27 to 30

i. Mexico called for an overhaul of the United

Nations Security Council

ii. The Council has five permanent members -

China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States

- and 10 temporary members elected by the U.N.

General Assembly for two-year terms

iii. Mexico's foreign ministry said it wanted the 10

temporary members to grow to 26, with six

members coming from Africa, five from Asia, four

from Latin America and the Caribbean, five from

both Western and Eastern Europe, and one from

small developing nations

iv. However, Mexico said it was against changing

the five permanent members of the Council

232. Google's Gmail blocked in China

i. Google Inc's Gmail was blocked in China

ii. Google disruption began in the run-up to the

25th anniversary of the government's crackdown

on pro-democracy demonstrators around Beijing's

Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989

233. U.N. reopens Nile route to bring aid to hunger-

hit South Sudan

i. The United Nations said it had begun delivering

food aid to war-torn South Sudan via the Nile River

from Sudan for the first time since it became

independent in 2011

234. Disappearance of Air Asia Flight is 3rd

Malaysia-linked incident

i. The disappearance of Air Asia Flight 8501 was the

third air incident this year involving Malaysia,

where carrier Air Asia is based

ii. Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished without a

trace on March 8 and Malaysia Airlines Flight 17

was shot down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine on

July 17

235. Malaria killing thousands more than Ebola in

West Africa

i. West Africa‘s fight to contain malaria, a

preventable and treatable disease is claiming

many thousands more lives than the dreaded virus

Ebola

236. Venezuela recession confirmed – Dec 31

i. The Venezuelan economy is now officially in

recession after the central bank released figures

showing that it has been shrinking all year




24

BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS

237. Swiss voters reject gold, immigration proposals

- dec 1:

i. Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected proposals to

boost gold reserves and impose strict new curbs on

immigration

ii. The "Save our Swiss gold" initiative, proposed by

the right-wing Swiss People's Party was rejected by

voters

238. JSW Steel in talks to buy Bhushan Steel‟s

Odisha unit and Orissa Sponge

i. Sajjan Jindal's JSW Steel is eyeing two big deals,

the company is in talks to buy Bhushan Steel's

Odisha steel unit and is also looking at buying out

promoters' stake in Bhushan invested company,

Orissa Sponge

239. Intel acquires Canadian IT security firm

PasswordBox

i. Intel Corp said it has acquired PasswordBox, a

Montreal-based identity management service

240. Developers, banks lose Rs 400 crore/day due

to decision delays

i. The infrastructure and banking industry suffers

losses worth around Rs 400 crore per day due to

delayed decision-making at various levels

241. Intel partners with BBNL to back government's

Digital India vision –Dec 2

i. US chipmaker Intel said that it will work with the

Indian government through its ‗Digital Skills for India

' program to benefit five million citizens by the end

of 2015 with skills to compete in the global digital

economy

ii. Under the program, the company has joined

hands with Bharat Broadband Network Ltd. (BBNL)

242. i. Reserve Bank of India aims to keep real

interest rates at 1.5 to 2 per cent

Revised RBI norms for NBFCs 'negative' for small

lenders: FIHPA

i. Federation of Indian Hire Purchase Association

(FIHPA) said the recent revised RBI guidelines for

Non Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) are

"negative" for small financiers

243. Govt rejects Vijay Mallya as Kingfisher Airlines

director

i. The government has rejected the re-

appointment of liquor baron Vijay Mallya as

managing director of Kingfisher Airlines

244. India's inflation at post-financial crisis lows

i. Nomura said National accounts reveal inflation

rates across sectors are close to post-global

financial crisis lows

245. Oil prices positive for global economy

i. Falling oil prices are positive for the global

economy as a whole, though they may hurt

individual commodity exporters, IMF Managing

Director Christine Lagarde said

ii. World oil prices are down 40 percent since June

246. Factory activity growth slows in Asia, Europe

and U.S. in Nov

i. Manufacturing growth across Asia, Europe and

the Americas eased in November as heavy price

cutting failed to revive demand, surveys showed

247. Germany bars antibiotic drug from Ranbaxy's

Madhya Pradesh plant – Dec 3

i. Drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd has been

barred by from exporting the antibiotic

cephalosporin to Germany from its plant in

Madhya Pradesh for not complying with standard

manufacturing practices

248. Saudi would consider output cut if Russia,

others join in

i. Saudi Arabia would only consider cutting

production if other countries, including non-OPEC

producer Russia, joined in limits, former Saudi

intelligence chief Prince Turki bin Faisal said

249. Flipkart founders invest in Chennai start-up „

Ather ‟

i. Flipkart founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal

has invested around $1 million in Chennai-based

start-up, Ather, which is an electric vehicle start-up

focused on designing high-speed electric two-

wheelers for the Indian market

250. RBI doubles pre-paid card limit to Rs 1 lakh

i. Relaxing norms for Pre-paid Payment Instruments




25

(PPI), the Reserve Bank doubled the card limit to Rs

1 lakh.

ii. The maximum validity of gift cards has been

enhanced from one year to three years

iii. The Reserve Bank Deputy Governor is HR Khan

251. India eases FDI rules for construction sector

i. Government relaxed rules for FDI in the

construction sector by reducing minimum built-up

area as well as capital requirement and easing the

exit norms.

ii. The revised norms relating to Construction

Development Sector, have been notified

iii. DIPP is Department of Industrial Policy and

Promotion

iv. India allows 100 per cent FDI in the sector

through automatic route

252. EU watchdog expects quick action from

insurer stress tests

i. The independent body EIOPA said nearly one in

four European insurers could have trouble meeting

obligations to policyholders since EIOPA had

identified weaknesses in capital and business

models in a series of stress tests.

ii. Gabriel Bernardino is the chairman of the

European Insurance and Occupational Pensions

Authority (EIOPA)

253. Unilever to form standalone spreads business

unit – Dec 4

i. Unilever plans to form a standalone business unit

for its North American and European spreads as it

struggles by a fall in bread and margarine

consumption

ii. The unit will be called Unilever Baking, Cooking

and Spreading said CFO Jean-Marc Huet

254. ECB leaves cost of borrowing unchanged

i. The European Central Bank left interest rates

unchanged, holding them at record lows

255. SoftBank invests $250 mln in Southeast Asian

taxi-hailing app GrabTaxi

i. Japanese telecoms firm SoftBank Corp has

pumped in $250 million to become the top investor

in Southeast Asian mobile taxi-booking application

GrabTaxi Holdings Pte Ltd, its biggest investment in

a Southeast Asian Internet firm

256. Carlyle Group promotes India MD to co-head

Asia PE business

i. Carlyle Group LP has promoted India Managing

Director M. Shankar Narayanan to co-head its

Asian private equity business

257. Denmark's ISS sells cash management

business in India

i. Danish business services firm ISS has sold its Indian

cash and valuables services business to unlisted

Indian company SIS Prosegur

258. Infosys inducts John Etchemendy as

Independent Board Member

i. Infosys said it has appointed John W Etchemendy

to its Board as an Independent Member.

259. Vodafone to encourage start-ups in mobile

apps

i. Telecom service provider Vodafone would

actively encourage start-ups in the mobile

applications as part of facilitating young

entrepreneurs, MD and CEO Marten Pieters said.

260. MCFL appoints Vijay Mallya's step-mother Ritu

as Director

i. Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd

(MCFL) has appointed Vijay Mallaya ‗s step-

mother Ritu Mallya as a director of the firm

261. SapnaOnline buys Ishita Technologies

i. SapnaOnline.com, the online arm of Sapna Book

House, has acquired Ishita Technologies and its

three brands - Bookadda, Acadzone and

Koolskool

262. Intel Security CTO Michael Fey joins Blue Coat

as COO – Dec 5

i. Michael Fey has left Intel Security Group to

become chief operating officer at Blue Coat

Systems Inc

263. ICICI Bank to sell its Russian subsidiary

i. ICICI Bank said it has decided to sell its profit

making Russian subsidiary ICICI Bank Eurasia

Limited Liability Company (IBEL) , Russia to

Sovcombank , Russia




26

264. India's manufacturing, services growth

outpaced China in November: HSBC

i. Manufacturing and services sectors in India

expanded at a faster pace than China in

November - HSBC survey

265. JPMorgan continues run as top ranked

investment bank

i. U.S. bank JPMorgan retained its crown as the top

performing investment bank

ii. In a ranking compiled by industry analytics firm

Coalition, U.S. banks dominated the top spots, with

Goldman Sachs coming second

iii. The only European bank to make the top three

was Deutsche Bank which shared third place with

Citigroup and Bank of America Merrill Lynch

266. UBS to set up new group asset and liability unit

i. UBS said it will set up a separate group asset and

liability unit to help it manage risk in the bank's new

structure

ii. Claude Moser, currently group treasurer at the

Zurich-based bank, will head up the new Group

Asset and Liability Management unit outside of its

Treasury unit, UBS Chief Financial Officer Tom

Naratil said

267. Reliance Industries, Pemex to explore oil, gas

opportunities in Mexico –Dec 6

i. Reliance Industries Ltd said it has entered a pact

with Mexico‘s national oil company Petroleos

Mexicanos (Pemex) to explore potential upstream

oil and gas business opportunities in that country.

268. S&P cuts Italy‟s rating to just above junk

i.Standard & Poor's cut Italy's sovereign credit

rating from BBB to BBB-, just one notch above junk

269. Women in Europe, Russia, Brazil should earn

more than men - ILO

i. International Labour Organization said in its latest

Global Wage Report, men were paid more than

women in all of the 38 countries examined,

showing the 'gender pay gap'

ii. The biggest pay gap was in the United States

and in Europe, Russia and Brazil, women scored

higher than men, but the pay gap still existed

iii. ILO Deputy Director-General is Sandra Polaski

270. Tata Steel is buying iron ore for first time in its

history –Dec 7

i. One of the first steel units in the country, the

Jamshedpur facility of Tata Steel was founded in

1907 is facing iron ore crunch for the first time in its

over 100 years of history and its buying raw

material from domestic sources besides imports

ii. Tata Steel Managing Director T V Narendran

271. Indian economy to see fastest 'USD nominal

growth' in world in 2015 – Dec 8

i. India's economy will see the fastest USD nominal

growth in the world in 2015, Credit Suisse said

272. Regulators in France, Germany, Belgium and

Luxembourg suspends drugs from India

i. Regulators in France, Germany, Belgium and

Luxembourg are suspending the marketing

approval of 25 generic drugs due to concerns over

the quality of data from clinical trials conducted

by India's GVK Biosciences

273. SBI to launch forward-looking index to track

economic trends

i. State Bank of India, , will soon launch India's first

forward-looking index that will indicate trends in

the real sector two months in advance by

analysing data in the public domain as well its own

loan growth matrix

ii. It would compete with the two existing India-

specific economic indices—HSBC India Markit

Services Purchasing Managers' Index and HSBC

India Markit Manufacturing PMI

274. Cisco partners with IL&FS arm to tap smart city

business –Dec 9

i. Networking giant Cisco has partnered IL&FS

Technologies to jointly develop Internet of

Everything (IoE)-based digital solutions to tap into

the smart city space in India.

275. Russian economy to contract by 0.7 per cent

in 2015: World Bank

i. The World Bank said it expected the Russian

economy to contract by 0.7 per cent in 2015 in its

new baseline scenario before growing by 0.3 per

cent in 2016.




27

276. Chevron and ONGC Videsh join New Zealand

oil, gas search

i. New Zealand awarded 15 oil and gas

exploration licences, with US giant Chevron and

ONGC Videsh joining the hunt in the South Pacific

country for the first time

ii. Chevron is partnering with Norway's Statoil to

explore three prospects off the lightly explored

south-east coast of the North Island.

iii. ONGC Videsh Ltd has made its first foray into

New Zealand with one offshore exploration permit

in the Taranaki Basin

277. India the brightest spot in Asia Pacific region:

S&P

i. India has emerged as the brightest spot in the

Asia Pacific region as reform has picked up pace

in the country the Standard & Poor's Ratings

Services said

278. WTO issues mixed ruling in Indian challenge to

US steel duties

i. An appeals board of the World Trade

Organization reversed much of an earlier ruling

against the United States, but it said US duties on

Indian steel broke WTO rules and asked the United

States to bring them into line with its regulation

ii. The WTO's Appellate Body reversed much of a

ruling by a three-person panel in July, which said

the US duties had wrongly penalised India for

subsidising steel exports by Tata Steel

279. Societe Generale pulls out of GVK‟s Australian

project

i. Societe Generale, one of the lenders to GVK

Group's $10-billion investment in Australian mines,

has pulled out of the project citing delays

ii. GVK acquired Alpha, Kevin‘s Corner and Alpha

West coal mine assets for $1.3 billion in 2011 from

Hancock Prospecting and had plans to invest a

total of $10 billion on the company thus formed,

GVK Hancock

280. India likely to grow between 5-6 per cent in

2015: Moody's – Dec 10

i. Indian economy is expected to pick up pace in

2015 and grow in the range of 5 to 6 per cent,

helped by strong domestic demand, rating

agency Moody's said

281. Banks may demand higher equity from highly

leveraged firms

i. Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor S.S.

Mundra said banks may demand higher equity

from companies that are highly leveraged before

offering fresh loans to such firms.

282. Bloomberg News names Economist editor to

replace Winkler

i. Billionaire news and information mogul Michael

Bloomberg replaced the founding editor at his

eponymous news service with Economist Editor-in-

chief John Micklethwait

283. Retail inflation likely fell to record low in Nov

i. Indian consumer inflation probably fell to a

record low in November

ii. Retail inflation cooled to an annual rate of 4.50

percent from October's 5.52 percent

iii. Wholesale price inflation was forecast to slow to

1.41 percent in November

284. UK 'Google tax' will target inter-company

payments

i. A new British tax on companies that shift profits

out of the country and into tax havens will target

inter-company fees for services like use of

intellectual property

285. Germany names 16 companies with drugs

suspended over Indian data

i. Germany has named 16 generic drugmakers,

including Stada and Dr. Reddy's, that produce

drugs affected by its suspension of marketing

approval over concerns about clinical trials

conducted by an Indian company

286. Reliance to enter textile JV with China's

Shandong Ruyi

i. Reliance Industries Ltd said it will transfer its textile

business into a new joint venture with China's

Shandong Ruyi Science and Technology Group

Co Ltd

287. India should allow banks to hold gold as

reserves - WGC




28

i. India should allow banks to use gold as part of

their liquidity reserves, which would let them make

more use of gold inside the country and reduce

the need for imports, according to a report

commissioned by the World Gold Council (WGC)

ii. Somasundaram PR is the head of the WGC‘s

India operations

288. French core inflation turns negative in

November –Dec 11

i. French core inflation turned negative in

November, contracting by 0.2 per cent from a

year ago, the first drop in the indicator which

excludes the most volatile consumer prices and

tax measures since records started in 1990

ii. EU-harmonised inflation, remained positive, with

a year-on-year inflation rate of 0.4 per cent, slightly

down from 0.5 per cent in October, EU-harmonised

data released by the INSEE national

statistics showed

289. Delhi HC directs Xiaomi to stop import, sale of

phones over patent case by Ericsson

i. The Delhi High Court has asked smartphone

vendor Xiaomi and its local e-commerce partner

Flipkart to stop importing and selling devices in

India due to Swedish equipment maker Ericsson's

patent-infringement petition

290. Russian bank VTB to lend Essar $1 billion

i. Russian bank VTB will open a $1 billion credit line

to India's Essar Group, chief executive Andrei

Kostin said

291. Oil India signs contract for two oil blocks in

Myanmar –Dec 12 &13

i. Oil India Ltd, the second largest state explorer,

has signed contract for two offshore oil and gas

blocks it had bagged in Myanmar

292. The value of special drawing rights (SDRs) was

lower by $21.6 million at $4.20 billion

IEA cuts oil demand outlook for 2015

i. The International Energy Agency cut its outlook

for global oil demand growth for 2015 by 230,000

barrels per day (bpd) to 0.9 million bpd

ii. Annual consumer price inflation eased in

November to 4.38 percent

iii. India's annual consumer price inflation eased for

a fourth straight month in November to 4.38

percent, its lowest level since the government

started releasing the data in 2012

iv. India's core consumer price index (CPI) was

estimated to have risen around 5.5 percent in

November from a year earlier, easing from a rise of

around 5.85 percent in October

293. The BSE Sensex fell to post its worst weekly loss

in three years India's industrial output contracted in

October, its worst performance in three years

ONGC notifies 3 discoveries

i. State - owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC)

announced three new oil and gas discoveries in

Krishan Godavari Basin and Mumbai offshore

ii. It discovered one in the deepwater Krishna

Godavari basin, one in the Mumbai offshore basin

and one in the Cauvery basin in the southern

onshore named as the Thirunagari Gas Discovery

294. $300 million pledged to buy Ebola vaccines

i. GAVI, the global vaccines alliance, said it was

committing up to $300 million to buy Ebola

vaccines

ii. GAVI is funded by governments and the Bill &

Melinda Gates Foundation

295. Hon Hai unit to close India phone plant

i. A unit of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd

(2317.TW), the world's largest contract

manufacturer of electronic goods, will shut

operations at a mobile-phone facility in southern

India

296. NMDC to take stake in Russian potash mine

i. Indian mining company NMDC signed a

memorandum of understanding with Akron to buy

a stake in a potash mine in Russia

297. Indian Oil Corporation is country's biggest

company: Fortune 500 list – Dec 14

i. State-run Indian Oil Corporationis the country's

largest company in terms of revenue, followed by

Reliance Industries and Bharat Petroleum in the




29

second and third place respectively, according to

the Fortune 500 list of Indian companies for 2014

ii. Hindustan Petroleum's (HPCL) is at fourth , Tata

Motors at 5th place

iii. Others in the top 10 list include State Bank of

India, ONGC, Tata Steel, Essar Oil, and Hindalco

Industries

298. Swiss gold exports to India near Rs 1-trillion in

2014

i. Switzerland‘s gold exports to India have risen

further and fast approaching Rs. 1 trillion mark for

the entire 2014

299. The Hinduja Group buys UK's iconic Old War

Office building

i. The Hinduja Group, in partnership with a Spanish

industrial company, has acquired UK's iconic Old

War Office building that was once occupied by

Britain's war-time Prime Minister Winston Churchill

300. Gionee ready to make in India – Dec15

i. Chinese handset maker Gionee has said it

intends to start manufacturing in India and is

awaiting clarity in government policy

ii. The company, which launched its sub-brand IUNI

in China last year, is in the process of registering it

in India

301. Coal India examining proposal to register

subsidiary in South Africa

i. State-owned CIL (Coal India Ltd) is examining a

proposal to register a wholly-owned subsidiary in

South Africa to acquire and develop coal assets

and has appointed Deloitte as the consultant for

advising on the regulatory framework there.

ii. Coal India Africana Limitada (CIAL), a CIL

subsidiary, had won 5-year licence for exploration

and development of mines in Mozambique in

August, 2009.

302. Ranbaxy gets approval to launch Synriam in 7

African countries

i. Drug firm Ranbaxy Laboratories has received

regulatory nod to launch its indigenously

developed anti-malarial drug Synriam in 7 African

nations.

303. State Bank of India looking into work from

home option for women employees

i. State Bank of India (SBI) is studying the

technological feasibility of allowing women

employees to work out of home for some functions

ii. Arundhati Bhattacharya is the first woman to

head the bank in 208 years

304. Anil Ambani's Reliance Group sells multiplex

unit to Carnival

i. Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group has sold its Big

Cinemas unit to South India-based Carnival Group

ii. The deal has been struck between Carnival

Cinemas and Reliance MediaWorks.

iii. The deal will make Carnival the third largest

multiplex operator

305. Singapore‟s GIC forms JV with Vatika Group

i. GIC Pte Ltd, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund,

formed a joint venture with property developer

Vatika Group for two residential projects near New

Delhi

306. Oil, coal and iron ore at 2008/2009 financial

crisis level

i. Tumbling oil, coal and iron ore prices are now all

at levels last seen during or before the financial

crisis of 2008/2009

307. China economic growth may slow to 7.1 pct in

2015

i. China's economic growth could slow to 7.1

percent in 2015 from an expected 7.4 percent this

year

308. Russia raises rates in emergency move as

rouble collapses–Dec 16

i. Russia's central bank raised its key interest rate to

17 percent from 10.5 percent early in an

emergency move to halt a collapse in the rouble

as oil prices decline

309. Developing nations losing record $1 trillion a

year in dirty money

i. Crime and corruption are draining a record $1

trillion a year said GFI's sixth annual report

China, Russia, Mexico, India, Malaysia saw the

largest outflow of dirty money

ii. A record $991 billion in unrecorded funds left 151

developing and emerging economies in 2012




30

iii. U.S.-based watchdog Global Financial Integrity

(GFI) exposes financial corruption

GFI President Raymond Baker

iv. China, Russia, Mexico, India, Malaysia saw the

largest outflow of dirty money

Singapore Airlines India joint venture gets flying

permit

v. Singapore Airlines Ltd's Indian joint venture won

a flying permit, paving way for it to start operations

310. Trafigura, Vanomet strike deal to supply

steelmaker SSI UK

i. Commodity trading giant Trafigura said it and

Vanomet, a steel and raw materials trader, had

struck a deal to supply iron ore and coking coal to

the British unit of Thai steel firm Sahaviriya Steel

Industries

311. RBS sells $7.5 billion book of Irish loans to

Cerberus

i. Royal Bank of Scotland said it had sold 4.8 billion

pounds ($7.5 billion) of Irish property loans to an

entity controlled by US private equity firm

Cerberus

312. Asia to become world‟s largest e-commerce

market –Dec 17

i. Asia is set to surpass North America to become

the world's largest e-commerce market this year,

according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)

313. Apple halts Russia online sales

i. Apple said it had halted online sales of iPhones,

iPads and computers in Russia as rouble tumbles

314. TCS targets $1 billion revenue from France in 5

years

i. Tata Consultancy Services wants to become a

top-5 player in France within the next five years

and make $1 billion in revenue from that market

ii. Krishnan Ramanujam is the global head and

vice-president of enterprise solutions at the

company

315. Current account deficit likely to be 1.6% of

GDP in FY15: Nomura

i.India's current account deficit is likely to be

around 1.6 per cent of GDP in the current financial

year

316. ONGC Videsh Ltd wants to dip into RIL

payments to clear Venezuelean dues

i. ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) wants to dip into

payments Reliance Industries makes for importing

crude oil from Venezuela to recover $421 million

(about Rs 2,610 crore) that the Latin American

nation owes to it.

ii. OVL, the overseas investment arm of state-run

explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), holds

40 per cent stake in the San Cristobal oil project in

Venezuela

317. Key oil and gas sector reforms to have

positive impact on companies : Fitch Ratings

i. Key oil and gas sector reforms like diesel

deregulation and a new gas pricing policy will

have a positive impact on companies engaged in

fuel retailing and gas production, says a report by

Fitch Ratings.

318. IBM set to equip, market Apple devices in

strategic India tie-up

i. Apple iPads and iPhones will soon be available

on monthly installments as IBM begins selling them

to enterprises in India along with its own software

bundle.

ii. Duckworth, is IBM's vice president and partner for

Asia Pacific

319. Public Sector Banks lost Rs 2,417 crore due to

fraud in first quarter

i. Data showed that fraudsters cheated State-run

banks of Rs 2,417 crore of public money between

April and June

320. Ernst & Young names Andrew Gallacher as

head of advisory for Swiss insurance

i. Auditing firm Ernst & Young LLP appointed

Andrew Gallacher as a partner and head of

advisory for the insurance industry in Switzerland

321. Russian ruble suffers steepest drop in 16 years

– Dec 18

i. The ruble plunged more than 11 percent against

the dollar in its steepest intraday fall since the

Russian financial crisis in 1998

322. India signs 625 million euro loan agreement

with Germany




31

i. India has signed a 625 million euro loan

agreement with Germany for financial assistance

to Green Energy Corridors (GEC) project under

Indo-German bilateral development cooperation

ii. Department of Economic Affairs Joint Secretary

Rajesh Khullar signed loan agreements with

German government's Development Bank KfW for

a loan of 76 million euro to Tamil Nadu and 49

million euro to Rajasthan for intra-state transmission

schemes

323. India to push for Doha agenda at WTO in 2015

i. India is now looking forward to push for the long-

pending Doha agenda at the global trade body in

2015.

ii. 2015, is going to be a big year for the WTO with

the celebration of its 20th anniversary and the

holding of its 10th Ministerial Conference.

324. Russia proposes up to 1 trillion roubles in extra

capital for banking sector

i. The Russian government proposed providing up

to 1 trillion roubles ($17.10 billion) in additional

capital to support the banking sector

325. Government committed to 4.1% fiscal deficit

target for 2014-15 – Dec 19

i. The government is committed to achieving its

fiscal deficit target of 4.1 per cent of gross

domestic product for the current financial year-

chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian

326. Yum! Restaurants India in talks with Samara

Capital Partners to sell KFC in West India

i. If the deal with Samara goes through, it will be

the first time a PE fund will be directly operating

Yum!'s business in the country

ii. Yum! Restaurants India is in talks with private

equity firm Samara Capital Partners to sell the

company-owned KFC restaurant chain business in

West India

iii. India is already the second largest market for

Domino's now

327. Biometric authentication for card transactions

suggested

i. It was suggested that banks will have to

gradually change their systems and machines to

enable biometric authentication for cards as well

as ATM transactions

ii. A large private bank has been asked to carry

out a pilot project for biometric authentication

while making payments through PoS (point of

sales) terminals with merchant establishment

328. Cabinet clears bill for nationwide goods and

services tax

i. India's cabinet approved a constitutional

amendment bill to rationalise state and central

indirect taxes into a harmonised goods and

services tax (GST)

329. EBay CEO John Donahoe to get $23 million

exit package after PayPal split

i. EBay Inc Chief Executive John Donahoe will get

an exit package worth an estimated $23 million

after the company splits from payments unit

PayPal next year

330. SNB imposes negative interest rates to stem

flight into franc

i. The Swiss National Bank said it would impose

negative interest rates on cash held by other

banks at the central bank, seeking to discourage

buying by investors anxious about the crisis in

Russia and oil's slide

331. Rupert Murdoch‟s News Corp acquires Indian

start-up BigDecisions.com –Dec 20

i. Rupert Murdoch-led News Corp announced

acquisition of India's financial advisory start-up firm

BigDecisions.com for an undisclosed sum

ii. "BigDecisions.com aims to help Indian consumers

make smarter financial decisions

332. Tata Steel honoured for corporate

governance

i. Private steel major Tata Steel was conferred the

prestigious Certificate of Recognition by the

Institute of Companies Secretaries of India (ICSI) for

its excellence in corporate governance.

333. RBI working to remove 2-step security for small

online transactions




32

i. The Reserve Bank of India is working on a system

that would allow small value electronic

transactions without a second level of verification

that is now required for most transactions involving

domestic credit cards, Deputy Governor H.R. Khan

said

334. Flipkart files application to become public,

raises USD 700 mn

i. E-commerce major Flipkart announced filing

application with Singapore based companies‘

regulator ACRA to become a public company

after raising USD 700 million for long term strategic

investments in India following which its number of

investors exceeded 50

335. Asian Development Bank grants Rs 6,000 crore

soft loan to Madhya Pradesh

i. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has granted a

whopping Rs 6,000 crore soft loan for strengthening

and building road network in Madhya Pradesh

336. CBDT signs first bilateral Advance Pricing

Agreement

i. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) signed

a bilateral Advance Pricing Agreement (APA) with

a Japanese company

337. GreenDust to widen global presence

i. Refurbished goods retailer Reverse Logistics

Corps, which operates GreenDust.com, is planning

to expand its global footprint by entering Africa,

South Asia and CIS.

ii. It has already started a pilot in Dubai, the U.S.,

and Hong Kong

338. Zomato acquires Italy‟s Cibando

i. Online restaurant search firm Zomato acquired

Italy‘s restaurant search service Cibando

Adani, Downer in $2 billion deal

339. Downer EDI has won a $2-billion contract from

Adani

i. Australian Engineering Group Downer EDI has

won a $2-billion contract from Adani group‘s

Carmichael Coal Mine project in Queensland in

one of the largest deals of its type signed in the

country in recent years

340. Oil Ministry says $5.6 billion production loss at

PMT fields –Dec 21

i. The Oil Ministry has informed the Prime Minister's

Office (PMO) that a consortium-led by BG Group

had caused a production loss of $ 5.6 billion in

western offshore Panna/Mukta and Tapti oil and

gas fields by not completing committed work

programme.

341. DuPont joins hands with Reliance to produce

eco-sarees

i. US-based technology giant Dupont has joined

hands with Reliance Industries and Vipul Sarees for

use of its renewable fibre product Sorona to make

an ‗environment-friendly‘ version of the saree

ii. Balvinder Singh Kalsi is DuPont president, South

Asia and ASEAN

342. BHEL bags Euro 16.96 million contract in Turkey

– Dec 22

i. BHEL has bagged a Euro 16.96 million contract for

a thermal power project in Turkey

ii. The order has been placed on BHEL by Electricity

Generation Company which is the largest electric

power company in Turkey owned by the Turkish

government

343. RBI simplifies 'non-cooperative' borrower

classification

i. The RBI has simplified the definition of a non-

cooperative borrower to include all those who

have the ability to pay but still thwart lenders'

efforts to recover their dues, including by not

providing necessary information

344. Saudi Arabia says won't cut oil output even if

non-OPEC nations do

i. Saudi Arabia said it would not cut output to prop

up oil markets even if non-OPEC nations did so

345. India to be second largest smartphone market

by 2016

i. India will surpass the US as the second largest

market for smartphones globally by 2016, research

firm eMarketer said

346. Mobile charger must be taxed separately: SC




33

i. The Supreme Court ruled that a cellphone

battery charger was an independent product sold

separately and must be taxed as such

347. Snapdeal.com launches online 'Agri store'

targeting farmers – Dec 23

i. Celebrating Kisan Diwas, e-retailing firm

Snapdeal.com announced the launch of "The Agri

store", offering products like seeds, fertiliser and

irrigation tools, among others, to farmers

348. Alstom to pay record $772 mln to settle

bribery charges with U.S

i. The French power and transportation company

Alstom will pay a record $772.3 million fine and

plead guilty to settle U.S. criminal charges in bribes

to win business around the globe

ii. It was a scheme that took place over about 11

years and involved paying more than $75 million to

bribe officials in Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt,

Taiwan, and the Bahamas to secure $4 billion in

projects

349. EU launches anti-dumping probe into Indian

cast iron tubing

i. The European Commission has begun

investigating a complaint that India has been

flooding the EU market with cast iron tubes and

pipes at below market cost

ii. The complaint was brought by French building

materials supplier Saint-Gobain units in Britain,

Germany and Spain on behalf of producers

representing more than three-quarters of the total

EU production of these tubes and pipes

iii. The European Foundry Association (CAEF),

represents the cast iron industry

350. Third-quarter U.S. economic growth strongest

in 11 years – Dec 24

i. The U.S. economy grew at a 5.0 percent clip in

the third quarter, its quickest pace in 11 years

351. Singapore's GIC eyes control of Nirlon in up to

$197 million deal

i. An affiliate of Singapore sovereign wealth fund

GIC plans to take control of India's Nirlon Ltd in a

deal estimated to be worth up to $197 million

352. UltraTech to buy Jaiprakash cement plants for

$852 million

i. UltraTech Cement(ULTC.NS) has agreed to buy

two cement plants from Jaiprakash Associates

(JAIA.NS) for 54 billion rupees ($852 million)

including debt

ii. Jaiprakash will remain the country's third-biggest

cement producer after the plant sales

353. India slashes health budget, one of the world's

lowest

i. The government has ordered a cut of nearly 20

percent in its 2014/15 healthcare budget

ii. More than 60 billion rupees, or $948 million, has

been slashed from their budget allocation of

around $5 billion for the financial year ending on

March 31

iii. India had the third-largest number of people

living with HIV in the world at the end of 2013,

according to the U.N. AIDS programme, and it

accounts for more than half of all AIDS-related

deaths in the Asia-Pacific

iv. The United Nations estimates about one third of

the world's 1.2 billion poorest people live in India.

v. India spends about 1 percent of its gross

domestic product (GDP) on public health,

compared to 3 percent in China and 8.3 percent

in the United States

354. UAE-India remittance corridor continues to

grow

i. A recent white paper commissioned by Friends

Provident International (FPI) and published by the

Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), reveals strong

remittance and investment flows from the UAE to

India

ii. Remitting money from the UAE to India is less

expensive than from other locations

355. Coal India, GAIL to invest Rs 9,000 crore in

Talcher plant

i. CIL and GAIL along with Rashtriya Chemicals and

Fertilizers and Fertilizer Corp of India Ltd (FCIL) will

set up the integrated coal gasification with fertiliser

and ammonium nitrate complex with investment

of Rs 9,000 crore at Talcher in Odisha by 2019




34

356. Russia says currency crisis over, but inflation

set to soar – Dec 25 & 26

i. Russia said its currency crisis was over but warned

that inflation is set to climb above 10 percent, as it

fights its worst economic crisis since 1998

357. JPMorgan fund in talks on taking $200 mln

stake in SpiceJet

i. A fund managed by JPMorgan Chase is in

advanced talks to partner with carrier SpiceJet

Ltd's co-founder for a planned $200 million

investment into the airline

358. Reliance signs shipping agreement for ethane

imports

i. Reliance Industries Ltd said it had signed a long-

term shipping agreement with Japan's Mitsui OSK

Lines Ltd (MOL) to transport liquefied ethane that

Reliance will import from North America

359. Reliance, partners abandon east coast oil and

gas block

i. Reliance Industries Ltd and its partners have

relinquished an oil and gas block off India‘s east

coast due to access restrictions and uncertainty

over long-term natural gas pricing, one of the

company‘s joint-venture partners Hardy Oil and

Gas said

360. Sumitomo Mitsui to take $58.4 million stake in

Reliance Capital

i. Reliance Capital Ltd said Japan's Bank Sumitomo

Mitsui Trust will acquire an initial 2.77 percent stake

in the company for $58.4 million

361. Aspen, Cipla win share of $860 million S.Africa

AIDS drug tender

i. The health department in South Africa selected

four pharmaceutical companies, including Africa's

biggest generic drugmaker Aspen Pharmacare

and India's Cipla Ltd to make and supply the

HIV/AIDS treatment drugs to public hospitals

362. China to step up free trade talks with Middle

East – Dec 27 to 30

i. China will speed up free trade talks with six

countries on the Arabian peninsula and begin

trade negotiations with Israel next year

ii. China and members of the Gulf Cooperation

Council - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi

Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - started free

trade talks in 2004

iii. GCC countries consider China as a major

market for their petrochemical products

iv. China inked major free trade agreements with

Australia and South Korea this year, and already

has deals with Costa Rica, Peru, New Zealand and

the Association of Southeast Asian Nations

363. Steps for integrating DIN with e-biz portal

complete

i. Arrangements have been completed for

integration of Name Availability, allotment of

Direct Identification Number (DIN), Company

Incorporation and Commencement of Business

with the unified e-business portal being developed

by the Ministry of Industries and Commerce,

Corporate Affairs Ministry has said

364. Govt. to set up agency for development,

export of saffron

i. The Saffron Production and Export Development

Agency (SPEDA), to be headquartered at Srinagar,

will be set up by the Spices Board in consultation

with the Jammu and Kashmir government to set

up an agency to promote development and

export of the expensive spice

365. Japan unleashes $29 billion fresh stimulus to

spur growth

i. Japan‘s Cabinet, approved about 3.5 trillion yen

($29 billion) in fresh stimulus, to help pull the world‘s

third-largest economy out of recession

366. Green Climate Fund to consider contributions

from private sector

i. GCF Executive Director Hela Cheikhrouhou said

in Lima that the GCF would accept funds from

private sector corporations and institutions but this

will be finalised next year

367. India working to fix e-commerce payments:

central bank governor

i. The central bank is working to set a legal

framework for the use of advanced e-commerce

technologies




35

ii. In August, the RBI instructed that by Oct. 31, all

transactions done with domestic credit cards had

to follow the two-step verification process

368. Icrisat launches 'Green Phablet' for small

farmers

i. The International Crops Research Institute for the

Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) has announced the

commercial launch of a customised low-cost

combination phone and tablet computer called

'Green Phablet' for smallholder farmers

ii. The gadget, developed in collaboration with

NUNC Systems using the Green SIM developed in

collaboration with Airtel, helps farmers receive free

messages pertaining to weather and pest

problems, apart from competitive agricultural

input and crop prices

369. RBI sees 6 per cent inflation in 2015

i. The Reserve Bank suggests that CPI inflation over

the next 12 months may hover around 6 per cent

370. Excise sop ends to the auto sector

i. The government has decided not to extend the

reduced excise duty rates provided to the auto

sector from January 1

371. Post offices can provide ATM cards, account

statements – Dec 31

i. The government has allowed certain eligible post

office branches to issue ATM cards to their

account holders and also account statements

instead of giving out passbooks

ii. The government issued a gazette notification

amending the Post Office Savings Bank General

Rules, 1981

iii. Post offices currently provide savings account,

recurring deposits, fixed deposits and many other

small savings schemes run by the government

including the popular Public Provident Funds

372. Inflation cools to zero

i. The inflation based on wholesale prices (WPI)

dipped to zero level in October, from over 5 per

cent in January 2014

373. The government split the post of Chairman

and Managing Director for PSU banks

1. For the first time, PSU banks will have a non-

Executive Chairman, giving operational

responsibility to Managing Director and Chief

Executive Officer (CEO)

2. R Koteeswaran, Executive Director, Bank of India

has been appointed as MD and CEO of Indian

Overseas Bank (IOB)

3. Animesh Chauhan, ED (BOI), will head Oriental

Bank of Commerce (OBC)

4. Kishore Kumar Sansi, ED (Punjab and Sind Bank)

will be the new MD and CEO of Vijaya Bank

5. P Srinivas moves from Bank of Baroda (BoB) to

United Bank of India as MD and CEO.

6. The current structure at country's largest lender

State Bank of India which is headed by a

Chairman and assisted by several Managing

Directors, will continue

7. RBI had set up a committee under the

chairmanship of A S Ganguly in 2004-05 to study

the issue of bifurcation of the post of Chairman

and Managing Director in banks

8. Private sector banks in 2007 implemented these

recommendations

9. In PSBs, so far the top executive was designated

as CMD, with the exception of the largest lender

State Bank of India, where the top position is

commanded by the Chairman and there are four

Managing Directors with clearly defined executive

roles under them

10. The Appointments Board is chaired by the

Reserve Bank Governor

11. At PSBs other than SBI, the Chairman will be a

part time Board Member who would preside over

the Board Meetings and will not be an Executive

Chairman

12. Three 'A' Category Large Banks, i.e. Bank of

Baroda, Punjab National Bank and Canara Bank,

the Government has decided to go for a fresh

selection procedure with a view to widen the

search of candidates

374. Agriculural output hits new high in 2014




36

i. India has achieved a record production for a

number of crops including wheat, rice, pulses and

cotton in 2014

ii. Agriculural sector contributed only 14 per cent to

the country's GDP

SPORTS

375. Thaworn seals King's Cup for 18th title – dec 1

i. Thaworn -- a comparative veteran now holds an

unprecedented 18 titles on the Asian Tour

376. Ravi named in ICC panel of umpires for world

cup – Dec 3

i. Indian umpire S. Ravi was named in a 25-member

list of match officials for next year‘s ICC ODI World

Cup in Australia and New Zealand

377. East reclaims Deodhar Trophy after a long gap

–Dec 4

i. East Zone won the Deodhar Trophy after 11

seasons. The Trophhy is named after Prof. D. B.

Deodhar (known as the Grand Old Man of Indian

cricket)

378. World boxing body AIBA bans Sarita Devi for

one year – Dec 17

i. Boxer Sarita Devi, who had refused to accept her

Asian Games bronze medal, was banned for one

year by the world body AIBA

379. ICC announces Sachin Tendulkar as 2015

World Cup ambassador – Dec 22

i. The International Cricket Council announced

that Sachin Tendulkar, will be the ambassador for

the upcoming 2015 Cricket World Cup in February.

ii. It is the second successive time he will be the

ambassador of ICC's coveted tournament

380. India captain MS Dhoni completed 10 years in

international cricket – Dec 23

Kidambi Srikanth is World No. 4 in Badminton World

Federation (BWF) ranking – Dec 25

MS Dhoni announced his retirement from

International Test Cricket with immediate effect-

Dec 30

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

381. Sony hires Mandiant to help clean up after

cyber attack

i. Sony Pictures Entertainment has hired FireEye

Inc's Mandiant forensics unit to clean up a massive

cyber attack that knocked out the studio's

computer network

382. No serious side effects in Merck/Newlink

Ebola vaccine test – Dec 3

i. The first people vaccinated with an experimental

Ebola shot, known as VSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccine

being developed by Merck and NewLink have

had no serious side effects so far Swiss researchers

said

383. Scientists map genetic diversity of sub-

Saharan Africa – Dec 4

i. The scientists collected genetic data from more

than 1,800 people to make a detailed map of 18

so-called "ethnolinguistic" groups in Sub-Saharan

Africa

ii. The data also included 320 whole genome

sequences from seven populations.

iii. It should help them learn more about the role

genes play in diseases such as malaria,

haemorrhagic fever and hypertension in

populations there

384. Sony malware may be linked to other

damaging attacks: researchers – Dec 5

i. Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered what

they say is technical evidence linking the massive

breach at Sony Corp's Hollywood studio with

attacks in South Korea and the Middle East

ii. In 2012, cyber attackers damaged tens of

thousands of computers at Saudi Arabia's national

oil company and Qatar's RasGas with a virus

known as Shamoon, one of the most destructive

campaigns to date

iii. Sony was attacked by a malware dubbed as

"Destover"

385. New NASA spaceship debut test flight –Dec 6

i. NASA marked a major milestone on its journey to

Mars as the Orion spacecraft completed its first




37

voyage to space, traveling farther than any

spacecraft designed for astronauts has been in

more than 40 years.

ii. Orion will serve as the exploration vehicle that

will carry the crew to space and provide safe re-

entry from deep space return velocities

386. Flyash helps improve crop yield, says

Agriculture Scientist –Dec 7

i. An extensive research onducted by C.V. Patil,

University of Agriculture Sciences, Raichur (UASR)

have proved that the flyash improves crop yield,

acts as pest control and helps in

retaining/improving soil fertility

387. NASA‟s Curiosity rover has found new

evidence of water on Mars – Dec 10

i. NASA‘s Mars rover Curiosity show that rivers once

flowed into a lake or lakes at the bottom of Gale

Crate

388. Windows 10 may have new browser, Internet

Explorer on way out – Dec 31

i. Internet Explorer, Microsoft's venerable but often

despised web browser, may be on its way out

ii. The new browser, codenamed at this point as

Spartan, will be unveiled on January

389. NASA is launching a new remote sensing

instrument SMAP

i. NASA is launching a new remote sensing

instrument in space that will measure the moisture

lodged in Earth‘s soils with unprecedented

accuracy and resolution.

ii. The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP)

instrument is scheduled for launch on January 29,

2015

APPOINTMENTS, RESIGNATIONS, BIRTHDAYS

AND DEATHS

390. i. Tabare Vazquez won elections and has

become the new president of Uruguay

i. Eminent jurist and former Supreme Court judge,

Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer, passed away – Dec 4

a. Babri Masjid demolition anniversary

i. The 22nd anniversary of Babri mosque demolition

in Ayodhya is on Dec 6, 2014

b. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar 58th death

anniversary –Dec 6

c. South Africans mark Mandela anniversary

i. South Africa marked the first anniversary of

former President Nelson Mandela's death on

December 5

d. Renowned writer Sobho Gianchandani passes

away –Dec 9

i. Acclaimed writer and leftist leader Sobho

Gianchandani, who was given the sobriquet of "a

man from Moen Jo Daro" by Rabindranath Tagore,

died in Pakistan's Larkana aged 94.

ii. Gianchandani, who studied at the Shantiniketan

College in West Bengal, was the first non-muslim

and non-urdu recipient of the renowned Kamal-e-

Fun Award -- a top literary award given to writers in

the field of literature

e. Pranab Kumar Mukherjee the 13th and current

President of India was born on December 11 –Dec

11

f. Haiti Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe resigned

g. Pope Francis the reigning pope of the Catholic

Church, birthday is on December 17, 1936

h. Andreas Schockenhoff, a conservative member

of the German parliament and prominent critic of

Russian President Vladimir Putin died of heart

failure

i. Senior IAS officer S Bhattacharya has been

appointed as the Chairman and Managing

Director of Coal India – Dec 24

j. Eminent filmmaker and Dadasaheb Phalke

Award winner K Balachander died

k. Dec 25 Birthdays – Founder of Banaras Hindu

University Madan Mohan Malviya, Former PM Atal

Bihari Vajpayee, Current Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif

m. The oldest litigant in the Babri Masjid case,

Mohammad Farooq, died at the age of 100 in

Ayodhya – Dec 25

n. The 10th anniversary of Tsunami was marked on

Dec 26




38

o. President Nicolas Maduro named Foreign

Minister Rafael Ramirez to a new post as envoy to

the United Nations

p. Educationist Saiyid Hamid passes away – Dec 31

i. Saiyid Hamid, aged 94, educationist, reformist,

author and the tallest figure in Muslim academia,

died

About Saiyid Hamid:

391. i. Chancellor of Jamia Hamdard University, ex-

chancellor Jamia Millia Islamia and former Vice

Chancellor Aligarh Muslim University

ii. The last surviving ICS officer in India.

iii. Was recently conferred Sir Ross Masood Lifetime

392. Achievement Award 2014 for Excellence in

Leadership, Education, Community and Public

Service by the Vice President of India, who is also

an ex-vice chancellor of AMU

iv. Mr. Hamid was one of the members of the high

level committee headed by Justice Rajendra

Sacchar which was appointed by the Prime

Minister in 2005

v. He later succeeded Hakeem Abdul Hameed,

founder of Hamdard Dawakhana (now Hamdard

(Wakf) Laboratories) as the Chancellor of

Hamdard University in Delhi

393. Veteran journalist B.G. Verghese dies at 88

i. A Magsaysay Award winner and Information

Adviser to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the

former Editor of the Hindustan Times and The Indian

Express, Boobli George Verghese died

ii. He is remembered for his editorial titled

―Kanchenjunga, here we come‖ in Hindustan

Times after Sikkim merged with India in 1975

iii. He was associated with the Centre for Policy

Research and The Commonwealth Human Rights

Initiative (CHRI)

394. IMPORTANT DAYS IN DECEMBER

1 December World AIDS Day

2 December International Day for the Abolition

of Slavery

3 December International Day of Persons with

Disabilities

5 December International Volunteer Day for

Economic and Social Development

5 December World Soil Day [FAO]

7 December International Civil Aviation Day

[ICAO]

9 December International Anti-Corruption Day

10 December Human Rights Day

11 December International Mountain Day

18 December International Migrants Day

20 December International Human Solidarity Day

new december update ca 2014

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