Boxer Manoj Kumar received the Arjuna Award from Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal after winning a High

Court case. The Kapil Dev-led award committee had earlier refused to give the coveted award to the 2010

Commonwealth Games gold medallist. Angry with the government's decision not to give him the award, Manoj had

filed a case in the Delhi High Court. The Sports Ministry then admitted that they had mixed his name up with

another junior boxer, also named Manoj Kumar, who was not considered for the Award because of doping

allegations in a junior tournament.

Former captain Dilip Vengsarkar received the prestigious BCCI-instituted Col. C K Nayudu Lifetime

achievement award for his contribution to Indian cricket. The 58-year-old Vengsarkar played 116 Test matches

after coming into national prominence with a belligerent hundred for Mumbai against the Rest of India in the Irani

Cup game at the start of the 1975-76 season. He was a member of the Indian team that won the World Cup in

1983 and the World Championship of Cricket in 1985, and he led India in 10 Tests in 1987-89. He was Chairman

of the BCCI's Talent Research Development Committee for three years, and the Chairman of the All-India Senior

Selection Committee for the period, 2006-08.

Russia's role in Ukraine's ongoing civil strife has secured President Vladimir Putin's position atop Forbes

magazine's list of the world's most powerful people for the second year straight. Putin beat U.S. President

Barack Obama, ranked second and attested by Forbes as "the handcuffed head of the most dominant country

in the world." The top five was rounded up by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pope Francis and German Chancellor

Angela Merkel. Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi, who is one of the 12 newcomers in the list, was ranked 15 and

described as a “Hindu Nationalist”. About the PM, Forbes said, “India’s newest rock star doesn’t hail from

Bollywood”.

Neha Gupta, an 18-year-old Indian-American, won the prestigious International Children's Peace Prize for her

work to help orphans in India and other vulnerable children. Gupta from Philadelphia became the first ever

American to be awarded the Children's International Peace Prize in The Hague, Netherlands. The prize is awarded

annually to a child, anywhere in the world, for his or her dedication to children's rights.

President Pranab Mukherjee conferred the 49th Jnanpith award on eminent Hindi poet Kedarnath Singh for his

outstanding contribution towards Indian literature. Singh is a celebrated teacher as well who has taught

at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) .The Jnanpith award, was institutionalised by philanthropist couple Sahu

Shanti Prasad Jain and Late Rama Jain, to recognise and award Indian authors for their contribution to Indian

literature.

West Bengal's Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park (PNHZP), India's largest high altitude zoo, became the

first to be selected for the prestigious Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Earth Heroes Awards 2014. PNHZP was

established in 1958 and is situated in Darjeeling at an elevation of 7,000 feet. It is popularly called the Darjeeling

zoo. It is the only specialized zoo in the country and is internationally recognized for its conservation breeding

programmes of Red Panda, Snow Leopards, Tibetan Wolf and other endangered animals of eastern Himalayas.

Lahore-based author Bilal Tanweer won the 2014 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize for his novel The Scatter Here Is

Too Great. In its seventh year, the prize money has been increased to Rs 2 lakh with support from Priti Paul and

the Apeejay Trust. Tanweer, born and raised in Karachi, has published fiction, poetry and translation in various

international journals.

AWARDS & HONOURS

1st November to 30th November

� Emerging as one of the most-liked stocks for foreign funds, mortgage giant HDFC has seen overseas

investors raising their stake in the company to a record-high of nearly 78% during the quarter ended

September 2014. The mortgage financier has also become the first listed Indian company among 30

Sensex firms to have over 75% shareholding by foreign institutional investors (FIIs). Cumulative FII

holdings in the company rose to 77.85% in the July-September quarter this year from 73.09% in three

months ended September last year, according to data from stock exchanges. In the April-June quarter of

2014, FIIs’ holding in HDFC stood at 77.36%.

� India’s greatest fast bowler Kapil Dev has co-owned a tech brand called SloPho and launched the same in

India. The iconic cricketer said this was his contribution to the Prime Minister’s ‘Make in India’ initiative.

SloPho (slogan and photography) is a social gamified collaboration platform or basically an app available

for free on Android which allows users to create a corporate community and win daily prizes by

participating in games, contests, polls and quizzes. The SloPho app combines the best of Twitter,

Facebook and Instagram.

� China’s online retail giant, Alibaba made the record of earning 9.3 billion US dollars in sales in a single day

on 11 November 2014.

� Suzlon Energy put into operation the world’s tallest hybrid wind generator turbine in Kutch, Gujarat. The

turbine, it is claimed, will generate 12-15 per cent more energy. With this new turbine, the installed wind

energy capacity at the Kutch region of Gujarat has gone up to 1,100 MW. And, this makes it the Asia’s

biggest wind energy park at one location, according to Tulsi Tanti, Chairman and Managing Director of

Suzlon.

� The government has approved revival of seven sick central PSUs, including HMT Machine Tools and Tyre

Corporation, through disinvestment or joint venture route. The other sick CPSEs which will be revived are

Tungabhadra Steel Products, HMT Bearings, Richardson & Cruddas Ltd, Central Inland Water Transport

Corp and Hoogly Docks & Port Engineers Ltd. These companies have been chosen for revival based on the

recommendations of Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE).

� The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has tightened rules to keep a check on insider trading

and made it cheaper for small investors to participate in companies' delisting process. As part of the

revamp in insider trading norms, the capital market regulator has barred directors and key management

personnel of listed companies from trading in futures and options contracts of the company. It has also

put the onus on the accused to prove that he or she was not in possession of unpublished price sensitive

information.

BUSINESS & CORPORATE

� Union Finance Ministry announced that Goa and Kerala became the first states in the country to achieve

100 percent Financial Inclusion under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). Also, three Union

Territories (UTs) namely Chandigarh, Puducherry and Lakshadweep achieved 100 percent financial

inclusion. Kerala became the first State in the country to have 100 per cent coverage of all households

with bank accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) in a record two-and-a-half

months. The State has more than 6,000 bank branches and every panchayat has a banking channel.

Financial literacy centres have been opened in all 152 blocks.

� Enthused by initial response, the government has revised upwards target for opening of accounts under

Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) from 7.5 crore to 10 crore by January 26, 2015.

� For the benefit of lakhs of households, the Central government launched a modified Direct Benefit Transfer

of LPG (DBTL) scheme in 54 districts in 11 states including all in Kerala starting November 15, 2014

whereby LPG consumers who have not yet availed the benefit will be able to get cash subsidy amount

transferred into their accounts to buy Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders at market price. Every time

they book a cylinder the government will transfer Rs 568 to the customers’ bank account so that the

money would be there in the account before gas reaches their homes. Each household is entitled to get 12

subsidized cylinders a year. So those who have already exhausted the quota will not be get any subsidy

this year. This scheme will be implemented in the rest of India on January 1, 2015. Post implementation

of this scheme India’s LPG subsidy burden of Rs 48,000 crore is expected to come down by 15 per cent.

� The government launched the 'Swachh Bharat Kosh', a fund that will be utilised to build toilets in schools,

rural and urban areas to achieve the objective of cleanliness across the country. The fund would seek

"channelisation of philanthropic contributions and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds", according

to the guidelines issued by the government. The Kosh will be set up by the Ministry of Finance and will be

managed by a Governing Council headed by Expenditure Secretary. Its functioning will be monitored on

quarterly basis by the Finance Minister and by the Prime Minister from time-to-time. The implementation

of the projects/activities would be carried out by the existing institutions at the state, district, and sub

district level and no new institutions would be created.

� With the objective to raise savings in the country, the government re-launched Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP),

an instrument which will provide trusted option of investment to poor and keep them off ponzi schemes.

"In the last 2-3 years, savings rate in country has declined from a record high of 36.8 per cent to below

30 per cent due to slowdown in the economy. It is, therefore, necessary to encourage people to save

more,’’ Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said during the launch of the revamped KVP. This would help poor

gullible investors to channelize their savings towards trusted government schemes. KVP, that has got no

upper ceiling for investment, can be encashed after a lock-in period of 30 months.

COMMITTEES / SCHEMES / POLICIES

� The government, on 1 November 2014, slashed import tariff value on Gold to $ 391 per 10 grams

and silver to $ 551 per kg following weak global price trends. The import tariff value is the base price at

which customs duty is determined to prevent under-invoicing. It is revised on a fortnightly basis taking

into account global prices. Gold is the second largest import item for India after petroleum. The

government has imposed several restriction to curb imports to contain current account deficit (CAD).

Import duty on gold was increased thrice to a record 10 per cent last year and made it mandatory to

export 20 per cent of the imported gold.

� The United States became the 8th partner country for Vibrant Gujarat Global Investor Summit 2015. So

far it had refrained itself from previous editions of biennial business event given the diplomatic visa ban

on former CM Narendra Modi invoked in 2005 for alleged violation of religious rights during 2002

communal riots. The Gujarat Government has taken the economical giant on board when only two months

are to go for seventh edition of three-day event to be inaugurated on January 11 by Modi, now PM at

Gandhinagar. Japan, Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Netherlands, Singapore and South Africa are

already on board.

� Chinese President Xi Jinping called for efforts to create and fulfill an Asia-Pacific dream in Beijing, saying

China's economy will bring huge opportunities and benefits to the region and the world. He made the

remarks when addressing the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in Beijing, which

attracted over 1,500 business people from 21 APEC member economies and 17 other countries and

regions.

� The government decided to infuse Rs. 2,375.42 crore to revive 23 District Central Cooperative

Banks (DCCBs) in four states which were on the verge of closure. Of the total amount, state governments

would contribute Rs. 1,464.59 crore, Centre Rs. 673.29 crore and NABARD Rs. 237.54 crore. There are 23

unlicensed district level banks including 16 in Uttar Pradesh, three each in Jammu and Kashmir and

Maharashtra, and one in West Bengal. These banks were on the verge of closure. These banks have

deposits base of about Rs. 6,839 crore and loan books of around Rs. 3,774 crore. The assistance from

NABARD would be in the form of loan to the respective state governments under Section 27 of NABARD

Act, 1981. The scheme for revival of these unlicensed DCCBs will help in revival of these cooperative

banks. This will result in protecting the interests of depositors and catering to the credit needs of farmers.

Once revived, these cooperative banks would become eligible for obtaining licenses from the Reserve

Bank of India (RI) for continuing their operations in rural areas and would also be able to meet CRAR

(capital to risk-weighted assets ratio) requirement prescribed by the apex bank. This means 7 per cent

CRAR by 31st March, 2015 and 9 per cent by 31st March, 2017.

� India and Russia held their 20th Inter-Governmental Commission Meeting in New Delhi, during which the

entire gamut of bilateral ties was discussed, with the focus on cooperation in the fields of energy, defence

and civil nuclear cooperation. The meeting of the Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic,

Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation was co-chaired by External Affairs Minister Sushma

Swaraj and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. India and Russia also signed agreements to

set up a Smart City on the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), unroll telecommunication satellites

and have joint ventures in the mining sector.

ECONOMY & BANKING

� In less than two years, Gujarat set a standard for other states when it crossed 100 crore e-transactions

for public services — a first for the country insofar as use of technology for registration of births and

deaths, land, and other such activities are concerned. According to 'eTaal' — electronic transaction

aggregation and analysis layer — a Central government portal that disseminates e-transaction statistics,

Gujarat accounts for 27% of the total 373 crore e-transactions recorded in the services provided by all

state government services in the past two years. The portal, set up by the IT department, receives

transaction statistics from web-based applications on near real-time basis.

� The RBI released the final guidelines for the implementation of the Bharat Bill Payment System/BBPS. This

system will enable consumers to pay numerous bills including electricity, telephone and school fees at one

single point of transaction only.

� Kotak Mahindra Bank announced it was acquiring Bengalaru-headquartered ING Vysya Bank in an all-

stock deal. ING shareholders will get 725 Kotak Bank shares for every 1,000 shares they hold. The deal

will make Kotak the fourth-largest private bank in the country in terms of total business. The biggest

three are ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank, in that order. The combined banking entity will have a

widespread network of 1,214 branches across the country. The deal implies a price of Rs 790 for each ING

Vysya share, based on the average closing price of Kotak shares during the month to November 19,

valuing the deal at around Rs 15,000 crore. That was a 16 per cent premium to a like measure of ING

Vysya market price, Kotak Bank said in a media statement. The proposed merger would result in issuance

of around 15.2 per cent of the equity share capital of the merged Kotak.

Former President APJ Abdul Kalam (83 years) became a rare Indian leader to take up teaching assignment in

a Chinese university after he was formally conferred the title of Honorary Professor by the Peking University, one

of the oldest Chinese universities.

Anoop Mishra, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary, is the new Secretary-General of the Lok Sabha. Mr. Mishra,

a former IAS officer of the 1978 batch, will have the rank and status of Cabinet Secretary with effect from

December 1, 2014 to November 30, 2016 or until further orders. Mr. Mishra has held several important positions

at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh. He had been the Chief Secretary for a year with overall responsibility of the

State administration, superintendence of law and order and development and infrastructure schemes.

For the first time in the history of India's dairy sector, all the dairy majors joined hands to celebrate November 26

as National Milk Day in the memory Dr Verghese Kurien, Father of India's White Revolution. The National Dairy

Development Board (NDDB), Indian Dairy Association (IDA) along with around 22 state level milk federation's

including Gujarat's own - Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) that markets brand Amul

celebrated the National Milk Day on Kurien's 93rd birth anniversary.

Filmmaker-actor Farhan Akhtar became the first man to be appointed as the South Asia Goodwill Ambassador of

the UN Women. UN Women's South Asia Goodwill Ambassador is dedicated to gender equality and women's

empowerment. The organisation said Akhtar has represented the voice of numerous concerned men on the

important issue of gender equality and violence against women and girls in India through his Men against Rape

and Discrimination (MARD) campaign.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ appeal to the Congress and the Shiv Sena to withdraw their respective

nominees for the post of Speaker paved the way for the unanimous election of Bharatiya Janata Party leader and

former minister Haribhau Bagde as the Speaker of the 13th Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. Bagde is a five-

time MLA from Aurangabad district.

Indian-origin British politician Keith Vaz was named as the Labour MP of the year 2014 for his valuable work for

underrepresented, deprived and minority sections of the country.

KC Reddy, a former UN security advisor for Syria, was named to the internal and independent United Nations

Headquarters Board of Inquiry that will be chaired by Patrick Cammaert of The Netherlands. The formation of the

inquiry board by the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, is aimed at reviewing "certain incidents that occurred in

the Gaza Strip between July 8 and August 26," It seeks to probe the presence of arms in UN premises in the Gaza

strip and the damage to its facilities during the conflict between Israel and Palestinian factions.

Laxmikant Parsekar, a three-term MLA and former chief of state BJP, was sworn in as the new chief minister of

Goa after Manohar Parrikar resigned from the post. Parsekar, 68, is a two-term president of Goa BJP who started

as a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh worker. He was chosen over Assembly speaker Rajendra Arlekar and Deputy

Chief Minister Francis D’souza.

Malaysia's world number one Lee Chong Wei was provisionally suspended for an "apparent" anti-doping violation,

the Badminton World Federation (BWF) said. The 32-year-old Lee, however, posted messages on his official

Twitter and Facebook accounts thanking fans for their support and denying using drugs to gain an advantage.

PEOPLE IN NEWS

Manohar Parrikar, expected to become the next Defence Minister of the country, resigned as Goa Chief Minister,

paving way for the appointment of his successor in the state. The 58-year-old leader was sworn in on March 2012

after he rode the party to a historical win in the Assembly polls. The party managed to win on 21 seats out of 40

emerging as the single largest legislative unit. Mr Parrikar made headlines after he slashed the petrol prices in the

state by almost Rs. 11 by excluding Value Added Tax (VAT) imposed on it. The Bombay-IIT alumni also launched

two major schemes 'Grih Adhar' providing monthly income to housewives and 'Ladli Lakshmi' offering financial

help of Rs. one lakh for the marriage of a girl child. Mr Parrikar, who had inked controversial public accounts

committee report on illegal mining, had to face Supreme Court's wrath which imposed a ban on iron ore extraction

industry in the state, pointing out to the illegalities in the trade.

Former Minister and Communist Marxist Party (CMP) leader M.V. Raghavan, who had formed the breakaway CMP

after his expulsion from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 1985, died at 81. He had served as Minister in

the United Democratic Front government in 1991 and 2001. He had been the founder chairman of the Pariyaram

Medical College in the co-operative sector. He had also founder the Pappinissery Visha Chikitsa Society which

currently runs a snake park and an Ayurveda medical college, among others.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his debut among the world’s most powerful people, ranked 15th on

the Forbes list topped by Russian President Vladimir Putin who pipped his US counterpart Barack Obama for a

second year in a row. On Modi, Forbes said “India’s newest rock star doesn’t hail from Bollywood. He is the newly

elected Prime Minister who sailed into office in May with a landslide victory, ushering the Bharatiya Janata Party

(BJP) into power after decades of control by the Gandhi dynasty.” Forbes described him as a “Hindu nationalist”

and refereed to the 2002 Gujarat riots when he was the state’s chief minister. “Modi is credited with massive

reconstruction projects in his home state of Gujarat. His administration promises to bring economic rejuvenation

to other beleaguered parts of India. The world is as impressed as the citizens of India: So far he’s toured the US

and China and met with his Southeast Asian neighbours,” the magazine said.

P.D. James, the British novelist renowned for her crime novels featuring detective Adam Dalgliesh as well as such

works as "The Children of Men," died at 94. Over a five-decade career as a published writer, James won countless

honors for her thoughtful, probing mysteries featuring Dalgliesh, a Scotland Yard detective who was also a poet.

She was nicknamed "the Queen of Crime" and described as the Dickens of crime writing.

Australian Test batsman Phillip Hughes died at 25 in a Sydney hospital, after being struck by a bouncer ball in

the head. He was in coma from 2 days of a domestic first-class match.

Senior IAAS officer Rajani Sankaran took over as Chairman and Managing Director of Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut

Nigam Ltd (BHAVINI) becoming the first woman to head a nuclear establishment. A 1989 batch IAAS officer,

Ms.Sankaran had a Fellowship in International Auditing from the General Accountability Office, USA. She was

earlier Accountant General (Commercial and Receipt Audit), Tamil Nadu, Principal Director of Audit (South Central

Railway) and Southern Railway.

Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata was appointed to the board of Interpol Foundation to contribute to its

two new global initiatives aimed at combating organised crime and terrorist activities by the international police

organisation. Interpol Foundation said it was “honoured that Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata accepted to

sit on its board of trustee and contribute to the success of the Protecting Cultural Property and Modernising

Channels of International Judicial Cooperation initiatives.”

Producer Director Ravi Chopra passed away at 68. He had been reportedly suffering from a severe lung ailment

since the last few years. The veteran filmmaker belonged to an illustrious Bollywood family and directed movies

like The Burning Train, Baaghban and Babul. He also directed the iconic TV serial Mahabharata, produced by his

father, B.R Chopra.

Veteran Bollywood actor Sadashiv Amrapurkar who is known for his stellar performances in villainous roles in

movies like Sadak, Ishq and Ardh Satya, died in Mumbai. Born as Ganesh Kumar Narwode, the actor adopted the

stage name Sadashiv Amrapurkar in 1974 and made a mark on theatre as well as the silver screen with his spine-

chilling performances in negative roles. His performance in Ardh Satya (1983) won him the Filmfare award for Best

Supporting Actor. Sadashiv was also the first actor to receive the Filmfare award for 'Best Performance in a

Negative Role' for his portrayal of an evil eunuch running a brothel, in the Sanjay Dutt-starrer Sadak in 1991.

Sadashiv got his first onscreen break in Marathi film 22 June 1897 in which he played Bal Gangadhar Tilak.

Britain’s first Indian-origin cabinet minister Sajid Javid topped a list of the most influential Asians in the country.

Javid, the UK secretary of state for culture, media and sport, topped the ‘Power 101 Britain’s Most Influential

Asians 2015′ list released in November this year. Others in the top five included Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala

Yousafzai, down to second position from the top spot last year, Indian-origin Labour MP Keith Vaz at the third,

Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and Hinduja brothers at the fourth and fifth positions respectively.

� In an honour for Narinder Batra, the Hockey India president was included in the International Hockey

Federation (FIH) Executive Board as it concluded its 2014 Ordinary Congress in Marrakesh, Morocco. The

two-day event was titled the ‘Hockey Revolution Congress’ and delegates learnt about the Hockey

Revolution — FIH’s ten-year strategy set to deliver a global sport, inspiring the next generation. The FIH

laid out ambitious goals for the next ten years for hockey around entertainment, professionalism, image

and following. A clear strategy was outlined for hockey focusing on five key initiatives; fan-focused

entertainment portfolio; world-class content creation and distribution; joined-up global marketing;

commercial partners who share our vision and educate and empower programmes.

� Sachin Tendulkar's tell-all autobiography 'Playing It My Way' was officially launched - ending the wait of

cricket fraternity and fans around the globe.

� Mahendra Singh Dhoni was named captain of ICC’ ‘ODI Team of the Year’ but none of the Indian players

found berth in governing body’s ‘Test Team of the Year’ led by Sri Lankan Angelo Mathews. While 12-

member ODI team for performance during 2014 had Dhoni as captain along with his Indian team deputy

Virat Kohli and pacer Mohammed Shami in the XI, opener Rohit Sharma has been named as the 12th

man. The 12-member ‘ODI team’ comprises of four Indian players, three South African players, two

Australians, one Pakistani, one Sri Lankan. However due to their 1-3 series defeat in England and 0-1 Test

series loss to New Zealand earlier this year, the committee didn’t find any of the Indian cricketers worthy

enough to make the cut in the ‘Test team’ of 2014.The ‘Test team’ has two Australians, three New

Zealanders, two from England, three Sri Lankans and two from South Africa.

� Star batsman Virat Kohli became the quickest cricketer in history to reach 6000 one-day international run

mark, bettering legendary West Indian Vivian Richards' record during his 53-run knock in India's third ODI

against Sri Lanka. Playing in his 144th match and 136th innings, Kohli began the match 50 short of 6000

and reached the milestone with a single off left-arm spinner Chaturanga de Silva in the 39th over at the

Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Hyderabad.

� Indian batsman, Rohit Sharma, known for his unruffled elegance went onto break the world record for the

highest individual score in ODIs set by Virender Sehwag by making 264 in the 4th ODI against Sri Lanka

at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. The previous record was set by Sehwag, who had accrued 219 against the West

Indies in Indore in 2011. Rohit also became the first cricketer to register two double hundreds in ODI

cricket. He also became the second batsman after Surrey's Alistair Brown to score 250 in limited overs

cricket. By scoring 264, he also broke the record set by Shikhar Dhawan for the highest individual score

by an Indian in limited overs cricket. By sending the ball scurrying to the boundary boards on 33

occasions, Rohit also broke the record for essaying most number of fours in a single innings.

� Salgaocar FC scored a solitary goal win over Pune FC to emerge Durand Cup champions for the third time.

� Two-time World Championship bronze medallist P V Sindhu lifted her first title of the season by

successfully defending the USD 120,000 Macau Grand Prix Gold trophy after seeing off Kim Hyo Min of

Korea in the women's singles finals in Macau.

SPORTS

� Yan Bingtao, the 14-year-old prodigy from China, created history by becoming the youngest player to win

the men's title in the IBSF World Snooker Championship after he overcame Pakistani's Muhammad Sajjad

in a cliff-hanger final.

� Indian national and youth World Champion Sarjubala Devi (48kg) and Saweety (81kg) faltered at the final

hurdle to settle for silver medals, rounding off a decent campaign for the country in the 8th World

Women's Boxing Championships, in Jeju, Korea. Sarjubala, the nimble footed Manipuri girl, lost to World

No 3 Nazym Kyzaibay of Kazakhstan. Haryana girl Saweety, on the other hand, lost to Yang Xiaoli of

China, to also settle for a silver medal.

� In the eleventh game of the World Chess Championship at Sochi (Russia), Viswanathan Anand lost to

Magnus Carlsen. With this win Carlsen successfully defended his World Champion title.

� Indian women's football team routed Nepal 6-0 in the summit clash of the 3rd SAFF Championship to

notch up their third title on the trot and maintain their supremacy in the regional tournament at

Islamabad.

World

� UN chief Ban Ki-moon launched a global campaign to end the often deadly practice of female genital

mutilation (FGM) within a generation, as survivors said it had "shattered" their lives. More than 125

million women have been mutilated in 29 countries in Africa and Middle East, according to the World

Health Organization (WHO), which condemns the practice as a "violation of the human rights" of women.

� China has developed a highly accurate laser weapon system that can shoot down light drones at low

altitude.

� The United States and China unveiled a secretly negotiated deal to reduce their greenhouse gas output,

with China agreeing to cap emissions for the first time and the US committing to deep reductions by

2025.The pledges in an agreement struck between President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart,

Xi Jingping, provide an important boost to international efforts to reach a global deal on reducing

emissions beyond 2020 at a United Nations meeting in Paris next year. China, the biggest emitter of

greenhouse gases in the world, has agreed to cap its output by 2030 or earlier if possible. The United

States has pledged to cut its emissions to 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2025. The European Union has

already endorsed a binding 40% greenhouse gas emissions reduction target by 2030.

� Russia struck a deal to build two more nuclear reactors in Iran to be possibly followed by another six, a

move intended to cement closer ties between the two countries. The deal came less than two weeks

before the 24 November deadline for Tehran to sign an agreement on its nuclear programme with six

world powers.

� More than a million Germans and people from around the world on 8 November 2014 celebrated the 25th

anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the event that more than any other marked the end of the Cold

War. The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to stop East Germans fleeing to the West. It began as a barbed

wire and cinder block wall and was then fortified as a heavily guarded 160 km (100-mile) white concrete

barrier that encircled West Berlin.

� A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in Seoul between the Ministry of Railways,

Government of India and the Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) of the Government of

Republic of Korea (South Korea). The MoU would enable technical assistance and cooperation between the

Railways of the two countries on areas such as High Speed Rail, Modernisation of Rolling Stock, Railway

Operations, Modernisation of Signalling, Construction & Maintenance technologies and in development of

Logistics Parks/Terminals.

� A volcano named Mount Aso erupted in Japan, spewing ash and lava and cancelling dozens of flights in the

region. This volcano, one of the world's largest, last blew its top 22 years ago. There has been increased

seismic activity in the region since August, although it wasn't clear when or even if it would erupt.

� India and Mozambique signed an MoU on cooperation in the field of oil and gas for five years. The

objective of the MOU is to enhance bilateral cooperation on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.

� In a move which will give a major boost to the tourism sector, the Government launched the much-

awaited electronic visa facility for visitors from 43 countries including US, Germany and Israel. "We want

to promote tourism in the country in a big way. The contribution of tourism in the GDP is approximately 7

per cent and we want to double it up," Home Minister Rajnath Singh said after launching the e-visa

facility.

MISCELLANEOUS

� India and the UNSECO signed a letter of intent for better cooperation in the field of reducing disaster risks

and capacity-building In Earth Sciences. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Science & Technology and

Earth Sciences, said the document is a "historic moment and will usher in opening of new vistas of

cooperation in not only the ocean-related studies but other areas of cooperation in different fields of

scientific activities."

� US President Barack Obama has accepted PM Modi's invitation and will be the chief guest at

India's Republic Day parade in January 2015.

India

� Indian Navy announced to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of the coronation of ancient Tamil King

Rajendra Chola, who is credited with expanding his empire across the seas to South-East Asia and to the

North up to the Ganges with his navy.

� The Union cabinet approved lieutenant governor (L-G) Najeeb Jung's report recommending the

dissolution of Delhi assembly, paving the way for fresh elections in the national capital and ending an

eight-month-long political uncertainty. All the parties said they were in favour of fresh elections as none

had the requisite numbers to form a stable government in Delhi. The BJP and its ally Shiromani Akali Dal

(SAD) have 29 MLAs in the 70-member House, down from 32 after three legislators were elected to the

Lok Sabha. The AAP has 27 members, and the Congress eight. Delhi has been under the President's Rule

since February following the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government's resignation after 49 days in office.

� India successfully test-fired its medium-range nuclear-capable Agni-II missile with a strike range of more

than 2000 km from the Wheeler Island off Odisha coast as part of a user trial by the army. The two-stage

sophisticated missile equipped with advanced high accuracy navigation system, guided by a novel scheme

of state of the earth command and control system was propelled by solid rocket propellant system.

� GIS-based Decision Support System was launched by Union MoEF (Ministry of Environment & Forests) to

help in taking informed decisions and smoothen regulatory process.

� The Centre banned the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO), blamed for several bomb attacks and

kidnappings in north Bengal and Assam, for five years under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The

group has emerged as a major threat and is demanding an independent county Sovereign Kamatapur

State of ten districts in West Bengal and Assam.

� National Education Day (NED) was observed on 11 November 2014 to mark the birth anniversary of

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.

� The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has given in-principle approval for creation of Guru

Ghasidas-Tamor Pingla tiger reserve in Chhattisgarh. The proposal to declare Guru Ghasidas National Park

as a tiger reserve was proposed in June 2011 by the then Minister of State (Independent Charge)

for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh. The national

park lies between two important tiger reserves-Bandhavgarh (Madhya Pradesh) and Palamau (Jharkhand)

- and is also contiguous with the Sanjay-Dubri tiger reserve (Madhya Pradesh) is about 450 km away from

state capital Raipur. Chhattisgarh has three tiger reserves-Indravati, Udanti-Sitanadi and Achanakmar.

� The year 2015-16 will be observed as water conservation year in India and a public movement will be

launched during the year to conserve the precious resource.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was named as the Asian of the Year 2014 by Singapore’s leading

newspaper The Straits Times.

Former Cuban Leader Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was awarded the Confucius Peace Prize 2014 for his important

contributions in eliminating nuclear war after his retirement.

An Indian, Jayprakash Panwar, won the ICT Mountain Development Award for promoting innovations and good

practices for environmental conservation in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region. He won the award along with

Avinash Jha and Sibjan Chaulagain of Nepal, Suleman Mazhar of Pakistan and HELVETAS Swiss Inter-cooperation.

The winners will receive $ 250 along with a certificate of recognition. ICT Mountain Development Award is given by

the Nepal-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). The award seeks to

recognise ICT-enabled innovations, good practices, and applications that help promote mountain development and

environmental conservation in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region.

Noted Indian playback singer Asha Bhosle was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 11th

Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF). The 81-year-old was presented with the prestigious award for her

decades of dedication to Indian cinema during the opening ceremony of the festival.

Manthan Awards South Asia 2014 was given to 26 social entrepreneurs from South Asia and Asia-Pacific in

recognition of their efforts to improve the lives of people using digital technologies. The awards were given by the

Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) in 13 categories including health, agriculture, financial inclusion,

community broadcasting, journalism, science, governance, and culture and tourism.

Rolene Strauss of South Africa was crowned Miss World 2014 in London, succeeding Megan Young for the title.

Edina Kulcsar of Hungary was the first runner-up, while the United States' Elizabeth Safrit grabbed the second

runner-up title. India's Koyal Rana made it to the top 10 of Miss World 2014 before getting eliminated. She made

the country proud by winning the coveted title 'Beauty with a Purpose'.

The President of India presented the National Awards for the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities on

the occasion of International Day of Disabled Persons (December 3, 2014) in New Delhi. International Day of

Persons with Disabilities is an international observance promoted by the United Nations since 1992.The observance

of the Day aims to promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilize support for the dignity, rights and

well-being of persons with disabilities. It also seeks to increase awareness of gains to be derived from the

integration of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life. It was

originally called "International Day of Disabled Persons". Each year the day focuses on a different issue. This year’s

theme was: “Sustainable Development – The Promise of Technology”.

The President of India Pranab Mukherjee presented the Niryat Shree and Niryat Bandhu Awards for

outstanding performance in exports for the year 2010-11 and 2011-12. The President gave away 52 awards — 46

Niryat Shree Awards to exporters for their performance in 12 categories, which cover agriculture, plantation

products; chemicals, drugs, pharma and allied products; engineering; gems and jewellery, handicrafts, carpets;

textiles, leather, service providers; and 6 Niryat Bandhu Awards to Export Promotion Councils and Banks for their

support to the exporting community. Among the Niryat Shree awardees who were presented a gold trophy was

AWARDS & HONOURS

1st December to 15th December

MIOT Hospitals Limited for being the highest foreign exchange earner in the country among all service providers.

Reliance Industries too was awarded a gold trophy for earning the highest foreign exchange.

Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai and Indian child rights campaigner Kailash Satyarthi received the

Nobel Peace Prize awards. The Nobel committee described both laureates as "champions of peace". Ms

Yousafzai said she was there to stand up for the rights of forgotten and frightened children, and raise their voice

rather than pity them. Mr Satyarthi said receiving the prize was "a great opportunity" to further his work against

child slavery.

Renowned business tycoon and Chairman of Wipro Ltd, Azim Premji received the 'Swiss Ambassador's Award

for inspirational and socially responsible leadership'. Premji is the fifth Indian to be conferred with the Swiss

Ambassador's Award, joining the likes of Yash Chopra, Ratan Tata, Glenn Saldanha and RV Kanoria. Switzerland

holds special significance for Wipro. Wipro started operations in Switzerland fifteen years ago and today counts

over 60 per cent of the Swiss-headquartered blue chip companies as its customers and partners. The award was

constituted in the year 2010.

Dublin-born film artist Duncan Campbell won this year's £25,000 Turner Prize for a video that reflects on African

art and includes a dance sequence inspired by Karl Marx. The prize was established in 1984 to celebrate new

developments in contemporary art and is given to a British artist under 50 who judges believe has put on the best

exhibition of the last 12 months.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited successfully commissioning a Hydro Power Project in Rwanda, on turnkey

basis. Significantly, the order for setting up the 28 MW Nyaborongo Hydro Electric Project, was the first order

received by BHEL from this East-African country. Prior to this, the company had already established its presence in

a number of African nations like Sudan, Libya, Ethiopia, Egypt, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria, etc. Both the

generating units of this power project were synchronized with the grid and with the commissioning of this project,

the installed generating capacity of Republic of Rwanda has gone up by 24% from 119 MW to 147 MW.

Nyaborongo Hydro Electric project is owned by the Government of Rwanda and has been financed under the

Government of India’s Line of Credit.

Essar Oil Ltd signed a deal with Russia’s OAO Rosneft, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, to import

10 million tonnes (mt) of crude oil a year for 10 years, during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India. At

the current price of oil, the deal would be valued at approximately $40 billion over the 10-year period. Rosneft and

Essar have signed key terms of oil and oil products supplies to Essar refineries in India, the Russian firm said in a

statement.

IBM signed a 10-year, multi-billion dollar deal to provide computer infrastructure services to Dutch bank ABN

Amro running on its cloud systems. The deal comes as the U.S. company is trying to gain momentum in the

market for Internet-delivered services, known as cloud computing. IBM will provide fully managed services for

mainframe computers, servers, storage and end-user computing as well as a help desk and other technical

support. IBM did not disclose financial details of the deal.

Mr. Arun Duggal was appointed as non-executive Chairman of Credit Rating Agency ICRA Limited.

The Union Ministry of CA rejected a proposal for reappointment of Vijay Mallya as Managing Director (MD) of

Kingfisher Airlines which has remained grounded since October 2012.

In fresh overseas troubles, drug maker Ranbaxy has been barred from exporting certain antibiotics produced at

its Dewas plant to Germany for non-compliance to 'good manufacturing practice' norms. The German health

watchdog has also communicated its latest regulatory action against Ranbaxy to the European Medicines Agency

(EMA), while the company has already faced several run-ins with the US health regulator FDA about its various

plants including at Dewas in Madhya Pradesh.

Ranbaxy Laboratories, one of India’s largest pharmaceutical companies, announced the launch of Infimab

(BOW015), the first Remicade (Infliximab) biosimilar, in India. Remicade is a registered trademark of Johnson and

Johnson. Infimab is being introduced in the Indian market through a licensing partnership with EPIRUS

Biopharmaceuticals, a US and Swiss-based biopharmaceutical company focused on the global development and

commercialization of biosimilar monoclonal antibodies. Infimab will be manufactured by Reliance Life Sciences at a

facility in Mumbai.

Reliance Industries, which started its corporate journey as a textile company, has announced a joint venture

with China’s Shandong Ruyi Science and Technology Group to “reposition its textile business on a high growth

path”. RIL will own a majority 51 per cent in the proposed JV, with the balance 49 per cent owned by Ruyi. The

proposed transaction is subject to obtaining requisite approvals. RIL has a presence in Indian textile market,

especially in the worsted and synthetic suiting fabric segments, while the $3 billion-Ruyi, a leading textile company

BUSINESS & CORPORATE

in China, has a presence in America, Europe, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and China. The JV will leverage RIL's

existing textile business and distribution network in India and Ruyi's state-of the-art technology and its global

reach. It will expand the geography for the brand 'Vimal' besides introducing brands owned by Ruyi in India. Ruyi

owns brands like 'Taylor & Lodge', 'Harris Tweed', 'Royal Ruyi China', 'Nogara Italy' and 'Indios Italy', among

others. In India, Ruyi sells the 'Georgia Gullini' brand in the worsted suiting segment of the market.

SBI Cards has tied up with Future Group Company Fashion at Big Bazaar (FBB) to offer a co-branded credit card,

‘Styleup’. The new Styleup card offers a lifetime flat 10 per cent discount on fashion apparel, fashion accessories

and footwear at all FBB and Big Bazaar stores and the customers will also get 10 times the rewards on all Big

Bazaar purchases besides other discounts and rewards.

E-commerce Company Snapdeal announced acquisition of technology platform Wishpicker that offers users gift

options based on intelligent recommendations. Snapdeal co-founder Rohit Bansal said that as consumer buying

trends are evolving, intelligent recommendations will be one of the key drivers for business volume for sellers.

Tata Power signed a share purchase agreement with Ideal Energy Project (IEPL) to acquire the latter’s 540-Mw

thermal power plant near Nagpur in Maharashtra for 3000 crore rupees. With this acquisition, the company's

generation capacity increases to 8,885 Mw. IEPL is promoted by the Mhaiskar family of IRB Infrastructure

Developers.

In a surprise move the UB Group Chairman Vijay Mallya resigned from the Board of Directors of Mangalore

Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd (MCFL) with immediate effect.

The Delhi government banned Uber taxi services, after a 27-year-old MNC executive, who used its mobile app to

book a cab, was raped allegedly by the driver. The driver Shiv Kumar Yadav was sent to police custody. It

emerged that Shiv Kumar Yadav had spent seven months in jail in 2011 in a rape case, in which he was later

acquitted. The incident also found its echo in the Lok Sabha. The Government said that Uber, the US-based cab

firm, misled the commuter (rape victim) about the nature of the taxi service offered by its App. Condemning the

unfortunate and heinous crime committed by the taxi driver, it also said that the All India Tourist Permit taxi was

provided by M/s. Uber on the request of the commuter through the Uber Web application for a local journey within

Delhi which was in contravention of the MV Act, 1988, and rules framed there under.

Union Cabinet granted approval to the comprehensive Anti-Hijacking Bill 2014. The Bill seeks punishment like

death penalty for hijackers.

The government has decided to decriminalize "attempt to suicide" by deleting Section 309 of the Indian Penal

Code from the statute book. Under the said Section, a suicide bid is punishable with imprisonment up to one year,

or with fine, or both.

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

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

(CEA) Ashok Lahiri. The HLC will give recommendations to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the

Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) for issuance of appropriate clarifications by way of circulars,

instructions on tax issues.

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

The Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants), Act, 1971 was enacted to provide for speedy machinery

for the eviction of unauthorised occupants from public premises. This Act has been amended three times earlier, in

the years 1980, 1984 and 1994. The present proposal seeks 4th amendment to the Act. Major objective of the

amendment bill is to bring the properties of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and other Metro Rails which may

come up in future and also the properties of New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) within the ambit of Public

Premises Act, 1971.

The Lok Sabha passed the Repealing and Amending (Second) Bill, 2014 to repeal obsolete Acts. The Bill was

passed by the voice vote in the parliamentary session.

A committee headed by TSR Subramanian submitted a report to Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Union IT and Telecom

Minister and has recommended to set up ‘Post Bank of India’ to strengthen up the services of the strong network

of 1.5 lakh post offices established across the country. The proposed bank would complement the already-running

PM’s Jan Dhan Yojana. According to the report, the post offices across the country have around six lakh crores in

deposits, the highest in India after the country’s largest bank, the State bank of India (SBI). The report has also

recommended setting up a holding committee under the Department of Posts for immediate rolling out of the

banking, insurance and e-commerce services through 1,55,000 post offices of the country. Although there are

courier services in Tier-I and -II cities and, at the most, Tier-III ones, there is hardly any service available in Tier-

IV and more remote towns. Post offices can play a big role in bridging this gap. The major reason for the poor

financial health of the department is the losses incurred due to the subsidy driven sales of the post cards, inland

letters and speed posts. However, the committee has recommended that India Posts should continue to offer these

services at relatively low costs as it is the obligation of the government to give affordable communication tools to

the public.

Rajya Sabha passed the Textile Undertakings (Nationalisation) Laws (Amendment and Validation) Bill,

2014. The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 1 December 2014. The Bill seeks to amend the Sick Textile

Undertaking (Nationalisation) Act, 1974 and the Textile Undertakings (Nationalisation) Act, 1995. These Acts

provide for the nationalisation of certain textile undertakings, and for their management by the National Textile

Corporation (NTC). NTC is a Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Ministry of Textiles. The two Acts state that

the right and title of the owner of a textile undertaking will vest with the central government. Further, every

textile undertaking that vests with the central government will be transferred to and vest with NTC.

COMMITTEES / SCHEMES / POLICIES

� India's economic growth is expected to improve to 6.3 per cent in 2016 with the country leading economic

recovery in South Asia, according to a United Nations report. The UN World Economic Situation and

Prospects 2015 (WESP) report also said India is likely to make progress in implementing economic policy

reforms and help provide support to business and consumer confidence. It said global economic growth is

forecast to continue increasing over the next two years, despite legacies from the financial crisis

continuing to weigh on growth, and the emergence of new challenges, including geopolitical conflicts such

as in Ukraine, and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The global economy is expected to grow 3.1 per cent

in 2015 and 3.3 per cent in 2016, compared with an estimated growth of 2.6 per cent for 2014, when the

pace of expansion has been moderate and uneven. It said India, which is estimated to record a 5.4 per

cent economic growth in 2014, will see GDP growth improving to 5.9 per cent next year and 6.3 per cent

in 2016. Economic growth in South Asia is also set to gradually pick up from an estimated 4.9 per cent in

2014 to 5.4 per cent in 2015 and 5.7 per cent in 2016.

� As India continues its pursuit of suspected black money stashed abroad, an international think-tank has

ranked the country third globally with an estimated USD 94.76 billion (nearly Rs 6 lakh crore) illicit wealth

outflows in 2012. As a result, the cumulative illicit money moving out of the country over a ten-year

period from 2003 to 2012 has risen to USD 439.59 billion (Rs 28 lakh crore), as per the latest estimates

released by the Global Financial Integrity (GFI). Russia is on the top with USD 122.86 billion, followed by

China at the second position (USD 249.57 billion) in terms of the quantum of black money moving out of a

country for 2012 -- the latest year for which these estimates have been made.

� The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by the Prime Minister, approved the proposal

of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry for implementation of the "Tea Development and Promotion

Scheme" through the Tea Board during the Twelfth Plan (2012-13 to 2016-17). The Cabinet has approved

the Scheme with a project outlay of Rs 1425 crore during the five-year period of the twelfth Plan. The

Scheme is aimed at supporting development of improved varieties and technologies for increasing

production, productivity and quality of tea, promoting Indian tea in the overseas and domestic markets

and encouraging value addition for the purpose of higher unit value realization of tea produced and

marketed.

� The Union Government divested its 5 percent stake in Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL).

� The Union Cabinet cleared a proposal for setting up of a Rs. 500 crore Credit Guarantee

Fund for Factoring for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) units.

� The country now has another monthly economic index, with State Bank of India launching a tool that will

primarily track manufacturing activity to offer a forward-looking economic trends. The SBI Composite

Index rivals the existing data point from British lender HSBC. The SBI index has been developed on the

basis of the bank’s internal loan portfolio, which mirrors the credit demand in the country, and other data

sets available in public domain. “The index will analyse data from manufacturing and services industries to

determine expansion or contraction in the economy,” SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya said while

announcing the product. The bank has created two indices — the SBI Monthly Composite Index and the

SBI Yearly Composite Index. Both fulfil complementary purposes such as month-on-month sentiment

movement and year-on-year growth forecast, respectively. The index would also take into account other

indicators of economic activities such as consumer spending, mining, interest rates, inflation and

exchange rates on a monthly basis. The indices would be released every month post-RBI’s credit growth

ECONOMY & BANKING

numbers, she said, adding the data collection would not be outsourced as was the case with the HSBC

data.

� The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) notified the government's decision to increase foreign investment ceiling

in defence and permitting 100 per cent FDI in railways infrastructure. After assuming power, the NDA

government has reviewed foreign direct investment (FDI) policy for railways sector as well as defence.

The government has permitted 100 per cent FDI in railway infrastructure sector under the automatic route

subject to conditions. In the defence sector, foreign investment (FDI, FIIs, RFPIs, NRIs, FVCIs and QFIs)

up to 49 per cent have been permitted under government route (FIPB) in the defence sector. This cap was

at 26 per cent earlier.

� Air India signed a MoU with NBCC for monetization of surplus land assets of the national carrier.

� Relaxing norms for Pre-paid Payment Instruments (PPI), the Reserve Bank of India doubled the card limit

to Rs. 1 lakh. The move would help in achieving the objective of limiting cash transactions in the system.

Besides, the maximum validity of gift cards has been enhanced from one year to three years, it said,

adding that other provisions of PPI guidelines with respect to gift cards will continue to be remain. RBI

also allowed issue of multiple PPIs by banks from fully-KYC compliant bank accounts for dependent or

family members.

� The Union Cabinet approved Regional Rural Banks (Amendment) Bill, 2013 that seeks amendments in the

Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) Act, 1976.

� RBI in its fifth bi-monthly monetary policy statement kept the policy rates unchanged. On the basis of an

assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation, it has been decided to: keep the policy

repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 8.0 per cent; keep the cash reserve

ratio (CRR) of scheduled banks unchanged at 4.0 per cent of net demand and time liabilities (NDTL);

continue to provide liquidity under overnight repos at 0.25 per cent of bank-wise NDTL at the LAF repo

rate and liquidity under 7-day and 14-day term repos of up to 0.75 per cent of NDTL of the banking

system through auctions; and continue with daily one-day term repos and reverse repos to smooth

liquidity. Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF will remain unchanged at 7.0 per cent, and

the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 9.0 per cent.

Former Chief Minister of Maharashtra and a veteran Congressman, Abdul Rahman Antulay, widely known as A.

R. Antulay, passed away at the age of 85. He also served as the Union Minister for Minority Affairs in the UPA-I

government. Mr. Antulay was the first and only Muslim Chief Minister of Maharashtra during the years 1980 to

1982. However he had to resign from his post following allegations of corruption. He was convicted in an extrotion

case by the Bombay High Court. Later, he worked as party MLA and MP, representing the Congress in Raigad

district. He fought his last election in 2009, which he lost to the Shiv Sena, after which he was out of the active

politics. After the terror attacks on Mumbai in 2008, Mr. Antulay had raised a controversy by alleging the hand of

Hindu fundamentalist groups in the attacks. Recently controversy surrounded him after he staged a rebellion

against the Congress in the 2014 Lok Sabha election and extended support to the candidate of the Peasants and

Workers Party (PWP). His decision came against the party’s move to give the Raigad constituency to the

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). He had said that he was hurt since the party didn’t even consult with him before

taking the decision.

Former President and leader of the Alliance Lepep party, Anerood Jugnauth, who is of Indian origin, has been

officially appointed Mauritius' new Prime Minister. The appointment came one day after the resignation of former

Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam who lost in the polls. Ramgoolam was serving his third term as the Prime

Minister since 2005.

The Centre appointed Anil Sinha as the new chief of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Sinha was the

Special Director, the second in command at the central probe agency. He has taken over from Ranjit Sinha. Just

weeks before his retirement, Ranjit Sinha was removed by the Supreme Court from the investigation of the 2G

spectrum scam, one of the country's biggest financial scandals, based on evidence that he tried to scuttle the

probe and met with several of the accused at his residence in Delhi.

A top Indian-American scientist from Stanford University has been appointed as one of the Science Envoys of the

U.S. Arun Majumdar, a professor at the prestigious university, along with three others Peter Hotez, Jane

Lubchenco and Geri Richmond would serve as U.S. Envoys beginning January next year, the State Department

said. Science Envoys travel as private citizens and advice the White House, the Department of State, and the

scientific community about potential opportunities for cooperation.

The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, launched "Born again on the Mountain", a book by Ms Arunima Sinha, the

first female amputee and first Indian amputee to climb Mount Everest.

Physicist Ashton Carter was nominated by the President Barack Obama as the next defence secretary of US

Department of Defence.

Veteran character actor and director Deven Verma, who graced Bollywood for four decades with endearing roles

in classic domestic comedies, died at the age of 77. While he commenced his career with dramatic roles, he found

his métier in witty and ironic comedy in the best films of Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Gulzar and Basu Chatterjee. While

Mr. Verma’s first comic role came in Gumraah in 1963, playing Ashok Kumar’s servant, the decade saw him being

cast in some of Bollywood’s finest dramatic films like Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Anupama (1966), and Gulzar’s

Khamoshi (1970). He gave a sparkling performance – arguably his best – in Gulzar’s Angoor where both he and

co-star Sanjeev Kumar play dual roles. The film, a remake of the 1963 Bengali picture Bhrantibilas (which itself

was modeled on Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors), saw Verma win his third Filmfare award for his crackerjack

performance.

PEOPLE IN NEWS

Dineshwar Sharma, Special Director in the Intelligence Bureau, was appointed as the agency's new chief and will

take charge on January one succeeding Syed Asif Ibrahim. A 1979 batch IPS officer from Kerala cadre, Sharma,

who has been working with the agency for the past 23 years, will have two-year tenure.

Hockey Olympian Commander Grihanandan Singh, who won two Olympic gold medals with the Indian team,

passed away at the age of 88. Nandy Singh, as he was known, was part of the Indian team that won gold at the

1948 London Olympics and four years later in Helsinki.

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed of Mauritania was appointed as the new head of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency

Response (UNMEER).

Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan was appointed as new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of Pakistan.

The office of CEC was lying vacant since 2013.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appointed journalist-turned-diplomat Dr Maleeha Lodhi as Permanent

Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations based in New York. Previously, Lodhi has twice served as

Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States (1993-1996 and 1999-2002) and as Pakistan’s High Commissioner to

the United Kingdom (2003-2008).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had been leading an online voting for TIME's person of the year, won the

readers' poll, the magazine said. However, he did not make it to the list of eight finalists selected by TIME

magazine for its annual title. Modi was also named 'Asian of the Year' for being development-focused leader of

India by editors of Singapore's leading daily, The Straits Times.

Ralph H. Baer, who turned television sets into electronic fantasy lands by inventing and patenting the first home

video game system, died at the age of 92.

The US Senate approved former State Department official Richard Rahul Verma as US ambassador to India.

Verma, who is Indian-American, will replace Nancy Powell, who resigned in March after a damaging dispute over

the treatment of a junior Indian diplomat in the United States. He served as assistant secretary of state for

legislative affairs at the State Department in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2011. The United States sees

India as a natural ally on a range of issues and a potential counterbalance to an increasingly assertive China in

Asia and is eager to expand relations across the board, particularly in the security sphere.

Indian-origin Shriti Vadera has been appointed as chairman of Santander UK, becoming the first woman to head

a major British bank. 52-year-old Vadera, former minister in the UK's finance ministry, will join the board of

Santander UK as joint deputy chairman in January before succeeding Terence Burns in March next year. She will

also join a very exclusive club of just three FTSE 100 firms, listed on the London Stock Exchange with the highest

market capitalisation, with women as their chair. Vadera was a Labour minister in the Cabinet Office, Business

Department and International Development Department from 2007 to 2009 and served in the House of

Lords. Vadera hails from a wealthy tea plantation family from Uganda, where she was born. Her family left the

country when she was 10 and was raised in India and the UK.

Dr. Vivek Murthy, the Harvard professor whose nomination for surgeon general was held up because of his

support for gun control and his political activity in President Obama’s campaign, was confirmed by the Senate,

more than a year after he was nominated. As surgeon general, Murthy will be the nation’s chief public health

advocate. Prior surgeons general have used the position to bring attention to health threats, particularly smoking

and AIDS. Surgeons general do not serve on the president’s Cabinet but they do advise the White House and use

their platform to champion public health causes. Murthy, 37, is America's youngest-ever top doctor, and he is also

the first surgeon general of Indian-American descent. Obama lauded Murthy's confirmation, saying he will help the

United States combat the threat of Ebola.

Former Indian national football team captain Baichung Bhutia was honored with the AFC Hall of Fame Award on

occasion of the Asian Football Confederation's 60th anniversary.

Indian Blind Cricket team defeated Pakistan to win the fourth edition of the Blind Cricket World Cup (BCWC) in

Cape Town, South Africa.

Olympic field hockey gold-medallists Germany added the Champions Trophy with a 2-0 victory over Pakistan in

the final in Bhubaneswar. Pakistan had failed to qualify for the World Cup in June that was won by Australia and

were also unable to book a direct entry to the 2016 Olympics after losing to India in the Asian Games final in

South Korea in October. With the cash-strapped Pakistan Hockey Federation unable to generate funds to fly in the

team to Bhubaneswar, it needed the generosity of a businessman at home to sponsor the trip. Finishing third were

Australia, who came into the tournament as five-time defending champions. They defeated India 2-1 for the

bronze medal.

Australia’s David Warner completed 1000 runs in 2014 en route to his century in the second innings of the first

cricket Test against India , becoming the first opener to achieve the feat in one calendar year since England

skipper Alastair Cook in 2012. In the process, the 28-year-old Warner became the fifth batsman to complete Test

1000 runs in 2014. The other four are Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara (1486 runs), Angelo Mathews (1201),

Mahela Jayawardene (1003 runs) and veteran Pakistan batsman Younis Khan who has accumulated 1213 runs.

East Zone won the Deodhar Trophy 2014- 15, a cricket tournament, by beating West Zone by 24 runs. The final

match was held at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

The mascot for the 2016 European football championship in France has been named “Super Victor” in a vote of

internet users.The name for the cartoon character boy dressed as a footballer in blue and white with a red cape

and number 16 jersey was preferred to Driblou and Goalix. Euro 2016 will take place in France from June 10 to

July 10, 2016.

Five-time chess world champion Viswanathan Anand won his maiden London Classic title after defeating British

Grandmaster Michael Adams in the fifth and final round. The victory confirms Anand's presence in elite chess for

some time. Just two weeks before the London Classic, Anand had suffered defeat against Magnus Carlsen of

Norway in the world championship match at Sochi and the quick recovery here shows that there is more to expect

from the Indian on the chequered board.

PV Sindhu won 2014 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold Badminton Title by defeating Kim Hyo Min of Korea.

Mohammad Hafeez, the Pakistani cricket all-rounder who bowls offspin was suspended from bowling by ICC due

to illegal bowling action.

SPORTS

World

� A Japanese spacecraft has launched on an ambitious mission to blast a hole in an asteroid and return

samples of the space rock back to Earth. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Hayabusa2

asteroid mission blasted off from the country's Tanegashima Space Center. If all goes well, the spacecraft

should return samples of the asteroid 1999 JU3 to Earth in late 2020. Hayabusa2 is JAXA's bigger, bolder

follow-up to its historic Hayabusa mission, which brought the first pristine samples of an asteroid to Earth

in 2010 after its own seven-year mission.

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

asserting that it should be settled through direct bilateral negotiations. As the deadline to respond to UN

mediation sought by the Philippines to arbitrate its maritime dispute with China over the South China Sea

inched close, Beijing issued a lengthy explanation rejecting international arbitration asserting that it

should be settled through direct bilateral negotiations. The Philippines had approached the UN body last

year questioning China's claims to the Spratly islands, called Nansha islands by Beijing, and the waters

around them. China has settled disputes with 12 of the 14 countries with which it shares borders.

Boundary disputes remain only with India and Bhutan.

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

terror attacks sparked their invasion of the country to topple the Taliban-led government. From Jan. 1, the

coalition will maintain a force of 13,000 troops in Afghanistan, down from a peak around 140,000 in 2011.

There are around 15,000 troops now in the country. The mission ends as the Taliban is increasing its

attacks.

� An oil spill from a crashed Bangladeshi tanker is threatening endangered dolphins and other wildlife in the

Sundarbans mangrove region. Bangladesh officials have called the leak an ecological “catastrophe”.

� Denmark has become the first country to lay formal claim over the North Pole as the jostling over

sovereignty in the Arctic heats up. Martin Lidegaard, Denmark's foreign minister, presented a claim at the

UN for about 900,000 square kilometers beyond the coast of Greenland. The move is likely to put

Denmark in conflict with other countries which also lay claim to parts of the potentially resource-rich Arctic

including Canada, Russia and the U.S. Canada said last year it would make a claim over the North Pole but

is still gathering data to support a submission.

� 26th World AIDS Day was observed on 1 December across the world to raise awareness to the Aids

pandemic caused by the spread of the HIV infection.

� The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery was observed on 2 December to focus on the

elimination of human trafficking, child labour and other forms of modern-day slavery.

� International Day of Persons with Disabilities was observed across the world on 3 December with the

theme – “sustainable development: the promise of technology”.

� UN observed International Volunteer Day on 5 December. The theme of the IVD 2014 was “People’s

Participation. Make change happen, volunteer”.

� The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) declared 2015 as the “International Year of

Soils”. With this, UN celebrated the first official UN World Soil Day 2014 on 5 December 2014.

MISCELLANEOUS

� International Anti-Corruption Day was observed on 9 December to raise public awareness of corruption

and what people can do to fight it.

� Human Rights Day was observed globally on 10 December. The theme for the 2014 Human Rights Day

was “Human Rights 365”.

India

� 43rd Navy Day Observed was observed on 4th December 2014. On this occasion, Chief of Naval staff Robin

K Dhowan paid tributes to martyrs of INS Sindhurakshak at the Amar Jawan Jyoti in New Delhi.

� India observed Mahaparinirwan Diwas on 6 December 2014, death anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar.

� National Energy Conservation Day was observed on 14 December

� India showed some improvement in addressing corruption this year, ranking 85th among 175 countries as

against 94th last year, as per graft watchdog Transparency International India (TII). The Corruption

Perceptions Index ranks countries and territories based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to

be. A country or territory’s score indicates the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0

(highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). According to the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) report by TII,

"the CPI score for India increased by 2 points in 2014 from its 2013 score, helping India's rank move up

to 85 in 2014 from 94 in 2013". India's score stood at 38 as compared to 36 last year. Denmark retained

its position as the least corrupt country in 2014 with a score of 92 while North Korea and Somalia shared

the last place, scoring just 8. In India's neighborhood, China moved to 100th place, down from 80th last

year, while Pakistan and Nepal were at 126th position. Bangladesh was 145th and Bhutan 30th in the

ranking. Sri Lanka was ranked 85th with India. Afghanistan was at a bleak 172.

� India and Japan are set to cooperate in the fields of cyber security and green ICT (information and

communication technology). The two countries announced the decision to work in five areas which are to

be implemented as India-Japan joint projects. These include green mobile base station project, cyber

security cooperation ~ Japan-India combat spam project, cooperative project for detecting symptoms and

quick response to cyber attacks (PRACTICE), ICT for disaster management and ICT application for social

and economic challenges.

� Focusing on improving connectivity to the northeast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Centre would

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

potential of the area.

� The birthday of the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the 25 December will be observed as

National Good Governance Day.

� President Pranab Mukherjee launched the Karnataka Mobile One App (M One app) in Bangalore. The app

will offer a platform for m-governance within the State and is 1st such initiative of India. The M One app

has been developed by Karnataka government’s Centre for E-Governance and mobile VAS provider IMI

Mobile. It has been developed under the ICARE program of Karnataka government.

The President's Office announced the Bharat Ratna award to Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya (posthumously) and

former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The announcement was made on the eve of Mr. Vajpayee's 90th

birthday and the 153rd birth anniversary of Pandit Malviya. The BJP has been demanding Bharat Ratna for Mr.

Vajpayee for a long time; and BJP patriarch L.K. Advani has been at the forefront of seeking the highest civilian

honour for the former Prime Minister. A Bharat Ratna for Pandit Malviya, a freedom fighter and the founder of the

Benaras Hindu University was proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his election campaign. Justice

Giridhar Malviya, the grandson of Pandit Malaviya was one of those who proposed the nomination of Mr. Modi from

Varanasi parliamentary constituency. Mr. Vajpayee will be the seventh Prime Minister to receive the award, while

Pandit Malviya will be the 12th person to be honoured posthumously. Earlier recipients of the award include former

Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Morarji Desai, Lal Bahadur Shastri, along with first

Governor General of free India C. Rajagopalachari, and former Deputy Prime Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

TVS Company Chairman Venu Srinivasan was conferred the title of honorary citizen of Busan, the second

largest city in Korea, in appreciation of his efforts to enhance friendship and cooperation between the Republic of

Korea and India. Srinivasan, who is also Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Chennai, is the first

Indian industrialist to be granted honorary citizenship.

Chinese pro-democracy activist Xu Youyu, who was among key signatories of a 2008 manifesto seeking sweeping

political reforms in China, was awarded Sweden`s Olof Palme human rights prize. He has worked consistently

for a democratisation of Chinese society, while condemning any form of violence as a political method. Through his

research and dialogue-oriented debate articles, Xu Youyu has made a great contribution to the peaceful and

democratic development in China. The Olof Palme Prize is an annual prize worth $75,000 granted by the Swedish

labour movement. It commemorates the memory of the Nordic country`s Social Democratic prime minister, an

outspoken international human rights advocate, who was assassinated in the Swedish capital in 1986.Since 1987

the award has been awarded to human rights defenders around the world including Burma`a Aung San Suu Kyi

and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

The Pakistan-born British poet Imtiaz Dharker has been awarded the Queen’s gold medal for poetry, joining an

illustrious roll call that includes WH Auden, Philip Larkin and Ted Hughes. The medal, last year won by Douglas

Dunn, is approved by the Queen and will be presented by her in 2015.

Sahitya Academy has announced the names of 22 poets and authors who will be conferred the prestigious Sahitya

Akademi Award 2014. This award has recognized premier works in 22 Indian languages that includes eight

books of poetry, five novels, three books of essays, three of short stories, one of literary criticism and an

autobiography.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan has been conferred with the second Yash Chopra Memorial Award. Bachchan, 72,

delivered his career's blockbusters with the ace filmmaker right from his first collaboration in 'Deewar', 'Kabhi

Kabhie', 'Trishul', 'Kaala Patthar'. 'Silsila', 'Mohabatein' to 'Veera Zaara' and 'Bunty Aur Babli'.

16th December to 31st December

AWARDS & HONOURS

Trevor Bull was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) of Aviva India Life

Insurance Ltd.

Cipla Medpro won 173 million US dollars order to supply Anti-Retroviral Drugs to government of South Africa for

its anti-AIDS programme.

Bharat Hotels chairperson Jyotsna Suri was elected president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of

Commerce and Industry (FICCI) at the industry chamber's 87th annual general meeting. Suri, who was

chairperson of the federation's tourism committee over the last five years, is the only Indian on the international

executive committee of the World Travel and Tourism Council.

IT services company HTC Global Services acquired CareTech Solutions Inc — an IT, web products and services

provider based in the U.S.

India did not fare well in Forbes' list of the best countries for business in 2014, ranking 93rd out of 146 nations,

behind countries like Mexico, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka as it cited challenges like poverty and corruption that the

country needs to address. Denmark topped Forbes' 9th annual ranking of the Best Countries for Business, followed

by Hong Kong, New Zealand, Ireland and Sweden. Forbes said India's growth in 2013 fell to a decade low, as its

economic leaders "struggled" to improve the country's wide fiscal and current account deficits. Rising

macroeconomic imbalances in India and improving economic conditions in Western countries, led investors to shift

capital away from India, prompting a sharp depreciation of the rupee. However, investors' perceptions of India

improved in early 2014, due to a reduction of the current account deficit and expectations of post-election

economic reform, resulting in a surge of inbound capital flows and stabilisation of the rupee, it said. Forbes

determined the Best Countries for Business by grading 146 nations on 11 different factors of property rights,

innovation, taxes, technology, corruption, freedom (personal, trade and monetary), red tape, investor protection

and stock market performance.

State-run Indian Oil Corporation is the country's largest company in terms of revenue, followed by Reliance

Industries and Bharat Petroleum in the second and third place respectively, according to the Fortune 500 list of

Indian companies for 2014. Indian Oil Corp (IOC) topped the chart with an annual revenue of Rs 5,00,973 crore,

while Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd's (RIL) full-year revenue was Rs 4,44,021 crore. Bharat

Petroleum (BPCL) was at the third spot with a revenue of Rs 2,67,718 crore. Hindustan Petroleum's (HPCL) Rs

2,36,797 crore revenue earned the fourth place in the Fortune 500 list. This 2014 list, compiled by global business

magazine Fortune's Indian edition, said there has been a 9.5 per cent annual growth in total revenues, while in

terms of profit it is 4.5 per cent. The government-owned companies, which account for 38 per cent of the total

revenue, have seen a 6.6 per cent growth, while private companies with 56.7 per cent share have seen revenue

growing by 10.2 per cent.

Technology giant Microsoft 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.

Microsoft announced a new step toward real-time translation, launching a Spanish-English test program using its

Skype messaging service.

BUSINESS & CORPORATE

Media Mogul Rupert Murdoch, who has $14.9 billion of personal assets, has made his first acquisition of an Indian

startup: BestDecisions.com. Murdoch led Newscorp acquired this Mumbai based finance education portal for an

undisclosed amount. BestDecisions.com was founded in 2013 by Manish Shah, who was working with Citi Bank

previously and Gaurav Roy, who has experience of working with KPMG and Arthur Andersen previously.

Commercial power generation in the first 1,000 MWe reactor of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP)

commenced on 31 December after the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), the proponent

of the project, gave green signal for the much-awaited milestone. The first 1,000 MWe VVER reactor, built with

Russian assistance, attained criticality on July 13, 2013 and power generation was gradually increased amidst

mandatory tests stipulated by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has signed agreements with Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd (MOL), one of the world’s

largest and reputed shipping companies, to handle transportation of liquefied ethane from North America to India.

Japanese telecom & internet giant SoftBank Corp announced its third investment of 570 crore rupees in

Housing.com. SoftBank will acquire around 30% stake in the property portal for 470 crore rupees. With this, the

value of Housing.com increased to 1550 crore rupees.

E-retailing firm Snapdeal.com announced the launch of “The Agri Store”, offering products like seeds, fertiliser

and irrigation tools, among others, to farmers. A Hindi version of the store will also be launched soon to aid

farmers in making an informed decision. The Agri Store aims to offer wide variety of farm items from seeds to

fertilisers, farming tools and irrigation tools. Snapdeal.com, which started in 2010, is one of the fastest growing e-

commerce company in India with over 60 per cent of its orders coming from mobile phones.

Sanjiv Sarin will succeed Hameed Huq as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Tata Coffee

Limited with effect from 8 January 2015.

Restaurant search service, Zomato, acquired Italy’s leading restaurant search service Cibando. Cibando will soon

be integrated with Zomato, and over the next few months, users will be able to use Zomato for all major cities in

Italy. This is Zomato’s fifth acquisition in the recent months. Zomato acquired MenuMania in New Zealand,

Lunchtime in Czech Republic, Obedovat in Slovakia, and Gastronauci in Poland recently.

The final report of the Advisory Group for Integrated Development of Power, Coal, and Renewable Energy

for suggesting measures for enhancement of coal production in the short, medium and long-term was presented to

Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal. The group, headed by Suresh Prabhu (now Union Minister for Railways),

has called for certain improvements in Coal India and its subsidiaries, including Central Mine Planning and Design

Institute Limited (CMPDI). The Advisory Group’s report has emphasised on the need for opening up the coal sector

to supplement the domestic production of Coal India and a few other companies. It touched upon the issues of

coal block auction process, coal linkage rationalisation and swapping of coal linkages and stressed on the need for

urgent action on coal linkages to power plants already commissioned, and likely to be commissioned by March,

2015. The report also called for expediting reforms in the distribution sector with targeted actions, including

privatisation or PPP (public private partnership) in distribution.

The Constitutional amendment Bill that seeks to scrap the collegium system of appointing judges to higher

judiciary has received Presidential nod. The National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) bill passed by

Parliament in August this year has received President's assen. The new law facilitates the setting up of a

commission for appointment of judges, replacing the 20-year-old collegium system, which has been under severe

criticism. It paves the way for the setting up of NJAC, which will appoint and transfer judges to the Supreme

Courts and the 24 High Courts. The bill, 124th amendment to the Constitution, grants Constitutional status to the

NJAC and its composition which will be headed by the Chief Justice of India. As many as 16 of the 29 states have

ratified the bill. Any Constitutional amendment bill requires ratification by at least 50 per cent of the state

legislatures. Besides the CJI, the judiciary would be represented by two senior judges of the Supreme Court. Two

eminent personalities and the Law Minister will be the other members of the body.

Union Government introduced the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014 in the Lok Sabha to facilitate

the introduction of the GST (Goods and Services Tax) regime in India.

A high-level committee, headed by the Union Home Secretary, has been set up to allay apprehension over data

sharing by various government agencies with Natgrid (National Intelligence Grid), the proposed real-time

intelligence sharing setup to track terror activities.

Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has asked all Central government employees to declare their assets

and liabilities under the provisions of Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013. In this regards DoPT has also made

mandatory for them to disclose deposits in foreign banks.

Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched Mission Indradhanush to achieve full immunization

coverage for all children by 2020.

The Lok Sabha passed the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2014 to legalize e-rickshaws by bringing them

under the ambit of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) tightened the screws on bank customers who default on loans despite having

the ability to repay their debts, creating a new category of borrowers classified as “non-cooperative” and asking

banks to set aside higher provisions for incremental lending to such companies and their founders. Provisions for

any new loans sanctioned to the new category of borrowers could rise from as low as 0.40% of the loan value

currently to as high as 25%. Higher provisioning requirements will mean that borrowings costs will increase as

COMMITTEES / SCHEMES / POLICIES

soon as they are classified as non-cooperative, dissuading corporate customers from defaulting on loan

repayments, analysts said. “A non-cooperative borrower is one who does not engage constructively with his lender

by defaulting in timely repayment of dues while having ability to pay, thwarting lenders’ efforts for recovery of

their dues by not providing necessary information sought, denying access to assets financed/collateral securities,

obstructing sale of securities, etc. “In effect, a non-cooperative borrower is a defaulter who deliberately stonewalls

legitimate efforts of the lenders to recover their dues,” RBI said in a notification. Non-cooperative borrowers are

separate from those classified as wilful defaulters, a category first introduced under RBI guidelines in July 2012. A

wilful defaulter is one who not only does not pay back bank loans, but also siphons off funds advanced by banks to

put them to other uses. Borrowers who dispose of pledged property or moveable assets without the knowledge of

creditors are also classified as wilful defaulters. The latest move is another step by the central bank to plug

loopholes in bank lending processes and curb the rise in non-performing assets (NPAs) in India’s banking industry.

The Regional Rural Banks (Amendment) Bill, 2014 was introduced by the Minister of Finance, Mr. Arun

Jaitley, in Lok Sabha on December 18, 2014. The Bill seeks to amend the Regional Rural Banks Act, 1976, which

mainly provides for the incorporation, regulation and winding up of Regional Rural Banks (RRBs). The Bill states

that the central government may by notification raise or reduce the limit of shareholding of the central

government, state government or the sponsor bank in the RRB. In doing so, the central government may consult

the state government and the sponsor bank. The central government is required to consult the concerned state

government when reducing the limit of shareholding of the state government in the RRB. The Bill also adds a

provision for directors to be elected by shareholders based on the total amount of equity share capital issued to

such shareholders. The Act specifies the term of office of a director (excluding the Chairman) to be not more than

two years. The Bill raises this tenure to three years. The Bill also states that no director can hold office for a total

period exceeding six years. Closure and balancing of books: As per the Act, the books of a RRB should be closed

and balanced as on December 31 every year. The Bill changes this date to March 31 to bring the Act in uniformity

with the financial year.

The government set up a committee to examine the possibility of constitution of a Special Investigation Team

(SIT) for reinvestigation of the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases. The Committee, headed by former Supreme Court Judge

Justice (retired) G.P. Mathur, will submit its report within three months. The committee will also oversee the

implementation of the payment of enhanced compensation of Rs. 5 lakh per person killed during the riots, as

approved by the Union Cabinet. BJP had earlier demanded reinvestigation into all cases related to the 1984 riots

which had broken out after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indra Gandhi. The Justice Nanavati

Commission had recommended reopening of only four of 241 cases closed by police but BJP wanted the

reinvestigation of all the other 237 cases. Supreme Court lawyer H.S. Phoolka, who has been fighting the anti-Sikh

riot cases, had in an open letter to then Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, demanded that an SIT be set up to

probe the 1984 riot cases.

The Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), Ministry of Communications and Information

Technology, Government of India, approved the “Scheme for IT Mass Literacy”. One of the core objectives of

the national policy on IT is to make one person in every household in the country an e-literate. Information

Technology, Electronics & Communications (ITE&C) Secretary Harpreet Singh officially launched the program in

Telangana State and explained the importance of digital literacy to citizens in rural areas. This national mission in

state is being named as ‘Prati Inta e-Sakshatha’ programme. This pilot project initiative aims to make one person

in every household e-literate and seeking to cover 30 thousand persons under it.

� Paving the way for additional foreign investment in insurance and to move ahead with the re-allocation of

cancelled coal mines, President Pranab Mukherjee signed the two ordinances in this regard. The

Government had decided to promulgate these ordinances to move ahead with reforms in the two sectors.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley expressed the hope that hiking of the foreign investment cap in the

insurance sector to 49 per cent, which has been pending since 2008, will result in capital inflow of $6-8

billion. Earlier, this foreign investment limit was capped at 26 per cent. The Coal Mines (Special

Provisions) Bill, 2014 has already been approved by the Lok Sabha during the session but could make no

progress in the upper House. The re—promulgation of ordinance on coal will facilitate e—auction of coal

blocks for private companies for captive use and allot mines directly to state and central PSUs.

� The deadline for exchanging pre-2005 currency notes of various denominations, including Rs.500 and

Rs.1,000, has been extended by another six months till June 30, 2015. The RBI clarified that all such

notes will continue to remain a legal tender and can be exchanged for their full value. Currency notes

issued before 2005 do not have the year of printing on the reverse side. In notes issued post 2005, the

year of printing is visible at the bottom on the reverse. Post-2005 notes have added security features and

help in curbing the menace of fake currency. Seeking cooperation for withdrawing pre-2005 currency

notes from circulation, the RBI has asked the public to deposit the old design notes in their bank accounts

or exchange them at a bank branch convenient to them.

� The Government has launched a web portal for initiating the e-auction process of 24 coal blocks/mines.

This portal aims to make auction process transparent and efficient. These 24 coal blocks fall under the

first phase of coal block auction out of the total 92. Among the 24 mines, 7 are reserved for the power

sector 16 for iron & steel sector and cement plants, while 1 mine is reserved for steel.

� The Reserve Bank of India granted license to Ford Credit India to start its operations as a non-banking

financial company (NBFC). The company said it plans to begin dealer wholesale inventory financing in the

first quarter of the next fiscal and consumer retail financing later in 2015. Ford plans to serve both the

domestic and export markets through its enhanced capacity. The company is expanding sales and service

networks in India. Ford has 304 sales and service outlets in 164 cities.

� Empays, a provider company of multi-bank payment systems, announced that its Instant Money Transfer

(IMT) service has received authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The company was awarded

the IMT payment system certificate of authorisation under the Payments and Settlements Act 2007. The

certificate issued to Empays enables its IMT payment system to access clearing and settlement

arrangements between member-banks directly under the RBI, making it work across banks. The IMT

payment system is a multi-bank mobile transfer solution and it combines mobile phones and ATMs to

reach the unbanked making it a unique milestone in money transfers, payments and financial inclusion in

India.

� HDFC Bank launched its mobile banking facility that offers to turn a mobile phone into a bank branch.

“With over 75 transactions -- all a touch away - ‘Bank Aap Ki Muththi Mein’ offers the customer the widest

range of transactions conceivable. These are both financial and non-financial transactions that he needs in

his daily life for which he would have to visit a branch, or an ATM,” HDFC Bank said in a statement.

Besides essential transactions such as booking fixed- and recurring deposits, bill and tax payments,

ECONOMY & BANKING

buying insurance and mutual funds, the offering will also allow customers-- for the first time in the

country-- to buy instantly all kind of loans. It also offers them fully customized, location-specific

promotions, offers/deals on shopping, dining, movies and entertainment.

� The Department of Financial Services (DFS) under the Union Ministry of Finance appointed the Managing

Directors (MD) and Chief Executive Officers (CEO) of four Nationalised Banks.

• Bank of India Executive Director R Koteeswaran was appointed as MD and CEO of Indian

Overseas Bank (IOB).

• Bank of India Executive Director Animesh Chauhan was appointed as MD and CEO of Oriental

Bank of Commerce (OBC).

• Punjab & Sind Bank Executive Director Kishore Kumar Sansi was appointed as MD and CEO of

Vijaya Bank.

• Bank of Baroda Executive Director P. Srinivas was appointed as the MD and CEO of United Bank

of India.

For the first time, PSU banks will have a non-Executive Chairman, giving operational responsibility to

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officers.

� Union Cabinet approved the hike of government stake in Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) ltd

to 51 percent.

� Reserve Bank of India (RBI) liberalized norms for Indian companies investing abroad. The liberalization of

norms was part of series of amendment done by RBI from time to time in the Foreign Exchange

Management (Transfer or Issue of any Foreign Security) (Amendment) Regulations, 2004.Liberalised

norms:-

• Bank may permit creation of charge on the shares of the Joint Venture/Wholly Owned

Subsidiary/Step down Subsidiary (JV/WOS/SDS) of an Indian party in favour of a domestic or

overseas lender for securing funded and/or non-funded facility.

• The loan availed by the JV/WOS/SDS from the domestic/overseas lender shall be utilized only for

its core business activities overseas and not for investing back in India in any manner

whatsoever.

• Bank may permit creation of charge on the domestic assets of an Indian party in favour of an

overseas lender for securing the funded and/or non-funded facility.

• Bank may permit creation of charge on the overseas assets (excluding the shares) of the

JV/WOS/SDS of an Indian party in favour of a domestic lender for securing the funded and/or

non-funded facility.

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

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

businesses. NIESBUD is an organisation under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, which

is engaged in training, consultancy as well as research, to promote entrepreneurship.

� BHEL bagged a 16.96 million Euros contract for a thermal power project from Electricity Generation

Company of Turkey.

� Union Finance Ministry approved 8.75 percent interest rate on Provident Fund (PF) deposits for the year

2014-15.

� Taking a tough stance on regulatory violations, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority

(IRDA) imposed a penalty of Rs 31 lakh on Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance

Company. It was found that the said life insurance company was delaying payments of claims and not

adhering to the commitments made to the customers under its policies. It was further investigated that

the company was violating norms set for licensing corporate agents. The regulator has also penalised

Anand Rathi Insurance Brokers Rs 5 lakh, for the same reasons. The order will send a very strong

message to insurance companies which are not taking such matters seriously.

� RBI imposed monetary penalty on ICICI bank and Bank of Baroda for violation of its instructions regarding

norms on KYC and AML.

� The Fourteenth Finance Commission headed by former RBI Governor YV Reddy submitted its report to the

President of India. The recommendations relate to the period April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2020. The

President of India had constituted the Fourteenth Finance Commission on January 1, 2013.

AK Mittal was appointed as the new Chairman Railway Board succeeding Arunendra Kumar, who superannuated

on December 31. Mittal, the senior most official, was earlier Member Staff in the Railway Board.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the final 114 contending scores from eligible movies

released in 2014 to be considered for Original Score category for the 87th Oscars. Indian music maestro A R

Rahman is the lead contender with three songs from movies Million Dollar Arm, The Hundred Foot Journey,

and Rajinikanth starrer Kochadiiyaan.

Governor of Uttarakhand Dr. Aziz Qureshi was transferred and appointed as the governor of Mizoram.

Meanwhile, Governor of Meghalaya Dr. KK Paul was transferred and appointed as the governor of Uttarakhand for

remainder of his term. However, Paul will continue to hold additional charge of the office of governor of Manipur,

in additional to his own duties. West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi will discharge functions of governor of

Meghalaya, in addition to his own duties.

Beji Caid Essebsi has been elected as President of Tunisia. Thus he is the first democratically elected President in

the country after the Arab Spring.

One of the most widely respected editors and an inspirational figure to several generations of journalists, Boobli

George Verghese died at 87. Distinguished journalist, prolific author, unwavering activist, Verghese donned

many hats during his illustrious career that began in 1949, even serving as the Information Advisor to Prime

Minister Indira Gandhi between 1966 and 1969. He was the editor of Hindustan Times from 1969 to 1975 and that

of The Indian Express from 1982 to 1986. After that, he had been associated with the Centre for Policy Research

and writing books and articles for several publications.

Dineshwar Sharma, Special Director in the Intelligence Bureau, has been appointed as the Director of the

Intelligence Bureau (IB).

Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is one of the 2014 top ten

scientists chosen by the prestigious journalNature. This is the first time in the recent past that the journal has

chosen an Indian working in India. He is listed along with other people like Andrea Accomazzo, the Rosetta flight

operations director, European Space Agency.

Luise Rainer, a star of cinema's golden era who won back-to-back Oscars but then walked away from a glittering

Hollywood career, died at104. She was the first person to win an acting Academy Award in consecutive years,

taking the Best Actress prize for The Great Ziegfeld in 1936 in and The Good Earth in 1937. It's a feat since

achieved by only four other actors – Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Jason Robards and Tom Hanks.

Senior IPS officer Prakash Mishra was appointed as the Directorate General of Central Reserve Police Force

(CRPF).

Senior IAS officer S. Bhattacharya has been appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director of Coal India Ltd.

(CIL). The coal major was without a full time chief for the past six months.

Noted educationist and former Vice Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University Saiyid Hamid died.

PEOPLE IN NEWS

Japan's parliament reelected Shinzo Abe to serve another term as prime minister after his party won a snap

election earlier this month.Abe won 328 votes out of the 470 cast by lawmakers in a special session of the lower

house.

Federal Bank Managing Director and CEO Shyam Srinivasan has been appointed Chairman of the reconstituted

Indian Banks’ Association committee on member private sector banks for 2014-15. The panel consists of

executives from 13 private banks. The committee looks after the specific needs of all the 23 private sector banks

that are members of the IBA. The term of the committee is one year.

Dehradun's twin sisters Tashi and Nungshi Malik became first ever siblings to scale seven tallest peaks in seven

continents. The 23-year-old twins have achieved this distinction by successfully climbing Mt Vinson, the highest

peak in Antarctica, on 17 December.

Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, the military commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, was let off on bail by a special anti

terror court. Lakhvi was a senior member of the Lashkar hierarchy, second only to 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed.

He was arrested in December 2008, soon after the serial attacks rocked Mumbai.

India’s Ankita Raina overwhelmed British teenager Katy Dunne in straight sets in a one-sided final to lift her

maiden $25,000 ITF singles title. This was the India no.1 woman singles player’s maiden $25,000 title and the

294-ranked Ankita expressed her delight over becoming the first from the host nation to clinch a title in the

tournament after 14 years.

Indian Golfer Arjun Atwal won the Inaugural edition of US $500,000 Dubai Open Golf Championship title.

Atletico de Kolkata were crowned the winners of the inaugural Indian Super League after beating Kerala Blasters

in a final featuring two teams owned by former India cricket captains. Kerala Blasters, is co-owned by cricket great

Sachin Tendulkar, while Atletico de Kolkata is co-owned by former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly. The first

edition of the eight-team tournament with celebrity owners and a sprinkling of high-profile players proved quite a

hit in an otherwise cricket-crazy country.

Hariom Singh won Gold medal in Men’s 50 metre rifle prone event at the 58th National Shooting Championships

held in Pune.

Indian women and men Kabaddi teams won the 5th Kabaddi World Cup in their respective matches in the final

held at Badal village in Mukatsar district of Punjab. India defeated Pakistan in a controversy-marred final of the

fifth World Cup Kabaddi tournament. In the women's final, the Indian eves defeated New Zealand.

Ending months of speculation regarding her career, troubled Indian female boxer L. Sarita Devi was banned for

one year and fined Swiss francs 1,000 by the International Boxing Association (AIBA) for refusing to accept her

2014 Asian Games bronze medal. The ban will run till October 1, 2015, providing her opportunity to represent the

country in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni surprised the cricket world with his sudden announcement of immediate retirement from

Test cricket, making way for Virat Kohli to don the mantle of captaincy. Announcement of Dhoni's retirement after

the wicketkeeper-batsman had played in 90 Test matches, 60 of them as captain, was made immediately after

India lost the current Test series to Australia following a drawn third Test. Dhoni, who led India to an

unprecedented two World Cup titles (2007 Twenty20 World Championships and the 2011 ODI World Cup), had

been drawing flak for India's poor run in overseas Tests. India has won just six away Tests out of the 30 that

Dhoni has captained.

Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha has been barred from bowling in competitive cricket after his action was found to

be illegal.

The Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games mascots have been named. The Olympic mascot will be called

Vinicius and the Paralympic mascot will be called Tom. The names were chosen by a public vote.

Rory McIlroy of Ireland was named as the 2014 Race to Dubai European Tour Golfer of the Year. He won the

award for the second time in three seasons. Earlier he won the award in 2012.

The international Cricket Council (ICC) named Sachin Tendulkar as the brand ambassador for the upcoming

2015 Cricket World Cup, to be jointly co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. This is the second time that

SPORTS

Tendulkar has been named as the ambassador of ICC's premier tournament, having had the honour during the

2011 edition as well. In his role as ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 ambassador, Tendulkar will be promote and

support a varieties of ICC initiatives, aimed at enhancing the profile of the tournament. The Cricket World Cup is

currently the third biggest sporting event across the world. Tendulkar retired from the sport in November 2013

after having represented India in 200 Tests, 463 ODIs and a one-off T20I. In a 24-year old career, Tendulkar

accumulated 34,357 international runs and 100 centuries. Tendulkar is the leading run-scorer in World Cup history

with 2278 runs from 45 matches, at an average of 56.95. His best was during the 2003 edition of the tournament,

scoring 673 runs and helping India finish as the runners-up to Australia.

India’s Shiva Keshavan added another international medal to his kitty by winning a silver at the 17th Asian Luge

Championships in Nagano, Japan. Hidenari Kanayama of Japan won the gold medal.

World

� An AirAsia plane with 162 people aboard went missing en route from Indonesia to Singapore after pilots

requested a change of flight plan due to bad weather, triggering a massive search in the third major

incident this year involving a Malaysian carrier. AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes asked his company to

stay strong. AirAsia is popular in the region as a budget carrier. It has about 100 destinations, with

subsidiaries in several Asian countries.

� Russia and four other ex-Soviet nations have completed the creation of a new economic alliance intended

to bolster their integration, but the ambitious grouping immediately showed signs of fracture as the leader

of Belarus sharply criticised Moscow. The Eurasian Economic Union, which includes Russia, Belarus,

Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, comes to existence on January 1. In addition to free trade, it's to

coordinate the members' financial systems and regulate their industrial and agricultural policies along with

labor markets and transportation networks.

� Stepping up its fight against militancy, Pakistan announced the formation of a federal counter-terrorism

force, directed financial bodies to check funding to militants and set up a panel for implementing the plan

to deal with the scourge. The force would work under the Ministry of Defence and would be deployed

across the country.

� A global Arms Trade Treaty to regulate the $85 billion industry and keep weapons out of the hands of

human rights abusers and criminals came into force on Dec. 24. The 193-member U.N. General Assembly

adopted the treaty in April last year. The Arms Trade Treaty aims to set standards for all cross-border

transfers of conventional weapons ranging from small firearms to tanks and attack helicopters. It would

create binding requirements for states to review cross-border contracts to ensure that weapons will not be

used in human rights abuses, terrorism, violations of humanitarian law or organized crime. The United

States, the world's top arms exporter, signed the Arms Trade Treaty in September but has not yet ratified

it. The National Rifle Association, a powerful U.S. gun lobby, is opposed to ratification of the treaty, even

though it only covers weapons exports, not domestic gun sales. In 2013, India was among the 23 nations

that had abstained from voting on the treaty resolution. As per India, the treaty has weak provision

on terrorism and non-state actors as these concerns are not mentioned in the specific prohibitions of the

Treaty.

� For the first time, Pakistan and Russia have signed an energy deal worth $1.7 billion to lay a gas pipeline

from Karachi to Lahore, a move that may lead to further improvement in their ties.

� United Nation’s General Assembly has passed a resolution asking Israel to pay Lebanon more than $850

million in damages for an oil spill caused by an Israeli air force attack in its war against Hezbollah in 2006.

� Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta signed a controversial security law, over the objections of human rights

groups that called the law, meant to fight armed groups operating in the country, an assault on basic

freedoms. The new measures will allow police to hold "terror suspects" for up to 360 days without trial,

from the current 90 days. They will also increase sentences for acts of terror and broaden the

government’s power to tap phones. The law also includes measures directed at the press.

MISCELLANEOUS

India

� Government of India signed an agreement with Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a $75 million loan and

a $1.8 million grant that will help improve water resource management in three towns of Karnataka in the

Upper Tungabhadra sub-basin. This loan from the ADB’s Ordinary Capital Resources has a 25-year term

including a grace period of five years.

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

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

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

� The dreaded ISIS terror group has been banned in India, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh disclosed,

days after a Bangalore techie was allegedly found tweeting in support of the terrorist organisation. The

Home Minister said the group has been proscribed under the provisions of UAPA that relates to

organisations listed in the Schedule to the UN Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism (Implementation

of Security Council Resolutions) Order, 2007 made under section two of the United Nations (Security

Council) Act, 1947 and amended from time to time.