Current Affairs December 2013

31st December:

• Ashraf Jehan sworn-in as the first female judge at Pakistan’s national sharia court.
• Union Minister Sashi Tharoor named as the Person of the Year by PETA – India.

30th December:

• The foreign investment regulator has approved 680 crore investment plan by Tesco.
• The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) cleared a decision on Vodafone Group Plc's around Rs. 10,000-crore plan to take full ownership of its local unit.
• Michael Schumacher in critical condition after he fell and hit his head on a rock while skiingw with severe bruising on his brain.
• India lost Test Series against South Africa 1-0.

29th December:

• A female suicide bomber killed at least 13 people at a train station in the Russian city of Volgograd.
• China's top legislature has formally adopted a resolution easing the country's one-child policy allowing couples to have two children if either parent is an only child.
• Gauhar Khan wins Big Boss 7.

28th December:

• Arvind Kejriwal takes oath as Delhi CM along with six others as ministers.
• 26 passengers were killed after a coach of a train caught fire en route from Bangalore to Nanded in Maharashtra.
• Bollywood actor Farooq Shaikh died at the age of 65 after heart attack in Dubai.

27th December:

• Himachal High Court bans food items packed in plastic.
• Former DGP of Assam Police J.N.Chaudhary got appointed as new head of National Security Guard (NSG).

26th December:

• A metropolitan court in Ahmedabad rejected Zakia Jafri's petition against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in connection with a 2002 communal riots case.
• Government gave the go ahead to grant constitutional status to a proposed Commission for appointment and transfer of judges to the higher judiciary to ensure that its composition cannot be altered through an ordinary legislation.

25th December:

• South Africa's all-rounder Jacques Kallis will retire from test and first-class cricket after the Boxing Day match against India in Durban.

24th December:

• Former Gujrat Home Minister Amit Shah gets clean chit from CBI in Ishrat Jahan case.
• Mikhail Kalashnikov, the designer of the assault rifle AK47 died at the age of 94.
• Vinod Kumar Duggal appointed the new Governor of Manipur.
• Kidambi Srikanth and PV Sindhu won the men’s and women’s titles at the 78th Senior National Badminton Championship at New Delhi.

23rd December:

• Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) decided to form coalition Government in Delhi. Arvind Kejriwal will be the new Chief Minister.
• India today test-fired its nuclear-capable Agni-III ballistic missile with a strike range of over 3,000 km.
• India evacuated all its oil employees from South Sudan and shut down oilfields amid escalating violence.
• Subrahmanyam Jaishankar became the Ambassador of US.

22nd December:

• England spinner Graeme Swann announced retirement from international and first-class cricket.
• World's first artificial heart transplant done successfully by French doctors at Georges Pompidou Hospital in Paris. The artificial heart is designed by French biomedical firm Carmat.
• Zaheer Khan became the fourth and only the second Indian bowler pacer to take 300 wickets in Test matches.

21st December:

• Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jayanthi Natarajan resigned from her post.  Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily has been given additional charge of the environment ministry.
• Usha Sangwan appointed first woman Managing Director of Life Insurance Corporation.

20th December:

• Two United Nations peacekeepers from India were killed and a third wounded in South Sudan.
• India's indigenously designed fighter aircraft Tejas get the second Initial Operational Clearance certificate.

19th December:

• Pakistan appointed Abdul Basit as its new high commissioner to India.
• Sahitya Akademi Award for 2013 announced. Bollywood lyricist Javed Akhtar, Bengali poet Subodh Sarkar and Bodo poet Anil Boro are among the winners.
• India team wins their first ever team titles in Asia-Pacific Junior Golf Championship.
• South India’s first high altitude cricket stadium inaugurated in Krishnagiri in Waynad district of Kerala.

18th December:

• Lokshabha  passed the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill that provides for formation of anti-graft ombudsman.
• Anna Hazare broke his nine-day fast shortly after Lok Sabha passed the Lokpal Bill.
• BCCI announced Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement award for the year 2013 to Kapil Dev for his contribution to cricket.

17th December:

• Rajya Sabha passed Lokpal Bill.
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel was re-elected for a third term with a vote in the lower house of parliament.
• The Smt Chandaben Mohanbhai Patel Industrial Research Award for Women Scientists for the year 2011 has been conferred on Dr M Lakshmi Kantam, Director, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad.

16th December:

• Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung has recommended the imposition of President's rule in Delhi as one of the options to break the deadlock over formation of a new government, with no party ready yet to assume power.
• The star of the 1962 film epic “Lawrence of Arabia” Peter O’Toole died in a London hospital at the age of 81.
• The International Cricket Council suspended West Indies' off-spinner Shane Shillingford from bowling in international cricket for his illegal bowling action.

15th December:

• South Africa's first black President Nelson Mandela laid to rest with full state honours in his childhood village at Qunu in South Africa's Eastern Cape province.
• Union Labour Minister Sis Ram Ola died after a prolonged illness in Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon, Haryana.
• Irrfan Khan wins the best actor award at the 10th edition of Dubai International Film Festival for the film The Lunchbox .

14th December:

• Shivraj Chouhan sworn in as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister for third consecutive times.
• Lal Thanhawla sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Mizoram for second successive term.

13th December:

• Vasundhara Raje sworn in as Chief Minister of Rajasthan.
• The anti-corruption Lokpal Bill introduced in the Rajya Sabha.
• Maharashtra assembly passed the anti-black magic Bill that seeks to curb black magic and other superstitious practices.
• Cheteshwar Pujara wins the 'Emerging Cricketer of the Year' trophy in the ICC annual awards.

12th December:

• Raman Singh sworn in as Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh.
• South Africa wins the three match ODI series 2-0 against India.
• Former Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist, and former Pakistan fast bowler Waqar Younis inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.

11th December:

• Indian Air force ended the service of India’s first supersonic jet warplane Mig-21 FL.
• Uruguay became the first country to legalize the growing, sale and smoking of marijuana.
• Retired Gujarat high court judge DP Buch sworn in as the Gujrat's fourth Lokayukta.
• Time magazine named Pope Francis as its person of the year.

10th December:

• The Supreme Court ruled that red beacon be allowed to only Constitutional authorities which include the President, Prime Minister, cabinet ministers, governors, the Chief Justice of India, Supreme Court judges and the heads of both houses of Parliament to prevent its misuse by local politicians flaunting it as a status symbol.
• President Pranab Mukherjee arrived in Johannesburg to attend a memorial service in honour of South Africa's former President Nelson Mandela.
• Anna Hazare started indefinite hunger strike here to press the government for immediate passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill in winter session of Parliament.
• The former Foreign Secretary of India Ranjan Mathai took over as the India's High Commissioner to the UK.
• Lionel Messi, Franck Ribery and Cristiano Ronaldo were shortlisted for this year's Ballon d'Or Prize.

9th December:

• Congress wins the Mizoram State Assembly election with 31 seats.
• Lok Sabha adopted the 2G JPC report which blaming former telecom minister A. Raja for the faulty allocation of spectrum and exonerating Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram of any wrongdoing.

8th December:

• BJP wins the Rajasthan State Assembly election with 162 seats. Congress wins 21 seats.
• In Madhya Pradesh State Assembly election, BJP gets clear majority with 164 seats.
• In Delhi State Assembly election BJP wins 32 seats while Aam Aadmi Party wins 28 seats.
• In Chhattisgarh State Assembly election, BJP gets 49 and Congress gets 39 seats.
• Indian Olympic Association (IOA) amended its constitution to bar charge-framed persons from contesting elections in an act of compliance to get the country's Olympic ban overturned.

7th December:

• FIFA declares 2014 FIFA World Cup football draw to be held in Brazil.
• Late sitar legend Pandit Ravi Shankar received a posthumous nomination in the 56th Annual Grammy Awards for his album "The Living Room Sessions Part 2" in the World Music Album category.
• Miss Venezuela Alyz Henrich wins Miss Earth, 2013 at the Versailles Palace, Philippines.

6th December:

• India approved the draft of a multilateral trade reforms package at the World Trade Organization, clearing the way for the first global trade deal in almost two decades.
• MS Dhoni becomes India's highest scoring ODI captain leaving behind former captain Mohammad Azharuddin's tally of 5239 in 174 matches. Dhoni reached 5278 runs in his 152nd ODI.
• India will host the Under-17 FIFA World Cup in 2017.

5th December:

• South African anti-apartheid hero and former President Nelson Mandela died at the aged 95 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
• The winter session of Parliament will begins.
• A parliamentary bill for the creation of a new Telangana state, with 10 districts, has been cleared by the Union Cabinet.
• European Union (EU) imposed ban on all airlines from Nepal from flying into the 28-nation bloc under EU air safety list for unsafe carriers.
• India has been ranked 98th in the Forbes list of world's best countries for doing business.
• India becomes the highest run scoring team in ODI history while Australia are currently second team with 1,82,881 runs.

4th December:

• Around 66 per cent polling recorded in the Delhi Assembly election.

3rd December:

• India successfully test fired its surface to surface ballistic missile Prithvi-ll from Chandipur in the Balesore district, Odisha.
• Seven policemen were killed in a landmine blast in Bihar.
• Mahendra Singh Dhoni named captain of ICC's one-day international team and England captain Alastair Cook named skipper of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) test team of the year. Mahendra Singh Dhoni also wins the International Cricket Council (ICC) People’s Choice Award for the year 2013.

2nd December:

• The Supreme Court issued notice to the centre on a petition seeking to strike down the provisions of Juvenile Justice Act that bars criminal courts from trying juvenile offenders.
• India's current account deficit falls to $5.2 billion in July-September quarter.
• Gaganjeet Bhullar wins his fifth Asian Tour victory by winning Indonesia Open.

1st December:

• Indian shuttler PV Sindhu wins the women's singles title at the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold Tournament after defeating Li Michelle of Canada 21-15, 21-12.
• Actor Paul Walker, best known for his roles in the "Fast and the Furious" action movies, died in a car crash in Southern California.