20 December 2013

Ø  The Election Commission (EC) recognised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a State party on Thursday after the party fulfilled the eligibility conditions set by the EC for granting the status.

Ø  The two biggest housing financiers SBI and HDFC on Thursday cut home loan rates by up to 0.4 per cent for new borrowers,

Ø  Pakistan on Thursday appointed career diplomat Abdul Basit as its new High Commissioner to India. 

Ø  A 33-year-old British man (Will Pike) paralysed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks on Thursday won his claim to sue the Tata Group, the owners of the iconic Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, in a British court.

Ø  Former IAS officer Sushma Singh is appointed as Chief Information Commissioner. A panel comprising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, and Law Minister Kapil Sibal appointed Ms. Singh. She is the fifth Chief Information Commissioner of CIC, is the second woman to be appointed to the post after Deepak Sandhu.

Ø  An overwhelming number of Sahitya Akademi Awards 2013, have been bagged by poets, including Bollywood lyricist Javed Akhtar, Bengali poet Subodh Sarkar and Sanskrit poet Radhakant Thakur. Apart from eight books of poems, the Sahitya Akademi awards, recommended by jury members representing 22 Indian languages, have gone to four books of essays, three novels, two each of short stories and travelogues. Assamese and Gujarati language awards will be declared later on. The award in the form of a casket containing an engraved copper plaque, a shawl and a cheque for Rs. 1,00,000 will be presented to the authors of these books at a function organised by the Sahitya Akademi in the Capital on March 11, 2014.

Ø  Scientists say they have discovered compelling evidence that diamonds exist in the icy mountains of Antarctica. The researchers have identified a type of rock in the permanently frozen region that is known to contain the precious stones. However, recovering any Antarctic mineral resources for commercial purposes is currently forbidden.

Ø  The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) on Wednesday rolled out its indigenously built 50th JF-17 Thunder aircraft which has a top speed of Mach 1.6 and is dubbed as the backbone of the country’s air defence.

Ø  The South Sudan government has said the violence has already killed up to 500 people. Juba, the capital, was reported calm there on Wednesday and Thursday, but clashes were reported in Jonglei state.

Ø  The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), on Thursday, approved giving Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) a higher price for natural gas from April next, subject to the company furnishing $135 million bank guarantee every quarter. the bank guarantee will be encashed if it is proved that RIL hoarded gas or deliberately suppressed production at the Dhirubhai-1 and 3 main gas fields in its eastern offshore KG-D6 block. The bank guarantee will cover the difference between the current gas price of $4.2 per million British thermal unit (mBtu) and the new rate which will come into effect from April 1. Gas production from the D1&D3 fields has fallen to less than 10 million metric standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) from the peak of 54 mmscmd in March, 2010. Production has been lower than the target since the latter half of fiscal 2010-11, and it should currently have been 80 mmscmd, as per the 2006 investment plan. Output from the MA oil and gas field in the KG-D6 block, too, has fallen over 62 per cent.

• The Competition Commission of India (CCI), on Thursday, imposed Rs.1 crore fine on Abu Dhabi-based Etihad for non-disclosure of full information in the course of seeking approval for its purchase of 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways. The Rs.2,060 crore deal has been facing turbulence ever since it was announced in April.