Daily Current Affairs: 05 December 2013

Daily Current Affairs: 05 December 2013

1) Sushma Singh to take over as new chief information commissioner: Sushma Singh, the seniormost Information Commissioner, will be the next Chief Information Commissioner of India and will succeed Deepak Sandhu, who completes her term. The decision on appointing Singh, a former IAS officer, as the next CIC was taken unanimously by a panel comprising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and law minister Kapil Sibal.

2) Winter Session of Parliament began: Winter Session of Parliament began today on a sombre note as both the Houses condoled the death of sitting members — Mohan Singh in the Rajya Sabha and Murarilal Singh in the Lok Sabha — before adjourning for the day.

3) SBI planning automated system to cut zero balance account cost: State Bank of India is trying to put an automated system that would minimise the cost on zero balance saving accounts which are adding to higher cost but not improving the bank’s CASA ratio. “CASA (current account savings account) is under pressure as we are opening a lot of free saving bank accounts as part of financial inclusion and carry a cost. But we are trying to address this,” SBI Deputy Managing Director P.K Malhotra said on the sidelines of INFOCOM 2013 organised by the ABP group.

4) Bharatiya Mahila Bank to open 16 more branches: Bharatiya Mahila Bank will open 16 more branches this fiscal, taking the overall branch network size to 25 by the end of March. The cities, where the new branches of Bharatiya Mahila Bank will be set up during 2013-14, are Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Shimla, Bhubaneswar, Jaipur, Dehradun, Patna, Naya Raipur, Panaji, Srinagar, Thiruvananthapuram, Ranchi, Shillong, Gangtok, Agartala and Itanagar.

5) Delhi: record turnout of 65.13 per cent registered in Assembly polls: Breaking all records, Delhi registered the highest-ever voter turnout of 65.13 per cent in the Assembly polls with men and women coming out in almost equal numbers to exercise their franchise, Delhi's Election Commission said.

6) Cheraman Financial Services gets RBI nod for leasing, equity finance: The Reserve Bank of India has granted a registration certificate to Cheraman Financial Services Ltd to carry out the business of a non-banking finance company without accepting public deposits.

7) International Volunteer Day Observed on 5 December: The International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development was observed across the world on 5 December 2013. The day, which is also known as International Volunteer Day (IVD), gives volunteers a chance to work together on projects and campaigns promoting their contributions to economic and social development at local, national and international levels. Theme for the year 2013 is: YOUNG.GLOBAL.ACTIVE

8) India Ranked 94th on Global Corruption Perception Index 2013: India was ranked 94th out of 177 countries on Global Corruption Perception Index 2013, which was released by Transparency International on 3 December 2013.

9)  President releases stamp on INS Vikramaditya: President Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday released a postal stamp and First Day cover on INS Vikramaditya, the aircraft carrier that was commissioned in the Navy last month.

10)  Luxembourg gets first gay prime minister: Luxembourg swore in Xavier Bettel as its first openly gay prime minister on Wednesday, paving the way for the introduction of social reforms such as same-sex marriage.

11) BRAZUCA, The official 2014 FIFA World Cup Match Ball was unveiled: Brazuka, the official 2014 FIFA World Cup match ball was unveiled on 3 December 2013 by manufacturers Adidas in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The ball is called the 'Brazuca' after a public vote by more than one million football fans in the host nation Brazil. Brazuca is an informal local term which means "Brazilian", or relating to a Brazilian way of life.