Daily Current Affairs Updates: 02 December 2014

1) RBI announced fifth Bi-Monthly monetary policy, no change in interest rates: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 2 December 2014 announced fifth Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Statement. RBI in its fifth bi-monthly monetary policy statement kept the policy rates unchanged. This means no loan is going to get cheaper anytime soon. All that the RBI said was it could ease monetary policy early next year provided inflationary pressures do not reappear. Current rates are:

*Repo rate: 8 percent

*Reverse repo rate: 7 percent

*Marginal standing facility (MSF) rate: 9 percent

*Bank Rate: 9.0 percent

*Cash Reserve Ratio: 4 percent 

2) Anil Kumar Sinha appointed as new CBI Director: Senior IPS officer Anil Kumar Sinha was on 2 December 2014 appointed the new CBI Director to succeed Ranjit Sinha who retired in a glare of controversy with the Supreme Court directing him to recuse from 2G spectrum scam case probe. Sinha, a 1979 batch IPS officer of Bihar cadre, was the Special Director in CBI. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cleared the name of Anil Kumar Sinha who was among the candidates shortlisted by the search committee earlier. The term of Sinha will be for two years from the date he takes charge, an official notification said.

3) Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984 remembered: 3 decades (30 years) of the Bhopal tragedy of 1984 were completed on 2 December 2014. This disaster, which took place on 2 December 1984 due to accidental leakage of poisonous gas from the factory owned by the U.S. multinational Union Carbide Corp in Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal, is known as one of the world’s worst industrial disasters ever.

4) Veteran comedian Deven Verma died at 77 in Pune: Veteran Hindi film and television actor Deven Verma passed away at Sahyadri Hospital in Pune at 2 am on Tuesday. He had been unwell for some time and was suffering from heart problem and diabetes. He was 77 and is survived by his wife Rupa Ganguly, who is the daughter of late famous actor Ashok Kumar. Among the new films in which he acted were ‘Dil To Pagal Hai’, ‘Ishq’, ‘Kya Kehna’, ‘Salaakhein’, ‘Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai’ and ‘Hulchul’. His last Hindi film was ‘Calcutta Mail’ that released in 2003.

5) Vajpayee's birthday to be celebrated as 'Good Governance Day': Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's birthday on December 25 would be observed as national 'Good Governance Day', Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on 2 December 2014. Modi was addressing party MPs at the meeting of the BJP parliamentary party, where BJP president Amit Shah was also present.

6) International Day for the Abolition of Slavery observed: The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery was observed by the United Nations on 2 December 2014.The day is observed to focus on the elimination of human trafficking, child labour and other forms of modern-day slavery.

7) UN climate summit began in Peru: Officials from over 190 nations, including India, on 1 December 2014 converged in Peru at the UN climate summit to negotiate on a new ambitious and binding deal to cut global carbon emissions, in the last chance to reach on a historic deal to be signed next year in Paris.

8) Union Cabinet approved Regional Rural Banks (Amendment) Bill, 2013: The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 2 December 2014 approved Regional Rural Banks (Amendment) Bill, 2013. The Bill seeks to amend the Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) Act, 1976. The Bill will help enhance authorized and issued capital to strengthen their capital base and to bring flexibility in the shareholding between Union Government, State Government and Sponsor Bank.

9) India successfully tests N-capable Agni-IV missile: India on 2 December 2014 successfully conducted the first user trial of its long-range, nuclear-capable, surface-to-surface Agni-IV missile from a defence base in Odisha, an official said. The missile, with the capability to hit targets 4,000 km away, was tested from the Wheeler Island off the state coast near Dhamra in Bhadrak district, about 200 km from the state capital Bhubaneswar.