Daily Current Affairs: 21 December 2014

1) Indian men & women win World Cup Kabaddi titles: The Indian men's team continued their winning streak by clinching the fifth Kabaddi World Cup title, while the women's side bagged the crown for the fourth consecutive time. At a grand finale held at Guru Gobind Singh Multipurpose Stadium, the Indian men's team defeated Pakistan 45-42 for the fourth time, while the women team beat New Zealand 36-27 for the second time in a row. History repeated itself as both teams in the men and women sections had clashed during the finals of Fourth Kabaddi World Cup at Ludhiana last year and in both the matches, India had emerged victorious.

2) Only 17% have health insurance cover: Fresh official data show the number of people covered by health insurance in India could be far fewer than estimated. Only 21.62 crore people, or 17 per cent of the total population, were covered by health insurance at the end of March 2014. The estimate, prepared by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) and tabled in Parliament by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on 19 December 2014, is sharply lower than that of the World Bank.

3) Holder appointed West Indies ODI captain: Jason Holder has replaced Dwayne Bravo as West Indies' ODI captain and will lead the team in the five-match ODI series against South Africa, which starts on January 16, 2015. Bravo, who had replaced Darren Sammy as the ODI captain in May 2013, has been left out of the squad for the South Africa one-dayers but is a part of the T20 side. Bravo led West Indies to victory in 12 of their 27 completed ODIs since taking over full-time from Sammy.

4) Jammu & Kashmir recorded highest turnout: Describing 2014 as a year of record-high voter turnouts, the Election Commission on 20 December 2014 said the 66% overall polling in J&K was its highest in the last two-and-a-half decades. In Jharkhand too, the 66.03% aggregate poll percentage was the best ever witnessed in any election in the state.

5) Former Union minister Napoleon joined BJP: Former Union minister of state D Napoleon on 21 December 2014 joined BJP in the presence of its President Amit Shah,a day after quitting the DMK,citing lack of intra-party democracy. I did not like the functioning of the party.There was no intra-party democracy.The party elections were not conducted the way it should have been,he told reporters after formally joining the BJP,which has set eyes on strengthening its presence in Tamil Nadu ahead of 2016 Assembly elections. The actor-turned politician said he had the blessings of former Union minister M K Alagiri,elder son of DMK chief M Karunanidhi. I have joined the BJP only with Alargiri's blessings.