Daily Current Affairs : 20th December 2013

1. Sushma Singh takes oath as New CIC. President Pranab Mukherjee appointed Sushma Singh as the new Chief Information Commissioner of India. She is the second woman to become CIC after Deepak Sandhu, whose term comes to an end later this month. A panel comprising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, and Law Minister Kapil Sibal appointed Ms. Singh. The CIC is mandated to resolve appeals and complaints filed by information seekers, under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, against government departments or public authorities.

2. The Petroleum Ministry has been awarded the National E-governance Award by Computer Society of India for implementing project ‘Lakshya’ which is aimed at improving LPG distribution. “The prestigious CSI Nihilent National e-Governance Award 2012-13 was awarded to the Project Lakshya —Empowering Consumers: Transparent Supply Chain and Efficient Subsidy Administration at Vishakhapatnam as part of 48th Annual Convention of Computer Society of India (CSI-2013),” a ministry press release said.

3. Bollywood lyricist-scriptwriter Javed Akhtar, Hindi novelist Mridula Garg and renowned Bengali poet Subodh Sarkar are among those selected for this year's Sahitya Akademi Award. Akhtar has been chosen for "Lava", his compilation of 55 Urdu poems. The Awards are recommended by distinguished jury members, representing 22 Indian languages and approved by the Executive Board of the Akademi, which met on Wednesday under the Chair of Sahitya Akademi President Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari. 

4. The government has started the process of finding replacement for Anand Sinha, deputy governor of Reserve Bank of India who retires on 18 January, 2014. A four member search panel headed by RBI governor Raghuram Rajan will interview nine executive directors on 27 December for select Sinha’s successor. The other members of the selection committee are Rajiv Takru, secretary, financial services, Shekhar Chaudhuri, professor and former director of Indian institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta and Prakash Apte, former director of IIM-Banglaore. To be eligible for becoming deputy governor, a person needs to be below 60 years.

5. Govt clears interest-free loans to clear cane farmer arrears; proposal on raising grain buffer stocks to GoM. Sugar mills will be eligible for a combined Rs 6,600 crore ofinterest-free loans, to be able to pay arrears to cane farmers. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) cleared a proposal in this  regard on Thursday. The original proposal was to give interest-free loans of Rs 7,200 crore. CCEA has also allowed mills to sell sugar without any quantitative restriction.

6. Infosys today announced the resignation of Director V. Balakrishnan, who was widely tipped to be in the race for becoming the company's next chief executive officer when the incumbent S.D. Shibulal retires in 2015. The resignation is effective December 31, 2013, Infosys said in a statement

7. India is expected to become the third largest aviation market by in the world by 2020 after the US and China, Civil Aviation Secretary KN Shrivastava said. "India is among the fastest growing and currently the ninth largest civil aviation market in the world," he said, speaking at an event here to rename Bengaluru International airport as Kempegowda international airport.

8. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has cleared the appointment of career diplomat Aizaz Chaudhry, one of the key officials who handled the fallout of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, as Pakistan’s new Foreign Secretary. Chaudhry, a moderate known for his strong conviction, earlier served as Foreign Office spokesman and Additional Foreign Secretary.

9. Vladimir Putin signs pardon decree, Mikhail Khodorkovsky now a free man. Having spent 10 years in jail, Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky walked free out of jail on Friday after President Vladimir Putin signed a decree pardoning him, reports said. Khordorkovsky, who has already spent over a decade in jail, was convicted of crimes including fraud, theft and money laundering and arrested in 2003.

10. Tejas, India's indigeneously-designed Light Combat Aircraft, on Friday got initial operation clearance (IOC-II). Defence minister AK Antony handed over release to service document (RTS) to Indian Air Force  chief NAK Browne. The certification paves the way for the induction of Tejas into the Indian Air Force. 

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