Daily Current Affairs : 6th December 2013

1. The nation is paying homage to Dr. B R Ambedkar on his 58th Mahaparinirvan Diwas today. Floral tributes were paid to the father of the Indian Constitution at his portrait in Parliament House complex, New Delhi. Lakhs of people thronged Chaityabhoomi, the final resting place of Bharat Ratna Dr. B R Ambedkar at Shivaji Park in Dadar, Mumbai on his 56th death anniversary today.

2. Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first elected black president and a global anti-apartheid icon died early Friday, at his home in the suburb of Houghton in Johannesburg, following a lengthy illness. He was 95. He was also known as Madiba in South Africa. He was receiving intensive medical care at home for a lung infection after spending three months in hospital.

About Nelson Mandela :

• He was born on 1918 in Eastern Cape
• He joined the African National Congress in 1943
• In 1962, he was arrested and was convicted of incitement and leaving country without a passport. He was sentenced to five years in prison
• In 1964, he was charged with sabotage, sentenced to life
• He was freed from the prison in 1990 
• In 1999, he stepped down as leader
• In 2001, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer

Awards received by Nelson Mandela :

• Mandela has received more than two hundred and fifty awards over four decades, some of the awards are:
• He was the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993
• He was the recipient of Bharat Ratna and Mahatma Gandhi peace award
• The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 18 July, Mandela's birthday, as Mandela Day, for his contribution to the anti-apartheid struggle
• In 1973 a nuclear particle discovered by scientists at the University of Leeds was named Mandela nelson
• In 1979 he became the recipient of the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding, by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations New Delhi, India
• In 1981, a panel of International Judges, Vienna, Austria, chose him for the Bruno Kreisky Award for merit in the field of human rights

3. The Reserve Bank of India will soon introduce cash-settled interest rate futures on 10-year government bonds and has also permitted exchanges to launch these derivatives in other smaller tenure securities in the future.

4. India is the seventh most economically confident country in the world, says a study by global research firm Ipsos. According to the study 'Ipsos Economic Pulse of the World', India's economic confidence revived substantially due to healthy farm output, a sharp boost in exports and narrowing of current account deficit.

5. Indian Bank and Apollo Hospitals have launched a health card that will enable select customers of the bank get a discount on the hospital’s services and products. Customers can get up to 20 per cent discount from the Apollo Hospitals chain for a range of services, including room charges, medical check up, investigation fees and pharma products.

6. Indians seeking British visa will have to pay the visa fees online through debit or credit cards or via e-wallet. The other modes of payments including cash or demand draft will be discontinued from 16th of this month.

7. The Supreme Court has favoured punishment of life imprisonment to people indulging in production and marketing of adulterated milk and has asked the state governments to make amendment in laws. A bench of Justices K S Radhakrishnan and A K Sikri yesterday said punishment of six months jail term mentioned in Food Safety Act is grossly inadequate and asked states to amend the law as has been done by the Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Odisha.

8. The Karnataka state assembly passed the Karnataka Essential Services Maintenance (ESMA) Bill 2013. According to the new bill, striking work will be a non-bailable offence and police can arrest a striking employee without warrant. The Bill, popularly known as ESMA, is to put an end to employees working in water, power, health, transport and service sectors going on strikes, inconveniencing people. 

9. The Union Cabinet on 5 December 2013 approved the 10 districts Telangana draft Bill. The 29th state of India, Telengana will consist of ten districts, whereas Andhra Pradesh will have 13 districts. Hyderabad will be the common capital for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for a period of 10 year. Both the states will have special status under Article 371-D of the Constitution for equitable opportunities for education and public employment. 

10. Visva-Bharati may award the Deshikottama posthumously to Manna Dey, who passed away last month. If the decision is finally taken, it will be the first incidence of the award being conferred posthumously.It is the highest honour awarded by Visva-Bharati and earlier recipients include Satyajit Ray, pandit Ravishankar, Mother Teresa, Lata Mangeshkar and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who was also a student for a brief period when Tagore was at the helm.

11. Pakistani teenage activist Malala Yousafzai has been awarded the 2013 UN Human Rights Prize, an honour previously given to icons like late Nelson Mandela in recognition of outstanding achievement in human rights. The prize is awarded every five years and has previously been bestowed on Amnesty International and former US president Jimmy Carter. 

12. Manama Dialogue, the leading regional and global security summit, gets underway in the Bahrain capital Manama today. The three day long summit will discuss major regional and global security, political and economic issues. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid will represent India at the forum on Saturday and Sunday. This year the emphasis at the Manama Dialogue is on the Syrian crisis, Iran nuclear talks, sectarianism and extremism, GCC integration and military co-operation.

13. Hosts South Africa produced a clinical all-round performance as they crushed India by 141 runs runs in the first one day international in Johannesburg, taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. This is the second biggest margin of victory by the South Africans against India in the ODIs played between the two teams.

14. India to host Under-17 FIFA World Cup in 2017. In a landmark development for Indian football, the country was awarded the right to host the 2017 Under-17 FIFA World Cup on Thursday by the world governing body of the game in its executive committee meeting in Brazil. India was chosen as the host country for the mega event by the FIFA executive committee in its meeting at Salvador de Bahia in Brazil. South Africa, Ireland and Uzbekistan were the other countries in the running for the right to host the tournament.

15. India will open their Men's Hero Hockey Junior World Cup 2013 campaign against Netherlands starting in New Delhi today. Home team India will of course be one of tournament favorites at the Major Dhyan Chan National Hockey Stadium.

Note : if any important news left, you may add on in comment :)