Daily Current Affairs : 29th November 2013

1. Indian Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar appointed as UNICEF's first brand ambassador for South Asia. Sachin Tendulkar will work for promoting hygiene

and sanitation in the South Asian region for two years. Sachin Tendulkar was already involving with the UNICEF campaigns for polio and global hand washing.

2. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) relaxed norms for participation of Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) in the insurance joint ventures by allowing them to hold more than 50 percent in such companies. The notification of Reserve Bank of India has stated that - it has been decided that in cases where IRDA issues calls for capital infusion into the Insurance joint venture company, the RBI may, on a case to case basis, consider need based relaxation of the 50 percent group limit.

3. India's economy grew a higher-than-expected 4.8 per cent in the three months through September, helped by an uptick in agriculture and construction, government data showed on Friday. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast growth of 4.6 per cent. September's figure per cent was the fourth successive quarter of economic growth below 5 per cent.

4. Govt reduces threshold limit of mandatory e- payment from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 lakh. The government has now decided to reduce the threshold limit of mandatory e- payment from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 lakh for both central excise and service tax payment with effect from January 1, 2014. Currently, a manufacturer is required to pay duty of central excise through internet banking

(ie e- payment) if the total duty paid by the manufacturer exceeds Rs 10 lakh in the previous financial year as per rule 8 of the Central Excise Rules, 2002.

5. The Assam Pavilion was adjudged “First for Excellence in display amongst State Governments and Union Territory Pavilions” and was given the award of Gold Medal in the India International Trade Fair 2013 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. This is the first time in the 33 years of history of the IITF that a State Government has consecutively received the prestigious Gold Award in succession after the Gold Awards in 2012. The theme of this year was “Inclusive Growth” and the theme Pavilion set up reflected the growth of various sectors in the State. 

6. The woman law intern has informed the three-judge panel that it was former Supreme Court Judge A.K. Ganguly who had allegedly sexually harassed her in December last. According to highly placed sources, following the naming of the judge, the probe committee comprising Justices R.M. Lodha, H.L. Dattu and Ranjana Desai had recorded the statement of Justice Ganguly. The panel submitted its report to the Chief Justice of India P. Sathasivam on Thursday. The Committee was set up by the CJI as a fact finding panel to find out the veracity of the contents of a blog in which the law intern had highlighted the alleged sexual harassment incident involving the judge concerned.

7. Noted Dalit writer Omprakash Valmiki passed away on 17 November 2013 at Dehradun, Uttarakhand. He died at the age of 63 after prolonged illness due to cancer. Omprakash Valmiki is one of the most famous Dalit litterateurs in Hindi and he portrayed the life of Dalits with an authentically Dalit voice. He was born in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh in 1950. He worked with Government Ordnance Factory Dehradun. Valmiki's autobiography Joothan is one of his famous works.

8. Google setup an election portal in India, the largest democracy of the world. The portal will provide polls and politics related news to users in India. The launched search engine will also provide information on the political parties. This portal will help the voters of India to get the answers on elections and voting-related queries to make an informed decision. Initially, during the first phase of the launch will cover the videos and information related to state elections in Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Mizoram.

9. The Italian Senate expelled ex- Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from Parliament over his tax fraud conviction. The Senate declared Berlusconi ineligible for parliament after he was convicted of masterminding a complex system of illegally inflated invoices to cut the tax bill for his Mediaset television empire.