Current Affairs For SSC CGL Exam

14 December, 2013

Lalu Prasad granted bail by the SC

After spending two months behind bars following his conviction in a fodder scam case, RJD chief Lalu Prasad was granted bail by the Supreme Court, on the ground of parity with other convicts.

A Bench of Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi allowed the bail plea after underlining that more than two dozens similarly-placed convicts had been released on bail by the Patna High Court.

The court pointed out that the former Bihar CM had spent almost a year of his five-year sentence during the pendency of the trial. The Bench left it to the trial court to decide the bail bonds, sureties and other such conditions to be imposed on the former Member of Parliament.

The CBI, which had in its counter affidavit opposed Lalu's bail, chose not to counter his plea during the court proceeding. Lalu's release will certainly lift the morale of his party, which faced the risk of being perceived as leaderless just months away from the LS polls.

Lalu, who lost his membership of Parliament after being convicted, had submitted that out of the 44 persons convicted along with him in the case, 37 have been granted bail and no one's, except his bail plea has been rejected.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan takes oath as Madhya Pradesh CM for third term

Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who led Bharatiya Janata Party to a massive win in Madhya Pradesh Assembly Election, took the oath of office as the state Chief Minister for the third consecutive term .

Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj had earlier formally declared Chouhan as the chief of the party's legislature wing after considering the views of the 165 MLAs.

BJP had won 165 of the 230 seats in the Madhya Pradesh election. The party surpassed its earlier tally of 143 seats. Jyotiraditya Scindia-led Congress dropped to 57 seats from 71 in 2008.

Anand in London Classics quarters

Former world champion Viswanathan Anand found his way to the knockout stage in the London Chess Classic with an easy draw against tailender Andrei Istratescu of France in the fifth round of the preliminaries that concluded at the Olympia.

After scoring three wins in the first four games itself, Anand was destined to move to the quarterfinal stage in this 16-players event spilt in to four groups.

Traditionally a super tournament, the London Classic this time became a Rapid tournament as the world championship was held just two weeks before its commencement.

Anand will play as black against Adams in the decider for the first place in the last round having promoted himself to the knockout quarterfinals in the 16-players event split in to four groups.

Among other groups, Russians Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Svidler looked poised to qualify from the `B` group while in the `C` group Boris Gelfand of Israel and Hikaru Nakamura of United States already made the cut like Anand and Adams.

ICC Test Cricketer, Player of the Year

Australian captain Michael Clarke has been announced as the winner of the Sir Garfield Sobers trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year and was also named as the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year.

Kumar Sangakkara, Cheteshwar Pujara, Kevin O'Brien, Suzie Bates, Sarah Taylor, Umar Gul, Mahela Jayawardena and Richard Kettleborough among other winners.

Clarke has been joined on the winners' list by Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara, who was named ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year, and India's Cheteshwar Pujara, who claimed his first-ever ICC award after being named the ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year.

Also joining Pujara on the winners list for the first time are New Zealand captain Suzie Bates, who won the ICC Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year award, Pakistan fast bowler Umar Gul, whose five for six against South Africa won him the ICC T20I Performance of the Year award, Ireland's Kevin O'Brien, who won the Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year award, and Richard Kettleborough of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires, who won the David Shepherd Trophy for ICC Umpire of the Year.

England's Sarah Taylor clinched the ICC Women's T20I Cricketer of the Year award for the second year in a row, while Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardena won his second ICC Spirit of Cricket award, this time for walking without waiting for an umpire's decision when batting on 91 against New Zealand in Galle in November 2012

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