CURRENT AFFAIR UPDATED 21 OCTOBER 2014

1. M. L. Khattar to be next Haryana Chief Minister

i. Manohar Lal Khattar was on Tuesday unanimously elected Leader of the BJP Legislature Party, paving the way for his becoming the first Chief Minister of the BJP in Haryana.

ii. 60-year-old Mr. Khattar is also the first Punjabi to become the Chief Minister of the State.

iii. He was elected at a meeting of 47 newly elected MLAs at the Chandigarh UT Guest House, party Vice President Dinesh Sharma, who attended the meeting along with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu as central observers,

iv. Mr. Khattar, a first-time MLA, has worked as an RSS Pracharak for 40 long years. Born in Rohtak district, he had contested the Assembly elections from Karnal. He won the Karnal seat with a margin of 63,736 votes.

2. Govt orders merger of NSEL with its holding company FTIL

i. To ensure speedy recovery of dues for investors and others hit by 5,600-crore rupees fraud at the National Spot Exchange Ltd, the government today ordered merger of the scam-hit firm with its holding company Financial Technologies India Ltd, FTIL.

ii. The decision, which comes over a year after the payments cam broke out at NSEL in July 2013, has been taken in essential public interest as the exchange is not left with any viable, sustainable business while FTIL has necessary resources to facilitate speedy recovery of dues.

iii. The move to merge NSEL with FTIL, possibly the first major government intervention in a scam-hit private sector entity since the Satyam case in 2009.

iv. Financial Technologies (India) Ltd is the holding company of this group, which had also set up commodity bourse MCX and stock exchange MCX-SX, among other exchange ventures.

3.UK announced first ever Dadabhai Naoroji Awards

i. The UK government on 17 October 2014 announced the inaugural Dadabhai Naoroji Awards to honour individuals who have worked to strengthen the UK-India relationship over the years.

ii. The awards were announced by the deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

iii. The three winners included UK India Business Council chair Patricia Hewitt in the commerce category, Dame Asha Khemka for services in the field of education and actor Madhav Sharma for culture.

4. British actress and presenter Lynda Bellingham died

i. British actress and presenter Lynda Bellingham on 19 October 2014 died in London because of colon Cancer. She was 66.

ii. The actress was best known for her long-running role as a mother in the Oxo TV adverts.

iii. Bellingham was also known for shows like All Creatures Great and Small. In All Creatures Great and Small, she was the second actress to play Helen Herriot on television.

5.BCCI suspends bilateral tours with WI

i. Cracking the whip, a livid BCCI on Tuesday suspended all bilateral cricket tours with West Indies and decided to initiate legal proceedings against the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) for abruptly cancelling its tour of India last week.

ii. The tough stand by the BCCI, which has incurred heavy losses for the abandonment of the series, was taken by the all-powerful Working Committee which met to decide the future course of action.

iii. The decision to suspend all cricket tours with West Indies and initiate legal action was taken “unanimously” by the Working Committee members.

iv. The BCCI also appreciated the gesture of the Sri Lankan Cricket Board for accepting the offer of playing a five-match ODI series at such a short notice.

v. The venues for the five ODIs will be Cuttack, Hyderabad, Ranchi, Kolkata and Ahmedabad and the detailed itinerary will be announced shortly.

vi. The statement, however, did not specify the exact period of suspension of cricketing tours between the BCCI and the WICB.

Note: The West Indies team was scheduled to play five ODIs, one T20 and three Tests matches during the tour between October 8 and November 19.

ii. The aggrieved Caribbean players, who were persuaded to take the field for the fourth ODI in Dharamsala on October 17, conveyed their decision to call off the remaining part of tour to the BCCI.

iii. As per the new contracts, agreed between the WICB and the Players Association (WIPA), the cricketers reportedly suffered a 75 per cent cut in their salaries.

6. Fashion designer Oscar de la Renta died

i. Iconic fashion designer Oscar de la Renta died on 20 October 2014 at Kent, Connecticut. He was 82.

ii. Oscar de la Renta was often described as the sultan of suave.

iii. He made his name in the 1960s by dressing one of the major fashion icons the First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

7.India's chief hockey coach Terry Walsh resigns

i. India's chief hockey coach Terry Walsh has resigned from his post because of a "pay dispute".

ii. His resignation comes barely three weeks after guiding the Indian team to a historic gold medal in the Asian Games in Incheon. Under Walsh, India had also won a silver in Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

iii. The 60-year-old Australian, himself a noted Olympian, submitted his resignation in a dramatic fashion on Tuesday, saying that he was finding it difficult to adjust to the decision making style of the sporting bureaucracy in the country.

8.Pistorius sentenced to five-year jail term for killing girlfriend

i. Oscar Pistorius was sentenced on Tuesday to five years in prison for killing Reeva Steenkamp by a South African judge who cited the “gross negligence” the runner showed when he shot his girlfriend multiple times through a toilet cubicle door in his home.

ii. Judge Masipa also sentenced Pistorius to three years in prison for unlawfully firing a gun in a restaurant in a separate incident weeks before Steenkamp’s 2013 shooting death. She ordered that sentence to be wholly suspended.

iii. Pistorius killed Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day in 2013, shooting her through a toilet door in his home. Pistorius testified that the shooting was an accident because he mistook his girlfriend for a night-time intruder.

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CURRENT AFFAIR UPDATE 19 - 20 OCTOBER

1. Joko Widodo is the new Indonesian President

i. Joko Widodo was inaugurated as Indonesia's new President om Monday, facing the challenges of rebooting a slowing economy and working with a potentially hostile opposition that has already landed some early blows against his administration.

ii. Widodo, the first Indonesian president not to come from the ranks of the country's established political, business and military elite, took the oath of office in a ceremony at parliament in the capital, Jakarta, attended by regional leaders and US Secretary of State John Kerry.

iii. A former furniture salesman, the 53-year-old Widodo rose from humble beginnings to become Jakarta's governor before winning July's presidential election with 53 percent of the vote.

Note: Indonesia is the biggest economy in Southeast Asia, and about 90 percent of its 250 million people are Muslims, more than any other nation.

2. WHO declares Nigeria free of Ebola

i. The World Health Organization declared on Monday that Nigeria is free of Ebola, a rare victory in the months-long battle against the fatal disease.

ii. Nigeria’s containment of the lethal disease is a “spectacular success story,” WHO Country Director Rui Gama Vaz told a news conference in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. Nigeria reported 20 cases of Ebola, including eight deaths. One of those who died was an airline passenger who brought Ebola to Nigeria and died soon after.

iii. WHO said Nigeria had traced nearly every contact of Ebola patients in the country, all of whom were linked to the country’s first patient, a Liberian man who arrived with symptoms in Lagos and later died

iv. The disease continues to spread rapidly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea and has claimed more than 4,500 lives.

3. BJP emerged as the largest party in the 2014 Assembly Elections of Maharashtra

i. Election Commission of India on 19 October 2014 announced the results of the 2014 Assembly elections of Maharashtra. The elections were held on 15 October 2014 for total 288 seats.

ii. Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) by winning 122 seats emerged as the largest party but none of the parties succeeded in securing a clear majority. 63.13 percent of the electorate voted in Maharashtra. The elections were held for 288 seats

4. BJP won the Assembly Elections of Haryana; secured majority for the first time

i. Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) won the state assembly elections of Haryana. The results of the elections were announced by the Election Commission of India on 19 October 2014.

ii. BJP by securing 47 seats emerged as the largest party, with clear majority. The elections were held for total 90 seats on 15 October 2014. In this elections, Haryana recorded its highest ever turnout of 76.54 percent.

5. MP to celebrate 2015 as Tourism Year

i. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan declared that 2015 would be celebrated as Tourism Year in the State and said that during the year Madhya Pradesh’s tourism potential would be displayed before the world.

ii. The Chief Minister further said that Madhya Pradesh would be developed as pioneer State in tourism sector and added State had immense potential for tourism.

iii. The State Government had chalked out a pro-active policy. Impressive tourism infrastructures were being constructed in the State, he added.

iv. New tourist circuits were being developed. The State had also immense potential of religious tourism. Sanchi, Khajuraho and Bhim Bhetka were world heritage.

v. Madhya Pradesh has also a number of National Parks and sanctuaries. The state government wishes to develop tourism facilities for every section so that people can spend some peaceful time in present-day complex life.

6. Union Cabinet approved inter-governmental MoU to upgrade Chabahar port of Iran

i. The Union Cabinet on 18 October 2014 approved an inter-governmental Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Iran to upgrade the Chabahar port Phase-I.

ii. Under the Chabahar port Phase-I project India will set up a Joint Venture (JV) Company with an investment of 85.21 million US dollar and operate the port for 10 years, through a leasing agreement.

iii. The Company will equip two fully-constructed berths in Chabahar port within 12 months, one as a container terminal and second as a multi-purpose cargo terminal.

About Chabahar port

Chabahar port is located in the Sistan-Baluchistan Province on south-eastern coast of Iran, which lies outside the Persian Gulf and it is easily accessed from western coast of India. India can access to Zaranj in Afghanistan which is at a distance of 883 km by using Chahbahar port.

7. India set to become USD 2 trillion economy this year: IMF

i. India is poised to become a USD two trillion economy this year, while its GDP size would cross another milestone of USD three trillion after five years in 2019, according to IMF's latest world economic outlook.

ii. India's ranking would also improve to seventh largest economy in the world, while measured on "current prices" basis in US dollar, in 2019 from its tenth position currently.

iii. Latest data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) show that Indian economy is set to be worth USD 2.05 trillion this year, increasing its size from USD 1.88 trillion in 2013. Last year too, India was among the ten largest economies in the world.

iv. Going by the IMF, United States would remain the world's largest economy with a size of USD 17.42 trillion, followed by China at USD 10.35 trillion.

v. Meanwhile, India is all set to cross the USD 3 trillion milestone in 2019 with a size of USD 3.18 trillion, surpassing Russia, Brazil and Italy. This would also make India the world's seventh largest economy.

vi. The United States would remain the world's largest economy in 2019 with a size of USD 22.15 trillion, followed by China (USD 15.52 trillion) and Japan (USD 5.43 trillion).

8. Union Home Ministry drafted a new counter-Naxal       doctrine

i. Union Home Ministry drafted a new counter-Naxal doctrine. In the drafted law, the ministry clearly demarcated the role of the state police and central paramilitary forces (CPMFs) in anti-Maoist operations.

ii. The ministry proposed to put state police forces in the lead, while tasking CPMFs with using their pan-Indian mandate for seamless operations across state borders and holding the counter-insurgency grid together.

iii. The policy proposed oversight committee at the national and state level. The national panel will comprise home minister, finance minister, tribal affairs minister, environment minister, rural development minister, panchayati raj minister and road & transport minister, besides chief ministers of all Naxal-hit states, and will meet bi-annually.

iv. The new counter-LWE doctrine pitches for making CRPF a world-class counter-insurgency force, with a sustained upgrade in its training, infrastructure, arms and financial powers.

9. ICC awarded global broadcast rights from 2015 to       2023 to Star India and Star Middle East

i. The International Cricket Council (ICC) on 10 October 2014 awarded the global broadcast agreement rights for ICC Events from 2015 to 2023 to Star India and Star Middle East.

ii. The agreement is said to be the biggest ever global broadcast partnership of Cricket.

iii.  The agreement included the eight-year period. During the period, 18 ICC tournaments, including two ICC Cricket World Cups (2019 and 2023), two ICC Champions Trophy tournaments (2017 and 2021) and two ICC World Twenty20 tournaments (2016 and 2020) will be held.

About Star India

i. Star India is one of India’s largest media and entertainment companies and is a fully owned subsidiary of 21st Century Fox, INC.

ii. The Star group has defined India’s broadcast media over two decades and today broadcasts more than forty channels in seven languages, reaching more than 650 million viewers every week across India and around 100 other countries.

About Star Middle East: Star Middle East is a wholly owned subsidiary of 21st Century Fox, INC. in the Middle East. It distributes 13 satellite cable television channels in the Middle East and Africa.

10. Five-yr-old Indian is the youngest to reach Everest   Base Camp

i. A five-year-old Indian boy, Harshit Saumitra, has become the youngest person to reach the Everest Base Camp (EBC).

ii. A class 1 student from New Delhi, Harshit took 10 days to cover the distance of 62km trek, many sections of which were covered by 5-7 inch of snow from the snowstorm

caused by the tail-end of cyclone Hudhud.

iii. “I felt very good. I unfurled the tricolor at the Everest Base Camp,” said Harshit after his return from the trek.

iv. He also climbed the Kalapathar (5550 m) peak, located near the EBC. With this, the child overtakes the record set by Aaryan Balaji, a seven-year old Indian boy who had reached the two peaks in May 2012.

v. “We were worried that Harshit might experience altitude sickness. But he didn’t face any problem,” said his father, Rajeev Saumitra, a mountaineer who had reached the peak of Mount Everest (8848 m) last year.

11. India juniors retain Sultan of Johor Cup title

i. Harmanpreet Singh converted two penalty corners to help India sucessfully defend its Sultan of Johor Cup (SOJC) U-21 hockey title, beating Great Britain 2-1 in a keenly-contested final on Sunday.

ii. Harmanpreet (45th and 90 minutes) slammed home two set pieces at the Taman Daya Hockey Stadium to take his goals tally to eight in the tournament. For Great Britain Samuel French (55th minute) was the lone goal scorer.

iii. Great Britain, unbeaten in the preliminary round, came into the final with a psychological advantage over India having beaten them 2-0 in their round-robin clash.

iv. Malaysia had won the inaugural title with Germany winning in 2012 and India last year. And the young Indians duely achieved their goal with a late winner from Harmanpreet.

12. ICC rankings: Kohli claims 2nd spot,

i. Indian batsman Virat Kohli claimed number two slot in the ICC rankings while swing bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar broke into top-10 for the first time in his career.

ii. Kohli scored 191 runs, including 127 in the final match, in India’s 2-1 series win as he pushed South Africa’s Hashim Amla to number three in the list, topped by Amla’s compatriot AB de Villiers.

iii. Indian skipper MS Dhoni was the next best India at number six (unchanged) while Shikhar Dhawan lost a place to be eighth. Left-handed Suresh Raina gained three places to move to 15th.

iv. Bhuvneshwar took only two wickets in the series but he jumped seven places to number seven, just behind Ravindra Jadeja, who slipped to sixth from fifth.

13. Batra elected unopposed as HI president, Ahmed is gen-secy

i. Narinder Batra was elected unopposed as the president of the Hockey India while Mohammed Mushtaq Ahmad and Rajinder Singh were elected as new general secretary and treasurer respectively at the 4th Hockey India Congress, in New Delhi on Monday.

ii. Batra completed his four-year term as the secretary-general and with no opposition in the HI ranks did not face any problems during his elevation to the top post.

iii. Talking about his new role, Batra said,"Also, being appointed as an unopposed President, I feel overwhelmed with the trust and faith that the members have showed in me. I shall strive to live up to the new role that I am stepping into and hoping to justice to it."

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NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS 2014

About Nobel Prize -

Nobel Prize, any of the prizes (five in number until 1969, when a sixth was added) that are awarded annually from a fund bequeathed for that purpose by the Swedish inventor and industrialist Alfred Bernhard Nobel. The Nobel Prizes are widely regarded as the most prestigious awards given for intellectual achievement in the world. 

For Medicine and Physiology: 

John O’Keefe, May-Britt Monser and Edvard I. Monser

Prize Share - 1/3

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2014 was divided, one half awarded to John O’Keefe, the other half jointly to May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Monser “for the discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain.”

For Physics: 

Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano, Shuji Nakamura

Prize Share - 1/3

They were jointly awarded the prize for the invention of "efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources.”

For Chemistry: 

Eric Betzig, Stefan W. Hell, William E. Moerner

Prize Share - 1/3

The Nobel Prize was awarded to them “for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy”

For Literature:

Patrick Modiano

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2014 was awarede to Patrick Modiano “for the art of memory with which he has evoked the most ungraspable human destinies and uncovered the life-world of the occupation”

For Peace:

Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai

The Nobel Peace Prize 2014 was awarded jointly to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai “for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education”

For Economics: 

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2014 was awarded to Jean Tirole "for his analysis of market power and regulation

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