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.
