1. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) welcomed the United Nations resolution on Sports as a means to promote education, health, development and peace.
The recognition comes in a resolution adopted by consensus at the 69th regular session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on 16 October 2014.
2. The Law Commission headed by Justice (retd) A P Shah recommended repeal of 73 more obsolete statutes. With this, the total number of such laws increased to 258.
Law commission submitted its third interim report to the Union Law Ministry. The panel recommended repeal of 258 laws which are clogging the statute books as they have lost their relevance.
The recognition comes in a resolution adopted by consensus at the 69th regular session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on 16 October 2014.
2. The Law Commission headed by Justice (retd) A P Shah recommended repeal of 73 more obsolete statutes. With this, the total number of such laws increased to 258.
Law commission submitted its third interim report to the Union Law Ministry. The panel recommended repeal of 258 laws which are clogging the statute books as they have lost their relevance.
3. Mallikarjun Kharge, a leader of Congress in Lok Sabha was inducted into the three-member CIC selection committee. The committee will select the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC).
The other two members of the committee are Prime Minister Narendra Modi (as head) and Union Finance and Defence Minister Arun Jaitely.
Kharge was inducted in the selection committee by virtue of being the leader of the single largest party in the opposition in Lok Sabha as there as there was a lack of clarity on the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha.
4. Mauritius agreed to support Indian government’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) in its probe to unearth black money.
The message was conveyed to the Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj by Mauritius Foreign Minister Arvin Boolell during a meeting at Port Louis.
Besides, Swaraj said that India is also working on the inclusion of Mauritius in the group of countries to be listed in its Visa on Arrival scheme. New Delhi has already granted lifetime visa-free access to India to all PIO card-holders.
5. Mithra Shakthi exercise: The special forces of Indian and Sri Lankan armies began a three-week long mock war drill at the Uva-Kudaoya Commando Regiment Training School near Colombo in the island nation. The exercise will continue till 23 November 2014.
This exercise is a part of counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency in the island nation.
6. Hasmukh Adhia was appointed as the Union Financial Services Secretary (FSS) . He is the 1981-batch IAS officer of Gujarat-cadre.
7. Global rating agency Standard & Poor lowered credit rating of state-owned Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) to speculative grade.
S&P revised its assessment of the bank's risk position to weak from moderate. Accordingly, it lowered the rating of IOB to BB from BB+ on weak asset quality. The rating will remain weak over the next 12 months.
The rating continues to reflect IOB's adequate business position, moderate capital and earnings, above average funding, and strong liquidity.
8. Bill Gates announced the donation of 500 million US dollars to fight malaria and other infectious diseases in the developing world. It was announced on 3 November 2014 at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in the US.
9. Google India announced launch of Indian Language Internet Alliance (ILIA) in partnership with various content providers. The alliance was launched to make available local language content on the internet.
The main objective of the ILIA is to bring 300 million Indians online by 2017 and to promote the growth of Indic language content online.
10. The Justice Mukul Mudgal Committee submitted its final report on IPL Spot fixing to the Supreme Court (SC).
The report was submitted in a sealed envelope to the two-judge SC bench of Justice TS Thakur and Ibrahim Kalifulla who are hearing the case of IPL spot fixing. The bench will take cognizance of the report on 10 November 2014.
11. Union Cabinet approved dissolution of Delhi legislative assembly. The approval will pave the way for holding of fresh Election in Delhi.
The decision to conduct fresh elections was made after Lieutenant Governor (LG) Najeeb Jung in its report to the Union government asked to dissolve the Delhi Assembly.
12. World Trade Center of the United States re-opened its new tower for business. The tower was reopened for business thirteen years after the original twin towers were destroyed in the 9/11 terrorist attack.
13. A 1982 batch IPS officer Ashok Kumar was appointed as the Director-General of Police (DGP) of Tamil Nadu. He succeeded K. Ramanujam who was heading the Tamil Nadu police since May 2011.
Presently, Ashok Kumar holds the charge of Director General of Police (DGP) intelligence.
14. Former Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh was chosen for Japan’s top national award The Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers 2014.
He will be awarded for his contribution to the enhancement of relations and promotion of friendship between Japan and India for about 35 years. Manmohan Singh became the first Indian to receive this rare honour.
He is among other 57 foreign recipients who are also named for the Order of the Paulownia Flowers 2014.
15. Indian Navy announced to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of the coronation of ancient Tamil King Rajendra Chola with a series of activities.
Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah would flag off the ship from the Chennai Port Trust premises to Nagapattinam. It will symbolize the achievements of the Chola Navy. Nagapattinam is believed to be one of the naval bases of Rajendra Chola’s navy.
Indian Navy will join hands with the National Maritime Foundation and the Tamil Nadu government for the celebration
16. Hockey India President Narinder Batra became a member of International Hockey Federation (FIH) Executive Board.
The decision was taken during the 2014 Ordinary Congress of FIH. The event was held in Marrakesh, Morocco.
17. United Nations (UN) chief Ban Ki-moon launched a global campaign in Kenya to end the deadly practice of female genital mutilation.
More than 125 million girls and women have been cut in 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East. If current trends continue, 86 million young girls are likely to undergo same form of the practice by 2030.
18. Germany’s historic wrought-iron gate bearing the Nazis’ cynical slogan Arbeit macht frei (Work Sets You Free) was stolen from the former concentration camp at Dachau on 2 November 2014.
The wrought-iron gate measured 190 by 95 centimeters and was set into a larger iron gate.
19. Veteran Bollywood actor Sadashiv Amrapurkar died in Mumbai following lung infection. He was 64.
20. English clarinet player Acker Bilk died on 2 November 2014 in Bath, southwestern England following a brief illness. He was 85.
21. Central Zone won the 2014-15 Duleep Trophy title of cricket by defeating South Zone in the finals played at Feroz Shah Kotla Ground, Delhi with 9 runs. This was the first Duleep title for Central zone in ten seasons and the narrowest win in the tournament’s history, in terms of runs.
22. Fourth International Counter-Piracy Conference was held in Dubai from 29 – 30 October 2014. The theme of the Conference was Securing State Recovery: Sustaining Momentum at Sea, Confronting Instability Land. It sought to address the challenges, and current concerns regarding maritime piracy.
23. The Union Government announced series of measures to help rejuvenate the shipping industry in Goa and development of the Mormugao port.
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari also outlined the priorities of transport after visiting the areas of proposed expansion plan for Mormugao Port.
24. Rajiv Mehrishi took charge as Union Finance Secretary under the Union Ministry of Finance. He was appointed as Secretary of Economic Affairs of Finance.
25. All India Radio News Services Division launched free SMS service in four more languages to provide news updates to people. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar launched the service at a function in New Delhi.
The four new added languages are Gujarati, Tamil, Malayalam and Assamese. With this, the AIR's free SMS news service is now available in 10 languages.
Earlier, the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had launched Free AIR News on SMS service in Hindi, Marathi, Sanskrit, Dogri and Nepali languages in September 2014.
26. Union Cabinet approved the proposal to amend Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy in construction and real estate sectors. The proposals came in the backdrop of depleting FDI inflows in construction and real sector in last few years.
Proposals
• The proposal is the minimum capital requirement is brought down from 10 million US dollar to 5 million US dollar.
• In case of development of serviced plots, the condition of minimum land of 10 hectares has been completely removed.
• In case of development of trunk infrastructure, though the lock in period has not reduced from 3-year lock-in period but permitted foreign investors to investors to exit on project completion or 3 years from the date of final investment.
27. President of Burkina Faso Blaise Compaore announced to resign following violent protests over his attempt to extend his 27-year rule.
As a result, Army Chief of Burkina Faso General Honore Nabere Traore took over as the head of state of Burkina Faso. He announced that he will lead the country through a political transition and elections.
28. Lokesh Chandra was appointed as chairman of India Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). He was appointed by the President Pranab Mukherjee for a term of three years.
Chandra replaced Congress leader Karan Singh who resigned from office on 18 August 2014. Before this appointment, he was the Honorary Director of the International Academy of Indian Culture, a premier research institution for Asian cultures.
29. Warren M Anderson, the former Chairman of Union Carbide Corporation who was blamed for the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy died. He was 92.
The decision was taken during the 2014 Ordinary Congress of FIH. The event was held in Marrakesh, Morocco.
17. United Nations (UN) chief Ban Ki-moon launched a global campaign in Kenya to end the deadly practice of female genital mutilation.
More than 125 million girls and women have been cut in 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East. If current trends continue, 86 million young girls are likely to undergo same form of the practice by 2030.
18. Germany’s historic wrought-iron gate bearing the Nazis’ cynical slogan Arbeit macht frei (Work Sets You Free) was stolen from the former concentration camp at Dachau on 2 November 2014.
The wrought-iron gate measured 190 by 95 centimeters and was set into a larger iron gate.
19. Veteran Bollywood actor Sadashiv Amrapurkar died in Mumbai following lung infection. He was 64.
20. English clarinet player Acker Bilk died on 2 November 2014 in Bath, southwestern England following a brief illness. He was 85.
21. Central Zone won the 2014-15 Duleep Trophy title of cricket by defeating South Zone in the finals played at Feroz Shah Kotla Ground, Delhi with 9 runs. This was the first Duleep title for Central zone in ten seasons and the narrowest win in the tournament’s history, in terms of runs.
22. Fourth International Counter-Piracy Conference was held in Dubai from 29 – 30 October 2014. The theme of the Conference was Securing State Recovery: Sustaining Momentum at Sea, Confronting Instability Land. It sought to address the challenges, and current concerns regarding maritime piracy.
23. The Union Government announced series of measures to help rejuvenate the shipping industry in Goa and development of the Mormugao port.
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari also outlined the priorities of transport after visiting the areas of proposed expansion plan for Mormugao Port.
24. Rajiv Mehrishi took charge as Union Finance Secretary under the Union Ministry of Finance. He was appointed as Secretary of Economic Affairs of Finance.
25. All India Radio News Services Division launched free SMS service in four more languages to provide news updates to people. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar launched the service at a function in New Delhi.
The four new added languages are Gujarati, Tamil, Malayalam and Assamese. With this, the AIR's free SMS news service is now available in 10 languages.
Earlier, the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had launched Free AIR News on SMS service in Hindi, Marathi, Sanskrit, Dogri and Nepali languages in September 2014.
26. Union Cabinet approved the proposal to amend Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy in construction and real estate sectors. The proposals came in the backdrop of depleting FDI inflows in construction and real sector in last few years.
Proposals
• The proposal is the minimum capital requirement is brought down from 10 million US dollar to 5 million US dollar.
• In case of development of serviced plots, the condition of minimum land of 10 hectares has been completely removed.
• In case of development of trunk infrastructure, though the lock in period has not reduced from 3-year lock-in period but permitted foreign investors to investors to exit on project completion or 3 years from the date of final investment.
27. President of Burkina Faso Blaise Compaore announced to resign following violent protests over his attempt to extend his 27-year rule.
As a result, Army Chief of Burkina Faso General Honore Nabere Traore took over as the head of state of Burkina Faso. He announced that he will lead the country through a political transition and elections.
28. Lokesh Chandra was appointed as chairman of India Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). He was appointed by the President Pranab Mukherjee for a term of three years.
Chandra replaced Congress leader Karan Singh who resigned from office on 18 August 2014. Before this appointment, he was the Honorary Director of the International Academy of Indian Culture, a premier research institution for Asian cultures.
29. Warren M Anderson, the former Chairman of Union Carbide Corporation who was blamed for the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy died. He was 92.
30. The General Assembly of Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA) on 29 October 2014 elected Election Commission of India (ECI) as Chair of the organisation for the next two years. ECI will host the 2014 General Assembly Meeting of AAEA in New Delhi.
ECI was represented by V.S. Sampath, Chief Election Commissioner of India and Election Commissioners H.S. Brahma and Dr. Nasim Zaidi.
31. SunEdison Inc. signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Rajasthan Government to establish 5000 MW capacity of solar power in Rajasthan in next five years.
The MoU comes at an opportune time following the Rajasthan's Government new Solar Policy which aspires to create 25 GW of solar capacity in the state in the next few years.
32. Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs launched Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana (VKY) for welfare of Tribal people and particularly to lift human development indices of tribal people. The scheme was launched during the meeting of the Tribal Welfare Ministers of States/UTs.
Highlights of the Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana (VKY)
• Under the scheme, Union Government will provide 10 crore rupees for each block for the development of various facilities for the Tribal people. These blocks have been selected on the recommendations of the concerned States and have very low literacy rate.
• The scheme mainly focuses on bridging infrastructural gaps and gap in human development indices between Schedule tribes and other social groups.
• VKY also envisages to focus on convergence of different schemes of development of Central Ministries/Departments and State Governments with outcome oriented approach.
• Initially the blocks having at least 33 percent of tribal population in comparison to total population of the block will be targeted under the scheme.
33. Malala Yousafzai won the 2014 World’s Children Prize after a global vote involving millions of children. She received the prize at a ceremony in Mariestad near Stockholm.
Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate in history was nominated for the 2014 World’s Children’s Prize for her courageous and dangerous fight for girls’ right to education. She received 50000 US dollar as award.
34. Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Galway Kinnell died in Vermont after battling leukaemia. He was 87.
35. Sweden became the first European Union (EU) country to officially recognise the State of Palestine.
Israel protested against the Sweden decision and the Israeli Foreign Ministry summoned the Swedish ambassador shortly after the announcement. 130 other nations that already recognise the Palestinian State include Hungary, Slovakia and Poland although these three countries took this step before joining the EU.
36. Union Government announced compensation of 5 lakh rupees for kin of victims who were killed during the anti-Sikh riots in 1984.
This compensation to families of the victims of the riots will be other than ex-gratia payment delivered to them earlier by government or any agencies. This decision of government will cost 166 crore rupees to the government.
As per records, nearly 3325 people were killed in the communal riots that were triggered by the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984 by her body guards, Beant Singh and Satwant Singh.
37. The Statue of Unity - the world’s tallest monument in respect of iron man of India will be set up on an island Sadhubet at Sardar Sarovar Dam near Kevadia Colony in Bharuch district of the state of Gujarat.
38 . An international team of scientists in the month of October 2014 claimed to have set the world record for creating coldest cubic meter in the Universe.
Scientists are working on the cryostat that's part of the Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events experiment (CUORE) cooled an 880-pound block of copper to a temperature of six milliKelvins.
Dr. Karsten Heeger, director of Yale's Arthur W. Wright Laboratory, has been involved in the CUORE collaboration, which conducts the cryogenics research.
39. Pankaj Advani won IBSF World Billiards Championship (Point Format) in Bangalore. He won by defeating Robert Hall of the UK with a score of 1928 – 893 in the finals. This is his 12th title in the Timed Format and third Grand double.
40.Rashtriya Ekta Diwas was observed on 31 October 2014 to commemorate the 139th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
The decision to observe 31 October as Rashtriya Ekta Diwas or National Integration Day was taken by the Union Government to reiterate India’s strength and buoyancy against adversaries.
The day was inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi who paid floral tributes at the statue of Sardar Patel and also flagged off the Run For Unity in New Delhi.
41. D Jagatheesa Pandian was appointed as the new chief secretary of Gujarat on 30 October 2014. Pandiyan who was the Additional Chief Secretary in industry and mines department will succeed outgoing Dr Varesh Sinha. Pandian retires in May 2015.
207. Deeper integration for peace and prosperity was chosen as the theme for the upcoming 18th SAARC Summit to be held in Kathmandu on 30 October 2014. The Summit is scheduled to be held on 26-27 November 2014 in Nepal.
> Also read GK update 22 to 29 October
Source- 1. http://www.jagranjosh.com/
2. http://www.thehindu.com/
1. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) welcomed the United Nations resolution on Sports as a means to promote education, health, development and peace.
The recognition comes in a resolution adopted by consensus at the 69th regular session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on 16 October 2014.
2. The Law Commission headed by Justice (retd) A P Shah recommended repeal of 73 more obsolete statutes. With this, the total number of such laws increased to 258.
Law commission submitted its third interim report to the Union Law Ministry. The panel recommended repeal of 258 laws which are clogging the statute books as they have lost their relevance.
The recognition comes in a resolution adopted by consensus at the 69th regular session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on 16 October 2014.
2. The Law Commission headed by Justice (retd) A P Shah recommended repeal of 73 more obsolete statutes. With this, the total number of such laws increased to 258.
Law commission submitted its third interim report to the Union Law Ministry. The panel recommended repeal of 258 laws which are clogging the statute books as they have lost their relevance.
3. Mallikarjun Kharge, a leader of Congress in Lok Sabha was inducted into the three-member CIC selection committee. The committee will select the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC).
The other two members of the committee are Prime Minister Narendra Modi (as head) and Union Finance and Defence Minister Arun Jaitely.
Kharge was inducted in the selection committee by virtue of being the leader of the single largest party in the opposition in Lok Sabha as there as there was a lack of clarity on the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha.
4. Mauritius agreed to support Indian government’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) in its probe to unearth black money.
The message was conveyed to the Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj by Mauritius Foreign Minister Arvin Boolell during a meeting at Port Louis.
Besides, Swaraj said that India is also working on the inclusion of Mauritius in the group of countries to be listed in its Visa on Arrival scheme. New Delhi has already granted lifetime visa-free access to India to all PIO card-holders.
5. Mithra Shakthi exercise: The special forces of Indian and Sri Lankan armies began a three-week long mock war drill at the Uva-Kudaoya Commando Regiment Training School near Colombo in the island nation. The exercise will continue till 23 November 2014.
This exercise is a part of counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency in the island nation.
6. Hasmukh Adhia was appointed as the Union Financial Services Secretary (FSS) . He is the 1981-batch IAS officer of Gujarat-cadre.
7. Global rating agency Standard & Poor lowered credit rating of state-owned Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) to speculative grade.
S&P revised its assessment of the bank's risk position to weak from moderate. Accordingly, it lowered the rating of IOB to BB from BB+ on weak asset quality. The rating will remain weak over the next 12 months.
The rating continues to reflect IOB's adequate business position, moderate capital and earnings, above average funding, and strong liquidity.
8. Bill Gates announced the donation of 500 million US dollars to fight malaria and other infectious diseases in the developing world. It was announced on 3 November 2014 at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in the US.
9. Google India announced launch of Indian Language Internet Alliance (ILIA) in partnership with various content providers. The alliance was launched to make available local language content on the internet.
The main objective of the ILIA is to bring 300 million Indians online by 2017 and to promote the growth of Indic language content online.
10. The Justice Mukul Mudgal Committee submitted its final report on IPL Spot fixing to the Supreme Court (SC).
The report was submitted in a sealed envelope to the two-judge SC bench of Justice TS Thakur and Ibrahim Kalifulla who are hearing the case of IPL spot fixing. The bench will take cognizance of the report on 10 November 2014.
11. Union Cabinet approved dissolution of Delhi legislative assembly. The approval will pave the way for holding of fresh Election in Delhi.
The decision to conduct fresh elections was made after Lieutenant Governor (LG) Najeeb Jung in its report to the Union government asked to dissolve the Delhi Assembly.
12. World Trade Center of the United States re-opened its new tower for business. The tower was reopened for business thirteen years after the original twin towers were destroyed in the 9/11 terrorist attack.
13. A 1982 batch IPS officer Ashok Kumar was appointed as the Director-General of Police (DGP) of Tamil Nadu. He succeeded K. Ramanujam who was heading the Tamil Nadu police since May 2011.
Presently, Ashok Kumar holds the charge of Director General of Police (DGP) intelligence.
14. Former Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh was chosen for Japan’s top national award The Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers 2014.
He will be awarded for his contribution to the enhancement of relations and promotion of friendship between Japan and India for about 35 years. Manmohan Singh became the first Indian to receive this rare honour.
He is among other 57 foreign recipients who are also named for the Order of the Paulownia Flowers 2014.
15. Indian Navy announced to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of the coronation of ancient Tamil King Rajendra Chola with a series of activities.
Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah would flag off the ship from the Chennai Port Trust premises to Nagapattinam. It will symbolize the achievements of the Chola Navy. Nagapattinam is believed to be one of the naval bases of Rajendra Chola’s navy.
Indian Navy will join hands with the National Maritime Foundation and the Tamil Nadu government for the celebration
16. Hockey India President Narinder Batra became a member of International Hockey Federation (FIH) Executive Board.
The decision was taken during the 2014 Ordinary Congress of FIH. The event was held in Marrakesh, Morocco.
17. United Nations (UN) chief Ban Ki-moon launched a global campaign in Kenya to end the deadly practice of female genital mutilation.
More than 125 million girls and women have been cut in 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East. If current trends continue, 86 million young girls are likely to undergo same form of the practice by 2030.
18. Germany’s historic wrought-iron gate bearing the Nazis’ cynical slogan Arbeit macht frei (Work Sets You Free) was stolen from the former concentration camp at Dachau on 2 November 2014.
The wrought-iron gate measured 190 by 95 centimeters and was set into a larger iron gate.
19. Veteran Bollywood actor Sadashiv Amrapurkar died in Mumbai following lung infection. He was 64.
20. English clarinet player Acker Bilk died on 2 November 2014 in Bath, southwestern England following a brief illness. He was 85.
21. Central Zone won the 2014-15 Duleep Trophy title of cricket by defeating South Zone in the finals played at Feroz Shah Kotla Ground, Delhi with 9 runs. This was the first Duleep title for Central zone in ten seasons and the narrowest win in the tournament’s history, in terms of runs.
22. Fourth International Counter-Piracy Conference was held in Dubai from 29 – 30 October 2014. The theme of the Conference was Securing State Recovery: Sustaining Momentum at Sea, Confronting Instability Land. It sought to address the challenges, and current concerns regarding maritime piracy.
23. The Union Government announced series of measures to help rejuvenate the shipping industry in Goa and development of the Mormugao port.
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari also outlined the priorities of transport after visiting the areas of proposed expansion plan for Mormugao Port.
24. Rajiv Mehrishi took charge as Union Finance Secretary under the Union Ministry of Finance. He was appointed as Secretary of Economic Affairs of Finance.
25. All India Radio News Services Division launched free SMS service in four more languages to provide news updates to people. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar launched the service at a function in New Delhi.
The four new added languages are Gujarati, Tamil, Malayalam and Assamese. With this, the AIR's free SMS news service is now available in 10 languages.
Earlier, the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had launched Free AIR News on SMS service in Hindi, Marathi, Sanskrit, Dogri and Nepali languages in September 2014.
26. Union Cabinet approved the proposal to amend Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy in construction and real estate sectors. The proposals came in the backdrop of depleting FDI inflows in construction and real sector in last few years.
Proposals
• The proposal is the minimum capital requirement is brought down from 10 million US dollar to 5 million US dollar.
• In case of development of serviced plots, the condition of minimum land of 10 hectares has been completely removed.
• In case of development of trunk infrastructure, though the lock in period has not reduced from 3-year lock-in period but permitted foreign investors to investors to exit on project completion or 3 years from the date of final investment.
27. President of Burkina Faso Blaise Compaore announced to resign following violent protests over his attempt to extend his 27-year rule.
As a result, Army Chief of Burkina Faso General Honore Nabere Traore took over as the head of state of Burkina Faso. He announced that he will lead the country through a political transition and elections.
28. Lokesh Chandra was appointed as chairman of India Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). He was appointed by the President Pranab Mukherjee for a term of three years.
Chandra replaced Congress leader Karan Singh who resigned from office on 18 August 2014. Before this appointment, he was the Honorary Director of the International Academy of Indian Culture, a premier research institution for Asian cultures.
29. Warren M Anderson, the former Chairman of Union Carbide Corporation who was blamed for the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy died. He was 92.
The decision was taken during the 2014 Ordinary Congress of FIH. The event was held in Marrakesh, Morocco.
17. United Nations (UN) chief Ban Ki-moon launched a global campaign in Kenya to end the deadly practice of female genital mutilation.
More than 125 million girls and women have been cut in 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East. If current trends continue, 86 million young girls are likely to undergo same form of the practice by 2030.
18. Germany’s historic wrought-iron gate bearing the Nazis’ cynical slogan Arbeit macht frei (Work Sets You Free) was stolen from the former concentration camp at Dachau on 2 November 2014.
The wrought-iron gate measured 190 by 95 centimeters and was set into a larger iron gate.
19. Veteran Bollywood actor Sadashiv Amrapurkar died in Mumbai following lung infection. He was 64.
20. English clarinet player Acker Bilk died on 2 November 2014 in Bath, southwestern England following a brief illness. He was 85.
21. Central Zone won the 2014-15 Duleep Trophy title of cricket by defeating South Zone in the finals played at Feroz Shah Kotla Ground, Delhi with 9 runs. This was the first Duleep title for Central zone in ten seasons and the narrowest win in the tournament’s history, in terms of runs.
22. Fourth International Counter-Piracy Conference was held in Dubai from 29 – 30 October 2014. The theme of the Conference was Securing State Recovery: Sustaining Momentum at Sea, Confronting Instability Land. It sought to address the challenges, and current concerns regarding maritime piracy.
23. The Union Government announced series of measures to help rejuvenate the shipping industry in Goa and development of the Mormugao port.
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari also outlined the priorities of transport after visiting the areas of proposed expansion plan for Mormugao Port.
24. Rajiv Mehrishi took charge as Union Finance Secretary under the Union Ministry of Finance. He was appointed as Secretary of Economic Affairs of Finance.
25. All India Radio News Services Division launched free SMS service in four more languages to provide news updates to people. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar launched the service at a function in New Delhi.
The four new added languages are Gujarati, Tamil, Malayalam and Assamese. With this, the AIR's free SMS news service is now available in 10 languages.
Earlier, the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had launched Free AIR News on SMS service in Hindi, Marathi, Sanskrit, Dogri and Nepali languages in September 2014.
26. Union Cabinet approved the proposal to amend Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy in construction and real estate sectors. The proposals came in the backdrop of depleting FDI inflows in construction and real sector in last few years.
Proposals
• The proposal is the minimum capital requirement is brought down from 10 million US dollar to 5 million US dollar.
• In case of development of serviced plots, the condition of minimum land of 10 hectares has been completely removed.
• In case of development of trunk infrastructure, though the lock in period has not reduced from 3-year lock-in period but permitted foreign investors to investors to exit on project completion or 3 years from the date of final investment.
27. President of Burkina Faso Blaise Compaore announced to resign following violent protests over his attempt to extend his 27-year rule.
As a result, Army Chief of Burkina Faso General Honore Nabere Traore took over as the head of state of Burkina Faso. He announced that he will lead the country through a political transition and elections.
28. Lokesh Chandra was appointed as chairman of India Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). He was appointed by the President Pranab Mukherjee for a term of three years.
Chandra replaced Congress leader Karan Singh who resigned from office on 18 August 2014. Before this appointment, he was the Honorary Director of the International Academy of Indian Culture, a premier research institution for Asian cultures.
29. Warren M Anderson, the former Chairman of Union Carbide Corporation who was blamed for the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy died. He was 92.
30. The General Assembly of Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA) on 29 October 2014 elected Election Commission of India (ECI) as Chair of the organisation for the next two years. ECI will host the 2014 General Assembly Meeting of AAEA in New Delhi.
ECI was represented by V.S. Sampath, Chief Election Commissioner of India and Election Commissioners H.S. Brahma and Dr. Nasim Zaidi.
31. SunEdison Inc. signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Rajasthan Government to establish 5000 MW capacity of solar power in Rajasthan in next five years.
The MoU comes at an opportune time following the Rajasthan's Government new Solar Policy which aspires to create 25 GW of solar capacity in the state in the next few years.
32. Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs launched Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana (VKY) for welfare of Tribal people and particularly to lift human development indices of tribal people. The scheme was launched during the meeting of the Tribal Welfare Ministers of States/UTs.
Highlights of the Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana (VKY)
• Under the scheme, Union Government will provide 10 crore rupees for each block for the development of various facilities for the Tribal people. These blocks have been selected on the recommendations of the concerned States and have very low literacy rate.
• The scheme mainly focuses on bridging infrastructural gaps and gap in human development indices between Schedule tribes and other social groups.
• VKY also envisages to focus on convergence of different schemes of development of Central Ministries/Departments and State Governments with outcome oriented approach.
• Initially the blocks having at least 33 percent of tribal population in comparison to total population of the block will be targeted under the scheme.
33. Malala Yousafzai won the 2014 World’s Children Prize after a global vote involving millions of children. She received the prize at a ceremony in Mariestad near Stockholm.
Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate in history was nominated for the 2014 World’s Children’s Prize for her courageous and dangerous fight for girls’ right to education. She received 50000 US dollar as award.
34. Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Galway Kinnell died in Vermont after battling leukaemia. He was 87.
35. Sweden became the first European Union (EU) country to officially recognise the State of Palestine.
Israel protested against the Sweden decision and the Israeli Foreign Ministry summoned the Swedish ambassador shortly after the announcement. 130 other nations that already recognise the Palestinian State include Hungary, Slovakia and Poland although these three countries took this step before joining the EU.
36. Union Government announced compensation of 5 lakh rupees for kin of victims who were killed during the anti-Sikh riots in 1984.
This compensation to families of the victims of the riots will be other than ex-gratia payment delivered to them earlier by government or any agencies. This decision of government will cost 166 crore rupees to the government.
As per records, nearly 3325 people were killed in the communal riots that were triggered by the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984 by her body guards, Beant Singh and Satwant Singh.
37. The Statue of Unity - the world’s tallest monument in respect of iron man of India will be set up on an island Sadhubet at Sardar Sarovar Dam near Kevadia Colony in Bharuch district of the state of Gujarat.
38 . An international team of scientists in the month of October 2014 claimed to have set the world record for creating coldest cubic meter in the Universe.
Scientists are working on the cryostat that's part of the Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events experiment (CUORE) cooled an 880-pound block of copper to a temperature of six milliKelvins.
Dr. Karsten Heeger, director of Yale's Arthur W. Wright Laboratory, has been involved in the CUORE collaboration, which conducts the cryogenics research.
39. Pankaj Advani won IBSF World Billiards Championship (Point Format) in Bangalore. He won by defeating Robert Hall of the UK with a score of 1928 – 893 in the finals. This is his 12th title in the Timed Format and third Grand double.
40.Rashtriya Ekta Diwas was observed on 31 October 2014 to commemorate the 139th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
The decision to observe 31 October as Rashtriya Ekta Diwas or National Integration Day was taken by the Union Government to reiterate India’s strength and buoyancy against adversaries.
The day was inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi who paid floral tributes at the statue of Sardar Patel and also flagged off the Run For Unity in New Delhi.
41. D Jagatheesa Pandian was appointed as the new chief secretary of Gujarat on 30 October 2014. Pandiyan who was the Additional Chief Secretary in industry and mines department will succeed outgoing Dr Varesh Sinha. Pandian retires in May 2015.
207. Deeper integration for peace and prosperity was chosen as the theme for the upcoming 18th SAARC Summit to be held in Kathmandu on 30 October 2014. The Summit is scheduled to be held on 26-27 November 2014 in Nepal.
> Also read GK update 22 to 29 October
Source- 1. http://www.jagranjosh.com/
2. http://www.thehindu.com/
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