Current Affairs : 31st October 2013 1. Nation pays tribute to the veteran freedom fighter and first Home Minister of Independent India, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel on his 137th birth anniversary. Born on 31st October, 1875 in Gujarat, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel is also known as the Iron Man Of India. Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel was awarded Bharat Ratna in the year 1999. He expired on 15th december, 1950 at the age of 76. His ideology continues to guide the nation. 2. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today laid foundation stone of Statute of Unity, a 182-metre tall statue of iron man Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on his 138th birth anniversary. The statue will be raised on a small rocky island in the middle of the Narmada riverbed facing Sardar Sarovar Dam at Kevadia. The Statue Of Unity will be double the height of the Statue of Liberty in the USA. 3. The world’s first Bitcoin ATM machine which can exchange digital currency - Bitcoins -for any official currency has launched in Vancouver, Canada on 29 October 2013. The ATM machine, named Robocoin, installed at Waves Coffee Shop at Howe and Smithe, allows users to buy or sell the digital currency known as bitcoins. The ATM in Vancouver is operated by Las Vegas-basedRobocoin and Vancouver-based Bitcoiniacs. 4. Srishti Rana of India on 30 October 2013 was crowned Miss Asia Pacific World 2013 in Busan, South Korea. Srishti Rana, 21, is the second Indian in a row to win the oldest Miss Asia Pacific World 2013. Earlier, Zeenat Aman (1970), Tara Anne Fonseca (1973), Dia Mirza(2000) and Himangini Singh Yadu(2012) won Miss Asia Pacific World titles. Srishti Rana is born in Haryana. 5. S. Masood Ahmed, chief scientist at the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), here has won the K.K. Menon Award for 2013. The award instituted by the Geological Society of India recognised his contributions in sedimentary geology. Earlier, Ahmed also won the National Geoscience Award for the year 2009. He is Indian leader of the International Geoscience Programme on ‘Evolution of Asian River Systems’. He has published more than 50 research papers in international and national journals. 6. Utpal Bhadra, senior scientist and group leader, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), has been selected for the Radhakrishnan Gold Medal for the year 2013 by the Global Economic Progress & Research Association (GEPRA), a Chennai-based research organisation engaged in academic research in economics and finance. 7. Bharat Joshi is the new British Deputy High Commissioner to be based in Chennai, replacing Mike Nithavrianakis. Born in Croydon in the UK in 1969, Joshi joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1995 and has had diplomatic postings to Gambia, Dhaka, Qatar and Cameroon, it said. 8. Subhas Goswami, director of the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy appointed as the Director General (DG) of Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) on 30 October 2013. He will succeed Ajay Chadha, IPS. Subhas Goswami is an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre. He was decorated with the Indian Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 2001 and the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Services in 2007. 9. Pankaj Razdan was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the Birla Sun Life Insurance (BSLI), life insurance arm of Aditya Birla Group on 30 October 2013. He has 20 years of financial services industry experience across various functions and multiple lines of business. He acted as the managing director of ICICI Prudential. He joined in Aditya Birla Financial Services Group in 2007. 10. The Supreme Court today directed the Centre and State governments to pass an order within three months, on giving fixed tenure to civil servants. A bench headed by Justice K S Radhakrishnan said that fixed tenure of bureaucrats will promote professionalism, efficiency and good governance. 11. India has given Bhutan one hundred crore rupees as assistance for the new government ’s stimulus plan. India’s Ambassador to Bhutan V. P Haran handed over the cheque to Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay in Thimhpu. 12. Bharti Airtel has signed a managed Value Added Services (VAS) agreement with Mahindra Comviva for its Bangladesh operations. Under the three-year deal, Mahindra Comviva will manage Bharti Airtel’s service delivery platform inclusive of Mahindra Comviva’s deployed products like Messaging Service Delivery Platform (MSDP), Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), Bulk Messaging Gateway (BMG) and dBILL VAS Charging solution. 13. India and Cuba on 30 October 2013 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in broadcasting between Prasar Bharati and Cuban Radio and Television Institute (ICRT). The MoU was signed by Indias ambassador to Cuba Chinthapalli Rajasekhar and vice-president of the ICRT Emillio Moises Garcia Borroto. Under the agreement both countries will explore co-production opportunites on matters of mutual interest. The MoU was signed during the official visit of India’s vice President Hamid Ansari to Cuba. 14. British Prime Minister David Cameron will come on his third visit to India in last two years on November 14 and will hold talks with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh on key bilateral and regional issues. This will be third visit by Cameron, who visited India in 2010 immediately after assuming charge as UKs Prime Minister.The second visit was in February this year. 15. Bhubaneswar and Imphal airports were Declared as International Airports. The Union Cabinet of India on 30 October 2013 gave its approval for declaring the Bhubaneswar and Imphal airports as international airports to fulfill the long pending demand of people as well as the State Governments of Odisha and Manipur. Declaration of these airports as international airports will offer improved connectivity, wider choice of services at competitive cost to the air travelers resulting in boosting international tourism and economic development of the region and the country. 16. Russian President Vladimir Putin was ranked as the worlds most powerful leader by Forbes after Russia managed to put US threat of an attack on Syria at bay. Russia also gave asylum to former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who spilled the bins on US intelligence for the first time. 17. Congress president Sonia Gandhi has been listed the third most powerful woman as Russian President Vladimir Putin beat President Barack Obama to the top spot on Forbes list of The Worlds Most Powerful People. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, 81, takes the 28th spot with two other Indians, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, 56, ranked 38th, and ArcelorMittal chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal, 63, in the 51st position. 18. Saina Nehwal slips to 7th spot in BWF ranking. The second-round exit from French Open Super Series proved costly for Saina Nehwal as the Indian badminton ace continued her downward slide, slipping one more spot to be placed at world number seven in the latest BWF ranking released today. Among others, P.V Sindhu has improved one place to be back at her 10th spot with 52352 ranking points, while men’s singles player Parupalli Kashyap lost one place to slip to world number 12. thegatecoach
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 01:59:20 +0000
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