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Current Affairs Capsule October 2014

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By AffairsCloud.com Team

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AffairsCloud.com | Current Affairs Capsule

Awards and Recognitions

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Dr. Sivathanu Pillai has been chosen for the prestigious Lal Bahadur
Shastri National Award for Excellence in Public Administration,
Academics and Management, 2014.
Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) has been conferred with Global Diversity Award
2014 for his achievements in the field of cinema and Philanthropic
works. The award was presented by the Speaker of Britain's House of
Commons, the Rt Hon John Bercow at the British's House of Commons.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to three
scientists namely Edvard Moser, John O'Keefe and May-Britt Moser.
The felicitation on three scientists was for their ground breaking
discovery on the brain's inner GPS. This would help us know where we
are located and how we navigate from one place to another. It is useful
for Alzheimer's disease patients to recognise their surroundings.
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2014 was awarded for the invention of Blue
LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes). The award was shared by three scientists
namely, Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano of Japan and U.S.
scientist Shuji Nakamura. They have been awarded for their work
on environment friendly and efficient light source.

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The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2014 has been awarded to

three researchers namely Eric Betzig, Stefan Hell and William
Moerner for improving the resolution of optical microscopy with the
help of fluorescent molecules. Thereby they created the super resolved
fluorescence microscopy. Two separate principles are rewarded
namely stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy developed
by Stefan Hell and single-molecule microscopy developed by Eric
Betzig and William Moerner.
The Nobel Prize for Literature 2014 was awarded to French
novelist Patrick Modiano. The prize money was awarded
to Modiano, "for the art of memory with which he has evoked the most
ungraspable human destinies and uncovered the life-world of the
occupation". Modiano's Missing Person won the prestigious Prix
Goncourt in 1978. In 2012, he also won the Austrian State Prize for
European Literature. He is the 111 th Literature Nobel Laureate to be
awarded.
AffairsCloud.com | Current Affairs Capsule

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Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani education campaigner and Kailash

Satyarthi, an Indian childrens rights activist have jointly won the 2014
Nobel Peace Prize.
Jean Tirole, a French economist, won the 2014 Nobel in economic
science for his work on regulating large, powerful firms in industries
including banking and communications. The prize is officially called
as Sveriges Riksbank Prize. Mr Tirole, 61, wins a prize of 8m Swedish
krona (692,000).
Anoop Jain of India won the 2014 Waislitz Global Citizen Award for his
"exemplified values of a Global Citizen" through his work in
founding Humanure Power (HP) in Bihar in 2011 that builds community
sanitation facilities in rural India.
Australian author Richard Flanagan has won the Man Booker Prize
2014 for his wartime novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North. He is
the third Australian to win this award after Peter carey and Thomas
keneally.
Inspector Shakti Devi of the Jammu and Kashmir Police has been
named recipient of the International Female Police Peacekeeper
Award 2014 by the UNs Police Division. She is currently deployed in
the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has been conferred with the Best
Central Bank Governor award for 2014 by Euromoney magazine. The
magazine said the Governor's tough monetary medicine combatted the
storm ravaging the deficit-ridden economy in the recent emerging
market crisis.
Eminent Indian scientist Sanjaya Rajaram has been awarded the World
Food Prize in recognition of his significant contributions to global wheat
production. Sanjaya Rajaram was born in Varanasi and he is a veteran
plant scientist currently in Mexico. He has been recognized for his
scientific research that led to a prodigious increase in world wheat
production (1.3 per cent rise in global wheat production per annum).
Ashwika Kapur of Kolkata won the prestigious Panda Award, as part of
the annual Wildscreen Film Festival held at Bristol, U.K. She is the first
Indian woman to win the coveted wildlife photography award for her
film on a Kakapo parrot. Ms. Kapurs film Sirocco how a dud became
a stud is based on Sirocco, a Kakapo parrot, which is perhaps the only
bird to have bagged a government job.

AffairsCloud.com | Current Affairs Capsule

 Malala Yousafzai, the Nobel Prize winner has been honored with
another prestigious award. The World's Children's Prize also known
as the "Children's Nobel Prize" is based on a global vote involving
millions of children.
Mr. Sainath won the Public Welfare Award for Exemplary News
Professionals in Developing Countries, while Al Jazeera English received
the Public Welfare Award for Exemplary News Teams in Developing
Countries. Under the Media Innovation Award, the USA Today emerged
winner for its story Behind the Bloodshed (The Untold Story of
Americas Mass Killings). The Award for New Media Reporting was won
by Global Post of the United States for its story Myanmar Emerges.

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Indian Affairs

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Yudh Abhyas a 14 day joined military exercise between India and US

was held in the Himalayan state of Jharkhand. Yudh Abhyas is a annual
military exercise started from 2004 under the US Army Pacific
Partnership Programme.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the nationwide Swachh Bharat
Abhiyan that aims to clean up the country in the next five years. He has
also nominated nine people to carry forward the campaign. The
nominees include Anil Ambani, Sachin Tendulkar, Salman Khan, Priyanka
Chopra, Sashi Tharoor and Kamal Haasan.
National Career Service Portal was launched by the Labour Ministry
under the MoU with UK. This portal will serve as the intermediary
between job-seekers and job-providers.
Government has announced Rs.20 Lakh for each village panchayat in
India to make it's "Clean India Mission" to reach nook and corner of the
country.
The government of Madhya Pradesh have organised Invest Madhya
Pradesh - Global Investor Summit 2014, at Indore, which is considered
as the business capital of Madhya Pradesh.
The first ever National Mental Health Policy was launched by the Union
Health Minister Harsha Vardhan on World Mental Health Day (October
10).

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Dr.Najma Heptulla,the Union Minister for Minority Affairs announced

that a national level skill development Academy called Maulana Azad
National Academy for Skills (MANAS) is being set up with its
headquarters in Delhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Saansad Adarsh Gram
Yojana, an ambitious village development project under which each MP
will take the responsibility of developing physical and institutional
infrastructure in three villages by 2019.

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India ranks 55th position in Global Hunger Index 2014 in a report

prepared by the International Food Policy Research Institute and NGOs
Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide. India ranks better than
Pakistan (ranked 57) and Bangladesh (57), but trails behind Nepal (44)
and Sri Lanka (39).
India's first marine police training college is coming up at Olaikuda, a sea
front hamlet in the island of Rameswaram, Tamilnadu. The GOI was
establishing the training college at an estimated cost is Rs.100 crore.

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Nirbhay which means "Fearless" is an long range nuclear capable cruise

missile indigenously developed by DRDO has been successfully test fired
at Indian Army's Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, Odisha.
Japanese two-wheeler manufacturer and World's largest motorcycle
manufacturer, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India is planning to invest
Rs.4000 crore to build a scooter manufacturing facility in Vithalapur,
Gujarat.
Arvind Subramanian, a US based economist has been appointed as the
governments's new chief economic advisor by the prime minister
Narendra Modi.
Tobacco companies in India will have to stamp health warnings across 85
per cent of the surface of cigarette packs and other products, joining
nations such as Thailand and Australia with stringent marketing rules.
Rajiv Menrishi, Rajasthan chief secretary was appointed as the new
economic affairs secretary by the Narendra Modi government to gear
up for the February 2015 budget session. He has succeeded from Arvind
Mayaram, who had twin roles both in finance and chief economic
affairs. Arvind Mayaram has been shifted to a low profile tourism
ministry.

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India's first fish hospital is set to come up in Kolkata by mid-2015. The

fish hospital is funded by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research,
under the Union Ministry of Agriculture. The total budget is Rs.5 crore.
Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India visited Siachen Glacier for a
briefing during the hindu's grand diwali festival. The siachen glacier is
considered to house the world's highest battlefield. He is the second
Indian Prime Minister to visit Siachen glacier after former Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh, who visited in 2005.
SoftBank, the Japanese internet and telecommunication group headed
by CEO Masayoshi Son has pledged an investment of $10 billion (over
Rs.60,000 crore) in Indias IT and communications space, one of the
biggest investment commitments from a Japanese firm after
Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to that country.

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Union Tribal Welfare Minister Jual Oram launched the Vanbandhu

Kalyan Yojana (VKY), aimed at improving the infrastructure and human
development indices of the tribal population.
The Commerce and Industry Ministry constituted a six-member think
tank to draft the National Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) policy. The
panel, to be chaired by retired Justice Prabha Sridevan, will identifies
areas in IPRs where study needs to be conducted and furnish
recommendations in this regard to the Ministry.
India's technology capital and also India's Silicon Valley Bangalores
name was changed to Bengaluru.
PM Narendra Modi led NDA Government has relaxed the Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI) norms in construction sector, mainly to attract foreign
investment in real estate sector.

International Affairs

Geraldine Jerrie Mock, the first woman to fly solo around the world,
has died on September 30 at the age of 88. Mock, a Newark, Ohio,
native known as the flying housewife, died in her Florida home.
Names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of the holders
of some 83 million households and small business accounts were
exposed when computer systems at JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) were
recently compromised by hackers, making it one of the biggest data
breaches in history.
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US & EU officials are meeting for a seventh round of talks for an

agreement known as Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
or TTIP. If it is fruitful, it is to be the world's biggest trade zone. The deal
is to worth around 393bn ($613bn) a year.
Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) is to be built on the summit Mauna Kea in
the Hawaii Islands. The project was originally named California
Extremely Large Telescope in 1990's but later changed name to TMT
owing to various partner merging. The TMT is housed under TMT
Observatory Corporation, which is the partnership of five
countries (Canada, USA, Japan, India & China).
China has successfully tested a new variant of its 10,000km-range
Dongfeng (Meaning: East Wind) missile, which can reportedly reach
most of the US and European cities.
The United States is partially lifting its ban on sales of weaponry to
Vietnam to help its maritime security in a sign of deepening ties
between the former enemies. The move is intended to support
Vietnam's ability to defend itself in the South China Sea, where it is
among Asian nations facing an increasingly assertive China.
Finmeccanica CEO Giuseppe Orsi and former AgustaWestland boss
Bruno Spagnolini are punished with two years jail for falsifying invoices,
but cleared them of the more serious corruption charges in
the Rs. 3,737-crore VVIP chopper deal.
Super Typhoon Vongfong hits Japan's main islands. Winds of up to 180
kilometres (112 miles) per hour whipped ashore as the typhoon made
landfall at Makurazaki on Kyushu island.
Eva Morales won the Bolivian President Election for the consecutive
third time. He was first elected in 2005. He belongs to Aymara
indigenous group and he is the first Boilivian President from the minority
group.
Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Venezuela and Spain were elected as
the new non-permanent members of the Security Council by the UN
General Assembly. The term of their membership will be two years. The
retiring members are Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, South Korea,
and Rwanda.
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India was re-elected to the UN's main human rights body for the period
of 2015-17, receiving the highest number of votes in the Asia-Pacific
group. India was competing in the Asia-Pacific group in which four seats
were up for election. A total of 9 nations vied for the four Asian seats
but India received 162 votes - the highest for an Asian region seat.
Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Qatar were the other three Asian countries
elected by the 193-member UNGA Tuesday to the 47-member UNHRC.
China along with other 21 countries including India launched the Asian
Infrastructure
Investment
Bank
(AIIB) for
funding Asian
infrastructure. Australia, Indonesia and South Korea were found to be
missing from the pool of delegates, despite last year's interest to join the
bank.
Alan Eustace, Senior Vice President of Knowledge at Google broke the
world altitude record for highest free-fall parachute jump. He jumped in
a specially designed space suit from an altitude of 135908-foot. He has
broken the world altitude record for a parachute jump set in 2012 by
Austrian Felix Baumgartner (128000 feet on October 2012).
Brazil's president Dilma Rousseff has won a second term, defeating her
opposition rival Aecio Neves with a narrow margin in an election. She
won 51.6% of the valid votes cast to secure a much reduced mandate,
having fought off a strong challenge by the pro-business Acio Neves,
who attracted 48.4%.
British forces handed over formal control of their last base in
Afghanistan to Afghan troops, ending combat operations in the country
after 13 years which cost hundreds of lives.
Zambia has named Guy Scott as its interim president following the
death of President Michael Sata. Guy Scott served as the Vice President
of Zambia from 2011-2014.

Important Appointments

The Government has named vigilance commissioner Rajiv as the acting

central vigilance commissioner (CVC) following the completion of tenure
of Pradeep Kumar. CVC was established in 1964 on the
recommendations of the K. Santhanam Committee on Prevention of
Corruption.
The Regional Director of UNICEF South Asia, Karin Hulshof, announced
Bollywood Actor Aamir Khan as the Goodwill Ambassador for South
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Asian region. He will support UNICEF's work to promote the right of

South Asian children to nutrition, with a focus on ending stunting.
RSS leader Manohar Lal Khattar has been appointed as the Chief
Minister of Haryana. He is a bachelor and first time MLA and he is well
known for his organizational skills. He represents Karnal constituency in
Haryana Legislative Assembly.
Devendra Fadnavis sworn in as chief minister of Maharashtra where BJP
formed its government for the first time without an alliance.
Rashtriya Ekta Diwas or National Unity Day was observed on the birth
anniversary of Iron man of India Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on Oct 31. The
Government of India decided to observe National Unity Day to pay
tributes to Sardar Patel who was instrumental in keeping India united.

Science and Technology

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The space agencies of India and the US have signed an agreement on

future co-operation at Mars and at Earth. The agreement was signed by
agencies' two leaders at the 65th International Astronautical Congress in
Toronto.
ISRO to Launch Delayed M3M (Maritime Monitoring and Messaging
Micro-Satellite) Satellite for Com Dev in 2015.

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ISRO successfully launched IRNSS-1C, the third satellite of the seven

satellite series of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System. India
moved nearer to a selected group of space-faring nations having such a
system.
China launched an experimental spacecraft to fly around the moon and
back to Earth in preparation for the country's first unmanned return trip
to the lunar surface. China is also developing the Long March 5 heavierlift rocket needed to launch a more permanent space station to be called
Tiangong 2.
An unmanned cargo rocket carrying supplies to the International Space
Station exploded seconds after liftoff. The Antares rocket, carrying
5,055 pounds of supplies, science experiments and equipment, lifted off
on schedule at 6:22 p.m. from NASAs Wallops Flight Facility in
eastern Virginia.

AffairsCloud.com | Current Affairs Capsule

Sports

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Indian women's kabaddi team beat Iran in the final to clinch the gold
medal. India beat Iran 31-21 at the Songdo Global University Gymnasium
to continue their dominance in the discipline at the Asiad.
Indian Mens Hockey team beat Pakistan in Asiad Cup. It was the first
win for India in the finals against Pakistan after 1966.
Britains Lewis Hamilton won the Japanese Grand Prix.
The Champions League T20 was won by Chennai Super Kings. The CSK
team defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by 8 wickets.
Golden Bat (Most runs in the tournament) - Suresh Raina (234 runs)
(CSK)
Golden Wicket (Most wickets) - Sunil Narine (12 wickets)
Man of the series - Suresh Raina (CSK)
Man of the final - Pawan Negi (CSK)
Power player of the series - Suresh Raina (16 sixes)
Fair play award - Cape Cobras
The Indian Super League, officially known as the Hero Indian Super
League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in India.
The league will be one of the top-tier football leagues in India, the other
being the I-League. It features eight franchise teams from all around
India. The league runs from October to December, with a finals series
determining the champion.
Lewis Hamilton won the inaugural Russian Formula One Grand Prix and
extended his championship lead to 17 points on Sunday in a Mercedes
one-two that clinched the team's first constructors' title.

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Narinder Batra and Mohammed Mushtaq Ahmad were elected as the

President and General Secretary of Hockey India at the 4th Hockey India
Congress. Rajinder Singh was elected as the treasurer and outgoing
President Mariamma Koshy was declared senior vice-president.
Mary Kom, the Olympic bronze medalist and the first Indian woman
boxer (-51 kg) to win a gold medal in Asian Games voted as the India's
Most valuable Player of India's Incheon Asian Games campaign.
Sania Mirza and Zimbabwe's Cara Black win the WTA doubles finals
at Singapore against the defending champions Hseih Su-Wei and Peng
Shuai 6-1 and 6-0. Black and Mirza shared $500,000 for winning the title.
AffairsCloud.com | Current Affairs Capsule

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Indian cueist Pankaj Advani outplayed former champion Peter Gilchrist in

the 150 up points format World Billiards Championship final and pocket his
11th world title, at Leeds, England.

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Good Luck with Your Exams!!!

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Suggestions are welcomed; Contact us any time at

arunsathyan.r@affairscloud.com and praveen@affairscloud.com

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