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After steering the BJD victory in Assembly elections 2014 , Naveen Patnaik took oath as Odisha Chief Minister for a record fourth consecutive term.

    Pawan Chamling was sworn in as Sikkim Chief Minister for the record 5 consecutive time.

    US search engine Google has overtaken rival technology titan Apple as the world's top brand in terms of value, global market research agency Millward Brown said.

     During ongoing Rabi Marketing Season, the Government agencies 2014 have procured more than 263 lakh tonnes wheat across the states.

     India’s expert handling of relief, rehabilitation and rebuilding in the two natural calamities that hit the country last year has earned it this year’s New Frontiers Award 2014.

    RV Verma has taken charge as a wholetime member (Finance) of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA 2014).


     Technology services firm Mindtree has appointed Manisha Girotra, the India CEO of a leading global independent investment bank, to its board of directors.


    Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was remembered on his 23rd death anniversary with several leaders paying homage at his memorial.

    State-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd is likely to buy 11-15 per cent stake in Petronet LNG Ltd's Rs 5,000 crore LNG import terminal on the east coast.

Current affairs 2 October 2012

 Supreme Court gets two new judges

President Pratibha Patil has appointed the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, Dipak Misra, and the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court, Jasti Chelameswar, as Supreme Court judges. Mr. Justice Misra, who will complete 58 years of age this month, represents Orissa. He was appointed the Chief Justice of the Patna High Court in December 2009 and transferred to the Delhi High Court as Chief Justice in May 2010. He will have tenure of about seven years, and an opportunity to become the Chief Justice of India (CJI). In that event, he will be the third judge from Orissa to adorn the highest judicial office, after Rangnath Misra and G.B. Patnaik. Justice Chelameswar, 58, representing Andhra Pradesh, will fill the place of Justice B. Sudershan Reddy, who retired in July. He was appointed the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court in May 2007 and then shifted as the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court in March 2010. He will also have tenure of about seven years in the Supreme Court.

Central Vigilance Commissioner, CBI Director against disturbing present set-up

Both Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) Pradeep Kumar and Central Bureau of Investigation Director A.P. Singh told the parliamentary committee examining the draft Lokpal Bill that any move to disturb the anti-corruption machinery in their organisations would adversely affect them. Mr. Kumar and Mr. Singh favoured making the CVC and the CBI Director ex-officio members of the proposed Lokpal, arguing that it would bring about better coordination and synergy. They are learnt to have told the panel that they were against any move to tamper with the CVC and the CBI as suggested by the Anna Hazare team. They felt such a move would weaken their anti-graft fighting machinery. Both Mr. Kumar and Mr. Singh appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice, Personnel and Public Grievances, led by Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

More MiGs, copters for Navy

The Navy is set to acquire 16 MiG-29K fighters, including four trainer aircraft, in two years, and 16 helicopters in four years, Navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Verma said. The 16 MiG-29Ks were part of a first contract — with Russia — and 29 more fighter planes would be acquired through a second contract, he said at a press conference held onboard the INS Shakti, after he commissioned the fleet tanker at the Naval Dockyard. Admiral Verma hoped the refitting work being done on the aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya, in Russia would be completed according to schedule — by 2012. The work had been halted for one-and-a-half years over price issues. On coastal security, Admiral Verma said a lot of improvement was made after the Mumbai attacks and the Navy, the Coast Guard and the State governments were in perfect coordination. The Cabinet Secretary was regularly reviewing the situation.

Lab of the Big Bang experiment leaves Pratibha Patil mesmerised

President Pratibha Patil has visited the lab of the prestigious France-based European Organisation for Nuclear Research, commonly known as CERN, where she patted Indian scientists for their contributions to cutting edge-research work. Ms. Patil, who is on a State visit to Switzerland, drove to the CERN lab that is situated just minutes away from the Swiss border. An inquisitive Ms. Patil, who was mesmerised by the lab known for its cutting-edge research work in physics, left CERN's Director General Rolf-Dieter Heuer pondering for answers on many occasions. Ms. Patil took a round of the centre and went 70 metres underground to get a first-hand look at the 27-km-long tunnel, where the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiment was conducted recently.

Magsaysay awardee's U.S. visa application rejected

The United States consulate has rejected the visa application of Magsaysay award winner Neelima Mishra, citing her poor financial condition. A shocked Ms. Mishra said the rejection was unreasonable it smacked of arrogance. Ms. Mishra said she received a letter from the consulate stating that her financial condition was not strong. According to her the visa officials felt that she would settle in the U.S. She thought their reasons were strange and smacked of arrogance. Further she told that the official were unaware about the award.

Ban Ki-moon pays rich tributes to Gandhi

Paying rich tributes to Mahatma Gandhi, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said the principle of non-violence preached by him helped topple tyrannical regimes from Tunisia to Egypt, as people in these countries proved that it is more effective to “fire off a tweet than to fire a gun.” Commemorating the International Day of Non-Violence, which is celebrated to mark Gandhi's birth anniversary on October 2, Mr. Ban said: “Gandhiji lived by the conviction that only peaceful tactics could usher in a peaceful future.” For Gandhi, “means and ends were one.” He said the dramatic events of the past year in the Middle East and North African countries showed the immense power of non-violence. “People in Tunisia, Egypt and beyond proved that it is more effective to fire off a tweet than to fire a gun. They did more than topple long-entrenched governments; they emboldened other oppressed people to think that the path of non-violence might work for them. This is not an easy path,” he said, at a special meeting attended by India's envoy to the U.N. Hardeep Singh Puri and historian Ramachandra Guha.

Dementia cases will double in two decades'

On the 20th anniversary of the United Nations declaring October 1 as the International Day of Older Persons, Bangalore hosted a plethora of events to show care, concern, gratitude and affection towards the seniors in the city. National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) culminated its World Elders' Week, which began on September 26, with the release of the Dementia India Report 2010 in Kannada. “There are 3.7 million dementia patients in the country — over 1,80,000 patients in the State. These statistics will double in the next 20 years. It will take around Rs. 10,000 crores to take care of all dementia patients in the country, and this number will triple by 2020,” said Jacob Roy, chairperson of Alzheimer's Association. He emphasised the need for a national policy on dementia and to include it in healthcare programmes. “Currently, only 10 per cent of the patients are diagnosed and treated,”

New Police Chief for Uttar Pradesh

Special Director General of Police (Law & Order) Brij Lal, an Indian Police Service officer of the 1977 batch took over as the new Director General of Police of Uttar Pradesh, an appointment which did not surprise many in the State's police circles. Many saw it coming especially after the additional charge of DGP was given to the Director General, PAC, R. K. Tiwari, following Karamveer Singh's superannuation on August 31. Mr. Tiwari retired after which Mr. Brij Lal's appointment was cleared by Chief Minister Mayawati. It was Mr. Lal as the seniormost officer in the DGP's Office who bade farewell to Mr. Tiwari.

TULF wants new land registration scheme stopped

The Tamil United Liberation front has appealed to President Mahinda Rajapaksa to intervene and stop the scheme of registering lands in the Tamil-dominated North and East.The process is flawed and would leave most Tamils landless and homeless, it has said. “No one can succeed in collecting the required details asked for in the questionnaire…issued by the Ministry of Lands and Land Development for the registration of ownership of lands under the new scheme,” said V. Anandasangaree TULF general secretary in a letter to the President. “The people very genuinely feel that this scheme is neither justifiable nor beneficial to them. They also feel that this is yet another scheme to harass them and are convinced that the Government has an agenda of its own for collecting the details asked for in the form,”

Ascott launches Somerset-branded serviced residence

With India becoming globally integrated and executives of multinational companies frequently traveling to business hubs in the country, there is a huge demand for high-end serviced apartments. The serviced apartment concept, started a decade ago in India, witnessed the establishment of many apartments initially in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore and later in Chennai and other metros and smaller cities. There is growing demand for serviced apartments, now called serviced residences, in Chennai as several multinational companies have established their operations. With some corporate already operating such residences, the latest to enter the Chennai city is the Singapore-headquartered ‘Ascott' with its Somerset-branded serviced residence.

ITC buys out Russell's stake in Wimco

ITC has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that it has acquired the entire shareholding of Russell Credit Ltd. (wholly-owned subsidiary of the company) in Wimco. Consequently, Wimco has become a direct subsidiary of the company with effect from September 29.

SpiceJet starts Hyderabad-Aurangabad service

Low-cost airliner SpiceJet has launched a new service between Hyderabad and Aurangabad with its Q-400 NextGen aircraft. The airline would operate a flight daily.

Big win for India over Windies

India scored an easy 124-run win over West Indies at the Port stadium to top the table with 14 points from three matches after the end of first leg of the matches in the quadrangular under-19 cricket tournament. India dominated West Indies all through the match except when the last wicket pair of Donovon Nelson and Ronsoford Beaton delayed the end with a stubborn 48-run stand. West Indies' bowling limitations were exposed once again as India plundered 315 for four. Hanuma Vihari (68, 9x4), captain Unmukt Chand (66, 6x4), Akshdeep Nath (81n.o, 4x4, 4x6), B. Aparajith (42, 3x4) and Kumar Deobrat (37, 2x4, 3x6) contributed in India's massive 315 for four. Off-spinner B. Aparajith, who had a five-wicket haul in the first match, was the pick of the Indian bowlers with four wickets. Points at the end of third round of matches are India (14), Sri Lanka (9), Australia (5) and West Indies (0).

Dasgupta is chairman

Former India wicketkeeper-batsman, Deep Dasgupta, comes in as the State senior selection committee chairman in place of Sambaran Banerjee whose term ended last season. Dasgupta will have Malay Banerjee, Mintu Das and Satyendra Singh as members. Madan Ghosh will head the junior selection committee and Sandhya Majumdar will be the chairperson of the women's selection committee. Sourav Ganguly, who also attended the CAB's first working committee at the Eden Gardens, came up with a number of suggestions to help Bengal cricket. In one of the most important decisions, Ganguly sought an appointment of a head of coaches to monitor cricketers of all age group in consultation with the age group coaches, trainers and other support staff.

Sports Sciences Institute on Chinese model

China will serve as the prime model for the National Institute of Sports Sciences to be set up by the Union Sports Ministry at the Nehru Stadium on November 1. Announcing the plan that the institute would be first set up as a society before being converted into an Institute of national importance by an Act of Parliament, the Union Sports Minister Ajay Maken, who addressed the media, stated that the project would be drafted under the 12th five-year plan for budgetary allocation. The project is expected to cost Rs.200 crore and another Rs. 100 crore is scheduled to be spent on various regional centers and linking them up with the national institute.