Daily Current Affairs Updates: 1 November 2014

1) Bangalore becomes 'Bengaluru'; 11 other cities renamed: Country's IT city Bangalore will now officially be known as Bengaluru. Now, 12 of Karnataka's towns will officially be known with their Kannada names. The decision came on the 69th anniversary of the formation of the state of Karnataka. The decision was hailed by many noted personalities of Karnataka. Apart from Bangalore, Mysore will be known as Mysuru, Mangalore as Mangaluru, Belgaum as Belagavi, Gulbarga as Kalaburagi, Hubli as Hubballi, Shimago as Shivamogga, Chickmagalur as Chikkamagaluru, Bellary as Ballari, Bijapur as Vijapura, Hospet as Hosapete and Tumkur as Tumakuru. The Karnataka government had mooted the proposal in 2006.

2) ONGC joined 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan', adopts Jantar Mantar: State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has adopted the historic monument 'Jantar Mantar' as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cleanliness drive, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. With this initiative, ONGC and its employees will maintain cleanliness in and around the heritage monument, the company said in a press statement.

3) China completed first return mission to moon: China on 1 November 2014 successfully completed its first return mission to the moon with its unmanned orbiter landing back on Earth, becoming only the third country in the world to do so after the former Soviet Union and the US accomplished the feat about 40 years ago. In the latest step forward for its ambitious space programme, the test lunar orbiter landed in Siziwang Banner of China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region early morning over a week after it was launched to test its ability to go to the lunar orbit and return to Earth.

4) Government cuts import tariff value on gold, silver: The government on 1 November  2014slashed import tariff value on gold to $ 391 per 10 grams and silver to $ 551 per kg following weak global price trends. During the last fortnight, the tariff value on imported gold was fixed at $ 401 per 10 grams and on silver at $ 575 per kg.

5) EVKS Elangovan appointed as new Tamil Nadu Congress Committee President: EVKS Elangovan was on Saturday appointed the new TN Congress Committee President with the party accepting the resignation of B S Gnanadesikan, who was upset over his "neglect" by the AICC. Congress President Sonia Gandhi has appointed Elangovan to the post, Congress General Secretary and in-charge of Tamil Nadu Mukul Wasnik announced.

6) Rajiv Mehrishi takes charge as Economic Affairs Secretary: The official-level makeover of Finance Ministry is complete with Rajiv Mehrishi taking charge as the Secretary Economic Affairs on 31 October 2014. This is just in time as the Government has started work on the Union Budget for 2015-16. On October 16, Arvind Subramaniam joined as the new Chief Economic Advisor.