Daily Current Affairs Updates 31 October 2014

1) Devendra Fadnavis sworn in as Maharashtra chief minister: Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the BJP’s first chief minister in Maharashtra on Friday but had to share some of the limelight with another man — Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, who attended the ceremony after a last-minute phone call from BJP chief Amit Shah. Fadnavis — the state’s 27th CM and its youngest at 44 — took the oath of office with a team of nine ministers at Wankhede stadium in Mumbai. In attendance were Prime Minister Narendra Modi, LK Advani, Shah, the CMs of BJP-ruled and friendly states and a crowd of 40,000-50,000, according to BJP estimates.

2) National Unity Day celebrated across India: The maiden National Unity Day or Rashtriya Ekta Diwas was celebrated to commemorate Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s 139th birth anniversary by carrying out Run for Unity among other events. 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. The Run for Unity campaign is the key highlight to pay tribute to the efforts made by Sardar Patel to unite India. A nationwide marathon took place on the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas.

3) Leaders pay tributes to Indira Gandhi on death anniversary: The nation on Friday remembered former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on her 30th death anniversary with President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari and other leaders paying tributes to her. Mukherjee, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh paid floral tributes at Shakti Sthal, the memorial of Indira Gandhi. Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her bodyguards on October 31, 1984.

4) Warren Anderson, CEO of Union Carbide during the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy died: Warren M. Anderson, a Brooklyn carpenter's son who ascended to the top of the Union Carbide Corporation, where he grappled with the ravages of a poisonous gas leak at the company's plant in Bhopal, India, in 1984 that killed thousands in one of history's most lethal industrial accidents, died on September 29 at a nursing home in Vero Beach, Florida. He was 92.

5) Petrol, diesel prices slashed: Oil companies cut petrol price by Rs. 2.41 a litre on Friday, the sixth reduction since August, and diesel price by Rs. 2.25 a litre on the back of falling international oil rates.

6) ATM use over five times will attract fee from Nov 1: Using ATMs (automated teller machines) to withdraw money or for other purposes such as balance enquiry beyond five times in a month will attract a levy of Rs.20 a transaction from Saturday. According to the Reserve Bank of India’s new guidelines that come into force from Saturday, bank customers in six metros —Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bangalore — are allowed to withdraw money and/or carry out non-financial transactions like mini-statements at ATMs of banks, where they hold saving/current accounts, free of charge only five times a month.

7) 2nd Meeting of SAARC Education Ministers held: The 2nd Meeting of SAARC Ministers of Education/Higher Education was held at New Delhi on 31 October 2014.The Union HRD Minister of India, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani, was unanimously elected to the Chair. While addressing the Meeting she reiterated India’s initiatives for strengthening mutual cooperation amongst the Member States and the need for a well focussed strategy for growing together in the SAARC region.

8) Work on Statue of Unity begins: Chief minister Anandiben Patel on Friday laid the foundation stone for Shresth Bharat Complex near the proposed Statue of Unity at Kevadiya Colony. The complex will be constructed at a cost of Rs 176 crore. It will also house a state-of-the-art museum depicting the life of Sardar Patel, a skill development centre and a 127-room three-star hotel. The construction work for Statue of Unity, the world's tallest statue, also began on the occasion of Sardar Patel Jayanti on Friday. Narendra Modi, who was the chief minister then, had laid foundation stone of the structure last year on October 31.

9) Govt to launch Unnat Bharat Abhiyan: With a view to uplift rural India, the government is set to launch a new programme — the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan. The programme is being launched in collaboration with the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) across the country. Although the programme is an initiative of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, it will be coordinated and steered by IIT Delhi. According to IIT Delhi Director R K Shevgaonkar, the programme will involve engaging with communities around each institute and for their upliftment. “Each IIT will identify 10 villages in its neighbourhood and work out technologies to solve the most pressing issues of the region,” Shevgaonkar said.