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.
2) Total number of gold medals won by India in Asian Games 2014?- 11
