1st October 2014 - Daily Current Affairs updates

1st October 2014 - Daily Current Affairs updates


National Affairs

• The ambitious Swachh Bharat campaign will be launched tomorrow (2nd October 2014), the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
• Modi will kick start the campaign from New Delhi.
• The campaign is aimed at cleaning India by 2019, when the country will celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. 
• Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography 'The Story of My Experiments with Truth' has now been published in Kashmiri and Punjabi languages also and the editions would be released on his 145th birth anniversary tomorrow.
• Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today visited the flood-hit areas of Assam and Meghalaya and assured the two states of all possible help to deal with the crisis and ensure relief and rehabilitation.
• He announced that the central government has released an amount of Rs.386 crore for Assam and added that an additional amount of Rs.286 crore has also been sanctioned for the state to deal with the situation.
• Aam Aadmi Party demands clarification from the PMO India on the government's reported decision to hike the prices of some medicines including anti-cancer tablets.
• Health Minister Dr. Harsh vardhan urges all citizens to convert their birthdays into opportunities for donating blood.
• Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan conferred the Vayoshreshtha Samman on senior citizens on the occasion of International Day for Older persons.
• In a first-of-its-kind effort, the Election Commission (EC) today launched a video game titled 'Get Set Vote' as part of a series of edutainment material on voter awareness and education. 
• The video game, which can be played using the keyboard, gives out information and interesting details through 10 levels of mazes. 

International Affairs

• Today is International Day for Older persons.
• Thousands have joined pro-democracy protests demanding China to withdraw plans to vet candidates for the next Hong Kong leadership election in 2017, which have spread in Hong Kong on China's 65th National Day.
• PM Narendra Modi returns from his 5 day US Visit. He describes his US visit as highly successful and satisfactory.
• Pakistan has decided to introduce electronic voting machines (EVMs) in two years before the next general elections due in 2018.

People in News 

• Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg will be visiting India this month, and is most likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who himself is an avid user of the social networking site.

Business & Economy

1. Core sector growth for the month of August picked up with eight core sector industries growing by 5.8 percent against 4.7 percent in same month last year. The July core sector data was 2.7 percent.   
2. Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL), the country’s first green-field airport in the public-private partnership mode, today handed over a cheque of Rs.17.76 crore to the Kerala government as its share of profits for the last fiscal.

Science & Technology

1. Microsoft has unveiled its new Windows operating system, and has given it a surprising name: Windows 10.
2. Most in the techie media had expected Microsoft to name its new operating system Windows 9, following the lineage from its current Windows 8 system.
3. India and the U.S., after sending their own respective spacecraft into Mars’ orbit, have now agreed to cooperate on future explorations of the Red Planet, which America said will yield “tangible benefits” to both the countries and the world at large.

Sports
Asian Games 2014

• Mary Kom becomes the first Indian woman to clinch Gold Medal in Boxing at the Asian Games
• Sarita Devi refuses to wear her boxing medal (Bronze) as a protest against the controversial decision (Sarita lost on points against Ji Na Park (Silver medal winner) in a bout where she was the dominant boxer).
• Indian women's hockey team win bronze medal after beating Japan.
• Indian sprinter Tintu Luka won silver medal in the 800m women’s race
• Indian athlete Annu Rani won a bronze medal in the women’s Javelin throw event.