01 Nov 2014 : Current Affairs

• SENSEX and NIFTY their at peaks.
  • Hopes of more reform measures from the Modi government, expectations of better growth in the second half of the fiscal and heavy buying by foreign funds, had a positive impact.
  • Bank of japans surprise expansion of its monetary stimulus programme.
  • Growth of U.S. at a robust pace filled Indian market with new hopes.
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• India to host a meeting of Indian and Chinese artists in jaipur.
  • The programme called Maitri , is intended for exchange of views on art and architecture.
  • Workshops on block painting and Chinese water colour art are on the agenda.
  • Its aim is to strengthen india and china relations.
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• 2nd Meeting of SAARC Education Ministers Held,emphasis on better education.
  • Education Ministers and officials of eight South Asian countries have resolved to collaborate on increased use of information technology and improving the quality of education.
  • Representatives of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka issued a joint statement titled The New Delhi Declaration on Education.
  • Enhancing the learning and development readiness of pre-school children, ensuring education for all, expanding skill development, facilitating mutual recognition of qualifications and mobility of students and teachers and expanding alternative ways of learning such as open and distance education, were identified as priority.
  • Discussions were made on India’s use of information and communication technology in education, development and sharing of e-resources, connectivity, e-learning and Massive Open Online Courses.
  International Relations

  
  
 
• New names for 12 Karnataka cities from today.
  • On 59th Karnataka Rajyotsava,the state government issued a special gazette notification to bring the new names into effect from Saturday.
  • Now, Mangalore will be called Mangaluru, Bellary will be called Ballari, Belgaum will be called Belagavi, Hubli has become Hubballi, Tumkur is Tumakuru, Bijapur has changed to Vijapura, Chikmagalur to Chikkamagaluru, Gulbarga to Kalaburagi, Hospet to Hosapete and Shimoga will now be known as Shivamogga.
  Constitution/Indian polity

  
  
 
• Bank of Japan surprises global financial markets by expanding its massive stimulus spending .
  • The government signalled its readiness to ramp up spending to boost the economy and as the government pension fund, the world's largest, was set to increase purchases of domestic and foreign stocks.
  • BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda portrayed the decision as a pre-emptive strike to keep policy on track.
  • Earlier, on Wednesday, Federal Reserve had ended its own quantitative easing, judging that the U.S. economy had recovered enough to dispense with the emergency flood of cash into its financial system.
  National