31 Oct-14 : Current Affairs

• Govt announces austerity measures.
  • Govt. ordered a mandatory 10 per cent cut in the Centers non-Plan expenditure for 2014-15.
  • Subsidies will face the brunt of cuts.
  • Objective is to rationalize expenditure and optimize available resources.
  • Bann on 1st class air travel by govt. officials, curbs on meeting in five star hotel.
  Constitution/Indian polity

  
  
 
• US fed tapering tapering to affect Indias capital flows.
  • The RBI has cautioned that the U.S. Feds taper will trigger some pullback of dollar-denoted capital from India to back home.
  • As a result the new govt. may have to find domestic sources for funding infrastructure.
  • The U.S. Fed voted on Wednesday to end its bond-buying stimulus or Quantitative Easing (QE) but left unchanged its pledge to keep American interest rates at near-zero levels for a considerable time.
  World News

  
  
 
• A low cost generic respiratory drug launched by Cipla.
  • The new drug in named as Indacaterol and sold under the Onbrez brand.
  • Cipla  has asked DIPP to revoke five patents of Novartis relating to the product citing need for public health access and stated the patent holder Novartis does not manufacture the drug in India.
  • Novartis product is over 400 per cent more expensive than Ciplas product.
  • Supreme Court had rejected last year the multinational company’s plea for getting its blood cancer drug Glivec patented in India and to restrain Indian companies from manufacturing generic drugs.
  World News

  
  
 
• Pankaj advani becomes first ever player to bag billiards triple double .
  • Pankaj Advani outplayed England’s Robert Hall 1928-893 in the final of the IBSF World Billiards championship (timed format).
  • He had won Arthur walker trophy(points format) few days back.
  National

  
  
 
• Scientists grow miniature human stomachs from stem cells.
  • It will help in studying gastric diseases such as ulcers and stomach cancer and in the future creating tissue to repair patients stomachs.
  • The mini-stomachs are grown in petri dishes from stem cells. Fully formed, they are the size of a pea and shaped like a rugby ball. They are hollow with an interior lining that is folded into glands and pits like a real stomach.
  Science and Technology