Chief Ministers & Governors of Indian States

99The Union Government of India finalised a developmental action plan called Saranda Action plan for Naxal Affected districts in Naxal affected districts particularly in eastern India. The Saranda Action Plan was prepared by Rural Development Ministry. It will be implemented firstly in Jharkhand's Naxal-hit Saranda district. Saranda district is in Jharkhand.

According to the plan, immediate priority is to distribute solar lanterns and bicycles, construction of prefab houses for BPL families under the Indira Awas Yojana and bridges with the help of Army and special water supply - handpump schemes. Approximately, 4.5 crore rupees will be needed for distribution of solar lanterns and bicycles and this will be met out of the Integrated Action Plan funds.

100India signed a deal with a Sri Lankan firm worth over 300 crore rupees to procure 80 fast-interception craft (FIC). These FICs will equip Navy's Sagar Prahari Bal, SPB, which is being raised after the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai. The boats are to be delivered in the next three years.

FICs are small boats, with a crew of five to seven sailors at top speeds of 40 to 50 knots, and are equipped with light machine guns. These 80 FICs will be in addition to the 15 similar boats being acquired from French shipyard Chantier Naval Couach, three of which have already been inducted at Mumbai.

After 26/11, several steps have been taken to boost coordination in intelligence-sharing and operational matters, with fully-networked joint operation centres being set up in different locations. With 1,000 well-armed personnel, the SPB will be tasked with the protection of naval and other assets, bases and harbours on both west and east coasts.

101 The Supreme Court of India on 17 October 2011 directed all states and union territories (UTs) to build toilets, particularly for girls, in all government schools by the end of November 2011. A bench headed by Justice D K Jain asked all the governments to take immediate steps regarding this and file their compliance report before the deadline fixed by it.

The bench ruled that in case of any problem, the governments would at least provide temporary toilets for the students by November-end and the permanent structure should be built by the end of the year.

102Pretoria: The fifth summit of IBSA was held here. Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the administrative capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.

The fifth IBSA (India Brazil South Africa) summit concluded on 18 October 2011 in Pretoria. India, Brazil and South Africa, issued a joint declaration at the end of the summit, which condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.  

IBSA leaders described terrorism as one of the most serious threats to international peace and security. At their summit meeting, the IBSA leaders said the United Nations should play a central role in co-ordinating international action against terrorism within the framework of the UN Charter and in accordance with the international law.

103Capital market regulator SEBI approved share sale guidelines for insurance firms. The norms once cleared by the government will ensure the entry of the insurance industry to revive the dormant primary market as the novelty value of the sector could attract more investors.

IRDA had earlier specified that insurers that have completed 10 years of operations are eligible to go for share sale. Prior to filing of the draft document for making public offer with SEBI, the insurer is required to take a formal approval from IRDA.

SEBI withdrew a major irritant for life insurance companies waiting to hit the capital market with initial public offers. While clearing IPO guidelines of life insurance companies, the regulator removed the three-year profitability clause that is applicable for all companies as a precondition for tapping the capital markets.

However, insurance companies will have to go for additional disclosures as required by the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) over and above the disclosure norms set by SEBI. The move to remove the three-year profitability clause is expected to bring some relief to the majority of life insurance companies, as most of them are yet to underwrite any profits.

According to the draft guidelines, insurance companies, which have completed 10 years of operations, will be allowed to tap the capital market and the valuation would have to be based on the embedded value to be calculated by a method designed by the Institute of Actuaries of India.

Insurers planning IPOs will have to disclose their economic capital as well as the embedded value to the regulator.

They have to first seek formal approval from IRDA and then the final approval from SEBI. Typically, under the disclosure norms, insurance companies will have to disclose their balance sheet, premiums, commission expenses and operating expenses on a quarterly basis.

Apart from this the guidelines are expected to follow the usual norms, like individuals holding more than 10 per cent stake would be considered as promoters and the company will have to maintain a solvency ratio of 1.5.

IRDA will not have any mandate on the extent of dilution, and it is up to individual companies to decide on the size of the issue. SEBI guidelines mandate 25 per cent of the shares of a listed company be retained by the public.

The IPO guidelines are considered important as a host of private life insurance companies, such as Reliance Life, HDFC Life and ICICI Prudential Life have expressed interest in tapping the capital market.

104Five-time world champion MC Mary Kom won gold in the 51kg category by defeating Pinki Jangra in the summit clash on the final day of the 12th Senior Women's National Boxing Championships in Bhopal on 16 October 2011.
In the feather weight division, bronze medallist at the Women's Youth World Championship, Pwilao Basumatary of Assam settled settle for a silver medal after losing to Mandakini Chann of AIP who won gold.

In the light weight category, Neetu Chahal of Haryana clinched gold after beating Preeti Beniwal of the IABF team. Neetu won 12-5. Kavita Goyat of Delhi defended her title taking the gold in the middle weight division. She defeated Pooja of Haryana 16:11.

 Haryana bagged the overall title with three gold medals, two silver and two bronze. Manipur came second with two gold medals, a silver and a bronze while Railways finished third with two gold and three bronze medals.

105Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata was honoured with the Swiss Ambassador's award for exceptional leadership and his contribution to strengthening bilateral ties between India and Switzerland on 16 October 2011. Switzerland's Ambassador to India Philippe Welti conferred the award to Tata at a ceremony at the Swiss embassy in New Delhi.

Ratan Tata had transformed Tata Group into a global conglomerate while retaining its strong roots in the group's traditions and ethics. Ratan Tata became chairman of Tata Sons in 1991. Under the chairmanship of Ratan Tata, the group had acquired several international brands like Land Rover, Jaguar, Tetley and Corus.

The first Swiss Ambassador's award, founded in 2010, was conferred on film-maker Yash Chopra for his contribution to strengthening Indo-Swiss people-to-people relations through his movies.

106A landmark analysis of cancer cases among women in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore from 1982 to 2005, conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) revealed that the incidence of breast cancer nearly doubled in metropolitan cities. Breast cancer cases were found to be spiralling world over, and urban India was no exception. On the other hand, cases of cervical cancer, which is the most common form of cancer among Indian women was found to be dipping in some cities by almost 50%.

 India’s National Health Profile 2010 predicted that by 2020, breast cancer will overtake cervical cancer as the most common type of cancer among women in India.

Almost one in 20 women in metropolitan cities are suffering from breast cancer. Cases have almost doubled in the last decade, and nearly half of the patients come for treatment at the final stage when curing it is difficult. 

Currently 23 per one lakh women are diagnised with breast cancer every year. In cities like Chennai, the figures are troubling with the breast cancer ratio as high as 1:33.

10 leading types of cancer that women in urban cities suffered from between 2006 and 2008 were looked at and it was found and found that breast cancer accounted for a high percentage in each city. In Mumbai, 30% of cancer cases among women were that of the breast, in Delhi and Bangalore it was almost 26.9% while the incidence in Chennai was marginally lower at 26.5%. In Kolkata, it accounted for 27.2% of cancer cases among women and in Pune it was 28.9%.

ICMR has also come out with the possibility of one in number of people developing cancer of any site score. The calculation is age specific—0-64 and 0-74 years. In Mumbai and Kolkata, one in 14 women runs the risk of developing cancer before they reach 64 years.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Let’s Pink is a movement to raise awareness on the disease and its prevention.

107Indian-born Fauja Singh, 100, was officially recognised as the oldest person to complete a full-distance marathon after crossing the finish line at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in eight hours, 25 minutes and 16 seconds. Singh made his way up the last few hundred metres of the race and finished in 3850th place - ahead of five other runners. He attributed his success to ginger curry, cups of tea and being happy.

The 100-year-old runner of Indian-origin, set a Guinness record of being the oldest person to complete a full-distance marathon.

Singh began running regularly 11 years ago after the deaths of his wife and son. According to his translator he runs 16km every day. Born in India on 1 April 1911, Singh a farmer in the Punjab took the sport seriously only when he moved to Britain. He carried the torch during the relay for the 2004 Athens Games.

Singh, who completed the first of his eight marathons as an 89-year-old, has a personal best of five hours, 40 minutes, set back in 2003. The 2003 record made him the world record holder at the distance for a man aged 90 or over. Singh also holds eight sprint bests in his age category.

108Actor/director Amol Gupte's son Partho Gupte, who delivered an excellent performance as the quick-witted Stanley in his father's Stanley Ka Dabba won the best actor award at the Schlingel International Film Festival that concluded in Chmnitz, Germany on 16 October 2011.

Partho won the best actor award, beating 130 young contenders from all across the world. Stanley Ka Dabba has beenso far screened at four festivals, including Mumbai Film Festival.

Schlingel is the only film festival in the world devoted to films for and about children. It's a very evolved film festival. The quality of films and principal performances are at par with some of the most complex films for adult audiences. There were over 130 films in the competition.

109Austrian Helmut Frauwallner and India's Suresh Rana won the extreme two-wheeler and extreme-four wheeler categories in the 13th Raid de Himalaya motor rally which concluded on 17 October 2011. Rana and his navigator Ashwin Naik driving a Maruti Gypsy were followed by Harpreet Bawa with navigator Virender Kashyap in second place, while Shakti Bajaj and navigator Prakash finished third.

Of the 42 cars and 32 motorbikes which set out from Shimla in the extreme category, only 26 cars and 16 bikes made it to the finishing line, while others withdrew or had vehicle breakdown. The adventure trial had begun from Shimla via Dalhousie, Srinagar and Zanskar before finishing at Srinagar.

The annual rally which is an off-road racing spectacle in the rugged, inhospitable Himalayan terrain had begun on 9 October 2011 from Shimla before ending at the Royal Springs Golf Course on the banks of the Dal lake. The rallyists went via Manali-Leh-Rangdum (Zanskar), which comprises of one of the world's most dangerous roads.

The results are subject to change if any motorist or biker lodges a protest and is proven right in the scrutiny.
110Scientists claimed to have reconstructed the genome of the bug that caused the bubonic plague (often referred as black death) in Europe. The bug was discovered to be an ancient strain of a bacterium called Yersinia pestis and not so much different from today’s.   

The discovery was made by scientists at McMaster University in Canada, the University of Tubingen in Germany. The study was published in the journal Nature on 12 October 2011.

The Scientists collected the ancient Y.pestis DNA from 46 teeth and 53 bones excavated from the East Smithfield burial grounds in London. Researchers reconstructed the bacterium’s genome and made comparisons to the genomes of existing strains of Y.pestis. They determined that the bug hadn't changed much in the more than 600 years since the plague swept Europe.

The study will help researchers track bug’s evolution.  It could improve scientists' understanding of modern diseases as well.

Bubonic plague still strikes somewhere between 1000 and 3000 people each year, according to the World Health Organization. It wiped out 30 million people in Europe (30 to 50 Percent of the population in Europe) between 1347 and 1351.

Bubonic plague is a zoonotic disease, circulating mainly among small rodents and their fleas, and is one of three types of infections caused by Yersinia pestis (formerly known as Pasteurella pestis), which belongs to the family Enterobacteriaceae.

111The first ever prisoner swap between Israelis and the radical Palestinian group Hamas took place at the Rafah crossing on 18 October 2011. Israel’s abducted soldier Gilad Shalit was handed over to Egyptian authorities and in exchange, 477 Palestinian prisoners were released by Israel.

Israel and the radical outfit Hamas had signed the deal in the second week of October 2011.

112Scientists identified two genes, which increase a person’s risk of getting dengue. Dengue is the most common mosquito-borne infection after malaria. It causes 100 million infections worldwide annually.

 For their research, the scientists conducted the first ever genome-wide association study to compare genomes of children with severe dengue against population controls. Scientists found changes in the DNA code located in two genes; MICB on chromosome 6 and PLCE1 on chromosome10. This increases a person’s susceptibility to dengue shock syndrome. MICB plays a role in the human body’s immune system and any variation in this gene can affect the activation of natural killer cells or CD8T cells. These cells play a key role in combating viral infection. PLCE1  contribute to the normal functioning of the vascular endothelium, the thin layer of cells that lines interior surface of blood vessels with some variants of PLCE1 predisposing an individual to leakage from the blood vessels, the hallmark clinical feature of dengue shock syndrome. 

Initially, they compared 2008 patients against 2018 controls. They then replicated the findings in an independent follow-up sample of 1737 cases and 2934 controls, the latest edition of the Nature Genetics  journal reported.

113The Bombay High Court on 17 October 2011 upheld the death sentence awarded to four convicts for murdering 10 people in 2003.

The judges described the offence as rarest of rare cases for giving capital punishment and observed that the accused showed no repentance for their acts. The four accused, including a self-styled godman Santosh, lured the victims saying that they would multiply their money manifold using black magic. The accused would ask the victims to come to a lonely plateau in Nandos for prayers and then butcher them mercilessly.

On 29 September 2003, they murdered two persons. Then they murdered four on 30 October 2003 and then on 14 November 2003, they murdered the entire Mali family.

The four convicts—Santosh Manohar Chavhan, Amit Ashok Shinde, Yogesh Madhukar Chavhan and Mahesh Dhanaji Shindemeticulously planned the murders. They acted as if they are professional murderers. None of the accused has shown any signs of reformation.

114Delhi state cabinet on 17 October 2011 hiked monthly pensions of senior citizens who are 70 years old and above from 1000 rupees/month to 1500 rupees/month. The hike in pension will be effective from 1 October 2011.

The pension will be sanctioned under the Old Age Financial Assistance Scheme of Social Welfare department. The hiked pension is likely to benefit more than 1.6 lakh senior citizens in the mentioned group. The government will release an additional budget allocation of 34 crore rupees to implement the scheme.

115President Bashar al-Assad of Syria on 15 October 2011 announced the creation of an ad hoc committee tasked with preparing a new Constitution within four months. President Assad issued a decree establishing the national committee to draft a new Constitution in a period not exceeding four months from the date of its creation. The 29-member committee is headed by former Justice Minister Mizhar al-Annbary.

A new Constitution has been a key demand of a protest movement that erupted on 15 March 2011, initially calling for greater freedoms and later demanding the ouster of the Assad regime.

116A SEBI-constituted panel on mutual funds in October 2011 retained the minimum capital requirement to start a fund house at Rs 10 crore, rejecting a proposal to increase the net worth criterion. The move was welcomed by smaller fund houses and firms planning to enter the asset management business in Asia's third-largest economy, India.

A mutual fund advisory committee in 2010 had proposed to raise the capital base of asset management companies to Rs 50 crore from Rs 10 crore to ward off non-serious players and to ensure higher safety for investors. SEBI however pointed out that higher capital requirement will be a difficult barrier for smaller institutions wanting to start the fund management business.

It was pointed out that even developed nations have lower capital requirement than India. In the US, the base capital required to start an asset management business is Rs 55 lakh, if converted into Indian rupees.

The first guideline on base capital criteria, which mandated funds to have a minimum capital of Rs 3 crore, came out in 1993. Sebi increased the net worth criterion to Rs 6 crore and then to Rs 10 crore after CRB Mutual Fund collapsed in 1996-97.

The mutual fund advisory committee had in 2010 also recommended a higher net worth requirement to protect investors and funds from short-term liquidity stress. Well-capitalised funds, the committee argued would be better placed to handle unforeseen redemption and issues arising from lower market liquidity.

117World Food Day is observed every year on 16 October. In 2011, World Food Day was observed with the theme- Food Prices – From Crisis to Stability. Food Priices-from Crisis to Stability was chosen as the 2011 World Food Day theme to shed some light on what can be done to mitigate its impact on the most vulnerable.

World Food Day 2011 was observed with an objective to look seriously at what causes swings in food prices, and do what needs to be done to reduce their impact on the weakest members of global society.

Price upswings represent a major threat to food security in developing countries. According to the World Bank, in 2010-2011 rising food costs pushed nearly 70 million people into extreme poverty.

World Food Day is celebrated every year around the world on 16 October in honor of the date of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 1945. It is also the Food Engineer day. World Food Day (WFD) was established by FAO's Member Countries at the Organization's 20th General Conference in November 1979.

Since 1981, World Food Day has adopted a different theme each year, in order to highlight areas needed for action and provide a common focus. Most of the themes revolve around agriculture because only investment in agriculture together with support for education and health can ensure food security.

The objectives of World Food Day are to:

•    encourage attention to agricultural food production and to stimulate national, bilateral, multilateral and non-governmental efforts to this end

•    encourage economic and technical cooperation among developing countries
•    encourage the participation of rural people, particularly women and the least privileged categories, in decisions and activities influencing their living conditions
•    heighten public awareness of the problem of hunger in the world
•    promote the transfer of technologies to the developing world 
•    strengthen international and national solidarity in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition and poverty and draw attention to achievements in food and agricultural development.
118Andy Murray retained his Shanghai Masters title by defeating David Ferrer 7-5 6-4 in the final on 16 October 2011. His victory moved him to number three in the ATP rankings. He moved to the top three for the first time since March 2010. Murraywho was as high as No 2 in August 2009.

The win in China was Murray's third title in as many weeks, following victories in Bangkok and Tokyo, where he beat Rafael Nadal in the final. He claimed the biggest tournaments in Thailand, Japan and finally the Shanghai Masters in China. He won  25 of his last 26 matches showing remarkable consistency.

Roger Federer dropped out of the top three in the ATP rankings for the first time since June 2003. Roger Federer had won the first of his 16 Grand Slam titles in July 2003.

119The Save Sarmila Campaign was flagged off by Magsaysay award winner Sandeep Pandey on 16 October 2011. The campaign was launched in Srinagar demanding the revocation of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) from  Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast.

The campaign, in which 20 persons are participating with an objective to express solidarity with Irom Sharmila, who has been on fast for the last 10 years demanding revocation of the AFSPA. The campaign is headed by noted social activist Medha Patkar. The team started its march from Srinagar and will proceed to Imphal to bring the demand into focus.

The demands in Kashmir and the northeast were almost the same as far as political rights were concerned. However, in many northeast States, demands varied. Some northeast States are for autonomy and some want independence.

Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA)

The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), was passed on 11 September 1958, by the Indian Parliament of India. It conferred special powers upon armed forces in what the act calls disturbed areas in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. It was later extended to Jammu and Kashmir as The Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990 in July 1990.

According to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), in an area that is proclaimed as disturbed, an officer of the armed forces has powers to:

•    Fire upon or otherwise use force, even to the causing of death, against any person who is acting in contravention of any law against assembly of five or more persons or possession of deadly weapons.