The National Unity Day was observed across India on 31 October 2015 to commemorate the birthday of Sardar Vallabhai Patel. On this occasion of 140th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, PM Narendra Modi flagged off Run for Unity at Rajpath in New Delhi.
The Modi government in October 2014 declared 31 October as Rashtriya Ekta Diwas or National Unity Day to mark the birth anniversary of country's first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.Born in 1875, Patel served as the Home Minister of India from 15 August 1947 till his death on 15 December 1950.
He is known as the Iron Man of India or Bismarck of India.
Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das was on 30 October 2015 nominated as a Director to the Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The nomination of Das is effective from 30 October 2015 and until further orders.
Republican Paul Ryan was on 30 October 2015 elected as the 54th speaker of the US House of Representatives after fetching the votes of 236 members by the full House of Representatives. Only nine House Republicans voted against Ryan on the House floor. He succeeds John Boehner of Ohio.
Indian para-athlete Amit Kumar Saroha on 28 October 2015 won silver medal in men's club throw F51 event in the IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha. With this, Amit sealed a berth for 2016 Rio Paralympic Games.
Amit clinched silver with an effort of 25.44m, behind Serbia's Zeljko Dimitrijevic who won gold in a championship record of 26.29m. Milos Mitic of Serbia bagged the bronze in 25.40m.
The competition featured around 1300 athletes from 90 countries and was held in the 12000 capacity Qatar Sports Club’s - Suhaim Bin Hamam stadium.
The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development on 29 October 2015 launched a new initiative to spread awareness about the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme.
The initiative was launched in partnership with Celltick Mobile Media India Pvt. Ltd. to generate awareness about BBBP Scheme to an estimated 100 million mobile users in India.
Saudi blogger Raif Badawi on 29 October 2015 awarded Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought for the year 2015. An announcement in this regard was made by the President of European Parliament Martin Schulz at European Parliament assembly in Strasbourg, France; Subsequently, Schulz appealed to Saudi King Salman to free him, so he can accept the prize. Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought has been awarded by the European Parliament since 1988 to individuals or organisations for their contribution to the fight for human rights and democracy. It is named after the Soviet scientist and dissident Andrei Sakharov.
World Health Organization (WHO) on 28 October 2015 released Global Tuberculosis Report 2015 in Washington. This is the twentieth global report on tuberculosis (TB) that started in 1997.The 2015 edition focuses on whether 2015 global TB targets set in the context of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were achieved worldwide and at regional and country levels.
Indian para-athlete Amit Kumar Saroha on 28 October 2015 won silver medal in men's club throw F51 event in the IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha. With this, Amit sealed a berth for 2016 Rio Paralympic Games.Amit clinched silver with an effort of 25.44m, behind Serbia's Zeljko Dimitrijevic who won gold in a championship record of 26.29m. Milos Mitic of Serbia bagged the bronze in 25.40m.
Amit’s medal helped the 15-member Indian team to end the campaign with two silvers. Devendra Jhajharia had won silver in men's javelin throw F46 event on 27 October 2015.
John Pombe Magufuli, the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party's candidate, on 29 October 2015 won presidential elections of Tanzania. The National Electoral Commission (NEC) said that Magufuli won the election with 58.46 percent of votes.Magufuli’s closest rival Edward Lowassa of Chadema party won 39.9 percent votes in total. Lowassa is the former Prime Minister of Tanzania.
China on 29 October 2015 allowed all couples to have two children and scrapped its decade-long One Child Policy. The decision is intended to balance population development and address the challenge of an ageing population. The announcement was made through a communiqué issued by the ruling communist party after a four-day Communist party summit in Beijing.
One Child Policy was introduced in 1980 as a way to curb the population and limit demands for water and other resources.
Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs & Sports, Sarbananda Sonowal on 28 October 2015 inaugurated Games Secretariat of the 12th South Asian Federation (SAF) Games 2016 at Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex, Polo Ground in Shillong, Meghalaya.The Secretariat would oversee the smooth functioning of the SAF Games.
This is the first time that such a mega event of International level is taking place in North East India.The 12th SAF Games will be held in Guwahati and Shillong from 6 February to 16 February 2016. Out of 23 sports disciplines in the 12th South Asian Games 2016, 8 disciplines will be held in Shillong while the other 15 disciplines will be held at Guwahati.
Senior IRS officer Najib Shah was on 28 October 2015 appointed as Chairman of Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), apex body on Indirect Taxes. His appointment was approved by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC).
Shah is a 1979 batch officer of Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise). Prior to this appointment, he has been working as Member of the CBEC since May 2015.
The yet to be born city will reside on the banks of river Krishna and is set to demonstrate a state government’s ability in executing large-scale eco-friendly infrastructure projects involving multiple stakeholders from the national and international arena.
Amaravati is not only the fifth planned capital city in Independent India, next to Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Gandhi Nagar and Naya Raipur, but it is also the country’s first green-field smart city.
Narendra Nayak was on 27 October 2015 appointed as Managing Director of BlackBerry India operations to steer the restructuring efforts of Blackberry. Nayak succeeded Sunil Lalvani, who resigned from company in June 2015.
Nepal on 28 October 2015 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China in order to ease fuel crisis in the country by importing all kinds of fuel. The MoU was signed between Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) and China National United Oil Corporation (PetroChina) in Beijing.
Hockey India (HI), the top body governing the sport in the country, on 28 October 2015 signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sports Authority of India (SAI) to help regain hockey its position as the top sport of the country.
As per the terms of agreements, SAI will promote hockey, which is amongst the world’s most popular sports, as a tool for youth development and excellence in sports.
India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) 2015 was held for four days between 26 October and 29 October 2015 at Indira Gandhi Stadium Complex in New Delhi. Besides PM Narendra Modi, the summit was attended by top leaders of 40 African nations. The purpose of the meeting was to enable consultations at the highest political level between 54 nations across Africa and the Indian government. It was the third IAFS since its inception. The previous summits were held in 2008 and 2011 in New Delhi and Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) respectively.
Lord Gulam Kaderbhoy Noon, one of Britain’s most prominent Indian-origin peers and Curry King passed away in London. He was pioneer in introducing mildly spiced Indian curry cuisine to the high streets of United Kingdom through his entrepreneurial ventures. He was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by Britain’s Opposition party (2015).
Citibank on 27 October 2015 announced that it has appointed Samiran Chakraborty as Chief Economist for India.Prior to joining Citi, Chakraborty was Managing Director and Head of Macro Research for South Asia at Standard Chartered Bank. Earlier, he served ICICI Bank as Chief Economist and Delhi School of Economics as faculty for mathematical economics and open-economy macroeconomics.
The Russian Federal Space Agency, commonly called as Roscosmos, on 27 October 2015 announced that it plans to launch a manned flight to the moon and the lunar landing is planned for 2029.
Vladimir Solntsev, the head of Roscosmos, made the announcement during a space technology conference in Moscow.
The Russian Federal Space Agency, which is the government agency responsible for the Russian space science program and general aerospace research, was established on 25 February 1992. The agency has its headquarter located in the capital city Moscow, while the Main Mission Control space flight operations centre is located in Korolev.
In 2015, the Russian Government announced that it was merging Roscosmos with the United Rocket and Space Corporation, the re-nationalised Russian space industry to create the Roscosmos State Corporation.
Jammu and Kashmir Minister for Youth Services and Sports Molvi Imran Raza Ansari on 27 October 2015 announced that Kashmir Valley will host South Asian Rugby 7’S Championship in 2016. The decision was made during the 131st Standing Committee meeting of J-K State Sports Council, which was chaired by Ansari. As per the decision, the championship will be held at Bakhshi Stadium from 18 June to 20 June 2016.
Luxembourg ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Sylvie Lucas on 27 October 2015 was appointed as the Chair of the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) on UN Security Council (UNSC) reforms.
Lucas, who was appointed by 70th UN General Assembly session President Morgens Lykketoft, replaced Ambassador Courtenay Rattray of Jamaica.
UNESCO declared October 27 as the World Day for AudioVisual (AV) Heritage to raise awareness of the significance of AV documents and to draw attention to the need to safeguard them. Every year, activities are organized by different institutions worldwide around a theme to drum up interest in the event. The World Day provides an occasion to raise general awareness of the need to take urgent measures and to acknowledge the importance of audiovisual documents.