Daily GK Updates: 21st Oct 2014

1.    M. L. Khattar to be next Haryana Chief Minister

i. Manohar Lal Khattar was on Tuesday unanimously elected Leader of the BJP Legislature Party, paving the way for his becoming the first Chief Minister of the BJP in Haryana.

ii. 60-year-old Mr. Khattar is also the first Punjabi to become the Chief Minister of the State.

iii. He was elected at a meeting of 47 newly elected MLAs at the Chandigarh UT Guest House, party Vice President Dinesh Sharma, who attended the meeting along with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu as central observers, 

iv. Mr. Khattar, a first-time MLA, has worked as an RSS Pracharak for 40 long years. Born in Rohtak district, he had contested the Assembly elections from Karnal. He won the Karnal seat with a margin of 63,736 votes.

2.    Govt orders merger of NSEL with its holding company FTIL

i. To ensure speedy recovery of dues for investors and others hit by 5,600-crore rupees fraud at the National Spot Exchange Ltd, the government today ordered merger of the scam-hit firm with its holding company Financial Technologies India Ltd, FTIL.

ii. The decision, which comes over a year after the payments cam broke out at NSEL in July 2013, has been taken in essential public interest as the exchange is not left with any viable, sustainable business while FTIL has necessary resources to facilitate speedy recovery of dues.

iii. The move to merge NSEL with FTIL, possibly the first major government intervention in a scam-hit private sector entity since the Satyam case in 2009.

iv. Financial Technologies (India) Ltd is the holding company of this group, which had also set up commodity bourse MCX and stock exchange MCX-SX, among other exchange ventures.

3.    UK announced first ever Dadabhai Naoroji Awards

i. The UK government on 17 October 2014 announced the inaugural Dadabhai Naoroji Awards to honour individuals who have worked to strengthen the UK-India relationship over the years. 

ii. The awards were announced by the deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. 

iii. The three winners included UK India Business Council chair Patricia Hewitt in the commerce category, Dame Asha Khemka for services in the field of education and actor Madhav Sharma for culture.

4.    British actress and presenter Lynda Bellingham died

i. British actress and presenter Lynda Bellingham on 19 October 2014 died in London because of colon Cancer. She was 66.
ii. The actress was best known for her long-running role as a mother in the Oxo TV adverts. 

iii. Bellingham was also known for shows like All Creatures Great and Small. In All Creatures Great and Small, she was the second actress to play Helen Herriot on television.

5.    BCCI suspends bilateral tours with WI

i. Cracking the whip, a livid BCCI on Tuesday suspended all bilateral cricket tours with West Indies and decided to initiate legal proceedings against the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) for abruptly cancelling its tour of India last week.

ii. The tough stand by the BCCI, which has incurred heavy losses for the abandonment of the series, was taken by the all-powerful Working Committee which met to decide the future course of action.

iii. The decision to suspend all cricket tours with West Indies and initiate legal action was taken “unanimously” by the Working Committee members.

iv. The BCCI also appreciated the gesture of the Sri Lankan Cricket Board for accepting the offer of playing a five-match ODI series at such a short notice.

v. The venues for the five ODIs will be Cuttack, Hyderabad, Ranchi, Kolkata and Ahmedabad and the detailed itinerary will be announced shortly.

vi. The statement, however, did not specify the exact period of suspension of cricketing tours between the BCCI and the WICB.

Note: The West Indies team was scheduled to play five ODIs, one T20 and three Tests matches during the tour between October 8 and November 19.

ii. The aggrieved Caribbean players, who were persuaded to take the field for the fourth ODI in Dharamsala on October 17, conveyed their decision to call off the remaining part of tour to the BCCI.

iii. As per the new contracts, agreed between the WICB and the Players Association (WIPA), the cricketers reportedly suffered a 75 per cent cut in their salaries.

6.    Fashion designer Oscar de la Renta died

i. Iconic fashion designer Oscar de la Renta died on 20 October 2014 at Kent, Connecticut. He was 82.

ii. Oscar de la Renta was often described as the sultan of suave. 
iii. He made his name in the 1960s by dressing one of the major fashion icons the First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

7.    India's chief hockey coach Terry Walsh resigns

i. India's chief hockey coach Terry Walsh has resigned from his post because of a "pay dispute".

ii. His resignation comes barely three weeks after guiding the Indian team to a historic gold medal in the Asian Games in Incheon. Under Walsh, India had also won a silver in Glasgow Commonwealth Games. 

iii. The 60-year-old Australian, himself a noted Olympian, submitted his resignation in a dramatic fashion on Tuesday, saying that he was finding it difficult to adjust to the decision making style of the sporting bureaucracy in the country. 

8.    Pistorius sentenced to five-year jail term for killing girlfriend

i. Oscar Pistorius was sentenced on Tuesday to five years in prison for killing Reeva Steenkamp by a South African judge who cited the “gross negligence” the runner showed when he shot his girlfriend multiple times through a toilet cubicle door in his home.

ii. Judge Masipa also sentenced Pistorius to three years in prison for unlawfully firing a gun in a restaurant in a separate incident weeks before Steenkamp’s 2013 shooting death. She ordered that sentence to be wholly suspended.

iii. Pistorius killed Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day in 2013, shooting her through a toilet door in his home. Pistorius testified that the shooting was an accident because he mistook his girlfriend for a night-time intruder.