Daily Current Affairs : 22nd October 2013

1. Bangalore, known as India’s silicon city, has been ranked as the country’s top business destination, followed by Chennai, Mumbai and Pune in terms of infrastructure, human capital, city culture and basic quality of living, says a survey.The survey, conducted by Global Initiative for Restructuring Environment and Management (GIREM) and real estate consultancy firm DTZ, also found that smaller cities like Indore (5th), Bhubaneswar (6th) and Coimbatore (7th) are competing with top metros in the race to be ideal business destinations. The list includes a total of 21 top business destination in the country. Ahmedabad has been ranked 8th, followed by Nagpur at 9th and Kochi at the 10th place.

2. Tata Steel on 21 October 2013 won a new contract to supply Britain's Network Rail with more than 95 percent of its rails for at least five years. It could supply more than 1 million tonnes of rail under the contract. The company's Scunthorpe plant is the present supplier to Network Rail.

3. The 2nd meeting of the India- Philippines joint commission on bilateral cooperation was held on 21 October 2013 in Manila. The meeting was co-chaired by the Albert F. Del Rosario, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Philippines and the Salman Khurshid, Minister of External Affairs of the of India.

4. Justice Rajesh Kumar Agrawal (60), the acting Chief Justice of Madras High Court appointed as the regular Chief Justice of Madras High Court on 21 October 2013. The President of India also appointed seven of the eight names recommended by the Supreme Court collegium of judges headed by the Chief Justice of India P. Sathasivam as Judges of the Madras High Court.

5. India's ambitious space mission to explore Mars would be launched on November 5 from spaceport of Sriharikota: ISRO

6. Justice Laxmikanta Mahapatra was on 21 October 2013 sworn in as Chief Justice of the Manipur High Court at Raj Bhava in Imphal, Manipur. He was appointed by the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee. Governor Ashwani Kumar administered the oath of office to Justice Laxmikanta Mahapatra. Justice Mohapatra would act as acting chief justice of the high court till appointment of a full time chief justice.

7. RJD chief Lalu Prasad and JD(U) leader Jagdish Sharma have been disqualified as Lok Sabha members following their conviction in the fodder scam. While Prasad stands disqualified for a total of 11 years — five years of jail term and six years subsequent to his release, Sharma stands disqualified for ten years — four years in jail and six more years after that as per electoral laws. Theirs is the first disqualification from the Lok Sabha after the Supreme Court struck down a provision that protects a convicted lawmaker from disqualification on the ground of pendency of appeal in higher courts. Lok Sabha Secretary General S. Bal Shekar has issued the notifications disqualifying Lalu and Sharma.

8. The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) on 21 October 2013 unanimously elected Kanwar Deep Singh as the president of the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) for a four-year term. He was succeeded by Dinesh Reddy, Andhra Pradesh's Director General of Police (DGP).

9. Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza came into the top 10 of the world women's doubles by gaining two spots to ninth place in the latest WTA Team Rankings issued on 21 October 2013. Sania Mirza jumped from 11th spot to 9th spot. The 26-year-old Sania moved up as a result of other players dropping points.

10. Bhavina Hashmukhbhai Patel becomes first Indian to win a silver in the ITTF Asian Table Tennis. Bhavina lost to top-seed Zhang Miao of China 6-11, 9-11, 2-11 in the final of women's singles Class 4 Second Stage, in Beijing.