21st OCTOBER 2014

Haryana’s newly elected BJP legislators will meet in Chandigarh on Tuesday to “elect” a leader, who will be the party’s chief ministerial candidate. Indications are that veteran leader and RSS activist Manohar Lal Khattar will be the party’s choice.

The ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival has announced a new annual writing competition for budding authors. Supported by Teamwork Arts, producers of the Festival, the competition is open to applicants across the world.

Making music is all about “digging inside of yourself” for “real gold”, says Neil Diamond, one of the bestselling singer-songwriters of all time. His album Melody Road releases this week."…you have to devote yourself almost entirely to it [music] and remain passionate about it

The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), which insures families of unorganised sector workers for up to Rs. 30,000 of medical care, is expected to be transferred from the Ministry of Labour and Employment to the Union Health Ministry. The RSBY, operationalised in 2008 by the UPA government, will be merged with the Universal Health Assurance Mission (UHAM) proposed by the NDA government.

India and China have agreed to take solid steps to improve border management, including the establishment of a hotline between the two Army headquarters and designating additional border posts for meetings between local commanders. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying disclosed on Monday that both countries have decided to step up military-to military interaction during last week’s Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) held in New Delhi.

  

To popularise Indian system of medicine abroad, the Centre will host a four-day World Ayurveda Congress in the Capital from November 6 to 9. To be inaugurated by the Prime Minister, the conference will be attended by delegates and Health Ministers from 24 countries.

Africa’s most populous nation Nigeria was on Monday declared officially Ebola free but warned that it remained vulnerable as long as the virus was raging elsewhere in West Africa.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe suffered a double setback on Monday with the resignations of two woman Cabinet Ministers over claims they misused political funds, dealing a blow to his proclaimed gender reform drive. Industry Minister Yuko Obuchi and Justice Minister Midori Matsushima quit after days of allegations that they had misspent money in what opponents insisted was an attempt to buy votes.

Warburg Pincus on Monday invested Rs. 1,200 crore ($200 million) in Thrissur-headquartered Kalyan Jewellers for an undisclosed minority stake. Kalyan will use the funds for expansion.