Current Affairs: October 21

1. Action has been initiated on making the Communal Violence Bill a law to protect minorities from targeted attacks, home minister Sushilkumar Shinde said, but was not sure if it will be tabled in the winter session of Parliament.

2. The French-owned energy company EDF is to build Britain’s first new nuclear power plant in 20 years, the British government said on Monday.

3. India will launch its ambitious pension scheme, the Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana for over five million overseas workers in Dubai next week.

4. Convicted Congress leader Rashid Masood today became the first MP to lose his seat 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.

5. North Zone and South Zone were declared joint winners of the Duleep Trophy this year after the fifth day's play of the final match was also called off without a ball being bowled in Kochi on Monday.

6. Keeping in view next year’s Global Investors Meet in the State, the Congress government, headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, has decided to bring out a new industrial policy to attract investment in various sectors of the economy and in tier II cities.The industrial promotional policy (2009-14) comes to an end on March 31, 2014

7.Spain’s Rafael Nadal remained top in the men’s tennis rankings issued on Monday by the ATP, while Frenchman Richard Gasquet boosted his chances of making the season-ender in London

8. Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza has broken back 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 Monday.

9. Israel on Monday recognized New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg as the first ever recipient of the $1 million Genesis Prize, an award popularly dubbed the “Jewish Nobel Prize.”

10. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Monday he had summoned the U.S. ambassador over allegations that the US National Security Agency monitored millions of French telephone calls between December 2012 and January 2013.