·       The finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Nov 2 that the banks have sanctioned loans worth Rs 63,574 crore to about 13.84 lakh borrowers under the credit outreach programme

·       Started by October 15, banks have been holding special camps across various parts of the country to sanction loans to eligible borrowers as per the prudential norms. So far both public and private sector lenders have extended credit through 10,580 camps under the nationwide credit outreach programme

·       As per the data shared by the finance ministry, as much as Rs 21,687.23 crore in business loans were sanctioned to about 3.2 lakh beneficiaries, while vehicle loans worth Rs 4,560,39 crore were sanctioned to 59,090 borrowers.

·       Housing loans worth Rs 8,994.25 crore were sanctioned to 41,226 borrowers as of October 30, 2021, it said. Over 7 lakh farmers availed Rs 16,734.62 crore agriculture loan in the last fortnight under the initiative. State Bank of India (SBI) sanctioned loans worth Rs 14,461 crore to 320,000 borrowers.

·       This was followed by HDFC Bank that sanctioned loans of Rs 8,421 crore to 51,806 borrowers, and Bank of Baroda sanctioning Rs 5,555 crore worth loans to 120,000 borrowers. Regional rural banks extended credit worth Rs 5,399 crore to 260,000 borrowers.

·       Adani Power has  said that it has got National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approval to acquire Essar Power's 1,200 MW thermal power project in Mahan, Madhya Pradesh.

·       NCLT, Principal Bench at New Delhi, in its order dated November 01, 2021, approved the resolution plan submitted by Adani Power Ltd for acquisition of EPMPL (Essar Power M P Ltd), a company undergoing insolvency resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, Adani Power stated in a BSE filing.

·       EPMPL owns a 1,200 MW thermal power plant in Singrauli District, Madhya Pradesh.

·       Earlier in June this year, Adani Power had emerged as the successful bidder for the Essar Power's 1,200 MW project.

·       In a move that is certain to cause further disruption to the Afghanistan economy that is already on the brink of collapse, the Taliban has announced a complete ban on the use of foreign currency in the country and warned of action for violating the order.

·       The US dollar is the widespread medium of exchange in Afghanistan's markets. The bordering areas use the currency of neighbouring countries like Pakistan for trade purposes.

·       Notably, Afghanistan's access to more than USD 9.5 billion has been blocked by the US, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after the Taliban take-over in Kabul on August 15. Millions of Afghans have been internally displaced, and thousands have left the country giving rise to a growing humanitarian crisis.

·       The country is in a dire economic situation with no international support and connectivity, resulting in an extremely difficult situation for ordinary people.

·       The  Ukraine has denied reports of a Russian military build-up near its eastern border that raised fears of a new escalation in fighting with pro-Moscow separatists. The statement came hours before a government official said  that Ukraine's Defence Minister Andriy Taran had resigned -- reportedly on health grounds.

·       Taran, who had led the ministry since March 2020, has not commented on his resignation, a decision which parliament must ratify amid reports of an impending wider cabinet reshuffle.

·    Opponents had criticised him during his tenure, citing insufficient reform of an under-resourced military. 

• The BJP and its allies on , November 2, 2021, won 14 assembly seats while the Congress bagged eight out of 29 seats in the latest round of bypolls, with results mostly favouring ruling parties in the states except in Himachal Pradesh .

• ASSAM: The BJP's Phani Talukdar, Rupjyoti Kurmi and Sushanta Borgohain retained their respective Bhabanipur, Mariani and Thowra seats which they had won in the assembly elections held earlier this year on tickets given by other parties.The BJP's ally UPPL wrested the Gossaigaon and Tamulpur.

• In this year's assembly election, Gossaigaon seat was won by the UPPL while BPF had bagged Tamulpur.   Mariani and Thowra had Congress MLAs, while Bhabanipur was cornered by AIUDF.

• ANDHRA PRADESH: The ruling YSR Congress' Dasari Sudha, the wife of late MLA Venkata Subbaiah, retained the Badvel (SC) Assembly seat for the party, defeating the BJP's Panatala Suresh with a margin of 90,000 votes.

• BIHAR: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) retained both Tarapur and Kusheshwar Asthan assembly seats.

• In Tarapur, JD(U) candidate Rajiv Kumar Singh defeated his nearest rival of the RJD, Arun Kumar Sah, by a slender margin of less than 4,000 votes, while it bagged Kusheshwar Asthan seat by a margin of more than 12,000 votes. JD(U)'s Aman Bhushan Hazari, the death of whose father had necessitated the by-election, polled 58,882 votes.

• HARYANA: INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala defeated BJP's Gobind Kanda with a margin of over 6,700 votes 

• HIMACHAL PRADESH: The opposition Congress retained Fatehpur and Arki Assembly seats while it wrested Jubbal-Kotkhai seat from the BJP.

• In Mandi, Pratibha Singh got 3,69,565 votes against 3,62,075 secured By  the BJP candidate.  The ruling BJP candidate lost her deposits in Jubbal-Kotkhai, losing to a BJP rebel whose father earlier held the seat.

• KARNATAKA: The BJP wrested Sindgi assembly segment from the JD (S) but lost the Hangal seat to the Congress.

• MADHYA PRADESH: The BJP wrested two assembly seats from the Congress -- Prithvipur by a margin of 15,687 votes and Jobat (ST) by a margin of 6,104 votes, but lost Raigoan (SC) seat to the opposition party.  BJP candidate Gyaneshwar Patil defeated Congress Rajnarayan Singh Purni in Khandwa Lok Sabha seat.

• MAHARASHTRA: Congress retained Deglur (SC) Assembly seat with the party nominee Jitesh Raosaheb Antapurkar defeating his nearest BJP rival Subhash Pirajirao Sabne by a margin of 41,917 votes.  The by-election was necessitated due to the death of Jitesh's father and sitting Congress MLA Raosaheb Antapurkar.

• MEGHALAYA: The NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance got a shot in the arm, as it clinched all three assembly seats. The National People's Party wrested Rajabala and Mawryngkneng seats from the Congress, while the United Democratic Party, a partner in the MDA government, emerged victorious in Mawphlang

• MIZORAM: The ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) won the by-election to the Tuirial assembly seat in Mizoram by securing 39.96 percent of the total 14,593 votes polled.

• RAJASTHAN: The ruling Congress party in Rajasthan wrested Dhariawad (ST) from the BJP and retained Vallabhnagar assembly seat.

• WEST BENGAL: Udayan Guha wrested Dinhata seat vacated by Union Minister of State for Home, Sports and Youth Affairs Nisith Pramanik by a margin of over 1.64 lakh votes. TMC's Subrata Mondal trounced his BJP rival Palash Rana by over 1.43 lakh votes in Gosaba.TMC's Braja Kishor Goswami wrested Santipur from the BJP, defeating Niranjan Biswas.Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, a Mamata Banerjee confidant who had vacated the Bhabanipur seat for her to contest in a by-poll earlier, won from Khardaha defeating his BJP rival Joy Sinha by 93,832 votes.

• The former Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh  has  formally snapped ties with the Congress and announced his new outfit, the Punjab Lok Congress.

• He wrote to Congress president Sonia Gandhi saying he was deeply hurt by her conduct as also that of her children Rahul and Priyanka for propping up Navjot Singh Sidhu as the president of the state unit of the Congress.

• Amarinder  said that the  the new party will be registered after approval from the Election Commission of India. The party will be formally launched later. Its policies, programmes, agenda and vision will be spelt out at the time of the launch

• The tourists visiting the Statue of Unity, at Kevadia in Gujarat from across the country will soon have an opportunity to know about the arts, crafts, culture and tradition of the state. The Vadodra division of Western Railway zone of Indian Railway (IR) has planned to set up a magnificent art gallery .

• The proposed art gallery at Kevadia railway station will be first of its kind to be developed by the Indian Railway under the PPP mode to showcase the Gujarat and country’s arts, crafts, culture and other traditional grandeur to the tourists on way to the Statue of Unity.

• The country’s first green Kevadia railway station facilitates rail connectivity from all parts of country.

• The Shiv Sena marked the historical victory in the Dadra Nagar Haveli Lok Sabha bypolls by winning the seat by 51000 votes against the BJP candidate. This is the first major win of Shiv Sena outside Maharashtra.

• Shiv Sena's Kalaben Delkar won by 51,269 votes against the BJP candidate Mahesh Gavit. Dadra Nagar Haveli Lok Sabha bypoll was necessitated by the death of independent Lok Sabha MP Mohan Delkar. Shiv Sena fielded his widow Kalaben, who bagged 1,18,035 votes aganst her closest rival Gavit, who got 66,766 votes. In 2019, Mohan Delkar won this same seat by 9,001 votes against the BJP candidate Natubhai Patel.

• Shiv Sena's Pawan Kumar Pandey won from Akbarpur assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh in 1991 when Ram Mandir movement was at its nadir.

• The union territory of Dadra Nagar Haveli is part of Gujarat with 30 per cent Marathi population.