Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams

17 March 2016

:: NATIONAL::

Aadhaar Bill passed

• Even as the Opposition aired its concerns over the possibility of mass surveillance, Parliament passed the controversial Aadhaar Bill, 2016, after acrimonious debates in both Houses. In a day marked by high drama, hours after the Opposition succeeded in pushing through five amendments to the Bill in the Rajya Sabha, they were rejected in the Lok Sabha.

• The amendments were moved by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, and were passed with a majority vote in favour.

• The amendments to the controversial Aadhaar Bill pushed through by the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and later rejected in the Lok Sabha included one that sought to prevent disclosure of “biometric or demographic information” in the interests of “national security” which was seen as too sweeping. It was suggested that “national security” be replaced with “public emergency” or in the interests of “public safety.”

• Another amendment related to permitting individuals with Aadhaar numbers to opt out of the system, with the Central Identities Data Repository deleting all information and authentication records, and giving a certificate to that effect within 15 days.

• A third amendment provided for alternative identification for delivery of services, subsidies and benefits to those choosing not to enrol for an Aadhaar number.

• A fourth amendment mandated the inclusion of the Central Vigilance Commissioner or the Comptroller and Auditor-General in the Oversight Committee.

• The fifth amendment sought the deletion of a clause that allows the Aadhaar number to be used for purposes other than those provided in the Bill.

• The government’s contention is that the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016, would provide for good governance and efficient, transparent, and targeted delivery of subsidies, benefits and services. The Opposition wanted the legislation to have safeguards to avoid sensitive private information of the individual from being disclosed or accessed “on the whim of the Executive

• Arguing that privacy was not a fundamental right, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told the Lok Sabha that the legislation’s primary objective was delivery of benefits, subsidies and services to the people

• The Opposition objected to the presentation of the legislation as a Money Bill as this ensured that it was passed without the approval of the Rajya Sabha.

Govt. admits sedition definition is wide

• The government admitted in the Rajya Sabha that the definition of sedition under the law was “very wide” and agreed to an all-party meeting to discuss the issue after the Law Commission, which is examining the matter, submits its report.

• Anybody who speaks against the government can be booked under sedition law. Amendments have been suggested because the definition is very wide. That is why concerns have been raised

• Mr. Rijiju said the Commission, in its 42nd report, had noted that the sedition law was “defective” but did not favour its deletion.

New civil aviation policy on its way

• The Union government will come out with a new civil aviation policy soon, according to Minister for Civil Aviation P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju

• While the new policy is currently awaiting Cabinet approval, the Minister indicated that it would have several measures that would be helpful in boosting the aircraft Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) business and also increase the regional air travel connectivity.

• As every hour counts for an aircraft, the government proposes to simplify the process and procedures to improve the turnaround time in MROs. This apart, fiscal concession would be given on customs duty, VAT and service tax

• With these measures, the government expects that the $ 700 million MRO business would come back to the country. It also anticipates an additional $ 200 million business coming from abroad.

• For improving regional connectivity, the government intends to revive all the unused airstrips in the country and develop them as no-frills airports alongside. Towards encouraging airlines, it would waive service tax, excise duty on aviation turbine fuel, VAT and landing and parking charges.

• The Centre would like to add 50 such airports every year for the next three to four years. At present, scheduled aircrafts are being operated to and from 75 airports in the country.

• Out of the 350 million people (middle class) in the country, whose purchasing power is on a par with their European counterparts, only 70 million were travelling by air in view of the high cost of air travel. Hence, the government intends to provide viability gap funding if the fares were reduced.

Gadag to be first city to have pan-city Wi-Fi

• Gadag city took a big step towards becoming the first in the State to offer Free Wi-Fi facility to people with the commissioning of as many as 10 hotspots to begin with.

• In the first phase, 25 hotspot locations have been chosen, including the industrial estate, zoo, major colleges, new and old bus stations, Deputy Commissioner’s office, new court complex.

• Under the facility, an individual user will get up to 2 mbps speed and 200 MB each day with each access point supporting up to 300 to 400 users. All social websites such as Facebook and YouTube can be accessed.

Ali Ahmad Hussain Khan passes away

• Eminent Shehnai exponent Ustad Ali Ahmad Hussain Khan, one of the best-known players of the instrument after the legendary Bismillah Khan, passed away in Kolkata

• Ustad Khan was felicitated with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2009 for his contribution to Hindustani instrumental music.

• He hailed from a family of renowned Shehnai exponents from Benaras and was known for his innovative style and mastery over the classical and semi-classical and folk music repertoire. The musician has also played at the inauguration ceremony of Doordarshan in 1973.

• A top-graded artiste of All India Radio, Ustad Khan also used to teach in the ITC Sangeet Research Academy in Kolkata. In 2012, he was felicitated with the ‘Bangabhushan’ award by the West Bengal government.

Modi wax statue to be unvieled at Madame Tussauds

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will join the ranks of prominent global leaders at Madame Tussauds in London, Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok next month, the world famous wax museum.

• Madame Tussauds has crafted figures of very distinguished dignitaries from around the world

• The wax figures at each of the museum’s locations around Europe and Asia will be dressed in Modi’s signature kurta-pyjama along with a jacket and he will be featured in a traditional pose “making a namaste gesture”.

• His massive social media presence — he is currently the second most followed politician on Twitter after U.S. President Obama — also confirms the intense interest the public have in him

• A new branch of Madame Tussauds is also set to open in New Delhi as part of the India–U.K. Year of Culture in 2017, as announced during Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the U.K. November 2015.

:: INTERNATIONAL ::

Merrick Garland to be nominated to Supreme Court by Obama

• President Barack Obama said he would nominate appeals court judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, challenging Republicans to reject a long-time jurist and former prosecutor known as “one of America’s sharpest legal minds”.

• Mr. Garland, 63, is the chief judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a court whose influence over federal policy and national security matters has made it a proving ground for potential Supreme Court justices.

• If confirmed, Mr. Garland would be expected to align with the more liberal members, but he is not viewed as down-the-line liberal.

• Particularly on criminal defence and national security cases, he’s earned a reputation as centrist, and one of the few Democratic-appointed judges Republicans might have fast-tracked to confirmation under other circumstances.

New immigration act of U.K

• New immigration act of U.K. under this rule, skilled workers from non-EU countries who come into the country on Tier-2 visas will face deportation after five years unless they can show minimum annual earnings of £35,000.

• Previously, after five years on a Tier-2 work visa, the individual could apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (or ILR) in the U.K. The income threshold used to be £20,800 – around £5,000 less than the average U.K. salary. All that will now change.

• A possible 40,000 skilled workers — teachers, IT professionals, health sector workers and charity workers, a majority of them from India and other South Asian nations — who have been living and working in the U.K., paying their taxes and contributing their skills and earnings to the economy, will be affected.

• There has been a major backlash to the rule, with a petition against it to the government quickly gathering over 100,000 signatures, the number needed to ensure a discussion on the issue in the House of Commons.

• About 40,000 workers, many of them from India, will be affected by the new rules

:: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ::

IRNSS-1G to be delayed

• The spacecraft, IRNSS-1G, was planned for March 31. It is now planned to be launched towards the end of April, a delay that is not unusual in the Space arena.

• Indian Space Research Organisation sources said the satellite was getting readied at the ISRO Satellite Centre in Bengaluru. The sixth one, 1F, was flown as recently as on March 10 from the Sriharikota launch site.

• Much is anticipated of the uses of the Rs. 1400-crore IRNSS (Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System), which is aimed at improving positional and navigational accuracy on land, sea and in air within the country; and for everyday civil uses as well as defence and security affairs.

• The first in the series, IRNSS-1A, was put in orbit in July 2013; each of the spacecraft is built to last for at least ten years.

• ISRO plans to double its launch rate in a year by doing a flight a month.

India Aviation 2016

• India Aviation 2016, fifth in the biennial series of international exhibition and conference on civil aviation is happening in Hyderabad

• Several Tier II and III cities “remain unconnected or inadequately connected” and the northeast faced a paucity of civil aviation infrastructure despite the aviation industry growing rapidly

• On the growth potential, the passenger traffic in India was likely to touch 421 million by 2020 — it was 190 million in 2015. India is one of the least penetrated air-markets in the world with 0.04 trips per capita per annum as compared to 0.3 of China and over 2 in the U.S.

• India would require at least 800 aircraft by 2020 to cater to the phenomenal increase of passenger and freight traffic.

• Supporting infrastructure, it has to be suitably upgraded by building new Greenfield airports, expanding the existing airports and upgrading facilities for maintenance, repair and operations.

:: BUSINESS ::

NPS can now be totally tax-free

• Retirement savings accumulated under the New Pension Scheme or NPS can now be totally tax-free at the time of withdrawal under certain conditions and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) had only urged the government to bring some parity in the tax treatment of different pension products it competes with, such as the employees’ provident fund (EPF)

• The government had introduced a tax on 60 per cent of EPF savings at the time of retirement in the Budget in a bid to make the NPS, savings under which were fully taxable at retirement, more attractive. At the same time, it made 40 per cent of NPS accumulations tax-free. While the EPF tax provision was rolled back last week, the partial tax break for NPS remains.

• Under the NPS framework, 40 per cent (of corpus) is mandatorily annuitised and that is tax free. Now, 40 per cent of the rest that may be withdrawn as a lump sum is also tax free. So if you annuitise 60 per cent of your balance (instead of 40 per cent), technically, yes, it’s tax-free (entirely)

• The pension fund regulator, under the administrative control of the Finance Ministry, conceded that the tax treatment of retirement savings has become a ‘tricky thing’, but asserted that it was not pitching for NPS to be made totally tax-free.

• The NPS which is now also referred to as the National Pension System, has 1.18 crore members, including state and central government employees. It has assets of over Rs.1.15 lakh crore. By contrast, the EPF organization under the Labour Ministry oversees assets over Rs.10 lakh crore.

India looks forward for BRICS meeting

• The government is preparing a list of priority projects for which investments could be sought from other BRICS nations

• The list of big projects, in addition to a proposal to set up a mechanism to expeditiously resolve non-tariff barriers (NTBs) that are hurting goods trade between BRICS member countries, will be taken up for discussion during the next month’s meeting of the grouping’s Contact Group on Economic and Trade Issues (CGETI).

• Investments would be sought for projects, mostly in infrastructure sector, from other member nations viz. Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa

• India is chairing the influential bloc BRICS for an 11-month term till December 2016. India’s list of projects will be similar to what Russia brought out during its term as the chair of the BRICS Group last year.

• India is also likely to put up a proposal at the CGETI meeting to boost services trade through relaxed visa norms. Besides, India will seek cooperation between BRICS countries on standards and technical regulations in goods and services trade.

• Russia and China are pitching for measures easing of norms to boost e-commerce trade. In another initiative, Russia and Brazil are demanding a mechanism to link the single window clearance mechanisms in the BRICS countries for better trade facilitation.

• India’s work on a list of projects in the country comes even as the BRICS New Development Bank has begun its process to select priority projects. These include in sectors such as renewable energy and infrastructure.

• India will also hold a trade fair and an investor forum to promote the government’s flagship schemes such as ‘Make In India’, ‘Digital India’, ‘Smart City Mission’, ‘Start-up India’ and the ‘National Mission for Clean Ganga’.

• These events -- meant to attract more investments from the BRICS countries into India -- could coincide with the next BRICS Summit (the eighth), slated for October 2016 most likely in New Delhi

Govt. clarifies rules on tax treatment of offshore funds

• A foreign hedge fund with an Indian fund manager working in India will neither be classified as having a business connection in India nor as being located in India.

• Under this regime, the fund management activity carried out through an eligible fund manager in India by an eligible investment fund does not constitute business connection in India of the fund and also does not lead to the residence of the fund in India

• Among the various other changes made, one of the most significant is that “where the investment in the fund has been made directly by an institutional entity, the number of members and the participation interest in the fund shall be determined by looking through the said entity

• The two big issues which are not addressed is that no single investor can invest more than 10 per cent in the fund and that the aggregate participation of 10 or less members has to be less than 50 per cent. In other words, 10 people cannot own more than 50 per cent of the company.

• However, it does not address two important issues, i.e. a single investor cannot own more than 10 per cent in the fund and 10 or less investors should own 50 per cent or less

:: SPORTS ::

GAYLE BEAT HIS OWN RECORD

• The onset of monsoon is still some months away, but Chris Gayle provided Mumbai with a ‘burst’ of a different kind
• Quite fittingly, his 48-ball 100 — the century brought up in 47 — ensured the West Indies won its Group 1 opener in emphatic fashion, by six wickets and with 11 deliveries to spare.

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