Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 01 March 2016

:: NATIONAL :: (BUDGET SPECIAL)

Rural India and Poor are at the Centre of Union Budget

Dispelling all notions about the NDA government being a ‘Suit boot ki Sarkar’ in his third Budget, government dedicated it to farmers, the poor and vulnerable sections of society.
Union budget also raised taxes on the incomes of the super-rich and introducing new cesses on services and cars to fund farmer welfare projects and infrastructure, respectively.
Mr. Jaitley’s budget for 2016-17 attempted to address the distress in the rural economy that has hit demand creation and new investments, with enhanced outlays of nearly Rs. 2.75 lakh crore for programmes in the social sector, farmer welfare and the rural sector.
FM said “Our initiatives in the last 21 months have not only placed the economy on a faster growth trajectory but have bridged the trust deficit, created by the previous Government.”
He also said government had to work in an unsupportive global environment, adverse weather conditions and an obstructive political atmosphere.
Despite higher expenditure owing to the 7th Central Pay Commission and the one rank one pension norm for defence forces, the Finance Minister chose to stick to the fiscal consolidation road map he outlined last year and set a 3.5 per cent of GDP target for 2016-17.
The government will infuse a capital of Rs.25,000 crore this financial year into state- owned banks, which are reeling under the burden of bad loans.

One time four month compliance window for domestic black money holders

The government has decided to open a one-time, four-month compliance window for domestic black money-holders.
This gesture is intended to help them come clean by paying tax and penalty of 45 percent.
Capability of the tax department to detectevasion had improved be- cause of increased access to information and the availability of technology-driven analytical tools to process such information.
The compliance window will enable one to declare undisclosed income or income represented in the form ofany asset, and clear up past tax transgressions by paying tax at 30 per cent, a surcharge of 7.5 per cent and a penalty of 7.5 per cent.
The surcharge at 7.5 per cent will be called Krishi Kalyan surcharge, and the money thus raised will be used for agriculture and rural economy.
There will be no scrutiny of money declared, either under the Income-Tax Act or the Wealth Tax Act.
And the declarants will have immunity from prosecution. They will also get immunity from the Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Act, 1988, subject tocertain terms.
The compliance window, named Income Disclosure Scheme, will open on June 1. It will be open till September 30.

After revelations by Home Secretary Home ministry to re-look at Ishrat Jahan case

The Ministry of Home Afairs (MHA) has decided to re-examine the Ishrat Jahan files, amid allegations by the former Home Secretary G.K. Pillai that the affidavit citing the Mumbra woman’s allegiance to terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was changed at the political level.
Mr. Chidambaram said on Monday that he “accepted responsibility for the affidavit” and “it is disappointing that the Home Secretary who was equally responsible wanted to distance himself today.”
The then UPA government had submitted two affidavits — one claiming that the four who were killed in an alleged fake encounter were terrorists and the second saying there was no conclusive evidence to prove they were — within two months in 2009.

SC wants centre’s response to practice of triple talaq

The Supreme Court on Monday admitted a petition filed by a woman to declare the practice of triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy under Muslim personal laws as illegal, unconstitutional, and violative of the rights to equality, dignity, life and freedom of religion under the Constitution.
The petitioner said “Practice of polygamy is not an integral part of Islam, and polygamy has been recognised as injurious to pub- lic morals.”
The practices under challenge, which practically treat women like chattel belonging to men, are neither harmonious with the modern principles of human rights and gender equality nor an integral part of Islamic faith.
Ms. Bano said many Islamic nations, including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Iraq, have banned or restricted such practices, while they continue to vex not only Indian Muslim women but also the society at large, not- withstanding that the Muslim community of India has itself been clamouring for reform and ban of oppressive practices that have no basis in Islam or the Holy Quran.

Various provisions to take care of middle class: FM

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday asserted that the budget will take care of the people’s fear of taxation.
The proposed extension ofthe simplified presumptive taxation regime to professionals including lawyers, doctors, architects and who report total gross receipts of less than Rs. 50 lakh under which profits will be deemed to be 50%, will further reduce the compliance burden of the middle class.
The increased rent deduction from Rs. 24,000 to Rs. 60,000 and the higher ceiling for tax rebate under Section 87A from Rs. 2,000 to Rs.5,000, he said, are all relief and benefits for the middle class.

Budget looks after manufacturing sector

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced several proposals in the Union Budget 2016-17 to boost the government’s Make in India (MII) initiative.
To help start-ups innovate, generate employment, Mr.Jaitley proposed to back them through 100 per cent deduction of profits for three out of five years for start-ups set up during April 2016 to March 2019.
In another initiative, Mr. Jaitley chose to follow advanced nations and proposed to grant foreign investors ‘Residency Status’ subject to certain riders.
Currently, these investors are granted business visa only up to five years at a time.
To strengthen the MII initiative, there was an allocation of Rs.1,804 crore towards the scheme for Investment Promotion and Amended Technology Upgradation Fund.
Changes were proposed in Customs and Excise Duty rates on certain inputs, raw materials, intermediaries/components and other goods while several procedures were simplified.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced a record budgetary allocation of Rs. 2.21 lakh crore for infrastructure sector, in a crucial move to revive investments in the sector with the participation of the private players.
The roads sector alone has been allocated Rs. 97,000 crore as the government plans to award 10,000 kilometres of new road projects in FY17, including Rs. 19,000 crore earmarked for rural roads under the Pradhanmantri Gram Sadak Yojna.

FDI reforms will improve ease of doing business index

To facilitate ease of doing business for foreign investors and their domestic recipients, the Union Budget 2016-17 has proposed liberalisation of foreign direct investment (FDI) norms in a host of sectors.
These include insurance, pension, Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARC), stock exchanges, marketing of food products, listed Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE) except banks and areas governed by financial sector regulators, falling beyond the 18 specified NBFC activities.
This the second time such ‘big bang’ FDI reforms are being announced by the government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In November last year, the Centre had similarly eased norms across 15 sectors, including defence, private sector banking, construction, single brand retail, broadcasting and civil aviation to boost investment sentiment and attract more foreign capital into the country.
Following these reforms and the Make in India initiative, FDI during April-December 2015 in FY’16 was up 40 per cent year-on-year to $29.5 billion.
To help banks and financial institutions (FI) address the problem of huge bad loans, the FY’17 Budget has proposed 100 per cent FDI in ARCs through automatic route.
ARCs play a crucial role in resolution of non-performing assets by acquiring them from banks and FIs.
The FY’17 Budget also proposed that foreign portfolio investors will be allowed up to 100 per cent of each tranche in securities receipts issued by ARCs subject to sectoral caps.
The government has also proposed to allow 100 per cent FDI through FIPB route in marketing of food products produced and manufactured in India.

:: INTERNATIONAL ::

Sri Lanka’s Northern Province CM looks for India’s help in Constitution

Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Northern Province C.V. Wigneswaran called upon India to ensure that the spirit behind the 13th Constitutional Amendment be retained in the new Constitution.
The 13th Amendment, an outcome of the 1987 India-Sri Lanka accord, is the “only document” through which India could function as the “guarantor” of interests and rights of Tamils in Sri Lanka.
Mr. Wigneswaran had said India alone could get “defect-free federal system.”

WhatsApp to end support for BlackBerry

Messaging service provider WhatsApp will end its support by the end of this year to BlackBerry phones and those powered by Nokia’s Symbian operating system.
The Facebook-owned company has over a billion users globally. A major chunk of these users are from emerging markets like India.
Mobile operating systems offered by Google, Apple and Microsoft, account for 99.5 per cent of sales today.