Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 17 February 2016

:: NATIONAL ::

Tax authorities have issued a reminder to Vodafone Group Plc asking the company to pay Rs. 14,200 crore of tax dues — that the U.K.-based firm has referred to international arbitration — or risk having its assets seized.
The government stated in 2014 that exist- ing tax disputes, including vodafone’s, would be resolved through existing judicial process.
The notice, dated February 4, to Vodafone International Holdings BV pertains to its 2007 acquisition of Hutchison’s 67 per cent stake in a telecom venture in India for $11 billion.
The deal was executed through companies that are not based in India.
The arbitration process does not stop the Tax Department from going ahead and seeking dues that it feels are legitimate tax demands, said a tax consultant.

The Supreme Court has directed the RBI to submit a list of companies which have defaulted on bank loans of over Rs. 500 crore.
The court also asked it to submit in six weeks the list of restructured loans.
Directing that the list be placed on record in a sealed cover, the court asked how State-owned banks and financial institutions were advancing huge loans without proper guidelines and whether there was adequate mechanism to recover them.

The board oftrustees of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has recommended an 8.80 per cent rate of return on Rs. 10 lakh crore of retirement savings for 2015-16.
The Finance and Investment panel of the EPFO board had earlier recommended a higher interest of 8.95 per cent on EPF savings.
There are as many as 8.5 crore EPF accounts.

Faced with an increased risk of seasonal drought and subsequent suicide by thousands of farmers every year, the Maharashtra government has roped in actor Aamir Khan to promote its flagship schemes in the sector of water and scarcity.
The actor is likely to be associated with the government’s ‘Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan’, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ flagship scheme, to make Maharashtra a drought-free State by 2019.
The programme aims to make 5,000 villages free of water scarcity every year. Mr. Fadnavis is likely to make an announcement in the regard along with the actor.
The actor would be asked to promote use of micro-irrigation system for efficient use of water, thereby increasing the irrigated area in the drought- prone regions.
The government has allocated Rs 1,000 crore for the scheme.

The first train from China’s trading hub of Yiwu has arrived in Tehran, signalling Iran’s firm integration in the Beijing led- Belt and Road connectivity initiative along the New Silk Road.
The train ferrying 32 containers completed its 14-day journey, covering over 10,399 km, after passing through the arid landscape of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in Central Asia.
Iran is currently in desperate need of investment for infrastructure construction.
However, as oil prices are low now, Iran’s revenue in this sector has seen sharp de- crease.
At the same time, China is promoting the belt and road initiative. Iran is expected to become one of the major participants of that initiative.

After notifying Congress of its intention to sell eight F-16 fighter planes to Pakistan, the Obama administration has quickly moved for Congressional approval for financing the deal under the country’s Foreign Military Financing (FMF) scheme.
U.S. administration proposes to pay the bulk of the $699 mil- lion cost of the deal while Pakistan is required to pay $200 million.
The administration’s request to Congress is for the first tranche of money, though the exact amount sought was not immediately known.
While the notification itself does not need a positive approval from Congress, spending by the administration requires legislative approval, which is not going to come easily.

With the Prime Minister's office setting a target to switch at least 90 per cent of all official transactions to paperless mode by the end of 2016, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley launched a new e-platform for non-tax receipts.
NTPC made the maiden payment on the portal developed by the Controller General of Accounts, by remitting Rs.989 crore as an interim dividend to the government.
The major sources of non-tax revenue for the government are from dividends paidby public sector companies,the Reserve Bank of India, etc.
During his previous year'sBudget speech, Mr.Jaitley hadsaid that one major way tocurb black money is to discourage cash transactions infavour of electronic transactions.

The Indian Railways has identified the first three projects to be taken up for development through the new build, operate, transfer (BOT) annuity model at an estimated cost of around Rs 2,450 crore.
The three targeted projects are developing third line between Nagpur and Wardha (both in Maharashtra), Kazipet (Telangana) and Balharshah (Maharashtra) and, Bhadrak and Nergundi (both in Odisha).
The total estimated cost of development of 357 km third line is around Rs 2450 crore.
The Railways has received Rs 14,000 crore worth investment commitments since 2014 after it introduced new models for projects through public-private partnership (PPP) model.
This is a sharp rise from roughly around Rs 4,000 crore investments generated in 2002-2012.
Under the BOT annuity model for rail projects, the private developer gets a revenue guarantee of 80 per cent of projected revenue at the time of bidding.
The developer gets a full right to revenue between 80 and 120 per cent and the Indian Railways do not take any share from it.

The closing ceremony at the India Gandhi Stadium brought the curtain down on the 12th South Asian Games.
Twelve days of competition saw action in 22 disciplines —15 in Guwahati and seven in Shillong — and the awarding of 789 medals to athletes representing the eight participating nations.
Nepal was introduced as the host of the 13th edition of the Games in 2018.
India finished its tally of medals at 308, with 188 golds, 90 silver and 30 bronze medals.
Sri Lanka and Pakistan took second and third position respectively.