10/18/2018
1st February, 2011 to 28th February, 2011
1.The Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements are mandatory for all investors, irrespective of the amount invested. What is KYC?KYC means Know Your Customer. The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, requires every intermediary to have a client identification programme with a KYC policy, which means knowing your customer by seeking information and supporting documentation about the customers identity and address, besides such other information as nationality, income source, occupation etc. Where andhow does one get to be KYC – complaint? The Association ofMutual Funds of India has facilitated a centralized platform through CDSL Ventures Limited (CVL). CVL, through its points of service (POS), will accept KYC application forms, verify documents and provide the KYC acknowledgement. Once the KYC is duly completed, the investor would have to produce a copy of the acknowledgement when investing for the first time with a fund. Who needs to be KYC compliant ? Any individual (s) or non-individual(s) applying for units in a mutual fund. Any individual(s) constituted as Power of Attorney holder(s). Each of the applicants, in case of an application in joint names; Guardian investing on behalf of a minor. If an individual becomes an investor due to an operation of law, e.g. transmission of units upon death of an investor, the claimant will be required to be KYC – complaint before such transfer can take place.
2.The National Knowledge Network- an ambitious government project that aims to connect knowledge, research and scientific institutions in India on a high speed, low latency network- will link-up over 550 institutions by March-end. At present, the mega network has over 200 institutions including various IITs, connected to it. Ultimately, the NKN- with its multi-gigabit capability – will connect over 1,500 institutions spanning universities, research facilities, labs, medical and agricultural institutions in the country. The NKN also enables its user institutions to access high-performance computing to conduct advanced research to conduct advanced research in weather monitoring and earthquake engineering. It facilitates sharing of scientific databases and remote access to advanced research facilities. Further NKN infrastructure can be leveraged for testing and validation of services, including test of new hardware, software and vendor interoperability.
3.According to the World Health Organisation, every year about 2.5 million people die from alcohol related diseases all over the world, accounting for 3.8 per cent of total deaths. Alcohol related heart disease, cancer, accidents and suicides contribute to these deaths. Further, alcohol causes loss of 69.4 million Disability Adjusted Life Years ( DALYs) annually in the world. (One DALY is “one lost year of healthy life”) Alcohol abuse is more or less a universal problem. There is hardly any effort to discourage the consumption all over the world. Neither are there any statutory warnings. Alcohol (ethanol ) is a drug and may be classified as a sedative, tranquilliser, hypnotic or
1st February, 2011 to 28th February, 2011
anesthetic depending upon the quantity consumed. It is the only drug whose self induced intoxication is socially acceptable. Consumption of alcohol is legal in many societies and its abuse is a societal problem.
4.The Central Information Commission (CIC) has said service details of a public servant are not confidential and can be provided to a RTI applicant.
5.According to the gender budgeting statement analysis by Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA) per capita allocation for women increased from Rs. 410 in 2007-2008 to Rs. 1,000 in 2009-10 and to Rs. 1,200 in last years Budget. The per capita allocation is considered to be meagre as it is only 6.1 per cent of the total budget or Rs. 1200 per women per annum. It is argued that this is not even enough to feed a woman for a month let alone help her survive for 12 months.
6.Census 2011 began on February 9th 2011. It is considered to be the biggest ever Census attempted in the History of mankind to enumerate the country’s 1.2 billion population and would be conducted across 35 States and UnionTerritories. All citizens would be counted, according to their gender, religion, occupation and education. For the first time, enumerators would collect such information as ownership of mobile phones, computers and the Internet, computers and the Internet, having treated or untreated drinking water facility and banking services. They would also seek additional information for the creation of the National Population Register (NPR). The cost of Census is expected to be Rs. 2,200 crore and it would cover all citizens living in 7,742 towns and 6 lakh villages in 640 districts. The Census is considered to be the most cost effective as the cost of enumeration per person would be Rs. 18.33. About 2.7 million people will engaged in this exercise. For the first time all persons above the age of 15 years would be photographed and finger printed to create a bio-metric national data base. Once this data is generated it would be sent to the Unique Identification Authority of India for duplication and generation of UID number and for the issue of identity smart card.
7.The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has completed 5 years since its enactment. The achievements are : Employment provided to 4.1 crore households in 2010-11 upto December 2010. Personadays generated since inception 879 crore. Women participation : 410 crore persondays (47%) SC participation : 245 crore persondays (28%) ST participation : 214 crore persondays (24%) Total Central release since inception : Rs. 112861.16 crore Total expenditure on wages since inception Rs. 74677 crore around 70%. Average wage per personday increased from Rs. 65 in 2006-07 to around Rs. 100 in 2010-11. Total works taken up in 2010-11 are 68 lakh : 50% works related to water, 12% works on individual land owned by SC/ST/BPL/ Small and Marginal farmers and Land Reform and IAY beneficiaries, 21% works on Rural Connectivity and 13% works on land development.
1st February, 2011 to 28th February, 2011
8.The CBI has arrested Former Telecom Minister A. Raja and Former Telecom Secretary Siddhartha Behera on charges of violating established guidelines and procedures in the allotment of Unified Access Services licenses in 2007-08.
9.The Egyptian Military has takeover the administration from President Hosni Mubarak.
10.British composer John Barry, known for providing the Sound Track to James Bond Films and winner of 5 Academy Awards passed away.
11.The Election Commission has drawn an exhaustive plan of action to tackle the problem of money power in the coming Assembly elections in 4 States and the Union Territory of Puducherry.
12.India Posts is commemorating the Worlds First Airmail. On February 18th, 1911 the First Air Mail was launched between Allahabad and Naini.
13.The Comptroller and Auditor General of India is conducting an enquiry on a deal between the Indian Space Research Organisation and Bangalore based Devas Multimedia. According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the total requirement of Spectrum in the next 5 years would be of the order of 500 to 800 MHz.
14.The Central Statistical Organisation has revised growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for 2009-10 to 8.0 per cent from the previous 7.4 per cent due to robust growth in manufacturing and services sector.
15. Railway Minister Ms.Mamata Banerji presented the Railway Budget.
HIGHLIGHTS OF RAILWAY BUDGET 2011-12
No hike in passenger fare and freight rates. Rs. 9,583 crore for new lines. 1300km new lines, 867 km doubling of lines & 1017 km gauge conversion targeted in 2011-12. A new portal foe e-ticketing to be launched shortly. Booking charges will be cheaper with a charge of only Rs. 10 for AC classes and Rs. 5 for others. 236 more stations to be upgraded as Adarsh Stations. Two new passenger terminals in Kerala and one each in U.P. and West Bengal proposed. Feasibility study to raise speed of passenger trains to 160-200 kmph to be undertaken. Anti Collision Device sanctioned to cover eight Zonal Railways. GPS-based ‘Fog Safe’ Device to be deployed. The eligibility criteria for manning level crossings have been lowered from 6,000 train vehicle units to 3,000 TVUs. All India Security Helpline on a single number set up. A Bridge Factory in J & k and a state-of-the-art Institute for Tunnel and Bridge Engineering is proposed at Jammu. A Diesel Locomotive Centre will be set-up in Manipur. A scheme for socially desirable projects, ‘Pradhan Mantri Rail Vikas Yojana’ with non-lapsable found, proposed. 10,000 shelter units proposed for track side dwellers in Mumbai, Sealdah, Siliguri, and Tiruchirapalli on pilot basis.
1st February, 2011 to 28th February, 2011
Concession to physically handicapped persons to be extended pm Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains. Concession of 50% to press correspondents with family increased to twice a year. Medical facilities extended to dependent parents of the Railway employees. Scholarship for girl child of Group-D railway employees increased to Rs. 1200 a month. 20 additional hostels for children of railway employees to be set up. Recruitment for 1.75 lakh vacancies of Croup ‘C’ and ‘D’ including to fill up backlog of SC/St, initiated; 16,000 ex-servicemen to be inducted by March 2011. Separate sports cadre planned. 2011-12 declared ‘Year of Green Energy’ for railways.
16.The Finance Minister Mr.Pranab Mukherji presented the pre–budget ECONOMICSURVEY. The Economic Survey 2010-11 has advised the government to carry out nearly a dozen reforms pertaining to various sectors of the economy and stressed that action in this regard would be necessary to achieve the 9 per cent GDP (gross domestic product) expansion projected for 2011-12 and further acceleration in economic growth in the years to come.
Drawing up the broad contours of the ‘Reform agenda’, the Survey tabled in Parliament on Friday by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee noted that policy reforms were required to bring about better convergence of schemes to avoid duplication and leakages to ensure that the intended benefits reach the targeted groups.
Other major reform initiatives suggested include streamlining of environment clearance for infrastructure projects, the need for an early introduction of GST for “ efficient taxation” of goods and services and the dire necessity of a second ‘Green Revolution’ with technological break-through in the farm sector.
Expressing concern over delays in execution of projects owing to tussles between ministries such as coal and power in cases where the Ministry of Environment and Forest has raised certain policy issues, the Survey suggested an “urgent need to streamline land acquisition and environment clearance for infrastructure projects”. In this regard, it also called for creation of a National Forest Land Bank with clear paper work and title to reduce the approval time for forest clearance.
The Survey pointed to the need for higher contribution of the farm sector in overall economic development, especially with regard to checking food inflation, and asked the government to work towards a second Green Revolution as it could help the farming community to devise ways to reduce dependence on the monsoon. Prioritisation of targeted development of rain-fed area and effective marketing links should be ensured for better returns to the farmers, it said.
Stressing the need for huge capacity addition in infrastructure in a time-bound manner, the Survey said there was a need to explore avenues for increasing investment in this core sector through PPPs (public-private partnerships) and occasionally exclusive private investment, wherever possible. In the social sector, the Survey called for private
1st February, 2011 to 28th February, 2011
sector participation in areas such as health and education in the form of ‘public –social private partnership as this could be one of the possible alternatives for supplementing the ongoing efforts of the government.
With regard to the much-acclaimed Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the Survey suggested further improvement such as shifting to permanent asset building and infrastructure development activities, reduction in transaction costs, better monitoring and extension of the scheme to urban areas.
17. Major Mitali Madhumita became the first woman officer to receive a Gallantry award (Sena Medal) in the Army.
18. The Government has set up a 30 member Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the 2G spectrum issue. 20 members would be from the Lok Sabha and 10 members from the Rajya Sabha.
19. The Jamia Millia Islamia University (established in 1920) has been granted the status of a minority institution. This will allow the University to reserve upto 50% seats for Muslims.
20. The Finance Minister Mr.Pranab Mukherjee presented the Union Budget 2011-12 the salient features of the budget are:
Direct TaxExemption limit for individual taxpayers raised from Rs.1.6 lakh to Rs.1.8 lakh, giving uniform tax relief of Rs.2,000. Exemption limit raised for senior citizens from Rs.2.4 lakh to Rs.2.5lakh; the qualifying age for the rebate reduced from 65 to 60. Higher exemption limit for Very Senior Citizens (80 years and above) at Rs. 5 lakh. Current surcharge of 7.5% on domestic companies to be reduced to 5%. Rate of Minimum Alternate Tax to be increased from 18% to 18.5% of book profits. Tax incentives extended to attract foreign funds for financing of infrastructure. Investment -linked deduction to businesses developing affordable housing. Net revenue loss of Rs.11,500 crore estimated as a result of these proposals. Additional deduction of Rs.20,000 for investment in long-term infrastructure bonds to be extended for one more year.
Indirect Tax To stay on course for transition to Goods and Services Tax. Central Excise Duty to be maintained at standard rate of 10%. Normal Central Excise Duty of 1% imposed on 130 items entering the tax net. Lower rate of Central Excise Duty enhanced from 4% to 5%. Optional levy on branded garments or made-ups proposed to be converted into mandatory levy at a unified rate of 10%. Peak rate of Customs Duty held at its current level. Basic Customs Duty reduced for specified agricultural machinery from 5% to 2.5%. Basic Customs Duty on micro-irrigation equipment reduced from 7.5% to 5%. Rate of Export Duty for all types of iron ore raised and unified at 20% ad valoram. Full exemption from Export Duty to iron ore pellets. Basic Customs Duty on two critical raw materials of cement industry, namely petcoke and
1st February, 2011 to 28th February, 2011
gypsum, to be reduced to 2.5%. Full exemption from basic Customs Duty and concessional rate of Central Excise Duty extended to batteries imported by manufacturers of electric vehicles. Concessional Excise Duty of 10% to vehicles based on fuel cell technology. For LED lights, Excise Duty reduced to 5% and special Counter Vailing Duty being fully exempted. Basic Customs Duty on solar lanterns reduced from 10% to 5%. Relief measures for raw pistachio, bamboo for agarbati, lactose for the manufacture of homoeopathic medicines, sanitary napkins, baby and adult diapers.
Service Tax Standard rate of Service Tax retained at 10%, while seeking a closer fit between present regime and its GST successor. Hotel accommodation above Rs.1,000 a day and service provided by air-conditioned restaurants that have licence to serve liquor included for levying Service Tax. Tax on all services provided by hospitals with 25 or more beds with central air-conditioning facility. Service Tax on air travel raised by Rs.50 for domestic sector and Rs.250 for international sector in economy class. In higher classes, it will be 10% flat. Services provided by life insurance companies in the area of investment, and some more legal services proposed to be brought into tax net. Proposals relating to Service Tax estimated to result in net revenue gain of Rs.4,000 crore.
Proposals Direct Taxes code to be finalized for enactment during 2011-12; to be effective from April 1,2012. Areas of divergence between Centre and States on proposed GST narrowed. Government to move towards direct transfer of cash subsidy for people in BPL category in a phased manner for better delivery of kerosene, LPG and fertilizers. Task force set up to work out modalities for the proposed system. Rs.40,000 crore to be raised through disinvestment of Public Sector Undertakings. Government committed to retaining at least 51% ownership and management control of Central Public Sector Undertakings. Women’s SHGs (Self- Help Groups) Development Fund to be created with corpus of Rs.500 crore. Housing loan limit under priority sector lending raised to Rs.25 lakh. Approval being given to set up 15 more Mega Food Parks. To boost infrastructure development, tax-free bonds of Rs.30,000 crore proposed to be issued by government undertakings. National Food Security Bill to be introduced in Parliament this year. Allocation for Bharat Nirman programme up by Rs.10,000 crore from Rs.58,000 crore. Plan to provide Rural Broadband Connectivity to all 2.5 lakh panchayats in three years. From April 1,2011, remuneration for Anganwadi workers increased from Rs.1,500 to Rs.3,000 a month and for Anganwadi helpers from Rs.750 to Rs.1,500 a month. Financial help for Metro projects in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai.
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