11-12 may
Rohan Bopanna, Florin Mergea won Men’s Doubles title of Madrid Tennis Open
Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea, the Indo-Romanian pair, on 10 May 2015 won the men’s doubles title of the Madrid Tennis Open.
In the summit clash played in Madrid, Spain, the duo defeated the Serbian-Polish pair of Nenand Zimonjic and Martin Matkowski 6-2, 6-7(5), 11-9.
For Rohan Bopanna, this is the third title of the 2015 season having won the titles in Sydney and Dubai along with the Canadian partner Daniel Nestor.
With the present win, the duo received 247560 euro pirze money along with their maiden title and earned 1000 ranking points each.
Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic won the women’s singles title of Madrid Tennis Open
Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic on 9 May 2015 won the Madrid Open women’s singles title in the final matches held in Madrid, Spain.
She defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 6-1, 6-2 to secure the title for the second time. She won her maiden title in 2011.
With the present win, she equals Serena Williams’ record of two titles in Madrid.
At present, Kvitova is ranked World No. 4 in Women’s singles category.
The men’s single title was won by Andy Murray of Britain who defeated Rafael Nadal of Spain in the final.
President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated Namaste Russia festival in Moscow
The President of India Pranab Mukherjee on 10 May 2015 inaugurated Namaste Russia festival in Moscow, Russia.
Features of Namaste Russia Festival
• It is intended to deepen engagement of Russians with contemporary and classical Indian culture by showcasing Indian Culture in Russia.
• As part of the festival, the Russian Ministry of Culture will support the initiatives of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) in sending Indian teachers of music and dance to regional centres in Russia from May 2015 to October 2015.
• Special emphasis will be on encouraging the participation of youth of both the countries in cultural exchanges.
• The logo for the festival was designed by a young Russian from the Russian town of Krasnoyarsk, who succeeded in an open competition participated by both Indians and Russians.
Andy Murray of Britain won the men’s singles title of Madrid Tennis Open
Andy Murray of Britain on 10 May 2015 won the Madrid Open men’s singles title in the final matches held in Madrid, Spain. He beat Rafael Nadalof Spain 6-3, 6-2 to win his second Madrid Open title.
With the present win, he has become the third player after Switzerland’s Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal to win at both the venues of Madrid Open.
Earlier, he had won the tournament in 2008 in the Casa de Campo.
For Murray, ranked World No. 3, the present title is his maiden Masters 1000 on a clay court.
The women’s single title was won by Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic on 9 May 2015.
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg of Germany won Spanish Grand Prix of Formula One
Mercedes racing driver Nico Rosberg of Germany on 10 May 2015 won the Spanish Grand Prix Formula 1 World Championship title by winning the final race held at Barcelona in Spain.
While his team mate Lewis Hamilton of Britain stood at the second position, Sebastian Vettel of Germany representing the Ferrari team stood at the third position in the race.
This is the ninth championship title for Rosberg in his Forumula 1 career and the first victory in the 2015 season having lost the four earlier races viz., Australian, Malaysian, Chinese and Bahrain Championships held in the season.
Sergio Perez (Mexico) and Nico Hulkenberg (Germany) of Force India were at the 13th and 15th positions respectively in the final race.
PM inaugurated upgraded IISCO Steel Plant in Burnpur housing largest blast furnace plant of India
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 10 May 2015 inaugurated the upgraded IISCO Steel Plant (ISP) in Burnpur, West Bengal. The ISP houses the largest blast furnace of India.
The ISP was modernised by the Union Government at a cost of 16000 crore rupees. After modernisation, the plant's production capacity has increased from 0.85 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 2.9 mtpa.
The revamped plant in Burnpur is spread across 953 acres. It is the fifth integrated steel plant of SAIL. Also, the new plant is equipped with the latest green technologies with zero emission.
The revamped plant has already achieved some major milestones, both in production and quality, since 2014. It has started operating the continuous casting plant, and the first batch of 8-mm thermo-mechanical treatment (TMT) bars was produced in January 2015. The company's reserves of iron ore are the largest in Asia.
The modernization will held India in attaining the target of producing 300 million tonnes of steel by 2025 to meet industry demand. Also, it will help SAIL in achieving the target of enhancing production capacity to 50 million tonnes by 2025.
Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO) was taken over by the Union Government in 1972 as part of a nationalisation drive and made a fully-owned subsidiary of SAIL in 1978. It was thereafter renamed ISP.
Discus thrower Vikas Gowda won Gold at Jamaican International Invitation meet
Ace Indian discus thrower Vikas Gowda on 10 May 2015 won Gold at Jamaican International Invitation meet. The meet was held in Kingston, Jamaica. He came up with an effort of 65.14m to win his event.
Chad Wright of Jamaica was second with a throw of 61.84m while Jared Schuurmans of United States was third with an effort of 61.62m.
Gowda, the reigning Commonwealth Games champion and Silver medal winnerof 2014 Asian Games, has thrown the discus over 65m three times in the last three weeks.
The 31-year-old national record holder first came up with a throw of 65.25m at Chula Vista on 24 April 2015 to qualify for World Championships in Beijing in August 2015.
The United States-based Indian is yet to qualify for next year's Rio Olympics for which he need to cross the qualifying standard of 66m. His national record stands at 66.28m.
Naval Base at Porbandar commissioned as INS Sardar Patel
The Naval establishment of Indian Navy at Porbandar, Gujarat was on 9 May 2015 commissioned as INS Sardar Patelby Anandiben Patel, Chief Minister of Gujarat. The commissioning ceremony was marked by traditional gaiety and naval precision.
As a part of the ceremony, the commissioning plaque was unveiled along with the marble bust of the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Ironman of India.
The commissioning of INS Sardar Patel will enable the Indian Navy to qualitatively augment its infrastructure and organisational effectiveness in Gujarat, which would improve coordination and synergy with other maritime agencies of Union Government.
This Forward Operating Base (FOB) of Indian Navy in Gujarat and the Headquarters of the Naval Officer-in-Charge (Gujarat, Diu & Daman) will also enhance the logistic support being provided to the Indian Navy units deployed in the Northern Arabian Sea, including International Maritime Boundary Line with Pakistan.
Commodore BR Prakash, who is the Naval Officer-in-Charge (Gujarat, Diu & Daman) is the first Commanding Officer of INS Sardar Patel.
MIDC signed a MoU with SIDBI Venture Capital Ltd to fund MSMEs
The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) on 9 May 2015 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with SIDBI Venture Capital Ltd to provide easy finance to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) for their growth.
Accordingly, both MIDC and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) Venture Capital jointly created funds of 200 crore rupees. Of the total amount, the MIDC contributed 75 crore rupees, while SIDBI provided the remaining amount of 125 crore rupees.
The reason behind this tie-up of MIDC and SIDBI Venture Capital is to make it easier for MSME to obtain loans from banks for their expansions or various business purposes. The rate of interest at which finance would be provided to the MSMEs is yet to be decided.
The MoU was signed by MIDC CEO Bhushan Gagrani and Ananta P Sarma, MD and CEO of SIDBI Venture Capital Ltd.
Veteran Bollywood actor Shashi Kapoor bestowed with Dada Saheb Phalke award
Veteran Bollywood actor Shashi Kapoor was on 10 May 2015 honoured with the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke award by Union Information and Broadcasting Minster Arun Jaitley at Prithvi Theatre, Mumbai. With this, Shashi Kapoor became the 46th winner of the award.
He was awarded for his outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema. He began his career as an actor as a child artist in the 1940s.
Shashi Kapoor is known for his performances in films like Jab Jab Phool Khile, Deewar and Kabhi Kabhie. Earlier, he has got the National Award for best actor for the film New Delhi Times in 1986, National Film Award – Special Jury Award / Special Mention (Feature Film) for Muhafiz (1993).
He was also awarded with the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi (as Producer) for Junoon in 1979. He has appeared in 160 movies all together, 12 being in English and the rest in Hindi. He was also honoured with the Padma Bhushan Award by the Union Government in 2011.
National Technology Day observed in India
11 May: National Technology Day
The National Technology Day was observed in India on 11 May 2015. Every year, National Technology Day is celebrated across India on 11 May to memorize the anniversary of Shakti, the Pokhran nuclear test held on 11 May 1998.
The day glorifies the importance of science in day to day life and motivates students to adopt science as the career option. Several events are organized in various engineering colleges and technical institutes to mark the occasion.
Lectures, competitions, quizzes, presentations and interactive sessions on different aspects of science are organized all over the planet. The day is important for scientists, engineers, planners and all others engaged in governance and nation building.
Moreover, the companies and individuals are awarded with National Technology Awards for adopting new technologies by the president of India.
Indian Army signed MoU with Bank of India on Defence Salary Package
Indian Army on 8 May 2015 signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Bank of India (BOI) on the Defence Salary Package.
The first MoU between BOI and the Indian Army was signed in 2011 and was valid for a period of three years. This revised MoU is customised to suit the requirements of serving soldiers, pensioners and families. Number of additional facilities was incorporated in the revised MoU after concerted efforts.
Highlights of the MoU
• This MoU will benefit a large number of serving and retired Army personnel who own their accounts with BOI.
• It will also provide them an opportunity to access modern banking facilities.
• It includes the standard bundle of free/concessional services including free drafts, free cheque books, free funds transfers to any bank in India through RTGS / NEFT, free ATM cards etc.
• Some additional features of this MoU are that the Personal Accident Insurance (PAI) cover is extended upto 10 lakh rupees from 5 lakh rupees.
• It provides for Air insurance, Home Loan Insurance on Army Welfare housing Organisation (AWHO) for deaths on account of war/external aggression/ terrorist attack for up to 50 lakh rupees.
• It provides applicability of PAI and overdraft facility to pensioners and waiver of merchant service fee (MSF) for transaction on BOI POS Terminal installed at CSD Canteens for BOI Card holders.
• It also has a provision for yearly review of specific features and requests.
Hollywood actress Elizabeth Wilson passed away
Veteran Hollywood actress Elizabeth Wilson passed away on 9 May 2015 following age-related illness at New Haven, Connecticut. She was 94. Wilson is survived by her sister Mary Muir Wilson and several nieces and nephews.
Elizabeth Wilson was famously known for her memorable film role as the mother of Dustin Hoffman's character, Benjamin Braddock, in Mike Nichols' 1967 film The Graduate. She made her Broadway debut in 1953 in Picnic.
After seeing the fame of Wilson's role in The Graduate, Mike Nichols casted her in his various films including Catch-22 (1970), The Day of the Dolphin (1973) and Regarding Henry (1991) and on Broadway in his 1973 revival of Uncle Vanya.
She also appeared in numerous productions including The Good Woman of Setzuan, Threepenny Opera, The Importance of Being Earnest, Morning's at Seven, You Can't Take It With You, Ah, Wildnerness! and the acclaimed 1996 revival of Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance.
She won Obie Awards for her work in Taken in Marriage in 1979 and Anteroom in 1986.
12 may
Union Finance Ministry appointed Justice AP Shah Committee to look into the issue of MAT on FIIs
The Union Ministry of Finance appointed a committee under the chairmanship of Justice Ajit Prakash Shah to look into the issue of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) on Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs).
The decision was announced by the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Rajya Sabha on 11 May 2015.
The committee was appointed to resolve the contentious issue of MAT between the tax authorities and the foreign investors.
As per the Finance Act, 2015 the 20 percent MAT on Capital Gains made by FIIs is waived off from the financial year 2015-16. However, the issue of imposing MAT for past years (till 2014-15) has become controversial as the FIIs raised objections to 68 notices (in lieu of 602 crores rupees) issued by the International Taxation Wing of the Income Tax Department in lieu of MAT.
At present, Justice A P Shah is heading the 20th Law Commission of India.
K Satish Reddy appointed as Chairman of National Safety Council (NSC)
K Satish Reddy, the Chairman of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd., was appointed as the Chairman of the National Safety Council (NSC). He was appointed by the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment on 11 May 2015.
As the chairman of the NSC, he will oversee its functioning in generating and developing initiatives on Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) at the national level.
He succeeded Venu Srinivasan, the Chairman of Sundaram-Clayton Group, who was appointed to the post in July 2011.
About National Safety Council (NSC)
• Its objective is to generate, develop and sustain a voluntary movement on Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) at the national level.
• The apex non-profit making body was set up by the Union Ministry of Labour on 4 March 1966 and was registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and the Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950.
• Its headquarters is located in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra.
Arun Pudur topped Wealth-X List of Asia’s Wealthiest Entrepreneurs Under 40
Arun Pudur, the owner and president of software firm Celframe, topped the Wealth-X List of Asia’s wealthiest entrepreneur under the age of 40 with an estimated net worth of 4 billion US dollars.
It was revealed by Wealth-X on 12 May 2015.
Pudur is a 37 year old native of Chennai and founded the software firmCelframe in 1998 which produces the world’s second most popular word processor after Microsoft.
He also has assets tied up in diversified businesses in the fields of mining and real estate and ranked 10th on a Wealth-X list of the world’s richest billionaires under 40 released in March 2015 that included Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and other technopreneurs.
Nine of the self-made billionaires on the Wealth-X top 10 list made their fortunes from the technology sector. The only exception is 35-year-old Zhang Bangxin from China, who made his wealth from tutoring services company TAL Education Group. Zhang’s estimated net worth of 2.2 billion US dollars puts him in the third spot on the list.
The youngest entrepreneur on the list is 32-year-old Leo Chen. He is the chairman and CEO of Jumei International Holding one of China’s largest online cosmetics retailers.
About Wealth-X
Wealth-X is a reputed agency on wealth intelligence, providing sales, marketing, strategy and compliance solutions to clients in the financial services, luxury, not-for-profit and education sectors. It has operations in 10 locations including Singapore, London and New York. Its award-winning research and thought leadership are regularly cited by the world’s media such as CNBC, Financial Times, Thomson Reuters and BBC.
PM launched Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) in Kolkata
PM Narendra Modi on 9 May 2015 launched Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) in Kolkata, West Bengal. The scheme is intended to provide for life insurance cover to the eligible subscribers.
Key Features of PMJJBY
• It provides for an annual life insurance of 2 lakh rupees and covers death due to any reason.
• A premium of 330 rupees per annum is paid by the subscribers to enroll in the scheme.
• People in the age group of 18 to 50 years having a bank account are eligible to join the scheme.
• It will be administered through Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and other Life Insurance companies willing to offer the product on similar terms with necessary approvals and tie ups with banks for this purpose.
• The coverage period is of one year duration starting from 1 June to 31 March of the succeding year.
• The Union Government will spend 50 crore rupees per annum between 2015 and 2020 for creating awareness about the PMJJBY and thePradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) launched on the same day to provide insurance cover for disabilities due to accidents.
PM Narendra Modi launched Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) for accidental Insurance Cover
PM Narendra Modi on 9 May 2015 launched Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) in Kolkata, West Bengal.
It is an Accident Insurance Scheme (AIS) offering death and disability cover on account of an accident.
Key Features of Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY)
• It provides for the risk coverage of 2 lakh rupees for accidental death and full disability and 1 lakh rupees for partial disability due to an accident.
• It is available to people in the age group of 18 to 70 years having a savings bank account.
• The coverage period is of one year duration starting from 1 June to 31 March of the succeeding year.
• A premium of 12 rupees per annum is paid by the subscriber which will be deducted from the account holder’s savings bank account through auto debit facility in one installment on or before 1 June of each annual coverage period.
• The product will be offered by Public Sector General Insurance Companies (PSGICs) and other General Insurance companies willing to offer the product on similar terms with necessary approvals and tie up with banks for this purpose.
Asiatic lion population in Gir sanctuary increased to 523: Lion Census report 2015
The number of Asiatic lions in Gir sanctuary of Gujarat increased to 523, according to 2015 Lion census report released in the first week of May 2015. This 14th lion census registered 27 percent increase in the number of Asiatic lions compared to 2010 census which had registered 411 Asiatic lions.
As per recent census, there are 201 female lions, 109 male lions and 213 sub-adults as well as cubs in Gir sanctuary and in other protected areas in Gir Somnath, Junagadh, Amreli and Bhavnagar districts of Saurashtra region of Gujarat.
268 lions were sighted in Junagadh district and 44 lions in the Gir-Somnath district while 174 lions were sighted in Amreli district and 37 lions in Bhavnagar districts.
The lions’ habitat area almost doubled since 2010 and has considerably increased to 21000 square kilometers.
The 2015 Lion census exercise was carried out from 1 May to 5 May 2015. The lion population was registered using Global Positioning System (GPS) in case of direct sighting or direct contact methods.
The census was conducted by more than 2 thousand persons. It included 600 units of enumerators, government officials, trackers, wildlife experts, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Background
Asiatic lions, which were once found in Syria, Iran, the sub-continent and in Central Asia, are an endangered species. Now, they are found only in the Gir sanctuary and its surrounding areas. They are categorized as endangered species in International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red list.
The first lion census was carried out in 1936 by the erstwhile princely state of Junagadh when the lion population was around 287. During the 1975 census, their number stood at 177. The 1990 census counted 234 lions and in 2001 their number increased to 327.
Lion census is carried out after every 5 years by Gujarat state forest department.
KV Kamath appointed as first President of New Development Bank of BRICS nations
Eminent banker Kundapur Vaman Kamath was on 11 May 2015 appointed as the first President of the New Development Bank (NDB) of BRICS nations. He will serve a five year term after the bank becomes operational within one year.
Currently, Kamath is the Chairman of the India’s largest private sector bank, Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI). He was ICICI Bank’s managing director and CEO from 1996 to 2009.
Kamath also served as Chairman of Infosys Limited. He had also worked with Asian Development Bank (ADB), Manila in its Private Sector department in 1988. He was conferred with Padma Bhushan Award in 2008.
About New Development Bank (NDB) of BRICS nations
• BRICS group of nations comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa in 2014 signed a pact to set up NDB and emergency reserve fund during the 6th BRICS Summit being held in Fortaleza, Brazil.
• In the beginning, bank will start operating with 50 billion US dollars as initial capital with the BRICS nation contributing 10 billion US dollars each.
• According to the pact, the capital of the bank will be divided equally among the five participating nations and initially it will focus on infrastructure projects member countries.
• The headquarters of the bank will be located in Shanghai, China and it will have a regional office in Johannesburg, South Africa.
• The chairmanship of the bank will be rotational and its first President will come from India for the first 5 years followed by Brazil and Russia.
PM Narendra Modi launched Atal Pension Yojana (APY) for unorganised sector workers
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 9 May 2015 launched Atal Pension Yojana (APY) in Kolkata, West Bengal.
The scheme is intended to enhance old age income security of the working poor and is focused on encouraging and enabling them to join the National Pension System (NPS). It will be operational from 1 June 2015.
Key Features of Atal Pension Yojana (APY)
Operational Framework: It is a Government of India Scheme and is administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). The institutional architecture of NPS would be utilised to enroll subscribers under scheme.
Eligibility: All citizens in the unorganised sector, who join the NPS administered by the PFRDA and who are not members of any statutory social security scheme are eligible to benefit under the scheme.
The minimum age of joining is 18 years and maximum age is 40 years. All the existing subscribers of Swavalamban Scheme would be automatically migrated to APY, unless they opt out.
It is expected that around two crore subscribers would be enrolled during the financial year 2015-16 under the scheme.
Benefits: The subscribers would receive the fixed pension, as guaranteed by the Union Government, of 1000 rupees per month, 2000 rupees per month, 3000 rupees per month, 4000 rupees per month, 5000 rupees per month, at the age of 60 years, depending on their contributions, which itself would vary on the age of joining the scheme.
The pension would also be available to the spouse on the death of the subscriber and thereafter, the pension corpus would be returned to the nominee.
Funding:The Government would co-contribute 50 percent of the subscriber contribution or 1000 rupees per annum, whichever is lower, for a period of 5 years starting from 2015-16, who join the NPS before 31 December 2015 and who are not Income Tax payers. The government would also reimburse the promotional and development activities including incentive to the contribution collection agencies to encourage people to join the scheme.
The Government expenditure is expected to range between 2520 crore and 10000 crore rupees on account of co-contribution to subscribers of the APY over a period of five years. Further, an expenditure of 2000 crore rupees for promotional and developmental activities for enrolment and contribution collection is allocated for period of five years.
Enrolment agencies: All Points of Presence (Service Providers) and Aggregators under Swavalamban Scheme would enroll subscribers through architecture of NPS.
Comment
In India, workers in the unorganized sector constitute 88 percent of the total labour force of 47.29 crore, as per the 66th Round of National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) Survey of 2011-12, but do not have any formal pension provision. Hence, in order to address the longevity risks and encourage them to voluntarily save for their retirement the Union Government had launched the Swavalamban Scheme in 2010-11.
However, enrollment under the scheme is not encouraging due to lack of clarity of pension benefits at the age after 60 years. So, in order to address the lacunae in the Swavalamban Scheme the APY was launched.
US-based company mGage acquired Unicel Technologies
Global mobile multi-channel messaging platform mGage on 11 May 2015 acquired Bengaluru-based counterpart Unicel Technologies. However, the deal value was not disclosed by both the companies.
With this acquisition, mGage will gain a strong foothold in enterprise mobile marketing and mobile CRM market in India. As a combined organisation, mGage will enable more than 60 billion transactions annually.
Both mGage and Unicel firms help banks to notify customers via SMS alerts about their transactions, enable insurance companies send payment reminders, or assist e-commerce firms to send text messages regarding shipment, delivery or cancellation.
About mGage
The mGage multi-channel platform serves more than 1000 bluechip brands, enterprises and partners through a network of more than 800 mobile operators around the world.
It serves both traditional brand marketers as well as customer care organisations within the enterprise. It offers messaging features with retargeting capabilities including SMS, voice, email, USSD, push notifications and OTT.
About Unicel Technologies
Unicel is a mobile messaging company providing integrated cloud communications solutions across SMS, voice, USSD and e-mail platforms in India.
Founded by Vinay Agarwal in 2003, Unicel currently employs around 100 people and has a client base of over 1000 enterprises across India including various Fortune 500 brands.
Nikesh Arora appointed as President of Japan’s SoftBank Corp.
Indian-born Nikesh Arora was on 11 May 2015 appointed as the President of Japan’s multinational telecommunications and internet company SoftBank Corp.
As per the announcement made at the company’s earning conference, he will also be the Representative Director of SoftBank Corp.
Before the present elevation, he had been the Vice Chairman of the company and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SB Group US, Inc. (former SoftBank Internet and Media, Inc.) since September 2014.
He succeeds Masayoshi Son, Chairman and CEO of the Softbank Corp.
Earlier, Arora worked in Google for 10 years and left the company as the Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer before joining SoftBank Corp. in 2014.
President authorized Justice Cyriac Joseph to act as interim NHRC Chairperson
President Pranab Mukherjee on 11 May 2015 authorized Justice (retd) Cyriac Joseph to act as the interim chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
He will act as the Chairperson of the Commission with effect from 13 May 2015. He will act as Chairperson until the appointment of a new Chairperson in the NHRC in place of Justice K.G. Balakrishnan. Currently, Justice Cyriac Joseph is a Member of NHRC.
Former NHRC chairperson K.G. Balakrishnan had completed his tenure on 11 May 2015. He was the sixth NHRC chairman and the longest serving one.
Justice Balakrishnan had joined as NHRC chairperson in June 2010 after his retirement as the Chief Justice of India.
During his tenure, Justice Balakrishnan was instrumental in charting out several new initiatives towards promotion and protection of human rights in the country and laid a lot of emphasis on increasing the outreach of the Commission to build awareness about human rights.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India is an autonomous public body constituted in October 1993 under the Protection of Human Rights Ordinance of September 1993. It was given a statutory basis by the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.
The NHRC is the national human rights institution, responsible for the protection and promotion of human rights.
Hyderabad to host Indo-Global Pharma Expo and Summit 2015 in July
Hyderabad will host the four-day Indo-Global Pharma Expo and Summit 2015 that is scheduled to be held on 24 July 2015. The announcement was made by P V Appaji, Director-General of Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) on 11 May 2015.
The theme of Indo-Global Pharma Expo and Summit 2015 will beInnovation and Advances. The event will deliberate on a range of issues, from pharmaceutical technology to education, indigenous drugs and drug regulatory affairs, besides serving as a platform for joint ventures and project collaboration.
Renowned pharmaceutical experts will be addressing the Summit. The summit will be organised by Indus Foundation in association with FTAPCCI and OMICS group.
Indian-origin Priti Patel appointed as Minister of State for Employment in British Government
Indian-origin Priti Patel on 11 May 2015 was appointed as Minister of State for Employment in British Government.
Prime Minister David Cameron promoted Priti Patel to his Cabinet after his surprise victory in general elections.
As the new minister of state for employment in the Department of Work and Pensions, the 43-year-old will attend Cabinet as the senior-most Indian-origin member of the newly-elected British government.
Priti Patel is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Witham constituency in Essex since 2010.
Priti Patel is Gujarati by origin. In January 2015, she was awarded the Jewels of Gujarat honour at a reception in Ahmedabad, where she led a British delegation to the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2015.
She also played host at the first-ever Gujarat Foundation Day in the House of Commons, celebrating the achievements and contributions of the Gujarati community in the UK and around the world in May 2014.
Lok Sabha passed Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of Tax) Bill 2015
Lok Sabha on 11 May 2015 Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of Tax) Bill 2015. The Bill was passed by voice vote.
Highlights of the Bill are as follow
Scope: The Act will apply to all persons resident in India. Provisions of the Act will apply to both undisclosed foreign income and assets (including financial interest in any entity).
Rate of tax: Undisclosed foreign income or assets shall be taxed at the flat rate of 30 percent. No exemption or deduction or set off of any carried forward losses which may be admissible under the existing Income-tax Act, 1961, shall be allowed.
Penalties:Violation of the provisions of the proposed new legislation will entail stringent penalties.
The penalty for non-disclosure of income or an asset located outside India will be equal to three times the amount of tax payable thereon, i.e., 90 percent of the undisclosed income or the value of the undisclosed asset. This is in addition to tax payable at 30%.
Failure to furnish return in respect of foreign income or assets shall attract a penalty of 10 lakh rupees. The same amount of penalty is prescribed for cases where although assesses have filed a return of income, but he has not disclosed the foreign income and asset or has furnished inaccurate particulars of the same.
Prosecutions: The punishment for willful attempt to evade tax in relation to a foreign income or an asset located outside India will be rigorous imprisonment from three years to ten years. In addition, it will also entail a fine.
Failure to furnish a return in respect of foreign assets and bank accounts or income will be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term of six months to seven years. The same term of punishment is prescribed for cases where although the assessee has filed a return of income, but has not disclosed the foreign asset or has furnished inaccurate particulars of the same.
The above provisions will also apply to beneficial owners or beneficiaries of such illegal foreign assets.
Abetment or inducement of another person to make a false return or a false account or statement or declaration under the Act will be punishable with rigorous imprisonment from six months to seven years. This provision will also apply to banks and financial institutions aiding in concealment of foreign income or assets of resident Indians or falsification of documents.
Safeguards: The principles of natural justice and due process of law have been embedded in the Act by laying down the requirement of mandatory issue of notices to the person against whom proceedings are being initiated, grant of opportunity of being heard, necessity of taking the evidence produced by him into account, recording of reasons, passing of orders in writing, limitation of time for various actions of the tax authority, etc.
Further, the right of appeal has been protected by providing for appeals to the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, and to the jurisdictional High Court and the Supreme Court on substantial questions of law.
To protect persons holding foreign accounts with minor balances which may not have been reported out of oversight or ignorance, it has been provided that failure to report bank accounts with a maximum balance of up to 5 lakh rupees at any time during the year will not entail penalty or prosecution.
Other safeguards and internal control mechanisms will be prescribed in the Rules.
One time compliance opportunity: The Bill also provides a one-time compliance opportunity for a limited period to persons who have any undisclosed foreign assets which have hitherto not been disclosed for the purposes of Income-tax.
Such persons may file a declaration before the specified tax authority within a specified period, followed by payment of tax at the rate of 30 percent and an equal amount by way of penalty. Also, such persons will not be prosecuted under the stringent provisions of the new Act.
India Post launched Dedicated E-Commerce Centre in New Delhi
India Posts on 11 May 2015 launched a dedicated E-Commerce Centre in New Delhi to cater the e-commerce business enterprises. It was launched by Union Communication and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad at Safdarjang, New Delhi.
This project was implemented by Department of Posts through Delhi Postal Circle. This processing centre will exclusively handle all the e-commerce business. It is capable of handling 30000 parcels (articles) per day.
It will also facilitate collection of parcels from the e-commerce customers by processing and dispatching them within 24 hours to respective destination. For this purpose the centre will use quickest available transportation facility like flight or trains.
The leading e-commerce customers Yepme, Amazon, Snapdeal, Paytm etc are already using this newly established e-commerce Centre for processing their e-commerce parcels.
Pop artist Chris Burden passed away
Renowned Pop artist Chris Burden passed away on 10 May 2015 following melanoma disease at his home and studio in Topanga Canyon, California. He was 69.
Trained as a Minimalist, Burden began his career by making art that employed the most minimal materials possible. His most famous early works were Shoot (1971), in which a confederate shot him in the arm with a rifle from about 15 feet away.
In another work Trans-fixed (1974), Burden had made himself nailed Christlike, over the hump of a Volkswagen Beetle. In For Through the Night Softly (1973), he crawled through a 50-foot-long pile of broken glass in his underwear, with his hands tied behind his back.
Burden did a string of performances that were focused on endurance, pain, and anti-social behavior, and marked him as one of his generation’s leading artists.
Burden was born in Boston on 11 April 1946.
RBI advised all Public Sector Banks to appoint Internal Ombudsman
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 11 May 2015 advised all public sector banks (PSBs) to appoint internal Ombudsman. This internal Ombudsman will be designated as Chief Customer Service Officer (CCSO)and it should not have worked in the bank in which it has been appointed as CCSO.
The objective of this initiative is to further boost the quality of customer service and to ensure that there is undivided attention to resolution of customer complaints in banks.
The internal ombudsman will be a forum available to bank customers for grievance redressal before they can even approach the Banking Ombudsman.
Besides, it also asked some private sector and foreign banks to appoint such Ombudsman. These are ICICI Bank Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd., Axis Bank Ltd., Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., IndusInd Bank Ltd., Standard Chartered Bank, Citi Bank N.A. and HSBC Ltd. These banks have been selected on the basis of their asset size, business mix, etc.
Banking Ombudsman Scheme
The RBI introduced the Banking Ombudsman Scheme (BOS) in 1995 to provide an expeditious and inexpensive forum to bank customers for resolution of their complaints relating to deficiency in banking services provided by commercial banks, regional rural banks (RRBs) and scheduled primary co-operative banks.
Under the BO Scheme a total of 27 grounds of complaints/deficiencies in bank services are covered. RBI operates the BOS, free of cost, so as to make it accessible to all.