5-6 april 2015 eng
6 april
Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis won 2015 Miami Open Women's Doubles title
Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis, the Indo-Swiss women pair of Tennis, on 5 April 2015 won the Miami Open Tennis women's doubles title. In the title clash played in Miami, Florida, the duo defeated the Russian pair of Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova, 7-5, 6-1.
This was second consecutive team title for the Indo-Swiss pair. Earlier on 21 March 2015, Mirza and Hingis had won the Indian Wells Open.
Beside this, world number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia won the Men's Singles trophy of Miami Open. In the final clash, he defeated Andy Murray of Scotland 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-0. This was Djokovic's fifth Miami Open trophy.
Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams won the 2015 Miami Open Tennis Singles titles
Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams won the 2015 Miami Open Men’s and women’s singles titles of the respectively at Crandon Park Tennis Center in Miami, Florida.
Novak Djokovic of Serbia on 5 April 2015 beat the third seeded Andy Murray of Britain 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-0 to win his fifth Miami Open title.
In doing so, Djokovic became the first player to win at Indian Wells and Miami back-to-back for three consecutive years.
With this win, Djokovic and Murray have combined to win eight of the past ten Miami Open men’s titles.
Serene Williams of the US on 4 April 2015 defeated the twelfth seed Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-2, 6-0 to secure the title for eighth time.
With this win, Williams has won 66 singles titles, one behind Billie Jean King of the US.
Earlier, she recorded her 700th career match win in the quarter-finals by defeating Sabine Lisicki of Germany.
At present, both Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams are placed at the top spots in men’s and women’s singles rankings respectively.
India’s ace mountaineer Malli Mastan Babu died
Malli Mastan Babu, one of the top mountaineers of India, died on 4 April 2015. His dead body was recovered from Andes Mountains in South America, between Argentina and Chile, after he went missing on 24 March 2015. He was 40.
He went missing during his attempt to scale the Cerro Tres Cruces Sur Mountain, the second highest peak of Chile at 6749 meter.
Babu hailed from Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh and was the fastest seven summiteers in the world. That is, he was the fastest in world and the first Indian mountaineer to climb the seven summits of the world in record 172 days in 2006.Between 19 January and 10 July 2006, he scaled the seven summits of world, viz., Aconcagua (South America), Denali (North America), Elbrus (Europe), Kilimanjaro (Africa), Vinson Massif (Antarctica) Mt Everest (Asia), and Kosciuszko & Carstenz (Australia & Oceania)
He also was the first Indian mountaineer to summit the tallest peak in Antarctica, Mt Vinson Massif and was also the first person from Andhra Pradesh to scale the Mt Everest.
He is an alumnus of IIT-Kharagpur and IIM-Kolkata and in his 15 years mountaineering career he had climbed more than 150 mountains.
Prime Minister released a book titled Pre-Modern Kutchi Navigation Techniques and Voyages
Pre-Modern Kutchi Navigation Techniques and Voyages: Ashok B. Rajeshirke (Editor)
Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on 6 April 2015 released a book titled Pre-Modern Kutchi Navigation Techniques and Voyages transcribed and edited by Ashok B. Rajeshirke in New Delhi.
The book is an outcome of the collaborative effort by the National Museum, New Delhi and the Darshak Itihas Nidhi, a Foundation for Research and Studies in History.
The book is a depiction and transcription of Malam Ni Pothis, a collection of Gujarati manuscripts which describe the pre-modern navigation technology of Gujarat between the 17th and the 19th century. The book also describes expeditions undertaken by the Malams (navigators) of Kutch.
Pedro Cateriano Bellido appointed as 7th Prime Minister of Peru
Pedro Cateriano Bellido was appointed as the seventh Prime Minister of Peru on 2 April 2015. He was appointed by the President Ollanta Humala in a ceremony held at the Government Palace in Lima, Peru.
He replaced Ana Jara, who was sacked on 30 March 2015 after losing the vote of confidence in Congress. She was sacked by Peruvian Congress amid allegations of spying and corruption.
At the time of this appointment, 56-year-old lawyer Bellido was serving as Defence Minister of Peru. He was serving as Peru’s Defence Minister since July 2012
A lawyer by profession with specialisation in Constitutional Law, he served as an agent of the Peruvian State to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the Chavin de Huantar case in 2012.
From 2001 to 2002, he served as deputy Justice Minister and from 1990 to 1992 he was a member of the Parliament of Peru.
President promulgated Land Acquisition (Amendment) Ordinance 2015
President of India Pranab Mukherjee on 3 April 2015 promulgated the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015.
The Ordinance was being issued in place of the LARR (Amendment) Bill, 2015 and will replace the LARR (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014.
The (LARR) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015 incorporates nine amendments as approved by the Lok Sabha on 10 March 2015.
Apart from the nine amendments, it provides for mandatory employment to one member of family of farm labour affected by land acquisition. This provision did not exist in either the bill approved by the Lok Sabha or the LARR (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014.
Why re-promulgation of ordinance on land acquisition?
The re-promulgation had become necessary since the validity of the LARR (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014 promulgated on 31 December 2014 expired on 5 April 2015. As per Article 123(2)(a) of the Constitution, an ordinance shall cease to operate at the expiration of six weeks from the reassemble of Parliament.
However, during the first leg of the session ended on 21 March 2015 the ordinance was approved only by the Lok Sabha by incorporating nine amendments to the bill and could not get the assent of the Rajya Sabha within the six weeks period from the reassemble of the Parliament for Budget session on 23 February 2015.
Also, an ordinance can be promulgated by the President only when at least one houses of Parliament is not in session. In this case the Rajya Sabha was prorogued on 28 March 2015.
Hence, in order to provide for continuity, the President re-promulgated the Ordinance on the recommendations of Union Cabinet that on 31 March 2015 recommended for promulgation of fresh ordinance on land acquisition.
Comment
The LARR (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015 which came into effect on 5 April 2015 is the eleventh ordinance promulgated by the President since the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government came into power in May 2014.
Though the Constitution does not explicitly bar re-promulgation of Ordinances, the Supreme Court (SC) of India in DC Wadhwa vs State of Bihar case of 1986 declared Ordinance is essentially a power to be used to meet an extraordinary situation and they cannot be re-promulgated on a massive scale in a routine manner.
The SC also declared in the judgment that it has the power to adjudicate if the re-promulgation takes place to serve political ends of the ruling party and subverts the democratic process by not being introduced in the legislature for approval.
The list of 11 ordinances promulgated under the NDA government
1) The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014
2) The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014
3) The Textile Undertakings (Nationalisation) Laws (Amendment and Validation) Ordinance, 2014
4) The Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Ordinance, 2014
5) The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014
6) The Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Second Ordinance, 2014
7) The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Ordinance 2014
8) The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Ordinance, 2015
9) The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015
10) The Citizenship (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015
11) The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015
Narendra Modi launched National Air Quality index to monitor pollution level in 10 cities
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 6 April 2015 launched a National Air Quality Index (NAQI) to tackle the menace of air pollution. ThisNational Air Quality Index will provide information on the quality of air in 10 major cities in the country on a real-time basis.
The ten cities where the quality of air can be monitored are Delhi, Agra, Kanpur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Faridabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Ahmedabad.
Later the index will be extended to 22 State capitals and 44 other cities with a population exceeding one million.
The index was launched before the inauguration of the Conference of State Environment and Forest Ministers in New Delhi. The conference is being attended by state environment and forest ministers.
The national conference aims at consulting states on making changes in existing laws that govern environment and forest clearances.
Google signed strategic partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers to target Digital India projects
Online search giant Google on 5 April 2015 entered into a strategic partnership with consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers to target Digital India Projects and large enterprise deals.
With the Indian partnership, Google wants to push itself into large e-governance projects and improve the sales for its cloud services in India.
PwC has already built a 30-member team to look after such projects and is using its 1800-people technology team in India to develop industry-specific solutions built on Google platforms.
Google is already working with the government on several projects, including MyGov, the citizen engagement platform of the government of India, to launch a nationwide contest to build a mobile app.
While Google has been fairly successful in reaching out to small and medium businesses in India, it still finds the going tough when it comes to cracking projects at large corporations where its competitor Microsoft has a stronghold.
Microsoft in the end of March 2015 announced a similar partnership with KPMG to include a global collaboration to deliver new suites of innovative solutions and services in data and analytics, cloud compliance and transformation and business solutions.
Both Google and Microsoft have been aggressively trying to be a part of the 1.13-lakh crore rupees Digital India initiative that seeks to transform the country into a connected economy, attract investment in electronics manufacturing, and create millions of jobs and support trade.
DGCEI slapped 570 crore rupees excise duty fine against Cadbury India Limited
The Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI) on 5 April 2015 slapped 570 crore rupees excise duty fine against confectionery giant Cadbury India Limited.
The fine was slapped for allegedly evading excise duty by fraudulently taking exemption for one of its unopened production units in Himachal Pradesh.
DGCEI in 2011 had initiated a probe against the company for allegedly misusing area-based exemption for its new unit in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh even before it came into existence.
After its investigation, the DGCEI had slapped a show-cause notice to the firm demanding about 250 crore rupees against excise duty evasion.
The demand was contested and the central excise office of Chandigarh had issued an assessment-cum-demand notice to Cadbury India Ltd (now Mondelez India Foods Private Limited) upholding the demands raised by the DGCEI.
It has demanded from the firm 574 crore rupees towards alleged excise duty evasion-including 231.47 crore rupees for the period from July 2010 to January 2013, 111.36 crore rupees for the period from February 2013 to December 2013 and a penalty of 231.47 crore rupees.
Further, a penalty of one crore rupees has also been imposed against Anand Kripalu, former managing director of Cadbury India Ltd for allegedly violating central excise rules. In addition, penalties to the tune of several lakhs of rupees have been imposed on a few present and former employees of the company.
Upon the order, the company said that it is examining the Commissioner’s order and will challenge the same in appeal.
As per the Union Government norms, the area-based exemption for new industrial units of firms in Himachal Pradesh provide full exemption from excise duties for specified goods for a period of 10 years. However, for availing such exemption the unit should have been established before March 2010 to claim such exemption.
During investigation, the DGCEI officials had found that Cadbury India Ltd claimed excise duty exemption for its new unit in Sandoli village in Baddi relating to a period even before it came into existence.
According to a certificate of Department of Industries, Himachal Pradesh, the unit was established after 31 March 2010.