Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 08 February 2015


Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 08 February 2015


:: National ::

Despite high maternal mortality, India records drop in fertility

  • India, which is unlikely to achieve the fifth Millennium Development Goals (MDG-5) of reducing maternal mortality to 109 per 1,00,000 live births by 2015, is however, confident of meeting the target for lowering the total fertility rate (TFR) by the end of the 12th Plan.

  • A reduction in the TFR rates in nine of the 11 high-focus States has given Health Ministry officials reason to believe that the family planning programmes are on the right track and that the unmet need for contraception is also declining.

  • India hopes to bring down the TFR to 2.1 by the end of 2017 with nine of the 11 high-focus States registering a decline of 0.05 per cent. As per the data collected by the Ministry, 24 States and Union Territories have already achieved the replacement fertility level of 2.1 or less.

  • Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Sikkim, Mizoram and Punjab already have a TFR of less than 2.0; only Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have a higher TFR of 3.1 and 3.3 respectively.

  • India has committed to spend $2 billion to provide family planning services to 48 million additional women and sustain the current coverage of over 100 million users till 2020.

:: International ::

Doval, Yang work on formulations to resolve boundary row (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: Business & Economy ::

Black money in stock markets: SEBI to suspend shell companies

  • Cracking its whip on entities using stock markets for evading taxes and laundering black money, watchdog SEBI has decided to suspend trading in listed companies that are found to be used by such manipulators.

  • The capital markets regulator has identified three parameters for taking action against such companies and the trading would be suspended in the shares of those entities that satisfy more than one of the criteria.

  • In its probe into various such cases, SEBI found huge share price rally in shares of the companies that existed only on paper and did not even exist on the addresses mentioned in their regulatory filings, while preferential allotment has emerged as a major route for laundering of illicit funds.

  • The modus operandi typically involves stock market dealings aimed at evading capital gains tax and showing the source of income as legitimate from stock markets. SEBI found a typical pattern in trading of shares of these companies. First, the shares would be allotted on preferential basis to certain connected entities, price would be pushed higher without any fundamental move, followed by an exit being given to these investors and the shares would be sold back to the company or related entities raking in huge profits.

  • Such huge profits were made in stocks where fundamentals or financials of the companies did not justify the price.

  • A large number of small NBFCs and brokers are already under SEBI’s scanner for having facilitated illicit transactions worth thousands of crores of rupees over the past two-three years, sources said.

:: Sports ::

Anirban Lahiri wins Malaysian Open (Register and Login to read Full News..)

Click Here to Register for Full News

Click Here for Archive

Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

This is a Part of Online Coaching Programme for IAS Exam