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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 12 July 2014

Budget 2014 Highlights-

Government announced in its Budget a technology-driven second green revolution with emphasis on higher productivity and a “protein revolution.”
A Kisan TV channel will be launched for providing real-time information on new techniques, water conservation and organic farming.
The agri-tech fund will be used to make farming competitive and profitable, develop agro-technology and modernise existing agri-business infrastructure.
Two more institutions on the lines of the Indian Agriculture Research Institute, Pusa, will be set up in Assam and Jharkhand.

Finance Minister offered a tax sop for homeowners by extending the additional tax incentive on home loans.
A sum of Rs. 4,000 crore has been earmarked for National Housing Bank with a view to increase the flow of cheaper credit for affordable housing to the urban poor.
Slum development has been added to the list of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities.
Government announced 100 smart cities, which will be enabled with the latest technology like wi-fi connectivity and infrastructure and will have concepts such as sustainability, walking spaces and specialised domains.

Government proposed hiking the foreign direct investment limit in insurance and defence sectors to 49 per cent, with full Indian management and control, through the FIPB (Foreign Investment Promotion Board) route.
Government also proposed Rs. 5,000 crore hike in defence allocation over the previous interim budget.
Mr. Jaitley also announced that Rs. 1,000 crore were being earmarked for strategic railway projects in border areas.

Union Budget 2014 has given importance to fast-tracking highways and improving the road infrastructure.
Proposal of investment in National Highways Authority of India and State roads of an amount of Rs. 37,880 crore which includes Rs. 3,000 crore for the North East.
Mr. Jaitley also proposed setting up of an institution, called 3P India, with a corpus of Rs. 500 crore to provide support to mainstreaming PPPs.
Mr. Jaitley proposed to develop an additional 15,000 km of gas pipeline systems in the country using appropriate PPP models.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will shortly announce the role that Planning Commission is going to play in his government
The Independent Evaluation Office(IEO), which was set up for assessing the effectiveness of government programmes and institutional policies, recommended that the Planning Commission’s role as an allocator of resources to the states should be taken up by the Finance Commission and the allocation of resources amongst the Central Ministries should be carried out by the Finance Ministry.
IEO had also said that Planning Commission acted as a ‘control commission’ and should be replaced by a ‘reforms and solution body’.

IIP grew at 4.7 per cent in May, a 19-month high.
The growth is mainly on the back of recovery in the output of manufacturing, mining and electricity production and capital goods.
Manufacturing, which constitutes over 75 per cent of the index, grew 4.8 per cent in May against 3.2 per cent decline in output a year ago.

Extending a formal invitation to Mr. Modi for a visit to the US, President Barack Obama has expressed keenness to work closely with him.
He also expressed interest to make the bilateral relations a “defining partnership” in the 21st century.
Mr. Obama’s letter of invitation was handed over to Mr. Modi by Deputy Secretary of State William Burns.

Heading a five-judge Constitution Bench, Chief Justice R.M. Lodha said, All death sentence-related appeals — filed and pending — in the Supreme Court will be heard by a three-judge Bench from August 16.
At present such appeals are heard by a two-judge Bench unless a reference is made for hearing by a three-judge Bench.

Astronomers have used a new type of telescope made by stitching together telephoto lenses to discover seven new dwarf galaxies.
Their Dragonfly Telephoto Array uses eight telephoto lenses with special coatings that suppress internally scattered light, This makes the telescope uniquely adept at detecting the very diffuse, low surface brightness.
The previously unseen galaxies may yield important insights into dark matter and galaxy evolution
These are the same kind of lenses that are used in sporting events like the World Cup.