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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 21 June 2014

Supreme Court to get 3 new judges

President Pranab Mukherjee has cleared the elevation of the Chief Justices of Calcutta and Orissa High Courts Arun Mishra and Adarsh Kumar Goel, respectively, and senior lawyers Rohinton Nariman as Supreme Court judges.
Earlier this week, the Law Ministry sent the file to the President after removing the name of the former Solicitor-General Gopal Subramanium. The Centre returned his name to the collegium headed by Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha for reconsideration.
The warrant of appointment is expected to be issued next week to enable them to assume office when the court reconvenes on June 30 after the summer holidays. With their appointment, the strength of judges in the court will go up to 28, as against the sanctioned 31. However Justices B.S. Chauhan and S.K. Prasad are due to retire in July; the Chief Justice on September 27; and Ms. Justice Ranjana Desai on October 29.

Suggesting uniform tax treatment for all investors, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairman U. K. Sinha, said the government needed to come out with a detailed policy on the matter to remove the existing ‘anomalies’ in the bond market.
At present, tax rates vary for entities making investments in bonds.Mr. Sinha said the more difficult issue pertained to tax treatment or the withholding tax for investors in bond market.
Noting that there were ‘certain anomalies’, the SEBI chief said the level of withholding tax for an FII investing in infrastructure bonds was different from that of others.
Emphasising that procedures had been simplified for the corporate bond market, he said SEBI was in dialogue with industry to encourage them to come out with more issuances.At present, $10 billion is the maximum investment limit allowed for entities such as sovereign wealth funds in government securities.
On e-voting facility for shareholders, Mr. Sinha said listed companies had to follow SEBI norms. Recently, the Corporate Affairs Ministry extended the time till December this year for companies to mandatorily have e-voting facility under the new Companies Act.

Foreign investment of 10 per cent or more in a listed company will now be treated as foreign direct investment (FDI) as the government has accepted the report of a committee on rationalising definitions of FDI and FII.
The Finance Ministry in a statement said the government had accepted the report of the committee headed by Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram.
It said an investor may be allowed to invest below 10 per cent and “this can be treated as FDI subject to the condition that the FDI stake is raised to 10 per cent or beyond within one year from the date of the first purchase“.
If the stake is not raised to 10 per cent or above, then the investment can be treated as portfolio investment.
Among various recommendations, the panel has suggested that foreign investment in an unlisted company, irrespective of the threshold limit, may be treated as FDI.

Kanyashree Prakalpa, a West Bengal government scheme that provides scholarship to girls from economically-backward backgrounds, has been given international recognition by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) and UNICEF. State representatives have been invited to the Girl Summit 2014 in London, in June, and to talk about the scheme to a global audience.
The conditional cash transfer scheme for school girls was inaugurated by the Trinamool Congress government on October 1, 2013, with the express purpose of ensuring the education of girls and thereby preventing forced child marriage.
Under the scheme, the government provides an annual scholarship of Rs. 500 to girls between 12 and 18 years (class eight to class 12) to continue with their studies, provided they are unmarried. A one-time grant of Rs.25,000 is also provided to the girl, once she reaches the age of 18, to pursue higher studies.

Ukraine’s military waged new battles with pro-Moscow rebels who rejected Kiev’s unilateral ceasefire, while the government raised alarm over the Kremlin’s decision to put troops across Russia on combat alert.
The resurgence of violence in the 11-week insurgency threatening to splinter the ex-Soviet nation came as Washington slapped sanctions on top separatist leaders and warned the Kremlin against sending forces into Ukraine.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared unfazed as he ordered units from the Volga to western Siberia to conduct snap military drills.
The militia used sniper fire and grenade launchers to strike a base in Donetsk.