(Current Affairs) National Events | February: 2017

National Events

Banks cu t lending rate after demonetisation

  • State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender, has reduced its marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) by a whopping 90 basis points.
  • Among the steepest interest rate cuts in a long time, the move is aimed at boosting loan growth, which has fallen to a multi-decade low.
  • MCLR is the benchmark rate to which all loans are linked. A percentage point equals 100 basis points (bps).
  • According to a statement issued by the SBI, its one-year MCLR would be 8 per cent as compared with 8.9 per cent earlier. Home and auto loans of most banks, including SBI, are linked to their respective one-year MCLRs.
  • Existing loans linked to the MCLR will be impacted when they are re-priced. MCLR has been in effect from April 1 and had replaced the base rate.

Centre will deposit Rs. 2,000 crore into the bank accounts of refugees from PoK

  • The Centre will deposit Rs. 2,000 crore into the bank accounts of 36,000 Hindu refugees from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
  • The compensation package for the Hindu refugees was announced by PM Modi last year, and it got the clearance from the Union Cabinet in December. These refugees migrated to Jammu and Kashmir in 1947, 1965 and 1971.
  • Currently, violent protests have erupted in the Valley against domicile certificates being issued by the State government to 19,000 west Pakistan refugees, who came to India after Partition, but are yet to be given any voting rights or financial package.
  • The west Pakistan refugees have been demanding a similar package, but the previous Omar Abdullah government had vehemently opposed the move.
  • However, packages for PoK refugees were cleared by the Union Cabinet on November 30 and the “resettlement fund” will be disbursed once the figures and data of refugees are compiled.
  • The Home Ministry has sought bank account details of all the families from the State government as it intends to transfer the money directly into their accounts instead of giving it to the State government.
  • This is for the first time that the Centre has allocated Rs. 2,000 crore for providing relief instead of setting up a State-Centre committee first to examine their demands.

Deposits in Jan Dhan accounts doubled during Demonetisation

  • Deposits in Jan Dhan account have more than doubled to Rs. 87,000 crore in 45 days post demonetisation, prompting the tax department to “dissect” information relating to such deposits.
  • Besides, the tax department also has data on small cash deposits between Rs. 30,000-50,000 made in 4.86 lakh accounts totalling to Rs. 2,000 crore.
  • Between November 10 and December 23, 2016, the total deposits reported is Rs. 41,523 crore in 48 lakh accounts.
  • This, together with the total deposits of Rs. 45,637 crore as on November 9, takes the aggregate amount in Jan Dhan accounts to over Rs. 87,100 crore.
  • Cash deposit between Rs. 30,000 and Rs. 50,000 have been reported in 4.86 lakh accounts till November 30, taking the total deposits in such quantum to Rs. 2,022 crore.

Supreme Court removed BCCI president

  • Noting that its diktats are not “written in sand” and are meant to be complied with, the Supreme Court stripped BCCI president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke of their posts.
  • SC ordered them to “forthwith cease and desist” from associating themselves with Indian cricket’s most powerful body.
  • A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud declared Mr. Thakur and Mr. Shirke “unfit” to continue at the helm of the BCCI for their “obstructionist” attitude.
  • The BCCI bosses not only made “unfortunate comments” about the Lodha panel in public but also ended up hurting the dignity of the Supreme Court with their attitude, it noted.
  • Besides, the court found Mr. Thakur prima facie guilty of both contempt of Supreme Court proceedings and perjury (fabrication of false evidence), adding that such a person does not deserve to continue as BCCIpresident.

Service charge payment made optional

  • Consumer have the discretion to not pay ‘service charge’ ad- ded to your bill by any hotel/ restaurant.
  • Consumer Affairs Department asked the State to advise hotels/restaurants to prominently display that “the service charges are discretionary/voluntary and a consumer dissatisfied with the services can have it waived.”
  • This follows several com- plaints that hotels and restaurants are charging service charge in the range of 5-20per cent, in lieu of tips, which a consumer is forced to pay irrespective of the kind of service provided, the department said.
  • It said the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, provides that a trade practice which, for the purpose of promoting the sale, use or supply of any goods or for the provision of any service, adopts any deceptive method is to be treated as unfair.
  • The department said a consumer can make a com- plaint to the appropriate forum established under the Act against such unfair trade practices.

Appeal for votes on the basis of religion amounts to corruption

  • Terming religion a very private relationship between man and his God, a seven-judge Bench of the Supreme Court.
  • In a majority judgment, held that an appeal for votes during elections on the basis of religion, caste, race, community or language, even that of the electorate, will amount to a ‘corrupt practice’ and call for disqualification of the candidate.
  • “Election is a secular exercise and therefore a process should be followed… The relationship between man and God is an individual choice and state should keep this in mind,” the Supreme Court held in a majority judgment of 4:3.
  • The court was interpreting the pronoun ‘his’ used in Section 123 (3) of the Representation of the People Act.
  • The provision mandates that it would amount to a‘corrupt practice’ if a candid- ate or his agent or any other person, with his consent, appeals for votes on religious or such grounds.
  • The question referred to the Constitution Bench led by CJI T.S. Thakur on a batch of poll petitions was whether the word ‘his’ only meant a bar on appeals made in the name of the candidate or his rival or his agent or others in his immediate camp.
  • Or, does the word also extend to soliciting votes on the basis of the religion, caste, community, race, language of the electorate as a whole.

PM underlined the need to inculcate the concept of scientific social responsibility

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi has underlined the need to inculcate the concept of ‘scientific social responsibility,’ akin to corporate social responsibility, to connect the leading institutions with all stakeholders, including schools and colleges.
  • The idea is to create an environment for sharing of ideas and resources by providing opportunity to the brightest and best of brains in every corner of India to excel in science.
  • Delivering the 104th Indian Science Congress on Sri Venkateswara University campus, on the theme ‘Science and Technology for national development’, Mr. Modi announced all form of support to the scientific and research organisations.
  • He in turn, told scientists to leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the fruits of science reached the marginalised sections of society.
  • Pledging his government's support to building a strong S&T infrastructure that is accessible to academia, start-ups, industry and R&D labs, the Prime Minister sought to address the problems of ease of access, maintenance, redundancy and duplication of expensive equipments.
  • In this connection, he mooted the idea of establishing professionally-managed centres in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode to house high-value scientific equipment. Mr. Modi exhorted national laboratories to establish a ‘connect’ with schools and colleges to develop appropriate training programmes.
  • Referring to the constraints involved in securing and completing research projects, he indicated the need to ensure ‘ease of doing science’ as an empowering factor for scientific delivery.

Samajwadi party’s symbol to be decided by EC

  • A day after Mulayam Singh staked claim to the Samajwadi Party symbol “bicycle,” the Akhilesh Yadav camp representative Ramgopal Yadav met Election Commissioners and maintained that a majority of the party members supported him.

  • The Election Commission (EC) later received a written representation on the Akhilesh camp’s claim, confirming that it was contesting Mr. Mulayam Singh’s assertions.

  • Mr. Yadav, submitted before the Commission that the real Samajwadi Party was the one of which Akhilesh had been elected national president.

  • Both the groups have staked claim to the symbol and therefore the Commission will now ask them to produce documentary evidence to prove their stand. It will also examine the party’s constitution to determine whether procedures were followed.

  • However, the final test will be the numbers in the organisational and legislative structures. In the Sadiq Ali case, the Supreme Court has held that the test of majority applied by the EC to settle a dispute of this nature is valid and relevant.

  • Defying his father’s directions, Mr. Akhilesh Yadav had issued a separate list of candidates for the coming Assembly elections.

  • As claimed by the Akhilesh group, 220 of the 229 legislators have supported him. It is learnt that their signatures have also been taken to be produced before the Commission. As the EC is expected to announce the poll schedule for Uttar Pradesh and four other States in a couple of days, it may not have enough time to decide the dispute. Thus, in all likelihood, the Samajwadi Party symbol will be frozen till the issue is settled.

Union budget to be presented away from convention

  • Departing from convention, the Union Budget will be presented in Parliament on Feb 1, a month earlier than the usual, and the Economic Survey will be tabled on Jan 31, the same day President addresses the joint Houses of Parliament.
  • Presided over by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs met, and recommended the decision to the President.
  • The first part of the Budget session will run from January 31 to February 9. The Union Cabinet had earlier decided to end the practice of a separate Railway budget.
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold an all-party meeting just before the session to discuss poll reforms.

Justice Khehar sworn in 44th CJI

  • Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, the seniormost judge of the Supreme Court, was sworn in as the 44th Chief Justice of India by President Pranab Mukherjee.
  • Justice Khehar will have a tenure for over seven months till August 28, 2017. He assumed office as a judge of the Supreme Court on September 13, 2011.
  • On his first day in office, Justice Khehar presided over courtroom one with Justices N.V. Ramana and D.Y. Chandrachud flanking him.
  • Justice Khehar is known for his firm and decisive approach to cases.
  • His appointment comes at a time when the relationship between the government and the judiciary remains tense over an unprecedented number of judicial vacancies (400) in the HCs and eight in the SC.

A new hurdle has come in the way of the Ken-Betwa river interlink project

  • A new hurdle has come in the way of the marquee Ken-Betwa river interlink project in its terms of financing.
  • The NITI Aayog has recommended that Madhya Pradesh contribute 40 per cent of the project cost, with the Centre contributing 60 per cent.
  • The Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) has opposed this and requested that 90 per cent of the funds be routed through the Centre.
  • A lack of clarity on the funding pattern could mean more delays to the Rs. 10,000-crore project that would be the first ever inter-State river interlinking project.
  • The project was given a go-ahead by the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) at a meeting chaired by Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Anil Madhav Dave, last August.
  • A separate committee that determines forest clearance to such projects, is yet to take a call.
  • This will be the first time that a river project will be located within a tiger reserve.
  • The Rs. 10,000-crore Ken-Betwa project will irrigate the drought-prone Bundelkhand region but, also submerge about 10 per cent of the Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, feted as a model tiger conservation reserve.
  • The main feature of the project is a 230-km long canal and a series of barrages and dams connecting the Ken and Betwa rivers that will irrigate 3.5 lakh hectares in Madhya Pradesh and 14,000 hectares of Uttar Pradesh in Bundelkhand.

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