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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 27 August 2014

Insurance Bill may be cleared by year-end

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has expressed hope that Parliament will pass the Insurance Bill for raising the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit to 49 per cent by the end of this year, the first major economic reform proposed by the Narendra Modi Government.
The UPA Government had originally proposed raising the FDI cap back in 2008 when it introduced the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill. However, opposition from political parties, including the BJP, did not allow the Bill to be taken up in the Rajya Sabha.
The Modi Government introduced a fresh Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill in Parliament earlier this month. It proposes a rider that management control rests in the hands of an Indian promoter alongside the eased FDI cap.
After the introduction of the Bill, the government moved 97 amendments because of which it could not be passed.

The Meerut Commissioner in his report on last month’s riots in Saharanpur has reportedly blamed the local BJP MP, Raghav Lakhanpal, for fanning tensions, besides accusing district authorities of not controlling the rioting mob.
The report of Meerut Commissioner Bhupendra Singh is almost identical to the findings of a Committee set up Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and headed by senior Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav that had come down heavily on the local MP and BJP workers for their role in the riots that left three dead and gutted hundreds of shops.

The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) has proposed rolling out a loan assistance scheme that will for the first time help transgenders and economically weaker sections to secure home loans in urban areas.
The Ministry has tweaked the existing Rajiv Rinn Yojna (RRY), which was launched as an instrument to aid the EWS (economically weaker sections) and LIG (lower income group) segments in urban areas, through enhanced credit flow and replaced it with a new scheme that will make it easier for the economically weaker sections and minority groups to own homes.
The RRY launched by the UPA government with much fanfare failed to take off and funds earmarked for it lapsed.
The Ministry has now not only given it a new name — HOMES (Home Owners Mortgage Equity Subvention Scheme) but has also made it more attractive by enhancing the loan amount and increasing the interest subsidy from 5 per cent to 5.5 per cent on loans granted to construct houses or extend the existing ones.