1. Ques. What is Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act? (FATCA)
Ans. FATCA It is a legislation put forward by the US Government to make sure that foreign financial institutions sign up with the Internal Revenue Service of the USA to provide information to the US about American individuals who may be accountable to their home tax laws.
If any institution does not comply with the instructions of the FATCA, a 30% tax withholding will occur on all payments coming from the US to that institution.
Earlier SEBI said that the entities that have American clients will have to register after an Inter Governmental Agreement has been signed however on 30th December, SEBI said the 1 January deadline is not postponed and the institutions have to register themselves with IRS within one day. So the institutions have registered themselves without a formal IGA leading to confusion.
2. NITI Aayog is comprised of Regional Councils which will look into specific area requirements. It will have two part time members from renowned institution and 4 to 5 full time members (exact number still not known).
3. India has 10500 MW installed capacity in geothermal sector. India is expected to add 600 to 1200 GW by 2050.
4. Former CMD of Axis Bank, Mr. P J Nayak Committee recommendations have been accepted and implemented by the Government to segregate the post of CMD in Chairman plus Managing Director in public sector banks.
He had spoken at Gyan Sangam gathering organized by Finance Ministry in Pune on 2nd January 2015 to discuss banking sector reforms.
However his recommendation has not been accepted in the way it was said to do. The original recommendation was a three stage process.
Stage 1- Entrust the Selection of non official directors to BBB – Banks Boards Bureau which is a body comprised of senior former bankers.
Stage 2 – The tenure of director should be restricted upto a certain limit and rules for cooling off period before reappointment should be introduced.
State3- Reserve Bank of India directors should step down from the banks boards.
After the above 3 steps have been taken the step of segregating the CMD post in two different posts will be efficient and effective but the Government has skipped the above three steps before executing the final recommendation.
5. BK Manish Vs the state of Chhattisgarh over the discretionary power of the Governor. The Chattisgarh HC gave the decision that Governor has to act according to the advice of the State Cabinet. The decision has been challenged in the Supreme Court and verdict is yet to come.
6. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar embraces Buddhism on 14th Oct. 1956 which was Buddha’s 2500th birthday.
7. In the 1980’s the share of Agriculture and allied sector to the GDP was around 55% however in 2009 in came down to 21%. In the same period the share of livestock in agriculture and allied sector grew from 18% to 23%.
8. Goat rearing is one of the most lucrative career option for poor in India especially in the semiarid and arid regions of the country like Rajasthan where production of crops through agriculture is very difficult due to hot climate and less rains.
9. At current prices livestock sector contributes 25.6% in agriculture and allied activity sector and overall it contributes 4.11 percent of the GDP in 2012-13.
10. Huge difference between the livestock census and NSSO data has been found.
11. The National Draft Health policy 2015 says that the government spending on health will increase to 2.5% of GDP in next 5 years which will be somewhere near to Rs. 3,800 per capita. Currently it is Rs. 957 per capita (1.04% of GDP). The national programme making health a fundamental right covers maternal ailments, 25% of communicable diseases and a limited number of non communicable diseases. It is important that more diseases are brought under the purview of the National Health policy.
Health is a state subject and for making this national program a success it is important that nation wide implementation of this program should be done for which the cooperation of states is necessary so a broader political will is required.
This draft is open for public comments and suggestion till 28th February.
12. Nepal to join Silkroad Economic Belt and will be connected with Tibet through the railway line
13. Natya Kala Acharya award has been conferred upon Bharatanatyam veteran danseuse Leela Samson for 2015.
14. Urbanization globally depends on the criteria of various countries to define it. Officially India is 31% urban but if we are going to include small dwellings/villages which have developed a lot the urbanization figure will rise to 47%. Central administration schemes for far off village should be changed to local administration through municipal corporation. The people living in villages now a days are comparatively less dependent on agriculture when we look at the picture of few years back.
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