Sunday, June 26, 2011

Current Affairs (19 -25 June 2011)

 
Important Points


Salaried people, with an annual income of up to Rs 5 lakh from a single source, will not have to file income tax returns for the 2011-12 assessment year.
This will benefit about 85 lakh taxpayers, or about 20% of the total income tax assessees in the country. The Central Board of Direct Taxes chairman, Prakash Chandra, announced the launch of the scheme on Thursday, though it was announced in budget 2011-12 in February. This scheme, however, will not be applicable to those who have received salaries from more than one employer in a financial year by changing jobs.The scheme will also not cover those who have refund claims or have income from sources other than salary and savings account interests.Chandra said in such cases, the tax payer must report PAN and the entire income from interests to their employers, pay the tax as deduction at source and obtain a certificate of tax deduction in Form No 16.


·         Central Board of Direct Taxes --chairman, Prakash Chandra
·         PAN Card--  A PAN card is a valuable means of photo identification accepted by all government and non-government institutions in the country-- Presence in All parts of India

Four days after the mysterious death of Dr Sachan in an Uttar Pradesh jail, the police is no where close to cracking the case. The post mortem report suggested that he was murdered, but the Uttar Pradesh government has been insisting it was a suicide. What is even more confusing is the contradictory versions that the government and the police have been giving on the CMO's viscera.Its believed that a scam in NRHM funds is behind this alleged killing,

CMO – Chief Medical Officer
NRHM - National Rural Health Mission..Launched in 2005.In 18 states of India..



BANGALORE: the arrest of six members of the Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD) in connection with the kidnap and murder of two BBM students from Hunsur, the Bharatiya Janata Party demanded that the KDF should be banned immediately in the interest of country's security.

KFD-- Karnataka Forum for Dignity, also known as KFD, is a socio-cultural organization in Karnataka, India, working on issues related to minorities and backward communities in Karnataka, and was formed in the year 2001.


NAC clears drafts of Food Security, Communal Violence Bills

At the end of its first year, the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) on Wednesday cleared the drafts of two landmark laws — one that promises food security to 90 per cent of rural households and 50 per cent of urban households, and the other that will ensure justice for minorities of all categories when they become victims of targeted, mass violence. The two drafts will now be sent to the government.
NAC -- The National Advisory Council (NAC) of India is an advisory body set up to monitor the implementation of the UPA government's manifesto, the Common Minimum Programme(CMP). It is a brainchild of Congress party president, Sonia Gandhi. It is also informally called as UPA's Planning Commission for social agenda. On 23 March 2006, Sonia gandhi had resigned from the post of chairmanship of the NAC after Office of profit controversy. On 29 March 2010, she was back as the chairperson of NAC. The NAC comprises distinguished professionals drawn from diverse fields of development activity who serve in their individual capacities. Through the NAC, the Government has access not only to their expertise and experience but also to a larger network of Research Organizations, NGOs and Social Action and Advocacy Groups.

Union Cabinet approved extension of the RSBY Scheme to all Registered Domestic Workers

Union Cabinet on 23 June 2011 approved extension of the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) to all the registered domestic workers. The scheme will likely cover approximately 47.50 lakh domestic workers in the country. The RSBY will provide for smart card based cashless health insurance cover of Rs.30000 per annum to BPL workers (a unit of five) in unorganised sector in any empanelled hospital anywhere in India. More than 2.34 crore smart cards were issued on 31 May 2011. 

What is RSBY?
RSBY has been launched by Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India to provide health insurance coverage for Below Poverty Line (BPL) families. The objective of RSBY is to provide protection to BPL households from financial liabilities arising out of health shocks that involve hospitalization. Beneficiaries under RSBY are entitled to hospitalization coverage up to Rs. 30,000/- for most of the diseases that require hospitalization. Government has even fixed the package rates for the hospitals for a large number of interventions. Pre-existing conditions are covered from day one and there is no age limit. Coverage extends to five members of the family which includes the head of household, spouse and up to three dependents. Beneficiaries need to pay only Rs. 30/- as registration fee while Central and State Government pays the premium to the insurer selected by the State Government on the basis of a competitive bidding.
About Domestic Workers
Domestic work forms one of the largest sectors of female employment in the urban areas.  Domestic workers are unorganized and the sector remains unregulated and unprotected by labour laws.  These workers come from vulnerable communities and backward areas.  Most of these are poor, vulnerable, illiterate, unskilled and do not understand the urban labour market.


Finally, India card Rupay to replace Visa, MasterCard
After almost two years of planning, the National Payments Corporation has at last finalised the proposed unique India Card which once commercially launched would be an domestic alternative to the global real-time payment processing firms like Visa and MasterCard.
"We have finalised name of the proposed card as Rupay at our board meeting here today. We have also finalised the logo for the same," a senior official of the RBI-set up National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), told PTI this evening. The official sought not to be named.

NPCI –National Payments Corporation of India

NPCI is a non-for-profit company set up in 2009 as an umbrella institution at the behest of the RBI for managing all the retail payment systems in the country.
It has 10 shareholders — State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Citibank and HSBC
 Chairman—Narayan Murthy

 

Orissa halts land takeover for $12 bln POSCO plant

Local protests have forced Orissa to halt acquiring land for a proposed $12 billion steel plant to be built by South Korea's POSCO, further delaying the biggest foreign direct investment in Asia's third largest economy.

POSCO – third largest steel industry in the world.

Anti-POSCO movement leader Abhaya Sahoo