Sunday, June 30, 2013

Surge in the cases of Leptospirosis

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Three Indian projects to receive U.N. public service awards

Train service linking Banihal in Jammu to Qazigund in Kashmir launched

White Label ATMs

White Label ATMs

June 29th, 2013
RBI gives nod to Muthoot Finance to set up White Label ATMs
Indian gold loan company Muthoot Finance Ltd has obtained the RBI’s in-principle approval to set up the white label ATMs,as the government seeks to take financial services to the remote regions of the country.
What are White Label ATMs?
ATMs set up and run by non-banking entities are called White Label ATMs (WLAs). Earlier, only banks were allowed to establish and operate ATMs. RBI had allowed the company under the guidelines it released in June 2012 which set certain minimum net worth and obligation for permitting independent non-banking firms to operate such ATMs, as per three different schemes.
The Muthoot Finance has been given approval as per Scheme A under which Muthoot Finance will set up WLAs, a minimum of 1,000 WLAs have to be installed in the first year; a minimum of twice the number of WLAs installed in the first year have to be installed in the second year; and a minimum of three times the number of WLAs installed in the second year have to be installed in the third year.
What is the purpose of this move?
The fundamental objective of permitting non-banks to operate WLAs is to enhance the penetration of the machines in semi-urban and rural areas, where bank-run ATMs are a few or none. The move is in line to the governments objective of achieving financial inclusion.

Friday, June 28, 2013

Government bans sale of Analgin, Pioglitazone and Deanxit

Thursday, June 27, 2013

India, Hungary sign pact for ‘Gas Monitoring System’

SEBI tightens buyback rules

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Six Forts of Rajasthan get entry into World Heritage List

Six Forts of Rajasthan get entry into World Heritage List

June 26th, 2013
The World Heritage Committee which recently held its meeting in Cambodia has announced the international recognition to six Forts of Rajasthan by including them in the list of World Heritage Site of UNESCO.
The six majestic forts include:
  1. Amber (Jaipur)
  2. Kumbhalgarh
  3. Chittorgarh
  4. Jaisalmer
  5. Ranthambhore (Sawai Madhopur)
  6. Gagaron (Jhalawar)
What is their importance, according to UNESCO?
As per UNESCO, these forts enclosed within them major urban centres, palaces, trading centres that often predate the fortifications within which developed a refined courtly culture. Some of these urban centres have survived, as have many of the site’s temples and other sacred buildings. The forts use the natural defenses offered by the landscape – hills, deserts, rivers, and dense forests. They also feature extensive water harvesting structures, largely still in use today. The hill forts of Rajasthan are strategically built and located on the oldest mountain range of the Aravallis or the Vindhyan range. They stand as testimony to the formation of princely states, development of Rajput ideologies and Rajput architectural style over successive periods, myriad political conflicts, battles and alliances between the ruling Rajput clan vis-a-vis the Sultanate period rulers and Mughal Emperors of Central India. The hill forts represent the genius of Rajput Military architecture – built in local stone masonry tracing the development of the fort typology and evolution of Rajput architectural style from the 15th to the 19th century. The Rajput Forts of Rajasthan reflect the continuity of the Hindu Architectural tradition in secular structures.

UNESCO allows 19 new additions to World Heritage List

RBI auctions Inflation Indexed Bonds

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

‘Diaspora Bonds’

‘Diaspora Bonds’

June 25th, 2013
India thinks over ‘Diaspora Bonds’
India is examining to introduce “Diaspora Bonds” to attract investment from NRIs (Non-Resident Indians), to facilitate greater inflow of funds in the infrastructure sector. The government is examining longer-term investment instruments for overseas Indians so that the NRI community could participate and benefit from India’s growth.
Current Status: At present most of the diaspora investments are in portfolio investments of a short-term nature.
Plan of Govt: The government is considering the option of ‘diaspora bonds’ for longer-term investment instruments to provide opportunities for overseas Indians and thus facilitate greater inflow of funds in the infrastructure sector.
What are Diaspora Bonds (DBs)?
  • A sovereign bond that targets investors that have emmigrated to other countries and the relatives of those emmigrants. For example, the Government of India tries to sell a government bond to Americans of Indian origin. Diaspora bonds are marketed to members of the diaspora.
Attraction for issuing countries:
  • “Patriotic discount” - Diaspora investors sometimes offer what is called a “patriotic” discount to governments in their country of origin/ancestry. As per George Washington University’s Liesl Riddle, when diaspora members invest in their homelands, they are motivated by more than just profit: “Social and emotional motivations also play a role.”
  • Stable source of finance, especially in bad times
  • Support to sovereign credit rating
  • Diaspora investors might be willing to accept a lower rate of return and have a greater tolerance for uncertainty when buying diaspora bonds than a mainstream investment.
  • Diaspora investors might partially view the purchase of a diaspora bond as an act of charity and might also have a greater understanding of a country’s level of risk than other foreign investors.
Attraction for investors:
  • Patriotism & desire to do “good” in the country of origin
  • Risk management – Diaspora investors are likely to view the risk of receiving debt service in local currency with much less apprehensions.
What is difference b/w Foreign Currency Deposits (FCDs) and  DBs ?
Foreign Currency Deposits (FCDs) are also used by countries to attract foreign currency inflows.
  • But, Diaspora bonds are typically long-dated securities to be redeemed only upon maturity. FCDs, in contrast, can be withdrawn at any time.
  • FCDs are likely to be much more volatile, requiring banks to hold much larger reserves against their FCD liabilities, thus decreasing their ability to fund investments. Diaspora bonds, on the other hand are a source of foreign financing that is long-term in nature.
What is India’s Experience in DBs?
Diaspora bonds are not yet widely used as a development financing instrument. Diaspora bonds issued by the government-owned State Bank of India (SBI) have raised over $11 billion to date.
3 separate occasions on which the Indian government has tapped its diaspora base of non-resident Indians (NRIs) for funding on –
  1. India Development Bonds (IDBs) following the balance of payments crisis in 1991 ($1.6 billion)
  2. Resurgent India Bonds (RIBs) following the imposition of sanctions in the wake of the nuclear explosions in 1998 ($4.2 billion)
  3. India Millennium Deposits (IMDs) in 2000 ($5.5 billion).
Features of the IDBs, RIBs and IMDs:
  • Opportunistic issuance in 1991, 1998 and 2000
  • Balance of payments support
  • Fixed rate bonds
  • Maturitiy: 5 year bullet maturity
  • Limited to diaspora
  • No SEC registration
  • Non-negotiable
  • SBI distribution in conjunction with international banks. The conduit for these transactions was the government-owned State Bank of India (SBI). Thus, the proceeds from such bonds can be used to finance investment.
  • Issues were done  in multiple currencies – US dollar, British pound, Deutsche Mark/Euro.

Monday, June 24, 2013

UNESCO world heritage status to Mount Fuji and Mount Etna

Sunday, June 23, 2013

India far behind in cyber security compared to US and China

India far behind in cyber security compared to US and China

June 23rd, 2013
Despite being world-known as an Information Technology superpower, India, lags far behind when it comes to official cyber security workforce which comprises a mere 556 experts deployed in various government agencies. If we compare the figures with China, the US and Russia, China has 1.25 lakh experts, the U.S. 91,080 and Russia 7,300.
As per National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), the current strength of cyber experts in India is grossly inadequate to handle cyber security activities in a meaningful and effective manner. To strengthen the sector the government has decided to recruit 4,446 experts to be deployed in six organisations that would take care of India’s cyber security infrastructure.
What are the major organizations which constitute India’ cyber security infrastructure?
These are the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITy), which includes Indian-Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and the National Informatics Centre (NIC); the Department of Telecom (DoT); the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO); the Ministry of Defence; the Intelligence Bureau (IB); and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
What is the status of cyber security in China and the US?
China:
China has “Information Support and Safeguarding Base” to serve as People’s Liberation Army cyber command to address potential cyber threats and safeguard national security. China also has hackers who work for the government. Its cyber workforce is composed of various components of military, national security, public security, propaganda militia and academia. It now has an estimated strength of 1.25-lakh personnel which includes regular troops (30,000), specialists from various universities, research institutes and states enterprises (60,000), and militia (35,000).
The U.S.:
It has 91,080 experts in its cyber security workforce, of whom 88,169 are in the Department of Defense alone. The recent revelations has shown that how the US has been carrying out its clandestine electronic surveillance world over including, India, through its PRISM programme being run by the National Security Agency (NSA) of the US.
The U.S. has also established a 24×7 National Cyber Security and Communications Integration Centre (NCCIC)that is responsible for generating a common operating picture for cyber and communications across the federal, state and local governments, intelligence and law enforcement communities and the private sector. In the event of a cyber or communications incident, the NCCIC functions as the national response centre able to bring to bear the full capabilities of the federal government in a coordinated manner.
What is India doing to address its cyber security concerns?
As per a study conducted by NSCS, all major countries have set up mechanism and organizations dedicated to cyber security, a field where India has performed poorly. To address this concern, India has decided to establish its own ‘cyber security architecture’ that will comprise the National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) for threat assessment and information sharing among stakeholders, the Cyber Operation Centre that will be jointly run by the NTRO and the armed forces for threat management and mitigation for identified critical sectors and defence, and the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) under the NTRO for providing cover to ‘critical information infrastructure’. The government is also coming up with a legal framework to deal with cyber security.

Commodities Transaction Tax (CTT) on non-farm products

Commodities Transaction Tax (CTT) on non-farm products

June 23rd, 2013
Commodities Transaction Tax (CTT) on non-farm products from July 1, 2013
As per an announcement made by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), from July 1, 2013, the Commodities Transaction Tax (CTT) shall be levied on the derivative contracts of non-agricultural commodities which are transacted via recognized commodity bourses.
What is Commodities Transaction Tax (CTT)?
  • Proposed in Finance Bill, 2013 for enhancing financial resources.
  • A tax which shall be levied on non-agricultural commodities futures contracts at the same rate as on equity futures that is at 0.01% of the price of the trade.
  • CTT would tax trading of non-farm commodities like gold, silver and non-ferrous metals such as copper and energy products like crude oil and natural gas in India.
  • CTT exempts 23 specified agricultural commodities which include wheat, turmeric, soya bean, red chilli, mustard seed, potato, pepper, cotton, cotton seed, coriander, copra, channa, castor seed, cardamom, barley and almond.

  • All the processed agricultural items such as guar gum, soya oil and sugar are subject to the CTT on future contracts.
  • Here both parties—buyer & seller of contract—will be taxed depending on the amount of contract size.
  • Similar to the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) levied on the purchase and sale of equities in the stock market.
  • So far, commodity transactions have been exempted from any levy.
What are the Advantages of levying CTT?
  • It will open up new resources for the augmentation of government finances.
  • CTT would generate revenues of around Rs.45 billion to government.
  • It is also aimed at bringing transparency in the commodity exchange market.
What could be the disadvantages of CTT?
  • CTT has been opposed by the experts and the PMEAC had also suggested against levying such a tax.
  • CTT will increase the transaction cost because traders already pay brokerage, deposit margin, brokerage, stamp duty and transaction charges.

VMS system for security inspection in State

Cabinet approves IWMP as a flagship programme

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Study finds significant role of platelets in immune system

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill