Current Affairs April 2014

Current Affairs April 2014

Rules and Regulations relating to fundings made to political parties in India

May 5, 2014

As per a study done by a CMS,a Delhi based think tank, it has been found that about half of the approximated spend of Rs 1.5 lakh crore on elections over the past 5 years in India has come from unaccounted sources. The bulk of this grey area (unaccounted sources) is from funding done by corporates. To add to anguish, the The clauses of the new Companies Act 2013 also brings in a very minuscule hope to bring in more transparency in corporate funding of political parties.

What are the Regulations and governing laws in India for funding to Political Parties?

Regulations and their respective governing laws for funding Political Parties in India, are as follows:-

PUBLIC FUNDING

Regulation(s):

• No Direct Funding permitted
• Time apportioned to parties for campaigning on state-owned TV (viz. DD National, etc.) and radio networks (viz. All India Radio, etc.) proportional to their performance in yesteryears
• Free provision of electoral rolls and other prescribed materials

Governing Law(s):

• Representation of the People Act, 1951
• Conduct of Election Rules, 1961

INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTION(S)

Regulation(s):

• No restrictions on donations from individuals

Governing Law(s):

• Companies Act, 2013

CHECKS ON CONTRIBUTIONS

Regulation(s):

• Complete ban on foreign contributions
• Companies may donate up to 7.5% of the average net profits they made during past 3 years. The earlier Companies Act allowed companies to contribute for a political purpose to any person while the new Companies Act, 2013 is silent on contributions for a political purpose.
• Privately-held companies are now expected to reveal the amount contributed to a political party in their profit and loss statement. This was before limited to listed companies only.

Governing Law(s):

• Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 1976
• Companies Act, 2013

RESTRICTIONS ON A CANDIDATE’S CAMPAIGN EXPENDITURE

Regulation(s):

• Poll expenditure upto Rs 70 Lakhs for each Lok Sabha constituency in bigger states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka, etc.
• Poll expenditure upto Rs 54 Lakhs for each Lok Sabha constituency in smaller states like Goa, hilly and north eastern states, etc.
• Poll expenditure upto Rs 70 Lakhs in Delhi and uniform at Rs at Rs 54 lakh for all other UTs

Governing Law(s):

• Representation of the People’s Act, 1951

DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS

Regulation(s):

• Compulsory filing of Income Tax Returns by the Political parties
• Political Parties have to disclose details of donors who donated Rs 20,000 or more
• Privately-held companies have to disclose the amount contributed to a political party in their profit and loss statement.

Governing Law(s):

• Representation of the People Act, 1951
• Election Commission’s order on March 13, 2003
• Companies Act, 2013

CIVIL PENALTIES

Regulation(s):

• Sanctions include loss of seat, prohibition from contesting elections for a period up to 6 years

Governing Law(s):

• Representation of the People Act, 1951
• Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 1976

CRIMINAL PENALTIES

Regulation(s):

• Imprisonment up to 5 years for taking foreign contribution(s)
• Any Company violating contribution limits may be fined up to five times the funding and officers of the company responsible may be imprisoned up to 6 months
• Albeit, the penalty for violation has been raised from 3 times the amount of funding to 5 times, the term for imprisonment of company officials in default has been cut down from 3 years to 6 months.

Governing Law(s):

• Representation of the People Act, 1951
• Indian Penal Code,1860
• Companies Act 2013
• Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 1976

UK conducts world’s biggest human organ imaging project

May 4, 2014

The UK has launched world’s biggest scanning project- UK Bio-bank imaging study in which 100,000 British volunteers are participating to undergo a detailed imaging of their brain, heart and vital organs to help researchers study a wide range of common, chronic and life-threatening illnesses like diabetes, cancer and heart disease. DNA has been collected from all the volunteers who will be compared and cross-referenced with the scans.

What is the significance of this UK Bio-bank imaging study project?

The significance of this study lies in its huge size and the methodology being used to study wide range of health conditions in humans. The study will enrich the doctors and scientists with unprecedented level of information on wide range of illnesses, including dementia, heart disease, cancer, arthritis, depression and eye and lung disorders over many years. The aim is to try to improve the diagnosis and treatment of these diseases. It will help scientists understand why one person gets a disease and another does not.

Namibia purchases India-made EVMs for its presidential polls

May 4, 2014

The Namibian government has purchased 3,400 India-made Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for its presidential polls. Previously, India-made EVMs have been used by other countries in Asia to conduct smooth and fair elections.

The EVMs have been bought at a cost of Namibian $10 million (approx $948,000) from Bengaluru-based public sector unit, Bharat Electronic Limited (BEL). The South African nation Namibia, which had ordered 1,700 EVMs in 2013, placed another order earlier this year, is the first African country to use such machines in any of its polls.

What prompted Nambia to buy EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) from India?

Namibia is keen on purchasing the Indian made EVMs for its benefits like faster results, reduction in the number of spoilt ballots, low expenses in conducting the polls, and the elimination of manipulation avenues. Other features of attraction include newly introduced ‘None of the Above’ (NOTA), in-built clocks and Braille markings for the visually impaired. The machine eliminates the possibility of vote tempering by displaying the time when the vote was cast along with recording the ballot. It also gives hourly polling updates.

Which countries have purchased Indian EVMs in past?

Earlier, Nepal, Bhutan, Namibia and Kenya bought BEL manufactured EVMs for conducting their polls. India is only supplying the EVMs not its technology with any of the countries.

Current Affairs March 2014

Current Affairs March 2014

“Iwao Hakamada”- World’s longest-serving death row-inmate freed by Japan

March 31, 2014

The Japanese court release of the World’s longest serving death row inmate, Mr. Iwao Hakamada (78), as the evidences used against him were probably made up.

About Mr. Iwao Hakamada

• Nationality: Japanese.
• Japanese former professional boxer.
• Sentenced to death on September 11, 1968 for a mass murder (known as the Hakamada Incident).
• Convicted of killing a company manager and his family and setting fire to their central Japan home, where he was a live-in employee.
• Known for: World’s longest death-row inmate (48 years) certified by Guinness World Records.

Apart from the United States, Japan is the only major industrialized democracy to carry out capital punishment, a practice that has led to repeated protests from European governments and human rights groups. (Japan carries out a handful of executions every year).

Note: The only crimes that can lead to a death sentence in Japan are murder and treason.

President Pranab Mukherjee re-promulgated SEBI ordinance

March 31, 2014

President Pranab Mukherjee cleared the re-promulgation of the SEBI Ordinance that provides powers for SEBI Chairman to authorize Investigating Authority or any other officer of the regulator to conduct search and seizure under the SEBI Act and crack down on Ponzi schemes.

SEBI ordinance – Securities Laws (Amendment) Bill 2013

• Purpose: To arm the regulator with more stringent powers comes in wake of thousands of duped investors reportedly taking to the streets in Siliguri (West Bengal) protesting the proliferation of chit fund companies there and the Rs 2,000-crore Sardhaa chit fund scam.
• SEBI can regulate any money pooling scheme worth Rs 100 crore or more and attach assets in cases of non-compliance and its Chairman can order “search and seizure operations”.
• Empowers the market watchdog to seek information, such as telephone call data records, from any persons or entities in respect to any securities transaction being investigated by it.

Note: The SEBI ordinance lapsed on January 15, has been re-promulgated for the third time as the Parliament could not pass the Securities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2013, in the winter session.

India’s forex reserves near $300 billion mark

March 31, 2014

India’s foreign exchange reserves continued their rally for the fourth straight week, increased by $1.35 billion to 298.64 billion dollar on a surge in currency assets even though the reserve position with the IMF slid heavily.

As per the data released by Reserve Bank of India( RBI)

• Gold reserves remained unchanged at $ 20.978 billion.
• Foreign currency assets (FCAs), a major part of the overall reserves, rose $1.58 billion to $ 271.40 billion.
• FCAs expressed in dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation/depreciation of the non-US currencies viz. the euro, pound and yen held in its reserves.
• The special drawing rights were down by $ 16.9 million to % 4.462 billion, while the country’s reserve position with the IMF was down by a whopping $ 214.7 million to $1.801 billion.

MoF: India’s external debt at $426 billion in December, 2013

March 31, 2014

As per the quarterly report of Ministry of Finance (MoF), India’s external debt was at $ 426 billion – including the government’s debt of $ 76.4 billion in December 2013. The total external debt of $ 426 billion showed an increase of $ 21.1 billion over the March-end level.

Reasons for increase of India’s external debt during the period were

• Due to long-term debt particularly NRI deposits.
• A sharp increase in NRI deposits reflected the impact of fresh FCNR(B) deposits mobilised under the swap scheme during September-November 2013.

Excerpts of the quarterly report of Ministry of Finance (MoF) on December 2013 figures

• Long term debt: $333.3 billion showed an increase of 8.1 % over March, 2013 level.
• Short-term debt: Declined by 4.1 % to $92.7 billion.
• Government (Sovereign) external debt: $76.4 billion, (17.9 % of total external debt)
• The share of US dollar denominated debt was the highest in external debt stock and stood at 63.6%, followed by debt denominated in Indian rupee (19.4 %), SDR (7.1 %), Japanese yen (5.0 %) and Euro (3.1 %).
• The debt has remained within manageable limits as indicated by the external debt to GDP ratio of 23.3 %, vis-a-vis 21.8 % at end-March 2013 and debt service ratio of 5.9 % in 2012-13.
• India’s foreign exchange reserves provided 69 % cover to the total external debt as of December end, against 72.1 % as of March-end 2013.
• India’s external debt has remained within manageable limits due to prudent external debt management policy of the Government of India.

Note: The external debt management policy continues to focus on monitoring long and short-term debt, raising sovereign loans on concessional terms with longer maturities, regulating external commercial borrowings through end-use, all-in-cost and maturity restrictions, and rationalizing interest rates on Non-Resident Indian deposits.