9 PM Daily Brief – 28 July 2016

28-july (1)

Brief of newspaper articles for the day bearing
relevance to Civil Services preparation

What is 9 PM brief?


GS PAPER 2


[1] Lok Sabha passes comprehensive Bill to check benami transactions.

The Hindu

Context

Benami Transactions Amendment bill was passed in the Lok Sabha

The bill seeks to curb the black money and is aimed at seizing benami property while punishing those who indulge in these activities.

Some important provisions of the bill

  • The Bill seeks to: (i) amend the definition of benami transactions, (ii) establish adjudicating authorities and an Appellate Tribunal to deal with benami transactions, and (iii) specify the penalty for entering into benami transactions.
  • The Act defines a benami transaction as a transaction where a property is held by or transferred to a person, but has been provided for or paid by another person.  The Bill amends this definition to add other transactions which qualify as benami, such as property transactions where: (i) the transaction is made in a fictitious name, (ii) the owner is not aware of denies knowledge of the ownership of the property, or (iii) the person providing the consideration for the property is not traceable.
  • The Bill defines benamidar as the person in whose name the benami property is held or transferred, and a beneficial owner as the person for whose benefit the property is being held by the benamidar.
  • Under the Act, an Authority to acquire benami properties was to be established by the Rules.  The Bill seeks to establish four authorities to conduct inquiries or investigations regarding benami transactions: (i) Initiating Officer, (ii) Approving Authority, (iii) Administrator and (iv) Adjudicating Authority.

Analysis

  • There were a lot of concerns about the religious properties or properties owned by religious institutions. However, Finance Minister clarified it that such categories will be excluded from the act only if they are genuine.
  • However, If a fake religious institution is created which starts keeping benami property, it would not be exempted.
  • The Bill also specifies certain cases will be exempt from the definition of a benami transaction.  These include cases when a property is held by: (i) a member of a Hindu undivided family, and is being held for his or another family member’s benefit, and has been provided for or paid off from sources of income of that family; (ii) a person in a fiduciary capacity; (iii) a person in the name of his spouse or child, and the property has been paid for from the person’s income.

[2] GST: Two major hurdles cleared.

The Hindu

Context

In another effort to get the GST bill passed and to make it widely acceptable, government made two key changes in its provisions

Analysis

The two changes made are:

1. Removal of 1% additional tax levy by manufacturing state.

2. Introduction 0f 100% compensation to states for 5 years so as to compensate for losses made by states in implementation of GST. Earlier the provision was of 100% compensation in the first year,  75% in fourth year and 50% in the fifth year.

However, there is still not decision on whether the GST rate should be included in the bill or not.
For complete news on GST: Click Here

 

[3] Whose forests are these anyway?

Indian Express

Context

Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill has ran into a controversy with civil society.

Analysis

  • The bill seeks to establish Compensatory Afforestation, Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) at both the national as well as the state level.
  • CAMPA which will manage the money coming as compensation for diverting the forest land for non-forest use.
  • However, instead of using the funds so acquired to empower the local communities to carry out the afforestation and enrichment program, the bill rests all the powers in bureaucracy
  • Since, it is the local people/communities/tribes which suffer the most when the forests are diverted to industries, it become legally and morally right to seek their consent as well as to involve them in managing the affair of forests. This is what the Forest Rights Act, 2006 did as well but this bill seeks to ignore.
  • Using CAMPA funds to support community-based afforestation will also lead to major positive social and ecological outcomes.
  • It will ensure a flow of Rs 4,000-5,000 crore to the poorest communities and has a huge potential in terms of improved incomes, poverty alleviation, food security and nutrition as well as better ecological outcomes in terms of eco-restoration, biodiversity conservation and carbon sequestration.

 


GS PAPER 3


[1] ‘GDP growth for FY17 may accelerate to 7.9 per cent’

The Hindu

Context

Rating agency Crisil expects India’s growth to rise to 7.9% on account of two important factors: Growth in Agriculture and Fall in Inflation.

Analysis

  • India’s agriculture sector is expected to grow by 4% on account of good monsoons so far and Consumer Price Inflation is expected to be in the range of 5%. Both of these are positive news which can push up the growth.
  • However, one glitch that is there is that although the rainfall has been good this season but it has not ben uniformly distributed.
  • Crisil has also developed a Deficient Rainfall Impact Parameter (DRIP) index, which measures the impact of rainfall levels on each crop across geographic regions.
  • DRIP scores are lower (better) in this season as of now than the average of the last six years. This also results in crops such as coarse grains, pulses, rice etc. doing better than in previous seasons.
  • Latest data also shows that the rainfall is normal or above normal in all regions barring the east and northeast, which account for 16 per cent of total food grain production in India

 


Comments

One response to “9 PM Daily Brief – 28 July 2016”

  1. sir, when will you resume 9 pm daily brief

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *