Current Affairs - 5 February 2017

General Affairs 

Goa Assembly election: 83 per cent voter turnout recorded, polling peaceful

• 

  A high voter turnout of over 83 per cent was on Saturday recorded in the Assembly polls in Goa, where the ruling BJP is engaged in a fierce fight with the Opposition Congress, AAP and an alliance of MGP, Shiv Sena and GSM for the 40-member House.

  According to Election Commission sources, the poll percentage could go up as there are long queues of voters at many booths across the state even after 5 pm.

  The election passed off peacefully with no untoward incident reported from anywhere in the coastal state expect some cases of EVM glitches and cancellation of voting in one booth.

  DEVELOPMENTS OF THE DAY

  1. Heavy polling was witnessed in the mining belt of Sankhalim, Bicholim and Curchorem.
  2. A 78-year-old man died outside a polling booth in Panaji city. Leslie Saldanha, who was waiting to cast his vote, collapsed and died, revealed officials.
  3. ECI's data from various polling booth showed that over 83 per cent of 11.10 lakh voters turned up to exercise franchise.
  4. An impressive 83 per cent voting was recorded in the state in 2012 assembly polls, which saw the BJP wresting power from the Congress.
  5. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, widely seen as the chief ministerial face of the BJP, Union Minister Shripad Naik and Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar were among the early voters who cast their ballots.
  6. People in large numbers turned up at the polling stations right from the morning amid pleasant weather.

  A total of 250 contestants are in the fray, which include many independents.

  The election is being closely fought by major political forces - BJP, Congress, AAP and the MGP-led alliance.

  The polls will decide future of Goa's five former Chief Ministers - Churchill Alemao, Pratapsinh Rane, Ravi Naik, Digambar Kamat and Luizinho Faleiro and the incumbent Parsekar.

  BJP has put up 36 aspirants, Congress 37 and AAP is contesting on 39 seats and each of them backing independents in a few seats.

  BJP, which had a pre-poll alliance in 2012, is going it alone this time after the MGP snapped the partnership and forged a front with Goa Suraksha Manch floated by RSS rebel Subhas Velingkar and Shiv Sena.

  Counting of votes will be taken up on March 11.

Sushma: Indian employees facing harassment abroad can raise their concerns on this govt web portal

• 

  In the wake of reports of harassment or discrimination faced by Indian employees abroad, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has assured prompt respite.

  She has appealed to all Indians working overseas to register on madad.gov.in and tweet their problem with the ID number of the Indian Embassy there.

  The Foreign Minister tweeted that the employees being harassed needed to contact ProtectorGenGOI with names and details of the agent.

  Pl register on https://t.co/w2j1ppb4uc and tweet your problem with ID no to Indian Embassy. Our Embassy will help you. /1

  — Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) February 4, 2017

  CASE IN POINT

  Only a couple of days ago, Swaraj had announced that the government had secured the release of 5 Indians who were jailed in Togo.

  She complimented the Indian mission in Accra and Consulate in Togo for their help in getting the Indians released.

  The employees, from a Merchant Navy firm, had been in jail since 2013 for their suspected involvement in a piracy attack off the coast of Togo, according to reports.

  They were sailing on board a ship to South Africa from Mumbai when they were arrested.

Two top Hizbul Mujahideen militants killed in encounter in Kashmir

• 

  A "major terrorist operation" was today thwarted as two top Hizbul Mujahideen militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in north Kashmir's Baramulla district.

  Superintendent of Police (Operations) Shafqat Hussain and a Sub-Inspector, Mohammad Murtaza, were also injured in the gun battle which took place near Amargarh village of Sopore, 50 kms from Srinagar, after police intercepted the two militants travelling in a vehicle, a police spokesman said.

  "An information was received that militants were travelling in a vehicle and were planning some terrorist action in Sopore area. Police and security forces immediately swung into action and intercepted them near Amargarh Sopore.

  "While being challenged, terrorists lobbed a grenade and fired on police party in which the SP (Operation) Baramulla and a Sub-Inspector were injured. In the retaliatory action, two militants were killed," the spokesman said.

  He said two AK assault rifles, one pistol, four hand grenades and other arms and ammunition were seized from the scene of the encounter.

  "With the elimination of these militants, a major terrorist action was averted," the spokesman said.

  Meanwhile, Hizbul Mujahideen identified the slain militants as Azaharuddin alias "Gazi Umar" and Sajad Ahmad alias "Babar", saying both were local militants and were active for quite some time.

  It termed the killing of the two militants as a "big loss" and said Azharuddin was a lecturer by profession who had abdicated the government service and had joined the outfit.

SCAM stands for Samajwadi, Congress, Akhilesh, Mayawati: PM Modi's top quotes at Meerut rally

• 

  In his first rally before Uttar Pradesh votes in the first phase of seven-phase Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took on the newly formed alliance between Samajwadi Party and Congress terming it as a pact of opportunism.

  Addressing a rally in Meerut, where voting in scheduled to take place on February 11, PM Modi once again used his wordplay act to slam the Opposition. "This election is against a SCAM. Uttar Pradesh has to get rid of this SCAM if it has to develop. SCAM stands for - Samajwadi, Congress, Akhilesh and Mayawati," Modi said to a huge response from the crowd.

  "The first war of Independence began here in Meerut in 1857. Then the fight was against the British and now the war is to eradicate poverty," PM Modi said.

  HERE ARE PM MODI'S TOP QUOTES FROM MEERUT RALLY:

  1. The BJP's fight is against SCAM which stands for Samajwadi, Congress, Akhilesh and Mayawati.
  2. Now you decide if you want SCAM or LOTUS. If you want scam or development? Until you free UP from SCAM the state won't see any development.
  3. You made me PM, and it is over 2 years, do you have any complain? Did I do anything to defame your country? I still need to pay debts to Uttar Pradesh and its people, I need to do more.
  4. Even if I want to work for the development of your state, it will be stopped by the state government, so it is important to remove these people (Samajwadi Party government) from Lucknow.
  5. For over 40 years, the army veterans were fooled by governments. But we approved One Rank One Pension (OROP) as promised.
  6. Our jawans conducted surgical stikes to give a befitting reply to Pakistan. But some leaders raised questions over the military operation.
  7. Some even said how come none of the Indian soldiers die in such an operation.You tell me, those who have stopped to such level...should they be allowed to do politics?
  8. On November 8, 2016, old notes were banned from circulation. It was a huge setback for those who had accumulated wealth by wrong means.
  9. The money they had kept hidden for 70 years, was forced to be deposited in banks.
  10. Every family needs to have their own house, so we've started working towards fulfilling this vision by 2022.

Chennai oil spill: With 90 per cent of clean up work complete, here's a timeline of events

• 

  Work to clear up the massive oil spill off the coast of Chennai, which took place after two vessels collided on January 28, is expected to be over soon, officials have said. Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan visited Ennore coast today to to inspect the cleanup operations. Radhakrishan said oil sludge is left only in the Ennore area and that the clean up work will be completed in one to two days.

  Here's a timeline of the events according to officials:

  • M.T. BW Maple and M.T. Dawn Kanchipuran collided while crossing each other collided at 3.45 am on January 28 the Kamrajar harbour.
  • There was no casualty or injury to the crew members.
  • M.T. Dawn Kanchipuran suffered a rupture which led to the oil spill
  • Kamarajar Port had immediately deployed oil boom around the vessel to contain seepage if any.
  • The damaged vessel was towed safely and berthed at Kamarajar Port on 30th January 2017.  
  • This vessel has completely discharged today in order to prevent any further possibility of an oil spill.
  • As soon as the oil leak was tracked, the Coast Guard started mobilizing equipment and manpower for clean-up at various locations and coordinated these operations.
  • A massive clean-up operation was launched in Tiruvallur, Chennai and Kancheepuram Districts by engaging more than 2000 persons at various sites including Ernavur, Chennai Fishing Harbour, Marine Beach, Besant Nagar, Kottivakkam, Palavakkam, Neelankarai and Injambakkam beaches.  
  • The Chennai and Kamarajar ports, from the state government and its agencies, Indian Oil Corporation, NGOs, cadet trainees from maritime educational institutions and fishermen were also roped in for the claen up effort.
  • The National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, an autonomous centre of the central Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, is studying the imapact of the oil sipll on the environment.  
  • At Ernavur, which had the maximum drift of sludge, booms have been deployed along the shore line to contain the oil spread.
  • More than 1000 people were deployed here with portable pollution cleaning equipment for shore line cleaning.  
  • In addition, 3 Super Suckers and submersible pumps have also been deployed to remove the oil spill. The Coast Guard has also sprayed oil spill dispersants for oil slick removal.  
  • ICGS Varad was neutralised the remaining oil slick near Chennai Lighthouse.
  • More than 90% of the work has been completed and most of the residual work is expected to be completed in a couple of days.  
  • Chennai Port and State Govt. have organized medical camps today at Ernavoor and Kasimedu fisheries harbour.
  • The Indian Oil Corporation has provided special bio-remediation material for treatment of the collected oil sludge for its safe disposal.
  • HPCL has arranged for Trailers and manpower for transporting collected sludge to Ennore Port area for bio remediation treatment under the expert guidance of IOC R&D experts where 2000 Sq.M. pit has been created for the purpose.
  • Both the ships have been restrained from leaving the Port.
  • Directorate General of Shipping has instituted a statutory inquiry under the Merchant Shipping Act to ascertain the causes and contributory factors that led to the accident.

   Sludge recovered so far:

  • The total quantity of sludge which was removed till January 2 was 65 tonnes. Super suckers removed another 54 tonnes, which contained 70% water.
  • On January 3, about 21.1 tonnes of additional sludge was removed from Ernavoor.
  • Sludges at R.K. Nagar (3.40 tonnes), Marina (7.50 tonnes), Sakthi Nagar and Gandhi Nagar (5.40 tonnes), Elliot (0.62 tonnes) recovered. This quantity includes water and sand also.

Business Affairs 

No tax incentive beyond Rs 2 lakh for second home: Govt

• 

  Ruling out rollback of the proposal to restrict tax incentive for second home to Rs 2 lakh per annum, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia today said there is no point in subsidising purchase of second property by those who have surplus funds. Moreover, he added that the tax incentive for second home loan borrower is being "virtually misused."

  Citing limited resources, he said it is prudent to subsidise first-time buyer and not the second property owner who is not staying in that but earning income from the second unit.

  The Finance Bill 2017 has restricted set-off of loss towards second home against other heads of income up to Rs 2 lakh under Section 71 of the Income Tax Act.

  Under the present dispensation, there is no such limit for set-off of loss from house property, which is mainly the difference between the rental income and interest on home loan. In other words, a buyer could deduct the entire net interest paid on the home loan.

  "Government resources are very very limited. The question is should the government be subsidising first-time home owners who are occupying own house or should the government be subsidising the second acquisition of the property by people who have got surplus money to invest in real estate," Adhia said while addressing industry representatives here.

  He cited an example: "If I have already my own house, I buy a new property by taking a bank loan of Rs 1 crore, the interest on it is Rs 10 lakh per annum and I rent it out to somebody who gives out Rs 3 lakh as rent, the remaining Rs 7 lakh you could offset against your salary income or business income."

  The loss to the government for the second house were almost one third of that, he said, adding that it came to about Rs 3 lakh in addition to Rs 2 lakh advantage.

  "So, why should the government bear the cost of second house acquisition, that was the question. We have a lot of people to be given affordable housing, we need to help them out... so the revenue loss was huge and people were virtually misusing it," he said.

  The Finance Bill, 2017, proposes to restrict such set-off of house property loss to Rs 2,00,000 per annum only. Balance loss, if any, will be carried forward to be set off against house property income of subsequent 8 years.

  Hence, individual tax payers having loss of more than Rs 2,00,000 will now have a higher tax outgo.

  "In line with the international best practices, it is proposed to insert sub-section (3A) in the said section to provide that set-off of loss under the head Income from house property against any other head of income shall be restricted to Rs 2 lakh for any assessment year," the Finance Bill 2017 said.

  "However, the unabsorbed loss shall be allowed to be carried forward for set-off in subsequent years in accordance with the existing provisions of the Act."

Personal income tax base must be up before corporate tax cut: Hasmukh Adhia

• 

  Two years after it announced plans to reduce corporate tax rate to 25 per cent, the government on Saturday said any such reduction can come after the spread of personal income tax is increased and more people pay taxes.

  A cut of 1 per cent in corporate income tax rate from the current 30 per cent will cost Rs. 18,000-19,000 crore in revenues, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said.

  Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in his second Budget in February 2015, had announced reduction of the corporate tax rate to 25 per cent from 30 per cent in a phased manner over the next four years starting 2015-16, accompanied by fewer exemptions.

  "A lot of issues have been raised that our corporate income tax rate is not globally competitive. Particularly, we are comparing ourselves with China, not with the US. The US is 40 per cent, but we don't do that. In comparison to China, it is said we should reduce it to 25 per cent," Adhia said at a Ficci event here.

  "We said we would love to do it for everyone. But we have the constraint of budget." The challenge, he said, is getting the resources.

  "Unless we increase our spread of personal income tax, unless we have more people coming forward and filing the exact detail of income, it's a challenge for us. That's what we are trying to do," Adhia said.

  The "most challenging" is to increase the share of the personal income tax (PIT) in the total kitty.

  "It is abysmally low. If you take the share of GDP, it is only coming to 2 per cent. This would probably be the lowest in the world. 2 per cent of GDP coming from PIT is very very surprising," Adhia said.

  The profile of PIT payments does not match with the consumption profile, he noted.

  "How is it possible that out of only 76 lakh people showing income of more than Rs. 5 lakh in the country, 56 lakh are salaried people? We need to do something about it and it's a big challenge for us," the secretary pointed out.

  To attract companies to set up new manufacturing units, last year's Budget has reduced tax rate for such companies to 25 per cent.

  "For future, we have already decided that way last Budget. In the case of existing companies which are already making profits, (the point is) whether the government should give them some benefit. We would love to give them, but the question is about resources," Adhia maintained.

Hyderabad Nizam's scion seeks share in Rs 2,934 crore UK fund

• 

  A KARACHI-BASED heir of the last Nizam of Hyderabad, who was the ruler of one of the largest and richest princely states in pre-independent India, has approached the Pakistani government to seek a share in the Rs 2,934 crore that have been lying with a Londonbased bank for almost seven decades now.

  Known as the Hyderabad fund, the amount has been the cause of one of the longest legal disputes between Indian and Pakistani governments in the British high court. The initial amount deposited in the Royal Bank of Scotland, then National Westminster Bank, was 1 million pound. It was reportedly transferred for Pakistan's aid. The amount has now ballooned to 35 million pound by accruing interest.

  The descendant, M Alliuddin Khan, approached the ombudsman last week and said being a legal heir of the seventh Nizam, he deserved to get a share of the Hyderabad fund under the Sharia law. Alliuddin Khan's request came months after a court in UK dismissed India's claim that Pakistan had no right over the fund. India says the amount was deposited by a delegation of officials of Hyderabad three days after the state acceded to the Indian union on September 17, 1948, and hence, the money should belong to India.

  An official of the Federal Ombudsman in Pakistan confirmed to Mail Today that application has been received and decision in this regards was likely to be taken in a month. The descendants have taken a more collaborative approach now and were demanding the full amount till a few months ago. They say that the money deposited in the London bank was Nizam's personal money and hence, it belongs to his descendants as per the principles of natural justice.

  After the Nizam's death in 1967, his family had also attempted to get back the money through an out-ofcourt settlement but failed. Documents reveal that the transfer was made as Indian troops began their annexation of Hyderabad immediately after the death of founder of Pakistan Mohammad Ali Jinnah. The transfer was made by then Hyderabad finance minister Moeen Ali and his representative in London Mir Ali.

  The case took ugly turn after a week when the seventh Nizam, Osman Ali Khan claimed the payment had been unauthorised and Pakistan had no right to the money. This prompted bank authorities to freeze the funds arguing it would hold onto them until the rightful claimant was established. The House of Lords in London in its judgement in 1957 had suggested an out-of-court settlement between Pakistan, the Nizam and the London bank. Khan said that India was nowhere in the picture then. But in 2013, Pakistan moved the London court and India was also forced to join the legal battle subsequently.

Microsoft chief Satya Nadella to visit India later this month

• 

  Microsoft's India-born chief Satya Nadella will be in India later this month to address a conference on Future Decoded in Mumbai.

  While Nadella has visited India a number of times since assuming the leadership role, this visit takes on added significance as the global debate on US clampdown on visas and its impact on flow of skilled manpower rages.

  Nadella is among the first few technology titans to oppose the restrictions on immigration by the new US administration under President Donald Trump.

  Last month, Trump had signed a sweeping executive order to suspend the arrival of refugees and impose tough new controls on travellers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen as part of new measures to "keep radical Islamic terrorists" out of America.

  Condemning the move, Nadella, in a post on LinkedIn, had said: "As an immigrant and a CEO, Ive both experienced and seen the positive impact that immigration has on our company, for the country and for the world. We will continue to advocate this important topic."

  Microsoft President Brad Smith said as many as 76 Microsoft employees are affected by the new executive order.

  Executives from Google, Apple, Netflix, Facebook and other top American companies have slammed Trumps immigration order that sparked widespread protests across the US.

  Microsofts Future Decoded event, to be held on February 21-22, is expected to see participation of 1,500 business and government officials.

  This will include names like Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Lord Jonathan Evans (former director general, MI5), Guenter Butschek, CEO, Tata Motors, and Anil Rai Gupta, Chairman and MD of Havells.

  The discussions will revolve around how digital technology is empowering people and organisations across governments, education, banks, hospitals, e-commerce, entertainment, and manufacturing organisations.

  Details of Nadellas itinerary could not be confirmed.

Next week, RBI policy and global cues to dictate the trend in the market

• 

  With the Union Budget behind us, the focus would be on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) monetary policy on Wednesday, 8th February 2017. While most of the street expect the RBI to leave benchmark repo rates unchanged at 6.25 per cent.

  Some feel RBI may go for a 25 basis points (bps) cut to kick start the economic growth engine of the country which has been muted for quite some time now.

  But more than the rate cut market would take a cue from the governor speech on the overall growth in the economy especially in context with the globe and its impact on India.

  With no major negatives expected in the current week market will continue to remain positive with the index movement being rangebound. The market this week will keep an eye on the budget session that ends on Thursday, 9th February 2017. Momentum will also gather ahead of the upcoming state election in the five states.

  However there isn't any major triggers in the domestic market and the Indian market will take a cue from its global counter parts, especially the development in US, Euro-zone and China.

  Stocks of pharma major Dr Reddy's Labs, Cipla and Lupin will remain in focus ahead of its December quarter results. Other companies like State Bank of India, Tata Steel, Bhel, Hero MotoCorp, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Power, NTPC, BPCL, Gail and Power Grid Corporation will also remain in action as it unveil its quarterly results.

General Awareness

Indian School of Business Ranked Top Indian B-School in FT Global MBA Ranking 2017

• The 2017 Financial Times Global MBA ranking was released on January 30, 2017. This year 4 Indian Business Schools have been listed in the World’s 100 best Full Time MBA Programme List.

  • The Four Schools listed includes: Indian School of Business (ISB), Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) and Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC)
  • Among the Indian B-Schools, Indian School of Business (ISB) stood first with a global ranking of 27 which is up by 2 positions compared to last year’s ranking.
  • The top position was secured by INSEAD for the second consecutive year.

  Important Highlights of the Ranking

  Out of the 4 listed Indian B-Schools, only 3 made it to top 50. Indian institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad was placed at 29th position which is 5 positions lower than in 2016 which was 24th.

  • IIM Bangalore stood at 49th position, up from previous year’s 62nd rank.
  • For the first time IIM Calcutta has made it to the top 100 best B-Schools Ranking. It was placed at 95th position.

  Top Five B-Schools

  1	INSEAD, (France/Singapore)
  2	Stanford Graduate School of Business
  3	University of Pennsylvania, (Wharton/US)
  4	Harvard Business School
  5	University Cambridge Judge Business School

  The ranking is based upon surveys of the business schools and their 9000 graduates who completed their MBA in 2013. The ranking takes into consideration the career progression of alumni, the school’s idea generation and the diversity of students and faculty.The ranking was based on 20 criteria.

  About FT Global MBA Ranking 2017

  The FT Global MBA ranking is a relative listing in which top B-Schools of the world are ranked against each other by calculating a Z-score for each criterion. The Z-score is a statistic that shows where a score lies in relation to the mean.

  • These scores are then weighted based upon the criteria mentioned in the ranking key and added together for a final score.
  • After removing the schools that did not meet the required response rate from the alumni survey is eliminated and a fresh series of calculations are made using all remaining schools.
  • The school at the bottom is removed and a second version is calculated and so on until we reach the top 100. The top 100 schools are ranked accordingly to produce the list.
  • The Financial Times began ranking full-time MBA programs in 1999.
  • The top Business School for 17 continuous year in the ranking was dominated by the likes of Wharton, Harvard, Stanford and home town favorite London Business School.