Government Committees, Schemes & Bills - Current Affairs for July, 2015

Minister of Law and Justice DV Sadananda Gowda said that Cabinet approval for phase-two of the mission mode e-court project with the cost of Rs 1786 crore has been secured last week. It will help establish a digital library networked with all the courts in the country with access to law journals, judgments and books.

The government will soon take a decision on the Justice AP Shah Committee's report on applicability of the Minimum Alternate Tax, MAT, on foreign investors. MAT is a way of making companies pays the minimum amount of tax. The report comes against the backdrop of foreign investors dragging the government to court over applicability of MAT on capital gains made by them. The Income Tax Department had sent notices to 68 FIIs demanding around 603 crore rupees as MAT dues of the previous years with FIIs moving the higher court challenging this demand.

The Yojana is one of the flagship programmes of the Ministry of Power, which will help in providing round the clock power to rural households and adequate power to agricultural consumers. The scheme has an outlay of 76 thousand crore rupees for implementation of the projects under which Centre will provide grant of 63000 crore rupees. Projects worth 14680 crore rupees have already been approved, out of which projects worth 5827 crore rupees are approved for Bihar.

The decision to continue interest subvention on short term crop loans was taken by the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the fiscal 2015-16.

The scheme will target students in the age group of 6 - 18 years. Other schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan will be used for implementing this scheme. The Abhiyan also provides a platform for schools in a dual track approach to make learning of scince exciting to children.

Food security act is first step in addressing the food requirements and this new abhiyan is the second step as it ensures the safe food to consumers.

The Odisha government has decided to implement the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, in the state from 1st October this year. Food and Consumer Welfare Secretary of Odisha, Madhu Sudan Padhi, told that the state government has initiated the process for identification of the priority households by approving eight exclusion and five auto-inclusion criteria.

The expert group will be chaired Arvind Panagariya, Vice-Chairperson of NITI Aayog and will be serviced by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and Ministry of Tribal Welfare. The approval was given in lieu of the failure of the states in consolidating different categories and is in line with the one taken by the UPA government on 19 May 2011.

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi on 16th July’15 gave its ex-post facto approval for Repealing and Amending (Third) Bill, 2015, which was introduced in Lok Sabha on 13th May, 2015 for repealing 187 Acts. The Cabinet also approved introduction of a new Bill, namely, the Repealing and Amending (Fourth) Bill, 2015 in the Lok Sabha for the repeal of 295 Acts, identified for repeal by the concerned Ministries/Departments and the Legislative Department.

On that day Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the National Skill Development Mission and will unveil the new National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

It is the first such policy on entrepreneurship since independence in India. The policy was unveiled in a programme held on the occasion of first-ever World Youth Skills Day.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by NGO All India Drug Action Network alleging that the Market Based Pricing (MBP) was never used for any price regulatory purposes and this was making medicines costlier.

The three-judge bench headed by Justice TS Thakur and comprising Justice V Gopala Gowda and Justice R Banumathi asked the Department of Pharmaceuticals of Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers to pass a reasoned order on the issue within six months after hearing all parties concerned.

The bill will empower citizens to avail their rights in stipulated time with less efforts and cost and pave way for curbing corruption, bringing transparency and empowering citizens. In case of failure in delivery in the stipulated time, the government employee will be penalized for default, which ranges between 500 rupees to 5000 rupees.

In Haryana, the Gurgaon Police launched a new initiative known as ‘UDAAN’, an employment linked skill training program for under privileged youth. As many as 60 people would be trained in hospitality in the first batch of ‘UDAAN’.

An official release issued by Urban Development Ministry in New Delhi said that the TOD is a key policy initiative for low-carbon, high-density and compact living spaces. The TOD zone would comprise approximately 20 percent of Delhi’s overall area.

More than 250 services relating to health, education, public distribution system, Police, agriculture, trade and employment have been launched by various state governments.

Under the IPDS, Varanasi will get about 572 crore rupees to strengthen city’s power infrastructure.

The agreement will promote transparency on tax matters. Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das and U.S. Ambassador to India Mr. Richard Verma signed the agreement in New Delhi on 9th July’15.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch ‘Skill India campaign’ at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi. On this occasion, Meghalaya Skill Development Society will be organizing the programme under the theme, “Why Skill Development is necessary for the youth of Meghalaya?” in conformity with the launch of the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

The NJAC membership will include two senior most Judges of the Supreme Court, the Union Minister of Law and Justice, two eminent persons to be nominated by a committee of the Prime Minister of India, the Chief Justice of India, and the Leader of the Opposition in the House of the People. However, the new body may take some time to come into being.

The scheme was launched with effect from September 2014, hiking the pension amount to a flat Rs 1,000 per month for those who were getting lower amount earlier. This decision will hit about 32 lakh Pensioners.

The Union Cabinet had made a recommendation to the President in this regard on 31st Mar’15. The present Land Acquisition Ordinance is to lapse tomorrow. The new ordinance, includes nine amendments, that were part of the Bill which was passed by the Lok Sabha last month. The Bill is pending before the Rajya Sabha, where government is in minority.

She died at the age of 28. In 2014 she shot a 30 second video in which she shared her experience, which later was used by the government for its anti-tobacco drive to warn people against consumption of smokeless gutkha and pan masalas.

Under the scheme, rice and dal curry would be served as lunch to the poor at a meager rate of Rs 5 per meal.

Punjab has launched a special mission to provide school students a separate period for playing along with studies. Named as ‘Padho Punjab-Khedo Punjab Mission’, (Learn Punjab-Play Punjab Mission) a 40 to 50 minute special period has been kept for sports during which students of middle schools will be taught various games including the one being played locally.

The new trade policy introduced two new schemes; the first one is Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS) for export of specific goods to specific markets. The other, Services Export form India Scheme (SEIS) to increase the export of notified services. These two schemes will replace multiple schemes with different conditions for eligibility and usage.