Indian Polity - Current Affairs for April, 2016

The Divakar Reddy Parliamentary Standing Committee report on Consumer Bill Protection 2015 was tabled on 26th April 2016 in the Parliament on April 26, 2016

• Committee headed by TDP MP JC Divakar Reddy reported that celebs for misleading ads for the second time should be made to undergo jail term of 5 years and penalty up to INR 50 lakhs.
• Legal teeth will also be given to ASCI to curb such ads and advocates empowered Department of Consumer Affairs to regulate e-commerce, direct selling and multi-level marketing with consumer complaints increasing
• Offender may be penalised with fine of INR 10 lakh or imprisonment of two years or both

Government of India has asked jewellers to settle excise duties for March to May along with June and get themselves registered with the Central Excise department by July 1.

• The budget had imposed 1 percent excise duty on non silver jewellery

Rashtrapati Bhavan on 22nd April 2016 approved a list of 6 nominated members to the RS including Senior BJP leader Subramaniam Swamy, Test cricketer and BJP MP Navjot Sindhu and boxing legend Mary Kom. Economist and former member of the NAC Narendra Jadhav has been nominated for an RS seat along with journalist Swapan Dasgupta and Malayalam actor Suresh Gopi.

National Institute of Technology has earned the distinction of being one of 12 institutes of India to sign an MoU with member countries of BRICS namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. NIT involves the study of computer sciences and information science. It has a strong background in the study of water resources and pollution treatment.

• MoU among BRICS is for creating a BRICS Network University which facilitates sharing strengths, exchange of students and facility as well as long term courses including PhD programmes.

Union Government on 20 April 2016 notified that the Department of Disinvestment is renamed as Department of Investment and Public Asset Management or DIPAM.

• The decision is aimed at proper management of Union government’s investments in equity including its disinvestment in central public sector undertakings (PSUs).
• The new department has been mandated to advise the government in the matters of financial restructuring of central public sector enterprises and for attracting investment through capital markets.
• A comprehensive approach will be adopted for efficient management of government investment in Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) by addressing issues such as capital restructuring, dividend, bonus shares, etc.

This is a CSS scheme with total outlay of INR 3679.7674 crore. Project includes 3640 crore for National Hydrology project and INR 36.7674 crore for National Water Informatics Centre to be established in two stages. The project aims to cover all of India while earlier hydrology projects covered only 13 states.

This is the first ranking in the nation for higher educational institutions. History has been made as the National Institutional Ranking Framework was launched. This is one of the latest challenges in the field of higher education- a ranking system.

• The rankings are arrived at following detailed analysis and validation of data submitted by more than 3600 higher educational institutions. Academic institutes will be assessed on parameters such as teaching, learning, professional performance and collaborative research.

Mehbooba Mufti has been sworn in as the first woman CM of Jammu and Kashmir ending weeks of political uncertainty

• She is the daughter of late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
• PDP has a green party flag and has adopted the pen-inkpot as an election symbol
• Mehbooba is a 56 year old law graduate

Situated in Thrissur district, the Cheraman Juma Masjid is believed to be the first mosque built in India by Arab traders around 629 AD. It symbolises ancient ties between the two nations. Cheraman Perumal was a Chera King who embraced Islam.

• The mosque has an ancient oil lamp that is always kept burning and believed to be over a thousand years old.
• People from all religions bring oil for the lamp as an offering