June 4th -Current Affairs

India joins the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on Automatic Exchange of Information

• India has joined the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) on Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (AEOI).
•  The new global standards has wide in scope and oblige the treaty partners to exchange wide range of financial information from institutions from their country.
• In order to implement these standards in India necessary legislative changes will be made in section 285BA of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
• Apart from India 5 other nations including Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Indonesia and New Zealand also have joined it. Now the total number of countries agreeing to exchange information automatically in accordance with MCAA has gone up to 60.

Implications

• When fully implemented, these standards will enable India to receive information from almost every country in the world including offshore financial centres.
• Thus, it will help to prevent international tax evasion and avoidance. It will be also instrumental in getting information about assets of Indians held abroad and their beneficial owners.
• Thus, it will directly help the Government to curb tax evasion and deal with the menace of black money stashed abroad.

Jaipur Metro’s Phase-1 inaugurated by Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje

• Jaipur Metro’s Phase-1 was inaugurated by Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje by flagging off the inaugural train. Phase 1 of Pink City’s Metro covers 9.6 km long route from Mansarovar to Chandpole with nine metro stations.
• The phase 1 of Jaipur Metro was completed in record four-and-a-half-years making it one of the fastest-built rail metros in India with cost of 2,023 crore rupees.

Facts about Jaipur Metro’s Phase-1

• Developed by Jaipur Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (JMRCL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Rajasthan Government. Will provide an affordable and reliable public transport system to people and help to spur economic development of the city.
• Up to 30 percent of metro’s operation and maintenance staff, including train operators and station controllers are women.
• Stations are equipped with automatic fare collection system to collect and manage the fare revenue. With this, Jaipur became the sixth city in India to have metro service.
• Other five cities are Delhi, Mumbai, Gurgaon, Bangalore, and Kolkata. It should be noted that, in initial stages for effective execution of the project the Phase-1 work was divided into two parts viz Phase-1A and Phase-1B. The phase 1A is from Mansarovar to Chandpole has been started with this inauguration while work on phase 1B from Chandpole to Badi Chaupad is underway.

India, Belarus ink 6 agreements to boost co-operation

• India and Belarus signed six agreements to enhance bilateral co-operation. The agreements were signed in presence of President Pranab Mukherjee during his state visit to Belarus.
• President Pranab Mukherjee is on two nation’s tour viz Sweden and Belarus.The tour had started from Sweden on 31 May 2015 and later in Belarus on 3 June.

The signed agreements are

• Roadmap for India-Belarus Cooperation: for strengthening bilateral relations and co-operation in the field of trade, culture and other areas.
• Protocol to amendment: To amend the agreement between two countries for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income and on Property (Capital) of September, 1997.
• MoU on Cooperation in the field of Standardization and Information Support: It was signed between Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and the State Committee for Standardization of the Republic of Belarus.
• MoU for cooperation on Broadcasting: It was signed between Prasar Bharati (PB) and the National State Television and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus (Belteleradiocompany).
• MoU on Bilateral Cooperation between the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Ministry of Finance of Belarus.
• MoU for Manufacturing and Marketing of Light Industry Goods (concern Bellegprom): It was signed between the Union Ministry of Textiles of India and the Belarusian State.

 

Maharashtra government for first time invokes MCOCA against ration mafia

• Maharashtra government has invoked stringent provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against ration mafia.
• With this, state government aims at weeding out the widespread corruption by taking stringent action against those who tamper the public distribution system (PDS) mechanism.
• The first case in this regard was registered against five persons from Nashik for allegedly being ration mafia and were involved in the pilferage of food grains meant for PDS.
• The accused were involved in the infamous Surgana scam which had misappropriated nearly 3,000 metric tonnes (MT) of foodgrain supplied under the PDS to the tribal-dominated Surgana region of Nashik.

World Bank approves $ 250 million loan for Jhelum and Tawi Flood Recovery Project in J&K

• World Bank has approved 250 million US dollars loan for Jhelum and Tawi Flood Recovery Project in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K).
• The project will be funded by loan credit from International Development Association (IDA), a World Bank’s concessionary with a maturity of 25 years, including a 5 year grace period.

India, US ink new 10-year Defence Framework Agreement

India and United States (US) have signed a new strategically important 10-year defence framework agreement on 3 June 2015.

The agreement was signed between Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and visiting US Defence Secretary Dr. Ashton Carter in New Delhi.

The framework agreement provides avenues for high level strategic discussions between both nations along with continued exchanges of armed forces and strengthening of defence capabilities

Apart from signing this agreement both nations also agreed to

• Expedite discussions to take forward co-operation on jet engines, aircraft carrier design and construction and other areas.
• Pursue co-development and co-production projects that will offer tangible opportunities for American defence industries to build defence partnership with the Indian industries under Make in India programme.
•  Continue efforts to enhance bilateral cooperation in areas of mutual interest such as maritime security and knowledge partnership in the field of Defence.
• Jointly develop protective gear for soldiers against biological and chemical warfare. Develop next generation power source i.e.generators for the battlefield.