Q&A: Willie Walsh, CEO, British Airways on 'A change in departure tax will make Heathrow uncompetitive'

After Willie Walsh took over as the chief executive officer (CEO) of British Airways (BA), he has guided the carrier to a full merger with Spanish airline Iberia and realised the objective of a transatlantic joint business with American Airlines. In a freewheeling chat with Sneha Kupekar, the Irishman says the company will lobby against any change in the departure tax and believes Emirates must be looking at its new codeshare with Kingfisher with envy. Edited excerpts:

If FDI rules are relaxed, will BA look at investing in Indian carriers?
The current rules do not permit investments by foreign airlines in Indian carriers. I don't think there is any immediate plan to change the same. However, the future of the aviation industry is consolidation, and I am sure if an opportunity is provided, many will grab it. BA, on its part, is in the process of completing the merger with Spanish airline Iberia and has formed a holding company for the same — the International Airline Group. The group would be looking at mergers and I would let you speculate that the group's ambition would be looking at investing in an Indian carrier.

Is BA in favour of the UK government's plan to levy departure tax per aircraft instead of the current per passenger basis?
The departure tax, started as a passenger duty on a per passenger basis, was originally a sort of environment tax. However, government figures now show that the revenue generated so far has exceeded the environmental cost, ie, the CO2 emissions that are generated. So, the revenue generated goes towards the treasury. However, government debates and consultations on whether to change the tax are still on. In the recent budget, this proposal was resisted and any change would be made only after further consultations with all the parties concerned. We continue to lobby against any change to the tax as it will make Heathrow Airport uncompetitive.

How is BA helping Kingfisher join the Oneworld Alliance?
We welcome Kingfisher Airlines' decision to join the Oneworld Alliance and are its sponsors for this. We continue to help them in every possible way to become full members by late 2011. It's only appropriate that our first codeshare with an Indian carrier will be with Kingfisher.

The codeshare has been approved by the Indian government and will be applicable from September 15. BA's code will be placed on 11 destinations within India and the Chennai-Colombo route, while Kingfisher's code will be placed on nine domestic routes, from Heathrow to the UK and continental Europe. This will enable customers to book tickets on both carriers' websites, frequent flyers will be able to earn loyalty points and use lounges on these flights. A through check-in will also be provided on codeshare flights.

How is BA positioning itself in India vis-a-vis Emirates?
Competition from Emirates, Qatar Airways or Etihad is nothing new. The competition goes back to almost 25 years. They are ambitious in their Europe and North America plans as well. The change in bilateral agreement between the UK and India in 2004-05 for direct UK-India flights opened up competition from Indian players such as Jet Airways, Kingfisher and Virgin Atlantic, and indirectly, from Emirates as well. India is the second-largest market for British Airways after the US, and it's one of the main reasons why we have introduced the Boeing 777-300 ER in Mumbai first and will subsequently roll it out to Delhi, Chicago and Dubai. We will continue to focus on stronger positioning in India and I am sure Emirates will be looking at our new codeshare with Kingfisher with envy.

How is the aviation market picking up now?
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) figures of growth in the industry look positive. We are also seeing positive growth in our passenger and cargo numbers. Strong growth in long-haul international routes, improving yields in premium cabins, all point to a strong recovery.

Though the growth is at a slow pace, it is still moving forward. There is no evidence at this stage of a downturn again. However, in the event of a downturn, we know what we need to do and are prepared with our game. I'll be an optimist and say that we don't expect a downturn situation to arise.

Source: Business Standerd (Sneha Kupekar / Mumbai September 5, 2010)

Economy : 45 % drop in FDI

• At a time when India was contemplating opening up the multi-brand retail and defence sectors for foreign direct investment, FDI inflows declined by about 45 per cent to $1.41 billion in June this year from $2.58 billion in the year-ago period.
• The sectors which attracted foreign investment include services, tele communication, construction activities and computer software and hardware. Foreign investment in May 2010 was $2.2 billion.
• FDI during the first quarter of 2010-11 : $5.80 billion against $7.01 billion in 2009-10.
• The government has been taking measures to streamline the procedures for foreign investors.
• FDI in 2009-10 at $25.88 billion was lower by five per cent against $27.33 billion in the previous fiscal.

The symbol for the Indian Rupee

The Union Cabinet today approved the symbol for the Indian Rupee. This symbol will be used by all individuals/entities within and outside India after its incorporation in `Unicode Standard', 'ISO/IEC 10646' and 'IS 13194'.

 

A public competition was held amongst resident Indian citizens inviting entries for the symbol, which reflects and captures the Indian ethos and culture.  Over 3000 entries were received, which were evaluated by a Jury headed by the Deputy Governor, RBI, which also included experts from three reputed art and design Institutes.  The entries were presented to the Jury in such a manner that identity of the competitors was not revealed to the Jury members.  The Jury selected five final entries and also gave its evaluation of these five entries to the Government to take a final decision.

 

The symbol will standardize the expression for Indian Rupee in different languages, both within and outside the country.  It would better distinguish the Indian currency from those countries whose currencies are also designated as Rupee or Rupiah, such as Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

 

The symbol will be included in the "Unicode Standard" for representation and processing of text, written in major scripts of the world to ensure that the Rupee symbol is easily displayed/printed in the electronic and print media as all the software companies provide support for this Standard.  Encoding in the Unicode Standard will also ensure encoding in the International standard ISO/IEC 10646 as both the organizations work closely with each other.

 

The symbol will also be included in the Indian Standards, viz. 13194:1991 – Indian Script Code for Information Interchange (ISCII) through an amendment to the existing list by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).  The ISCII specifies various codes for Indian languages for processing on computers along with the key-board lay outs.

 

After encoding of the symbol in the Unicode Standard and National Standard, NASSCOM will approach software development companies for incorporating the Rupee symbol in their operative software, as a new programme or as an update, to enable the computer users worldwide to use the symbol even if it is not embedded on the keyboards (in a similar manner, we use the Euro symbol, which is not embedded in the keyboards in use in India).  

 

For incorporating the symbol in the keyboards to be manufactured in India, the Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology (MAIT) will enjoin its membership to make requisite changes in the production processes once the symbol is notified as a keyboard standard by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

 

The State Governments would be impressed upon to encourage the use of the new Rupee symbol and proactively promote its use.

 

The encoding of the rupee symbol in the Indian Standards is estimated to take about six months while encoding in the Unicode and ISO/IEC 10646 will take about 18 months to two years.  It will be incorporated in software packages and keyboards in use in India.

 

The symbol for the Rupee would lend a distinctive character and identity to the currency and further highlight the strength and robustness of the Indian economy as also a favored destination for global investments.

 

BACKGROUND :

 

In view of the fact that the Indian economy has been expanding at a sustained high rate of growth, is steadily integrating with the global economy and India has emerged as a prime investment destination worldwide, it was decided to undertake an exercise for selecting a distinct and identifiable symbol for India Rupee (INR) like other major currencies such as US Dollar (USD), British Pound Sterling (GBP), the Japanese Yen (JPY) and the European Union (EU) Euro.

 

 

The Symbol of Indian Rupee approved by the Union Cabinet  on 15^th July, 2010.  The Design for the symbol was submitted by Shri D Udaya Kumar.

Source: PIB Press Online

Shree Accounting Service: We Are Providing You The Services As Below

Shree Accounting Service: We Are Providing You The Services As Below: "- Manual A/C, Tally A/C, - I . Tax, VAT, - Service Tax, - Finance Management."

Current Affairs: Dialogue India: Indian Economy

Indian Economy (Minor Issues)

MTN rings Anil for merger with RCOM

• With the rapprochement between the two Ambani brothers making headlines all over the world, MTN is reported to be considering in its board meeting, as early as today, a merger with RCOM.
• MTN is a South Africa based telecom giant with interests in Africa. Currently, South Africa's Public Investment Body holds 18% in MTN, Lebanon's Mikati family holds 10, while the rest is owned by institutional and individual investors.
• In 2008 also there were merger talks between MTN and Anil Ambani. But they came to a naught with the elder brother Mukesh saying that he has the first right of refusal over RCOM and hence MTN cannot be acquiring any stake in RCOM without his refusal.
• MTN has proved to be the runaway bride for many. So far, the company has entered into nine negotiations with a stated objective to sell out.
• The last among them was Bharti Airtel. The proposed $24-billion transaction would have seen Bharti acquire a 49% stake in MTN while the South African company and its shareholders would have purchased 36% of Bharti. The deal would have created a telecom giant with the third-highest subscribers of any wireless carrier in the world.
• If the RCOM and MTN join hands, the combined entity would have annual revenues of approximately $13.4 billion, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $7.7 billion. The two would also have 218 million subscribers, putting it among the top five companies around the world.

GDP grew at 7.4% in FY 2010

• Indian economy expanded at a better-than-expected 7.4% in 2009-10, helped by strong growth in manufacturing and agriculture that lifted fourth quarter numbers, but faces global headwinds as it pushes for 8.5% growth in the current fiscal year.
• The country's gross domestic output grew by 8.7% in the fourth fiscal quarter as agriculture grew 0.7% and manufacturing cruised at 16.3%, data released on Monday showed.
• The numbers emboldened finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to say the economy would grow by more than 8.5% in the current year. But his optimism is not shared by many others.
• In the three months to March 2010, gross fixed capital formation—a measure of investment activity—grew 34.6% quarter-on-quarter, indicating that investments have begun to pick up. However, analysts suspect that these investments are largely by the government in infrastructure sectors and will like to see private players stepping in.

Criteria for starting a bank?

• Under the existing regulations, the initial minimum paid-up capital for a new bank should be Rs 200 crore and the promoter's contribution shall be at least 40% of the paid-up capital of the bank at any point of time.
• The current laws state that an individual company or its subsidiaries can only hold a maximum of 10% stake in the proposed new bank.

Bharti wraps up Zain deal

• Bharti has reportedly closed the $9 bn purchase of the African operations of Kuwait's Zain Telecom.
• This is India's second biggest overseas deal after Tata Steel's $13 bn purchase of Corus in 2007.
• The completion of the deal gives Bharti Airtel a firm foothold in a market that it has long coveted: two previous attempts to enter Africa with MTN, the continent's largest phone firm, came to nought.
• Cash from the African operations will pay for the about $9-billion loan that Bharti has taken to fund the deal and will reportedly cost the company less than $200 million a year in interest payments.
• The combined entity will be the world's fifth largest, with 180 million customers, 42 million of them in Africa.

On the importance of tackling inflation

• Inflation will be a nagging issue for India because: (a) We are a nation with a large population, which is underserved in terms of food, clothing, housing, etc, (b) Indian GDP is on the trajectory of high trend growth rate of over 8% and GDP per capita is growing at the rate of 7.5%. There is significantly high unsatiated demand at current level of economy, which is bound to rise significantly further as the GDP per capita increases. Hence, the managers of Indian economy have to address the issue of inflation with short-, medium- and long-term perspective.

Tribunals for economic disputes, offences likely

• The government plans to set up special dispute resolutions panels and courts to resolve economic offences and disputes, as it looks to make a clear distinction between cases of general and specialised nature.
• The proposal will now be discussed and finalised by the law ministry. It may require changes in existing legal framework.
• This initiative follows a suggestion made by the Prime Minister's Council on Trade and Industry, which called for a special dispute resolution mechanism to administer all existing and future economic legislations.

Private funds flowing swiftly to infrastructure projects

• Private investments in India's infrastructure projects crossed $25-billion mark in the first three quarters of 2009, as conducive government policies and liquidity in capital market opened the floodgates of corporate funds into the booming energy and transport sectors.
• An improved show by infrastructure industries helped India lead its South Asian neighbours in terms of economic performance, according to a World Bank report. India's energy and transport sectors attracted 40% of total investment commitments worth a record $26 billion.
• Investment commitments to new infrastructure projects with private participation grew by 15% in 2009.
• This could be because of the country's globally competitive manufacturing sector.

Basic about Pass through certificates

• A pass through certificate (PTC) is created on conversion of a loan to an investible debt instruments such as bonds and debentures. The PTC has features of any other debt instrument and earn a return to the investor. Such certificates are sold against an underlying security which is generally the loan that a bank converts into securities or bonds.
• In India, servicing of such PTCs is done by a special purpose vehicle (SPV) which is created by the issuer of such PTCs. The issuer is essentially a bank or an NBFC which benefits by converting loans to PTCs through what is known as securitisation as it generates further resources for the entity for further lending. The investor earns a fixed return like any other fixed income instrument.

RIL drawing up plans to foray into telecom space

• The board of Reliance Industries (RIL) is believed to have approved plans to enter the Indian telecommunications sector when the opportunity arises.
• India's largest private sector company is expected to go for only the lucrative corporate bandwidth market, or the business of selling telecom and internet services to companies rather than individuals.
• It is likely that the company could unveil its intent to foray into telecom at its annual general meeting on June 18.
• The government is currently auctioning frequency spectrum for broadband wireless access, or WiMAX, a technology that speeds up internet access and RIL is likely to set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to acquire one of the winners.
• It is rare for a telecom company to sell only to companies, ignoring retail consumers. The only comparable initiative to what RIL seems interested in would be Tulip Telecom. But Tulip is small and has found it difficult to expand business beyond a point. Tulip offers companies wireless bandwidth solutions, including virtual private networks, on radio spectrum that is free for use. Only last month, the company announced plans to start its own overseas hubs for customers that required access globally.
• In the year ended March 2010, Tulip had revenues of Rs 1,967 crore with a net profit of Rs 275 crore. Yet, RIL's entry into the market will set the cat among the pigeons for telecom operators. Already beleaguered by falling call rates in India, the sector can ill afford a sharp decline in leased-line rates and corporate client spends.

Broadband Wireless Airwaves auction touches record high

• The cost of pan-India broadband airwaves, which crossed Rs 12,000 crore after 14 days of bidding, has baffled analysts and stunned telecom companies participating in the auctions, many of whom concede that the price has become 'highly irrational.'
• On Wednesday, the pan-India bid licence for BWA spectrum touched Rs 12,257 crore, after two weeks of auction, which translates into a revenue of Rs 36,772 crore for the government from the sale of three slots.
• The government had estimated to garner Rs 35,000 crore from both 3G and BWA auctions combined. This takes the total revenues for the government from 3G and BWA combined to over Rs 1 lakh crore.

No tax on retirement benefits under new draft code

• The revised draft Direct Taxes Code (DTC) proposes tax exemption on retirement benefits, the Public Provident Fund (PPF), the Government Provident Fund (GPF), the Recognised Provident Funds and the Employees Provident Fund and addresses important issues such as Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT).
• It also takes care of taxation of long-term savings, capital gains and housing loans.
• Also, a proposal to levy MAT on corporates based on their assets had been dropped. However, the DTC did not give any details on the Income-Tax structure such as the slabs or rates, which were provided in the first draft released in August 2009.
• "As of now, it is proposed to provide the EEE [exempt-exempt-exempt] method of taxation for GPF, PPF, the Employees Provident Fund and Recognised Provident Funds," it said.

Courtesy: Dialogue India CAG Weekly By Om Prakash (Goldy sir)

Current Affairs : International Relations (Major Issues)

What is ACTA and why is it in the news?

• An ACTA is an acronym for anti-counterfeiting trade agreement; otherwise also known as 'Trips Plus' that is reportedly being given a shape by countries such as the US, Japan, the EU, Australia and South Korea.
• The ACTA being negotiated between eleven countries (it also includes Canada, Mexico, Switzerland, NZ, Morocco and Singapore), proposes to widen the scope of protection and setting up higher standards for enforcement of intellectual property rights. It would extend to import, export and in-transit goods and includes infringement of all IPRs.
• While the negotiations for the agreement have been going on for more than three years, the international community got to know about it this April through media reports.
• It is feared that it could hamper India's trade in a number of areas including pharmaceuticals and IT products.
• Therefore India and China have decided to rake up the issue at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

On the predicament of Europe over its debt crisis

• The text book solution to a sovereign debt crisis and loss of competitiveness — as is the case with Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy — is a substantial cut in government spending and a deep enough currency devaluation that makes the country's exports competitive. In addition, structural reforms to address the problem of inflexible labour markets and loss of competitiveness are needed. If there is enough appetite for the country's exports in the rest of the world, fiscal consolidation and a stable economy should be the end result. This economic prescription is difficult to follow in crisis-ridden Europe because the eurozone countries are unable to individually depreciate their currency. This robs these countries of a very potent tool to address the crisis and regaining competitiveness sans currency depreciation would be harder and more painful involving recession and deflation.

Riots in Kyrgyzstan

• Deadly riots swept through Osh and another southern city of Jalalabad,Kyrgyz news agency AKI press reported on Sunday. Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbek groups set ablaze cars, and looted stores and markets. The Kyrgyz interim government, which imposed curfew in the entire Jalalabad region, has allowed police and troops to shoot to kill in order to control the riots.
• About 117 people have been killed over the past three days in what is being described as the worst ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan in the last two decades. The interim government in Kyrgyzstan, which took power in April after a popular revolt toppled President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, had appealed for Russian help to quell the riots.
• Media reports added that violence continued unabated with Kyrgyzs rioters torching Uzbek villages and slaughtering residents. More than 75,000 Uzbeks are said to have crossed over to Uzbekistan. Tensions between Kyrgyzs and Uzbeks have erupted earlier too, and appear to have been reignited by the ouster of the president in April. Local Uzbeks largely support the country's new leadership in a predominantly Kyrgyz stronghold of the former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev.
• The provisional government has accused Bakiyev of provoking the violence in order to destabilise the country.
• There are about 116 Indians trapped in Osh and Jalalabad towns. For the present they are reported to be safe.

Schengen at 25

• The Schengen area, associated in this part of the world with a single travel visa — valid across several countries in the European Union (EU) and beyond — is now 25 years.
• It symbolises an arena of relative success in the grand project of regional integration. It is hard to make a similar claim with equal confidence, many would argue, with respect to the other visible sign of transnational integration — the decade-old single currency — in the wake of the handling of the impact of the financial crisis in the 16 countries that constitute the eurozone.
• The Schengen area, now comprising 22 of the 27 EU states besides Switzerland, Iceland, and Norway, entails the absence of internal barriers in a territory along a 42,673 km external sea and 7,721 km land borders.

Building a bright future with coherent effort

• The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's (SCO) annual summit ended in Tashkent with the leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan agreeing to further enhance regional stability and seek common development.
• Against the backdrop of complicated regional and international situations, it is both a necessity and the collective wish of these countries and their peoples to safeguard regional stability, and cooperatively promote social and economic advancement of the entire region.
• The Tashkent declaration, issued at the end of the six-member summit, stressed the importance of constructive dialogues and cooperation among SCO member states, with a particular emphasis on countering new threats and challenges that have emerged in the security sector.

U.N. imposes sanctions on Iran

• The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has by a heavy margin imposed a fourth round of sanctions against Iran.
• Of the 15 members in the Council, 12 voted in favour of sanctions. Turkey and Brazil opposed the sanctions, while Lebanon abstained.
• However, Brazil and Turkey, both of whom had signed a nuclear swap deal with Iran last month, warned that the latest sanctions would impede diplomacy on Iran's atomic programme.
• The new sanctions include provisions that prohibit Iran from purchasing heavy weaponry, of various types, including attack helicopter and missiles.
• It recommends all countries to inspect cargo from Iran, suspected of containing banned items at their ports and airports.
• Banning licences of banks suspected of funding nuclear activities is also part of the recommendations.
• Besides, a travel ban and asset freezes for a number of individuals, including senior nuclear officials and associated firms is proposed.
• Hours before the UNSC vote, Russia, France and the United States responded to the nuclear swap deal that Iran, Turkey and Brazil had signed last month.
• While the full details of the response were still awaited, diplomats familiar with the issue said that International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Yukiya Amano conveyed to Iran, the response of the three countries, the so-called Vienna group.
• The Vienna group apparently wants some significant changes to the Tehran document.

An analysis A needless provocation

• Driven by myopia and sheer bloody-mindedness, the United States and 11 other members of the United Nations Security Council have voted to tighten sanctions on Iran. Brazil and Turkey, which recently brokered an important fuel swap agreement with Tehran, voted against the sanctions resolution while Lebanon abstained.
• What matters is not the specific provisions contained in the latest round of sanctions but the fact that Washington insisted on pushing them through just when a small window for confidence-building and trust between Iran and the international community had been opened by the Turkish-Brazilian initiative. Under their proposal, which the International Atomic Energy Agency is now considering, Iran will promptly transfer 1,200 kg of low enriched uranium — roughly half the amount the IAEA estimates it has produced to date — to Turkey, where it would be held in escrow.
• Russia and France would then fabricate an equivalent amount of enriched uranium fuel rods suitable for use in the Tehran Research Reactor. Once these rods are ready, they will be exchanged for the Iranian LEU.
• Although the swap addresses an issue distinct from the one Iran is currently being sanctioned for, the successful implementation of the agreement would have been a major confidence-building measure. The U.S. and its allies would have succeeded in removing from the territory of Iran half its LEU stockpile — an amount that could theoretically be used to fabricate one nuclear device should Iran leave the Non-Proliferation Treaty and start weapons-grade enrichment.
• From the Iranian point of view, it would have demonstrated that the international community was capable of reasonableness and flexibility. From there, the Turks and Brazilians, perhaps supplemented by other powers, might have been able to move their engagement with Iran to a higher level, securing answers to the few remaining questions the IAEA has about the Iranian nuclear programme.
• But Wednesday's sanctions resolution changes everything. They send a signal to the diverse stakeholders in Tehran that reasonableness doesn't pay. Iran is likely to harden its attitude, thereby allowing the U.S. and its allies to take one more step down the path of confrontation.
• India, which has a major economic and strategic stake in the preservation of peace in the Persian Gulf and West Asia, should stop being a passive bystander to the crisis that is now looming large. By insisting on sanctions at this stage, the P-5 have only succeeded in scoring own goals. India may not be a member of the U.N. Security Council but that should not preclude it from actively pursuing a diplomatic end to the standoff.

The curse of Okinawa

• Japan's new Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, faces unenviable challenges. He was elected to the office by the Democratic Party of Japan following last week's sudden resignation by Yukio Hatoyama.
• Credited with fashioning the election victory of the centre-left DPJ only eight months ago, Mr. Hatoyama managed to become dramatically unpopular in record time.
• A controversy over financial irregularities during the election campaign destroyed the impression that the new government represented change from the sleazy money politics of the Liberal Democratic Party.
• But the trigger for Mr. Hatoyama's resignation was the U.S. military presence on the island of Okinawa. Of nearly 40,000 American troops in Japan under a bilateral security treaty, over two-thirds are in bases in Okinawa.
• The local population resents them. The DPJ made an election promise to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Okinawa, and specifically to move the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma off the island. The plan was fiercely opposed by the U.S., which sees its presence in Okinawa as vital; the island is located strategically close to North Korea and China. Public anger mounted when it became apparent that the U.S. carried more weight on this issue than voters, and that all Mr. Hatoyama could do was relocate the base to a less-populous area on the island. Across the rest of Japan, he was blamed for mishandling relations with an important international ally. With elections to the Diet's upper house due in less than a month, he opted to fall on his sword, leaving the mess to his successor.

Three-day "peace jirga

• Only way out is exit
• A three-day "peace jirga" in Afghanistan has given rise to more questions than answers.
• President Hamid Karzai called the jirga to win an endorsement for a peace deal with the Taliban so that it could be held out as a nationally mandated plan.
• The Taliban, the real and deadly opposition, was not invited; and the non-attendance of some heavyweight opposition politicians took away from the moment. Still, this traditional assembly, seen as a very Afghan way of taking crucial decisions, has helped the embattled Mr. Karzai put behind him some of the controversy surrounding his re-election last year.
• But the workability of the proposed peace deal is another matter. Foremost among the difficulties relates to the issue of what can be gained by negotiating with a reactionary and brutal group that rejects every way of ordering the world except its own, and Al-Qaeda's. Secondly, the Taliban has a strong card to play: it will not negotiate unless its condition that all foreign troops in Afghanistan must leave is met.
•  Mr. Karzai, however, wants to implement his plan under the protective umbrella of the U.S./ NATO security forces. His game plan is to wean away 'non-ideological' Taliban fighters with an amnesty, cash, and jobs. There is talk of offering asylum to hardline Taliban leaders in another country, possibly Saudi Arabia, and of working on the international community to have some other Taliban leaders taken off a US/UN blacklist.
• This would have made sense were the Taliban on the verge of military defeat. It is inconceivable that at this point, when the Taliban senses victory, the core leadership will opt for voluntary exile. Then there is the matter of how compatible Mr. Karzai's plan is with the interests of Pakistan and the United States.

Israel's rogue behaviour

• Tuesday's attack on an unarmed, humanitarian flotilla of activists carrying relief supplies for the besieged and blockaded people of Gaza is a reminder to the world of the lawless, outlaw nature of the Israeli state. Although the death toll is still unclear, as many as 10 activists, several of them Turkish nationals, died when Israel Defence Forces commandos swooped down on the vessels in international waters and used grossly disproportionate force to overcome the not unexpected resistance they encountered.
• The boats, their passengers, and cargo have all been illegally detained. Among those locked up by the Israelis are a number of journalists from around the world who had joined the flotilla to cover the story. The criminal Israeli response to what was intended to be a Gandhian act of solidarity with the Palestinian people is the product of the international community's failure to ensure that Tel Aviv's illegal and immoral blockade of Gaza was lifted. Israel cut off Gaza from the rest of the world in June 2007 as a means of weakening the political hold Hamas has on the territory. The rocket attacks were a pretext for the blockade, which quickly escalated into a full-scale war on the people of the territory. Gaza suffers all the evils of occupation despite the withdrawal by the Zionist forces in 2005.
• The Israeli invasion of 2008-09 led to the commission of war crimes as documented by the UN-mandated Goldstone Commission. And the blockade of Gaza and its people amounts to collective punishment of civilians, another grave breach of international humanitarian law. Any other country would have been hauled over the coals by the UN Security Council for such rogue behaviour but Israel enjoys the backing of the United States. As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama held out the faint hope of a more even-handed approach to the problems of West Asia.
• But as President, he has dismally failed to exert the kind of pressure needed to get Israel to withdraw from the territories it has illegally occupied since 1967. The crime that played out on the high seas on May 31 is very much part of the crime of occupation. There is little sense in the UNSC asking for an inquiry into the incident when previous inquiries into Israeli behaviour — notably the Goldstone report — ended in the dustbin. At the very least, the international community must ensure the immediate end of the Israeli embargo on Gaza. No goal or logic can justify subjecting an entire civilian population to an economic blockade. India has joined democratic forces round the world in condemning the attack on the flotilla. It must move beyond this now and actively work for the lifting of the inhuman blockade.

The way forward in Nepal

• A political and constitutional crisis of sorts was averted in Nepal last week when the three biggest parties — the Maoists, the Nepali Congress, and the Unified Marxists-Leninists — agreed to extend the life of the Constituent Assembly (CA) by another year.
• Under the interim statute adopted after the overthrow of the monarchy, the CA's term was set to expire on May 28, 2010, the assumption being that two years was sufficient time to write the new constitution. In the light of the interminable squabbling among the big three, that goal turned out to be hopelessly ambitious. But what guarantee is there that the new deadline of 2011 will be met? So far, at least, the outlook is not very promising.
• The three-point agreement on the basis of which the CA's life was extended spoke of forming "as soon as possible… [a] national consensus government."

Courtesy: Dialogue India CAG Weekly By Om Prakash (Goldy sir)

INDIA – A look

 
National Name :- Bharat, India ,Hindustan
 
Current President :- Pratibha Patil
 
Current Prim Minister :- Manmoham Sing
 
Land Area:- 1,147,949 sq mi (2,973,190 sq km)
 
Total Area:- 1,269,338 sq mi (3,287,590 sq km)
 
Population :- 1,132,446,000
 
Capital Of India :- New Delhi
 
Economical Capital Of India :- Mumbai
 
Currency :- Rupees
 
National Language :- Hindi
 
National Official Language:-English
 
Literacy Rate :- 61%
 
Ruler Party :- UPA
 
Religious :- Hindu, Muslim, Shikh, Parsi, Christan.
 
Ethnicity :- Indo-aryan, dravidion, Mongoloid
 
Railway Length :- 63,221 km
 
Highway :- 33,83,344 km
 
Water way:- 14,500
 
Airports:- 346
 
Boarder Country :- Pakistan, china, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangaladesh, burma.
 
Independent day:- 15 Aug 1947
 
Republican Day:- 26 Jan 1950
 
Population Density:- 329 per km2
 
GDP :- 2.96 trillion
 
Timezone :- IST UTC +5:30,
 
Internet TLD :- .in
 
ISD Call:-+91

Current Affairs

Current Affairs Weekly
By Saurabh Agrawal
Utkrist IAS

National Affairs

LEGISLATIONS, POLICIES & EXECUTIVE ORDERS

• The depiction of new and more stringent pictorial warnings on tobacco products has been deferred by six months to December 1 from the earlier scheduled date of June 1. The new warnings will show pictures of cancerous mouths and occupy at least 40 per cent of the packet area. They will be displayed on the upper portion in a bid to dissuade people from using tobacco, which causes cancer, one of the top 10 killers in India. The Ministry, under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Rules, 2008, and amended in 2008 and 2009, had notified the new pictorial health warnings on March 5.
• The Union Cabinet gave its approval for a hike in the price of natural gas supplied under the Administered Pricing Mechanism (APM) by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Limited (OIL), doubling it to $4.20 per mBtu (million British thermal unit) from the present $1.79 per mBtu, bringing it on a par with the price at which Reliance Industries sells its gas.
• The Finance Ministry has suspended the facility of e-filing of income tax returns, as security certification for the Income Tax Department's website is not yet in place.
• Defence sector not mature enough to absorb more FDI, says Antony. At present FDI in Defence Sector is 26 per cent.
• The Centre is contemplating certain changes in the Memorandum of Procedure of appointment of Judges under which the Executive will have more say, according to the Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily. At present the system of appointment of Judges was governed by the Supreme Court 1993 and 1998 judgments and the Memorandum of Procedure, viz. the collegium system of appointment, was evolved subsequent to the 1998 judgment.
• The government was considering the proposal to make the retirement age of High Court judges on par with Supreme Court judges by increasing the retirement age of High Court judges from 62 years to 65 years. Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily said that there was no proposal to increase the retirement age of Supreme Court judges from 65 to 68 years. He, however, said that no final decision had been taken in the matter.
• MPs, MLAs exempted from paying toll on national highways.

COMMISSIONS & COMMITTEES:

• Manmohan Singh, who chaired the first meeting of National Committee for Commemoration of 150th Birth Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, said the government will surely examine into the issue of bringing back the rare paintings of Rabindranath Tagore.
• National Commission for Scheduled Castes said that the cases of atrocities against dalits were highest in BSP-ruled Uttar Pradesh followed by Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.
• The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission will now have two additional posts for the creation of an additional Bench to clear the backlog and for speedier disposal of fresh cases. The Cabinet cleared the proposal of the Department of Consumer Affairs for the creation of the posts — one from a judicial background and the other from a non-judicial background — for the new Bench, which would be set up for a period of five years. Now the commission has the president and nine members with five benches and a backlog of 8,000 cases that can be cleared, at the earliest, only in another four-and-a-half years going by the present rate of disposal and the existing strength. Under the Act of 1986, a three-tier redress machinery was set up, with the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission as the apex body at the national level, and State and district commissions.
• The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will support and endorse any action towards formulating umbrella legislation on protecting data, according to its chairman Nandan Nilekani. It was also decided to collect iris data for children between 5 and 15 years. For all those above 15, biometric data would include a picture of the face, all 10 fingerprints, and iris data. The data collection will be standardised so that all registrars – who will actually do the data collection – can use the same methods. The registrars include the Public Distribution System (PDS), the Rural Development departments which run the NREGA programme, the banks, LIC, oil marketing companies, the Registrar General of India which conducts the census, and the National Population Register.
• The UID project has a new name: Aadhaar, which means support. The scope of the UID project is immense. It seeks to give each Indian citizen a 16-digit unique number beginning February 2011, which should help people access state-sponsored welfare schemes more easily. Such schemes have helped countries like Brazil to reduce the number of poor people substantially and quickly.

STATE & UTs NEWS

• Central India: BJP, JMM finalize deal; Munda to be first CM. Shibu Soren will step down as Jharkhand chief minister on May 25. Both parties will share power on rotational basis for the remaining term of Jharkhand Assembly. BJP's Arjun Munda will be CM for the first 28 months.
• In a sudden flip-flop, Jharkhand chief minister Shibu Soren said he would not quit his post and the rotation of power with ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was "not acceptable".
• Eastern India: Madan Tamang, president of the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League and prominent proponent of Gorkhaland, was fatally stabbed with "khukris" (traditional curved knives), allegedly by supporters of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) in Darjeeling.
• North-Eastern India: Two militants of anti-talk faction of Karbi Longri National Liberation Front (KLNLF) were killed in an encounter with the police in Assam's Karbi Anglong district.
• Northern India: As many as 12 districts in North-Eastern Bihar have been identified as major "hot spots" in food security in the State, according to the just-released Food Security Atlas on Rural Bihar. The report, prepared by the Institute for Human Development (IHD) in conjunction with the United Nations' World Food Programme (UNWFP), provides a comprehensive food security information system for the State while pinpointing the most vulnerable districts that are in dire need of targeted intervention. The atlas indicates the unevenness of food security spread across Bihar, with 13 districts which include Araria, Purnia, Katihar, Banka, Lakhisarai and Darbhanga ranked as "severely insecure" while Kishanganj and Jamui are ranked as "extremely insecure" on a food availability scale of 0-1.
• Huge cache of arms recovered from J&K's Kupwara forest.
• A two-member team from Amnesty International arrived on a rare visit to assess the human rights situation in J&K. The two members - both Indian - visited the house of jailed separatist Shabir Shah and held a two-hour meeting with his wife.
• Southern India: Adoption racket? Karnataka hospitals 'selling' babies. Couples waiting for adoption have now found an easier route to get their bundle of joy. They book their request with a hospital which, in turn, happily sells an abandoned child for a price. Adoption Coordination Agency (ACA) which is the official body for finally placing children for adoption has stopped getting children from hospitals. ACA has asked the government to book hospitals for trafficking if children are given away without following procedures and legalities as per the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956.
• A prisoner DNA database: Tamil Nadu shows the way. Crime investigation will get a major boost with the Tamil Nadu assembly recently introducing a bill, probably the first of its kind in the country.
• Bowing to the pressure from self-financing engineering colleges, the Tamil Nadu State government lowered eligibility marks for admission into BE/BTech courses.
• Western India: The Gujarat government and State election commission have decided to introduce e-voting in the next local body elections becoming the first state in the country to enable citizens to cast their franchise online.
• UTs: In a first-of-its-kind, the Chandigarh administration's Registration and Licensing Authority (RLA) earned a whopping Rs 10 lakh for the auction of a vehicle number CH01AC. The proud buyer, Sector 33-C resident Narinder Singh Shergill, is an agriculturist.

MISCELLANEOUS

• An Air India Express plane IX-812 from Dubai overshot the table-top runway at the Mangalore airport and plunged over a cliff into a wooded valley, killing 158 persons.
• A proposal to allow IITs to start courses in medicine will be delayed with the law ministry sending back a Cabinet note of the HRD ministry with a recommendation that further discussions were needed on the issue. Law ministry has said further discussion should be conducted with the health ministry on the issue of IITs' plan to offer courses in medicine.
• All Central Universities and those deemed to be Universities will need to have at least one teacher for every 10 students for their post-graduate programmes in science and one for every 25 students at the undergraduate level, as per new regulations of the UGC.
• Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind demanded a sub-quota for Muslim women in the Women's Reservation Bill to ensure their representation in Parliament and State legislatures. Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind national president Syed Arshad Madani said both the Justice Rajinder Sachar Committee and the Justice Ranganath Misra Commission had highlighted the backward status of Muslims in all States and recommended special steps for them in social, economic and educational fields.
• The CBI claims to have detected large-scale misuse of Agmark certification by a company manufacturing milk product under the product names, "Krishna" and "Dholpur Fresh". The firm, M/s Bhole Baba Milk Food Industries, had taken Agmark licence from the Directorate of Inspection and Marketing but the licence was suspended for six months from November 20, 2009 after it was found that the quality norms were not kept. The misuse of the Agmark certification came to light during a surprise check on the premises of the company in RIICO Industrial Area at Dholpur in Rajasthan on May 17 and 18.

JUDICIAL PRONOUNCEMENTS

• The Delhi High Court acquitted three accused (Bhagat Singh, Mangal Sain and Brij Mohan Verma) in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case at Shastri Nagar in North Delhi, saying there were discrepancies galore in the evidence of prosecution witnesses. The riots broke out in the wake of the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.
• The Calcutta HC has given 4-month time to CBI to carry out the investigations. Rizwanur was found dead near railway tracks in Dumdum area on Sept 21, 2007, just a month after his marriage to Priyanka Todi, daughter of industrialist Ashok Todi, owner of the Rs 200-crore Lux Cozi hosiery brand.
• The Chief Justice and all the other judges of Himachal High Court have declared their assets and properties which were also put up on the Court website later.
• In a major relief to LK Advani, the Lucknow bench of Allahabad HC upheld the order of Lucknow CBI court whereby it had dropped criminal proceedings against him.
• A special court in Bihar sentenced three men to life imprisonment for raping a 25-year-old Japanese woman near Bodh Gaya, just 26 days after it first started hearing the case.
• A trial court has transferred the alleged Rs 340-crore excise duty case, involving Ravi, a 1983 batch IAS officer of ministry of home affairs and others, to a special CBI court at Daman.
• The arrested police inspector, V. A. Rathod, is believed to have revealed before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that the body of Kausarbi, the wife of Sohrabuddin, was cremated at Illol village in Sabarkantha district, the native village of the former deputy inspector general of Gujarat police, D. G. Vanzara, the principal accused in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case. This will help solve Kauserbi's "disappearance" in the case.

DEFENCE, SPACE, NUCLEAR, SCIENCE etc.

• Army places fresh order for 124 more Arjun tanks. The new order comes in the wake of reports that Arjun had outdone the Russian-made T-90 tanks during comparative trials in Rajasthan earlier this year.
• Nuclear-capable Agni-II missile, with a range of 2000 km, was successfully test-fired by the Army as part of user trial from the Wheelers Island off Orissa coast.
• ICGS Vishwast, the indigenously built, new class OPV (offshore patrol vessel), was inducted into the eastern command of the Coast Guard at a welcome ceremony at the Chennai Port Trust.
• Scientists and other staff of the Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL) here have expressed their anguish over the proposal to de-link it from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and merge it with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). They say the DFRL is an exclusive food research laboratory that caters to the special requirements of the armed forces. The proposal is said to have been mooted in a report submitted by P. Rama Rao, former Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology. The department had called for restructuring the DRDO and focussing on critical technology areas of weaponry.

How do I File Income Tax Returns…..?

Step 1: Identify your sources of income under different Income Heads.

Categorize your income against the relevant item. The income heads can be of following.

• Income from Salary
• Income from Business/Profession
• Income from House Property
• Income from Capital Gains
• Income from Other Sources

Step 2: Keep Documents Ready

Before filing Tax you should know which documents you need to keep in hand in order to find out your tax-amount. You should identify the sources of income and place them under the right income heads. Here is a list ofdocuments to be maintained.

Income from Salary

Form 16 Form 12 BA

Income from Business/Profession

Profit/loss account, Balance sheet TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) certificates Advance tax challans Bills/vouchers

Income from House Property

Particulars of tenants, including their PAN TDS certificate 4Gross rent received Advance tax challans

Income from Capital Gains

Contract notes Advance tax challans Sale/purchase documents of moveable/immoveable assets

Income from Other Sources

All documents related to income TDS certificates Advance tax paid

Step 3: Compute the gross Total Income (GTI)

Add up your earnings from the five income heads to arrive at total taxable income. To get your total taxable income, you will have to subtract the standard tax deductions (Section 80) from the gross income.

Step 4: Calculate deductions

Add up all your Section 80C and non-80C deductions and minus it from your gross total income.

• House rent allowance (HRA)
• Leave travel allowance (LTA)
• Medical allowance
• Perquisites

If you are paying house rent it is exempted from tax up to a certain limit. Similarly, leave travel allowance is also not taxable but only for a certain number of journeys in certain number of years. Reimbursement of medical expenditure incurred by you and your family is tax-free up to Rs 15,000 per annum. All reimbursements need to be supported by bills. Then there are perquisites that should be reduced up to a certain limit. These are usually in the form of accommodation, car and concessional loans. Apart from this premium for group medical and term insurance paid by your employer escapes the tax net. However, you need not worry about calculating all this. Your employer will give you Form 12BA, which will show the value of your perks as part of your salary.

Step 5: Calculating Total Taxable Income

To get the Total Income on which the tax is to be paid reduce the total deductions from the gross total income. The income from house property and capital gains are taxable. Your total tax liability may stand reduced if some tax has been deducted at source (TDS). Subtract TDS from your total tax liability to get the final amount to be paid as tax.

Income from business/profession

In case you have income from a business or you are in a profession, the excess of gross receipts over expenses incurred to earn it will be taxed under this head. A person earning his living in a profession such as law, medicine, engineering, architecture or technical consultancy, whose total gross receipts from that profession exceed Rs 1.5 lakh per annum, is required to maintain books of accounts.

Income from others sources

Usually, any income that does not fall under the four heads of income mentioned above is taxed under this head. Examples of such income are, interest earned on bank fixed deposits, savings account and National Savings Certificates. Now that you have the numbers right, you can proceed to the final act of actually filing your taxes.

Step 6: Finding your tax rates

Individual taxpayers are categorized as General, Women and Senior Citizens. Identify your category and check out your tax liability according to the tax slab applicable for assessment year 2010-11 or financial year 2009-10

Income Tax Rates/Slab for Assessment Year 2010-11 (F Y 2009-10)

General (except senior citizens and women)

Income	Tax
Up to Rs. 1.60 lakh	Nil
Rs. 1.60 - 3.00 lakh	10% of total income exceeding Rs. 1.60 lakh
Rs. 3.00 - 5.00 lakh	Rs. 14,000 +20 of total income exceeding Rs 3 lakh
Rs. Above 5.00 Lakh	Rs 54,000 +30% of total income exceeding Rs 5 lakh

Tax Rates for Women

Income	Tax
Upto Rs. 1.90 lakh	Nil
Rs. 1.80 - 3.00 lakh	10% of total income exceeding Rs 1.90 lakh
Rs. 3.00 - 5.00 lakh	Rs 11,000 +20% of total income exceeding Rs 3 lakh
Rs. Above 5.00 Lakh	Rs 51,000 +30% of total income exceeding Rs 5 lakh

Tax rates for Senior Citizens

Income	Tax
Up to Rs. 2.4 lakh	Nil
Rs. 2.25 - 3.00 lakh	10% of total income exceeding Rs 2.4 lakh
Rs. 3.00 - 5.00 lakh	Rs 6,000 +20% of total income exceeding Rs 3 lakh
Rs. Above 5.00 Lakh	Rs 47,500 +30% of total income exceeding Rs 5 lakh

*        3% cess on tax payable

Step 7: Choosing the correct income tax return (ITR) form.

Based on your income sources, you need to choose your ITR form. Once the documents and the calculations are done, the process of filing tax enters the final phase.  The return form that you would need to fill will depend on your income sources:

• ITR-1
• ITR-2
• ITR-4

ITR-1: For individuals having income from salary, pension and interest earned in the financial year

ITR-2: In addition to the above income sources, income from capital gains, income/loss from house property and income from any other source

ITR-4: For all individuals having income from a business or profession

  

Step 8: Filing returns

Subtract your TDS from the tax liability that you computed earlier to ascertain if you are still to pay any taxes. If you still have a tax liability, get hold of Form 280, fill it up and deposit it in any bank along with the tax payable in cash or cheque before filing your returns. You can also pay this through Internet banking. In both cases, you will get a receipt number, which has to be quoted in the ITR form.

You can file your returns offline or online. However, before doing so, check whether you still have a tax liability

Offline

Under the offline method, you will have two options -- you may either submit the ITR form at the nearest income tax office (ITO) after filling it up yourself, or you may get a CA or a tax return preparer (TRP) to do it for you. You may also take help from the public relations officer of the ITO to fill the form. No documents or investment proofs need to be attached with the form, but remember to bring photocopies or originals with you to the ITO.

Online

Known as e-filing, this method is fast catching up. Filing returns online is compulsory for companies, but optional for salaried individuals. In the future it will become compulsory for individuals with a certain level of income, so it may not be a bad idea to familiarize yourself with the process.

India & World

Content:

1. Manmohan Singh's three-day visit to Saudi Arabia
2. 3,500 pilgrims from India take part in Kachchatheevu festival
   

Brief Description:

Manmohan Singh's three-day visit to Saudi Arabia

1. India signs extradition treaty and a few other agreements with Saudi Arabia
• India and Saudi Arabia have vowed to jointly combat terrorism and money laundering as they signed an extradition treaty and several agreements to raise their cooperation to a strategic partnership covering security, economic, energy and defence areas. The extradition treaty enhances existing security cooperation and will help in apprehending wanted persons in each other's country.
• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Saudi King Abdullah signed the Riyadh Declaration outlining the contours of a new era of strategic partnership between the two countries. Both sides emphasised the importance of strengthening the strategic energy partnership in line with the Delhi Declaration of 2006, including meeting India's increasing requirement of crude oil supplies and identifying areas of new and renewable energy.
• India and Saudi Arabia also signed four other agreements relating to transfer of sentenced persons, cultural cooperation, memorandum of understanding between Indian Space Research Organisation and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology for cooperation in peaceful use of outer space and joint research and information technology.
2. Analysis
• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's three-day visit to Saudi Arabia, though long overdue, ended on a high note. As a result of his discussions with the top leadership here for the past three days, both India and Saudi Arabia have agreed to upgrade their relationship to "strategic partnership.The Prime Minister said the strategic partnership would cover issues relating to security, cooperation in dealing with terrorism and arrangements for information and intelligence sharing.
• Dr. Singh and King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz covered substantial ground and managed to pin down specific areas for further collaboration. Determined to go beyond their traditional buyer-seller energy relationship, the two leaders opened up a much wider common agenda, including such exciting areas as outer space, renewable energy, and advanced computing.
• Four years after King Abdullah made a pioneering visit to India, the vision of a comprehensive political, security, and economic relationship, anchored in the Riyadh Declaration signed during Dr. Singh's visit, now stands firmly established. The Riyadh Declaration, which came four years after the 2006 Delhi Declaration, said the two leaders noted that tolerance, religious harmony and brotherhood, irrespective of faith or ethnic background, were part of the principles and values of both countries.
• The Prime Minister's visit to Saudi Arabia, which is not only the world's largest oil producer but also a regional heavyweight, is also likely to leave its stabilising imprint on other areas in West Asia. These include the neighbouring oil rich countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which are encountering serious security challenges.
• Significantly, the visit has added a prominent security dimension to bilateral ties. Saudi Arabia and India fully appreciate that they are common victims of terrorism. They are both targeted by the forces of global jihad, entrenched in the rugged mountain ranges on either side of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. If Mumbai was India's terror nightmare, Riyadh too faced a string of devastating bombings in 2003, when al Qaeda operatives blew up prominent residential compounds. Saudi Arabia continues to remain in the cross-hairs of the al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which operates out of neighbouring Yemen.
• The signing of an extradition treaty during Dr. Singh's visit therefore needs to be welcomed as a major breakthrough. From an Indian perspective, there is now hope that outfits like the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), whose operatives reportedly visit Saudi Arabia for various purposes, will be captured by Saudi authorities and sent to face the law in India.
• Further, the shared focus on safeguarding the "sovereignty and independence" of Afghanistan must be welcomed.
• In a visit that otherwise went so well, New Delhi's hardly concealed interest in seeking Riyadh's "good offices" to moderate Pakistan's behaviour has struck a jarring note. The suggestion appeared quite unnecessary as serious discussions on the Pakistan situation are expected to be integral to the fast-developing India-Saudi security relationship. By overtly drawing Saudi Arabia into the India-Pakistan equation, the United Progressive Alliance government has needlessly opened itself to the charge of diluting the principle of bilateralism that has, by virtue of a national consensus, governed New Delhi's engagement with Islamabad.(-ve)
• the Shura Council – Saudi parliament
3. Controversy -BJP wants Manmohan, Tharoor to explain remarks on Saudi Arabia
• The latest controversy over Shashi Tharoor's remarks,the junior minister's reference to Saudi Arabia being a "valuable interlocutor for [India]" as assigning Riyadh a mediatory role between New Delhi and Islamabad.
• 'Interlocutor' means a person or entity or country involved in a conversation. And the Minister of State for External Affairs was clearly talking about the value of Saudi Arabia as a dialogue partner for India on the subject of Pakistan.
• The Bharatiya Janata Party indicated that it would ask Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Cabinet colleague Shashi Tharoor to "explain" what they meant by saying India should talk to Saudi Arabia about Pakistan-inspired terrorism.
• Was this the start of the end of bilateralism in India-Pakistan dialogue?
4. Riyadh 'worried' about Pakistan situation
• While terming Pakistan a "friendly country," Saudi Arabia on Sunday said it was "worried" about the prevailing situation and spread of extremism there and appealed to political leaders in Pakistan to unite and meet the challenges.

CAG Weekly
(Current Affairs & GK)
By Om Prakash (goldy sir)

read more © 2010 www.upscportal.com

Budget Highlights

-	Minimum Alternate Tax up from 15% to 18% on book profits
-	Fiscal deficit pegged at 5.5% of GDP
-	I-T dept to notify simple two-page Saral 2 form for individuals for current year
-	Personal income tax: Nil for income up to Rs 1.6 lakh, 10% for income bet Rs 1.6 -5 lakh
-	Personal income tax: Income between 5-8 lakh: Tax at 20%
-	Personal income tax: Above Rs 8 lakh, tax at 30%
-	Professionals with Rs 15 lakh income need account audit
-	Partial rollback of excise duty relief on large cars
-	To provide subsidy in cash instead of bonds for fertiliser, oil
-	Customs duty on gold, platinum imports raised to Rs 300 from Rs 200
-	Service tax to GDP ratio is 1%
-	Net revenue gain of Rs 43,500 cr from customs, excise proposal
-	Direct tax proposals result in Rs 26,000 cr loss; indirect tax yield Rs 45,000 cr gain
-	News agencies exempt from service tax
-	Some services hitherto not taxed would be brought under the purview of new Service Tax
-	Service Tax rates unchanged at 10%
-	No import duty on some equipment in road projects
-	Cut in duty for photovoltaic units
-	External commercial borrowing will be available for food storage industries
-	Clean energy cess on domestic, imported coal
-	Peak customs duty remains unchanged at 10%
-	Central excise on LED lights halved to 4%
-	Agricultural seeds exempt from service tax
-	Full excise cut on electric cars
-	For solar mission, solar power generating units rates are to be reduced by 5%
-	Cut on personal tax rates means saving of Rs 50,000 for income up to Rs 8 lakh
-	Partial rollback of excise duty relief on large cars
-	Peak excise duty hiked from 8% to 10%
-	Market borrowing were up to 3,45,000 cr. Enough to meet credit need of private sector
-	Duties on smoking and non-smoking tobacco products up
-	Excise duty on large cars, SUVs, multi utility vehicles hiked
-	Petroleum products: basic excise duty of 5% crude, 7.5% on diesel & petrol; 10% on other products
-	Structural changes in excise duties of tobacco, propose to extend excise duty
-	Revenue loss of Rs 26,000 cr on a/c of direct tax proposals
-	Surcharge for companies reduced to 7.5%
-	Due to direct taxes, result in a revenue loss of Rs 26,000 cr
-	Threshold limit for TDS applicability to be rationalised
-	Extended scope of presumptive taxes up to Rs 40 lac
-	Real estate sector now gets 5 years for completion instead of 4 years before
-	To boost tourism investment, offers investment linked tax deductions
-	Addl Rs20,000 deduction available for investment in infra bonds
-	Reduces current surcharge of 10% on domestic comp to 7.5%
-	Automation of excise, service tax already rolled out
-	FY11 market borrowing pegged at Rs 3.45 lakh cr
-	Govt to set up apex level Financial Stability and Development Council
-	FY13 fiscal deficit seen at 4.1%
-	Fiscal deficit seen at 4.8% in FY12
-	Allocates Rs 1,900 cr for UID project
-	Planned expenditure up 15% over 2009-10
-	Increase in non-planned exp up only 6%
-	Total exp proposed up 8.7% over 2009-10, to Rs 11 lakh cr
-	Taskforce to counter problems in Maoist affected areas. Adequate funds will be allocated
-	Allocation to Defence over Rs 147,000 crore
-	Technology advisory group to be set up under Nandan Nilekani
-	Smart card extended to NREGA
-	RBI to dole out more banking licences: Pranab
-	Sign language training centre for hearing impaired
-	Rs 4,500 cr for program of social justice, sr citizens, backward classes, handicapped
-	Rs 100 cr allocated for women farmers
-	Exclusive skill dev prog in textile and garment sector
-	Rs 48,000 cr for Bharat Nirman plan
-	Asks state govt to contribute for social security to workers in unorganised sector
-	Infra stocks spurt on higher allocation
-	To allocate Rs 22,300 cr to Health Ministry
-	Allocates Rs 100 cr for new pension scheme, to benefit 100,000 low income citizens
-	Khadi institutes get Rs 400 cr
-	GOI sign $150 mn deal with ADB for implementing Khadi programme
-	Rajiv Awas Yojana now ready' gets Rs 1,270 cr for FY11
-	Rs 7300cr in 2011 for backward sections
-	GST, Direct Taxes Code from April 2011
-	Housing loan: 1% interest subvention scheme extended, allocation Rs 700 cr
-	Urban dev allocation up more than 75% to Rs 5400 cr
-	Allocates Rs 1,200 cr for drought mitigation
-	Indira Awas Yojana: allocation up by Rs 10,000 cr
-	NMDC, SVJN stake sale to fetch Rs 25,000 cr in FY10
-	NREGS gets Rs 40,100 cr in FY11
-	Rs66,1000 cr allocateds for rural development in FY11
-	IIFCL disbursements at Rs 9000 cr by March 2010
-	School education outlay for FY11 at Rs 31,000 cr
-	States to get Rs 3,675 cr for primary education at rural level
-	To set up coal regulatory authority
-	Spending on social sector at Rs 137,000 cr
-	Rs 25,000 cr allocated to develop rural infrastructure
-	Growth to exceed 7.2% in this fiscal
-	Final FY10 GDP figure maybe higher than estimate of 7.2%
-	To set up National clean energy fund
-	Plan outlay for Renewable energy ministry up 61%
-	Power allocation doubles to Rs 5,100 cr
-	To set up 5 more mega food park projects
-	Allocation for road tansport Rs 19,894 cr
-	Farm loan repayment extended by 6 months
-	ECB to be available for cold storage
-	To provide Rs 400 cr to boost farm output in eastern India
-	Timely repayment of crop loans: subvention raised from 1% to 2%
-	Govt is committed to growth of SEZ to promote exports
-	Proposes allocation of Rs 200 cr for climate-resilient agricultural program
-	Extend 2% interest subvention for exports for another year
-	FY11 capital for PSU banks at Rs 16,500 cr
-	Extends interest subvention of 2% for handloom, handicrafts for 1 more yr
-	Propose new bill to address problems in corpoate sectors
-	Will augment assistance to RRBs to strengthen rural sector
-	RBI may give license to some more private sector players and NBFCs
-	Rs 1,900 cr addl capital in four PSU banks
-	Ownership and control clearly defined in FDI policy
-	To discuss Kirit Parikh report in due course
-	Subsidy for fertiliser sector to increase farm productivity
-	Govt to raise Rs 25,000 cr this year to meet cap expenditure requirements
-	GST and DTC can be introduced in April 2011
-	Steps to reduce public debt, paper to be presented in 6 months
-	Signs of food inflation going to non-food items
-	Need to review stimulus, move to fiscal consolidation
-	Double digit food inflation in 2009
-	Export figures encouraging; pvt investments can be expected
-	Concerned over emergence of double digit food inflation
-	18.9% growth rate in manufacturing sector in 2009
-	Final figure may be higher if earnings in last quarters are strong
-	Need to make recovery
-	Growth slows down to 6% in Q3 vs 7.9% in Q2 this fiscal
-	Focus shifts to non-governmental actors
-	3rd challenge: relates to problems in government system
-	2nd challnge: harden economic growth to make dev more inclusive
-	1st challenge: quickly revert to higher GDP growth path of 9%, cross double digit growth
-	Economy is in a better position than a year ago, however, challenges remain
-	Uncertainity was there on account of delay in monsoon, concerns about production and food prices
-	Pranab Mukherjee starts announcing Union Budget
-	Bond yields steady ahead of Budget Source: BS News