IPS officer Karnal Singh appointed as Director of Enforcement Directorate

The Union Government has appointed Senior IPS officer Karnal Singh as the Director of Enforcement Directorate (ED). Decision in this regard was taken by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He will be in office till 31 August 2017. Karnal Singh is 1984-batch IPS officer of the Union territories cadre. Prior to this appointment, he was holding additional charge as Director of ED for over a year. 

What is Enforcement Directorate (ED)? 

The Economic Enforcement is economic intelligence and law enforcement agency agency responsible for enforcing economic laws and fighting economic crime in India. It functions under the aegis of the Department of Revenue, Union Ministry of Finance. It has a mandate to enforce two of most stringent laws in the country. They are Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) to check black money and hawala trade cases.

One-man judicial Committee on OROP submits report to Defence Minister

The one-man judicial committee on One Rank One Pension (OROP) set up by the Union Government, has submitted its report to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. The Union had appointed the committee under the Chairmanship of retired Chief Justice of Patna High Court L Narasimha Reddy in December 2015. It was tasked to look into the anomalies arising out of implementation of OROP. The committee had held hearings at around 20 cities and towns across the country and interacted with cross sections of ex-servicemen as well as their associations. It also had received 704 representations from individuals and various ex-servicemen associations and had held extensive interactions with all stakeholders. 

What is One Rank One Pension (OROP)?

 The OROP scheme aims to provide ex-servicemen of same rank and same length of service uniform pension regardless of date of retirement, provided that the ex-servicemen concerned had retired from the same rank and they had served for an equal number of years. Under this scheme, pension will be re-fixed every five years of ex-servicemen and future enhancements in rates of pension will be automatically passed to the past pensioners.

Union Government launches Biotech-KISAN and Cattle Genomics to empower farmers

The Union Ministry of Science and Technology has launched two new schemes Biotech-KISAN and Cattle Genomics in order to apply science to boost rural economy. The intent of these programmes is to form a network to farmers directly with the scientists and experts. Thus they seek to empower farmers, especially women farmers. 

Biotech-KISAN (Krishi Innovation Science Application Network) Scheme

 Its purpose is to connect farmers, scientist and science institution across country. Under it, fellowship will be given to women farmers for training and education in farm practice. Under it scientists will spend time on farms and link communication tools to soil, water seed and market. The main aim of the scheme is to understand individual problems of the small holding farmers and provide ready solutions. It will be implemented in 15 agro-climatic zones of India in phased manner with objective of linking new technology to farm by understanding problem of local farmer. 

Cattle Genomics Scheme

 The scheme aims at boosting selective breeding of the native livestock more accurately to ensure high-yielding, disease-resistant, resilient livestock. Under it, government will undertake an ambitious project of genome sequencing of 40 registered indigenous cattle breeds of India. Besides, a high-density DNA chips will be developed under this scheme to reduce the cost and time interval of breeding of the native livestock. Genome selection will use information on variations in DNA sequences between animals to predict the breeding value more accurately. Thus, help to transform livestock breeding.

India, New Zealand ink three agreements including avoidance of double taxation

India and New Zealand signed three agreements in the areas of double taxation avoidance (DTA), sports and food security to carry forward the ties between both sides. The agreements were signed in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his New Zealand counterpart John Key after the delegation-level talks in New Delhi. Both countries have reached an understanding on further cooperation on cyber security, counter-terrorism, customs, education and food safety

 Signed agreements are 

Arrangement between the Ministry for Primary Industries of New Zealand regarding Food Safety Cooperation and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) MoU on cooperation in the field of youth affairs and sports. It was signed between the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports of India and Sport New Zealand. Protocol to the convention for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income. 

Besides, both countries also agreed to

 Establish Bilateral Ministerial Dialogue between two Foreign Ministries. Establish Annual Foreign Ministry Consultations at Senior Officials Level. Cooperation and Dialogue on Cyber Issues. 

Support for NSG 

During this visit of New Zealand PM, India failed to get outright support of New Zealand for its bid for Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG) membership. India had clearly notified New Zealand that its entry to the NSG was tied to its need for clean energy and climate change commitments. Thus, it indicates that New Zealand is yet to change its position of admitting only signatories of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) countries in NSG, a group of 48 countries which works by consensus. 

Why New Zealand does not support India’s bid to NSG? 

New Zealand is part of a group called the New Agenda for Coalition which promotes the NPT and pushes for nuclear disarmament worldwide.

 Comment 

The official state visit New Zealand PM John Key comes in run-up to a crucial NSG Consultative Group (CG) meeting to be held in Vienna in November 2016. This meeting will specifically to consider whether countries that haven’t signed on to the NPT can be considered for membership. Earlier in June 2016, India’s membership bid to NSG had failed to make headway in Seoul (South Korea) after it was opposed by China and other countries. New Zealand was also among the countries led by China that have demanded to set criteria for non-signatories of the NPT for joining NSG. 

What is New Agenda for Coalition (NAC)?

NAC is a geographically dispersed group of middle power countries that promotes the NPT and pushes for nuclear disarmament worldwide. It consists of Brazil, Egypt, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand and South Africa. The group was officially launched in Dublin (Ireland) in June 1998 in response to the North-South divide that stymied talks on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation within the framework of the NPT.

India ranks 130th in 2017 Ease of Doing Business index

India has been placed at 130th position among the 190 countries in the recently released World Bank’s ease of doing business index for the year 2017. The index was released as part of the World Bank’s annual report Doing Business 2017: Equal Opportunity for All. This report had revised India’s rank to 131 from earlier 130th for the year 2016. Thus, India has improved its place by one spot in the 2017 index and its place remained unchanged from the previous original ranking of 130 in the year 2016.

 What is ease of doing business index? 

The ease of doing business index is annually released by World Bank in its Ease of Doing Business Report. It was introduced in 2004. In this index, ranking of country is based on index averages the country’s percentile rankings on 10 indicators each having equal weightage. A higher ranking of country in this list means that its regulatory environment is more conducive and favourable for the starting and operation of firms. 10 indicators are starting business, getting electricity, dealing with construction permits, registering property, protecting investors, getting credit, employing workers, trading across borders, paying taxes, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. 

Key Highlights of 2017 Report

 Top 10 Countries: New Zealand (1st), Singapore (2nd), Denmark (3rd), Hong Kong (4th), South Korea (5th), Norway (6th), UK (7th), US (8th), Sweden (9th) and Macedonia (10th). 

BIRCS Nations: India ranks lowest in Doing Business among the BRICS nations. Russia (40), South Africa (74), China (78), Brazil (123) and India (130). India’s Neighbours: Bhutan (73), China (78), Nepal (107), Sri Lanka (110), Pakistan (144) and Bangladesh (176). 

India Related Facts: In the ranking, India has made a substantial improvement in some areas such as electricity connection. But it has sliped in other areas, including payment of taxes and enforcing contracts. India has embarked on a fast-paced reform path and has acknowledged a number of substantial improvements. Some the improvement mentioned are electricity connections to businesses, paying taxes, electronic system for paying employee state insurance contributions, the Companies (Amendment) Act, electronic filing of integrated customs declarations, passage of the commercial courts and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. 

Global Facts: Economies in all regions are implementing reforms easing the process of doing business. However, Europe and Central Asia continues to be the region with the highest share of economies implementing at least one reform. 96% of economies in the Europe and Central region have implemented at least one business regulatory reform. A record 137 economies around the world have adopted key reforms that make it easier to start and operate small and medium-sized businesses. Developing countries carried out more than 75% of the 283 reforms in the past year, with Sub-Saharan Africa accounting for over one-quarter of all reforms.

India ranks 87th on the WEF’s Global Gender Gap Report 2016

India has been ranked 87th out of 144 countries on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2016. India has climbed 21 spots from 108th position in 2015. The report measures gender gap as progress towards parity between men and women in four areas (i) Educational attainment, (ii) Health and survival, (iii) Economic opportunity and (iv) Political empowerment.

Key Highlights of the report

Top 5 Countries in 2016 Report: Iceland (1st), Finland (2nd), Norway (3rd), Sweden (4th) and Rwanda (5th). 

India related facts: In this edition India has overtaken China which is ranked 99th. The improvement in India’s ranking is driven largely by major improvements in education, where it has managed to close its gap entirely in primary and secondary education. In case of education attainment, India has made considerable strides moving up from 125th rank in 2015 to 113th in 2016. On economic participation and opportunity too, India has moved up to 136th rank in 2016, from 139th in the year 2015. On health and survival, India has made little progress moving up by one place to 142nd rank compared to 141st in 2015. On political empowerment, India continues to be ranked 9th in the world.

 Overall Global Facts: The global march towards parity in key economic pillar has slowed down dramatically. This gap stands at 59% which is now larger than at any point since 2008. As a consequence, global economic gender gap will now not close until year 2186. 

Comment 

The gender gap in India has narrowed down. But India still remains one of the worst countries in the world for women in terms of labour force participation, income levels as well as health and survival. India has closed its gender gap by 2% in a year (2016), but much work remains to be done to empower women in the economic sphere. India continues to rank third-lowest in the world on Health and Survival, remaining the world’s least-improved country over the past decade.

Paul Beatty wins 2016 Man Booker Prize

Paul Beatty (54) has won the 2016 Man Booker Prize. With this he becomes the first US author to win this prestigious literary award. He was bestowed with this award for his racial satirical novel ‘The Sellout’ at a ceremony held in London’s Guildhall. His novel tells the story of a young black man who tries to reinstate slavery and racial segregation in a suburb of Los Angeles. 

About Paul Beatty

 He was born in Los Angeles in 1962. He had received an MFA in creative writing from Brooklyn College and an MA in psychology from Boston University. His novels are The White Boy Shuffle (1996), Tuff (2000), Slumberland (2008) and The Sellout (2015). In 2016, he was bestowed with the National Book Critics Circle Award (Fiction) for his novel The Sellout. 

About Man Booker Prize 

The Man Booker Prize world’s most prestigious English-language literary award. It was launched in 1969 and presented by the Man Group. The award aims at promoting the finest literary work in fiction by rewarding the best novel of the year written in English and published in the United Kingdom. It carries cash prize of 50,000 pounds. The authors are shortlisted by judges from a wide range of disciplines and all with a passion for quality fiction. The 2015 Man Booker Prize was conferred on Jamaican author Marlon James for his book A Brief History of Seven Killings.