India this week: 7 July - 13 july 2014

·  Fatwas have no legal standing: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on 7th July ruled that fatwas issued by shariat courts or muftis had no legal sanctity, asserting that the defiance of fatwas will have no civil or criminal consequences. The court said it would be illegal to impose these religion-based opinions on personal issues on citizens in violation of their fundamental rights.

The court cited the stand of Deoband Dar-ul-Uloom's stand to emphasize the deep psychological impact of fatwas. The Deoband Dar-ul-Uloom had said, "The persons who are god-fearing and believe that they are answerable to the almighty and have to face the consequence of their doings/deeds, such are the persons who submit to fatwa."

What is Fatwa?
Fatwa is an Arabic word, and it literally means "opinion". Related words in Arabic are "afta", which means to give an opinion, and "yastafti", which means to ask for an opinion. In all Arabic countries, an opinion poll is called an "istifta", which is simply a different form of the same word.

·  Delhi most populous city after Tokyo
Delhi has become the world's second most populous city in 2014 after Tokyo, more than doubling its population since 1990 to 25 million, according to a UN report.

The 2014 revision of the World Urbanisation Prospects launched on 10th July said that India is projected to add the highest number of people to its urban population by 2050, ahead of China. The Indian capital is expected to retain the spot of the world's second most populous city through at least 2030, when its population is expected to rise swiftly to 36 million.

Tokyo topped UN's ranking of the most populous cities in 2014 with 38 million inhabitants and while its population is projected to decline, it will remain the world's largest city in 2030 with 37 million people.

Mumbai, which ranks sixth on the list of the world's most populous cities in 2014, is projected to become the fourth largest city in 2030 when its population would grow to 28 million from the current 21 million. Tokyo and New Delhi were followed by Shanghai with 23 million, and Mexico City, Mumbai and Sao Paulo, each with around 21 million inhabitants in 2014.

The report said that the largest urban growth will take place in India, China and Nigeria between 2014 and 2050, with the three countries accounting for 37 per cent of the projected growth of the world's urban population.

By 2050, India is projected to add 404 million urban dwellers, way more than China's projection of 292 million. Nigeria will add 212 million to its urban population. India's current urban population is 410 million people and this will grow to 814 million by 2050. China currently has the largest urban population of 758 million.

Other Important Points:

• India and China account for 30 per cent of the world's urban population.
• The two Asian giants along with the United States, Brazil, Indonesia, Japan and Russia currently account for more than half of the world's urban population.
• About 54 per cent of the world's population currently lives in urban areas and this proportion is expected to increase to 66 per cent by 2050, with the maximum increase taking place in the urban areas of Africa and Asia.
• The world's urban population is now close to 3.9 billion and is expected to reach 6.3 billion in 2050, according to the UN report.
• The rural population of the world has grown slowly since 1950 and is expected to reach its peak in a few years. Approximately 3.4 billion people currently live in rural areas around the world.
• However, sometime after 2020, the world's rural population will start to decline and is expected to reach 3.2 billion in 2050.
• India currently has the largest rural population at 857 million, followed by China (635 million).

Rapid Urbanization
According to UN report despite a view that India is rapidly urbanising, it will have just half of its population in cities even in 2050. In 2050, India will be one of the least urbanised major countries, with Sri Lanka, Uganda, Cambodia, Nepal, Kenya and Ethiopia for company, while China will be 76% urban.

• In 2050, the world will have 9.55 billion people and India with 1.62 billion people will be the most populous country in the world, the numbers show, its population still growing.
• China, on the other hand, will have hit its peak of 1.45 billion in 2030 and have declined to 1.38 billion people by 2050.
• India will add 400 million urban residents between now and 2050, and will account for a third of all urban growth with China and Nigeria.
• However, the pace is not as fast as had been earlier imagined. The world’s rural population will hit its peak in a few years and is expected to decline to 3.1 billion by 2050.
• While India has the world’s largest rural population now (857 million), the number of rural residents is expected to decline by 52 million by 2050, as opposed to an upcoming decline of 300 million rural residents in China.
• India will account for a quarter of the world’s rural population in 2050, as it does now.
• Delhi, the world’s 12th largest city in 1990 but its second largest city now (after Tokyo), will remain the second largest in 2030 with a projected population of over 36 million people in the entire urban agglomeration. From two megacities (cities with over 10 million residents) – Mumbai and Kolkata – in 1990, India has three in 2014 – Delhi (25 million), Mumbai (21 million), Kolkata (15 million). By 2030, it will add four more – Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.

·  Prevalence of TB reduces, Says WHO
According to World Health Organization, prevalence of Tuberculosis per lakh population in India has reduced from 465 in the year 1990 to 230 in year 2012. Tuberculosis mortality per lakh population has reduced from 38 in the year 1990 to 22 in year 2012.

• The estimated proportion of Multi-Drug Resistant TB cases is not increasing. It is less than 3 percent among new TB cases and between 12-17 percent among re-treatment TB cases.
• The detection of MDR-TB cases has been increasing due to availability of more diagnostic facilities for MDR TB and coverage of the entire country by management of Drug Resistant TB in the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP), between 2007 and 2013.
• With effective anti-TB Drug regimens administered under the globally acclaimed DOTS strategy, RNTCP has been consistently achieving more than 85 percent treatment success rates among New Smear Positive Patients since the year 2001.

Central Ground Water Board and IIRS signed MOU
Central Ground Water Board and Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS) on 9 July 2014 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate a collaborative study to assess the impact of ground water abstraction on land subsidence in Northern India.
The study involves use of state of art technologies such as Space borne Geodetic observations on land subsidence, predictive modelling, inter-comparison of land subsidence, ground water depletion and space based gravity anomaly etc. The Project results include land subsidence information for selected cities of northern India and regional groundwater depletion scenario along with recharge assessment.

·  India logged 248 new species in 2013
The Zoological Survey of India has discovered 248 new animal species in different parts of the country in 2013. Of them, 162 are insects, 19 are arachnids, 36 are fish, five are amphibians and two are reptiles. Of the 1.4 million animal species that had been found across the world till December 2013, India, with over 96,000 finds, was home to 7 per cent

Among the new finds, the most interesting is a shieldtail snake, Rhinophis goweri, found in the Bodamalai hills of Tamil Nadu. Of the five species of amphibians, three are found in the north-east — two in Arunachal Pradesh, one in Meghalaya, one in the Eastern Ghats and one from Maharashtra.

The frog found in the Western Ghats in Maharashtra, Raorchestes ghatei, is a new species of shrub frog which inhabits semi-evergreen forests and scrub patches. Of the 36 species of fish, at least 18 are found in the north-eastern States, four in West Bengal and eight in Kerala.

Scientists at the ZSI have also spotted 54 species earlier found in other parts of the world, for the first time in India. Of these 11 are fish and 21 are insects.

ECONOMY

·  Jaitley’s Maiden Budget
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley introduced his maiden budget in Lok Sabha on 10th July. The important points of budget are as follows:

• Plan expenditure pegged at Rs 5.75 lakh crore and non-plan at Rs 12.19 lakh crore.

There are two components of expenditure - plan and non-plan. Of these, plan expenditures are estimated after discussions between each of the ministries concerned and the Planning Commission.

Non-plan revenue expenditure is accounted for by interest payments, subsidies mainly on food and fertilisers, wage and salary payments to government employees, grants to States and Union Territories governments, pensions, police, economic services in various sectors, other general services such as tax collection, social services, and grants to foreign governments. Non-plan capital expenditure mainly includes defence, loans to public enterprises, loans to States, Union Territories and foreign governments

• Accepts fiscal deficit target of 4.1 percent of GDP for 2014/15. Fiscal deficit seen at 3.6 percent of GDP in 2015/16. Finance Minister aimed Aims for sustained growth of 7-8 percent in the next 3-4 years
• Aims to approve goods and services tax by end of this year. Will not change rules on retrospective taxation. All pending cases of retrospective tax for indirect transfers to be examined by a high-level committee before action is taken

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a Value Added Tax (VAT) to be implemented in India, the decision on which is pending. It will replace all direct taxes levied on goods and services by the Indian Central and State governments. It is aimed at being comprehensive for most goods and services. India is a federal republic, and the GST will thus be implemented concurrently by the central and state governments as the Central GST and the State GST respectively. Exports will be zero-rated and imports will be levied the same taxes as domestic goods and services adhering to the destination principle.

Retrospective tax is certain amendment or provision which is made applicable from past date is called effective retrospectively.

• Raises limit on foreign direct investment in defence sector from 26 per cent to 49 per cent; raises FDI limit in insurance sector to 49 percent. Proposes Rs 4000 crore for affordable housing through national housing bank and extends tax incentives for housing loans Exemption limit for investment in financial instruments under 80C raised to Rs 1.5 lakh from Rs 1 lakh. Investment limit in PPF raised to Rs 1.5 lakh from Rs 1 lakh.
• Proposes changes in transfer pricing mechanism
• Extends 5 percent withholding tax on corporate bonds until June 30 2017
• Income tax exemption limit raised by Rs 50,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh and for senior citizens to Rs 3 lakh
• Government expects Rs 9.77 lakh crore revenue crore from taxes
• Long term capital gain tax for mutual funds doubled to 20 per cent; lock-in period increased to three years
• Excise duty on footwear reduced from 12 per cent to 6 per cent
• Net effect of direct tax proposals is revenue loss of Rs 22,200 crore
• Tax proposals on indirect tax front would yield Rs. 7,525 crore
• Capital outlay for defence raised by 50 billion rupees over interim budget
• Earmarks Rs 7000 crore to create 100 "smart cities"
• Proposes Rs 5000 crore for warehousing capacity; 100 billion rupees of private capital for start-up companies; and 378 billion rupees of investment in national and state highways
• Rs 4000 crore for affordable housing proposed through national housing bank and extends tax incentives for housing loans
• Proposes Rs 8000 crore for rural housing scheme
• Plans to make food and petroleum subsidies more targeted
• Rural job-guarantee scheme, which provides 100 days of paid employment a year, will become more focused on asset creation
• Proposes Rs 8000 crore for rural housing scheme
• Will focus on achieving 4 growth per year in agriculture
• Proposes a long-term rural credit fund with an initial corpus of Rs 5000 crore
• Rs 100 crore for development of organic farming
• Pension Scheme to be revived for a year (Aug 15-14) for citizens above 60
• Rs 50,548 crore for SC welfare schemes.
• Rs 32,387 crore for ST welfare schemes.
• Earmarks Rs 500 crore for 24x7 uninterrupted power in all homes
• Rs 100 crore for metro projects in Lucknow and Ahmedabad
• Rs 2,037 crore set aside for Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission called 'Namami Gange'
• Rs 200 crore for world-class sports stadium in Jammu and Kasmir
• Trade Facilitation Centre in Varanasi Handloom and Crafts Museum
• Rs 1000 crore to enhance rail connectivity in the Northeast
• Rs 2250 crore for the development and modernization of the border infrastructure
• A project on the river Ganga called 'Jal Marg Vikas' for inland waterways between Allahabad and Haldia; Rs 4,200 crore set aside for the purpose
• War memorial to be set up along with a war museum; Rs 100 crore set aside for this
• Five more IIMs to be opened in HP, Punjab, Bihar, Odisha and Rajasthan
• Five more IITs in Jammu, Chattisgarh, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.
• Four more AIIMS like institutions to come up in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Vidarbha in Maharashtra and Poorvanchal in Uttar Pradesh
• E-Visas to be introduced at 9 airports
• Finance Minister says tourism helps in job creation and e-visas will encourage more tourists to visit India , A provision of Rs 500 crore for five tourism sector.
• Deduction limit on interest on loan for self-occupied house raised to Rs 2 lakh from Rs 1.5 lakh.
• Set aside Rs 11,200 crore for PSU banks capitalization
• Government in favour of consolidation of PSU banks ,li> Government considering giving greater autonomy to PSU banks while making them accountable
• PSUs to invest to over Rs 2.47 lakh crore this fiscal
• Earmarks Rs 200 crore for Sardar Patel statue ,li> Proposes Rs 150 crore for improving women safety
• Government proposes to launch Digital India' programme to ensure broad band connectivity at village level
• Rs 100 crore scheme to support about 600 new and existing Community Radio Stations
• Rs 150 crore for Communication facilities in Andaman and Nicobar Islands
• Rs 188 crore for disaster preparedness in Puducherry
• Rs 3,600 crore for providing safe drinking water
• North-stop 24-hour channel is proposed to be introduced
• Farmer TV channel will be launched for the benefit of farmers.
• Rs 200 crore to make Delhi a world class city for social welfare and Rs 500 crore for energy
• Kisan Vikas Patra to be reintroduced, National Savings Certificate with insurance cover to be launched
• Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya New Teachers Training Programme' launched with initial sum of Rs 500 crore
• Government provides Rs 500 crore for rehabilitation of displaced Kashmiri migrants
• Indian Custom Single Window Project to be taken up for facilitating trade

ECONOMIC SURVEY
2014-15 GDP GROWTH RATE- 5.4-5.9%: ECONOMIC SURVEY

Economic Survey has pegged that India’s GDP growth rate would be around 5.4% to 5.9% in the current financial year. The important points of the economic survey are as follows

• Need new Fiscal Responsibility Budgetary Management (FRBM) act with more powers
• There are concerns over El Nino emergence this year
• FY 15 GDP likely to be on lower side of projection
• Raising tax GDP ratio key to fiscal consolidation
• MNREGA has created labour shortage and hiked wages
• Industrial growth likely to revive in next 2 years
• Fiscal deficit needs to move downwards in next 2 years
• WPI inflation likely to moderate by 2014 end
• Agricultural allied sector registered 4.7% growth in FY 14
• Long term debt accounts for 78.2 percent of total external debt
• India's service sector CAGR at 9 percent in 2011-12
• FY 15 current account deficit may be limited to 2.1 percent of GDP
• Sharp fall in trade deficit, closes in by 27.8percent to $ 137.5 billion
• FY 2014-15 first quarter trade deficit declined by another 42.4percent
• Exports grew by 4.1percent over negative growth of 1.8percent in 2012-13
• Exports log double digit growth in May, 2014 after a gap of 6 months
• Imports drop by 8.3percent, after steep slowdown during the previous FY 2012-13
• Trend continues in April-May, 2014 as imports fell by 13.2percent
• Following government intervention, gold and silver imports fell by 40.1 percent to $33.4 billion in 2013-14

Agriculture Sector

• Record food grains production of 264.4 mt in the year 2013-14
• Record production of oilseeds of 32.4 mt in the year 2013-14
• Record production of pulses of 19.6 mt in the year 2013-14
• Groundnut shows the largest increase in productivity i.e., 73.17% in the year 2013-14.
• India ranks first in the world in productivity of grapes, banana, cassava, peas, and papaya
• Agriculture sector growth rate 4.7% in the year 2013-14
• Area under foodgrains increased by 4.47% to 126.2 million ha in the year 2013-14
• Area under oilseeds increased by 6.42% to 28.2 million ha in the year 2013-14
• Stocks of foodgrains in the Central Pool stood at 69.84 million tonnes as on June 1, 2014
• Net availability of foodgrains increased by 15% to 229.1 million tonnes in 2013
• Per capita net availability of foodgrains increased to 186.4 kg per year in 2013
• Agriculture exports grow by 5.1% in the year 2013-14
• Exports of marine products show a growth rate of 45% in the year 2013-14
• Milk production touches a record high of 132.43 mt in the year 2012-13
• Contribution of livestock sector to total GDP was 4.1% in the year 2012-13
• Year-on-year growth rate of milk production in India is 4.04% vis-a-vis world average of 2.2%
• Credit to agriculture sector exceeds target of Rs. 7,00,000 crore in the year 2013-14
• Share of agriculture and allied sectors in GDP declines to 13.9% in 2013-14
• Number of cultivators decline from 127.3 million in 2001 to 118.7 million in 2011

Industrial Performance

• Industry grew by just 1.0 percent in 2012-13 and slowed further in 2013-14, posting a modest increase of 0.4 percent.
• During 2013-14, FDI inflow (including equity inflows, reinvested earnings and other capital) was USD 36.4 billion.
• Overall gross bank credit flow to industry has increased by 14.9 percent in 2013-14.

Service Sector

• India ranked 12th in terms of services GDP among the world’s top 15 countries
• India has the second fastest growing services sector with its CAGR at 9.0 percent, just below China
• The growth rate of the combined category of trade, hotels, restaurants, transport, storage, and communications decelerated to 3.0 percent
• Financing, insurance, real estate, and business services grew robustly at 12.9 percent
• Services constitute a 57 percent share in GDP at factor cost in 2013-14
• India’s share in world inbound tourist arrivals increased to 0.63 percent in 2013
• The size of domestic tourism has also crossed an estimated 1.1 billion annual travel visits
• The IT–Business Process Management (BPM) sector grew by an estimated 10.3 percent, reaching US$ 105 billion in 2013-14
• Services like software and telecom were big ticket items that gave India a brand image in services

Fiscal Health

• Fiscal consolidations remains imperative for the economy, says the Economic Survey
• Economy Survey recommends fiscal consolidation through higher tax-GDP ratio then merely reducing the expenditure to GDP ratio
• Proactive policy action helped government remain in fiscal consolidation mode in 2013-14
• Fiscal deficit for 2013-14 contained at 4.5% of the GDP
• Total outstanding liabilities of the central and state governments decline as a proportion of GDP

·  IMF Cuts Global Growth Forecast
International Monetary Fund reduced growth forecasts, saying investment is still weak and that risks remain in the U.S. even as its rebound accelerates. The IMF is preparing to update its economic forecasts this month after predicting April 8 that the global economy will expand 3.6 percent this year and 3.9 percent in 2015.

Growth in the U.S., the world’s largest economy, is set to accelerate in coming months and Asia’s emerging market economies will avoid a hard landing, though the European recovery is still not as strong as it should be, Lagarde said.

All about IMF

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international organization that was initiated in 1944 at the Bretton Woods Conference and formally created in 1945 by 29 member countries.
• The IMF is organization of 188 countries
• Its headquarters are in Washington, D.C., United States.
• At present the head is Christine Lagarde

·  RBI initiates swap of old gold with new one
The Reserve Bank of India has undertaken an exercise to swap old gold in its reserves with a new one with a view to standardize the yellow metal stock. The central bank has asked nominated banks to give quotes for swap with the objective to optimise the management of its reserves.

The nominated banks, including State Bank of India, would import gold on behalf of RBI and subsequently the metal would be swapped. Under the scheme, RBI would exchange relatively impure gold including some dating back pre-independence era from its Nagpur vault and get the equivalent worth of purer yellow metal.

Gold imports declined 72 per cent to $2.19 billion in May due to restrictions imposed by the government on inbound shipments of the precious metal to narrow the CAD. India's CAD, which is the excess of foreign exchange outflows over inflows, touched a historic high of 4.8 per cent of GDP in 2012-13, mainly due to rising imports of petroleum products and gold. A high CAD puts pressure on the rupee, which in turn makes imports expensive and fuels inflation.

·  29.5 % of Indians are poor: Rangarajan Committee
A panel set up by Union Government of India, has said that at present 29.5% of the Indians are poor. The panel was headed by former Chairman of Prime Minister Economic Advisory council. Earlier, the Committee under the chairmanship of Suresh Tendulkar submitted a report; however it has faced a severe criticism, about its methodology of estimation of poverty. At that moment Government appointed Rangarajan committee.

For 2009-10, the Suresh Tendulkar methodology had pegged the poverty line at Rs 22 in villages and Rs 29 in urban areas. These were raised to Rs 27 and Rs 40, respectively, by the Rangarajan committee.

As many as 91.6 million people were lifted out of poverty, according to the Rangarajan panel report, during the period as there were 454.6 million poor in 2009-10.

Other important points:

• The estimation based on the Suresh Tendulkar methodology had earlier shown that 84.9 million people came out of poverty since the number of poor stood at 354.7 million in 2009-10.
• The poverty rate fell by 8.7 percentage points in this period under the Rangarajan formula against a 7.9 percentage point fall under the Tendulkar methodology.
• By the new methodology, poverty in absolute numbers was almost twice as high at 102.5 million, constituting 26.4 per cent of the urban population.
• The poverty numbers are based on the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) report on the consumption expenditure for 2009-10 and 2011-12.

·  Railway Budget 2014-15: Highlights
Except in operations, in all other spheres Foreign Direct Investments were invited by Railway Minister Sadananda Gouda, in his maiden Railway Budget. Introduction of bullet trains, bio toilets, Wifi technology… etc are the important proposals in the budget introduced on 8th July.

• Foreign Direct Investments in Railways is subject to cabinet’s approval. According to Minister, funds are insufficient within the railways, it has become inevitable to invite investments through FDI, he also said that PPP model of funding in railways is so far has not got any success.
• On June 22nd, Railway Ministry increased fares, hence in budget the fares were not touched
• Railway Minister announced plans to introduce a bullet train in Mumbai- Ahmedabad sector and setting up of a Diamond Quadrilateral network of high speed rail connecting major metros and growth centres. A sum of Rs 100 crore has been provided for initiating the project. Increasing the speed of trains to 160 to 200 km per hour on nine select sectors was another highlight of the budget, which proposes to allow all experimental stoppages to lapse after September this year.
• Rs. 8000 crore additional revenue to be generated through fare revision
• Rs. 9 lakh crore is required to complete Golden Quadrilateral net work
• Out sourcing cleaning activities to professional agencies
• Highest ever plan outlay of Rs. 65,455 crore for 2014-15
• Expenditure in 2014-15 pegged at Rs. 149,176 crore.
• 58 new trains and extension of 11; 864 additional EMUs to be introduced in Mumbai over 2 years
• Online booking to support 7,200 tickets/minute; to allow 1.2 lakh users log in simultaneously
• Reservation system to be revamped, ticket-booking through mobile phones, post offices to be popularised .
• Online platform, unreserved tickets
• Combo parking-platform tickets at stations
• Women RPF Constables to escort ladies coaches; 4,000 women constables to be inducted
• Retiring room facility to be extended to all stations
• Battery operated cars for differently-abled and senior citizens at major stations
• Feedback services through IVRS on quality of food
• Food can be ordered through SMS, phone; Food courts at major stations
• Cleanliness budget up by 40 percent over last year
• CCTVs to be used at stations for monitoring cleanliness
• Setting up of corpus fund for stations' upkeep; RO drinking water at stations and trains
• Automatic door closing in mainline and sub-urban coaches
• Office-on-Wheels: Internet & Workstation facilities on select trains
• Wi-Fi in A-1, A category stations and in select trains
• Rail university for technical and non-technical subjects
• Some stations to be developed to international standards through PPP model
• Parcel traffic to be segregated to separate terminals to make passenger traffic unhindered
• Loss per passenger per kilometre up from 10p (in 2000-01) to 23p (2012-13)
• Solar energy to be tapped at major stations

·  Monthly Pension Approved
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has given a much-awaited nod to minimum monthly pension of Rs 1,000 for Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) subscribers benefiting 2.8 million pensioners. This would immediately benefit 2.8 million out of the total 4.4 million pensioners covered under the EPS-95 scheme.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

·  Navy gets its largest destroyer Kolkata (D63)
The Indian Navy has got its largest-ever destroyer after the addition of the 163 metre-long vessel Kolkata (D63) to its arsenal.

Kolkata (D63) is India’s first domestically built guided missile destroyer to feature a Western-style air search radar and stealth technology, Shipbuilder MazaDock Limited which delivered the vessel The warship, which is more versatile than the destroyers that preceded it, and with a displacement of around 7,500 tonnes, is scheduled to be commissioned by the end of August. Kolkata has an all-round capability against enemy submarines, surface warships, anti-ship missiles and fighter aircraft.

It incorporates modern weapons and sensors having advanced information warfare suite, an auxiliary control system with sophisticated power distribution architecture and modular crew quarters, news website USNI News reported. Kolkata is the first in a new class (P15A) of guided missile destroyers.

The Kolkata-class (Project 15A) are a class of stealth guided-missile destroyers constructed for the Indian Navy. The class comprises three ships - Kolkata, Kochi and Chennai, all of which are being built by Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) in India, and are the largest destroyers to be operated by the Indian Navy. Due to delays in their construction, and a problem found during the sea trials, the initial commissioning date of the first ship of the class has been pushed back from 2010 to 2013.

SPORTS

·  Djokovic won Wimbledon final
Novak Djokovic won in Wimbledon final defeating Roger Federer. In women’s category Petra Kvtova has won, winners in other categories are as follows:

• Men’s doubles – Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock
• Womens doubles – Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci
• Mixed Doubles – Nenad Zimonjiic and Samantha Stosur
• The 2014 Wimbledon Championships took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London
• Matches were held from 23 June to 6 July 2014. They were the 128th championships, and the third Grand Slam tournament of the year
• The men and women's singles champions Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic had previously won their maiden - and, prior to 2014, only - Wimbledon title in 2011

PERSONS:

·  Beniwal: Gujarat Governor Beniwal was transferred to Mizoram. Rajasthan governor Margaret Alva takes additional charge of Gujarat.

·  Vakkom Purushothaman: Nagaland Governor Vakkom B. Purushothaman tendered his resignation. Purushothaman is the first politician-turned-governor to resign. All other governors who resigned recently were bureaucrats.


CONTROVERSERY

·  The removal of Governors began in 1977. When Janata Party came into power it started removing all the Governors appointed by Congress.

The decision/recommendation of the then Prime Minister, Morarji Desai, and his Cabinet to dismiss Governors was sent back by then acting President B.D. Jatti Though the government managed to remove the Governors, as the acting President Jatti was constitutionally bound to sign the order when it was again sent back to him

The practice of replacing the Governor by the newly elected Central government did not stop and different governments kept indulging in the practice. However the removal of Governors is also over ruling of a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, in May 2010 on the issue of the removal of the Governor of a State.

The judgment emphasised that “The Governor cannot be removed on the ground that he is out of sync with the policies and ideologies of the Union government or the party in power at the Centre. Nor can he be removed on the ground that the Union government has lost confidence in him.” It is true that the same judgment also provided an exception that the government can initiate the process of removal of the Governor by first building a case file citing reasons for the removal of the Governor.

·  New Judges to Supreme Court
The Chief Justices of the Calcutta and Orissa High Courts, Arun Kumar Mishra and Adarsh Kumar Goel, and senior lawyer Rohinton Nariman were on 7th July sworn in as Supreme Court judges.

Rohinton Nariman before being elevated as a judge, he practiced as a senior counsel at the Supreme Court. He was appointed the Solicitor General of India on 23 July 2011. Justice Goel, will be the first judge to represent Haryana in the court and will have a tenure of a little over five years. Justice Arun Mishra, from Madhya Pradesh will have a tenure of about seven years.

Judges of Supreme Court used to be appointed by the President of India, who acted on the advice of the Union Cabinet. However, subsequent to the rulings in the Three Judges Cases (1982, 1993, 1998), the President is required to appoint judges who have been chosen by the Supreme Court's collegium — a closed group consisting of the Chief Justice of India and the four most senior associate judges of the court.

The Union Cabinet and Parliament have almost no role to play in the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court or to any of India's twenty-four High Courts.

The position of Chief Justice of India is attained on the basis of seniority amongst the judges serving on the court. The collegium system has come under a fair amount of criticism.

Recent Developments
Through 120th amendment of Constitution UPA Government introduced judicial appointments bill in Parliament, the important provisions are as follows:

• The Constitution (120th Amendment) Bill, 2013 amends provisions related to appointment and transfer of judges to the higher judiciary.
• It establishes a Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) to make recommendations to the President on appointment and transfer of judges to the higher judiciary. It empowers Parliament to pass a law providing for the composition, functions and procedures of the JAC.
• The JAC Bill, 2013 states that the JAC shall comprise: (i) the Chief Justice of India (CJI), (ii) two other senior most judges of the Supreme Court (SC), (iii) the Union Minister for Law and Justice, and (iv) two eminent persons to be nominated by the Prime Minister, and the Leader of Opposition of the Lok Sabha.
• The functions of the JAC include making recommendations for appointments of the CJI, SC judges, Chief Justice and other High Court (HC) judges, and transfer of HC judges.

·  Dalbir Singh Suhag: Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag is the next Army Chief; Supreme Court of India has cleared his name.

Ban was imposed on Suhag for alleged failure of “Command and Control” in an operation conducted by an intelligence unit working under Dimapur-based 3 corps commander, at that time headed by Suhag. However at present the court did not find the disciplinary ban imposed on Suhag. Hence SC cleared his name as next Chief.

Controversy

• The United Progressive Alliance government has appointed Suhag as the new Chief of Army, before completion of Elections.
• Former Army Chief Gen. V.K. Singh, who is present, Union Minister in Modi’s Cabinet, protested against the appointment of a new chief before the new government was formed.
• V.K. Singh, days before his retirement in 2012, imposed a promotion ban on Dalbir Singh for a botched intelligence operation in the northeastern state of Assam. The ban was revoked by his successor, the current Army chief, Bikram Singh.

·  Pinky Anand: Pinky Anand has been appointed Additional Solicitor-General in the Supreme Court. She is the second woman lawyer to be appointed in this position. The first is Indira Jaising. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) of India is not a constitutional position. ASG assists Solicitor General of India. Solicitor General of India assists Attorney General of India.

Attorney General of India is constitutional position under article 76. Whereas posts of the Solicitor General and the Additional Solicitors General are statutory bodies

• Attorney General of India is the first law Officer of the country
• At present Attorney General of India-Mukul Rohtagi (14th AG of India) <="" li="">
• At present Solicitor General of India – Ranjit Kumar
• First Solicitor General of India – CK Daphtary

·  Vohra Sehgal: Legendary actress Zohra Sehgal passed away on 10th June. She was the recipient of many awards including Padma Vibhushan.