Current Affairs: August 1, 2011

August 1, 2011

August 1, 2011: Monsoon Session of Parliament commences

August 1, 2011: The monsoon session of the Parliament commences
Government decided to introduce 32 new bills including the Lokpal Bill
Other key bills to be introduced include Land Acquisition Bill, Food Security Bill, the Benami Transactions Bill and the Mines and Minerals Bill

Payment dispute of crude oil resolved b/w Iran and India

Iran and India resolved the payment disagreement that was bullying to arrest the Iran’s crude exports to India
As per the National Iranian Oil Company the two sides agreed to settle the bill as soon as possible
Earlier, Iran had jeopardized to cut off supplies to India in case of payments not made by India till August 1, 2011
US sanctions on Iran made it hard to send International bank payments
About 12% of India’s oil demand is met by crude from Iran

Rajan Mathai: New Foreign Secretary of takes charge

Rajan Mathai: New Foreign Secretary of India took charge
Mr. Mathai was India’s former ambassador to France
To hold office for a two-year term
He succeeds Nirupama Rao, who has been named India’s ambassador to the US
Mr. Rakesh Sood, India’s ambassador to Nepal, will succeed Mathai as New Delhi’s envoy in Paris

Export restrictions from cotton lifted by Government

Government lifted export restrictions on cotton
Now Cotton is allowed to be shipped under Open General Licences for the rest of the cotton season
Restrictions lifted as there is ample stock of cotton in the country
After registering themselves with the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Exporters free to export any quantity for the remaining 2 months of the season
Government placed a cap on cotton exports at 55 Lakh bales in October 2010 in order to check spiralling prices and ensure availability of the raw material for the domestic textiles industry
As per the Cotton Advisory Board, due to low industry demand over 50 Lakh surplus bales to be available at the end of the current season

Country’s Growth forecast 8.2% this fiscal year: PMEAC

PMEAC (Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council)
PMEAC lowered country’s growth forecast to 8.2% this fiscal while revising the inflation projection upward to 6.5% till March 2012
As per PMEAC Chairman Dr C.Rangarajan, Inflation to continue to hover around 9% in July-October period and is expected to moderate only after November, 2011

SEBI: Mandatory for Promoters to Disclose Share Dealings

SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) decided to make it mandatory for all promoter entities to disclose any considerable purchase or sale of shares by them
Objective: To rein in insider trading by promoters without investors’ knowledge
Currently, the Directors and the Top executives of listed companies are needed to make these revelations
After SEBI’s decision in this regard however, all the promoters and persons who are part of the promoter group of a listed company would also be required to reveal their share dealings
It would be essential for the promoters to make initial disclosures relating to their shareholding at the time of becoming promoter or part of promoter group
Continuous disclosures also be required whenever there is a change in their holdings exceeding ` 5 Lakh in value or 25,000 shares or 1% of total shareholding or voting rights, whichever is lower
At present, alike disclosures are obligatory to be made by the directors and officers of the company

New Air Chief Marshal: Norman Anil Kumar Browne

New Air Chief Marshal: Mr. Norman Anil Kumar Browne
He took charge as India’s 23rd Chief of the Air Staff
He succeeded Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik
In Air Force Circles, Nick-named: Charlie Browne
Currently appointed as one of the Honorary Aides De Camp to the President of India
Built the Indian Defence Wing in Tel Aviv in 1997 and served as the Defence Attache till July 2000
Param Vishist Seva Medal, Ati Vishist Seva Medal, Vayu Sena Medal bestowed upon him in the past

Naved Masood took over as the New Secretary in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs
Naved Masood: 1977 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre
Mr. Masood substituted Mr. D.K.Mittal who was appointed as Secretary Department of Financial Services in the Ministry of Finance

Mitul Desai (an Indian-American), appointed as Senior Adviser in the U.S. State Department’s South and Central Asia Bureau to strengthen ties with the Diaspora groups
Mr. Mitul in charge for working out means to facilitate the US Government to put together an alignment of groups to make it comfortable for Indians in the Diaspora as well as other Diaspora communities to make contributions to growth
Diaspora: “movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland” or “people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location” or “people settled far from their ancestral homelands”

Veteran journalist-turned-politician Mr. Inder Jit passed away
In 1948, Mr. Inder Jit commenced his career as a journalist with the Hindustan Times and worked with The Times of India, India News, Feature Alliance and even with many Foreign Newspapers including London’s Daily Telegraph and The Times
In 1988, Mr. Inder Jit was implemental in negotiating the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) agreement b/w the Gorkha National Liberation Front’s Subhash Ghisingh and the Centre
On August 22, 1988, the agreement was signed in Kolkata
After inking of the landmark agreement, Mr. Jit was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Darjeeling constituency in West Bengal in 1989 and 1991 on the Congress ticket

Month: Current Affairs - August, 2011