Chhattisgarh
- NGT stays operation of 31 projects taken up by Chhattisgarh on Mahanadi
- In a major relief to Odisha, the National Green Tribunal(NGT) on Wednesday ordered stay on operation of 31 projects undertaken by Chhattisgarh governmenton Mahanadi river.
- The NGT’s Kolkata bench has clearly ordered that Chhattisgarh government cannot commission the 31 projects, despite having environmental clearancesfor it, without tribunal’s permission,” said the petitioner’s counsel.
INTERNATIONAL
- Bolivia declared total independence from World Bank & IMF
- Bolivia’s President Evo Morales has been highlighting his government’s independence from international money lending organizations and their detrimental impact the nation.
- Some of Bolivia’s largest resistance struggles in the last 60 years have targeted the economic policies carried out by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
- BRICS Youth Forum opens in Beijing
- The 2017 BRICS Youth Forumopened in Beijing, China to discuss the development of the youth in the countries.
- The theme of the three-day forum is ‘Enhance BRICS Partnership, Promote Youth Development’.
- The five BRICS countries are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa first came up with the idea of establishing a dialogue mechanism for BRICS youth in 2014 during a meeting between BRICS leaders in South Africa.
NATIONAL
- Union Government approves construction of 30,000 affordable houses on Private land
- The Centre approved the construction of 30,000 houses for the urban poor on private land in Maharashtra’s Sholapur.
- The main aim is to give momentum to affordable housing in urban areas.
- Under the Centre’s flagship programme Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), the Housing and Urban AffairsMinistry gave approval to the Central assistance of Rs 450 crore for the project.
- UnderPMAY(U) the Raynagar Cooperative Housing Federation, Sholapur had submitted a proposal to build 30,000 houses for its members comprising beedi and textile workers and other urban poor belonging to the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) at a cost of Rs 1,811 crore.
- Reliance Defence launches first two naval patrol vessels
- Reliance Infrastructure subsidiary Reliance Defence and Engineering Limited (RDEL) on Tuesday announced the launch of its first two Naval Offshore Patrol Vessels (NOPVs) at their shipyard in Pipavav, Gujarat.
- The two NOPVs — ‘Shachi’ and ‘Shruti’ — are among five ships being constructed by RDEL under the P-21 project of the Indian Navy.
- The launch is a significant and milestone event, as these two NOPVs are the first warships to be launched by a private sector shipyard in India.
- IMF retains India 2017 GDP growth forecast at 7.2%
- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its July World Economic Outlook (WEO) Update has retained India’s projected GDP growth rate at 7.2% for 2017-18, slightly up from 7.1% in the previous year. However, update projects that India’s growth would accelerate to 7.7% in 2018-19.
- India’s economic growth slowed down to 7.1% in 2016-17, sharply lower than 8% in 2015-16 due to the effect of demonetisation
- The global economic growth rate will be 3.5% in 2017 and 3.6% in 2018. The economic activity in both advanced and emerging and developing economies is accelerating.
- Govt launched probe against 30,000 shell firms in 2016-17
- India launched its biggest yet fight against the use of shell companies to evade tax or launder money by targetting around 30,000 companies and their directors in 2016-17, a government official said on condition of anonymity.
- The number is significant because the finance ministry and various investigative agencies launched only 1150 investigations against shell companies in the previous three years.
- Shell companies meticulously comply with statutory requirements such as filing tax returns and annual reports so that they do not draw attention, unlike defunct companies.
Gk byte – Shell Company
- Shell Company is a corporate entity without active business operations or significant assets. They are often created to avoid taxes and many big companies create shell corporations to avoid taxes without attracting legal actions.
- It can’t be asserted that shell corporations are illegal. They are deliberate financial arrangements to avoid taxes. Tax avoidance is not illegal, though it is not desirable.
- But many shell companies park black money, carryout illegal transactions and sometimes act as facilitators of money laundering.
- Now, there is increasing attempts globally and nationally from governments to check tax avoidance. Hence, shell companies are coming under government scanner.
- The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which is an inter-governmental body, gives guidelines in controlling shell companies.
- Boxing Championship 2021 to be held in India.
- The International Boxing Association (AIBA) has announced that India will host their first Men’s World Championship in 2021.
- The announcement was made after a two-day executive committee meeting that was held in Moscow.
- The AIBA Men’s World Championships 2019 will be held in Russia city of Sochi. The 2018 Women’s World Championships will also be held in New Delhi.
- The 2019 Women’s World Championships will be held in Trabzon, Turkey.