The Union Cabinet on 20 July 2016 approved a proposal to introduce amendments to the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Bill, 2015 in Parliament.
•    The amendments aim to strengthen the Bill in terms of legal and administrative procedure so as to overcome the practical difficulties which may arise in the implementation of the provisions of the Bill when it becomes an Act.
•    The legislation is intended to effectively prohibit benami transactions and consequently prevent circumvention of law through unfair practices.
•    The amendments will empower the Government to confiscate benami property by following due procedure. However, those who declare their benami properties under income declaration scheme will get immunity under the Benami Act.
•    The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act was earlier enacted in 1988, but the rules under that Act could not be formulated due to inherent infirmities in it. 
•    Following this, in 2011 the government introduced a Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Bill in Parliament.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on 20 July 2016 announced that launch of National Electoral Roll Purification (NERP) 2016 programme across the country.
The programme was launched to improve health of Electoral Rolls (ERs) and to optimize the Polling Station (PS) location and area across the country.
The motto of ECI for the year 2016 is No voter to be left behind.
Improving Health of ERs by inclusion of all eligible citizens in mission mode by:
•    ERs to be made free from errors.
•    Single ER entry for every eligible elector with unique Elector Photo Identity Card (EPIC) number.
•    Removal of all Absent (A)/ Shifted (S)/ Dead (D) electors’ entries and Repeat Entries (REs).
•    Ensuring Photo Electoral Rolls (PERs) with good quality correct images of every elector confirming to ECI standards, and linking Electors with ECI by obtaining their contact details.

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 20 July 2016 approved the incorporation of Sagarmala Development Company (SDC) under the Companies Act, 2013. It will be under the administrative control of the Ministry of Shipping.
•    Implementation of the identified projects will be done mainly through private or PPP mode.
•    It will provide equity support for the project Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) set up by the Ports/State/Central Ministries window.
•    It will implement only those residual which cannot be funded by any other means / mode.
•    SDC will Identify port-led development projects and put in place suitable risk management measures for strategic projects cutting across multiple States/Regions.
•    Since the Identified projects will be undertaken by multiple agencies, SDC will also work as the nodal agency for coordination and monitoring of all the identified projects as well as other projects.
•    SDC will undertake the preparation of the detailed master plans for the Coastal Economic Zones (CEZs) identified as part of the National Perspective Plan (NPP).
•    It will also provide a framework for ensuring the integrated development of Indian maritime sector.

The Union Railway Ministry has launched a project to install Solar Panels in all Railway Buildings in order to reduce expenditure on electricity As part of the project, Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu laid the foundation stone of one Megawatt (MW) solar power plant at Amritsar Railway station in Punjab. 

•    The power plant at Amritsar Railway station will be set up with a cost of 8 crore Rupees. 
•    It will annually produce 14 lakh units of power. It will save 1.40 crore Rupees for railway. 
•    The Union Railway Ministry is going to install such Solar Panels for harnessing free solar energy in all the Railway Building across the nation. 
•    Union Government is also focusing to produce solar energy from waste materials. This will help to reduce Railways expenditure. 
•    Besides launching the solar power plant project, Union Railway Minister also announced to launch high-speed train service between Amritsar and New Delhi. 
•    It will be initiated following the successful trial run of Spanish-made Talgo, which became the fastest train in the country by clocking a speed of 180 km/hr

To reduce paperwork in the day-to-day functioning of the Parliament, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan launched an e-portal enabling online interaction with various branches of the Secretariat. 

•    The members can put questions and give notices online as well. 
•    By this, the government is not only preserving the environment but also saving money
•    Members will have to keep in mind the time. If a member has to sent a notice for zero hour. Then the time for it is 8.30 am to 9.30 am. The portal will not take submissions after that.
•    The portal also provides ready information regarding Bills, committee meeting schedules, agenda and reports, verbatim debates and other parliamentary information.
•    Every member will be given a login id and password. 
•    Using that the members will be able to access the portal. It can be used for issuing notices, calling adjournment motion, calling attention motion. 
•    The portal will be available in Hindi and English

PM Narendra Modi chaired the 11th meeting of Inter-State Council. Union Ministers and Chief Minister of all 31 states were in attendance.
Highlights about the points discussed in meet by PM:
•    Education should be such that makes students inquisitive, curious.
•    PM Quoted Vivekananda who said education was the building of character, enhance your capabilities, to be able to stand on your feet.
•    We have to make our youths such that they can think logically, use their minds.
•    One of the agendas of today is internal security.
•    Our country can't be secured till there is intelligence sharing, cooperation and state of the art facilities.
•    Interstate council gives us a chance to listen to various suggestions freely.
•    This will not just enshrine the values of cooperative federalism, but will ensure a better future for our citizens.

The U.N. cultural agency on Friday placed nine new sites on its World Heritage List, including a medieval Armenian city located in northeast Turkey.
•    UNESCO added the old city of Ani, in the Turkish province of Kars to its prestigious list during a meeting in Istanbul. Ani, near Turkey's now closed border with Armenia, once served as the capital of the Armenian kingdom in the 10th century. 
Newly put on the heritage list are -
•    Zuojiang Huashan Rock Art Cultural Landscape (China) 
•    Archaeological Site of Nalanda Mahavihara (India) 
•    The Persian Qanat (Iran)
•    Nan Madol: Ceremonial Center of Eastern Micronesia (Micronesia) 
•    Stecci -- Medieval Tombstones Graveyards (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia)
•    Archaeological Site of Philippi (Greece) 
•    Antequera Dolmens Site (Spain)
•    Archaeological Site of Ani (Turkey) &
•    Gorham's Cave Complex (Britain)
•    The World Heritage Committee also selected Micronesia's artificial islets of Nan Madol and simultaneously placed it on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on 14 July 2016 declared India as Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus free. In this regard, WHO presented certificates to the Union Health and Family Welfare Minister J P Nadda.

•    Previously in May 2016, WHO certified India yaws-free after a team of experts verified interruption of disease transmission in the country. India is the first country under the 2012 WHO neglected tropical diseases (NTD) roadmap to eliminate yaws.
•    Yaws is a chronic bacterial infection that affects the skin, bones and cartilages. 
•    The Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Elimination (MNTE) has been the result of India's focused approach on making maternal and newborn care accessible to all.
•    Reducing maternal and neonatal tetanus to less than one case per   1000 live births in all 675 districts has helped improve access to immunization, antenatal care services and skilled birth attendance in the most vulnerable populations.
•    Both yaws and maternal and neonatal tetanus eliminations were achieved using the existing health system and health workforce.

During the course of meetings and seminars held in different parts of the country, various stakeholders have expressed concern that the time period available under the Scheme up to 30th November, 2016 for making payment of tax, surcharge and penalty is very short, especially where funds in liquid form are not readily available with the declarants.
•    It has also been mentioned that for making payment by 30.11.2016, the declarants may have to opt for distress sale of the assets.
•    
Taking into consideration the practical difficulties of the stakeholders, the Government has decided to revise the time schedule for making payments under the Scheme as under: 
•    
(i) a minimum amount of 25% of the tax, surcharge and penalty to be paid by 30.11.2016; (ii) a further amount of 25% of the tax, surcharge and penalty to be paid by 31.3.2017; and (iii) the balance amount to be paid on or before 30.9.2017. 
•    A Notification to this effect shall be issued shortly. 

•    The Fifth SIT report has been submitted before the Hon’ble Supreme Court by the SIT. An extract of the report has been uploaded on Department of Revenue website www.dor.gov.in.
•    The SIT has made the following recommendations in the Fifth Report:
•    The SIT has felt that large amount of unaccounted wealth is stored and used in form of cash. Having considered the provisions which exist in this regard in various countries and also having considered various reports and observations of courts regarding cash transactions the SIT felt that there is a need to put an upper limit to cash transactions. 
•    Thus, the SIT has recommended that there should be a total ban on cash transactions above Rs. 3, 00,000 and an Act be framed to declare such transactions as illegal and punishable under law.
•    The SIT has further felt that, given the fact of unaccounted wealth being held in cash which are further confirmed by huge cash recoveries in numerous enforcement actions by law enforcement agencies from time to time, the above limit of cash transaction can only succeed if there is a limitation on cash holding, as suggested in its previous reports. SIT has suggested an upper limit of Rs. 15 lakhs on cash holding. 
•    Further, stating that in case any person or industry requires holding more cash, it may obtain necessary permission from the Commissioner of Income tax of the area.