GK and Current Affairs Updates

Veteran industrialist and former parliamentarian MAM Ramaswamy passed away in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He was 84.

About MAM Ramaswamy- (a)He was born on 30 September 1931 and died on 2 December 2015, at the age of 84. (b) He belonged to the Janata Dal (Secular) party, he was a Member of the Parliament of India, representing Karnataka in the Rajya Sabha. (c)Prior to his death, he was the Chairman of Chettinad Group of Companies. (d)He remodeled the Annamalai University (in Chidambaram), which was founded by his family in 1929.

Justice Tirath Singh Thakur was on Thursday, Dec 3, 2015 sworn in as 43rd Chief Justice of India by President Pranab Mukherjee at an elegant function in Rashtrapati Bhavan.

About Justice Tirath Singh Thakur 1. He is the  43rd Chief Justice of India. 2.He is preceded by HL Dattu. 3.He was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court in 2008 and then  took over as the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. 4.He served as a Judge of the Supreme Court since November 2009. 5 He headed the bench of CBI probe of Sharda Scam. 6.He also headed the bench which had delivered the verdict to reform BCCI, the Indian cricket board in the wake of allegations of betting and spot-fixing scandal in the Indian Premier League.

About Supreme Court of India

- It is the apex body of the entire judicial system of India.- It consists of 31 Judges and a Chief Justice of India.- Its official language is English.- Except fundamental rights cases, no other case can be directly filed in the Supreme Court.

About  Chief Justice of India

- The Chief Justice of India is appointed by the President of India.- The Chief Justice of India not only heads the administrative functions of the Supreme Court but also sits actively as a presiding judge in the Supreme Court.- He is responsible for the allocation of cases and appointment of constitutional benches which deal with important matters of law.- The tenure is for a period of 5 years or until his retirement or whichever is earlier, or unless removed by impeachment.

MoU which has been signed between Indian and Germany, for implementation of Make in India campaign for Capital Goods Sector.
- Objective: to provide platform to various public sector undertakings and capital goods sector units to have easy access to capabilities for identifying and plugging technology gaps in line with 12^th Five Year Plan.
2. for Solar Energy- MoU signed between Indian and Germany, to expand bilateral development cooperation in the field of Solar Energy by increasing use of solar energy in India through technical as well as financial cooperation. 
- The MoU would lead to - 
i.Cooperation in the field of solar rooftops; 
ii.The development of solar parks or solar zones 
iii.Solar off-grid applications to improve the access to clean and sustainable energy. 
 

Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (DTAC) signed between the two countries in 1989 for avoidance of double taxation and for prevention of fiscal evasion, through a protocol. 
The Protocol will facilitate:
- exchange of information, as per accepted international standards, on tax matters including bank information and information without domestic tax interest.
- sharing any information received from Japan, with authorization of the competent authority in Japan and vice versa, in respect of a resident of India, with other law enforcement agencies. 
- Both can lend assistance to each other in collection of revenue claims, as well as for exemption of interest income from taxation in the source country, with respect to debt-claims insured by the Government or Government-owned financial institutions. 
About The Double Tax Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) 
It is essentially a bilateral agreement entered into between two countries. The basic objective is to promote and foster economic trade and investment between two Countries by avoiding double taxation.
What is Tax Avoidance ?
An arrangement of a tax payer’s affairs that is intended to reduce his liability and that although the arrangement could be strictly legal.The key distinction being that in tax avoidance the key facts and financial details are not hidden by the tax payer but are on audit-record.So there is no ‘black-money’ because all the money is reported to the tax-authorities.

India and Iran has signed the MoU on visa facilitation for Diplomatic, Official/Service and Ordinary passport holders. 
Some important salient features of the agreement:
1. Consequent upon this, upon presentation of an official note by the local Ministry of Foreign Affairs along with the visa application, the resident Diplomatic Missions in the host country would, within 20 working days, issue a gratis visa valid for 90 days for the holders of valid Diplomatic/Official/Service passports, assigned on long-term missions to the Diplomatic Missions or the Consulates General. Appropriate gratis visas of three months' validity for visiting close family members (blood relations such as parents, siblings, adult children as well as in-laws) and visas for other close relatives of the assign on payment of visa fees due would be issued. 
2. On presentation of an official note by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stating the purpose of the visit, a non-extendable gratis entry visa will be issued within three working days, with a validity of up to fifteen days, to political authorities and officials travelling for specific bilateral purposes or to participate in a conference or seminar.
3. This Agreement will be valid for an indefinite period. Each Party may, however, terminate this Agreement by giving a written notice for this purpose through diplomatic channels, at least 60 days in advance. 
4.  Either Party reserves the right to prevent the entry, shorten or terminate the stay of the nationals of the other party in accordance with their respective laws and regulations. 

Sarangi maestro Ustad Sabri Khan passesdaway at 88.He was a renowned sarangi player.
About Ustad Sabri Khan 
- Born on 21 May 1927 ,Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
- He  was an Indian sarangi player who popularized the instrument across the globe.
- Achievements-honoured with several awards including Padma Shri (1992) and Padma Bhushan (2006).

Maharashtra is the biggest economy stated by the credit rating agency Brickwork Ratings.The results are accounted in terms of gross state domestic report (GSDP).
Top 3 states in terms of GSDP
1. Maharashtra
2. Tamil Nadu
3. Uttar Pradesh
Top 3 states in terms of Tax revenues
1. Maharashtra (approximately 70 per cent of its total receipts through tax revenues)
2. Gujarat
3. Tamil Nadu
Rating Criteria: - political, economic, budgetary, financial and institutional parameters.
Other Findings
- Karnataka leads in the growth of services sector.
- Maharashtra’s infant mortality rate (IMR) of 25 is below the national average for all states.
- The three fastest-growing states are Bihar,Madhya Pradesh and Goa.

According to the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), India ranked 106th. Report shows that more than 334 million Indians helped a stranger, more than 183 million gave money and more than 156 million volunteered time. It also reveals that people donating to charity in 2014 had fallen to 20 per cent, down eight percentage points from 2013. Thus, they conclude that India has high proportion of donaters but not according to the population.
Top 3 counteries:
1. Myanmanr
2. United States of America
3. New Zealand
About Charities Aid Foundation (CAF)
- CAF is an international non-profit organisation which promotes effective giving and philanthropy worldwide. 
- Mission: to motivate society to give ever more effectively, helping to transform lives and communities around the world.

A Scheme for enhancement of competitiveness in the Indian Capital Goods Sector has been launched which envisages a number of steps to improve competitivenes.These measures are expected to boost competitiveness of the indigenous Capital Goods Industry in the global market.
- Vision: “To increase the share of capital goods contribution from present 12% to 20% of total manufacturing activity by 2025”.
- Mission: 
1. Become one among top 10 capital goods producing nations of the world 
2. Raise exports to a significant level of at least 40% of total production.
- Objectives:
1. development of technology through interventions like setting up Centre of Excellence for technology development and financial intervention for acquisition/ transfer of technology. 
2. setting up of Common Engineering Facility Centre,   Integrated Industrial Infrastructure Facility and Test & Certification Centre for extending infrastructural facility to domestic capital goods industry.
What is Capital Goods sector ?
"Capital Goods” sector comprises of plant and machinery, equipment / accessories required for manufacture / production, either directly or indirectly, of goods or for rendering services,including those required for replacement, modernization, technological upgradation and expansion. It also includes packaging machinery and equipment, refrigeration equipment, power generating sets, equipment and instruments for testing, research and development, quality and pollution control.
Importance of Capital goods for country's economy– Capital Goods is considered as a strategic sector and development of domestic capabilities is essential from a national self-reliance and security perspective – Capital Goods sector has multiplier effect and has a bearing on the growth of user industries as it provides critical inputs, i.e., machinery and equipment to the remaining sectors covered under the manufacturing activity.

 Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has been established by the Government of India for regulation and development of Pension Sector in order to protect the old age income security of subscribers. In this regard, recently many new functionalities have been released by the Central Record keeping Agency (CRA) to provide the ease of operation for the benefit of subscribers and nodal offices. 
detailed below:
1. Contribution upload for shifted subscribers: Now, a POP can also upload the contribution for subscribers who have shifted from one of their associated Corporate to another associate Corporate.
2. One way switchCurrently, there is no provision for transfer of funds from Tier-II to Tier-I account. Now, the POP can process a subscriber request to transfer funds from Tier II to Tier I account.
3. Upload of unequal contribution for Govt. employees
4. Grievance resolution by monitoring office in CRA system
5. Functionality for capturing bank details and contact details of the nodal offices.
Advantages of Pension Plan,Retirement Plan, and Pension Scheme
Pension Plan: It provide financial security and stability during old age when people don't have a regular source of income.
Retirement Plan: It ensures that people live with pride and without compromising on their standard of living during advancing years.Pension Scheme: It gives an opportunity to invest and accumulate savings and get lump sum amount as regular income through annuity plan on retirement.
About National Pension System
- Monetory authority: Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) 
- Launch on Jan,2004.
- Aim: to institute pension reforms and to inculcate the habit of saving for retirement amongst the citizens.
- Objective : to provide pension to all the citizens.
- The subscriber will be allotted a unique Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN) and this will be applicable allover India.