Current Affairs Update – 3rd April, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the current affairs of 3rd April, 2015.

• The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has signed three more unilateral advance pricing agreements (APAs) with different companies in India, taking the overall tally of APAs to nine.
• An APA is an agreement between a taxpayer and the tax authority concerning the transfer pricing method and the rate applicable to the taxpayers’ inter-company transactions, and normally covers multiple years.
• Of the nine APAs signed till date, as many as eight are unilateral and one was a bilateral (signed with Japan) entered into in December last year.
• The three unilateral APAs signed on March 31 this year relate to contract manufacturing, professional services and support services’ sectors. The names of the companies involved could not, however, be ascertained.
• S P Singh, Senior Director-Transfer Pricing, Deloitte in India, said that the signing of three more APAs on March 31 goes on to show that the Government is keen to reduce litigation and improve the environment for investment in India.
• The situation will improve substantially if a few more steps are taken with right earnest and at the earliest, he said.
• First is to review the rules of Safe Harbour. It needs to be appreciated that this window to reduce litigation has been given a short shrift by taxpayers due to unrealistic mark-ups and approach.
• Second, the Government should analyse the reasons for growing litigation which is creating problems for taxpayers but not bringing revenue and take corrective steps.
• Finally, the capacity of APA team must be enhanced substantially, else the pendency will go on increasing, which will be demoralising for the taxpayers who have a lot of faith in this mechanism.
• With rollback introduced, this aspect needs immediate attention, Singh said.
• As on date, nearly 580 applications for APAs are pending before the CBDT.

• Cancellation or change in nomination in insurance policies now comes at a cost as regulator IRDAI has allowed life insurers to charge up to Rs. 100 for any such modification.
• For policies obtained online, the fee is up to Rs. 50.
• The IRDAI guidelines for ‘Registering Cancellation or Change of Nomination’ have come into effect from April 1, 2015.
• The Insurance Act allows the holder of a life policy to nominate, on his own, a person or persons to whom the money shall be paid in the event of his death while effecting the policy or any time before it matures.

• A six-member panel of experts has been formed by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to review pending cases, referred to it by CBI for sanction of prosecution against corrupt government officials.
• CVC tenders advice in respect of officers coming under its jurisdiction against whom the CBI has sought sanction for prosecution for their alleged involvement in corruption.
• The committee comprises retired IAS officers Sudhir Krishna and C B Paliwal, former IRS officer Sada Shiv Bajpai, former Indian Audit and Accounts Service officer Sushama V Dabak, former Special DG of CPWD P K Gupta, and ex-chairman of LIC A K Shukla, an order issued by CVC said.
• In view of the expert committee's recommendation, the CVC would render appropriate advice to the competent authority within 15 days of the meeting, it said. The tenure of the panel would be for a period of two years from April 1, 2015.
• The move assumes significance as there has been delay in many cases seeking sanction for prosecution.

• Chandralekha Mukherjee, an Indian Railway Traffic Service 1986 batch officer, took over as the new Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) of Waltair division, East Coast Railway.
• The outgoing DRM Anil Kumar has been transferred as Chief Safety Officer, South East Central Railway, Bilaspur.
• Mukherjee, who assumed the charge of the office yesterday, has served in the Railways for last 26 years and held various positions in the Zonal railways, Railway Board and also has a successful stint with Ministry of Defence.
• In her last posting as General Manager, Passenger Reservation Systems in Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS), the technical wing of railways, she played a vital role in the implantation of the innovative Dynamic Fare concept in the Premium trains

• Branding women as witches, witchcraft and such practices will soon become punishable offences in Rajasthan.
• The Rajasthan Prevention of Witch-Hunting Bill, tabled in the Assembly, provides for life imprisonment if witch-hunting causes death, and imprisonment up to five years and a fine for practising witch-hunting, witchcraft and so on.
• At least 60 per cent of the fine will go to the victim for her rehabilitation.

• India has welcomed the understanding announced in Lausanne between Iran and the E3+3 on the nuclear issue. A significant step seems to have been taken with the agreement on the parameters of a comprehensive settlement to be negotiated by June 30, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday morning.
• China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States form the E3+3.
• The statement adds that India has always maintained that the Iranian nuclear issue should be resolved peacefully by respecting Iran's right to peaceful uses of nuclear energy as also the international community's strong interest in the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programme. "The announcement yesterday underlines the success of diplomacy and dialogue, which India has always supported and which we hope would lead to a comprehensive agreement by June 30," the statement says.
• On Thursday, Iran and the world powers reached a framework agreement on curbing Iran’s nuclear programme after eight days of talks in Switzerland.

• India will overtake Indonesia as the country with the largest number of Muslims in 2050 while Hindus will become the world’s third largest population by that time, according to a new study by a US think-tank.
• According to the Pew Research Center’s religious profile predictions assessed data released yesterday, Muslims are projected to grow faster than the world’s overall population and that Hindus and Christians are to roughly keep pace with worldwide population growth.
• According to Pew in 2011, Indonesia had a Muslim population of about 205 million as against India’s 177 million.
• If the trend continues, Islam will be the most popular faith in the world after 2070, it said.
• By 2050, Muslims will make up about 10 per cent of the Europe’s population, up from 5.9 per cent in 2010.
• The Hindu population is projected to rise by 34 per cent worldwide, from a little over 1 billion to nearly 1.4 billion by 2050.
• By that time, Hindus will be third, making up 14.9 per cent of the world’s total population, followed by people who do not affiliate with any religion, accounting for 13.2 per cent, the report said.

• China would soon commission three indigenously-built advance nuclear-powered attack submarines having a vertical launcher capable of delivering its latest supersonic anti-ship missiles, state media reported today.
• China Central Television (CCTV) showed a satellite picture earlier this week of three submarines anchored at an unidentified port, and reported that the vessels were China’s most advanced Type-093G nuclear-powered attack submarines, just completed by a Chinese shipyard and awaiting delivery.
• With a teardrop hull, the submarine is longer than its predecessor, the Type-093, and has a vertical launching system, China Daily reported.
• Another article carried by the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s website said the Type-093G’s wing-shaped cross-section is designed to improve speed and mobility as well as reduce noise, and that the vertical launcher is capable of delivering the country’s latest YJ-18 supersonic anti-ship missiles.
• The Type-093G is reported to be an upgraded version of Type-093, China’s second-generation nuclear-powered attack submarine, which has entered active service.
• The strategic force of the PLA Navy now has about four nuclear-powered Type-094 ballistic missile submarines, up to six Type-093 nuclear-powered attack submarines and about three old Type-091, CCTV quoted foreign media reports as saying.

• China’s former Olympic champion hurdler Liu Xiang plans to announcement his retirement next week following years of nagging injuries, a local newspaper reported on Friday.
• The Shanghai native has not competed since withdrawing at the London Olympics in 2012 after rupturing his Achilles tendon. He pulled out of the 2008 Beijing Games with a similar injury and years of treatment have apparently failed to fix the problem.
• The 31-year-old Liu became one of China’s best-known athletes by winning the 110-meter hurdles title at the 2004 Athens Olympics in a then-world record time.
• The Shanghai newspaper Xinmin News said Liu would announce his retirement on his official microblog on Tuesday. He would then join former NBA star Yao Ming and tennis champion Li Na in the ranks of world-class Chinese athletes who have recently retired.

• Good Friday was today observed across the country with special prayers in churches and the faithfuls observing fasts as a way of renunciation of earthly comfort to mark the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
• Hundreds of Christians took out processions at various places carrying wooden crosses and rosaries to symbolise the final hours of Christ from his condemnation to the laying of his body in the tomb after the crucifixion on the Mount Calvary over 2000 years ago.
• It was a holiday for government offices and educational institutes. Many devotees in the national capital attended special masses held in churches amid tight security. Heavy police deployment was seen near churches in the wake of recent attacks on Christian establishments in the national capital.
• Good Friday is a Christian religious holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary.
• It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Black Friday, or Easter Friday.

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