Current Affairs Update – 12th August, 2016

• The Assam Assembly on 12 August
  2016 passed a resolution to become the first state to ratify The Constitution
  (122nd Amendment) (GST) Bill, 2014.
• The bill was passed by the Lok
  Sabha on 8 August 2016 and by the Rajya Sabha on 3 August 2016.

• The GST will have two components
  keeping in mind the federal structure of India: the Central GST (CGST) and the
  State GST (SGST).
• For goods and services that pass
  through several states, or imports, the Centre will levy another tax, the
  Integrated GST (IGST).
• Alcohol for human consumption has
  been kept out of the purview of GST.
• It empowers the centre to impose
  an additional tax of up to 1% on the inter-state supply of goods for two years
  or more. This tax will accrue to states from where the supply originates.
• Initially, GST will not apply to
  (a) petroleum crude, (b) high speed diesel, (c) motor spirit (petrol), (d)
  natural gas and (e) aviation turbine fuel. The GST Council will decide when GST
  will be levied on them.
• Tobacco and tobacco products will
  be subject to GST. The centre may also impose excise duty on tobacco.
• Parliament may provide for
  compensation to states for revenue losses arising out of the implementation of
  GST for up to 5 years, based on the recommendations of the GST Council.

• The Ministry of Housing and Urban
  Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) on 11 August 2016 approved construction of 37013
  houses for the urban poor in Karnataka and Haryana with an investment of 1491
  crore rupees.
• These houses will be developed
  with central assistance of 569 crore rupees.
• The project was approved by the
  inter-ministerial Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee, chaired by HUPA
  Secretary Nandita Mukherjee.
• The total investment in
  construction of these houses would be to the tune of about 1491 crore rupees.

• Karnataka: 36254 houses for the
  economically weaker sections would be constructed in Karnataka with an
  investment of 1468 crore rupees.
• 12371 dwelling units will be
  constructed in eight cities, namely Gadag-3630, Bengaluru (Basavangudi)-1699,
  Bidar-1500, Mysuru-1355, Bellary-1188, Raichur-1050, Vijaypura-1028,
  Padmanabhanagar (Bengaluru)-895 and Bagalkot-784.
• These units will be constructed
  under Affordable Housing in Partnership component of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana
  (Urban) for rehabilitation of slum dwellers.
• Another 23883 houses will be
  built in 207 cities and towns in Karnataka for urban poor under the Beneficiary
  Led Construction component of PMAY (Urban). Union government will provide a
  total assistance of 558 crore rupees for construction of these houses for urban
  poor in Karnataka.
• Haryana: 759 houses would be
  built in Haryana at a cost of 23 crore rupees. It will be developed in 11 slum
  colonies of Yamunanagar-Jagadhari under Beneficiary Led Construction component
  of PMAY (Urban) at a total cost of 23 crore rupees. Central government will
  provide an assistance of 11 croroe rupees in this regard.
• Slums to benefit from
  construction of these houses are in Harinagar, Lajpat Nagar, Mishra colony,
  Mukherjee Park, Tirath Nagar, Madhuban colony, Bhagirath colony, Jammu colony, Hamida
  colony and Burla colony.

• The Cabinet Committee on Economic
  Affairs (CCEA) on 10 August 2016 approved a proposal of research and
  development (R&D) project for development of Advanced Ultra Super Critical
  (AUSC) Technology for Thermal Power Plants.
• The estimated cost of the project
  is 1554 crore rupees. BHEL will be provided one time budgetary support of 900
  crore rupees spread over a period of three years for implementation of the
  project.

• This will enable domestic
  industries to design, manufacture and commission higher efficiency coal fired
  power plants with indigenously developed technology and manufacturing
  processes.
• This will be the first time that
  large power plant equipment will be manufactured with advanced technologies,
  but without any technological Collaboration and Licensing Agreement with
  foreign companies.

• A Consortium of three Government
  Entities proposed a R&D project for development of AUSC Technology for
  Thermal Power Plants of future, envisaging reduced coal consumption as well as
  Carbon Di-Oxide (CO2) emission. The three entities and their contribution
  includes
• Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited
  (BHEL) – 270 crore rupees
• Indira Gandhi Centre of Atomic
  Research (IGCAR) – 234 crore  crore
  rupees
• National Thermal Power
  Corporation (NTPC) – 50 crore rupees

• Rajya Sabha on 11 August 2016
  passed the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016. The Bill seeks to amends
  the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961.
• The Maternity Benefit Bill amends
  provisions related to the duration and applicability of maternity leave, and
  other facilities. The existing Act regulates the employment of women during the
  period of child birth, and provides maternity benefits. It applies to factory,
  mines, plantations, shops and other establishments.

• Duration of maternity leave: It
  seeks to raise maternity leave for working women from existing 12 weeks to 26
  weeks for two surviving children.
• Under the existing Act, this
  maternity benefit should not be availed before six weeks from the date of
  expected delivery. The Bill changes this to eight weeks.
• In case of a woman who has two or
  more children, the maternity benefit will continue to be 12 weeks, which cannot
  be availed before six weeks from the date of the expected delivery.
• Maternity leave for adoptive and
  commissioning mothers: The Bill introduces a provision to grant 12 weeks of
  maternity leave to:
• a) A woman who legally adopts a
  child below three months of age
• b) A commissioning mother
• The 12-week period of maternity
  benefit will be calculated from the date the child is handed over to the
  adoptive or commissioning mother.

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• Michael Phelps on 11 August 2016
  won his fourth consecutive 200m individual medley Olympic title. With this, he
  became the first swimmer ever to win four consecutive golds in the same event.
• Phelps clocked one minute, 54.66
  seconds to grab the 200m individual medley Olympic title.
• Japan’s Kosuke Hagino won the
  silver medal and China’s Wang Shun took the bronze.
• Phelps earned his 15th individual
  Olympic gold, breaking his tie with Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina for the
  record.
• His gold also marks the first
  time a swimmer earned at least three gold medals in four different Olympic
  Games.
• He became the first swimmer to
  win the same individual event four times, surpassing the previous record of
  three held by Dawn Fraser and Krisztina Egerszegi.
• He also became the third Olympian
  to win the same event four times, after Al Oerter and Carl Lewis.
• With that 13th individual gold
  medal, he broke a 2168 year old Olympic Record, set by Leonidas of Rhodes, who
  had held the most Olympic Individual titles of all time, with twelve.

• Cipla Ltd has appointed Umang
  Vohra as the managing director & global chief executive officer of the
  company effective September 1, 2016. The current incumbent, Subhanu Saxena will
  step down from his position on August 31, 2016 to attend to emergent family
  priorities. Subhanu joined Cipla in February 2013 as CEO.
• Umang joined the company in
  October 2015 as the global chief financial & strategy officer and was
  elevated as the global chief operating officer early this year as part of a
  planned progression.

• To honour the legacy of India’s
  Carnatic music legend M S Subbulakshmi, the UN will issue a stamp to mark her
  birth centenary next week, coinciding with the celebrations of India’s 70th
  Independence Day.
• The UN Postal Administration will
  issue the stamp to mark Subbulakshmi’s birth centenary, India’s Permanent
  Mission to the UN said in a press statement.
• India’s Independence Day will be
  commemorated at the world body’s headquarters this year as Oscar-winning
  composer A R Rahman will enthrall UN diplomats and international dignitaries at
  a special concert in the UN General Assembly hall on August 15.
• Rahman will be the second Indian
  artist after Subbulakshmi to perform at the iconic UN hall, which is the usual
  platform for global leaders to address the world.
• Subbulakshmi, the first ever
  musician to be awarded India’s highest civilian honour the Bharat Ratna, was
  invited by the then UN Secretary-General late U Thant to perform at the General
  Assembly in October 1966, becoming the first Indian to perform there.
• Earlier in March this year, the
  Pakistani mission to the UN had organised a concert by renowned singer Rahat
  Fateh Ali Khan to commemorate Pakistan Day at the UN.