Thursday, March 3, 2011

Highlights of Union Budget 2010-11

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented the Union Budget 2010-11 in parliament on Monday(28-02-2011).
Here are some of the highlights:
·        Exemption limit for the general category of individual taxpayers enhanced from
Rs 1,60,000 to Rs 1,80,000. For senior citizens, the qualifying age reduced to 60 years from the present 65 years and exemption limit raised to Rs 2.50 lakh. Citizens over 80 years to have exemption limit of Rs 5 lakh. No Change in women tax exemption limit i.e1,90,000.
·        Total expenditure proposed at Rs 12, 57,729 crore. Increase of 18.3 per cent in total Plan allocation i.e Rs 4, 41,547 crores . Increase of 10.9 per cent in the Non-plan expenditure i.e Rs 8, 16,182 crores.
·        Indian economy expected to grow at 9 per cent with an outside band of +/- 0.25 per cent in 2011-12. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimated to have grown at 8.6 per cent in 2010-11 in real terms.
·        Fiscal Deficit brought down from 5.5 per cent in BE 2010-11 to 5.1 per cent of GDP in RE 2010-11. Fiscal Deficit kept at 4.6 per cent of GDP for 2011-12. Fiscal Deficit to be progressively reduced to 3.5 per cent by 2013-14.
·        “Effective Revenue Deficit” estimated at 2.3 per cent of GDP in the Revised Estimates for 2010-11 and 1.8 per cent for 2011-12.
·        Priority sector home loans limit raised to Rs. 25 lakh from Rs. 20 lakh.
·        Current surcharge of 7.5 per cent on domestic companies proposed to be reduced to 5 per cent.
·        Rate of Minimum Alternative Tax proposed to be increased from 18 per cent to
18.5 per cent of book profits.
·        Central Excise Duty to be maintained at standard rate of 10 per cent.
·        Disinvestment in 2011-12 seen at 400 billion rupees.
·        Provision of Rs 1,64,415 crore, including Rs 69,199 crore for capital expenditure to be made for Defence Services in 2011-12.
·        Rs 6,000 crore to be provided during 2011-12 to enable public sector banks to maintain a minimum of Tier I CRAR of 8 per cent.
·        Rs 500 crore to be provided to enable Regional Rural Banks to maintain a CRAR of at least 9 per cent as on March 31, 2012.
·        Rs 5,000 crore to be provided to SIDBI for refinancing incremental lending by banks to these enterprises.
·        Rs 3,000 crore to be provided to NABARD to provide support to handloom weaver co-operative societies which have become financially unviable due to non-repayment of debt by handloom weavers facing economic stress.
·        Allocation under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) increased from Rs 6,755 crore to Rs 7,860 crore.
·        Credit flow for farmers raised from Rs 3,75,000 crore to Rs 4,75,000 crore in 2011-12.
·        Allocation of Rs 2,14,000 crore for infrastructure in 2011-12.  This is an increase of 23.3 per cent over 2010-11.This also amounts to 48.5 per cent of total plan allocation.
·        National Food Security Bill (NFSB) to be introduced in the Parliament during the course of this year.
·        Allocation for social sector in 2011-12 (` 1,60,887 crore) increased by 17 per cent over current year. It amounts to 36.4 per cent of total plan allocation.
·        Allocation for social sector in 2011-12 (` 1,60,887 crore) increased by 17 percent over current year. It amounts to 36.4 per cent of total plan allocation.
·        Allocation for Bharat Nirman programme proposed to be increased by ` 10,000 crore from the current year to Rs 58,000 crore in 2011-12.
·        Plan to provide Rural Broadband Connectivity to all 2,50,000 Panchayats in the country in three years.
·        From 1st April, 2011, remuneration of Anganwadi workers increased from Rs 1,500 per month to Rs 3,000 per month and for Anganwadi helpers from Rs 750 per month to Rs 1,500 per month.
·        Allocation for primitive Tribal groups increased from Rs185 crore in 2010-11 to Rs 244 crore in 2011-12.
·        21,000 crore allocated to Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, which is 40 per cent higher than Budget for 2010-11.
·        Target of providing banking facilities to all 73,000 habitations having a population of over 2,000 to be completed during 2011-2012.
·        Eligibility for pension under Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme for BPL beneficiaries reduced from 65 years of age to 60 years. Those above 80 years of age will get pension of Rs 500 per month instead of ` 200 at present.
·        Rs 200 crore proposed to be allocated for Green India Mission from National Clean Energy Fund.
·        Rs 200 crore proposed to be allocated for launching Environmental Remediation Programmes from National Clean Energy Fund.
·        Special allocation of ` 200 crore proposed to be provided for clean-up of some more important lakes and rivers other than Ganga.
·        Rs 8,000 crore provided in current year for development needs of Jammu and Kashmir.
·        Allocation made in 2011-12 to meet the infrastructure needs for Ladakh (` 100 crore) and Jammu region (` 150 crore).
·        A new scheme with an outlay of ` 300 crore to be launched to provide assistance to States to modernise their stamp and registration administration and roll out e-stamping in all the districts in the next three years.
·        A new simplified form ‘Sugam’ to be introduced to reduce the compliance burden of small tax payers falling within presumptive taxation.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Highlights of Economic Survey 2010-11

The Economic Survey of India 2010-11 was tabled by the Union Finance Minister of India Pranab Mukherjee on 25 February 2011.
Here are the some of the highlights of Economic survey:
·        The Survey predicted the 9% growth for Indian economy in the next fiscal and estimated 8.6 percent growth in this financial year.
·        As per the survey, the inflation stood at 8.23 per cent in January 2011.
·        The economic Survey of India stated that the trade gap has narrowed to over 82 billion US dollars in the first nine months of the current fiscal and gross fiscal deficit is at 4.8 per cent which is 1.5 percent less than last fiscal(6.3%).
·        The Survey stated that the spending in social sector programmes increased by five percent of the GDP over past five years.
·        The Survey pointed out that Forex reserves of India are estimated to be over 297 billion US dollars. This is mainly due to growth in export sector.
·        Agriculture likely to grow at 5.4% in 2010-11.(For complete details Click here)
·        Industrial output grows by 8.6% ; manufacturing sector registers 9.1%.
·        Exports in April-December 2010 up by 29.5 %.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Quiz on Current Affairs - 2011

1.      Which state government has renamed the Brookside Bungalow to Rabindranath Art Gallery?
a)Mizoram     b)Assam   c)Meghalaya     d)Uttaranchal    e)none
2.      Who wrote the book “India - Pakistan: Coming To Terms”?
a)Ajit Pawar     b)Ashutosh Misra     c)K R Narayana    d)Shashi Tharoor    e)none
3.      Who has been elected as President of Karnataka State Cricket Association(KSCA)?
a)Rahul Dravid      b)Vijay Mallya    c)Javagal Srinath     d)Venkates Prasad    e)Anil Kumble  
4.      Which animal has been declared as National Heritage Animal by GOI - Elephant.
5.      Which of the following nation is the recent one to join Non Aligned Movement(NAM)?
a)Fiji    b)Cuba     c)Iran    d)Colombia   e)Egypt
6.      DIPP is the nodal agency in the field of foreign investments? what is the full form of DIPP - Department Of Industrial Policy and Promotion.
7.      RBI was considering the proposal to set up satellite banks and ATMs to provide banking facilities to the villagers in which state?
a)Bihar    b)Jharkhand     c)Uttar Pradesh     d)Assam   e)none
8.      National Voters Day is observed on _________?
a)Jan 6th     b)April 1st     c)May 25st     d)Jan 25th     e)Oct 6th
9.      Which country has opened World’s first nuclear bank - Russia?
10. Minimum Support Prices(MSP) is increased based on the recommendation of ?
a)Ministry of Finance     b)Ministry of Agriculture    c)Agriculture Cost and Price Commission    d)both a & c     e)Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Latest General Awareness - 2011

1.      Who is the Time’s Magazine Person of the year 2010?
a)Sachin Tendulkar     b)A R Rehman    c)Manmohan Singh    d)Ratan Tata   e)Mark Zuckerberg
2.      What is the mascot of 16th Asian Games?
a)Shera     b)Le Yangyang    c)Kutumb    d)Orry    e)none
3.      Excise Duty is a tax levied on ____?
a)Sale of goods
b)import of goods
c)export of goods
d)both b & c
e)production of goods
4.      What is the present FDI limit in Telecom sector?
a)26%    b)49%    c)51%    d)74%    e)none
5.      ‘Sacred Games’ is a novel written by ________?
a)Vikram Chandra     b)Arundathi Roy    c)Vikram Seth     d)Manglaya Swinkar    e)none
6.      Who is the new Chairman of SEBI?
a)C.B.Bhave    b)Anand Sinha    c)U K Sinha    d)O P Bhatt    e)none
7.      Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is the chief guest of India’s 62nd Republic day. He is __________?
a)President of Malaysia
b)Prime Minister of Indonesia
c)President of Yugoslavia
d)President of Indonesia
e)none
8.      At Present, the number of National Political Parties in India?
a)4     b)5    c)6    d)7   e)none
9.      Makhaya Ntini who has announced his retirement from International Cricket, belongs to which country?
a)West Indies     b)England     c)South Africa    d)New Zealand    e)none
10. Which is the most corrupt country according to the ranking of global corruption index, a Transparency International report?
a)India      b)Pakistan    c)Iraq    d)Somalia    e)none

Thursday, January 27, 2011

List of Padma Awards - 2011

Padma Awards, the country’s highest civilian awards, are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. The awards are given in all disciplines/ fields of activities, viz. art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc. ‘Padma Vibhushan’ is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; ‘Padma Bhushan’ for distinguished service of high order and ‘Padma Shri’ for distinguished service in any field. The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year.
This year President has approved 128 awards, including one duo case (‘#’counted as one) and 12 in the category of (*)Foreigners/ NRIs/ PIOs/ Posthumous. These comprise 13 Padma Vibhushan, 31 Padma Bhushan and 84 Padma Shri Awards. There are 31 ladies among the awardees.
List of Padma Vibhusan awardees:
Sl.No.
Name
Discipline
State / Domicile
1.
Dr. (Smt.) Kapila Vatsyayan
Art - Art Administration and Promotion.
Delhi
2.
Mrs. Homai Vyarawalla
Art - Photography
Gujarat
3.
Shri A Nageshwara Rao
Art- Cinema
Andhra Pradesh
4.
Shri Parasaran Kesava Iyengar
Public Affairs
Delhi
5.
Dr. Akhlaq-ur-Rehman Kidwai
Public Affairs
Delhi
6.
Shri Vijay Kelkar
Public Affairs
Delhi
7.
Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia
Public Affairs
Delhi
8.
Shri Palle Rama Rao
Science and Engineering
Andhra Pradesh
9.
Shri Azim Premji
Trade and Industry
Karnataka
10.
Shri Brajesh Mishra
Civil Services
Madhya Pradesh
11.
Prof. (Dr.) Ottaplakkal Neelakandan Velu Kurup
Literature and Education
Kerala
12.
Dr. Sitakant Mahapatra
Literature and Education
Orissa
13.
Late Shri L. C. Jain
Public Affairs
Delhi *

List of Padma Bhusan awardees:
Sl.No.
Name
Discipline
State / Domicile
1.
Shri Satyadev Dubey
Art - Theatre
Maharashtra
2.
Shri Mohammed Zahur Khayyam Hashmi alias Khayyam
Art - Cinema - Music
Maharashtra
3.
Shri Shashi Kapoor
Art - Cinema
Maharashtra
4.
Shri Krishen Khanna
Art - Painting
Haryana
5.
Shri Madavur Vasudevan Nair
Art - Dance - Kathakali
Kerala
6.
Ms. Waheeda Rehman
Art - Cinema
Maharashtra
7.
Shri Rudrapatna Krishna Shastry Srikantan
Art - Music-Vocal
Karnataka
8.
Ms. Arpita Singh
Art - Painting
Delhi
9.
Dr. Sripathi Panditharadhyula Balasubrahmanyam
Art - Playback Singing, Music Direction & acting
Tamil Nadu
10.
Shri C.V. Chandrasekhar
Art - Classical Dance-Bharatanatyam
Tamil Nadu
11.
Shri Dwijen Mukherjee
Art
West Bengal
12.
Smt. Rajashree Birla
Social work
Maharashtra
13.
Mrs. Shobhana Ranade
Social work
Maharashtra
14.
Dr. Suryanarayanan Ramachandran
Science and Engineering 
Tamil Nadu
15.
Shri S.(Kris) Gopalakrishnan
Trade and Industry
Karnataka
16.
Shri Yogesh Chander Deveshwar
Trade and Industry
West Bengal
17.
Ms. Chanda Kochhar
Trade and Industry
Maharashtra
18.
Dr. K. Anji Reddy
Trade and Industry- Pharmacy
Andhra Pradesh
19.
Shri Analjit Singh
Trade and Industry
Delhi
20.
Shri Rajendra Singh Pawar
Trade and Industry
Haryana
21.
Dr. Gunapati Venkata Krishna Reddy
Trade and Industry
Andhra Pradesh
22.
Shri Ajai Chowdhary
Trade and Industry
Delhi
23.
Shri Surendra Singh
Civil Services
Delhi
24.
Shri M. N .Buch
Civil Services
Madhya Pradesh
25.
Shri Shyam Saran
Civil Services
Delhi
26.
Shri Thayil Jacob Sony George
Literature and Education
Karnataka
27.
Dr. Ramdas Madhava Pai
Literature and Education
Karnataka
28.
Shri Sankha Ghosh
Literature and Education
West Bengal
29.
Late Shri K. Raghavan Thirumulpad
Medicine - Ayurveda.
Kerala*
30.
Late Dr. Keki Byramjee Grant
Medicine - Cardiology
Maharashtra *
31.
Late Shri Dashrath Patel
Art
Gujarat *

List of Padma Shri awardees:

Sl.No.
Name
Discipline
State / Domicile
1.
Ms. Neelam Mansingh Chowdhry
Art - Theatre
Chandigarh
2.
Shri Makar Dhwaja Darogha
Art- Chhau Dance
Jharkhand
3.
Shri Shaji Neelakantan Karun
Art - Film Direction
Kerala
4.
Shri Girish Kasaravalli
Art - Film making
Karnataka
5.
Ms. Tabassum Hashmi Khan alias Tabu
Art - Cinema
Maharashtra
6.
Shri Jivya Soma Mase
Art - Warli Painting
Maharashtra
7.
Guru (Ms.) M.K. Saroja
Art - Dance- Bharatnatyam
Tamil Nadu
8.
Shri Jayaram Subramaniam
Art - Cinema
Tamil Nadu
9.
Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty
Art - Music-Indian Classical Vocal
West Bengal
10.
Smt. Mahasundari Devi
Art - Mithilia/ Madhubani Painting.
Bihar
11.
Shri Gajam Govardhana
Art - Handloom Weaving
Andhra Pradesh
12.
Ms. Sunayana Hazarilal
Art - Dance - Kathak
Maharashtra
13.
Shri S.R. Janakiraman
Art - Carnatic Vocal Music
Tamil Nadu
14.
Shri Peruvanam Kuttan Marar
Art - Chenda Melam- Drum concert
Kerala
15.
Smt. Kalamandalam Kshemavathy Pavithran
Art - Dance - Mohiniattam
Kerala
16.
Shri Dadi Dorab Pudumjee
Art - Puppetry
Delhi
17.
Shri Khangembam Mangi Singh
Art - Traditional Music of Manipur (Pena)
Manipur
18.
Shri Prahlad Singh Tipaniya
Art - Folk Music
Madhya Pradesh
19.
Smt. Usha Uthup
Art - Music.
West Bengal
20.
Smt. Kajol
Art- Cinema
Maharashtra
21.
Shri Irfan Khan
Art- Cinema
Maharashtra
22.
Shri Mamraj Agrawal
Social work
West Bengal
23.
Shri Jockin Arputham
Social work
Maharashtra
24.
Ms. Nomita Chandy
Social work
Karnataka
25.
Ms. Sheela Patel
Social work
Maharashtra
26.
Ms. Anita Reddy
Social work
Karnataka
27.
Shri Kanubhai Hasmukhbhai Tailor
Social work
Gujarat
28.
Shri Anant Darshan Shankar
Public Affairs
Karnataka
29.
Prof. M. Annamalai
Science and Engineering
Karnataka
30.
Dr. Mahesh Haribhai Mehta
Science and Engineering - Agricultural Science
Gujarat
31.
Shri Coimbatore Narayana Rao Raghavendran
Science and Engineering
Tamil Nadu
32.
Dr. (Mrs.) Suman Sahai
Science and Engineering
Delhi
33.
Prof.(Dr.) E.A. Siddiq
Science and Engineering - Agricultural Science
Andhra Pradesh
34.
Shri Gopalan Nair Shankar
Science and Engineering - Architecture
Kerala
35.
Shri Mecca Rafeeque Ahmed
Trade and Industry
Tamil Nadu
36.
Shri Kailasam Raghavendra Rao
Trade and Industry
Tamil Nadu
37.
Shri Narayan Singh Bhati
Civil Services
Andhra Pradesh
38.
Shri P K Sen
Civil Services
Bihar
39.
Ms. Shital Mahajan
Sports - Adventure Sports- Para Jumping
Maharashtra
40.
Ms. Nameirakpam Kunjarani Devi
Sports - Weightlifting
Manipur
41.
Shri Sushil Kumar
Sports - Wrestling
Delhi
42.
Shri Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman
Sports - Cricket
Andhra Pradesh
43.
Shri Gagan Narang
Sports - Shooting
Andhra Pradesh
44.
Smt. Krishna Poonia
Sports - Discus Throw
Rajasthan
45.
Shri Harbhajan Singh
Sports - Mountaineering
Punjab
46.
Dr. Pukhraj Bafna
Medicine - Padeatrics
Chhattisgarh
47.
Prof. Mansoor Hasan
Medicine- Cardiology
Uttar Pradesh
48.
Dr. Shyama Prasad Mandal
Medicine - Orthopaedic
Delhi
49.
Prof. (Dr.) Sivapatham Vittal
Medicine - Endocrinology
Tamil Nadu
50.
Prof. (Dr.) Madanur Ahmed Ali
Medicine - Gastroenterology
Tamil Nadu
51.
Dr. Indira Hinduja
Medicine - Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
Maharashtra
52.
Dr. Jose Chacko Periappuram
Medicine - Cardio-Thoracic Surgery.
Kerala
53.
Prof. (Dr.) A. Marthanda Pillai
Medicine - Neurosurgery
Kerala
54.
Shri Mahim Bora
Literature and Education
Assam
55.
Prof. (Dr.) Pullella Srirama Chandrudu
Literature and Education- Sanskrit
Andhra Pradesh
56.
Dr. Pravin Darji
Literature and Education
Gujarat
57.
Dr. Chandra Prakash Deval
Literature and Education
Rajasthan
58.
Shri Balraj Komal
Literature and Education
Delhi
59.
Mrs. Rajni Kumar
Literature and Education
Delhi
60.
Dr. Devanooru Mahadeva
Literature and Education
Karnataka
61.
Shri Barun Mazumder
Literature and Education
West Bengal
62.
Dr. Avvai Natarajan
Literature and Education
Tamil Nadu
63.
Shri Bhalchandra Nemade
Literature and Education
Himachal Pradesh
64.
Prof. Riyaz Punjabi
Literature and Education
Jammu and Kashmir
65.
Prof. Koneru Ramakrishna Rao
Literature and Education
Andhra Pradesh
66.
Ms. Buangi Sailo
Literature and Education
Mizoram
67.
Prof. Devi Dutt Sharma
Literature and Education
Uttarakhand
68.
Shri Nilamber Dev Sharma
Literature and Education
Jammu and Kashmir
69.
Ms. Urvashi Butalia #
Literature and Education
Delhi
70.
Ms. Ritu Menon #
Literature and Education
Delhi
71.
Prof. Krishna Kumar
Literature and Education
Delhi
72.
Shri Deviprasad Dwivedi
Literature and Education
Uttar Pradesh
73.
Ms. Mamang Dai
Literature and Education
Arunachal Pradesh
74.
Dr. Om Prakash Agrawal
Others - Heritage Conservation
Uttar Pradesh
75.
Prof. Madhukar Keshav Dhavalikar
Others - Archeology
Maharashtra
76.
Ms. Shanti Teresa Lakra
Others-Nursing
Andaman & Nicobar
77.
Smt. Gulshan Nanda
Others - Handicrafts promotion
Delhi
78.
Dr. Azad Moopen
Social work
UAE *
79.
Prof. Upendra Baxi
Public Affairs -Legal Affairs
United Kingdom *
80.
Dr. Mani Lal Bhaumik
Science and Engineering
USA *
81.
Dr. Subra Suresh
Science and Engineering
USA *
82.
Prof. Karl Harrington Potter
Literature and Education
USA *
83.
Prof. Martha Chen
Social work
USA *
84.
Shri Satpal Khattar
Trade and Industry
Singapore *
85.
Shri Granville Austin
Literature and Education
USA *