Today's Hot Stories - February 28, 2013
10 Headlines for Today(1) Ruling formations ahead in Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland
(2) Contentious para removed, insists Vahanvati
(3) US defence secretary nominee backs Pakistan against India
(4) Dabhol-Bangalore gas pipeline of GAIL goes on stream
(5) SEBI to set up panel to revisit guidelines on insider trading
(6) HP sells webOS to LG Electronics
(7) Football: Services enters final on superior goal difference
(8) Volleyball: Tamil Nadu men beat Karnataka, women lose tamely
(9) Tennis: Wang takes out Sriram Balaji
(10) Actor Dale Robertson dies at 89
5 Stories for Today
(1) Sexual assault cases rise, but conviction rate declines
(2) Italy gridlock deepens as Grillo rejects Bersani offer
(3) LPG subsidy reaching the poor is less
(4) EU decides firm cap on banker bonuses
(5) Budget 2013: My Budget's overarching goal is to help youth, says FM
(1) Sexual assault cases rise, but conviction rate declines
No plan to reduce age of juveniles: Tirath
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has conceded that the rate of conviction in rape cases has declined over the years even as cases of sexual assaults have gone up. On the other hand, the government has said it has no plans to reduce the age of juveniles under the Juvenile Justice Act.
Minister of State for Home R.P.N. Singh said that from 44.3 per cent in 1973, the conviction rate declined steadily to 37.7 per cent in 1983, 26.9 per cent in 2009, 26.6 per cent in 2010 and 26.4 per cent in 2011.
“As per information by the NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau), a total number of 21,397, 22,172 and 24,206 cases of rape were reported in the country in 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively,” Mr. Singh said while replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha.
Safety of women in Delhi
To a question about the safety of women in Delhi, Minister of State for Home Affairs Mullappally Ramachandran said: “It is not as bad as compared to other States... Delhi stands at 16th-17th place as compared to other States. If you say that crime against women has increased [in Delhi], it is because more women are coming forward to register complaint.”
Post the gang rape and murder of a paramedical student in Delhi in December last, several measures had been taken to check crime in the city. “Now a large number of women are going confidently to police stations and registering complaints. Departmental proceedings have been initiated against police officers, including against IPS officers, for not registering complaints.
Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath told the Rajya Sabha that there was no plan to reduce the age of juveniles under the Juvenile Justice Act. Though there were suggestions from various Chief Secretaries to lower the age from 18 to 16 in the wake of the Delhi incident, the Justice Verma Committee had not supported it. “Accordingly, the Ministry of Women and Child Development is not considering any amendment to lower the age of children in conflict with law under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000.”
Domestic violence
Referring to domestic violence, Ms. Tirath said the Centre had formulated a scheme of assistance to the States. “It includes the appointment of independent protection officers with basic infrastructure and service providers at the district-level and appointment of protection officers at the sub-division and tehsil levels in 100 most vulnerable districts and awareness generation programmes.”The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 requires appointment of protection officers, registration of service providers and notification of shelter homes and medical facilities. But so far only six States had appointed such officers while many other States rued the shortage of funds. During the 12th Plan, Rs.694 crore was earmarked for the implementation of provisions under the Act.
Source: The Hindu
(2) Italy gridlock deepens as Grillo rejects Bersani offer
Italy's political gridlock deepened on Wednesday with bickering between the main leftist party and a new anti-establishment party putting off the prospect of a new government any time soon, following shock elections that have spooked Europe.
Comedian turned populist firebrand Beppe Grillo said his Five Star Movement (M5S) would not endorse the Democratic Party (PD), which won the most votes in the elections on Sunday and Monday but not enough to form a majority in parliament. "The M5S is not going to give a vote of confidence to the Democratic Party or to anyone else," Grillo, who has channelled the frustrations of austerity-weary Italians, wrote on his blog.
The comment appeared to be a rejection of overtures from the PD, which on Tuesday held out the possibility of working with M5S on key reforms like slashing government costs and helping Italy's poorest get through a grinding recession.
Grillo said the PD had made a series of "indecent proposals", prompting leader Pier Luigi Bersani to hit back, saying, "If Grillo has something to say to me, including the insults, I want to hear it in parliament." Grillo's party has won 163 seats in the lower and upper houses.
After market panic on Tuesday, investors were more measured on Wednesday, especially after a better-than-expected bond sale even though Italy's borrowing costs spiked. European capitals remained nervous however amid fears Italy could turn back the clock on reforms and austerity following an election that had been seen as crucial for the future of the eurozone.
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on Wednesday cancelled planned talks with the man bidding to unseat German Chancellor Angela Merkel after he called Grillo and ex-PM Silvio Berlusconi "clowns".
Source: The Times of India
(3) LPG subsidy reaching the poor is less
The Economic Survey has said that the proportion of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) subsidies that goes to the poor, in both rural and urban areas, was low. This finding is bound to provide fuel to the debate on whether the rich should continue to be supplied cooking gas at subsidised rate.
Making a case for containing subsidies through better targeting, the Survey said the reach of subsidies on LPG “is highly unequal amongst the poor and rich in rural and urban area.”
Using the data of the 64 Round of National Sample Survey, it found that there was a significant inequality in the proportion of subsidies received by the poorest and richest households in rural areas.
The distribution was more equitable across urban households, it said.
The Survey categorised both rural and urban households into quintiles based on their per capita household expenditure. Based on the reported spend of the households on LPG, it calculated the share of each quintile in the total expenditure on LPG.
In rural areas, the Survey found the proportion of subsidies that went to the poorest quintile was a mere 0.07 per cent as compared to 52.6 per cent for the richest quintile.
Though the proportion of the subsidies that reached the poor in urban areas is also low (around 8.2 per cent), there was more equitable distribution across the remaining quintiles — 19 per cent, 24 per cent, 25 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively.
Source: The Hindu
(4) EU decides firm cap on banker bonuses
Top European Union officials late on Wednesday struck an agreement on a package of financial laws that includes capping bankers' bonus payments at a maximum of one year's base salary.
The bonuses will only be allowed to reach twice the annual fixed salary if a large majority of a bank's shareholders agrees, said Othmar Karas, the European Parliament's chief negotiator.
"This overhaul of EU banking rules will make sure that banks in the future have enough capital, both in terms of quality and quantity, to withstand shocks. This will ensure that taxpayers across Europe are protected into the future," said Ireland's finance minister Michael Noonan, who led the negotiations for 27 governments.
The bonus cap legislation was part of a sweeping financial reform package introducing higher capital requirements for banks, the so-called Basel III rules.
Wednesday's agreement - reached at during an eight-hour make-or-break negotiating session between EU lawmakers, the EU Commission and representatives of the bloc's 27 governments in Brussels - ensures the package can take effect next year.
Top bankers and traders may currently earn bonuses multiple times their base salary based on their performance, given that there is no legal pay limit yet. But public outrage has grown across Europe over large bonus payments to executives of banks that received huge state bailouts during the financial crisis.
Proponents of the bonus cap say the payments encouraged bankers to take massive risks at the expense of the long-term future of their businesses, which helped to destabilize the financial system.
"For the first time in the history of EU financial market regulation, we will cap bankers' bonuses," Karas said in a statement. "The essence is that from 2014, European banks will have to set aside more money to be more stable and concentrate on their core business, namely financing the real economy, that of small and medium-sized enterprises and jobs."
Britain, home to Europe's biggest financial industry, had vehemently rejected the proposal, saying the rules will drive away talent and hamper growth. London tried to rally other EU governments behind its position, but failed to garner enough support. Most governments said they'll accept the bonus cap to ensure the more important Basel III rules come into force by January 2014.
The negotiations on the package have been dragging on for 10 months. After a meeting last week broke down without a compromise, the European Parliament - which has insisted on adding the banker bonus legislation to the wider Basel III package - gave the EU governments an ultimatum until Wednesday's negotiating session.
Now the final approval by parliament and government leaders of the package is expected to be a formality, although it was not immediately clear what position Britain would take. But even if London would not back the package, the remaining EU members could still force the legislation through by adopting it by qualified majority.
The key part of the package is requiring all banks to gradually increase their capital over the coming years to stabilize the financial sector across the European Union's member states, which together form the world's largest economy.
The legislation is part of global efforts to prevent another shock to the financial system like that prompted by Lehman Brothers' 2008 collapse, when banks were highly leveraged while enjoying low capital requirements. The lack of solid financial cushions meant that many banks were vulnerable, and eventually required taxpayer-funded bailouts to avoid bankruptcy.
Source: The Times of India
(5) Budget 2013: My Budget's overarching goal is to help youth, says FM
Union Budget's overarching goal is to create opportunities for our youth, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said.
More than the fiscal deficit, Chidambaram said his greater worry is the current account deficit.
In his Budget speech, he said the 'passion for gold' is one of the contributing factors.
The Economic Survey 2013 has recommended focusing on curbing imports in order to control a ballooning current account deficit (CAD). According to the survey oil prices should be more market determined to reign in the CAD.
The survey says that curbing gold imports will help the government reign in the deficit and has noted that the room to increase exports in the short run is limited.
While the government has "thrown sand in the wheels" by raising the tariff on gold from 4 per cent to 6 per cent in order to discourage imports and tried to unlock passive gold holdings through gold loans, gold purchases are likely to come down primarily when households see attractive alternative investment avenues, it added.
Over the last few months, the government has taken several steps to boost dollar inflows like de-regulating NRI deposit rates, relaxing ECB norms, increasing FII debt limits, liberalisation of FDI and postponement of GAAR and higher duties on gold.
Meanwhile, high import of gold is adding to the CAD despite efforts by the government to check import of the precious metal. Gold accounts for second largest import in value terms after oil.
Source: The Economic Times
Disclaimer: All news stories and content sourced from freely available material on the internet. All sources are acknowledged.
No comments:
Post a Comment