Today's GK

The Supreme Court on Thursday set aside a Medical Council of India (MCI) notification mandating common National Entrance Eligibility Test (NEET) both for undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental courses in government and private institutions. In a majority judgment, Chief Justice Altamas Kabir and justice Vikramajit Sen held that it was beyond the powers of MCI to make such an arrangement of common entrance test both for government and private institutions. However, in a dissenting judgment, justice Anil R Dave dismissed the petitions by private medical and dental colleges challenging the MCI notification providing for common NEET for both undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental courses.

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that acid will only be sold to persons who have a government-issued identity card. State governments will have to pay Rs. 3 lakh as compensation to an acid attack victim. Following are some of the new rules that the government is mulling to implement:

• Only licensed shopkeepers will be allowed to undertake the sale of acid.
• Sellers must also demand the identity proof, residential address, telephone number and purpose of purchasing acid, from the buyer.
• Acid sold in retail must be so diluted that it does not have any corrosive effect on humans.
• Shopkeepers will have to maintain a daily record of buyers and the quantity of acid sold.
• Acid will not be sold to anyone below the age of 18.

 

The Indian Army is all set to flex and toughen its muscle in the northeast, with the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Wednesday clearing its proposal to raise a mountain strike corps along the China borderThe offensive capability to counter a rising Chinese military will come at a cost of more than Rs. 62,000 crore. The CCS approval for the strike corps comes at a time when strains are showing in the military ties between the countries due to China's aggressive posturing along the disputed border in the Ladakh sector.Indian forces are also weighing up a proposal to patrol deeper into the disputed territory with China, beyond the limits observed before the border standoff in April.Currently, they do not carry out surveillance all the way up to India's perceived border because of a self-imposed restriction that has never been made public.

 

A website, Narendramodiplans.com, which promised a detailed explanation of how Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi plans to run the nation if elected as the prime minister, has been taken off after having received 60,000 unique visitors in 20 hours. The website was essentially a one page -- simple javascript application' with the BJP leader's picture that told visitors to click on an option to know more about his plans for 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The content, perceived as harming the public reputation of the BJP strongman from Gujarat, has been removed from the site and the following message appears: "I quit. In a country with freedom of speech, I assumed that I am allowed to make decent satire on any politician more particularly if it's constructive. Clearly, I was wrong. Apparently, you could make fun of only the leading party like @fakingnews with morphed pics, dirty jokes, cartoons and whatever, but dare you touch the opposition with javascript, they'll haunt you down. So, the first day was fun with 60,000 hits in 20 hours. And that's that."

Former South African president Nelson Mandela will spend his 95th birthday in a Pretoria hospital on Thursday, and is said to be making "remarkable" progress.

Looks like the International Cricket Council (ICC) and its elite panel of umpires are in a fix for the Ashes. With the umpires coming under pressure post the DRS fiasco during the first Test at Trent Bridge - the body admitted that the umpires had erred on seven occasions the same set of four umpires will be officiating during the whole series.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reiterated on Wednesday that the Fed is nowhere close to raising interest rates, assuring markets that the US easy money tap would not soon dry up. With the economy still facing risks, especially from government spending cuts, Bernanke told a Congressional panel that the Fed was still planning to trim its quantitative easing stimulus, if growth continues.

The intended effects of stemming the rupee’s slide and spurring income growth through the government’s latest reforms initiative to raise foreign direct investment (FDI) caps in a range of sectors and simpler entry norms in others may take some time to kick in.

The fresh policy pronouncements, however, are likely to soothe frayed nerves of investors who fear that the government is more likely to be focussed on political risk management rather than economic revival.

“The initiatives taken yesterday were very important policy initiatives in a broad direction,” Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia Business leaders welcomed the FDI policy overhaul, but cautioned that more needs to be done. “Recent amendments to policies are somewhat responsible for the slump in FDI inflows. A stable policy regime is essential to attract continuous investment flows,” CII said.

Sri Lanka will not need the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with India any longer, as both countries had moved on, said Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa.

According to him, the Sri Lankan business community felt it did not need CEPA as they had found good markets. In any case, he said, India did not make things easy for Sri Lanka, as, on the one hand, while it seemed like India was opening up its market, there were new barriers [non-tariff], on the other.

Though CEPA has been in the works since 2005, several attempts to arrive at a consensus only proved futile. Negotiations began after a joint study group set up to explore ways of expanding bilateral trade relations and means for greater flow of investment between the two countries made its recommendations in 2003. Even after 13 rounds of negotiations until 2008, both countries could not come to an agreement. And now, the minister said Colombo felt both countries had moved on.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance on 19 July 2013 finalised its report on Goods and Services Tax (GST) which will be tabled in Parliament in the monsoon session beginning 5 August 2013.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, was introduced in Parliament in 2010, and is being scrutinized by the Standing Committee on Finance. It is now decided that the states and the Centre would together going to finalise the draft and will bring it back to Parliament.

The proposed GST is basically intended at bringing in a common tax regime for goods and services by subsuming most indirect taxes. GST will directed help in increasing the revenue collections.

Nelson Mandela International Day was observed across the world on 18 July 2013 to earmark freedom, justice and democracy. The overarching objective of Mandela Day is to inspire individuals to take action to help change the world for the better, and in doing so build a global movement for good. Ultimately it seeks to empower communities everywhere. “Take Action; Inspire Change; Make Every Day a Mandela Day.”

82 Years old Veteran Tamil film lyricist Vaali died at a private hospital in Chennai on 18 July 2013.