FEBRUARY CURRENT AFFAIRS

UNION BUDGET 2013-14: PROJECTED EXPENDITURE RS 16.65 TRILLION  

The Union Budget 2013-14 estimated a total expenditure of 16.65 trillion rupees and displayed concerns towards fiscal deficit, slow growth and high inflation.
UNION BUDGET 2013:14: HIGHLIGHTS
•  Total budget expenditure was Estimated at 16.65 trillion rupees in 2013-14
•  India's 2013-14 plan expenditure seen at 5.55 trillion rupees
•  To allocate 801.94 billion rupees to rural development in 2013-14
•  Plan to allocate 270.49 billion rupees for agriculture in 2013-14
•  RBI expected GDP growth of 5.5% for Financial Year 2013-14
•  80194 crore rupees allocation have been made for rural development schemes including
MGNAREGA, PMGSY, and INDIRA AWAS YOYANA. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban
Renewal Mission will to continue during the 12th plan period.
•  3511 crore allocation to minorities which is 12 per cent hike over budget estimates, 110 crore rupees allotted for welfare of disabled.
•  65867  crore  rupees  have  been  allocated  to  the  Ministry  of  Human  resources development which is 17 per cent hike over the revised estimates.
•  500 Crore rupees have been earmarked for high tech crop diversification program.
•  Allocations also include 13215 crore rupees for mid day meal programme. 27,049 crore rupees for agricultural ministry and additional 200 crore to women and child Welfare
Ministry.
•  14000 crore Rupees will be provided for PSB recapitalization. He will constitute a panel
on transaction costs, and financial policies.
•  Education gets 65867 crore rupees, an increase of 17 percent over RE for 2012-13.
•  ICDS gets 17700 crore rupees. This is 11.7 percent more than the current year.
•  Drinking water and sanitation will receive 15260 crore rupees. 1,400 crore was provided for setting up water purification plants to cover arsenic and fluoride affected rural areas.
•  Health and Family Welfare Ministry had been allotted 37330 crore rupees.  
•  Small  Industries  Development  Bank  of  India  (SIDBI)  Refinance  Fund  doubled  to  an amount of 10000 crore rupees.
•  Plans of Government are to encourage PPP projects along with Coal India.
•  P Chidambaram announced setting up of a new all-women's bank.
•  1000 crore Rupees initial capital for a new women's bank which will be another public sector bank. The Bank will be set up by October 2013.
•  An amount of additional 10000 crore rupees allotted for Food Security Bill in FY14.
•  3000 km of road projects will be awarded in first six months of FY14.
•  Finance ministry approved 50000 crore Rupees tax-free bonds in FY14. The government expects to raise 25000 crore rupees via tax-free bonds in FY13.
•  Refinancing capacity of SIDBI rose to Rs. 10,000 crore.
•  Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) for textile to continue in 12th Plan with an
investment target of 151000 crore Rupees.
•  14000 crore Rupees will be provided to public sector banks for capital infusion in 2013-14.
•  A grant of 100 crore each has been made to 4 institutions of excellence including Aligarh Muslim university, Banaras Hindu University, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati and Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural  Heritage (INTACH).
•  New taxes to yield 18000 crore Rupees.
•  A  surcharge  of  10 percent  on persons  (other than  companies)  whose taxable  income exceeds Rs.1 crore has been levied.
•  Tobacco products, SUVs and Mobile Phones to cost more.
•  Relief of Rs. 2000 for the tax payers in the first bracket of 2 to 5 lakhs.
•  Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme launched for recovering service tax dues.
•  9000 crore Rupees earmarked as the first installment of balance of CST compensations
to different States/UTs.

• Nirbhaya Fund: The Finance Minister announced the setting up of a fund called the Nirbhaya Fund - with the Government contributing 1000 crore Rupees for safety and security of the women in India. The Finance Minister announced that various initiatives were underway as well as a lot more were undertaken by Government and NGOs for empowering women and providing them safety and security. 

• Two new ports will be established in Sagar (West Bengal) and in Andhra Pradesh.

RAILWAY BUDGET 2013-14: PASSENGER AMENITIES, MAIN PRIORITY  

The Thrust of this year Railway Budget was on Safety, Consolidation, Passenger Amenities and
Fiscal Discipline and 106 new trains (67 Express trains, 26 passenger services, 8 DEMU and 5
MEMU) are to be launched on different routes.
MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS AT A GLANCE
•  Deployment of new generation energy efficient electric locomotives and EMUs.
•  Five Percent Increase in freight to push Inflation.
•  Elimination of 10797 level crossings during the 12th Plan and no addition of new LCs to
the IR system henceforth.
•  Introduction of Train Protection Warning System on Automatic Signaling Systems.
•  Rigorous trials of the indigenously developed Train Collision Avoidance System.
•  Four  companies  of  women  RPF  personnel  set  up  and  another  8  to  be  set  up  to
strengthen the security of rail passengers, especially women passengers
•  Recruitment to RPF with 10% vacancies reserved for women.
•  No increase in passenger fares
•  500-km new lines to be completed in 2013-14
•  Diesel price hike added 3300 crore rupees to fuel bill of Railways
•  Railways hopes to end 2013-14 with a balance of 12506 crore rupees
•  Concessional fare for sportspersons
•  Five fellowships to be announced to motivate students
•  Seek to fill 1.52 lakh vacancies in railways this year. 47000 vacancies for weaker sections
and physically challenged to be filled up soon
•  Target of 4000 crore rupees for railway production units in 2014
•  Induction of e-ticketing through mobile phones, SMS alerts to passengers
•  Free Wi-Fi facilities in select trains. 60 more 'Adarsh' stations  Current Affairs PDF February 2013  Page 13
 •  The number of passenger trains has increased from 8000 in 2001 to over 12000 in 2012
- yet losses continue to mount. It is estimated to be Rs. 24000 crore in 2012-13
•  Proposal for setting up of Railway Tariff Regulatory Authority formulated and at inter-
ministerial consultation stage.
•  Supplementary  charges  for  super  fast  trains,  reservation  fee,  clerkage  charge,
cancellation charge and tatkal charge marginally increased.
•  Complimentary  card  passes  to  Olympic  medalist  and  Dronacharya  Awardees  for
Rajdhani Shatabdi Trains.
•  Announcement Facility and Electronic display boards in train.


ECONOMIC SURVEY OF INDIA 2012-13: AN OVERVIEW AND HIGHLIGHTS

High rates as well as policy constraints adversely impacted investment and thus the growth of
GDP and other macro aggregates achieved was 5.0 percent in the economic survey 2012-13,
which was 1.2 percent less than that of 2011-12.
THE MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS OF THE ECONOMIC SURVEY 2012-13 ARE
•  GDP growth seen at 6.1-6.7 percent in 2013/14
•  Government target for fiscal deficit is 4.8 pct of GDP in 2013/14
•  Government target for fiscal deficit is 3 pct of GDP in 2016/17
•  Headline WPI inflation may decline to 6.2-6.6 pct by March2013
•  Focus on curbing imports, making oil prices more market determined to reign in current
account deficit
•  Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) flows need to be targeted towards long-term rupee
instruments
•  Prioritisation  of  expenditure  seen  as  key  ingredient  of  credible  medium-term  fiscal
consolidation plan
•  Raising tax to GDP ratio to more than 11 percent seen as critical for sustaining fiscal
consolidation Current Affairs PDF February 2013  Page 14
 •  Room for accommodative monetary policy with expected fiscal consolidation
•  India likely to meet fiscal deficit target of 5.3 pct of GDP in 2012/13, despite significant
shortfall in revenues
•  Recommends curbing gold imports to reign in current account deficit
•  Room to increase exports in the short run limited
•  Industrial output seen growing around 3 pct in 2012/13
•  Government priority to fight inflation by reducing fiscal impetus to demand as well as by
focusing on incentivizing food production
•  More jobs in low productivity construction sector
•  Balance of Payments under pressure with net exports decline
•  Service sector has shown more resilience despite global slowdown
•  Pitches for hike in price of diesel and LPG to cut subsidy burden
•  Railway freight grows by 5.1 per cent in 2012-13
•  Foreign Exchange reserves remains steady at USD 295.6 Billion at December 2012 end

NICOS ANASTASIADES WON CYPRUS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS 

BHEL & GAIL GRANTED MAHARATNA STATUS BY UNION GOVERNMENT 

RBI ISSUED GUIDELINES FOR LICENSING OF NEW PRIVATE BANKS

KERALA RAISED AGE LIMIT TO BUY AND SELL LIQUOR FROM 18 TO 21

 RANCHI RHINOS WON INAUGURAL HOCKEY INDIA LEAGUE   


Australia won the ICC Women’s World Cup Trophy after defeating West-Indies by 114-runs on 17 February 2013 at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Australia clinched the title for the sixth time in the history of women’s cricket World Cup it last won the title in 2005. 

The Government of India and the World Bank on 11 February 2013 signed a 60 million US dollars credit agreement for the Karnataka  Watershed  Development  Project  II  (KWDP  II)  to further  improve  watershed  planning  and  management  in project  areas.  The  Project  will  improve  government watershed  operations  in  930  micro-watersheds  covering 465000 ha across 7 districts of Karnataka. 

Asoke Kumar Mukerji  was appointed as the next Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations on 13 February 2013


Radhakishan Malviya,the former Union Minister and three times MP for Rajya Sabha,died at the age of 68 on 19 February 2013


Operation Three Star  was the Code name given to secret plan for executing Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist Afzal Guru,the convict of 2001 Parliament attack in Tihar Jail on 9 February 2013

Park Geun-hye   had  sworn  in  as  the  first  woman  President  of  South  Korea  on  25 February 2013

Six foreign micro and mini spacecrafts as well as the Indo-French oceanographic study satellite, 
SARAL (Satellite for Argos-3 and Altika) were launched successfully by ISRO's PSLV-C20 rocket 
on 25 February 2013 from the spaceport at Sriharikota.  

Thirty software companies separate from NASSCOM to  form  their  own  new  association called ISPRIT,Indian Software Product Industry Round Table

Ministry of Civil Aviation launched Monthly Bi-lingual Shubh Yatra Magazine 

John kerry replaced hillary clinton as United States' new secretary of states

12th summit meeting of organisation of islamic countries(OIC) was held on 6th and 7th feb 2013 at Cairo in Egypt

Mohan parasaran was  appointed as the Solicitor General of India on 13 February 2013 after senior advocate Rohinton Nariman resigned from his designation. 

Prime Minister Boiko Borisov of Bulgaria submitted his government’s resignation on 20 feb 2013 after a  week of public anger over rising electricity prices, corruption and worsening living standards that ignited mass protests nationwide and led to bloody clashes with the police.

TS Vijayan,former chief of the Life Insurance Corporation of India has been appointed   as the new chairman of IRDA(Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority ) replacing J. Hari Narayan.

Ali Larayedh became the new prime minister of Tunisia succeeding Hamadi Jebali .Tunisia's President Moncef Marzouki has confirmed this.

Ernst&Young(E&Y) honours Ratan Tata with life-time achievement award.

The 85th Academy Awards ceremony (referred to as The Oscars) took place on February 24, 2013 at los angels.

# Best Picture - Argo(from the book The Master of Disguise)
# Best Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis for 'Lincoln'
# Best Actress - Jennifer Lawrence for 'Silver Linings Playbook'
# Best Direction - Ang Lee for 'Life of Pi'

Life of Pi won four awards (the most for this year).