Politics & the Nation
Take a look at some of the important points from CPI(M)'s manifesto
- Reverse moves for full capital account convertibility
- Re-impose strict controls on outflow and inflow of finance capital
- Prohibit participatory notes used by FIIs \
- Halt dilution of govt equity in PSU banks
- Scrap Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill
- Prevent takeover of Indian banks by foreign banks
- Scrap proposed legislation to increase FDI cap in insurance sector
- No privatisation of pension funds
- No diversion of pension fund and PF to stock mkt
- A new central service -- Indian Corporate Law Service -- created
The government has introduced a new central civil services cadre called the Indian Corporate Law Services (ICLS) to create an army of experts who would be involved in corporate law making and its enforcement in the country. This gives a new service option to those who qualify the toughest entrance test to get into government service.
The government would train the officers at the newly-set up Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA), a policy think tank, before placing them in various offices of the ministry of corporate affairs.
Finance & Economy
A look at the advance tax figures for the country
- India’s advance tax collection till March 15, the last date for the payout, stood at Rs 2.82 lakh crore. While this is way below the budgeted Rs 3.95 lakh crore for FY09, the income tax department hopes the figure would approximate the previous fiscal’s Rs 3.2 lakh crore by the fiscal end.
- State Bank of India, the largest taxpayer in the country, registered a 41% growth in tax outgo at Rs 5,733 crore for the current fiscal.
International
Israeli politics
- Israel has seen elections in February. No political party won substantial seats in the 120 member Knesset to form government on its own. Let's take a look at the political firmament:
- Likud: Led by Benjamin Netanyahu this party has been asked to form the government now. But it still needs support from other political parties to form a stable government.
- Yisrael Beiteinu: Led by Avigdor Lieberman, this party supports Israeli settler movement and opposes exchanging land for peace with the Palestinians.
- Kadima: Led by Tzipi Livni, this was the party that was in power till the elections in February. It supports the formation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.
- Labour: Led by Ehud Barak.
There are a lot many other parties; all having single digit seats in the Knesset. Israel mostly had coalition governments. This time round, it is the Kadima party which has won the largest number of seats in the Knesset -- 28. But it decided to stay in the opposition.
