Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 08 March 2017
:: National ::
CAG to audit of various aspects of demonetisation
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India will soon begin an audit of various aspects of demonetisation announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8 last year.
Demonetisation per se is a banking and money supply issue and as such, outside the CAG’s audit jurisdiction.
But the CAG is well within its rights to seek audit of fiscal impact of demonetisation, largely its impact on tax revenues. That way the issue gets linked with the public exchequer.
There are other linkages of demonetisation with the public exchequer that will also be covered by the audit. This would be “expenditure on printing of notes, RBI dividend to the Consolidated Fund, etc.” the CAG said.
The huge amount of data generated by banks and the Income-Tax Department in the wake of demonetisation would also be covered, he added.
Audit can look into various risks, such as errors and omissions in identifying the potential tax evaders, failures to pursue the identified suspects, selective and arbitrary pursuance of leads and consequences thereof.
The CAG said he had conveyed to the government his stand on the recent move of the GST Council to delete section 65 of the preliminary draft that authorised CAG to audit GST (Goods and Services Tax).
Indiato procure HIV drug from Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
After running out of the child-friendly HIV syrup, Lopinavir, India is likely to procure the drug from a rapid supply facility routed through the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), a multilateral donor agency.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry released the first installment of the Rs. 6 crore payment due to Cipla Pharmaceuticals — the sole manufacturer of the drug.
While the immediate crisis triggered by unpaid bills is being sorted, the shortage of the drug itself still looms large over India’s national HIV programme.
India has a cohort of over 600 children who require 36,000 bottles of Lopinavir syrup annually.
Cipla has been supplying anti retrovirals to governments and it has been upfront with our issues of payments over the past several months.
The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) is likely to give the approvals accelerated attention, given the dire shortage.
India had the highest bribery rate among the 16 Asia-Pacific countries (Register and Login to read Full News)
SC for facilitation of single persons also to embrace parenthood through surrogacy (Register and Login to read Full News)
:: International ::
UN says South Sudan faces a risk of cleansing based on ethinicity
A United Nations report describes South Sudan as teetering on the edge of genocide and experiencing ethnic cleansing.
The report blames security forces for violations and warns that if no one is held to account, “the viability of South Sudan ... will be stymied.”
