A quicker of events in Feb 2010.

Useful for General Awareness and Interview

February 2010

Current Affairs

• Kirit Parikh committee , set up to review petro pricing regime, submit its
recommendation.
• India signed a Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement with the UK, which became
the 8th country to enter into such a pact, since the lifting of atomic trade embargo
in 2008.
• Govt set up a panel under the Chairmanship of former Justice B N Srikrishna
which would consider the demand for splitting Andhra Pradesh.
• India and Denmark signed a social security pact which will relieve their workers
from double taxation and provide for cooperation in areas of labour market
expansion and orderly migration.
• Constitution 111th Amendment – Proposes to incorporate a new Part (Part IX B)
in the Constitution so as to provide for legal framework to regulate the
functioning of cooperative societies. A new Article ( Article 43 B) is also
proposed to be inserted in Part IV of the Constitution (Directive Principles of
State Policy) for the States to promote voluntary formation, autonomous
functioning of cooperative societies.
• The fiscal deficit for 2009-10 was budgeted at a 16-year high of 6.8% of GDP.
• Ashok Leyland has launched India’s first electric plug-in CNG hybrid bus, named
Hybus.

Sports

• Sachin Tendulkar became first player in the world to score a double century in
ODI (One day International). He scored 200 (Not out) against South Africa.
• 11th South Asian Games 2010: Held at Dhaka, Bangladesh from 29 Jan to 8
Feb.This was the third time that the Dhaka hosted the Games, thus becoming the
first city to hold the games three times. 8 countries participated in the games in 23
different sports, including T20 cricket, which was introduced for the first time in
SAG. The 8 countries included are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,
Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan & Sri Lanka. The logo of the games was ‘Kutumb’, a
flying doel, which is the national bird of Bangladesh. The final medal tally
include : India - 1st place with 90 G 55 S 29 B Total 174, Pakistan- 2nd place
with 19 G 25 S 36 B Total 80, Bangladesh- 3rd place with 18 G 23 S 56 B Total
97.

• West Zone won Duleep Trophy (2009-10) defeating South Zone.

• India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar won the Asian Tour International Trophy 2010. It is his
2nd consecutive title.
• 2010 Winter Olympic Games were held at Vancouver, Canada. Mascot of the
game was MIGA (a sea bear), QUATCHI (a Sasquatch) and SUMI (animal
 guardian spirit). The logo of the games was Ilnaaq meaning Friend in Inuktut.
There were 86 events in 7 sports. The games were held from 12 Feb to 28 Feb.
Final medal tally. Canada- 14 G 7 S 5 B, Germany- 10 G 13 S 7 B, USA- 9 G 15
S 13 B.
• IOC (International Olympic Committee) has approved ICC (International Cricket
Council) bid to join the Olympic Games 2020. The first time cricket was included
in the Olympic games was in Paris Olympic 1900.
• 11th World Hockey Cup 2010- To be held in Delhi, India. This is 2nd WHC
which India is hosting. India also hosted the WHC in 1982 at Mumbai. 12
countries participated in the tournament. WHC is held in the years between two
summer Olympics. First WHC was held at Barcelona in 1971. Pakistan has won
the cup four times, Netherland three times, Germany two times, India & Australia
once each. India won the WHC in 1975.

Science & Technology

• USA Space agency NASA launched Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to

discover the causes of extreme solar activity such as sun spots and solar winds &
flares.
• Agni-III ballistic missile with a range of 3500 Km was successfully launched
from Wheeler Island, Orissa.
• South Korea has world’s highest average connection speed at 14.6 Mbpd in
Internet links. Japan has 2nd highest average speed.

Persons in News

• Horst Kochler , Germany President visit India in Feb 2010.

• Abdullah Gul, Turkey President visit India in Feb 2010.
• Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian President visit India in Feb 2010.
• Former Justice P V Reddy will be appointed as Chairman, Law Commission of
India.
• Ram Baran Yadav, Nepal President visit India in Feb 2010. Yadav is the first
President of Nepal since monarchy ended in 2008.
• Amitabh Bachan became the brand ambassador of Gujarat state.
• Shah Rukh Khan & Kajol become the first Indian bollywood actors to ring the
opening bell of the world’s biggest stock exchange’ NASDAQ’.
• Katrina Kaif awarded with 2009 Excellence in Performing Arts Award
established by ASSOCHAM.
• M H Hussain, famous painter accepted citizenship of Qatar.

The much awaited Union Budget 2010 had mixed reactions from junta. Expert analysis
of Budget for your Interview

Worsening in Fiscal Deficit:

The main macro number that both economists and markets set store by — the fiscal
deficit/gross domestic product (FD/GDP) ratio — is a tad below the Budget estimate of
6.8% for the year

Banking:

The government had announced its intention to give new banking licences in the budget
to increase the geographic coverage of banks and improve access to banking services.

As per the budget announcement, both the government and RBI will work together to
provide appropriate banking facilities to areas having population in excess of 2,000 by
March 2012.

Service tax to take toll on Realty:

Budget proposal to levy service tax on houses under construction is threatening to crimp
the sector’s fragile recovery as the resultant price hike is certain to dissuade fresh buyers.

The prices of incomplete houses rising by 3% after a service tax of 10.3%, including
surcharge, is imposed

Hike in fuel prices:

In the Budget, there was a hiked customs duty on petrol and diesel to 7.5% from 2.5%
while excise duty was raised by Re 1 on non-branded, or normal, petrol and diesel.

The Infrastructure boom:

Rural development and infrastructure have clearly been the thrust areas of the UPA's
governance plan.

The infrastructure allocation is 1.73 lakh crore out of the total budget size of Rs. 11.09
lakh crore. The infrastructure allocation is thus 16 per cent of the Union Budget.

Of the Rs 3.73 lakh crore of Plan expenditure, the infrastructure allocation is Rs 1.73 lakh
crore. This is the 46 per cent of Plan allocation that is being applauded.

Budget 2010 has proposed a new Sec. 80CCF that will offer a deduction of up to Rs.
20,000 next year onwards for investment made in infrastructure bonds.

New pension scheme:

Now the Government proposes to contribute Rs.1, 000 per year to each NPS account
opened in the year 2010-11. This initiative, "Swavalamban" will be available for persons
who join NPS, with a minimum contribution of Rs.1, 000 and a maximum contribution of
Rs.12, 000 per annum during the financial year 2010-11.
The tax code:

The proposed new tax rates are as follows:

Income Tax rate

Up to Rs. 1,60,000 Nil
Rs. 1,60,001 to Rs. 5,00,000 10%
Rs. 5,00,001 to Rs. 8,00,000 20%
Above Rs. 8,00,000 30%

The enhanced basic exemption limits for ladies of Rs. 1, 90,000 and for senior citizens of
Rs. 2, 40,000 remain unchanged.

Tax relaxations apply only to higher income group.

Tax Audit limits increased - Under the existing provisions of section 44AB, every person
carrying on business is required to get his accounts audited if the total sales, turnover or
gross receipts in business exceed Rs. 40 lakh. Similarly, a person carrying on a profession
is required to get his accounts audited if the gross receipts in profession exceed Rs. 10
lakh. These limits have been increased to Rs. 60 lakh and Rs. 15 lakh respectively.

Corporate Taxes:

There are 16 direct tax amendments in Budget 2010 with retrospective effect, some of
them coming into effect from as way back as 1976. For instance, the Supreme Court in a
ruling in 2007 had held that services of non-resident service provider can be taxed in
India only if the service was physically rendered and utilised in India. The Finance Bill of
2010 has clarified that such services will be taxed in India, irrespective of where it was
rendered, if it was paid for or used for an Indian business.

Service sector tax retained at 10 percent to aid the introduction of GST; more services to
be taxed.

Toys fully exempt from central excise duty

Concessional customs duty of 5 percent for cable TV operators for importing equipment

Concessional duty of 4 percent for solar power rickshaw developed by Council of

Scientific and Industrial Research

Clean energy cess of Rs.50 per tonne on coal produced in India

New corporate tax rate at 33.21%