Dada Saheb Phalke award

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India's highest award in cinema. It is presented annually at the National Film Awards ceremony by the Directorate of Film Festivals, an organisation set up by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The recipient is honoured for their "outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema" and is selected by a committee consisting of eminent personalities from the Indian film industry.

Veteran actor and director Manoj Kumar will be conferred the Dada Saheb Phalke award for 2015.

Aadhaar Bill

A legislation to provide statutory backing to Aadhaar for use for transferring government subsidies and benefits was introduced in Lok Sabha. Opposition protests the legislation fot it's categorised as a money bill which does not need approval of the Rajya Sabha. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the bill addresses concerns over privacy of Aadhaar data and has incorporated a clause that restricts its use as proof of citizenship. The bill will provide for “good governance, efficient, transparent, and targeted delivery of subsidies, benefits and services, the expenditure for which is incurred from the Consolidated Fund of India, to individuals residing in India through assigning of unique identity numbers to such individuals”.

Setu Bharatam

PM Modi launches ‘Setu Bharatam’ project which will build 208 rail-over bridges and rail-under bridges which aims to make all national highways free of railway crossings by 2019.  Around 1,500 bridges that are over 50 to 60 years old will be rebuild under the project. More than 50 thousand crore rupees will be spent on the project. Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways Pon Radhakrishnan were also present on the occasion. “Veins give strength to our body. Similarly, infrastructure will give speed and strength to the development of India. There will be progress if we focus on building road and railway network, optical fibre network, water, grid and electricity connectivity along with electricity supply. Our government is working in that direction,” Mr. Modi said on the occasion.

He said that developing rural roads is a priority for the government and it has got huge budgetary support this year. In Budget 2016-17, Rs. 19,000 crore has been sanctioned under the Pradham Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), to connect all villages with roads, compared with Rs. 14,291 crore in the revised estimates of 2015-16.

New NHRC Chairman

Former Chief Justice of India(CJI) HL Dattu on Monday took charge as the Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). He is the seventh Chairperson of the Commission. Justice KG Balakrishnan completed his tenure on May 11, last year following which member of the Commission Justice Cyriac Joseph held charge as the acting Chairperson.

New FIFA President

Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino who holds dual nationality, Italian and Swiss elected as President of FIFA during the 2016 FIFA(Fédération Internationale de Football Association) Extraordinary Congress on 26 February 2016. Issa Hayatou of Cameroon was acting President for the last five months. 

Oscar 2016

88th Academy award winners are...

• Best picture                            Spotlight
• Actor in a leading role           Leonardo DiCaprio(The Revenant)
• Actress in a leading role        Brie Larson (Room)
• Actor in a supporting role     Mark Rylance(Bridge of Spies)
• Actress in a supporting role  Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)
• Director                                 Alejandro González Iñárritu(The Revenant) 

Union Budget 2016-17 Summary for Competitive Exams

The highlights of union budget 2016 are

• Growth of Economy accelerated to 7.6% in 2015-16.
• Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana(Prime Minister Crop Insurance Scheme) in which the premium rates to be paid by the farmers have been brought down substantially so as to enable more farmers avail insurance cover against crop loss on account of natural calamities. The scheme will come into effect from the upcoming Kharif season. Allocation under Prime Minister Fasal Bima Yojana Rs. 5,500 crore.
• Allocation for Agriculture and Farmers’ welfare is Rs. 35,984 crore
• ‘Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana’ to be implemented in mission mode. 28.5 lakh hectares will be brought under irrigation.
• Implementation of 89 irrigation projects under Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP), which are languishing for a long time, will be fast tracked
• A dedicated Long Term Irrigation Fund will be created in NABARD with an initial corpus of about Rs. 20,000 crore
• Programme for sustainable management of ground water resources with an estimated cost of Rs. 6,000 crore will be implemented through multilateral funding
• Promote organic farming through ‘Parmparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana’ and 'Organic Value Chain Development in North East Region'.
• Allocation under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana increased to Rs.19,000 crore. Will connect remaining 65,000 eligible habitations by 2019.
• Rs. 850 crore for four dairying projects - ‘Pashudhan Sanjivani’, ‘Nakul Swasthya Patra’, ‘E-Pashudhan Haat’ and National Genomic Centre for indigenous breeds
• A sum of Rs. 38,500 crore allocated for MGNREGS.
• 300 Rurban Clusters will be developed under the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission
• 100% village electrification by 1st May, 2018.
• Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan  with an allocation of  RS. 655 crore to be launched to strengthen the Panchayati Raj Institutions
• Allocation for social sector including education and health care Rs.1,51,581 crore.
• Rs. 2,000 crore allocated for initial cost of providing LPG connections to BPL families.
• New health protection scheme will provide health cover up to Rs. Onelakh per family. For senior citizens an additional top-up package up to Rs. 30,000 will be provided.
• 3,000 Stores under Prime Minister’s Jan Aushadhi Yojana will be opened during 2016-17.
• ‘National Dialysis Services Programme’ to be started under National Health Mission through PPP mode
• “Stand Up India Scheme” to facilitate at least two projects per bank branch. This will benefit at least 2.5 lakh entrepreneurs.
• Digital Depository for School Leaving Certificates, College Degrees, Academic Awards and Mark sheets to be set-up.
• Allocation for skill development – Rs. 1804. crore. 
• National Board for Skill Development Certification to be setup in partnership with the industry and academia
• 100 Model Career Centres to operational by the end of 2016-17 under National Career Service.
• Total investment in the road sector, including PMGSY allocation, would be Rs. 97,000 crore during 2016-17.
• India’s highest ever kilometres of new highways were awarded in 2015. To approve nearly 10,000 kms of National Highways in 2016-17.
• Allocation of Rs. 55,000 crore in the Budget for Roads. Additional Rs. 15,000 crore to be raised by NHAI through bonds
• Total outlay for infrastructure - Rs. 2,21,246 crore.
• 100% FDI to be allowed through FIPB route in marketing of food products produced and manufactured in India.
• Allocation of Rs. 25,000 crore towards recapitalisation of Public Sector Banks.
• Target of amount sanctioned under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana increased to Rs 1,80,000 crore.
• Price Stabilisation Fund with a corpus of Rs. 900 crore to help maintain stable prices of Pulses. 
• “Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat” programme will be launched to link States and Districts in an annual programme that connects people through exchanges in areas of language, trade, culture, travel and tourism.
• Fiscal deficit in RE 2015-16 and BE 2016-17 retained at 3.9% and 3.5%.
• Revenue Deficit target from 2.8% to 2.5% in RE 2015-16
• Total expenditure projected at Rs. 19.78 lakh crore
• Plan expenditure pegged at Rs. 5.50 lakh crore under Plan, increase of 15.3%
• Non-Plan expenditure kept at Rs. 14.28 lakh crores
• Mobilisation of additional finances to the extent of Rs. 31,300 crore by NHAI, PFC, REC, IREDA, NABARD and Inland Water Authority by raising Bonds. 
• Committee to review the implementation of the FRBM Act.
• Raise the ceiling of tax rebate under section 87A from Rs.2000 to Rs.5000 to lessen tax burden on individuals with income upto Rs.5 laks. 
• Increase the limit of deduction of rent paid under section 80GG from Rs.24000 per annum to Rs.60000, to provide relief to those who live in rented houses.
• New manufacturing companies incorporated on or after 1.3.2016 to be given an option to be taxed at 25% + surcharge and cess provided they do not claim profit linked or investment linked deductions and do not avail of investment allowance and accelerated depreciation.
• Lower the corporate tax rate for the next financial year for relatively small enterprises i.e companies with turnover not exceeding Rs. 5 crore (in the financial year ending March 2015), to 29% plus surcharge and cess.
• 100% deduction of profits for 3 out of 5 years for startups setup during April, 2016 to March, 2019. MAT will apply in such cases. 
• Commitment to implement General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR) from 1.4.2017.
• Withdrawal up to 40% of the corpus at the time of retirement to be tax exempt in the case of National Pension Scheme (NPS). Annuity fund which goes to legal heir will not be taxable.
• Krishi Kalyan Cess, @ 0.5% on all taxable services, w.e.f. 1 June 2016. Proceeds would be exclusively used for financing initiatives for improvement of agriculture and welfare of farmers. Input tax credit of this cess will be available for payment of this cess.