Daily News Mail - News of 16/03/2015

Black Money : CBDT takes action against HSBC account-holders

• The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has informed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money that prosecution proceedings have either been completed or initiated against majority of the 628 HSBC Bank (Geneva) account-holders whose details were shared by the French government in 2011.
• “Action has been taken in a large number of cases,” Justice M.B. Shah, chairperson of the Supreme Court-appointed SIT, told. The CBDT is racing against time to meet the statutory March 31 deadline for taking action against account-holders who have allegedly stashed away(stash away - keep or lay aside for future use) unaccounted money in the Geneva branch of HSBC.
• The SIT met on March 14 to review the developments and discuss further measures to curb generation, laundering and parking of black money. It discussed ways to identify the real beneficiaries of companies. When asked about it, Justice Shah said: “It will take some time...”

M B Shah, Chairperson of the SIT on Black Money

Rs. 800 r of Nirbhaya Fund lying unused

• More than two years after the Centre set up the high profile Nirbhaya Fund with a corpus of Rs. 1000 crore, only Rs. 200 crore has been allocated so far towards various schemes to ensure women’s safety.
• The fund was set up after the horrific rape and murder of a 23-year old medical student in the national capital in 2012.

Bio-toilets could prevent rail corrosion that leads to derailmeents

• Dirty track and piles of garbage alongside not only present an ugly sight to travellers but also pose serious safety problems to the Railways.
• The Railways have admitted that the number of derailments has increased because of rail or weld fractures and pointed out that a major cause of rail fractures and derailments is the corrosion of rail foot because of excreta dropped directly on the rail.
• In the Action Taken Report (ATR) on the recommendations of the 21st report of the Standing Committee on Railways on ‘Major railway accidents during the last five years: causes and remedial measures,’ tabled in Parliament recently, the government said all passenger train coaches needed to be fixed with zero-discharge toilets to avoid rail corrosion.
• Other measures listed include developing corrosion-resistant, nickel-chromium-copper rails and copper-molybdenum rails, which are still under trial in different zones; anti-corrosive bituminous painting of rails; and greasing and sealing of liner contact area in the corrosion-prone areas. The Railways have also commissioned a study from the Centre of Elecro-Chemical Research Institute on rail corrosion due to micro-organisms and remedial measures.
• The report said complete mechanisation of track maintenance and construction was planned, pointing out that the increase in speed, axle loads and volume of traffic required superior quality of maintenance.
• It noted the Standing Committee’s worry that poor maintenance of track was a major cause of derailments. It wanted the Railway Ministry to introduce technological innovations to improve the track and regular inspection to ensure its rail-worthiness. In 2013-14, the total number of accidents due to track defects was 19; eight of them were due to poor track maintenance.
• In the Rail Budget presented in the Lok Sabha last month, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu kept the focus on cleanliness of trains and stations and increasing the facilities for passengers. The budget proposed to replace the existing toilets with 17,388 bio-toilets and designing vacuum toilets in six months.

The promise of insurance reform

• Now that the way is clear for 49% foreign holding in an insurance company, will the country see a flood of foreign direct investment? At the moment, the field is laid a lot easier for players.
• The operating environment has been redesigned to facilitate foreign investors to engage in the long-haul game. Insurance penetration in India, life and non-life put together, was just about 3.9% in 2013, up from 2.3% in 2000, according to Economic Survey 2014-15. This reveals the extent of opportunities available.
• Interestingly, according to the Survey, private insurers saw a 1.4% decline in their premium in 2013-14 even as the Life Insurance Corporation recorded 13.5% growth. These numbers tell a tale of their own. For long, insurance has been viewed only as a tax-saving tool. 

Cyclone, hurricane, typhoons : what's the difference?

They may have different names according to the region they hit, but cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons are all violent tropical storms that can generate 10 times as much energy as the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

Cyclone is the term used for a low-pressure system that strikes the South Pacific and Indian Ocean. The same type of disturbance in the Atlantic and northeast Pacific is called a hurricane while typhoon is the term used in Asia.

Cyclone Pam, which slammed into Vanuatu on March 13 with wind gusts of up to 320 kilometres (200 miles) an hour, wreaked widespread devastation in the South Pacific island nation.

But Pam was not the strongest storm ever to hit the South Pacific -- Tropical Cyclone Zoe, which struck in 2002, was stronger with 380 kilometres an hour winds.

ALL IN THE NAME

Cyclone is the term used for a low-pressure system that strikes the South Pacific and Indian Ocean. The same type of disturbance in the Atlantic and northeast Pacific is called a hurricane while typhoon is the term used in Asia.

TROPICAL CYCLONE, POWERFUL VERSION

Meteorologists use the term "tropical cyclone" when talking generally about these immensely powerful natural phenomena, which are divided into five categories according to the maximum sustained wind force and the scale of the potential damage they can inflict.

MORE ON CYCLONES

Cyclones are formed from simple thunderstorms at certain times of the year when the sea temperature is more than 26 degrees Celsius (79 Fahrenheit) down to a depth of 60 metres (200 feet).

Sucking up vast quantities of water, they often produce torrential rains and flooding resulting in major loss of life and property damage.

They also trigger large swells that move faster than the cyclone and are sometimes spotted up to 1,000 kilometres ahead of the powerful storm. The sea level can rise several metres.

These powerful weather formations can measure between 500 and 1,000 kilometres in diameter and have a relatively calm "eye" at the centre.

They weaken rapidly when they travel over land or colder ocean waters.

TRACKING SUPERSTORMS

Cyclones are closely monitored by satellites, and specialised centres around the world -- in Miami, Tokyo, Honolulu and New Delhi -- track the super storms' trajectories under the coordination of the World Meteorological Organisation.

They may have different names according to the region they hit, but cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons are all violent tropical storms that can generate 10 times as much energy as the Hiroshima atomic bomb.