Political and Social Issues: 26th & 25th Nov

Government's decision to allow 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail, saying the move would help bring in the much-needed capital required for rural infrastructure.
introduction of FDI in multi-brand retail as it would benefit consumers, producers (farmers), small and medium enterprises and generate significant employment.
This would open up enormous opportunities in India for expansion of organised retail and allow substantial investment in back-end infrastructure such as cold chains, warehousing, logistics and expansion of contract farming

The Central Government on Friday sought Parliament's approval for Rs.30,000-crore fuel subsidy payout to state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) during the first-half of the current fiscal.
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) have incurred losses of Rs.64,900 crore in revenue on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below cost
Upstream oil firms such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) have already paid Rs.21,633 crore to make up for one-third of the revenue loss.
The delay in the release of the subsidy led to the three retailers posting huge net losses.
This fiscal, IOC, BPCL and HPCL are projected to lose a record Rs.130,000 crore on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below cost. The government would have to provide Rs.65,000-70,000 crore in subsidy in the full year
The government had paid an all-time high subsidy of Rs.71,292 crore in 2008-09.

The Election Commission of India plans to use the social media for spreading the message of higher participation of voters in elections and ethical voting practices.
Inaugurating a day—long workshop on the social media for voters' participation at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIDEM), the CEC said measures like engagement with the social media will contribute to India's step—up from being the largest democracy to the “greatest” democracy.

The entertainment tax structure in the country will be relaxed after it is brought under the common head of Goods and Services Tax (GST)
However, being a State subject, the tax varied from State to State.
GST would allow the Centre to have a uniform tax on entertainment.

The Supreme Court has pulled up the State governments for their callous approach to acquisition of land from farmers and for issuing notifications in violation of the procedure under the Land Acquisition Act.
As noted by the National Commission on Farmers (NCF), the acquisition of agricultural land in the name of planned development or industrial growth would seriously affect the availability of food in future.
After Independence, the administrative apparatus of the state did not make enough investment in rural areas and “those who have been doing agriculture have not been educated and empowered to adopt alternative sources of livelihood.”
In 1947, Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru said, “Everything else can wait, but not agriculture,”
NCF headed by M.S. Swaminathan observed that prime land must be conserved for agriculture and should not be diverted for non-agricultural purposes, or else food availability would suffer in the country, where 60 per cent of the population still depended on agriculture and people living Below the Poverty Line were finding it difficult to survive.

Once passed, the new Act will update the company law in line with the best global practices and introduce new ideas such as corporate social responsibility (CSR), class action suits and a fixed term for independent directors.
The Bill also proposes to tighten laws for raising money from the public besides prohibiting any insider trading by company directors or key managerial personnel by treating such activities as a criminal offence.
It will also make mandatory for companies to earmark 2 per cent of their average profit of the preceding three years for CSR activities and make a disclosure to shareholders about the policy adopted in the process.
Welcoming the move, India Inc has said the new law would streamline the corporate sector.