1. ROAD ACCIDENT

The Supreme Court has held that an extra 40% should be added to the income of deceased road accident victims who are aged below 40 years and are self-employed, while calculating compensation

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A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana said the additional amount should be included in the income of the dead person as “future prospects”.

The judgment is significant as it recognises self-employment as gainful employment and calls for an increase in the compensation amount accordingly.

Chief Justice Ramana referred to a Constitution Bench decision in National Insurance vs Pranay Sethi, which had “clearly held that in case the deceased is self-employed and below the age of 40, 40% addition would be made to their income as future prospects”.

The High Court had earlier held the victim ineligible for future prospects because she was self-employed.

Source : The Hindu

2. INDU JAIN

Times Group chairperson Indu Jain died due to Covid-related complications. She was 84.

About:

Indu Jain (1936 – 2021) was a prominent Indian media personality who belonged to the Sahu Jain family.

She was the chairperson of India's largest media group, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd., which is popularly known as the Times Group. This group owns the Times of India and other large newspapers.

She was also the Chairperson of Bharatiya Jnanpith Trust, which awards the prestigious Jnanpith award.

Indu Jain was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2016.

Source : The Hindu

3. INDICATIVE NOTES

Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana launched a new feature in the Supreme Court’s official website called ‘Indicative Notes’.

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This feature is aimed at providing concise summaries of landmark judgments in an easy-to-understand format.

This will serve as a useful resource for media persons and the general public who wish to be better informed about the rulings of the court.

Source : The Hindu

4. SOVEREIGN GOLD BOND SCHEME 2021-22

The Central Government in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India, has decided to issue Sovereign Gold Bonds.

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The Sovereign Gold Bonds will be issued in six tranches from 17th May to September 2021.

The Bonds will be sold through Scheduled Commercial banks (except Small Finance Banks and Payment Banks), Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited (SHCIL),designated post offices, and recognised stock exchanges viz., National Stock Exchange of India Limited and Bombay Stock Exchange Limited.

The minimum permissible investment will be one gram of gold.

Investors will be compensated at a fixed rate of 2.50 percent per annum payable semi-annually on the nominal value.

The Bonds will be restricted for sale to resident individuals, Hindu Undivided Families, Trusts, Universities and Charitable Institutions.

The tenor of the Bond will be for a period of 8 years with exit option after 5th year to be exercised on the next interest payment dates.

Source : PIB

5. HOUSE ARREST

The Supreme Court has thrown open the door to the legislature to “ponder” over the idea of placing convicts under house arrest to avoid overcrowding of prisons.

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A Bench of Justices U.U. Lalit and K.M. Joseph, in a judgment, highlighted the “alarming” statistics of prisons. The suggestion is relevant considering the spread of COVID-19.

A few days ago, a Bench, led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana, issued a series of directions, including the grant of interim bail and parole to prisoners to decongest prisons.

Justice Joseph said the occupancy rate in prisons had climbed to 118.5% in 2019. The court referred to the National Crime Records Bureau’s figures of 2019 to show that 18,86,092 inmates were admitted in jails.

The number of undertrial prisoners in 2019 was 3,30,487, which, in fact, constituted 69.05% of the total number of prisoners. Secondly, a very large sum (₹6818.1 crore) was the budget for prisons.

The “tremendous” overcrowding of prisons and the huge budget were both “relevant in the context of the possibilities that house arrest offers”, the court noted.

Important Info :

There is a “long” history of house arrests starting with that of St. Paul the Apostle in Rome.

Societies found in Poland, South Korea, India, and the Soviet Union are known to employ ‘house arrest’ primarily to deal with troublesome political dissenters. ‘House arrest’ in India has its roots in laws providing for preventive detention.

Ankle bracelets have become an indispensable appendage to monitor compliance of house arrests in foreign countries. These bracelets were the product of an inspiration of a New Mexico district court judge “who read a comic strip where Spiderman was being tracked by a transmitter fixed to his wrist”.

Source : The Hindu

6. COVISHIELD

The COVID Working Group chaired by Dr N K Arora has recommended extension of the gap between the first and second doses of COVISHIELD vaccine to 12-16 weeks. The present gap between the two doses of COVISHIELD vaccine is 6-8 weeks.

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Based on the available real-life evidences, particularly from UK, the COVID-19 Working Group agreed for increasing the dosing interval to 12-16 weeks between two doses of COVISHIELD vaccine. No change in interval of COVAXIN vaccine doses was recommended.

The COVID Working Group is headed by Dr N K Arora- Director, INCLEN Trust.

The recommendation of the COVID Working Group was accepted by the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC), headed by Dr V K Paul, Member (Health) Niti Aayog in its meeting on 12th May 2021.

Source : The Hindu

7. HOUSING FINANCE COMPANIES (HFCs)

Even as Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) have come under the direct supervision of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) since August 2019, existing home loan customers are getting differential treatment from banks and HFCs.

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Over the last 18 months to 5 years, if bank customers have seen better transmission of rate cuts in their home loan rates on account of cut in marginal cost of lending rate (MCLR), HFC customers have had limited benefit because of relatively smaller cuts in the prime lending rate (PLR).

While HFCs and banks compete hard on rates to attract new customers, the cut in rates for existing customers depends on the reduction in MCLR by banks and in PLR by HFCs in response to a repo cut by RBI.

HFCs base their lending rates on PLR and offer a discount on it to customers. While the discount is fixed for the term of the loan, an upward or downward revision in PLR (in line with repo rate movement) impacts the lending rate of the existing customer. As for new customers, the HFC can increase the discount on the PLR to offer a more attractive rate. A cut in PLR is reflected in the effective rate for the customer within three months.

In the case of banks, lending rates are based on either MCLR or on the repo rate (since October 2019).

Source : Indian Express

8. SWAMIH

Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs handed over possession to homebuyers as Government of India’s Special Window for Affordable & Mid-Income Housing (SWAMIH) completes its first residential project.

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The residential project - Rivali Park, located in suburban Mumbai, was the first housing project in India to have received funding under the SWAMIH Fund. The SWAMIH Fund was launched in 2019. Rivali Park Wintergreens is the first investment by the Fund and is also the first project to get completed.

In a short time-span of 1.5 years since inception, the SWAMIH Investment Fund today is one of the largest private equity teams in India and has done commendable work despite COVID-19 related restrictions.

The Fund so far has given its final approval to 72 projects that will complete 44,100 homes, while 132 projects have received preliminary approval, which will complete an additional 72,500 homes. Thus, the Fund is targeting to complete an aggregate of 1,16,600 homes.

This Fund is bridging the trust deficit between homebuyers and developers by completing construction and delivering homes without depending on any other source of finance.

Source : PIB

9. SMOKELESS CREMATION

Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar has developed a prototype of a moveable electric cremation system which claims to be using first of its kind technology that involves smokeless cremation despite using wood.

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It uses half of the wood otherwise required for the cremation and still is eco-friendly because of the technology that uses combustion air system.

It is based on wick-stove technology in which the wick when lighted glows yellow. This is converted into smokeless blue flame with the help of combustion air system installed over the wicks.

The cremation system or incinerator heats up at 1044 degree Celsius which ensures complete sterilization.

Keeping in view the present pandemic situation if this system can be adopted, may provide respectable cremation to the near and dear ones of those who cannot afford the financial burden of arranging wood.

Source : PIB

10. BHAVANI DEVI

Sabre Fencer Bhavani Devi, who created history by becoming the first Indian fencer to qualify for the Olympic Games, said she was looking forward to giving off her best performance in Tokyo 2020.

About:

Chadalavada Anandha Sundhararaman Bhavani Devi, who is widely known as Bhavani Devi (born 1993), is an Indian sabre(fencer).

She is the first Indian fencer to ever qualify for the Olympics after qualifying for the 2021 Tokyo Games.

She is supported by GoSports Foundation through the Rahul Dravid Athlete Mentorship Programme.

Bhavani was born into a middle-class family in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

Source : PIB