AimIAS : DNA 31st July

Regulator turns up heat on erring CAs :

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has said 4,445 complaints have been registered against CAs as on June 30 this year, and punishment has been awarded in 402 cases until March 2017.
The CA regulator said it was pushing for amendments to the norms to help expedite action against wrongdoers in the profession
This development comes within a few weeks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi indicating stringent measures against those involved in money laundering — including through shell companies — following demonetisation, and asking the ICAI to hasten action against CAs “helping tax evaders.”
The ICAI is under the Corporate Affairs Ministry’s administrative control.
While the PM asked the auditors to help end black money and corruption, he sought to know from the ICAI why in the last 11 years, it had taken action against just 25 erring members.

Steps taken so far :

ICAI said that from the inception of the ‘New Disciplinary Mechanism’ in November 2006 till this June-end, as many as 3,810 cases were registered against CAs.

Solution:

There is a need for amending the concerned rules/ regulations” to expedite disciplinary action against the wrongdoers,adding that the ICAI (Council) had submitted interim recommendations to a High Level Committee formed by the Corporate Affairs Ministry for strengthening the disciplinary mechanism.

Parliamentary Nod:

He said amendments to the CA Act would require Parliamentary nod, adding that the Centre had the power to amend the Rules including the Disciplinary Rules (framed under the CA Act).

Whitefly sighted in the cotton belt districts of Punjab due to the prevailing hot and humid weather conditions
The whitefly attack in Punjab that damaged over 75 per cent crop across the cotton belt had led to widespread protests in the past few days. The damage to the cotton crop, over 95 per cent of which is Bt cotton, is estimated to be around Rs. 4,500 crore. It is also being blamed as a reason for suicides of over a dozen farmers in the cotton belt, including Abohar, Fazileka, Bathinda and Muktsar districts.
Whitefly attack is expected to cause over 50 per cent drop in cotton yield this season in Punjab
PAU is now recommending farmers to sow traditional non-Bt varieties of American and desi (indigenous) cotton during next season in areas susceptible to high infestation of whitefly.
Cotton farmers in Punjab, say Desi cotton is not viable as its yield is very low and also it has its own set of infestation problems

India is facing increased pressure to reduce North Korea’s diplomatic presence in the country as Pyongyang flexes its military muscles.
During talks with Indian officials last week, a U.S. State Department delegation took up the presence of a large number of North Korean diplomats in India, and urged New Delhi to “shrink” North Korea’s diplomatic footprint in South Asia.
India has criticised recent North Korean missile launches and nuclear tests. However, bilateral political and diplomatic ties, though minimal, have remained on track.

Why Pressure is being built now ?

The western pressure is driven by the fact that India and the U.S. have held talks on the North Korean actions most recently during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington on June 27 when both sides “condemned” Pyongyang’s actions. They also indicated that both sides would “work together to counter the DPRK’s weapons of mass destruction programmes”
U.S. officials have indicated that they would like to see “less” diplomatic courtesies extended to the North Korean officials present in India
India has maintained ties with North Korea since the birth of the nation following the Korean war in the 1950s, and North Korea had been an active member of the Non-Alignment movement during the Cold War.

Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) has sought pricing and marketing freedom to help bring to production a one-trillion cubic feet gas discovery that will open up a new sedimentary basin after over three decades
ONGC, which has opened for commercial production six out of India’s seven producing basins, has made a significant natural gas discovery in the Gulf of Kutch of Gujarat coast that can produce about three million standard cubic meters per day
This will open up the country’s eighth sedimentary basin — the first in over three decades — for oil and gas production in two years
“The present government-mandated gas price of $2.48 per million British thermal unit does not make the discovery commercially viable. Since the find is in shallow waters, it does not qualify to get the $5.56 per mmBtu cap price set for difficult fields