civilservice india- current Affairs

India end year as top ranked Test team Posted: 20 Dec 2016 10:38 PM PST India have ended 2016 as the top ranked Test team on the ICC rankings after registering a 4-0 victory over England in the five-match series which culminated with an innings and 75 runs win for the home side in Chennai. The series win has helped India gain five points. They have now moved to 120 points in the last Test team rankings update of 2016, 15 points ahead of second-placed Australia. In contrast, England, who had started the series tied with Australia on 105 points but were ahead on decimal points, have slipped from the second to the fifth position. England are now on 101 points, one point behind Pakistan and South Africa, who are both on 102 points with Pakistan ranked third on decimal points. This means that four teams are now within four points of each other with the annual cut-off date of April 1 for the ICC awards not far away. The side at the top of the rankings on April 1 will receive $1 million. The second-placed side will be awarded $500,000 while the third and fourth placed sides will receive $200,000 and $ 100,000 respectively. The ICC Test team rankings have seen an interesting year, with Australia, Pakistan and India all holding the top slot between August 21 and October 11. The Virat Kohli-led side, which was awarded the ICC Test Championship Mace on October 11 following a 3-0 home series sweep over New Zealand, can’t be overtaken this year since the team rankings are updated only at the end of each Test series. The next Test series to be completed is the ongoing one between Australia and Pakistan with the third and final Test slated in Sydney from January 3-7.

CBSE approves compulsory Class X board exams Posted: 20 Dec 2016 10:35 PM PST The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) approved a proposal to reintroduce compulsory Class X board examination from the 2017-18 academic year. The decision was taken during a meeting of the CBSE governing body here, sources said, adding that the first exam will be conducted in 2018. The decision of the governing body will be conveyed to the government for its approval. The Class X board examination for CBSE schools was made optional from 2011 under the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) system mandated by the Right to Education Act. Earlier, Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar had announced making the CBSE board exams compulsory from the academic session 2017-18.

30% tax advantage for digital transactions: Jailtey Posted: 20 Dec 2016 10:28 PM PST Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said small traders and businesses will get a tax advantage of more than 30 per cent for digital transactions. The government said small traders and businesses with a turnover of up to Rs 2 crore would pay less tax if they accept payments through banking and digital means. “There will be a significant tax benefit for small traders if you turn digital. It is a tax incentive to support digitisation of economy,” Jaitley told the media. “If we calculate, many traders will get a tax advantage of more than 30 per cent for transactions in digital mode,” he added. On putting a ceiling of Rs 5,000 on deposit of old notes, Jaitley said: “Since the exemptions on using old notes have been lifted (in hospitals, railway stations and other places), there will be no question of getting old notes on a regular basis. “Whoever has old currency must go and deposit it in one go. If somebody goes every day, it raises suspicion,” he added.

S.K. Sinha appointed Special Director in IB Posted: 20 Dec 2016 09:40 PM PST Senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer S.K. Sinha would be the new Special Director in the Intelligence Bureau (IB), it was announced on Tuesday. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the promotion of Sinha, who has been serving as an Additional Director in IB, to the post of Special Director. The post had fallen vacant after Rajiv Jain was promoted to head the IB. Sinha is a 1983 batch IPS officer of the Bihar cadre. His promotion would come into effect from September 26, 2016, an official communique said.