January 15, 2016

ALB20160101

Abhyaas Law Bulletin

For the quintessential CLAT aspirant
Review of the Year 2015
o NITI Aayog formed on 1 January 2015 to
replace Planning Commission.
o Aam Aadmi Party Rules Delhi winning 67 seats
out of 70 with Arvind Kejriwal as the CM.
o Nitish Kumar is the CM of Bihar after RJD
emerged the single largest party with 80 seats.
o PM Narendra Modi launched 3 large-scale
social security schemes, Pradhan Mantri
Suraksha Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan
Jyoti Bima Yojana, and Atal Pension Yojana. He
also launched the Digital India programme to
allow transparency to the common man.
o A massive earthquake measuring 7.9 on the
Richter Scale hit Nepal in April, and parts of
North India were also affected by the same.
o The government launched the Green Highways
policy under which it plans to convert 96,000
km of highways in India into a green corridor.
o Saina Nehwal became the first Indian woman
badminton player to attain world number one
ranking .
o Australia emerged as the winner of the 11th
Cricket World Cup jointly hosted by Australia
and New Zealand.
o The first International Yoga Day was celebrated
the world over on the 21st of June, 2015.
o Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, convicted over his
involvement in the 1993 Mumbai blasts, was
executed.
o Barrack Obama visited India during the 66th
Republic Day celebrations. India and U.S.
achieved a breakthrough on operationalisation
of the civil nuclear deal.
o Bharat Ratna was bestowed on erstwhile Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the freedom
fighter Late Madan Mohan Malaviya.
o Indias 11th President APJ Abdul Kalam
collapsed on 27th July at a hospital in
Meghalaya, where he had gone to deliver a
lecture.

The Law Bulletin

The Editors Column

Dear Student,

Wish you a very happy new year and welcome to the

January Edition of the Law Bulletin.
The Winter Session of the Parliament ended on 23
December 2015. 10 Bills were introduced during the
session and 10 Bills were passed with 3 bills
withdrawn.
PM Modi made a surprise visit to Pakistan on 25th
December, which also happens to be the birthday of
the Pakistani PM, Nawaz Sharif, while returning from
Afghanistan. A week later, terrorists infiltrated into
Pathankot and attacked the Pathankot Air Force
Station.
Several appointments have been made to key
positions.
Happy Reading !

Padma Parupudi

Index:
Page 2: National
Page 3: International
Page 4: Persons in News
Page 4: Spotlight

www.abhyaas.in

Page 1

January 15, 2016

National
Bills passed by Parliament during Winter Session of
Parliament
The Sugar Cess (Amendment) Bill, 2015: Increases the
ceiling on the cess on the production of sugar from Rs
25 to Rs 200 per quintal of sugar.
The Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Bill, 2015:
Increases the eligibility limit from Rs 10,000 per month
salary to Rs 21,000 for bonus and the wage ceiling to
calculate bonus from Rs 3500 per month to Rs 7000.
The Atomic Energy (Amendment) Bill, 2015: Allows
atomic energy to be produced by the formation of joint
ventures between government companies.
The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill,
2015: Restricts the power of the Court to grant interim
relief under some circumstances in arbitration, specifies
time period for arbitral award and provides for fasttracking of arbitration.
The Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and
Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Bill,
2015: Enables the creation of commercial courts at the
district level, and commercial divisions in the high
courts with original jurisdiction for adjudicating high
value commercial disputes.
The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children)
Bill, 2014: Permits juveniles between the ages of 16-18
years to be tried as adults for heinous offences and
provides for institutional care for children in need of
care and protection.
The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes
(Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill, 2014:
Amends certain categories of offences and adds new
offences against SCs and STs, and establishes exclusive
special courts to try offences under the Act.
The Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2015:
Specifies the territorial jurisdiction of courts with regard
to filing cases of cheque bouncing.
Governors rule imposed in Jammu & Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir came under governors rule as the
process of new government formation following the
death of the chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed
will take some time. It was imposed after President
Pranab Mukherjee accepted the recommendations
forwarded by Union Home Ministry on the basis of a
recommendation from J&K Governor NN Vohra.

The Law Bulletin

Union Government links LPG subsidy to income

Union Government has announced to link LPG
subsidy to income of consumers in order to
ensure that the subsidy benefits go to the
targeted group. Henceforth, the LPG subsidy will
not be available to LPG consumers if the
consumer or his/her spouse has taxable income of
more than ten lakh rupees during the previous
financial year computed under Income Tax Act,
1961. This move will affect at least 60 lakh LPG
consumers of the total 16.5 crore LPG consumers
in the country and Government will save upto Rs.
113 crore from this decision. Earlier, under the
Give it Up campaign many LPG consumers had
given up their subsidy voluntarily. So far, 57.50
lakh LPG consumers have opted out of LPG
subsidy voluntarily under the campaign that aims
to ensure that the subsidy benefits go to the
targeted group.
Terrorists attack Pathankot
On 2 January 2016, a heavily armed group
attacked the Pathankot Air Force Station, part of
the Western Air Command of the Indian Air Force.
Four attackers and two security forces personnel
were killed in the initial battle, with an additional
security member dying from injuries hours
later.The gun battle and the subsequent combing
operation lasted about 17 hours, resulting in five
attacks and three security personnel dead. A
further three soldiers who were admitted to
hospital with injuries died, raising the death toll to
six soldiers. On 3 January, fresh gunshots were
heard, and another security officer was killed by
an IED explosion. The operation continued on 4
January, and a fifth attacker was confirmed killed.
The United Jihad Council claimed responsibility for
the attack on 4 January. The hijacking of a car of a
superintendent of the Punjab Police the previous
day was reportedly linked to the attack. People
hijacked his car for transport.

www.abhyaas.in

Page 2

January15, 2016

International

73rd Annual Globe Awards presented

Afghanistan becomes 164th member of WTO

The 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony was

organized at Beverly Hills, California, United States (US).
Golden Globe Awards are the annual awards that
honour the best in Motion Pictures and Television for
the previous year. In this edition of awards, The
Revenant won the maximum 3 awards followed by The
Martian and Steve Jobs winning 2 awards each. The
winners of various awards are as follows:
Best Motion Picture Drama: The Revenant
Best Motion Picture Musical/Comedy: The Martian
Best Director in Motion Picture-Drama: Alejandro
Inarritu for The Revenant
Best Actor in Motion Picture-Drama: Leonardo DiCaprio
for The Revenant
Best Actress in Motion Picture-Drama: Brie Larson for
Room
Best Actor in Motion Picture or Musical or Comedy:
Matt Damon for The Martian
Best Actress in Motion Picture Musical or Comedy:
Jennifer Lawrence for Joy
Best Actor in a Supporting role in Motion Picture:
Sylvester Stallone for Creed
Best Actress in a Supporting role in Motion Picture: Kate
Winslet for Steve Jobs
Best Original Score Motion Picture: Ennio Morricone for
The Hateful Eight.
Best Foreign Language Film: Son of Saul (Hungary).

Afghanistan has become 164th member nation of the

World Trade Organisation (WTO), global trade body
after 11 years of negotiations. WTO has formally
approved Afghanistans membership proposal at its
ongoing 10th ministerial conference in the Nairobi,
Kenya. It will be the 36th least developed country
(LDC) to join the global trade body. By joining WTO,
landlocked war-shattered Afghanistan hopes to reap
the benefits of the WTO membership for its postconflict reconstruction. Post-conflict reconstruction
will certainly contribute in a major way to reduce
extremism and achieve regional peace and security.
During the 10th ministerial conference in the
Nairobi, Kenya two new members were added viz.
Liberia (163rd) and Afghanistan (164th).
United States lifts 40-year ban on oil export
The United States (US) has lifted a 40 year ban on oil
exports marking a historic shift for the booming US
oil industry. This move will help in economic growth
and in turn create jobs along with new revenues,
prosperity and enhanced energy security for other
countries. It would pave the way for energy
deficient countries including India to open up
another frontier and diversify import basket of oil
from US. The ban of crude oil exports was born of oil
shock of 1973-1974 due to Arab oil embargo that
had sent global shooting up of oil prices. The ban
was first imposed in 1975 after Arab members of the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting (OPEC)
Countries had banned oil exports to the US in
retaliation for its support of Israel during the ArabIsraeli war.
India-Nepal Bus Services resumed after 27 years
India-Nepal Bus Service resumed after a gap of 27
years. The service was suspended 27 years ago in the
wake of the Indo-Nepal Trade and Transit Treaty.
The service runs between Kanchanpur in Nepal,
which is close to Banbasa border in Champavat
district of Uttarakhand, and Anand Vihar ISBT in
Delhi. To travel in these buses, no special documents
are required as both the countries share open
border.

The Law Bulletin

IUPAC announced addition of Four Elements to

complete Seventh row of Periodic Table
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry
(IUPAC) announced discovery and assignment of
elements with atomic numbers 113, 115, 117 and 118.
All these four elements are synthetic in nature. They
were discovered by scientists belonging to the USA,
Russia and Japan and complete the 7th row of the
periodic table of the elements. They were discovered
by slamming lighter nuclei into each other and tracking
the following decay of the radioactive superheavy
elements. Like other super heavy elements that
populate the end of the periodic table, they only exist
for fractions of a second before decaying into other
elements.

www.abhyaas.in

Page 3

January15, 2016

Persons in News:
Appointments
Arun Kumar Jain
Radha Krishna Mathur
Amitabh Kant
Abid Ali Neemuchwala
Sam Pitrodda
Devender Kumar Sikri
Urijit Patel
Justice Reva Khetrapal
Justice Veerendra Singh

Chairman of CBDT
Chief Information Commissioner
CEO of NITI Aayog
CEO of Wipro
Technical Advisor of Odisha Government
Chairman of Competition Commission of India (CCI)
Deputy Governor of RBI (Second term)
Lok Ayukta of Delhi
Lok Ayukta of Uttar Pradesh
Departed for Heavenly abode

Awards/Successes
o Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach crowned Miss
Universe
o Miss Spain Mireia Lalaguna Royo crowned Miss World
o Syed Kirmani bagged Col. C K Nayudu Lifetime
Achievement Award
o Raghuram Rajan awarded 2016 Central Banker of the
Year Award
o Poet Balakrishna Garg conferred Harikrishna Devsare
Baalsahitya Award
o Pranav Dhanawade hits world record by scoring 1009
runs at school level tournament

o Bollywood Actress Sadhana

o Veteran CPI Leader, AB Bardhan
o Former Chief Justice of India, S H
Kapadia
o Music Legend, David Bowie
o Lt Gen JFR Jacob, India-Pakistan War
hero
o J&K Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad
Sayeed
o British Actor, Alan Rickman

Spotlight: National Law Institute University, Bhopal

National Law Institute University, Bhopal was established in 1997 by the
Act No. 41 of the State Legislature of Madhya Pradesh. The University
launched its first academy programme in 1998. Recognized by the Bar
Council of India the university admits 128 undergraduate candidates
each year through the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT), who
complete 15 trimesters before being awarded a combined B.A., LL.B.
(Hons.) degree. The University is a member of the Association of Indian
Universities and the patron of the University is the Hon. Chief Justice of
India. It works closely with the High Court of Madhya Pradesh, as well
as the neighbouring National Judicial Academy.
The year is divided into 3 trimesters of 70 working days each. The lectures are accompanied by extensive
teaching material prepared and consistently revised by the faculty.
The University strives to provide students with ample opportunity to gain practical experience in the
concerned field. The internship and clerkship programmes are fundamental part of the education at NLIU. All
the students of the previous batches are well placed in the reputed offices in the Country and abroad.
Feel free to write to: abhyaaslawprep@gmail.com We dont wish to print this journal, save paper, avoid printing.

The Law Bulletin

www.abhyaas.in

Page 4