Thursday, February 3, 2022

Current Affairs for February 2022

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Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Key Budget Highlights 2022

Economy

— Capex target expanded by 35.4 per cent — from Rs 5.54 lakh crore to Rs 7.50 lakh crore. FY23 effective capex seen at Rs 10.7 lakh crore

— India's growth highest among all major economies; we are now in a strong position to withstand challenges

— The goal is complementing macro-growth with micro-all-inclusive welfare, digital economy and fintech, tech-enabled development, energy transition and climate action

— ECLGS cover expanded by Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh crore

— Top focus of the budget this year are: PM Gati Shakti, Inclusive Development, Productivity Enhancement, Sunrise Opportunities, Energy Transition, Climate Action, Financing of investments

— Productivity-linked incentive schemes in 14 sectors have received excellent response; received investment intentions worth Rs 30 lakh crore

— Economic recovery benefitting from public investment and capital spending. This Budget will provide impetus to growth

Taxes

— The government will tax income from digital asset transfers at 30%

— No deduction allowed while computing income except cost of acquisition

— Loss cannot be set off from any other income

— Gift of cryptocurrencies to be taxed at receiver's end

— A new provision to allow taxpayers to file an updated return

— Updated return can be filed within 2 years from the end of the relevant assessment year.

— Alternate Minimum Tax for cooperative societies to be cut to 15%

— Proposal will reduce surcharge on cooperative societies to 7%, for those whose income is between Rs 1 crore and Rs 10 crore

— Tax deduction limit increased to 14% on employers contribution to NPS account of state govt employees

Jobs

— ECLGS extended till March 2023, 60 lakh jobs eyed in next 5 years

— Efforts of central, state governments leading to jobs, entrepreneurial opportunities

— Digital ecosystem for skilling and livelihood to be launched.

— This will aims to skill, reskill, upskill citizens through online training.

— API based skill credentials, payment layers to find relevant jobs and opportunities

Infra

— National highway network to be expanded by 25,000 kms during FY 22-23

— Desh stack e-portal to be launched to promote digital infra

— Strategic transfer of ownership of Air India completed now

— 2,000 kms to be brought under Kavach by FY 22-23

— Four multi-modal national parks contracts will be awarded in FY23

— One product one railway station will be popularised, 400 new Vande Bharat trains to be introduced

— PM Gatishakti masterplan for expressways will be formulated in next financial year

— 100 PM Gati Shakti terminals to be set up in next three years

— Focus on public investment to modernise infrastructure over the medium term, leveraging tech platform of Gati Shakti via a multi-modal approach

— PM Gati Shakti will pull forward the economy and will lead to more jobs and opportunities for the youth

Housing & urban planning

— Rs 48, 000 crore is allotted for PM Awas Yojana

— In 2022-23, 80 lakh houses will be completed for identified beneficiaries of PM Awas Yojana; 60,000 houses will be identified as beneficiaries for PM Awas Yojana in rural & urban areas

— 60,000 crore allocated for providing access to tap water to 3.8 crore households

— In 2022-23, 80 lakh households will be identified for the affordable housing scheme

— A high-level committee for urban planners and economists to be formed for recommendations on urban capacity building, planning implementation, and governance.

— 5 existing academic institutions for urban planning to be designated as Centre for Excellence with endowment fund of Rs 250 cr

— Modern building by-laws will be introduced

— A high-level panel to be set up for urban planning

— Govt to promote use of public transport in urban areas

MSMEs & startups

— Rs 6,000 crore programme to rate MSMEs to be rolled out over 5 years

— MSMEs such as Udyam, e-shram, NCS & Aseem portals will be inter-linked, their scope will be widened

— They will now perform as portals with live organic databases providing G-C, B-C & B-B services such as credit facilitation, enhancing entrepreneurial opportunities

— A fund with blended capital raised under co-investment model facilitated through NABARD to finance startups in agriculture & rural enterprises for farm produce value chain

— Startups will promoted for Drone Shakti

— PE/VC invested Rs 5.5 lakh crore in startup, expert committee will be set up to suggest measures to help attract investment

Agri

— Govt to pay Rs 2.37 lakh crore towards procurement of wheat and paddy under MSP operations

— 2022-23 has been announced as International Year of Millets

— Railways will develop new products for small farmers and MSMEs

— A rationalised scheme to increase domestic oilseed production will be brought in to cut down imports

— Kisan Drones for crop assessment, land records, spraying of insecticides expected to drive a wave of technology in agri sector

— Ken Betwa river linking project worth Rs 44,605 crore announced

— Draft DPRs for 5 river links have been finalised

— Finance startups to be incentives to aid rural enterprises

— Natural farming will be promoted along Ganga river corridor

— A completely paperless, e-bill system will be launched by ministries for procurement

— Financial support will be provided to farmers to take up agro-forestry

Electric Vehicles

— Battery swapping policy to allow EV charging stations for automobiles will be framed

— Private sector will be encouraged to create sustainable and innovative business models for battery and energy as a service, improving the efficiency in the EV ecosystem

Education

— States to be encouraged to revise syllabi of agricultural universities to meet needs of natural, zero-budget & organic farming, modern-day agriculture

— One class, one TV channel' program of PM eVIDYA will be expanded from 12 to 200 TV channels

— This will enable all states to provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1 to 12

— Digital university to be set up to provide education; to be built on hub and spoke model

— 1-Class-1-TV Channel to be implemented to provide supplementary education to children to make up for loss of formal education due to Covid

Finance & inclusion

— Rs 1 lakh crore financial assistance to states to be provided in 2022-23 to catalyse investments

— Proposed to introduce Digital Rupee by RBI using blockchain technology, starting 2022-23

— Measures will be taken to step up private capital in infra sector

— Digital Rupee to be rolled out by 2023

— 100% of 1.5 lakh post offices will come on the core banking system, enabling financial inclusion and access to accounts through net banking, mobile banking, ATMs, and also provide online transfer of funds between post office accounts and bank accounts

— This will be helpful especially for farmers and senior citizens in rural areas, enabling inter operability, and financial inclusion.

— IBC amendments to enhance efficiency of resolution process

— Facilitate cross-border insolvency resolution

— To speed up voluntary winding up of companies

— 75 digital banks in 75 districts will be set up by scheduled commercial banks to encourage digital payments

— International arbitration centre will be set up in GIFT city to provide faster dispute resolution

— World-class university to be allowed in GIFT IFSC free from domestic regulation, says FM

Healthcare

— An open platform for the national digital health ecosystem will be rolled out

— It will consist of digital registries of health providers and health facilities, unique health identity and universal access to health facilities

— 95 per cent of 112 aspirational districts have made significant progress in health, infra

— For mental health counselling, a National Tele Mental Health Program will be launched

Telecom

— Spectrum auction will be conducted in 2022 for the rollout of 5G

— Scheme for design led manufacturing to be launched for 5G ecosystem as part of PLI scheme to enable affordable broadband and mobile communication in rural and remote areas

— 5 pc of USO Fund to be provided for R&D and technology upgradation

— Contracts for laying optical fibre in villages to be awarded under BharatNet project under PPP in 2022-23

— Data centre and energy storage system to be given infrastructure status; move to provide easy financing

Women & Children

— Recognising the importance of 'Nari Shakti', 3 schemes were launched to provide integrated development for women and children

— 2 lakh Anganwadis to be upgraded for improving child health

Ease of Business

— 75,000 compliances have been eliminated and 1,486 union laws repealed to make it easier for businesses

— Next phase of ease of doing business, ease of living to be launched

— Voluntary exit for corporates to be cut down to 6 months from 2 years

Defence

— Govt committed to reduce import and promote self reliance in defense sector

— 68 per cent of capital for defence sector to be earmarked for local industry

— Defense R&D will be opened up for industry, startups and academia with 25% of defense R&D budget.

— Private industry will be encouraged to take up the design and development of military platforms and equipment in collaboration with DRDO and other organizations through SPV model.

— 68% of capital procurement budget in defence will be earmarked for domestic industry in 2022-23 (up from the 58% last fiscal)

Railways

— 400 new generation Vande Bharat trains to be manufactured in next 3 years

— 2,000 km of rail network to be brought under indigenous technology KAWACH for safety and capacity augmentation: FM

Climate & Net Zero

— Risks of climate change are strongest externalities for the world

— Funds will be used for projects that will help reduce carbon intensity of the economy

— Sovereign green bonds will be part of government’s borrowing programme in FY23

— Proceeds to be deployed in public sector projects

— 4 pilot projects for coal gasification to be set up

— Rs 19,500 cr additional allocation for PLI for manufacturing high efficiency solar modules has been made

— Low carbon development strategy opens up employment opportunity