Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

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State takes serious note of AP’s white papers

News

• The Telangana State government has taken a serious note of the views articulated by the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh government relating to bifurcation of assets, especially Schedule IX and X institutions between the two States post bifurcation.

Beyond News

• The Andhra Pradesh government, in its series of white papers, said that the bifurcation of the Schedule IX and X institutions was not completed because of the non-cooperation by the Centre and the Telangana government.
• The white paper said the expert committee constituted on division of assets and liabilities of 85 institutions and the AP government had issued orders for division of assets, liabilities and employees in respect of 41 institutions in line with the recommendations of the expert committee.
• The same was the case regarding the division of 142 State institutions that remained unsettled till date due to non-cooperation from the Centre and the Telangana government.
• AP government was interpreting the definitions, like headquarters assets, given in the Reorganisation Act in its favour. According to Section 75 of the Act, the governments are mandated to continue to provide services of the institution located under their purview to the other State.
• The Telangana government had expressed its willingness to resolve the issues amicably in a manner that would not adversely affect the interests of Telangana and the same was communicated to the Joint Parliamentary Committee.
• Views articulated in the white papers had been referred to the State Reorganisation wing and the officials concerned are reported to have been asked to prepare a detailed note on the issue giving clarity about the State’s stand on the pending issues.

New panel to protect Assam’s heritage

News

• The Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of a high-level committee for implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord which provides for constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of Assam.

Beyond News

• It also recommended reserving Assembly seats for indigenous communities in the State.
• After the Assam agitation of 1979-1985, the accord was signed on 15 August, 1985. Clause 6 envisaged that appropriate constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards, shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.
• The composition and terms of reference of the committee will be issued separately by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
• The Cabinet also approved a number of measures to fulfil the outstanding issues related to the Bodo community. The Bodo Accord was signed in 2003 which resulted in the establishment of a Bodoland Territorial Council under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India. However, there have been representations from different organisations of Bodos to fulfil various outstanding demands.
• A joint parliamentary committee on the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 is expected to table its report in Parliament paving the way to grant citizenship to six persecuted minorities, Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, Parsis, Christians and Buddhists from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who came to India before 2014.

Morocco ranks high in climate action

News

• Morocco has been named the second best performing country after Sweden in the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI).

Beyond News

• The North African country significantly increased the share of renewables over the past five years and increased new renewable energy capacity.
• Sweden is in top position, followed by Morocco and Lithuania in the CCPI 2019.
• The bottom five in the list are Saudi Arabia, U.S., Iran, South Korea and Taiwan.
• With the connection of the world’s largest solar plant to the grid, Morocco is on track for achieving its target of 42% installed renewable energy capacities by 2020.

India reminds U.S. that it sends soldiers abroad only for UN Peacekeeping Operations

News

• India reminded the United States that it does not send soldiers abroad but for U.N. Peacekeeping Operations.
• The statement from sources came hours after President Donald Trump spoke mockingly about India’s development work in Afghanistan indicating that Delhi should send soldiers to control the decades-long civil war in the country.

Beyond News

• President Trump in his statement had referred to his conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi indicating that building of facilities like librariesdo not add to resolving the security crisis in Afghanistan and sought regional cooperation involving India, Pakistan and Russia to resolve the crisis in Kabul.
• Indian assistance to Afghanistan is part of a bilateral arrangement with the Government of President Ashraf Ghani.
• This partnership is built on the specific needs and requirements worked out with the Government of Afghanistan. It is aimed at the welfare of the people of Afghanistan and for a tangible improvement in the lives of its people.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Direct tax-GDP ratio in FY18 best in 10 years: Finance Ministry

News

• The direct tax-to-GDP ratio of 5.98 per cent achieved during 2017-18 fiscal is the best in the last 10 years.

Beyond News

• It was 5.57 per cent in 2016-17 and 5.47 per cent in 2015-16.
• The Ministry said the larger purpose of demonetisation was to move India from a tax non-compliant society to a compliant society and the impact of note ban has been felt on collection of personal income tax.
• It further said there is a growth of over 80 per cent in the number of returns filed in the last four financial years from 3.79 crore in 2013-14 to 6.85 crore in 2017-18.
• The number of individuals filing return of income has also increased by about 65 per cent during this period from 3.31 crore in 2013-14 to 5.44 crore in 2017-18.
• It also said there has been a continuous increase in the amount of income declared in the returns filed by all categories of taxpayers over the last three assessment years (AYs).
• Growth rate for corporate income tax (CIT) and personal income tax (PIT) stood at 17.7 per cent and 18.3 per cent, respectively.

U.K. Sinha to head RBI panel on MSME revival

News

• The RBI has appointed an eight-member expert committee headed by former SEBI chairman U.K. Sinha to comprehensively review and propose long-term solutions for revival of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector.

Beyond News

• The committee will submit its report by the end of June 2019.
• Among the terms of references, the RBI said the panel would review the current institutional framework in place to support the MSME sector, and examine the factors affecting the timely and adequate availability of finance to the sector.
• The MSME sector has been facing stress due to the demonetisation exercise and implementation of GST.
• The panel will also review existing MSME-focussed policies and their impact, and study the global best practices with respect to MSMEs and recommend their adoption in India.

RBI ‘eyes’ solution to read denominations

News

• In a bid to help the visually challenged, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is scouting for a digital solution that can identify and read out the denomination of Indian currency notes to users.

Beyond News

• Coming in the backdrop of issuance of new currency notes, the plan is aimed at developing or authenticating a technology-based solution to achieve the task in a few seconds.
• The solution could be a device, software or a combination of both, to help not just the visually challenged, but also those who cannot read in poor lighting, the source said.
• Following up on an announcement in June, the RBI recently called for an expression of interest (EoI) from entities for a mechanism or device that can detect and read out the denomination. The reason behind the RBI scouting for such solutions is because of the blurring of physical dimensions of the notes that thus far served as the main differentiator.
• In other words, unlike in the past, the size of the note need not be indicative of denomination. There are also certain Intaglio (raised) printing-based identification marks in currency notes of ₹100 and above. The RBI is “sensitive to the challenges faced by visually challenged in conducting their day-to-day business with Indian banknotes,” the statement in June said.
• As on March 31, 2018, about 102 billion pieces of banknotes were in circulation, having a value of ₹18 trillion. This comprised ₹10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 2000 notes, including the new series being issued since November 2016. The new ₹20 note is expected to be released soon.
• Apart from inviting EoIs, the RBI has formed a panel to go into different aspects, including solutions in practice abroad, which include an app used in the U.S. and a credit card-sized solution in a few other countries.

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