Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

Editorials are covered separately. HINDU NOTES are available free date wise| CLICK HERE

Millions will be stateless citizens after final NRC, warn UN experts

News

• UN experts warned that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam could render millions of citizens stateless and create instability in India.
• A panel of three experts said the exercise has increased hate speech against minorities in social media and built a climate of racial hatred.

Beyond News

• The report authored by a team took note that more than 4 million people of Hindu and Muslim descent in Assam were excluded from the amended draft NRC published in June 2018 and despite many objections the final NRC list is set for 31 July 2019.
• The experts said the final date of publishing the NRC is “regrettable” as it is going ahead with the task despite “inconsistencies and errors” in the process.
• It is reported that those excluded from that list will be referred to the Foreigners’ Tribunals in Assam, where, according to Section 9 of the 1946 Foreigners Act, they will have to prove that they are not irregular foreigners,UN experts said, pointing out that the process is open to bias and arbitrariness.
• The experts said they did not receive any response from the Central Government despite queries and repeated calls.
• They called on the Government of India and authorities in Assam and other States to avoid actions that could create statelessness, denial of nationality and mass expulsion and arbitrary detention.

26 lakh children are addicted to sedatives and inhalants: govt.

News

• Nearly 26 lakh children in the country are addicted to “sedatives and inhalants,” Social Justice and Empowerment Minister informed the Rajya Sabha.

Beyond News

• Social Justice and Empowerment Minister said alcohol was the most common psychoactive substance used by Indians followed by cannabis and opioids.
• Social Justice and Empowerment Minister said over 16 crore people in the country consume alcohol, around 3.1 crore use Cannabis and about 77 lakh people take opioids.
• More than 5.7 crore alcohol users, 72 lakh cannabis users and about 77 lakh opioid users are addicted and need help.
• Findings were part of a national household survey conducted by the Ministry in 2018.
• The survey also indicates that around 1.18 crore people between the age group of 10 and 75 are taking sedatives and 77 lakh are using inhalents.
• Children and adolescents were found to be using inhalents more than others.
• During the survey, over two lakh households were visited in 186 districts of the country and a total of 4,73,569 individuals were interviewed.
• Social Justice and Empowerment Minister said the government was also conducting a survey in 10 cities across the country to assess the pattern and profile of substance use among school and college students. The report was expected by November this year.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Union Budget 2019

News

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the maiden budget of Narendra Modi 2.0 government in the Lok Sabha.

   Highlights of Union Budget 2019

• PAN and Aadhaar will become interchangeable. You can use your Aadhaar number to file your I-T Returns soon.
• ₹5 lakh minimum limit announced for taxpayers. In view of rising income levels, those in the ₹2-5 crore and ₹5 crore-and-above brackets will see increase in effective tax rate by 3% and 7%, respectively.
• GST rate on electric vehicles proposed to be lowered to 5%. Additional income tax deduction of ₹1.5 lakh on interest on loans taken to purchase electric vehicles.
• Additional deduction of ₹1.5 lakh on loans up to March 31 2020 for buying affordable houses, giving ₹ 7 lakh benefit to home buyers. 
• Proposal to provide Aadhaar cards for NRIs with Indian passports, after their arrival in India, with no waiting period.
• ₹20 coin coming up.
• Excise duty on fuel hiked by ₹1.
• To resolve the angel tax issue, startups will not be subject to any scrutiny in respect to valuation. Funds raised by startups will not require any scrutiny by the I-T department.
• TDS of 2% on cash withdrawals exceeding ₹1 crore in a year from bank accounts, to discourage business payments in cash.
• Period of exemption for capital gains arising from sale of house for investment in startups to be extended to March 31, 2021.
• ₹70,000 crore in recapitalisation for public sector banks. 
• ₹1.05 lakh crore disinvestment target for the year.
• TV channel to be launched for promoting startups and to help matchmaking for funds.
• New national educational policy hopes to transform Indian education into one of the best in the world, with focus on bringing in foreign students.
• ₹50 lakh crores proposed for Railway infrastructure.
• By 2022, the 75th year of Independence, every single rural family, except those who are unwilling to take the connection, will have electricity and clean cooking facility.
• Stress on zero-budget farming, which is a form of gardening as a self-sustainable practice, with minimum external intervention. 
• The pension benefit will be extended to 3 crore retail traders under PM Karam Yogi Maan Dhan Scheme. It requires only Aadhaar numbers and bank accounts.
• ₹1 crore worth of loans proposed to MSMEs.
• Investment by FIIs and FDIs in debt securities in infrastructure debt funds to be allowed. Minimum public shareholding in listed companies can be increased from 25% to 35%.
• Global Investors Meet to happen in India.

Budget 2019 | Petrol, diesel to be costlier; tax on super-rich, gold imports

News

• Finance Minister hiked tax on petrol and diesel, raised import duty on gold, levied additional surcharge on super rich and brought a tax on high value cash withdrawals as Finance Minister sought to spur growth with reduction in corporate tax and sops to housing sector, startups and electric vehicles.

Beyond News

• Presenting the maiden budget of Modi 2.0 government in Lok Sabha, Ms. Sitharaman, the first full-time woman Finance Minister, proposed measures to ease liquidity crisis facing shadow banking sector (NBFCs) and providing ₹70,000 crore capital to public sector banks while seeking to raise additional resources through privatisation of some PSUs.
• In relief to tax payers, Finance Minister provided for an additional deduction of ₹1.5 lakh on interest paid on loans borrowed up to March 31, 2020 on purchase of a house up to ₹45 lakh.
• Corporate tax on companies with turnover of up to ₹400 crore has been slashed to 25 per cent from current 30 per cent. Presently, the lower tax rate is applicable on companies having a turnover of up to ₹250 crore.
• To boost use of electric vehicles, an additional income tax deduction of ₹1.5 lakh on interest paid on loans taken to purchase EVs has been proposed.
• Also the government has asked the GST Council to reduce tax rate on EVs from 12 per cent to 5 per cent. Customs duty on certain parts of EVs has been reduced.
• Finance Minister said startups and investors who file requisite declarations will not be subjected to any kind of scrutiny in respect of valuation of share premium.
• A mechanism of e-verification will be put in place and with this, the funds raised by startups will not require any tax scrutiny.
• Finance Minister raised special additional excise duty and road cess on petrol and diesel by ₹1 per litre each, saying lower crude oil prices provide with an opportunity to review taxes on the sector.
• Also, customs duty on gold and precious metals was raised from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent to mobilise resources.
• Basic customs duty was raised on an array of products including tiles, cashew kernels, vinyl flooring, auto parts, some synthetic rubber, digital and video recorder and CCTV camera.
• Excise duty of ₹ 5 per 1000 has been imposed on cigarettes of length exceeding 65 mm, while 0.5 per cent duty has been levied on chewing tobacco, zarda and tobacco extracts and essence.
• Finance Minister also proposed to made Aadhaar and PAN interchangeable for the purpose of filing Income Tax returns.
• To boost cash-less economy, Finance Minister said business establishments with annual turnover of₹50 crore will have to use BHIM, UPI, Aadhaar Pay, NEFT, RTGS modes of payments with no charges or merchant discount rates will be imposed on customers or merchants.
• The Finance Minister also proposed an additional income tax deduction of ₹1.5 lakh on interest paid on loans taken to buy electric vehicles.

Agriculture sees biggest boost in allocation in Union Budget 2019

News

• The budgeted expenditure for 2019-20 was pegged at Rs. 27.86 lakh crore, a 13.4% increase over the revised estimates for 2018-19.
• As usual, interest payments and subsidies (for food, petroleum and fertilizers) made up the largest components of the budget. 

Beyond News

• In terms of allocation, agriculture & allied activities received the biggest push (74% absolute increase) among all sectors compared to FY19. A huge chunk of this allocation is expected to go towards the PM Kisan scheme.
• The government would invest widely in agriculture infrastructure and support private entrepreneurship for value addition in the farm sector. Also stressed on “zero budget farming”, a practice which involves zero credit and reducing dependence on chemical fertilizers. 
• Commerce and industry and energy are the sectors that saw a decline in absolute terms. Rural development saw a modest rise of 4.2%. 
• With an increase in the budget expenditure, there is bound to be a rise in absolute terms across the sectors. Hence, it is imperative to look at what proportion of the budget was allocated to them.
• For instance,  defence allocation, which saw a 7% increase in absolute terms, lost out in terms of proportion in the 2018-19 budget estimates, defence accounted for 11.62% of the total expenditure, while in FY20, this dropped to 10.96% a difference of 0.66 percentage points.
• Also announced waiver of basic customs duty for import of defence equipment not manufactured in India.
• Agriculture, which formed 3.5% of the budget in FY19, comprised 5.4% of budgeted expenditure in FY20, an increase of 1.9 percentage points (the biggest rise).

YouTube bans videos on phishing, hacking

News

• YouTube’s recent policy update has added a list of “harmful or dangerous content”, including the addition of “instructional hacking and phishing” videos to the list and the changes have left content creators puzzled, the media has reported.

Beyond News

• The video-sharing platform has been facing flak for building a business on other people’s copyrights and in recent years for its vacillating policies on irredeemable content.
• Lack of clarity about the permissibility of cybersecurity-related content has been an issue for years. In the past, hacking videos in years past could be removed if enough viewers submitted reports objecting to them or if moderators found the videos violated other articulated policies.

Heftier fines for garbage violations from September in Bengaluru

News

• The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has proposed to increase the penalty for littering and indiscriminate dumping of waste, not segregating waste at source, dumping construction and building waste, and using banned plastic items.
• The revised amounts are likely to come into effect from September.

Beyond News

• To levy the fines, the BBMP had already begun recruitment of 233 marshals, and had also tied up with HDFC Bank, which would provide 500 hand-held machines for collecting fines on the spot.
• The machines will be used by assistant executive engineers, medical officers of health, health inspectors and marshals to levy fines on offenders.
• While bulk generators are already mandated to have in situ processing, the BBMP has developed an application to map their locations. It has also proposed to provide 50% rebate on SWM cess for those who have in situ processing facilities.
• The civic body is also proposing to float tenders and enlist agencies to collect waste from bulk generators. These agencies will have to pay a royalty to transport the waste from bulk generators to the BBMP’s processing plants.
• Work on setting up seven waste-to-energy plants is under way.
• A smart control room is being set up to monitor these initiatives. According to officials, it will be in place in two months.
• A pilot study on dumping patterns at black spots and on roads was taken up in a couple of places in East zone.
• The civic body has installed CCTV cameras at a few black spots. The cameras will capture dumping activity, apart from taking pictures of vehicles and registration numbers at the site. This data can be accessed and monitored at the smart control room.

CLICK HERE TO SEE DATE WISE CURRENT AFFAIRS