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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 11 July 2014

Highlights of the Budget:-

Arun Jaitley retains fiscal deficit target at 4.1%, outlines roadmap-

Government will retain the fiscal deficit (Total expenditure- Toal government non debt creating revenue)target for 2014-15 at 4.1 per cent of GDP and brought down to 3.6 per cent in 2015-16 and 3 per cent by 2016-17. There are many challenges to lowering fiscal deficit like low frowth, High interest rate, subsidy burden etc.
The CAD, which is the difference between inflows and outflows of foreign exchange, was brought down to 1.7 per cent of GDP in 2013-14, from a record 4.7 per cent in the previous year, because of actions taken by Government, RBI and Sebi.

Strong Emphasis on Rural Development-

Agriculture credit availability will be Rs. 8 lakh crore. Farmers who make prompt repayment will be given loan at 4 per cent interest.
rural infrastructure development fund of Rs. 5,000 crore will be available.
rovision has been made for developing agricultural warehouses at a cost of Rs. 5,000 crore.
The National Rural Livelihood Mission will be extended to 100 more districts.
Soil health cards will be provided to farmers and a new urea policy will be developed.
1000 crore for "Pradhan mantri krishi sinchayee yojana" for assured irrigation.
Shyam Prasad Mukharji Rurban Mission for integrated product based infrastructure.
Deen Dayal upadhayaya gram jyoti yojana for rural power.

Govt to review DTC bill in its present form

Draft DTC Bill prepared by the then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in 2010 which proposed the slabs at Rs 2-5 lakh (10 per cent) , Rs 5-10 lakh (20 per cent) and Rs 10 lakh and above (30 per cent). Here the corporate tax was proposed at 30 per cent.
The Standing Committee on Finance headed by Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha suggested raising the income tax exemption limit to Rs 3 lakh as against Rs 2 lakh proposed in the DTC Bill, 2010.
The Standing Committee in its recommendation suggested the slabs in the brackets of Rs 3-10 lakh, Rs 10-20 lakh and Rs 20 lakh and above. On corporate tax, it recommended that the rate be retained at 30 per cent.
11 per cent jump in Home Ministry’s budget
The Home Ministry was allocated Rs. 65,745 crore in the 2014-15 Budget announced on Thursday, a 11 per cent jump over last year’s outlay.
It is also proposed to set up ‘Crisis Management Centres’ in all the districts of National Capital Territory of Delhi this year in all government and private hospitals. The funding will be provided from the Nirbhaya Fund setup after 16th december 2012 incident in Delhi.
CRPF which is involved in anti-Naxal operations besides maintaining security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeastern region has been allocated Rs. 12,169.51 crore comparison to Rs. 11,373.72 crore it received last year.
The BSF, which guards Indo-Pak and Indo-Bangladesh borders ; Assam Rifles, which plays a key role in anti-insurgency operations in the Northeast and guards the Indo-Myanmar border ; The ITBP, which guards the icy heights along the Sino-Indian border etc. have all seen a rise in their allocation.
A sum of Rs. 11.37 crore has been allocated for developing traffic and communication networks and model traffic systems in NCR, Rs. 11.50 crore for installation of traffic signals in the national capital and Rs 110 crore for construction of fortified police stations in Naxal-affected states.

Govt proposes over Rs. 2,000 cr for Ganga Conservation Mission

An integrated programme for the conservation of river Ganga called “Namami Gange” with an outlay of Rs 2,037 crores has been proposed.
To harness the enthusiasm of the NRI community towards the conservation of the river Ganga, an ‘NRI Fund for Ganga’ will be set up which will finance special projects.
A sum of Rs. 100 crore has been set aside for Ghat development and beautification of the river front at Kedarnath, Haridwar, Kanpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Patna and Delhi.
The budget also contains the first ever effort to link the rivers across the country with the Finance Minister setting aside a sum of Rs. 100 crore in the current budget to expedite the preparation of Detailed Project Reports.

Govt to continue Aadhaar, provides Rs. 2k cr in 2014-15

A sum of Rs 2,039.64 crore has been provided for 2014-15 to execute the task of implementing Unique Identification as entrusted to Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
UIDAI was mandated to collect biometrics of 600 million residents in the country and rest of the population was to be covered under the National Population Register (NPR) project.
Cabinet Committee on UIDAI decided that all residents would be issue National Multi-purpose Identity Cards under NPR and UIDAI would generate Unique identification number for the entire population. Both UIDAI and NPR were to share the biometric data collected by them for issuing NMIC and generating unique identification number.
The NPR is a comprehensive identity database maintained by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India under the Home Ministry.

Government extends NDA’s senior citizen pension scheme for one more year

Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana, first introduced by the previous NDA government has been revived again for the period of one year.
ovt. also proposed setting up a committee to examine unclaimed amounts lying as deposits in accounts of PPF, Post Office and other saving schemes and recommend how this amount can be used to protect and further financial interests of the senior citizens.

Pinky Anand appointed ASG

Senior Advocate Pinky Anand has been appointed Additional Solicitor-General in the Supreme Court.
She is the second woman lawyer to be appointed ASG after senior advocate Indira Jaising.

Monsoon: Centre ready with contingency plan

The Centre is fully geared up to meet any eventuality arising from deficient southwest monsoon.
The government is ready with a contingency plan for 500 districts. It has held meetings with 12 States and advised them to arrange short-duration seeds, fertilizers, water and power to tide over the situation.
To meet additional requirement for power, the Agriculture Ministry requested the Power Ministry to arrange for 400 MW in the northern region, 1,000 MW for States which were dry and 3,000 MW for the southern region.