Budget

Budgets of Arunachal Pradesh

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Budgets of Arunachal Pradesh 2016-17

  • The estimated amount of money to be spent this financial year 2016-17is Rs.700 crore extra as compared to the last financial year, BE which stood atRs.12,533.62 crore,
  • The State’s share of Central Taxes under the 14th Finance Commission stood at Rs.7868.94 croreand central grants stood at Rs.3705.66crore, for FY 2016-17 The revenue receipt for the non-plan segment to be received from the centre is Rs.235.66 crore and for the plan segment is Rs.3470.00 crBudgets of Arunachal Pradeshore. Altogether, the revenue receipts from both centre and state amounts to Rs.12774.16 crore, a shortfall of Rs. 469.05 crore to meet the projected BE for FY 2016-17.
  • the plan segment for the FY2016-17, the Govt. projected the expenditure to be at Rs.6569.00 crore, this include revenue expenditure, capital expenditure and loans. Altogether the total expenditure projected for this FY2016-17 stands at Rs.13906.08 crore.

 

Health:

–From April 2016 onwards students pursuing BSc (Nursing), ANM and GNM would be given stipend of `1400 per month. With book grants of `3000, `2000, `1000 to BSc, GNM and ANM students respectively.
-De-addiction centre in Pasighat, Tezu, Hayuliang, Khonsa, Changlang and Longding. Proposed fund of `16 Crore in 2016-17
-Government proposed an allocation of ` 973.97 Crore in 2016-17

Education:

-State Govt. will create additional post of 184 teaching staff and 166 non- teaching staff.
-All schools shall be provided with 24X7 power supply by having provision from main line, solar inverter and DG Set in a phased manner
-Internet facility shall be made available wherever possible.
-From April 2016 onwards, Salaries of all SSA teachers will be paid regularly on a monthly basis.
-Enhanced rate of stipend to students; Class I to VIII – ` 900 Monthly, Class IX to XII- `1,100 and College Students – `1,400.
-Enhanced Annual Book grant to students;  MMBS students – ` 10,000, BAMS/BHMS/BDS – `  5,000, BE/BTech – ` 1,000 and Other Students – ` 1,000.  – Government proposed an allocation of ` 1985.98 crore in 2016-17 for education.

Labour and Employment:
-Government raised the minimum wages from `4500 to `6000 per month for unskilled and fixed ` 7000 for skilled labour.

Agriculture:

-Government proposed an allocation of about `182 Crore in 2016-17.

Horticulture:

-Government proposed to make a provision of `5 crore for a scheme to provide alternative source of livelihood to opium and cannabis growers. Under this scheme, farmers will get ` 7 lakh to setup large cardamom and kiwi gardens.
-Government propsed an allocation of about `27 Crore in 2016-17.

Environment and Forests:

-Proposed to make a tentative allocation of ` 10 Crore for raising 2 battalions of Eco-task force.
-7 Crore provision for up gradation of Itanagar Zoological Garden

Municipal Council:

-Allocation of `8.96 Crore for construction of collection points, dustbins in various locations of Capital Complex region.

-Government will create 60 posts including two executive engineers, four assistant engineers, and 7 junior engineers apart from ministerial staffs like UDC, LDC, Computer Operators and fourth grade staffs.

Building and Road:

-Proposal of `14 Crore for Jully bypass road and `12 Crore for Itanagar-Jote road.

Police:

-Government will provide 224 vehicles for mobility of police force.
– Provision of `44 Crore for construction of women police stations including housing facilities in all districts.

–Community Policing Suvidha Centre will be established to provide police services to the citizens and the aim behind it is to reduce fear psychosis of general public towards police.  Services to be provided by the CPSC are registration of foreigners, tenant verification, Registration and investigation of servants, Passport verification, Police clearance Certificate at the time of foreign immigration, Vehicle verification, Character verification, Copy of FIR, Missing reports etc.

-`1000 per month to police personnel as ration allowance.

IPR:

-Enhance the Corpus fund for journalist welfare from existing `1 crore to `2 crore. Additional `2 crore for construction of media colony increasing the total allocation from`3 crore to `5 crore.

Sports and Youth Affairs:

-Proposed `2 crore for CM football and Volleyball Trophy tournaments.

-`10 crore for setting up of a Youth Convention hall with resource centre and multi discipline hall at SLSA complex, Chimpu.

District Administration:

-Earmarked  `60 lakh to each Deputy Commissioner as untied fund for meeting the development needs of the district.

-Increased honorarium of `1500 to Head Gaon Burah and ` 1000 to the Gaon Burah.

DoTCL:

-Government proposed to keep a provision of `50 Crore in this budget for the overall development in the districts of Tirap, Changlang and Longding.

MLALAD:

-Proposed to increase MLALAD allocation from the current ` 1.25 Crore per annum to `2 Crore per annum.

Arunachal Pradesh Schemes and Projects

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Arunachal Pradesh Schemes and Projects

Chief Minister’s Adarsh Gram Yoiana 2017

  • The Government of Arunachal Pradesh has decided to implement the Ghief Minister’s Adarsh Gram Yojana 2017 fot creating model villages in the state.

OBJECTIVE

  • The Objective of the scheme is to develop 60 Model Villages in Arunachal Pradesh, which are equipped with all basic amenities such as 24×7 Piped Drinking water,
  • Electricity at household level, primary school, primary health infrastructure, internal roads, avenues of employment generataon and are open defecation free.

SALIENT FEATURES

  1. A total of 60 model villages (l village per Legislative Assembly Constituency) will be developed initially within a period of 2 years.
  2. Selection of villages will be done by a committee headed by Deputy Commissioner along with HOO’s of respective districts and the concerned MLAs.
  3. A total outlay of Rs 1.5 Crores per village has been provided.
  4. Block Development Office will be the nodal implementing Agency.
  5. In order to generate rural employment, all works that do not require specific skills will be done by the villagers who are willing to work and are above 18 years of age. Wages will be paid as per latest MGNREGA guidelines and works will be dovetailed with MGNREGA scheme of Government of lndia.
  6. A shelf of works for the village will be recommended and approved by Gram Sabha and submitted to the BDO. This would be forwarded to the office of the Deputy Commissioner for Administrative and Technical Approval and Sanctions.
  7. All account and records relating to the scheme would be available for public scrutiny.
  8. There would be an effort on convergence with other CSS / State Plan Schemes including MLALAD for optimal results.

 

Chief Minister’s District Innovation and Challenge Fund

  • The Government of Arunachal Pradesh has decided to implement the Scheme of “Chief Minister’s District Innovation and Challenge Fund” to ensure that public investment in the district is responsive to local requirements of the districts.
  • The following would be the key objectives of the scheme:
    1. To fill in vital gaps in public infrastructure available at the district level which is not being fully utilized in absence of relatively small investment e.g. Gove:nment hospital witfr non-functional diagnostic equipment.
    2. Catalyze opportunities for Skill Development, Sustainable Livelihood and entrepreneurship.
    3. Schemes which have positive impacts of eFficient service delivery system.
    4. Schemes which are oriented towards social sectors – Health and Education.
    5. Schemes which are targeted on welfare of marginalized section of the society. Sub:- Chief Minister’s District Innovation and Challenqe Fund.
    6. Development of Eco-tourism

Chief Minister’s Krishi Rinn Yoiona

  • The Government of Arunachal Pradesh has decided to provide a facility of Zero interest crop loan to farmers of the State to enable them easy access to formal credit through banking channels.
  • The Government of Arunachal Pradesh has decided to launch “Chief Minister’s Krishi Rinn Yojana” which will have the following features:-
  1. The Government of Arunachal Pradesh would provide interest subvention oi 4o/o on crop loan / Kisan Credit Card limit up to Rs.3.00 lakhs sanctioned by all banks to all farmers of the State during the current financial year. This interest subvention will be over and above the subvention given by Govt of lndia to banks and the farmers as per policy circular issued by RBI/NABARD
  2. The farmers would also get interest relief @ 30k per annum who promptly repay their short term production credit (crop loan) within one year of disbursement / drawal of such loan. ln effect, farmers who take loan of upto Rs 3.00 lakhs and make timely repayments will get access to zero interest credit facility.
  3. NABARD will act as channel partner for reimbursement to banks against interest subvention amount claims in prescribed format, for which a circular will be issued to all the banks separately.
  4. The State Government will be issuing a notification wherein a certificate of area and crop being cultivated issued by Circle Officer which will be accepted as valid documents by bank for issuance of Kisan Credit Card to the farmers.
  5. This scheme will not be available for production of perennial food crop, plantation crop.
  6. Banks and district will give adequate publicity to the above scheme so that th6 iarmers can avail the benefits.
  7. Beneflt under scheme will be extended to farmers availing KCC / crop production loan from commercial banks, APRB and APSCAB Ltd at the same terms and conditions prescribed by RBI / NABARD. Banks will make available the KCC loan application formats being used at present to all the farmers willing to apply for KCC in short term crop loan.
  8. The State Government has set a target of 7500 farmers to be covered under crop loan under Chief Minister’s Krishi Rinn Yojana in this financial year. The districl wise/bank wise target will be circulated separately to all DCs and concerned banks. These targets will be reviewed in the DLCC meetings and SLBC meetings. Any bank which fails to meet the stipulated target would be reported to RBI and Department of Financial Services.
  9. The Circle Officers will function as Financial Extension Officers of the State Government and also help the banks in timely recovery of crop loans.

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Bunkar Yojana

The Government of Arunachal Pradesh has decided to launch the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Bunkar Yojana to encourage the women weavers to access affordable credit from banks for working capital requirements.Arunachal Pradesh Schemes and Projects

  1. It has been decided to introduce 7% interest subvention on short term credit / Cash Credit limit / working capital limit / Weavers Credit Card / Swarojgar Credit card availed by the women weavers of the State. The Scheme will be applicable for loans availed from Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Bank on or after 01 .04.2017 and disbursed during current financial year.
  2. lnterest subvention will be qalculated on the short term loan amount from the date of its disbursement / drawl upto the date of actual repayment of the loan by the weavers or upto the due date of the loans fixed by the banks, whichever is earlier, subject to a maximum period of one year.
  3. The benefit of the Scheme will not be applicable to term loans and other loans extended by the Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks and Cooperative Banks to weaVers.
  4. The loan application will be forwarded through Circle Officer who will certify that the applicant is in p6ssession of a working loom(s).
  5. The Scheme will cover all categories of women weavers, irrespective of unit size /no. of looms and will be covered under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana.
  6. Only individual women weaVer or group of woman weavers will be eligible under the Scheme. Cbmpanies and partnership firms will not be eligible.
  7. The interest subvention will be applicable for working capital loan upto Rs. 2.00 lakh irrespective of the quantum of loan extended to the weaver by the bank.
  8. A target of 3000 women weavers has been fixed for this financial year and the bank wise / district wise target will be circulated in due course. Banks who default in targets would be reported to RBl.
  9. NABARD will act as channel partner for reimbursement of interest subvention to banks which have to be claimed by the banks in the prescribed format. NABARD will issue detailed circulars to the banks in this regard.
  10. The District Administration and the bank will make all efforts for wide publicity of the scheme and the Circle Officers shall educate women self-help groups and individual weavers for timely loan repayment.

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Swalamban Yoiona

The Government of Arunachal Pradesh has decided to launch the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Swalamban Yojana to encourage unemployed youth to gain access to low cost capital for entrepreneurship.

  1. Under this scheme, a provision of 30% back ended capital investment subsidy has been made for entrepreneurs, who wish to set up small and medium enterprises with a loan from Rs. 10.00 lakhs upto Rs.1 .00 crore excluding the cost of land and building.
  2. Women entrepreneurs will be additionally eligible for 5% interest subsidy annually provided the entrepreneurs does not become Non-Performing Asset (NPA).
  3. Entrepreneurs will be required to be registered under Stand Up lndia Scheme. The sectors are covered under this scheme :-.
  1. Value addition in agriculture, horticulture and allied sectors including packaging, cold chain, cold storage, milk processing, food processing etc.
  2. Ecotourism including home stays and tour operators.
  3. Traditional textile weaving for modernisation of traditional looms and ‘ purchase of new looms to start a new weaving unit.
  4. (Small scale manufacturing units to be set up by qualified graduates.
    • Entrepreneurs would be required to contribute at least 10% of project cost as their contribution. Preference will be given to those who contribute a greater proportion.

Government sanctions a major power transmission scheme for Arunachal Pradesh & Sikkim to bring them fully into the grid

  • The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, approved the Comprehensive Scheme for Strengthening of Transmission & Distribution (T&D) Systems (CSST&DS) in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim at an estimated cost of Rs.4754.42 crore.
  • The scheme is to be taken up under a new Central Sector Plan Scheme of Ministry of Power (MoP).
  • As the intra-state T&D systems in the North-Eastern states have remained very weak, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) developed the CSST&DS for the North East Region (NER) in consultation with the Power Grid Corporation of the India Limited (PGCIL) and State Governments concerned.
  • Presently, only 5 out of 20 districts of Arunachal Pradesh are connected to transmission network at 132/220 KV.
  • The 33 KV system is the backbone of power distribution system in the State.
  • Due to low population density spread over its geographical area of 84,000 sq.km, power demand in Arunachal Pradesh is scattered over large distances. Hence it is necessary to provide 132 KV connectivity in the state for proper voltage management and lower distribution losses.
  • Similarly, the distribution system in Sikkim mainly relies on 66 KV network, which needs to be strengthened substantially.
  • In view of this, it is proposed to take up projects for strengthening intra-state T&D systems of the two States through 31 new 132 KV sub-stations, 14 substations of 66/11 KV, 2035 km of transmission lines (132 & 220 KV) and 2204 km of transmission lines (33 & 66 KV).
  • The project would be implemented through PGCIL with its consultancy fee of 1.2 percent of the execution cost.
  • After commissioning, the projects would be owned and maintained by the State Governments.
  • Initially the project was proposed to be funded under Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resource (NLCPR – Central) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DONER).
  • But DONER has conveyed its inability due to budgetary constraints.
  • Hence it is proposed to take it up through a new Central Sector Scheme under the MoP’s budget.
  • The project is to be implemented within 48 months from the first fund release to PGCIL

50 Biotech Laboratories to be established in Senior Secondary Schools of Arunachal Pradesh

  • Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, will set up 50 Biotech Laboratories in Senior Secondary Schools of Arunachal Pradesh under the scheme Biotech Labs in Senior Secondary Schools (BLISS) to encourage young dynamic students.
  • 75 to 100 crores have been earmarked for the implementing the projects.
  • This project will be jointly funded by Department of Bio-Technology and Rural Technology Centre of Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.
  • A State Level Biotech Hub will also be set up in the State for conducting high-end researches and training North Eastern Region Researchers and students, to create and train employable manpower.
  • For protection of indigenous traditional knowledge of the State, an Intellectual Property(IP) Cell will be set up in the State Science and Technology Council.
  • Five centres of excellence will also be established in different areas of Biotechnology in the State.
  • Setting up biotechnology labs in the schools will directly benefit more than ten thousand students and teachers of the state towards promoting education in biotechnology and attracting billion young students with multidisciplinary research areas.
  • The outreach programme will immensely help in generating awareness and enhancing literacy and promoting public understanding of biotechnology in the state.

 

India’s longest bridge brings Assam closer to Arunachal Pradesh

  • The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, inaugurated India’s longest bridge – the 9.15 km long Dhola-Sadiya bridge over the River Brahmaputra, in Assam.
  • The bridge will ensure 24X7 connectivity between upper Assam and Eastern part of Arunachal Pradesh, marking a major transformation from the ferry-based, day-only connectivity that collapsed during floods.
  • It will also reduce the distance and travel time between the two states.
  • The distance between Rupai on NH- 37 in Assam to Meka/Roing on NH-52 in Arunachal Pradesh will be cut down by 165 KM. The travel time between the two places will come down from the current six hours to just one hour – a total five hour reduction.
  • Dhola-Sadiya bridge opens the door for economic development in the North East on a big scale.

 

Arunachal Pradesh Public Finance and Fiscal Policy

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Arunachal Pradesh Public Finance and Fiscal Policy

The own resource of the State to finance its budget is very low, and the state is highly dependent on the central inflow. Thus, the budgetary policy of the government is constrained by limited own resources on the one hand, and high unit cost of supply of public and merit goods, on the other.

The economic reform process initiated by the central government in the beginning of the 1990s has also constrained the state in terms of access to soft central resources. Adding to it, due to implementation of 6th pay commission, has resulted in bulging of the public debt which reached 68.9 per cent of the GSDP in 2006-07 and more than 100 percent in2008-09.Arunachal Pradesh Public Finance and Fiscal Policy

Further, easy access to market borrowing (after the implementation of 12th Finance Commission Report) has refueled the process, and as a result, outstanding liability of the state as shown in the budget of 2007-08 climbed to 100 percent of GSDP in 2008-9. It is with this background that the finance and fiscal issues of the state have to be considered.

Broad Budgetary trend

From 1993-94 to 2000-01, except the years 2000-01, the state had surplus in revenue account (Arunachal Pradesh Development Report, 2009). The surplus was more than 10 percent of GSDP. From 2001-02 to 2005-06 the surplus was less than 5 percent. From 2006-7 onwards the surplus became more than 10 percent in average up to the year 2012-13.

The trend in fiscal deficit is also same in line of revenue deficit. It was 3 to 9 percent of GSDP in between 1993-1998-99. In 1999-2000, it went up above 40 percent of GSDP then remained stable around 15 to 20 percent of GSDP).

From 2001-2 to 2005-06it was hovering around 12 to 15 percent of GSDP. After the stricture given by 12th Finance commission, fiscal deficit came down to less than 5 percent of GSDP up to in 2006-07, 2007-8 and in 2009-10.

Again from 20011-12 onwards fiscal deficit is hovering around 10 percent of GSDP. Interest payment as a percentage of GSDP was around 5-6 percent in between 1993-94 to 2000-01. From 2001 to 2006-7 it remained around 4 percent and there after started declining and became 2.46 percent in 2012-13.

Outstanding Debt

Market Loan: Share of Market loan in total outstanding liability has undergone a significant change over time during 1991-92 and 2007-08.1 In Arunachal Pradesh, the share went up from 12.24 percent in 1991- 92 to 19.27 percent in 2006-07. Then, with some variation marker loan alone constitute 26.44 percent of total outstanding liability in 2013-14. Thus, over time, market loan is gaining importance in the state.

 NSSF: As discussed above, NSSF became a separate head in the debt accounting system in 1999-2000. Therefore, here the analysis will pertain to the period 2000-01 and 2013-14. In 2000-01, NSSF had a small share of 0.14 percent in 2001-02. In 2006-07, the share became 19.27 percent in Arunachal Pradesh and hovered around as low as 9 percent in 2008-09 and became 15.63 percent in 2013-14.

Loan from Financial institutions: Under this head also a significant change in share was observed during 1991-92 and 2007-08 in Arunachal Pradesh. It was as low as 0.14 percent in 2000-01 and as high as 21 percent in 2006-07. Subsequently remained around 15-17 percent thereafter.

Loan and Advance from the Central government: Central government’s Loan and Advance to the states was around 56.33 percent in 2006-07 in Arunachal Pradesh.Wihh a steady decline it became 6.97 percent in 2013-14. Thus, in 2006-07, a drastic fall in the share of Central government loan in total outstanding debt liability took place. This was basically due to conversion of high interest rate bearing central loan by low interest loan from the market and financial institution. Further, it happened because of 12th Finance Commissions’ incentives.

 Public Accounts: Share of Public accounts in total debt liability was 40 percent and above in the state in 1991-2.Within the public accounts share of provident fund increased from 11.54 percent in 1991-92 to 36.33 percent in 2006-07. Then it declined to 11 percent in 2008-09. In between 2009-10 and 2013-14 it remained around 23 to 25 percent.

Implementation of FRBM Act in Arunachal Pradesh

In Arunachal Pradesh FRBM Act has been implemented since 2006-07. FRBM Act’s provisions were passed into a law in March 2006. Since then the State Government  has been implementing the different provisions in letter and spirit. The FRBM Act was amended in 2010-11 and the following targets were set:

  • To maintain revenue surplus in all the years from 2010-11 to 2014-15;
  • To reduce fiscal deficit to 3 per cent of GSDP by 2011-12 and maintain the
  • Same during 2011-15, The amended FRBM set the year-wise target of total debt in relation to the State’s GSDP.

Composition of Revenue

The tax collected by the Government of Arunachal Pradesh constitutes a small portion, less than 5 percent, of the total revenue at its disposal. The rest are share of central tax, the state’s own non-tax revenue, and most important of all, the grant from the Central Government.

From 2001-02 to 2011-12 own tax of the state averaged 3.63 percent of the total revenue. On the other end of the spectrum is the grant from the Central Government, which averaged as high as 84.06 percent of the total revenue. Not only own-tax revenue, but also the share of the central tax is not high, being only 12.31 percent of the total during the eleven-year period from 2001-02 to 2011-12.

Total tax, own and central share, averaged 15.94 percent of the total during 2001-12. Compared with the own tax, the state’s own non-tax is high averaging 11.92 percent of the total revenue during 2001-02.

Revenue and Capital expenditure

The overall expenditure of the Government of Arunachal Pradesh is dominated by what is called ‘consumption; the revenue part of the expenditure varied during 2001-12 from a low of 66.68 percent to a high of 74.62 percent of the total.

The capital expenditure varied between 25.38 percent of the total to 33.32 percent. Table 2. 3 shows the composition of expenditure and its magnitude in the State’s GSDP. The Government expenditure is very high in the state forming more than 50 percent of its GSDP.

The expenditure varied during 2001-12 between 53.82 percent of the GSDP, the lowest value and 74.77 percent, the highest value. The revenue expenditure varied from a low of 39.67 percent of the GSDP in 2011-12 to a high of 50.49 percent of the GSDP in 2008-09. The capital expenditure as the percentage of the GSDP was lowest in 2001-02, only 13.66. This percentage reached the peak during the reference period in 2008-09 when it was 24.28 percent of the GSDP.

 

30.01.18 Arunachal Pradesh(APPSC) Current Affairs

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NORTH-EASTERN STATES

  • Territorial integrity of North eastern states won’t be compromised: Rajnath

 

  • Territorial integrity of Assam and other northeastern states will not be compromised when the final Naga peace accord is inked, home minister Rajnath Singh assured Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal.

 

  • The insurgent group NSCN-IM’s key demand is to integrate the Naga-inhabited areas of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Manipur, which has been strongly opposed by the three states, currently ruled by the BJP.

 

  • The NSCN-IM has been engaged with peace talks with the interlocutor of the central government since 1997 when it announced a ceasefire agreement after a bloody insurgency movement which started in Nagaland soon after the country’s Independence. 

     

    INTERNATIONAL

     

    • ‘Aadhaar’ is Oxford’s first Hindi word of the year

     

    • Dictionaries at the Jaipur Literature Festival.

     

    • ‘Aadhaar’ also becomes the first Oxford Dictionaries Hindi Word of the Year.

     

    • The accompanying shortlisted words include Notebandi, Swachh, Vikaas, Yoga and Bahubali.

     

    ·        India Cheapest Country To Live In After South Africa: Survey

     

    • India is ranked second only to South Africa as the cheapest country to live or retire, according to a recent survey of 112 countries by GoBankingRates.
    • The survey ranked nations on the bases of four key affordability metrics. The metrics are Local purchasing power index, rent index, Groceries index, and Consumer price index.
    • India’s local purchasing power is 20.9% lower, rent is 95.2% cheaper, groceries are 74.4% cheaper, local goods and services are 74.9% cheaper.
    • The top three most expensive countries in the survey are Bermuda (ranked 112), Bahamas (111), and Hong Kong (110).

     

     

    NATIONAL

     

    ·        Economic Survey 2018:  Brief Summary

     

    • The Economic Survey, an annual publication of the Finance Ministry, is presented in both houses of Parliament during the Budget Session. It is a review of the developments in the country’s economy over the previous one year.
    • Sticking to the practice started last year, finance minister Arun Jaitley will present Union Budget 2018 on 1 February.
    • It presents a summary of the performance of the government’s major development programmes undertaken during that period.
    • It also details the main policy initiatives of the government.

     

    • The  Survey sees FY19 GDPgrowing 7-7.5% vs 75% in FY18.

     

    • The Due to higher expected increase in imports, net exports of goods and services are slated to decline in 2017-18.

     

    • The Exports biggest source of the boost to growth.

     

    • It points out that the GDP growth has averaged 7.3% for the period from 2014-15 to 2017-18, which is the highest among the major economies of the world.

     

    • Demonetisation helped share of financial saving to rise.

     

    • The ratio of domestic saving to GDP reached 29.2 percent in 2013 to a peak of 38.3 percent in 2007, before falling back to 29 percent in 2016.

     

    • The Sanitation coverage in rural India increased substantially from 39 percent in 2014 to 76 percent in January 2018. With the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) on October 2, 2014, the sanitation coverage in rural India increased substantially.

     

    • So far, 296 districts and 307,349 villages all over India have been declared Open Defecation Free (ODF).

     

    • India is gradually improving its performance in Science and Technology. In 2013, India ranked 6th in the world in scientific publications. Its ranking has been increasing consistently. The growth of annual publications between 2009 to 2014 was almost 14%. This increased India’s share in global publications from 3.1% in 2009 to 4.4% in 2014 as per the Scopus Database.

     

    • The foreign exchange reserves grew by 14.1% on a year-on-year basis from the end of Dec 2016 to end of Dec 2017.

     

    • The forex reserves as per 2016-17 were estimated at USD 370 billion. It grew to USD 409.4 billion in 2017-18.

     

     

     

    ·        VINBAX: India and Vietnam hold first military exercise in Jabalpur

     

    • The India-Vietnam Bilateral Army Exercise (VINBAX-2018)was conducted at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh.
    • It is the first military exercise between the two countries.
    • The six-day-long military exercise (from January 29 to February 3, 2018) was conducted as part of joint training undertaken with friendly foreign countries by Indian Army.
    • VINBAX-2018 was Table Top Exercise to carry out training for Peace Keeping Operations under United Nations (UN) mandate.
    • The Defence ties between India and Vietnam have been on an upswing with the primary focus being cooperation in the maritime domain.

    ·        International Bird Festival To Be Held In Dudhwa National Park

     

    • A three-day international bird festivalwill be held at the Dudhwa National Park, Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh in February 2018 with nearly 200 leading ornithologists expected to attend.
    • The purpose of the international bird festival is to promote eco-tourism in Dudhwa and to give it a distinct international identity besides highlighting its traditional Tharu arts, culture, and heritage.

     

    ·        Asias biggest auto testing track inaugurated in Madhya Pradesh

     

    • Union Minister Babul Supriyo and Madhya Pradesh Industrial minister Rajendra Shukla inaugurated Asia’s biggest auto testing track in Pithampur of Dhar district, Madhya Pradesh.
    • The country’s research and development activities in the sector of automobile engineering and technology will get a boost, due to the construction of the auto testing track in Pithampur.
    • Pithampur will emerge as a hub of the automobile industry in future.
    • Union Minister further mentioned that the state government has provided 4 thousand acre land to NATRiP and the National Auto Testing Track has been developed on 3 thousand acre land.
    • Automobile units can be established by the industrialists on the remaining one thousand acre land.

     

    ·        Sandeep Lamichhane Becomes 1st Nepal Player To Get IPL Contract

     

    • Sandeep Lamichhane became the first cricketer from Nepal to land a deal an IPL contract.
    • He was picked by Delhi Daredevils in the player’s auction.
    • The 17-year-old, the only Nepal player in the IPL auction, was sold at his base price of Rs 20 lakh.
    • The leg-spinner rose to prominence with a successful outing at the 2016 U-19 World Cup where he guided Nepal to a creditable eighth place.
    • He hogged the limelight by becoming the second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 14 scalps in six innings.

Arunachal Pradesh Tax and economic reforms

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Arunachal Pradesh Tax and economic reforms

Major Land Mark Economic Reform Goods and Service tax

The launch of GST on July 1, 2017 was indeed a historic occasion and a paradigm shift as India moved towards ‘One Nation, One Tax, One Market’.

Benefits:

  • Consumers – Removal of cascading in taxes and efficiency gains will bring down the overall cost paid by consumers.
  • Trade and Industry –
  1. It will benefit because of uniform single indirect tax throughout the country, seamless flow of input tax credit, removal of tax related barriers ate inter-state borders, reduced logistic costs, end to end IT enabled system and minimal interface with tax authorities.
  2. Exports will become more competitive and Make in India programme will get a major fillip due to increased ease of doing business and protection from cheap imports as all imports will be subject to integrated GST, in addition to the basic custom duty.
  • Manufacturers – They will be able to take rational decisions with regard to sourcing of raw materials, location of manufacturing and warehousing facilities.
  • Central and State Governments – Will witness tax buoyancy and the tax collection costs will reduce significantly.
  • Ease of doing business –
  1. Simpler tax regime with fewer exemption
  2. Reduction in compliance costs – no multiple record keeping for a variety of taxes so lesser manpower needed
  3. Simplified and automated procedures for various processes such as registration, returns, refunds etc.
  4. All interaction to be through the common GSTN portal – minimal public interface between the tax payers and administration
  5. Harmonization of laws, procedures and rates of taxes

Need for Constitutional Amendment:

  • Indian constitution had clearly demarcated the fiscal powers between Centre and States as per the entries in Union and State list.
  • Centre – Levy tax on the manufacture of goods (except alcoholic liquor for human consumption, opium, narcotics etc.). Centre, alone, is also empowered to levy service tax.
  • State – Levy tax on the sale of goods.
  • In case on inter-state sales, the Centre had power to levy tax (the Central Sale Tax) by the tax was collected and retained entirely by the states.
  • Amendment concurrently empowered the Centre and States to levy and collect GST.

Journey to launch of GST in India:

  • The idea of GST was first mooted in 2000 and a committee was set up under the chairmanship of Asim Dasgupta (the then West Bengal Finance Minister).
  • In 2003, another task force under Vijay Kelkar to recommend tax reforms were formed.
  • During the presentation of 2006-07 union budget, the govt. proposed to introduce GST from April 1, 2010.
  • The constitutional amendment (122nd) bill was introduced in 2014 and finally became act in September 2016. It became the 101st Amendment act.

Constitution (101st Amendment) Act 2016:

  • It empowers both, the Centre and the States, to levy and collect GST.
  • The GST has been defined as a tax on supply of goods or services or both, except supply of alcoholic liquor for human consumption.
  • Thus, alcohol for human consumption has been kept out of the GST by way of the definition of GST in the constitution.
  • On the other hand, five petroleum products viz. petroleum crude, motor spirit (petrol), high speed diesel, natural gas and aviation turbine fuel have temporarily been kept out and GST council would decide the date from which they shall be inducted in GST.
  • Inter-State supply of goods and services (Integrated GST, IGST) would be levied and collected by Centre. It will ensure that the GST is truly destination based consumption tax and there is seamless flow of input tax credit, even when goods and services are moving from one state to another state.

The GST Council of Arunachal Pradesh Tax and economic reforms:

  • The guiding principle of the GST Council is to ensure harmonization of different aspects of GST between the Centre and the States as well as among States with a view to develop a harmonized national markets for goods and services within India.
  1. Chairperson – Union FM,Arunachal Pradesh Tax and economic reforms
  2. Vice Chairperson – to be chosen amongst the ministers of State Govt.
  3. Members – MOS (Finance) and all Ministers of Finance/Taxation of each state
  4. Quorum – 50% of total members
  5. States – 2/3 weightage and Centre – 1/3 weightage
  6. Decision by 75% majority (the weightage of voting has been so assigned that it is not possible for either the Centre or the states to take any decision unilaterally)
  • However, till now all the decisions in the council have been taken by consensus and there has not been any occasion for voting.
  • The difficult issue of cross empowerment and administrative division of tax payers between the states and center was resolved in a true spirit of give and take.
  • Council to make recommendations on everything related to GST including laws, rules and rates etc.
  • The newly created constitutional body, the GST Council, has emerged as a new model of cooperative federalism, where the centre and the states are willing to share and pool in their sovereignty and give fiscal space to each other.

Compensation to the Arunachal Pradesh Tax and economic reforms:

  • As GST is a destination based tax, there was an apprehension that many manufacturing states might lose revenue after implementation of GST.
  • Hence, the act provides for the compensation to the States for loss of revenue arising on account of implementation of GST for a period of 5 years.
  • The compensation act has fixed the revenues of the year 2015-16 as the base year revenues and further a nominal annual growth rate of 14% has been provided.
  • The Act provides for levying of a cess, which shall be used for compensation to the states in case there is loss of revenue. This cess shall be levied on luxury items and goods.

Deciding Tax Rates of Arunachal Pradesh Tax and economic reforms:

  • While deciding tax rates, the council has tried to achieve balance between three objective:
  • To ensure that interests of poor and vulnerable sections of the society are protected and goods of mass consumption and essential commodities remain at affordable level.
  • To ensure that the overall revenues of the States and the Centre are protected.
  • To see that the tax incidence on the goods and services does not increase or decrease substantially from the present incidence of tax.
  • Hence four tax rates of 5%, 12%, 18% and 28% slabs have been decided.

Supporting Medium and Small Enterprises:

  • The law provides for an exemption threshold where by it is not mandatory for a business whose aggregate turnover in a financial year is less than Rs. 20 lakh ( Rs. 10 lakh for special category states) to register.
  • There is also a composition scheme under which an eligible registered person, whose aggregate turnover in preceding financial year did not exceed Rs. 75 lakhs can opt to file summarized returns on a quarterly basis.
  • The taxpayers dealing in goods and restaurant sector can only opt for the composition
  • Under the composition scheme, the manufacturer will pay tax at the rate of 1%, restaurant sector @ 2.5% and traders @ 0.5% of the turnover each under CGST act and SGST act.
  • However, the service providers and the tax payers making inter-state supplies or making supplies through e-commerce operators are not eligible for composition scheme.

Tracking Tax leakages and Corruption:

  • The mechanism of matching of invoices will ensure that the input tax credit of purchased goods and services will only be available if the taxable supplies received by the buyers get matched against the taxable supplies received by the suppliers.
  • The GST Network is responsible for the IT backbone and is geared to generate more than 3 billion invoices per month.
  • It will check tax frauds, tax evasion and would bring more and more businesses into formal economy.
  • Tax payers can register, file returns and make payment of taxes on a single portal on the
  • Even in rare case, if the tax payer is to interact with the tax authorities, he will have to interact with only one authority either from the State govt. or from the Central govt.

Conclusion:

The launch of GST is a transformative reform and will change the way businesses are done in India. Radical change of this magnitude is bound to bring about some pain bu the gains of little pain are going to be many and long lasting for the Indian economy.

 

Main Features of Arunachal Economy

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Main Features of Arunachal Economy

Introduction

  • The economy of Arunachal Pradesh is predominantly agrarian. Agriculture and allied activities have overriding importance as a source of livelihood to the people of Arunachal Pradesh.
  • The State’s economy is characterized by persistent stringent financial situation marked by a very low level of State’s own resources co-existing with high level of borrowing.
  • The State has been suffering from impaired economic development due to bottlenecks in development of roads, civil aviation etc. in terms of per capita State Domestic Product and other development indices such as power, road length, Arunachal Pradesh ranks below national average.
  • Arunachal Pradesh is one of the Special Category States and is largely dependent on Central Assistance for Plan investment as the scope of internal mobilization of resources is limited in Arunachal Pradesh in view of low tax base. Therefore, the prime mover of the growth of the economy has been the flow of funds from the Centre.
  • The relatively isolated economies of the tribal communities of the area, which were later reorganized as Arunachal Pradesh, were gradually integrated into the larger economy only after independence, and more particularly after the Indo-China war of 1962. Apart from the relatively late exposure to modernization, another specificity of the historical transformation of the Arunachal economy was the role of the State as the prime mover in this process of gradual transformation and integration of the economy.
  • Arunachal Pradesh has now witnessed remarkable social and economic changes within a comparatively short period of time. The State’s economy has not only experienced a remarkable growth over the past decades, it has diversified from agriculture and forestry based subsistence economy into a market economy.
  • In 1970-71 the per capita Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) of Arunachal Pradesh was 56.14 percent of the per capita national income. Starting from a very low base, Arunachal’s per capita income increased at a faster rate than the country’s national income.
  • The predominantly barter economies are in the process of being transformed into a monetized economy. The market institutions are still underdeveloped in many respects, and there is a great deal of regional variations in the degree of integration with the market economy.
  • There is a significant change in terms of land tenure system, which is steadily leading to individual ownership by making collective ownership (clan, village, community ownership) a marginal phenomenon. In urban or semi-urban areas, land became a commodity for earning cash and ‘brewing social conflicts’
  • Subsistence nature of farming coupled with modern consumption structure is the driving force behind the changing economic institutions in Arunachal Pradesh. The rural urban migration, due to pull factors in the state, has resulted in substantial increase in employment in service sector. Thus, the process of modernization has led to the transformation of the traditional economic institutions in the State.
  • In the context of Arunachal Pradesh, power sector is the most vital infrastructure input for socio- economic development and has assumed centre stage because of huge hydropower potential.
  • At the time of independence there were less than 100 km. of dirt roads. At the time attaining statehood in 1987 the total road length was only 3419 km and today it stands at 21066.36 km i.e., 25.16 km/ 100 sq. km a quantum jump in progress.
  • The prospect of creating an industrial base in the state seems daunting in the light of the ecological and economic specificities of the state. However, a carefully designed strategy for establishing specific industries having strong forward and backward linkages has been envisaged in the New Industrial Policy-2008 of the State.

Economic Reforms

The Government of Arunachal Pradesh has been pursuing economic reforms for speedy development. There has been a significant fiscal correction in the last couple of years. Major reforms initiated by the State are

  • The State has taken various measures to curtail non-plan and unproductive expenditure and to increase State’s Own tax and non-tax revenue. The State’s own tax which was around Rs. 37.00 crore has now jumped to above Rs.80 crore this year. Because of various initiatives in development of hydropower, mines and minerals etc. The non-tax revenue is also increasing substantially.Main Features of Arunachal Economy
  • The State Govt. has enacted the ‘Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act 2006’ and in accordance the ‘Arunachal Pradesh Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Rule 2007’ have been framed to ensure prudence in fiscal management.
  • Mobilization of State’s own resource is pre-requisite for financing the annual plan. The Finance Department is in constant touch with revenue generating departments and monitoring meticulously for greater revenue generation.
  • The gross fiscal deficit which was at 13.85% of GSDP in 2004-05 has been reduced to 3.57 in 2007-08. • Serious restrictions have been put for the non-developmental expenditure including the post creation. • The Plan schemes are now being executed in Project Mode with the introduction of the concept of non-divertible earmarked allocation. The State Govt. has constituted very high level committee under the Chairmanship of the Chief Secretary to scrutinize the project proposals.
  • The State Govt. has notified “Hydro Electric Power Policy 2008” to accelerate investments in development of hydro power projects having installed capacity above 25 MW. The Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh had also announced “Small Hydro Power Policy 2007“for small hydro power projects upto an installed capacity of 25 MW.
  • The State PWD has reduced its manpower by 7000 Nos. through VRS. It will lead a saving of Rs. 30.00 crore per year. Other departments with surplus man-power are also working out the modalities.
  • To minimize the burden of committed liabilities of salary, Government of Arunachal Pradesh has transferred 13265 Nos. Plan posts of 37 Nos. departments from 7th Five Year Plan onwards during Annual Plan 2008-09 in the first phase. Transfer of remaining 8 Nos departments as well as committed liabilities of 8 departments will be taken care in the second phase during Annual Plan 2009-10. As a result provision Direction and Administration has been reduced to 27.69% during 2008-09 compared to 44.14% during Annual Plan 2007-008.

 

02.02.18 Arunachal Pradesh(APPSC) Current Affairs

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NORTH-EASTERN STATES

  • Budget brings hope to bamboo-rich northeast

 

  • Bamboo is essentially a type of grass, but its classification as a tree for 90 years prevented the northeast, which grows 67% of India’s bamboo, from exploiting it commercially unlike China, the only country with richer bamboo genetic resources.

 

  • Now Budget 2018 has ignited farm hope for this tree-turned-grass which once fuelled insurgency in the northeastern states. The allocation of ₹1,290 crore for a restructured National Bamboo Mission (NBM) has raised hopes for a range of bamboo-based industries – from food professing to construction.

 

  • Bamboo is a wonder, multi-utility grass that more than 300 ethnic groups in the northeast have traditionally been using in every stages of life, from birth to death, besides it being a delicacy. Bamboo’s commercial journey began when it was struck off the list of trees by amending the Indian Forest Act last year.

 

  • The Budget provision is one of the best initiatives to promote holistic development of bamboo. But the restructured NBM needs to be more focussed on value-chain management and value-addition of bamboo at community level which will bring more income to the bamboo farmers and bamboo processors.

 

 

INTERNATIONAL

 

·        India Slips to 42nd Place On EIU Democracy Index, Norway Tops

 

  • India slipped to 42nd place on an annual Global Democracy Index according to the data compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). India has moved down from 32nd place last year.
  • The top 5 Countries in the list are

    Norway,

    Iceland,

    Sweden,

    New Zealand and

    Denmark

 

  • The index ranks 165 independent states and two territories on the basis of five categories: electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, the functioning of government, political participation and political culture.

 

  • The list has been divided into four broad categories- full democracy, flawed democracy, the hybrid regime and authoritarian regime.

 

  • North Korea is ranked the lowest at 167th, while Syria is a notch better at 166th place.

 

 

·        India Joins Ashgabat agreement

 

  • India joined Ashgabat Agreement on the establishment of an International Transport and Transit Corridor between the Iran, Oman, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
  • The agreement was signed in 2011, which envisages facilitation of transit and transportation of goods between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.
  • According to the External Affairs Ministry, the accession to the Agreement would diversify India’s connectivity options with Central Asia and have a positive influence on its trade and commercial ties with the region.

 

NATIONAL

 

  • Union Budget 2018: Key takeaways and sector-wise highlights

 

  • Finance Minister Arun Jaitley delivered the current government’s fifth and last full financial budget (Budget 2018 for the fiscal year 2018-19) amid subdued economic growth, challenging fiscal situation and farm distress.

 

Here are the key highlights from the Union Budget 2018:

Economic Health

  • Economy firmly on course to achieve high growth of 8%
  • GDP growth at 6.3% in the second quarter of 2017-18 signals turnaround of the economy
  • Growth in the second half likely to remain between 7.2% to 7.5%

Agriculture and Rural Economy

  • MSP for all unannounced Kharif crops increased to 150%
  • Institutional credit for agri-sector increased to Rs.10 lakh crore in 2017-18
  • Fisheries, aquaculture and animal husbandry corpus at Rs.10,000 crore
  • New scheme Operation Greens with an outlay of Rs 500 Crore
  • Govt to develop and upgrade existing 22,000 rural haats
  • Agri-Market Infrastructure Fund with a corpus of Rs.2000 crore
  • Allocation for Ministry of Food Processing doubled to Rs.1400 crore
  • Loans to Self Help Groups (SHG) of women to increase to Rs.75,000 crore by March 2019.
  • Increased allocation of National Rural Livelihood Mission to Rs 5750 crore
  • Under Ujjwala Scheme distribution of free LPG connections will be given to 8 crore poor women
  • Housing for All by 2022 – more than one crore houses to be built by 2019 in rural areas

Education, Health, and Social Protection

  • Estimated budgetary expenditure on health, education and social protection at Rs.1.38 lakh crore
  • Ekalavya Model Residential School to be set up for tribal children
  • Investments for research & infra in premier educational institutions at Rs.1 lakh crore in next 4 years
  • Allocation on National Social Assistance Programme at Rs. 9975 crore
  • NHPS to cover over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries)
  • NHPS to provide coverage up to 5 lakh rupees per family per year for hospitalisation
  • Rs 1200 crore for the National Health Policy, 2017 – additional Rs.600 crore for TB patients
  • 24 new Government Medical Colleges and Hospitals

Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs) and Employment

  • Major thrust for Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs) – allocation at Rs. 3794 crore
  • Target of Rs.3 lakh crore for lending under MUDRA Yojana
  • 70 lakh formal jobs to be created this year
  • Govt to make 12% contribution of new employees in the EPF for all the sectors for 3 years
  • Outlay of Rs.7148 crore for the textile sector
  • Increase budgetary allocation on infrastructure for at Rs.5.97 lakh crore
  • To develop 10 prominent tourist sites into Iconic Tourism destinations
  • 35000 kms road construction in Phase-I at an estimated cost of Rs.5,35,000 crore

Railways

  • Railways Capital Expenditure pegged at Rs.1,48,528 crore
  • 4000 kilometers of electrified railway network slated for commissioning
  • Work on Eastern and Western, dedicated freight corridors
  • Over 3600 km of track renewal targeted in current fiscal
  • Redevelopment of 600 major railway stations
  • Mumbai’s local train network to have 90 kilometers of double line tracks at Rs.11,000 crore cost
  • 150 km of additional suburban network planned for Mumbai
  • Suburban network of 160 km at for Bengaluru metropolis

Air Transport

  • To expand airport capacity more than five times to handle a billion trips a year
  • Regional connectivity – 56 unserved airports and 31 unserved helipads to be connected
  • To establish unified authority for regulating all financial services

Digital Economy

  • NITI Aayog to initiate a national program to direct efforts in artificial intelligence
  • Department of Science & Technology to launch Mission on Cyber-Physical Systems
  • Allocation doubled on Digital India programme to Rs 3073 crore
  • To set up 5 lakh wifi hotspots to provide net-connectivity to five crore rural citizens
  • Rs. 10000 crore for creation and augmentation of telecom infrastructure

Defence

  • Development of two defence industrial production corridors.
  • Allocation of Rs 2.95 lakh crore to defence sector.

Emoluments

  • To revise emoluments to Rs.5 lakh for the President
  • Rs 4 lakhs for the Vice President
  • Rs.3.5 lakh per month to Governor
  • Pay for Members of Parliament – law for automatic revision of emoluments every 5 years
  • 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi- Rs.150 crore for commemoration programme

Fiscal Management

  • Budget Revised Estimates for Expenditure at Rs.21.57 lakh crore
  • Revised Fiscal Deficit estimates at 3.5% of GDP
  • To bring down Central Government’s Debt to GDP ratio to 40%

Jaitley announces ‘world’s largest healthcare programme’

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced two new initiatives under the Ayushman Bharat Programme in the Union Budget 2018.

  • Under the programme, Mr. Jaitley announced a new flagship National Health Protection Scheme, providing a health insurance cover of ₹5 lakh a family per annum.
  • The scheme will cover 10 crore vulnerable families, with approximately 50 crore beneficiaries.
  • Mr. Jaitley also announced the creation of health and wellness centres, which will “bring healthcare closer to home”.
  • These centres, 1.5 lakh in number, will provide free essential drugs and diagnostic services. A sum of Rs. 1200 crore had been allocated for this.

·         Thirty Second Surajkund International Crafts Mela Begins

 

  • The 32nd Surajkund International CraftsMela begun in Faridabad, Haryana.

    The Mela is organized by the Surajkund Mela Authority and Haryana Tourism in collaboration with Union Ministries of Tourism, Textiles, Culture and External Affairs.

    The 17-day cultural extravaganza will see a spectacular showcase of regional and international crafts, handlooms, traditions along with some mouth-watering multi-cuisine food for the visitors.

    This year Uttar Pradesh is the theme state and Kyrgyzstan is the Partner Nation.

Budgets of Arunachal Pradesh

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Main Features of budgets of Arunachal Pradesh

Constitutional Provision of Budget of State

As per Article 202 of the Constitution of India the Governor of a State shall, cause to be laid before the House or Houses of the Legislature of the State a Statement of the estimated receipts and expenditure of the State for a financial year. This estimated statement of receipt and expenditure for a financial year named in the Constitution as the “Annual Financial Statement” is commonly known as “Budget”

A-202 Annual Financial Statement                                                                              

  1. The Governor shall in respect of every financial year cause to be laid before the House or Houses of the Legislature of the State a statement of the estimated receipts and expenditure of the State for that year, in this Part referred to as the “annual financial statement”.
  2. The estimates of expenditure embodied in the annual financial statement shall show separately—
    1. the sums required to meet expenditure described by this Constitution as expenditure charged upon the Consolidated Fund of the State; and
    2. the sums required to meet other expenditure proposed to be made from the Consolidated Fund of the State; and shall distinguish expenditure on revenue account from other expenditure.
  3. The following expenditure shall be expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund of each State—
  4. the emoluments and allowances of the Governor and other expenditure relating to his office;
  5. the salaries and allowances of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and, in the case of a State having a Legislative Council, also of the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council;
  6. debt charges for which the State is liable including interest, sinking fund charges and redemption charges, and other expenditure relating to the raising of loans and the service and redemption of debt;Budgets of Arunachal Pradesh
  7. expenditure in respect of the salaries and allowances of Judges of any High Court;
  8. any sums required to satisfy any judgment, decree or award of any court or arbitral tribunal;
  9. any other expenditure declared by this Constitution, or by the Legislature of the State by law, to be so charged.

A- 203 Procedure in Legislature with respect to estimates

  • So much of the estimates as relates to expenditure charged upon the Consolidated Fund of a State shall not be submitted to the vote of the Legislative Assembly, but nothing in this clause shall be construed as preventing the discussion in the Legislature of any of those estimates.
  • So much of the said estimates as relates to other expenditure shall be submitted in the form of demands for grants to the Legislative Assembly, and the Legislative Assembly shall have power to assent, or to refuse to assent, to any demand, or to assent to any demand subject to a reduction of the amount specified therein
  • No demand for a grant shall be made except on the recommendation of the Governor.

A- 204 Appropriation Bills

(1) As soon as may be after the grants under article 203 have been made by the Assembly, there shall be introduced a Bill to provide for the appropriation out of the Consolidated Fund of the State of all moneys required to meet—

  1. the grants so made by the Assembly; and
  2. the expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund of the State but not exceeding in any case the amount shown in the statement previously laid before the House or Houses.

(2) No amendment shall be proposed to any such Bill in the House or either House of the Legislature of the State which will have the effect of varying the amount or altering the destination of any grant so made or of varying the amount of any expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund of the State, and the decision of the person presiding as to whether an amendment is inadmissible under this clause shall be final.

(3) Subject to the provisions of articles 205 and 206, no money shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund of the State except under appropriation made by law passed in accordance with the provisions of this article.

A- 205            Supplementary, additional or excess grants

  1. The Governor shall—
  1. if the amount authorised by any law made in accordance with the provisions of article 204 to be expended for a particular service for the current financial year is found to be insufficient for the purposes of that year or when a need has arisen during the current financial year for supplementary or additional expenditure upon some new service not contemplated in the annual financial statement for that year, or
  2. if any money has been spent on any service during a financial year in excess of the amount granted for that service and for that year,cause to be laid before the House or the Houses of the Legislature of the State another statement showing the estimated amount of that expenditure or cause to be presented to the Legislative Assembly of the State a demand for such excess, as the case may be.
    1. The provisions of articles 202, 203 and 204 shall have effect in relation to any such statement and expenditure or demand and also to any law to be made authorising the appropriation of moneys out of the Consolidated Fund of the State to meet such expenditure or the grant in respect of such demand as they have effect in relation to the annual financial statement and the expenditure mentioned therein or to a demand for a grant and the law to be made for the authorisation of appropriation of moneys out of the Consolidated Fund of the State to meet such expenditure or grant.

A- 206 Votes on account, votes of credit and exceptional grants

  1. Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this Chapter, the Legislative Assembly of a State shall have power—
  1. To make any grant in advance in respect of the estimated expenditure for a part of any financial year pending the completion of the procedure prescribed in article 203 for the voting of such grant and the passing of the law in accordance with the provisions of article 204 in relation to that expenditure;
  2. To make a grant for meeting an unexpected demand upon the resources of the State when on account of the magnitude or the indefinite character of the service the demand cannot be stated with the details ordinarily given in an annual financial statement;
  3. To make an exceptional grant which forms no part of the current service of any financial year; and the Legislature of the State shall have power to authorise by law the withdrawal of moneys from the Consolidated Fund of the State for the purposes for which the said grants are made.
  4. The provisions of articles 203 and 204 shall have effect in relation to the making of any grant under clause (1) and to any law to be made under that clause as they have effect in relation to the making of a grant with regard to any expenditure mentioned in the annual financial statement and the law to be made for the authorisation of appropriation of moneys out of the Consolidated Fund of the State to meet such expenditure.

Arunachal Pradesh State Budget of Arunachal Pradesh

  • The Gross state domestic product is estimated to be Rs 21,414 crores in 2016-17, growing from a level of Rs 11062.69 crores five years ago.
  • There is a slow but perceptible shift of economic activity from the primary sector to the tertiary sector in the last few years. Nonetheless, the primary sector contributed to 38.21% of GSDP at constant prices, while the tertiary sector contributed to 40.28% of GSDP.
  • The Share of Central taxes grew from actual receipt of Rs 7075.58 crores in 2015-16 to Rs 8388.30 crores in revised estimates of 2016-17.
  • The state’s own tax revenue in the revised estimates of 2016-17 was Rs 650.63 crores as against actual receipt of Rs 535.07 crores in 2015-16, growing at 21.59%. Nearly 94% of the tax revenue was collected by the Tax and excise department.
  • The non-tax revenue receipt in the revised estimates of 2016-17 is estimated at Rs 506.79 crores as against an actual collection of Rs 392.12 crores in 2015-16, showing a growth of 29.2%.
  • The fiscal deficit targets laid out in the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act 2006 and state had a fiscal deficit of 0.4% of GSDP in revised estimates of 2016-17, which is well within the 3% obligation as per the FRBM Act. For the next financial year, the fiscal deficit target of the state is 2.83% of GSDP.
  • The outstanding borrowing and debt liability of the state was pegged at 22.26% of GSDP in 2015-16 which is estimated to be 21.94% of GSDP in the revised estimates of 2016-17, which is well below the prescribed norm of 25%.
  • The underpinning philosophy of the budget draws upon the following 15 broad themes in Arunachal Pradesh:
  1. Enhance transparency through governance reforms.
  2. Empower the youth and squarely address the twin challenge of deficit in skills and jobs
  3. Transformation of rural farm economy
  4. Unlock the latent potential of land
  5. Introducing policy measures which stimulates entrepreneurship
  6. Public investments to have a balanced regional spread
  7. Overhaul the educational system in the state
  8. Create an effective and affordable health services delivery model
  9. Create a social security net for the elderly , widows and the disabled
  10. Take measures for women empowerment
  11. Bridge the infrastructure deficit.
  12. Revitalize the hydro power sector and tourism
  13. Augment the internal resource generation capacity.
  14. Effective Law and Order management
  15. Follow a Sustainable growth path in harmony with environment

Major Points

Governance Reforms

  • The Budget Estimates of 2017-18 has done away with the distinction of Plan and Non Plan and classifies the receipts and expenditure only in Capital and Revenue heads
  • To harmonize the functioning of the Planning and Finance department into an integrated Department of Finance and Investments headed by the Development Commissioner, with three different wings: Investment and Planning division, Budget division and Economic Affairs division. This will help in developing a holistic perspective of planning, resource mobilization and expenditure.
  • The Centrally sponsored schemes will be implemented on the Public Financial Management System platform. The Finance department will make online transfers of money to the current accounts of concerned department opened for each Centrally Sponsored Scheme expeditiously and the departments in turn will transfer money directly to the bank accounts of beneficiaries for beneficiary oriented schemes. This will be a path breaking reform in streamlining the manner in which CSS schemes are currently administered and usher in greater simplicity in transactions as well as transparency.
  • The trinity of JAM – Jandhan, Aadhar and Mobile will be used for delivery of citizen services and moving towards a cashless and paperless economy–over 13 lakh bank accounts in Arunachal Pradesh of which nearly 2.2 lakh are Prime Minister Jandhan Yojana accounts. Nearly 1.4 lakh bank accounts are seeded with Aadhar
  • E Office will be made fully functional within this financial year for all departments in the Secretariat and steps will be initiated for ushering in the E office platform in the districts and the Directorates.
  • A computerized human resource management system will be introduced for all government employees which will integrate details of salaries, deductions, loans, increments etc.
  • Computerization of treasuries will be completed this year and an integrated on line Budget and expenditure management system will be rolled out which will streamline the functioning of the finance department.
  • A Chief Ministers dashboard will be created on an electronic platform which will track progress of key projects, including budget announcements, across the state through a regular video conferencing interface with all Deputy Commissioners
  • Stipends of students, scholarships, old age pensions, salaries of teachers of SSA, RUSA and RMSA will be paid on a direct benefit transfer mode directly into their bank accounts.

Employment and Skills of Budgets of Arunachal Pradesh

  • To establish a Skill University in Arunachal Pradesh on a PPP framework.
  • Aim to train 9000 youth in the coming financial year under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana with minimum 70% employment guarantee and an outlay of Rs 24 crores. Four ITI’s will be made operational next year: at Sagalee, Ziro, Kanubari and Pangin. One model ITI will be established at Yupia with an outlay of Rs 2.5 crores.
  • Chief Minister’s Bunkar Yojana
  • Chief Minister’s Swalamban Yojana. A back ended 30% Capital investment subsidy will be provided for small and medium enterprises on loans ranging from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 crores excluding land and building.

Agriculture and allied Sectors of Budgets of Arunachal Pradesh

  • To achieve self-sufficiency in food grains: Rice, other coarse cereals and Pulses production by 2020 and total Rice sufficiency by 2023 from the present day deficit levels of 27%
  • To promote organic Agriculture movement by producing organic plant nutrients and other inputs to reduce external dependence.
  • To establish Four Tea & Rubber nurseries -Rubber Nurseries at Govt. Farm Kherem and Sonajuli and Tea nurseries at Govt. Farm Bolung and Jumlo to be under technical supervision of Agriculture Dept. A sum of Rs.10.00 cr is earmarked for this purpose during 2017-18.
  • An allocation of Rs 3 crores is being made under the Chief Minister’s Krishi Rinn Yojana.
  • A state level Agriculture Information Hub cum Farmers’ Hostel will be established at Naharlagun to serve as the node for knowledge and resource sharing for agriculture and allied sectors.This will become the central resource pool with information for farmers in both audio-visual as well as electronic mode. It will be equipped with state of the art agri-information devices for the farming community and also provide accommodation for farmers and Extension workers. An initial allocation of Rs 5 crores is being proposed for this purpose during 2017-18.
  • Establishment of State Horticulture Research and Development Institute (SHRDI) under Department of Horticulture at Itanagar in the year 2014 to provide sustained technical support for our farmers.
  • To give one time Corpus Fund of Rs. 5 crores to State Horticulture Research and Development Institute which will be utilized by the institute for core activities including revenue generating activities that aims at ultimately becoming self-sustaining in future.
  • To create new nurseries across different agro-climatic zones of the State. Four new nurseries including one for High Altitude Medicinal Plants will be established at Ziro, Lower Subansiri for temperate crops, Basar, West Siang for Sub-tropical crops and Namsai for tropical crops and at Tawang for medicinal plants. All four new nurseries will be managed by the SHRDI.
  • An initial outlay of Rs 5 crores is being proposed for the Chief Minister’s white revolution program to establish an integrated dairy development project in Lohit district

Unlocking the potential of Land

  • A land pooling policy will be notified which will make landowners partners in progress in key infrastructure and industrial development projects, while reducing the burden of land acquisition cost for the state

Industry and Private Investments of Budgets of Arunachal Pradesh

  • To roll out a new Industrial policy 2017
  • To develop Industrial estates in the foothill districts
  • To develop one food park at Tippi which will have common infrastructure facilities for investors including packaging, storage and processing

Balanced Regional Development of Budgets of Arunachal Pradesh

  • To develop Pasighat, Tezu and Bomdila as regional growth centres, which would have all facilities at the regional level for education, healthcare, employment generation, skilling and serve as economic growth hubs
  • To keep a provision of Rs 50 crores in the budget for socio economic development in the districts of Tirap, Changlang and Longding under DOTCL
  • To establish Chief Minister’s District Innovation and Challenge Fund, with a corpus of Rs 100 crores

Rural Transformation of Budgets of Arunachal Pradesh

  • The Rural Development department will be implementing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in rural areas of Arunachal Pradesh with a proposed outlay of Rs 270 crores
  • Under the RURBAN Mission, Tuting is being developed as a rural cluster through which rural areas would be provided with urban amenities. Nafra cluster will be taken up for implementation in the next financial year and an outlay of Rs 5 crores has been proposed for this scheme.
  • Rural road construction works are being undertaken across the state under Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana. This year, 16 roads have been taken up to cover 35 habitations, covering a length of 236 km. For the financial year 2017-18, we have set an ambitious target of covering 1000 km of rural roads and an outlay of Rs 450 crores has been proposed for this purpose

Education

  • A sum of 30 crores is being earmarked for Chief Minister’s Adhunik Shiksha Yojana to cover nearly 1500 classrooms under this program.
  • To allocate a sum of Rs 2 crores for completion of works of VKV Longding and a sum of Rs 10 crores for starting classes at VKV Mukto on a PPP basis
  • To establish an Education Hub at Tezu

Health

  • To make an allocation of Rs. 15 crores for procurement and installation of CT scan machines at Naharlagun and Pasighat
  • To allocate a sum of Rs. 10 crores for modernization of existing drug deaddiction centres at Pasighat, Tezu, Namsai, Changlang, Papum Pare, including for purchase of required medicines and equipment. A new drug deaddiction centre will be established at Khonsa.
  • The infrastructure and equipment of 5 zonal general hospitals will be upgraded at Bomdila, Tezu, Ziro, Aalo and Khonsa for which a provision of Rs. 25 crores is proposed.

Social security

  • To make an allocation of Rs. 60 crores under the Chief Minister’s Social security scheme and the benefit will be transferred to the beneficiary directly under the Direct Benefit transfer scheme.
  • To increase the honorarium of anganwadi workers to Rs. 4500 per month and for anganwadi helpers to Rs. 3000 per month to provide them adequate incentive for work
  • Under the integrated child protection scheme, six new juvenile homes are proposed to be constructed at Aalo, Bomdila, Changlang, Tezu, Roing, Yupia and an allocation of Rs. 6 crores is proposed

Infrastructure of Budgets of Arunachal Pradesh

  • A total length of the 2570.82 Km of National Highways/ State Road is being implemented under the Highway Programme of the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India, of which our own PWD is executing 16 packages with a road length of 419.88 km, Ministry of Road transport and highway is executing 3 projects with a road length of 710.95 km, BRO is executing 22 packages with a road length of 717.78 km, NHIDCL is executing 25 packages with a road length of 722 km

Forest and environment

  • Arunachal Pradesh is one of the most richly endowed biodiversity zones of India. The rich forest cover, flora, fauna and wildlife are unique in the national context. Even as the state marches on the path of development, we must preserve, protect and nurture this habitat.
  • The Forest department undertakes programs under Project Elephant, Project tiger and Wildlife Habitat program at Pakke tiger reserve, D Ering wildlife sanctuary and Namdapha wild life sanctuary. A sum of Rs. 8.7 crores is being proposed for allocation for these programs.
  • U nder the National Forest Mission and Bamboo Mission, an allocation of Rs. 3.2 crores is being proposed.

Government servants

  • To introduce a Chief Minister’s Employee Housing Scheme under which employees can avail bank loan of upto Rs. 30 lakhs and will get an interest subsidy of 4% from government. This will entail a net interest rate of 4.5% and a doubling of housing loan entitlement

 

 

Arunachal Pradesh Trade and Commerce

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Arunachal Pradesh Trade and Commerce

  • Arunachal Pradesh is situated in the north eastern most part of India and is nearly 84,000 Sq. Km in area. It has a long international boundary with Bhutan to the west (160 Km), China to the North East (1080 Km) and Myanmar to the East (440 Km) stretching 1,680 Kms of international border.
  • The Department of Trade & Commerce was created and caArunachal Pradesh Trade and Commerceme into being in the state of Arunachal Pradesh during 1998.The main functions of the Department as per the Business of Allocation notified by the Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh are as under:
  1. Issue of Trade License.
  2. Facilities to Border Trade & Foreign Trade.
  3. Development and expansion of export production particular in plantation of crops, orchids, flowers and Handlooms and Handicrafts.
  4. Creation of Export commodities including Export Processing Zones etc

Activities of the Department by Department of Trade and Commerce Arunachal Pradesh

  • The Department of Trade & Commerce is the Nodal Department for issue of Trade Licences.
  • All the respective Deputy Commissioners/ ADCs of the Districts have been empowered to issue Trade Licences up to Rs. 10 lakhs.
  • Trade Licences involving more than Rs. 10 lakhs are also issued by the respective DCs after thorough examination by the Department of Trade & Commerce and subsequent approval of the Government.
  • Normally, Trade Licences are issued to Arunachal Pradesh Scheduled Tribe (APST) entrepreneurs only.
  • However, in exceptional cases where there is no APST entrepreneurs forth coming, Non-Tribals are also issued Trading licences with the approval of the Government subject to dully recommended by the respective DCs as a special case.
  • Moreover, trade licences can also be issued to industrial unit established by other than APST as per Arunachal Pradesh State Industrial Policy 2008

Facilities to Border Trade and Foreign Trade

  • By the advent of globalization and economic liberalization, The Government of India has given more emphasis on the development of Border Trade & Foreign Trade with the neighbouring countries for the overall economic development of the state in particular and country in general.
  • As a consequence, the Government of Arunachal Pradesh has taken up some ambitious proposals for re-opening of border trade with the neighbouring countries i.e. Bhutan, Myanmar & China.
  • In the past, the people of the state residing in the border areas had been maintaining trade relations with the neighboring countries though in traditional and unregulated manner.
  • People inhabiting in the border areas with Bhutan and Myanmar have been maintaining unregulated trade relation till today though trade relation with China was discontinued after Sino-Indian conflict in 1962.
  • The Government of Arunachal Pradesh has identified the following border trade points and further development of infrastructure is under active process in Indo-Myanmar and Indo-Bhutan sector.

BORDER TRADE

  • The Government of Arunachal Pradesh is presently planning to open a new horizon by opening Border Trade with our neighbouring countries, viz., China, Bhutan and Myanmar.
  • In most of the places, traditional way of trade is existing but Government is preparing proposals to create proper infrastructure for formal trade.
  • Border Trade in following sectors is being proposed:

Indo-China Sector

  1. Kenzamane (Zemithang) in Tawang District
  2. Bumla in Tawang District .
  3. Gelling (Kepangla Pass) in Upper Siang District
  4. Kibithoo in Anjaw District
  5. Mechuka (Lolla Pass) in West Siang District.
  6. Monigong (Dumla Pass) in West Siang District
  7. Taksing in Upper Subansiri District.

Indo-Myanmar Sector

  1. Pangsu Pass (Nampong) in Changlang District

Indo-Bhutan Sector

  1. Bleting (Namtsering) in Tawang District
  2. Dongshengmang and Bongkhar in Tawang District

Various scheme for Trade Development

Export Development Fund (EDF)

  • Following the announcement of the Prime Minister on June, 21-22, 2000 at Shillong, an Export Development of Fund (EDF) has been set up for promotion of the export development in the North Eastern Region including Sikkim.
  • The fund was set up initially with a corpus of Rs 5 crores and thereafter further contribution to the fund is to be provided by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry from any other budgetary or non budgetary sources of the government which is to be managed by the Agriculture & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) under the instruction of the Department of Commerce.

Central Assistance to States for Developing Export Infrastructure and Other Allied Activities (ASIDE)

  • The Ministry of Commerce, Govt. of India is implementing a central scheme, ‘Central Assistance to States for Developing Export Infrastructure and Other Allied Activities’ (ASIDE) for promotion and facilitation of export commodities and creation of necessary infrastructure in the state in order to maintain lower cost of production so as to make our exports internationally competitive.
  • The objective of the scheme is to involve the state in the export effort by providing assistance to the state government for creating appropriate infrastructure for the development and growth of exports as the states do not often have adequate resources to participate in funding of infrastructure for exports.

Setting up of World Trade Centre (WTC) in Itanagar

  • The World Trade Centre, Mumbai (WTCM) which is the lone Centre in entire Country is very much interested to set up one more such centre in the state of Arunachal Pradesh at Itanagar in view of the high potentiality of Border Trade scope in the region in tune with “Look East Policy” of the Central Government.
  • The W.T.C can facilitate in numerous ways, such as, holding of business exhibitions, Business centre with rooms for holding meetings, conferences, workshops, video conferencing, W.T.C club, undertaking research studies and dissemination of information through on-line, periodicals, training in foreign languages and taking and receiving trade missions.
  • Moreover the WTC can be a catalyst for all round development of the region, such as, renewal of urban areas, attraction of new business in the region, boosting of airport and air traffic and enhancing the trade capabilities of the trading community of the region

 

04-05.02.18 Arunachal Pradesh(APPSC) Current Affairs

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NORTH-EASTERN STATES

  • Arunachal Pradesh nods to much awaited Advertisement Policy 2018

 

  • Arunachal Pradeshgave a nod to much awaited “Arunachal Pradesh Advertisement Policy 2018.” State Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Pema Khandu approved Arunachal Pradesh Advertisement Policy 2018 which will enable the government to make payment of government advertisement bills to media houses on a timely basis.
  • In another decision, the Cabinet approved the release of gratuitous relief of Rs 2,000 for all contingency and casual workers serving under Arunachal Government.
  • Apart from approving the creation of 25 posts of Assistant Professors for government colleges of the state under Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), the Cabinet also approved enhancement of salary of teachers working under SSA and RMSA on contractual basis up to 22% with effect from April 1, 2018.
  • The Cabinet directed the education department to ensure that salaries are disbursed by the first week of the subsequent month through the Aadhaar-based DBT through PFMS method. 

    INTERNATIONAL

     

    • World Cancer Day: 4 February

     

    • World Cancer Day is an international day marked on February 4 to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment.

     

    • World Cancer Day was founded by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to support the goals of the World Cancer Declaration, written in 2008.

     

    • The primary goal of the World Cancer Day is to significantly reduce illness and death caused by cancer by 2020.

     

    • The theme for the World Cancer Day 2016-2018 is ‘We can. I can.’

     

    • Nepal gets a high Rs. 650 crore outlay

     

    • India’s annual financial allocation to Nepal for 2018-19 has nearly doubled under the Union Budget presented on February 1.

     

    • The External Affairs Ministry has been allocated a total Rs. 15,011 crore, which indicates a marginal increase of Rs. 1,321 crore over the previous year’s grant.

     

    • For India’s development and diplomatic engagement under the ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, the Budget has allocated Rs. 5545 crore.

     

    • Bhutan is traditionally the largest recipient of Ministry’s allocation.

     

     

    NATIONAL

     

    • Venkaiah Naidu to Inaugurate First International Kala Mela

     

    • The Vice President of India Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu will inaugurate the First International Kala Mela in New Delhi on February 4.
    • The Minister of State for Culture (Independent Charge) and Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Mahesh Sharma will also grace the occasion.

     

    • Lalit Kala Akademi, the premier institution for the promotion of Art and Culture is organizing it at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi (IGNCA).

     

    • Environment Ministry launches ‘Green Good Deeds’ campaign

     

    • Environment Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has appealed to the teaching community to join the “Green Good Deeds” campaign, launched by his Ministry to sensitise the people about climate change and global warming.

     

    • The Minister reminded the teachers of their “Green Social Responsibility similar to corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

     

    • CRISIL, SIDBI Launch India’s First MSE Sentiment Index

     

    • The Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Shri Arun Jaitley launched CriSidEx , India’s first sentiment index for micro and small enterprises ( MSEs) developed jointly by CRISIL & SIDBI.

     

    • CriSidEx is a composite index based on a diffusion index of 8 parameters and measures MSE business sentiment on a scale of 0 (extremely negative ) to 200 ( extremely positive) .

     

    • The parametric feedback was captured through a survey of 1100 MSEs in November –December.

     

    • CriSidEx will have 2 indices , one for the ‘survey quarter’ and another for the ‘next quarter’ once a trend emerges after few rounds of the survey , providing independent time series data.

     

    • The crucial benefit of CriSidEx is that its readings will flag potential headwinds and changes in production cycles and thus help improve market efficiencies and by capturing the sentiment of exporters and importers , it will also offer actionable indicators on foreign trade.

     

    • India’s biggest floating island released in Neknampur lake

     

    • On the occasion of World Wetland Day, city-based NGO Dhruvansh has introduced biggest floating island of India at Neknampur Lake, Hyderabad.
    • The duo of Dhruvansh NGO, Madhulika and Neeraj Singh started Neknampur restoration programme in June 2016 adopting various cost effective methodologies to clean the lake.
    • After successful introduction of 10×10 feet floating islands last year, the NGO introduced 2,500 square feet floating island with 3,500 wetland plants floating on this platform.

     

    • “A Century is Not Enough”: Autobiography of Sourav Ganguly

     

    • Former Team India captain Sourav Ganguly’s autobiography is soon-to-be-published and it is named “A Century is Not Enough”.

    • The book is co-authored by Gautam Bhattacharya and published by Juggernaut Books.

     

    • The book covers the ups and downs in more than a decade long career of the former Indian captain fondly called ‘Dada’.

     

    ·        Railways Ministry may introduce dynamic pricing system

     

    • The Railways Ministrythe current flex-fare system and is considering introducing a dynamic pricing system for train tickets, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has said. Under dynamic pricing system, fares will be decided as per the season and demand.

     

    • The Fares will be automatically adjusted via artificial intelligence, algorithms or technology, to help trains have more occupancy.

    ·        India Lifts U-19 World Cup 2018

     

    • India defeated Australia to lift the Under 19 World cup for the fourth time.
    • The Men in Blue defeated the three-time champions Australia at Bay Oval, New Zealand.

     

    • Manjot Kalra scored a sensational unbeaten century and was named Man of the Match.

     

    • Shubman Gill was declared man of the series.