Two-thirds of poor countries slashed education budget due to COVID-19: World Bank, UNESCO - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Two-thirds of poor countries slashed education budget due to COVID-19: World Bank, UNESCO.

Cuts can last for a long time as the pandemic continues to cause economic losses and make fiscal positions worse, warns report

Two-thirds of low- and lower-middle-income countries cut public education budgets since the onset of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, a recent United Nations report flagged.

Among upper-middle and high-income countries, only a third did so, according to Education Finance Watch (EFW) 2021, released February 19, 2021.

Education budgets have not adjusted proportionately to the challenges brought about by COVID-19, especially in poorer countries, the report by World Health Organization and UNESCO said.

Only one-third of upper-middle and high-income countries reduced their budgets, it added.

In 2018-19, high-income countries spent on average $8,501 per every child, way more than $48 in low-income countries. The pandemic has only widened this spending gap between rich and poor countries, the report added.

It warned that the cuts could last for a long time as the pandemic continues to cause economic losses and make fiscal positions worse.

It observed that the challenge was also about improving the effectiveness of funding. It found that despite increases in public education spending before the pandemic, the funding has only resulted in relatively small improvements in educational outcomes.

Although access to education has improved in low and middle-income countries, the learning poverty rate — the proportion of 10-year-olds unable to read a short, age-appropriate text — was at around 53 per cent compared to only nine per cent for high-income countries in pre-COVID-19 times.

COVID-19-related school closures are likely to increase this 53 per cent share to as much as 63 per cent in poorer countries, the report cautioned.

Global spending on education increased 21 per cent over the last 10 years, it said. From 2010-14, global spending on educational aid took a hit in the aftermath of the recession; but since 2014, aid to education increased 30 per cent, reaching its highest recorded level of $15.9 billion in 2019.

Funding for education grew most rapidly in low- and lower-middle-income countries, where the gaps between the funding needed to achieve the United Nations-mandated Sustainable Development Goals and current allocations are the widest.

The pandemic also highlighted the critical importance of monitoring the patterns and trends in funding of education.

Tackling the global learning crisis and monitoring the impacts of the pandemic will require better information on how well education systems are functioning. This includes better information on the levels and sources of funding and how these funds are used to ensure that education is available to all.

The report has shown that more can be done with existing data sources to sharpen the picture of education financing. But efforts to build capacity and systems to collect and track education spending are also needed to improve both the quality and coverage of existing sources. (Source: downtoearth)

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Two-thirds of poor countries slashed education budget due to COVID-19: World Bank, UNESCO.

Clean energy, renewables, stubble burning: What the Union Budget 2021-22 missed - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Clean energy, renewables, stubble burning: What the Union Budget 2021-22 missed.

The budget lost the opportunity to address rural sector, where the Ujjwala Scheme will be extended to only one crore additional beneficiaries

Cleaner fuel for cooking, renewable energy targets and managing stubble burning remained conspicuously absent in the Union Budget 2021-22, presented by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman February 1, 2021.

The Budget lost the opportunity to address the rural sector as well, where the Union government’s Ujjwala Scheme will be extended to only 10 million additional beneficiaries. According to the last Census of India (2011), 63 per cent rural households used firewood as primary cooking fuel and 23 per cent crop residues and cow dung cakes.

Facilitating rural areas to shift to cooking gas will not only curb carbon emissions, but also reduce indoor air pollution and associated health issues.

The Budget also did not mention the Union government’s plan on dealing with crop residue, burning of which contributes heavily to air pollution in north India. A strategy on the collection and usage of crop residue could help building extra income for farmers, electricity generation from biomass and reduction in air pollution.

The Union government has recently been vocal about the achieving its renewable energy targets of 175 gigawatt by 2022 and 450 GW by 2030. The Budget, however, did not say anything about the government’s plans and the financial assistance available for the same.

India also failed to achieve its annual targets for solar installations in the last five years, according to the Economic Survey 2021.

Sitharaman in her Budget speech said, “To build up domestic capacity, we will notify a phased manufacturing plan for solar cells and solar panels”. This qualitative statement does not fit well with the aspirations of investors and manufacturers.

The industry was anticipating announcement roadmap and financial outlay for developing the solar manufacturing sector in India. Absence of a long-term strategy is a major disappointment and potentially wary off the industry. The safeguard duty on the solar cells and panels expired in July 2020.

Domestic manufacturers are unable to compete with cheap Chinese imports. However, the Union government has not announced long-expected basic custom duty on the solar cells and panels. It seems to have lost hope in developing solar manufacturing sector.

The Budget did announce duty on solar inverter: The big project developers with centralised biddings under state tenders (Solar Energy Corporation of India and others) will be covered under the change in law, but the small developers with private Power Purchasing Agreement (PPAs) will have to bear the heat of increased costs.

The solar rooftop sector will be largely affected as inverter cost component is higher due to heavy usage of string inverters.

The Budget has also been mute on tapping the potential of distributed renewable energy (DRE) systems in rural employment generation. The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has exposed industry structures and migrant issues. DRE would not only help in generating rural jobs but also in sustainable development. The Budget, however, missed this very important aspect of the Indian economy that could have helped streamline lives post-COVID-19. (Source; downtoearth)

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Clean energy, renewables, stubble burning: What the Union Budget 2021-22 missed.

Union Budget 2021-22: How good is the hike in allocation for health? - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Union Budget 2021-22: How good is the hike in allocation for health?.

Sitharaman admits high out-of-pocket-expenditure worrying; claims ‘137%’ hike to health and well-being in budget

The Union Budget 2021-22 allocated Rs 71,268.77 crore to the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry — an increase of about 10 per cent from the previous year’s budget estimates, according to Union Budget presented February 1, 2021.

The revised estimates for last year was Rs 78,866 crores. This implies the budgetary allocation to the Union health ministry came down by 9.6 per cent.

Sakthivel Selvaraj, a health economist with Public Health Foundation of India, called the allocation a wasted opportunity. “This year gave us an opportunity to be an outlier and allocate more than what had been done earlier. But it seems we wasted it.”

The National Health Policy of India, which came out in 2017, envisaged that India spend at least 2.5 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on health sector by 2025. “A 10 per cent hike, that too during the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, will not take us anywhere close to that goal,” Selvaraj said.

A high-level expert group formed by the Planning Commission in 2012 had suggested that India should achieve this target by 2020.

India spent 1.8 per cent of its GDP on health in 2020-21; it was 1-1.5 per cent in the previous years. This is among the lowest any government spends on health in the world. As a result, India is among the 10 top nations with the highest out-pocket-expenditure (OOPE).

An increase in public health expenditure from the current levels in India to three per cent of GDP can bring the OOPE down to about 30 per cent from 60 per cent, according to the Economic Survey 2021.

“India was ranked 145th out of 180 countries (Global Burden of Disease Study 2016) on the quality and access of healthcare. Only few sub-Saharan countries, some pacific islands, Nepal and Pakistan were ranked below India,” the Economic Survey said.

Sitharaman accepted in her speech that a high OOPE was worrying. She added that the budget estimates for expenditure on health and wellbeing increased by 137 per cent this year as compared to last year. She pointed to the annexure for details; what Down to Earth found, however, found was slightly different.

The 137 per cent hike was calculated by taking into account funds allocation to the Union Ministry of Ayush, department of health research, nutrition, vaccination, finance commission grants to states for water-sanitation and health as well.

Sitharaman also announced PM AtmaNirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana with an outlay of about Rs 64,180 crores to be released over six years.

“But there is no budget allocation in the document this year. How can a scheme be launched like that,” asked Indranil Mukhopadhyay, a health economist at OP Jindal School of Public and Government Policy.

The allocation to PMJAY, which covers Ayushman Bharat and health and wellness centres, was worth Rs 6,400 crore. This was the same as in the last year’s budget; but double according to revised estimates. For the last few years, the budget estimates for the scheme have remained the same while the revised estimates were half.

The Union government aims to build 1.5 lakh of health and wellness centres by 2022; of this, only 57,874 have been made so far.

The National Rural Health Mission saw a moderate hike of six per cent from last year. The National Programme for Health Care for the Elderly was allocated Rs 105 crore in the budget last year. The revised estimates, however, were Rs 15 crore. The allocation to National Programme for Control of Blindness went down Rs 10 crore when compared with last year budget estimates.

Telemedicne got a big thumbs-up in this year’s Economic Survey owing to online consultations in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. However, the allocation to it remained stagnant at Rs 45 crore this year as well.

While the budget allocated to Indian Council of Medical Research (under the department of health research) went up this year, the department’s budget came down compared to last year's revised estimates.

The Union Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) got a 40 per cent more than last year. All India Institute of Ayurveda was allocated Rs 313.80 crore (revised estimates) last year as against the budget estimates of 76.50 crore. It went up to Rs 348.87 crore this year. (Source: downtoearth)

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Union Budget 2021-22: How good is the hike in allocation for health?.

Union Budget 2021-22: India to launch Hydrogen Energy Mission - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Union Budget 2021-22: India to launch Hydrogen Energy Mission.

With the announcement, India has joined the race for producing the next big energy source.

Union Minister for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the Hydrogen Energy Mission will be launched in 2021-22, during her budget speech February 1, 2021.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while speaking at the Third Re-inVest Conference in November 2020, had announced plans to launch a comprehensive National Hydrogen Energy Mission. It is now proposed to launch a Hydrogen Energy Mission in 2021-22 for generating hydrogen from green power sources,” Sitharaman said.

“Green Hydrogen Mission is not only essential to decarbonise heavy industries like steel and cement, it also holds the key to clean electric mobility that doesn’t depend on rare minerals,” Ulka Kelkar, director, Climate, World Resources Institute, India, told Down To Earth.

Moreover, the hydrogen that the minister talked about was to be generated from green sources.

“Hydrogen can be generated from many sources. But what the minister talked about was the hydrogen sources from renewable sources,” Samrat Sengupta, director, Climate Change and Renewable Energy programme, Centre for Science and Environment, a Delhi-based non-profit, said.

The emphasis on hydrogen in the budget was in line with the technological development in the global north and with a long-term vision towards reduced dependency on minerals and rare-earth element-based battery as energy storage, Sengupta added.

Hydrogen energy technologies across the world have still not become commercially viable, but the energy source is seen as the next big thing as its usage would lead to zero emissions. With the announcement February 1, India has officially joined the race.

“Green hydrogen, produced with renewable electricity, is projected to grow rapidly in the coming years. Many ongoing and planned projects point in this direction. Hydrogen from renewable power is technically viable today and is quickly approaching economic competitiveness,” a 2019 document titled, Hydrogen: A Renewable Energy Perspective by the International Renewable Energy Agency had said.

“The rising interest in this supply option is driven by the falling costs of renewable power and by systems integration challenges due to rising shares of variable renewable power supply. The focus is on deployment and learning-by-doing to reduce electrolyser costs and supply chain logistics. This will require funding. Policy makers should also consider how to create legislative frameworks that facilitate hydrogen-based sector coupling,” it added.

Focussing on the production of green hydrogen in India would mean significantly ramping up the current renewable energy infrastructure across the country, according to experts.

“Green hydrogen energy is vital for India to meet its Nationally Determined Contributions and ensure regional and national energy security, access and availability. Hydrogen can act as an energy storage option, which would be essential to meet intermittencies (of renewable energy) in the future,” Pawan Mulukutla, director, Electric mobility programme, World Resources Institute, India.

Given the range of ways that green hydrogen energy could be produced and used, it allowed the formation of a circular economy, which primarily focussed on ensuring energy security, by utilisation of all the resources possible, Mulukutla added.

However, green hydrogen energy technologies come with their own problems.

“In terms of reaching commercial viability, there are a range of demonstration and real-world live applications currently operating across the world,” Mulukutla said.

He cited the example of a recently opened 8.2-tonne green hydrogen-per-day plant in Quebec, Canada, that will be used for green mobility and heavy industries in the surrounding area. He also cited H21 in the UK.

“In terms of challenges to green hydrogen specifically, cost of renewable electricity is the major problem. Public investments need to strategised and channelled well,” Mulukutla said. (Source: Livemint)

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Union Budget 2021-22: India to launch Hydrogen Energy Mission.

Will upcoming budget address the needs of ailing healthcare sector in India? - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Will upcoming budget address the needs of ailing healthcare sector in India?.

A large part of previous budgets was dedicated towards making healthcare cheaper and more accessible, but with the covid-19 pandemic demands increased budget for improving healthcare infrastructure at primary, secondary and tertiary levels and also to propel healthcare sector recovery

COVID-19 pandemic exposing the severe underspending on healthcare in India may lead the sector to receive booster dose in terms of finances in the upcoming budget.

Union government’s stimulus package and PM CARE’s fund allocation to healthcare last year has already indicated that the allocation towards health in the budget would be at the centre stage this fiscal.

Adult vaccination, health infrastructure, diagnostics and out of pocket expenditure that have so far been the most ignored areas, may get some funds for making India more prepared for future pandemics. The public health experts hold major expectation from the health budget. The experts have voiced that more than ever before, the pandemic reiterated the vital importance of a robust healthcare ecosystem and the acute need to strengthen health infrastructure in the country, both that need increased investments and a fertile environment to nurture innovations.

“In battling COVID -19, despite numerous challenges, the private health sector stood firmly with India and now the sector must be supported with farsighted policy interventions that help boost its resilience and sustainability," Preetha Reddy, President NATHEALTH and Executive Vice Chairperson, Apollo Hospitals.

Reddy said that in addition, incentives to create new infrastructure for healthcare services and manufacturing, a 5-year tax holiday for new infrastructure creation, import duty relief for life saving equipment and easing of GST regulations amongst many such initiatives, will all add up to provide gainful employment to millions in the country and also enable India to serve people around the world.

“Likewise, digital healthcare has the inherent potential to improve access to high quality medical care for all and hence, it requires special impetus. The paucity of skilled healthcare resources should also be addressed with forward looking policies," said Reddy.

A large part of previous budgets was dedicated towards making healthcare cheaper and more accessible, but with the covid-19 pandemic demands increased budget for improving healthcare infrastructure at primary, secondary and tertiary levels and also to propel healthcare sector recovery.

“There are indications that the Government is likely to increase healthcare spending in the forthcoming budget announcement. This is most laudable as healthcare is a national priority sector today and we need a dedicated national health fund which can provide all necessary resources and support to fix existing gaps, upgrade healthcare infrastructure, equip district-level hospitals and primary health centres with oxygen supplies, increased beds and medical equipment," Dr Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, Managing Director and CEO, Fortis Healthcare.

“We also need to invest more in medical education and training to address the shortage of healthcare professionals in the country and strengthen the operational modalities to boost digital health and telemedicine services," he said.

With a systematic restructuring of India’s entire healthcare infrastructure already in the works, it is highly likely that the Union Budget 2021 will earmark funds for the growth of telemedicine, which has already proved its mettle during the viral outbreak.

“Schemes like Ayushman Bharat and projects that are being initiated under the National Digital Health Mission are painting a promising picture that the Modi government is dedicated towards taking specialist medical care to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Preferential policies and adequate financing will support research and technological innovations, paving the way for a more agile healthcare ecosystem in the country," said Shashank ND, CEO and CO-founder, Practo.

India has also been looking at atmanirbhar bharat scheme in various sectors including medical devices and exports of the medical equipment, covid-19 vaccines and ayurvedic products.

“Given the rapid technological evolution of medical sciences, access and availability of quality and affordable medical devices are very critical. Hence, the budget 2021 must rationalize the tax liability on the sector to promote availability of affordable care, facilitate Make in India for Atmanirbhar Bharat and encourage exports in the sector to be able to contribute effectively to the economy," said Shravan Subramanyam, President and CEO of GE Healthcare, an American multinational conglomerate.

Currently, India spends 1.15% of the GDP on health. For meeting sustainable development goals (SDGs), India needs to step up public funding for ensuring successful implementation of the National Health Policy (2017). To reach the stated goal of 2.5% of GDP as public financing for health by 2025 from the present 1%, union budgets from now on have to allocate more funds for health in each annual budget. The health budgets in recent years have witnessed a marginal increase. In 2019-20 the health budget was ₹64,559 crores, in 208-19 it was ₹55,959 crore (revised estimate), while ₹48,853 crore was allocated for health in 2017-18. (Source: Livemint)

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Will upcoming budget address the needs of ailing healthcare sector in India?.

Zero Budget Natural Farming - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Zero Budget Natural Farming.

The ICAR-Indian Institute of Farming Systems Research initiated a study on Evaluation of Zero Budget Natural Farming practices in Basmati/ coarse rice-wheat system from Rabi 2017 at 4 locations namely Modipuram, Pantnagar, Ludhiana, Kurukshetra .

Also as per information available, the details of States practicing ZBNF are as follows:
1. Karnataka: – has initiated implementation of ZBNF on pilot basis in an area of 2000 ha in each of the 10 Agro Climatic Zones of the State through the respective State Agriculture/ horticulture Universities as demonstrations/ Scientific experimental trials in farmer’s fields and in the research stations of the concerned universities.
2. Himachal Pradesh: - is implementing State funded scheme ‘Prakritik Kheti Khushal Kisan’ since May, 2018, the details of which are as: 2018-19- 2669 farmers, Area: 357 ha.
2019-20- 19936 Farmers, Area: 1155 ha.
3. Kerala: – only awareness programmes, trainings and workshops to draw interest of farmers towards ZBNF has been imparted.
4. Andhra Pradesh: - launched ZBNF in September 2015 under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana. Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (RySS), Govt. of Andhra Pradesh is conducting experiments to generate the scientific evidence of the ZBNF in collaboration with University of Reading, UK World Agro forestry Centre, Nairobi, FAO & resource NGOs/Civil Society Organizations like Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, Hyderabad.
5. Himachal Pradesh: The findings of studies conducted by the state indicated that ZBNF practice showed an improvement in soil quality within a single cropping season and incidence of Invasive leaf miner was significantly less in ZBNF system as compared to the organic farming and conventional farming.


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Zero Budget Natural Farming.

Highlights Of Interim Budget 2019-20 - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Highlights Of Interim Budget 2019-20.

The key highlights of the Interim Budget 2019-20 presented by the Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs, Railways & Coal, ShriPiyushGoyal in Parliament are as follows:

New Announcements
Farmers
•12 crore small and marginal farmers to be provided with assured yearly income of Rs. 6000 per annum under PM-KISAN
•Outlay for RashtriyaGokul mission increased to Rs 750 crore
•RashtriyaKamdhenuAyog to be setup for sustainable genetic up-gradation of the Cow resources
•New separate Department of Fisheries for welfare of 1.5 crore fishermen
•2% interest subvention to Farmers for Animal husbandry and Fisheries activities; additional 3% in case of timely repayment.
•Interest subvention of 2% during disaster will now be provided for the entire period of reschedulement of loan
Labour
•PradhanMantriShram Yogi Maandhan scheme to ensure fixed monthly pension to 10 crore unorganized sector workers
•Rs 3000 per month after 60 years of age with an affordable contribution of only Rs 100/55 per month
Health
•22nd AIIMS to be setup in Haryana
MGNREGA
•Rs. 60, 000 crore allocation for MGNREGA in BE 2019-20
Direct Tax proposals
• Income uptoRs. 5 lakh exempted from Income Tax
•More than Rs. 23,000 crore tax relief to 3 crore middle class taxpayers
•Standard Deduction to be raised to Rs. 50,000 from Rs. 40,000
•TDS threshold to be raised from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 40,000 on interest earned on bank/post office deposits
•Existing rates of income tax to continue
•Tax exempted on notional rent on a second self-occupied house
•Housing and real estate sector to get boost-
o TDS threshold for deduction of tax on rent to be increased from Rs. 1,80,000 to Rs. 2,40,000
o Benefit of rollover of capital gains increased from investment in one residential house to two residential houses for capital gains up to Rs. 2 crore.
o Tax benefits for affordable housing extended till 31st March, 2020 under Section 80-IBA of Income Tax Act
o Tax exemption period on notional rent, on unsold inventories, extended from one year to two years
Fiscal Programme
•Fiscal deficit pegged at 3.4% of GDP for 2019-20
•Target of 3% of fiscal deficit to be achieved by 2020-21.
•Fiscal deficit brought down to 3.4% in 2018-19 RE from almost 6% seven years ago
•Total expenditure increased by over 13% to Rs.27,84,200crore in 2019-20 BE
•Capital Expenditure for 2019-20 BE estimated at Rs. 3,36,292crore
•Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) allocation increased to Rs. 3,27,679crore in BE 2019-20
•National Education Mission allocation increased by about 20% to Rs. 38,572 crore in BE 2019-20
•Allocation for Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) increased by over 18% to Rs. 27,584 crore in BE 2019-20
•Substantial increase in allocation for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes -
o Allocation for SCs increased by 35.6% - from Rs. 56,619 crore in BE 2018-19 to Rs. 76,801 crore in BE for 2019-20
o Allocation for the STs increased by 28% - from 39,135 crore in BE 2018-19 to Rs. 50,086 crore in 2019-20 BE
•Government confident of achieving the disinvestment target of 80,000 crore
•Focus now on debt consolidation along with fiscal deficit consolidation programme
Poor and Backward Classes
•“First right on the resources of country is that of the poor”: FM
•25% additional seats in educational institutions to meet the 10% reservation for the poor

•Targeted expenditure to bridge urban-rural divide & to improve quality of life in villages
•All willing households to be provided electricity connections by March 2019
North East
•Allocation to be increased by 21% to Rs. 58,166 crore in 2019-20 BE over 2018-19 BE
•Arunachal Pradesh came on the air map recently
•Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram came on India’s rail map for the first time
•Container cargo movement through improved navigation capacity of the Brahmaputra
Vulnerable sections
•A new committee under NITI Ayog to identify all the remaining De-notified nomadic and semi-Nomadic tribes.
•New Welfare development Board under Ministry of social justice and empowerment for development and welfare of De-notified nomadic and semi nomadic tribes
Defence
•Defence budget to cross Rs 3,00,000crore for the first time ever
Railways
•Capital support of Rs.64,587crore proposed in 2019-20 (BE) from the budget
•Overall capital expenditure programme to be of Rs. 1,58,658crore
•Operating Ratio expected to improve from 98.4% in 2017- to 96.2% in 2018-19 (RE) and to 95% in 2019- 20 (BE)
Entertainment Industry

•Indian filmmakers to get access to Single window clearance as well for ease of shooting films
•Regulatory provisions to rely more on self-declaration
•To introduce anti-camcording provisions in the Cinematograph Act to control piracy
MSME and Traders
•2% interest subvention on an incremental loan of Rs 1 crore for GST registered SMEs
•Atleast 3% of the 25% sourcing for the Government undertakings will be from women owned SMEs
•Renewed Focus on Internal trade ; DIPP renamed to Department for Promotion of Industries and Internal trade
Digital Villages
•The Government to make 1 lakh villages into Digital Villages over next five years
Other Announcement(s)
•New National Artificial Intelligence portal to support National Program on Artificial Intelligence
Achievements during 2014-19
State of the Economy





•India universally recognized as a bright spot of the global economy during last five years
•“Country witnessed its best phase of macro-economic stability during 2014-19”, says FM
•India is now the 6th largest economy in the world from being the 11thlargest in 2013-14
•Annual average GDP growth during 2014-19 higher than any government since 1991
•Government has broken inflation’s back from backbreaking inflation during 2009-14: FM
•Average inflation down to 4.6%, lower than during any other Government
•Inflation in December 2018 down to 2.19% only
•Fiscal deficit down to 3.4% in 2018-19 RE from the high of almost 6% seven years ago
•CAD likely to be only 2.5% of GDP this year against a high of 5.6% six years ago
•India attracted massive amount of FDI, worth $239 billion, during the last 5 years
• “India is solidly back on track and marching towards growth and prosperity”, says FM
•India becomes the fastest growing major economy in the world
•Double-digit inflation contained and fiscal balance restored
•Liberalization of FDI policy, allowing most FDI to come through the automatic route
Farmers
•Assured MSP of minimum 50% to all 22 crops
•Interest subvention doubled in last 5 years
•Soil Health card, Neem coated Urea game changer in farm sector
Labor
•Employment opportunities expanded ; EPFO membership increased by 2 crore
•Minimum income for every category of workers increased by 42% in last 5 years
Poor and Backward Classes
•10% reservation for the poor in educational institutions and government jobs
•Free electricity connection to every household under SaubhagyaYojana
•World’s largest healthcare programme, Ayushman Bharat, for nearly 50 crore people
•Aspirational Districts Programme for development in 115 most backward districts
•Rs. 1,70,000crore spent during 2018-19 for cheaper food grains to poor and middle class
•143 crore LED bulbs provided in mission mode with the cooperation of private sector
•Poor & middle class are saving Rs. 50, 000 crore p.a. in electricity bills due to LED bulbs
•10 lakh patients benefited from free treatment under Ayushman Bharat
•Jan AushadhiKendras providing medicines at affordable prices to poor and middle class
•14 out of 21 AIIIMS operating presently have been announced since 2014
•Government tripled rural roads’ construction under the PMGSY
•15.80 lakh habitations out of 17.84 lakh connected with pucca roads
•Rs. 19,000 crore for PMGSY in BE 2019-20 against Rs. 15,500 crore in RE 2018-19
•1.53 crore houses built under PM AwasYojana during the 2014-18
Women development to women led development
•6 crore free LPG gas connections provided under UjjwalaYojna ; All 8 crore by next year
•70% of MUDRA Loan availed by Women
•Maternity leave extended to 26 weeks
•Financial support for pregnant women under PradhanMantriMatruVandana
Youth
•Over one crore youth trained under PradhanMantriKaushalVikashYojana
•Self-employment boost through MUDRA, STAND-UP and START-UP India
MSME and Traders
•Up-to Rs 1 crore loans can be availed in less than an hour
•25%-28% is the average savings due to GeM (Government e-Market place)
Income Tax
•Tax collections nearly doubled in five years- from Rs. 6.38 Lakh crore in 2013-14 to almost Rs. 12 lakh crore this year
•80% growth in tax base- from 3.79 crore to 6.85 crore in five years
•Tax administration streamlined- Last year, 99.54% of the income-tax returns accepted as were filed
•Technology intensive project approved to improve assessee friendliness –In two years, returns to be processed in 24 hours and refunds issued simultaneously
•Earlier benefits given to middle class-
o Basic exemption limit increased from Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 2.5 lakh
o Tax rate reduced from 10% to 5% for the tax slab of Rs. 2.5 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh
o Standard deduction of Rs. 40,000 introduced for the salaried class
o Deduction of savings under section 80C increased from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 1.5 lakh
o Deduction of interest for self-occupied house property raised from Rs. 1.5 lakh to Rs. 2 lakh
•Special benefits and incentives already given to small businesses and startups-
o Overall compliance processes simplified.
o Threshold for presumptive taxation of business raised from Rs. 1 crore to Rs. 2 crore
o Benefit of presumptive taxation extended for the first time to small professionals fixing threshold limit at Rs. 50 lakh
o Presumptive profit rate reduced from 8% to 6% to promote a less cash economy
o Tax rate for about 99% companies reduced to 25%
GST
•GST made India a common market
•GST led to increased tax base, higher collections and ease of trade
•Inter-state movements now faster, more efficient, and hassle free
•Responsive and sensitive reduction of tax rates - Most items of daily use now in the 0% or 5% tax slab
•Relieving the businesses and service providers-
o Exemptions from GST for small businesses doubled from Rs. 20 lakh to Rs. 40 lakh
o Small businesses having turnover up to Rs. 1.5 crore pay only 1% flat rate and file one annual return only
o Small service providers with turnover upto Rs.50 lakhs can opt for composition scheme and pay GST at 6% instead of 18%
o Soon, businesses comprising over 90% of GST payers to be allowed to file quarterly return
•Encouraging GST revenue trends - The average monthly tax collection in the current year is Rs. 97,100 crore per month as compared to Rs. 89,700 crore per month in the first year
Infrastructure
•Civil Aviation – UDAN Scheme
o Number of Operational Airports crossed 100
o Latest: Pakyong airport in Sikkim
o Domestic Passenger traffic doubled in last 5 years
•Roads
o India is the fastest highway developer in the world
o 27 kms of highways built each day
o Stuck projects completed - Eastern Peripheral Highway around Delhi
- Bogibeel rail-cum-road bridge in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh
•Waterways
o Flagship programme of Sagarmala along the coastal areas
o For first time, container freight movement started on Kolkata to Varanasi inland waterways
•Railways
o ‘Safest year’ for railways in its history
o All Unmanned Level Crossings on broad gauge network eliminated.
o Semi high-speed "Vande Bharat Express" introduced - first indigenously developed and manufactured
Climate Change
•International Solar Alliance
o To promote renewable energy
o First treaty based international inter-governmental organisation headquartered in India
o Installed solar generation capacity grown over ten times in last five years
o Now creating lakhs of new age jobs
Digital India Revolution
•More than 3 lakh Common Service Centres (CSCs) exist to deliver services to the cSitizens
•India now leading the world in the consumption of mobile data
•Monthly consumption of mobile data increased by over 50 times in the last five years
•Under Make in India, mobile and parts manufacturing companies increased from 2 to more than 268 providing huge job opportunities
Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM) and Direct Benefit Transfer
•In the last five years, nearly 34 crore Jan Dhan bank accounts opened
•Aadhaar now near universally implemented
•Ensure the poor and middle class receive the benefits of Government schemes directly in their bank accounts by eliminating middlemen
Customs and trading across borders
•Customs duties on 36 capital goods abolished
•Digitization of import and export transactions
•RFID technology to improve logistics
Steps against corruption
•Government walked the talk on corruption and ushered in a new era of transparency: FM
•RERA and Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Act have brought transparency in real estate
•The Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 to help confiscate economic offenders
•Government conducted transparent auction of natural resources such as coal & spectrum
Drive against Black money
•Undisclosed income of about Rs 1,30,000crore brought under tax through initiatives like Black money Law, Fugitive Criminal offenders Act, Demonetisation etc.
•Benami assets worth Rs 6,900 crore have been attached
•18% growth in Direct tax
Banking Reforms and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC)
•The IBC has institutionalized a resolution-friendly mechanism
•Government has stopped the culture of “phone banking”: FM
•Government adopted 4Rs approach of recognition, resolution, re-capitalization & reforms
•Government has implemented measures to ensure ‘Clean Banking’
•Government has already recovered Rs. 3 lakh crore in favor of banks and creditors
•Government has invested Rs. 2.6 lakh crore for recapitalization of public sector banks
Cleanliness
•Government launched Swachh Bharat Mission as a tribute to 150 years of Gandhi Ji
•FM thanks 130 crore Indians for translating Swachh Bharat into a national revolution
•India has achieved 98% rural sanitation coverage
• 5.45 lakh villages have been declared "Open Defecation Free”
Defence
•OROP under implementation in full spirit with Rs 35,000 crore already disbursed
•Military pay service hiked
Other achievements
•Government put a stop to questionable practices of hiding high NPAs
•Swachh Bharat Mission as the world’s largest behavioral change movement
Key message in the Interim Budget 2019-20
•Moving towards realizing a ‘New India’ by 2022 -
o Clean and healthy India with universal access to toilets, water and electricity to all
o An India where Farmers’ income would have doubled
o Ample opportunities to youth and women to fulfil their dreams
o An India free from terrorism, communalism, casteism, corruption and nepotism
Vision for the next Decade
•Foundation for India’s growth and development laid in the past 5 years
•Poised to become a Five Trillion Dollar Economy in the next five years
•Aspire to become a Ten Trillion Dollar Economy in the next 8 years thereafter
Ten dimensions of Vision for India of 2030
India would be a modern, technology driven, high growth, equitable and transparent society
1. To build physical as well as social infrastructure and to provide ease of living
2. To create a Digital India, digitize government processes with leaders from youth
3. Making India pollution free by leading transport revolution with Electric Vehicles and focus on Renewables
4. Expanding rural industrialisation using modern digital technologies to generate massive employment
5. Clean Rivers, safe drinking water to all Indians and efficient use of water through micro-irrigation
6. Besides scaling up of Sagarmala, Coastline and Ocean waters powering India’s development and growth
7. Aim at our space programme – Gaganyaan, India becoming the launch-pad of satellites for the World and placing an Indian astronaut into space by 2022
8. Making India self-sufficient in food, exporting to the world to meet their food needs and producing food in the most organic way
9. A healthy India via Ayushman Bharat with women having equal rights and concern for their safety and empowerment
10. Transforming India into a Minimum Government Maximum Governance nation with pro-active and responsible bureaucracy

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Highlights Of Interim Budget 2019-20.

Highlights of Budget 2018-19- Pragnya IAS Academy -News Analysis

Highlights of Budget 2018-19

• Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley presents general Budget 2018-19 in Parliament.
• Budget guided by mission to strengthen agriculture, rural development, health, education, employment, MSME and infrastructure sectors
• Government says, a series of structural reforms will propel India among the fastest growing economies of the world. Country firmly on course to achieve over 8 % growth as manufacturing, services and exports back on good growth path.
• MSP for all unannounced kharif crops will be one and half times of their production cost like majority of rabi crops: Institutional Farm Credit raised to 11 lakh crore in 2018-19 from 8.5 lakh crore in 2014-15.
• 22,000 rural haats to be developed and upgraded into Gramin Agricultural Markets to protect the interests of 86% small and marginal farmers.
• “Operation Greens” launched to address price fluctuations in potato, tomato and onion for benefit of farmers and consumers.
• Two New Funds of Rs10,000 crore announced for Fisheries and Animal Husbandary sectors; Re-structured National Bamboo Mission gets Rs.1290 crore.
• Loans to Women Self Help Groups will increase to Rs.75,000 crore in 2019 from 42,500 crore last year.
• Higher targets for Ujjwala, Saubhagya and Swachh Mission to cater to lower and middle class in providing free LPG connections, electricity and toilets.
• Outlay on health, education and social protection will be 1.38 lakh crore. Tribal students to get Ekalavya Residential School in each tribal block by 2022. Welfare fund for SCs gets a boost
• World’s largest Health Protection Scheme covering over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families launched with a family limit upto 5 lakh rupees for secondary and tertiary treatment.
• Fiscal Deficit pegged at 3.5 %, projected at 3.3 % for 2018-19


• Rs. 5.97 lakh crore allocation for infrastructure
• Ten prominent sites to be developed as Iconic tourist destinations
• NITI Aayog to initiate a national programme on Artificial Intelligence(AI)
• Centres of excellence to be set up on robotics, AI, Internet of things etc
• Disinvestment crossed target of Rs 72,500 crore to reach Rs 1,00,000 crore
• Comprehensive Gold Policy on the anvil to develop yellow metal as an asset class
• 100 percent deduction proposed to companies registered as Farmer Producer Companies with an annual turnover upto Rs. 100 crore on profit derived from such activities, for five years from 2018-19.
• Deduction of 30 percent on emoluments paid to new employees Under Section 80-JJAA to be relaxed to 150 days for footwear and leather industry, to create more employment.
• No adjustment in respect of transactions in immovable property where Circle Rate value does not exceed 5 percent of consideration.
• Proposal to extend reduced rate of 25 percent currently available for companies with turnover of less than 50 crore (in Financial Year 2015-16), to companies reporting turnover up to Rs. 250 crore in Financial Year 2016-17, to benefit micro, small and medium enterprises.
• Standard Deduction of Rs. 40,000 in place of present exemption for transport allowance and reimbursement of miscellaneous medical expenses. 2.5 crore salaried employees and pensioners to benefit.
Relief to Senior Citizens proposed:-
 Exemption of interest income on deposits with banks and post offices to be increased from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 50,000.
 TDS not required to be deducted under section 194A. Benefit also available for interest from all fixed deposit schemes and recurring deposit schemes.
 Hike in deduction limit for health insurance premium and/ or medical expenditure from Rs. 30,000 to Rs.50,000 under section 80D.
 Increase in deduction limit for medical expenditure for certain critical illness from Rs. 60,000 (in case of senior citizens) and from Rs. 80,000 (in case of very senior citizens) to Rs. 1 lakh for all senior citizens, under section 80DDB.
 Proposed to extend Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana up to March, 2020. Current investment limit proposed to be increased to Rs. 15 lakh from the existing limit of Rs. 7.5 lakh per senior citizen.

• More concessions for International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), to promote trade in stock exchanges located in IFSC.
• To control cash economy, payments exceeding Rs. 10,000 in cash made by trusts and institutions to be disallowed and would be subject to tax.
• Tax on Long Term Capital Gains exceeding Rs. 1 lakh at the rate of 10 percent, without allowing any indexation benefit. However, all gains up to 31st January, 2018 will be grandfathered.
• Proposal to introduce tax on distributed income by equity oriented mutual funds at the rate of 10 percent.
• Proposal to increase cess on personal income tax and corporation tax to 4 percent from present 3 percent.
• Proposal to roll out E-assessment across the country to almost eliminate person to person contact leading to greater efficiency and transparency in direct tax collection.
• Proposed changes in customs duty to promote creation of more jobs in the country and also to incentivise domestic value addition and Make in India in sectors such as food processing, electronics, auto components, footwear and furniture.


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Highlights of Budget 2018-19