Govt revives plan to change fiscal year to January-December: Report - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Govt revives plan to change fiscal year to January-December: Report.

Highlights:
• India has been following the April-March fiscal year since 1867
• The change in the fiscal year is expected to help the government include the monsoon forecast in its Budget projections
The government has revived plans to change the fiscal year to January-December from the current April-March, a report by business news channel BTVi, quoting news agency Cogencis, said. Opposition from the states had forced the central government to put the idea on the backburner after first being very enthusiastic about it.

The change is expected to help the government include the monsoon forecast in its Budget projections, as this will align the financial year with the south-west monsoons and thus help in better allocation of resources to the agricultural sector.
India has been following the April-March financial year since 1867, in line with what was followed by the British government.
Aligning the financial year with the calendar year and shift in date of presentation of the Union Budget to the start of February from the end of that month were among the pet themes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the early part of his administration. The Budget has since been presented on the new date, February 1, for the last two years.
The government had first initiated the idea some time in 2016 and had even tasked a committee to look into the merits of effecting such a change. That panel, headed by former chief economic advisor Shankar Acharya, is reported to have been against the idea of changing the financial year.
Implementation of the goods and services tax and the disturbance caused by it might have also forced the government to drop the idea then. (Source:Livemint)


The above Article can also be read using the link below:

Govt revives plan to change fiscal year to January-December: Report.

Vehicle Location Tracking Devices and Emergency Buttons Mandatory for all New Public Service Vehicles Registered After 1st January 2019 - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Vehicle Location Tracking Devices and Emergency Buttons Mandatory for all New Public Service Vehicles Registered After 1st January 2019.

The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways vide notification dated 25.10.18, has mandated that all new public service vehicles except auto rickshaws and e Rickshaws, registered on and after 1st January 2019, will have to be equipped with Vehicle Location Tracking ( VLT )with emergency buttons. The VLT device manufacturers would assist in providing the back end services for monitoring. This regulation is being brought in to ensure safety of passengers especially women.

In case of older public service vehicles –those registered up to 31"December,2018, the respective State/ UT Governments will notify the date by which these vehicles have to install Vehicle Location Tracking Device and Panic Buttons. The Ministry has sent an advisory to the states in this regard.
The Ministry has also notified the operational procedure for implementation of VLT cum Emergency buttons. The State or Union Territories are required to ensure execution of this order and check fitment and functional status of the VLT device in the public service vehicles at the time of checking of the vehicles for fitness certification.
Command and Control Centres will be setup by the State or VLT manufacturers or any other agency authorised by the State Government, and these centres will provide interface to various stakeholders such as state emergency response centre, the transport department or Regional Transport Offices, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and its designated agencies, device manufacturers and their authorised dealers, testing agencies, permit holders, etc. These centres will also provide feed to the VAHAN data base or the relevant data base of the State with regard to the over speeding, device health status.
The details of each VLT device will be uploaded on the VAHAN database by the VLT device manufacturer using its secured authenticated access. The VLT device manufacturers or their authorised dealers will install the VLT devices in public service vehicles and register the devices along with details of vehicle on the corresponding backend systems in real-time.
The public service vehicle owners have to ensure that the VLT devices installed in their vehicles are in working condition and regularly send required data to the corresponding backend system through cellular connectivity.
VLT device manufacturers will get their devices tested for conformity of production every year after the firstcertification,fromthetestingagenciesreferredtoinrule126 of theCentralMotorVehiclesRules,1989.
The testing agencies will upload the details of the VLT devices certified by the month e VAHAN database. They will also update the status relating to the Conformity of Production on the VAHAN database.
The State or Union Territories will publish Internet Protocol address (IP address) and Short Message Service Gateway (SMS gateway) details of their respective emergency response system where VLT devices will send the emergency alerts on press of emergency button.


The above Article can also be read using the link below:

Vehicle Location Tracking Devices and Emergency Buttons Mandatory for all New Public Service Vehicles Registered After 1st January 2019.

<

India's first national environmental survey to start in 24 states, 3 UTs in January 2019 - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

India's first national environmental survey to start in 24 states, 3 UTs in January 2019.

India’s first ever National Environment Survey (NES) will be kicked off from 55 districts across 24 states and three Union Territories in January, 2019.

The earliest the first set of complete green data from the survey will be available is 2020, providing an important tool in the hands of policy-makers for decision making at all levels - district, state and national.
The survey will be done through a grid-based approach, using grids measuring 9x9 km, to collect comprehensive data on various environmental parameters such as air, water, soil quality; emission inventory; solid, hazardous and e-waste; forest & wildlife; flora & fauna; wetlands, lakes, rivers and other water bodies.
It will also assess carbon sequestration potential of all the districts across the country. The NES will rank all the districts on their environmental performance and document their best green practices.
“Unless policy-makers have exact data on all environmental parameters, they cannot take appropriate decisions. The country’s first ever environment survey will fill the gaps in existing data,” said Anandi Subramanian, head of the Environmental Information System (ENVIS), which will conduct the survey through its hubs and resource partners across the country.
At present, the country has secondary data on most of these parameters. The NES will, however, for the first time provide primary data on all the green heads in the same way that the National Sample Survey (NSS) periodically collects various socio-economic data.
Subramanian, senior advisor in the environment ministry, said, “Once we come out with the first set of data on all parameters, the survey will be done at regular intervals like the one being done by the NSSO. The first set of data will be compiled in one year because we need to cover seasonal cycles in terms of air pollution and flora & fauna.”
All 716 districts in the country are expected to be surveyed in a period of three to four years. Currently, all necessary preparatory works and training are being done in all the 55 districts where the NES will be conducted next year.
These 55 districts include south Delhi, Pune and Palghar in Maharashtra, Gurugram and Mewat (Nuh) in Haryana, Kullu in Himachal Pradesh, Nalanda in Bihar, Dhanbad in Jharkhand, Jamnagar and Mehsana in Gujarat, Alwar and Barmer in Rajasthan, Coimbatore and Madurai in Tamil Nadu, Shimoga in Karnataka and Hyderabad in Telangana among others.


The above Article can also be read using the link below:

India's first national environmental survey to start in 24 states, 3 UTs in January 2019.