Important topics and their relevance in UPSC CSE exam for February 2, 2024. If you missed the February 1, 2024 UPSC CSE exam key from the Indian Express, read it here

FRONT PAGE Interim Budget: No poll vault, measured step looking ahead

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Main Examination: General Studies III: Government Budgeting

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– IT was an interim Budget and Lok Sabha elections are round the corner, but Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stayed clear of any big populist announcements; to the contrary, she signalled the beginning of a slow tapering of government heavy-lifting of the economy. Not only did she pare down the growth in expenditure by a percentage point to 6% in 2024-25, she also told the markets the government would borrow less, so that the private sector can get the required credit at lower interest rates.

• Interim Budget 2024-what are the key highlights?

• How much did the government proposed to spend or do its total expenditure in 2024?

• Which sector get the highest allocations, in 2024?

• What is the predicted growth rate in the Interim budget?

• The Finance Minister expects the nominal GDP growth rate to be 10.5%-What does this signifies?

• “This Budget will empower all pillars of developed India”-Comment

• Do You Know-While Sitharaman has allocated Rs 11,11,111 crore (3.4% of GDP), a 17% higher outlay for capital expenditure, or spending that is directed towards creating productive assets, it is lower than the 28% increase she had provided in 2023-24. But this probably comes from confidence that boardrooms in India Inc will now start clearing investment plans. In fact, projecting lower borrowing in 2024-25, she said, “Now that the private investments are happening at scale, the lower borrowings by the Central government will facilitate larger availability of credit for the private sector.” Market borrowings are estimated to almost Rs 50,000 crore lower in the next financial year.

The Budget did not make any changes in tax rates, but offered a resolution scheme that effectively will lead to the withdrawal of outstanding direct tax demands of up to Rs 25,000 up to 2009-10, and up to Rs 10,000 for financial years 2010-11 to 2014-15, because of which refunds to taxpayers were held back. “This is expected to benefit about a crore tax-payers,” Sitharaman said. Officials said this could mean a benefit to one in eight tax filers.

In line with developments in the technology and startup ecosystem, the Finance Minister also announced the setting up of a Rs 1 lakh crore corpus with 50-year interest free loan. The corpus will provide almost zero or low interest rate loans with a long tenor for research and innovation by the private sector in sunrise industries. Alongside, she said a new scheme would be launched for strengthening deep tech in defence and for ‘atmanirbharta’.

To incentivise states towards more productive spending, the Finance Minister also continued with the scheme to provide a 50-year interest free loan for capital expenditure. For 2024-25, she allocated Rs 1.3 lakh crore, 30% more in 2023-24. This includes Rs 75,000 crore as 50-year interest free loans to support milestone-linked reforms by states under Viksit Bharat. Further, to encourage states to develop, brand and market iconic tourist centres at global scale, she said long-term interest free loans will be provided to them on matching basis.

• What would be the prudent fiscal policy?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Interim budget makes no leaps, keeps a calm head

EXPLAINED

Concerns over GDP, spending cuts; fiscal deficit is bright spot

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Main Examination: General Studies III: Government Budgeting

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Thursday presented the Union Budget for the next financial year (2024-25). It was her sixth budget presentation, but was different from all the others because this was an interim budget.

• What is nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP)?

• What is real Gross Domestic Product (GDP)?

• Nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and real Gross Domestic Product (GDP)-Which one gives accurate picture of Indian economy?

• Nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) when divided by the rupee-dollar exchange gives what?

• For all budget-related work, which one is used: Nominal or real GDP?

• Why tepid growth rate in nominal GDP is not good news for India’s real growth rate?

• What do you mean by fiscal deficit?

• Fiscal deficit is the most-watched variable-Why?

• What happens when the government tries to print more money instead of borrowing from the market?

• How sudden surge of additional money in the market impacts Economy?

• What happens when fiscal deficits continue to grow?

• What happens when fiscal deficits continue to decrease?

• What is Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act of 2003?

• What is the present scenario of fiscal deficit?

• Do You Know-Fiscal deficit essentially shows the amount of money that the government borrows from the market. It does so to bridge the gap between its expenses and income. Fiscal deficit is the most-watched variable, because if a government borrows more, it leaves a smaller pool of money for the private sector to borrow from. That, in turn, leads to higher interest rates, thus disincentivising borrowings by the private sector and further dragging down economic activity in the form of lower consumption and production.

If the government tries to print more money instead of borrowing from the market, that too leads to negative effects such as inflation, thanks to a sudden surge of additional money chasing the same supply of goods and services. Moreover, each year’s fiscal deficit adds to the pool of government debt. If fiscal deficits continue to grow unrestrained — that is, if a government continues to live on borrowed money — repaying the debt and associated annual interest payments tends to become a critical concern. Retiring old debt eventually requires governments to tax its citizens, which, again, drags down economic activity.

It is for this reason that the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act of 2003 requires the Union government to contain its fiscal deficit to just 3% of the nominal GDP. However, barring 2007-08, India has never met this target. The deficit had worsened in the wake of the Covid pandemic — shot up to 9.2% of GDP — but since then the government has been able to bring it down each year. In the current year, the government had set a target of 5.9% and revised estimates show it is likely to be even lower at 5.8%. Further, the FM has announced similarly ambitious targets for FY25 — at 5.1% of GDP— and FY26 — at 4.5% of GDP.

This is a welcome achievement because it is likely to bring down the cost of borrowing for the private sector. However, it leads to two key questions: how is this fiscal consolidation being achieved, and what will be its impact on growth.

• All government expenditure can be divided into two broad categories-Can you tell those two categories?

• Revenue expenditure and capital expenditure-Compare

• “There is a clear advantage for the broader economy when the government ramps up capex”-how?

• Revised estimates show that this capex target was not met in the current year-why?

• “Health and education are two key areas for any developing economy”-how budget should be allocated in this two sectors?

• “Historically, in India, budget allocations towards health and education have been lower than required”-Discuss

• How much government spends on health and education?

• What is the present scenario of the most important government schemes across different ministries?

• ‘Traditionally, the biggest chunk in the government’s financial resources comes from market borrowings’-Comment

• Government’s financial resources-What are the major sources of finance for central government?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Budget 2024 Key Highlights: Fiscal deficit target for 2024-25 at 5.1% of GDP; no changes to income tax slabs

THE MACRO

Tax buoyancy helps Centre align with its fiscal roadmap

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Main Examination: General Studies III: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– The government’s aim to restrict the fiscal deficit to 5.8 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as against 5.9 per cent budgeted earlier for the financial year and the push to restrict the fiscal deficit target to below 4.5 per cent by 2025-26 rides on the back of a strong buoyancy in tax revenues.

• What is tax buoyancy?

• What is Tax Elasticity?

• Tax buoyancy and Tax Elasticity-Know the difference

• What is the net direct tax?

• What is Direct Tax?

• What are the types of taxes in India?

• What is the difference between direct and indirect taxes?

• Examples of direct and indirect taxes?

• How does a direct tax work?

• What is net direct tax collection in India?

• Why Direct tax is important?

• What are the Government initiatives to improve direct taxes and indirect taxes?

• How is the tax structure in India?

• Do You Know-Direct tax revenues have shown a sharp surge, with income tax seen overshooting the Budget estimate for this financial year by 13.5 per cent and Securities Transaction Tax (STT) revenue seen exceeding budget estimate by 15.8 per cent. For the next financial year, direct tax collections, which include income tax and corporate tax, are estimated to rise 13.1 per cent to Rs 21.99 lakh crore. Direct tax revenues are estimated to grow 17.2 per cent year-on-year to Rs 19.45 lakh crore in the current financial year 2023-24.

The income tax collections in 2023-24 have shown a sharp pickup and are expected to exceed the Budget estimate by Rs 1.2 lakh crore, while corporate tax collections have been maintained at the Budget estimate level of Rs 9.23 lakh crore. With this, income tax revenues are seen exceeding corporate tax collections, even though they had been budgeted at a lower level than corporate tax revenue in the Budget estimates for 2023-24.

Securities Transaction Tax, which is levied on traded securities on bourses, is estimated to increase to Rs 32,000 crore in the revised estimates of 2023-24, an increase of 27.6 per cent from the actual revenue in 2022-23. For 2024-25, STT revenues are estimated to rise to Rs 36,000 crore.

The government’s gross tax revenue is estimated to grow 11.5 per cent to Rs 38.31 lakh crore in the next financial year. The Centre’s net tax revenues are estimated to grow by nearly 12 per cent to Rs 26.02 lakh crore in 2024-25. This compares with a rise of 10.8 per cent in the revised estimates for the ongoing financial year 2023-24 over the actual revenue in 2022-23. The growth rate for tax revenues estimated for 2024-25 at nearly 12 per cent is much higher than the 10.5 per cent nominal GDP growth assumed for Budget arithmetic for 2024-25.

The strong growth in tax revenues reflects the high tax buoyancy, which works out to be 1.2 in the revised estimates for financial year 2023-24 as against 1.0 in FY23. For 2024-25, the tax buoyancy is seen at 1.1. “Over the past few years, the government’s revenue collections, especially tax collections, have turned out to be better than budgeted. Even for FY25, the union budget is expecting the tax collections to grow 11.9 per cent YoY (FY24BE: 11.6 per cent). The budgeted tax revenue buoyancy for FY24 was 1.07x, but as per FY24 revised estimates, it came in at 1.19x. Therefore, Ind-Ra believes that the target of achieving a fiscal deficit of 5.1% of GDP in FY25, although challenging, is possible as the government over the past few years has surprisingly reported a better fiscal deficit/GDP ratio than budgeted. The conservative revenue estimates can take care of any unforeseen expenditure or slippage in disinvestments in FY25,” India Ratings and Research said in a note.

On the indirect taxes side, Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) collections are estimated to grow 13 per cent to Rs 9.18 lakh crore in 2024-25. Overall, the indirect tax collections, which include customs, excise duties and GST (including compensation cess), are expected to yield Rs 16.22 lakh crore to the government in 2024-25. In the current financial year, the revised estimate for customs and excise duty collections have been lowered to Rs 2.19 lakh crore and Rs 3.08 lakh crore, respectively, while GST collections (including compensation cess) are estimated at the budgeted level of Rs 9.57 lakh crore.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Direct tax-GDP ratio rose to 15-year high in FY23, tax buoyancy dipped

‘Negotiating BITs with trade partners to boost FDI’

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development

Main Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s Interest

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- With new Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) drying up after India adopted the model BIT in 2016, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during her Interim Budget speech said that India is negotiating BITs with trade partners to boost the inflow of foreign direct investments (FDI).

• What is a Bilateral Investment Treaty?

• What is Free Trade Agreement (FTA)?

• Know about other types of trade agreements like Preferential Trade Area, Single market, Customs Union etc.

• “With new Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) drying up after India adopted the model BIT in 2016”-know in brief

• “A relook at BITs comes at a time when India is pursuing economic integration with western nations such as the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union through free trade agreements and investment treaties”-Discuss

• “India is currently negotiating FTAs with the UK, the European Union(EU), Australia and Oman, and India could lower duties on goods and services sharply”-Know in detail

• India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA)-Know in detail

• What are the contentious issues in the ongoing talks for the India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA)?

• What is Rules of origin?

• “BITs had dipped as a number of trade partners were against India’s insistence on favoring ‘exhaustion of local remedies’ clause in the model BIT”- What is ‘exhaustion of local remedies’ clause?

• Why Foreign direct investment (FDI) equity inflows in India declined 24 per cent to $20.48 billion in April-September 2023?

• How Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) will boost the inflow of foreign direct investments (FDI)?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????‘No longer looking at import duties as revenue source in FTA negotiations’

Centre to follow a ‘calibrated’ approach to divestments in FY25

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development

Main Examination: General Studies III: Government Budgeting.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-The Centre has revised its divestment target for 2023-24 to Rs 30,000 crore from Rs 51,000 crore budgeted previously.

• Shift from Privatisation and asset monetisation in previous year’s Budget to Disinvestment in current Budget-Why?

• What is Disinvestment?

• Difference between Privatisation and Disinvestment?

• Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), Role and under which Ministry?

• Do You Know-The government has so far achieved about 40 per cent of the current year’s revised disinvestment target, with just two months remaining to mop up Rs 17,496 crore to meet the revised target. The revenue receipts from disinvestments are a part of the Centre’s non-tax revenue, which help the government narrow its budget gap.

According to data available with DIPAM, the government has managed to raise Rs 12,504.32 crore so far in the current financial year, with a majority of the funds coming in from offers for sale (OFS) and initial public offerings (IPOs) of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs). After Air India and Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL) privatisations, the Centre’s divestment aims have not materialised, with the government missing its targets for the fifth consecutive year.

Privatisation plans for companies like Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) and CONCOR were first announced around 2019 but got delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Strategic sale of CPSEs like BEML, SCI, HLL Life Care, NMDC Steel, and IDBI Bank is expected to be completed in the current financial year, although analysts believe it could come to fruition only after the General Elections later this year.

The Centre has already exceeded the dividends’ initial target from public sector enterprises in Fy 24 by Rs 1,050 crore. For the next financial year, the interim Budget has estimated such dividends at a lower level from the revised estimates for Fy 23 at Rs 48,000 crore.

The government is to receive a dividend/surplus of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), nationalised banks, and financial institutions worth Rs 1.04 lakh crore in the current fiscal, which is more than double than the Budget estimate of Rs 48,000 crore. The FY25 estimate is Rs 1.02 lakh crore.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Explained: Asset sale targets and revenue generation

Tax resolution scheme to benefit over one crore

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Main Examination: General Studies III: Government Budgeting

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-In a relief to tax-payers grappling with outstanding tax demands, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a resolution for “disputed direct tax demand” dating back to 1962, the year of enactment of Income-Tax Act.

• What is “disputed direct tax demand” dating back to 1962?

• What has Sitharaman announced?

• Whom will this help?

• What part of the govt’s income comes from income tax?

• Resolution for “disputed direct tax demand”-why this is significant?

• For Your Information-The filing of Income-Tax Returns (ITRs) recorded a surge for the assessment year 2023-2024, with record 8.18 crore ITRs filed up to December 31, 2023 as against 7.51 crore ITRs filed up to December 31, 2022. This is a 9 per cent increase from the total ITRs filed for AY 2022-23.

Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra in a post-Budget briefing said it should not be seen as a “waiver” but instead as a “withdrawal and correction of entries.” The government is now remitting 1.1 crore tax demands which will cost “less than Rs 3,500 crore”, he said, adding that about 58 lakh demand entries are for the period up to financial year 2009-10 and another 53 lakh entries pertain to the years from 2010-11 to 2014-15.

Overall, there are about 2.68 crore pending demands for Income Tax, wealth tax and gift tax from over the years worth Rs 35 lakh crore. Out of the 2.68 crore demands, about 2.1 crore demands are valued at less than Rs 25,000, Malhotra said. “Many of these demands are very old, dating from 1962 when the Income-Tax Act was enacted and right now till very recently, till today…many of them are unreconciled because of systemic issues. We shifted all the tax records, centralised them in 2010-11. That’s why the cut-off has been taken at 2010-11 because previously the demands were decentralised. So we are unable to verify many of them, causing disruption and hindrance in payment of refunds,” he said.

The issue of a mismatch in records of tax demands and payments made by the tax-payers arose after the Income Tax department switched to a centralised system of records at the Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) at Bengaluru in 2010. “This should not be seen as a waiver because in the year 2010-11, we shifted our records which were previously maintained at zonal levels or state levels and which were mostly paper records, or, if they were computerised, they were held locally. There was no central level record. In the year 2010-11, we shifted this centrally to our Centralised Processing Centre in Bengaluru. Many of the demands which are over there, have been paid for actually by the taxpayers. Because when we reach out to them and say this is a demand, it’s a small demand, they say we have already paid it. But the records are not with us because the records were decentralised. And so, mostly, these demands are actually not existing. They are existing on paper but they are not actual demands, they are mostly fictitious. And they are not going to yield any revenue. Some of them are very very small, Rs 1, 2 or less than Rs 10. It’s not a waiver…it’s just a withdrawal, it’s just a correction of entries,” Malhotra said.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Interim Budget 2024: What Sitharaman said about withdrawing old tax demands, who will benefit

INFRA

Households to get 300 units free power under rooftop solar scheme

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-People availing of the government’s newly-announced rooftop solar scheme will be entitled to 300 units of free electricity every month and help them save up to Rs 18,000 annually, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced Thursday.

• What is the Pradhan Mantri Suryodaya Yojana?

• Rooftop Solar Scheme-Know in detail

• What is India’s current solar capacity?

• Why is an expansion of solar energy important for India?

• What Finance Minister said in her Budget speech regarding Pradhan Mantri Suryodaya Yojana?

• How this scheme can help in the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs)?

• Do You Know-The ‘Pradhanmantri Suryodaya Yojana’ was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 22, shortly after he returned from Ayodhya where he led the consecration of the new Ram temple. Rooftop solar systems would be installed in “one crore houses”, Modi said, though without specifying a timeframe for the target to be achieved.

Although full details of the new scheme were still not available, Sitharaman, in her Budget speech, said it would enable for each participating household “savings up to Rs 15,000-18,000 annually” by getting free solar electricity and by selling the surplus power to the distribution companies.

The Finance Minister said the scheme would also help the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) by providing charging stations at home. The scheme was also expected to result in entrepreneurship and employment opportunities in supplies, installation and maintenance, she said.

The ‘Pradhanmantri Suryodaya Yojana’ adds on to an ongoing rooftop solarisation programme running for at least a decade now. About 40 per cent, or 40 gigawatt (GW), of the government’s initial target of setting up 100 GW of solar capacity by 2022 was meant to be through rooftop systems. However, by 2023 end, the country’s total solar capacity stood at 73.3 GW, of which grid-connected rooftop systems comprised only about 11 GW, or 15 per cent.

One GW is equal to one billion watts. For perspective, a typical light bulb in homes, if used continuously for an hour, consumes between 60 and 100 watts. Although the ‘Pradhanmantri Suryodaya Yojana’ is not aimed at generating capacity, but only the number of households with rooftop solar systems, the scheme will certainly boost it, experts said.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????PM announces scheme to install rooftop solar systems in 1 cr homes

`1 lakh crore corpus for innovation by pvt sector

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Main Examination: General Studies III: Government Budgeting

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- In a significant initiative to incentivise research and development in the private sector, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced the establishment of a financial corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore that will provide low-cost or zero-interest loans for research and innovation.

• What is the budget for research and development in India?

• What percentage of GDP is spent on research and development in India?

• Why India spends less on R&D?

• “Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the establishment of a financial corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore”-why this is significant?

• “The new fund is in sync with the government efforts to encourage private sector involvement in research activities”-What are the steps taken by Government of India recently to enhance research and development and innovation?

• National Research Foundation (NRF)-what you know about the same?

• What is the aim of National Research Foundation?

• The administrative department of the NRF will be managed by whom?

• The governance of NRF will be formulated by a Governing Board, presided by whom?

• The principal reason to form the NRF is what?

• “The new budgetary provision would enable greater private sector spending on research and development, and help in creating the right environment for innovation”-Discuss

• “Another announcement made by Sitharaman in the Budget speech, the one related to promoting deep-tech technologies in defence sector”- What is deep-tech technology?

• Do You Know- Another announcement made by Sitharaman in the Budget speech, the one related to promoting deep-tech technologies in defence sector, was also very important. In her speech, Sitharaman said the government would soon launch a new scheme for strengthening deep-tech technologies for defence purposes and expanding “atmanirbharta” or self-reliance. Deep tech refers to advanced and disruptive technologies, mainly in the fields of nanotechnology, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, cyber security, semiconductors, data science, and the like, that are still being developed and have the potential to bring transformative changes.

The government is in the process of finalising a comprehensive national policy on deep-tech start-ups, confined not just to defence but across all sectors. The policy is aimed at addressing challenges being faced by start-ups working in these areas, and create the right conditions for improved outputs.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Budget 2024: Tech industry welcomes digital boost, but calls for more reforms

Fast & safe: 40k bogies to be of Vande Bharat grade

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development

Main Examination: General Studies III: Government Budgeting.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Aiming to improve passengers’ travel experience and allowing for faster speed which in turn will reduce travel time, 40,000 normal rail bogies will be converted to the Vande Bharat standards, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in her budget speech Thursday.

• How this announcement will boost India’s railway infrastructure, a central component of the Union government’s capex push?

• Finance Minister also announced the implementation of three major economic railway corridor programmes-know them

• PM GatiShakti National Master Plan-Major Highlights

• Do You Know-The Vande Bharat bogie standards reduce the overall weight of bogies, allowing quicker acceleration and deceleration compared to normal bogies. The bogies are manufactured by Integral Coach Factory, Chennai, owned and operated by the Indian Railways. Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told ANI in an interview Thursday that the upgradation of normal bogies to Vande Bharat standards will cost around Rs 15,000 crore and take 5 years to implement.

Meanwhile, the three major economic railway corridor programmes are aimed at improving logistics efficiency and reducing costs and focusing on energy, mineral, cement, port connectivity, and high traffic density corridors. “The resultant decongestion of high-traffic corridors will also help in improving operations of passenger trains, resulting in safety and higher travel speed. Together with dedicated freight corridors, these three economic corridor programmes will accelerate GDP growth and reduce logistic costs,” she said. Vaishnaw said 40,000 km of new tracks will be laid for these corridors over the next 6-8 years and the entire programme will cost an estimated Rs 11,000 crore.

For financial year 2024-25, the estimated budget allocated to Railways is slightly higher at Rs 2.65 lakh crore compared to revised estimate of Rs 2.6 lakh crore for the ongoing FY24. Of the total budget allocation for FY25, Rs 13,000 crore will be financed through borrowings, a sharp reduction of 35 per cent from the revised estimate of Rs 20,000 crore for the ongoing financial year. Furthermore, the estimated capital outlay on Railways’ commercial lines in FY25 has been increased to Rs 2.52 lakh crore compared to the revised estimate of Rs 2.4 lakh crore for FY24.

As per the Interim Budget, Rs 25.5 lakh crore has been allocated to the Railways Ministry compared to revised estimate of Rs 24.3 lakh crore for the current FY. The revised estimate for FY24 is slightly higher than the Rs 24.1 lakh crore announced in the budget last year. The estimated capital outlay on Railways’ strategic lines in FY25 has also increased to Rs 107 crore from the revised estimate of Rs 101 crore for FY24, significantly higher than the initial estimate of Rs 75 crore. The NHAI has been allocated Rs 1.68 lakh crore, up from the revised estimate of Rs 1.67 lakh crore for the ongoing financial year while Rs 2.5 lakh crore has been allocated to the Ministry of Road Transport and Roadways as capital outlay on roads and bridges, marginally higher than the revised estimate of Rs 2.4 lakh crore for FY24.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Vikram Patel writes: What the Vande Bharat train says about the lopsided priorities of Indian modernity

RURAL

Job guarantee scheme outlay stays at `86,000 cr, no change in PM-Kisan

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development

Main Examination: General Studies II: Important aspects of Governance and Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- FINANCE MINISTER Nirmala Sitharaman has provided Rs 86,000 crore for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme in the Interim Budget for 2024-25, retaining it at the same level as provided for in the revised estimate for 2023-24.

• What is the MGNREGS allocation in the Budget?

• “MGNREGA is supposedly a demand-driven scheme”-Discuss

• Do You Know-The two pandemic years of 2020-21 and 2021-22 saw all-time-high funding and job generation under MGNREGA, which guarantees a minimum 100 days of unskilled manual work in a financial year (April-March) to every rural household on demand. Even 2022-23, which unleashed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, generated higher than average (pre-pandemic) person-days of employment.

The current fiscal was expected to be the first normal year after the pandemic, which also accounted for the MGNREGA budget being slashed to the lowest-ever level since 2017-18 . But as it turned out, work demand under the scheme — launched in February 2006 by the previous UPA government — remains high. If the trend of employment during April-January 2023-24 holds, the fiscal could end up with 300 crore-plus person-days getting generated. That would be the third highest, after the record 363-389 crore person-days of 2020-21 and 2022-23. MGNREGA is supposedly a demand-driven scheme; the government can always meet additional funds requirements based on demand for works through supplementary demands for grants. The higher provision in the Interim Budget may, nevertheless, send positive signals to states for taking up MGNREGA works, ahead of Lok Sabha elections due in April-May, These are generally high-demand months before the southwest monsoon’s onset in June.

While MGNREGA was a UPA baby, the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) is a scheme that was started by the Modi government and became operational from December 1, 2018. The scheme’s beneficiaries — roughly 10 crore landholding farmer families, receiving an income support of Rs 6,000 per year – were paid two instalments of Rs 2,000 each before and during the last national elections in April-May 2019.

There were expectations that the Modi government would increase the annual payment under PM-Kisan as a pre-poll sop — from Rs 6,000 to about Rs 9,000 — in Thursday’s Interim Budget (the scheme was, in fact, officially announced in the last 2019-20 Interim Budget of Piyush Goyal). But this did not happen. The outlay for the scheme in 2024-25 has been retained at the current fiscal’s budget and revised estimate of Rs 60,000 crore.

• What is the debate on MGNREGA?

• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)-Mandate, Goals

• What are the core objectives of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS)?

• When was Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act passed by the Indian Parliament?

• In what way paradigm shift has taken place with the implementation of MGNREGA?

• Who are the key stakeholders of MGNREGA?

• Issues with MGNREGA?

• COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on MGNREGA?

• After a dip in demand for work under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) the demand for work has again seen a rise-Know the reasons

• How schemes such as MGNREGA helped alleviate distress migration?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????The debate around the rural employment scheme

Food, fertiliser, fuel subsidy bill to fall to 5-year low

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Main Examination: General Studies III: Government Budgeting

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-The Centre’s subsidy bill on the ‘3 Fs’ — food, fertiliser and fuel — is slated to fall to a five-year-low of Rs 3,81,175 crore in 2024-25, as per the Interim Budget.

• “The Centre’s subsidy bill on the ‘3 Fs’ — food, fertiliser and fuel — is slated to fall to a five-year-low”-Why?

• What are those two main drivers for the decline?

• Do You Know-The first is the discontinuation of the free, additional 5-kg monthly grain allocation to the 80 crore-plus public distribution system (PDS) beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. This extra rice or wheat — over and above the regular 5 kg/person/month PDS quota under the National Food Security Act — was given during the post-Covid period from April 2020 to December 2022. That ended effective from the last calendar year.

The subsidy hit an all-time-high of Rs 5,41,330 in 2020-21, when a one-time provision was made to enable the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to repay some Rs 3,39,236 crore of outstanding loans taken from the National Small Savings Fund (NSSF). Prior to 2020-21, the Centre wasn’t wholly funding the subsidy, arising from the difference between the FCI’s “economic cost” (what it incurs in procuring, distributing and storing grain) and its average issue price. To bridge the gap, it had to then borrow from the NSSF at an interest rate of 7.4-8.8 per cent per annum.

The second driver for the Centre’s lower subsidy outgo is fertiliser. This bill soared to a record Rs 2,51,339 crore in 2022-23, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 that led to skyrocketing international prices of fertilisers and raw materials.

The third major ‘3F’ subsidy head is fuel, which touched Rs 96,880 crore in 2012-13 and Rs 85,378 crore in 2013-14. The petroleum subsidy fell subsequently with benign global crude prices and the Narendra Modi government limiting it only to sale of LPG cylinders and providing connections to poor/low income households. Retail prices of diesel and petrol have, however, not been revised since they were last cut on May 22, 2022. That has pushed up petroleum subsidy to Rs 12,000 crore levels in the current as well as ensuing fiscal.

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WELFARE

2 cr new rural houses, scheme for urban buyers

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Main Examination: General Studies II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Keeping in view the emerging demand of households, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Thursday that two crore more houses will be built under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) in rural areas in the next five years, while for cities, the government would bring a new scheme to help middle-class homebuyers buy or build their own homes.

• What is Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna Gramin?

• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Gramin (PMAY-G)-Features of the Scheme and Nodal Ministry

• PMAY (Rural or Gramin) and PMAY (Urban)-Difference

• Other Infrastructure and Rural development related schemes-Know them

• Apart from focusing on providing houses to the eligible beneficiaries, PMAY-G also addresses the basic needs of households through convergence with other Government Schemes-Elaborate

• How exercise for identification of households, who though eligible for assistance under PMAY-G as per the parameters are specified?

• The Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 (SECC) and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Gramin (PMAY-G)-Connect the dots

• How PMAY-G expenditure is shared?

• For Your Information-In her Budget speech, Sitharaman said that despite the challenges due to Covid-19, implementation of PMAY-G continued and the government is close to achieving the target of three crore houses. “Two crore more houses will be taken up in the next five years to meet the requirement arising from the increase in the number of families,” the finance minister said, while presenting the Union Budget (Interim) 2024-25.

In all, the government has allocated Rs 54,500.14 crore for PMAY-G, which is almost equal to the current year’s budgetary allocation of Rs 54,487.00 crore. However, it is 41 per cent lower as compared to the revised estimate (RE) of Rs 32,000.01 crore. The PMAY-G allocation has two components — PMAY-program component and interest payment to NABARD for EBR loans. Of these two, the PMAY-program component was allocated Rs 50,486.99 crore in the Budget 2023-24, however, it has been reduced to 28,174.48 crore at the RE stage. The Rs 4,000-crore allocation made for the interest payment to NABARD for EBR loans component has been reduced to Rs 3,825.52 crore at the RE stage. Due to this reduction, the overall allocation of the PMAY-G came down to Rs 32,000.01 crore.

The PMAY-G is a flagship central government scheme, involving the states, that aims to provide pucca houses with a minimum area of 25 square metre with basic amenities to people in rural areas who are homeless or live in kutcha and dilapidated houses. Each beneficiary gets funds up to Rs 1.2 lakh in the plains and Rs 1.30 lakh in hilly states, difficult areas, and tribal and backward districts under the Integrated Action Plan (IAP). The funds are to be split in a 60:40 ratio between the Centre and states, respectively, with the target of constructing 2.95 crore houses by March 2024.

Against the mandated target of 2.95 crore houses, more than 2.94 crore have already been sanctioned to the beneficiaries by various States/ UTs and construction of 2.56 crore houses has also been completed as on January 31, 2023. To help the “deserving sections” of the middle class living in the urban areas, the finance minister said, the government will launch a scheme for those living in rented houses, or slums, or chawls and unauthorised colonies’ to buy or build their own houses.

The interim Budget included Rs 500 crore allocation for Credit Risk Guarantee Fund Trust, which was allocated only Rs1 lakh in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. The total budget for the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in 2024-2025 was proposed at Rs 77,523.58 crore, about 1.4 per cent higher than BE 2023-2024. The funding for Metro and Mass Rapid Transit System increased by around 7.5 per cent from last year, to Rs 24,931.98 crore.

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Govt makes HPV shot for girls a priority, no separate allocation yet

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- UNION Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced that the government will encourage vaccination for girls in the age group of 9 to 14 years for prevention of cervical cancer. The minister, however, did not make any mention of separate allocation for the same.

• What UNION Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on the prevention of cervical cancer?

• How does a vaccination campaign help?

• Who will get the vaccines and where?

• How is the government preparing to roll out the vaccine?

• What is the current evidence on the vaccine?

• What is human papillomavirus?

• Know about Cervical cancer

• What is the main cause of cervical cancer?

• How common is cervical cancer in India?

• Who developed the new qHPV vaccine?

• How effective is the new vaccine?

• Why cervical cancer is most common in India?

• How many types of HPV vaccines are there and who should get it?

• What is quadrivalent vaccine?

• WHO‘s Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer 2030-Know in detail

• HPV vaccination and cervical cancer incidence in India-Know in detail

• Do You Know-INDIA ACCOUNTS for about a fifth of the world’s cervical cancer cases. With about 1.25 lakh new cases and 75,000 deaths each year, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women in India, after breast cancer. About 83 per cent of invasive cervical cancer cases are attributed to HPV 16 or 18 in India.

The official explained that nearly 8 crore children between the ages of 9 and 14 years will be eligible for the vaccine across the country. When divided over three years, there will be at least 2.6 crore children eligible during the first year. In addition to these 2.6 crore children, another 50 lakh to 1 crore children who will turn nine in the places where the campaign has already been rolled out will need the vaccine doses during the second and third year. The immunisation drive will be conducted through schools and existing vaccination points.

India accounts for about a fifth of the global burden for cervical cancer, recording about 1.25 lakh cases and about 75,000 deaths each year. Persistent infections with certain high-risk HPV strains lead to nearly 85 per cent of all cervical cancers. At least 14 HPV types have been identified as oncogenic (potential to cause cancer). Among these, HPV types 16 and 18, considered to be the most oncogenic, have been found to be responsible for about 70 per cent of all cervical cancer cases globally.

While Cervavac, an indigenously developed quadrivalent vaccine by the Serum Institute of India (SII) in Pune, is already available commercially, the company is in the process of scaling up its manufacturing to meet government requirements. Cervavac offers protection against four HPV strains – 16, 18, 6 and 11.

Meanwhile, the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) has recommended that the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) conduct trials on the efficacy of a single-dose regimen of HPV vaccine in the age group of 9-15 years. While none of the HPV vaccines available globally recommend a single-dose schedule, the World Health Organisation says that a single-dose regimen can be followed for public health programmes. According to the minutes of a meeting held last year, the ICMR said a Phase-3 single-dose trial to test efficacy would take a long time. A Phase-3 trial would mean waiting for several years to observe a certain number of cancer cases in the group that hasn’t been administered the vaccine. Instead, the ICMR study will look at antibody persistence after one dose of the vaccine.

• Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI)-Under which nodal Ministry or Independent body?

• For Your Information– India accounts for about a fifth of the global burden of cervical cancer, seeing 1.25 lakh cases and 75,000 deaths a year. The SII vaccine is quadrivalent, meaning it protects against the four most common strains of the virus known to cause cancers — HPV 16, 18, 6, and 11. Around 83 per cent of invasive cervical cancers are attributed to HPV 16 or 18 in India.

• The vaccine, Cervavac is a big step in preventive healthcare in the country-How?

• Why India needs to put more emphasis on preventive healthcare?

• National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI)-Role, Powers and Functions

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In pursuit of Viksit Bharat, a panel to look at population challenges

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development

Mains Examination: General Studies I: Population and associated issues

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-AMID DEMAND for a law for population control, the government Thursday announced plans to form a high-powered committee for an extensive consideration of the challenges arising from fast population growth and demographic changes. The announcement was made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her speech, presenting the Union Budget (Interim) 2024-25 in Lok Sabha.

• Law on population control in India-what is your take?

• What exactly Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech said?

• Do You Know-India’s Total Fertility Rate (children per woman) has declined from 2.5 in 2001 to 2.2 in 2011, according to the Census 2011. According to the National Family Health Survey, India’s Total Fertility Rate has further dropped to 2.0 during 2019-21, which is even below the replacement-level fertility of 2.1 children per woman. Some states such as Arunachal Pradesh (1.8), Chhattisgarh (1.8), Haryana (1.9), Odisha (1.8) and Punjab (1.6) have even a Total Fertility Rate that is lower than the national average.

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GOVT & POLITICS

Viability gap funding for tapping off-shore wind leads green push

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Main Examination: General Studies III: Government Budgeting

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– Moving ahead finally to harness the untapped potential of off-shore wind energy, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced viability gap funding for setting up at least one gigawatt of wind energy capacity.

• What is the meaning of offshore wind energy?

• What is the viability gap funding?

• What exactly Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced?

• What are the benefits of viability gap funding?

• For Your Information-Off-shore wind refers to wind turbines located in the middle of the sea, rather than at the coastline. Greater wind speeds and lack of any obstruction in the middle of the sea means the turbines are able to achieve higher rates of conversion of wind energy into electrical energy. But these also have higher construction and maintenance costs, thereby raising the entry barrier. The increased costs can be offset only through large-scale systems operating at greater efficiencies. India does not have any off-shore wind project as of now, but several lucrative sites, mainly off the coastline of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, have been identified for potential projects.

Viability gap funding is a financial incentive intended to lower the entry barriers and make a project attractive for investors. Viability gap funding for off-shore wind farms was one of the several green measures announced in the interim budget to signal policy stability with respect to India’s quest to aggressively harness clean energy technologies and move ahead on low-carbon development pathways with the objective of achieving net-zero emission status by 2070.

Viability gap funding for off-shore wind projects would enable off-shore wind farms to be set up to 300 units of free electricity every month to households that set up rooftop solar systems. Would incentivise adoption of rooftop solar and Support for expanding manufacturing and charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. Targets rapid adoption of electric vehicles. Mandatory blending of compressed biogas in CNG and PNG in a phased manner. Would promote cleaner and cheaper energy, reduce import dependence. Financial help for biomass aggregation machinery. Would improve biomass collection for increased production of biofuels

• Budget’s Green push-What else Finance Minister proposed?

• What is the Budget’s Green Growth push?

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6.17% hike for military upgrade

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Main Examination: General Studies III: Government Budgeting

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-The Indian military’s modernisation budget for 2024-25 saw a meagre hike of 6.17 per cent despite the ongoing standoff with China along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh and a slew of terror attacks on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir last year.

• What is the budget allocation for Indian defence force?

• Why this time the meagre rise in the modernisation budget?

• Do You Know-The overall defence budget earmarked for 2024-25 stands at Rs 6.2 lakh crore, including defence pensions of Rs 1.41 lakh crore — up by just 4.3 per cent from Rs 5.94 lakh crore allocated in the previous fiscal. This is 13.04 per cent of the total budget outlay for 2024-25.

In her budget speech, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman also announced a Rs 1 lakh crore corpus for deep technology for long-term loan to tech-savvy youths or companies and the tax advantage to start-ups aimed at giving an impetus to innovation in the defence sector. The capital budgetary allocations to the three defence services for 2024-25 stand at Rs 1.72 lakh crore — up from Rs 1.62 lakh crore in the previous fiscal.

According to sources, the meagre rise in the modernisation budget is attributed to the limited new contracts being signed by the Armed Forces and slippages in scheduled payments and deliveries. This is also reflected in the revised estimates of the capital budget for 2023-24 at Rs 1.57 lakh crore, which was lower than the Rs 1.62 lakh crore allocated in that fiscal.

In a statement, the defence ministry said the planned modernisation of existing Su-30 fleet, along with additional procurement of aircraft, acquisition of advanced engines for existing MiG-29, acquisition of transport aircraft C-295 and missile systems will be funded out of the budget being allocated. It added that Navy projects such as acquisition of deck-based fighter aircraft, submarines, next-generation survey vessels and others will materialise through this allocation.

Even the overall revenue budget for defence, which includes the pay and allowances for the Armed Forces and also allocations for stocking up on fuel, ammunition, and maintenance of assets, through procurement of critical spares and other capabilities, saw a limited hike at Rs 2.82 lakh crore from Rs 2.7 lakh crore in the previous fiscal. This also includes an allocation of Rs 5,979 crore towards the Agnipath scheme under the three services.

The defence budget has not disclosed individual capital budgetary allocations for the three defence services. According to the defence ministry, the decision to do so was consciously taken to foster “jointness” among the services by consolidating the demands of the three services into similar items of expenditure such as land, aircraft and aeroengines, heavy and medium vehicles and others.

Other highlights of the budget include a 30 per cent hike to the works budget of Border Roads Organisation under the Ministry of Defence to Rs 6,500 crore this year in the backdrop of a spurt in infrastructure development in the border areas in the last three years.

Projects such as development of Nyoma air field in Ladakh at an altitude of 13,700 feet, permanent bridge connectivity to southernmost panchayat of India in Andaman and Nicobar island, 4.1 km strategically important Shinku La tunnel in Himachal Pradesh, Nechiphu tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh, and many other projects will be funded out of this allocation, the defence ministry said.

Allocation to the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) for 2024-25 is Rs 7.651.8 crore, which is 6.31 percent higher over the allocation of 2023-24. Of this, Rs 3,500 crore is to be incurred only on capital expenditure. The total allocation to Ex-Servicemen Welfare Scheme for 2024-25 is 28 per cent higher than the allocations made for the previous fiscal and stands at Rs 6,968 crore. The budgetary allocation to Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has been increased to Rs 23,855 crore in 2024-25 from Rs 23,263.89 crore in the previous fiscal.

• How much India spends in defence as compared to other sectors?

• What is budget for defence imports?

• What Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) says about India’s defence and defence expenditure?

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Bhutan gets lion’s share in MEA development aid

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Main Examination: General Studies III: Government Budgeting

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, and Mauritius have got the lion’s share of the Ministry of External Affairs’ development assistance for 2024-25. The MEA’s total development assistance to various countries and regions such as Latin America and Eurasia has been pegged at Rs 4,883 crore.

• What is Ministry of External Affairs’ development assistance?

• For Your Information-In line with India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, the largest share of aid portfolio for 2024-25 went to Bhutan with an allocation of Rs 2,068 crore as against Rs 2,400 crore in 2023-24. Nepal would be provided Rs 700 crore against Rs 650 crore in 2023-24. The assistance to the Maldives has been kept at Rs 600 crore as against Rs 770 crore in 2023-24, despite recent strain in the bilateral ties. The allocation for Chabahar Port has also been maintained at Rs 100 crore, underlining India’s focus on connectivity projects with Iran.

In continuation with India’s special relationship with the people of Afghanistan, a budgetary aid of Rs 200 crore has been set aside. In 2023-24, it was Rs 220 crore. An amount of Rs 120 crore will be provided to Bangladesh against Rs 130 crore in 2023-24. As per budget documents, Sri Lanka will get development aid worth Rs 75 crore (up from Rs 60 crore in 2023-24), Mauritius to receive Rs 370 crore (up from Rs 330 crore), while for Myanmar it is at Rs 250 crore (down from Rs 370 cr in 2023-24).

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