Saturday, February 2, 2019

BUDGET SUMMARY WITH MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS OF THE INTERIM BUDGET 2019-20

 Interim Budget 2019-20 was presented in Parliament today by the Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs, Railways & Coal, Shri Piyush Goyal. Besides having a major Scheme for the farmers, it provides tax sops and sets the Developmental Agenda for the years to come. 

A New Deal for 12 Crore Small and Marginal farmers with direct income support, a path breaking Pension initiative for 10 Crore unorganized sector workers, exempting income up to Rs 5 lakhs from Income Tax, reforms in stamp duty, highest ever budgetary allocation of Rs 3 lakh crore for Defence, record allocation of funds at Rs 58,166 crore for North Eastern Areas, a new AIIMS for Haryana, single window clearance for Indian film makers at par with foreigners and higher budgetary allocations for Education, Health, Infrastructure and for the welfare of weaker sections including Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, a Separate Department of Fisheries for welfare of 1.5 crore fisherman are some of the major highlights of the Interim Budget 2019-20.

Major Schemes
New Scheme- namely “Pradhan Mantri KIsan SAmman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)” to extend direct income support at the rate of Rs. 6,000 per year to farmer families, having cultivable land upto 2 hectares is announced.

While presenting the Interim Budget 2019-20, the Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs, Railways & Coal, Shri Piyush Goyal said that “our Government is launching a historic programme PM-KISAN with an outlay of Rs.75,000 crore for the FY 2019-20 and Rs.20,000 crore in the Revised Estimates of FY 2018-19”.

            Under this Government of India funded Scheme, Rs.2,000 each will be transferred to the bank accounts of around 12 crore Small and Marginal farmer families, in three equal installments. This programme would be made effective from 1st December 2018 and the first installment for the period upto31st March 2019 would be paid during this year itself, Shri Piyush Goyal said.

Agriculture.jpg

To provide sustained and focused attention towards development of Fisheries, the  Government has decided to create a separate Department of Fisheries. Finance Minister said that through the measure, the Government wants to promote further growth over 7% to promote livelihood of about 1.45 crore people dependent on the sector.

The Finance Minister announced 2% interest subvention to the farmers pursuing the activities of animal husbandry and fisheries, who avail loan through Kisan Credit Card. Further, in case of timely repayment of loan, they will also get an additional 3% interest subvention.

Quote_7.jpg

Allocation of Rs.750 crore for Rashtriya Gokul Mission has been announced for the current year itself. Setting up of "Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog" to upscale sustainable genetic upgradation of cow resources and to enhance production and productivity of cows has also been announced. The Aayog will also look after effective implementation of laws and welfare schemes for cow.

Quote_5.jpg

To provide pensionary benefits to at least 10 crore labourers and workers in the unorganised sector a new Scheme called 'Pradhan Mantri Shram-Yogi Maandhan' is announced.  The Finance Minister said that within next five years it would be one of the largest pension schemes of the world. A sum of Rs.500 crore has been allocated for the Scheme. Additional funds will be provided as needed, Shri Goyal added. The scheme will also be implemented from the current year, he said.



Tax Benefits

 Individual taxpayers having taxable annual income up to Rs.5 lakhs will not be required to pay any income tax. The Finance Minister said that persons having gross income up to Rs. 6.50 lakhs are not required to pay any income tax if they make investments in provident funds, specified savings and insurance etc. Additional deductions such as interest on home loan up to Rs. 2 lakh, interest on education loans, National Pension Scheme contributions, medical insurance and medical expenditure on senior citizens etc, are also provided for in the Interim Budget 2019-20. Thus tax benefit of Rs. 18,500 crore is proposed to be provided to an estimated 3 crore middle class and small taxpayers comprising self employed, small business, small traders, salary earners, pensioners and senior citizens.

For salaried persons, Standard Deduction is being raised from the current Rs.40,000 to Rs.50,000. This will provide additional tax benefit of Rs. 4,700 crore to more than 3 crore salary earners and pensioners.

Exemption on levy of income tax on notional rent on a second self-occupied house is also now proposed. Currently, income tax on notional rent is payable if one has more than one self-occupied house.

TDS threshold on interest earned on bank/post office deposits is being raised from Rs.
10,000 to Rs.40,000.

TDS threshold for deduction of tax on rent is proposed to be increased from Rs. 1,80,000 to Rs.2,40,000 for providing relief to small taxpayers.

Taxation.jpg



The Finance Minister says that the Government wants the GST burden on home buyers to be reduced and accordingly the GST Council was moved to appoint a Group of Ministers to examine and make recommendations in this regard at the earliest.

Shri Goyal said that soon, businesses comprising over 90% of GST payers will be allowed to file quarterly return.

Inflation
            The Finance Minister said that the Government has been successful in bringing down average inflation to 4.6% over last five years, which is lower than the inflation during the tenure of any other Government. In fact Inflation in December 2018 was down to 2.19% only. Shri Goyal said if we had not controlled inflation, our families would have been spending around 35-40% more today on basic necessities such as food, travel, consumer durables, housing etc. The average rate of inflation during previous five years 2009-2014 was a backbreaking 10.1%, he pointed out.
Quote_2.jpg

Fiscal Deficit
            The fiscal deficit has been brought down to 3.4% in 2018-19 RE from the high of almost 6% seven years ago, the Finance Minister mentioned.  He said, the Current Account Deficit (CAD), against a high of 5.6% six years ago, is likely to be only 2.5% of GDP this year. “We contained the fiscal deficit notwithstanding the Finance Commission's recommendations increasing the share of the States from 32% to 42% in central taxes, which we accepted in the true spirit of cooperative federalism, thereby transferring significantly higher amounts to the States”, Shri Goyal said.

Growth and FDI
The Finance Minister Shri Piyush Goyal stated that a stage for high growth in decades to come, has now been set, after a wave of next generation path breaking structural reforms over the last five years, including introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and other taxation reforms.

The country witnessed its best phase of macro-economic stability during the last five years. “We are the fastest growing major economy in the world with an annual average GDP growth during last five years higher than the growth achieved by any Government since economic reforms began in 1991. From being the 11th largest economy in the world in 2013-14, we are today the 6th largest in the world”, the Finance Minister asserted in his Opening Remarks  of his Budget speech.

Shri Goyal said that due to such a stable and predictable regulatory regime, growing economy and strong fundamentals, India could attract massive amount of as much as $239 billion of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) during the last 5 years, when most of the FDI was allowed to come in through the automatic route.

Enhanced allocations for major Schemes
            Announcing an allocation of Rs.60,000 crores for MGNREGA for Budget Estimates 2019-20,  the Finance Minister said that additional allocations will be made, if required.

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) is being allocated Rs.19,000 crore in BE 2019-20 as against Rs.15,500 crore in RE 2018-19. During the period 2014-18, a total number of 1.53 crore houses have been built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, he announced.

By March, 2019, all households will be provided with electricity connection.  Till now, 143 crore LED bulbs have been provided in a mission mode which has resulted in saving of Rs.50,000 crore for the poor and middle class.

He said through the world’s largest healthcare programme, Ayushman Bharat, to provide medical treatment to nearly 50 crore people in the country,  around 10 lakh patients have already benefited through free treatment for medical treatment which would have otherwise cost them Rs. 3,000 crore. Lakhs of poor and middle class people are also benefiting from reduction in the prices of essential medicines, cardiac stents and knee implants, and availability of medicines at affordable prices through Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Kendras, the Finance Minister added.

Shri Goyal also said that 14 of the 21 AIIMS operating or being established in the country presently have been announced since 2014. He also announced setting up of a new - the 22nd AIIMS in Haryana.

Health.jpg

Allocation for Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) is being increased from Rs.23,357 crore in RE 2018-19 to Rs.27,584 crore in BE 2019-20.

A substantial increase is proposed in the allocation for welfare of the Scheduled Castes  and Scheduled Tribes. The allocation of  Rs.56,619 crore  made in BE of 2018-19 for Scheduled Caste, further increased to Rs.62,474 crore in RE is proposed to be enhanced to Rs.76,801 crore in BE for 2019-20, an increase of 35.6% over BE of 2018-19. For the Scheduled Tribes also, proposed allocation in 2019-20 BE is Rs.50,086 crore as against Rs.39,135 crore in BE 2018-19, an increase of 28%.

The Finance Minister said that a Welfare Development Board to frame special strategies for the benefit of the  hard-to-reach De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic communities will be set up under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. He said that a Committee under NITI Aayog will also be set up to complete the task of identifying De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic communities not yet formally classified.

Reaching out to the most deprived.jpg


Shri Goyal said under the Ujjwala Yojana aiming delivery  of 8 crore free LPG connections, more than 6 crore connections have already been given and the remaining will get free gas connections by next year.

Women.jpg


The Finance Minister announced that a National Artificial Intelligence Portal will also be developed soon as a part of the National Programme on 'Artificial Intelligence'.

Quote_8.jpg

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion will now be renamed as the Department for Promotion of Industries and Internal Trade.

The Finance Minister stated that the Government e-Marketplace (GeM), created by the present Government two years ago, resulted in average savings of 25-28% and the platform will now be extended to all CPSEs. Transactions of over Rs. 17,500 crore have taken place so far.

The Finance Minister announced that for the first time, the country’s Defence Budget will be of over Rs.3 lakh crore.   

The Finance Minister, Shri Piyush Goyal pointed-out that domestic air traffic passengers have doubled during the last five years, leading to large number of jobs also being created. The number of operational airports has crossed 100 with the commissioning of the Pakyong airport in Sikkim.  Arunachal Pradesh came on the air map recently and Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram have come on India’s rail map for the first time.

Infrastructure.jpg

Capital support from the budget for Indian Railways is proposed at Rs.64,587 crore in 2019-20 (BE). The Railways’ overall capital expenditure programme is of Rs. 1,58,658 crore. The Finance Minister, who is also holding the portfolio of Railway Ministry, announced that the Operating Ratio is expected to improve from 98.4% in 2017-18 to 96.2% in 2018-19 (RE) and further to 95% in 2019-20 (BE).

Railway.jpg
Railway-Budget-at-a-Glance-English.jpg

India’s installed solar generation capacity has grown over ten times in last five years. Stating this, Shri Goyal said that “our commitment to promote renewable energy is reflected in setting up the International Solar Alliance, the first treaty based international inter-governmental organisation headquartered in India. This sector is now creating lakhs of new age jobs, he added.

The Finance Minister announced that in Entertainment industry, which is a major employment generator, regulatory provisions will now rely more on self-declarations. To promote entertainment industry, the Single window clearance for ease of shooting films, now available only to foreigners, will also be made available to Indian filmmakers. “We will also introduce anti-camcording provisions in the Cinematograph Act to control the menace of piracy”, he said.

Saying that “We are poised to become a Five Trillion Dollar Economy in the next five years and aspire to become a Ten Trillion Dollar Economy in the next 8 years thereafter”, Shri Piyush Goyal said that there has been a Growth of 18% in Direct Tax Collections in 2017-18 and increase in tax base by as many as 1.06 crore people filing income tax returns for the first time in FY 2017-18, mainly on account of demonetization.

Shri Goyal said that he is proposing, through the Finance Bill, necessary amendments to levy Stamp duties on one instrument relating to one transaction and get collected at one place through the Stock Exchanges. The duty so collected will be shared with the State Governments seamlessly on the basis of domicile of buying client, he said.

In all the total expenditure is to increase from Rs.24,57,235 crore in 2018-19 RE to Rs.27,84,200 crore in 2019-20 BE.  A rise of Rs.3,26,965 crore or approximately 13.30%. This reflects a high increase considering low inflation. The fiscal deficit of year 2019-20 is estimated to be 3.4% of GDP.

Budget-at-a-Glance-English.jpg

The Finance Minister pointed out that after completion of the fiscal deficit consolidation programme, the Government would now focus on Debt consolidation. He said “We have maintained the glide path towards our target of 3% of fiscal deficit to be achieved by 2020-21. India’s Debt to GDP ratio was 46.5% in year 2017-18. The FRBM Act prescribes that the Debt to GDP ratio of the Government of India should be brought down to 40% by 2024-25. “Along with completion of the fiscal deficit consolidation programme, we will now focus on Debt consolidation”, he added.

Monday, January 14, 2019

General Awareness Model Practice Questions

1. Raghuram Rajan is the first Indian served as the Chief Economist of IMF. Where is
the head quarter of IMF?
1) Geneva
2) Beijing
3) Washington D C
4) Paris
5) New York

2. Who is the present Managing Director of IMF?
1) Kristalina Georgieva-Kinova
2) K.V.Kamath
3) Christine Legarde
4) Jin Liquin
5) Takehiko Nakao

3. On 7 January 2019, who announced his resignation as the president of World Bank unexpectedly, more than three years before his term ends in 2022?
1) K.V.Kamath
2) Temasek Holdings
3) Werner Hoyer
4) Brian Thomas Moynihan
5) Jim Yong Kim

4. How many players will be selected out of competitions in Khelo India Youth games and they will be given Rs 5 lakh each per annum for the next 8 years for development of their sporting talent?
1) 200
2) 10000
3) 1000
4) 750
5) 500

5. Which team secured the highest number of Gold Medals in 2018 Khelo India Games held at New Delhi?
1) Karnataka
2) Kerala
3) Haryana
4) Maharashtra
5) Delhi

6. Indian Woman boxer attained number one position in the International Boxing Association's (AIBA) latest world rankings recently. She is……………..?
1) Pinki Rani
2) Sarita Devi
3) Kavita Chahal
4) M C Mary Kom
5) Yvonne Caples

7. On 5 January 2019, PM Modi laid the foundation stone of revival of North Koel (Mandal Dam) project in…..?
1) Uttarakhand
2) Uttar Pradesh
3) Odisha
4) Manipur
5) Jharkhand

8. Present woman governor of Jharkhand is ?
1) Draupadi Murmu
2) Nazma Hepthulla
3) Mrudula Sinha
4) Ananda Bin Patel
5) Babi Rani Maurya

9. Venezuela is one of the world's largest oil producers. What is the capital of Venezuela?
1) Buenos Aires
2) Caracas
3) Lima
4) Santiago
5) Bogota

10. Who is the chief minister of Gujarat?
1) Manohar Lal Khattar
2) Vasundara Raje
3) Vijay Rupani
4) Devendra Fadnavis
5) Yogi Adityanath

11. Which state ranked Best Performer in first ever States Start-up Ranking 2018 by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) announced on 20, December 2018?
1) Telengana
2) Kerala
3) Gujarat
4) Uttarakhand
5) Manipur

12. Present chairman of Staff Selection Commission is …?
1) Ashim Khurana
2) Aravind Saxena
3) Anita Karwal
4) Anil Dattatraya Sahasrabudhe
5) Vijay Kumar Saraswat

13. Norway capital is Oslo. What is the currency of Norway?
1) Rupee
2) Pound
3) Euro
4) Krone
5) Dollar

14. Who was declared as the Player of the series Award in the India-Australia Test series held recently?
1) Rishabh Rajendra Pant
2) Mohammed Shami
3) Cheteshwar Pujara
4) Virat Kohli
5) Hanuma Vihari

ANSWERS:
1-3 2-3 3-3 4-3 5-3 6-4 7-5 8-1 9-2 10-3 11-3 12 -1 13-4 14 -4

Global Skill Summit - 2019

On January 10, 2019, Global Skill Summit 2019 was held in Ranchi, Jharkhand. The unique feature of the Summit was that on this occasion, total 1,06,619 youths of Jharkhand were given symbolic offer letter for jobs in the private sector, surpassing the target of giving jobs to 1,00,000 youths.
Thus, Jharkhand became the first state to achieve the feat of giving jobs to over one lakh youths in the private sector. The theme of the Summit was ‘Skilling Youth, Enabling Youth’. The summit was attended by Dharmendra Pradhan, Ministerfor Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

Longest Steel Bridge Opened

On 10th January 2019, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu inaugurated India’s longest 300-meter single- lane steel cable suspension bridge over Siang River in Upper Siang district of state bordering China.

International Kite Festival

On 6th January 2019, the international kite festival inaugurated in Ahmadabad. The kite fest usually celebrated ahead of Uttarayan or Makar Sankranti, the day when winter season starts changing to summer and farmers welcome the approaching harvest season. Besides kite flyers from India, 45 different countries also took part in the festival at Sabarmati River Front. This year, the Gujarat government also decided to organise a kite festival at Kevadia, the site of the Statue of Unity, a memorial to Sardar Patel and also the world’s tallest statue.

Khelo India - 2019

The Khelo India Youth Games 2019 were declared open on 9 January 2019 in the presence of a host of sports personalities including double Olympic medalist wrestler Sushil Kumar.
The Khelo India is now bigger and better in its second edition, after being re-christened Khelo India Youth Games, covering 18 different disciplines of which six are team sports. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore participated in the event. Opened in Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Pune, for the first time students from Colleges and Universities are participating, will have a total of 9000 participants.

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

GENERAL AWARENESS PRACTICE MCQ's

1. The recent decision of GST council made that Music Books attract how much GST rate?
1) 28%
2) 18%
3) 12%
4) 5%
5) Nil

2. GST council reduced the GST rate on Parts and accessories for the carriages for disabled persons from 28% to………
1) 18%
2) 5%
3) 0%
4) 12%
5) 8%

3. The Services supplied by banks to Basic Saving Bank Deposit (BSBD) and account holders under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) attract how much GST rate as per the decision of GST council recently?
1) 28%
2) 18%
3) 12%
4) 5%
5) totally exempted from GST

4. On 18th December 2018, Naveen Patnaik, CM of Odisha announced financial aid of Rs.10 Crore for the establishment of Odiya Cultural Centre in………
1) Hyderabad
2) Bangalore
3) Chennai
4) Guwahati
5) Surat

5. What is the official mascot for the Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup is.....
1) Winkey
2) Rohoey
3) Olly
4) Phoneyh
5) Wi Wi

6. Which software launched by Indian Railways to keep track of punctuality of trains and freight and passenger earnings from anywhere in India?
1) Rwire
2) Rpole
3) eDrishti
4) epromote
5) eskill

7. Which state launched Saura Jalnidhi scheme to encourage use of solar energy in irrigation by farmers?
1) UP 2) Maharashtra
3) Odisha
4) Tamilnadu
5) MP

8. NITI Aayog document “Strategy for New India@75” said that the Investment rate should be boosted from 29% of GDP in FY18 to ………….by FY23.
1) 42%
2) 34%
3) 46%
4) 36%
5) 50%

9. 15 women entrepreneurs were given awards at the recently concluded Women Transforming India Awards 2018 in New Delhi. Theme of the WTI Awards 2018 is……
1) Women and Entrepreneurship
2) Women and Empowerment
3) Women and Rise of them
4) Women for Entrepreneurship for all
5) Women and Care

10. NITI Aayog inked agreement with ………. to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to address challenges in agriculture and healthcare
1) Infosys
2) TCS
3) Tech Mahindra
4) Microsoft India
5) Amazon India

11. Service-specific exercise AVIAINDRA between Indian Air Force (IAF) and Russian Federation Aerospace Force (RFAF), held ………
1) Vishakapatnam, Andhra Pradesh
2) Pune, Maharastra
3) Kochi, Kerala
4) Jodhpur in Rajasthan
5) Agra, Uttar Pradesh

12. Union Ministry of Tourism inaugurated
India’s first tribal circuit project connecting
13 tourism sites in………….. under
Swadesh Darshan Scheme.
1) Chhattisgarh 2) Jharkhand
3) Arunachal Pradesh 4) Manipur
5) Mizoram

Answers:
1-5 2-2 3-5 4-5 5-3 6-3 7-3 8-4 9-1 10-4 11-4 12-1

Strategy for New India@75

NITI Aayog unveiled a strategy document called the “Strategy for New India@75” suggesting reforms to make India a 4-trillion dollar economy by 2022-23. The document’s main idea is to go for such reforms in the economy that will keep India growing at 8% annually that could be quicken to 9 10% by 2022-23. The document suggests increasing the share of taxes in the national income from current 17% to 22%. The report calls for the inclusion of fuel and electricity within the ambit of GST. All of the 250,000 gram panchayats should be digitally connected by 2019 through the Bharat Net programme. The government services should be delivered digitally to all the gram panchayats by 2022- 23. The document also says that Bharatmala Pariyojana and roads-construction in the north eastern region should be completed and Power for All and a pucca house for every family have to be ensured. FDI limits should be liberalised also.

KALIA scheme for Farmers

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik announced Rs.10,800 crore scheme for farmers on 21 December 2018. It is the Krushak Assistance for Livelihoods & Income Augmentation (KALIA), which benefits both farmers and share croppers. Lord Jagannath in Odisha is also called Kalia. The scheme has 5 components- financial support for cultivation, livelihood support for landless households, financial assistance to vulnerable agriculture households and landless labourers, life insurance cover and exemption of interest for crop loans of up to Rs 50,000. Under the KALIA scheme, all small and marginal farmers numbering around 3 million will be covered. An assistance of Rs 10,000 will be provided per family for Kharif and Rabi seasons. The scheme also promises Rs.2 Lakh life insurance cover.

First Railway University

National Rail and Transportation Institute (NRTI), is India’s first Railway university focused on transport-related education, multidisciplinary research and training dedicated to the nation by Union Minister of Railways and Coal Piyush Goyal and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on 15 December 2018. Located in Vadodara, Gujarat offering two courses, Bachelor of Science in Transportation Technology and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Transport Management.