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The government is likely to involve financial institutions including the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID), the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), or the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) for operationalising its Budget announcement for extending a Rs 1 lakh crore corpus for research and innovation in sunrise sectors, officials close to the development said.
A combination of one or more than one financial institutions could be considered to provide long-term, concessional credit of Rs 1 lakh crore, staggered over multiple years, for financing or refinancing private sector projects to develop cutting-edge, innovative technologies.
This is commercial funding, for-commercial, for-profit ventures but the venture should be for an innovative, new technology to be proven,” an official told The Indian Express.
In specific areas, there are specific companies which are good; they are globally competitive, yet we often end up importing a lot of cutting-edge technologies because we don’t have our own domestic technologies.
Govt & Politics
One nation, One election will boost economic development says CII (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Constitution)
Pledging its support to simultaneous elections, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) told the One Nation, One Election committee that holding the elections together would improve governance efficiency and give a boost to economic development.
The high-level panel chaired by former President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday held its fifth meeting, where CII representatives gave a presentation.
“CII’s view was based on the economic benefits of streamlining the electoral process, that would enhance governance efficiency, and foster economic development.
CII has been recommending simultaneous elections in India since 2012…Asynchronous multiple elections lead to frequent disruption in policy making and administration.
It also affects the working of the governments due to its officials being roped in for election duties. Investment decisions by the private sector tend to slow down prior to the elections.
Law commission suggests fines new laws to tackle damage to property (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
From reversing the burden of proof to introducing fines equal to the market value of the public property damaged, the 22nd Law Commission of India on Friday recommended key changes in the law to tackle damage to public property.
Compelling the offenders to deposit the estimated value of the public property as a condition for granting bail would definitely be a sufficient deterrent against destruction of public property.
Starting with the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, the Jat (2015) and Patidar (2016) quota agitations, Bhima Koregaon protests (2018), anti-CAA protests (2019), farm law stir (2020) to the violence following the remarks made on Prophet Mohammad (2022) and the large-scale clashes in Manipur last year, the report cites several incidents to underline the scale of loss and damage to public property.
The panel headed by former Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi said “bearing in mind the gravity of the issue and the loss being borne by the state exchequer”, it took up the issue suo motu and prepared the report.
Editorial
A reality check for budget (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Budgets in pre-election years are technically a vote on account. However, they are important politically as most governments use the opportunity to state their achievements and also outline the challenges for future government.
While Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has used this opportunity to highlight her government’s achievements, however contested they are, the budget has failed to offer clarity on the spending priorities to deal with these challenges.
More so, when the Indian economy is facing severe issues, especially a sagging rural economy leading to subdued demand.
Unlike the previous vote on account budget in 2019 when the then finance minister announced several expenditure schemes including PM-KISAN with retrospective effect, this budget stayed away from making any major announcements.
The spending priorities of the government suggest a conservative outlook as far as major social welfare spending is concerned.
This has certainly helped the finance ministry to reduce the fiscal deficit. But has it done enough to address some of the glaring issues facing the Indian economy?
Explained
Multidimension poverty: Meaning, numbers (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
In her Interim Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said 25 crore Indians had been pulled out of poverty over the past decade.
“With the pursuit of ‘Sabka ka Saath’ in these 10 years, the Government has assisted 25 crore people to get freedom from multidimensional poverty,” she said.
This number appeared in a discussion paper, Multidimensional Poverty in India Since 2005-06, published by NITI Aayog on Jan 15.
The paper, written by Ramesh Chand, Member, NITI Aayog, and Yogesh Suri, Senior Adviser, NITI Aayog, with technical inputs from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Policy and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), says:
“Multidimensional poverty in India was found to decline from 29.17% in 2013-14 to 11.28% in 2022-23 with about 24.82 crore people escaping poverty during this period.
At the States’ level, Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 5.94 crore people escaping poverty followed by Bihar at 3.77 crore and Madhya Pradesh at 2.30 crore.”
Pirates of the Arabian Sea, their crime and how maritime forces respond to it (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Piracy is as old as seafaring itself, and has existed for centuries in various forms. In recent years, waters off the west coast of Africa, Gulf of Aden, Horn of Africa, Bangladesh, and the Strait of Malacca have seen attacks by pirates.
First, these sea areas are poorly policed. The coastal countries have weak maritime forces, or none at all.
Second, these areas normally have concentrations of shipping traffic, being either choke points in shipping routes where ships are forced to converge or slow down by geography, or anchorages where ships remain stationary for days before entering port.
Third, often poor governance or turmoil on land close to these areas leads to unemployment, poverty and consequently, crime.
Hearing over in AMU minority status cas : 3 Key arguments before SC (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
The Supreme Court concluded the hearings in the case to decide if Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) can claim minority status under Article 30 of the Constitution.
The seven-judge bench will also decide if the decision in S Azeez Basha v Union of India (1967), where the court held that AMU was not a minority institution, should be overruled.
The bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud heard arguments for eight full days between January 10 and February 1 this year, before reserving the judgement in the case.
Article 30(1) of the Constitution of India states “All minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.”
In 1967, in S Azeez Basha v Union of India, the Supreme Court held that AMU was “established” through the enactment of a law, the Aligarh Muslim University Act, 1920.
This meant, according to the court, that AMU does not qualify for minority status as it was not established by the Muslim community.