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Aiming to construct 2.95 crore houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) by March 2024, ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha elections, the Centre has withdrawn the allocation of 1.44 lakh houses from about two dozen states and Union Territories which failed to sanction the houses by June 30, and given these to Uttar Pradesh as additional allocation.
According to sources, the Ministry of Rural Development, which is in charge of the PMAY-G scheme, has conveyed this to the states and UTs where the allocation of houses under the rural housing scheme has been revised downwards.
These states and UTs are: Gujarat, Tripura, Odisha, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Maharashtra, Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tamil Nadu, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Ladakh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Jharkhand, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Andhra Pradesh.
The Centre has set a target of constructing 2.95 crore houses by March 2024. Of the 2.95 crore houses, 2.04 crore were to be allocated to states based on the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data, while the remaining 91 lakh houses were allocated based on a survey, Awas+, which was conducted between June 2018 and March 2019 across the country.
However, these states and UTs together failed to sanction a total of 1,44,220 houses — 7,496 from SECC data and 1,36,724 from the Awas+ list — within the deadline of June 30.
On the other hand, Uttar Pradesh, which was initially allocated 34.72 lakh houses, had sought the Centre’s approval for additional houses. The state’s Deputy Chief Minister, Keshav Prasad Maurya, who holds the rural development portfolio, had written to Union Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh, in this regard.
Govt & Politics
Global economic growth remains uneven, need coordinated efforts (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
As finance ministers and central bank chiefs of G20 countries began talks on debt restructuring, multilateral bank reforms, and finance to tackle climate change on the opening day of the 3rd G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting at Gandhinagar, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman called for “coordinated international efforts” to navigate a challenging period of “uneven and below-average growth”.
In her opening remarks, Sitharaman pointed out that global economic growth continues to remain uneven and below average. She said G20 has the responsibility “to steer the global economy towards a sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth.”
“We will focus on issues related to the global economy and global health. Since we last met in April, global economic growth is below its long-run average and remains uneven.
Further, the uncertainty around the outlook remains high and downside risks to the outlook still persist including those related to geoeconomic fragmentation. What we need are coordinated international efforts to navigate this challenging period,” Sitharaman underlined in her address to the G20 finance ministers.
Explained
HUF and Uniform civil code (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
The Law Commission of India has initiated fresh deliberation on a Uniform Civil Code (UCC), which has triggered discussion on the institution of Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) and its separate treatment under tax laws.
The existence of HUF as a legal entity is based on an acknowledgment of customs by the Raj in India. It was seen as an institution that operated on a strong sense of blood ties and kinship to jointly exercise control over property in Hindu families, and led to business arrangements based on Hindu personal laws rather than contractual arrangements.
As a legal entity, HUF always portrayed a dual identity of a family-backed institution and an income-generating entity solely for the maintenance of the family. Such an arrangement probably played a part in the tax treatment that came to be incorporated in Indian law.
For income tax purposes, an HUF consists of all persons lineally descended from a common ancestor, and includes their wives and unmarried daughters. A
n HUF has its own Permanent Account Number (PAN) and files tax returns independent of its members. An HUF has a karta who is typically the eldest male person in the family, and manages its day-to-day affairs. Other members are coparceners; children are coparceners of their father’s HUF.
BIMSTEC Grouping (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
The first-ever Foreign Ministers’ meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) began in Bangkok, Thailand, on July 17. India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was also present here, and said in a tweet that areas of coordination challenges that were discussed, including health and energy security.
The seven-member grouping of Asian countries first began in 1997 and in recent years has seen increased meetings. Here’s a brief look at how it began, who its members are and why it matters to India today.
BIMSTEC is a regional organisation that was established in 1997 with the signing of the Bangkok Declaration. Initially known as BIST-EC (Bangladesh-India-Sri Lanka-Thailand Economic Cooperation), the organisation is now known as BIMSTEC and comprises seven members, with Myanmar joining towards the end of 1997, and Bhutan and Nepal in 2004.
Around 22% of the world’s population live in the seven countries around the Bay of Bengal, with a combined GDP close to $2.7 trillion.
All seven countries have sustained average annual rates of growth between 3.4% and 7.5% from 2012 to 2016. A fourth of the world’s traded goods cross the bay every year.
Cooperation within the BIMSTEC had initially focused on six sectors in 1997 (trade, technology, energy, transport, tourism, and fisheries) and expanded in 2008 to other areas.
In 2021, a reorganisation led to each of the Member States leading certain sectors. India focuses on security, along with counter-terrorism and transnational crime, disaster management and energy.
Editorial
To the moon and back (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Chandrayaan-3 is now well on its way to the moon. It is to be a 42-day odyssey. The spacecraft is in an elliptical orbit, going as far as 41,762 km from Earth and coming as close as 173 km.
This height will increase to about 220 km in the next few days, conducting various tests and calibrations, before it is transferred, free from the Earth, to be captured in orbit around the moon (translunar injection) a few days later.
This orbit will gradually shrink, bringing the spacecraft closer and closer to the moon. Finally, it will attempt a soft landing at a location near the South Pole of the moon, from a circular orbit of about 100 km from the surface.
Even though everyone is focused on the final procedure of the soft landing, it is the journey before that is fraught with difficulties, much like Ulysses’ path to Ithaca. All of that will keep us on tenterhooks till August 23.
Anybody who wanted to, saw for the first time, on widely available channels on community screens, television sets and mobile phones, the process of a launch in great detail.
In the first hair-raising period of 1,000 seconds, everything went as expected. The liquid core ignited, which took the spacecraft to a higher orbit.
Finally, the novel cryogenic engine, which used solid hydrogen and oxygen at temperatures of -200 degree Celsius, propelled the spacecraft to a higher orbit, before the satellite separated.
Economy
To spur India’s energy transition, US to work on funding platform: Yellen (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The United States of America will start working with India to develop an investment platform that will help expedite its energy transition, said Janet Yellen, US Treasury Secretary.
We look forward to working with India on an investment platform to deliver lower cost of capital and increased private investment to speed India’s energy transition.
Referring to the record-high bilateral trade between the US and India last year, “Our collaboration spans a range of economic issues, including commercial and technological collaboration, strengthening supply chains, and catalysing the clean energy transition.”
Welcoming India’s focus on advancing the evolution of the multilateral development banks, Yellen said, “we estimate that the MDBs as a system could unlock $200 billion over the next decade just from the measures already being implemented or under deliberation as part of this process.”
The US Treasury Secretary also appreciated India’s focus on finalising the historic two-pillar” global tax deal in the Inclusive Framework. “I believe that we are close to reaching agreement.
The “two-pillar” system is expected to ensure a fairer distribution of profits and taxing rights among countries with respect to big multinational companies in a digital world.
World
EU seeks to revive Latin America, Caribbean ties as it turns away from China, Russia (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The European Union pledged more investment for Latin America and the Caribbean at a Summit as part of are vampofits international relation- ships prompted by Russia's war on Ukraine and growing wariness of China.
As over 50 leaders from the three regions gathered in Brussels for the two-day EU-CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) summit, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told a business forum that Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe needed each other more than ever.
The world we live in is more competitive and conflictual than ever before. Still reeling from the heavy toll of the COVID-19 pan- demic, the world is taking a hard impact from the Russian aggres- sion against Ukraine. And this happens against the backdrop of China's growing as- sertiveness abroad.