Himachal Pradesh Affairs
Himachal Pradesh CM Jai Ram Thakur presents Rs 51,365-crore budget
Himachal chief ministerJai Ram Thakuron Friday presented an Rs 51,365-crore budget for the financial year 2022-23.
In the election year, the chief minister has tried to woo every section of Society by making some announcements for them.
The budget for 2022-23 does not propose new taxes.
Honorarium of , village panchayats, zila parishad, panchayat samitis, anganwari workers and asha workers has been increased.
The social security pension amount has been increased and old age pension age limit has been decreased to 60 years. The budget includes 30,000 new jobs in 2022-23.
He said according to budget estimates, the total Revenue Receipts are expected to be Rs 36,375 crore and Revenue Expenditure is estimated at Rs 40,278 crore, with Revenue Deficit estimated to be Rs 3,903 crore.
The Fiscal Deficit is expected to be Rs 9,602 crore which is 4.98% of the states GDP.
According to the 2022-23 budget, out of every Rs 100, Rs 26 will be spent on salary, Rs 15 on pension, Rs 10 on interest payments, Rs 11 on loan repayments, Rs 9 for grants for autonomous bodies and remaining Rs 29 will be spent on other activities including capital works.
The CM said the state witnessed weak Health Infrastructure during the pandemic but the government faced all the problems.
He said the states health infrastructure was developed rapidly which helped Himachal Pradesh in fighting second and third waves of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said the state had only two Oxygen Plants before the pandemic but now it has 48 plants and more than 5,000 oxygen concentrators.
He said it is matter of pride for Himachal Pradesh that Russian vaccine Sputnik is being produced commercially in the state.
He said the State Government has written a development story in the last four years despite many challenges.
The CM said that his government has tried to help each section of society through Ujjwala, PM Kisan Samman, Ayushman Bharat, Himcare, Sahara, Janmanch and many other schemes.
Thakur said that the Centre gave Rs 600 crore extra help to the state during 2021-22 for capital Investment and the Money is being spent to complete important projects.
The increase in capital investment has not only strengthened the state financially but also created many jobs.
He said the GDP in 2021-22 is expected to be 9.2% while the state had witnessed a negative Growth of 7.3% in 2020-21.
The <a href="https://exam.pscnotes.com/Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture has witnessed growth of 3.9%, Industry 11.8% and service sector by 8.2% in 2021-22.
The economy of the state is expected to have a growth of 8.3per cent in 2021-22. He said such a growth despite pandemic is an achievement of the government.
The GSDP in the year 2021-22 is estimated at 1,75,173 crore and per capita income at is estimated at 2,01,854 which is more than the estimated national per capita income by Rs 51,528.
The CM said there is a provision of opening a single nodal agency account for all the Centre-funded projects so that all funds are released to the concerned departments accounts. All 91 projects of the Centre in Himachal are brought under purview of this scheme.
He said that Rs 12,921 crore outlay has been proposed for 2022-23, of which state development budget outlay will be Rs 9,534 crore and Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and OBC development outlay will be Rs 2,400 crore, Rs 865 crore and Rs 152 crore respectively.
Himachal Pradesh Economic Survey Report for 2022-23 tabled in assembly
Chief ministerSukhvinder Singh Sukhupresented theHimachal Pradesh Economic Survey 2022-23in the Vidhan Sabha on Thursday which states that the state;s or GDP atConstant Priceswill grow by over Rs 8,143 crore during the current financial year 2022-23 as compared to the previous financial year 2021-22.
CM Sukhu said this translates into Growth in real GDP during Financial Year 2022-23 at 6.4 per cent as compared to 7.6 per cent in Financial Year 2021-22, according to first advance estimates of State Income. He said that Per Capita Income of Himachal Pradesh is more than the estimatedNational Per Capita Incomefor 2022-23 by Rs 51,607.
He said that state’s RealGross Domestic Product(GDP) or GDP at Constant Prices (2011-12) in Financial Year 2022-23 is estimated to attain a level of Rs 1,34,576 crore, as against the provisional estimate of GDP for Financial Year 2021-22 of Rs 1,26,433 crore.
The Nominal GDP or GDP at Current Prices in Financial Year 2022-23 is estimated to attain a level of Rs 1,95,404 crore, as against the provisional estimate of GDP for Financial Year 2021-22 of Rs 1,76,269 crore showing an absolute increase of Rs 19,135 crore. The growth in Nominal GDP during Financial Year 2022-23 is estimated at 10.9 per cent as compared to 13.5 per cent in Financial Year 2021-22.
As per advance estimates for Financial Year 2022-23, the Gross Value Added (GVA) from Primary Sector is likely to grow at a pace of 2.0 per cent at constant prices.
During financial year 2022-23 (AE), the GVA of Primary sector moved up to Rs 16,717 crore as against Rs 16,395 crore in Financial Year 2021-22 (FR) at constant prices. As per advance estimates for Financial Year 2022-23 the GVA of the Secondary Sector is estimated at Rs 60,444 crore against Rs 56,408 crore for Financial Year 2021-22(FR) at constant (2011-12) prices, expected to register a growth rate of 7.2 per cent over the previous year.
The chief minister said that the <a href="https://exam.pscnotes.com/Services-sector”>services sector has a significant and fast growing share in the State’s GVA. The advance estimates for the Financial Year 2022-23 at Constant (2011-12) prices for Services Sector is estimated at Rs 49,527 crore as against Rs 46,350 crore in Financial Year 2021-22(FR) showing a growth rate of 6.9 per cent over last year.
According to advance estimates, the Per Capita Income at current prices for Financial Year 2022-23 is estimated at Rs 2.22,227 against Rs 2,01,271 in 2021-22 showing a growth rate of 10.4 per cent as against 13.1 per cent in 2021-22(FR)
National and International Affairs
Women and Child Development Ministry launches Stree Manoraksha Project
The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD) on Wednesday launched the Stree Manoraksha Project in collaboration with NIMHANS Bengaluru with an aim to improve the mental Health of women in India.
The project would focus on building on capacity building of OSC (One-Stop Center) functionaries on the tools and techniques as to how to handle the cases of women approaching the One-Stop Centres, particularly the women who have suffered violence and distress with due sensitivity and care.
The project which has been outlined meticulously by NIMHANS based on the requirements projected by the Ministry will be imparted in two formats. One format will focus on basic training for all OSC functionaries including the security guards, cooks, helpers, caseworkers, counsellors, centre administrators, paramedical staff etc.
India stays conservative on gender roles, says Pew Research survey
Indians believe Women make better political leaders and share an egalitarian vision of womens place in Society, but an overwhelming majority agrees that when there are few jobs available, men should have more rights to a job than women. These are the findings of the latest Pew Research Centre survey of nearly 30,000 adults throughout India interviewed on gender roles in families and societies.
According to the report, while 55% of Indians believed that men and women make equally good political leaders, nine-in-ten Indians agree with the notion that a wife must always obey her husband. Indian women were only slightly less likely than Indian men to agree with this sentiment (61% versus 67%). Although most Indians expressed egalitarian views on gender roles, with 62% saying that both men and women should be responsible for child care, traditional norms still held sway, with 34% convinced that child care should be handled primarily by women.
Similarly, while a slim majority (54%) says that both men and women should be responsible for earning , as many as 43% believed that earning an income is mainly the obligation of men. Also, 80% of Indians agreed with the idea that when there are few jobs, men should have more rights to a job than women.
The survey also found that Indians with a college degree were less likely to hold traditional views on gender roles, although this did not extend to all gender-related issues. So for instance, 80% of the college-educated (as compared with 88% of those with less Education) still agreed with the notion that wives must always obey their husbands.
National Safety Day 2022
National Safety Day is celebrated every year. The day aims to highlight the importance of following safety regulations and measures in order to avoid workplace mishaps. The motive behind celebrations of this day is to create awareness and commitment to working safely.
The National Safety Council declared the holiday to raise public awareness of all safety principles. These also include road safety, workplace safety, human Health and environmental safety.
The National Safety Council is a non-profit and self-financing organization running at the national level.
Global Plastic Treaty
With the bang of a gavel made of recycled plastic and a standing ovation, representatives of 175 nations agreed on Wednesday to begin writing a global treaty that would restrict the explosive Growth of plastic pollution.
Theagreement commits nationsto work on a broad and legally binding treaty that would not only aim to improve recycling and clean up the worlds plastic waste, but would encompass curbs on plastics production itself. That could put measures like a ban on single-use plastics, a major driver of waste, on the table.
Digital services tax of Canada
Under the new rules of the Canadian government, a 3% digital Services tax will be imposed on the companies with total annual revenue of at least850millionandprofitsof16 million or more from providing digital services in Canada.
It is to tax large multinational corporations (MNCs) such as Facebook, Apple, and Google which do business in Canada but pay most taxes in USA or tax-havens.
USTR has argued that this tax goes against the spirit and the text of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) agreement, where it was agreed that the signatories would not impose new unilateral taxes that work against the spirit of the BEPS agreement.
Indo-Pacific core of Quad’s agenda: MEA
A day after the virtual Quad summit in which PM Narendra Modi called on the four-nation grouping to focus on its core principles, the MEA reiterated the same message on Friday. The agenda leaders signed up to is Indo-Pacific being at the core of the Quad agenda.
It is something they want to push ahead. The message is clear that all four countries are trying to take forward the agenda