Arora IAS – Economy -Current Affairs CRUX for UPSC IAS Exam

ü  Export promotion programme

ü  Acceptable under WTO rules

To support development of financial technologies for the capital market

·       e.g Special banking arrangements were used to conceal the deferment of fertiliser subsidies.

·       Spending on irrigation was masked by borrowing by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).

·       Railway expenditure was covered by borrowing by the Indian Railway Finance Corporation, and spending on power projects by the Power Finance Corporation.

the ratio of increase in NPAs during the year with respect to standard advances at the beginning of the year.

· The declining trend was also witnessed in service sector, where gross NPA ratio came down to 2.1% along with stressed asset ratio at 6.5% in September 2018.

· On the other hand, this was not the case for agriculture and retail sector.

· Restructured asset or loan are that assets which got an extended repayment period, reduced interest rate, converting a part of the loan into equity, providing additional financing, or some combination of these

measures.

· Hence, under restructuring, a bad loan is modified as a new loan.

· A restructured loan also indicates bad asset quality of banks.

Written off assets are those amount when the bank or lender doesn’t count the money borrower owes to it.

· Thus, Stressed assets = NPAs + Restructured loans + Written off assets

· Exchange rate tells us the value of domestic currency in relation to one unit of foreign currency.

· Rupee prices keep fluctuating all the time. Sometimes we need more rupees to buy one unit of foreign currency and sometimes we need fewer rupees to buy one unit of foreign currency.

· This change in rupee price is known as rupee appreciation or depreciation.

· Rupee appreciation is when value of rupee increases (becomes expensive) and fewer, when Rupees can buy

one unit of foreign currency.

· This is also known as strengthening of rupee as now INR is worth more than foreign currency

· Bihar has been ranked the top state among the 17 non-special category States in terms of GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product) growth in financial year 2017-18.

· The state has topped the list by clocking 11.3% GSDP growth in fiscal 2018, which was followed by Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.

· States like Jharkhand, Kerala and Punjab were at the bottom in terms of GSDP growth.

· It further highlighted that 12 out of 17 states saw faster growth in fiscal 2018 compared with the previous 5 years.

· However, the growth did not translate into job creation, as GSDP expansion has come in from sectors which are less job-intensive.

· Since there is pressure on fiscal deficit for the Centre, the states have become the engines of government

spending, accounting for a bulk 65% of the total money spent.

· However, most states were found to have breached their targets under the fiscal responsibility and budget

management act.

· VUCA is an acronym used to describe the state of business, political, societal and ecological world.

· VUCA stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity.

What are the instances of VUCA across the globe?

· Volatility – Brexit is a good example of the VUCA world, Britain’s exit from the European Union took the world by surprise.

·  consequence of this political factor — affected economics, commerce, regulatory system and emotional perception of the people at large.

· Syria’s war shows no sign of stopping, Syria can be described as several interconnected wars, and it’s not government-versus-rebels narrative it started out as part of Arab spring in 2011.

· The US pressure on Turkey to deal with the ISIS will actually make Turkey more vulnerable to attacks from terrorist groups.

· Brazil is unable to address its growing fiscal deficit.

· The war between North Korea and South Korea, and the political instability in many parts of world has increased volatility.

‘Strategy for New India @75’ document.

· Codifying labour laws

 The National Policy for Domestic Workers should also be brought in at the earliest.

· Keeping women in the workforce –

ensure that employers adhere to the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017, and the Sexual Harassment of Women at Work Place (Prevention,

Prohibition and Redressal) Act.

· It is also important to implement these legislations in the informal sector, and make sure that skills training programmes and apprenticeships include women.

· Employment data –

Data collection for the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PFLS) of households must be completed on schedule and data is disseminated by 2019.

conduct an annual enterprise survey using the GST Network (GSTN) as the sample frame for this.

· Along with it, administrative data from EPFO, ESIC and the NPS could be used, to track regularly the state of

employment while adjusting for the formalisation of the workforce.

· Workers’ welfare – The government must mandatorily comply with the national floor-level minimum wage.

· Also, the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 should be expanded to cover all jobs, besides enforcing the payment of wages through cheque or Aadhaar-enabled payments for all.

· Social security and working conditions –

· A comprehensive occupational health and safety legislation based on risk assessment and employer-worker cooperation should be enacted.

·  allowing online complaints and putting in place a

standardised mechanism.

· Skills and apprenticeships – According to the India Skill Report 2018, only 47% of those coming out of higher educational institutions are employable.

· Thus, forming the Labour Market Information System (LMIS) is important for identifying skill shortages, training needs and new employment opportunities.

around 1,650 MW of power output with a higher yield than previous models.

· It can supply electricity to up to 1.5 million people, yet requires 17% less fuel and produces less long-term radioactive waste.

Union Cabinet recently approved a centrally sponsored scheme for providing Minimum Support Price (MSP) to forest

dwellers for minor forest produce (MFP).

· [These include mahua flowers, dried tejpatta, jamun dried seeds, dried amla pulp (deseeded), soap nut

(dried), Arjuna bark and Giloe among others.]

· A total of 52 items is proposed to be brought under the MFP for MSP umbrella.

· The notification puts out prices for 40 items for now.

· The ministry of tribal affairs (MoTA) issued the notification and it is now for the states to implement this.

· Tribal Cooperative Market Development Federation of India Ltd. (TRIFED) has also been given directions.

· The objective is to ensure fair and remunerative price to MFP gatherers.

· According to the ministry, nearly 5 crore tribals are expected to directly benefit from this revamped scheme

· The number of shares to be issued in lieu of their existing holdings in the target company is called the swap ratio.

· The swap ratios are based on stock prices.

· It is determined by valuing the target company after looking into metrics such as its revenues and profits, as well as its market price.

· Advantages merged entity– the risks and benefits of the expected synergy from the merger will be shared by both the parties. In a cash deal, if the synergies don’t materialise, shareholders of the acquiring company alone bear the fallout.

· In a share swap, there is no cash outgo involved for the acquirer, saving the acquirer borrowing costs. Cash rich companies can put their cash to use for investments in the business or for other buyouts.

· Disadvantages – Issuing fresh shares could lead to reduction in promoter holding and dilution in earnings for shareholders of the acquiring company.

· They will identify the ‘structural problems’ affecting the growth of the small scale sector.

· Such a high level committee has been assigned to examine MSMEs because these enterprises contribute about 40% to India’s export and 45% in the manufacturing sector.

· A currency swap agreement between two countries is signed between the central banks.

· The local currency of the country that needs the loan will be exchanged for Dollar/Currency of the country that provides the loan.

between the RBI and the Bank of Japan for  a maximum amount of USD 75 billion.

· This facility will enable the agreed amount of Capital being available to India on tap for use.

· Availability of such swap line to tide over difficulties arising out of Balance of Payment (BOP) would deter speculative attacks on the domestic currency and greatly enhance the RBI’s ability to manage exchange rate

volatility.

also found that the government is comfortably placed in terms of debt sustainability parameters and is

consistently improving

· The paper also covers details of fiscal deficit financing operations of the Central Government during the year 2017-18.

· It states that the overall liabilities of the Central Government are on a medium-term declining trajectory.

· Government is primarily resorting to market linked borrowings for financing its fiscal deficit.

·  to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities.

·  promotes better marketing opportunities for the farmers to sell their produce through online, competitive and transparent price discovery system and online payment facility.

· Initially, only inter-mandi trade within the state was allowed.

· Recently, inter-state trade was started.

· The first inter-State trade on e-NAM was carried out between UP and Uttarakhand followed by that between AP and Telengana.

· The work was executed by Project Udayak, Border Roads Organization (BRO) in this region.

· It would provide uninterrupted access between Dibang valley and Lohit valley region of Eastern Arunachal Pradesh.

· It serves as an all-weather Road to the troops deployed on the China Border.

· Three storage projects are proposed to be constructed on the river Yamuna and two of its tributaries.

· They are

1. Lakhwar on river Yamuna in Uttarakhand

2. Kishau on river Tons in Uttarakhand and HP &

3. Renukaji Dam on Giri River in HP.

What is the current norm under Sec 54 of IT Act?

· Gain from sale of a residential property (land, house or apartment) within 2 years of its purchase is considered short-term capital gain (STCG).

· After two years, the gain is considered long-term capital gains (LTCG).

· While STCG is taxed at the slab rate, LTCG is taxed at the rate of 20.6% (including cess) with indexation done for property (by applying CII (cost inflation index)).

· Under this, LTCG arising from the sale of an immovable property is exempt from tax if the profit is reinvested

in a single property or other specified instruments, within the stipulated timeline.

· The assessee needs to buy the new property within 1 year before the date of transfer of the property or 2 years after the transfer.

· An angel investor is one who provides capital for a business start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity.

· In simple terms, angel tax is the tax levied on such investments made by external investors in startups or companies.

· At times, capital is raised by unlisted companies via issue of shares where the share price is seen in excess of the ‘fair market value’ of the shares sold.

· So the entire investment is not taxed but only the amount that is considered above ―fair value valuations of the startup.

· Currently, funds from angels are subjected to over 30% tax if it is more than the fair market value (FMV).

· It was introduced in the 2012 Union Budget to arrest laundering of illegal wealth by means of investments in

the shares of unlisted private companies at extraordinary valuations.

What is RBI’s rationale?

· The MPC had been over-estimating inflation risks and had stuck to a tighter monetary policy.

· But the inflation scenario has been favourable in the last few months.

· Consumer Price Index-based inflation have continued to slow and is projected to stay well below the medium term target of 4%

· The MPC has particularly taken note of deflating food prices to adopt a liberal stance with the rates.

· The overall demand conditions are moderate, in the backdrop of a slowdown in private and public consumption expenditure.

· In the MPC‘s view, there is an output gap, and the public spending on infrastructure alone cannot support investment activity.

· The RBI also sees the actual GDP growth for 2018-19 to be a bit less than the projected 7.4%.

· Production and import of capital goods (a key factor for investment demand) and credit flows to industry remain dull.

· There is also a slowdown in farm output growth.

· The concept says that during good times, banks must build up a capital buffer that can be drawn from when there is stress.

· In India, the minimum capital requirement is 9%.

· The CCB would be 2.5 percentage points over and above the minimum capital requirement

 key provisions?

·  mega co-contributory pension scheme for unorganised sector workers with monthly income of up to Rs 15,000.

· provide assured pension of Rs 3,000 per month from the age of 60 years, in return for making a monthly contribution of a nominal sum during the working age.

· The scheme will cover 10 crore workers in the unorganised sector in the first 5 years, making it one of the largest pension schemes in the world.

· The benefits and the design spelt out in PMSYM are much in line with the Atal Pension Yojana (APY).

How does PMSYM compare with APY, and what are the concerns?

· The Atal Pension Yojana (APY) launched in 2015 also targets the unorganised sector.

· The government’s estimate that the scheme would cover 2 crore workers in a year is uncertain, given the similar target group and similar design as APY.

· The five-year projections on coverage are less likely to be materialised as even APY had only about 1.34 crore subscribers in the 3 years (a mere 3.2% of the total unorganised sector workforce).

· APY has not been attractive for the unorganised sector

i. due to its contributory nature

ii. the inflation-adjusted future benefits are too small to meaningfully serve any purpose in the old age

· By fixing Rs 3,000 per month, PMSYM has limited the options for a worker to choose the level of benefits as is currently possible under APY.

· In effect, it is said that the APY has been merely rechristened as PMSYM as there are no big changes in terms of design or real benefits.

· It is also unfair to allocate scarce financial and regulatory resources on duplicate schemes for the same target group.

· So in reality PMSYM may not make a big impact in serving a vast majority of the unorganised class

The United States Reciprocal Trade Actwas recently introduced in the U.S. Congress.

What is called as reciprocity in trade negotiations?

· Under reciprocity in trade negotiations, WTO signatories need to offer adequate trade concessions in order to receive similar concessions from their trading partners.

· Eg: Lowering of import duties and other trade barriers in return for similar concessions from another country.

· Reciprocity is a traditional principle of GATT/WTO, but is practicable only between developed nations due to their roughly matching economies.

· For trade between developed and developing nations, the concept of relative reciprocity is applied whereby the developed nations accept less than full reciprocity from their developing trading partners.

· Under this developed contracting parties do not expect reciprocity for commitments to reduce or remove tariffs when they trade with less developed contracting parties.

· However, this revised meaning of reciprocity permitted a differential treatment of developing and leastdeveloped countries at the discretion of the developed world.

· This discretion is revealed in the provisions of the US Reciprocal Trade Act

·  instituted in 1976 by the Trade Act of 1974.

· provides preferential duty-free entry for up to 4,800 products from more than 120 designated beneficiary countries and territories.

· extended to India in 1976, under which India is able to export about 2,000 product lines to the U.S. under zero tariff.

· The revocation of the GSP will have a significant impact on Indian exporters

· In other words: in accrual-based accounting, the revenue and expenditure of an entity is recorded in the books when it is earned or incurred irrespective of when cash is actually paid or received.

· But in the case of cash-based accounting, books are prepared wholly on the basis of cash flows.

· The accrual based accounting method can be used by the government instead of cash based accounting to get a clear picture of the fiscal deficit.

· The Twelfth Finance Commission had noted that the cash-based system of accounting creates room for fiscal opportunism‘.

· Fiscal opportunism is possible as tax revenues can be collected in excess during a period and payments easily be deferred to future periods

· The smaller the ratio, the greater the organization’s ability to generate profit if revenues decrease.

· The main reason for the stress is that the expenditure is continuing to far exceed earnings and thereby Indian Railways is facing a dismal financial scenario.

· Higher operating ratio for railways simply means that the national transporter does not have money for capital investments.

· The implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission has put a heavy burden on the railways which contributed to the increase in its expenditure.

· A recession is a significant decline in economic activity that goes on for more than a few months.

· It is visible in industrial production, employment, real income and wholesale-retail trade.

· Further, if the recession is prolonged over a longer period it is said to be Depression.

· Depression is commonly defined as an extreme recession that lasts two or more years.

· A depression is a severe and prolonged downturn in economic activity.

· The Great Depression of 1929 is considered to be an example of depression in economic history

:: released the 2nd edition of Startup Ranking framework for 2019.

· The framework aims to rank the States/UTs for establishing a robust ecosystem for supporting Startups.

· It also encourages States and UTs to identify, learn and replicate good practices from each other.

· It comprises of 7 pillars and 30 action points.

· The pillars will assess States‘/UTs efforts across

1. institutional support

2. simplifying regulations

3. easing public procurement

4. incubation support

5. seed funding support

6. venture funding support

7. awareness and outreach related activities.

ü  To provide income support to all Small and Marginal landholding farmer families having cultivable land.

ü  To supplement the financial needs of the farmers in procuring various inputs to ensure proper crop health and appropriate yields, commensurate with the anticipated farm income.

· Benefits: Under the scheme, financial benefit :: all Small and Marginal landholder farmer families across the country

ü  Landholder Farmer families with total cultivable holding upto 2 hectares shall be provided a benefit of Rs.6000 per annum per family payable in three equal installments, every four months.

ü  Multiple land parcels (even if each is less than 2 hectares) held by a single family will be pooled together to determine eligibility.

ü  Even landholdings, bigger than 10 hectares, will be eligible for benefits under the scheme, if owned by multiple families (e.g. If five brothers jointly own a single 10 hectare holding, each of them will be eligible for the scheme).

· Responsibility of identifying the landholder farmer family eligible for benefit under the scheme shall be of the State/UT Government.

· The lists of eligible beneficiaries would be published at the village level to ensure transparency.

· Exclusions: Certain categories of beneficiaries of higher economic status such as institutional land holders, former and present holder of constitutional posts, persons who paid income tax in last assessment year etc. shall not be eligible for benefit under the scheme.

ü  For the purpose of exclusion State/UT Government can certify the eligibility of the beneficiary based on self-declaration by the beneficiaries.

· A dedicated PM Kisan Portal will be launched for implementation of the scheme.

· This is a Central Sector Scheme and will be funded fully by the Government of India Small and Marginal landholder farmer family is defined as “a family comprising of husband, wife and minor children who collectively own cultivable land upto 2 hectare as per land records of the concerned State/UT”.

majority of the net sown area.

an interrelation of production systems, natural resources and people’s

livelihoods in rainfed regions.

· Indian Rainfed regions are very diverse in nature comprising of upland regions, coastal regions, deserts as well as pastoral areas

· In India they cover around 180 districts and exist in all agro-climatic regions but are mostly concentrated in the arid and semi-arid area.

About 61 per cent of India’s farmers rely on rain-fed agriculture and 55 per cent of the gross cropped area is under rain-fed farming

Revitalising Rainfed Agriculture Network

·  formed in 2010 is a pan India network of more than 600 members,

including eminent academics, policy makers, farmer and civil society

organisations that work to influence public systems, policy and investments for productive, prosperous and resilient rainfed agriculture.

· publishes the Rainfed Agriculture Atlas

Important Government Initiative

· National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture(NMSA) –  envisaged as one of the eight Missions outlined under National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).

major thrust is enhancing agriculture productivity especially in rainfed areas focusing on integrated farming, soil health management, and synergizing resource conservation.

o Rainfed Area Development -focuses on Integrated Farming System (IFS) for enhancing productivity and minimizing risks associated with climatic variability’s.

.

· National Mineral Policy 2019 replaces the extant National Mineral Policy 2008 in compliance with the directions of the Supreme Court in Common Cause v/s Union of India & Others.

· The Ministry of Mines constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Dr. K Rajeswara Rao to review the National Mineral Policy 2008.

Need of the review of Policy

· Low rate of growth of Indian Mining sector- with just 1-2 per cent contribution to GDP over the last decade (as opposed to 5 to 6 per cent in major mining economies).

· Lack of focus on exploration- the production vs import of minerals is in the ratio of 1:10 in India.

High import is mainly because of non-availability of raw material for industries. Hence, exploration must be treated as a business and treating it as a startup giving tax holidays, tax benefits etc. to encourage investments for exploration.

· Lack of incentives with private sector to invest- Companies fear investing in exploring minerals owing to various risks.

· Need to address illegality in mining- Apparently 102 mining leases in the state of Orissa did not have requisite environmental clearances, approvals under the Forest Act, 1980.

· Need to address environmental concerns- e.g. in Bellary due to mining operation. Also there is need for reclamation and restoring the mined land.

· Need to address concerns of intergenerational rights

Salient features of National Mineral Policy 2019

· Introduction of Right of First Refusal for reconnaissance permit and prospecting license (RP/PL) holders for encouraging the private sector to take up exploration.

· Encouragement of merger and acquisition of mining entities and transfer of mining leases

· Creation of dedicated mineral corridors to boost private sector mining areas.

· Granting status of industry to mining activity to boost financing of mining for private sector and for acquisitions of mineral assets in other countries by private sector.

· Long-term import export policy for mineral will help private sector in better planning and stability in business.

· Rationalize reserved areas given to PSUs which have not been used and to put these areas to auction, which will give more opportunity to private sector for participation

 liabilities in the Public Account, called Other Liabilities.

Public Debt is 41% of GDP, while other liabilities are 5.5% of GDP.

• Public debt :: further classified into internal (38.2% of GDP) and external debt (2.9% of GDP).

• Internal debt consists of marketable debt (32.9% of GDP) and nonmarketable debt (5.3% of GDP).

ü  Government dated securities and Treasury Bills, issued through auctions, together comprises marketable debt.

ü  Intermediate Treasury Bills (14 days ITB) issued to State Governments and select Central Banks, special securities issued to National Small Savings Fund (NSSF), securities issued to international financial institutions, etc., are part of non-marketable internal debt.

• Other Liabilities include liabilities on account of Provident Funds, Reserve Funds and Deposits, Other Accounts, etc.

·       commonly faced by countries and companies when a loan or other debt obligation (like a bond) is about to mature and needs to be converted, or rolled over, into new debt.

·       If interest rates have risen in the meantime, they would have to refinance their debt at a higher rate and incur more interest charges in the future – or, in case of a bond issue, pay out more in interest.

• Operational creditor (unsecured creditor) refers to anyone who has provided goods or services and the payment for same is due from the corporate debtor.

• The IBC creates the distinction between a financial and operational creditor based on the nature of transaction (i.e. purely financial transactions or transactions related to day to day operations).

·       Section 29A prohibits wilful defaulters, promoters/management of company having non-performing debt for over a year or disqualified directors from participating in the resolution process.

•         chaired by the Union Finance Minister and other members are the Union State Minister of Finance and Ministers in-charge of Finance of all the States.

GST Composition Scheme

• Taxpayers registered under this scheme pay a small tax (1%, 5% or 6%) on their turnover.

 reduces administrative burden of taxpayers but makes it difficult for them to sell to larger firms as they are not eligible for input tax credits.

About E-way Bill

•  a document required to be carried by a person in charge of the conveyance carrying any consignment of goods of value exceeding Rs. 50,000 from one state to another.

• It will eliminate the need for separate transit pass in each state for movement of goods, thus, enabling hassle-free movement.

• Validity of the e-way bill or consolidated e-way bill depends upon the distance the goods have to be transported.

Background

What is Insider Trading?

 It is the buying or selling of a security by someone who has access to material non-public information about the security.

Why is it illegal?

·       As disclosures are often price sensitive, insiders are always in a better position to make bigger trading gains. But since this will be unfair to other investors, and in order to maintain trust and confidence in the market, trading on the basis of unpublished price-sensitive information is illegal.

Prohibition of Insider Trading:

•         In India, SEBI (Insider Trading) Regulation, 1992 framed under SEBI Act, 1992 intends to curb and prevent the menace of insider trading in securities. Companies Act 2013 also prohibits insider trading.

• The Bank primarily lends for exports from India including supporting overseas buyers and Indian suppliers for export of developmental and infrastructure projects, equipment, goods and services from India.

• It is regulated by RBI.

Concessional Finance Scheme (CFS).

• Under it, government has been supporting Indian Entities bidding for strategically important infrastructure projects abroad since 2015-16.

Other EXIM initiative – GRID (Grass Roots Initiative and Development) Initiative.

• Financial support to promote grassroots initiatives/ technologies, particularly the ones with export potential and help the artisans/ producer groups/ clusters/ small enterprises/ NGOs realise remunerative return on their produce and facilitate exports from these units.

Concessional Finance Scheme (CFS).

TECHNICAL TEXTILES

• The Bank primarily lends for exports from India including supporting overseas buyers and Indian suppliers for export of developmental and infrastructure projects, equipment, goods and services from India.

regulated by RBI.

• Under it, government has been supporting Indian Entities bidding for strategically important infrastructure projects abroad since 2015-16.

Other EXIM initiative – GRID (Grass Roots Initiative and Development) Initiative.

• Financial support to promote grassroots initiatives/ technologies, particularly the ones with export potential and help the artisans/ producer groups/ clusters/ small enterprises/ NGOs realise remunerative return on their produce and facilitate exports from these units.

National Conclave on Technical Textiles was held recently in Mumbai. technical textiles?

•         textile material and products manufactured primarily for technical performance and functional properties rather than aesthetic and decorative characteristics.

•         woven or non-woven and combinations of both. They can be made up as a single or multiple-layer and can be produced as a composite or a coated material.

•         made from any fibre yarn or filament of purely natural or synthetic origin or combination of the two types.

Technical textiles in India

•         a sunshine sector for the textile industry and it is one of the fastest growing segments of the Indian Economy. They are driven by demand, development and industrialisation in a country.

• India has 4-5% share in the global technical textiles market size across twelve segments.

• Technical textiles constitute 12-15% of the total textile value chain in India,

Based on usage, there are 12 technical textile segments:

ü  Agrotech (fishing nets)

ü  Meditech (sanitary napkins)

ü  Buildtech (floor and wall coverings)

ü  Mobiltech (airbags), Clothtech (shoelaces),

ü  Oekotech (waste diposal)

ü  Geotech (gepnets),

ü  Packtech (wrapping fabrics, jute bags)

ü  Hometech (stuff toys, blinds)

ü  Protech (bullet proof jackets)

ü  Indutech (conveyer belts) and

ü  Sportech (swimwear)

Among all categories, Packtech forms the largest segment and holds 42% of the market share

·       a social welfare system that guarantees a basic income to households, provided they meet certain conditions. This is different from Universal Basic Income (UBI) scheme, which is a

·       periodic, unconditional cash transfer to all citizens on individual basis, without means-test or work requirement. To that extent, the Minimum Basic Income is a conditional UBI or a quasi UBI (targeted).

Income Support: National Examples

• Madhya Pradesh Unconditional Cash Transfers Project, more than 6000 beneficiaries were given income support besides existing subsidies.

International Examples

•         Under Finland’s “Perustulokokeilu” (Basic Income Experiment), unconditional income support was provided to the selected pool of unemployed people between 25 & 58.

·       Brazil has an ‘anti-poverty’ programme called ‘Bolsa Familia’, involving a cash grant to families below a certain income level, provided they meet conditions such as overseeing their children’s school attendance

the apex body for co-ordinating, guiding and managing research and education in agriculture including horticulture, fisheries and animal sciences in the entire country.

• The Agricultural Education Division, ICAR is involved in strengthening and streamlining of higher agricultural education system to enhance the quality of human resources in agri-supply chain to meet future challenges in agriculture sector in the country.

Student READY (Rural Entrepreneurship Awareness Development Yojana) scheme under ICAR:

• Under it, practical experience of agriculture and entrepreneurship is provided to undergraduate students.

Kisan Pathshala Yojana of the Uttar Pradesh (UP)

• It is an extension and outreach programme to connect the agricultural department’s scientific and technical staff with the state’s farming community.

• Presently, a major portion of uranium for domestic production comes from the Jaduguda mines in Jharkhand.

• India currently imports uranium from Kazakhstan, Canada, France and Russia. Recently India also signed deal with Uzbekistan to get Uranium supply.

• In India, Uranium Corporation of India Ltd. (UCIL) under the Department of Atomic Energy, is the only organisation responsible for mining and processing of uranium ore for commercial purposes.

ü    Uranium mined by the UCIL is used for weapons and civil nuclear programmes both. The imported uranium is used for civil nuclear energy purposes only.

• Atomic Minerals Directorate (AMD) is responsible for survey and exploration of atomic mineral reserves in India—particularly, to harness uranium resources required for the development of the nuclear programme

· As per NASSCOM Strategic Review 2017, the Global Software Product Industry is estimated to be USD 413 billion. However, the contribution of Software Products in Indian IT-ITES revenue is just USD 7.1 billion out of

which 2.3 billion USD are exports.

· On the other hand, import of Software Products is estimated to be nearly 10 billion USD, so as such India is a net importer of software products at present.

· Also, past few years have seen serious decline in growth, owing to rapid transformation in technology and Software industry, globally.

· The first Software policy came up in 1986. It resulted into Software Technology Park (STP) scheme in 1991.

· However, as a maturing industry, with a distinct and strong charter of growth, there is a need to reevaluate the sector and to draw out strategies with a medium to long term perspective and introduce innovative

solutions to leverage its full potential.

· There is a need to address weaknesses in regard to developing innovative software products that address the challenges thrown in implementing ambitious programmes like Digital India, Make in India, Smart cities