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The-Recitals-January-2020-Vajiram.Pdf INDEX Message From The Desk Of Director 1 1. Feature Article 2-25 a. Budget 2020-21 b. India-Brazil Relation c. Blockchain Technology 2. Mains Q&A 26-49 3. Prelims Q&A 50-91 4. Bridging Gaps 92-132 1. Kolkata Port Renamed 2. National Start-up Advisory Council 3. State Energy Efficiency Index 2019 4. Guidelines To Check Illegal Sand Mining 5. Global Talent Competitiveness Index 6. Mission Purvodaya 7. Integrated Road Accident Database 8. 9. North East Gas Grid Project 10. Henley Passport Index 11. Andhra Pradesh Assembly Passes Bill For Three State Capitals 12. Crime In India Report 2018 13. Women, Business and Law 2020 14. Bru Agreement VAJIRAM AND RAVI The Recitals (January 2020) 15. Levels And Trends In Child Mortality Report 16. MHA Inaugurates Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre 17. Indian Data Relay Satellite System 18. Indian Science Congress 19. GSAT 30 Launched 20. Zo Kutpui 21. Nagoba Jatara 22. World Hindi Day 23. Ujjwala Inspires Ghana 24. India To Place Restrictions on Non-essential Imports 25. Hormuz Peace Initiative 26. First Session Of India-Norway Dialogue On Trade & Investment 27. 28. US Signs 'Phase One' Trade Deal with China 29. Myanmar-China Deal Under Belt and Road Initiative 30. Russian Government Resigns 31. Pakistan Nuclear Smuggling Activity Caught 32. Iran Fully Withdraws from Nuclear Deal 33. Nuclear-Capable K-4 Ballistic Missile 34. IAF Inducts Its First Squadron Of Sukhoi-30 MKI Aircraft 35. War Memorial in Nagaland for 357 Martyrs 36. Bodo Accord 2020 37. UP Government Introduces Police Commissionerate System 38. Constructions and Demolition Waste 39. SC On Position of Speaker On 10th Schedule 40. Article 131: Centre-State Dispute 41. State Power To Regulate Minority Institutions 42. Tulu Language And Eighth Schedule 43. State of Forest Report, 2019 44. Fame II Scheme 45. Demand For Declaring Goa Wildlife Sanctuaries As Tiger Reserve 46. Chinese Paddlefish Declared Extinct 47. NIC TechConclave 2020 48. Wings India 2020 49. Ladakh Hosts First Ever Food Processing Summit 50. Pulses Conclave 2020 51. International Summit on Women in STEM 52. Antarrashtriya Yoga Diwas Media Samman 53. Few Important Dates VAJIRAM AND RAVI The Recitals (January 2020) Dear Students The preparation of current affairs magazine is an evolutionary process as its nature and content keeps changing according to the demands of Civil Service Exam. As you are aware about the importance of current affairs for the prelims as well as mains exam, our aim is to follow an integrated approach covering all stages of examination from prelims to interview. Keeping these things in mind, we, at Vajiram and Ravi Institute, are always in the process of evolving our self so as to help aspirants counter the challenges put forward by UPSC. In fulfillment of our objective and commitment towards the students, we have introduced some changes in our current affairs magazine. The CA Magazines, now with the name of “The Recitals”, will have four sections. These are: 1. Feature Article: As you are aware of the fact that civil service mains exam has become quite exhaustive and analytical, especially since 2013 after the change in syllabus, we have decided to focus on 2-3 topics every month that will provide an insight into the issue so as to help students understand the core of the issue. This will help in Essay writing as well as Mains Exam. 2. Mains Q&A: New students quite often struggle to find out that in what way the given topic is useful for them and in what form questions can be framed from the article. To help those students, we at Vajiram and Ravi have designed an innovative way to teach current affairs. Now, we will cover the current issues through questions and answers so as to make it more targeted towards exam. This will not just provide the information and analysis on current issues but will also help in learning the art of answer writing. Further the related information on the topics on which questions have been framed but that is outside the purview of answer will be given in the Box as ‘Extra Mile’. 3. Prelims Q&A: This section will contain prelims based MCQs that will test your diligence while reading the current issues. These MCQs will be of UPSC standard and will contain detailed explanation. Students are advised to attempt these MCQs honestly and read the Explanation carefully. The idea is to also provide students with a question bank of around 600 current affairs MCQs (50 Qs × 12 months = 600 Qs) just before their prelims examination, which will act as revision on issues spanning over the entire year. 4. Bridging Gaps: This section will contain miscellaneous topics which has not been covered through Q&A. That is why it is called Bridging Gaps, meaning the left-over topics. So, the new magazine is a complete overhaul of what we have been doing for so long. We hope that the new beginning will be to the liking of students. Thanks Best Wishes VAJIRAM AND RAVI The Recitals (January 2020) Page 1 Budget 2020-21 Ms. Sitharaman has presented the General Budget 2019-20 in 2019. She is only the second woman in the history of Independent India to present the Union Budget. Indira Gandhi was the first woman to have presented the Union Budget. In 1970, she presented the Union Budget of India for 1970-71, after she took briefly over the finance portfolio. We will next discuss the overview of Budget and some major announcements. Budget At A Glance • Budget 2020-21 reflects the Government’s firm commitment to substantially boost investment in Agriculture, Social Sector, Education and Health. This is substantiated by a proposed 21% increase in capital expenditure for the FY 2020-21. Level of expenditure has been kept at Rs. 30.42 lakh crores in BE 2020-21, as compared to Rs. 26.98 lakh crores in RE 2019-20. • The government has revised the fiscal roadmap in the near term and limited the fiscal deficit to 3.8% of the GDP in RE 2019-20 and 3.5% in 2020-21. • The Budget 2020-21 announced an ambitious disinvestment agenda, aiming to raise Rs 2.1 lakh crore through stake sales next year, including plans to sell part of the Centre’s stake in the country’s largest insurer Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) through an initial public offer (IPO). The FM also proposed to sell the government’s equity in the stressed IDBI Bank to private, retail and institutional investors through the stock exchange. With plans afoot for privatisation of BPCL, Container Corporation of India, Shipping Corporation of India and Air India, the next year is going to see the government sell its equity in several state-owned companies at an unprecedented scale. VAJIRAM AND RAVI The Recitals (January 2020) Page 2 Rupee Comes From And Rupee Goes To This gives an estimate of the revenue and expenses of government. This is expressed below pictorially both in terms of percentage as well as in numbers (Rs Lakh crore). Revenue And Expenditure (In %) Revenue And Expenditure (In Lakh Crore) VAJIRAM AND RAVI The Recitals (January 2020) Page 3 Taxation Personal Tax • Moving to reform personal income tax, the Budget has announced a new tax regime for individuals, offering much lower tax rates to taxpayers willing to forego all deductions and exemptions including those currently available on EPF contribution, tuition fee payment, principal and interest outgo on home loans, standard deduction of Rs 50,000 and medical insurance premium among others. • This scheme will co-exist with the existing tax structure and will be optional. While the existing tax system has four tax slabs, the new one has seven tax slabs and offers lower tax rates. Employer’s Annual Share To PF, NPS Over Rs 7.5 Lakh Will Be Taxed • From the next financial year, high-income earners will have to pay income tax for their contribution to the provident fund, superannuation fund and National Pension Scheme (NPS). • The Union Budget for 2020-21 has proposed a combined cap of Rs 7.5 lakh for the employer’s contribution to these three categories of payouts, with the amount over and above this to be taxed in the hands of the employees. • The government in the Budget documents reasoned that those with higher salaries are able to design their salary package in a manner where a large part of their salary is paid by the employer in these three funds which does not suffer taxation at any point of time because of Exempt-Exempt-Exempt (EEE) regime, while an employee with low salary income is not able to contribute a large part of his salary to all these three funds. Overseas Remittances • In a bid to widen and deepen the tax net, the government has proposed to amend the I-T Act to levy 5 % TCS (tax collected at source) on overseas remittances and for sale of overseas tour package. • According to the Budget documents, an authorised dealer receiving an amount or an aggregate of amounts of Rs 7 lakh or more in a financial year for remittance out of India under the Liberalised remittances Schemes (LRS) of the RBI, will be liable to collect TCS, if he receives sum in excess of said amount from a buyer — a person remitting such amount out of India — at the rate of five per cent. In non-PAN/Aadhaar cases, the rate will be ten per cent. VAJIRAM AND RAVI The Recitals (January 2020) Page 4 Tax on NRIs • According to a Budget proposal, Non-resident Indians (NRIs) not paying taxes in any foreign country will now be taxed in India.
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