68th EDITION Vanik’s MONTHLY ISSUE FEBRUARY 2021 Current Affairs Banking | Railway | Insurance | SSC | UPSC | OPSC | PSU Contents Union Budget 2021-22 -------------------------------------------------------- 1 Economy -------------------------------------------------------- 12 RBI in News -------------------------------------------------------- 12 SBI in News --------------------------------------------------------- 13 Other Banks in News ------------------------------------------------ 13 Financial News ------------------------------------------------ 16 Fund and Financial Allocation --------------------------------------- 17 Rating and Survey ------------------------------------------------ 18 MOU and Agreement ------------------------------------------------ 19 Committee and Its Head -------------------------------------------------------- 20 State News -------------------------------------------------------- 21 National -------------------------------------------------------- 26 International -------------------------------------------------------- 30 Bilateral -------------------------------------------------------- 32 International and National Summits --------------------------------------- 33 Ranking and Index -------------------------------------------------------- 33 Award -------------------------------------------------------- 35 Person in News/Newly Appointed -------------------------------------------- 37 Sports -------------------------------------------------------- 40 Science and Technology -------------------------------------------------------- 41 Defence -------------------------------------------------------- 42 Important Days -------------------------------------------------------- 43 Book and Author -------------------------------------------------------- 44 Obituary -------------------------------------------------------- 45 MAGAZINE FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY – 2021 ` UNION BUDGET 2021-22 Page | 1 MAGAZINE FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY – 2021 Presenting the first ever digital Union Budget 2021, Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman stated that India’s fight against COVID-19 continues into 2021 and that this moment in history, when the political, economic, and strategic relations in the post-COVID world are changing, is the dawn of a new era – one in which India is well- poised to truly be the land of promise and hope. The Union Budget 2021-22 is the first Budget of the new decade and the first paperless budget. It is also the third one that follows a contraction in the economy. The Budget 2021-22 rests on six pillars 1. Health & Well-Being 2. Physical & Financial Capital & Infrastructure 3. Inclusive development for aspirational India 4. Reinvigorating human capital 5. Innovation & R&D 6. Minimum Govt & Maximum Governance. 1. Health and Well Being PM Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana: 1. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman's Budget for 2021-22 has given an unprecedented boost to create healthcare infrastructure in the country, a sector ignored over the years for many decades, feel experts. 2. The budget, which allocated Rs 2,23,846 crore(a 137 per cent hike in the health and wellness budget) for health and wellbeing launched a new centrally sponsored scheme, PM AtmaNirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana, with an outlay of about Rs 64,180 crores over 6 years. The earlier allocations to health and wellbeing were Rs 94,452 crore in 2020-21 and Rs 86,259 crore in 2019-20. 3. The scheme is to develop capacities of primary, secondary, and tertiary care health systems, strengthen existing national institutions, and create new institutions, to cater to detection and cure of new and emerging diseases. 4. In February 2018, the Indian Government had announced Ayushman Bharat Program (ABP) with two components of Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs), to deliver comprehensive primary health care (PHC) services to the entire population. The Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) was launched for improving access to hospitalisation services at secondary and tertiary level health facilities for bottom 40% of total population. The plans were to have 1,50,000 Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) by December 2022. The first HWC was launched on 14 April 2018 and by 31 March 2020, a total 38,595 AB-HWCs were operational across India. Main interventions under PM Aatma Nirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana: National Institution for One Health 17,788 rural and 11,024 urban Health and Wellness Centers 4 regional National Institutes for Virology 15 Health Emergency Operation Centers and 2 mobile hospitals Integrated public health labs in all districts and 3382 block public health units in 11 states Critical care hospital blocks in 602 districts and 12 central institutions Strengthening of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), its 5 regional branches and 20 metropolitan health surveillance units Expansion of the Integrated Health Information Portal to all States/UTs to connect all public health labs 17 new Public Health Units and strengthening of 33 existing Public Health Units Regional Research Platform for WHO South-East Asia Region 9 Bio-Safety Level III laboratories Vaccines 1. Rs. 35,000 crore for COVID-19 vaccine in 2021-22. 2. The Made-in-India Pneumococcal Vaccine to be rolled out across the country, from present 5 states – to avert 50,000 child deaths annually Pneumococcal vaccine rollout- The pneumococcal vaccine, which is limited to only 5 states at present, will be rolled out across the country. This will avert more than 50,000 child deaths annually. 2 | Page MAGAZINE FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY – 2021 Mission Poshan 2.0 launched 1. The Ministry of Women and Child Development has received a 16 per cent increase in its budget allocation this year with a sum of Rs 24,435 crore 2. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman further announced that supplementary nutrition schemes were being merged with the Poshan Abhiyan to launch Mission Poshan 2.0. 3. Intensified strategy to be adopted to improve nutritional outcomes across 112 Aspirational Districts 4. Out of the allocation for the ministry this year, the highest amount has been allocated to Mission Poshan 2.0 and Saksham Anganwadi scheme — Rs 20,105 crore. 5. Poshan 2.0 now combines the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), Anganwadi services, Poshan Abhiyan, Scheme For Adolescent Girls and National Creche Scheme. 6. The allocation for social services sector, which includes nutrition and social security and welfare, has been increased from Rs 2,411.80 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 3,575.96 crore. 7. Schemes like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, One Stop Centres, Swadhar Greh, Child Protection, Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, Scheme for Adolescent Girls and Ujjawala have not been allocated anything in this budget. 8. The budget for Mission for Protection and Empowerment of Women has been drastically reduced from Rs 726 crore to Rs 48 crore. Universal Water Supply Scheme For Urban Areas 1. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a universal water supply scheme for urban areas -- Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban), in the Union Budget for 2021-22. 2. Rs. 2,87,000 crore over 5 years for Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban) – to be launched with an aim to provide: 3. 2.86 crore household tap connections 4. Universal water supply in all 4,378 Urban Local Bodies 5. Liquid waste management in 500 AMRUT cities 6. Launched in 2019, Jal Jeevan Mission (rural) aims to provide tap water connections to rural households by 2024. Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 1. The government has allocated Rs 1,41,678 crore to tackle water, land and air pollution, besides waste management over the next five years under Urban Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 2. Main interventions under Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) 2.0: 3. Complete faecal sludge management and waste water treatment 4. Source segregation of garbage 5. Reduction in single-use plastic 6. Reduction in air pollution by effectively managing waste from construction-and-demolition activities 7. Bio-remediation of all legacy dump Clean Air Government has allocated another Rs 2,217 crore for tackling air pollution specifically. This money would be invested across 42 cities having a population of more than 1 million residents sites Finance Minister Announces Voluntary Vehicle Scrapping Policy 1. Presenting the Budget for 2021-22 in Parliament, Sitharaman said that under voluntary vehicle scrapping policy, personal vehicles would undergo a fitness test after 20 years while commercial vehicles would require it after completion of 15 years. 2. This will help in encouraging fuel-efficient, environment-friendly vehicles, thereby reducing vehicular pollution and oil import bill 3. The policy will lead to new investments of around Rs 10,000 crore and create as many as 50,000 jobs. 4. The policy would cover an estimated 51 lakh Light Motor Vehicles (LMVs) that are above 20 years of age, while another 34 lakh LMVs are above 15 years. It would also cover 17 lakh medium and heavy motor vehicles, which are above 15 years, and currently without valid fitness certificates 2. Physical and Financial Capital and Infrastructure Production Linked Incentive scheme (PLI) 1. The Finance Minister stated that to realise five trillion dollar economy, India's manufacturing sector has to grow in double digits for a sustained period. A PLI scheme has been announced for 13 sectors to achieve the same with an outlay of Rs 1.97 lakh crore over the next 5 years. 2. 7 new Textile Parks to be launched over 3 years 3. In addition to PLI, the Finance Minister proposed a