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India’s net direct tax collections picked up pace over the past month to rise 20.25% year-on-year by February 10, compared to a 19.4% uptick on the same date in January, show data released by the Finance Ministry.
Growth in the Personal Income Tax (PIT) revenues continued to outstrip Corporate Income Tax (CIT), with a 26.91% uptick in net PIT collections vis-à-vis a 13.6% rise in CIT inflows so far this year.
From ₹14.7 lakh crore on January 10, net direct tax collections, that are calculated by deducting refunds from gross tax inflows, had hit ₹15.6 lakh crore by Saturday, making up 80.23% of the revised estimates for direct taxes for this year.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her interim Budget for 2024-25, had raised her hopes for the direct tax kitty for this year, pegging revised estimates at ₹19.5 lakh crore, from the ₹18.23 lakh crore originally estimated for 2023-24.
Editorial
A privileged strategic partnership, without a gulf (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to pay an official visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from February 13-14, 2024 which will include inaugurating a temple built by the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha in Abu Dhabi.
This is Mr. Modi’s seventh visit to the UAE since 2015 and the third in the last eight months. In this short duration, India’s relationship with UAE has evolved into becoming one of the most prominent bilateral relationships for New Delhi.
Not only has the UAE become India’s strategic partner but it has also become one of the most important linchpins of India’s engagement in the Gulf region.
There is a close rapport between the President of the UAE, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and Mr. Modi.
The BAPS temple, which is built on a 27-acre plot of land donated by the UAE President, will be the second big Hindu temple to be inaugurated in the UAE in recent years, the first being the Hindu Temple in Dubai, opened in October 2022.
Mr. Modi will also address the World Government Summit on February 14 in Dubai as the ‘Guest of Honour’.
Opinion
How women can be represented in politics (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 1, Social Issues)
With the Women’s Reservation Bill being passed in Parliament last year, the debate on whether quota within political parties or in Parliament and State Assemblies may be the best route for increasing women’s representation in politics seems to have come to an end.
The Assembly elections in Rajasthan showed that the only way for increasing women’s political participation seems to be to provide them reservation in Parliament and State Assemblies.
In the elections, the women candidates of both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) put up dismal performances.
Text & Context
Decoding India’s economic realities (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
With the BJP-led government exuding over-confidence on the state of the economy, the interim Budget presented earlier this month has shifted focus to fiscal consolidation.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has projected that the fiscal deficit; which was expanded to 9.2% of GDP in 2020-21 to deal with the pandemic-induced recession; would be brought down to 5.8% by the end of the current financial year and 5.1% by next year to reach the targeted 4.5% of GDP by 2025-26.
The interim Budget signals significant cutbacks in public expenditures, slashing effective capital expenditure by ₹1 lakh crore and reducing welfare and subsidy allocations.
Despite a nominal GDP growth of 9%, down from the previous year’s 10.5%, the government faces challenges with a slowdown in economic activity.
Real GDP growth stands at 7.3%, above last year’s 7.2%, while the IMF questions the accuracy of official growth estimates, recommending statistical upgrades.
The fiscal situation is complicated by rising debt liabilities, marking a formal withdrawal of post-pandemic stimulus in the interim Budget.
News
Over 3 lakh ASHAs apply for Centre’s health cover (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
After the Central government announced its decision to include Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) and Anganwadi workers and helpers in the Ayushman Bharat free public health cover scheme, the Health Ministry has so far received Aadhaar details of 23 lakh anganwadi workers and helpers and over three lakh ASHA workers from various States.
The government aims to get their cards ready by the end of the month as the scheme comes into effectfrom March 1this year.
Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) provides health coverage of up to ₹5 lakh a year for poor and vulnerable families and the decision to include this group of healthcare workers was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during the presentation of the interim Union Budget 2024-25 recently.
World
Netanyahu promises ‘safe passage’ to Palestinians ahead of Rafah operation (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The threat of an Israeli incursion into Gaza’s southernmost town of Rafah persisted, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised “safe passage” to civilians displaced there.
In an interview airing on Sunday, Mr. Netanyahu reiterated his intention to extend Israel’s military operation against Hamas into Rafah.
We’re going to do it while providing safe passage for the civilian population so they can leave. It remains unclear however, where the large number of people pressed up against the border with Egypt and sheltering in makeshift tents can go. When asked, Mr. Netanyahu would only say they are “working out a detailed plan”.
Science
The patterns of global warming are more important than its levels (Page no. 18)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Many warming records were broken in 2023 along with climate disasters such as wildfires, cyclones, droughts, and floods.
In this time, the focus of the public narrative — often with the participation of scientists — has often been on whether we crossed the ‘magical’ warming threshold of 1.5 degrees C. The best estimates, derived from data recorded by instruments, say the planet is just under this threshold.
Before we discuss the answer, let’s remember that 1.5 degrees C is not a scientific threshold. It became enshrined in the Paris Agreement after intense negotiations by member-countries of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
But it’s not a round number by accident: it comes from a figure — 2 degrees C — European politicians found easier to aim at in the 1990s.