Impact of Economic Slowdown Due to Covid-19
Context :
Amid the ongoing economic slowdown due to Covid-19 pandemic,
- The government witnessed a fall in tax collections.
- Foreign investors sold over ₹1 lakh-crore securities in a month (March), for the first time in history.
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to shorten trading hours for foreign exchange and money markets products.
Fall in Tax Collections :
- Direct Tax Collections
- Direct tax is a tax paid directly by an individual or organization to the imposing entity. For example, income tax is a direct tax.
- The government’s net direct tax collections have missed the downward revised target for 2019-20 by Rs 1.42 lakh crore. The overall collection stood at Rs 10.27 lakh crore.
- This is a decline of over 8% from previous year’s receipts.
- The contraction in direct tax collections in a financial year has been witnessed after a gap of 20 years. The Centre’s direct tax receipts had last seen a year-on-year decline in 1998-99, when collections recorded a contraction of 3.5% in that financial year.
- Indirect Tax Collections
- Indirect tax is a tax collected by one entity in the supply chain and paid to the government, but it is passed on to the consumer as part of the purchase price of a good or service. GST is an indirect tax.
- The government has missed its Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections target.
- The reasons that led to the fall in GST collections in March below the Rs 1 lakh crore mark are:
- A drop of 7.8% in returns filing over last month.
- 4% fall over last year in domestic revenue.
- A sharp 23% fall in revenue from imports.
- Consequences
- The government is likely to miss its revised fiscal deficit target of 3.8% for 2019-20.
- The government’s fiscal deficit during April-February increased to 135.2% of the revised estimate for the fiscal year 2019-20.
Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) Sell Securities :
- For the first time in the history of the Indian capital markets, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) have sold securities worth over ₹1 lakh crore in a single month (March 2020).
- As per data from the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL),
- The cumulative net outflow from the debt and equity segments was pegged at ₹1.18 lakh crore in March
- This is more than double the previous high of ₹44,000 crore witnessed in June.
- Reason:
- According to market participants, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has affected stocks worldwide is the primary reason for such record outflows as foreign investors move away from riskier assets and emerging markets.
- Impact of the sales on Sensex:
- Sensex registered its worst monthly fall in over 11 years.
- In March, the Sensex lost a little over 23% which was the highest since October 2008 when it fell 23.89%.
- Currently, the Sensex after falling.
- However, buying by Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) has been acting as a strong counter force to the selling by foreign investors.
Source : economics times
International Mine Awareness Day observed on 4 April
Context :
International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance is observed on April 4 each year.
Aim :
To raise awareness about landmines and progress toward their eradication.
History :
United Nations (UN) General Assembly declared that April 4 of each year would be officially proclaimed and observed as International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action. It was first observed on April 4, 2006. According to the Landmine Monitor Report 2005, 84 countries were affected by landmines and unexploded ordnance, which together kill or maim between 15,000 and 20,000 adults and children annually. The UN works together with countries to find and destroy these devices. It also helps to provide various mine-action services in many countries.
Covid-19 Community Mobility Report: Google
Context :
Google has released ‘COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports’. These reports aim to provide insights into what has changed in response to policies aimed at combating COVID-19.
- The reports cover 131 countries and chart movement trends over time by geography, across different categories of places such as retail and recreation, groceries and pharmacies, parks, transit stations, workplaces, and residential.
- The report comes at a time when communities across the globe are looking at measures such as social distancing as a key action to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The company said it adopted technical measures to ensure that no individual could be identified through the new reports. The reports have been developed according to the company’s stringent privacy protocols and policies.
- Google is an American search engine company founded in 1998 by Serge Brin and Larry Page. It is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.
Finding Related to India :
- In the wake of the March 22 ‘Janata Curfew’ and the subsequent ongoing 21-day nationwide lockdown, public movement in India at areas with restaurants, pharmacies, parks and workplaces had declined while movement in residential areas had increased.
- The data is based on the 5-week period Jan 3–Feb 6, 2020 and the first few days of the lockdown period.
- There has been a dip of 77% in mobility trends for places like restaurants, cafes, shopping centres and movie theaters and a 65% drop at grocery markets, food warehouses, farmers’ markets and pharmacies.
- A 57% fall for places like public beaches and gardens, a 71% decline at public transport hubs and a 47% drop for places of work.
- However, the mobility trends in the places of residence category showed an increase of 22%.
- These reports will help support decisions about how to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, the information could help officials understand changes in essential trips that can shape recommendations on business hours or inform delivery service offerings.
Movement Across Other Countries
- Reports compared traffic from Feb 16 to March 29 to retail and recreational venues, train and bus stations, grocery stores and workplaces with a five-week period (Jan 3- Feb 6).
- Italy and Spain, two of the hardest-hit countries, both saw visits to retail and recreation locations such as restaurants and movie theaters fall 94%.
- The United Kingdom, France and Philippines had declines of more than 80%.
- In Japan and Sweden, where authorities have not imposed harsh restrictions, visits to retail and recreation sites fell by roughly only a quarter.
- While in South Korea, which has successfully contained a large outbreak through aggressive testing and contact tracing, the decline was just 19%.
- There were no reports for China and Iran, where Google services are blocked.
Source : the hindu
IAS IPS officers associations form Caruna an initiative to fight Coronavirus
Context :
Associations representing officers of Central Civil Services, including the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS), formed an initiative called Caruna to support and supplement the government’s efforts in fighting coronavirus.
Caruna :
‘Caruna’ stands for Civil Services Associations Reach to Support in Natural Disasters and represents a collaborative platform on which civil servants, industry leaders, NGO professionals, and IT professionals, among others, have come together to contribute their time and abilities.
Amendments to the J&K Order
Context :
The Ministry of Home Affairs has amended the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Adaptation of State Laws) Order-2020.
- The Order was issued by the Ministry on 31st March, 2020.
Key Amendments
- Protection to domiciles to “any post” in the government including senior level positions in Group A and Group B category. This reserves all jobs in the Union Territory for only its domiciles.
- Earlier the protection to domiciles was provided only in Group D and entry level non-gazetted government posts. This opened all other government posts to anyone from the rest of the country.
- The amended order also removed the clause that any person fulfilling the criteria of domicile eligibility will “deemed to be” a domicile. The power to issue domicile certificates has been given to “tahsildar”.
Source : the hindu