Daily Financial News Analysis – 26th Dec’19 – Free PDF Download

Atal Jal Yojana

• Aim: to improve groundwater level in 7 states.
• Prime  Minister  Narendra  Modi  urged farmers to opt for less water intensive crops and irrigation methods that will help conserve water

1. Maharashtra
2. Haryana
3. Rajasthan
4. Gujarat
5. Madhya P.
6. Uttar P.
7. Karnataka

•  Jal Shakti Ministry: government has  tried to free the subject of water from  a compartmentalised approach to a  more comprehensive and holistic one.
• Agriculture in the country is largely  based on irrigation carried out through  the use of groundwater and using old-  age techniques of irrigation also leads  to wastage of water.
• We need to make farmers aware of  conservation of rain water.
• Taking alternative crops for  cultivation
• Move towards micro-irrigation

• PM also urged every village to prepare  a  water  action  plan,  water  fund  and make use of the funds through different related state and central schemes.
• Modi said villages with low groundwater level should prepare water budget and farmers should be  encouraged to grow crops accordingly.
• Jal Jeevan Mission will work towards  delivering piped water supply to every  house.
• Atal Jal Yojana will pay special attention to those areas where groundwater is very low.
• Provision has been made in the Atal Jal Yojana in which better performing  village panchayats will be given more  allocation.
• In 70 years, only 3 crore out of 18 crore rural households have access to  piped water supply.
• Modi government has set the target to  deliver clean drinking water to 15 crore homes in the next five years through pipe.
• Modi also said that both Union and state governments will spend Rs 3.5 lakh crore on water-related schemes in the next five years.
• He appealed to NRIs to provide whatever assistance in water-related issues in their villages.

Ramesh Chand on GST Slabs

• Government think-tank Niti Aayog   member Ramesh Chand made a case  for only two slabs under the goods and  service tax regime.
• He  said  rates  should  be  revised annually if required.
• The  rates  on  goods  and  services   have been  revised  several  times  since 1|7|17

1. 05%
2. 12%
3. 18%
4. 28%

• Chand said that when a large taxation  reforms like GST are brought in, there are  always  “teething  problems”  but soon they stabilise.
• He  said  most  of  the  countries  took  long time for GST stabilisation.
• “It has become tendency of every  sector to ask for lower GST. I feel GST  issues are much larger than asking for  rates,” Chand said.
• Chand said that while every sector is  demanding lower rate, they should also  understand governments need  revenue to spend  on development  works.
• “We always ask from the government  and forget to give back. This trend is  not good. From where will the   government get the money to spend for  development,” said Chand, who is also  a member of the  15th  Finance  Commission.

USA China Trade Deal

• U.S. President Donald Trump said on  Tuesday that he and Chinese President  Xi Jinping will have a signing ceremony  to sign the first phase of the U.S.-  China trade deal agreed to this month.
• United States  Trade Representative  Robert Lighthizer said on Dec. 13 that representatives from both countries would sign the Phase 1 trade deal agreement in the first week of January.
• Beijing has not yet confirmed specific  components of the deal that were  released by U.S. officials.
• A spokesman for China’s Commerce Ministry said last week the details would be made public after the official signing.

Oil & Gas Disputes

• ‘Committee  of  External  Eminent  Persons/Experts’ for dispute resolution
• Overhang of disputes choking investments in the oil and gas sector.

1. cost recovery
2. production targets

• The panel will have a tenure of three years and the resolution will be attempted to be arrived at within 3 months.

Solar Energy

• State-owned power  giant NTPC  is  planning to add 10GW of solar energy  generation capacity by 2022.
• Investment of around Rs 50,000 crore will be funded mainly by green bonds.
• At present, NTPC has installed  renewable energy capacity of 920 MW,  which includes mainly solar energy.
• It has formulated a long term plan to  become a 130 GW company by 2032  with 30% non-fossil fuel or renewable  energy capacity.
• The company will complete tendering  of 2,300 MW of solar energy capacity  by the end of this fiscal. Thereafter it  has planned to add 4GW each in 2020-  21 and 2021-22.
• What is clean energy target of India  for 2022?

Grievance Redressal Mechanism

• The GST Council will set up a  grievance redressal mechanism for taxpayers.
• to  tackle  grievances  on  GST-related  issues of specific and general nature
• The decision was taken at the 38th  meeting of the GST Council held on  December 18.
• The council will set up the Grievance  Redressal  Committee  (GRC)  at  zonal and state levels consisting of both central tax and state tax officers, representatives of trade and industry  and other goods and services tax (GST)  stakeholders.
• The committee will be constituted for  a period of 2 years and the term of  each member will be for likewise, said  the statement.
• If any member of the panel would be  absent for three  consecutive  meetings, without adequate reasons,  the member will be replaced with a  fresh nomination by the principal chief commissioner/chief commissioner of central tax in consultation with the chief commissioner/ commissioner of state tax.
• The committee will meet once every   quarter or more frequently as decided by the co-chairs.

Ship Recycling

• Union Minister  Mansukh  Lal  Mandaviya: India eyes  to garner at  least 60 per cent of the global ship  recycling business and emerge as a  key destination for recycling warships  and other ships.
• He also  exuded  confidence  that   contribution from ship recycling  activities to the country’s GDP would  reach $2.2 billion, almost double  compared to the current level.
• According to Mandaviya,  Gujarat’s   Alang, the world’s biggest shipyard, is  ready to cater to projected increase in  the number of ships for recycling.
• Currently, India recycles around 300 of  the 1,000 ships which are demolished  per annum globally.
• That scenario is set to change with the Recycling of Ships Act, 2019.
• The Act ratifies the Hong Kong convention and facilitating environment friendly recycling process of ships and adequate safety of the yard workers.
• “The US and other countries do not send their ships to India for recycling but now that we have ratified the Hong Kong conventions, we expect the numbers to swell,” the minister told PTI in an interview.

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