CURRENT AFFAIRS 03 FEB 2021

1. BUDGET 2021-22: RAILWAYS

Indian Railways has received a record outlay of 1,10,055 crore, of which 1,07,100 crore is for capital expenditure. This was announced in the Union Budget 2021-22.

About:

Indian Railways have prepared a National Rail Plan for India – 2030. The Plan is to create a ‘future ready’ Railway system by 2030.
Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) and Eastern DFC are expected to be commissioned by June 2022.
The Sonnagar – Gomoh Section (263.7 km) of Eastern DFC will be taken up in PPP mode in 2021-22. Gomoh-Dankuni section of 274.3 km will also be taken up in short succession.
Future dedicated freight corridor projects namely East Coast corridor from Kharagpur to Vijayawada, East-West Corridor from Bhusaval to Kharagpur to Dankuni and North-South corridor from Itarsi to Vijayawada will be undertaken.
100% electrification of Broad-Gauge routes will be completed by December, 2023. Broad Gauge Route Kilometers (RKM) electrified is expected to reach 46,000 RKM i.e., 72% by end of 2021 from 41,548 RKM on 1st Oct 2020.

Source : PIB

2. KRITAGYA

Union Minister of Agriculture informed Lok Sabha about AGRI INDIA HACKATHON.

About:

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has started organising KRITAGYA- a National level hackathon in the month of August, 2020 to promote innovation in agriculture and allied sectors in the country.
Advantages of organising Agri-Hackathon are to give opportunity to the students along with faculties, innovators for showcasing their innovative approaches & technologies in agriculture and allied sectors.
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has also put in place an Institutional mechanism through Research Institutes, Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) and Agriculture Universities (AUs) to address the problems being faced by the farming sector.

Source : PIB

3. BUDGET 2021-22: ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE

The Union Minister of Finance announced several measures to augment road infrastructure in the Union Budget 2021-22 presented in the Parliament.

About:

An enhanced outlay of 1,18,101 crore has been provided for Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, of which 1,08,230 crore is for capital, the highest ever.
More than 13,000 km length of roads, at a cost of 3.3 lakh crore, has already been awarded under the 5.35 lakh crore Bharatmala Pariyojana project of which 3,800 kms have been constructed. By March 2022, another 8,500 kms would be awarded.
Advanced Traffic management system with speed radars, variable message signboards, GPS enabled recovery vans will be installed in all new four and six lane highways.

Important Info :

Some flagship corridors and other important projects that would see considerable activity in 2021-22 are:

Delhi-Mumbai Expressway: Remaining 260 km will be awarded before 31.3.2021
Bengaluru – Chennai Expressway: 278 km will be initiated in the current financial year. Construction will begin in 2021-22
Delhi-Dehradun economic corridor: 210 km corridor will be initiated in the current financial year. Construction will begin in 2021-22
Kanpur-Lucknow Expressway: 63 km expressway providing an alternate route to NH 27 will be initiated in 2021-22
Chennai – Salem corridor: 277 km expressway will be awarded and construction would start in 2021-22
Raipur-Vishakhapatnam: 464 km passing through Chhattisgarh, Odisha and North Andhra Pradesh will be awarded in the current year. Construction will start in 2021-22
Amritsar-Jamnagar: Construction will commence in 2021-22
Delhi –Katra: Construction will commence in 2021-22

Source : The Hindu

4. BUDGET 2021-22: INFRASTRUCTURE FINANCING

To achieve the target of National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) in the coming years the Government proposes following three steps : (1) Creation of institutional structures, (2) A big thrust on monetizing assets, and (3) Enhancing the share of capital expenditure in Central and State budgets.

About:

NIP launched in December 2019 with 6835 projects has now expanded to 7,400 projects and around 217 projects worth Rs. 1.10 lakh crore under some key infrastructure Ministries have been completed.
A sum of Rs. 20,000 crore has been provisioned in the Union Budget to capitalise Development Financial Institution (DFI). A Bill will be introduced to set up DFI which will act as a provider, enabler and catalyst for infrastructure financing.
to enable Debt Financing of InVITs and REITs by Foreign Portfolio Investors suitable amendments will be done in the relevant legislations.
The Union Finance Minister announced launch of a “National Monetization Pipeline” of potential brownfield infrastructure assets stating that Monetizing operating public infrastructure assets is a very important financing option for new infrastructure construction.
The Minister informed that an Asset Monetization dashboard will also be created for tracking the progress and to provide visibility to investors.

Source : The Hindu

5. BUDGET 2021-22: FISCAL DEFICIT

Against an original Budgetary Estimates (BE) 2020-2021 for expenditure of Rs. 30.42 lakh crore, the Revised Estimates (RE) 2020-21 are Rs. 34.50 lakh crore.

About:

Fiscal deficit in RE 2020-21 is pegged at 9.5% of GDP. It has been funded through Government borrowings, multilateral borrowings, Small Saving Funds and short term borrowings.
Another Rs 80,000 crore would be needed for which Government would be approaching the markets in these 2 months.
The fiscal deficit in BE 2021-2022 is estimated to be 6.8% of GDP. The gross borrowing from the market for the next year would be around 12 lakh crore.
Finance minister will be proposing an amendment to the FRBM Act towards achieving Central Government fiscal deficit along the broad path indicated above.

Source : PIB

6. BUDGET 2021-22: CAPITAL EXPENDITURE

While presenting the Union Budget 2021-22 in Parliament the Union Minister for Finance announced a sharp increase in capital expenditure with BE of Rs 5.54 lakh crore which is 34.5% more than the BE of last financial year (Rs. 4.12 lakh crore).

About:

It is expected that the total capital expenditure during 2020-21 will be at around Rs 4.39 lakh crore.
In the Capital Budget a sum of more than Rs. 44,000 crore has been kept in the Budget of Department of Economic Affairs and will be provided for projects/programmes/departments that show good progress on Capital Expenditure and are in need of further funds.
More than Rs 2 lakh crore will be provided to States and Autonomous Bodies for their Capital Expenditure. The Government will work out specific mechanisms to nudge the States to spend more of their budget on creation of infrastructure.

Source : The Hindu

7. ‘CHAURI CHAURA’ INCIDENT

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Chauri Chaura Centenary Celebrations at Chauri Chaura, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, on 4th February 2021.

About:

The day marks 100 years of the ‘Chauri Chaura’ incident, a landmark event in the country’s fight for independence.
The Chauri Chaura incident took place on 4 February 1922 at Chauri Chaura in the Gorakhpur district of the United Province (modern Uttar Pradesh) in British India.
In this, a large group of protesters participating in the Non-cooperation movement, clashed with police who opened fire. In retaliation the demonstrators attacked and set fire to a police station, killing all of its occupants.
The incident led to the death of three civilians and 22 policemen.
Mahatma Gandhi, who was strictly against violence, halted the non-co-operation movement on the national level on 12 February 1922, as a direct result of this incident.

Source : LiveMint

8. BUDGET 2021-22: POWER SECTOR

Union Minister for Finance in her budget speech of 2021-22, proposed an outlay of Rs 3,05,984 crore over 5 years for a revamped reforms- based result-linked power distribution sector Scheme.

About:

The Scheme will provide assistance to DISCOMS for infrastructure creation, including pre-paid smart metering and feeder separation, up gradation of systems, etc. tied to financial improvements.
she also proposed to put in place a competitive framework to give consumers alternatives to choose from among more than one distribution companies.
For a green and sustainable future, the Finance Minister also proposed to launch a comprehensive National Hydrogen Energy Mission in 2021-22 for generating Hydrogen from green power sources fulfilling the announcement made by Prime Minister in November 2020.

Source : Hindustan Times

Attend Daily Current Affairs Quiz Click Here

Join our Official Telegram Channel HERE for Motivation and Fast Updates

***

03 FEBRUARY 2021 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS | NDI NEWS UPDATES

CURRENT AFFAIRS 03 FEB 2021

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

02 FEBRUARY 2021 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS | NDI NEWS UPDATES

04 FEBRUARY 2021 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS | NDI NEWS UPDATES

Categories

Latest Affair