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All India Radio News Summary : 29 JANUARY 2018

All India Radio News Summary : 29 JANUARY 2018

  1. Territorial integrity of Assam and other northeastern states will not be compromised when the final Naga peace accord is inked

Union Home Minister has assured Assam Chief Minister that the territorial integrity of Assam and other north-eastern states will not be compromised when the final Naga peace accord is inked.

  • Minister said this after the Assam Chief Minister apprised him about the situation in the state’s Dima Hasao district where protests have claimed two lives.
  • Protests erupted over a leader’s reported remark that Dima Hasao would be included in Greater Nagalim or Greater Nagaland as part of the Centre’s proposed solution for the on-going peace talks with the NSCN-IM.

 

  1. Aadhaar is identification and not a profiling tool-UIDAI

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has said, Aadhaar is identification and not a profiling tool. Aadhaar is based on minimum information and biometrics which is least intrusive. He dismissed concerns that linking of various information with Aadhaar could lead to government monitoring, surveillance or possible misuse. He asserted that in the last seven years, there has been no data leak from UIDAI.

 

  1. Economic Survey 2017-18 has predicted the growth rate of 7 to 7.5 per cent in the Gross Domestic Product in 2018-19
  • It says that a series of major reforms undertaken over the past year will allow real GDP growth to reach 6.75 percent this fiscal and will rise to 7.0 to 7.5 per cent in 2018-19.
  • It said, the employment, education and agriculture will be the focus areas in the mid-term.
  • The Survey was tabled by Finance Minister in Parliament.
  • Agriculture is expected to grow at the rate of 2.1 per cent, industry at 4.4 per cent, and services sector at 8.3 per cent in 2017-18.
  • The survey also adds that after remaining in negative territory for a couple of years, growth of exports rebounded into positive one during 2016-17 and is expected to grow faster in the current fiscal.
  • With world growth likely to witness moderate improvement in 2018, expectation of greater stability in GST, likely recovery in investment levels, and on-going structural reforms, among others, should be supporting higher growth.
  • Post introduction of GST regime, there has been a 50 per cent increase in the number of indirect taxpayers.
  • India must continue improving the climate for rapid economic growth on the strength of the only two truly sustainable engines-private investment and exports.
  • The Survey is optimistic in its tone because of government’s commitment to carry forward structural reforms like GST, deregulation measures, bank re-capitalization and resolution.
  • Government has undertaken a number of reforms to ensure that India remains an attractive investment destination. These reforms include National Intellectual Property Rights policy, GST implementation, and reforms for ease of doing business.
  • The Survey also expressed concern over air pollution in Delhi with the onset of winter due to various factors and suggested coordination between agencies and Central and State Governments to address each source problem systematically.
  • The pink cover of this year’s Economic Survey was chosen as a symbol of support for ending violence against women.
  • It recommended that India must confront the societal meta-preference for a son, and observed that the adverse sex ratio of females to males has led to 63 million ‘missing’ women.
  • There has been an increase in new tax filers of about 18 lakh and some boost to individual income tax collections post-demonetization and GST.
  • The Chief Economic Adviser listed providing support to agriculture, stabilizing GST, privatizing Air-India among the policy agenda for the coming year.
  • There are robust and broad-based signs of revival in economic activity.