TAMILNADU

Rs 13,000 crore owed by Centre can fund 90% of Tamil Nadu revenue deficit

At least 90% of the state’s revenue deficit can be funded if the Centre pays up the ₹13,000-crore due it owes to Tamil Nadu under various heads such as mandatory devolution of funds to local bodies, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, IGST and GST compensation.

The state is yet to receive its due share of IGST to the tune of ₹5,454 crore as well as the assured GST compensation of ₹455.16 crore for 2017-2018.

Under the school education head, the government of India was yet to release long pending arrears to the tune of ₹2,109.08 crore under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and ₹1,092.22 crore under Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) — schemes that are currently being funded entirely by the state government.

Similarly, under the head of local bodies, the state government should have got ₹3,852.17 crore from the Centre as basic and performance grant last year.

The state government is hopeful of getting just 40% of the 5,909 crore, provided the Centre moves the appropriation bill. From the amount mentioned in the budget, the Centre would deduct the compensation released to the state for lower tax revenue growth last year.

INTERNATIONAL

Abu Dhabi courts added Hindi as 3rd official language of the citys courts

The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department has added Hindi as the third official languageof the city’s courts. Arabic and English are the first and second languages. The move is aimed at helping foreigners to learn about litigation procedures, their rights, and duties without a language barrier. It also aims to facilitate registration procedures via unified forms.
Abu Dhabi is the capital and the second most populous city of the United Arab Emirates.

NATIONAL

· 12.5K Ayush wellness hubs across India soon

(PMO) has directed the Ministry of Ayush (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) to run 10% of the 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres proposed as part of the flagship Ayushman Bharat scheme in the 2018-19 budget.

These centres will be called Ayush Health and Wellness Centres (AHWCS) and exclusively use alternative systems of medicine.

As part of Ayushman Bharat, 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres were proposed to be set up in a phased manner to provide comprehensive primary healthcare. The funding will be shared by the state and the central governments, with the Centre providing 60% of the funds.

The centres will have an examination room, yoga hall, diagnostics and medicine dispensation room, telehealth facilities, labour room, herbal garden among others.

· India pushes to complete infra projects on China border by 2022

India has sharpened its focus on scaling up infrastructure along the China border and set a target of three years to complete all strategic road projects along its northern frontiers.

Apart from the 61 roads being built by BRO, the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) is currently engaged in the construction of 12 strategic roads along the Chinese border. The 73 roads measure a total of 4,643km.

The government is also set to clear the construction of 44 more “strategically important roads” along the India-china Border in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, according to the CPWD’S annual report for 2018-19. Building these roads is expected to cost around ₹21,040 crore.

· Chinook Helicopters to be formally inducted into Indian Air Force

The first batch of four Chinook military helicopters manufactured by the American aerospace major Boeing has arrived at the Mundra port in Gujarat. This first batch consignment will be ferried to Chandigarh, where they will be formally inducted into the Indian Air Force in 2019.

Chinook is a multi-role, vertical-lift platform, which is used for transporting troops, artillery, equipment and fuel. Chinook would be deployed for humanitarian and disaster relief operations and in missions such as transportation of relief supplies and mass evacuation of refugees.

Indigenously developed missile SFDR system successfully flight tested in Odisha

The second indigenously developed ‘Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet’ (SFDR),propulsion-based missile system was successfully flight tested from ITR, Chandipur, Odisha, by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Unlike conventional rockets that carry propellant and oxidizer, Ramjet uses the air as an oxidizer just like a jet engine, and hence, the weight of the fuel required is eliminated.
SFDR propulsion is designed in such a way that it allows for an up and down throttling which further lets the missile to amplify its speed until it reached the terminal phase of flight.

The first flight of SFDR, developed under a joint Indo-Russian R&D project, was tested in 2018.

Centre issues guidelines for Kisan DBT scheme

The Union government has asked the chief secretaries of all States and Union Territories to complete identification and enumeration of the eligible beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) for facilitating quick distribution of the assured ₹ 6,000 a year to eligible farmers.

Accordingly, small and marginal farmer family has been defined as “a family comprising of husband, wife and minor children (up to 18 years of age) who collectively own cultivable land upto two hectares as per the land records of the concerned State/Union Territory. The existing land-ownership system in the concerned States/UTs will be used for identification of beneficiaries and those whose names appear in land records as on February 1 this year will be eligible for the benefit.

After Union Minister Piyush Goyal made announcement on the PM-KISAN scheme in the interim budget presented in Parliament, the Union Government has sent a detailed communication to Chief Secretaries of all the States to complete identification of beneficiaries for facilitating quick distribution.

The benefit would be transferred to the bank account of beneficiaries through State Notional Account in the pattern similar to the MNREGS.

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