Jan 2020

Budget Highlights   Expenditure: The government proposes to spend Rs 30,42,230 crore in 2020-21, which is 12.7% higher than the revised estimate of 2019-20.   Receipts: The receipts (other than net borrowings) are expected to increase by 16.3% to Rs 22,45,893 crore, owing to higher estimated revenue from disinvestments.   GDP growth: The government has … Read more

NASA’s Spitzer space telescope The Spitzer Space Telescope (SST), formerly the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), was an infrared space telescope launched in 2003 and retired on 30 January 2020. Spitzer carries three instruments on board: Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS)   Arvind Krishna elected IBM CEO … Read more

Indian Navy launches ‘Operation Vanilla’ Indian Navy launches ‘Operation Vanilla’ to help cyclone-hit Madagascar INS Airavat has been deployed for ‘Operation Vanilla’ The ship is carrying five pallets each of victualing, clothing and naval stores along with three pallets of medicines   India successfully test-fires K-4 missile On January 19, 2020, India successfully test-fired 3,500 … Read more

Govt signs accord with NDFB, ABSU to resolve Bodo issue to redraw and rename the Bodoland Territorial Area District (BTAD) in Assam, currently spread over four districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Udalguri. villages dominated by Bodos that were presently outside the BTAD would be included and those with non-Bodo population would be excluded The … Read more

KERALA Cybercrimes in Kerala drop by 3.8%   The focus of police towards new-age crimes have started yielding results. Crime rates in state, in 2019, witnessed a 3.8% dip compared to the previous year, according to data registered under the Information Technology Act. While 2018 had witnessed 51% more cases compared to 2017 under the I-T Act, … Read more

KERALA LEAP to help generate 1.5L jobs per year Finance minister T M Thomas Isaac proposed a programme for giving employment to 1.5 lakh people per year through local self government institutions in the budget for 2020-21. Titled ‘Local Employment Assurance Programme’ (LEAP), the project will be implemented in non-agrarian sector through local ventures. Employment … Read more

KERALA It’s official: Kerala will have own census but no NPR The state cabinet has decided to inform the registrar general of census, who comes under the Union home ministry, that Kerala will not implement the National Population Register (NPR), a move that is bound to set the LDF government, which has been in the forefront of … Read more

KERALA Change policy to tackle fiscal crisis Kerala is experiencing an unprecedented fiscal crisis. A slowdown in own resource mobilisation, excessive increase in non-plan revenue expenditure, a steep fall in development expenditure and increased burden on debt repayments have rendered it severe than the fiscal crisis in 1998-2001. Increasing its own resources mobilisation, cutting non-plan revenue expenditure, restricting borrowings and … Read more

KERALA Bill to increase wards in local bodies introduced   Kerala assembly, referred to the subject committee the Kerala Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and Kerala Municipality (Amendment) Bill, 2020, which are intended to increase the number of wards in all local bodies by one each, despite several points of order raised by the opposition.   … Read more

KERALA Government tables right to burial bill The state government introduced a bill, The Kerala Christian Cemeteries (Right to Burial of Corpse) Bill, 2020, in the assembly. This is intended to put an end to the controversy between the Orthodox and Jacobite Christian denominations over the burial of people from rival factions in the churches owned by them. The bill was drafted … Read more