KERALA

Highway widening will be over by 2020

All efforts are being made to widen the 590-km Kasaragod-Thiruvananthapuram National Highway corridor to four/six lanes by December 2020, official sources said.

Works to widen the Cherthala-Kazhakuttam corridor will begin in June, while the widening process will get under way on the Thalapady-Angamaly stretch in the subsequent months. The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has agreed to route ₹26,000 crore through the NHAI for widening the NH in three years.

The State government has acquired 1,400 hectares of the 3,567 hectares needed on the Thalapady (Kasaragod)-Kazhakuttam (Thiruvananthapuram) corridor to widen the NH to 45 metres and compensation is being granted in accordance with the NHAI Act.

The hybrid annuity model (HAM) will be adopted to execute the widening work, wherein the contractor(s) will bear the entire cost. The MoRTH/ NHAI will repay the amount in the course of 10 years or more. Toll will be collected by the NHAI to realise the money. There will be a mix of four/six lanes for NH 66 stretches being developed on the Thrissur-Kasaragod stretch.

INTERNATIONAL

· India Slips to 42nd Place On EIU Democracy Index, Norway Tops

India slipped to 42nd place on an annual Global Democracy Index according to the data compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). India has moved down from 32nd place last year.
The top 5 Countries in the list are
Norway,
Iceland,
Sweden,
New Zealand and
Denmark

The index ranks 165 independent states and two territories on the basis of five categories: electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, the functioning of government, political participation and political culture.

The list has been divided into four broad categories- full democracy, flawed democracy, the hybrid regime and authoritarian regime.

North Korea is ranked the lowest at 167th, while Syria is a notch better at 166th place.

· India Joins Ashgabat agreement

India joined Ashgabat Agreement on the establishment of an International Transport and Transit Corridor between the Iran, Oman, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
The agreement was signed in 2011, which envisages facilitation of transit and transportation of goods between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.
According to the External Affairs Ministry, the accession to the Agreement would diversify India’s connectivity options with Central Asia and have a positive influence on its trade and commercial ties with the region.

NATIONAL

Union Budget 2018: Key takeaways and sector-wise highlights

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley delivered the current government’s fifth and last full financial budget (Budget 2018 for the fiscal year 2018-19) amid subdued economic growth, challenging fiscal situation and farm distress.

Here are the key highlights from the Union Budget 2018:

Economic Health

Economy firmly on course to achieve high growth of 8%
GDP growth at 6.3% in the second quarter of 2017-18 signals turnaround of the economy
Growth in the second half likely to remain between 7.2% to 7.5%

Agriculture and Rural Economy

MSP for all unannounced Kharif crops increased to 150%
Institutional credit for agri-sector increased to Rs.10 lakh crore in 2017-18
Fisheries, aquaculture and animal husbandry corpus at Rs.10,000 crore
New scheme Operation Greens with an outlay of Rs 500 Crore
Govt to develop and upgrade existing 22,000 rural haats
Agri-Market Infrastructure Fund with a corpus of Rs.2000 crore
Allocation for Ministry of Food Processing doubled to Rs.1400 crore
Loans to Self Help Groups (SHG) of women to increase to Rs.75,000 crore by March 2019.
Increased allocation of National Rural Livelihood Mission to Rs 5750 crore
Under Ujjwala Scheme distribution of free LPG connections will be given to 8 crore poor women
Housing for All by 2022 – more than one crore houses to be built by 2019 in rural areas

Education, Health, and Social Protection

Estimated budgetary expenditure on health, education and social protection at Rs.1.38 lakh crore
Ekalavya Model Residential School to be set up for tribal children
Investments for research & infra in premier educational institutions at Rs.1 lakh crore in next 4 years
Allocation on National Social Assistance Programme at Rs. 9975 crore
NHPS to cover over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries)
NHPS to provide coverage up to 5 lakh rupees per family per year for hospitalisation
Rs 1200 crore for the National Health Policy, 2017 – additional Rs.600 crore for TB patients
24 new Government Medical Colleges and Hospitals

Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs) and Employment

Major thrust for Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs) – allocation at Rs. 3794 crore
Target of Rs.3 lakh crore for lending under MUDRA Yojana
70 lakh formal jobs to be created this year
Govt to make 12% contribution of new employees in the EPF for all the sectors for 3 years
Outlay of Rs.7148 crore for the textile sector
Increase budgetary allocation on infrastructure for at Rs.5.97 lakh crore
To develop 10 prominent tourist sites into Iconic Tourism destinations
35000 kms road construction in Phase-I at an estimated cost of Rs.5,35,000 crore

Railways

Railways Capital Expenditure pegged at Rs.1,48,528 crore
4000 kilometers of electrified railway network slated for commissioning
Work on Eastern and Western, dedicated freight corridors
Over 3600 km of track renewal targeted in current fiscal
Redevelopment of 600 major railway stations
Mumbai’s local train network to have 90 kilometers of double line tracks at Rs.11,000 crore cost
150 km of additional suburban network planned for Mumbai
Suburban network of 160 km at for Bengaluru metropolis

Air Transport

To expand airport capacity more than five times to handle a billion trips a year
Regional connectivity – 56 unserved airports and 31 unserved helipads to be connected
To establish unified authority for regulating all financial services

Digital Economy

NITI Aayog to initiate a national program to direct efforts in artificial intelligence
Department of Science & Technology to launch Mission on Cyber-Physical Systems
Allocation doubled on Digital India programme to Rs 3073 crore
To set up 5 lakh wifi hotspots to provide net-connectivity to five crore rural citizens
Rs. 10000 crore for creation and augmentation of telecom infrastructure

Defence

Development of two defence industrial production corridors.
Allocation of Rs 2.95 lakh crore to defence sector.

Emoluments

To revise emoluments to Rs.5 lakh for the President
Rs 4 lakhs for the Vice President
Rs.3.5 lakh per month to Governor
Pay for Members of Parliament – law for automatic revision of emoluments every 5 years
150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi- Rs.150 crore for commemoration programme

Fiscal Management

Budget Revised Estimates for Expenditure at Rs.21.57 lakh crore
Revised Fiscal Deficit estimates at 3.5% of GDP
To bring down Central Government’s Debt to GDP ratio to 40%

Jaitley announces ‘world’s largest healthcare programme’

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced two new initiatives under the Ayushman Bharat Programme in the Union Budget 2018.

Under the programme, Mr. Jaitley announced a new flagship National Health Protection Scheme, providing a health insurance cover of ₹5 lakh a family per annum.
The scheme will cover 10 crore vulnerable families, with approximately 50 crore beneficiaries.
Mr. Jaitley also announced the creation of health and wellness centres, which will “bring healthcare closer to home”.
These centres, 1.5 lakh in number, will provide free essential drugs and diagnostic services. A sum of Rs. 1200 crore had been allocated for this.

· Thirty Second Surajkund International Crafts Mela Begins

The 32nd Surajkund International CraftsMela begun in Faridabad, Haryana.
The Mela is organized by the Surajkund Mela Authority and Haryana Tourism in collaboration with Union Ministries of Tourism, Textiles, Culture and External Affairs.
The 17-day cultural extravaganza will see a spectacular showcase of regional and international crafts, handlooms, traditions along with some mouth-watering multi-cuisine food for the visitors.
This year Uttar Pradesh is the theme state and Kyrgyzstan is the Partner Nation.

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