Current Affairs- Today’s Headlines: February 2, 2022

Here are Today’s News Headlines by GK Today for February 2, 2022

– Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented Union Budget for 2022-23 in Parliament

– Capital expenditure outlay hiked by 35.4%

– Total expenditure in 2022-23 estimated at Rs. 39.45 lakh crore

– Total receipts other than borrowings in 2022-23 estimated at Rs. 22.84 lakh crore

– Fiscal deficit in current year: 6.9% of GDP (against 6.8% in Budget Estimates)

– Fiscal deficit in 2022-23 estimated at 6.4% of GDP

– Direct Taxes: Provision to file an Updated Return on payment of additional tax. This will enable the assessee to declare income missed out earlier.

– Direct Taxes: No change in income tax slabs

– Scheme for taxation of virtual digital assets: Any income from transfer of any virtual digital asset to be taxed at rate of 30%.

– Gems and Jewellery: Customs duty on cut and polished diamonds and gemstones being reduced to 5%

– Customs duty of at least Rs 400 per Kg to be paid on imitation jewellery import

– Customs duty on umbrellas being raised to 20%. Exemption to parts of umbrellas being withdrawn.

– Tariff measure to encourage blending of fuel: Unblended fuel to attract an additional differential excise duty of Rs 2/ litre from Oct 1, 2022

– National Highways Network to be expanded by 25000 Km in 2022-23.

– Railways: One Station One Product concept to help local businesses & supply chains.

– Ken Betwa project: 1400 crore outlay for implementation of the Ken – Betwa link project.

– MSME: Emergency Credit Linked Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) to be extended up to March 2023.

– Skill Development: Digital Ecosystem for Skilling and Livelihood (DESH-Stack e-portal) will be launched

– Startups will be promoted to facilitate ‘Drone Shakti’ and for Drone-As-A-Service (DrAAS)

– Education: ‘One Class-One TV channel’ programme of PM eVIDYA to be expanded to 200 TV channels.

– Health: An open platform for National Digital Health Ecosystem to be rolled out.

– Har Ghar, Nal Se Jal: Rs. 60,000 crores allocated to cover 3.8 crore households in 2022-23

– Housing for All: Rs. 48,000 crores allocated for completion of 80 lakh houses in 2022-23 under PM Awas Yojana.

– NE: New scheme PM-DevINE (Development Initiative for North-East Region) launched for the North-East.

– Vibrant Villages Programme for development of Border villages on the northern border.

– Banking: Scheduled Commercial Banks to set up 75 Digital Banking Units (DBUs) in 75 districts.

– Accelerated Corporate Exit: Centre for Processing Accelerated Corporate Exit (C-PACE) to be established for speedy winding-up of companies.

– AVGC Promotion Task Force: An animation, visual effects, gaming, and comic (AVGC) promotion task force to be set-up to realize the potential of this sector.

– Defence: 68% of capital procurement budget earmarked for domestic industry in 2022-23, up from 58% in 2021-22.

– Digital Rupee: Introduction of Digital Rupee by the Reserve Bank of India starting 2022-23.

– States: In 2022-23, States will be allowed a fiscal deficit of 4% of GSDP, of which 0.5% will be tied to power sector reforms