ODISHA
Odisha CM writes to Nirmala Sitharaman seeking exemption of GST on purchase of Covid vaccines by states
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik sought exemption of GST on purchase vaccines for Covid-19 by the states for the population between the age group of 18 to 45 years.
In a letter to Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the chief minister also sought financial assistance to the states from cess and surcharges collected by the government of India.
Strengthening states financially will further strengthen the fight against the pandemic including provision of vaccinations, free treatment, undertaking preventive measures and other steps.
The state government has estimated to spend around Rs 2,000 crore to vaccinate around 2 crore population between the age group of 18 and 45 years.
INTERNATIONAL
First BRICS Employment Working Group (EWG) Meeting
The first meeting of the BRICS Employment Working Group took place virtually. India was the host nation. In 2021, India will take over the BRICS presidency.
The member countries addressed fostering social security arrangements among the BRICS nations, women’s participation in the labour force, and labour market formalisation.
Members of the BRICS countries, as well as representatives from the International Labour Organization and the International Social Security Agency, attended the conference..
To resolve the issue of the Social Security Agreement, the members agreed to engage in dialogue and consultations with one another.
COVID-19 has informalized the labour market, as the countries discussed.
Indonesian and Indian Navies Conduct Exercise in Arabian Sea
The Indian and Indonesian Navies conducted Passage Exercise (PASSEX) in the southern Arabian Sea with a center of attention on similarly enhancing their interoperability.
Highlights:
The exercising used to be aimed at enhancing interoperability and understanding between both the friendly navies.
From the Indian Navy, INS Sharda, an Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) with a Chetak helicopter participated in the exercise. From the Indonesian Navy, KRI Sultan Hasanudin, a 90m Corvette took part in the exercise.
PASSEXes are frequently conducted by IN with units of Friendly Foreign Countries. The remaining PASSEX between IN and the Indonesian Navy was once performed on 13 Mar 21 between INS Kalpeni, IN Dornier and KRI Sultan Iskandar Muda.
NATIONAL
Google Pay Customers in the US Can Now Transfer Money to India
Alphabet Inc’s Google has announced foreign money transfer agreements with remittance firms Wise and Western Union Co.
Google Pay users in the USA can now send money to app users in India and Singapore, with plans to extend to the 80 countries supported by Wise & 200 countries supported by Western Union by the last of the year.
Western Union and Wise, both of which have incorporated their services into Google Play, have collaborated with the company.
Launched the Mobile Monitoring Software (NMMS) and Area Officer Monitoring Appliction
The Ministry of Rural Development launched the National Mobile Monitoring Software (NMMS) app and the Area Officer Monitoring App.
Highlights:
The NMMS App allows for real-time attendance of workers at Mahatma Gandhi NREGS worksites, as well as geotagged photographs.
This will increase citizen oversight of the programme while also potentially allowing for faster payment processing.
The Area Officer Monitoring App allows them to record their findings online, along with a time stamped and go-coordinate tagged photograph, for all Department of Rural Development schemes.
This would also allow for better record keeping of inspections by field and supervisory officials, as well as analysis of the findings for better programme implementation.
FDI inflows rise 9.8% to record $82 billion in FY21
Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into India rose 9.8% to a record $81.7 billion in 2020-21 on a gross basis on the back of record investment into companies such as Reliance Jio.
Fresh equity inflows are estimated to have increased by an impressive 19% to $59.6 billion, while reinvested earnings went up 14% to $16.2 billion.
Singapore was the top source, which is now followed by the United States with Mauritius — once the dominant source of FDI due to tax benefits under the tax avoidance treaty — pushed to the third spot.
In terms of growth, inflows from Saudi Arabia. jumped from $90 million in 2019-20 to $2.8 billion last year. And with e-commerce and IT being the major draw for overseas investors looking to tap into the India consumption story, computer software and hardware emerged as the most attractive sector to invest, cornering nearly 44% of the FDI equity inflows. Next was construction (infrastructure), which accounted for a 13% share. Among the states it was Gujarat that was the top recipient, according to the Centre’s data, accounting for 37% of the inflows, followed by Maharashtra (27%) and Karnataka (13%).
The government has been seeking to bolster FDI especially in the manufacturing sector and some of the investments are related to companies such as Apple’s vendors and Samsung pumping in funds to set up bigger production facilities for mobiles and electronics goods.
The government has identified close to 1,000 companies and is working with Invest India to tap companies that are seeking to diversify their production bases.
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