Duty free for 3 cancer drugs:
- 3 drugs imported from foreign countries used for cancer treatment are fully exempted from customs duty.
- Earlier, 10 percent duty was levied on those 3 doctors.
- Basic customs duty is adjusted for certain components including tubes used in X-ray equipment for medical use.
- Nirmala Sitharaman announced in her budget speech that this step is being taken to encourage domestic production.
Budget – Key Features:
- In the new income tax system, the standard loss for individuals has increased from Rs.50,000 to Rs.75,000.
- ‘Angel tax’ for innovative company investors has been completely abolished. Tax hike from 20 percent on short-term capital gains to 12.5 percent on long-term capital gains.
- Project estimated at Rs 2 lakh crore in next 5 years for employment generation.
- Spiritual sites at Gaya and Bodh Gaya, Nalanda University will be upgraded.
- Reduction in TDS tax rate for electronic transactions from the current 1 percent to 0.1 percent.
- Reduction in corporate tax rate for foreign companies from 40 to 35 percent.
- Creation of 500 Vocational Training Centers to provide employment to one crore youth with monthly incentive of Rs 5,000.
- Defense sector has been allocated Rs.6.21 lakh crore in the central budget.
- 15,000 crore has been allocated in the current financial year for the development of Amaravati, which is being built as the capital of Andhra Pradesh.
- Customs duty on gold, silver coins and bullion is reduced from 15 percent to 6 percent.
- The duty on platinum, palladium, osmium, ruthenium and iridium is reduced from 15.4 percent to 6.4 percent.
- It has been decided to exempt various items required for manufacturing solar panels, solar glasses, etc. from paying customs duty.
- While 1.52 lakh crores have been allocated for agriculture and allied sectors in the budget, farmers called ‘Annadatta’ have been designated as one of the 4 main categories to be prioritized by the government.
- Funding for shrimp hatchery will be provided through NABARD Bank.
- The budget has also announced that more than 80 crore people will benefit from the extension of PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana for five years.
- Rs 200 crore has been earmarked for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and Rs 33.32 crore for the anti-corruption body Lokpal for conducting competitive examinations.
- The allocation for Pratham Jana Arogya is Rs 7,300 crore. It was Rs 6,800 crore in the previous budget.
‘Mudra Yojana’ Scheme:
- The central government has doubled the ‘MUDRA’ loan ceiling to encourage entrepreneurship in the country.
- So far under this scheme maximum Rs. 10 lakhs only, now Rs. 20 lakhs has been increased.
- Pratham Mantri Mudra Yojana was launched on April 8, 2015 to enable non-corporate and informal micro and small entrepreneurs to get micro-loans up to a maximum of Rs 10 lakh without collateral for income-generating activities.
- To further encourage entrepreneurs, for those who have already taken loans under this scheme and have successfully repaid them, the maximum credit limit for re-loaning under this scheme is Rs. 20 lakhs.
PM Janjatiya Unnath Gram Abhiyan Scheme:
- PM Janjatiya Unnath Gram Abhiyan Scheme to improve the socio-economic status of tribal communities is to be launched.
- Under this scheme, 5 crore people living in 63,000 villages across the country will benefit.
Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana Scheme:
- Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY) is a scheme to provide free food grains to the diaspora and poor as part of Atmanirbar Bharat.
- Under this scheme, the centre provides 5 kg of food grains to the poor every month.
- This is in addition to the subsidy provided under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) to households under the Public Distribution System (PDS).
- The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana scheme was launched by the central government to alleviate the suffering of the poor people due to the economic problems caused by the corona virus.
- Food grains were distributed to the states and Union Territories in the first phase (April-June 2020) and second phase (July-November 2020) of the Pradhan mantri Garib Kalyan Anna yojana to the beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act.
‘New India Literacy Programme’:
- The central government has introduced the ‘New India Literacy Programme’ in 2022 to teach basic literacy to uneducated people above 15 years of age across the country with volunteers.
- Under the Central Government’s new Bharat Literacy Scheme, Rs 2.90 crore has been released as the first instalment for providing basic education to 5.33 lakh illiterate people in Tamil Nadu.
- Under this scheme, a target has been set to educate 5 crore people by 2027.
- In Tamil Nadu, the Directorate of Non-School and Adult Education has imparted basic literacy education to 10 lakh people in the last two years under this scheme.
July 24: National Thermal Engineer Day
- National Thermal Engineers Day is observed on July 24 every year to celebrate the contribution of thermal engineers to society.
Important Facts:
- The Defence Research and Development Organization’s Integrated Test Centre is located at Chandipur in Odisha’s Balasore district.
- As China’s aging population continues to grow, the country’s government has decided to raise the retirement age.
- Next month’s EU summit is to be held in Brussels, the Belgian capital, instead of Hungary, which has been barred from holding the rotating presidency of the bloc.
- In a report released by the UN, 40 million people worldwide are infected with AIDS caused by the HIV virus, and one person dies every minute due to it.