Current Affair 1:

RBI’s Report on Municipal Finances

 

RBI recently released a report on municipal finances. This is the maiden report on municipal finances which shall be published regularly on an annual basis.

The 73rd and 74th amendments were made to the Indian Constitution in 1992 through which multiple powers & functions were devolved to the local governments.

Urban Local governments include municipal corporations, municipal councils, and Nagar panchayats. While municipal corporations are for larger urban localities with a population of more than one million, municipal councils and Nagar panchayats govern smaller urban agglomerations and transition areas. Through the 74th amendment, Schedule 12 provides a list of 18 functions that the State governments may assign to the municipalities.

Indian municipal corporations’ revenue receipts are only 0.6 – 0.7% of GDP

According to RBI’s analysis of the sample, the revenue receipts of municipal corporations are estimated at 0.61% of GDP in 2017-18 and increased to 0.72% of GDP in 2019-20.

Non-tax revenue accounted for around 30% of total revenue receipts.

Total expenditure has increased to 1.05% of GDP in 2019-20

The total expenditure of these MCs was 0.68% of the GDP in 2017-18 which increased to 0.9% in 2018-19, and 1.05% in 2019-20. The share of revenue expenditure increased from 0.48% to 0.6% of GDP and the share of capital expenditure increased from 0.2% to 0.44% of GDP.

Borrowings:

The level of gross municipal borrowings in India is minuscule and constitutes less than 0.05 per cent of GDP cumulatively for all MCs. There is, however, perceptible inter-State variation in municipal borrowings.

Other diagrams:

 

 

Current Affair 2:

‘National Suicide Prevention Strategy

 

It is India’s first suicide prevention policy and looks at multi-sectoral collaboration to reduce suicide mortality, through time-bound action plans.

As per the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 7 lakh people die due to suicide every year. It is also the fourth leading cause of death among the 15–29 age group globally in 2019.  Nearly 77% of the suicides in 2019, occurred in Low- & Middle-income countries, of which India is one.

WHO recognizes suicide as a public health priority, as stated in its first WHO World Suicide Report – 2014.

In a continued effort in this direction, the Government of India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare recently released  “National Suicide Prevention Strategy”. It is India’s first suicide prevention policy and looks at multi-sectoral collaboration to reduce suicide mortality, through time-bound action plans.

Data from the National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) indicates an increasing trend in the number of suicides as well as rate of suicides in recent years. After a declining trend in the rate of suicides until 2017, the suicide rate has increased from 9.9 (per 1 lakh population) in 2017 to 12 in 2021.

The ‘National Suicide Prevention Strategy’ report highlights that suicide is the number one cause of death among those aged 15-29 years. Family problems and illness contribute to the highest number of suicides.

A complex phenomenon influenced by several interacting factors

 

 

Current Affair 3:

Why DBT schemes need to fix the problem of tenant farmers?

 

PM KISAN by Central Government or and some other such schemes (Direct Income Support) by State Governments are given to the so called 'Farmers' and hence does not reach the tenants.

As can be seen from the above table that a large chunk of cultivators (17.3%) are tenants, but these 'Direct Income Support' schemes excludes them. In future, Central Government and various state governments may subsume the various subsides related to MSP, Fertilizer, Electricity, Water, Insurance etc. under 'Direct Income Support' as it 'non-distortive' and which will cause a huge loss for the tenants as they are mostly excluded from this benefit. So, Govt will have to devise some policy so that real cultivators also benefit.

Agriculture in India is increasingly seeing both “tenancy” (landless/marginal farmers leasing in land to cultivate) and “reverse tenancy” (small landowners leasing out to better-off farmers keen to reap economies of scale). This is natural, as not everyone – including those owning land – may be good at or wants to farm. Farming might ultimately become a specialised enterprise. Leasing can help both tenant and reverse-tenant farmers operate consolidated holdings, while allowing owners to take up non-agricultural employment without risking loss of their lands.

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