The government has managed to stick to the 6.4% fiscal deficit target for FY23, official data released showed. This is better than 6.71% in FY22. The Centre aims to bring down fiscal deficit to 5.9% of the GDP in FY24, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced during her Budget speech in February.

As per the data of Controller General of Accounts (CGA),  fiscal deficit in absolute numbers stood at Rs 17.33 lakh crore (provisional), slightly lower than what was projected in the Revised Estimates (RE) in the Budget.

The net tax revenues grew at 15.2% to Rs 20.97 lakh crore, while non-tax revenues contracted by 17.8% to Rs 2.86 lakh crore in FY23.  Revenue expenditure increased to 7.8% while capital expenditure surged by 24.2%.According to the Controller General of Accounts data, government received Rs 24.56 lakh crore (101% of corresponding RE 2022-23 of total receipts) during FY23.

Meanwhile, the Centre transferred nearly `9.48 lakh crore to state governments as part of the devolution of taxes. This amount is higher than the FY22 figure by Rs 50,015 crore. The Centre incurred a total expenditure of Rs 41.89 lakh crore, which is 100% of corresponding RE 2022-23. Out of this, Rs 34.52 lakh crore belonged to the revenue account and Rs 7.36 lakh crore was charged on the capital account. Besides this, Rs 9.28 lakh crore was on account of interest payments and Rs 5.31 lakh crore towards major subsidies.

Net tax revenue increases 15.2% to Rs 21L cr in FY23

Net tax revenues grew at 15.2% to Rs 20.97 lakh crore, while non-tax revenues contracted by 17.8% to Rs 2.86 lakh crore in FY23.  Revenue expenditure increased to 7.8% while capital expenditure surged by 24.2%.

The government  invited fresh applications for setting up Semiconductor Fabs and Display Fabs units in the country from June 1, 2023. A fiscal incentive of 50% of the project cost is available to applicants for setting up of Semiconductor Fabs and Display Fabs units of any node (including mature nodes). Companies can apply for the scheme till December 2024. The application will be received by India Semiconductor Mission (ISM).

Last year, a Vedanta and Foxconn joint venture had announced investment of  Rs 1,54,000 lakh crore in Gujarat to set up a semiconductor fab. The government, reportedly, has rejected Vedanta’s joint venture request to get incentives. As per the government, the JV is unable to meet requirements set by the government to get funding, and the firms lack a technology partner and a manufacturing-grade technology licence for construction of 28 nanometer chips.

The reopening of the application process will give Vedanta and other big companies such as GlobalFoundries, Intel, TSMC, and Samsung to set up operations in the country. The government launched the Semicon India Programme in December 2021, allocating Rs 76,000 crore for development of semiconductor and display manufacturing ecosystem.

50% incentive of project cost available to applicants

A fiscal incentive of 50% of the project cost is available to applicants for setting up of Semiconductor Fabs and Display Fabs units of any node (including mature nodes). Companies can apply for the scheme till December 2024.

Q1. Vasco da Gama discovered the sea route to India in which one of the following years?

1. 1453
2. 1492
3. 1494
4. 1498

Q2. Which of the following articles of the Indian constitution deals with citizenship in India?

1. Article 333 to 337
2. Article 17 to 20
3. Article 05 to 11
4. Article 01 to 04

Q3. Which one of the following states of India does not produce rubber?

1. Karnataka
2. Telangana
3. Kerala
4. Tamil Nadu

Q4. The floral part that receives pollen - grains during pollination is

1. ovary
2. style
3. stigma
4. ovules

Q5. On what basis does the monopolist resort to price discrimination?

1. Elasticity of supply
2. elasticity of demand
3. law of demand
4. law of supply

Answers

1--------------------4   1498

 2---------------------3   Article 05 to 11

3----------------------2  Telangana

4---------------------3  stigma

5----------------------2  elasticity of demand

Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on  May 31 asked protesting wrestlers not to take any step that could undermine sports or hurt players and said appropriate action will be taken once the probe into their allegations is completed, a day after the grapplers threatened to immerse their medals in river Ganga.

He also said that the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) will hold elections and a new body will be elected soon.

The minister urged the wrestlers to be patient and have faith in the Supreme Court, the Sports Ministry and Delhi police, which is investigating allegations against the WFI's former chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

He stressed that his ministry had acted promptly on the wrestlers' complaint and appropriate action would be taken once the probe is completed.

The minister's remarks come a day after the country's top wrestlers, including Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia, along with hundreds of their supporters, reached Har ki Pauri to immerse their medals in the river Ganga but were persuaded by Khap and farmer leaders not to do so.

Thakur also said that the Modi government has increased the budget for sports from Rs 874 crore to over Rs 2782 crore and brought schemes like Khelo India and TOPS which have helped players reach the podium.

Asserting that India is surging ahead under the leadership of Narendra Modi, he said 300 large sports infrastructure facilities are being set up at a cost of Rs 2700 crore to fulfil the dreams of our sportspersons.

Calling the BrahMos cruise missile the country's most lethal combat asset, the Indian Air Force Chief VR Chaudhari on May 31  said that more combat squadrons have been equipped with it.

He was speaking at the BrahMos User Meet 2023 in New Delhi . BrahMos has been produced jointly by India and Russia since 1998 and has completed 25 years of production.

Speaking on the occasion, Army Chief General Manoj Pande added that the missile has enabled the armed forces in multiple ways.

The Indian Air Force is expected to be armed with the BrahMos NG (next generation) versatile supersonic cruise missile system by 2025.

The BrahMos missile can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land and has been inducted into all three services -- Army, Navy and Air Force.

NATO-led peacekeepers stepped up security around a town hall in northern Kosovo on May 31, where hundreds of ethnic Serbs gathered again at the scene of clashes earlier this week that left more than 80 people injured.

NATO has decided to deploy hundreds of reinforcements to strengthen Kosovo's international peacekeeping mission (KFOR) after  violence in the town of Zvecan.

Hundreds of ethnic Serbs rallied outside Zvecan's town hall on May 31  for a third consecutive day and held aloft a huge Serbian flag that stretched over 200 meters (660 feet) from the municipal building to the town centre.

Kosovo's ethnic Serb minority boycotted local elections in the north last month, allowing ethnic Albanians to take control of local councils despite a turnout of less than 3.5 per cent.

Many Serbs are demanding the withdrawal of Kosovo special police forces, as well as the ethnic Albanian mayors they do not consider their true representatives.

Kosovo is mainly populated by ethnic Albanians, but the Serbs who make up around six percent of the population have remained largely loyal to Belgrade, especially in the north where they are a majority.

Ryyan Alshebl fled war-torn Syria in 2015, arriving on the Greek island of Lesbos after a harrowing four-hour journey on a rubber boat.

Eight years on, he is the mayor of a German village.

Alshebl, then barely 21, was among a huge wave of refugees who arrived in Europe that year.

After landing in Greece, he made his way through Macedonia, Serbia and Croatia by public transport and on foot, taking 12 days in total to reach Germany.

He eventually ended up at a refugee centre at Althengstett, a rural region near the Black Forest.

Alshebl soon learned to speak German fluently -- "if you are in the countryside you have no other choice" -- and landed a traineeship as an administrative assistant at Althengstett town hall.

He earned German citizenship in 2022, a prerequisite for anyone who wants to stand in local elections in Germany.

Now 29, he will take up his post as mayor of Ostelsheim, a village near Althengstett, in June.

He is believed to be the first Syrian from the wave of refugees who arrived in Germany in 2015-16 to be elected to a political post.

India's economy grew by 6.1 per cent in the January-March quarter of 2022-23, pushing the annual growth rate to 7.2 per cent on account of better performance by agriculture, manufacturing, mining and construction sectors.

The growth propelled the Indian Economy to USD 3.3 trillion and set the stage for achieving USD five trillion target in the next few years.

In the previous 2021-22 fiscal, the economy grew by 9.1 per cent.

China has registered an economic growth of 4.5 per cent in the first three months of 2023.

The economic expansion was recorded at 6.1 per cent during the March 2023 quarter, while it was 4.5 per cent in October-December and 6.2 per cent in July-September 2022.

The growth was 13.1 per cent in April-June 2022, as per the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO). The GDP had grown by four per cent in the January-March quarter of 2021-22.

The NSO, in its second advance estimate released in February, had projected the GDP growth for 2022-23 at seven per cent.

According to the NSO data, the real GDP prices in 2022-23 are estimated to attain a level of Rs 160.06 lakh crore against the first revised estimates of GDP of Rs 149.26 lakh crore for 2021-22.

Nominal GDP or GDP at Current Prices in the year 2022-23 is estimated to attain a level of Rs 272.41 lakh crore (USD 3.3 trillion), as against Rs 234.71 lakh crore ( USD 2.8 trillion) in 2021-22, showing a growth rate of 16.1 per cent, it added.

The GDP at Constant (2011-12) Prices in Q4 2022-23 is estimated at Rs 43.62 lakh crore against Rs 41.12 lakh crore in Q4 2021-22, showing a growth of 6.1 per cent.

The GDP at Current Prices in Q4 2022-23 is estimated at Rs 71.82 lakh crore compared to Rs 65.05 lakh crore in Q4 2021-22, a growth of 10.4 per cent.

Gross value added (GVA) growth during the fiscal ending March 2023 was 7 per cent against an 8.8 per cent growth in the preceding year. The GVA growth in the manufacturing sector accelerated to 4.5 per cent in the March 2023 quarter against 0.6 per cent a year ago.

GVA growth in mining was 4.3 per cent in the fourth quarter compared to 2.3 per cent in the same quarter of the previous fiscal. Construction grew 10.4 per cent in the quarter, up from 4.9 per cent in the corresponding period of 2021-22.

The agriculture sector growth accelerated to 5.5 per cent from 4.1 per cent.

The electricity, gas, water supply and other utility services segment grew 6.9 per cent during the fourth quarter from 6.7 per cent in the year-ago period.

GVA growth in the services sector -- trade, hotel, transport, communication and services related to broadcasting -- was 9.1 per cent in the fourth quarter against a growth of five per cent a year ago.

Financial, real estate and professional services grew by 7.1 per cent in the March 2023 quarter compared to 5.7 per cent in the year-ago period.

Public administration, defence and other services posted 3.1 per cent growth in the quarter against 5.2 per cent expansion in the same quarter a year ago.

As per the data, the discrepancies factored while computing the national income was Rs 3,80,964 crore in 2022-23, lower than Rs 4,47,182 crore in the previous fiscal.