• Section 56 (2) (vii b) of the Income Tax Act is called Angel Tax. These taxes are imposed on startups. Let's say a startup SSS sells one lakh shares to a person X. The selling price of one share is Rs.5000. Now SSS gets 50 crores. Suppose the actual market price of the share is Rs.2000 per share. So Rs 20 crore is the actual market value. SSS earned a profit of Rs.30 crores. So SSS will have to pay angel tax on Rs 30 crore!

• During the Union Budget 2023, Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman proposed amendments to Angel Tax. Now, equity amount received by startups will be subject to income tax and not angel tax. Meaning, the entire Rs 50 crore, ie the total amount received by the startup by selling shares, is liable to income tax! Earlier, only Rs 30 crore was subject to taxes.

• Startups are disappointed with the move. Most of the investors ie share buyers of startups are from abroad. Already startup investment is declining. In 2022, it drops to 33%. The new change in angel tax is going to further impact startup investment.

• The Jharkhand government passed the Domicile Bill and the bill has been sent to the Governor for his assent. The governor refused to sign the bill. According to the governor, the bill fails to provide equal employment opportunities to all people in the state of Jharkhand. The Bill states that only local people can be appointed to Class III and IV posts in the state government.

• The Bill defines "local people" in the state of Jharkhand. This definition has been prepared on the basis of land records of 1932. Also, the bill states that only local people can be appointed to class III and IV posts in the state government.

• Ramesh Bais is the current governor of Jharkhand state. They say that Article 16 guarantees equal employment opportunities to all Indian citizens. The appointment of only “local people” to state government posts violates the above clause.

• The government has cited orders of the apex court in support of its argument. The case of Narasimha Rao v. State of Andhra Pradesh was about employment opportunities for non-domiciled persons in the state. The Andhra Pradesh government gave relief to the non-domicile persons and replaced them with local people. The Supreme Court condemned the action of the Andhra Pradesh government invoking Article 16.

• RBI created Digital Payments Index to know about digital payments in the country. This index is calculated on the basis of five parameters namely Payment Enablers, Consumer Centricity, Payment Infrastructure on Demand Side and Payment Infrastructure on Supply Side. This index is calculated with 2018 as the base period. 2023 DPI in India is 377.46. In 2022 it was 349.30 and in 2021 it was 304.06. With this, the RBI concluded that there has been a 24.13% increase in digital payments in the country.

• UPI- Unified Payments Interface grew by 1.3%. UPI is a multi-bank account system. It allows money transfers 24/7, merchant payments, collections, donations, utility bill payments, QR code-based payments, etc.

• Transactions done through National Payments Corporation of India increased by 2.6%. NPCI processes transactions worth over ₹6,752 crore in FY2023. In 2022, this platform will handle transactions worth 7,404 crores.

• Fintech adoption in India increased to 87%. Globally it was 64%.

DPI (Digital Payments Index)

• The following parameters are used in the calculation of DPI:

• Payment enablers are internet, merchants, Aadhaar, mobile, bank accounts.

• The payment infrastructure on the demand side is debit cards, FASTags, registered customers with mobile and internet banking, prepaid payment instruments, credit cards and debit cards.

• The payment infrastructure on the supply side is bank branches, ATMs, QR codes, intermediaries, POS terminals, business correspondents.

• Payment performance are cash withdrawal, currency in circulation, paper clearing, unique user.

• Consumer focused are complaints, awareness, education, degradation, system downtime.

• Every year the National Indian Students and Alumni Union presents the Lifetime Achievement Award. NISAU is a UK organization. It represents Indian students in the UK. This is the first time that NISAU India is presenting the UK Achievers Honours. More than 75 highly qualified professionals will be honored with the award.

Dr. Manmohan Singh

• Dr. Manmohan Singh was born in Gah, present day Pakistan. His family migrated to India during the partition of 1947. He received his doctorate in economics from Oxford. He worked for the United Nations between 1966 and 1969. Between the 1970s and 1980s, Manmohan served as the Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, the head of the Planning Commission, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, etc. They faced an economic crisis in 1991 during the term of Shri Narasimha Rao.

Nuclear Deal

• Among all the achievements of Dr. Manmohan Singh, the nuclear deal with America is considered historic. Under this agreement, India agreed to place its civil and military nuclear facilities under the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency). With this, India got exemption from Nuclear Suppliers Group. The NSG controlled nuclear exports to India after India's first nuclear test in 1974. Because of this, India faced difficulties in getting nuclear fuel. The civil nuclear deal with the US helped India clear all the hurdles on its way to becoming a nuclear power.

In the Union Budget 2023, the Government of India allocated Rs 100 crore for the NAMASTE scheme. With this, the Government of India aims to mechanize septic tank cleaning and sewer cleaning in towns and cities. The objective of this scheme is to provide alternative livelihood to the Safai Karamcharis. Furthermore, Namaste will try to bring about a change in their behavior.

Purpose of the Plan

• Achieving Zero Mortality Rate in Sanitation Sector

• No sanitation worker shall touch or come in direct contact with faeces

• Safai Karamcharis will be encouraged to form Self Help Groups

• Ensuring that workers have access to alternative livelihoods as mechanization may lead to loss of jobs for some in the industry

In the first phase, 500 cities have been taken up. Government of India is planning to select AMRUT cities first. Also, the first target will be those cities whose population is more than one lakh. Ten cities will be selected from islands, hilly areas and tourist places. It is very difficult to bring about a change in the tourist places in the sewerage sector. This is because the carrying capacity of tourist destinations is high.