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DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS

Monthly DNA

02 Feb, 2021

16 Min Read

NAM Summit

GS-II : International Relations NAM

What is Non- A aligned Movement?

  • The non-Aligned Movement is an idea that emerged in 1950.
  • NAM is the second-largest platform globally in terms of country membership after the UN with more than 120 members.

Evolution of NAM:

  • During the 1950s, the world was emerging out of the long, dark period of colonialism.
  • Newly independent nations dreamed they could make their way in this new world without inclining to either of the big powers.
  • The United States and the Soviet Union went into Cold War so to avoid obtaining Bipolarity, a third front was sought.
  • The co-founders were India’s Jawaharlal Nehru, Indonesia’s Sukarno, Egypt’s Gemal Abdel Nasser, Yugoslavia’s Josep Broz Tito, and Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah.
  • The Asian-African Conference of 1955 held in Bandung was the catalyst for the establishment of the Non-Aligned Movement.
  • The actual formation took place in Belgrade it was formally established by the leaders of 25 developing countries in 1961.

Objectives:

  • To create an independent path in world politics that would not result in member States becoming pawns in the struggles between the major powers.
  • The three elements that define the approach of the organisation are:
    • Right of independent judgement
    • Struggle against imperialism and neo-colonialism
    • Use of moderation in relations with all big powers
  • Currently, an objective of the organisation is restructuring the international economic order.
  • NAM espouses ideals of the right to self-determination, anti-apartheid, anti-colonialism, national independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty of nations, anti-imperialism in all forms, non-adherence to multilateral military pacts, disarmament, against racism, against foreign occupation and domination, peaceful coexistence etc.

Recent Summits:

  • 17th NAM Summit 2015 Caracas, Venezuela
  • The 18th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement was held on October 25 and 26, 2019 in Baku.
    • Azerbaijan will hold the NAM presidency for 3 years until the 19th summit in 2022.
  • NAM Summit 2020
    • It is held online on 4th May 2020.
    • It was chaired by Azerbaijan’s President.
    • Theme – “United against COVID-19

Source: Aspire IAS Notes

An introduction to Budget 2021-22

GS-III : Economic Issues Budget

An introduction to Budget 2021-22

Introduction

  • There is greater spending on health care and some fiscal push to undergird the struggling demand in the pandemic-hit economy.
  • The Union Budget for 2021-2022 presented to Parliament on Monday, instead reveals an estimated health outlay of ? 74,602 crore, almost 10% lower than the revised estimate of? 82,445 crore was earmarked for health spending in the current fiscal year.

More focus on drinking water and sanitation

  • The Minister, however, has claimed a 137% increase in the budgetary outlay on ‘health and well-being by including a one-time expenditure of? 35,000 crores were set aside for the COVID-19 vaccination programme, ? and 60,030 crores budgeted for the department of drinking water and sanitation, as well as the Finance Commission’s grants for both water and sanitation and health totalling almost? 50,000 crore.
  • In fact, the Economic Survey had eloquently made the case for providing a massive boost to health spending, which it reasoned would serve as a direct means to raising overall economic output by reducing the economic burden of illnesses.

PM Atma Nirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana

  • The government intends to introduce a new centrally sponsored scheme, ‘PM Atma Nirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana’, to develop primary, secondary, and tertiary care capacities over the next six years, at an estimated cost of? 64,180 crore.

Fiscal deficit

  • While the revised estimates for the current financial year project a fiscal deficit of 9.5% of GDP on account of expenditure surging to ?34.50-lakh crore, the Minister has opted for a mere? 33,000 crore increase in the overall expenditure outlay in her Budget estimates for the next fiscal.
  • Here again, she has pointed to the ?5.54-lakh crore set aside for capital expenditure to contend with a 34.5% increase in outlay over the current year’s Budget estimate.
  • Far from being an expansionary Budget, Ms Sitharaman has opted to contain overall spending so as to rein in the fiscal deficit to 6.8% in the coming fiscal itself (2021-22).
    • The country cannot afford a premature scaling down of fiscal support at a time of rising inequality.

Increasing the non-tax revenues

  • The Budget has accounted for ?1.75-lakh crore in capital receipts from disinvestment.
  • She also proposes to privatise two more public sector banks and a general insurer in 2021-22 and has committed to ensuring that the necessary legislative amendments to enable the LIC’s IPO are introduced in the current session of Parliament.
  • The Budget also throws open the doors for increased FDI in insurance — the foreign ownership limit would be raised to 74% after amendments to the Insurance Act, 1938.

The issue with the FDI in the insurance sector

  • Still, it remains to be seen how eager overseas insurers may be to raise their stakes, given the government’s intention to make its proposal politically acceptable by including safeguards such as mandating that a majority of board positions and key management personnel be restricted to resident Indians and requiring the companies to set aside a specified percentage of profits as general reserve.

National asset monetisation pipeline

  • Also on the block for possible sale or lease through concessions are state-owned undertakings’ land assets that the government intends to monetise.
  • In finding the capital for its National Infrastructure Pipeline, the Budget proposes an asset monetisation pipeline that would include highways, airports and ports.

Bad bank

  • The Budget proposes establishing both an Asset Reconstruction Company and an Asset Management Company that would consolidate and take over existing stressed debt and then help dispose of the assets.
  • It is these plans to privatise two state-run banks and also undertake a clean-up of the stressed assets that have prompted the Minister to set aside just? 20,000 crore to recapitalise the remaining public banks.

Conclusion

  • The aggressive stance on privatisation notwithstanding, the government is still likely to face an uphill task in achieving its ambitious disinvestment goal given that private investment is still anaemic.

Source: TH

Aatmanirbharta named Oxford Hindi Word of the Year 2020

GS-I : Art and Culture Art Forms

Aatmanirbharta named Oxford Hindi Word of the Year 2020

Aatmanirbharta has been named by Oxford Languages as its Hindi word of the year 2020. The Oxford Hindi word of the year is a word or expression that is chosen to reflect the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of the passing year, which have lasting potential as a term of cultural significance. Aatmanirbharta, which means self-reliance, came into the limelight when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to make India an Atmanirbhar Bharat or a self-reliant India last year. Out of the total number of entries received, 'aatmanirbharta' reportedly stood out because it validated the day-to-day achievements of the countless Indians who dealt with and survived the perils of a pandemic.

The Oxford Hindi World of the Year in 2019 was Samvidhaan, in 2018 it was Nari Shakti and in 2017 it was Aadhaar.

Source: PIB

SpaceX to launch first all-civilian astronaut mission in late 2021

GS-III : S&T Space

SpaceX to launch first all-civilian astronaut mission in late 2021

SpaceX recently announced that it will be launching four private individuals on a Crew Dragon Capsule into orbit around Earth. The mission is dubbed ‘the world’s first all-civilian mission’. The mission known as Inspiration4 aims at raising support for Children’s Research Hospital. At the conclusion of the Inspiration4 mission, Dragon, the spacecraft will be re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere for soft water landing off the coast of Florida.

Source: The Times of India

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