GUJARAT

As micro-enterprises battle the aftershocks of the Covid-19 pandemic, gross non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans outstanding under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana increased 48% in Gujarat.

According to the latest report by the state-level bankers committee (SLBC), Gujarat, NPAs for Mudra loans stood at Rs 872.25 crore in absolute terms in the September quarter of 2021-22. NPAs went up from Rs 587.26 crore in the corresponding quarter of 2020-21, the report states.

During the September quarter of this year, the total outstanding of loans extended under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) stood at Rs 9,300.5 crore.
From April to November 2021, loans worth Rs 5,172.56 crore were extended under PMMY in Gujarat of which, Rs 3,083.34 crore was disbursed between August and November.
According to bankers, non-performing assets went up in Mudra loans as micro enterprises continued to battle aftershocks of Covid-19.

With a strong demand Growth in thehealthcarespace and people focusing more on preventative care after the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, pharma companies are adding more drugs and products to their existing portfolios.
As a result, there has been a substantial jump in productapprovalsgranted to manufacture medicines inGujarat.

For instance: Gujarat Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA) in September issued 5,494 licences to make different allopathic drugs and products. Except January and April, the number of product permissions provided to pharma firms every month has hovered above the 5,000-mark this year, shows data compiled by the FDCA-Gujarat.

The issuance of fresh product licences started increasing after the pandemic and crossed the monthly mark of 5,000 in 2021. New product licences totalling 5,601, 5,324, 5,488 and 5,421 were issued by the state FDCA in April, May, June, July and August, respectively. The number stood at 5,095 in February and 5,123 in March this year. The product approvals were low at 3,981 and 3,725 in January and April, respectively, reveal the state FDCA data. As many as 48,909 product permissions have been issued by the state FDCA so far this year.

Announcing the guidelines which will govern implementation of the policy, state Science and Technology ministerJitu Vaghanisaid those investing in this sector will enjoy a completely paperless, faceless and cashless system of clearances. The minister launched the Gujarat.MyGov portal and IT-ITES incentives management portal.

TheGujaratgovernments share in Union taxes and duties declined by 13.87% in 2019-20 on the year-on-year basis. The states share of Union taxes stood at Rs 20,232 crore in 2019-20 as compared to Rs 23,489.33 crore in 2018-19, the CAG stated in its report on the states finances for the year ended March 31, 2020.

Both the components of central tax transfers i.e., direct taxes and indirect taxes also decreased by 13.27% and 14.78% respectively over the previous year, the countrys premier watchdog said in its report. They also dipped in 2019-20 for the first time during the period 2015-2020, the report said.

However, grant-in-aid from the Government of India increased by 34.26% or Rs 6,507.54 crore from Rs 18,992.48 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 25,500.02 crore in 2019-20.

The transfers (share in taxes and grant-in-aid) from the Centre increased by 312% from Rs 11,109.99 crore in 2010-11 to Rs 45,732.11 crore in 2019-20, the CAG said. The Percentage increase over the previous year ranged between 7.65% (2019-20) and 30.09% (2016-17) during the ten-year period.

Improve -GSDP ratio

The State Government needs to improve its revenue receipts-GSDP ratio; at 8.59%, it was lower than the 9.06% achieved during 2018-19, the CAG said. Also, the percentage of Capital Expenditure to total expenditure (15.28%) during 2019-20 was lower than what was registered during 2018-19 (17.26%), the CAG observed.

Reflecting a major shortfall in tax collection,Gujaratstill awaitsGST compensationof Rs 10,186 crore from the Centre for the period from April 2020 to May 2021.

The data issued by the Union finance ministry suggests that in 2020-21, GSTcompensationto the tune of Rs 6,583 crore remains pending for clearance from the Centre. Moreover, Rs 3,603 crore is due for clearance for the April-May 2021 period.
A constitutional amendment made states clocking less than 14% year-on-year Growth in their GST collection eligible for compensation for the loss of revenue, over a five-year period from 2017-2022. This was done because several state levies were subsumed under the common national tax.

Higher the compensation amount due, deeper is the tax collection shortfall. Gujarat clocked a total GST collection of Rs 34,561.34 crore in 2020-21, down by 3.75% against the 2019-20 collection of Rs 35,908.64 crore. The tax collection went down due to the pandemic-induced lockdown and a slow recovery in demand.

Gujarat has the fourth highest amount of compensation pending from the Centre after Maharashtra (Rs 23,133 crore); Karnataka (Rs 12,702 crore) and Uttar Pradesh (Rs 11,157 crore). Being a manufacturing-oriented state, Gujarat is at a loss when it comes to GST collection as compared to the circumstances in the previous tax regime.

As theNarmada Water Disputes Tribunal(NWDT) prepares to review the allocation ofNarmada waterto stakeholder states in 2024, theGujaratgovernment has initiated a crucial process to determine the state’s water requirement.
With the last NWDT award dating back to over four decades to 1979, Gujarat aims to secure a significant boost in its share of Narmada water, considering the substantial Growth in Irrigation area and the doubling of the state’s Population.

Under the 1979 award, the total water availability in the Narmada basin from July 1 to June 30 stood at 28 million acre-feet (MAF), with Gujarat receiving 9MAF, Madhya Pradesh getting 18.25MAF, and Maharashtra and Rajasthan being awarded 0.25MAF each.

To streamline the process, the state Narmada, Resources“>Water Resources, and water supply department has instructed all field and constituent offices to compile correspondence files from various stakeholders. The matter is periodically reviewed by the state chief secretary and top officials. Officials of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited have been directed to provide original copies of correspondence related to the NWDT award to the head office.

Established by the Centre on October 6, 1969, the NWDT was tasked with resolving the Narmada water-sharing dispute. The tribunal’s award, announced on December 7, 1979, was subsequently notified by the Union Government, making it binding on the disputing parties: Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan.

Indias first-ever girl Panchayat, called Balika Panchayat, was started in several villages of Kutch district in Gujarat.

The Balika Panchayat Initiative was started with the aim of promoting social and political development of girls as well as ensure active participation of girls in politics.

The Balika Panchayat initiative was started by the Women and Child Development Welfare department ofGujaratGovernment. It was launched under the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign.

Main objective of the Balika Panchayat is to promote social and political development of girl child. It also seeks to remove evil practices like child marriage and dowry system from Society. It aims for girls to get their nominations done in decision-making process in Panchayat. It seeks to make girls active in politics since childhood.

In a research published this April, Nimesulide poisoning in white-rumpedvultureGyps bengalensis in Gujarat, India, the authors found the anti-inflammatory drugnimesulidein the Tissues of all the dead vulture fromGujaratthey studied. The research was part of a project funded entirely by the Union ministry of Environment, forest and https://exam.pscnotes.com/Climate-change”>Climate Change.

The collection of tissues of dead vultures sampled in the study were permitted by Gujarat forest department, and shared by Jivdaya Charitable Trust, Ahmedabad.

The study found that residues of all the 32 most commonly used pesticides in the tissues from kidneys, livers and guts of the four white-rumped vultures collected from Sanand and Dhrangadhra were below detection limits.

TheGujaratgovernment initiated a comprehensivesurveyto assess the impact of cycloneTauktaeand subsequent loss to life and property, including damage to crops, in the affected districts.

A comprehensive survey to assess the cyclone’s impact and subsequent loss to life and property has been initiated in Bhavnagar district.

The had shifted around 2.5 lakh persons to safer places and approved a daily cash dole of Rs 100 for each adult and Rs 60 for each child (who were shifted), for a period of seven days.