GUJARAT

Stamp duty & registration collection rises 62% in Gujarat

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While the threat of a possible third wave of the pandemic looms large, there is heartening news in the real estate sector. As compared to corresponding period last year, government revenue from stamp duty and registration of property shot up by 62% in the first three quarters of the ongoing financial year.

Simultaneously, a 34% jump has been recorded in the number of properties registered between April and December this year, as compared to the same period last year.

Government revenue from stamp duty and property registration stood at Rs 7,499 crore in the first nine months of ongoing financial year, a 62% jump from Rs 4,624 crore in the same period last year. Similarly, the number of property registrations were 7,44,500 in the April-December period of the 2020-21 year. These shot up by 34% to 9,95,809 in the first nine months of the ongoing financial year.

A robust rise in both number of registrations and government revenue from stamp duty and registration of properties indicates a huge upswing inGujarat‘s real estate sector, which not only provides huge EMPLOYMENT, but spurs economic activity as well.

Gujarat: Policy to promote ethanol production soon

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With the aim of providing benefits to both ethanol manufacturing units and farmers, theGujaratgovernment will shortly announce ethanol production promotion policy, 2021. The is expected to announce a number of incentives to promote the policy.
The policy, which is expected to be announced before the forthcoming edition of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, aims to utilize, develop, and promote domestic feedstock of agri by-products with emphasis on maize for production of bio-ethanol, thereby increasingly substituting fossil fuels.

The goal of the policy is to enable availability of bio-ethanol in the market, thereby increasing its blending Percentage to 20% in petrol by 2025 from the current blending rate of 7.93%.

All farmers engaged in maize cultivation through traditional or hybridization method supplying the maize produce to ethanol manufacturing units will be eligible under the policy. Among the agri-products used as agri-input for ethanol production, maize comparatively needs less water, gives higher yield per hectare in a shorter period and can be grown in any season. With high starch content, maize has the potential as a grain feedstock for ethanol production. As much as 380 litres of ethanol can be produced from 1 metric tonne of maize.

The policy recognizes the need to provide incentives to eligible units in the ethanol manufacturing sector for the Growth of this sunrise sector. The government will provide incentives to set up new distilleries to produce ethanol and to install any method approved by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Governing body of Vatan Prem Yojana held its first meeting recently. The Vatan Prem Yojana was launched on August 7, 2021.

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They held the meeting at Gandhinagar under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

Presentation of details of the scheme was put before the chief minister.

Governing body proposed works to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore, which have to be completed by December 2022.

Governing body has formed a project management unit for the smooth implementation of this scheme.

Governing body has made it possible for donors to send their online. Under the scheme, Non-Resident Gujaratis (NRGs) and NRIs can contribute 60 percent of the cost of a village-level project. Remaining 40 percent amount will be borne by the State Government.

Vatan prem Yohana is a repackaged version of Madar-e-Vatan scheme by the state government of Gujarat. Madar-e-Vatan has been renamed due to association of the title with Persian language. In the earlier version of the scheme, contribution of the state government and NRIs was 50:50. Now, it has been changed to 60:10.

The Vatan prem yojana will cover village-level projects such as:

Smart classes in schools and Library

Community hall, Primary Health centre and Anganwadi

CCTV surveillance system,

Water recycling, drainage, sewage treatment and beautification of ponds.

Bus-stand

Solar Energy powered streetlights, etc.

4.35L more farmers in five years

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The government said that the number of farmers in Gujarat as per the agri census of 2015-16, was 53.20 lakh, which is 4.35 lakh higher than the number of farmers according to the 2010-11 agri census. According to data provided by the Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture minister in a written reply to a question byCongress MLAShailesh Parmar, there has been a rise in the number of marginal, small and semi-medium farmers in the state between 2010-11 and 2015-16. The number of medium farmers and big farmers has fallen during the same period. According to the 2015-16 agri census, there were 20.18 lakh marginal farmers, 16.15 lakh small farmers, 11.50 lakh semi-medium farmers, 4.95 medium farmers and 39,888 big farmers in the state. Compared to the 2010-11 agri census, the number of marginal farmers increased by 2.03 lakh, small farmers increased by 1.86 lakh, and semi-medium farmers increased by 70,721. The number of medium farmers decreased by 16,782, while the number of big farmers fell by 8,883.

Defence manufacturing in Gujarat gets shot in the arm

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Already a preferred destination due to its entrepreneurial spirit and Sound manufacturing base,Gujaratis on its way to developing a DEFENCE manufacturing ecosystem.
While defence manufacturers from across the globe are looking to invest here, Gujarat already has a few manufacturers and startups supplying a range of technology products to defence manufacturers, theIndian Army, theDefence Research and Development Organisation(DRDO) and others.

The state has thus far received Rs 292 crore investment in direct defence manufacturing with companies such as Larsen and Toubro,Jaivel Aerospace, Unique Forge (Gujarat) andPushpak Aerospaceoperating here. It is also Home to at least 100 Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSMEs) that supply components and parts to aerospace and defence original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

There are about 12 lakh persons with disabilities in Gujarat, but only 2.47 lakh persons have the Unique Disability ID (UDID) cards. The UDID cards are mandatory for persons with disability to avail various government schemes.

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Providing details of the reach of schemes meant for those with disabilities, development worker Deepa Sonpal, said that according to official figures, 2,47,174 persons with disabilities in Gujarat have received the UDID cards. However the number of persons with disabilities in Gujarat is pegged to be around 12 lakh, she said.

Activists and development workers participated in a virtual meeting on the occasion of international day for persons with disabilities. The meeting discussed issues concerning rights of persons with disabilities and the use of the Right To Information Act.

The government spends a lot of on schemes for disabled persons,but it is necessary to ensure that the right persons avail of these benefits.

Gujarat to get 8 medical colleges in 2 years

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Gujaratgovernment is planning to set up eight new medical colleges in the state in the next two years. They will add 1,200 MBBS seats, representing about 21% of the total number of prevailing seats in Gujarat, said sources in the states Health department.

Presently, there are about 30 colleges in the state with 5,508 seats for which the Admission Committee for Professional Under Graduate Medical Educational Courses (ACPUGMEC) carries out the admission process. There are another 300 seats in the state under two deemed universities for which the admission is carried out at the college level. ACPUGMEC is not involved in this.

The state health department aims to start new medical colleges in Rajpipla, Navsari, Jam Khambhaliya, Botad and Veraval in the next academic year, he added.

Gujarat to host National Games for the first time

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For the first time since the formation ofGujarat, the state will host the National Games in September and October this year. Chief minister Bhupendra Patel on Friday announced that the state will host the 36th edition of the National Games between September 27 and October 10.

Patel said that since Gujarat is well-equipped with world-class Sports , the state administration will leave no stone unturned to make this edition of the National Games the best sporting event so far.

The last edition of the National Games was organized in Kerala in 2015. Due to various reasons, including the pandemic, the games are now being organized after a gap of seven years.

Work done by Gujarats noted astrophysicist and cosmologist Dr Pankaj Joshi is gettingglobal recognition.

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The Scientific American, one of the topmost journal in the world, has published a cover story on Naked Singularities in which Joshis paper is the very first reference.

Earlier, it was in 2009 that the 150-years-old US magazine had invited Joshi to write a full-length article on his path-breaking research. The article Naked Singularities was published as international cover story, translated in more than 20 international languages then.

It was for the first time in seven decades of independent India that an Indian scientific research was published as a cover story in the topmost journal. Joshis work is one step ahead of Roger Penrose, who was conferred the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics, for his discovery in 1965.

State receives Rs 9,021 crore GST compensation from Centre

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In a major advantage, the government ofGujaratreceived pending Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation cess worth Rs 9,021 crore from the Centre.

The compensation amount remained pending for over a year. According to data tabled in the state assembly, the Centre owed Gujarat a compensation worth Rs 9,136 crore as on March 31, 2023.
The Union Government owed Rs 23,332 crore to the Gujarat government for the period between January 2021 and December 2021. Similarly, the Centre owed Rs 7,068 crore to the for the period between January 2022 and June 2022, according to the response tabled in the state assembly.

Therefore, in the past two years, dues worth Rs 30,400 crore as compensation cess from the centre were yet to be cleared by the Centre. Against these dues, the state received Rs 3,364 crore in May last year and Rs 855 crore in November last year.

The Centre also provided a loan towards compensation worth Rs 17,045 crore to the state government, on condition that the Centre will pay the loan along with the interest from the Cess Fund.

When GST was rolled out, a provision was made in the act to compensate states for shortfall in revenue. According to the provisions under the GST Compensation Cess Act, the protected income of the states was determined for five years from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2022.

This protected income was computed projecting a 14% Growth in GST collection per annum, considering the fiscal year 2015-16 as the Base Year.