GUJARAT

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Amid high volatility, rising forecasts and the recent second rate increase by the Reserve Bank Of India (RBI), the Indian Equity markets saw a sharp correction on Friday. The BSESensexfell by 1,016.34 points to close at 54,303.44. However, despite the sharp correction, some ofGujaratcompanies shone, with their market capitalization rising by Rs 3.51 lakh crore from the peak of October 19, 2021.

Adani Group companies including Adani Enterprises Limited,Adani Power, Adani Green Energy and Adani Total Gas along with Gujarat Fluorochemicals Limited were among the companies which posted the highest Growth in market capitalization. Among the others which performed well were the PSUs GNFC, GSFC, GMDC, andAIA Engineering.

While the pandemic held up many development projects in the city, one that didnt stop in its tracks was the Surat Metro that continued its journey despite adversities. Even as the city was battling the spread of the deadly contagion with Covid tests, a few engineering experts were conducting their own set of tests on the metro route.

The project, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2021, is being developed by Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC).

Despite a sharp spike in gold prices from January to March this year, the demand for the yellow Metal remained upbeat during the quarter in Gujarat. Against a 17% decline in gold demand in India during the quarter according to the World Gold Council, gold imports inGujaratgrew 75% during the same period.

According to the latest report by the World Gold Council, Indias gold demand declined to 112.5 metric tonne (MT) in January to March 2023, down 17%.

Against this, gold imports in Gujarat stood at 14.69MT during the same period, up 75% as compared to 8.39MT in the corresponding period in 2022, according to Ahmedabad Air Cargo Complex (AACC).

Gujaratchief minister Vijay Rupani launched Marun Gaam: Corona-Mukt Gaam (My Village: Corona-Free Village) campaign on the occasion of the state’s foundation day.

The campaign was launched to check the spread of infection due to coronavirus at village level to ensure the villagers remain free from the pandemic.

GSTcollection inGujaratsurpassed the Rs 1 lakh crore mark in fiscal 2022-23 to touch Rs 1.14 lakh crore. With this, the total tax mop-up in the state grew 17.5% during the fiscal. The rise in commercial activity after the lifting of Covid-related restrictions during the year coupled with are among the key reasons for Growth in the tax collection in Gujarat.

At the time of the GST roll-out, the Centre used to compensate states to ensure a protected revenue growth at 14% per annum for five years. Fiscal 2022-23 was the first year since the Centre stopped compensation to states. Yet, GST collection in Gujarat grew 17.5%, indicating the state is well-positioned to maintain its revenue inflows. This, in fact, is the highest growth rate since the new tax regime was rolled out except for the 30% growth during FY22, albeit on a lower base of tax collection during the pandemic year FY21.

During the year, Gujarat’s income through SGST (Rs 65,746 crore) and value-added tax (VAT) on non-subsumed items (Rs 38,037 crore) stood at Rs 1.03 lakh crore in FY2023.