Current Affairs Quiz 05 February 2024

Meghalaya State Language Act of 2005
• The Government has said that the anthem’s languages were selected based on the Meghalaya State Language Act of 2005.
• The Act designated English as the state’s official language and also designated Khasi as the ‘Associate Official Language’ for all purposes in the districts of East Khasi Hills, West Khasi Hills, South West Khasi Hills, East Jaintia Hills, West Jaintia Hills and Ri Bhoi.
• Garo language was given the same status in the districts of East Garo Hills, West Garo Hills, South Garo Hills, North Garo Hills and South West Garo Hills.

Key Features of Payments Bank:
o Limited Services: Unlike traditional banks, payments banks cannot offer loans, credit cards, or issue demand drafts.
o They primarily focus on: Accepting deposits up to ₹200,000.
 It can accept demand deposits in the form of savings and current accounts and the received deposits can be invested in secure government securities only in the form of Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR).
 Remittance services, mobile payments and other banking services like ATM/debit cards, net banking and third party fund transfers.
 Providing debit cards and mobile banking services.
o Technology-Driven: Payments banks heavily leverage technology to offer convenient and accessible services, often through partnerships with telecom operators and fintech companies.
o Wider Reach: They target geographically remote areas and financially excluded segments, aiming to promote financial inclusion.

About POEM-3:
• The PSLV Orbital Experimental Module-3 (POEM-3) is a space platform.
• It is a three-axis-attitude controlled platform with power generation and telecommand & telemetry capabilities, for supporting Payloads.
• It used the spent PS4 stage of the PSLV-C58 vehicle which launched XPoSat on January 1, 2024.
• After achieving all objectives, more experiments with POEM-3 are planned for generating data for future missions including upcoming POEM configurations.
• With the orbital decay and reentry of POEM-3 in three months, PSLV-C58 XPoSat mission will be leaving zero debris in space.

Direct Taxes:
• Direct tax collections have more than tripled in the last ten years, with return filers increasing by 2.4 times.
• Reduction and rationalisation of tax rates implemented:
o No tax liability for income up to Rs 7 lakh under the new tax scheme, increased from Rs 2.2 lakh in FY 2013-14.

Fiscal Deficit:

• The estimated fiscal deficit in 2024-25: 5.1% of GDP
• Revised fiscal deficit for 2023-24 (FY24): 5.8% of GDP
• Adheres to the path of reducing fiscal deficit below 4.5% by 2025-26

Budget at a Glance
– The Revised Estimate (RE) of the total receipts other than borrowings is Rs 27.56 lakh crore.
a. The RE of the total expenditure is Rs 44.90 lakh crore.
– The revenue receipts at Rs 30.03 lakh crore are expected to be higher than the Budget Estimate (BE).
a. It reflects strong growth momentum and formalisation in the economy.
– It suggests that income tax revenues will account for 19%, Corporate tax will account for 17%, GST for 18% and borrowings for 28% of all government resources in FY25.
Rupee come from:
– Borrowings and other liabilities account for the largest avenue from where the Budget money comes, followed by income tax and GST and other taxes.
Rupee goes to:
– When it comes to expenditure, the highest amount goes towards paying interest and the money given to the states in the form of taxes and duties, accounting for 20% each of the total expenditure.