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- October 2019
Index
Toppers Talk
Art & Culture
Polity
- Right to access internet is fundamental right declares Kerala High Court
- Legal rights of Deities in India, Difference in Natural and Juristic Person
- Bru refugees refuse to return to Mizoram
- No animal sacrifice in Tripura temple-Orders High Court
- EC’s Order on Reducing Sikkim CM’s Disqualification Period
- Law Ministry issues corrigendum to Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act
- Appointment of the Judges in India.
- New Chief Justice of India- How is CJI appointed?
- Indian Penal Code 1860, HM Amit Shah wants to Overhaul IPC
- National Population Register (NPR) 2020
- Whistle Blowers Allegations on Infosys
Governance & Social Justice
- 60% girls in Delhi colleges anaemic
- Niti aayog’s School education quality index
- Multipurpose National Identity Card
- Population pyramid : India Vs China, Demographic dividend Phase of India
- UN Population Report, India will become the most populous country by 2027
- Supreme Court upholds SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendments Act
- Comparing Population Pyramids of India and China
- Waqf boards-Their governance and purpose
- Harvard Admissions Case
- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana- Ist Anniversary, Problems and solutions
- Significance of sexual and Reproductive Health-Status of reproductive services in India
- Pregnancy in Old Age, What is In Vitro Fertilisation-Risks and legal shortcomings
- Supreme Court Judgement on NGOs and RTI
- Social Stock Exchange
- Rajasthan Govt changes EWS norms, Sets Rs 8 lakh family income as only criteria
- Global hunger index 2019
- No Government job for those with more than two kids
- Ranitidine CANCER risk
- IIT Council Introduces Tenure track system
International Relations
- Bangladesh growing faster than India ?
- Cyprus dispute explained
- Donald Trump impeachment
- India wins Hyderabad Nizam case against Pakistan
- India’s reply to Pakistan at UNGA
- Prime Minister of Malaysia calls India and invader in Kashmir
- Should India recognise the armenian genocide ?
- Why are CARICOM countries important for India ?
- Why are countries leaving OPEC ?
- Attacks on Saudi Oil facilities
- Organization of Islamic Cooperation issues statement on Jammu and Kashmir
- Sri Lanka’s relations with India & China
- US troops start pullout in Syria as Turkey prepares for operation
- What are Vanilla Islands?
- India-USA trade deal
- UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award-2019
- Modi – Xi Informal meet at Mamallapuram – Historic Chinese links
- India China informal summit in Tamil nadu
- Pakistan save from FATF blacklist till 2020
- USA blacklists China organisations over Uighur Muslim abuse
- Why is Chile burning ?
- Why is the Philippines important for India
- Xi jinping Nepal visit 2019 and impact on India
- India Pakistan Cross LOC Trade suspended, Should India revoke suspension?
- Protests in Lebanon
- Chennai to Vladivostok Sea Route
- End of baghdadi
- Indian government’s security advisory
- Indians no longer require Visa to visit Brazil
- Non Aligned Movement 2019 summit
- US backed Ceasefire between Turkey and Kurds
- Pakistan stops postal exchange with India
- China’s GDP growth slows to 6% slowest in 27 years
- Common Goods for Health project by WHO
- Turkey attack Kurds in Syria
Geography
Economy
- Behavioural Aspect of Farmer Suicide
- Is rural India really open defecation free ?
- Global Growth Slow Down
- Nobel Prize in Economics 2019
- Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership
- SBI wrote off bad loans worth 76,000 crores
- Surge in Onion Price
- Agriculture Credit by RBI’s Internal Working Group
- What is Debt to GDP Ratio?
- Yes Bank Crisis
- Nobel prize in Literature – Controversy
- Boosting Indian Exports
- Sopore Fruit Mandi deserted
- What is Pink Collarisation?
- Mizoram to have Broad Gauge railway line by 2021
- Demand downturn in Indian Economy
- Payment facilitation fund
- Participatory Guarantee Scheme
- RBI’s 4th Bi-monthly Monetary Policy 2019-20
- Tourism restrictions lifted in Kashmir
- Link between Jobs, Farming, and Climate
- Draft Social Security Code 2019
- State Tax Revenues, SGST and Central Tax Devolution are likely to fall short
- Competitiveness Index 2019 by World Economic Forum
- NITI Aayog’s Water Resources Strategy
- BSNL and MTNL financial issues-DoT prepares Rs 74000 crore revival plan
- 20th Livestock Census
- India falls 10 ranks in World economic forum’s Global competitiveness index
- RBI stops Printing Rs 2000 Notes
- What is the Unified Approach proposal of OECD?
- FCI granaries overflowing
- India’s Economic Growth 2019
- Financial Sector Scams in India
- Labour Market of India
- New Strategic Disinvestment Process
- Payment Delays to Sugarcane Farmers
- Why India’s IMF Quota is not increased
- What is monetary policy Transmission? Why banks are not reducing interest
- Mahatma Gandhi’s theory of Economics
- India moves up 14 spots to 63 on world Bank ease of doing business index
- New amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act
- Power Sector Scenario in India
- Telecos to Pay Rs 96,642 crore to the Government
- Camel population declines in Rajasthan
- Merger of BSNL and MTNL
- World bank on Indian economy
Defence & Security
- Nagas Kukis Conflict, What is the cause of the latest tensions?
- Case against 50 Celebrities controversy
- Can Indian Government intercept WhatsApp?
- UP Government fires 25000 home guards, Is Yogi Government’s decision justified?
- NCRB’s Crime in India 2017 report
- Aadhaar Social Media mandatory linking case
- What is TechSagar? National repository of India’s cyber tech capabilities.
Disaster Management
Science & Technology
- ISRO’S Project NETRA
- Facebook’s LIBRA Currency in trouble
- WHO launches first World report on Vision
- 2019 Nobel prize in physics
- 2019 Nobel prize in Physiology and Medicine
- Elon musk’s starlink project
- NASA’s ICON mission
- New King of the Moons in the Solar system is Saturn
- What Is Spectroscopy ?
- Quantum supremacy
Environment
- Climate Vulnerable Mapping Of India
- C40 Cities
- Gujarat Unveils emission trading scheme
- Forest Plus 2.0
- Himalayan States seeks Green Bonus
- India to Phase Out Single Use Plastic (SUP) by 2022
- Role of Volcanoes in Global Warming
- NH 766 ban controversy, Protests in Kerala against night traffic ban on the forest stretch
- Climate Change needs Global Solution
- Aarey Forest -2185 trees to be cut for Mumbai metro
- Government to build 1400 km long Green wall
- Graded Response Action Plan in Delhi
- Aerosol formation brightening clouds
- Anthrax outbreak in Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, Two affected buffaloes died
- Species in News from June to October 2019
- Climate Action Summit 2019
Prelims bits

Tag:GS3 || Economy || Public Finance || Budget
Why in news?
- India’s debt stands at 88.13 lakh crores at the end of June 2019– the latest data on public debt.
- This is a 4% jump from the previous quarter i.e. rise in debt by 3.5-4 lakh crores.
What is the National Debt of India?
- The national debt – is the money owed by the Indian federal government.
- The debts of India’s states and local government are not counted as part of the country’s national debt.
- According to the IMF, India’s debt to GDP ratio is around 68%. This is a comfortable figure which is well below 100%.it leaves the country room to borrow more in the event of a financial crisis.
Who is responsible for raising debt?
- The Indian national debt is managed by the country’s central bank.
- The national debt is managed by bank divisions, called the public debt office(PDO).
How the debt is raised by?
- The Reserve Bank of India raises debt for the government of India through a range of instruments that the rbi calls ‘G-secs’.
- The instruments that the PDO issues fall into the following categories:
- Fixed-rate bonds: the interest rate payable does not alter over time.
- Floating rate bonds(FRB) -the interest rate is expressed as a margin over the national base rate.
- Zero-coupon bond: pay no interest but are sold at a discount and redeemed at full face values.
- Capital indexed bonds: the face value of the bond increase in line with inflation.
- Inflation index bonds(IIBs): Both the loan amount and the interest are index-linked. Since 2013 these bonds have been issued exclusively to the general public.
- Bonds with call/put options: the RBI has the right to redeem the bond before maturity(call) or the holder has the right to cash in bond before maturity(put).
- Sovereign gold bond(SGB): payable in cash, but the value of bond is linked to the price of gold.
Who Holds India Debt?
- Fiscal deficit is targeted at 3.3% of GDP, lower than the revised estimate of 3.4% in 2018-19
Reason for the increase in Debt:
- The above graph is showing that after 2012-13 the central government’s borrowing is decreased but the state government borrowing is increasing which leads to an increase in overall debt.
- States finished the fiscal year to March 2019 with a combined fiscal deficit of 2.9 percent, 34 basis points worse than what was budgeted for and Debt in states rises to 25% of GDP, may pose challenges in medium-term, the RBI said.
- A farm loan waiving is also a big reason.
Types of debt:
- External debt: India’s external debt increased 2.6% year on year at the end of fiscal year 2018-19.
- At the end of March 2019, India’s external debt was $543 billion, recording an increase of $13.7 billion year on year.
- It was primarily on account of a rise in short-term debt, commercial borrowings, and non-resident Indian (NRI) deposits, the RBI said
- The external debt to GDP ratio stood at 19.7% at the end-march of 2019.
Why don’t the Indian government repay the debt by printing new currency?
- Currency notes are printed in India on the basis of the minimum reserve system(MRS) since 1957.
- Accordingly, RBI has to maintain assets of at least Rs 200 crores all the time, Rs115cr in the form of Gold and 85cr in the form of foreign currency.
- Holding these assets of Rs200cr. RBI can print any number of currency notes.
- Share of currency in external debt:
US dollar-denominated debt – largest component of India’s external’s debt and share of 50.5% at end-March 2019.
- Share of other currency:
- Rupee(35.7%)
- Japanese yen(5%)
- SDR(4.9%)
- Euro(3%)
- Printing new currency affects the economy:-
- It increases the supply of money in the economy which leads to more inflation(e.g Great depression in Germany in 1929. In the present time, Venezuela also experiences 3000% inflation).
- The cost of printing will increase.
Government Efforts:
- The government has been mainly targeting to reduce fiscal deficit and revenue deficit under the existing fiscal responsibility and budget management (FRBM) Act.
- Over the past 15 years, the government has largely been able to keep the deficits below budgeted levels
- Under the FRBM Act, 2003, the three-year target (2021-22) for fiscal and revenue deficits have been set at 3% and 1.5%, respectively.
Conclusion:
- India needs to significantly improve its tax to GDP ratio to be able to serve its running cost without borrowing and thus maintain a primary surplus.
- India also has to maintain a high growth rate while the interest rate has to ease down sharply for significantly bringing down debt to GDP ratio
References:
- https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/indias-external-debt-rises-2-63-pc-to-usd-543-billion-at-march-end/articleshow/69994279.cms?from=mdr
- https://www.prsindia.org/parliamenttrack/budgets/union-budget-2019-20-analysis
- https://www.livemint.com/Politics/pfOStekeAkqH4KnBDUsuDN/What-India-needs-to-do-achieve-a-lower-debt-to-GDP-ratio.html