Bihar Affairs
Bihar: Manjhi demands allowance for state unemployed youths
Former CM and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi has not been ceasing to surprise CM Nitish Kumar and the NDA government, as on Friday he demanded that the government pay Rs 5,000 as unemployed allowance to unemployed youths in the state.
Manjhi said his demand was in tune with his party’s poll manifesto for the assembly . The HAM(S), along with Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), is a smaller constituent in the four-party NDA combine that includes JD(U) of Nitish and also the BJP.
National and International Affairs
FDI inflows rise 9.8% to record $82 billion in FY21
Foreign direct (FDI) inflows into India rose 9.8% to a record $81.7 billion in 2020-21 on a gross basis on the back of record investment into companies such asReliance Jio.
Fresh Equity inflows are estimated to have increased by an impressive 19% to $59.6 billion, while reinvested earnings went up 14% to $16.2 billion.
Singapore was the top source, which is now followed by the United States with Mauritius once the dominant source of FDI due to tax benefits under the tax avoidance treaty pushed to the third spot.
In terms of Growth, inflows from Saudi Arabia. jumped from $90 million in 2019-20 to $2.8 billion last year. And with E-Commerce and IT being the major draw for overseas investors looking to tap into the India consumption story, computer Software and hardware emerged as the most attractive sector to invest, cornering nearly 44% of the FDI equity inflows. Next was construction (Infrastructure), which accounted for a 13% share. Among the states it was Gujarat that was the top recipient, according to the Centres data, accounting for 37% of the inflows, followed byMaharashtra(27%) and Karnataka (13%).
The government has been seeking to bolster FDI especially in the manufacturing sector and some of the investments are related to companies such asApples vendors andSamsungpumping in funds to set up bigger production facilities for mobiles and electronics goods.
The government has identified close to 1,000 companies and is working withInvest Indiato tap companies that are seeking to diversify their production bases.