Short News Articles

Polity and Governance

Linking Aadhaar to Voter ID

As per the response from the Election Commission (EC) through RTI has disclosed that over 60% of India’s 94.5 crore voters in India have linked their Aadhaar number to their voter IDs.

Background:

• The Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021 was passed to deduplicate electoral rolls by allowing election authorities to collect the 12 digit number from voters.
• Key findings:
• The total number of voters who have their Aadhaar linked is 56, 90, 83,090.
• Tripura has the highest rate of Aadhaar linking; over 92% of voters in the State.
• The per-State percentages given here are based on total voter enumerations released by States and Union Territories in the past three years.
• After Tripura, Lakshadweep and Madhya Pradesh occupy the second and third spots, with over 91% and 86% of voters having provided the number respectively.
• Voters in southern States have not provided their Aadhaar in such proportions, even though they are above the national average.
• Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka both fell to 71%, whereas the number stands around 63% and 61% for Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
• The State with the lowest Aadhaar registration by voters is Gujarat, where only 31.5% of voters have linked the document to their voter registration.
• Less than 34% of voters in the Delhi had their Aadhaar linked.

Polity and Governance

SangeetNatakAkademi awards

President DroupadiMurmu has presented the SangeetNatakAkademi awards and fellowships for the years 2019, 2020 and 2021.

About:

• On the occasion, eight eminent personalities were given SangeetNatakAkademi Fellowships in the field of performing arts
• A total of 128 artists from the field of music, dance, theatre, traditional, folk, and puppetry were given the Awards.
• The Akademi also honoured 86 artistes with special one-time awards commemorating 75 years of India’s Independence.
• The Awards:
• The awards are given to the artists from the field of Music, Dance, Theatre, Traditional/Folk/Tribal Music/Dance/Theatre, Puppetry and Overall contribution/scholarship in the Performing Arts etc.
• The Akademi Awards carries purse money of Rs. 1.00 lakh, a Tamrapatra and an Angavastram.

Economy

Indians' Spending on Foreign Property

Indians spent the most money in a decade on foreign securities, property and a deposit in 2022, Business Standard has reported.

Findings of the report:

• A record of $ 2.1 billion, invested by Indians on foreign stocks and property in the 10-year period for which the Reserve Bank of India has mentioned.
• In each of the categories – foreign deposits, property, shares and other investments – the figures were the highest in record.
• Indians’ investments in 2022 in foreign equity or debt were at $969.5 million, also a record high.
• The liberalised remittance scheme:
• The Union government allows Indian individuals to spend up to $250,000 for various purposes including education, medical expenses, gifts, donations, travel and maintenance of close relatives and so on, in addition to investments in deposits, property, and share and in other avenues.
• Under this scheme Indians can open a foreign currency account abroad, acquire immovable property, extend loans to non-resident Indians, buy art and so on.

Geography

Cyclone Freddy

Cyclone Freddy has hitted in Madagascar by travelling 7200km from Australian Coast to South-western coast.

About:

• Freddy travelled around 7,200 km from the southeast Indian Ocean to Madagascar in 15 days, according to the United Kingdom Met Office.
• This is the first time since 2000 that a cyclone has moved such a long distance from the south-eastern parts to the south-western parts of the Indian Ocean.
• The storm carried winds of 130 kilometres per hour at landfall and has brought torrential rainfall for south-eastern Madagascar, killing five people.