Hydroponics is a system of agriculture in a soil less environment. Plants are grown in controlled atmosphere with supplemental lighting in medium such as coconut pith, expanded clay aggregate, rock wool etc and get all their nutrition through nutrient solution circulated to the plant roots.
Due to optimal growing conditions, productivity goes up by 3 to 5 times, water consumption gets reduced by 70% to 80% and due to soil less environment, pests, insects and weeds are not prevalent thereby reducing usage of pesticides substantially.
Hydroponics creates a sustainable food system and improves quality of food and environment without heavy usage of chemicals.
Any crop can be grown anywhere but primarily this system is currently being used to grow products such as leaf lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, strawberries, green bins, basil, celery, cut flower etc.
One can start with a smaller area , divided in zones for growing separate crops to produce a market mix as per requirement and the project can be replicated as the market expands. It should be preferably set up nearer to consumption centre to reduce logistics time and cost.
Solar is one of the cleanest source of Power as it does not involve any combustion or chemical reaction. With its abundant sunlight, increasing enery requirement and a commitment to enhance the share of renewable energy, India has emerged as a Global Leader in adoption of Solar Power.
India gets one of the highest solar radiation throughout the year due to its geographical location which makes generation of solar power most viable and hence India, in recent years supported by Government’s ambitious initiative has made substantial progress in this sector.
Due to environmental benefits, Solar Power is becoming the most formidable alternative to fossil fuels. This will reduce India’s dependence on foreign energy sources thereby ensuring energy security and independence as well as contribute to India’s commitment to Paris Agreement and its goal of reducing carbon emission.
Key challenges are Land availability, grid integration and storage capacity, which can be overcome by concerted efforts by Government, Private Sector and International Collaboration. Present Installed power generation capacity in India is 416 GW, out of which fossil fuels constitute 58% and renewable 42%. Present installed capacity of solar is 67 GW (16%) and India has taken an ambitious target of increasing this to 450 GW, almost by seven times by 2030. This provides a great opportunity for all the participants in the entire solar power value chain.
Digital public infrastructure for agriculture will be built as an open source, open standard and inter operable public good.
Fiscal support for Digital public Infrastructure will continue in 2023-24.
Upgrade digital infra in lower courts with the Rs 7,000 crore allocation.
100 labs for developing applications using 5G services will be set up in engineering institutions.
Digital Services
Fintech services in India have been facilitated by our digital public infrastructure including Aadhaar, PM Jan Dhan Yojana, Video KYC, India Stack and UPI.
Setting up three centres of excellence for AI.
PAN to be a Common Business Identifier for all digital systems.
The KYC process will be simplified adopting a ‘risk-based’ instead of ‘one size fits all’ approach to meet the needs of Digital India.
An Entity DigiLocker will be set up for use by MSMEs, large business and charitable trusts.
Digital Literacy
National Digital Library for children and adolescents will be set-up for facilitating availability of quality books across geographies, languages, genres and levels, and device agnostic accessibility.
For countries looking for digital continuity solutions, we will facilitate setting up of their Data Embassies in GIFT IFSC.
The digital ecosystem for skilling will be further expanded with the launch of a unified Skill India Digital platform.
An Overview of Promotional Schemes for MSMEs’ in Budget-2023:
The Revamped Credit Guarantee Scheme (Proposed in the budget for MSMEs’)
Will take effect from 1st April 2023.Infusion of ₹9000 crore in the corpus.Additional collateral-free guaranteed credit of ₹ 2 lakh crore.Cost of credit will be reducedby about 1%.
VIVAD SE VISHWAS I (Relief for MSMEs’)
Failure in execution of contracts by MSMEs’ during covid period relieved.95% of forfeited amount will be returned to MSMEs’ by Govt. undertakings.
VIVAD SE VISHWAS II (Settling Contractual Disputes)
Settlement of contractual disputes between MSMEs’ and Govt. undertakings.Voluntary Settlement Scheme with standardized terms will be introduced.
Presumptive Taxation Scheme Benefits.
Limits increased so as to: Reduce compliance burden.Promote non-cash transactions.Increases transparency. Enhanced new limits (Proposed limits): For businesses and MSME’s – 3 CroresFor professionals – 75 Lakhs Old limits: For businesses and MSME’s – 2 CroresFor professionals – 50 Lakhs
Deduction Under Section 43B
Deduction for Expenditure incurred on payments made to MSMEs’ only when payment is actually made (Section 43B). Allowed on accrual basis, if payment made within time mandated under MSMED Act, 2006.Aim of the move – small businesses get their dues from their clients without delays.
Others
PM Vishwakarma Kaushal Samman (PM VIKAS), Skill India Digital Platform, Basic Customs Duty (BCD) Benefit, PM Matsya Sampada Yojana, Facilitation of E-Commerce for Micro Enterprises, Basic Customs Duty (BCD), Skill India Digital Platform, Entity DigiLocker.
The Union government has again chosen capital expenditure as a key focus area in the 2023-24 Union Budget to achieve the vision of sustainable growth in Amrit Kaal.
The Centre’s capital expenditure outlay will be Rs 10 lakh crore for FY24, an increase of 33 per cent year-on-year.
To aid investment in infrastructure, Centre to continue its 50-year interest-free loans to state governments for additional 12 months.
An amount of Rs 2.40 lakh crore has been provided for the Indian Railways — the highest ever outlay, and nine times the outlay made in 2013-14.
The Centre also said that 50 additional airports, water aerodromes and advanced landing grounds will be revived for regional air connectivity. This should offer an additional push to the regional connectivity scheme, which started with the UDAAN scheme.
100 critical transport infrastructure projects with capital expenditure of Rs 75,000 crores identified for last and first mile connectivity for ports, coal, steel, fertilizer, and food grains sectors.
The newly established Infrastructure Finance Secretariat will assist all stakeholders for more private investment in infrastructure, including railways, roads, urban infrastructure and power, which are predominantly dependent on public resources.
States and cities being encouraged to undertake urban planning reforms and actions to transform our cities into ‘sustainable cities of tomorrow’.
Urban Infrastructure Development Fund (UIDF) will be established through use of priority sector lending shortfall. This will be managed by the National Housing Bank, and will be used by public agencies to create urban infrastructure in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
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