18-19.12.22 Daily [Andhra Pradesh] APPSC Current Affairs

Federation of All India Farmer Associations (FAIFA) has appealed to Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to treat tobacco crop like any other agricultural produce and not put additional burden of taxes on legally manufactured products in India.

The irrational taxes on tobacco are causing adverse impact on tobacco farmers, said FAIFA. It said that the farming community is very concerned with the unabashed push by vested NGOs whose agenda is to push for Growth of international tobacco through smuggled cigarettes. FAIFA submitted a detailed representation to the finance minister as part of pre-budget consultations.

Indias Foreign Exchange reservesfell by $70.1 billion in 2022, data released by theReserve Bank Of India (RBI)shows. The forex reserves stood at $562.9 billion in the week ended December 30. The decline in theforex reservesis partly due to theRBIinterventionin the currency markets to stave off volatility and partly on account of depreciation of other major currencies held by the central bank. The RBI net sold $33.42 billion till September,Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharamansaid. The RBI holds major currencies includingpound sterling, yen and euroin its reserves, which are expressed in US dollar terms.

According to criteria that support an ecosystem that is favourable for womens EMPLOYMENT, the research ranks 111 cities.

The remaining Top 10 cities for womens employment are Ahmedabad, Visakhapatnam, Kolkata, Coimbatore, and Madurai; each has a Population of over a million people.

In another group of cities with a population under one million, Tiruchirappalli, Vellore, Erode, Salem, Tirupur, , Shimla, Mangalore (officially Mangaluru), Thiruvananthapuram, and Belagavi are the top 10 cities.

The top five state Averages in the nation were achieved by Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Himachal Pradesh.