New Economic Policy & Govt. Sector
Special Economic Zones
- The government recently relaxed key rules related to Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to further encourage the domestic manufacture of semiconductors and electronics.
- SEZs are special areas within a country that offer incentives to business and trade regulations operating in those areas.
- SEZs typically offer competitive infrastructure, duty-free exports, tax incentives, and other measures designed to make it easier to conduct business.
- The main objectives of the SEZ are generating additional economic activity, promoting exports of goods and services from the country, promoting foreign and domestic investment, and creating more employment opportunities besides the development of infrastructure facilities.
- The category ‘SEZ’ covers a broad range of zone types, few of which are free zones (FZs), industrial estates (IEs), free ports, free trade zones (FTZs), and export processing zones (EPZs).
- Asia’s first EPZ was set up in Kandla, Gujarat, in 1965, followed by seven more EPZs in the country.
Reports and Indices
Global Education Monitoring Report
- According to the Global Education Monitoring Team (GEM) report the global out-of-school population is now estimated to be 272 million, over 21 million more than the last estimate.
- It is an annual publication produced by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)
- The GEM Report was launched in 2002 as the Education for All Global Monitoring Report and transitioned to its current name in 2016.
- Its primary purpose is to monitor and analyze global education trends and provide policy recommendations to governments and stakeholders to improve education systems and outcomes.
