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The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council reached a broad consensus on the long-awaited constitution of the GST Appellate Tribunal to resolve the rising number of disputes under the 68-month old indirect tax regime that are now clogging High Courts and other judicial fora.
The Council reduced the tax levy on a few items, including liquid jaggery and pencil sharpeners. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who chairs the Council, also announced that the Centre was releasing GST compensation dues to States amounting to ₹33,506 crore.
The money comes from the exchequer’s own coffers as the GST Compensation Cess Fund does not have an adequate balance, and will be recouped from future cess collections.
The entire pending balance of GST Compensation of ₹16,982 crore for June 2022 [the last month of the five-year period since GST’s launch for which such recompense was payable to States] will be cleared.
Six States and Union Territories, including Telangana, Odisha and Puducherry, are also being paid ₹16,524 crore as additional compensation based on certificates from their Accountant Generals.
A bulk of this sum will go to Karnataka (₹7,806 crore), Tamil Nadu (₹4,223 crore) and Delhi (₹2,393 crore).
States
‘Underwater noise emissions pose threat to marine life’ (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
The rising man-made (anthropogenic) underwater noise emissions (UNE) from ships in the Indian waters are posing a threat to the life of marine mammals like Bottlenose dolphin, Manatees, Pilot whale, Seal and Sperm whale.
A knowledge of their hearing capabilities is vital to understanding their auditory system. The main form of energy for multiple behavioural activities of marine mammals, which include mating, communal interaction, feeding, cluster cohesion and foraging, is based on sound.
However, the sound that radiates from ships, on a long-term basis, affects them and results in internal injuries, loss of hearing ability, change in behavioural responses, masking, and stress. There are Acute and Chronic noise categories in the emissions.
The UNE or underwater sound pressure levels in the Indian waters are 102-115 decibels, relative to one microPascal (dB re 1Pa). The East Coast level (10 dB re 1Pa) is slightly higher than that of the West. There is an increase by a significant value of about 20 dB re 1Pa.
Continuous shipping movement is identified to be a major contributor to the increase in the global ocean noise level, according to a new study titled “Measuring Underwater Noise Levels Radiated by Ships in Indian Waters” at the Visakhapatnam Port (for the East) and Goa’s Mormugao port (for the West) by Andhra University’s marine engineering research scholar G.V.V. Pavan Kumar under the guidance of Prof. V.V.S. Prasad.
Migration route
The frequencies of ships’ underwater self-noise and machinery vibration levels are overlapping the marine species’ communication frequencies in the low frequency range of less than 500 Hz.
This is called masking, which could have led to a change in the migration route of the marine species to the shallow regions and also making it difficult for them to go back to the deeper water.
The measurement of the ambient noise levels was carried out by deploying a hydrophone autonomous system around 30 nautical miles from the Goa coastline.
The depth of deployment of the sensor was 11 metres in a water depth of 22 metres. The single-channel hydrophone was deployed at different locations with in-water depth of 18 metres with a deployment depth of 3 and 5 metres off Visakhapatnam port.
Munnar sees rare weather pattern as mercury dips to sub-zero levels again (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 1, Geography)
After a month, the mercury dipped to sub-zero levels again at the hill station of Munnar in Kerala’s Idukki district. The month’s lowest temperature of -1° Celsius was recorded on Saturday morning at Chenduvarai and Silent Valley. The temperature last dipped to -2° Celsius on January 20.
As per data from the United Planters Association of South India (UPASI) tea research foundation, the temperature recorded on Letchmi estate was 0° Celsius, Sevenmalai 0° Celsius, Munnar UPASI 1° Celsius and Devikulam R&D 3° Celsius on Saturday morning.
The hill station has been experiencing chilly weather for the past three days. “Sub-zero temperatures are expected to continue in the coming days too,” said the sources.
The hill station was experiencing sub-zero temperatures this year. After the second week of February, temperatures in Munnar typically show a rising trend. But the continuing chilly weather is an unpredictable winter pattern.
A study titled ‘Climate change and cropping systems across the high ranges of Kerala’ by G.S.L.H.V. Prasada Rao and Gopakumar Cholayil under Kerala Agricultural University pointed out that the widening of the temperature range (increasing day temperatures and declining night temperatures) was likely to impact thermos-sensitive crops such as coffee, tea, cardamom, cocoa and black pepper, which were grown across the high ranges of Kerala.
The unexpected frost has adversely affected tea plantations across Munnar. According to Kannan Devan Hills Plantations Company sources, tea leaves have largely wilted on various estates due to frost.
News
12 cheetahs from South Africa enter quarantine in Kuno National Park (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Twelve cheetahs arrived in Madhya Pradesh from South Africa and were released into the quarantine enclosures at the Kuno National Park in Sheopur district, five months after the first batch of eight were brought from Namibia, another African nation.
The inter-continental translocation of cheetahs is part of the Union government’s programme to reintroduce these animals seven decades after they became extinct in the country.
India’s last cheetah died in Koriya district of present-day Chhattisgarh in 1947, and the species was declared extinct in 1952.
With the addition of 12 new arrivals, the cheetah count at the park has gone up to 20. Prime Minister Narendra Modi released eight felines from Namibia on September 17, 2022.
An Indian Air Force (IAF) transport aircraft carrying seven male and five female cheetahs from South Africa landed at the Gwalior airport around 10 a.m.
These spotted animals had embarked on a journey to their new home from the O.R. Tambo International Airport at Gauteng in South Africa shortly before midnight. Each cheetah was kept in a separate wooden box during the flight.
After their arrival in Gwalior, the cheetahs were flown on IAF helicopters to Kuno, a road distance of around 165 km.
Wearing forest-green sleeveless jackets and hats, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union Environment and Forests Minister Bhupender Yadav released the cheetahs into the quarantine bomas after the animals arrived at the park around noon.
While eight cheetahs were put up in separate quarantine enclosures, four were kept in two bomas in pairs. With their arrival, there are now 10 male cheetahs and as many females at the park.
The South African big cats will be kept in the quarantine enclosures for at least a month before they are moved into the acclimatisation bomas. A decision on it will be taken by the task force on cheetahs.
Tapping the potential of niche villages in a push for rural tourism (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Mattur is a village in Karnataka where residents speak only in Sanskrit. Maachli in Maharashtra is an agrarian homestay surrounded by coconut, betel, and banana plantations.
The Bishnoi village in Rajasthan has frequent visits from the endangered great Indian bustard. These are destinations where tourists can immerse themselves in the rural tourism experience that the government is now developing.
The Central nodal agency, Rural Tourism and Rural Homestays (CNA – RT and RH), the coordinating body among the Centre, the States and other stakeholders, has identified six niche experiences for tourists wanting to visit rural India, including agritourism, art and culture, ecotourism, wildlife, tribal tourism, and homestays.
More than 134 villages have been listed, each of which provides a set of unique experiences to tourists. The list will only grow.
For instance, Tamil Nadu’s Kolukkumalai is the highest tea plantation in the world; Kerala’s Devalokam is a yoga centre on the banks of a river; Nagaland’s Konyak Tea retreat takes visitors on a trip through tribal culture; Telangana’s Pochampalli village showcases its traditional weaving techniques; and Himachal Pradesh’s Pragpur village plunges visitors into Kangra heritage architecture.
Depending on the experience, tourists can sample the local cuisine, see how crops are grown, participate in textile weaving, witness folk art being practised, and go on nature trails, all the while living within the community.
The focus of this rural push is sustainability, avoiding large-scale infrastructure development, and without much private sector participation.
The Ministry is in the process of formulating a budget, with certain training modules at district levels being 100% Centrally financed, and other aspects being 60% Centre- and 40% State-financed.
While there is a lack of consolidated data on global rural tourism trends, the U.S.-based market research firm Grand View Research estimates that agritourism alone will develop at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.4% from 2022 to 2030.
Rhododendrons carpet Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalayas (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
The Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalayas are home to more than one-third of all types of rhododendrons found in India, reveals the latest publication of the Botanical Survey of India (BSI).
The publication, titled Rhododendrons of Sikkim and Darjeeling Himalaya — An Illustrated Account, lists 45 taxa of rhododendrons (36 species, one subspecies, two variety and seven natural hybrids).
There are 132 taxa (80 species, 25 subspecies and 27 varieties) of rhododendrons found in India. Of the 45 taxa recorded in the publication, 24 are found in the Darjeeling Himalayas and 44 in the Sikkim Himalayas.
Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalayas comprise only 0.3% of India’s geographical area but the region is home to one-third (34%) of all rhododendron types.
This highlights the ecological significance of the region as far as an indicator species like rhododendron is concerned,” Rajib Gogoi, scientist and Regional Head of BSI in Sikkim and the lead author of the publication.
Of the 45 taxa documented by the BSI, five are facing a high threat due to anthropological pressures and climate change, according to scientists. Rhododendron edgeworthii, with white campanulate flowers, recorded a huge habitat decline in both Darjeeling and Sikkim.
Rhododendron niveum, with big purple flowers, found in the Lachung area of north Sikkim is facing threats from rampant construction. Rhododendron baileyi, Rhododendron lindleyi and Rhododendron maddenii are also under threat.
Rhododendron, meaning rose tree in Greek, is considered an indicator species for climate change. The BSI in 2017 published Rhododendron of North East India: A Pictorial Handbook, suggesting that there are 132 taxa.
According to A.A. Mao, Director of BSI and fellow author of the publication, the flowering season for rhododendrons starts in March and continues till May.
However, recently, flowering was found to begin as early as in January for some species. “This is an indication that those areas are getting warmer. The phenology of rhododendrons can be an important indicator of climate change.
Science & Tech
Why environmental surveillance for avian influenza is vital (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
The world’s largest northern gannet colony at the Bass Rock, an island off the coast of North Berwick, Scotland has been recently decimated by avian influenza (H5N1) or bird flu.
H5N1 has caused unprecedented loss of tens of thousands of birds in the U.K. The annual congregations on breeding grounds quickly turned into a super-spreader event as highly pathogenic H5N1 ripped through bird colonies, leaving many lying dead on the beaches or remote islands.
The impact of this disease is very serious for bird conservationists. Recently, intra-mammal transmission of H5N1 in captivity in mink farms was recorded, posing a bigger concern in relation to zoonotic potential.
In India, the latest major avian flu outbreak in2020-2021 swept through many States causing mass mortality of wild birds which brought the concerns on the lack of active surveillance to the forefront, and how wetland and waterfowl habitats at the interface of poultry need to be monitored.
While the avian flu outbreaks coincide with the peak migratory season leading to post-outbreak surveillance and culling, there are also reports of outbreaks in the off-season suggesting endemic transmission within the poultry sector.
India is the fastest growing egg producer in the world, but unlike in Europe, poultry birds here are not vaccinated against flu.
Furthermore, the farms with a diversity of animals or in the vicinity of nearby wetlands increases the potential for the viruses to undergo reassortment that can potentially generate more virulent strains—H5N1 or H7N9—which could then infect humans.
Despite this potential,there is noactive surveillance in the poultry sector. There may be no efficient human-to-human transmission mechanism yet, however, the risk cannot be ruled out as the virus continues to evolve.
We need an active and passive year-round surveillance network under One Health which connects monitoring of human and animals in a shared environment.
Wastewater-based epidemiology or pathogen surveillancehas become an integral component of environmental surveillance providing near real-time information on health and community exposure to pathogens.
Whileenvironmental surveillanceis not a new concept and has been used widely for monitoring several pathogens, it offers an excellent tool.
Second aubrite meteorite found in India in 170 years (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
On August 17, 2022, a meteorite streaked over India, breaking apart as it descended through the air, to scatter over two villages in Banaskantha, Gujarat.
One piece struck a neem tree in Rantila village and shattered into several pieces. Another landed on the porch of a house in Ravel village, 10 km away, and met a similar fate.
The meteorite is a “rare, unique specimen” of aubrite, analysis by a group at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, has revealed.
Hundreds of meteorites have crashed in India, but this is only the second recorded crash of an aubrite. The last was in 1852 in Basti, Uttar Pradesh.
Worldwide, aubrites have crashed in at least 12 locations since 1836, including six in the U.S. According to one 2003 definition, aubrites are “igneous rocks” that form in oxygen-poor conditions, and thus “contain a variety of exotic minerals that are not found on Earth”. For example, the mineral heideite was first described in the Basti meteorite.
PRL director Anil Bhardwaj, who is also a coauthor of the paper, called it a “rare meteorite fall” in an email and that “we have to bring out the best of science from it”.
The group’s results were published in Current Science on January 25. Meteors are pieces of some solid object in space that broke away, descended onto a planet or moon. Once they reach the surface, they are called meteorites.
Aubrites are a type of meteorite. Scientists are not yet sure of their origin, although some signs indicate they could be from the asteroid 3103 Eger or from the planet Mercury.
FAQ
How is the stock market regulated in India? (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
On February 10, the Supreme Court asked the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the government to produce the existing regulatory framework in place to protect investors from share market volatility.
After short seller Hindenburg Research published a report in January accusing the Adani Group of stock market manipulation and accounting fraud, its shares plummeted and investors were reported to have lost lakhs of crores.
The securities market in India is regulated by four key laws — The Companies Act, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 (SEBI Act), the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 (SCRA) and the Depositories Act, 1996. The framing of these laws reflect the evolution and development of the capital market in India.
The SEBI Act empowers SEBI to protect the interests of investors and to promote the development of the capital/securities market, besides regulating it.
SEBI was given the power to register intermediaries like stock brokers, merchant bankers, portfolio managers and regulate their functioning by prescribing eligibility criteria, conditions to carry on activities and periodic inspections.
It also has the power to impose penalties such as monetary penalties, including suspending or cancelling the registration. The SCRA empowers SEBI to recognise (and derecognise) stock exchanges, prescribe rules and bye laws for their functioning, and regulate trading, clearing and settlement on stock exchanges.
As part of the development of the securities market, Parliament passed the Depositories Act and SEBI made regulations to enforce the provisions.
This Act introduced and legitimised the concept of dematerialised securities being held in an electronic form. Today almost all the listed securities are held in dematerialised form.
SEBI set up the infrastructure for doing this by registering depositories and depository participants. The depository regulations empower SEBI to regulate functioning of depositories and depository participants by prescribing eligibility conditions, periodic inspections and powers to impose penalties including suspending or cancelling the registration as well as monetary penalties.
Is there a need for an extra dose of polio? (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
The West Bengal government announced that it was introducing an additional dose of injectable polio vaccine as part of the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) for children.
The State, considered among high risk areas for polio, announced that this dose will be given at nine months, in addition to the existing doses in the current UIP.
Additionally, two Polio Immunisation days are observed in the country each year and in some States, there are sub-national immunisation days, involving children under five years of age.
An additional dose of inactivated poliovirus (IPV) at nine months will protect against any polio thereafter — Vaccine Associated Paralytic Polio or Vaccine Derived Polioviruses, explains T. Jacob John, noted virologist and paediatrician.
Poliovirus can invade the central nervous system and as it multiplies, destroy the nerve cells that activate muscles, causing irreversible paralysis in hours.
There are three types of polio virus serotypes: types 1, 2 and 3. According to the India Polio Learning Exchange (along with UNICEF), of those paralysed, 5-10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilised.
There is no cure for polio, but there are safe, effective vaccines which, given multiple times, protect a child for life. Polio held the world in a bind of fear until Jonas Salk developed the first polio vaccine.
Later, Albert Sabin made a ‘live’ polio vaccine that could be administered orally which became the tool of the trade, especially for nations carrying out mass immunisation campaigns, including India.
In 2012, the WHO removed India from the list of endemic countries. Seen as a massive achievement in public health, the campaign had begun years ago.
While Rotary International launched its polio eradication campaign, Polio Plus, in 1985, it was in 1986 that it provided a $2.6 million grant to Tamil Nadu for a pilot polio vaccination campaign.
Profile
India’s eyes and ears on the China border (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, International Relation)
On June 16, 2020, a day after 20 Indian soldiers were killed in clashes with China’s People’s Liberation Army in eastern Ladakh’s Galwan Valley, several Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel were deployed in the mountainous terrain to trace the injured, missing or dead jawans.
The rescue team trekked 3-4 km on foot to evacuate the injured at an altitude of 14,000 feet and helped them reach the base camp even as 10 other soldiers were captured by the Chinese. The captured jawans were released on June 18.
Days before this, in May-June 2020, ITBP personnel stopped Chinese troops in their tracks at multiple locations along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.
Later, as many as 291 jawans were accorded Director General Commendation Rolls and Discs “for their gallant actions during the face-offs and border skirmishes” as their “befitting response” helped safeguard many “hyper sensitive” locations from the Chinese troops.
As China stepped up activities on the border since April-May 2020, the mountain-trained force increased their presence on the cold desert plateau.
The ITBP was raised on October 24, 1962 after the Indo-China war. The Central Armed Police Force (CAPF), specialised in border guarding duties and posted at an altitude of up to 18,900 feet, was initially raised with only four battalions. Each battalion in the ITBP, one of the seven CAPFs, typically comprises over 1,300 personnel. They are deployed at 176 border outposts from the Karakoram Pass in the north-west to Jachep La in Arunachal Pradesh in the north-east.
Most forward posts remain cut off from land routes, and temperature at these locations sometimes dips to minus-45 degrees Celsius. The border posts are exposed to high-velocity storms, snow blizzards, avalanches, and landslips.
The battalions are expected to be raised by 2025-26, increasing the strength of the ITBP from the current 88,000 to 97,000, making it the fourth largest CAPF.
Last time ITBP battalions were raised was in 2011. The Arunachal border is another sector where skirmishes with the Chinese PLA have become frequent.
On December 9, 2022, in the first incident of its kind after the Galwan clashes, several Indian and Chinese soldiers were injured in clashes at Yangste in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh.
Business
Govt. taps consultants to monetise land (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
To expedite the monetisation plans for government-owned land assets across the country, the National Land Monetisation Corporation (NLMC) has decided to rope in international property consultancy firms to help strategise and implement transactions from start to finish.
Following an announcement in the 2021-22 Union Budget, the NLMC, steered by the Department of Public Enterprises was set up last year to undertake monetisation of surplus land and building assets of central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) and other government agencies.
These assets could be core assets that are under operation by a public agency such as transmission lines, roads or a railway line or could be non-core assets which are in surplus, unused or under-used (largely comprising of land, buildings and other immovable properties), with no clear plan for optimal use in the near future.
The Corporation has now invited proposals from international property consultancy firms (IPCs) or other firms engaged in transaction advisory services, asset monetisation or project monetisation which would be empanelled to assist in the “formulation of monetisation strategy, conducting techno-economic feasibility studies of each asset and provide end-to-end transaction advisory services and ensure completion of transactions for monetisation of the assets”.
A pre-bid conference with prospective consultants is scheduled for next week, said an official aware of the development, who added that the empanelled firms’ tasks could include assisting in NLMC’s monetisation plans right from the first step that entails transfer of such assets to the Corporation from public sector firms being closed or where strategic disinvestment is being undertaken. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), currently working on the strategic sales of several PSUs, including Concor, Shipping Corporation of India and BEML – has been steering the demerger of these companies’ non-core and land assets before they are put on the block.