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Refraining from fresh commitments to contain global temperature rise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address at COP-28, offered to host the 33rd edition of the annual summit due in 2028 in India.
He said that developed countries ought to be “vacating the carbon space” before 2050, and made a pitch for countries to join India on its “Green Credit initiative” which was a “non-commercial” effort to create a carbon sink.
A proposal to host the Conference of the Parties (COP) must be approved by other signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). India had previously hosted the summit in 2002.
GST revenues rise to ₹1.68 lakh cr. in November; fastest growth this fiscal (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
India’s gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenues grew 15.1% in November to hit nearly ₹1.68 lakh crore, the third highest monthly tally so far from the indirect tax.
This is the fastest uptick in tax collections so far in 2023-24, surpassing the 10-month high growth of 13.4% in October.
Taxes from domestic transactions and services imports rose over 20%, the Finance Ministry said, noting this is the sixth time in this fiscal year that revenues have crossed ₹1.6 lakh crore.
November’s revenues included Central GST of ₹30,420 crore, State GST of ₹38,226 crore and Integrated IGST of ₹87,009 crore, which included ₹39,198 crore collected on import of goods.
GST Compensation Cess inflows stood at ₹12,274 crore, including ₹1,036 crore collected on import of goods.
Editorial
Improving the capability of the Indian state (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The Indian state is a paradox of too big and yet too small. Try setting up a business or building a house in an urban area, and you will quickly realise how the thicket of the licences, permits, clearances, and permissions can make life impossible.
Even as an ordinary citizen, one can never be sure to be on the right side of the law and the circuitous regulations.
At the same time, the Weberian state in India is too small. In the G-20 group, the country has the smallest number of civil servants per capita.
The public sector share in total employment in India (at 5.77%) is half the corresponding figures for Indonesia and China, and just about a third of that in the United Kingdom.
With approximately 1,600 per million, the number of central government personnel in India pales in comparison to 7,500 in the United States.
Similarly, the per capita number of doctors, teachers, town planners, police, judges, firefighters, inspectors for food and drugs, and regulators is the lowest even among countries at a similar stage of development.
The process of Myanmar’s actual unification has begun (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Indian think-tanks, analysts, writers and the media dub Myanmar’s Spring Revolution as militancy and militant action against Myanmar’s military, but there are many developments which we in India should take into account.
In 2022, the parallel governance system set up by the National Unity Consultative Council (a decision-making political alliance of pro-democracy forces and ethnic armed organisations established with more than 400 diverse representatives on March 8, 2021) organised an online “People’s Assembly convened in January 2022”, which adopted the Federal Democracy Charter (FDC) declared on March 31, 2021 by the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), thereby leading to the formation of the National Unity Government (NUG) and in shaping “Myanmar’s Spring Revolution”.
News
UAE announces $30 billion fund to catalyse climate investments (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
The UAE, host of the 28th Conference of Parties (COP-28), announced a $30-billion commitment to an investment fund called ALTÉRRA.
The privately managed fund aims to mobilise $250 billion globally by 2030 and be the largest of its kind, geared towards climate investments and transforming emerging markets and developing economies.
From the initial tranche, an unspecified amount has been earmarked for the development of over 6 GW (1 GW is 1,000 MW) of new clean energy capacity in India. This includes establishing 1,200 MW of wind and solar projects that will begin producing clean power by 2025.
COP-28 President Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber will chair the fund and Director-General Majid Al Suwaidi will serve as its chief executive officer. ALTÉRRA has been established by Lunate, an independent global investment manager, and is domiciled in the Abu Dhabi Global Market.
World Bank recalls paper on decline in toilet usage in India (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
Weeks after the World Bank published a departmental working paper highlighting the “most concerning” trend of toilet usage declining in rural India since 2018 despite early gains of the Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin, it has recalled this paper and two others, pending an “internal review”, while insisting that the papers had not gone through the required approvals internally before being published.
The paper titled “Progress on Sanitation in Rural India: Reconciling Diverse Evidence”, was published in September.
It concluded that despite “breathtaking” gains in increasing toilet access, toilet usage had been going down in rural India since 2018 — with the largest drop in usage reported among people of Scheduled Caste (20 percentage points) and Scheduled Tribe (24 percentage points) communities.
Business
States’ debt to stay at 31-32% in FY24: Crisil (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
States’ debt will remain elevated at 31-32% of their gross domestic product (GDP) amid higher capital outlays and moderate revenue growth this fiscal, with overall borrowings likely to rise by 9% to more than ₹87 lakh crore.
Indebtedness of a State is measured as the ratio of its debt to gross state domestic product (GSDP). Before COVID-19, the debt-GSDP ratio was at 28-29%. But, the aggregate gross fiscal deficit (GFD) as a ratio of GSDP is expected to remain at 2.5, well below the mandated level of 3 under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act.
With lower-than-expected revenue growth, States are forced to borrow more to expand capital outlays, besides meeting high committed revenue expenditure related to salaries, pensions and interest costs.
This, along with modest single-digit revenue growth, will keep the debt level high at 31-32% of the gross domestic output.
World
Arrests under PTA sparks concern in Sri Lanka (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Recent arrests made by Sri Lanka police using a controversial anti-terrorism law, whose repeal remains a key demand of rights defenders in the island nation, has sparked concern among Tamil legislators, activists, and international agencies including the UN.
In a post on social media platform ‘X’ on Friday, Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Shanakiyan Rasamanickam said: “Govt is not genuine in its reconciliation efforts.
So far 10 individuals have been arrested under the PTA [Prevention of Terrorism Act] in Batticaloa this week.
Amongst the arrested is a woman, student and a politician. The most ridiculous arrest is of a bakery employee for selling a cake. #repealPTA”.