Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: “Vivad se Vishwas” Scheme
Mains level: Various tax amnesty schemes
The government has introduced The Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Bill, 2020.
Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Bill
- In essence, the Bill is aimed at resolving direct tax-related disputes in a speedy manner.
- In the last budget, Sabka Vishwas Scheme was brought in to reduce litigation in indirect taxes. It resulted in settling over 1,89,000 cases.
- The Vivad se Vishwas Scheme is to do for direct tax-related disputes exactly what Sabka Vishwas did for indirect tax-related disputes.
Why need such a scheme?
- At present, there are as many as 4,83,000 direct tax cases pending in various appellate forums i.e. Commissioner (Appeals), ITAT, High Court and Supreme Court.
- The idea behind the scheme is to reduce litigation in the direct tax arena.
What are the specifics of the scheme?
- A taxpayer would be required to pay only the amount of the disputed taxes and will get a complete waiver of interest and penalty provided he pays by 31st March 2020.
- Those who avail this scheme after 31st March 2020 will have to pay some additional amount.
- However, the scheme will remain open only till June 30, 2020. The scheme also applies to all case appeals that are pending at any level.
How much money is at stake?
- According to reports, over Rs 9 lakh crore worth of direct tax disputes are pending in the courts.
- The government hopes to recover a big chunk of this in a swift and simple way, while offering the taxpayers the relief of not having to fight the case endlessly.
- For a government that is staring at a big shortfall in revenues, especially tax revenues, the scheme makes a lot of sense.
What was the response to the Sabka Vishwas scheme?
- At last count, the government expected to have raised Rs 39,500 crore from the Sabka Vishwas scheme, which was only about indirect tax disputes.
- The amnesty window for Sabka Vishwas closed on January 15 and close to 1.90 lakh crore applications, in relation to taxes worth Rs 90,000 crore was received.
- One of the standout successes of this scheme was Mondelez India Foods Pvt Ltd (which was earlier known as Cadbury India) settled one of its most controversial tax disputes.
- The firm was accused of evading taxes to the tune of Rs 580 crore (excluding taxes and penalties). In the end, Mondelez paid Rs 439 crore on January 20 under the amnesty scheme.
Criticisms of the Bill
- The bill led to an uproar in Parliament.
- The opposition criticised the Bill first for the use of Hindi words in its name, arguing that this was government’s way to impose Hindi on the non-Hindi speakers.
- They also argued that the Bill treats honest and dishonest people equally.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NMMSS
Mains level: Policy measures to curb school dropouts
The NMMSS has helped to reduce the drop-out rate at the secondary and senior secondary classes, informed Union HRD Minister.
National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme
- The Centrally Sponsored Scheme NMMSS was launched in May, 2008.
- The objective of the scheme is to award scholarships to meritorious students of economically weaker sections to arrest their drop out at class VIII and encourage them to continue the study at secondary stage.
- Under the Scheme one lakh fresh scholarships @ of Rs.12000/- per annum per student are awarded to selected students of class IX every year and their continuation/renewal in classes X to XII for study in a State Government, Government-aided and Local body schools.
- The selection of students for award of scholarships under the scheme is made through an examination conducted by the States/UTs Governments.
Progress of the scheme
- As on date approx 16.93 lakh scholarships have been sanctioned to the Students across the country.
- Heads of all the institutions disclosed that the NMMS Scheme has reduced the drop-out rate at the secondary and senior secondary classes, particularly from Classes VIII to XII.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Lucknow Declaration
Mains level: India-Africa Framework for Strategic Cooperation
The first India-Africa Defence Ministers’ Conclave held in Lucknow has adopted the Lucknow Declaration.
India-Africa Framework for Strategic Cooperation
The declaration:
- Acknowledges contribution of Indian defence forces in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations in Africa.
- It appreciates initiation of Africa India Field Training Exercises with the first ever AFINDEX in March 2019 and agree that it will further strengthen cooperation in defence preparedness and security.
- The vision is to achieve ‘a conflict-free Africa, prevent genocide, make peace a reality for all and rid the continent of wars, violent conflicts, human rights violations, and humanitarian disasters.
- It call for deeper cooperation in the domain of defence industry including through investment, joint ventures in defence equipment software, digital defence, research & development etc.
- It recognizes the common security challenges such as terrorism and extremism, piracy, organised crime including human trafficking, drug trafficking, weapon smuggling and others.
- The members endorsed initiatives such as African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), Silence The Guns in Africa and Agenda 2063.
- It calls for strengthening the UN Counter-Terrorism mechanisms and to ensure strict compliance with the UN Security Council sanctions regime on terrorism.
- It urged the international community to envisage the adoption of Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism in the UNGA.
- The members recognized the importance of the oceans and seas to the livelihoods of our peoples and that Maritime security is a pre-requisite for the development of Blue or Ocean economy.
- It sought to increase cooperation in securing sea lines of communication, preventing maritime crimes, disaster, piracy, illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing through sharing of information and surveillance.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Second National Judicial Pay Commission
Mains level: Judiciary instititutional issues
The Second National Judicial Pay Commission has filed its report covering the subject of Pay, Pension and Allowances in the Supreme Court.
Second National Judicial Pay Commission
- The Commission is headed by former Supreme Court judge P V Reddy.
- It was set up on the directions of the apex court in May 2017 during the hearing of the All India Judges Association case.
Key recommendations
1) Pay
- It has recommended the adoption of Pay Matrix which has been drawn up by applying the multiplier of 2.81 to the existing pay, commensurate with the percentage of increase of pay of High Court Judges.
- The highest pay which a District Judge (STS) will get, is Rs.2,24,100/-.
2) Pension
- Pension at 50% of last drawn pay worked out on the basis of proposed revised pay scales is recommended w. e. f. 1-1-2016. The family pension will be 30% of the last drawn pay.
- Recommendation has been made to discontinue the New Pension Scheme (NPS) which is being applied to those entering service during or after 2004. The old pension system, which is more beneficial to be revived.
3) Allowances
- The existing allowances have been suitably increased and certain new features have been added. However, the CCA is proposed to be discontinued.
- Certain new allowances viz. children education allowance, home orderly allowance, transport allowance in lieu of pool car facility, has been proposed.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Euthermia
Mains level: Not Much
Euthermia refers to normal body temperature. The thermometer reading of 98.6°F has been a gold standard for a century and a half, ever since a German doctor laid it down as the “normal” body temperature. A new research has found that body temperatures have, in fact, been declining over the last two centuries.
Why we follow 98.6°F?
- In 1851, Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich pioneered the use of the clinical thermometer.
- It was a rod a foot long, which he would stick under the armpits of patients at the hospital attached with Leipzig University, and then wait for 15 minutes (some accounts say 20 minutes) for the temperature to register.
- He took over a million measurements of 25,000 patients, and published his findings in a book in 1868, in which he concluded that the average human body temperature is 98.6°F.
- Most modern scientists feel Wunderlich’s experiments were flawed, and his equipment inaccurate.
- Another study concluded that the average human body temperature is closer to 98.2°F, and suggested that the 98.6°F benchmark be discarded.
The body is cooler
- The Stanford University the researchers confirmed some known trends — body temperature is higher in younger people, in women, in larger bodies and at later times of the day.
- Additionally, they found that the bodies of men born in the early to mid-1990s is on average 1.06°F cooler than those of men born in the early 1800s.
- And the body temperature of women born in the early to mid-1990s is on average 0.58°F lower than that of women born in the 1890s.
- The calculations from the research correspond to a decrease in body temperature of 0.05°F every decade.
Why there’s decrease in body temperature?
- The researchers have proposed that the decrease in body temperature is the result of changes in the environment over the past 200 years, which have in turn driven physiological changes.
- The decrease in average body temperature in the US, they said, could be explained by a reduction in metabolic rate, or the amount of energy being used.
- The environment that we’re living in has changed, including the temperature in our homes, our contact with microorganisms and the food that we have access to.
- Actually the human body is changing physiologically.
So what’s the normal temperature?
- The strong influences of age, time of day, and genders determine the healthy body temperature.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2- Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act amendment and issues involved.
Context
The Union Cabinet’s approval of the amended Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Bill 2020 was reported on January 29. This amendment was long due and has made some anticipated changes demanded by women’s groups and courts, including the Supreme Court.
Why the amendment was necessitated?
- Abortion (unsafe) accounts for almost 10 per cent of maternal deaths in India.
- No provision to avoid unsafe abortion: The amended Act doesn’t have any new substantial provisions to avoid unsafe abortions.
- The right to safe abortion (at least till 12 weeks, when it is safer) would have made the state responsible to provide safe abortion services.
- Reduce the burden on judiciary: The proposed amendments will definitely reduce the burden on the judiciary, especially given the plethora of cases seeking permission for abortion beyond the prescribed duration of 20 weeks.
- Two types of Court cases: The court cases are broadly two types.
- The first group of cases: These are pregnancies that extend beyond 20 weeks of gestation as a result of rape, incest or of minor women.
- The new Act rightly addresses these by extending prescribed period abortion to 24 weeks.
- However, such cases form a minuscule proportion of the total number. For such cases, even the 24-week cap can be done away with, provided the abortions can be safely done.
- The second group of cases
- These are of pregnancies that become unwanted after congenital foetal anomalies are found upon testing.
- With advancements in prenatal foetal screening/diagnostic technologies, more such cases are knocking at the doors of courts.
- Marginal interval under the current act: Anomalies detected at 17-20 weeks provide only a marginal interval to conduct an abortion under the current Act.
- The extension to 24 weeks seems to give cover to these cases for abortion services, reducing the burden on courts.
How the law could be misused?
- Possibility of using any anomaly as a ground for abortion: The amendments have opened up the possibility for any congenital anomaly to be used as grounds for abortion.
- Anomalies which are incompatible with life provide grounds for access to abortion at any time during pregnancy -not just 24 weeks of gestation-as long as the woman desires it and it doesn’t endanger her health.
- But with advancements in diagnostic technologies, more anomalies will be detected, including those which are compatible with life.
- Social acceptability and anomaly: What constitutes an anomaly changes depending on what is considered socially desirable.
- Issue of raising children with disability: Technology-aided detection of “undesirability” could now find social support, as has been the case with female foetuses.
- This raises concerns that raising children with disability, especially in the absence of state support and poor social attitudes, could go down a similar path.
The risk to the life of women
- Abortion beyond 12 weeks carries serious health risks.
- 12 weeks provision under current law: Current law requires the expert opinion of two registered medical practitioners for the abortion beyond 12 weeks.
- Extending the limit to 20 weeks and risk involved: 12-week requirement has been delayed till 20 weeks, though the physiology of pregnancy and risks associated with procedures for second-trimester abortions haven’t changed significantly.
- Possibility of more complications: Without the strengthening of public services, easing second-trimester abortions between 12-20 weeks opens the possibilities of more complications and endangers the life of the woman.
Conclusion
With congenital anomalies as a ground for abortion, the eugenic mindset of having socially desirable children could push more women into risky late abortions. The approach of medical boards advising courts in cases of late abortions under this Act will be critical to balancing women’s right to choose with risk to the woman and the motives for abortion. The rules framed under the Act must address this in no uncertain terms.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2- Suggest the ways to ensure the neutrality of the Speaker in cases under 10th Schedule.
Context
Recently the Supreme Court of India recommended that Parliament should rethink as to whether disqualification petitions ought to be entrusted to a Speaker as a quasi-judicial authority when such a Speaker continues to belong to a particular political party either de jure or de facto.
What the SC recommended?
- Provision of a ‘Permanent Tribunal’: The SC was of the opinion that Parliament may seriously consider a Constitutional amendment to substitute-
- The Speaker of the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies with a ‘permanent Tribunal headed by a retired Supreme Court judge or a retired Chief Justice of a High Court.
- Or some other outside independent mechanism.
- What the ‘Permanent Tribunal’ achieve?
- Impartiality and timely decisions: This is to ensure that such disputes are decided both swiftly and impartially.
- Proper functioning of the democracy: It will give teeth to the provisions contained in the Tenth Schedule, which are so vital in the proper functioning of India’s democracy’.
Range of functions of the Speaker
- What is the nature of the duties of the Speaker?
- Role under 10th schedule: Under 10th Schedule, the nature of duties of the Speaker, is as an “arbiter” or a “quasi-judicial body”. But it also extends to a range of its functions.
- What other functions are performed by the Speaker? While facilitating the business of the House and to maintain decorum in the House, the Speaker has ‘extensive functions to perform in matters regulatory, administrative and judicial, falling under her domain.
- She enjoys vast authority under the Constitution and the Rules, as well as inherently’.
- Ultimate interpreter: She is the ‘ultimate interpreter and arbiter of those provisions which relate to the functioning of the House. Her decisions are final and binding and ordinarily cannot be easily challenged.
- She decides the duration of debates, can discipline members and even override decisions by committees.
- A representative of the House: She represents the collective voice of the House and is the sole representative of the House in the international arena’
Issue of alleged bias
- Allegations of bias by the Speaker: On several occasions, the Speaker’s role has been questioned on the allegation of bias. The office has been criticised for being an agent of pernicious partisan politics.
- The Supreme Court has observed in Jagjit Singh versus State of Haryana“…certain questions have been raised about the confidence in the matter of impartiality on some issues having political overtones which are decided by the Speaker in his capacity as a Tribunal.”
- As a minority view, Justice J.S. Verma in Kihoto Hollohan vs Zachillhu And Others observed: “The Speaker being an authority within the House and his tenure being dependent on the will of the majority therein, the likelihood of suspicion of bias could not be ruled out.”
- What is the problem with the neutrality of the Speaker? Howsoever desirable the proposition of neutrality maybe, in the present circumstances, it would be unrealistic to expect a Speaker to completely abjure all party considerations.
- Structural issues: There are structural issues regarding the manner of appointment of the Speaker and her tenure in office.
- Why the Speaker prefers to maintain party membership: A member is appointed to the office of the Speaker if a motion nominating her is carried in the House.
- Since the electoral system and conventions in India have ‘not developed to ensure protection to the office, there are cogent reasons for Speakers to retain party membership.
- Elections are not always by consensus and there have been cases when different parties have fielded their own candidates.
- All political parties campaign in the constituency of the Speaker.
- Even if the Speaker is re-elected to the House, the office of the Speaker in India is still open for elections’.
- Way forward
- Revamp the structure: What is required is not merely incidental changes in the powers of the Speaker; rather a major revamp in the structure of the office itself is necessary.
- How to ensure the neutrality of the Speaker? The scheme should be brought wherein Speakers should renounce all political affiliations, membership and activity once they have been elected, both within the Assembly and in the country as a whole.
- Replicating the UK model:
- Reference can be sought from the United Kingdom where the ‘main characteristic of the Speaker of the House of Commons is neutrality.
- Once elected, the Speaker gives up all-partisan affiliation, as in other Parliaments of British tradition, but remains in office until retirement, even though the majority may change.
- She does not express any political views during debates and is an election candidate without any ticket.
- Impartiality, fairness and autonomy in decision-making are the hallmarks of a robust institution.
- It is the freedom from interference and pressures which provide the necessary atmosphere where one can work with an absolute commitment to the cause of neutrality as a constitutional value.
Conclusion
At a time when India’s fall in ranks in the latest Democracy Index has evoked concern, it is expected that Parliament will pay heed to the reasoning of the Supreme Court and take steps to strengthen the institution of the Speaker.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 3- How could focusing on inclusive growth help spur the Indian economy.
Context
As the Indian economy is going through a severe crisis, a major solution to the present economic crisis is to go in for inclusive growth; it also means shared prosperity.
Where India stands on poverty and how the slowdown is impacting the poor.
- Bottom 30-40% adversely impacted: The slowing economy has had an adverse impact on the bottom 30%-40% of the population.
- Absolute poverty on the rise: The incidence of absolute poverty, which has been falling since 1972-73, has increased to 30% (4% jump).
- 44% population below the multi-dimensional Poverty line: The Human Development Report (2019) has shown, more than 44% of the Indian population is under the multi-dimensional poverty line.
- Rising inequality: The poorest 50% population at present owns only 4.1% of the national wealth.
- While the richest 10% of people own 73% of the total wealth in India (Suisse Credit 2019).
- Rampant malnourishment: India has 15.2% population malnourished (women 15%) as against 9.3% in China.
- And 50% of the malnourished children in the world are in India.
- At 112th position on global hunger: India’s global hunger rank has gone up to 112 while Brazil is 18, China is 25 and South Africa, 59.
- Dismal performance on education: In the field of education as per a UN report (2015), overall literacy in India is 74.04% (more than the 25% are totally illiterate) against 94.3% in South Africa, 96.6% in China and 92.6% in Brazil.
- Almost 40-45% population is either illiterate or has studied up to standard 4.
- Poor quality of education: Given the quality of education in India, the overall population is very poorly educated, with the share of ‘educated unemployment’ rising by leaps and bounds.
What needs to be realised?
- Focus on domestic demand: It needs to be realised that when exports are declining, the economy will have to depend on domestic demand for growth.
- It is no more feasible for the top 20-25% population to continue growing without depending on the demand from the bottom 40-45% population.
- Demand by the bottom 40% a must: There is thus a strong reason now for the economy to increase effective demand of this bottom 40-45% population at least to continue growing-to reach a $5-trillion economy by 2024.
What is wrong with the growth process?
- Bottom 40% not getting the fair share of growth: A major reason for the crisis is that the growth process has marginalised the bottom 40-plus% of the population.
- It is in the sense that they do not get a fair share of the economic growth, and are more or less deprived of productive employment with a decent income.
- They have not been used as active participants in the growth process. Their potential has not been promoted.
- Less spending for the poor and its consequences: Though the bottom population depends on the government for basic health and elementary education (and also for access to higher educational opportunities)-
- The government spends just 4% of GDP on health (against the norm of 4-6% of GDP) and 3% of GDP on education (against the norm of 6-8% of GDP).
- How this dismal spending affects the poor: As a result of this below norm spending, these people are left hardly literate and sick, with poor nutrition and high morbidity.
- They are incapable of acquiring any meaningful skills or participating actively when new technology is spreading in the rest of the economy.
- The sub-optimal use of labour force: This sub-optimal use of the labour force in the economy is not likely to enable India to achieve optimal growth with proper use of the national resources -the labour force.
Inclusive growth- a solution to the present economic crisis
- Inclusive growth also includes shared prosperity: Here, inclusive growth does not mean only including all sections of the population in the growth process as producers and beneficiaries; it also means “shared prosperity”.
- Since India has already committed to sustainable and inclusive growth at the UN General Assembly, India is definitely obliged to implement inclusive growth.
- This should be our “New India”.
- What “New India” would involve?
- Improve the capability and opportunities: To start with, to improve the capabilities of the masses as well as their well-being by expanding productive employment opportunities for them.
- What expanding productive employment mean? The main steps to expand productive employment for all in the economy should be made up of-
- A process of inclusion.
- Expanding the quality of basic health for all.
- And ensuring quality education to all.
- How will “New India” help?
- Which will by itself generate large-scale employment in the government.
- Having a well-educated and healthy labour force will ensure high employability.
- Such people will be able to participate actively in the development process.
- The cycle of more productive employment: Having a well-educated labour force will help start-ups and MSMEs, in turn triggering a cycle of more productive employment in the economy.
- Global competitiveness increase: This will also improve the global competitiveness of our production units.
- Labour absorption potential of MGNREGA: Employment guarantee schemes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) will also increase employment.
- Assets generated under MGNREGA will expand capital formation in the economy, thereby raising the labour-absorbing capacity of the mainstream economy.
- Why this strategy is advantageous?
- Such a strategy has multiple advantages:
- First– it will raise incomes and the well-being of those who need it most urgently.
- Second– it will raise effective demand rapidly, which is so badly needed in the economy today to raise economic growth.
- Third– growth will be equitable and sustainable.
Way forward
- Finally, how does one raise resources to increase new public investments in the selected sectors?
- Raise direct taxes: One major strategy is to raise direct taxes, both capital tax and wealth tax.
- Past growth has failed to reach the poor: Growth led by providing tax cut and extra incentives, but this growth does not much percolate to the poor.
- Consequently, taxing the rich has to be a major strategy to raise government revenue.
- Treat public expenditure as an investment: The public expenditure on raising capabilities should be treated as social investment rather than social welfare, policymakers will be willing to spend on this capital formation.
- Let the fiscal deficit slip: Finally, there was no sound economic reason to control fiscal deficit ratio. Sound macroeconomics never supports this.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Issue of ever-increasing defence expenditure
The Union Budget for 2020-21 has allocated Rs 1,33,825 crore to defence pensions. This is up by 10½ times in a decade and a half, from Rs 12,715 crore in 2005-06.
The ‘hype’ of defence pension
- The allocation of Rs 1,33, 826 crore is 4.4% of the total expenditure of the central government or 0.6% of GDP.
- And of the overall allocation made to the Defence Ministry, 28.4% goes towards pensions.
- So sharply has the bill for defence pensions gone up that it is now Rs 15,291 crore more than the Defence Ministry’s total capital expenditure, a bulk of which goes towards modernization of the armed forces.
- It now nearly equals the salaries bill for Defence Ministry. The more the government spends on salaries and pensions, the less it can spend on modernizing the armed forces.
- To put it in perspective, the government’s spending on education is Rs 99,300 crore and on health is Rs 69,000 crore.
- To compare it with other sectors, the government’s rural employment scheme MGNREGA has an allocation of only Rs 61,500 crore — 46% of the bill for defence pensions.
Why the bill is high?
- As per the Defence Ministry, there are about 26 lakh armed forces pensioners and family pensioners and approximately 55,000 pensioners are added every year.
- In 2015, the government announced the OROP (One Rank, One Pension) scheme which cost it Rs 8,600 crore.
- The implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations in 2017 again increased the defence pensions bill.
What makes defense pensions distinct?
- Defence pensions are unique in many ways. Defence personnel retire at a young age and thus continue to get pensions for a longer period of time than their civilian counterparts.
- The current ratio of military pensioners to serving military personnel is 1.7 to 1, while the ratio of civil pensioners to civil working personnel is 0.56 to 1.
- This ratio in defence is projected to further change as life expectancy in India goes up and retired personnel live far longer than earlier.
- All civilian employees in the government who joined service on or after 1 January 2004 do not get an assured pension but come under the ambit of the contributory National Pension Scheme (NPS).
- That is meant to reduce the pensions bill of the government on the civilian side, but military personnel have been excluded from the ambit of the NPS because of their short service span.
Where this can lead to
- With economic growth stalling and competing requirement from development and infrastructure sectors, the government is being hard-pressed for the last rupee in its kitty.
- The defence services themselves need more funds to modernize themselves but are struggling with budgetary allocations.
- In such a scenario, attention is likely to come to the fast-rising defence pensions bill.
Feasible solutions
- The short-term answer to keep the bill frozen at the same level is to increase the retirement age of serving military personnel and stop the rise in number of pensioners.
- But at a time when the country is facing unemployment at an all-time high, stopping recruitment for a few years will worsen the situation.
- The other solution is to send the retired military personnel to paramilitary forces but those forces, too, need to stay young and have not accepted the proposal.
- That would also pose the problem of recruitment in a time of high unemployment, as in the case of increase in retirement age of military personnel.
Conclusion
- The sharply rising defence pensions bill, however, has become a challenge that cannot be ignored any longer.
- Unless India’s economy grows at a double-digit rate, it will not be possible to furnish this bill and still modernize the armed forces.
- There are no easy answers to the challenge, and the answer will have to come from the top political leadership.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Prospects of the Global IP Index
Mains level: Intellectual property rights and their protection in India
India has been ranked 40th out of 53 countries on a global intellectual property index, even as the country has shown improvement in terms of scores when it comes to the protection of IP and copyright issues.
GIP Index
- The Global IP Index was released by Global Innovation Policy Center or GIPC of the US Chambers of Commerce.
- The GIPC Index consists of five key sets of indicators to map the national intellectual property environment for the surveyed countries.
- The major indicator categories are:
- patents, related rights, and limitations;
- copyrights, related rights, and limitations;
- trademarks, related rights, and limitations;
- enforcement;
- membership and ratification of international treaties.
India’s performance
- India was placed at 36th position among 50 countries in 2019.
- India’s score, however, increased from 36.04 per cent (16.22 out of 45) in 2019 to 38.46 per cent (19.23 out of 50) in 2020, a 2.42 per cent jump in absolute score.
- However, India’s relative score increased by 6.71 per cent.
- India also continues to score well in the Systemic Efficiency indicator, scoring ahead of 28 other economies in these indicators.
Challenges for India
- GIPC has identified several challenges for India. Prominent among them are:
Patentability requirements, patent enforcement, compulsory licensing, patent opposition, regulatory data protection, transparency in reporting seizures by customs, and Singapore Treaty of Law of TMs and Patent Law Treaty
Measures to protect IPs in India
- Since the release of the 2016 National IPR Policy, the government of India has made a focused effort to support investments in innovation and creativity through increasingly robust IP protection and enforcement.
- Since 2016, India has improved the speed of processing for patent and trademark applications, increased awareness of IP rights among Indian innovators and creators, and facilitated the registration and enforcement of those rights.
- To continue this upward trajectory, much work remains to be done to introduce transformative changes to India’s overall IP framework and take serious steps to consistently implement strong IP standards.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Prision reforms
The Supreme Court has taken up a report on Prison Reforms for hearing on before a Bench led by CJI Sharad A. Bobde.
About the Committee
- The court had in September 2018 appointed the Justice Roy Committee to examine the various problems plaguing prisons, from overcrowding to lack of legal advice to convicts to issues of remission and parole.
- Besides Justice Roy, a former Supreme Court judge, the members included an IG, Bureau of Police Research and Development, and the DG (Prisons), Tihar Jail.
Various recommendations
- Every new prisoner should be allowed a free phone call a day to his family members to see him through his first week in jail.
- This is among the several recommendations — besides modern cooking facilities, canteens to buy essential items and trial through video-conferencing.
- The report described the preparation of food in kitchens as “primitive and arduous”.
- The kitchens are congested and unhygienic and the diet has remained unchanged for years now.
Staffing the prisons
- The court said overcrowding is a common bane in the under-staffed prisons. The Prison Department has a perennial average of 30%-40% vacancies.
- Both the prisoner and his guard equally suffer human rights violation.
Speedy trial
- The undertrial prisoner, who is yet to get his day in court, suffers the most, languishing behind bars for years without a hearing.
- Speedy trial remains one of the best ways to remedy the unwarranted phenomenon of over-crowding.
- The report concluded that most prisons are “teeming with undertrial prisoners”, whose numbers are highly disproportionate to those of convicts.
- It said there should be at least one lawyer for every 30 prisoners.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Brahadeeswarar Temple
Mains level: Temple Architecture
- Tens of thousands of pilgrims thronged Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu’s Cauvery delta to witness the Kumbhabishegam (consecration) ceremony at the Sri Brahadeeswarar Temple.
- This enormously significant event was held after 23 years — and after the Madras High Court had settled an old argument over the ritual purification process only five days previously.
- The judgment delivered by the Madurai Bench of the court addressed the struggle for supremacy between the Sanskrit and Tamil traditions.
Sri Brahadeeswarar Temple and Kumbhabishegam ceremony
- The Sri Brahadeeswarar Temple (also spelt Brihadisvara, and called Peruvudaiyar Koyil, which translates simply to ‘Big Temple’) is the most famous of the many temples in Thanjavur.
- The temple, one of the world’s largest and grandest, was built between 1003 AD and 1010 AD by the great Chola emperor Raja Raja I (c. 985-1014 AD).
Before the High Court
- The court, in a dispute over which language should be used in the slokas at the kumbhabishegam, agreed with the state government’s affidavit that the ceremony should be in both Sanskrit and Tamil.
- The Temple committee had demanded that the Kumbhabishegam should be held only in Tamil.
- The court ruled the choice to be vested with the devotees to seek for their archanas to be performed at their wishes by chanting the manthras either in Tamil or in Sanskrit.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UNU-INWEH
Mains level: Need for wastewater management
The world generates about 380 trillion litres (tl) wastewater every year. These stores vast amounts of energy, nutrients for fertilizers besides, of course, water, according to recent study by the UN Institute for Water Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH).
Energy in wastewater
- In principle, nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium recovered from wastewater produced annually can offset 13.4 per cent of global demand to produce fertilizers.
- Assuming full-energy recovery, the study estimated, current wastewater volume could provide enough methane fuel to power 196 million households by 2030 and 239 million households by 2050.
- Usable water reclaimed from wastewater can irrigate up to 31 million hectares (mha) of land, the study claimed.
- The volume of wastewater being generated is projected to rise roughly 24 per cent by 2030 to 470 tl and 51 per cent by 2050 to 574 tl.
- Treating wastewater efficiently can go a long way in achieving the UN-mandated sustainable development goals (SDG).
About UNU-INWEH
- UNU-INWEH acts as the “UN Think Tank on Water” and contributes to the resolution of the global water challenge through a unique programme of applied research and education.
- It conceives, develops, and manages water initiatives that help developing countries build their capacity for lasting improvements in human and ecosystem health, and overall reduction in poverty.
- The University is not a traditional university in the sense of having a faculty, campus, or students.
- They respond directly to the regional and global water crisis and facilitate efforts to meet UN Development goals by providing a scientific evidence base.
- UNU-INWEH carries out its work in cooperation with other research institutions, international organizations, individual scholars, and scientists throughout the world.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 3- India-France relations
Context
Defence cooperation has been one of the fundamentals of the bilateral relationship between India and France, which developed a close and ambitious strategic partnership for over 20 years.
Defence cooperation between France and India
- A long history of cooperation: The defence cooperation between our two countries can be traced back to the first few years following India’s Independence.
- As early as 1953, the Indian Air Force was equipped with a hundred Toofani fighter jets from Dassault, then the Mystère IV, which defended India in tough times.
- This marked the first page in the history of cooperation in military aviation, which also recorded the supply of 60 Mirage 2000s in the 1980s.
- Rafale deal: The ongoing delivery of 36 Rafales is being done as per the schedule.
- The first batch of aircraft, currently being used to train Indian pilots, will land at Air Force Station Ambala within a few months.
- Partnership in maritime domain: Today, the partnership has been deployed in the maritime domain, in support of our joint strategic vision for the maintenance of stability and security in the Indo-Pacific.
- As far as naval equipment is concerned, the Indian Navy has already commissioned two of the six submarines built in Mumbai as part of an industrial partnership between Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) and Naval Group.
Industrial cooperation between the two countries
- Support to indigenous production: As for industrial cooperation, the French approach has always been, whenever possible, to offer partial indigenous production in India.
- France was largely a precursor with regard to Make in India, with HAL manufacturing the light helicopters Cheetah and Chetak, and BDL’s Milan anti-tank missile in India in the 1960s.
- It continues this policy today. The plant built under the Dassault Aviation and Reliance joint venture will enable, for example, the complete production of the Falcon 2000 business jet here in India by 2022.
- Transfer of technology: After the delivery of the first two Scorpene submarines, transfers of technology provided by the Naval Group enabled MDL to be solely in charge of building the next four submarines.
- The design of these submarines has thus become largely Indian knowhow.
- Safran will soon inaugurate an aircraft wiring systems factory in Hyderabad and also build another major facility to manufacture LEAP turbofan engine components.
- Thales is investing massively in engineering works in Bengaluru, MBDA is building a plant in Coimbatore and French aeronautical equipment manufacturer Latécoère recently inaugurated a factory in Belgaum.
Opportunities for further cooperation
- Developing the supply chain at all the levels: The French aerospace industries association, GIFAS, and GICAN, the French Marine Industry Group, are organising a seminar focused on this subject during DefExpo.
- Along with the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM), they are exploring opportunities for developing Indo-French industrial partnerships at all stages of the production chain.
- Promoting Make in India: India can count on France being by its side for its Make in India enterprise.
Conclusion
India and France both share the same vision for a new balanced multipolar world, which must be based on the rule of law. They also share the same vision on the main challenges of the times, be they security developments in Asia and the Indo-Pacific, or combating international terrorism. But it is by possessing the capability of ensuring national security and making strategic choices that most efficiently defend their shared principles and visions.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 3- Expanding the India's sphere of influence in IOR and humanitarian assistance in the region.
Context
Earlier this week, India sent an amphibious warship, INS Airavat, to Madagascar in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) to help in rescue efforts after the island nation was hit by a cyclone.
Humanitarian operations- Key component of peacetime strategy
- A key component in IOR: In recent years, humanitarian operations have emerged as a key component of the Indian Navy’s peacetime strategy in the IOR.
- In March 2019, the Navy deployed four warships for relief operations when Mozambique was hit by Cyclone Idai.
- Indian naval teams played a stellar role in search and rescue operations and even set up medical camps.
- A few months later, the Navy sent two warships to Japan to assist in rescue efforts following Typhoon Hagibis.
- A year earlier, Indian vessels had delivered urgent medical assistance to Sulawesi, Indonesia, after it was struck by a high-intensity earthquake.
- Operation Samudra Maitri was launched after a telephonic conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indonesian President Joko Widodo, with naval planners mobilising assets and relief material in quick time.
- India’s vision for IOR: The Navy’s new humanitarian approach, many says, is a maritime manifestation of India’s vision for the IOR, christened SAGAR (Security And Growth for All in the Region).
- Lesson’s from tsunami: The Navy’s turn towards human-centred maritime security isn’t recent. It was in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami that naval commanders first recognised the importance of large-scale relief and rescue missions in the IOR.
- For over a decade, considerable resource and energy have been spent developing specialist capability and skills for naval humanitarian operations.
India- A regional security provider
- What is changing in India’s stance: What’s new today is New Delhi’s resolve to burnish its ‘regional security provider’ credentials.
- The Navy has reached out to countries across the Indo-Pacific region, with greater deployment of assets, personnel and specialist equipment, showcasing an ability to undertake complex and diverse missions.
- The highpoint for India: The highpoint of the Navy’s ‘benign’ efforts was the evacuation of over 1,500 Indian expatriates and 1,300 foreign nationals from Yemen in 2015 amid fighting for control of Aden.
- Three years later, Indian naval ships were in Yemen again, to evacuate 38 Indians stranded in the cyclone-hit Socotra Island.
How the new role could help India?
- India’s desire to be the linchpin of security: The Navy’s humanitarian impulse stems from a desire to be a linchpin of security in the IOR.
- The concept of the first responder: At the core of the evolving operations philosophy is the concept of ‘the first responder’, with the capability and willingness to provide assistance.
- Extension of the sphere of influence: The above approach has the potential to create an extended sphere of Indian influence in the IOR.
- Projection of soft power: Naval leaders recognise that benign missions help project Indian soft power and extend New Delhi’s influence in the littorals.
- Creating goodwill: Prompt response during a humanitarian crisis helps generate political goodwill in the neighbourhood.
Cause for caution with maritime presence
- The issue with prolonged presence: While low-end naval assets in humanitarian mode create strategic equity for India, the prolonged presence of front-line warships in foreign waters has the potential to make partners anxious.
- Shaping perception over naval presence: Naval power, experts underline, must be deployed discreetly, shaping perceptions in subtle ways.
- Need to hide the underlying intent: The key is to not let the underlying intent of a mission appear geopolitical.
- To ensure that motives aren’t misunderstood, and the assistance provided is efficient and cost-effective, it is best to use dedicated disaster-relief platforms.
- India lacking inventory hospital ship: However, unlike the U.S. and China that have in their inventory hospital ships fully equipped for medical assistance, India deploys regular warships and survey ships converted for medical aid.
- India’s improvised platforms do not match the U.S. Navy’s medical ship USNS Mercy or the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s Peace Ark.
Need for greater coordination
- The Navy’s expanding array of humanitarian missions reveals a need for greater coordination with the Indo-Pacific navies
- In particular the U.S. Navy, the Royal Australian Navy and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces- which possess significant experience and assets to mitigate humanitarian threats.
Conclusion
As natural disasters in the IOR become more frequent and intense, India’s regional security role is likely to grow exponentially. At the forefront of disaster scenarios, the Indian Navy and Coast Guard would find themselves undertaking demanding missions. Humanitarian operations could serve as a springboard for a larger cooperative endeavour in the maritime commons.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2- India's role and interest's in IMO and consequences.
Context
The International Maritime Organization (IMO), had mandated that merchant ships should not burn fuel with sulphur content greater than 0.5% beginning January 1.
Why the new sulphur content limit matters?
- The previous limit of 3.5 %: Before the ban, fuel had a comfortable sulphur content limit of 3.5%, which was applicable to most parts of the world.
- Problem with low content fuel: Many industry professionals feared that the new very-low-sulphur fuel would be incompatible with the engines and other vessel equipment.
- Problems with past US limits: Past mandates on sulphur limits in American waters had led to many technical problems. There have been instances of ships having been stranded after fine particles separated out from the fuel, damaging equipment and clogging up devices.
How such regulations matter for India?
- Sulphur cap one of the many problems: The global sulphur cap is only one of the many environment-related regulations that have been shaking up the shipping industry.
- The industry is generally risk-averse and slow to accept changes.
- For instance, efforts are ongoing to reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx) and ozone-depleting gases.
- IMO project to decarbonise shipping: Further, the IMO has announced an ambitious project to decarbonise shipping in order to reduce carbon emissions.
- How it matters for India? These regulations are triggering massive technological, operational and structural changes.
- They come at a price which will have to be borne to a large extent by developing countries such as India.
- India among 10 countries: The IMO currently lists India as among the 10 states with the “largest interest in international seaborne trade”.
- Inadequate participation of India: But India’s participation in the IMO to advance its national interests has been desultory and woefully inadequate.
- How it could matters: The sulphur cap, for instance-
- Will reduce emissions.
- Reduce the health impact on coastal populations but-
- Ship operational costs are going up since the new fuel product is more expensive.
- Refineries struggling to meet demand: As refineries including those in India struggle to meet the demand, freight costs have started moving up, with a cascading effect on retail prices.
Significance of shipping and the role of IMO
- Significance of shipping: Shipping, which accounts for over 90% by volume and about 80% by value of global trade.
- Role of IMO: It is a highly regulated industry with a range of legislation promulgated by the IMO.
- The IMO currently has 174 member states and three associate members; there are also scores of non-governmental and inter-governmental organisations.
- The IMO’s policies or conventions have a serious impact on every aspect of shipping including the cost of maritime trade.
- How IMO functions
- The IMO, like any other UN agency, is primarily a secretariat, which facilitates decision-making processes on all maritime matters through meetings of member states.
- How treaties are made? The binding instruments are brought in through the conventions -to which member states sign on to for compliance -as well as amendments to the same and related codes.
- Structure of IMO: Structurally, maritime matters are dealt with by the committees of the IMO –
- The Maritime Safety Committee (MSC).
- Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC).
- Technical Cooperation Committee.
- Legal Committee and the Facilitation Committee.
- Each committee is designated a separate aspect of shipping and supported by sub-committees. Working groups and correspondence groups support the subcommittees.
- Role of subcommittees of IMO: The subcommittees are the main working organs, where the proposals from a member state are parsed before they are forwarded to one of the main committees.
- The main committees, thereafter, with the nod of the Assembly, put the approved proposal for enactment through the Convention, amendments, and codes or circulars.
India’s inadequate efforts at protecting the interest
- How other countries deal with the issues: To ensure that their maritime interests are protected, the European countries move their proposals in unison and voting or support are given en bloc.
- Permanent representative: China, Japan, Singapore, Korea and a few others represent their interests through their permanent representative as well as ensuring that a large delegation takes part and intervenes in the meetings.
- How India is falling short? While these countries have fiercely protected their interests, India has not.
- No permanent representative: For example, its permanent representative post at London has remained vacant for the last 25 years.
- Representation at meetings is often through a skeletal delegation
- India’s presentation inadequate: A review of IMO documents shows that the number of submissions made by India in the recent past has been measly and not in proportion to India’s stakes in global shipping.
- “High-Risk Area” demarcation issue: The promulgation of “High-Risk Areas” when piracy was at its peak and dominated media headlines.
- What happened in the issue? The IMO’s demarcation resulted in half the Arabian Sea and virtually the entire south-west coast of India being seen as piracy-infested, despite the presence of the Indian Navy and Coast Guard.
- The “Enrica Lexie” shooting incident of 2012, off the coast of Kerala, was a direct fallout of the demarcation.
- What were the consequences of the demarcation issue?
- Increase in insurance costs: The “High-Risk Area” formulation led to a ballooning of insurance costs; it affected goods coming into or out of India.
- It took great efforts to revoke the promulgation and negate the financial burden.
- The episode highlighted India’s apathy and inadequate representation at the IMO.
- NavIC introduction difficulty: There was also great difficulty in introducing the indigenously designed NavIC (NAVigation with Indian Constellation) in the worldwide maritime navigation system.
- What could be the consequences in future?
- EU’s documented procedure: In contrast, the European Union has a documented procedure on how to influence the IMO.
- Agenda driven by developed countries: New legislative mandates, fitment of new equipment and changes to ship structural designs being brought on have been driven by developed countries.
- Consequences for India: All the issues pushed by developed countries are not entirely pragmatic from the point of view of India’s interests.
- Further, it will not be mere speculation to see them as efforts to push products and companies based in the West.
Conclusion
So far, India’s presence and participation in the IMO has been at the individual level. India should now make its presence felt so that its national interests are served. It is time India regained its status as a major maritime power.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Forest Fire Prevention and Management scheme
Mains level: Forest fires in India
The Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has informed that area covering 93,273 hectares was affected by forest fires in 2019. Most of the fires have been “ground fires” burning ground vegetation.
Measures to curb Forest fires:
1) National Action Plan on Forest Fires
- The MoEFCC has prepared a National Action Plan on Forest Fires in 2018 after several rounds of consultation with all states and UTs.
- The objective of this plan is to minimize forest fires by informing, enabling and empowering forest fringe communities and incentivizing them to work in tandem with the State Forest Departments.
- The plan also intends to substantially reduce the vulnerability of forests across diverse forest ecosystems in the country against fire hazards, enhance capabilities of forest personnel and institutions in fighting fires and swift recovery subsequent to fire incidents.
2) Forest Fire Prevention and Management scheme
- The MoEFCC provides forest fire prevention and management measures under the Centrally Sponsored Forest Fire Prevention and Management (FPM) scheme.
- The FPM is the only centrally funded program specifically dedicated to assist the states in dealing with forest fires.
- The FPM replaced the Intensification of Forest Management Scheme (IFMS) in 2017. By revamping the IFMS, the FPM has increased the amount dedicated for forest fire work.
- Funds allocated under the FPM are according to the 90:10 ratio of central to state funding in the Northeast and Western Himalayan regions and 60:40 ratio for all other states.
- Nodal officers for forest fire prevention and control have been appointed in each state.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Global Report on Medical Data Leak
Mains level: Medical administartion in India and its loopholes
Medical details of over 120 million Indian patients have been leaked and made freely available on the Internet, according to a recent report.
Global Report on Medical Data Leak
- It is published by Greenbone Sustainable Resilience, a German cybersecurity firm.
- The first report was published in October 2019 in which Greenbone revealed a widespread data leak of a massive number of records, including images of CT scans, X-rays, MRIs and even pictures of the patients.
- The follow-up report, which was published, classifies countries in the “good”, “bad” and “ugly” categories based on the action taken by their governments after the first report was made public.
- India ranks second in the “ugly” category, after the U.S.
Highlights of the report
- As per the follow-up report, Maharashtra ranks the highest in terms of the number of data troves available online, with 3,08,451 troves offering access to 6,97,89,685 images.
- The next is Karnataka, with 1,82,865 data troves giving access to 1,37,31,001 images.
- The number of data troves containing this sensitive data went up by a significant number in the Indian context a month after the initial report was published.
- It is a notable fact for the systems located in India, that almost 100% of the studies (data troves) allow full access to related images stated the report.
What led to the leaks?
- Greenbone’s original report says the leak was facilitated by the fact that the Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS) servers, where these details are stored.
- These servers are not secure and linked to the public Internet without any protection, making them easily accessible to malicious elements.
Impact of leaks
- The leak is worrying because the affected patients can include anyone from the common working man to politicians and celebrities.
- In image-driven fields like politics or entertainment, knowledge about certain ailments faced by people from these fields could deal a huge blow to their image.
- The other concern is of fake identities being created using the details, which can be misused in any possible number of ways.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Programme for Bovine Breeding and Dairy Development
Mains level: Dairy sector of India
- The Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying has provided certain information in Parliament regarding the ongoing National Programme for Cattle and Buffalo Breeding.
- The scheme is subsumed under Rashtriya Gokul Mission since December 2014.
National Programme for Bovine Breeding and Dairy Development
- The NPBBDD has been formulated by merging four ongoing schemes of the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries in the dairy sector.
- It was launched in Feb 2014.
- This merger has been done to integrate milk production and dairying activities in a scientific and holistic manner to meet the increasing demand for milk in the country.
Components of the scheme
NPBBDD has the following three components.
- National Programme for Bovine Breeding (NPBB)
- National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD) and
- Rashtriya Gokul Mission.
Differences between all these schemes:
1) National Programme for Bovine Breeding
It aims-
- To arrange quality Artificial Insemination services at farmers’ doorstep
- To bring all breedable females under organized breeding through Artificial Insemination or natural service using germplasm of high genetic merits
2) National Programme for Dairy Development
It aims-
- To create and strengthen infrastructure for the production of quality milk including cold chain infrastructure linking the farmer to the consumer
- To strengthen dairy cooperative societies/Producers Companies at the village level
- To increase milk production by providing technical input services like cattle-feed, and mineral mixture etc.
3) Rashtriya Gokul Mission
It aims-
- To undertake breed improvement programme for indigenous cattle breeds so as to improve the genetic makeup and increase the stock.
- To enhance milk production and productivity of indigenous bovines.
- To upgrade non-descript cattle using elite indigenous breeds like Gir, Sahiwal, Rathi, Deoni, Tharparkar, Red Sindhi.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PTA and its uses
Mains level: Not Much
- During her Budget speech, FM Mrs. Sitharaman said that the government was abolishing in “public interest” an anti-dumping duty that was levied on imports of a chemical called PTA.
- Domestic manufacturers of polyester have called the move a huge relief for the industry, claiming they had been fighting to remove the duty for four-and-a-half years.
What is PTA?
- Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) is a crucial raw material used to make various products, including polyester fabrics.
- PTA makes up for around 70-80% of a polyester product and is, therefore, important to those involved in the manufacture of man-made fabrics or their components, according to industry executives.
- This includes products like polyester staple fibre and spun yarn.
- Our cushions and sofas may have polyester staple fibre fillings. Some sportswear, swimsuits, dresses, trousers, curtains, sofa covers, jackets, car seat covers and bed sheets have a certain proportion of polyester in them.
What led to the government decision?
- There has been persistent demand that they should be allowed to source that particular product at an affordable rate, even if it means importing it.
- She had said easy availability of this “critical input” at competitive prices was desirable to unlock “immense” potential in the textile sector, seen as a “significant” employment generator.
- The duty had meant importers were paying an extra $27-$160 for every 1,000 kg of PTA that they wanted to import from countries like China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Iran, Korea and Thailand.
- Removing the duty will allow PTA users to source from international markets and may make it as much as $30 per 1,000 kg cheaper than now, according to industry executives.
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