Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Integrated Theatre Commands
Mains level: Issues over the constitution of ITC
The recent controversy over the alleged marginalization of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in the proposed ‘theaterisation’ of the national security landscape has led to some debates.
IAF concerned over ITC
- The Indian military continues to work in silos, like all governmental agencies in India, and a need was rightly felt and directions issued by PM to bring about jointness.
- The aim is to bring about synergy in operations while economizing through the elimination of duplication and wasteful practices or processes.
- IAF is keen to bring in the requisite reforms to improve the war-fighting capabilities of the Indian military as a whole while also economizing.
Reservations of IAF
- In the current formulation of theatres, the objections from the IAF have essentially been due to air power being seen as an adjunct to the two surface forces.
- IAF veterans feel that the IAF is being divided into penny packets which would seriously degrade the effectiveness of air operations in any future conflict or contingency.
- They feel that the use of air power is found to be sub-optimal under the military ethos of “an order is an order”.
Hurry by the CDS
- Concurrently, such an intellectual exercise would identify duplication, wasteful resources and practices.
- This is what the CDS should have been pursuing before first freezing the structure and then trying to glue the pieces together or hammer square pegs in round holes.
- Only such a strategy can define the types of contingencies the military is expected to address, leading to appropriate military strategies, doctrines and required capabilities.
Why is the IAF right?
- Airpower is the lead element, particularly since the Indian political aim, even in the foreseeable future, is unlikely to be the occupation of new territories.
- A large, manpower-intensive army with unusable armour formations would then also come into focus.
- Even the proposed air defence command conflicts with the domain command in the seamless employment of airpower.
- It is due to the absence of such an intellectual exercise that the IAF does not wish to see its limited resources scattered away in fighting defensive battles by a land force commander with little expertise.
- The Army fails to realise that offensive air power is best not seen, busy keeping the enemy air force pinned down elsewhere as shown in 1971.
The Army-Air Force silo
- Historically, the Indian Army has always kept the IAF out of the information loop and demonstrated a penchant to ‘go it alone’.
- The charge that the IAF joined the party late during Kargil (1999) is also totally baseless and shows a lack of knowledge of events and a failure to learn from historical facts.
- Recorded facts and a dispassionate view would clearly show that the IAF began conducting reconnaissance missions as soon as the Army just made a request for attack helicopters.
- This despite the IAF pointing out the unsuitability of armed helicopters at these altitudes and their vulnerability.
- The use of offensive air power close to the Line of Control also required that the political leadership be kept informed due to possibilities of escalation, something that the Army was unwilling to do.
Echoes from Kargil
- Seen in this light, the Chinese incursion into Eastern Ladakh last year is reminiscent of Kargil.
- While the response has been swift, it is evident that a clear intent to use combat air power, as against 1962, has significantly contributed in deterring China.
- However, such intent and a joint strategy would have been forcefully signalled by the presence of air force representatives in the ongoing negotiations to restore status quo ante.
- The continuing build-up of the infrastructure for the PLA Air Force in Tibet further emphasizes the need for an air-land strategy, with air power as the lead element to deter or defeat the Chinese designs at coercion.
National security strategy should be at the centerstage
- If war is the continuation of politics by other means, then it is essential to first define the political objectives flowing into a national security strategy before any effective use of force can be truly contemplated.
- The failures of the mightiest militaries in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and even our own Indian misadventure in Sri Lanka bear testimony to the lack of clear political objectives and appropriate military strategies.
- It is, therefore, unfortunate that even after over seven decades after Independence, India still does not have a clearly articulated national security strategy.
Address the structural gaps
- Finally, theatre or any lower structure requires an institutionalized higher defence organization, which has been sadly missing.
- This has lead to little regular dialogue between the political and military leadership, except in crises resulting in knee-jerk responses.
- This led to a remark from a scholar-warrior that, “it is ironic that the Cabinet has an Accommodation Committee but not a Defence Committee”.
- In the current proposal, it appears that the CDS, as the permanent chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC), would also exercise operational control of the theatre/functional commands.
Way forward
- Prudence demands that instead of ramming down such structures without adequate deliberations and discussions with all stakeholders.
- We need to first evolve appropriate military strategies in a nuclear backdrop in concert with the political objectives.
- Thereafter, joint planning and training for all foreseen contingencies, with war-gaming, would automatically indicate the required structures with suitable command, control and communications.
Conclusion
- We must remember that in war there is no prize for the runner-up.
- It is better that such objections and dissenting opinions come out now before the structure is formalized than once it is set in stone.
- The nation would then end up paying a heavy price, with the Air Force carrying the burden and blame for the failures.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Operation Flood
Mains level: India's dairy sector
One of India’s largest dairy cooperative societies has just raised its milk prices for consumers by Rs 2/litre and this has become national news.
Sparking off a debate
- Many in the media are debating how this will push up Consumer Price Index causing inflationary pressures, which may soon force the RBI to change its “accommodative stance” on monetary policy.
Why such hues over Milk?
Milk is an important case study for our overall agriculture sector.
- First, milk is our biggest agri-commodity in terms of value, greater than paddy (rice), wheat, and sugarcane combined.
- Second, India is the largest producer of milk in the world with an estimated production of about 208 million tonnes in 2020-21, way above its closest competitor, the US, whose milk production hovers around 100 million tonnes.
- Third, our dairy sector is dominated by smallholders with an average herd size of 4-5 animals.
- Fourth, and this is important, there is no minimum support price (MSP) for milk. It is more like a contract between the company and the farmers.
How is the milk price determined?
- The price of milk is largely determined by the overall forces of demand and supply.
- Increasing costs of production enter through the supply side, but the demand side cannot be ignored.
- As a result of all this, the overall growth in the dairy sector for the last 20 years has been between 4-5 per cent per annum, and lately, it has accelerated to even 6 per cent.
Concerns of dairy farmers
- For dairy farmers, this increase in milk prices is not commensurate to the increase in their feed and other costs, and they feel that their margins are getting squeezed.
- They also feel that this price still does not count their logistics cost.
Transformation since Op Flood
- It is well known that “Operation Flood” (OF) that started in the 1970s transformed this sector.
- The institutional innovation of a cooperative model, steered by Verghese Kurien, changed the structure of this sector.
- However, even after five decades, cooperatives processed only 10 per cent of the overall milk production.
- India needed the double-engine force of the organised private sector to process another 10 per cent.
- The doors for the private sector were opened partially with the 1991 reforms, but fully in 2002-03 under the leadership of Vajpayee, when the dairy sector was completely de-licenced.
Rise of dairypreneurs
- Many start-ups “dairypreneurs” have come in promising a farm-to-home experience of milk.
- There is one company that delivers fresh milk at the consumer’s doorstep and gives quality testing kits at home.
- These have digitized cattle health, milk production, milk procurement, milk testing, and cold chain management.
Effective breeding
- Sexed semen technology helps in predetermining the sex of offspring by sorting X and Y chromosomes from the natural sperm mix.
- This can solve the problem of unwanted bulls on Indian roads.
- Although the current cost of sexed sorted semen is high, Maharashtra has taken a bold step in subsidizing it for artificial insemination.
Way forward
- The upshot of all this is that let prices be determined by market forces, with marginal support from the government or cooperatives in times of extreme.
- The major focus should be on innovations to cut down costs, raise productivity, ensure food safety, and be globally competitive.
- That will help both farmers and consumers alike.
- The cooperatives did a great job during OF, and are still doing that, but the private sector entering this sector in a big way has opened the gates of creativity and competition.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Turmoil in Afghanistan with US exit
The US troops are departing away after coordinating the 20-year-long war in Afghanistan, effectively ending their military operations in the country.
Why did the US invade Afghanistan?
- Weeks after the 9-11 terrorist attacks, the US declared war on Afghanistan.
- It was then ruled by the Taliban.
Terror then gets safe heaven
- Al-Qaeda’s leaders and key operatives fled to safe havens in Pakistan.
- The US rejected an offer from the Taliban to surrender and vowed to defeat the insurgents in every corner of Afghanistan.
- In 2003, US announced that major military operations in the country were over.
- The US focus shifted to the Iraq invasion, while in Afghanistan, western powers helped build a centralized democratic system and institutions.
- But that neither ended the war nor stabilised the country.
Why is the US pulling back?
- The US had reached the conclusion long ago that the war was unwinnable.
- It wanted a face-saving exit.
What are the terms of US exit?
- Before the Doha talks started, the Taliban had maintained that they would hold direct talks only with the US, and not with the Kabul government, which they did not recognize.
- The US effectively accepted this demand when they cut the Afghan government off the process and entered direct talks with the insurgents.
- The deal dealt with four aspects of the conflict — violence, foreign troops, intra-Afghan peace talks and the use of Afghan soil by terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and the IS.
- According to the agreement, the Taliban promised to reduce violence, join intra-Afghan peace talks and cut all ties with foreign terrorist groups, while the US pledged to withdraw all its troops.
Present situation in Afghanistan
- After the agreement was signed, the US put pressure on the Afghan government to release thousands of Taliban prisoners — a key Taliban precondition for starting intra-Afghan talks.
- Talks between Taliban representatives and the Afghan government began in Doha in September 2020 but did not reach any breakthrough.
- At present, the peace process is frozen. And the US is hurrying for the exit.
- The Taliban reduced hostilities against foreign troops but continued to attack Afghan forces even after the agreement was signed.
- Kabul maintains that the Pakistan support for the Taliban is allowing the insurgents to overcome military pressure and carry forward with their agenda.
Pakistani role in reviving Taliban
- Pakistan was one of the three countries that had recognized the Taliban regime in the 1990s.
- The Taliban captured much of the country with help from Pakistan’s ISI.
- After the 9/11 attacks, Pakistan’s military dictator Musharraf, under pressure from the Bush administration, cut formal ties with the Taliban and joined America’s war on terror.
- But Pakistan played a double game. It provided shelter to the Talabani leaders and regrouped their organization which helped them make a staged comeback in Afghanistan.
- Pakistan successfully expected these groups to launch terror activities against India.
Again in the spotlight
- A violent military takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban may not serve Pakistan’s core interests.
- It wants to check India’s influence in Afghanistan and bring the Taliban to Kabul.
- But a violent takeover, like in the 1990s, would lack international acceptability, leaving Afghanistan unstable for a foreseeable future.
- In such a scenario, Pakistan could face another influx of refugees from Afghanistan and strengthening of anti-Pakistan terror groups, such as the Tehrik-i-Taliban.
- From a strategic point of view, Pakistan would prefer the Taliban being accommodated in power through negotiations and a peaceful settlement.
- But it’s not clear whether Pakistan has the capacity to shape the post-American outcome in Afghanistan.
Why is India reaching out to the Taliban?
- India had made contacts with the Taliban in Doha. New Delhi has not denied reports of its outreach to the Taliban.
- India has three critical areas in dealing with the Taliban:
- One, protecting its investments, which run into billions of rupees, in Afghanistan;
- Two, preventing a future Taliban regime from being a pawn of the ISI;
- Three, making sure that the Pakistan-backed anti-India terrorist groups do not get support from the Taliban.
Is the Afghanistan government doomed?
- The American intelligence community has concluded that Kabul could fall within six months.
- None of the global leaders are certain about the survival of the Afghan government.
Taliban is pacing its action
- One thing is certain — the American withdrawal has turned the balance of power in the battleground in favour of the Taliban.
- They are already making rapid advances, and could launch a major offensive targeting the city centers and provincial capitals once the last American leaves.
Future of Afghanistan
There seems three possibilities:
- One, there could be a political settlement in which the Taliban and the government agree to some power-sharing mechanism and jointly shape the future of Afghanistan. As of now, this looks like a remote possibility.
- Two, an all-out civil war may be possible, in which the government, economically backed and militarily trained by the West, holds on to its positions in key cities. This is already unfolding.
- A third scenario would be of the Taliban taking over the country.
Any nation planning to deal with Afghanistan should be prepared for all three scenarios.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Autonomous districts, Sixth Schedule
Mains level: Issues after reorganization of Jammu Kashmir
When Jammu and Kashmir were bifurcated into two UTs, Ladakh was seen welcoming the reorganization. However, different demands are coming from its two districts of Ladakh, Leh and Kargil.
Leh and Kargil, not alike
- The leaders from Kargil demanded that the district should remain part of J&K.
- The Leh-based Ladakh Buddhist Association has put forth its demand for an autonomous hill council under the Sixth Schedule, modelled on the lines of the Bodoland Territorial Council in Assam.
- But what Leh leaders did not bargain for was the complete loss of legislative powers.
- Earlier, the two districts each sent four representatives to the J&K legislature. After the changes, they were down to one legislator — their sole MP— with all powers vested in the UT bureaucracy.
- Unlike the UT of J&K, Ladakh was a UT without an assembly.
What are their concerns?
- What both Ladakh districts fear is the alienation of land, loss of identity, culture, language, and change in demography.
- They fear that it will follow their political disempowerment.
Hill Development Councils
- Leh and Kargil have separate Autonomous Hill Development Councils, set up under the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils Act, 1997.
- However, the AHDCs have no legislative powers.
- The councils are elected and have executive powers over the allotment, use and occupation of land vested in them by the Centre, and the powers to collect some local taxes, such as parking fees, taxes on shops etc.
- But the real powers are now wielded by the UT administration, which is seen as even more remote than the erstwhile state government of J&K.
What is the sixth schedule?
- The Sixth Schedule is a provision of Article 244(A) of the Constitution, originally meant for the creation of autonomous tribal regions in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura.
- Hill councils under this provision have legislative powers.
Evolving demands
- But with no progress on Leh’s demand for Sixth Schedule protections, the Leh leadership has now upped its demands.
- Other issues under discussion are protections for language, culture, land and jobs, plus a long-standing demand for a route between Kargil and Skardu in territory under Pakistan in Gilgit- Baltistan.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CRC treaty
Mains level: Child rights abuse
The US has added Pakistan and 14 other countries to a Child Soldier Recruiter List that identifies foreign governments having government-supported armed groups that recruit or use child soldiers.
Who is a child soldier?
- The recruitment or use of children below the age of 15 as soldiers is prohibited by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
- Currently, 193 countries have ratified the CRC.
- The CRC requires state parties to “take all feasible measures” to ensure that children under 18 are not engaged in direct hostilities.
- It further prohibits the state parties from recruiting children under 15 into the armed forces.
- It is considered a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
- In addition, the Optional Protocol to the CRC further prohibits kids under the age 18 from being compulsorily recruited into state or non-state armed forces or directly engaging in hostilities.
- The United States is a party to the Optional Protocol.
What is US law?
- The US adopted the Child Soldiers Prevention Act (CSPA) in 2008.
- The CSPA prohibits the US government from providing military assistance, including money, military education and training, or direct sales of military equipment, to alleged countries.
What is prohibited for countries on the list?
The following types of security assistance are prohibited for countries that are on the list:
- Licenses for direct commercial sales of military equipment
- Foreign military financing for the purchase of defence articles and services, as well as design and construction services
- International military education and training
- Excess defence articles
- Peacekeeping operations
Criticism of the treaty
- International treaties like CRS are valuable and necessary tools to establish international norms as they raise awareness regarding human rights abuses.
- However, these treaties are limited in scope and nature, and they tend to be idealistic rather than practicable.
- The UN’s mechanisms only bind state parties that ratify the treaties.
- It, therefore, has no authority over countries that are not parties to the convention or are non-state entities, such as rebel militias recruiting child soldiers.
- While the UN views its treaties and conventions as binding on state parties, it has no police power mechanism to enforce its decisions.
- Therefore, the CRC and its Optional Protocol are limited by the signatories’ willingness to comply. Somalia, for example, is a signatory but it hasn’t ratified the convention.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: OPEC, OPEC Plus
Mains level: Global crude oil pricing mechanisms
OPEC+ has failed to reach a deal on oil output policy because the United Arab Emirates blocked some aspects of the pact.
About OPEC
- OPEC is a permanent, intergovernmental organization, created at the Baghdad Conference in 1960, by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.
- It aims to manage the supply of oil in an effort to set the price of oil in the world market, in order to avoid fluctuations that might affect the economies of both producing and purchasing countries.
- It is headquartered in Vienna, Austria.
- OPEC membership is open to any country that is a substantial exporter of oil and which shares the ideals of the organization.
- Today OPEC is a cartel that includes 14 nations, predominantly from the middle east whose sole responsibility is to control prices and moderate supply.
What is OPEC+?
- The non-OPEC countries which export crude oil along with the 14 OPECs are termed as OPEC plus countries.
- OPEC plus countries include Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, South Sudan, and Sudan.
- Saudi and Russia, both have been at the heart of a three-year alliance of oil producers known as OPEC Plus — which now includes 11 OPEC members and 10 non-OPEC nations — that aims to shore up oil prices with production cuts.
Must read:
[Burning Issue] Oil Prices and OPEC+
Concerns for India
- Rising oil prices are posing fiscal challenges for India, where heavily-taxed retail fuel prices have touched record highs, threatening the demand-driven recovery.
- India imports about 84% of its oil and relies on West Asian supplies to meet over three-fifths of its demand.
- As one of the largest crude-consuming countries, India is concerned that such actions by producing countries have the potential to undermine consumption-led recovery.
- This would hurt consumers, especially in our price-sensitive market.
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q.The term ‘West Texas Intermediate’, sometimes found in news, refers to a grade of (CSP 2020):
(a) Crude oil
(b) Bullion
(c) Rare earth elements
(d) Uranium
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Neutron star, Black Holes
Mains level: Gravitational waves observation
In an entirely strange phenomenon, astronomers have spotted two neutron stars being swallowed by different black holes.
What are Black Holes?
- A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing—no particles or even electromagnetic radiation such as light—can escape from it.
- Neutron stars and black holes are among the most extreme objects in the universe. They are the fossil relics of massive dead stars.
- When a star that is more than eight times as massive as the Sun runs out of fuel, it undergoes a spectacular explosion called a supernova.
- What remains can be a neutron star or a black hole.
There is no upper limit to how massive a black hole can be, but all black holes have two things in common: a point of no return at their surface called an “event horizon”, from which not even light can escape and a point at their centre called a “singularity”, at which the laws of physics as we understand them break down.
What about Neutron stars?
- Neutron stars are typically between 1.5 and two times as massive as the Sun but are so dense that all their mass is packed into an object the size of a city.
- At this density, atoms can no longer sustain their structure and dissolve into a stream of free quarks and gluons: the building blocks of protons and neutrons.
What is the news observation?
- Gravitational waves are produced when celestial objects collide and the ensuing energy creates ripples in the fabric of space-time which carry all the way to detectors on Earth.
- The reverberations from the two celestial objects were picked up using a global network of gravitational wave detectors.
What makes this strange phenomenon?
- This is the first time scientists have seen gravitational waves from a neutron star and a black hole.
- Previous gravitational wave detections have spotted black holes colliding, and neutron stars merging but not one of each.
Why study this?
- Neutron star-black hole systems allow us to piece together the evolutionary history of stars.
- Gravitational-wave astronomers are like stellar fossil-hunters, using the relics of exploded stars to understand how massive stars form, live and die.
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q.“Event Horizon” is related to (CSP 2018):
(a) Telescope
(b) Black hole
(c) Solar glares
(d) None of the above
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Project BOLD
Mains level: Not Much
The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has launched the unique Project Bamboo Oasis on Lands in Drought (BOLD) in Rajasthan.
Project BOLD
- Project BOLD seeks to create bamboo-based green patches in arid and semi-arid land zones.
- It is a unique scientific exercise serving the combined national objectives of reducing desertification and providing livelihood and multi-disciplinary rural industry support.
- 5000 saplings of special bamboo species: Bambusa-Tulda and Bambusa-Polymorpha specially brought from Assam – have been planted over 25 bigha (16 acres approx) of vacant arid Gram Panchayat land.
- KVIC has thus created a world record of planting the highest number of bamboo saplings on a single day at one location.
Why Bamboo?
- KVIC has judiciously chosen bamboo for developing green patches.
- Bamboos grow very fast and in about three years’ time, they could be harvested.
- Bamboos are also known for conserving water and reducing evaporation of water from the land surface, which is an important feature in arid and drought-prone regions.
Significance of the move
- The project will help in reducing the land degradation percentage of the country, while on the other hand, they will be havens of sustainable development and food security.
- The bamboo plantation program will boost self-employment in the region.
- It will benefit a large number of women and unemployed youths in the region by connecting them to skill development programs.
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q. Consider the following statements:
- As per recent amendment to the Indian Forest Act, 1927, forest dwellers have the right to fell the bamboos grown on forest areas.
- As per the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, bamboo is a minor forest produce.
- The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 allows ownership of minor forest produce to forest dwellers.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (CSP 2019)
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Back2Basics: Bamboo in India
- Bamboos are tall treelike grasses.
- With an amendment in 2017 in the Indian Forest Act 1927, the Bamboo has ceased to be a tree anymore.
- Earlier, the definition of tree in the law included palm, bamboo, brushwood and cane.
- The move aims to promote cultivation of bamboo in non-forest areas to achieve the “twin objectives” of increasing the income of farmers and also increasing the green cover of the country.
- Bamboo grown in the forest areas would continue to be governed by the provisions of the Indian Forest Act.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BITs
Mains level: Paper 3- Honouring the adverse international judicial ruling in dispute with investors
The article highlights the lack of immediate compliance by the Indian government in awards involving foreign investors.
Why honouring award is important
- An important factor that propels investors to invest in foreign lands is that the host state will honour contracts and enforce awards even when it loses.
- But when the host state refuses to do so, it shakes investors’ confidence in the host state’s credibility towards the rule of law, and escalates the regulatory risk enormously.
- To an extent, this has been India’s story over the last few years
- Last year, India lost two high-profile bilateral investment treaty (BIT) disputes to two leading global corporations — Vodafone and Cairn Energy — on retrospective taxation.
- India has challenged both the awards at the courts of the seat of arbitration.
- As India drags its feet on the issue of compliance, it harms India’s reputation in dealing with foreign investors.
Antrix-Devas agreement cancellation dispute
- The other set of high-profile BIT disputes involve the cancellation of an agreement between Antrix, a commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation, and Devas Multimedia.
- This annulment led to three legal disputes — a commercial arbitration between Antrix and Devas Multimedia at the International Chambers of Commerce (ICC), and two BIT arbitrations brought by the Mauritius investors and German investors.
- India lost all three disputes.
- The ICC arbitration tribunal ordered Antrix to pay $1.2 billion to Devas after a U.S. court confirmed the award earlier this year.
- After the ICC award, Indian agencies started investigating Devas accusing it of corruption and fraud.
- Last month, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) ordered the liquidation of Devas on the ground that the affairs of the company were being carried on fraudulently.
- This has led to Devas issuing a notice of intention to initiate a new BIT arbitration against India, sowing the seeds for complex legal battles again.
Implications for investment in India
- A closer reading of these cases reveals that whenever India loses a case to a foreign investor, immediate compliance rarely happens.
- Instead, efforts are made to delay the compliance as much as possible.
- While these efforts may be legal, it sends out a deleterious message to foreign investors.
- It shows a recalcitrant attitude towards adverse judicial rulings.
- This may not help India in attracting global corporations to its shores to ‘make for the world’.
Consider the question “What are the factors that are leading to more Indian business disputes being settled elsewhere? What are the implications of delay by the government in honouring the awards of the disputes?”
Conclusion
As India aspire to be the global destination of FDI, it needs to burnish its image on the dispute resolution front by honouring the awards.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GST
Mains level: Success oof the GST regime
The Prime Minister has lauded Goods and Services Taxes (GST) on its completion of 4 years and said it has been a milestone in the economic landscape of India.
What is GST?
- GST is an indirect tax that has replaced many indirect taxes in India such as excise duty, VAT, services tax, etc.
- The Goods and Service Tax Act was passed in Parliament on 29th March 2017 and came into effect on 1st July 2017. It is a single domestic indirect tax law for the entire country.
- It is a comprehensive, multi-stage, destination-based tax that is levied on every value addition.
- Under the GST regime, the tax is levied at every point of sale. In the case of intra-state sales, Central GST and State GST are charged. All the inter-state sales are chargeable to the Integrated GST.
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q.All revenues received by the Union. Government by way of taxes and other receipts for the conduct of Government business are credited to the (CSP 2015):
(a) Contingency Fund of India
(b) Public Account
(c) Consolidated Fund of India
(d) Deposits and Advances Fund
What are the components of GST?
There are three taxes applicable under this system:
- CGST: It is the tax collected by the Central Government on an intra-state sale (e.g., a transaction happening within Maharashtra)
- SGST: It is the tax collected by the state government on an intra-state sale (e.g., a transaction happening within Maharashtra)
- IGST: It is a tax collected by the Central Government for an inter-state sale (e.g., Maharashtra to Tamil Nadu)
Advantages Of GST
- GST has mainly removed the cascading effect on the sale of goods and services.
- Removal of the cascading effect has impacted the cost of goods.
- Since the GST regime eliminates the tax on tax, the cost of goods decreases.
- Also, GST is mainly technologically driven.
- All the activities like registration, return filing, application for refund and response to notice needs to be done online on the GST portal, which accelerates the processes.
Issues with GST
- High operational cost
- GST has given rise to complexity for many business owners across the nation.
- GST has received criticism for being called a ‘Disability Tax’ as it now taxes articles such as braille paper, wheelchairs, hearing aid etc.
- Petrol is not under GST, which goes against the ideals of the unification of commodities.
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