Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Global Minimum Tax, BEPS
Mains level: Global Minimum Tax Debate
A global deal to ensure big companies pay a minimum tax rate of 15% and make it harder for them to avoid taxation has been agreed by 136 countries.
What is the news?
- The OECD said four countries – Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – had not yet joined the agreement.
- However, the countries behind the accord together accounted for over 90% of the global economy.
Why a global minimum tax?
- With budgets strained after the COVID-19 crisis, many governments want more than ever to discourage multinationals from shifting profits – and tax revenues – to low-tax countries.
- Increasingly, income from intangible sources such as drug patents, software and royalties on intellectual property has migrated to these jurisdictions.
- This has allowed companies to avoid paying higher taxes in their traditional home countries.
- The minimum tax and other provisions aim to put an end to decades of tax competition between governments to attract foreign investment.
How would a deal work?
- The global minimum tax rate would apply to overseas profits of multinational firms with 750 million euros ($868 million) in sales globally.
- Govts could still set whatever local corporate tax rate they want.
- However, buif companies pay lower rates in a particular country, their home governments could “top up” their taxes to the 15% minimum, eliminating the advantage of shifting profits.
- A second track of the overhaul would allow countries where revenues are earned to tax 25% of the largest multinationals’ so-called excess profit – defined as profit in excess of 10% of revenue.
What happens next?
- The next step is for finance ministers from the Group of 20 economic powers to formally endorse the deal, paving the way for adoption by G20 leaders at an end October summit.
- Nonetheless, questions remain about the US position which hangs in part on a domestic tax reform the Biden administration wants to push through the US Congress.
- The agreement calls for countries to bring it into law in 2022 so that it can take effect by 2023, an extremely tight timeframe given that previous international tax deals took years to implement.
- Countries that have in recent years created national digital services taxes will have to repeal them.
What will be the economic impact?
- The OECD, which has steered the negotiations, estimates the minimum tax will generate $150 billion in additional global tax revenues annually.
- Taxing rights on more than $125 billion of profit will be additionally shifted to the countries were they are earned from the low tax countries where they are currently booked.
- Economists expect that the deal will encourage multinationals to repatriate capital to their country of headquarters, giving a boost to those economies.
- However, various deductions and exceptions baked into the deal are at the same time designed to limit the impact on low tax countries like Ireland, where many US groups base their European operations.
Back2Basics: Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)
- BEPS refers to corporate tax planning strategies used by multinationals to “shift” profits from higher-tax jurisdictions to lower-tax jurisdictions.
- It thus “erodes” the “tax base” of the higher-tax jurisdictions.
- Corporate tax havens offer BEPS tools to “shift” profits to the haven, and additional BEPS tools to avoid paying taxes within the haven.
- It is alleged that BEPS is associated mostly with American technology and life science multinationals.
Try this:
Q.3) What are the factors that led to the demand of global minimum corporate tax? What will be its implications for India? (10 Marks)
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paddy straw as animal fodder
Punjab has now proposed to use the paddy crop residue as fodder for animals, especially cattle.
Why such a move?
- In Punjab, the total availability of paddy straw is about 20 million tones per annum.
- The total value of this straw is Rs 400 crore approx., calculated on an average rate of Rs 200/quintal. Almost all of it is burnt in fields.
- This accounts for economic loss apart from the loss of 77,000 tonnes of nitrogen and 5.6 million tonnes of Total Digestible Nutrients (TDN) which could be used for ruminant production.
- Also nearly 30.4 per cent of rice straw is used for animal feed in Southeast Asia, Mongolia and China.
Economics behind paddy straw
- High silica and lignin content reduces its digestive properties.
- Higher selenium content in paddy straw also limits its use as fodder in animals as compared to wheat straw.
- However, if given in moderate quantities (up to 5 kg per animal per day), selenium poses no health hazard to the animal.
- Paddy straw also contains oxalates (2-2.5%) which leads to calcium deficiency so mineral mixture should always be fed along with the straw.
Treatments for feeding paddy straw to animals
- Paddy Straw cannot be directly fed to animals. It has to undergo some treatments.
- Two of them are: Urea-only treatment and urea plus molasses treatment.
[A] Urea treatment of paddy straw
- 14 kg of urea is dissolved in 200 litres water and spray on chopped paddy straw.
- The fermented straws have soft texture with 6.0-8.0 per cent crude protein, 3.0-4.0 percent DCP and 55-60 per cent TDN.
- This involves a combination of physical, chemical and biological treatments.
- The paddy straw is chaffed and moistened (physical) with urea solution (chemical).
- The breakdown of urea release ammonia gas, a part of which is utilised by microbes (biological) for their proliferation (enriching the straw with microbial protein).
- This in turn results in breakage of lingo-cellulosic bonds making cellulose and hemi-cellulose assessable for utilization by microbes in the rumen.
- The digestibility of cellulose increases from 40-45% in untreated paddy straw to 70-75 per cent in fermented wheat straw.
[B] Urea plus molasses treatment
- Also called “Urea-Molasses impregnated straw”, this method involves treating paddy straw with urea and molasses.
- Urea 1 kg and molasses 3 kg was mixed thoroughly and mixed with water 10 kg. This is mixed with chaffed paddy straw and fed to animals on same day.
- The experts however clarify that for maintenance of body weight in animals, paddy straw alone is not sufficient.
- Minerals and green fodder supplementation is required.
How does the nutritional value of paddy straw increase after urea treatment?
- The TDN values in urea treated paddy straw increased manifold as compared to untreated straw.
- Crude protein (CP) increased from 4.5% to 8%, digestible crude protein (DCP) from 1.5% to 4% and total digestible nutrients (TDN) from 40% to 55%.
- The feeding of urea treated straw (6 kg/day) to lactating buffaloes giving about 10 kg milk/day can result in saving about 60 per cent of oilseed cake in the ration.
- Feeding of paddy straw should be mixed with berseem, cowpea or Lucerne as it forms a maintenance ration.
- The straw should be fed with concentrate mixture and additional DCP or limestone should be given to the animals to reduce the effect of oxalates.
- Oxalates also interfere in carbohydrate metabolism perhaps due to non-availability of calcium as cofactor.
What are the potentially harmful effects?
- The intake of siliceous forages has been associated with urinary siliceous calculi in drier regions where water may be limited.
- There have been no definitive studies in India, but urinary calculi are associated with rice straw consumption.
- It has high selenium (0.5 to 4.5 % ) content which can cause serious health problems in dairy animals.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Olivine, Bridgmanite
Mains level: Formation of Earth
The researchers from the Geological Survey of India collected about 30 meteorite fragments with the largest weighing around a kilogram near the town of Katol in Nagpur in 2012.
Significance of meteor study
- Now, by studying the composition of these meteorite fragments, researchers have unraveled the composition expected to be present in the Earth’s lower mantle which is at about 660 km deep.
- Studying the meteorite could also tell us more about how our Earth evolved from being a magma ocean to a rocky planet.
Key component of the Meteor: Olivine
- Initial studies revealed that the host rock was mainly composed of olivine, an olive-green mineral.
- Olivine is the most abundant phase in our Earth’s upper mantle.
- Our Earth is composed of different layers including the outer crust, followed by the mantle and then the inner core.
How to study a meteorite?
- The researchers took a small sample of the meteorite and examined it using special microscopy techniques.
- The mineralogy was determined using a laser micro-Raman spectrometer.
- These techniques helped the team identify, characterise the crystal structure of the meteorite and determine its chemical composition and texture.
What does the new study show?
- The international team of scientists examined a section of this highly-shocked meteorite. It resembles to the first natural occurrence of a mineral called bridgmanite.
- The mineral was named in 2014 after Prof. Percy W. Bridgman, recipient of the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physics.
- Various computational and experimental studies have shown that about 80% of the Earth’s lower mantle is made up of bridgmanite.
- By studying this meteorite sample, scientists can decode how bridgmanite crystallized during the final stages of our Earth’s formation.
Bridgmanite: On Earth vs. on Meteorite
- Katol meteorite is a unique sample and it is a significant discovery.
- The bridgmanite in the meteorite was found to be formed at pressures of about 23 to 25 gigapascals generated by the shock event.
- The high temperature and pressure in our Earth’s interior have changed over billions of years causing crystallisation, melting, remelting of the different minerals before they reached their current state.
- It is important to study these individual minerals to get a thorough idea of how and when the Earth’s layers formed.
How does it help understand evolution of Earth?
- The inner planets or terrestrial planets or rocky planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are formed by accretion or by rocky pieces coming together.
- They were formed as a planet by increased pressure and high temperature caused by radioactive elements and gravitational forces.
- Our Earth was an ocean of magma before the elements crystallised and stabilised and the different layers such as core, mantle were formed.
- The heavier elements like iron went to the core while the lighter silicates stayed in the mantle.
- By using the meteorite as an analog for Earth, we can unearth more details about the formation.
Answer this question from our AWE initiative:
What are seismic waves? How have they helped in understanding the structure of the earth? (250 W/ 15 M)
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Hermann Bacher
Mains level: Watershed development in India
Hermann Bacher, popularly known as the ‘father of community-led watershed development in India’, passed away at the ripe old age of 97 years in Switzerland September 14, 2021.
Hermann Bacher
- Born in 1924, Bacher, came to India in 1948 at the young age of 24 years.
- He was to spend the next 60 years of his life here, most of it in Maharashtra.
- Struck by the poverty he saw in rural Maharashtra, he dedicated his life to the upliftment of the poor, the landless and rural women.
- Bacher was given Germany’s highest civilian award, the Federal Cross of the Order of Merit in 1994, in recognition of his outstanding efforts.
- In 2017, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertifiucation (UNCCD) awarded WOTR the prestigious ‘Land for Life Award 2017’.
- He is widely regarded and respected as a true ‘man of God’ for whom selfless service of the poor was worship at its most sublime. He is fondly remembered as ‘Bacher Baba’.
Notable works
- The 1972 droughts in Maharashtra led him to re-calibrate his developmental approach.
- This meant that in rain-dependent rural Maharashtra, a shift had to be made from ‘resource exploitation’ to sustainable resource use, or ‘resource mobilisation’, as he described it.
- He helped thousands of landless labourers’ secure title to land under the Land Reforms Act, 1957, beginning in 1965.
- He also organised lakhs of farmers to develop their farms and increase their agricultural productivity by helping them access irrigation, improved and hybrid seeds etc.
Pioneering water harvest
- Since rain fell in the watersheds and landscapes villagers lived in, the only way to harvest and conserve rainwater wherever it fell was to undertake watershed development measures.
- The idea was that “running water must be made to walk; walking water made to stop and sink underground”.
- This meant, planting trees and grasses, conserving forests, undertaking soil and water conservation works such as digging contour trenches, raising farm bunds, etc.
- It also meant building water harvesting structures on the streams (check dams, earthen bunds, etc) in a systematic manner across the entire landscape of the village, beginning from the top.
Establishing the IGWDP
- Through his work, was born the idea which later became the large-scale Indo-German Watershed Development Program (IGWDP) that he conceived and launched in Maharashtra in 1989.
- This was in collaboration with and the support of the Governments of India, Maharashtra and Germany, NABARD and the non-profit sector.
- Its unique and ground-breaking feature was that it put the villagers in the driver’s seat — the community would plan the programme, implement it and maintain the watershed assets.
- Funds, substantial amounts, would be given directly to them and they would have to manage and account
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: LNT Model
Mains level: Not Much
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) decisively upheld the Linear No-Threshold (LNT) model to prescribe radiation safety standards, ending the protracted controversy on the topic.
What is the LNT Model?
- The LNT is a dose-response model used in radiation protection to estimate stochastic health effects such as radiation-induced cancer, genetic mutations etc. on the human body due to exposure to ionizing radiation.
- The LNT model states that biological effects such as cancer and hereditary effects due to exposure to ionising radiation increase as a linear function of dose, without threshold.
- It provides a sound regulatory basis for minimizing the risk of unnecessary radiation exposure to both members of the public and radiation workers.
Why in news?
- LNT model continues to provide a sound basis for a conservative radiation protection regulatory framework that protects both the public and occupational workers.
- The model helps the agencies to regulate radiation exposures to diverse categories of licensees, from commercial nuclear power plants to individual industrial radiographers and nuclear medical practices.
- There are also studies and findings that support the continued use of the LNT model, including those by national and international authoritative scientific advisory bodies.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Taiwan issue and implications for the Indo-Pacific region
Context
If the rising confrontation between the United States and China erupts into a clash of arms, the likely arena may well be the Taiwan Strait.
Historical background of the Taiwan issue
- The Guomindang (KMT) forces under Chiang Kai-shek lost the 1945-49 civil war to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1949. forces under Mao Zedong.
- Chiang retreated to the island of Taiwan and set up a regime that claimed authority over the whole of China and pledged to recover the mainland eventually.
- The CCP in turn pledged to reclaim what it regarded as a “renegade” province and achieve the final reunification of China.
- Role of the U.S.: Taiwan could not be occupied militarily by the newly established People’s Republic of China (PRC) as it became a military ally of the United States during the Korean War of 1950-53.
- This phase came to an end with the U.S. recognising the PRC as the legitimate government of China in 1979, ending its official relationship with Taiwan and abrogating its mutual defence treaty with the island.
- Strategic ambiguity policy of the US: Nevertheless, the U.S. has declared that it will “maintain the ability to come to Taiwan’s defence” while not committing itself to do so.
- This is the policy of “strategic ambiguity”.
- The PRC has pursued a typical carrot and stick policy to achieve the reunification of Taiwan with the mainland.
- It has held out the prospect, indeed preference for peaceful reunification, through promising a high degree of autonomy to the island under the “one country two systems”.
- The “one country two systems” formula first applied to Hong Kong after its reversion to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.
China-Taiwan economic links
- Taiwan business entities have invested heavily in mainland China and the two economies have become increasingly integrated.
- Between 1991 and 2020, the stock of Taiwanese capital invested in China reached U.S. $188.5 billion and bilateral trade in 2019 was U.S. $150 billion, about 15% of Taiwan’s GDP.
- By the same token, China is capable of inflicting acute economic pain on Taiwan through coercive policies if the island is seen to drift towards an independent status.
Prospects for peaceful reunification
- Taiwan has two major political parties.
- The KMT, dominated by the descendants of the mainlanders remains committed to a one-China policy.
- The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), on the other hand, is more representative of the indigenous population of the island, and favours independence.
- Faced with aggressive threats from China and lack of international support, the demand for independence has been muted.
- Ever since the DPP under Tsai Ing-wen won the presidential elections in 2016, China has resorted to a series of hostile actions against the island, which include economic pressures and military threats.
- One important implication of this development is that prospects for peaceful unification have diminished.
- Sentiment in Taiwan in favour of independent status has increased.
Role of the US
- While the U.S. does not support a declaration of independence by Taiwan, it has gradually reversed the policy of avoiding official-level engagements with the Taiwan government
- The first breach occurred during the Donald Trump presidency.
- The Joe Biden officials have continued this policy.
- The Taiwanese representative in Washington was invited to attend the presidential inauguration ceremony (Biden), again a first since 1979.
- Reports have now emerged that U.S. defence personnel have been, unannounced, training with their Taiwanese counterparts for sometime.
Implications for Quad and India
- The recent crystallisation of the Quad, of which India is a part, and the announcement of the AUKUS, with Australia being graduated to a power with nuclear-powered submarines, may act as a deterrent against Chinese moves on Taiwan.
- But they may equally propel China to advance the unification agenda before the balance changes against it in the Indo-Pacific.
- For these reasons, Taiwan is emerging as a potential trigger point for a clash of arms between the U.S. and China.
Consider the question “What are the implications of Taiwan issue and the US involvement in it for India?”
Conclusion
In pursuing its Indo-Pacific strategy, India would do well to keep these possible scenarios in mind.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Fertigation
Mains level: Paper 3- Emissions from agriculture and related issues
Context
The UK is set to host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (CoP26) in Glasgow from October 31 to November 12 with a view to accelerate action towards the Paris Agreement’s goals. The focus should be on climate finance and transfer of green technologies at low cost.
Cause of concern for India
- According to the Global Carbon Atlas, India ranks third in total greenhouse gas emissions by emitting annually around 2.6 billion tonnes (Bt) CO2eq, preceded by China (10 Bt CO2eq) and the United States (5.4 Bt CO2eq), and followed by Russia (1.7Bt) and Japan (1.2 Bt).
- India ranked seventh on the list of countries most affected due to extreme weather events, incurring losses of $69 billion (in PPP) in 2019 (Germanwatch, 2021).
- The fact that 22 of the 30 most polluted cities in the world are in India is a major cause of concern.
- Delhi is the world’s most polluted capital as per the World Air Quality Report, 2020.
Issues raised in global negotiation on climate change
- Nations are still quibbling about historical global emitters and who should take the blame and fix it.
- Global negotiations on climate change often talk about emissions on a per capita basis and the emission intensity of GDP.
- Per capita emission: Of the top five absolute emitters, the US has the highest per capita emissions (15.24 tonnes), followed by Russia (11.12 tonnes).
- India’s per capita emissions is just 1.8 tonnes, significantly lower than the world average of 4.4 tonnes per capita.
- If one takes emissions per unit of GDP, of the top five absolute emitters, China ranks first with 0.486 kg per 2017 PPP $ of GDP, which is very close to Russia at 0.411 kg per 2017 PPP $ of GDP.
- India is slightly above the world average of 0.26 (kg per 2017 PPP $ of GDP) at 0.27 kg, while the USA is at 0.25, and Japan at 0.21.
- In our Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted in 2016, India committed to “reduce emission intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 per cent by 2030 from 2005 level.”
Sector-wise emission and share of agriculture in it
- Global emissions show that electricity and heat production and agriculture, forestry and other land use make up 50 per cent of the emissions.
- But the emissions pie in India owes its largest chunk (44 per cent) to the energy sector, followed by the manufacturing and construction sector (18 per cent), and agriculture, forestry and land use sectors (14 per cent), with the remaining being shared by the transport, industrial processes and waste sectors.
- The share of agriculture in total emissions has gradually declined from 28 per cent in 1994 to 14 per cent in 2016.
- However, in absolute terms, emissions from agriculture have increased to about 650 Mt CO2 in 2018, which is similar to China’s emissions from agriculture.
- Agricultural emissions in India are primarily from the livestock sector (54.6 per cent) in the form of methane emissions due to enteric fermentation and the use of nitrogenous fertilisers in agricultural soils (19 per cent) which emit nitrous oxides; rice cultivation (17.5 per cent) in anaerobic conditions accounts for a major portion of agricultural emissions followed by livestock management (6.9 per cent) and burning of crop residues (2.1 per cent).
Way forward: Carbon policy for agriculture
- Reward farmers through carbon credit: A carbon policy for agriculture must aim not only to reduce its emissions but also reward farmers through carbon credits which should be globally tradable.
- Focus on livestock: With the world’s largest livestock population (537 million), India needs better feeding practices with smaller numbers of cattle by raising their productivity.
- Switch areas from rice to maize: While direct-seeded rice and alternative wet and dry practices can reduce the carbon footprint in rice fields, the real solution lies in switching areas from rice to maize or other less water-guzzling crops.
- Efficient fertiliser use: Agricultural soils are the largest single source of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions in the national inventory.
- Nitrous oxide emissions from use of nitrogen-fertiliser increased by approximately 358 per cent during 1980-81 to 2014-15.
- An alternative for better and efficient fertiliser use would be to promote fertigation and subsidise soluble fertilisers.
- Incentives and subsidies: The government should incentivise and give subsidies on drips for fertigation, switching away from rice to corn or less water-intensive crops, and promoting soluble fertilisers at the same rate of subsidy as granular urea.
Consider the question “Agriculture sector is one of the significant contributors to the greenhouse gas emissions. This underscores the importance of carbon policy for agriculture in India. In this context, suggest the steps needed to be taken under the policy.”
Conclusion
Carbon policy for agriculture in India would help it meet its goals in reducing emissions while making agriculture climate-resilient.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Back2Basics: Anaerobic conditions
- An anaerobic process in which organic food is converted into simpler compounds, and chemical energy (ATP) is produced. Certain types use the electron transport chain system to pass the electrons to the final electron acceptor, which may be an inorganic or an organic compound, but not oxygen.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now