Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Price and tax measures to reduce demand of tobacco
Context
There is no doubt that tobacco use is highly detrimental to public health. We have to find the ways and the means to reduce the demand for tobacco among existing as well as aspiring users.
Impact of tobacco
- Tobacco is a product that kills more than 13 lakh Indians every year.
- Annual burden: The annual economic burden from tobacco use is estimated to be ₹177,340 crore which is more than 1% of India’s GDP.
- About 27 crore people above the age of 15 years and 8.5% of school-going children in the age group 13-15 years use tobacco in some form in India.
Are price and tax measures effective against tobacco use?
- When tobacco products become more expensive, people either quit using them or use them less, and it incentivises many to not initiate the habit.
- Because it hurts both revenue and profits, the tobacco industry, globally, is always devising tactics and narratives that will pre-empt any kind of tax increases on tobacco products.
- The narrative of “increasing illicit trade” is something the tobacco industry has historically used to pre-empt potential tax increases on tobacco products in most countries around the world.
- The story is no different in India.
- In a recent report by the Tobacco Institute of India, it was said that the illicit cigarette volume in India has grown by 44% from 2011 to 2019 while adding that high and increasing tax rates provide a profitable opportunity for tax evasion and encourage growth in illegal trade.
- A study published in 2018 which used a survey of empty cigarette packs collected from retail outlets across different cities in India estimated that illicit cigarettes constitute 2.7% of the market.
- The second study published in 2020 used tax-gap analysis to estimate that the percentage of illicit cigarettes was 5.1% in 2009-10 and 6.6% in 2016-17.
Are taxes and prices key determinants of illicit trade?
- It is to be noted that taxes and prices are not the key determinants of illicit trade.
- There is sufficient evidence in the literature on illicit trade in cigarettes that shows tax increases only have a minimal impact, if at all, on illicit trade.
- There are several countries where tobacco taxes are quite high and yet have low levels of illicit trade, while there are also countries with high levels of illicit trade despite having relatively low tax rates.
- Several factors such as the quality of tax administration, the strength of the regulatory framework, government commitment to control illicit trade, the strength of governance, social acceptance, and the presence of informal distribution networks are known to play a larger role in determining the scale and the extent of an illicit market.
Way forward
- WHO protocol: Eliminating all forms of illicit trade in tobacco products through a package of measures is one of the major objectives of the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products under the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
- The Protocol provides the tools and the measures to eliminate or minimise illicit trade which includes strong governance, establishing an international track and trace system, and securing supply chains.
- India has already ratified the World Health Organization Protocol and it should now show leadership in implementing these measures to effectively address even the relatively lower levels of illicit trade.
Conclusion
There is no scientific or public health rationale not to increase tax on tobacco products for unfounded fear of increasing illicit trade.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Dealing with the nutrition gap
Context
The NFHS-5 factsheets for India and all states and Union territories are now out. At first glance, it appears to be a mixed bag — much to cheer about, but concern areas remain.
Positives from the NFHS-5 survey
- Change in demographic trends: For the first time since the NFHS 1992-93 survey, the sex ratio is slightly higher among the adult population.
- Improvement in sex ratio at birth: For the first time in 15 years that the sex ratio at birth has reached 929 (it was 919 for 1,000 males in 2015-16).
- The total fertility rate has also dropped from 2.2 per cent to a replacement rate of 2 per cent, albeit with not much change in the huge fertility divide between the high and low fertility states.
- Improvement in literacy level of women: There has been an appreciable improvement in general literacy levels and in the percentage of women and men who have completed 10 years or more of schooling, which has reached 41 per cent and 50.2 per cent respectively.
- Improvements in health indicators: The health sector deserves credit for achieving a significant improvement in the percentage of institutional births, antenatal care, and children’s immunisation rates.
- There has also been a consistent drop in neonatal, infant and child mortality rates — a decrease of around 1 per cent per year for neonatal and infant mortality and a 1.6 per cent decrease per year for under five mortality rate.
Nutrition: Area of concern
- Increase in anaemic people: India has become a country with more anaemic people since NFHS-4 (2015-16), with anaemia rates rising significantly across age groups, ranging from children below six years, adolescent girls and boys, pregnant women, and women between 15 to 49 years.
- Why anaemia is a concern? Adverse effects of anaemia affect all age groups — lower physical and cognitive growth and alertness among children and adolescents, and lesser capacity to learn and play, directly impacting their future potential as productive citizens.
- Further, anaemia among adolescent girls (59.1 per cent) advances to maternal anaemia and is a major cause of maternal and infant mortality and general morbidity and ill health in a community.
- The detailed report will explain why a dedicated programme like Anaemia Mukt Bharat which focused on IFA consumption failed to gain impetus.
- Slow pace of improvement in nutritional indicators: Between NFHS 4 and NFHS 5, the percentage of children below five years who are moderately underweight has reduced from 35.8 per cent to 32.1 per cent.
- Moderately stunted children have fallen from 38.4 per cent to 35.5 per cent, moderately wasted from 21 per cent to 19.3 per cent and severely wasted have increased slightly from 7.5 per cent to 7.7 per cent.
- Inadequate diet: The root cause for this is that the percentage of children below two years receiving an adequate diet is a mere 11.3 per cent, increasing marginally from 9.6 per cent in NFHS-4.
Way forward
- India’s nutrition programmes must undergo a periodic review.
- The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), which is perceived as the guardian of the nation’s nutritional well-being must reassess itself and address critical intervention gaps, both conceptually and programmatically, and produce rapid outcomes.
Conclusion
The nutritional deficit which ought to be considered an indicator of great concern is generally ignored by policymakers and experts. Unless this is addressed, rapid improvement in nutritional indicators cannot happen.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CSTO
Mains level: Russia military moves in erstwhile USSR countries
A Moscow-led military alliance called Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) dispatched troops to help quell mounting unrest in Kazakhstan.
Ongoing situation in Kazakhstan
- Long seen as one the most stable of the ex-Soviet republics of Central Asia, energy-rich Kazakhstan is facing its biggest crisis.
- There are ongoing protests over rising fuel prices escalated into widespread unrest.
- The nationwide protests are also signifying a wider, region-wide longing for political change.
- Under increasing pressure, Kazakh President appealed to the Russia for CSTO army to be deployed in Kazakhstan.
Concerns over CTSO troop’s deployment
- It is argued that domestic turmoil could be utilized by Russian nationalists for asserting their claims in Northern Kazakhstan.
What is CSTO?
- The CSTO is a Russia-led military alliance of seven former Soviet states that was created in 2002.
- Current CSTO members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation and Tajikistan.
- Afghanistan and Serbia hold observer status in the CSTO.
- Its purpose is to ensure the collective defence of any member that faces external aggression.
Outlined functions of CSTO
- Version of NATO: It has been described by political scientists as the Eurasian counterpart of NATO, which has 29 member states, while the CSTO has just six.
- Arms trade and mutual defense: CSTO supports arms sales and manufacturing as well as military training and exercises, making the CSTO the most important multilateral defence organization in the former Soviet Union.
- Non- proliferation of weapons: CSTO also coordinates efforts in fighting the illegal circulation of weapons among member states and has developed law enforcement training for its members in pursuit of these aims.
What does CSTO membership provide?
- Barring relations with NATO: While CSTO membership means that member states are barred from joining other military alliances, limiting, for example, their relationship with NATO.
- Benefits in arms import from Russia: Its members receive discounts, subsidies, and other incentives to buy Russian arms, facilitating military cooperation.
- Assurance against military conquest: In the CSTO, aggression against one signatory is perceived as aggression against all. It however remains unclear whether this feature works in practice.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Scheduled Banks, Payment Banks
Mains level: Banking system in India
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has informed that Airtel Payments Bank Ltd. has been categorized as a Scheduled Bank.
Why such a move?
- With this, the bank can now pitch for government-issued Requests for Proposals (RFP) and primary auctions.
- It can undertake both Central and State Government businesses participating in government-operated welfare schemes.
What are Scheduled Banks?
- Scheduled Banks refer to those banks which have been included in the Second Schedule of Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
- Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in turn includes only those banks in this Schedule which satisfy the criteria laid down vide section 42(6)(a) of the said Act.
- Every Scheduled bank enjoys two types of principal facilities: it becomes eligible for debts/loans at the bank rate from the RBI; and, it automatically acquires the membership of clearing house.
- Banks not under this Schedule are called Non-Scheduled Banks
Types of Scheduled Banks
There are two main categories of commercial banks in India namely:
- Scheduled Commercial banks
- Scheduled Co-operative banks
Scheduled commercial Banks are further divided into 5 types as below:
- Nationalised Banks
- Development Banks
- Regional Rural Banks
- Foreign Banks
- Private sector Banks
Payment bank (currently four banks Airtel Payments Bank, Fino Payments Bank, India Post Payments Bank, Paytm Payments Bank have been granted Scheduled bank status).
Scheduled Co-operative banks are further divided into 2 types namely:
- Scheduled State Co-operative banks
- Scheduled Urban Co-operative banks
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Indian Rock System
Mains level: NA
The Ministry of Science & Technology has inaugurated India’s first open rock museum displaying different types of rocks gathered from different States of ages ranging from 3.3 billion years to around 55 million years.
Rock System in India
Based on this complex and varied geological history, the Geological Survey of India has classified rock systems of the country into 4 major divisions:
- Archaean Rock System
- Dravidian Rock System
- Purana Rock System
- Aryan Rock System
[I] Archaean Rock System:
The Archaean group of rocks consists of two systems-(a) Achaean granites and gneisses, and (b) Dharwarian sedimentary:
Archaean Gneisses and Schists (pre-2500 million years)
- The Archean System contains the first formed rocks of the earth.
- The rocks are primarily gneisses and granites, having no marks of fossils.
- They often underlie the strata formed subsequently and the system is generally known as the basement complex or fundamental gneisses.
- The Archaean rocks cover two-thirds of peninsular India. They also occur in the roots of the mountain peaks all along the Greater Himalayas, trans-Himalayan ranges of Zaskar, Ladakh and Karakoram.
Dharwar System (2500-1800 million years ago)
- The weathering of the Archaean rocks yielded the earliest sediments and formed the oldest sedimentary strata, the Dharwar system.
- These are found today in metamorphic forms and do not contain fossils.
- These rocks occur in scattered patches in parts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, central and eastern parts of Chotanagpur plateau, Meghalaya plateau, Aravalis, Himalayan region etc
Mineral contents:
- They contain gneisses (which range from granite to gabbro) and schists (crystalline rocks such as mica, talc etc.).
- These rocks have metallic and non-metallic minerals like copper, tin, graphite, lead, zinc, etc.
[II] Dravidian Rock System:
- This is also known as carboniferous rock system and formed during the Paleozoic era, i.e., from 600- 300 million years ago.
- They are not much abundant in India.
- They have plentiful fossils and beginning of coal formation can be seen in this period. The quality of carboniferous coal is high.
- They are found in extra- Peninsular regions of the Himalayas and the Gangetic plains.
Mineral content
- This type of rock system comprises of limestones, shale and quartzite and Mount Everest is formed of upper Carboniferous limestones.
- Most of the coal is not of the Carboniferous period, which is found in India.
- The meaning of Carboniferous in geology is coal-bearing.
[III] Purana Rock System:
The Purana rock system has two divisions: Cuddapah system and Vindhyan system. The word ‘Purana’ was used in place of a Proterozoic era in India.
Cuddapah Rock system:
- They are observed in Cuddapah districts of Andhra Pradesh.
- The non-fossiliferous clay, slates, sandstones and limestones were accumulated in the depression between two-fold mountains which is known as synclinal basins.
- They also have a large accumulation of building purpose cement grade limestones and quartzites.
- This type of rock contains ore of iron, cobalt, nickel, manganese etc.
Vindhya Rock System:
- This type of rock system is also ancient or old sedimentary rocks which are superimposed on the Archaean rock base and derived its name from Vindhya mountains.
- The recognition of fossils is negligible, only traces of few animal and plant life were found.
- This rock system has diamond-bearing regions from which Golconda and Panna diamond mined.
[IV] Aryan Rock System
The Aryan rock system in India has the following four subsystems:
- Gondwana rock system
- Jurassic Rock System
- Cretaceous system/ Deccan Trap
- Tertiary rock system
(1) Gondwana Rock System:
- These are found mainly in Raniganj, Jharia regions of Jharkhand, Damodar valley, Pench valley in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
- They are called so after the name of Gondwana tribe (indigenous people especially residing in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh region).
- In this type of rock system, you found metallic minerals like iron, manganese, uranium etc. other than coal.
- They have low carbon content as it is much younger than Carboniferous coal. These rocks have nearly 98% of India’s coal reserve.
(2) Jurassic Rock System
- During the latter part of Jurrasic when sea level rises as compared to land and shoreline moves towards ground or land which result in a flood. In geology, this phenomenon is called marine transgression.
- This gives rise to a thick series of shallow-water deposits kin Rajasthan and Kutch. Between the Guntur and Rajamundry, another transgression in the east coast of Peninsula.
- In Kuchchh, coral limestone, shales and conglomerates are found.
(3) Deccan traps
- These are formed by the flow of magma over the solidified rock system in layers.
- Deccan trap gets rise due to volcanic outburst over a major area of Peninsular India from the end of Cretaceous till the beginning of Eocene.
- The meaning of trap is “stair” or “step” in Swedish and called due to deposition of the volcanic outburst which has a flat top and steep sides.
- It is mainly found in parts of Kuchchh, Saurashtra, Maharashtra, the Malwa plateau and Northern Karnataka and presently cover near 5 lakh sq. Km.
- Regur, which is black soil, is formed due to the weathering of these rocks for a long time.
(4) Tertiary rock system
- The formation of this type of rock system occurs from 60 to 7 million years ago.
- It is the most noteworthy period in India’s geological history as the Himalayas were born and recent form came in this period.
Also read:
The Geological Structure of India
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