LA Excellence IAS

My Notes – 27 sep 2016

Indus water treaty – It is a treaty signed between India and Pakistan by the mediation of world bank on sharing of Indus River water in 1960. According to this, eastern tributaries Ravi, Beas and Sutlej comes to India and right over the western tributaries Indus, Jhelum and Chenab goes to Pakistan. But, India can use the western tributaries for irrigation, drinking water, Navigation and to build run of the river dams.

In this scenario, India has decided to set up an inter ministerial committee to study Indias further options on Indus water by looking at storage facilities. Other decisions took at the meeting held by the Prime Minister.

  1. No review or abrogation of the Treaty.
  2. Decision to utilise water under India’s share to fullest.
  3. Suspension of Indus water commission talks until terror stops.
  4. Review of 1987 suspension of the Tulbul Navigation project that Pakistan has objected to.
  5. Build more run of the river hydro power projects on western rivers to exploit full potential.
  6. Expedite construction of papal Dul, sawalkot, Bursar Dams in Jammu and Kashmir.

Prime minister declared that water and blood can not flow together. But, suspension of talks is more symbolic than substantive.Neverthless, a welcome step.

Simultaneous polls - The case against simultaneous polls

Advantages

  1. Governance – due to enforcement of Model code of conduct the governments are unable to initiate the new projects and programs. Governments are forced to remain populistic due to elections.
  2. Expenditure –Multiple elections is a monetary burden on election commission, political parties in India.
  3. Centre – state coordination – as the budgets, policies and programs can be synchronised better Centre state coordination can be achieved.

But on the other side,

  1. Voting behaviour – simultaneous elections will tend to make the voters to vote for the same party in both the elections. For instance, between 1989 to 2014, there are 31 instances of simultaneous elections for state assemblies and Lok Sabha. In 24 instances, same party won the elections. During the same period, outcomes are different when elections were held separately.
  2. Constitutional feasibility –if the union or state government looses its majority on the floor of the house, simultaneous elections fall out. So, constructive motion of no confidence need to be introduced with security of tenure for the houses. It is not possible in the existing constitutional scheme.
  3. Logisitic feasibility – In India, election commission has no man power of its own a nd it need to depend on the government. In this scenario, logistic management can be a nightmare.
  4. Authoritative tendencies – elections in between can be a warning to the incumbent Government about the popular mood and need for a course correction.
  5. Simultaneous elections go against the political diversity which is essential for addressing the social diversity of India.

So the real question is not of desirability, it is one of feasibility.

Towards a database nation

In India state surveillance is increasing on the citizens due to various databases created by the Government. They are

  1. Central monitoring system
  2. NATGRID
  3. Aadhar.

Here the major concerns

  1. Privacy of the citizens – As interconnected information increases with Government, it can be used to create surveillance against the private citizens. It will lead to National surveillance state in India. Once registered with these agencies the information is stored permanently and is irreversible. It may lead to surveillance Excesses.
  2. Security of the information –There is no information on the safeguards created to protect the information from cyber threats.

Tax – the new face of tax notoriety

Tax avoidance is a lawful mitigation of tax burden. Many of the Multi national companies are using the double tax cation avoidance agreements as a loop hole for tax avoidance. So, countries started plugging these tax loopholes and are promoting tax transparency through Tax Information Exchange Agreement. Diverted profits tax popularly known as the Google tax is imposed by many countries.

Countries such as Northern Ireland , Luxembourg, Netherlands are offering special tax arrangements for the MNCs like Apple, Starbucks, mc Donald, Amazon. So, these companies are stalking their revenues in these countries. European Commission has review these arrangements and imposed an hefty penalty of $15bn on Apple. Apple and Ireland have decide to appeal against the commissions decision.

Base erosion and profit shifting - Base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) refers to tax avoidance strategies that exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules to artificially shift profits to low or no-tax locations. Under the inclusive framework, over 100 countries and jurisdictions are collaborating to implement the BEPS measures and tackle BEPS.

Positive signals from GST council

The deals line set for the implementation of the GST is 1April, 2017. As the time is short, the consensus between the centre and states is very crucial for the functioning of the council. But the first meeting of the council is very useful encouraging. The decisions taken are

  1. It reached a consensus on the threshold turnover for a business to be covered by the GST, Rs.20 lakh, which ensures that the new tax will not be a compliance burden for small retailers and traders.
  2. It has also agreed on the draft compensation formula.
  3. Assessment of businesses with an annual turnover of up to 1.5cr is given to the states.

Joining the climate high table

India has agreed to ratify the Paris agreement on oct2, 2016. It has to put in place many measures to reach its INDC declared at the Paris conference. So, India has to

  1. Initiate a national consultative process on low carbon strategies.
  2. Every aspect of the energy need a precise measurement.
  3. Upgradation of electricity grid to take higher volumes of renewable power.
  4. A new policy to curb emissions from buildings and transport.
  5. Higher taxes on fossil fuels and benefits to the greening initiatives.

News

U.N. acclaim for Indian anti-hunger activist

Anti hunger activist and chairman of feeding India Mr. Ankit Katwara is one among the 17 people selected for the inaugural class of the UN young leaders for sustainable development goals.

Budget - Cabinet’s formal nod to be sought for Budget on Feb. 1

Indian budget will be presented on 1 Feb rather than on the last day of the February month. It will help the Government to disturb the funds in line with financial years. As of now, implementation of the budget is starting only by late May. So, an vote on account budget is passed to meet the expenses for 2 months. It will be discontinued.

Isolate Pak, Sushma tells UN – External affairs ministers Sushma Swaraj has exposed the Human rights violation by the Pakistan in Balochistan in UNGA. Minsister also elaborated on the terrorism growing from the Pakistani soil.

PSLV places eight satellites in two orbits
Indias rocket PSLV C 35 has placed eight satellites in to the space. It has kept the eight satellites in to two orbits.

Besides the weather satellite SCATSAT-1, two satellites PRATHAM and PISAT from Indian academic institutions, three from Algeria (ALSAT1N, 1B and 2B) and one each from Canada (NLS-19) and the United States (Pathfinder-1) were launched in the longest Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle mission.

It is expected to increase marketability and versatility of the PSLV in the launch services market.

Question of the day

Simultaneous elections for Lok Sabha and Legislative assembly may not be feasible in a diverse country Loke India. Elaborate.