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GS Paper: GS3

  • Customs Duty Waiver on Edible Oil Imports

    The Union Commerce Minister has announced that the government has decided to waive customs duty on import of crude sunflower, palm and soyabean oil, a move aimed at controlling their prices.

    Edible Oil Imports and India

    • Given the heavy dependency on imports, the Indian edible oil market is influenced by the international markets.
    • Of the 20-21 million tonnes of edible oil that India consumes annually, around 4-15 mt is imported.
    • India is second only to China (34-35 mt) in terms of consumption of edible oil.
    • Crude and food-grade refined oil is imported in large vessels, mainly from Malaysia, Brazil, Argentina, Indonesia etc.
    • Home-grown oilseeds such as soyabean, groundnut, mustard, cottonseed etc find their way to domestic solvent and expellers plants, where both the oil and the protein-rich component is extracted.

    Do you know?

    Palm oil (45%) is the largest consumed oil, mainly used by the food industry for frying namkeen, mithai, etc, followed by soyabean oil (20%) and mustard oil (10%), with the rest accounted for by sunflower oil, cottonseed oil, groundnut oil etc.

    Prices and politics

    • Prices of edible oil have been rising across the country since few months.
    • Most edible oils are trading between Rs 130-Rs 190/litre.
    • Also, the festive season will see increased buying of edible oils.

    Impact of the move

    • Consumers might not see a drastic reduction immediately in prices of edible oil.
    • The reduction in duty is expected to affect the earnings of oilseed growers across the country.

    Long-term implications

    • Over the last few years, the government has taken a series of steps to remove India’s import dependency on pulses, and tried to do the same for oilseeds through national missions.
    • However, frequent market interventions that ultimately bring down prices would backfire on the government and veer farmers away from growing oilseeds.
    • We need continuity in prices to help farmers stick to oilseeds or pulses.

    Back2Basic: Customs Duty

    • Customs duty refers to the tax imposed on goods when they are transported across international borders.
    • In simple terms, it is the tax that is levied on import and export of goods.
    • Custom duty in India is defined under the Customs Act, 1962, and all matters related to it fall under the Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC).
    • The government uses this duty to raise its revenues, safeguard domestic industries, and regulate movement of goods.
    • The rate of Customs duty varies depending on where the goods were made and what they were made of.

    Types of custom duty

    1. Basic Customs Duty (BCD): It is the duty imposed on the value of the goods at a specific rate at a specified rate of ad-valorem basis.
    2. Countervailing Duty (CVD): It is imposed by the Central Government when a country is paying the subsidy to the exporters who are exporting goods to India.
    3. Additional Customs Duty or Special CVD: It is imposed to bring imports on an equal track with the goods produced or manufactured in India.
    4. Protective Duty: To protect interests of Indian industry
    5. Safeguard Duty: It is imposed to safeguard the interest of our local domestic industries. It is calculated on the basis of loss suffered by our local industries.
    6. Anti-dumping Duty: Manufacturers from abroad may export goods at very low prices compared to prices in the domestic market. In order to avoid such dumping, ADD is levied.

     

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  • What is a Small Finance Bank?

    The Reserve Bank of India has issued a small finance bank (SFB) license to a consortium of fintech companies BharatPe and Centrum Financial Services Ltd.

    What is a SFB?

    • Small finance banks (SFBs) are a type of niche banks in India.
    • They can be promoted either by individuals, corporate, trusts or societies.
    • They are governed by the provisions of Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and other relevant statutes.
    • They are established as public limited companies in the private sector under the Companies Act, 2013.
    • Banks with a SFB license can provide basic banking service of acceptance of deposits and lending.

    Objectives of setting-up an SFB

    • To provide financial inclusion to sections of the economy not being served by other banks, such as small business units, small and marginal farmers, micro and small industries and unorganized sector entities

    Key features of SFBs

    • Existing non-banking financial companies (NBFC), microfinance institutions (MFI) and local area banks (LAB) can apply to become small finance banks.
    • The banks will not be restricted to any region.
    • 75% of its net credits should be in priority sector lending and 50% of the loans in its portfolio must in ₹25 lakh.
    • The firms must have a capital of at least ₹200 crore.
    • The promoters should have 10 years’ experience in banking and finance.
    • Foreign shareholding will be allowed in these banks as per the rules for FDI in private banks in India.

    Back2Basics: Small Payments Bank Vs. Payment Bank

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  • Kallakurichi Wood Carvings and Karuppur Kalamkari Paintings get GI tag

    In Tamil Nadu, the Karuppur kalamkari paintings and the Kallakurichi wood carvings recently received the geographical indication (GI) tags.

    [A] Kallakurichi Wood Carvings

    • The Kallakurichi wood carvings are a unique form of wood carving practiced in Tamil Nadu.
    • It involves the application of ornamentation and designs, derived from traditional styles by the craftsmen.
    • They are mainly practiced in Kallakurichi, Chinnaselam and Thirukkovilur taluks of Kallakurichi district.

    [B] Karuppur Kalamkari Paintings

    • Kalamkari paintings are done on pure cotton cloth, predominantly used in temples for umbrella covers, cylindrical hangings, chariot covers and asmanagiri (false ceiling cloth pieces).
    • Documentary evidence shows that kalamkari paintings evolved under the patronage of Nayaka rulers in the early 17th century.

    Back2Basics: Geographical Indication

    • A GI is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.
    • Nodal Agency: Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry
    • India, as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), enacted the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 w.e.f. September 2003.
    • GIs have been defined under Article 22 (1) of the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement.
    • GI is granted for a term of 10 years in India. As of today, more than 300 GI tags has been allocated so far in India (*Wikipedia).
    • The tag stands valid for 10 years.

     

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  • [pib] Automated fuelling technology- UFill

    The Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) has launched an automated fuelling technology -UFill- to ensure that its customers have a better experience at outlets.

    What is UFill?

    • UFill functionality, which has been described as swift, secure and smart, has been launched in 65 cities and will soon be launched across the country.
    • It does not need any app download, and is payment app agnostic.
    • Customer can use any payment app already downloaded on his/her phone.
    • It offers real time QR and voucher code through SMS and is accepted at all BPCL Fuel Stations where the functionality is enabled.

    Key features

    • UFill aims to improve customer’s turn-around time (TAT) at fuel outlet and increase transactional transparency, thereby providing enhanced retail like experience.
    • The technology provides the customer with control of fuelling as well as touch less pre-payment solution.
    • There is no need to check zero before fuelling or final reading, the dispensing unit will automatically dispense the exact quantity of fuel.

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  • Is India’s current investor rush too much of a good thing?

    Human traits driving financial markets

    • To imitate and to conform — do what others around us are doing — are common and very powerful human tendencies.
    •  In financial markets, “herd behaviour” is a warning sign: When markets are doing well, people invest for no other reason than their neighbours having become wealthier (and vice versa).
    • There is another human trait that affects markets — success increases risk appetite.
    • If someone’s financial investments work, they are very likely to invest more, and ignore safety measures.

    Factors driving the private equity investments

    • Better physical infrastructure (rural roads, electrification, phone penetration, data access).
    • Several layers of innovation (universal bank account access, surging digital payments on the “India Stack”).
    • 45 lakh software developers (largest in the world).
    • Maturing industries (for example, as research budgets of Indian pharmaceutical manufacturers have grown 10 times in the last 15 years.
    • The ecosystem can take on more challenging projects now, versus just generic filings a decade back).
    • Strong medium-term economic growth prospects create fertile ground for private equity investments.
    • Investors with patient capital (knowing that the businesses will not make money for several years) are now betting on and financing a faster transition to electric vehicles than was earlier anticipated.
    • In financial services, innovative methods of lending, insurance underwriting and wealth management are being experimented with, which are likely to only expand the market meaningfully.
    • An army of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) firms have been funded in the hope of revolutionising the development and distribution of software.
    • There are also new-age distribution and logistics companies, education technology firms, and branded consumer goods suppliers, in addition to “normal” e-commerce, gaming and food-delivery startups.

    Risks involved in a rapid infusion of capital

    • Allocation inefficiency: Theoretically, an economy India’s size is capable of absorbing the $52 billion of PE funding seen over the last 12 months, but in practice, such a rapid surge creates allocation inefficiency. 
    •  As investors rush to deploy ever-larger sums of money, they appear to be running out of companies to invest in that can productively deploy this capital.
    • The result is companies’ valuations rising manifold within months and small firms getting more capital inflows than they can deploy, often resulting in wasteful business plans.
    • When investors rush to deploy funds, the risk of fraud rises — inadequate disclosures and weak due diligence are compounded by incentives to misrepresent financial data.
    • The discovery of any such frauds would likely freeze funding for the industry for a few quarters.

    Why now?

    • India has never lacked entrepreneurs, but lacked risk capital given the low per capita wealth.
    • As savers like pension and insurance funds in the developed world responded to record-low interest rates by allocating more to PE as an asset class, private funding markets have grown rapidly in the last 15 years globally.
    • In India, PE funding has exceeded public-market fund-raising every year in the past decade.
    • While earlier, only a few business groups could muster sizeable amounts of risk capital to establish new businesses and disrupt old ones, entrepreneurs can now lay hands on hundreds of millions of dollars if the idea makes sense.

    Conclusion

    For now, this flow of funds is a welcome booster for the economy as it recovers from the scars of the pandemic-driven lockdowns. While valuations can be volatile in the near term, we are in the early stages of this reshaping of India’s corporate landscape.

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  • Climate finance

    Context

    In the run-up to the 26th UNFCCC media reports have claimed that developed countries are inching closer to the target of providing $100 billion annually. This view has been bolstered by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which claimed that climate finance provided by developed countries had reached $78.9 billion in 2018.

    Issue of climate financing and claim of reaching the target of $100 billion

    • These claims reaching the target of $100 billion annually is erroneous.
    • First, the OECD figure includes private finance and export credits.
    • Public finance: Developing countries have insisted that developed country climate finance should be from public sources and should be provided as grants or as concessional loans.
    • However, the OECD report makes it clear that the public finance component amounted to only $62.2 billion in 2018, with bilateral funding of about $32.7 billion and $29.2 billion through multilateral institutions.
    • Nature of finance: Significantly, the final figure comes by adding loans and grants. Of the public finance component, loans comprise 74%, while grants make up only 20%.
    • The report does not say how much of the total loan component of $46.3 billion is concessional.
    • Non-concessional loans: From 2016 to 2018, 20% of bilateral loans, 76% of loans provided by multilateral development banks and 46% of loans provided by multilateral climate funds were non-concessional.
    • Between 2013 and 2018, the share of loans has continued to rise, while the share of grants decreased.
    • The OECD reports on climate finance have long been criticised for inflating climate finance figures.
    •  In contrast to the OECD report, Oxfam estimates that in 2017-18, out of an average of $59.5 billion of public climate finance reported by developed countries, the climate-specific net assistance ranged only between $19 and $22.5 billion per year.
    •  The 2018 Biennial Assessment of UNFCCC’s Standing Committee on Finance reports that on average, developed countries provided only $26 billion per year as climate-specific finance between 2011-2016.

    Broken commitments from the US on climate financing

    • U.S. President Joe Biden recently said that the U.S. will double its climate finance by $11.4 billion annually by 2024.
    • It is Congress that will decide on the quantum after all.
    • The U.S. also has a history of broken commitments, having promised $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) under President Barack Obama, but delivering only $1 billion.
    • The future focus of U.S. climate finance is the mobilisation of private sector investment.
    • The bulk of the money coming in would be through private funds, directed to those projects judged “bankable” and not selected based on developing countries’ priorities and needs.

    Finance skews toward mitigation

    • Climate finance has also remained skewed towards mitigation, despite the repeated calls for maintaining a balance between adaptation and mitigation.
    • The 2016 Adaptation Gap Report of the UN Environment Programme had noted that the annual costs of adaptation in developing countries could range from $140 to $300 billion annually by 2030 and rise to $500 billion by 2050.
    • Currently available adaptation finance is significantly lower than the needs expressed in the Nationally Determined Contributions submitted by developing countries.

    Conclusion

    Delivering on climate finance is fundamental to trust in the multilateral process. Regrettably, while developing countries will continue to pressure developed countries to live up to their promises, the history of climate negotiations is not in their favour.

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  • Kunming Declaration on Biodiversity Conservation

    The Kunming Declaration was adopted by over 100 countries at the first part of the ongoing virtual 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.

    Kunming Declaration

    • It calls upon the parties to “mainstream” biodiversity protection in decision-making and recognise the importance of conservation in protecting human health.
    • The theme of the declaration is Ecological Civilization: Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth.
    • By adopting this, the nations have committed themselves to support the development, adoption and implementation of an effective post-2020 implementation plan for the Cartagena Protocol on biosafety.
    • Signatory nations will ensure that the post-pandemic recovery policies, programs and plans contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

    About Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

    • The CBD (wef 1993) known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is a multilateral treaty.
    • The convention has three main goals:
    1. the conservation of biodiversity
    2. the sustainable use of its components
    3. the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources
    • Its objective is to develop national strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, and it is often seen as the key document regarding sustainable development.
    • It has two supplementary agreements, the Cartagena Protocol and Nagoya Protocol.

    (1) Cartagena Protocol

    • It is an international treaty governing the movements of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology from one country to another.

    (2) Nagoya Protocol

    • It deals with Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS).

     

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  • India retains 3rd position in RE Investment Attractiveness Index

    India has retained the third rank in the Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index released by consultancy firm EY.

    RE Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI)

    • The RECAI ranks the world’s top 40 markets on the attractiveness of their renewable energy investment and deployment opportunities.
    • The rankings reflect assessments of market attractiveness and global market trends.

    India’s performance

    • India remained at the third position since three consecutive years.
    • India’s thriving renewable energy market conditions, inclusive policy decisions, investment and technology improvements focusing on self-reliant supply chains have pushed the transition.
    • RECAI highlights that corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) are emerging as a key driver of clean energy growth.
    • A new PPA Index – introduced in this edition of RECAI – focuses on the attractiveness of renewable power procurement and ranks the growth potential of a nation’s corporate PPA market.
    • India is ranked sixth among the top 30 PPA markets.

    Global scenario

    • The US, mainland China and India continue to retain the top three rankings and Indonesia is a new entrant to the RECAI.
    • The top-performing markets have held their ground in this latest issue – with no movement into or out of the top eight.
    • France (fourth position, up by one) and the UK (fifth position, down by one), while Germany (sixth position, up by one) has edged back ahead of Australia (seventh position, down by one).

     

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  • Mass Emission Standards for E12 AND E15 fuels

    The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has notified mass emission standards for E 12 (12% Ethanol with Gasoline) and E15 (15% Ethanol 12 with gasoline) fuels.

    What is the news?

    • The ministry has notified test standards for vehicles compliant with ethanol-blended fuel variants E12 and E15.
    • The ministry made it mandatory for all automobile manufacturers to put “clearly visible stickers” on every vehicle informing about its compatibility to the level of ethanol blend (E12, E15, E20).
    • Currently, India is using E10 fuel (petrol blended with 10% ethanol).

    Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme

    • Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme was launched in January, 2003 for supply of 5% ethanol blended Petrol.
    • The programme sought to promote the use of alternative and environment-friendly fuels and to reduce import dependency for energy requirements.
    • OMCs are advised to continue according priority of ethanol from 1) sugarcane juice/sugar/sugar syrup, 2) B-heavy molasses 3) C-heavy molasses and 4) damaged food grains/other sources.
    • At present, this programme has been extended to whole of India except UTs of Andaman Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands with effect from 01st April, 2019 wherein OMCs sell petrol blended with ethanol up to 10%.

    Why ethanol blending?

    • Agricultural waste management: Ethanol blending will solve the problem of agricultural waste as well as sugar rates due to excess production, therefore providing security to sugarcane farmers.
    • Reducing emission: It can help accomplish dual goal of strengthening energy security with low carbon emission.
    • Enhanced participation: It will enable local enterprises and farmers to participate in the energy economy.
    • Reducing import bill: It is another significant benefit. India imports 85% of crude oil.
    • Fuel efficiency: Ethanol blending increases octane number thereby increasing fuel quality in terms of anti-knocking tendency (engine sound)

    Also read:

    [RSTV ARCHIVE] Ethanol Blending: Significance & Road Ahead

     

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  • Agri-food systems need a transformative change

    Context

    There is an urgent need for reorientation of the long-term direction of agri-food systems to not only enhance farm incomes but also ensure better access to safe and nutritious foods.

    Challenge of malnutrition in India

    • The findings from the first round of the Fifth National Family Health Survey suggest that nutrition-related indicators have worsened in most States.
    • In addition, findings from the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (2016-18) have highlighted the role of micro-nutrient malnutrition.
    • Pathways for nutritional security consist of improving dietary diversity, kitchen gardens, reducing post-harvest losses, making safety net programmes more nutrition-sensitive, women’s empowerment, enforcement of standards and regulations, improving Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, nutrition education, and effective use of digital technology.

    Agri-food system: Significance and challenges it faces

    • The agri-food systems are the most important part of the Indian economy.
    • India produces sufficient food, feed and fibre to sustain about 18% of the world’s population (as of 2020). Agriculture contributes about 16.5% to India’s GDP and employs 42.3% of the workforce (2019-20).
    • A sustainable agri-food system is one in which a variety of sufficient, nutritious and safe foods are made available at an affordable price to everyone, and nobody goes hungry or suffers from any form of malnutrition.
    • However, the country’s agri-food systems are facing new and unprecedented challenges, especially related to economic and ecological sustainability, nutrition and the adoption of new agricultural technologies.
    • The edifice of India’s biosecurity remains vulnerable to disasters and extreme events.

    Way forward: Reorienting agri-food systems

    • There is an urgent need for reorientation of the long-term direction of agri-food systems to not only enhance farm incomes but also ensure better access to safe and nutritious foods.
    • Additionally, the agri-food systems need to be reoriented to minimise cost on the environment and the climate.
    • This need is recognised by the theme of World Food Day 2021: ‘Our actions are our future. Better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life’.
    • FAO’s support for the transformation of agri-food systems is rooted in agro-ecology.
    • The more diverse an agricultural system, the greater its ability to adapt to shocks.
    • Different combinations of integrated crop-livestock-forestry-fishery systems can help farmers produce a variety of products in the same area, at the same time or in rotation.
    • In January this year, FAO in collaboration with NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Agriculture convened a National Dialogue to evolve a framework for the transition to a more sustainable agri-food systems by 2030 and identify pathways for enhancing farmers’ income and achieving nutritional security.

    Consider the question “What are the challenges facing agri-food systems in India? Suggest the pathways to transform the agri-food system to enhance farm income and ensure food and nutrition security.”

    Conclusion

    Food systems can help combat environmental degradation or climate change. Sustainable agri-food systems can deliver food security and nutrition for all, without compromising the economic, social and environmental bases.

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