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Four years of 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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5th July 2021| Daily Answer Writing Enhancement(AWE)
Topics for Today’s questions:
GS-1 Geographical features and their location-changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.
GS-2 Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure
GS-3 Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.
GS-4 Probity in Governance: Information sharing and transparency in government, Right to Information, Codes of Ethics, Codes of Conduct, Citizen’s Charters, Work culture, Quality of service delivery, Utilization of public funds, challenges of corruption.
Questions:
Question 1)
Q.1) Recently countries like Australia, Cyprus witnessed the most destructive forest fires ever. Are forest fires inherently bad ? What are the causes of uncontrolled forest fire? Discuss their the ecological, economic and social impacts. (15 marks)
Question 2)
Q. 2) The federal model in Delhi is different from other states-Centre relations. Do you think it requires and any changes? (10 Marks)
Question 3)
Q.3) What is middle income trap? How India can escape it by focusing on increasing productivity? (10 marks)
Question 4)
Q.4) What do you understand by citizen charter? What important aspects should be included in a citizen charter to make it effective? (10 Marks)
HOW TO ATTEMPT ANSWERS IN DAILY ANSWER WRITING ENHANCEMENT(AWE)?
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Daily 4 questions from General studies 1, 2, 3, and 4 will be provided to you.
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A Mentor’s Comment will be available for all answers. This can be used as a guidance tool but we encourage you to write original answers.
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You can write your answer on an A4 sheet and scan/click pictures of the same.
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Upload the scanned answer in the comment section of the same question.
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If you upload the answer on the same day like the answer of 1st June is uploaded on 1st June then your answer will be checked within 72 hours. Also, reviews will be in the order of submission- First come first serve basis
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*In case your answer is not reviewed, reply to your answer saying *NOT CHECKED*. Swatantra Sir’s tag is available, tag him.
For the philosophy of AWE and payment:
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Webinar Starts in 30 mins || How to Score 130+ with 90 days Complete plan || UPSC 2021 Prelims Preparation under the Mentorship of an in-Service Officer
Register for a Live Webinar with Me – Date: 04 July 2021, Time: 3 PM
In the great war of Mahabharata between Kaurava and Pandava, both wanted Krishna on their side. He gave both of them the choice of either his entire army, or himself as charioteer on a condition that he would neither fight nor hold any weapon. Duryodhana happily chose his army while Arjuna his guidance by choosing him as his charioteer.
There was a reason why Arjun chose Krishna, he was the person who provided the intelligence, the guidance, and knew the strength and weaknesses of Arjuna. We know the result of the Kurushetra war, which was won by Arjuna under his guidance. He guided Arjuna to avoid mistakes and strive for his best towards victory.
Similarly, for UPSC aspirants those who have right guidance to clear Prelims, while others often commit mistakes that cost them success even at the first level i.e. the UPSC prelims. Around 95% fail at this level only.
There are Three mistakes of UPSC preparation- the mistakes which cost attempts and dreams:
#Mistake No-1: Relying on short cuts and long cuts:
#Mistake No- 2: Not developing conceptual understanding and interlinking:
#Mistake-No 3. Poor Assessment of own preparation i.e. Practice tests
It is said that Insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results. Let’s do that differently this time.
Understanding those mistakes and rectifying it helped me to score 145.34 and 142 in UPSC prelims GS paper when the cutoffs were 102 and 98 respectively and always above 120 plus in all attempts.
Fortunately, there is still around 100 days before you sit in Prelims- 2021. All you need is a mentor and a guide who understands your preparation as Krishna and helps you hit only the TARGET nothing else. Someone who himself has scored 120 plus always Prelims and understands part and parcel of the exam process.
If you are willing to give your 110%, I will be available to ensure in the next 90 days that you will come out of the examination hall with confidence and not with borderline cases, who waste next month in anticipation of prelims results, which could utilised for mains.
So if you are determined and willing to work hard, then only you are welcome to webinar on this Sunday (04.07.2021) at 3PM.
In this webinar, you can expect to learn about:
# 90 days concrete plan for Prelims-2021
#Changed pattern of prelims- overall change and subject wise change
#Subject specific focus : Polity, economy, ecology, history, geography, art and culture, S&T and IR: resources, methods, scope and utility in pre and mains
#Current affairs: Learn keywords approach
#How to revise effectively and not merely review?
#Time Management skills and optimal utilisation of resources
# Maximum benefit from Test series: Learn 3 fold approach to solve questions
#An interactive Q&A session with Santosh Gupta sir.
#Important Civilsdaily softcopies takeaway for exam preparation.
-Not only ideas, but a concrete 90 days plan of execution.
See you soon!
A quick bit about Santosh Gupta:
Santosh Gupta sir has scored above 140 twice in UPSC prelims and always 120 plus in all 6 attempts. He wrote all 6 mains and appeared for Interview 3 times. He has qualified UPSC EPFO and BPSC 56-59th also. He is presently working as Assistant Commissioner in Commercial Tax Department in Government of Bihar. He has been teaching and mentoring UPSC aspirants for the last 5 years with tremendous interest in environment and ecology and Polity.
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Last Couple of Hours Left || How to Score 130+ with 90 days Complete plan || UPSC 2021 Prelims Preparation under the Mentorship of an in-Service Officer
Register for a Live Webinar with Me – Date: 04 July 2021, Time: 3 PM
In the great war of Mahabharata between Kaurava and Pandava, both wanted Krishna on their side. He gave both of them the choice of either his entire army, or himself as charioteer on a condition that he would neither fight nor hold any weapon. Duryodhana happily chose his army while Arjuna his guidance by choosing him as his charioteer.
There was a reason why Arjun chose Krishna, he was the person who provided the intelligence, the guidance, and knew the strength and weaknesses of Arjuna. We know the result of the Kurushetra war, which was won by Arjuna under his guidance. He guided Arjuna to avoid mistakes and strive for his best towards victory.
Similarly, for UPSC aspirants those who have right guidance to clear Prelims, while others often commit mistakes that cost them success even at the first level i.e. the UPSC prelims. Around 95% fail at this level only.
There are Three mistakes of UPSC preparation- the mistakes which cost attempts and dreams:
#Mistake No-1: Relying on short cuts and long cuts:
#Mistake No- 2: Not developing conceptual understanding and interlinking:
#Mistake-No 3. Poor Assessment of own preparation i.e. Practice tests
It is said that Insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results. Let’s do that differently this time.
Understanding those mistakes and rectifying it helped me to score 145.34 and 142 in UPSC prelims GS paper when the cutoffs were 102 and 98 respectively and always above 120 plus in all attempts.
Fortunately, there is still around 100 days before you sit in Prelims- 2021. All you need is a mentor and a guide who understands your preparation as Krishna and helps you hit only the TARGET nothing else. Someone who himself has scored 120 plus always Prelims and understands part and parcel of the exam process.
If you are willing to give your 110%, I will be available to ensure in the next 90 days that you will come out of the examination hall with confidence and not with borderline cases, who waste next month in anticipation of prelims results, which could utilised for mains.
So if you are determined and willing to work hard, then only you are welcome to webinar on this Sunday (04.07.2021) at 3PM.
In this webinar, you can expect to learn about:
# 90 days concrete plan for Prelims-2021
#Changed pattern of prelims- overall change and subject wise change
#Subject specific focus : Polity, economy, ecology, history, geography, art and culture, S&T and IR: resources, methods, scope and utility in pre and mains
#Current affairs: Learn keywords approach
#How to revise effectively and not merely review?
#Time Management skills and optimal utilisation of resources
# Maximum benefit from Test series: Learn 3 fold approach to solve questions
#An interactive Q&A session with Santosh Gupta sir.
#Important Civilsdaily softcopies takeaway for exam preparation.
-Not only ideas, but a concrete 90 days plan of execution.
See you soon!
A quick bit about Santosh Gupta:
Santosh Gupta sir has scored above 140 twice in UPSC prelims and always 120 plus in all 6 attempts. He wrote all 6 mains and appeared for Interview 3 times. He has qualified UPSC EPFO and BPSC 56-59th also. He is presently working as Assistant Commissioner in Commercial Tax Department in Government of Bihar. He has been teaching and mentoring UPSC aspirants for the last 5 years with tremendous interest in environment and ecology and Polity.
-
|| How to Score 130+ with 90 days Complete plan || UPSC 2021 Prelims Preparation under the Mentorship of an in-Service Officer
Register for a Live Webinar with Me – Date: 04 July 2021, Time: 3 PM
In the great war of Mahabharata between Kaurava and Pandava, both wanted Krishna on their side. He gave both of them the choice of either his entire army, or himself as charioteer on a condition that he would neither fight nor hold any weapon. Duryodhana happily chose his army while Arjuna his guidance by choosing him as his charioteer.
There was a reason why Arjun chose Krishna, he was the person who provided the intelligence, the guidance, and knew the strength and weaknesses of Arjuna. We know the result of the Kurushetra war, which was won by Arjuna under his guidance. He guided Arjuna to avoid mistakes and strive for his best towards victory.
Similarly, for UPSC aspirants those who have right guidance to clear Prelims, while others often commit mistakes that cost them success even at the first level i.e. the UPSC prelims. Around 95% fail at this level only.
There are Three mistakes of UPSC preparation- the mistakes which cost attempts and dreams:
#Mistake No-1: Relying on short cuts and long cuts:
#Mistake No- 2: Not developing conceptual understanding and interlinking:
#Mistake-No 3. Poor Assessment of own preparation i.e. Practice tests
It is said that Insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results. Let’s do that differently this time.
Understanding those mistakes and rectifying it helped me to score 145.34 and 142 in UPSC prelims GS paper when the cutoffs were 102 and 98 respectively and always above 120 plus in all attempts.
Fortunately, there is still around 100 days before you sit in Prelims- 2021. All you need is a mentor and a guide who understands your preparation as Krishna and helps you hit only the TARGET nothing else. Someone who himself has scored 120 plus always Prelims and understands part and parcel of the exam process.
If you are willing to give your 110%, I will be available to ensure in the next 90 days that you will come out of the examination hall with confidence and not with borderline cases, who waste next month in anticipation of prelims results, which could utilised for mains.
So if you are determined and willing to work hard, then only you are welcome to webinar on this Sunday (04.07.2021) at 3PM.
In this webinar, you can expect to learn about:
# 90 days concrete plan for Prelims-2021
#Changed pattern of prelims- overall change and subject wise change
#Subject specific focus : Polity, economy, ecology, history, geography, art and culture, S&T and IR: resources, methods, scope and utility in pre and mains
#Current affairs: Learn keywords approach
#How to revise effectively and not merely review?
#Time Management skills and optimal utilisation of resources
# Maximum benefit from Test series: Learn 3 fold approach to solve questions
#An interactive Q&A session with Santosh Gupta sir.
#Important Civilsdaily softcopies takeaway for exam preparation.
-Not only ideas, but a concrete 90 days plan of execution.
See you soon!
A quick bit about Santosh Gupta:
Santosh Gupta sir has scored above 140 twice in UPSC prelims and always 120 plus in all 6 attempts. He wrote all 6 mains and appeared for Interview 3 times. He has qualified UPSC EPFO and BPSC 56-59th also. He is presently working as Assistant Commissioner in Commercial Tax Department in Government of Bihar. He has been teaching and mentoring UPSC aspirants for the last 5 years with tremendous interest in environment and ecology and Polity.
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Middle income trap
The article suggests focusing on improving productivity and thereby the manufacturing sector to avoid the middle-income trap.
What is the middle-income trap and why it matters for India
- This trap was first conceived by World Bank economists.
- They found that of the 101 developing economies that could be classified as ‘middle income’ in 1960, only 13 managed to become rich nations by 2008.
- There is little consensus on why some countries succeed in making the transition to high-income status.
- But a distinctive attribute of those that succeed in the transition to high income is productivity improvement.
- India could use its demographic dividend to avoid this predicament and achieve the critical velocity needed to move into the high-income bracket.
How can India avoid the middle-income trap
1) Improve productivity
- Re-allocation of labour from low-productivity agriculture to high-productivity sectors, such as manufacturing, has been a primary channel through which today’s advanced economies raised their living standards.
- In India, growth in labour productivity has consistently declined over the past decade.
- The annual growth rate of output per worker has dipped from 7.9% in 2010 to 3.5% in 2019, as per International Labour Organization estimates.
- This was also a period of low growth in India’s manufacturing sector.
- In 2020-21, it accounted for only 14.5% of India’s gross value added, down from 17.4% in 2011-12.
- An essential first step in improving productivity would be strengthening this sector.
2) Strengthen manufacturing sector
- Industrial labour relations is among the most critical elements to revitalize India’s manufacturing sector especially in the context of labour productivity.
- These labour laws created incentives for firms to remain small and uncompetitive, thereby affecting productivity.
- The new code, once implemented, would increase the threshold relating to layoffs and retrenchment in industrial establishments to 300 workers.
- Other countries, such as China, Vietnam and Bangladesh, with whom India competes for foreign investment and export markets do not require the approval of administrative or judicial bodies for dismissals.
- Therefore, in spite of recent reforms, India’s labour laws stay rigid in comparison with those of its competitor countries.
3) Technology intensive manufacturing
- Engendering innovation in higher value-added, tech-intensive activities is important for economies before they reach that juncture.
- If exports are taken as a proxy for the manufacturing capabilities and competitiveness of an economy, the present status of tech-intensive manufacturing in India leaves a lot to be desired.
- As per World Bank data, high-tech exports accounted for only 10.3% of India’s manufacturing exports in 2019.
- Rival countries had a much higher share of the same: 31% in China, 13% in Brazil, 40% in Vietnam and 24% in Thailand.
- Low R&D spending in India, ranging from a mere 0.64% to 0.86% of gross domestic product over the past two decades, has held the country back.
Steps to improve tech-intensive manufacturing
- The government has introduced a production-linked incentive scheme to ensure a greater share of local value addition.
- While this would attract foreign investments in tech-intensive manufacturing, there is also a need for greater incentives for R&D investments by firms in India.
- A first step in this direction could be reinstating the tax exemption on R&D under Section 35 (2AB), even for companies opting for the lower corporate tax rate of 22%.
Conclusion
We need appropriate interventions to improve productivity—both economy-wide and within the sector. And we must do it now.
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How the GNCTD (Amendment) Act affects functioning of Delhi Assembly
The article highlights the implications of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD)(Amendment) Act, 2021 on functioning of Assembly and its committees.
Context
The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD)(Amendment) Act, 2021 has been criticised as a retrograde law. However, what deserves equal attention is the Act’s assault on the functioning of Delhi’s Legislative Assembly.
Background of GNCTD Act
- The GNCTD Act was enacted in 1992.
- Under the Act, Delhi Legislative Assembly was given the power to regulate its own procedure, as well as the conduct of its business.
- This sought to realise a delicate balance reflecting Delhi’s unique constitutional position: neither full state nor a centrally governed Union Territory.
How amendment affects functioning of Assembly
- Its standards of procedure and conduct of business have been firmly tethered to that of the Lok Sabha, depriving Delhi’s elected MLAs of an effective say in how their Assembly should be run.
- The Amending Act prohibits the Assembly from making any rule enabling either itself or its committees to consider any issue concerned with “the day-to-day administration of the capital” or “conduct inquiries in relation to administrative decisions”.
- The most significant impact of this shall be on the exercise of free speech in the Assembly and its committees.
- The amendment impeded the Assembly from performing its most basic legislative function — that of holding the executive to account by restricting its ability to freely discuss matters happening in the capital.
Impact on committees
- The deliberations and inputs of committees often pave the way for intelligent legislative action.
- In a way, they act as the eyes and ears for the whole House, which has neither the time nor the expertise to scrutinise issues in depth.
- It would be impossible for committees to perform this function without the power to conduct inquiries.
- Pre-emptively injunct a committee from conducting an inquiry “in relation to the administrative decisions” (an extremely broad exception) completely negates the ability of committees to function effectively as the Assembly’s advisors and agents.
- The quality of legislative work emanating from the Assembly is thus ultimately bound to suffer.
Consider the question “What are the reasons for frequent disputes between Delhi government and the Lt. Governor? Would the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD)(Amendment) Act, 2021 succeed in ending that trend?”
Conclusion
The amendment deprive the Delhi Assmbly of its very basic functions and render it a ‘legislature’ in name only. Surely, Delhi’s voters deserve better than that. The Government need to reconsider the provisions of the amendment act.
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Are solar electricity and electric vehicles really ‘clean’
It Matters How the Electricity Is Made
- Among the many drivers of global warming, electricity generation/consumption and transportation of people and goods have been identified as two important drivers which contribute almost 50% to the emissions load.
- Against this backdrop, two non-food or agriculture technologies that have been projected and implemented as ‘clean alternatives’ to mitigate the global warming phenomenon are:
- Solar photovoltaics for electricity generation
- Electrification of transport
Cleanliness of these alternatives
- There is a general propensity to push these two alternatives in terms of energy and financial return on investments but very little is being said upfront about environmental cost and effect.
- Both these technologies indeed lead to significantly reduced emissions after they are implemented.
- The catchphrase here, however, is after!
- There is little information or discussion in the public domain about upfront environmental cost as it is an inconvenient truth that cannot be wished away.
Why aren’t they clean
- Prior to their implementation, a lot of different human-made materials have to be synthesized from naturally occurring raw materials.
- Then, these have to be put together as a functioning unit or a device for a specific purpose.
- These processes, unfortunately, are both energy- and emissions-intensive and to realise the extent of these intensities, one needs to go behind the scene.
Critical analysis
[1] Solar energy
- The dominant market player in the field of solar energy conversion to electricity is silicon-based modules occupying more than 90 per cent of the installed capacity.
- These modules are made of elements as well as inorganic and organic compounds such as silicon, aluminum, copper, silver, glass, epoxy, plastics and are generally installed using steel and concrete.
- All these materials are human-made and hence need to be synthesized utilizing naturally occurring raw materials.
- These synthesis processes are energy- and water-consuming and emit greenhouse gasses and pollutants into the atmosphere — dark horses in the chain of realization of solar energy conversion to electricity.
- Information regarding the environmental costs of these processes is not extensively mentioned in the public domain except for a few occasional studies.
- These studies indicate that the CO2(e) gasses emission due to solar panel manufacturing alone is about 2,560 kg per kilowatt of installed capacity, which is quite significant.
[2] Electrification of transportation
- This involves the substitution of current petrol, diesel and gas combustion-powered engines in automobiles with electric engines.
- The two main components of such an automobile, therefore, are: the engine which converts electrical energy to propulsion and a battery.
- The electric engine or motor has been known for a long time but for the above application, it needs to have high energy density along with being compact and lightweight.
- This can be accomplished by using what is known as ‘rare earth’ magnets which require extensive mining and processing which are environmentally intensive activities.
- A closer look at the Li-ion battery shows that it requires a 40-kilowatt-hour battery and putting together such a battery results in releasing about 3,000 Kg of CO2(e) gasses into the
The Indian scenario
After looking at the behind-the-scenes emissions scenario of the two technologies, let us put Indian goals into perspective with respect to these two technologies.
Solar energy
- It was recently announced that India will have an installed capacity of 100 gigawatt (GW) for electricity generation by solar photovoltaics by the year 2022.
- This will mean gaseous emissions to the tune of 0.256 GTons of CO2(e) for manufacturing of solar panels, which is a staggering amount from this activity alone.
- It should be noted here that installation of 100 GW electrical power generation plants will actually result in only 25 GW of usable electricity at best, assuming an efficiency of 25 per cent, which itself is quite high.
- If, on the other hand, we would like to have 100 GW of usable electrical power being generated by solar photovoltaics, it will result in emissions to the tune of 1.024 GTons of CO2(e), which is enormous.
- This is an upfront loading of the environment with greenhouse gasses gases and excludes the embodied carbon in batteries, inverters, junction boxes, wiring and so on.
Electric automobiles
- The Union transportation minister has recently announced that India will become the largest manufacturer of electric vehicles and Li-ion batteries will be manufactured in India within the next six months.
- To replace about a million conventional fuel-based vehicles (a fraction of the existing vehicles), it will result in upfront loading to the tune of 3 MTons of CO2(e) greenhouse gasses, just due to the battery assembly process alone.
- The environmental costs due to electric motor manufacturing, mining of raw materials required for the battery and generation of electricity to run these million electric automobiles will be additional.
- In both cases, the water requirement and particulate emissions have not been included, both of which are strongly linked to ecology and the environment.
Conclusion
- It is very clear from the two technologies and the related national goals that huge environmental, human, as well as economic costs, need to be paid upfront to realise these goals.
- The task becomes even more daunting as the infrastructure required to make either solar grade Si or for that matter put together a million Li-ion batteries is non-existent at present.
- In light of these facts, it becomes imperative to realign goals and prioritize steps to be taken to alleviate the problem of emissions and the associated global warming.
Way forward
- It is important to try various less harmful alternatives.
- On another note, it is time to legislate so that businesses will also include the costs of atmospheric pollution together with their profit and loss statements.