Internationalisation of Rupee:-
Internationalization of Rupee will facilitate greater degree of integration of Indian economy with rest of the world in terms of foreign trade and international capital flows. Key benefits of internationalization of Rupee include savings on foreign exchange transactions for Indian residents, reduced foreign exchange exposure for Indian corporate, reduction in dependence on foreign exchange reserves for balance of payment stability etc.
One of the important drivers for internationalization of a currency is the country’s share in global merchandise and commercial services trade. India’s percentage share in the global trade is still on the lower side and it limits the pricing ability of domestic businesses in Indian Rupee. Moreover, the share of Indian Rupee in the Global foreign exchange market turnover at present is also very low. Internationalization of Indian currency would also require full capital account convertibility.
As a policy, we have followed a gradual and cautious approach in opening up the capital account. The capital account is being progressively liberalized in accordance with the evolving macro-economic conditions and requirements of the Indian industries, individuals and financial sectors. Government has been taking measures to promote the internationalization of the Indian Rupee. Recently, a framework was put in place for issuance of Rupee denominated bonds overseas by Indian corporate.
Levy of Tax on Digital Services
A Committee constituted by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has recommended for the levy of tax on most digital services. The Committee constituted to examine taxation of E-Commerce, has recommended that Equalization Levy may be imposed at a rate of six to eight per cent, on any consideration of more than one lakh rupees received by a non-resident from a resident of India or from a permanent establishment in India for certain specified digital services, including online advertising, any services for online advertising and digital advertising space.
The Finance Bill, 2016 proposes equalization levy at the rate of 6% of the amount of consideration for specified services received or receivable by a non-resident, from a resident in India who carries out business or profession, or from a non-resident having a permanent establishment in India, where the aggregate amount of consideration received in a year exceeds one lakh rupees. The proposed levy will have no direct impact on consumers as it is applicable only to business to business transaction.
Rs.100-cr. fine proposed for wrong India map
The government has proposed a law where wrong depiction of the map of India could land the violators in jail with a maximum term of seven years and fine up to Rs. 100 crore.
Details:
- The new draft bill, ‘The Geospatial Information Regulation Bill, 2016‘, basically aims to regularize critical information on Maps services that affect “the security, sovereignty and integrity” of the country.
- According to the draft, it will be mandatory to take permission from a government authority before acquiring, disseminating, publishing or distributing any geospatial information of India.
- The draft Bill will ensure that online platforms like Google will have to apply for a licence to run Google Maps or Google Earth in India.
- Also, no person shall depict, disseminate, publish or distribute any wrong or false topographic information of India including international boundaries through internet platforms or online services or in any electronic or physical form.
Analysis :-
The amount sounds alarming, but nevertheless , due to lack of this , there has been a violation of it for quite sometime.Pick a textbook of any other country and India’s map is distorted.Majority of applications too depict distorted map of India including google.To check this it is necessary.One might construe and argue that it may hamper artistic freedom or freedom of expression or take the garb of innocent mistake, but nevertheless, sovereignty of India is India’s business and anyone who wants to draw a map or depict India through map , has to abide by the Indian circulars for that matter.Sovereignty is gained after hundreds of years and loosing hundreds of lives – a fine of 100 crore seems low if one contemplates the cost we paid for it , And no one should take the sovereignty for granted , intentional or otherwise.Of course there is a debate on the amount in newspapers – becasue they have to be extra cautious now.If anyone wants to do business in India , it should do as per the rules of the land – the least of it is not to distort the map of the very country it wants to do business with.After all we don’t want another Radcliffe and with this fine other can stop being one.
Offshore Tax Evasion
(vii) Proactively furthering global efforts to combat tax evasion/black money, inter alia, by joining the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement in respect of Automatic Exchange of Information and having information sharing arrangement with USA under its Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).
International cooperation in tackling offshore tax evasion and avoidance is achieved, inter alia, through ‘Exchange of Information’ mechanism provided under tax treaties entered into by India with various countries. Presently, India has tax treaties (bilateral or multilateral) with 137 countries/ offshore jurisdictions.
Tax treaties entered into by India with various countries as stated in para above include treaties with no-tax or low-tax offshore jurisdictions. India and United States of America have committed to tackling offshore tax evasion and avoidance through mutual collaboration, including joint tax audits and tax examination abroad. Besides, India has proactively contributed to furthering the global efforts to combat tax evasion/black money, inter alia, by joining the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement in respect of Common Reporting Standard (CRS) on Automatic Exchange of Information. Over 90 jurisdictions, including several no-tax or low-tax offshore jurisdictions, have expressed their commitment for putting in place the CRS.
Infant feeding
The 4th assessment of WBTi for India, carried out in 2015, mentions lack of monitoring and evaluation of the Infant & Young Child Feeding components in government health and nutrition programme.
Early breastfeeding is monitored through Mother and Child tracking systems and Health Management Information System.
Following efforts are being undertaken to monitor and successfully implement Infant & Young Child feeding practices, apart from mentioned above:
i. National Guidelines on Infant and Young Child Feeding, 2006, have been issued by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, to emphasise appropriate Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices. The Ministry of Health & FW has also released guidelines on Enhancing optimal Infant & young child feeding practices in 2013.
ii. Reproductive Maternal Newborn Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH) counsellor is provided at high case load delivery points for counselling and support to lactating mothers on breastfeeding.
iii. Incentive is provided to ASHA under the Home Based New-born Care programme for promotion of IYCF through home visits, upto 42 days after birth. Extended visits for low birth weight babies and babies discharged from Special New-born Care Units (SNCU) upto two years of age are also carried out to ensure IYCF practices as part of package of services.
iv. Counselling and support for IYCF is provided at each contact point such as immunization, weighing etc.
v. IYCF training is provided to frontline workers and Staff Nurses for capacity building.
vi. Infant Milk Substitutes Feeding Bottles, and Infant Foods (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 1993, as amended 2003, has been enacted in the country to protect and promote breastfeeding and ensure proper use of infant foods.
vii. Recently, the National Steering Committee on Infant and Young Child Feeding and National Coordination Committee on Infant and Young Child Feeding have been notified to give policy guidelines, coordinate and integrate all activities relating to breastfeeding and IYCF and advise on measures to promote breastfeeding.
viii. The restructured ICDS Mission also aims to increase Infant and Young Child Feeding Practices in the country. Under the Care and Nutrition Counselling component, focus is to provide counselling to women on issues relating to infant feeding practices. Under the Mission, there is also provision of an additional Anganwadi Worker in 200 High Burden Districts of the country for imparting counseling and behavior change communication through community and home visits as well as demonstration of appropriate feeding practices.
ix. Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY), is a centrally sponsored Conditional Maternity Benefit scheme for pregnant and lactating women, aims to improve nutritional and health status of pregnant and lactating women across the country by partly compensating for their wage loss. The scheme encourages women to follow optimal Infant and Young Child Feeding practices including early and exclusive breast feeding for the first six months. The scheme is now operational in 53 selected districts across the country.
x. “World Breastfeeding Week” is celebrated every year from 1-7 August by organizing various activities such as State level Workshop/ Seminar, lecture-cum-practical demonstration, etc. for creating greater awareness. Awareness is also generated through audio-visual medium for promotion of optimal IYCF. IYCF promotion activities are also carried out under the Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight (IDCF) implemented during last week of July and first month of August.
Few Facts :-
- In the last three years, only disease to be eradicated from India was Polio, in 2014. It was noted that there has been recurrence of existing diseases and emergence of new diseases like Drug Resistance Tuberculosis, Leprosy, Influenza A (H1N1), Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) and Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD).
- Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) is an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Women & Child Development (MWCD). It is a society registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860 and an apex micro-finance organization. The main objective of setting up of RMK was to provide micro-credit to poor women for various livelihood support and income generating activities at concessional terms in a client-friendly procedure to bring about their socio-economic development. In fact, the quasi-formal delivery mechanism, simple procedure, in-built flexibility and concessional rates of interest are some of the hallmarks of the credit packages of the RMK.
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Petrol in India is cheaper than in countries like Hong Kong, Germany and the UK but costlier than in China, Brazil, Japan, the US, Russia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, a Bank of Baroda Economics Research report showed.
Rising fuel prices in India have led to considerable debate on which government, state or central, should be lowering their taxes to keep prices under control.
The rise in fuel prices is mainly due to the global price of crude oil (raw material for making petrol and diesel) going up. Further, a stronger dollar has added to the cost of crude oil.
Amongst comparable countries (per capita wise), prices in India are higher than those in Vietnam, Kenya, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela. Countries that are major oil producers have much lower prices.
In the report, the Philippines has a comparable petrol price but has a per capita income higher than India by over 50 per cent.
Countries which have a lower per capita income like Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Venezuela have much lower prices of petrol and hence are impacted less than India.
“Therefore there is still a strong case for the government to consider lowering the taxes on fuel to protect the interest of the people,” the report argued.
India is the world’s third-biggest oil consuming and importing nation. It imports 85 per cent of its oil needs and so prices retail fuel at import parity rates.
With the global surge in energy prices, the cost of producing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products also went up for oil companies in India.
They raised petrol and diesel prices by Rs 10 a litre in just over a fortnight beginning March 22 but hit a pause button soon after as the move faced criticism and the opposition parties asked the government to cut taxes instead.
India imports most of its oil from a group of countries called the ‘OPEC +’ (i.e, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Russia, etc), which produces 40% of the world’s crude oil.
As they have the power to dictate fuel supply and prices, their decision of limiting the global supply reduces supply in India, thus raising prices
The government charges about 167% tax (excise) on petrol and 129% on diesel as compared to US (20%), UK (62%), Italy and Germany (65%).
The abominable excise duty is 2/3rd of the cost, and the base price, dealer commission and freight form the rest.
Here is an approximate break-up (in Rs):
a)Base Price | 39 |
b)Freight | 0.34 |
c) Price Charged to Dealers = (a+b) | 39.34 |
d) Excise Duty | 40.17 |
e) Dealer Commission | 4.68 |
f) VAT | 25.35 |
g) Retail Selling Price | 109.54 |
Looked closely, much of the cost of petrol and diesel is due to higher tax rate by govt, specifically excise duty.
So the question is why government is not reducing the prices ?
India, being a developing country, it does require gigantic amount of funding for its infrastructure projects as well as welfare schemes.
However, we as a society is yet to be tax-compliant. Many people evade the direct tax and that’s the reason why govt’s hands are tied. Govt. needs the money to fund various programs and at the same time it is not generating enough revenue from direct taxes.
That’s the reason why, govt is bumping up its revenue through higher indirect taxes such as GST or excise duty as in the case of petrol and diesel.
Direct taxes are progressive as it taxes according to an individuals’ income however indirect tax such as excise duty or GST are regressive in the sense that the poorest of the poor and richest of the rich have to pay the same amount.
Does not matter, if you are an auto-driver or owner of a Mercedes, end of the day both pay the same price for petrol/diesel-that’s why it is regressive in nature.
But unlike direct tax where tax evasion is rampant, indirect tax can not be evaded due to their very nature and as long as huge no of Indians keep evading direct taxes, indirect tax such as excise duty will be difficult for the govt to reduce, because it may reduce the revenue and hamper may programs of the govt.