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News 1: Rule Curve for Mullaperiyar Dam
What is the Rule Curve?
- Rule Curve is a tabulation which specifies quantum of storage of water or empty space to be maintained in a reservoir during different times of a year, based on the rainfall data for 35 years.
- It is a ready-reckoner in decision-making for officials in charge of the dam, for smooth operation of shutters, especially for moderation of flood, during monsoon times without having to seek permission from the top hierarchical ladder.
- First dam to have Rule Curve
A Bone on Contention:-
- Water of the Mullaperiyar dam, has remained a bone of contention between Tamil Nadu and Kerala for over four decades. After a long legal battle, the Tamil Nadu Government was allowed by Supreme Court to raise the water level from 136 feet to 142 feet in 2014.
- The dam is in Kerala but maintained by Tamil Nadu.
About Mullaperiyar dam:-
- The dam is on the Periyar River in the Indian state of Kerala.
- It is located on the Cardamom hills of Western Ghat in Kerala.
- Periyar National Park is located around the dam’s reservoir. It is a tiger as well as elephant reserve in Kerala.
- The dam is built at the confluence of Mullayar and Periyar rivers
- In a UN report published in 2021, the dam was identified as one among the world’s big dams which needs to be decommissioned for being ‘situated in a seismically active area with significant structural flaws and poses risk to 3.5 million people if the 100+ years old dam were to fail
News 2: Mudumalai National Park
About:-
- Mudumalai National Park is a national park in the Nilgiri Mountains in Tamil Nadu.
- The national park has been part of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve since 1986 and was declared a tiger reserve
- It is bordered in the west by Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (Kerala), in the north by Bandipur National Park(Karnataka) , in the east by Sigur Reserve Forest (Tamil Nadu) and by Singara Reserve Forest (Tamil Nadu) in south.
- The Moyar River enters the national park in the south and is joined by five tributaries. Together they drain this area, and several artificial waterholes provide drinking water for wildlife during dry seasons. [Moyar river which is a tributary of Bhavani which in turn is a tributary of Kaveri]
- Moyar river line of separation between the state of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and a separation between the forest of Bandipur National Park and the Mudumalai sanctuary to the south.
News 3: IMF to extend $2.9 billion to Srilanka
Background:-
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently approved a loan of $2.9 billion to Sri Lanka,. The island country, which is battling its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948, witnessed widespread protests earlier this year that forced Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign as President, and brought Ranil Wickremesinghe to power.
Details:-
- Sri Lanka owes more than $51 billion in foreign debt, of which $28 billion has to be repaid by 2028.
- According to the IMF, the country’s economy will shrink by 8.7 per cent in 2022 while inflation rises to above 60 per cent
- Economists say the crisis stems from domestic factors such as years of mismanagement and corruption.
About IMF:-
- IMF helps countries who face Balance of Payment (BoP) Crisis. Srilanka has been facing a BoP crisis and does not have enough forex to pay debts or buy essential things such as petrol, fertilizer etc. from world market.
- It has been facing severe Inflation, mostly driven by shortage of supply of essential goods and products. (Demand pull inflation)
- The IMF was conceived at a UN conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States, in July 1944. Along with World Bank it is known as the Bretten Wood Twins.
- The IMF is a specialized agency of the United Nations.
Important Reports Published by IMF :-
- Global Financial Stability Report
- World Economic Outlook
New 4: CERVAVAC
- India’s first indigenously developed vaccine, “CERVAVAC” for the prevention of cervical cancer.
- Developed by Serum Institute of India ( Mr. Adar C. Poonawalla, CEO)
- Cervical cancer ranks as the 2nd most prevalent cancers in India and accounts for nearly one-fourth of the world’s cervical cancer deaths despite being largely preventable.
- Current estimates indicate that every year approximately 1.25 lakhs women are diagnosed with cervical cancer, and over 75 thousand die from the disease in India
- The most promising intervention for preventing cervical cancer is vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV). It is estimated that HPV types 16 and 18 (HPV-16 and HPV-18) together contribute to approximately 70% of all invasive cervical cancer cases worldwide.
- ‘CERVAVAC’ is an outcome of a partnership of DBT (Dept of Biotechnology) and BIRAC (Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council ) with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, supported by Serum Institute of India for the indigenous development of quadrivalent vaccine.
- CERVAVAC is a quadrivalent vaccine, meaning it is effective against at least four variants of cancer-causing Human Papilloma Virus (HPV)
New 5: UN accuses China of Uighur rights abuses
Background:-
The United Nations has accused China of committing serious human rights violations, following an investigation into allegations of abuse against Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang province.
Who are Uighurs?
- The Uighurs are a nomadic Turkic people native to China’s Xinjiang province.
- About 12 million Uighurs live in Xinjiang, with smaller groups in Kazakhstan, Turkey and other countries.
- They are considered as one of China’s 55 officially recognized ethnic minorities.
Where is Xinjiang province?
- The region produces about a fifth of the world’s cotton.
- It is rich in oil and natural gas and because of its proximity to Central Asia and Europe, it is seen by China as an important trade link.
- In the early 20th Century, the Uighurs briefly declared independence for the region but it was brought under the complete control of China’s new Communist government in 1949.
Concerns:-
- Human rights groups have accused China of sweeping a million or more people from the minority groups into detention camps.
- UN accused China of serious human rights violations that may amount to “crimes against humanity”.
News 6: UN inspectors arrive at Ukraine nuclear plant amid shelling
- A UN inspection team arrived at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on a mission to safeguard it from catastrophe, reaching the site amid heavy shelling that prompted the shutdown of one reactor and underscored the urgency and danger of the task.
- Both Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of attacking the plant and of “nuclear terrorism”, with the IAEA urging “utmost restraint” around the site.
Where is Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and why is it important?
- Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is the largest nuclear plant in Europe.
- It is located in the southern Ukrainian steppe on the Dnieper River
- Rafael Mariano Grossi, director-general of the IAEA, described the situation as “completely out of control”
IAEA-International Atomic Energy Agency
- The IAEA was established as an autonomous organization on 29 July 1957. Though established independently of the United Nations through its own international treaty (the IAEA Statute), the IAEA reports to both the General Assembly and the Security Council of the UN.
- IAEA serves as an intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical co-operation on the peaceful use of nuclear technology and nuclear power worldwide
- Head Quarter- Vienna, Austria
- India is a member. Almost all except few countries like North-Korea are not its members.
News 7: Jobless rate zooms to 1year high of 8.3%
- India’s unemployment rate surged to a one year high of 8.3% in August as employment sequentially fell by 2 million to 394.6 million, according to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).
Recent Posts
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.