One of horrifying repercussion of human induced climate change is the rise in global sea level due to melting of glaciers. There are numerous evidences, which echo’s that not only is there an rise in sea level, but the rate of seal level rise is also accelerating.
However, the impact of sea level rise is not equally felt around the globe. Some areas are more vulnerable to sea level rise, due to its terrain, wind patterns, and ocean currents. This global warming related repercussion is more threatening to coastlines and the cities located along them. Life of hundreds of millions of people around the world who live in low lying areas near the coast is at stake due to this rise.
Report on Mediterranean region by ENEA
The report released on March 1, in Quarternary International (The Journal of the International Union for Quaternary Research on climate change by Italian National agency for New Technologies, Energies and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) says that the floating city Venice, which stretches across 116 small islands along the Adriatic Sea in northeast Italy is vulnerable to climate change and could very well sink in just a 100 years. According to this Report, as the Mediterranean Sea rises up to five feet in the year 2100 the queen of Adriatic is on risk of disappearing under water.
The Mediterranean Sea region, which is the largest semi enclosed sea in Europe, is home to 480 million people living across the continents like Europe in north, Africa in south and Asia in east, surrounded by 22 countries which together share the coastline of 46,000 kilometre. About one third of Mediterranean population is concentrated along its coastal region. Around 75 per cent of the Italian populations are estimated to live within 10km of the coast.
Who are the most vulnerable?
As we are indeed aware, most of the large cities around the world such as New York, London, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata are located along the coast and so are more vulnerable to sea level rise.
It is important to note that transgression of sea by rise in its level leads to eroding of beaches and damaging coastal wetlands. Many weather anomalies like intense tropical cyclones are more frequent now largely because of warmer sea due to global warming.
What is at stake?
- Rising sea level is threat to people who lives near the coast as this area will have more frequent flooding.
- Wetlands or swamps around the world, which provide natural habitat for plant and animal species and act as natural barrier and protects shore during flood, are already facing habitat loss.
- Mangroves are also at greater risk of being badly affected. These mangroves played a crucial role in safeguarding many locations the Indian coast during the 2004 tsunami.
Effect of climate change on Indian Ocean
- A World Bank study in Jan 2014, also found that there is a progressive salinization of water in world heritage site of Sundarbans in Bay of Bengal due to transgression of sea triggered by climate change, which will significantly affect the aquatic species, and could alter the rich ecosystem of Sundarban.
- As per IPCC assessment report March 1, Maldives may face serious threat of permanent inundation from sea level rise .Maldives which is an exquisite island in Indian Ocean is also on threshold of submergence, due to rise in sea level by warming of Indian Ocean. India’s financial capital Mumbai which is drowned every year also narrates transgression of sea due to climate change.
Endnote –
As global warming is already a well established phenomenon and will be experienced in future with a greater intensity, it is our responsibility to work to overcome this reality, so that the livelihood of millions are not jeopardized
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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.