Please go through the link, take your time and try to answer these questions which can help in Mains :-
To be answered in 200 words
1)What is the ongoing geopolitical conflict in South China Sea and what are it’s implication on India’s National Security.
2)What is the implication of China-Pakistan-Economic corridor on India’s National security. Do you think India should proactively participate rather then just being a mute spectator ?
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/world-view-column-carving-out-a-path-on-chinas-road/article7814833.ece
3)”Striking down NJAC is tyranny of the unelected over the elected”.Discuss
http://upsctree.com/2015/10/30/29-oct-2015/
4)As Kalam said ““For great men, religion is a way of making friends; small people make religion a fighting tool.” . What is your interpretation of secularism in Indian context ?
5)Do you think India is a tolerant/intolerant nation ? Elucidate your view with examples.
6)What do you understand by Media Trial ? Should the media be restricted by appropriate law so as to not to interfere with the functioning of the cases that are in investigative phase or before court?
7)The Indian mega cities are facing existential threats, and each of the metro has it’s own gamut of troubles.Elucidate by comparing Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
8)Do you think minimum education should be an eligibility to contest elections ?If there is a right to contest election for each citizen , don’t you think the citizens also have right to better representative ?
9)Indo-Pak relationship has come full circle . With so many similarities what are the dissimilarities that keep these countries apart.
10)Indian cinema managed to malign the police force of India.For decades over decades , it represented them as corrupt , inefficient and self-centered , this view over time became the popular perception of a whole generation. In this context , do you think cinema has merely became a mirror of society rather than a vehicle of change.
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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.