Thousands have lived without love, but not one without water.
Facts About Water & Sanitation
663 million people – 1 in 10 – lack access to safe water.
2.4 billion people – 1 in 3 – lack access to a toilet.
Twice the population of the United States lives without access to safe water.
1/3 of the global population lives without access to a toilet.
More people have a mobile phone than a toilet.
The water crisis is the #1 global risk based on impact to society (as a measure of devastation), as announced by the World Economic Forum in January 2015.
Facts About Children, Women & The Safe Water Crisis
Women and children spend 125 million hours each day collecting water.
Women and girls living without a toilet spend 266 million hours each day finding a place to go.
Women and children bear the primary responsibility for water collection.
Women and girls often spend up to 6 hours each day collecting water.
Reductions in time spent collecting water have been found to increase school attendance.
Globally, 1/3 of all schools lack access to safe water and sanitation.
Every 90 seconds a child dies from a water-related disease.
160 million children suffer from stunting and chronic malnutrition linked to water and sanitation.
Diarrhea is the 3rd leading cause of child death, a majority of which are water-related.
Involving women can make water projects 6 to 7 times more effective.
Water Borne Disease Facts & Their Effects Around The World
Every 90 seconds a child dies from a water-related disease.
Water-related diseases affect more than 1.5 billion people every year.
Water, sanitation and hygiene related disease kills nearly 1 million people each year.
160 million children suffer from stunting and chronic malnutrition linked to water and sanitation.
Diarrhea is the 3rd leading cause of child death, a majority of which are water-related.
In low and middle-income countries, 1/3 of all healthcare facilities lack a safe water source.
Facts About the Economic Importance of Safe Water
Every $1 invested in water and sanitation provides a $4 economic return.
$260 billion is lost globally each year due to lack of safe water and sanitation.
Universal access to safe water and sanitation would result in $32 billion in economic benefits each year from reductions in health care costs and increased productivity from reduced illness.1
Time spent gathering water around the world translates to $24 billion in lost economic benefits each year.
Access to credit plays a significant role in triggering household sanitation investments, increasing health and providing families the dignity of a toilet.
India’s Water Crisis
- 77m lack access to safe drinking water
- 58% of the total population lives on less than US$3.10 per day
- 769 lack access to improved sanitation
Before you waste a drop, think twice !!!
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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.