Events of National & International Importance
China, Maldives sign preliminary accord on bridge construction
1.
China and Maldives — a major element of the
Beijing-sponsored Maritime Silk Road project — have signed an accord
to conduct preliminary study on constructing a bridge.
2.
It would connect capital Male with the city’s international airport.
3.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a pre-feasibility study of the
project has been signed.
4.
The bridge may be named “China-Maldives Friendship Bridge.
India’s concerns
1.
China’s Maritime Silk Route has raised concerns in India, which opposes
the militarisation of the Indian Ocean.
2.
National Security Advisor
Ajit Doval
stressed during his keynote address that Indian Ocean must remain a zone of
peace.
Economic Development
Govt. notifies relaxed FDI norms for construction sector
1.
Government on Wednesday relaxed
rules for FDI in the construction sector by reducing minimum built-up area
as well as capital requirement and easing the exit norms.
2. It have been notified the Department of
Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). India allows 100 per cent FDI in
the sector through automatic route.
3. In view of depleting FDI inflow in construction and real estate sector
in last couple of years, the government has reduced the minimum floor area to
20,000 sq. mt. from the earlier 50,000 sq. mt.
4. It also brought down the minimum capital requirement to $5 million from
$10 million.
IR & Diplomacy
India, France to 'Fast Track' Rafale Fighter Deal
1.
The two ministers (Parrikar and French Defense Minister Yves Le Drian) agreed to put the issue of
concluding a deal on India’s acquisition of 126 French Rafale fighter jets on a
fast track.
2.
The deal is expected to cost India upwards of $15 billion and will
fulfill India’s Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) contract.
3.
It was awarded to France’s Dassault Aviation for the Rafale fighter in
2011 over several other bidders.
4.
Both the sides agreed to take forward the partnership between the two
countries that was envisaged in 1998.
5.
The meeting between Parrikar and Le Drian puts to rest rumors that the
MMRCA contract could be scrapped.
6.
India views France as a “strategic partner.” In addition to the Rafale
negotiations, Parrikar and Le Drian vowed to increase cooperation on
counter-terrorism and maritime security.
Public Policy & Governance
Reasons for the failure of SEZs in India
1. Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are likely to be
central to realising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious ‘Make in India’
agenda.
2. But the withdrawal
of tax incentives has made SEZs an unattractive proposition, say industry
experts.
3. Under the original scheme, businesses in SEZs
were exempted from the minimum alternate
tax (MAT) on book profits.
4. Developers were exempted from payment of the dividend distribution tax (DDT).
5. But with indications that companies were misusing the policy for real estate arbitrage.
6. Information
technology companies
were using the policy to recoup tax
benefits that they lost when the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI)
scheme ended these exemptions were withdrawn.
7. From 2011-12 onwards, MAT exemptions
for SEZ units and developers were withdrawn and DDT exemptions for
developers were terminated.
8. A key attraction for corporate houses was the
income tax holiday. “With taxes being levied, the savings for companies on
account of tax concessions was reduced, impacting interest in SEZs.
9. Though the issue of taxation is contentious, it
is the unpredictability of the tax
regime that has had an impact on investments.
10. The withdrawal of direct tax benefits has been a
setback for the SEZ programme and has affected its future prospects.
11. Of the 564 SEZs that have been formally approved
so far, only 192 were operational in June this year.
12. Total employment in these enclaves was 1,277,645
in 2014, as against an expectation of 1,743,530 by 2009.
13. The total area under SEZs currently stands at 61,624 hectares, while Shenzhen in China alone covers 49,300 hectares.
14. The SEZ policy continues to be relevant from a
‘Make in India’ perspective, but several policy initiatives are necessary to
get those going.
15. For improving their viability, manufacturers
should be allowed to sell goods in the domestic market but duty should be
imposed on individual parts imported and not on the entire product, which would
make it unviable.
16. No Customs duty should be imposed on domestic
value added.
17.
India
has signed a number of free trade
agreements (FTAs), with countries like Sri lanka, Japan and the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), under
which import duties have been slashed to zero for several product lines.
18. This impacts local sales of SEZ units, which are
taxed at higher rates.
19. Manufacturers in India should have the ‘most
favoured nation’ status that implies lowest tariff under the FTAs.
20. Taxation issues are not the only ones impeding
SEZs.
21. Despite offering over 300 incentives and schemes
for promotion of manufacturing at the Centre and state levels, manufacturing
growth has not risen substantially.
22. Incentives need to be carefully evaluated and
studied.
23. Location, infrastructure, logistics and
professional zone management are four key factors determining success of SEZs”.
24. A
major reason for the success of SEZs in China was the creation of complementary
infrastructure, power, roads and ports; these are lacking in India.
25. The focus should be on creating the necessary infrastructure which
will require a more holistic approach.
26. Another major reason for the SEZs languishing is
the absence of external infrastructure support.
27. The SEZs have to be connected with ports and airports
with world-class roads and rail; ports and airports, too, have to be
world-class, with Customs authorities adopting international best practices in
trade facilitation.
Bio-diversity & Climate Change
Peru
summit; dignitaries call for equitable climate treaty
1. Outgoing COP President Marcin Korolec(new COP President Manuel
Pulgar-Vidal ) urged parties to take forward the legacy of the Warsaw summit, which resulted in significant developments on mitigation,
finance and forests.
2.
Pulgar-Vidal, who is also
environment minister of Peru, said he wanted this COP to provide “a clear and
solid foundation for the new global climate agreement”.
3.
He stressed that adaptation
needs to be given equal emphasis as mitigation and also hoped that the
framework for an effective “Loss and Damage” mechanism would be
operationalised.
4.
Pulgar-Vidal declared the COP
20/CMP 10 officially open and added that Lima Climate Action Day would be
observed on December 11, during the summit.
5.
Finally, Rajendra Pachauri
highlighted the findings of the latest IPCC report. He pointed out that 35 per
cent of total emissions are a result of the energy sector while 24 per cent are
from agriculture.
6.
The Peru summit is the last crucial step before the
final summit in Paris in 2015. Parties are expected to negotiate a
draft text of the new agreement.
Environment & Ecology
Urban
farming now covers area equal to size of Europe, says study
1.
Urban farming is playing an
important role in global food security, finds a new study.
2.
The international team of
scientists that conducted the research used satellite imagery to carry out the
study and found out that around 456 million hectares—an area the size of
European Union—is being cultivated by city dwellers across the world.
3.
It aims to highlight the role
that urban farming can play in food security and sustainable development.
4.
The UN data shows that more
than 50 per cent of the world's population now lives in urban areas.
5.
The most interesting factor when
we look at India is that it could be map the whole country as urban or
peri-urban because there are so many towns and cities.
6.
The study also finds that urban
farming helps in controlling flood, increases job opportunities for the poor
and puts marginal lands into productive use.
7.
The study suggested that the
urban croplands will play a greater role in densely populated and water-scarce
regions, especially in South Asia.
Science & Technology
Earth’s most abundant mineral gets name
1.
American geologists have named
the earth’s most abundant mineral Bridgmanite.
2.
It had hitherto remained
nameless as a large enough sample of the mineral, found in the earth’s lower
mantle, had not been recovered.
3.
Under the rules of set down by the International Mineralogical Association,
a mineral cannot be given a formal name until a specimen has been found and
examined first hand.
4.
A group of American geologists
were recently able to extract a sample large enough to analyse from a
meteorite.
5.
The new name is in honour of
Percy Bridgman, a pioneer in the use of high pressure experiments to better
understand how many geological formations come about.
6.
Bridgmanite makes up about 70
percent of the earth’s lower mantle and 38 percent of the total volume of the
earth. It is made up of high-density magnesium iron silicate.
7.
The lower mantle, which starts
at 670 km under the crust, is difficult to access for samples.
8.
The researchers looked at a
meteorite that had fallen inside Australia in 1879 as a likely candidate for
samples, and found what they were looking for.
Editorial
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