TURNING AROUND

What is the issue? Poor responsiveness of tax collection to economic growth poses new challenges for norms on sharing taxes with the states. In this regard, here is a look at tax buoyancy trend and its impact on tax devolution. What is tax buoyancy? Tax buoyancy is one of the key indicators to assess the efficiency of a government’s tax system. Generally, as the economy achieves faster growth, the tax revenue of the government also goes up. Tax buoyancy explains this relationship between the changes in government’s tax revenue growth and the changes in GDP. In other words, it measures the responsiveness of tax mobilisation to economic growth. What are the determining factors? Tax buoyancy depends largely on - the size of the tax base the friendliness of the tax administration the reasonableness and simplicity of the tax rates Look at just one year’s tax buoyancy to arrive at any conclusion on the tax system’s efficiency would be unfair. There are many other

What is the issue? There are discussions in the country about India’s rural poverty considering the period of last 5 years. Most of these discussions fail to factor in multi-dimensional changes. Why rural poverty in India is a subject of discussion recently? Low increase in prices of agricultural commodities and the slower increase in rural agricultural wages have been seen by some as signs of a crisis for the rural poor. Many acknowledge the role of pro-poor public welfare programmes over the last 5 years. Others have recorded sharp declines in chronic poverty as also multi-dimensional poverty between 2005-06 and 2015-16. Indicators like nutrition, child mortality, years of schooling, cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing, and assets determine multi-dimensional poverty. If that is the case, the performance between 2015-16 and now would be even more spectacular, considering the pro-poor public welfare thrust. What are the context of th

Land , water and agriculture are all State subjects; forest is a Concurrent subject. However, land degradation assumes national importance because of its overwhelming impact on the economy and the well-being of all the citizens. India faces a severe problem of land degradation, or soil becoming unfit for cultivation. About 29% or about 96.4 million hectares are considered degraded. Land Degradation Neutrality as a concept:  Land degradation neutrality (LDN) is a condition where further land degradation (loss of productivity caused by environmental or human factors) is prevented and already degraded land can be restored.  LDN has been defined by the Parties to the Convention as:  “A state whereby the amount and quality of land resources, necessary to support ecosystem functions and services and enhance food security, remains stable or increases within specified temporal and spatial scales and ecosystems.” What are the Benefits of LDN?  As land is fixed in quantity, ther

Soil is a relatively thin layer of unconsolidated mineral and organic material on the immediate surface of the earth. Soil is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Earth's body of soil, called the Pedosphere. Fertile soil contains approximately 25% of both air and water, about 5% organic matter and about 45% mineral matter. Soil formation process (paedogenesis) In general, soil formation starts with rocks that are pushed to the surface of the earth by geological or climactic forces. These rocks then undergo weathering - the chemical alteration and physical breakdown of rock during exposure to the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. Through the weathering process, eventually enough essential elements become available to support lichens and other lower forms of plant life. As continuing generations of lichens grow, die, and decay, they leave increasing amounts of organic matter. Naturally-occurring organic acids

Recently, India has hosted the meeting of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. A major global agreement on issues related to land, the convention (UNCCD) seeks to address the phenomenon of desertification, the process through which fertile and productive land become degraded and unfit for useful activities like agriculture. The UNCCD meeting takes place every two years and the ongoing one in Greater Noida is the 14th such meeting. More about desertification-  A variety of factors, both natural and human-induced, are known to be affecting the productivity of land, and making them desert-like.  Increasing populations and the resultant rise in demand for food and water, feed for cattle, and a wide variety of ecosystem services these offer, have prompted human beings to clear forests, use chemicals, cultivate multiple crops, and over-exploit groundwater.  This has affected both the health and productivity of land.  Natural processes such as rising global temperature

Sociologists use the term social stratification to describe the system of social standing. Social stratification refers to a society’s categorization of its people into rankings of socioeconomic tiers based on factors like wealth, income, race, education, and power. Stratification is not about individual inequalities, but about systematic inequalities based on group membership, classes, and the like. No individual, rich or poor, can be blamed for social inequalities. The structure of society affects a person’s social standing. Although individuals may support or fight inequalities, social stratification is created and supported by society as a whole. What factors define stratification?  In most societies, stratification is an economic system, based on wealth, the net value of money and assets a person has, and income, a person’s wages or investment dividends. While people are regularly categorized based on how rich or poor they are.  Other important factors influence socia

Every day some languages are dying out, others are spreading its influence around. To believe that it's a natural development of a language is absurd because the decision on a language destiny (to develop or go extinct) is determined by the political, economic and social conjunctions of an area. Language politics is the way language and linguistic differences between peoples are dealt with in the political arena. This could manifest as government recognition, as well as how language is treated in official capacities. Some example - Legal status of a language; Hindi as an official language of the country, state, or other jurisdiction. This generally means that all official documents affecting our country or region are published in the official language(s), but not in those that are not. Evidence in a court of law may also be expected to be presented in an official language. Throughout the world, language is a major market of human identity – so much so that

Since the past 15 years, Atlantic Meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) has been weakening; a development that could have dramatic consequences for Europe and other parts of the Atlantic rim. Along with which Warming up of Indian Ocean is said to be a key driver. How Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current affects? Warming in the Indian Ocean generates additional precipitation, which, in turn, draws more air from other parts of the world, including the Atlantic. The higher level of precipitation in the Indian Ocean will reduce precipitation in the Atlantic and increase salinity in the waters. What is the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation?  Atlantic Meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) — which is sometimes referred to as the “Atlantic conveyor belt” — is one of the Earth’s largest water circulation systems where ocean currents move warm, salty water from the tropics to regions further north, such as western Europe and sends colder water south.  As warm w

Regionalism is an ideology and political movement that seeks to advance the causes of regions. It is driven by the conscientiousness of loyalty to a distinct region with homogenous population in terms of cultural, social, political, economic aspiration or ethnicity. It can be at national level ( Dravidian movement, violence against northindians in maharastra, naga movement, assam movement, demad of separate state for Vidhabha region, khalistan movement) or international level (Shanghai cooperation organisation (SCO), BIMSTEC, RCEP, IORA, Europian Union). Trends of regionalism in india 1950s and 1960s - intense (ethnic) mass mobilisation in south india. For separate statehood for the Telegu-speakers out of the composite Madras Presidency. Potti Sriramulu was the leader he went on unto death in 1952 for his demand. Result- State Reorganization Act, 1956. 1970s and 1980s - tribal insurgency for separation and statehood in NE India. Result - North-eastern States Reorganisation

The 21st century is called the urban century because for the first time, since dawn of civilization, more people are residing in urban India than in rural areas. The most important problem in all cities has been housing due to sudden and large scale influx of migrants from rural areas to urban areas. Because of the housing shortage in every city almost fifty percent of the population lives in slums. Whilst the overall population growth has declined over the last decade, urban population growth continues to be almost twice the annual national population growth rate. Further, the urban share of the GDP is projected to increase to 75 per cent in 2031 from an estimated 62-63 percent in 2009-2010 (The High Powered Expert Committee (HPEC), 2011), Consequently, there is a dire need to improve the quality of life in our cities and to address the current and anticipated future shortage of housing along with other infrastructure deficit issues prevalent in our urban centers. The gover

Solid Waste Management refers to the process of collecting and treating solid wastes. It also includes solutions for recycling items that do not belong to garbage or trash. Issues and Challenges in India’s waste Management system:  With rapid urbanization, there is substantial increase in solid waste generation which has strained the Solid Waste Management System  Most Urban local bodies in India struggle to provide efficient waste management services due to financial problems, lack of infrastructure and technology  Issues with segregation: Though solid waste management rules mandate source segregation of wastes, it has largely not been followed. Due to improper segregation of waste, much of recyclability of waste is lost.  Disposal of waste: Most of the municipal authorities deposit solid waste at open dump sites without any leachates treatment. These sites emanate foul smell and are breeding grounds for pests and insects causing disease. Liquid seeping out of waste po

According to NFHS, India's TFR has come down to 2.2 in 2015-16 nearing the ideal TRF of 2.1 which would ultimately lead to population stability. There has been a faster decline in the TFR than was expected. Factors causing the decline in TFR: • Increased female literacy leading to more women opting for higher education and hence increase in marriage age. • The increasing trend of nuclear family and compartmentalized urban lifestyle: This leads to lack of care taker for the child, a role erstwhile performed by the grandparents. Thus couples opt for a smaller family • The Increased rural to urban migration and the subsequent rise in cost of living also has led to couples opting for smaller families. • Increased awareness drive and mobilization by the civil society against the increasing population Consequences of declining TFR:  Opportunity to increase the Female Labour participation ratio as they look beyond their role as mothers: The World bank predicts that if we we

According to United Nation India could surpass China and will become most populous country by 2027 and will have 1.64 billion people. The average age of population in 2020 will be 29 years; also 65% of population will be below 35 years of age. India will have peak of 59% of population in working age bracket by 2041. Thus there is huge potential locked in our demography. Consequence of being most populated country- Positives  With greater portion of population in working bracket there will be more savings, hence it will provide stimulus for growth in the economy.  More population means more working hands for taking the nation forward on growth path.  With improved education and health India can become Centre for human capital India will be exporter of skill to the world where in most other countries the working age population is on decline. Negatives  Per capita availability of resources will decline causing resource stress example malnutrition etc.  Rise in poverty -

Global liveability index is released by The Economist intelligence unit which ranks 140 cities worldwide based on parameters like Health Care, Education and Employment, infrastructure, cultures and environment. From India Delhi and Mumbai respectively occupied 118th and 119th rank in the index. Reason for depriving livability index in India - Abuse against journalist - the economist intelligence unit also flag and escalation in abuse against journalist in recent years in India Rise in crime rates - decline in Mumbai's rank was due to downgrade in culture score while New Delhi has fallen in index because of downgrade in its cultures and environment as well as folinz tablet is going to rising crime rates Education - in urban cities the dropout rates are increasing day by day which leads to decline in in education score livability index Climate change - according to global ambient air quality database Delhi has six highest annual PM 2.5 concentration in the world P

The decline of family sizes in India—with richer, healthier and better-educated families deciding to have fewer children—has gone hand in hand with a worsening of the sex ratio. The decline in fertility explains one-third to one-half of the recent increase in India’s sex ratio in favor of boys. Data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2015-16 indicates that families where a son is born are more likely to stop having children than families where a girl is born. The male-biased Indian sex ratio at birth is distinctly sharpened for the last child of the family. According to a comparison made in the 2017-18 Economic Survey with Indonesia, sex ratios in a population do not normally change significantly with birth order, signaling that there is something “unnatural” going on with Indian fertility. Role of in-utero selection procedures- Although, families that continue to have children until they have as many sons as they would like. However, in-utero sex selection defin

Migration is a way to move from one place to another in order to live and work. Movement of people from their home to another city, state or country for a job, shelter or some other reasons is called migration. They are critical to shaping of our modern societies today. Recently the exclusion of 19 lakh people from the Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC) has sparked a debate over the future of these families and individuals. To understand the chaos with respect to NRC lets first understand the following - What is Migration?  Migration is a natural process that often happens depending on the socio-economic, demographic, cultural, political and environmental factors related to the migrant people.  It is most fundamental to the understanding of continuously changing space content and space relationships of areas.  The main reason for migration is employment or business related migration. The male migration constitutes the highest level of migration in India due to emp

India is a large country and the problem of imbalances in Regional Development among states is inevitable. Therefore it is natural that people move from their home state to other states of India in search of employment opportunities. Of late few states in India have looking at this issue as the one that snatched employment opportunities of the locals. But the true story is that the migrants take up the jobs which the locals are not willing to take up at the cost offered by the employer. The present move by the few states will jeopardize their economic growth and development in the near future. Migration will likely remain a long term challenge for the countries’ politics, institutions, governments and values. Even with the drop in numbers and the development of institutional capabilities to manage it, its pros and cons will always remain attached to it. Nowadays, many people decide to migrate to have a better life. Employment opportunities are the most common reason due to w