POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

India to shift to BS VI vehicular emission norms by April next year

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Context :

Minister for the Environment has said that the country will shift to Bharat Stage Six (BS-VI) vehicular emission norms from BS-IV by April 2020.

Bharat Stage norms:

Bharat Stage(BS) are emission standards instituted by the Government of India based on European regulations.
The objective is to regulate the output of air pollutants from internal combustion engine equipment.The higher the fuel standard a vehicle complies with,the less polluting it is.
The standards and the timeline for implementation are set by the Central Pollution Control Board under the Ministry of Environment & Forests and Climate Change.

Implementation :

In order to curb the growing menace of air pollution through the vehicles emission,the Government of India has decided to move from the existing BS – IV norms directly to the BS- VI with effect from 1st April 2020.
The main difference between BS-IV and BS-VI (Which is comparable to Euro 6) is in the amount of sulphur in the fuel.
BS-VI fuel is estimated to bring around an 80% reduction in sulphur content –from 50 parts per million (ppm) to 10 ppm.
The Nitrogen Oxide(NOx) emissions from diesel cars are also expected to come down by nearly 70% and from cars with petrol engines by 25% after the implementation of BS-VI fuel.

Source :- PIB; Business Standard

Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare launched the eDantseva website and mobile application

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential

Context :

Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare has launched the e-Dantseva website and mobile application.

eDantseva :

e-DantSeva is the first-ever national digital platform that provides oral health information both in the form of a website and mobile application.
This initiative of the Union Health Ministry with the AIIMS and other stakeholders aims to sensitize the public about the significance of maintaining optimum oral health.
The mobile application provides oral health information gathered from authentic scientific resources and connects the public to timely advice for managing any dental emergency or oral health problems.
It contains information about the National Oral Health Program, detailed list of all the dental facility and colleges, Information, Education and Communication(IEC) material.
It also has a unique feature called the ‘Symptom Checker’, which provides information on symptoms of dental/oral health problems, ways to prevent these, the treatment modes and also directs the user to find their nearest available dental facility(public and private sectors both).

Source :- PIB

ECONOMY

India receives first tranche of Swiss account details

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - money-laundering and its prevention.

Context :

India has received the first tranche of details about financial accounts of its residents in Swiss banks under the automatic info exchange framework.

Background :

In 2016, India and Switzerland had signed an information-sharing deal on bank accounts, which was to come in effect from January 2018.

Automatic exchange of information(AEOI):

Automatic exchange of information involves the systematic and periodic transmission of taxpayer information by the source country to the residence country concerning various categories of income.
This automatic exchange of information(AEOI) is to be carried out under the Common Reporting Standard (CRS).
CRS is the global reporting standard for such exchange of information, which takes care of aspects such as confidentiality rules and data safeguards.
The CRS has been developed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD).
However,under the agreement,India will not receive information on bank accounts of Indians in Switzerland prior to 2018.

Need :

Tax payers operate cross border whereas tax administration is limited to national borders. This has helped tax evasion by shifting money to other countries by citizens. Both tax evasion and tax avoidance have escalated; facilitated by quick transfer of income from one country to another.
Vast amounts of money are kept offshore and go untaxed to the extent that taxpayers fail to comply with tax obligations in their home jurisdictions.
Tackling this cross national transfer of money to avoid and evade taxes indicate that national efforts are not enough to fight black money. Hence there is the need for tax cooperation and tax information exchanges between countries.

Significance :

Enables the discovery of formerly undetected tax evasion.
Enable governments to recover tax revenue lost to non-compliant taxpayers, and will further strengthen international efforts to increase transparency, cooperation, and accountability among financial institutions and tax administrations.
Generate secondary benefits by increasing voluntary disclosures of concealed assets and by encouraging taxpayers to report all relevant information.

Source :- The Hindu

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

Jal Shakti Minister launches Ganga Aamantran

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY - Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Context :

Union Jal Shakti Minister launched Ganga Aamantran – a unique social awareness initiative to connect with Ganga’s Stakeholders.

Ganga Aamantran Abhiyan:

The ‘Ganga Aamantran Abhiyan’ is an exploratory open-water rafting and kayaking expedition on the Ganga River to be held between 10th October 2019 to 11 November 2019.
This is the first ever effort by National Mission for Clean Ganga to raft across the entire stretch of the river.
It will also be the longest ever social campaign undertaken through an adventure sporting activity to spread the message of River Rejuvenation and Water Conservation on a massive scale.
The expedition will cover the five Ganga basin states including Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal.
The expedition will be supported by all the stakeholders of Namami Gange including the MPs of the constituency along Ganga river and members of Ganga Praharis among others.

National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) :

NMCG is a registered society under the Societies Registration Act 1860.
NMCG has a two tier management structure and comprises of Governing Council and Executive Committee (both are headed by Director General, NMCG).
It is the implementing agency of the Namami Gange Programme at the national level.

Source :- PIB

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8th OCTOBER 2019 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

India to shift to BS VI vehicular emission norms by April next year

Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare launched the eDantseva website and mobile application

ECONOMY

India receives first tranche of Swiss account details

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

Jal Shakti Minister launches Ganga Aamantran

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

India to shift to BS VI vehicular emission norms by April next year

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Context :

Minister for the Environment has said that the country will shift to Bharat Stage Six (BS-VI) vehicular emission norms from BS-IV by April 2020.

Bharat Stage norms:

Bharat Stage(BS) are emission standards instituted by the Government of India based on European regulations.

The objective is to regulate the output of air pollutants from internal combustion engine equipment.The higher the fuel standard a vehicle complies with,the less polluting it is.

The standards and the timeline for implementation are set by the Central Pollution Control Board under the Ministry of Environment & Forests and Climate Change.

Implementation :

In order to curb the growing menace of air pollution through the vehicles emission,the Government of India has decided to move from the existing BS – IV norms directly to the BS- VI with effect from 1st April 2020.

The main difference between BS-IV and BS-VI (Which is comparable to Euro 6) is in the amount of sulphur in the fuel.

BS-VI fuel is estimated to bring around an 80% reduction in sulphur content –from 50 parts per million (ppm) to 10 ppm.

The Nitrogen Oxide(NOx) emissions from diesel cars are also expected to come down by nearly 70% and from cars with petrol engines by 25% after the implementation of BS-VI fuel.

Source :- PIB; Business Standard

Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare launched the eDantseva website and mobile application

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential

Context :

Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare has launched the e-Dantseva website and mobile application.

eDantseva :

e-DantSeva is the first-ever national digital platform that provides oral health information both in the form of a website and mobile application.

This initiative of the Union Health Ministry with the AIIMS and other stakeholders aims to sensitize the public about the significance of maintaining optimum oral health.

The mobile application provides oral health information gathered from authentic scientific resources and connects the public to timely advice for managing any dental emergency or oral health problems.

It contains information about the National Oral Health Program, detailed list of all the dental facility and colleges, Information, Education and Communication(IEC) material.

It also has a unique feature called the ‘Symptom Checker’, which provides information on symptoms of dental/oral health problems, ways to prevent these, the treatment modes and also directs the user to find their nearest available dental facility(public and private sectors both).

Source :- PIB

ECONOMY

India receives first tranche of Swiss account details

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - money-laundering and its prevention.

Context :

India has received the first tranche of details about financial accounts of its residents in Swiss banks under the automatic info exchange framework.

Background :

In 2016, India and Switzerland had signed an information-sharing deal on bank accounts, which was to come in effect from January 2018.

Automatic exchange of information(AEOI):

Automatic exchange of information involves the systematic and periodic transmission of taxpayer information by the source country to the residence country concerning various categories of income.

This automatic exchange of information(AEOI) is to be carried out under the Common Reporting Standard (CRS).

CRS is the global reporting standard for such exchange of information, which takes care of aspects such as confidentiality rules and data safeguards.

The CRS has been developed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD).

However,under the agreement,India will not receive information on bank accounts of Indians in Switzerland prior to 2018.

Need :

Tax payers operate cross border whereas tax administration is limited to national borders. This has helped tax evasion by shifting money to other countries by citizens. Both tax evasion and tax avoidance have escalated; facilitated by quick transfer of income from one country to another.

Vast amounts of money are kept offshore and go untaxed to the extent that taxpayers fail to comply with tax obligations in their home jurisdictions.

Tackling this cross national transfer of money to avoid and evade taxes indicate that national efforts are not enough to fight black money. Hence there is the need for tax cooperation and tax information exchanges between countries.

Significance :

Enables the discovery of formerly undetected tax evasion.

Enable governments to recover tax revenue lost to non-compliant taxpayers, and will further strengthen international efforts to increase transparency, cooperation, and accountability among financial institutions and tax administrations.

Generate secondary benefits by increasing voluntary disclosures of concealed assets and by encouraging taxpayers to report all relevant information.

More in the news:

According to the data released by the Swiss National Bank(SNB),India has moved down one place to 74th rank in terms of money parked by its citizens and enterprises with Swiss banks.

Among the top-ranked jurisdictions, the UK is followed by the US, West Indies, France and Hong Kong in the top five.

The top-five countries alone account for more than 50% of the aggregate foreign funds parked with the Swiss banks.

Source :- The Hindu

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

Jal Shakti Minister launches Ganga Aamantran

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY - Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Context :

Union Jal Shakti Minister launched Ganga Aamantran – a unique social awareness initiative to connect with Ganga’s Stakeholders.

Ganga Aamantran Abhiyan:

The ‘Ganga Aamantran Abhiyan’ is an exploratory open-water rafting and kayaking expedition on the Ganga River to be held between 10th October 2019 to 11 November 2019.

This is the first ever effort by National Mission for Clean Ganga to raft across the entire stretch of the river.

It will also be the longest ever social campaign undertaken through an adventure sporting activity to spread the message of River Rejuvenation and Water Conservation on a massive scale.

The expedition will cover the five Ganga basin states including Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal.

The expedition will be supported by all the stakeholders of Namami Gange including the MPs of the constituency along Ganga river and members of Ganga Praharis among others.

National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) :

NMCG is a registered society under the Societies Registration Act 1860.

NMCG has a two tier management structure and comprises of Governing Council and Executive Committee (both are headed by Director General, NMCG).

It is the implementing agency of the Namami Gange Programme at the national level.

Source :- PIB

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