BLOGS
The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics
The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three scientists for their work on black holes, a phenomenon that has caused confusion in science and has also spread to popular culture.
- Roger Penrose of Great Britain received half the award for his mathematical work in the 1960s that made black holes a theoretically acceptable possibility.
- The other half is shared by Reinhard Genzel from Germany and Andrea Ghez from the United States for their separate experimental work from the 1990s that followed a “supermassive”.
- A black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy Ms. Ghez is only the fourth woman in history to win a Nobel Prize in Physics.
- This is a timely victory, given the continued pressure for more women in STEM fields. Penrose leads an element of modern history to victory. Her cutting-edge mathematical work proved that black holes were the end point of Einstein’s general theory of relativity.
- Einstein herself had not accepted that there was a point at which the laws of physics ceased to apply, the singularity at the center of a black hole, which pointed to her own theory.
- Penrose worked closely with another famous scientist, Stephen Hawking, who died in 2018. It stands to reason that if Hawking were alive now, he would have shared the Nobel with Penrose.
- It is this mix of an exotic theme, gender roles, and scientific history that makes this story important.
What are black holes?
- A black hole forms when stars collapse and can be defined as a space in the universe with an escape velocity so high that not even light can escape.
- Escape velocity is the speed at which an object must move to cancel out a planet or the gravitational force of an object. For example, for a spacecraft to leave the Earth’s surface, it must move at a speed of about 40,000 km / h.
- Since the light cannot be turned off, black holes are invisible and can only be tracked with a space telescope or other special tools. And the reason that light cannot escape is mainly because the gravity inside a black hole is very strong because a lot of matter is compressed into a small space.
What does the laureates’ work on black holes teach us?
Penrose received the award for the discovery “that the formation of a black hole is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity”, while Genzel and Ghez received the award for the discovery of a compact supermassive object at the center of our galaxy.
- Penrose’s work has shown that black holes are a direct consequence of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Einstein himself did not believe that black holes existed and presented his theory in November 1915, offering a new way of seeing and understanding gravity that shapes the universe “on a larger scale.” Gravity also shapes space and influences the passage of time. It is this gravity that is so large inside a black hole that it can bend space and slow down time.
- Penrose used Einstein’s theory of general relativity to show that the process of black hole formation is stable. He proved that black holes exist and described them in detail in 1965, ten years after Einstein’s death.
- Genzel and Ghez, for their part, discovered that an invisible and extremely heavy object governs the orbit of the stars in the center of the Milky Way. This extremely heavy object has a mass equivalent to 4 million solar masses and is packed into an area the size of our solar system.
- Essentially, their work tells us that at the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way, lies an invisible supermassive object, for which a black hole provides a reasonable explanation. Physicists have suspected the existence of a black hole at the center of our galaxy for more than 50 years.
- To see through the Milky Way, Genzel and Ghez worked on developing methods and used some of the largest telescopes in the world.
- By looking at the orbits of the stars closest to the center of the Milky Way, physicists believe that the black hole could probably be hidden in Sagitarrius A, a source of radio waves around which all the stars in the Milky Way orbit.
- In other words, the existence of a black hole in the center of our galaxy is what physicists think attracts a “jumble of stars”, causing them to “run at breakneck speeds.”
Where does black hole research go from here?
- Although the work carried out by Penrose established that black holes are a “robust” consequence of the theory of relativity and that they form naturally in very crowded regions, thus demonstrating that their formation is a stable process, the theory leaves to apply in the center of the black hole called the singularity – “a limit at which all known laws of nature break.” Essentially, this means that the extent to which the theory of general relativity applies to the structure of black holes requires further examination, and questions remain about the internal structure of black holes.
The 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature
American poet Louise Gluck won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature on October 8, an unexpected choice known for themes of childhood and family life that draw on classical myths and motifs.
- Professor Gluck, 77, was honored “for her incomparable poetic voice which, with stark beauty, makes individual existence universal,” the Academy said.
- Professor Gluck won the Pulitzer Prize in 1993 for her collection “The Wild Iris” and the National Book Award for her latest collection, “Faithful and Virtuous Night”, in 2014.
- The Academy’s permanent secretary, Mats Malm, said he spoke with Professor Gluck just before making the public announcement.
“The message was a surprise, but a welcome message that I know of,”
Malm told reporters.
- Professor Gluck was not considered a Nobel laureate before Thursday’s announcement, although the odds of gambling sites plummeted just before Thursday’s announcement.
- The president of the Nobel Committee of the Academy, Anders Olsson, regretted that it was not better known, “at least outside the United States.” borders “, and had not been translated into many other languages.
- She is the fourth woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in the last decade, after Olga Tokarczuk, Svetlana Alexievich and Alice Munro, and only the 16th since the Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901.
- The professor of English at Yale University, Louise Gluck “seeks the universal, and in this she is based on the classical myths and motifs, present in most of her works,” said the Academy in its appointment. Price.
- “The voices of Dido, Persephone and Eurydice – the abandoned, the punished, the betrayed – are masks of a transforming self, as personal as it is valid throughout the world.”
- Her collections “The Triumph of Achilles” (1985) and “Ararat” (1990) address “almost brutally direct images of painful family relationships,” the jury said, noting that his use of a “deceptively natural tone is surprising.” “trace of poetic adornment”.
- Professor Gluck is also a poet of radical change and rebirth, and describes in her poem “Snowdrops” the miraculous return of life after winter, her work often marked by “humor and scathing wit.”
- The jury declared that her 2006 “Avernus” collection was a “masterful collection, a visionary interpretation of the myth of Persephone’s descent into the underworld in captivity from Hades, the god of death.”
“He writes dreamlike narrative poetry that recalls memories and travels, to doubt and stop at new perspectives. The world is dismantled, to be magically present again ”,
concluded the Academy.
Ceremony canceled
- Last year, the Swedish Academy winked at Austrian novelist Peter Handke, prompting a flurry of criticism as many wondered how it could reward a writer known for supporting Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic in the Balkan wars and minimizing the atrocities of her army.
- The Academy defended this choice as made solely on literary merits without political considerations.
- The Nobel Prize comes with a medal and a sum of 10 million Swedish crowns (approximately $ 1.1 million).
- Professor Gluck would normally receive the Nobel Prize from King Carl XVI Gustaf at an official ceremony in Stockholm on December 10, the anniversary of the death in 1896 of scientist Alfred Nobel, who created the prizes in his last will.
- But the in-person ceremony was canceled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic and replaced with a televised ceremony that showed the winners receiving their prizes in their home countries.
- So far this year, four women have won Nobel Prizes, approaching the 2009 record of five awards.
- The four this year are, in addition to Professor Gluck, Emmanuelle Charpentier from France and Jennifer Doudna from the United States who shared the chemistry award on Wednesday, and Andrea Ghez from the United States who shared the physics award with two male colleagues on Tuesday.
- The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on October 9 and the economy is expected to be announced on October 12.
The 2020 Nobel Prize in Economics
The 2020 Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded on Monday to Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson “for improving auction theory and inventions of new auction formats”.
“This year’s winners, Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson, have studied how auctions work. They have also used their knowledge to design new auction formats for goods and services that are difficult to sell in the traditional way, such as radio frequencies, ”
the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a press release.
“His findings have benefited sellers, buyers and taxpayers around the world,”
they added.
- The prize covers a Nobel Prize week and is technically known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize for Economics in Memory of Alfred Nobel. Since its inception in 1969, it has been awarded 51 times and is now widely regarded as one of the Nobel Prizes.
- In addition to enormous prestige, the prize comes with a cash prize of 10 million crowns ($ 1.1 million) and a gold medal which will be presented at a ceremony in Oslo, in Norway.
- December 10, anniversary of the death of the founder of the Nobel Prize winner Alfred.
- In 2019, the award was shared by Indo-American economist Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer. The trio were awarded for their experimental approach to reducing poverty around the world.
Who else won the Nobel Prize this year?
- On Monday of last week, the Nobel Committee awarded the Physiology and Medicine Prize to two Americans and a British scientist for their contribution to the identification of the hepatitis C virus, responsible for cirrhosis and liver cancer.
- On Tuesday, the prestigious physics journal honored the progress in understanding the mysteries of cosmic black holes by three scientists: a British, German and American astrophysicist.
- The Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded Wednesday to two scientists behind a powerful gene editing tool. They become the sixth and seventh women to win a Nobel Prize in chemistry, joining Marie Curie (1911) and Frances Arnold (2018).
- On Thursday, the literature prize was awarded to the American poet Louise Gluck for her “frank and uncompromising” work.
- The prestigious 2020 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the World Food Program (WFP) on Friday for its efforts to fight hunger and food insecurity in the world. The announcement was made in Oslo by Berit Reiss-Andersen, chairman of the Nobel committee.
The 2020 Nobel Peace Prize
On Friday, the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the World Food Program (WFP) for its efforts to combat hunger and food insecurity around the world. The announcement was made in Oslo by Berit Reiss-Andersen, chairman of the Nobel committee.
“With this year’s award, the (Committee) wishes to turn the eyes of the world to the millions of people who suffer or face the threat of hunger,”
Andersen was quoted as saying by The Associated Press.
“The World Food Program plays a key role in multilateral cooperation to make food security an instrument of peace. He contributes daily to promote the brotherhood of nations mentioned in Alfred Nobel’s will, ”
he declared.
- In reaction to the announcement, a UN WFP spokesman said it was a “proud moment” and “nothing short of an achievement”.
“The World Food Program plays a key role in multilateral cooperation to make food security an instrument of peace. He contributes daily to promote the brotherhood of nations mentioned in Alfred Nobel’s will, ”
he declared.
- In response to the announcement, a UN WFP spokesperson said it was a “proud moment” and “nothing short of an achievement.”
- The World Food Program is the food aid arm of the United Nations and the world’s largest humanitarian organization fighting hunger and promoting food security.
- According to its website, WFP’s efforts are focused on emergency assistance, relief and recovery, development assistance and special operations.
- Along with enormous prestige, the award comes with a cash prize of 10 million crowns ($ 1.1 million) and a gold medal to be presented at a ceremony in Oslo, Norway, December 10, anniversary of the death of the founder of the Nobel Prize Alfred.
- This year, 318 applicants, 211 individuals and 107 organizations were nominated for the coveted award.
- While the Norwegian Nobel Committee keeps the biggest secret about who they prefer for perhaps the world’s most prestigious award, the speculation never stopped before the announcement.
- US President Donald Trump, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, Russian dissident Alexei Navalny and the World Health Organization are among the presumed nominated candidates.
- The deadline for this year’s nominations was February 1, meaning that those on the front lines of the fight against Covid-19, which was declared a pandemic in March, are unlikely to be contenders.
Who else won the Nobel Prize this year?
- Earlier Monday, the Nobel Committee awarded the Physiology and Medicine Prize to two Americans and a British scientist for their contribution to the identification of the hepatitis C virus, which causes cirrhosis and liver cancer.
- On Tuesday, the physics award recognized progress in understanding the mysteries of cosmic black holes by three scientists: a British, German and American astrophysicist.
- The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded Wednesday to two scientists behind a powerful gene-editing tool. They become the sixth and seventh women to win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry, joining those of Marie Curie (1911) and Frances Arnold (2018).
- On Thursday, the literature prize was awarded to an American poet for her “sincere and uncompromising” work.
- The award for outstanding work in economics has yet to be announced.
The 2020 Export Preparedness Index (EPI)
The 2020 Export Preparedness Index (EPI) released on Wednesday highlighted regional disparities in ‘poor’ export infrastructure, trade support and growth direction, as well as research and development infrastructure as key obstacles to boosting India’s exports.
- While the index attempts to counter the one-size-fits-all approach by examining each state’s performance against various benchmarks, lessons have shown that “most” of these states have not addressed these top three issues.
“The inability of most states to propose strategies relevant to these three areas raises the question of whether states lack the capacity to address these problems. This should be explored outside the context of this study, as it requires a very detailed analysis, ”
said the report, produced by NITI Aayog in association with the Institute for Competitiveness.
- At the same time, it offered short-term solutions to these “big” bottlenecks, ranging from facilitating the joint development of export infrastructure to collaborating with academic institutions.
- Creating convergence for the construction of export infrastructure, facilitating strong links between industry, academia and government to create commercial support networks, promoting state-level commitments on economic diplomacy and by emphasizing designs and standards, India could draw some of the key lessons from this analysis.
- States should not only focus on increasing and diversifying exports, but they should also focus on upstream and downstream integration in global value chains, which would allow states to export goods. and services with higher added value, add the report.
- It also pointed to India’s inability to take advantage of China’s declining export capacity in 2014-2016, losing to countries like Vietnam due to a delay in action.
- This “useful life” had allowed other developing economies to enter and subsume production chains in which China had weakened or its influence was waning.
“India introduced reforms at the end of 2017 to ensure that the export sector remains competitive and attracts potential investors. However, Bangladesh and Vietnam have made the most of the situation ahead of India and improved their competitiveness in exporting by targeting its strengths ”,
Report said, its export potential and its performance.
- The index weighted the 28 states and eight territories of the Union on 50 different parameters, parameters include export promotion policy, business environment, support for research and development, export diversification, infrastructure, etc.
- Gujarat’s announced new industrial policy has export-oriented units in 15 thrust sectors, according to the statement. Gujarat handles 40 percent of India’s cargo and exports services and goods to 180 countries.
- In the first Export Preparedness Index published by NITI Aayog, Gujarat topped the state ranking because Gujarat topped Niti Aayog’s 2020 Export Readiness Index, followed by Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu in second and third respectively, according to the report of the group of governmental experts.
- Six coastal states – Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Karnataka and Kerala – are in the top ten, indicating the presence of strong enabling and facilitating factors to promote exports, according to the report.
- Among the landlocked states, Rajasthan performed the best, followed by Telangana and Haryana.
- Among the Himalayan states, Uttarakhand tops the list, followed by Tripura and Himachal Pradesh. Across the Union Territories, Delhi performed the best, followed by Goa and Chandigarh.
- The report indicated that Chattisgarh and Jharkhand were two landlocked states that had taken various measures to promote exports.
- The report notes that other states facing similar socio-economic challenges may examine the measures taken by Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand and try to implement them to increase their exports.
Highlights of EPI- 2020
Niti Aayog in partnership with the Institute of Competitiveness released the first Export Preparedness Index (EPI) 2020. The EPI intends to identify challenges and opportunities and encourage a facilitative regulatory framework.
- The index ranked states on four key parameters – policy; business ecosystem; export ecosystem; export performance.
- The index also took into consideration 11 sub-pillars — export promotion policy; institutional framework; business environment; infrastructure; transport connectivity; access to finance; export infrastructure; trade support; R&D infrastructure; export diversification; and growth orientation.
- On policy parameters, Maharashtra topped the index followed by Gujarat and Jharkhand, while on business ecosystem parameter, Gujarat was ranked number one followed by Delhi and Tamil Nadu.
- In the export ecosystem parameter, Maharashtra topped the Index followed by Odisha and Rajasthan and on the export performance parameter, Mizoram led the index, followed by Gujarat and Maharashtra.
- The report pointed out that at present, 70 per cent of India’s export has been dominated by five states – Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.
Telecom companies to perform an “information
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is ready to ask telecommunications companies to perform an “information security audit” of their networks and submit the report by the end of October.
What is an information security audit for telecommunications networks?
- As the name suggests, an information security audit is a step-by-step assessment of the entire network infrastructure that checks the installed equipment and the latest updates performed to prevent data leaks. The auditors also verify the security and data storage policies of the company and check whether all sections of the company comply with the standards set by the company itself.
- Apart from this, some auditing agencies also run a controlled bug on the corporate network to check for vulnerabilities and see which systems are affected.
- The purpose of the audit is also to check for “backdoor” and “cheat” vulnerabilities.
- A “back door” or “trap” is a bug installed in telecommunications equipment that allows businesses to eavesdrop on or collect data shared over the network.
Why does the Department of Transport want telecommunications companies to do this audit?
- One of the main reasons the DoT is asking telecom companies to perform this external audit by an agency linked to the India IT Emergency Response Team (Cert-IN) is to check for errors “backdoor”or “trap” installed in their networks.
- Although he did not specifically mention the threat from any company, DoT officials hinted that this audit was necessary, as there were reports from other parts of the world installing such bugs in telecommunications networks.
- The audit is likely to increase control over Chinese suppliers Huawei Telecommunication Company and ZTE, which are said to be spying on the Chinese government.
- For example, in January 2020, the United States released a report saying that Huawei had inserted “back doors” into the telecommunications networks it had helped build in mobile phone networks in the United States and in the United States.
- whole world. world. Besides the United States, other countries like the United Kingdom and Australia have also banned the two Chinese companies on “national security” grounds under the same charges.
- Almost all of the countries that have banned the operations of these companies have cited the same law that requires Chinese companies to cooperate with Chinese intelligence agencies no matter where they are in the world.
Who will perform the audit? How will this help you?
- In its guidelines, the DoT is likely to suggest to companies that the external audit should only be carried out by an agency associated with Cert-IN.
- This means that the audit will no longer remain a commercial compliance standard for the company, but will also examine the national security aspects of the telecommunications network.
- Although these internal and external audits are conducted by companies every three to four years, this will be the first time that the audit will be carried out by an agency appointed by the DoT.
- The audit report is likely to help the DoT to develop a concrete plan to exclude Chinese suppliers from the Indian telecom market if something goes wrong.
Teesta River management and restoration project
Bangladesh is discussing a nearly $ 1 billion loan from China for a comprehensive Teesta River management and restoration project. The project aims to manage the watershed efficiently, control flooding and address the water crisis in summers.
- India and Bangladesh have been involved in a long-standing dispute over the water exchange in Teesta. More importantly, Bangladesh’s discussions with China come at a time when India is particularly wary of China after the clash in Ladakh.
How has the Teesta dispute evolved?
- The two countries were about to sign a water-sharing pact in September 2011, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was due to visit Bangladesh. But West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee objected and the deal fell through.
- After Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, he visited Dhaka in June 2015, accompanied by Mamata Banerjee, and told the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, that he was confident they could reach a “just solution” in the Teesta through cooperation between central and state governments. Five years later, the Teesta problem remains unsolved.
How has India’s relationship with Bangladesh developed over the years?
- New Delhi has had a strong relationship with Dhaka, carefully cultivated since 2008, especially with the government of Sheikh Hasina at the helm. India has benefited from its security ties with Bangladesh, whose crackdown on anti-India groups has helped the Indian government keep the peace in the eastern and northeastern states.
- Bangladesh has benefited from its economic and development partnership. Bangladesh is India’s largest trading partner in South Asia.
- Two-way trade has grown steadily over the past decade; India’s exports to Bangladesh in 2018-19 amounted to $ 9.21 billion and Bangladesh’s imports to $ 1.04 billion. India also grants 15-20 lakhs of visas each year to Bangladeshi citizens for medical treatment, tourism, work, and simply entertainment.
- A weekend shopping trip to India by the Bangladeshi elite is quite common; when the movie Bahubali was released, a group of Bangladeshi nationals came to India on chartered flights to see it in Kolkata.
- For India, Bangladesh has been a key partner in neighborhood policy first, and possibly the success story in bilateral relations between its neighbors.
- However, there have been recent irritants in the relationship.
What are these irritants?
- These include the proposed National Registry of Citizens (NRC) for the entire country and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) passed in December last year.
- Bangladesh has canceled ministers’ visits and Hasina has expressed reservations about the CAA. She had said that while the CAA and the proposed national NRC are “internal affairs” of India, the CAA measure “was not necessary.”
- Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, who served as India’s envoy in Dhaka, flew to Dhaka in early March to mitigate such concerns.
- Amid the discussions between Bangladesh and China, Shringla also went to Bangladesh this week. He was the first visitor Hasina met since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
How have relations between Bangladesh and China developed?
- “China is Bangladesh’s biggest trading partner and the main source of imports. In 2019, trade between the two countries was $ 18 billion with imports from China getting the most.
- Trade is very much in favor of China, Recently, China declared zero tariffs on 97% of Bangladesh’s imports. The concession grew out of China’s duty-free and quota-free program for the least developed countries. This move has been very well received in Bangladesh, with the expectation that Bangladesh’s exports to China will increase.
- India has also provided development assistance worth $ 10 billion, making Bangladesh the largest recipient of India’s total aid of $ 30 billion globally. China has pledged about $ 30 billion in financial assistance to Bangladesh.
- Furthermore, Bangladesh’s strong defense ties with China complicate the situation. China is Bangladesh’s largest arms supplier and it has been an inherited problem; after liberation, Pakistani army officers who were well versed in Chinese weapons joined the Bangladesh army and this is how they preferred the Chinese weapons As a result, Bangladeshi forces are equipped
- Moreover, Bangladesh’s strong defense ties with China complicate the situation. China is Bangladesh’s biggest arms supplier and it is a hereditary problem; after liberation Pakistani army officers who were familiar with Chinese weapons joined the Bangladesh army and so ‘They preferred Chinese weapons As a result, the Bangladeshi forces are equipped with Chinese weapons, including tanks, missile launchers, fighter jets and various weapon systems. Recently, Bangladesh bought two Ming class submarines from China.
- Following the Ladakh standoff, India has become more sensitive to Chinese defense incursions into Bangladesh.
What is the connection between India and Bangladesh after CAA?
- Over the past five months, India and Bangladesh have cooperated in actions related to the pandemic. Hasina supported Modi’s call for a regional emergency fund to fight Covid-19 and declared a contribution of $ 1.5 million in March 2020. India has also provided medical aid to Bangladesh.
- The two countries have also cooperated on railways, with India delivering 10 locomotives to Bangladesh. The first test of transshipment of Indian goods through Bangladesh to the northeastern states under a pact on the use of the ports of Chittagong and Mongla took place in July.
- However, in recent weeks, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s appeal to Hasina has drawn attention in Delhi. While Islamabad described it as However, in recent weeks, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s appeal to Hasina has caused astonishment in Delhi. While Islamabad described it as a conversation about Kashmir, Dhaka said it was about cooperating to deal with Covid-19.
How did India try to respond to China’s latest move?
- During Shringla’s recent meeting with Hasina, “security issues of mutual concern” were discussed. The visit attempted to resolve issues in areas that came up as potential irritants in the relationship.
- Bangladesh expressed “deep concern” about the increase in killings on the Indo-Bangladesh border by “BSF nationals or nationals of India” in the first half of this year, with the Indian side saying that the BSF authorities on the issue and which will be discussed in detail during DG-level talks between the Bangladesh border guards and BSF, to be held in Dhaka next month.
Among other problems:
- Both parties agreed that project implementation should be done in a timely manner and more attention is required for development projects in Bangladesh with Indian credit lines.
- Bangladesh has called for the return of the Tablighi Jamaat members affected by the closure in India, as well as the early release of the 25 Bangladeshi fishermen detained in Assam. India has assured Bangladesh that its citizens will be able to return soon.
- Bangladesh has called for the urgent reopening of visa issuance at the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, especially as many Bangladeshi patients must travel to India.
- India has also been urged to reopen travel through the Benapole-Petrapole land port, which was cut off by the West Bengal government following the pandemic.
- Bangladesh has told Shringla that it is ready to collaborate on the development of a Covid-19 vaccine, including its trial, and expects rapid and affordable availability of the vaccine when it is ready.
Wich is the way to go?
- While the Teesta project is important and urgent from India’s point of view, it will be difficult to tackle before the West Bengal elections scheduled for next year.
- What Delhi can do is address other areas of concern, which are also difficult. Now the test will be whether India can implement all its guarantees within a limited time frame.
- Or, latent anti-India sentiment in Bangladesh, rekindled after the push from India’s CAA-NRC, threatens to damage Dhaka-New Delhi relations.
Tax benefits on the LTC component without having to travel
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Monday two rounds of measures aimed at generating consumer demand and boosting capital spending in the economy. The measures announced by the government, together with the participation of states and the private sector, according to the government, are expected to create an “additional demand” of Rs 1 lakh crore in the economy.
- Sitharaman said that supply constraints in the economy have been relaxed, but consumer demand is still affected. Some proposals are aimed at increasing spending, while others are “directly linked to increasing GDP (gross domestic product)”.
- The ministry has decided to allow government and private sector employees to use their tax-free travel allowance for various types of purchases subject to certain conditions, while an interest-free festival advance of Rs 10,000 is granted to government employees. The Center and the States announced measures to increase capital spending.
How do long-term care benefits affect you?
- The government announced Monday that central government employees will enjoy tax benefits on the LTC component without having to travel. However, these employees would have to spend three times the LTC fee component to purchase items that attract 12 percent or more of GST.
- What this effectively means is that if your LTC fee component is Rs 40,000, you have to spend Rs 1.2 lakh on goods that fall 12% or more from the GST slab to save taxes by Rs 40,000.
- On the other hand, if you don’t spend that amount, you may have to pay taxes based on your marginal tax rate on the LTC component. So if you fall into the 10% tax mosaic, you will have to pay an additional tax of 4,000 rupees and if you fall into the 30% tax mosaic, you will have to pay an additional tax of around 12,000 rupees on the tax amount Rs 40,000 LTC fees.
- As for the license fee component of LTC, the employee will have to spend an equivalent amount for the purchase of goods attracting 12% GST or more.
What benefit will this bring to the economy?
- Thanks to the LTC consumption stimulus package, the government expects a demand generation of Rs 28 billion in the economy. While it expects an additional demand generation of around Rs 19 billion due to demand from central government employees, it expects an additional demand generation of an additional Rs 9 billion from Government Employees.
- Additionally, the government has stated that the same benefits would be offered to private sector employees if employers choose to offer the plan to their employees and decide to take advantage of it.
How does this benefit government revenue?
- While GST collection was severely affected in the first half of the fiscal year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, an increase in the consumption of the LTC component of the salaries of central government employees and the State will increase collection of the GST from the second half of the year under the schedule of planned expenditures until March 31, 2021. If employees from the private sector also participate, this can lead to a significant jump in consumption. overall and an increase in GST collection.
What is the festival’s advanced special program?
- The government has reinstated the festival advance, which was abolished in accordance with the recommendations of the Payments Commission 7, for once until March 31, 2021. As a result, all central government employees will benefit from an advance without Rs 10,000 interest to be recovered by the government in 10 installments.
- It will be delivered in the form of a Rupay card preloaded with the value of the advance and the government plans to disburse Rs 4 billion under this plan. According to the Finance Ministry, if all states offer a similar advance, another Rs 8 billion should be disbursed. This should generate consumer demand ahead of festivals like Diwali.
What are the measures to boost capex and their impact?
- Special assistance will be provided to states in the form of 50-year interest-free loans of Rs 12 billion under certain conditions. The states have been categorized into three groups: Group 1 which includes the Northeastern States (Rs 1600 crore) and Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh (Rs 900 crore), Group 2 has other states which will receive Rs 7,500 crore in proportion to their share according to Finance Reimbursement Commission, and Group 3 has states that will get a total of Rs 2 billion if they comply with three of the four reforms, including One Nation One Ration, outlined in the government’s Atma Nirbhar package announced in early May.
- The funds, which must be spent by March 31, 2021, can be used by states for new and ongoing projects and to pay contractors’ bills on those projects.
- Funds provided to states will exceed their maximum borrowing limits.
- For its part, the Center has proposed an additional budget of Rs 25,000 crore for capital expenditure on roads, defense infrastructure, water supply, urban development, allocations to be made to different ministries during discussions to come to make revised estimates. Sitharaman said capital spending has “a high multiplier effect” on the economy and is expected to stimulate demand in various sectors of the economy.
Swachh Survekshan 2020
Indore in Madhya Pradesh maintained its position as the cleanest city in India for the fourth year in a row, according to the results of the Swachh Survekshan 2020 survey. While Surat from Gujarat was ranked second, Navi Mumbai from Maharashtra ranked third. Varanasi was rated the “best city on the Ganges” in the central government cleanliness survey.
- The results were announced by the Minister of the Union of Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri, in a ceremony. During the event, a book entitled “Report on the Assessment of 97 Ganges Cities” was also published.
- This is the fifth edition of the survey submitted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2016. In the first edition of the survey, Mysuru won the award for the cleanest city in India.
- A total of 1.9 million citizens from 4,242 cities across the country participated in the survey conducted by the Ministry of Housing and Urbanism.
- In the category of population less than 1 lakh, Karad from Maharashtra ranked first, followed by Saswad and Lonavala.
- Chhattisgarh was ranked as the cleanest state in India in the category of “less than 100 local urban authorities”, while Jharkhand was awarded as the cleanest state in India in the category “more than 100 local urban authorities ”.
- The announcement of this year’s results has been delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The survey, which covered 4,242 cities and gathered 1.87 million inhabitants, was completed in 28 days.
- When the Swachh Bharat-Urban (SBM-U) mission was launched in 2014, it was with the goal of making urban India 100% open defecation free (ODF) with 100% scientific solid waste management.
- Without the ODF concept in urban areas and the solid waste treatment of only 18%, it was clear that a fast track approach was needed to realize the dream of the Honorable Prime Minister of an India Swachh in five years.
- The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, which is the nodal agency of the Swachh Bharat Mission, conducted its first survey “Swachh Survekshan-2016” to classify 73 cities (Urban Local Bodies), in January 2016, in the part of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban).
- To broaden the coverage of cities, the ministry conducted its second survey “Swachh Survekshan-2017” in January-February 2017, to rank 434 cities.
- In “Swachh Survekshan 2018”, the scale of the survey and intensity of participation increased to 4,203 cities.
- For Swachh Survekshan 2019, the ministry covered 4,237 cities.
- The survey team visited more than 58,000 residential areas and more than 20,000 commercial areas covering more than 64,000 districts, all in 28 days.
- Last month, the ministry launched the sixth edition of the survey, Swachh Survekshan 2021. The survey indicators will focus on parameters related to the treatment and reuse of sewage and faecal sludge.
- Legacy waste management issues and landfill remediation were highlighted in the sixth edition of Survekshan. The ministry also added a new category called “Prerak DAUUR Samman” which includes five additional subcategories: Divya (Platinum), Anupam (Gold), Ujjwal (Silver), Udit (Bronze), Aarohi (Aspirant).
- In addition to the current criteria for evaluating cities according to “population category”, this new category will classify cities according to six performance criteria selected by indicators.
- The survey was conducted in urban areas of the country from January 4, 2020 to January 31, 2020, at 4,242 ULB, making it the largest cleaning survey in the world.
Winners: Chhattisgarh ranked first in the category of best performing states with more than 100 urban local agencies, while Jharkhand emerged first in the category of less than 100 ULB. Maharashtra achieved a hat-trick by winning the top “Swachh” awards for the third year in a row. In the category of cities under 1 lakh, the city of Karad in Maharashtra ranked first, followed by Saswad and Lonavala. Akole won the award for taking innovative steps to
Gainers: Chhattisgarh ranked first in the category of best performing states with more than a hundred urban local bodies, while Jharkhand emerged first in the less than one hundred ULBs category. Maharashtra performed a hat-trick by bagging maximum ‘Swachh’ awards for the third year in a row. In the category of cities with a population of less than 1 lakh, Karad city in Maharashtra bagged the first position, followed by Saswad and Lonavala. Akole bagged the award for adopting innovative steps for cleanliness.
- Punjab’s overall national ranking improved from to the Number Six in the fifth edition of the cleanliness survey. Last year, the state’s national ranking was Number Seven. The state has also retained the first position in the North Zone for the third year in a row. In comparison to baseline Swachh Survekshan 2017, 12 out of 16 Punjab cities with over 1 lakh population have improved their rankings. On average, out of the 434 cities with one lakh plus population in India, the ranking of these 16 bigger cities has improved by 100 places from 2017 to 2020.
Lacklustre performance: Bihar’s Patna emerged as the dirtiest city in the category of bigger cities. For the cities with less than 10 lakh population, six cities from Bihar found its places in the dirtiest cities in the country. These include Gaya, Bhagalpur, Buxar, Parsa bazaar, Biharsharif and Saharsa.
- Goa’s capital Panaji took the at 213th spot out of 382 cities in its category at the national level. Mapusa was placed at the 235th position in the category of cities with a population between 25,000 and 50,000. The state’s remaining municipal areas, with less than 25,000 population, were placed further down in the list.
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