Daily Prelims Notes 31 December 2023

December 31, 2023
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

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Daily Prelims Notes

31 December 2023

Table Of Contents

1. Levy 20-30% health tax on food high in sugar, salt, fat: study

Subject: Economy

Section: Fiscal Policy

In the news:

Public health researchers recommend implementing a health tax ranging from 20% to 30%, in addition to the Goods and Services Tax (GST), specifically targeting sugar, sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), and foods high in sugar, salt, and fat (HFSS). This initiative aims to curtail excessive consumption of these items.

Details:

The proposed tax primarily focuses on bulk purchasers such as confectionery and sweet manufacturers, aiming to decrease their demand for sugar.
This strategy intends to influence consumption patterns at the production level.

Impact of these taxes:

Applying the concept of Price Elasticity, researchers anticipate a 2% reduction in demand among regular consumers for every 10% increase in sugar prices.
However, for bulk buyers, a higher price elasticity suggests a potential 13-18% decrease in demand with a 30% tax increase over the existing 18% GST.
Similar tax increments of 10-30% on sugar-sweetened beverages could result in a demand decline between 7% and 30%.
For HFSS products, the anticipated decrease in demand ranges from 5% to 24%, correlating with tax variations.

Revenue and Health Outcomes:

Besides potentially reducing consumption, these heightened taxes could significantly boost government revenue by 12-200%.
The overarching goal is to mitigate health concerns associated with excessive sugar intake, including obesity, diabetes, and related health issues prevalent in India and globally.

Global Taxation Trends:

Over 70 countries have implemented similar taxation strategies on sugar, SSBs, and HFSS products.
These initiatives have showcased promising outcomes in terms of decreased consumption and improved public health in various regions, including Mexico, Chile, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, and South Africa.

India’s Sugar Consumption Challenge:

India holds the title of the world’s largest sugar consumer, leading to substantial health challenges.
Global average consumption of sugar is 22 kg per person per year, an average Indian consumes 25 kg per year.
The current sugar intake exceeds the World Health Organization’s recommended threshold (no more than 50 grams of sugar per day), indicating a pressing need for interventions to address rising health issues linked to excessive sugar consumption.

Key terms:

High Fat Sugar Salt foods (HSSF) are known for their negative impact on health.
A negative externality is something that impacts a person or people who are uninvolved in a situation. Example: Smoking cigarettes or burning coal.
Internalities: Harm caused to individuals due to limited understanding influenced by marketing.
Non-regressive Tax: A tax that does not disproportionately burden lower-income individuals.

Source: The Hindu

2. Free-ranging cats may be catastrophic for wild species

Subject: Environment

Section: Species in news

In the news:

Free-ranging domestic cats around the world are found to eat more than 2,000 other animal species such as birds, mammals, insects, and reptiles — including 350 species of conservation concern.
The researchers found records of 2,083 distinct species consumed, including 981 birds, 463 reptiles, 431 mammals, 119 insects, 57 amphibian species, as well as 33 species from across other groups of animals.
At least 347 of these species are of conservation concern.

Free Ranging Cat (Felis catus):

Commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae.
Recent advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the domestication of the cat occurred in the Near East around 7500 BC.
It is commonly kept as a house pet and farm cat, but also ranges freely as a feral cat avoiding human contact.
It can kill vermin.
It has a strong flexible body, quick reflexes, and sharp teeth, and its night vision and sense of smell are well developed.
It also secretes and perceives pheromones.

Source: The Hindu

3. Trendy to toxic: Is turmeric losing its golden hue?

Subject: Science and Tech

Section: Health

In the news:

Lead chromate, used to enhance turmeric’s colour, has raised safety concerns due to high lead levels found in turmeric samples from households in Bihar, India, and larger surveys across eight districts, including other spices exceeding permissible limits.

Details:

Why adulterants are used?
- Brighter spices correlate with better quality, enhancing turmeric’s golden colour.
Lead poisoning impact: It is a neurotoxin that affects children’s learning abilities, hampers brain development and increases the risk of heart and brain diseases.
The average blood lead levels in 23 states are above safe levels.
Spice adulterants used are: Powdered paper pulp, synthetic dyes, metanil yellow and lead chromite.
Efforts to tackle spice adulteration: Raids, educational campaigns, and stricter testing to tackle spice adulteration.
- Bangladesh successfully eradicated turmeric adulteration using raids and education, providing a potential model for India.
- Stakeholders, including FSSAI and public policy organizations, emphasize stringent testing on spice sellers and increasing public awareness to address this pervasive issue threatening public health.

Health effects of Turmeric:

Turmeric contains the element ‘curcumin’ which provides health benefits.
The reports underline that turmeric has “choleretic” properties, which means it stimulates the secretion of bile to improve digestion.

India’s spice export:

India is the top producer of spices globally.
India’s spice exports have doubled in the last nine years, reaching significant values.
India is a leading producer and exporter of turmeric in the world. India produces 80% of turmeric in the world.

Challenges associated:

The high costs associated with conducting larger-scale studies and the need for comprehensive data to understand the extent of the issue, paving the way for effective policy interventions.

For details on Lead Poisoning

Source: Times of India

4. Where fossils meet faith in a Madhya Pradesh district

Subject: Environment

Section: Species in news

In the news:

In Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district, scientists recently confirmed that a revered Bhil deity, Kakad Bhairav, worshipped as a sun-baked stone, is actually a 66-million-year-old fossilized egg of a titanosaur, a herbivorous dinosaur. The discovery challenges long-standing local beliefs.

Details:

The region has been rich in prehistoric discoveries since the 1980s, with fossils of sauropods, dinosaur eggs, and extinct marine creatures indicating an ancient past.
Eminent palaeontologist Ashok Sahni describes this area as hosting the largest dinosaur hatchery on Earth, spreading across Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh.
Over 256 fossilised dinosaur eggs, including recent discoveries of 20 nests, have been found in Madhya Pradesh’s Bagh region.
There’s hope that this latest confirmation could aid in obtaining UNESCO’s Global Geopark status for the Bagh site, further enhancing its scientific significance.
Vishal Verma, a physics teacher, has played a pivotal role in safeguarding over 100 fossilized dinosaur eggs and various other ancient treasures in the region.
The scientists and local community are acknowledging the vital role of the Bhil community in protecting this significant heritage site.

Historical aspect:

Research indicates that dinosaurs existed in India from the Late Triassic (200 Mn years) to the Cretaceous Period (65 Mn years ago).
Historical discoveries of dinosaur remains in India date back to the 19th century, with the country witnessing significant fossil excavations, including the identification of a new species of carnivorous dinosaur named Rajasaurus narmadensis.
Captain William Sleeman, posted in the Narmada Valley, discovered the skeletal remains in Jabalpur cantonment’s Bara Simla Hill in 1828. As a tribute, a town in MP, 40 km away from Bagh, was rechristened as Sleemanabad.
The region’s fossilized treasures, including ammonites, shark teeth, and titanosaurs’ eggs, provide crucial insights into ancient marine life and geological evolution, shedding light on the cataclysmic forces that shaped the planet millions of years ago.

Source: Indian Express

5. Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA)

Subject: Environment

Section: Int conventions

It is a coalition of national and subnational governments, businesses and organisations working to advance the transition from unabated coal power generation to clean energy.
By launching the PPCA at COP23 in 2017, the UK and Canada brought the leaders together, turning their individual commitments into a diplomatic offensive to advance the transition from coal power across the world.
27 national, provincial, state, and city governments joined initially, endorsing the PPCA Declaration.
The Alliance was hailed as a ‘political watershed’ and a new ‘anti-fossil fuel norm’.
Through the PPCA Finance Taskforce launched in June 2020, underpinned by the PPCA Finance Principles, finance and government members and partners of the PPCA are working together to cease new investments in coal-fired power, phase out existing coal capacity and boost investments in clean energy.

Source: PPCA

6. Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty

Subject: Environment

Section: Int conventions

In the news:

A growing bloc of nation-states is joining forces at COP28 to begin to seek a negotiating mandate for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The treaty is endorsed by:

The 12 endorsing states are: Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Tonga, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Niue, Antigua and Barbuda, Timor-Leste, Palau, Colombia, Samoa, and Nauru
They have been supported by the World Health Organization, the European Parliament and thousands of others.

Aim of the treaty:

This treaty aims to complement the Paris Agreement by halting fossil fuel expansion, ensuring an equitable phase-out, and fostering a just energy transition globally.

Pillars of the treaty:

NON-PROLIFERATION
- Stop building out the problem by ending the expansion of coal, oil and gas production
A FAIR PHASE-OUT
- An equitable plan for the wind down of existing fossil fuel production, where nations with the capacity and historical responsibility for emissions transition fastest, providing support to others around the world
JUST TRANSITION
- Fast-track the adoption of clean energy and economic diversification away from fossil fuels so that no worker, community or country is left behind

Need for this treaty:

The urgency to address fossil fuel impacts on climate change has led to calls for a binding plan to halt new coal, oil, and gas projects. COP28 sees a coalition forming to propose a Fossil Fuel Treaty.

Source: https://fossilfueltreaty.org/

7. Census postponed again, to be delayed till at least October next year

Subject: Polity

Section: National Body

Context:

The deadline to freeze the administrative boundaries of districts, tehsils, towns, municipal bodies and others for the Census has been extended till June 30, 2024.
This means the decennial exercise, which should have started in 2020, will now be postponed again till at least October 2024,as it usually takes about three months to prepare the list of enumerators after setting the boundaries.

Need of Freezing Administrative Boundaries:

Before every Census, states are required to provide information on changes in the number of notified districts, villages, towns and other administrative units such as tehsils, talukas and police stations to the Registrar General of India (RGI).
Freezing of boundary limits of administrative units, at least three months prior, thus is a prerequisite for conducting the census, to prevent State governments’ tendency to create new districts and tehsils or reorganise existing ones.
If changes in administration boundaries happen during a Census, there would be chaos in the field over supervision of such areas. This could lead to some areas being left out of the Census.
The house-listing operations were traditionally taken up in various States at different points of time between March and September of the year prior to the Census.
As a result, the government may have decided to freeze administrative boundaries to coincide with house-listing operations, thereby shortening the time between the freezing of boundaries and the actual Census enumeration.

About Census

The Census is the enumeration of the population of the country and it is being conducted at an interval of 10 years by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
In the Census, data is collected on demographic and various socio-economic parameters like education, language, marriage, fertility, disability, occupation and migration of the individuals.
It was first started under British Viceroy Lord Mayo in 1872 and the first systematic census in India was held in 1881.
The Census 2021 will be the 15th Census and will be conducted in two phases, i.e., house listing and population enumeration.
It will also provide a facility to the public for self-enumeration and for the first time, the exercise will use Mobile App for data collection.
In addition to allowing online self-enumeration, enumerators will continue home visits to collect census data as in the past.

Significance of Census

The Census provides population data and characteristics, housing and amenities for every village and town.
It helps in framing government programs to uplift vulnerable sections and it is used to validate or reject estimates of various sample surveys.
The Census data are used to determine the number of seats to be reserved for SCs, STs in Parliament and State legislatures and delimitation of constituencies.
In case of panchayats and municipal bodies, reservation of seats for SCs and STs is based on their proportion in the population. Other than the Census, there is no other source that can provide this information.
It is also the basis for reviewing the country’s progress in the past decade, monitoring the ongoing schemes of the government and planning for the future.

8. Textile sector faces ESG challenges

Subject: Economy

Section: National Income

Context:

The textile industry is coming under greater Environmental, social and governance (ESG) scrutiny.

Facts about Textile Industry in India:

The Indian textile and apparel market is currently estimated at over $150 billion, of which, export constitutes over $40 billion.
A recent report pointed out that the global textile and apparel trade is set to reach $1,000 billion by 2025-26 and that in the same period the Indian textile and apparel market will reach $250 billion.
India holds a 4% share of the $840 billion global textile and apparel market, and is in fifth position.
It contributes 3% to Indian Gross Domestic Product, 7% of Industrial Output, 12% to the export earnings of India and employs more than 21% of total employment.
India is also the second largest producer of silk in the world and 95% of the world’s hand woven fabric comes from India.
India is the 6th largest producer of Technical Textiles with 6% Global Share, largest producer of cotton & jute in the world.

About ESG:

ESG stands for: “Environmental, Social and Governance”.
The term ESG was coined by the Global Compact in 2004.
ESG is described as a set of principles (policies, processes, metrics, etc.) that organizations apply to limit negative impact or enhance positive impact on the environment, society and governance bodies.
It refers to a set of non-financial measures that reflect a corporation’s impact on the environment and society.
ESG can be considered a subset of sustainability, which is defined by the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development as ‘meeting the needs of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’.
Investors and stakeholders look at three key factors when evaluating a company’s sustainability and social impact under ESG.
Environmental Factors: This relates to the company’s impact on the natural environment, including energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, waste management and resource consumption.
Social factors: This refers to the company’s impact on society, including relationships with employees, customers, suppliers and communities.
Governance Factors: This focuses on the company’s management and decision-making structures, including board composition, executive rules and transparency.

Functioning of ESG:

ESG serves as an evaluation technique that takes into account environmental, social and governance issues. In the private sector there is a set of ESG criteria that are used to evaluate company risks and practices.
ESG frameworks are important for sustainable investing because they can help individuals or other corporations determine whether a company is aligned with their values, as well as analyze the ultimate value of a company for their purposes.

Significance of ESG:

ESG covers issues that are, for the most part, long-term considerations.
ESG risks are similar to other business risks in that they are important to understand, identify, quantify and manage, but some ESG risks have the added complexity of being unpredictable.
Another characteristic of ESG risks is that they can be very costly.
Some examples of ESG risk management include assessing climate change risks to regular operations, assessing workplace culture, company diversity, etc.
ESG risk management supports sustainable, long-term growth by actively evaluating potential issues.

Difference between ESG and CSR:

India has a strong Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy which obliges corporations to engage in initiatives that contribute to the welfare of society.
This mandate was codified into law with the passage of the 2014 and 2021 amendments to the Companies Act of 2013 which required:
- Companies with a net worth of ₹500 crore or a minimum turnover of ₹1,000 crore or a net profit of ₹5 crore in any financial year.
- Companies spend at least 2% of their net profit in the last three years on CSR activities.

Implications for Indian companies:

ESG will play an important role in expanding risk management with thorough due diligence.
Companies wishing to maximize their opportunities in the global economy need to adapt to these new requirements and adjust their organizations accordingly.
Indian companies looking to expand their ESG risk management need to conduct thorough due diligence that can stand up to scrutiny.

It is the practice of making investments that not only generate financial returns, but also create positive social and environmental impacts.