Friday Factly 12 June 2020

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General Studies -1

Climate Change 

  • Actually, the CO2 curve began its upward march about 18,000 years ago when it was a little under 200 parts per million (ppm) and earth was much colder. By the time it reached 270 ppm about 11,500 years ago, the warmer conditions accompanying this curve made it possible for the emergence of agriculture. Over the past million years, CO2 levels never exceeded 280-300 ppm.
  • They always went back to 200 ppm before rising again in a cyclical fashion.They remained steady at close to 280 ppm for 10,000 years until, beginning in the mid-19th century, they began to rise again as humans burnt coal and oil to fuel the industrial revolution, and burnt forests to expand agriculture and settlements. From a mere 0.2 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions in 1850,annual emissions increased to 36 billion tonnes by 2018.

Global Temperature Curve

  • From 1850 onwards, for over a century, the global temperature showed as light warming trend. From 1975 onwards, the temperature graph hasshown a distinct, upward trend. By 2015, the globe had heated by a fulldegree Celsius relative to a hundred years previously.
  • Climate modellers unequivocally project that under the current trends ofemissions the globe will heat up by 4˚C by the end of the century.
  • The Climate Impact Lab at the University of Chicago put out a warning forIndia last year that if global CO2 emissions continue to gallop at the presentrate, average summer temperatures would rise by 4˚C in most States.Extremely hot days (days above 35˚C), which were only five days in 2010,would increase to 15 days by 2050 and to 42 days by 2100 on averageacross all districts.

General Studies-3

Unemployment Rate

  • According to recent The National Statistical Office released PLFS for2018-19, unemployment rate inched slightly lower to 5.8 per cent from6.1 per cent a year ago.
  • Delhi, Bihar, Haryana, Kerala, Goa, Odisha and Punjab were amongthe 20 states and Union Territories which clocked a higherunemployment rate than the all-India unemployment rate of 5.8 percent in 2018-19, while the rest of the 16 regions including Uttar Pradesh,Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and West Bengalrecorded lower joblessness rate than the country’s average.
  • For the age group 15 years and above, the unemployment rate for themajor states higher than the overall rate of 5.8 per cent was recordedas: Delhi (10.4 per cent), Bihar (9.8 per cent), Haryana (9.3 per cent),Kerala (9.0 per cent), Goa (8.7 per cent), Punjab (7.4 per cent) andOdisha (7.0 per cent).
  • Among the youth in the age group 15-29 years, for which the all-Indiaunemployment rate stood at 17.3 per cent in 2018-19, the highestunemployment among the major states was recorded in Kerala (35.2 percent), followed by Bihar (30.9 per cent), Telangana (27.4 per cent), Goa(24.2 per cent), Tamil Nadu (24 per cent), Uttarakhand (23.5 per cent)and Delhi (22.5 per cent). States such as Rajasthan (16.6 per cent),Maharashtra (14.9 per cent), Karnataka (11.8 per cent), MadhyaPradesh (10.4 per cent) and Gujarat (8.4 per cent) fared better withlower unemployment rates than the all-India rate of 17.3 per cent.
  • High joblessness among graduates was visible in Bihar, AndhraPradesh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana, where unemploymentrate of urban males was recorded at a higher rate than the nationalaverage.
  • The all-India unemployment rate for urban males in 2018-19 stood at12.9 per cent, with Bihar leading among major states with 21.3 per cent.

National Income

The share of the top percentile (or top 1%) in India’s national income pie is at its highest level (22%) since 1922. This share had declined from 21% in the late 1930s to less than 6% in the early 1980s. They also argue that the period between 1951 and 1980 witnessed a decline in the share of the super-rich in the national income pie, and a rise in the share of the bottom half of India’s population. Between 1980 and 2014, the situation has reversed.

Agriculture

  • Three out of four cultivators are classified as ‘small farmers
  • Agriculture is a state subject under the Constitution of India

Direct Taxes

  • The gross direct tax collection in 2019-20 fiscal dipped 4.92 per cent to Rs 12.33 lakh crore on account of reduction incorporate tax rate, increased standard deduction and personal I-T exemption limit.
  • The gross direct tax collection in 2018-19 fiscal stood at Rs 12,97,674 crore.
  • In 2018-19, net direct tax collection stood at Rs 11.36 lakh crore.
  • As per data released by the CBDT, the actual gross corporate tax and Personal Income Tax (PIT) revenue mop up stood at Rs 6.78 lakh crore and Rs 5.55 lakh crore, respectively, in2019-20, taking the actual gross direct tax collection to Rs 12,33,720. In FY 2019-20, refunds worth Rs 1.84 lakh crore were given by CBDT, a 14 per cent increase over Rs 1.61 lakh crore given in FY 2018-19. However, gross collection would have clocked a 8 per cent growth to Rs 14.01 lakh crore in 2019-20 if revenue foregone in corporate tax and PIT is taken into account.
  • During the fiscal, the revenue foregone due to reduction incorporate tax rate was Rs 1.45 lakh crore, while in PIT (due to increased tax rebate limit and standard deduction) it was Rs 23,200 crore. If this had not happened, then corporate tax and PIT collection in 2019-20 would have been Rs 8.23 lakh crore and Rs 5.78 lakh crore, respectively.Thus, the gross direct tax mop up would have been Rs 14.01 lakh crore, which would have been a 8.03 per cent growth over 2018-19.

Global military spending:

The global military spending surged to $1.9 trillion in 2019, a growth of 3.6% from 2018.according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

With $732 billion, the US is the largest spender followed by China and India.

China’s military expenditure reached $261 bn in 2019, which is a 5.1% increase over 2018. On the other hand, India’s expenditure increased by more than 6% to $ 71 bn.

World Bank Prediction

The World Bank on Monday predicted a 3.2 per cent contraction in India’s economy during the current fiscal year. In its latest Global Economic Prospects report, the World Bank said that the global economy is expected to contract by 5.2 per cent as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This will be the deepest recession in global economy since the Second World War, the World Bank also said.

The World Bank report said that advanced economies are expected to shrink 7 percent in 2020, while emerging market economies will contract 2.5 per cent, their first since aggregate data became available in 1960. On a per-capita GDP basis, the global contraction will be the deepest since 1945-46

The recession is the first since 1870 to be triggered solely by a pandemic, it said the latest edition of the Global Economic Prospect report. The report said that the global economy has experienced 14 global recessions since 1870: in 1876, 1885, 1893, 1908, and 1914, 1917-21, 1930-32, 1938, 1945-46, 1975, 1982, 1991,2009 and 2020.

The impact: Per capita incomes are expected to decline by 3.6%, which will tip millions of people into extreme poverty this year, according to the report. Beyond the staggering economic impacts, the pandemic will also have severe and long-lasting socio-economic impacts that may well weaken long-term growth prospects — the plunge in investment because of elevated uncertainty, the erosion of human capital from the legions of unemployed and the potential for ruptures of trade and supply linkages. Interruptions in schooling and primary healthcare access are likely to have lasting impacts on human capital development, the bank said.

FDI

 Cayman Islands has emerged as the fifth largest investor in India, with foreign direct investment from the nation increasing over three-fold to USD 3.7 billion in 2019-20, according to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). India had received FDI worth USD one billion in 2018-19 and USD 1.23 billion in 2017-18 from Cayman Islands, which is UK Overseas Territory.

Similarly, FDI from Cyprus too increased by about three-times to USD 879 million in the last financial year by about three-times to USD 879 million in the last financial year from USD 296 million in 2018-19. It was USD 417 million in2017-18. Experts have stated that over time, Cayman Islands has become one of the most preferred jurisdictions for routing investments due to the absence of direct taxes costs and is one of most significant reasons why developed economies like UK, France, and Germany are now falling behind.

Child Labour

In 2011 the national census of India found the total no. of child labourers, aged 5–14, to be at 10.1 million, out of the total of 259.64 million children in that age group. The child labour problem is not unique to India; worldwide, about 217 million children work, many full-time. According to the report by ILO and UNICEF, the result of children being pushed into labour could lead to the first rise in child labour after 20 years of progress.

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