Daily Prelims Notes 27 September 2021
- September 27, 2021
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN
Daily Prelims Notes
27 September 2021
Table Of Contents
- Declining Vaccine Efficacy
- International Taxation Rules Reform
- State Bank of India
- India must have at least six banks in top 100 global list: Economic Survey
- Auto-Debit Norms
- Metal-air Batteries
- Dal Lake
- ‘Clinicopathological Profile of Cancers in India: A Report of the Hospital Based Cancer Registries 2021’
- Group of Ministers (GoMs)
- Caste based census in India
- GST Ministerial Panels
Subject – Science and Tech
Context – Recent data suggest that the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines has been declining.
Concept –
- The data indicate that while the protection against infection (as shown by effectiveness against symptomatic Covid) has declined (especially in Israel and USA), the protection against hospitalisation from Covid remains high.
- Ideally, a public vaccination programme should protect the population from infection, transmission, and hospitalisation (and subsequent mortality).
- Initial vaccine efficacy data showed high efficacy versus infection and hospitalisation. (The correlation between infection and transmission is not automatic and has to be proven. Some post-clinical trial data showed this for the current vaccines.)
Working of Immune System –
- The virus, as it ‘infects’ the body, is primarily found in two locations. One is the circulation system that it uses to travel around the body. The second is the cells of various tissues that the virus invades and uses to multiply.
- Logically, therefore, the immune system has two main ‘arms’ to confront the virus in these two locations.
- One is the antibody arm. Antibodies ‘lock in’ on certain surface proteins of the circulating virus, thereby preventing it from invading our cells. Further, they ‘tag’ the virus for destruction. Thus, antibodies can be thought as a first line of defence, but they become ineffective once the virus enters the cells.
- At this point, the second arm of the immune response becomes relevant.
- This arm is aptly named the Killer T cell arm. These cells target our own bodies’ cells that harbour the virus and within which the virus replicates.
- The T cells kill such cells, thereby eliminating the virus within them. Proceeding with a simplistic view that disease is caused once the virus takes hold in our bodies’ cells, a strong T-cell immune function can protect from severe disease even if the antibody response is weak.
- Vaccination establishes the two arms of the immune response; these two arms can mature differently with time and in response to variants. Circulating antibody levels decline with time.
- Even though there is “memory” in the system to produce antibodies on-demand, jumpstarting this memory at a subsequent encounter can take time.
- A weak and delayed antibody response would result in an infection (symptomatic Covid), but if the T-cell response is intact, the individual would be protected from severe disease.
- Additionally, vaccine effectiveness can reduce because the immune system that has been primed by one variant has to counter a new variant.
- Even here, the differences in response of the two arms to a variant are crucial. The antibody arm reacts to the viral surface proteins (primarily the shape, or the 3D configuration), and thus changes in this surface protein can reduce the effectiveness of the antibody response.
- The T cells, however, react to smaller fragments of the surface and other viral proteins. Since the T cells respond to a broader set of targets — more proteins (surface and non-surface) and more sites on the proteins (multiple fragments) as compared to antibodies that respond to a specific site (or sites) on the surface protein controlled by the local “shape” at the site, the T-cell response can be more resistant to variants.
- Recent studies tracking a few individuals have reported that the T-cell response to Covid vaccines is durable and effective versus the variants.
- The simplified picture also indicates that circulating antibodies are not the entirety of the available protective resources. Antibody tests are easier to implement at large scale as compared to T-cell measurements and are therefore widely available.
2. International Taxation Rules Reform
Subject – Economy
Context – ‘India will not be on the losing side’ – officials at the Finance Ministry
Concept –
- On July 1, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) announced that 130 countries and jurisdictions, including India, have joined a new two-pillar plan to reform international taxation rules and ensure that multinational enterprises pay a fair share of tax wherever they operate.
- The timeline for the conclusion of the negotiations includes an October 2021 deadline for the remaining technical work on the two-pillar approach, as well as a plan for the effective implementation in 2023
- India and the majority of the members of OECD-G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) joined a new two-pillar plan to reform international taxation rules.
- The two-pillar plan – inclusive framework tax deal on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)- seeks to reform international tax rules and ensure that multinational enterprises pay their fair share wherever they operate.
- The new framework seeks to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of economies.
- Two Pillar Plan:
- Pillar One:
- It will ensure a fairer distribution of profits and taxing rights among countries with respect to the largest MNEs, including digital companies.
- It would re-allocate some taxing rights over MNEs from their home countries to the markets where they have business activities and earn profits, regardless of whether firms have a physical presence there.
- According to OECD, more than USD 100 billion of profit are expected to be reallocated to market jurisdictions each year.
- Pillar Two: It is about minimum tax and subject-to-tax rules (All sources of income liable to tax without taking account of tax allowances).
- It seeks to put a minimum standard tax rate among countries through a global minimum corporate tax rate, currently proposed at 15%.
- This is expected to generate an additional USD 150 billion in tax revenues.
- Additional benefits will also arise from the stabilisation of the international tax system and the increased tax certainty for taxpayers and tax administrations, said the OECD.
- Pillar One:
Equalisation Levy (EL)
- Introduced in 2016, also known as ‘Google Tax’, EL was initially applicable to payments for digital advertisement services received by non-resident companies without a permanent establishment here, if these exceeded ₹1 lakh a year.
- The rate of tax was 6 per cent.
- The companies using these services are required to withhold the tax amount.
- In the 2020-21 Budget, the government widened the ambit of the levy by including e-commerce companies.
- The applicable tax rate is two per cent (plus a surcharge) on amount of consideration received/receivable by an e-commerce operator. This came into effect from April 1 this year.
Subject – Economy
Context – India needs 4-5 SBI-size banks to meet growing needs of economy: Sitharaman
Concept –
- State Bank of India (SBI) is an Indian multinational public sector bank and financial services statutory body headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
- SBI is the 43rd largest bank in the world and ranked 221st in the Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s biggest corporations of 2020, being the only Indian bank on the list.
- It is a public sector bank and the largest bank in India with a 23% market share by assets and a 25% share of the total loan and deposits market.
- It is also the fifth largest employer in India with nearly 250,000 employees.
- SBI is India’s largest bank with total deposits of ₹37.20 lakh crore and gross advances of ₹25.23 lakh crore as at June-end 2021.
- The bank descends from the Bank of Calcutta, founded in 1806 via the Imperial Bank of India, making it the oldest commercial bank in the Indian Subcontinent.
- The Bank of Madras merged into the other two presidency banks in British India, the Bank of Calcutta and the Bank of Bombay, to form the Imperial Bank of India, which in turn became the State Bank of India in 1955.
- The Government of India took control of the Imperial Bank of India in 1955, with Reserve Bank of India (India’s central bank) taking a 60% stake, renaming it State Bank of India.
Indian Bank Association (IBA) – For details about IBA, please click here.
4. India must have at least six banks in top 100 global list: Economic Survey
Subject – Economy
Context – Being the fifth largest economy, India should have at least six banks in the top 100 global list, and at least eight would be required for a country having a $5-trillion economy, according to the Economic Survey for 2019-20.
Concept –
- Being the fifth largest economy, India should have at least six banks in the top 100 global list, and at least eight would be required for a country having a $5-trillion economy, according to the Economic Survey for 2019-20.
- Since public sector banks (PSBs) have 70 per cent share of the market, the efficiency of PSBs has to improve.
- In 2019, when Indian economy is the fifth largest in the world, our highest ranked bank—State Bank of India— is a lowly 55th in the world.
Subject – Economy
Context – Banks, merchants working on a common platform
Concept –
- Banks are working on a common industry-wide platform to comply with the Reserve Bank of India’s norms on auto-debit which will come into effect from October 1.
- Bill Desk and Razorpay are the two companies working with banks to meet the auto-debit norms.
- Under the new rules, banks have to notify the customers 24 hours in advance in case of an upcoming auto-debit transaction.
- Simply put, customers have to provide additional factor authentication (AFA) by approving the auto-debit requesting in advance.
- The transaction will not be completed if customers do not approve or reply to the pre-debit notification.
- In addition, auto-payment transactions above Rs 5,000 will require customers to authenticate such payments manually with a one-time password (OTP).
- The new rule, however, will not impact e-NACH and UPI autopay transactions.
- Customers should note that only standing instructions on cards will be impacted and not standing instructions given to banks by customers. Therefore, EMIs and SIPs payments are unlikely to face turbulence.
- The auto-debit rules are likely to impact customers who make card auto-transactions for bill payments, OTT subscriptions, and other online services.
- Internet merchants including Google, Facebook, YouTube have notified customers that the new rules may lead to disruptions in e-mandate based recurring payments.
- Therefore, customers of banks that are not yet compliant with the guidelines may have to make manual payments after October 1 as auto-payments will stop working.
What is the process?
- Banks will send a notification to a customer via SMS and email before the transaction. The notification will contain details about the name of the merchant, transaction amount, date of debit, reference number of transaction and the reason for the debit.
- The cardholder will have the option to either disapprove or approve the transaction. The rule was introduced by the RBI to make the auto-debit process secure and provide more flexibility to customers.
- A customer should ensure that the correct mobile number is linked to the debit/credit cards. Otherwise, the customer may not receive the message for additional authentication.
Subject – Science and Tech
Context – The need for India to grow out of (Chinese-dominated) lithium for energy storage is well recognised.
Concept –
- Lithium is scarce, less safe, and lithium-ion has energy limitations.
- Metal-air batteries, which have a metal anode (electron giver) and atmospheric oxygen as the cathode (electron acceptor), have been attractive because you can use cheaper and easily available metals such as sodium, zinc, iron, aluminium, magnesium and calcium. Of these, zinc and aluminium are ahead in the race, followed by sodium and iron.
- For range, calculated in kWhr/kg, metal-air batteries are first class — they beat lithium-ion (Li-ion) blue (though lithium-air is even better).
- Since the voltage of metal-air batteries is typically less than that of Li-ion, you might need more cells, but the cells weigh much less because they have air for cathode.
- The biggest challenge is over rechargeability.The ‘parasitic hydrogen evolution’ at the anode corrodes it and affects the performance of the electrolyte; there is also the formation of spikes (dendrites) on the metal anode.
- Among the other issues with metal-air is the reaction of atmospheric carbon dioxide with the electrolyte to form carbonates and the erosion of the catalyst coated on the electrodes, but none of these is considered insurmountable.
- As such, metal-air batteries are today feasible enough for industry to start jumping into it.
To know about Li-ion Batteries, please click here.
Subject – Geography
Context – Ripples over Dal Lake: Air Force planes inspire awe with a stunning show
Concept –
- Dal is a lake in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is an urban lake, which is the second largest in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
- It is integral to tourism and recreation in Kashmir and is named the “Lake of Flowers”, “Jewel in the crown of Kashmir” or “Srinagar’s Jewel”.
- The floating gardens, known as “Raad” in Kashmiri, blossom with lotus flowers during July and August.
- The wetland is divided by causeways into four basins; Gagribal, Lokut Dal, Bod Dal and Nagin. Lokut-dal and Bod-dal each have an island in the centre, known as Rup Lank (or Char Chinari) and Sona Lank respectively.
- The houseboats (Shikaras) are closely associated with Dal Lake which provide accommodation to tourists in Srinagar.
- Scenic views of the lake can be witnessed from the shore line Mughal gardens, such as Shalimar Bagh and Nishat Bagh built during the reign of Mughal Emperor Jahangir.
Subject – Science and Tech
Context – Proportion of all cancer cases higher in men: study
Concept –
- The proportion of all cancer cases was higher in men (52.4%) than women (47.4%), noted the Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) ‘Clinicopathological Profile of Cancers in India: A Report of the Hospital Based Cancer Registries, 2021’.
- In women, gynaecological cancers, including breast cancer, comprised over half of all cancers.
- Childhood (0-14 years) cancers constitute 7.9% of all cancers.
- The report said that cancers of the head and neck region accounted for nearly one third (31.2%) of the cancers among men.
Subject – Polity
Context – GoM set up to rationalise GST rates
Concept –
- These are ad hocbodies formed to give recommendations to the cabinet on certain emergentissues and critical problem areas.
- Ministers heading the concerned ministriesare inducted into the relevant GoMs and when the advice is crystallised theyare disbanded.
- In the past two decades, the institution of GoMs has become a viable andeffective instrument of coordination among the ministries.
- Some of these GoMs have been empowered to take decisions on behalf of the Cabinet whereas theothers make recommendations to the Cabinet.
10. Caste based census in India
Subject – Polity
Context – Several political parties are demanding caste-based census in India.
Concept –
- The First Census conducted in 1871 included questions about caste.
- This data was then used to divide and conquer India.
- It first privileged Brahmins as interpreters of Indian culture and then targeted them as the root of caste-based oppression and inequality.
- This classification was also a source of anti-Brahmin movements of 20th century
- Every Census in independent India from 1951 to 2011 has published data on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, but not on other castes.
- Before that, every Census until 1931 had data on caste. However, in 1941, caste-based data was collected but not published.
- Hence, in the absence of such a census, there is no proper estimate for the population of OBCs.
- The Mandal Commission estimated the OBC population at 52%. Some other estimates have been based on National Sample Survey data.
Difference between Census & SECC:
- The Census provides a portrait of the Indian population, while the SECC is a tool to identify beneficiaries of state support.
- Since the Census falls under the Census Act of 1948, all data are considered confidential, whereas all the personal information given in the SECC is open for use by Government departments to grant and/or restrict benefits to households.
To know more about Census, please click here.
Subject – Economy
Context –Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai will lead a panel of state ministers to make recommendations to goods and services tax (GST) council on further rationalization of tax rates.
Concept –
- Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai will lead a panel of state ministers to make recommendations to goods and services tax (GST) council on further rationalization of tax rates, while Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar will lead a ministerial panel on GST system reforms, two official orders showed.
- Bommai’s panel will suggest ways of rationalizing tax rates and correcting tax anomalies to simplify the tax structure, reduce disputes relating to classification of goods and services and boost revenue collection of central and state governments.
- This panel will “review the supply of goods and services exempt under GST” to expand the tax base and eliminate breaking the input tax credit chain.
- The second panel will identify potential sources of tax evasion and suggest changes in business processes and IT systems to plug tax leakage. It will also suggest ways of better coordination between central and state tax administration.