Newspaper Through Pre-mix(4th March)

Economy

Huge tax evasion done by multinational group: I-T Dept.

The Income Tax Department recently claimed to have detected irregularities on the part of a multinational group engaged in the distribution of telecom products and providing captive software development services.

• Without naming the company, the I-T Department in a statement alleged that the group had made inflated payments against receipt of technical services from its related parties outside India.
• The assessee company could not justify the genuineness of obtaining such alleged technical services in lieu of which payment has been made and also the basis of determination of consideration for the same

 

1. Consider the following statements :
2. Tax Avoidance is a way of reducing the taxes through the medium provided by government
3. Tax evasion is a crime in which an individual or a business entity intentionally underpays or hide their certain amount of income in order to save more amount of taxes.
4. Tax Terrorism’ essentially means undue exercise of power by tax authorities to levy taxes using legal or extra-legal means

Select the correct answer code:

1. 1 only
2. 1 and 2 only
3. 2 and 3 only
4. All of the above

Answer: – D

 

 Environment

Dugong (Sea cow or angel of the sea)

Marine biologists have welcomed the Tamil Nadu government’s recent decision to go ahead with the establishment of a conservation reserve for the elusive dugong (Dugong dugon), a sirenian species native to parts of the Indian littoral.

• The Tamil Nadu government had announced September 3, 2021 that a dugong conservation reserve would be established in the Gulf of Mannar, Palk Bay between India and Sri Lanka, for the conservation of the animals.

Dugong (Sea cow or angel of the sea)

• Vulnerable — IUCN
• Appendix -I :CITES
• Strictly marineherbivorous mammal
• Largely dependent on sea grass communities for subsistence and is thus restricted to the coastal habitats which support sea grass meadows

Habitat

• Coastal areas, shallow to medium deep, warm waters with sea grass beds

India

• Fourteen sea grasses species are found in marine waters in country of which 13 are in gulf of mannar and palk bay areas
• It is listed in schedule I of wildlife protection act

Threats

• Incidental capture in fishing gear, shark nets for bather protection
• Hunting: legal (i.e. culturally sanctioned) and illegal
• Boat strikes and boating activities (e.g. acoustic pollution)
• Damage/modification/loss of habitat caused by human settlement on coasts, shipping, trawling destructive fishing, natural processes (e.g. cyclones and tsunamis)
• Threats to sea grass (including untreated sewage disposal, coastal dredging and reclamation, inshore commercial trawling, agricultural pollution)
• Chemical pollution (e.g. oil spills and heavy metal loads)
• Climate change (extreme weather events and high temperatures)

India’s non-legally binding Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS)

• Siberian Cranes(1998)
• MarineTurtles (2007)
• Dugongs(2008)
• Raptors(2016).

2. With reference to ‘dugong’, a mammal found in India, which of the following statements is incorrect?
3. It is a herbivorous marine animal
4. It is found along the entire coast of India.
5. It is a state animal of Andaman and Nicobar
6. It is given legal protection under schedule I of the Wildlife protection act 1972

Select the correct answer code:

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 and 3 only
3. 1,3 and 4 only
4. 2,3 and 4 only

Answer: – C

 

 End Plastic Pollution: Towards an internationally legally binding instrument

Recently, the Fifth UN Environment Assembly concluded with 14 resolutions to strengthen actions for nature to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

End Plastic Pollution: Towards an internationally legally binding instrument

• Around 175 countries have endorsed a historic resolution at the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5) in Nairobi, Kenya titled “End Plastic Pollution: Towards an internationally legally binding instrument”.
• Resolution to end Plastic Pollution:The world’s ministers for the environment agreed to establish an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) with the mandate to forge an international legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution.
• INC will begin its work in 2022, with the ambition of completing a draft global legally binding agreement by the end of 2024.

 

3. ‘’End Plastic Pollution: Towards an internationally legally binding instrument’’ recently endorsed by countries.’’ It was initiated by:
4. World Bank
5. United Nations Environment Assembly
6. International Union for Conservation of Nature
7. International Maritime Organization

Answer: – B

 

 Geography

Indian farmers can now trade in carbon credits to boost income

Days after the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) about disastrous consequences of environmental factors on Indian agriculture, the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) will join hands with a private firm — for the first time — to build a marketplace for trading in carbon credits for farmers in the country

• Farming contributes around 14% of the annual greenhouse gas emissions from India. Of this, 55% comes from the livestock sector alone

Carbon credit

• It is a tradable permit or certificate that provides the holder of the credit the right to emit one ton of carbon dioxide or an equivalent of another greenhouse gas.

Carbon credit system in farming sector

• Farmers can claim carbon credits for a host of regenerative agricultural practices such as not burning paddy straw, conservation agriculture such as not ploughing land and laser levelling of land.
• For each such practice undertaken, some credits that can be monitored will be generated. They will then be valued in accordance with standard international practices.
• Companies that want to lower their carbon footprints, such as fertiliser manufacturers or airlines, but are finding it difficult to do so because of the nature of their business, can step in by directly purchasing carbon credits from farmers using the platform and its high-end technology.

 

4. 4. Consider the following pairs in context to carbon credit system:
5. It is a tradable permit or certificate that provides the holder of the credit the right to emit one ton of carbon dioxide
6. The concept of carbon credits emerged during the Montreal Protocol
7. Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) aims to build a marketplace for trading in carbon credits for farmers in the country

Select the correct answer code:

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 and 3 only
3. 1 and 3 only
4. All of the above

Answer: – C

 

 International Relation

Montreux Convention

Stating that the situation in Ukraine has turned into a ‘war’, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu activated the Montreux Convention and banned Russian war vessels from entering the Black Sea.

What is the Montreux Convention?

• It was signed on July 20, 1936, in the Montreux Palace in Switzerland, and took effect on November 9, 1936.
• It was signed byAustralia, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Japan, Romania, Yugoslavia, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and Turkey
• The convention gives Turkey certain control over the passage of warships from the Dardanelles and Bosphorus Straits that connect the Aegean, Marmara, and Black Sea.
• In peace time, warships can pass the straits by prior diplomatic notification with certain limitations on the weight of the ships and arms they carry — and depending on whether the ship belongs to a Black Sea nation or not.
• And at times of war, Turkey can bar the passage of the warships of belligerent parties from crossing.
• According to the convention, if Turkey is a party to the war or considers itself threatened with imminent danger, it can shut down the straits to the passage of warships

Could Turkey block Russian warships?

• Russia’s location on the Black Sea complicates the situation.
• Article 19 of the treaty contains an exception for the countries on the Black Sea that can effectively undermine Turkey’s power in blocking the Russian warships entering or exiting the Black Sea: “Vessels of war belonging to belligerent powers, whether they are Black Sea Powers or not, which have become separated from their bases, may return thereto,”
• That means warships can return to their original bases through the passage and Turkey cannot prevent it.

 

 

5. Which among the following is/are considered as the only passage through which the Black Sea ports can access the Mediterranean:
6. Bosporus strait
7. Dardanelles strait
8. Kerch strait
9. Strait of Gibralter

Select the correct answer code:

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 1,2 and 3 only
3. 2,3 and 4 only
4. 1,3 and 4 only

Answer: – A

 

 Polity

StreeManoraksha Project

Recently Union Minister for Women and Child Development has launched “StreeManoraksha project”

StreeManoraksha Project

• It aims to provide training and supervision in psychosocial and mental health care for staff and counsellors of all One Stop Centres (OSCs) across the country to support women facing various forms of gender-based violence.
• According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) 2019-2021, one in three married women has experienced Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). However, around 9 in 10 women have never sought help when they faced violence. 
• It is launched by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, with support and funding from the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
    

6. Consider the following statements:
7. One stop centre aims to support all women including girls below 18 years of age affected by violence.
8. StreeManoraksha Project aims to provide training and supervision in psychosocial and mental health care for staff and counsellors of all One Stop Centres (OSCs) across the country
9. Both One stop centre and StreeManoraksha project are under Ministry of health and family welfare

Select the correct answer code:

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 and 3 only
3. 3  only
4. All of the above

Answer: – A