Digital Services Tax

Why in news?

United States Trade Representative (USTR) reported that India’s DST is discriminatory & inconsistent with international tax principles.

What is Digital service tax (DST)?

• Digital companies are not adequately taxed because they don’t have a physical location in the markets where they operate.
• DST aims to ensure that non-resident, digital service providers pay their fair share of tax on revenues generated in the Indian digital market.

How does India’s DST evolve?

• In 2016, Akhilesh Ranjan Committee suggested to create a level-playing field between online businesses and brick-and-mortar businesses.
• Since digital businesses don’t have a physical presence but enjoy a sustainable economic presence they need to be taxed.
• In 2016, India became the first country to implement the equalisation levy, on advertising services at 6%.
• In 2018, India introduced the term significant economic presence in Income Tax Act.
• According to this, if a company had users in India, it sort of defined its economic connection with India and therefore gives India the right to tax.
• In 2020, the new equalisation levy expanded its scope even to e-commerce.

Spinal Muscular Atrophy

• Spinal muscular atrophy is a rare genetic disease. The person suffering from this disease cannot control the movement of their muscles.
• Caused By: It is caused by the loss of nerve cells that carry electrical signals from the brain to the muscles. The protein needed for this signalling is coded by a gene. Everyone has two copies of this gene- one from the mother and the other from the father. A child develops this disorder only if both copies are faulty.
• Gene Therapy Treatment: There is also a gene therapy treatment named Zolgensma which replaces the faulty gene.
• Zolgensma works by supplying a healthy copy of the faulty gene. It allows nerve cells to then start producing the needed protein. This halts the deterioration of the nerve cells and allows the baby to grow more normally.

India-China Disengagement

• Recently, both India and China have announced the start of disengagement between the two armies in Ladakh.
• The current disengagement is limited to two places on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh:
  • One, the north bank of Pangong lake
  • Two, the Kailash range to the south of Pangong.
• the disengagement in other regions is yet to be taken. The other three sites of contention on the Ladakh border are Depsang, Gogra-Hot Springs, and Demchok.

Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure

• CDRI is to be seen as an international knowledge platform.
• Here, countries can collaborate to make their existing and new infrastructure strong enough to withstand natural disasters.
• It tries to bring countries together to share and learn from one another’s experiences to protect their infrastructure against disasters.
• The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is operating as the interim secretariat of CDRI as of now.
• It is headquartered at Gurugram, India.

Coal Gasification

What is coal gasification?

• Coal gasification is the process of producing syngas [a mixture consisting primarily of methane (CH4), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2), carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapour (H2O)], from coal, water, air and/or oxygen.

What are its usages?

• Currently, this tech is primarily used for electricity generation, for the production of chemical feedstocks, or for the production of synthetic natural gas.

• The hydrogen obtained from coal gasification can be used for various purposes such as making ammonia, powering a hydrogen economy, or upgrading fossil fuels.

• Alternatively, coal-derived syngas & natural gas can be converted into transportation fuels such as gasoline and diesel or into methanol which itself can be used as transportation fuel or fuel additive.

Fly Ash

• Definition: It is a byproduct of the burning of coal in electric power generating plants.
  
  • It is called fly ash because it is transported from the combustion chamber by exhaust gases.
  • It is collected from the exhaust gases by electrostatic precipitators or bag filters.
• Composition: Fly ash includes substantial amounts of silicon dioxide (SiO₂), aluminium oxide (Al₂O₃), ferric oxide (Fe₂O₃) and calcium oxide (CaO).
• Properties:
  
  • Exhibit cement like properties.
    
• Uses: It is used in concrete and cement products, road base, metal recovery, and mineral filler among others.
• Harmful Effects: Fly ash particles are toxic air pollutants. They can trigger heart disease, cancer, respiratory diseases and stroke.
  
  • When combined with water they cause leaching of heavy metals in ground water.
  • It also pollutes the soil, and affects the root development system of trees.

Kalaripayattu

• Kalaripayattu is a martial art based on the ancient knowledge of the human body.
• It originated in Kerala from 3^nd century BC to the 2^nd century AD.
• It is now practised in Kerala and in some parts of Tamil Nadu.
• The place where this martial art is practised is called a 'Kalari'. It is a Malayalam word that signifies a kind of gymnasium. Kalari literally means 'threshing floor' or 'battlefield'.
• The word Kalari first appears in the Tamil Sangam Literature to describe both a battlefield and combat arena.
• It is considered to be one of the oldest fighting systems in existence.
• It is also considered as the father of modern Kung - Fu.