Bio fuels

Bio fuels are liquid fuels obtained directly from plants and animal matters due to carbon fixation of geological past. the various generations of bio fuels are listed below..popular form of bio fuels are bio gas; bio diesel.vegetable oil.syngas etc

FIRST GENERATION

directly use the food crops like wheat and sugar for ethanol and oil seeds for bio diesel by conventional method of fermentation...

green house emission more...

SECOND GENERATION
here non- food crops used instead of food crops in first generation ....like wood ;organic waste etc

THIRD GENERATION
used specially engineared algae and its bio mass used to convert into bio fuels;; here green house emission will be low compared to others

since first generation completely depends on food directly the volume of food grains directing away from food market and been focusing on energy market..as every country is energy starved and good remuneration for farmers every one attracting to energy production..

with the third generation bio fuels the advantages are:
1)the algae are cultured to act as a low-cost
, high-energy and entirely renewable feedstock
2)t algae will have the potential to produce more energy per acre than conventional crops.
3) Algae can also be grown using land and water unsuitable for food production, therefore reducing the strain on already depleted water sources
4). algae based biofuels is that the fuel can be manufactured into a wide range of fuels such as diesel, petrol and jet fuel.

the fourth generation bio fuel which will further yet to reduce green house emission..itz a ray of hope for human kind for nurturing sustaninable development for upcoming generations

GAAR and its Effects

The idea of GAAR became popular in the backdrop of Vodafone tax case.. GAAR is general anti avoidance rules made to prevent intentional tax avoidance by manipulating tax laws. It empowers the Income Tax dept. to investigate any deal or joint ventures which involves huge capital. however the announcement of GAAR created havoc in Capital market and is believed might lead to tax terrorism.. Main reasons were:

1. The arbitrary method to investigate any commercial deal.
2. Due to the possibility of retrospective taxation 
3. Vagueness of tax laws might be used against a particular company. eg recent Vodafone case of transfer pricing . Under GAAR they have much more power.

Impact on economy:
1. Less investment by foreign companies so less growth.
2. Reduced employment 
3. Poor service delivery as less competition .

Impact on ease of doing business:

1. GAAR will weaken the investors faith in stability of Indian tax regime.
2. Cost benefit analysis favors delay in implementation unless a properly detailed and acceptable norms are formed.
3. One big case like Vodafone may have ripple effect on investor's confidence.

As shome panel recommended we should delay it's implementation for now and should strive toward a stable and predictable tax regime,avoid retrospective taxation and work to provide a transparent business environment in Indian economy.

Sending the right signal

The government’s decision not to appeal against the adverse verdict of the Bombay High Court in its Rs.3,200-crore tax case against Vodafone is the first concrete demonstration of its resolve to do away with what Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley termed “adversarial” taxation policies of the erstwhile UPA government. Though the BJP had during its election campaign, referred to “tax terrorism” in its election campaign there was little that happened in the first eight months of the new government to show that such policies would be reversed. The latest Cabinet decision sends out a strong signal to foreign investors that this government will be fair in its tax policies and avoid needless litigation. The decision not to appeal has implications for other such similar cases involving multinationals and is, in that sense, a significant one. It is also an acknowledgment that the Income Tax Department’s assessment of the case was erroneous. The Vodafone case was about wrong classification of a capital receipt as taxable income at the hands of the company. Applying transfer-pricing guidelines, the I.T. Department held that Vodafone had underpriced its shares issued to the parent. So it revalued the shares and deemed the difference to be a loan given to the parent. This was clearly high-handed and a wrong application of transfer-pricing regulations.

The government’s decision to accept the High Court verdict is also a signal to assessing officers that they should refrain from making unreasonable tax demands, relying on aggressive and faulty interpretations of rules and sections. Yet, it is also true that the government turns the heat on these officers when it decides that tax collections need to be augmented. If the tax official is confused he cannot be blamed. What is needed is a stable policy that sends out the signal to both assessing officers and taxpayers that the government will crack down on evasion but within the framework of the law; there will be no extraordinary interpretations of rules and sections even in times of revenue distress. The focus will now shift to whether the government moves to neutralise the mischief caused by the retrospective tax amendment; this is a major demand of foreign investors who were disappointed that it was not addressed in the first budget of this government in July last year. The General Anti Avoidance Rules, or GAAR, are a cause for worry for taxpayers and foreign investors as they confer wide discretionary powers on the I.T. Department. It will be interesting to see if Mr. Jaitley makes a Budget announcement to postpone its implementation once again as per the recommendations of the Parthasarathi Shome Committee.

source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/sending-the-right-signal/article6836457.ece

Consumer protection act

The CPA,1986 was enacted considering the large number of consumers in India who are illiterate and are susceptible to exploitation by unscrupulous businesses. Hence, a major objective of this Act was to make consumers aware of the various quality-control measures(e.g. Hallmark, BIS-mark etc.) being employed for the products and the rights available to them to seek redressal against unfair practices.

Although, the impacts have been largely positive as is visible in the increased consumer awareness and adherence of businesses to the quality-control standards, there have been certain issues as well. The movement has left many rural regions untouched. Also, the slow progress of addressing the cases has resulted in large-scale pendency. Provisions for addressing new-age cases such as e-commerce are also non-existent.

The recent amendments proposed to the CPA, 1986 are largely progressive in the sense that it seeks to decrease the time required to seek redressal by including provisions for online filling of complaints and setting a time limit of 21 days for scrutiny of cases before admission, effectively leveraging the District Forums by increasing their pecuniary jurisdiction from Rs.20 to Rs.50 lakh, and increasing the penalties to 10 times the cost of goods provided.

However, certain issues such as the appointment of mediators to settle disputes are contentious as this would lead to arm-twisting of the weaker parties and may encourage corruption. Also, the setting up of a Consumer Authority and absence of provisions to streamline the conducting of cases in courts may only lead to greater regulations and complexities. Addressing these issues is necessary to ensure that the new amendments bring about definitive improvements in the CPA.

inequality in South Asia

World bank report can be justified by charity group Oxfam that said “The richest one percent of the world’s population will have more wealth than the remaining 99 percent by next year."

The reasons behind growth of inequality are:

1. the greater proportion of the population in South Asia people lives in rural areas;

2. the incidence of poverty tends to be higher in rural than in urban areas.

3. Trade liberalization has flooded the markets with cheaper and higher-quality goods and services, it has also engendered an influx of foreign participation in South Asia, it devastated small and local businesses, and created a substantial discrepancy between the incomes of the wealthy and the impoverished population.

4. Poverty impacts women and men differently and a number of factors, such as biased macroeconomic and institutional structures, discriminatory laws and customs, and societal attitudes make it more likely that women will fall into and remain in poverty than men.

Measures to Bridge Them:

1. Fairer Tax code is vital and easy to implement. Increasing progressive taxes such as the higher rate of income tax from 30% to 60% will take more income from those on high income levels. This enables cuts in regressive taxes and increased benefits which help increase the income of the poor. This can be an effective way for reducing relative poverty.

2. Government spending on education, health and skill development should be progressively increased.

3. It is also necessary to decrease Birth rate of population, China with its one-child policy achieved better results than other south Asian nations

Government should change its economic policy of neo-liberalism to fabianism for achieving better distribution of resources to masses.