Daily Current Affairs Prelims 02 May 2024

Monthly GST Collections

Features of GSTComprehensive – It has subsumed almost all the indirect taxes except a few state taxes.Multi-stage – It is imposed at every step in the production process, but is meant to be refunded to all parties in the various stages of production other than the final consumer.Destination-based – It is collected from point of consumption and not point of origin like previous taxes.Tax Slabs – GST is divided into five different tax slabs for collection of tax: 0%, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%. Exceptions – Petroleum products, alcoholic beverages, and electricity are not taxed under GST.Objective of GST – To achieve the ideology of ‘One Nation, One Tax’.

Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections hit an all-time high of ₹2.10 lakh crore in April, 2024 reflecting robust economic growth.

But the revenue collected from GST in India, as a percentage of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is still not higher than the revenue collected from indirect taxes before GST was implemented.
Goods and Services Tax is an indirect tax used in India on the supply of goods and services. It replaced many indirect taxes in India such as the excise duty, VAT, services tax, etc.
It came into effect from 1st July 2017 through the implementation of the 101^st Amendment to the Constitution of India.
The tax rates, rules and regulations are governed by the GST Council, consisting of the finance ministers of the central government and all the states.

Dig Deeper: Read about Indirect and Direct taxes, along with wealth tax

SMART system

The Supersonic Missile-Assisted Release of Torpedo (SMART) system is a next-generation missile-based light-weight torpedo delivery system, designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to enhance the anti-submarine warfare capability of the Indian Navy far beyond the conventional range of lightweight torpedo.
The SMART system is a missile-based mechanism to launch lightweight torpedoes can target submarines far beyond the conventional range of lightweight torpedoes.
The system can be launched from both coasts and warships. The canister-based missile system comprises several advanced subsystems including two-stage solid propulsion and precision inertial navigation.
It carries an advanced lightweight torpedo missile as a payload along with a parachute-based release mechanism.

Dig Deeper: Learn about Brahmos and Agni missiles

Paulist Missionaries

Portuguese rule in GoaThe Portuguese ruled Goa from 1510 to 1961, when India took control after a 36-hour battle. The Portuguese conquest of Goa occurred in 1510 when Afonso de Albuquerque captured the city from the Adil Shahis.Goa was the capital of the entire Portuguese Empire east of the Cape of Good Hope for 450 years.On 19 December 1961, the Indian army with Operation Vijay resulted in the annexation of Goa, Daman and Diu into the Indian union.

Recently, Goans stumbled upon a carved stone slab estimated to date back several hundred years, when Goa was under Portuguese rule.

Many claim that the stone is that of a ‘Paulist’, who were missionaries from the Society of Jesus working to spread Catholicism in the Portuguese Empire’s Asian colonies.
These Jesuit missionaries came to Goa in the 16th century and were followers of St Paul, who built the College of St Paul in Old Goa, and hence the term ‘Paulist’s’.
The missionaries ran schools in Goa and other stations of the province as a means of evangelization. In 1556, the first printing press with movable types of Roman script was set up at St. Paul’s College, and in 1574, a school was established in Margao.

Dig Deeper: Read about Goa’s inclusion in India and India-Portugal relations

A study carried out by Indian space scientists has found evidence of enhanced possibility of water ice occurrence in the polar craters of the Moon.
It suggests that the amount of sub-surface ice in the first couple of metres is about five to eight times larger than the one on the surface in both poles.

Missions related to finding water on Moon Chandrayaan-1 – Launched by ISRO in Oct 2008, it was India’s first mission to the Moon. The mission included an orbiter and an impactor. One of its major achievements was the discovery of widespread presence of water molecules in lunar soil with the help of Moon Mineralogy Mapper experiment.NASA’s Lunar Prospector mission – In the late 90s, this mission found extra hydrogen at the poles, and where there’s hydrogen, there might be water. This led to the LCROSS mission.LCROSS mission – The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite mission was designed to determine the type and amount of hydrogen that might be present just below the Moon’s polar regions. It found water – about 5% by weight.Lunar Ice Cube Mission – The mission will carry a NASA instrument called Broadband InfraRed Compact High-Resolution Exploration Spectrometer (BIRCHES) to investigate the distribution of water and other organic volatiles.Chandrayaan-2 – The Chandrayaan 2 orbiter’s instruments (e.g.: Dual-frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar instrument) intend to extend our knowledge of water on the Moon. They include an enhanced infrared spectrometer and an upgraded radar.

The study confirms the hypothesis that the primary source of sub-surface water ice in the lunar poles is out-gassing during volcanism in the Imbrian period.

Dig Deeper: Learn about Mars Orbiter Mission and James Webb Space telescope

Warming of Indian Ocean

A recent study highlights that the Indian Ocean has warmed by 1.2°C and predicts a temperature rise of 1.7°C to 3.8°C from 2020 to 2100.
The study links increased marine heatwaves to a tenfold rise in rapid cyclone formations, escalating from an average of 20 days per year to 220–250 days, potentially leading the tropical Indian Ocean towards a “near-permanent heatwave state.” It can accelerate coral bleaching and adversely impact the fisheries sector.

Marine HeatwavesMarine heatwaves (MHWs) are extended periods of unusually high ocean temperatures that can last for months or weeks. They can occur in different parts of the ocean and can warm the ocean to depths of hundreds of meters. MHWs are defined by their intensity and duration.

On the mainland, India could see more frequent severe cyclones and a more erratic monsoon pattern, characterized by prolonged droughts interspersed with intense rainfall and resulting floods.

Dig Deeper: Read about Heatwaves in India and criteria to declare heatwave

Foreign parties witnessing elections

Representatives of 18 political parties from 10 countries have arrived in India to witness the Lok Sabha election.
The delegation includes representatives of Israel’s ruling Likud party, along with other parties like the Liberal Party of Australia, Awami League of Bangladesh, Uganda’s National Resistance Movement, Tanzania’s Chama Cha Mapinduzi and Russia’s United Russia Party.
Three communist parties have also been included, like the Communist Party of Vietnam, Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) and Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).
India does not have a policy of hosting observers during the election but visitors from other countries are known to fly in during the poll season to experience the unique election system of India.

Dig Deeper: Learn about Representation of People’s Act, 1950 and 1951

Global Plastics treaty

In March 2022, the UN Environmental Assembly convened in Nairobi, Kenya, to debate the global plastic crisis.
In a historic move, 175 nations voted to adopt a global treaty for plastic pollution—agreeing on an accelerated timeline so that the treaty could be implemented as soon as 2025.
The historic resolution, titled “End Plastic Pollution: Towards an internationally legally binding instrument” was adopted with the conclusion of the three-day UNEA meeting.

Dig Deeper: Learn about Project Replan and Un-Plastic Collective

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