UPSC Key—15th November, 2023: Cyprus Confidential, Kazi Nazrul Islam and Rupee depreciation

Secrecy and no tax — reason why Indians look at Cyprus

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s Interest

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Offshore Leaks (2013), HSBC Swiss Leaks (2015), Panama Papers (2016), Paradise Papers (2017), Pandora Papers (2021) and now Cyprus Confidential. Even as governments worldwide scramble to plug regulatory holes, money flows of the global elite, from Russian oligarchs to Syrian warlords, UK football clubs to Indian investors, continue to pour into tax havens — the latest revelations come from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus that has earned the reputation of a shady financial hub washing dirty money.

• What is Cyprus Confidential?

• What is a Tax Haven?

• What do you understand by “Offshore Tax Havens”?

• What are the advantages of a Tax Haven?

• How does a nation benefit from being a Tax Haven?

• Map Work-Cyprus

• For Your Information-Cyprus Confidential is a global offshore investigation of 3.6 million documents in English and Greek, which lays bare a paper trail of companies incorporated in the tax haven of Cyprus by the rich and powerful from around the world.
The investigation, carried out in partnership with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), involves more than 270 journalists from more than 60 media houses in 55 countries and territories.
The data trove comprises documents from six offshore service providers in Cyprus. Besides information on Indian investors who became Cypriot nationals under the country’s Golden Passport scheme, it also has documents relating to entities set up by leading business houses to take advantage of the liberal tax regime in the island country in the Eastern Mediterranean.

• What does the India investigation show?

• Why Cyprus is the favoured choice of wealthy Indians and NRIs?

• What is golden passport?

• Do You Know-Introduced in 2007, the “golden passport” scheme was also called the “Cyprus Investment Programme”. It facilitated the grant of Cypriot citizenship to financially prominent individuals, thereby bringing in foreign direct investments into the country.
The scheme went through several changes — of the amount of investments the applicants had to show and so on — until 2020 when it was finally scrapped for alleged misuse and for allowing persons with criminal charges, dubious character and PEPs (politically exposed persons) to acquire Cyprus passports.

• Can Indian companies set up offshore entities in Cyprus?

• What is an offshore entity?

• What is an example of an offshore company?

• Onshore vs offshore entity-Compare

• What is India’s tax treaty with Cyprus?

• For Your Information- India’s tax arrangement with Cyprus has had three distinct phases over the last two decades.
PRIOR TO 2013: India and Cyprus had a tax treaty offering investors exemption from capital gains tax at the time of exit. Incidentally, Cyprus too didn’t tax capital gains. Thus, investors paid zero tax on gains made from their equity investment in India. Cyprus also had a low 4.5 per cent withholding tax, and was hence a favoured destination for individuals/ businesses to set up entities and invest in India. Withholding tax is an effective way to ensure tax compliance by non-residents who may be subject to different tax regulations than residents. It is applicable in case of payments done to non-resident individuals. It is the payee’s responsibility to deduct tax when depositing the payment in the account of the NRI.
The payee deposits the deducted withholding tax with the government, and the tax rate is decided as prescribed in the Income-tax Act, 1961, or Double Taxation Avoidance (DTA) Agreement, whichever is lower.
SINCE 2013: On November 1, 2013, India included Cyprus in a list of countries that refrained from sharing or exchanging valuable tax-related information. In technical terms, it was categorised as a Notified Jurisdictional Area (NJA) under Section 94A of the Income-tax Act.
NJA countries face consequences such as a higher withholding tax rate of 30 per cent for payments received by entities registered there. Further, transactions with entities in NJA are subjected to Indian transfer pricing regulations.
SINCE 2016: A revised DTAA was signed with Cyprus on December 14, 2016. India rescinded Cyprus as NJA, and subsequently clarified that the rescission was with retrospective effect from November 1, 2013.
The text of the new DTAA provides for source-based taxation of capital gains arising from alienation of shares. Alienation refers to voluntary sale/ transfer or relinquishment of the asset by the owner.
Further, a grandfathering clause has been provided for investments made prior to April 1, 2017. This allowed for capital gains to be taxed in the country of which the taxpayer is resident. These changes are consistent with those brought about by the renegotiated India-Mauritius tax treaty, i.e., source-based taxation of capital gains and a grandfathering clause.

• What tax benefits does Cyprus offer?

• How does the India-Cyprus DTAA work?

• What is Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAA)?

• What are the benefits of Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements?

• India and Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements-Know in detail

• What is Base Erosion and Profit Shifting?

• Do You Know-The Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project was launched in 2013 at the behest of G20/OECD. The project consists of 15 action points that address different issues in international taxation. But the taxation of the digitalised economy turned out to be a relatively contentious issue. In 2015, while final reports on each of the action points were published by OECD, work on Action point 1 was far from over. The report, as is repeatedly expressed, only listed possible measures which included an equalisation levy, withholding taxes and a new nexus rule. India was the first to implement an equalisation levy on payments made for digital advertising to non-residents. The levy was introduced through the Finance Act 2016, rather than an amendment to the Income Tax Act. In doing so, the tax was not covered under the tax treaty obligations and, therefore, would be applied to all qualifying payments. This was severely criticised as a unilateral measure that would result in double taxation.

• Can the Indian taxman still call to question entities in countries with which India has a DTAA?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Cracking Cyprus Confidential: EU state gave investors tax haven, secrecy – and a golden passport

📍Vinod Adani, Pankaj Oswal among 66 Indians who got golden passport

AL-SHIFA HOSPITAL

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies I: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-The Gaza Strip’s largest and most advanced hospital, al-Shifa, is no longer functioning due to loss of power and water supply, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday. About 40 patients have died in recent days, and hundreds remain trapped inside premises with Israeli troops battling Hamas fighters nearby.

• Where is al-Shifa Hospital?

• Why is al-Shifa hospital important?

• For Your Information-Al-Shifa used to be the cornerstone of Gaza’s healthcare system before the Israel-Hamas war broke out. Located in Gaza City, in the north of the tiny Palestinian enclave, the hospital comprises a group of six-storey buildings. It had between 600 and 900 beds and thousands of staff, and provided a range of services that almost no other hospital in Gaza offered. Since the start of the war, al-Shifa has also been serving as a shelter for those displaced by the fighting and incessant Israeli bombing.

• Why is al-Shifa in the crosshairs?

• Is there evidence for Israel’s claims?

• What is the situation like at the hospital?

• What does international humanitarian law say?

• For Your Information-Under international humanitarian law, hospitals get special protections during war. However, they lose their protections in case combatants use the premises to hide fighters or store weapons, according to the ICRC. In such a situation, there has to be a number of warnings before attacks to allow for the safe evacuation of patients and medical workers, ICRC legal officer Cordula Droege told The Associated Press.
Jessica Wolfendale, an expert in military ethics at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, said if Israel successfully proves that al-Shifa is used as a command centre by Hamas, even then the principles of international law will remain in place.
“It doesn’t license an instant attack,” she said. “Steps need to be taken to protect the innocent as much as possible.”

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Israel-Hamas War Live Updates: Israeli military says weapons found in Al Shifa hospital; first fuel delivery crosses from Egypt to Gaza

Why Rahman’s version of an iconic patriotic song has upset many in Bengal

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: History of India and Indian National Movement.

Mains Examination: General Studies I: Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present significant events, personalities, issues.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Roy Kapur Films, the maker of a new Hindi-language film called Pippa, has apologised for any “unintended distress” that a song in the film, Karar Oi Louho Kopat, has caused. The song, written and composed by the Bengali poet Kazi Nazrul Islam in 1922 as a rousing nationalist anthem against the British Raj, has been set to a new tune by A R Rahman for Pippa, which has been widely criticised in both West Bengal and Bangladesh.

The film, directed by Raja Krishna Menon, and starring Ishaan Khatter and Mrunal Thakur, tells the story of Capt (later Brig) Balram Singh Mehta, hero of the crucial tank battle of Garibpur, west of Dhaka, during the 1971 war with Pakistan. It premiered on Amazon Prime Video on November 10.

• Kazi Nazrul Islam and his Iconic Song ‘Karar Oi Louho Kopat’-Know the background

• What is the song Karar Oi Louho Kopat about?

• Do You Know-Karar Oi Louho Kopat was published in 1922 in the magazine Banglar Katha (Stories of Bengal), and was later included in Nazrul’s book Bhangar Gaan (Songs of Breaking Free). Nazrul wrote the song of revolution after the British threw Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das (1870-1925) in prison in 1922.
The refrain of the song is Karar Oi Louho Kopat/ Bhenge Phel Kor re Lopat, which translates to Break down those iron gates of prison, make them disappear. The song was first recorded in June 1949, sung by the folk singer Girin Chakraborty.

• Who was Kazi Nazrul Islam?

• For Your Information-Nazrul (1899-1976) was a Bengali poet, writer, and musician whose oeuvre, Nazrulgeeti (Songs of Nazrul), constitutes a musical genre that is perhaps second in popularity to only Rabindrasangeet, the compositions of Rabindranath Tagore. He enjoys iconic status in West Bengal, Bangladesh, and the Bengali diaspora around the world, and is revered as the national poet of Bangladesh.
Nazrul is known as the Bidrohi Kobi (Rebel Poet) because most of the more than 4,000 songs that he wrote and composed are songs of protest and revolution, which inspired the freedom fighters of Bengal in their struggle against colonialism and imperialism. In 1923, the British arrested Nazrul because of the strongly anti-British content of a magazine that he founded and edited.
His first poem was published when he was still in Karachi, in the Bangiya Mussalman Sahitya Patrika. This was followed by publishing his poems in Saogat and Prabasi. Later, when he decided to pursue his literary career, Moslem Bharat, amongst other journals became his primary medium of publication. Some of the poems he had composed and contributed in Moslem Bharat included Shatil Arab, Moharram, Korbani, Fatiha, Doazdaham, Badal Prater Sharab, and Kheya Parer Tarani, amongst others.
The political conditions in which Nazrul Islam eventually began his career as a writer was one conditioned by extreme tensions and conflict including the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and launch of the Non-Cooperation Movement following the special session of the Indian National Congress, and especially in the context of the “divide and rule” policy which was adopted by the British. Several issues that the populace of the subcontinent had to deal with included economic backwardness, racial prejudices, and social inequality. In such circumstances, he joined a Bengali newspaper called Naba-Yug (New Era). His writings were later compiled and published as a book Yugabani (Message of the Age). The subject of the book included topics characterized by extreme political fervor associated with the political situation and agitation of workers and peasants. The book was however immediately banned by the British government. The newspaper had also run into difficulties with the government, and hence Nazrul Islam along with others subsequently had to leave the paper.
Kazi Nazrul Islam published his first book, which was a collection of poetical prose written in the form of stories in 1922. Apart from writing and working for several other newspapers of the times, including Sevak, he had also started his own political weekly in 1922, named, Dhumketu (The Comet). The political weekly received much appreciation and readership from the educated middle-class section, and eventually went on to become a hallmark of Kazi Nazrul Islam’s politico-literary career. The paper explicitly voiced their opinions against the British government and played an important role in steering the rebellious attitude and voices of the populace. As a result, significant tensions were generated between him and the government. The tensions reached a peak point when the former was arrested for publishing one of his poems entitled Anandamayeer Agamane (On the Advent of the Goddess of Happiness) in one of the issues. Nazrul was charged with charges of sedition; the charge also included another article which was composed by another contributor. Thus, Nazrul Islam was sentenced to one year of rigorous imprisonment in 1923. His defense was published as a booklet entitled Rajbandir Jabanbandi (The Deposition of a State Prisoner). On this occasion, Rabindranath Tagore had also dedicated a newly composed dance-drama Basanti to Nazrul, which was performed in Calcutta.
Kazi Nazrul Islam actively advocated his ideologies and politics via his writings. Apart from writing on themes as mentioned above, he also wrote several satirical pieces on topics viz., communal pacts and dominion status. These writings were later compiled into a book entitled Chandrabindu (Nasal Sign). However, it was soon proscribed by the government. Amongst the plethora of writings that Nazrul Islam had composed, there were two novels that were based on themes of emotional conflict with revolutionary duty. They were Kuhelika (Fog) and Mrityu Kshudha (Hunger for Death).
Nazrul Islam was a prolific poet and composed several poems on various themes including themes of social messages, and resistance against the colonial government. He had effectively used his poems as a literary conduit to voice his opinions against British colonial rule. The highest point of his career as a poet was when he composed the poem Bidrohi (The Rebel). The poem was highly appreciated and established him as a well-respected poet. The poem was characterized by a revolutionary spirit and rife with heroic sentiments. It portrayed a revolutionary who had called upon the marginalized sections of the society to rise up and face the British despots.
The compositions of Kazi Nazrul Islam in the form of songs, poems, and other forms of literature formed a very strong and powerful weapon against British colonial rule. The revolutionary themes which were explicit in his writings played an important role during the freedom movement. A characteristic feature of his compositions which were ubiquitous were themes on social and political matters. He consistently raised his voice against communalism, imperialism, fundamentalism and exploitation. His literary legacy is remembered and acknowledged to this date. He had earned the respect of not only his contemporaries but also of the later generations. His contributions thus are not limited to the efflorescence of Bengali literature but also extended to the cause of freedom during the India Independence Movement.

• Know the importance and legacy of Nazrul Sangeet or Nazrul Geeti

• What have the film’s makers said?

• Examine the influence of the poems and songs of Kazi Nazrul Islam with respect to the Indian Freedom Struggle?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Diminishing A Poet

FRONT PAGE

Centre considers seeking access to anonymised data of big tech firms

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Main Examination: General Studies II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- The Centre is considering issuing a directive to big tech companies like Facebook, Google and Amazon to share anonymised personal data in their possession with a government-backed database, The Indian Express has learnt.

• Why this decision by the government?

• If finalised, the move will have far-reaching consequences. What could it possibly be?

• For Your Information-Under the upcoming Digital India Bill, the successor to the Information Technology Act, 2000, the IT Ministry is understood to have added a provision which will mandate big tech companies to deposit all the non-personal data they hold to the India datasets platform, a senior government official said, requesting anonymity since the draft is not public yet.
In its most basic form, anonymised personal data, or non-personal data, is any data set that does not contain personally identifiable information. It could include aggregated information, such as the overall health data of a particular demography, weather and climate data of an area, and traffic data, among others.

• What is anonymised personal data?

• Is anonymised data not personal data?

• What is an example of anonymized data?

• What is non-personal data?

• Do You Know-In its most basic form, non-personal data is any set of data which does not contain personally identifiable information. This in essence means that no individual or living person can be identified by looking at such data.
For example, while order details collected by a food delivery service will have the name, age, gender, and other contact information of an individual, it will become non-personal data if the identifiers such as name and contact information are taken out.
The government committee, which submitted its report has classified non-personal data into three main categories, namely public non-personal data, community non-personal data and private non-personal data.
Depending on the source of the data and whether it is anonymised in a way that no individual can be re-identified from the data set, the three categories have been divided.
All the data collected by government and its agencies such as census, data collected by municipal corporations on the total tax receipts in a particular period or any information collected during execution of all publicly funded works has been kept under the umbrella of public non-personal data.
Any data identifiers about a set of people who have either the same geographic location, religion, job, or other common social interests will form the community non-personal data. For example, the metadata collected by ride-hailing apps, telecom companies, electricity distribution companies among others have been put under the community non-personal data category by the committee.
Private non-personal data can be defined as those which are produced by individuals which can be derived from application of proprietary software or knowledge.

• Why does data matter?

• What is Data Protection?

• Personal data and Non-personal data-compare

• Do You Know-The Digital India Bill is a key part of a comprehensive legal framework which encompasses various legislative measures such as the recently-notified Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, the draft Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022, and a policy addressing the governance of non-personal data. The Bill, however, is unlikely to be released this year. As per a report released in October by a working group constituted by the IT Ministry, the India datasets program is a “unified national data sharing and exchange platform to enable various data sharing and exchange use cases of all stakeholders including but not limited to Central/State/UT Governments, public sector undertaking, private sector companies, industry bodies, MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) and startups, academia and researchers, civil society and media organisations, open technology communities, etc.”
Non-personal data held by the Indian datasets platform could also be monetised, the report suggests. The platform, as per the report, will play a crucial role in boosting the artificial intelligence ecosystem in India by providing a “robust foundation” for data-driven innovation and development.
In May 2022, the IT Ministry had released the draft National Data Governance Framework Policy under which it merely “encouraged” private companies to share non-personal data with startups and Indian researchers.

• Supreme Court on Right to Privacy (Justice K.S. Puttaswamy vs. Union of India, 2017)-know the verdict

• Justice B N Srikrishna committee recommendation on Data Protection-Know key recommendations

• Personal Data Protection Bill 2019- how this Bill propose to regulate data transfer?

• Key features of Personal Data Protection Bill 2019-know in brief

• What is data localisation? Know the Case for Data Localisation in India.

• What Srikrishna Committee Report says on data localisation?

• Initiative/steps taken by Government of India for Data Protection and Data Privacy-Know in detail

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍The 360° UPSC Debate : Will Digital Personal Data Protection Bill violate privacy of citizens?

THE EDITORIAL PAGE

Arms and the Man and AI

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests,

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-C Raja Mohan writes: Given the massive military imbalance with China and the kind of challenges Delhi confronts from Beijing in both the Himalayan and maritime frontiers, AI should necessarily be an important part of India’s national defence plans.

• “Like all major technological advances, artificial intelligence poses major challenges to the world in developing responsible use in civil and military domains”-How?

• AI for military use-know in detail

• “There is a growing global sentiment, on the one hand, for a severe limitation of the military applications of AI, especially autonomous weapons that can operate without human control. On the other hand, major powers are already investing heavily in the accelerated development of greater autonomy, based on AI, for weapons systems”-Elaborate further

• “India has its tasks cut out in devising an effective national military strategy for AI and a credible international approach to limiting the dangers of these weapons”-Analyse

• Do You Know-At the beginning of this month, the UN General Assembly voted with an overwhelming margin –164 in favour, five against, and eight abstentions – to urge the international community to address the challenges presented by lethal autonomous weapons and requested the UN Secretary-General to produce a report taking into account the views of governments and civil society groups. This is the first time a UN resolution has addressed this issue; the question of autonomous weapons will be taken up again in the next annual session of the UNGA in September 2024. This marked the culmination of an important phase in the campaign by human rights and arms control activists to ban autonomous weapons. They argue that “killer robots” violate the basic principles of international laws of war and raise fundamental ethical questions about human-machine relationships in the use of force.

• “The US, China and India are all engaged in developing autonomous weapons”-Examine

• For Your Information-As AI technologies progress rapidly, all major military powers are focusing on expanding the autonomy of their weapons systems. This summer, the US sent out a naval squadron of four uncrewed ships to sail across the Pacific — from the American West Coast to Japan. During their transit, the ships interacted with crewed US warships operating in the Pacific. The US Navy has ambitious plans to build 150 uncrewed ships in the years ahead. The US Navy, Air Force and Army, which are acquiring several drone systems, are experimenting with combined operations with manned and unmanned systems. The Pentagon is also developing new institutions to fully integrate AI into defence management. The Chief of its Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office, set up last year, is responsible for the acceleration of the Pentagon’s “adoption of data, analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI) to generate decision advantage from the boardroom to the battlefield”.
Earlier this month, US deputy secretary of defence, Kathleen Hicks, explained the new initiative for the Indo-Pacific, called the Replicator, to develop and deploy thousands of unmanned systems across all domains within the next two years. Two assumptions underline the Replicator initiative.
One is that the US can’t match, one-to-one, China’s military advantage in mass – more men, more ships, and more missiles. What it needs instead is innovation, the capacity to outthink China and develop capabilities and doctrines that can counter PLA’s advantages. The other assumption is that building many small, cheap, and easily replicated autonomous systems is the right innovation to deal with China’s growing military power. Even as it steps on the pedal, the Pentagon insists on human control over the use of autonomous weapons. Its directives demand that all autonomous systems be designed to “allow commanders and operators to exercise appropriate levels of human judgment over the use of force”.

• What about India’s blossoming technological partnership with the US?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Task force set up to study AI application in military

THE IDEAS PAGE

Nine things to do for clean air

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Aromar Revi Writes: Piecemeal approaches will only lead to the annual cycle of panic and shutdowns. With coordinated and sustained actions, we can address not only air pollution but also our urban climate and health goals together.

• “Air pollution is the fifth-largest cause of death in India”-Comment

• Do You Know-Air pollution led to premature deaths of 1.6 million Indians in 2019. This is more than three times the official number of Covid deaths during the pandemic. Poor air amounts to about Rs 7 lakh crore of economic loss annually, more than a third of our annual GST collection. This does not account for the human impact and routine disruption of life, work and study. Even worse, it discounts the impact of poor air on the health of rural Indians, who make up two-thirds of the air pollution-led premature deaths, despite their limited contribution to emissions that lead to severe air days across the country.

• Why have we failed to improve this situation despite awareness of the problem and solutions?

• “Air pollution is a systems problem that cuts across state and regional boundaries, spanning rural and urban areas, multiple sources of emissions, and is linked to interconnected economic factors and interests”-Analyse

• “A few smog towers, some dust suppression by spraying roads, knee-jerk construction bans, haphazard odd-even restrictions on traffic, and shutting down schools cannot address this wicked problem”-Critically analyse the statement

• What is the root cause of air pollution in India?

• For Your Information-According to the author, to begin, we need to acknowledge that this is a human-induced problem. Secondly, we have to realise that those most vulnerable — like children and older people, rural communities, and the urban poor — have contributed the least to the problem. Finally, we have to learn lessons from other countries that have successfully tackled this challenge, and act on evidence-backed options to address it.
While constraints like population growth and increasing urbanisation will persist, we have to focus on changing our production, transportation, consumption and waste management systems to address this challenge. Beijing, Mexico City, and even London did just that to address even worse air pollution than what we are facing today. Closer home, Delhi’s poor air also improved following a fuel switch from diesel to CNG in public transport in the 2000s.

• What are those nine tightly coordinated interventions that can enable a successful campaign against air pollution?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Best of Both Sides: To combat pollution, use of personal vehicles must decrease

EXPRESS NETWORK

Four out of five organ recipients in country are men: NOTTO data

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– FOUR OUT of five organ recipients in India between 1995 and 2021 were men, according to data collated by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) — numbers which indicate the prevailing gender disparity among those seeking healthcare.

• What data collated by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) says?

• What is National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO)?

• For Your Information-Out of the total 36,640 patients who underwent the transplants, 29,695 were men, according to the data available on gender break-up. “What the data of recipients shows is that the number of women undergoing transplants is disproportionately low. We have to assume that prevalence of conditions leading to the need for transplants affects men and women at a similar rate. If women who need transplants are not getting treated, it is definitely an issue,” said Dr Anil Kumar, director, NOTTO. “There is a need to create more awareness to reverse the trend.”
Although studies show that the number of women donors is higher, apparently because families want to protect earning male members, Dr Kumar said there are enough safeguards within the law to ensure that consent is not forced upon them.
According to the NOTTO data, there has been an overall increase in the number of transplants in the country, with a record high of 16,041 such procedures in 2022.
Among living donor transplants, where organs from family members are used, Delhi topped the table with 3,422 transplants, overtaking Tamil Nadu (1,690 transplants). Tamil Nadu, however, remained the leader in another category — that of deceased donor transplants where organs from brain-dead patients are used — with 555 transplants in 2022.

• What are the regulatory frameworks guiding the organ transplantation in India?

• What is The Transplant of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994, and how was the Expert Committee formed?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Explained: Why must India have a National Registry of Voluntary Organ Donors?

ECONOMY

Weaker rupee bumped up India’s H1 oil import bill by `25,000 crore

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Lower value of the rupee against the US dollar in the first six months of the current financial year (FY24) vis-à-vis the corresponding period of FY23 pushed up India’s crude oil imports for the former period by over Rs 25,000 crore, or 5 per cent, shows an analysis of India’s official trade data.

• What is Currency depreciation?

• What do you understand by Rupee depreciation?

• Appreciation vs Depreciation of Currency-Compare and Contrast

• What is Devaluation of Currency? Depreciation and Devaluation both are same?

• What are the reasons for Current Depreciation of Indian Rupee?

• What will be the impact, and will exporters benefit?

• Do You Know-Rupee depreciation also negatively impacted petroleum product imports in value terms, but its positive effect on value of petroleum product exports from India partly offset the hit to the country’s overall oil and petroleum product trade in the first half of FY24.
India is the world’s third-largest consumer of crude oil and depends on imports to meet over 85 per cent of its requirement. Crude oil also tops the list of India’s merchandise imports by value.
While India does not export crude oil, it is a net exporter of petroleum products, thanks to the country’s refining capacity of over 250 million tonnes per annum which exceeds its domestic demand. Like most internationally traded commodities, crude oil and petroleum products are priced in dollars. In the case of oil importing countries, a weakening of their currencies against the dollar inflates their oil imports in local currency terms.

• What percentage of India’s oil import?

• Do You Know-The impact of rupee depreciation would have hit all Indian refiners depending on their respective refining capacities as all of them mostly depend on imported crude oil. However, the gains due to the weakness in the rupee in terms of petroleum product exports would have mainly benefitted export-oriented private sector refiners Reliance Industries and Nayara Energy. Public sector refining majors Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, and their arms only account for a marginal share in India’s petroleum product exports. The DGCI&S does not give refiner-wise oil and petroleum product trade data.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Explained: The fall in crude oil prices, and its impact in India

📍The significance of rise in India’s petroleum product exports to EU

For any queries and feedback, contact priya.shukla@indianexpress.com
The Indian Express UPSC Hub is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel and stay updated with the latest Updates.

Subscribe to our UPSC newsletter and stay updated with the news cues from the past week.