Current Affairs Analysis – 6.March.2020

Direct Tax Vivad Se Vishwas Bill, 2020

Context :

Lok Sabha passed the amendment of the Direct Tax Vivad Se Vishwas Bill, 2020, on 4 March. The Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha by the Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman on 5 February 2020. 

Aim :

The amendment will extend the scope to cover litigation pending in various debt recovery tribunals (DRTs). It also provides an opportunity to settle direct tax disputes within the current financial year by waiving interest and penalty on their pending taxes.

Bill Provision :

• The Direct Tax Vivad Se Vishwas Bill provides a method for the resolution of pending tax disputes that are related to income tax and corporation tax that involve Rs.9.32 lakh crore.
• It also defines an appellant as the income tax authority, or the person, or both, whose appeal is pending before any appellate forum as on 31 January 2020. 
• It will cover tax disputes pending at the level of commissioner (appeals), Income Tax Appellate Tribunals (ITAT), high courts (HCs), and the Supreme Court (SC).
• The taxpayers will take advantage of the Vivad Se Vishwas scheme to settle the tax disputes before 31 March 2020, as 10% more will be charged for settlement of disputes after that date.
• Also, arrears relate to disputed interest or penalty only, then 25% of disputed penalty or interest will be paid if the payment is made by 31 March 2020, beyond which the same shall be enhanced to 30%.

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New Test with Quantum Coins & Computers for Quantum Sensing

Context :

Researchers from the Raman Research Institute (RRI) (autonomous institution under the Department of Science & Technology) have devised a new test for fairness of quantum coin or qubit using entanglement theory.

Key Points :

• The test uses entanglement to test the fairness of the quantum coin. Their strategy enables better discrimination between quantum states. Such an advantage is valuable in quantum sensors
• This is a significant contribution to quantum state discrimination and an essential aspect of quantum information science which is expected to influence quantum sensing.

Quantum Information and Quantum Computing Technology :

• The domain of Quantum Information and Quantum Computing Technology is a growing area of research which is expected to influence Data Processing, which in turn, plays a central role in our lives in this Information Age.
• For instance, bank transactions, online shopping and so on crucially depend on the efficiency of information transfer.
• Thus the work on quantum state discrimination is expected to be valuable in people’s lives in the current era.

source : pib

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Gender Parity Index: UNESCO

Context :

• Gender Parity Index in primary, secondary and tertiary education is the ratio of the number of female students enrolled at primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education to the number of male students in each level.
• In short, GPI at various levels reflect equitable participation of girls in the School system.
• GPI is released by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a part of its Global Education Monitoring Report.
• A GPI of 1 indicates parity between the sexes; a GPI that varies between 0 and 1 typically means a disparity in favour of males; whereas a GPI greater than 1 indicates a disparity in favour of females.
• India’s GPI for the year 2018-19 at different levels of School Education is as under:
  
  • Primary Education: 1.03
  • Upper Primary Education: 1.12
  • Secondary Education: 1.04
  • Higher Secondary Education: 1.04
• India’s GPI indicates that the number of girls is more than the number of boys at all levels of school Education.
• In 2018-19, the Ministry of Human Resource Development launched the ‘Samagra Shiksha’ scheme. It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme.
  
  • It is an overarching programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school to class XII and aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels of school education.
  • One of its objectives is to bridge social and gender gaps in school education.
  • To provide quality education to girls from disadvantaged groups, Kasturba Gandhi BalikaVidyalayas (KGBVs) have been sanctioned in Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs) under SamagraShiksha.
  • KGBVs are residential schools from class VI to XII for girls belonging to disadvantaged groups such as SC, ST, OBC, Minority and Below Poverty Line (BPL).

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Solar Charkha Mission

Context :

Based on the Expression of Interest (EOI), a total of 10 proposals have been approved under Mission Solar Charkha till date which is expected to benefit about 13784 artisans/workers.

About Solar Charkha Mission :

1. Launched in 2018.
2. It is a Ministry of Micro Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) initiative launched during June 2018.
3. The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) would implement the programme.
4. It seeks to generate employment in rural areas and contribute to the green economy.
5. The mission will entail a subsidy of Rs 550 crore in the initial two years for 50 clusters and every cluster will employ 400 to 2000 artisans.
6. The scheme also aims at linking five crore women across the country to the initiative.
7. The mission is expected to create one lakh jobs during the first two years.

The objectives of the Scheme are as follows :

1. To ensure inclusive growth by generation of employment, especially for women and youth, and sustainable development through solar charkha clusters in rural areas.
2. To boost rural economy and help in arresting migration from rural to urban areas.
3. To leverage low-cost, innovative technologies and processes for sustenance.

Significance of the mission :

These solar charkhas are to be operated using solar power which is a renewable energy source. It will help in development of Green Economy as it is an environment friendly programme. It will also generate sustainable employment for the artisans.