 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar IA's Academy, displayed at the list of news articles taken up for today's analysis along with the page numbers of Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Trivandrum editions. The handwritten notes in PDF format and the timestamping of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion is available in the description section and also in the common section for the benefit of the smartphone users. Let us now start our discussion. This news article talks about the high prevalence rate of HIV in the state of Mizoram and in some other northeastern states. In the context of this news article, first we will be seeing about HIV. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. See, the human immunodeficiency virus belongs to a family of viruses called as retroviridate. The virus infects the CD4 cells in the immune system. So these CD4 cells are the protective white blood cells which indicate the health of the immune system. So when they are infected with the virus, it destroys or impairs their function. And as the infection progresses, the immune system of the human body becomes progressively weak. This immunodeficiency results in increased susceptibility to a wide range of infections, cancers and other diseases that people with healthy immune systems can fight off. We tell that a person infected with HIV becomes more susceptible to life-threatening infections. The most advanced stage of HIV infection is the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or the AIDS. It can take somewhere from 2 to 15 years for an individual to develop AIDS depending on the individual. And AIDS is defined by the development of certain types of cancers, infections or other severe clinical manifestations. See a healthy person's CD4 cell count can vary from 500 to more than 1000. Even if a person has no symptoms, the HIV infection progresses to AIDS when his or her CD4 count becomes less than 200. Now let us discuss the symptoms. There are three main stages of AIDS if you see. They are acute symptoms, clinical latency and severe symptoms. The acute symptoms, these include an influenza or flu with headache, fever, soat throat, etc. Next is the clinical latency. It is a state or period of HIV living or developing in a host without producing any clinical symptoms. And if you see there is a persistent, that is a continuous swelling of lymph nodes during this stage. Know that lymph nodes are also part of the immune system in human body. Apart from this, there are no other specific signs or symptoms at this stage. Now let us see the third stage, which is the stage of severe symptoms. These include blood or distorted vision, then cough and shortness of breath. Then a person can experience weight loss, chronic diarrhea, etc. Now let us discuss how HIV is spread, that is the transmission of HIV. First is through sexual contact with an infected person. This is the most frequent mode of transmission of HIV. In certain case, the virus is transmitted through blood transfusions in hospitals. If you remember certain months back, there was a case in Vrindanagar district in the state of Tamil Nadu that a person was infected with HIV because of a faulty blood transfusion. Then HIV can also be transmitted through needles and syringes contaminated with infected blood. And a pregnant woman who is infected with HIV virus can transmit the virus to her fetus through the shared blood circulation or an infected nursing mother can also transmit it to her baby through her breast milk. So these are some of the transmission modes of HIV. Now let us see the diagnostic tools that are available to detect HIV. The most common diagnostic tool or test to detect HIV is ELISA. Now ELISA is the acronym for Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Essay. ELISA test is performed by inserting a needle to draw the blood, then a positive result on the ELISA screening test does not necessarily mean that the person has HIV infection. So a positive ELISA test is always followed by a Western blood test which confirms the HIV infection. Next let us see about the cure that is available for AIDS. See as of now there is no definitive cure for AIDS. However, there are some medicines which are given at certain stages of the disease depending upon the CD4 cell count in the blood of the patient. So this can prolong the life of HIV positive persons. One is the Protease Inhibitors. These Protease Inhibitors interferes with the protein that HIV uses to make infectious viral particles. Next is Fusion Inhibitors which blocks the virus from entering the body's cells. Then also there are some other multidrug combinations which are available. Also anti-retroviral therapy is available. Anti-retroviral therapy is nothing but a combination of daily medications which helps to protect the cells. Therefore the immune system is strong enough to fight the disease. So these are some of the cure that is available for AIDS as of now. Know that there is no definitive cure for AIDS. It is yet to be discovered. Now let us come to the news article. This news article tells that the state of Mizoram which is one of the least populated states in India reports 9 positive cases of HIV AIDS in a day. This news article tells that this rate was 3.8 during 2012-2013. And it increased to 7.5 during 2017-18. And now 9.2 cases are reported as of March 2019. In the context of this news article let us discuss some facts about the HIV estimation report 2017 which has been released by the National AIDS Control Organization. As per this report the total number of people living with HIV in short PL HIV in India is estimated at 21.40 lakhs in the year 2017. And among the states and union territories in 2017 Maharashtra is the state which has the highest estimated number of people living with HIV and this is followed by the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. If you see these 8 states together account for almost 3.4 that is 75% of the total estimated people living with HIV. And rest all the other states have less than 1 lakh people who are living with HIV. Next is the estimated adult HIV prevalence. If you see among the states and union territories in the year 2017 the state of Mizoram has shown the highest estimated adult HIV prevalence which is 2.04% when compared to the total population of that particular state. This is followed by Manipur where the prevalence is 1.43% and this is followed by Nagaland where the prevalence is 1.15% which is followed by Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. We saw that this report has been released by NACCO or National AIDS Control Organization know that this National AIDS Control Organization is a division which is functioning under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. So this organization provides leadership to HIV AIDS Control Program in India. In the year 1986 following the detection of the first AIDS case in India the National AIDS Committee was constituted in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. And as this epidemic spread in the year 1992 India's first National AIDS Control Program was launched and the National AIDS Control Organization was constituted to implement the program. Now let us come back to the news article. As per the data compiled by the Mizoram State AIDS Control Society the report shows that 67.21% of the positive cases from the year 2006 to March 2019 have been transmitted sexually. The next major cause for the transmission of AIDS is through infected needles shared by intravenous drug users. So this accounts for 28.12% of the total cases and analysis of the HIV positive cases which were confirmed at the testing centers show that the people who are living in the age group of 25 to 34 years are the most vulnerable in Mizoram. This is followed by the people who are living in the age brackets of 35 to 49 years followed by the people who are living in the age group of 15 to 24 years. So the HIV AIDS prevalence rates in these three age groups are 42.38% age, 26.46% age and 23.03% age respectively. And we just now saw that the second major cause for HIV in Mizoram is through drug abuse. It is to be noted that Mizoram is still battling with drug trafficking especially drugs like methamphetamine, heroin from the neighboring country of Myanmar. So the Northeastern states including Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland have all long been struggling from drug trafficking because of their proximity to the golden triangle. Golden triangle roughly consists of the countries of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos where illicit opium is being produced. So this is all about this news article. So in this news article we have seen in detail about HIV AIDS, about the symptoms, estimation, cure and then about the news article and then about the HIV estimation 2017 report. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article speaks about the growth projection for South Asia by the World Bank. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. See, recently the World Bank has released the South Asia economic focus and the report is titled as making decentralization of work. This report tells that the growth rate in India is projected to fall to 6% for the year 2020. Now you need to know that there is a continuous decline in the growth rate for India over the last two years. For the financial year 2017-18 it was 7.2%. Then for the next financial year that is 2018-19 the growth rate was 6.8%. For the present financial year it is projected to be 6%. And the report also says that the growth rate in India will recover in the future. So the growth rate for the financial year 2020-21 is expected to be 6.9% and for the fiscal year 2022 that is financial year 2021-22 the growth rate is expected to be 7.2%. Next let us discuss the actual sector specific growth for the financial year 2018-19 that is given in the report. The report tells that the industrial output growth in India increased to 6.9%. The report says that this increase in the growth is due to a pickup in the manufacturing and the construction activities in India. If you see the growth in the agricultural sector for financial year 2018-19 was 2.9% and for the service sector it was 7.5%. So from this we can tell that the service sector is the most growing sector in India. Let us discuss some of the reasons given for India's declining growth rate. This report tells that Indian economy had witnessed significant growth deceleration or decline in the growth in the first quarter of the present financial year which is 2019-20. This decline was caused by a sharp decline in the private consumption and also because of the weakening growth in both the industry and services. When we tell private consumption it means the demand side and when we are discussing about industry and services it means the supply side. So there are issues at both the demand side and also at the supply side. And when we tell private consumption it is nothing but the total value of the goods and services that are acquired and consumed by private individuals or households. If you see we have already discussed these issues in detail why there was a sharp decline in the growth rate and some of the steps that have been taken by the present government in order to push the growth like revising the Mandrega wages, then cutting down the corporate tax rate, then offering stimulus package to the automobile sector etc. So this is how we need to link the news articles that we have discussed to some of the issues that have been discussed in the report. Next let us see the future position that the Reserve Bank of India might take with its own monetary policy for that we need to see some of the indicators. This report tells that apart from the economic slowdown, India is witnessing persistent that is continuous low food prices there can be many reasons. One reason is it might be because of the good monsoon and the corresponding good yields that were received in the last financial year. The report also says that India's headline inflation was 3.4 percentage in the financial year 2018-19 which is well below the Reserve Bank of India's target of 4 percentage for the first half of the financial year 2019-2020. Now we need to know what is meant by headline inflation. It is nothing but the measure of total inflation in an economy. It covers volatile items like food, energy, fuel etc. Here inflation means the persistent or the continuous rise in the prices of commodities. The main reason for the sharp increase in the price is because of the increase in the demand or because of decline in the supply. So a below target inflation or a low rate of inflation means that either the demand is less because of less consumption or there is an increase or there is stability in the supply that is supplies that but the products are not sold because of less demand. So the report says that the monetary policy of the Reserve Bank of India would continue to be accommodative. So this is the stance which the Reserve Bank of India is going to take and when we tell accommodative monetary policy it means the central bank like the Reserve Bank of India attempts to expand the overall money supply in the economy in order to boost the economy since the growth is slowing down. So this is basically done by lowering the interest rate. As we know the Reserve Bank of India started to adopt an accommodative policy since January 2019 that is from the previous financial year 2018-19. Since then the Reserve Bank of India had cut its repo rate by around 135 basis points. Your 100 basis points means 1 percentage. So here the term repo rate means nothing but the rate at which the Reserve Bank of India lends money to the commercial banks and the report is saying that the repo rate will further decrease in the coming days. So we can see that RBI is going to follow an accommodative monetary policy. Next the news article talks about the current account deficit of India which was discussed in the report. In simpler terms current account means the difference between the value of net imports and the exports of the goods and services of a country in a particular financial year and current account deficit means the total imports exceed the total exports. So always imports are more than the exports. If you see for the financial year 2017-18 the current account deficit was 1.8 percentage of the GDP but it has widened to 2.1 percentage of the GDP in the financial year 2018-2019 which means the imports are further increased when compared to the export when compared to the exports in the financial year 2018-2019. So we can see that the trade balance is deteriorating. It simply means that the exports from India are still weak compared to the imports of India or in other terms imports are greater than the exports. Next the report also talks about the capital outflows with respect to India. Now the term capital outflow means the capital or the money that is flowing out or leaving an economy. This report tells that the capital flew out of India during the first half of 2018 that is the financial year 2018-2019. The reasons were a better interest rates that were offered by the other economies like the United States. But this trend has reversed since October 2018 that is the second half of the financial year 2018-19 and because of this inflow it has led to building up of foreign exchange reserves in India. So at the end of the financial year 2018-19 India's foreign exchange reserves rose by 411.9 billion US dollars. So we saw that in the first half capital flew out of India because of this the demand for the dollar increased in the first half of 2018 which led to depreciation or decrease in the value of rupee. But in the later half of the financial year 2018-19 we saw that there was an inflow in the capital and because of this the value of the rupee appreciated. So this is about the capital inflows and the capital outflows. Next this report also talks about government deficit. Now the term government deficit is nothing but the amount by which the expenditure of the government exceeds the income of the government in a particular financial year. This report tells that the general government deficit is estimated to have widened by 0.2 percentage points that is increased by 0.2 percentage points to 5.9 percentage of the GDP in the financial year 2018-19 which means in financial year 2017-18 it was 5.7 percentage of the GDP. In financial year 2018-19 it has increased by 0.2 percentage points to 5.9 percentage of the GDP. Next this report also speaks about the government debt. It tells that the general government debt remained at 67 percentage of the GDP. Now the general government debt is nothing but the total borrowings of the government of India. This report tells that the government debt is stable and sustainable because a large part of it has been domestically raised in the form of small savings then in the form of the issue of securities etc. and also long term savings. This report has spoken about poverty. This report tells that poverty in India continued to decline but the decline was at a more slower pace when compared to the earlier data. If you see in the financial year 2011-12 the poverty in India declined 21.6 percentage but in the financial year 2015-16 the poverty declined to 13.4 percentage. And know that poverty is calculated by the World Bank using a terminology called Purchasing Power Parity. So the value is $1.9 a day and this purchasing power parity measures the prices of a common basket of goods at different countries to measure the purchasing power of the currencies of the respective markets. So this report is telling that the risk for the poor household in India is increased by several factors like the disruptions brought in the economy by the introduction of goods and service tax and the disruption that was brought into the economy by the demonetization process and also because of the stress in the rural economy and also because of the high youth unemployment rates in the urban areas and certain other reasons. So from this report we can tell that India is witnessing a continuous slowdown for the past few years and the growth rate is expected to increase in the coming years as projected by the World Bank. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article tells that the foreign plastic is invading the Nicobar Islands at alarming levels. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. With respect to this news article, we will first consider the issue that has been reported in the news article then about the geographical location of the islands that have been mentioned in the news article. As per this news article based on a survey of five major beaches that was conducted in the Nicobar Islands, it was found that the major portion of the plastic is of foreign origin. About 40.5 percentage of the plastic litter was from Malaysian origin and this was followed by the plastic litter which was of Indonesia origin which is about 23.9 percentage followed by Thailand which was about 16.3 percentage. But the Indian origin plastic was only about 2.2 percentage. So this clearly shows that these beaches are under threat mainly from the foreign plastic and thus they are posing challenge to sustain the marine ecosystem. Now let us examine the reasons for increasing the foreign litter in Nicobar group of islands. The article mentions some of the reasons like the geographical proximity of the islands with Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and other countries. Talking about the influence of water currents in particular via the Malacca Strait because of which the foreign litter is dumped in Nicobar group of islands. And one more reason is given which is the improper handling of the solid waste from fishing or other mariculture activity and also because of the ship traffic. So these are some of the reasons why the foreign litter is being dumped in Nicobar group of islands. Now moving forward to understand better about these group of islands, let us see in detail about the geography of the Andaman and Nicobar islands. See Andaman and Nicobar islands consists of two major group of islands. One is the Andaman group of islands and the other is the Nicobar group of islands. And know that these islands are of tectonic origin. And if you take the Andaman group of islands it consists of mainly North Andaman islands then the Middle Andaman islands, South Andaman islands and the Little Andaman islands. Next if you consider the Nicobar group of islands it mainly consists of Car Nicobar islands then the Little Nicobar islands and the Great Nicobar island. And know that the southernmost point of India when Andaman and Nicobar islands are taken into account is the Indra point or the Great Pygmolian point which is located in Great Nicobar island. And as you can see in this picture the Andaman group of islands and the Nicobar group of islands are separated by 10 degree channel. You know that the country which is located close to the Andaman group of islands is Myanmar and the country that is located close to the Nicobar group of islands is Indonesia. And there are also some of the important facts that are given in the news article like the Great Nicobar biosphere reserve which comprises of the Galatia National Park and the Campbell Bay National Park is located in the Great Nicobar island. And the Andaman and Nicobar islands have a wide spectrum of ecosystem which ranges from tropical wet evergreen forest then it also has mountain ranges and also coastal plains are present in these islands. And then these islands are also home to geontrober crabs then crab eating macaques then the rare mega pod as well as the leatherback turtles. And also know that Champagne tribe which is a particularly vulnerable tribal group are also living in the Great Nicobar island. So this is all about the geography of Andaman and Nicobar islands. Now let us discuss what kind of measures can be taken in order to save the Andaman and Nicobar islands from the menace of foreign plastic. One measure can be a detailed scientific examination of the origin of the plastic can be done. Next regional partnership of the countries can be mooted which will be based on the scientific examination of the source of origin of the plastic. So that strict measures can be enforced and the countries from where these plastics have been originated can be heavily penalized if the countries fail to adhere to the collective norms based on the regional partnership. So like this some measures can be taken to curb the menace of foreign plastic. So this is all about this news article with this information, test your understanding of the topic with the help of the practice question given here. Let us move on to the next news article. Our next discussion is based on an advertisement about FASTAC, the syllabus that is relevant for the analysis of this advertisement is given here for your reference. Sometimes you must also look into the advertisements which will be relevant from examination preparation point of view. Like the other day we saw about coal and the limiter, similarly we shall be seeing about FASTAC today. So first let us see in brief about what is meant by FASTAC. FASTAC is a device for making toll payments directly when the vehicle is in motion. For ensuring this function this device employs a technology called as RFID technology or the radio frequency identification technology. At present you can see a lot of vehicles waiting in queue in the toll plazas for paying the tolls. When we say toll it normally means the charge of payment made to appropriate authority for using the road or a bridge infrastructure. So at present because of manual waiting in queue for paying the toll it leads to certain unwanted things. Now what are those unwanted things? One is the congestion in the toll booths. Then the wastage of fuel because of waiting in the toll booths and then the waiting increases the travel time because of this the travel plans of the passenger is affected. The passenger is required to carry the required or needed change for paying the toll in the toll booths. But if this RFID passive tag is used for making toll payments then it would reduce the congestion then reduce the travel time also there will not be any wastage of fuel. Because the vehicles need not stop at the toll plazas if they are going to use RFID passive tag. See this RFID tag will be affixed on the front windscreen of the vehicle. They are calling it as passive RFID tag. This is because these fast tags work with no internal power source and they are powered by the electromagnetic energy that is transmitted from an RFID reader. We shall see more about what is meant by active and passive RFID in the later part of our discussion. Now know that there are exclusive lanes in toll booths for the fast tag RFID vehicles. The fast tag ID in all these vehicles will be linked to a prepaid account or say a savings account or a current account of the customer who is using that particular fast tag ID. So as a vehicle moves across or crosses the toll booth the payment will be directly deducted from the fast tag linked account of the customer. And if an account is not having any balance then that particular vehicle will be blacklisted and therefore the person on the vehicle has to manually pay the toll payment. Note that this fast tag is also vehicle specific. As a result once a particular fast tag ID is affixed to a vehicle it cannot be transferred to any other vehicle. I know that this fast tag is an important part of the national electronic toll collection program. This national electronic toll collection program has been developed by the National Payments Corporation of India. This program offers an interoperable nationwide toll payment solution. This includes clearing house services for the payment settlement and it also includes dispute management. Here the term clearing house services refers to the toll booth houses who act as an intermediary between the toll payer and the authority who receives the payment. So where can an individual purchase the fast tag? It can be purchased from any of the member banks of the national electronic toll collection. Note that state bank of India then Paytm Payments Bank then Arktel Payments Bank and few other banks are designated as national electronic toll collection member banks or in short NETC member banks. Now this advertisement mentions that fast tag is mandatory from 1st of December 2019 at all national highway toll plazas. Note that Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has decided to declare all the lanes in all the toll fee plazas on national highways across the country as dedicated fast tag lanes. So this is to be from 1st of December this year. Note that a fast tag lane in a toll plaza is reserved exclusively for the moment of fast tag uses according to national highways fee determination of rates and collection rules of 2008 and there is also one more rule under these rules. According to rule number 6 sub rule number 3 under this fee rules 2008 non fast tag uses will be charged double the fee if they pass through fast tag lanes. Apart from this also know that there will be one hybrid lane at every toll plaza. So this hybrid lane will facilitate and monitor over dimensional or oversized vehicles and in this hybrid lane fast tag and other modes of payments will be accepted and this lane will be converted into a fast tag lane in a time-bound manner that is in future this lane will also be converted into a fast tag lane. Then know that for the financial year 2019-20 there is an announcement that there will be a 2.5 percentage cashback on all the toll payments that are made at the national highways. Now let us see certain benefits of using this fast tag. One is that there will be increased transparency of toll payments. Then it will be a step towards less cash economy. Then the drivers or the vehicles need not carry the cash and the required change for payment since they'll be using the fast tag. Now let us come to our next part of the discussion with respect to this fast tag that is the technology that is being used for this fast tag. We saw in the beginning that fast tag uses RFID technology that is radio frequency identification technology. One of the most important effects of this technology is that it enables tracking the movement of men, materials and vehicles. And know that this technology is an automated data collection technology which uses radio frequency waves. These radio frequency waves will transfer the data between a reader and a movable item. The movable item can be man, a material or even a vehicle. Now the purpose is to identify or to categorize or to track. This system is fast and it does not require any physical site or any contact between the reader or the scanner and the RFID tagged item. And one more advantage of the system is that it performs the operation using low cost components. So the cost for this technology is quite low. And this technology also provides unique identification to the track or monitored object and it also provides fine backend integration. So this backend integration allows the usage for a wide range of applications. And these tags can be attached to almost any objects. It can be tied to human beings as well or it can even be implanted into human body as a RFID microchip. At present, there are many research studies that are being conducted to make RFID microchip implantation more and more feasible. Also we saw during the starting of our discussion that these are passive RFID tags. Now let us see the difference between active and passive RFID tags. Here the term active RFID tag means they're battery powered and the term passive RFID tag means there is no internal power source. And they're powered by the electromagnetic energy that is transmitted from the RFID reader. So these passive RFID systems normally have lower storage capacities and shorter read ranges. If you see the storage capacities is from few bits to one kb and the read ranges is from four inches to 15 feet. But on the other side if you see the active RFID systems have higher storage capacities because they are battery powered. The storage capacities are up to about 512 kb and they also have a long read range up to around 300 feet that is almost near to 90 meters. So as a result of this active RFID systems are much costly and expensive than the passive RFID systems. So this is all about the analysis of this particular advertisement. Based on this advertisement discussion we have seen what is meant by fast tag in brief. Then the rules for the definition of fast tag lane and the fee for violation in the fast tag lane. Then the benefits of fast tag and at the end we have seen in brief about the RFID system and two different kinds of tags which is the active and passive RFID tags. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. In this editorial the author gives certain suggestions to raise the tax revenues of the central government. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this editorial is given here for your reference. The author tells that the central government has missed the tax targets in the previous financial year. Also the tax collection targets which has been planned for the first quarter of this financial year have also not been met. Now one main reason which the author tells is the poor GST collections that is the goods and service tax collections. And recently the government has announced corporate tax cuts for companies that do not avail any other concessions and also the tax rebates for the new companies. So the author is telling that in this financial year as well that will be a significant tax shortfall. Now let us see the suggestions given by the author to increase the tax collections. One measure which the author tells is that the government should come up with a strategy to ensure that the multinational companies that is the MNCs actually pay their fair share of taxes. Now let us see what are MNCs or multinational companies. A multinational company usually has one head office in a particular country and one or more branch officers or factories which are working in other countries. The officers in the other countries can also be called as subsidiaries. Now what the multinational companies do is that in order to avoid paying the taxes they will keep shifting their declared costs and revenues through transfer pricing across their subsidiaries which are located in many countries. Usually if you see the transactions happen from the higher tax base countries to lower tax base countries. Such a practice is called as base erosion and profit shifting because the tax base in one country is eroded or lost and the profit is shifted to other countries. This kind of practice is especially seen among the digital companies if you see where some of the companies make billions of dollars in profits through their subsidiaries which are located worldwide. But these companies or subsidiaries do not pay taxes in any of those countries. The author has also mentioned the estimates of the International Monetary Fund to substantiate this claim as per the IMF estimates countries lose 500 billion dollars a year because of base erosion profit shifting. So such a practice causes an uneven playing field as per the author which means it benefits one party and it actually does not benefit another party. Because here the domestic companies have to pay the taxes but the MNCs avoid paying the taxes with the help of their subsidiaries. So it benefits the MNCs and it affects the domestic companies or we can tell it does not benefit the domestic companies. Now how can one make sure that the MNCs pay their taxes regularly? One way which the author mentions is that since an MNC in a country actually functions as one entity it should be treated as one entity for tax purposes as well and the total global profit of that particular MNC should be calculated and then a portion that is split across the countries according to some formula. This formula can be based on sales, based on employment, based on uses or based on a combination of all these three especially for the digital companies. The author is telling that this is already being practiced in the United States where each state governments have the power to set direct tax rates and indirect tax rates. To make this arrangement more effective the author proposes unitary taxation. The term unitary taxation means a common minimum tax that can be imposed by all the countries. The author is telling that a minimum corporate tax should be agreed by all the countries. So if there is a minimum corporate tax say for example 25 percentage this will prevent the MNCs to shift their revenues and profits to the low tax jurisdictions that is to those countries which have low taxes. The author is telling that this idea is workable especially if the big countries like United States and European Union come forward to decide the tax based on this principle so that there would be less incentive for many of the MNCs who try and shift the reported profits to other countries. So if there is a uniform tax base then the MNCs cannot escape. The author is also telling that the Indian government has already proposed in a white paper that India could take such an initiative by itself especially for the digital companies. And next the author is also telling that the OECD BEPS initiative will be meeting on 19th of October to set out its own proposal on this issue. For the first time OECD is willing to consider the possibility of unity taxation. Here the term OECD stands for the organization for economic cooperation and development. And this initiative the OECD BEPS initiative is nothing but the OECD G20 inclusive framework on BEPS. Over 130 countries are collaborating under this particular framework. The aim is to put an end to tax avoidance strategies by the multinational companies which exploit the gaps and mismatches in the tax rules in order to avoid paying the tax. Know that India is not a member of OECD but it is a member of this inclusive framework on BEPS. So remember this. So we saw that unity taxation has been proposed by the author. But there are some concerns in this unity taxation according to the author. One problem which the author has mentioned is the arbitrary separation between the routine and residual profits as termed by OECD. And according to OECD proposal only the residual profits will be subject to unity taxation. And the author is telling that this has no economic justification at all that only residual profits will be subjected to unity taxation. Also the OECD proposal does not clearly specify the criteria for determining what is meant by routine profits. So we can see that there is no clarity on the definition of what is meant by routine and residual profits and also why OECD is favoring only residual profits which will be subjected to unity taxation. Another concern which the author has mentioned is about the formula to be used to distribute the taxable profits. The OECD suggests only sales revenues as a criterion. The author is telling that if only sales revenues are considered then the developing countries would suffer. Because if you see the developing countries are the producers of commodities and these commodities are consumed in the advanced economies. Now if only sales revenues are taken as a criteria then only the advanced economies or the developed economies will benefit but the developing countries will not benefit. So the author is suggesting that a combination of sales, users and employment should be considered or should be used to distribute the taxable profits. The author tells that the Indian government must look at this issue seriously and it should take a clear position at the OECD meeting because the outcome will be very important for India in order to raise its tax revenues. At present if you see India is facing economic slowdown and also declining tax revenues as we saw. So the author is telling that as a way forward India should make use of this crucial opportunity at the OECD meeting. So in this editorial we have seen that India is facing shortfall and tax revenues and the suggestions given by the author to raise the tax revenues. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the practice questions discussion session. See the first question the question is consider the following statements regarding HIV estimation report 2017 by the National AIDS Control Organization. They have given two statements and they have asked you to choose the correct answer. The first statement it tells that Uttar Pradesh as the highest number of people living with HIV. This statement is wrong during our discussion we saw that among the states and union territories of India as per this report Maharashtra as the highest estimated number of people living with HIV and this is followed by the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and together these eight states account for almost three-fourth of the total estimated people living with HIV in India. So the first statement is wrong here. Now see the second statement it tells that Mizoram as the highest estimated adult HIV prevalence. This statement is correct as per this report Mizoram has shown the highest estimated adult HIV prevalence which is 2.04 percentage and this is followed by the states of Manipur, Nagaland, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. This question has asked for the correct statement see correct answer is option B2 only. Now see the next question consider the following statements they have given four statements and they have asked you to choose the correct answer. The first statement it tells that Andaman and Nikoba group of islands are of coral origin. This statement is wrong during our discussion we saw that the Andaman and Nikoba islands are of tectonic origin. Now see the second statement it tells that Indonesia is geographically nearest to Andaman islands. This statement is also wrong because during our discussion we saw that Indonesia is geographically located near to the Nikoba group of islands and it is the country of Myanmar which is geographically located near to Andaman islands. Now see the third statement it tells that Shampen tribes reside in great Nikoba island. This statement is correct we saw this during our discussion we also saw that the Shampen tribes are PVTG tribes that is they belong to particularly vulnerable tribal group. Now see the fourth statement it tells that the pristine beaches of Nikoba islands are being polluted because of Indian origin plastic material. Now just by seeing this statement you may think it is wrong because during our discussion we saw that the pristine beaches of Nikoba islands are being polluted because of plastic materials of foreign origin but we also saw that 2.2 percentage of plastic is of Indian origin and this statement is a general statement which tells that the pristine beaches of Nikoba islands are being polluted because of Indian origin plastic material. There is a term or a superlative like only then the statement is wrong but since this is a generalized statement the statement is correct. So the first and second statements are wrong and the third and fourth statements are correct so the correct answer for this question is option C 3 and 4. Now see the next question the question is consider the following statements with reference to fast stack. They have given two statements and they have asked you to choose the correct answer. The first statement it tells that it is a part of national electronic toll collection program aimed at reducing congestion, travel time and promoting transparency at toll plazas on national highways. This statement is correct. Now see the second statement it tells that it is based on RFID technology. During our discussion we saw that this fast stack system is based on RFID technology to be specific passive RFID technology. So this statement is also correct. Now this question is asked you to choose the correct options. So the correct answer is option C both 1 and 2. Now see the main question the question is define base erosion profit shifting in short BEPS. Do you think that BEPS is a reason for poor tax revenue collections? Suggest suitable measures to tackle BEPS. So first you have to define what is meant by base erosion profit shifting. We saw during our discussion that it refers to the tax planning strategies that are used by the multinational companies such that they exploit the gaps and mismatches in the tax rules of countries in order to avoid paying the tax. So these multinational companies will shift their revenues and profits from the high tax imposing countries to the low tax imposing countries. So that they will avoid paying the tax. This is especially seen in the case of digital companies where they earn billions and billions of dollars but they do not pay tax in any of the nations. Now see the second part of the question. Do you think that BEPS is a reason for poor tax revenue collections? Yes it is a reason for poor tax revenue collections especially for developing nations like India. This also we saw during our discussion. Now the question is asking you to suggest suitable measures to tackle this BEPS that is base erosion profit shifting. We saw two strategy one was to ensure that the MNC pay their fair share of taxes when they are treated as one entity. So when they are treated as one entity they have to pay tax in that particular company. And the global profits of these MNCs can be calculated in a portion using certain formula based on the sales or employment or the users of the MNC. And the next strategy that we saw was the unitary taxation which is nothing but the common minimum tax that can be imposed by all the countries to a particular MNC. But then again we saw that certain concerns need to be addressed by OECD because during our discussion we saw that the OECD BEPS initiative is having a plan to introduce unitary taxation but there are some issues like the separation between the routine and residual profits and also the formula that has to be decided to distribute the tax profits etc. So finally you can conclude this answer by telling that BEPS is one of the reason for the poor tax revenue collections and the suggested measures will help developing economies or developing countries like India to increase their tax revenue collections. With this we come to the end of the discussion of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion and also the practice questions discussion session. Do like comment and share the video and do subscribe to Shankar IA's academy youtube channel for latest videos and updates. Stay focused and motivated friends. Thank you.