Children, this is more news on black money and plastic money. As usual it is a URL

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2pC2D-OBhQWM3V3QWFheVBuWm8/view?usp=sharing

handling pollution in China

this is another article on pollution handling in China
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2pC2D-OBhQWY1hlWHFFZ0xTQms/view?usp=sharing

social networking

This article from the Hindu is on social networking and its effects. Read. Will be relevant for your analysis and final report.


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2pC2D-OBhQWTWN1ZFBJSnBBd2M/view?usp=sharing

Use plastic cards and pay less income tax says Government

PLASTIC MONEY IS BACK IN THE NEWS AGAIN. GOVERNMENT THINKING OF GIVING INCOME TAX REBATES (CUTS) IF PEOPLE USE DEBIT/CREDIT CARDS. READ THROUGH THE ITEM

Centre may grant I-T rebate for cashless transactions

Author: Vikas Dhoot

New Delhi: Income tax rebate is one of the incentives being considered by the government to encourage people to move away from cash transactions and curb black money flows, a senior official said on condition of anonymity. The move may eventually use cashless transaction records to build a credit history for the poor and help them access loans.

Since the Union budget had promised measures to promote cashless transactions, a few measures could be announced soon.

“The key consideration is that people pay nothing to use cash but it imposes a lot of hidden costs on the economy. While using cards or mobile wallets to make payments is convenient, they need to pay a fee and service tax. We want to do away with this disincentive,” the official said.

In this year’s budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that discouraging cash transactions is one way to curb the flow of black money.

“Now that a majority of Indians has or can have, a RUPAY debit card, I therefore, propose to introduce soon several measures that will incentivise credit or debit card transactions, and disincentivise cash transactions,” Mr. Jaitley had said. The Finance Ministry has begun the process for making the Union budget for 2016-17.

While the usage of cards and mobile payment solutions such as PayTM and Ezetap is expanding rapidly in urban India, the government is looking at ways to take this to the hinterland. Following the expansion of bank accounts coverage under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, the government wants to scale up the infrastructure for making digital payments so that the same convenience and acceptability as cash can be attained. The National Payments Corporation of India is building a part of that infrastructure.

“Instead of just withdrawing them in cash at a high implicit cost, if they could make payments from the account digitally, it would help build a transaction history and help them get credit-related services from banks that they would otherwise be ineligible for, like a loan for micro and small business ideas,” the official said.

Another official familiar with the issue said that one of the ideas being examined is that if an income tax rebate could be offered to those who make a substantial part of their annual payments in the cashless mode. Since bank statements are already submitted at the time of filing tax returns, it would easy to gauge the quantum of cash withdrawals made from their accounts.

“This could be used as a behavioral economics tool to drive more people towards vendors offering digital payment modes and in turn, help expand the penetration of point-of-sale devices for cashless deals,” he said.

While small account holders wouldn’t directly benefit from incentives like income tax rebates, they would gain from a rise in outlets accepting cashless payments.

“There is a high cost of cash to the economy that is not explicitly stated, apart from the cost of printing notes and taking soiled notes out of the system: the transport of cash, crimes like the recent ATM van heists, the risk of counterfeiting and the avoidance of tax that the cash economy enables,” the official said.

Of the many solutions to tame black money, cashless transaction is one of the very important solutions, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, had said in January, stressing that people should make cashless transactions a habit.. “This is a very big opportunity and we should promote this.”

The idea is to curb black money flows and help the poor access loans

Very interesting. follow up of the last posting.....

An anti-pollution campaign spearheaded by netizens

Author: Atul Aneja

BEIJING: As Beijing and its surroundings continue to choke, Chinese  netizens are keeping up the pressure to clean up the air and water on a government which has drafted elaborate plans to counter runaway pollution.
On Wednesday morning, pollution levels were 10 times higher than the standards established by the World Health Organisation (WHO), justifying the red alert  that was issued on Monday and will last till Thursday afternoon.
Aware of the public resentment and call for action against pollution that has been splashed across the social media, Chinese authorities launched a “tough crackdown” against companies that flouted the three-day shutdown that was imposed following the “red alert”, state-run Xinhua reported.

Public opinion


The state-run tabloid Global Times quoted Li Zuojun, a deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council as telling that public opinion had pushed the government to take more measures to curb the smog.
Much of the environmental consciousness and  activism from below, is the result of the Smartphone revolution which has grabbed the attention China’s youth. The country’s e-commerce icon Alibaba group, Xiaomi, the maker of inexpensive smartphones, and cyber-giant Baidu have played a critical role in positioning China’s young men and women at the vanguard for an ecological turnaround.
Last year, Jack Ma of Alibaba pioneered the inexpensive supply — $ 10 each — of kits that could gauge the presence of pollutants in freshwater. These findings could then be uploaded online on a digital map. Xiaomi followed up with an app called the Mi Air Purifier. It sends air quality data to users, alerting them about air contamination levels. Baidu, on its part has unveiled its Bluetooth-paired digital chopsticks. When dipped into cooked food, it reveals its status, by lighting up as blue in case it is of high quality, or red if otherwise.
The Chinese are drawing elaborate plans to cut emissions substantially, apparently in response to the rising public pressure and in tune with standards befitting a rising global power.

Emissions to peak by 2030

China announced last week that it would slash emissions of major pollutants related to power sector by 60 per cent by the end of the decade — an assertion that fed into ongoing climate change talks in Paris.
The share of coal in China’s overall energy consumption would be reduced to 60 per cent — a target that Beijing has to meet in order to conform to its goal of peaking greenhouse gas emissions by around 2030.
Analysts point out that China is focusing on natural gas, imported from Siberia, as one of the important elements of its clean energy basket. Later this month, Russia’s Gazprom and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) are set sign an agreement before the end of this year on the construction of a cross-border pipeline section under the Amur river.

Measures to protect against pollution in Beijing include air masks. — PHOTO: Getty Images

New Delhi handles air pollution

READ THE ARTICLE BELOW AND COMMENT IF IT WILL BE EFFECTIVE: i CAN THINK OF VARIOUS WAYS OF FLOUTING IT THOUGH.......

Amber signal on Delhi pollution 

The  Aam  Aadmi  Party  government  in  Delhi  has announced  a  slew  of  measures  to  address  the very  poor  air  quality  and  pollution  in  the  nation’s  capital.   It  is,   in  principle,   a  largely  welcome  move  that  could  push  the  needle  for  anti- pollution measures  to  be  adopted  by  other  Indian  cities  as  well. These  are  possibly  the  most  significant  steps  taken  after the  introduction  of  Compressed  Natural  Gas- powered vehicles  in  the  city  that  are  widely  accepted  as  having helped  reduce  pollution.   ( However,   it  is  debatable  if  they will  together  have  the  kind  of  effect  the  CNG  shift  had.) The  benefits  of  this  emphasis  by  the  government  on  regulations  to  address  the  city’s  alarming  air  pollution  levels will  depend  on  the  manner  of  implementation  as  well  as other  concomitant  actions.   The  announced  measures  include  the  closing  down  of  two  thermal  power  plants, pushing  the  entry  time  of  trucks  into  the  city  late  into  the night,   the  advancing  of  the  cut- off  date  for  Euro- VI  emission  norms,   among  others.   But  the  proposal  that  has  predictably  received  the  most  attention  is  the  one  on  regulating  private  vehicle  use  by  means  of  licence  plate restrictions.   These  curbs,   that  are  to  be  implemented temporarily  from  January  1,   2016,   will  allow  private  fourwheelers  and  two- wheelers  access  to  Delhi’s  roads  only on  alternate  dates  based  on  even/ odd  licence  plate  numbers.   Cities  such  as  Bogota,   Beijing,   Mexico  City  and  Paris  have  implemented  such  restrictions  in  the  past, amongst  other  reforms  to  decongest  vehicle  traffic  and  to reduce  air  pollution  through  expanding  public  transport and  zoning  certain  areas  as  “ low  emissions  only”.

Licence  plate  restrictions  by  themselves  are  somewhat problematic:   all  private  vehicles  are  treated  equally,   irrespective  of  their  purpose  and  the  fuel  they  use.   To  mitigate  this,   the  Delhi  government  has  relaxed  the  restrictions  in  the  case  of  emergency  use.   Other  exceptions such  as  car- pooling  by  multiple  commuters  should  have also  been  considered.   The  larger  point  is  that,   without  a concomitant  expansion  and  improvement  in  public transport,   the  introduction  of  licence  plate  restrictions could  only  have  a  limiting  effect.   The  state  of  public transport  in  Delhi  is  relatively  better  than  in  most  metropolitan  cities  in  the  country,   with  the  capital  enjoying  a privileged  position  in  the  fiscal  scheme  of  things.   But  despite  that,   the  public  transport  system  is  still  not  fully equipped  to  handle  the  consequent  increase  in  the  number  of  commuters  that  could  possibly  occur  due  to  the  restrictions  in  place.   Easing  and  expanding  public  transport  must  be  the  Delhi  government’s  priority.   The government  had  recently  discontinued  the  Bus  Rapid Transit  System  —   instead  of  addressing  its  design  problems  and  furthering  its  intended  purpose  of  decongesting  routes  for  public  transport  and  enticing  private  vehicle  users  to  shift.   The  licensing  regulations  must  be  part of  a  package  of  well- sequenced  and  thought- out  steps  if they  are  to  be  more  than  a  traffic  decongestion  measure.

check the environmental degradation in China

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/chinas-capital-issues-first-ever-red-alert-on-air-pollution/article7958127.ece

Please recollect the discussion we had regarding the Norwegians advised against travelling to Delhi..

The URL is on top. copy it. Then open a new tab and paste the URL address. The article will open.