KEY to the CSP-2015 Indian Polity Test 4 Dated 30.11.2014

KEY to the CSP-2015 Indian Polity Test 4 Dated 30.11.2014

1.	a	21.	d	41.	a	61.	a
2.	a	22.	d	42.	d	62.	a
3.	c	23.	b	43.	a	63.	d
4.	d	24.	b	44.	d	64.	c
5.	a	25.	d	45.	c	65.	c
6.	c	26.	b	46.	d	66.	c
7.	b	27.	a	47.	a	67.	d
8.	c	28.	b	48.	b	68.	b
9.	c	29.	d	49.	b	69.	a
10.	d	30.	c	50.	a	70.	a
11.	a	31.	d	51.	c
12.	d	32.	d	52.	c
13.	c	33.	c	53.	d
14.	b	34.	a	54.	b
15.	c	35.	c	55.	a
16.	a	36.	d	56.	a
17.	a	37.	a	57.	a
18.	a	38.	c	58.	d
19.	a	39.	d	59.	d
20.	c	40.	c	60.	c

Explanations:

1.    The Treaty making power is vested in the Parliament as the said provisions are mentioned in the Union List of Seventh Schedule. They are Entries 13, 14, 15 and 16 in the Union List are relevant, particularly Entry 14.  They are

Ø  “13. Participation in international conferences, Associations and other bodies and implementing of decisions made threat;

Ø  14.  Entering into treaties and agreements with foreign countries and implementing of treaties, agreements and conventions with foreign countries;

Ø  15. War and peace and

Ø  16. Foreign jurisdiction.”

From a reading of Article 246 along with the said Entries, it is obvious that the Parliament is competent to make a law with respect to the several matters mentioned in the above entries.   By virtue of Article 73 of the Constitution, however, the Executive power of the Union extends, in the absence of parliamentary legislation, to the matters with respect to which the Parliament has power to make laws subject, of course, to constitutional limitations. It appears that Parliament has not passed any law on this matter and therefore Executive is exercising the provisions entering into treaties and agreements and to also to decide the manner, in which they should be implemented, except where such implementation requires making of a law by Parliament. [This question is very imp for Mains. Evaluate the treaty making power in India or “the treaty making power is in the Union domain, that in the Executive hands”. Comment etc.]

2, 19, 42, 44, 45, 46 and 53:

The Union taxes are divided into two types: 1. Direct Taxes and 2. Indirect Taxes.

Direct Taxes:

Direct taxes those taxes which are paid directly by the person into Government account. The person as per Income-Tax Act may a natural person like an Individual or non-natural persons such as a Partnership Firm or a Company. These persons pay tax on their income directly into Govt. account in their PAN, Permanent Account Number, allotted by the Income Tax Department. The direct taxes which are currently collected are as follows

Sl. No	Direct taxes	Description
1	Corporate tax	Tax paid by the Companies on their income/profit
2	Income-Tax	Tax paid by the non-companies such as as Individuals, Firms etc. on their income is called as Income tax.
3.	Capital gains tax	Tax paid on the appreciated value of land or building. Explained in detail elsewhere.
3	Wealth Tax	Tax paid on the Wealth of the above persons @ @ 1% if their wealth  exceed certain prescribed limits
4	Security Transaction Tax	Tax paid on the security or share market transactions of the above persons
5	Surcharge	Surcharge [SC] is levied on the income of theCompanies and Firms, if the income exceed Rs.1 crore per annum. It is levied @ of 5% if the income is more than 1 crore and less than 10 crores and @ 10% on the income exceeding Rs.10 crores. No surcharge is levied on the income of the Individuals.
6	Cess	It is levied on the tax payable for a specific Purpose on the direct taxes paid. At present an educational cess @ 2% and Secondary and Higher educational cess @ 1% is levied.
7	Minimum Alternate Tax [MAT]	It is direct tax levied on those companies and Limited liability firms which are earning good profits and making dividends to the shareholders and not paying any tax to Government by utilizing deductions, incentives, and claims under Income-Tax Act. In these cases, a fixed percentage of the book profit is levied as a tax. In the case of companies, the MAT is 18.5% of the book profit or Net profit as per the audited books of the company and @ 19% in the case of Limited liability Partnership firms if their tax under normal provisions are lesser than the MAT rates taken as their income and levied tax on it.

Indirect Taxes:

Indirect taxes, as the name suggests, are those taxes which are collected by some middle person/s and pay the said taxes into Government account on behalf of the end consumers. For example, if you buy a house, you have to pay service tax @ 12.5% of the cost of the house to a builder and the builder is under obligation to pay that amount into Government account in your name. Similarly, if you buy a matchbox, the seller collect sales tax on it from you and pay that amount as sales tax to Sales/commercial tax Department. This is why you find on many of the goods, a label saying that “local taxes are extra” or “inclusive of all taxes”. All these taxes are to be collected from the end user only. The major Union/Central indirect taxes in India are as follows

Sl. No	Indirect taxes	Description
1	Customs duty*	Duty paid on the imports or goods received in India on their arrival to India.
2	Excise duty*	Duty or a type of tax on the production or manufacturing of the good at the time of removal from the factory or entering the market from the factory.
3.	Service Tax*	Tax payable at the time of receiving service. When the flat is registered in your name
4	Surcharge*	Same as in direct taxes
5	Educational cess*	Same as in direct taxes

 [The surcharge and educational cess are levied on indirect taxes also at some %]

* These taxes are going to be subsumed as Central GST as per the GST bill passed by the Parliament.

6 and 10.The dissolution of the State Legislative Assembly is not a precondition for imposition of President’s rule in a state. Instead, it can be kept under dormant position, called “Suspended animation condition” till the situation improves or a combination of parties would be able to form the Govt. as the case may be. In simple words, if the assembly is not dissolved, there is a possibility of forming a Govt. from the existing assembly and none of the MLAs lose their membership and there is no need for calling for fresh elections. Further, imposition of president’s rule has no bearing on the Localbodies as they are elected differently and for a separate term under the Constitution, irrespective of the term of State Assembly. The main aim of imposing President’s rule is to take care of the state administration, as the Constitutional machinery has broke down in the state and therefore the Council of Ministers is to be removed and state administration would be taken over by the Union Government.

When assembly is dissolved by the President under the article 356, instead of keeping it in “Suspended animation condition”, it is not possible to revive the Council of Ministers and to form a new Government from such assembly as all MLAs lose their membership once the house is dissolved, it shall go for fresh elections. 

18. In 1947, Indian Central Service (ICS) was replaced by Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Police (IP) was replaced by Indian Police Service (IPS). The Indian Forest Service (IFS) service was created in 1966 as third All India Service under the All India Services Act 1951, utilizing the provisions of Article 312 of the Constitution.

19. As fixed on the basis of recommendations of 13^th Finance Commission, the  share of states in the net proceeds of the shareable Central taxes should be 32%. Devolution was increased from 29.5% to 30.5% for 2005-10, and from 30.5% to 32% for 2010-2015

India has a three-tier tax structure, wherein the constitution empowers the

Ø  Union government to levy income tax, tax on capital transactions (wealth tax, inheritance tax), sales tax, service tax, customs and excise duties;

Ø  State governments to levy sales tax on intrastate sale of goods, tax on entertainment and professions, excise duties on manufacture of alcohol, stamp duties on transfer of property and collect land revenue (levy on land owned).

Ø  The local governments are empowered by the state government to levy property tax and charge users for public utilities like water supply, sewage etc. 

The authority to levy a tax is derived from the Constitution of India which allocates the power to levy various taxes between the Centre and the State. An important restriction on this power is Article 265 of the Constitution which states that "No tax shall be levied or collected except by the authority of law." Therefore each tax levied or collected has to be backed by an accompanying law, passed either by the Parliament or the State Legislature.

20. Corporation tax is direct tax and therefore, it is not a part of GST which is subsuming most of the Indirect Taxes such as Excise Duty, Customs Duty, Sales Tax etc.

21. Corporate tax is tax levied on the companies by the Central Government and it is the largest tax among the Direct Taxes accounting for about 62% of the total direct taxes collected during 2013-14. [Out of Rs.6.38 lakh crores of total direct taxes collected during 2013-14, Corporate tax was Rs.3.94 lakh crores]

22.  All the taxes and duties mentioned from Sl. No. 1 to 4 are in the state list and are taxes levied, collected and appropriated by the State Government. To make the things more understandable sales tax is tax levied on the sale of goods within the territorial jurisdiction of a State. The State Government is empowered to collect tax on the entertainment and tax on the profession practiced by the various people including Government Employees. While somebody is buying a land or building or any other assets they have to pay stamp duties. The states are also authorized by the Constitution to collect Revenue on the land.

When somebody sell land or building, they have to pay capital gains tax which is nothing but tax on the appreciated value or the value increase in land or building from the price at which the land or building was purchased / constructed. In simple words, if a non-agricultural land is purchased for Rs.10,00,000/- and the same is sold for Rs.15,00,000/- the capital gains tax is levied on the appreciated value of Rs.5,00,000/- (Rs.15,00,000/- minus Rs.10,00,000/-). This tax is direct tax levied, collected and appropriated by the Centre. Hence the answer is D. [Sale of agriculture land is exempted from taxation]

23. Income from forest including the sale of red sandal wood as it is auctioned in AP now, sandal wood (Karnataka), supply of milk (Mumbai), paper (Madhya Pradesh) are in the complete domain of State Government. Tax on irrigation facilities provided and the taxes on goods and passengers carried by roads are inland waterways also belonging to the State Government. Hence, the answer is B. 

24. The Constitution authorizes only Central Government, but not the states to obtain loans from foreign countries/sources. Therefore, the states have no power to obtain foreign loans directly but, with the authorization or facilitation by the Central Government.

25. The Sarkaria Commission has recommended for strengthening of the All India Services and creation of more such services. Hence, answer is D.

26. The grounds mentioned in 1, 2 and 3 warrant imposition of President Rule under Article 356 as per the recommendation of the Sarkaria Commission. The State Government cannot be dismissed for demanding more funds from the Centre or when the CM of the state has a difference of opinion from that of Prime Minister’s. This kind of provision is neither there in the Constitution nor recommended by Sarkaria Commission.

31. The issue of forest comes under the Concurrent list; the health, hospitals and sanitation comes under State list whereas patents, inventions etc. are mentioned in the Union list. Hence, none of the options given here are correct.

32. See the explanation to Q.No. 18. Answer is D.

34: Britain, France, Japan, China, Italy, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Spain etc., have Unitary Model of Government, whereas United States, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, Russia, Brazil, Argentina and India have Federal form of Government. 

Hence, answer is (A).

35: Canada and India have different Federal set up than that of American model of federation by the features mentioned in the question.  Here, Union Government is powerful with more powers and residuary powers also vested in Union Government and State Governments are weaker.

36. In a true federation, all the states or provinces represent equally in Federal chamber,  irrespective of their population as in US.  In India, the states are demarcated on the basis of population therefore, a state with more population send more representatives to Rajya Sabha then in a state which has lesser population.

38 & 39. Governments are of different types.

Ø  Any Constitution is considered as federal which has a provision for distribution of powers between the Central or Federal Unit and Units of the Federation.

Ø  In cabinet form of Government, the chief feature is the collective responsibility. The Council of Ministers sinks or sail together under the leadership of Prime Minister. If any member/minister disobeys this principle, he has to resign or removed from the Cabinet.

Ø  A unitary state is a state governed as one single power in which the central government is ultimately supreme and any administrative divisions (subnational units) exercise only powers that their central government chooses to delegate.The important feature of Unitary Governments is the concentration powers at the Centre. The majority of states in the world have a unitary system of government.Eg. China, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom, Turkey, South Korea, Indonesia etc.

Ø  The important feature of Presidential form of Government is that separation of powers between the Executive President and the Legislature. For example in USA, President take all the executive decisions and he is assisted by the Secretaries for running the administration and they are selected or picked up by the President from the different walks of life. The Legislative body is called Congress which has to give effect to the decisions or agreements entered into by the President and in the other words, the decisions of the Executive require the backing of the Congress. In contrast, in India, cabinet hails from the Legislative body and responsible to the Legislature. In USA, President is not answerable to the Congress.

45. Surcharge and Cess:

Ø  Surcharge is a charge on any tax, charged on the tax already paid. We usually pay it on income tax and that goes into the consolidated fund of India. That way the govt. can spend it on any item it deems fit. For example, a business firm has paid tax of Rs.50 lakh and the surcharge is levied on the this tax paid @ 5% which comes to Rs.2,50,000/-. Here, the Govt. has liberty to spend the surcharge collected as it deem fit /for any purpose.

Ø  On the other hand, a cess is always preceded by the item, for which purpose it is levied and used by the Govt. and has to stop levying it once the purpose for which it is levied is over.  For example, education cess is used for imparting basic education in India, irrigation cess for enhancing the command area or enhancing number of acres under irrigation etc. This is levied on the total tax. In the above example, the educational  cess is levied @3% on the total tax paid, including surcharge is income, it comes to Rs.1,57,500/- [3% of 15 lakh plus 2.5 lakh]

56. 57, 58 59 60, 63, 64, 65, 66 & 70:In India, there are certain Constitutional authorities

[Created by the Constitution], Regulatory bodies to control and regulate the affairs of some

Sectors [Created by Parliament] and Quasi-judicial authorities [To deliver justice at lower levels

in specific sectors or areas and orders of these bodies to be challenged before High Courts/SC].

[This area is very important given the latest trends of UPSC in CSP and CSM and you

Must know each body or authority and their duties. You can follow appropriate source [Indian

Polity by Lakshmi Kanth & Wikipedia or any other source].

The list of such bodies and a small note is given below.

Statutory, Regulatory and Quasi-Judicial Bodies in India

1.    Constitutional Bodies:

There are the institutions or offices which are created by the Constitution, the law of the land.

1.    Election Commission,

2.    Union Public Service Commission [UPSC]

3.    StatePublic Service Commission [SPSC] [Created for a state or group of states]

4.    Finance Commission [FC]

5.    National Commission on SC/ST

6.    Controller and Auditor General of India [CAG]

7.    Attorney General and Solicitor General of India [AGI and SGI] 

8.    Central Administrative Tribunal [CAT]

9.    Securities Appellate Tribunal [SAT]

2.    Regulatory Bodies:

As the name indicates, these bodies regulate the concerned sector. For example, RBI regulates the Money market, SEBI controls and regulates the Capital market, FMC control and regulates commodity market in India. They frame and implements guidelines of the concerned 

1.    Advertising Standards Council of India [ASCI]

2.    Competition Commission of India [CCI]

3.    Biodiversity Authority of India

4.    Press Council of India [PCI]

5.    Directorate General of Civil Aviation [DGCA]

6.    Forward Markets Commission [FMC]

7.    Inland Waterways Authority of India [IWAI]

8.    Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority [IRDA]

9.    Reserve Bank Of India [RBI]                                    

10.  Securities And Exchange Board of India [SEBI]

11.  Telecom Disputes Settlement And Appellate Tribunal [TDSAT]

12.  Telecom Regulatory Authority Of India [TRAI]

13.  The Food Safety And Standards Authority Of India (FSSAI)

14.  Central Pollution Control Board [CPCB]

15.  Financial Stability And Development Council [FSDC]

16.  Medical Council of India [MCI]

17.  Pension Fund Regulatory And Development Authority [PFRDA]

18.  Directorate General Of Shipping

19.  Directorate General Of Hydrocarbons

20.  Central Electricity Regulatory Commission [CERC]

21.  Registrar of Companies [ROC]

3.    Quasi-Judicial Bodies:

1.    National Human Rights Commission [NHRC]

2.    State Human Rights Commission [established at each state]

3.    Central Information Commission [CIC]

4.    State Information Commission[established at each state]

5.    National Green Tribunal [NGT]

6.    Debt Recovery Tribunal [DRT]

7.    National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission

8.    State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission [established at each state]

9.    District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum 

10.  Competition Commission ofIndia [CCI]

11.  Appellate Tribunal ForElectricity

12.  State Electricity Regulatory Commission

13.   Railway Claims Tribunal

14.  Income Tax Appellate Tribunal [ITAT]

15.  Intellectual Property Appellate Tribunal

16.  Central Excise AndService Tax Appellate Tribunal(CESTAT)

17.  Banking Ombudsman

18.  Insurance Ombudsman

19.  Income Tax Ombudsman

20.  Electricity Ombudsman

21.  State Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal

Regulators of Financial Sector in India:

The financial system in India is regulated by independent regulators in the field of banking, insurance, capital market, commodities market, and pension funds.   However, Government of India plays a significant role in controlling the financial system in India and influences the roles of such regulators at least to some extent.

 The following are five major financial regulatory bodies in India:- 

(A) Statutory Bodies via parliamentary enactments:

 1. Reserve Bank of India :  Reserve Bank of India is the apex monetary Institution of India. It is also called as the central bank of the country. 

The Reserve Bank of India was established on April 1, 1935 in accordance with the provisions of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934. The Central Office of the Reserve Bank was initially established in Calcutta but was permanently moved to Mumbai in 1937. The Central Office is where the Governor sits and where policies are formulated.   Though originally privately owned, since nationalization in 1949, the Reserve Bank is fully owned by the Government of India. 

2. Securities and Exchange Board of India  :  SEBI Act, 1992 : Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was first established in the year 1988 as a non-statutory body for regulating the securities market. It became an autonomous body in 1992 and more powers were given through an ordinance. Since then it regulates the market through its independent powers.
3. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority : The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is a national agency of the Government of India and is  based in Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh).  It was formed by an Act of Indian Parliament known as IRDA Act 1999, which was amended in 2002 to incorporate some emerging requirements. Mission of IRDA as stated in the act is "to protect the interests of the policyholders, to regulate, promote and ensure orderly growth of the insurance industry and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto."

 (B) Part of the Ministries of the Government of India:

4. Forward Market Commission India (FMC) : 

FMC headquartered at Mumbai, is a regulatory authority which is overseen by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Govt. of India. It is a statutory body set up in 1953 under the Forward Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1952  This Commission allows commodity trading in 22 exchanges in India, out of which three are national level. 

 5. Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority [PFRDA]

It was established by Government of India on 23^rd August, 2003 and works under the Ministry of Finance.  The Government has, through an executive order dated 10^th October 2003, mandated PFRDA to act as a regulator for the pension sector. The mandate of PFRDA is development and regulation of pension sector in India.

Other regulatory bodies: Just know about them and their duties

Quasi-judicial Bodies:

A quasi-judicial body is an entity such as an arbitrator or tribunal board, generally of a public administrative agency, which has powers and procedures resembling those of a court of law or judge, and which is obligated to objectively determine facts and draw conclusions from them so as to provide the basis of an official action. Such actions are able to remedy a situation or impose legal penalties, and may affect the legal rights, duties or privileges of specific parties.

Such bodies usually have powers of adjudication in matters as:-

Ø  breach of discipline

Ø  conduct rules

Ø  Trust in the matters of money or otherwise.

Their powers are usually limited to a very specific area of expertise and authority, such as

ü  land use and zoning

ü  financial markets

ü  employment law

ü  public standards

ü  specific set of regulations of an agency

Decisions of a quasi-judicial body require findings of facts to reach conclusions of law that justify the decision. They usually depend on a pre-determined set of guidelines or criteria to assess the nature and gravity of the permission or relief sought, or of the offense committed. Decisions of a quasi-judicial body are often legally enforceable under the laws of a jurisdiction; they can be challenged in a court of law which is the final decisive authority. The appeal generally lies to High courts and in some cases directly to Supreme Court.

There are some key differences between judicial and quasi-judicial bodies, in that:

ü  Judicial decisions are bound by precedent in common law, whereas quasi-judicial decisions usually are not so bound;

ü  In the absence of precedent in common law, judicial decisions may create new law, whereas quasi-judicial decisions must be based on conclusions of existing law;

ü  Quasi-judicial bodies need not follow strict judicial rules of evidence and procedure;

ü  Quasi-judicial bodies must hold formal hearings only if mandated to do so under their governing laws or regulations

61. The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) is a statutory autonomous body under the Ministry of Environment and Forests. The NBA was established in 2003 to implement the provisions under the National Biological Diversity Act, 2002, after India signed Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1992.  It is headquartered in Chennai. It acts as a facilitating, regulating and advisory body to the Government of India "on issues of conservation, sustainable use of biological resources and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the use of biological resources."  Additionally, it advises State Governments in identifying the areas of biodiversity importance (biodiversity hotspots) as heritage sites. Since its establishment, NBA has supported creation of State Biodiversity Boards [SBBs] in 28 States and, facilitated establishment of around 31,574 BMCs

The Registrar of Companies India is the official agency that deals with administration of Companies Act, 2013. It falls under Ministry of Corporate Affairs. It has offices in all major states of India. The Registrar of Companies is the primary regulator for company- related matters in India. It is popularly known as ROC.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is the regulator for the securities market in India. It was established in the year 1988 and given statutory powers on 12 April 1992 through the SEBI Act, 1992

Banking Ombudsman is a quasi-judicial authority functioning under India’s Banking Ombudsman Scheme 2006, and the authority was created pursuant to a decision made by the Government of India to enable resolution of complaints of customers of banks relating to certain services rendered by the banks. The Banking Ombudsman Scheme was first introduced in India in 1995, and was revised in 2002. The current scheme became operative from 1 January 2006, and replaced and superseded the banking Ombudsman Scheme 2002. From 2002 until 2006, around 36,000 complaints have been dealt by the Banking Ombudsmen.Income Tax Ombudsman has been established for redressing the grievances of the tax payers; Insurance Ombudsman for redressing Insurance claims by the clients and so on. [You shall remember that the Ombudsman’s duty is to redress the grievances of the customers or people at large and nothing to do the administration of Organization for which it is set up. Income tax Ombudsman co-ordinates with Income Tax Department in redressal of grievances of the tax payers and he doesn’t have any role in the Department. He is meant of the tax payers] 

63. National Green Tribunal [NGT]:

It was created by an act of the Parliament, National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 under the Article 21, which assures the citizens of India the right to a healthy environment. The chief duties of NGT are effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources including enforcement of any legal right relating to environment and giving relief and compensation for damages to persons and property and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. The Tribunal has Original Jurisdiction on matters of “substantial question relating to environment” (i.e. a community at large is affected, damage to public health at broader level) & “damage to environment due to specific activity” (such as pollution). It is competent to hear cases for several acts such as Forest (Conservation) Act, Biological Diversity Act, Environment (Protection) Act, Water & Air (Prevention & control of Pollution) Acts etc. Creation of NGT is ‘special’ because India is the third country following Australia and New Zealand to have such a system.

 Membership: The strength of the tribunal is currently 10 expert members and 10 judicial members. The tribunal is headed by a Chairman and he is required to be a serving or retired Chief Justice of a High Court or a judge of the Supreme Court of India. Members are chosen by a selection committee headed by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court of India. The Judicial members are chosen from applicants who are serving or retired judges of High Courts. Expert members are chosen from applicants who are either serving or retired bureaucrats not below the rank of an Additional Secretary to the Government of India (not below the rank of Principal Secretary if serving under a state government) with a minimum administrative experience of five years in dealing with environmental matters. Or, the expert members must have a doctorate in a related field.

Notable judgments of NGT:

The notable judgments of NGT so far are on Yamuna Conservation Zone and Cancellation of Coal Blocks allocation in Chhattisgarh Forests. On 25 April 2014, The NGT said that the health of Yamuna will be affected by the proposed recreational facilities on the river and recommended the Government to declare a 52 km stretch of the Yamuna in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh as a conservation zone. The National Green Tribunal has cancelled the clearance given by the then Union Environment and Forests Minister, Jairam Ramesh, to the Parsa East and Kante-Basan captive coal blocks in the Hasdeo-Arand forests of Chhattisgarh, overruling the statutory Forest Advisory Committee.

[Background: During the Rio De Janeiro summit of United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in June 1992, India vowed the participating states to provide judicial and administrative remedies for the victims of the pollutants and other environmental damage]

Intellectual Property Appellate Board [IPAB]:

Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) has been constituted under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on 15th September 2003 to hear appeals against the decisions of the Registrar under the Trade Marks Act, 1999 and the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999. IPAB has its headquarters at Chennai and shall have sittings at Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Ahmedabad. In terms of the Notifications No.12/15/2006-IPR-III) dated 2/4/2007 issued by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, the provisions of the Patent Amendment Act, 2002 and the Patents Amendment Act, 2005, relating to the Intellectual Property Appellate Board have been brought into force. Thus, all the Appeals pending before the various High Courts, will stand transferred to the IPAB. Likewise, fresh Rectification Applications under the Patents Act, 1970, will have to be filed before the IPA

Competition Commission of India is a body of the Government of India responsible for enforcing The Competition Act, 2002throughout India and to prevent activities that have an adverse effect on competition in India. It was established on 14 October 2003. It became fully functional in May 2009.

67. SEBI has three functions rolled into one body: quasi-legislative, quasi-judicial and quasi-executive. It drafts regulations in its legislative capacity, it conducts investigation and enforcement action in its executive function and it passes rulings and orders in its judicial capacity. Though this makes it very powerful, there is an appeal process to create accountability. There is a Securities Appellate Tribunal which is a three-member tribunal, headed by Mr. Justice J P Devadhar, a former judge of the Bombay High Court. A second appeal lies directly to the Supreme Court. SEBI has taken a very proactive role in streamlining disclosure requirements to international standards

69. Sharing of river waters Mandovi is between Karnataka and Goa; Vamshadhara between AP and Odisha and Palar between AP and Tamil Nadu. Cosntitution of tribunals under  Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956 (ISRWD Act, 1956)  for Mandovi and Vamshadhara is under construction.

[The Mandovi River Mahadayior Mhadei river, is described as the lifeline of the state of Goa, India. The river has a length of 77 kilometers, 29 km in Karnatakaand 52 kilometers in Goa. It originates from a cluster of 30 springs at Bhimgad in the Western Ghats in the Belgaum district, Karnataka.  With its cerulean waters, Dudhsagar Falls, and Varapoha Falls it is also known as the Gomati in a few places. [Mandovi and the Zuari River are the two primary rivers in the state of Goa.]. The sharing of water of this river is a cause of dispute between the governments of Karnataka and Goa. This is aggravated by Karnataka government's proposal to divert some water from the Mahadayiriver to the Malaprabha river basin as part of the Kalasa-BanduriNala project as approximately 200 TCM of water is flowing to Arebian Sea without using.

River Vamsadhara is an important east flowing river between Mahanadi and Godavari, in Southern Odisha and North Eastern Andhra Pradesh states in India.

The river originates in the border of Thuamul Rampur in the Kalahandi district and Kalyansinghpur in Rayagada district of Odisha and runs for a distance of about 254 kilometers, where it joins the Bay of Bengal at Kalingapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The total catchment area of the river basin is about 10,830 square kilometers. Tourist attractions of Mukhalingam and Kalingapatnam in Srikakulam district are located on the banks of this river.

Palar is a river of southern India. It rises in Nandi Hills, India in Kolar district of Karnataka state, and flows 93 km in Karnataka, 33 km in Andhra Pradesh and 222 km inTamil Nadu before its confluence into the Bay of Bengal at Vayalur about 100 km south of Chennai.]

*****

A note on the different terms of taxes:

Tax: Any money the government takes from you (legally) for doing any economic activity is tax. Generally, this is a percentage of the income you receive or give. Taxes are either direct, where the money goes directly from your pocket to the govt's pocket, or indirect, where the money goes from your pocket to someone else's pocket and then to the govt's pocket.

Duty:In economics, a duty is a kind of tax levied by a state. It is of different types. It is called “Customs duty” when certain items purchased abroad and brought to India; Export duties when some goods are exported from India; Excise duties when goods are produced in a factory in India. When they are levied on transfer of property, they are called “stamp duties”; when some estate or property change hands or passed on to successors, it is called “Succession or death duty” or “estate duty” and so on.

The duty in simple words can be described as on-border tax charged on goods (commodities, or things that you can physically touch) either while coming into the country or going out of the country. Generally, a percentage of the value of the good.Eg. Customs duties, Export duties etc. are levied as duty. The duty is levied at the time of entry or exit into/from the country or from factory within the country; at the time of change of hands in the case of a property.

Cess: This is a tax on tax, levied by the govt. for a specific purpose. Generally, cess is expected to be levied till the time the govt. gets enough money for that purpose. The education cess, that is levied currently, is meant to finance basic education in the country.

*****