DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS

India cut its windfall tax on petroleum crude to 1,700 rupees ($20.53) a tonne from 2,300 rupees a tonne, according to a recent government notification.

Windfall Tax

It is a tax levied by governments against certain industries when economic conditions allow those industries to experience significantly above-average profits.

• The term “windfall” refers to an unexpected rise in profits, and the tax on windfall gains is known as the windfall tax.

When is it imposed?

• • When the government notices a sudden increase in an industry's revenue, they impose this tax.
  • However, these revenues cannot be linked to anything the company actively pursues, such as its business strategy or expansion.
  • Rather, it is related to a one-off external event for which the business is not responsible.
  • Consequently, a Windfall Tax is imposed on an industry's profits when it experiences a sharp increase in revenue due to unrelated external events.
  • A recent example is the sudden rise in the profits of the oil and gas industries due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
  • The unexpected windfalls are taxed by the government over and above the normal tax rates.

The most common industries that fall target to windfall gains tax include oil, gas, and mining.

Purpose:

• • Redistribution of unexpected gains when high prices benefit producers at the expense of consumers;
  • To fund social welfare schemes;
  • As a supplementary revenue stream for the government;
  • As a way for the Government to narrow the country’s widening trade deficit.

A rare and elusive bear, the Tibetan brown bear, has been recently sighted in Sikkim, making it the first confirmed record of the animal being sighted in India.

Tibetan Brown Bear

• The Tibetan brown bear, also known as the Tibetan blue bear, is one of the rarest subspecies of bears in the world and is rarely sighted in the wild.
• Scientific Name: Ursus arctos pruinosus
• Distribution:
  • Historically found mainly on the alpine eastern Tibetan plateau (4,500 to 5,000 metres) in eastern Tibet, western China, Nepal, and Bhutan.
  • Remaining bears in the wild seem to be confined to eastern Tibet and Bhutan.
• Habitat: It inhabits alpine forests, meadows, and steppes, close to the tree line.
• This rare bear is very different from the more commonly found Himalayan black bear in terms of its appearance, habitat, and behaviour.
• Features:
  • It has shaggy, dark brown to black fur, a cream to cinnamon face, and a white collar that broadens from the shoulders to the chest.
  • It has small ears covered with long black fur.
  • Lifespan: around 20 to 30 years.
  • Its sense of smell is much more acute than its hearing and sight.
  • They are solitary, but the territories between two Himalayan brown bears have been seen to overlap. They are one of the most terrestrial of the bears.
  • It feeds on marmots and alpine vegetation.

Conservation Status:

• • IUCN Red List: Least Concern
  • CITES: Appendix I
  • Wildlife Protection Act of 1972: Schedule II

Recently, a photographer has spotted an extremely rare all-white Gentoo penguin in Chilean Antarctica.

Gentoo penguin

It is exclusively found in the Southern Hemisphere between 45 and 65 degrees south latitude.

• Within this range, gentoos are found on the Antarctic Peninsula as well as many sub-Antarctic islands.
• One of the most predominant locations gentoos inhabit is the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean.

Habitat: Gentoo penguins typically are found along the shoreline. This allows the penguins to be able to quickly access food while remaining close to their nest.

• The major difference between gentoo penguins and other penguin species are their head markings.
• Gentoos feature two white wedges around their eyes that are connected by a medium-sized line across the tops of their heads.
• Their heads are mostly covered in black feathers but small flecks of white feathers can also be found.
• Conservation Status
  • IUCN Red List: Least Concern

Falkland Islands?

It is an internally self-governing overseas territory of the United Kingdom in the South Atlantic Ocean. It lies about 300 miles (480 km) northeast of the southern tip of South America and a similar distance east of the Strait of Magellan.

Scientists recently discovered a new species of fungus in Kerala, named ‘Paramyrothecium indicum’.

Paramyrothecium indicum

• It is a new species of phytopathogenic fungus.
• Phytopathogens are parasites surviving on a plant host.
• Most of Paramyrothecium are phytopathogens.
• They are responsible for “serious plant diseases which might negatively affect crop productivity.
• Paramyrothecium leaf spots are a type of fungal disease that can affect a variety of plants.
• Some species of Paramyrothecium produce secondary metabolites with bio-herbicidal potentials” and, therefore, may find application in controlling weeds.

Key Facts about Fungi

• Fungi, along with Animalia (animals), Plantae (plants), Protista, Archaea/Archaebacteria, and Bacteria or Eubacteria, form the six ‘kingdoms’ of biology.
• Fungi includes the yeasts, rusts, smuts, mildews, molds, and mushrooms.
• They are eukaryotic organisms, i.e., their cells contain membrane-bound organelles and clearly defined nuclei.
• Reproduction: Fungi usually reproduce both sexually and asexually.
• Distribution:
  • Fungi are either terrestrial or aquatic, the latter living in freshwater or marine environments.
  • They are found in all temperate and tropical regions of the world where there is sufficient moisture to enable them to grow.
• A group called the decomposers grows in the soil or on dead plant matter, where they play an important role in the cycling of carbon and other elements.
• Some are parasites of plants causing diseases such as mildews, rusts, scabs, or canker. In crops, fungal diseases can lead to significant monetary losses for the farmer.
• A very small number of fungi cause diseases in animals. In humans, these include skin diseases such as athletes’ foot, ringworm, and thrush.
• Fungi are essential to many household and industrial processes, notably the making of bread, wine, beer, and certain cheeses.

Protista?

Protists are a group of all the eukaryotes that are not fungi, animals, or plants. As a result, it is a very diverse group of organisms. The eukaryotes that make up this kingdom, Kingdom Protista, do not have much in common besides a relatively simple organization. Protists can look very different from each other. Some are tiny and unicellular, like an amoeba, and some are large and multicellular, like seaweed.

• MV Vasiliy Golovnin, an expedition vessel chartered by India, commenced its journey recently.
• The journey is from Cape Town to Antarctica for the 43^rd Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica (ISEA) Voyage.

The expedition includes 21 members from India, two from Mauritius, and one from Bangladesh.

• Moradabad brass is a small-scale, low-technology industry that has been growing since the early 19^th century.
• Moradabad city is known as the "City of Brass" or Pital Nagri for its large-scale brass works.
• It was established in 1600 by Murad, the son of the Mughal Emperor Shahjahan, as a result the city came to known as Moradabad.

The British took the art to foreign markets in the early 19th century.