Daily Current Affairs – 21st October 2022

Physical Inactivity, Neglected Burdon on Economy

Global status report on physical activity is WHO’s first dedicated global assessment of global progress on country implementation of policy recommendations of the Global Action Plan on Physical Activity (GAPPA) 2018-2030.

What are the findings of the report?

Poor physical activity standards: Over 80 per cent adolescents and 27 per cent adults do not meet the physical activity standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO), according to a new report.

developing non-communicable diseases: This will lead to 500 million additional people developing non-communicable diseases from 2020-2030 and cost the global economy $27 billion annually, it added.

How physical Inactivity impacts health and Economy?

Sedentary lifestyle of a large share of the global population has been linked to rising prevalence of heart diseases, obesity, diabetes or other noncommunicable diseases.

Hypertension and depression: Of the 500 million new cases projected, nearly half will be attributed to hypertension and 43 per cent to depression, the authors of the report said.

A strain on the health systems: The report quantified the economic burden of not being able to meet the GAPPA target. The sharp rise in non-communicable diseases will also put a strain on the health systems in every country.

Rising cost of treatment: If the current prevalence of physical inactivity doesn’t change, the world will incur treatment costs of just over $300 billion till 2030, the report mentioned.

70 per cent of health-care expenditure: The largest economic cost is set to occur among high-income countries, according to the analysis. This will account for 70 per cent of health-care expenditure on treating illness resulting from physical inactivity, it showed.

Around 75 per cent of the cases will occur in low- and middle-income countries, it added.

What are the government efforts to address the physical inactivity menace?

National physical activity policy: less than half the countries in the world have any national physical activity policy, showed the analysis of 194 countries by WHO published October 19, 2022.

National policies are in operation: Less than 40 per cent of the existing national policies are in operation, the United Nations health agency noted in the Global status report on physical activity 2022.

Monitor physical activity among adolescents: As many as 75 per cent of countries monitor physical activity among adolescents, and less than 30 per cent monitor physical activity in children under 5 years.

Lack of public Infrastructure: The report highlighted that data regarding progress on certain policy actions is missing. These include provision of public open space, provision of walking and cycling infrastructure, provision of sport and physical education in schools.

National physical activity guidelines: only 30 per cent of countries have national physical activity guidelines for all age groups, according to the findings of the report.

What are the Recommendations of WHO?

Exercise benefits mental and physical health: Light exercise and even walking has proven benefits for mental and physical health, studies have shown.

Infrastructural changes by governments: Citizens cannot make healthier lifestyle choices without infrastructural changes by governments such as safe walking and cycling lanes. “In policy areas that could encourage active and sustainable transport, only just over 40% of countries have road design standards that make walking and cycling safer,” the WHO analysts found.

Five ways to address the policy gaps:

Strengthen whole-of-government ownership and political leadership

Integrate physical activity into relevant policies and support policy implementation with practical tools and guidance

Strengthen partnerships, engage communities and build capacity in people

Reinforce data systems, monitoring, and knowledge translation

Secure sustainable funding and align with national policy commitments

Four areas of policy intervention:

Active societies,

active environments,

active people and

active systems.

Government of India’s efforts to promote physical activity

FIT India Movement: FIT INDIA Movement was launched on 29th August 2019 by Honorable Prime Minister with a view to make fitness an integral part of our daily lives. The mission of the Movement is to bring about behavioral changes and move towards a more physically active lifestyle.

Objectives of Fit India: Fit India proposes to undertake various initiatives and conduct events to achieve the following objectives:

To promote fitness as easy, fun and free.

To spread awareness on fitness and various physical activities that promote fitness through focused campaigns.

To encourage indigenous sports.

To make fitness reach every school, college/university, panchayat/village, etc.

To create a platform for citizens of India to share information, drive awareness and encourage sharing of personal fitness stories.

PM launches Mission LiFE

Prime Minister, in the presence of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, launched ‘Mission LiFE’ (Lifestyle For Environment).

What is Mission LiFE?

NITI Aayog has conceptualized the idea of mission LiFE.

It states that the aim of the mission is to follow a three-pronged strategy for changing our collective approach toward sustainability.

PM elaborated that Mission LiFE emboldens the spirit of the P3 model i.e. Pro Planet People.

The approach of LiFe campaign includes:

Focus on individual behaviours: To make life a mass movement (Jan Andolan).

Co-create globally: Crowdsourcing empirical and scalable ideas

Leverage Local Cultures: Leverage climate-friendly social norms and beliefs of different cultures worldwide to drive the campaign

Understanding Sustainable living

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the global authority that sets environmental agenda and promotes the implementation of environmental dimension of sustainable development.

UNEP says that as the population of the world is increasing the demand for food, fashion, travel, housing, etc also increases.

Hence, a sustainable living approach is necessary to make a balance between the needs of the present generation with that of the future.

Sustainable living means acknowledging day-to-day life choices and reflecting if there can be alternatives that may impact the environment less.

Forest Conservation Rules infringe upon Land Rights of Tribals: NCST

The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) has asked the Centre to put the new Forest Conservation Rules, 2022, on hold.

What are the Forest Conservation Rules?

The Forest Conservation Rules deal with the implementation of the Forest Conservation Act (FCA), 1980.

They prescribe the procedure to be followed for forest land to be diverted for non-forestry uses such as road construction, highway development, railway lines, and mining.

The broad aims of the FCA are:

To protect forest and wildlife

Put brakes on State governments’ attempts to hive off forest land for commercial projects and

Striving to increase the area under forests

How does it work?

For forest land beyond five hectares, approval for diverting land must be given by the Central government.

This is via a specially constituted committee, called the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC).

The FAC approval also means that the future users of the land must provide compensatory land for afforestation as well as pay the net present value (ranging between ₹10-15 lakh per hectare.)

What do the updated rules say?

The new rules aims to streamline the process of approvals.

The rules make a provision for private parties to cultivate plantations and sell them as land to companies who need to meet compensatory forestation targets.

This aims to help increase forest cover as well as solve the problems of the States of not finding land within their jurisdiction for compensatory purposes.

Why in news now?

The point of contention flagged by NCST is- the new rules has no word for what happens to tribals and forest-dwelling communities whose land would be hived off for developmental work.

Prior to the updated rules, state bodies would forward documents to the FAC that would also include information on the status of whether the forest rights of locals in the area were settled.

What are Gift Taxes?

The Supreme Court recently ruled that shares within the lock-in period are not ‘quoted shares’, and thus they need to be valued as ‘unquoted shares’ to determine the gift tax liability.

What are quoted and unquoted shares?

According to the Wealth Tax Act, ‘quoted share’ in relation to an equity share or a preference share means a share quoted on any recognised stock exchange with regularity from time to time.

The quotations of such shares are based on current transactions made in the ordinary course of business.

An ‘unquoted share’ is simply a share that is not a quoted share.

So according to the SC order, if the locked-in shares of the promoter falls in the ‘unquoted share’ category, their price treatment can’t be that of the ‘quoted shares’, and so gift tax will not be applicable.

What are Gift Taxes?

Gift tax is a provision introduced by the Parliament of India in 1958.

It was introduced to impose tax on giving and receiving gifts under certain circumstances which is specified under the act.

These gifts can be in any form including cash, jewellery, property, shares, vehicle, etc.

Gift Tax on Transfers

The gift tax is also applicable on certain transfers that is not considered as a gift.

The transfer of existing movable or immovable property in money or money’s worth qualifies for gift tax.

Certain exemptions

Though gift tax is applicable on gifts whose value exceeds Rs.50,000, the gift is exempted from tax if it was given by a relative.

The income tax rule specifies who can be considered as a relative and the list is mentioned below.

Parent

Spouse

Siblings

Spouse’s siblings

Lineal descendants

Lineal descendants of the spouse

Listed below are other situations in which the gift will be exempted from tax.

Gifts received during weddings are usually exempted from tax.

Gifts received as part of inheritance is exempted from tax.

Cash or rewards received by local authorities or educational institutions on the basis of merit is exempted from tax.