DAILY PRELIMS BOOSTER 2nd FEBRUARY 2022

Special Economic Zones: An SEZ is a territory within a country that is typically duty-free (Fiscal Concession) and has different business and commercial laws chiefly to encourage investment and create employment. SEZs are created also to better administer these areas, thereby increasing the ease of doing business. Objectives of the SEZ Act: To create additional economic activity. To boost the export of goods and services. To generate employment. To boost domestic and foreign investments. To develop infrastructure facilities.

Zero budget natural farming: It is a unique model that relies on Agro-ecology. It aims to bring down the cost of production to nearly zero and return to a pre-green revolution style of farming. It claims that there is no need for expensive inputs such as fertilisers, pesticides and intensive irrigation. ZBNF is based on 4 pillars:

Jeevamrutha: It is a mixture of fresh cow dung and aged cow urine (both from India’s indigenous cow breed), jaggery, pulse flour, water and soil; to be applied on farmland.

Bijamrita: It is a concoction of neem leaves & pulp, tobacco and green chilies prepared for insect and pest management, that can be used to treat seeds.

Acchadana (Mulching): It protects topsoil during cultivation and does not destroy it by tilling.

Whapasa: It is the condition where there are both air molecules and water molecules present in the soil. Thereby helping in reducing irrigation requirement.

Green Bond: A green bond is a debt instrument with which capital is being raised to fund ‘green’ projects, which typically include those relating to renewable energy, clean transportation, sustainable water management etc.

Blockchain technology: is a technology that leads to a chain of blocks, containing digital information stored in a public database. It is a distributed database existing on multiple computers at the same time, which constantly grows as new sets of recordings or blocks are added to it.

Employee stock option: An employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) is a type of employee benefit plan which is intended to encourage employees to acquire stocks or ownership in the company. Under these plans, the employer gives certain stocks of the company to the employee for negligible or less costs which remain in the ESOP trust fund, until the options vests and the employee exercises them or the employee leaves/retires from the company or institution. These plans are aimed at improving the performance of the company and increasing the value of the shares by involving stock holders, who are also the employees, in the working of the company. The ESOPs help in minimizing problems related to incentives.

Alternative Minimum Tax: Minimum Alternate Tax is applied when the taxable income calculated according to the I-T Act provisions is found to be less than 15.5 per cent (plus surcharge and cess as applicable) of the book profit under the Companies Act, 2013.

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