Goods and Services Tax:
- GST was introduced through the 101st Constitution Amendment Act, 2016.
- It is an indirect tax on the supply of final goods and services.
- It has subsumed indirect taxes like excise duty, Value Added Tax (VAT), service tax, luxury tax etc.
- It is levied at the final consumption point.
- It is levied only on the value addition.
- It is collected on goods and services at each point of sale in the supply line.
- The GST avoids the cascading effect or tax on tax which increases the tax burden on the end consumer
Nilgiris Elephant Corridor:
- It is situated in the ecologically fragile Sigur plateau.
- It connects the Western and the Eastern Ghats.
- It is situated near the Mudumalai National Park in the Nilgiris district.
- It also has the Nilgiri hills on its southwestern side and the Moyar river valley on its northeastern side.
Asian Elephant:
- There are three subspecies of Asian elephant – the Indian, Sumatran and Sri Lankan.
- The Indian has the widest range and accounts for the majority of the remaining elephants on the continent.
- Common threats to African and Asian elephants: Escalation of poaching, habitat loss, human-elephant conflict and mistreatment in captivity
- IUCN Red List status: (1) African elephants: vulnerable; (2) Asian elephants: endangered.
- CITES status: (1) Appendix I for Asian Elephants; (2) Appendix II for African elephants in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe
Sample Registration System (SRS):
- The SRS is a demographic survey for providing reliable annual estimates of infant mortality rate, birth rate, death rate and other fertility and mortality indicators at the national and sub-national levels.
- Initiated on a pilot basis by the Registrar General of India in a few states in 1964-65, it became fully operational during 1969-70.