Daily Quiz 6 September 2023

Explanation:

Union Finance Minister said cryptocurrencies, drug mafias, tax havens and cyber intrusions posed major threats to the global financial ecosystem and a global collaborative effort was needed to counter such challenges.

• Option (3) is the correct answer: A Tax Haven, in short, can be defined as a country/place/jurisdiction where the rate of taxation is very low. This low rate of taxation usually varies from 2% to sometimes as low as 0.02%. A shell corporation/company is a corporation without active business operations or significant assets. Establishing shell companies (also known as “letterbox” companies) in tax havens is a common practice. These companies often exist only on paper and serve as a legal entity to hold assets or conduct business transactions while obscuring the actual owners. It also serves as the main parent company’s bankruptcy-remote and has its own assets and liabilities. These types of corporations are not all necessarily illegal, but they are sometimes used illegitimately, such as to disguise business ownership from law enforcement or the public.

Explanation:

• Statement 1 is incorrect: GAAR is a concept which generally empowers the Revenue Authority in a country to deny tax benefit of transactions or arrangements which do not have any commercial substance and the only purpose of such a transaction is achieving the tax benefit. India implemented the GAAR (General Anti-Avoidance Rules) under the Income Tax Act in 2014. However, due to various problems, GAAR was implemented as late as the 2018-19 financial year and finds itself in Chapter X-A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 of India.
• Statement 2 is correct: India has also successfully implemented the Equalization Levy to all business transactions irrespective of a corporation’s Permanent Establishment (PE). India introduced ‘Equalisation Levy 2.0’ (EL 2.0) vide Finance Act 2020, beginning 1 April 2020. As a result of this, any corporation that has incorporated itself in a tax haven but engages in regular transactions with entities in India will be charged a fee (Equalization Levy) for doing the same. Many other countries have followed India’s footsteps and have implemented the Equalisation Levy for business transactions.

Explanation:

• Option (4) is correct: Greece is bordered to the east by the Aegean Sea, to the south by the Mediterranean Sea, and to the west by the Ionian Sea. It lies at the juncture of Europe, Asia, and Africa and is heir to the heritages of Classical Greece, the Byzantine Empire, and nearly four centuries of Ottoman Turkish rule. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a war memorial located in Syntagma Square in Athens, Greece. It is dedicated to Greek soldiers who lost their lives in various wars. The tomb serves as a symbol of remembrance and honour for the sacrifices made by anonymous soldiers. It was sculpted between 1930 and 1932 by sculptor Fokion Rok. Recently, the Indian PM paid tribute at the ‘Tomb of Unknown Soldier’ in Athens.

Explanation:

The Arctic Dipole, also known as the Dipole Anomaly, is a climatic pattern characterized by variations in atmospheric pressure in the Arctic region.

• Statement 1 is incorrect: The positive phase of the Arctic Dipole is characterized by high pressure centered over the Canadian sector of the Arctic producing clockwise winds, and low pressure over the Siberian Arctic, with counterclockwise winds. This specific wind configuration affects upper ocean currents and has a wide-ranging influence, from air temperatures to sea-ice drift, heat exchanges, and even ecological implications.
• Statement 2 is incorrect: The negative phase of the Arctic Dipole is characterized by low atmospheric pressure over the Canadian Arctic and high atmospheric pressure over the Siberian Arctic. The Arctic dipole follows a roughly 15-year cycle, and the study suggested that the current “positive” phase, in place since 2007, is nearing its end.

Explanation:

Sanatan Dharma is a Sanskrit term that can be translated variously as “eternal religion” or “eternal law”, “unshakeable, venerable order”, or “ancient and continuing guideline”. As per Mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik, the word sanatan was started being used in the Bhagavad Gita, and refers to knowledge of the soul, which is eternal. One can say that Sanatan Dharma refers to eternal religions which believe in soul and rebirth.

• Statement 1 is correct: Although the term is most commonly associated with Hinduism, it is also used by Jains and Buddhists because these religions also believe in rebirth.
• Statement 2 is correct: It is not used for religions that believe in one life, that is Judaism, Christianity and Islam, which come from the Middle East.
• Statement 3 is correct: It is only more recently, particularly since the late 19th century, that Sanatan Dharma has been used to signify Hinduism as a religion, distinct from other religions. It is used to evoke a certain homogeneity in Hinduism, without specifying how exactly that homogeneity is constituted.