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Coal to Plastic Plus CO2

The world's worst plastic. https://actions.sumofus.org/a/coal-to-plastic  From the world's worst coal. the era of coal-fired power is over. But coal barons are planning to turn their unburnable coal into the dirtiest plastic on earth... Adani Enterprises has submitted plans to build a $4bn plant to convert coal dug from its bitterly opposed mine in Australia and turn it into toxic PVC plastic in India.

The world already has a plastics problem. And a climate crisis. Adani’s idea combines the two -- coal based plastics create triple the greenhouse emissions of conventional plastic.. One oil executive described coal-to-plastics plants as “massive CO₂ machines that make chemicals as a sidestream.”

Adani blasted over ‘toxic’ $4bn plan to use Australian coal to make plastic in India https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jun/17/adani-blasted-over-toxic-4bn-plan-to-use-australian-coal-to-make-plastic-in-india  The company is seeking environmental clearances to build the massive “coal-to-PVC” plant that will take up almost 3 sq km in Mundra, Gujarat..Adani enterprises said the coal will go through several stages of processing, creating calcium carbide and then acetylene, which is further processed to eventually produce PVC.
Environmental campaign group SumOfUs has launched a petition to pressure Adani’s financial backers to withdraw from the group over the coal-to-plastics project.
The group claimed the coal-to-plastics process was emissions intensive, and described the plans as toxic.

Egocracy, Digital Freedom & Data Privacy

Egocracy, Digital Freedom & Data Privacy Parakala Prabhakar​ Jun 15, 2021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-vFCdXwpNs Parakala deals with
1.Indian Government's attempts to throttle our freedom of expression on the digital platforms; (2020 saw 150 internet shutdowns 109 in India https://www.accessnow.org/issue/internet-shutdowns/)
2. the tech companies unbridled collection of our personal data without our consent, ( after rule 21- govt will be prosecutor and judge, will define "public order, security of the State, )
3. the safety of our data in the hands of both government and tech companies.( BN Srikirshna report of july https://prsindia.org/files/bills_acts/bills_parliament/Committee%20Report%20on%20Draft%20Personal%20Data%20Protection%20Bill,%202018.pdf 
Bill not in line with BNK report.. In fact SNk has said that the draft, as it is, is "dangerous" still brought in . Sec25 is a problem..

Meanwhile on the Internaltional front--
India signs statement against ‘politically motivated internet shutdowns’ https://scroll.in/latest/997458/india-signs-statement-against-politically-motivated-internet-shutdowns
India signs statement against ‘politically motivated internet shutdowns’
India on Sunday signed a joint statement by G7 countries on “open societies”, which upholds “human rights for all, both online and offline” and the freedom of expression. The statement referred to “politically motivated internet shutdowns” as one of the threats to freedom and democracy.

However, India is a leading offender in this category. It recorded the highest number of internet shutdowns in the world in 2020, according to a report by digital rights and privacy organisation Access Now on March 3. Of the total 155 internet shutdowns globally, India alone accounted for 109, according to the report. The next highest was Yemen, with six shutdowns, and Ethiopia with four.

India a natural ally of G7 nations, says Modi, calls for ‘democratic values’ in cyberspace  https://scroll.in/latest/997441/india-a-natural-ally-of-g7-nations-says-modi-calls-for-democratic-values-in-cyberspace   Invited as a lead speaker to the session on open societies and economies, Modi stressed on the need to ensure that cyberspace remains an avenue for advancing democratic values and not for subverting it, the prime minister’s office said.

The prime minister called upon technology companies and social media platforms to ensure a safe cyber environment for the users, Additional Secretary (economic relations) of the Foreign Ministry, P Harish, said in a press briefing on the G7 summit. The comments assume significance on the domestic front also, as the Centre and social media companies tussle over the implementation of new information technology rules.

 

For other articles in this blog: http://emeets.lnwr.in/index.php/digital-democracy

To file or not to File

Even though the officially stated  policy is to trust the tax payer, the app has so many cross checks which signify that they dont trust us.  

Most of the errors are because the portal tries to trip you up at every entry. Do you really need to check if a person is "minor" online?  Why cant you just give a message rather than block that entry.  These things can be cleaned up by BOTS/ AI  Algorithms  later... 

I don't understand this obsession in having an completely online system. For example the income tax portal could be de-centralised, where income tax consultants and CAs can have independent hosts based on a platform created by Infosys where every transaction is block chained.. and there is a daily batch processing update of the main portal.  

Plus only minimum verifications/checks need to be piped through the decentralised system.

After that BOT an be made to scrutinise each app, and raise red flags. Customer must be assured that they will get a notification that each red flag will be communicated to them and they given an opportunity to correct their entries, again through the block chained off line systems.

Govt. can encourage young B Coms to set up kiosks, or portable guides, thus creating WFH opportunities

40 issues with the IT portal: https://taxguru.in/income-tax/issues-income-tax-portal-www-incometax-gov-in.html 

Even after a snub from finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the technical issues of this new portal remain unresolved. So much so the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) department had to allow filing form 15CA/15CB (required for foreign remittances) in manual format instead of filing it on the new portal.

Almost every user has been complaining of technical issues from the very first day and even after a week the glitches continue. Taxpayers are unable to view past e-filed returns and many features continue to be displayed as ''coming soon''.https://www.moneylife.in/article/income-tax-new-portal-continues-to-frustrate-users-with-technical-issues/64228.html