The world is struggling to manage its plastic waste. Oceans are brimming with plastic, rivers are getting chocked, animals are dying due to plastic ingestion and we are falling short of land to dump our plastic waste. India, the second most populous country, is struggling with this problem as well. Most states in India have supposedly banned plastic usage. Last month Maharashtra became the 18th state in India to ban the use of plastic.
Ensuring a pollution-free environment and sustainable use of natural resources would significantly address the SDGs
Eighteen states in India have banned the use of plastic, but implementation remains the missing key
Five years ago when Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 was notified along with Schedule VII which included activities that could be included by companies within their Corporate Social Responsibility (“CSR”) Policies, it was met with a fair bit of scepticism. Not many were sure as to how the policy would play out in a jurisdiction which has its own fiscal uncertainties and challenges. More importantly it was anticipated that many would cite information asymmetry as a reason for not spending on CSR in the initial years.
As the Narendra Modi-led NDA government begins its second stint, here are the top five environmental problems it must tackle on a priority basis.
We have been witnessing poor auto sales this year primarily due to the transition from BS-IV to BS-VI but it would not be incorrect to state that the number of vehicles has almost doubled in the last decade and the sector has witnessed a 10% growth rate.
The Competition Act, 2002 (“Competition Act”), which codifies Indian competition law, has now been enforced for over a decade (since May 2009). While we are witnessing the progressive evolution of Indian competition law, consumer claims for compensation for damages for anticompetitive conduct remains uncharted territory. There have been no judgments to date on any compensation claims by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (“NCLAT”).
On April 1, India ushered in a new era of taxation in the digital age. In a significant move to widen its tax net on the digital economy, India announced that an equalisation levy at the rate of 2% will apply to e-commerce sales and services by non-resident operators to Indian customers, among others.
India’s Union Budget for the fiscal 2020-21 was announced in February 2020 and the tax proposals, after undergoing some important changes, were approved by the Indian Parliament and received Presidential assent on March 27, 2020.
