India Votes For Shifting Global Tax Reins From OECD In The UN

In a major move in the UN, India votes for shifting global tax reins from the OECD. India is among 125 countries that voted in favor of a resolution calling for a UN Tax Convention. It would change the global tax scenario.

UN Global Tax Resolution [Credit-Mylnd.Net]

According to tax experts in India as well as at the global level, It is a historic move in the sense of a more equitable tax system that will shift the reins of decision-making from the OECD.

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WhyIndia Favors Shifting Global Tax Reins From OECD:

The OECD governs the current tax system globally. It is a 38-member group mainly dominated by rich countries, like the US, UK, Netherlands, Switzerland, Japan, France, Germany, etc.

According to Parmod Kumar, former vice president at the income-tax appellate tribunal, the current taxation rules are generally biased towards capital-exporting countries and the OECD perspective and their commentaries.

The OECD Forum [Credit-Finacial Times]

The OECD Forum works on the 'Two Pillar Solution.' Pillar one deals with taxation in the digital economy, the granting of tax rights, and the allocation of profits of MNEs to customer-based countries. Pillar two prescribes an effective minimum tax rate globally.

The OECD has an Inclusive Forum to deal with a range of issues. It is not an inter-governmental body but works together in collaboration with non-OECD member countries.

However, many countries like India have concerns about the method of allocation of profits to source countries under Pillar One. According to experts, the UN Framework could help developing countries get a better say.

The UN Convention on Shifting Global Tax Reins From OECD:

The resolution was passed by the UN General Assembly in a ratio of 125:48 in New York on Wednesday. The OECD member countries voted against the resolution while India, other BRICS nations, Brazil, Russia, and China voted in favor. African nations have tabled the resolution.

The UN Resolution Tabled By African Nations [Credit-Africa Tax Review]

The new UN resolution calls for the creation of an ad-hoc inter-governmental committee. There should be no more than 20 member states while taking into consideration gender and regional balance.

The OECD has an Inclusive Forum to deal with a range of issues. It is not an inter-governmental body but works together in collaboration with non-OECD member countries.

Under the new resolution, there is a two-step taxation formation procedure adopted. The first step is that within a year to reach an agreement on the terms of reference. The second step is to develop a UN Framework Convention on International Tax Co-operation.

A think tank, The Tax Justice Network, has welcomed the UN resolution. It assumed that the world would lose nearly $5 trillion to tax havens over the next decade if the new UN tax convention was not applied.

UN Convention For Global Tax Reins [Credit-Transit magasin]

After the adoption of the new UN tax convention, the inherent bias of current taxation towards the OECD would become much less relevant and provide the way to a new path.

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In the new resolution, a wide range of issues, like aggressive tax avoidance and evasion, illicit financial flows, recovery of stolen assets, and even taxation of the digital economy could be included in the reference term.

According to tax experts, practically the new arrangement will achieve a fair share of taxes to the source jurisdictions. The source jurisdiction means the customers-based approach like India. It would indeed provide the developing world with a global consensus on fair and equitable international tax rules.

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Cash Trapped Pakistan Imposes Exit Fee on Afghan Refugees

A shocking move by the Pakistani authorities, cash-trapped Pakistan now imposes an '$830 exit fee' on Afghan Refugees. The nation has come under fire for this move of imposing an exit fee.

Afghan Refugees pay Exit Fee [Credit-The Guardian]

Afghan Refugees, who left their country in August 2021 from fear of Taliban's persecution, are waiting for the western nations human resetllement schemes. According to sources, each refugee is charged about $830.

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Pakistan's Exit Fee on Afghan Refugees is Shocking and Frustrating:

Western countries' diplomats and the United Nation have condemned the Pakistani move. They described it as "shocking and frustrating." A senior diplomat responded The Guardian question, "I know it is very tough economically for Pakistan but really, to try to make money off refugees is really unattractive." 

 

Western Diplomats and the UN slammed Pak government's Move [Credit-VOA News]

The diplomat further added that the issue has also been raised by the two UN agencies, the UN refugee agency [UNHCR] and the international organization of migration [IOM].

The diplomat also mentioned that it has been raised in capitals and headquarters. I suspect everyone has passed the message and Afghan refugees concerns to their Pakistani counterparts.

Pakistan's Stand on Exit Fee for Afghan Refugees:

Pakistan had set the 1st November deadline for Afghan refugees to leave. After the expiration of the deadline, Pakistan began the mass deportation process of undocumented Afghans.

According to Pakistani authorities, thousands of Afghans with expired visas or incorrect documents have been living in the country since the Taliban took over  power in 2021. These refugees are waiting to restart their work in western countries because most of them are eligible on humanitarian grounds.

Afghan Refugees pay Exit Fee [Credit-BNN Breaking]

According to reports, the UK government has planned to settle 20,000 Afghanis while the Biden-led government in the US has agreed to settle 25,000 Afghans.

As per the Pakistan rules, Afghan refugees can only pay the amount $830 via credit cards. The bitter truth is that maximum refugees do not have access to credit cards. Another diplomat said that we need to adopt the cooperative approach to help refugees.

Even Pakistani official flagged their concerns initially when they were told to charge $1000 but the amount was later reduced to $830. A diplomat added that if Pakistan wants to facilitate the process of settlement of refugees in the west then they should not make it more complicated.

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Piyush Goyal Signs The IPEF Supply Chain Resilience Agreement

Indian Commerce Minister, Piyush Goyal,  has signed one of its kind the IPEF [Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity] Supply Chain Resilience Agreement. He is on a visit of a four-day to the United States. The minister has participated in many events and signed some agreements.

Piyush Goel signs IPEF Agreement [Credit-The Print]

Union Minister signed the first of its kind supply chain resilience agreement in the US. On 13th November, The minister participated in the Investors Round Table. It is organized collectively by the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum and Indiaspora.

Piyush Goyal Signs The IPEF Supply Chain Resilience Agreement:

IPEF is an abbreviation of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity. India has signed the reputed agreement and joined with the US and 12 other Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity partners.

Union Minister said the IPEF supply chain resilience agreement will "fortify and strengthen" the global supply chain. Other signatory countries are Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Fiji Indonesia, Japan, The Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

About The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity [IPEF] Agreement:

The IPEF global supply chain resilience could be a countermeasure of massive supply reliance on China. The world has faced severe supply disruptions, especially during the Covid wave.

IPEF Supply Chain Resilience Agreement Released [Credit-East Asia Forum]

Under the agreement, the IPEF partners will provide a framework for a collective understanding of significant supply chain risks, like improving crisis coordination and response to supply chain disruptions. 

The framework agreement will also ensure that a sufficient number of skilled workers and businesses, especially micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises benefit from robust, resilient, and efficient supply chains. It will focus on upskilling and reskilling of workers.

Piyush Goyal Described First-of-Its-Kind International Agreement:

The Minister wrote a post on X after signing the agreement, " First of its kind international agreement will fortify and strengthen the global supply chain." He also thanked his US counterpart Gina Raimondo for her leadership and personal commitment towards a more resilient future.

The IEPF was launched on May 23, 2022, in Tokyo, Japan last year. According to the US Department of Commerce, there have been server IPEF ministerial statements that worked constructively. There have been four rounds of in-person negotiations and several virtual meetings held.

Summit for IPEF Agreement [Credit-Nikkei Asia]

The Commerce and Industry Minister visited the Tesla Factory Unit in Fremont and interacted with the senior officials of the company. The Minister stated that the US electric car maker is on its way to double its component imports from India.

He wrote on X that "delighted" to see Indian engineers and finance professionals working in senior positions and contributing to Tesla's pioneering journey.

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India's Diplomatic Move Followed Against Canada In The UNHRC

India's diplomatic move followed by other nations to recommend Canada strengthen measures that prevent attacks on worship places and effectively address hate speech. The initiative took place during the UN Human Rights Council Review meeting.

UNHRC Meeting [Credit-UN Web]

Diplomats from India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka shared their insights and recommendations and presented the proposals during the meeting. Indian diplomat noted and shared the issues of the National Housing Strategy Act and the Accessible Canada Act.  

India's Diplomatic Move Followed:

Indian Diplomat Mohammed Hussain said during the meeting that Canada should further strengthen the domestic framework to prevent misuse of freedom of expression, inciting violence, and disallow activities promoting extremism, and hate crimes against places of worship, and minorities.

Indian Diplomat at the UNHRC Meeting [Credit-The Print]

"We note the enactment of the National Housing Strategy Act, Accessible Canada Act, and National strategy to combat human trafficking.”

Other than Indian diplomat, Bangladesh diplomat Abdullah Al Forhad urged Canada to intensify its efforts to combat racism, hate speech, hate crimes, and discrimination against migrants and Muslim minorities. 

Bangladesh also called on Canada to take measures to reduce carbon emissions and address the negative impacts of climate change. However, Al Forhad commended Canada's progress in the protection of human rights and combating human trafficking.

Sri Lankan diplomat Thilini Jayasekara also urged Canada to agree to the Convention on the Protection of Rights of All Migrant Workers in spirit and words. Take essential steps to combat racial discrimination, oppose misinformation against minorities, and follow up on global human rights recommendations.

Tussle In India-Canada Relations:

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau accused India of violating the Vienna Convention in September this year. During the ongoing diplomatic crisis, India forced the Canadian authorities to move out their 40 diplomats.

Tussle in India-Canada Relations [Credit-The Wire]

Trudeau spoke out to the media that if bigger countries can violate international law without consequences, then the whole world gets more dangerous for everyone. He further added we reached out to our friends and allies, like the US, to work on this serious violation.

India has rejected Canada's accusation and made it clear that this is not India's way of functioning. New Delhi has provided evidence to Canada how their soil has been a safe haven for terrorists and urged them to act against those. 

India suspended visa services in Canada in September which has now been partially restored. India also accused Canadian diplomats of interfering in India's internal matters and shifted 40 of them.

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The India-US 2+2 Strategic Dialogue and Deepening Relationship

The India-US 2+2 Strategic Dialogue held in New Delhi has 'great significance' regarding the 'volatile' global scenario. The meeting emphasized playing a critical role in upholding international law and providing humanitarian assistance by the world's biggest and grande democracies. 

The India-US 2+2 Summit [Credit-City Times]

India's Defence Secretary touched on the utmost importance points of the India-US partnership. He said peace and stability in the immediate neighborhood and the connected regions are on the priority list.        

The India-US 2+2 Strategic Dialogue Signs Depth in Relationship:

The India-US defense cooperation has become a 'Rock Solid Support.' It shows the depth of bilateral relations between the two countries. The meeting is attended by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh along with their US counterparts. 

The US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin addressed the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue at the Hyderabad House in the national capital.

The India-US 2+2 Strategic Dialogue Strengthen Defence Partnership:

The US Secretary of Defence Austin said the defense partnership between both countries has made tremendous forward strides in the past years including the US-India Defence Industrial Cooperation Roadmap. 

Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said during a media briefing that the meeting underscored the 'potential collaboration' in emerging domains for civilian commercial use as well as for strategic use.

Mr. Rajnath Singh with Mr. Austin [Credit-TOI]

Mr. Singh said,

 "In essence, the defense cooperation has become a rock-solid support for the bilateral relations between the two countries. The potential collaboration in emerging domains for the civilian commercial... How the defense industries can intersect each other's interests and promote each other in this particular context of strong bilateral ties was also a matter of great focus." 

India's Defense Secretary recalled PM Modi's US visit this June. He said the visit initiated new steps between the two countries and called the 2+2 dialogue a 'Continuation of Important Steps.' He added that we shared our common and convergent interests with mutual goals.

The US Role in India's Successful G20 Summit:

EAM Jaishankar said that PM Narendra Modi's state visit to the US had opened a new chapter in the India-US relationship. He also mentioned that President Biden's visit to Delhi in September contributed immensely to the positive trajectory of our ties.

President Biden with PM Modi During G20 Summit [Credit-India Today]

Mr. Jaishankar highlighted that the President's support was key to ensuring productive outcomes at the G20 summit. Today's agenda during the dialogue will be an opportunity to advance the vision of our respective leaders. We will focus on building a forward-looking partnership by constructing a shared global agenda. 

Official sources said that an investors meeting between the US and India held on Thursday had a 'very deep dialogue.' The investors and innovators have heart-to-heart talks under the direction of the US-DIU and the DiO of The Ministry of Defence India.

The meeting enabled them to become part of the global supply chain, contributing to the defense industry roadmap with a common vision of a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific and a rule-based global order throughout the seas.

The India-US 2+2 strategic dialogue at the Ministerial-Level is a diplomatic summit held every year since its inception in 2018. The Ministers of External Affairs and Defense from the Indian side and Secretaries of State and Defense from the US side participated.

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Elon Musk Introduced 'Gork' AI Chat Boat For X Users

The tech giant and pioneering entrepreneur Elon Musk introduced 'Gork' an AI Chat Boat Model. Elon also announced that Grok is integrated with the X platform. It is a unique AI model designed to reply to prompts with a dash of humor.

Elon Musk Introduced Chat Boat Gork [Credit-Player.me]

Musk said about the xAI, if you are not a fan of humor, this AI tool may not be your cup of tea. Grok has been designed to leverage real-time knowledge from the X platform that empowers it to tackle even the spiciest of queries. Although the xAI is still in beta, under the two months of belt training, it will refine and expand its capabilities.

The Goal Behind xAI or Grok:

When Elon Musk introduced 'Gork', explained that with the help of Grok, people will understand and learn. The goal of xAI is to help people gain knowledge, understand and learn. 

It is powered by Grok-1 LLM which was developed over four months. Its prototype, Grok-0, was trained with 33 billion parameters whereas its counterpart Meta's LLM was trained with 70 billion parameters.

Capabilities of Grok-1:

Grok-1 showed impressive capabilities by scoring 63.2% on the HumanEval coding task and 73% on MMLU. However, it may not outshine GPT-4 but progressed significantly compared to Grok-0 in a short span.

The Grok-1 performed well on various benchmarks, like MMLU, HumanEval, a Python code generation test, and MATHS which covers middle and high school maths exams.

Elon Musk's Chat Boat Gork [Credit-The Coin Republic]

In another hand-graded test in 2023, the Hungarian national high school finals in mathematics, Gork-1 scored 59% surpassing Claude 2's 55% and GPT-4's 58%.  

The above-given data shows that Grok-1 has comparable power to OpenAI's GPT-3.5 but not as advanced as the latest GPT-4. xAI officials claimed that despite using less training data, Grok-1 can compete with models requiring larger datasets and more computing power.

Training of Grok-1:

According to xAI authorities, Grok-1 is trained using a custom stack based on Kubernetes, Rust, and JAX. The Grok-1 has a real-time internet access design that enables it to provide up-to-date data or information.

Elon Musk Unveils Chat Boat Gork [Credit-Business Today]

However, analysts predict that this design may generate incorrect or contradictory information. x AI is eagerly looking for human feedback to improve its contextual understanding, multi-mode capabilities, and adversarial robustness. 

According to company officials, Elon Musk introduced 'Grok's Beta version is accessible to a limited number of users in the US but it may be available shortly to their X Premium+ subscribers. It would cost $16 per month which is around Rs. 1300 in India so users can enjoy knowledge and humor.

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