The 37thGST Council met in Goa today under the Chairmanship of Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman . The meeting was also attended by Union Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs Shri Anurag Thakur besides Chief Minister of Goa Shri Pramod Sawant, Finance Ministers of States & UTs and seniors officers of the Ministry of Finance .
The GST Council, in its meeting recommended the following Law & Procedure related changes : Relaxation in filing of annual returns for MSMEs for FY 2017-18 and FY 2018-19 as under: waiver of the requirement of filing FORM GSTR-9A for Composition Taxpayers for the said tax periods; and
filing of FORM GSTR-9 for those taxpayers who (are required to file the said return but) have aggregate turnover up to Rs. 2 crores made optional for the said tax periods. A Committee of Officers to be constituted to examine the simplification of Forms for Annual Return and reconciliation statement. Extension of last date for filing of appeals against orders of Appellate Authority before the GST Appellate Tribunal as the Appellate Tribunals are yet not functional.
In order to nudge taxpayers to timely file their statement of outward supplies, imposition of restrictions on availment of input tax credit by the recipients in cases where details of outward supplies are not furnished by the suppliers in the statement under section 37 of the CGST Act, 2017. New return system now to be introduced from April, 2020 (earlier proposed from October, 2019), in order to give ample opportunity to taxpayers as well as the system to adapt and accordingly specifying the due date for furnishing of return in FORM GSTR-3B and details of outward supplies in FORM GSTR-1 for the period October, 2019 - March, 2020. Issuance of circulars for uniformity in application of law across all jurisdictions:
procedure to claim refund in FORM GST RFD-01A subsequent to favourable order in appeal or any other forum; eligibility to file a refund application in FORM GST RFD-01A for a period and category under which a NIL refund application has already been filed; and clarification regarding supply of Information Technology enabled Services (ITeS services) (in supersession of Circular No. 107/26/2019-GST dated 18.07.2019) being made on own account or as intermediary.
Rescinding of Circular No.105/24/2019-GST dated 28.06.2019, ab-initio, which was issued in respect of post-sales discount. Suitable amendments in CGST Act, UTGST Act, and the corresponding SGST Acts in view of creation of UTs of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. Integrated refund system with disbursal by single authority to be introduced from 24th September, 2019.
In principle decision to link Aadhar with registration of taxpayers under GST and examine the possibility of making Aadhar mandatory for claiming refunds. In order to tackle the menace of fake invoices and fraudulent refunds, in principle decision to prescribe reasonable restrictions on passing of credit by risky taxpayers including risky new taxpayers.
Note: The recommendations of the GST Council have been presented in this release in simple language only for immediate information of all stakeholders. The same would be given effect through relevant Circulars/Notifications which alone shall have the force of law.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, thanked Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for conferring upon him Global Goalkeepers Goals Award 2019. He also said that, over the last five years India has taken many efforts to improve cleanliness and sanitation, fulfilling Gandhi Ji's dream of a Swachh Bharat.
Key findings: This change in vegetation will result in loss of water sources and is already leading to massive landslides. Invasive species like eucalyptus, tea plantations and wattle and naturalised alien species like Lantana camara, Opuntia stricta, Chromolaena odorata, Parthenium hysterophorus and Senna spectabilis have had a serious impact on the Shola forest and grasslands.
What are Shola Grasslands? The Shola vegetation are tropical montane forests found in the Western Ghats separated by rolling grasslands in high altitudes.
Shola grasslands consist of dwarf trees growing 25-30 feet. It is a stunted forest growths of diverse grass species. Vegetation is double layered storey with closed canopy which hardly permits a single ray of sunlight to penetrate in the natural vegetation. Nilgiris upper region is classified as southern grassland mountain grassland. Between 1973-2014 Shola grasslands area had seen a 66.7% decline.
Significance: The Shola forests and associated grasslands store large quantities of water on the mountain ranges, thus serving as huge `water harvesting and storage structures.
Many of the rivers in Kerala and Tamil Nadu originate from the Shola grasslands and were perennial. With depletion of Sholas and other forests, the streams that supply water to them dry up in summer. They are rich store houses of biodiversity and also home to extremely rich wildlife.
Concerns: Shola grasslands which are critical habitats for many species, continue to be viewed as lower priority or grassy blanks As grasslands vanish or become more fragmented, local flora and fauna, particularly endemic species such as Nilgiri Pipit, may be under threat. In the Palani hill range of Western Ghats.
Threats: The Forest Departments of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, besides private planters, were responsible for large-scale destruction of Sholas during the past two centuries Expanding agriculture – agriculture and fallow land have increased three times to 100 sq.km. in the past four decades. The spread of invasive species like acacia have eaten into as much as two-thirds of natural grasslands.
Fire is also one of the major factor which not only depletes undergrowth but also facilitates the seed germination of fast invading, weed plants by breaking seed dormancy. Development of tourism in places such as Udhagamandalam, Ponmudi (Thiruvananthapuram district) and Munnar is also leading to destruction of Shola grasslands.
Need for conservation: Shola is a very sensitive type of vegetation. Once it vanishes from its original habitat, it is very difficult to make it reappear in view of the change in climate which does not allow shola seedling to grow in open grasslands.
Context: A 74-year-old woman from Andhra Pradesh was recently recorded as the oldest in the world to give birth to twins through in-vitro fertilisation or IVF. However, the medical community has expressed ethical and medical concerns over conception at such an advanced age.
Why this is a concern? The average life expectancy of an Indian woman is 70 and of a man 69, and the medical community has expressed concerns over future of children born to such an elderly couple. There are complications that can risk human life.
Concerns associated: Pregnancy in old age poses multiple risks — hypertension, diabetes, convulsions, bleeding, and cardiac complications to name a few. The womb of an older woman has to be prepared by injecting hormones for the foetus to grow for nine months. Also, a woman of that age cannot breastfeed.
How is it regulated? Globally, an estimated 15% of couples are infertile. The Assisted Reproductive Technologies (Regulation) Bill, 2010, states that in the Indian social context, children are “old-age insurance”. The Bill proposes the upper age limit at 45 for women and 50 for men to undergo the IVF procedure. As of now, several centres rely on ICMR’s 2017 guidelines that recommend the same age limits.
Even for adoption, the total age of the couple must not exceed 110 years. With increasing life expectancy, doctors are in talks with the government to increase the IVF age limit to 50-52 years for women. Until then, several experts self-regulate, some counsel senior citizens to drop the idea, and others refuse them IVF treatment.
Established in November 1993 as an autonomous society under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India.
Major aim of starting NIOT is to develop reliable indigenous technologies to solve the various engineering problems associated with harvesting of non-living and living resources in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which is about two-thirds of the land area of India.
Waste Management Accelerator for Aspiring Women Entrepreneurs (WAWE Summit 2019): It will be held in November-December 2019. Jointly organized by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Institute of Waste Management (IIWM) at Jaipur.
It will be the largest gathering of young women students to promote entrepreneurship in waste management and providing alternatives to single use plastic carry bags. Theme: Make your own bag – empowering women to take up income generation activity and entrepreneurship in waste management through making a business out of this record creating concept.
Year of Artificial Intelligence: The state government of Telangana has decided to declare 2020 as Year of Artificial Intelligence. Throughout the year 2020, the state government will be running multiple programs, meetings and activities such as hackathons, master classes and other activities.