States reject Centre’s Goods & Services Tax Bill

The States have rejected the draft Bill for the Goods and Services Tax (GST), dealing a major blow to the Centre’s resolve to roll it out at the earliest.

At a meeting of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers, the States opposed the draft Bill and its proposal to extend the GST to petroleum goods and entry tax.

Areas of conflict:

• Consensus eludes the Centre and the States on the three main issues of compensation, petrol tax and entry tax.

Demands by the States:

• The GST will subsume all excise and service taxes. The States want compensation from the Centre for the revenues they will lose over five years from the shift to the GST regime.
• They want a clause on the compensation to be inserted into the Bill. The Centre’s proposed draft does not have such a provision at present.

The Union government has agreed that its share of the revenue from the GST would go to the pool of tax revenues devolved to the States.

GST:The goods and services tax (GST) is a comprehensive value-added tax (VAT) on goods and services. It is an indirect tax levy on manufacture, sale and consumption of goods as well as services at a national level.

GST is essentially a tax on value addition, and there is seamless transfer of input tax credit across the value chain.

Under GST, the taxation burden will be divided equitably between manufacturing and services, through a lower tax rate by increasing the tax base and minimizing exemptions. Currently, a manufacturer needs to pay tax when a finished product moves out from a factory, and it is again taxed at the retail outlet when sold.

Benefits:

• GST will be is levied only at the destination point, and not at various points (from manufacturing to retail outlets).
• It is estimated that India will gain $15 billion a year by implementing the Goods and Services Tax as it would promote exports, raise employment and boost growth.
• It is expected to help build a transparent and corruption-free tax administration.
• In the GST system, both Central and State taxes will be collected at the point of sale. Both components (the Central and State GST) will be charged on the manufacturing cost. This will benefit individuals as prices are likely to come down. Lower prices will lead to more consumption, thereby helping companies.
• It is also expected that introduction of GST will foster a common or seamless Indian market and contribute significantly to the growth of the economy.
• GST will broaden the tax base, and result in better tax compliance due to a robust IT infrastructure. Due to the seamless transfer of input tax credit from one stage to another in the chain of value addition, there is an in-built mechanism in the design of GST that would incentivize tax compliance by traders.

 CASCADING EFFECT OF TAX

GST around the world:

France was the first country to introduce this system in 1954. Today, it has spread to over 140 countries.

Then, why are the states opposing?

Some States fear that if the uniform tax rate is lower than their existing rates, it will hit their revenues.

HORNBILL FESTIVAL

 
It is the biggest indigenous festival and the annual tourism promotional event of the Nagaland government. It is organized by the Government of Nagaland. It is celebrated every year in the first week of December.

Why?

• To encourage inter-tribal interaction and to promote cultural heritage of Nagaland.

More details:

• The Festival is named after the hornbill, the globally respected bird and which is displayed in folklore in most of the state’s tribes.
• The program unites all the people of Nagaland and showcases different traditional arts which include paintings, sculptures and wood carvings.
• It is the coming together of all the elements that make up the total Nagaland. The Hornbill festival is a collaborative celebration of all Naga tribes at one venue and has been coined as “Festival of Festivals”.
• The Festival is a tribute to the great “Hornbill” which is the most admired and revered bird for the Nagas, for its qualities of alertness and grandeur. The Majestic bird is closely identified with the social and cultural life of the Nagas, as reflected in various tribal folklores, dances and songs. The awe and admiration for the bird is symbolically displayed on almost all tribal traditional headgears worn during the festival and is indicative of the commonness of the Nagas.
• The Hornbill Festival of Nagaland is a cultural extravaganza to revive, protect and preserve the richness and uniqueness of the Naga heritage, while for the visitors to this event, it is a means for comprehensive understanding of the Naga People, their land and culture.
• Since 2007, International cultural troupes have been taking part in it and it is slowly turning out to be an international event.

Universal Account Number

The Universal Account Number (UAN) has been designed to be an umbrella number of a member for all his employment with different establishments in organized sector.

Why was it introduced?

• To provide one number to the Employees’ Provident Fund member for all his employments with different employers.

How will this help?

• Earlier, whenever Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) member changed his job, he had to transfer his Provident Fund accumulations to his new Provident Fund number. With the introduction of UAN number, now, member has to give his UAN number to his present employer for linking his previous Provident Fund accounts with his present Provident Fund membership.

This would benefit the members initially in the following ways:

• The member can get this updated Provident Fund balance through Universal Account Number (UAN) based member portal.
• The system would enable portability of Provident Fund accumulations when the details of bank account, Aadhar and PAN seeded in UAN database of member are verified by employer on change of job.
• The member would get message on his mobile number about the receipt of his PF contribution if he has registered his mobile number on Universal Account Number (UAN) based member portal.

Avian influenza

Key facts

• Avian influenza (AI), commonly called bird flu, is an infectious viral disease of birds.
• Most avian influenza viruses do not infect humans; however some, such as A(H5N1) and A(H7N9), have caused serious infections in people.
• Outbreaks of AI in poultry may raise global public health concerns and their pandemic potential.
• Reports of highly pathogenic AI epidemics in poultry, such as A(H5N1), can seriously impact local and global economies and international trade.
• The majority of human cases of A(H5N1) and A(H7N9) infection have been associated with direct or indirect contact with infected live or dead poultry.
• There is no evidence that the disease can be spread to people through properly cooked food.
• Controlling the disease in animals is the first step in decreasing risks to humans.

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• Avian influenza (AI) is an infectious viral disease of birds (especially wild water fowl such as ducks and geese), often causing no apparent signs of illness. AI viruses can sometimes spread to domestic poultry and cause large-scale outbreaks of serious disease. Some of these AI viruses have also been reported to cross the species barrier and cause disease or subclinical infections in humans and other mammals.

• AI viruses are divided into 2 groups based on their ability to cause disease in poultry: high pathogenicity or low pathogenicity. Highly pathogenic viruses result in high death rates (up to 100% mortality within 48 hours) in some poultry species. Low pathogenicity viruses also cause outbreaks in poultry but are not generally associated with severe disease.

Avian influenza A(H5N1) and A(H7N9) background

• The A(H5N1) virus subtype, a highly pathogenic
• first infected humans in 1997 during a poultry outbreak in Hong Kong SAR, China.
• Since its widespread re-emergence in 2003 and 2004, this avian virus has spread from Asia to Europe and Africa
• several hundred human cases, and many human deaths.
• Outbreaks in poultry have seriously impacted livelihoods, the economy and international trade in affected countries.
• The A(H7N9) virus subtype, a low pathogenic AI virus,
• have impacted the agriculture sectors of affected countries and international trade. Continued surveillance for A(H7N9) will be necessary to detect and control the spread of the virus.

Human pandemic potential

• Influenza pandemics (outbreaks that affect a large proportion of the world due to a novel virus) are unpredictable but recurring events that can have health, economic and social consequences worldwide.
• An influenza pandemic occurs when key factors converge: an influenza virus emerges with the ability to cause sustained human-to-human transmission, and the human population has little to no immunity against the virus.
• With the growth of global trade and travel, a localized epidemic can transform into a pandemic rapidly, with little time to prepare a public health response.
• The A(H5N1) and A(H7N9) AI viruses remain two of the influenza viruses with pandemic potential, because they continue to circulate widely in some poultry populations, most humans likely have no immunity to them, and they can cause severe disease and death in humans

WHO response

• WHO,monitoring avian influenza very closely,
• developing and adjusting appropriate interventions in collaboration with its partners. Such partners include animal health agencies and national veterinary authorities responsible for the control and prevention of animal diseases, including influenza.
• Specifically, WHO, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) collaborate through a variety of mechanisms to track and assess the risk from animal influenza viruses of 
• 2014- Kuttanad region in Kerala, where avian influenza was detected in ducks, began on Wednesday as more regions in the Central Kerala reported massive death of ducksAs duck farmers protested against culling their birds, the state government increased the compensation to Rs 200 per adult duck and Rs 100 per duckling. A rough estimate of the Animal Husbandry showed that 2.80 lakh birds including chickens have to be culled.
• Although avian influenza was confirmed in lab tests, the Animal Husbandry department is yet get reports whether the virus would affect humans. The government has banned sale of poultry in Kuttanad region.

Digital India – A programme to transform India into digital empowered society and knowledge economy

 The Cabinet today at the meeting chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi gave its approval for Digital India – A programme to transform India into digital empowered society and knowledge economy.  This is a follow up to the key decisions taken on the design of the programme during the meeting of the Prime Minister on Digital India Programme on August 7, 2014, and to sensitize all ministries to this vast programme touching every corner of the government.  This programme has been envisaged by Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY).

The vision of Digital India aims to transform the country into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.  The programme will be implemented in phases from the current year till 2018.  The Digital India is transformational in nature and would ensure that Government services are available to citizens electronically.  It would also bring in public accountability through mandated delivery of government’s services electronically, a Unique ID and e-Pramaan based on authentic and standard based interoperable and integrated government applications and data basis.

The source of funding for most of the e-Governance projects at present is through budgetary provisions of respective Ministries/ Departments in the Central or State governments. Requirements of funds for individual project(s) for Digital India will be WORKED OUT by respective Nodal Ministries/ Departments.

The vision areas of Digital India:

I           Infrastructure as Utility to Every Citizen:

(i)            High speed internet as a core utility shall be made available in all Gram Panchayats.

(ii)          Cradle to grave digital identity - unique, lifelong, online and authenticable.

(iii)         Mobile phone and Bank account would enable participation in digital and FINANCIAL space at individual level.

(iv)         Easy access to a Common Service Centre within their locality.

(v)          Shareable private space on a public Cloud.

(vi)         Safe and secure Cyber-space in the country.

II         Governance and Services on Demand:

(i)            Seamlessly integrated across departments or jurisdictions to provide easy and a single window access to all persons.

(ii)          Government services available in real time from online and mobile platforms.

(iii)         All citizen entitlements to be available on the Cloud to ensure easy access.

(iv)         Government services digitally transformed for improving Ease of Doing Business.

(v)          Making FINANCIAL transactions above a threshold, electronic and cashless.

(vi)         Leveraging GIS for decision support systems and development.

III        Digital Empowerment of Citizens:

(i)            Universal digital literacy.

(ii)          All digital resources universally accessible.

(iii)         All Government documents/ certificates to be available on the Cloud.

(iv)         Availability of digital resources / services in Indian languages.

(v)          Collaborative digital platforms for participative governance.

(vi)         Portability of all entitlements for individuals through the Cloud.

Scope of Digital India:

The overall scope of this programme is:

(i)             to prepare India for a knowledge future.

(ii)           on being transformative that is to realize IT (Indian Talent) + IT (Information Technology)  = IT (India Tomorrow)

(iii)         making technology central to enabling change.

(iv)         on being  an Umbrella Programme – covering many departments.

·      The programme weaves together a large number of ideas and thoughts into a single, comprehensive vision, so that each of them is seen as part of a larger goal. Each individual element stands on its own, but is also part of the larger picture.

·      The weaving together makes the Mission transformative in totality.

(v)           The Digital India Programme will pull together many existing schemes which would be restructured and re-focused and implemented in a synchronized manner.  The common branding of the programmes as Digital India, highlights their transformative impact.

Digital India aims to provide the much needed thrust to the nine pillars of growth areas, namely

1.      Broadband Highways,

2.      Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity,

3.      Public Internet Access Programme,

4.      e-Governance: Reforming Government through Technology,

5.      e-Kranti - Electronic Delivery of Services,

6.      Information for All,

7.      Electronics Manufacturing,

8.      IT for Jobs

9.      Early Harvest Programmes.

Approach and Methodology:

i             Ministries / Departments / States would fully leverage the Common and Support ICT Infrastructure established by the Government of India.

ii           The existing/ ongoing e-Governance initiatives would be revamped to align them with the principles of Digital India.  Scope enhancement, Process Reengineering, use of integrated & interoperable systems and deployment of emerging technologies like Cloud & mobile would be undertaken to enhance delivery of Government services to citizens.

iii             States would be given flexibility to identify for inclusion additional state-specific projects, which are relevant to their socio-economic needs.

iv             e-Governance would be promoted through a centralised initiative to the extent necessary, to ensure citizen centric service orientation.

v               Successes would be identified and their replication promoted proactively.

vi             Public Private Partnerships would be preferred wherever feasible.

vii           Adoption of Unique ID would be promoted to facilitate identification, authentication and delivery of benefits.

viii         Restructuring of NIC would be undertaken to strengthen the IT support to all government departments at the Centre and State levels.

ix             The positions of Chief Information Officers (CIO) would be created in at least 10 key ministries so that various e-Governance projects could be designed, developed and implemented faster. 

x               DeitY would create necessary senior positions within the department for managing the programme.

xi             Central Ministries / Departments and State Governments would have the overall responsibility for implementation of various Mission Mode and other projects under this Programme. Considering the need for overall aggregation and integration at the national level, it is considered appropriate to implement Digital India as a programme with well defined roles and responsibilities of each agency involved.

Program Management Structure :

A programme management structure would be established for monitoring implementation. Key components of the management structure would consist of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for according approval to projects, a Monitoring Committee headed by the Prime Minister, a Digital India Advisory Group chaired by the Minister of Communications and IT, an Apex Committee chaired by the Cabinet Secretary and the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) / Committee on Non Plan Expenditure (CNE).

Background:

Even though India is known as a powerhouse of software, the availability of electronic government services to citizens is still comparatively low. The National e-Governance Plan approved in 2006 has made a steady progress through Mission Mode Projects and Core ICT Infrastructure, but greater thrust is required to ensure effective progress in electronics manufacturing and e-Governance in the country.   The Digital India vision provides the intensified impetus for further momentum and progress for this initiative and this would promote inclusive growth that covers electronic services, products, devices, manufacturing and JOB OPPORTUNITIES. India in the 21^st Century must strive to meet the aspirations of its citizens where government and its services reach the doorsteps of citizens and contribute towards a long-lasting positive impact.  The Digital India Programme aims to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy by leveraging IT as a growth engine of new India.

Click here to download Digital India Presentation