Prelims Tidbits 14 Sep 17

Petrol,diesel should come under GST,Oil Minister 

Summary: 

• Minister rules out intervention in daily pricing and non-committal on cutting taxes 
• Oil Minister also ruled out any government intervention to disrupt the daily revision in petrol and diesel prices despite the Rs 7.3 per litre spike since July, saying the reform will continue. 
• Saying that many States had drastically increased value-added tax, he said, “It is high time that the GST Council considered bringing the petroleum products in the ambit of GST.” 
• India relies on imports to meet 80% of its needs and so domestic fuel rates have been aligned to the movement of equivalent product prices in the international market since April 2002. 

Taxes which are not included in GST
Central	State
1.       Custom Duty	1.       Excise on liquor for humans
2.       Cess on Custom duty	2.       Stamp Duty on immovable property
3.       Tobacco product GST yes, but central excise also	3.       Electricity Duty & cess
4.       Petroleum products	4.       Petroleum products
	5.       Tax on items containing alcohol

 

 

 

               

 

India-Japan Annual Summit

1.Highlighting common ‘strategic interests,’ Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe,who arrived in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, said India-Japan ties will shape the Asia-Pacific region.
2. Mr. Abe will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday during the India-Japan annual summit, when both sides will firm up military and strategic ties.
3. Shinzo Abe promises peace in Indo-Pacific region
4. India & Japan will firm up strategic ties at summit today
5. Universal values:-“Both India and Japan place importance on the universal values and strategic interests that we commonly share.
6. Both countries are major Asian democracies and global powers

1st Indo-Russia All Armed Force Miltiary Excercise 

1. First tri-service military exercise to be held in October. 
2. It will also be India’s first bilateral military exercise with any country involving all three services. 
3. The Indra exercise is scheduled from October 19 to 29.

Payment of Gratuity Amendment Bill 2017

Context:

1. The Union Cabinet has given its approval for introduction of the Payment of

Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2017 in the Parliament.

❖ Key facts:-

1. The move aims at providing social security to workmen after retirement,

whether it is because of rules of superannuation, or physical disablement or

impairment of vital parts of the body.

2. The Amendment will increase the maximum limit of gratuity of employees, in

the private sector and in Public Sector Undertakings/ Autonomous

Organizations under Government who are not covered under CCS (Pension)

Rules, at par with Central Government employees.

The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972:-

1. The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 applies to establishments employing 10 or

more persons.

2. The main purpose for enacting this Act is to provide social security to workmen

after retirement, whether retirement is a result of the rules of superannuation,

or physical disablement or impairment of vital part of the body.

3. Therefore, the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 is an important social security

legislation to wage earning population in industries, factories and

establishments.

Chennai and Vladivostok amid China’s ambitious Maritime Silk Route (MSR)

❖Context:

1. Aiming to put in place a key maritime route connecting India with Northeast

Asia and Western Pacific region Delhi is contemplating to put in place a major

connectivity initiative — direct shipping link between Chennai and Vladivostok

amid China’s ambitious Maritime Silk Route (MSR) connecting Asia with Africa.

❖ Key facts:-

1. This proposed maritime route which could be transformed into a corridor could

juxtapose with Indo-Japan Pacific to Indian Ocean Corridor amid Beijing’s OBOR

of which MSR is a part – virtually connecting entire SE Asia through road,

shipping and rail links.

2. This shipping link would enable to transfer cargo between Chennai and

Vladivostok in 24 days in comparison to over 40 days currently taken to

transport goods from India to Far East Russia via Europe, according to experts

on the subject.

PIB

New NIRF Excercise 

National Institution Ranking Framework (NIRF) for the year 2018 has been announced by the centre with a change.

 The NIRF ranking was started in 2016, ranks higher educational institutions in India on the basis of a variety of parameters.

 The 2016 and 2017 NIRF lists reflected the ranks of only those institutions that had taken part in the exercise.

 But for 2018, instead of institutions choosing to take part in the exercise, they are being auto-registered through a large online database.

 The All-India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) portal of institutions available

with the Ministry of Human Resource Development will be used for auto registration of institutions.

 With this initiative, the number of institutions for NIRF is expected to raise three fold from previous year rankings.

 Last year ranking, among universities, Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore

was ranked first and Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi was second.

Dairy Processing & Infrastructure Development Fund

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved setting up of Dairy Processing & Infrastructure Development Fund.

 It was announced in the union budget 2017-18, under National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).

 The project will be implemented by National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and National Dairy Development Cooperation(NCDC).

 NABARD will give loans to NDDB and NCDC to help the milk cooperatives.

 The project will focus on building an efficient milk procurement system, expansion of processing infrastructure for value added products for the milk unions and producer companies.

sOURCE:oNLY ias