GOA

• South Goa crime detection rate up in 2018

 

• The rate of crime detection in South Goa has gone up by a few notches – from nearly 83 percent in 2017 to 87 percent in 2018, details provided to the media by South Goa police reveal.

 

• The crime rate in South Goa decreased considerably, as the number of cases booked across all police stations in South Goa, reduced by almost 18 percent in the year 2018 as compared to that of 2017. Altogether 1055 cases were registered under the Indian Penal Code during the year 2018 as against 1281 cases in 2017.

 

• South Goa also saw lesser number of cases of heinous crimes,murder, attempt to murder, rape, dacoity, robbery registered in South Goa with 70 such cases booked in 2018 as compared to 76 in 2017. Detection of Heinous Crimes rose to over 97 percent.

INTERNATIONAL

 

·         Fourth Edition of Raisina Dialogue held in New Delhi

 

• Fourth Edition of Raisina Dialogue was organized by Ministry of External Affairs in partnership with Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.
• The Theme of the Dialogue was “A World Reorder: New Geometries; Fluid Partnerships; Uncertain Outcomes”.
• The Raisina Dialogue whose first edition was held in 2015 is India’s flagship annual geopolitical and geostrategic conference.

 

Gk bit : Raisina Dialogue

 

• Organized along the lines of the Shangri-La Dialogue held in Singapore, and co-hosted by the ministry of external affairs (MEA) and the Observer Research Foundation, it takes its name from the Raisina Hills, where India’s seat of power resides.
• The Dialogue, since its inception, has attracted academics, scholars, researchers, students, journalists and even politicians who are either interested—or are working—in the field of international relations, geopolitics, security, nuclear issues and Indian foreign policy. That is evident with the fact that even the first edition of the dialogue involved about 120 international participants from 40 countries, while the second edition attracted 250 foreign participants from 65 countries.

 

 

NATIONAL

 

·         GST exemption limit doubled to give relief to small businesses

 

• Finance Minister Arun Jaitley raised the annual turnover for availing composition scheme to Rs 1.5 crore from Rs 1 crore effective from April 1, 2019, to provide relief to small businesses underGoods and Services (GST) regime.
• TheGoods and Services (GST) exemption limit has been doubled to Rs. 40 lakh annual turnover and Rs 20 lakh for northeastern states.

 

List of Items Removed from 28%, 18% & 12% GST Slab

• GST Rate Reduced from 28% to 18%

 

TVs and Monitor screen of up to32 inches screen size ● Pulleys, transmission shafts, and cranks, gearboxes etc., falling under HS Code 8483 Re-treaded or used pneumatic tires of rubber; ● Power banks having lithium ion batteries note that Lithium-ion batteries are currently at 18% ● Parts and accessories for the carriages for disabled persons ● Digital cameras and video camera recorders

 

• GST Rate Reduced from 28% to 5%

 

Parts and accessories for the carriages for the disabled person

 

• GST Rate Reduction on Other Goods (18% to 12%)

 

Cork roughly squared or debagged ● Articles of natural cork ● Agglomerated cork

 

• GST Rate Reduction on Other Goods (18% to 5%)

 

Marble rubble

 

• GST Rate Reduction on Other Goods (12% to 5%)

 

Natural Cork

Walking Stick

Fly ash Blocks

 

GST Rate Reduction on Other Goods (5% to 0%)

 

• Vegetables in the state of uncooked or cooked by steaming or boiling in water while being frozen, branded and are in a unit container

 

• Vegetable briefly preserved under the mixtures of sulfur dioxide gas, in brine, in sulfur water or in other preservative solutions but unsuitable in that state for immediate consumption.

 

• GST on Solar Power Generating Plant and Other Renewable Energy Plants

 

Prescription of GST rate of 5% on renewable energy devices & parts for their manufacture (biogas plant/solar power based devices, solar power generating system (SGPS) etc) [falling under chapter 84, 85 or 94 of the Tariff] or other equipment being used in such plants attracting GST.

 

Clarification on certain items having 5% GST supplied along with construction services applicable to the solar power plants

 

• GST Rate Reduction on Services

 

Services by banks to Basic Saving Bank Deposit (BSBD) account holder coming under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)

 

Third party insurance premium of goods carrying vehicles down from 18% to 12%

 

Gk bit–  Composition scheme

 

• Composition scheme is a convenient way for the small taxpayers in order to escape from too many GST formalities and pay the tax at a fixed rate based on their business turnover.
• Under this scheme, a taxpayer will pay tax as a percentage of his/her turnover during the financial year without the benefit of Input Tax Credit. The floor rate of tax for CGSTand SGST shall not be less than 1%. A taxpayer opting for composition scheme will not collect any tax from his/her customers.
• When the eligible taxpayer is opting for the Composition Scheme under GST, a taxpayer has to file a summarized returns on a quarterly basis, instead of three monthly returns (as is applicable for normal businesses).
• Turnover must be below (from 1^st April 2019)  1.5 Cr  (Rs. 75 Lakhs for North-Eastern States)

 

• Applies only to the Intra-Statesupplies

 

Traders  will have to pay 1% tax.

Manufacturers will have to pay 2% tax.

Restaurant businesses will have to pay 5% tax.

• However, no input tax credit (ITC)will be made available.

 

 

 

·         India’s Mary Kom becomes world’s top woman boxer

 

• Mary Kom, who had become the first ever woman boxer to win six world championship titles in November last year, has been ranked number one by the International Boxing Association (AIBA) in the light fly (45-48kg) category.
• The 35-year-old tops her weight division with 1700 points.
• Ukraine’s 22-year-old boxer Hanna Okhotais ranked second, with 1100 points.

 

·         Malala Yousafzai has written a new book titled We are Displaced

 

• Malala Yousafzai,the Nobel Peace Prize winner and Pakistani activist, has written a new book, titled We are Displaced, charting her experiences travelling the world and visiting refugee camps. Publishers Weidenfeld & Nicolson and Hachette India said that her travels through the refugee camps led her to reconsider her own displacement.
• In We are Displaced, Malala not only explores her own story of adjusting to a new life while longing for home, but she also shares the personal stories of some of the incredible girls she has met on her various journeys, girls who have lost their community, relatives and often the only world they’ve ever known.