PIB Summary- 12th June, 2021 | PIB (Press Information Bureau) Summary - UPSC PDF Download

ALH Mk-III

Context:
Coast Guard inducted Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) Mk III.
Details:

• The state-of-the-art helicopters are indigenously designed and manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bengaluru. 
• Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Mk III is an indigenously-built multirole helicopter with Shakti engine manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
• The Mk III version of the ALH has an all-glass cockpit with HAL’s Integrated Architecture Display System (IADS) and will be used for search and rescue special operations and coastal surveillance.
• The customized Mk-III is powered by “Shakti” (Safran Ardiden 1H1) engines.

44th GST Council Meeting

Context:
The 44th Goods and Services Tax Council meeting was held.

Highlights of the meeting:

• The GST Council waived tax rates on black fungus drugs Amphotericin (it was earlier 5%) and reduced rates on several other covid-related essential items like drugs, testing kits, ventilators, etc.
• However, it has decided to continue with 5% GST rates for covid vaccines.
• Pulse oximeters, hand sanitizers, and temperature check devices will attract lower rates of 5% (down from 12%).

Goods and Services Tax Council

Goods & Services Tax Council (GST Council) is a constitutional body for making recommendations to the Union and State Government on issues related to Goods and Service Tax.

Background of the Goods and Services Tax Council

The 101st Amendment Act of 2016 paved the way for the introduction of a new tax regime (i.e. goods and services tax – GST) in the country. The smooth and efficient administration of this tax requires cooperation and coordination between the centre and the states.

In order to facilitate this consultation process, the amendment provided for the establishment of a GST Council.

The amendment inserted a new Article 279-A in the Constitution of India. This article empowered the President to constitute a GST Council by an order.

Accordingly, the President issued the order in 2016 and constituted the Council. The Secretariat of the Council is located in New Delhi. The Union Revenue Secretary acts as the ex-officio Secretary to the Council.

To know more about the important amendments of the Indian Constitution, visit the linked article.

Vision and Mission of the GST Council

While discharging its functions, the Council is to be guided by the need for a harmonised structure of GST and the development of a harmonised national market for goods and services.

Further, the Council has to determine the procedure in the performance of its functions.

The vision and mission of the Council are as follows:

Vision: To establish the highest standards of the cooperative federation in the functioning of the Council, which is the first constitutional federal body vested with powers to take all major decisions relating to GST.

Mission: Evolving by a process of wider consultation, a GST structure, which is information technology driven and user friendly.

Composition of the Goods and Services Tax Council

The Council is a joint forum of the centre and the states and consists of the following members:

1. The Union Finance Minister as the Chairperson
2. The Union Minister of State in-charge of Revenue or Finance
3. The Minister in-charge of Finance or Taxation or any other Minister nominated by each state government

The members of the Council from the states have to choose one amongst themselves to be the Vice-Chairperson of the Council. They can also decide his term.

The Union Cabinet also decided to include the Chairperson of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) as a permanent invitee (non-voting) to all proceedings of the Council.

Working of the GST Council

The decisions of the Council are taken at its meetings. One-half of the total numbers of members of the Council is the quorum for conducting a meeting. Every decision of the Council is to be taken by a majority of not less than three-fourths of the weighted votes of the members present and voting at the meeting.

The decision is taken in accordance with the following principles:

(i) The vote of the central government shall have a weightage of one-third of the total votes cast in the meeting.

(ii) The votes of all the state governments combined shall have a weightage of two-thirds of the total votes cast in that meeting.

Any act or proceeding of the Council will not become invalid on the following grounds.

(i) Any vacancy or deficit in the constitution of the Council

(ii) Any defect in the appointment of a person as a member of the Council

(iii) Any procedural irregularity of the Council not affecting the merits of the case.

Functions of the Goods and Services Tax Council

The Council is required to make recommendations to the centre and the states on the following matters:

1. The taxes, cesses and surcharges levied by the centre, the states and the local bodies that would be merged in GST.
2. The goods and services that may be subjected to GST or exempted from GST.
3. Model GST Laws, principles of levy, apportionment of GST levied on supplies in the course of inter-state trade or commerce and the principles that govern the place of supply.
4. The threshold limit of turnover below which goods and services may be exempted from GST.
5. The rates include floor rates with bands of GST.
6. Any special rate or rates for a specified period to raise additional resources during any natural calamity or disaster.
7. Special provision with respect to the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
8. Any other matter relating to GST, as the Council may decide.

In addition, the council shall also recommend the date on which the GST may be levied on petroleum crude, high-speed diesel, petrol, natural gas and aviation turbine fuel.

The Council also has to recommend the compensation to the states for the loss of revenue arising on account of the introduction of GST for a period of five years. Based on the recommendation, the Parliament determines the compensation.

New waste water treatment technology

What’s in the News?

A new technology developed by a professor at the Chemical Engineering Department in Jadavpur University, Kolkata can reduce costs for low and medium scale enterprises.

Background:

• Low-income group users mostly cannot afford the high cost of treatment technologies available for handling oily wastewater generated at their source points. 
• As a result, large amounts of untreated oily wastewater is discharged into the aquatic bodies without following the guidelines of the Pollution Control Board.

New Technology:

• The new technology uses a combination of Electrocoagulation and Electroflotation Enhanced Membrane Module (ECEFMM) techniques for wastewater treatment. 
• Electrocoagulation is a waste water treatment technique that uses electrical charge for changing the particle surface charge, allowing suspended matter to form aggregates.
• Electroflotation is the separation of suspended particles from water using hydrogen and oxygen bubbles generated by passing electricity through water.
• The innovation being an economically feasible wastewater treatment technology (both in terms of capital and recurring investment) for low-scale and medium enterprises, has a good market potential. 
• Moreover, unlike other conventional treatments, it can break the highly stable oil-water emulsion through electric discharge and simultaneously separates oil from water with high efficiency.
• The technology was developed with support from the Advanced Manufacturing Technologies programme of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India.
• Benefits of the new technology:
  • Requires less manpower.
  • Does not need high-end technical adequacy for its operation.
  • Low cost
  • Recovered oil can be further used as an industrial burner oil, furnace oil, mould oil, hydraulic oil and so on.