Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 15 June 2016

:: National ::

Finance minister says all states supporting the GST

Barring the key producer State of Tamil Nadu, virtually all others have supported the Goods & Services Tax (GST), Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.
Virtually all the States have supported the idea of GST today barring Tamil Nadu which has expressed some reservations. Tamil Nadu has offered a few suggestions which have been noted by the committee.
Mr. Jaitley also said that the States had rejected the provision for a constitutional cap on the GST rate, one of the three demands of the Congress for supporting, in the Rajya Sabha.
As a constitutional body, it would “impinge” on the legislative sovereignty of both Parliament and the State Legislatures and jeopardise the fiscal autonomy of States.
Mr. Jaitley also said that there was no deadline for the implementation of the GST.
Earlier, after the passage of the Constitutional (122{+n}{+d}) Amendment Bill in May 2015 in the Lok Sabha, the Government had said that it was trying to roll out the single-tax regime from April 1, 2016.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and submitted a 29-point memorandum, detailing several demands of the State.
Among the demands of Ms. Jayalalithaa were the formation of a Cauvery Management Board and a Cauvery Water Regulation Committee, restoration of water level at Mullaperiyar to 152 feet and interlinking of rivers.

Amid the spiralling prices of pulses, the Centre decided to sell turvia mobile vans

Amid the spiralling prices of pulses, the Centre decided to sell pigeon pea (tur) and black gram (urad) at Rs. 120 per kg through the National Cooperative Consumers Federation of India (NCCF) via mobile vans in Delhi.
The decision to sell pulses through the NCCF was taken at an inter-ministerial review meeting held here that reviewed the prices of essential commodities and discussed measures to ensure availability of these commodities at reasonable prices.
The government said that as on June 13, 2016, the procurement of Rabi pulses had reached 64,000 tonnes.
Together with the earlier procurement of 51,000 tonnes of the Kharif season, the total domestic procurement by government agencies had reached 1,15,000 tonnes.
The Centre has also ordered further import of 12,500 tonnes of pulses for buffer stocks, which include 10,000 tonnes of masur and 2,500 tonnes of urad.

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:: International ::

US appeals court upheld Open Internet regulations

A U.S. appeals court panel upheld hotly contested “Open Internet” regulations that prohibit broadband carriers from playing favourites or blocking competing online services.
The so-called “Net neutrality” rules, which aim to prevent a two-speed Internet, won court approval after two past efforts failed.
The U.S. Appeals Court panel in Washington dealt a setback to major broadband firms like Verizon and AT&T, which claimed the rules unfairly restrict providers and discourage investment.
Mr. Tatel wrote that “the role of broadband providers is analogous to that of telephone companies: they act as neutral, indiscriminate platforms for transmission of speech of any and all user”.
The ruling is a victory for consumer groups and others who argued that a handful of Internet providers, without these rules, could effectively block or hamper big online services or smaller ones that compete with those backed by the broadband provider.
The new rule also applies the concept to mobile Internet carriers. The cable and Internet providers, which contend the regulation limits their ability to invest and innovate, could appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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:: Science and Technology ::

Australian Great Barrier Reef rodent, the first mammal lost due to climate change

Climate change appears to have driven to extinction an Australian Great Barrier Reef rodent, according to a new study, which suggests the species may be the first mammal lost to the global phenomenon.
Extensive searches for the Bramble Cay melomys, a small rat-like animal, have failed to find a single specimen from its only known habitat on a sandy island in far northern Australia.
Researchers said the key factor behind the extinction was “almost certainly” ocean inundation of the low-lying cay, likely on several occasions, over the last decade which resulted in dramatic habitat loss.
The Melomysrubicola, considered the Great Barrier Reef’s only endemic (found nowhere else) mammal species, was first discovered on the cay in 1845 by Europeans who shot the "large rats" for sport.
But the last known sighting, by a professional fisherman, was in 2009. When a 2014 study found no sign of the species, researchers decided to conduct the most extensive survey possible in the hope of conserving the species.

:: Business and Economy ::

WPI rose to 0.8 per cent in May from (-) 2.20 per cent

Wholesale price inflation rose to 0.8 per cent in May from (-) 2.20 per cent a year ago, driven by higher food prices, making it difficult for the central bank to reduce interest rates in the short-term.
This is the second month in succession that the WPI is remaining in positive territory. Last month, inflation as measured by the wholesale price index (WPI) was at 0.34 per cent, its first gain in 18 months, according to data released by the Centre.
The acceleration in WPI, coming as it does after a quickening of retail inflation in the same month, makes it even more unlikely that the Reserve Bank of India will cut interest rates shortly, according to economists.
The WPI rose due to food inflation which shot up to 7.9 per cent from 4.2 per cent in April. The same trend could be seen in retail inflation as well where only the food category accelerated inflation.
Food continued to push the headline print higher while the effect of rising global commodity prices was also larger in the index due to its close correlation with domestic prices.
The fuel and power segment in the WPI contracted 6.1 per cent in May compared to a contraction of 4.8 per cent in April.
This was led bythe mineral oil segment, which contracted 9.6 per cent in May compared to a contraction of 7.9 per cent in the earlier month.
Inflation in manufactured goods rose marginally to 0.9 per cent in May from 0.7 per cent in April.
Overall, the view is that rising inflation coupled with poor industrial growth is a worrying trend.

The model GST law brings all e-commerce transactions under GST

The model Goods and Services Tax (GST) law, made public by the Centre, has clarified that all e-commerce transactions will attract GST and that the tax will be collected by the service operator as soon as the supplier receives payment.
While this has cleared the confusion surrounding the levy of the tax on e-commerce transactions spanning different states, it will also make operations more complicated for the e-commerce platform.
The model GST law — with 162 clauses and four schedules — will be applicable for all those with an annual turnover of Rs.10 lakh or more. This limit is Rs. five lakh in the north-eastern states.
The provisions of the model GST law that prescribes a GST threshold limit which is so low as Rs.10 lakh (Rs.5 lakh for north east), may be a zero sum game as the administrative cost of compliance on both ends would equal the tax collected.
The model law also provides for an Authority for Advance Ruling to be located in every state, comprising one Central GST member and one State GST member to be appointed respectively by the Central Government and the State government.
In addition, the law provides for the creation of an Appellate Authority in each state.
The GST model law also includes a ‘composition levy’, wherein a person with an annual turnover of less than Rs.50 lakh on the sale of goods and services in a single state will have to pay a tax of “not less than one per cent.