india news

telangana govt increases quota for scheduled tribes to 10%

The demand to increase the ST reservation was put forth in a bill passed in the Telangana legislative assembly around six years ago. This bill was then sent to the Central government for the President’s assent

THe Telangana government on Friday increased the reservation for scheduled tribes by 4 per cent -- from 6 per cent to 10 per cent -- in the state’s educational institutes and government services with immediate effect, according to an official order.

K Chandrashekar Rao’s government has announced the decision on the occasion of Dussehra, keeping in mind the state’s 10 per cent ST population.

The demand to increase the ST reservation was put forth in a bill passed in the Telangana legislative assembly around six years ago. This bill was then sent to the Central government for the President’s assent.

“On the lines of legislation enacted by Tamil Nadu, a Bill was passed by the Telangana State Legislature on 16-04-2017 unanimously to enhance the reservation of Scheduled Tribes up to 10 per cent in educational institutions and in State Government services. The Bill has been sent to the Government of India for obtaining the assent of the President in 2017. During these close to six years, the State Government sent several representations in this regard, but the same is still pending. Therefore, in these circumstances, it is expedient to enhance the percentage of Scheduled Tribe reservations, without any further loss of time,” the official order from the state government read.

one dead as ethanol tanker catches fire after collision with tractor in uP

An ethanol-laden tanker caught fire after it overturned following its collision with a tractor-trolley in the Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh.

One person was killed while five others were critically injured as a major fire broke out in an ethanol laden tanker when it collided with a paddy laden tractortrolley in a Sitapur village on Sunday wee hours.

Superintendent of Police (SP), Sitapur, Sushil Chandra Bhan said the incident took place near Muratpur village under Thangaon police station limits when an ethanol tanker from Biswa sugar mill collided with the tractor trolley. He said the tanker was heading towards Gonda district from the sugar mill.

Sharing further details, another police official said one person present in the tanker died on the spot while another was in critical condition at a hospital. He said six others injured in the incident were rushed to a Sitapur district hospital.

He said five fire tenders as well as a team of fire safety from the sugar mill was pressed into douse the flames. He said the team from the sugar mill are expert in dousing fire flames caused due to ethanol.

Jaishankar's praise for Pm modi: 'leaders, belief, ideology matter but...'

Jaishankar said if he is asked to give an example from his entire career in the diplomacy of how the role of the leadership came to the help of people, he would cite Operation Ganga in which India could evacuate its students from war-torn Ukraine because of PM Modi's leadership.

exTernAL affairs minister S Jaishankar heaped praises on PM Modi's leadership and diplomacy citing examples of Operation Ganga and Vande Bharat and said leaders, ideology and beliefs matter but the thinking that PM Modi represents will be a bigger part of the national thinking. "So hopefully there will not be any need to change it over a period of time," the foreign minister said interacting with students in Vadodara.

Talking about operation Ganga, Jaishankar said the evacuation of around 20,000 students from the strife-torn Ukraine was an example of how diplomacy works. "It was a test for the system that whether we can address such a crisis after 7-8 years and in this, the leadership played a major role," Jaishankar said. "Those who know PM Modi's style of working will know, he does complete monitoring and more than that. At that time, the UP election campaign was going on. He used to hold back-toback rallies in the day and in the evening he used to take updates of the rescue operation," Jaishankar added. "Diplomacy is something where you must have heard that personal relationship is important. When you talk to the other person, the other person knows you, knows your face, and voice and it becomes difficult to say 'no' to you. PM Modi talked to both Ukrainian president Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin and requested for a ceasefire when our students were being evacuated," the foreign minister said.

There was huge pressure on India on the issue of oil, but India was sure to not buckle under any pressure, Jaishankar said. “Due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict petrol prices doubled. We had pressure from where to buy the oil but PM Modi and the government were of the view that we have to do what is best for our nation and if pressure comes then we should face it,” the minister said.

gst collections in september reaches rs.1.4 lakh-crore, 3rd highest ever

reVenUe from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in September rose 26%yearon-year to `1.48 lakh crore, the third highest ever and crossing `1.40 lakh crore for the seventh consecutive month, on robust business activities despite the global economic slowdown.

The gross GST revenue collection in September at `1,47,686 crore, reflecting business transactions in August, was `2,314 crore short of `1.50 lakh crore, but government officials and industry experts expect collections to cross that mark next month on higher sales during the festival season.

GST monthly collections stabilising above `1.4 lakh crore for seven months in a row provides more headroom in the fiscal front, said MS Mani, partner at Deloitte India, a consultancy. “The collections in the next three months are expected to be even more robust due to the higher consumption expected during the festive season and the extension of the mandatory e-invoice protocol to taxpayers having turnover above `10 crore from October 1,” he added.

“It is noteworthy that these collections reflect supplies made in August. With the festive season coming up, the GST collections can further be expected to go up in the coming months,” said Abhishek Jain, partner, indirect tax at KPMG in India.

“This is the eighth month and for seventh months in a row now that the monthly GST revenues have been more than the `1.4 lakh crore mark. The growth in GST revenue till September 2022 over the same period last year is 26%, continuing to display very high buoyancy,” the finance ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

The monthly GST collection crossed `1.4 lakh crore for the first time in January (`1,40,986 crore) and, barring February (`1,33,026 crore), the collections crossed the mark repeatedly since March (`1,42,095 crore). The cumulative GST collections in April-September was `8,93,334 crore, with an average monthly collection of `1,48,889 crore, according to official data.

The streak of robust GST collections started from the first month of the current financial year, when April revenues surged an all-time high at `1,67,540 crore. Later, July saw the second highest collections at `1,48,995 crore.

Out of the total gross GST revenue collected in September, the central GST (CGST) component is `25,271 crore, state GST (SGST) is `31,813 crore, integrated GST (IGST) is `80,464 crore (including `41,215 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is `10,137 crore (including `856 crore collected on import of goods), the ministry said in the statement.

High cess collections reflect rising demand of luxury goods such as automobiles, experts said. “The stability in cess collection after few months is an indicator that demand for goods such as automobile, cigarettes and aerated beverages has remained constant and has not shown further decline,” said Saurabh Agarwal, tax partner at consultancy firm EY.

“This month witnessed the second highest single day collection of `49,453 crore on 20th September with second highest number of 8.77 lakh challans filed, next only to `57,846 crore collected on 20th July 2022 through 9.58 lakh challans, which pertained to end of the year returns,” the finance ministry said, adding that the development reflects the robustness of the GST portal.

September also saw another milestone when more than 1.1 crore e-way bills and e-invoices (72.94 lakh e-invoices and 37.74 lakh e-way bills) were generated without any glitch on the portal on September 30, it said.

The state-wise GST revenue data show significant increase in “consumption pattern coupled with increase in taxable base” in percentage terms compared to same month previous year from states and union territories such as Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Meghalaya, and Nagaland, Agarwal said.

“The generation of 1.1 crores e-way bill and e-invoicing in a single day showcases a stability in the IT infrastructure,” he said. “However, it’s important for the big business houses to move to private Invoice Registration Portals appointed by the Government in order to share the load of data which is likely to be increased due to increase in number of assesses liable to generate e-invoices from 1 October 2022.”