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Did the latest GST Council meeting resolved the problems owing to the Covid-19 situation?

MAIN RECOMMENDATIONS OF 43RD GST COUNCIL MEETING

1. As a COVID-19 relief measure, a number of specified COVID-19 related goods such as medical oxygen, oxygen concentrators and other oxygen storage and transportation equipment, certain diagnostic markers test kits and COVID-19 vaccines, etc., have been recommended for full exemption from IGST, even if imported on payment basis, for donating to the government or on recommendation of state authority to any relief agency.
2. The above exemption from IGST has been extended to Amphotericin B, drug against Black Fungus
3. Various GST exemptions and reductions made on many services relating to mid day meal schemes in educational institutions, ship/ vessels transportation, wheat flour/ rice production and distribution, construction of roads, etc.
4. Biggest decision: To provide relief to small taxpayers, an amnesty scheme has been recommended for reducing late fee payable by small taxpayers and medium-sized taxpayers.

CRITICISM OVER THE GST COUNCIL MEETING
Council failed to agree on immediate tax breaks for critical pandemic relief supplies, including COVID-19 vaccines while States like West Bengal, Kerala and Punjab, have been demanding that the GST levied on COVID-related items be scrapped. The Council has failed to address major pain points of the covid items industry and the common man resulting from the pandemic.

What's your take on this?

Twitter has no plans yet of complying with the new IT rules

TWITTER VS CENTRE FACE OFF

Twitter's Stand
We will continue to be strictly guided by principles of transparency, a commitment to empowering every voice on the service, and protecting freedom of expression and privacy under the rule of law. Alongside many in civil society in India and around the world, we have concerns with core elements of the new IT rules

Centre's Stand
Twitter needs to stop beating around the bush and comply with the laws of the land. Law-making and policy formulation is the sole prerogative of the sovereign and Twitter is just a social media platform. It has no locus in dictating what India’s legal policy framework should be.

What's your take on this?

Platform Politics

When Twitter dithers from complying with the new IT rules, the Delhi Police makes visit to Twitter’s offices in Delhi and Gurgaon, to serve the social media platform a notice relating to the "Toolkit" case. The police knock makes Delhi look like a bully.

AGAINST TWITTER(RELATING TO TOOLKIT CASE)
1. Despite their professions of faith in openness, the decision-making processes of these platforms are shrouded in secrecy.
2. In a polarised discourse, when tweets reflect a political agenda, and do not carry any incitement to violence, what can be the criteria to label or censor content as “manipulated”? How do you decide what to flag among the countless dodgy tweets?
3. In a democracy, it must be asked whether the governance of global public platforms can be left in the hands of a few executives with zero accountability and skewed incentive structures.

AGAINST GOVERNMENT(RELATING TO NEW IT RULES 2021)
1. A blanket demand on traceability may allow it to wield power in an arbitrary manner for purposes that remain opaque.
2. Such a demand may also be unnecessary given that social media firms have on various occasions complied with the government’s requests — on issues pertaining to terror, child abuse, and national security, for instance, provisions under the existing Indian Penal Code have been sufficient to elicit cooperation.
3. Since WhatsApp has already approached the court on the matter, it is only fitting that the judiciary should help draw up the necessary firewalls.

Comment your opinion too.

Reclining Buddha in India
On Wednesday, May 26 — Buddha Jayanti, Buddha Purnima, or Vesak — India’s largest statue of the Reclining Buddha was to have been installed at the Buddha International Welfare Mission temple in Bodh Gaya.

Full article on UPSC Hub Fb Group.

Kushinagar, where the Buddha actually attained parinirvana, has a 6-metre-long red sandstone monolith statue of the Reclining Buddha inside the Parinirvana Stupa.
OTHER DEPICTIONS OF THE BUDDHA
Elsewhere in India there are a lot of Buddhas in sitting postures, mostly pertaining to his Enlightenment rather than to his demise.
At the Mahabodhi temple, the Buddha is sitting in the bhoomi-sparsha mudra, where his hand is pointing towards the ground. It symbolises earth as being witness to his enlightenment.
At Sarnath, where the Buddha gave his first sermon, the stone statue has a hand gesture called the dharma-chakra mudra, which signifies preaching. This is also the most popular depiction in India, along with the Bodhi tree depiction.
Source: The Indian Express

IMA demands action against Ramdev
CONTEXT:
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his help to stop the misinformation campaign on COVID-19 vaccination and demanding action against Baba Ramdev for his alleged remarks on modern medicine and doctors

QUESTION TO YOU:
As a responsible civil servant what steps will you take against fake propaganda that curbs the vaccination drive in your village?
NEED OF THE HOUR:
We must acknowledge and compliment all systems of medicine, especially our Indian system of Ayurvedic Medicine, as each system is helping our people differently. However, no one should be allowed to propagate fear of vaccination.

The number of fake ₹500 notes in India increased by 31% in the last one year

Defence Research and Development Organisation's (DRDO) anti-Covid-19 drug will be sold at ₹990 per sachet by Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL), officials said on Friday. The Hyderabad-based pharma company, however, will provide the medicine to Centre and state government at a discounted price.

As Tautkae disappears from West, Yaas approaches more deadly over East.
Full article: Read why on UPSC Hub fb group.

Year after year the eastern coastal belt of India has been ravaged by super cyclonic storms.
In the last four years 12 cyclones have formed in the Bay of Bengal. Out of 5 cyclones that the Indian coastline witnessed in a year, 4 originated in the Bay of Bengal and only 1 in the Arabian Sea.

WHAT GEOGRAPHICAL ADVANTAGE THE ARABIAN SEA HAS?

As for the Arabian Sea,
1. it is much calm as the stronger winds help dissipate the heat
2. lack of constant fresh water helps the warm water to mix with the cool water underneath, reducing the surface temperature.
3. enjoys the locational advantage as the winds from the Pacific Ocean encounter the Western Ghats and the Himalayas cutting down on its intensity and sometimes never reaching the Arabian Sea.

Facebook, Twitter to be blocked in India? Of course not.
Read full article group

NEW IT RULES 2021 PROVISIONS

1. The new rules require large social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp to follow additional due diligence, including the appointment of chief compliance officer, nodal contact person and resident grievance officer.

2. These platforms will also have to explain to users the exact mechanism of making a complaint against any kind of content being put out on their platforms.

3. These complaints will have to acknowledge within a span of 24 hours and will have to be acted upon within 15 days from the date of receipt.

4. Enabling Identity of the Originator: Significant social media intermediaries providing services primarily in the nature of messaging shall enable identification of the first originator of the information.

RESPONSE FROM SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS
Facebook said it 'aims to comply' even as it continues to discuss issues with the Government. Separately, Facebook-owned WhatsApp has gone to court against a provision in the IT rules where it needs to break its encryption and reveal the originator of the message, stating that this will impact privacy.
RESPONSE FROM GOVT. OVER CONCERNS
The government “is committed to ensure the Right of Privacy to all its citizens but at the same time it is also the responsibility of the government to maintain law and order and ensure national security.”

OTHER CONCERNS
Some internet analysts have expressed concern that India's image, for investment and democratic freedoms, will be affected in the event of coercive action against social media giants.

Widespread resentment in Lakshadweep over a slew of new law proposals

To read full article join www.facebook.com/groups/upschub

India’s permanent representative to the United Nations made a carefully crafted statement at the UN Security Council “open debate” on the escalating Israel-Palestine violence, striving to maintain balance between India’s historic ties with Palestine and its blossoming relations with Israel.
The statement, the first India has made on the issue, appears to implicitly hold Israel responsible for triggering the current cycle of violence by locating its beginnings in East Jerusalem rather than from Gaza. The request that both sides refrain from “attempts to unilaterally change the existing status quo including in East Jerusalem and its neighbourhoods” seems to be a message to Israel about its settler policy.
India’s policy on the longest running conflict in the world has gone from being unequivocally pro-Palestine for the first four decades, to a tense balancing act with its three-decade-old friendly ties with Israel. In recent years, India’s position has also been perceived as pro-Israel.