Soil Health Card Scheme

• The Government has introduced Soil Health Card Scheme in all States/UTs with an aim to assist all State Governments to evaluate fertility in all farm holdings across the country and issue soil health cards to farmers regularly in a cycle of 2 years.
• Soil Health Cards provide information to farmers on nutrient status of their soil along with recommendations on appropriate dosage of nutrients to be applied for improving soil health and its fertility.
• Launched by the central government in February 2015, the scheme is tailor-made to issue ‘Soil card’ to farmers which will carry crop-wise recommendations of nutrients and fertilizers required for the individual farms. 
• This is aimed to help farmers to improve productivity through judicious use of inputs.
• In order to improve quality of soil and ultimately for better nutrient values and higher yields, experts say while at present, general fertilizer recommendations are followed by farmers for primary nutrients, the secondary and micro nutrients are often overlooked. 
• This has become a limiting factor in increasing food productivity. The Soil Health Card scheme will address these.
• At present, general fertilizer recommendations are followed by farmers for primary nutrients (N, P & K). 
• However, secondary and micro nutrients are often overlooked leading to deficiency of nutrients like Sulphur, Zinc and Boron. 
• Keeping this in view, Government of India is promoting soil test based balanced and judicious use of chemical fertilizers, along with bio-fertilizers and locally available organic manures.
• It is for the first time that Government of India has launched Soil Health Card scheme to cover 14 crore holdings once in a cycle of 3 years to promote soil management practices and restore soil health.
• Nationally agreed norms / standards of 10 ha for rainfed areas and 2.5 ha for irrigated areas will be applied for soil sample collection. 
• By implication, a total of 2.53 crore samples will be collected and tested to generate 14 crore soil health cards to individual farmers, once in 3 years.  
• The target for the year 2015-16 is 84 lakh of samples, against which 34 lakh samples have already been collected.

Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY)

v  Groups of farmers would be motivated to take up organic farming under Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY). 

• Fifty or more farmers will form a cluster having 50 acre land to take up the organic farming under the scheme. 

v  In this way during three years 10,000 clusters will be formed covering 5.0 lakh acre area under organic farming. There will be no liability on the farmers for expenditure on certification.

v  Every farmer will be provided Rs. 20,000 per acre in three years for seed to harvesting of crops and to transport produce to the market.

v  Organic farming will be promoted by using traditional resources and the organic products will be linked with the market.

v  It will increase domestic production and certification of organic produce by involving farmers

v  In order to implement the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana in Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana in the year 2015-16, an amount of Rs.300 crore has been allocated.

Clean Ganga Fund (CGF)

The Union Cabinet  gave its approval for establishment of the Clean Ganga Fund (CGF). 

The following broad activities will be financed from the Fund: 

a) Activities outlined under the ‘Namami Gange’ programme for cleaning of river Ganga. 

b) Control of non-point pollution from agricultural runoff, human defecation, cattle wallowing, etc. 

c) Setting up of waste treatment and disposal plants along the river around the cities. 

d) Conservation of the biotic diversity of the river. 

e) Community based activities to reduce polluting human interface with the river. 

f) Development of public amenities including activities such as Ghat redevelopment. 

g) Research and Development and innovative projects. 

h) Research and Development projects and innovative projects for new technology and processes for cleaning the river. 

i) Independent oversight through intensive monitoring and real time reporting. 

j) Any other activity as approved by the Trust. 

Considering that the measures taken till now are inadequate and a national effort is required to mobilize resources for improving the condition of the river Ganga, the Government announced the setting up of an Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission called "Namami Gange" and an initial sum of Rs. 2,037 crore has been allocated in the Union Budget 2014-15. 

The Cabinet has now agreed to set up "Clean Ganga Fund (CGF)" with voluntary contributions from residents of the country and Non-Resident Indian (NRIs) / Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and others to harness their enthusiasm to contribute towards the conservation of the river Ganga. 

The Fund will have the objective of contributing to the national effort of cleaning of the river Ganga. 

Domestic donors to the Fund shall be eligible for tax benefits as applicable in the case of the Swachh Bharat Kosh. 

• The Fund would be managed by a Trust to be headed by Finance Minister. 
• The secretariat of the Trust will be set up in Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation under the Mission Director, Clean Ganga. 

Background: 

• The Ganga Action Plan was launched on 14th January 1986 with the main objective of pollution abatement, to improve water quality by interception, diversion and treatment of domestic sewage and toxic and industrial chemical wastes present, from identified grossly polluting units entering in to the river. 
• After reviewing the effectiveness of the "Ganga Action Plan", the Government announced the "Mission Clean Ganga" project on 31st December, 2009 with the objective that by 2020, no municipal sewage and industrial waste would be released in the river without treatment, with the total budget of around Rs.15,000 crore. 
• The Government also established the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA), chaired by the Prime Minister, with the objective to ensure effective abatement of pollution and conservation of the river Ganga, by adopting a river basin approach for comprehensive planning and management. 

• The proposal to set up CGF is to attract private contributions globally for increasing people's participation in this massive task. As this would also cover NRIs, CGF would also fulfil the Budget announcement in the Regular Budget 2014-15. Considering that the measures taken till now are not adequate and a national effort is required to mobilize resources for improving the condition of the river Ganga, the Government has announced the setting up of an Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission called "Namami Gange". 

• Considering that there is a need to increase people's participation from across the country and abroad, it is proposed to set up a "Clean Ganga Fund (CGF)" with voluntary contributions. 

The main features of CGF are: 

i. CGF will have the objective of contributing to the national effort of improving the cleanliness of the river Ganga with the contributions received from the residents of the country, NRIs/ PIO and others. 

ii. CGF will be operated through a bank account by a Trust. 

iii. Domestic donors to the fund shall be eligible for tax benefits as in the case of "Swachch Bharat Kosh". Foreign donors could get suitable tax exemptions in domestic law, wherever permissible. iv. CGF will explore the possibility of setting up daughter funds in other jurisdictions/countries of high donor interest such as USA, UK, Singapore, UAE, etc. to enable tax benefits to donors in their respective jurisdictions. 

v. CGF will be catalytic in nature and will identify and fund specific projects which could be pilot projects, R&D projects, innovative projects or other focused projects. The Fund will define specific and measurable objectives to form the basis for planning, funding, and evaluation. 

vi. Broad activities proposed to be financed from CGF include, inter alia, Activities outlined under the 'Namami Gange' programme for cleaning of river Ganga; control of non-point pollution from agricultural runoff, human defecation, cattle wallowing etc.; setting up of waste treatment and disposal plants along the river around the cities; conservation of the biotic diversity of the river; community based activities to reduce polluting human interface with the river; Development of public amenities including activities such as Ghat redevelopment; R&D and innovative projects; Research and Development projects and innovative projects for new technology and processes for cleaning Ganga; independent oversight through intensive monitoring and real time reporting; any other activity as approved by Governing Council. This is an indicative list and can be expanded within the overall objective by the Governing Council. The Fund shall not be utilised for activities such as dredging. 

vii. CGF will be subject to such audit as required by law as well as audit by any agency determined by Government. CGF would be administered by a Trust to be chaired by Finance Minister and upto 8 members from different fields including NRIs, nominated by the Government. Secretary (Economic Affairs), Secretary (Overseas Indian Affairs), Secretary (Environment, Forest and Climate Changes) and Secretary (Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation) will be members. The CEO of the Fund will be the Member Secretary of the Trust. Two Secretaries from the concerned state governments shall be additional members on a rotation basis. Government may also nominate experts and / or persons of eminence in public life as expert invitees. The Secretariat of the Governing Council shall be set up in Ministry of Water Resources. The Mission Director shall be the CEO of the Fund unless a separate CEO is appointed. 

• The Governing Council will prepare the norms, procedures, cost norms and operational guidelines for obtaining financing from the Fund, which will be notified by the National Mission for Clean Ganga. 

“Namami Gange”

An Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission called “Namami Gange” has been proposed to be set up in the Union Budget 2014-15 and a sum of Rs. 2,037 crores has been set aside for this purpose. 

• In addition a sum of Rs. 100 crores has been allocated for developments of Ghats and beautification of River Fronts at Kedarnath, Haridwar, Kanpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Patna and Delhi in the current financial year.

Namami Gange approaches Ganga Rejuvenation by consolidating the existing ongoing efforts and planning for a concrete action plan for future. 

The interventions at Ghats and River fronts will facilitate better citizen connect and set the tone for river centric urban planning process.

• Recognizing the multi-sectoral, multi-dimensional and multi-stakeholder nature of the Ganga Rejuvenation challenge, the key Ministries comprising of 
• (a) WR, RD&GR, 
• (b) Environment, Forests & Climate Change, 
• (c) Shipping, 
• (d) Tourism, 
• (e) Urban Development, 
• (f) Drinking Water and Sanitation and Rural Development have been working together since June, 2014 to arrive at an action plan. 
• The concerned Ministers have nominated a Group of Secretaries to develop a draft action plan and have held periodical meetings to review the progress and provide guidance. The Group of Secretaries submitted its initial report on 21st July, 2014 and after taking into account the feedback received from the Hon’ble Ministers, the final report has been submitted on 28th August, 2014.

While the report is being examined in the Ministry, NMCG has been working in parallel on a draft strategy taking into account all these developments.

As already identified in the report of the GoS, the long-term vision will emanate from the Ganga River Basin Management Plan being prepared by the Consortium of 7 IITs, first version of which is likely to be available by the end of this year.

On a medium term basis, certain interventions both infrastructure and non-infrastructure need to be introduced to set the tone for implementation of long term vision as also take up so called “no regret” activities in the interim. 

Following are proposed to be taken up under Namami Gange:

(i) Nirmal Dhara- ensuring sustainable municipal sewage management

• Project prioritization in coordination with Ministry of Urban Development.
• Incentive for states to take up projects on Ganga Main-stem by providing an additional share of central grants for sewerage infrastructure.
• Uniform standards for both MoUD scheme and Namami Gange programme, 10 years mandatory O&M by the same service provider at par with NGRBA programme and PPP, Mandatory reuse of treated water
• Expanding coverage of sewerage infrastructure in 118 urban habitations on banks of Ganga- estimated cost by MoUD is Rs 51000 Crores

(ii) Nirmal Dhara- managing sewage from Rural Areas

• Mo DWS scheme for all Ganga bank Gram Panchayts (1632) free from open defecation by 2022, at a cost of Rs 1700 Crores as central share

(iii) Nirmal Dhara- managing Industrial discharge

• Making ZLD mandatory
• Rationalized water tariff to encourage reuse
• Real time water quality monitoring

(iv) Aviral Dhara

• Enforcing River Regulatory Zones on Ganga Banks
• Rational agricultural practices, efficient irrigation methods
• Restoration and conservation of wetlands

(v) Ensuring ecological rejuvenation by conservation of aquatic life and biodiversity

(vi) Promotion of Tourism and Shipping in a rational and sustainable manner

(vii) Knowledge Management on Ganga through Ganga Knowledge Centre leading to a Ganga University of River Sciences

However, to control the spread of pollution and to contain it in manageable limits certain interventions would be necessary in short term. 

Group of Secretaries under guidance of Hon’ble Ministers has identified following activities:

i) Scheme for rehabilitation and up-gradation of existing STPs along Ganga

ii) Ensuring 100% sewerage infrastructure in identified town alongside Ganga

iii) In situ sewage treatment in open drains

iv) Support for preparation of DPRs

v) River Front Management for Ghat’s developments in selected cities and towns

vi) Industrial pollution abatement at Kanpur on priority

vii) Action Plan for Char Dham Yatra –Public amenities, waste disposal and sanitation

viii) Capacity building of urban local bodies

ix) Afforestation – Conservation of Flora

x) Conservation of Aquatic life – special attention on Dolphin, Turtles and Ghariyals etc.

xi) Disposal of flowers and other puja material

xii) Ganga Vahini

xiii) GIS data and Spatial Analysis for Ganga basin

xiv) Study of communities depending on Ganga for their traditional livelihood

xv) National Ganga Monitoring Centre

xvi) Special guidelines for sand mining in Ganga

xvii) Assessment of Special Properties of Ganga Water

xviii) Communication and Public Outreach Activities

NRI Ganga Fund:-

• NRIs have been a very important contributor to the development process in India, in areas such as education, health and preservation of culture. In this context, to harness their enthusiasm to contribute towards the conservation of the river Ganga, NRI Fund for Ganga will be set up which will finance special projects. 
• NRI Ganga Fund could be setup under the aegis of Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs or Ministry of Finance with focus on funds sourcing and corpus management.
• Fund deployment/ appropriation could be made by NMCG under an approved Management Plan.

National Mission for Clean Ganga(NMCG)

National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) is a society registered in 2011 under the Societies Registration Act 1860.

• It acted as implementation arm of National Ganga River Basin Authority(NGRBA) which was constituted under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act (EPA),1986. 
• NGRBA has since been dissolved with effect from the 7th October 2016, consequent to constitution of National Council for Rejuvenation, Protection and Management of River Ganga (referred as National Ganga Council) under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act (EPA),1986.

The Act envisages five tier structure at national, state and district level to take measures for prevention, control and abatement of environmental pollution in river Ganga and to ensure continuous adequate flow of water so as to rejuvenate the river Ganga as below:-

1. National Ganga Council under chairmanship of Hon’ble Prime Minister of India. 

2. Empowered Task Force (ETF) on river Ganga under chairmanship of Hon’ble Union Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. 

3. National Mission for Clean Ganga(NMCG)

4. State Ganga Committees and 

5. District Ganga Committees in every specified district abutting river Ganga and its tributaries in the states. 

• NMCG has a two tier management structure and comprises of Governing Council and Executive Committee. 
• Both of them are headed by Director General, NMCG. 
• Executive Committee has been authorized to accord approval for all projects up to Rs.1000 crore. 
• Similar to structure at national level, State Programme Management Groups (SPMGs) acts as implementing arm of State Ganga Committees. 
• Thus the newly created structure attempts to bring all stakeholders on one platform to take a holistic approach towards the task of Ganga cleaning and rejuvenation. 
• The Director General(DG) of NMCG is a Additional Secretary in Government of India. For effective implementation of the projects under the overall supervision of NMCG, the State Level Program Management Groups (SPMGs) are, also headed by senior officers of the concerned States.

GOODS AND SERVICES TAX (GST)

          Salient Features of GST

The salient features of GST are as under:      

(i)                 The GST would be applicable on the supply of goods or services as against the present concept of tax on the manufacture or sale of goods or provision of services. It would be a destination based consumption tax. This means that tax would accrue to the State or the Union Territory where the consumption takes place. 

      It would be a dual GST with the Centre and States simultaneously levying tax on a common tax base. The GST to be levied by the Centre on intra-State supply of goods or services would be called the Central tax (CGST) and that to be levied by the States including Union territories with legislature/Union Territories without legislature would be called the State tax (SGST)/ Union territory tax (UTGST) respectively.

(ii)               The GST would apply to all goods other than alcoholic liquor for human consumption and five petroleum products, viz. petroleum crude, motor spirit (petrol), high speed diesel, natural gas and aviation turbine fuel. 

          It would apply to all services barring a few to be specified. The GST would replace the following taxes currently levied  and collected by the Centre:

a.  Central Excise Duty

b.  Duties of Excise (Medicinal and Toilet Preparations)

c.  Additional Duties of Excise (Goods of Special Importance)

d.  Additional Duties of Excise (Textiles and Textile Products)

e.  Additional Duties of Customs (commonly known as CVD)

f.   Special Additional Duty of Customs (SAD)

g.  Service Tax

h. Central Surcharges and Cesses so far as they relate to supply of goods and services

(iii)             State taxes that would be subsumed under the GST are:

a.                   State VAT

b.                  Central Sales Tax

c.                   Luxury Tax

d.                  Entry Tax (all forms)

e.                   Entertainment  and Amusement Tax (except when levied by the local bodies)

f.                   Taxes on advertisements

g.                  Purchase Tax

h.                  Taxes on lotteries, betting and gambling

i.                    State Surcharges and Cesses so far as they relate to supply of goods and services

(iv)             The list of exempted goods and services would be common for the Centre and the States.

(v)               Threshold Exemption: 

       Taxpayers with an aggregate turnover in a financial year up to Rs.20 lakhs would be exempt from tax. Aggregate turnover shall be computed on all India basis. 

       For eleven Special Category States, like those in the North-East and the hilly States, the exemption threshold shall be Rest. 10 lakhs. All taxpayers eligible for threshold exemption will have the option of paying tax with input tax credit (ITC) benefits. Taxpayers making inter-State supplies or paying tax on reverse charge basis shall not be eligible for threshold exemption.

(vi)             Composition levy: 

       Small taxpayers with an aggregate turnover in a financial year up to Rest. 50 lakhs shall be eligible for composition levy. Under the scheme, a taxpayer shall pay tax as a percentage of his turnover during the year without the benefit of ITC. The rate of tax for CGST and SGST/UTGST each shall not exceed -

·         2.5% in case of restaurants etc

·         1% of the turnover in a state/ UT in case of a manufacturer

·         0.5% of the turnover in state/UT in case of other suppliers.

A taxpayer opting for composition levy shall not collect any tax from his customers nor shall he be entitled to claim any input tax credit.  The composition scheme is optional. Taxpayers making inter-State supplies shall not be eligible for composition scheme. The government, may, on the recommendation of GST Council, increase the threshold for the scheme to up to rupees one crore.

(vii)           An Integrated tax (IGST) would be levied and collected by the Centre on inter-State supply of goods and services. Accounts would be settled periodically between the Centre and the States to ensure that the SGST/UTGST portion of IGST is transferred to the destination State where the goods or services are eventually consumed.

(viii)         Use of Input Tax Credit: Taxpayers shall be allowed to take credit of taxes paid on inputs (input tax credit) and utilize the same for payment of output tax. However, no input tax credit on account of CGST shall be utilized towards payment of SGST/UTGST and vice versa. The credit of IGST would be permitted to be utilized for payment of IGST, CGST and SGST/UTGST in that order.

(ix)             HSN (Harmonised System of Nomenclature) code shall be used for classifying the goods under the GST regime. Taxpayers whose turnover is above Rs. 1.5 crore but below Rs. 5 crore shall use 2-digit code and the taxpayers whose turnover is Rs. 5 crore and above shall use 4-digit code. Taxpayers whose turnover is below Rs. 1.5 crore are not required to mention HSN Code in their invoices.

(x)               Exports and supplies to SEZ shall be treated as zero-rated supplies. The exporter shall have an option to either pay output tax and claim its refund or export under bond without tax and claim refund of Input Tax Credit.

(xi)             Import of goods and services would be treated as inter-State supplies and would be subject to IGST in addition to the applicable customs duties. The IGST paid shall be available as ITC for further transactions.

GST Council:-

The mechanism of GST Council would ensure harmonization on different aspects of GST between the Centre and the States as well as among States. It has been specifically provided that the GST Council, in its discharge of various functions, shall be guided by the need for a harmonized structure of GST and for the development of a harmonized national market for goods and services. The GST Council shall establish a mechanism to adjudicate disputes arising out of its recommendation or implementation thereof.

Minimal Interface:-

The physical interface between the taxpayer and the tax authorities would be minimal under GST. Certain important provisions in this regard are illustrated as under:

a)      There will be cross-empowerment of officers belonging to Central and State Governments.  Officer of CGST will be empowered to act as proper officer of SGST and vice versa.

b)      Registration will be granted on line and shall be deemed to have been granted if no deficiency is communicated to the applicant within 3 common working days by the tax administration which has been allotted the examination of the application. Such allotment is to be done one each alternately between the Central and the State Tax administration.

c)      Taxable person shall himself assess the taxes payable (self-assessment) and credit it to the account of the Government. The return filed by the tax payer would be treated as self-assessed.

d)     Payment of tax shall be made electronically through internet banking, or also through credit card and through the modes of Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) or National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT). Smaller taxpayers shall be allowed to pay tax over the bank counter. All challans for payment of tax shall be generated online on the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN).

e)      The taxpayer shall furnish the details of outward supplies electronically without any physical interface with the tax authorities. Inward supply details would be auto-drafted from the supply details filed by the corresponding suppliers.

f)       Taxpayers shall file, electronically, monthly returns of outward and inward supplies, ITC availed, tax payable, tax paid and other prescribed particulars. Composition taxpayers shall file, electronically, quarterly returns. Omission/incorrect particulars can be self-rectified before the last date of filing of return for the month of September of the following year or the actual date of filing of annual return, whichever is earlier.

g)      For mismatched invoices, reversal and reclaim of input tax credit shall be done electronically on the GSTN portal without any tax payer contact. This electronic system would also prevent, inter alia, input tax credit being taken on the basis of fake invoices or twice on the same invoice.

h)      Taxpayers shall be allowed to keep and maintain accounts and other records in electronic form.

       Input tax credit

Taxpayer is allowed to take credit of taxes paid on inputs (input tax credit), as self-assessed, in his return.  Taxpayer can take credit of taxes paid on all goods and services, other than a few items in the negative list, and utilize the same for payment of output tax. Credit of taxes paid on inputs can be taken where the inputs are used for business purposes or for making taxable supplies.  Full input tax credit shall be allowed on capital goods on its receipt as against the current Central Government and many State Government practice of staggering the credit in more than one installment. Unutilized input tax credit can be carried forward. The facility of distribution of input tax credit for services amongst group companies has been provided for through the mechanism of Input Service Distributor (ISD).

        Refund

Time limit for claiming online refund has been increased from one year to two years. Refund shall be granted within 60 days from the date of receipt of complete application. Interest is payable if refund is not sanctioned within the stipulated period of 60 days. If the refund claim is less than Rs. 2 lakhs, there is no need for the claimant to furnish any documentary evidence to prove that he has not passed on the incidence of tax to any other person. Only a self-certification to this effect would suffice. Refund of input tax credit shall be allowed in case of exports or where the credit accumulation is on account of inverted duty structure (i.e. where the tax rate on output is higher than that on inputs).

    Demands

A new concept of sunset clause for tax disputes has been introduced. It provides that Adjudication Order shall be issued within 3 years of filing of annual return in normal cases and the time limit is 5 years (from the date of filing of annual return) in fraud/suppression cases. 

SCN will have to be issued at least 3 months prior to the time limit prescribed for issue of adjudication order in normal cases and at least 6 months prior to the time limit prescribed for issue of adjudication order in cases involving fraud/suppression etc. Penalty is Nil or minimal if the tax short paid / non-paid is deposited along with interest at the stage of audit/investigation.

  Alternate Dispute Resolution mechanism - Advance Rulings

Advance ruling mechanism has been continued under the GST law. The salient features are as under:

a)      Advance ruling can be sought in respect of more subjects than allowed at present. The subjects are: classification of goods/or services, time and value of supply, rate of tax, admissibility of input tax credit, liability to pay tax, liability to take registration and whether a particular transaction amounts to a supply under GST law.

b)      Advance ruling can be sought not only for new activities but also for existing activities. The facility of appeal, which is not there under the Central law, has been provided in the GST Law.

c)      The applicants or the Department, if aggrieved by the advance ruling, would henceforth get the opportunity to file an appeal before the Appellate Authority for revision of the ruling. Advance Ruling can be obtained more easily as there will be one Advance Ruling Authority (as also the Appellate Authority) in every State.

 Other provisions of GST:-

The provisions worth mentioning here are:

(i)                  Valuation of goods shall be done on the basis of transaction value i.e. the invoice price, which is the current practice under the Central Excise and Customs Laws. Taxpayers are allowed to issue supplementary or revised invoice in respect of a supply made earlier.

(ii)               New modes of payment of tax are being introduced, viz. through credit and debit cards, National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) and Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS).

(iii)             E-Commerce companies are required to collect tax at source in relation to any supplies made through their online platforms, under fulfilment model, at the rate notified by the Government.

(iv)             An anti-profiteering measure has been incorporated in the GST law to ensure that any benefits on account of reduction in tax rates results in commensurate reduction in prices of such goods/services. 

IT preparedness:-

Putting in place a robust IT network is an absolute must for implementation of GST. A Special Purpose Vehicle called the GSTN has been set up to cater to the needs of GST. 

The GSTN shall provide a shared IT infrastructure and services to Central and State Governments, taxpayers and other stakeholders for implementation of GST. 

The functions of the GSTN would, inter alia, include:

 (i) facilitating registration;

 (ii) forwarding the returns to Central and State authorities;                (iii) computation and settlement of IGST; 

(iv) matching of tax payment details with banking network; (v) providing various MIS reports to the Central and the State Governments based on the taxpayer return information;

 (vi) providing analysis of taxpayers’ profile; and

 (vii) running the matching engine for matching, reversal and reclaim of input tax credit. The target date for introduction of GST is 1^st July, 2017.

The GSTN will also make available standard software for small traders to keep their accounts in that, so that straight away it can be uploaded as their monthly returns on GSTN website. This will make compliance easier for small traders.

National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS)

Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, through the International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, has conducted National Family Health Survey 4 (NFHS-4) 2015-16.

• As per the Survey, in the age group of 15-49 years, 8.0% of men and 5.8% of women in India have high random blood sugar levels and 13.6% men and 8.8% women are hypertensive.

• World Health Organization (WHO) has been part of several consultations on preparation and control of NCDs including Diabetes and Hypertension. 

Government of India has launched the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS) which is implemented for interventions up to District level under the National Health Mission.

• NPCDCS has a focus on awareness generation for behaviour and life-style changes, screening and early diagnosis of persons with high level of risk factors and there treatment and referral (if required) to higher facilities for appropriate management for those Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) including diabetes and hypertension.

Government of India has also initiated a programme on population level screening of Common Non-Communicable Diseases such as Diabetes, Hypertension and Common Cancers viz. Oral, Breast and Cervical Cancer.

• Under this programme, the frontline health workers such as ASHAs and ANMs, inter alia, are being leveraged to carry out screening and generate awareness about the risk factors of NCDs among the masses. 

India is the first country globally to adopt the NCD Global Monitoring Framework and Action Plan to its National Context. 

• The Framework includes a set of nine voluntary targets and 25 indicators which can be applied across regional and country settings. 
• The framework elements include 
• halting the rise in obesity and diabetes prevalence, 
• reduction in alcohol use and 
• promotion of physical activity. 

The Central Government, through its hospitals, augments the efforts of the State Governments for providing health services in the country. 

• Under PMSSY 6 new AIIMS have been made operational. 
• Upgradation of identified Government medical colleges/institutions, for higher speciality facilities has been undertaken.
• All these will augment facilities for prevention, control and treatment of Diabetes, Hypertension and Heart Disease. 

Procurement of Crops

Procurement of wheat and paddy :-

The Central Government extends price support for procurement of wheat and paddy through Food Corporation of India (FCI) and State Agencies at Minimum Support Price (MSP). 

• Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) which is under Agriculture ministry recommends the MSP which gets approved by the Union Cabinet.
• CACP Has two non-official members from farming community. CACP recommends minimum support prices (MSP) based on certain economic criteria. 
• Subsequently, the center announces MSPs for 24 major agricultural commodities, including sugarcane, before each season. MSP announced for both RABI and Kharif SEASONS.
• Procurement at MSP is open ended i.e, whatever foodgrains are offered by the farmers, within the stipulated procurement period and which conforms to the quality specifications prescribed by Government of India (GOI), are purchased at MSP (and bonus/incentive ,if any) by the Government agencies including FCI, for Central Pool.
• However, if any producer/farmer gets better price in comparison to MSP, he is free to sell his produce in Open Market to private traders/anyone. 
• Coarse grains are purchased by State Government with permission of Central Government, upto the extent it is required in their Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS). 

Under Price Support Scheme (PSS), the procurement of oil seeds, pulses and cotton through Central Nodal Agencies at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) is also undertaken.

• This scheme is implemented at the request of the concerned State Government which agrees to exempt the procured commodities from levy of mandi tax and assist central nodal agencies in logistic arrangements including gunny bags, provide working capital for state agencies, creation of revolving fund for PSS operations etc. as required under the Scheme guidelines.The basic objectives of PSS are to provide remunerative prices to the growers for their produce with a view to encourage higher investment and production and to safeguard the interest of consumers by making available supplies at reasonable prices with low cost of intermediation. 

Further, Government of India also implements Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) for procurement of agricultural and horticultural commodities which are perishable in nature and are not covered under the Price Support Scheme (PSS).

• The objective of intervention is to protect the growers of these commodities from making distress sale in the event of a bumper crop during the peak arrival period when the prices tend to fall below economic levels and cost of production.
• The condition is that there should be either at least a 10 percent increase in production or a 10 percent decrease in the ruling market prices over the previous normal year.
• The scheme is implemented at the request of a State/UT Government which is ready to bear 50 percent of the loss (25 percent in case of North-Eastern States), if any, incurred on its implementation.
• The extent of total amount of loss to be shared on a 50:50 basis between the Central Government and the State Government is restricted to 25 percent of the total procurement value which includes cost of the commodity procured plus permitted overhead expenses.