1. The council has approved quarterly returns for enterprises with turnover less than Rs 5 crore. It is to be noted that the tax payments will continue on a monthly basis.

2. In a major step, Sanitary Napkins exempted from GST going forward. Earlier, there was a 12% levy on the same.

3. No decision has been taken pertaining sugar cess. However, a report has been submitted for further perusal.

4. Ethanol for Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) will now be taxed at 5% as opposed to 18% previously.

5. Rate on bamboo flooring has been reduced to 12%.

6. GST on consumer electronics – TV (up to 68 cms), Washing Machine, Refrigerator, mixer, juicer, grinder has been slashed from 28% to 18%.

7. 5% GST ceiling on footwear raised from Rs 500 to Rs 1000.

8. GST on all leather items cut from 28% to 18%.

9. Exemption limit for traders in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Himalaya, Sikkim, increased from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh.

10. In case of services, major relief was provided on categories including  agriculture, farming and food processing industry; education, training and skill development and pension, social security and old age support.

11. The exempt services include services by way of artificial insemination of livestock (other than horses), warehousing of minor forest produce, works of installation and commissioning undertaken by DISCOMS/ electricity distribution companies for extending electricity distribution network for agricultural use, among others.

Indian badminton player Lakshaya Sen bagged the gold medal after defeating Indonesia’s top-seeded Kunlavut Vitidsaran in the final match of the Badminton Asia Junior Championship in Jakarta on Sunday.

The 16-year-old thrashed his Indonesian opponent 21-19, 21-18 to win gold for the country at the mega-event after a gap of six years.

Starting the game on a slow note, the Indian shuttler steadily built the momentum and kept his nerves intact to emerge victorious in the match.

As per the expectations, junior world number one Vitidsaran started the first game with some attacking moves and gained the initial lead of two points.

Making a comeback, Sen collected two points in quick succession and soon the two locked horns at the score of 7-7.

A tight contest was witnessed between the two players with no one willing to give away the lead.

Everybody was on their feet when both the players were at the score of 19-19. Ultimately, it was the Indian player who deceived his opponent with a wonderful drop and won the first game.

The second game started on a similar note with both the players battling hard to keep the lead.

After the initial score of 4-4, Indian shuttler took the lead of three points but the Indonesian player made a strong comeback to make it 17-17 on the score table. Sen gained the 18th point at the crucial stage of the match and gave no chance to his opponent, after that.

The Indian shuttler created history by beating the top-seed 21-18 in the second game, thus clinching the championship.

BENGALURU: 

Kerala stands as the best governed state in the country and Karnataka is in the fourth position, said the Public Affairs Index 2018 released by the think tank Public Affairs Centre (PAC) in Bengaluru.

"Kerala has topped the Public Affairs Index (PAI) for 2018 as the best governed state for the third consecutive year since 2016 among large states," said Bengaluru-based PAC at an event in Bengaluru on Saturday evening to release its third annual PAI.

Released annually since 2016, the index examines governance performance in the states through a data-based framework, ranking them on social and economic development they are able to provide.

Founded in 1994 by renowned Indian economist and scholar late Samuel Paul, the think tank works to mobilise a demand for better governance in the country.

Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka and Gujarat followed Kerala among the top five states delivering good governance, according to the report.

Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar ranked the lowest on the PAI, indicating higher social and economic inequalities in the states.

Among smaller states (with population less than two crore), Himachal Pradesh topped the list, followed by Goa, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura which figured among the top five states with good governance.

Nagaland, Manipur and Meghalaya were ranked at the bottom of the index among small states.

Science& Technology, Earth Sciences; Environment, Forest & Climate Change Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan unveiled a state-of-the-art Air Quality and Weather Forecast System– SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting)at ChandniChowkin Delhi today. The giant true colour LED display gives out real-time air quality index on 24x7 basis with colour coding alongwith 72-hour advance forecast.

The system, first of its kind in the country, was developed indigenously in record time by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune and operationalized by India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The minister said based on the Air Quality Index on a particular day, Health advisory and related precaution will be notified to prepare citizens well in advance. Dr. Harsh Vardhan, further added that in addition to monitoring and forecasting of regular air quality and weather parameters, the ChandniChowk air quality station will also measure sun’s UV-Index and will provide measurement of online automatic ultrafine particles PM1 and Mercury, both of which have direct relevance to human health. Based on UVI, skin advisories will be issued on display.

“Our mission model project SAFAR is implemented in four cities of India – Delhi, Pune, Mumbai and Ahmedabad as an operational service. Accordingto a preliminary economic assessment of the benefits of the system, if 5% of people suffering from air-pollution related diseases take advantage of the advisories and precautionsin Delhi alone, it would result in a saving of nearly Rs. 2,500 crores in terms of health-related cost benefit,” said Dr Harsh Vardhan, addressing a large gathering at Town Hall in ChandniChowk.

The system will be an integral part of India’s first Air Quality Early Warning System operational in Delhi and will strengthen the existing air quality network of SAFAR, Central Pollution Control Board and Delhi Pollution Control Committee.

SAFAR will accelerate public awareness and preparedness of air pollution and weather extremes. It will also lead to better understanding of linkages among emissions, weather, pollution and climate. It will monitor all weather parameters like temperature, rainfall, humidity, wind speed and wind direction.

In addition to regular air quality parameters like PM2.5, PM10, Sulfur Dioxide, Ozone, Nitrogen Oxides, Carbon Monoxide, the system will also monitor the existence of Benzene, Toluene and Xylene.

Besides health, SAFAR system would benefit cost savings to several other sectors like agriculture, aviation, infrastructure, disaster management skill, tourism and many others, which directly or indirectly get affected by air quality and weather. 

Indian star footballer Sunil Chhetri has been adjudged the 2017 AIFF Player of the year by the national governing body of football, All India Football Federation. The list of award winners for the previous year was announced at the recently concluded Executive Committee meeting in Mumbai.

The Bengaluru FC striker recently became the second Indian footballer to play 100 international games after legendary footballer Bhaichung Bhutia. The 33-year skipper old recently led the Men in Blue to the inaugural title of Hero Intercontinental Cup held last month.

Kamala Devi, on the other hand, was named the 2017 AIFF Women footballer of the year.

Young Anirudh Thapa, who took the Indian football by storm with his splendid performance in the Intercontinental cup was announced as 2017 AIFF Emerging player of the year. E Panthoi was named as the 2017 AIFF women Emerging player of the year.

AIFF, in its official statement, as released the full list of the 2017 Awards:

– 2017 AIFF Award for Best Grassroots Development Programme: Kerala FA.

– 2017 AIFF Award for long-time contribution to Indian Football: Hero Motocorp.

– 2017 AIFF Award for Best Assistant Referee: Mr. Sumanta Datta (Assam).

– 2017 AIFF Award for Best Referee: Mr. CR Srikrishna.

– 2017 AIFF Emerging Woman Footballer of the Year: Ms. E Panthoi.

– 2017 AIFF Emerging Player of the Year: Mr. Anirudh Thapa.

– 2017 AIFF Woman Footballer of the Year: Ms. Kamala Devi.

– 2017 AIFF Player of the Year: Mr. Sunil Chhetri.

Indian wrestlers bagged two gold medals on the final day to finish the 2018 Asian Junior Championships on a high note on Sunday. In men's freestyle, Deepak Punia emerged champion in the 86 kilogram category while Sachin Rathi won gold in the 74kg freestyle division. Meanwhile Suraj Kokate (61kg) and Mohit (125kg) ended up with bronze medals in their respective categories. Sachin defeated Byambasuren Bat-Erdene of Mongolia in the final. The Mongolian dominated the opening stages and went into the break with a comfortable 5-2 lead.

Byambasuren bolstered his advantage to 9-2 shortly after the resumption with a takedown and a couple of leg holds.

However, the Indian fought back to stage a superb comeback in the final minute to clinch the gold medal.

Later, Deepak defeated Azat Gajyyev of Turkmenistan to win the second gold for India.

Punia dominated right from the start and opened up a formidable 7-0 lead going into the break. He increased his led to 10-0 in the second round to win by technical superiority.

Iran consolidated their position as the superpower of Asian wrestling with two gold medals on the final day. They built up a total haul of eleven medals and took the first place with 189 points. India were second with 173 points while Uzbekistan scored 128 to finish third.

New Delhi: A year since the high-profile launch of its satellite phone services, BSNL has sold 4,000 handsets, majority to government agencies, and expects the number to reach 10,000 by March 2019 riding on fresh demand from corporates and states for the premium service, its chairman Anupam Shrivastava said.

“The satellite phone business is doing well, and we have sold 4,000 satellite phone handsets to defense, army, Border Security Force (BSF), disaster management agencies, ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation), Railways and some in the private sector,” Shrivastava told PTI.

A satellite phone offers communication services via satellites, as opposed to terrestrial mobile towers. Satellite phones are used in situations and locations where terrestrial mobile service may not be available. Satellite phones can work in any part of the country, inside flights and on ships too, as they depend on signals directly from satellites located about 35,700 kms above the Earth.

Traditional mobile networks cover around 25-30 kms around towers and can transmit signals to phones placed equal to or below the height of the tower. Besides the agencies handling disaster management, the state police, railways, BSF and others, even multinational companies are now feeling the need to stay connected anywhere and anytime, notwithstanding the fact that while the handset itself is expensive, even the services come at a premium—tariffs hover about ₹25-30 per minute.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) says it has earned ₹100 crore revenue from this business, that was unveiled in May 2017. “We have already hit a revenue of ₹100 crore in one year from satellite phones, annualised business will remain ₹100 crore even if we don’t do anything further. But we see a lot of potential and headroom for growth,” Shrivastava said.

The telecom PSU, which began satellite phone services by targeting government agencies, has now opened up these offerings even for non-government outfits, he said. “The demand from government agencies was so huge that in the first phase we decided to cater to that segment and transfer all the satellite communication of government to BSNL. We have now opened up services to others,” he said.

 India’s largest online retailer Flipkart has forged an alliance with video streaming service Hotstar and launched a video advertisement platform on Friday—part of a broader strategy to generate more revenue from the booming video advertising business. The new platform, Shopper Audience Network, will allow brands to target consumers through personalized video ads on Hotstar. Flipkart plans to leverage data from its massive user base and help brands connect with potential consumers using these targeted ads.

“Understanding our customers better than anyone else has always been one of Flipkart’s core strengths, and these insights help marketers in their ad journey, on our platform. This partnership further leverages the intent-based understanding and couples it with Hotstar’s platform t o create an unparalleled offering in the ads industry in India,” said Prakash Sikaria, senior director at Flipkart, who heads the company’s digital ads business. This new alliance with Hotstar comes at a time when Flipkart is aiming to cement its position as the third-largest digital ads platform in the country, behind Google and Facebook.

Mint reported on 11 July that Flipkart aims to double its annualised sales from digital advertising to roughly $200 million by March next year.

On 16 July, Mint also reported that Flipkart and Amazon India have both slashed advertising spending on Google, ahead of an e-commerce launch by the web-search company, whom they now view as a serious threat.

Over the past two years, Flipkart has become a significant player in the advertisement business, though Google and Facebook continue to attract a majority of the digital ad spending that is estimated to grow at an annual average rate of 32% to touch ₹ 18,986 crore by 2020, according to a report earlier this year from Dentsu Aegis Network.

SAN FRANCISCO, US: 

As part of its plan to connect billions of people who are still offline, Facebook is working on launching Athena, its own Internet satellite, early in 2019, the WIRED reported.

According to an application Facebook appears to have filed with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) under the name PointView Tech LLC, the project is designed to "efficiently provide broadband access to unserved and underserved areas throughout the world," the report said on Friday.

Facebook, however, is not alone in aiming to increase Internet accessibility through satellites in low Earth orbit. Elon Musk''s SpaceX and Softbank-backed OneWeb are two other prominent names who have similar ambitions.

Facebook also confirmed that Athena is their project, according to the report in the WIRED.

"While we have nothing to share about specific projects at this time, we believe satellite technology will be an important enabler of the next generation of broadband infrastructure, making it possible to bring broadband connectivity to rural regions where Internet connectivity is lacking or non-existent," a Facebook spokesperson was quoted as saying in a statement.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday launched ‘e-Pragati core platform’ at Undavalli, near here. e-Pragati, a forward-looking digital initiative, is aimed at connecting the citizen to 34 departments, 336 autonomous organisations and 745-plus services.

Through this project, the State government intends to realise the vision of ‘Sunrise AP 2022’. The e-Pragati authority will achieve the goals of the project by supporting the seven development missions launched in the areas of e-Governance, Social Empowerment, Skill Development, Urban Development, Infrastructure, Industrial Development and the Services sector.

Mr. Naidu said e-Pragati would act as a platform to connect all departments and stand alone to resolve the issues. There should be coordination between citizens and the government to solve several issues.

Stating that Andhra Pradesh stood first with regard to Information Technology, Mr. Naidu said wonders could be done with IT and internet of things (IoT). The IT and IoT have been helping in a big way to improve performance of the government.

Explaining about government initiatives to move towards paperless government, IT Minister Nara Lokesh said certificate-less admissions were introduced in the State.

Issuance of the driving licences was also made online. The portal had single access for all 34 departments integration to cover all services.“The democratisation of data would help to know the ground level problems of people. The taxation system at grass root level is also digitalised,” he said.