Goaltide Daily Current Affairs 2022

Aug 10, 2022

Current Affair 1:
GST On House Rent: Do All Tenants Have to Pay 18% GST?

 

The 47th GST Council meeting, presided over by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in June, approved a slew of changes to the taxing scheme. The modifications went into effect on July 18, 2022. One of the most significant changes was that a GST-registered tenant must pay Goods and Services Tax at the rate of 18% when renting a residential property.

Earlier Regime

Before June 18, 2022, the residential property was not subjected to any kind of taxes, irrespective of the fact that the landlord or tenant was GST registered or not.

GST On Commercial Property

The GST is applicable on commercial property, which will remain so even after June 18, 2022. The GST is applicable on commercial property when the landlord is GST-registered.

It is mandatory for a landlord to register for the GST when his turnover is more than Rs.20 lakhs in the case of supply of services and more than Rs.40 lakhs in the case of supply of goods. If the landlord is GST-registered and rents the commercial property, then the landlord will charge the tenant 18% GST irrespective of whether the tenant is GST-registered or not.

GST On Residential Property

As per the new rules w.e.f. June 18, 2022, if the tenant of the residential property is GST-registered, he has to pay 18% GST irrespective of the fact that the landlord is GST-registered or not. The payment of the GST shall be made under the reverse charge mechanism (RCM), which means that the tenant shall directly pay the GST to the government.

Impact

The new rule will have an effect on GST-registered tenants. For example, if a company takes a guesthouse on rent or if a company takes a residential property on rent for the sake of its employees, then the company has to pay 18% GST. However, if the employee directly takes a residential property on rent, he is not liable to pay GST.

GST Is Payable by Tenants on Residential Property

Tenants who are GST registered must pay GST when renting a residential property. The tenants registered under GST may include companies; small businesses doing business in residential property; online content creators who shoot videos, etc.; and business professionals like CAs, lawyers, architects, and business consultants.

Cases In Which GST Is Not Payable by Tenants on Residential Property

  1. Tenants who are not GST registered are not required to pay GST when renting a  residential property.
  2. The salaried class person is not required to pay GST when renting a residential property.

 

Current Affair 2:
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA)

 

ESTABLISHMENT

Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, UNRWA was established by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 302 (IV) of 8 December 1949 to carry out direct relief and works programmes for Palestine refugees. The Agency began operations on 1 May 1950.

In the absence of a solution to the Palestine refugee problem, the General Assembly has repeatedly renewed UNRWA's mandate, most recently extending it until 30 June 2023.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN Member States. UNRWA also receives some funding from the Regular Budget of the United Nations, which is used mostly for international staffing costs.

The Agency’s services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance and emergency assistance, including in times of armed conflict.

PALESTINE REFUGEES

UNRWA is unique in terms of its long-standing commitment to one group of refugees. It has contributed to the welfare and human development of four generations of Palestine refugees, defined as “persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict.” The descendants of Palestine refugee males, including legally adopted children, are also eligible for registration.

UNRWA services are available to all those living in its areas of operations who meet this definition, who are registered with the Agency and who need assistance.

When the Agency began operations in 1950, it was responding to the needs of about 750,000 Palestine refugees. Today, some 5.6 million Palestine refugees are eligible for UNRWA services.

Current Affair 3:
Competition Commission of India (CCI)

 

 

Competition Commission of India is a statutory body of the Government of India responsible for enforcing The Competition Act, 2002 throughout India and to prevent activities that have an appreciable adverse effect on competition in India. It was established on 14 October 2003.

 

   

Powers and Functions of CCI (no need of any more functions, except given below):

  1. To eliminate practices having adverse effect on competition, promote and sustain competition, protect interests of consumers and ensure freedom of trade by other participants
  2. Inquire into certain agreements and dominant position of enterprise– It provides that the Commission may either suo moto or on receipt of any information of alleged contravention of Section 3 (prohibits anti-competitive agreements) may inquire into the same.
  3. Inquiry into combinations– Section 20 of the Act entrusts the Commission with the power to inquire into any information relating to acquisition and determine whether such combination or acquisition may have an appreciable adverse effect on competition (AAEC).
  4. Power to issue interim order– Section 33 of the Act empowers the Commission to issue interim orders in cases of anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominant position, thereby temporarily restraining any party from carrying on such an act.
  5. Competition Advocacy– Section 49 of the Act provides for competition advocacy and enumerates that the Central or the State Government may while formulating any policy on Competition or any other matter may refer to the Commission for its opinion on possible effect of such policy on Competition. However, the opinion given by the Commission is not binding on the Central Government.

National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) is an appellate body for appeal against CCI.

Current Affair 4:
Zonal Councils

 

The idea of creation of Zonal Councils was mooted by the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru in 1956. This can be again a part of your Prelims Question. If you remember, something similar was asked in Prelims 2019:

Zonal Councils were set up under States Re-organisation Act, 1956. There are total five Zonal Councils- North, South, West, East and Central.

Don’t include North-Eastern Zonal Councils in it. North Eastern Council is a statutory advisory body constituted under the NEC Act 1971.

One more important thing to understand here is Standing Committee to Zonal Councils.

Nothing more than this is required for your Exam.

Current Affair 5:
What is glacial lake outburst flooding and how does it affect the Himalayas?

 

GLOF is the term scientists use to describe the incident when the water levels of glacial lakes breach their boundaries, causing large amounts of water to flow into nearby streams and rivers. These also create flash floods. Experts attribute GLOFs to climate change and the increase of anthropogenic footprints on glaciers.

A glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) is a release of meltwater from a moraine- or ice-dam glacial lake due to dam failure.

GLOFs have three main features:

  • They involve sudden (and sometimes cyclic) releases of water.
  • They tend to be rapid events, lasting hours to days.
  • They result in large downstream river discharges (which often increase by an order of magnitude).

Why are glaciers in the Himalayas shrinking?

There are 2,000 glacial lakes in the Himalayas of which over 200 are vulnerable to outbursts.

According to scientists:

There are varied reasons for the increase of GLOF threats in the Himalayas. Glaciers in the Himalayas are shrinking very fast at the rate of 20 metre per year due to global warming. This increases the threat of a GLOF.  Some glaciers may vanish in a few decades. In Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, most water requirements are met by glaciers. We need a proper strategy to preserve glaciers, so we don’t face water crises in the future.

 

Glaciers are retreating due to climate change and increase in the anthropogenic footprint in the glaciers.

How does a GLOF impact the surrounding areas?

There are normal glaciers which are also called land terminating glaciers and they just release water, but do not pose any threat as a GLOF. But there are some glaciers which have a frontal region and  also a bowl-shaped depression with accumulated water. When the volume of water in the lake increases; the confining moraine wall (accumulation of debris or material left by a moving glacier), is unable to contain the huge body of water and bursts, thus resulting in sudden release of water.

 

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