List of Important Articles for All Competitive Exams

List of Important Articles for All Competitive Exams

Goods and Services Tax Bill

"Goods and Services Tax" would be a comprehensive indirect tax on manufacture, sale and consumption of goods and services throughout India, to replace taxes levied by the central and state governments.

Goods and Services Tax would be levied and collected at each stage of sale or purchase of goods or services based on the input tax credit method.

Taxable goods and services are not distinguished from one another and are taxed at a single rate in a supply chain till the goods or services reach the consumer.

Administrative responsibility would generally rest with a single authority to levy tax on goods and services.

Exports would be zero-rated and imports would be levied the same taxes as domestic goods and services adhering to the destination principle.

From the consumer point of view, the biggest advantage would be in terms of a reduction in the overall tax burden on goods, which is currently estimated at 25%-30%, free movement of goods from one state to another without stopping at state borders for hours for payment of state tax or entry tax and reduction in paperwork to a large extent.

What changes there would be if India launches GST- "The tax rate under GST may be nominal or zero rated for the time being. It has been proposed to insulate the revenues of the States from the impact of GST, with the expectation that in due course, GST will be levied on petroleum and petroleum products." The central government has assured states of compensation for any revenue losses incurred by them from the date of introduction of GST for a period of five years.

History

An empowered committee was set up by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2000 to streamline the GST model to be adopted and to develop the required backend infrastructure that would be needed for its implementation.

The committee submitted its report to the government in April 2008 and released its First Discussion Paper on GST in India in 2009.

In the Rajya Sabha, the bill was referred to a Select Committee on 14 May 2015.

The Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha submitted its report on the bill on 22 July 2015.

The bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on 3 August 2016, and the amended bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on 8 August 2016.

Features of Goods and Service Tax, bill

The Central GST and the State GST would be applicable to all transactions of goods and services made for a consideration except the exempted goods and services, goods which are outside the purview of GST and the transactions which are below the prescribed threshold limits.

It would have to be ensured that account-heads for all services and goods would have indication whether it relates to Central GST or State GST. Since the Central GST and State GST are to be treated separately, taxes paid against the Central GST shall be allowed to be taken as input tax credit for the Central GST and could be utilized only against the payment of Central GST. Cross utilization of ITC between the Central GST and the State GST would not be allowed except in the case of inter-State supply of goods and services under the IGST model which is explained later.

To the extent feasible, uniform procedure for collection of both Central GST and State GST would be prescribed in the respective legislation for Central GST and State GST. The administration of the Central GST to the Centre and for State GST to the States would be given.

This would imply that the Centre and the States would have concurrent jurisdiction for the entire value chain and for all taxpayers on the basis of thresholds for goods and services prescribed for the States and the Centre.

A uniform State GST threshold across States is desirable and it is considered that a threshold of gross annual turnover of Rs.10 lakh both for goods and services for all the States and Union Territories may be adopted with adequate compensation for the States where lower threshold had prevailed in the VAT regime.

Keeping in view the interest of small traders and small scale industries and to avoid dual control, the States also considered that the threshold for Central GST for goods may be kept at Rs.1.5 crore and the threshold for Central GST for services may also be appropriately high.

It may be mentioned that even now there is a separate threshold of services and goods in the Service Tax and CENVAT. The States are also of the view that Composition/Compounding Scheme for the purpose of GST should have an upper ceiling on gross annual turnover and a floor tax rate with respect to gross annual turnover.

Indian Constitution Overview

Overview

The Indian constitution is the framework for political principles, procedures, powers of government officials, etc.

It's also the longest constitution in the world with 448 articles, 22 parts, 12 schedules and 115 amendments.

An Indian Constitution is a set of rules and regulations guiding the administration of a State.

The recommendations of the Motilal Nehru Committee and the decisions taken by the meeting of National Congress at Karachi enabled the need for the formation of a Constituent Assembly.

The Constituent Assembly which came into existence on 11th of December 1946, this duration, the constituent assembly had 145 meetings and framed a draft constitution.

During these discussions, the various laws proposed by the British Government in 1909, 1919 and 1935, the British Parliamentary System, the American Bill of Rights, the Social Directive Policies of Ireland were studies and some laws of those were written in the Constitution.

Finally, the Indian Constitution was approved on 26th of November, 1949 and came into existence on 26th of January, 1950.

Constituent assembly 

Constituent Assembly of India The Constitution was drafted by the Constituent Assembly, which was elected by the elected members of the provincial assemblies.

The 389 member Constituent Assembly took almost three years to complete its historic task of drafting the Constitution for Independent India.

On 29 August 1947, the Constituent Assembly set up a Drafting Committee under the Chairmanship of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar to prepare a Draft Constitution for India.

While deliberating upon the draft Constitution, the Assembly moved, discussed and disposed of as many as 2,473 amendments out of a total of 7,635 tabled.

The first temporary 2-day president of the Constituent Assembly was Dr Sachchidananda Sinha.

Later, Rajendra Prasad was elected president of the Constituent Assembly.

The members of the Constituent Assembly met for the first time on 9 December 1946.

Overview of  the Structure 

The Indian constitution is the world's longest constitution. At the time of commencement, the constitution had 395 articles in 22 parts and 8 schedules.

The Constitution, in its current form, consists of a preamble, 25 parts containing 448  articles, 12 schedules, 5 appendices and 100 amendments, the latest of which came into force on 1 August 2015.

Every Indian should know at least Indian constitution overview to know the civilian rights,rules and regulations.