Current Affairs 5th May 2018

Current Affairs 5th May 2018 - Important Points

• Simplified return filing process approved -  GST Council
• India ranked 11th by - FDI Confidence Index 2018
• World Press Freedom Day celebrated on - 3rd May 2018

• Online professional development programme for faculty launched by - HRD Ministry

• NITI Aayog, IBM sign SoI to develop crop yield prediction model using Artificial  Intelligence on - 4th May 2018

Current Affairs 5th May 2018 - Details

Simplified return filing process approved by -  GST Council

One monthly Return allow all taxpayers to file single monthly return. Tax Return filing dates will be blowout over a period of time, grounded on the turnover of the recorded person. The configuration dealers having zero transaction will have to file quarterly return.
Unidirectional Flow of invoices will require seller to upload one directional flow of invoices anytime in the month. This would be observed as the valid document to enjoy input tax credit by the buyer. Buyer would be able to check the uploaded invoices uninterruptedly during the month.
Simple Return design and easy IT interface where the B2B dealers will need to file invoice-wise particulars of the outward supply accomplished by them, based on which, the system will inevitably analyze his tax liability.
Taxpayer will also be issued with user-friendly IT interface and offline IT instrument to upload the invoices.
No automatic reversal of credit of input tax credit from buyers on non-payment of tax by the vender. In case of default in payment of tax by the vender, retrieval will be accomplished from the seller.
Due process for recovery and reversal of tax will be done via a due process of releasing notice and order. There will be a 3-stage transition in the fresh system. Stage-1 will be the current system of filing of return GSTR 3B and GSTR 1. GSTR 2 and GSTR 3 shall endure to be suspended. In stage-2, the fresh return will have the provision to upload invoice-wise information and also provision for claiming input tax credit on self-declaration base.

India ranked 11th by - FDI Confidence Index 2018

India was ranked at 11th place in the FDI Confidence Index 2018 published by global consultancy firm A T Kearney. It has dropped down by 3 notches in 2018 as it was positioned 8th in 2017 and 9th in 2016. This is 1st time India fell out of the top ten since 2015.

Key Points

• Top ten nations in FDI Confidence Index 2018 are US at 1st, Canada at 2nd, Germany at 3rd, UK at 4th, China at 5th, Japan at 6th, France at 7th, Australia at 8th, Switzerland at 9th and Italy at 10 th place.
• United States has topped position for the 6th year in a continuation mainly due to similar confidence result of its large market, robust and sustained economic development and recent commercial tax cuts.
• Switzerland and Italy have come in the top ten positions for the 1st time in over decade.
• Asia Pacific region: Investor preference for the region outlook to have decreased slightly with only 7 Asian nations give the impression on 2018 FDI Confidence Index.
• Emerging markets: This year marks an all-time low for the portion of emerging markets on index. Just 4 emerging markets have give the impression among top 25 nations like China, India, Mexico, and Brazil.
• This proposes that self-assurance in investing in specific emerging markets has decreased.

India: The fall in India’s rank may be due few policies such as trials faced in implementation 2017
countrywide GST and 2016 demonetisation actions which disturbed business movement and weighed on economic development which has discouraged investors sentiments in short-term.

FDI Confidence Index
The FDI index is an annual examination of how political, economic, and regulatory alterations will likely
affect FDI inflows into nations in forthcoming years. It is built using primary information from proprietary survey administered to older executives of world’s leading companies. Corporations taking part in survey have yearly revenues of $500 million or above.

World Press Freedom Day celebrated on - 3rd May 2018

May 3rd was observed as World Press Freedom Day on year basis to observe fundamental principles of
press freedom and to assess freedom of press across the world. It works as event to defend media from
attacks on their independence and to pay honour to journalists who had lost their lives during their
profession.
The theme for year 2018 was ‘Keeping Power in Check: Media, Justice and The Rule of Law’. It lime-lights reputation of enabling legal environment for press freedom and delivers special care to role of
independent judiciary in guaranteeing legal assurances for freedom of press and prosecution of
criminalities against journalists. It also addresses role of media in supportable development, during
elections for encouraging transparency, responsibility and law rule. It also explores legislative breaks
with regard to freedom of express and data online, and dangers of regulating online speech.
More about World Press Freedom Day

• UNs General Assembly in December 1993 announced the World Press Freedom Day, after the
  endorsement accepted at 26-Session of UNESCO’s General Conference in 1991.
• This endorsement was an answer to a call given by African journalists who in 1991 shaped landmark Windhoek Declaration on media pluralism and freedom.
• Since that date 3rd May, is celebrated as anniversary of Declaration of Windhoek and is celebrated internationally as World Press Freedom Day.
• Celebration of day delivers option to observe fundamental principles of press freedom; defend media from outbreaks on their freedom; evaluate state of press freedom all over the world and pay honor to journalists who died in line of duty.

Online professional development programme for faculty launched by - HRD Ministry

The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development has initiated a chief and unique initiative of online professional development of 1.5 million higher-education staff using the MOOCs platform SWAYAM.  In the 1st phase of the initiative, 75 discipline-specific National Resource Centres have been recognized. 
As per to an official Ministry announcement, centres under the Ministry’s Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching situated in Central Universities, IITs, NITs, State Universities, University Grant Commission’s Human Resource Development Centres, NITTT, IIITs, Open Universities and other institutions have been notified as National Resource Centres.
Key Highlights

• The National Resource Centres have been provided task with designing online training material with main focus on current progresses in the discipline, new and emerging inclinations, pedagogical developments and methods for transacting reviewed curriculum.
• The centres will cover wide disciplines including social sciences, sciences, engineering and technology, design and manufacturing, humanities, language learning, commerce and management, education planning and administration and public policy.
• The initiative will advantage the faculty, as it would be extremely elastic and can be done at one’s own speed and time.
• Under the initiative, all working teachers, keeping apart their subject and seniority, will have the chance to be modernized with the latest growths in their disciplines through the online refresher course.
• The National Resource Centres will advance the Refresher Module which will have the current trends in their earmarked discipline by June 15th every year.

NITI Aayog, IBM sign SoI to develop crop yield prediction model using Artificial  Intelligence on - 4th May 2018

NITI Aayog and IBM inked a Statement of Intent on May 4th, 2018 to advance a crop yield prediction model using Artificial Intelligence to deliver real-time advisory to agriculturalists in aspirational districts.
The Statement of Intent was inked in the presence of CEO of NITI Aayog Amitabh Kant and Karan Bajwa, MD IBM India.
Talking on the progress, Amitabh Kant informed that bringing in future technologies including Artificial
Intelligence into real-world usage will have wonderful advantages for the agriculture practice in the nation, refining efficiency in resource-use, crop productions and scientific farming. The 10 ambitious districts selected will be revitalized with cutting-edge technological support to the leap-frog progress of agriculture-based economies.
Main Objective
The main objective of the contract is to enable collaboration in the usage of technology to provide insights to farmers to advance crop productivity, soil yield, control agricultural inputs with the predominant goal of improving farmers’ profits.

Key Highlights

• The 1st phase of the project will aim on emerging the model for ten ambitious districts across the states of Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, MP, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and UP.
• The possibility of the project is to announce and make available climate aware of reasoning farming techniques and classifying systems of crop monitoring. 
• It also has weather advisory development, rich satellite and improved weather forecast data along with IT and mobile apps with a aim on refining the crop outcome and price savings through better farm management.