Over 20,000 housing societies in Pune may come under GST

Santosh Maskar, chairman of the Roseland Cooperative Housing Society in Pimple Saudagar, is unclear about the status of his housing society under the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. “Our CA told us GST will be applicable only if the monthly maintenance is above Rs 5,000 per month. But, I also read somewhere that GST will be applicable if the yearly turnover is over Rs 20 lakh. By that definition, we will come under the GST ambit, as our yearly turnover is well over a crore,” he said.

The yearly turnover of a housing society is the amount collected from maintenance charges etc, minus the amount spent on providing services, making new constructions etc. Maskar is yet to apply for the provisional GST number and is waiting for a clarification from the Pune District Cooperative Housing Federation (PDCHF) limited. GST’s ‘one tax one nation’ policy presents a challenge for housing societies which, till date, were beyond the ambit of the service tax. Housing societies with a yearly turnover of above Rs 20 lakh will be charged a 5 per cent tax on the service they provide.

Officers of the Pune Zone of GST said the tax will only be applicable to housing societies if they provide any service — such as swimming pools, WiFI — to their members. “Societies are also recipient of certain services, such as security, gardening etc, so in those cases they will be exempt from the tax. But if they take up construction, then they will be charged,” said the officer.

Several housing societies, meanwhile, seem to be unclear about their status under the new tax regime. In Pune, records with the Cooperative Commissioner show there are more than 20,000 housing societies, whose yearly turnover is likely to be more then Rs 20 lakh. While such societies should come under the GST, majority of them are yet to initiate any procedure to get their provisional GST number. Suhas Patwardhan, chairman of PDCHF, said the organisation has written to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, seeking an exemption for housing societies. “If housing societies are brought under the GST regime, not only will it increase the hassle, but it will also translate into higher maintenance bills for its members,” he said.

“As per the information available to us, GST is applicable for housing societies if the monthly maintenance charges are more than Rs 5,000 or annual turnover is more than Rs 20 lakh. It would be good if the government can clarify what all heads should be included under maintenance charges. In fact, most of the housing societies, being co-operative societies, feel that they should be kept out of the GST’s ambit,” said Krunal Bauskar, secretary, Kumar Shantiniketan phase-1 Co-operative Housing Society Ltd. Maskar said in case Roseland society has to pay GST, there would be no other option but to pass the financial burden on to their members “This will lead to increased expenditure for our members,” he said.

News Link : Click Here

Aamir Khan’s Dangal breaks these 10 worldwide box office records as it creates Rs 2000-crore club

The success of Aamir Khan’s Dangal goes beyond the box office. As the film breaks all records and enters Rs 2000 crore club, having earned a large part of its mind-boggling profits in China. As the film continues to go strong, here are the 10 records the film shattered on its path to glory…

* Dangal is the fifth highest-grossing non-English movie in history after The Mermaid, The Untouchables, Monster Hunt, Your Name

* Dangal is Disney’s fourth biggest hit of 2016 after Hollywood blockbusters Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, Pirates of the Caribbean 5 and Beauty And The Beast

* The highest-grossing live action sports movie of 2017

* The biggest non-Hollywood import ever released in China

* First and only Indian film with an overseas gross exceeding $100 million

* First and only Indian film with an overseas gross exceeding Rs. 1,000 crore

* First and only Indian film to gross over $150 million in a single territory (China)

* Biggest single-film payday ever for an Indian actor (Aamir Khan)

* Leggiest film in China’s history (83x opening day gross, and counting)

* Most consecutive days in China with a ¥10 million ($1.5 million) gross (38 days)

So what explains Dangal’s success in China? Indianexpress.com, in an earlier article, tried to understand the reasons why Dangal is such a huge success in China and came up with these obvious reasons: “Both China and India are deeply patriarchal societies, with a clear preference for the male child. China’s sex ratio of 121 males per 100 females (2004 census) is much worse than that of Haryana (114 males per 100 females, 2011 census)… So, when the young Chinese, especially the girls, see Geeta Phogat on the podium after a long, hard-fought battle against the prejudiced social norms, they see a bit of themselves in her and recognise the hardships their parents have experienced in the process.”

In the same way, the respect family commands in both the countries as well as the tough competition for scarce resources and opportunities is an everyday fact in both India and China.

News Link : Click Here

‘Ban on sale of cattle for slaughter won’t affect Goa tourism’

The Centre’s notification banning sale and purchase of cattle for slaughter will not affect tourism in Goa, state minister Manohar Ajgaonkar has said. The Centre recently banned the sale and purchase of cattle in animal markets for slaughter following which there were reports in a section of media that there may be shortage of beef in Goa. However, Ajgaonkar, who is the state tourism minister, refuted such reports. “There is no shortage of beef in the state. The supplies continue for the restaurants and other places,” he told PTI on Thursday.

The Centre’s new rules will not have an impact in Goa, he said adding that people come to the coastal state to relish its authentic seafood cuisine.

“Tourists come here for sea and sand and to eat fish curry and rice. They visit Goa to taste the authentic Goan cuisine, which includes dishes made of fish,” Ajgaonkar said.

The new rules notified recently by the Union environment ministry ban the sale or purchase of bulls, cows, camels for slaughter houses or for sacrifice for religious purpose.

‘World’s heaviest woman’ Eman Ahmed hospitalised in Abu Dhabi

An Egyptian believed to have been the world’s heaviest woman before her surgery was hospitalised in Abu Dhabi to continue treatment after a drastic weight-loss operation in India. Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty was admitted Thursday. She weighed some 500 kilograms before surgery in Mumbai in March that saw her shed around a fifth of her weight.

She suffers from a range of health problems including elephantiasis, a condition that causes the limbs and other body parts to swell. Abd El Aty was put on a special liquid diet in India to reduce her weight enough so that doctors could perform bariatric surgery — a stomach-shrinking bypass procedure is increasingly common in India, which has a growing problem with obesity.

She arrived in India on a specially-modified Airbus plane in February and has now shed an astonishing 323 kilograms in three months. With her weight standing at 176.6 kilograms, she will begin a year-long course of physiotherapy at VPS Burjeel hospital in Abu Dhabi, her doctors in Mumbai said.

“We have arranged for a hydraulic stretcher from Italy for Eman’s journey and she will have doctors, paramedics and nurses with her during the journey,” Sanet Meyer, director of medevac at VPS Burjeel, told AFP ahead of the trip.

UAE newspapers reported that Abd El Aty’s sister Shaima had disagreed with how the Indian medical team were proceeding with the treatment.

“I asked for help (in the Emirates) after noticing the lack of progress,” she said on yesterday.

Abd El Aty had not left her home in Egypt’s Mediterranean port city of Alexandria for two decades until her arrival in India. Her family told doctors that she was diagnosed as a child with elephantiasis, leaving her almost immobile. Abd El Aty has suffered a stroke and faced a series of other serious ailments owing to her weight including diabetes, high blood pressure, hypertension and sleep deprivation.

She is unable to speak properly and is partially paralysed. India is a major destination for medical tourists seeking quality services and no waiting lists at a fraction of the cost of western countries. In July last year, the Guinness Book of World Records recorded American Pauline Potter as the world’s heaviest woman at 293 kilos, well above Abd El Aty’s current weight.

News Link : Click Here

Ladder pane, cabin crew on the 42 thousand feet flight started in the flight

Passengers riding in a flight of Turkish Airlines zoomed in when suddenly a new passenger came between them. In fact, a woman passenger named Nafie DiBi was also traveling in a Turkish Airlines flight, she was a 28-month pregnant. During the journey, he suddenly started labor pain (labor pains). The cabin crew on the ship helped the woman in delivery. Not only that, some passengers present in the flight also extended their hands to help women. The woman gave birth to the baby at a height of 42 thousand feet. This incident took place on Friday. After the birth of the child, the flight was landed in a country in West Africa and the mother and child were admitted to the hospital.

The airline company tweeted photos of the mother and child, giving information about this. At the same time, they also confirmed that both mother and newborn girl are healthy. The baby girl was named Kadija. Even on micro blogging website Twitter, users have expressed happiness over the birth of the child and the work of the cabin crew. So far, about 20 thousand people have re-tweeted and more than 25 thousand people have liked it on the post on April 7. After listening to the news of the health of the child on the social media, the happiness and congratulations of people came from the flood of messages.

Welcome on board Princess! Applause goes to our cabin crew!

At the same time, in Maharashtra, a case related to delivery of women was revealed on Sunday. Here a boy studying in MBBS with the assistance of WhitSAP in the train has delivered the woman. The boy took a picture of the woman and cast it on a group of senior doctors. After that a senior lady doctor helped her in delivering the child. After the instructions received from senior doctors, the student successfully delivered the woman. According to the report, both mother and child are OK after the operation.

News Link : Click Here

Turkey confirms use of chemical weapons in Syria gas attack after autopsy of victims

Ankara: Confirming earlier reports from the World Health Organisation (WHO) that chemical weapons may have used in Syria attack, Turkey has confirmed that such armaments were used in the attack.

"Autopsies were carried out on three of the bodies after they were brought from Idlib. The results of the autopsy confirms that chemical weapons were used," Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said, quoted by state-run Anadolu news agency.

"This scientific investigation also confirms that Assad used chemical weapons," Bozdag added, without giving further details. Thirty-two injured Syrians were brought to southern Turkey for medical treatment but three of them died in hospital. 

As per WHO’s statement on Wednesday, some victims of a suspected chemical attack in Syria had symptoms consistent with exposure to a category of chemicals that includes nerve agents.

The UN health agency had said the attack in Idlib province Tuesday, which killed at least 72 civilians, appeared to have involved chemical weapons, pointing to the "apparent lack of external injuries reported in cases showing a rapid onset of similar symptoms, including acute respiratory distress as the main cause of death."

"Some cases appear to show additional signs consistent with exposure to organophosphorus chemicals, a category of chemicals that includes nerve agents," it said.

Now it has been proved that the attack involved use of chemical weapons. 

Syria 'chemical' attack: What we know

International outrage is mounting over a suspected chemical attack that killed scores of civilians in a rebel-held town in northwest Syria on Tuesday morning.

AFP's correspondent in the town of Khan Sheikhun saw lifeless bodies lying at a field hospital, which was itself hit in air strikes hours after the attack. 

It remains unclear what kind of substance was used in the attack, but the World Health Organization said on Wednesday that some victims appeared to show signs of exposure to "nerve agents".

With Turkey's confirmation, this can be termed as one of the worst chemical attacks since Syria's civil war began six years ago. 

What happened?

Air strikes hit the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun around 7:00 am (0400 GMT) on Tuesday, and residents reported finding entire families "dead in their beds".

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights first reported that 58 civilians had died, but the monitoring group later updated the death toll to a total of 72, including 20 children and more than a dozen women. 

Another 160 were wounded, with local medics telling AFP they had treated cases of suffocation, convulsions, pinpoint pupils, and rapid pulses. 

What was the aftermath?

Residents were rushed to clinics inside the town and wider province, and some victims were taken across the border for treatment in Turkey.  

Hours after the attack, as medics worked to treat the wounded in a hospital in Khan Sheikhun, two air strikes slammed into the facility and partially destroyed it.

The gruesome footage emerging from the town was met with widespread shock, including in Brussels where world powers have gathered to raise funds to deal with Syria's crisis. 

Who was behind it?

Syria's opposition has accused the government of Bashar al-Assad of carrying out the strike, and warned that it "calls into question" efforts to bring an end to the bloody conflict. 

Rebel groups including Al-Qaeda's former affiliate said on Tuesday they would take "revenge" against the regime and its backers, calling on allied fighters "to ignite the fronts" across the country. 

But Syria's army "categorically" denied the claims, saying it had never used chemical weapons "any time, anywhere, and will not do so in the future".

Both the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria and the UN's chemical arms watchdog said they were investigating the attack to determine whether chemical substances were used. 

How has the world reacted?

Washington and London have pointed the finger at Assad, and European Union diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini said his regime bore "primary responsibility" for the attack. 

Pope Francis on Wednesday called the attack an "unacceptable massacre". 

But regime ally Moscow said the deaths were caused when a Syrian air strike hit a "terrorist warehouse" containing toxic materials. 

When have chemical weapons been used in Syria?

Syria's government officially joined the Chemical Weapons Convention and turned over its chemical arsenal in 2013, as part of a deal to avert US military action.

That agreement came after hundreds of people -- up to 1,429 according to a US intelligence report -- were killed in chemical weapons strikes allegedly carried out by Syrian troops near Damascus.

But there have been repeated allegations of chemical weapons use by the government since, with a UN-led investigation pointing the finger at the regime for at least three chlorine attacks in 2014 and 2015.

The Islamic State jihadist group was also found to have used mustard gas in a 2015 attack in Syria.