Gujarat records over 62% voter turnout in first phase

• A voter turnout of 63.14 per cent was recorded in the first phase of Gujarat Assembly elections covering 89 seats across 19 districts of Saurashtra-Kutch and southern regions of the state, the Election Commission said on Friday.
• In the 2017 Assembly election, the voter turnout in the first phase covering the same 89 constituencies stood at 66.75 per cent.
• Tribal-dominated Narmada district recorded the highest turnout of 78.24 per cent, followed by Tapi, another such district with 76.91 per cent. Navsari  recorded 71.06 per cent voting, the EC said.
• Botad district recorded the lowest voter turnout of 57.58 per cent, it said in its final tally. Amreli followed closely with 57.59 per cent turnout.
• Ten districts recorded more than 60 per cent voting, while six others saw below 60 per cent voting.
• In 2017, the final voter turnout for both the phases of elections was 68.41 per cent.
• The second phase of elections with 833 candidates will be held on December 5 and votes will be counted on December 8.

November GST revenues rise 11% from year earlier

• Central and state governments have collected about ₹46 trillion in Goods and Services Tax (GST) in November, as festive demand continued to support consumption of goods and services.
• An official statement from the finance ministry said that November GST receipts show an 11% improvement over the revenue collected in the same month a year ago.
• Since March this year, GST receipts have remained above ₹4 trillion as the country gradually came out of the coronavirus pandemic.
• GST revenue, however, declined sequentially from the ₹52 trillion collected in October.
• Experts pointed out that this is on account of the fact that October GST collections which represent economic activity in September had benefited from the boost in economic activity at the end of the September quarter.
• Central government collected ₹59,678 crore as Central GST and states collected ₹61,189 as SGST after settlement of revenue receipts on inter-state sales.
• Centre also released ₹17,000 crore as GST compensation to states in November.
• In November, revenue from import of goods was 20% higher and revenue from domestic transactions including import of services was 8% higher than the revenue from these sources during the same month last year, said the statement. Over ₹10,400 crore was collected by way of GST compensation cess.

About GST

The GST (122nd Constitutional Amendment) Bill, 2014 was passed in May 2015. It was enacted as Constitution (101st Amendment) Act, 2016, with effect from, 16th September, 2016. It heralds the first significant step towards the indirect tax reform in India in the last thirty years. The GST was launched on 1st July 2017. Below are some additional details about the GST.

• It is a tax levied when a consumer buys a good or service. It is meant to be a single, comprehensive tax that will subsume all the other smaller indirect taxes on consumption like service tax, etc.
• It subsumed 17 large taxes and 13 cesses.
• It is a single tax on the supply of goods and services, right from the manufacturer to the end consumer
• This is how it is done in most developed countries. More than 160 countries have implemented this system of taxation.
• GST does not tax or get into specific commodities.

India’s electricity consumption grows 14% to 112.81 billion units in November

• India’s power consumption logged a double-digit growth of 13.6% to 112.81 billion units in November 2022 compared to the year-ago period, according to the government data.
• The robust growth of power consumption in the month mainly indicates an increase in economic activities as generally it remains subdued in November.
• Experts say power consumption and demand will further increase in the coming months due to use of heating appliances, especially in the northern part of the country, and further improvement in economic activities on account of the beginning of the new rabi crop season.
• Farmers use electricity to run tubewells for irrigation for new crops. In November last year, power consumption was 99.32 billion units (BU), higher than 96.88 BU in the same month of 2020, the data showed.
• The peak power demand met, which is the highest supply in a day, last month rose to 186.89 gigawatt (GW). The peak power supply stood at 166.10 GW in November 2021 and 160.77 GW in November 2020.
• The peak power demand met was 155.32 GW in November 2019, which was the pre-pandemic period.
• Electricity consumption in November 2019 stood at 93.94 BU. Experts say the robust growth in power consumption in November indicates sustained recovery.

Gautam Adani is the richest Indian according to ‘The Forbes 2022 List of India’s 100 Richest

senior journalist Ravish Kumar has resigned from NDTV

Source : THE HINDU