Table of Contents
IMPORTANT
• UPSC/SSC/Bank
• For Prelims: ‘Seva Bhoj Yojna’- features (could be asked in an MCQ)
• For Mains: GST and its implications, issues associated and reforms to resolve them.
BASICS
• Union Ministry of Culture has launched- ‘Seva Bhoj Yojna’– a scheme to reimburse central share of CGST and IGST on food, prasad, langar or bhandara offered by religious and charitable institutions.
• The ‘Seva Bhoj Yojna’ has a total outlay of Rs 325.00 crore for financial years 2018-19 and 2019-20.
ABOUT SEVA BHOJ YOJANA
• The scheme seeks to reimburse the central government’s share of Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) and Integrated Goods and Service Tax (IGST) on purchase of raw items such as ghee, edible oil, atta, maida, rava, flour, rice pulses, sugar and jaggery, which go into preparation of food/prasad/langar/bhandara offered free of cost by religious institutions.
• The main objective of the scheme is to lessen the financial burden of such charitable religious institutions, which provide free of cost without any discrimination to the general public and devotees.
ELIGIBILITY
The charitable religious institutions including temples, gurudwara, mosque, church, dharmik ashram, dargah, monasteries, which fulfill the following criteria are eligible for the grant: a. The institutions that have been in existence for at least five years before applying for financial assistance/grant. b. The institutions that serve free food to at least 5000 people in a month. c. The institutions covered under Section 10( 23BBA) of the Income Tax Act or those registered as Society under Societies Registration Act ( XXI of 1860) or as a Public Trust under any law for the time being in force of statuary religious bodies constituted under any Act or institutions registered under Section 12AA of Income Tax Act.
OTHER DETAILS
• The eligible institutions will be required to first register with Darpan Portal of NITI Aayog and get a unique ID generated by it.
• Following this, all the applications along with supporting documents received from the institutions will be examined by a committee constituted for the purpose within 4 weeks.
NOTES
• On the basis of the committee’s recommendations, the competent authority in the Culture Ministry shall register the charitable religious institutions for the purpose of reimbursing claim of CGST and Central Government share of IGST paid on prasad or bhandara.
• The details of the registered institutions will be available on an online portal for the viewership of public, GST authorities and the institution itself.
REASON
• The decision will benefit the gurudwaras, as they now claim tax credit on raw materials used to prepare ‘langar sewa’.
• According to reports, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), Amritsar, has paid GST amounting to Rs 2 crore from July 1, 2017 to January 31, 2018 on purchase of different items required to prepare langar at the Golden Temple.
• Purchase costs for Golden Temple’s kitchen, which feeds close to 60,000 devotees daily, comes to around Rs 75 crore annually.
QUESTION FOR YOU ALL
• The 8th Theatre Olympics was organised by National School of Drama (NSD) under Ministry of Culture. It was inaugurated by Vice President Venkaiah Naidu. What was its Theme? A. Flag of Friendship B. The Joy of Living C. Experience Asia D. The Land of Colours
• The 8th Theatre Olympics was organised by National School of Drama (NSD) under Ministry of Culture. The theme of the festival was – “Flag of Friendship“. The 51-day event had brought together around 25,000 artists from India and across the world.
• The Theatre Olympics is an international festival that brings together finest productions of well-known theatre practitioners from around the world. It was established in 1993 in Delphi, Greece as an initiative of noted Greek heatre director Theodorus Terzopoulus. Greece was the first country to host Theatre Olympics in 1995. Since then it was held in Japan (1999), Russia (2001), Turkey (2006), South Korea (2010) and China (2014). The 7th edition of mega carnival of theatre was held in Poland in 2016.
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