Nasheman News : In a move to curb carbon dioxide emissions and reduce the burden on conventional energy resources, a 1.11 MWp solar plant was installed at the Sanjay Gandhi Post-graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) here on Wednesday.

The solar plant will help reducing 1,440 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), which is equivalent to planting 33,855 full grown trees, besides saving Rs 60 lakh per year, a statement said. 

It is expected to generate 15,29,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity per annum, it added. 

Installed by the private sector CleanMax Solar, the project was inaugurated by the Uttar Pradesh Minister of Technical and Medical Education Ashutosh Tandon.

The SGPGI will source around 5-10 per cent of their power requirement through solar energy.

The project was part of the Solar Energy Corporation of India’s (SECI) 500 MW program to generate solar power through rooftop plants set up on government buildings. 

Under the program, CleanMax Solar was awarded 19.5 MW of capacity across six states, of which 4.5 MW is in Uttar Pradesh.

Nasheman News : In a move to boost industrial development in the state, the Punjab Cabinet on Wednesday approved an amendment to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) incentives notified under the Industrial and Business Development Policy 2017.

The amendment enables industrial units to choose between net GST incentives or incentivised State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) on intra state sale, a government statement said.

It gives units — which have filed their common application form on the Invest Punjab Business First portal between October 17, 2017 and October 17, 2018 (both days inclusive) — the one-time option to opt for either Net GST incentives or incentivised SGST on intra-state sales.

The option can be availed within 90 days from the date of the notification.

The incentivised SGST to be considered for reimbursement would mean that the eligible unit will be entitled to get reimbursement of SGST amount paid through cash ledger against the output liability of SGST on sale of eligible products.

The meeting was chaired by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. 

BluSnap2 Aptener Mechatronics has added the highly anticipated & all new product to their BluArmor range of motorcycle gear, the BluSnap2. The Bengaluru based start up had launched the world’s 1^st ever wearable cooler for existing full face helmets in the year 2018 & has now upgraded to the 2^nd generation with added features & an all new design.

BluSnap2 is made in India & retails at Rs 2299/- including taxes & shipping.    BluSnap2 attaches to your existing full face helmet & is lighter & smaller than its predecessor. The new design offers a modular grill with unique color hues available as add ons. The industry standard chin mount is quick & easy to install & offers excellent high speed stability. The product comes with extensions for best fit with your helmet.

 BluSnap2 is aimed at offering more rider comfort than ever before. It’s more compact & powerful at the same time. To put it into perspective, BluSnap2 offers 25% better airflow thanks to improved flow dynamics & the new vent design. The dust levels are on the rise in most cities & BluSnap2 is very effective in these conditions. Cool air flowing into the helmet allows the riders to keep the visor down reducing the exposure to dust. On top of that, BluSnap2’s removable filter traps the residual dust particles. The result is a cool & dust free ride. BluSnap2 features an improved water management system, all that the user needs to do is dunk the removable filter in water for 10 seconds. A fan blows air through this replaceable anti bacterial filter, cooling the air as it flows into the helmet.  As a result, the temperature inside the helmet is up to 15 degrees cooler than the ambient. Riders can also bid farewell to expensive anti fogging visor add ons using BluSnap2’s quick de fog option. The whole system is powered by a rechargeable battery that offers 10h of run time on a full charge. 

BluArmor is partnering with Vega Auto, one of India’s leading helmet manufacturers to offer BluSnap2 through its large retail distribution network. The product is expected to be available at a number of helmet retail outlets soon.

2 wheeler riders today do not enjoy the same level of commuting comfort as their 4 wheeled counterparts. Features like climate control, defogging, connectivity, 360 degree vision that someone driving a 4 wheeler takes for granted today is not available for the 2 wheeler rider. BluArmor aims to address this gap by using its pioneering wearable cooling technology as the center piece of a series of bike accessories that will dramatically alter how commuting on 2 wheels is perceived. Over the past year, BluArmor has successfully launched best in class hardware & software products targeted at rider comfort & established a strong distribution chain in the domestic & international market. True to their motto of “Build in India, Made for the World”, BluSnap has now been successfully sold in over 10 countries spread over 4 continents.

 BluArmor recently announced its Series A round of funding with investments from Inventus Capital Partners & Karnataka Information Technology Venture Capital Fund.

Nasheman News :Transport fuel rates continued to increase on Sunday in tandem with global crude prices, which have been rising following the implementation of output cuts by oil producers from January 1.

State-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) increased petrol prices by 13 paise per litre and diesel prices by 14-15 paise across the four metros, as per data from the Indian Oil Corporation.

Petrol price in Delhi was increased to Rs 72.07 per litre on Sunday, while in Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai the fuel cost was Rs 77.70, Rs 74.16 and Rs 74.84, respectively.

Similarly, the price of diesel in the national capital went up to Rs 67.41 per litre. In Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai, diesel sold at Rs 69.20, Rs 70.62 and Rs 71.24 a litre, respectively.

Petrol and diesel prices have increased by more than Rs 4 per litre as the crude rates have been rising from January onwards after a prolonged period of fall. 

As petroleum products fall outside the ambit of the goods and services tax (GST) and prices vary due to local taxes. 

As per the dynamic pricing mechanism, domestic fuel prices depend upon international fuel rates on a 15-day average and the value of the rupee.

Nasheman News :  In the face of allegations that YouTube is being used by paedophiles to target minors, the Google-owned video streaming platform said it is now disabling comments on videos featuring minors that could be at risk of attracting predatory behaviour.

Due to the on-going paedophilia content controversy on YouTube, several international companies including Disney, Nestle and Fortnite maker Epic Games pulled out their advertisements from the platform this week. 

Many users also alleged that YouTube was being careless with monitoring content on its app.

YouTube, however, claimed that it has been terminating accounts and channels over the past few weeks that have violated the platform’s policies.

“No form of content that endangers minors is acceptable on YouTube, which is why we have terminated certain channels that attempt to endanger children in any way,” YouTube said in a blog post on Thursday.

“Over the past week, we disabled comments from tens of millions of videos that could be subject to predatory behaviour,” YouTube said, adding that over the next few months, it will be broadening this action to suspend comments on videos featuring young minors.

But the platform is not introducing a blanket ban on comments for all videos featuring minors.

“A small number of creators will be able to keep comments enabled on these types of videos. These channels will be required to actively moderate their comments, beyond just using our moderation tools and demonstrate a low risk of predatory behaviour. We will work with them directly,” the company wrote. 

YouTube said it has a new comments classifier in place that is more sweeping in scope, and will detect and remove two times more individual comments.

A study by the Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute of the University of Toledo in Ohio, US recently showed that human traffickers are exploiting social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram or SnapChat, as well as dating apps such as Tinder, Blendr and Yellow to hunt for potential underage victims.

Traffickers educate themselves by studying what the victim posts on these sites to build trust.

The study, which was requested by the Ohio Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Commission, revealed how traffickers quickly target and connect with vulnerable children on the Internet through social media.

Grooming children for sex trafficking consists of convincing someone to send a risky picture and then using it to extort them.

The traffickers use fear of repercussions as a way to compel the youth to move from a monitored page to a less monitored page by saying, “You don’t want your parents to find out what we’re talking about”, the study suggested.

With a global user-base of over 1.3 billion people, every eight out of ten 18-49 years old people watch YouTube. With the penetration of Internet and smartphones, users below 18 years of age today are also heavily exposed to the platform.

Wacom Launches 4K Cintiq Pro 24 & 4K Cintiq Pro 32

  Working towards its commitment to inspire & equip people to make the world a more creative place, Wacom today launched its 4K Cintiq Pro 24 & 4K Cintiq Pro 32 in the Indian market. Designed diligently to aid creative professionals & set new standards in film & 3D animation, in industry design, digital art, game development & a broad range of human communication & expression, the 4K Cintiq Pro 24 & 32 will offer new high performance large-sized display built for cutting-edge creative & design applications including augmented & virtual reality.

Besides the large screen to create & design, the Cintiq Pro 32 & Cintiq Pro 24 help provide a true-to-life visual experience with the brilliant 4K display & up to 98% & 99% RGB color accuracy respectively.

Users will also experience higher level of productivity with these devices given setting like time saving onscreen or the multi touch gestures. The devices are designed to cater to connectivity & security. The Cintiq Pro 24 & the Cintiq Pro 32 have 4 X USB3 ports, and 1 X USB-C port. Along with that the devices also have an HDMI2.0

USB3 ports & 1 X USB-C port. Along with that the devices also have an HDMI2.0 port, a DisplayPort & 2 X USB-A ports, of which, one is reserved for the ExpressKeyTM remote. In order to assist creativity,
 
 
 
the Cintiq Pro 24 & 32can be optionally converted to an “All-in-One” PC with Cintiq Pro Engine.The Cintiq Pro 24 & the Cintiq Pro 32 come with an ExpressKeyTM Remote for utmost efficiency & comfort. A set of 17 customizable buttons & Touch Ring allow for instant one-touch access to timesaving shortcuts in all your favorite creative applications. Users can place the ExpressKey™ Remote anywhere it’s most convenient while drawing, on screen, in your hand or beside your keyboard. User can also connect up to 5 ExpressKey™ Remotes at one time, one for each of your creative software applications, to optimize their workflow.

Designed to provide a more comfortable & natural pen on screen experience, Wacom Pro Pen 2 features 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity, tilt-response & virtually lag-free tracking. A protective case with three nibs & a nib removal hole is included. For a freer movement, the pen offers more natural support, requires no batteries or charging and has reduced parallax. With the help of new pressure & tilt sensitivity of the Pro Pen 2 & the textured screen, the designers are sure to get a realistic artistic control & feel.

The 4K Cintiq Pro 24 series will be available in 2 options, Pen only priced at INR 202,099 & Pen & Touch priced at INR 223,399. The Cintiq Pro 32 model is available with Pen & Touch feature, priced at INR 275,999. 

Nasheman News :  The realty market in India’s tech hub is set to grow as lower Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates become effective from April 1, builders’ apex body Credai said on Thursday.

“GST rate cut to 5 per cent from 12 per cent on under-construction properties and to 1 per cent from 8 per cent on affordable housing projects from April 1 will spur the growth in the realty sector,” Credai (Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India) President Ashish Puravankara said in a statement.

The sector is also betting on benefitting from the incentives given to the sector in the interim Budget for 2019-20 and anticipated higher investment in commercial and housing projects.

“Many potential home buyers are enquiring to book flats or duplex houses in gated communities and avail the GST rate cuts,” Puravankara said.

The GST Council cut the rates on February 24. It, however, did not accept the super carpet area concept as many developers have made it variable and flexible.

Cashing in on the GST relief and budgetary sops, Credai is holding its annual realty expo here on March 2-3 and March 9-10, where 30 developers will offer the properties with new indirect tax rates.

“Seven financial institutions will be at the expo to assist buyers in applying for home loans and benefits offered by them,” Puravankara said.

The state’s Stamps and Registration Department also witnessed 20 per cent increase in revenue from property registrations from May to December over the like period of 2017.

“Sales growth and higher revenue collection indicates property buyers are no longer in a wait mode, as developers have been offering houses at a better price,” Puravankara added.

New Delhi, Feb 28 (IANS) The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the proposal for Foreign Direct Investment of more than Rs 5,000 crore and up to Rs 25,000 crore in Vodafone Idea as part of the proposed equity fund raise through rights issue.

It also approved to take on record the proposed changes in the indirect foreign investment in the subsidiaries of Vodafone Idea, which will take place on account of non-residents subscribing to the equity shares in the fund raise, an official statement said.

According to the statement, “the inflow of foreign investment to India will spur economic growth as well as foster innovation”.

FDI up to 100 per cent is allowed in telecom services sector wherein 49 per cent is under automatic route and beyond 49 per cent through government route. The 100 per cent FDI has been approved in the company, it said. 

However, it is necessary to take the government approval for FDI beyond Rs 5,000 crore even if there is no change in the percentage of foreign equity already approved.

Nasheman News : Amid escalating Indo-Pak tensions, the Air India (AI) has re-routed its to and from the USA and Europe flights, while as many as 8 incoming and 8 outgoing flights of private and international carrier were cancelled, said officials here on Wednesday.

The cancellations included two arrivals and two departures of Jet Airways, three arrivals and departures of IndiGo, and one arrival and one departure each of GoAir and Vistara, mostly to Srinagar, Jammu, Amritsar, Chandigarh and Dehradun.

Besides, United Airlines’ one arrival and one departure flights from and to Newark were also cancelled due to the Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) issued earlier on Wednesday for nine airports by the Directorate-General (DG) of Civil Aviation. It was withdrawn later.

The AI said its inbound and outbound flights for the USA and Europe and for Delhi were being re-routed to Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

Besides, flights landing into India from the USA and Europe are being diverted to Dubai and Sharjah due to technical reasons, and will land with a delay, but no AI flights have been cancelled.

The DGA had earlier restricted all flight operations at Srinagar, Jammu, Leh, Pathankot, Amritsar, Shimla, Kangra, Kullu-Manali and Pitthorgarh. It was restored later.

Meanwhile, most airlines have waived penalties for cancellations, rescheduling, no-show, refunds, due to the closure of air space at these airports.

Nasheman News : In a big relief to the realty sector and homebuyers, the GST council on Sunday lowered tax on under-construction properties to 5 per cent from 12 per cent, and affordable housing projects to 1 per cent from 8 per cent. The council also made changes in the definition of the affordable housing.

The new rates will be applicable from April 1. 

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said: “It is a milestone decision to promote affordable housing for all. The expanded definition of affordable housing is to encourage aspiring people buy bigger flats. The council did not accept the super carpet area concept as many developers have made it variable and flexible. 

“We will have to see how new rates can be passed on to incentivise people to buy under-construction flats. We believe competition will take care of price benefits to be passed on to consumers.” 

“However, developers won’t be able to claim input tax credit (ITC),” Jaitley said. The group of minister (GoM) on housing had suggested 3 per cent affordable housing projects. 

The council also decided that properties costing up to Rs 45 lakh will be considered affordable as well as properties with a carpet area of 90 square metres in metro cities and 60 square metres in non-metro cities, he said. 

On issues like transfer of development rights, sale or transfer of floor space index (FSI) and joint development rights, Jaitley said it was suggested that these be exempted from the goods and services tax (GST) for the sector’s growth. 

The council, he said wanted guidelines for the transition to be prepared for the law & fitment committee to take it up on March 10. 

“Transition is a challenge. The notification will have to be carefully drafted. The law & fitment committee will draft notifications and the GST council will approve the same through video-conferencing,” he said. 

Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey said the decision will help the common man afford a house, while also enabling the industry to emerge from the “recent tough time”. 

Though praising the decision, the housing sector and property experts, also called for caution. 

Niranjan Hiranandani, National President, NAREDCO, said, “Industry lauds the GST rate cut on real estate to 5 per cent on non-affordable and 1 per cent on affordable housing without input tax credit as a welcome and positive move. It will bring a big relief to the homebuyers and help narrow the demand mismatch gap.” 

The announcement would give an impetus to affordable housing and enthuse homebuyers to close the sale deals. “The GST on cement has not been reduced as was expected. At 28 per cent, it remains among the highest taxed inputs for construction — and there will be no input tax credit, developers will face a challenging time,” he said.

He said the changes should have been applicable ‘with immediate effect’. As it would be effective from April 1, “we will see rise in sales figures only in the next financial year,” he added.

Rajat Mohan, Partner, AMRG & Associates, said lowering of tax rates at the cost of the tax credit in the realty sector could be a good populist measure. But businesses may witness a quick bloodbath, and after that the sector will reboot itself to a higher equilibrium price to justify the margins, he added. 

“This may prove to a costly affair for businesses as they will see incremental costs due to breakage of credit chain,” Mohan said. 

M.S. Mani, Partner, Deloitte India, said, the real estate sector needed rate reductions to prop up sales. “The reductions announced today for normal housing and specially for affordable housing could lead to an uptick in demand. With these reductions, the GST on normal under-construction apartments would be a little lower than prior to introduction of GST and affordable housing would be significantly lower than before,” he said.

“The combination of the increase in the threshold to be termed as affordable housing together with the lower rate of 1 per cent could lead to significant upswing in demand. The lower rates would lead to a revival of demand for under-construction apartments, which had tapered down as buyers were preferring ready apartments that did not attract any GST,” the Deloitte India partner said.

“Having certain categories that are not eligible for input tax credits is an aberration of the basic principles of a good GST, in addition to issues of traceability of transactions and making the transactions opaque,” Mani said.

Jaitley also said the lottery issues have been referred back to the GoM. A GoM had suggested a single rate of 18 per cent or 28 per cent on lotteries, which are of two types — state-organised and state-authorised.