Flood relief material from abroad exempted from customs duty, GST: Goyal
New Delhi, Aug 21 : Finance, Coal and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said the relief material coming from foreign countries for distribution in flood-ravaged Kerala have been exempted from the customs duty and the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
"The government is committed to help Kerala in this time of devastation," Goyal told the media here.
"...we have made all the relief materials coming from foreign countries for the Kerala flood relief exempt from customs duty as well as GST," he said.
On August 18, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Rs 500-crore financial assistance to the state.
Earlier, Home Minister Rajnath Singh during his visit to state also announced a financial assistance of Rs 100 crore.
Following the devastating floods, over one million people are now sheltered in 3,274 relief camps in the state. The death toll during this monsoon season is estimated at around 370.
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Karnataka caste survey report likely to be submitted by April-end, says Minister Tangadagi
Bengaluru: The report of the caste survey conducted by the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes is in the final stages of compilation and is likely to be submitted to the state government by the end of April, Backward Classes Welfare Minister Shivaraj Tangadagi said.
Tangadagi said the Commission is currently analysing the collected data. “Based on its findings, recommendations will be made to the government,” The Indian Express quoted him as saying.
The latest Socio-Economic and Educational Survey was conducted between September and October last year, making it the second such exercise commissioned by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah during his two terms in office.
On the implementation of the survey report, which was one of the assurances in the Congress manifesto, Tangadagi reportedly said that it would be implemented once it is submitted to the government. “We are hopeful that it will be submitted to the government by the end of March or early April,” he said.
Earlier, the government had expected the Commission to submit the report by the end of February.
The 2025 survey was commissioned after the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government decided to scrap the findings of a caste enumeration exercise carried out in 2015 under former Commission chairman H Kantharaj. The government had stated that the data from the earlier survey had become outdated, making its recommendations difficult to implement.
However, there had been speculation that the findings were dropped owing to pressure from dominant communities such as Lingayats and Vokkaligas.
The survey carried out last year was marred by protests from a section of teachers who objected to carrying out the survey. Mid-term school vacations were also extended for schools to allow teachers to complete enumeration. The latest survey covered around 6.14 crore people, compared to 5.98 crore people covered in the previous exercise.
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