Srinagar: Minister of Finance, Dr Haseeb Drabu today said J&K government mulls a comprehensive package to address the issues faced by the state’s carpet sector.
A delegation of carpet traders and manufacturers today called on the Finance Minister at his office here and made a representation for reduction of rate of tax on carpets which is presently at 12% under Goods and Service Tax (GST) regime.
The Finance Minister said in fact the crisis in J&K’s carpet sector is much deeper and structural in nature, and not because of GST. “The Government is examining the possibility of a comprehensive package which will alleviate the problems faced by the people involved in the carpet sector,” he said.
Dr Drabu said the State Government will take up in next GST Council meeting the issue of bringing down GST rate on carpets from existing 12% to 5%. “In any case, the artisans and handicraft exporters with turnover of Rs 20 lakh per annum have already been exempted from the GST registration. We will try to bring down the effective incidence of taxation on carpets closer to five percent,” he said.
During the meeting, the Finance Minister was informed that 15 lakh people from 3.5 lakh families are involved in the carpet industry and the hike in tax will impact their livelihood since the J&K’s carpet sector is already in crisis.
“We are intervening in a much bigger way in the area of Handicrafts including Carpet sector in order to revive the traditional industries of J&K. Our government is committed to restore the glory of these sectors which will also go a long way in addressing the issue of unemployment as well,” the Finance Minister told the delegation.
Later, Dr Drabu directed the officers from Commercial Sales Tax Department to form a committee comprising representatives from J&K Bank, CST, carpet association and Industries Department to work out modalities of a comprehensive package for the carpet sector.
Meanwhile, a delegation of LoC Traders also called on the Finance Minister and apprised him about the issues faced by them in the cross LoC trade. Dr Drabu gave them a patient hearing and assured that all their genuine grievances will be addressed.
The meetings were also attended by Commissioner, Sales Tax, Parvaiz Iqbal Khateeb, and other officers of CST and Finance Department.
Two Indian Kashmir activists win Rafto Prize for human rights
New Delhi: Two activists from the region of Kashmir on Thursday won Norway’s Rafto Prize for human rights for their long-term struggle against violence in the disputed territory, the jury announced.
Parveena Ahanger, nicknamed “The Iron Lady of Kashmir”, founded and leads the Association of Parents of Missing Persons after her 17-year-old son was kidnapped by security forces in 1990. She hasn’t heard anything from or of him since.
Her co-laureate, lawyer Imroz Parvez, founded the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) which promotes human rights and non-violence. It has documented the authorities’ use of torture in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
“Parveena Ahangar and Imroz Parvez have long been at the forefront of the struggle against arbitrary abuses of power in a region of India that has borne the brunt of escalating violence, militarisation and international tension,” the Rafto Foundation said in a statement.
“Their long campaign to expose human rights violations, promote dialogue and seek peaceful solutions to the intractable conflict in Kashmir has inspired new generations across communities,” it added.
The prize of $20,000 (17,750 euros) will formally be presented on November 5 in the western Norwegian town of Bergen.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947 but both claim the water-rich territory in full.
From 1947-1949 the two nations fought over Kashmir, a Muslim-majority state which ended up being divided along a de facto border still disputed today. A second war over Kashmir in 1965 ended in stalemate.
In late 1989 Muslim separatist groups launched an anti-India uprising in Kashmir that was later taken over by Islamist guerrillas.
Since then the insurrection has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians.
Between 8,000 and 10,000 people have gone missing since the beginning of the escalation in the 1980s, according to the Rafto Foundation.
Named after the late Norwegian human rights activist Thorolf Rafto, four past winners of the prize (Aung San Suu Kyi, Jose Ramos-Horta, Kim Dae-Jung and Shirin Ebadi) went on to win to Nobel Peace Prize, whose laureate for 2017 will be announced on October 6.
