GOA

TheIndo-American Chamber of Commerce(IACC) has decided to capture the pain points and suggestions to improve in Goa. The Industry feedback will be collated and submitted to the new government after the February 14 Elections so that the government can prepare a roadmap to help local businesses.

The industry body will also submit a list of reforms that need to be implemented to promote industrial activity and private Investment.

Among the many factors being assessed, the IACC is asking local businessmen about the reforms that they envision, the timelines that they expect for government Services, redundant processes and compliances that need to be done away with and services expected from government departments.

The rising trend of non-Goans acquiring names and surnames of Goans has forced the government to amend theGoa Change of Name and Surname Act, 1990.
The start cabinet on Thursday granted approval for the amendments wherein the powers are now vested with the civil judge junior division and district judge to decide on name change applications. It necessitates that the applicants parents or grandparents births must be registered in Goa.

Earlier, the power was vested with either the sub-registrar or the chief registrar for births and deaths.

The government has received various complaints that non-Goans whose births are registered in Goa are availing the Services under the said Act, and changing their surnames to suit their needs akin to the names of Goans.

Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai has written to his Goa counterpart Pramod Sawant seeking at least at least one acre of land to establish a Kannada bhavan for the promotion of Kannada Art and Culture.

The Karnataka has decided to fulfill the long-pending demand of Kannadigas who live in Goa for decades, to have their own Kannada cultural bhavan at Goa. To accomplish the desire of our Kannadigas there, our government has made provision of grants in the state budget 2022-23. The Karnataka border area development authority (KBADA) is the nodal agency to implement this project, Bommai said.

Chief minister PramodSawant said that, in the next 10 years, thestatewants to producetechnocratsand that is why coding and Robotics schemes were introduced in schools. These technocrats should be able to work not only at the national level, but also at the international level, he said.

Stating that Goa will be hosting a national-level science festival for the first time, the chief minister urged students to participate in the event that will commence from December 10. Top institutions involved in innovation will be at the science festival, he said.

Coding and robotics schemes have been implemented in the state for Class VI to Class VIII across 435 schools and 65,000 students have participated in the program.

Sawant also said that the has various counselling schemes career, youth and student which can be implemented 100% only if teachers pass them on.

Power minister Ramkrishna Sudin Dhavalikar said that theTamnar projectis the need of the hour to cater to the states growing power requirements over the next 20 years.

The minister said that Rs 10 crore will be spent in each constituency to take up underground cabling. The will generate Money to take up underground cabling, said Dhavalikar, adding that so far Rs 80 crore revenue has been generated and the target is to generate Rs 800 crore.

Goa received Rs 213 crore from the Centre as compensation for GST shortfall, as part of the Rs 40,000 crore released to various states under the Centres back-to-back loan facility to meet the shortfall in GST collection and compensation. A similar amount was released in mid-July as the Centre helps states and union territories meet the shortfall in tax revenues.

This is in addition to the normal GST compensation being released every two months out of the actual GST cess collection. The Centre advised states to used the funds to meet their public expenditure particularly improvement of Health and completion of infrastructure projects through proper planning.

Goas GST collections have improved over the last two months. Aided by resumption in tourism and industrial activity, the tax collections in September hit pre-Covid levels.

Goa has agreed to the Centres funding arrangements to meet the GST compensation shortfall. The Centre has borrowed the funds through five-year and two-year Bonds. No additional market borrowing by the Central Government is envisaged on account of this release.

he has identified land in Dharbandora taluka, near theSanjivanisugar factory, for setting up of the India International University of Legal Education and Research ofBar Council of IndiaTrust.

The Bar Council of India has sought 2 lakh sqm of land for setting up of the university and the land demarcation process is under way.

Earlier, the state cabinet had granted its nod to the bill. There is a provision by which the India International University of Legal Education and Research may also establish centres in other parts of India, and abroad.

At present, there are two law colleges in Goa, both affiliated to theGoa University.
The state, so far, has no law university orNational Law School(NLS).
The government had promulgated an ordinance regarding the new university.

The sharp difference between the VAT levied in Goa and in the neighbouring states will put Goas industrial units at a disadvantage, said GCCI. It has also called for the inclusion of natural gas under the goods and Services tax (GST) regime.

The , particularly the manufacturing sector using PNG as a fuel, is primarily affected by this transition. Due to the inclusion under GST, the industry was able to claim the benefit of the amount of GST paid as input tax credit, and thus the GST was cost neutral.