log on to thegoan.net @thegoaneveryday WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2023 12 pages GOA Facebook.com/thegoaneveryday The Goan (Playstore) PRICE ` 8 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME VIII, NO.224 Instagram.com/thegoaneveryday RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 3 2 Budget today; Goans eye tax relief, ease of doing business DG Shipping mulls amendment to Seafarers Provident Fund Act GOA Illegal hill cutting at Ribandar: TCP issues show cause notice INFO Benefits of using vitamin E oil on the face PRE-BUDGET MEMO ALREADY SUBMITTED TO FINANCE MIN THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI As the Narendra Modi government is set to present its last full-fledged Budget before the 2024 parliamentary polls, industries and ordinary taxpayers in the State have a long wish list. While the salaried and middle class are looking at tax relief, major stakeholders expect announcements to boost economic growth across the sectors and focus on development. Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) already submitted a detailed prebudget memorandum on direct tax to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman seeking various concessions and reliefs. With the pandemic phase receding, industrialists believe this is an appropriate time to boost the financial cycle, ease of life and doing business; and take agricultural productivity upward. “The pandemic is over and it’s time to focus on growth. India is the highest in economic growth projection at 6.2 percent, and since many IN SHORT >> Std XII term-I results on Board website PANAJI: Results of Std XII first term exam held in November 2022 will be available on Goa Board website from February 1. Students can view their responses and in case of any discrepancy the same may be challenged through online mode, states a circular by Goa Board. The facility will be available till February 8. Lucky escape for 4 as car turns turtle CANACONA: A family had a lucky escape after their car turned turtle at Shellim in Loliem-Polem early Tuesday morning. According to the car driver Sandeep Kudalkar, they were going on a pilgrimage to Karnataka when the mishap occurred on reaching Shellim. Truck gutted in fire at Anmod Ghat PANAJI: A goods truck was gutted in fire at Anmod Ghat Monday night. According to reports the fire is suspected to have started due to heating up of the engine. Luckily, no one was injured in the incident. U N I O N B U D G E T: G O A’ S W I SH L I ST Changes in current income tax slab for salaried and middle class Increase house building advance to boost real estate Allow tax exemption to salaried class on purchase of electric vehicles Simplify, rationalize, reduce personal tax rates for individuals overseas industries want to give China a miss, India holds a bright future. This is the right time to encourage the manufacturing sector for local and overseas investors,” GCCI President Ralph D’Souza said while speaking to The Goan, as he listed one of his expectations ahead of the presentation of the annual Budget 2023-24. Provide benefits to new start-ups Avoid undue hardship to real estate players unable to sell units by extending two years to five years from receipt of occupation certificate for holding unsold inventory before attracting national interest Incentives for tourism and hospitality sector, make travel more affordable Also the Chairman of D’Souza Group, the noted entrepreneur further insisted to boost the GDP of the manufacturing units from the current 15 percent to 25 percent. He also said this being last Budget before the LS polls, everyone expects it to be people friendly. GCCI Director Kiran Ballikar suggested changes in the cur- Clear ore within 2 months or forfeit it, govt to bidders THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI The Directorate of Mines & Geology has given a final opportunity to the winning bidders of 27 e-auctions of iron ores to lift the cargo within two months, failing which the department has decided that bidders will have to forfeit the cargo and the payment. The order comes in view of the huge stock of iron ore lying at various locations despite being sold through 27 e-auctions conducted from time to time. “Although the e-auction procedure prescribes a maximum period of not more than 60 days to lift the cargo, it has been observed that some of the cargo is yet to be lifted from the original location by the winning bidders or by the persons holding the said cargo by virtue of sale by the winning bidders/s through a sale permit issued by this Directorate,” reads an order by Mines Director S Shanbhogue Allow hotels to charge IGST to enable seamless availability of credit to all travel agents & tour operators Give restaurants option to choose between charging 5% GST without ITC or charging GST at 12% with ITC benefit Boost GDP of manufacturing units from current 15 to 25% Boosting manufacturing sector for local and overseas investors rent income tax slab that will bring much relief to the salaried and middle class, and to increase house building advance to boost real estate as it will in turn reduce the property rates much to the relief of common taxpayers. Allowing tax exemption to salaried class on purchase of electric vehicles; simplifying, rationalizing and reducing personal tax rates for individuals; to avoid undue hardship to real estate players who are unable to sell units by extending two years to five years from receipt of occupation certificate for holding unsold inventory before attracting national interest; and to provide benefits to new start-ups are among other suggestions by the industry. Aiming at giving a boost to the tourism and hospitality sector while also making travel more affordable; the GCCI suggested that hotels be allowed to charge Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) that will enable seamless availability of credit to all travel agents and tour operators. This, it said, will build a sustainable domestic meetings and conventions business within the country. Besides, restaurants should be given the option to choose between charging 5 percent GST without ITC or charging GST at 12 percent with ITC benefit. “To give a boost to the tourism sector and make >Continued on P5 A BALANCING ACT >Continued on P5 NEW DELHI ronunciation transcriptions and audio for more than 800 entries associated with Indian English, including words like ‘desh’ (country) and ‘bindaas’ (bold), are now available in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). According to Oxford University press, Indian English brings the total number of global varieties covered in the OED’s pronunciations to 16 and the recent addition to the world English pronunciation audio archive fills a large gap for the 130 million Indian English speakers in the country. “Ever since we started work to expand and include audio in our coverage of pronunciations for varieties of English P THE OTHER WORDS „„’Diya’ (a cup-shaped oil lamp, typically made of baked clay, often used on religious occasions such as Diwali festival), „„’Bachcha’ (a child; also a young animal) „„Almirah (a free-standing besides British and US English, Indian English has been one of our biggest priorities and also one of our biggest challenges,” said Dr Catherine Sangster, Pronunciations Editor for the OED. “I am delighted that we have developed a transcription model to capture its complexity and can now offer pro- cupboard, wardrobe, or other storage unit) nunciations for this extremely important variety of English in the OED,” Sangster said. The other Indian words for which pronunciation transcriptions have been added in the dictionary include -- ‘diya’ (a cup-shaped oil lamp, typically made of baked clay, often used on religious occasions such as Diwali festival), 12 India to remain fastest growing world economy: Eco Survey Says GDP growth projected to slow to 6-6.8% due to challenges facing the globe; exports to be hit PTI NEW DELHI India’s economy is projected to slow to 6-6.8 per cent in the fiscal year starting April -- still remaining the fastest growing major economy in the world -- as extraordinary challenges facing the globe will likely hurt exports, the Economic Survey said on Tuesday. The projection of India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth is higher than the 6.1 per cent estimate of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and compares with the survey’s estimated 7 per cent expansion in the current fiscal year (April 2022 to March 2023) and 8.7 per cent in the previous year. The survey that details the state of the economy was tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman a day before she presents Union Budget 2023-24. “At least three shocks have hit the global economy since 2020,” the report, prepared by Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran, said. Starting with the pandemic-induced contraction of the global output, the Russian-Ukraine conflict last year led to a worldwide surge in inflation. And then, central ECONOMIC SURVEY: KEY TAKEAWAYS „„India third largest economy in PPP (purchasing power parity) terms, fifth largest in terms of exchange rate „„Economy has nearly ‘recouped’ what was lost, ‘renewed’ what had paused, and ‘renerengised’ what had slowed during the pandemic „„Inflation did not “creep too far above” tolerance range compared to several advanced nations „„Schemes like PM KISAN, PM Garib Kalyan Yojana significantly contributed to lessening impoverishment „„Housing prices firming up after release of pentup demand, decline in inventories „„Challenge to rupee depreciation persists with the likelihood of further interest rate hikes by US Fed „„Overall external situation to remain manageable banks across economies led by the US Federal Reserve responded with synchronised policy rate hikes to curb inflation. The rate hike by the US Fed drove capital into the US markets causing the US dollar to appreciate against most currencies. This led to the widening of the Current Account Deficits (CAD) and increased inflationary pressures in net importing economies like India. “The Indian economy, however, appears to have moved on after its encounter with the pandemic, staging a full recovery in FY22 (April 2021 to March 2022) ahead of many nations and positioning itself to ascend to the pre-pandemic growth path in FY23. “Yet in the current year, India has also faced the challenge of reining in inflation that the European strife accentuated,” the survey said. However, the challenge of the depreciating rupee, although better performing than most other currencies, persists with the likelihood of further increases in policy rates by the US Fed. Govt to conduct eye test of around 2 lakh students THE GOAN I NETWORK An artiste performs at the Lokutsav at Darya Sangam, Campal on Tuesday. The festival got off to a colourful start on Monday.  Narayan Pissurlenkar ‘Desh’, ‘bindaas’ find place in Oxford Dictionary PTI India takes on New Zealand in T20I series decider today  TREATMENT, SURGERIES TO BE OFFERED  SPECTACLES TO BE GIVEN FREE OF COST  NEARLY 2000 TEACHERS TO BE TRAINED The order comes in view of the huge stock of iron ore lying at various locations despite being sold through 27 e-auctions conducted from time to time on Tuesday. The department extended the deadline till March 31, 2023, following approval from the government on January 27, with a clause that this will be the final opportunity. “In order to give one final opportunity to the persons still holding the cargo at the original locations where it was at the time of e-auction, it has been decided by the Government that such cargo shall be lifted on or before March 31, 2023 positively, failing which the said cargo, as well as the amount paid for the same, shall stand forfeited without giving any further notice in this regards,” he added. 10 SPORTS ‘bachcha’ (a child; also a young animal) and almirah (a free-standing cupboard, wardrobe, or other storage unit). Since 2016, the OED has been expanding its pronunciation coverage for numerous global varieties of English. For those words which show region-specific usage or meanings (New Zealand, Scottish, or Caribbean English, for example) the dictionary has added a region-specific pronunciation, alongside the British and American pronunciations given as standard across the entire dictionary. The audio for each region-specific word has been recorded by a speaker from the relevant region, following a pronunciation model based on recent phonetic research, pronunciation models and the expertise of native speakers. Danica Salazar, World English Editor for the Oxford English Dictionary said, “The addition of Indian English pronunciations to the OED is an important step forward in documenting the lexicon of a variety spoken by such a large section of the world’s English-speaking population”. Dr Matthew Moreland, Senior Consultant Phonetics Editor at Oxford Languages, and Lecturer in Phonetics at the University of East Anglia, says “the journey to this point has involved reflection on exactly what it means to present pronunciations in an English dictionary, delving into questions of naturalization and the ways in which speakers of different languages and cultures interact”. PANAJI/BICHOLIM Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has said the State government has plans to undertake eye testing of around 2 lakh students from Std 1 to SSC across the State in February. Basic training of eye testing is being imparted to around 2,000 teachers in the State as part of the Vision For All social initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Goa will be the first State in the nation to do so. Sawant was addressing a gathering after inaugurating the primary eye-test training camp for around 900 teachers in North Goa, organised by health department in association with Prasad Opticians and education department at Ravindra Bhavan, Sakhali. Stating that vision is of utmost importance to help students achieve success in their future educational career, Sawant said the main aim behind undertaking this After detecting any eye problems, surgeries will be conducted and spectacles will be distributed free of cost. The eye testing exercise and treatment will be completed in March — Pramod Sawant mission is to help teachers to keep watch over the vision of students so that proper care can be taken by protecting the eyes at the initial stages. “Eye testing of around 2 lakh students from Std 1 to Std 10 in government, aided, unaided and private schools, will be carried out. After detecting any eye problems, surgeries will be conducted and spectacles will be distributed free of cost. The eye testing exercise and treatment will be completed in March,” said Sawant. The chief minister instructed the teachers to conduct a basic eye check up of all new students from June onwards. “There has been rise in students with eye ailments in childhood itself and this initiative has been undertaken to overcome this problem,” said Sawant, while calling upon teachers to shoulder this responsibility He said other social initiatives have been also undertaken to achieve all round development. On this occasion, Dr Krishnaprasad Kundlu interacted with teachers and guided them on the method of basic eye testing and screening. Dr Kundlu said a similar training would be provided to teachers from South Goa. Others present included Dr Rahul Ali, Dr Sanjay Bandekar, Dr Ashwin D’souza, Manoj Sawaikar. Shailesh Zingade and K V Mahesh. Around 1,000 teachers from South Goa are being offered training in a similar programme at Rajiv Gandhi Kala Mandir in Ponda. Tipsy flyer runs half-naked on Vistara flight, arrested PTI NEW DELHI A 45-year-old Italian woman passenger allegedly punched a crew member, spat on another staffer and stripped on board a Vistara flight to Mumbai from Abu Dhabi after she was stopped from entering the business class, police said on Tuesday. The incident took place on Monday and after the flight landed in Mumbai, the crew members handed her over to Sahar police and she was arrested, they said. Vistara in a statement said the passenger was restrained by the crew for “unruly and violent behaviour” and the inci- PeeGate accused granted bail NEW DELHI: A sessions court on Tuesday granted bail to Shankar Mishra, accused of urinating on a woman on board an Air India flight from New York to New Delhi on November 26 last year. He was arrested by the Delhi police on January 6, 2023. dent was reported to relevant authorities as per the standard operating procedures. According to an official, the woman identified as Paola Perruccio who was reportedly in an inebriated condition, boarded the flight at around 2 am on Monday with an economy class ticket. The woman later entered the business class and when she was stopped by the crew members, she allegedly started abusing them, he said. When the crew members tried to stop the woman from misbehaving, she allegedly punched one of them in the face and spat on another staffer, the official said. When the other crew members rushed to help their colleagues, the woman allegedly started stripping and walked up and down the aisle in that state, he said.