PARAGRAPH, WORDS AND MEANING

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PARAGRAPH, WORDS AND MEANING

PARAGRAPH OF THE DAY –

Back on track: On GST e-way bill system –

After an aborted attempt in February, the government has finally managed to successfully roll out the e-way bill system for tracking the movement of goods under the Goods and Services Tax net from April 1. No major execution challenges have been reported by businesses so far, and the IT backbone that generates the e-way bills — that are now required even before goods are loaded for transport — has so far held up without glitches. On the first two days of the e-way system, which included a Sunday, 5.5 lakh e-way bills were generated, and the GST Network has said that the system is now geared to cope with a much higher capacity. Equally heartening is the revival in GST collections, that had dipped to 83,716 crore in November 2017, after a fairly robust 90,000 crore-plus inflow for the first three months of the new indirect tax system. As per final data released by the Centre on Monday, collections for the three months since then are far healthier than initial indications suggested, with February recording 89,264 crore, the highest since September 2017. Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia expects collections to pick up further as the authorities get a better sense of who is regularly filing returns and paying taxes. His confidence reflects the government’s belief that analytics deployed on GST data compiled for nine months would deliver a bigger bounty, even as e-way bills make it tougher to avoid tax dues. The government on Monday said the re-introduction of the e-way bill system for GST has been smooth with no technical glitches. Everyone’s fingers are crossed that the e-way bill portal, which now has over 20,000 registered transporters and 11 lakh taxpayers, will hold up, going forward. It is important to note that since the system for tracking inter-State movement of goods was launched at the beginning of a financial year, the actual load that the portal will have to bear on a normal business day may be much higher than the initial trends. This is because many businesses had already moved and stocked up goods by March 31, ahead of the system kicking in, and are still completing usual year-end processes such as recording closing stock. A staggered schedule for rolling out e-way bills for intra-State trade in a few States at a time is expected soon. Given that India’s transport sector is still largely norganized, and many vehicle drivers are not fully conversant with the technical nuances, it is important that anti-evasion squads deployed to check e-way bills operate with a light touch to start with and limit the frequency of inspections for goods moving across States. Else, the system could end up creating a bottleneck for transporting goods in a country where goods movement already takes inordinately long due to infrastructure deficiencies. A similar approach would be ideal for other anti-evasion measures in the pipeline, including the matching of invoices from buyers and sellers, and the reverse-charge mechanism (expected by June-end) under which large businesses would need to pay tax on behalf of unregistered small suppliers.

WORDS AND MEANING –

1) Roll out

Meaning: The unveiling of a new aircraft or spacecraft.

Example: “The official roll-out is on 30 July”

2) Held up

Meaning: Remain strong or vigorous.

Example: “The Labour vote held up well”

3) Glitches

Meaning: A sudden, usually temporary malfunction or fault of equipment.

Example: “A draft version was lost in a computer glitch”

4) Geared

Meaning: (Of a company) having a specified ratio of loan capital (debt) to the value of its ordinary shares (equity).

Example: “Highly geared companies”

5) To cope with

Meaning: (Of a person) deal effectively with something difficult.

Example: “His ability to cope with stress”

Synonyms: Manage, Survive.

6) Heartening

Meaning: Make more cheerful or confident.

Example: “she was heartened to observe that the effect was faintly comic”

Synonyms: Cheer up.

7) Revival

Meaning: An improvement in the condition, strength, or fortunes of someone or something.

Example: “A revival in the fortunes of the party”

Synonyms: Improvement, Rallying

8) Dipped

Meaning: Lower or move (something) downwards.

Example: “The plane dipped its wings”

Synonyms: Lower.

Antonyms: Raise.

9) Robust

Meaning: Strong and healthy; vigorous.

Example: “The Caplan family are a robust lot”

Synonyms: Strong, Vigorous.

10) Pick up

Meaning: Collect something that has been left elsewhere.

Example: “Wanda came over to pick up her things”

11) Deploy

Meaning: Bring into effective action.

Example: “Small states can often deploy resources more freely”

Synonyms: Use, Utilize.

12) Compile

Meaning: Produce (a list or book) by assembling information collected from other sources.

Example: “The local authority must compile a list of the names and addresses of taxpayers”

Synonyms: Assemble.

13) Bounty

Meaning: A sum paid by the state to encourage trade.

Example: “Bounties were paid to colonial producers of indigo dye”

14) Fingers are crossed

Meaning: To cross one’s fingers is a hand gesture commonly used to wish for luck.

Example: Let’s keep our fingers crossed that it doesn’t rain.

15) Stock up

Meaning: To buy a large amount of something so that you will have enough for the future.

Example: I hadn’t stocked up on food, so I wasn’t ready to feed Kate and her friends.

16) Kick in

Meaning: Come into effect or operation.

Example: “The hospital’s emergency generators kicked in”

17) Stagger

Meaning: Arrange (events, payments, hours, etc.) so that they do not occur at the same time.

Example: “Meetings are staggered throughout the day”

Synonyms: Spread (out).

18) Conversant

Meaning: Familiar with or knowledgeable about something.

Example: “You need someone who is conversant with the new technology”

Synonyms: Familiar with, Acquainted with.

19) Nuances

Meaning: A subtle difference in or shade of meaning, expression, or sound.

Example: “He was familiar with the nuances of the local dialect”

Synonyms: Fine distinction.

20) Evasion

Meaning: An act or instance of escaping, avoiding, or shirking something

Example: “The old political boss was notorious for his practice of evasion”