GST rate on covid vaccine remains unchanged at 5%; here’s what got a bit cheaper

News Network

June 12, 2021

New Delhi, June 12: The GST Council on Saturday decided to cut tax rates on a number of items crucial in the fight against Covid-19. These include essential medicines, oxygen generation equipment, pulse oximeters and diagnostic and testing machine kits.

These GST cuts were recommended by the Group of Ministers (GoM), formed after the last GST Council meet on May 28, to deliberate on possible reductions in Covid-related items.

Briefing reporters, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the recommendations of the GoM had been accepted.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the meeting was attended by Anurag Thakur, Minister of State for Finance, along with finance ministers and senior officials of the states and Union Territories.

Here are 10 key points you need to know about the revised rates:

> No tax will be levied on Tocilizumab and Amphotericin B, the medicines used to treat black fungus.

> GST rates on anti-coagulants like heparin as well as Remdesivir -- a drug used for treating Covid-19 -- reduced from 12 per cent to 5 per cent

> Tax on medical-grade oxygen, oxygen concentrators, ventilators, BiPAP machines and high flow nasal cannula (HFNC) devices has been cut from 12 per cent to 5 per cent.

> GST on electric furnaces and temperature-checking equipment brought down to 5 per cent

> GST on ambulances reduced to 12 per cent.

> Tax on Covid testing kits has been brought down to 5 per cent from 12 per cent.

> Pulse oximeters, hand sanitisers to be charged 5 per cent lower tax

> The GST Council decided to retain 5 per cent GST on Covid vaccines.

> The new rates will be valid till September.

> Centre will buy 75 per cent vaccines, as planned, and pay GST too. Additionally, 70 per cent of income from GST will be shared with states.

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International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant for war crimes

News Network

November 21,2024

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant over war crimes against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The court’s Pre-Trial Chamber I issued warrants of arrest for Netanyahu and Gallant "for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024, the day the Prosecution filed the applications for warrants of arrest”, it confirmed in a statement Thursday.

It is the first instance in the court's 22-year history it has issued arrest warrants for Western-allied senior officials.

In its statement, the ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber I, a panel of three judges, said it has rejected appeals by Israel challenging its jurisdiction.

The chamber said it has decided to release the arrest warrants because "conduct similar to that addressed in the warrant of arrest appears to be ongoing", referring to Israel's ongoing onslaught on Gaza.

Netanyahu and Gallant, it said, “each bear criminal responsibility” for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts,” as well as “intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population.”

All 124 states that signed the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the court, are now under an obligation to arrest the wanted individuals and hand them over to the ICC in the Hague.

The court relies on the cooperation of member states to arrest and surrender suspects. The Netherlands' foreign minister quickly said his country was prepared to enforce the warrants while 93 nations earlier reiterated their support for the ICC.

Triestino Mariniello, a lawyer representing Palestinian victims at the ICC, called the warrants "a historic decision".

He noted that the court had endured "pressure and threats of sanctions" from the US government, but acted nonetheless.

As expected, the Tel Aviv regime rejected the rulings, with its security minister Itamar Ben Gvir calling the warrants “anti-Semitic through and through.”

The ICC said Israel’s acceptance of the court’s jurisdiction was not required.

Israel and its major ally, the United States, are not members of the court.

Israel unleashed its bloody Gaza onslaught on October 7, 2023. So far, it has killed at least 43,985 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 104,092 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Israel faces an ongoing South Africa-led genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

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