More Than 50 Children Die In Bihar Due To Encephalitis Caused By Eating Lychee, National : Today Indya

More Than 50 Children Die In Bihar Due To Encephalitis Caused By Eating Lychee

National

indiatimes

In a shocking incident, more than 50 children have died in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district after they developed brain infections which were caused by a toxic substance in the lychee fruit.

More Than 50 Children Die In Bihar Due To Encephalitis Caused By Eating Lychee

According to officials, 31 children have died of Encephalitis in the past 10 days alone.

AFP quoting senior health official Ashok Kumar Singh reported that the children had shown symptoms of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) and most had suffered a sudden loss of glucose in their blood.

"The health department has already issued an advisory for people to take care of their children during the hot summer when day temperature is above 40 degree Celsius," Singh told AFP.

At least 40 other children complaining of similar symptoms were being treated at intensive care units.

"We are trying our best to save them," said SP Singh, the chief medical officer of Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital.

According to the WHO Encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain and viral infection is the most common cause. It can be life-threatening if it is not detected in time and prompt treatment administered.

This is not the first time such deaths have been reported from Muzaffarpur which is known for its lush lychee orchards. In fact, Encephalitis deaths during the season have been happening in Muzaffarpur for years now.

The connection between the two emerged only in 2017 in a joint study by scientists from the US and India.

They had observed that in the Lychee season children in the area often used to spend their day in orchards eating the fruit and even skipping evening meals in the process.

According to the study published in Lancet Global Health, the Hypoglycin A and Methylene cyclopropyl acetic acid which are naturally present in litchi fruit caused a reduction of low blood sugar levels during the night.

The deaths remained a mystery for years as the lab tests of blood and spinal fluid samples of the victims showed no signs of infection or exposure to chemicals and insecticides.

But during the study, the scientists noticed that all the children had either eaten Lychee hours before they became unwell or had visited the orchard in the previous 24 hours.

Scientists from Delhi’s National Centre for Disease Control, India (NCDC) and the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had begun the study in 2013 following reports child deaths but were not able to find the cause. But the death of more than 100 children aged below 15 years gave the scientists more insights and behavioral patterns of the victims.

Following the publication of the study children in the area were made aware of the dangers of excessive consumption of the fruit and encouraged them to eat an evening meal to keep their blood sugar levels normal.

But another outbreak of Encephalitis during another lychee season suggests that more work need to be done to create awareness among both children and grown-ups.

Article Original Source : https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/more-than-50-children-die-in-bihar-du...

#encephalitis caused lychee

New GST return system for taxpayers: Here are all the details

National

economictimes

The GST Council has introduced a new return system for taxpayers in its 31st meeting.

The government has unveiled a transition plan for taxpayers under the goods and services tax to switch to new simpler return forms. In order to ease the transition process, between July-September the new form would be available on trial basis for familiarisation.

The GST Council in its 31st meeting had decided that a new GST return system will be introduced for taxpayers.

The Goods and Services Tax Network had shared a prototype of the offline tool in May, 2019, an official statement said on Tuesday. The look and feel of the offline tool would be same as that of the online portal.

There are three main components to the new return – one main return (FORM GST RET-1)and two annexures (FORM GST ANX-1 and FORM GST ANX-2).

From July, 2019, users would be able to upload invoices using the FORM GST ANX-1 offline tool on trial basis for familiarisation. They would also be able to view and download, the inward supply of invoices using the FORM GST ANX-2 offline tool under the trial program.

The summary of inward supply invoices would also be available for view on the common portal online. They would also be able to import their purchase register in the offline tool and match it with the downloaded inward supply invoices to find mismatches from August 2019.

Between July to September, 2019 for three months, the new return system (ANX-1 & ANX-2 only) would be available for trial for taxpayers to make themselves familiar, the statement said.

This trial would have no impact at the back end on the tax liability or input tax credit of the taxpayer, the statement added.

In this period, taxpayers shall continue to fulfil their compliances by filing FORM GSTR-1 and FORM GSTR-3B i.e. taxpayers would continue to file their outward supply details in FORM GSTR-1 on monthly or quarterly basis and return in FORM GSTR-3B on monthly basis. Non-filing of these returns shall attract penal provisions under the GST Act, it said.

From October, 2019 onwards, FORM GST ANX-1 shall be compulsory and FORM GSTR-1would be replaced by FORM GST ANX-1.

Large taxpayers, with aggregate annual turnover over Rs 5 crore in the previous financial year, would upload their monthly FORM GST ANX-1 from October, 2019 onwards.

However, small taxpayers, with turnover upto Rs 5 crore, will need to file the first compulsory quarterly FORM GST ANX-1 only in January, 2020 for the quarter October to December, 2019.

Invoices can be uploaded in FORM GST ANX-1 on a continuous basis both by large and small taxpayers from October, 2019 onwards, it said.

FORM GST ANX-2may be viewed simultaneously during this period but no action shall be allowed on such FORM GST ANX-2, the statement said.

For October and November, 2019, large taxpayers would continue to file FORM GSTR-3B on monthly basis. They would file their first FORM GST RET-01 for the month of December, 2019 by 20th January, 2020.

The small taxpayers would stop filing FORM GSTR-3B and would start filing FORM GST PMT-08 from October, 2019 onwards. They would file their first FORM GST-RET-01 for the quarter October, 2019 to December, 2019 from 20th January, 2020. From January, 2020 onwards, all taxpayers shall be filing FORM GST RET-01 and FORM GSTR-3B shall be completely phased out, the statement said. The government will issue separate instructions for filing and processing of refund applications between October to December, 2019.

Article Original Source : https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/new-gst-return-sys...