GST Council meet today; scheme to speed up Rs 65,000 crore tax refunds on cards

Agencies

October 6, 2017

New Delhi, Oct 6: The all powerful GST Council will meet on Friday and is likely to decide on providing some relief to exporters in terms of faster refunds as well as compliance.

The full fledged meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council is also likely to assess the improvements in the GST Network's functioning, officials said.

This will be the 22nd meeting of the Council.

Officials in the ministry said that the Group of Ministers, under Sushil Modi, set up to look into GSTN glitches will also brief the Council on the portal's functioning.

With over 33 lakh businesses filing the final GSTR-1 return, the GoM has tasked GSTN to send reminder text messages to the remaining 20 lakh businesses which are yet to submit the tax forms.

The last date for filing of final sales returns for July in GSTR-1 form is October 10, while the date for uploading of purchase returns in GSTR-2 is October 31.

The final GSTR-3, matching GSTR-1 and 2, is to be filed by November 10.

The GoM in its meeting yesterday has asked GSTN and Infosys to brace up for handling the rush of last-minute filers.

Besides, the committee set up under Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia on issues faced by exporters, is likely to submit its preliminary report to the Council tomorrow.

Based on that the Council is likely to recommend some relaxation for exporters so that their working capital which is locked up in refunds is released, officials said.

Also, the apex indirect tax body CBEC will inform the Council that it is ready to release Integrated GST (IGST) refunds to exporters from October 10.

In a meeting with the Revenue Secretary last month, exporters had said that an estimated Rs 65,000 crore is locked up in GST refunds.

Also officials said that easy compliance for exporters, like quarterly filing of returns instead of monthly filing, is likely to be discussed by the Council.

The government has already allowed exporters to furnish Letter of Undertaking (LUT) instead of bonds at the time of exports, which will ease the compliance burden and stop locking up of capital.

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Film on Gaza girl ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’ receives Oscar nomination

News Network

January 23,2026

The Voice of Hind Rajab, inspired by the tragic final moments of a young Palestinian girl killed by Israeli fire in Gaza, has been nominated for an Academy Award in the Best International Feature Film category.

Directed by Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, the film recounts the true story of five-year-old Hind Rajab, who lost her life in January 2024 while fleeing Israeli bombardment with her family.

The film features the real audio of Hind’s desperate call to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, where she pleaded for help moments before the vehicle she was in was struck by 355 bullets.

The haunting narrative begins with a brief call made from the besieged Tel al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza, where gunfire and armored vehicles drowned out every sound.

After witnessing the brutal killing of her family, she made a trembling call, her voice reduced to a whisper as she spoke of the massacre and her unbearable loneliness as the sole survivor.

Premiering at the Venice International Film Festival in September 2025, The Voice of Hind Rajab garnered widespread acclaim, receiving a record-setting 23-minute standing ovation and the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize, the festival’s second-highest honor.

In her acceptance speech, Ben Hania dedicated the film to humanitarian workers and first responders in Gaza, emphasizing that Hind's voice symbolizes countless civilians affected by war.

She aims to give voice to victims often reduced to mere statistics, highlighting the broader suffering of civilians in war zones.

The film’s Oscar nomination underscores its powerful storytelling and ethical approach to depicting real-life tragedy, making it a crucial piece of contemporary cinema.

It serves not only as a narration of individual tragedy but also as an artistic and documentary response to the silence and censorship that often overshadow West Asian struggles and wars.

Using an innovative method she calls docufiction, Ben Hania bridges unvarnished reality and narrative structure, creating a work that is both artistically valuable and socially impactful.

Born in 1977 in Sidi Bouzid—later the epicenter of the Arab revolution—her background profoundly influenced her worldview and artistic approach.

She is a graduate of the Higher School of Audiovisual Arts of Tunis, Pantheon-Sorbonne University, and La Fémis in Paris, where her studies equipped her with the technical and theoretical tools needed to address complex subjects.

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