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‘Proud industry’

A free cafe has been set up in a town to help prevent loneliness by encouraging people to connect with others.

The monthly Warm and Welcome Wednesday Cafe in Highworth, Wiltshire, has been set up by the volunteers behind Highworth Community Larder, which redistributes food that would otherwise have been thrown away.

The cafe is available on the third Wednesday of the month at the Council Rooms on Gilberts Lane, offering company and a free drink and cake between 09:30 – 11:00 BST. Highworth Town Council is providing the room for free.

Alison Durrant, one of the volunteers involved, explained that the cafe is also able to offer resources and advice to help with issues such as finances.

The community larder was launched several years ago when volunteers found there was plenty of surplus produce from local allotments that could be donated to those in need.

The group signed up to the national networks for similar projects, such as the Community Fridge Network, and the local primary school offered space for the food from allotments and local supermarkets.

Ms Durrant said they started with about 30 visitors and now have close to 100 every week.

New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday that while every citizen in the country would benefit due to the GST rate cuts, there were 11 Bengal-specific items on which the tax rates had been reduced to 5 per cent to benefit the economy and people of the state. 

Addressing the GST 2.0 outreach programme here, Sitharaman also highlighted that the decision to make the reforms come into effect from September 22 was largely due to the fact that the government wanted consumers to benefit ahead of Durga Puja.

GST on Shantineketan leather goods has come down by 5 per cent, while the rate on Bankura terracota craft is now also at 5 per cent, which will help craftsmen as the demand for these products will go up due to the decline in prices. Similarly, the GST rate on Madhurkati match and Purulia Chau masks and wooden masks of Dinajpur have also been reduced to 5 per cent.

Other items from West Bengal that will benefit due to the GST rate cuts include processed mango items from Malda and Darjeeling tea, which will now be taxed at 5 per cent. The reduction in the duty on jute bags will also lead to an increase in the demand for these items, which will benefit the farmers and manufacturers in the state, the Finance Minister said.

The rates were not fixed randomly but aimed to help the middle class, the poor and farmers, she added. The GST 2.0 reforms, under which the tax rates were cut, would also help the MSME sector and lead to higher economic growth and the creation of more jobs in the country.

Sitharaman also said that the GST Council is a constitutional body and the opposition-ruled states, including West Bengal, had agreed that as far as the reduction in GST slabs and the cut in GST rates on health schemes were concerned, they are with the council’s recommendations, and there was enormous support for the reforms.

“States came together and agreed to the proposal to reduce the slabs. I wrote personal letters to all Finance Ministers of states,” she remarked. “Bureaucrats deliver when leaders support the system. The Prime Minister had stated that he wanted simplicity in the GST tax system,” Sitharaman said.

She said the Finance Ministry has been constantly reviewing the rules to push ahead with tax reforms. “No one imagined that the income tax rate on personal income would be slashed,” Sitharaman remarked.