GST
REVENUE COLLECTION FOR JANUARY 2019 CROSSED ONE LAKH CRORE RUPEES
The total gross GST revenue collected in the month
of January, 2019 is Rs 1,02,503 crore of which CGST is Rs 17,763crore, SGST is
Rs 24,826 crore, IGST is Rs 51,225 crore (including Rs 24,065 crore collected
on imports) and Cess is Rs 8,690 crore (including Rs 902 crore collected on
imports). In FY 2018-2019, it is for the third time that GST Revenue collection
has crossed One Lakh Crore. The total number of GSTR 3B Returns filed for the
month of December up to 31st January, 2019 is 73.3lakh The government has
settled Rs 18,344 crore to CGST and Rs 14,677 crore to SGST from IGST as
regular settlement. The total revenue earned by Central Government and the
State Governments after regular settlement in the month of December, 2018 is Rs
36,107 crore for CGST and Rs 39,503 crore for the SGST. The collection in
January 2019 is a significant increase from the collection of Rs 94,725 crore
in December, which was a decline from Rs 97,637 crore in November and Rs
1,00,710 crore in October. January 2019 collections are 14% above the January
2018 collections of Rs 89,825 crore. This jump has been achieved despite
various tax reductions having come into force that provided major relief to the
consumers. The gross GST collections over the last three-month period has been
14% higher than the corresponding period last year.
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I-T
ASSESSMENTS TO BE COMPLETELY FACELESS IN FEW YEARS: CBDT CHAIRMAN
Income tax assessments will be completely
faceless, without the taxpayer having to face the taxman in about two years and
assessees will be provided pre-filled return forms as part of the government's
initiative to simplify procedures, a senior government official said Sunday.
Sushil Chandra told in a post-Budget interview that about 2.06 lakh income tax
assessment cases were handled online by the department last year, as part of
the 'nameless and faceless' delivery of service to taxpayers. He added that the
recent government sanction to create the advanced Centralised Processing Centre
2.0 in the I-T Department is a precursor to these futuristic proposals. CPC 2.0
has got a lot of new advantages. A pre-filled return form will be given to the
taxpayer on the basis of information we get about them from the tax deducted at
source (TDS) procedure. That will also facilitate processing of returns in 24
hours and we have got an agreement (with the technology vendor operating the
CPC 2.0) that if it (I-T return) is processed in one day, more amount will be
given. We expect this system to be rolled out in 2 years. Faster processing of
returns will increase better tax compliance, Chandra said. The existing CPC in
Bengaluru is the nodal wing of the tax department to handle I-T returns filed
by taxpayers of all categories and subsequent issuance of processing
certificate and refunds to a tax filer. Even now, very few I-T return cases,
only about 0.46 per cent of the total, are brought under scrutiny He said 99.54
per cent ITRs are accepted as they are. Over the last year, about 2.06 lakh assessments
were completed in a faceless manner. This will be further enhanced. We are
largely faceless now when it comes to dealing with taxpayers regarding their
assessments and scrutiny but we are working to become completely faceless over
the next few years, Chandra said. The CBDT frames policy for the I-Tax
Department and functions under the Union Finance Ministry. Chandra said the
taxman, in coming days, will undertake a two-part approach when dealing with an
average taxpayer's ITR. The department has said that under the 'faceless and
nameless' tax scheme, only those cases will require personal attendance of an
assessee to explain their position where the evidence of tax evasion is grave.
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‘MORE
THAN 2K STARTUPS UNDER I-T LENS OVER ANGEL FUNDING’
More than 2,000 startups that had received
funding from investors — angel financiers, private equity (PE) and venture
capital (VC) funds — have received notices under the ‘angel tax’ showed a
survey conducted by the Indian Venture Capital Association (IVCA), a grouping
of investors. The IVCA survey showed that 73% of the 2,883 respondents received
the angel tax notices. The startups said that they have received the notice for
raising capital over the fair market value or for raising capital from unknown
sources. Angel tax deals with premiums paid by investors while they invest in
startups. Tax officials have questioned increasing valuations of startups even
when revenue is falling or remaining stagnant. The revenue department deems the
capital in excess of a fair market value as ‘other income’ that is taxable.
Also, in cases where the investor is not Indian, the tax department has in the
past issued notices branding such investments as unexplained cash credits, charging
a 30% tax on those. It had sent notices to many startups, asking them to pay
the tax. The IVCA survey asked, among other things, whether the startups had received
notices under the two income tax sections — 56(2)(viib) and Section 68. While
56(2)(viib) deals with valuations (classification of a funding as income or
investment), Section 68 deals with unexplained credit. About one fourth of the
startups that received notices said that they have received notices under both
the income tax sections. Like we said, let data do the talking; this brings
more clarity to the issue of angel taxation. We have seen active participation
from angel networks, VCs that had reached out to all of their portfolio
startups and thus seemingly this survey gives more credible data, said Rajat
Tandon. Industry estimates showed that there are around 7,000 startups in
India. The IVCA had managed to get responses from more than 2,500 startups. As
per the survey in 95% of the cases, the tax notices were issued wherein less
than 10 crore was invested. Meanwhile, the government last week came out with
one more notification on the issue. Tax experts said the latest notification
would have absolutely no impact on the ongoing controversy. This is just a
procedural notification, which CBDT was required to issue to put in place the
mechanics to make effective the changes made by Department of Industrial Policy
and Promotion.
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GSTN
ALERT: TWO NEW FEATURES ADDED IN GST PORTAL
The Goods and Services Tax Network has added
two new features in the GST portal including List of Preferred Banks list while
making Payment and the Monthly Refund applications by Quarterly GSTR-1 filers.
From now, every time a taxpayer makes GST payment using in the bank, it will be
updated in the Preferred Bank list for that taxpayer. As per the statement
issued by the GSTN, up to six preferred banks will be shown to the taxpayer
while making e-payment on GST portal. The GSTN further removed the restriction
for applying for a refund on a quarterly basis for quarterly GSTR 1 filers.
These taxpayers can now file refund application on a monthly basis if Form
GSTR1 for the quarter is filed.
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EXTENSION
OF DUE DATE FOR FURNISHING OF FORM GSTR-8 FOR OCT TO DEC 2018 TILL 07.02.2019
WHEREAS, sub-section (4) of section 52 of the
Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (12 of 2017) (hereafter in this Order
referred to as the said Act) provides that every operator who collects the
amount specified in sub-section (1) shall furnish a statement, electronically,
containing the details of outward supplies of goods or services or both
effected through it, including the supplies of goods or services or both
returned through it, and the amount collected under subsection (1) during a
month, in such form and manner as may be prescribed, within ten days after the
end of such month; AND WHEREAS, certain operators, were unable to obtain
registration because of technical issues being faced by them on the common
portal but they collected the amount for the months of October, November and
December 2018, as a result whereof, the statement under subsection (4) of
section 52 of the said Act could not be furnished and because of that certain
difficulties have arisen in giving effect to the provisions of the said
sub-section; NOW, THEREFORE, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 172
of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, the Central Government, on
recommendations of the Council, hereby makes the following Order, to remove the
difficulties namely: ––
1. Short title ––This Order may be called the
Central Goods and Services Tax (Second Removal of Difficulties) Order, 2019.
2. In section 52 of the Central Goods and
Services Tax Act, 2017, in sub-section (4), in the Explanation, for the
figures, letters and word 31st January, 2019, the figures, letters and word
07th February, 2019 shall be substituted
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EXTENSION
OF TIME FOR SUBMITTING FORM GST TRAN-1 TILL 31.03.2019
In exercise of the powers conferred by
sub-rule (1A) of rule 117 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017
read with section 168 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, on the
recommendations of the Council, and in supersession of Order No. 4/2018- GST
dated 17.09.2018, except as respects things done or omitted to be done before
such supersession, the Commissioner hereby extends the period for submitting
the declaration in FORM GST TRAN-1 till 31st March, 2019 for the class of
registered persons who could not submit the said declaration by the due date on
account of technical difficulties on the common portal and whose cases have
been recommended by the Council.
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INCOME UP
TO RS 5 LAKH CAN PAY ZERO TAX BUT STILL NEED TO FILE ITR
If you thought that having a taxable income
of up to Rs 5 lakh meant bye-bye to the tax department think again. You can avail
of the zero tax benefit announced in Budget 2019 but you still need to file
your income tax return (ITR). The income tax exemption limit for all citizens
below 60 years still remains at Rs 2.5 lakh and for senior citizens Rs 3 lakh.
Therefore, if you are earning anything above these exemption limits annually
then you are mandatorily required to file your ITR. You can claim the rebate of
all tax payable if your taxable income is up to Rs 5 lakh under section 87A in
your ITR when you file it. If you have income up to Rs 5 lakh but don't file
your ITR assuming that your tax payable is zero you are liable to get a notice
from the income tax department. This would mean that in order to pay zero tax
on the income earned by you during the financial year 2019-20, you will be
first required to declare your gross total income by filing ITR. Your gross
total income would include income from various sources such as salary, interest
income from savings account, fixed deposits and so on. Then you will be
required to claim all the deductions and tax breaks such as house rent allowance
(HRA), standard deduction, deductions under section 80C, 80D, interest paid on
housing loan etc. which you are eligible for. As per the budget proposals, it
has been proposed to hike the rebate under Section 87A to Rs 12,500. This would
effectively make tax liability zero for taxpayers having net taxable income not
exceeding Rs 5 lakh. Currently, the rebate is limited to Rs 2,500 for
individuals having income not more than Rs 3.5 lakh.
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GST
REVENUE SHORTFALL DRAGS DOWN GROSS TAX REVENUE TARGET BY RS 23,066 CR
The shortfall in GST revenue of an estimated Rs
1 trillion has forced the government to revise downwards its gross tax revenue
target by over Rs 23,066 crore in the revised estimates of the current financial
year despite a better-than-expected collection on the direct tax side. As per
the Interim Budget tabled in Parliament on Friday, the government revised the
Goods and Services Tax (GST) target from Rs 7.44 trillion to Rs 6.44 trillion
-- a gap of Rs 1 trillion -- due to the shortfall in collections However, an
upward revision of Rs 50,000 crore in estimates for direct taxes to Rs 12
trillion has made up for a significant portion of the shortfall. Total indirect
taxes, including Customs and other duties, are estimated to be Rs 10.45
trillion, down from Rs 11.18 trillion. For Financial Year 2019-20, the
government has set a direct tax collection target of Rs 13.8 trillion (up 15
per cent from this year's revised estimates) and indirect tax collection target
of Rs 11.7 trillion (up 11.9 per cent). Pranab Kumar Das, who assumed charge
last month, said with compliance going up and tax net widening, it won't be
difficult to meet the revenue targets. The very first month after assuming
charge on January 1, I have already achieved the target of Rs 1 trillion that I
promised before taking over. I have shown this is possible, he said. And with
compliance going up, and number of taxpayers going up, it is not difficult for
us to get this revenue, he added. Das added that transparency was the key to
improve compliance which would play a key role in achieving targets. People are
interested to take advantage of this compliance level, this transparent system
because they benefit if they become a part of the supply chain. So even though
they are below the threshold, many of these entities are registering
themselves, he said.
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INCOME
TAX REBATE LOGICAL EXTENSION OF STEPS TAKEN BY GOVT SINCE 2014: JAITLEY
Arun Jaitley Friday rejected criticism for
deviating from past by including direct tax proposal in an interim Budget
saying the rebate in the income tax was a logical extension of steps taken by
the government since 2014. While in 2009 and then in 2014, the Congress-led UPA
had brought indirect tax proposals in keeping with the needs of the economy,
Finance Minister Piyush Goyal announced an income tax rebate on earnings of up
to Rs 5 lakh. Budgets are a political reality in a Parliamentary democracy. So
are elections, but this is not a move which anywhere contradicts or deviates
from what this government has been doing in the past 5 years. It's actually a
logical movement in the direction in which we were moving in last 5 years, he
said. Goyal's move was criticised by the Opposition saying with general
election months away, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government had
mandate only to present a vote on account and a Budget containing direct tax
proposals. They felt that was the job for the next government to do when they present
a full Budget for 2019-20 in July. In 2009, then Finance Minister Pranab
Mukherjee introduced a stimulus for the economy faced with global meltdown in
his reply to the interim Budget debate. His successor P Chidambaram had in 2014
changed duty structures on some commodities. I completely reject this
artificial distinction between direct and indirect taxes. You can deal with
indirect taxes not with direct taxes. Tell me, giving a boost to the economy,
is it not required today in the larger interest of the economy? On one hand,
the so-called critics 'Nawab of Negativity' are saying that the world's fastest
growing economy is growing slowly. If that's the point of criticism, then let
us be allowed to give a boost to the economy. And, this higher consumption will
certainly give boost to the economy, he said. Jaitley said that for the past 5
years, the government has been giving relief in direct taxes and whatever has
been done in Interim Budget 2019-20 is a continuation of what started in 2014.
With the increased size of Budget, the government has been able to provide
benefit to taxpayers. Now, size of the Budget has expanded to Rs 27 lakh crore
from Rs 14 lakh crore in 2014 small tax payers are entiled to more money in the
pocket and whatever more we spend a lot of it comes back as indirect taxes.
It's a movement in the same direction which we started in 2014, he said. Jaitley
said the farm sector required resources and if the current scheme is
inadequate, the Centre will increase its allocation. Pointing out that the
sector is in distress, he said, the Centre has taken the first step and let the
state governments of so called critics top it up. Income support and subsidy
can go hand in hand, he added.
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BUDGET
PROPOSALS TO HELP PUT MORE MONEY INTO POCKETS OF SMALL TAXPAYERS: ICAI
The Budget proposals on the personal taxation
front would put more money in the pockets of small taxpayers and increase their
purchasing power, chartered accountants' apex body ICAI said Friday. Piyush
Goyal, also a chartered accountant, presented the Interim Budget for 2019-20 on
Friday. In short, it is a progressive budget from a chartered accountant FM,
Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) President Naveen N D Gupta
said. The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) President Ranjeet
Pandey said the Budget tries to benefit all the three constituents of the
economy -- the labourers, the salaried and the business. Meanwhile, budget
carrier SpiceJet Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh said the finance
minister has managed to do something for a large cross-section of society --
middle class, farmers, and workers in the unorganised sector. This is a people's
budget that will help the economy and also lays down a vision for the next 10
years. This could well be a game changer budget in this election year. I feel
that the government with this budget has certainly injected a lot of josh
without losing its hosh! Singh said. Not-for-profit group CUTS International's
Secretary General Pradeep S Mehta said with the general elections few months
away, the Budget, on expected lines, was replete with populist measures to woo
voters.
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GOVERNMENT
TURNS DOWN CALL TO CUT CORPORATE TAX
Having splurged money on farmers and
individual taxpayers ahead of the crucial General Election, the government has ignored
the long-standing demand of India Inc for reduction in corporate tax from 30
per cent to 25 per cent. Ashok P Hinduja, said that in 2015 the government agreed
to cut corporate tax to 25 per cent progressively in four years. About 7,000
top companies still await the cut as it will enhance private investment. Corporates
were also expecting the government to reduce minimum alternate tax from 18.5
per cent given the strain in the economy. Last Budget, the government had
reduced corporate tax rate to 25 per cent for businesses with turnover of ₹250 crore. Nabin Ballodia, said, No major tax
announcements for the corporate sector and they will have to wait for the full
Budget post the elections for any kind of relief. I was expecting some measures
to be announced towards easing the access of funds for the infrastructure
sector, especially on how to channelise long-term funds from the insurance and
pension funds into the infrastructure sector. The Interim Budget could not
address that part. I hope that aspect would get adequately covered in the
actual Union Budget 2019-20 that will be placed after the General Elections, said
Hemant Kanoria. Geojit Financial Services, said, At a time when the
unemployment is reported to be at 45-year high and corporate sector investment
is at 14-year low, there has been widespread expectations for direct investment
boosters in the Budget for creating more job opportunities. This is the only
disappointment in the Budget.
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NOT MUCH
ON OFFER FOR CORPORATES
India Inc was hoping that the government’s promise
of moving towards the corporate tax rate of 25 per cent over four years will be
partially met in this Budget. But they were disappointed as the document has
left corporate tax rate untouched. That said, the Budget seeks to put more
money in the hands of the middle-class through the move to provide full rebate for
individual taxpayers having annual taxable income up to ₹5 lakh and through an increase in the
standard deduction. While the direct income of ₹6,000 per
year to small farmers is too small to make a material impact on demand for farm
inputs, this coupled with other subsidies on MSP, fertilisers and interest
subvention will give a small fillip to rural demand. The allocation of ₹82,127 crore to schemes such as MNREGA, green
revolution and Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayi Yojana are also likely to help
the rural economy. Budget allocation of ₹36,691
crore for National Highways Authority of India, ₹19,000
crore for PM Gram Sadak Yojana and ₹25,853
crore for PM Awas Yojana are expected to result in higher order flows for
construction companies, real estate players and boost demand for cement and
steel. In the Budget of 2015, Arun Jaitley had proposed to reduce the rate of
corporate tax from 30 per cent to 25 per cent over the next 4 years. While the
rate of taxation was reduced for smaller companies, with turnover up to ₹250 crore, higher surcharge and cess have
been hurting corporates. Also larger companies have continued to bear the brunt
of higher taxes with effective tax rate of companies in BSE 500 at 29 per cent
in FY18, slightly higher than the 28 per cent in FY17. Phasing out of various
allowances is in fact beginning to hurt companies. Earnings growth of India Inc
has also not been smooth in Modi’s regime. Bad monsoons, melt-down in commodity
prices, high interest rates and global slow-down hurt revenue growth in FY15 as
well as FY16. But revenue growth was back on track from FY17, with growth of 13
per cent and 12 per cent in FY17 and FY18 respectively. Despite the disruptions
caused by demonetisation and GST roll-out, declining commodity prices and interest
rates as well as strong consumption helped revenue growth. Earnings growth has
also been steady from FY16, growing between 14 per cent and 17 per cent. In the
recent quarters, while revenue growth has been good, margins have been under
pressure due to rising commodity prices and rupee depreciation hurting
commodity imports.
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IF GST
HASN’T PAID OFF, THEN BLAME ITS UNWIELDINESS
The Modi government managed to bring together
states of various political hues for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) by
finding the middle road in administrative power-sharing via the mechanism of
the finely balanced Centre-State GST Council. The guaranteed 5-year
compensation for ‘revenue shortfall’ —defined against 14% annual increase over
FY16 base – also helped to overcome some states’ reluctance to embrace the
epochal indirect tax reform. If nineteen months since its launch the GST has
yet to stabilise and is struggling to produce the revenue buoyancy and
incremental economic efficiency it is theoretically capable of, it is not only
due to the inevitable teething troubles that such a big change would have
anyway created, but also because of the multiple structural deficiencies the
new tax was born with. Far from the simple, one-nation-one-tax envisaged by
experts, India’s GST came into being with practically seven or more rates and
excluding many high-revenue-earning segments (chiefly, petroleum products
namely diesel and petrol, real estate and alcohol, the last excluded even
constitutionally, the others with a promise to include later). Also, the input
tax credits were not released to the businesses promptly, leading to serious
working capital problems for small units. The rates were initially high (28%)
for a wide array of consumer articles. The small services industry, which was
used to benign rates, has reeled under an 18% GST. A large segment of MSMEs has
found GST compliance cumbersome especially since it closely followed the note
ban. To top it all, a foolproof returns-filing system has got deferred several
times and not in force even now, undermining tax officials’ ability to
undertake invoices-matching and check evasion. Of course, the GST Council,
often at the initiative of Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, has over the last
several months taken a number of steps to improve the GST structure. Rates were
cut for nearly 120 goods and services since July 2018 itself; as a result, the
highest slab of 28% GST is now restricted to only 37 items or 3% of total items
under GST. The weighted average GST rate is, however, still higher than most
countries with similar multi-point tax on value addition. Recently, the GST
exemption limit was raised from Rs20 lakh to Rs40 lakh, the threshold for the
composition scheme—which allows tax payment as a tiny fraction of turnover
rather than transaction-wise—was enhanced to Rs1.5 crore from Rs50 lakh, and
the facility got extended to service-sector players with up to Rs50 lakh annual
sales. From April this fiscal, e-way bills have got rolled out in phases across
the country, for moving consignments worth over Rs50,000. While these steps may
address the woes of aggrieved taxpayers, some of them—like an option for states
to keep the exemption limit between Rs20 lakh and Rs40 lakh and permission to Kerala
to have temporary calamity cess—go against the idea of flawless GST.
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GRANT
INDUSTRY STATUS, CUT GST RATE, SAY PROPERTY DEVELOPERS
Grant of industry status for the real estate
sector, and rationalisation of the goods and services tax (GST) by bringing
stamp duty and registration under it are the two key expectations of the real
estate industry in Karnataka from the Union budget scheduled on Friday. The
industry has gone through two years of slowdown owing to demonetisation,
implementation of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), and GST. There
are signs of revival now, but it's slow. The industry is hoping the state
budget, tentatively scheduled for February 8, will also offer some big sops for
the sector with an eye on the Lok Sabha polls in April. Atul Goyal, said the
real estate sector is the second largest after agriculture, as it now
contributes about 5% to GDP, but it is yet to be declared as an industry.
Although various companies involved in the construction of dams, roads and
others have gained industry status, real estate, in spite of providing
employment to lakhs of people, is still in the queue, he said. C N Govindaraju,
said a reduction of GST from the current 12% to about 5-6% would be extremely
beneficial for real estate consumers. This will help improve market sentiment
after 2-3 years of mostly sluggish growth, he said. Suresh Hari, said they are
hoping that the Union government will reduce tax (GST) and the state government
will either reduce or do away with stamp duty and registration charges in tune
with the GST slogan of One tax, One country.
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REALTY
LOOKS FORWARD TO GOM RECOMMENDATIONS ON GST: NIRANJAN HIRANANDANI
The budget speech by Finance Minister Piyush
Goyal has positive news for the common man, which includes no increase in taxes
on one hand, and enhanced benefits and reliefs on the other. Effectively, for
the tax payer, it promises to bring a smile on his or her face, and this positive
sentiment might just enable many a ‘fence sitter’ to morph into a ‘home buyer’.
To my mind, the biggest takeaway from the Finance Minister's budget speech is rationalized
taxation good for both – home buyers as also the real estate developers While
we will need to go through the points in detail, the first reaction is
definitely ‘positive’. Having said that, I will wait for the Group of Ministers
(GoM) to come up with recommendations to the Goods and Services Tax Council,
which will hopefully, bring real estate under GST, while subsuming all other
taxes and levies. The Finance Minister said the government was trying to reduce
GST burden on homebuyers but the jury is still out on what the GoM may come up
with as its recommendations. Among other points that Goyal mentioned, the first
to my mind would be extending benefits under Section 80-IBA of the Income Tax
Act for one more year. This will enable creation of more homes under affordable
housing. This will be applicable to housing projects approved till 31st March,
2020. Secondly, with the aim of giving impetus to real estate, the Finance
Minister has proposed extending the period of exemption from levy of tax on
notional rent, on unsold inventories, from one year to two years. This will be
applicable from the end of the year in which the project is completed, and this
will ensure that the slow-down in creation of fresh stock as a result of the
previous situation - where the exemption was only for one year - will be
positively impacted. In my thought process, two things that could have also
made it to this positive Budget speech - which were missing as regards the
housing sector – granting of industry status to real estate as a sector, not
restricting it only to the affordable segment; as also section 43-C of the
Income Tax Act, wherein tax is levied when prices are reduced. Also, the NBFC
deadlock and stressed asset problems could have been dealt with in terms of
solutions in the Budget speech.
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IPS RISHI
KUMAR SHUKLA APPOINTED AS THE NEW CBI DIRECTOR
The PM Modi-led selection panel on Saturday appointed
IPS Rishi Kumar Shukla as the new Director Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI). Rishi Kumar Shukla, a 1983 batch IPS officer, was earlier working as the
OSD in the Bhopal, Police Headquarters (PHQ). The post of the CBI chief has
been lying vacant since January 10 after the unceremonious exit of Alok Verma,
who had been engaged in a bitter fight with Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Rakesh
Asthana over corruption charges. Both Verma and Asthana had accused each other
of corruption. Verma, after being removed from the post of CBI director by the
PM-led panel, was named as the Director General of Fire Services, Civil Defence
and Home Guards -- a less significant portfolio. Verma did not accept the offer
and wrote to the government, saying he should be considered as deemed
superannuated as he has completed 60 years age of superannuation on July 31,
2017. He had taken over as the CBI chief on February 1, 2017 for a fixed
two-year tenure that ended Thursday.
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COURT
GIVES INTERIM PROTECTION FROM ARREST TO ROBERT VADRA TILL FEBRUARY 16
A Delhi Court Saturday granted interim bail
till February 16 to Robert Vadra in a money laundering case registered by the
Enforcement Directorate (ED). Arvind Kumar also directed Vadra to appear before
the ED on February 6 and cooperate in the investigation. I am granting him
interim bail. Let him come and join the probe, the judge said. The case relates
to allegations of money laundering in the purchase of a London-based property
-- located at 12, Bryanston Square -- worth 1.9 million pounds, which is
allegedly owned by Vadra, the brother-in-law of Congress President Rahul
Gandhi. During the hearing, special public prosecutor D P Singh and advocate
Nitesh Rana, appearing for the ED, opposed Vadra's anticipatory bail and
claimed that he had got kickbacks in a petroleum deal in 2009. The agency has
received information about various new properties in London which belongs to
Vadra including two houses of 5 and 4 million each, 6 other flats and more
properties. We just want him to come and inform about his properties, Rana
said. Senior advocate KTS Tulsi, appearing for Vadra, told the court that his
client was out of the country for his mother's treatment and assured the court
that he will come and join probe. Vadra said that he was being subjected to
unwarranted, unjustified and malicious criminal prosecution which on the face
of it is completely politically motivated and is being carried out for reasons
other than those prescribed under law.
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UNDECLARED
PROPERTIES IN LONDON ALLEGEDLY LINKED TO ROBERT VADRA UNDER SCANNER
A UK based company has come under the scanner
of Indian probe agencies for allegedly round tripping money received as
kickbacks for two contracts- one related to Petroleum and another Defence deal.
While the Petroleum contract was granted by the UPA-I government in 2009, the
Defence deal was sanctioned in the year 2005. The details of the two deals are
being looked into by the investigators Under scanner are nearly four properties
purchased in London with alleged ill-gotten wealth emanating from the
'kickbacks' received by the UK company from the two deals. Arms dealer Sanjay
Bhandari, alleged associate of Robert Vadra, purchased a mansion in London for
1.9 million pounds from the UK company. The mansion was purchased with the help
of purchase shares of Bhandari's company- Vortex. In the year 2010, the said
mansion was purchased by Dubai based NRI businessman C C Thampi. The said
purchase was made by Thampi through a company Skylite FZE. The company has an
account in Sharjah. Thampi is already being investigated by Enforcement Directorate
(ED) for FEMA violations of Rs 1,000 crores. Investigators suspect close
association between Thampi and Vadra. It is alleged that months after the
Petroleum deal was okayed in the fag end of 2009, enormous amounts of money was
transferred in the account of Skylite. Several lakhs of dirhams (Dubai
currency) were transferred in the company's account in April, 2010. The
agencies claim to be in possession of emails exchanged between Vadra and Sanjay
Bhandari pertaining renovation of the said mansion in London before it was sold
off to Thampi in 2010. The renovations were done to the tune of 60,000 pounds.
Agencies further allege that the London mansion was sold back to the UK
company- Syntak, which amounted to round tripping The agencies investigating
the alleged role of Sanjay Bhandari, Robert Vadra and Thampi in the said
purchase. Vadra has repeatedly rubbished all allegations levelled against him.
His associate Manoj Arora is also facing an investigation by the Enforcement
Directorate on charges of money laundering. In his anticipatory bail
application, Vadra has alleged that he has been harassed by the ED officials
and that the agency has called upon his company and his representatives on more
than two dozen occasions since June 15, 2016 and nothing has been found against
him.
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ED FILES
MONEY LAUNDERING CASE AGAINST VIDEOCON GROUP'S DEEPAK KOCHHAR
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered
a criminal case of money laundering against former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda
Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar, Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot
and others to probe alleged irregularities and corrupt practices in sanctioning
of Rs 1,875-crore loan by the bank to the corporate group, officials said
Saturday. They said the central probe agency filed an Enforcement Case
Information Report (ECIR) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, taking
cognisance of a CBI complaint filed on the matter last month. An ECIR is the
ED's equivalent of a police FIR. The officials said the agency would probe if
alleged kickbacks generated in the loan deal were laundered to create tainted
assets. The ED is soon expected to summon the accused named in the ECIR. The
list of accused in the ED case is the same as that of the CBI, they said. It
had also conducted raids in the case. During its preliminary enquiry, the CBI
found that six loans worth Rs 1,875 crore were sanctioned to the Videocon Group
and companies associated with it between June, 2009 and October, 2011 in
alleged violation of laid-down policies of ICICI Bank, which have now become
part of the probe. Existing outstanding in the accounts of these private group
companies were adjusted in Rupee Term Loan of Rs 1,730 crore sanctioned by
ICICI Bank under refinance of domestic debt under consortium arrangement on
April 26, 2012, a CBI spokesperson had said.
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AGUSTAWESTLAND
CASE: ED OPPOSES MIDDLEMAN'S PLEA TO MEET LAWYER IN PRIVATE
The Enforcement Directorate Saturday opposed
the petition of Rajeev Saxena, a Dubai-based businessman wanted in the VVIP
chopper case, seeking to meet his lawyer in private, saying it may hamper the
probe. The ED made the submission in response to the plea moved by Saxena, who
is in the agency's custody. Special judge Arvind Kumar directed the agency to file
a detailed reply by Monday, when Saxena's custody ends. Saxena was deported
from Dubai on January 31 and sent to 4-day ED custody the same day. The court
had allowed his custodial interrogation after the agency alleged that he and
another accused provided global corporate structure to launder money.
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DELHI
COURT EXTENDS ED CUSTODY OF GAUTAM KHAITAN BY 6 DAYS IN FRESH MONEY LAUNDERING
CASE
A Delhi court on Saturday extended by six
days the ED custody of lawyer Gautam Khaitan, an accused in the AgustaWestland
VVIP chopper scam, in connection with a fresh case of alleged possession of
black money and money laundering Special Judge Arvind Kumar extended the ED
custody of Khaitan, who was already being prosecuted in a case related to
AgustaWestland and was out on bail.
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GOVT
ISSUES NOTICE TO EX-CBI BOSS ALOK VERMA ON CVC FINDINGS AGAINST HIM
The government has sought comments of former
CBI director Alok Kumar Verma, who superannuated on Friday without joining his
last posting on three counts of misconduct found against him by a CVC inquiry
conducted late last year on directions of the Supreme Court. The notice comes
ahead of initiating departmental proceedings against him. With Verma also
having refused to join his last posting as DG, Fire Services, Civil Defence and
Home Guards despite MHA directions to do so, a fresh show-cause notice will now
be sent to him citing a fourth count of unauthorised absence from work during
the 20 days between his appointment and retirement. This will be added to the
departmental proceedings that may be initiated after Verma’s reply, which must
come in 30 days from receipt of notice. As per sources, the notice sent earlier
to Verma by department of personnel and training (DoPT) based on the CVC
inquiry, whose report was submitted to SC in November 2018, mentions three
charges of misconduct on his part. There is inordinate delay in finalising the
investigation report by CBI. Verma, being head of the organisation, should have
ensured completion of investigation and further action within prescribed
timelines. Failure to do so appears to have lead to the allegation of favouring
Rajiv Singh, the CVC report had pointed out.
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NATIONAL
HERALD: SONIA, RAHUL GANDHI START CROSS EXAMINATION OF COMPLAINANT, SUBRAMANIAN
SWAMY
Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul
Gandhi Monday started cross examination of complainant and BJP leader
Subramanian Swamy in the National Herald case. The Gandhis, through their
lawyer, started cross examination of Swamy who had filed a private criminal
complaint against them in the case. Swamy, in the complaint, had accused the
Gandhis and others of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds by paying
just Rs 50 lakh, through which the Young Indian (YI) Private Limited obtained
the right to recover the Rs 90.25 crore that the Associate Journals Limited
owed to the Congress.
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REALTY
DEAL AT HEART OF ICICI PROBE AGAINST CHANDA KOCHHAR
Real estate transactions between the Kochhars
and the Dhoots of Videocon Group pointed to the quid pro quo arrangement
between them, said people with knowledge of the matter. These were a key
element in the report that found former ICICI Bank chief executive Chanda
Kochhar had violated the lender’s code of conduct by not disclosing conflicts
of interest, they said. The report said the relationship between the two
families was a longstanding one that began before Chanda Kochhar became CEO of
ICICI Bank in 2009. The Kochhars’ residence at CCI Chambers, opposite the
Cricket Club of India in south Mumbai, is said to have been bought from the
Videocon Group in a complex transaction in the mid-1990s. The apartment was
purchased through Credential Finance, a financial services firm established by
Deepak Kochhar, Chanda Kochhar’s husband, and his brother Rajiv Kochhar. The
Videocon Group too had a stake in Credential Finance. One of the main findings
of the enquiry report has been linking their relationship (Kochhars and
Dhoots). The relation went a long way back when they acquired their residential
flat from parties linked to the Videocon Group, said one of the persons cited
above. The report is quite detailed covering all the laws and talks about
preponderance of probability and said such serious lapses — not informing the
bank about conflict of interest with regard to Dhoots/Videocon Group — can’t be
made by a person holding a senior position. Deepak Kochhar said there was no
such involvement. The flat at CCI Chambers was conveyed from Bilquis Jahan
Begum to me and my brother in February 1996, Deepak Kochhar told. Since then, I
have been the owner and occupant till date. The conveyance deed and share
certificate reflect the same. Videocon Group Venugopal Dhoot also denied being
part of the deal. It (the flat) was owned by the Kochhar family from the
beginning and we never ever had any ownership or other interest in the said
flat, he told. The bank said it would deem her exit from the bank as a
dismissal and revoked all financial entitlements. It plans to claw back all
bonuses paid to her between April 2009 and March 2018. Chanda Kochhar did not
disclose any relationship with Videocon or the Dhoots for years, the report
said. It was only in April 2018 that she wrote to the bank’s board about her
husband’s business dealings with Videocon.
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PONZI
PROBE: CBI TO MOVE SC AGAINST OBSTRUCTIONS BY BENGAL GOVT, POLICE
After an all-out war broke out between Centre
and the Mamata Banerjee government, CBI sources said the agency will move the
Supreme Court on Monday, claiming its probe in ponzi scams was being obstructed
by the West Bengal government and the state police. While calls and messages to
interim CBI chief M Nageswar Rao, whose appointment is under challenge in the
Supreme Court, remained unanswered, sources confirmed that the agency will move
the Supreme Court on Monday to present their case. The fast-paced development
started unfolding as soon as a team of 40-odd agency officers arrived at
Kumar's residence at Loudon Street in central Kolkata Sunday afternoon, but
they were stopped by sentries and officials. The team had gone to question
Kumar in connection with chit fund scam cases. In a dramatic showdown with the
Modi government, a furious Banerjee, wrapped in a brown woollen shawl, began a
sit-in right in front of the Metro Cinema to protest insults she faced at the
hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. Banerjee, one of
the prime movers behind the effort to cobble together an anti-BJP alliance
ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, claimed the CBI knocked on the doors of Kumar
without a search warrant She alleged they want to impose President's rule in
whichever states the opposition is in power. I can assure. I am ready to die
but I am not ready to bow down before the Modi government and we won't allow
imposition of Emergency please save India, save democracy, save the
Constitution, she said. Banerjee asked all opposition parties to unite to bring
down the Modi government and, in a rare exhortation by a political leader,
called upon personnel of security forces of the Centre and states, besides the
Army, to condemn the attitude of the Modi government.
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KOLKATA
POLICE-CBI FACE-OFF: RAJYA SABHA ADJOURNED TILL 2 PM
Slogan shouting by Trinamool Congress members
over alleged misuse of the CBI by the Centre led to adjournment of the Rajya
Sabha till 2 PM on Monday. M Venkaiah Naidu asked agitated members to raise the
issue during the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address but
TMC members did not heed to the suggestion and started raising slogans like
Save the Constitution and moved towards the Well. Naidu then adjourned the
House till 2 pm. As soon as the ministers laid listed papers on the table of
the House, some opposition members were on their feet. Naidu said he has
received several notices, including from Derek O'Brien of the TMC on the CBI
issue. I have not admitted any one of them (notices), Naidu said, adding
members will get an opportunity to raise the important matter at length during
the debate on the President's address.
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251
SEDITION CASES FILED IN ASSAM SINCE BJP CAME TO POWER IN 2016
Assam government has registered a total of
251 sedition cases since the BJP-led alliance came to power in the state in
2016, the Assembly was informed on Monday. Chandra Mohan Patowary said 251
sedition cases were filed against various individuals and banned organisations
since May 26, 2016 when the present coalition government took charge. Patowary
said sedition cases have been filed against militant groups such as ULFA(I),
NDFB (S), NDFB(B), KLO, NSLA, NSLA(AT), UPLFS, DHD, DHNA, NSCN(IM), ZUF and ATF
among others. Such cases were also registered against several individuals,
Patowary said on behalf of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal who also holds the
Home portfolio. The Bill, passed by the Lok Sabha on January 8, seeks to grant
Indian citizenship to non-Muslims who fled religious persecution from
Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and entered India before December 31,
2014.
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CAIRN
INDIA-VOLCAN INVESTMENT TRANSACTION MET GOVT STANDARDS, SAYS VEDANTA
Clarifying the Cairn India-Volcan Investment
transaction, Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta on Monday said the structure provides
significantly higher returns compared to other overseas cash management
investments that would typically return around two per cent. Last week, Vedanta
announced that Cairn India Holdings Limited, would invest $5 billion in Volcano
Investment Limited, the parent company of Vedanta Limited, as part of the
structured investment representing the economic interest in the upside
potential of 24.71 million shares or 1.8 per cent outstanding shares of Anglo
American PLC. Volcan Investment holds 21 per cent stake in Anglo American PLC,
which is a globally diversified mining business that comprises of De Beers (the
largest diamond entity), copper, platinum and other precious metals, iron ore,
coal and nickel. "We remain committed at all times to act in the interest
of all shareholders and look forward to continued engagement with them,"
said Vedanta in its release.
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NTPC TO
CHALLENGE RS 2,000-CRORE ARBITRATION AWARD TO JINDAL ITF
State-owned power producer NTPC Ltd (National
Thermal Power Corporation Limited) said it would take up legally the
arbitration tribunal’s order against it to shell out over Rs 2,000-crore to
Jindal ITF in interest payments. Jindal ITF is a subsidiary of Jindal SAW. NTPC
would have to pay extra interest depending on time between the date of filing
of the arbitration and when they pay up, Jindal ITF lawyer Manoj K Singh said.
So this future interest component and other costs, such as the cost of
litigation, will come to around Rs 300 crore, which takes the total sum awarded
to somewhere around Rs 2,300 crore, Singh said. In 2011, NTPC had signed a
contract with Inland Water Authority of India (IWAI) and Jindal ITF for
transportation of coal to its 2,100-Mw power plant located at Farakka, West
Bengal through inland waterways. As a part of the contract, Jindal ITF was
mandated to move coal from the high seas to NTPC’s Farakka thermal power plant.
NTPC had also assured Jindal ITF that a minimum of 3 million metric tonnes
(MMT) of coal would be transported per year through the latter. The agreement
also mandated if NTPC didn't stick by the volume, it would pay Jindal ITF
transportation fee for 90 per cent of 3MMT of coal. During arbitration
proceedings, Jindal ITF claimed it has spent more than Rs 650 crore on the
purchase of a transhipper, 30 barges, and also invested in creating necessary
infrastructure such as conveyor belts. The project, however, ran into problems,
first with the Environment ministry approving the transport of only 1.5 MMT
and, later, the coal ministry's decision to stop the import of coal altogether.
While the environment ministry later gave its nod to the transport of 3 MMT of
coal, the government’s decision to stop the import of coal held up work on the
Farakka thermal power plant. The Centre had blocked the import of coal between
2014 and 2018, but resumed it in the later half of 2018 owing to the fossil
fuel's shortage in India.
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SUPREME
COURT SEEKS CBI RESPONSE ON AJAY KUMAR BASSI TRANSFER
The Supreme Court on Friday sought the CBI’s
response to a petition by DSP Ajay Kumar Bassi challenging his transfer back to
Port Blair within days of its revocation by then CBI director Alok Verma during
his two-day stint following reinstatement by the SC. Appearing for Bassi,
senior advocate Rajiv Dhavan said such flip-flop in transferring an officer,
who was actively involved in the investigation of a sensitive case, reflected
badly on the CBI’s independence. A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and
Justice Sanjiv Khanna sought the responses of CBI and its interim director M
Nageswara Rao in six weeks. Bassi was transferred to Port Blair on October 24
after the Centre divested Verma of his powers as CBI chief on October 23.
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SUSPECTED
JMB TERRORIST ARRESTED BY WB POLICE IN KERALA'S MALLAPURAM
A joint operation by the West Bengal Police
Special Task Force and the Kerala police led to the arrest of terror suspect
Abdul Matin from Kerala's Mallapuram on Friday. Hailing from Assam's Barpeta
district, Matin is one of the 15 trainees from the Simulia Madrasa and
Mokimnagar Madrasa in West Bengal's Bardhman district. He was trained along
with Nasirullah, a JMB terrorist, who is also an accused in the 2014 Khagragarh
blast in Bardhman.
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BHIMA
KOREGAON VIOLENCE CASE: ANAND TELTUMBDE RELEASED, PUNE COURT TERMS ARREST
ILLEGAL
Writer and academic Anand Teltumbde was
released by a Pune court after he was produced before it on Saturday afternoon.
The court termed his arrest by the Pune police in the early hours of Saturday
in Mumbai illegal and observed that the protection granted to him was for four
weeks, and that either the Bombay High Court or the Supreme Court would have
been the competent authority to take a call on his arrest following the
rejection of his anticipatory bail plea. Mr. Teltumbde was arrested near the
domestic terminal of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai as
soon as he landed from Kochi. He was first taken to the airport police station,
where a diary entry was made, and later to Pune.
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ELGAAR
PARISHAD CASE: SETBACK FOR PUNE POLICE AS COURT RULES ANAND TELTUMBDE’S ARREST
‘ILLEGAL’
A Pune court on Saturday ruled that the
arrest of Anand Teltumbde, a professor of Goa Institute of Management, by city
police earlier in the day was illegal. The court upheld the defence plea that
the arrest of Teltumbde from Mumbai airport was a violation of the Supreme
Court order of January 14 which had granted him protection from arrest for four
weeks. The professor has now been released. What has happened (arrest by Pune
Police) is highly embarrassing for a person of international stature like me. I
claim that there are very few people with a profile like me, Teltumbde said
after being released. Defence lawyer Rohan Nahar argued before the court that
the Pune police’s action was in contempt of the apex court order. The entire
action taken by Pune Police is illegal and contemptuous. A plain reading of the
order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court will denote that the protection offered to
the said accused (Teltumbde) is in force till February 11, the lawyer said in
his plea before the court. While investigating the alleged naxal involvement of
the name accused, Pune Police claimed to have stumbled upon evidence that
uncovered larger conspiracies and activities of banned group CPI-Maoist. Police
claim that the searches against the activists, and their later arrests, were
based on such evidence that allegedly showed these activists’ involvement in
the activities of CPI-Maoist.
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OVER
4,000 CITIES DECLARED OPEN DEFECATION FREE UNDER SWACHH BHARAT
Over 4,000 urban cities have been declared
open defecation free (ODF) under the Swachh Bharat Mission, an official at the
Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry said. Out of the total 4,378 urban cities,
4,140 have already been declared ODF in the country, he said. The official said
almost all the urban cities will become ODF by the next month under the Swachh
Bharat Mission, a flagship programme of the Narendra Modi government. Of the
actual targets of building 62,42,220 individual toilets, more than 93 per cent
have already been constructed. The ministry has also achieved the 100 per cent
target of building community and public toilets with the construction of five lakh
such toilets, the official said. Apart from this, door-to-door collection of
solid waste is in place in 72,503 municipal wards out of 84,229 wards, a target
of 86 per cent achieved.
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DELHI
METRO DECIDES TO TAKE OVER THE OPERATIONS OF GURGAON RAPID METRO
In an apparent rescue act, Delhi Metro has
decided to take over the operations of Gurgaon Rapid Metro, second such move
after doing so with Airport Express Metro in 2013. Gurgaon Rapid Metro is owned
by IL&FS Transportation Network Ltd (ITNL) — a subsidiary of the bankrupt
IL&FS group. According to the minutes of the meeting held between the state
government of Haryana and managing director of Delhi Metro, Mangu Singh, the
project will be taken over by DMRC for a period of five years. From the start
of the service on February 5, operations of Rapid Metro will be taken over by
DMRC. The services will be run according to the existing timetable and fare,
according to the minutes of the meeting.
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AUTOMATION
IMPACT: 76 PER CENT INDIAN EMPLOYERS PLAN TO INCREASE, MAINTAIN HEADCOUNT
Notwithstanding the increasing adoption of
automation, 76 per cent of employers in India plan to increase or maintain
their headcount while the global figure stands at 87 per cent, says a report.
According to a ManpowerGroup report, companies that are digitising are growing,
and that growth is producing more and new kinds of jobs. Organisations that are
already automating tasks and progressing their digital transformation are most
confident of increasing headcount, it said. As more and more robots are being
added to the workforce, we, as leaders, must ensure that humans are integrated
with machines, as this is the need of the hour, said Manmeet Singh, President –
Experis, ManpowerGroup India. Accordingly, upskilling is on the rise, 84 per
cent of companies plan to upskill their workforce by 2020, up from just 21 per
cent in 2011.
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ASHWINI
KUMAR CHOUBEY CHAIRS 6TH MEETING OF MISSION STEERING GROUP OF NHM
The Government is rapidly moving forward in providing
Comprehensive Primary Health Care through Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs). I
am happy to inform that about 8000 HWCs have become operational in 35 states /
UTs. Choubey said that NHM is vital to supporting the states in improving their
health systems. He further stated that Hon’ble Prime Minister’s announcement of
the heightened focus on the aspirational districts also provides us with
significant leverage point to address long persisting inequities and
development lag in these districts. This will be strengthened through NHM. The
MSG of the NHM discussed various agenda points including enhancement of reach,
outlay and facilities within components of the NHM, Prevention and Control of
Viral Hepatitis, Immunization, Comprehensive Primary Health Care,
Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) Newer Intervention under Revised National TB
Control Programme with respect to Patient’s Support and Private Sector Involvement,
capacity building of health workers, etc. Many suggestions were also made by
the non-official members of the MSG.
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GOOGLE
TALENT ADVANTAGE ERODES AS MORE WORKERS DOUBT CEO SUNDAR PICHAI’S VISION
Alphabet Inc.’s Google became the
most-profitable internet company by recruiting talented technologists and
inspiring them enough to keep them around. That advantage may be slipping as
some workers increasingly doubt the leadership and vision of Chief Executive
Officer Sundar Pichai, according to recent results from an employee survey. The
annual internal poll, known as Googlegeist, asked workers whether Pichai’s
vision of what the company can achieve inspires them. In response, 78 percent
indicated yes, down 10 percentage points from the previous year. Another
question asked if employees have confidence in Pichai and his management team
to effectively lead Google in the future. Positive responses represented 74
percent of the total, an 18 point decline from a year earlier. There were
similar declines for questions about Pichai’s decisions and strategies, his
commitment to diversity and inclusion, and the compensation the company pays,
according the results, which were viewed by Bloomberg News. Google shares the
results with all employees to make sure concerns are heard. This time, 89
percent of workers took the survey. While the survey findings are still mostly
positive, the declines are a worrying shift for Google, which prides itself on
high employee morale, luxurious working conditions and high pay. If these
things are beginning to erode, the company could lose talent to other
technology companies, undermining its ability to build new services that drive
its profitable advertising business.
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GOOGLE
EMPLOYEES' TRUST IN PICHAI'S LEADERSHIP DECLINES
Far less Google employees are now positive
than a year ago about the company's chief executive officer (CEO) Sundar Pichai
and his management team's ability to effectively lead in the future, a media
report said. In late 2018, about three in four (74 per cent) Google employees
said they were positive, as opposed to neutral or negative, about Pichai's
ability to effectively lead the company, down from 92 per cent positive the
year before, according to Google's latest annual survey on employee
satisfaction, the WIRED reported on Saturday. The results of the annual survey,
shared internally in January, showed that the employee confidence at Google is
at its lowest in as many as six years. The findings also revealed decline in
employees' satisfaction with their compensation with 54 per cent saying they
were satisfied, compared with 64 per cent a year ago.
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INDIA
ISSUES DEMARCHE TO US OVER DETAINED STUDENTS
India on Saturday said it had issued a
demarche to the American Embassy in New Delhi, expressing concern over the
detention of some Indian students in the US and seeking immediate consular
access to them. The foreign ministry in a statement said India continued to
closely monitor the situation arising out of the detention of Indian students
in connection with their enrollment in a fraudulent university in the US. One-hundred-thirty
foreign students were arrested by the US authorities for enrolling at a fake
university allegedly to remain in the US. News reports said many of them were
Indians. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents made the arrests on
Wednesday. Our concern over the dignity and well-being of the detained students
and the need for immediate consular access for Indian officials to the
detainees were reiterated, the foreign ministry said in a statement. In its
statement, the foreign ministry said it had underlined to the US Embassy that
students, who were duped into enrolling in the university should be treated
differently from those recruiters who duped them. We have urged the US side to
share full details and regular updates of students with the government, to
release them from detention at the earliest and not to resort to deportation
against their will, the statement said.
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CHINA TO
PROVIDE USD 2.5 BILLION LOAN TO PAKISTAN TO BOOST FOREIGN CASH RESERVES
China will provide USD 2.5 billion in loans
to Pakistan to boost the foreign exchange reserves of its all-weather ally, a
media report said Saturday. Pakistan is nearly broke with the drying up of
foreign cash reserves and mounting external debt. The country's USD 8.12
billion reserves, which are below the minimum level that the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) prescribe, are sufficient to cover
only seven weeks of imports. Due to this, the WB and the Asian Development Bank
are not providing loans for budget financing Beijing will place the USD 2.5
billion in deposits with the central bank, a top Finance Ministry official here
told. With the anticipated USD 2.5 billion deposits, China's contribution in
this fiscal year alone would surge to USD 4.5 billion, the paper said. Pakistan
has struggled to maintain reserves that are not currently sufficient to provide
cover to even two months of imports despite receiving USD 4 billion in loans
from two Middle-Eastern countries. Pakistan has secured USD 14.5 billion worth
of commitments from these three countries that have helped largely bridged the
external financing gap of the ongoing fiscal year.
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US
SUSPENDS NUCLEAR ARMS CONTROL TREATY WITH RUSSIA
The Trump administration said on Friday that
it was suspending one of the last major nuclear arms control treaties with
Russia, following five years of heated conversations over accusations by the
United States that Moscow is violating the Reagan-era agreement The decision
has the potential to incite a new arms race — not only with Russia but also
with China, which was never a signatory to the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear
Forces Treaty, widely known as the INF. It also comes as the United States has
begun building its first long-range nuclear weapons since 1991, a move that
other nations are citing to justify their own nuclear modernization efforts.
Taken together, the two moves appear to signal the end of more than a
half-century of traditional nuclear arms control, in which the key agreements
were negotiated in Washington and Moscow. It is unclear whether President
Donald Trump plans to replace the INF or to renew another major treaty called
New START, which drove American and Russian nuclear arsenals to their lowest
levels in nearly 60 years. That accord expires in 2021, just weeks after the
next presidential inauguration. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the
decision to suspend the accord, declaring that countries must be held
accountable when they break the rules. We can no longer be restricted by the
treaty while Russia shamelessly violates it, Pompeo said, adding that the
United States would terminate the accord in six months unless Russia destroyed
its growing arsenal of intermediate-range missiles and launchers.
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Thanks & Regards,
CS Meetesh Shiroya
Thanks & Regards,
CS Meetesh Shiroya
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