TO FILE ITRS, LINKING AADHAAR-PAN IS MANDATORY BY MARCH 31:
CBDT
The CBDT has stressed that
Aadhaar-PAN linking is mandatory for those filing an Income Tax Return (ITR)
and this procedure has to be completed by March 31 this year Constitutional
validity of Aadhaar has been upheld by the Supreme Court of India in September,
2018. Consequently, in terms of Section 139AA of Income Tax Act, 1961 and order
dated June 30, 2018 of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, Aadhaar-PAN linking
is mandatory now which has to be completed till March 31, 2019 by PAN holders
requiring filing of ITR, the CBDT said in an advisory Thursday. The Supreme
Court on February 6 had confirmed that linkage of PAN with Aadhaar is mandatory
for filing of ITRs. This reiteration of the September order of the apex court came
on an appeal filed by the Centre against a Delhi High Court order allowing two
persons, to file their ITRs for 2018-19 without linking their Aadhaar and PAN
numbers. A bench comprising Justices A K Sikri and S Abdul Nazeer said the top
court has already decided the matter and upheld the section 139AA of the Income
Tax Act. Chandra said that once Aadhaar is linked with PAN and PAN is linked
with bank account, the I-T department can find out spending pattern and other
details of the assessee. Also since many agencies are linked with Aadhaar, it
would be easier to gauge whether the benefits of welfare schemes are availed by
eligible persons, he said.
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CBIC FORMS NEW STRATEGY TO REVIVE GST COLLECTIONS
In a bid to improve Goods
and Services Tax (GST) collections, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and
Customs (CBIC) has reworked its strategy to meet the monthly collection target.
Sources privy to the developments told that CBIC, as part of its latest
strategy, using a series of measures including smart data analytics has
identified entities, which were either not paying GST or were just delaying
their returns. For the first time, last month, when the collections were being
received for December, a special exercise was undertaken after which CBIC had identified
30,000 entities who were not filing their returns thus ringing serious alarm
bells, said people familiar with the matter. Centre then prepared a detailed
database of these 30,000 and shared with field formations reaching out to them
to make sure they make timely payments and settle the pending returns, sources
added. Involved in this exercise is a special team housed in CBIC, which shall
be repeating this every month, sources said. This yielded close to over Rs
6,000 crore of GST dues, which were collected in the last three days of January
helping the government cross the Rs 1 lakh crore mark, said people familiar
with the matter.
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FLOW OF CREDIT, CAUTION LISTING, GST REFUNDS A CONCERN FOR
EXPORTS: INDUSTRY TELLS GOVT
Industry on Friday raised
concerns on the flow of credit to export sector, exports to countries under US
sanctions like Iran, caution listing by the Reserve Bank of India, delay in
uploading of eBRC by banks and the US' likely withdrawal of benefits to Indian
exports, at the Board of Trade meeting chaired by commerce and industry
minister Suresh Prabhu. Delayed input tax credit refund, denial of GST on
availing higher duty drawback, higher price of steel in domestic market, retrospective
effect of pre import conditions and availability of incentives for exports to
neighbouring countries were the other issues impacting exports they
highlighted. The issues raised by the trade were addressed by the senior
officials and will be taken up in the forthcoming meeting of Committee of
Exports and GST council, commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.
Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President Ganesh Kumar Gupta
said global trade has entered a tough phase in the second half of 2018 and is
expected to slow further in 2019. He suggested the government to introduce a
scheme for promoting branded exports, enhancing budget for organising trade
fairs and improving infrastructure. EEPC, the apex body of engineering
exporters has suggested the government to put in place a mechanism wherein at
MSMEs can get steel at international prices. Industry body CII also emphasised
that it is critical to address issues related to trade financing, incentives
and logistics, to help exporters become globally competitive.
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NOT ENOUGH CREDIT, LATE GST REFUNDS A CONCERN FOR EXPORTERS:
INDUSTRY TELLS GOVT
The persistent decline in
bank lending for exporters, delay in refund of input tax credit and the fear of
a withdrawal of duty-free export benefits by the US under the so-called GSP
regime dominated the discussion at a meeting of the Board of Trade on Friday. Concerns
about exports to Iran and the payment mechanism for the Islamic republic
following the US sanctions, and incentives for shipments to neighbouring
nations, too, were deliberated upon in the meeting chaired by commerce and
industry minister Suresh Prabhu. In a statement, the ministry said the issues
were addressed by senior officials and will be taken up in the upcoming meeting
of the Committee of Exports and the GST Council. The Federation of Indian
Export Organisations (Fieo) president Ganesh Kumar Gupta said although the
recently-announced interest equalisation benefit has helped MSME manufacturers
and merchant exporters of specified products, the bigger concern is the flow of
credit. The recent data by RBI show a credit decline of over 50% which is bound
affect the flow of exports adversely. The liquidity is further tightened by the
GST regime (which provides for a refund mechanism), as the proposed e-wallet
scheme is nowhere in sight, Gupta said.
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CENTRE GARNERS RS 12,000 CRORE GST FROM WEST BENGAL TILL
DECEMBER
The Centre has raked in
some Rs 12,000 crore from West Bengal during the current fiscal till December
as its share from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from the state and expects
to exceed the target of Rs 18,000 crore by March 2019, a revenue official said
on Friday. The CGST share target for the FY19 was Rs 18,000 crore and till
December we have already collected Rs 12,000 crore. We hope the target may get
exceeded by March, assistant commissioner of CGST, Pandiyaraj GV said on the
sidelines of The Bengal Chamber organised a seminar on contentious issues
related to GST. He said the filing of refund which is still semi-online would
get streamlined soon. TB Chatterjee said GST is a great step but was introduced
without training of officials. The GST officials at the local office level, be
it from the state or the Centre are incompetent to guide the traders causing
disruptions despite being a good tax system, he said. So far, in the 10 months
(April-January) of the current fiscal, total GST collections by the Centre and
states stood at over Rs 9.71 lakh crore. For the full fiscal 2018-19, the GST
collection target of the Centre and states was Rs 13.48 lakh crore.
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DGGI DETECTS GST EVASION OF RS 100 CR IN NAGPUR ZONE
Although, Government had
claimed that there would be no tax evasion under the new regime of Goods and
Services Tax (GST) still those who are habitual tax evaders did not comply with
any rules In a major exercise, the newly formed Nagpur Zonal Unit of
Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DGGI) has detected
payable taxable GST revenue evaded to the tune of Rs 100 crore in a span of two
months. The exercise commenced in the month of December 2018. The investigation
was undertaken under section 132 of GST Act in various sectors like iron and
steel, chemical manufacturing, commercial coaching classes, construction and
infrastructure and pharmaceutical manufacturing. Those who came under the
scanner of the DGGI include M/s 3A Chemie, Nagpur which manufactures
pharmaceutical, M/s Supreme Infra Products, Butibori is doing business of
construction and infrastructure, Anandi Institute of Career Development, Akola
which runs commercial coaching classes, M/s Shanti Metalfab Pvt Ltd, Nagpur
manufacturing Iron and steel, M/s SBL Energy Limited, Nagpur, a chemical
manufacturing factory, Rajkamal Luckychand Jewellers, Nashik and Videocon
Industries, Aurangabad. Of these companies, Videocon Industries evaded GST
worth Rs 25 crore. The total taxable value of detection made are approximately
Rs 400 crore to Rs 500 crore.
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EXPORTS GROW 3.74% TO $26.36 BN IN JAN; TRADE DEFICIT NARROWS
TO $14.73 BN
The country's exports grew
3.74 per cent to $26.36 billion in January on account of growth in sectors such
as gems & jewellery, pharmaceuticals and chemicals, according to data from
the commerce ministry. Imports almost remained flat at $41 billion during the
last month, narrowing the trade deficit to $14.73 billion. The trade deficit
stood at $15.67 billion in January 2018. Gold imports also grew 38.16 per cent
to $2.31 billion in January this year as against $1.67 billion in the
corresponding month of 2018. During the April-January period of the current
financial year, exports grew 9.52 per cent to $271.8 billion. Imports rose by
11.27 per cent to $427.73 billion. The trade deficit widened to $155.93 billion
during the 10 months of the current fiscal from $136.25 billion in
April-January 2017-18. Oil imports in January rose by 3.59 per cent to $11.24
billion.
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SURESH PRABHU CHAIRS BOARD OF TRADE MEETING
Commerce & Industry
Minister launched a new online Anytime-Anywhere export awareness course to
train, mentor and hand-hold potential exporters so as to help them to tap
international trade opportunities. This Online Course has been funded under the
‘Niryat Bandhu’ scheme of DGFT and is in collaboration with the Indian
Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi. On successful completion, a Certificate
in Export Import Management under NiryatBandhu Scheme will be awarded to
participants. In another e-initiative, Commerce Minister also launched a Mobile
App of DGFT Exporters can now log their grievances, apply for various licenses,
view their status using this app, besides accessing information about latest
trade notices, circulars, Foreign Trade Policy and trade fairs. Anup Wadhawan
mentioned that India’s exports have faced a very challenging period in recent
years, on account of developments arising from the global financial crisis of
2008-09, which accentuated after 2013-14, when the world economy, including
China experienced a major trade slowdown. Thus, after achieving a turnaround
from the initial shock and reaching a peak export figure of US$ 314.4 billion
in 2013-14, our exports came under immense pressure again in the post 2013-14
period due to accentuation of the global economic / financial crisis in the
second phase when countries like China also got adversely affected. However,
since then concerted efforts through improved logistics, trade facilitation,
increased digitization to reduce human interface and increase transparency,
implementation of GST, capacity building through skilling etc., the government
has been able to arrest the downturn affecting India. As a result, barring a
few stray months, our merchandise exports have been growing on a secular basis
since 2016-17 for almost three years and are likely to reach a new peak in
2018-19. He highlighted the detailed export promotion strategy, which has been
prepared by Department of Commerce and is under implementation in consultation
with and with the support of wide-ranging stakeholders, including Export
Promotion Councils, exporters and financial institutions. Few notable measures
taken since last BoT meetings are as follows:
· Interest Equalization
rate increased from 3% to 5% w.e.f. 2nd November, 2018 for exports being made
by MSME sector.
· From 2nd January 2019,
merchant exporters have been included under the Interest Equalisation Scheme @
3% subvention.
· In January, 2019,
Pre-Import condition on advance authorization licenses to avail exemption of
IGST was removed and exemption of Integrated Tax and Compensation Cess extended
to deemed supplies
· Exemption granted on 3%
IGST on gold sourced by exporters from nominated agency w.e.f.1.1.2019 to help
Gems and Jewellery sector by freeing blocked capital.
· Freight subsidyfor
exports of agriculturalandmarineproducts
· In the Mid-Term Review,
MEIS rates increased by 2% for MSMEs / labour intensive industries involving an
additional outlay of Rs.7310 crore per annum.
· SEIS (Service Export
from India Scheme) incentive rate was increased by 2% for all notified services
amounting to Rs. 1140 crore of additional reward per annum.
· MEIS allocation enhanced
from 21000 crore in 2014-15 to 39000 crore in 2018-19.
· GST exemption was
restored in October 2017 under the Advance Authorization Scheme, Export
Promotion Capital Goods Scheme and 100% Export Oriented Unit for sourcing
inputs from abroad without payment of IGST
· GST refunds were expedited
through several rounds of Refund Fortnight.
· The validity period of
the Duty Credit Scrips was increased from 18 months to 24 months to enhance
their utility in the GST framework.
o The upper limit of FOB
value of goods for exports through courier or foreign post office for obtaining
benefits enhanced from Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 5,00,000 in July 2018
o The restriction that
benefits would be granted to e-commerce exports only from 3 airports has been
removed in July 2018.
o Exports of Religious
Gold idols of 22k and above allowed by modifying restriction on export of gold
articles of more than 22 carats.
o Exports of Gold findings
of 3k and above allowed.
o Engaging states for
promotion of India’s trade: Through coordination with States, State Export
Promotion Committees and State specific Export Promotion Strategies are in
place.
o Additional Towns of
Export Excellence: Bhadohi (UP) and Panipat (Haryana) announced for carpets and
related products.
· Exports of all
agricultural commodities (except mustard oil) made free without any
restrictions. Earlier, export of pulses and edible oils were prohibited.
· Export incentives under
MEIS increased in respect of certain agricultural items:
o Non Basmati: 5% for four
months in Nov 2018
o Milk products: 10%
increased to 20% in September 2018
o Onions: 5% for six
months in July 2018; enhanced on 28.12.2018 to 10% for exports up to 30th June
2019
o De-oiled soya cake: 7%
enhanced in July 2018 to 10%
o New Agricultural Export
Policy issued and initial outreach with States done.
He emphasised that
Government is committed to end to end IT enablement and make all processes
completely paperless. In this regard, Department of Commerce has approved a
project for the revamp of entire IT system of DGFT. He stated that however, in
the meanwhile, DGFT has taken many measures to bring ease of doing business
with DGFT like:
· Samedayissueof IEC
(Importer Exporter Code) online.
· Auto approval of MEIS
scripts within 24 hours
· Contact@DGFT grievance
redressal service for Exporters/Importers
· Redemption of Export
Obligation of Exporters expedited through a drive. Consequently, over 13000
Advance Authorisation and 9500 EPCG cases have been redeemed.
· Revamp of DGFT’s IT
System initiated to make all DGFT processes paperless and provide end-to-end IT
enablement for all services.
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ABOLISH PROFESSIONAL TAX, REVIVE MSMES: GUJARAT CHAMBER OF
COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Abolish professional tax,
bring schemes to revive small industries, amend the scheme to make food
processing sector to make it more industry friendly and give State GST
officials more authority to grant refunds are amongst a host of suggestions
local industries have given to the state government ahead of the upcoming state
budget. Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) suggested that Gujarat
is among rare states who has persisted with professional tax, which adversely
affects competitiveness of local players. Revenue collected as a part of
professional tax is just Rs337 crore and it is estimated that 40 per of it or
Rs135 crore is collected from traders. However, the hassles caused to traders
is disproportionate to the revenue collected, said the memorandum. The state
budget is to be presented on February 19. GCCI has also suggested measures to
revive and rehabilitate Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and
complained that measures undertaken by banks to revive MSMEs are inadequate and
only a handful of MSMEs can be revived this way. The government should
intervene to expedite revival of small businesses. It should also allocate
Rs1,000 crore in the budget for the measure, said the memorandum. MSMEs are
backbone of the economy. Often they have orders, but cannot fulfil them for the
want of finance. In such cases, the government should ensure that finance is
provided to these entrepreneurs even if they have exhausted all their
collateral. It is very necessary that MSMEs get timely and adequate finance,
said Jaimin Vasa, president of GCCI. It also said that close to 400 companies in
food processing sector had applied for subsidies in a scheme by central
government, which was later on subsumed in the state government scheme.
However, those who had applied in central government scheme are not being given
subsidy by the state government. Such lapses affect the sentiments of the
companies, the memorandum said. Late disbursal of refunds under GST is also a major
bottleneck for the industries and officials of SGST should be given autonomy to
grant refunds, demanded GCCI.
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COMMERCE MINISTRY TO NOTIFY WTO REGARDING REVOKING MFN STATUS
TO PAKISTAN
The commerce ministry
would soon notify to the World Trade Organization (WTO) its decision to revoke
the most-favoured nation (MFN) status to Pakistan on security grounds, an
official said Friday. The decision would enable India to increase custom duties
on goods imported from Pakistan. India imported goods worth USD 488.5 million
in 2017-18. The ministry would work on a list of goods imported from Pakistan
over which India would increase the customs duties.
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PRAMOD CHANDRA MODY TAKES OVER AS NEW CBDT CHAIRMAN
IRS officer Pramod Chandra
Mody on Friday took over as the new chairman of the Central Board of Direct
Taxes (CBDT), the policy making body of the Income Tax Department. Mody, a
1982-batch Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax cadre) officer, has been
appointed in place of Sushil Chandra, who was on Thursday named as Election
Commissioner ahead of the Lok Sabha polls due this summer. The officer, who has
worked in various capacities in the I-T Department, has been working as the
Member (Administration) in the CBDT. He will be in office till June this year.
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ED TO ASK BANK OF MAHARASHTRA FOR DETAILS ON DSK GROUP
TRANSACTIONS
The Enforcement
Directorate (ED), probing an alleged Rs 3,000-crore money laundering case
concerning Punebased business conglomerate DSK group, will soon be writing to
the Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) seeking details on certain suspicious
transactions that are linked to the case, a source in the know told. The ED,
meanwhile, has attached assets worth Rs 904 crore of DSK group in the form of
land, buildings, flats, LIC policies and cash deposits. According to sources,
the accused — couple Deepak and Hemanti Kulkarni and their son Shirish — have
accounts with BoM in which most of the alleged laundered money is said to have
been transferred and subsequently siphoned off. Over 470 system generated
alerts were issued by the bank, but no suspicious transaction report (STR) was
generated, they said. The federal anti-money laundering agency has also found
instances of circular entries. The accused and the firms held accounts with the
bank. The probe has revealed that while the alerts were generated, STR was
never made. We want to know from the bank if there were any lapses on their
part. If necessary, the officials concerned will be questioned, said an
official. The probe has nowhere shown their involvement as far as laundering of
the funds are concerned, but there are certain issues on which clarity is
needed, he said. The complaint stated that the accused committed fraud to the
tune of Rs 2,043.18 crore, which included Rs 1,083.7 crore taken as deposits
and loans from depositors, Rs 711.36 crore worth of loans taken from banks and
financial institutions, Rs 111.35 crore of debentures and Rs 136.77 crore of
misappropriations in a land deal at Fursungi. According to sources, the ED
probe has established that the accused floated eight partnership firms and
DSKDL, a public limited company of the DSK group. Under the pretext of
different deposits schemes claiming to be linked to the public limited firm,
the accused however issued receipts of the eight partnership firms. While the
accused raised Rs 3,000 crore through fake deposit schemes and loans they
managed to return a bulk of it, however Rs 1,129 crore is the outstanding
amount as on date. Between 2006 and 2017, the accused transferred over Rs 2,000
crore to DSKDL through eight partnership firms in lieu of advance against
properties, which was never purchased. Fake MoUs were signed between the
parties but no funds were ever transferred or any sale deed executed. These
were created only to camouflage the sham transactions, said an official aware
of the matter.
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VIJAY MALLYA APPEALS AT UK HIGH COURT AGAINST EXTRADITION
Embattled tycoon Vijay
Mallya has lodged his appeal in the UK high court against the home secretary
and decision of the Westminster Magistrate’s Court to extradite him to India to
face charges of fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to defraud. On Thursday,
a spokeswoman for the administrative court of the high court told: Vjay Mallya
has lodged his application for leave to appeal. Mallya told: There is nothing
to comment about. I stated my intention to appeal earlier. When asked how long
it might take for a decision, he said: I don’t know the details. My lawyer is
travelling. The spokeswoman in the Administrative Court told: A decision could
take anywhere from two weeks to two months. The court lawyers will now look at
it. In some cases the judge decides on paper and in some cases, it will go
straight to oral hearing. Toby Cadman, a London extradition barrister, told:
The appeal will be against both decisions but he can appeal against the judge’s
decision before the home secretary decision. Cadman, who is representing the
government of India in the Arti Dhir extradition case, added: Whether to grant
permission for appeal will be decided on papers first. If refused the defence
can ask for an oral hearing. The deciding on papers can be a couple of weeks. Just
hours before lodging his appeal, Mallya fired off a series of tweets
reiterating that he has offered to pay back the money he owes the banks in the
Karnataka High Court. He also tweeted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his
last address to the Lok Sabha session before the 2019 elections, had referred
to an unnamed person who ran away with 9000 crores. Given the media narrative I
can only infer that reference is to me, he tweeted. I respectfully ask why the
Prime Minister is not instructing his banks to take the money I have put on the
table so he can at least claim credit for full recovery of public funds lent to
Kingfisher. This cannot be dismissed as frivolous. It is a perfectly tangible,
sincere, honest and readily achievable offer. The shoe is on the other foot
now. Why don’t the banks take the money lent to KFA? In another tweet, he
wrote: I am appalled at the media reports on the Enforcement Directorate claims
that I hid my wealth! If there was hidden wealth how could I put approximately
14,000 crores worth of assets openly in front of Court? Shameful misleading of
public opinion but unsurprising. Mallya had 14 days from February 4, so until
18 February, to seek leave to appeal. But he chose to do it on Valentine’s Day.
The same day he tweeted a photo of a ‘King Star’ bar of chocolate from Ooty
saying Bless my friends who brought me my favourite chocolate from my favourite
town where I grew up. When asked him why he liked that bar he said: Great
flavours with different nuts and raisins etc.
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BIKANER LAND SCANDAL: ED ATTACHES ASSETS WORTH RS 4.62 CRORES
OF ROBERT VADRA’S COMPANY AND OTHERS
The Enforcement
Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth Rs 4.62 crores of M/s Skylight
Hospitality, a company linked to Robert Vadra. Assets of others allegedly
involved in the Bikaner, Rajasthan land scam have also been attached. The
Rajasthan Police had registered 18 FIRs on charges of cheating, forgery and
criminal conspiracy and filed charge sheets in all the cases against accused
accused Jai Prakash Bagrwa and ten others in August 2015 and March 2017. The
agency claims that its investigation has revealed that the Central Government
had acquired land of as many as 34 villages in Bikaner District for the purpose
of establishment of Mahajan Field Firing Range (MFFR). State Government
proposed for rehabilitation of the displaced people by providing land
equivalent to their acquired land. Accused Jai Prakash Bagrwa and others
allegedly in cahoots with the State Government Officials got 1422 Bigha
Government land illegally allotted to fictitious persons in guise of scheme of
State Government meant for people displaced due to establishment of MFFR and
illegally sold 1372 bigha out of this land to various persons/companies. On
detection of fraud, the said land was recorded back as government land in state
revenue records. ED alleges that in furtherance of sale/ purchase, the said
lands were further sold by subsequent purchasers to individuals and companies
and all these subsequent sellers of the disputed land generated a considerable
amount of profit. These fraudulently generated profit by these entities is
nothing but proceeds of crime as defined under PMLA. As per ED, Robert Vadra’s
company M/s Sky Light Hospitality (P) Ltd had purchased 275 Bigha (69.55
Hectare) fraudulent land for Rs 72 Lakhs and sold the same for Rs 5.15 Crores
to M/s Allegeny Finlease (P) Ltd and illegally generated profit of Rs 4.43
Crores. Besides Vadra, four other individuals had also generated profit of Rs
18.59 Lakhs in sale of land fraudulently, the ED alleges.
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INDIA TO BE WORLD'S LARGEST ENERGY GROWTH MARKET BY MID-2020S:
REPORT
India will by mid-2020s
surpass China as the world's largest energy growth market accounting for over a
quarter of incremental global demand, UK supermajor BP said in its annual
energy outlook. The 2019 edition explores the key uncertainties that could
impact the shape of global energy markets out to 2040. The greatest
uncertainties over this period involve the need for more energy to support
continued global economic growth and rising prosperity, together with the need
for a more rapid transition to a lower-carbon future. These scenarios highlight
the dual challenge that the world is facing, it said. Global energy demand is
expected to increase by around a third by 2040, driven by improvements in
living standards, particularly in India, China and across Asia. This will be
met mostly by natural gas, which is expected to overtake coal as the second
largest source of energy by the mid-2020s and converging on oil by 2040, the
report said. Renewables are also expected to continue their upward trajectory
as their share in the energy mix is expected to increase from 4 per cent today
to 15 per cent by 2040. All of the growth in energy demand comes from
fast-growing developing economies, led by India and China, the outlook said. Developing
economies account for over 80 per cent of the expansion in world output, with
China and India accounting for around half of that growth. India's energy
consumption will rise by 156 per cent to 1,928 million tonnes of oil equivalent
by 2040 from 754 million tonnes of oil equivalent in 2017. This at an annual
growth of 4.2 per cent. Much of the increase in global energy demand is
concentrated in developing Asia (India, China, and Other Asia), where rising
prosperity and improving living standards support increasing energy consumption
per head. China's transition to a more sustainable pattern of economic growth
means that by the mid-2020s, India surpasses China as the world's largest growth
market, accounting for over a quarter of the growth in global energy demand
over the Outlook. Even so, China remains the largest market for energy: roughly
double the size of India in 2040, it said. India is the largest growth market
for coal, with its share of global coal consumption more than doubling to
around a quarter in 2040, the BP energy outlook said, adding the majority of
the increase is used to meet robust growth in power demand.
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PULWAMA ATTACK: RAHUL GANDHI SAYS ENTIRE OPPOSITION STANDS
WITH SECURITY FORCES, GOVT IN TIME OF MOURNING
A day after the Pulwama
attack, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday said his party and the entire
opposition is fully supportive of the government and the security forces. No
amount of hatred and anger can harm the love India is built on, Rahul Gandhi
said. This is a terrible attack, this type of violence is disgusting. Terrorism
tries to divide the nation, we can't be divided by any power. The entire
opposition is with security forces and the government, Rahul Gandhi said. Those
who have done this should not feel that they can harm the country. It is a time
of mourning and sadness, he added.
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INDIA WILL NEVER COMPROMISE WITH TERRORIST FORCES: MANMOHAN
SINGH
India will never
compromise with terrorist forces and will deal with the menace unitedly, former
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday, condemning the Pulwama terror
strike. The priority is to convey to families of those who have been killed and
those seriously injured that we are with them in condemning this act of
terrorism, Singh said Rahul Gandhi. We shall never compromise with terrorist
forces. Whatever the country requires, we will work together as one united
nation to deal with this menace of terrorism, he said. Singh said terrorism is
a scourge and was something with which India can never compromise. Congress
president said, today is not a day to raise contentious issues. Our role today
is to convey to our soldiers, their families, our heartfelt condolences. We
will do all that is necessary to keep this country united in support of
anti-terrorist measures, he said.
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PAKISTAN CANNOT WEAKEN INDIA, FORCES WILL GET FREE HAND TO
DEAL WITH TERRORISTS: MODI
Pakistan cannot weaken
India by orchestrating attacks and those responsible will pay a very heavy
price, Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned on Friday as echoes from the Pulwama
terror strike rang across the country with families awaiting the bodies of
their loved ones in coffins wrapped in the tricolour. Security forces will be
given a free hand to deal with terrorists the Prime Minister said. I want to
tell the terror outfits and those aiding and abetting them that they have made
a big mistake. They will have to pay a very heavy price for their actions. Let
me assure the nation that those behind this attack, the perpetrators of this
attack will be punished, Modi said. All efforts would be made to isolate
Pakistan, finance minister Arun Jaitley said.
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IT'S ATTACK ON INDIA, ENTIRE NATION SHOULD UNITEDLY STAND
BEHIND GOVT: ADVANI ON PULWAMA ATTACK
LK Advani Friday described
the terrorist attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir' Pulwama as an attack
on India and said the entire country should unitedly stand in firm support of
the government. Advani said his heart goes out to the families of the bereaved
jawans and prays for the recovery of all those injured in this attack.
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CHINA AGAIN REFUSES TO BACK INDIA'S BID TO LIST JEM CHIEF
MASOOD AZHAR AS GLOBAL TERRORIST BY UN
China on Friday expressed
deep shock over the Pulwama terror attack carried out by a Jaish suicide bomber
but did not give an assurance to India that it will back New Delhi's appeal to
list the UN-proscribed Pakistan-based terror group's chief Masood Azhar as a
global terrorist China has noted the reports of suicide terrorist attack. We
are deeply shocked by this attack. We express deep condolences and sympathy to
the injured and bereaved families, spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry
Geng Shuang told a media briefing. We firmly oppose and strongly condemn all
forms of terrorism. We hope relevant regional countries will cooperate to cope
with the threat of terrorism and jointly uphold regional peace and stability,
Geng said. When asked about China's stand on the listing of Azhar as a global
terrorist by the UN Security Council, he said: As for the issue of listing, I
could tell you that the 1267 Committee of Security Council has a clear
stipulation on the listing and procedure of the terrorist organisations. JeM
has been included in the Security Council terrorism sanctions list. China will
continue to handle the relevant sanctions issue in a constructive and
responsible manner, Geng said.
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KAROL BAGH HOTEL FIRE: DELHI GOVT CANCELS NOC OF 30 HOTELS FOR
VIOLATING FIRE SAFETY NORMS
In the aftermath of a
massive fire at a Karol Bagh hotel killing 17 people, the Delhi government has cancelled
fire safety licences of 30 establishments in the area in the last two days for
various violations. Satyendar Jain said that the fire department will intensify
its drive against errant hotels across the city to prevent recurrence of Karol
Bagh-like incident in the future. Jain told that in the last two days, 45
hotels were inspected by department officials in Karol Bagh and of these.
Thirty were found to be violating rules and their fire safety certificates were
cancelled.
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TRUMP DECLARES NATIONAL EMERGENCY; MOVE TO FREE UP FUNDS TO
BUILD WALL
Battling with one branch
of government and opening a new confrontation with another, President Donald Trump
announced Friday he was declaring a national emergency to fulfill his pledge to
construct a wall along the US-Mexico border. Bypassing Congress, which approved
far less money for his proposed wall than he had sought, Trump said he would use
executive action to siphon billions of dollars from federal military
construction and counterdrug efforts for the wall, aides said. The move is
already drawing bipartisan criticism on Capitol Hill and expected to face
rounds of legal challenges. Trump made the announcement from the Rose Garden,
as he claimed illegal immigration was an invasion of our country. Trump's move
followed a rare show of bipartisanship when lawmakers voted Thursday to fund
large swaths of the government and avoid a repeat of this winter's debilitating
five-week government shutdown. The money in the bill for border barriers, about
$1.4 billion, is far below the $5.7 billion Trump insisted he needed and would
finance just a quarter of the more than 322 kilometres he wanted this year. To
bridge the gap, Trump announced that he will be spending roughly $8 billion on
border barriers — combining the money approved by Congress with funding he
plans to repurpose through executive actions, including the national emergency.
The money is expected to come from funds targeted for military construction and
counterdrug efforts, but aides could not immediately specify which military
projects would be affected. Despite widespread opposition in Congress to
proclaiming an emergency, including by some Republicans, Trump was responding
to pressure to act unilaterally to soothe his conservative base and avoid
appearing like he's lost his wall battle. Word that Trump would declare the
emergency prompted condemnations from Democrats and threats of lawsuits from states
and others who might lose federal money or said Trump was abusing his
authority.
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EGYPT PASSES PRESIDENTIAL TERM BILL, SISI LIKELY TO BE IN
POWER UNTIL 2034
Egyptian lawmakers on
Thursday (local time) overwhelmingly voted to pass a series of controversial
constitutional amendments including an extension to presidential terms which
could see President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi staying in power until 2034. The approval
received in the Egyptian Parliament will then head for a national referendum.
Under the proposal, the presidential terms will be extended from the current
four years to six years and give more powers to the country's military. Some
485 members of the 596-seat assembly approved the changes in a Thursday
session, more than the two-thirds quota required to pass any changes to the
country's national charter, according to Al Ahram Online. Sisi's second
four-year term is due to end in 2022. Following this, the term would be extended
to six years and the proposal would allow the Egyptian President to run for two
more terms. However, any person after Abdel Fattah el-Sisi will be only allowed
to run for two presidential terms, as per Al Ahram.
#For Source of Information copy and paste the heading in google.
Thanks & Regards,
CS Meetesh Shiroya
Thanks & Regards,
CS Meetesh Shiroya
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