The panel of Parliament examining the Direct Taxes Code (DTC) Bill has almost finalised its recommendations. It wants more taxpayer-friendly measures.
A senior Bangladesh lawmaker has pointed a finger at former premier Begum Khaleda Zia, claiming that she played a role in a failed coup to overthrow Sheikh Hasina's government with the help of retired and serving army officials.
Team Anna on Tuesday expressed disappointment over the exclusion of lower bureaucracy and the Criminal Bureau of Investigation's probe wing from under the Lokpal's purview in the draft report of Parliamentary Standing Committee, but opposed bringing private NGOs and the media under its ambit. Reacting to the panel's draft report, activist Arvind Kejriwal sought to remind the government of the Parliamentary resolution that led to Anna Hazare ending his fast on August 28.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee going into the Lokpal Bill has recommended keeping the judiciary and the MPs' conduct in the House out of its purview and rejected the demand for hiving off the anti-corruption wing of the Central Bureau of Investigation to come under its jurisdiction.
This means taxpayers might continue to enjoy exemption on maturity of their investments
Sources close to Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi allege that the sex CD is part of a political conspiracy to tarnish him and ensure that he is not a candidate for ministership in the reshuffle. Renu Mittal reports
Consensus on the inclusion of the prime minister under the ambit of Lokpal eluded a Parliamentary panel scrutinising the bill even as it prepares to circulate a draft report of the recommendations to the members in the next few days.
Team Anna on Tuesday met senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj to lobby for the party's support for inclusion of lower bureaucracy, judiciary and Central Bureau of Intelligence under the purview of proposed Lokpal.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour has also suggested that branches and centres of employment exchanges be opened in every district post office where pass-outs can register themselves easily.
In an extraordinary step, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence on Monday decided to call the three service chiefs to give an account of the state of preparedness of the forces against the backdrop of Army Chief Gen V K Singh speaking of shortages and deficiencies.
Congress member of Parliament from Bareilly Praveen Singh Aron has submitted Anna Hazare's Jan Lokpal Bill for consideration before Parliament's Standing Committee which is examining the government's version of the legislation.
Pakistan's former fast bowler, Shoaib Akhtar has cautioned against inviting any foreign teams to Pakistan in the prevailing security situation in the country. Speaking two days after the terrorist attack on the police training centre in Quetta in which 62 police cadets and two armymen were killed and around 170 injured, Akhtar said that the security situation in the country was not good. "Until there is a complete normalcy as far as security situation is concerned we shouldn't take the risk of inviting any foreign team to Pakistan," he said on Geo News channel.
Pakistan has said disputes, which are holding back regional cooperation must be resolved and the South Asian Association For Regional Cooperation should help create amity, understanding and cooperation on the basis of "enlightened self-interest of the peoples" of South Asia.
Team Anna met the members of the Standing Committee of Parliament headed by Abhishek Singvi on Friday to discuss the Jan Lokpal Bill and pressed for as many as 34 fresh additions to the proposed Lokpal Bill that have already been incorporated in the Uttarakhand Lokayukata Bill. They renewed their demand that constitutional amendments bringing violation of citizens' charter and conduct of legislators in Parliament within the purview of the Lokpal also be introduced.
A Parliamentary Standing Committee has pulled up the government for mere lip service to the recommendations of the Justice Rajinder Sachar Committee it had itself constituted in 2005 to study the status of Muslims in India.
A Central Pollution Control Board official said the AQI entered the "severe plus" or "emergency" category late on Thursday night, the first time since January this year.
Activist Aruna Roy on Thursday night questioned political parties for raising objections to the provision of setting up of Lokayuktas in the Lokpal Bill, saying they did not oppose such a move earlier.
Gandhi said the BJP had actually committed itself to supporting Constitutional status to Lokpal in the Standing Committee deliberations.
But, govt plans to bring some provisions that can't wait.
Ahead of his day-long fast for a strong Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare launched a vitriolic attack on the government, charging that it was "intoxicated" by power and said the "second fight for independence" has started which will go on till corruption is eradicated.
A Parliamentary committee scrutinising the Direct Taxes Code (DTC) Bill will recommend raising of the annual income tax exemption limit to Rs 3 lakh.
Activist Anna Hazare on Saturday blamed Rahul Gandhi for encouraging Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, chairman of the Standing Committee of Law and Justice, Public Grievances and Personnel, for overlooking the letter written by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Crucial financial sector reforms are again stuck, despite Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's appealing to political parties to help pass the legislations in this regard.
Abhishek Manu Singvi, chairman of 30-member Standing Committee of Parliament, on Wednesday adopted the Lokpal draft for consideration and approval by the union cabinet before it is tabled in both houses in the form of an anti-corruption bill.
Rejecting the recommendations of the parliamentary panel on Lokpal Bill, Team Anna on Wednesday claimed that they will not have any impact on corruption and will instead dismantle the existing anti-graft mechanism.
The Bharatiya Janata Party will on Thursday submit a note of dissent on the draft Lokpal bill to Abhishek Singhvi, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee going into the Lokpal Bill.
Confusion prevailed over Anna Hazare's protest plans on Monday with a prominent Municipal Corporation of Delhi functionary saying that the civic body has not given permission for the agitation at Ramlila Maidan even as Team Anna insisted that they have got the nod.
Suggests far more generous provisions than proposed in Direct Taxes Code
Suggests far more generous provisions than proposed in Direct Taxes Code
The Central Vigilance Commission will suggest to the Parliamentary Standing Committee certain changes in the proposed Lokpal bill and pitch for greater powers to prosecute higher bureaucracy in corruption-related cases.
There is a vertical split in the proscribed outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam with its hardliner faction led by fugitive commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah forming a new 'central committee' by dropping its eight top leaders including its Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, who is now engaged in peace talks with the government.
The new army chief's highest priority must be to address the critical hollowness in the Indian Army's operational preparedness, says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
Dismissing suggestions that Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's idea of giving constitutional status to Lokpal Bill was a delaying tactic by the Congress, the ruling party made it clear that it was for the collective wisdom of the Standing Committee and Parliament to accept the proposal.
The three service chiefs are unlikely to be called before Parliament's standing committee on defence to give an account of the state of preparedness of the forces. This has become clear with sources in the committee and outside saying that the move has been given up as it would unnecessarily send a wrong signal at a time when the talk of a trust deficit between government and defence forces is being raked up.
Turning down the suggestion of Parliamentary Standing Committee, the Union Cabinet also decided that there would be no guarantee of assured returns on schemes by pension funds.
Consensus eluded the Parliamentary panel on Lokpal on the issue of including the prime minister within the ambit of the ombudsman with a majority opposing the suggestion, saying it could lead to complications while some others favoured it with riders.
Aruna Roy, prominent member of civil society, chairman of the National Campaign for People's Right to Information, and an alternative voice in the ongoing debate on the Lokpal Bill, speaks to Rediff.com
the government will introduce some of its key provisions, such as General Anti-Avoidance Rules, in Budget 2012-13.
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