From Ikkis to Balan: The Boy, these are the 10 Indian films that truly deserved the loudest applause in the first half of 2026.
'The difference between black money in India and the black money out of India is, in India, it is tax evaded money and Indian money outside India is not only tax evaded money, but money which has been taken out of India's capital resources needed for India. So it is not only tax evasion, but treason too.'
Black money to the tune of "Rs 1.25 lakh crore" has been confiscated by the Modi government, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Monday and asserted transparency is a key aspect of the present dispensation's good governance model. The minister for railways said similarly, to ensure transparency, benami properties worth Rs 4,300 crore were attached and registration of 1.75 lakh companies cancelled. Talking to reporters at the Rail Bhawan, Vaishnaw said in his long public service, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "perfected a model of good governance that started in Gujarat".
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it was more interested in getting the black money stashed abroad back to the country than the disclosure of names of illegal account holders in foreign banks.
'In the total of black wealth, only 1% or less than 1% constitute cash.' 'So, even if cash is completely weaned out, it impacts only 1% of the black wealth.'
'Alas, in this scheme there is nothing to stop the black money flows of the future.' 'On the contrary Modi has sown the seeds of more, through the issue of Rs 2,000 notes.' 'But have you heard one politician decrying this aspect of the scheme?' 'They must be secretly rejoicing that while Modi is taking away their past, he has not shut the door on their future,' says banker S Muralidharan.
The I-T department has also filed 77 prosecution cases.
In the first of a three-part series Paranjoy Guha Thakurta details the salient features of the Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of Tax) Act, 2015.
"Please guide those around you on increased cash-less transactions. Corruption and black money adversely affects the progress of our nation," he said.
Rajan said expecting the government to provide all solutions wasn't right.
Michael remains a passable biopic that looks good, sounds great, and delivers the moments fans came for. But it also feels formulaic in a way that's hard to ignore, notes Mayur Sanap.
In 2014-2015 the I-T department put up 669 cases for prosecution. The charges stuck in only 34 cases: Just 5%. It was no exceptional year -- the story broadly follows the script every year.
Tax department has launched 60 prosecutions.
Vaa Vaathiyar ends up being a bland yet fascinating iteration of a masala film funnelled through the prism of a quirky humorist, notes Arjun Menon.
SEBI's blockbuster reforms are rewriting the rules of mutual fund investing -- faster growth, sharper transparency, and smarter safeguards that put investors first, explains Ramalingam Kalirajan.
The Election Commission (EC) had, in 2019, flagged its concerns in the Supreme Court on the changes made in several laws relating to political funding to facilitate the electoral bonds scheme, saying it will have 'serious repercussions' on transparency.
'They are not tom-tomming what a great thing the Supreme Court decision is.' 'If they say it was a great thing, the public will react because people suffered and are still suffering.'
What is the wider political strategy behind Mr Modi's concerted attack on black money, asks Subir Roy.
The Bihar Police's Economic Offences Unit, which is probing the alleged National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) (NEET-UG) paper leak case, on Saturday claimed to have obtained reference question papers of the test conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA) and planned to compare these with documents recovered from a flat in Patna during a search operation last month.
The department had sent SMSes and emails to 18 lakh people who made suspicious deposits of over Rs 500,000 during the 50-day demonetisation period.
The apex court issued notice to the Centre on the plea seeking re-examination of its verdict which upheld the ED's powers relating to arrest, attachment of property involved in money laundering, search, and seizure under the PMLA.
'One of the aspects for transparency and fair governance is to give the industry being represented the chance of lobbying with the regulator.'
'The entire explanation of the episode is difficult to digest.'
'No finance minister has the capacity to put the economy in an ICCU just like no finance minister has the capacity to take it for 10% growth!'
'I am certainly not an employee of Sebi.'
Concluding the three-part series, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta says that the black money law is likely to fail because of the ineptness of India's investigative and enforcement agencies.
Since arraignment under money laundering is a tougher offence, the CBDT hopes it will also overcome its dismal score sheet to prove satisfactorily to the courts that these cases were genuine ones of tax evasion.
There is also an interesting name OLX gave the idle stuff lying in our homes: brown money. Over lunch, OLX CEO Amarjit Singh Batra tells Uttran Das Gupta how the company is weaning Indians away from their "irrational emotional attachment to things."
In March 2021, Ola Electric founder Bhavish Aggarwal was seen surveying an empty 500-acre land surrounded by shoe factories, temples, bakery shops, coconut trees and dusty roads in Pochampalli town of Krishnagiri district, Tamil Nadu. Many excavators and workers were busy at the construction site to build the Ola Futurefactory for electric vehicles.
BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Sunday urged the Centre to do away with the system of collecting income tax and instead find out other means to raise money to the exchequer.
While Jio MF will undoubtedly grow in size, it will have to cross multiple hurdles even to emerge as the market leader, observes Debashis Basu.
Amid reports that Ramdev and Team Anna were not on the same page, Kiran Bedi on Thursday said there were no differences between them and they are "two sides of the same coin, fighting a common goal".
The electoral bonds scheme for funding political parties should not become a tool for "legitimisation of quid pro quo" between power centres and people who are benefactors of that power, the Supreme Court said on Thursday as it underscored the need for reducing the cash component in the electoral process.
Even as India's external affairs ministry has reportedly assured Canada that the Department of Telecommunications is trying to resolve the issue of a potential threat to India's security posed by BlackBerry phones, Research in Motion, the makers of the phones, said it is committed to addressing all aspects of the issue.
RBI's exercise will take into account standards of governance, the viability of the payment bank (PB) business model, and changes, if any, if needed.
We asked colleagues, present and past, to reflect on a man who has made such a difference to their lives and careers. Here it is then, a rich collection of memories that offer enchanting glimpses of the enigmatic Ajit Balakrishnan.
The second and final part of advocate Prashant Bhushan's interview with Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com. Bhushan is one of the petitioners in the black money case in the Supreme Court
The second and final part of advocate Prashant Bhushan's interview with Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com. Bhushan is one of the petitioners in the black money case in the Supreme Court
The demonetisation move will force the Modi government to battle with a policy dichotomy, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Supreme Court Wednesday flagged the issue of possible misuse of funds received through electoral bonds by political parties for illegal purposes like terrorism and asked the Centre whether there was any 'control' over how these funds were put to use.
