With the government devising alternative ways to trail black money, the Banking Transaction Tax will be withdrawn by the end of this year, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Wednesday. The alternative methods to catch people with unaccounted money would be provided by the provisions in the new Money Laundering Law, Chidambaram said.
The Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigations Team on black money has also proposed that holding more than Rs 15 lakh in cash be made illegal for individuals and for companies, report Tinesh Bhasin and Sanjay Kumar Singh.
Will Parliament function? Catch all the debates and discussions from the Upper and Lower House.
Showing keenness on a general consensus on the issue of stopping forceful religious conversion, BJP President Amit Shah said a bill can be brought in parliament for the purpose if "so called" secular parties extend support.
An assessee's interest in a foreign trust or a company is also proposed to be made taxable assets under the new tax regime.
'We have not issued notices randomly.' 'We have done the risk profiling of individuals, and sent to those whose profile has not matched with their declared income.'
Amid concerns of bullion trade being used for routing of black money, Switzerland's gold exports to India have risen further and is fast approaching Rs 1-trillion mark for the entire 2014.
Many countries advised the return the high-denomination notes to the central bank for destruction, but these continued to be legal tender. This and the introduction of a new Rs 2,000 note in India are the two major differences between Indian demonetisation and those of other countries.
The winter session of Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die on Tuesday after passing 18 legislations, including amendment bills on amend coal mines allocation and labour laws, in 22 sittings.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes has said the government has not introduced any new provision regarding the chargeability of tax on jewellery.
Days ahead of the retirement of present Central Bureau of Investigation chief, government introduced a bill in Lok Sabha to include the leader of the largest opposition party in the panel to select the head of the agency in the absence of a recognised Leader of the Opposition in the House.
Five years after demonetisation, which sought to curb black money and reduce cash circulation in the economy, 70 per cent of respondents said they paid a large component of the total payment towards a real estate transaction in cash. About 16 per cent said they paid over half the amount in cash, observes Shyamal Majumdar.
Over the next four years corporate tax will come down by 5 per cent and lot of exemptions will get phased out.
Alleging that the Congress government at the Centre was cheating Anna Hazare on the Lokpal Bill issue, Baba Ramdev on Tuesday said that he would campaign against the parties opposing to bring back the black money stashed away in foreign banks.
Did you know Dev Anand worked as a clerk at a salary of Rs 85 before he became an actor?
Modi said the House did not witness any earthquake, an apparent reference to claims of Rahul Gandhi that his revelation on Rafale would create tremors.
Real reason for crashing gold prices is not Trump victory, says expert.
The government is exploring legal options, including bringing an Ordinance, to tackle the problem of income-tax litigation on reassessment notices under old, time-barred norms, according to official sources. This has come in the wake of writ petitions filed by companies and individuals in recent weeks to challenge the validity of the notices issued by the tax department between April 1 and June 30 and under the old norms.
'Modi had not discussed demonetization with me prior to his announcement on 8 November 2016. 'I learnt of it along with the rest of the country. 'I was not surprised when he did not discuss the issue with me prior to making the public announcement. 'It fitted in with his style of making dramatic announcements.' A fascinating excerpt from Pranab Mukherjee's The Presidential Years: 2012-2017.
Grover had said a summons was issued by the special court in Ghaziabad against Ayyub for January 27 and therefore the matter be listed urgently.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear the petition of journalist Rana Ayyub challenging the summons issued to her by a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Ghaziabad in a money laundering case lodged against her by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
'Nobody expected the slowdown to go for these many days. Unfortunately, it is an unbelievably bad slow down.'
Asserting that the government has launched a "crusade" against corruption and black money by demonetisation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday sought opposition's cooperation while his rivals called the decision ill-prepared and hasty, causing "economic chaos".
The demonetisation move will force the Modi government to battle with a policy dichotomy, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari said he is here "not to show any dream" but to fulfil promises made on better, smoother roads and latest transport technology.
The government had lately issued an ordinance on the insurance sector and introduced a Constitution amendment Bill on a national goods and services tax.
Ramdev's fast entered the third day on Saturday with the yoga guru threatening to intensify his agitation if his demands on black money and Lokpal bill are not met by the deadline set by him.
Yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Monday said he would take a call on contesting the 2014 Lok Sabha elections depending upon the success of his agitation scheduled next month in Delhi.
Yoga guru Ramdev on Wednesday threatened to launch a nationwide agitation against the United Progressive Alliance, starting from five poll-bound states, if it did not take "decisive" steps to bring the Jan Lokpal Bill and repatriate black money stashed abroad in the winter session of Parliament.
Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Saturday said that his party was against forcible conversions and asked other political parties in the country to support a bill in this regard if they were 'sincere' in their approach to secularism.
Sources close to the PM say he will not be panicked into generating short-term results at the cost of longer-term goals
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".
'Fear is also a great impetus to push people in the right direction.' 'So, everyone who has touched black money is scared and I'm very happy about it.'
'This wipes out the entire black money in the nation in one stroke. Ninety per cent plus of the black money is kept in Rs 500, Rs 1,000 notes. What they have done is a brilliant move.'
While the central bank had publicly cited only Rs 15.55 trillion of high value notes were cancelled, in an RTI reply to PTI, it had said the actual quantum of bills cancelled was much higher at Rs 20.51 trillion.
Modi sought the cooperation of public in making the "war on corruption" a success and said the wrongdoings of some are being caught only with the support of common people who are coming forward with concrete information about hoarders.
Member of Lokpal Bill Joint Drafting Committee Prasant Bhusan on Saturday said he was 'unhappy' at the presence of Sangh Parivar leader Sadhvi Ritambhara on the dais, where Baba Ramdev is on a hunger strike against black money, saying the platform should not be used by 'communal' forces."I am unhappy with the presence of Sadhvi Ritambhara. You cannot prevent anyone from supporting a cause but the platform should not be allowed to be used by communal forces," said Bhusan.
Justice N Santosh Hegde, a representative of the civil society in the joint drafting committee for the Lokpal Bill, on Saturday said that there is nothing wrong in the presence of Sangh Parivar leader Sadhvi Ritambhara on the dais where Baba Ramdev is on a hunger strike against black money. When informed that Ramdev had assured Anna Hazare on Friday that no communal element will be allowed to join his satyagraha, Hegde said, "Suppose the Muslim League comes out on Sunday?"
The National Democratic Alliance and the Left is likely to corner the United Progressive Alliance on issues pertaining to price rise and black money on the first day of the winter session, which starts on Tuesday. Sheela Bhatt reports
Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Friday termed the protest by Bharatiya Janata Party workers against him at Mughalsarai station as "part of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh/BJP plan D".
