In his second term in office, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has retained 34 portfolios.
In the manifesto released on Saturday, the Congress also promised unemployment allowance of Rs 3,000 per month, Rs 2,000 pension to divyangs, widows, senior citizens and needy women, and waiver of loans of up to Rs 3 lakh of all fishermen, among other things.
The finance ministry on Friday withdrew expenditure curbs on various departments and ministries imposed in June in the wake of the COVID-19 second wave, reflecting improvement in public finances and the urgency to step up growth.
After publication and broadcast of the news, the district administration constituted a committee of revenue and health officials for an inquiry into the news report, the FIR said.
The Centre plans to create a special window for strategically important investors such as sovereign wealth funds and pension funds that wish to invest over Rs 3,000 crore through a single transaction.
The government of India will deposit Rs 200 per month for Gramin Dak Sevaks involving an annual expenditure of about Rs 70 crore (Rs 700 million) to provide for the financial security for them and their spouses after retirement from the service at the age of 65, Minister of State for IT & Telecom Sachin Pilot told reporters in New Delhi.
Allocation of portfolios would be the immediate vexatious issue for the party, with supporters of Virbhadra Singh already feeling sidelined after the elevation of the late chief minister's professed rival Sukhu.
Air India Chairman Rajiv Bansal has been appointed as the new aviation secretary as part of a major top-level bureaucratic reshuffle effected by the Centre on Wednesday. K Rajaraman, additional secretary in the department of economic affairs, has been appointed as secretary, department of telecommunications, a personnel ministry order said.
Mihir Tanna, Associate Director, S K Patodia & Associates, answers your tax queries.
Sharma was the president of the conference, the first since the Paris Agreement of COP21 that expected parties to make enhanced commitments towards mitigating climate change.
The Centre has initiated 'major penalty proceedings' against former West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, amid a tug-of-war between the Union government and the Mamata Banerjee dispensation over him, which may deprive him of post-retirement benefits, partially or fully.
Making a scathing attack against the Left government, he said the practice of giving pension benefits to the personal staff of ministers just after completing two years a few months ago was a 'gross violation and abuse of authority.'
The trial of the Russian soldier was the first that Ukraine has conducted since the invasion related to charges that could be considered war crimes.
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Sunday stepped up his attack on the Left government and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan by accusing the latter of directing the police not to lodge a case when he was heckled at the Kannur University in 2019.
Revenue secretary Tarun Bajaj along with senior finance ministry officials on Thursday held a meeting with Infosys managing director Salil Parekh to review the performance of the new income tax portal. More than 3.5 crore Income Tax Returns (ITR) have been filed so far for the financial year 2020-21 through the portal, which had faced glitches following which the ministry had directed Infosys to urgently address the issues. Infosys has developed the new income tax e-filing portal 'www.incometax.gov.in'.
Mihir Tanna, Associate Director, S K Patodia & Associates, answers your tax queries.
The main purpose of the meeting is to assess their views on reforms that are required to attract long-term capital into the country.
7 key areas that the Budget must address to re-energise the infrastructure sector, suggests Vinayak Chatterjee.
The finance ministry on Wednesday reimposed expenditure curbs on ministries and government departments for July-September quarter. There will be no spending restrictions on the ministries of health, rural development, agriculture, MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) and railways as part of a two-pronged strategy. "The existing guidelines for expenditure control have been reviewed. "Keeping in view the evolving situation arising out of Covid-19 and anticipated cash position of the government, it is felt essential to regulate Quarterly Expenditure Plan (QEP)/Monthly Expenditure Plan (MEP) of specific ministries/departments for July-September, 2021," the Department of Economic Affairs in the finance ministry said in a notification.
Functioning in several departments related to revenue collection has also been affected. Revenue collection has reduced by Rs 17,000 crore in March.
A homemaker in every family would get a monthly assistance of Rs 1,000, the manifesto said.
It added that following this, the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare of Ministry of Defence vide communication dated November 7, 2015, conveyed the policy of OROP for the defence force personnel.
"It is mentioned that there is no provision in the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 for appeal, review or reconsideration of an order passed by a bench of the Lokpal of India. It is hereby informed to all concerned that no appeal or request for review/reconsideration of an order will be entertained by the Lokpal of India," the Lokpal said in a notice.
Only NIIF has stayed the course as a viable infrastructure financing institution.
The government on Monday announced that it has credited revised pensionary benefits along with arrears under One Rank-One Pension scheme to more than 2 lakh pensioners drawing service and disability pensions.
The scheme is aimed at slashing the salary and pension bills of the three services, which have been increasing rapidly.
If Kerala wants to sustain its room for independent thinking and talk back to Delhi when needed, it should put its finances in order. Or - if one takes the North East example - Kerala's political posturing may end up commensurate with its financial dependence on others, suggests Shyam G Menon.
The most important institutions have been and are being undermined with almost no resistance, warns Aakar Patel.
Over 1.4 lakh jobs are estimated to be created between March 2019 and March 2021 in various central government departments, according to the Union Budget presented on Monday. The strength of government establishments was 32,71,113 as on March 1, 2019, which is estimated to increase to 34,14,226 by the first day of next month - an increase of 1,43,113, it said. The budget documents have given a break-up of the jobs estimated to be created in central government departments between 2019 and March 2021.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday reduced the time limit for reopening of income tax assessment cases to three years from six years, while for serious tax fraud cases where concealment of income is Rs 50 lakh or more it would be 10 years.
The appointment of new expenditure secretary comes a month-and-a-half ahead of the Budget for 2020-21 to be presented on February 1.
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) will soon start public consultation for a national retail trade policy, which is likely to include an insurance scheme aimed at providing financial protection against losses caused by theft, accidents or natural calamities. The policy will also spell out ways to give traders access to low-cost finance, promote digital inclusion, and create necessary infrastructure to support them, a senior government official told Business Standard. This is expected to offer relief especially to traditional traders, who are facing stiff competition from large e-commerce players.
Sources said the action was in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the nation from the ramparts of Red Fort when he said some black sheep in the tax administration may have misused their powers and harassed taxpayers, either by targeting honest assesses or by taking excessive action for minor or procedural violations.
The chief minister said such representatives will not reject claims of families in case any document is missing and will only facilitate the process.
A maximum of over 2,200 infections were reported by the South Central Railway, followed by 1,323 cases in the Central Railway, 1,307 in the Northern Railway, 1,145 in the Southern Railway and 1,013 cases in the East Central Railway.
Anil Rego, CEO, Right Horizons, answers your personal income tax queries.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday conveyed to Infosys CEO Salil Parekh in no uncertain terms the government's "deep disappointment and concern" over the continuing glitches in the new income tax filing portal and set September 15 as the deadline for the software major to resolve all snags. As glitches continued to mar the functioning of the portal even after over two months of its launch, Sitharaman summoned Infosys MD & CEO Parekh at her office here to know the reasons for not resolving the snags in the portal. A statement issued by the Income Tax Department said that during the meeting the finance minister emphasised that there is a need for putting in more resources and efforts on the part of Infosys so that the much delayed delivery of agreed services is ensured.
According to the third batch of supplementary demands for grants tabled in the Lok Sabha, approval is being sought for gross additional expenditure of over Rs 1.58 lakh crore.
The new portal, http://helpline.rb.nic.in, which was launched on Friday by President Pratibha Patil promises to process your petition and direct it to the ministry or the department concerned directly within seven working days. Not only that, you will also get a Unique Registration Number with which your can track the progress of your petition.
The government, it would seem, is reserving its firepower to spend on big-ticket items that will be announced in the Budget, reports Subhomoy Bhattacharjee.