A united Opposition on Tuesday tore into an ordinance promulgated to amend land acquisition rules, calling it an "anti-farmer" move brought by "bypassing" Parliament to benefit corporate houses, a charge vehemently denied by the government.
Accusing the Left Front government in West Bengal of ignoring Darjeeling Hills, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh on Friday demanded the creation of a separate Gorkhaland. Singh also demanded more funds under the Cyclone Aila package. Initiating a debate on the Finance Bill in the Lok Sabha, the Darjeeling Member of Parliament wondered, "What wrong have the Gorkhas done not to deserve a separate state."
'He is exposing the failings of the BJP, which is rankling the party.'
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's meeting with BJP top brass L K Advani, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, her counterpart in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley on Tuesday ended on a positive note with both sides reaching a consensus on most issues in the draft bill.The Parliamentary Standing Committee finalised its report on Nuclear Liability Bill. The Compensation cap raised from Rs 500 crore to Rs 1,500 crore.
Three members will be representatives from the government, and three from the RBI.
A new comprehensive Income Tax bill will be drawn up by the next fiscal end to clean up complex and archaic laws, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Friday.
The Bill has already been passed by the Lok Sabha.
Despite being cleared in the lower house, the GST bill has been pending in the Rajya Sabha for clearance, where the Congress enjoys numerical strength, reports Kavita Chowdhury.
Investors need to evaluate how they stack up against other high credit quality fixed-income options before putting money in them.
In the entire month's recess during Parliament's Budget session, said the Bharatiya Janata Party, the major opposition grouping, none from the government spoke to it on any of the major stuck legislation.
'If something unfortunate happens to an earning member, the family loses the crucial income which would have gone towards paying off debts, meeting the cost of children's higher education, or towards the upkeep of elderly parents.'
Ruling out the implementation of value-added tax from June 1, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh on Wednesday announced several excise duty concessions on edible oil and textiles.
On the eve of consideration of Lokpal Bill by the Rajya Sabha, Trinamool Congress on Wednesday mounted difficulties on the government by giving notice for amendment to the crucial legislation in which it wants references to formation of Lokayuktas to be dropped.
The 47th GST Council meeting that is currently underway is slated to discuss a host of issues, including a mechanism for compensating states for revenue loss, tax rate tweaks in some items and relaxed registration norms for small online suppliers. Further, the meeting of the Council, chaired by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and comprising state counterparts, will also clear levying the highest tax of 28 per cent on online games, casinos and horse racing, besides, measures to curb tax evasion, especially devising ways to tackle high-risk taxpayers in GST. "The meeting is being chaired by Hon'ble Union Minister of Finance @nsitharaman and many important decisions are expected to be taken at the meet," PIB Chandigarh tweeted.
Days before the passage of the Finance Bill in the Parliament, Left party leaders on Friday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and demanded urgent steps by the United Progressive Alliance government to check growing prices of essential commodities. Top leaders of four Left parties, supporting the government placed six demands before him, saying these measures should be taken immediately to curb burgeoning prices.
In a significant development, India is believed to have placed a funding request of around $55 million in its first call with the Pandemic Fund of the World Bank, sources said. The fund has been set up to finance critical investments in a bid to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response capacities at national, regional, and global levels, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries. It was created in the aftermath of the Covid-19 global pandemic.
Four per cent countervailing customs duty on components for mobile phone manufacturing exempted.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday spurned Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's request for inputs on the proposed Lokpal Bill, arguing it would not be proper for a political party to submit its views to a drafting committee comprising civil society members as it would upset constitutional propriety.
According to a top Congress minister, the government needs to be on its toes next week when the combined opposition moves cut motions and the finance bill also comes up for passing in the Lok Sabha. The reason is the altered attitude of the Left parties, particularly the Communist Party of India-Marxist towards the Bharatiya Janata Party with the Left now seeing the Congress as its enemy number one.
PSUs are asking for tax holiday for oil exploration and production activities to continue. The latest Budget imposes a Sunset clause for 100 per cent tax exemption for refining of mineral oil.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had a brief meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on salient features of the Budget.
While the Left parties are in talks with secular Opposition parties on a joint strategy during voting on the Budget in the budget session resuming from April 15, they are not not averse to BJP and its allies supporting a joint opposition cut motion.
You telephone bills will become cheaper if the finance minister P Chidambaram heeds to the telecom operators' demand for a reduction in levies.
Manufacturing taxes, VAT will come down, assures Jaitley
The bill says the deductor will deduct tax at higher rates than that is in force or 20 per cent in case the TDS assessee does not furnish his PAN.
The devil is in the detail for the real estate sector. Though the Budget gave sops to home buyers in the form of tax savings and interest rate subvention, it quietly brought back service tax on lease rentals in the Finance Bill.
Armed with permission to issue Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) of tax-free bonds in 2011-12, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will issue the first lot worth Rs 2,500 crore by mid-May.
In the Upper House of Parliament, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu did not allow adjournment notices moved by opposition members on the issue of price rise, prompting members of the Congress, the Trinamool Congress, the Left parties, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Aam Aadmi Party, the Nationalist Congress Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Shiv Sena to create an uproar.
Finance Minister Jaswant Singh on Friday hinted that value added tax might not take off as scheduled in June as not all states have agreed to its implementation.
The Bill at best makes the existing public distribution system a legal right, an aspect that seems of little consequence to the lords of high finance, whose primary anxiety is the FSB-by-numbers.
Jaitley promised the states that they would be fully compensated for any loss of revenue arising from implementation of GST.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has convened a meeting of senior ministers on Tuesday to discuss the recommendations of the National Advisory Council on the Food Security Bill.
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