To check black money menace, the government today announced 10-year imprisonment for hiding foreign assets, along with a host of other tough measures including dis-incentivising of cash dealings in real estate and other transactions.
Besides framing new legislations, the government will also take steps to incentivise use of credit and debit cards and putting a cap on cash transactions, while quoting PAN will be mandatory for all sale and purchase of over Rs 1 lakh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in his Budget speech.
Presenting his first full-year budget, Jaitley said the first and foremost pillar of his tax proposals is to enacting a new law to effectively deal with the problem of black money which eats into the vitals of our economy and society.
“To this end, I propose to introduce a Bill in the current Session of Parliament,” he said.
Under the proposed law, concealment of income and assets and evasion of tax in relation to foreign assets will be prosecutable with rigorous imprisonment of up to 10 years. Further, the offence will be made non-compoundable and the offenders will not be permitted to approach the Settlement Commission.
As regards curbing domestic black money, a new and more comprehensive Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Bill will be introduced in the current session.
“This law will enable confiscation of benami property and provide for prosecution, thus blocking a major avenue for generation and holding of black money in the form of benami property, especially in real estate,” Jaitley said.
He also proposed to amend the Income-tax Act to prohibit “acceptance or payment” of an advance of Rs 20,000 or more in cash for purchase of immovable property.
“Quoting of PAN is being made mandatory for any purchase or sale exceeding the value of Rs 1 lakh. The third party reporting entities would be required to furnish information about foreign currency sales and cross border transactions,” he said
Jaitley further said that a provision is also being made to tackle splitting of reportable transactions. To improve enforcement, CBDT and CBEC will leverage technology and have access to information in each other’s database.
The Finance Minister said one way to curb the flow of black money is to discourage transactions in cash.
“Now that a majority of Indians have or can have, a RUPAY debit card, I, therefore, proposes to introduce soon several measures that will incentivise credit or debit card transactions, and disincentivise cash transactions,” he added.
Jaitley said problem of poverty and inequity cannot be eliminated unless generation of black money and its concealment is dealt with effectively and forcefully.
The proposed new law will entail penalty of 300 per cent for concealment of income and assets, while not giving offenders permission to approach the Settlement Commission.
Among others, non-filing of returns or filing with inadequate disclosure of foreign assets will be liable for prosecution with rigorous punishment of up to 7 years.
Income tax assessee will be required to mandatorily specify the date of opening of foreign account while filing return of income.
“The offence of concealment of income or evasion of tax in relation to a foreign asset will be made a predicate offence under the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA),” he said.
Also enforcement agencies will be given power to attach and confiscate unaccounted assets held abroad and launch prosecution against persons indulging in laundering black money.
Jaitley said the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) is also being amended.
PTI
Three suspected Islamists were today arrested in Bangladesh in a pre-dawn raid, as authorities intensified a crackdown on extremists following the brutal killing of American blogger Avijit Roy in the capital.
Acting on a tip-off, elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) conducted a pre-dawn raid at a five-storey building in the northeastern port city of Chittagong and arrested three suspected militants.
“We have seized 30 grenades…It appears they (militants) could have made some 300-400 bombs with the explosives we found at the den,” RAB’s commanding officer in Chittagong Lt Col Mista Uddin told reporters in a primary briefing.
Huge cache of explosives and weapons was seized from their possession, he said, adding that more details, including the identity of the Islamist outfit, would be given at a press conference later.
The raid came two days after Roy known for his critique of religious extremism was hacked to death in the Dhaka University area by machete-wielding assailants who attacked the Bangladeshi-origin writer.
Roy was returning from a book fair with his wife on Thursday evening when the attack occurred. His wife and fellow blogger Rafida Ahmed Banna was seriously injured as she tried to defend him.
The killing that apparently took place right in front of a police barricade put up to restrict vehicular movement on the adjacent road for the ongoing book fair sparked countrywide protests and international condemnation.
A bio-engineer and naturalised US citizen, Roy also earned a repute of being a writer, He was here to attend Bangladesh’s annual February or Ekushey Book Fair in memory of 1952 Language Movement martyrs.
Roy’s family and friends said Islamist radicals had been threatening him in recent weeks because he maintained a blog ‘Mukto-mona’ or ‘Freemind’ that highlighted humanist and rationalist ideas and condemned religious extremism.
“They (Islamists) are behind the murder of my son,” Roy’s octogenarian father famous physicist Ajay Roy earlier said after coming out of a police station filing a murder case.
Doctors who carried out the autopsy on the body said professionals appeared to have carried out the murder as they struck three blows “very expertly and with ferocity” on Roy’s head, causing his death from profuse bleeding.
Police said they were investigating the involvement of Ansarullah Bangla Team, an Islamist extremist group based in Bangladesh, that claimed responsibility for the murder.
In an internet posting months ago, they had said: “It is not possible to kill Avijit at the moment since he lives in the US. But he will be killed when he will come to Dhaka.”
A twitter account in the name of ‘Ansar Bangla 7’ described Roy’s murder as an ‘achievement’, saying “A great success today here in #Bangladesh. Target is Down” while a series of subsequent tweets called the murder as a punishment for his “crime against Islam”.
Today’s was the second such raid since February 22 when RAB unearthed a militants’ training camp at rugged Banshkhali area in the Chittagong region and arrested five persons along with huge amount of firearms and training equipment.
Meanwhile, civil society figures and youngsters staged rallies here while major newspapers carried editorials, demanding justice.
This was the second such murder of a writer at the February Book Fair scene since the attack on famous Bangladeshi writer and Dhaka University professor Humayun Azad who subsequently died of his wounds in Germany.
The militants later also killed another blogger Rajib Haidar in 2013 here.
The US condemned Roy’s murder in the “strongest terms”, calling it “horrific in its brutality and cowardice”.
British High Commissioner in Dhaka Robert Gibson tweeted: “shocked by the savage murder of #AvijitRoy as I am by all the violence that has taken place in #Bangladesh in recent months.”
The Centre for Inquiry, a US-based nonprofit group Roy wrote for, said it was “shocked and heartbroken” by the murder, adding “Dr Roy was a true ally, a courageous and eloquent defender of reason, science, and free expression, in a country where those values have been under heavy attack”.
Media group Reporters Without Borders rated Bangladesh 146th among 180 countries in a ranking of press freedom last year.
The killing came amid a continued unrest since January 6, when Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of former prime minister Khaleda Zia launched a violent non-stop nationwide blockade. Over 110 people have been killed since then, mostly in arson attacks on buses and trucks by suspected blockaders.
Security experts have expressed fears that the focus of law enforcement agencies in tackling the unrest has created space for the extremist elements to reorganise or regroup after years of anti-militancy security clampdown virtually destroyed their networks.
Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) earlier this month came up with a report, saying the extremists and criminal networks could exploit the resulting political void caused by extreme hostility between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ruling Awami League (AL) and her archrival Zia’s BNP.
“Violent Islamist factions are already reviving, threatening the secular, democratic order. While jihadi forces see both parties as the main hurdle to the establishment of an Islamic order, the AL and the BNP perceive each other as the main adversary,” the ICG report read.
PTI
Dhaka: A prominent Bangladesh opposition politician was abducted on Tuesday, allegedly by police, days after he appeared to say he was open to seeking military intervention to end the country`s deadly political crisis.
The family of Mahmudur Rahman Manna, 63, who has been trying to forge an alternative third political force in Bangladesh, said he was picked up by plain-clothed police officers from his niece`s home in the capital Dhaka.
“There were four to five men. They said they were from the DB (police detective branch). They asked him to go with them,” Manna`s niece Shahanama Sharmin told AFP.
“They led him away on a micro-bus at around 3:30am,” she added.
The abduction is the latest twist in weeks-long turmoil led by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies in efforts to topple Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and force fresh elections.
Confined by authorities to her office on January 3, BNP leader Khaleda Zia called on supporters to block roads, railways and waterways, sparking a wave of violence that has claimed more than 100 lives.
Over 10,000 opposition supporters and dozens of senior BNP officials have been arrested as part of a crackdown by Hasina to end the unrest.
Police denied they were behind the abduction of Manna, who has also been calling for talks between the government and the BNP to resolve the crisis.
“We don`t have any information regarding his detention or arrest. None of the branches of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police arrested or detained him,” police spokesman Monirul Islam said.
An audio recording of a phone conversation between Manna, an opposition official and an unknown third person was leaked to local media late on Sunday.
Manna can be heard telling the unidentified person that he was open to talks with generals in a bid to resolve the crisis gripping Bangladesh, a country with a history of military-backed coups.
According to news portal bdnews24.com, Manna and the unidentified person discussed plans to meet top army officers.
Manna has admitted to the phone call, but denied supporting any military takeover.
Bangladesh`s powerful military has publicly denied speculation it plans to overthrow the government, which it did in 2007.
AFP
hi: A Delhi court on Tuesday issued fresh summons to a 52-year-old Danish woman, who was allegedly gang-raped by eight persons here last year, to appear before it on July 1 for recording of her testimony.
The court issued the summons again as the earlier one, issued on January 13, could not be served upon the woman to secure her presence as a prosecution witness and Delhi Police had sought some time for calling her here.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Kaveri Baweja directed that fresh summons be issued to the woman, who is residing in Denmark, as per the guidelines of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) which require a processing time of at least three months.
“I have been informed by the investigating officer (IO) today that some correspondence is going on with the authorities concerned at Denmark.”
“It is directed that fresh summons be issued to the victim as per the guidelines of MEA which require at least three months time for processing. It is directed that summons be issued to the victim for July 1,” the judge said.
The police, in its chargesheet, had said that the eight persons, all vagabonds, had robbed and gangraped the Danish tourist at knife-point on the night of January 14, 2014 after leading her to a secluded spot close to the Divisional Railway Officers’ Club near New Delhi Railway Station.
The eight accused, including two juveniles, were arrested in the case. The two juveniles are facing an inquiry before the Juvenile Justice Board here.
Meanwhile, the court recorded statement of prosecution witness, Kuldeep Singh, who was earlier a receptionist at JPN International Hotel where the woman had stayed during her visit when the incident took place.
Singh, whose part statement was recording earlier, today brought a DVD containing the footage of CCTV installed at the Hotel showing the woman going out of the hotel in the morning and returning there in the evening after the incident. The DVD was played in the court on a laptop.
The witness identified the woman and also submitted that when she had gone out in the morning, she was wearing slacks and on returning to the hotel in the evening, she was seen wearing a loose lower (pyjama).During cross-examination by the counsel for the adult six accused, the witness denied the suggestion that the woman appeared to be intoxicated when she returned to the hotel and this was the reason that she denied undergoing medical examination.
He also said the police had requested her several times to undergo medical examination but she refused.
He had earlier deposed that the woman was staying in the hotel since January 1, 2014 and on the night of incident when she came back, her clothes were torn and she looked nervous.
He had said after some time, he saw the victim talking to a Canadian woman, who informed him that she has been raped and robbed by eight-nine persons.
The court has now fixed the case for March 31 for recording of statements of prosecution witnesses.
The court had earlier directed the IO to furnish a report regarding the procedure to secure the victim’s presence before the court for recording her statement in the absence of mutual legal assistance treaty between India and Denmark.
The court’s direction had come after the IO had informed it that the summon issued to the woman has returned unserved as India does not have a mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT) with Denmark.
The six adult accused — Mahendra alias Ganja (24), Mohd Raja (22), Raju (23), Arjun (21), Raju Chakka (22) and Shyam Lal (55) — are in judicial custody and facing trial.
The total eight accused have been booked under Sections 376(2)(g) (gangrape), 397 (robbery or dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt) and 392 (robbery) of IPC.
PTI
New Delhi: Almost three years after they split, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday shared stage with Anna Hazare extending his full support to the Gandhian’s agitation against the land acquisition ordinance and said the law will make the Centre work like a “property dealer” for the corporates.
Signalling a rapprochement, Hazare welcomed his one-time protege at the stage of the protest venue as almost all AAP MLAs and senior leaders of the party joined the social activist in his agitation.
In his brief address, Kejriwal came down hard on the Centre for the controversial legislation and said BJP was punished in the Delhi assembly elections for their anti-poor policies though the same was given a massive victory in the Lok Sabha elections.
“If the amendment bill is passed, then this government will become a dalal, it will become property dealer for big companies. We vehemently oppose the bill. The current government should learn a lesson. People had whole-heartedly supported BJP in May and ensured their victory in the Lok Sabha polls. But after 8-9 months, due to their policies, people have uprooted BJP,” the Delhi Chief Minister said.
Kejriwal and Hazare, the two most prominent faces of the Lokpal movement fell apart after Kejriwal decided to launch a political party in October 2012.
“In the country, if any government makes law against the poor, makes laws against the farmers, the public will not let it last. They will teach them a lesson. We support the country-wide agitation against the law under the leadership of Anna Hazare. We support and today as Chief Minister of Delhi, I want to announce that no one will be allowed to take land forcibly in the city,” Kejriwal said.
Kejriwal was among a host of leaders cutting across party lines who joined the agitation on a day the government introduced the land acquisition bill in Lok Sabha amid a walk out by the opposition.
Though Hazare had earlier ruled out sharing stage with any politician, political leaders including CPI’s Atul Anjan and Vaiko of MDMK were among those sitting on the dais. Slamming the Modi government over the land ordinance, the Delhi Chief Minister said interests of the poor and farmers must be protected and assured the gathering that compensation as per market rates will be given to anyone for land in Delhi.
“If we want to develop this nation, then we have to take the public along. We cannot do by running bulldozer over them. Then the public will run the bulldozer over you,” he said.
Calling Hazare his “guru” and someone like his father, Kejriwal said he supports the Gandhian’s movement with “heart and soul”.
“I want to tell Annaji that I always consider him my guru, someone like my father, and I want to say Annaji that we are with you and support this movement with our heart and soul.”
“If the government wants to do development, if we want to open schools, build hospitals, if we want to build metro, if we want to give facilities, I’ve seen that public will willingly give their land,” he said.
The Chief Minister called the compensation prescribed in the law as “betrayal”.
“What they are claiming to be four times the rate is actually a betrayal. Just now someone told me that in Meerut, the circle rate is Rs 2,000, the market rate is Rs 20,000. These people say they will pay 4-times which will be Rs 8,000 while the market rate is Rs 20,000. This is betrayal, the entire law is betrayal,” he said.
Earlier, Kejriwal waited for sometime near the stage at the protest venue as Hazare had said politicians will not be allowed to share the dais. But the Delhi Chief Minister was welcomed to the stage where he sat next to Hazare.
A number of AAP leaders, including Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and almost all party MLAs, participated in the protest. The Delhi Chief Minister had called on Hazare at the Maharashtra Sadan last evening.
Hazare started his two-day protest yesterday. He had said a ‘jail bharo’ movement will be launched from the Ramlila Ground after holding “padyatra” across the country for three-four months against the land ordinance.
PTI
New Delhi: Members of several farmers’ unions from across the country on Tuesday marched to Parliament House to register their opposition to the government’s land ordinance with social activists Anna Hazare and Medha Patkar joining the protesters here.
Raising slogans like “Scrap land acquisition ordinance, ensure land rights” and “bhoo adhigrahan nahi, bhoo adhikar chahiye” (we want land rights, not land acquisition), members of several unions of farmers and agricultural workers marched from Kerala House at Jantar Mantar to Parliament Street.
Hazare — who himself launched a two-day stir here yesterday against the ordinance — and Patkar were greeted at the protest venue on Parliament Street by MDMK leader Vaiko, CPI leader and All India Kisan Sabha general secretary Atul Anjan and CPI(M) leader Hanan Mollah.
“We are meeting the President (Pranab Mukherjee) at 6 pm today. He had supported the law when he was a minister. We will request him to not sign on anything which is not in the interest of farmers and, hence, of the country,” said Mollah.
It is an-eight member delegation comprising the leaders of various farmers’ unions which will be calling upon Mukherjee.
“The Narendra Modi government is acting only in favour of corporates and not farmers. The law which was brought after years of struggle, deliberations and discussions, it only took nine months for the BJP-led government to do away with it,” he added.
Slamming the Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojna, Anjan said, “Modi ji, you became Prime Minister by promising to deposit Rs 15 lakh in everybody’s account in 100 days. However, we are giving you one year’s time. If you fail to do so, we all countrymen will cordon off Parliament. The day you would call a joint session, all opposition would join hands and you would face your worst-ever defeat.”
A leader of the Bhartiya Kisan Union said, “In the past nine months, the Modi government has not taken even a single decision to benefit farmers; rather it has taken all decisions to benefit only the corporates.”
CPI’s All-India Kisan Sabha, Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union and CPI(M)’s All-India Agricultural Workers’ Union have also written an open letter to all MPs and political parties urging them to unite against the land ordinance in Parliament.
“We appeal to you to rebuff the BJP-led government’s undemocratic move to amend the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, through an ordinance.
“It goes against the established norms of parliamentary democracy and is clearly aimed at promoting profiteering and real estate speculation by corporates and land mafia,” the letter says.
P Krishna Prasad, treasurer of All-India Kisan Sabha, said,” The ordinance is merely an instrument for speedy appropriation and facilitation of land acquisition in a quick, cheap and easy way with little concern for consent, just compensation, effective rehabilitation and resettlement of land owners and the others dependent on land.”
PTI
Kolkata: The Missionaries of Charity on Tuesday rubbished RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s claim that religious conversions had taken place under Mother Teresa’s leadership of the organisation, saying he was ‘misinformed’.
“He is misinformed. It should be absolutely clear that conversion was not going on when Mother was there, nor it is going on now. The whole motive is to serve the poor selflessly, bring joy and dignity into their lives,” Sunita Kumar, spokesperson of the organisation founded by Teresa in 1950, told a news agency.
A close confidante of Mother Teresa for many years, Kumar said, “I never saw anything like that (conversion) happening. It is all rubbish.”
She said when the sisters and nuns of the missionary organisation served people they never look at which religion they belonged to.
“A Muslim is treated like a Muslim and a Hindu is treated like a Hindu. I am myself a Sikh and that never affects my relationship with the Missionaries of Charity,” she said, adding that there are regular all-faith meetings in their premises.
Teresa, who died in 1997 in Kolkata, was conferred the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and beatified as the “Blessed Teresa of Calcutta” in 2003.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had yesterday triggered a controversy by saying that “Mother Teresa’s service would have been good. But it used to have one objective, to convert the person, who was being served, into a Christian.”
Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Loreto)’s Sister SM Cyril, who knew Mother Teresa closely, said it was silly and stupid to think like that.
“It is completely wrong that they have been propagating conversion. She never hoped that those who are serving will convert to Christianity. She had selfless love for people in her heart and that is why she served them,” said the Padma Shri awardee who has served as the principal of Loreto Day School, Sealdah.
PTI
Thane: The city police has booked former Maharashtra cabinet minister and NCP MLA of Kalwa-Mumbra MLA Jitendra Awhad as well seven Thane Municipal Corporation corporators for allegedly defying prohibitory orders and leading a protest rally, police sources said here on Sunday.
Police sub inspector A M Kolekar of the Naupada police station told PTI that protesters wearing black bands around their mouths had marched towards the Gadkari Rangayatan on Friday evening.
They were charged under Section 37(3) of the B P Act and Section 135 which was clamped in the city during the period.
Others who have been booked include NCP corporators including Nazeeb Mullah, Milind Patil, Ameet Sarayya, Manohar Salvi, Suhas Desai, Shannu Pathan and Mukund Kini.
Also booked were around 100 activists who had joined the protest rally.
In a related development, the city police had refused permission to a symposium organised by the Muslim Youth Forum about Shivaji Maharaj.
The police claimed that allowing such a symposium which dealt Shivaji’s views on Muslims would give rise to law and order issues, due to which permission to the event was denied.
Organisers had never asked permission for the event which the police learnt about through the media.
Meanwhile, Awhad and others condemned the police for not allowing the symposium and termed it “crushing democratic rights”.
PTI
Mumbai: Firing a fresh salvo against the BJP-led government, Shiv Sena on Monday said nothing has changed in Maharashtra despite change of regime and ridiculed the Devendra Fadnavis government over the failure to arrest killers of communist leader Govind Pansare.
In a veiled attack on the Chief Minister, an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece said, “What has changed with the new government? If someone knows please tell us.”
The Sena ridiculed the state government over failure to arrest the killers of the anti-toll tax campaigner, who died on Friday after being shot at in Kolhapur.
“This is a repeat of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar’s murder,” the Sena said.
“The Chief Minister and the government have changed but the system is the same. People are asking for the Chief Minister’s resignation as he is the Home Minister,” it said.
“Fadnavis said if police put in all their might they may catch the killers,” the Sena said, adding the remarks tantamount to distrust of police.
The latest remarks indicate the unease in the BJP-Sena alliance. After BJP snapped the 25-year alliance ahead of October 15 Assembly polls, Sena joined the government on December 5 as BJP with 122 MLAs did not have a clear majority in the 288-member House.
PTI
LONDON: HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver, who vowed to reform the scandal-hit bank, kept millions of dollars in a Swiss account, the Guardian newspaper reported.
It is the latest in a stream of so-called “Swissleaks” allegations that have hit the reputation of the British banking giant and caused a political storm ahead of a general election in May.
The report claims the chief executive was a client of the Swiss private banking arm accused of helping wealthy clients evade tax.
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