NEW DELHI, July 17: New challenges have emerged in the arena of tax administration in the wake of globalisation and economic integration, President Pranab Mukherjee has said.
He was interacting with a group of 141 officer trainees, including 38 women, of the new batch of the Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax) at Rashtrapati Bhavan yesterday.
Speaking on the occasion, the President noted that his association with the I-T department went back to the 1970s, a Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson said.
Over the years, the President said, he has seen that there has been an enormous expansion in the volume and variety of taxes.
“The collection of direct taxes in 1860-61 was Rs 30 lakh, when Income Tax was introduced in India in July 1860. In this financial year, the direct tax collection is set to exceed Rs 7.36 lakh crore,” he was quoted as saying.
The President said various finance ministers at various levels have injected their innovative ideas in tax mobilisation and tax reforms in order to improve the tax administrative structure in this country.
“New challenges have emerged in the wake of globalisation and economic integration,” he said.
He told the probationers that in the coming years, they will be dealing with complex issues arising in an integrated world economy and that the emerging challenges in tax administration can be met through ingenuity, innovation and adoption of new ideas and technology.
He added that with enthusiasm and innovative thinking, the young IRS officers can bring changes in tune with the rapidly transforming national and global scenario.
The batch is presently undergoing a 16-month induction training at the National Academy of Direct Taxes in Nagpur. (PTI)
New challenges in tax administration due to globalisation:Prez
PM pledges deeper collaboration with South American countries
BRASILIA, July 17:
Asserting that distance is not a barrier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said India will work more closely with the resource-rich Latin American nations than ever before as the setting up of the BRICS development bank opens up newer opportunities for cooperation.
“I assure you that India will work more closely with South America than ever before. At the bilateral level, as a BRICS member, in the G-77, as well as other international forums,” he told leaders from South America.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who was the host of this year’s BRICS summit, invited leaders from South America including those from Argentina, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, Paraguay on the lines of President Jacob Zuma inviting those from Africa during the last year’s summit in Durban.
“Our discussions today should throw up new ideas for partnership between BRICS and South America. BRICS nations have already started a new chapter in this with the BRICS New Development Bank. This will open up newer opportunities of cooperation,” Modi said.
Noting that there is a growing presence of Indian investors in South America, he said it is still well below potential.
Modi said South America has tremendous potential.
“It is blessed with vast resources and talent. It can become an important pillar of the global economy. In the face of economic uncertainty its growth can be crucial for global prosperity,” he said.
In a globalised and inter-connected world, he said, “our destinies are inter-linked”.
“We are all bound by shared aspirations and common challenges. We all have a stake in each other’s success. Distance is not a barrier to opportunities. It also does not insulate us from challenges in other parts of the world,” Modi said.
The Prime Minister said nations must unite to seek faster growth and newer avenues of generating prosperity, to find solutions to the challenge of poverty and to preserve our environment, and use our resources well.
“We all have a stake in each other’s success. Distance is
not a barrier to opportunities. It also does not, insulate us from challenges in other parts of the world,” the Prime Minister said.
Modi, while addressing the leaders, referred to the links between India and South America like the popularity of authors like Octavio Paz and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and the links between Gujarat and the region.
To tap enormous opportunities of cooperation, he said, “We must utilise, the Preferential Trade Agreement between India and the MERCOSUR Trade Block (South America’s trade block) and Chile, more effectively.”
“I firmly believe, the possibilities of cooperation are limited not by distance but only by our imagination and efforts. We have much to learn from each other, in our journey towards inclusive and sustainable development.
“We must share with each other, our experiences, best practices and innovative solutions. India stands committed to the same. I am pleased, that India has deputed experts, to countries in the South American region in the fields of Agriculture, Horticulture, Disaster Management, Communications and Law. We are also working together in Renewable Energy,” Modi said.
To share its expertise in Information Technology, India will establish Centres of Excellence in Information Technology in South American countries, the Prime Minister said.
India also offered to expand cooperation in areas like Tele-medicine, Tele-education and e-Governance.
“We extend our Space capabilities, for weather forecasting, resource mapping and disaster management. I also look forward, to a much more intensive level of engagement, between India and South America, in the coming years, across all domains of cooperation,” Modi said. (PTI)
Teachers’ body reconstituted
Excelsior Correspondent
RAJOURI, July 17: Provincial Teachers Welfare Forum, district Rajouri, has reconstituted the unit and unanimously re-elected Mohd Amin Mir as the president.
Ajaz-ul-Haq was elected as vice-chairman, Pervail Mehmood as senior vice-president, Mohd Mansha as vice-president, Balbir Singh as general secretary, Mohd Jameel as secretary, Aftab Mirza as press secretary, Mohd Shakoor as cashier, Abdul Rehman as chief spokesperson, Anwar Hussain as spokesperson and Zakir Hussain as joint secretary. Mukhtar Mirza Mohd Sadiq and Zafar Javid have been given the responsibilities of Advisor of the Forum.
The new office bearers were elected during a meeting, wherein demands of the Forum were also highlighted.
Youth dies in Tosa Maidan blast
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 17: A 26-year-old youth was killed on Wednesday after an unexploded shell exploded in his hands at the controversial Tosa Maidan field firing range in Budgam.
He has been identified as Bilal Ahmad Parray son of Ghulam Mohammad Parray of Cherhar Beerwah. Parray died after he picked up the shell from the artillery field late afternoon, police sources said. They said Bilal died on the spot.
With scores of civilian casualties reported from the field firing range in last several years, the locals are agitating against any further extention in lease of this land to Army. The lease ended in April this year but the base is yet to be shifted with consensus eluding the army and civilian authorities.
Meanwhile, an Army spokesman in a statement said an unfortunate accident occurred in Tosamaidan wherein Bilal Ahmed Parry of Cherhar Beerwah died due to an explosion.
“The Army troops on ground assisted in evacuating the injured to the nearest medical facility at village Drang. Army expresses profound grief on loss of precious life and conveys deepest condolence to the bereaved family,” the spokesman said.
14 Indian judokas to fight for top honours in CWG
NEW DELHI, July 17: India will send a strong contingent of 14 judokas (7 men and 7 women) at the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Judo events in the Games will be held from 23rd to 26th July 2014 at Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, Finnieston Street, Glasgow, United Kingdom.
Men Team: Navjot Chana (60Kg); Manjeet Nandal (66Kg); Balvinder Singh (73 Kg); Vikender Singh (81 Kg); Avtar Singh (-90 Kg); Sahil Pathania (100 Kg); Parikshit Kumar (100 Kg)
Women’s Team: Shushila Devi L (48 Kg); Kalpana Devi T (52 Kg); Shivani (57 Kg); Garima Choudhary (63 Kg); Suniabal Devi (70 Kg); Jina Devi (78 Kg); Rajwinder Kaur (78 Kg). (PTI)
People protest against Israel
Excelsior Correspondent
POONCH, July 17: The local people today held strong protest demonstration against Israel for attacks on Palestine and demanded immediate intervention of United Nations.
A large number of people assembled near big mosque and then started protest march in the town. They were carrying banners in their hands and raising slogans against Israel. They were demanding that bombing on Gaza Patti be stopped and innocents should not be killed.
After passing through various markets, the protesters reached near Pritam Park where some local leaders addressed gathering. Majority of them were students. Later, they culminated their protest near Bari Masjid.
A dangerous line crossed
On The Spot
Tavleen Singh
Why was the Government so defensive about the recent meeting between a relatively unknown journalist and India’s most wanted terrorist? The journalist, who till yesterday, most Indians had never heard of went to Pakistan as a member of a Congress Party delegation led by two senior Congress leaders, Salman Khurshid and Mani Shankar Aiyer. So for Rahul Gandhi to declare him a member of the RSS is too bizarre to need contradiction. Yet that is what many ministers of the new government tried to do. Why? Was it not more important to ask some real questions instead? How did this journalist manage to stay on in Pakistan for a month? How did he get to meet Hafiz Saeed? Why was he interviewed on Pakistani television as if he were an important emissary of the new government?
These are still questions that need to be asked. As someone who has reported from Pakistan many times I can confirm that it is not at all easy for Indian journalists to do even legitimate reporting from this country. No sooner do you land than you begin to be followed around by people who report directly to the omniscient ISI and if you try to cross uncertain red lines you get into immediate trouble. When I was last in Lahore to cover the general election in May I was invited to dinner in the cantonment area of this city but friends advised me not to go because as an Indian I did not have a visa to go there.
On this visit I tried to meet Hafiz Saeed. I drove to Muridke on the edge of Lahore and managed to get into the sprawling high security premises from which he runs his so-called educational and charitable institutions. There was so much Islamism in the air it was scary. He was not in Lahore that day but when I tried to go to his house I was warned off by some ominous looking Islamist types and so I pursued the matter no further. But, I assure you that when I am next in Lahore I will do my best to try and meet this man again so that I can look straight at him and ask him why he felt the need to do what he did in Mumbai on that terrible night four years ago. As someone who spends a lot of time in this city I still find it hard to go past the Leopold Café or VT station without a shiver of horror running down my spine. And, I cannot remember entering the Oberoi or the Taj without paying silent remembrance to those who were killed here on that night we call 26/11. The man I hold personally responsible is Hafiz Saeed and I would like to see him tried and hanged but yes if I get a chance I will meet him.
It is legitimate for journalists to meet some of the worst people in the world. I have personally met Pirabhakharan in the Ashoka Hotel in Delhi where he stayed as a guest of the Government of India when Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister. I have personally interviewed Gulbedin Hekmetyar and in those days when we traveled often to Peshawer to meet the leaders of the Afghan mujahideen I may even have run into Osama himself. I never got to speak to him but I vaguely remember a very tall Arab leaning against a table in one of the mujahideen offices. If I had been introduced I would have tried to interview him but he was not famous then.
It is legitimate journalism to interview not just terrorists and mass murderers but Maoist rebels, Kashmiri militants and the late Sant Jarnail Singh. What, is not legitimate is for journalists to cross the line and pretend to be doing government work and this is what Ved Pratap Vaidik appears to have been doing in Pakistan. Did he get away with this sham because he does government work for the ISI as well? Did he have access to Saeed because of his closeness to the ISI? These are questions he needs to answer before he fades back into the obscurity from whence he came for his fifteen minutes of fame.
Since we are talking about Hafiz Saeed other questions come to mind. When our Prime Minister next has a conversation with his new best friend, Nawaz Sharif, he must ask him why he has done so little to control a man who has such close links to his political party. Hafiz Saeed’s connections to people in high places do not stop with the military but extend fully to the Sharif brothers. It is said that his ‘charitable organizations’ lend support to their campaign at election time. This is why despite Nawaz Sharif having given an interview to Karan Thapar before he became prime minister again last year in which he vowed to ensure that Pakistan would not be used for jihadi terrorism against India he has never tried to reel in Saeed. Not even after the Americans put him on their list of most wanted terrorists has the Pakistani government tried in any way to curb his hate speeches or his activities.
He lives openly in his fortified premises in Muridke and has no hesitation in appearing on public platforms to vomit out hatred against India. Just the other day when Ramzan began he conducted prayers in Karachi and made a political speech in which Americans, Jews and Hindus were targeted as usual. And, it was Americans, Jews and Hindus that he sent his boy terrorists to kill at random when they came to Mumbai. On a personal level this man sickens me to the core of my being because he represents the most irredeemable type of vicious, fanatical jihadist. But, would I try and meet him if I had the chance? Of course.
It is not this that should worry us about Ved Pratap Vaidik’s travels in Pakistan but the ease with which he seems to have been able to spend a month there. What should worry us most is the ease with which he managed to meet India’s most wanted terrorist because there is no possibility of his having been able to do this without the consent of his handlers. His handlers are the same men who control the Pakistani Army and if they allowed Vaidik to meet Hafiz Saeed they must be trying to send India’s new Government a message. It cannot possibly be a message of friendship.
horoscope
Friday July 18-2014
Aries : Your day is packed full. There are negotiations, commitments, plans and decisions to wade through. You may feel low on energy and swamped due to lack of information and inputs from others. But clarity will return gradually as matters conclude, says Ganesha.
Taurus : Fortune favours the brave and you will wake up feeling gutsy. Your performance will peak today and you will reap the benefits of real estate and construction business. Your peers and boss will extend all the support you need. All in all, a day to bask in the glory of advantages and awards.
Gemini : Today, you are likely to rack your brains to get things done. But your modesty will not do you any good. You will have to show that you are the boss, even if you are not. Your extraordinary brilliance will translate into exceptional performance and will save the day. Never forget that your family is the foundation of your success, says Ganesha.
Cancer : Today, you may focus your entire attention on your relationships – your ties with your parents, spouse, children, siblings and even neighbours. However, all that effort and energy may not get its due, and you may get a cold response from one or more of your relatives. Still there is no reason to lose heart. Ganesha feels that they will come around some other day.
Leo : The friends we make go a long way in making us who we are, says Ganesha. Over the years, with your natural instinct to be a social charmer, you have built a fine circle of dedicated friends on whom you can bank with confidence under any circumstance. Today might be a day when you get the opportunity to make use of such friendship. Rest assured, says Ganesha, as your friends stand you in good stead today.
Virgo : You will be bubbling with ideas today. You may face a dilemma between your obligations and present duties, which could prove to be very perplexing. New contacts turn out to be very useful. Ganesha says blood is thicker than water, and family and friends will cement their relationship with you.
Libra : Monotonous is the word to describe the way things have been till now, but no more, says Ganesha. It might be a very good idea for you to take a break from things around you and go on a small trip. Invigorate yourself with a small picnic with family and friends. It shall go a long way in boosting your energy and enhancing your awareness and wisdom in the coming future. In any case, the stars predict satisfying results to private affairs. Also, you will impress the opposite sex quite easily, thinks Ganesha.
Scorpio : You will see every colour of the kaleidoscope today — people with different temperaments and different attitudes, many of whom will surprise you with their reactions. You may be shocked at the way your colleagues or close friends react to your strategies or success. Ganesha advises you to handle people with tact and diplomacy rather than being indifferent or arrogant.
Sagittarius : Today will be a day for introspection, says Ganesha, as you try and find the root causes of your problems. But the job is only half-done: the rest will depend on the initiatives you may take to implement possible solutions to your problems. Overall, a day spent pondering. But act fast, advises Ganesha.
Capricorn : Planning strategic moves will be done with, and all that will remain is execution. But Ganesha says there may be delays in implementing ideas that are crucial to the success of your project, and this may leave you disappointed and dismayed. But the problem will be short-lived and you will have nothing to worry about as you have all it takes to be a winner. So, just sit back and wait for the rewards to come.
Aquarius : You need not always put up a brave face, feels Ganesha. You can ventilate your emotions and speak your heart out in front of your loved ones. It will make the pain bearable and you’ll probably get a way out of your problems. You will feel better by the evening, and a sweet smile will brighten up your face.
Pisces : An important day today, you can expect to reach a much-awaited milestone either on the domestic front or at the workplace, says Ganesha. Expect your professional status and your social standing to receive a boost.
Typhoon power woes in Philippines as death toll hits 38
MANILA, July 17:Millions of people in the Philippines endured a second sweltering day without power today after a ferocious typhoon paralysed the capital and tore down flimsy rural homes, claiming at least 38 lives.
Authorities expressed frustration as reports from badly damaged areas filtered in and the death toll from Typhoon Rammasun, the first major storm of the Southeast Asian archipelago’s rainy season, was nearly doubled to 38.
“We still have to find out what exactly are the reasons a lot of our countrymen refuse to heed the warnings,” National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council chief Alexander Pama told reporters.
As part of a “zero casualty” effort, the government evacuated nearly 400,000 people from the path of Rammasun and warned others to stay indoors.
But many of the people who died were outdoors, killed by falling trees, collapsing buildings and flying debris, according to the council’s data.
Pama said the death toll could rise further, with mobile phone and other forms of communication still cut to some rural areas. He said at least eight people remained missing.
Rammasun, a Thai word for “Thunder God”, swept in off the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday night, then brought wind gusts of up to 160 kilometres an hour across land to Manila and other heavily populated northern regions.
“It really scrambled whole towns, blowing down houses and toppling power lines,” the chairman of the Philippine Red Cross, Richard Gordon, told AFP.
The typhoon cut electricity supplies to nearly all of Manila, a megacity of more than 12 million people, and surrounding urban areas.
Schools and government offices were closed throughout the capital, hundreds of flights suspended and the stock exchange closed.
The stock exchange and government offices re-opened today, but many schools remained closed partly because of the power problems.
The Manila Electric Company (Meralco), the country’s largest power distributor which serves the capital and surrounding areas, said 1.9 million households still did not have power yesterday.
With the temperature in Manila expected to hit 30 degrees Celsius and the air thick with tropical moisture, Meralco could not give any estimate to frustrated residents when power would be restored. (AGENCIES)
Paswan seeks ban on onion exports before allowing imports
NEW DELHI, July 17: Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan has suggested to the Commerce Ministry to first impose a ban on onion exports before allowing imports from other countries to boost domestic supply and check prices.
Pawan has suggested this in a letter written to Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman when the Food Ministry’s views were sought on importing one lakh tonnes of onions, officials in the know said.
In the letter, Paswan said that onion exports have come down marginally due to the imposition of MEP by the government last month. But onion in small quantities are still being exported and this needed to be curbed first before allowing imports from other countries.
Last month, the minimum export price (MEP) on onion was re-introduced at USD 300 per tonne barely three months after the previous government in March had abolished it. MEP was again raised to USD 500 per tonne early this month to curb exports.
MEP is the rate below which no exports are allowed.
Onion prices have been rising due to speculation amid anticipation of below normal monsoon despite sufficient supplies in the country.
The wholesale price of onion at Lasalgoan in Maharashtra — Asia’s largest onion market — have risen by over 50 per cent to Rs 20.15 per kg today, from Rs 13.25 per kg on the same day last month.
Retail prices of the bulb have almost doubled to Rs 30-40 per kg in the national capital since May.
Onion production is estimated to have risen to 192 lakh tonnes during 2013-14 crop year (July-June), from 168 lakh tonne in 2012-13. Exports meanwhile fell to 13.58 lakh tonnes last fiscal from 18.22 lakh tonnes in 2012-13.
The domestic demand during the lean period from June to November is met through stored rabi (winter) and fresh kharif (summer) produce. (PTI)