PM Modi's ministry of Minority Affairs utilised 98% of funds

Ministry of Minority Affairs, under Najma Heptullah, is amongst the top performers of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party government.

The ministry has been able to spend 98% of the entire Plan Budget in 2015-16 on various schemes and programmes meant for the people of minority community.

Heptulla said that "the Expenditure of our ministry in the financial year 2015-16 was not only 20% higher than the preceding fiscal, but for the first time in the history of the ministry there was no cut imposed in the revised estimate of the planned budget."

Aadhaar, net banking-based IT e-filing activated

New Delhi, Apr 11 (PTI) Income Tax department has activated the Aadhaar and net banking-based e-filing verification system for taxpayers to file the first appeal before a tax officer, on similar lines of online ITR filing.

In order to reduce the interface between taxman and the taxpayer, the department has recently operationalised the maiden facility on its official e-filing portal.

"One EVC can be used to validate one form of the assesse irrespective of the assessment year. The EVC will be stored against the assesse PAN along with other verification details.

The EVC will be valid for 72 hours or as otherwise specified," a notification in this regard said.

The Electronic Verification Code (EVC) works by way of generating a personalised OTP by using the Aadhaar database or the net banking identity of a filer or entity. The OTP is subsequently sent to the personal email id or mobile phone of the filer for validation and subsequent process of filing.

The facility of filing the appeal form, like filing Income Tax Returns (ITRs), can also be done using a digital signature on the official web portal of the tax department --http://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/.

The existing two-page document used for this, called 'Form No. 35', has been re-formatted by the department recently so that it can be electronically uploaded on the said e-filing portal.

In the new e-form, an applicant or taxpayer seeking appeal against an Assessing Officer's order has been given an avenue to append 'Statement of Facts' in 1,000 words as also furnish the grounds of appeal in another 100 words.

Documentary evidence can also be appended to the new form by an assess using the internet-based facility.

The IT department has four stages of appeal mechanism for the assessees to put forth their grievance beginning with the Commissioner of IT (Appeals), the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), the High Court and finally the Supreme Court.

The new form is applicable for the CIT (Appeal) fora and those taxpayers who file e-returns will be eligible to use this new facility.

In view of launch of this facility and activation of a select category of ITRs last week, the taxman had also asked filers to "update their profile and select higher security option to secure their e-filing account" created over the portal.

"Electronic filing of appeal along with the documents relied upon before CIT (Appeals) will remove human interface, reduce paperwork and decrease the transaction cost for the taxpayer. It would ensure consistent and error-free service as validations will be in-built, resulting in fewer deficient appeals. Online filing will also facilitate fixation of hearing of appeals electronically.

"The new format for filing of appeals is more structured, objective, systematic and aligned with the current provisions of the Income Tax Act," the Central Board of Direct Taxes had earlier said.

With these changes, it had said, the "burden of compliance on the taxpayers in appellate proceedings will be significantly reduced.
-Source PTI

Delhi Govt. make tall promises in budget, slashes VAT to 5%

New Delhi, Mar. 28 (ANI): The Delhi Government on Monday slashed value-added tax (VAT) rates from 12.5 percent to 5 percent.

Presenting the budget for 2016-17, Deputy Delhi Government made e rickshaws, battery operated vehicles, hybrid vehicles, sweets, snacks, savoury items, marbles and ready-made garments cheaper.

Announcing Rs 46,600 crores annual budget for 2016-17, Sisodia pegged the plan outlay at Rs 20,600 crore.

Maintaining that Delhi has registered a growth of 17 percent in 2015-16, Sisodia said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led government was encouraging ease of doing business.

He allocated Rs. 100 crores for delivering basic amenities to jhuggi bastis, while art, culture and language will also be boosted by an expenditure of Rs 54 crore.

Under the 'Bill Banao Inam Pao' scheme, which helped eliminate tax evasion, the government had last month collected Rs. 1 crore extra tax, he said.

He said the focus of the Aam Aadmi Party government's budget is good intention and corruption free administration. He said, for education ten thousand 690 crore rupees, for health Rs. 5,259 crore and for transport Rs 1735 crore has been earmarked.

Sisodia said two thousand new buses would be added to the existing fleet of the DTC and Clusters services.

The minister said Mohalla security forces would be set up in every Vidhan Sabha to bring more secure environment.

The Deputy Chief Minister said GDP of Delhi has registered an increase of 13 percent and per capita income is estimated to go up by 11 percent from Rs. 2 lakh 52 thousand to Rs. 2 lakh 80 thousand.

He said a provision of Rs 6,919 crore have been made in the budget for municipal corporations of Delhi.

This amount is nearly one thousand crore rupees, higher than last year's allocation. The government has earmarked 10 crore rupees for Aam Aadmi Canteen to provide cheaper and hygienic food to poor's.
-Source ANI