Archives for August 2018

President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday said that Indian Revenue Service officers should discharge their duty in a way that it could encourage honest tax payers as the department had primary responsibility of ensuring tax resources to fund different aspects of national development.

Kovind’s suggestion came while he was addressing a group of probationers of the 68th batch of the Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise) at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

“As administrators, it is the primary duty of Indian Revenue Service officers to ensure that our country has the tax resources to fund different aspects of national development – be it building infrastructure in rural and urban areas, schools and hospitals, defence and security and so on. They have to discharge their duty in a way that encourages honest tax compliance with minimum discomfort to tax payers,” the President said.

Addressing the probationers, the President said taxes have been the building block of governance since ages. “In ancient times, rulers and kingdoms were judged by the kind of tax systems they had.”

The President also said that a nation’s tax structure should be just, efficient, honest and equitable.

Kovind also praised the Indian Revenue Service for its role in the successful implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST).

(IANS)

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday again hit back at Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley saying that the government was “scared to face people” and had refused a Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Rafale fighter jet deal.

“Dear Jaitley, I guess your boss (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) refused to hold a JPC on the great Rafale robbery? Too much to hide, too scared to face the people, I suppose…” Gandhi said in a tweet.

Gandhi’s remarks came soon after Jaitley attacked him over the deal.

“Rahul Gandhi has not read my question: The fully weaponised Rafale aircraft’s 2016 price is 20 per cent cheaper than the 2007 offer. This is what the 2015 statement of the PM and the French President refers to as ‘on terms better than the 2007 offers’,” Jaitley said in a tweet after Congress chief in a press conference slammed Modi government over the deal.

Earlier in the day, stepping up his attack, Gandhi said Jaitley was writing “lengthy” blogs, but the government was silent on the demand for a JPC probe into the issue. “Jaitley is scared to ask the PM about constituting a JPC,” he said.

The Congress chief referred to the joint statement issued after Modi announced the Rafale deal which mentioned that the aircraft would be delivered on the same configuration as had been earlier approved by the Indian Air Force.

Hitting back at Congress President Rahul Gandhi for his attack on government over demonetisation and Rafale fighter jet deal, the BJP on Thursday said that he will not succeed in launching his career by repeatedly making false allegations in his “parrot pattern press conferences.”

“For the last two years, you have been targeting the government, sometimes by calling GST, Gabbar Singh Tax and sometimes alleging corruption in Rafale deal. You have also been pointing fingers at the government over demonetisation saying it benefitted some 15 industrialists,” BJP Spokesperson Sambit Patra told a press conference.

He said the people have repeatedly rejected not only the Congress but also the versions presented by Rahul Gandhi.

“He (Rahul Gandhi) appeared today as a very non-serious political player. There was nothing new to offer and only repetition of what he already has said,” the spokesperson said.

Gandhi, who addressed a hurriedly called press conference earlier in the day, termed demonetization a scam intended to benefit “15-20 crony capitalist friends” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and accused him of lying in the Rafale deal.

“Whatever allegations he has made over demonetisation, people have already answered in 2016 and 2017. During Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, the same allegations were leveled by Gandhi. But when the results came out, the BJP got 325 seats while the Congress got only seven. The best judge in democracy is the people,” Patra said.

Attacking the Congress President, he cited various scams that allegedly emerged during the Congress regime.

“For Rahul Gandhi, reform is deform. What is reform for the country is akin to deform for Rahul Gandhi,” he said.

Countering Gandhi over his claims that Modi government has favoured 15 industrialists, he asked: “Can you tell a single name among them?”.

On the charge that the Modi government has destroyed the Indian economy, Patra said many international organisations have pointed out that because of the reforms, India has become an engine of global economy.

About the accusation that the Prime Minister was lying in the Rafale deal, the BJP leader called Gandhi an immature leader who plays with the security of the country and portrays himself as the PM aspirant.

“For 10-11 long years, despite the fact that squadron strength of the Indian Air Force has been drastically come down, your party and your government could do nothing to restore this strength. That amounted to compromising with security of this country,” he said.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today met his Karnataka counterpart and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy in Vijayawada and discussed political issues, essentially the need for regional parties coming together.

A communique from the state Information and Public Relations Department said the two chief ministers discussed the need for regional parties coming together, more so in south India.

Naidu and Kumaraswamy expressed the opinion that all regional parties in the south should come on to a single platform. They also discussed the need for an alternative force at the Centre, the communique said.

“These issues were discussed only for a brief time. There is need for elaborate deliberations on this,” the communique quoted Naidu as saying at the end of the 40-minute meeting.

The Karnataka chief minister arrived in Vijayawada this morning to worship Goddess Kanaka Durga, the presiding deity of the historic city, atop Indrakeeladri.

Life across the Kashmir Valley was adversely affected on Friday by a separatist-called protest shutdown to voice support for Article 35A.

Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), a conglomerate of separatists headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Yasin Malik called a complete shutdown on Friday to highlight support for the article.

All shops, public transport, other businesses and educational institutions remained closed in Srinagar and other places in the valley.

Attendance in government offices, banks and post offices was badly affected because of non-availability of public transport in the city and other districts of the valley.

Post-graduate entrance exams have already been rescheduled because of the shutdown. Rail services between Baramulla and Bannihal towns were also suspended for the second consecutive day.

Authorities imposed restrictions in several areas — Khanyar, Rainawari, Nowhatta, M.R.Gunj, Safa Kadal, Kralkhud and Maisuma to maintain law and order, police said.

Heavy deployments of police and paramilitary forces have been made in areas placed under restrictions and other law and order sensitive places in the Valley.

Article 35A of the Constitution empowers the Jammu and Kashmir legislature to define the states ‘permanent residents’ and their special rights.

It has been challenged in the Supreme Court through a bunch of petitions being heard by a three-judge bench on Friday.