New Delhi Mar 29 PTI The government has been implementing two schemes for promotion of organic farming through cluster and Farmer Producer Organisations FPO since 2015-16 Lok Sabha was informed on TuesdayThe two schemes are Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana PKVY and Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region MOVCDNERUnion Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhary said both the schemes stress on end-to-end support to organic farmers -- from production to processing certification and marketing to post harvest management support including processing which helps to bring down cost of organic productsUnder the PKVY farmers are provided financial assistance of Rs 50000 per hectare for three years out of which Rs 31000 per hectare for three years is provided directly to farmers through DBT for on-farm and off-farm organic inputs he said during Question HourThe minister said financial assistance of Rs 20 lakh per cluster of 1000 hectares for three years is provided for value addition and infrastructure creationUnder MOVCDNER a sum of Rs 46575 per hectare for three years is provided for creation of FPOs support to farmers for organic inputs quality seeds and planting material and training hand holding and certification Choudhary said need-based assistance is provided for post harvest infrastructure and value addition up to maximum limit of Rs 600 lakh for integrated processing unit Rs 3750 lakh for integrated pack house Rs 1875 lakh each for refrigerated vehicle and cold store components Rs 100 lakh for collection aggregation grading and custom hiring centre and Rs 60 lakh for four wheeler and transportation PTI ACB TDS TDS

Mumbai Mar 25 PTI The Maharashtra government has decided to give cash prizes to ASHA workers who excel in their work of taking state-run welfare schemes to the intended beneficiaries health minister Rajesh Tope said in the Legislative Council on Friday Responding to a question Tope said the best performing ASHA accredited social health activist at the state level will get Rs 1 lakh while second and third prizes are Rs 75000 and Rs 50000 respectively The best performing ASHA worker at the district level will get Rs 50000 while second best will get Rs 30000 he said adding that dues worth Rs 180 crore of ASHA workers will be cleared soon ASHA workers generally receive Rs 11000 in tribal areas and Rs 10000 in non-tribal areas Their wages will be increased by Rs 500 per month from July Tope said PTI ND BNM BNM

Mumbai Mar 25 PTI Maharashtra on Friday reported 275 new coronavirus infections and two pandemic-related deaths taking the caseload to 7873231 and death toll to 147779On Thursday the state had logged 139 new cases and three deathsThough only two fresh fatalities were reported during the day the cumulative death toll in the state increased to 147779 from 143772 due to reconciliation of data the state health department saidThe reconciliation exercise was carried out following the Supreme Courts directive about giving compensation of Rs 50000 to the families of those who died due to COVID-19 as well as those who had contracted infection but died due to some other ailment it saidWe have merged Covid deaths and deaths of Covid positive patients who died due to other causes in the total death tally instead of segregating it the official release saidAs many as 16 districts and 13 municipal corporations in Maharashtra did not report fresh casesThe coastal Palghar district on the other hand reported the highest 133 new COVID-19 casesWith 346 patients recovering the total of recovered cases increased to 7724560There are only 892 active patients in the state nowCoronavirus case fatality rate is 187 per cent while the recovery rate is 9811 per centWith 42217 new coronavirus tests conducted since previous evening tally of samples tested so far in Maharashtra rose to 79156002Positivity rate jumped to 0006 per cent from 0003 per cent a day beforeThe Mumbai circle which includes Mumbai city and most parts of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region recorded 183 new cases followed by Pune circle 40 Nashik circle 24 Akola circle 9 Nagpur circle 6 Kolhapur circle 5 Latur circle 4 and Aurangabad circle 4Only Nashik and Pune circles reported a death eachCoronavirus figures of Maharashtra Positive cases 7873231 fresh cases 275 death toll 147779 recoveries 7724560 active cases 892 total tests 79156002 PTI KK KRK KRK

New Delhi Mar 25 PTI Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said the retrospective amendments relating to claiming deduction for cess and surcharge is aimed at preventing misuse of the provision especially by those who have treated it as exemptions or business expendituresThe Finance Bill had proposed retrospective disallowance of deduction for surcharge or cess with effect from Assessment Year 2005-06 As per the amendment passed by the Lok Sabha on Friday any such deduction claimed would be treated as under reported income and will be subject to 50 per cent penaltyReplying to the debate on Finance Bill in the Lok Sabha Sitharaman said surcharge and cess on tax have been over the years misused and people have treated it as their exemptions or business expendituresThat has become a very very confusing point on which people have gone to courts also So that amendment with an retrospective effect has been brought for more clarity she said Emphasising that there will be no burden on the taxpayers she said that if taxpayers on their own approach the tax authority disclosing such amount claimed as deduction there will be no penalty The income of the taxpayer will be reassessed after which legitimate taxes can be paidThere is no penalty if you come on your own Sitharaman addedThe minister proposed 39 amendments to the Finance Bill which was passed by the Lok Sabha by voice vote The other important amendments relate to tightening the norms for taxation of cryptocurrencies by disallowing set off of any losses with gains from other virtual digital assets The 2022-23 Budget has brought in clarity concerning the levy of income tax on crypto assets From April 1 a 30 per cent I-T plus cess and surcharges will be levied on such transactions in the same manner as it treats winnings from horse races or other speculative transactions It has also proposed a 1 per cent TDS on payments towards virtual currencies beyond Rs 10000 in a year and taxation of such gifts in the hands of the recipient The threshold limit for TDS would be Rs 50000 a year for specified persons which include individualsHUFs who are required to get their accounts audited under the I-T ActThe provisions related to 1 per cent TDS will come into effect from July 1 2022 while the gains will be taxed effective April 1 Referring to the concerns raised on cryptocurrencies Sitharaman said that consultation is going on over regulation of virtual digital assets Meanwhile the government has decided to tax gains from transactions in virtual digital assets at 30 per centAs regards 1 per cent TDS she said it is more for tracking such transactions and can be reconciled at the time of payment of taxes The amendment also dilutes the penalty provision relating to publication of export-import dataThe Finance Bill had proposed to insert a new Section 135AA in the Customs ActIt was proposed that if a person publishes any information relating to the value or classification or quantity of goods entered for export from or import into India or the details of the exporter or importer of such goods under the Act the person could face a six-month imprisonment a penalty of Rs 50000 or bothNow the government has done away with the six-month imprisonment period and the penalty while such actions could attract a certain period of imprisonment PTI JD CS RAM

Chandigarh Mar 24 PTI BJP leader Manjinder Sirsa on Thursday targeted AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal after Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann sought Rs 1 lakh crore financial package from the Centre saying the party was seeking money for the freebies it announced at the time of state pollsMann has sought the special package for the revival of the states economy and ensuring its holistic development during his first meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi after assuming chargeDelhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Partys convener Arvind Kejriwals lies have been exposed by the demand of Rs 1 lakh crore by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann from Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his meeting today Sirsa said in a statementSirsa alleged that Kejriwal always resorts to lies for seeking votes from people and he did same in Punjab during last months electionsKejriwal announced a host of guarantees for providing free power Rs 1000 per month to women and others and when he was questioned on how will they manage finances he replied that they will save money from sand mining excise policy and by stopping corruption said SirsaOnly a week has passed since the formation of AAP government in Punjab and the chief minister has already approached the prime minister seeking Rs 1 lakh crore to provide these freebies announced by his mentor Arvind KejriwalThe BJP leader said Punjab has a debt burden of Rs 3 lakh crore This fact was known to everyone including Kejriwal and still he made the announcements regarding various freebies which will only push the state deeper into debtAs chief minister Mann has every right to make demands from the prime minister but demand to provide money for fulfilling promises made by them to Punjabis is totally unjustifiedThis trend of making announcements and then approaching the central government for money can prove to be disastrous for a nation as more and more leaders like Kejriwal will do sameNow when Himachal Pradesh is going to have elections in a few months Kejriwal is headed to hill state where he will repeat same promises which he has done in Punjab he saidDuring his meeting with the prime minister Mann apprised him about the poor fiscal health of the state and said the previous governments have left a whopping burden of Rs 3 lakh croreAn official statement from the Punjab government said Mann sought immediate financial package of Rs 50000 crore each for two years to put the derailed economy back on the railsHe hoped that with this financial help the states economy would become self-sustainable and economically viable during the third year PTI SUN VSD RHL

New Delhi Mar 24 PTI The government on Thursday proposed to tighten the norms for taxation of cryptocurrencies by disallowing set off of any losses with gains from other virtual digital assets As per the amendments to the Finance Bill 2022 circulated among the Lok Sabha members the ministry proposes to remove the word other from section relating to set off of losses from gains in virtual digital assets This would mean that loss from the transfer of virtual digital assets VDA will not be allowed to be set off against the income arising from the transfer of another VDA According to the Finance Bill 2022 a VDA could be a code or number or token which can be transferred stored or traded electronically The VDAs will include prevailing cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens NFTs which has gained fad over the past couple of years The 2022-23 Budget has brought in clarity concerning the levy of income tax on crypto assets From April 1 a 30 per cent I-T plus cess and surcharges will be levied on such transactions in the same manner as it treats winnings from horse races or other speculative transactions Also while computing the income from transfer of VDA no deduction in respect of any expenditure other than the cost of acquisition or allowance will be allowed The Budget 2022-23 also proposed a 1 per cent TDS on payments towards virtual currencies beyond Rs 10000 in a year and taxation of such gifts in the hands of the recipient The threshold limit for TDS would be Rs 50000 a year for specified persons which include individualsHUFs who are required to get their accounts audited under the I-T Act The provisions related to 1 per cent TDS will come into effect from July 1 2022 while the gains will be taxed effective April 1 Separately the government is working on legislation to regulate cryptocurrencies but no draft has yet been released publicly The amendments to the Finance Bill also propose to dilute the penalty provision relating to publication of export-import data The Finance Bill had proposed to insert a new Section 135AA in the Customs Act which stated if a person publishes any information relating to the value or classification or quantity of goods entered for export from India or import into India or the details of the exporter or importer of such goods under this Act unless required so to do under any law for the time being in force he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or with fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees or with both The amendments seeks to do away with six-month imprisonment and the Rs 50000 penalty The amendment now reads if a person publishes any information that is furnished to Customs by an exporter or importer under this Act relating to the value or classification or quantity of goods entered for export from India or import into India along with the identity of the persons involved or in a manner that leads to disclosure of such identity unless required so to do under any law for the time being in force or by specific authorisation of such exporter or importer he shall be punishable with imprisonment PTI JD CS JD MR MR

New Delhi Mar 24 PTI The Supreme Court Thursday permitted the Centre to conduct an inquiry into fake claims for ex-gratia compensation meant for family members of those who have lost their lives due to Covid-19A bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna said the government can verify 5 per cent of claims in four states -- Maharashtra Kerala Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh -- where the gap between number of claims and recorded deaths was wideThe top court also set a period of 60 days which would be given to all such persons who are eligible as on date to apply for the ex-gratia compensation and 90 days shall be given to the future claimantsThe Centre had earlier filed an application seeking a deadline of four weeks for claiming ex gratia payment from authorities on the death of kin due to COVID-19The court had earlier expressed concern over fake claims for getting ex gratia compensation of Rs 50000 meant for family members of those who have lost their lives due to COVID-19 saying it had never visualised that this can be misused or thought that the morality has not gone so down It had also directed all state governments and Union Territories to appoint a dedicated nodal officer to coordinate with the member secretary of the state legal service authority SLSA to facilitate the payment of ex gratia compensationThe top court which was earlier annoyed over the non-disbursal of the Rs 50000 ex gratia had pulled up the state governmentsIt had said on October 4 last year that no state shall deny ex gratia of Rs 50000 to the next of kin of those who died after being infected with COVID-19 solely on the grounds that the death certificate does not mention the virus as the cause of deathThe court had also said that the ex-gratia is to be disbursed within 30 days from the date of applying to the district disaster management authority or the district administration concerned along with the proof of the death of the deceased due to coronavirus and the cause of death being certified as died due to COVID-19The top court had said that its directions for payment of compensation to the family members of the persons who died due to COVID-19 are very clear and there was no requirement at all of constituting the scrutiny committee to award compensationIt had said that it was very much made clear that even in a case where in the death certificate the cause is not shown as COVID-19 but if found the deceased was declared positive for coronavirus and has died within 30 days automatically his or her family members are entitled to the compensation without any further conditions PTI PKS SA

New Delhi Mar 23 PTI The CBI has arrested a deputy commissioner of the income tax department for allegedly receiving Rs 50000 for helping a person settle tax issues related to capital gains officials said on WednesdayAccording to the officials Daniel Raj an Indian Revenue Service officer posted at Coimbatore Tamil Nadu and a private auditor Kalyan Srinath had demanded Rs 250 lakh as bribe to settle tax issues arising out of sale of agricultural land by an assessee on whose premises search was conducted in 2017 and the matter was pending with the departmentA case was registered on a complaint against deputy commissioner of income tax and an auditor private person In February 2022 the deputy commissioner allegedly contacted the complainant and directed him to visit his office Accordingly the complainant and the auditor met the deputy commissioner of income tax and discussed the issue CBI spokesperson R C Joshi saidThe CBI laid a trap The auditor private person accepted part payment of Rs 50000 from the complainant on the directions of the public servant Both the accused were caught Searches were conducted at the office premises of the deputy commissioner at Coimbatore which led to recovery of incriminating documents and about Rs 575 lakh cash he saidThey were produced on Wednesday before the Special Judge for CBI cases Coimbatore and sent to judicial custody till April 6 Joshi added PTI ABS SRY

New Delhi Mar 23 PTI Under attack from the opposition over the sale of Air India to Tata Group Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Wednesday hit back and accused the UPA regime for saddling the then profit-making national carrier with a huge debt burdenResponding to the debate on the Demands for Grants of the Civil Aviation Ministry in Lok Sabha Scindia listed out the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines purchase of 111 new aircraft and liberalisation of bilateral rights as the reasons for the downfall of the national carrierEarlier opposition members had slammed Scindia for not referring to the sale of Air India in his nearly hour-long reply to the eight-hour debate on the budgetary allocation to the civil aviation ministryBefore 2005 Air India was making a profit of Rs 15 crore per annum and Indian Airlines was making profit of Rs 50 crore These airlines were made to purchase 111 aircraft at a cost of Rs 50-55000 crore which pushed the national carrier into deep debts Scindia saidAs opposition members stood up in protest Scindia said he had not referred to Air India at all but was forced to speak after Trinamool leader Sudeep Bandyopadhya and Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury raised the issueScindia said the decision to merge two airlines with completely different work cultures purchase of 111 aircraft liberalisation of bilateral rights when Indian air carriers did not have the capacity to fulfill it pushed Air India to post a daily loss of Rs 20 croreHe said the losses of 14 years had accumulated to Rs 85000 crore the equity infusion had cost the government Rs 54000 crore grants to the airline totalling Rs 50000 crore and net debt of Rs 66000 crore had left Air India staring at a chasm of Rs 25 lakh croreIt is under these circumstances the Prime Minister took a decision to put an end to these losses He decided on disinvestment of Air India to protect the money of 135 crore Indians and put it to good use through schemes such as Ujjwala Jal Jeevan Mission Scindia saidOn concerns raised by members Scindia said the shareholder agreement with the Tatas clearly mentioned that there will not be any employee layoffs during the first yearAfter the first year the employees will be offered a voluntary retirement scheme he said adding that the retiring and retired employees will continue to receive medical benefits under CGHS PTI SKU ZMN

Mumbai Feb 27 PTI An association of angadias traditional couriers in south Mumbai had written a letter to a senior police officer alleging that a Deputy Commissioner of Police DCP had repeatedly been demanding Rs 10 lakh as a bribe per month to allow them to operate their business a police official said on Sunday He said this letter was written to a senior officer of Mumbai Police on December 7 last year alleging that the DCP had told angadias that they either agree to pay Rs 10 lakh bribe per month or else he will take action against them Based on the complaint an FIR was registered at LT Marg police station against three officers of Mumbai Police and two of them were arrested The DCP was not named in the FIR The association stated in their letter to the Additional Commissioner of Police south that at least 100 angadias operate between Kalbadevi to Mumbadevi in south Mumbai and transport materials and cash in exchange for 01 per cent fee of the value of the material or cash In November last year during a meeting the association president informed the angadias that the DCP concerned had demanded a monthly bribe of Rs 10 lakh but the association didnt pay any money the letter said But on December 2 last year seven to eight policemen from the LT Marg police station dressed in plain clothes started checking bags of the angadia traders who were transporting materials and cash in Pofalewadi 2 and Pofalwadi 3 areas the letter stated They were taken to Mumbadevi police chowki for checking their bags Those who had Rs 5 lakh cash in the bag were made to pay Rs 50000 and those who had Rs 10 lakh cash were forced to pay Rs 1 or Rs 2 lakh Several angadias paid the bribe and got their men out of the chowki the letter claimed On December 3 the same action was repeated on the instructions of the LT Marg police station inspector it alleged The next day a member of the association went to meet the DCP in his office The DCP told him to speak with the associations president it said Between December 2 and December 4 some LT Marg police station officials extorted money from angadias it alleged The police official confirmed that the complaint letter was received The Mumbai police had recently registered an offence against three policemen for allegedly robbing and extorting money from angadias and their employees in south Mumbai The Mumbai polices crime branch arrested assistant police inspector Nitin Kadam and sub-inspector Samadhan Jamdade while inspector Om Vangate of LT Marg police station is a wanted accused an official had said PTI ZA NSK NSK