Kolkata Apr 23 PTI The CBI on Saturday formed a four-member medical team to examine TMC heavyweight Anubrata Mandal as he skipped appearance before its sleuths citing health reasons despite being sent summons for the sixth time in connection with the cattle smuggling scam an official of the agency saidA separate team of the central agency has also asked him to appear before it on Sunday for aiding the probe into last years post-poll violence casesMandal was discharged from the state-run SSKM Hospital on Friday evening 17 days after he was admitted there with health-related complicationsAccording to the official the Birbhum district president of the TMC sought four weeks time to appear before CBI detectivesWe have formed a special medical team to conduct tests on Anubrata and find out more about his present health condition Today Mandal did not appear before our officers We had made all preparations for the 530 pm sessionHe has written emailed to us to say that he was not fit enough to walk around and sought another four weeks time to appear before us the official said adding that the email had been forwarded to agency headquarters in DelhiMandal had been advised full rest by doctors for the next two to three weeks sources close to the leader saidWe want to find out whether Mandal will be able to appear before our officers and take questions We need to check the extent of his illness the CBI official saidMondal the TMCs Birbhum district president had earlier dodged CBI appearances multiple times citing health problems and election-related work PTI SCH RMS RMS

New Delhi Mar 19 PTI Reforms undertaken by the government within the Income Tax department and the strengthening of the Indian economy are among the major factors that led to the highest-ever direct tax collections in the country which stand at over Rs 1363 lakh crore CBDT Chairman J B Mohapatra has saidHe said apprehensions about the state of the economy battered by the COVID-19 spread were belied as it did so well and the corporates came out so well in paying taxes during the current financial year 2021-22Mohapatra exuded confidence that the direct tax mop up which primarily includes personal income tax and corporation tax revenue receipts will continue its present streak and the department will be able to successfully chase the target of collecting Rs 1420 lakh crore in taxes in the next fiscalIt will be very difficult to say how things will pan out the next year but there is no room to say that good times only last for four quarters Mohapatra told PTI in an interviewThe Central Board of Direct Taxes CBDT is the administrative body for the I-T department and according to its March 17 announcement direct tax collections as on March 16 in India broke all previous recordsThe CBDT chief listed the reasons that he believes led to the record collectionsFirst is the strengthening of the Indian economy The better the economy the better is the tax mop up which is happening right now Second reason will be the reforms undertaken across departments having an effect on the tax departments own collection numbers he saidThere are policy measures that have been taken over a period of time in the budget or outside the budget and are now giving the rebound effect or dividends Mohapatra saidThe third reason I would say will be the reforms within the department which have been continuous in the last four yearsProbably we have changed more than ever in the history of this department and these reforms take a while to gather steam and create results he saidMohapatra said after three-four years of working on the reforms both the taxpayer and the department are getting acquainted with the new processes and procedures and they are slowly bearing fruit So the point is that the reforms once triggered do not yield result right away but it takes time to sink in the mind consciousness and also in the operational culture of the department So now probably the time has come in which we are seeing the results of the reforms in the department he saidThe fourth factor Mohapatra said was small but important and is related to the technology induction in the I-T departmentFor example the annual information system AIS in which more and more information about the financial transactions they would have done in the year is now being delivered to the taxpayer This is taking them towards voluntary complianceOut of the over Rs 1363 lakh crore collection as on March 16 only about Rs 54000-55000 crore has come from regular assessment tax under which tax is paid by the assessee after department issues notice to themThe rest of the collection is coming by way of voluntary compliance This is happening because taxpayers are getting empowered with the financial information which is available to them he saidEarlier taxpayers used to struggle to get this information but now they have it at their fingertips the CBDT chief saidSo this has also helped the taxpayer to pay the right amount of taxes he saidMohapatra said that by the end of this fiscal on March 31 the net or actual tax collections after issuance of due refunds should settle upwards of Rs 135 lakh crore The I-T department was given a target to collect Rs 1108 lakh crore budget estimates this fiscal and it was later revised to Rs 1250 lakh croreMohapatra said collections under all heads have been the highest this time He gave a breakup to substantiate his pointThis year till March 16 the collection under the advance tax category was Rs 662 lakh crore which is 407 per cent more than 2020-21 506 per cent more than 2019-20 and 308 per cent more than 2018-19 he saidSimilarly the collection under the tax deducted at source TDS category stands at Rs 679 lakh crore which is 377 per cent more than 2020-21 405 per cent more than 2019-20 and 519 per cent more than 2018-19 he addedThe collection under the self assessment tax SAT category Mohapatra said stands at Rs 134318 crore which is 349 per cent higher than 2020-21 361 per cent higher than 2019-20 and 429 per cent more than 2018-19Under the regular tax category he said the collection is Rs 55238 crore -- 465 per cent more than 2020-21 and 89 per cent more than 2019-20For STT securities transaction tax for shares category the government had set a target of Rs 12500 crore at the beginning of the year and in the revised estimates it was hiked to Rs 20000 crore the CBDT chief saidWe are more than Rs 22000 crore by March 16 So all components sub-components gross and net numbers are the highest thus far in the history of the departmentThese are very big numbers and this has come at the most opportune time in the history of the department he saidMohapatra said the department has not completed a sectoral analysis yet to be able to say how various sections of the economy faredSectors which did well will be those that are doing well in the current time like banking However we are yet to complete the sectoral analysis I will come back later to say which sectors have done well and which have not done well he said PTI NES DIV DIV

New Delhi Jan 21 PTI The Congress on Friday released a manifesto for the youth ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections with Rahul Gandhi asserting that the party wants to build a new UP driven by the strength of the youthIn the manifesto the party resolved to fill the massive backlog of jobs in the public sector and promised 20 lakh jobs of which eight lakh would be for womenPriyanka Gandhi Vadra who along with Rahul Gandhi released the Bharti Vidhan at the party headquarters here said the party wants the focus to be on development as the propaganda that is mostly going around is negative or based on caste or communalismAsked whether her party would be willing to align with other Opposition parties if the need arises post elections in order to implement the vision unveiled by the party Priyanka Gandhi told reporters If such circumstances arise and in the event that they do we would be open to considering that I would say that if such a situation arises then we would certainly want our agenda for the youth and women to be fulfilled if we were going to be part of any such dispensation To another question on the chief ministerial face of the party and what would be the partys strategy on it going into polls the party general secretary said Do you see any other face in UP from the Congress side Then When pressed she said Cant you see my face visible everywhere In his remarks at the press conference to launch the youth manifesto Rahul Gandhi said the vision document is not hollow words but drafted after consulting youth whose views are reflected in itThere are polls in UP and the youth there need a new vision and only the Congress can give that vision to the state the former president saidWe dont spread hatred we work to unite people and we want to build a new Uttar Pradesh driven by the strength and confidence of youth Priyanka Gandhi added that biggest problem in the state is recruitment and the youth are disappointedThe party is going to the polls with the focus on youth and women and has announced that it will reserve 40 per cent of tickets for women in Uttar Pradesh Polling for the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly is scheduled to be held in seven phases from February 10 to March 7 and the counting of votes will be held on March 10 PTI SKCASK MIN MIN

New Delhi Jan 21 PTI Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday released the Congress manifesto for the youth of Uttar Pradesh ahead of the assembly elections saying only the party can give a new vision to the youth in the state Addressing a press conference at the launch of the youth manifesto called Bharti Vidhan Rahul Gandhi said the vision document is not hollow words but has been drafted after consulting youth whose views are reflected in itThe youth in Uttar Pradesh need a new vision and only Congress can give that vision to the state the former president saidWe dont spread hatred we unite people and we want to create a new Uttar Pradesh with the strength of youth Rahul Gandhi addedIn her remarks party leader Priyanka Gandhi said the biggest problem in the state is recruitment and the youth are disappointedShe said her party in UP wants the focus to be on development and not on negative propaganda based on caste or communalism that is going aroundThe party is going to the polls with the focus on youth and women and has announced that it will reserve 40 per cent of tickets for women in Uttar Pradesh Polling for the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly is scheduled to be held in seven phases from February 10 to March 7 and the counting of votes will be held on March 10 PTI SKCASK MIN MIN

New Delhi Sep 20 PTI Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday spoke to his American counterpart Lloyd Austin during which they discussed bilateral defence cooperation and the situation in AfghanistanDescribing the conversation as warm Singh said it was agreed to continue with the useful dialogue and to strengthening the India-US partnership furtherHad a warm telephone conversation with SecDef Mr Lloyd Austin We discussed issues pertaining to bilateral defence cooperation regional matters including situation in Afghanistan the defence minister saidWe agreed to continue the useful dialogue look forward to strengthening the partnership further he saidThe conversation came ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to the US this week PTI MPB RC