MAKE IT, INDIA
Five months ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented `Make in India' as the centrepiece of his grand vision to boost manufacturing, foster innovation, attract investment, cut red tape, create jobs, and turbo-charge the economy. It's now been nine months since he took over as PM. Does this Budget deliver on the promise of restoring the nation's pride? Will it help India prove its mettle, and bring the shine back? Will it unleash animal spirits? While the elephant has traditionally represented the Indian economy, the lion is a symbol of Modi's home state and of his ambitious initiative; it also inspired our national emblem. We all know of the tiger economies; will the world now hear the roar of a sher economy? Can we be king of the jungle, ready to pounce on new opportunities (and we are tempted to add, steel the show)? Fans of English films would say, `Enter, the Lion'. Us desis are rooting for `Singham Returns'...
Mar 01 2015 : The Times of India (Ahmedabad)
SWITCH TO SWACHH - One-time chance on black money or 10 yrs in jail
Sidhartha & Surojit Gupta |
| TIMES NEWS NETWORK |
The government is working on a plan to provide a one-time opportunity to those who have black money abroad to pay taxes and repatriate their stash even as finance minister Arun Jaitley unveiled a raft of stringent measures in the Budget to crack down on offenders. He is likely to announce this facility when he introduces a comprehensive legislation to curb black money in this session of Parliament.The severity of punishments proposed may prompt those with unaccounted money to come clean.Inadequate disclosure or evasion related to foreign assets will be punishable by jail terms up to 10 years. assets will be punis Violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act may result in imprisonment up to five years. In addition to jail time, penalty will be levied at 300% of the tax due for concealing income and assets. Black money in foreign accounts will be non-compoundable and offenders will not be permitted to approach the Settlement Commission.
“Tracking down and bringing back the wealth which legitimately belongs to the country is our abiding commitment,“ Jaitley said. His tough talk will give help blunt criticism that the government has been dragging its feet on the issue of black money .
A separate bill will be brought to deal with domestic black money , primarily through benami transactions in real estate. It will allow for confiscation of benami property and provide for prosecution, blocking a major avenue for generation of black money .
The Finance Bill also includes a proposal to prohibit payment or receipt of cash advances of Rs 20,000 or more for purchase of immovable property .
“Tracking down and bringing back the wealth which legitimately belongs to the country is our abiding commitment,“ Jaitley said. His tough talk will give help blunt criticism that the government has been dragging its feet on the issue of black money .
A separate bill will be brought to deal with domestic black money , primarily through benami transactions in real estate. It will allow for confiscation of benami property and provide for prosecution, blocking a major avenue for generation of black money .
The Finance Bill also includes a proposal to prohibit payment or receipt of cash advances of Rs 20,000 or more for purchase of immovable property .
Sops ka saath, sabka vikas: FM combines growth & give-aways
TEAM TOI |
The headline-grabbing big bang measures might have been missing in finance minister Jaitley's maiden full-year Budget on Saturday , but it sought to diligently create an enabling platform, block by block, for future economic growth. At the same time, the FM announced a series of pro-poor measures to blunt the growing criticism about the Modi government being pro-rich. In the process, he might have just might have just pulled off a rare feat of combining a pro-g rowth budget with welfarist measures.Going beyond the accountant's task, Jaitley has used his budget to achieve two political objectives. He has tried to fight has tried to fight off the impression that the NDA government is indifferent to the poor by announcing a number of measures for them: housing for all, a rupee-a-month accident insurance cover aimed at unorganized labour, and extension of financial inclusion by making post offices payment banks. He has also announced the harshest penalty yet for those with unaccounted wealth.
While Jaitley may face criticism for relaxing the fiscal goals by pushing back the deadline by a year to cut the deficit to 3% of GDP , he has used the additional room to allocate an addi tional Rs 70,000 crore for infrastruc ture and has cleaned up the processes for investments to flow in, mainly for roads, railways, ports and power. Five new ultra mega power projects of 4,000mw are to be set up. Like the exist ing UMPPs, these will be in the `plug and-play' mode, meaning all clear ances would be in place before they are put up for bidding by the private sector.
The FM also The FM also promised 24-hour p o w e r, c l e a n drinking water and toilets for all homes, at least one job for each household, con necting all habita t i o n s b y a l l weather roads, electrifying all villages, and good health and education facilities in every town and village. The deadline for these goals in line with the `sabka saath, sabka vikas' motto of the Modi government is 2022, which is the 75th year of India's independ ence and three years after the term of the current government ends. The FM also said the Jan Dhan pro gramme would be moved further to a Jan Suraksha programme to create a “universal security system for all Indians, especially the poor“.
While Jaitley may face criticism for relaxing the fiscal goals by pushing back the deadline by a year to cut the deficit to 3% of GDP , he has used the additional room to allocate an addi tional Rs 70,000 crore for infrastruc ture and has cleaned up the processes for investments to flow in, mainly for roads, railways, ports and power. Five new ultra mega power projects of 4,000mw are to be set up. Like the exist ing UMPPs, these will be in the `plug and-play' mode, meaning all clear ances would be in place before they are put up for bidding by the private sector.
The FM also The FM also promised 24-hour p o w e r, c l e a n drinking water and toilets for all homes, at least one job for each household, con necting all habita t i o n s b y a l l weather roads, electrifying all villages, and good health and education facilities in every town and village. The deadline for these goals in line with the `sabka saath, sabka vikas' motto of the Modi government is 2022, which is the 75th year of India's independ ence and three years after the term of the current government ends. The FM also said the Jan Dhan pro gramme would be moved further to a Jan Suraksha programme to create a “universal security system for all Indians, especially the poor“.
Implementing a 1988 law. Aha, Arun Jaitley promises :)--
Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 is an Act of Parliament of India that prohibits benami transactions and the right to recover property held benami. It came into force on 5 September 1988. The benami transaction is any transaction in which property is transferred to one person for a consideration paid by another person.[3][4]
Etymology
Benami is a Persian language word that means "without name" or "no name". In this Act, the word is used to define a transaction in which the real beneficiary is not the one in whose name the property is purchased. As a result, the person in whose name the property is purchased is just a mask of the real beneficiary.[5]
Background
In 1973, the Law Commission of India after studying various Acts and prevailing benami system, recommended formulating an Act to tackle the issue. Accordingly, the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 was enacted by the Parliament which came into force on 19 May 1988.[2]
However, due to various deficiencies in the Act, the rules required for operationalizing the Act were not framed. To address these deficiencies, several years later, in 2011, the Govt of India introduced "Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Bill, 2011".[2][5]
Technological Help
Aadhaar is a 12-digit social security number assigned to residents of India for lifetime. It is a digital identity, verifiable online instantly in public domain, at anytime, from anywhere, in a paperless way. Aadhaar is a technological help to Benami law enforcement. It is capable of preventing benami transactions in retail-corruption areas. Its mandatory use in property and financial transactions can be a game-changer.[6][7]
As the public databases are getting inter-linked one by one through Aadhaar number in various states (particularly Delhi),[8] middlemen and officials now find difficult to continue with corruption in social security programs like pensions,[9] scholarships, health,[10] NREGA, subsidy on PDS Ration,[11] kerosene,[12] and LPG.[13]
Ineligible, duplicate and fictitious beneficiaries are getting eliminated from social security programs.[14]
Corrupt people are finding difficult to buy and sell benami land and building,[15] to open and operate benami companies for money-laundering.[16][17] They are also finding difficult to open and operate benami bank accounts for keeping criminal proceeds.[18] Tax-evaders are finding difficult to evade taxes,[19] and impersonation and proxy are getting difficult to commit due to online biometric validation.[20]
References
"AMENDMENT TO THE BENAMI TRANSACTIONS (PROHIBITION) ACT, 1988". Retrieved 22 October 2013.
^ Jump up to: a b c "58th Report of the Standing Committee on Finance on the BTP Bill, 2011". Retrieved 22 October 2013.
"Benami Transaction_Prohibition_ Act, 1988". Archived from the original on August 12, 2013.
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=8Wn0lpZXv8EC&pg=PA1&dq=Benami+Transactions&hl=en&sa=X&ei=AdBSUfCrC8XmkgWWk4GYDA&ved=0CDYQuwUwAQ
^ Jump up to: a b "Cabinet approves new act to deal with benami transactions". The Times Of India. Jul 21, 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
"UIDAI makes KYC process paperless to improve customer service". The Times Of India. 2013-08-19.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/aadhaar-mandatory-for-sale-purchase-of-land-in-jharkhand-369823
http://www.ciol.com/ciol/news/155179/aadhaar-mandatory-voluntary-delhi
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130910/cth1.htm
http://www.ciol.com/ciol/news/123133/uidai-success-national-progress-sheila-dixit
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/govt-goes-hitech-to-curb-ration-card-fraud/486376/
"Kerosene woes: Fair price shops want to go the kirana way". The Times Of India. 2013-08-29.
"Drive against cooking gas misuse helps government save billion in imports - The Times of India". The Times Of India.
"Aadhaar remains a must in Delhi". Hindustan Times. 2013-09-24. Retrieved 2013-10-31.
"Verification for property registration will be Aadhaar-based soon - Mumbai - DNA". Dnaindia.com. 2013-10-03. Retrieved 2013-11-06.
"Aadhaar to aid anti money laundering measures: FATF". CIOL. 2013-02-28. Retrieved 2013-11-05.
"Know Your Customer (KYC) Norms /Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Standards/ Combating of Financing of Terrorism (CFT)/Obligation of banks under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 – e-KYC Service of UIDAI – Recognising on-line Aadhaar authentication (electronic verification process) to be accepted as an ‘Officially Valid Document’ under PML Rules | taxandregulatoryaffairs". Taxandregulatoryaffairs.wordpress.com. 2013-09-17. Retrieved 2013-11-05.
http://www.mid-day.com/news/2011/jul/170711-fake-document-racket-PAN-card-sellers.htm
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/features/fake-pan-cards-availablea-jiffy_276846.html
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-verification-for-property-registration-will-be-1897428