Union Minister Prakash Javadekar has challenged Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) for an open debate on whether the farm reforms introduced by the Centre are in the interest of farmers or not.

“Rahul Gandhi suddenly said you will (Centre government) have to withdraw the new farm laws. I am giving him an open challenge for a debate, whether the laws are good, in the interest of farmers or not. I am giving challenge to Rahul Gandhi and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) to debate,” Javadekar said while addressing farmers in Chennai. Rahul Gandhi on Thursday called the farmer protests a ‘Satyagraha’ and urged the people to support the farmers agitating against the three farm laws passed by the Central government.

Citing a media report alleging the new laws used to dupe farmers, Rahul Gandhi had tweeted: “Farmers in India are agitating against anti-agricultural laws to avoid such a tragedy. In this Satyagraha, we all have to support the anna data of the country.”

The ‘Delhi Chalo’ farmers’ protest along Delhi’s borders has entered the 31st day on Saturday. Meanwhile, several rounds of talks between ministers and farmers’ leaders have failed to produce a breakthrough so far.

Hundreds of farmers have been protesting against the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

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2,81,919 active cases in the country, while with 336 new deaths in the last 24 hours

New Delhi –  

Christmas brought good news for India whose overall COVID-19 recovery rate improved to 95.77 per cent on Friday, with Mumbai’s Dharavi, one of the worst affected areas in the country, reporting no positive cases, for the first time since the spread of the coronavirus in one of Asia’s largest slums.

 “The recovery rate has improved to 95.77 per cent on Friday. The cumulative recovered cases stand at 0.97 crore (97,17,834). The gap between the recovered and active cases is also steadily increasing and presently stands at 94,35,915,” said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

 After 24,661 new discharges in the last 24 hours, the overall recoveries reached 97,17,834, while with 23,068 new COVID-19 infections, India’s total case count reached 1,01,46,846 on Friday, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

 At present, there are 2,81,919 active cases in the country, while with 336 new deaths in the last 24 hours, the cumulative toll has mounted to 1,47,092.

 Meanwhile, 10 states/Union territories have contributed 77.38 per cent of the new cases.

 Maharashtra reported 3,431 new COVID-19 cases, 1,427 discharges, and 71 deaths today, as per the state Health Department. Out of these, Mumbai reported 596 new COVID-19 cases, 377 recoveries/discharges and 11 deaths today. For the first time since the COVID-19 outbreak, no positive cases were reported in Mumbai’s Dharavi today.

 Kerala reported maximum 5,397 new COVID-19 cases and 4,506 recoveries today.

 Tamil Nadu reported 1,027 new COVID-19 cases, 1,103 discharges, and 12 deaths in the last 24 hours as per the data of the government of Tamil Nadu.

 Karnataka reported 1,005 new COVID-19 cases, 1,102 discharges and five deaths today.

 Andhra Pradesh reported 355 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number to 8,80,430, as the per state Health Department.

 Delhi continued to show a decline with 758 new COVID-19 cases, while reporting 1,370 recoveries and 30 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per Delhi Health Department.

 Punjab reported 320 new COVID-19 cases, 412 discharges, and nine deaths today, said the government of Punjab.

 Compared globally, India has one of the lowest case fatalities per million of the population (106). India’s Case Fatality Rate is 1.45 per cent at present, the Health Ministry added.

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Boxing Day is Celebrated on the day after Christmas in few countries and there are various theories around it

Boxing Day is the next day after Christmas, where the celebrations continue. It is celebrated on 26th December every year. This day is celebrated only in a few countries like the United Kingdom, Austria, Canada, etc. There are several theories behind the celebration of this day. 

Background

It is said that this day is used to get rid of the Christmas Gift boxes. The empty gift cartons are given away or thrown away on this day. This tradition dates back to the middle ages in England. Another theory is that people fill those empty gift cartons with small gifts or leftover food from the Christmas dinner and give it to the house help or servants. This was done as 26th December would be the first working day after Christmas for them. 

It is also said that on this day, the priests of Churches open the Alms Boxes after Christmas. These boxes contain money which was donated by people to the needy or poor. There are many churches that still follow this rule even today.

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Gauahar and Zaid tied the knot in an intimate ceremony today.

Well, the year 2020 hasn’t been that bad after all. With so many people finding love and affection in these testing times, the pandemic couldn’t have been better for them.

One such couple is Gauahar and Zaid Darbar who were love-struck amid the pandemic and just connected instantly. Gauhar has been all vocal about her love life and making the bond permanent as well.

Gauahar Khan Was Vocal For Zaid’s Love On Instagram

Announcing her wedding on Instagram, the actor had written, “The year 2020 has been anything but ordinary and our love story through it all has been nothing short of extraordinary! It gives us immense joy to announce that we are tying the knot and embarking on a journey of forever. Keeping the current scenario in mind, we will be celebrating the big day with our family in an intimate ceremony. We seek your blessings & love & are eternally grateful for the constant support & the outpour of warm wishes we have received. We hope for every soul to find its mate and pray for every heart to find it’s reason to beat. All our love, Gauahar and Zaid.”

Gauahar even took to Instagram to share her love story and it is one of the most beautiful ones, we must say.

In a candid ceremony, Gauahar said ‘Qubool Hai’ to Zaid Darbar and we can’t help but look at their marriage pictures in awe.

Wedding Photos Of The Couple

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He requested the farmers to reciprocate by ensuring that the battle for justice does not cause any problems for the people of the state.

Amid reports of disconnection of power supply to various mobile towers across the state, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday appealed to protesting farmers not to inconvenience people with such actions but “to continue to exercise the same restraint as they had been showing over the past several months of their agitation”.

Pointing out that telecom connectivity had become even more critical for people amid the COVID pandemic, the Chief Minister urged the farmers to show the same discipline and sense of responsibility which they had been exercising during their protest on the Delhi border, which has completed one month, and also earlier during their agitation in the state.

Urging the farmers not to take the law in their hands by forcibly shutting down telecom connectivity or manhandling employees or technicians of telecom service providers, the Chief Minister said such actions were not in the interest of Punjab and its future. He said the people of Punjab had been standing with the farmers in their fight against the “black farm laws” and would continue to do so.

He requested the farmers to reciprocate by ensuring that the battle for justice does not cause any problems for the people of the state.

According to an official release, the Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said that forceful disruption of telecom services due to snapping of power supply to mobile towers by farmers in several parts of the state was not only adversely affecting the studies and future prospects of students, who are dependent entirely on online education, but also hampering the daily life of people working from home due to the pandemic.

The disruption of telecom services would also seriously affect the state’s already disturbed economy, he noted, exhorting the farmers to continue with their peaceful protests without causing any inconvenience to the citizens of Punjab.

Captain Amarinder Singh pointed out that the prolonged economic crisis, which would be aggravated as a result of telecom service disruption in the state, would have a trigger-effect on the agriculture sector, as well as the farming community too.

The effects would be detrimental to all sections, he said, adding that such actions would adversely impact his government’s efforts to attract more investment in the telecom sector as part of its recently announced New Telecom Guidelines 2020, which was also aimed at improving telecom connectivity in the state.

In the wake of COVID-19, the urgency of these guidelines was felt seriously as there was dire need to improve connectivity through easing Right of Way permissions for overground and underground telecom infrastructures, the release said, adding that the guidelines were expected to give a quantum jump to the telecom and internet connectivity in the state.

Punjab is one of the states with the highest telecom density, the release said.

Farmers protesting against the three farm laws in Mansa in Punjab have shut the power supply to several Reliance Jio towers in the town, disrupting services in parts of the state.

The Chief Minister’s appeal came in the wake of a request from the Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA), a registered body of telecom infrastructure providers, asking the state government to persuade the farmers not to resort to any unlawful activity in their fight for justice.

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Good Governance Day is celebrated on 25th December every year to enhance the Betterment and Welfare of the Citizens of India

Good governance is a commitment made to the citizens of the country. This allows the citizens to live in harmony with each other and the governing body. Each year, on 25th December, Good Governance Day is celebrated. 

Background

Former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, always worked for good governance. In 2014, National Good Governance Day was established as a tribute to Vajpayee. On 23rd December 2014, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya were announced as the recipient of the Bharat Ratna. Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian award of India. Subsequently, this day was announced by Prime Minister Modi. Since 2014, this day has become official and is observed annually. 

Objectives

The objectives of celebrating this day are:

• The aim is to enhance the growth and development in the country through good governance
• To make people aware about the government commitment of providing transparent and accountable administration
• This day celebrates the standardizing of government working to make it highly efficient
• To complete the mission of Good Governance Day, this day is an opportunity to implement new and effective policies 
• Making the citizens of India active participants in the good governance process is the main objective of this day

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I-T department has launched a campaign for non-responding persons to catch tax evaders to collect due taxes and penalties from them

The Income Tax (I-T) Department has identified a noticeable number of persons who have deliberately chosen to ignore notices calling for enquiry and verification of the tax returns. These persons have ignored the emails, the SMSs (short message service) and even the physical notices in some cases.

However, now it would be difficult for them to avoid outreach of the I-T Department as the technology-driven Faceless Assessment Scheme has been operationalized, said the sources in the Department of Revenue (DoR). The I-T department has launched a nationwide campaign to spot such non-responding persons to catch tax evaders to collect due taxes and penalties from them. In one of such a case, an individual at Rajkot, Gujarat who showed his income less than Rs 5 lakh a year and has bank accounts with cash deposits of nearly Rs 10 crore and cash withdrawal of Rs 7.5 crore, the sources said.

This scamster did not respond to six notices, over 10 SMS alerts and other means to contact him. A survey operation was conducted during which the individual was not traceable and the business premises shown in the income tax return was of someone else. His home was traced from the bank but he appears to have absconded. Now, the process to attach his bank account and other assets have been initiated.

Sources said that these unscrupulous tax evaders have probably mistaken the taxpayer facilitating approach of I-T department to mean laxity in follow up action but the department is quite watchful with non-intrusive means of data analytics and Artificial intelligence (AI) and it will not be possible for a dishonest tax evader and fraudsters to escape from BIFA tool and tech-driven tax system.

A highly placed source in the Ministry of Finance said on the condition of anonymity that the I-T department is committed to honouring the honest taxpayers while penalizing tax evaders/fraudsters.

He cited a case of Mumbai, where an individual suggested his income of less than Rs 5 lakh a year but had made cash deposits worth Rs 12 crores. Later, a pre-survey examination revealed cash deposits were of about Rs 60 crores. During the survey, diaries were impounded as the individual does not maintain books of accounts.

Further enquiries are underway to pinpoint the source of cash, he said.
Similarly, in yet another case wherein an individual from Alwar, Rajasthan had deposited in his bank account cash of Rs 27 crores in FY 2017-18 and Rs 22 crores in FY 2019-20 and had shown his income in the range of Rs 3 to Rs 5 lakhs only.

The individual now under survey is being investigated, said the sources, adding that the Faceless Assessment Scheme along with improved Form 26AS and pre-filled ITRs is robustly tuned to make a distinction between honest taxpayers and deliberate tax evaders/fraudsters and the IT department would not hesitate to take required coercive actions against non-responding persons and tax evaders who have misused the trust reposed on them.

DoR sources in the know of the matter told to have learned that approximately in 6,000 cases the devious tax evaders have tried the route of no-response in an apparent bid to escape from the rigours of the law.
Earlier, in the pre-faceless era, such tactics of being non-responding may have paid dividends for tax evaders. But now, with the Faceless Assessment Scheme, the I-T department collates and matches transactions with the ITRs of taxpayers/entities and selects tax returns for the scrutiny that show wide discrepancies in financial transactions viz-a-viz the income shown in the tax returns.

These discrepancies are unearthed by the application of risk analysis developed through AI as well as from the experiential and domain knowledge of the tax officials.

One must not forget, said the sources, that the Faceless Assessment Scheme is a data-driven model of tax compliance. It presumes voluntary and honest conformity with tax laws by the persons and is based on the aggregation of financial transactions of a taxable entity that are collected by the various regulatory and facilitation agencies like the Sub-registrars of properties or the banks and other Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and shared with the I-T Department.

“It’s just not possible to dupe the tax administration now fastened with the Faceless Assessment System,” said the source.

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The Indian railway has disqualified the Chinese company and an Indian firm for the manufacturing of 44 Vande Bharat trainsets 

The Indian Railways has disqualified the bid of a consortium of a Chinese company and an Indian firm for the manufacturing of 44 Vande Bharat trainsets costing nearly Rs 1,800 crores.

Now there are only two valid bids of BHEL and Medha Servo Drives. Medha, which had got the contract for the manufacturing for the first two such trains, has quoted the lowest bid, sources said. Only three players had put the bid for the big contract including the CRRC-Pioneer Electric India, a joint venture between Beijing based CRRC Yongji Electric Ltd and India’s Pioneer Fil-Med Ltd, which has its plant in Haryana.

It took almost four weeks for the railways to evaluate the tenders and take the final call. Railway officials had earlier said that the tender committee would take the decision on the validity of bids.

Before applying for the train set procurement tender, the CRRC-Pioneer Electric India had applied for registration here after it was made mandatory for companies with beneficial ownership in countries sharing land borders with India to get registered for participating in public procurement contracts. 

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