Central Board of Direct Taxes in exercise of powers conferred under section 138(1)(a) of Income Tax Act, 1961, has issued Order inF.No. 225/136/2020/ITA.II dated 31.08.2020, for furnishing information about IT Return Filing Status to Scheduled Commercial Banks, notified vide notification No. 71/2020 dated 31.08.2020 under sub-clause (ii) of clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 138 of the Act.

The data on cash withdrawal indicated that huge amount of cash is being withdrawn by the persons who have never filed income-tax returns. To ensure filing of return by these persons and to keep track on cash withdrawals by the non-filers, and to curb black money, the Finance Act, 2020 w.e.f. 1st July, 2020 further amended Income-tax Act, 1961 to lower the threshold of cash withdrawal to Rs. 20 lakh for the applicability of TDS for the non-filers and also mandated TDS at the higher rate of 5% on cash withdrawal exceeding Rs. 1 crore by the non-filers.

Income Tax Department has already provided a functionality “Verification of applicability u/s 194N” on http://www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in for Banks and Post offices since 1st July, 2020.  Through this functionality, Bank/Post Office can get the applicable rate of TDS under section 194N of the Income-tax Act, 1961 by entering the PAN of the person who is withdrawing cash.

The Department has now released a new functionality “ITR Filing Compliance Check” which will be available to Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) to check the IT Return filing status of PANs in bulk mode. The Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems) has notified the procedure and format for providing notified information to the Scheduled Commercial Banks. The salient features of the using functionality are as under:

1. Accessing “ITR Filing Compliance Check”:The Principal Officer & Designated Director of SCBs, which are registered with the Reporting Portal  of Income-tax Department (https://report.insight.gov.in) shall be able to use the functionality after logging into the Reporting Portal using their credentials. After successfully logging in, link to the functionality “ITR Filing Compliance Check” will appear on the home page of the Reporting Portal.
2. Preparing request (input) file containing PANs: The CSV Template to enter PAN details can be downloaded by clicking on “Download CSV template” button on the “ITR Filing Compliance Check” page. PANs, for which IT Return filing status is required, are required to be entered in the downloaded CSV template. The current limit of PANs in one file is 10,000.
3. Uploading the input CSV file: Input CSV file may be uploaded by clicking on Upload CSV button. While uploading, “Reference Financial Year” is required to be selected. Reference Financial Year is the year for which results are required. If selected Reference Financial Year is 2020-21 then results will be available for Assessment years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20. Uploaded file will start reflecting with Uploaded status.
4. Downloading the output CSV file: After processing, CSV file containing IT Return Filing Status of the entered PANs will be available for download and “Status” will change to Available.  Output CSV file will have PAN, Name of the PAN holder (masked), IT Return Filing Status for last three Assessment Years. After downloading of the file, the status will change to Downloaded and after 24 hours of availability of the file, download link will expire and status will change to Expired.

Scheduled Commercial Banks can also use API based exchange to automate and integrate the process with the Bank’s core banking solution. Scheduled Commercial Banks are required to document and implement appropriate information security policies and procedures with clearly defined roles and responsibilities to ensure security of information.

Union Home Minister, Shri Amit Shah has hailed the approval of the Mission Karmayogi, the National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB), by the Cabinet today, terming it as aimed at bringing about a “transformational change in Civil Services”.

Shri Amit Shah expressed gratitude to the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, “for this visionary reform”. “This holistic & comprehensive scheme will focus on individual aswell as institutional capacity building”, he said.

The Union Home Minister said, “It is a landmark reform for the 21^stcentury which will end the culture of working in silos and bring out a new work culture. Goal driven and constant training will empower and sensitize the civil servants to ensure accountability and transparency in the system”.

Shri Amit Shah said, “This reform will not only provide a mechanism for Government functionaries to improve their own performance but also enable them to fulfill and live upto the aspirations of NewIndia.”

“Modi Government is fully committed towards building of a future ready civil service, ‘Civil Service for a New India’,” he said.

NPCSCB has been carefully designed to lay the foundations for capacity building for Civil Servants so that they remain entrenched in Indian Culture and sensibilities and remain connected, with their roots, while they learn from the best institutions and practices across the world. The Programme will be delivered by setting up an Integrated Government Online Training Platform, “iGOTKarmayogi”. To cover around 46 lakh Central employees, a sum of Rs.510.86 crore will be spent over a period of 5 years from 2020-21 to 2024-25.

In a series of tweets, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi said that Mission Karmayogi – National Program for Civil Services Capacity Building will radically improve the Human Resource management practices in the Government. It will use scale & state of the art infrastructure to augment the capacity of Civil Servants.

He tweeted “iGOT platform will enable the transition to a role-based HR management & continuous learning. Mission Karmayogi aims to prepare Civil Servants for the future by making them more creative, constructive & innovative through transparency and technology.”

The Income Tax Department has carried out simultaneous search and seizure operations on 2nd September, 2020 in the case of three prominent businessmen in Srinagar and Kupwara. These operations have, prima facie, led to the detection of huge amount of undisclosed income, seizure of unaccounted assets and incriminating evidence and involvement in benami transactions by these three groups. 

The search action revealed that the key person of one of the groups, although engaged in Cross-LOC trade until the suspension of trade by the Government in April 2019, has not filed his Income Tax Returns. He was also found to be having two active PANs. His proprietory concern has made exports of over Rs. 25 crore in the last few years. However, no income tax has been paid at all. Incriminating documents related to the LoC trade have been seized from the Custodian of cross-LOC trade, indicating large-scale tax evasion. There are also evidences of unexplained expenditure on the education of his daughter in Pakistan.

In another case, the key person and his brother were engaged in Cross-LOC trade until the suspension of trade by the Government. He had made total exports of  Rs 3 crore in the last two years, while he had filed his Income Tax Return for only one year and that too, showing meager receipts. The Income Tax Return filed also does not match with the credits in multiple bank accounts which run into crores of rupees. Further, evidences showing illegal trade in violation of suspension of cross LoC trade have been seized. The passport of the assessee reveals that he had travelled to Pakistan for 20-25 days every calendar year since 2017 and the source of expenditure on this account is prima-facie unexplained.

In yet another case, it was seen that the group was engaged in Cross- LOC trade of vegetables and fruits. In this case, unaccounted cash of Rs. 15 lakh has been seized. The group is having multiple concerns. However, transactions of these concerns have not been reflected in their Income Tax Returns. In the case of a person of this group, who is a non-filer, documents pertaining to the unaccounted business transactions of about Rs.10 crore have been seized. In another case of a firm, one of the partners in the firm has admitted that his name was only being used, though he was not involved in any activity of the firm. The matter is being examined from the angle of Benami transactions. A locker has also been found which is yet to be searched and has been placed under restraint.

Further investigations are going on.

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan today participated in the USISPF- 3rd Annual Leadership Summit on the theme of “Navigating New Challenges.”

Minister Pradhan talked about the unprecedented impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the global economy and the consequent energy demand contraction. He added that with the gradual pick up of economic activity in India, energy consumption is anticipated to reach pre-Covid levels soon. 

Speaking about Aatmanirbhar Bharat campaign, Shri Pradhan said the campaign launched under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi calls for a self-reliant India, seeking to convert Covid-19 challenges into an opportunity, to merge domestic production and consumption with global supply chains, and aims to transform India into a global manufacturing hub of the 21st century.

The Minister underlined the importance of energy infrastructure as a key to transformation in India and invited US industry leaders to take advantage of the opportunities being created in Indian energy sector.

Shri Pradhan talked about the growing bilateral hydrocarbon trade between India and the US, which touched above US$ 9 billion during FY 2019-20 and is expected to increase further as companies are looking to source more crude oil and LNG from the US at competitive rates. 

The Minister talked about the importance of gas sector in the Strategic Energy Partnership as India is working to transform itself into a gas based economy by increasing the share of gas from 6% to 15% in the energy mix by 2030, with an estimated investment of $60 billion lined up in the sector, developing a “One Nation, One Gas Grid.”He also expressed happiness at global oil & gas majors like BP, Shell, Total, Exxon Mobil expanding their footprints in India and invited the US companies to take advantage of reforms in the exploration and production sector and participate in the next oil and gas block bidding rounds.

Minister Pradhan also added that India and the US have been working in close collaboration, including in stabilizing global energy markets and it is reassuring that despite the Covid-19 induced challenges, the industry leaders are quite optimistic about reinvigorating the energy linkages between the two countries.

Dr. Mukesh Aghi, CEO, USISPF said that the USISPF will facilitate greater collaborations between the US and Indian companies for the success of Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

After actor Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead in his Bandra residence in Mumbai, reports claimed that the actor had been suffering from depression because of professional setbacks engineered by nepotism in Bollywood.
The film industry has been traditionally guilty of promoting family raj at the expense of outsiders. Rajput was a promising actor without being an A-lister or having a godfather in Mumbai. The infinitely bigger developing story of the same period was the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Rajput died on June 14, a period in time when the dreaded virus had been infecting unsuspecting people the world over, including India.
Two and a half months later, India is among the worst-hit nations in the world.

Each new day is the forerunner of bad news with thousands falling sick and many dying a few days after getting infected. The nation’s economy has hurtled towards a big crash with the GDP shrinking by 23.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2020-21.Lakhs of Indians have experienced job losses, among them daily wage earners whose lives are a struggle for survival even under normal circumstances.
Troubled by the news of sickness and deaths, faced with the possibility or reality of unemployment, and aware that there is no reliable vaccine and well-defined route of treatment, many are doing what they can to protect themselves from the wrath of the virus.
Other ‘brave’ ones who are being inexplicably reckless are not only more susceptible to the illness, but the infected ones among them are also guilty of spreading it among those taking precautionary measures. The presence of such irresponsible individuals is a significant worry for the Indian society.
Given a choice between continuous coverage of the pandemic and prolonged focus on the SSR death case, where should the media look? It must concentrate on the pandemic and its aftermath by delivering stories on health, economy and society to the consumer. The entry of the girlfriend in the script (Rhea Chakraborty, a national name now) followed by hysteria on social media enhanced the focus on the case, which is providing with the recipe for action in the media each day.
Cacophonic drama is irresistible for certain news anchors, who are capitalising on the story’s ability to deliver entertainment packages. These anchors are analysing the case endlessly, knowing they will find a captive audience that the coverage of Covid-19 may not guarantee.
The need to find viewers for TV shows and online visitors in an eternal rat race has made rationality disappear in many sections of the media. While that is not a good thing, don’t expect such disproportionate coverage to end anytime soon. The treatment of the Sushant Singh
Rajput case by many TV news channels is a good example of how the interrelated concerns about ratings and revenues drive news coverage in substantial parts of the electronic media. The mainstream electronic news media, it can be argued , has demonstrated a serious lack judgment by distorting national priorities. They also include the pandemic that shows a sign of abating with cases rising exponentially and putting public health system under unbearable strain

Looking back at the past 70 years, China-India relations have moved ahead despite wind and rain and gone through an extraordinary development path. In the 1950s, the leaders of the older generation of the two countries made the historical decision to establish diplomatic relations between China and India, and jointly advocated the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. “Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai” (Indians and Chinese are brothers) resounded throughout our two countries. From the 1980s, the two sides agreed to solve the boundary question through peaceful and friendly consultation, established strategic and cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity, and achieved all-round development of bilateral relationship.

Despite 2020 marking 70 years of diplomatic ties between China and India, the border tension over the past month has been heightened again.Troops from the world’s two most populous countries engaged in a physical clash. Although the two Asian giants are not stranger to border incidents, it was the first time in decades that the border dispute turned deadly. The question of whether India can sustain and withstand retaliatory measures from China is one that requires much thought and deliberation from the government. India fears that China is violating rules of origin norms and pumping goods into India through their common trading partners in Asia, by abusing the loopholes in existing trade agreements. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry in India has called into scrutiny various free trade and bilateral agreements that India is roped into, with countries that have similar agreements with China.
India has already refused to sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), fearing that it could pave the way to Chinese goods flooding the Indian market and overthrowing domestic manufacturers. However, if we are looking at backing out of other such regional and bilateral agreements as well, India has much more to lose than China does in the long run.
More concerning is the possibility that China may decide to strike back by throwing Indian companies out of China. We are already seeing reports of customs authorities in Hong Kong and China, holding back some consignments of Indian exports after Indian ports started inspecting Chinese imports. This is only going to get worse if India implements a blanket ban on Chinese imports, against all odds.
If India really seeks to check the unregulated flow of Chinese imports in India and create a dent in the Chinese economy, India would have to do a lot more than just cut down imports that are coming in directly from China. We would also have to narrow down all consumer products that are manufactured or processed, even in part, in China before finally being assembled and exported to India from another country. The obvious knee-jerk reaction of shutting down these big brands would only have a minuscule impact, if at all, on the Chinese economy. On the other hand, the question of whether India can sustain and withstand retaliatory measures from China is one that requires much thought and deliberation from the Indian government.
The coronavirus crisis, in particular China’s mismanagement of the initial stages of the outbreak, has generated intensely negative public sentiments against Beijing—in India and many other countries around the world. Countries have demanded an investigation into the origin and handling of Coronavirus. Indian app ‘Remove China Apps’ highlights backlash against Chinese business amongst the Indian public. Its popularity comes amid calls for a boycott of Chinese mobile apps in India as a border dispute in Ladakh fuels a backlash against products from China. It scans a user’s phone for apps such as ByteDance’s TikTok and Alibaba’s UC Browser and removes them. Popular Indian yoga guru Baba Ramdev described deletion of Chinese apps as a “national service”.
The COVID-19 pandemic is reviving sentiments against Chinese products in the country. The recent backlash against China over faulty testing kits or alleged suppression of actual numbers of infection are fuelling online campaigns in India urging people to reduce dependence on Chinese electronics and refrain from buying them.Previous boycott calls have focused on Chinese goods, whereas this one especially targets Chinese apps.
This isn’t the first time that Chinese products or brands have drawn flak in India. Some experts point out that in the short term this will raise questions in people’s minds, but in the medium term they don’t see any impact of these campaigns on Chinese companies or products

It has been long since the scientists have been suspecting ocean acidification being the cause of affecting corals’ capacity of forming their skeletons. They were not able to isolate the effect as continuous heating of ocean temperatures due to warmer weather also contributed to effect on coral growth. The scientists of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution came up with new study according to which certain impact of acidification of ocean on reef was seen. The study was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation which was later published in Geophysical Research Letters. In this study, scientists showed a remarkable reduction in coral skeletons’ density due to continuously increasing acidity since the 1950s, of the Great Barrier Reef which is one of the largest coral reef systems in the world.  

Because of the declining pH of the ocean (turning more acidic), the animals like corals are finding it difficult to build their skeletons as acidification of the ocean leads to less density, taking away coral’s strength in the same way as osteoporosis withers human’s bones. The scientists say that it can be easily detected just by seeing them that they are not stronger anymore and it will heavily affect the reef and break it.