Daily News Compilation (HINDU) for 30th may

CBDT to anchor SIT probe into black money

The SIT probe into black money stashed away abroad will be anchored by the Central Board of Direct Taxes. The core group will have a team at its disposal for smooth coordination with various departments for joint investigations.

According to government sources, the black money issue is an offshoot of income-tax jurisdiction and therefore, the CBDT would play a pivotal role in the entire process. 

The SIT, headed by Justice M.B. Shah and mandated to take over all black money cases, supersedes a high-level committee formed earlier under the Revenue Secretary on the same issue.

According to its order, the SIT will take over investigations against individuals having accounts in Liechtenstein banks, whose names were disclosed by Germany. It would also review concluded matters and prepare a comprehensive action plan to unearth black money stashed away in foreign banks.

Myanmar’s appalling apartheid

Article is on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

They are a minority in Myanmar which has buddhist majority.

There are more than 1 million Rohingya in Rakhine state in the northwest of Myanmar. They are distinct from the local Buddhists both by darker skin and by their Islamic faith. For decades, Myanmar’s military rulers have tried systematically to erase the Rohingya’s existence with oppression, periodic mass expulsions and denials of their identity.

“There are no people called Rohingya in Myanmar,” U Win Myaing, a spokesman for Rakhine state, told me.

He said that most are simply illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

This narrative is absurd, as well as racist. A document as far back as 1799 refers to the Rohingya population here, and an 1826 report estimates that 30 per cent of the population of this region was Muslim.

This year, the Myanmar authorities have cracked down even harder, making the situation worse. First, the government expelled Doctors Without Borders, which had been providing health care for the Rohingya. Then orchestrated mobs attacked the offices of humanitarian organisations, forcing them out.

Harsh Vardhan favours higher tax on tobacco products

I-T Dept. asked to share wealth details of defaulters with banks

In a step to help public sector banks to recover bad loans, the Finance Ministry has asked the Income Tax Department to share details of defaulters’ wealth tax returns with public sector banks (PSBs) if they ask for such information.

According to available data, NPAs of state-owned banks rose by 28.5 per cent to Rs.2.36 lakh crore in September last from Rs.1.83 lakh crore in March, 2013. It is expected to have grown further.

The directions were issued in view of reluctance of the Income Tax Department, which comes under the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), to share information provided in wealth tax returns with banks despite repeated requests. However, the Finance Ministry said banks would be allowed to recover their dues from sale of assets of defaulters only after settlement of the claims of the tax department.

Over 300 maabari centres to be opened in tribal areas in Rajasthan

 In a bid to control drop out from schools in the tribal belt of the state, Rajasthan Government on Thursday said it would open 325 new government sponsored mother and child care centres on a pattern similar to ‘Anganwadi’.

Children in the age group of 6 to 12 years and living in distant tribal areas would be provided basic education and day care at these ‘maabari’ centres, with or without their parent, Meena said.

The minister said this facility would spare the children from walking long distances to reach schools located in another area of the tribal belt.