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“The government is at an advanced stage in considering the requirement of furnishing PAN card details if cash transactions beyond a certain limit are undertaken,” Mr Jaitley said in a Facebook post.

He said the monitoring regime of the Income Tax Department has been strengthened and its capacity to access information and apply technology driven analytical tools to expose evasion has been enhanced. (Also read: Non-Declarants of foreign assets to face consequences: Jaitley)

“Its ability to detect large cash withdrawals, or large cash transactions which enter the system, is being strengthened. GST (Goods and Services Tax) regime once introduced will also be a landmark step in this direction.”

“Thus for commodities like gold where the initial purchase by the exporter is after the payment of custom duty, the subsequent transactions which are mostly in cash, can easily be found out,” Mr Jaitley said.

In Budget for 2015-16, the Finance Minister had proposed making quoting of permanent account number (PAN) mandatory for all sale and purchase of over Rs 1 lakh.

“Quoting of PAN is being made mandatory for any purchase or sale exceeding the value of Rs 1 lakh. The third party reporting entities would be required to furnish information about foreign currency sales and cross border transactions,” Mr Jaitley had said.

Thereafter, the government had received representations from various persons, including MPs, MLAs, trade and industry associations, among others, against the proposed mandatory quoting of PAN for sale or purchase in excess of Rs 1 lakh.

Stressing that bulk of black money is still within India, Mr Jaitley said there was a need to change the national attitude so that plastic currency becomes the norm and cash an exception and the government is working with various authorities to incentivize this change.

“Being seized of this problem, the government has been working with various authorities in order to incentivize this change. The opening of a large number of payment gateways, internet banking, payment banks and the emerging reality of e-commerce will prompt the use of banking transactions and plastic money rise significantly,” Mr Jaitley said.

The JAM (Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, Mobile) Trinity and the Direct Benefit Transfer of subsidies to the accounts of beneficiaries of various government schemes will also be a step ahead in this direction, Mr Jaitley added.

Each of the 18 crore beneficiaries of Jan Dhan accounts has been provided with RuPay cards, which will encourage them to use plastic currency and get familiarised with it, he said.

The MUDRA scheme, over the next few years, has a target of 6 crore families out of 25 crore families in India to become entrepreneurs.

Loans being made available to them by the banks can only be withdrawn from the ATMs by use of MUDRA credit cards which are being provided to them. More and more of their transactions will be through plastic currency or through the banking channel, Mr Jaitley added.

File photo of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

“The Election Commission should act against him,” Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) general secretary Sanjay Dutt said in Mumbai.

“Fadnavis has breached the election code of conduct by declaring Rs 6,500 crore Development Package for Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC),” he added.

Mr Dutt further said that though Fadnavis had sold future dreams, he had remained mum on the “shoddy” state of affairs in KDMC for which his party BJP is “responsible”.

Addressing his first public rally for upcoming KDMC poll at Dombivli yesterday, Mr Fadnavis said his government has prepared a draft plan of Rs 6,500 crore for smart city in Kalyan-Dombivli.

The Chief Minister described about benefits of smart city and appealed public to vote for BJP so that twin city can be developed as smart city.

Divisional Railway Manager (Ferozepur Division) Anuj Prakash said “these kind of agitations are now happening almost every week in the state. The disruption in train services not only hits the economy and business sector but also cause inconvenience to hapless passengers like women, children and elderly people.”

The DRM urged the government to take action against those trying to “paralyse” rail movement.

Farmers’ unions in Punjab had yesterday rejected Rs 640 crore compensation announced by the government and said that they would intensify their stir by blocking trains’ movement on October 7 and 8.

Several farmers’ organisations including BKU Ekta (Dakunda), BKU Ekta (Ugrahan), BKU (Krantikari), Kirti Kisan Union are at loggerheads with the state government over their demands — Rs 40,000 per acre compensation for farmers who have suffered crop losses due to whitefly attacks, Rs 20,000 relief per family for farm labours, Rs 4,500 per quintal rate for basmati PUSA 1509 variety, among others.

Yesterday, a farmers’ delegation also met senior officials of the Punjab government but the talk remained inconclusive.

On September 2, rail traffic was severely affected on Delhi-Amritsar and Delhi-Jammu routes after sugarcane farmers squatted on railway tracks between Chaheru and Jalandhar, protesting against the Centre and the state government for non-payment of their dues.

The Firozepur division caters to the rail transport needs of Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and a part of Himachal Pradesh.

Indrani Mukerjea was arrested in August and has been lodged at the Byculla jail since September 7.

The former media executive, who has been accused of killing her daughter Sheena Bora, had allegedly made a suicide attempt by overdosing on drugs on Friday morning.

On Friday, Vijay Satbir Singh, Principal Secretary (Home), had said, “It is possible that she kept the medicines given to her and consumed them together later.”

But the police are yet to say how she managed to accumulate the drugs when the jail manual clearly states that a prisoner has to consume medicines in front of jail officials. Ms Mukerjea was having medication for depression on doctors’ advice.

Dr Lahane of JJ Hospital, who is treating Ms Mukerjea, has said according to a urine test report from Hinduja Hospital laboratory, the level of benzodiazepine – an anti-depressant – was found to be extremely high, more than 10 times the normal.

“Normally if a patient is on anti-depressant drug, the level of benzodiazepine in urine is 200. But in Indrani’s case, it is 2088. The report is positive for drug overdose,” Dr Lahane has told news agency Press Trust of India. “Anti-epileptic drugs have already been ruled out. The (test) has come negative. It is only the anti-depressant that has caused the thing (collapse).”

What is also not clear is that while jail officials say Ms Mukerjea collapsed at 6 am while reading the Bhagvad Gita, why she taken to the JJ hospital at 2 pm. No reason has been given for the eight-hour delay in getting treatment for her.

The authorities have said the jail doctors had tried reviving her, but no reason has been given as to why she was not immediately taken to the hospital which is just 10 minutes away.

But 48 hours after she collapsed, the state is yet to action been taken against jail authorities who may have committed lapses.  

Government sources say these issues will be explained in the inquiry report that is being prepared by Inspector General of Police (Prisons) Bipin Kumar Singh.

Representational Image: A stock shot of Connaught Place in New Delhi.

“We are vying for the smart city project and Connaught place is a very important area under our jurisdiction. Though various initiatives have been lined up for its revamp and facelift, traffic congestion remains a huge problem,” NDMC Chairman Naresh Kumar told PTI.

“We are therefore planning to make the inner circle a pedestrian zone and not allowing entry of any vehicles inside. It will not only reduce congestion but also contribute to an increase in the footfall,” he added.

The civic-body is in conversation with various agencies to work out the plan and it is likely to be implemented by next month.

“We are in conversation with the traders association of Connaught Place, Delhi traffic police and other concerned agencies. The details of how the proposal will be implemented are being worked out and it is likely to be enforced by next month,” he said.

The council has also proposed to give a facelift to the middle circle of the Connaught Place, to lend the whole market area a uniform revamped look.

The Connaught Place Redevelopment project was conceived in 2004 and was scheduled for completion ahead of the Commonwealth Games in October, 2010.

However, the revamped look sans the upgrading of the middle circle was unveiled in 2013 after the civic body had missed several deadlines.

NDMC, which is vying for the Smart City project rolled out by Urban Development Ministry, has also sought suggestions from public about possible upgradation and development in its areas as well as finalising the revenue model for it.

The state government has now decided to arm its employees with device like tablets, so that employees can photograph kids with one of the parents to enroll children across the state.

The state had decided to bring the whole of Maharashtra under the Aadhar Scheme by December this year.

State Chief Secretary Swadheen Kshatriya said Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently took a review of various projects, including those of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), through video-conferencing.

Chief Secretaries of all other states were also part of the video conferencing and the PM appealed to them to complete the project as soon as possible.

“We have completed over 88 per cent of the adult enrollment of Aadhaar and are now concentrating on enrolling for which new 2,000 odd kits (laptops, monitors, single finger print scanner, iris scanner, web camera and multi-functional device) are being purchased. The process of buying machines will be competed in the next 15 days,” Mr Kshatriya said.

At the village level, the government has provided tabs for enrolling children under UIDAI.

“Government employees will go from house to house at village level and enroll children. The employee will click a photograph of a child with one parent, either father or mother, for identification,” he said.

Mr Kshatriya said he has personally visited few villages to see a demonstration and find easier ways to complete the project in the next three months.

“There is no need to take fingerprints of children till they are six years old, as we assume that the finger impression would change in future. We will try to complete the complete UID project in the next three months,” Mr Kshatriya said.

Shashank Manohar’s first tenure as BCCI president was from 2008 to 2011.

© AFP

Mumbai: A new era has begun in the BCCI with Shashank Manohar being appointed unopposed as the President for the second time. His appointment was ratified in the Special General Meeting of the BCCI in Mumbai on Sunday. (HIGHLIGHTS)

All the six units of East Zone unanimously proposed Manohar’s candidature for the president’s post, reflecting Srinivasan’s diminishing hold in Board’s power politics. A BCCI by-election needed only one proposer from the zone which is electing the president and it was the East’s turn this time. Manohar got the nod from all the six associations and was the lone nomination.

Mr. Shashank Manohar elected #BCCIPresidentpic.twitter.com/ynbqlpnFGh

— BCCI (@BCCI) October 4, 2015

This will be Manohar’s second stint as BCCI President, having taken over from Sharad Pawar in 2008/09. It lasted for three years and it ended in 2011 when N. Srinivasan was appointed as the BCCI President. (N. Srinivasan Stays Away from Shashank Manohar’s Crowning Glory)

However, Srinivasan’s tenure was marred by the Indian Premier League scandal of 2013 and he “stepped aside” in the wake of revelations that his son-in-law, Gurunath Meiyappan, was involved in betting. Manohar was made the interim president when Srinivasan stepped aside and Jagmohan Dalmiya made a spectacular comeback as president in March 2015. (Shashank Manohar-Anurag Thakur Not In Favour of Pawar-Srinivasan Alliance)

However, the death of Dalmiya brought about an intense power struggle in the BCCI. Many pitted Srinivasan to come back into the fold but two factors changed the scenario.

First, Srinivasan’s camp lost steam after Vidarbha’s Manohar and Ajay Shirke of Maharashtra, both Pawar confidants, objected to a compromise with the beleaguered Tamil Nadu Cricket Association boss.

Second, Manohar, a senior Nagpur lawyer, was deemed as an individual who had a clean image and he was backed by the Anurag Thakur camp. Manohar was also accepted by the majority of East Zone units, who were given a chance to propose a presidential candidate till 2017. It was reported that Sourav Ganguly, the newly-elected president of Cricket Association of Bengal, would propose Manohar’s name and either Tripura or Assam could second.

Manohar’s appointment as BCCI President was a mere formality before the SGM as he enjoyed the support of several major BCCI factions. He emerged as a consensus candidate after he was reportedly backed by the Anurag Thakur-Arun Jaitley (BJP) faction. “Manohar is our consensus candidate,” Thakur addressed the media.