Creates special bureau for liquor, sand

The time has come for India to adopt a “whole-of-government approach” in decisively confronting the “strategic uncertainties” looming on its horizon a

Officials in Italy say an Italian aid worker who was kidnapped in Kenya in late 2018 has been freed in Somalia

Petrol price is hiked by Rs 1.67 per litre while diesel price is increased by Rs 7.10 per litre in Delhi.

United Breweries share price fell the most as much as 6 per cent to Rs 912, while United Spirits shares were down 4.5 per cent to Rs 517.30

The decision was taken after the state agriculture department approached the Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR), Nagpur, seeking advice against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic affecting the country.

At the end of December 2018, Suuti held a 9.56% stake in Axis Bank. The OFS is part of the government’s move to meet its disinvestment target of Rs 80,000 crore for FY19.

There is nothing further the government can do, Kumar said, adding that there is liquidity, partial credit enhancement and interest rates have moderated. Asked about the progress made in the resolution of stressed NBFC Dewan Housing Finance (DHFL), Kumar said: “That you should ask the company.”

As more governments integrate the service—Himachal Pradesh was latest to do so, on April 21—one can expect traffic to increase.

In the long term, the govt will have to deepen its procurement operations, expanding from the wheat-paddy complex.

Globally, experts are looking at “excess mortality” or mortality gaps as another measure of the coronavirus death toll. This approach compares the number of deaths during a certain period to the historical average.

Government orders on waiver of rents impinge on contractual rights.

Today, when the US, China, UK, France, etc, which spend much more on healthcare than other nations are facing a crisis, one can very well understand how bad the situation could have been if the outbreak was in the third world, where a majority of global poor live with very little or no access to public health care. The situation would have been much worse.

According to an Indian Express report, on May 3, the Gautam Budh Nagar Police issued an order that all residents of Noida or Greater Noida, and anyone entering the city will need to download the Aarogya Setu app.

Even agri-exports as a share of GDP is fairly lower for India relative to the rest of the world despite being one of the largest producers of agri-commodities globally.

The government had last month extended the deadline to file GST returns for March to May 5, from April 20. As per convention, the government releases GST revenue collection number on the basis of cash collection in a particular month.

MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced that exporters, traders, food processors, etc, can open a private mandi and can buy the agriculture produce by visiting the farmer’s land or house.

While our immediate priority must be to protect people from the pandemic and contain its spread, ensuring food security and preventing more people to fall below poverty line (BPL) should also be on focus.

The sale of fertilisers shot up by 45.1 per cent on-year in April 2020.

As most of the small and medium scale industries have started operations from 20th April, the normal consumption level of petrol and diesel is likely to be achieved by July 2020.

Petrol, Diesel Price Today:  Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government late Tuesday evening increased excise duty on petrol by a record Rs 10 per litre, and on diesel by Rs 13 per litre.

Amid the lockdown, around 39 crore poor people have received financial assistance of Rs 34,800 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP).

Even as various companies such as Tata Chemicals and NIVEA India have come forward to make hand sanitizers, the government does not want to take a risk by allowing the companies to export the product.

The government’s surprise move to increase excise duty and cess on petrol and diesel may not help the exchequer in raising tax revenues by much.

The economic and social fallout of COVID 19 is huge on these migrant workers. The immediate wage loss and uncertainty painted by the gloomy economic prospects further worsens their situation.

The government has decided to borrow Rs 12 lakh cr in the current fiscal, compared to Rs 7.8 lakh cr earlier. 

The teams are being sent to Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

The state BJP unit claimed the West Bengal government is only interested in bringing back people from a "particular community".

Kant has said as many as 69 million people in the country have opted for a self-assessment test in the app which takes the adoption rate of the app to 71 per cent.

Delhi University news: The North Eastern Students House for Women has a capacity of around 100. However, 13 students are currently staying because they are unable to leave due to lockdown.

Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: Retailers, architects, town planners have suggested Nitin Gadkari to allow malls resume operations, e-commerce operations for non-essential items, relief in rentals for retailers, extend moratorium period to nine months and more.

176 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Lagos State. The State Ministry of Health made the confirmation in a tweet on Saturday. It said the development brings the total number of confirmed cases in the state to 1683 The ministry tweeted, “176 new cases of #COVID19 Infection confirmed “Total confirmed cases in Lagos now […]

COVID-19: Lagos Govt confirms 176 new cases as toll hits 1683

Another group of Almajiris intercepted at the Gakem-Benue border have been returned back to the North by the Cross River State Government. The almajiris numbering over 50 from the North were on Saturday morning apprehended. DAILY POST gathered that after interrogations, they were returned back at the Gakem – Benue State border by the combined […]

Again, Cross River govt intercepts Northern Almajiris at border

The Kano State Government has confirmed 29 new cases of coronavirus in the state. The Nigeria Center for Disease Control, NCDC, had on Saturday announced 239 new cases of coronavirus in the country. Out of the 239 cases announced, Kano recorded 29. Confirming the development, the Kano State Ministry of Health in a tweet via […]

Kano govt confirms 29 new cases of coronavirus

The Sokoto State Government has confirmed that three new cases of coronavirus have been recorded in the state with four more patients discharged after showing full recovery from the virus. The Nigeria Center for Disease Control, NCDC, had on Saturday confirmed 239 new cases of coronavirus in the country. Out of the 239 new cases […]

Sokoto govt confirms new cases of coronavirus

Former President, Barack Obama, has attacked President Donald Trump, describing his handling of the coronavirus pandemic as an “absolute chaotic disaster.” The former President launched the attack in a leaked web call on Friday night with former members of his administration. Yahoo News reports that Obama also urged his former staffers to join him in […]

COVID-19: Obama attacks President Trump’s govt

ISLAMABAD: Government’s top adviser on civil service reforms Dr Ishrat Hussain unveils the variety of changes being made in the country’s bureaucratic structures and systems from civil servants’ induction, recruitment, training, performance, promotion, compensation and retirement...

The new Local Government Acts approved by Punjab and KP assemblies would strengthen the local bodies whose heads would be directly elected by the people and operate with the assistance of the civil servants

ISLAMABAD: Textile Industry has submitted with the government its budgetary proposal for budget 2020-21 asking for abolishing turnover tax, reduction of corporate tax to 25 percent and withdrawal of...

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KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Karachi President Khurram Sher Zaman on Saturday claimed that the Sindh government is exaggerating the number of COVID-19 cases to keep the markets shut down. The ...

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KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Karachi President Khurram Sher Zaman on Saturday claimed that the Sindh government is exaggerating the number of COVID-19 cases to keep the markets shut down. The ...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

ISLAMABAD: Textile Industry has submitted with the government its budgetary proposal for budget 2020-21 asking for abolishing turnover tax, reduction of corporate tax to 25 percent and withdrawal of...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Karachi president and MPA Khurrum Sher Zaman on Saturday said that one of his Friday statements had been misrepresented and therefore he tendered his apologies if it had hurt anyone’s sentiments.Zaman came under severe criticism by a section of activists on...

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has drafted tax proposals for Budget 2020-21 mainly focusing on “simplification of laws and removing tax anomalies,” Dawn has learnt from knowledgeable sources.

Unconfirmed reports are that the government is likely to announce a ‘tax-free budget’, an official in the FBR told Dawn, adding a final decision will be taken after consulting with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after Eidul Fitr.

Also read: Govt, IMF agree to put on hold $6bn programme

Meanwhile, Finance Adviser Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has already termed the next year budget a ‘corona-budget’.

It will depend on the IMF whether it considers Pakistan’s proposal to lower tax target for TY21. The Fund had proposed a tax target of Rs5.1 trillion for the next year, which is higher by 30pc from the FY20’s proposed collection.

Consultation with IMF after Eidul Fitr

For the current year, the IMF has lowered the FBR tax target to Rs3.9tr, from Rs4.8tr to subside the impact of Covid-19 on businesses. However, achieving this benchmark also depends on the revival of activity before and after Eid and the entire June, the official added.

Another senior tax official told Dawn that the Fund officials meeting with Pakistani economic team will determine the direction of the next budget whether it will be tax-free or have some taxation to achieve the following year’s target.

The official said the FBR has already completed its homework on budget proposals for the next year and is currently working on identifying anomalies that should be removed.

“We are also working on simplification of tax laws to facilitate taxpayers,” the official said.

At the same time, the FBR is also engaging all stakeholders to identify problems related to taxation for redressal. “We will also consider tax incentives in the next budget for some sectors to help them revive their business,” they added.

Some of the proposals on the table from stakeholders are the revival of zero-rating for the five export-oriented sectors, allowing lower rates of sales tax on domestic sales of textile, clothing, waiver of CNIC conditions for traders and reducing the sales tax rate to 5pc from 17pc. “These are the demands of the stakeholders,” the official said.

Tax officials privy to budget-making said the FBR will try to avoid the introduction of new tax measures but will defend the continuation of those already in place. “It will be best to preserve our existing tax measures for now and see onward in the year how it progresses,” the officials commented.

At the moment, the focus is on the ease of doing business and facilitating taxpayers through information technology support. As the economy will revive, the FBR will support any new taxation proposals, they continued.

However, a senior tax official said the FBR cannot do away with maximum existing tax measures. “We need money for running the government machinery,” he said, adding other measures like printing of notes will add to inflationary pressure in the country.

The FBR has already worked out the impact of ongoing lockdown and closing down of businesses on the country’s revenue collection. The IMF has approved the incentive package for the construction sector on the request of Prime Minister Imran Khan to create employment.

“We are under an IMF programme so all budget proposals will be discussed with them,” the official said.

The FBR estimates a revenue loss of Rs450 billion in the first quarter (July-September) of next fiscal year in case the partial lockdown remains. It further projects that in case the partial lockdown extends, the tax body will see another shortfall in revenue realisation to the tune of Rs350bn.

According to the official, the FBR will try to recover some portion of the shortfall in the second half of the year. However, the government will have no other options but to seek a loan to bridge revenue shortfall. “You cannot bridge such a huge gap with new tax measures,” the source said.

Moreover, the FBR estimates also show that imports will remain on the lower side in the first half-year and so is the case of exports until orders revive. The domestic economy will revive to some extent while revenue collection from the services sector will be much lower from last year’s level.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2020

Iraq's new government promised Saturday to release demonstrators arrested during mass protests that erupted in October and pledged justice and compensation to relatives of over 550 people killed during that unrest.

Centre has issued fresh “guidelines for restarting manufacturing industries after lockdown”.

The labourers, rendered jobless due to the coronavirus-enforced lockdown, had set off for their homes on foot along the rail tracks apparently to escape police attention. Sixteen migrant workers sleeping on rail tracks while returning to Madhya Pradesh were crushed to death by a goods train in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra in the early hours of Friday.