Podcasts about Central Board

This is the Catchup on 3 Things by The Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.Today is the 13th of May and here are the headlines.Asserting that no place in Pakistan remained safe for terrorists, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday told soldiers at the Adampur air base in Punjab that India's drones, and missiles gave sleepless nights to Pakistan. His speech came a day after his first public address since India launched Operation Sindoor. PM Modi also reiterated the new 3-point doctrine he had unveiled a day earlier, including that New Delhi will no longer tolerate nuclear blackmail. During his early morning visit to Adampur, the Prime Minister hailed the Indian Air Force personnel, saying that they made every Indian proud, and had created history. Modi got briefed by the Air Force personnel on the situation, and also interacted with jawans. Meanwhile, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a key briefing with military chiefs on Tuesday, with the CDS, Army Chief, Navy Chief, Vice Air Chief and Defence Secretary in attendance.At least three militants have been killed in the ongoing encounter in the upper reaches of Shopian in South Kashmir. Gunshots were heard Tuesday morning after which senior police officials confirmed the presence of militants in the area. In the contact, there was an exchange of fire between security forces and militants. However, with the operation ongoing, officials have refrained from divulging further details at this point.In a verdict six years in the making, the Mahila Court in Coimbatore on Tuesday convicted all nine accused in the 2019 Pollachi sexual assault case and awarded them life imprisonment. The nine men were found guilty of multiple charges, including criminal conspiracy, sexual harassment, rape, gangrape, and extortion. The incident, which came out just weeks before the 2019 general elections, led to Tamil Nadu's then ruling AIADMK getting politically cornered with allegations of inaction and links to the accused. Judge R Nandhini Devi pronounced the sentence Tuesday afternoon, following arguments from both the prosecution and the defence.The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared the Class 12 results 2025 today (May 13). The result of Class 10 will also be announced soon. In Class 12, there is a minor increase in pass percentage as compared to the previous year. In the CBSE Class 12 examinations, a total of 17,04,367 students were registered. Out of these, 16,92,794 students appeared, and 14,96,307 students passed the exam. Students can check their results on the official websites — cbse.gov.in, cbseresults.nic.in, and results.cbse.nic.in. The CBSE Class 10 board exams were conducted by the board from February 15 to March 18, 2025, in a pen and paper format. This year, 24.12 lakh CBSE Class 10 students appeared for the exams in 84 subjects.US President Donald Trump has arrived in Saudi Arabia, in what will be the first stop of a three-day tour that will also see him visit Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS, has greeted Trump upon arrival in Riyadh. US President Donald Trump was greeted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the sounds of a 21-gun salute and trumpets. The two leaders then headed to the Royal Court where a lengthy procession of dignitaries, officials, business figures waited their turn to shake hands with them. The Saudi-US Investment Forum has also begun, with the two leaders expected to take part later today. Saudi Arabia is the first leg of Trump's regional tour that also includes stops in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.That's all for today. This was the Catchup on 3 Things by The Indian Express.

This is the Catchup on 3 Things by The Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.Today is the 9th of April and here are today's headlines.The Reserve Bank of India has slashed the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6% in its latest monetary policy review. This signals lower interest rates on home, personal, and auto loans soon. The Monetary Policy Committee also shifted its stance from "neutral" to "accommodative," hinting at more rate cuts ahead. GDP growth for 2025–26 has been revised down to 6.5% from 6.7%, while retail inflation is projected at 4%. Lower rates aim to boost borrowing and spending amid slowing economic momentum.India has revoked a key transshipment facility that allowed Bangladesh to move export cargo through Indian territory to Bhutan, Nepal, and Myanmar. The decision, announced by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, follows Bangladesh's growing economic ties with China in Northeast India. A June 2020 order enabling transshipment via Indian ports and land customs stations has been officially rescinded. The move is expected to strain Dhaka's regional trade logistics and could reflect India's strategic pushback against China's expanding influence in South Asia.India has cleared a high-value defense deal with France to purchase 26 Rafale Marine fighter jets for the Indian Navy. Estimated at over ₹63,000 crore, the deal includes 22 single-seat and 4 twin-seat variants, along with maintenance support, logistics, and training packages. This agreement strengthens naval aviation capabilities aboard aircraft carriers INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya. It also supports Make in India goals with offset obligations requiring domestic manufacturing components. The deal is expected to be formalized shortly, marking a major milestone in Indo-French strategic cooperation.Russia has formally invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend its Victory Day Parade on May 9, commemorating 80 years since the end of World War II. Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko confirmed that the invitation has been sent, and the visit is under discussion. The gesture comes after Moscow confirmed President Putin's scheduled visit to India later this year. Russia has extended invitations to several “friendly nations,” reinforcing diplomatic ties amid ongoing geopolitical tensions. Modi's participation would signify India's balancing act in global power dynamics.The US has officially enforced a sweeping 104% tariff on all Chinese imports starting April 9, escalating its trade confrontation with Beijing. The tariff includes existing levies and new duties under Section 301 of the Trade Act. This move follows President Trump's ultimatum to China to withdraw its retaliatory 34% tariffs. With Beijing refusing to back down, the White House has proceeded with the measure. The new tariff is expected to impact global trade flows, raise prices in the US, and further strain US-China economic relations.That's all for today. This was the CatchUp on 3 Things by The Indian Express.

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Friday, February 14, 2025. This is Nelson John, let's get started. Top Indian business schools are witnessing a resurgence in hiring activities, despite uncertainties stemming from global political developments. This rebound is attributed to the robust growth of India's economy, which has bolstered corporate confidence and led to an increased demand for management graduates. Companies across sectors such as technology, finance, and consulting are actively recruiting, offering competitive packages to secure top talent reports Devina sengupta & Pritista Bagi. However, global political events, including trade tensions and policy shifts, have introduced elements of unpredictability. These developments have prompted organizations to reassess their international strategies, potentially influencing the nature and volume of roles offered to graduates. Despite these challenges, the overall hiring sentiment remains optimistic, with firms focusing on candidates who can navigate complex global scenarios and drive growth in uncertain times. While global political dynamics present challenges, the strong domestic economic environment ensures that top Indian business schools continue to experience healthy hiring trends.Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the Income Tax Bill 2025 in the Lok Sabha yesterday. The much-anticipated new Bill will not introduce new taxes but only simplifies the language of the existing Income Tax Act of 1961 and enhances clarity for taxpayers. Some of the key highlights include: Reduction of Obsolete Provisions: Numerous outdated and redundant sections have been eliminated to streamline the tax code.Consolidation of Sections: Related provisions, especially those concerning salaries and deductions, have been grouped together for easier reference.Introduction of ‘Tax Year': The bill introduces the concept of a “tax year,” aligning it with the financial year to reduce confusion.Taxpayer's Charter: A charter outlining the rights and obligations of taxpayers has been introduced to promote transparency and trust.Faceless Jurisdiction: Provisions have been made for faceless assessments to minimize direct contact between taxpayers and authorities, reducing potential biases.Enhanced Compliance Measures: The bill empowers the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to establish tax administration rules and implement digital tax monitoring systems without requiring frequent legislative amendments. Those were some of the key highlights of the new income tax bill.. Now this Bill, represents a significant step toward modernizing India's tax framework, aiming for greater simplicity, transparency, and taxpayer-friendliness. The new provisions are set to take effect from April 1, 2026, providing taxpayers ample time to adapt to the changes. Quantum computing is making big leaps forward, but most businesses aren't paying attention because they're busy with other tech priorities like AI. A startup called PsiQuantum, based in California, aims to build a fully functional quantum computer by 2027. Unlike other companies, they are using existing computer chip factories to speed up the process. Despite these advancements, a poll at the Wall Street Journal's CIO Network Summit revealed that none of the attending tech executives were actively exploring quantum computing applications for their businesses. Many are currently more focused on areas like artificial intelligence and adapting to evolving technology policies. However, India is making significant strides in quantum computing through government-led initiatives & research programs through the National Quantum Mission and collaborations with global tech firms like IBM, Google, and Microsoft who are partnering with Indian firms and universities to train talent in quantum technologies. India's investments in quantum computing are expected to transform industries like finance, healthcare, defense, and logistics in the coming years.The International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, has invested ₹860 crore (approximately $98.35 million) in India's first sustainability-linked bond issued by Cube Highways Trust (Cube InvIT). The funds from this bond will be used to acquire NAM Expressway Limited, a key highway that links Chennai and Hyderabad. Additionally, the investment will support Cube InvIT's long-term objectives, including initiatives focused on sustainability and social inclusion. As the main investor, IFC's involvement is expected to attract more capital, promoting the development of India's road infrastructure while adhering to global ESG standards, reports subshas narayan. Global investment firm Carlyle has acquired controlling stakes in two Indian auto parts manufacturers, Highway Industries and Roop Automotives, to create a diversified auto components platform. Highway Industries specializes in powertrain parts, while Roop Automotives produces steering system assemblies and exports to Europe and North America. The founders of both companies will retain significant stakes and continue to be involved in the business. Carlyle aims to help these companies leverage operational synergies, enhance capabilities, and expand capacities to deliver greater value to their customers. This move reflects Carlyle's strategy to build a significant presence in India's auto components sector, focusing on companies that cater to electric vehicles and have strong export potential.  

Neil and Rohit discuss the recent blocking of Santosh from being screened in Indian theaters and examine the history of India's Central Board of Film Certification.

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Wednesday, October 2, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started. The Indian stock market closed the volatile trading session on a flat note on Tuesday, October 1, amid mixed global signals and uncertain economic indicators. The Nifty 50 closed the session 0.05% lower while the Sensex ended with a slight decline of 0.04%.. The Goods and Services Tax has undergone a series of amendments since it was introduced in 2017. Yesterday the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs announced yet another important change: an end to the anti-profiteering regime. This had been put in place to ensure that businesses passed on the benefits of GST rate cuts to consumers. Gireesh Chandra Prasad reports that with its removal, businesses will have more freedom to set prices. This change is part of a broader effort to simplify GST compliance, Gireesh adds. The Leela group of hotels filed papers for a 5,000 crore rupee IPO last month, reflecting a growing appetite for both luxury tourism and luxury hotel stocks. Experts told Abhinaba Saha they expect healthy demand for Leela's IPO, the largest in the hospitality segment to date, as luxury tourism is just getting started in India. Luxury hotel chain operator Ventive Hospitality announced an IPO worth at least Rs 2,000 crore just a few weeks ago, while Juniper Hotels and Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels were listed in February.  Ever seen ads for music CDs and glass tumblers? They are all over billboards and TV sets, but you'd be hard pressed to find the actual products on sale. That's because they're surrogate ads for products such as alcohol. Liquor manufacturers aren't allowed to advertise their products, so resort to such tactics. However, Dhirendra Kumar reports that the Central Consumer Protection Authority is now cracking down on companies that use surrogate advertising and could fine repeat violators 50 lakh rupees. When Ranveer Allahbadia's YouTube account – which has 17.33 million subscribers – was hacked on September 25th, it highlighted a growing concern about cybersecurity among content creators. Allahbadia's experience served as a stark reminder that no one is immune to cyber threats. Pratishtha Bagai writes about a recent Kaspersky study that revealed 20% of Indian internet users were victims of cyber threats in the first half of 2024 alone. Influencers are now increasingly using two-factor authentication (2FA) and limiting device access to their accounts. Yet, many creators rely on platform support after the fact, rather than taking proactive steps to secure their accounts. Industry experts suggest that influencers, like businesses, should seek professional cyber protection services.In India's film industry, big-budget spectacles such as Baahubali and Pathaan rake in massive sums at the box office but often see modest profits owing to high production costs. Conversely, mid-budget films have delivered impressive returns. Stree 2, which cost around ₹60 crore to make, grossed more than ₹600 crore. Such films manage to appeal to both urban and regional audiences, often without major stars, and thus have a better return on investment, writes Lata Jha. Sequels such as Gadar 2 and Stree 2 continue to attract audiences by leveraging the success of their predecessors, maintaining interest without the hefty marketing budgets that larger films typically require.  GST-related anti-profiteering regime to end in March next year, marking shift towards free pricingLeela's IPO is a bet that luxury tourism in India is just getting startedLiquor makers in crosshairs over surrogate ads, CCPA calls for punitive actionAre social media influencers equipped to dodge cyber attacks?The curious case of mid-budget breakout hits

This is the Catchup on 3 Things by The Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.Today is the 26th of September and here are the headlines.India and China are learnt to have made “significant progress” in narrowing their gap on pending issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh. This includes exploring the contours of a possible solution that factors in their respective pre-April 2020 positions while agreeing to address existing issues in Arunachal Pradesh, The Indian Express has learnt. Sources said this might imply that Indian troops, whose access to certain patrolling points along the LAC were blocked either by Chinese troops or due to the implementation of the buffer zones created in the backdrop of disengagement at specific friction points, might be close to accessing them again.THE CBI is probing the sale and disposal of biomedical waste as part of its alleged corruption case at Kolkata's R G Kar Medical College Hospital, the epicentre of a political firestorm after last month's rape and murder of a medical intern there. A little-known company, SNG Envirosolutions, could hold one key to this in the manner it grew to handle up to 70% of waste from government hospitals across the state, including at RG Kar, without owning a single waste treatment plant, in violation of its contract's terms, an investigation by The Indian Express has revealed.Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut has been granted bail, hours after a magistrate's court in Mumbai convicted him in a defamation case filed by Medha Somaiya, the wife of former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya. Raut's sentence was also suspended for 30 days, granting him time to file an appeal. Lawyer Vivekanand Gupta, representing Medha Somaiya, said Raut was found guilty under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) by the magistrate court in Mazgaon. The court has sentenced Raut to 15 days imprisonment and a fine of Rs 25,000, Gupta said.The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) today informed the Bombay High Court that its revising committee suggested some cuts for the Kangana Ranaut film Emergency before its release. The CBFC was responding to a plea by co-producer Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited, which alleged that the CBFC was “illegally” and “arbitrarily” withholding certification for the film. It is directed and co-produced by BJP MP Ranaut, who also plays the role of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.After the lawyer representing Zee Entertainment sought time to take instructions to decide whether the cuts should be made, a bench of Justices B P Colabawalla and Firdosh P Pooniwalla posted further hearing for Monday, September 30.Unknown miscreants have vandalised the BAPS Hindu temple in California's Sacramento, desecrating it with a hate message, the BAPS Public Affairs said. BAPS Public Affairs said in a post on X, “Less than 10 days after the desecration of the @BAPS Mandir in New York, our Mandir in the Sacramento, CA area was desecrated last night with anti-Hindu hate. We stand united against hate with prayers for peace." Wednesday night's incident comes after the desecration of the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Melville, New York, on September 17.This was the Catch Up on 3 Things by The Indian Express.

An absolute honour and privilege to welcome today's guest on our Podcast, "The Billion Dreams," a luminary whose talents traverse the realms of advertising, poetry, and cinema with remarkable fluidity and finesse. With a spark in his heart, hailing from a small city Almora in Uttarakhand, India, our guest - Prasoon Joshi's journey from a poet to a celebrated lyricist and scriptwriter is inspiring, to say the least. A poet at heart, he started writing early on and published his first book at the tender age of 17, titled 'Main Aur Woh,' a 'conversation with himself'. Two more books Dard So Raha Hai and Samadhan followed thereafter establishing him as an author. The CEO of McCann Worldgroup India and the Chairman (Asia Pacific), he has revolutionized the advertising industry, crafting campaigns like Coca-Cola's "Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola" that resonated deeply with the Indian ethos while achieving global acclaim. His Happydent television commercial not only received personal accolades from Bob Garfield of AdvertisingAge but was also heralded as one of the 21st century's best ads by a Gunn Report poll. In the cinematic universe, Prasoon's debut as a lyricist with "Lajja" marked the beginning of an illustrious career. His lyrics and scripts are celebrated for their poetic depth, emotional intensity, and cultural richness, giving us unforgettable treasures for films like "Rang De Basanti," "Taare Zameen Par," and "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag," among many others. His work has not only won hearts but garnered him multiple awards, including two National Awards and the Filmfare Best Lyricist Award for songs in "Fanaa" and "Taare Zameen Par" solidifying his status as a visionary storyteller. His contributions have been recognized with prestigious accolades, including the Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian award, showcasing his impact on India's cultural landscape. An advocate for social change, Joshi uses his craft to address crucial issues, from environmental consciousness to national pride, making him a voice of both, beauty and conscience. His leadership roles, including serving as the Chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification in India, reflect his commitment to nurturing a responsible and vibrant creative industry. Transforming India's creative landscape through groundbreaking advertising, inspiring lyrics, and his role in shaping public discourse, Prasoon Joshi's legacy is not just in the beauty of his words but in the breadth of his impact, making him an icon of the modern era.In this episode, Ashish Vidyarthi & Prasoon Joshi delve into the nuances of life, discussing both, of its beauty and challenges: What it takes to come from a small town and make your mark in a big city; Working on one's shortcomings to learning the ability to fail gracefully, Adapting to the world of AI to discovering one's own authentic voice, this and much more. Tune in for an insightful dialogue as they dig into powerful themes of self-discovery and navigating the complexities of the modern world. If you like what you have heard, please give a like.Remember to engage with our content by sharing, and subscribing to our channel for more motivating tales. With 'The Billion Dreams,' we are on a mission to bring you a Billion stories that will ignite and inspire your life.Until next time, let's keep surprising ourselves and embracing the infinite possibilities within us. Alshukran Bandhu, Alshukran Zindagi.------Follow Prasoon Joshi on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/prasoonjoshilivehttps://www.instagram.com/prasoonjoshi_-------Topics: 0:46 Jab Ashish Met Prasoon 1:23 Is this really our WEAKNESS?1:51 India's Evolution of Strength2:45 AI Aur Main3:42 Democratisation of Intelligence5:28 Meeting Sam Altman & Philosophy of Advaita 6:16 Poet To Advertising: Changing with Times7:50 Challenges of Coming from Small Cities 10:47 The Art that will make your LIFE EASIER11:25 Choosing to do the RIGHT THING11:52 Story of David that will change the way you think12:20 Discover your authentic voice

This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.It's the 4th of April and here are today's headlines.Some of the significant changes introduced by the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) in the history chapter meant for Class 12 students on the origins and fall of the Harappan civilisation. Example: Assertion that recent studies of ancient DNA were obtained from archaeological sources at Rakhigarhi, an Indus Valley site in Haryana, ruling out Aryan immigration to a call for more research into whether the Harappans and the Vedic people were the same. These changes are part of the revision and updating of history textbooks undertaken by NCERT for the academic year 2024-25, which were recently communicated to the Central Board of Secondary Education.A day after he was expelled from the party for six years for indiscipline and anti-party statements, former Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam today launched a scathing attack against the party. He said its “outdated” leaders have lost touch with ground reality and it was a party with “no future left”.vWhile Nirupam chose to attack “Nehruvian secularism” and the “Leftist circle” around the Congress leadership, he also expressed displeasure over the party denying him a ticket from the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha constituency.Former Congress national spokesperson Gourav Vallabh, who quit the party earlier in the day, joined the BJP in New Delhi. Former Bihar Congress president Anil Sharma also joined the BJP in the presence of its national general secretary Vinod Tawde. Quitting the Congress, Vallabh, who represented the party on several TV debates, said of late, he had found himself uncomfortable with several stands taken by the party. He further alleged that the Congress party is moving in the wrong direction, against the “basic principles of the party.” Gourav Vallabh had contested the Rajasthan assembly election from Udaipur constituency in 2023.The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) made major suggestions to all educational institutions under its jurisdiction to help address “emerging challenges due to the current socio-cultural, religious, and political situation” in the country. These are: Respect all faiths and traditions, don't force Christian traditions on students of other religions, have students recite the Preamble to the Constitution during the daily morning Assembly, and set up an “inter-religious prayer room” on school premises. The CBCI is the apex decision-making body representing the Catholic community in India.Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry reportedly told a local news channel that Sri Lanka does not see any need to re-open talks on a contentious island, called Katchatheevu, ceded to it by New Delhi 50 years ago. Meanwhile, former Sri Lankan envoy to India Austin Fernando, while speaking with The Indian Express said if the Indian government crosses the Sri Lankan maritime international boundary line, it would be seen as a “violation of Sri Lankan sovereignty”.This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.

In its 50th meeting, the GST Council recommended a 28 per cent GST on online gaming, casinos, and horse racing, leading to concerns within the gaming industry. This has led to concerns in the gaming industry regarding the potential impact on investments, job opportunities, and the overall economy. In this latest episode of the News Explained podcast, Shishir Sinha, Associate Editor, provides insights into the outcomes of the 15th GST Council meeting and its impact on various sectors.  The government focuses on treating these activities as acceptable claims rather than distinguishing between games of skill and games of chance. This decision will have implications for the taxation of these sectors.  The council took several decisions, including the exemption of GST on the cancer treatment drug Dinutuximab (Quarziba) when imported for personal use. This move aims to alleviate the financial burden on patients requiring life-saving medications. The exemption does not extend to the input by companies or the industry.  Another significant development in the meeting was the discussion around utility vehicles. The GST Council recommended parameters for defining these vehicles, including length, engine capacity, and ground clearance. Utility vehicles meeting these criteria will attract a 20 per cent GST, potentially impacting pricing and consumer choices. The automobile sector is awaiting further clarification through a final circular to understand the implications more clearly.  As the discussions and recommendations from the GST Council meeting progress, legislative changes may be required. The process involves the submission of proposals to parliament for potential changes in legislation. Circulars and instructions issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), and state GST departments ensure the implementation of these recommendations nationwide. Listen in.   --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/business-line/message

The podcast discusses the intricacies of TDS (tax deducted at source) withholding, which affects the taxable value under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) system in India. Under the Income Tax Act, 1961, TDS is withheld by Indian service recipients on the amount payable to foreign service providers. To clarify the taxable value under service tax, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) stated that the taxable value shall be the gross value, including TDS. However, the net receipt in the hands of foreign service providers is reduced to the extent of TDS, which can be overcome by restructuring the transaction. The issue is whether the taxable value for discharging GST should be confined only to the contractual payment or whether the amount of TDS should also be added. The podcasr discusses court decisions on the valuation provisions in the Finance Act, 1994, and the GST law. The author highlights the intricacies of TDS withholding, which has been a matter of dispute in the past. While some court decisions have held that TDS should not be added to the taxable value, the podcast suggests that the valuation provisions under the GST law require a closer examination of whether the contractual payment made to the supplier can be equated with 'sole consideration.' While the Finance Act considers the contractually agreed amount as the gross amount charged, the GST law provides that the taxable value shall be the transaction value, i.e., the price actually paid or payable. However, the presence of 'sole consideration' would depend on the facts and circumstances of each case, and it needs to be examined whether the contractual payment made to the supplier can be equated with 'sole consideration', wherein TDS is borne by the service recipient.The podcast concludes that the presence of 'sole consideration' would largely depend on the facts and circumstances of each case.Link:Withholding Income Tax: Withholding the ambiguity in GST Valuation? | Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan Attorneys (lakshmisri.com)Audio Source:  An article published on the LKS website in April 2023.Authors:  Shiwani Kaushik, Associate LKS

Gold prices have hit record high soaring past Rs 60,000 mark but the high prices have not deterred the greed for gold. And we are getting it by hook or by crook as smuggling also soars. Host Kiran Somvanshi speaks to a veteran of the customs department as he reveals shocking tales and tactics of new age smuggling. The big question -: Are high import duties the very cause of the booming illicit gold trade? Is the solution the problem? We hear from Dr. Rajesh Kumar Verma, Additional Director General, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, Somasundaram PR, India MD and CEO - World Gold Council, Nawal Agrawal, Convener, Jewellery Panel Committee, Gems & Jewellery Export Promotion Council and Pradeep Thakur, Editor - Governance at the Times of India. Credits: Don - Shemaroo Entertainment, Zanjeer - Prakash Mehra, Aakhri Sanghursh - G. M. Patel, Adalat - A. K. Nadiadwala, Zee Business News and Business Today News If you like this episode from Kiran Somvanshi, check out her other interesting episodes on Patients Before Patents or Profits, Corporate Citizenship - The Marico Way, India's First Lady of Forensics and more!  You can follow our host Kiran Somvanshi on her social media: Twitter & Linkedin Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief' on ET Play, The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Google Podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

India Policy Watch #1: What Do Successive Defence Budgets Reveal?Insights on burning policy issues in India— Pranay Kotasthane(An edited version of this article was published in Hindustan Times on 13th Feb)Another defence budget zoomed past us on Feb 1. Since then, analyses have focused on how the defence spending for the coming year departs from the last year. Some have waved a red flag as defence spending has fallen below 2 per cent of GDP for the first time in many years. On the other hand, the defence ministry's post-budget press release emphasised a 44 per cent increase in operational spending, which is expected to “close critical gaps in the combat capabilities and equip the Forces in terms of ammunition, sustenance of weapons & assets, military reserves etc.” The ministry also highlighted that the capital outlay for modernisation and infrastructure development has risen by a seemingly handsome 57 per cent over the last five years. How, then, do we make sense of these conflicting narratives?Comparing allocations with those in the previous year gives us a confusing picture. Every interest group can pull up a number from the budget to suit their pre-formed narrative. Taking a step back from these narratives, this article will show that this was another run-of-the-mill defence budget, just like the previous one was. Nothing in it indicates any significant change in the defence posture. Unlike Japan, which has announced a doubling of its military spending in the next five years, India's approach is about gradually improving the operational efficiency of the armed forces.Looking under the hoodThis article looks at the defence expenditure over the last six budgets to make sense of the numbers. To put numbers into context, let's use an earlier year (FY16). FY16 is a useful reference point as it predates two major developments: China's visibly aggressive posture on the border and the budgetary commitments arising from the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme. Three observations follow from such an analysis.One, not only has defence spending fallen as a proportion of GDP, but it has also fallen as a percentage of government expenditure. In other words, defence has slipped in priority relative to non-defence functions (Figure 1). Two, the China challenge hasn't led to any spectacular change in the composition of defence expenditure. Defence spending can be divided into four major components: salaries, pensions, capital outlay, and others. As Figure 2 shows, capital outlay was being squeezed by rising pension expenditure over the last few years. For two consecutive years (FY19 and FY20), more money was spent on pensions than on capital acquisition and modernisation. The balance has now been marginally restored since FY21, after the Galwan crisis flared up.Crucially, the rises in pension and capital expenditures have come at the cost of operational and maintenance expenditures, including ammunition stores (under the Others category). It is hence not surprising that the latest budget is trying to arrest this decline in combat capabilities.Three, this period has been relatively better for the Indian Navy in terms of capital expenditure. Since the procurement of new platforms happens over multiple years, a temporal view is useful in analysing how capital outlay is split between the three armed forces. Figure 3 suggests that the big change in the last four years is in the capital outlay for the Indian Navy, with the FY24 figure having doubled in absolute terms since FY20.The Big PictureBy connecting these dots over the last five years, the picture that emerges is this: the government seems confident that China can be handled without a substantial rise in defence expenditure. The latest budget serves as a bellwether indicator for this claim. It was the first budget of the post-pandemic period, at a time when the economic prospects for India had improved considerably. The government achieved better-than-expected buoyancy in income taxes and GST in the current financial year, while the cooling of global fertilizer prices has led to a decline in the projected subsidy bill. Consequently, the government, for the first time in many years, had some fiscal room to play with. It has used that space to increase the overall capital outlay to Rs 10 lakh crore, almost three times the outlay in 2019-20. Despite this increase in the overall capital outlay, the defence budget resembles the middle overs of a one-day cricket match.From a financial savings perspective, there have been just two important changes over this period in the defence domain. The first was the announcement of the Agnipath scheme. It might reduce the pension burden, but these savings will reflect only after a decade-and-a-half. Other proposals, such as theatre commands, haven't come to fruition yet. The proposal to create a non-lapsable fund for modernisation — a proposal the union government gave an in-principle agreement way back in Feb 2021, still hasn't found a mention in the latest budget.Probably, the defence budget is the wrong place to infer India's strategic posture against China. Perhaps, the government considers other tools of statecraft—diplomatic, economic, or non-conventional—more suitable for the purpose. This point needs deeper reflection. The discussions over the roles of these tools of statecraft currently operate under mistaken assumptions. Attempts at getting India into an anti-China alliance are spurned at the altar of “strategic autonomy”. The opponents seem to assume that India only needs to equip its armed forces with greater firepower. For too long, many parliamentary standing committees and defence organisations have gone hoarse trying to convince the government that defence expenditure should be raised to 3 per cent of GDP. If anything, the change is in the opposite direction.The defence budget trends are a reminder that the government does not prefer using the military instrument to outflank China. At best, it wants to equip the armed forces such that China's incursions can be matched or repulsed. Given that there's no significant increase in allocations for the Navy and the Air Force, it also means that the government is not considering an increased presence in the South China Sea. So, the military is being equipped to plug a vulnerability and not to gain an asymmetric political advantage over China. This line of thinking probably makes sense. There's no point in matching China's defence spending dollar-for-dollar. After all, the Indian armed forces are more adept at fighting at high altitudes. But this line of thinking should also make it apparent that India must develop capabilities in domains other than those involving force to inflict pain on China. The government should build a political consensus that closer relations with China's adversaries are not a matter of choice but an imperative. That we need to double down on economic growth and technological upgrading if we are to constrain China's hand in other domains. It also means that we shouldn't be indiscriminately banning China's investments in India; a better approach would be to make their companies in non-strategic domains more dependent on the Indian market. We will then have more tools in our kit to deploy if the situation on the border worsens. Each of these posture changes needs an updating of our priors and payoffs. For that to happen, it is necessary that the government comes clean about China's incursions. Pretending that all's well might give us false comfort, but they will also dissuade the strategic establishment from confronting the tough trade-offs in non-military domains. Without this pivot, we would merely rely on hope as a strategy. India Policy Watch #2: Through The Looking GlassInsights on burning policy issues in India— RSJWe talk about the arbitrary powers of the state on these pages often. Now, we cannot grudge the state's sovereignty because we have voluntarily handed it that power. One argument that follows from this is that such power is often prone to be used arbitrarily. And that's a problem for the citizens. The typical solution we have offered on these pages over time is to restrict the domain of the state to a narrow set where it can make the maximum impact or to design its incentives in a way that makes the state act with accountability. Now, these are good design principles. We could use them to create structures and institutions that are strong and independent that could hold their own against any arbitrary use of power. But are these enough? A natural question that should follow is how do we know things are working in practice like they were meant to? How do we get authentic information about how the state is conducting itself? How do we confirm that it is not subverting the institutional design that is in place to control its powers? These questions lead us to the other pillar of a well-functioning democracy - transparency. It is a topic we haven't discussed enough on these pages. Transparency is a moral good, and it is vital for a healthy democracy. Darkness stunts democracy. It needs light to thrive. In the early part of the 20th century, the US Supreme Court judge Louis Brandeis famously remarked, “sunlight is the best disinfectant” while making a case for a transparency imperative. Or, if we were to go further back, Bentham, often credited to have done the most original thinking on transparency, summed it up with - the more strictly we are watched, the better we behave - a principle he put at the heart of his advocacy for an open government. So, what has triggered my early morning ruminations on transparency? Well, there are two reasons. Here's one. The Indian Express reports:“The Supreme Court said it did not want to accept in a “sealed cover” the Centre's suggestions on who could be the members of a committee the court had proposed to assess the market regulatory framework and recommend measures, if any, to strengthen it in the wake of the Adani-Hindenburg affair. It refused to accept any suggestions on names from the petitioners as well.Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, who headed a three-judge bench hearing a clutch of petitions on the Hindenburg Research report and its aftermath, told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, the court wanted to maintain “full transparency”. The court would appoint a committee of its own that will promote a sense of confidence in the process, he said.”CJI Chandrachud said, “We would rather not accept the sealed cover suggestions from you for this reason; in constituting a committee which we want to do, we want to maintain full transparency. The moment we accept a set of suggestions from you in a sealed cover, it means the other side is not seeing them. Even if we don't accept your suggestions, they will not know which of your suggestions we have accepted and which we have not. Then there may be an impression that well, this is a government-appointed committee which the Supreme Court has accepted even if we have not accepted your suggestions. So, we want to maintain the fullest transparency in the interest of protecting the investors.”Bravo. The Chief Justice was almost channelling Bentham there, who famously wrote, “secrecy, being an instrument of conspiracy, ought never to be the system of a regular government.” I mean, what even is a sealed cover in a matter that concerns millions of ordinary investors? Why should there be secrecy in the name of experts and their recommendations? A sealed cover is a strange invention. It gives the sheen of a fair and independent process to what is essentially a subversion of a democratic principle. It ranks up there among one of the great Indian coinages. The top spot, of course, is forever occupied by ‘mild lathicharge'. And now, onto the other reason for all this talk on transparency. This was the headline-grabbing news of this week in India - “Weeks after its documentary taken off, BBC gets I-T knock”. Here's the Indian Express reporting on this with many quotes from “unnamed government sources”:“The Income-Tax Department surveys at the premises of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in Delhi and Mumbai on Tuesday (February 14) were conducted in view of the BBC's “deliberate non-compliance with the transfer pricing rules” and its “vast diversion of profits”, government sources said.The surveys were looking into “manipulation of prices for unauthorized benefits, including tax advantages”, sources said.The BBC has been “persistently and deliberately violative of transfer pricing rules, it has “deliberately diverted a significant amount of the profits”, and has not followed the “arm's length arrangement” in the allocation of profit, the sources said.”A very garrulous source there with a lot of information. I don't want to ascribe motives to the tax raids yet. There's enough in the timing of these ‘surveys' to raise suspicions. The I-T department has been used to settle political and other scores for decades. It speaks poorly of our institutional strength and independence. But that's not the issue we are discussing today. The question is about transparency. Does anyone know why the surveys were carried out? The sources have cleverly given some reasons, but what stops the department from giving an official reason for them? Is it because it is likely that if they give the official reason, there will be further questions on the arbitrary nature of the actions? So, it is best to share nothing officially, selectively leak information to the media to paint the BBC in poor light and get away with harassment that then sends a message across to other foreign media outlets. Because even based on the merits of what the sources have said, it is difficult to justify a two-day survey. To quote the same news report:“Transfer pricing issues are very common for foreign companies but survey/search actions against them are not common. Assessment is usually opted for but is not the only route through which such cases can be approached. If tax officers want to do a survey/search, then transfer pricing issues can get covered.However, it is an approval-driven process with prior approvals required within the tax department before carrying out survey action. They would be having some information against the company and there might be a history of non-compliance too,” a Delhi-based tax expert said.  A notice preferably is issued to a company in an assessment exercise by the tax authorities flouting transfer pricing rules before undertaking any such action, experts said."It shouldn't surprise anyone that political actors don't like transparency. It adds to their burden of accountability and increases the political costs of any missteps, deliberate or otherwise. So, how should the citizens keep up the demand for transparency in a democratic setup? After all, for the citizens to be involved in the governance process, they must have access to the government's information, plans and intentions. Also, there is a line beyond which too much transparency could be counterproductive. Too much information, too early in the process, could mean stalling the plan as interest groups jump in and skew the decision-making process. I have outlined three frames that one could use to think about transparency in a democracy.First, it is in the long-term interest of political parties to seek transparency in a democratic setup. For those in the opposition, it is about making the incumbent party in power more accountable. For the incumbent, too, there's always the uncertainty about the future when they might not be in power. In such a scenario, it is better for them to have stronger laws on transparency for their own access to government information, which they can use to hold others accountable. A lack of certainty about future electoral prospects for any party is a feature of a good democracy. It is in this environment most transparency laws are made. In India, too, the RTI came about because of grassroots activism and a broad consensus among the political class led by the party in power then. However, it is important to note that the Overton window was right during that time when getting re-elected was an exception. It meant the political actors were keen to have access to information in future. In that sense, any period when transparency is suppressed in a democracy is a good surrogate for the power of the party in power. In India, the RTI laws allow for access to a significant amount of government information. The problem is that there is a gradual erosion of its ambit as the dominant political class comes to view it as an irritant. The only way to counter this is for the citizenry to continue using the RTI tool to its fullest extent. The more people know the tool's power, the harder it will be to blunt it. Second, it is important to devolve transparency to state and local governments. This is where the political uncertainty is still high in India, which means there's an incentive for political actors to support transparency moves to guarantee their own access to information in future. This is also the space where petty corruption is still rampant. One of the challenges of RTI in India is that most of the activism here is focused on big-ticket issues. The opportunity to bring sunlight as a disinfectant and its payoffs are the highest at the local level of governance. Separately, there are also specific areas in the private sector that could do with improved transparency. This is tricky territory, and let me be very specific about this. There's a significant amount of information that's collected, often without explicit consent, from the citizens by the private sector, which is then monetised in various ways. The mechanism by which their information is used and the extent to which the private sector, especially the social media platforms,  benefits from it are not transparent to the citizens who are the customers. If your attention is being monetised through multiple trackers and personalised ads, it is only fair you must know the rules of the game and agree to play it. This is still a white space of policymaking in India.   Lastly, the oft-cited risk of policy waters being muddied because of transparency, where various interest groups will lobby for their positions and slow down the decision-making process, is a bit misplaced. Those in favour of transparency do not argue for the innards of policymaking being put out for display. That process requires stakeholder mapping and seeking inputs in a way that's been documented by various policy thinkers. We have written about the eight-step process of policymaking on these pages on multiple occasions. The issue of transparency is important in two areas. First, the implementation and measurement of a policy proposal. How did a policy fare compared to its promise? Were the public resources and efforts prudently used? Was there a clear understanding of why something failed? Access to this information is important for the public and experts outside the government to hold the government accountable and improve future decisions. Second, the size of the state in India often means it is the biggest, often the sole, customer in multiple sectors and its decision on setting the rules of games in these sectors, awarding contracts and its performance in managing its budget should be available for public scrutiny. Again, this doesn't mean the government should vet its decisions at each stage with prevailing public opinion. Rather it must be able to explain its process and the rationale for decisions openly and transparently. The practice of sealed covers or I-T surveys and raids without a clear reason isn't new to India. What's new is the somewhat strange support for these actions by the mainstream media that are being fed by the ever-bizarre theories cooked by the partisans on social media. BBC isn't doing a documentary on Gujarat because China is now funding it. Nor is there a leftist cabal that's busy bringing Adani down one week and using BBC the next to show the government in a bad light. This playbook is reminiscent of the Indira era of the mid-70s, where in the name of national interest, we buried transparency and accountability. It took us decades to get out of that mire. Learning from history is free, but most of us fail the eventual test.PolicyWTF: Casually Banning Films Committee, RepriseThis section looks at egregious public policies. Policies that make you go: WTF, Did that really happen?— Pranay Kotasthane Last week, I came across an excellent report by Aroon Deep in The Hindu that explains how the Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC) is going way beyond its usual stance of “demanding” cuts of scenes showing sexual content, violence, or abusive language. Instead, the CBFC now also has a perspective on dietary preferences (demanding that mention of “beef” be struck off), foreign policy (demanding that references to ex-KGB officers, China, and Pakistan be removed), and even corruption (how can a filmmaker dare depict a police officer accepting a bribe?). Seriously, what an omniscient body.Despite its activism, the Censor Board hasn't impressed the extremists. One Hindu group leader has called for creating a ‘Dharma Censor Board' “to review Bollywood films and keep a check on any anti-religious content or distortion of facts about Sanatan Dharma.” In his words:“Our experts will see a film when it is released and if we find it suitable for people belonging to Sanatan Dharma, we will issue a certificate. At present, films passed by the censor board set up by the government have been found carrying scenes that hurt the sentiments of people. We have repeatedly asked for a religious person to be included in the censor board but this demand has not been accepted. This is why we had to constitute our own board.”While it sounds absolutely absurd at face value, there is a liberal way out to assimilate this conservative critique. We covered it in edition #122, and I want to re-emphasise those points.In 2016, my former colleagues Madhav, Adhip, Shikha, Siddarth, Devika and Guru wrote an interesting paper in which they recommended that film certification should be privatised.Deploying the Banishing Bureaucracy framework, they wrote:The CBFC be renamed the Indian Movie Authority (IMA) and that the primary purpose of the IMA would be to license and regulate private organisations called Independent Certifying Authorities (ICAs) which will then certify films.So, the Hindu group can very well have its own ICA, which will rate the movie on its Sanatana Dharma compliance score. But…The certificate granted by ICA will only restrict what age groups the film is appropriate for. This is the only form of pre-censorship that is necessary in today's age as all other restrictions on film exhibition should be applied retrospectively. The choice of ICAs available for producers to approach will render the question of subjectivity moot as the producer can switch to another ICA if unsatisfied with the certificate. The IMA will set the guidelines for the ICAs to follow and will be the first point of appeal.In other words, this solution reimagines the CBFC as a body that grants licenses to independent and private certification organisations called ICAs. These ICAs must adhere to certain threshold criteria set by the CBFC. Beyond these criteria, some ICAs may specialise themselves as being the sanskaari ones trigger-happy to award an “A” certification, while others may adopt a more liberal approach. In the authors' words:This will allow the marketplace of ideas to draw the lines of what kind of content is fit for what kind of audience with the government still being capable of stepping in to curb prurient sensibilities.This solution has the added benefit of levelling the playing field between OTT content and films. Currently, the CBFC has no capacity to certify the content being churned out on tens of streaming services. By delegating this function to private ICAs, the government can ensure adherence to certification norms.In essence, just as governments can often plug market failures, markets too can sometimes plug government failures. Reforming our ‘Censor Board' requires giving markets a chance.There's much more detail in the paper about grievance redressal, certification guidelines, and appeals procedure. Read it here.HomeWorkReading and listening recommendations on public policy matters* [Podcast] Over at Puliyabaazi, we discuss technology geopolitics with Anirudh Suri, author of The Great Tech Game.* [Paper] Laxman Kumar Behera's take on the defence budget.* [Paper] This paper has a fantastic framework for understanding policy failures and successes. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit publicpolicy.substack.com

The Censor Board in India enjoys a wide remit of powers to not only certify films but also demand cuts and modifications in movies and even refuse certification. It has come under criticism for hampering freedom of expression, demanding unreasonable cuts in movies and infantalising audience choices.  In this episode, Pranay Kotasthane & Shrikrishna Upadhyaya discuss the structural problems with the Censor Board, should government be involved in film censorship and alternate models of film certification. Pranay speaks about a framework for privatising film certification in the country and divesting them to Independent Certifying Authorities, regulated by an independent Indian Movies Authority. Readings: Takshashila Policy Advisory - Privatising Film Certification: Towards a Modern Film Rating Regime Anticipating the Unintended: Casually Banning Films Committee The cuts of Central Board of Film Certification run deep - The Hindu You can follow Shrikrishna Upadhayaya on Twitter: https://twitter.com/shrikrishna5 You can follow Pranay Kotasthane on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pranaykotas  Check out Takshashila's courses: https://school.takshashila.org.in/ Do follow IVM Podcasts on social media. We are @IVMPodcasts on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram. https://twitter.com/IVMPodcasts https://www.instagram.com/ivmpodcasts/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/ivmpodcasts/ You can check out our website at https://shows.ivmpodcasts.com/featured Follow the show across platforms: Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Gaana, Amazon Music Do share the word with your folks!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Do you know the Farmers are also females? Do you know the algorithms are designed from a male perspective? Do you know there is no LGBTQIA in the STEM community? Do you know a woman in every field gets paid half the amount for her work despite the same work as a man? Do you know? Our guest for today Dr.AL Sharda is a Director of Population First, who spearheads the media advocacy campaign for gender sensitivity - Laadli, which had initiated conversations with many influencers in print and electronic media, scriptwriters, and other content developers through awards, fellowships, workshops, and consultations. She was a member of the Central Board for Film Certification ( CBFC)  and initiated gender analysis of ads and films in Print media. We dissect the book DEEP DIVE: MEDIA REPORTING ON GENDER ISSUESDigs: 1) Transgender and transphobia.2) LGBTQIA community in STEM3)Algorithms as misogynists!4) Gender-affirmative health care- need of the hour5) There are female farmers who are not called Farmers!6) Stories of migrant women n sex workers7) Gender Biases in media & entertainment Email id: metaphysicallab@gmail.com/  You can follow us and leave us feedback on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @eplogmedia, For partnerships/queries send you can send us an email at bonjour@eplog.media   Intro Music: "Hard Boiled" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Outro Music: Shades of Spring by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4342-shades-of-springLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license   DISCLAIMER: The views expressed on all the shows produced and distributed by Ep.Log Media are personal to the host and the guest of the shows respectively and with no intention to harm the sentiments of any individual/organization.The said content is not obscene or blasphemous or defamatory of any event and/or person deceased or alive or in contempt of court or breach of contract or breach of privilege, or in violation of any provisions of the statute, nor hurt the sentiments of any religious groups/ person/government/non-government authorities and/or breach or be against any declared public policy of any nation or state.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In a recent press release, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) clarified doubts regarding the extension of deadlines for various GST provisions. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) notified various GST (Goods and Services Tax) amendments on 28 September 2022, effective from 1 October 2022. Please visit here: https://www.bloglovin.com/@johndenmark/proper-explanation-timelines-extension-for

Husain Jaffer was born in Queens, New York and has lived most of his life in Orlando, FL. He completed his MBA from Crummer Graduate School of Business and his undergraduate degree from Rollins College, majoring in International Business and minors in Economics & Spanish. His career has ranged from working for a private real estate firm, being a business owner, to his current role as a real estate appraiser analyst for Orange County, Florida. His roles outside his career included leading the Who is Hussain Orlando Chapter, leading Outreach efforts for a local Islamic center, Principal for IEC Academy, Assistant Principal for Ark Academy, and being the Director for the Central Board of Education in Orlando. He has worked on projects such as a career mentorship program pairing working professionals with aspiring students, developing a robotics camp, organizing family camps, and many other endeavors for the sake of God. He hopes to continue making an impact on the community before departure.

Howard and Jill Sharfstein speak about their marriage, and their 40 years as congregants of Central Synagogue. Together they reflect on how Central became increasingly more important through Howard's illness and their growing involvement after his recovery, including Howard's position, in 2006, as Chair of the Central Board of trustees.

क्या security के चक्कर में लोगों से, और ख़ासकर के महिलाओं से, उनके undergarments उतरवाने की इजाज़त है? बच्चे cheating न कर पाएं, क्या इस वजह से एक exam से पहले बगैर किसी cheating के सबूत के, उनसे उनके कपड़े उतरवाए जा सकते हैं? क्या असर पड़ता है लोगों पर इस तरीके से उन्हें treat करने का, वो भी एक ज़रूरी exam से पहले… आज इन सभी बातों पर चर्चा होगी। क्यों? बस हमारे साथ बने रहें, हम आपको पूरी जानकारी देंगे। तो ख़बर आई है कि केरल (Kerala) में मेडिकल प्रवेश परीक्षा नीट (NEET) के दौरान लड़कियों को कथित तौर पर ब्रा (Bra) उतारने को मजबूर किया गया है। ये मामला तब सामने आया जब एक लड़की के पिता ने थाने पहुंचकर इस पूरे घटनाक्रम की शिकायत की और FIR दर्ज कराई। बताया जा रहा है कि परीक्षा के लिए हॉल में प्रवेश से पहले सुरक्षा जांच में लड़की की ब्रा में लगे मेटल के हुक के कारण बीप हो रहा था जिसके बाद उसे ब्रा उतारने को मजबूर किया। पूरा मामला बताते हैं कोल्लम ज़िले के NEET केंद्र मार्थोमा इंस्टीट्यूट ऑफ इंफॉर्मेशम टेक्नोलॉजी (TEXT: Marthoma Institute of Information Technology) में एक महिला सुरक्षाकर्मी ने जांच के दौरान लड़की से कहा था कि ब्रा के हुक के कारण उसे अपनी ब्रा हटा देनी चाहिए। लड़की के विरोध करने पर उसे ये भी कहा गया कि अगर उसने ब्रा नहीं हटाई तो उसे मेडिकल प्रवेश परीक्षा में बैठने की अनुमति नहीं दी जाएगी. हैरान कर देने वाली बात ये है कि शिकायत के मुताबिक, लड़की से ये कहा गया कि, आपके लिए आपका भविष्य बड़ा है या innerwear? इसे हटा दीजिए और हमारा समय बर्बाद न कीजिए।    वहीं, मामले के सामने आने के बाद परीक्षा केंद्र ने इस पूरे मामले में कोई भी ज़िम्मेदारी लेने से इनकार किया है. कोल्लम पुलिस ने पुष्टि करते हुए कहा कि, माता-पिता ने शिकायत दर्ज कराई है साथ ही आरोप लगाया है कि कई लड़कियों को उनके innerwear हटाने के लिए मजबूर किया गया. लड़की के पिता ने शिकायत दर्ज कराते हुए कहा कि, सुरक्षा जांच के दौरान मेरी बेटी से कहा गया कि उसकी ब्रा में हुक होने के चलते मेटल डिटेक्टर में बीप हो रहा है. उन्होंने बताया कि 90 प्रतिशत छात्राओं से उनके innerwear उतरवाए गए जिसके चलते परीक्षा देते समय छात्रा मानसिक रूप से परेशान थी.   अब जानते हैं कि National Testing Agency ने इस पर क्या कहा और क्या NEET के नियम इस तरीके से frisking की इजाज़त देते हैं?   NTA ही वो authority है जो NEET परीक्षा की ज़िम्मेदार लेती हैं। मामले के सामने आने के बाद अब केरल (Screenshot and highight of tweet)  उच्च शिक्षा मंत्री आर बिंदू ने कहा कि, "हमने एनटीए और केंद्र को पत्र लिखकर इस तरह की कार्रवाई के प्रति अपनी अस्वीकृति व्यक्त की है. उन्हें अपने अधिकारियों द्वारा गलत व्याख्या से बचने के लिए अपने निर्देश ठीक से बनाने चाहिए. हमें यह सुनिश्चित करना है कि एक छात्र की मनोवैज्ञानिक स्थिति बाधित न हो." वहीं, इसके अलावा, National Testing Agency (राष्ट्रीय परीक्षा एजेंसी) ने भी मामले को लेकर कहा कि, NEET ड्रेस कोड ऐसी किसी भी एक्टिविटी की इजाज़त नहीं देता है।” और उन्होंने ये भी कहा कि ऐसी कोई भी हरकत उनके लोगों ने छात्राओं के साथ नहीं की है और न ही उस समय ऐसी कोई complain आई।”   NTA के डायरेक्टर-जनरल Vineet Joshi ने Indian express को बताया कि उनके कर्मचारियों को संवेदनशील तरीके से Frisking यानी कि तलाशी लेने की training दी गई है। वो ऐसा नहीं कर सकते। ये पहली बार नहीं है जब NEET की परीक्षा में लड़कियों से उनके innerwear उतरवाए गए हों।  .  2017 में जब dental और medical course का National Eligibility and Entrance Test हुआ था, तब भी उस समय NEET टेस्ट की ज़िम्मेदार authority Central Board of Secondary Education ने ऐसे कई ऊट-पटांग rules रखे थे जैसे कि बच्चे full sleeves पहन कर न आएं, गहरे रंग के pants न पहनें, टखनों से ऊपर जूते न पहनें, pins और metal buttons भी न हों, metal के earing या innerwear में भी metal न हो। उनका कहना था कि ये सब cheating को ध्यान में रखते हुए किया जा रहा है।  उस समय भी कई छात्राओं को उनकी ब्रा निकालने को कहा गया था क्योंकि metal detector वहां beep कर रहा था। उस समय भी इस बात पर काफी बवाल हुआ था और महिला कांग्रेस president Bindu Krishna ने केरल मुख्यमंत्री Pinarayi Vijayan से दरख्वास्त की थी कि वो इस पर enquiry बैठाएं।   ताज़े मामले में भी पिता का कहना है कि आपको दिक्कत है आप चेक करें, कपड़े निकलवा क्यों रही हैं। NEET में ऐसा rule नहीं है।   अब कई लोग कह रहे हैं कि इतनी भी  बड़ी बात हो गई। अगर (Screenshot) शाहरुख़ खान और (Screenshot)APJ Abdul Kalam के कपड़े हटवा कर search कर सकते हैं तो ये तो exam देने वाले बच्चे ही हैं। मगर फर्क पड़ता हैं। एक बात होती है देश की सुरक्षा की और एक बात होती है exam में cheating की। उन बच्चों की मानसिक सेहत पर क्या असर पड़ता होगा है जब एक ज़रूरी exam से पहले बच्चों को इस तरीके से strip search किया जाता है और  कपड़े side में  रख कर exam देने को कहा जाता है। किस मानसिक तनाव से वो बच्चे exam देते होंगे। कई लड़कियां अपने भाई और पिता के साथ exam देने आती हैं। उन लोगों के सामने लड़कियों का ऐसी बातें सुनना उनके confidence पर भी चोट कर सकता है। ये तरीका invasive होता है और privacy का उल्लंघन भी करता है। लंबे समय से कई लोग इस पर research करते आ रहे हैं। बच्चों और नौजवानों पर strip -search करने से उनके दिमाग पर पड़ने वाले असर पर भी बहुत काम हुआ है।   Children Rights Litigation Committee of the American Bar Association's Section of Litigation and the New York Civil Liberties Union के  Preventing Strip Searches of Children and Youth: A Guide for Advocates नाम के एक रिसर्च paper के अनुसार इस तरीके की body search demeaning, dehumanizing, undignified, humiliating, terrifying, unpleasant, embarrassing, repulsive, signifying degradation and submission होती है। हिंदी में कहें तो ऐसी search नीचा दिखाने वाली, अमानवीय अशोभनीय, अपमानजनक, भयानक, अप्रिय, शर्मनाक, प्रतिकारक, गिरी हुई और आपकी अधीनता को दर्शाने वाली होती है। भारत में भी 2017 में जब ऐसी ही घटना सामने आई थी, तब भी  कई सारे माता-पिता और अभिभावकों ने कहा था कि उनकी बच्चियां exam देने गई तो थीं पूरे confidence के साथ मगर वापस आ कर रोने लगीं और यही बोलीं कि हमसे मत पूछिए कि exam कैसा गया।  ताज़े मामले में भी लड़की के पिता का कहना है कि उन्ही की नहीं बल्कि कई लड़कियों के साथ ऐसा किया गया है, और सभी लड़कियों ने संकोच और बेआराम  हो कर exam दिया क्योंकि साथ में लड़के भी exam दे  रहे थे। 2017 में भी थिरुवनंथपुरम के CBSE officials का यही बयान आया था कि हमें तो इसके बारे में कुछ नहीं पता और आज NTA भी यही कह रहा है।    फिलहाल इन आरोपों के चलते, NTA ने सोमवार को कहा कि उन्होंने परीक्षा केंद्र के superintendent , उनके स्वतंत्र पर्यवेक्षक यानी कि independent observer और NEET के लिए city coordinator से तत्काल प्रभाव से प्रतिक्रिया मांगी थी। पर एजेंसी ने एक बताया कि "इन तीनों ने कहा है कि उन्होंने ऐसी कोई भी घटना होते हुए नहीं देखी"   ज़िम्मेदारी लेना न लेना एक बात है। मगर हम कब तक इस तरीके से cheating और सुरक्षा के नाम पर लोगों की निजता, लोगों की privacy का हनन  करते रहेंगे। कब तक बच्चे उत्साह के साथ exam-hall जायेंगे और रोते हुए वापस आएंगे। अब बात होनी चाहिए कि किस तरह ज़रूरी इम्तेहानों में cheating को रोका जा सकता है बगैर नौजवानों को शर्मिंदा किए हुए। ज़रूरत है इस  frisking को control करने की वरना जो नौजवान exam देकर और पास कर के एक अच्छी ज़िन्दगी जी सकते हैं, अच्छा समाज बना सकते हैं, कहीं ऐसी घटनाओं की वजह उनके सपनों पर सेंध न लग जाये। ज़रूरत है mental health को अब तवज्जो देने की और सरकारी हुक्मरानों को इसका संज्ञान लेने की। मैं हूँ Sahiba Khan और आप सुन रहे हैं ABP Live Podcasts की पेशकश - FYI. 

Even as taxes take a toll on homegrown tobacco firms, the Illegal cigarettes trade remains smoking hot. With illicit trades now accounting for 40% of the total cigarette market, India is ranked in the top 5 countries facing this problem. Host Dia Rekhi explores what's firing up this illegal trade, this with Anil Rajput, Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs at ITC and P C Jha , Former Chairman, Central Board of Indirect Taxes.

The troubles for India's crypto industry seem to be never-ending. On February 1st, in the Union Budget, the government decided to impose a 30% tax on income from cryptocurrencies from the new financial year and a 1% TDS on all crypto transactions starting July 1st. The move in a way quelled the uncertainty surrounding the fate of cryptocurrencies in India, and suggested that it may not be banned as feared earlier. But, by then, cryptocurrencies had already entered the bear market territory.  The crash was worsened by the recent collapse of algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD. Now, the oldest and the largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin is trading at its lowest level in 18 months after falling 70% from its record highs in November 2021. The overall crypto market capitalisation is roughly $914 billion, down from a peak of $2.9 trillion. Globally, crypto exchanges are trimming their costs and laying off hundreds of employees as trading volumes take a major hit. Amid these trying times, Indian exchanges have a reason to cheer. While the government disregarded the demand to lower the TDS rate to 0.01% or 0.05%, the Central Board of Direct Taxes on Wednesday came out with long-awaited clarifications over the applicability of the TDS provisions.  It addresses some of the concerns raised by the industry and helps exchanges and traders navigate the burdensome TDS provisions, removing the cloud of uncertainty. The 1% TDS is applicable on payments toward cryptocurrencies beyond Rs 10,000 in a financial year or Rs 50,000 a year for specified persons, which includes individuals and HUFs who are required to get their accounts audited. Amanjot Malhotra, Country Head - India, Bitay says the biggest point of concern has been addressed regarding crypto-to-crypto trades. It's good for user experience but exchanges will have a lot of work to do, he says. People will move towards long-term investing. In a peer-to-peer transaction, the buyer is required to deduct the tax before paying the consideration. In case the transaction is taking place through an exchange, the exchange can deduct the TDS.  Exchanges are required to furnish a quarterly statement for all such transactions and include them in their income tax returns. CBDT also removed doubts on how crypto-to-crypto trades are treated for TDS. In such cases, the exchange will have to deduct 1% TDS on both the assets in the pair. The tax deducted in kind must be immediately converted into either bitcoin, ethereum or stablecoins namely tether and USD Coin. This accumulated balance should then be converted to Indian rupee at midnight every day.  The trail of transactions for every TDS deduction on crypto-to-crypto trades must be maintained by the exchange. The compliance burden for exchanges as well as taxpayers is bound to go up.  Speaking to Business Standard, Meyyappan Nagappan, Leader, Digital Tax, Nishith Desai Associates says, good clarification, lets ecosystem be legally compliant. Whether TDS provision applies to foreign exchange is not known. TDS on products like P2P transfer over a platform needs addressing. Enforcement against decentralised exchanges is still a big issue Compliance requirements going up for exchanges should provide comfort to banks, which have been reluctant to work with crypto companies. They have in many instances denied services to crypto businesses as RBI remains vehemently opposed to cryptocurrencies.   Bitay's Amanjot Malhotra says it's surprisng that banks are still not comfortable doing buinsess with crypto companies despite a taxation regime setting in and regulations evolving for the asset class.  He says one will find compliance to be very strong with crypto exchanges in India.  It is hoped that the latest clarifications on TDS and the soon-to-be-issued FAQs on crypto taxation will bring a sense of stability to traders and domestic exchanges in a turbulent year.

Mumbai University has announced that only state board students can complete the online forms for admission to First Year Junior college. Class11 aspirants, affiliated to non-state education boards such as the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), will have to wait to do the same till their respective results are declared. However, this has raised concerns about delays in conducting admission for FYJC seats of non-state board students. Tune in with RJ Rohini to know more!

Introduction: Time:0.10 - 1.05 याद हैं वो दिन जब आप से कहा जाता था कि बस इस 10वीं के लिए पढ़ लो, फिर तो ऐश है। फिर बोलते थे कि 12वीं तक पढ़ लो उसके बाढ़ तो ऐश है। भाई आज तक उसी ऐश के इंतज़ार में बैठे हैं और इसी तरह सारी उम्र निकल गई इंतज़ार करते करते। कल महाराष्ट्र के HSC यानी कि Higher Secondary Certificate परीक्षा के नतीजे निकले हैं और लड़कियों ने इस बार लड़कों से बाज़ी मार ली है अच्छे अंक ला कर। बचपन में कितना कोसते थे उसे जिसने ये इम्तेहान बनाए।मगर क्या आपको पता है कि वाक़ई में किसने ये इम्तिहान बनाये और क्यों? जाना चाहेंगी? चलिए आइये जानते हैं  Body Time: 1.10 - 5.05 नमस्कार आदाब सत्श्रीअकाल, मैं हूँ Sahiba Khan और आप सुन रहे हैं ABP Live Podcasts की पेशकश FYI जहाँ  जीवन की मरण की और उसके बीच हर चीज़ की। मगर आज हम बात करेंगे HSC इम्तिहानों के बारे में। दोस्तों HSC इम्तिहान वो इम्तिहान होते हैं जो कक्षा बारहवीं में हम और आप देते हैं। उन्हें ही कहते हैं Higher Secondary Certificate के इम्तिहान। अभी कल की ही बात ले लीजिये, महाराष्ट्र के Higher Secondary Certificate का result  आया है और लड़कियों ने एक बार फिर लड़कों को board के इन इम्तिहानों में मात दी है।  इस साल महाराष्ट्र बोर्ड 12वीं में कुल 94.22 फीसदी स्टूडेंट्स पास हुए हैं. लड़कियों का प्रदर्शन लड़कों से बेहतर रहा है. लड़कियों का पास परसेंटेज 95.34 और लड़कों का पास प्रतिशत 93.29 रहा है. और यही है आज के हमारे FYI का trigger - क्या आपने सोचा है कि ये सभी State और Central बोर्ड के exams का इतिहास क्या है? क्यों होते हैं ये exam, क्यों बनाये गए थे ये Higher Secondary Certificate. बोर्ड के exams के समय गालियां तो बहुत देते होंगे कि कौन बना गया ये exam, मगर आज कई सालों बात आपको वो जवाब मलने जा रहा है। तो दिल थाम कर बैठें। सबसे पहले बात करते हैं CBSE exams की    CBSE 1965 में Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) आया है Ajmer में Board of Rajputana से। इसी बोर्ड को बेहतर कर के CBSE बोर्ड में तब्दील किया गया। उस समय Rajputana Board देश में 5 राज्यों में चलाया जा रहा था। Zakir Hussain जब राष्ट्रपति बने तो उन्हीं के नेतृत्व में ये फैसला लिया गया कि अब से Ajmer का Rajputana Board देशभर में चलाया जायेगा CBSE के नाम से। अब आखिरकार एक तो ऐसा शिक्षा का board, curriculum होना चाहिए जो देशभर में समान हो।  ये board सबसे पहले देश के Kendriye Vidyalaya स्कूलों यानी कि Central  Schools में लाया गया - जहाँ सरकारी नौकरी-पेशा लोगों के बच्चे और सेना के लोगों के बच्चे पढ़ाई किया करते थे। उसके बाद CBSE को Higher Secondary कहा जाने लगा।   अब CBSe बोर्ड हो रहा था काफी मशहूर तो सरकार ने फैसला लिया कि केवल केंद्रीय विद्यालयों में ही नहीं बल्कि private स्कूलों में भी आप आवेदन डाल सकते हैं और जांच-पड़ताल के बाद आप भी CBSE बोर्ड हो सकते हैं। अब पहले तो शिक्षा केवल अमीर लोगों और राजघराने के लिए ही थी।  इसलिए इसे Rajputana Board of Ajmer कहा जाता था।  ये ग्वालियर में भी चलता था वहां के राजा-रजवाड़ों के लिए। मगर अब भारत बदल रहा था और शिक्षा सभी के लिए accessible होनी शुरू हुई थी.    अब क्या था कि स्कूलों में CBSE बोर्ड तो चालू हो गया था मगर कोई standardization नहीं था। कोई एक सिलेबस नहीं था। फिर 1975 में आये Dr K Venkatasubramanian, एक मशहूर अर्थशास्त्री और शिक्षाविद यानी कि educationist थे। उन्होंने Plus 2 का कांसेप्ट लाया यानी कि बोर्ड exams. तो अब पता चला किसने invent किये board exams.    ICSE अब आ जाते हैं ICSE पर।    The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) एक Christian Minority board है जिसे अब केंद्रीय board का status मिल गया है। ये बोर्ड मान लें अंग्रेज़ों की देन था। भले ही CBSE बोर्ड ज़्यादा प्रचलन में हो मगर कहते हैं कि आज भी ICSE बोर्ड का बच्चा और उनकी पढाई old school, थोड़े पुराने ज़माने की तरह है। और कहीं कहीं CBSE से बेहतर भी है। हालाँकि CBSE बोर्ड के बारे में मान्यता है कि ये आज के नए ज़माने का बोर्ड है जिसमें बच्चों का समय बर्बाद नहीं कराया जाता, grade system होता है, exam बेमतलब के मुश्किल नहीं होते और सभी के लिए बना है ये बोर्ड - एवरेज बच्चे से लेकर के topper तक लिए।   बाकि Boards की बात करते हैं    देश भर में करीब 32 शिक्षा के board हैं और CBSE और ICSE को मिला कर 34. कुछ अलग-अलग प्रकार के boards हैं जैसे कि UP Board, Manipuri pattern, Punjab pattern, West Bengal pattern, Tamil Nadu pattern, Anglo Indian Board, the Madarasa Board or the Oriental School इन सबमें धर्म का बहुत प्रभाव होता है।   Conclusion: Time: 5.06 - 6.09   मगर होता क्या है कि ये सभी Board एक dusre को कॉम्पलिमेंट करने की बजाये एक दूसरे को काटने की कोशिश करते हैं। Tamil Nadu में जैसे मुख्यमंत्री रहे दिवंगत M G Ramachandran ने Matriculation Board को मशहूर करने  के लिए स्कूल में वो चलवाया। मगर एक बात है भाषा की। दक्षिण भारत में जितने भी राज्य हैं, वो अपनी भाषा को लेकर खासा प्रेरित महसूस करते हैं, ख़ास लगाव रखते हैं। उनकी भाषा से ही उनका इतहास और रोज़ मर्रा का काम होता है। तो इस वजह से कई राज्यों में State Board को ज़्यादा तवज्जो दी जाती है। अब उप्र की बात करें तो कई लोग तो कहते हैं कि UP board से ज़्यादा कठिन कोई सिलेबस नहीं है। कहते हैं CBSE के 90% ICSE के 80 और UP Board के 60% होते हैं। मगर ये सब तो कहीं-सुनी बातें है। इन कही सुनी बातों के अलावा भी मैंने आपको आज आपके boards का इतिहास बताया, उस इंसान को नाम दिया जिसे आप हर बोर्ड में कोसते थे। तो you're welcome.  फिलहाल मैं चलती हूँ, आओ से अगले FYI में मुलाक़ात होगी। होना ध्यान रखें और सुनते रहे ABP Live Podcasts की पेशकश FYI   Host: @jhansiserani Sound designing: @lalit1121992

Introduction: Time:0.10 - 1.05 याद हैं वो दिन जब आप से कहा जाता था कि बस इस 10वीं के लिए पढ़ लो, फिर तो ऐश है। फिर बोलते थे कि 12वीं तक पढ़ लो उसके बाढ़ तो ऐश है। भाई आज तक उसी ऐश के इंतज़ार में बैठे हैं और इसी तरह सारी उम्र निकल गई इंतज़ार करते करते। कल महाराष्ट्र के HSC यानी कि Higher Secondary Certificate परीक्षा के नतीजे निकले हैं और लड़कियों ने इस बार लड़कों से बाज़ी मार ली है अच्छे अंक ला कर। बचपन में कितना कोसते थे उसे जिसने ये इम्तेहान बनाए।मगर क्या आपको पता है कि वाक़ई में किसने ये इम्तिहान बनाये और क्यों? जाना चाहेंगी? चलिए आइये जानते हैं  Body Time: 1.10 - 5.05 नमस्कार आदाब सत्श्रीअकाल, मैं हूँ Sahiba Khan और आप सुन रहे हैं ABP Live Podcasts की पेशकश FYI जहाँ  जीवन की मरण की और उसके बीच हर चीज़ की। मगर आज हम बात करेंगे HSC इम्तिहानों के बारे में। दोस्तों HSC इम्तिहान वो इम्तिहान होते हैं जो कक्षा बारहवीं में हम और आप देते हैं। उन्हें ही कहते हैं Higher Secondary Certificate के इम्तिहान। अभी कल की ही बात ले लीजिये, महाराष्ट्र के Higher Secondary Certificate का result  आया है और लड़कियों ने एक बार फिर लड़कों को board के इन इम्तिहानों में मात दी है।  इस साल महाराष्ट्र बोर्ड 12वीं में कुल 94.22 फीसदी स्टूडेंट्स पास हुए हैं. लड़कियों का प्रदर्शन लड़कों से बेहतर रहा है. लड़कियों का पास परसेंटेज 95.34 और लड़कों का पास प्रतिशत 93.29 रहा है. और यही है आज के हमारे FYI का trigger - क्या आपने सोचा है कि ये सभी State और Central बोर्ड के exams का इतिहास क्या है? क्यों होते हैं ये exam, क्यों बनाये गए थे ये Higher Secondary Certificate. बोर्ड के exams के समय गालियां तो बहुत देते होंगे कि कौन बना गया ये exam, मगर आज कई सालों बात आपको वो जवाब मलने जा रहा है। तो दिल थाम कर बैठें। सबसे पहले बात करते हैं CBSE exams की    CBSE 1965 में Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) आया है Ajmer में Board of Rajputana से। इसी बोर्ड को बेहतर कर के CBSE बोर्ड में तब्दील किया गया। उस समय Rajputana Board देश में 5 राज्यों में चलाया जा रहा था। Zakir Hussain जब राष्ट्रपति बने तो उन्हीं के नेतृत्व में ये फैसला लिया गया कि अब से Ajmer का Rajputana Board देशभर में चलाया जायेगा CBSE के नाम से। अब आखिरकार एक तो ऐसा शिक्षा का board, curriculum होना चाहिए जो देशभर में समान हो।  ये board सबसे पहले देश के Kendriye Vidyalaya स्कूलों यानी कि Central  Schools में लाया गया - जहाँ सरकारी नौकरी-पेशा लोगों के बच्चे और सेना के लोगों के बच्चे पढ़ाई किया करते थे। उसके बाद CBSE को Higher Secondary कहा जाने लगा।   अब CBSe बोर्ड हो रहा था काफी मशहूर तो सरकार ने फैसला लिया कि केवल केंद्रीय विद्यालयों में ही नहीं बल्कि private स्कूलों में भी आप आवेदन डाल सकते हैं और जांच-पड़ताल के बाद आप भी CBSE बोर्ड हो सकते हैं। अब पहले तो शिक्षा केवल अमीर लोगों और राजघराने के लिए ही थी।  इसलिए इसे Rajputana Board of Ajmer कहा जाता था।  ये ग्वालियर में भी चलता था वहां के राजा-रजवाड़ों के लिए। मगर अब भारत बदल रहा था और शिक्षा सभी के लिए accessible होनी शुरू हुई थी.    अब क्या था कि स्कूलों में CBSE बोर्ड तो चालू हो गया था मगर कोई standardization नहीं था। कोई एक सिलेबस नहीं था। फिर 1975 में आये Dr K Venkatasubramanian, एक मशहूर अर्थशास्त्री और शिक्षाविद यानी कि educationist थे। उन्होंने Plus 2 का कांसेप्ट लाया यानी कि बोर्ड exams. तो अब पता चला किसने invent किये board exams.    ICSE अब आ जाते हैं ICSE पर।    The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) एक Christian Minority board है जिसे अब केंद्रीय board का status मिल गया है। ये बोर्ड मान लें अंग्रेज़ों की देन था। भले ही CBSE बोर्ड ज़्यादा प्रचलन में हो मगर कहते हैं कि आज भी ICSE बोर्ड का बच्चा और उनकी पढाई old school, थोड़े पुराने ज़माने की तरह है। और कहीं कहीं CBSE से बेहतर भी है। हालाँकि CBSE बोर्ड के बारे में मान्यता है कि ये आज के नए ज़माने का बोर्ड है जिसमें बच्चों का समय बर्बाद नहीं कराया जाता, grade system होता है, exam बेमतलब के मुश्किल नहीं होते और सभी के लिए बना है ये बोर्ड - एवरेज बच्चे से लेकर के topper तक लिए।   बाकि Boards की बात करते हैं    देश भर में करीब 32 शिक्षा के board हैं और CBSE और ICSE को मिला कर 34. कुछ अलग-अलग प्रकार के boards हैं जैसे कि UP Board, Manipuri pattern, Punjab pattern, West Bengal pattern, Tamil Nadu pattern, Anglo Indian Board, the Madarasa Board or the Oriental School इन सबमें धर्म का बहुत प्रभाव होता है।   Conclusion: Time: 5.06 - 6.09   मगर होता क्या है कि ये सभी Board एक dusre को कॉम्पलिमेंट करने की बजाये एक दूसरे को काटने की कोशिश करते हैं। Tamil Nadu में जैसे मुख्यमंत्री रहे दिवंगत M G Ramachandran ने Matriculation Board को मशहूर करने  के लिए स्कूल में वो चलवाया। मगर एक बात है भाषा की। दक्षिण भारत में जितने भी राज्य हैं, वो अपनी भाषा को लेकर खासा प्रेरित महसूस करते हैं, ख़ास लगाव रखते हैं। उनकी भाषा से ही उनका इतहास और रोज़ मर्रा का काम होता है। तो इस वजह से कई राज्यों में State Board को ज़्यादा तवज्जो दी जाती है। अब उप्र की बात करें तो कई लोग तो कहते हैं कि UP board से ज़्यादा कठिन कोई सिलेबस नहीं है। कहते हैं CBSE के 90% ICSE के 80 और UP Board के 60% होते हैं। मगर ये सब तो कहीं-सुनी बातें है। इन कही सुनी बातों के अलावा भी मैंने आपको आज आपके boards का इतिहास बताया, उस इंसान को नाम दिया जिसे आप हर बोर्ड में कोसते थे। तो you're welcome.  फिलहाल मैं चलती हूँ, आओ से अगले FYI में मुलाक़ात होगी। होना ध्यान रखें और सुनते रहे ABP Live Podcasts की पेशकश FYI   Host: @jhansiserani Sound designing: @lalit1121992

In a ruling that will have major implications on the GST framework and Centre-State financial relations, the Supreme Court of India on Thursday said the recommendations of the council are not binding on the Centre and State governments.   The observation followed a judgement over the applicability of Goods and Services Tax under the Reverse Charge Mechanism on transportation of imported goods through the sea route.   The apex court dismissed an appeal by the Centre against an earlier Gujarat High Court judgement that said that Integrated GST on ocean freight is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court held that GST Council's recommendations will only have a persuasive value, adding that the Parliament and state legislatures possess equal powers to legislate on GST. Abhishek A Rastogi, a partner at Khaitan & Co, who argued on behalf of importers, said there will be a pragmatic approach to the provisions which are subject to judicial review by way of challenge to the constitutionality of such provisions based on GST Council recommendations.   The decisions in the GST Council are taken by a majority of not less than three-fourths of the weighted votes cast. The Centre has one-third weightage of the total votes cast and all the states taken together have two-thirds of the weightage.   In the last five years of GST, the Council has taken all decisions on the basis of consensus, with the exception of the levy on lotteries, in which voting took place in December 2019.   Abhishek A Rastogi, Partner, Khaitan & Co says GST Council's recommendations are unconstitutional can't be implemented. Process of voting in the GST Council remains intact. States having different GST rates will defeat the objective of GST and the states will have to debate if they want to deviate from the harmonised system.  The Finance Minister of Tamil Nadu Palanivel Thiaga Rajan welcomed the court's observation, saying it clarifies issues that he had raised last year. He had said the GST system and the Council function with an all-encompassing mandate not envisioned in the Constitution of India. He said the vesting of enormous de-facto power in bodies not directly connected with the GST Council, such as the Tax Research Unit of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, GST Secretariat and the GST Network, is fraught with questions of constitutional legitimacy.   What would the Supreme Court's remarks mean for Centre-State relations going forward?   Speaking to Business Standard, Jatin Arora, Partner, Phoenix Legal, says this will lead to interpretational issues with regard to states' powers. Tamil Nadu govt says most of the powers related to levy of taxes rest with the Centre. It says agenda set by the Centre is followed typically in GST Council. The SC ruling gives more teeth to states to raise their concerns. Arora says it will be worrisome if states legislate on GST matters outside of the GST Council. Centre will have to be more accommodative of states' issues.    Another legal expert says that yesterday's ruling does not change the way in which the GST Council functions.   According to Rajat Bose, Partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, there is no change in provisions related to GST Council. The GST Council can deliberate on differences of opinion between states and centre and it is empowered to decide on those differences.  Meanwhile, Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj said the ruling is unlikely to materially impact the one-nation-one-tax regime as it is only a reiteration of the existing law that gives States the right to accept or reject the council's recommendations -- a power that  The official further said that states never went back and framed legislations that were not in line with the panel's recommendations even when they differed on tax rates on a particular good or service in the Council. To sum up, the SC ruling affirms that GST Council is merely a recommendatory body and its suggestions must pass the

Recently, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has announced for taxpayers' help, said amending the rules to implement a scheme in the union budget for the financial year 23 and notifying the form for it the taxpayer filing a new income tax return updated (ITR-U) form has to show the reasons for the same. The facility of updating tax returns within 2 years of the finish of the related assessment year is subject to applying for the returns to be furnished in the coming times.

Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri is an Indian film director, screenwriter and author who works in Hindi cinema. As of 2022, he is a member of the board of India's Central Board of Film Certification and a cultural representative of Indian Cinema at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. https://twitter.com/vivekagnihotri Sanjana Singh (The Host): https://linktr.ee/sanjanasingh ; https://sanjanasingh.substack.com/ The Naked Dialogue Podcast: https://linktr.ee/TheNakedDialogue --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/sanjanasinghx/support

Announced in the recent Union budget, a clutch of changes in the reassessment regime has come into effect from April 1. One of the prominent changes has caught the attention of individuals and corporate. And they have been rushing to their CA for more clarity. The change has extended the scope for the Income Tax Department to re-open past assessments. In the earlier regime, misreported or underreported income in the form of an asset above Rs 50 lakh could have triggered a reassessment of the past 10 years.  Now, the department can go back up to 10 years to scrutinise the finances of a company or an individual if the aggregate income or unexplained expenditure or entries in the book that escaped assessment over multiple years is Rs 50 lakh or more. If the escaped income or spending is below Rs 50 lakh then the limit for reopening of assessment has been halved to three years from six years. Unexplained expenditure includes money spent on a big event or occassion, expensive assets, and so on.  If the department finds out that a taxpayer had an “unexplained expenditure”, it can send him or her a notice seeking an explanation, and also may reopen the assessed return.  The department can reassess the income/expenditure in case of an objection from any audit, information from foreign tax authorities, observations in a tribunal or a court order besides relying on the data flagged by Central Board of Direct Taxes' risk management and CAG.  The department's INSIGHT platform also helps tax sleuths hunt for potential tax evaders. The INSIGHT portal processes data from various reporting entities.  As many as 5.52 crore individuals filed income tax returns during the assessment year 2018-19. Out of these, about 77 lakh people showed a gross total income below Rs 2.5 lakh. And 2.72 crore individuals disclosed income between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 5 lakh.   Income of 1.47 crore people was between Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh while more than 52 lakh individuals had income between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 50 lakh. Nearly 2.1 lakh individuals had shown income between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore. And only about 98,000 people had a gross total income above Rs 1 crore.  Going by the income tax department's data, there were only about 3 lakh people in India with income of more than Rs 50 lakh in the assessment year 2018-19. Kuldip Kumar, partner at Price Waterhouse & Co LLP, told Business Standard that considering the 10-year timeline, taxpayers should carefully make the required disclosures in their return forms to avoid notice. He said that taxpayers should also keep relevant documentary evidence related to their large financial transactions to avoid any inconvenience later on. Rahul Charkha, partner at Economic Laws Practice says that taxpayers should maintain consistency in the information submitted to authorities, like reconciliation between GST and IT Returns before submission. He also suggests taxpayers to maintain documents of high value spending, including those made on credit cards over the years and records related to property deals. 

For many schools and school leaders, budget constraints and limited resources are the big barriers to greater student performance.  In this episode, we talk with a school leader who transcended extreme budget limitations about how she created a model school that attracted interest from around the globe. Follow on Twitter:  @MicrosoftEDU @DinaMGhobashy @GOALACADEMY  @frankchip2  @jonharper70bd  @KimberlyMoyer9 @bamradionetwork Related Resources – MicrosoftEDU: See how schools worldwide are collaborating to transform learning and deliver sustained success Paramjeet Kaur Dhillon is the Founder Principal of Kamla Nehru Public School, Phagwara, India since December 2006. Post Graduate in Physics, she holds a Bachelor's degree in Education for which she was awarded a Gold Medal for standing first in the University. With an experience of 26 years as a Principal, she has visited 14 countries. She is Microsoft Innovative Educator Trainer and Fellow, Microsoft Certified Educator, Adobe Education Leader, Wakelet Leader & Ambassador. Globally validated Master Trainer on 21st Century Core Skills, by British Council, U.K., she is also a British Council's School Ambassador. She has trained 3000+ educators from all over India being the resource Person of Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi. Paramjeet Kaur Dhillon initiated IT transformations in Kamla Nehru Public School, with 1:1 Anytime, Anywhere learning.  Phagwara is the Winner of the Microsoft Showcase School Biggest Impact award for the ASIA Pacific Region for the year 2020-2021 and was awarded the Microsoft Education Global Partner of the Year for 2021.

Welcome back to the Taking The Charge Podcast and this week's interview is with Michele O'Keefe, member of the FIBA Central Board and the FIBA commission on Women in Basketball as well as the Niagara College athletic director. She talks about the Canadian women's national team and their chances at FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2022; her mentors on the road to becoming the president and CEO of Basketball Canada; the country's biggest moment - winning the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2017; the goals/objectives are for the FIBA commission Women in Basketball; and how people can support the push in women's basketball.Before that … let's take a quick look around the world of basketball with the Big Three3:40 - Story we are watching - The globe is in national team basketball fever as the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers run this weekend from Thursday to Monday.4:55 - Young player of the week - This week there are 12 Young Player of the Week honorees and they are the players selected for the Next Generation Team Belgrade for the Adidas Next Generation Tournament Belgrade. That dozen of lucky players not only get to play in one of the best youth club competitions in the world but they get to be coached by the legendary Vassilis Spanoulis.6:45 - Up-coming event we are watching - The Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Belgrade starts on Friday in the Serbian capital and it's like Christmas for youth hoops fans. Nuf said.Before we get into the talk with Michele O'Keefe, we would like to give you a sneak peak of the Taking The Charge Prospects Podcast interview with Polish center Aleksander Balcerowski from Mega Belgrade in Serbia - on loan from Spanish side Gran Canaria - which is part of the paid subscription section of the TTC substack.10:35 - Sneak preview of interviewMichele Okeefe - Athletic Director at Niagara College, member of the FIBA Central Board and also a member of the FIBA commission Women in Basketball (15:10)Here is a breakdown of the interview15:30 - Thoughts about the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2022 Qualifiers 17:35 - How she dealt with watching FWBWCQ or Winter Olympics18:40 - Feeling in Canada after the country lost in the quarter-finals of men's ice hockey21:50 - Chances of Canada at FWBWC 2022 in Australia25:20 - Who some of her role models or mentors were over the course of her rise in Basketball Canada32:00 - Goals for Basketball Canada when she took over as president and CEO 34:25 - How the country learned from losing to United States in the final of the FIBA U16 Americas in 2015 38:25 - How magical the title was at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 201745:20 - How did Basketball Canada deal with players who decided against playing for the national team - youth and senior national teams50:40 - How good Canada can be when all of the provinces start producing more and more players55:15 - How she sees her legacy at Basketball Canada56:35 - What some of the goals/objectives are for the FIBA commission Women in Basketball1:04:40 - More details about the Adelante program1:08:30 - Some issues that the FIBA Central Board is looking at 1:10:20 - How can people support the push for women's basketball1:12:15 - What are some of the things she is doing at Niagara CollegeAre you looking for more Taking The Charge? Here are the first 300 episodes of Taking The Charge, just click here and head over to heinnews.com.If you enjoyed this interview or any of the other content on the Taking The Charge substack, please, do yourself a favor and click on that “Subcribe now” button. That way you will not miss any posts when they are published. If you decide to be a paid subscriber, you will get access to the Taking The Charge Prospects podcast as well as the archived editions of the Talking Talent podcast. Get full access to Taking The Charge at takingthecharge.substack.com/subscribe

OTT or Over The Top Platforms are services that offer viewers access to movies, TV shows and other media directly through the Internet, bypassing cable or satellite systems. OTT services can be accessed through internet-connected devices like computers, smartphones, set-top boxes and smart TVs.  In India's regulatory parlance, OTT platforms are called ‘publishers of online curated content'. Online curated content is audio-visual content such as films, web-series, podcasts etc. made available to the viewers on demand, including but not limited through subscription by OTT platforms. “On demand” means a system where a user is enabled to access, at a time chosen by them, any content in electronic form, which is transmitted over a computer resource and is selected by the user. Popular video-on-demand services in India include Disney+ Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video, Sony LIV etc.  Last year in February, the government had notified the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 to regulate OTT platforms.  The rules establish a soft-touch self-regulatory architecture with a Code of Ethics and three-tier grievance redressal mechanism for OTT platforms. They provide for self-classification of the content without any involvement of Central Board of Film Certification.  General principles require the platforms to not publish any content which is prohibited under any law and take into consideration the implications, and exercise due caution and discretion in respect of the content which affects the sovereignty and integrity of India. They should also take into consideration India's multi-racial and multi-religious context and exercise due caution and discretion when featuring the activities, beliefs, practices, or views of any racial or religious group. OTT platforms must display age-based content rating and content descriptor for each content. If applicable, they should also display an advisory on viewer discretion at the beginning of the programme. In addition to this, the rules mandate a three-tier institutional mechanism for handling public grievances. These are-- Every publisher should appoint a Grievance Officer based in India for receiving and redressing grievances in 15 days. Also, every publisher needs to become a member of a self-regulating body. Such a body will have to register with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and address grievances that have not been resolved by the publisher within 15 days. The Ministry of Information Broadcasting and the Inter-Departmental Committee constituted by the Ministry constitute the third-tier Oversight Mechanism.  Watch video

In its Annual Financial Statement -- also called Union Budget -- the Central government provides details of how much money it expects to garner from various sources and how it intends to spend the funds India earns about 80% of its total revenue through taxes. While taxation is the primary source of income for the government, it also earns a recurring income, which is called non-tax revenue. This comes from dividends and profits of public sector enterprises, interest, fines, regulatory charges and user charges for publicly provided goods and services. Tax revenue comes from two categories -- Direct taxes and indirect taxes. Let us first understand direct taxes.  As the name suggests, it is levied directly on taxpayers. Direct taxes include income tax and corporation tax. Income tax is imposed on individuals and businesses other than companies. It is paid on the income earned during a particular financial year.  Corporation tax is the money paid by companies on the profits made by them in a given financial year. Direct tax also included inheritance tax and wealth tax, which were abolished in India in 1985 and 2015 respectively.  On the other hand, indirect taxes are levied by the government on goods and services, and not on the income, profit or revenue of an individual. India introduced Goods and Services Tax on July 1, 2017. It replaced several indirect taxes such as the excise duty, VAT, services tax, etc. It is not paid directly by a person to the government but collected by an intermediary such as manufacturer, trader or service provider and passed on to the government. The consumer bears the final economic burden of the tax. Indirect tax includes GST, central excise duty and customs. Central excise duty is an indirect tax levied on goods made in the country. In Financial Year 2021, India's direct tax collection stood at Rs 9.45 lakh crore while the indirect tax collection was at Rs 10.71 lakh crore. Direct taxes in India are overseen by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and indirect taxes by the Central Board of Indirect Tax and Customs. Direct taxes are considered more equitable. In most developed countries, the share of direct taxes in the total taxes collection is far more than the indirect taxes. According to the latest data, the OECD average for direct tax collection in 2018 was 67.3% of the total tax collection. While for India, it was 38.3% for Financial Year 2019. Direct taxes are imposed on those individuals who can afford it. It is linked to the tax payer's income level. Higher the income, the higher is the income tax liability. While high indirect taxes are considered regressive. They are paid by everyone at the same rate, irrespective of their income or financial status. A poor man pays the same amount of tax on soap as the rich man.  The shares of direct taxes and indirect taxes also indicate how the government has managed its public finance. In 1991, for instance, the share of direct taxes in GDP was about 2% and that of indirect taxes in GDP was over 8%. In 2007-08, just before the global financial crisis, the shares had changed to 6% of GDP each for direct and indirect taxes. In 2020-21, direct taxes had a share of 4.7% of GDP, while indirect taxes' share in GDP was about 5.4%. Low direct tax and low corporate tax suggest that the tax burden is shifting towards the poor. Watch video

Houses belonging to Hindus were torched in Bangladesh, Hundreds of migrant workers left Kashmir valley after targeted attacks on minorities and civilians, Central Board of Secondary Education announced dates for Class 10 and 12 examinations & other top news in this bulletin.

An employees' provident fund is a government-managed retirement savings scheme for employees. Every month, employees contribute a part of their salary towards provident fund. The goal is to receive lump sum payments with interest at the time of retirement from employment. In India, the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation, or EPFO, is responsible for the regulation and management of provident funds.  Now, who is eligible for provident fund? Legally, any employee who has a monthly salary of up to Rs 15,000 is eligible. But most Indian companies offer it to all employees as part of their salary package. If you have a higher salary, you can opt out of it at the beginning of your career, if your employer so permits. If you opt for EPF, you cannot opt out of it during the time of your employment at that workplace. Now, let's talk about the contribution. The mandatory contribution is 12 per cent of an employee's basic salary, credited to the employee's account at the end of every month. The employer usually contributes a matching amount. Of the latter contribution, 3.7 per cent goes towards the provident fund component and the remaining 8.33 per cent towards pension fund. Your employer opens the PF account for you. It is possible for you to operate it online with a Universal Account Number, or UAN. You can check your account balance and transfer your account while changing jobs. The UAN provided by EPFO is mainly used for tracking PF balance and PF claim status. The pooled funds often earn interest at a rate decided by the government. In March 2020, the EPFO lowered the interest rate on employees' provident fund to 8.50% for 2019-20 from 8.65% earlier. For the financial year of 2020-21, the interest rate was retained at 8.50%. There are two ways by which you can withdraw your provident fund. The first is when you reach the retirement age of 58 years. In this way, you apply for withdrawal of your provident fund through your employer and get your full PF corpus. Also, if you have been out of work for two months or more, you can apply and withdraw your full PF corpus after tax deduction. Another way is to withdraw part of your corpus before retirement age in case of major life events like your marriage or your child's marriage, or for education, purchase a house, or medical emergency. The portion the corpus that you can withdraw is different in case of each of these events. Details of these are available on the website of the EPFO. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced in her Union Budget for 2021-22 that interest earned on employees' annual contribution beyond Rs 2.5 lakh to their PF would be taxed. Taking this announcement forward, the Central Board of Direct Taxes notified the rules for these on August 31st. The threshold is higher, at Rs 5 lakh, for cases where only employees contribute to the PF, not the employer.  Every EPF subscriber's account will have two components — taxable and non-taxable. Interest earned will be separately calculated on both accounts from FY21-22. These new rules come into effect from April 1, 2022. So, contributions made till March 31, 2021, will be considered non-taxable.  You can keep yourself about the new rules regarding provident fund by frequently checking the EPFO website.

Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri is an Indian film director, screenwriter, author and activist. As of 2019, he is a member of the board of India's Central Board of Film Certification and a cultural representative of Indian Cinema at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivek_Agnihotri ; https://twitter.com/vivekagnihotri?s=20 Sanjana Singh (The Host): linktr.ee/sanjanasingh --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/sanjanasinghx/support

In Union Budget 2021, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to tax interest earned on employees' own provident fund contribution of over Rs 2.5 lakh financial year 2021-22 onwards. For some employees, primarily government employees, the limit is higher at Rs 5 lakh. Now, government estimates suggest less than 1 percent of employees provident fund (EPF) subscribers, primarily high-earners, will be affected. However, even those who voluntarily contribute higher-than-mandated amounts to benefit from attractive, secure interest rates might need to re-evaluate their retirement planning strategy. While the announcement was made in July, so far, the implementation norms had not been framed. The Central Board of Direct Taxes has now notified rules on how your taxable employees' provident fund contribution will be treated in your PF account. It has prescribed two separate accounts - for taxable and non-taxable contributions - within your PF account. To understand the implications for salaried individuals, tune into Simply Save.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued a notification in June seeking comments on proposed changes to the Cinematograph Act, 1952. The most controversial feature of the draft Amendment Bill is that it allows the Union government to call for the re-examination of any film. If passed, this would mean that even after a film is certified and cleared by the Central Board of Film Certification, the government can reverse its decision or ask for the film to be reexamined.  This is the latest in a slew of changes for filmmakers in India. In April, the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal was dissolved by the Ministry of Law and Justice. Previously, if the CBFC did not certify a film or asked for changes that filmmakers did not agree with, they could go to the FCAT for redressal. Now they will have to move to the High Courts. On this episode of The Suno India Show, Suryatapa Mukherjee spoke to filmmaker Leena Manimekalai about these developments for the Indian film industry. Despite receiving awards and acclaim in film festivals, Leena has repeatedly run into trouble with certification. These new changes, she says, have cast doubts on her future as a filmmaker in this country. Additional reading: Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill 2021  Shyam Benegal Committee Report 2016 Justice Mukul Committee Report 2013  See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

The Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2021 is stirring up the film fraternity in India. Among other things, it seeks to empower the government to sidestep the Central Board of Film Certification and become a "super censor" that can re-examine film certifications if there are any complaints against them, even after they have already been passed by the CBFC. The government released the draft Bill on 18 June into the public domain with this new contentious provision, and a few other proposals on age reclassification for viewers and film piracy. The general public has been given two weeks' time till Friday, 2 July, to submit their comments. A group of people have already shot off a letter to the government saying that “the amendments giving powers to the central government to revoke a film certificate must be dropped". Celebrities like Kamal Hassan and Vishal Bhardwaj have also vocally criticised the move on social media platforms and urged people to raise their voices against it. But why does the government want to be the super censor? What is the intention behind this move? And what do people from the film industry have to say about it?Tune in! Producer and Host: Shorbori Purkayastha Guests: Sanjay Gupta, Filmmaker, Producer and Screenwriter  Mayank Tewari, Screenwriter  Karan Tripathi, Legal Consultant, The Quint Editor: Shelly Walia References: More movies undergo CBFC cuts now than five years ago Music: Big Bang Fuzz Listen to The Big Story podcast on: Apple: https://apple.co/2AYdLIl Saavn: http://bit.ly/2oix78C Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/2ntMV7S Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IyLAUQ Deezer: http://bit.ly/2Vrf5Ng

While excellent newsletters on specific themes within public policy already exist, this thought letter is about frameworks, mental models, and key ideas that will hopefully help you think about any public policy problem in imaginative ways.Audio narration by Ad-Auris.  Global Policy Watch: G7@Cornwall: Return Of A Rules-Based International Order?  Bringing an Indian perspective to burning global issues- RSJA key geopolitical question to ask as most of the world gets back to normalcy following the pandemic is - what kind of a world will we be living in?I was expecting the G7 meeting held in Cornwall last week to help with an answer. It didn’t entirely. But it did help in framing the key questions that will engage commentators discussing about the world order this decade. The rhetoric at the end of the summit was summed by Boris Johnson: “the West is back”. Johnson and Biden repeatedly made the point about the summit representing the coming together of the great democracies of the world. Others parroted the same line. Even PM Modi speaking on the final day as part of the outreach programme positioned India as a natural ally of G7 in its resolve to fight the challenges arising out of authoritarianism, terrorism and disinformation. Democracies V Autocracies Now?The need to counter the ideological and economic challenge of China has bipartisan support now in Washington. Naturally, Canada, UK and Japan are in the same boat. The summit succeeded in making the somewhat reluctant Germany, France and Italy come around to the same view. This looks like an attempt to roll back the Cold War years. But like we have written in the past, China is a very different threat from the erstwhile USSR. In fact, it is USSR on steroids. So making the threat of China into the familiar construct of Cold War that you are comfortable dealing with is like searching for your lost keys under a lamppost because there’s light under it. It will be easy to search but you won’t necessarily find the keys. The other problem for G7 is how to treat Russia. With China the two strands of a superpower contest and the mortal combat with an illiberal regime that won’t reform as was expected, come together. So it offers ideological clarity. Russia isn’t an economic superpower and its political strength is restricted to its backyard. But it ticks all the boxes of a rogue, authoritarian regime - stifling dissent, encouraging crony capitalism, launching cyber attacks against other nations and meddling in their elections. Does the G7 slot Russia into the same ideological enemy category as China and push it further into its arms? Then we have a very different Cold War on our hands. Or, does it give Russian illiberal tendencies a free pass to keep it neutral and counter the threat of China? The Putin-Biden summit that followed the G7 meet seems to suggest that’s the likely course of action. But if you do that, where is the ideological glue of ‘great liberal democracies’ coming together? What stops other democracies (Brazil, Turkey, India and many more) to go down authoritarian route knowing the ideology is a sham? Marshalling A New Plan?The other question is how committed are the G7 to back their return to relevance with financial support, commitment to free trade and moral leadership during the next crisis? The evidence during the pandemic wasn’t flattering. It was everyone to themselves. The easy thing is to blame it on Trump but the hesitancy of Biden administration during early days to share its vaccine stockpile suggests ‘America First’ won’t just disappear after Trump. The summit threw up two responses to allay concerns on this. One, the promise by G7 to provide for more than one billion vaccine doses to the developing world. This was a late but welcome step to regain a semblance of moral authority. But one billion isn’t enough to inoculate the poorest in the world. It didn’t go far enough. Two, the G7 decided to counter China’s Belt-and-Road initiative (BRI) with its own plan to lend billions of dollars in financing infrastructure in developing nations. As the New York Times reported:The plan described by the White House appeared to stitch together existing projects in the United States, Europe and Japan, along with an encouragement of private financing. A fact sheet distributed to reporters gave it a name, “Build Back Better for the World,” with roots in Mr. Biden’s campaign theme — shortened to B3W, a play on China’s BRI.It emphasizes the environment, anti-corruption efforts, the free flow of information and financing terms that would allow developing countries to avoid taking on excessive debt. One of the criticisms of Belt and Road is that it leaves the nations that sign on dependent on China, giving Beijing too much leverage over them.There are a few problems with this plan. One, it is not clear how much of a success BRI has been for China. The programme has been beset with inflated costs and accusations of debt trap by countries borrowing from it. China seems to have gone tepid on it too. So, why copy a plan that failed for China? Two, Italy is already a member of the BRI and France and Germany don’t share the Biden’s administration conviction in taking on China economically. There are huge investments and trade deals hanging in balance there. This isn’t as tight a house as it appeared from the outside during the summit. Three, the G7 equivalent of BRI will need capital contributions from all the members who aren’t themselves in the best fiscal state at this moment. And we aren’t even counting the unresolved Brexit issues (including the Northern Ireland protocol) between UK and EU which threatened to sour the summit. The US treasury seems ready to sign ever increasing checks for domestic stimulus, infrastructure and green deal. Now they will have to fund this too. The icecreams cannot keep coming out of the truck indefinitely. Also, the G7’s insistence of democracy and human rights record will make many developing countries continue to look at the guilt-free Chinese loans. And let’s admit it, there are more of those regimes than others. Four, the G7 will have to respond to the popular opinion in their own backyards and it is difficult to see how over the next decade free trade, multilateral funding and supporting infrastructure around the world will be politically rewarding. A few regime changes among the G7 nations and this plan will come unstuck. China meanwhile has no such problems. Xi isn’t going anywhere soon. Nor is Putin.Saving Humanity?The final question is how will the G7 respond to future global crises after learning the lessons from this pandemic? The list of existential threats to the world isn’t short today with climate change at the van. The summit picked up climate change with a renewed pledge to raise $100bn a year through till 2025 to help developing countries cut emissions and move away from coal. There are two problems here. First, this isn’t enough for poorer nations to stick to their climate goal commitments. It will be interesting to see how this pans out with the UN climate summit that’s coming up in Glasgow this November (also known as COP 26). The lack of details in the climate change plan - “green revolution” - that would limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5Cand reach net-zero Carbon emissions by 2050 makes the whole thing sound like the many empty pronouncements of the past. Second, it is difficult to address climate change without bringing China, Russia and other large populous developing nations (Brazil, India, Indonesia) into the mix. Solving global existential threats require what Richard Haas and Charles Kupchan call the ‘concert of powers’ approach. But how do you do that if you want to frame China and Russia as ideological foes in the new Cold War?About IndiaOn the balance, the two positives from the G7 summit were quite clear. America led by Biden will not go back to lurking in the backstage of global geopolitics. And, China won’t get an easy pass from here on. Its days of running with the hare and hunting with the hound are over. But beyond that it is all fuzzy.So, what about India in all of these? India cannot be in the China camp given all the history between them. Russia is a time-tested friend that it cannot dump. India also knows its value to the liberal, democratic front as an ally. If you look closely, it has been dealt a good hand. It can use this confluence of factors to its advantage. Unless, of course, it scores self-goals on liberty and democracy at home and queers the pitch. That can be a real scenario. Maybe PM Modi’s address where he called India a natural ally in defending shared values of liberty, freedom of expression and democracy was meant more for his domestic audience. Not(PolicyWTF): When Two Taxes MeetThis section looks at egregious public policies. Policies that make you go: WTF, Did that really happen?— Pranay KotasthaneReaders of this newsletter will know that I seldom have good things to say about India’s taxation policies. But today is an exception.Once in a while, even taxes can pleasantly surprise. Even as people are wrestling with the new income tax filing portal, net direct tax collections have doubled over the last year’s numbers. Of which, advance taxes alone have grown by 146 percent. Advance taxes are taxes spread over four quarters in place of the fiscal year-end. This measure is indicative of economic sentiment as higher advance tax collection implies that business activity and payment settlements are happening smoothly. What caught my attention was this statement in Business Standard:“Tax officials have attributed it partly to payments from the Vivad se Vishwas Direct Tax Dispute Resolution Scheme and lower issuance of refunds, while others have said it is owing to increased compliance and enforcement due to the sharing of the goods and services tax data with the Central Board of Direct Taxes.”In essence, one of the explanations is that even though GST collections by themselves aren’t spectacular, the trail that the system leaves can be used to identify direct tax evasions as well. There’s precedence to better data resulting in increased direct tax collections. Until the turn of the century, many companies were deducting tax at source (TDS) before paying incomes to their employees but this money wasn’t reaching the government. There was no data to compare the TDS collected by a company with the TDS reported by all its employees. The result: tax evasion. Less than 25 percent of those supposed to deduct tax at source were submitting returns. That changed in 2003-04 with the introduction of the Tax Information Network. Dr Govinda Rao explains this breakthrough here:“Responding to the comment by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India that a large proportion of entities which were required to deduct the tax at source (TDS), simply did not remit the money to the income tax department, Vijay Kelkar who was the then adviser to the finance minister entrusted the task of TIN to NSDL which put together the system of monitoring the TDS payments.The result was the sharp increase in the ratio of Centre’s direct tax revenue to GDP from 3.9% in 2003-04 to 6.4% in 2007-08, registering an average growth of 31% per year.” GST offered a similar hope. The logic is as follows. A substantial portion of income tax returns (nearly 40 percent in 2017-18) report business income. Comparing this reported business income with the GST trail of the business can expose tax evasion. The input tax credit mechanism of the GST aligns the incentives of sellers and customers to report their revenues accurately. In July last year, the indirect tax board (which administers GST collection) and the direct tax board (which administers income and corporate tax collections) signed an MoU to exchange data with each other. The increase in direct tax collections this year is perhaps, in part, due to better triangulation of tax information. The exact impact is tough to gauge but if the trend in direct tax collection remains upbeat for consecutive years, we can isolate the effect to this beautiful meeting of the taxes. Can’t believe I wrote that! Matsyanyaaya: Everyone Wants to DARPABig fish eating small fish = Foreign Policy in action— Pranay Kotasthane I posted this writeup first on Technopolitik, a new fortnightly newsletter launched by my colleagues at the High Tech Geopolitics programme. If you are interested in themes at the intersection of technology and international relations from an Indian national interest perspective, do subscribe. Back to the story after that subtle plug. Japan. The UK. Germany. Even the US. These countries are now attempting their own versions of the original Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The success of DARPA’s 2013 grant to Moderna for using m-RNA to develop vaccines seems to have further fuelled the FOMO. Will they succeed? Answering that question requires a reimagination of what ‘success’ implies in this context. Most of DARPA’s initiatives fail, by design. Had most initiatives been marketable, it would’ve only meant one thing: the agency wasn’t betting on the groundbreaking ones. Secondly, even the successful ones such as the ARPANET require long gestation periods. In essence, DARPA replicas need to be set up with the apriori acknowledgement — and requirement — that it should fail most of the time and prepare for long periods with zero successes. That seems to be a difficult act to accomplish. The Economist (June 5, 2021) edition describes a few principles that made DARPA tick:An anti-bureaucracy setup. From The Economist:“Whereas most (R&D agencies) focus on basic research, DARPA builds things. Whereas most use peer review and carefully selected measurements of progress, DARPA strips bureaucracy to the bones (the conversation in 1965 which led the agency to give out $1m for the first cross-country computer network, a forerunner to the internet, took just 15 minutes). All work is contracted out. DARPA has a boss, a small number of office directors and fewer than 100 programme managers, hired on fixed short-term contracts, who act in a manner akin to venture capitalists, albeit with the aim of generating specific outcomes rather than private returns.”Freedom to try and fail. This often means no ministerial oversight and more crucially, a common consensus amongst political actors that such agencies will be given a long rope.An assured customer from within the government. Some of US’ own DARPA copies haven’t met similar successes partly because they don’t have an assured customer like the US Department of Defence ready to deploy products of grantees.Apart from these three elements, there’s another underappreciated factor in my view: a powerful national adversary. DARPA was given the freedoms it got because of the threat the USSR posed. The narrative aspect (democracy vs communism) was no less important in getting scientists onboard on dual-use inventions. What about India’s chances at replicating DARPA? I would wager that factors #2 and #3 are not difficult for India to manage. There is precedence for India’s national security agencies being left out of parliamentary oversight and financial audits. What’s more difficult is #1. For a government to create an anti-bureaucratic setup that pursues excellence requires immense state capacity of the kind that Indian governments lack. Of course, Indian governments will have much less money to spare than their western counterparts. But that shouldn’t directly mean fewer risks. It only means that the areas that India chooses to focus on should be different from the ones that the US does. As economists would say, focus on the comparative advantages.More importantly, India’s revealed preferences show that in its collective imagination, Pakistan was, until now, the most significant adversary. Managing such an adversary didn’t require cutting-edge technology. It just required us to be marginally better than Pakistan. But a much stronger and advanced PRC poses a challenge that requires India to come out strong on all fronts, including technology. Herein lies the impetus for India to be audacious.HomeWorkReading and listening recommendations on public policy matters[Article] “Don’t Start Another War With China” warns Bernie Sanders writing in the Foreign Affairs[Article] “As G7 takes on China at five fronts, India engages with B3W” write Gautam Chikermane for the Observer Research Foundation (ORF). [Podcast] Anupam and Pranay discuss how and why to bring petrol under GST. If petrol prices are making you sweat, you might as well listen to this episode during your next commute. [Essay] A beautiful Lapham’s Quarterly essay on the history of technology. Get on the email list at publicpolicy.substack.com

Sabarna Roy is a trained Civil Engineer and passed out with a First Class Honours Civil Engineering Degree from Jadavpur University in 1988. He is presently working as Senior Vice President and is in the 26th year of his employment with Electrosteel Group. Sabarna Roy is engaged in giving leadership to Business Development, Applications Technology and certain key Strategies in the Electrosteel Group. He has a technical book, titled: Articles on Ductile Iron Pipelines and Framework Agreement Contracting Methodology published by Scholars' Press in European Union with two of his Co-authors, which have been translated into 8 major European languages. He has been visiting national and international conferences to talk on various matters concerning ecology and environment. He is a firm believer in Paris Climate Accord and believes in lowering the Carbon Footprint in the industry to reverse the climate change effects on the planet. He is an active participant in the multifarious activities of International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage, Confederation of Indian Industries, Central Board of Irrigation and Power, Indian Geographical Committee of International Water Resources Association, Calcutta Business School, Engage India, and JIS Group of Institutions. Sabarna Roy is an author of critically acclaimed bestselling literary fiction of seven published books. They are: Pentacles; Frosted Glass; Abyss; Winter Poems; Random Subterranean Mosaic: 2012 – 2018; Etchings of the First Quarter of 2020, and Fractured Mosaic. His literary works have been published by Leadstart Inkstate, Mumbai. He is a Goodreads author with present rating of 4.05 with reviews and ratings in excess of 2,500 and on Amazon, he is rated between 4 and 5 with reviews and ratings in excess of 2,000. He has been covered by all prestigious national and international media including The New York Guardian, Nigeria Tribune, Kathmandu Tribune, Financial Nigeria and The Guardian Post, and he is on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabarna_Roy). He was an invited speaker on the opening day at the Noida International Literary Festival 2019 and a panelist at the Tata Steel Literary Meet on the opening day at a session, which discussed the Dark Side of the Mind. He was the Guest of Honor at Aaveg 2021 Literature Festival at Lucknow. He has, during the Pandemic, attended many Literary meets, and discussions, on various video conferencing platforms. He has been awarded the Literoma Laureate Award in 2019, Literoma Star Achiever Award 2020, Random Subterranean Mosaic: 2012 – 2018 won the best book of the year 2019, the A List Award for excellence in fiction by the NewsX Media House, Certificate for The Real Super Heroes for spreading a spirit of positivity and hope during the COVID-19 Pandemic from Forever Star India Award 2020, and the Certificate for Participation in the Indo Russian Friendship Celebration 2020, the Literoma Golden Star Award 2020: Lifetime Achievement, and the Certificate of Appreciation for featuring in the Hall of Fame of Literoma International Symposium on Literature & Festival 2020, and the Times Eminent Writer of the Year award by The Times of India Group in Kolkata in February 2021.

The government on April 14 cancelled the CBSE's class 10 board exams and postponed its class 12 exams following an exponential surge in COVID-19 cases. This is the first time that the Central Board of Secondary Education has completely cancelled the board exams conducted by it. Last year, the exams were partially cancelled in the wake of riots in northeast Delhi and Covid-19 cases.   Schools across the country were closed in March last year to contain the spread of Covid-19 ahead of a nationwide lockdown. Several states started reopening the schools partially from October last year, but physical classes are again being suspended because of the rise in coronavirus cases.   States including Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab have already announced changes in plans for board exams. In this podcast, we are discussing what states are doing and whether they have postponed the dates. Listen in

While excellent newsletters on specific themes within public policy already exist, this thought letter is about frameworks, mental models, and key ideas that will hopefully help you think about any public policy problem in imaginative ways. Audio narration by Ad-Auris.Global Policy Watch: A Mint With a Role- RSJThe People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has been trialling a form of digital Yuan for the past year. Last week the trials entered their second phase. (Umm, they seem to have more phases for this than for developing their Covid vaccines).The Wall Street Journal woke up to the digital Yuan (paywalled) last week with this article that starts off like a Marquez novel:“A thousand years ago, when money meant coins, China invented paper currency. Now the Chinese government is minting cash digitally, in a re-imagination of money that could shake a pillar of American power.” What’s not to like an article that begins with hyperbole? But there’s some grain of truth there. Before we go further we need to make sense of sovereign digital currencies or what’s now being called Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC). What’s Money?Like we have written in an earlier post, money performs three roles for us: it is a store of value, it is a medium of exchange, and it is a unit of measure. Through it we save for the future, pay for goods and services and measure the value of very different things using a common unit. These roles mean anything that aspires to be a currency (the usable form of money) should have a relatively stable value over time and should be widely acknowledged as a store of value and unit of account among people. If it does so, the network effect takes over after a while and it becomes a widely used currency. Throughout history, a key feature of a sovereign state was its control over the supply and circulation of money that’s used within its boundaries. The royal mints, after all, have been around for more than two thousand years. As modern nation-states emerged through the 19th and 20th centuries and as global trade increased, central banks emerged to manage the monetary system and provide financial stability. There are three forms of money in any modern economy: Banknotes: These are physical paper currency notes issued by the central bank that we all use in our everyday lives. This is a direct promise by the central bank to pay the holder of the note a specified sum of money. This promise is printed on all currency notes.Bank Deposits: Ordinary people and businesses don’t hoard banknotes to conduct their business. They deposit their money in commercial banks. These deposits are stored in electronic form by these banks. The banks offer two services to their customers. They convert these deposits to central bank money in the form of banknotes when you demand it at an ATM and they offer to transfer your money to someone else through a payment system that exists between banks. Unlike banknotes, your deposits aren’t risk-free. They aren’t backed by any sovereign guarantee. A bank will be able to convert your money into banknotes only if it is solvent and it is able to honour its commitments. We have seen instances of a bank failing to do so in India (Yes Bank, PMC etc).Central Bank Reserves (“reserves”): Commercial banks have their own accounts with the central bank where they deposit their funds. These deposits are used by banks to pay each other to settle transactions between them. The reserves are the other form of central bank money apart from banknotes. These are risk-free and therefore used for settlements among commercial banks. Where does CBDC then fit in?Simply put, a CBDC is a digital form of a banknote issued by the central bank. Now you might think we already use a lot of digital money these days. Yes, there’s money we move electronically or digitally between banks, wallets or while using credit/debit cards in today’s world. But that’s only the digital transfer of money within the financial system. There’s no real money moving. The underlying asset is still the central bank money in the form of reserves that’s available in the accounts that commercial banks have with the central bank. This is what gets settled between the commercial banks after the transaction. This is an important distinction. We don’t move central bank money electronically. But CBDC would actually allow ordinary citizens to directly deal with central bank money. It will be an alternative to banknotes. And it will be digital. CBDC: The Time Is NowSo, why are central banks interested in CBDC now? There are multiple reasons. One, cryptocurrency that’s backed by some kind of a stable asset (also called ‘stablecoin’) can be a real threat as an alternative to a sovereign currency. Stablecoins are private money instruments that can be used for transactions like payments with greater efficiency and with better functionality. For instance, the current payment and settlement system for credit cards in most parts of the world has the merchant getting money in their bank accounts 2-3 days after the transaction is done at their shops. A digital currency can do it instantly. For a central bank, there could be no greater threat to its ability to manage the monetary system than a private currency that’s in circulation outside its control.Two, in most countries, there’s an overwhelming dependency on the electronic payment systems for all kinds of transactions. As more business shifts online and electronic payment becomes the default option, this is a serious vulnerability that’s open to hackers and the enemy states to exploit. A CBDC offers an alternative system that’s outside the payment and settlement network among commercial banks. It will improve the resilience of the payment system. Three, central banks need to offer a currency solution for the digital economy that matches any form of digital currency that could be offered by private players. Despite the digitisation of finance and the prevalence of digital wallets in the world today, there’s still significant ‘friction’ in financial transactions all around us. You pay your electricity bill electronically by receiving the bill, then opening an app and paying for it. Not directly from your electric meter in a programmed manner. That’s just an example of friction. There are many other innovations waiting to be unleashed with a digital currency. Central banks need to provide a platform for such innovations within an ecosystem that they control. CBDC offers that option.Lastly, digital money will reduce transmission loss both ways. Taxes can be deducted ‘at source’ because there will be traceability of all transactions done using CBDC. It will also allow central banks and the governments to bypass the commercial banks and deliver central bank money in a targeted fashion to citizens and households without any friction. The transmission of interest rates to citizens for which central banks depend on commercial banks could now be done directly. While these are the benefits of a digital currency, there are other massive macroeconomic consequences including the loss of relevance of bank deposits that we have with our banks. A CBDC that offers interest would mean we will have a direct deposit account with the central bank. This will mean a move away from deposits in banks to CBDC with the central bank. Also, the nature of a bank ‘run’ will change. Today a bank ‘run’ means a rapid withdrawal of banknotes from a bank by its depositors who are unsure of the solvency of the bank. This takes time and is limited by the amount of money available in ATMs. In a CBDC world, the ‘runs’ will be really quick and only constrained by the amount of CBDC issued by the central banks. Depositors will replace their deposits with CBDC pronto. This secular move away from deposits will increase the cost of funds of commercial banks. They will have to depend on other sources of funds than the low-cost deposits that customers deposit every month in the form of salaries to them. A reduction in deposits will reduce the availability of credit in the system. This will have a repercussion on the wider economy. It will also mean greater demand for reserves from the central bank by the commercial banks to provide credit to their customers. Central banks will increase their reserves and their balance sheets will become bigger. In summary, central banks will become more powerful. China’s Digital Yuan Play For these reasons, I believe CBDC is inevitable in this decade. Central banks will have to contend with the competition of cryptocurrency and the needs of the digital economy. They will find a mechanism to create a ‘platform-based model’ where the central banks create CBDC using a Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) or a centralised ledger model while allowing private players to provide interfaces for customers to deal with this ledger. They will have to provide some level of comfort on privacy to their citizens by separating the transaction layer of CBDC from the core ledger. But for China, the benefits of a digital Yuan do not just stop there. Beyond these benefits, a CBDC is a boon for a surveillance state as it turns into an ‘eye in the sky’ for every transaction happening in the economy. For China where all banking is owned by the state, the secular shift from deposits of commercial banks to CBDC is also a lesser problem. And most importantly, China is looking at leadership in CBDC to replace the US Dollar in global trade. A digital Yuan is the most feasible option for it to challenge the entrenched ‘dollarisation’ of the physical currencies around the world. 88 per cent of global trade is done using the US Dollar and it is what sustains the Dollar as the global reserve currency. For China to replace the US as the future global superpower, it will have to find ways to make Yuan the reserve currency. An early lead in adopting CBDC for domestic and cross-border payments is a great option to make a real fist of it.China’s early trials in this space will force a response from other large economies on CDBC. The interoperability of sovereign CBDCs and how quickly the US is able to put together a CBDC alliance that counters China will be interesting to watch. In the meantime, I expect the current Chines regime to overplay its hand here like it has been usual for it in the last few years. Expect China to play hardball with the digital Yuan in global trade. This will be an interesting space in geo-economics to watch. PolicyWTF: Casually Banning Films CommitteeThis section looks at egregious public policies. Policies that make you go: WTF, Did that really happen?— Pranay KotasthaneMost film certification authorities in democratic republics categorise movie content according to age-appropriateness and nothing more. But India’s is an exception. The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) — commonly referred to as the “Censor Board” — also plays the role of a film editor. The CBFC is empowered to ask filmmakers to drop certain scenes. Not just that, the CBFC in its wisdom can just plainly refuse to certify a movie. In such cases, filmmakers have the option of appealing to the reviewing committee of the CBFC. If even that fails, they could hitherto appeal to a 5-member Delhi-based tribunal called the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT). This tribunal has now been shut down through an ordinance along with eight other tribunals. The stated intent is that this move will streamline legal recourses. Filmmakers will now have to appeal to High Courts directly and wait for the law to take its own (long) course. In other words, “tareekh pe tareekh, tareekh pe tareekh, tareekh pe tareekh…”You would have already guessed why this is a PolicyWTF. Higher transaction costs, the existing burden on our High Courts, lack of state capacity, yadda yadda yadda. You can read these arguments here, here, and here. I won’t go there.Instead, let’s address the larger PolicyWTF - the CBFC itself. As long as it is a government-appointed body with the power to play the role of a film editor, absurdities will continue. It is for this reason that the Shyam Benegal Committee in 2016 recommended that the CBFC’s powers to modify and change movies should be taken away and it should purely function as a certification body. Exactly what was needed. But it was also exactly what the government wouldn’t allow. And so, five years after that report, we still have a CBFC which is rubbing its hands to also edit OTT content. Moreover, the percentage of films without any cuts fell to its lowest levels over the last 100 years in 2016-17. And now, even the FCAT has been shut down. Clearly, film censorship is going in a direction opposite to what previous committees have recommended. So, is there a solution to this meta policyWTF? Yes, turns out markets can help here. In 2016, my former colleagues Madhav, Adhip, Shikha, Siddarth, Devika and Guru wrote an interesting paper in which they recommended that film certification should be privatised. Deploying the Banishing Bureaucracy framework, they wrote:The CBFC be renamed the Indian Movie Authority (IMA) and that the primary purpose of the IMA would be to license and regulate private organisations called Independent Certifying Authorities (ICAs) which will then certify films. The certificate granted by ICA will only restrict what age groups the film is appropriate for. This is the only form of pre-censorship that is necessary in today’s age as all other restrictions on film exhibition should be applied retrospectively. The choice of ICAs available for producers to approach will render the question of subjectivity moot as the producer can switch to another ICA if unsatisfied with the certificate. The IMA will set the guidelines for the ICAs to follow and will be the first point of appeal.From Privatising Film Certification: Towards a Modern Film Rating Regime, Madhav Chandavarkar et al, Takshashila Discussion Document.In other words, this solution reimagines the CBFC as a body that grants licenses to independent and private certification organisations called ICAs. These ICAs need to adhere to certain minimum threshold criteria set by the CBFC. Beyond these criteria, some ICAs may specialise themselves as being the sanskaari ones trigger-happy to award an “A” certification while others may choose to adopt a more liberal approach. In the authors’ words:This will allow the marketplace of ideas to draw the lines of what kind of content is fit for what kind of audience with the government still being capable of stepping in to curb prurient sensibilities.This solution has the added benefit of levelling the playing field between OTT content and films. Currently, the CBFC has no capacity to certify the content being churned out on tens of streaming services. By delegating this function to private ICAs, the government can ensure adherence to certification norms.In essence. just as governments can often plug market failures, markets too can sometimes plug government failures. Reforming our ‘Censor Board’ requires giving markets a chance.There’s a lot more detail in the paper about grievance redressal, certification guidelines, and appeals procedure. Read it here. PS: A couple of days after the FCAT was shut down in India came the news that Italy on the other hand has abolished all film censorship and moved to a self-certification system instead. Saluti! A Framework a Week:Tools for thinking about public policy— Pranay KotasthaneDr Yuen Yuen Ang is one of the most insightful writers on China’s economy. Her first book explained how China managed to escape poverty. Her second book, China’s Gilded Age: The Paradox of Economic Growth and Vast Corruption has a framework on corruption that’s relevant to us in India.Created based on China’s Gilded Age: The Paradox of Economic Growth and Vast CorruptionThe framework classifies government corruption on two axes — “who in the government engages in corruption?” and “does the money giver get anything in return?”. Four types of corruption result from this categorisation as shown above.Ang claims that in most East Asian economies, the dominant mode of corruption is “access money” — bribes given to political elites with an explicit quid pro quo arrangement. On the other hand, the dominant mode of corruption in India is “speed money” — bribes given to low-level bureaucrats for property registration, a driving license, and so on. Though it intuitively sounds right, I take this result with heaps of salt as it is based on a survey measuring perceived corruption from the eyes of just 15 experts from the countries discussed. Nevertheless, I found the framework interesting. A typology of corruption is a great idea. The book claims that with rising income levels, corruption doesn’t vanish but just gets institutionalised in the ‘access money’ quadrant. To drive the point home, Ang connects these four types of corruption to four kinds of drugs. In her words:“all corruption is bad – they are all drugs – but petty theft and grand theft are like toxic drugs [or drinking bleach, a term suggested by Jordan Schneider]; speed money is like painkillers; access money is like anabolic steroids – they help you grow rapidly but come with serious side effects that accumulate over time.Access money functions as an incentive system for politicians and capitalists to work together, especially when massive infrastructure, involving huge sunk costs, is required for an emerging economy to take off. Access money overpays capitalists to do this, through cheap loans, subsidies, state backing, and in return you get feverish growth that lifts 700 million people out of poverty.”That’s neat storytelling!HomeWorkReading and listening recommendations on public policy matters[Article] Stewart Paterson’s white paper on the Hinrich Foundation site: The digital Yuan and China’s potential financial revolution.[Article] Shyam Benegal on his tryst with CBFC. Money quote: ‘With Bhumika, there were no cuts, no obscenity. According to the censor guidelines, there was nothing that was transgressed, yet it was given an A certificate. I asked, why? They said, the subject of your film is adult. Get on the email list at publicpolicy.substack.com

"Torch Bechnewale" is a short story written by one of India's most famous satirist, Harishankar Parsai. It talks about the fundamental sales strategy humans deployed ever since they first walked the planet: To Sell on Fear. Today's society has taken this to a new extreme, the scarier the narrative, the better the results. Two friends make a pact to try out their luck for 5 years by going in different directions. When they meet again, they're both in the same business of selling flashlights. They're just working for different companies!Harishankar Parsai (22 August 1922 – 10 August 1995) was a Hindi writer. He was a noted satirist and humorist of modern Hindi literature and is known for his simple and direct style. He wrote vyangya (satire).He was born in Jamani village near Itarsi in Hoshangabad district, Madhya Pradesh. He completed his M.A. in Hindi from R.T.M. Nagpur University. After pursuing writing along with his service for some time, he quit his job and took writing as a full-time career. He settled in Jabalpur (M.P) and started a literature magazine called Vasudha. Despite it being highly praised, he had to stop the magazine after the publication suffered economic losses.Parsai died on 15 August 1995 in Jabalpur. According to The Hindu, by the time of his death, Parsai had revolutionized the art of satire writing in Hindi.He won Sahitya Akademi Award in 1982, for his satire, "Viklaang Shraddha Ka Daur" 'विकलांग श्रद्धा का दौर'Hari Shankar Parsai used to give answers of readers in a column "POOCHHIYE PARSAI SE" in a Hindi News paper DESHBANDHU published from Raipur and Jabalpur.A collection of 21 selected stories translated into English by C. M. Naim was published in 1994: Inspector Matadeen on the Moon (Manas Books, Chennai). It was reprinted in 2003 by Katha Press, New Delhi. Several stories and essays are also part of the school curriculum in Central Board of Secondary Education and available in NCERT books.

A few days ago, there was a rather interesting article on Moneycontrol. It said — “The value of illegal cigarettes seized in the first 11 months of FY21 has spiked to Rs 1,772 crore from just Rs 187 crore in FY20, according to figures made available by the Central Board of Indirect taxes and Customs (CBIC).” And while the article does go on to explain why this might have been the case, we thought we could offer you more context by explaining why cigarette smuggling is so rampant in the first place.

This week's podcast discusses the details of the Faceless Penalty Scheme 2021, covering its features, procedure, and structure of the scheme. The Scheme has been amended by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (‘CBDT'), effective from 12 January 2021.  Audio Source: An article published on the L&S website in February 2021: https://lakshmisri.com/insights/articles/faceless-penalty-scheme-2021/#  Authors: Sriram Vijayaraghavan, Principal Associate (L&S), and Snehal Shukla, Associate (L&S)  Voice: Sahana Rajkumar, Principal Associate (L&S)   www.lakshmisri.com 

Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and author. As of 2019, he is a member of the board of India's Central Board of Film Certification.Time Stamps:00:00 - Introduction02:16 - How to tell profound stories?06:01 - Kashmir's Civilisational Conflict10:47 - Drawing parallels from Israel Palestine conflict and the sentiment of rebellion17:42 - The “wounded” feeling in Kashmir21:44 - How is the situation in Kashmir now?25:10 - The problem with the government's solution on Kashmir31:03 - Shooting films in Kashmir32:20 - The style of storytelling in “Kashmir Files”40:39 - Fatwa issued against Vivek Agnihotri50:55 - Was the Fatwa against the idea of freedom of speech?56:22 - The greatest blessing and curse of all revolutionaries Connect with Vivek AgnihotriInstagram: @vivekagnihotri  Twitter: @vivekagnihotriConnect with us onlinepgradio.com  @pgradio.live on InstagramConnect with Prakhar Gupta:@prvkhvr on Twitter  email: pg@pgradio.com

If you want to know about 1 January 2021: Let's try to know check 9 amendments under the finance act 2020 incoming. Because the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has announced 1 January 2021. Let's read about (CBIC) has said that 9 provisions of finance act, 2020 will be officially effective from 1 January 2021.

Mihir Bhuta is a prolific writer, director, producer, and also a member of Central Board of Film Certification. He talks about acclaimed plays, T.V. serials, films and web series written and directed by him. He also shares his observations, views, perspective on Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi. Let’s meet Mr. Mihir Bhuta… You can follow us and leave us feedback on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @eplogmedia, For partnerships/queries send you can send us an email at bonjour@eplog.media. If you like this show, please subscribe and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts, so other people can find us. You can also find us on https://www.eplog.media મિહિર ભુતા ઉમદા અને પ્રતિભાશાળી  નાટકો, T.V. સિરીઅલ, ફિલ્મો, અને વેબ સિરીઝ ના         લેખક, દિગ્દર્શક, નિર્માતા છે. એમનાં અનુભવો, સફળતા અને નિષ્ફળતા ની ખુલ્લે દિલે વાત કરે છે. માનનીય વડાપ્રધાન શ્રી. નરેન્દ્ર મોદી વિષે તેમનાં વિચાર, નિરીક્ષણ, અને અભિપ્રાય પણ તટસ્થપણે જણાવે છે. મળવા જેવા માણસ શ્રી. મિહિર ભુતા ...ચાલો મળીયે ... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The #government has made it #mandatory to mention 8-digit HSN or tariff code for 49 chemical-based products while issuing Goods and Services Tax (GST) invoice, a move experts feel is aimed at curbing tax evasion. While #notifying the HSN Code for these products, the #Central #Board of #Indirect Taxes and #Customs (CBIC) said, "A registered person shall mention eight number of digits of HSN Codes in a tax invoice issued by him." Currently, #businesses mention up to a 4-digit tariff code while issuing invoices KEY FEATURES 1) Excelled in the Job Oriented Training 2) 10+ years' experience and qualified trainers (CA/CMA/CS/MBA) 3) Fully practical approach with best grades in exams 4) Training on Latest Accounting Software 5) The updated and relevant study material 6) Real-life projects & On the job training 7) Job for lifetime facility 8) 1000 + satisfied and placed students 9) Strong placement network 10) Connect with 500+ Employers 11) Monthly 200+ openings 12) Workshops, Guest Lecture, and various other activities for industry and student interaction 13) Special rebate scheme for special and weaker section students 14) Fully Equipped Infrastructure For expert advice Address: C-8/13, Sector-7, Rohini, Delhi-110085 Call: +91-8882196405 Email: info@bpaeducators.com Private Facebook group: BPA mastery To get more updates to join VIP COMMUNITY OF BPA EDUCATORS- https://www.facebook.com/groups/bpamastery/ Website: www.bpaeducators.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bpaeducator/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bpaeducator Twitter: https://twitter.com/EducatorsBpa Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/y9nb27xc Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bpa-educators/

We explain the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and customs released central GST rules 2020 which will make some changes in Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017. So, if you want to find out what is last date of GSTR-3B for Oct 2020 to March 2021, then here you can view this article post complete details.

The US has charged two members of the Islamic State group over the killing of Western hostages in Syria. Barbara Plett Usher talks to Newshour from outside the courthouse in Virginia . Also in the programme: the Greek courts say the far-right Golden Dawn party is a criminal organisation. We get reaction from David Saltiel, the President of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece. And ahead of the Vice- presidential debate, Sophie Long reports from Salt Lake City in Utah where Mike Pence and Kamal Harris will share a stage. (Pic Credit: Reuters)

Shri Jyotinivas Kumar Sinha was born on 16th of July, 1945. He did his schooling from St. Xavier's School, Patna. Thereafter, he joined St. Stephen's College, Delhi, in 1961 and graduated with History (Honours) in 1964. He did Masters in History from the Delhi University in 1966 and joined the Indian Police Service in 1967. He was allotted the Bihar Cadre but served in his home state for a very short period and went on deputation to the Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India in 1971. During his service with the Cabinet Secretariat he served in India and abroad with great distinction. He was awarded the ‘Indian Police Medal' for meritorious service in 1987 and the ‘Sarvottam Seva Suraksha Patra' for distinguished service in 2000. He retired as Special Secretary in 2005. On retirement he decided to return to his home state and settled in Patna with the sole objective of working for the welfare of the ‘Musahar' community of Bihar, perhaps, the most downtrodden and poverty stricken community in India. He established ‘Shoshit Seva Sangh' which runs a fully free English medium residential school in Patna to provide high quality education to the children of the musahar community. The school run by Shoshit Seva Sangh provides not only free education, boarding & lodging but also clothes including uniforms, text-books and stationery, medical-care, toiletries, bedding and bed linen, personal utensils and all other necessities. Musahar children as young as 6-7 years drawn from remote villages of various districts of Bihar are admitted in the Pre-School class and fully supported till they complete higher secondary. Shri Sinha began this with supporting the education of 4-5 musahar children in 2006. In less than a decade he was able to acquire land and build a residential school which can accommodate upto 1000 musahar children. The school building has been constructed as per the guidelines mandated by the Central Board of Secondary Education. It has a highly experienced and qualified teaching faculty. It also has sporting facilities which a school can be proud of. Shoshit Seva Sangh looks after musahar children and provide quality education literally from cradle to adulthood. This indeed is an unique achievement. The school is affiliated to the CBSE upto higher secondary level. Presently there are over 506 musahar children and the school has started admitting 100 children in the Pre-School class every year. The school built in over 2 acres of land as stipulated by CBSE has all the facilities mandated by it. This institution was built by Shri Sinha with funds raised from individuals and corporates under their CSR programme with single minded devotion. The facilities in the school would compare with quality schools in India. Shri Sinha was given ‘India Positive Award' sponsored by CNN-IBN in 2012 and figured in the ‘Amazing Indians' serial telecast by Times Now Channel. He was adjudged as one of the ‘Best Educators' of India by the jury constituted by Times Now in 2015. He was honoured for his valuable contribution in the field of education and literacy as a ‘Literacy Hero' in 2013 by Rotary International at the South Asia Literacy Summit. Shri Sinha was awarded the ‘Padma Shri' by the President of India on the occasion of the Republic Day, 2019, for this outstanding social service. Some photographs of the life and activities at the school are attached. Shoshit Seva Sangh has a very elaborate website and the address is www.sssfoundation.org. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/future-school-leaders/message

Recently, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has introduced changes in form 26AS. So in this case, if you want to know regarding new form 26AS then here viewed as complete information of New Form 26AS (Annual Information Statement) Under Income Tax. Read more details given on the link.

Welcome to East West Hurricane! 🌪We update you on the most essential news from Asia in tech, media, and business—the things you need to know that you probably haven’t heard in Western media.Follow us on Twitter and Instagram! ⚡️How Google Helps Indian Students 🏫Google plans to create digital classroom programs in the Indian state of Maharashtra, which will reach 23 million students and teachers across 190,000 schools. Maharashtra, like most of India, has been affected by Covid and most physical schools have shut down. Google will partner with the Maharashtra government to provide new digital classroom tools and services free of charge. This includes products like G Suite for Education, Google Forms, Google Meet, Google Classroom, and more. Google has already started working with India’s national governmental body that regulates secondary schools (Central Board of Secondary Education) and has helped fund a grant for the Kaivalya Education Foundation to provide educational opportunities for underprivileged children.This fits within Google’s broader announcement earlier this year that they will be investing $10 Billion into India across a series of different programs and partnerships. As the world’s second most populous country, India is an important and huge market for Google’s products and services. Google’s investments in the country go all the way from government to schools to infrastructure to startups to non-profits and more. Of course, since Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai is originally from India, that adds an extra layer of prioritisation Google has for the country. Can Samsung Ride the Anti-China Wave? 📲The political tensions between India and China have made it harder for Chinese companies to operate in India. Samsung, as a Korean company, has been able to use this to strengthen their position in the Indian market. In Q2 of this year, Samsung moved up to become the country’s number two smartphone maker with 26% market share. In Q1, Samsung was the number three smartphone maker with 16% market share. Since June, Samsung has launched seven new smartphones. These are lower-priced smartphones, with the cheapest one priced at $75.This could be an important turning point for Samsung. Over the last few years, Samsung was losing market share in India to the newer, lower priced Chinese smartphone brands like Oppo and Xiaomi. These Chinese smartphone makers are still major players in the market, but they will need to aggressively change their marketing strategy given the current geo-political climate. India’s importance will only increase as the population and economy grows, so smartphone makers from all countries will continue prioritising India. There are so many second and third order consequences of this Chinese-Indian political tension, it’s kind of mind-blowing. Grab’s Next Priority: Financial Services 🏦After raising $856 Million earlier this year focused on expanding payments and financial services, Singaporean ride hailing company Grab has now announced a set of new consumer-facing financial products. Grab has already been providing B2B financial services to drivers and small businesses, but will now start offering consumer products like micro-investments, loans, and health insurance. One of these products is Autoinvest, which allows users to invest small amounts of money through the Grab app.Financial services has always been a priority for the company. Over the last couple of years, Grab has partnered with several financial services companies and acquired the startup Bento in order to provide investment and wealth management products. Similarly, ride-hailing companies around the world like Gojek, Uber, and Careem have all expanded into financial services as a logical next step on their strategic roadmap. Covid has actually unleashed increased consumer demand for digital financial services, which is especially important in a place like Southeast Asia. So Grab, eager to capitalise on this demand, is going to be moving fast to expand their product offering. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit eastwesthurricane.substack.com

Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and author. As of 2019, he is a member of the board of India's Central Board of Film Certification.Watch clips from episodes on Instagram: https://instagram.com/pgradio.liveTimestamps:00:00 The Bollywood of the 80s-90s09:04 Page 3 and the Charm of Bollywood13:00 Filmmaking is a "dirty" business18:05 Stardom and the celebrity culture26:16 The Influence of money in films33:10 Vivek on the Sushant Singh Rajput Situation43:20 Nepotism and the politics of bollywood54:17 The Fantasy element of Bollywood1:01:00 The Blockbuster Culture and how do we end it?You can also watch this episode on https://youtu.be/C0Px2xFBhWYConnect with Vivek AgnihotriTwitter: https://twitter.com/vivekagnihotriInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/vivekagnihotriConnect with us onlinepgradio.com @pgradio.live on InstagramConnect with Prakhar Gupta:@prvkhvr on Twitter email: pg@pgradio.com

If you are looking to file your income tax return for the financial year 2019-20, then here we are providing best information such as Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) enabled the forms for all the assesses to file their income tax return (ITR) on 29th May 2020 for the previous year 2019-20. So you can see seven forms, as CBDT issues new income tax return forms by the government.

The continuing situation of COVID-19 pandemic has affected the entire academic activities. This has forced CBSE, Central Board of Secondary Education to reduce syllabus by 30% for classes 9 to 12 for the academic year 2020-21. We had a discussion regarding it with Anmol Badjatia - Principal - Jain International School, NagpurListen to the Podcast for moreFollow Rj Saurabh :-Twitter :- https://twitter.com/iamrjsaurabhInstagram :-  https://www.instagram.com/iam_rjsaurabh/Facebook :- https://www.facebook.com/iamRjSaurabh/

Film director Anubhav Sinha isn't afraid to shy away from controversial and complex issues. In conversation on #JLFBraveNewWorld with Vani Tripathi Tikoo, the youngest ever member of the Central Board of Film Certification, he discusses his work, including ‘Article 15', which set out to confront uncomfortable truths on India's caste systemSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ending the suspense for school-going students, the MHRD and the Central Board of Secondary Education informed the Supreme Court that the Xth and XIIth board exams scheduled between 1-15 July stand cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic in the country.While for class 10 student, exams have completely been cancelled, class 12 students will be given an option between appearing in exams when the “conditions are conducive” or assessment based on the last three exams.An order from Supreme Court is expected on 26 June, at 10.30 am after the government files a detailed affidavit on the assessment scheme for the exams but what are the reactions to this decision? And what's next for students? Tune in to The Big Story!Producer and Host: Shorbori PurkayasthaGuests:Col (Retd) Amit Bathla, Petitioner, Ameeta Mulla Wattal, Principal of Springdales School, Pusa RoadJayeeta, College DekhoEditor: Shelly Walia Music: Big Bang FuzzListen to The Big Story podcast on: Apple: https://apple.co/2AYdLIl Saavn: http://bit.ly/2oix78C Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/2ntMV7S Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IyLAUQ Deezer: http://bit.ly/2Vrf5Ng

Due to the Coronavirus outbreak in India. On Wednesday, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) postpones all exams of class 10th and 12th board exams from March 19-31. The decision came after the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry announced to postpone ongoing exams. The Human Resource Development ministry ordered the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and all other educational institutions to reschedule exams after March 31. Earlier in the day, The CBSE also issued guidelines for the rest of the board examinations. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/latestnewssuno/support

On Saturday, the US and Taliban signed an agreement which will enable the US and NATO to withdraw troops in the next 14 months, a historic deal which has been years in the making. Shubhajit Roy explains what the agreement sets out to achieve and how India will be affected by it. Next, Abhishek Saha details why simmering tension between "indigenous" and "non-indigenous" people in Meghalaya and the CAA, Inner Line Permit issue has contributed to the violence in Shillong over the weekend. Last, why the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) claims to be the first board to launch a ‘rap'.

The Union Budget 2020 has introduced a new personal income tax regime, in an attempt to bring down the tax burden for individual tax payers. However, the changes don’t seem to be in favour of Non-resident Indians (NRIs) who aren’t paying taxes to date. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her recent Budget speech on February 1, proposed to tax Non-resident Indians (NRIs) who do not pay taxes in any foreign country. Yes, this statement made NRIs anxious. Especially those working in the Gulf region where countries don't tax their income. So, finance minister clarified that only Indian income of NRIs is proposed to be taxed under the new provision, and later Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) also put out a clarification saying that "the new provision is not intended to include in tax net those Indian citizens who are bonafide workers in other countries". Well, if you’re thinking, what made the ministry to come up with such a change? The ministry said it was an anti-abuse provision amid growing instances of NRIs shifting their stay in low or no-tax jurisdiction to avoid tax payment in India. Here’s what Sitharaman said in a press briefing on Sunday, “An NRI living in another country earns money there, which is not taxed there at all, but has some earnings through something in India and does not pay tax here either because he does not live here. What we are saying is this: for the income generated in India, pay a tax. If you have a property here that generates rental income, but because you live there, you carry this income there and pay tax neither there nor here.” “Have I got even a sovereign right to take that into my consideration or not? I am not taxing what you earn in Dubai,” she added. Well, in view of this the CBDT chairperson Pramod Chandra Mody said that the move is "essentially an anti-abuse provision". "Some study showed that people are trying to stay in multiple countries for a period lesser than that would make them a resident," he said. And upon asking if these people are doing so to avoid paying taxes, he said it "appears" that tax evasion could be the reason. "Now, in such cases of Indian citizens who are resorting to this system we are putting a provision that if they are not resident of any tax jurisdiction then they will be treated to be a deemed resident of this country." "And by virtue of that, their taxable income or to say their entire global income, will be taxed here," Mody said. This means an NRI, who is not a resident of any country, will now be deemed an Indian resident and their income will be taxed here. Mody said India now has multilateral tax treaties with other countries where "we continuously exchange information and hence getting information on such people will not be that difficult". What’s more, tightening the residency provisions, the Union Budget 2020 has also reduce the period of stay in India from 182 days to... To know more, listen to this podcast 

A Political Satire Written By Sri Hari Shankar Parsai/ Voice Over By Shreekant Sinha @recorded At Lotus Avio Harishankar Parsai (22 August 1924 – 10 August 1995) was a Hindi writer. He was a noted satirist and humorist of modern Hindi literature and is known for his simple and direct style. He wrote vyangya (satire). He was born in Jamani village near Itarsi in Hoshangabad district, Madhya Pradesh. He completed his M.A. in Hindi from R.T.M. Nagpur University. After pursuing writing along with his service for some time, he quit his job and took writing as a full-time career. He settled in Jabalpur (M.P) and started a literature magazine called Vasudha. Despite it being highly praised, he had to stop the magazine after the publication suffered economic losses.[1] Parsai died on 15 August 1995 in Jabalpur. According to The Hindu, by the time of his death, Parsai had revolutionized the art of satire writing in Hindi.[2] He won Sahitya Akademi Award in 1982, for his satire, "Viklaang Shraddha Ka Daur" 'विकलांग श्रद्धा का दौर'[3] Hari Shankar Parsai used to give answers of readers in a column "POOCHHIYE PARSAI SE" in a Hindi News paper DESHBANDHU published from Raipur and Jabalpur. A collection of 21 selected stories translated into English by C. M. Naim was published in 1994: Inspector Matadeen on the Moon (Manas Books, Chennai). It was reprinted in 2003 by Katha Press, New Delhi. Several stories and essays, like ‘Baarat Kee Waapsi’ and ‘Premchand Ke Phaté Jootey’, are also part of the school curriculum in Central Board of Secondary Education and available in NCERT books.

The Centre’s plan of faceless assessment, which was introduced on October 7, does not seem to have down well with income-tax officials. As a matter of fact, they even sent a complaint letter to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), claiming that the new scheme was implemented in a “hurry without considering the concerns of the majority of the stakeholders”. For more, listen to this podcast...

Here's Rajesh Thakur talking about life journey of Hrishikesh Mukherjee on his Tune India Radio Classic Show Hrishikesh Mukherjee (30 September 1922 – 27 August 2006) was an Indian film director, editor and writer regarded as one of the greatest filmmaker of all time , known for a number of films, including [Anari],Satyakam, Chupke Chupke, Anupama, Anand, Abhimaan, Guddi, Gol Maal, Majhli Didi, Chaitali, Aashirwad, Bawarchi, Kissi Se Na Kehna, Namak Haraam Popularly known as Hrishi-da, he directed 42 films during his career spanning over four decades, and is named the pioneer of the 'middle cinema' of India. Renowned for his social films that reflected the changing middle-class ethos, Mukherjee "carved a middle path between the extravagance of mainstream cinema and the stark realism of art cinema". He also remained the chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and of the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC). The Government of India honoured him with the Dada Saheb Phalke Award in 1999 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2001. He received the NTR National Award in 2001 and he also won eight Filmfare Awards. Tune India Radio Sydney Australia

A permanent account number (PAN) is a ten-digit alphanumeric number, issued in the form of a laminated card, by the Indian Income Tax Department, to any "person" who applies for it or to whom the department allots the number without an application. It is a unique, ten-character alpha-numeric identifier, issued to all judicial entities identifiable under the Indian Income Tax Act, 1961. The income tax PAN code and its linked card are issued under Section 139A of the Income Tax Act. It is issued by the Indian Income Tax Department under the supervision of the Central Board for Direct Taxes (CBDT) and it also serves as an important proof of identification. It is also issued to foreign nationals (such as investors) subject to a valid visa, and hence that PAN is not acceptable as proof of Indian citizenship. Pan is very great for the purpose of filing income tax returns.

In a move that could help the government bridge its fiscal deficit, the Central Board of the RBI has decided to transfer a staggering Rs 1.76 trillion of its surplus to the Centre for 2018-19.  This amount is much more than the government's target of about Rs one trillion via disinvestment in FY20. Interestingly, this is the biggest-ever payout by the central bank. It includes Rs 1.23 trillion of surplus for 2018-19 and Rs 52,637 crore of excess provisions identified as per the revised Economic Capital Framework adopted at the RBI Board meeting. The higher surplus is due to long-term forex swaps and open market operations conducted by the central bank over the last fiscal. The surplus transfer was finalised in line with the recommendations of the committee under former RBI governor Bimal Jalan. RBI’s central board accepted all the recommendations of the panel. This alone will fill up more than half of the country’s estimated fiscal deficit.

Issued in July 2019 by Directorate General of Audit under Central Board of Indirect Tax & Customs , it has 6 chapters and 15 Annexure. This podcast talks about 39 Local Risk Parameters which will trigger selection of a Taxpayer for Audit by GST Tax Authorities in India.

Last week, two 'lady-oriended' movies, to quote the Central Board of Certification, were released and of course our two culture vultures have a lot to say about both of them. Rajyasree Sen was surprised to find she really enjoyed Anuskha Sharma's new film with Diljit Dosanjh, Phillauri. Deepanjana Pal has a few bubbles to burst as far as Swara Bhaskara's Anaarkali Of Aarah is concerned. Yet, for all its flaws, it warms the cockles of Pal's feminist heart. Find out what Sen and Pal think of Durex's new product, Durex Jeans, Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale and a lot more on this episode of Awful & Awesome Entertainment Wrap. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Deepanjana Pal and Rajyasree Sen go from Bollywood to Oscars, to films the Central Board of Film Certification doesn't want you to watch. Find out what Pal thought of Rangoon. Hear them weigh in on the controversy surrounding the award-winning film, Lipstick under my Burkha. AIB has a new video titled A Woman's Besties, and our two culture vultures have differing opinions on it. And how can they not talk about the Oscars, which celebrated the cuteness of Sunny Pawar and ignored the dark cloud of sexual assault hovering over Casey Affleck? All this and more, discussed and dissected in this episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Don’t have time to keep a tab on news throughout the day? CNN News18 brings you the day’s top news and newsmakers in less than 3 minutes! Here are today’s top picks: 2017 Tech and Auto Awards Conclude, Samsung Galaxy S8 wins Smartphone of the year, Hyundai Verna wins Car of the year, Triumph Street Triple S Wins Two Wheeler of the Year News Prime Minister Narendra Modi today reinforced the government’s sustained fight against black money. Describing Aadhaar as a major "power" to bring about "irreversible changes" in the common man's life, PM Modi said that Aadhaar will now be used in cases involving Benami properties. PM Modi also said that he is ready to face the “political price” for these measures. Delivering the address at the HT Leadership Summit, PM Modi sketched out his vision for a robust financial system in which the possibilities of generating black money are being constantly reduced SPORTS Mirabai Chanu has become the first Indian in over two decades to claim a gold medal at the World Weightlifting Championship in Anaheim, USA, exorcising the ghosts of her forgettable outing at the Rio Olympics. Chanu, who is employed with the Indian Railways, lifted 85kg in snatch and 109kg in clean and jerk to total an impressive 194kg in the women's 48kg, in the process setting a new national record. ENTERTAINMENT Padmavati director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Central Board of Film Certification chief Prasoon Joshi will appear before a parliamentary panel to discuss the controversy surrounding the period drama. The 30-member parliamentary panel on IT has also asked the producers of the movie and officials of the information and broadcasting ministry to attend the meeting and brief it on the furore related to the film. Various Rajput groups and political leaders have accused Bhansali of distorting history in the movie by using a romantic dream sequence between the Rajput queen Padmini and Sultan Alauddin Khilji, a claim repeatedly denied by the filmmaker. TECH Xiaomi has launched Redmi 5A in India today. The ‘Made in India’ device will come with a metallic matte finish and will be available in three colour variants. The Redmi 5A sales will start from 12 noon, December 7, 2017, across Flipkart, Mi.com, and Mi Home stores, followed by offline retailers including Mi Preferred Partners in the subsequent weeks.

Throughout film history, censor boards have often come into conflict with artists looking to push boundaries, from Howard Hawks to Trey Parker and Matt Stone. But in the current digital age, where so much content is unfiltered and readily available, do censor boards still have a role to play in the films we watch? To get the answer Rob and Geoff sit down with Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla, the co-directors of the documentary ‘An Insignificant Man’. The film, which documents the journey of Arvind Kejriwal, "the Bernie Sanders of India," was recently denied an exhibition certificate in the pair’s home country. Khushboo and Vinay discuss the trials they’ve gone through to get their film released (2:35), how India’s Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is holding them to the same standards as films released in 1952 (10:15), and why they believe that stringent censorship guidelines are discouraging the next generation of Indian filmmakers (14:00). They also explain why they believe the majority of censorship is used to create a narrative (15:20), and why the definition of what is "appropriate" can only be determined by the consumer (18:10).

Last week, two 'lady-oriended' movies, to quote the Central Board of Certification, were released and of course our two culture vultures have a lot to say about both of them. Rajyasree Sen was surprised to find she really enjoyed Anuskha Sharma's new film with Diljit Dosanjh, Phillauri. Deepanjana Pal has a few bubbles to burst as far as Swara Bhaskara's Anaarkali Of Aarah is concerned. Yet, for all its flaws, it warms the cockles of Pal's feminist heart. Find out what Sen and Pal think of Durex's new product, Durex Jeans, Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale and a lot more on this episode of Awful & Awesome Entertainment Wrap. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Deepanjana Pal and Rajyasree Sen go from Bollywood to Oscars, to films the Central Board of Film Certification doesn't want you to watch. Find out what Pal thought of Rangoon. Hear them weigh in on the controversy surrounding the award-winning film, Lipstick under my Burkha. AIB has a new video titled A Woman's Besties, and our two culture vultures have differing opinions on it. And how can they not talk about the Oscars, which celebrated the cuteness of Sunny Pawar and ignored the dark cloud of sexual assault hovering over Casey Affleck? All this and more, discussed and dissected in this episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Our quote for today is from Ravi Zacharias. He said, "My premise is that the popular aphorism that 'all religions are fundamentally the same and only superficially different' simply is not true. It is more correct to say that all religions are, at best, superficially similar but fundamentally different." In this podcast, we are making our way through Garry R. Morgan's book, "Understanding World Religions in 15 Minutes a Day." Our Understanding World Religions topic for today is, "Cults, 'Isms,' and Contemporary Religious Movements" In the last few episodes of this podcast, we will deal with belief systems not typically categorized as world religions, even though some of them are global in nature and have many millions of followers. The number of adherents to Mormonism (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), for instance, far exceeds the number of adherents to Judaism, Jainism, or Baha'i, and Mormons are in nearly every country though usually categorized as a cult. Conversely, Sikhism is small in numbers and followed by just one ethnic group (though it has spread somewhat through migration), but is nearly always found in books on world religions. How do we distinguish a cult from a religion? At the outset, we must know there is no "Central Board of Religions" that decides what "gets in" and what doesn't. Some books include Baha'i and some don't. Some books on contemporary religious movements include it as well, just as most would include the Nation of Islam. By our working definition, all these are religions—organized sets of beliefs that answer ultimate questions. So how does one end up as a religion and another as a contemporary religious movement? Some criteria does help distinguish one from another. A few belief systems are rather obviously one or the other. With some we might make the case either way. ...

Near the “Places of Ha’Shoah” images is another grouping titled “Fragments of the Budapest Ghetto.” These scenes are from an old Jewish section of Pest, Hungary, a district of 19th century buildings near the Danube River. Here the Nazis established a large ghetto in June 1944, several months after occupying Hungary and deporting virtually every Jew living in the provinces. Budapest’s 220,000 Jews were forced into 2,000 houses marked with a yellow star. In October, Hungarian Fascists began their program of anti-Jewish violence, even as Soviet troops approached the city. In November, thousands of Jews were shot and thrown into the Danube and preparations were made for massive deportation of those remaining. The Soviets occupied Budapest on Jan. 18, 1945, and an estimated 120,000 Jews were saved. Dominating the Jewish section is the Moorish-style Dohany Street Synagogue, a huge, ornate, twin-towered structure inaugurated in 1859 by the city’s Neolog (Reform) congregation. The largest active synagogue in Europe, it seats 3,000 and has undergone a full restoration that was completed in 2009. During the war, the church was fenced off and used as a concentration camp for Jews massed prior to deportation. In the arcade courtyard are individual and mass graves of thousands of Budapest’s ghetto victims. Another courtyard contains a memorial to Hungarian Holocaust victims, a weeping willow tree created in granite and steel, by Hungarian sculptor Irma Varga. On nearby Sip Street are found the offices of the Central Board of Hungarian Jews, the Budapest Jewish Community, the World Jewish Congress and the American Joint Distribution Committee. The immediate neighborhood offers an Orthodox Mikvah, kosher restaurants, grocers and wine shops, Jewish gift shops and three Jewish schools.

India’s Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) recently issued a notification for application of General Anti-avoidance Rules (GAAR).