Aadhaar card will be marked by three different colours — red, blue and yellow to indicate the degree of disability.

The government is all set to launch special colour-coded Aadhaar card for disabled for easy linkage to the government’s schemes and services.

The Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry is likely to launch the process for registration of disabled persons on a centralised e-platform to issue Unique Disabled Identity (UDID) cards.

The card will be marked by three different colours — red, blue and yellow to indicate the degree of disability.

First Aadhaar cards are likely to be delivered in August in Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh, which is the chosen district for the pilot project.

According to officials, rough estimates put the number of the disabled persons having disability certificate at not more than one crore. The UDID portal is expected to create real time data for planning and disbursal of benefits to the disabled.

The UDID portal will be launched in the public domain in June for registration at the district level and the first cards are likely to be handed out to eligible persons in mid-August. The cards will be marked by a colour bar at one end.

Red colour will indicate disability of 80% and above, blue for disability between 40% and 80% and yellow for disability below 40%.

It has been designed by National School of Design, Ahmedabad. It will have a hologram meshed in to prevent any attempts at duplication.

All applicants will be certified after due verification by the CMO and only then the UDID will be generated.

Considering that everyone may not have access to the online platform, offline applications will also be accepted. “The database will be unique hence there will be no chance of duplication,” an official explained.

The states that will be covered in the first phase include UP, Haryana, Chandigarh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, Kerala, Tripura, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu. The remaining states will be covered by 2018.

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The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, today gave its approval for extending the existing Productivity Linked Reward (PLR) Scheme for Port and Dock employees for payment of Productivity Linked Reward from the year 2014-15 to 2015-16. The payment of PLR would be made after adjusting the ad-hoc amount already paid for the year 2014-15.

The expenditure on account of PLR shall be met by the Major Port Trusts and Dock Labour Boards from their own resources without any Budgetary support from the Government.

This will benefit about 44,000 major Ports and Dock workers/employees/officer and will help ensure a better industrial relationship and congenial work atmosphere in the Port Sector apart from stimulating better productivity. The Major Port Trusts/Dock Labour Boards will be immediately informed on due dates to make payment of the PLR, as per the existing scheme to all employees/ workers/officers for the years 2014-15 and 2015-16.

PIB

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New Delhi, Sept 5 (PTI) The government is considering appointing a committee under a judge to go into the issue of equalisation of pension, a leader of the ex-servicemen group fighting for One Rank One Pension said after a meeting with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.

Maj Gen Satbir Singh (retd), Chairman of Indian Ex-Servicemen

said the government while accepting the concept of the OROP, was still insisting on pension revision every five years and that is why it was thinking of constituting a committee.

Singh said after the meeting that in that case a representative of the veterans and one from the services should also be in the committee. He said the committee should not take more than one month.

Ahead of government’s likely announcement of OROP, Singh said government has broadly accepted the concept of the scheme and that they will study the details after it is made public.

The delegation, he said, presented their views on the sticky issues including pension equalisation.

“Government has accepted the OROP concept broadly,” the Chairman of Indian Ex-Servicemen movement told reporters after the meeting.

He said it was conveyed to the Defence Minister that no junior should get more pension than senior and that there is nothing like Voluntary Retirement Service in defence forces.

Sounding a conciliatory note, Singh said the government has accepted 60 per cent of the demands of the ex-servicemen.

He, however, said the “bone of contention” — revision of pension — still remains.

After the meeting Parrikar met BJP President Amit Shah.

Later a BJP leader said all demands of the ex-servicemen have been accepted except the pension revision demand.

BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi, who was present at the party chief’s house, said government is close to announcing a solution that will cost the exchequer at least Rs 10,000 crore.

The ex-servicemen have been demanding that the pension revision should take place at least in every two years while government has proposed a five-year revision.

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A. Approved by Cabinet

*CRC – Cadre Review Committee ** GoM – Group of Ministers *** Minutes awaited

B. Pending Proposals

Source: http://ccis.nic.in/WriteReadData/CircularPortal/D2/D02adm/Sttt.pdf

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Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority
First Floor, ICADR Building, Plot No 6, Institutional Area Phase II,
Vasant Kunj, New Delhi-110070

ATAL PENSION YOJANA – BENEFITS AND FEATURES

1. Anybody in the age group of 18-40 years can join !!

2. You can choose your pension plan from Rs 1,000/- to Rs 5,000/- per month.

3. Your contribution depends on your age and the pension plan you choose!

4. You can be a member of any existing PF/Pension scheme such as EPF/PPF/Govt. pension and still join APY!

5. You can be an Income tax payer and still join APY.

6. For (4) and (5) above, Govt. Co-contribution is not available but Govt. guarantee for pension will be available!

7. Govt. Co-contribution of 50% of subscribers’ contribution or Rs 1,000/- per annum, whichever is lower will be available for five years only to subscribers joining by 31st December 2015.

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New Delhi, Jun 24 (PTI) Taxpayers wanting to file online I-T returns for assessment year 2015-16, using the newly notified ITR-2 or ITR-2A forms, will have to wait for few more days as the tax department is in the process of launching the facility on its official website.

While two other ITRs, ITR-1 and ITR-4S, are ready to be filed and submitted at the official e-filing website– https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in– proper links for the two forms used by a majority of taxpayers will be enabled shortly.

Officials said the links for the rest of the ITRs will be available very soon.

The department notified the new set of ITR forms early this week, including a three-page simplified form.

The e-filing of ITR can be done upto till August 31, the new deadline set in this regard by the government after it had dropped the earlier forms which had attracted criticism for seeking numerous additional details like that of filers’ foreign travel and about dormant bank accounts.

The most simplified form, ITR-2A, to be filled by those individuals and HUFs who do not have income from either business, profession or by way of capital gains and do not hold foreign assets, only asks for the passport number of the tax-filer, with the words “if available”.

The ITR-2 is meant for individuals and HUFs having income from business or profession.

Beginning this season, it is expected, that online filers will be given a One-Time Password (OTP) on their mobile phones to validate their returns in order to end the system of sending a paper acknowledgment (ITR-V) of the filed return.

For the same reason, the I-T department has asked taxpayers to provide their Aadhaar number in the ITR so that it can do a back-end validation of the same and successfully process the returns.

PTI

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New Delhi: The government on Monday proposed income tax benefits for people making payments through credit or debit cards and doing away with transaction charges on purchase of petrol, gas and rail tickets with plastic money.

FM Jaitley, in his budget speech, had said that the government would introduce soon several measure that will incentivize credit or debit card transactions.

In a draft paper for moving towards cashless economy and reduce tax avoidance, the government also proposed to make it mandatory to settle high value transactions of more than Rs 1 lakh through electronic mode.

In order to incentivize shopkeepers, the government has proposed tax rebate to them provided they accept a significant value of sales through debit or credit cards.

The proposals are aimed at building a transactions history of an individual to enable improved credit access and financial inclusion, reduce tax avoidance and check counterfeiting of currency.

“Tax benefits in terms of income tax rebates to be considered to consumers for paying a certain proportion of their
expenditure through electronic means,” said that draft proposals for facilitating electronic transactions on which the government has invited comments till June 29.

It further said that all “high value transactions of, say, more than Rs 1 lakh, (be settled) only by electronic means”.

The paper said the tax benefits could be provided to merchants for accepting electronic payments.

“An appropriate tax rebate can be extended to a merchant if at least say 50 per cent value of the transactions is through electronic means. Alternatively, 1-2 per cent reduction in value added tax could be considered on all electronic transactions by the merchants,” it added.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley, in his budget speech, had said that the government would “introduce soon several measure that will incentivize credit or debit card transactions and disincentivize cash transaction”.
PTI

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New Delhi: A bill to deal with black money stashed abroad was passed by Parliament today with government warning those having such assets to utilise the ‘compliance window’ or have sleepless nights once the global automatic information exchange system comes into effect in 2017.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in Rajya Sabha that the new law, with stringent provisions, will help “squeeze” black money even as he underlined that the option of ‘compliance window’, which may run for a few months, was not an amnesty scheme.

“The world is no longer willing to tolerate tax havens which thrive in secrecy,” he said, just before the ‘Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Bill, 2015′ was approved by the House, two days after the Lok Sabha passed it.

Jaitley, however, made it clear that the new law will not cover those having amounts equivalent to Rs 5 lakh in bank accounts abroad, which may belong to students or those working there.

The compliance window will provide an opportunity to people to come clean by declaring overseas assets and paying tax and penalty totalling 60 per cent, Jaitley said while replying to a debate on the bill on the last day of the session.

The timeframe for the compliance window will be notified as part of the rules.

“It is a taxation which is being imposed on an asset or an income outside. Since the tax has been imposed for the first time, we are giving you a compliance period where you pay 30+30 per cent and then you can sleep well.

“And then also remember, if you don’t use this compliance window now, time will run out because by 2017 there will be a realtime automatic disclosure of information taking place,” he said.

The Bill, which seeks to unearth unaccounted funds and assets stashed by Indians abroad and provide for 120 per cent tax and penalty in addition to 10-year jail term, will become law after getting assent of the President.

The government has also armed itself to attach domestic property of equivalent value of such offenders.

PTI

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The expenditure on Research & Development by each of the nine Defence Public Sector Undertakings in 2013-14 is as under:

The norms for R&D, as per the guidelines of Department of Public Enterprises, are a minimum expenditure of 1% of Profit After Tax (PAT) for Maharatna & Navratna categories of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs). In respect of other CPSEs, it is 0.5% of PAT. All profit making Defence PSUs are complying with DPE norms for R&D expenditure.

The data about R&D expenditure by foreign countries is not maintained.

The Government provides assistance to Indian Industry/DPSUs/OFB/consortia in Research and Development of defence equipment. Under the ‘Make’ Category of Defence Procurement Procedure, there is a provision for funding 80% of the expenditure on Research and Development of prototype by the Government. Additionally, a Technology Development Fund (TDF) was announced in Union Budget 2014-15 to provide necessary resources to public and private sector companies, including SMEs as well as academic and scientific institutions to support Research and Development of defence systems that enhance cutting edge technology capability in the country.

So far as DPSUs are concerned, in the MOU’s signed between Government and DPSUs, a certain percentage of turnover has been fixed towards expenditure on R&D.

This information was given by Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh in a written reply to Shrimati Sasikala Pushpa in Rajya Sabha today.

PIB

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• The ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ which waS launched on 2nd October 2014 should be sustained in a vigorous manner to achieve the goals set for the year 2019.
• Development of adequate infrastructur~ like washable aprons, waste disposal system, effluent treatment plants, sewer lines/septic tanks and amenities such as platform surface, circulating area favourable to mechanized cleaning
• Development of modern tools, plants and equipments for platform surfaces and circulating area and drainage. At all “A-i” and “A” category stations adequate number of dustbins, segragated for biodegradable and nonbiodegradable garbage shall be provided.

• Regular awarding of contracts i.e. rag picking, garbage disposal, pest control and one time, cleaning contracts.

• Periodic drives should be conducted at station to keep the momentum high. DRMs should be advised to participate in these drives so that a spirit of ownership of the campaign in generated.

• In the next five years regular events on cleanliness to be organized.

• Public awareness campaign should be continued through the various media available with IR including posters at stations and announcements through public address system. Campaign should also include action under the Railway’s anti-littering rules of 2012.

• Campaign should also include action under the Railway’s anti-littering rules of 2012.

• More and more mechanized cleaning gadgets will be introduced along with better types of cleaning agents. Periodic contracts for rag picking and garbage disposal to be awarded.

• More and more toilets will be brought under the purview of ‘Pay & Use’ toilets;

• Regular inspections to be conducted at various levels viz. GMs, DRMS, SIGs (Service Improvement Groups) and at other Officers level to check the standard of cleanliness. During these inspections, deficiencies if noticed in various areas such as drainage, availability of dustbin, sewerage, water supply, washable apron and garbage disposal, will be wiped out.

• Monitoring cleanliness through CCTV cameras installed at major stations .

• An award to recognize the best efforts made by the zonal railways at stations towards the cause of cleanliness shall be introduced. Such an award shall be called “Swachh Station” award and shall be given on All India basis in each category of station.

In line with the above, the following action shall be taken:

(i) Each Zonal Railway shall prepare a division-wise Action Plan which shall indicate the mechanism of cleaning (departmental or outsourced) and the frequency prescribed for cleaning at each station.

• SIG inspections report and feedback from the public should value and acted upon immediately.

• All newly manufactured coaches by the coach Production Units shall be compulsorily fitted with Bio-toilets before they are turned out by 2016-17 and all existing in-service coaches running on Indian Railways shall be retrofitted with Bio-toilets by 2021-22.

• The focus of the five year plan shall be on developing cleanliness oriented infrastructure and system improvements for sustainable cleanliness.

• Zonal Railways and Production Units shall formulate five-year plans indicating allocations of funds to bring about a radical change in the public perception about the cleanliness orientation of Indian Railways at all locations, particularly the customer interface areas namely, stations, trains, offices, etc.

Source: Indian Railways

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