FM Arun Jaitley indicated on March 22nd that 18 lakh persons deposited funds higher than disclosed income levels; 8 lakh of these have responded to government queries through emails and SMSes.
Meanwhile LS passed the Financial Bill 2017 which has made the Aadhaar card mandatory for filing income tax returns or applying for a PAN (permanent account number) card.
GoI has also cut the limit for cash transaction to INR 2 lakhs from 3 lakhs proposed in the budget. The transaction will be illegal beyond the stipulated upper limit.
Aadhaar has been made mandatory for tax returns. Cases of individuals holding 5 PAN cards to evade tax have been noted. Around 98% of Indians have Aadhaar cards.
Agriculture is set to remain outside the taxation net.
Government has merged several administrative tribunals. It has also assumed powers to appoint and remove their chiefs, raising a question on the independence of quasi judicial institutions.
The bill has also allowed companies to make bigger, anonymous political donations. 8 autonomous tribunals have been merged with others and GoI now has the power to appoint and remove members in 17 such bodies.
The bill also laid down severance terms for chairpersons, vice chairpersons and members of merged tribunals. Up to 3 months pay and allowances are specified and officers will then revert to parent cadre, department or ministry.
Government indicated reducing the tribunals will increase dispute resolution and curb expenditure.
So far, a company could contribute 7.5% of three year average of net profits and had to disclose name of recipient political party. But now the cap is gone and companies don't need to disclose the names of beneficiaries.
Elections: Know More- Voting system: First past the post
- Last election: 7 April – 12 May 2014
- Next election: Indian general election, 2019
