Aadhaar doesn't pose any privacy issue and is worth emulating: Bill Gates

India's Aadhaar technology does not pose any privacy issue and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has funded the World Bank to take this approach to other countries as it is worth emulating, Microsoft founder Bill Gates has said.

The 62-year-old multi-billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist said Nandan Nilekani, Infosys founder who is considered as the chief architect of Aadhaar, was consulting and helping the World Bank on the project.

Asked if India's Aadhaar technology is worth emulating by other countries, he replied, "Yes". "The benefits of that (basic ID — Aadhaar) are very high," he told PTI. More than a billion people in India have enrolled in Aadhaar, the world's largest biometric ID system.

"Yes, countries should adopt that approach because the quality of governance has a lot to do with how quickly countries are able to grow their economy and empower their people," Gates said in response to a question.

"We have funded the World Bank to take this Aadhaar approach to other countries," he said.

It is believed that several countries, including some from India's neighbourhood, have approached New Delhi for assistance in this matter.

UIDAI introduces 16-digit 'Virtual ID', limited KYC for Aadhaar holders

As it looks to address concerns regarding privacy of Aadhaar data, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has introduced a concept of ‘Virtual ID’, which is a temporary number that can be generated by users for the purpose of verification and authentication.

The UIDAI has taken a slew of measures to safeguard the privacy of citizens, primarily after reports emerged that Aadhaar data can be accessed by unauthorised means.
The 'Virtual ID', which will be mapped with the Aadhaar number, can be shared with authorities to authenticate identity for availing various services and it will provide users an option of not sharing their Aadhaar number.

The ID will be a temporary, revocable 16-digit number that can be shared with agencies like a telecom operator, for verification of identity. The 'Virtual ID' along with biometrics will furnish limited details like names, addresses, and photographs to the agency concerned for verification.
However, experts feel that though the intention of the government is good, it has to be seen what security parameters are put in place to safeguard the 'Virtual ID'.

According to senior cyber lawyer Pavan Duggal, cybersecurity was not introduced at the start by the UIDAI and that is why there have been so many cases regarding data breach. Also, he said people have become increasingly concerned about privacy and consequently, the UIDAI had come up with the concept of a 'Virtual ID'.

Income Tax dept attaches 900 benami properties worth over Rs 35 billion

The Income Tax (I-T) Department on Thursday said it has attached more than 900 benami properties including flats, shops, jewellery and vehicles worth over Rs 35 billion.
I-T Department said in a statement that it has stepped up action under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, which came into force from November 1, 2016.
The Act provides for provisional attachment and subsequent confiscation of benami properties, whether movable or immovable.

It also allows for prosecution of the beneficial owner, the benamidar and the abettor to benami transactions, which may result in rigorous imprisonment up to 7 years and a fine of up to 25 per cent of fair market value of the property.

The department had set up 24 dedicated Benami Prohibition Units (BPUs) under its Investigation Directorates all over India in May, 2017 to ensure swift action in respect of Benami properties.
"Due to intensive efforts undertaken by the Department, provisional attachment has been made in more than 900 cases of properties under the Act. These include plots of land, flats, shops, jewellery, vehicles, deposits in bank accounts, fixed deposits etc," the statement said.

The value of properties under attachment is more than Rs 35 billion including immovable properties of more than Rs 29 billion, the department said.
Benami literally means 'without a name'. An asset without a legal owner or a fictitious owner is called benami.

Kamala Mills fire to Chennai floods: Why India's regulations aren't working

India’s cities – big and small, in the north and south – are sitting around a bonfire of regulations, basic tenets of urban planning and precious human lives. The December Mumbai fire is the latest reminder. We haven’t learnt our lessons from the gruesome Uphaar Cinema fire that killed 59 people and seriously injured 103 people in the national capital in 1997.

Here are some of the major fire incidents that took place in the last 14 years. Some places that are frequent victims – temples and firecracker units in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, for example – don’t even come under the strict demographic definition of urban areas.

Carlton Towers, Bengaluru, 2010; nine dead, 70 injured.
SUM Hospital, Bhubaneswar, 2015; 22 dead, 120 injured.
Surya Sen street market, Kolkata, 2013; 19 dead, ten injured.
Amri (Dhakuria) Hospital, Kolkata, 2011; 73 dead.
The Park Street, Kolkata, 2010; 16 dead.
Kurla (West), Mumbai, 2015; eight dead.
Kumbakonam, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, 2004; 83 dead, 27 injured – all school children.
Srirangam, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, 2004; 57 dead, 50 injured.
Nand Nagri, east Delhi, 2011; 15 dead, 65 injured.
The Victoria Park, Meerut, 2006; 65 dead, 81 injured.
Paravur, Kollam, Kerala, 2016; 111 dead, 350 injured.
Mudalipatti, Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu, 2016; 38 dead, 33 injured.
Mudalipatti, Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu, 2012; 54 dead, 78 injured.
Khusropur, Patna, Bihar, 2005; 35 dead, 50 injured.

According to National Crime Records Bureau figures, 17,700 Indians died – 48 people every day – due to fire accidents in 2015. Of those who died, 62% were women. Maharashtra and Gujarat, our two most highly urbanised states, account for about 30% of the country’s fire accident deaths. There is a close correlation between deaths due to fire-related accidents and population density associated with urbanisation.
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Aadhaar could be a single target for cyber criminals: RBI researchers

The benefits of Aadhaar, India’s biometrics-based unique national identity system–the world’s largest–are unclear and the impact of direct benefit transfers it will be used to deliver to the poor is not studied enough, a new study published by an arm of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has concluded.

The paper, ‘Biometric and Its Impact in India’, was a part of Staff Papers series published in its October 2017 edition. It is written by S Ananth, an adjunct faculty at the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT), which was established by the RBI as an autonomous institute.

Aadhaar is becoming central to India’s public policy with increasing number of programmes being linked to it. And its scope is constantly increasing. In the seven years following its introduction, 1.12 billion Indians or 88.2% of the population have enrolled for Aadhaar, IndiaSpend reported in March, 2017.

Established by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) under Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016, Aadhaar is now used for direct benefit transfers as well as distribution of foodgrains and essential commodities–under the public distribution system (PDS)–by the state. It includes various payments linked through Aadhaar-enabled payment system.

The Supreme Court has extended the deadline of linking of Aadhaar with various welfare schemes up to March 31, 2018.

The paper has flagged issues related to Aadhaar such as problems of access to the last mile, issues with the quality of authentication, unclear financial benefits and security concerns and said there needs to be caution in the manner in which the government is linking more economic programmes and activities with Aadhaar.

Ever since its inception, Aadhaar has been caught in various debates, especially over the issue of the citizen’s right to privacy and threat of information leak. The latest of these controversies is an investigative story reported in The Tribune on January 3, 2018. It alleged that unrestricted access to details of over one billion Aadhaar numbers can be purchased at as little as Rs 500.

By paying Rs 300 more, the details of any Aadhaar card can be printed, the report said. “..[It] is a major security breach,” the deputy director of UIDAI regional officer Chandigarh was quoted to have said.

After note ban, will Modi govt now ban cheque books for its digital push?

After deciding to revoke the legal tender of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes in November last year, the Narendra Modi -led central government might now be working on another disruptive step to boost digital transactions — banning the cheque book. A senior functionary of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on November 16 said the Centre might withdraw the bank cheque book facility in the "near future" to encourage digital transactions.

CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said the government needed to encourage the use of debit and credit cards. "In all probability, the Centre may withdraw the cheque book facility in the near future to encourage digital transactions," he said.

Impact of cheque book facility withdrawal

Demonetisation was a big disruption for most Indians, right from poor labourers to big industrialists. Now, the withdrawal of the cheque book facility could have a massive impact as well. Most business transactions are conducted through cheques. According to experts, 95 per cent transactions currently take place via cash or cheques.

Since cash transactions have declined, transaction by cheque might have increased after demonetisation.

Use of cheque in India

Cheques are fairly popular in SME payments. By taking a PDC (post-dated cheque) against the delivery of goods, a supplier secures payments due in future from its customer. People pay by cheques while buying land and house, too.

Many landlords now take rent from tenants via cheque. Since November 8, 2016, digital payments like BHIM have grown. However, their sweet spot has been small-value payments (two to three figures). The retail and commercial payment usage strongly suggests that cheque is a very compelling method of payment for large-value payments (four figures and above).

Forbes India rich list is out: Ambani richest with $38 bn net worth, Premji 2nd

Even as the U.S.A is facing economic hiccups and the government facing criticisms from numerous quarters over its coping with of the economic system, the wealthiest people in India do now not appear to be affected. regardless of corporations facing problems in the aftermath of the government’s demonetisation of excessive-cost currency remaining November and its rollout of the goods and services tax (GST) regime in July this year, India’s 100 wealthiest tycoons have visible their mixed net worth zooming to a whopping $479 billion, up 26 per cent from $374 billion in 2016.

according to the Forbes’ annual list of India’s 100 richest tycoons, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani stays the usa’s richest, with a internet well worth of $38 billion, Wipro Chairman Azim Premji is a distant second at the list with exactly half of the wealth. His net really worth stands at $19 billion.

Here are the top 10 richest Indians by net worth on Forbes annual list of India’s 100 richest tycoons

Note ban effect: Currency printing cost more than doubles to Rs 7,965 crore

Note ban effect - The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) spent Rs 7,965 crore on printing currency notes between July 2016 and June 2017, compared to Rs 3,420 crore in 2015-16, an increase of 133%, according to RBI’s annual report 2016-17.

This was highest over the last 17 years, Bloomberg reported on August 30, 2017.

The rise in expenditure was attributed to newly designed notes of higher denominations and the need to replace demonetised currency, the RBI report said. Banknotes were often airlifted from the presses to RBI offices across the country to ensure currency was available after demonetisation, adding to the cost of distribution.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8, 2016 announced the withdrawal of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes–which constituted 85% of cash in circulation–in a move to fight corruption, black money, money laundering, terrorism and financing of terrorists as well as counterfeit notes, a narrative that kept changing, as IndiaSpend reported on December 5, 2017.

Of Rs 15.44 lakh crore demonetised currency in circulation, about 99% or Rs 15.28 lakh crore came back to the central bank as on June 30, 2017, the annual report said.
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RBI to introduce Rs 200 note tomorrow, check out its key features

The new Rs 200 currency note will be introduced in the market tomorrow, Reserve Bank of India said on Thursday.

The new denomination has Motif of Sanchi Stupa on the reverse, with bright yellow being the base colour of the note, RBI said in a statement.

Along with the new Rs 200 note, the government has also confirmed a new Rs 50 note. The earlier Rs 50 notes will continue to remain legal tender.

"The Reserve Bank of India will issue on August 25, 2017 Rs 200 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series, bearing the signature of Urjit R Patel, Governor, RBI from select RBI offices, and some banks," it said.

Here are its salient features
Obverse (Front)
1. See through register with denominational numeral 200
2. Latent image with denominational numeral 200
3. Denominational numeral २०० in Devnagari
4. Portrait of Mahatma Gandhi at the centre
5. Micro letters ‘RBI’, ‘भारत’, ‘India’ and ‘200’
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Demonetisation effect: Direct tax mop-up grows 15% to Rs 1.42 lakh cr in Q1

Advance tax paid by individuals recorded 40 per cent growth in the first quarter (April-June) of the current financial year.

This could be an impact of the demonetisation of high-value currencies, with more non-corporate entities recording higher incomes. 

Overall direct tax collection after refunds expanded by 14.8 per cent to Rs 1.42 lakh crore over the corresponding period in 2016. 

“The government has benefited from demonetisation, as people have started reporting higher income,” Sushil Chandra, chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, told Business Standard. 

Overall advance taxes, both personal and corporate, grew by 11.9 per cent to Rs 58,783 crore. Advance tax is paid within a specified period after the money is earned, rather than waiting for the end of the financial year.

Electronic filing of income tax returns up to June for 2016-17 grew by 18 per cent, suggesting that more people regularised their unaccounted income. “People are aware now that the income tax department is carrying out lots of searches and surveys and that black money will not be tolerated any more,” said Chandra. 

Corporate advance tax collections were up 8.1 per cent. Corporate tax collection, net of refunds, grew by 22 per cent; gross collections grew 4.8 per cent. Refunds, worth Rs 55,520 crore, were 5.2 per cent lower than last year. 

“Last year, we cleared a lot of pending refunds for the year-ago period, whereas there are no pending refunds of the past fiscal (year) this time,” said an official. 

Atmosphere not right for a Xi-Modi Hamburg meet, says China amid stand-off

China today said the "atmosphere" was "not right" for a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hamburg, amidst a standoff between the armies of the two countries in the Sikkim section.

"The atmosphere is not right for a bilateral meeting between President Xi and Prime Minister Modi," a Chinese Foreign Ministry official said ahead of the G20 Summit in the German city of Hamburg from tomorrow.

China and India have been engaged in a standoff in the Dokalam area near the Bhutan tri-junction for past 19 days after a Chinese Army's construction party attempted to build a road. Doka La is the Indian name for the region which Bhutan recognises as Dokalam, while China claims it as part of its Donglang region.

There were reports that Modi and Xi may meet on the sidelines of the G20 Summit to resolve the standoff.

China's state-run media yesterday had quoted Chinese analysts as saying that Beijing would be forced to use a "military way" to end the standoff in the Sikkim sector if India refuses to listen to the "historical lessons" being offered by it.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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Oil prices jump after Saudi Arabia and Arab allies cut ties with Qatar

Saudi Arabia and key allies on Monday cut ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting extremism, sending shockwaves through the energy industry as the countries involved include the world's top oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporters.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest crude oil exporter, along with the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Bahrain said they would sever all ties including transport links with Qatar, the top LNG exporter in the world. The three Gulf countries said they will give Qatari visitors and residents two weeks to leave.

"(Qatar) embraces multiple terrorist and sectarian groups aimed at disturbing stability in the region, including the Muslim Brotherhood, ISIS (Islamic State) and al-Qaeda, and promotes the message and schemes of these groups through their media constantly," Saudi state news agency SPA said .

While the announcements did not immediately affect oil shipments, benchmark Brent crude futures prices rose over 1 percent to well over $50 per barrel following the news.

Meanwhile, Petronet LNG said on Monday it did not expect any impact on gas supplies from Qatar after Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain severed ties with the Gulf Arab state accusing it of supporting terrorism.

"I don't think there will be any impact on it. We get gas directly from Qatar by sea," R.K. Garg, head of finance at Petronet, told Reuters when asked to comment on the coordinated move to cut relations.Petronet LNG, India's biggest gas importer, buys 8.5 million tonnes a year of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar under a long-term contract. It also buys additional volumes from Qatar under spot deals.

The coordinated move dramatically escalates a dispute over Qatar's support of the Muslim Brotherhood, the world's oldest Islamist movement, and adds accusations that Doha even backs the agenda of regional arch-rival Iran.The three Gulf states announced the closure of transport ties with Qatar and gave Qatari visitors and residents two weeks to leave their countries. Qatar was also expelled from a Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen.
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Don't like Aadhaar? Watch out for Twitter trolls like these

India's biometric state ID system has been leaking citizens’ data for months. When this information surfaced in April 2017, it stoked fears that the system could be used as an instrument of surveillance against Indian residents.

The Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI), which administrates the system known as Aadhaar (meaning foundation in Hindi) maintains that it only collects minimal personal data and stores it securely. But critics have firmly expressed doubts about these claims.

Repeat after me: Aadhaar is surveillance technology masquerading as secure authentication technology.

— Sunil Abraham (@sunil_abraham) February 24, 2017

The implications of these leaks, and of any system flaw in Aadhaar technology, are substantial, especially for Indians who depend on the Aadhaar system in order to authenticate their identities when they use any number of government services. The Aadhaar system has become the gatekeeper of state systems and services ranging from voting to financial savings to food subsidies.

The digital sphere is now starting to see a pushback against Aadhaar critics through articles and blogposts that describe concerned citizens and privacy experts as the ‘anti-Aadhaar brigade‘ and accuse them of publishing “half-truths” and “spread[ing] confusion to advance their own interests.” One such article was even featured on the UIDAI website.

Some of the most well-researched critiques of the system have come from the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), an inter-disciplinary research organisation in Bangalore that has now become a target of the pro-Aadhaar lobby. Shortly after CIS released a report that pointed out security flaws in the Aadhaar ecosystem, the UIDAI accused the organization of hacking into the Aadhaar system themselves.

In fact, CIS had investigated databases of four specific government websites. Three were available publicly, the fourth one was accessible by simply changing one of the URL parameters. Following the accusation from UIDAI, CIS clarified that the Aadhaar numbers along with other sensitive personal financial information like bank account details were made available by government websites themselves, putting a sizeable portion of Indian citizens at risk of financial fraud.
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Not just UP: Niti Aayog has worked on Rajasthan, MP development model too

The Centre’s main think-tank, the NITI Aayog is reportedly working on developing a growth plan for Uttar Pradesh, where the ruling BJP, came back to power after more than a decade.

According to reports, a team from the Aayog is expected to visit the state later this month to discuss the development plan with senior officials and ministers of the state government.

However, this is not first time that the Aayog has helped a state in undertaking reforms or suggesting a roadmap for its growth.

Infact, cooperative federalism is at the very core of Aayog’s philosophy and working.

The Aayog which has replaced the Planning Commission of India has worked very closely with the Rajasthan state government to amend obsolete and unnecessary laws in the state. It also plans to do the same with Madhya Pradesh.

It is helping major states amend their land leasing laws and has so far successfully managed to convince couple of them to amend their decades-old land leasing laws.

Madhya Pradesh along with Odisha have been working on amending their land leasing laws that would make leasing legal and would also ensure that the tenant farmer gets full legal right to compensation, insurance etc in case of crop damage without impacting the legal ownership.

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Make in India arms too? Jaitley says new defence manufacturing policy soon

The government is in ‘advanced stages’ of formulating a new policy to increase domestic defence manufacturing and reduce dependence on the imported high-tech military, Finance and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday.

"India is the world's largest arms importer, spending some 1.8 per cent of its GDP on defence. It imports about 70 per cent of defence equipment, a proposition which the government wants to change,” Jaitley said at an event organised by industry body CII.

"We are in the advanced stages of formulating a policy where we can ensure that instead of just being buyers, on the strength of technological and other tie-ups, India also becomes a manufacturing economy," he said.

Jaitley did not give additional details on the proposed policy. "The response that we have from domestic and international industry has been quite encouraging itself," he added.

Additionally, he stated that there would not be any massive surprises in fixing tax rates under the new GST regime and that new rates under the nationwide tax regime, expected to be rolled out from July 1, not be "significantly different" from current levels.

He, however, added that companies should pass on to consumers the benefit of reduction in taxes under GST which will eliminate the current compounding effect of different central and state levies. The GST Council, headed by Jaitley and comprising representatives of all the states, is scheduled to meet in Srinagar on May 18-19 to finalise tax rates on different goods and services after unifying at least 10 indirect taxes into the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

"We are now in final stages of fixing tariffs for different commodities. The formula under which it is being done has also been explained and therefore nobody is going to be taken by surprise, it's not going to be very significantly different," Jaitley said.
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Udan: Modi to flag off first RCS flight from Shimla today

Udan - An Alliance Air ATR-42 aircraft with 15 passengers will take off from Shimla airport on 11.15 am on Thursday heralding the launch of regional connectivity scheme (RCS).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the Shimla-Delhi flight from Himachal Pradesh capital and launch two other services (Kadapa-Hyderabad and Nanded-Hyderabad) under the government policy, which aims to link unconnected towns with affordable fares.

The Kadapa-Hyderabad and Nanded-Hyderbad flights will be operated by TruJet and minimum tickets on these two routes is priced at Rs 1,000 one way.

“We will operate the ATR-42 aircraft five times a week between Delhi-Shimla. The demand is positive and seats on the route are filling up fast,” said Alliance Air chief executive officer C S Subbhaih. Alliance Air is a subsidiary of Air India.

Under the RCS  an airline is bound to sell 50% of the seats at subsidised fares and on Delhi-Shimla route one way ticket is priced at Rs 1,920. The ATR-42  aircraft has 48 seats but due to restrictions at the Shimla airport Alliance Air will only be able to fill 35 seats  to Shimla and 15 seats for its return leg to Delhi. The highest system fare on Delhi-Shimla route has been kept at Rs 20,000 one way.

While a total of 70 airports have been selected under the RCS, the launch from Shimla has a significance. Despite being a state capital, Shimla lacked air connectivity and a writ petition was filed in state high court demanding resumption of flights, which were suspended in 2012. The petition is currently being heard in the Supreme Court.

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Modi pitches for simultaneous elections, changing fiscal year to Jan-Dec

BREAKING NEWS - Prime Minister Narendra Modi today pitched for conducting simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies and shifting to a January- December fiscal year.

Addressing the Niti Aayog Governing Council's third meeting, which was attended by several state chief ministers, Modi said for long, India had suffered from economic and political mismanagement.

"Because of poor time management, many good initiatives and schemes had failed to deliver the anticipated results," he said, adding there is a need to develop robust arrangements that could function amidst diversity.

The prime minister called for carrying forward the debate and discussions on holding simultaneous elections to Parliament and state legislatures.

On the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Modi asked the states to make legislative arrangements "without delay" for the rollout of the indirect tax regime from July 1.

The GST, which will subsume central excise, service tax, Value Added Tax (VAT) and other local levies, is scheduled to be rolled out from July 1.

The consensus on GST reflects the spirit of 'one nation, one aspiration, one determination', Modi earlier said in his opening remarks at the meeting.

Referring to the change in the budget dates, he said in a country where agricultural income is exceedingly important, budgets should be prepared immediately after the receipt of agricultural incomes for the year.
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SC raps Modi govt for making Aadhaar mandatory for filing I-T returns

The Supreme Court of Friday asked Attorney General (AG) Mukul Rohatgi to justify making Aadhaar mandatory for filing Income Tax returns as it is a complete violation of the court's previous order. "Is making Aadhaar by force the only way to tackle fraud?" a furious Supreme Court asked the central government.

The apex court debated the legality of a centralized biometric-based database of India’s 1.2 billion citizens. To this, Mukul Rohatgi responded that the central government's only option was to make Aadhaar mandatory to end the black money menace.

"We found a number of pan cards being used to divert funds to shell companies, to prevent it the only option is to make Aadhaar card mandatory," said Rohatgi.

The Supreme Court had on March 27 made it clear that Aadhaar cannot be made mandatory by the government for extending benefits of social welfare schemes.

The top court, however, said that the government cannot be barred from seeking these cards, which are issued by UIDAI, for "non-benefit" purposes like filing of IT returns and opening of accounts.

"The answer is this that for giving benefits of welfare schemes, it (Aadhaar) cannot be pressed. They (government and its agencies) cannot be stopped from seeking Aadhaar for non-benefit schemes like opening of bank accounts," a bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar had said.

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CM Yogi Adityanath orders 24 hour power in district headquarters across UP

After successfully providing uninterrupted 24-hour power supply at all the 'shaktipeeths' during Navratri recently, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday ordered 18-hour power supply in villages and 20-hour at tehsil level and in Bundelkhand region.

A meeting of the state cabinet chaired by Adityanath, the second since he assumed office last month, also decided that district headquarters will get 24-hour power supply, Power Minister Shrikant Sharma told mediapersons here after the three-hour-long meeting.

The chief minister directed the power department to ensure that defective or burnt transformers should be replaced expeditously in rural areas so that agricultural operations do not suffer, he said.

Sharma said the ambitious 'Power for All' pact will be signed by Adityanath and Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal on April 14 to meet the Centre's target of making the state energy efficient by 2018.

"It was the order of the Chief Minsiter that all Shaktipeeths are supplied 24-hour power during Navratris and we have been successful in it...Examinations are on and students should get power during the night so that they do not have to suffer," Sharma said.

The chief minister directed the officials to ensure uninterrupted supply to the villages from 6 in the evening to 6 in the morning so as to help the students prepare for exams.

"It is the dream of BJP chief Amit Shah and the Chief Minister that every house, every poor, and every village get power by 2018," Sharma said. (READ MORE)

ITR form simplified for salaried individuals; e-filing to start from April

A crisp income tax form for salaried individuals will be introduced from April 1, doing away with some columns to simplify the filing of returns.

Individuals with salary and interest income will have to fill fewer columns as some of these for claiming income deductions have been clubbed in ITR1 form called 'Sahaj'.

In the form for Assessment Year 2017-18, deductions claimed under different sections of Chapter VIA have been removed and only mostly used ones have been included.

"Columns that will remain include those for claiming deductions under Section 80C, mediclaim (80D). Those individuals who want to show deductions under other heads can do so by selecting an option," an official told PTI.

Currently, the ITR 1/Sahaj has 18 different columns for claiming deductions under Section 80 of the Income Tax Act.

Under section 80C, a deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh can be claimed from total income for investments in LIC, PPF and repayment of housing loan.

Section 80D provides for tax deduction from the total taxable income for the payment of medical insurance premium. This deduction is over and above the deduction under Section 80C. (READ MORE)