Month: January 2021

Eight Chartered Accountants are among the 258 persons arrested so far in the nationwide drive against fake Goods and Services Tax (GST) invoice frauds in the last two and a half months since mid-November, 2020, Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) sources said on Sunday.

DGGI sources said that the eighth chartered accountant was arrested yesterday along with his four business accomplices in Jaipur for operating 25 fake firms to fraudulently avail and pass on Input Tax Credit (ITC) through bogus invoices without actual supplies of goods/services.

Sources said that out of the 258 persons arrested so far, at least two persons have been booked under COFEPOSA (Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act) also. The drive by GST intelligence and CGST authorities is ongoing with more than 2,500 cases booked against 8,000 fake GSTIN entities as of now. Authorities have recovered more than Rs 820 crore from these fraudsters.

Sources said that the chartered accountants’ regulatory body, namely, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) have been informed about these arrests and have been asked to take appropriate actions as per their own rules.

CAs arrested in multi-layered fake GST invoice frauds via multiple bogus firms include BS Gupta (Jaipur), Daulat S Mehta and Chandra Prakash Pandey (Mumbai), Lalit Prajapati (Ahmedabad), S Krishnakumar (Chennai), Nitin Jain (Delhi), B Srinivasa Rao (Hyderabad) and Ankur Garg (Ludhiana). They all were operating multiple non-existent firms and fake entities to dupe the exchequer with fraudulent ITC utilisation in connivance with fraudsters and fly-by-night operators.

Department of Revenue (DoR) sources acknowledged that with complete data sharing among GST, customs and income tax, and apt use of data analytics and Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, the GST intelligence authorities have been able to pin-pointedly identify those indulged in tax evasion through various means including fake bills and also those availing these bills through layers of intermediaries.

It is through such systemic changes, the department has now been able to take targeted actions against fraudsters and tax evaders. It is with these measures that the DGGI has not only been able to unearth the fake firms but also the final beneficiaries of ITC frauds, like in the ITC scam in manpower services allegedly by big companies like Swiggy, the food delivery chain and Instakart, a subsidiary of e-com giant Flipkart.

It may be noted that this concerted nationwide drive against bogus GST invoice fraud has ensured better GST compliance to identify tax evaders and those availing input tax credits fraudulently, and thus, has resulted in record GST collection to the tune of more than Rs 1.15 lakh crore for December, 2020. Also, this has resulted in an increase in the number of GSTR 3B return filers to more than 87 lakh in the month of December. (ANI)

By Sahil Pandey

Two days before the Republic Day celebration, Delhi police on Sunday made a revelation that over 300 Twitter handles were created from Pakistan from January 13 to 18 to disturb farmers’ tractor rally.

“Through intelligence and various other agencies, we have continuously been getting inputs regarding the threat to create disturbance in the tractor rally. 308 Twitter handles have been generated from Pakistan to create confusion,” Dependra Pathak, Special CP, Delhi Police said during a press conference.

According to the sources in the Delhi Police, these handles were created to create panic by giving false information.

Sources claimed that the Delhi police Cyber team is keeping strict checks on social media to track miscreants who may try to create panic.

On Sunday, after holding marathon meeting with farmer unions, Delhi police has given permission to farmers to hold a rally in Delhi. Pathak said that Delhi police has finally decided that it will allow tractor rally also on Republic Day.

The special CP Intelligence said that around 12 to 13,000 tractors are estimated to participate in the Kisan tractor parade and the exact figure will be counted tomorrow.

Talking about the timings of the tractor rally, Pathak said the commencement will only happen after the Republic Day celebration ends at Rajpath.

Delhi Police has allowed farmer unions to hold tractor rally on Republic Day but ‘away from the arterial points around Tikri, Singhu and Ghazipur borders’.

“Adequate security cover will be provided for the tractor rally,” Pathak said.

On being asked whether farmers will return back to their respective spots, the special CP said, “We trust the farmers, that they will return to the border after the rally.”

Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava in an order said that all officers and men, as well as CAPF and other force deployed for Republic Day Parade security, should remain in a ready position to move at short notice for law and order arrangement in connection with Kisan tractor rally.

Farmers from all across the country are marching towards Delhi in order to take part in the scheduled rally. Tractors from Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan have reached on Tikri border as the farmers sit in for protest for nearly two months.

The eleventh round of talks between farmers and the government was held on Friday.

The talks of farmer unions and the government have seemingly broken down after the former insisted on their demand for the repeal of three new farm laws and the latter asked them to reconsider its offer to put these laws on hold for about 18 months.

Farmers have been protesting on the different borders of the national capital since November 26 against the three newly enacted farm laws – Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. (ANI)

Pakistani authorities have shut down all communication systems in Balochistan’s Kech area and closed all entry points to Tump, the hometown of slain human rights activist Karima Baloch.

“Pakistani authorities shutdown all communication systems in Kech, Balochistan. All entryways to Tump, Karima Baloch’s hometown, are closed. We don’t know what Pakistan’s security forces are doing to Karima’s body and her family who went to receive the body,” said Lateef Johar Baloch, an activist, in a tweet.

Karima, a prominent Baloch activist who died in Canada in December last year, was slated to get buried on January 25, Balochwarna reported. However, before the corpse could be transported from Karachi to Balochistan, Pakistani authorities took Karima’s body along with her family from the airport, to an “unknown location.”

Sameer Mehrab, brother of slain human rights activist Karima Baloch, lashed out at Pakistani authorities on Sunday after the body of his sister was forcefully taken away while it was being escorted to her hometown in Tump, Balochistan.

“Previously we thought only living Baloch are prone to abductions. Here, this is a new law. Even a Baloch dead woman is not spared from abduction by Pakistan,” Sameer tweeted.

In December 2020, Karima was found dead a day she went missing in Toronto. The activist’s death sparked protests across Europe and North America as the Baloch diaspora took to the streets in Toronto, Berlin and Netherlands calling on the Canadian government to investigate.

Karima had campaigned vigorously against the disappearances and human rights violations in the troubled Balochistan province of Pakistan. Requesting the United Nations to intervene, Baloch Human Rights Council in a letter had said Pakistan has “responded violently to the genuine demands of the Baloch people”.

Recently Pakistan affairs expert Tarek Fatah, and scholar Burzine Waghmar had slammed the crackdown on dissent in Balochistan and urged the Canadian Government to reconsider diplomatic relations with Pakistan.

Speaking to a Canadian News outlet recently, Waghmar said that there has been a systematic campaign by the Pakistani state elements to “liquidate any and every Baloch voice.”

“We have seen nothing official come out of Ottawa on this count. Not even the Pakistani High Commissioner in Ottawa has been called into the foreign ministry for an explication on this. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence,” he had said.

Fatah, who is also leading the Friends For Karima Baloch committee, called for Karima’s death to not be considered a suicide stating that “there is no reason to” do so. “There was no reason for her to commit suicide. She had her whole life ahead of her,” he had said. (ANI)

The rival faction of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) on Sunday removed Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli from the party, amid increasing political unrest following his decision to dissolve the lower house of the Parliament.

According to the rival faction’s spokesperson Narayankaji Shrestha, PM Oli no longer remains a member of the party.

“Today’s Central Committee Meeting which conveyed at Paris Danda decided to remove KP Sharma Oli from the party. He no longer holds even a simple membership of the Nepal Communist Party,” Shrestha told ANI.

The moves come after the splinter group under the leadership of former Prime Ministers Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal had asked Oli for a reply as to why he shouldn’t be removed from the party for making unconstitutional decisions.

The faction had handed over a letter to the Prime Minister’s residence over a decision to seek clarification. However, Oli did not respond to the letter.

“We waited for long. He didn’t reply to us. Our latest decision comes in line by exercising the executive rights provided by the Central Committee of the party,” Shrestha added.

Last week, two senior leaders of the party addressed a mass meeting organised in the capital Kathmandu and warned to evoke Oli’s membership of the party by taking disciplinary actions against him.

Amid the increasing internal rift in the party, the now-caretaker Prime Minister Oli had decided to dissolve the Parliament on December 20 last year, calling for fresh elections for April and May this year. This step was approved by President Bidya Devi Bhandari.

Soon after the announcement, the NCP split into two factions with each claiming its own to be the authentic ones. Now, it depends on the Election Commission who is studying the documents and laws to come to a conclusion on which faction will retain the election emblem of the “sun”. (ANI)

The destruction of a forest in the arid northwest region of China to make vineyards has been condemned by Chinese environmentalists, warning it would cause an ecological disaster.

According to a report by the South China Morning Post, previous efforts by environmentalists to sue the winemakers have been stalled in the courts but last week the provincial authorities in Gansu said they would look into the destruction of the state-owned Yangguan Forest Farm, 60 km (37 miles) outside the ancient Silk Road city of Dunhuang after a newspaper report sparked a public outcry.

A report by Economic Information Daily published on January 20 had stated that the forest, which was planted in 1963 for protection of the area from desertification and sand storms, has in recent years shrunk from “just over 13 square km in 2000 to just over 3 square km”.

The SCMP further stated that this episode follows a series of other ecological scandals in remote parts of China, including illegal mining in Qinghai province and waste dumping in Inner Mongolia.

Meanwhile, Economic Information Daily quoted Ma Dongyang, an official with Dunhuang’s natural resources bureau, as saying that trees have been cut down as they were “damaged and unhealthy and that the logging had been approved”.

Though the Yangguan Forest Farm staff have denied any mass logging nor increase in the area of vineyards, the former workers of the farm have said that the logs left at the site were mostly from healthy growing trees, the SCMP stated.

“When I heard about this, I was heartbroken and very regretful. I worked at Dunhuang over 30 years ago. The extent of the damage was not something I could have imagined,” said Liu Dingzhen, an ecology professor from Beijing Normal University who have earlier worked in the region.

“If in the future they ban grapes from being grown there and try to rehabilitate the ecosystem, this recovery will take an extremely long time,” he added. (ANI)

Actor Preity Zinta on Sunday shared a quirky meme curated by Mumbai Police based on the song ‘What’s Goin On’ from her superhit film ‘Salaam Namaste’, which co-starred Saif Ali Khan.

Mumbai Police is widely known for using trendy, creative, and artistic touches to their posts to dictate law and spread awareness. In a recent Instagram post, the police reminded people to abide by important safety measures during these testing times.

Mumbai Police had created a meme that stressed upon staying indoors instead of wandering outside during the coronavirus pandemic. Partying in the city is prohibited post 11 pm as a precautionary measure against the pandemic.

Preity, who endorsed Mumbai Police’s advisory about the 11 pm deadline amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, shared it on the photo-sharing application. The meme uses a still from the song featuring Preity and Saif out on the streets, edited with masks on their faces.

“Paune Gyarah Baje Dono Ghar Pe Chale That’s What’s Goin’ On,” the text on the meme reads. Appreciating Mumbai Police’s work, the ‘Veer Zara’ actor, wrote, “Mumbai police is right. Don’t stay out too late, wear masks and stay safe folks #Ting.”

Mumbai Police has been consistent in keeping up with social media trends and using the platform to post content that is equal parts disciplinary and relatable. However, Mumbai Police is not the only department that frequently uses social media platforms to spread awareness and health regulations. Pune Police and Bengaluru Police too share creative posts to remind people about the safety measures to combat the spread of the deadly disease.

Directed by Siddharth Anand, ‘Salaam Namaste’ also featured Arshad Warsi and Jugal Hansraj. ‘What’s Goin On’ was sung by Kunal Ganjawala and Sunidhi Chauhan. The song featured Preity as a pregnant woman roaming around on the streets around midnight. (ANI)

Actor-comedian Jim Carrey on Friday (local time) shared a much-controversial piece of art on former American first lady Melania Trump.

According to Fox News, the illustration features a cartoonised version of Trump smiling against a turquoise backdrop.

The blank space towards the right of the illustration features a short controversial caption in pink ink.

“Oh…and goodbye worst first lady. I hope the settlement can finance your life in the shallow end. Thx for nothing,” the caption reads.

Carrey shared the post on Twitter without a caption of his own. The critical post by the 59-year-old was called out by several commenters.

Many others expressed their disappointment over the illustration terming it “sexist,” anti-female” and full of “hypocrisy,” reported Fox News.

Recently, Jim Carrey has been sharing several political cartoons featuring former American President Donald Trump and the rioters at the US Capitol. (ANI)

Delhi police have formally given permission for the protesting farmers’ tractor rally–Kisan tractor rally– to be held on January 26, said Yogendra Yadav, chief of Swaraj India on Sunday.

While talking to the media, Yadav said that this comes after a short meeting with officers of Delhi Police.

“Today there was a short meeting with officers of Delhi Police. We have got formal permission from Police for the tractor rally. As I said earlier, ‘Kisan Gantantra Parade’ will be held on January 26 in a peaceful manner,” Yadav told the media.

He also appealed to the farmers to bring their tractors inside Delhi and asked them not to bring trolleys.

Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava in a statement said that all officers and men, as well as CAPF and other force deployed for Republic Day Parade security, should remain in a ready position to move at short notice for law and order arrangement in connection with Kisan tractor rally.

Farmers from all across the country are marching towards Delhi in order to take part in the scheduled rally. Tractors from Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan have reached on Tikri border as the farmers sit in for protest for nearly two months.

The eleventh round of talks between farmers and the government was held on Friday.

The talks of farmer unions and the government have seemingly broken down after the former insisted on their demand for the repeal of three new farm laws and the latter asked them to reconsider its offer to put these laws on hold for about 18 months.

Farmers have been protesting on the different borders of the national capital since November 26 against the three newly enacted farm laws – Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. (ANI)

To overcome Pakistan’s ailing economy, Prime Minister Imran Khan is considering mortgaging Islamabad’s biggest park to get a loan of around Rs 500 billion.

According to a report by Dawn, the proposal to mortgage the F-9 park to get a loan of around Rs 500 billion will be included in the agenda of the next meeting of the federal cabinet, scheduled to be held on Tuesday.

The meeting will be held via video conference arranged at the Prime Minister’s House and a committee room of the Cabinet Division.

The F-9 park, named after Madar-i-Millat Fatima Jinnah. is stretched over 759 acres of land. It is one of the largest covered green areas in Pakistan.

Citing reports, Dawn highlighted that this decision has been taken due to the financial issues being faced by the government.

This comes amid declining relations of Pakistan with its two biggest sources of foreign remittances and foreign exchange — Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Last August, Saudi Arabia asked Pakistan to repay early a USD 3 billion soft loan, Islamabad tried to defuse the tensions by quickly dispatching its current army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.However, Saudi Arabia did not budge from its demand.

The UAE, which is Pakistan’s second-largest source of foreign remittances, has recently banned issuing work visas for Pakistani workers.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s recent visit to the UAE failed to lift the ban, to Islamabad’s severe disappointment. (ANI)