February 2023 - Page 25 of 50 - Lokmarg

Income Tax Surveys At BBC India Offices Enter Day 2

By LokMarg 15th February 2023

The income tax (I-T) department on Wednesday continued its survey at the offices of the BBC in Delhi and Mumbai for the second day, sources say.

On Tuesday, the I-T department conducted a survey at BBC’s offices in Delhi and Mumbai in view of the British public broadcaster’s “deliberate non-compliance” with the Transfer Pricing Rules and its vast diversion of profits. Yesterday, the sleuths arrived at the BBC offices located at the national capital’s KG Marg and Mumbai’s Kalina Santacruz for the survey.
In the case of the BBC, sources said there has been persistent non-compliance with the above mentioned rules for years. As a result of the same, several notices have been issued to the BBC. However, the BBC has been continuously defiant and non-compliant and has significantly diverted its profits, sources said.

Sources said the above exercise, conducted by the tax authorities, is called “survey”, not search or raid as per the provisions of the Income Tax Act. Such surveys are routinely conducted and are not to be confused to be in the nature of a search/raid, said sources.

The key focus of these surveys is to look into the manipulation of prices for unauthorised benefits, including tax advantages. These surveys have been undertaken due to BBC’s persistent non-compliance of the norms, making it a repeat offender.

In this case, sources said BBC has been, “non-compliant under transfer pricing rules; persistent and deliberately violative of transfer pricing norms; and deliberately diverted a significant amount of the profits and have not followed the arm’s length arrangement in the case of allocation of profit.”

Accordingly, the surveys have been conducted with a view to investigating BBC’s violation of the Transfer Pricing Rules and its diversion of profits.

After the I-T department survey, sources in the United Kingdom government said they are monitoring the developments closely.

“We are closely monitoring reports of tax surveys conducted at the offices of the BBC in India,” UK government sources said.

Meanwhile, BBC has said it is cooperating with the income tax department, which is conducting a survey at its offices in New Delhi and Mumbai.

“The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating,” the BBC News Press Team said in a statement.

The development comes weeks after the BBC released a documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi – ‘India: The Modi Question,” which caused controversy.

The Centre had issued directions for blocking multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the controversial BBC documentary on PM Modi.

The Supreme Court had on February 3 directed the central government to produce original records relating to its decision to block the BBC documentary. (ANI)

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He Wanted To Teach Ganguly A Lesson: Ego Clash Between Kohli And Ex-BCCI Chief

By LokMarg 15th February 2023

The chairman of the BCCI’s national selection committee Chetan Sharma landed in a major soup after he disclosed behind-the-scenes talks regarding team selection and also made startling revelations on star batter skipper Viral Kohli’s alleged feud with former Board president Sourav Ganguly, to a television channel, during a sting operation aired Tuesday.

Sharma claimed that alleged straned relationship between Ganguly and Kohli involved ‘ego issues’.
The chief selector claimed that Kohli had started considering himself “bigger than the Board” and had tried to “hit back” at the former BCCI president as he felt that Ganguly had removed him from ODI captaincy.

“When the player becomes popular, he considers himself to be bigger than the Board and thinks that nobody can touch him. He feels that cricket in India would stop without him. But has that ever happened? Some of our biggest cricketing stars came and went but cricket remained the same. So he (Kohli) tried to hit back at the (former) president at that time. It was a damaging controversy. It was a classic case of a player going against the BCCI. The president represents the BCCI, isn’t it? As to whose fault it was will be judged in time but it was an attack on the BCCI. All our players are discouraged from doing this because the loss will be theirs as everyone will go against them even if the president is at the fault. There has to be some respect for the chair,” said Sharma during the sting operation.

He further claimed that ahead of the 2022 India tour of South Africa in January, Kohli brought up the matter of being removed from ODI captaincy on purpose in front of reporters because he felt that Ganguly had played a role in removing him from leadership in the 50-over format. He also accused Kohli of lying in front of the media about being removed from ODI captaincy without any communication, in order to defame Ganguly.

“Virat was going to South Africa as captain (of the Test side). Press conferences should be about team matters and not selections. There was no need to bring up this topic (Virat being removed from ODI captaincy) during the press conference. But he did so intentionally. He felt that he had lost his ODI captaincy because of Ganguly. Ganguly hold told reporters that he had asked him not to step down (as ODI captain) but Virat claimed before the media that the president never said this to him. This created a major controversy,” Chetan said.

“Ganguly had told him once during a video conference to think it (stepping down as ODI skipper) over. But Virat did pay heed. There were nine people at the conference, including all the selectors. I am not sure if Virat heard Ganguly correctly. Ganguly later claimed that Virat lied to the media about him. As to why he did so, nobidy knows. It is his personal matter. It sparked off a controversy and matters escalated to the extent where it became an issue of a player against the Board,” Sharma said.

“Rohit Sharma had volunteered (to take over ODI captaincy). It was an ego clash. Virat felt he was removed from captaincy by Ganguly and wanted to teach him a lesson. So he made the statements to the media to defame him. But it backfired on him,” added the national selector.

He said the reason why Kohli was removed from ODI captaincy was that the Board did not want two skippers for two-white ball formats, but rather one for red-ball cricket and another for white-ball cricket.

“Removing someone from captaincy is the job of selectors. We removed him the ODI captaincy as we wanted to have one white-ball captain. This is normal procedure and even he (Kohli) knows it. After Virat announced that he was giving up the T20I captaincy, the selectors made up their minds to remove him from the ODI captaincy as well,” said Sharma.

“The Board and the selectors sits with the captain before removing him from the job. Virat knows this and this is why he felt that Ganguly had a big role in his removal from ODI captaincy. But the thinking of selectors was different. We wanted separate captains for red-ball and white-ball formats,” the chief selector added.

Chetan also shed new light inon the relationship between Kohli and current all-format skipper Rohit Sharma, who had earlier been allegfed to share a strained relationship.

“There is no rift. It’s just media speculation. When there are two big leaders in a team, there could be an ego clash every now and then. It is like Amitabh Bachchan ji and Dharmendra ji. It is just ego. The media made up stories that weren’t true,” Sharma said.

The chairman of selectors further revealed that both players have supported each other in their bad times.

“Rohit had supported Virat the most when he was going through a lean run. When Rohit fell into a similar crisis of confidence with the bat, Virat supported him,” said Sharma.

Both players will be seen in action during the second Test against Australia in Delhi, which starts on February 17. (ANI)

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CBSE Board Exams 2023 For Classes 10, 12 Begins

By LokMarg 15th February 2023

CBSE Board exams 2023 for classes 10 and 12 got underway across the country on Wednesday.

Students in state capital Ranchi were seen arriving at their designated exam centres.
On December 29, last year, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced the date sheet for class 10 and class 12 boards, stating that the exams will start on February 15 and end on March 10.

“CBSE is releasing the date sheets for both class X and XII of Board’s examinations, 2023,” the Board had said in a press release.

The exams will begin at 10.30 am, the release added. While the boards for Class 10 will get over on March 21 the exams for Class 12 will end on April 5.

Further, as per the release, sufficient turnover time has been provided between two exam papers this year.

The date sheets have been prepared by avoiding nearly 40,000 subject combinations to ensure that no two papers of a student fall on the same date, the release stated.

The date sheet has been issued much in advance so that the students can prepare well for the examinations, the Board said. (ANI)

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Behave, Or Else: Chidambaram Slams Centre At I-T survey at BBC Offices

By LokMarg 14th February 2023

Congress MP and former Union minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday attacked the Centre after the Income Tax department “surveyed” the offices of British public broadcaster BBC, saying the government has redefined press freedom as per its convenience.

Taking to Twitter, Chidambaram said, “After practically shutting down Amnesty International and OXFAM, the BBC is next in line. Shameful! Government’s message to all citizens and organisations is “behave, or else” Government’s definition of freedom of the press is ‘we are a free country, you are free to express your opinion as long as it agrees with mine’.”
The Income Tax department on Tuesday conducted a survey at BBC’s offices in Delhi and Mumbai in view of the British public broadcaster’s “deliberate non-compliance” with the Transfer Pricing Rules and its vast diversion of profits, said sources.

Earlier this morning, I-T officials arrived at BBC offices located at the national capital’s KG Marg and Mumbai’s Kalina Santacruz for the survey.

Accordingly, the surveys have been conducted with a view to investigating BBC’s violation of the Transfer Pricing Rules and its diversion of profits.

After the IT department survey, sources in the United Kingdom government said they are monitoring the developments closely.

“We are closely monitoring reports of tax surveys conducted at the offices of the BBC in India,” the UK government sources said.

Meanwhile, BBC has said it is cooperating with the Income Tax department, which is conducting a survey at its offices in New Delhi and Mumbai.

“The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating,” the BBC News Press Team said in a statement.

Pertinent to mention, the development comes weeks after the BBC released a documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi – “India: The Modi Question,” which caused controversy.

The Centre had issued directions for blocking multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the controversial BBC documentary on PM Modi.

The Supreme Court had on February 3 directed the central government to produce original records relating to its decision to block the BBC documentary. (ANI)

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They Want To Convert J-K Into Hindu-Majority State: Farooq Abdullah

By LokMarg 14th February 2023

Reacting to Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement on the restoration of statehood in Jammu and Kashmir, JKNC MP Farooq Abdullah on Monday said that they (the government) will give a truncated statehood after elections.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir will come up after assembly polls and that a call on the timing of elections will be taken by the Election Commission.
“I had clearly stated that statehood will be restored in Jammu and Kashmir after elections. Process of preparation of voters’ list is nearing completion in the UT. Now, the Election Commission has to take a call on elections,” Shah, in an exclusive interview with ANI, released on Tuesday, said.

To which Jammu and Kashmir’s former CM said that he thinks they (the government) don’t want to give statehood. “They will give truncated statehood after elections,” he added.

Abdullah also alleged that the motive behind the delimitation exercise, completed in UT, is to turn J-K into a Hindu majority state.

“They think that we are fools, but we are not. We know what their intention is, if this was not their intention, they would not have done delimitation as well, as the way they did. They want that it should be converted into a Hindu-majority state,” he added.

Earlier, in an interview with ANI, Shah also said that Article 370 pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir, which was abrogated by the BJP-led government in 2019, had harmed the country.

He said the way development is taking place in Jammu and Kashmir, terrorism is gradually ending.

“See all the figures, there is a lot of change in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.

He went on to add that removing Article 370 has been on the agenda of BJP and Jan Sangh. He also referred India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in the context of Article 370.

“Since 1950, it was on our agenda to remove Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir. Today, the way Jammu and Kashmir is witnessing development and decrease in terrorism shows that changes that are coming,” he said.

Shah said those slamming the BJP should answer in whose tenure terrorism grew in Jammu and Kashmir.

“As far as elections are concerned, do they not remember the local body polls, these were held under our rule, these did not take place for 70 years. Three families were holding sway in Jammu and Kashmir and they are making noise…Farooq Abdullah had gone to England. In whose tenure, terrorism grew, who allowed it to grow, there should be an answer,” he said. (ANI)

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Prateik Makes His Relationship Official With Priya Banerjee

By LokMarg 14th February 2023

On the occasion of Valentine’s Day, actor Prateik Babbar made his relationship with actress Priya Banerjee official. On Tuesday, he shared the first picture with her on social media.

Taking to Instagram, Prateik shared the news with his fans alongwith a series of pictures.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cooq4cKvaV7/embed

In the first picture, the couple were seen facing the sun and posing with their backs to the camera.

In the second image, the duo flaunted their matching “p b” with a heart and infinity sign emoji.

Sharing the pictures, he wrote, “p b.”

As soon as the good news was announced, the actor’s fans dropped in their comments.

Singer-actor Meiyang Chang wrote, “Now you’ve piqued everybody’s curiousity, my friend. Sweet pictures.”

Mrunal Thakur reacted with heart emojis.

Prateik’s sister Juhi Babbar Soni dropped heart eyes emojis.

Reports about Prateik and Priya’s relationship surfaced last year. However, the two neither accepted nor denied them. Prateik was previously married to Sanya Sagar. They parted ways reportedly during the lockdown after tying the knot on January 23, 2019.

Reportedly, there have been rumours about Prateik and Priya’s connection for the past year. However, they always remained tight-lipped about their relationship.

Prateik was previously married to Sanya Sagar. They parted ways reportedly during the lockdown after tying the knot on January 23, 2019.

Prateik is the son of Raj Babbar and late Smita Patil. He has two siblings named Arya Babbar and Juhi Babbar from his father’s first marriage with wife Nadira Babbar.

He made his acting debut in Imran Khan and Genelia D’Souza’s Aamir Khan produced ‘Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na’ (2008).

He was recently seen in Madhur Bhandarkar’s Indian Lockdown. In the film, he played a migrant worker who was affected by the COVID-19 shutdown in India.

Priya, on the other hand, has worked in a number of movies including ‘KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid’, ‘Baar Baar Dekho’, ‘Baarish’, ‘Bhanwar’ and others. (ANI)

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Ali Fazal, Guneet Meet Tom Cruise At Oscars Nominee Luncheon

By LokMarg 14th February 2023

Actor Ali Fazal and producer Guneet Monga along with Oscar-nominated documentary ‘All that Breathes’ director Shaunak Sen attended the Academy Nominee Luncheon in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

Earlier today, Guneet, whose film ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ also earned a nomination at the Oscars this year, shared a string of photos from the luncheon on social media. And what came across as a sweet surprise was one of the photos of her, Shaunak Sen and Ali Fazal with Tom Cruise.
Check it out:

Guneet’s film ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ has been nominated in the ‘Documentary Short Film Category’ against ‘Haul Out,’ ‘How Do You Measure A Year?’ ‘The Martha Mitchell Effect,’ and ‘Stranger At The Gate’.

The film’s plot revolves around a family who adopts two orphan baby elephants in Tamil Nadu’s Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.

Shaunak Sen’s directorial ‘All that Breathes’ also made it to the final nominations list at the 95th edition of the Academy Awards.

All That Breathes follows siblings Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad, who have made it their lives mission to rescue and treat injured birds, especially the Black Kites. It previously won the ‘World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary’ at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, a film gala promoting independent cinema and filmmakers, and earned the Golden Eye award for the best documentary at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.

Tom Cruise starrer ‘Babylon’ also earned quite a few nominations this year.

The Academy awards are going to be held on March 13. (ANI)

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Air India Inks Deal For 540 Airbus, Boeing Planes

By LokMarg 14th February 2023

Air India, which will buy 250 aircraft from Airbus, has also selected Boeing for the purchase of up to 290 planes as part of its growth strategy.

US President Joe Biden hailed a “historic agreement” for Air India to purchase Boeing airplanes. France President Emmanuel Macron had earlier hailed the contract between Airbus and Tata Sons and said it marks a new stage in India and France’s strategic partnership.
“The contract that Airbus and Tata Sons signed this morning marks a new stage in India and France’s strategic partnership. Thank you @NarendraModi , for your confidence in France and our industry,” Macron said in a tweet.

Boeing said in a statement that Air India has selected up to 290 of its jets to serve its strategy for sustainable growth. It said Air India has selected 190 737 MAX, 20 787 Dreamliner and 10 777X airplanes.

The agreement between Boeing and Air India includes options for 50 additional 737 MAXs and 20 787-9s aircrafts.

Boing said when finalized, this will be its largest Boeing order in South Asia and a historic milestone in the aerospace company’s nearly 90-year partnership with Air India.

Biden said in a statement released by White House that the purchase of over 200 American-made aircraft through agreement between Air India and Boeing reflects the strength of the US-India economic partnership.

The US President said he and Prime Minister Narendra Mod look forward to deepening partnership even further.

“The United States can and will lead the world in manufacturing. I am proud to announce today the purchase of over 200 American-made aircraft through a historic agreement between Air India and Boeing. This purchase will support over one million American jobs across 44 states, and many will not require a four-year college degree,” the statement said.

“This announcement also reflects the strength of the U.S.-India economic partnership. Together with Prime Minister Modi, I look forward to deepening our partnership even further as we continue to confront shared global challenges–creating a more secure and prosperous future for all of our citizens,” it added.

Air India said on Tuesday that it will buy 250 aircraft from France’s Airbus, in what is billed as the world’s largest aviation deal in history.

“We have built a very good relationship with Airbus. Today I am happy to announce that we have signed a letter of intent to acquire 250 aircrafts from Airbus,” said Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, at a virtual unveiling of the announcement in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron.

PM Modi said that the deal shows the “deepening ties” between India and France and reflection of India’s successes and expectations in the civil aviation sector.

He extended congratulations and best wishes on the landmark agreement between Air India and Airbus.

“My special thanks to my friend President Macron for joining us in this event. This important deal not only demonstrates the ever-deepening relations between India and France. But, are also reflections of India’s successes and expectations in the civil aviation sector,” he said.

Macron had said during the virtual deal unveiling event that the achievement shows that Airbus and all its French partners are fully dedicated to develop new areas of cooperation with India.

“We’ve achieved so much with India. We’ve historic opportunity to go much further, given the potential of Indian people,” he said.

The deal includes 40 A350 wide-body ultra-long-range aircraft. The rest will be narrow-body aircraft.

“We have significant options to increase the fleet orders once we grow,” Chandrasekaran said.

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, veteran industrialist Ratan Tata, and other leaders were present during the virtual conference.

“It is a historic moment for Airbus to help script Air India’s revival,” Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury said in a video conference.

Air India was looking for a remix of aircraft to boost their domestic and international network through recent orders. Soon after the divestment of the airline, CEO Campbell announced in its speech to the AI employees that the airline is going for a historic order. (ANI)

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Suppression Of Voice: Rahul On BBC Documentary

BBC: Fully Cooperating With Income Tax Survey

By LokMarg 14th February 2023

British public broadcaster BBC News has said it is cooperating with the Income Tax department, which is conducting a survey at its offices in New Delhi and Mumbai.

“The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating,” the BBC News Press Team said in a statement.
The British broadcaster added, “We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible.”

According to sources, IT officials were verifying certain account documents in the finance department of BBC.

Earlier this morning, Income tax officials arrived at BBC offices located at the national capital’s KG Marg for the survey. The British broadcaster’s office at Kalina Santacruz in Mumbai was also surveyed, sources said adding that the survey was limited to business premises of BBC only.

According to reports, a team of IT officials arrived at the BBC Studios office in Kalina Santacruz around 11.30 am today and a survey has been going on since then. There is no IT activity at the BBC News office at Linking road Bandra West.

It is learnt that the tax officials are conducting verification of certain account documents in the finance department of the BBC offices.

During the investigation, the mobile phones of all the employees present in the BBC office have been taken away by the Income Tax team. The data of the computer kept in the accounts and finance department was also scanned. According to sources, officials said the devices will be returned to their owners after taking a backup.

The searches come weeks after the BBC released a documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi – ‘India: The Modi Question,” which caused a controversy.nuary 21, the Centre had issued directions for blocking multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the controversial BBC documentary on PM Modi. The Supreme Court had on February 3 directed the central government to produce original records relating to its decision to block the BBC documentary. (ANI)

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This Is What SRK Gifted Gauri On Their First Valentine’s Day

By LokMarg 14th February 2023

Superstar Shah Rukh Khan and interior designer Gauri Khan are one of the power couples in Bollywood.

It’s been over three decades since the couple exchanged vows and the parents to three children still remain one of the most loved, admired and talked about couples in Bollywood.
On Tuesday, the ‘Pathaan’ star conducted an #AskSRK session on Twitter, where he answered his fans’ questions.

Apart from responding to tweets related to Pathaan’s success and upcoming projects, the ‘King of Romance’ also addressed questions related to his personal life.

When a user about his first gift to Gauri Khan on their first Valentine’s Day, Shah Rukh said, “If I remember correctly it’s been what 34 years now… a pair of pink plastic earrings I think…”

As it’s Valentine’s Day today, one of the netizens asked SRK to reveal his first gift to Gauri on their first Valentine’s Day.

SRK took notice of the tweet and replied, “If I remember correctly it’s been what 34 years now… a pair of pink plastic earrings I think…”

Shah Rukh first met Gauri in 1984, when he was all of 18, while Gauri was just 14. He bumped into her at a party where she was dancing with her friend. After Gauri spoke to him for ‘more than three seconds’, he felt ‘encouraged’ and wanted to date Gauri.

After dating for a couple of years, the two tied the knot on October 25, 1991.

Six years after their wedding, Gauri and Shah Rukh welcomed their first son, Aryan Khan, on November 13. Shah Rukh and Gauri’s daughter Suhana Khan was born on May 22, 2000, while their youngest, son AbRam Khan, was born on May 27, 2013, via surrogacy. (ANI)

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