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Faceless e-Assessment scheme launched for the ease of income tax payers

e-Assessment
Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey launches e-Assessment scheme

New Delhi: The much-touted and talked-about faceless assessment of taxpayers has become a reality with the launch of the National e-Assessment Scheme (NeAC) on October 7, 2019. The assessment of income tax returns through electronic communication between tax officials and taxpayers that will impart greater efficiency, transparency, and accountability in the assessment process was launched by Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey.

The new initiative of faceless assessment is expected to increase the ease of compliance for
taxpayers. This is another initiative by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in the field of ease of compliance for our taxpayers. It will impart greater efficiency, transparency, and
accountability in the assessment process and optimizes the utilization of resources through
economies of scale.

CBDT Chairman P.C. Mody and Members P.K. Das, Shri Akhilesh Ranjan and
Prabhash Shankar was also present on the occasion.

While inaugurating the NeAC, Pandey said, “It is the matter of great pride and achievement
for the Income Tax Department to bring NeAC to life in a small span of time.” Retracing the
origins of NeAC in 2017, Shri Pandey lauded the IT Department for striving to achieve
transparency with speed.

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“With the launch of NeAC, the Income Tax Department will usher in a paradigm shift in its
working by introducing faceless e-assessment to impart greater efficiency, transparency and accountability in the assessment process,” Shri Pandey added.

In the first phase, the Income Tax Department has selected 58,322 cases for scrutiny under the faceless e-Assessment Scheme 2019 and the e-notices have been served before 30th of September 2019 for the cases of Assessment Year 2018-19.

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Under the new system of faceless e-Assessment, taxpayers will receive notices on their
registered emails as well as on registered accounts on the web portal www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in with real-time alert by way of SMS on their
registered mobile number, specifying the issues for which their cases have been selected for scrutiny. The replies to the notices can be prepared at ease by the taxpayers at their own residence or office and be sent by email to the National e-Assessment Centre by uploading the same on the designated web portal.

NeAC will be an independent office to look after the work of the e-Assessment scheme which is recently notified for faceless e-assessment for income taxpayers. The NeAC in Delhi to be headed by Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (Pr.CCIT).

The setting up of NeAC of the Income Tax Department is a momentous step towards the
larger objectives of better taxpayer service, reduction of taxpayer grievances in line with
Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Digital India’ and promotion of Ease of Doing Business.

There would be 8 Regional e-Assessment centers (ReAC) located in Delhi, Mumbai,
Chennai, Kolkata Ahmedabad, Pune, Bengaluru and Hyderabad comprised of assessment
unit, Review unit, Technical unit and Verification units.

EESL undertaking world’s largest streetlight replacement programme  

EESL
SLNP aims to replace 1.34 crore conventional streetlights in India with smart LEDs

New Delhi: The world’s largest streetlight replacement programme, which entails illuminating of 3.6 lakh kilometres of roads across India with 1.34 crore smart LED lights, is being implemented by the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture of the PSUs under the Union Power Ministry.

So far, one crore smart LED streetlights have been installed under Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP).

By March 2020, SLNP aims to replace 1.34 crore conventional streetlights in India with smart LEDs.

This ambitious goal will make a tremendous difference, enabling peak demand reduction of about 1500 MW, annual energy savings of 9 billion kWh, and reduction in 6.2 Million tons of CO2 per year.

EESL has an ambitious plan in this portfolio for the next 4-5 years where it intends to bring investment to the tune of INR 8000 crore by 2024 by covering entire rural India.

It is expected that more than 30 million LED streetlights would be retrofitted/installed by EESL.

The states already covered are Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, West Bengal, Sikkim, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tripura, Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Pondicherry, Port Blair, Lakshadweep and Rajasthan.

This has helped generate employment for around 13000 people in the country, according to EESL.

The installation of 1 crore LED streetlights has resulted in annual energy savings of 6.71 billion kWh and avoided 1,119.40 MW of peak demand, resulting in reduction of GHG emission by 4.63 million tCO2 every year, it said.

Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, New & Renewable Energy, R K Singh recently said, “Energy efficiency and conservation are important pillars of India’s efforts in moving towards a sustainable future.”

He said replacing of streetlights with LED lights is not only illuminating the lives of citizens and enabling more savings but also empowering people with better and safe mobility.

“The government believes in empowering people and enabling access to power for all. The Street Lighting National Programme will benefit the people and would lead to a reduction in dark spots and increased security,” the Minister said.

Under the programme, Andhra Pradesh is leading the way amongst the states, with an installation of 28.9 lakhs LED streetlights followed by Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh with 10.3 Lakhs and 9.3 lakhs respectively.

As on date, 1,502 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) across India have been enrolled under the programme and out of these ULBs, work has been completed in around 900 Urban Local Bodies.

Applauding the achievement, Sanjiv Nandan Sahai, Special Secretary in the Ministry of Power, said, “This is a major milestone in the nation’s journey towards increased energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.”

He said it shows how synergy and collaboration between the various stakeholders can enhance infrastructure and promote energy conservation.

“I congratulate EESL for their relentless efforts and all stakeholders for their strong partnership in making our nation climate smart,” Sahai said.

To bring large scale transformation, EESL adopted Pay-As-You-Save (PAYS) model where EESL makes the entire upfront investment in installation of the LED streetlights and no additional budget allocation from the municipalities is required.

The contract with the municipalities/ULBs is for a period of 7 years. The seven-year contract with the local bodies guarantees a minimum energy saving of typically 50% and provides free replacements and maintenance of lights at no additional cost to the civic partners.

The municipalities pay EESL from their savings in energy and maintenance cost over a 7-year period, making the LED lights affordable and accessible.

Under SLNP, the EESL procurements conform to BIS specifications and carry a 7-year warranty against technical defects. EESL conducts appropriate quality checks right from the bidding stage to the field level.

This has resulted in the LEDs’ overall technical fault being less than 2% in the 1 crore streetlights installed by EESL in the country.

EESL has maintained an uptime of 97% for all streetlights across the country. Furthermore, to provide ‘future-readiness’ to the LED lights, EESL installs web-based Centralised Control and Monitoring System (CCMS) to enable remote operation and monitoring of the streetlights enabling additional operational savings.

CCMS provides real-time information on energy consumption the streetlights.

EESL undertakes social audits in the ULBs where the project is under implementation and post the completion of the project.

These social audit results have shown that about 99 per cent of respondents feel more comfortable with the LED installations. They also feel that there is significant improvement in safety and business activities.

 

NITI Aayog and UNICEF India give ‘The Gandhian Challenge’ to Children

UNICEF India
UNICEF India along with NITI Aayog give ‘The Gandhian Challenge’ to Children

New Delhi: Coinciding with 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, NITI Aayog (Atal Innovation Mission and Atal Tinkering Labs) and UNICEF India are these days busy giving ‘The Gandhian Challenge’ to children across the country. The motive is to ideate and develop innovative solutions for a sustainable India, using Gandhi’s principles.

The winners of ‘The Gandhian Challenge’ will be awarded by NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and UNICEF on Children’s Day. The contest, which is open for every child in India from 2nd to 20th October 2019, also celebrates 70 years of partnership between Government of India and UNICEF India to enable ‘Every Right for Every Child.’

“Through this partnership, AIM and UNICEF recognise every child’s ability and right to voice their dreams for a world of their choice, following Gandhiji’s principles. Our aim is to support them to thrive as young innovators and entrepreneurs,” said Mr R Ramanan, Mission Director AIM.

‘Encouraging meaningful participation of children is a core right of every child. It allows us to understand their point of view and envisage solutions through a child rights lens,” said Dr Yasmin Ali Haque, Representative UNICEF India. “Meaningful participation by children and young people and building their critical thinking skills is an essential part of Generation Unlimited,” she added.

All applications must be submitted on the challenge page on the Government of India’s citizen engagement portal. All applications must have an Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) code. Children in schools without an ATL can obtain the ATL code by visiting or calling the nearest ATL school. The list of nearest ATL schools in every district can also be accessed on the challenge page mentioned above.

The most innovative, sustainable solutions/ideas will be showcased as a symbol of a larger movement by children taking root in every district of India. Children across India can access more than 8000 Atal Tinkering Labs across all districts to support their innovative ideas.

In ATLs, students of class 6th to 12th acquire a problem-solving attitude, develop innovative solutions leveraging technologies like 3D printers, robotics, miniaturised electronics, Internet Of Things (IOT) and programming and Do It Yourself (DIY) kits, with support from teachers and mentors.

India pitches for cotton as a global commodity, announcespartnership with 5 African Nations on World Cotton Day

Smriti Irani addresses opening session of World Cotton Day in Geneva

Geneva: With Mahatma Gandhi being the chosen icon for the first-ever World
Cotton Day, the India Story writ large here at the event to mark the Day that also
saw New Delhi pitching for cotton to be recognised as a global commodity.

“As one of the world’s largest producers and consumers of cotton, India supports the
World Cotton Day as an opportunity to recognise the significance of cotton as a
global commodity, and, more importantly, as a source of livelihood for millions of
small and marginal farmers in developing countries,” said Union Minister of Textiles
Smriti Zubin Irani, at the opening session of World Cotton Day here recently.

Irani said that it is fitting that Mahatma Gandhi has been chosen as the icon for the
World Cotton Day and to mark the celebration of the first World Cotton Day, India
will gift a replica of Mahatma Gandhi’s Charkha to the WTO.  She also informed
that a live demonstration of the Charkha has been arranged a by Pitta Ramulu, National Award-winning weaver from India.

World Cotton DayThe Textiles Minister also announced the launch of the second phase of the Cotton
Technical Assistance Programme (TAP) for Africa at the Partners Conference in
Geneva. In the five-year-long second phase, the programme will be scaled up in size
and coverage and will be introduced in five additional countries, namely Mali,
Ghana, Togo, Zambia and Tanzania. The Cotton TAP programme will now cover 11
African countries including the C4 (Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali). India
implemented a Technical Assistance Programme (TAP) for cotton in 6 African
countries, namely – Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Malawi, Nigeria and Uganda from
2012 to 2018.

The Textiles Minister also informed that cotton farming and the domestic cotton
textile industry continues to be important pillars of India’s economy. As a country of
8 million small and marginal cotton farmers, India is sensitive to the challenges
faced by the cotton sector in developing countries and India has been a proponent for
the elimination of asymmetries and imbalances in the WTO agreements that lead to a
distortion of global cotton markets, the Minister added.

There has been a major shift in Govt way of handling terror strike: IAF Chief

IAF Foundation Day
IAF marks 87th Anniversary on Tuesday

Ghaziabad: There has been a major shift in Government’s way of handling terrorist attacks, Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria said in his message on 87th Anniversary of Indian Air Force (IAF) Day that was celebrated at Hindon airbase in Ghaziabad today, showcasing the country’s air-borne valour.

Indian Air Force Day“The strategic relevance of this (Balakot air strikes) is the resolve of the political leadership to punish the perpetrators of terrorism. There is a major shift in the Government’s way of handling terrorist attacks,” he said.

Army chief General Bipin Rawat and IAF Chief, Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria were present on the occasion.

Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar

A highlight of the event was Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who shot down Pakistan’s F-16 jet during a dog fight on February 27 earlier this year, flying MiG-21 Bison aircraft above the Air Force Day Parade.

Three Mirage 2000 aircraft and two Su-30MKI fighter aircraft also flew in ‘Avenger formation’. The fighter planes were flown by pilots who took part in Balakot airstrikes in Pakistan.

Earlier, the chiefs of three services paid floral tributes at the national war memorial to mark the occasion.

Accor unveils 13 new budget hotels in Singapore

Accor
Accor unveils 13 new ibis budget hotels

The Singapore hotel major, Accor, has inked a deal with Global Premium Hotels
Limited (GPHL) and unveiled 13 new ibis budget hotels, the re-branded version
of existing Fragrance hotels. These are available for booking through Accor’s
distribution network from 7 October 2019.

With this partnership Accor’s has cemented its position as the largest hotel operator
in Singapore, bringing its total inventory to 7,625 rooms across 30 hotels (3,357
rooms in the luxury and premium space, 1,840 in mid-scale and 2,428 in economy).

The two Parc Sovereign hotels will commence renovation plans from the end of
2019, will be rebranded to become one Mercure and one ibis Styles hotel by mid-
2020.

Garth Simmons, Chief Operating Officer, Accor Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore &
South Asia said, " With its nifty and modern design, these new ibis budget hotels
spread across central and suburban locations in Singapore, are perfect for savvy
business or leisure travellers. Featuring cosy rooms for one or more than one
person, conveniently located to leisure attractions such as Gardens by the Bay,
Clarke Quay, Mount Faber and Sentosa Island. These new additions to our network
in the city offer wider choices to guests looking for a short break or weekend
getaway.”

GPHL CEO Ko Lee Meng, said, “We are excited to launch a new Accor brand in the
market and deepen our relationship with Accor. Having provided quality
accommodation and great value to visitors to Singapore these past 20 years. The
rebranding and enhancement of our existing properties mark not just another
milestone for our group, but an evolution in our business and a boost to our
expansion strategy.”

Ranging in size from 32 rooms to 168 rooms, selected hotels also feature a pool and
gym. Ibis budget Singapore Clarke Quay located just a five minutes walk away from
Clarke Quay MRT Station and the Singapore River. It features a fitness centre and a
rooftop swimming pool. The ibis budget Singapore Selegie boasts a rooftop pool with
great views of Singapore’s city skyline.

Additionally, ibis budget Singapore Clarke Quay, ibis budget Singapore Imperial and
ibis budget Singapore Selegie offer a casual dining café.

The ibis budget Singapore Mount Faber and ibis budget Singapore West Coast are a
short drive from VivoCity, Singapore’s largest mall and gateway to Sentosa
Island and many leisure attractions like Universal Studios, various theme parks,
sandy beaches and lush rain forests. The cluster of hotels in the eastern suburbs of
Joo Chiat and Geylang are a foodie’s haven, with famous local eateries and dining
houses recommended by food bloggers and influencers within walking
distance. These selected hotels offer assistance with sightseeing and guided
tours to these hidden gems that are not commonly found on a tourist map.

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