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In what would mark a significant shift in the taxation regime, the Finance Ministry has proposed a common income tax return (ITR) form for all taxpayers. Currently, there are seven types of ITR forms which are filed by different categories of taxpayers.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), under the Finance Ministry, released a draft common ITR form, inviting inputs from stakeholders and the public by December 15.
According to the proposal, all taxpayers, barring trusts and non-profit organisations, can use the common ITR form, which also includes a separate head for disclosure of income from virtual digital assets.
“The proposed draft ITR takes a relook at the return filing system in tandem with international best practices. It proposes to introduce a common ITR by merging all the existing returns of income except ITR-7.
However, the current ITR-1 and ITR-4 will continue. This will give an option to such taxpayers to file the return either in the existing form (ITR-1 or ITR-4), or the proposed common ITR, at their convenience,” the CBDT said.
Currently, of the seven types of ITR forms, ITR Form 1 (Sahaj) and ITR Form 4 (Sugam) are simpler forms, for small and medium taxpayers. Sahaj can be filed by an individual with income up to Rs 50 lakh, with earnings from salary, one house property/ other sources (interest etc). ITR-4 can be filed by individuals, Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) and firms with total income up to Rs 50 lakh from business and profession.
ITR-2 is filed by people with income from residential property, ITR-3 by people with income as profits from business/ profession, ITR-5 and 6 by LLPs and businesses respectively, while ITR-7 is filed by trusts.
The draft ITR form aims to bring ease of filing returns and reduce the time for filing the ITR by individuals and non-business-type taxpayers considerably, it said. “The taxpayers will not be required to see the schedules that do not apply to them.
It intends the smart design of schedules in a user-friendly manner with a better arrangement, logical flow, and increased scope of pre-filling. It will also facilitate the proper reconciliation of third-party data available with the Income-Tax department vis-à-vis the data to be reported in the ITR to reduce the compliance burden on the taxpayers.
The proposed ITR form would be customised for taxpayers with applicable schedules, based on certain questions answered by them.
Once the common ITR form is notified, after taking into account the inputs received from stakeholders, the online utility will be released by the Income Tax department. “In such a utility, a customised ITR containing only the applicable questions and schedules will be available to the taxpayer.
Govt. and Politics
Kerala govt launches Digital survey to expedite delivery of land-related services (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
In a first since the formation of the state, the Left Front government launched a digital resurvey of Kerala on its 66th Formation Day to ensure speedy delivery of all land-related services to the people.
Launching the initiative, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the survey is part of his government’s policy of “land for all, records for all land and all services smart”. The government envisages completing the task in four years.
Notably, the resurvey proceedings began in 1966, but could not be completed even after 56 years for want of modern technology and owing to the limitations of traditional systems.
The LDF government, hence, decided to start a digital survey “entebhumi (my land)” in the state and complete it within four years using the most modern technologies. It is believed that the resurvey — based on the existing limits of occupations — will also facilitate the speedy implementation of land records and the collection of agricultural statistics.
Revenue Minister K Rajan said the main feature of the project is all land-related services of the survey, revenue and registration departments can be delivered to the people timely through a single-window online system.
Land records will be maintained up-to-date so that no more resurvey is required. Besides, a comprehensive GIS database will be created for all departments in the state.
According to officials, the project is expected to be completed at a cost of Rs 858.42 crore. Of this, Rs 438.44 crore has been allocated from the Rebuild Kerala Initiative.
The Department of Survey and Land Records, the nodal agency for the digital resurvey, will deploy 4,700 personnel, including 1,500 surveyors for 1,550 revenue villages — the basic unit of the revenue department in the state.
The survey will be carried out using the latest survey equipment such as Real Time Kinematic (RTK) Rover and Robotic Total Station.
Surveys in up to 70 per cent of the state will be done using RTK rover machines, 20 per cent of the land using robotic total station machines and 10 per cent using drone technology.
Considering the topography of the state, 28 Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) to carry out a unified digital survey and software-based operations have been commissioned.
As a precursor to the survey, the local self-government department is in the process of conducting survey sabhas in all local bodies and gram sabhas.
The Editorial Page
Brazil back from the brink? (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The margin of victory is wafer thin. But the historical significance of Lula’s victory in the recently concluded Brazilian election is greater than the victory margin suggests.
Jair Bolsonaro is the first incumbent to lose an election since democracy was restored in Brazil. Lula’s victory reverses the tide of authoritarian destruction of institutions that would have likely accelerated with a second Bolsonaro term.
Brazilian democracy has survived because the institutions have still held strong, and unlike in the Seventies, militaries are in no mood to govern.
Second, it restores a bit of sanity on an important existential challenge: Climate change. Bolsonaro’s effective climate denial and wanton destruction of the Amazon was globally significant.
Lula is an assertive and independent voice in global foreign policy, and will resist pushing the world towards Cold Wars. His victory is also a triumph of political mobilisation, savvy and grit.
Only Lula could have empowered the poor and stitched a broad coalition at the bottom; but it was equally important to keep together factions of the Left and the Centre in the face of deep Right wing unity.
It would be a real misnomer to describe Lula as a populist. He is in the best mould of a classic politician, an imaginative social mediator. His biography and life experience make him exude empathy.
A machine worker, he was a reluctant entrant into Union politics, but saw closely the torture authoritarian regimes can inflict. He institutionalised the unions into a political force.
Unlike populists, he believes both in coalitions and institutions. The most fun fact about him is that he has been running in practically every presidential election since 1989; there is a passion for electoral coalition-building.
In one interview, he revels in the fact that he does not judge people by whether they are Left or Right; he describes his most important quality as “making friends.” It made him the most likeable politician on the planet.
But there is also a clear-eyed sense that the poor need to be empowered, and Brazil’s racial and gender hierarchies frontally confronted. He is also not above making deals, a feature that makes him less than pure but also an effective politician.
What makes this victory reassuring is not that it is some deep triumph for the Left, but that it is the triumph of the idea of politics itself.
The question for Brazil is whether these skills will be enough to tide over the looming crisis of Brazilian democracy. In many ways, the template of Lula’s previous stint in power that saw the greatest reduction in poverty in Brazil in any presidential term and the expansion of affirmative action, may not be sufficient.
It was a moment in the global economy where every country could do what was called “distribution without redistribution,” a politically somewhat painless spreading of the gains of growth.
In fact, the striking thing about Lula’s speeches and writing is how fiscally conservative he is. Fuelled by high global growth, the state had enough revenue to craft imaginative schemes like Bolsa Familia. But this time around, Lula’s challenges will be of a far greater magnitude.
The Idea Page
Rajbhavan, Rajdharma (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, Politics and Governance)
The good governor should have a broken leg and keep at home,” said Miguel de Cervantes. These were the ideals under which the governor had a faint presence, like a full moon on a mid-day. His primary role as a sagacious counsellor was “to be consulted, to warn and to encourage”.
He has to be above politics. But India’s experience with governors has been disappointing: The governor’s office signifies an assault on parliamentary democracy at its best and constitutional despotism at its worst.
In NCT Delhi v. Union of India (2017), the Supreme Court had stated that the real powers must vest in the elected representatives as we are a “representative democracy”.
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan is a veteran parliamentarian who has been a minister in several governments. He is an intellectual of high stature and widely respected for his independent and bold views, particularly on Muslim Personal Law.
Hence, it was shocking to see his communiqué to the Kerala Chief Minister seeking dismissal of the state’s finance minister for expressing his opinion on the security given to a vice chancelor in UP — which the governor, in his wisdom, equated with the violation of the Constitution and as threatening cordial relations between states.
Governor Khan blamed the minister for “violating [his] oath” and in an unprecedented manner, and probably without consulting any constitutional law expert, conveyed to CM Pinarayi Vijayan that the minister had “ceased to enjoy [the Governor’s] pleasure”.
The letter threw many constitutional experts into a tizzy as the exercise of discretionary powers by a governor is significantly restricted by provisions of the Constitution and well-established constitutional conventions. It seems the governor has gone against his oath of preserving, protecting and upholding the Constitution.
The English judge Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634), considered by many to be the greatest jurist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages, famously described discretion as a “science of understanding, to discern between falsity and truth, between wrong and right, between shadows and substance… and not to do according to (men’s) wills and private affections…” Discretion, then, is to be exercised with caution and in a reasonable manner.
Absolute discretion is constitutional blasphemy. Justice William Douglas of the United States Supreme Court observed that “where discretion is absolute, man has always suffered”, and that “absolute discretion is a ruthless master (which is) more destructive of freedom than any of man’s other inventions” (Dissenting judgment in United States v Wunderlich, 1951).
The governor’s powers are either “discretionary” or “non-discretionary”. Unfortunately, the present invocation that demands the minister’s dismissal falls squarely outside the governor’s docket of discretionary powers.
The provisions where the Constitution allows the governor to use his discretionary powers are extremely limited and even in those provisions, the extent of such discretion is further clipped by the constitutional text.
Under Article 163(1), the council of ministers with the chief minister at the head is “to aid and advise the governor in the exercise of his functions, except in so far as he is by or under this Constitution required to exercise his functions or any of them in his discretion”. What pertains directly to the current matter at hand is Article 164(1), where the discretion of the governor is about the appointment of a minister.
This appointment, as Article 164(1) mentions, has to be strictly on the advice of the chief minister. However, it will be a textualist’s paradise if one construes that “the ministers shall hold office during the pleasure of the governor,” quite literally. The governor has no independent power to appoint any minister.
He has to go strictly as per the advice of the chief minister. A governor can remove the minister again only on the advice of the chief minister. The concept of “aid and advice” was fundamentally adopted by the Indian Constitution from the constitutional practices of Great Britain.
The governor is a de jure or the “titular” head of the government, and not an active participant in the day-to-day functioning of the government. This is buttressed from the rationale adopted by the Constitution drafters, who, unlike in the US, made the position of the governor a nominated (and not an elected) one.
Express network
Irani: Steel Man of India who ‘reinvented’ Tata Steel, dies at 86 (Page no. 11)
(Miscellaneous)
Jamshed J Irani, the “Steel Man of India” who “reinvented” Tata Steel and made it the “lowest-cost steel producer in the world” competing in the international market, died in Jamshedpur. He was 86.
Irani, conferred with the Padma Bhushan in 2007 for his contribution to industry, retired from the board of Tata Steel in June 2011, leaving behind a legacy of 43 years. He is survived by wife Daisy Irani and three children: Zubin, Niloufer, and Tanaaz.
Irani also received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in 1997 for his contributions to India-British trade and cooperation.
In Jharkhand, and especially Jamshedpur, where Irani spent much of his working life, and beyond, business leaders recalled his ability to help local entrepreneurs grow as ancillary units.
Ashok Bhalotia, former president of Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry, one of the oldest industry associations that represents nearly 600 MSMEs, said Jamshedpur and neighbouring districts are hub of ancillaries units, helping Tata Steel and Tata Motors, the two industrial behemoths based out of Jamshedpur, thanks largely to Irani. “Irani-ji wanted to grow local entrepreneurs and favoured giving work orders locally, rather than source it from outside the state.
This had a lot of impact on companies such as mine — our company now employs 500 people,” said Bhalotia, chairman, Bhalotia Group of Companies, whose units focus mainly on auto and spare parts.
Bhalotia recalled that Irani, whom he met thrice, “always welcomed suggestions”. “After economic liberalisation (in 1991), with Irani at the helm of affairs, a work culture of 8-hour shifts began at Tata Steel. It set a benchmark for other companies on worker welfare.”
Most local entrepreneurs fondly recall what they call the ability and enthusiasm Irani possessed to help locals.
His contribution to the development of Adityapur Industrial Area in Jamshedpur was “tremendous, and he was always happy to help MSME grow in this area”, Adityapur Industrial Area president Santosh Khetan told PTI.
Industrial associations used to call Jamshedpur a “dead city” due to lack of new investment after liberalisation but Irani’s policies helped Tata Steel sail through that phase, Confederation of All India Traders’ national secretary, Suresh Sonthalia, told PTI.
Born on June 2, 1936 in Nagpur to Jiji and Khorshed Irani, Irani completed BSc from Nagpur’s Science College in 1956 and MSc in Geology from Nagpur University in 1958. Thereafter, he went to UK’s Sheffield University as a ‘J N Tata scholar’ and secured a Masters in Metallurgy in 1960, and a PhD in Metallurgy in 1963.
Irani started his professional career with British Iron and Steel Research Association in Sheffield in 1963 and returned to India five years later to join the then Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO, now Tata Steel) in 1968 as an assistant in the company’s R&D wing, according to a release from Tata Steel. He went on to become president of Tata Steel in 1985 and retired in 2001 as its managing director.
Explained
What are coronal holes, Which put A ‘smile’ on the face of sun (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Sci tech)
Recently, the @NASASun Twitter handle shared an image of the sun seemingly ‘smiling’. Captured by the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory, the image has dark patches on the sun’s surface resembling eyes and a smile. NASA explained that the patches are called coronal holes, which can be seen in ultraviolet light but are typically invisible to our eyes.
These are regions on the sun’s surface from where fast solar wind gushes out into space. Because they contain little solar material, they have lower temperatures and thus appear much darker than their surroundings.
Here, the magnetic field is open to interplanetary space, sending solar material out in a high-speed stream of solar wind. Coronal holes can last between a few weeks to months.
The holes are not a unique phenomenon, appearing throughout the sun’s approximately 11-year solar cycle. They can last much longer during solar minimum – a period of time when activity on the Sun is substantially diminished, according to NASA.
These ‘coronal holes’ are important to understanding the space environment around the earth through which our technology and astronauts travel,” NASA had said in 2016 when coronal holes covering “six-eight per cent of the total solar surface.
While it is unclear what causes coronal holes, they correlate to areas on the sun where magnetic fields soar up and away, without looping back down to the surface as they do elsewhere.
Scientists study these fast solar wind streams because they sometimes interact with earth’s magnetic field, creating what’s called a geomagnetic storm, which can expose satellites to radiation and interfere with communications signals,” NASA said at the time.
According to the US government agency National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, geomagnetic storms relate to earth’s magnetosphere – the space around a planet that is influenced by its magnetic field.
When a high-speed solar stream arrives at the earth, in certain circumstances it can allow energetic solar wind particles to hit the atmosphere over the poles.
Such geomagnetic storms cause a major disturbance of the magnetosphere as there is a very efficient exchange of energy from the solar wind into the space environment surrounding earth.
In cases of a strong solar wind reaching the earth, the resulting geomagnetic storm can cause changes in the ionosphere, part of the earth’s upper atmosphere. Radio and GPS signals travel through this layer of the atmosphere, and so communications can get disrupted.
Two-Finger Test (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
The Supreme Court on Monday said that those conducting the ‘two-finger test’ on alleged rape victims will be held guilty of misconduct.
“The so-called test is based on the incorrect assumption that a sexually active woman cannot be raped. Nothing could be further from the truth — a woman’s sexual history is wholly immaterial while adjudicating whether the accused raped her,” the court said.
This is not the first time the SC has expressed its disapproval with the two-finger test. The Centre’s guidelines on examining victims of sexual assault also forbid it, but the practice continues.
A woman who has been sexually assaulted undergoes a medical examination for ascertaining her health and medical needs, collection of evidence, etc.
The two-finger test, carried out by a medical practitioner, involves the examination of her vagina to check if she is habituated to sexual intercourse.
The practice is unscientific and does not provide any definite information. Moreover, such ‘information’ has no bearing on an allegation of rape.
A handbook released by the World Health Organization (WHO) on dealing with sexual assault victims says, “There is no place for virginity (or ‘two-finger’) testing; it has no scientific validity.”
A Bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Hima Kohli made the comments in its order restoring the conviction and sentencing of a man for the rape and murder of a minor girl in Jharkhand in November 2004.
The girl had been set on fire by the man after she tried to thwart his sexual assault attempt. Later, in hospital, she was subjected to the ‘two-finger test’.
Saying it was “regrettable” that the practice was still followed, the SC stated, “Whether a woman is ‘habituated to sexual intercourse’ or ‘habitual to sexual intercourse’ is irrelevant for the purposes of determining whether the ingredients of Section 375 (rape) of the IPC are present in a particular case.”
Adding that the “probative value” of a woman’s testimony does not depend upon her sexual history, the court said: “It is patriarchal and sexist to suggest that a woman cannot be believed when she states that she was raped, merely for the reason that she is sexually active.”
In May 2013, the apex court had held that the two-finger test violates a woman’s right to privacy and asked the government to provide better medical procedures to confirm sexual assault.
A bench of Justices BS Chauhan and FMI Kalifulla held that even if a woman is “habituated” to sexual intercourse, that cannot give rise to the presumption of consent in the particular case.
Invoking the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights 1966 and the UN Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power 1985, the apex court said rape survivors are entitled to legal recourse that does not re-traumatise them or violate their physical or mental integrity and dignity.
Status check Before COP27 (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper ,
It is the time of the year when, for two weeks, climate change takes global centerstage. The annual United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), is being held in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Shaikh amid fresh reminders that the window for meeting climate goals is closing fast.
Latest assessments suggest that current action plans of countries to meet climate goals are falling woefully short. And yet, no major win is expected at the conference, as, amid a deepening energy crisis and prevailing economic gloom, there is little appetite among countries to scale up climate action.
These annual conferences have been the main driver of the global fight against climate change. However, the response so far has not been commensurate to the enormity of the challenge. Remedial actions have been slow and incremental, while the impacts of global warming have been unfolding at a very rapid rate.
It’s been at least two-and-a-half decades since the world decided to restrain its greenhouse gas emissions. In absolute terms however, the annual global emissions are still rising, now touching almost 50 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (see graph). In the decade between 2010 and 2019, the global emissions grew by over one per cent on an average.
This is significantly slower than the growth in the previous decade, of about 2.6 per cent, but for meeting climate targets, is not good enough.
Moreover, even if the growth in emissions is halted immediately, or is made to decline, it does not solve the problem. This is because the warming of the planet is the result of accumulated emissions in the atmosphere and not the current emissions.
Carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, remains in the atmosphere for about 100 years, so that the effect of any immediate decline in emissions would have an impact only after several decades.
As a result, the average global temperatures have risen faster in the last one decade than anytime earlier (see graph). This trend is only likely to accelerate in the coming years.
Recent data suggest that the annual mean temperature of the world is already higher by more than one degree Celsius from pre-industrial times. Some of the monthly means are higher by over 1.1 degree Celsius.
The response in terms of emission cutshas been inadequate. The rich and industrialised countries, which were the main polluters and hence mainly responsible to bring down emissions, have not met their collective targets. Developing countries like China or India, which were not major emitters till sometime back, have seen their emissions rise steeply.
As a bloc, the European Union has done relatively better on climate goals, with the United Kingdom, which is struggling with an economic downturn right now, halving its emissions from 1990 levels, UN data shows.
The United States, the world’s leading emitter till it was overtaken by China in the mid 2000s, has been a major laggard, cutting its emissions by only about 7 per cent from 1990 levels.
China’s emissions have risen by almost four times, and India’s by about three times, during this period.Current global emissions are more than 50 per cent higher than in 1990.
Economy
Why Google has paused its payment policy in India (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
After a ruling by the Competition Commission of India (CCI), Google has paused the enforcement of its policy that mandated app developers to use its Google Play billing system for in-app purchases.
The company said it is reviewing its “legal options” and ensuring it can “continue to invest in Android and Play”. The earlier deadline to adhere with the tech giant’s policy was October 31.
Following the CCI’s recent ruling, we are pausing this enforcement of the requirement for developers to use Google Play’s billing system for the purchase of digital goods and services for transactions by users in India while we review our legal options and ensure we can continue to invest in Android and Play.
The CCI passed two different orders and penalties on Google in two separate cases last month. One of these was a penalty of Rs 936.44 crore on the company for abusing its dominant market position with respect to its Play Store policies.
The watchdog issued a cease-and-desist order and directed the tech firm to modify its conduct within a defined timeline, which includes allowing mobile app developers to use third-party payment services on its app store.
According to CCI, Play Store policies require app developers to exclusively and mandatorily use Google Play’s billing system (GPBS) not only for receiving payments for apps and other digital products but also for certain in-app purchases.
Further, app developers cannot, within an app, provide users with a direct link to a webpage containing an alternative payment method or use language that encourages a user to purchase the digital item outside of the app.
If the app developers do not comply with GPBS, they are not permitted to list their apps on Play Store and stand to lose out on the vast pool of potential customers in the form of Android users.
Making access to the Play Store dependent on mandatory usage of GPBS for paid apps and in-app purchases is one sided and arbitrary, and devoid of any legitimate business interest. The app developers are left bereft of the inherent choice to use payment processors of their liking from the open market.
Before that, the antitrust regulator had imposed a penalty of Rs 1,338 crore on Google for abusing its dominant position in multiple categories related to the Android mobile device ecosystem in the country.
In 2020, Google had said it would enforce its in-app payment method in India by September 2021, which led to significant backlash from the industry, which said Google was abusing its dominance.
Prominent Indian internet entrepreneurs including the likes of Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma and BharatMatrimony’sMurugavelJanakiraman raised concerns about this with the IT Ministry and, as a result of the pressure, Google had to defer the implementation of the policy in India twice — once to March 2022 and then to October 2022.