Department Financial News

Kerala on Wednesday night, prompting authorities to urge people to take utmost care while travelling through hilly and inundated areas. An orange alert has been issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) in seven districts, and a yellow alert in the remaining districts in the state for Thursday. An orange alert means very heavy rain of 11 cm to 20 cm and a yellow alert means heavy rainfall between 6 cm and 11 cm. Heavy rain with maximum surface wind speed up to 40 Kmph (in gusts) is very likely to occur in many places at Kannur, and Kasaragod districts, the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority said on Thursday.

An entire chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle club has been arrested in California as part of a kidnapping, robbery and assault probe, authorities said Tuesday.

SpiceJet on June 27 alerted passengers travelling via Delhi and Dharamsala to track their flight for potential delays due to bad weather."Due to bad weather in Dharamshala (DHM) and Delhi (DEL), all departures/arrivals and their consequential flights may be affected. Passengers are requested to keep a check on their flight status," it said in a post on social media site X (formerly known as Twitter).Notably, the Met department has issued a yellow alert for Delhi, predicting heavy rains across the national capital until July 1.

anti-conversion laws, hate speech, and demolitions of homes and places of worship for members of minority faith communities in India, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said. In his remarks at the release of the annual State Department report on international religious freedom, Blinken said on Wednesday that at the same time, people around the world are also working hard to protect religious freedom. The report stated that senior US officials continued to raise concerns about religious freedom issues with their Indian counterparts in 2023. «In India, we see a concerning increase in anti-conversion laws, hate speech, demolitions of homes and places of worship for members of minority faith communities. At the same time, people around the world are also working hard to protect religious freedom,» the secretary of state said.

South Korean prosecutors have revealed that crypto-powered drug trafficking is on the rise nationwide.

U.S. State Department's 2023 religious freedom report on India noted violent attacks on minority groups, especially Muslims and Christians, including killings, assaults and vandalism of houses of worship. The report on international religious freedom released on Wednesday said that in 2023, senior U.S. officials continued to «raise concerns about religious freedom issues» with their Indian counterparts. Human rights experts say India has seen a rise in attacks on minorities under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who recently won a third term, and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

investigation being conducted by India into the alleged plot to kill India-designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Wednesday (local time). While addressing a press briefing, Miller noted that they have raised the issue with the Indian government and told them that the US expects full investigation into the matter. Asked about the US State Department's response after the members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee wrote a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling for a strong diplomatic response on the Indian government's involvement in the assassination attempt on Pannun, Miller responded, «So, we will respond to those members privately, as we always do. I won't speak to that here. But as pertains to the other issue, when this issue first arose, we made clear that we had raised it with the Government of India and told them that we expected there to be a full investigation. They have announced that they are conducting an inquiry, and we will look forward to the results of that inquiry.»

Delhi-NCR experienced significant relief from the scorching heat as heavy rainfall drenched several parts on Thursday morning. Areas such as Sarita Vihar, Munirka, and Noida were particularly affected, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issuing a yellow alert for heavy rain, thunderstorms, and gusty winds reaching speeds of 20-30 km/h throughout the day. «The intensity of rain will increase,» stated an IMD official, forecasting moderate to heavy rainfall on Friday and Saturday, with the possibility of gusty winds by Sunday, June 30.

Supreme Court reprimanded the Delhi government over the illegal felling of 1,100 trees in South Delhi's Reserve Forest Area without permission, Delhi's government has taken a firm stand on the issue. In response to the illegal felling of 1,100 trees in South Delhi's Reserve Forest Area without Supreme Court permission, Delhi's government has taken a firm stand, the Environment Ministry said in a press release. «Concerned about the significant environmental damage, Environment and Forest Minister Gopal Rai held an urgent meeting with Forest Department officials on Wednesday, demanding all relevant records and a status report on actions taken so far. The Forest Department has been instructed to provide this information by 11 am on Thursday.,» an official release stated.

WikiLeaks founder and whistleblower Julian Assange walked free after signing a plea deal with the United States, the US State Department termed his actions for which he pleaded guilty had put the lives of people, especially Washington's allies and diplomats, at risk. US State Department Mathew Miller also pointed that Assange served as a «conduit» for Russian intelligence interfering in the US presidential elections.

The US Department of State intensified its efforts on June 26 to capture OneCoin founder Ruja Ignatova, also known as the “Cryptoqueen,” who has been missing since she vanished in Athens in 2017.

Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present her seventh consecutive budget since 2019, joining an exclusive group of finance ministers who have delivered at least five consecutive Union Budgets. This distinguished group includes notable figures such as Morarji Desai, Manmohan Singh, P. Chidambaram, Yashwant Sinha, and Arun Jaitley. Following the Lok Sabha elections, this budget will be the first full budget presented as part of Modi 3.0. Prior to 2016, the budget was traditionally presented on the last day of February. However, starting in 2017, the budget has been consistently presented on February 1 each year.

A mechanic for a Boeing subcontractor claims he was fired after complaining about poor repair work on planes in a Boeing factory near Seattle

by-elections in three assembly constituencies of Himachal Pradesh after two nominees from Hamirpur and Nalagarh seats withdrew their nominations, a spokesperson of the election department said here on Wednesday. The three assembly seats — Dehra, Hamirpur and Nalagarh — fell vacant after the resignation of three Independent MLAs who had voted for the BJP candidate in Rajya Sabha elections held in February and later joined the party. The bypolls will be held on July 10. The spokesperson said three candidates are in the fray for the Hamirpur assembly constituency after Independent candidate Pradeep Kumar withdrew his nomination.

A group of 50 people and firms across across Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and the Marshall Islands that have been acting as a “sprawling shadow banking network” for Iran’s military have been hit with U.S. economic sanctions

Union Budget for the fiscal year 2025 in July, several stakeholders have urged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to provide tax relief for salaried employees.The Union Budget 2024-25 is expected to be presented in Parliament on July 23 or 24.Salaried employees are hoping to see several favourable announcements, including an increase in income tax rebate, restoration of the old pension scheme (OPS) and formation of the 8th Pay Commission.The last pay commission was formed in 2014 and its recommendations were implemented in January 2016.They also want income tax slabs under the old tax regime to be adjusted or the tax exemption limit increased for the new tax regime.To boost consumption, the government may provide some tax relief to those with income above ₹15 lakh annually and may also explore reducing the income tax rates for annual income of ₹10 lakh, according to a report by news agency Reuters.In a pre-budget meeting on Monday, trade unions made some key demands to the finance minister.The unions had asked the government to stop the privatisation drive of PSUs, scrap the new pension scheme, fill all the existing vacancies in the central government departments and PSUs, and stop the practice of contract and outsourcing.“The ceiling limit for the income tax rebate for the salaried class on their salary and gratuity must be substantially raised.

DRDO on Wednesday handed over to the Indian Navy a niche technology that obscures radar signals and creates a microwave shield around platforms and assets, thus reducing radar detection, the defence ministry said. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) handed over the Medium Range-Microwave Obscurant Chaff Rocket (MR-MOCR) to the Navy at a ceremony here. «Microwave Obscurant Chaff (MOC), a niche technology developed by DRDO's Defence Laboratory, Jodhpur, obscures radar signals and creates a microwave shield around platforms and assets, thus reducing radar detection,» the ministry said in a statement. A special type of fibres with a diameter of a few microns and unique microwave obscuration properties have been assembled in the medium-range chaff rocket. When fired, the rocket forms microwave obscurant clouds in space spreading over a sufficient area with adequate persistence time, thus creating an effective shield against threats having radio frequency seekers, it said.

Centre fixes price of drugs for diabetes, hypertension, multivitaminsThe primary task of the committee is to strike a balance between pricing and availability of essential medicines, while offering incentives to the industry to foster growth and exports. Prices of drugs in India are regulated as per provisions of Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013, by the NPPA, under the aegis of the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), that fixes the ceiling price of scheduled medicines.

Income Tax Return (ITR) filing deadline is approaching fast and taxpayers are busy arranging various necessary documents, including Form 16 and 26AS, for filing of tax returns. The ITR filing deadline, like in previous years, is July 31. When it comes to filing tax returns, many salaried and non-salaried individuals, especially first-time taxpayers, often get confused about whether or not they are supposed to file income tax returns. Certain individuals are exempt from paying taxes under income tax laws, resulting in zero or nil tax liability for them.

The other day, I took my little one to play in a nearby garden. Kids being naturally curious, he bombarded me with questions about the tress, plants, flowers, and the variety of flora we encountered. As we wandered among the blooms, his questions sparked a chain of thought in my mind.

Taxpayers are required to select an ITR form (Income Tax Return form) based on their income types and residential status. An ITR form is a document that facilitates reporting income and filing taxes to the Income Tax Department.