Chop off minister AK Hegde’s tongue by Jan 26 and get Rs 1 crore: Dalit leader

Bengaluru, Mar 28: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief DK Shivakumar on Saturday appealed to the authorities to arrange transport for migrant workers, stating that it is appalling to see their plight as they are walking hundreds of kilometres to their villages amid COVID-19 lockdown.
"Appalling to see the plight of poor migrant workers who are walking hundreds of kms to their villages. We cannot abandon our citizens, especially children, and put them at risk. Appealing to the authorities to arrange transport. Please take sufficient safety precautions as well," Shivakumar tweeted.
Hundreds of people, comprising mostly of migrant workers and their families, gathered at the Lal Kua in Uttar Pradesh from Delhi, Gurugram and other places, to take buses to their respective destinations amid the lockdown.
While the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had imposed a nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the Uttar Pradesh administration had decided to ply these buses to help thousands of migrant workers who were stuck in the national capital and had started returning on foot to their native places in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, among others.

New Delhi, May 9: The Finance Ministry on Friday announced relief to those who have been facing difficulty with their residency status in India under section 6 of the Income-tax Act due to lockdown and suspension of international flights owing to COIVD-19 outbreak, as they have had to prolong their stay in India.

According to a Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) release, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today allowed discounting of prolonged stay period in India for the purpose of determining residency status after considering various representations received from people who had to prolong their stay in India due to lockdown and suspension of international flights.

They expressed concern that they will be required to file tax returns as Indian residents and not as NRIs after 120 days of stay.

The Finance Ministry stated that the lockdown continues during the financial year 2020-21 and it is not yet clear when international flight operations would resume, a circular excluding the period of stay of these individuals up to the date of resumption of international flight operations shall be issued for determination of the residential status for the financial year 2020-21.

A circular also said that in order to avoid genuine hardship in such cases, the CBDT has decided that for the purposes of determining the residential status under section 6 of the Act during the previous year 2019-20 in respect of an individual who has come to India on a visit before March 22, 2020 and:

(a) has been unable to leave India on or before March 31, 2020, his period of stay in India from March 22, 2020 to March 31, 2020 shall not be taken into account; or

(b) has been quarantined in India on account of novel coronavirus (Covid-19) on or after March 1, 2020 and has departed on an evacuation flight on or before March 31, 2020 or has been unable to leave India on or before March 31, 2020, his period of stay from the beginning of his quarantine to his date of departure or March 31, 2020, as the case may be, shall not be taken into account; or

(c) has departed on an evacuation flight on or before March 31, 2020, his period of stay in India from March 22, 2020 to his date of departure shall not be taken into account."

The release said there are number of individuals who had come on a visit to India during the previous year 2019-20 for a particular duration and intended to leave India before the end of the previous year for maintaining their status as non-resident or not ordinary resident in India.

"However, due to declaration of the lockdown and suspension of international flights owing to outbreak of COVID-19, they are required to prolong their stay in India. The status of an individual whether he is resident in India or a non-resident or not ordinarily resident, is dependent, inter-alia, on the period for which the person is in India during a year," it said.

Mangaluru, Mar 24: Seven people were arrested on Tuesday for violating prohibitory orders imposed under Section 144 of CrPC in Mangaluru during the lockdown in Karnataka, Commissioner of Police PS Harsha said.
Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Monday had announced a complete lockdown in the state till April 1.
"In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the entire state will be locked down from 12 am of March 23 to April 1. People are requested to strictly follow it to contain the coronavirus spread," he said.
Earlier, the state government had ordered the suspending of all public and private transport services.
According to the data compiled by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the total number of the infection-related death toll in the country rose to nine on Tuesday, while the total number of active cases reached 482.