Don't think govt will give relaxation to Rohingya Muslims: Naqvi

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.

New Delhi, Jan 9: Crime in India has increased by 1.3 per cent in 2018 compared to 2017 with the registration of over 50 lakh cognisable crimes, reveals 2018 edition of 'Crime in India' statistics released this week by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

As per the NCRB, which works under the Ministry of Home Affairs, a total of 50.74 lakh crimes, including 31.32 lakh under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 19.41 under the Special Local Laws (SLL) was registered in 2018.

The report says that there was an overall rise of 1.3 per cent in the registration of cases in 2017, but crime rate per lakh population was down to 383.5 in 2018 from 388.6 in 2017.

A total of 1.05 lakh cases of kidnapping and abduction across the country was registered in 2018, showing an increase of 10.3 per cent over 95,893 such cases in 2017, the latest NCRB report said.

A total of 29,017 murders were reported in 2018, up by 1.3 per cent over 2017. Of which, disputes were reported as the motive of the highest number of murder cases (9,623) followed by personal vendetta and enmity (3,875) and gain (2,995).

Accidental deaths have also seen a rise to 4,11,824 in 2018 from 3,96,584 in 2017 -- a rise to 31.1 per cent from 30.3 per cent in 2017.

The NCRB report 'Crime in India-2018' said in its disclaimer section that clarifications on data were pending from West Bengal, Arunachal, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Kolkata. Hence, the data from these states and city may be treated as provisional.

No let up in road accident deaths in 2018: NCRB

There were 1,35,051 incidences of deaths due to negligence relating to road accidents in 2018, according to the latest NCRB report on "Crime in India -2018".

When compared to the previous two years, the statistics show that there has been no significant change in the overall situation.

In 2017 there were 1,34,803 incidences reported from across the country, while in 2016 it was 1,35,656.

Incidents of 'Hit and run' accident cases have climbed up marginally over the last year, if the latest figures are any indication. In 2018, the 'hit and run' cases reported were 47,028. In 2017, the cases registered under this category were 43,727.

The data collection process for NCRB report on "Crime in India - 2018" including clarifications from the states/UTs/central agencies started in July, 2019 and continued till December, 2019.

People involved in farming sector, including 5,763 farmers or cultivators, committed suicide during 2018, the report reveals.

The annual data was released around three months after the government released the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report on "Crime in India 2017".

As per the latest data, of the 10,349 persons who committed suicide in 2018, 4,586 were agricultural labourers.

The number of suicides in farming sector in 2018 accounts for 7.7 per cent of the total suicide victims (1,34,516) in the country, the NCRB data said.

Suicides in India in 2018 rose to 1,34,516 from 1,29,887 in 2017. Rate of suicides is also up from 9.9 in 2017 to 10.2 in 2018.

In 2017, a total of 10,655 farmer suicides were reported.

West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Goa, Chandigarh, Daman and Diu, Delhi, Lakshadweep and Puducherry reported zero suicides of farmers or cultivators and agricultural labourers during 2018, said the report.

Miami, Mar 12: The NBA has suspended its season "until further notice" after a Utah Jazz player tested positive Wednesday for the coronavirus, a move that came only hours after the majority of the league's owners were leaning toward playing games without fans in arenas.

Now there will be no games at all, at least for the time being. A person with knowledge of the situation said the Jazz player who tested positive was center Rudy Gobert. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither the league nor the team confirmed the test.

"The NBA is suspending game play following the conclusion of tonight's schedule of games until further notice,'' the league said in a statement sent shortly after 9:30 p.m. EDT. "The NBA will use this hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the coronavirus pandemic.''

The test result, the NBA said, was reported shortly before the scheduled tip-off time for the Utah at Oklahoma City game on Wednesday night was called off. Players were on the floor for warmups and tip-off was moments away when they were told to return to their locker rooms. About 30 minutes later, fans were told the game was postponed ``due to unforeseen circumstances."

Shutdown for two weeks?

Those circumstances were the league's worst-case scenario for now -- a player testing positive. A second person who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity said the league expects the shutdown to last a minimum of two weeks, but cautioned that time-frame is very fluid.

"It's a very serious time right now," Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "I think the league moved appropriately and prudently and we'll all just have to monitor the situation and see where it goes from here."

The Jazz released a statement saying a player -- they did not identify Gobert -- tested negative earlier Wednesday for flu, strep throat and an upper respiratory infection. That player's symptoms diminished as the day went along, but the decision was made to test for COVID-19 anyway. That test came back with a preliminary positive result.

"The individual is currently in the care of health officials in Oklahoma City," the Jazz said, adding that updates would come as appropriate.