Baba Ramdev trusts asked to pay Rs.5 crore for alleged tax evasion

November 11, 2012

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New Delhi, November 11: The Government has slapped a notice of Rs.five crore demand on trusts run by Baba Ramdev in connection with alleged service tax evasion while organising their yoga camps.

Claiming that shivirs (camps) undertaken by Patanjali Yoga Peeth and Divya Yoga Trust in Haridwar were commercial activity, the Revenue department has raised a demand of Rs.5.14 crore payable on fees collected from individuals for learning Yoga, officials said.

"The Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence has sent notices for alleged service tax evasion to the tune ofRs.5.14 crore late last month. The demands have been raised for its assessment for period between 2007-08 and 2011-12," a Finance Ministry official said.

When contacted,Ramdev's spokesperson S K Tijarawala said the trusts and its activities like conducting yoga shivirs are exempted from service tax net as they are doing charitable activities for medical relief.

"Trusts' activities are barred from service tax as it is for the purpose for providing medical relief to poor. We do not have any thing to hide," he contended.

According to the Finance Ministry official, the notices were issued late last month after it found substantial documentary evidence that the trusts were avoiding service tax by conducting semi and fully residential yoga camps and calling them charitable in nature and thus claiming exemption.

"The trusts were taking donations from participants of yoga shivirs. They were also conducting a residential yoga camps through Swami Shankardev Vanprastha Asharam scheme," the official said.

The notices, issued to the trusts, also mentioned that the Finance Ministry is in the process of cancelling the Income Tax exemption status given to Ramdev trusts.

Thousands of people participate in the yoga camps conducted across the country by Swami Ramdev and trusts managed by him.

Ramdev, who is leading a campaign against black money in the country, also manages trusts which manufactures and sells ayurvedic medicines in India and abroad.

The yoga guru has declared capital ofRs.426.19 crore involving four trusts run by him-- Divya Yoga Mandir trust (Rs.249.63 crore), Patanjali Yoga Peeth trust (Rs.164.80 crore), Bharat Swabhiman trust (Rs.9.97 crore) and Acharyakul Shiksha Sansthan (Rs.1.79 crore).


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News Network
April 4,2020

Aurangabad, Apr 4: A marriage was solemnised on a video call, the unique method which was adopted due to coronavirus lockdown.

A Muslim man named Mohammad Minhajudd, based in Aurangabad exchanged marriage vows with a Muslim woman based in Beed via video call on Friday.

The entire country is witnessing a 21-day lockdown due to which there is a limitation on the movement of people from one place to another and gatherings have been banned to prevent the spread of the coronavirus that has wreaked havoc across the globe.

The marriage halls are also closed during the lockdown period.

The bridegroom's father Mohammad Gayaz said that the marriage was fixed between the two persons six months ago when there was no fear about coronavirus. We got the elders of the family assembled at our home and conducted the marriage on phone.

Mufti Anis ur Rehman, the Qazi who performed the rituals for the marriage, said that both the families are happy as the marriage got conducted with the minimal cost incurred and the ceremony was a simple one. 

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Agencies
May 3,2020

Lucknow, May 3:Holding the Tablighi Jamaat responsible for the spread of COVID-19, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said that being infected with a virus is not a crime but to hide it is definitely a crime.

Speaking at a programme of a news channel, Adityanath said, "The role of Tablighi Jamaat was most condemnable. To get a disease is not a crime but to hide a disease which is infectious is definitely a crime. And this crime has been done by those associated with the Tablighi Jamaat."

"In Uttar Pradesh and other places where the spread of the coronavirus has been seen, Tablighi Jamaat is behind it. Had they not hidden the disease and went about like its carriers, then perhaps we would have controlled the coronavirus outbreak to a large extend," he said.

The chief minister said action would be taken against them for the "crime that they have committed".

A Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi in March turned out to be a major source of COVID-19 cases, with those who attended the meet returned home in different parts of the country after being infected with the deadly virus.

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News Network
June 20,2020

Jun 20: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remark that neither is anyone inside India's territory nor has any of its posts been captured, alleging that the PM has "surrendered" Indian territory to Chinese aggression.

In a statement on the all-party meeting called by Modi on Friday to discuss the situation at the India-China border, the government said, "At the outset, prime minister clarified that neither is anyone inside our territory nor is any of our post captured."

Tagging PM's remarks with his tweet, Gandhi said, "PM has surrendered Indian territory to Chinese aggression."

"If the land was Chinese: 1. Why were our soldiers killed? 2. Where were they killed?" Gandhi said.

The categorical statement by the prime minister came in the wake of reports that Chinese military has transgressed into the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control, the de-facto border, in several areas of eastern Ladakh including Pangong Tso and Galwan Valley.

Soon after Gandhi's tweet, Union Home Minister Amit Shah posted video of father of a soldier, who was injured in Galwan face-off, and hit out at the Congress leader, accusing him of indulging in "petty politics".

"A brave armyman’s father speaks and he has a very clear message for Mr. Rahul Gandhi. At a time when the entire nation is united, Mr. Rahul Gandhi should also rise above petty politics and stand in solidarity with national interest," Shah wrote.

The prime minister's assertion came even as Congress president Sonia Gandhi, at the all-party meet, questioned the government's handling of the situation, asking if there was any intelligence failure, and seeking assurance that China will "revert" to its original position.

Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused senior ministers in the government of "lying" to protect the prime minister and that the Centre was "fast asleep" while martyred jawans paid the price in Ladakh.

The former Congress chief also tagged a one-minute video of a jawan's father saying the Indian soldiers were unarmed when they were attacked by Chinese troops.

He has been questioning the government on the LAC standoff and asking how the Chinese occupied Indian territory and why Indian soldiers were sent "unarmed to martyrdom" in Ladakh.

Twenty Indian Army personnel, including a colonel, were killed in a clash with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh on Monday night, the biggest military confrontation in over five decades that has significantly escalated the already volatile border standoff in the region.

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