Information and Broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu. (Photo: PTI)

He said some people were calling it an "emergency", but those who are worried are people like unscruplous arms dealers, drug dealers.

New Delhi: The government has decided to ease the "annual renewal" norms for TV channels and existing broadcasters can continue operations by simply paying annual permission fee 60 days before the due date, Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said on Friday.

"As part of the government's initiative of ease of doing business, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has completely done away with the process of obtaining an annual renewal for TV channels in the current form," he said.

Naidu said that "broadcasters who have been given the permission for uplinking or downlinking can continue their operations by simply paying the annual permission fee upto 60 days before the due date, which by itself will be treated as permission for continuation of a channel for a further period of one year."

This decision, the minister emphasised, would benefit a total of 963 channels and teleports.

The I&B ministry, Naidu said, is committed to the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to promote ease of doing business and will continue to take more steps in consultation with stakeholders.

The minister, who was addressing the Economic Editors' Conference here, also lauded the government's decision to demonetise Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes, saying the Prime Minister wants to realise 'Swachh Bharat' (Clean India), in terms of 'tan', 'man' and 'dhan' (body, mind and wealth).

Naidu said that while some people maintain the government has taken a sudden step of demonetising the Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, the government has been taking steps related to curbing the black money menace ever since it came to power.

He said that soon after coming to power, the government, at its first Cabinet meeting, had set up an SIT to bring back large amounts of money stashed abroad.

"Some people are saying it was done all of a sudden, people should have been given advance notice...Advance notice for what? I am not able to understand," Naidu said.

He said that the historic step has been hailed by all except "some vested interests" who were trying to create panic.

He emphasised that common people can exchange their hard-earned money with new notes and that genuine problems are being addressed.

Naidu also said that the media while highlighting the inconveniences, should also show the larger picture on the benefits of the move for the country.

He said some people were calling it an "emergency", but those who are worried are people like unscruplous arms dealers, drug dealers.

The latest decision was not taken in isolation but is a part of series of steps, Naidu said, noting that these steps include setting up of SIT, agreements with countries like Mauritius and Cyprus and income declaration scheme.

He said that the economy was in a bad shape when the Modi government came to power but the macroeconomic indicators are better now and common people will benefit.

(Photo: PTI)

Entry tax is imposed by state governments on movement of goods from one state to another. It is levied by the state that receives goods.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the constitutional validity of the state legislations with regard to levy of entry tax on goods coming into its territory.

A 7:2 majority verdict by the apex court ruled that the tax legislation by the state does not require the consent of the President under Article 304 B of the Constitution.

The nine-judge bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur said though state governments are empowered to impose tax on goods coming from other states there cannot be a discrimination between the goods.

Further the apex court said if a state imposes entry tax on products made within the state it was not empowered to impose higher tax on the identical products entering from other states.

The majority view also left it for the smaller regular bench to adjudicate upon the term 'local area' whether it would refer to the entire state or some pockets within its territory.

Besides the CJI, the majority view was held by Justices A K Sikri, S A Bobde, S K Singh, N V Ramanna, R Banumathi and A M Khanwilkar.

Justices D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan delivered the separate minority judgement.

Justice Banumathi, who shared the minority view also read out, a separate verdict expressing her disagreement on some of the points by saying that in her opinion the term 'local area' implied the entire territory of the state.

The nine-judge bench had commenced the hearing on July 19 without heeding to the plea of the Centre to wait for the passage of GST Bill in Parliament which was eventually passed in the last session of Parliament.

The bench on September 20 had reserved the judgement after a marathon hearing on the batch of petitions which had been pending since 2002.

The bench had commenced the hearing despite the Centre wanting it to wait till the passage of pending GST (Goods and Services Tax) Bill, which according to it, would have subsumed the tax law under challenge.

The apex court was of the view that the issues related to past levies by the States would be decided in the matter.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi had submitted that some arrangement could be made in respect to past demands by the states relating to entry tax after GST Bill, involving a Constitution amendment, was passed by Parliament.

Entry tax is imposed by state governments on movement of goods from one state to another. It is levied by the state that receives goods.

The entry tax provisions of various states was challenged by some companies on the ground that they are against the concept of free trade and commerce under Article 301 (freedom of trade commerce and intercourse with the territory of India) of the Constitution.

During the hearing, the bench had revisited two judgements passed by the apex court in 1960 and 1962 on the issue.

The decision to refer the case to the larger bench came during the hearing of matters filed by companies, including Vedanta Aluminium Ltd, Essar Steel Ltd, Tata Steel Ltd, Adani Enterprises Ltd and the Odisha government.

Jindal Stainless Ltd had brought the matter way back in 2002 when the company had challenged the validity of the Haryana Local Area Development Tax Act, 2000.

The company had challenged the validity of the Act contending that it was violative of Article 301 since it imposed restrictions on trade and is not protected by Article 304.

It was argued that the enactment of the law that levies sales tax on inter-state sales was beyond competence of the state legislature.

The apex court on September 26, 2003 had referred the matter to a larger bench of five judges which on April 13, 2006 directed hearing of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the various state laws on entry tax on goods travelling from one state to another.

Later, the issue was referred to a bench of nine judges by an order of April 16, 2010 and several questions were framed, including the balancing of freedom of trade and commerce in Article 301 vis-a-vis the states' authority to levy taxes under article 245 and Article 246 of the Constitution.

Further, the bench dwelt on the issue whether taxation is justiciable and also on the inter-relationship between Article 19(1)(g) (Right to practice any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business) and Article 301.

Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh. (Photo: PTI)

State Congress chief Amarinder Singh too had resigned from the Lok Sabha.

Chandigarh: All Opposition Congress MLAs on Friday submitted their resignation to the Punjab Assembly Secretary to protest the Supreme Court's ruling favouring Haryana on the SYL issue.

State Congress chief Amarinder Singh, meanwhile, launched a fresh attack on Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, alleging Badal has "failed to protect the interest" of the people and announced that his party will take out a rally on the issue on Sunday.

The 42 MLAs, including leader of Opposition Charanjit Singh Channi, Sunil Jakhar, Sukhjinder Randhawa and Balbir Singh Sidhu, went to the Assembly here and submitted their resignations to Assembly Secretary Shashi Lakhanpal Mishra as

Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal was not present. Senior Congress leaders, including Amarinder Singh, Partap Singh Bajwa and Ambika Soni accompanied the MLAs.

"I will submit the resignations to the Speaker. He will see whether to accept them or not," Mishra said.

A Congress spokesperson denied reports in a section of the media that they have submitted the resignations to the Governor.

Speaking to mediapersons, Amarinder said, "I am not in Parliament and our MLAs are not in Vidhan Sabha. We will go to the people. We are going to burn the effigies of the government for not protecting Punjab's rights."

"We will hold a rally at the tail-end of the canal system in southernmost part of Punjab on Sunday, which will be affected (by the verdict)," he said.

Hitting out at Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, the state Congress chief asked, "Why is Badal not protecting Punjab's interests? Is it because he has made a lot of money and doesn't care what happens in his area?"

The water dispute assumed a new dimension with the Supreme Court yesterday holding as unconstitutional the 2004 law passed by Punjab to terminate the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal water sharing agreement with neighboring states.

"All the questions have been answered in the negative," a five-judge bench headed by Justice A R Dave said, while pronouncing its decision on the Presidential reference.

The judgement makes it clear that the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004 is "unconstitutional" and Punjab could not have taken a "unilateral" decision to terminate the water sharing agreement with Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and Chandigarh.

The bench, which also included Justices P C Ghose, Shiva Kirti Singh, A K Goel and Amitava Roy, was unanimous in holding that all the five questions of Presidential reference have to be answered in the negative.

The judgement implies that the 2004 Act was not in consonance with the apex court judgement of 2003 which had mandated the construction of the SYL canal that was stalled.

UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Singh Yadav (Photo: PTI)

He suggested that people be given a week's time by the government.

Lucknow: With the aim of ensuring medical facilities to poor, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance minister Arun Jaitley to allow Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 invalid notes at private hospitals and medicine shops till November 30.

This will ensure medical facilities to poor, who are facing a lot of problems after ban of high denomination notes, he said in separate letters to Modi and Jaitley.

"As Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 were banned in haste, those undergoing treatment at hospitals and nursing homes are facing a lot of problems. I, therefore, request you to intervene and allow private hospitals, nursing homes and medicine shops to accept these notes till at least November 30," Yadav said.

"Due to the ban, those going to avail medical facilities in hospital are a harried lot. It is proving fatal for them.

Allowing (Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes) currency will help people get medical treatment," he said.

As foreign tourists were facing difficulties due to demonetisation of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, Yadav had yesterday directed the state Chief Secretary to ensure opening of extra counters for them to exchange currencies.

"The Chief Secretary should coordinate with banks and ensure opening of extra counters for foreign tourists in Agra and Varanasi. This will help them in exchanging their notes easily," Yadav in his directive.

As the Centre's move caught people by surprise, especially with wedding season round the corner, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav demanded a roll back of demonetisation decision for a few days in view of the wedding season.

He suggested that people be given a week's time by the government.

BSP chief Mayawati has also said poor people and farmers have been badly hit by high denomination rupee ban decision, which reminded people of the dark days of Emergency imposed by then Congress government.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. (Photo: PTI)

‘All honest citizens need not worry. Farmers' income is tax free and can be easily deposited in bank.’

New Delhi: Assuring people that their hard-earned money is safe, the Finance Ministry on Friday said there is no need to panic and depositing junked Rs 500/1,000 notes of up to Rs 2.50 lakh in bank accounts will not be reported to the tax department.

It also cautioned people against depositing the money of unknown people in their own accounts or falling prey to cheats, thugs and rumour mongers.

Besides, the ministry said, farm income continues to remain tax free and can be easily deposited in bank. Small businessmen, housewives, artisans, workers can also deposit cash in their accounts without any apprehensions, it added.

"Deposits up to Rs 2.50 lakh will not be reported to the Income Tax department. There will be no harassment or investigation. All honest citizens need not worry. Farmers' income is tax free and can be easily deposited in bank," the ministry said in newspaper ads.

In its biggest crackdown ever on black money, the government on Tuesday night announced demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes and asked people holding such notes to deposit in bank accounts.

Since yesterday people have been thronging banks amid concerns among people over exchanging and depositing the scrapped high denomination currency.

People can deposit old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in their accounts till December 30, 2016, without any limit.

Restrictions have been imposed on withdrawal limit and people can withdraw up to Rs 10,000 per day or Rs 20,000 per week. This limit will be reviewed after few days.

Besides, old notes up to Rs 4,000 can be exchanged at any bank or post office till November 24, 2016, by showing photo ID proof.

ATMs can be used to withdraw up to Rs 2,000 per day per card till November 18 and Rs 4,000 from November 19 onwards.

This limit too will be reviewed subsequently. The ministry also advised people to make payments using cheques, demand drafts, debit or credit cards and electronic fund transfers and there is no restriction on such transactions.

The levy amount would be for an entire flight and price of each ticket could go up depending on the number of seats.

New Delhi: Airfares are set to rise with the government deciding to levy up to Rs 8,500 per flight on major routes to fund the regional air connectivity scheme.

The levy amount would be for an entire flight and the price of each ticket could go up depending on the number of seats in that particular flight.

Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey today said the levy would be up to Rs 8,500 per flight depending on distance.

The ambitious scheme -- UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) -- seeks to connect small cities by air as well as make flying more affordable for the masses.

To provide viability gap funding for the flights operated under the regional connectivity scheme, the Ministry would impose a levy on every departure on major air routes such as the national capital, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata.

"The levy for an up to 1,000 kilometre length of scheduled flight will be Rs 7,500 per flight, Rs 8,000 for a 1,000 to 1,500 kilometre flight and Rs 8,500 for flights above 1,500 kilometre," Choubey said here.

For UDAN, the government would be creating the Regional Connectivity Fund (RCF).

With the levy, the government estimates to have Rs 400 crore for RCF, Choubey said. "In addition to this, another 20 per cent (funding) will come from state governments. We are roughly looking at around Rs 500 crore per year available in the kitty," he noted.

The move would push airfares slightly higher as airlines are expected to pass on the burden to fliers.

The funding is being provided since the fares of half of the seats operated in a particular flight under UDAN would be capped at Rs 2,500 for one-hour duration. This cap would be applicable for distance of 476-500 kilometres.

The limit of RCS airfare would vary from Rs 1,420 to Rs 3,500 for fixed-wing aircraft. For helicopters, half-an-hour ride under the scheme would cost Rs 2,500 and for over one-hour duration, the cap would be Rs 5,000.

RCF is to be funded by the Centre and respective state government participating in UDAN.