Budget: How You Can Save Rs. 4.44 Lakh in Taxes Per Year

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said an individual tax payer will get tax benefit of Rs. 4,44,200 after taking into account the tax concession given to middle class tax payers in the last Budget and this Budget.

Here is the mathematics behind Mr Jaitley's statement:

Deduction under Section 80C is Rs. 1.50 lakh

Deduction under Section 80CCD is Rs. 50,000

Deduction on account of interest on house property loan (Self occupied property) is Rs. 2 lakh

Deduction under section 80D on health insurance premiumRs. 25,000

Exemption of transport allowance is Rs. 19,200

Rs. 1.50 lakh + Rs. 50,000 + Rs. 2 lakh + Rs. 25,000 + Rs. 19,200 = Rs.4,44,200

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India's richest shrine Tirumala temple ropes in TCS as technology partner

Tirupati: The Venkateswara temple, India's richest shrine located on the hills of Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh's Tirupati, has roped in software giant Tata Consultancy Service (TCS) as the technology partner to provide all online services.

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), which manages the affairs of the temple, Friday said TCS would take care of services including of e-darshan and all advance and current booking.

TTD executive officer D. Sambashiva Rao reviewed details of the collaboration with TCS CEO N. Chandrasekaran.

He said besides the technology support for the online services of the TTD, the TCS will also support the web-based activities of the temple administration including the online publications and the TTD website maintenance.

Thousands of pilgrims visit the famous temple every day. According to TTD, over 2.26 crore pilgrims visited the temple during 2014.

The overall revenue of the temple during 2013-14 was Rs.2,263 crore. This is likely to be Rs.2,401 during the current financial year.

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IS has not executed abducted Christians as yet: Activists

Damascus: The Islamic State (IS) militant group, so far, has not executed any of the Christian Assyrians it had abducted in Syria, a group monitoring war in Syria said Friday.

Tribal leaders in Syrian province of al-Hasakah met Christian clergymen to mediate the release of around 220 kidnapped Assyrians, Xinhua quoted Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) as saying.

The IS kidnapped the Assyrians from 11 villages in the town of Tal Tamr, considered the capital of the Syrian Assyrians in al-Hasakah.

Assyrian leaders also informed the SOHR about the ongoing efforts for the release of the abductees, saying that so far the IS has not executed any of the Assyrians. It said, however, that a court of the IS would soon give its verdict.

Earlier Friday, the Syrian foreign ministry condemned the IS attack on Assyrian areas in al-Hasakah, saying the IS unleashed attacks on tens of predominantly Assyrian villages and many towns in the countryside of the province, killing several people and kidnapping around 200 civilians.

Over 690 families were also displaced in the IS attack, not to mention the desecration of places of worship, including churches, by the militants, a media report quoted the ministry as saying.

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David Haines' widow says, Jihadi John should be caught alive

London: The widow of a man killed by a masked Islamic State (IS) militant known as 'Jihadi John' has said that she wants him caught alive, a media report said Friday.

Dragana Haines says the "last thing" she wants for the man who killed her husband, British aid worker David Haines, is an "honourable death", BBC reported.

"That's the only moral satisfaction for the families of all the people that he murdered, because if he gets killed in the action, to put it that way, it will be an honourable death for him and that is the last thing I would actually want for someone like him.

"I think he needs to be put to justice, but not in that way."

The militant, pictured in the videos of the beheadings of Western hostages, has been named as Mohammed Emwazi, a Kuwaiti-born Briton from west London.

British police have not commented on his identity, citing ongoing inquiries.

Emwazi, who is in his mid-20s and was previously known to British security services, first appeared in a video last August, when he killed US journalist James Foley.

He was later thought to have been pictured in the videos of the beheadings of Haines, US journalist Steven Sotloff, British taxi driver-turned-aid worker Alan Henning, and American aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, also known as Peter.

In each of the videos, the militant appeared dressed in a black robe with a black balaclava covering all but his eyes and the top of his nose.

Speaking with a British accent, he taunted Western powers before holding his knife to the hostages' necks, appearing to start cutting before the film stopped.

The victims' decapitated bodies were then shown.

Earlier this month, the militant featured in a video in which Japanese journalist Kenji Goto was beheaded.

Hostages released by IS said he was one of three British jihadis guarding Westerners abducted by the group in Syria.

They were collectively known as "the Beatles".

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Arvind Kejriwal forms 9-member panel on deliver on 70 promises

New Delhi: Delhi Government today announced setting up of a nine-member commission, to be headed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, to implement the 70 promises made by the Aam Aadmi Party in its election manifesto.

A decision to set up the Delhi Dialogue Commission to implement the AAP government’s “vision” for the city was taken at a cabinet meeting presided by the Chief Minister.

The cabinet approved appointment of Ashish Khetan, senior AAP leader, as the vice-chairperson of the commission. Other members of the commission will be Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Chief Secretary, Finance Secretary, secretary to the Chief Minister and a member secretary as chairperson of the commission, Kejriwal will nominate two other members to it.

Addressing a press conference, Khaitan said the Delhi Dialogue Commission will aim to provide a unique model of collaborative and inclusive development and will be a bridge between the government and the common man.

“As observed in Delhi in the past two decades, the vested interests of successive governments and their remoteness from their constituents ensured that the most fundamental needs of the people of Delhi have remained unaddressed - from issues such as clean drinking water, electricity and affordable housing to sanitation and employment, among others,” a government release said.

The decision to set up the commission came two days after the AAP government announced 50 per cent cut in power tariff for people whose monthly consumption does not exceed 400 units and the free water scheme.

Slashing power tariff and free water were two major poll promises of AAP.

The Commission will constitute separate task groups and committees on various subjects comprising experts, who will provide advice on ways to implement government’s vision about the city.

Separate Task Groups will be formed on air pollution, reviving the Yamuna, women’s safety and empowerment, and e-governance.

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Swine flu toll crosses 1,000 with 40 more deaths; 18,000 affected

New Delhi: Swine flu deaths have breached the 1,000 mark with 40 more people succumbing to the H1N1 virus while the number of those affected crossed 18,000 on Friday with the government admitting that it was facing a shortage of laboratories for testing of the disease.

According to health ministry, the total number of deaths due to swine flu has reached 1,005, while the number of those affected was 18,105 till on Thursday.

Responding to questions on the issue in the Lok Sabha, health minister JP Nadda said, "We have 21 laboratories for testing swine flu. But that is not enough. We are planning to set up H1N1 testing laboratories in every state of the country and financial provisions are being made for it."

Meanwhile, eight more people have succumbed to swine flu in Rajasthan in the past two days, raising the toll to 251 in the state, a health department official said.

The number of deaths in Gujarat till Thursday was 247, while 3,950 were affected.

Two more deaths and 27 new cases of swine flu have been reported in Telangana, where the number of deaths due to the virus stands at 56 as on date.

While Madhya Pradhesh reported 143 deaths due to swine flu, 125 died in Maharashtra. In Delhi, the number of deaths stood at 10, while 2,708 people have been affected.

An army jawan posted at the Akhnoor-based Crossed Swords Division was among those who died of swine flu in Jammu and Kashmir where seven deaths have been reported so far.

"Soldier Havildar Dangar Bavan Danabhai, who was serving under Crossed Swords Division, died of swine flu at the Military Hospital in Satwari today," Jammu-based defence spokesman Lt Col Manish Mehta said.

The government, meanwhile, asserted that it was "very serious" on combating the challenge and asked people not to panic but be alert.

The Centre has sent one 1,000 Oseltamivir to Assam government to deal with possible outbreak of the seasonal influenza virus and these have been sent to the relevant treatment centres, a senior health official said.

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Delhi govt issues more than 15,000 learners' license

New Delhi: Delhi government issued over 15,000 learners’ license to e-rickshaw drivers during a seven-day special camp.

Transport minister Gopal Rai said that a total of 19,864 applicants were registered and 15,742 learning licenses have been issued in the facilitation camps for E-rickshaws by the department.

Government today decided to continue issuing licenses and registration process in all the 13 MLO offices across the national capital.

“Transport department has successfully completed the 7- day camp for issuing learner’s license and registration of E-rickshaws.

The camps begun on February 23,” he said.

The minister also said that there was “enormous” response from E-rickshaws owners and drivers for getting their licenses and huge crowds were also seen at all department’s regional offices.

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Mumbai:Family Rehearsed Suicide for 5 Days

On the day mid-day reported that a family of four in Andheri (West) had carefully scripted and shot their suicide videos before hanging themselves on Friday night, the Oshiwara police have discovered that the deceased had been rehearsing their deaths and their last words since five days before they were found dead.

The police continues to be baffled by the case since brother-sister duo, Bharti Pal (25) and Somnath Kartik Pal (20), were found hanging in their employer's flat in Oshiwara on February 20, and their mother (Sikha Pal) and stepfather (Manoj Ajitkumar Patel) were found similarly dead in their apartment in Lokhandwala the next morning.

Rape?

Each of them left behind one-minute suicide notes on video, on a mobile phone that was bought on January 15 and was found near the mother's body. Bharti, in her video, said that her employer, Tinku Singh, would frequently sexually assault her, and had even proposed marriage to her. She said this had driven her to the extreme step.  

Her brother said the same, and added that Singh would also beat him up at times. Singh was arrested for molestation and abetment of suicide based on the suicide notes, and he then told the police that Bharti was like his sister and he did not touch her.

In a later statement, however, Singh confessed that he liked Bharti and would kiss and touch her, but had never had sex with her. But according to Bharti's post-mortem report, although there was no indication of rape, she was sexually active.

This has led cops to wonder: is Singh lying about his relations with Bharti, or did she have a boyfriend? The police is now making efforts to unlock Bharti's phone and to check the call records of all four family members to see whether she had a boyfriend, and also to determine whether they were pushed to commit suicide by a fifth person.

Trial runs

Yesterday, this paper reported that all four deceased seemed to be reading their suicide notes from a script and it also seemed like they had recorded each other's clips.

After a more detailed scan of the mobile phone, the police found more videos in which the family members are seen 'rehearsing' their last words. All four had been practising their suicide messages at least five days in advance, the police concluded from their changing garb in each of the clips.

While Bharti and her brother were found hanging from hooks in a bedroom in their employer's flat in Oshiwara, their mother and stepfather were found hanging from hooks in their Lokhandwala flat's kitchen. But, the investigating team also found two extra hooks in the passageway of the Lokhandwala flat, and suspect that this was where they practised taking their lives.

Cops believe that the hooks in the passageway were placed too close together, which is why the brother-sister duo decided to commit suicide at their employer's house instead. They are now trying to find out what exactly happened during those five days of rehearsal, as all the furniture in the Lokhandwala flat's entire living room had been cleared out, leaving only a wooden temple and a wall clock.

A police officer from the Oshiwara police station said, "The kitchen has a fridge, which was also empty. The dustbin had been emptied and washed, and just a stack of newspapers was lying in the corner of the room." The police officers have now asked for the CCTV recordings of the building to find out who moved the furniture of the house or who visited the couple in the five days of their planning.

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No proposal to delete Article 370: Govt

New Delhi: There is no proposal under consideration of the government "to delete" Article 370 of the Constitution, which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir, Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.

"No, sir. There is currently no such proposal under consideration," minister of state for home haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary said in reply to a written question on whether government intends to delete Article 370.

Chaudhary said Article 370 was made in the Indian Constitution for continuance of the state of Jammu and Kashmir with the Union of India on the basis of Instrument of Accession.

"Thus, Article 370 is a device to continue the existing relationship of state of Jammu and Kashmir with the Union of India.

"Through this Article, the Union Parliament gets jurisdiction to enact laws on matters specified either in the Instrument of Accession or by later addition with concurrence of the government of state of Jammu and Kashmir," he said.

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Delhi is the worst city to access internet: Report

New Delhi: Finnish firm F-Secure said it is in discussions with state governments, including Delhi, on the role that it can play in offering secured Wi-Fi access across hotspots located in various cities.

"Governments are looking at offering free Wi-Fi across cities like Delhi and Chandigarh. As more cities adopt Wi-Fi, government has to be careful as public Wi-Fi can be misused by cybercriminals," F-Secure country manager India and Saarc Amit Nath told PTI.

He added that the company is in discussions to figure out how its solutions can be implemented at these Wi-Fi hotspots to protect end-consumers with a sustainable revenue model built around it, he added.

Nath, however, declined to give further details on the talks.

The security software market in the country is estimated to be worth about $200 million, growing at about 20-22% annually, Nath said.

According to a report launched by F-Secure, Delhi (20%) topped the list of cities, in terms of malware infections detected, followed by Hyderabad and Chennai (9% each) and Chandigarh (7%) in 2014.

The report added that the top malware infection in India still remained 'Botnet' related, where hackers manage to take control of the user's computer and uses it to spam, DDoS (Denial of Service (DoS) attack) or conduct other malicious activity to make substantial amounts of money.

"Also, banking related malware has been consistently topping the chart in India. The 'Ramnit' malware, which steals bank user names and passwords and mostly spreads through USB removable drives, along with Sality, Trogan.LNK.Gen, Trogan.Script and Virtob were the top 5 malicious family detections in India," F-Secure Security Advisor Asia Su Gim Goh said.

On the mobile phone front, premium rate SMS still remained as the top reason behind a high number of SMS-related malware in the Android platform in India.

"Mumbai, Delhi, Chandigarh, Chennai and Gurgaon have emerged as the top mobile infected cities in 2014," Nath said.

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