Modi Has Brought the Country to a Standstill: Congress
Mounting an organised attack on the government, the Congress on Monday afternoon asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “has brought entire country to a standstill with a single disastrous decision”.
“PM Modi has battered India’s economy and it will be difficult to regain India’s growth story,” Randeep Surjewala said at a press conference.
Kejriwal Dubs Demonetisation a ‘Flop’
The government’s demonetisation scheme has been a “flop”, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said in a press conference.
“The entire scheme is a flop, it has proved a failure,” the Aam Aadmi Party leader told a news conference here.
He said Modi's ego has put the entire nation into misery and pushed back the country's economy by a decade in just 20 days.
He added that black money economy has galloped since the note ban was announced and the new currency was being used for corruption.
Arun Jaitley Introduces Bill to Amend Income Tax Rules
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha to amend the Income Tax rules levying a tax of 60 percent on undisclosed income or investment or cash credit deposited in the banks.
According to the Taxation Laws (Second Amendment) Bill, 2016, the declarant will additionally have to pay regular tax on the amount left after deducting the 60 percent levy.
The government has also come up with an income disclosure scheme called the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) 2016 which allows people to deposit money in their accounts till 1 April 2017, by paying 50 percent of the total amount –30 per cent as tax, 10 per cent as penalty and 33 per cent of the taxed amount – that is 10 per cent – as Garib Kalyan Cess.
Additionally, under this scheme, 25 percent of the amount has to be locked up for four years in interest-free Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Deposit Scheme.
Both Houses Adjourned Amid Uproar Over Demonetisation
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley moves amendment in taxation Law in Lok Sabha.
Amid uproar over the government’s note ban policy, both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned.
‘Jan Aakrosh Diwas’ in Odisha, West Bengal
As part of the nation-wide protest against fiscal chaos post-demonetisation, the opposition parties in Odisha on Monday took to streets, while the state ordered a shutdown of educational institutions.
The protests did not affect normal life at large as many opposition parties, including the Congress, Communist Party of India (CPI), the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), and Communsit Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML), staged their protests at various banks in the state.
The Congress workers organised ‘Jana Akrosh’ (people's outcry) rallies across the state and held demonstrations at district and block headquarters.
As part of the diwas, the Congress' West Bengal unit brought out a protest rally in Kolkata on Monday.
Congress supporters from the metropolis and the districts led by their state president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, walked from the Bengal Pradesh Congress head office Bidhan Bhavan to Park Circus in central Kolkata, raising slogans against the Narendra Modi government
The ruling BJD has welcomed the demonetisation move and did not participate in the protests.
The closing down of educational institutions irked the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, which accused the state government of supporting the protest.