The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved signing and ratification of an agreement between India and Seychelles for exchange of information on taxes and other financial information. The agreement with one of the major tax havens will provide a boost to black money related probes.
The meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi also approved resumption of flight services with Seychelles and an MoU with Australia in education sector.
“This is part of the ongoing initiative of the government of India to unearth black money,” said Ravi Shankar Prasad while briefing the media. In this regard, he said the government has taken various initiatives, including signing of FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) with the USA and enactment of black money law.
“After America, we are also planning to sign such agreements with other countries,” he said. Elaborating on the agreement with Seychelles, Prasad said “any abuse of land of India or Seychelles for money transaction in an unauthorized manner regardless of the fact that he is resident or not is amenable to prosecution”. All types of taxes imposed by India or Seychelles irrespective of the manner in which they are levied are covered, the Minister said.
In the new Air Services Agreement, the number of flights between India and Seychelles has been increased from three per week to seven per week.
The MoU with Australia is expected to boost educational ties between India and Australia which would facilitate credit transfers and recognition of qualifications between institutes in the two countries. The proposal which was cleared by the Union Cabinet will be funded on mutually agreed terms and will be subject to availability of funds.
“It will help intensify existing partnerships between India and Australia in higher education & research, including technical and professional education, schools, vocational education and training and will open up new and innovative areas of cooperation,” a Government statement said.
The agreement will also seek to explore expanding Australia India education council membership from time to time to ensure appropriate representation from academia, policy makers and industry as required and agreed. The Cabinet also approved the promulgation of the Dadra and Nagar Haveli Value Added Tax (Amendment) Regulation, 2005. “This (approval of promulgation) will help the Union Territory generate additional gross revenue and net tax generation estimated at Rs120 crore and Rs7 crore per annum,” an official said.
Centre’s project on seeds for Bihar soon
The Union Government will soon launch a project in Bihar to improve the quality of seeds for its crops. The Government feels that through this, the newly-released varieties and the latest technology can be disseminated to the farmers to help them increase crop productivity. A special package of Rs300 crore has been planned for the scheme.
Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said on Thursday that there is plan to have 50 Farmers Participatory Seed Production System involving 12,500 farmers across Bihar. The State as of now has 244 State Seed Farms. Out of this, seven SSF are having more than 50 ha land.
Under the proposed scheme, minimum 2000 tonnes of seed is expected to be produced which will be distributed to farmers of Bihar and the surplus will be provided to farmers of Jharkhand.