MM TAX CLUB

The Government has implemented various schemes for the welfare and upliftment of every section of the society including minorities especially the economically weaker & lesser privileged sections of the society with schemes like Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM KISAN), Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Yojana, etc. Ministry of Minority Affairs also implements programmes/ schemes across the country including North Eastern States for socio-economic and educational empowerment of the six (6) centrally notified minority communities namely Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Muslims, Parsis and Jains. The schemes/programmes implemented by the Ministry in brief are as under: -

(A): Educational Empowerment Schemes: 

(1) Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme- Scholarship is provided to minority students from Class I to X, out of which 30% scholarship are earmarked for girls.

Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme- Scholarship is provided to minority students from Class XI to PhD., out of which 30% scholarship are earmarked for girls.  

Merit-cum-Means based Scholarship Scheme- Scholarship is provided to minority students for Professional and Technical courses, at Under Graduate and Post Graduate level, out of which 30% scholarship are earmarked for girls.

All the three Scholarship schemes are on boarded on the National Scholarship Portal (NSP) and the scholarship amount is disbursed through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode.

 (2) Maulana Azad National Fellowship Scheme – Under the scheme fellowship in the form of financial assistance is provided to minority candidates who clear the UGC-NET or Joint CSIR UGCNET examination.

 (3) Naya Savera - Free Coaching and Allied Scheme - The Scheme aims to provide free coaching to students/candidates belonging to minority communities for qualifying in entrance examinations of technical/ medical professional courses and various Competitive examinations.

(4) Padho Pardesh – Under the scheme interest subsidy is provided to students of minority communities on educational loans, for overseas higher studies.

(5) Nai Udaan - Support is provided to minority candidates clearing Preliminary examination conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), State Public Service Commission (PSC), Staff Selection Commission (SSC) etc.

(B): Employment Oriented Schemes:

(6) Seekho Aur Kamao - Skill development scheme for youth of 14 - 35 years age group and aiming at providing employment and employment opportunities, improving the employability of existing workers, school dropouts etc.

(7) USTTAD (Upgrading the Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development)- An effective platform to provide self-employment, market and opportunity to traditional artisans and craft persons from the minority communities. Hunar Haats are being organised across the country to provide employment opportunities and markets to artisans/craftsmen.

 (8) Nai Manzil - A scheme for formal school education & skilling of school dropouts or educated in community educational institutions like Madrasas.

(9) Nai Roshni - Leadership development of women belonging to minority communities and non-minority communities (not exceeding 25% of each batch).

(C): Special Schemes

(10) Jiyo Parsi - Scheme for containing population decline of Parsis in India.

 (11) Hamari Dharohar- A scheme to preserve rich heritage of minority communities of India under the overall concept of Indian culture.

(D): Infrastructure Development Programme:

(12) Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK) - The scheme aims to provide basic infrastructure such as Schools, Colleges, ITIs, Polytechnics, Hostels, Sadbhav Mandap, Skill Development Centres, Drinking water and Sanitation facilities, Health Projects including hospitals, Sport facilities, Smart classrooms, Aanganwadi Centers etc. in deprived areas of the country. The scheme is implemented in the identified areas having minimum of 25% minority population and backwardness parameters below the national average in respect of socio economic or basic amenities or both.

(13) Also, Maulana  Azad  Education  Foundation  (MAEF)  implements  education  and  skill related  schemes  as  follows:-  (a)  Begum  Hazrat Mahal  National  Scholarship  for Meritorious  Girls  belonging  to  the  economically  weaker  sections  of  Minorities  (b)  Gharib Nawaz  Employment  Scheme  started  in  2017-18  for  providing  short  term  job  oriented skill development training  to youth (c) Grant-in-aid  to NGOs for infrastructure development of educational institutions.

(14) Equity to National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) for providing concessional loans to minorities for self-employment and income generating ventures.

The details of the schemes mentioned at S. No.(1) to (12) are available on the website of this Ministry  (www.minorityaffairs.gov.in) and those at serial No.(13) and (14) are available on the website of MAEF (www.maef.nic.in) and NMDFC (www.nmdfc.org) respectively.

As per Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Act, 1992, six communities namely Christians, Sikhs, Muslims, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis have been notified as minority communities.  As per Census 2011, population of minority communities in the country are:- Muslims - 17,22,45,158, Christians - 2,78,19,588,  Sikhs -  2,08,33,116,  Buddhists - 84,42,972,  Jains  - 44,51,753   and   Parsis - 57,264.

No State-wise allocation of funds is made in the budget of this Ministry. However, during last five years an amount of Rs. 21,934.38 Crores had been allocated for schemes being implemented by this Ministry.

This information was given by the Union Minister for Minority Affairs Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in a written reply in the Lok Sabha

Scholarship Schemes

The Ministry of Minority Affairs implements three Scholarship Schemes viz. Pre-Matric, Post-Matric and Merit-cum-Means based Scholarship Schemes for the educational empowerment of students belonging to economically weaker sections of the six notified minority communities i.e. Buddhist, Christian, Jain, Muslim, Parsi and Sikh in all States/UTs across the country. A total of thirty (30) lakh Pre-Matric, 5 lakh Post Matric and 60,000 Merit-cum-Means scholarships are targeted to be distributed as ‘Fresh’ Scholarships every year, besides, Renewal scholarships. The  three  scholarship  schemes are  being  implemented  through  the  National  Scholarship  Portal  (NSP)  and are  being  disbursed  under  direct  benefit  transfer (DBT)  mode  to  improve  the  efficiency  and  bring  transparency  by  removing duplicity  and  stopping  pilferages.

The details of number of applications received, verified by States/UTs and sanctioned by the Ministry of Minority Affairs under the above mentioned schemes during 2016-17 to 2021-22 can be accessed from below link.

The CBI has booked over 20 officers of EPFO in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur for allegedly receiving money through payment applications like PayTM, PhonePe and Google Pay among others from private provident fund consultants in return for performing their regular duties like claim settlements, officials said Wednesday.

On getting an input that some EPFO officials are indulging in gross misconduct, the central probe agency had carried out joint surprise check with EPFO vigilance department in regional office in Guntur during which it seized the mobile phones of some employees with their consent.

The scrutiny of their phones showed plethora of information about EPFO beneficiaries like UAN, passwords, OTPs being shared with some phone numbers of private PF consultants, they said.

Based on information, Vishakhapatnam unit of the CBI registered four FIRs against the accused officials and private persons, they said.

"Further, the data exchanged between officials and such private consultants reveals that they are receiving illegal gratification/undue advantage in lieu of doing the EPFO official work. The undue advantage in the form of money is unauthorisedly obtained through different mobile payment apps as PayTM, PhonePe and Google Pay etc," the FIR alleged.

The analysis of phones showed that employees were received screenshots of payments made through mobile apps after they shared UAN and respective passwords with consultants, it alleged.

"Searches were conducted at the residential and office premises of the accused located at about 40 places in Guntur, Ongole, Chirala, Vijayawada and Guntupally in Andhra Pradesh which led to recovery of certain incriminating documents," CBI spokesperson RC Joshi said.

In a separate case related to Rs 18 crore alleged fraud related to EPF claims in EPFO, Mumbai the CBI has conducted searches at four location in Mumbai in which Rs 13.40 lakh (approx) have been recovered in cash.

On December 30 last year, the CBI had booked several officers of EPFO Mumbai for allegedly settling fraudulent claims in 712 bogus PF accounts causing loss to the tune of Rs.18.97 crore (approx) to the EPF corpus.

"It was further alleged that accused adopted a unique modus operandi and created bogus PF accounts in the name of certain persons of closed companies, showed credits of approx. Rs. 2 lakh to 4 lakh against each account and drew the amounts from these accounts by filing fake claims. It was also alleged that the claims were found to be settled to the members with bank accounts in different parts of country," Joshi said.

The Finance Bill, 2022 as introduced in Lok Sabha can be access from following link;

CBIC Circular No. 1082/03/2022 – CX  dated 1st February, 2022

Representations have been received seeking clarification on the manner of computation of valuation, after admissible abatement, for the purposes of computation and payment of Basic Excise Duty and National Calamity Contingent Duty (NCCD). It has been argued that on calculation of excise duty and NCCD on the value arrived at after abatement on the retail sale price and thereafter computing Goods and Services Tax (GST) on such value inclusive of the excise duty and NCCD results in the total retail sale price of such tobacco and tobacco products overshooting the declared retail sale price, and accordingly, the rate of abatement is being questioned citing the increase in NCCD rates in the year 2020.

As per section 4A of the Central Excise Act, 1944, retail sale price based assessment has been prescribed for tobacco and tobacco products (like chewing tobacco, preparations containing chewing tobacco, Jarda scented tobacco, Pan masala containing tobacco) and an abatement of 55% on the retail sale price has been prescribed for such products. Accordingly, assuming the retail sale price to be Rs. 100, the basic excise duty and NCCD is computable on an assessable value of Rs 45. The cumulative basic excise duty (@0.5%) and NCCD combined being 25.5%, at present, on such products, the amount of excise duty and NCCD payable would be Rs 11.475. It may be noted that abated value of Rs 45 in this case is a prescribed value for computation of basic excise duty and NCCD. It is not the prescribed sale price by the manufacturer. He is free to maintain his sale price, as appropriate, taking into account the relevant factors of costing and profit. Also, the abated value of Rs 45 (used only as measure for computation of

basic excise duty and NCCD) is not relevant for computation of GST and Compensation Cess. Under the respective Acts, GST and Compensation Cess is payable on transaction value, that is price actually paid or payable for the supply of good including duties like basic excise duty and NCCD. Therefore, the value for the purposes of GST computation will be the transaction value plus basic excise duty, NCCD and any other amount as prescribed in section 15 of GST Act, 2017 [i.e., in the above example, Value for computation of GST and Compensation Cess “V” = Transaction value as per the GST Act, 2017 + 11.475 (basic excise duty +NCCD)]. Hence, consequent to an increase in NCCD rate (like in year 2020), a manufacturer of tobacco product had option to raise his retail sale price so as to retain the transaction value at a level that he wishes to recover from the consumer. Accordingly, in a regular transaction, at arm’s length, the sale price of tobacco product would be value “V” plus GST and compensation cess. It is normally anticipated that the tax and duty increase, including excise duty and NCCD, would lead to increase in sale price.

As explained above, the present mechanism of retail sale price based assessment of basic excise duty and NCCD, as provided under section 4A of the Central Excise Act, 1944, does not pose any difficulty in assessment either of basic excise duty/NCCD or of GST/Compensation cess.

Further, issue has been raised that the notification No. 49/2008-Central Excise (N.T.), dated 24.12.2008, continues to contain a reference to the First Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985, even though the said Tariff Act has been repealed on introduction of GST. It is argued that this is a legal infirmity. In this context, it is to state that vide section 10 of the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act, 2017 (18 of 2017), a section 38B has been inserted in the Central Excise Act, 1944, meant for saving of references to Chapter, heading, subheading and tariff item in Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985. The relevant section is reproduced as under:

"38B. Notwithstanding the repeal of the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 by sub-section (1) of section 174 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, any reference to the Chapter, heading, sub-heading or tariff item, as the case may be, in the First Schedule to the said Act or in any rules or regulations made thereunder, or in any notification, circular, order or instruction issued thereunder, shall mean a reference to the Chapter, heading, sub-heading or tariff item, as the case may be, in the Fourth Schedule."

Hence, there has been no legal infirmity in notification No. 49/2008-Central Excise (N.T.) dated 24.12.2008, as amended, in continuing with a reference to the First Schedule of the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985.

Accordingly, it is directed to ensure that the valuation of the tobacco and tobacco products, as provided under the relevant notification(s), with reference to retail sale price declared on such goods less such amount of abatement as is notified, is done for the levy and collection of the basic excise duty and NCCD on such goods, as detailed above.