New Delhi, July 31 (IANS) The Lok Sabha proceedings on Wednesday were marked by repeated chaos and disruption as the Opposition members resorted to slogan-shouting. Miffed over BJP MP Anurag Thakur’s caste jibe at the Leader of the Lok Sabha in the House, the opposition benches chanted slogans like ‘have shame,’ ‘Modi sarkar saamne aao,’ (Modi government come forward) and others.

On Tuesday, while addressing the Lok Sabha, BJP MP Anurag Thakur said those “whose caste is unknown” should not talk about census.

“Some people talk about OBCs, but for them (the Congress), OBC stands for ‘only for brother-in-law commission’. This party will talk about other backward castes?” the BJP MP said on Tuesday.

The slogan-shouting continued even when Congress MP from Gadchiroli, Kirsan Namdeo, asked Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia a question, leading to a significant disruption of the proceedings.

Criticising the Opposition for creating a ruckus and disrupting the House proceedings by raising slogans, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said, “This is not the right way. A person from your faction is raising a question, and you are not letting them speak?”

“You cannot stop someone from your own side from speaking. Everyone has the right to raise the issues of their areas,” the Lok Sabha Speaker added.

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju also slammed the Opposition’s actions, specifically targeting the Congress and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi.

He stated, “The Congress party always talks about caste all the time, but not about how they have weakened this country by raising questions on our Indian Army, demotivating them and working just to weaken the nation.”

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 31 (IANS) Amid rising disposable incomes and stupendous economic growth, housing demand in India is now heavily tilted towards the luxury housing segment and Delhi-NCR saw a 45 per cent rise in luxury segment sales in the January-June period, a report showed on Wednesday.

The latest data from Anarock Group indicates that out of Delhi-NCR’s total housing sales of nearly 32,200 units in H1 2024, over 45 per cent share was in the luxury segment and 24 per cent in the affordable segment.

In 2019, sales of luxury homes were a mere 3 per cent while the affordable sales share stood at 49 per cent in Delhi-NCR.

About 14,630 luxury units were sold in NCR in H1 2024, against 1,580 units in entire 2019.

In the same period, about 7,730 units were sold in the affordable segment, in comparison to nearly 23,180 units in 2019, the data showed.

“Among all NCR cities, Gurugram has been the most active real estate market in recent years. Millennium City saw about 17,570 units sold across different budget segments in H1 2024. Of these, a whopping 59 per cent (nearly 10,365 units) were luxury homes, followed by 27 per cent (about 4,710 units) in the affordable segment,” said Anuj Puri, Chairman, Anarock Group.

In 2019, Gurugram saw approximately 13,245 units sold, of which 43 per cent (5,740 units) were affordable housing. The sales share of luxury homes was just per cent (470 units).

Noida and Greater Noida together saw about 8,425 units sold in H1 2024.

Of this, 42 per cent (3,550) units were luxury homes and just 13 per cent (1,100) units were in the affordable segment.

The highest sales share — 3,770 units — was in the mid and premium segments priced between Rs 40 lakh and Rs 1.5 crore.

Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Delhi and Bhiwadi together saw about 6,205 units sold in the first half of 2024, of which the luxury segment accounted for over 715 units, while affordable housing saw 1,920 units sold, the report mentioned.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 31 (IANS) Around six crore income tax returns have been filed in 2023-24, of which 70 per cent were filed under the new simplified tax regime which offers a lower rate of tax but fewer deductions, Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra has said.

Addressing the post-budget session of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Malhotra said initially some apprehensions were raised in some sections as to whether people would shift to the simplified tax regime.

However, the large percentage of taxpayers preferring to adopt the new regime reflects a positive response and the successful transition to the simplified system, he pointed out.

The new tax regime, introduced to simplify the tax process, offers lower tax rates compared to the previous regime but provides fewer exemptions and deductions. Malhotra highlighted that the move towards this regime aims to reduce compliance burdens and make the tax system simpler for individuals to deal with.

He also said that the comprehensive income tax review announced in the Budget for 2024-25 is aimed at making the tax law simpler.

“We will come up with a draft and then we will seek suggestions from stakeholders,” Malhotra added.

Currently, the country has two personal income tax regimes. In the old income tax regime, the tax rates are higher but taxpayers can claim exemptions and deductions which is a relatively more complicated process. The new tax regime is simpler as it allows the taxpayer to avail of a lower tax rate without the process of filing for deductions.

As much as 58 per cent of corporate tax has come from the simplified tax regime in FY23.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has also announced in the Union Budget that a comprehensive review of the Income-tax Act, 1961 would be undertaken which would be completed in six months.

“The purpose is to make the Act concise, lucid, easy to read and understand,” she said, The Finance Minister also said that the government will come out with SoP (standard operating procedure) for TDS defaults and simplify and rationalise compounding of such offences.

Besides, the two tax exemption regimes for charitable trusts will be merged into one.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 31 (IANS) India saw 21 per cent growth in data centre absorption in the first half this year — from 778 megawatts (MW) capacity in H1 2023 to nearly 942 MW in H1 2024 — as demand for edge data centres surged from tier 2 and 3 cities, a report showed on Wednesday.

Approximately 71 MW of IT capacity was added across key data centre micro-markets in the January-June period, according to Savills India, a global real estate advisory firm. Concurrently, the market witnessed transactions of around 200 MW in IT capacity during this period.

The market is expected to grow to approximately 400 MW IT capacity by the end of 2024.

The demand was driven by hyper scalers, banking, financial services and insurance (BSFI), IT and ITeS and service sectors, all relying heavily on data centre operators for colocation and related services, the report mentioned.

“We project a strong demand for data centre capacity in India by the end of 2024, with an estimated requirement of 400 MW across major cities,” said Srihari Srinivasan, Director and Lead Data Centre Services, Savills India.

While supply is expected to reach 350 MW during the same period, data centre operators are expanding their service offerings beyond colocation to include networking, cloud solutions, specialised hardware like GPUs, and other managed services.

Mumbai led the data centre market with a substantial 54.9 per cent share of the total capacity, followed by Chennai (12.3 per cent), Bengaluru (8.2 per cent) and Pune (7.2 per cent).

Hyperscalers accounted for 22 per cent of the total stock, while enterprises held 10 per cent.

The remaining 68 per cent was utilised by a combination of hyper scalers and enterprises, showcasing a diverse utilisation pattern within the data centre industry, the report said.

“This growth is being driven by surging internet usage, the rise of 5G and the need for ultra-low latency for mobiles, which is also creating a growing demand for edge data centres in specific areas,” Srinivasan added.

Furthermore, the increasing adoption of AI and IoT across various industries is fueling the need for data centre services, with GPU-powered solutions playing a key role in addressing these demands.

–IANS

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New Delhi/Aizawl, July 31 (IANS) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) chargesheeted an accused in a pan-India illegal arms and ammunition trafficking case linked with Myanmar-based insurgent groups, sources said on Wednesday.

NIA sources said that the chargesheet against Lalngaihawma was filed before the NIA Special Court, New Delhi on Tuesday under various sections of the IPC, Arms Act, Explosive Substance Act, and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Lalngaihawma has been charged with active involvement in the network operating in the northeast region, along with other parts of the country.

NIA had registered the case on December 26, 2023, against him and others on the basis of inputs that some Mizoram-based entities were engaged in the illegal trafficking of arms, ammunition, explosives etc. in the northeastern region of the country.

Investigations by the agency so far have revealed that Lalngaihawma had established strong linkages with Myanmar-based insurgent groups.

With their help, he used to receive arms, ammunition and explosives for supply to various insurgent and criminal groups.

Lalngaihawma had also received huge funds through various channels, including his Myanmar-based associates.

NIA further found that the accused had established a nexus with licensed arms dealers.

He used the nexus to pilferage non-prohibited bore weapons and ammunition, besides trafficking prohibited bore weapons.

Further investigations in the case are in progress.

–IANS

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