The New Indian Express Wishes its readers a Ayudha Pooja Our offices and press will remain closed today and there will be no issue of the paper on Monday MANGALURU  SUNDAY  OCTOBER 25, 2020  `8.00  PAGES 26  CITY EDITION LAST DATE TO FILE FY2019-20 ITR EXTENDED TILL DEC 31 SECOND EXTENSION AMID THE PANDEMIC For those whose accounts need to be audited, the new deadline to file income tax returns is Jan 31, 2021. Those who need to furnish report in respect of international/specified domestic transactions have also been given time till Jan 31. In May, the Centre had extended the various due dates to file ITRs for FY-20 from July 31 to Nov 30 in view of Covid-19 The Centre on Saturday extended the deadline for individual taxpayers to file tax returns by a month till December 31 MORE TIME TO FILE GST RETURNS ■ ■ Separately, the government extended the due date for filing GST annual returns for FY2018-19 by two months till Dec 31 Further, adding to the festive cheer, the government late on Friday night announced a waiver of interest on interest for loans up to `2 crore, irrespective of whether moratorium was availed or not Jan 31, 2021 NEW DUE DATE FOR PAYMENT OF SELF-ASSESSMENT TAX CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI NC chief chosen chairman of People’s Alliance, Mehbooba Mufti vice-chief We are against BJP, not India, says Farooq F AYA Z W A N I @ Srinagar PEOPLE’S Alliance for Gupkar Declaration is an anti-BJP platform but it is not anti-national, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said on Saturday after being named chairman of the grouping. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti is the vice-chairperson while Sajjad Gani Lone of People’s Conference has been named spokesman of the alliance. Formed by seven mainstream parties to fight for restoration of Article 370, the outfit also adopted the flag of the erstwhile J&K state as its symbol as a mark of defiance to the constitutional changes made by the Centre on August 5 last year. The seven parties are the National Conference, PDP Peoples Conference, JKPM, , ANC, CPI(M) and the CPI. Congress was also part of the August 4, 2019 Gupkar Declaration but its leaders have of late been skipping meetings. Talking to reporters, Abdullah said, “The BJP is making false propaganda that People’s Alliance is anti-national. We are not anti-national but we are anti-BJP They . have made attempts to divide the country and divide the federal structure. They trampled the Constitution by abrogating Articles 370 and 35A last year. Our aim is to ensure that rights of people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh are restored.” Spokesman Sajjad said the outfit would release a white paper within a month on governance lapses in J&K since the reading down of Article 370. The next meeting of People’s Alliance will be held within P8 two weeks in Jammu BJP threatens sedition case against Mufti J&K BJP leader Kavinder Gupta said Mehbooba Mufti’s statement that she will not raise tricolour till J&K’s flag and constitution was restored, is ‘antinational’ and that a sedition case can be filed against her. “Her remarks are an insult and humiliation to Indian flag,” he added Unemployment rate (per 1,000 population) 73 64 70 20 15 2004-05 2009-10 Number of industrial workers 2014-15 2011-12 2017-18 2018-19 1,03,267 2016-17 32 1,25,557 2015-16 56 Rural Urban 105 102 90 98,971 2017-18 1,04,057 Source: Reserve Bank of India JOBS, NOT CASTE, TO SWING BIHAR POLLS KUMAR VIKRAM & RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR @ New Delhi /Patna AJAY Sahni of Kurdhani village in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur has been sitting idle for the past six months. He used to work in Delhi as an electrician and led a fairly comfortable life, until March end when lockdown kicked in. “There is no scope of employment in the village nor did I get any work under the MGNREGA or any other government scheme,” Sahni said. To make ends meet, he was forced to sell fish sometimes. Mahesh Sah of Ratnali village is also in the same boat. He retur ned from Mumbai where he worked with a textiles firm. “We managed to return in April but have not got a single man day’s work with the MGNREGA so I now work as a farm labourer,” he said. Sahni and Sah are not isolated cases of migrant workers unable to get meaningful employment. A majority of the 22 lakh migrants who returned to the state have not managed to get jobs, adding to the already growing unemployment in the state. Not sur prisingly, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (United), the top three contenders in the ongoing Bihar polls, have all made unemployment a major talking point, and for good reason. RBI’s recently released Handbook of Statistics on Indian States says Bihar’s unemployment has risen steadily in the past 15 years. While the urban unemployment rate was 64 per 1,000 in 2004-05, it went up to 105 in 2018-19. CONTINUED ON: P7 ‘Poor hygiene behind India’s low Covid deaths’ S U M I S U K A N YA D U T TA @ New Delhi CURIOUS STATS Despite recording over 77 lakh Covid-19 cases, India’s fatality rate stands at 1.5%— among the world’s lowest India USA Brazil 1.5 2.6 2.9 5.9 Mexico UK 5.5 8.1 Italy Spain France 3.4 3.6 COUNTRIES with poor hygiene, sanitation and quality of water appear to have a lower Covid-19 case fatality rate as compared to rich countries with better hygienic conditions, a study has found. The latest analysis by researchers in India has added to the growing body of evidence in support of the “hygiene hypothesis,” which argues that areas or countries with high levels of background infections are likely to experience fewer Covid-19 deaths. Till Friday morning, India had registered 1,17,306 infection deaths CM announces `25K relief for B’luru flood affected E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Bengaluru A day after parts of Bengaluru came to a standstill following heavy rain and flooding, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa visited the houses of the affected families and announced relief of Rs 25,000. During his survey of the affected areas, the CM had a tough time reaching many houses as he was greeted with buckets filled with drain water, which the locals had drained out from their houses. At other places, Yediyurappa, Revenue Minister R Ashok, BBMP Commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad and Administrator Gaurav Gupta, had to make their way through clothes hung out for drying and soiled food items to inspect the damage indoors. Speaking to the media, CM said handing over of cheques to the affected people will start immediately . He said compensation will be given to all those whose essential supplies have got washed away “Of. ficials will conduct a survey and distribute cheques to the affected. As per the information I have received, anywhere between 650 and 800 houses have been affected,” he said. The CM admitted that the situation was very grim and assured that a permanent solution will be found soon. Before heading out to the worst affected Dattatreya Layout in Hosakerehalli, and Kumaraswamy Layout, the CM held a meeting with P5 Ashok and BBMP officials. even though the total Covid-19 caseload in the country was 77,61,312. This means the country has a case fatality ratio of 1.5%, among the lowest in the world. Within the country, Bihar, which lags behind most states on socio-economic development parameters, managed to keep the death rate at 0.5%, or one third the national average. Bihar is not alone with a low CFR. Kerala and Assam with a rate of 0.4, Telangana 0.5, and Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh at 0.9 have CFR less than one. But Maharashtra, Gujarat and Punjab, which are more developed states, have CFR values CONTINUED ON: P7 of 2 or higher. DAMAGE CONTROL? K’taka govt will give free Covid vaccine, says DyCM E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Belagavi UNDER fire from the opposition for announcing free Covid-19 vaccination for the Bihar electorate in its Assembly poll manifesto, leaders from the ruling BJP in Karnataka are now in a damage-control exercise. Deputy Chief Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan on Saturday declared in Belagavi that the State Government will provide Covid-19 vaccination free of cost to all the people of Karnataka once it is finally ready after successful trials. Speaking to media persons at Belagavi airport, Ashwath Narayan hit out at former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for challenging the government to announce free Covid-19 vaccination for the people of Karnataka. “The State Government is already treating Covid patients free of cost and all health care facilities to people from all classes are being provided,” he P5 pointed out. INTERVIEW ‘JAGAN SHOULD’VE WRITTEN TO GUV’ Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy violated the doctrine of separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary by writing a letter to chief justice of India S A Bobde, senior advocate and former additional solicitor general Indira Jaising told TNIE INDIRA JAISING Former additional solicitor general Q&A: P7 WITH THIS ISSUE ANCHOR ANARCHY PLUS 12 PAGES