Validity of vehicular documents extended till March 31

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has extended the validity of vehicular documents like DLs, RCs, Permits etc till 31st March 2021 in the light of need to prevent spread of COVID -19. The Ministry has issued a directive to the States and Union Territory administrations in this regard.The Ministry had earlier issued advisories on 30th March, 9th June and 24th August this year regarding extension of validity of documents related to Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989. It was advised that the validity of Fitness, Permit (all types), License, Registration or any other concerned documents may be treated to be valid till 31st December this year.The advisory said, taking into consideration the need to prevent the spread of COVID-19 , it is further advised that the validity of all of the above referred documents may be treated to be valid till 31st March 2021. This covers all documents whose validity has expired since 1st Feb, 2020 or would expire by 31st March 2021.It added that enforcement authorities are advised to treat such documents valid till 31st of March 2021. This will help out citizens in availing transport related services, while maintaining social distancing.

-Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar on Sunday held talks with his Qatari counterpart and discussed modality to  strengthen business partnerships.In a tweet Jaishankar wrote that he began a Qatar visit with the India-Qatar business roundtable talks and appreciated the commitment for strengthening the  business partnerships between two countries. He also briefed them about new opportunities flowing from Atmanirbhar Bharat.S Jaishankar is on a  visit to Qatar. This is Jaishankar's first visit to the country as External Affairs Minister. Apart from meeting the Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani he will also discuss bilateral, regional and international issues with other dignitaries. India and Qatar enjoy strong economic, cultural, and people-to-people ties.

-Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday accused the BJP of giving importance to its "capitalist friends" and said the farmers' protest against the new agri laws is an example of the "failure" of the government.The BJP government at the Centre is making offers to farmers for talks, but on the other hand, it is levelling "baseless allegations" on the protesting farmers, he said in a statement issued here. The Samajwadi Party (SP) chief, however, did not elaborate on the issue of allegations on farmers. The former chief minister also said that after the BJP came to power, bad times started for farmers. "The current farmers' agitation is a living example of the failure of the BJP government. The SP is standing with the farmers," he said. The government is giving Kisan Samman, but the new farm laws will cause losses worth thousands and lakhs to farmers," Yadav said.

-Over 4.15 crore taxpayers have already filed their income tax returns (ITR) for assessment year 2020-21 (FY2019-20) till December 26, the Income Tax Department said on Sunday. As the deadline to file ITR by individuals nears, the tax department also urged people to file their ITR for assessment year (AY) 2020-21 early to avoid last minute rush. "More than 4.15 crore Income Tax Returns for AY 2020-21 have already been filed till 26th of December, 2020. Hope you have filed yours too!," the department tweeted.This includes over 2.34 crore taxpayers filing ITR-1, over 89.89 lakh filing ITR-4, over 49.72 lakh ITR-3 and over 30.36 lakh filing ITR-2.The deadline to file ITR by individual taxpayers for FY2019-20 ends on December 31, 2020, while the same for taxpayers whose accounts require to be audited is January 31, 2021.The due date has been extended from July 31 and October 31, 2020, respectively in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

-Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's appeal to protesting farmers to not damage telecom infrastructure seems to have failed to deter new attacks, with more than 176 signal transmitting sites being vandalised in the last 24 hours, sources said on Sunday. While firms belonging to billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani do not procure foodgrains from farmers, the narrative that new farm laws are to benefit them has made them easy targets, with protesting farmers in different places in Punjab having vandalised and damaged Reliance Jio towers, snapping connectivity.As many as 176 towers have been damaged since Saturday, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. This has taken the total number of telecom tower sites damaged to 1,411, they said.Incidents of snapping of power lines to attempts to axe the towers have been reported from different parts of Punjab, one of the sources said.