• Recently Income-Tax department has raised a demand of ₹210 crore in penalty from a national level political party for discrepancy and delay in filing the returns.
• Section 13A of the IT Act, 1961, exempts political parties (registered by Election Commission under Representation of the People Act, 1951) from paying income tax. 
  • For exemption parties must fulfil, some conditions including maintaining books of account and other documents, their accounts are audited as per the law, etc. 
• However, under Section 139 (4B) of the IT Act, Political parties are required to file their Income tax returns if: 
  • their total income (before exemptions under Section 13A) is higher than the tax exemption threshold.

• Exercising power under the Information Technology (IT) Act (2000), the Central Government Amended the IT (Procedure and Safeguards for Interception, Monitoring and Decryption of Information) Rules, 2009. 
  • Its Rule 23 mandated every record, including electronic records of interception, monitoring or decryption of information to be destroyed every six months except in a case where such information is required, or likely to be required. 
    • So far, only security agencies had such power of destruction.
    • The 2024 Amendment also bestows this power to “competent authority (i.e., Union Home Secretary or Secretary in charge of Home Deptt. for States/UTs)’’ in addition to the security agency”.

• Mauritius Government has decided to amend the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with India to comply with the BEPS minimum standards of the OECD. 
  • DTAA is a tax treaty signed between two countries for the elimination of double taxation.
• BEPS refers to tax planning used by multinational enterprises that exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules to avoid paying tax. 
  • OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS provides 15 Actions that equip governments with the domestic and international instruments needed to tackle tax avoidance.

• India's first septic tank/manhole cleaning robot known as Homosep atom developed by the startup Solinas reached 16 cities.
  • Solinas was incubated in the Department of Science and Technology (DST)-Technology Business Incubator (TBI) of IIT Madras.

• About Homosep Atom
  • Robotic solution integrated with Artificial Intelligence (AI) to inspect, clean, and manage confined space for sanitation purposes.
  • Features: Extensive blade cleanings, solid waste desilting, suction, and storage at one device.
  • Offers end-to-end solutions to eliminate manual scavenging.

• Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI)  and IIT Madras researchers have developed:
  • India-specific model to determine the age of a foetus in a pregnant woman in the second and third trimesters precisely known as Garbhini-GA2.
• Garbhini-GA2 is a part of the Interdisciplinary Group for Advanced Research on Birth Outcomes –Department of Biotechnology (DBT)  India Initiative (GARBH-Ini) program.

• About (GARBH-Ini) program
  • It is a cohort study of pregnant women initiated in  2015.
  • Objectives: to identify clinical, epidemiologic, genomic, and generate a risk-prediction algorithm for preterm birth.

• Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT launched IIAP developed by IIT Madras.

• About IIAP:
  • It will act as a one-stop shop for startups to seamlessly access Venture Capitalists (VCs) and investor networks, Govt schemes, etc.
  • Entrepreneurs can search for information on government agencies, incubators, investors, VCs, etc.
  • An important feature of the platform is “StartupGPT” which is an AI-based conversational platform.
  • It will ease information access for those who are navigating exhaustive data.

• Kerala initiated Operation AMRITH, a program enforcing H1 rule, mandating a doctor’s prescription for acquiring any class of antibiotics.
• About H1 rule: The Drugs and Cosmetic Rule, 1945 was amended in 2013 to incorporate a new Schedule H1.
• The Drugs falling under Schedule H1 are required to be sold in the country with the following conditions:-
  • The supply of a drug shall be recorded in a separate register.
  • They shall be labeled with the symbol Rx which shall be in red and conspicuously displayed on the left top corner of the label.

• Researchers have reported Down syndrome and Edwards syndrome from prehistoric skeletal remains, dating up to approximately 5,500 years old. 
• Both are trisomy disorders wherein individuals have an extra copy of the chromosome. 
  • Edwards syndrome: An extra copy of chromosome 18 is present in the individual. 
    • Most babies with Edwards' syndrome will die before or shortly after being born.
  • Down syndrome: An extra copy of one of chromosome 21 is present. 
    • Kids with down syndrome usually have an IQ in the mildly-to-moderately low range and are slower to speak than other children.

Hungary (Capital: Budapest)

• Hungary’s parliament approved Sweden’s NATO accession.

• Political Features
  • Landlocked country in central Europe.
  • Shares border with Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Austria.

• Geographical features
  • Relief is dominated by great lowland expanses including Little Alfold (Little Hungarian Plain) in Northwest and Great Alfold from southwest to northeast
  • Highest Peak: Mount Kékes
  • Major Rivers: Danube, Tisza, etc.
  • Lakes: Lake Balaton, Neusiedler Lake etc.
  • Climate: Moderately dry continental climate