Children's accounts to come under I-T scanner

February 20, 2017

New Delhi, Feb 20: Bank accounts in the name of children and a sudden surge of balance in them in the weeks after November 8 demonetisation will now be scrutinised by income tax authorities.

Swollen zero balance Jan Dhan accounts will also come under scanner as the I-T department is preparing to send emails to assessees whose deposits do not match their tax-paying profile.

As part of the Centre’s campaign against black money, authorities have already started questioning deposits of over Rs 5 lakh after November 9 when Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes ceased to be legal tender, and December 30 when the window for their deposits ended.

Now, the I-T department is preparing to tighten vigil on deposits that are less than Rs 5 lakh against assesses’ tax profile. “Not only the savings and current accounts, but also the accounts in the name of children which appear to have been misused during the seven-week window will come under scrutiny,” an official told DH.

The department has already sought explanation through text messages and e-mails to eight lakh people whose post-note ban deposits do not match with their tax-paying behaviour.

It is now verifying over Rs 4.5 lakh crore of suspicious deposits made by those 18 lakh people and will send letters to those who have not responded to its messages and e-mails.

The department will collect all such information about assessees now, but action against them will continue after March 31 as the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) runs till the end of March, the official said.

Under PMGKY, those with unaccounted cash were given a chance to come clean by paying 50% of such cash as tax, penalty and surcharge, while parking an additional 25% in a non-interest bearing bank account for four years.

Parliament earlier this month had passed a bill which made holding of more than 10 scrapped notes of Rs 500/1,000 denomination punishable with a minimum fine of Rs 10,000.

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Elusive bamboo shrimp resurfaces in Mangaluru estuary after 70 years

News Network

December 7,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A rare bamboo shrimp has been rediscovered on mainland India more than 70 years after it was last reported, confirming for the first time the presence of Atyopsis spinipes in the country. The find was made by researchers from the Centre for Climate Change Studies at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, during surveys in Karnataka and Odisha.

The team — shrimp expert Dr S Prakash, PhD scholar K Kunjulakshmi, and Mangaluru-based researcher Maclean Antony Santos — combined field surveys, ecological assessments and DNA analysis to identify the elusive species. Their findings, published in Zootaxa, resolve decades of taxonomic confusion stemming from a 1951 report that misidentified the species as Atyopsis moluccensis without strong evidence.

The shrimp has now been confirmed at two locations: the Mulki–Pavanje estuary near Mangaluru and the Kuakhai River in Bhubaneswar. Historical specimens from the Andaman Islands, previously labelled as A. moluccensis, were also found to be misidentified and actually belong to A. spinipes.

The rediscovery began after an aquarium hobbyist in Odisha spotted a shrimp in 2022, prompting systematic surveys across Udupi, Karwar and Mangaluru. Four female specimens were collected in Mulki and one in Odisha, all genetically matching.

Researchers warn the species may exist in very small, vulnerable populations as freshwater habitats face increasing pressure from pollution, sand mining and infrastructure development. All verified specimens have been deposited with the Zoological Survey of India for future reference.

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