The Department of Income Tax, which is known to be enforcement centric, is tax-payer friendly and technology-driven, said Chief Commissioner of Income Tax V.S. Sreelekha here on Friday on July 24, 2026.
Speaking at the 167th Income Tax Day celebrations, she said that for the country’s development and for social expenditure, it was the supreme duty to pay income tax. The department had collected ₹24 lakh crore in the financial year 2025-26, accounting to 69 % to the exchequer.
Hailing Padmashri G. Natchiar, Member GOVEL Trust and Director-Emeritus Aravind Eye Care System, who was the chief guest, Ms. Sreelekha said that Aravind Hospitals was not only a landmark in Tamil Nadu, but has a global recognition.
In her address, Dr. Natchiar spoke on the journey of Aravind Eye Hospital, the factors which were responsible for the consistent and ethical services in the institution and importance for vision and mission leadership, values and cultures.
The renowned doctor said that blindness should not be looked as a disease, but a country’s problem as one-third of the population accounted for blindness or related issues. The Aravind-model, which is adopted in many countries in the globe, had fetched encouraging results that blindness rate has come down in developing countries as well.
Appealing to the youngsters not to underestimate India, she said that women empowerment and equipping knowledge, especially for rural population, would narrow down the gaps and result in an overall growth.
Taking pride in her institution, she said that the productivity of eye surgeons at the Aravind Eye Hospital was very high and attributed it to team work and collective responsibility.
Earlier, Central Board of Direct Taxes Chairman Ravi Agrawal, in an address through a video, greeted the officials and appealed to them to be responsive and responsible in every service provided to the tax-payers. The new IT Act and the outreach programmes have brought the public closer to the department. He said that research and analytics had reached an important phase. The use of NUDGE (non-intrusive usage of data to guide and enable) theory, Artificial Intelligence and others had tremendous potential and the benefits should reach the people, he added.
A pledge was taken on the occasion by the officials. Additional Director IT Yassar Arafat and Additional Commissioner Michael Jerald and other senior officers participated.
