Q.Why is no deduction allowed against winnings from lotteries and races, unlike most other incomes taxed under Income from Other Sources?

Winnings are deliberately taxed by a separate, stricter rule than the general provisions of this Head.

Most items under Income from Other Sources — Interest on Securities, family pension, and so on — permit specific deductions under Section 57 for expenses genuinely incurred in earning that income. Winnings from lotteries, crossword puzzles, races, card games, and other games/gambling/betting are, by contrast, governed by Section 115BB, which lays down a special, self-contained scheme: a flat 30% tax rate, applied to the FULL amount of the winning, with NO deduction of any expenditure or allowance permitted, and no benefit of the basic exemption limit. This is a deliberate policy choice by Parliament, not an accidental gap in the law — winnings of this kind are treated as a distinct, easily-identifiable category of income where the legislature has chosen a simple, non-negotiable flat-rate charge rather than the ord …

Students sometimes answer only 'because the law says so' without identifying that this is a SPECIFIC override (Section 115BB) of the GENERAL Section 57 deduction rule that applies to every other item in this chapter — nami …