India:Government for Stable Tax Regime, says the Finance Minister

The Union Finance Minister, Shri P. Chidambaram said that the Government is fully committed to provide best possible facilities to the tax payers for better tax compliance and revenue augmentation. He said that our focus is always to have a reasonably stable tax regime which is in the interest of both the tax payers as well as tax collectors. The Finance Minister Shri Chidambaram was speaking at the 5th Meeting of Consultative Committee attached to his Ministry here today. The agenda of the meeting was ‘Facilitation for Tax Payers’. The Finance Minister stressed the need for systematic changes including strengthening of the tax information system for better collection of taxes. He said that at present 3.5 crore people are filing income tax returns. Only 14.6 lakh people have declared their income of Rs. 10.00 lakh and above for tax purposes which is not realistic. The Finance Minister informed that we have moderate rate of income tax as compared to various developed countries. Our peak rate of taxation is 30% at present. Therefore, there is lot of scope for better tax compliance and tax collections, the Minister added. The Finance Minister informed that about 50% tax payers are filing their return through e-mode. He said that there is a need for more and more tax payers to electronically file their return as it well help in expediting tax processing and refund process. The Finance Minister informed the members that during last year i.e. 2011-12, till this time, refund of Rs. 70,000 crore was made which included arrears for the previous year(s) while during the current year i.e. 2012-13, refund to the tune of Rs. 57,000 crore have been made. He said that the target for collection of direct taxes for the current year i.e., 2012-13 is fixed at Rs. 5,70,251 crore.

The Members of the Consultative Committee present in the meeting suggested various measures for improving relationship with tax payers. Some members suggested that efforts be made to keep the tax rates low for better compliance. Some suggested that interest on refund may be paid at least at the bank rate of interest. Some Members suggested for widening of tax base for higher revenue collections. Some Members said that tax facilitation centres be opened in rural areas which in turn will help in increased revenue generation. Tax awareness campaign for payment of due taxes on time may also be undertaken in the local language.

Along with the Union Finance Minister, Shri P. Chidambaram, Shri S.S. Palanimanickam, Minister of State for Finance, Shri Namo Narain Meena, Minister of State for Finance, Shri R.S. Gujral, Finance Secretary, Shri Sumit Bose, Revenue Secretary, Shri Arvind Mayaram, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Dr. Poonam Kishore Saxena, Chairman, CBDT, Ms. Praveen Mahajan, Chairman CBEC and other senior officers of Ministry of Finance were also present during the meeting. Among the Members of Consultative Committee Shri Prabhatsinh Chauhan, Smt. Rajkumari Ratna Singh, Shri S.P.Y. Reddy, Prof. Saugata Roy, Shri W. Bhausaheb Rajaram and Shri M.S. Reddy (all Members of Lok Sabha); Shri Ajay Sancheti, Shri Birender Singh, Shri N.K. Singh, Shri Sabir Ali and Dr. Ashok Sekhar Ganguly (all Members of Rajya Sabha) also attended the aforesaid Consultative Committee Meeting.

Annual Gutor prayers and Kagyed Chaam begin at Enchey Monastery

GANGTOK, 11 Dec 2012

Source:Sikkim Now

: The annual Gutor Puja and the Kayged Chaam [a masked lama dance] began today here at the Sa-Ngag Rabtenling Monastery [Enchey Monastery] situated at Chandmari. The prayers and dance are performed every year by the monks of the Enchey Monastery and is organized by the Enchey Gonpa Committee, informed Karma Samphel, one of the committee members, while speaking to NOW! today. The dates and timing are fixed by monks according to the Tibetan calendar, he added.
The puja is performed to ward off evil omens and seek prosperity for the people and world peace. The prayers are being led by Tulku Pema Kundal, the head monk of Enchey Monastery. The masked lama dance, meanwhile, depicts peaceful and wrathful deities.
On the first day [11 December], a series of 10 dances were performed while on the second day i.e 12 December [Kagyed Chaam] a series of 14 dances will be performed by the monks. The ritual will also include Hsorphang [burning ceremony of sacrificial objects signifying ending of bad influence of evil spirit over human beings and for the well being of all the people] till next year’s ceremony, Mr. Samphel informs.
The devotees who attend the performances with faith and devotion, it is believed, will be freed from the fear and suffering experienced while passing through the Sipa Bardo [the last and final stage of the intermediate state that lies between death and rebirth].

Sikkim- Arrest Orange Fruit Drop

Collaborative effort required to arrest Orange Fruit Drop

KC PRADHAN, a Concerned  Horticulturist
(Source:sikkim now)

I read the editorial in NOW! [“Missing Bees”] on the decline in all major cash crops of the State with concern. It was horrifying to see the colossal amount of orange fruit drop in Dzongu as telecast in local cable news a few days back. Lum in Dzongu was considered a highly prized citrus growing belt immune to any serious diseases. This plight might be rampant elsewhere in the state as well.
Though the concerned Department might be already on the job, nevertheless, it is good for the people at large to know and to launch a massive campaign – rather a Panchayat-wise effort - to collate information on one hand and cultivators’ perception on the other without trying to influence information. This should help people at large invest in a brainstorming session in which both, the scientists assigned to the job and progressive growers, can have interactive sessions with a view to come out with a methodology in the best manner possible from the information gathered. Bhutan faces a similar situation and serious research is being carried out there with the help of outside expertise. The situation is too huge for the department officials alone to tackle and people’s participation is urgently required. The fallen fruits should be collected on a daily basis and maggots destroyed before they pupate underground to emerge as Fruit Flies in more damaging proportions. The whole cycle being less than 40 days, it is advisable to take it as an emergency campaign. Though it is the tail end, nevertheless it is worth a try wherever the situation still demands it.
The usual procedure as narrated in literature is to collect the fallen fruits and bury them in four feet deep trenches. The fruits collected in thick plastic bags, the tops tied and exposed to a full blast of the Sun has proven effective in destroying the maggots. It is also advisable for farmers to know the lifecycle of the Fly (Dacus dorsalis) so that they can devise their own methods to contain it. It is learnt an “adult fly punctures the ripening fruits by penetrating its needlelike ovipositor and laying eggs just inside the inner rind of the fruit. Larva on hatching feeds on the pulp inside. Fungal and bacterial infection takes place through the puncture hole due to which rottening of fruit occurs. The fruit ultimately drops down. This usually occurs when the fruits start ripening as the yellow colour attracts the Flies.
The female inserts 2-15 eggs into the rind of the ripening fruit, and around 200 eggs are laid in a month’s period which hatch in about 2-3 days during summer and 10 days in winter. The maggots take 16-29 days to attain full growth in the pulp and then undergo pupation 3-7 inches deep in the soil. The adults emerge after 4-14 days depending upon the climatic conditions”.
Such being the lifecycle of the Fruit Fly, unless it is systematically destroyed on a routine basis, soon it spell the end of Sikkim orange (mandarin) as it happened with Sikkim Apples with scab-disease some thirty years back.
Since an Organic Pesticide and Fertilizers manufacturing unit has been established in the State, it would also be well advised to put them on the job and to see how efficient it is. In most Citrus growing countries it is regular practice to spray chemicals to destroy the flies. But since Sikkim has gone Organic, it is vital that some effective organic pesticides are lined up well in time and importantly it is well publicized besides made easily available.
The efficacy of fruit traps that were supplied is also good to know along with farmers’ perception. ICAR and Krishi Kendras should also be roped in to contain this emerging menace that is being observed in Citrus. It is also important to understand and study the situation in citrus orchards outside the State.
Large Cardamom and Apples, as mentioned in the Editorial, are other areas that demand equally urgent attention. Before such a meet is held it is important to understand the exact state of affairs on the field, the various programmes already in action both by the Department and the Central Govt. agencies based in the State, the synthesis of which, have to be combined with the stakeholders with a view to come up with a well conceived and unanimously accepted and endorsed line of action. This participatory approach alone is the answer to these rather vexing problems.

India- Demographic dividend- Till when ??

More than two thousand years ago, a famous Greek orator by the name of Demosthenes had said, "What a man wishes, that also will he believe." In other words, we often only see what we want to see. We tend to ignore facts that do not boost our hopes and wishes.

To quite an extent, this seems to be the case with how India's economic growth has been projected. Popular media images portray India in a highly optimistic vein. India, the second fastest growing economy after China... The country with the highest and growing youth population... And so on... But how long can you keep cheering an economy based on these fancy facts?

The problem is that this overoptimistic perception tends to distort several harsh realities plaguing India. For instance, the humungous size of our country's population has been one of the biggest challenges for over two decades. Nothing concrete has been done to deal with this rising challenge. On the contrary, as an article in the Economic Times aptly points out, the problem has been disguised as an opportunity by mere use of terms such as 'demographic dividend'. While papers and books on the subject may have earned economists some reputation, India's demographics have been pretty unproductive so far. Policymakers have been talking about creating 250 million skilled jobs by 2025. But in the last one decade, we have merely achieved 5% of that target.

On several major parameters, India ranks poorly when compared to the other BRIC economies. It is worth noting that the population of Brazil and Russia is just 16% and 18% of India's population, respectively. Yet both these economies, in terms of GDP, are bigger by 36% and 20% respectively. On the other hand, China's population is 10% higher than India. But the GDP is four times the size of India's GDP. Effectively, all economies have a much higher per capita income relative to India.


A part of India's growth is contributed by the growing population. This addition must be adjusted while considering long term growth prospects. Today's chart of the day shows that India's incremental per capita GDP is a paltry US$ 84. This highlights the problem of low productivity in our country. In fact, the article goes on to state that at current levels of productivity, for India to get where Brazil, Russia and China are today (in terms of per capita income), it will take 39, 43 and 24 years respectively.

The bottomline is that our policymakers really need to roll up their sleeves and focus on the big picture. There is a strong need for progressive reforms across all systems. Only then will India really be able to lay its claims on the so-called 'demographic dividend'. ( By J Mulraj)