P A G E
Thursday, December 24, 1998
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E D I T O R I A L P A G E |
Thursday, December 24, 1998 |
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Towards
minority rule
MISSING
SELF-RESTRAINT |
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Mop up ST with human face,
hard head
The
year of the onion
Hindu-Muslim
relations |
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Towards minority rule THE winter session of Parliament ended on Wednesday but not before underlining that the dangerous trend of a fractional minority stifling the voice of the majority. The Women Reservation Bill, which got the star billing, was close to being scuttled once again simply because a small group of MPs did not like the idea in the present form. But it has survived to see another day. The Vananchal Bill predictably ran into a storm, when the RJD members and their sundry supporters, all with deep lungs but shallow understanding, shouted down the introduction. They have a valid point but chose a totally invalid way to express it. The Bills to amend insurance laws and the Patent Act nearly fell by the wayside but were rescued by a gesture of support by the Congress. It is not that opposition to legislation or occasionally a few minutes of lung-cleaning is inappropriate or unusual. But to resort to a display of physical stamina like shouting, shoving and strolling to the well of the House to “kill” a measure is the antithesis of parliamentary practice and hence destructive of democracy itself. What the shouting brigade achieved is debatable but what Parliament and hence the country have lost is frightening. People are none the wiser about the core issues, the arguments in favour and against and what all this means to them. The IRA reconstruction will affect lakhs and lakhs of people seeking insurance cover while the Patents Bill may have a far-reaching impact on industry, trade and even agriculture. Did the MPs do their duty to inform the voters of what they were upto and why? They did not and, in the process, reduced the august House to a stamping chamber, just stamp approval after a brief or no debate at all. For instance, one afternoon the MPs “passed” a Bill to make death penalty mandatory in all cases of carrying or possessing RDX. With this a potential killer has a totally nonviolent way to go about his job: bribe a policeman to pass on a few grams of the deadly stuff from the seized stock and plant it on the intended victim. Of course tip off the same policeman. A verily life and death question failed to interest the law-makers while the division of a state and reservation within reservation for women claim their excited interest. In a healthy democracy,
the government takes decisions after a debate; in India
laws are made after shouting. Part of this problem is an
accurate reflection of the political system at large;
policies and programmes have given place to personality
clashes and airing charges. Indian politicians, at least
a large majority of them, have forgotten the art of
debate and hence moved far away from real issues. They do
not any more use words to communicate, but to condemn and
incite. This environment throws up certain leaders and
they do what comes to them both easily and instinctively.
But the danger does not come from such leaders who are
anyway a few in number. But whole parties decide in
advance to “block” this or that piece of
legislation. As though Parliament is the place for just
blocking. This very idea is to be blocked if India is to
prove worthy of democracy. |
Illegal immigration THE report of the ministerial task force set up by the Union Home Ministry on the issue of infiltration makes frightening reading. The number of those crossing over to India from neighbouring countries every year has crossed the three-lakh mark. The cumulative effect of this ever-increasing influx can be well imagined. The country is having to play an unwilling host to over 1.5 crore illegal immigrants. The figure may be as high as 1.8 crore because exact details are almost impossible to come by. Most of the immigrants are from Bangladesh. While 1.1 crore to 1.2 crore are residing in West Bengal, between 20 and 25 lakh are settled in Assam. Others are scattered all over the country, particularly in North-Eastern States. Most of these have migrated because of economic reasons and are open to exploitation of the worst kind. Even the national Capital has a substantial number of these. Worse off are the border districts of Assam and West Bengal whose very demographic profile has changed because of the influx. An overpopulated country like India can ill afford to bear this additional burden. Civic services like schools, hospitals, public transport, and drinking water are becoming hard to provide. Many of the immigrants are not able to eke out a living and take to crime, accentuating the anger against them. But even bigger is the danger of their being exploited by Islamic fundamentalists who look for emaciated people to carry out their dangerous designs. All these risks are well known to everybody but a serious attempt has never been made to curb the menace. The result is that the 4,000-km India-Bangladesh border is as porous as a sieve. The main reason is that
the terrain is so uneven and rough that it is not at all
easy to man it. Then there is the problem of rampant
corruption among the border security forces. Smuggling is
a routine affair and the smuggling of human cargo is seen
as nothing more than an extension of it. The report has
once again recommended the fencing of the border but that
is easier said than done. One stumbling block is the
riverine nature of the border area. Some 20 per cent of
the border pillars happen to be in the river beds and get
submerged every year. But the actual problem is
political. Bangladesh is, of course, not interested in
having a fencing at the border for obvious reasons and
has been resisting the move tooth and nail. What is
unfortunate is that there is no unanimity on the Indian
side either. The whole issue has become a political
football. Various parties make a hue and cry about the
problem of illegal immigration but only when it suits
them. The most curious has been the case of the AGP in
Assam. It was extremely vocal about throwing out the
foreigners in Rajiv Gandhi’s time but has taken a
U-turn ever since. Today, it thinks that it needs the
support of the minorities and hence has started opposing
fencing. Still, a via media has to be found because it is
not one State but the whole nation that is having to pay
a heavy price. Suggestions like proper lighting all along
the border, creation of a 150-yard no-man’s land and
restoration of border roads are quite implementable.
These are going to cost a lot of money but would be
cost-effective in the long run, given that the burden of
hosting the immigrants tends to be much higher. At the
same time, it is necessary to deploy more BSF personnel
in the border States of West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya,
Tripura and Mizoram. Equally important is to rotate their
posting every two years and to carry out regular and
stringent asset verification checks. |
Delhi’s crime graph WHENEVER there is a change of government in the national Capital, improving the crime situation invariably finds a place of prominence in the agenda of the new Chief Minister, though the police set-up is beyond his/her control. Thus Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s assurance to Delhites that her government had chalked out a plan to handle the crime problem in an effective manner is on the expected lines. But her admission that the situation is grim is definitely a cause for concern. Her admission raises an important question: if this is the state of affairs in India’s Capital, how can one blame the government in Bihar, or for that matter anywhere else, for the rulers’ failure to ensure the safety of the citizens’ life and limb there? People are not interested in technicalities. What they want is that the territory which is the seat of the nation’s Capital should be the safest place to live in. The Commissioner of Police, Mr V.N. Singh, has tried to give the impression that there is nothing much to worry about as the alarming rise in this year’s crime graph, compared to that of 1997, has been mainly because of an increase in the registration of FIRs at the police stations. He has been arguing on these lines for a long time. But his argument was made to appear hollow by former Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma in August itself when the latter stated in the course of a TV interview that “free and fair” registration of cases might be just one of the factors for the disturbing scenario. Another factor that Mr Verma mentioned, though only to explain away the situation, was that at least half a million people came to Delhi every year from different parts of the country and that nobody could be sure of their antecedents. What he meant to say was that crime was becoming uncontrollable in Delhi because of its fast growing population, and many of those coming from other areas could be criminals. Whatever the reasons or the factors, people continue to feel more and more insecure in Delhi. The Union Home Minister,
Mr LK Advani, admitted in July that law and order was a
major problem in the Capital, and then declared that his
government was taking it with all seriousness owing to
the significance of Delhi in the country’s scheme of
things. He tried to pacify the people by saying that it
would take some time for the results to come before the
public. We are still waiting for “the results”.
Now that Delhi has a new Chief Minister, belonging to the
Congress, the BJP’s principal rival at the national
level, let us see how far and in what manner she gets the
necessary cooperation from the Centre. A whole-hearted
involvement of the Centre is crucial for handling the
Capital’s crime crisis. Mrs Dikshit has sought the
cooperation of the public, and has announced the setting
up of “vigilance committees” for every area
soon. She is relying on the idea of creating increased
awareness among the people in this regard. The police
chief, who functions under the Lieut-Governor, has also
announced that his thrust will now be on
community-involvement. But Delhiites will be satisfied
with all this only when the metropolis loses its
nickname, “ the crime capital of India.” |
MISSING SELF-RESTRAINT THERE is justified public indignation over criminalisation of politics, pervasive corruption and crime, particularly against women. These are very basic, and now deep-rooted, problems which can have both short-term and long-term solutions. However, not enough attention seems to have been paid to the increasing coarsening of conduct and behaviour, both at the institutional and personal level. Take the conduct of parliamentarians and state legislators. Free for all, even in Parliament, especially during zero hour, has become passe. We have had the spectacle of Ms Mamata Banerjee seizing a Lok Sabha member by the collar in order to prevent him from entering the well of the House because the women members suspected that this particular member and the others of his party would try to seize the Bill on women’s reservation from the hands of the minister and tear it into pieces, as was done on a previous occasion, when the Bill was sought to be introduced. But the member allegedly pushed Ms Mamata Banerjee before she reacted. The matter has now been referred to the Privileges Committee, which will take perhaps its own time in arriving at a conclusion. But then the point to note is that there has been no public condemnation of the conduct of our parliamentarians for making a spectacle of themselves even within the two Houses. I have said two Houses because round about the same time some members of the Rajya Sabha were protesting against another Bill. They were determined not to allow its introduction. The Chairman, Mr Krishna Kant, sat exasperated, intoning from time to time that all that was happening would not go into the record. This is a favourite tool of the presiding officers for disciplining members, if possible; if not, to adjourn the House for a period. But I noticed Mr Krishna Kant ordering off the TV lights. This, for me, was something new, though I must confess I am not an avid watcher of parliamentary proceedings, which for an hour or two are telecast daily. It is not for me to enter into the mind of the Rajya Sabha Chairman as to why he resorted to this measure, but I cannot help speculating that perhaps he felt that the TV lights were encouraging the members to be more rumbustious than usual. Ordinarily, one would have thought though that galore of publicity would lead to sobriety on the part of the honourable members of Parliament. But clearly this had the opposite effect. Give a politician the mike or the TV arclight and he is most likely to make exhibition of himself. In fact, paralysing the work of the two Houses of Parliament has become an accepted tactic. Then there is the instance of the Bihar Chief Minister calling the Governor of the state “langda” (lame) in a public speech. Not that by his single point programme of putting Bihar under President’s rule the Governor, Mr S.S. Bhandari, has not provoked the ruling party, but then if parliamentary democracy has to survive in this country, public conduct of our constitutional functionaries must pass the test of civilised behaviour. If the Governor has erred, there is now the President to act as a check, so far as the imposition of President’s rule is concerned, but only self-restraint can work in the case of the Chief Minister’s public speeches. If our political leaders are falling short of the standards of civilised behaviour, the Press too is showing sharp departure from professionalism. A case in point is the defamation suit filed by the Attorney-General, Mr Soli Sorabjee, against The Asian Age for allegedly defaming him. Now that the matter is subjudice I would not comment on the merits of the case, but what I find objectionable is that, before writing the allegedly defamatory articles against a high constitutional functionary, the paper did not consider it proper to elicit Mr Soli Sorabjee’s version of the story. Briefly put, The Asian Age published two articles, one in November and the other in December. The first was published under the heading “Biased Soli opinion for Chhabaria in Sebi matters.” And the other under the heading “Sorabjee favoured Kishore Chhabaria sham loan fraud.” A legal notice was served on the Editor and other concerned persons on behalf of Mr Sorabjee. The notice pointed out three objectionable portions in the two articles. First, the opinion given by Mr Soli Sorabjee to Mr M.D. Chhabaria was in breach of the Law Officers’ Condition of Services Rule. Secondly, Mr Sorabjee was a “pliant and willing Attorney-General” who gave his opinion in order to favour the Chhabarias. And thirdly, Mr Sorabjee had ignored irrefutable evidence of sham loans, fraud transactions and manipulations of “paper companies unearthed by the Securities and Stock Exchange Board of India (SEBI). The notice demanded suitable correction to be displayed as prominently as the stories already published. It said legal proceedings would follow if this was not done. A draft correction was sent to Mr Sorabjee’s lawyers, who felt this was no correction at all. And hence the damage suit in the Delhi High Court. Now the point to note is that the United Breweries, owned by Mr Vijay Mallya, are the franchisees of The Asian Age and are in competition with the Chhabarias. Whether or not this influenced The Asian Age in publishing the articles will figure in this case and hence no conclusion is sought to be drawn here. However, as a general proposition, it may be said that, increasingly, newspapers owned by business groups, with honourable exceptions, are being used in a partisan manner and are thus deviating from the constitutional assumptions of a free Press. In short, lack of
self-restraint, all round, is causing as much damage to
our national fabric as the more heinous crimes such as
the criminalisation of politics or corruption in general.
The first is easier to correct than the second if there
be the national will. Attempts must be made in this
direction if the nation is not to go further downhill. |
Implications of American action in Iraq THE American attacks on Iraq have evoked near universal condemnation. And for good reasons. That the unilateral American action smacks of open contempt of the United Nations and defiance of the Security Council was obviously a major cause for concern. Fears have also been generated about the long-range impact on international relations of this naked display of American military prowess. Was it a bid to re-restablish the jungle law of “might is right”? The event has, undoubtedly, represented a major setback for democratic norms in international relations. Unless checked in time, it can possibly nullify the efforts of the last half a century to build a system to buttress global peace and security with the United Nations as its bulwark. True, in the new pattern being woven, the USA combines its military prowess with massive economic power — its own as well as that of its close allies. The range of American economic power, it may be interesting to note, is such that it could be used to muffle Pakistani protests on the present occasion. Was this the result of a deal with Mr Nawaz Sharif during the Pakistan Prime Minister’s recent visit to Washington? In contrast, Washington’s bid to build a political power caucus to back up its actions has not succeeded since none of its major NATO allies, barring Britain, has joined the American missile and air poundings of Iraq. France has not only stepped aside but also openly criticised the American aggression. Even more significant pointers of the shape of things to come are the sharp Russian and Chinese denunciation of Washington. How far American economic power can influence them will be watched closely. An important fallout of the happenings in Iraq is the implication for the Third World nations and the developing economies. In the modern-day world, with a high speed, technology-laden millennium knocking at our doors, military-political power is deployed to reinforce claims for a premium in the economic race. The USA makes no bones about this and is willing to grab selective goals and patents. And so, while Iraq could well be the whipping boy, the larger warning to errant nations — obviously the weaker nations — is writ large. They could at any stage be declared rogue states for the assertion of their rights. On such occasions, when it deals with what in its view are errant nations, the hideous face of the USA is revealed in complete contrast to that of vibrant American democracy. That was seen at its worst during the Vietnam war. After the ceasefire in that country, this writer was an eye-witness to the ghastly devastation wrought on entire cities, which had been reduced to rubble, without exception even of a single building. One shudders to think of the gruesome devastation in Iraq. The Third World and middle order nations have in particular, a cause for concern since the checks and balances provided by the American-Soviet rival power bloc of the Cold War days no longer exist, while the standing and effectiveness of the non-aligned nations’ organisation has eroded. These forebodings have obviously provided the backdrop for the strong Indian reaction to the American attacks on Iraq. That there was rare unanimity across the entire political spectrum in Parliament is, of course, notable. Even more pronounced is the condemnation at the party level, with the BJP, the Congress and Left parties being equally unequivocal. India could not fail to take note of the fact that the mailed fist was specially directed at weaker nations. Further, that the American action was a step to establish a dominant position could not but be noted with all the attendant implications in the world of today. Indian apprehensions have also been aggravated by the manner in which sanctions have been recently enforced against this country, by unilateral black-listing of hundreds of Indian companies and institutions, and by the en masse blockade of Indian scientists with visas denied or cancelled. However, there has been a welcome fallout on the sidelines of this brazen American action. It has provided powerful justification for the Indian decision to create a credible, tested nuclear deterrence. Had India faltered in conducting nuclear tests on May 11 and 13 at Pokhran, the prospect of establishing India’s nuclear deterrence would be lost forever. Pokhran was the last opportunity for India to break through the NPT cordon — after that it would have been too late. Even now the USA is adopting a mighty still posture for displaying advanced nuclear technology — never mind if it is indigenous. Had India ventured to test after the one-year grace period allowed under the CTBT resolution, it might have been counted a full-fledged rogue state. Where do we go from here?
The question posed is whether the Iraq poundings will
leave the UN system unimpaired, weakened or mauled. The
events have nevertheless proved that with the gaps and
weaknesses of the prevailing UN, nations cannot dispense
with minimum muscle power to safeguard their political
and economic rights in the modern world. —
IPA |
The
year of the onion OLD, very old, is the onion story. It begins much before the written word and continues into our own times.In fact, in recent weeks so much was said and made out of this lowly vegetable that a whole new book could be added to the onion saga. As you know, onions are not just for eating or flavouring other dishes. They have a place in folk medicine too. Besides, many beliefs centre round them. What the wits and wise men said about onions have become quips and quotes. Onions have inspired poets, artists and story-tellers. They have also tickled the humorist and so we have many jokes. Heard this before? Three things, it says, that you will find anywhere in the world are onions, potatoes and Punjabis. The new material is as varied and weighty as the onion story before it. No writer or researcher on onions can ignore it. Without it his or her narrative would be sadly incomplete.It all began with an increase in onions’ price. Nothing new this. Onions’ price had gone up quite a few times before. But this time it went, as a reporter put it, tearfully high. Apples seemed ridiculously cheap in comparison. The common man groaned and cried. Newspapers wrote about it. The leaders and some high-ups tried to explain the situation. But the people did not want explanations. They wanted onions. The Opposition sided with them. In Delhi, the ruling party tried to solve the problem by importing onions. And so onions were (for the first time in history) airlifted to India. Some came from the countries to which we exported onions. A case of Ulte bans Bareli ko. Meanwhile, the prices of other vegetables started jumping up. There were more groans. As polls in some states were round the corner, the price rise, the spiralling onion prices in particular, snowballed into an election issue. Electioneering always lends a new interest to newspapers and television. To it was this time added the pungency of onions. On TV there were debates, discussions and interviews in the context of onions. Papers carried edits on the poor man’s vegetable. Some commentators wrote on the politics of pyaz. Some others wrote on the plight of onion growers. Middle writers did it in their own way. One of them penned an ode (in prose) to the onion. An ad gave a sample of onion verse: The other day, in a bus, people had different opinions,It was all about election candidates offering free onions. At Divali time a cartoon suggested that a pack of onions would make an ideal festival gift. In another a man asked the genie of the lamp if he could bring him 2 kg onions. There were some titbits of onion news too. From a shed one night the thieves carried away, of all things, a bag full of onions. One of the election candidates moaned that his rival had violated the code of conduct. He had bought onions dear, but was selling them cheap to catch votes. Perhaps taking their cue from him or others like him, some stores offered a gift of onions to attract buyers. Then, if one campaigner wore a garland of onions, another was weighed in onions. At an election rally a huge onion-shaped balloon was displayed. Jaspal Bhatti organised (who else could?) an onion fashion show. Someone dubbed an opinion poll onion poll. His was a prophetic pun. As the results showed, the polls were decided mainly, if not entirely, on the basis of the price rise or onions’ price. Several things made big
news during 1998. The new coalition government at the
Centre. Pokhran II. Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s entry into
politics. Dropsy in the wake of adulterated mustard oil.
Cyclones and rail disasters. And Clinton’s
confessions.But the common man in India will remember
1998 as the year of the onion. |
Taxation blues Mop
up ST with human face, hard head AMONG all northern states Punjab has the lowest rate of growth of revenue. It is much less than the growth of non-Plan expenditure. It indicates that the fiscal indiscipline is high in the state. Not only resources are low in Punjab, but the tax regime itself suffers from inadequacies. There is no compliance of law in recovering taxes while certain in-built checks stand abolished. Evasion of tax is all pervasive. Concessions and populist measures have compounded the problem. Consequently, there are areas of conflict between the department of excise and taxation and the trade and commerce. Unless correctives are applied, Punjab will slip in performance because of poor inflow of revenue and excessive outflow of expenditure. Even internal working of the tax regime needs to be streamlined to make it “effective and efficient”. All redundant procedures have to be discarded. At least six Acts are being administered by the department of excise and taxation: 1. The Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948; 2. The Central Sales Tax Act, 1956; 3. The Punjab Excise Act, 1914; 4. The Punjab Entertainment Duty Act, 1995; 5. The Punjab Entertainment (Cinematography Shows) Act, 1954; and 6. The Punjab Motor Spirit (Taxation of Sales) Act, 1939 and the rules under these. The major irritant to the public arises from the administration of the PGST Act and the Central Sales Tax Act. The department collects nearly 75 per cent of tax revenue of which 55 per cent comes from sales tax and 45 per cent from excise. The trend in the ratio of sales tax collections vis-a-vis excise has been declining for some years. This process has accelerated with SAD-BJP Government making populist announcements and giving concessions. There is also dilution of basic tax collection framework. The economic scenario has changed in the state in the past 50 years; the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, however, remains in force. The Act does not reflect or, respond to the changed socio-economic realities. Sales tax is not merely a reflection of the economic situation. It is also a balancing wheel in the economy. It has to be “elastic” enough to adapt to the changes. But the PGST Act has not changed and remains inelastic. It is out of alignment, it has actually outlived its purpose. It has to be discarded. The financial condition of the state, as such, is so poor that the real per capita income is lower than the per capita debt. A poor tax realisation (additional resource mobilisation as the financial jargon goes) has deepened the financial crisis. The report of a committee of officers set up to prepare “A strategy of fiscal management for Punjab “ has expressed concern over “poor growth of taxes” in the state. The report says that certain suggested steps (reforms as it calls) are taken, the expected savings or additional resources could be Rs 45 crore (January to March next year) and Rs 185 crore in 1999-2000. The report is against giving further financial incentives and subsidies to any categories without clearance of the finance department and approval of the Council of Ministers. Mr Y.S. Ratra is understood to have suggested some “radical” changes. His suggestions are broadly under four major heads: enforcement, assessment, tax structure and general administration. Several factors have contributed to a slowdown in tax collections, resulting in problems in the procedures and tax compliance. Political expediency and a nexus between trade and department staff have further complicated matters. Way back on April 1,1995, the government announced two major concessions which have affected the collection of taxes. The government, in one stroke, abolished the ST-XXII and ST-XXII-A forms, serially numbered, printed and issued by the government for claiming deductions on intra-state sales. The dealers were allowed to print their own forms on the back side of sales bills. Thus the department was deprived of a major source of information. Then began a system when dealers would manipulate and file bogus claims of deductions which could not be verified, the practice is endemic. The second was the abolition of sales tax barriers. The department could no longer gather information on imports and exports made by dealers of Punjab. Prior to this, dealers’ declarations were linked with assessment files. A psychological fear lurked. Now dealers openly evade tax since there is no fear of being caught. Based on an interface with trade the Ratra report recommends that Punjab should set up “inter-state trade information centres” on selective routes, say, 10 or 12. These would collect information on goods in transit. These centres will not act as barriers on the old pattern. These will have computerised system for collection and dissemination of information. Trade has a grudge against the enforcement wing, but the same cannot be dissolved since it is the only anti-evasion wing existing. But the discretionary powers under the PGST Act must be reduced. The present penalty (15 to 30 per cent) can be reduced to 20 to 30 per cent. At the proposed centres information will be collected in a proforma, serially numbered, printed and issued by the department. The incoming and outgoing trucks will follow a prescribed route on which are located assigned centres. There should be hired or built godowns for detaining and sorting goods. Inspection of business premises will be permitted only by the assistant excise and taxation commissioner, in charge of a district. Public men be associated doing inspection, as in the case of income tax department. Recasting the PGST Act is another recommendation. A booklet can be printed listing the provisions which a trader should know so that an official does not misinterpret. This should be updated as and when amendments are made. Assessment is a major activity engaging nearly 60 per cent of the staff. There are 4.50 lakh assessment cases pending for want of staff. This is despite the summary assessment scheme. Now dealers having a gross turnover of Rs 20 lakh or less are eligible for summary assessment, if some conditions are met. The report suggests introducing deemed assessment from a cut-off date, 1995-96, which will be a “facility” for trade and will minimise “harassment”. This deemed assessment should be for traders with a turn over upto Rs 30 lakh. A flat rate of tax may be charged on the basis of their turn-over, which can be fixed at Rs 100 per one lakh turn-over for each assessment year with no questions asked. For current assessment upto Rs 20 lakh turn-over, the dealer be deemed to have been assessed, if he pays 15 per cent tax over the previous year with no questions asked, thereafter. There should, however, be 10 per cent random scrutiny. The Ratra report wants punishment, a jail term or the department to impose fine for filing false returns and evading tax. Prosecution is must. If government wants to streamline procedures to reduce harassment to the trading community, let the latter also be honest to pay or face prosecution. The nexus between transporters and traders should also be broken. Dealers can be allowed to prefer appeals by depositing 25 per cent of the penalty. The department should not insist on the full amount of penalty. If appeal is upheld the money can be refunded. For the second and further appeal, additional 25 per cent of the penalty must be deposited. Secretarial help to the department is needed. Even decentralisation is a good idea. The industrial policy with regard to sales tax exemption needs to be reviewed. Neither tax holidays nor exemptions boost industrial output. This play has failed all over the world. Value Added Tax is a major recommendation of the report. It is a tax on domestic consumption, the final and total burden of which is fully and exclusively borne by the consumer of goods and services. Consequently, except for the cost of compliance, VAT is in fact cost-free to business unless the business deals in or purchases exempt goods and services or does not comply with the rules. Thus the taxpayer under VAT is not one who actually pays the tax. But the one who collects the tax in the name of and on behalf of the government. Several steps are required to be undertaken before VAT is introduced. This is just one aspect to
improve Punjab’s financial health. It has to match
other measures, particularly aimed at curtailing
non-productive expenditure. |
Hindu-Muslim relations THE Joint Committee of the leading Hindus and Mohammedans, that has been mainly responsible for bringing about a compromise, was busy holding meetings last week trying to devise methods to keep the peace. Leading Mohammedans issued a manifesto condemning the actions of those who created the trouble at an intercaste dinner held by the Hindus some time back, which incident is said to be the apparent starting point of communal differences. An Arbitration Committee has been appointed to settle future differences arising between the communities, and much spade work has been done. Notwithstanding these
efforts, communal peace appears still far as strained
relations are visible to an appreciable extent. The
boycott of shops still continues, wherever possible. The
Hindus had opened a new vegetable market, which still
retains all signs of being a permanent one. |
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