The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Cairn starts 2nd oil plant New Delhi, April 25 Cairn India has started the second crude oil processing plant at its giant Mangala oilfield in Thar deserts of Rajasthan, which will help the company ramp up output for the nation's most prolific oilfield. Mangala currently produces about 30,000 barrels of oil per day (1.5 million tonnes a year) which is processed at Train-1 near Barmer before being sold to refiners. "The company today initiated the start-up of Train-2 (second oil processing plant) which has a capacity of 50,000 bpd (2.5 million tonnes a year)," an industry source said. Cairn will stabilise operations at Train-2 for the next few days and after commissioning, it will help Mangala field production to ramp up to 80,000 bpd (4 million tonnes a year). Despite repeated attempts, company spokesperson could not be reached for comments. The peak output from Mangala is envisaged at minimum 1,25,000 bpd, expected in second half of this year. Cairn output will help offset the decline in crude oil production at the ONGC that could not meet its targeted output in 2009-10 fiscal. The company can produce up to 2,40,000 barrels per day from Rajasthan fields, equivalent to output from the nation's largest oilfield of Bombay High. Cairn India CEO Rahul Dhir last month wrote to the Petroleum Ministry and the sector regulator DGH informing it that it could produce 37 per cent more oil from the Thar desert than previously thought. "Based on our review, we estimate that the potential resource in the (Rajasthan) block is now estimated to be 6.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent in place. This resource base provides a basis for a vision to produce 2,40,000 barrels of oil per day, subject of course to necessary approvals and additional investments," he wrote in identical letters to Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, Oil Secretary S Sundareshan and DGH Director-General S K Srivastava. Source said Cairn was building a third train as also a 670-km heated pipeline to Salaya in Gujarat that would transport the crude from the field to refiners. Completion of Train-3 and the pipeline was expected over the next few months which will help take Mangala output to its peak. At present, the crude from Mangala is being trucked to Kandla Port and then shipped to MRPL and RIL. Special heated trucks transport the crude from Barmer to Gujarat Coast. Cairn already has tied up sale of 1,43,000 bpd to MRPL, HPCL, IndianOil, Reliance Industries and Essar Oil. The source said the pipeline was expected to be commissioned during this quarter. Work on the final delivery infrastructure to each buyer was also nearing completion. Cairn India, the operator of RJ-ON-90/1 block, commenced crude production from the Mangala field on August 29 last year. Cairn India holds 70 per cent participating interest with the remaining 30 per cent being held by the ONGC. The peak production from Mangala, Bhagyam and Aishwariya — three of the 18 oil and gas finds Cairn has made in the Rajasthan block and that are first being put to production — is expected to be ramped up to 1,75,000 bpd by 2011. The source said Cairn India was in advanced stages of commissioning the 670-km heated and insulated pipeline from Barmer to the Gujarat coast, which is the world's longest continuously heated and insulated crude oil pipeline with access to 75 per cent of India's refining capacity. — PTI
	Tax Advice Exempt senior citizen from PAN card by SC Vasudeva Q. I am 70 years now. Kindly exempt senior citizens pensioners from obtaining fresh PAN card. I am in the evening of my life. Please don’t harass us at this stage. Please give the permission of quoting voter card number, nothing else or pay us Rs 160 for having a PAN card. Please simplify the things. — Baldev Raj A. Your query regarding PAN card to be issued without payment should be addressed to the Central Board of Taxes. It is for the Central Board of Direct Taxes to grant such an exemption. Account extension Q. I opened an account which will complete five years in March, 2010. Can I extend the account for three years before completing the term and available benefit under Section 80C of the Income-Tax Act or I will have to close the account and reopen for 5 years. — SP Goyal A. The deposit made under Senior Citizen Saving Scheme Rules 2004 can be extended for a further period of 3 years within a period of one year after the maturity period. In view thereof, it will not be possible for you to extend the account for a further period of 3 years before completing the term of five years. The benefit will be available under Section 80C of the Act for the extended period in respect of the deposit if any made in such an account within the prescribed limit of Rs.15 lakh. LTC to retiree Q. Is the amount of leave travel concession granted to any retired pensioner is counted towards his gross income for the purpose of calculating income tax, if the pensioner has actually incurred much more than the amount of LTC claimed with authentic proof of original railway reservation tickets. This amount is not taken into gross income of regular govt. employees for the purpose of tax. — Shashi K. Kapil A. Rule 2 B of the Income Tax Rules 1962 deals with conditions for the claim of exemption in respect of value of travel concession or assistance received by or due to the individual from his employer or former employer for himself and his family in connection with his proceeding on leave to any place in India or to any place in India after retirement from service or after the termination of service. The rule provides that the actual amount incurred on performance of such travel shall be exempt subject to certain conditions specified in the rule. In view thereof, the amount of the travel concession granted to you by your former employer will be exempt from tax to the extent of amount actually incurred provided the computation in respect of actual expenditure is made in accordance with the rule. Pension arrears Q. On revision of pension, I have received arrears of pension for the period January 1, 06, to December 31, 09. I want to fill form 10E and revise the returns of the years 2005-06 (Jan & Feb.), 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09 while filing my return for the current financial year 2009-10. Kindly clarify: Whether I can get the benefit of rebate in tax for deposits made by me in the PPF A/c of my son, who is not availing such benefit of rebate. Whether I can get the benefit of this rebate for deposits of PPF made by me in the PPF A/c of any son for the four previous years, the benefit of such rebate was neither claimed by me earlier nor my son. — S.K. Sachdeva A. It will not be possible for you to revise the return for the financial years 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08. You will be able to revise the return for the financial years 2008-09 only. This is because a return can be revised within one year of the end of the assessment year in accordance with the provisions of Section 139(5) of the Act. Since, you have also mentioned that you will be filing form 10E for claiming the relief under Section 89 of the Act in view of the arrears of pension received by you, there is no need to revise the return for the financial years referred to in your query. A PPF account can be opened by an individual on his own behalf or on behalf of a minor of whom he is the guardian. The deduction under Section 80C of the Act is also allowable in respect of the subscription made by an individual to his PF account. You will, therefore, not be entitled to claim any deduction under Section 80C of the Act in respect of amount deposited in the PPF account of your son/sons. Compassionate aid Q. In your answer to a question in The Tribune columns dated March 1, 2010, it is stated that the Compassionate Assistance (Last drawn salary) per month to the spouse or dependent of a Haryana Government employee, in case of his death, during his service is not taxable. Will you intimate the section of Income tax Act 1961 under which this exemption is allowed. Whether the family pension (which is half or even less than half of the last salary drawn) to the spouse or dependent of a Central Government employee, in case of his death during his service, is also not taxable. In case the answer to 2nd is no, then in such case whether the family pension should also not be exempted till the age of superannuation of the deceased employee. — Suresh Chand Goyal A. The amount of compassionate assistance has been held to be not taxable by the Supreme Court (Refer 195 ITR 877). The family pension received by the spouse or dependent of a government employee in case of his death will be taxable in the hands of the legal heirs. The amount of compassionate assistance is not taxable if it is in accordance with the norms laid down by the Supreme Court in the decision. A careful reading of the decision will reveal that the receipt of family pension cannot be equated with the receipt of compassionate assistance.
	Aviation Notes Need to revive Delhi Flying Club by KR Wadhwaney Safdurjung Airport has had a golden background in the realm of civil aviation. For years, it had the only air-strip used for operations on domestic routes. It also housed a prized outfit, the Delhi Flying Club (DFC), which produced a cream of commercial pilots. Rajiv Gandhi, a renowned pilot, regularly operated from here. It is the air strip that should stay with the aviation sector. It houses a very sophisticated and delicate equipment; it has hangars and other machinery useful to flying. Even after closing flying operations from this airport owing to its being in close proximity with many VVIP houses, including the residence of the Prime Minister, it is still being used for occasional VVIP flights. It is one airport, which is ideally suited for training of pilots. It is necessary because Rae Bareli's Indira Gandhi Uran Academy has not been functioning as meticulously as it ought to despite enormous funds. The truth is that it has more politics and internal bickering than the intricacies required in flying. In view of paucity of experienced commercial commanders, it will be of immense value if the Delhi Flying Club is revived and training of pilots started. If revived, it should function under the umbrella of the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), sitting on the other side of the airport. The DGCA then may initiate an independent wing for pilot training. During the last decade, the valuable infrastructure has been lying virtually unutilised. Several proposals from different ministries have been floated and rejected. The latest attempt is being made by the Land & Development Office (L&DO) and the Urban Ministry to reclaim the complex. While L&DO has claimed the land, the Urban Ministry has asked the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to stop construction work, whatever it may be. Actually, the AAI is the wrong arm of the government to possess this 190-acre complex. The AAI's track record is far from satisfactory except collecting levies, taxes and rentals. It should be under the control of the DGCA. Actually, a part of this complex should be developed to house glorious history of the Indian civil aviation when JRD Tata was at the helm of affairs. Then India was among the leading countries in the aviation sector. Now, it is languishing at the bottom owing to lack of ideas and planning. There is of course no dearth of competent and skilful persons. The truth is that there is little rapport between the L&DO and the Civil Aviation Ministry. They stand in different corridors. The study reveals that precious land and costly equipment are needlessly being wasted. The government should take decision one way or the other instead of allowing the complex to die on account of disuse.
	Pact with US firm on RCom radar Girja Shankar Kaura Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 25 Reliance Communications (RCom) is all set to further expand its footprint abroad, this time on the applications sides. It is close to signing an agreement with the world’s second largest applications store company, US-based GetJar, which will allow RCom to offer a choice of over 50,000 additional mobile applications making it the largest applications store service offered by an Indian telecom operator in a country. Currently, applications store is most popular in Asia and accounts for a stupendous 37 per cent of the global downloads. The revenue potential in Europe is set to soar from $1.5 billion in 2009 to $8.5 billion in 2012, while in North America, the figure will increase from $2.1 billion to $6.7 billion in 2012. The tie-up with GetJar will allow RCom to offer its applications store to a large bandwidth of mobile handsets across multiple brands and not remain restricted to a few high-end smartphones. Reliance Communications will offer the GetJar applications across GSM and CDMA networks through its R-World platform. GetJar is the world’s largest cross platform applications store. It provides more than 50,000 mobile applications across all major handsets and platforms to consumers in more than 200 countries. In addition to distributing content directly to consumers, GetJar also works with Sony Ericsson, Sprint, Opera, Vodafone, 3UK, Virgin Mobile and others as its distribution partners. Incidentally, globally, the battle for the applications stores is well under way. In 2009, the number of application stores leapt from eight to 38. GetJar is the most cost-effective, easy and scalable distribution channel. RCom will be able to leverage in order to generate traffic to its network. With over 300 per cent growth year-on-year, GetJar averages over one million downloads per day globally.
	Airtel World SIM for intl travellers New Delhi, April 25 Bharti Airtel today said it had launched a new SIM card for global travellers through which a customer can save up to 85 per cent on international calls. Airtel World SIM enables outbound travellers to retain their local number as calls made on Airtel India number will be forwarded on the new Airtel World SIM. It costs a fraction of international roaming and customers save up to 85 per cent on international calls, Airtel said in a statement. Airtel World SIM also offers a single mobile number valid across 190 countries that will help international travellers not to carry multiple SIMs for different countries. The new service will be initially available to Airtel customers in Delhi, followed by rest of the country, the company said. Airtel World SIM could be recharged online anywhere, the company added. — PTI
	Mittal among top 25 donors Tribune News Service Ludhiana, April 25 Ludhiana-based Sunil Bharti Mittal and the Bharti Foundation have been ranked among "25 Best Givers in the World" by Barron's magazine, part of the Wall Street Journal Group, which developed the listing in collaboration with consulting firm Global Philanthropy Group. The magazine ranked Sunil Bharti Mittal at 16th position among 25 top philanthropists and he is the only Asian on the list. Arti Foundation has set up 236 primary schools across India, with around 29,000 children and over 1100 teachers. The first senior secondary school was inaugurated in Punjab this month. According to a representative of the Global Philanthropy Group, Mittal has opened nearly 200 schools so far.