Book review: Ayodhya Conspiracy 1949: The Real Story (Anil Rajimwale)

Book review: Ayodhya Conspiracy 1949: The Real Story (Anil Rajimwale)

Free lunch, only for rich

Devinder Sharma, Jan 30, 2013

India Inc got a tax exemption of Rs 5.29 lakh crore, as ‘incentive for growth,’ good enough to wipe out the fiscal deficit.

In the run up to Budget 2013, I hear it every day. Subsidies are doles to the poor, must be curbed. There are no ‘free lunches.’ While social security for a majority of India’s population is being considered as ‘free lunch,’ hardly anyone questions the ‘free monthly ration’ that the industry is being given year after year.

Subsidies have become a bad word. The massive subsidies that the rich get therefore are dubbed as ‘incentives for growth.’ Poor get subsidies, the rich thrive on ‘incentive for growth’. While the total budget expenditure in 2012-13 was Rs 14.9 lakh crore, the subsidies have risen to Rs 1.78 lakh crore, and the clamour is for pruning the subsidies to reduce the fiscal deficit. Bulks of these subsidies go for food, fertiliser and petroleum.

In the past few months, the government has steadily withdrawn from providing petroleum subsidies by decontrolling petrol and lately by partially decontrolling diesel. Subsidised LPG supplies have also been curtailed. In case of food and fertiliser, all kinds of permutations and combinations are being tried out and some new proposals are waiting including direct cash transfer. Kerosene subsidies so far have escaped the scissors. Rail fares have been hiked after a decade. The hike is expected to provide Rs 6,600-crore every year.

So in a way, the government is on the right path with all ‘free lunches,’ as most economists and consultancy firm executives who appear on TV regularly say, being gradually withdrawn. But when it comes to industry, not only the bread and butter but the entire monthly ration is being provided free. The only difference, as I said earlier, is that these subsidies are under the head ‘incentive for growth,’ which is a very clever way of camouflaging the dirty subsidies.

Let me begin by citing the latest exemption. C Rangarajan, the chief economic advisor to the prime minister has recently proposed that the super-rich in India should be taxed at a higher rate -- 40 per cent, against the present norm of 30 per cent. All hell broke loose the moment he said this. India Inc and business TV channels have launched an orchestrated campaign to see that the super-rich are not brought under a higher tax slab.

Raising the income tax limit for the super-rich will bring in Rs 22,000-crore revenue every year. But the rich should not be taxed, it will kill entrepreneurship, is the oft-repeated argument. A few days back, the stock market crossed 20K index because the government deferred the introduction of GAAR to 2016. This move alone would have curbed the inflow of dirty money (and often bloody money) coming from the tax haven of Mauritius.

Gross irregularity
The chairpersons of FICCI and CII, and all top business honchos were visibly elated that GAAR has been deferred. If implemented, this move alone would have mopped up anything exceeding Rs 50,000 crore. In any case, it is the rich who circumvent tax laws to escape paying the legitimate taxes. Finance minister P Chidambaram had lamented that out of the 3.5 crore people who pay taxes, only 14.6 lakh have shown an income exceeding Rs 10 lakh/year. Now this is certainly a gross irregularity, and all out efforts must be made to ensure that there is proper compliance of the tax laws.

 But has there been any serious effort in recovering the taxes that are due from the rich? Well, your guess is as good as mine. No, never. After all, the rich must continue to get their free ration. On top of it, in 2012 Budget, under the ‘revenue foregone’ category, India Inc got a tax exemption, of course as ‘incentive for growth’ of Rs 5.29 lakh crore, good enough to wipe out the entire fiscal deficit that Chidambaram keeps on crying about.

Since 2004-05, the revenue foregone adds up to more than Rs 27 lakh crore. And yet, the exports have not risen, the manufacturing sector is down, and the industry continues to slog. But despite the industrial stagnation and downturn that is visible all these years, the crporates are sitting over a huge cash pile. By March 2012, Indian Inc had hoarded a cash surplus of Rs 9-lakh crore. Therefore quite obviously the free monthly ration is adding to the bottom line of the companies.

Add to the tax exemptions, usurping of natural resources, including forests, mineral resources, water and land, aided and abetted by the government. The land grab that is taking place, and the manner in which laws are being formulated to benefit the industry, is also a covert form of subsidy. It is only that we don’t want to see these subsidies or we are paid not to demystify these subsidies.

Most of us are beneficiaries of the same system that subsidises the rich, and obviously we wouldn’t like to cut the hand that feeds us. All this is in the name of encouraging entrepreneurship. If the industrialists are entrepreneurs, isn’t the farmer, the artisan, the petty shopkeeper and for that the struggling aam aadmi also an entrepreneur? How come that he doesn’t need any support, and it is only the rich who deserve to live on state exchequer?

source:  Deccan Herald 31-01-2013 editorial

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/308787/free-lunch-only-rich.html

Nafiza story

வழிக்கின்றது நெஞ்சம் அழுகின்றது கண்கள் நபீஸாவுக்காக 

என்னை ஏழ்மையில் பிறக்கவைத்த சமூகம் குற்றவாளி இல்லை 
என்னை வேலைக்கு அனுப்பிய பெற்றோரும் குற்றவாளி இல்லை சிறுமியாகிய என்னை வயது மாற்றி அனுப்பிய ஏஜண்டும் குற்றவாளி அல்ல
தன் பிள்ளையை என்னை விட்டு பாலூட்ட சொன்ன தாயும் குற்றவாளி அல்ல
என் கையில் மூச்சுவிட மறுத்த அந்த குழந்தையும் குற்றவாளி அல்ல
எனது தரப்பை சொல்ல தடையாய் இருந்த நாடும் ,மொழியும் குற்றவாளி அல்ல 
விபத்துக்கும் மரணத்துக்கு வித்யாசம் தெரியாத மத சட்டமும் குற்றவாளி அல்ல 
என்னை மண்ணிக்காத அந்த பெற்றோர்ர்களும் குற்றவாளி அல்ல 
என்னை சாவிலிருந்து தடுக்காத இந்த உலகமும் குற்றவாளி அல்லை 
என் கொலையை நியாயபடுத்தும் இரக்கத்தின் காவலர்களும் குற்றவாளி அல்ல 
இதை எல்லாம் வேடிக்கை பார்க்கும் குற்றவாளி அல்ல(ர்) ஆம்.........................நான் தான் குற்றவாளி! 
ஏனென்றால் இந்த கொடுமையான சாவிற்கான தவறை இதுவரை யாரும் செய்த்தில்லை. 
என்னை கொலை செய்த்து அவர்கள் மட்டுமில்லை வேடிக்கை பார்த்த நீங்களும்தான் 
என் தலை உருண்ட இட்த்தில் நாளை 
உங்கள் மகள்,சகோதரி,தாய்,நன்பர்,மனைவி தலைகள் இருந்தாலும் வேடிக்கை மட்டும் பாருங்கள்! 

நபீஸா 

பதிவு:மனிதம் மட்டும்