White Waving Fortune

White Waving Fortune
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So long it catches the mouse, it's immaterial whether a cat is black or white

TOLERANCE - THE PASSWORD 

From physics school text, we got to learn that we are under tremendous pressure on all sides. However, we don't feel it. We are born, brought up, live and die under almost 730 kilos on the head. Thanks to our adoptability. Without knowing Hercules, He-man… in reality, we are no less than those supermen. It's not our intention to comment on physics school text nor do we want to relate the potency of common men or women with the, so called, supermen, and thereby, to insult the former! It's our humble effort to find out the potency of eveready burden carrier; be it atmospheric or economic.

SHORTEN THE LEFT END TO SPREAD OUT THE RIGHT END

As the Leader of the Opposition Sir Winston Churchill remarked on India's independence and taxation in the House of Commons in 1945 as: "Power will go into the hands of rogues, rascals and free-booters, not a bottle of water or a loaf of bread will exempt taxation only the air will be free ….". Truly, right from the toothbrush and toothpaste in the early morning to condom at late night we can hardly find any avenue which goes by the name tax-free. Of course, our honourable finmin like his predecessors is clever enough to raise the income-tax exemption limit. Probably, to become a finmin is not everyone's cup of tea. For a finmin should be a great juggler and at the same time, it is to be noted, each juggler doesn't have the capacity to be a finmin. Here the juggling is done in such a way as the retail shop for apparel hikes the price and announces the discount in the name of window sales. Let's get back to the first sentence of this paragraph where we found every single object has got a tax tag on it. And to give a breathing relief, honourable finmin raises the income tax exemption limit. However we will look into it from different angles. Here is a chart of Income-tax exemption limit from 2001 to 2011: 

Assessment Year

Financial Year

Men

Women

2001-02

2000-01

50,000

50,000

2002-03

2001-02

50,000

50,000

2003-04

2002-03

50,000

50,000

2004-05

2003-04

50,000

50,000

2005-06

2004-05

50,000

50,000

2006-07

2005-06

1,00,000

1,35,000

2007-08

2006-07

1,00,000

1,35,000

2008-09

2007-08

1,10,000

1,45,000

2009-10

2008-09

1,50,000

1,80,000

2010-11

2009-10

1,60,000

1,90,000

2011-12

2010-11

1,60,000

1,90,000

2012-13

2011-12

1,80,000

1,90,000

NOT SO VITAL STATISTICS

It's a popular say that "Statistics is something like a bikini what it reveals is interesting, but what it conceals is fascinating". Looking at the statistics of unemployment rate, one can't help appreciating the relevance of the saying. For, according to the latest data, unemployment stood at less than 12 percent of the population. Hence, let's put our findings to test. 12 percent of the entire population of a country with 120 crores of heads means almost 14.5 crores. Hence, the number of population employed stands as 105.5 crores. Fairytale or what? Is it the mechanism of calculating average per capita income by adding my income with that of Mr. Ratan Tata and dividing the total by 2? Again in a country where suicides of cotton seed farmers in Andhra Pradesh and hunger deaths in Kalahandi and Koraput districts of Orissa are annual phenomena, let's allow the statistics of unemployment chase its own shadow or to fly a kite. 

                                    UNEMPLOYMENT RATE OF INDIA

Year

Unemployment rate

Rank

Percent Change

2003

8.80%

110

 

2004

9.50%

105

7.95%

2005

9.20%

83

-3.16%

2006

8.90%

91

-3.26%

2007

7.80%

92

-12.36%

2008

7.20%

89

-7.69%

2009

6.80%

85

-5.56%

2010

10.70%

122

57.35%

2011

10.80%

117

0.93%

                   Source: www.indexmundi.com/india/unemployment_rate.html

BABUMASAI TUSI GREAT HO!

Looking at the income tax exemption limit from the years 2000-2005, the predecessor's of our honourable finmin's took a stupendous time of 5 years to distinguish in between male and female. From 2005 onwards till date our finmin's became smart in finding out fairer sex in good light. Poor, wretched male folk, atleast, honorable finmin will always read your income tax exemption limit in poor light! However, our intention is not to lock horns with the fairer sex - by courtesy honorable finmin, as we often lock horns with the Muslim by courtesy of Ram Janmabhumi – Babri Masjid tangle or we the Indians at times lock horns withPakistan- by courtesyKashmir. Now the question uppermost is how much percentage of population can get this favour from our Babumoshai? At best 30 to 35 percent of total Indian population can hover an ear to ear smile on the day, Babumoshai read out his benevolent budget in a Bengali influenced English accent.

 

PACK OF CARDS

In my childhood I used to watch a neighborhood uncle shout after each venture in the local sabji – mandi like: ‘one day will come when we are to carry a handcart to bring the money to market only to buy a chest pocketful of sabji'. This exaggeration could have been translated into practice had not the innovation of debit or credit card came into play. Whatever the WPI has to say cannot justify the price of onions @ Rs 70 a kg, tomato @ Rs 40 a kg and ….. so on. Now in comparison with 2005-06 this year WPI index scaled up a bit. The ever hot rate of inflation seemed to outplay the hottest and most happening Bollywood divas. Now do these following statistics get up from the wrong-side of the bed?                          

      WHOLEPRICE INDEX FROM 2005-06 TO 2009-10 

Year

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

Rank

Percent Change

2003

5.40%

64

 

2004

3.80%

92

-29.63%

2005

4.20%

134

10.53%

2006

4.20%

125

0.00%

2007

5.30%

139

26.19%

2008

6.40%

148

20.75%

2009

8.30%

130

29.69%

2010

10.90%

197

31.33%

2011

11.70%

201

7.34%

 

 

 

 

 

 

                     INDIA'S WPI FROM 2005-06 TO 2009-10 

Financial Year

2009-2010

2008-2009

2007-2008

2006-2007

2005-2006

Index

130.4

125.9

116.5

111.2

104.4

 

 

Back to income-tax exemption limit, these high rates of inflation, the ever growing WPI Index are most likely to eat out the bottom dollar from the man's coffer. This exemption limit is nothing, if looked through the eyes of ITR filing ladies and gentlemen. Apart from this selected few which at best could comprise of 30 percent of the entire population, what about the 70 percent of India's population who lead their lives braving the waves of price hike. Babumoshai, one day they will succumb to your tidal waves of price hikes only then you can bring your late malkin's dream: ‘garibi hatao' to light.

PRICE OF PEACE

Cock and Bull Story

How about listening to a story that right from day one of human civilization, people had been trustworthy till December 2007 and all on a sudden, one fine morning in December 2007, all of them became unworthy of trust.  In previous time, people used to borrow from the banks and repay religiously, but from December 2007 all of them became Beimaan through the eyes of banks. This phenomenon is to be called in the history book of time to come as sub-prime crisis, which is the springboard of recession. If it is a joke, then even this joke has to be read in poor light. The think tank behind this pigs might fly story are nothing but the elite countries and it is their honorable reasoning for recession, to which this sincerely of yours begs to differ.

Dying Birds

With the advent of Glasnost and Perestroika, Europewitnessed a sea change in the pattern of statehood. The former bi-polar world became uni-polar little by little. So, the tensions in between the NATO and Warsawdwindle like a pack of cards. Great Berlinwall was dismantled. The eyeball to eyeball confrontation all on a sudden became a matter of yesterday, hence, stopped the import of F-16s, B-52, MIG 21-32 series, Mirage 1000-3000, Tornado planes. Needless to say these are not delicious cuisines but name of fighter planes, which a country was supposed to purchase during the days of cold war to do away with the tensions from its arch rival.  Evidently it's clear the proprietors of the fighter planes (please read it the proprietors of war or the perpetrator of TERRORISM) used to earn good fortune by virtue of these war ingredients. Now, when there are no distinct existences of FRG (Federal Republic of German) and GDR (German Democratic Republic), and they became one German, why on earth FRG should buy American Planes like F-16's or B-52's, or GDR should buy MIG series from erstwhile USSR to address anticipated escalation with each other. Who paid the price for this peace and tranquility? The answer is of course the elite countries. The revenue loss, they incurred, was unthinkable. Poor elite countries! They can't confess the simple but barbaric truth, so that in a fear to darken their own faces. Hence, the above mentioned poor joke came into existence. In a word, sub- prime crisis is not the cause of recession but a symptom of it.

C.R. Irani, India hath the need for thee! 

In the pre-independence era, we used to fight among themselves in the name of cow and pig. Later, this in fight made a permanent wall in between us – Indiaand Pakistan. These days we often make hue and cry over global warming, global citizenship, global village… and what not, but we cannot dismantle the walls in between two delicacies that started between cow and pig. If we dismantle this artificial world today, who will be at loss? The obvious answer is the U.S.A.and Russia. So, for the sake of U.S.A.and Russiawe should continue with our bitter relationship. Let's get back to our Babumoshai's budget table. In the financial year of 2000-01 the defence allocation number had been 18,000 crores approx., but in Babumoshai's budget the allocation scaled up the Kargil height of 60,000 crores – a quantum jump of almost 333 percent. Are we so scared of our neighbour's that we will let the cotton seed farmer's of Andhra Pradesh commit suicide and people of Koraput and Kalahandi district of Orissa die of hunger, the villages plunge into darkness after sunset, take away the school text from a child and drive him or her to join the refuge called Child Labour ? Or, is it somebody else's ploy? Ain't there any hush-hush game in the name of National Security? Will ‘Bofors – the finished story' ever get finished? C.R. Irani, India hath the need for thee!   

INDIA'S CAPITAL OUTLAY ON DEFENCE SERVICES

Year(s)

Capital Outlay on Defence Services

2000-01

17926.40

2001-02

16942.60

2002-03

21395.95

2003-04

20942.46

2004-05

33472.99

2005-06

34360.28

2006-07

37444.25

2007-08

41857.60

2008-09

47976.10

2009-10

54779.62

2010-11

60773.58

2011-12

69148.01

       Source: http://indiabudget.nic.in/

 3 Rs

The proverb goes: ‘The lisping of a child is as sweet as honey.' What a heavenly feeling it is to regale once ear with the honey in the form of alphabetical accent! Perhaps, our honourable finmin (including our good old brand new Babumoshai) could realize the truth. Right from 2000-01 up to the present financial year the allocation from the Central Government reached at an insurmountable height of 1500 percent truly commendable! If's and buts' are always there and the beauty is the more allocation Government of India makes, the more corruption take to the ground. And primary education is no exception. After the mid-day meal being launched in primary schools, the thin primary school authorities overnight became fat at the cost of health of those heavenly bodies that were suppose to sweeten the entire country with the lispings of A, B, C, D. Azim Premji's observation on elementary education: 

• 40 million children in the age group 6-14 years who are out of school
• Only one out of three children ends up completing 10 years of education
• Elementary education system in the country suffers from two problems—one, availability of quality school infrastructure — that is, classrooms, toilets, teachers, teaching-learning material, etc, and two, most of the children are not learning at the deep level and schools are not really helping every child to discover and realize his potential.
• Central government has made the commitment to raise the investment in primary education to 6% of GDP.
• Reform the curriculum in such a way that it encourages deep learning among the children.

 There's no denying the fact that the WIPRO Chairman made these observations in the year of 2006. Babumoshai, could you really make a sea change? Else who is consuming this increased 1500 percent? A rustic old story reads: That the King is very kind to give away much of his wealth in the form of gifts. Where does he gift? The answer is in his palace. Who takes all the gifts? The answer is the queen. Babumoshai, you have increased 1500 percent allocation in primary education. Bravo! Is there any King and Queen tale in it?

WHAT WE HAD WISHED AND WHAT WE GOT?

In the ages of the great epic Ramayana, Sambhukh, a slave leader was given capital punishment by no other than Maryada Purshottam Shri Ram (Uttarkhand, Page 8). The crime the former committed was to offer prayers to the almighty. In the age of pre-independence era, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, a Bengali literary stalwart, who composed the National song, "Vande Maa Taram", once observed that despite so many claims of developmental activities, the condition of two poor peasants Hasim Sheikh and Rama Kaibarto did not change. It is a matter of great pride and prejudice, that most of the Indians of my standing are probably the descendents of Sambhukh, or Hasim Sheikh or Rama Kaibarto and go on smilingly each year taking all the hits on our face, in this annual mask dance festival called "Budget".

 References:

1. http://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/
2. www.indexmundi.com/india/unemployment_rate.html
3. http://eaindustry.nic.in/wpi_data_display/display_data.asp
4. http://indiabudget.nic.in/      

About the Author

Aditya Das

Financial Consultant, Delhi

jishu_adidas@rediffmail.com

 

 

Soumendra Roy

Assistant Professor, NIMS, Delhi

soumendra.roy@gmail.com

Fortune Days (feat. Eli)