First up, I am an observer and a keen reader of facts and figures. I do not hold a doctoral degree to detect or advice on any disease or have the caliber to identify a solution to the virus that has gripped our world. All of my commentary in this article and the ones I wrote earlier about COVID19 are my own views and do not reflect that of my family members or that of organizations / companies with whom I am associated.
I wrote my last article about the COVID19 situation in India on 23rd March, two days before a nation-wide lock down was announced. Since March 23rd, the date of my last post, I have constantly seen that points I had raised continue to hold true.
WhatsApp University Covid19 Update
Fake News and Fake Praise continue unabated, along with a large portion of media that sidelines with the ruling party. I feel utterly disgusted when people become so blinded by their love for political leader that they ignore facts. Or chose the facts that are only convenient to them.
Fake news on WhatsApp is spreading like wildfire.jpg
In an interview with India Today’s Aaj Tak News channel on 9th of April, Union Minister General VK Singh went on to make a comment on WHO advisory about lockdown. The whole advisory message circulated on WhatsApp turned out to be fake news. (AltNews link). So much that even our Union ministers are getting caught unawares of Fake news.
And even though the best our PM has done publicly is to assign celebratory tasks without serious, meaningful conversations, he is being praised like the hero India always wanted. Credit where it should be due, but do give all credit to the one, people do notice and see.
Religion does play a large role in spread of Covid19 across the world and it has to stop. Be it a Muslim, Hindu, Sikh or a Christian congregation. A lot of religious hate mongering is going around WhatsApp that needs to stop. It is not going to help anyone fight Coronavirus.
Untamed Educated Fools & 9 Pm 9 Minutes of Madness
Just take a look at this video! What a mess! What our PM asked for and what people ended up doing. Bursting crackers to burning stuff, eventually lead to a fire in an open dry place too.
People chose to listen to our PM’s ideas in their own ways. I do not think the PM should do that anymore, because it is doing more damage than good. Thankfully, a lot of others are here to make fun of these instances. LOL.
Do I expect more from our PM?
Yes, indeed. In fact, so much more! The world over, leaders of the respective countries are providing vocal updates to their citizens on the health of the economy, how they are fighting the Covid-19 situation and what is their plan going further ahead.
PM Modi lighting a lamp on the occasion of 9 minutes at 9 pm on 5th April, 2020
Our PM does not care to do that, leaving his ministers to do the talking. Though, in other cases (where this does not happen, conversely) it would have been great. Not so much when the country is facing a pandemic.
PM Modi needs to speak up, be more transparent and open – provide timely updates. How much fund has been received so far on the PM Cares account, how much of it is utilized and where? Which states have got how much to fight against this deadly virus? He needs to speak up and provide a ray of hope to those migrant workers who are caught in between and unable to afford a meal a day.
How are we doing on the testing?
Pretty bad, still. We are not even testing 0.2 of 1000 people we have. And should have been doing much more testing than what we are doing right now. Also, we have not yet warmed up to the idea of group testing either. In fact, what is so really sad is that you cannot decide to get yourself tested, unless you qualify.
The Covid19 lockdown should have helped to accelerate the testing, however it has been far less than I anticipated. The country is still struggling with lack of safety equipment for front-line workers like Doctors and Nurses, while Donald Trump has arm twisted humanitarian supply for Hydroxychloroquine, the Malaria drug.
Interestingly, on 15th of March, India tested only 191 people where as the same for South Korea and US the number was upwords for 5800+ tests in a day! That is a huge number, and given lower population in South Korea, their pace has been marvelous.
Here is another chart that shows India’s Covid19 tests conducted rate compared to much smaller countries, including Pakistan – and all of them are doing way lot better on per 1000 count.
Are we already on COVID19 Stage 3?
If you have read my past article on if India is prepared enough to fight the Coronavirus, then you would already have read what I think about it. Almost 15 days since my article, the ICMR (premier nodal agency that is helping fight Coronavirus) still maintains that we are not yet in Stage 3 of community transmission. However, this is because we are still not testing enough.
While countries like Germany have started testing for beyond identifying patients cases as well – into the recovered ones and we are yet to scale a huge load up on testing to identify.
It is becoming increasingly clear that community transmission has been happening in India in various areas and has not been reported largely. The Markaz folks who went back to their native states have showcased it already that community transmissions are taking place.
So, what is next?
The government along with states has already decided to extend the Lockdown situation by 14 more days. That means, the lockdown will be continue through 29th April, 2020.
During this period, Govt. still assumes that parts of the country (by districts) that do not have Coronavirus or have full recovered, will be tagged Green. A color that represents everything is good, and citizens in such areas can go about their normal lives.
Then, second color category is Orange. Here, the numbers are pretty less and the government believes will not have much of COVID19 impact. Govt will allow movement with limited restrictions.
And if your area/district is Red, then the lockdown will continue as it is. There is also conversation on adopting the Kerala Model, Rajasthan Model etc.
Till next post then, STAY SAFE. STAY HOME.
A word of Thanks to all the front line warriors, especially the doctors and nurses!
I have always wondered India’s ability to fight coronavirus. You may call me a pessimist, but to date I have been right. Our honourable PM makes an appearance on the TV to speak to all of us about the epidemic Coronavirus. And the best thing he could come up with is to follow something that people started doing across infected countries.
Yes, I am talking about clapping and appreciating the warriors at the front of the war against Coronavirus and the curfew. Sure, it is a great sign of homage and salute. It is a small action in fighting coronavirus.
Many of the medical community came together to urge the government and people at large – they are okay if they don’t stand at their balconies at 5:00 pm on Sunday. They want you do to something else. And they do have a strong point to make.
The make-believe WhatsApp University
In a world where many are praising the government for taking all the right steps in advance, this may not sound right, does it? The slew of WhatsApp forwards are absolutely unbelievable, some downright stupid.
From NASA claiming that Coronavirus has left India after millions clapped at 5:00 pm in India, Chanting “OM” helping create positive energy that virus cannot stand to gow-mutra (Cow’s urine) can cure Coronavirus. It is absolute disaster when people actually believe it. It is fake news all over again.
I saw multitude of people who perhaps may be supporters of PM Modi appreciate the move. A trend, like everything else he does, carries in our country. Is it an eye-wash?
Untameable educated fools
It is a well know fact that most people who can afford to travel out of India are well educated or rich, or both. We have had many instances, including foreigners, where people who were supposed to be in home quarantine freely roamed around in the country.
They flew in aeroplanes, traveled in trains and cabs after they arrived back in India. A Kalyan resident even attended a wedding! I for one, felt they should be punished for putting so many lives at risk of getting infected with Coronavirus. And weakening the stand of India in this fight against coronavirus.
The Janta Curfew
In perhaps a bizarre announcement, the curfew of 14 hours on 22nd March is in a way a half bake approach. Many people started sharing on social media site as another masterstroke of the Modi government in fight against coronavirus. They spread the fake news that Coronavirus will die in 12 hours outside of a body.
No one in the world for sure knows how long Coronavirus is alive outside. Best estimate we have is 36 hours – something that is not even conclusive yet.
This happened at a place called Raipur Chakla in Ahmedabad. People celebrating a deadly epidemic by doing Garba because the great ‘orator’ could not deliver a simple message in over 29 minutes of speech, which most other world leaders did in much less. pic.twitter.com/4sFLiSUaFj
However, what the curfew did is exactly opposite in certain pockets of the country. Just look at this tweet for example, people came together, doing garba (folk dance of Gujarat) after clapping and clinging vessels. They came on to streets to fight coronavirus and celebrate it’s death. Stupidity.
More importantly, I just loved the comment – that a simple message did not get delivered by the great ‘orator’ in 29 minutes of the speech.
I really do not know what to make of the planning behind it. Janta Curfew plus clapping is perhaps the only two actions PM called out loud. And even that is just too little, too late in our fight against the coronavirus. What the medical fraternity needs is greater support & equipment from the government than an appreciation. The real battle has just started.
How many do we test for Coronavirus today?
Today we are testing very limited number of people. A strategy called “symptomatic testing”. So far, India has conducted 12,000 test. This is far less than people flying into India between Jan 15 and March 15 in the fight against coronavirus.
South Korea, a smaller country in size and population than India, has conducted 2.5 Lakh tests. That is ~4000 tests per million. India, has done only 5-10 per million.
Female pediatrician using a swab to take a sample from a patient’s throat
India is only testing people who have traveled to a country that has widespread infections. Or have got in contact with any one who has traveled from such a country. Even in this shortlist, the testing is prioritised for those who show Coronavirus symptoms. Dry Cough, Fever, and Shortness of breath.
It is indeed sad that because as we are testing less, we do not have any information if we have more people infected. The true number eludes us. The exact mistake Italy and US did in the early stages of Coronavirus, but South Korea did not.
Making hay when the Coronavirus shines
Many of the medical community came together to urge the government and people at large – they are okay if they don’t stand at their balconies at 5:00 pm on Sunday. But to compel the government to arrange for these necessary arrangements.
In a very unfortunate development, an investigation by news website Scroll.in has revealed there are irregularities in government‘s plan. As has been anticipated by the medical community, they will soon run out of their supplies and stocks of essentials. These include sanitisers, masks, eye-wear, hazmat coverall suites (PPE), etc. And then, the government favours some manufacturers a bit more than others.
It is not a surprise that something amiss is happening when India is looking for fight coronavirus
In a way, it was expected. We in India know well that corruption, irregularities and malpractices run deep in the country. In a month and half since the first case was reported, the government yet did not place an order for additional PPEs.
What’s worst? The manufacturers do not know what standards they need to comply to when they manufacture. Yet. They have followed up with the ministry a couple of times, and have not received a response.
Are we already on Coronavirus Stage 3?
In a nutshell, yes.
There is no clear announcement from the government if we are there yet. But a slew of measures announced are in direct correlation with how they are now preparing for eventuality.
The strain of Novel Coronavirus is also known as COVID-19 but the final naming designation is SARS CoV-2
The blockage of entire cities, janta curfew etc. are steps taken suggesting that government knows something they are not telling us. Of course, they do not want people to panic. A panic situation is not politically good for them, and they would want to hide their ill preparedness as well. And it is bad for the business in an already battered down economy.
Coronavirus spreading is defined in various stages. Let’s understand what are the stages.
Stage 1:
Getting infected by Coronavirus. Traveling mostly from China or other countries where it is widespread.
Stage 2:
Spreading in small numbers when coming in contact with someone who has traveled from such countries and may carry the infection. Also called, Local Transmission.
Stage 3:
When it starts spreading across a larger group of people. The multiplier effect can be four times of the previous detected number or more, also called Community Transmission.
Stage 4:
The numbers increase very heavily and the spread is very fast. This stage sees a very heavy increase in count of dead from Coronavirus as well. Starts breaking the back of the Medical and Hospital infrastructure, overall health system and people managing it.
Stage 5:
Health system collapses. More people die due to non-coronavirus related diseases/illnesses as health system is unable to sustain itself.
What’s next?
The next 7 days are absolutely crucial in the fight against virus. It is important for India to get it’s act together and start preparing for the worst. It is best to stay put in comforts of your home unless you are an essential part of this City’s health infrastructure.
#Salute to those who are helping fight this endemic.
On my recent trip to Colva, I enjoyed the trip unlike all of my previous visits (I go there a lot). Loved the serene and calm atmosphere around, less crowded and neater roads (compared to North Goa). Arabian sea gives you ample company and so does the sea breeze.
The video is a mix of time lapses and glimpses from my travel experience. In case you love it, don’t forget to leave a like and subscribe to Indianomics.tv
Since today morning, I am seeing many people adjudging the disappointment for the salaried class as a massive binge. Also, I had someone on my facebook writing that Salaried Classes deserve to be taxed, himself a blogger and son of a businessman. He had his points of trouble too, which I do not ignore. However, the fact remains that 1.76% of Indians pay income tax remains a sore point.
Let’s get some facts straightened out.
Only 1.76% of all Indians living in India pay direct tax (income tax) (NRI’s are not taxed either). However, 100% of Indians who can spend money are assumed to pay indirect tax. The key word is “assumed,” as there are no statistics to define tax evasion because it is only kept a secret from the government.
Tax evasion (especially by businesses) still the bane of Indians themselves. Everyone wants to see what he or she can save from paying income tax, including avoiding paying tax in any form, at all.
52% of Working Population is classified as Farmers do not get taxed for their income (even though few make as much money to own many luxury cars!) (ref: 1, 2)
There are no statistics on the number of beggars or homeless. However, they do pay Indirect Taxes as well.
The Pro Budget 2018 debates floating around
Middle Class benefit from lower home loan rates, lower consumer price index and fiscal deficit and income tax slab rates being appropriate. An article at OPIndia.com states:
“And while we are at it, as a bigger consumer of goods and services, middle class benefited most from the GST regime. Those struggling to make ends meet don’t care about restaurants and hotels. You pay 5% GST now, compared to a 18% Service Tax earlier on that dinner out. That rebate is entirely yours. “
GST on Restaurants
Well, not exactly true. The ground reality is that before GST, a large number restaurants did not charge taxes separately. The food menu was almost always inclusive of taxes. However, when GST was announced, almost all of the restaurants were charging GST over the top of their pre-GST rates. This was well published in leading newspapers based on citizen reports.
After GST was lowered for restaurants, the bill total remained the same and cost of food went up. This is called profiteering. And middle class do not have lunch and dinner at fancy hotels every day, Mr. or Ms. behind the pseudonym soulinexile, who wrote the article.
Not the only ones paying taxes?
Stop deluding yourself with the notion that you are the only one paying taxes. Your 4.31 lakh crores in direct taxes is just 19% of the total 22.17 lakh crore tax revenues collected by the Govt.
The author seems to forget that the salaried middle class who gets his pay after deducting income tax also pays indirect taxes. The above statement is willfully excluding this fact. It of course is a matter of concern for salaried middle class, on the amount of indirect taxes one ends up paying. In fact, structure of GST is build around avoiding double-taxation for businesses. On similar lines, the salaried middle class should get a rebate on his income tax outlay based on the amount of GST she or he has paid. Only to be fair right? That is not the case, and hence it is a huge concern.
A salaried middle class person, having an total income worth Rs. 10 Lakhs, will end up paying an average of 11% income tax plus an average of 17% GST on his necessities. That is 27% taxes already! Without even counting the GST on Investments, expenditure on holiday, travel, restaurants and the biggest of them all, taxes on Fuel!
What an non-tax paying citizen pays? Minus the 11%, everything else if she or he is being honest. So why should the salaried class continue to bear 11% additional responsibility for returns that everyone enjoys? For development of the country, of course!
The Farmers
Firstly, go and delete those posts you shared on social media lamenting about poor farmers, because you didn’t mean them. Everyone wants poor to be helped, farmer to be saved – but it should be paid for by someone else. Well, there is no ‘someone else’ out there, it has to be ‘us’.
The article assumes that we do not care for farmers. Heck, the author even has the audacity to declare our intent and actions in no less words than being mean, and accuses everyone of the social media shares and posts that we made in support of farmers because “you didn’t mean them”. Absolute trochaic, in line with all the so called Bhakts out there.
The skewed Taxation structure
The article assumes that Salaried Middle Class income tax payers expect that someone else should bear the expenses for the farmers to be saved. However the author ignores how diverse strategy our country and each state’s tax collection have. Here is a video that helps explain how farmers get or do not get compensation, a brilliant study by Praveen Chakravarty with BloombergQuint.
With such a complex tax collection situation, people living in the four states namely Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, essentially are supporting the whole country with more than 50% of the tax revenue collection share. They are already getting way less than what they contribute for, not only in terms of direct taxes, but indirect as well.
Let us not forget the skewed national policy on fuel pricing, which is not under the ambit of GST yet, and may not appear to fall under it in near future. For sure, State Governments benefit from this situation, however, the common man still pays for them.
Corporate Tax Rates
And stop grudging the industry and corporates. There would be no middle class without industry and corporates. You would be poor class in no time, if industry died. So it already indirectly benefits YOU.
It is an universal phenomenon that Corporates should be treated well for they create jobs, and benefit the society. In fact, I have not come across many middle class individuals who complained of it either. The complaint is mainly with regards to tax evasion. If tax evasion is plugged, the this country does not require 1.76% of Indians to pay Income Tax! That is a reality, and let us not forget it.
India is among the largest countries in the world and have a population to feed. For how long can this 1.76% of Indians continue to pay income tax for the rest of the country? The income tax base has to increase for both salaried and business, and once we are collecting more than enough money reduce the tax rates. Salaried Middle Class is worried the budget did not focus on anything that remotely suggests government is doing to catch hold of tax evaders.
Comparisons to previous governments
Middle class has a serious Ghajini disorder! We forget the days of 10-14% inflation under UPA-2 or even when Toor daal prices being at above Rs 200/- in 2015 were a matter of middle class outrage.
How does a comparison helps? Calling middle class Ghajini is an insult, when the author itself forgot other aspects leading to inflationary costs?
Inflation rates were high and low during UPA government, true. However, the inflation was on its downward spiral already when the new NDA government took over already. Take a look at this graph from a global reputed website managing inflation numbers for many countries.
Inflation Rate India (http://www.inflation.eu/inflation-rates/india/historic-inflation/cpi-inflation-india.aspx)
NDA government did not had to battle global cues. Like spiraling crude oil prices and international financial conditions that kept UPA-2 on their toes. They still managed to keep the prices of petrol and diesel to the limits. The fuel prices ensured that inflation did not exceed limits that living for a common man became difficult.
I am not advocating UPA or Congress, however they did have issues at their hand, out of their control to manage. The fiscal deficit was not under control for the same reasons. Because the government had to keep up the subsidy rates for a lot of essential products, including agricultural fertilizers.
Other “WhatsApp forward” arguments
Lower Home Loan lending rates
My home loan interest rate at the end of 2013 was between 9.5 to 11.25%. It has come down to under 8.5% now. (Keeping SBI as Reference) Even a difference of 2% Rate in a loan of 30 lakhs gives you savings of 45000 Annually, as per SBI Home loan calculator. Is that not for middle class?
The argument that lower home loan interest rates is saving the salaried middle class up to Rs. 40,000 a year is a farce!
Home loan rates are less for sure, but that does not itself qualify as a middle class focused. It even helps the rich and poor. Moreover, yes, those who are not paying home loans are higher in numbers – and therefore, absolute lack of any benefit for everyone.
Plus, many other factors influence home loan rates than just because the government wants to reduce it. Also, why are different types of loan rates expensive when the prime lending rates are same for the banks, after all, aren’t they?
REPO Rates
Inflation impacts Home Loan rates, itself based on REPO Rate set by RBI. Wholesale and Retail Price Index, Current Account Deficit, International Gold and Oil prices, etc. are other factors.
Some of the factors usually considered by the central bank are;
The central bank monitors the trajectory of inflation before deciding on the REPO rate, to maintain economic harmony
They study and predict the future inflationary pressure to create a REPO rate to control the economy
Fiscal deficit rate promised by the union government in their budget plan.
With a higher Path of Inflation, Wholesale and Retail Price Index and Weaker Oil Prices but higher domestic pricing, it is easy to see why RBI decided to lower the REPO rate.
Remember, majority of the benefit in loan rates we see today is in no small part, thanks to Raghuram Rajan whom Modi Govt. did not see fit to be part of RBI and went against them!
The lower Consumer Price Index or CPI.
Average Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 10.92% in 2013 while it is 2.49% right now. JUST IMAGINE, what would have been the prices of the goods of common usage if such a high CPI rate was still there
The inflation rate is based upon the consumer price index (CPI). And it is not appropriate reflective figure of what the typical Indian faces in reality. CPI does not necessarily translate end-user impact is. From 14.9% in 2009, even the Congress government had managed to bring it down to 5.86% in 2014. But did you see the impact on the ground? The point I am trying to make is – you cannot adjudge impact on you individually using these rates.
Every time petrol prices have gone up, the majority of vegetables and other commodities that are necessity become pricer. With a favorable change in petrol prices, the rates never went down. Ask ourselves, what was the cost of vegetables four years ago and how much they are costly now? Consistent with what happened during previous governments, including the ones ruled by Congress. Cons of any party in power are too significant not to have an impact on the actual aam aadmi.
Lower fiscal deficit invites investments
Fiscal Deficit was 4.1% in 2013 while it has been targeted to be 3.3% for 2018 (Through this budget only). If we don’t reign in the fiscal deficit, it will lead to manipulation of capital structures, interest rates, will lead to decrease of net exports and will result in even higher taxes and higher inflation. So, dear friends, the budget is also aimed at keeping the inflation in check (Such are the strange ways of Economics)
Fiscal deficit is one thing that we can think of where Govt. has been focusing right. However the focus has not brought in the expected impact on the ground. In spite of global cues like crude oil trading low and positive from FD point of view. There is more unemployment today than investments India is attracting. For the sake of argument, why would the government dole out a budget that impacts or delays the reduction of the Fiscal Deficit? It is absolutely counter productive to appraise this budget on this point alone.
Because this is an election budget, as with every govt., they are selfish to ensure they win the next one! The Agriculture push in this budget only came after BJP nearly lost out on their plot on the development to the plight of the farmers in Gujarat! Who paid attention to the farmers protest in Delhi this year long? No one, because by then BJP had successfully ignited the Karni Sena-Padmavati uproar.
Fuel Prices
It is difficult to know where all this money went. However, unlike Jaitley said in the press conference, the increased tax has not led to better roads in places where we have lived or traveled. One notable exception is highways; however, I use our city roads more often than highways.
Global cues influence increase in fuel prices. However, when the barrel costs were down, the Govt. refused to pass on the benefit to consumers. No, it does not only impact ones who own a car or bike. It is the transport sector which uses diesel to transport goods that you and I buy. Petroleum product prices are directly proportionate to incrementing inflation. However not so much to in case of a decrease in inflation!
Tax Slab Rates
Big decisions like these can never be viewed in Silo. We also need to find out a pattern and if there is any rationale behind it. Most of us were expecting at least a tax slab raise to INR 3 lakh per annum from INR 2.5 Lakh per annum which means a saving of INR 2500 per annum as it in any case fetches a tax of 5% only to the Government or INR 208 per month.
I was not expecting an increase of mere Rs 50,000. I was excepting a whole lot more. Jaitley said from before elections, that Income Tax should be exempt for up to Rs. 5 lakhs. And it is a relief as compared to just 50,000! Also, all of us irrespective of our income tax accountability end up paying indirect taxes at everything that we buy. So what is the point of taxing personal income then? Majority of the new taxpayers in the economy are in that bracket. It helps these new employees save more money or spend it!
The jibe Jaitely gave out during his budget speech about Income Tax from Salaried individuals was more than people in business, do you think it is right? I mean, sure Salaried get their share of taxes cut even before their salary is credited every month. Businessmen evade taxes!
The government decided to Demonetize this economy in the hope of curbing tax evasion! And if even you do not admit it, you know that it was an actual failure on the ground. It did help in a marginal increase in tax paying business; however, that did not help you and me, did it?
It is easy to get carried away by propaganda, much difficult to sort out the differences. So look at ground realities and stop dreaming of an India that does not exist today. Live the reality. Please.
It was a funny Tax Poem WhatsApp forward that I got today that got me thinking about the number of stuff that we buy that are taxed. The coffin services, included. Here is a quick one for you to laugh and ponder over how much we pay the tax.
The Union Budget was presented yesterday which focused on various sectors and reforms, however gave little or nothing to the salaried middle class tax payer who bears the cost of 99% of the people in this nation.
Arun Jaitely was coy enough to mention that Business’ taxation is far less than the amount received from salaried tax payers, to further the furstration. I hope the small and medium scale business who avoid paying both direct and indirect taxes are brought under the tax net and salaried class be relieved from taxes.
The Tax Poem
Tax his land, Tax his bed,
Tax the table At which he’s fed.
Tax his tractor, Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes Are the rule.
Tax his work, Tax his pay,
He works for peanuts Anyway!
Tax his cow, Tax his goat,
Tax his pants, Tax his coat.
Tax his ties, Tax his shirt,
Tax his work, Tax his dirt.
Tax his tobacco, Tax his drink,
Tax him if he tries to think.
Tax his cigars, Tax his beers,
If he cries, then tax his tears.
Tax his car, Tax his gas,
Find other ways To tax his ass.
Tax all he has Then let him know,
That you won’t be done till he has no dough.
When he screams and hollers Then tax him more,
Tax him till he’s good and sore.
Then tax his coffin, Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in Which he’s laid.
Written by someone anonymous, this poem pretty much sums up my experience as a tax payer.
Budget 2018: Finance minister Arun Jaitley will present the Union Budget for the year 2018 in the Parliament. As it is expected, this budget will largely be limited to appeasing people in preparations for the upcoming General Elections in 2019. This is the last full budget for the BJP government, and hence their last full chance to impress the aam-aadmi in an attempt to woe the vote bank.
Here are the five core areas that will make or break this budget for the population at large.
Personal Income Tax rate reductions or increase in tax saving slabs, change in taxes for capital gains (share trading)
National wide Farmer loan waivers or deductions and focus on agriculture produce sale prices
Fiscal deficit breaching its decline
Infrastructure investments to boost jobs
Revised GST Rates for products and services, petroleum products coming under the ambit of GST
The Budget starts at 11.00 AM and we will keep you posted.
Union Budget 2018 – India’s finance
MSP for Kharif crops will be 1.5x cost of production. If lower than MSP, government has to ensure farmers receive
necessary MSP.
Government proposes to launch Operation Green for which a sum of Rs 500 crore will be allocated.
Corpus of Rs 2,000 cr proposed to set up an agricultural market fund, to uplift the agriculture sector in the country.
Government proposes to launch Operation Green for which a sum of Rs 500 crore will be allocated.
FM proposes to extend kisan credit card to fisheries & animal husbandry farmers and allocate Rs 10,000 cr for fisheries & aquaculture, animal husbandry funds.
Swachh Bharat Mission has helped create 6 crore toilet facilities so far. In the next 2 years, 2 crore more toilets will be added for defecation free country
Rs 14.34 lakh crore to be spent for providing livelihood to rural India through infrastructure building
Improvement in quality of teachers can improve quality of education.The government proposes to treat education holistically without segmentation
The government will extend a favourable tax arrangement for farmer organisations. The details will be provided later
In order to tackle the pollution due to burning of crop residue, the subsidy is being removed. The govt. will work to subsidize the cost of machinery to be procured for combating rising air pollution.
Proposed to launch a flagship National Health Protection Scheme initiative with nearly 50 crore beneficiaries which will provide up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year,for hospitalisation, one of the largest such benefits program anywhere in the world
Government will introduce 24 new
medical colleges including upgrading certain existing colleges. This will ensure there is 1 government medical college in every state of the country.
We are allocating Rs 1 Lakh crore in the next four years to boost Research and Development. We are also coming up with a specialised railway university at Vadodara.
By 2022, every block with more than 50% ST population and at least 20,000 tribal people will have ‘Ekalavya’ school at par with Navodaya Vidyalas
Mass formalization of MSME sector is happening after demonetisation and GST. Rs 3,794 crore is was set aside for MSME last year for mass formalisation. The government will soon announce measures to address non-performing assets of MSMEs.
The government will fund 12% of wages for new employees of Employees’ Provident Fund in all sectors. Take home salary of new women employees to go up in the formal sector. Only 8% PF to be cut in first three years. There is no change in EPF.
Integrated BEd program to start soon, with teachers training as the main focus. Rs 1 lakh crore to be invested over the next 4 years for a new drive to boost Research and Development.
We propose to expand capacity by five times at airports under AAI. 1 Billion trips each year. UDAN will connect 56 unserved airports and 36 unserved heliports. We are ensuring that even those citizens who wear hawaii chappal can fly in a hawai jahaj.
The allocation of Digital India has been doubled and the government proposes to set up 5 lakh WiFi hotspots. The government does not consider cryptocurrency as legal tender and will work towards eliminating illicit transactions going on through crypto assets
35,000 km will be completed under Bharatmala project with outlay of Rs 5.35 lakh cr before moving on to the initiatives in Railways.
Cash payment at toll plaza no more. The government will introduce a toll system based on pay-as-you-use module. We will also bring out an industry-friendly defence production policy. Two industrial defence industrial development corridors to be constructed.
Aadhaar has provided identity to Indians. The government will involve a scheme to assign every enterprise a unique ID just like Aadhaar. The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management will come up with debt Exchange Traded Fund.
Government insurance companies to be merged into a single entity, and subsequently listed in the stock exchange, as part of the disinvestment programme. Rs 80,000 crore disinvestment target for 2018-19, target for 2017-18 has been exceeded and will reach Rs 1 lakh crore
The salaries of President (Rs. 5 lakh), Vice President (Rs. 4.5 lakh) and Governors (3.5 lakh) will be increased. Salaries of MP’s will also be raised. A new law will be introduced that will automatically revise MPs’ emoluments every five years, indexed to inflation.
Revised fiscal deficit estimate for 2017-18 is 3.5% of GDP, fiscal deficit of 3.3% expected for 2018-19. GST revenue for only 11 months is 21.5 lakh crore. Tax
buoyancy for 2017-18 is at 2.11%. Number of tax payers has increased from 6.47 lakh crores to 8.27 lakh crores
No tax relief for individuals, apart from additional Rs. 40,000 benefit in terms of medical and other expenses. #fail
Relief on tax for senior citizens from income coming from bank interest increased from 10,000 to 30,000. Fixed Deposit/Post office interest to be exempt till Rs 50,000 80D benefit enhanced to Rs 50,000.
Live updates will stop now. We will update the post with impacts of the budget proposals on common man.
A partial lunar eclipse was visible over Mumbai on 7th of August, 2017 which I managed to catch on my camera. Though the quality was not that great, I still enjoyed my first time going live on my YouTube Channel, Indianomics.
I read in the news that the full moon will move into Earth’s shadow, which makes for a spectacle in the sky – which we call as Lunar Eclipse. These happen often (by celestial standards), however probably is one of most visible. In the video below, I have tied to shoot in negative so that the partial eclipse can been see, given the amount of clouds and dust in the sky surrounding Mumbai.
If you enjoyed the video, give a thumbs up and provide your feedback in the comments section below.
What is a Lunar Eclipse?
An extract from Wikipedia: A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes directly behind the Earth into its umbra (shadow). This can occur only when the sun, Earth, and moon are aligned (in “syzygy”) exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, a lunar eclipse can occur only the night of a full moon. The type and length of an eclipse depend upon the Moon’s location relative to its orbital nodes.
Tools used to shoot eclipse?
I used my iPhone to shoot the eclipse, live using the YouTube app. So far, I have not fully ventured into shooting serious videos and hence, have not invested in a great camera myself yet. I hope in future, and with money I get from advertisements (if at all I make that much), I will surely upgrade to a full fledged camera.
Streaming Networks?
I used my recently acquired Jio connection to stream live, which cost me about 450MB of my daily limits. Of course, I was live streaming via YouTube. Jio of late has really proved all its hype, especially after the free period ended. I am extremely happy with Jio so far, and I hope to get similar performance in future as well.
It has been ages since I wrote about the Indian Business or my interests in the world of business in general, but after going through a lot of the news lately I was reminded of my days when I used to write about them.
Pininfarina makes an interesting buy for Mahindra
It started with a startling news that Mahindra may be looking for a stake buy in Pininfarina, the Italian design house for cars. The Aviation to Scooter company is making great strides into picking up key properties across the world, including the recently acquired scooter business from Peugeot. SsangYong is already turning out to be a good addition in terms of sales and Mahindra actually has been able to make them sensible to outside world. Buying this iconic designer will be a shot in its arm, and Mahindra can apply the talent across its businesses. (more…)
If you had a chance to read my post on The Great Indian Elections of 2014, there is something I had already said but did not anticipate it any time soon. Yes I am talking about the recent Communal clashes at Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh.
For once, there is no clarity on what caused the riots – with numerous stories doing rounds on social networks. And I have seen a few of my friends on Facebook starting to post messages – things that say or give more importance of Hindutva or Hindu Nationalism. I choose to ignore those messages, however many others may not.
Following these clashes, an announcement by BJP led me to write on this. BJP announced that they will send Modi to Muzaffarnagar too. (more…)
Coming soon is the great Indian Elections in year of 2014. So many of us have openly shared jokes and puns on the Congress and how their rule affected all of us for last 10 years. Many of us are seeing Modi as an icon who will help change all of that like magic.
I am of the opine that things will not change drastically, at least not in next 3 years. As such, the country has lost their faith in political rule and only hoping that someone would change this. Modi being the hope actually.
He has his troubled past, the 2002 riots behind him. The Party behind him has its ups and downs recently, and does not possess its own strength to rein the votes to Prime Minister-ship. It remains to be seen how strong it gets before the elections. (more…)
Nissan is re-launching the Datsun brand and it starts with India, one of the most looked out for among the emerging markets for global car manufacturers. For those who do not know, Datsun has a rich heritage in Cars and racing, but the brand Datsun was replaced by what is now called “Nissan” way back in 1981.
It has been in news ever since last two years when it was first announced. The reason Nissan’s move has generated such a hype in media and among auto-enthusiasts is because of the brand they choose, and not what they are going to do with it. Datsun pretty much helped establish the Japanese car makes in the western world, particularly the United States. (more…)
The title for todays HT is to the point. And hell yes, we all have to be awaken to what is happening. Its not only Delhi, the decorated rape capital of Independent India, and also the Capital of Republic of India. For one, the whole agenda of protests is to get Damini or Patient X, justice and strengthen laws for Rape to ensure it instills fear and hoping that this help women be safe in our country.
The rapists should, by all means, get the harshest of the punishments, including capital punishment. And the entire process be in front of the media, who can broadcast it live. And their death should not be easy, and everyone in our country and outside should be able to see it. Feel it. And this should be practiced for every other rape case in India.
But has all the protests deterred the intentions of men? The 5 of the six who raped Damini were worried of her death, than feeling sorry or disgust about their behavior. Similarly, after this much highlighted case, there were one gang rape and 3 other rapes reported in the National Capital Region. Does it mean that to them, all these protests, it does not even matter?
So there it is, the real culprit. Mentality.
Now why has this mentality stemmed so firm that even huge protests like the one for Patient X has not even dented the confidence of rapists or would be rapists? Less or no Education is one of the reasons often cited and it is not true in all cases. Its the way women are treated at our homes. Yes, we are and should take this accountability.
Why are boys the most loved ones? At my home too, I am loved by mother though she does not hate or love less to my lovely little sister, but probably expresses a bit more for me. But at the same time, she professed always to respect women from our childhood. She spoke to both of us as a friend and informed us about the ills of the society we are in, including rape and crimes against women. Yes, its true. I dont know, and have not heard from others if they were treated in a similar manner. If they were not, then this is the right time to make a correction and profess this to their kids.
While it may have been something I rubbed off during initial days, and recognize it as my mother’s best learning after an incident. One of my cousins while showing me emails from his inbox on viagra and subsequently offered me a job to be work as a gay massage parlor. Its not only women who are exploited. I am sure there are so many of us who have similar offers, or sexual advances made by our own cousins. Heck, there are those cases where parents are involved.
I also believe that of many reasons women or girls are seen in different light in India, one of them is the Dowry. The thought that a grown up daughter costs a fortune to marry off is such pain to a father as it is to the entire family. And seeing the family in pain and misery, others think twice before thinking to have a girl child, not think once before killing her.
Wait, there is more. Now that poor, unfortunate and unlucky Patient X has passed away, with the massive protests, is it all the more reason for parents to think thrice about having a girl child?
With less girls, more men are unmarried and they do not get to have the life of married men, including sex. As shown in the Aamir Khan show “Satyameva Jayathe”, there are already communities who are literally buying women as wives. Now, is it not also a forced, brutal rape of the woman? She is raped everyday, threatened to be sold off again pr exchanged for a new wife.
What makes these men rape?
Lust
Power of aides working with Political parties
Assumption of Easy targets
Secluded places
Weak Law and Punishment
and many more
Of the above, you cant do nothing about Lust. I saw and read many people calling the rapists as animals. Well if you do so be aware that, as Animals don’t force sex. They have to cajole the female so much before the female allows them have an intercourse. If there are more male than females, there is a competition of sorts and the winner in the female’s eyes get to make out. These are demons. Evil.
What should be done?
The government has to come up with a new law, new order. Pass an ordinance that all unsolved cases of rape must be tried under the newer law. The police has to tighten up their delivery of responsibilities by making themselves more approachable, their biggest flak.
More often than not, the police are hand in glove with the local politicians, goons, or both. They fear losing their job, being subjected to transfers to remote places, and try to earn back the money they paid as bribe to get the job by taking more bribe. This needs to be curbed. One reason why I appreciate Sony Television repeat telecasting the Anil Kapoor starer Nayak is because of what it shows – What a person sitting on the Chief Ministers seat is capable of doing.
And then, its our part of action and what we need to do.
Encourage respect for women and men from childhood
Introduce martial arts education to women, make it compulsory
