Tag Archives: India

News

India lowers income taxes and increases deductions for savings

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The story is here from the Times of India, sent to me by Shalini.

Changes to tax rates

Here are the current tax rates:

Now 10 per cent is levied on incomes of Rs 1.6-3 lakh, 20 per cent on Rs 3-5 lakh and 30 per cent above Rs 5 lakh.

Here are the new rates:

The government on Wednesday initiated radical tax reforms through a draft code that aims at moderating income tax rates, abolishing Securities Transaction Tax and increasing deduction for savings up to Rs three lakh. The new Direct Taxes Code has suggested a significant expansion of personal income-tax slabs, with levels of relief going up with incomes.

Releasing the Direct Taxes Code that will ultimately replace the over four-decades old Income Tax Act and bring all other direct taxes like wealth tax under its purview, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said if reasonable level of discussion happens on the code, a bill could be placed in the winter session of Parliament.

The Code said that the 10 per cent tax rate should apply to an annual income of Rs 1.6-10 lakh per annum and the 20 per cent rate to Rs 10-25 lakh.

The maximum rate of 30 per cent, it added, should apply to income above Rs 25 lakh per annum.

The new rates, it said, “are expected to yield the existing level of revenues with the revised comprehensive tax base proposed in this code”.

Indian tax brackets

Here are my calculations… are they wrong?

First bracket (10%): 1.6 to 10 lakh = 10 x 100,000 rupees = 1,000,000 rupees = up to 20,000 USD.

Second bracket (20%): 10 to  25 lakh = 10 x 100,000 rupees = 1,000,000 rupees = up to 50,000 USD.

Third bracket (30%): over 25 lakh = 10 x 100,000 rupees = 1,000,000 rupees = over 50,000 USD.

Changes to encourage more saving

Not only are they slashing income tax rates but they are increasing the deductions for savings.

I can’t believe this. India is doing everything RIGHT and we are doing everything WRONG. Even Canada is signing free trade deals, while Inspector Clouseau is trying to make us into North Korea. India is buying arms, we’re cutting the F-22 and missile defense.

News

Public transportation can be a nightmare for women in countries like India

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Check out this story from last month from the Times of India.

Excerpt:

27 years old, Ida Loch Hansen from Denmark, who had been in the city working, ironically enough, on the issue of women welfare, faced a harrowing experience when she was molested blatantly in a crowded bus on her way back from Hazratganj to Indiranagar. Choosing to sit in the cabin near the driver because she considered it safe, Ida was molested by a young boy of about her age. Though she had faced eve-teasing before, this blatant physical assault was made at her for the first time.

What was more shocking for her was the fact that though the bus was full, nobody tried to take a stand in response to her screams and in fact, it was only when she raised an alarm that the conductor asked the molester to take a backseat. To add to her misery, instead of reporting the matter to the nearest police station or dropping the man out of the bus, the driver and the conductor forced Ida to get off before her destination.

I think we could end this little problem pretty quickly by allowing women to purchase and carry legal firearms. Imposing stiff penalties for these kinds of sexual assaults would also be a good deterrent. I would not want my daughters to have this kind of thing happen to them. And I find the lack of moral courage of bystanders to be very unsettling.

I’ve noticed that this happens a lot with European bystanders who are confronted by Muslim thugs. Do secularism and Hinduism have the worldview scaffoliding to ground self-sacrifical acts, such as protecting the dignity of others? Maybe some of our Indian commenters can comment about why no one in the bus stood up to protect the screaming victim?

UPDATE: Andrew e-mails this story about a Sudanese woman who is facing 40 lashes… for wearing pants. This is ridiculous.

News

India rejects global warming alarmism

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Story from FT.com. (H/T Babalu Blog via ECM)

Excerpt:

A split between rich and poor nations in the run-up to climate-change talks widened on Thursday.

India rejected key scientific findings on global warming, while the European Union called for more action by developing states on greenhouse gas emissions.

Jairam Ramesh, the Indian environment minister, accused the developed world of needlessly raising alarm over melting Himalayan glaciers.

He dismissed scientists’ predictions that Himalayan glaciers might disappear within 40 years as a result of global warming.

“We have to get out of the preconceived notion, which is based on western media, and invest our scientific research and other capacities to study Himalayan atmosphere,” he said.

“Science has its limitation. You cannot substitute the knowledge that has been gained by the people living in cold deserts through everyday experience.”

Methinks it’s time to review my investment portfolio.