आर्थिक

Bitcoin's blistering bull run, and all the worries that come with it becoming the biggest asset bubble ever, has finally galvanised the Income Tax Department into taking action. After surveying nine major cryptocurrency exchanges in the country last week to investigate instances of tax evasion, the taxman is now all set to issue notices to lakhs of high networth individuals (HNI) involved in Bitcoin trading in India. According to official sources, the survey had revealed that out of the estimated 20 lakh entities registered on these exchanges, about 4 to 5 lakh were "operational" and indulging in transactions and investments. "Those individuals and entities are now being probed under tax evasion charges. Notices are being issued seeking their financial details and, if tax demand ...

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 17.01.2018 clarified that 10-rupee coins issued so far in all the 14 designs are valid because of reports about people not accepting these coins in fear of their being fake. But coin-collectors wanting to have commemorative coins have no knowledge about their availability. RBI should arrange availability of all previous commemorative coins for desiring ones at selected bank-branches across the country, all postal philatical centres apart from all RBI offices at face-value. These counters should also sell commemorative-coin sets issued on occasion of issue of a new coin right from the day of release abolishing cumbersome procedure to get these through advance booking to be delivered months or years after their release thus killing the very purpose of commemora...

Super-costly medical facilities including even costly MRIs, CT-scans and medicines (including very costly ones) are being provided totally free-of-cost in hospitals and dispensaries run by Delhi government at cost of state-exchequer funded by Delhi tax-payers. But all these facilities are being mainly used by people coming from neighbouring states especially for the purpose. There are reports that announcements in this regard are made during gatherings at religious places making people from those states rushing to Delhi to avail such free super-costly medical-facilities including medicines, because their states do not provide such super-costly medical-services so freely. It is grossly unjustified that Delhi tax-payers have to bear burden of costly medical-facilities provid...

Various airlines-companies give Frequent-Flyers-Points (FFP) to their customers for promoting their sales and clients, which when accumulated provide passengers even free air-travel. There is a large section of people including Parliamentarians, government-employees and others who frequently fly at expense of central and state governments or their undertakings. All airlines-companies should be asked to compulsorily open Frequent-Flyers-Accounts in names of central and all state governments where only FFPs may be credited for air-tickets purchased or reimbursed at public-expenses. FFPs on air-tickets purchased directly at public-expenses can be credited directly to such opened government-accounts for crediting FFPs. In case of reimbursement later by governments, reimbursement...

Central and some state-governments have started accepting on-line RTI applications. But most of the population especially less educated ones and that too from rural areas are not internet-users. For benefit of that majority-section of public, post-free RTI applications addressed to central public-authorities should be accepted in all about 160000 post-offices in the country rather than presently in just 4500 post-offices. Even smallest post-office daily sends post-bags to head post-office with registered postal articles, cash and other revenue-items like unsold postage-stamps and postal-orders. This post-bag can carry post-free RTI applications addressed to central public-authorities. SUBHASH CHANDRA AGRAWAL (Guinness Record Holder & RTI Consultant)

It refers to interesting but damaging news-item that country’s largest public-sector State Bank of India (SBI) earned as much as rupees 1771 crores during the half-yearly period of April-November 2017 through Minimum-Balance-Charges in accounts as against total profit of rupees 1581.55 crores during the same period. Data puts a big question-mark on working of the bank where losses would have outweighed the profits in case the bank would not have raised minimum-balance-requirements. At a time when central government is advocating for opening zero-balance accounts under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna for encouraging cashless transactions, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and central government should ask banks to abolish minimum-balance-requirements in all types of bank-accounts. Otherwise...

It refers to central government deciding to replace 8-percent RBI bonds with fixed six-year maturity with new bonds with decreased interest-rate of 7.75-percent per annum. These bonds still remain the best government-sponsored savings-means even with reduced interest-rates. But people in general are not much aware these bonds, with their availability restricted to very few bank-branches of private and public-sector banks. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and central government should ensure that these bonds may be compulsorily available at all branches of all public-sector banks abolishing hefty one-percent commission being paid to authorised brokers. Private banks may be free to accept subscription to these bonds but with reduced net commission of just quarter-percent with no commissio...

Twice this week, these pages have carried articles emphasizing the importance of trust in a capitalist society. Noah Smith put it eloquently, writing that when you drive over a bridge, you trust that the engineer who designed it based it on sound principles. Or, we may add, the materials that were used were not adulterated. Smith wrote that there are a million ways in which we trust the unseen expertise of unseen people we have never met. This trust is the bedrock of a functioning economy. In the fast-emerging, social media-fed “post-facts” world, the biggest casualty is trust. Even scientists today are not immune from suspicion. Adding their voice, Mint’s editorial reminded us that with rising inequality there is increasing suspicion (and hence breakdown of trust) that capitalist progr...

अंतत: एक लंबी प्रक्रिया के बाद भारत में भी जीएसटी लागू हो ही गया। भारत में इसका आगमन बहुत ही आसान नहीं रहा। इसका आना एक लंबी बातचीत के बाद ही संभव हो सका है। इसकी राह में बाधाएं कम नहीं थी। राजनीतिक कारण जहां एक ओर थे तो दूसरी ओर सामाजिक अवधारणाएं भी इसके मार्ग मेंं थीं। जीएसटी की राह किस प्रकार सुगम हुई, इस पर नजर डालता एक आलेख द्य संपादकीय डेस्क रीब बाइस तेईस साल पहले भारत के इन डायरेक्ट टैक्स स्ट्रञ्चचर पर नरसिम्हा राव सरकार ने एक समिति का गठन किया था, अमरेश बागची कमेटी। बागची साहब ने अपनी रिपोर्ट में भारत के टैक्स स्ट्रञ्चचर को दुनिया का सबसे काम्प्लेक्स स्ट्रञ्चचर बताया था। इररेशनल, इलोजिकल, रिग्रेसिव उनके अन्य शब्द थे। इसका सबसे बड़ा कारण था कैस्केडिंग इफेक्ट ऑफ़ टैक्सेज। तीन अलग अलग तरह का कैस्केडिंग इफेक्ट। 1. भारत में संघीय शासन प्रणाली है। केंद्र आँर राज्य है। दोनों ...

It refers to matter of unpopular 10-rupee coins raised in Rajya Sabha on 24.07.2017 when attention of central government was drawn to unpopularity of 10-rupee coins. Banks are now no more getting new pack of ten-rupee notes. Whereabouts of plastic ten-rupee notes as announced by the then Union Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena in UPA regime in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on 12.03.2013 is unknown. On the other hand despite strong criticism, Reserve Bank of India-RBI notified yet another 2017-series of new one-rupee notes signed by Shaktikant Dass, Secretary in Union Finance Ministry. One-rupee note was re-issued on 06.03.2015 after being discontinued long two decades back in the year 1994, with signature of the then Union Finance Secretary Rajiv Mahrishi. Earlier a ...