India from ‘US and China’ perspective

India, as of now	Economically Developed India	Economically Backward India
India is one of the largest exporters of raw materials to China and US.	India would be rather supplying furnished goods than raw materials.	Backward economy would create internal conflicts in India affecting the continuous supply of raw materials at lower cost.
India is dependent on US for nuclear fuel supply and technology for civilian energy needs.	India would independently develop nuclear energy facilities to meet its civilian energy needs.	Indian nuclear technology will pose a security threat to surrounding nations.
India provides educated and industrial labour to several US and Chinese companies at low wages.	Educated labour would demand higher wages. Possibility of Global companies being financed and controlled by Indians.	India will not be able to produce educated lab or force.
India is dependent on US and its allies for providing weaponry technology.	India would indigenously develop weapons for its national security.	India will not be able to afford weapons purchase from US.
Number of patents filed by Indians is considerably less compared to US and China. Number of patents, in a way determines the technological advances made by the nation.	With better economy, more funding will be available for research, resulting in drastic increase in patents filed by Indians. Hence, US, China and India would compete for every new technology.	Not applicable.
An average American eats five times more nutritious food than average Indian.	Indians would be eating nutritious food on par with Americans. This would result in global increase in food prices.	With degrading economy, Indians will not be able to produce food for themselves, hence increasing the global food prices by importing food.
US and China are strategically partnering with under-developed countries for exploration of natural resources.	India would join the US and China in exploration of natural resources available in under-developed countries, resulting in more competition for natural resources.	Not applicable.

Does paying TAXES make you more responsible towards nation?

Soon after graduation, I took up my first full time job. A month later, a handsome amount was deposited into my bank account as my first month salary. Few days later, I found that a portion of my salary has been deducted as income tax. I remember, for the first time, I walked on the roads of my city (Hyderabad) with a sense of feeling that, now I have financially contributed to the development of the nation. It wasn’t about how much I have contributed; the feeling was more about being responsible towards development of the nation.

When I heard the news, some screwed up lady politician in India wanted to build her statues with public money, my instant reaction was ‘… whose money you are using for building your pathetic looking statues?’ I guess, almost every tax payer had a similar reaction. There is so much of poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and lack of health care in India, and yet precious tax payers money in being wasted in constructing statues!

I soon realized, it wasn’t just that one particular lady politician. Several other politicians have abused the tax payer’s money in India and it’s a very common thing. It made me wonder, do these politicians care for people’s money? How can people just remain silent when their hard earning money is being wasted?

After a bit of analysis, I found that only 8% of Indians pay taxes, leaving about 92% (~1 billion people) who are either not eligible to pay taxes or found a way to escape taxes. So, we are part of a nation which has about 1 billion people who haven’t contributed even a paisa from their pocket towards the development of the nation. What is even worse, majority of these non-tax payers do not realize from where the government gets money to construct roads, irrigation projects, transport systems, etc. For them, it’s just government money. And when some political leader announces that he/she would give free electricity or gold, they jump to vote in his/her favor.

Clearly, there seems to be a ‘disconnect’ between people who are paying taxes and the people who aren’t. The task before each one of us is, to bring a change in the attitude of people. This task cannot be successfully achieved just via educational campaigns. After giving a lot of thought, I have come to a conclusion that, by making every earning individual pay taxes, automatically we can change the attitude of the nation. Before we look at the proposed actionable plan, let’s first understand, in terms of numbers, how income tax is being collected from earning individuals in India:

Income tax for financial year 2010-11	Rate (%)
Up to 1,60,000 Up to 1,90,000 (for women) Up to 2,40,000 (for resident individual of 65 years or above)	NIL
1,60,001 – 5,00,000	10
5,00,001 – 8,00,000	20
8,00,001 upwards	30

As per the current rules, any individual earning less than Rs.1,60,000 annually need not pay taxes. A small tweaking to the above tax system can dramatically change the attitude of people. Not taxing the individuals who earn less than Rs. 1,60,000 (1,90,000 and 2,40,000 for women and senior citizens respectfully) definitely reduces the burden on low-earning citizens. However, it is also resulting in lack-of-responsibility among majority of people. Keeping this in mind, I propose the following change in the tax system.

Proposed Income tax for future	Rate (%)
Up to 1,60,000 Up to 1,90,000 (for women) Up to 2,40,000 (for resident individual of 65 years or above)	1
1,60,001 – 5,00,000	10
5,00,001 – 8,00,000	20
8,00,001 upwards	30

The new proposed tax structure does one dramatic change. It makes sure that every citizen who is earning should pay tax to the nation. A nominal tax of 1% should be collected from every individual who is earning less than Rs. 1,60,000 (Rs. 1,90,000 and Rs. 2,40,000 for women and senior citizens respectfully). I do understand this is a burden on everyone, especially for the individuals who are struggling to meet their ends. But at the same time, this would be a critical move towards the progress of the nation.

Following are the advantages of making the tax mandatory

1. It brings a sense of responsibility among every citizen. It would automatically create an environment where people would protect the public property and protest against any wastage of money by government. Currently, this feeling is missing among 92% of the Indians. As long as they are not directly being affected, they don’t care about demanding accountability from government.

2. It will bring a sense of satisfaction among people that they have contributed towards development of the nation. This induces a feeling of demanding accountability from government and elected representatives. For every paisa collected via taxes, the government and elected representatives has to show the corresponding progress to the people. As they have directly paid an amount to the government in form of taxes, it inherently creates a feeling among citizens to ask for accountability and progress.

3. It will change the public service system in India. Public servants believe that they are being paid by Government and since 92% of the people haven’t directly contributed money to the government, they don’t hold public servants accountable. But with mandatory tax system, public servants are directly accountable to the people.

Also, there is one behavioral characteristic of Indians that needs to be changed. Generally, when people in India approach a politician, he/she always goes with folded hands, as if, they are begging for a favor from the politician. We need to change this mentality. A politician is doing a job and as a citizen of India, you have every right to demand. The part of the problem is, because majority of people in India haven’t contributed taxes, when they ask for a particular thing (ex: relief fund) from a politician, they think they are asking for a favor. This mindset would automatically change when there is a mandatory tax system in India. Given that, everyone has financially contributed, people would demand efficient use of funds and approach politicians with self-respect.

I wish to see a lady from a village walking up to Rahul Gandhi and saying ‘…I give a damn about whether you sleep at a hut for a night or not. I want my village to have better drainage systems, zero electricity cuts and proper roads. Can you get it done within a year? If not, you better not visit this place again’. And that courage would only come, when all of us pay taxes to the nation, irrespective of how much we earn.

Reply to Shashi Tharoor on his article on Burma

Recently, Shashi Tharoor wrote an article titled “Burma: India’s Bad Neighbor Policy”. My first reaction after reading the article was, ‘author is so confused’. Probably, Mr. Tharoor is trying to balancing it out between his Government’s views and his own moral values. On one sides, he defends the democratic rights of people and on the other, goes on to justify that India started support military junta for the sake of economic benefits. Mr. Tharoor quotes “India’s government cannot be blamed for deciding that its national interests in Burma are more important than standing up for democracy there”. In my opinion, for a nation that aspires to be a global power, this is a very compromising statement.

Mr. Tharoor also quotes “Any Indian government’s primary obligation is to its own people, and there is little doubt that the economic opportunities provided by Burmese oil and gas are of real benefit to Indians. There is also the strategic imperative of not ceding ground to India’s enemies on its own borders. India confronts an inescapable fact of geopolitics: you can put your ideals on hold, but you cannot change who your neighbors are”.

Basically, it appears that, Mr. Tharoor wants to say, wherever and whenever there are commercial benefits, Indian government should peruse it without caring about nation’s honour, morals and dignity. Let me remind Mr. Tharoor that, economic benefits are often temporary, what stands out in the history are the values of a nation. Often, it’s the values of a nation that determine its relationships with other countries. Also, his justification that Indian government went into business with military junta of Myanmar (Burma) only after Pakistan and China doesn’t make sense. Common, if your enemies do a wrong thing, that doesn’t mean, now you are also eligible to do the wrong thing.

The other day, when president of United States Mr. Barack Obama addressed the Indian Parliament, he rightly pointed out, if India wants to become a global power, it must behave like one. India has been shying away from commenting about human rights violations in Burma and other military ruled regimes, merely for the sake of economic benefits. Isn’t that being selfish? Isn’t that against moral values of India? But then, India has well-educated public representatives like Shashi Tharoor who through the magic of words would justify what India has been doing is the right thing. By the way, at no point I am saying US is actually behaving like a global power, but yes, we can set the right precedence by doing the right thing.

India must not just see itself as a great nation but also as a great civilization. For this to happen, our policy makes should take up challenge of standing to the values of India than merely justifying their acts as commercial ventures.

PS: Given that, Shashi Tharoor is hailed as a hero by majority of audience who follows internet blogs, let me say, I also one among those, who have liked the several works of Mr. Tharoor. But, I am not the kind of person, who would blindly accept what has been told.

Article 334: Reservation of seats and special representation to cease after twenty years

Another article of Indian constitution which I would like to bring forward is Article 334. When the constitution was first introduced on 26^th November 1949, article 334 titled “Reservation of seats and special representation to cease after twenty years” stated

“Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this Part, the provisions of this Constitution relating to—

(a) the reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in the House of the People and in the Legislative Assemblies of the States; and

(b) the representation of the Anglo-Indian community in the House of the People and in the Legislative Assemblies of the States by nomination, shall cease to have effect on the expiration of a period of twenty years from the commencement of this Constitution:

Provided that nothing in this article shall affect any representation in the House of the People or in the Legislative Assembly of a State until the dissolution of the then existing House or Assembly, as the case may be.”

This meant that, reservation of SC/STs in House of the People and in Legislative Assemblies of the states should not be in effect post 1970. However, as per the 23^rd Amendment which happened on 23th January 1970, article 334 of Indian constitution was amended to extend reservation for SC/ST and nomination of Anglo Indian members in Parliament and State Assemblies for another 10 years. This meant that reservations of SC/STs in the House of the People and in Legislative Assemblies of the States is extended till 1980. Basically, when constitution of India was written, the goal was set for twenty years to bring a reform among SC/STs. However, lack of accountability among politicians and creation of vote-bank politics resulted in further 10 year extension of the time-line. The worst was yet to come. On 25^th Janurary 1980, article 334 of Indian constitution was again amended (45^th Amendment) to extend reservation for SC/ST and nomination of Anglo Indian members in Parliament and State Assemblies for another ten years (up to 1990). 10 years later, on 20^th December 1989, article 334 of Indian constitution was once again amended (62^nd Amendment) to extend reservation for SC/ST and nomination of Anglo Indian members in Parliament and State Assemblies for another ten years (up to 2000). Ten years later, on 25^th January 2000, article 334 of Indian constitution was amended (79^th Amendment) for the 4^th time to extend reservation for SC/ST and nomination of Anglo Indian members in Parliament and State Assemblies for another ten years (up to 2010).

So, basically, the concept of reservations of seats for SCs/STs in House of People and Legislative assemblies was meant for twenty years but incapable/unaccountable politicians extended it till sixty years. The most disheartening fact is, the situation of SCs/STs in India still remains as backward as it was during independence. Who is responsible for it? I would say, it’s the people belonging to SCs/STs, especially because they haven’t demanded their elected representatives to develop them. How long can the nation tolerate reservations in the name of caste when people itself want to stick to their backwardness? It appears that, by the end of 2010, the constitution will be once again amended to extend the reservations for SC/STs for another 10 years. This will continue to happen until SCs/STs wake up and demand progress and accountability from their elected representatives. Also, they need to start realizing that, their elected representative need not be from SCs/ST to understand their problems.

I hope sense prevails in India.

Know thy Constitution, Indian citizens!

Knowing the constitution of the nation helps people to realize their rights as citizens. It also keeps them aware of the power and responsibility constitution grants. I say this with deep regret that, most of us in India hardly know the constitution of our nation. Often, we neglect it as something unimportant and unnecessary. Though overview of constitution is taught as part of primary education in India, for some reason unknown, it has failed to create awareness among students and grown-ups. Did you know, constitution of India orders every citizen to develop scientific temper? Did you know, it is the fundamental duty of every citizen to protect the natural environment around us? There are many such things within constitution that we hardly pay attention to. In today’s age, it is critical we understand the power that constitution of India grants each and every citizen.

Digital copy of Constitution of India can be downloaded from website of Ministry of Law and Justice

(http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/welcome.html).

I would highly recommend each citizen of India who have access to Internet to download and read it. I am not a certified lawyer, so my opinion is from a common citizen point of view.

According to article 51A of the constitution, fundamental duties of Indian Citizen are

“It shall be the duty of every citizen of India—

(a) to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem;

(b) to cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired our national struggle for freedom;

(c) to uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India;

(d) to defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so;

(e) to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women;

(f) to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture;

(g) to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife, and to have compass ion for living creatures;

(h) to develop the scientific temper , humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform;

(i) to safeguard public property and to abjure violence;

(j) to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievement.

(k) **who is a parent or guardian to provide opportunities for education to his child or, as the case may be, ward between the age of six and fourteen years.

** Ins. by the Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002, s. 4 (which is yet not in force, date to be notified by the government)”

Each of the fundamental duties of Indian citizens is self-explanatory. However, I would like to highlight about the fundamental duty on developing scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform. As per the values of Indian family system, children are told right from our childhood to accept whatever has been told to them. The same thing is echoed during primary education. The sense of enquiring and making a reform is never told or promoted. In fact, sense of enquiry and reform is crushed at every stage. This leads to a situation, where kids become non-creative. The non-creative child grows up and again preaches the same values to his/her children and this cycle has been continuing. That’s precisely the reason why we haven’t produced intellectual ideas and social reforms. To make things more clear, let me categorically state certain examples

- Existence of superstition in most parts of India is an example of the inability of people to enquire and reform. “My forefathers believed, so I believe it too” … That’s the answer you find from these people when asked.

- Glorification of works done by ancestors is another habit of Indians. Just because, people merely follow what has been told to them than doing something creative, some primitive work done by ancestors becomes so sacred that it can’t questioned and reformed

- Suppression of creativity and scientific ideas in the name of religion, culture and traditions is rampant in most part of the country. People still treat scientific advances as foreign invasion on their religion, culture and traditions.

I can go on and on giving these kinds of examples. Until and unless, citizens of India wake up realize the true fundamental duties defined by our constitution, things won’t change. Also, many of us who do realize this should take a hard stance, as constitution of India gives us that power. Compromising on scientific advances just because somebody’s religious and cultural sentiments are hurt is against our constitution. All citizens of India are ordered by the constitution to develop scientific temper; if they can’t then clearly they are violating Indian constitution.