Conserve the nature: World Sparrow Day

Sparrows. Once abundant in every street in India; now a rare and diminishing species, driven to the brink of extinction. The chirpy noises are no longer heard in the mornings and evenings, and soon they shall vanish, unless of course we act and strive together to help the numbers raise. The brown little birdie needs our help.

This is not the situation just in India but all over the world. The mere existence of sparrows is an index of the environmental health. Sparrows are extremely sensitive birds, with tiny bodies that need water at least twice a day. With the pollution rising and the green house gases causing  global warming on earth, local water bodies like rivers and ponds have gone dry leaving the sparrows nowhere to go. They have been left to die just for the sake of our extra comforts.

World Sparrow Day is celebrated on 20th March to raise awareness about the decrease in numbers of house sparrows and other urban birds.

There are several ways you can make up for your mistakes. It is not too late to react. Summers are tough times for birds. When men can't stand heat themselves in all their artificial settings (which sadly results in heating up the environment again). Set up your own bird feeders at home. Spare some grains for the birds. Put up a small cup of water and fill it twice everyday. Change the water regularly. See how you can make a cheap bird feeder at home. It can make a difference.

Wishesh Team urges you to set up the bird feeders and bring back the beauty in nature. World Sparrow Day

(AW- Anil)

Director Spielberg To Celebrate Success Of Lincoln In India

Legendary director Steven Spielberg is now in India, celebrating his last victory in the Oscars, Lincoln, with Anil Ambani who has been an active part of the film since his Reliance Entertainment has co-produced the movie. Along with his wife, Kate Capshaw, Spielberg will be meeting Ambani in Mumbai for a party.

The 66 year old director is the one man behind several classics of this century like Jaws, ET, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, The color purple, Empire of the Sun, Schindler's list, Munich, Lincoln, and several other masterpieces. He has been a director for the past 40 years.

In honor of the director, a gala party would be organized and the party has several who's who of Indian cinema like Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Farhan Akthan, Karan Johar etc.

It is noted that 61 Bollywood celebrities were invited to this big party hosted by Anil Ambani in Mumbai.

(AW- Anil)

Union Budget 2013 Chidambaram Announces

Non-residents Indians (NRIs) will have to spend a little more on their visits to India after the latest budget 2013.

As the air travel tax has gone up, NRIs now pay more when they buy their air tickets to travel back home and within India. Moreover, their stay at luxury hotels, guest houses and meals at good restaurants will cost slightly more as service and other taxes have gone up.

In fact, for medical treatment in India, NRIs will have to pay more because the service tax on healthcare is up. For example, if an NRI undergoes heart surgery, the charges go up between Rs.5,000 and Rs.10,000.

As a reason of increasing the income tax threshold marginally from Rs.160,000 to Rs.180,000 will benefit NRIs paying tax. In fact, Senior NRI taxpayers over 60 and very senior taxpayers over 80 will benefit more. But not in real terms. The inflation rate is higher than the relief. Most western governments have started announcing tax rates at least three years in advance so that people can plan ahead and India needs to follow this system, urges S.K. Gupta, an NRI chartered accountant.

Despite the recent negative news of scams and corruption, NRIs are still interested in buying property, investing in stocks or mutual funds, starting new ventures and even settling in India to retire. Should they take this plunge after this budget? Yes, considering the returns they can reap from their investments.

Suppose an NRI invests Rs.100,000 ($2,216 or 1,603 euros at current rates) in the three options of fixed deposits, equities and mutual funds (MFs). If an NRI puts down a fixed deposit of Rs.100,000 ,the total amount with interest will rise to Rs.113,000 for one year and Rs.174,000 after five years. If an NRI invests Rs.100,000 in equity, after one year the investment will more than double to Rs.226,000 and in five years, it will rise further to Rs.278,000. Now, if an NRI invests Rs.100,000 in MFs, it will go up to Rs.176,000 after one year more than triple to Rs.358,000 after five years with less risk than equities.

The highest returns come from MFs when compared to investing in fixed deposits or in Indian stocks. The initial paperwork for getting a Permanent Account Number (PAN) Card and getting KYC (Know Your Customer) takes a lot of time and effort and the budget has not addressed this problem, but the high returns make it worthwhile.

In a bold budgetary move, the Indian capital markets have been thrown open to foreign investors. This means that an individual foreigner can now invest in equity MFs. The NRIs still have an edge in the lower risk debt funds segment as foreigners cannot invest in the area, said Sanjay Durgan of Abundanze Wealth Management.

By holding the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas conferences in India and abroad with other initiatives, the Indian government has roped in rich NRIs to invest in India. NRIs who are also High Net Individuals (HNIs) continue to park their savings and investments in India because they see long-term stability and economic progress of this country. Middle class NRIs want security and steady returns on their savings and so they are also banking on India, said Vikas Vij, a practising accountant.

NRI's ever keen to buy property in India are disheartened by the sky high real estate prices. But they fear the largely unregulated Indian real estate market. No steps have been taken to license and weed out unscrupulous real estate agents and property developers. Legislation on this problem is in the offing but too many NRIs have been duped. The stamp duty and the procedure for property registration are not uniform all over the country and this poses many problems for NRIs who want to buy property during their short visits. An Indian Stamp Act will be tabled to address this problem. Non-operational limited liability companies in India with NRI partners could not be easily wound up. Now the budget offers an Easy Exit Scheme to wind up these companies.

As the fact remains the total NRI remittances for 2010 were $55 billion which were expected to rise further last year. This year, NRI remittances from the Middle East, especially Libya, will decline but the total amount is expected to remain at this level and may increase marginally. Despite the slowdown following the 2008 financial crisis in the West and the current unrest in North Africa and the Middle East, NRIs still continue to look at India for depositing their savings and making investments, although they did not get any special incentive in this budget. Still, NRIs will send and keep their money in India where their heart is.

Moreover...

India unveiled a surge in government spending on Thursday, despite expectations of an austerity budget to shore up its finances, imposing new taxes on the rich and large companies to fund a dash for growth ahead of an election due by next year.

     1. Chidambaram proposes 10% surcharge on super-rich

In the Budget proposals for the next fiscal, Chidambaram proposed a surcharge of 10% on persons with income of over Rs one crore. The proposal will cover 42,800 individuals and tax entities.

"When I need to raise resources, who can I go to except those who are well placed in society. Only 42,800 persons in the whole country who admitted to a taxable income of exceeding Rs one crore per year.

"I propose to impose a surcharge of 10% on persons whose taxable income exceeds Rs 1 crore per year," he said while unveiling Budget proposals for 2013-14

NRIs point of view:  If any NRI has a taxable income of over Rs 1 crore in India, you will now have to pay a surcharge of 10 percent. This additional tax is currently proposed only for financial year 2013-14. For non-residents, income would include any income that arises or accrues in India such as interest on investments, rental income from property located in India, capital gains on sale of assets located in India etc.

    2. Direct Tax Code to be re-introduced by the end of Budget session

NRI point of view:  The finance minister proposed to bring the Bill back to the house before end of the Budget session after due consultation with the recommendations made by the Standing Committee on Finance. The earlier version had some harsh provisions for NRIs such as  any individual (including NRIs/PIO) will become resident, if he is present in India for 60 days or more in the financial year and 365 days or more over a period of four years prior to the financial year and would be liable to pay taxes on their global income. This proposal would have impacted all those NRIs who visited India frequently for personal or business purposes.

    3. Limit on Duty free Gold  import is raised to Rs.50,000 and Rs. 1 Lakh

NRI point of view: Duty free limit is raised of bringing gold into the country to Rs 50,000 for a male passenger and Rs 1 lakh for a female passenger. The earlier limits were Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000 respectively

    4. "Sufficient condition" clause in addition to Tax Residency Certificate for claiming tax treaty benefits

NRI point of view: Since the last Budget it was mandatory for non-residents who were claiming tax treaty benefits to present a tax residency certificate (TRC) from the country of their residence. With this budget, now a TRC will not be 'sufficient condition' for claiming such relief. However, the Finance Bill does not explain what the other conditions could be. If this unclear proposal passed, can  give the tax department increased power to examine these claims, leaving the NRIs with more compliances to follow.

    5. Reduced tax on interest from rupee-denominated infrastructure investments

NRI point of view: The Finance Minister has now extended the benefit of 5% rate of tax on interest paid to NRI investors is made through a designated bank account in rupee denominated long term infrastructure bonds. With a view to attract investment in long term infrastructure bonds in foreign currency, the rate of tax on interest paid to non-resident investors was reduced in the last Budget from 20 percent to 5 percent

Things have become more cost effective for the NRI's after the Budget 2013.

(AW:Samrat Biswas)

Killing Case Of LTTE Chief's Son

The Channel 4 documentary that apparently contained 12 visuals of slain LTTE chief Prabhakaran's son has reportedly been triggering a wide range discussions among political circles. Even as Sri Lankan army coming forth before the media and stating that they were lies and numerous forms of speculations, emotions are reportedly running high in many parts of Tamil Nadu. In fact, chief minister Jayalalitha herself said in a statement that the assassination of 12-year-old Balachandran Prabhakaran as against the ethics of war. She even urged India to make a resolution against Sri Lanka over the same.

The documentary that was shot by Channel 4 was supposed to be aired at UN Human Rights Council. Some of the visuals of this documentary allegedly shows Balachandran as sitting in a bunker and eating snacks while another picture (shot a few hours later) shows Balachandran lying dead on the floor with bullet piercings in his chest.

Nonetheless, Sri Lankan army has reiterated that the visuals of this boy were morphed and thus denied the allegations. Anyway, it looks like the documentary is apparently going to make Jayalalitha government exert pressure over resolution.

Prabhakaran's son executed, new evidence

 

War is a particularly disturbing period of time for both sides of the gruesome killings and some pictures remain truly horrific reminders of the incidents in the war and these photo evidences unearthed are no different. Latest evidence in photographs suggest that the slain LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran's son Balachandran Prabhakaran, could have been held captive in the sand bunkers of Sri Lankan Army before he was executed by shooting him from point-blank range.

These pictures show the lad eating a snack in a sand bunker belonging to the Sri Lankan army. This indicated that he was in their custody.

The photos belong to the last few days of the Sri Lankan Civil War in May 2009 and only moments before his execution.

He was shot five times in the chest and the damage of the bullet on the skin suggests that he was shot from a very close range, 2-3 feet. After the first bullet, the boy could have fallen down and the army shot him four more times in the chest.

The pictues also show the impunity of the Sri Lankan army as they were involved in the deliberate killing of a 12 year old boy, like animals. These pictures released yesterday would be the follow up to the feature documentary “No War Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka,” which will be shown in Geneva at the UN Human Rights Council Meeting.

With the latest evidence, the government of Sri Lanka will have to face tougher questions and probably action too. India will have more pressure to support a resolution against Sri lanka and make sure that it would press for international action demanding that Sri Lanka should be held accountable.

(AW- Anil)

 

 

Career Wishesh

areer Wishesh: Take a right turn at turning point 

 

All those entering the tenth standard will be having so many dreams, challenges and even pressures not just from parents but from peer groups too. Whether to take the subject of his choice in the intermediate or go with the flow like a sheep that follows the herd-this happens to be a major question that engages the young minds for sure!

A guy one day happened to visit an educational counselor with a set of questions like any average person. All that he wanted to pursue was a master's degree in social work-MSW. And he was asking how much he could be earning a month with that degree. The counselor then came to know that the pursuit of this guy was not for achieving his dreams but for the digits that play the magic in today's world, unfortunately. This is not just the case of this person alone but many persons and probably he was just a personification of today's young mind.

Is money the only factor that should decide your career? A big no will come as a reply the moment you ask this question to the herd (not the group) of people. But then you still notice lakhs and lakhs of people taking up medical and engineering courses, not out of love for the subject, but for the hype that one could have a luxurious life as a software professional or the kick one would get wearing a stethoscope. Again, does that stop there? Certainly not.

These days IIMs have gained enough momentum because of the packages the alumni are getting after passing out from these institutes. So, many engineering graduates are now showing interest to join IIM and take an MBA degree. Visit any CAT (common aptitude test) coaching centres, more than 60% of people would be engineering graduates. The irony is that many people don't even know that IIMs don't offer an MBA but diploma programmes since they are institutes and not universities nor affiliated to any university. The quality of education at IIMs is undoubtedly world class, there's no doubt in that but the point here is to emphasize how many of them are aiming IIMs over the love for the subject.

So, friends never ever go after something only because it's trending. Yes, for clothes and stuff that you use and throw, trendy word might play important in your dictionary but let that be limited to fashion alone. Career is something that not just gives you money, car, luxurious life but a recognition as to who you are. Remember, all those who made their names shine in golden letters in their respective fields are the ones who took up the profession-not because it's trendy and not because it gives them more money but-only for their love towards that particular subject.

If you want to bring out the creative skills in you and show your world through the lens as a film maker, how can you stick your back to the seat and work hours together only to see the money that will be credited at the end of the month to your banks? How can you save a person's life as a doctor when you actually wanted to make it big in sports? Think, dear friends, listen to what your mind says, just sit alone and concentrate on your interests. The moment you discover what you want, just forget the money, peer groups and pressures...Follow your dream with full determination to transform it in to reality and when you achieve you will surely be on Cloud9.

Tamil Nadu In Neck Deep Water Problems

Chennai known as the 'Detroit' of the country owing to its large scale automobile industries, has concentrated more to resolve the disputes, yet not a single year passes without a tussle to get the share of water.

Mentioning about Tamil Nadu Water Problems, the main issue that comes to every mind is the impending Cauvery row. Cauvery river flows from Karnataka to the state, is ideal for irrigation in Coimbatore and surrounding districts. But there is a regular tussle between the two governments over water sharing. While Karnataka complains that water is insufficient to it's own domestic needs, TN asks for it's rightful share as border districts also need water to survive.

Even Cauvery Monitoring Committee headed by Prime Minister him self could not convince the neighbors to part with some water. On the instance of the apex court, TN Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa met her counterpart, Jagadish Shettar in Bangalore to sort out the difference and it was a vain bid. The case is still pending and awaits a miracle.

On the other side, with Kerala, TN has the 'Mullaiperiyar Dam row. Century old dam has been the bone of contention between the two states, since some time. The Dam constructed in Kerala borders is monitored frequently by TN. The main controversy is that Kerala Government wants  to demolish this dam fearing a burst, but TN claims that further to expert's reports, the dam is safe and there is no imminent threat as feared.

This issue had been persisting and emerges mostly around October every year and peaks around December while receding in January, later it subsides. The reason for this fluctuating nature needs to be clearly observed as the pattern has been somewhat similar the last few years, probably this could solve the problem better than trying to address the original issue.

On the other hand, when the trouble breaks out border districts on both sides, become tense. Transport between the two states comes to a standstill and the whole situation turns chaotic with politicians on both sides trying their best to hog limelight by commenting on the issue. This again is in the court and awaits another miracle.

In spite of excellent infrastructure, education and health, TN is unable to tide over these water woos that are bogging down the growth to a certain extent. Water scarcity has also created huge power crisis resulting in production drops with erratic outages on the manufacturing side and an equal effect on agriculture as well.(Wishesh AarKay)