Opinion View from the LEFT
Although Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has maintained that efforts would be made to ensure that the new...
Life and taxes
Although Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has maintained that efforts would be made to ensure that the new Direct Taxes Code meets the aspirations and expectations of the people,the CPI feels that the DTC would only help the big companies. It says the code when it comes into force is not likely to yield for the government more revenue to promote economic growth or mass welfare.Its basic objective,it seems,is to further moderate tax liability of business corporations and the wealthy in our society of mass poverty in the name of promoting voluntary and better compliance in the payment of taxes by individuals and business corporations, an article in CPI weekly organ New Age opined about the code.
With the draft of the new tax code proposing to bring down the tax liability of those with an annual income of 30 lakhs and above from 30 to 25 per cent,the article argues that tax on profits of the business corporations in India are bound to derive sizeable gain from the concession.
Reading Singhs signs
While Amar Singhs next move is still a matter of speculation,especially when some kind of rapprochement efforts are underway with the Mulayam Singh family,the CPI is quite sure that he has sent feelers to the Congress. An article in New Age says: Amar Singh has already opened his window to the Congress,now he is praising Sonia Gandhi in his blog. Besides,he may use it to protect his political and business interest by opening to the Congress as he believes that only such steps can bail him out from the legal cases pending against him. It says Singh,who recently quit all posts in the Samajwadi Party,has already sent feelers to the Congress of his willingness but the grand old party is treading cautiously.
It was Amar Singh who prevailed on Mulayam Singh to bail out UPA-I in July 2008,on the crucial voting on the nuke deal. All along he has been keeping good relations with some of the top Congress leaders. His U-turn on the nuke deal was a blessing for the Congress and the party cannot forget a friend,who rescued it from an imminent crisis, it says.
Autonomy now
The report of the Justice Saghir Ahmad-led working report on strengthening relations between the Centre and Jammu and Kashmir has raised much heat in political circles. The CPM feels that the report failed to come up to the expectations of the people.
It is not that one could have expected this report to be a panacea for all the troubles the state is facing. But the contents of the report should (and could) have certainly been more encouraging, an article in the latest issue of CPM mouthpiece Peoples Democracy concluded.
The article says political analysts feel that the dismally prepared report has rendered the Prime Ministers key working group insignificant. The recommendations regarding abolition of the Legislative Council in the state,regarding the human rights situation in the state,and about scrapping the Armed Forces Special Powers Act have been left inconclusive. Moreover,one gets the impression that these extremely important issues have been dealt with a lackadaisical approach, it says.
As regarding the autonomy question,which triggered jubilation in the National Conference camp as it feels that the working group has accepted its proposal,the article says even a cursory glance at the report would make it clear that the report has made no clear-cut acceptance or rejection of the proposal coming from any political party.
On the demand of autonomy,the working group report says that the question of autonomy and its demand can be examined in the light of the Kashmir accord or in some other manner or on the basis of some other formula which the prime minister may deem appropriate so as to restore the states autonomy to the extent possible.
The sort of autonomy which has been mentioned by the Justice Saghir Ahmad report is in no way the autonomy which can satisfy the aspirations of the alienated people, it says. Participating in the working group meetings,the CPM had favoured maximum autonomy to the state and regional autonomy for Jammu,Kashmir and Ladakh.
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