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Do you have a blog? Do you address issues that touch India? Email me at rrblogs@gmail.com

If you would like, you can send your articles/thoughts directly to me, I will publish them here, or you may send the links and I will publish them here. In any case, if you are working for the same cause, just get in touch with me.

VAT Woes

VAT continues to haunt the city. Just about a month or so after the VAT was rolled out nearly forcefully in the city, its almost nightmarish. Shopkeepers have found a new tool to *legitimetly* loot the consumers. To feel the heat, you just have to walk into any of the retail stores in the city. The shopkeeper will worrysomely tell you that VAT is in effect and you have to pay 12.5% for it. Rarely do you get a *real* VAT reciept as you are supposed. Essentially, the money shopkeepers are collecting in the name of VAT is NOT going into government's treasury.

There are two to three things about the implementation of VAT that need to be immediately addressed.

1. The awareness in the public as to WHAT VAT really is and how much they are supposed to pay and against what type of commodities.
2. The awareness in the shopkeepers as to WHAT really they should be collecting and against what type of commodities.
3. A check on what is being collected and whether that is right and whether that is actually going to the government treasury.

A few days ago I went to the market to buy a mirror. Nearly every shopkeeper informed me after quoting me the price that VAT would be extra @ 12.5 % That left me wondering as to was it correct for government to charge us 12.5 % on all our purchases? Does it mean that the value of Rupee has just gone down that you have to pay rupees 112.5 to buy what you bought for rupees 100 till a month ago?

Obviously, something is broken. VAT is not being implemented properly. Government has just left the public on its own to be looted by the city thugs.

Pathetic state of government owned websites

Its a matter of shame! Why can't government of India, who isn't spending less bucks than a small private company does, get a quality presence on the Web? See this page for instance. It has got loads of junk text on the page. That being the state of the affairs of the website of government of India's largest source of income, Indian Railway. http://www.ircot.railnet.gov.in/ is supposed to be the site for the online booking of a railway ticket (the home page of the site, however, says something different altogether). I have, in past, seen Google coughing broken links to this site. It is not impossible to for a site to have broken links, but there is a way to it. The kind of broken link I saw was a proof of poor maintenance.

A bigger question is -- Companied much smaller in size and with much smaller budget, how come they manage to have and maintain such professionally made sites?

The answer lies in the fact that -- The people make the difference. Smaller companies are made of people who take responsibity, people who bow to run a show, people who think the growth of their company and their business is directly related to their own growth. When they invest in something, they see to it that every single penny spent has its worth. Contarary to that, government officials can never get over red-tapism. Corruption and buck passing is the order of the day. No one takes ownership of anything. Being responsibile is not in fashion. No wonder, the work they get done even by paying higher price is of much inferior quality than what others get done for lesser price.

Government officials do not take responsibilty (doesn't look like it from what I quoted). They do things not becasue it should be done, but becasue it has to be shown on papers. Now that's a department of government of India for you.

Don't make fuss, officials are sleeping!

Shift in American Diplomacy?

The more I think about it, the more it gets complex. The context is: Has US really shifted its policy on the weapons and strategic balance in the Indian subcontinent in India's favour.

This is clear that the USA has been under pressure to return the money that it took from Pakistan to provide it with F-16 fighter jets. But my mind refuses to think that the money has been decisive factor. The entire world knows that the US has given Pakistan hundreds of millions of dollar as freebies in lieu of letting it use Pakistani soil for making army base for attacks on Al-Quida and Iraq. So, what then has been the basic impulse to clear export of F-16s to Pakistan?

In my opinion, doing that server the USA the following benefits:

• It ensures the availability of Pakistan's land for army base
• US will always be within a striking distance for Al-Quida
• US will be able to influence Pakistan governance better to control Islamic fundamentalists
• It gives USA army a direct presence in South Asia (long term strategy, just in case)

Keeping in mind so many benefits, it was only expected that the USA will go ahead with the F-16 deal with Pakistan. What then has been the reason behind immediate clarification of the US government on the issue to India. I see the following facts that played the role:

• India's strong protest about arms race. USA knows very well that India will need to think about its counter weapon
• USA sees it as a win win situation. Regardless of who buys the jets, they stand to make money
• USA would like India to be a major alternative (given that no other country in the region would be able to provide shoulders as strong as India's), just in case Pakistan is forced to go back by Islamic fundamentalists
• USA understands that India would anyway find the alternates, and it finds it a better option to sell F-18s to India and make it its own ally than upset it and weaken the ties
• USA really sees India as the rising world economic and military power and hence wants to keep the company

Whatever the reason, at the moment, the waves seem to be blowing in India's favor, with a clearly worded US govt official's remark about USA wanting to help India establish itself as major world power. But India needs to be on guard. Dependence on USA is not a great way to live.

 

 

English Test

While surfing today I came across this test on English language, and I found it so interesting I thought I'd share it with you.

 

Oh by the way, here is my test result!

 

 

Advanced You scored 92% Beginner, 78% Intermediate, 87% Advanced, and 64% Expert!

You have an extremely good understanding of beginner, intermediate, and advanced level commonly confused English words, getting at least 75% of each of these three levels' questions correct. This is an exceptional score. Remember, these are commonly confused English words, which means most people don't use them properly. You got an extremely respectable score. Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it! For the complete Answer Key, visit my blog: http://shortredhead78.blogspot.com/.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 30% on Beginner You scored higher than 9% on Intermediate You scored higher than 18% on Advanced You scored higher than 26% on Expert

Link: The Commonly Confused Words Test written by shortredhead78 on Ok Cupid