The Observer An IIJNM publication
Kidnapping and abduction cases jump 64% in 5 years say police officials | P 2
Vol 18, Issue 17
Thursday, January 24, 2019
Some fear that Goyal’s will be a populist Budget Pranay Prakash
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The government is inviting trouble by ditching its determination to maintain the fiscal deficit before elections. | Credit- Pranay Prakash deficit target of 3.3% of the GDP, others are apprehensive that it will adopt a populist stance in view of the upcoming parliamentary elections. Suman Kumar Das from Delhi, a retired deputy general manager at one of Asia’s largest petrochemical refineries, said he believes the government will go into a populist mode in the budget session. It will introduce measures which will try to appeal to farmers and backward castes as the former have staged
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58% rise in advance fee scams; Internet users need to be alert | P 3
Citizens want Modi govt to raise IT exemption limit
head of Parliament’s budget session, starts on January 31, KPMG India has put out a survey to analyse voters’ sentiments regarding the upcoming Union Budget and their expectations from the government. The survey shows that 32% of the respondents want the income tax exemption limit increased, while 62% are apprehensive that the government will reintroduce long-term capital gains tax on listed equity shares/equity-oriented mutual funds. The Observer spoke to people across the country regarding the findings of the survey. Most said the government will announce some major populist measures before the Moral Code of Conduct kicks in before Lok Sabha elections. While some expect the government to continue with fiscal prudence and stick to the fiscal
The Observer
massive protests against falling prices of farm produce and not getting remunerative prices. For middle-class tax payers, he said: “The government should increase the maximum limit of income liable to be taxed. The government has seen higher collection of direct taxes after demonetization, and now it can afford to increase the basic exemption limit.” Kiran Prakash, a software engineer working with Wipro in Gurgaon, believes that the most
beneficial thing for the middle class would be to increase the basic exemption limit to be increased from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. “Like medical and transportation allowances, house rent allowance should also be included in deductions from income for the calculation of tax. Also, in an election year, the government will not care for fiscal prudence.” According to some, the government is inviting trouble by ditching its determination to maintain the fiscal deficit before elections. Rajesh Das, a retired branch manager of a nationalised bank who lives in Ranchi, said: “If the government chooses to introduce many populist measures, the finances of the country will be strained in the next fiscal. The government should come to its senses and bring an interim budget before the elections.” Piyush Goyal, who replaced Arun Jaitley to take charge as interim finance minister a week before the budget, may break from tradition by not presenting an interim budget as all previous governments did. The government might present a full budget and introduce more populist measures with an eye on the upcoming elections. pranay.p@iijnm.org
News Briefs National lAlmost four months ahead of the 2019 general election, Indian Railways on January 23 announced a massive recruitment drive to hire about 2.30 lakh people in the next two years. Following the 103rd Constitutional Amendment, 10% of the vacancies, i.e. around 23,000 vacancies will be reserved for candidates from economically weaker sections, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said. lISRO has shied away from sharing details of the spacecraft or its uses as it does routinely each time during its missions; except to say the satellite would be placed within 15 minutes after take-off in a polar orbit 274 km away from Earth. International lWikiLeaks is seeking to force the Trump administration to unseal any charges filed in the U.S. against its founder, Julian Assange. The organisation said in a statement it filed a petition Wednesday with an international human rights body seeking to force disclosure of any charges against Assange and help him fight possible extradition to the United States Sports lPortuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo was fined almost 19 million euros ($21.6 million) for tax fraud on Tuesday but will avoid serving a 23month prison sentence after agreeing a deal.
Will removal of child locks from cabs make women safe? They say there is no guarantee that it will Sahana S
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espite the Karnataka transport department’s order to disable child locks in commercial vehicles, women in the city continue to feel unsafe. “The removal of child locks does not ensure women’s safety. If the driver is a creep, then the presence or absence of child lock does not matter. The rule needs to be properly enforced,” said Anukrithi Ganesh, a cab user, informed The Observer. Some women feel the removal of child locks will not prevent attacks on them.
Aarthi M, “Ala former though I HR execuhaven’t entive, said: countered “The reany such moval of situations, child locks there is no cannot point in guarantee disabling the safety child locks. of women Instead passengers Uber, Ola in vehicles. and other It won’t The removal of child locks will not prevent commerhelp in the attacks on them. | Credit- Sahana S cial cabs elimination must do of violence against women.” background checks before giving Others insist that instead of permits to drivers. If done meticbeing asked to remove child locks, ulously, it can help reduce viothe government must insist that lence against women,” Anjali S, cab companies perform strict income tax officer who travels by background checks on the drivers Ola to her office, said. before appointing them. Some cabbies can also procure
fake child lock removal certificates. “I cannot ensure whether commercial vehicles have removed child lock or not. So while travelling during the night hours, I prefer buses,” Felicita Dizoza, an employee of Accenture, said. However, deputy commissioner of the Regional Transport Office (East Division) Mahaveer Y Annigeri said: “We have already started to check the vehicles from January 1 and would ensure they remove child locks from their vehicles. We have given an extension of a few days to the drivers of commercials cabs and taxis. After that, they would be fined Rs 5,000 if officers catch them. We initiated a campaign at the Kempegowda International Airport on safety measures for women passengers.
We removed child locks from nearly 400 taxis.” Cab drivers are unhappy with the decision. They have problems regarding the implementation of the new rule “Even after receiving certificates the drivers can reinstall child locks by paying Rs 4000 to mechanics. Moreover, in a moving cab, if children meddle with the cab door, there might be a chance of mishaps in the absence of a child lock,” argues Munna S, who works for a car rental service. To ensure the safety of the lone women passengers, the ministry of road transport and highways recently announced that child locks should be removed from transport vehicles, including private taxis and app-based cabs by July. sahana.s @iijnm .org