Kohli should have been rested for West Indies tour
Too much international cricket can be hectic more so for key players like Virat Kohli who should have been rested from the tour of West Indies as we need to prolong his cricketing career by using his services in a phased manner. West Indies doesn’t really have a challenging side and our cricket Board should have sent an young Indian side to the Caribbean which still could have returned victorious. I am surprised that the young and energetic Hardik Pandya has been rested while Virat Kohli figures in all the three formats which one thought was a surprise.
Our cricket Board should have an eye on future and the tour of West Indies was a golden opportunity to test our bench strength but this team of selectors who hardly have any international experience doesn’t really have the teeth to take tough decisions.
We need men like Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Kapil Dev in the selection panel to steer Indian cricket to glorious heights. International playing experience rather than selection of votes should be the criteria to elect national selectors.
S.N. Kabra
9385 cases of tax fraud detected in GST
It refers to government-reply in Parliament that a total of 9385 cases of tax fraud involving amount of rupees 45683 crore has been detected by the tax authorities under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime since its rollout from July 1, 2017 out of which, 1,593 tax fraud cases involving an amount of Rs 6520.40 crore have been detected in April-June.
It has become a common practice to sell GST-invoices to those availing false Input Tax Credit (ITC) when consumers do not insist on taking invoices or leave these invoices by getting some petty discount. These unused GST invoices are purchased by manufacturers to avail false ITC further leading to creation of unaccounted money thus evading even Income Tax also.
ITC should be available only for trading purpose, and not for manufacturing and service sector. Instead GST slabs can be reduced to compensate those who avail ITC honestly. For this GST in manufacturing and service sector may be kept at lower slab of 12-per cent, even though best is to have a common lower slab of 10-per cent abolishing slabs of 0, 3, 5 and 12-percent. Such a common 10-per cent slab will give added revenue to public-exchequers with even commoners ultimately being relieved even though gimmick slabs of 0, 3 and 5 per cent may be abolished.
Another higher slab of 30-percent may be for luxury and other goods of long-time use like even including air-conditioners, refrigerators, TV sets, washing-machines, cars etc where in some cases GST-slab was recently reduced from 28-per cent to 18-per cent. Even cess-culture on extra-luxurious items should be replaced by higher GST slabs in multiples of 50-per cent.
Subhash Chandra Agrawal
Good job done by rescue operation team
Mumbai has witnessed heavy rainfall in 12 years since 2005 deluge. The brave and heroic rescue effort of Mahalakshmi Express train passengers stuck in flood waters near Badlapur, Thane is a rare and commendable feat. Efforts by the District administration, NDRF, Railways, Police, Indian Air force, Army and other teams involved in rescue work is highly appreciated. Rescue work was successful owing to co-operation received by the locals and the affected passengers also. It is also highly appreciable that the successful rescue operation was monitored directly by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra and the Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta.
As over thousand passengers had a miraculous escape from the train owing to threatening water levels, Central Railway should now be proactive to cancel the trains in flood affected regions in the best interest of passenger safety. Timely communication to rescue the passengers thus resulted in over 13 hour rescue operation. Such an effort by rescue agencies deserves worthy appreciation and the government should do the needful to reward the teams in this successful mission.
Further the railways should introduce the Public Announcement System (PA System) in all the trains to communicate to the passengers effectively during any emergency or crisis. Railway staff should be equipped to handle emergency response situations in order to expedite rescue efforts without affecting the lives of the passengers. Railways should further take necessary steps to avoid such kind of crisis arising due to excessive flooding of railway tracks by implementing an innovative warning system during rains or bad weather.
Varun Dambal
Stop accepting dowry
Weddings have become a very costly affair these days and a mere business deal among many families today. Some men even claim that they never wanted dowry but were forced to accept it by their parents. If these men had any convictions, they would not have allowed their parents to get away with it. It is surprising to see men, who are perceived to be strong-willed, turn into spineless meat when it comes to taking a stand against their dowry-seeking parents. Dowry is an illness that must be cured, if we want our country to be a world power.
Jubel D’Cruz
Merge General Insurance companies
It refers to provision to amend General Insurance Business Nationalisation Act as announced in the Union Budget for the year 2019-20 for merging three out of four public-sector companies engaged in General Insurance, while there was a provision for the same in earlier Union Budget for the year 2018-19. It is noteworthy that National Insurance Company, Oriental Insurance Company and United Insurance Company showed heavy losses till the year 2016-17 with only New India assurance Company showing adequate profit in both the fiscal years at rupees 1008 crores and 2201 crores respectively.
If one single public-sector Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) provides life-insurance cover under so many plans effectively, then one General Insurance Corporation of India can also be formed by merging all public-sector Insurance-companies engaged in General Insurance rather than just three out of four. Such unified company will be able to compete more effectively with private-sector companies engaged in General Insurance in the manner that no private Insurance-company is presently able to compete with public-sector Life Insurance Corporation of India. Merger will save huge overheads including rent on nearing units and top officers.
Madhu Agrawal
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
