Horror on the streets!
The viral video of contaminated ‘Nimbu Pani’ being sold at a railway food stall does not come as a surprise in a busy city like Mumbai where people surprisingly have become indifferent to such events. People hardly have the time to think about hygiene in their rush to earn their bread and butter, compromising on their health in the bargain. Vada Pavs get sold like hot cakes outside the Cancer and TB hospitals in a zippy, Idli’s on cycles where the seller doesn’t even wash his hands after urinating in public places gets sold in minutes and most fast foods do excellent business even though most of the cooking is done near open gutters speaks about the prevailing culture in the city.
Diseases are on the rise and the main reason is our eating habits. Many people become a victim of tuberculosis and cancer which can easily be prevented if we improve our diet. Singapore has many roadside stalls but they don’t compromise on hygiene. Education is the need of the hour and government should not only punish those selling contaminated products but also make citizens aware of what they are eating to create a healthy culture in the city so that people do not become victims of contaminated deaths!
S.N.Kabra
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Wayanad fight left unhappy
This is not a fight with the Left or the Right. This is a fight to espouse the aspirations of the people of south India, including the people of Kerala. This is a fight to give a befitting reply to those forces that are attacking the culture, language, the way of life and the deep connection between two portions of India. Congress and Rahul Gandhi considered Wayanad as the safest bet. Wayanad is one of the safest seats for the Congress. MI Shanavas of the Congress won it in 2009 and again in 2014. His victory margin in 2009 was over 1.5 lakh votes, but it dipped to 20,270 votes in 2014. The seat has been vacant since his death in November 2018. The Congress has lost the plot somewhere and it is fought between the coalition partners and that is pathetic in the wake of strong opposition.
Calicut Krishnan Ramani
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10-fold jump of stop-filers of IT returns in demonetisation year
Media-reports about number of stop-filers of Income-Tax returns jumping 10-fold to 88.04 lakhs in the fiscal-year 2016-17 of demonetisation as compared to 8.56 lakhs in the previous year 2015-16 highest in last two decades is just contrast to success-claim for of demonetisation citing addition of 1.06 crores new tax-payers in the year 2016-17 which was 25 per cent higher as compared to the previous year 2015-16. It is also noteworthy that the target of direct-tax collection for recently closed fiscal-year 2018-19 could not be collected despite best of last-days efforts of Central Board of Direct Taxes CBDT.
It creates doubts about the downfall in trade-activities and fall in a number of jobs which is certainly a cause of worry for fiscal-system. Another notable feature is 19.14 per cent rise in currency-circulation post-demonetisation indicating failure of efforts towards a cashless-economy for which demonetisation was aimed. GST-system was also introduced after demonetisation which has already been modified numerous times indicating that proper planning was not done before implementing such a fine taxation-system.
It is time to review and total overhaul of complete taxation-system for a simplified and practical tax-regime for both direct and indirect taxes which may make tax-compliance voluntary at all levels and people may find it advantageous to switch over to banking-transactions from cash-deals especially in big deals after studying fiscal-system of countries with cashless-economy.
Madhu Agrawal
Congress Chaos
After the change of leadership in the Mumbai State Congress unit, we find infighting between the top two and it is an awkward situation for the age-old national party. Sanjay Nirupam is a stalwart and he could digest seeing Milind Deora being given the pride of place. The State Congress chief Ashok Chavan is complaining about the party cadre listing to him. Rebellion and infighting is the root cause of all the confusion. Congress panel is instructing the state unit to stand united as each and every seat is counted in Maharashtra. BJP-Sena is having whip hand and any weakness ahead of polls will be grabbed by the saffron outfit. Instead of just getting into fighting mode unity is the need of the hour. Congress needs to learn from mistakes and not go ahead with their unwanted in a fight at this crucial hour.
Nikhil Anantharaman
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
