Enough is enough. Nah! we need more

Nine injured in Assam bomb blast 6 Dec 2008, 2141 hrs IST, PTI

DIPHU: Nine persons, including two children, were injured in a powerful bomb blast by KLNLF militants in a market in Assam's Karbi Anglong district where another bomb was recovered. 

Police sources said the bomb exploded in the forest gate of the fish market under Kheroni police station at around 5.40 Pm when about 2000 people gathered there. 

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Nine_injured_in_Assam_bomb_blast/rssarticleshow/3802644.cms

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Here is an article that I saw in TOI today just now!

Oops...however

this is not South Bombay

there were no cameras there

there is no economic interests there

there are no big business houses there

“In a big county like India, incidents likes these keep happening,”...statement made with due apologies to RR Patil

  

The effort in tax collection

Have you every wondered at the effort it takes for the Government to collect taxes from us. I am sure there is huge machinery that goes behind planning, implementing, tracking and collecting taxes. Then there also is another machinery that tracks, investigates and punishes defaulters.

 

I got a very funny poem on taxes from my colleague Rahul. Reading it got me thinking of the above. I will reproduce some parts of it below:

 

Tax his land,
Tax his bed,
Tax the table
At which he's fed.

 

Tax his work,
Tax his pay,
He works for peanuts
Anyway!

 

…..

…..

 

Tax his car,
Tax his gas,
Find other ways
To tax his ass.

 

Put these words
Upon his tomb,
'Taxes drove me
to my doom....'

When he's gone,
Do not relax,
Its time to apply
The inheritance tax.

 

And now the funny part! The poem ended with a list of taxes that the Govt of India collects. I tried to research as much as I could to see if they really exist and did find most of them to be real taxes..tho funny. Do correct me if any of them do not really exist

 

Accounts Receivable Tax
Airline  surcharge tax
Airline Fuel Tax
Airport Maintenance Tax
Building Permit Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Death Tax
Dog License Tax
Driving Permit Tax
Excise Taxes
Income Tax
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Petrol Tax   
Gross Receipts Tax
Health Tax
Hunting License Tax
Hydro Tax
Inheritance Tax
Interest Tax
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Mortgage Tax
Personal Income Tax
Property Tax
Poverty Tax
Prescription Drug Tax
Property Tax
Provincial Income Tax
Real Estate Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Retail Sales Tax
Service Charge Tax
School Tax  
Telephone Tax
Telephone, Provincial  and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Water Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax

 

If each of the above tax collection departments were to be asked to run like SBU, I wonder how many would be profitable businesses. My point is...maybe some of these taxes are not really worth collecting, considering the amount of manpower that goes collecting it? 

I Hope!

I wrote a blog on stuff that I am extremely passionate about….sports, but will keep posting it for another day. Today is dedicated to revolutions …and the goose pimples that I got when I saw TV last night J.

 

Wow, what a groundswell I see in Mumbai! Is it because I am here in this city today and can feel its pulse or is it just another media hype. The former, I hope! 

 

I was swapping channels and saw Murli Deora saying that he was ashamed to be a politician. I saw Prakash Karat refusing to speak to the media and Preity Zinta saying that she was part of the protest rally not as a celebrity but as an ordinary citizen. Is this the best time to be an “Ordinary Citizen”? I hope!

 

Amidst all this can we find a Boris Yeltsin to stand up on that tank and inspire us or a Martin Luther  King to dream for us or a JP to dedicate a Sarvodaya to us? I hope!

 

The Quit India movement had to be sustained for 5 years before India got independent; it took the French revolution 10 years to succeed. Will the “Mumbai uprising” have the strength to sustain itself to its logical conclusion or we will all go back to our life-in-the-fast-lane focus of paying our bills, drop our kids to the school bus, make those sales presentations, beating this recession etc etc ? The former, I hope!

 

Who in me will win, Che Guevara or Cho Ramaswamy? The former, I hope!

 

Ps: I mean no disrespect to Cho Ramaswamy and love his sense of humor and power of articulation.

Do we really care?

Do you really want to feel sad for all the innocent lives lost in Mumbai over the last few days of terror? Are you really that hurt? Did you participate in some event that had some symbolic candle lighting / speech / one minute silence etc kind of stuff.

 

Well…you may have to do this everyday if only all such deaths get such slick national television coverage. Let me explain why…

 

Did you know - On 27^th Nov, 86 people were killed in Tamil Nadu in the aftermath of Cyclone Nisha. Remember the MET department has warned all “to be affected” towns and their governments. The Govt could have evacuated them. Well…these guys were not at Taj or Oberoi having a fancy dinner, so you do not have to feel sad for them!

 

BTW…Govt of Tamil Nadu has announced 100 crores as relief money! Wow, does that mean India will have some more millionaires, cause most of the relief will not trickle down

 

Did you know - On 28^th Nov over 400 people died in the town of Jos in Nigeria over religious riots. Hmm…but they are not Indian, right?

 

All this leaves me thinking on how strangely we can connect Karma to Thomas Malthus to “Creative destruction”. Some quick “cut-pastes” from Wikipedia. Let me know if you think this makes sense

 

Karma – Through the law of karma, the effects of all deeds actively create past, present, and future experiences, thus making one responsible for one's own life, and the pain and joy it brings to him/her and others.

 

Thomas Malthus and a small quote on his theory of population - The power of population is so superior to the power of the earth to produce subsistence for man, that premature death must in some shape or other visit the human race. The vices of mankind are active and able ministers of depopulation. They are the precursors in the great army of destruction, and often finish the dreadful work themselves. But should they fail in this war of extermination, sickly seasons, epidemics, pestilence, and plague advance in terrific array, and sweep off their thousands and tens of thousands. Should success be still incomplete, gigantic inevitable famine stalks in the rear, and with one mighty blow levels the population with the food of the world." 

 

Constructive Destruction - Werner Sombart's Krieg und Kapitalismus (War and Capitalism) (1913, p. 207), where he wrote: "again out of destruction a new spirit of creativity arises".

 

Net net…its your Karma if you die, cause these kinds of tragedies are inevitable in today’s age, however every such destruction will lead to newer spirits of creativity!

 

Too radical? 

Mumbai of 27th Nov

Some random thoughts on the events of 27th Nov in Mumbai

1. Some news channels have started an "Enough is enough" campaign this time. I am not sure why this event has become a tipping point for us to say that now? Is it because many of those touched were the " Page 3" crowd. The sort of folks who go to 5 stars and not those that take local trains or go to middle class markets. if you believe that every cloud has a silver lining, here it the silver lining of this gory event. 

2. Can the govt really do anything? I seriously do not think so. Over the last few days many of us have seen a whole lot of jingoistic mails floating around, right. I have a suggestion, again a wee bit utopian...

Some of the best time that Bangalore saw was when SM Krishna (the then CM) put together a unique public/private partnership programme called BAFT (Bangalore Agenda Task Force). It was headed by Nandan Nilekani or Pradeep Kar, if I recollect. Can the industry bodies (FICCI,NASSCOM, FHRAI) not partner the army and create an urban protection force. i am not sure who will control them and what sort of an animal it could unlease...but maybe possible.  

3. Who are the winners here? For me the winner is Shivraj Patil & RR Patil. They have resigned on moral grounds?! Remember they have not resigned for their horrific performance, but on moral grounds. Are they lofty words for politicians to use in this time and age? 

4. BTW...why are we targetting some of these politicians for trivial things? Catch them for more important issues. So what is wrong if Ramgopal Varma accompaned the CM. In that entourage that went into Taj, there were (probably) 20 other people...most of them may not be connected with the visit( OK...i am guessing).