Posted on 12/30/2004 1:01:03 AM PST by nickcarraway
India for the first time decides not to raise new tax for the Tsunami relief – shows financial strength of the current India
For the first time India, after being struck with a disaster or war has decided that there is no need for new tax. The country can manage to pay for the relief and rescue operation. That is a great difference between Old India and New India.
India's finance minister Mr. Chidambaram ruled out a special tax to pay for the relief of victims of the tsunami disaster at the weekend. He said it would not be necessary because the government had sufficient resources.
P. Chidambaram's comments came as Indian businesses announced large tax- deductible donations to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund, kept in reserve for calamities. The government said it had made an initial allocation of Rs5bn (£60m) for relief efforts.
The Prime Minister Manmoha Singh is sad but is leading the country for the largest relief work in the history of the country. He is planning to visit affected areas today.
According to Pranab Mukherjee, the defense minister, more than 6,000 people have died, but the figure could double once the full scale of the tragedy on the low-lying and badly hit Andaman and Nicobar Islands becomes apparent. He said the army was fully engaged in the distribution of emergency food and medical supplies. The biggest problem is coming from fears of decomposed bodies in the east coast of India, lack of drinking water, the poverty of people affected and lack of food and shelter.
S&P was confident that India can easily bear the financial stress and economic shock from the Tusnami disaster. The GDP growth and risk factor for the country is not effected at all. Indian GDP will still grow at 6 to 6.5%.
India will tap into its national resources to help built the east coast communities that got affected. These are primarily fishermen who live on fishing and selling the same in market. They are not really part of the growing high tech Indian economy. But their poverty and helplessness will require great attention from Indian Government. Prime Minister Singh said, all possible help will be provided.
Indian army has mobilized country’s largest relief and rescue operation utilizing massive internal resources. Reconstruction is likely to focus on projects such as building homes, replacing boats or their engines, building jetties and providing fishing nets.
The death of so many fishermen will cause some shortages of fish and related products in the open market. This has special inflationey impact in West Bengal and Kerala where fish is favorite food.
Economists questioned the effectiveness of a special tax: a 2 per cent tax was introduced in the last budget for education (raising Rs40bn) and after the Kargil war in 1999. This time India wisely decided to stay away from raising any tax.
"The government should look for resources elsewhere before resorting once again to an instrument to raise funds for an exclusive use," said an Indian economist
According to the tourism industry, the effect on revenue and profit will be minimal.
I understand that India has told the U.N. and others that disaster funds earmarked for them could be used elsewhere.
I applaud them for this stand. If they can handle the problem internally, it really does help the other countries.
Thats over $100 million. Without raising taxes that too.
Way to go India!
I just wish you could see such unity of purpose during regular nation building tasks and not just at the time of calamities. Still this is definitely a big change from the olden days.
Now the job is to convince the USA
Tsunami Disaster Relief: How America Can Prove It's Not 'Stingy' Pacific News Service,
Here's a simple proposal that would capture the world's attention, and which a majority of Americans would almost certainly support. President Bush should announce that because of the colossal losses suffered by millions of people in Southeast Asia and East Africa, he will make an exception to his promise not to raise taxes. Bush should propose a Tsunami Disaster Relief Surtax for 2004 and 2005, with very simple components that everyone can understand.
Much of India's current prosperity has origins in US outsourcing, so if you pull the string a little, stingy old Uncle Sam holds the other end.
Shut the hell up...outsourcing to India from the US accounts for 4 million jobs in India. That's it. Nothing more...nada. Pull the stings my ass!
I am interested where you get the 4 million jobs number from? If so, that accounts for for about a half a percent of the working population. Not a significant number.
do you mean half a percent of the working population??
or
Half the working population??
Less than 10 % of Indians are working in the IT sector FYI.
"Major IT services companies worldwide currently employ 14% of their combined workforce in India, as they tap into the country's low-cost IT and back-office skills base. Research from ComputerWire found that the top 50 IT services companies currently employ a total of 1.25 million employees worldwide, with 173,000 of this total based in India." This is from Computer Business Review Online September 2004
"The number of Indian professionals in the IT sector is expected to triple to more than 2 million over the next five years, and Morgan Stanley's Mumbai research center predicts that multinationals will match new jobs in Indian subsidiaries with head-count reductions elsewhere." This is from Newsweek August 2004
Thanks for that information.
where in md are you from?
I was born and raised in tex...and moved to Md about 5 years ago...Bethesda to be exact....
Do you even KNOW how much of India' economy is due to outsourcing? it's barely 2% -- the rest is fuelled by internal demand built up due to their opening of the economy. I do agree with your sentiment that the world should not have called us stingy, but remember -- India DID not call us that, so your venting your anger at them is uncalled for
Man -- I've seen some of those Indian women here in the UK -- oh, yeah, "Asian" women -- and they are gorgeous!
I think my wife is pretty hot. lol. Mean as can be, but hot. I like em hot and I like em mean.
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