What can Income Tax payers in India expect ? - Musings of a ‘Silver Certificate’ taxpayer

 Indian salary-earners, especially those paying highest per cent of income in taxes have very little voice and aren’t expected to ask for much in return for their tax rupees.  Most western countries where I have been a taxpayer for the past couple of decades had complex structures of direct (individual Income) and indirect (sales and service) tax structures, but for this writeup I want to focus on individual income-tax. 

In western societies, the concept of “tax dollars at work” and “accountable to taxpayers” is taken rather seriously with governance visible and accessible starting at the lowest levels of government – be it local schools, roads or public health service. While high net-worth taxpayers aren’t provided special accommodation, those paying higher taxes do seem to have a greater voice. For example, in the US, school districts with residents paying higher property tax are better governed, with facilities commensurate with their budgets that are clearly visible and accountable to local taxpayers who engage in administering school boards.

The accountability at the top of the administration, like a senator or congressman (equivalent of our MPs and MLAs) is equally transparent and visible. Years ago, when I had a question on my pending naturalization application, I shot an email to the local senator, whose aide called me within a few days to say they had initiated a “congressional inquiry” with the concerned government department. The aide called me back after a couple of weeks to confirm that my issue was indeed resolved. These instances of “taxpayer’s dollars at work” are routine and expected. Now, imagine you sending an email to your local MP or MLA about an issue, and expecting a response.

Fast forward to “Digital India” where I now find myself after relocating to be around for aging parents. After moving back, I took up a global role with a multinational. For my contribution to the economy, the Income Tax department has been awarding me with a “Silver Certificate of Appreciation” for the past couple of years. For those curious, the Government of India, in its infinite wisdom, issues those paying an annual tax of Rs 1-10 lakh a bronze certificate, and to those pay between Rs 10-50 lakh a silver-certificate; and those paying taxes between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore a “gold” one. 

I scratch my head wondering about government services “silver” taxpayers like me can expect in return for the lakhs I pay in IT, property-tax, and GST. Our son, like millions of other kids, goes to a private school with no government aid. I don’t expect to patronize the overstretched public health system, thanks to my medical insurance and corporate health-package. This leaves the basic public services that government is expected to provide.

For instance, after the street in front of my home was dug up for months for some public drain-work, I sent several tweets, emails and calls to the local counselor’s office that went unanswered as to be expected. Only an impending local election miraculously speeded up the work.

And then there is a matter of a long pending issue with a land registration that my father had been struggling with. After returning to India, I took over the matter and filed a Writ Petition in Karnataka’s High Court. It has been nearly two years since that judgement and the casefile has been stuck in the desk of some Babu in the state’s revenue department. Several RTI requests have gone into a black hole. Leave alone the equivalent of a congressional inquiry, I probably must bribe someone-known-to-someone in the Revenue Department to even get an appointment to meet a local official, or to know the status of the pending file.

As a salaried taxpayer, I cannot avoid or evade lakhs in direct-tax payments to government coffers. In the land of Mahatma Gandhi, I guess the government officials expect taxpayers like me to consider direct tax payments to be yet another “selfless action, as a source of strength.” But quoting Gandhi again, “It is humanly impossible to be selfless. As a matter of fact, human beings are inherently selfish.” And that’s perhaps why my expectations of expedient government service are not unreasonable.

Originally published in The Hindu Businessline 

Sunday morning drive to Hesaraghatta Lake

This weekend, we decided to drive down to Hesaraghatta Lake, which is a nice place for a weekend getaway. We left home around 10 am and reached the Lake by 11 after a detour around the scenic Hesaraghatta Main Road that connects Jalahalli to Hesaraghatta. The road is well maintained and is lined with small farms and plots of agricultural land, and is not very busy. 

Entrance to Hesaraghatta lake walkway

The entrance to Hesaraghatta lake area has ample parking for cars and vehicles

Hesaraghatta Lake lookout and walkway

There is a well paved walkway and lookout around the south side of Hesaraghatta lake.

A view of a farm and coconut grove adjacent to the lake

Durgamba Devi Temple on the bank of Hesaraghatta Lake

Hesaraghatta Lake is approachable by road from Bengaluru at a distance of 26.5 km to the north-west of the City. It is a manmade reservoir located 18 km to the north-west of Bengaluru. The lake was created in the year 1894 across the Arkavathy River to meet the drinking water needs of the city. Sir K. Seshadri Iyer, the then Dewan of erstwhile Mysore state and the then Chief Engineer of Mysuru, M. C. Hutchins, planned to build the scheme called the "Chamarajendra Water Works" to store a three-years' water supply to the city.

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Reports and articles about Lakes around Bangalore

• WETLANDS: TREASURE OF BANGALORE [IIsC - ABUSED, POLLUTED, ENCROACHED & VANISHING] - The current investigation focused on 105 lakes (water bodies) in Bangalore. Among these one season monitoring was done in 25 lakes as these lakes were covered with macrophytes – water hyacinth throughout the year. The study reveals that about 98% lakes have been encroached and about 90% lakes are affected due to the sustained inflow of untreated sewage and industrial effluents. 
• Declare Hesarghatta as a conservation reserve: environmental activists to CM - Environmentalists have pointed out that the Hesaraghatta lakebed area and grasslands in the surrounding catchment area are an important reservoir of biodiversity and a refuge for endangered wildlife species like the lesser florican and leopard, yet remain outside the protected area network and face severe threats to its biodiversity.
• No amount of rain can put life in Arkavathi river - The Arkavathi river originates on the Nandi hills and joins the Cauvery river at Sangama. However, there is no water flowing in Arkavathi till Thippagondanahalli (T G Halli) reservoir.  
• Hesaraghatta Lake to be rejuvenated; to store water from Yettinahole project - Although it now wears a parched look, Hesaraghatta Lake could soon be brimming with fresh water. Bengaluru development minister KJ George on Wednesday said that the government was planning on reviving the water body in order to ensure that it can store water that will be pumped into it from the Yettinahole River diversion project. 
• Construction work banned around Hesaraghatta Lake - Nelamangala Planning Authority warns against investing in real estate within 1km radius from the banks of Arkavati and Kumudvati rivers. Activists say notice is an eye-wash.

Movie Review - ‘The Mauritanian’

Very few movies make you pause and reflect on life and value of our contemporary times. ‘The Mauritanian,’ which I watched last night is one such film. #TheMauritanian, the movie starring Jodie Foster, Tahar Rahim, Shailene Woodley, & Benedict Cumberbatch is streaming on Amazon Prime, and definitely a drama-in-real-life worth watching. 

The movie and the New York Times (NYT) article from this morning makes one reflect on contemporary American values, especially as it pertains to globalization. As the NYT article succinctly summarizes, “twenty years after the attacks, the United States is still grappling with the consequences of brutal interrogations carried out in the name of national security.” (NYT: The Legacy of America’s Post-9/11 Turn to Torture)

Movie: The Mauritanian - Amazon Prime

As an Indian American, who went through the arduous path to acquire an American citizenship, I cherish the values of the American system – life, liberty and pursuit of happiness – along with the quintessentially Indian and Asian values I grew up with. Like most Americans, I watched with horror as the twin towers were brought down by aircraft commandeered by terrorists over two decades ago. 

I also rejoiced as the American military went on the offensive to extract justice half-way across the world, and the bad-guys were captured. However, I continued to scratch my head as many of the detainees were shipped to Guantánamo Bay. While not a legal expert, I continued to read up on the extra-judicial process, and the way some detainees were waterboarded and tortured to extract a confession. 

A few sections from the NYT article

• Mr. Slahi was a clever, curious son in a Bedouin family of 12 children who became the first in his family to study abroad. While working toward an engineering degree in Germany in the 1990s, he traveled to Afghanistan to train in the anti-Communist jihad at a time when the United States endorsed it.  
• There were the guards who menaced him with attack dogs and beat him so badly they broke his ribs. The troops who shackled him, blasted him with heavy metal music and strobe lights or drenched him in ice water to deny him sleep for months on end. The mind-numbing isolation in a darkened cell without his Quran. The female guards who exposed themselves and touched him sexually in an effort to undermine his adherence to Islam. 
• “If you don’t admit to it, we are going to kidnap your mother, rape her,” the interrogator said, by Mr. Slahi’s account. “I remember telling them: ‘This is unfair. This is not fair,’” Mr. Slahi recalled. The interrogator, he said, responded: “I’m not looking for justice. I’m looking to stop planes from hitting buildings in my country.” 
• The United States has long since stopped employing the so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” used in what studies have concluded was a fruitless or counterproductive effort to extract lifesaving information from detainees in secret C.I.A. prisons and at Guantánamo Bay.

Much of what is depicted in the NYT article seems to be summarized from Mr. Slahi’s book and also depicted in the movie.  

As NYT article summarizes, on one level, Mr. Slahi’s is a hopeful story. A story of human grit and resilience. One man’s effort to maintain sanity while undergoing tremendous torture and being imprisoned for over 15 years for something he didn’t do. “I wholeheartedly forgive everyone who wronged me during my detention,” he said in a YouTube message to the world soon after his release. “I forgive, because forgiveness is my inexhaustible resource.”

The book and movie are certainly worth checking out.

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IMDB - The Mauritanian (2021) - Mohamedou Ould Slahi fights for freedom after being detained and imprisoned without charge by the U.S. Government for years.

Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who underwent brutal interrogations while he was held at Guantánamo Bay, is a free man in Mauritania after nearly 15 years as a detainee.Credit...Btihal Remli for The New York Times

#TheMauritanian

American Dirt (Oprah's Book Club): A Novel - #BookReview

With lockdowns and the pandemic slowing down life and travel as we knew it, I have been bing-listening to Audio Books during the past year. I generally listen to top-ranked non-fictional novels and most stories are transient in my mind. However, a few stories, linger in one's mind long after the book is finished. 

Jeanine Cummins's American Dirt is one such novel - and not surprisingly it has received a lot of acclaim including 51,000 reviews on Amazon! 

 Here is my review from Amazon

I came across American Dirt while searching for my next audio book and was captivated in the first few minutes. Midway through the saga, I googled the book and realized it was a bestseller with critical reviews. I decided to tuck aside that piece of information and continued the journey with the protagonist Lydia, her son Luca and their migrant cohorts as they make the treacherous journey "El Norte."

The story begins with Lydia and her eight-year-old son Luca witnessing the brutal murder of 16 of their family members while the pair have a miraculous escape. That sets in motion Lydia’s determination to escape to the US ("El Norte") with her son. We then join Lydia and Luca in their perilous journey on foot and top of goods train as they try to escape the wide net cast by a cartel boss.

The saga, set in a short span of a few weeks, has a bit of everything – philosophy in the form of Lydia’s oft repeated mantra “try not to think,” suspense, crime, drug lords, cartels and drama. It also tries to give us a glimpse into the sordid state of affairs when a drug-cartel takes over a placid Mexican town. With a few characters who join Lydia and Luca in their journey, the author attempts to highlight why some migrants risk their lives to try to cross the border "El Norte."

Bottomline: Follow Lydia’s advice; “try not to think” of the reviews and just enjoy a good read.

Reflecting on wealth creation in the era of Offshoring IT Services

Topic of money dollars and fortune never get boring. Even after one thinks he has read every possible angle to a story of wealth creation there is another angle or review that knocks ones socks off.

As a shareholder, I was reviewing the invitation for the 40th Annual General Meeting of Infosys Limited this weekend, and “section 7” caught my attention (link to the report). This section highlights the aggregate shareholding of the promoters and promoter group. 

The list in "section 7" includes the famous founders, their spouses and progeny, each holding hundreds of thousands of shares of Infosys. The company’s shares have been hitting record highs and is trending at about ₹1,450 (As of June 2021). At the bottom of the list at #19 is the lowest of the promoter group who owns about 2737,538 shares worth about ₹ 397 crore (about $56.7 million).

To their credit, Infosys’ founders seem to be living by the original corporate motto “Powered by Intellect, Driven by Values.” The founders, while making immense wealth for themselves have shared their fortune with employees who signed on early. And some of us who joined later in the game didn’t do too badly either. As a former employee who spent a decade with the company in the 2000s, I fondly look back on the small fortune in ESOPs vested in stock that is accruing in my nest egg.  

A brief history of time: Wealth creation beyond Offshoring IT Services

Infosys, along with its peers TCS and Wipro defined and scaled up the business model around Offshoring IT Services. Outsourcing IT work by multinationals to lower cost nations like India really took off after 2000. Consequently, the valuation of these and other service companies skyrocketed, making the founders uber rich.

Q&A in Tech forums and social media routinely feature young techies who ask about pursuing top-dollar jobs, and a few aspire to be entrepreneurs. While software product companies in 2021 attract top talent by offering USD equivalent salaries in India for talented techies, the real wealth is still concentrated at the top of the pyramid. 

Billion-dollar valuation and millions in personal wealth is the stuff urban myth is made of. A quick review of “India’s richest tech billionaires in 2020” shows this was true for the IT services boom in 2000s, as it is for the digital waves that have followed. 

Yet another unsung victim of COVID19: RIP Krishnappa

I heard of the passing of Krishnappa yesterday - yet another unsung victim of COVID-19 that has claimed thousands of lives across the country, and millions globally.

Krishnappa was a friendly neighbor who would make small talk with me and share local news and happenings in the neighborhood.

Although it was shocking, like every death, it wasn’t unexpected given that Krishnappa had been hospitalized and was on a ventilator for a week, gradually going downhill. A couple of weeks ago I realized he was ailing when he came to collect coconuts we had gathered from our tree - his dry whooping cough was a dead giveaway though he was mobile and tried sounding ‘normal’. This was a few days before he officially tested “positive” and had to be hospitalized.

In his mid-sixties, Krishnappa and his wife were living a typical middle-class dream – kids and family living nearby, grandkids going to a decent private school. The pandemic cut short his life rather hastily.

Krishnappa and his wife lived off the rent from a multi-story house built on a small plot a couple of rows opposite our house. He lived in the ground floor with his wife and a son and had let out the 5-6 rooms on the two floors above to students from a nearby university. He had gifted a part of his plot to his daughters who had built another multi-story house where they lived with their families.

He also owned a private-auto that he would drive around. In the mornings he would run errands - buying greengroceries and supplies for other Paying Guests (PGs) in the neighborhood, after which he had the entire day to himself.

On most days, Krishnappa could be seen walking around the neighborhood, chatting with all and sundry. Even during the days leading to the recent lockdown, one could spot him chatting with the local vendors and hawkers on the main road nearby. During late afternoons, I would see him lounging on his auto parked near our compound where he would hold impromptu meetings and get-togethers with his friends.

Given the severity of pandemic and spread of COVID-19, one wonders if he should have been a bit more cautious, not ‘socializing’ as much. But it is not for us to question what, or why.

There was a flurry of activity in the neighborhood yesterday, and a few locals were seen walking around gathering near Krishnappa’s house. I suspected something afoot; perhaps he was being shifted to an ICU for Oxygen? Turns out, he had just passed away.

With the COVID-protocols in place, his body was directly whisked away from the hospital to the crematorium for a quick and quiet funeral. Unlike ‘normal,’ times no neighbors or friends around to pay their last respects to the departed.

With his abrupt passing, Krishnappa joins the thousands of unsung names and faces who are ending up as yet another blip in the great-statistical count of our generation.

#RIP Krishnappa

Two die and more than 100 test positive in coronavirus outbreak among US diplomatic staff in India

There has been a major coronavirus outbreak among US diplomatic staff in India with two locally employed staff dying and more than 100 people testing positive in recent weeks. This comes as India struggles to cope with a dramatic surge in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks.

A US embassy spokesperson said necessary precautions were being taken to safeguard health of US diplomatic staff in India after two died of them and more than 100 tested positive for Covid-19 in the recent weeks. 

“We’re closely monitoring the situation & taking necessary measures to safeguard health & wellbeing of our employees, including offering vaccines to them. Due to privacy concerns, we’re unable to share additional information. We offer our deepest sympathy to the people of India who are suffering during this global pandemic," US Embassy spokesperson told ANI on Tuesday

The spokesperson also offered his sympathies to people of India "We offer our deepest sympathy to the people of India who are suffering during this global pandemic."  The US operates five consulates in different cities and an embassy in New Delhi.

According to CNN, US personnel, family members and locally employed staff in India only began receiving their COVID vaccines within the past two weeks, one of the sources said. Within the past six weeks -- even as India's case rates were ticking up and staff had not yet been vaccinated -- there were two high-level trips by Biden administration officials to the country.

A few days ago, US Secretary of State,  Antony Blinken tweeted

Our hearts go out to the Indian people in the midst of the horrific COVID-19 outbreak. We are working closely with our partners in the Indian government, and we will rapidly deploy additional support to the people of India and India's health care heroes.

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) April 25, 2021

India has reported more than 360,000 covid-19 cases, a new global record Wednesday. According to Indian Ministry of Health, there are 2,978,709 active cases with 201,18 deaths.