e-Nagar

March 12, 2007

LTA Rules

Filed under: Miscellaneous — Ankur Aggarwal @ 9:49 am

Leave Travel Assistance (LTA) has got a tax treatment which is quite different from all the other type of allowances and perquisites that you get. And that’s the primary reason it is the one that gets people confused more often than not.
The following points need to be kept in mind while taking the LTA or producing bills for it:

1. You can claim the LTA money every year regardless of whether you are going to claim tax deduction on it or not.
2. If you do not wish to claim LTA in one particular year you can have your employer carry – forward your LTA for the next year.
3. For getting LTA tax exempt you will have to produce bills, but you can’t get your LTA exempt every year.
4. You can get your LTA exempt twice in a block of four years. Right now the block that is relevant is 2006-2009. This block is decided by the Government so does not have a bearing on when you start your job and also these blocks are calendar years and not financial years.
5. The bills can be air, rail or even a private rental company however the exemption is only for domestic travel so an international ticket won’t do.
6. The bills have to be for a journey that has been undertaken when you are on leave and should be for you and your family that is spouse, children and dependant parents, brothers and sisters. Its obvious that your family can’t claim the exemption if you have not accompanied them.
7. If you and your wife both get LTA although obviously both of you can’t claim exemption for the same travel but you can avail exemption independently for different travels. So effectively between the two of you, you can claim exemptions four times in four years.
8. If for some reason you fail to claim exemption in the bucket of four years you still have the option to claim exemption in the first year of the next block.
9. Only travel bills can be used exemption, so a hotel bill can’t be produced for claiming exemption even though you might have stayed in the hotel during your leave.
10. The maximum LTA for the purposes of tax exemption is Rs.20000 so normally any most organizations design the salary structure in such a manner that they don’t give the employees more than Rs. 20000 as LTA.
11. In terms of proof for air travel although there is no fixed rule as such it might be a good idea to preserve the boarding pass along with the ticket to make sure there are no problems in claiming exemption later on.
12. LTA can only be claimed for the short distance between two places. So if you are planning to travel from Goa to Mumbai then you will be allowed exemption on tickets from Goa to Mumbai and bac. You will not be allowed to produce tickets that are via some other place like Mumbai to Hyderabad and then from Hyderabad to Goa and so forth.
13. LTA can only be claimed on tickets or rented private vehicles, you cannot show petrol or diesel vehicles for your own vehicles and then claim exemption on it.

- Source onemint.com

March 11, 2007

Employment Guarantee Scheme

Filed under: Thoughts — Ankur Aggarwal @ 5:40 pm

Till now the India Shining has been restricted to metros and big urban centers. Cities like Delhi, Bombay and Bangalore are growing by leaps and bounds while rural areas are lagging behind or growing at a minuscule 1-2%. Villages, which are predominantly dependent on the agriculture and farm produce, have been neglected for decades now. As a result marginal farmers all over the nation have been left with 2 choices: Leave the ancestral lands and move to cities or commit suicide.

Mr Manmohan Singh has a small dream, a dream of All-Inclusive growth of the country. So instead of sitting in a posh AC office, he rolled up his sleeves and attacked the root of the problem. Last year he launched one of the boldest Government Program The Employment Guarantee Scheme (E.G.S.). This year he increased the fund allocation to 120 billion Rupees extended the program to 300 of the country’s poorest districts.

Idea is simple: The government guarantees employment to one able bodied member from each family residing in the district. It is the Panchayat and the State Government’s responsibility to find within 15 days a minimum wage employment for the applicant or else pay a huge fine/compensation.

What does it mean:
1) Ms Sonia Gandhi and Mr Manmohan Singh won this election with a simple question “What has India Shining meant for you?” With the schemes like EGS and mid-day meals, the architect of India’s liberalization today has makes sure that the fruits of the development reaches to the needy.
2) The work involved is strenuous manual labor that too for minimum wages. So only those who are poor, unemployed and are ready to earn their daily bread is benefited from the program.
3) The funds are enough to sponsor 20 billion man hours of employment each year for the remotest and most backward regions of the country. My God.. you can build the Great Wall of China all over again. Even after accounting for pilferage, corruption a village can build god knows how many roads, irrigation projects, schools and infrastructure.

I feel that this audacious program is the biggest boast to the rural economy in the Modern India. However Hindu seems to disagree with me.

They are oblivious to the fact that EGS will definitely reduce suicides/crime rates, increase child literacy, reduce malnutrition and slow down emigration to cities. Instead these pompous journalists at Hindu, who have never ventured out of their Air-Conditioned offices, take great pride in branding EGS as Anti-Farmer. Since the rich Landlords will no longer be able to exploit the poor and pay them below the Statutory Minimum Wages, this scheme should be withdrawn.

I know ECS is far from perfect, but if you feel that what I say is even partially true, then please do write a letter/email to the Hindu.

A detailed impact analysis and the employment opportunities generated under National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) can be found at EPW. Do open this pdf in IE instead of firefox. and this

March 10, 2007

colors of holi

Filed under: Humor, Links — Ankur Aggarwal @ 5:49 pm

do watch the public service message embedded at the last of this video song.
—-
A Taliban was sitting in a cave when he hears over a dune the voice of one American solider:
“One American solider is better then 10 Taliban fighters” so the Taliban angry sent over ten of his high-ranking soldiers.
After a lot of gun fire and yelling and screams of agony the Taliban heard the voice again. “One American solider is better then 100 Taliban fighters”
So the Taliban sends over 100 of his highest ranked soldiers sure of victory.
After a lot of gun fire and yelling and screams of agony the Taliban heard the voice again. “One American solider is better then 1000 Taliban fighters”
So the Taliban sent his toughest, meanest, personal guards over the dune. After hundreds of bullets fired, and explosions and the screaming and crying, it was over.
The Taliban now wondering what happened goes over the dune where he finds a wounded Taliban solider who says “don’t send anymore men it’s really a trap there is really two of them!”

March 9, 2007

What it means to have a TAMIL GIRL friend

Filed under: Humor — sree @ 7:59 am

Her mother looks down at you because you didn’t study in IIT or Madras /Anna University.
Her father starts every conversation with ” I say…”
She shudders if you use four letter words.
She shudders when you eat eggs.
She has long hair, neatly oiled and braided.
She uses the word ‘Super’ as her only superlative.
Her name is another name for a Goddess or a flower.
Her first name is longer than your first name, middle name and surname combined.
When she mixes milk and rice you are never sure whether it is for the Dog or for herself. (That is baaad!)
For weddings, she sports a mini jasmine garden on her head and wears silk saris in the Madras heat without looking too uncomfortable while you are melting in your singlet.
She thinks Arvind Swami is the sexiest man alive.
Her favorite cricketer is Kris Srikanth.
Her favorite food is dosa though she has tried North Indian snack like Chat (pronounced like the slang for ‘conversation’)
She bursts into songs with her cousins in every movie.
She bores you by telling you which raaga each song you hear is based on.
You have to give her jewelers, though she has already got plenty of it.
She is more educated than you.
Her father thinks she is much smarter than you.
And he is probably right.

Note: Sorry Tamil friends.. This post was shamelessly copied from Sree’s Blog

March 6, 2007

optical Illusion

Filed under: Puzzle — Ankur Aggarwal @ 12:20 pm

BTW guys try to find the fault in this picture.

March 3, 2007

Puri Temple in ‘Cleansing Act’

Filed under: Thoughts — Ankur Aggarwal @ 10:43 am

I read yet another shocking news and could not resist commenting on it. Here is an dialogue account of what might have taken place.

Paul Roediger (PR) is the American tourist amazed by the Indian culture and Hindu religion. He has traveled far and wide and read lots of books and articles about India. He visits Puri and is greeted by Ramachandra Panda (Priest) is a priest at Jaganath Temple.

PR: I see this majestic temple, and thousands of devotees. What is this place?
Priest: It is the temple of Lord Jaganath, the King of the Creation. Subjects from all over the world come to pay their respects to their mighty Lord. The Lord blesses them and cleanses their soul.
PR: Did you say the Lord of the Entire World? I also have a grievance, can I also worship here?
Priest: NO!
PR: Please, I promise i won’t take more than 15 seconds of my lords time.
Priest: No, you cannot meet him… you need to be a Hindu.
PR: So if I am a Hindu and an Indian, I can meet him?
Priest: Yes, But provided you are not a Shudhra.
(confused why someone would want to be a Shurdhra on the first place)
PR: How do I become a respectable Hindu?
Priest: You can never become one… you need to be born a hindu to be one.
(Seriously disappointed, and not knowing what to do. This devotee PR is turning back)
Priest: Hey wait! I can make a special provision for you.
PR: What sort of provision? (thinks for a while) Will 500/- do?
Priest: (smiles) You are the most generous and noble man I have ever seen.

Gist of the story….
I seriously believe that in a Modern egalitarian India, there is no place for temples like this. Temples like Jaganath breed religious hatred and casteism. and keep the Indian mentality primitive. SC/ST/OBC and females are still barred from visiting many of the holy sites.

You cannot cleanse these temples by throwing 300,000/- worth of prasad (food), but by DEMOLISHING Jaganath temples and putting all the priests and authorities behind bars. What use is this grandeur if there is no humanity and brotherhood?

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