KolkataMusing (KM) is read by a large section of Indian diaspora spread all over the world. Visitors feel KM offers information of value on many topics, and eagerly look forward to its posts.
It's now time to make KM more broadbased. As a part of that KM now accepts articles from guest writers.
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Announce An Event
Do you own a dancing school? Are you opening a restaurant? Is a program of yours going to be staged soon? Do you want to announce a college reunion? Is the Durga Puja in your para a success?
Please, please announce/share any such lifestyle/sport event with the readers of KolkataMusing. Bring delight to them.
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Please send your announcement to mahanagar.net[at]gmail[dot]com with the subject as 'Announcement for KM'.
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If you feel a person’s name relates to his doing something right or wrong, perish the thought. For, nowhere is the belief more wrong than in case of air pollution in the city.
On one side is the powerful transport minister, Subhas Chakraborty, the unquestioned ruler of everything that has to do with vehicles in the state.
Till this Wednesday the minister has not felt that auto emission – the toxic fumes in the exhausts of 3-wheeler autos and heavy vehicles – can ever be a cause of deadly diseases for human beings. [Refer TT story]
The image below explains the minister’s whims at different times, excerpted from yesterday’s TT.
Pitted against the minister on the other side is another Subhas. He is Subhas Dutta, the environmentalist, the crusader in many a courtroom battle on pollution.
It is because of his relentless efforts that the iconic Victoria Memorial is now being showered with care and affection.
I feel a truer answer is that he has realized if he doesn’t remedy the situation, he may be held accountable for violating the fundamental rights of the people. And if this occurs, it can be a very serious charge indeed. See my article, 10 more years or eternity?
Sreeleathers must rank one among the few Bengali-owned enterprises that have thriving businesses. Cheap yet good leather footwear have remained the hallmark of the company.
This perhaps is one reason why people do not mind waiting for hours on the footpath in queues leading to their Lindsay Street showroom during puja.
Talking about their Lindsay Street showroom, Sreeleathers now plans to upgrade the facility to become the largest shoe store in the country.
In a report in today’s ToI, Sreeleathers’ refurbished 35,000 sq ft megastore will be at least 3 times bigger than the currently largest shoe store, Hyderabad’s Loft, which occupies 10,000 sq ft.
Sreeleathers’ timing is really good, for already the year-end sales, called the Chaitra Sale, has commenced in right earnest.
The mega shoe store will be yet another ‘mega’ something in the city. These days, anything short than mega is just passé. No one cares a second look, no matter if in spite of smallness there is value within.
Meanwhile, here is a sample of the Sreeleathers’ company-speak (taken from ToI):
Many of the new designs that are being created will be comparable with design and quality of leading foreign brands. However, we are proud to say that we have been able to keep the price as low as possible.
Sreeleathers seen on Lindsay Street off Chowringhee Road (JLN Road), the image sourced from Wikimapia maps.
My first IMAX experience was nearly a decade back I saw a short film on wild life at Serengeti National Park in Tanzania at the Science City facility. I literally clutched onto my seat as the animals ‘almost’ rushed into us from the screen.
The sound was exceptional as the roars of the lions seemed coming from everywhere. I was left dumbstruck with the experience. I saw several films there later, but I feel my first experience was one of the most intense I ever had.
Well, the good news is Kolkata is going to get its first commercial IMAX complex in another 2 months that will have 3 auditoriums called Cinemax.
The IMAX screens will be 80x120 feet in place of the usual 30x55 feet. In all, 600 people will sit to watch the movies.
IMAX stands for Image Maximum, sort of which was invented by 4 Canadians way back in 1970s. The first IMAX system came up in Toronto in 1971, the year Bangladesh was liberated.
Later, Canada’s IMAX Corporation at Vancouver is said to have created the present IMAX film format. Wikipedia informs that as of March last year, a total of 280 IMAX theaters existed in 38 countries, 60% of these in Canada and the US.
Image left shows the film currently running at IMAX, Vancouver [courtesy].
In India Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Hyderabad already have IMAX. In fact Hyderabad’s IMAX is said to have the world’s largest display screen.
Kolkata’s IMAX is coming up at Mani Square on EM Bypass to the north of Apollo Hospitals. The multiplex-cum-mall will house multi-level parking to accommodate 1500 cars, 800 2-whelers, and 10 buses. It’s a grand arrangement, no doubt.
The photo above of the IMAX in Valencia, Spain was shot by David Iliff in January 2007, and was selected as the picture of the day for May 11, 2007 by Wikipedia [photo source].
Barely has the ink dried on the proposal to extend Metro to Dakshineswar from Dum Dum. But that hasn’t prevented the left MPs to make a fresh demand to have the Metro running till Baruipur from Garia in the southern fringes.
Demands don’t need accountability, which is one reason why the politicians don’t impose demands on themselves for such dire needs as making the Tollygunge-Garia Metro operational at the earliest…or for that matter ensuring the Baghajatin flyover on EM Bypass re-instated without any delay.
Kolkata hasn’t seen development for ages. And now when something is happening, the severe lack of speed is putting enormous hardships on the residents. A ready example is the tardy progress in laying of deep underground sewer pipes.
Somehow I can’t believe that the delays are not deliberate, which critics say are ploys to apportion funds. I dare not say that is the case. After all I’ve to run this blog, you see!
Coming back to the northern extension of Metro to Dakshineswar, the reports have it that the project is likely to start soon. An image of probable line alignment is given below, courtesy Anandabazar Patrika.
Meanwhile the East-West Metro from Salt Lake to Howrah is definitely happening. Funds have been lined up, part of which is a soft loan from Japan.
For once this project may actually be completed in time (2014). For, if not, JBIC, the Japanese lender, will impose stiff penalty.
Kolkata's car fair is the farthest cousin of Delhi's Auto Fair. Pragati Maidan last January hosted the fair where new models were launched. The buzz was the loudest around Nano that saw snaking queues on all days of the fair.
In Kolkata last week the car fair lacked everything that normally comes with such shows. No pomp, no splendor, no Nano despite early promise.
Yet you can’t prevent diehard car enthusiasts to steal a look, can you!
One such person is my son. For him, a car show, whatever the size and scope, is all that matters to squeeze out time and convince a buddy to visit with him.
It is courtesy him that I’ve the following images, collected in a slideshow type movie with some jazzy music, courtesy me.
The apartment did not exactly reverberate with revelry. But small pieces of actions here and there were just about enough to keep the proceedings alive.
After all what is Holi if there is no color in small mischiefs, and even smaller get-togethers. People are busy. More than that they have money.
So a row of 3 holidays is like a magnet to faraway shores. Who knows some years later may opt to run riot with colors in an alien place known only by a name.
Till that happens, here is how we'll prefer celebrating the small Holi moments.
Those among us who are strongly partisan with their religions may find tomorrow a day of consternation. For, tomorrow comes a rare confluence of 3 major festivals of 3 different faiths – Holi, Good Friday, and Fateha Doaz Daham. [Picture above courtesy TT]
It’s something that many say has never happened before. But since all the three are related to lunar calculus – perhaps the only Christian festival to be so linked – this sangam of faiths is not impossible, so say the scientists.
This evening after a sharp squall of thundershower, as the sky reflects the bonfires far and near, I can hear the social workers moving around in autorickshaws exhorting people to keep peace tomorrow.
Meanwhile, tomorrow is also the day when Race, studded with the likes of Saif, Bips, Katrina, Anil, Akshaye, Sameera, is releasing. And to make it big with the weekend heat of the festivities, all the city plexes have lined up ‘endless’ shows of the film.
For example, the newly opened 6-screen South City Fame will have 20 shows of the film tomorrow between 10-15 in the morning and 10-50 in the night.
All in all, tomorrow’s good Friday promises lots of fun and excitement.
Which is bigger – Visa or MasterCard? Some years back I heard an interesting talk in the local train between 2 persons.
While one was referring to the Visa credit card being supposedly more popular in many countries, the other mistook his saying for travel visa to other countries.
Perhaps he, the other person, could be pardoned for his ignorance if only for the reason that Visa is relatively less known in the country.
Thus while MasterCard has been going house to house with its sweet campaign on the idiot box that says “There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else there’s MasterCard”, Visa keeps a low profile.
Maybe it suits them. Maybe Visa wants MasterCard to expand the market so that it can come later to exploit the spoils.
The reason may be anything, but the fact is Visa is bigger than MasterCard globally in terms of both number and amount of transactions.
The 2006 figures in today’s ET put Visa processing 44 billion transactions amounting to $3.2 trillion as against MasterCard’s 23.4 billion totaling $1.9 trillion.
Visa’s strength is seen in US on Tuesday when its IPO garnered $18 billion selling 406 million shares at $44 each. It’s singularly striking because the same day saw the investment bank Bear Stearns going kaput.
Interestingly, the IPO proceeds Visa will use to buy back shares will likely include that by JP Morgan Chase, its largest customer and shareholder. The part sale of about $1.25 billion is said to be 5 times more than what JP Morgan wishes to buy Bear Stearns for.
All these may just be Greek and Latin for many of us. What is however noteworthy is that a good company never looses investment interest even in the toughest of times.
That may be a lesson for small stock buyers in India. In turbulent times such as now, we can certainly look for excellent bargains for the long term.
2 days in a row the city’s newspaper headlines belonged to sports news. Yesterday it was a national shame because for the first time in the living memory India will not participate in the Olympics hockey.
The national shame quickly became just a lip service in 24 hours as today’s headlines screamed what else but cricket. Except for the pink papers, all other dailies have Shah Rukh Khan splashed across the front page.
The badshah of Bollywood was in the city last evening to formally launch Kolkata Knight Riders, the IPL team from the city. See the bubbly website.
Ironically, to the question that ABP asked in yesterday’s edition as to whether the excessive brouhaha over cricket is responsible for the spectacular decline of hockey, an overwhelming 82% polled said ‘yes’.
The poll result nestled amicably together on the Anandabazar Patrika’s front page. As if the wound was not serious enough, ABP rubs salt to it with today’s poll that asks if the Knight Riders of Sourav-Shah Rukh have it in them to be the champion.
There are cricket loving critics who say the game of eleven-versus-two is not responsible for the decline of every other sport in India. Really? Well, I beg to differ.
In fact it is the story of rags versus riches. Yesterday’s TT informs that while a hockey player earns a meager Rs.1200 a day in foreign tours, the ‘Team India’ players earn Rs.1.6 lakh per ODI over and above the BCCI’s grading fees.
Meanwhile, King Khan does come as a genuine sport enthusiast. In the interview to TT in today’s edition he not only informs his fondness for other games, notably football (he ruptured a back muscle in a game at the Delhi’s Ambedkar Stadium) and hockey, he also reveals that he and his son woke up at 3 in the morning on Monday to watch the India-Britain hockey playoff.
Shah Rukh is infinitely busier than I am, yet I preferred to know the hockey result from the TV and papers. In other words, despite my agony in this post, I was less eager to keep up with hockey live from Chile.
Multiply my non-interest several thousands of times, and the product is a national apathy towards a glorious sport that once India ruled.
Give this more oxygen to nourish and flourish…and what do we have?
We may in a decade or so be reduced to the only nation on the earth that only played cricket, a game played by the fewest nations on the planet.
It’s amazing how Barack Obama has emerged as a strong contender for the prized Democratic Party nomination for US presidential election late this year. He doesn’t lack reasons one may imagine strong enough to act against him.
The 2 that perhaps rank at the top are the near similarity his surname bears with Osama bin Laden, the tormentor of the US, and that his middle name is Hussein, once again a close similarity with that of the late Iraq president, Saddam Hussein, the other erstwhile US foe.
Surprisingly however none of those prevented Barack Obama from becoming a frontrunner for the Democratic candidacy. This clearly demonstrates the maturity of the people of US, determining painstakingly who should be the other contender for the White House than the Republican candidate John McCain.
The fight between Obama and Hillary Clinton is very earnest, so much so that the world’s media attention is firmly riveted on them. It’s all the more exciting because both the candidates are unique in their respective appeals.
If elected as the US president, Obama will be the first black, and Hillary, the first woman to head the nation.
What indeed inspires awe is the strength of democracy the contest reveals. The way the situation is poised as of now, there is no way one can get the better of the other without slogging it out in the middle of voters.
The other day I read an article that spoke of a foreign student, who having completed her exam, chose to volunteer for one of the 2 candidates instead of heading home. She distributed pamphlets and other election materials for one candidate without the need or expectation for any compensation.
I like this. Thank heavens they have such high voltage elections in a year when the recession is knocking on the door.
Meanwhile, as The Telegraph has noted, if the democrats take it longer to decide whom to select as their representative, it will only add to McCain’s advantage.
For, far away from the media glare, the Republican nominee is finding it easy to slowly inch ahead. The tortoise in the fable, it will be recalled, actually won the race.
Cozy and cool restaurants are few in the city compared to the rush they see on virtually all days of the week. Some are highly pricey that put off many food lovers unless one is too keen to lighten the purse.
If this appears dismal, which undoubtedly it is, take heart. 2008 is going to be a hot year that will see as many as 40 eating joints debuting in the city. Here is an article by Amar Shah from his blog on Financial Markets.
Get set for restaurant sector boom this year
Kolkata will see at least 40 restaurants, fast food chains and coffee joints in 2008 with an estimated investment of close to Rs 30-40 crore.
Restaurant chains like Yum Brands, Coffee Pai, Subway, Flurys, Oh!Calcutta, Mainland China, Marco Polo, and several first-time food chains, will nearly treble retail presence in the city this year.
Yum brands-owned Pizza Hut, which currently has about two outlets in the city, will set up three new outlets this year – two in Rajarhat at City Centre II and The Terminus mall, and one at Sector V.
The Sector V outlets are expected to open by March this year while the Rajarhat outlets are targetting the Durga Puja season.
Pizza Hut serves over 300,000 customers every week in India, informed company officials.
Kentucky Fried Chicken or KFC too will open a 70-seater restaurant at New Empire which will be the first KFC in the country run by specially-trained, hearing impaired employees.
KFC will also open five more outlets in Kolkata by end-2008, again at The Terminus mall and City Centre II in Rajarhat, and two others in south Kolkata.
Among coffee joints, Café Coffee Day, the coffee chain owned by Bangalore-based Amalgamated Coffee Bean Trading Co, plans to open around 15 outlets in the city in 2008, in Salt Lake’s Sector V, South City Mall, and in other locations, at an average investment of Rs 25-30 lakh an outlet.
Coffee Pai, the vegetarian restaurant in the city, will open two more outlets in Homeland Mall and at Samilton Hotel.
Popular sandwich chain Subway, which opened its first restaurant in Kolkata in 2005, also plans to open around seven restaurants in 2008, in locations like Dalhousie, beside Ruby General Hospital, in South City Mall, and in other locations.
Flurys, the popular restaurant on Park Street, has opened an outlet this year in the South City Mall and plans another in Rashbehari in south Kolkata.
The much-awaited South City mall will also see four speciality restaurants offering Indian, Chinese, Spanish and Thai delicacies. It will house a 4,640 sq ft Thai eatery ‘Benjarong’, ‘Zara’ and ‘The Spanish Tavern’, among others.
Blue Foods will host the food court with 13 different cuisines from India and abroad. Spread over 30,000 sq ft, Foodtalk will host brands like Café Coffee Day, Kookie Jar (4,000 sq ft), and Subway.
Mainland China too has opened shop in South City spread over some 10,000 sq ft.
‘Sigree’, an Indian restaurant, will open a 5,165 sq ft outlet in South City.
The recently inaugurated Silver Arcade on the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass too will see a 100-cover Oh! Calcutta and a 180-cover Mainland China.
The popular restaurant Marco Polo which serves Continental, Indian and Chinese foods, will open a new Marco Polo Pot House, a high-end lounge bar in Salt Lake’s City Centre this year.
A food court in Singapore, adjacent to a subway. The concept has started in Kolkata, a city of food-loving populace, at Metropolis, Hiland Park only 2 years back.
This was no concern a few years back when the demand of work at the workplace was less. Now often people spend more waking hours in the office than at home. [Image on left courtesy]
Small wonder then it is more convenient to fall in love in office, no matter if you’re already married. For generation next, who have their hearts full of ready love to be exchanged, this is a golden opportunity.
It is comparatively easy too, thanks to screens, to send love message free and fast. All that is needed is to press some buttons – an SMS or an email will soon be on the way.
According to a Feb 2 ABP report, a large recruitment company has found the prevalence of office-love is maximum in Delhi. It did a survey in 500 offices in 7 cities.
The findings reveal that 56% feel women are more proactive in expressing love. 44% feel their eagerness is aimed to make smooth the path up the ladder.
Though 56% say the companies need not bother about such matters, an equal number is also of the opinion that office love distracts attention to work.
Office spouses are however no new entities in the western world. Several companies have clear guidelines on the matter, all directed toward preventing anything that affects productivity of employee.
But then unlike Indian counterparts, the companies there do not ask employees to exert after working hours. Here the opposite is true.
The more you spend time in office the high you’re held in the eyes of the bosses. If that means you’ve fewer hours to yourself, so be it.
In case you’re interested, here is a set of Office Spouse Rules, sourced from WebMD.
If you have an office spouse, staying on the right side of the line is a must, for both your marriage and your career. Here are the rules of engagement:
“Don’t share personal information at work, especially information about your marriage,” says Harley. “If someone else starts to share their information with you, let them know you are not interested. It’s very hard to do, but don’t let it get personal. If someone does share personal information with you, tell your spouse about it so you’re not creating your own world at work that your spouse isn’t aware of.”
If you do get personal, be careful how you categorize your marriage. “If you are not getting along with your husband, and there is someone at the office who does care for you, and you tell them that, then you’re off and running,” says Harley. “If you say, ‘I am crazy about my husband and we love each other so much,’ the other person is less likely to invest time or emotion into the relationship.”
“Don’t be alone with a person of the opposite sex separate from your job,” says Harley. “For example, don’t carpool one-on-one, don’t engage in recreational activities after work, or if you have to travel for work with one person, bring your spouse. Romantic relationships develop out of recreational activities and intimate conversations -- those are the two major hooks.”
“Don’t drink with your office spouse,” says Jenn Berman, PhD, a psychologist in Beverly Hills, Calif., who specializes in marriages and families. “There’s a strict no alcohol rule with the office spouse, because when you drink the lines get blurred.”
“Introduce your real spouse to your office spouse,” Berman tells WebMD. “Go out to dinner with your office spouse and his or her significant other, and yours. Make your real spouse included in the relationship so it doesn’t feel exclusive.”
“Avoid constantly talking about your office spouse at home,” says Berman. “Your real spouse should know about your office spouse, but don’t overdo it.”
Sheryl Sandberg, who was chief of staff to US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers during President Clinton’s time and later became Google’s Vice President of Global Online Sales & Operations 6 years back, has left the search giant to work for Facebook.
Sandberg, an alumna of both Harvard College and Harvard Business School, was named in the Fortune’s list of most powerful women for the year 2007.
Perhaps her immense influence stemmed from her controlling the main income strings, namely AdWords and AdSense, the latter considered as an offshoot of the former.
A high profile departure such as Sandberg’s from Google has inevitably led to speculations as to whether things are okay. The stock’s price has slipped considerably, and on March 4 almost touched the 52-week low (see the chart below).
This has never happened with the search giant, which is why the analysts fear that the internal dynamics is no longer comfortable for the early employees.
This is possible because the Google empire is constantly in flux, getting more and more acquisitions into its fold. JotSpot and GrandCentral are 2 of the latest.
Meanwhile, Sandberg’s departure is Facebook’s gain. From March 24 she will be the new COO there, managing sales, marketing, business development, human resources, public policy, privacy and communications.
It remains to be seen how Facebook, the social networking giant, shapes up in the time ahead under Sandberg’s guidance.
There is no way you come to know a place unless you walk around there. This is true if the time you’ve on hand is less and you’re more inclined to visit spots that disclose the history of the place rather than only seeing the exotic destinations.
Like many Kolkattans I too cannot claim to know the city’s history from the exhibits that can still be seen.
True, I haven’t had the drive to go around, but what is no less true is that the city’s custodians have made the metropolis messy and at times uninviting that makes it impossible to get inspired.
With that as perspective, it is indeed a wonder that the city is soon going to see perhaps the first Heritage Treasure Hunt competition this month.
Modeled on similar games elsewhere, treasure hunting can be both fictional or a real life activity. Similar examples of riddle solving are Sudoku and crossword puzzles.
In all these instances, some real knowledge can be had by participating in them. Kolkata’s Heritage Treasure Hunt can’t be any different. Here is a selected excerpt of what it would be like, taken from Times of India.
The idea is to spread awareness and create heritage enthusiasts among residents so that the latter can, in turn, become activists and help preserve and restore these magnificent structures, many of which need to be revamped.
The teams - each comprising four members in cars - will start on the hunt from Red Road. Following the trail of clues, they would then travel to the lanes and bylanes of north Kolkata, Dalhousie and finally Chowringhee.
Unwilling to divulge the nature of the clues yet, GM Kapur, state convener of Intach, said, "Lets' say, from Red Road you have to go to Victoria Memorial, where you have to locate a Doyly oil painting, which depicts a famous Church that replaced the court that tried Raja Nanda Kumar. You will have to rush to the Church for the next clue that could lead to a search for an obelisk (Holwell's monument) constructed at the site of Old Fort William (today's GPO). This came up to commemorate the survivors of the Black Hole Tragedy."
Tracking down the obelisk might not be easy, as it was moved to the city's oldest church in 1821. So as you hunt down the clues, you also get to know what the Black Hole Tragedy is and where the city's oldest church is located.
Pirates in early days burying treasure in a virgin island. [Image source]
The days of stale life are fast fading into oblivion. The web is so trendy and in constant flux that a few days away from it seem to be equivalent to a few decades.
Last week I was thinking of rendering my voice to one of my client’s web need. I’m a poor speaker. And I'm sure I sound quite horrible. My client feels he is worse, and so the onus was on me to carry on the work.
The result was not inspiring. I looked out for alternatives and found SpokenText fitting the bill (refer my last post).
There are others like SpokenText but the output for all of them is machine speech. They lack the verve, though perhaps far better than my voice.
And then I came upon Voice123, the voice marketplace. The what, you may ask! Well, if you’ve a good voice and fairly good command over spoken English, you may stand to earn fabulous money. Find out for yourself.
Voice123 is like the outsourcing portals like Elance, Guru, etc.
If however you feel your voice will not let you down, you can try InstantAudio. Or better still, record your voice in the Windows free sound recorder.
It’s a mandatory SEBI rule that the TV ads they show to garner subscriptions have to include the caveat: Mutual fund investments are subject to market risks. Please read the offer document carefully before investing.
The 16 words are spoken so rapidly that you barely make anything out of it. Obviously the warning serves no purpose. That however is hardly the headache of the ad givers.
They follow the rule in letter but not in spirit. And they get away unasked.
Not any longer. Come 1st April, the SEBI has directed that the caveat must be stretched for at least 5 seconds. Up until now there has been no minimum time restriction.
This meant the ads breezed through in just 3 seconds. With the new rule in place shortly, the public can expect to be forewarned clearly.
To come back to my opening statement about speed-talking, here is a startling revelation. The TT discloses that the fast-talking voiceover usually gets paid between Rs.7000 and Rs.10000 per ad spot.
Not bad earning that, but truth be told, you may even get free voiceovers. Try SpokenText. If you’re a bit innovative, you may also ‘speed up’ the spoken text.
India’s economic muscle was put on show on Feb 29 when the FM declared India’s largest ever loan waiver to the debt-ridden farmers. The $15 billion (or Rs.60,000 crore) one-time debt forgiveness program is one of the largest in the world.
Indeed the FM and the UPA government will go down in the history of the nation for showing the courage to undertake this massive loan waiver. But there have been quite a few discordant notes that did not like it.
Late in the evening on budget day CNBC TV-18 was showing one of the numerous programs, and in that particular one I watched, the host Raghav Behl sounded ominous as to how this unprecedented dole could be sustained since the ‘ratios’ he calculated looked pretty grim.
To this poser the CPM MP Sitaram Yechury retorted, “Is the budget aimed to satisfy your calculations, or is it also for the millions of have-nots to have some succor?”
The tenor of the budget is very clear. It lays stress on typically letting the money of the lesser privileged churn out more for them than pleasing the big industrialists who have the wherewithal to extract advantages from the government.
For example, the income tax savings for most people would be between Rs.300 and more than Rs.4000 every month. This extra cash, the FM hopes, can then find way to more purchases since many items can cost less because of softening of excise duties.
As if to prove that true, carmakers like Maruti and Hyundai have cut the prices of the low-end models no sooner the budget was announced.
There are many pluses in the budget. Short term capital gains will be taxed 50% more than what it has been (10% to 15%) thus far. It will help in curbing excess speculation and bring some semblance of order in the highly volatile stock market.
Small service providers will not pay service tax before crossing the threshold of Rs.10 lakhs. There is good news for those who plan to reverse-mortgage their dwellings, mostly the elderly people. The transfer of house in such cases will not face capital gains tax, and the loans received will also be freed from income tax.
Among the political class, especially the Congress, the mood is clearly upbeat. The breathtaking agricultural loan-waiving is perhaps the clearest indication that the elections are not very far. The only question that remains is ‘when’.
Meanwhile, take a look at the various headlines yesterday in the video below.
