My heartiest well wishes to all of you on the occasion of India’s Independence Day (which is on 15th August). May our motherland, India, reach heights of success and achievements.

I pray to Almighty Allah for making our country overcome all the odds and succeed in all the avenues and be at the forefront of freedom for which we Indians have stood.

Freedom, as everyone should know, is in our blood. To fight for and uphold the values of freedom will and should always be the first concern for us Indians.

So, go out and do good deeds on this I-Day and raise the bar for other countries/communities to follow.

As with all the good things that could have happened to our beloved country, you gotta give it to the politicians to spoil the celebrations!

Suresh Kalmadi (Image Courtesy: Times Of India)

As if the preparations for the Common Wealth Games (CWG) wasn’t enough, we have started reading and hearing daily bytes of the corruption (obviously with the ‘blessings’ of the high & mighty politicians) trickling in. The web is spread so wide that it’s surprising. It has acted as the perfect disgrace for a rising country called India.

No one from the government seems to be ready to talk about CWG. No statement from anyone has come in yet. Suresh Kalmadi, the man in the eye of the CWG storm seems answer-less to all the allegations that are coming up.

It is only in India that Mr. Kalmadi continues to head the CWG Organising Committee despite all this. What has happened to the moral responsibility of this man? (even if there is no proof of his involvement in all of this which I honestly doubt).

Even the PM hasn’t reacted to all this.

I request the hon’ble Prime Minister of  India to intervene on this matter and make Mr. Kalmadi resign to avoid further embarrassment for our nation.

My heart goes out to the families and friends of the victims in the tragic accident involving the Air-India Express Flight from Dubai to Mangalore on 22nd May 2010. Even though I have been late in doing so, my intention is clear. I am saddened by this tragedy and I hope that the government of India can investigate the cause behind this tragedy and put checks in place to prevent any such disaster in the future.

As of today, some of the key recorders/devices including the ‘black box’ from the doomed aircraft have been recovered and I hope the investigating teams find the cause.

Once again, my heart-felt condolences and sympathies to the families of the victims. I pray to Allah to protect us from such tragedies and safeguard everyone from such harm. Amen.

For complete information, check out: Special coverage of the Mangalore crash tragedy on TOI.

The moment there’s a mid-air scare, we trust ourselves in the so called safe hands of our pilots and cabin crew while we are taking a flight to our destination. Now, what if the cabin crew and the pilots slug it out while the hapless passengers pray to The Almighty to save their lives with the stewardship of the plane seemingly taking them for disaster?

That’s what happened in this surprising and condemnable incident aboard an Air-India flight IC-884 from Sharjah bound for Delhi via Lucknow!

In order to settle their dispute (over whatever issue they claim it to be for), two members from the cabin crew actually came to blows with the pilot and the co-pilot right inside the cockpit.

Scary… Now, I’m having second thoughts over taking that Air India flight to Delhi the next time I have to fly home!

The incident is outrightly condemnable and all those who are involved should be severely punished in order to teach them a lesson and also set an example for all the other cabin crew whether in India or any other place.

The government should immediately take appropriate action otherwise it’s good bye to Air India for me. I can’t possibly ignore this bizarre incident at all.

Another disgraceful achievement for the once mighty Air India after the shocking engine fire incident of September 2009 where a Riyadh bound plane’s engine caught fire right before take off from Mumbai. If thing’s keep going this way, I don’t see any reason to keep the Maharaja flying.

The government should either privatize Air India or shut it down. Apart from this, I don’t see any other solution where AI could be safe and also free from Babus.

God help Air India and us. Amen.

Independence at midnight after years of struggle. Violence, attacked by non-violence and regular demonstrations. That, my friends, is what our forefathers had to go through to attain self-determination for the people of India.

Today, as ignorant as we are, we don’t realize what is the importance of this extremely precious possession of a nation. Simply, because it was handed down to us by our ancestors. Those were days when petty politics hadn’t ruined the ideals of politics. Leaders never regarded what was different between them. They had high regards for what was the most common trait amongst them (and us these days): the spirit of India.

Today, the situation has changed. The people of our country are so used to the independence that it simply passes off as just another holiday for them. I don’t want them to think in any other way. I just want them to think like how our forefathers thought then. This will be a step towards attaining the goal they had set out to achieve at the night of 15th August, 1947.

Let us pledge today, to work for the progress of our great nation. To protect it’s integrity, it’s pride and to work for the betterment of this motherland.

With these words, I would like to wish everyone a very happy independence day. 15th August, 2009. Just don’t pass it off like another holiday in your calendar.

Finally, defying all predictions & exit polls, Dr. Manmohan Singh has been handed a defining mandate by the country for leading the country and heading a stable and secular government.

We salute you, Dr. Manmohan Singh. You are one of the best PMs ever to grace the post. You are the visionary we are looking up to. And, in order for Dr. Singh to lead a stable government, the people of India have given him more seats as the results pour in. With the Cong+ or UPA leading in more than 255 seats and it is becoming clear that it will form the next government along with the so called “fourth front” which is expected to bring in 26+ seats.

The picture will be quite clear in the evening as to how the new government will take shape.

Last Friday was blank. Except for a few low budgets non Producer’s association affiliated releases, no big releases lined up at your nearest multiplex. The reason? The Producer’s strike protesting against the revenue sharing model with the multiplexes. Single screens remain unaffected by this. Producers are demanding a fair revenue share from the multiplexes while the plexes are not even agreeing to review the current model.

This has put our industry in a state of limbo. This means that for the many weeks to come, there ain’t going to be any big release to the theaters!

So much for the relief people used to get. Let us wait and see what this brings us to.

Calling all Non-Resident Indians or NRIs to pay attention here.

It is just today that I received an email from one of my colleagues regarding a news item notifying NRIs about a directive from the Department of Income Tax, Government of India that mandates a levying of 5% income tax on NRIs’ income from abroad or place of residence outside India. It mentions that the Indian government is coordinating with governments of countries with major populace of Indians to bring their means of earning and their incomes under taxation by way of government to government contact.

To be more clear about what I received, I will reproduce the email here:

5% TAX ON FOREIGN INCOME FOR NRI STARTING 2009 -10

Government of India today announced imposition of a flat 5% tax on all NRIs over their world-wide income. Income that is already taxed in India has been kept out of the purview to avoid double taxation. No double taxation benefits would be available for this 5% tax, meaning even if you are paying tax on your income in a country with which India has double taxation agreement, the benefit would not be allowed against this 5% tax. All those Indians who are holding Indian Passports and have been out of the country for more than 180 days during the year are under this requirement. Income proof would have to be submitted in form of employer certificates, foreign tax filings etc. Indian government is also coordinating with Australia, Europe, America, UAE and other countries on collecting Income data for its citizens as part of data sharing initiative on terror prevention measures.

This has been hailed as bringing in compulsory participation in development of India from Non resident Indians.. This means NRIs can no more just continue to retain their Indian citizenship without paying taxes in India. Though it may not be favorable in view of the NRIs who already bring substantial forex in form of remittances and Investments. This is bound to cause a lot of heart burn for the Indian community residing outside..

This is expected to generate ~10 Billion INR tax collection for the government in the year 2009-10.. For more information on this rule, tax filings and forms visit http://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/

As you can see, the email feeds on the fear of taxation of NRIs who earn their hard money abroad. Please note that I researched the topic (mostly because of selfish reasons), I found the email to be a hoax. To support my argument in this regard, I have found one other worried gentleman getting a reply from one qualified CA professional. To view the topic, please follow this link.
So, please stop panicking about this email and I request everyone who reads my article to STOP this email from circulation. It’s claims are totally unfounded and untrue and therefore DO NOT need to be circulated. In the future if you receive emails, please check out the basis of that email before forwarding it to your friends or family.

I hope this post will be helpful to all the people affected by this BASELESS email regarding 5% income tax on NRIs

I have created some badges for you to use on your website, blog, community etc. and show your support for Dr. Manmohan Singh to be the Prime Minister of India.

Download the one that you need and join the millions who are supporting Dr. Singh, today.

I support Manmohan Singh for PM 150x150

I support Manmohan Singh for PM 250x250

I support Manmohan Singh for PM 350x350

The day he took oath of the Prime Minister-ship of India, a new era had begun for a great nation such as India. That was what came to my mind thousand of miles away working here in the gulf.

Dr. Manmohan Singh, with his extreme experience and statesmanship in the realms of economics, his undoubted integrity and his straight-forward approach in getting done what he has set in motion (An example of this are the economic reforms he started for India as Finance Minister under Late Narsimha Rao and the sealing of the nuclear deal even under threat to his own government and there are more examples that can be mentioned here).

Since the passing away of Indira Gandhi there has never been a leader like the revered Doctor. He is a visionary and the right person to lead India in times of such economic instability worldwide. He has stewarded our nation wisely with the introduction of various stimulus packages and without doubt protecting us from various threats, both external and internal.

Instead of labeling him as a weak PM (under verbal importation from Mr. Advani & his motley crew), the detractors of Dr. Singh should point out what’s wrong in him as the PM? I am sure they can find nothing wrong with his captaincy of our country!

We must also realize what Sonia Gandhi has done for us. In allowing Dr. Singh to lead the country while she dealt with coaltion partners and their dirty politics, she has succeeded to a varying degree in insulating the stability of our government from political upheavals and one-upmanship which was clearly visible during the reign of Mr. Vajpayee. During Mr. Vajpayee’s two stints as the PM of India (I am discounting his 13 day govt in 1996) in 1998-1999 and 1999-2004, there were so many distractions from the actual agenda of governance and though BJP might hate to admit, the country had reached the verge of economic collapse under sanctions if hadn’t been for the NRIs who rallied behind the nation and pooled money in the country in the form of bonds and other investments.

The only other person who could really boast of a clean image is Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He was one man who commanded respect from everybody. If it wasn’t for the sloppy handling of the government and the constant distractions and the numerous scandals that hit his government, we would be under his stewardship until today. There’s no doubt in my mind. It is not the BJP who won the elections in 1998 or 1999. It wasn’t Mr. Advani. It was Mr. Vajpayee who won the elections for the BJP. It was riding on his clean and visionary image which catapulted the BJP to power. The BJP misses him very badly today. I wish Mr. Vajpayee good health. After all he represented my city until this Lok Sabha elections. We all in Lucknow will miss him as well.

But, mind you, we have to move on. So, with Manmohan, we are under a safe and stable leadership. He is THE MAN to lead our country.

Before you say that he is responsible for the inflation that hit the country last year, I must point out to all of you that it was not in his hands. If you may know, the bane of being connected with the world economy is that you inherit inflation as well. Rising prices are common in economies which do trade with the world. I must remind the people that it was during the reign of the NDA that the prices of Onions peaked out at almost Rs 200 per Kg! Other commodities were not so far behind. I remember one day, my mother had to make do with something other than onion while cooking food as she wasn’t able to afford it then. And they speak of inflation and rising prices! Ha…

As for terrorism, it is pretty clear to everybody that it was only during the reign of the NDA that our parliament was attacked by terrorists. Dreaded terror masterminds like Masood Azhar were released with one of our Minister accompanying him to Kandahar! And they say our country is not secure under Dr. Singh! How hypercritical of these BJP people and others who support them. Not to mention one of the most shameful acts ever since the partition of India took place under the unapologetic NDA regime: The Gujarat Massacre of Muslims in 2002. Where was security when people were being massacred while the government of Mr. Narendra Modi was looking the other way! What happened in Godhra was wrong and is condemnable. But the Gujarat riots were merely described as “a natural reaction to Godhra” and not even condemned by the ruling alliance at the time: NDA. We should look at both the incidents with a single yardstick.

In fact, it wouldn’t be far fetched to say that it is the BJP-led NDA regime that was indirectly responsible for Pakistan based masterminds to counter India’s cross-border terrorism charge against that country by raising a brigade of brain-washed and misled youths from riot-affected families of India. How do you counter this?

Please be honest in your opinions and be civilized and think about this while understanding the challenges that lie ahead of us. Only a leader of the calibre of Dr. Manmohan Singh can lead our country to a healthy, stable and prosperous future.

And before I sign off with my whole-hearted support for our great leader, I must remind one and all about the biggest achievement of the his government: the waiver package of nearly Rs. 60,000 Crore for the lifeline of our nation, the farmers.

So, with all due respect to everyone concerned, I vote for Dr. Manmohan Singh, the most determined Prime Minister ever to lead India.

Vote For India’s Undoubted King, the one and only Dr. Manmohan Singh!

Jai Hind.

(Oh yes, I must write one last line… I am not interested in party-wise politics. I am not a Congressman or a BJP supporter. I would have supported Dr. Manmohan Singh even if he had been from the BJP, or for that matter from any party, like we supported Mr. Vajpayee.)