Bookcopies

Tax Avoidance in India Tax avoidance is a method of using the loopholes existing in the laws in order to save taxes. Tax avoidance is generally used by big business houses and companies who make use of such loopholes, deductions and tax rates in order to reduce the tax burden borne by these companies. Tax avoidance is done without breaking any laws or rules under the income tax act. The main objective of tax evasion is to save a large amount of money by taking advantage of the loopholes present in the income tax acts. Difference between Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion: Tax avoidance involves the method of carefully examining the laws and exploiting the loopholes in the system. Tax evasion is illegal in India whereas tax avoidance is not an illegal practice. An individual cannot be blamed for avoiding taxes, however if a person willingly evades taxes, he is liable to pay a huge penalty along with interest or is even penalized with a jail term. Tax evasion is the practice of avoiding tax...

Here are some of the commonly used tax avoidance strategies: Increase in retirement savings:  Retirement savings like PPF or NPS are perfect tax saving instruments. Investments in PPF account enjoy tax benefits under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act. NPS can fetch you an additional tax saving of Rs 50,000 above the regular tax saving limit of Rs 1.5 Lakh a year under Section 80C. This is under Section 80CCD(1B). Showing monetary transactions as loans:  You may show any monetary transactions made by you as a loan to your relatives at nominal interest rates. These transactions are tax-free and the income from such investments is tax-free. Tax saving on long-term gains:  You can invest gifted money received from relatives in shares and equity mutual funds for a period longer than a year. The long-term gains on equities held for more than a year are exempt from taxes, up to Rs 1 Lakh. Gold, real estate and debt mutual funds enjoy tax benefits on long term capital gains. Education scholars...

The Public Provident Fund(PPF) Scheme is a statutory scheme of the Central Government of India for a period of 15 years. Any individual may, on his own behalf or on behalf of a minor, of whom he is the guardian, subscribe to the Public Provident Fund any amount not less than Rs. 500 and not more than Rs. 1, 00,000 in a year. One deposit with a minimum amount of Rs.500/- is mandatory in each financial year. Interest is not contractual but rate is notified by Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India, at the end of each year. The facility of first withdrawal can be done in the 7th year of the account, subject to a limit of 50% of the amount at credit preceding three year balance. Thereafter one withdrawal is permissible every year. Pre-mature closure of a PPF can be done only in case of death. The account holder has an option to extend the PPF account for any period in a block of 5 years on each time. The account holder can retain the account after maturity for any period without making any fu...

People in rural areas earn their living in various ways. Some work on farms while others earn their living on nonfarm activities. Working on farms involves operations such as preparing the land, sowing, weeding and harvesting of crops. We depend on nature for the growth of these crops. Hence life revolves around certain seasons. People are busy during sowing and harvesting and less so at other times. Rural people in different regions of the country grow different crops. However, we do find similarities in their life situations and in the problems that they face. How people are able to survive or earn will depend upon the land that they cultivate. Many depend on these lands for work as labourers. Most farmers grow crops both for their own requirements and also to sell in the market. Some have to sell to traders from whom they have borrowed money. For their survival, many families need to borrow money for their work or when no work is available. There are some families in rural areas whi...

In the village people do many kinds of non-farm work such as making baskets, utensils, pots, bricks,bullock-carts etc. There are people who provide services such as blacksmiths, nurses, teachers, washermen,  weavers,barbers, cycle repair mechanics and so on. There are also some shopkeepers and traders. In the main street, which looks like a bazaar, you will find a variety of small shops such as tea shops, grocery shops, barber shops, a cloth shop, a tailor and two fertiliser and seed shops. There are four teashops, which sell tiffin – such as idli, dosai and upama in the morning and snacks like vadai, bonda and mysorepak in the evening. Near the teashops in a corner lives a blacksmith family whose home serves as their workshop. Next to their home is a cycle hire and repair shop. Two families earn a living by washing clothes. There are some people who go to the nearby town to work as construction workers and lorry drivers.The village is surrounded by low hills. Paddy is the main crop th...

Buildings in brick and stone The skills of our crafts persons are also apparent in the buildings that have survived, such as stupas . The word stupa means a mound. While there are several kinds of stupas , round and tall, big and small, these have certain common features. Generally, there is a small box placed at the centre or heart of the stupa . This may contain bodily remains (such as teeth, bone or ashes) of the Buddha or his followers, or things they used, as well as precious stones, and coins. This box, known as a relic casket, was covered with earth. Later, a layer of mud brick or baked brick was added on top. And then, the dome like structure was sometimes covered with carved stone slabs. Often, a path, known as the pradakshina patha, was laid around the stupa . This was surrounded with railings. Entrance to the path was through gateways. Devotees walked around the stupa, in a clockwise direction, as a mark of devotion. Both railings and gateways were often decorated with sculp...

Number of Hindu religious stories that were in circulation earlier were written down around the same time. These include the Puranas. Purana  literally mean old. The Puranas contain stories about gods and goddesses, such as Vishnu, Shiva, Durga or Parvati. They also contain details on how they were to be worshipped. Besides, there are accounts about the creation of the world, and about kings. The Puranas were written in simple Sanskrit verse, and were meant to be heard by everybody,including women and shudras , who were not allowed to study the Vedas. They were probably recited in temples by priests, and people came to listen to them. Two Sanskrit epics, the Mahabharata and Ramayana had been popular for a very long time. Some of you may be familiar with these stories. The Mahabharata is about a war fought between the Kauravas and Pandavas, who were cousins. This was a war to gain control of the throne of the Kurus, and their capital, Hastinapur. The story itself was an old one, but was...

There were several stages in building a stupa or a temple. Usually, kings or queens decided to build these as it was an expensive affair. First, good quality stone had to be found, quarried, and transported to the place that was often carefully chosen for the new building. Here, these rough blocks of stone had to be shaped and carved into pillars, and panels for walls, floors and ceilings. And then these had to be placed in precisely the right position. Kings and queens probably spent money from their treasury to pay the crafts persons who worked to build these splendid structures. Besides, when devotees came to visit the temple or the stupa , they often brought gifts, which were used to decorate the buildings. For example, an association of ivory workers paid for one of the beautiful gateways at Sanchi. Among the others who paid for decorations were merchants,farmers, garland makers,perfumers, smiths, and hundreds of men and women who are known only by their names which were inscribed...

Ajanta is a place where several caves were hollowed out of the hills over centuries. Most of these were monasteries for Buddhist monks, and some of them were decorated with paintings. Here are some examples. As the caves are dark inside, most of these paintings were done in the light of torches. The colours, which are vivid even after 1500 years , were made of plants and minerals. The artists who created these splendid works of art remain unknown. The world of books Some of the best–known epics were written during this period. Epics are grand, long compositions,about heroic men and women, and include stories about gods. A famous Tamil epic, the Silappadikaram, was composed by a poet named Ilango, around 1800 years ago. It is the story of a merchant named Kovalan, who lived in Puhar and fell in love with a courtesan named Madhavi, neglecting his wife Kannagi. Later, he and Kannagi left Puhar and went to Madurai, where he was wrongly accused of theft by the court jeweller of the Pandya k...

The city of Surat had a plague scare in 1994. Surat was one of the dirtiest cities in India. Houses, hotels and restaurants would dump their garbage into the nearest drain or street which made it very difficult for sweepers to collect and transfer the garbage into selected dumps. In addition to this, the Municipal Corporation did not collect the garbage as often as it should have and this led to the situation getting worse. Plague spreads through the air and people who have the disease have to be isolated. In Surat,several people lost their lives, and over 300,000 deserted the city. The scare of the plague ensured that the Municipal Corporation completely cleaned up the city. To this date, Surat continues to remain the second cleanest city in India after Chandigarh.

The Tank irrigation is more in the rocky plateau area of the county, where the rainfall is uneven and highly seasonal. The Eastern Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Interiors of Tamil Nadu and some parts of Andhra Pradesh have more land under tank irrigation. It is an old‐established practice, particularly in semi‐arid tropical parts of South India, but is today a neglected resource, and irrigation tanks are underutilized due to mismanagement. The development of the means of irrigation like wells and tube wells is not possible because of stony land on one hand: it is easy to collect rain water in natural or artificial pits because of impermeable rocks on the other hand. There is no permeation of water in the ground. If the contribution of tank irrigation in the total irrigated land is estimated, Tamil Nadu ranks first with 18.42% of total irrigated land. It is followed by Odisha (14.60 %), Andhra Pradesh (13.44 %), Kerala (10.26 %) and Karnataka (6.36 %). Advantage Disadvantage ...