An Ode To Arrogance!

Arrogance is one of the defining characteristics of human beings. Arrogance can be easily discerned or felt by us in every word or act or posture or gait displayed by the inflicted persons. We confront them everywhere—at home where the arrogance of the head of the household is as ancient as the homo sapiens; at workplace where the arrogance of the boss percolates down the line very often apart from the others in various sycophantic roles; at educational institutions where the most scholarly often displays the most arrogance apart from the others in various emphatic roles; in the ruling class hierarchy arrogance has been a trademark notwithstanding the transformation from monarchy/dictatorship to democracy in many nations of the world; and so on. Of course, no generalization has been attempted here: else, how on earth can we have the magnanimity of discussing it!

The word ‘arrogance’ has, logically, numerous synonyms. Here we’ll mention a few examples so that our discourse is easier to understand. These are: Haughtiness, Condescension, Egotism, Swagger, Snobbishness, Superciliousness, Mocking, Sneering, and Big-headedness. Based largely on these we can list out a few characteristic features of the arrogant as below:

·    The ideology or the ideals they adhere to are the perfect which everybody should follow unquestioningly. They know everything, and are absolute scholars, philosophers and writers.

·            What they do or say or imply is always right and no living soul should ever vouch on the contrary.

·         What they eat, what they wear and what styles or standards they adopt are the most discrete ones, and no one should ever think disobey.

·         They are extremely intolerant of others’ opinions, forget about dissent which you only think is the hallmark of a democracy, and anyone who dares to contest gets condemned as unfaithful or criminals or traitors.

·          They are also extremely capable of making fun of others—that they possess an indomitable appetite to go on mocking others with an omnipresent all-knowing grin; if they are forced by circumstances to give befitting replies to daringly democratic voices.

As we had mentioned earlier we meet arrogant people at every walk of life. At best, we can get over them with slight inconveniences; at worst, we get affected by them so grievously that our life gets derailed or even damaged—all such situations being at a personal level though. However, if arrogance takes over at the macro level, meaning at the level of state administration or governance then it’s a recipe for absolute disaster. Unfortunately, such kind of ‘governance with arrogance’ has been happening in many places across the world: bulldozing public opinion or protests or democratic traditions or basic principles of humanity. The tragic consequences are all there to behold: use of the time-tested divide-and-rule policy, particularly during elections; unparalleled display, preaching and spread of hatred; racist and communal violence; mob fury, lynching and riots; and of course, tragic loss of innocent lives—so unnecessary and so eminently preventable.

Why then ‘an ode’ to such an undeserving phenomenon? Well, democratic sentiments are still embedded in numerous souls of numerous hapless subjects like this writer, and so, we, some of the people, still strive to respect the spirit of a democracy. We’d earlier said about the unfortunate phenomenon of  ‘governance with arrogance’ seen in quite a few countries of the world, and what is doubly unfortunate is the fact that large chunks of subjects tend to support or vote for the phenomenon. These large chunks often prove to be the majority in respective countries. In a democracy we respect all sections of the society—their needs, interests and opinions, and therefore, if the majorities themselves are with the ‘change’ then how on earth could we ignore such overwhelmingly democratic spontaneity!

It’s altogether a different matter if the majorities fail miserably to distinguish the ‘right’ from the ‘wrong’. And, it’s altogether a very justifiable matter if we decide to use the ‘an ode’ prefix.

Cricket Of Whitewashes—Now New Zealand ODI-Swamp India 3-0!

Photo: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

After India whitewashed New Zealand by 5-0 in the T20I Series now New Zealand whitewash back with a 3-0 triumph over India in the 3-match one-day international (ODI0 Series. In the third and final match today at Mount Maunganui New Zealand thrashed India by 5 wickets, despite a challenging target of 297 put by India. With NZ openers Guptill and Nicholls going-great-guns the Kiwis overtook the target with relative ease. In the first match the hosts assailed India’s target of 347, the stiffest and highest of the series, with quite a few balls to spare exposing the visitors’ bowling woes. Some Indian commentators have once again played with the word ‘complacency’ saying that perhaps the Indians were a bit complacent after the T20 whitewash! Well, over the decades this writer has been utterly unable to understand how a professional team affords to be complacent against another professional team in very competitive international matches. The hyped products of experimentation like the Sainies or the Thakurs hardly able to do anything to justify the exclusion of Test pacers. We’d also like to know what has happened to Khaleel Ahmed and others who were experimented relentlessly in a two-year countdown to the ICC World Cup-2019.

Of course, you can say Team India is depleted with both the openers—Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma—out due to injury. Of course! But if you’ve been experimenting consistently over the years where are your performers then? This proves again that the selectors have been just blindly trying to help the IPL youngsters without getting into the ‘performance’ track. The set No.4 batsman Ambati Rayadu was banished into oblivion before the World Cup and thus artificially creating the No.4 syndrome. Moreover, why are Test-tested batsmen like Ajinkya Rahane and some of the bowlers are permanently dropped for the shorter formats? Again, if we look closely into the ODI series it is more of bowlers’ failure than batsmen’. I still stick to my view that excellent Test performers can always excel in any format of the game. As for New Zealand, they have set in order the inexplicable batting blues displayed in the T20 series.

Now with the two-match Test Series between Indian and New Zealand coming up, the same ‘dropped’ veterans will be inducted into the team, and the selectors would want them to perform instantly while depriving them of good exposure in the shorter formats. If you’re doing experiment which you’ll continue doing since the T20 World Cup-2020 is coming up, then why restrict it only to IPL ‘talents’, why not open it up to veterans too? Anyway, now over to Test cricket! Should we expect the hat-trick of whitewashes? Nothing wrong in having great expectations!

Union Budget-2020: The Optional Personal Income Tax Regime In India!

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today presented the Union Budget for 2020-21 in Parliament. A few novelties are seen immediately: the Minister’s budget speech of more than 160 minutes proved to be the longest one in history; for the first time the Budget was presented in three innovative categories—Aspiration India, Economic Development and Caring Society with their divisions and sections; a new scheme of setting up solar pumps for farmers having barren lands thus allowing them to earn even without cultivation; identifying 100 water-stressed districts of the country for action in light of the looming water crisis; and a lucrative income tax regime of lower rates which only turns out to be optional. While economists and corporate stalwarts had been shouting all these months about boosting up the demand factor in view of a slowdown and growing unemployment the Budget didn’t list out specific measures to increase consumption or to provide more employment opportunities apart from continued focus on infrastructure investment, continuing with lower corporate tax rates, special emphasis on rural development & agriculture, abolition of the Dividend Distribution Tax as a relief to companies, the direct tax concessions and a few others. The opposition parties slammed the budget on these grounds with a few economic experts also joining in saying that it is another missed opportunity for Modi 2.0 to check the slowdown. While the details of allocations will give the final picture on this we will here concentrate only on the complexities inherent in the optional personal income tax regime.

People of India, particularly middle-class salary earners, have been expecting some income tax benefits since years. The government also from time to time promised reforms in personal income tax structure and its simplification. Today, people got ecstatic while watching live television where the Finance Minister announced major tax cuts. Unfortunately, they were blissfully unaware of the rider attached to the concessions. It was only after the news channels started elaborating on the issue that they finally seemed to see the real picture.

The proposed income tax rate cuts come in these slabs: for annual income of Rs 5—7.5 Lac it is 10% as against the earlier rate of 20% for income slab of 5—10 Lac; for income of 7.5—10 Lac it is 15%; for income of 10—12.5 it is 20% as against the earlier rate of 30% for any income above 10 Lac; for income slab of 12.5—15 Lac it is 25% and for income above 15 Lac it is same as the earlier rate of 30%. The earlier decision to exempt taxpayers having a total income not exceeding Rs 5 Lac per annum has been retained while for others the new rate is 5% for income of 2.5—5 Lac as earlier. Straightaway, we can arrive at sizable cash benefits for taxpayers at every income level, and this was bound to cheer the salary earners. But then the rider!

The Finance Minister, after announcing the huge benefits accruing from the rate cuts, clarified that to simplify the tax structure she had removed about 70 exemptions associated with income tax, and that the new tax regime means taxpayers would no longer be able to avail of such exemptions. She further said that taxpayers are welcome to choose—they can stay on with the old tax regime or can opt for the new one. This has set in motion a calculation spree among people which may well continue or even intensify in the coming months.

We will take a few examples of exemptions not to be granted in the new tax regime which include deductions under 80C or 80D, Leave Travel Concession (LTC), house rent allowance, entertainment allowance, professional tax amount and so on. Now, for a big family the LTC amount, if they want to avail the facility at least once a year, will be quite high and if the salary earner of the family opts for the new regime this full amount will be taxable, as per the rate applicable depending on his/her total annual income; this holds for other amounts too relating to other abolished exemptions. Similarly salary earner of a family living in a rented house will not be able to file for house rent exemption if s/he opts for the new regime. Therefore, it is bound to involve complex calculations as to which regime will be better under what conditions or lack of conditions.

For the first time in India an option is being offered for different income tax regimes, and the taxpayers at the moment are unable to rejoice at the proposed ‘bonanza’. The Finance Minster asserts that this is only the beginning of direct tax reforms in the country and of a simplified tax structure to be realized in near future.