Charity begins at home

My friends, I am hopping mad. Here we are screaming shouting saying corruption is all around us but does no one realise that we are a part of the corruption. Our very version of our ethics we apply to our daily lives is.

What do I mean by this. Last week we heard about a treasure trove of 1 LAKH CRORES (Approx 25 Bn in US$ terms) being found in a Kerala temple and there is still one more chamber to be opened. It is important to note that this is a pure notional value and not antiquity value which would be many times more.

This figure can be put into perspective by saying our national budget in 2010-2011 was valued at approx. 14 Lakh crores so the figure in this temple alone is about 1 /14 of India’s annual budget.

This is not the only temple which has this kind of riches. There is a plethora of them from Amarnath in the North to Gurvayoor in the south. Plus we can add in the documented and undocumented wealth of the god-men figures from Sai Baba to Baba Ramdev and we see we have a religious wealth of many times the annual budget of India.

What is so wrong with so much money being with religious foundations. We are a religious country and have always been taught to be charitable, so we should be proud that we give so much. Why am I behaving irrationally and climbing on my soapbox to rant on about it ?

Let me start listing my disconnect with this current state of affairs:

1. Religious wealth is now turning political: Politicians are waking up to the fact that God means money. So in Maharashtra we have open talks of if one party is managing Sidhivinayak the other wants to manage Shirdi. It is a new form of seat sharing. Religious foundations hold large amounts of funds distributed and used at the behest of the board of trustees. So naturally every politician wants a piece of the cake.

2. Religious wealth is not accounted properly: There is talk of wealth found in bed chambers of a recently deceased religious leader. This wealth does not seem to be accounted for in the books of the foundation. Even if it is going to be in this years books, is the bedroom of the head person of a sect a storeroom for donations, pending declaration.

I stretch my imagination to think what is to stop a temple insider from taking 35 Lakhs out of this unaccounted funds in the temporary storage mechanism , putting it in a gunny bag and then moving it in a temple car to somewhere untraceable since the money was never accounted for in the first place…..wait a minute that's what seems to have been done recently and no one is speaking about it anymore.

3. Religion is a Holy Cow: No one wants to speak of irregularities on religious accounting since everyone fears the wrath of God and public if they do.

4. Religion is a shortcut to relief from sins: People lie, cheat, hurt, murder and then go to the nearest or most distant religious place depending upon how machostic they are and drop a large sum into the “Daan Peti” or ‘tithe” or “WAKF box” and expect instant absolution for their sins.

I say enough is enough.

Let us bring some accountability into this system. In a country where people earning above Rs. 20/- (50 cents US) per day  are considered above poverty line every rupee we can bring into the tax net will mean wonders.

My suggestion is that we be realistic and understand that people make anonymous donations IN CASH or kind and that part of the transaction is untraceable.

It is also understandable that in order to make this donation in cash, the amount will have been earned in cash. This means that to this stage this whole transaction has contributed nothing to the exchequer but in fact has helped in creating and propagating the evils of a parallel black economy.

It is also important to keep in mind that to all effect this cash donation is the fruit of the forbidden tree and should be treated as such.

Once we have this stipulated, we should remove these cash donations from Sec 80 and the amount should be taxed as income from other sources in the hands of the trust running the religious location. This would mean that this money would become accounted and come into the mainstream from the parallel stream. Ergo,a part of it would be used to help infrastructure and other Govt spend.

IMPORTANT: India is a charitable nation and we should not forget that aspect therefore the proposed clamp down on unaccounted donations should not affect the donations made officially with PAN number, etc in cash,kind or cheque since those are being declared and should continue to enjoy tax breaks under Sec 80 for both the donor and donee.

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Policy Decisions

This has been a week of confusion and I would request any reader who can clear this up for me to please write in as soon as possible with an explanation as to my thought patterns below:

In India we have something known as Universal Services Obligation Fund ( Under Department of Telecom, India). This Fund is used to subsidize telecom infrastructure in rural areas where telecom provision is too costly.

The operators who opt for this scheme sign a Universal Services Obligation Fund Agreement where penalties are defined for contravention and default. There is also a clause which says that the company has studied the local conditions and is aware of the existing scenario, etc.

Now let us take a case where a company is sent a show cause notice for a fine of 650 Crores since according the the Director of the USOF decides they have defaulted in 13 such circles and the maximum penalty should be levied @ Rs. 50 Crore per circle as defined in the agreement.

The company replies back with a set of replies most of which are counter replied by the USOF fund management as is regular with most disputes.

Therefore by all rights, the contractual dispute should go to an Independent body for telecom dispute redressal which the Govt has put into place called the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India or TRAI. 

Now assuming TRAI rules against the company and the company is not happy with the ruling, it has the courts of law to appeal to.

WHERE DOES A MINISTER COME INTO PLAY TO DECIDE AMOUNT OF FINE ?

I think people have forgotten the role of a Minister in India. He is there to decide POLICY matters and act as a representative of the people. Deciding spectrum pricing is the role of a Minister since it is a policy matter, deciding amount of fine is not since it is an individual matter.

The problem is lawyers always muddy the water and our minister being an ex-lawyer has done an excellent job of doing so. We have been so busy last couple of days wonder whether the Minister was right or wrong in reducing the fine, or arguing about if it was 1 circle or 13, or if the fine was 50 Cr or 650 Cr, no one questioned if it was ever proper for the Minister to even speak in the matter in the first place.

Now by following this corollary of what the public is swallowing, if I am unhappy with the tax demand sent to me (the penalty part of it) by the IT Dept next year , can I please please have our Finance Minister reduce it. Especially if I’ve been a good boy and paid some of last years tax this year.