Outlook English - Print Subscribers Copy Outlook English, 26 February 2018 | Page 8
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epictions are clear cases of essential
d
ism. I was reading an account of an
American traveller who wrote about a
Sikh he met on a rail journey. It was so
fresh and original. Sometimes, you
need an outside gaze to peep into your
own history from a new perspective. religious prejudices, besides patronis
ing nawabs, rajas and zamindars: to
take full advantage of our feudal cul
ture in order to exploit our resources
with least resistance. But why are our
own elected people openly encourag
ing the trend of bullying minorities?
Intervention Central
ON E-MAIL C. Chandrasekaran:
Apropos of Nero Plays A Veena Called
Saraswati (Feb 12), Haryana always
hits the headlines for the wrong rea
sons. When the CM gave a red-carpet
welcome to Ram Rahim and showered
him with a bonanza from the state ex
chequer, it was noticed. The Karni
Sena’s vandalism and the soaring num
ber of crimes against women have
become matters of national concern.
Khattar’s policy of rehne do has done
nothing but fuel anxiety and insecurity.
It is time the Centre intervened and
brought normality. Cuts and Levies
Chennai K.R. Narasimhan: This is
about Outlook’s package on the Union
Budget (Vox Populi, Feb 12). Finance
minister Arun Jaitley’s decision to
bring back the long term capital gains
tax (LTCG) on equities, which had
been scrapped earlier, is hasty and ill-
BISHNUPUR Buddhadev Nandi: In
Good For Cinema
SAWAI MADHOPUR Parshuram
Gautampurkar: The talent of the best
performers r emains indelible in the
memory of film-lovers (Act 2 Diary, Feb
12). Undoubtedly, Govind Namdev’s
performances in films have left a mark
on the audiences. It would be great if he
begins to train actors.
The Good & the Ugly
ON E-MAIL Pramod Srivastava:
This refers to your editorial comment
Saluting the DM (Feb 12). Does enter
ing a Muslim-dominated area in India
in huge groups require a visa? Is it a
restricted zone for non-Muslims?
Should energetically raising anti-Paki
stan slogans in general offend the
inhabitants of the area? Everyone in
this country should join in anti-Paki
stan sloganeering to make our voices
heard. Does the DM of Bareilly really
deserve a salute? Please think again.
GOA M.N. Bhartiya: The young dis
trict magistrate of Bareilly, probably
not yet groomed to the bureaucratic
culture of sycophancy, stands out in
his tribe of officials who don’t risk of
fending their political masters either
for the sake of perks or out of the fear
of punishment or both. One under
stands the motive of the erstwhile
British rulers in encouraging caste and
8 Outlook 26 February 2018
credited with not compromising on fis
cal prudence in this budget, unlike the
UPA regime, but Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley’s track record has been dented
somewhat, with the Centre’s fiscal defi
cit for 2017-18 estimated at 3.5 per cent
of the GDP, as against the originally
budgeted 2.3 per cent. These fiscal slip
pages may have been tolerable when
global interest rates and oil prices were
low, but not now, when crude prices
have shot up to $70 a barrel. There is
also a lack of clarity on how the Modi
government plans to give the promised
50 per cent return on production costs
to farmers while fixing the MSP, and
how they will get these benefits.
TAX MAN Jaitley with his budget bag
advised. After the steep downward
revision of interest rates in banks and
post offices, the middle class, especially
senior citizens, looked at mutual funds
to bolster their falling income. But the
government has nearly put paid to
their hopes by imposing LTCG. It is
even devoid of the indexation benefit
necessary to offset the effect of infla
tion on LTCG. This is not a wise move
on the part of the BJP, as it alienates its
core constituency—the middle class.
What’s more, the Security Transaction
Tax (STT), which was introduced in
place of LTCG in 2004, has not been
scrapped in this budget. As a r esult,
India will perhaps be the only country
to have two different taxes on equities,
and this will certainly make it less
attractive to foreign investors.
On e-mail L.J.S. Panesar: With the
general elections due in a year, it would
have been too much to expect the NDA
government to present a big bang
reformist budget. What it has come up
with this time is disappointing as this
budget deviates from its earlier deficit
targets. The government could still be
the tug-of-war between populism and
fiscal prudence, the former seems to
have won out in this Budget. It reaches
out to the rural sector, workers, small
industries and senior citizens without,
however, going overboard with freebies.
Mr. Modi has perhaps become cautious
ahead of the polls in eight states. It
seems the health protection scheme is
going to be an election hoax like other
empty promises made by Modi during
the Lok Sabha polls, 2014 since the fis
cal cost of subsidising the premiums for
the implementation of the scheme in
reality has not been cleared.
DEOBAND Abdul Majid Qasmi:
The PM hailed this budget as being
farmer-friendly, citizen-friendly, busi
ness environment-friendly and devel
opment friendly. But it has turned out
to be one big jumla, as the stock market
crashed shortly afterwards, with exp
erts blaming the budget for the sensex
dropping by more than 800 points.
Long Live Gandhism!
SECUNDERABAD Victor Raj:
Apropos Gandhi Smriti Diary (Feb 5 ),
just as we still live in the country that
Nehru built, so also do we yet dwell in
the land of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth,
and the father of the nation will live on
as long as India endures. His life was
his message. As a child, even when his
teacher permitted the children to copy
the right answers for a test, the little
Gandhi refused to do so and was the
only one to fail the test. Let this cou
ntry follow his ideals and emb