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Reader's Mail

Dengue raj

Even as the Capital reels under a severe dengue outbreak, it is surprising that the Government is still shying away from declaring an epidemic.

Health conditions are deteriorating fast in the Capital.

Every now and then we see some health hazard or the other cropping up. The authorities should see to it that public interest is maintained and precious lives are not lost.

Vipul Kumar,

10 Nav Vikas Apartments,

Sector 15, Rohini, Delhi.

No, Minister

Here is a most shocking case of discrimination against law-abiding taxpayers in this country.

Salaried people in India today are paying income tax on their gross income while business men and self-employed persons such as doctors, lawyers and chartered accountants are paying income tax on their net income.

This is most unfair and unjust.

As per the Income Tax Act, 1961, income tax is to be levied on net income, not gross income.

The salaried people all these years were allowed to deduct expenses incidental to their employment such as conveyance, books, periodicals, newspapers, etc., from their gross salary.

This was so since the inception of the Indian Income Tax Act, 1922.

At that time the limit for such expenses was Rs. 500. Under the Income Tax Act, 1961, the limit for such deduction was increased from time to time with rising inflation.

In 1974, the then Finance Minister Y. B. Chavan made it "standard deduction" on the ground of inevitability of such incidental expenses and no documentary evidence was needed in support of the claim for such expenses. Up to 2005 the limit for such expanses was Rs. 30,000 or 40 % of the gross salary whichever was less.

In 2005, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram disallowed the standard deduction for the salaried people on the ground of raising the exemption limit to Rs 1,00,000.

The Budget proposals could not be debated due to boycott of Parliament by the BJP and the salaried people thus became unwitting victims of party politics.

The bitter fact is that a substantial portion of every salaried person's income is spent on conveyance, books, periodicals and newspapers and this must be deducted before levying income tax on the salaried people as is the case with the other assessees who are earning much more and paying much less by way of tax.

It is time the Finance Minister and the Prime Minister set matters right.

R. K. Gupta,

Sr. Lecturer in Commerce,

Govt. Post-graduate College,

Noida.

That `jholawallah'

The report, "Retracing the journey of a `jholawallah' from Russia", (The Hindu e-paper Delhi Edition, Page 2, October 17) incorrectly mentions that Afanasy Nikitin titled his work "Voyage over the Three Seas". Actually, he never gave a title to his work; the expression used is only an excerpt from his journal entries/account of his expedition. (The Russian historian N. Karamzin discovered Nikitin's journal in 1817, and the first English translation of these journal entries was published in 1857).

Even if we were to accept the title, it is still incorrect. It should be "Voyage Beyond Three Seas".

Vivek Shankar Mathur,

The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University,

Medford, MA 02155, US.

Thanks, MTNL....

I heartily agree with Ms. Mangalam Narayanan's appreciation of MTNL's quick response to her online complaint (Reader's Mail, October 16). I too wish to place on record my experience.

I registered my complaint online when my telephone cable was cut by some miscreants in our colony. I was under the impression that it would take days for MTNL to come and put the cable in place. But to my utter surprise, MTNL's representatives came within two hours of the registration of the complaint and set right the fault. Thanks, MTNL!

L. Hari Hara Krishnan,

47-D CBI Housing Complex, Vasant Vihar,

New Delhi - 110 057.

(Letters for this column may be sent by e-mail to wsins@thehindu.co.in. They must carry the full postal address of the writer and should be marked "Reader's Mail".)

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