The Hyderabad Diaries - The Breathing Tax (Inspired by Raja's comment)

I am inspired by Raja's comment on my previous post, to write a full fledged piece on the tax on breathing and other such related items. This could give some ideas to the government on how to increase revenue.

A friend of mine who works in the Income Tax department estimates roughly that of the 1.2 billion or 120 crores population in India (say 70 crores leaving out those who may not qualify) only about 1.5 crore pay Income Tax (or 3% as per some report I read as opposed to 45% in the USA). Now this identified segment is the flogging horse for the government - the one that cannot escape and therefore has to bear the brunt. (The net will not widen directly to the other segments - as it would be too obvious and votes will fall- so indirect taxes would be added deviously to other segments.)

One would like to think that the government is being rather uncreative about this whole thing. Raise taxes and sell assets seem to be the two main ways to raise money (for the government). (To raise money for the individual, both forms serve - one by harassing tax payers and the other by kickbacks on asset sale.)  The breathing tax idea opens a whole new aspect to taxes. Akin to the times of the jagirdars in the Nizam era who apparently levied almost 200 types of taxes including car tax (for the jagirdars car), horse tax (for the jagirdar's horse) etc, its time the government looked at new ways to tax.

Now what does the government increase its taxes on? Typically the respected ministry would identify the captured class of Income Tax payees and put its sleuths to see how they appear to be enjoying their money. Aha, they are buying clothes! Clothes tax. They are also dry cleaning the clothes! Dry cleaning tax. They have no money and are using loan money and credit cards to buy! Aha, tax on credit card usage and loans. They are eating out in restaurants m'lord. Tax the hotels and restaurants. They are buying houses. Property tax. They are buying goods and services. Value added tax and service tax. Any activity that the individual in the tax net does is taxed in one way or another - education, coaching classes, cinema, jewellery, transport, fuel, holidays, hotels. Any form of enjoyment is taxed in multiple ways. The government could look at other essential items that are currently freely available.

One day in the Department to Raise New Taxes
Sleuths,' the honorable ministry would say. 'Find out what services the tax payer is enjoying so we can widen the net.'
Sleuths check the list.
'Water is already being taxed. Food is being taxed. Fire is being taxed. The one that is left out so far is air saar'.
'Eh, air?'
'Imagine saar,' the sleuth would say, 'these people are freely breathing air that the government is supplying. We must set up a department to investigate how much air there is and how much is being consumed by these tax paying categories so we can tax them.'
The respectable man form the ministry nodded.
'Let's set up the National Department for Consumption of Air with all sorts of sinecure postings to all sorts of criminal minded chaps. Let the air quality be divided into four main categories - 1) VIP air which would be free for all VIPs, their families, their security men, their cronies and such other stuff, 2) taxable air for the tax paying chaps who would have to get their unique breathing numbers so they can breathe, 3) industrial quality air for industries and 4) free air for the poor which can be of ordinary quality.'
'Yes saar. But how do we differentiate the air saar? In fact the tax paying chaps get the worst air saar - polluted and dangerous. Will they pay saar?'
'Who else will pay? We cannot charge them directly from the government so we will privatise the air manufacture and distribution companies. No one will question them. They can hire all kinds of goondas to recover their money. We cannot do that.'
'How to begin saar?'
'The first thing we must do is start selling out breathing air manufacture and distribution licenses to our close people without any auction. Once they have licenses they can set up air processing units all over the country. We can even set up SEZs for them. They can raise funds through the public route or loans at concessional rates. Our public can invest in the air plants also. These units will process air through several filters. Each unit will cost hundreds of thousands of crores.'
'Why will they make such an investment saar?'
'Because it is very lucrative to everyone concerned. No one knows how much these plants cost and what they will do finally. All specs are to be given by us so they actually do not need to invest anything. We can add all sorts of costs and make them totally unviable. Because they are setting it up for national interest we will give them a long tax holiday of thirty years or a return of 15 times their inflated investments - whichever comes first. A 10% commission on all future earnings to be earmarked for developmental expenses of course.'
'How will they recover the investment saar?'
'They can charge the public on the air they sell in whichever way they please. They can stipulate user charges, come up with new data for loss of revenue, loss of opportunity and raise the charges and worst case, we will make good their investment. After all its about the health of our country. The public won't mind.'
'Will the public pay saar?'
'The free public will only pay indirect taxes. The tax paying will have to pay user charges - just like toll on road. Everybody is happy. Later we can think of life tax for this kind of a thing as well.'
'Saar, this is good saar. I think people will tighten their belts, or rather, tighten the noose around the necks saar.'
'Good. Any other avenues like this that we can see the public enjoying without paying taxes?'
'Yes saar. There is one more area which can generate money saar. It is being allowed freely saar. Lots of energy being waster without being used saar'
'What is that?'
'Sex energy saar. There is no tax on sex saar. People are using this service freely which is resulting in our burgeoning population saar. We can tax people on sex saar.'
'Okay. Tax all the tax paying fellows on sex. Sell sex rights to some private company that will pay us money to ensure proper use of this sexual energy. Make three or four bands again on this. Free sex for the bottom class but. They can have as much sex as they want.'
'One problem saar'.
'What?'
'The tax paying crowd is having little sex saar. All their time is going into paying taxes saar. We may not be able to tax them on having sex saar.'
'So what is the problem. Tax them for not having sex.'

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The Hyderabad Diaries - The Invisible User charges

One thing we are fighting here in Hyderabad (perhaps across India) is this invisible enemy - user charges. No one knows when and where the enemy springs from, because it is not mentioned in the price as a separate item. Some times it comes innocuously at the end of a long number of charges added to the actual cost of whatever service we are paying for. (Something like those 'service charges' that hotels and restaurants casually add to the bill at the end of the rather long line of taxes and items that have to be checked an double checked with the patience of an accountant.) In fact it may not be a bad idea to take one's accountant along - it might be cheaper if he saves a few charges for you.

Its all too complex and I wonder what use is my education if I cannot make out all this. The other day I was in line to pay my electricity bill and the young lady at the e-seva centre (which is now shorn of all the air-conditioned glory it had earlier) told us that the department has added a Rs. 10 user charge for paying its bills. Pray, why this Rs. 10 user charge? I have no clue but what does one do - its just too dense and too complex to fight my way in to find the answer. I know I am a user, and I am already paying you the price for using your service (and a service tax to the government, and a value added tax to the government, and perhaps sales taxes and all sorts of cesses, duties, charges as well that are all hidden somewhere and repeated again and again) so why this special recognition of my 'user' status and that too at a price? The Hyderabad airport also I am told has a 'user charge' of some 600 rupees which does not show up. I am sure I am paying many more user charges without even knowing them.

Everywhere we go these invisible charges follow us. In buying fuel, in road tolls, in air fares, in rail fares, in taxes, in services availed, in food consumed, in entertainment, in every possible way the burden is being passed on to the tax paying user base quietly while the government goes about doing its job in what could at best described as an inefficient manner - doling out subsidies, not bringing in checks and measures to prevent misuse of power and resources, selling off precious national assets - hoping to stay in power through populistic measures.

So we pay steep current bills, and suffer the recent increase in the power tariff by the AP State Electricity Board, and suffer massive power cuts. We pay these charges and then - here comes the irony - everyone buys their inverters and generators (on which there are further taxes and stuff).

We pay hiked water bills to the water department and then - buy drinking water from the many companies offering potable water in plastic cans. We buy water in tankers because the water supply is not good enough and is trickling down.  

We buy cars and pay all sorts of tolls, parking charges, fuel charges and even luxury taxes sometimes. Not counting all the other unofficial charges one has to shell out for. We go to a movie and are taxed, we go to a restaurant and are taxed, we avail any service and we are taxed - there is just no respite for the common man.

In almost every single act of our day, (save a few) we are taxed over and over again that we have lost count of the taxes and how and where we are paying for them. The only way out is to pay them or like a harried friend of mine who recently wound up his flourishing business told me today, go under the tax bracket, where you are not troubled anymore. Once you stop working (like a humourous article in the Economic Times mentioned which he showed me) you are saved this incessant pressure of earning to pay taxes in every form. And then as an unemployed person, if you're reasonably smart - your power connections, water connections, your unemployment schemes, your windfalls as the voting public, free housing, free medical care - much awaits the other side.

One can fight the enemy if the enemy shows himself. But here, its invisible. Who are we fighting? What are we fighting? The charge merely appears quietly in the bill. Or it may emanate rather loudly from the auto rickshaw wallahs mouth or the fruit sellers mouth. All one can do is shut up and pay. And hope that one can pass on such user charges to someone else down the line. Only, it appears, that we are the last in this line.

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Bheeshma on Leadership (Duties of a King)

At the end of the Kurukshetra war Yudhisthir goes to the great warrior prince Bheeshma, his grandfather, who is awaiting the hour to die on his bed of arrows, to learn about the duties of a king. Some of them are applicable to the leader as well. Obviously it is a tough call, and one has to learn the art of fine balance to stay ahead of others. To trust and not trust, to be righteous and unrighteous, to be compassionate and yet not be too forgiving, to gather information on his own trusted aides - its interesting.
Clearly the leader must be ahead of the game at all times, at all costs. And never forgetting that his core duty is to his subjects. (Let's see how our leaders compare these days.)

On duties and behavior of a King:

• Be a man of action. Action is equally powerful as destiny. It is in fact more potent. (Low on action)
• Be a man of truth. It inspires confidence in the minds of subjects. (Low on truth)
• Behavior should be above reproach. Self-restraint, humility and righteousness should be practiced. Must keep your passions under control. (Low on all the above)
• Justice should be your second nature. (Medium)
• Should know how to conceal weakness (in the kingdom) and should find the weakness in the enemy kingdom. Should be secretive about your plans. (We're making all our plans public)
• Should have straightforward conduct. (Low on this)
• Should not be too mild - nor too fierce. Both send the wrong signals. (Neither, we don't even know if they exist)
• Should know the art of choosing servants. Compassion should be the mental make up. Should guard against being too forgiving a nature. (Very forgiving, especially the death row prisoners)
• Should be constantly alert. Should study his friends and foes incessantly. (High on this)
• First duty is to his subjects and should guard them as a mother guards her child in her womb. Their welfare is the only concern. (High on vote bank subjects. Primary duty seems to be to stay in power at any cost)
• Should not place implicit confidence in anyone. Innermost thoughts must be concealed. Should not tell anyone of his decisions. (Leak everything to the media)
• Should be wise in making peace with a foe who is stronger, making war on an equal and invading one who is weaker.
• Should seek protection in the fort when position is weak.
• Should have clear clever spies to find the secrets of the enemy. Should bribe and cajole officers of the enemy to his side.
• Should be pleasant in his speech. (Impassive and worried faces)
• Should have about him men who are like him in nature - with noble qualities. (All kinds of bed fellows)
• The best king is one whose subjects live in freedom and happiness as they do in their father's home. Peace and contentment will be theirs. (Discontent, suspicion and apprehension rules)
• Should know how to choose honest men to hold important offices. Should have skill, should be clever and be truthful. (Truthful guys are instantly sent away to other postings)
• Should remove old and fallen buildings. (Exist in old and fallen buildings)
• Should know how to inflict corporal punishment on miscreants. (Low)
• Treasury should always be full. (Low)
• Supervision of the works of all his officers should be done by the king himself. (Low, as seen in the corruption cases)

On warfare

• Should never trust the guardians of the city or fort implicitly. (Low)
• Must produce disloyalty among people in a hostile country and must have friends and allies there. (God knows what they are doing)
• He should amass troops in secret. 
• He should be both candid and crooked.
• Must employ crooked and wrong acts when he wants to subdue the enemy. These must be hidden behind a candid and open exterior.
• Should first conquer his five senses which is his greatest victory. Only then is he capable of conquering the enemy.
• Should have immense numbers of soldiers in his forts, cities, frontiers and important spots.
• Thoughts, actions, decisions and spies should be kept secret from everyone.
• Spies should look like imbeciles, blind and deaf, but should be capable and wise. They should be able to handle cold, heat and hunger.
• King should set spies on his counsellors, friends and even his sons. Spies should be strangers to each other.
• When foe is stronger he should make peace.
• If he is stronger, he should wage war.
• Should not hesitate to afflict the enemy with weapons, fire and poison.
• Should take a 6th of the income of the subjects for the army.

On administration, economy, taxes

• Honest men should be appointed to administer justice. The state has her strong foundations only on proper administration of justice. (Low)
• King makes the age, not age making the king.(Need younger men at the top)
• King has to be righteous and unrighteous according to circumstance.(Low)
• No one should be trusted at all times.(Low)
• Entire reliance on ministers is not wise.
• A king should therefore trust and not trust.
• A king should mistrust his kinsmen at heart but behave as if he trusts them completely.
• Punishment should be given according to immensity of offence.
• Taxes should not be so high as to hurt the subjects. Like a leech he should draw blood painlessly. (Low)

As an individual

• Be righteous. A righteous king can conquer the world. Should bear no malice.
• Worship of mother, father and preceptor most important.
• When a man amasses wealth through dhrama, the 3 - dharma, artha, kama are together. All three have their root in will.
• Virtue for purification of soul, wealth so it is spent without desire to fruit and pleasure for supporting the body and not gratifying it
• Self restraint is the highest duty and leads one to glory. it has a number of good qualities borne of it - forgiveness, patience, impartiality, truth
• Truth is the duty of every human.
• Eternal duty is of 13 kinds - impartiality, self control, forgiveness, modesty, endurance, goodness,contemplation, dignity, fortitude, compassion and abstinence from injury.
• A wise man retains his senses. rises above desires. treats pain and pleasure alike,
• A man who is dear to all will be good and pious, his blood will never heated with pride. no discontent or wrath, his sense never lead him astray and he has peace of realisation of supreme truth
• Desire makes man a sinner.

On friends and foes

• Make friends with intelligent men who desire your welfare.
• Friends should be examined fully
• Foes should be studied, their strengths and weaknesses known.
• Self interest is the most powerful factor in the world. everyone has a purpose he serves.
• Should not show fear.
• Should show trust - even though he feels otherwise. (Low)

On emancipation

• A man fit for emancipation passes beyond the ken of world of senses, Hunger and thirst do not bother him. He is unaffected by wrath, cupidity and error.
• Need not give up kingdom to attain emancipation.
• The 1st part of one's life - wealth should be earned, righteousness next, pleasure come last
• Man is born alone and dies alone.

 On Prosperity

• The goddess of prosperity resides in an eloquent person, an active person, an attentive person. Free of wrath, his passions under control. should be high minded. a man of little energy is spurned by her.

Duties of subjects

• To elect the king and coronate him
• To give one fifth of their animals and precious metals, a tenth of their grains (Only a few give)
• Should choose those proficient in the use of weapons and help maintain the army
• A 4th of their merit and their evil goes to the king. (High)
• Should be humble to the king because a king who is honoured by his subjects will be respected and feared b his foes.

Duties of legislators

• Legislators should be modest, self restrained, truthful and sincere. Should have courage to speak what is proper. (Low on most counts)

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The Paradoxes of Life - Now is Forever

Forever is only this moment - not the next and the next and the next - and onwards.

This moment 'stretches' forever when engaged with fully, afresh. The moments 'shrinks' when engaged with partially, from the past. The moment ceases to exist on its own. It becomes a shadow of the past. Instead of 'stretching' it starts 'shrinking'.

You, your world, your present, they all shrink with the burden of forever.


To love forever is to love in the moment. That is all. There is no further happiness or responsibility for the next. Act in the moment. You have acted 'forever'.

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Thought for the Day - 'Forever' is Only for the Moment

Much of what we carry or commit for, especially stuff that has a long term nature, sounds overbearingly heavy. Jobs, relationships, people, commitments, illnesses, fears, beliefs. It appears like a huge burden to carry the stake of being responsible - for things that we have done or things that we have not. The memories stay with us forever. The commitments stay with us forever. Naturally the burden and the guilt and resentment also stays forever. We bend under their weight until we can take them no more. We lose the smile on our face. We lose much more than that. The road ahead seems long. Forever.

But 'forever'?

To me it is only this moment. We can give that responsibility, that experience, that commitment, everything we have - only for this moment. We are responsible only for that moment. Once it is over we need to move on to the next moment and see how we deal with it. Situations change, people change, experiences change. Deal with the new moment fully when it comes.

Not from the old moment and its 'forever'.

What this can do is give each moment a 'forever' freshness. That one moment will feel like forever if we deal with it anew. The good is enjoyed and let go. You cannot sit there 'forever' thinking of how good those times were. The bad is felt and let go. You cannot kill yourself with all the bad things you did 'forever'. It was over and done with in a particular time, space. Good and bad again are your labels, stuff you carry 'forever'. If you only look at the act, it is just that. An act. Neither good nor bad.

If you do tend to stick to your memories and perpetuate your 'forever', you are stuck in time. In your past. You are not flowing. You are not being true to forever. Let go of those past memories, past moments and come alive to this moment. They are dead and gone. Create that forever this moment. See how the moment stretches when you live in it fully, when you engage with it fully. This is the real 'forever'.

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The Radical Manifestation Workshop - Interesting Findings After 5 Years

Colin Tipping is an Atlanta based author, workshop facilitator and the owner of the copyright on 'Radical Forgiveness' - a technology which, he believes, can lead one to a state of forgiveness quicker and easier. The idea behind it is that forgiveness being one of our biggest energy blocks to our own good, if dealt with properly, can bring in all we want. His technology is interesting and has many tangible benefits which I experienced as well (as long as I practiced those). Though Radical Forgiveness is his flagship program (of which Shobha is a qualified coach) he also has other interesting programs such as 'Radical Manifestation'.

I don't know who discovered Colin Tipping first but there was a phase when a group of us would do all kind of self-help workshops, especially in the 'energy' areas. The first program that we did was the 2 day workshop of 'Heal Your Life' by Louise Hay. Now this is a highly empowering workshop and has innumerable benefits for anyone and I am glad that I did it, thought belatedly (Me and help? Haha). Shobha had discovered Sailaja, who was a certified workshop facilitator of Hay's workshop, and a wonderful and patient teacher too. And it was Sailaja who attended the Tipping workshop in Atlanta and brought the 'Radical Manifestation' workshop to India. We all signed up for a rather expensive workshop and it had an interesting way to test it out. The first premise is to manifest the money for the workshop - based on our intent - and we did. One way or another. That seemed like a good omen.

Anyway, this workshop was done sometime in mid-2007, a period when much was happening (or not happening) in my life. I had written a book which had been signed for publication and shoved to the background for a year. There was an impending baby, rather late in our lives, and the worries that go with that. My big move to leave my job had nothing much to show for in two years except for some debt. Certainly no money. And at that point to invest something like 15K for a program was seemingly impossible - but then we did and attended a 3-day fun-filled, life-changing program at Taj Krishna.

A part of what the workshop taught us, among many other things, was to use the Radical Manifestation worksheet to manifest what one wants. One feels the emotions of lack, states what one wants to manifest, gives up attachment to it, wishing wholeheartedly that whatever is best will happen. It is a worksheet that we need to write in and we all filled in what we wanted - outlandish stuff sometimes, large amounts of money, travel, all sorts of stuff - hoped that it would all come true and after waiting for a day or two for the millions to pour in, forgot about them. It was all very exciting then to live in that state and to allow ourselves to ask for all sorts of stuff from the Universe. Anyway that's not the interesting part.

The other day I found the old file and ran through some of those old manifestation sheets that I had written in and was astounded at what I had asked for and what came true.

I asked for the following in those sheets - 1) sell film rights for my first novel, 2) that we have a healthy baby and many wonderful moments with her/him, 3) a new car, 4) a new laptop, 5) a nice office space, 6) a new couch for our home, 7) a cheque for 3 lakh, 8) a cheque for 5 lakh, 9) a cheque for 1 lakh (at different times, probably because of some need then), 10) a Sony Bravia television (I was so impressed with it), 11) an increase in my retainer to 30 K with a client, 12) several sheets on good health, 13) a direct marketing team to sell the novel, 14) selling rights for children's book, 15) contracts for 'The Misfit' and 16) 'The Tryst', 17) specific panels for book launches at Mumbai and 18) Chennai, 19) a perfect home, 20) a literary agent, 21) a large bank balance and so on. Some were asked in desperation, some were asked flippantly and some were asked as if to test if it works. Obviously the desperate ones worked best.

Of the above I was amazed to find that the ones that were specific somehow manifested - in their own time of course.  The film rights for the first book were sold, Anjali was born and its a wonderful life with her, a new car, a laptop, nice office space, at home, a new couch, cheques, a Sony Bravia came in, my retainer increased exactly to 30 K with that client, The Tryst got published as 'If You Love Someone...', the perfect panels for Mumbai (Sanjay Manjrekar and Ayaz Memon) and Chennai (K. Srikkanth, R. Mohan and V.B. Chandrashekhar, my good friend) happened. That makes it 14 out of 21 that I can see which is huge! The ones which were more specifically and clearly spelled out happened exactly as I wished for them - amounts, brands, names, people, things - and the vague ones were left out. They all happened in their own time too but what hit me was how they all did come true.

I know many who are sceptical and think its all mumbo jumbo. But I believe that not everything can be explained through science, not yet anyway, and do believe that there is an energy at play which we can access and use for our and greater good. But all said and done I think the above list presents a serious case for making lists, setting goals. There is an energy at play when one can visualise a clear thought and leave it in the Universe. The clearer one is, the better. We can certainly leave some good thoughts for ourselves (instead of scaring ourselves silly), for people around us, and hope they come true. No harm done.

And certainly a huge case for Colin Tipping and his Radical Manifestation technology which can be found on the net. Much thanks is owed to Sailaja for bringing it into our realm. And if there's is one thing I have learnt, it is to keep at something that's working. So onward for more intentions and manifestations.

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Song of the Day - Neend Churake Raaton Mein

Watched this song from the 1973 movie 'Shareef Badmash' starring Dev Anand and Hema Malini. Another of those highly romantic songs with a liberal dose of passion, coming from the girl this time. Super stuff from R.D. Burman again.

The video is different though from what I had visualised from the song on the radio back then. The sizzling sounds of something red hot happening, the female lead going on about 'and ang mera phut gaya chingari' and 'dard bahut sah baithee, door bahut reh baithee' are a far cry from a gentle walk in the meadows with snow capped mountains in the background. And not to forget an expressionless and ice cold Hema Malini going about on nonchalantly with her job, tightly wound up in a saree like an Egyptian mummy. She looks great though, wooden expressions and all. Dev Anand runs away from her for most of the song and they hardly touch one another what with him saying 'aisi bhi kya jaldi hai'. One can sympathise with his predicament what with Hema's intimidating attire. But the song itself is fine to watch and listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LX59sL5RQo&feature=fvwp&NR=1

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