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Copyright © 2008, The Arunachal Times Publications Pvt. Ltd., Siang House, Sector - E, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh - 791111, India

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Editorial

 

 

 

 

Europe again under attack

Terrorist attack has once again hit Europe. This time Barcelona, one of the most prominent city of world famous more for its Barcelona football club has come under the attack of terrorists. Once considered to be relatively safe, the terror attacks in Spain shows how European cities are emerging as easy targets of Islamist terrorists who want to inflict maximum damage. 13 people were killed and 100 injured on Thursday in a terror attack after a van rammed into a crowd of pedestrians on Barcelona's Las Ramblas tourist area. The Islamic state group known as ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack.

 According to US monitor SITE Intelligence Group, the extremist group's propaganda outlet AMAQ claimed that the executors of the attack were soldiers of the Islamic State. In recent year European cities like London, Paris, and Brussels have come under attack of Islamic terrorists. In most case the attacker has used van or truck to kill innocent people. This presents a startling challenge to the security agencies of Europe. Also the divide between western world and Islamic world will further deepen due to these kinds of terrorist attacks. The right wing religious group will use terror incident to promote islamophobia and create atmosphere of hatred. Already its effect is being felt across Europe. As per the report in international media, the attacks against recently arrived migrants, many of them refugees coming from predominantly Muslim countries have increased in Germany. ISIS will use these kinds of incidents to brainwash the young souls and inspire them to act against West. There is urgent need for talks so that gap between West and Islamic world is considerably reduced. Unless these two civilizations learn to live together peace will continue to elude world.

 

 

 

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Readers’ Forum

 

 

 

 

A lethargic student scared of maths

Dear Editor,

This is an open reply to the author of "do away with maths" dated 15 august 2017 in your esteem daily. I as an aspirant, not entirely against his/her opinion but i am against his way of using "baba adam" terms for having maths as a subject in competitive exams and appeal to remove maths or make it just qualifying in nature.

I think the author is very weak in maths and don't want to do hard work upon it.  He/she is pathetically trying to shape up exams as per his/her convenience which is a shame.

My friend, it is you, me and all other aspirant who will have to shape up ourselves as per the competition. So stop giving excuses.

If it is unnecessary to have maths knowledge for clerical job then it is more useless and unnecessary to know where the first battle of panipatwas fought or whether convex or concave mirror are used in vehicles. There are many more such questions which is useless for a good clerk but it comes in exams so that competition can be established amongst aspirant. Author also cited some illogical example of competitive exams like SBI, SSC and IB. There is no clerical exams in India where maths are not given more emphasis. If you take the example of SSC, it set hardest paper of maths.

Thats why many " I don't wanna do hardwork" type candidates are afraid to appear for SSC.

It is an advice to every aspirant, if you can not do maths problem of state level competition then forget about SSC, SBI, IBPS and IB. Assume state level maths paper as easiest one and do hard work. Lastly, I plea APPSC to not to listen to baseless appeal of lethargic candidates who try to shape up competition as per their convenience because there are aspirant who sincerely work almost a year upon maths to get the job rightfully. Hard work of serious aspirant should not go in vain. Respect hard work!! Do hard work!!

Yours,

A true aspirant

 

 

 

A Patch of grass

Dear Editor,

Everyone is familiar with a patch of grass also called as weeds growing around our surrounding. Every time we clear it using numerous highly sophisticated techniques such as hoeing, plucking, setting fire and even spraying chemicals such as weedicides to make our surrounding look pleasant, but it won’t take long for our hero to return back into our lives making each and every effort of ours go in vain. It grows over and over again, creating a whole menace to our surroundings. It seems our hero is very tough and hardy.

Researchers say: it is a grass which does good service in retaining the soils of the banks of streams and rivers.  Grasses (sand-binding) are in nature the allies of the earth in its battles with the warring elements, and maybe made the direct allies of man in his efforts to protect his interests in the land.

All sand or soil binding grasses have strong creeping rootstocks or rhizomes, often familiarly called "roots," which are really modified underground stems. The best way of propagation of these grasses in most cases is to collect and transplant cuttings of the creeping rhizomes. These are not difficult to obtain, and a comparatively small amount will serve to cover a considerable area (Cover crop), for they may be cut up into single joints, and every joint will serve to establish a new plant.

Now, my point here is, grasses are the pioneers to grow in every barren land, taking its own time and ultimately covering the whole area comparatively much faster than any other shrub or tree. Here, why not we go for speeding the propagation/ planting of grasses, same as series of tree plantation drives on various occasions. The grasses will not only act as cover crop, but also make the soil more suitable for upcoming trees by increasing the biomass content.

We can come a step closer to check soil erosion, especially of those earth cutting areas around the capital complex such as; Yupia road, Chimpu-Gohpur road, Itanagar-Naharlagun road, kharsingsa roadby planting grasses such as; Citronella grass (Cymbopogonnardus), khas-khas (Vietiveriazizanoides),  Munj/ munja grass (Saccharumbengalense), and Broom grass (Thysanolaena maxima).  Indigenous/local grasses are in plenty and easily available.

Yours,

Hage Tatu, Nirjuli

 

 

 

Basic maths

Dear Editor,

This is regarding the article “Do Away with Math” written in you reader’s forum column of 15th August 2017. The writer is asking for removal of math subject from competitive examination of APPCS exams on the ground that in discharging of duties by the officials, they seldom use the mathematic formulas.

I feel that basic math is the most useful knowledge of all. But the main concern here should not be the use of subjects in daily work of officials, but on the knowledge of candidate up to class ten, since we study basics of all subjects till class ten. The elementary math in competitive exams are of class ten level, so are the questions from other fields like Geography, General science, Polity, History and English.

Argument that in general knowledge paper all students are almost having same knowledge and math is deciding subject in selection of a candidate is not correct. How do you know? What is general knowledge? If you know, general knowledge includes history, geography and polity also, in which students from arts background are better as they study this subject, whereas students of other streams find it difficult to catch up.

So, removing math or any other subjects from competitive exam is bad idea.

Yours,

Aspirant

 

 

 

Conduct exam

Dear Editor,

I would like to request Arunachal Pradesh public service commission to give tentative dates for the range forest officer exam (RFO).

It has been almost seven months since the advertisements was published. But no further news or notice has been conveyed to the aspirants.  The commission has shown great potential in conducting exams and declaring results in the last few months but this RFO exam has been the dark patch in the white shirt of the commission.

We tried to reach the section officer who is the in charge  of the said exam but his response is always the same," naimalum, naibolsaktai "!

We humbly request the commission to conduct the RFO exam as soon as possible.

Yours,

Rokpen Gali

 

 

 

When tax neutrality meets India’s Cindrella

Dear Editor,

On the first of July,2017 the Nation moved a step closer to implementing the world’s most complex unified indirect tax system to replace the world’s most complex and fragmented system of indirect taxation. Goods and Services Tax (GST) -touted as the biggest tax reform seen by independent India aims to bind 29 states into a $2 trillion pan-India common market with 1.3 billion consumers.

GST as it has presented itself pretends to be a messiah of Tax Neutrality across the country. It is one indirect tax for the whole nation, which will make India (including the North Eastern regions) one unified common market. GST is a consumption based tax. This establishes a directly proportional relationship between consumption and revenue collection in a state. The incidence of double taxation will be removed and there will be no cascading effect of multiple levies. Jitendra Singh, Union MoS for DoNER says, “GST will offer these (referring to NE states) an opportunity to realize fiscal growth in tandem with the more developed states of India and thus make up for their own shortcomings.” Now, what remains to be seen is whether the minister’s words ooze unrealistic optimism for a utopian future or lead to a well constructed and calculated plan for holistic development of the region. GST is going to affect each and every one of us and so the pertinent question arise whether this is going to affect us for good or worse. GST has received mixed reactions from all over the nation including our desi Cindrella. A boon or a farcical entanglement?

GST will lead to lower logistical overheads. Being tax neutral, it will eliminate time consuming border tax procedures and toll check posts and encourage supply of goods across inter-state borders, thereby cutting down multiple tax rates imposed by central and state governments. The state will even start getting State GST on import of all goods and services which were earlier outside the ambit of state taxation. This would further act as a catalyst in the implementation of Act East policy.  So, we won’t be seeing dual price labels (one for NE states, another for Rest of India) for the same consumer product. Goodbye unjust duality.

However, India has made its “simplified” tax reform a bit complicated.  There will now be four different rates for indirect taxes on goods and services: 5%, 12%, 18% and 28% plus a 0% rate for items like food grains, cereal, and fresh milk, and a luxury tax (43% and more) on expensive cars and other high-end consumer items. These rates are the highest in the world. In India, nearly 60% of all goods fall under the 18% or 28% bracket of GST. An additional surcharge will apply to some high-tax products—and the rate of that surcharge could be anywhere from three percent (on personal jets) to 12% (on sodas), 17%, 21%, 61%, 72%, 142%, 160%, 204% or 290% (on pipe tobacco). Complicating matters further, there are significant omissions. VAT and state excise duty on alcoholic liquor for human consumption and VAT on petroleum crude, petrol, diesel, aviation turbine fuel and natural gas, stamp duty on transfer of immovable property, electricity duty, road and passenger tax, toll tax, property tax (real estate) will not be subsumed under the “unified” umbrella of GST. (Hypocrisy, eh?)The most notable are alcohol and real estate- two notorious sources of black money. Taking into consideration the current government’s relentless efforts towards curbing it, exclusion of the aforesaid entities seems submissive to the demands of certain groups of tax profiteers.  For a reform meant to introduce a single, simple and low tax rate to India, this bewildering maze is quite hilarious. This spaghetti tangle of taxes is an invitation to corruption, bribery and incentivizes lobbyists to move from one tax rate to another as in many instances a single good/service is taxed at different rates. The government’s idea of One India, One Tax is just a contemporary of their idea of Akkhand Bharat. None seem to exist in reality.

The exemption threshold for GST is 20 lacs in general but in NE states it is 10lacs. As a result, more number of business enterprises would be incorporated within the GST net. The NE state governments fear that if the threshold exemption limit is kept high, large majority of the taxpayers will be below the threshold limit amounting to very little tax collection. But, will it really provide reasonable incentives for new businesses to take shape in the region? Soaking in the hypocrisy,a business having 12lacs turn-over will be exempted in Delhi but taxed in Manipur. This isn’t what the NE region needs at this very hour. Special Economic Advantages and not disadvantages are undeniably the need of the region.

Yours,

Ayan Borkotoky,

Samipya Mahanta,

University of Delhi