Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 12

Seeking a quick redress against shortcomings of the 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC), the three armed services — The Army, IAF and the Navy — have collectively written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has not issued the notification in regard to enhanced pay like other Central Government employees, who will get higher wages from September 1. The notification has been held up as issues raised by the three services are being considered.The three forces have recently sent a collective letter through the office of the Chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC) – the CoSC being the senior most among the Chiefs of the three services. Air Chief Marshall Arup Raha, the IAF Chief, is the present CoSC.A letter from the services to Modi and Parrikar seeking better wages is not unprecedented. After the Sixth Pay Commission, the services had faced a similar “lowering of status”. The then CoSC, Admiral Sureesh Mehta (now retired) had shot off a letter to the UPA-I regime. A high-powered committee was set up in 2008 under Pranab Mukerjee (then a minister in Manmohan Singh’s Cabinet) to study the matter.The services, in their letter, have pointed out four key issues that need to be addressed and lift the morale of the forces. The first is how the salaries of the service officers have been “artificially suppressed”. The formula applied for basic pay fixation is different than the one applied to other Central Government employees. As a result, in each rank the service officers have ended up being lower in pay scales.In the government, facilities like car, housing, or sanctions for air travel depend upon the basic pay.The second is the non-acceptance of the demand for non-functional upgrade (NFU). After the last pay commission (the sixth), the government allowed “non-functional scale upgradation” and allowed Group-A officers to get the same scale as a Joint Secretary, but after 24 years of service.Strangely, the armed forces are neither classified as group “A” services nor are they termed as “Central services” like the IAS or the IPS and did not get NFU. Now, with others getting NFU the gap gets widened.The third issue is higher military service pay (MSP) for junior commissioned officers (JCOs). They rise from the lower ranks (jawans). The 7th CPC has clubbed the MSP of JCOs and jawans at Rs 5,200. The demand is to have it at Rs 10,000 for the JCOs. The MSP for officers between Lieutenant-rank and Brigadier-rank is common at Rs 15,500.The fourth main issue is lowering of disability pension. As per the new formula, okayed by the 7th CPC, soldiers/officers with 100 per cent disability will see their pensions reduced from the current levels. However, in case of the disabled of other services their perks will rise.In March this year, the MoD had conveyed to an empowered committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary that the status, pay and allowances of the armed forces be kept above all other “fighting” arms of the government. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had also taken up the case that issues of status, pay and allowances for the forces have to be paramount.

Four key issues highlighted

• First, the 7th pay panel’s recommendations have “artificially suppressed”salaries of the service officers. In each rank, service officers have ended up being lower in pay scales
• Second, non-acceptance of the demand for non-functional upgrade has widened the gap with other Central employees
• Third, the military service pay for junior commissioned officers and jawans should be Rs 10,000 instead of Rs 5,200
• Finally, the 7th pay panel’s new formula for pension lowers the benefits of soldiers/officers with 100 per cent disability

Kolkata, August 4

A Hawk advanced jet trainer on Thursday crashed soon after take-off from Air Force Station, Kalaikunda, in West Midnapore due to a “technical snag” but both the pilots ejected safely.

IAF sources said the aircraft developed a technical problem at about 1100 hours, minutes after taking off from Kalaikunda air station in West Bengal, where another Hawk had crashed in June last year.

The crash occurred within the boundary of the air station, 138 km from here, and the two pilots ejected safely, they said.

“A Court of Inquiry has been instituted into the crash,” an IAF source said.

Last year in June, another Hawk had crashed after taking off from Kalaikunda station as it developed a technical problem. Budding fighter pilots undergo their stage-III training for a year on Hawk. — PTI

ANCHKULA: Lt Gen KJ Singh, Western Army commander Command, who is retiring on July 31, has said that the role of army in neutralising the terrorists at Dinanagar (Gurdaspur) on July 27 last year was underplayed.

He said the light machine gun (LMG) bullets that killed at least one of the three terrorists were those of army. “At Dinanagar, Punjab Police wanted to tackle terrorists on their own. But by the time they reached there, our jawans had taken positions. Of the three terrorists, our LMG fire killed at least one (or it can be two) as we backed the police,” he said. He said a bomb too was disposed of by the army, but all the credit went to the police.

“Pakistan wanted to alter the arc of terrorism by including Gurdaspur, Samba. We had terrorist incidents at Arambag, Arnia, Samba, Dinanagar and Pathankot. We thwarted Pakistan’s designs,” he said.

WILL RIDE THE TANK HE WAS COMMISSIONED ON

“I will spend some time on the tank at Amritsar on which I was commissioned,” said Lt Gen KJ Singh. He will go to Amritsar on Sunday for fulfilling his wish. On how did he find the tank, he said, “Like people find their exgirlfriends on Facebook, I also found ZX 1685. It’s a T-55 tank and is still in service.

My journey with the Army started 50 years ago at an age of 14 when I joined the Sainik School at Chittorgarh, in 1966. On May 30, 1973, I left the school and joined NDA on June 30 the same year. I never went to college. The only college I went to was Army War College,” he said.

Lt Gen Singh will hang up his boots after puttin in 39 years’ of service in the armed forces. ON SUCCESSOR

“Only I am retiring, not the Western Command. I cannot comment on why a permanent commander has not been appointed. But Lt Gen Jagbir Singh Cheema, General Officer Commanding (GOC), Vajra Corps, who has been given the charge as an interim arrangement, is fully competent. The only thing is that he doesn’t have a fixed tenure. He has been GOC of 11 Corps for a year and before that he was Chief of Staff, Eastern Command,” he said. ON CHINA

The Western Command shares 200-km border with China. “But we don’t have any boundary dispute with China in this area…At Kaurik and Shipki La passes, we are eyeball to eyeball with them. We have to remain vigilant,” he said. ON FUTURE PLANS

Lt Gen KJ Singh said he wanted to settle down in Gurgaon, but after coming here, he changed his mind. “As of now, I don’t have a house of my own, but I have invested in DLF Valley, Pinjore. I will settle down there,” he said. He thanked Panjab University for offering him the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Chair to him.

A FINAL BYE BEFORE HANGING UP BOOTS

Lt Gen KJ Singh, general officer commanding-in-chief, Western Command, bidding adieu to armymen at Chandimandir on Saturday. The general, who is hanging his boots after 39 years of service, on Sunday, plans to settle down at a Pinjore colony.

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, July 28

The Supreme Court on Thursday denounced the practice of ruling parties misusing defamation laws to stifle criticism against the government.“Such acts amount to curbing free speech. Defamation laws cannot be misused as a political weapon to ward off criticism, which needs to be tolerated,” a Bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and RF Nariman remarked.The Bench made the comments while hearing actor-turned-politician Vijayakant’s plea for quashing 14 such cases filed against him by the Tamil Nadu government headed by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.Governments should not invoke such laws, particularly to deter people from exposing corruption in the administration, the Bench said.Seeking a list of the defamation cases filed by the Jayalalithaa government against its political opponents, the Bench stayed the non-bailable warrants issued against DMDK chief Captain Vijaykanth and his wife Premalatha for calling the administration corrupt.

UNDERSTANDING  26 AS FORM WHICH
                               ONE RECEIVES FROM INCOME TAX
                               DEPARTMENT ANNUALLY

              NOW INCOME TAX DEPARTMENT KNOWS EVERYTHING
              ABOUT YOUR FINANCIAL DEALINGS- READ ON
                                  BE CAREFUL

ANNUAL INFORMATION REPORT IS MUCH MORE THAN YOUR BANK
ACCOUNTS AND TAX DEDUCTED

 KINDLY SPARE FEW MOMENTS AND READ IT.

Under section 285BA of the Income-tax Act, 1961, “specified persons”
are required to record and report high-value financial transactions of
individuals.

If you have read your Form 26AS (an annual consolidated credit
statement), you will notice that apart from having details of tax
deducted at source (TDS), tax collected at source (TCS), taxes paid
and refunds,

IT ALSO CONTAINS DETAILS OF THE ANNUAL INFORMATION RETURNS FILED BY
DIFFERENT ENTITIES.  THE AIR COLUMNS LISTS DETAILS OF THE HIGH VALUE
TRANSACTIONS MADE BY TAX PAYER DURING THE FINANCIAL YEAR.  NOW KINDLY
READ ON.

WHO FILES IT?

Under section 285BA of the Income-tax Act, 1961, “specified persons”
are required to record and report high-value financial transactions of
individuals. These specified persons include: banks, mutual funds,
institutions issuing bonds, and registrars or sub-registrars; and they
have to file the AIR, containing details of high-value transactions,
by 31 May of the following year. Earlier it was allowed till 31
August.

WHICH TRANSACTIONS ARE REPORTED?

High-value transactions are those that are above a certain limit.

The list of high-value transactions, for which AIRs have to be filed,
is specified in rule 114E of the Income-tax Rules, 1962.

For instance, a bank has to file an AIR when the aggregate cash
deposits of all the savings bank accounts of a client exceed Rs.10
lakh in a year.

Similarly, registrars or sub-registrars have to file AIRs for every
individual involved in any transaction of an immovable properties
(land, house or building), where the value of the deal exceeds Rs.30
lakh. In case a deal involves joint parties, and the share of one or
more parties is less than Rs.30 lakh, even then AIRs are filed for all
the individuals.

The scope of AIR has been recently expanded by the Central Board of
Direct Taxes (CBDT). For example, effective 1 April 2016, a bank has
to report every person who makes one or more term deposits, which
total more than Rs.10 lakh in a year. The amount excludes renewal or
reinvestment of the deposits.

The threshold of some transactions has changed. For instance, earlier
a credit card issuer had to file an AIR for those whose aggregate
annual spending on a card exceeded Rs.2 lakh. This limit has been
raised to Rs.10 lakh now.

However, now an AIR has to be filed even for those who pay their
credit card bills by cash (instead of making the payment by cheques or
bank transfers), and the total of such payments exceeds Rs.1 lakh in a
year.

Similarly, earlier a mutual fund company had to file AIRs for those
unit holders who had invested more than Rs.2 lakh in a scheme. Now the
limit has been raised to Rs.10 lakh.

AIRs helps the government to collect information about high-value
transactions made by taxpayers. This information is cross-checked
against the income declared and tax paid by the income tax assessee in
her income tax return.

ITS AIM IS TO CHECK TAX EVASION AND CURB BLACK MONEY.

circulated by

NARENDRA AHUJA
MA LLB
PG DIP MANCHESTER 1964
WILL & MUTATION ADVISER
ADVOCATE
9971475800

A 10-member team of the Tripeak Brigade on a mountain cycle expedition in Kinnaur and Lahual Spiti districts. Tribune photo

Tribune News Service

Shimla, July 23

The 10-member team of the Tripeak Brigade has successfully covered 640 km route in Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti districts. The team started its expedition from Pooh on July 1 and cycled through Sangla, Thangi, Nesang and Spiti.The aim was to highlight the importance of cleanliness. The members covered 66 km a day. Facing harsh weather conditions throughout the route, encountering hailstorms, rain and high-velocity winds, they achieved their goal.The expedition concluded on July 16. It was flagged off by Brig Rajiv Ghai, Sena Medal, Commander, HQ 136(I) Infantry Brigade Group.On August 15 last year, 12 members of the Tripeak Brigade embarked on a cycling expedition covering a distance of 700 km in Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti, Kullu and Mandi districts.

The modern Islamic puritans need to recollect that the holiest place in Islam, the Kabah in Mecca, Saudi Arabia was a pre-Islam temple. It was chosen by the Prophet to show continuity. Indian Muslims, have remained committed to the democratic-secular Indian polity, despite grave provocation.

A woman puts flowers near the scene where a truck mowed through revellers gathered for Bastille Day fireworks in Nice, southern France on July 15. AP/PTI

AS per the initial investigations by the French intelligence agencies, the massacre at Nice in France by a French Muslim (of Tunisian origin), who riding a heavy truck ploughed through a big gathering celebrating French National Day, is reported to have been committed not as part of terrorism commanded by some Islam-o-fascist organisation. It seems to be the work of a volatile petty criminal with little interest in Islam.  This may be true, but the fact is that the juggernaut of the Islam-o-fascists is on the roll, marauding different parts of the globe with unparalleled savagery and sadism. They claim to represent the “true” spirit of Islam and target the West for wrongdoing to Muslims. The Islam-o-fascists, who originated in Arabia, not only outrightly reject any talk of diversity in the world but also within Islam. Islam originated in Arabia with its holy book in Arabic but spread to different parts of the world because as a religion it adapted itself to different environments and geographical realities. Iran’s conversion to Islam was complete by the mid-7th century but the former refused to abandon its Persian and linguistic heritage. When Arab caliphs tried to erode it, the Iranian Muslim intelligentsia launched a movement called Shu’ubiyyah to protect and revive their distinctive language and culture, a process known as Persianisation. Despite almost a century-long persecution, the Arab rulers failed to destroy this spirit and allowed sermons in Persian. South-East Asia is another example where Islam merged into the local social milieu. In countries like Indonesia, almost all Muslims carry Sanskrit names. The national airline is known as Garuda Indonesia. Garuda being a Sanskrit word. In these areas Islam became a permanent fixture due to its flexibility, otherwise it would have disappeared long back. The modern Islamic puritans need to recollect that the holiest place in Islam, known as Kabah in Mecca, Saudi Arabia was a pre-Islam temple and was chosen by the Prophet to show the continuity. Islam-o-fascists have not only been spilling the blood of  innocent children, women and men but also destroying wonderful historic pieces which human civilisation created in the last so many millenniums. The dastardly  destruction of giant Buddha statues of Bamiyan in Afghanistan, the greatest symbols of Gandhara art in the world, by the Taliban in 2001 and one of the most culturally significant pieces of architecture in the world —Temple of Bel in Palmyra, Syria— in September 2015 only shows ignorance of history.For them, it is difficult to comprehend that human civilisation did not start with the advent of Islam. It developed in thousands of years. There were conflicts but synthesis was the rule and Islam too developed as the synthesis of many cultures and religions. Also, no religion can claim that its followers make a monolithic whole or can be turned into one by some jihadi army. The Islam-o-fascists defend their criminal acts by arguing that they are fighting to “save Islam/Muslims” from Christian/non-Muslim adversaries. Their grouse is that in the name of fighting terrorism, the West is targeting all Muslims. See what these self-appointed guardians of Islam are doing. They are killing, raping and maiming innocent people who have nothing to do with rulers of any creed or hue. It’s idiotic to think that bombs and bullets are programmed to first verify from the victims his/her religion before striking. The recent carnage at Dacca showed that even if these criminals manually verify every hostage’s religion, there would be Muslims who would choose to be killed with other non-Muslims. They forget that on this earth almost everywhere people professing different religions stay and work together. The leaders of the West, the USA and allies like Saudi Arabia declare their firm resolves to crush Islam-o-fascists after every attack. The mainstream US media goes on to explain these terrorist attacks in the context of the “clash of civilisations” thesis of Samuel Huntington. It is interesting; those who created jihadi Islam are also fed up with it. This is West which faced with the rising tide of Arab nationalism, pan-Arabism, Arab socialism and anti-imperialist in the 1970s, under the leadership of the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party which was led by both Muslims and Christians. The intelligence agencies of the West then starting sponsoring “Islamic” organisations which would fight the Arab socialists. When the Arab socialists decided to make the Arab world free of totalitarian kingdoms like Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, the West ensured their safety and security against any socialist revolution in these kingdoms. 

Nurtured by the West

The official facts about how the Taliban was created and nurtured by the West, specially the CIA, are well-documented in a publication of the Yale University, Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia, by Ahmed Rashid. The revelations are shocking. Under the direct supervision of the CIA chief William Casey in the 1990s, some 100,000 Muslim radicals from 43 Islamic countries in the Middle-East, North and East Africa, Central Asia and the the Far East were gathered in Pakistan and Afghanistan, armed with the latest armoury including stinger missiles in order to fight the Communists.This terrible fact may not be known to many that the ISIS was originally created as Al-Qaida-linked opposition militias in Syria by the CIA. Military hardware and cash were made available courtesy Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in order to dislodge the Shiite regime in Syria. Islam-o-fascists’ claim to be messiah of Muslims is a sheer lie. When the CIA sponsored the genocide of progressive Muslims in Indonesia in 1965-66, these were Islam-o-fascist organisations of Indonesia like, Nahdlatul Ulama Muhammadiyah who butchered approximately 1.5 million Muslims, Christians and Buddhists, in collusion with the Indonesian army. This genocide ranks as one of the worst mass murders of the 20th century. It was no different in East Pakistan during 1969-1971. The Islamist gangs were leading killers and rapists; approximately 2 million were killed and 4 lakh women raped. Most of the victims were Muslims but minorities were almost cleansed.

Indian Muslims

India with the third largest population of Muslims in the world would have been a good recruitment place for Islam-o-fascists. However, Indian Muslims have never been part of any such project in the past and there is no likelihood of their falling prey to such a nefarious project. It is heartening to know that out of almost 17 crore Muslims, according to Indian intelligence agencies, less than 50 persons have joined Islam-o-fascist ranks. Indian Muslims, despite the grave provocation from Hindutva organisations, have remained committed to the democratic-secular Indian polity. Interestingly, while challenging the Indianness of Indian Muslims Hindutva organisations and Islam-o-fascists are fully in agreement. According to the Hindutva discourse, Muslims (and Christians) cannot be part of the Hindu rashtra as they belong to a foreign religion. Islam-o-fascists too claim that Indian Muslims are Muslims only and not part of Hindu India.  Indian intelligence agencies concur with the fact that radicalisation of Indian Muslim youth took place only after the demolition of the mosque at Ayodhya. The successful running of democratic-secular India is a guarantee against any poaching of Indians by any brand of theocratic politics. 

The writer is a Professor of Political Science, Delhi University.

Capt Chanan Singh Sidhu (retd) with the portrait of Sepoy Balwinder Singh, an Indian PoW said to be languishing in a Pakistan jail. TRIBUNE FILE

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 15

A disabled Special Forces officer, who took part in the 1971 India-Pakistan war, has petitioned the Supreme Court, seeking directions to the Centre to earnestly work towards the repatriation of Indian prisoners of war (PoW) believed to be languishing in Pakistan jails for decades.“We filed the petition this week and expect it to be listed for hearing within the next few days,” Capt Chanan Singh Sidhu (retd) said. “Substantial evidence, including excerpts of books authored by eminent persons, extracts of official reports of human right commissions and affidavits have been attached with the petition,” he said.Last year, the Centre had in an affidavit submitted to the SC claimed that it had no details regarding the ‘missing’ defence personnel believed to be held captive in Pakistan jails after the 1965 and 1971 wars, but would continue making efforts for their repatriation. The SC had fined the government Rs 20,000 for laxity in placing the information before it.Capt Sidhu served with the Special Forces (5 Para) from 1968-1978 before being discharged on medical grounds after losing his right arm and suffering severe head injuries while deployed on the border with Tibet. He was posted at the Pathankot airfield during the 1971 Indo-Pak war. He now runs his business from Amritsar and Mullanpur near Chandigarh.Speaking to The Tribune, he claimed that over 78 persons ‘gone missing’ in the 1971 war were rotting in Pakistani jails and there was enough evidence ‘on their existence.’He said among the annexures attached with the petition were excerpts from the biography of a former US Air Force Chief, wherein he had mentioned that during his stint in Pakistan as part of a training team, he had interrogated 16 IAF PoWs to glean information on Soviet war machines. Also, in a book authored by Pakistani Premier ZA Bhutto’s lawyer it had been mentioned that Bhutto was unable to sleep at night while incarcerated in jail because of Indian PoWs screaming for help.Capt Sidhu pointed out that members of a human rights organisation, who had gone to meet alleged Indian spy Sarabjit Singh in Pakistan’s Kot Lakhpat jail, were greeted with appeals of help by some inmates who claimed to be Indian PoWs.Affidavits of prisoners released from Pakistan jails vouching for the Indian PoWs there had also been made part of the petition. Capt Sidhu said he would be petitioning the International Court of Justice and the International Human Rights Commission too.