Defence gold bonds floated
The Government of India has floated defence gold bonds. It has also floated two defence loans – one carrying 4 ¼ per cent interest and another 4 ¾ per cent interest. The gold bonds are 15-year bonds redeemable in gold. The following is the text of the Press Note. The Government of India has announced the issue of the following loans: (I) 4 ¼ per cent National Defence Loan 1968, (II) 4 ¾ per cent National Defence Loan 1972; and (III) National Defence Gold Bonds 1980. 2. Subscriptions to the Defence Loans will be received in the form of cash/cheque. In the case of the National Defence Gold Bonds 1980, subscriptions will be received in the form of gold, gold coins and/or gold ornaments. The provisions of the gold control or customs regulations will not apply with respect to gold in any form tendered as subscription to the gold bonds and no proceedings will be instituted, nor any penalties levied, under the said regulations, with respect to such gold. Further, where such gold has been acquired out of income which has not been disclosed for the purpose of assessment under the Income-tax Act and other Central direct taxes enactments, such income, or the wealth represented by the corresponding assets, will not be liable to tax under these enactments in assessments for any assessment year made after October 19, 1965. These exemptions will be available subject to the conditions that the said income had not been assessed to tax before October 20, 1965 and that it had not been detected by the Income-tax Officer before the date of subscription of the gold towards the bonds. The exemptions will not be available in any case where the gold tendered for subscription had been previously seized under any law before the date of subscription.
Shastri wants revival of Swadeshi spirit
The Prime Minister, Mr. Lal Bahadur Shastri to-day [Oct19, New Delhi] told the nation that “we are still in the midst of an emergency and may well have to live with it for quite a time.” In a broadcast on the occasion of National Solidarity Day, he said that “practical shape” should be given to the keen desire of the people to be self-reliant. The Prime Minister said “the nation’s solidarity has been demonstrated to the whole world. There is a fierce new will to make good in all directions”. He said that the country’s defence industries had to be developed further at top speed and self-sufficiency in food achieved. The Prime Minister said the shortage of external resources is “critical”. “The old gospel of Swadeshi which Gandhiji preached then is as valid to-day as it was 40 years ago,” he said. “We must revive the same spirit and with the same enthusiasm. We must take time by the forelock and try unitedly to push the country forward towards self-reliance and growth,” Mr. Shastri said. On the food front, the Prime Minster said: “While we should be grateful to those who extended to us a helping hand we must be ready to stand on our own feet not in some distant future, but here and now”. The Prime Minister announced the Government’s decision to introduce a new loan scheme to be known as the National Defence Loan. This will be issued in two series. Mr. Shastri said: There will be a seven-year loan which will carry an interest of 4.75 per cent and a three-year loan with interest of 4.25 per cent. The Prime Minister announced that a new series of gold bonds called the National Defence Gold Bond would be issued.
Viet Cong step up war
The Viet Cong have stepped up the war in the southern Mekong delta, a major source of South Viet Nam’s vital rice supplies. On Sunday [Oct 17] guerrillas shelled and attacked 12 positions between 90 and 120 miles south-west of Saigon. A U.S. spokesman, reporting the attacks, said they were mostly along main communication routes. In air action, U.S. and Viet Namese planes continued to hit targets in both North and South Viet Nam on Sunday and yesterday [Oct 18]. U.S. authorities announced that three American Navy jet fighters were shot down during an attack on a bridge 40 miles north of Hanoi on Sunday. President Johnson yesterday expressed concern about the widespread week-end demonstrations against U.S. Viet Nam policy, according to a report from the U.S. The White House spokesman said Mr. Johnson had talks abut the demonstrations with his close advisers. The President feared the protests would lead America’s opponents to “misread” their significance and interpret them as a sign of growing hostility by the U.S. people to the Government’s policy. But Mr. Johnson recalled recent public opinion polls showing the American public was increasingly supporting the Government’s Viet Nam policy, the spokesman said.
