A tortuous taxation tale that began with global telecom major Vodafone’s $11 billion entry into India, is nearing its climax 14 years on, with the company having frozen fresh investments for a few years and its Indian operations now on the brink of collapse. On Thursday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced tax law changes to scrap the retrospective provisions brought in by the late Pranab Mukherjee in the Union Budget 2012-13. I-T demands have been made in 17 cases, including from Vodafone and Cairn, using those retro-active clauses in the I-T law. That this government took so long to undo Mr. Mukherjee’s gambit after losing a tax pursuit against Vodafone is disappointing. Even before 2014, the BJP had called the retrospective provisions ‘tax terrorism’. Yet, it did not walk the talk despite a resounding parliamentary majority, while promising global investors that it does not approve of such measures. Whether this was a result of political dithering, bureaucratic bungling
A splendid fortnight in Tokyo has steered Indian hockey back to the limelight tinged with an Olympic halo. Before this, for years the sport, much akin to the West Indies in cricket, had only the good-old-days cliché to fall back upon. Champions of the distant past but plagued by middling results, was the standard template. There was the odd flicker and the nostalgically inclined with their fond remembrance of legends such as Dhyan Chand, Mohammed Shahid and Dhanraj Pillay, would hope for a sunrise. It often proved to be a mirage while cricket, football, tennis and Formula One lured the fans. That India had to wait for 41 years for its next Olympic hockey medal tells a long tale of diminishing hope. Thankfully an upward graph has been finally etched due to the grit and skill-sets of Manpreet Singh’s men, who despite an early 1-7 loss to Australia held their own and winged into the semifinals where they ran into eventual champion Belgium. The soul-numbing defeat was quickly cast aside
