Ø Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that an
unsustainable tax demand would only earn the country a bad name as an
investment destination. Mr. Jaitley’s comments come in the wake of the Income
Tax department losing its battle against Shell in the Mumbai High Court.
| Obama n Modi in USA |
Ø In a major sign of the deepening ties between
India and the U.S., Prime Minister Modi has invited President
Obama to be the chief guest at the Republic Day ceremony next year. Sources told that the invitation was delivered by Prime
Minister Modi during his visit to Myanmar and Australia, when he met with
President Obama at the East Asia summit and the G-20 meeting of world leaders.
Ø The efforts of personnel from the Forest and
the Police departments and wildlife experts to trap the elusive Bhimgad tiger yielded
little results. Yet, they were able to track the direction in which the big cat
was moving on the second day of combing operations.
Ø Investment bank Goldman Sachs has estimated
that civil service reforms that include a
bureaucracy that is merit-based rather than seniority-based, could add nearly a
percentage point annually to India’s per capita growth, which stood at 3.4 per
cent last year. The report reiterates recommendations from the Administrative
Reforms Commission (ARC) such as reduction in the age for entry and the number
of attempts allowed for civil service aspirants, and encouraging lateral entry
of technocrats from the private sector. It will take India a decade to reach
the Asian average on government effectiveness, it estimates. Investment bank
Goldman Sachs in its report on civil service reforms in India has compiled
drivers of effective civil service in other countries. Singapore
promotes officers solely on merit and Malaysia has recently put in place a new
performance appraisal and remuneration system for promotion and salary hikes.
In Japan, supervisors, peers and juniors appraise civil servants for merit
ratings. India is one of a very few countries where the annual salary of civil
servants is not based on performance. For example, of the five
Secretaries in the Finance Ministry, the senior-most in terms of the year of
entry into service usually becomes the Finance Secretary. Even though
the median age in India is 26, due to seniority being the main criterion for
promotion, the highest ranking civil servant in each ministry is usually in
his/her late 50s and early 60s and only a few years away from retirement. By
contrast, the average age of senior bureaucrats in the U.S. and China is 54
years to 55 years. In Singapore it is 52 and in the UK it is about 53 years.
To arrive at its estimation, Goldman Sachs used the World Bank’s latest
Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) data released in September. India’s WGI
ranking deteriorated from 55th percentile in 2004 to the 47th percentile in
2013. WGIs report six dimensions of governance over the period 1996-2013 for
215 countries. These are largely on the quality and implementation capacity of
the civil service. India’s growth could increase by 0.28 percentage
points for every one index point change in effectiveness of government,
according to the Goldman Sachs results.
Ø The government plans to table a new
Motor Vehicles bill to replace the Motor Vehicles Act of 1988.
Speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, Union Road Transport,
Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said this would end corruption and
improve road safety.
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