People's Democracy

on file

MNCs OPERATING in the world’s poorest countries are “dodging” around 27 billion dollar a year in tax, anti-poverty campaigners claimed on Monday.

By not paying the taxes, rich businesses are depriving developing countries of much needed revenue, according to a report by Christian Aid.

Andrew Pendleton, a senior policy advisor for the charity, said the scale of the lost revenue “beggars belief”…..

Pendleton said the 272 billion dollar the MNCs and rich individuals avoided each year dwarfed the annual amount of annual overseas aid.

“The sheer scale of the lost tax revenue this implies for governments around the world beggars belief,” he said.

There is a crisis developing in poor countries as public services and infrastructure crumble because of a lack of public money. “Tax avoidance by wealthy people and multinational companies is one of the main causes of this. Corrupt leaders, criminals and terrorists are hiding away their ill-gotten gains by using systems set up for tax avoidance.”

---- Hindustan Times, September 13

NINE of the country’s 20 most illiterate districts are in Bihar, an indication of how a few states drag the country’s overall literacy rate down. Bihar’s worst is Kishanganj district with a literacy rate of 31 per cent of the entire population. Less than 19 per cent of the females in that district are literate…..

Against the national average of nearly 65 per cent, Bihar has the worst literacy rate – 47 per cent, and only 33 per cent for females. Jharkhand, carved out from old Bihar, is at the second place from the bottom with a literacy rate of below 54 per cent. Other states which fall below the national average include Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

--- The Asian Age, September 9

COINCIDING with the VHP’s Trishul Deeksha programme at Jabalpur today (September 4), the Madhya Pradesh government has revoked the ban on public display of small tridents, sources said.

Chief minister Babulal Gaur yesterday (September 3) directed the Home Department to denotify the ban, imposed in August 2002, when the Congress was in power.  

--- The Indian Express, September 5 

THE Election Commission has expressed disapproval over the use of the lotus --- bearing resemblance to the BJP’s symbol --- in textbooks in Madhya Pradesh and has directed the state to replace the portions within two weeks.

The EC on Sunday (September 4) asked the government to fix responsibility on guilty officials. It has also sought a compliance report from the state within two weeks.

---- Hindustan Times, September 5