பாரதியார்

புலமைக்கு  ஒருஅணி பாரதியார்;
    புதுமைக்கு   ஒருமுடி பாரதியார்;
புவியினிலே  அவனோர் கவியரசன்;
     புரட்சியிலே அவனோர்  மெய்வீரன் !

ஊறும் மணற்கேணியன்றிவர் பாட்டு!
      பாற் கேணியாமவர் தம் கூற்று!
ஏறின் பீடுநடை தெறிக்கும் கருத்து!
      வீறு கொண்டேழுப்பும் செயலுக்கு!

தேனின்ப மட்டுமன்று தமிழ்ச் செவிக்கு!
        மேனியுள்ளமெங்கும் பரவு அமிழ்து!
ஊனுயிர் ஊட்டும் அவரின் செப்புமொழி!
         வானமெங்கும் பாடும் குயில் மொழி!

அச்சமில்லை என்றே முழங்கினான் அவன்;
         ஆணுக்கு சமானம் புதுமைப் பெண் என்றான் ;
இச்சகத்து உளோரெல்லாம் எதிர்த்து நின்றிடினும்,
         இனியொரு விதிசெய்வோம் தனியே என்றான்!

காவெனக் கத்திடும் காக்கையை அழைப்பான்;
           கானக அரசன் சிங்கமாய் கர்ஜிப்பான்;
பாரினில்  ஒருவனுக்கு உணவில்லை என்றால்
            பாரையே அழித்திட தீயாய் துடிப்பான்!

அவனில் ஞானபுத்தனைக் காணலாம்;
         அவரின் போதி தத்துவம் அறியலாம்!
அவனியைக் காக்கும் கண்ணனை ரசிக்கலாம்;
          ஆழ்ந்தவர் பக்திபரவசத்தை ருசிக்கலாம்!


         
         

" IT Harassments"- no euphemism pl!!

Pl. see the below page from the Central Govt published data.link

Regular IT assessments done by Dept is yielding only 7 to 8% of total Gross Direct tax collected where as Adv. Tax, TDS and SA Tax is 92% i.e the voluntary compliance .

Is there not a strong case for abolishing Assts for atleast individuals who have good track record of say 10 continuous years and have limited scrutiny assessments only for Corporates/Companies with incentives for exemption from assessments if they remit Tax at least 15% more year on year.This will take care of tax buoyancy ratio and reduce assessment costs drastically.

Mr.Sunil Jain of FE recently sent a tweet to FM saying that IT dept is following up with him on some assessment notice despite complying with it and paying tax. Everyone of us have similar experiences on IT assessments despite computerisation. Straightaway all these scrutiny assessments can be called " IT Harassments "-no euphemism.

But it should also be emphasized that the scale of high pitched assessments has substantially come down over the last one/2 years but still more needs to be done in order to totally move away from Tax Terrorism to augment direct tax revenue. I am not making a case for tax evaders or dodgers who r small percentage and who will anyway continue to do so.

My firm conviction is ,if assessments are done away with , then more small businessmen will voluntarily pay under presumptive tax, file return and forget.Another indicator is the difference between how many assessees have paid tax/TDS and the no. who have filed returns.Almost 2 crore nos.!! Is it not sounding another loud bell for doing away with Assessments /Scrutiny assessments but with safeguards  like good track record or yoy 15% inc. in tax remittance etc.

 One last point. Out of such Tax assessed and  shown collected by the Dept how much is contested in appeals before CITs, Tribunals , HCs and SCs.Huge burden on these Courts will also come down and unnecessary litigation is avoided. Lots of multiplier effects can be seen if assessments are abolished.

For encouraging people to file their Income Tax return, Govt can run a lottery or even give atleast  health insurance policy under Ayushman Bharat free of cost.  

 Page 7 reproduced below:

2

தாய்மழை!!

துளித்துளியாய் வீழ்கின்ற வேகம்,
களியின்பம் ஊட்டுகின்ற ராகம்!

வெட்டுகின்ற  ஒளிக்கீற்று பறக்க,
கொட்டுகின்ற  மழைநீரும் ஒலிக்க,

விண்ணுலக  மடைதிறந்து பொழிந்து,
மண்ணுலகப் பச்சையுடன் கலந்து,

ஏங்குகின்ற  பயிரனைத்தும்  அணைத்து,
தாங்குகின்ற  காட்சிதனைப்  பார்த்தால்,

அழுகின்ற குழந்தையின் பசியாற்ற
சுரக்கின்ற  தாய்ப்பால் போலத்தானோ!!

Board diversity and "what if " strategy

The other day somebody told me that Abraham Lincoln after winning the elections , formed his first cabinet with three of the people who were his rivals for Republican nomination. Lincoln had a logic- Cabinet should represent diverse views and perspectives and also fiercely independent.

Should a Corporate Board reflect such diversity and independence? Every director in the Board brings with him or her wisdom for running the business and board diversity ensures that several new windows are opened and explored, new doors are found and hidden doors are unhinged.

One of the tasks for Boards is to form Committees like Audit Committee,NRC, Independent Directors' Committee etc. Now with rapid  and disrupting changes happening around you,the importance of forming Risk Management Committee, Technology Adaptation Committee, Business Strategy Committee etc. has gained quite a bit of traction. Invariably for effective functioning of these Committees, Boards must have requisite reservoir of expertise and experience.

In this respect it is worthwhile to consider what Elon Musk has said about adopting first principles of thinking. Usually first principles of thinking process involves breaking down a larger complex issue into its conceivable parts for a coherent, cogent and cohesive understanding. But Musk says getting rid of preconceived conceptions about what you are creating is first principle of thinking - new age thinking.

Technology with its long hands of IoT, AI, Robotics, ML, DL,Industry 4.0,3D printing etc. ,has occupied the pride of place in managing today's Companies be it Shopfloor or Boardroom.

The second most important part of decision-making in the Board room should be asking "What-if " questions to the Strategy development. Board members must not shy away or hesitate to ask "what if "questions on all problems they foresee and look for the impact of such scenario analysis on the expected results. They should not hesitate to seek the help of outside experts for a report on such objective views with back up sensitivity analysis,data mining etc.

As a corollary, Board must always look for fail safe mechanism and should have a Plan B, Plan C etc up their sleeves, if their strategy meets unexpected risks and Black Swan or Grey Rhino events.

Many a grand strategy flounder when "what if" questions are not asked by Board members before approving the Strategy.

புத்தகம்

நல்லதொரு பெண்ணே!
உன் மேலுடையின்
பொலிவு மட்டுமே
உன்னை அழகுபடுத்தவில்லை!

உன் உள் பக்கங்களை
படிக்க படிக்க
அர்த்தமுள்ளதாகக்
காண்கிறேன்!

உன்னை ஒவ்வொருமுறை
படிக்கும்போதும்
புத்தம்புதிய
பதவுரைகளை
என் உள்ளத்தில்
முத்தமிட்டு
பதிய வைக்கிறாய்!

உன்னைக் கைப்பிடித்த
நாள் முதலாய்
வற்றாத ஊற்றாய்
நீ
பலவிதப் பார்வையில்
ஆயிரம் அர்த்தங்களை
அள்ளித் தெளிக்கிறாய்!
உனக்கு
என்மேல்
அவ்வளவு அன்பா?!

Art of tax return filing, nudging and budging!

"Putting fruit at the eye level" is a Nudge. Nudge proposes positive reinforcements  to influence the behaviour and decision making at individual level and at a societal level.

Richard Thaler  and Cass Sunstein in their book Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness have written on Nudges as the key method for influencing the human behaviour which has huge ramifications for the economic and political spheres of every country. Thaler won Nobel Prize for this path-breaking behavioural economics concept. The theory itself was built on the heuristic human behaviour concept of Daniel Kahnemann-Tversky model.Daniel Kahnemann in his book Thinking: Fast and Slow mentions System 1 and System 2 of human thinking process in which System 1 is quick, fast, hunch-based,heuristic and System 2 based on some primitive level analysis to arrive at prefered choice or option. When people have to contend with many choices/constraints or facing time constraint, System 1 will override System 2. leading to a sub-optimal outcome.

WYSIATI(what you see is all there is) is an important underpinning guide in most of the human decisions made and Daniel Kahnemann has extensively dealt with this in his book. Nudges as a persuasive concept as opposed to any directive,coercive action is an adult to adult interactive mode (Transactional analysis?).

Some very interesting Nudges that are used all over the worldlink.  Traffic signal lottery, Piano stairs and cigarette butt voting dust bins will be all inducing good behaviour changing habits.

In the realm of Macro economics inorder to improve tax return filing compliance, some Govts. introduced free health insurance with tax filing compliance.

However the question of ethics of Nudging or is it some sort of psychological manipulation  of human behaviour , remains open for discussion at the global level.

India has always talked about Sama, Dhana, Bheda and Dhanda for influencing human behaviours, always starting with Sama/Dhana. Is the concept of Dhana not the same as "Putting a fruit at the eye level"- a Nudge?!!

Closely connected with it is the Art of Choosing written by Sheena Iyengar in marketing parlance. She found out with jam flavour experimentation that too many choices confuse people in decision making . She demonstrated that people who tasted limited no. of jam flavours are ten times more likely to buy jams than those given more flavours to taste.But she is of the view that neither more choices nor very little are good ,but optimum lies somewhere in between.

Daniel Kahnemann's System 1 will always take over human decision making when confronted with too many choices/options and this has been clearly brought out by Sheena's experiment. The same will hold good for Nudges also. Therefore some of the marketers have started offering a simple default option which will be a win-win for both the seller and the buyer. But  lot of ground work to be done to decide on this default option for the buyer to  perceive it that way!!

As Sheena Iyengar says humans are born to create meaning and also to choose, science can help us to become skillful choosers ,but ultimate decision for zeroing in on a choice is still an art. 

 Tax return filings is still an art?!We wudn't  budge with Nudges?!!

ஓரம்...!

கரை ஓரமெல்லாம் பூஞ்சோலை;
சோலை ஓரமெல்லாம் நீரோடை;
ஓடை ஓரமெல்லாம் வயல்வரப்பு;
வரப்பு  ஓரமெல்லாம் பச்சைப்பயிர்;
பயிர் ஓரமெல்லாம் பூரிப்பு;
பூரிப்பு  ஓரமெல்லாம் நல்லழகு;
அழகு ஓரமெல்லாம் கனவு;
கனவின் ஓரமெல்லாம் மகிழ்ச்சி;
மகிழ்வின் ஓரமெல்லாம் நினைப்பு;
நினைவின் ஓரமெல்லாம் நீ;
உன் பாதை ஓரமெல்லாம் நதிக்கரை!!