Did you pay a bribe today ?

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ipaidabribe.com is Janaagraha’s unique initiative to tackle corruption by harnessing the collective energy of citizens. You I Paid a Bribecan report on the nature, number, pattern, types, location, frequency and values of actual corrupt acts on this website. Your reports will, perhaps for the first time, provide a snapshot of bribes occurring across your city. We will use them to argue for improving governance systems and procedures, tightening law enforcement and regulation and thereby reduce the scope for corruption in obtaining services from the government. We invite you to register any recent or old bribes you have paid. Please tell us if you resisted a demand for a bribe, or did not have to pay a bribe, because of a new procedure or an honest official who helped you. We do not ask for your name or phone details, so feel free to report on the formats provided.

How to Save Fuel

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Petroleum accounts for 40% of the worlds’ energy consumption. In these days of high inflation, what better way to be eco-friendly than to increase our car’s mileage.

  • Improve your driving skills
  • Maintain your car better
  • Fuel Saving and Other Long Distance Driving Tips

Click Here for details by Gaurang Damani

Machine Readable Passport (MRP) – Mandatory

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MRP is a machine readable travel document where the data on the identity page is encoded in Optical Character Recognition (OCR) format. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has set a deadline of 24th November 2015 for globally phasing out all non MRPs.

Therefore Indian citizens residing in India and abroad and holding hand writer passports with validity beyond 24th November 2015 should apply for reissue of passports and obtain MRP passports well before the deadline in order to avoid inconvenience in obtaining visa and Immigration problems as per instruction from Ministry of External Affairs, Govt. of India.Please read attachment for more details

Machine Readable Passport

Hawaii bans GMO

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Mayor of Hawaii’s Big Island signs anti-GMO bill into law

“Our community has a deep connection and respect for our land, and we all understand we must protect our island and preserve our precious natural resources,” Kenoi wrote to council members. “We are determined to do what is right for the land because this place is unlike any other in the world.”

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Service Tax in Co-operative Housing Societies

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Question:

Whether Housing Societies are liable to pay Service Tax on various charges, fees and other amounts collected from the members?

Answer:

Yes. As per the clarification given by Jt. Commissioner of Service Tax, Mumbai under Ref. No.V/ST/HQ/Tech/Ref-25/06/1956. The amounts liable for

Accounts liable for Service Tax payment : 
(i) Common Electricity
(ii) Repairs Maintenance of lifts
(iii) Service Charges
(iv) Car parking charges
(v) Insurance
(vi) Charges for health club, swimming pool, etc.
(vi) Use of terrace, etc for functions to non-members
(vii) Sale of terrace space and compound for hordings
The following accounts are not liable for Service Tax Payments :
(i) Property Tax
(ii) Water/Sewerage Tax
(iii) Contribution to Repairs & Maintenance Fund
(iv) Major Repair Fund
(v) Contribution to Sinking Fund
(vi) Interest on defaulted charges
(vii) Repayment of loan and interest
(viii) Non-occupancy charges
(ix) Lease Rent
(x) Non-Agricultural Tax
(xi) Admission / Entrance Fees
(xii) Issue of shares
(xiii) Deposits
(xiv) Premium on transfer
(xv) Voluntary donations

Service Tax Structure : (Courtesy: Hemant Agrawal)

1. Service Tax @ 10.2% is applicable on all CHS
2. Cumulative collection “UPTO” 10 lakh rupees of CHS Services charges, is exempt and after that 10.2% service tax has to be recovered from members and deposited within 15 days of collection.
3. This rough-on works out to exempted limit upto Rs. 3000/- per CHS member. Obviously small and medium size CHS’s would not come under the Service Tax criteria.
4. Check out the following link for Service Tax on CHS’s.
http://www.servicetax.gov.in/notifications/notfns-2k7/st8-2k7-clrfn.htm

Courtesy : http://accommodationtimes.com/index.php/tdr-faqs/

Are We McPatients For McDoctors And McHospitals?

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Are doctors and hospitals solely driven by commercial motives?

One is saddened and angry reading about the untimely demise of Justice J S Verma, allegedly due to the negligence of the doctors at Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon. But the long-suffering common man may see a silver lining: finally, the issue of medical negligence is under the scanner. Justice Verma’s death is a wake-up call to the nation’s leading citizens, ruling class and intellectuals.

Thirty-four eminent personalities, including former Chief Justice MN Venkatachaliah, former Justice RS Sodhi, former Solicitor General Soli Sorabjee, former Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam and activist Aruna Roy, have written to the Prime Minister pledging their support for looking into the alleged negligence of Medanta Hospital. Pinning responsibility for Justice Verma’s death on and prosecuting those responsible will help send a message to the entire medical fraternity. But it will be a miracle if that makes the medical community more careful in future.

Click Here for the full article