The Outset of a New Journey

Life encounters many phases; it positions an individual  in front of unknown situations and people. These experiences help in getting the new insights about life. Our view of life and the pattern on which we are dealing and handling our lives is according to our circumstances in which we live. The routine helps us creating a comfort zone to which we are familiar with and feel comfortable with.

We donot realize how other people are perceiving us. But the spiritual aura surrounding us attract us to each other. It depends on the mind set that how we label the relationships in our lives.  The mind and heart then design the frame work to which we have to operate in future after labeling it. The wife has different role to play, team mate has a different role to offer and so on.  The societal and cultural teachings in our perceptions are hugely misinterpreted at times.

Three years back when i joined the organization, you were one of those people i encountered in my early days. I feel you as a product of grievances and sorrows with the flavor of humor which pours out in a bitter way. I feel that you challenge the world and make fun of it by trying different things. The duality of you makes you different.

In our lives we need to understand one thing, that life has many faces. Like  a blind person whose feels the elephant and makes the perception the way he feels the touch, we are the same in handling our lives. We think that we are the experts of life and we know the best. But the best is, if it is; is only for our surrounding in which we operate and is not applicable to all the situations.

So being connected with you is the outset. Let’s see where the life moves on.

THE RIGHT BRANDING

I am a believer of God, being a Muslim we have a blind faith on this line and we truly mean it, when it comes to the dignity and preservance of the identity.  We truly believe what is written in the book and the teachings of the Prophet (PBUH) are very true and their observance  is actually the right way to spend the life.

It is good theoretically but the question arises then why we do not  implement these things into our practical lives.

  I personally believe that this is the lack of strategic implementation. We are confronted with the dilemma which says that this concept is right and what one is doing is wrong. But still one does what is wrong. Even when it is obvious that this is wrong.

 The problem does not lie with the teachings or preachings, it lies with the way they are being taught today.

We are attracted toward distractions because we are surrounded by them. The world is like a marketplace where everyone is looking for his or her own benefit.  And being an individual, every person has the knowledge of books which tell us the right things and the right laws of nature but we still go for practice. Even when we know it is not correct and ultimately it the law which prevails.

The problem lies in the coding of the teachings laid down for us many years ago in the present context. No doubt everything is so comprehensive and is easily understandable but there is a lack of strategic implementation which tells how to implement this concept in today’s situation.

It should be evolving.  We have progressed much so we fear to go back in those ages which are not as developed as they are today. Although we know that essence is universal  but the branding is older.

So we have to fight within ourselves to find the way outs which could link us internally with what is permanent while staying connected with what is temporary. But the issue is it takes time. It requires a huge amount of thinking in the right direction which seems impossible when one is surrounded by many distractions.

However this strategic implementation requires the right  platform and the right mind sets.  Only then we can be successful  and we shall be able to enjoy the true essence of what is demanded from us by our God.

TAX POTENTIAL : MYTHS AND REALITIES (REVIEW)

In his article, Muhammad Arshad the author has criticized a paper titled, ‘UNLOCKING Pakistan’s Revenue Potential’ published in august by International  Monetary Fund.

The paper concludes that the country has the potential to nearly double its tax-to GDP ration over the long term.

The author was touched by the following points raised in the paper.

The paper says,  the income tax rates in case of individuals is 20 percent. And this low level of direct taxes is mostly a result of weak compliance and enforcement and abundant concessions and exemptions.

Secondly, reducing the tax exempt income threshold, widening tax brackets, adopting more progressive and lower tax rates and rationalizing concessions and exemptions would not only increase revenue yield but also improve the fairness of the tax systems.

His arguments are as follows:

1.       The reference of 20% is not true as para (1) and (1A) of Division 1 of Part 1 of the first Schedule to the income tax ordinance, 2001 clearly specifies the marginal rate of tax in case of a salaried person is 30 % and in case of non salaried person is 35%.

2.       Under normal tax regime the maximum income on which tax is not payable is Rs.400,000/- but if the country’s socio-economic conditions are taken into consideration the situation tells a different story.  Where the average household size is 5-6 persons, and in most cases there is only one bread earner.  So Rs 400,000/- per annum means around Rs.220 per person per day which is hardly sufficient to make both ends meet.

3.       Almost the entire amount is spent on consumable items which are also subject to at 17% sales tax.

4.       Individuals pay with holding taxes in a number of ways, which is otherwise not due for them. They deserve relief not more tax.

5.       There are more than 45 withholding taxes which are paid by millions of common citizens. Most of these WHT have no nexus with the income earned or capacity to earn. For example WHT charged on profit etc.

6.       Even widows and orphans pay taxes on all of their income.

7.       124 millions mobile phone users pay income tax at source. A country where 50% people live on or below poverty line this number is not small.

8.       Every commercial electricity user pays income tax at source.

9.       Business are made withholding tax agents and the tax department is mainly involved in the monitoring of collection of tax at source, levying  penalties and default surcharges making the cost of doing business very high.

10.   Withholding tax becomes an indirect tax when it is treated as a final tax and is passed on to the ultimate consumer as an indirect tax.

11.   There are number of minimum taxes which are levied without any reference to income. Taxpayers are forced to pay minimum tax even in case when they are suffering gross loss and they pay it out of capital. It is not justified.

12.   Sales tax and petroleum development levy prevent passing the benefit of falling oil prices to the Pakistani businessmen.

Pakistan has the potential to increase tax revenue. But sensible taxation is the requirement.  The sole objective should not be the collection of tax, it should be collection of tax based upon the principle ‘ from each according to his capacity to pay’. 

In the Memory of HIM!!!

Life has never been so easy from the start and shall not be easy the historical trends tell the bitter reality. When certain decisions are made and they are the toughest and the earliest in one’s life time, they contain a strong impact on one’s life. And the one who dares to breach and enter in one’s life being an elder was you.

It seems that you were a kind of test from divine. Sometimes we need a jolt; an emotional jolt. It is like a wake up call or an intimation of a big dilemma expected to happen. To prepare ourselves i believe.

I truly believe that elder’s should not develop any emotional attachment with their kids or if they do they should take care of themselves more after that. It feels very selfish on the part of you to leave in such a way that there is no comeback.  There is a need to be emotionally intelligent in the situations which capture you emotionally otherwise can make you paralize later on.

Those who never had experienced the feelings of affection and kindness should be emotionally intelligent in a much greater degree as compared to the normal one’s. The intelligence demands us to be aware of and control our emotional feeling and handle our interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically.

Thus in order to avoid the conflict within oneself and the feelings of indifference where you are experiencing  strange feelings, unable to identify what has gone wrong, one must be vigilant enough to stop such affections and counter them in advance or should be ready to bear the traumas until the life goes on. 

Confused Banking

Banking is a well defined job to do. It has testament for every segment it caters. 

There are many standing operating procedures which are available in the bank 

for the convenience of the employees to practice them uniformly. The policies

 are implemented well through them. These procedures guide the employees in

 different dynamic situations within the organization with respect to customers

 and the treatment of internal transactional activities. 

Like individuals who collectively make the society and devise its culture. The different branches of the bank collectively form the culture of the bank. It is very surprising that the standalone culture of a branch varies proportionately with the overall theme of the bank itself at times. It is similar as to the sects in a country which are proportionate yet are the part of the same society within a country. 

We can tolerate the individuality at the societal level but we cannot tolerate the individuality at a corporate level. When we talk about an organization it has to follow the standard rules and procedures uniformly to clarify its long term vision. Four tyres of the car are required to move it in the same direction in order to reach at a desired destination. 

But unfortunately the deviations and the individual opinions jeopardize the true spirit of a bank’s values. Some seniors in an organization create their own perceptions and implement them without bothering what the law says. They emphasize practices. The major dilemma with following the practices blindly is that they are not questioned at the end of the 

day. 

In case of any mishap, law is applied and religiously followed. And when the law is 

consulted and the parent policy is consulted which resulted into that practice it is observed that the policy itself didnot actually mean the concept which is being practiced keeping that policy as a precedent. 

The chaos however occurs at the lower end. Where the junior level robots are working. 

They are kept by certain organizations like pawns to be used in case of any issue. To transfer humiliation, to defuse the management’s wrath etc. These junior level robots bear the burden at the end of the day and suffer mentally. Not knowing what actually they are doing and what they are 

supposed to do. 

To be continued

BEYOND CAPITALISM (REVIEW)

Capitalism is an economic system based on private ownership of the means of production and the creation of goods and services for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism
 include private property, capital accumulation, wage labour and competitive markets.

Welfare capitalism is capitalism that includes social welfare policies.Welfare capitalism 
is also the practice of businesses providing welfare services to their employees.

REVIEW:

If an environment has the symptoms of 

l Profit motive

l Markets

l Private enterprise

It means it has the disease of capitalism. 

The core value of capitalism includes:

l Individualism

l Materialism 

l Self interest

These value have replaced the traditional human values which were

l Traditional duty to God

l Royalty

l Community etc.

The values of capitalism have converted the welfare based relations among humans into the interest based relations. Every thing can be seen from the eye of a business man and the

 eye of the businessman sees profit only. 

The markets have intruded in all spheres of life. And this intrusion is the essence of 

capitalism. 

These changes are good because we are earning money, our economy is growing but these changes have some negative impact too. For example 

l Enormous inequality

l Ecological destruction

l Conflict 

l Economic instability and

l  Anomie ( social instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values; also :  personal unrest, alienation, and uncertainty that comes from a lack of purpose or ideals)

The traditional society, communism and capitalism all these systems have failed because

 the first two crushed individual initiative and the capitalism accompanied individual’s
 initiative with greed which incurred negative results. 

ULTIMATE SOLUTION:

Thus there should be an ultimate solution which is the mediation between the communism and capitalism i.e. Not only government centric neither unleashing individual’s initiative linked mainly with the greed. 

The ultimate solution must have the few qualities in it. These are

l Inquisitiveness

l Wisdom

l Artistic Creativity

l Altruism

But the problem with the ultimate solution is that, for the success of the proposal the people should adopt this attitude. However majority is struggling with the petty issues. They might 

divert their attention to the significance of this solution after the occurrence of certain 

catastrophe.

Unless, this aspect is paid attention the issue shall remain present and those who are

 sensing the importance of it should bear it stoically.

(Please Note: The original article was published in Dawn Isb, on 19 Jan 2016 by Niaz Murtaza)