Beyond Layoff

After recent 'warnings' from China, the US President Donald Trump signed a bill into law that calls for building an American consulate in Lhasa and checks Beijing’s interference in selecting the reincarnated new Dalai Lama. Amid recent discussions on stimulus and defense spending bills that were approved by US congress and went to US president for his signature was the Tibetan Policy and Support Act of 2020 (TPSA) . The new law bars the United States from opening new consulates in China until it is allowed one in the Tibetan capital Lhasa and authorizes funding to groups that promote cultural preservation, education and environmental sustainability in the Himalayan region. The law also calls on United States tol impose sanctions on officials "who directly interfere with the identification and installation of the future 15th Dalai Lama of Tibetan Buddhism".  This is a significant move as America undergoes political transition and a new president and his administrat...

Indians are getting ready to file their Income Tax Returns. After extensions, the last date for filing individual tax returns for AY20-21 filing is 31st December 2020, and most likely it won't be extended again. Some Indian Income tax payers are eligible to receive a "Certificate of Appreciation" from the Income Tax Department.  This initiative of the Modi government is a step towards acknowledging the contribution of taxpayers.   Taxpayers are eligible to  receive a certificate of appreciation based on the amount of tax they paid.  Depending on the amount of tax paid, the four categories identified by CBDT for individual taxpayers are: Platinum: For those taxpayers who have contributed Rs 1 crore and above as tax  Gold: For those taxpayers who have contributed between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore as tax  Silver: For those taxpayers who have contributed between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 50 lakh as tax  Bronze: For those taxpayers who have contributed b...

A staff nurse at a private hospital in Bangalore in India was caught red-handed by security officials while recording a video of a woman in the washroom.  Investigation revealed this to be a case of voyeurism. The police subsequently arrested Ashwini who revealed she was recording other women to get her kinky boyfriend to marry her. Preliminary investigations revealed that Ashwini’s phone contained several videos of her colleagues in the hostel in compromising situations, which she shared with her boyfriend.   Both Aswini and her  boyfriend,  Prabhu  are in police custody.  Initial probe revealed that Ashwini’s phone contained nude videos of other hostel residents and colleagues, which she had shared with Prabhu. The nurse claimed she had no idea what he was doing with them.  Prabhu and  Ashwini fell in  love after Prabhu dialed a wrong number and ended up speaking to Ashwini. Their chat turned to a deeper friendship.  Prabhu had ag...

Bangalore 13th December 2020: An iPhone manufacturing plant, run by Taiwan-based tech giant Wistron Corporation at Narsapura (around 60 km from Bengaluru  in Southern India) came under attack from workers on Saturday. Workers at Wistron's iPhone plant at Narsapura destroyed and damaged factory property during a riot to protest exploitation and withheld wages. Local Police arrested around 100 workers after they violently protested against their allegedly exploitative working conditions at a Taiwanese-owned iPhone factory in southern India. Footage circulating on Indian social media shows workers furiously smashing glass panels, flipping and torching cars, as well as destroying CCTV cameras, light fixtures, and ceiling fans. A majority of the nearly 2,000 employees, who were exiting the facility after completing their night-shift, went on a rampage destroying the company’s furniture, assembly units and even attempted to set fire to vehicles.  Senior police officers along wi...

The topic of narrow, congested, ziz-zagging roads is a matter of fascination for Indians. Auto forums like this post ( link ), routinely debate the existence of a few straight roads in India.  A recent Supreme Court seems to concur with the popular opinion, and goes a bit further by wondering if retaining  trees and pathways,  zig-zagging  roads  would reduce the speed of vehicles and eventually  minimize accidents and save lives. Quoting a recent hearing in the Supreme Court, Dhananjay Mahapatra, Associate Editor with Times of India tweeted  UP PWD had filed an application in 2017 for cutting down 2,940 trees for the project and Central Empowered Committee had given clearance. SC asks UP to evaluate value of trees taking into account the cost of oxygen, that the trees would have given to nature in their life time. — Dhananjay Mahapatra (@toi_dhananjayM) December 2, 2020 The observation came during hearing of a plea by the Uttar Pradesh government t...