Difficulties in tax payment

Earlier there was a provision since 2005 for making income tax payments through Challan ITNS 280. A taxpayer could pay IT by filling up this challan at any of the authorised banks. The payment of tax could be made without a computer/laptop. However, this procedure has been discontinued and new tax can be paid either online via e-pay tax link of e-filing portal of I-T Department or by downloading the CRN challan from the same link and remitting tax at the bank branch. This challan is both bank and assessee specific. However, in either case one cannot pay tax without the help of a computer/laptop.

Taxpayers who do not possess a computer/laptop will not be in a position to pay tax or have to depend on others for this purpose. The I-T Department should, therefore, reintroduce as one of the options the earlier system of payment of income tax in the authorised banks through printed challans.

KR Jayaprakash Rao

Mysuru

Misleading labels

Apropos ‘The importance of being a label’ (May 5), it would be no exaggeration to say that the labels on the food products hide more than what they reveal about the actual ingredients. Often, the truth is submerged under the technical names of the ingredients/additives, so that the consumer can never decipher whether they are good or harmful for their health. Essential information is always printed in the smallest possible font so that even people with best of eyesight cannot easily read the labels. Businesses which put misleading labels on their products should be severely punished and their products banned.

Kosaraju Chandramouli

Hyderabad

Ignoring the fine print

Indians as a rule are not inclined to have a look at the ingredients that go to make a food product. When they do not look at the large print, there is little chance of taking a look at the fine print. Therefore manufacturers of many of these products can get away with advertising all kinds of nonsense. The additional problem is that labels are likely to tell you more about what they contain than what they hide. Even if they contain all the beneficial constituents as claimed, how much the body can absorb them is never known.

Anthony Henriques

Mumbai

Drip irrigation

The refers to ‘Drip irrigation needs further push’ (May 5). Administrators, over the years, have done precious little in augmenting the storage capacity of water-bodies and the farmers were not made aware of the perils of over-exploitation of groundwater.

Aggressive measures such as modifying the existing agricultural credit scheme for drip irrigation such as offering nil interest rate loans for long gestation periods and extending 50 per cent front-end subsidy on components would motivate more farmers to adopt drip irrigation system.

RV Baskaran

Chennai

Deposit concentration

This refers to ‘Banks’ risks from deposit concentration’ (May 5). Traditionally, the Indian financial system has been depending on household savings for resources. The components of liabilities of the banking system are undergoing change. As the institutional system servicing the financial sector has diversified , the risks are also undergoing change. The central bank will have to factor in the changing scenario while sharpening its tools to handle potential shocks.

MG Warrier

Mumbai

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