Letters to the editor dated Feb 14, 2020

Apropos ‘Rallies and realpolitik’ (February 14). A new trend of undue hype and hoopla over world leaders visiting other countries is emerging. The clinching of business deals or covenants is always a work in progress, and to expect that something substantial shall happen during US President Donald Trump’s sojourn to India is going too far. Trump is known for his unpredictability, reneging on promises and an unilateral approach, lacking all ingredients for a meaningful negotiation. At best, India must ensure that he does not rake up the Kashmir issue — which is likely, as the topmost priority for him is to win over Pakistan and solve the Afghanistan impasse before the presidential elections.

Chennai

Apropos ‘Giving PM -KISAN the multiplier effect’ (February 14). Indeed, the PM-KISAN is a pragmatic scheme for addressing the financial needs of the farmers, provided it is availed for the right reasons. Though the scheme has been welcomed by farmers, it is brought to fore that the amount has been spent both for agriculture as well as for consumption. These kind of leakages could be averted by releasing a major slice of the funds during the agro-input period. The amount spent on consumption is also a rural demand booster at this juncture of slowdown, and hence nothing will be wasted. Increasing this amount with side supports for agro-operations will be a game-changer.

Sivakasi

Apropos, ‘India’s dependence on fossil fuels will continue to remain high’ (February 14).It is time India taps its natural resources such as CBM, CMM and AMM trapped in the coal seams in the country, and the same can be utilised for power generation and industrial use like in Australia and China.

Besides this, they should also look into the oil resources such as heavy oil, which is hard to extract, but with new and innovative methods it can be tapped easily. This would not only reduce the dependence on import fuels, but also help build a $5-trillion economy.

Sydney, Australia

The conviction of Hafiz Saeed by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan just days before the Financial Action Taken Force is to meet to decide if Pakistan should be blacklisted cannot be simply brushed aside as an innocuous development.

While India has been taking a series of diplomatic measures to encourage Pakistan to to rein in terror groups, not much has changed on the ground. But the FATF ultimatum appears to have proven effective. As a country whose economy is virtually on life support from the IMF, Pakistan can hardly afford an blacklisting from the FATF at this juncture.

However, the efficacy of Hafiz Saeed’s conviction needs to be tested against the actions Pakistan takes to dismantle the infrastructure of terror as a result of this conviction.

Sholavandan, TN

With reference to the news item ‘It is corruption as usual in Tirupur’ (February 11), alleging that certain GST officers are receiving commission for sanction of refund claims at Tirupur, and that GST refunds are delayed purposely for want of commission by GST officers. It is further alleged that the taxpayers after filing LUT refunds online, have to take physical documents to the concerned officer for verification. It is submitted that the contents of the said article are at variance with the factual position.

GST Refunds can be filed by exporters of goods under two distinct procedures viz, (i) LUT Refund and (ii) IGST Refunds; Both the procedures are optional for the exporters and the departmental officers nowhere come into the picture for exercise of their option.

Further, jurisdictional Central Tax officers have been processing and adhering to the timelines for sanction of refund. A total of 6,933 refund claims have been received in GST era in Tirupur (5,935 claims prior to 26.09.2019 and 998 claims after 26.09.2019) involving an amount more than ₹800 crore, which has been sanctioned and credited to the exporters’ bank account. This office has not come across any complaint of illegal gratification against any of the officer working at Tirupur regarding GST Refund.