Nov/27/2011

India, Nepal sign revised taxation agreement

India and Nepal have signed a revised Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA), with the aim of encouraging Indian investment in Nepal, preventing fiscal evasion, and easing procedures for stakeholders with commercial interests in both countries. The treaty, based on modern taxation principles and in line with the “current international environment”, will replace the older agreement on double taxation avoidance signed in 1987.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who arrived in Nepal’s capital on Sunday morning, signed the pact with his counterpart, Barshaman Pun "Ananta", in the presence of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai.

Mr. Mukherjee told reporters, “The revised DTAA will provide tax stability to the residents of India and Nepal and facilitate mutual economic cooperation as well as stimulate the flow of investment, technology and services between India and Nepal.”

The DTAA includes provisions for "exchange of information, assistance in collection of taxes between tax authorities and anti-abuse provisions". The exchange of information will extend to exchanging bank details, and could be shared with other law enforcement agencies "with the consent of the information supplying country".

The agreement has been welcomed by the private sector.

Sujeev Shakya, head of BEED, a consultancy and financial advisories firm, toldThe Hindu, “This is positive and was required as India is our biggest business partner. It will pave way for greater investment, transparency, and allow both countries to avail of each other’s comparative advantages.”

He explained that since tax rates were lower in Nepal, investors who had paid taxes in India would not have to do so in Nepal and those who paid taxes in Nepal would only have to pay the differential amount back in India.

The pact comes soon after the two countries signed the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement during Mr. Bhattarai’s visit to India last month.

Nepal hopes that the two agreements together would encourage further Indian investment in Nepal, which in turn would lead to greater exports and help bridge the growing trade deficit with India. India accounts for more than 45 per cent of foreign direct investment in Nepal, while two-thirds of Nepal’s trade is with India.

Political meetings

In the course of his day-long visit, Mr. Mukherjee called on President Ram Baran Yadav, and Mr. Bhattarai. He also met Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda", Nepali Congress president Sushil Koirala and senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba, and leaders of Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) and the Madhesi Front.

Sources said that Mr. Mukherjee enquired about the current political situation, peace process and Constitution drafting process in the light of the upcoming expiry of the Constituent Assembly’s term on November 30. Nepali leaders briefed him about the recent seven-point peace agreement, ongoing process of categorisation of Maoist combatants, formation of a State Restructuring Commission, and plans to extend the CA by another six months.

Mr. Mukherjee said India welcomed the 7-point agreement, and had an abiding interest in "the success of Nepal’s transition to multi-party democracy and the completion of the peace process". He added, “India is committed to assist the Government and people of Nepal in these processes of historic change in Nepal.”

Jayalalithaa opposes FDI in retail

Flaying the Centre’s decision to allow Foreign Direct Investment in retail, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Sunday alleged it was taken under pressure from a few retail giants and asserted her government would not allow multi-brand global players to set up their markets in the state.

Strongly opposing the decision to open up retail trade to FDI, Ms. Jayalalithaa demanded that the Congress-led UPA government reverse the ‘ill-advised’ move as it would not serve to bring down inflation or improve market efficiency.

Rather, the domestic manufacturing and services sector would take a serious hit and the retail trade completely taken over by the MNC dominated big retail giants, which is not good for the country, she said in a strongly-worded statement.

“While Parliament is in session, this move of the Government of India..without even consulting the state governments is unprecedented and indicates the overweening arrogance of the UPA goverment,” she said.

The FDI policy in the retail sector was a “sensitive issue and by making this sudden announcement ignoring the sentiments of the people, the Central government has stirred the “proverbial Hornet’s Nest,” she said.

Ms. Jayalalithaa described the Centre’s move as a “wrong decision, taken under pressure from a few retail giants starved for capital infusion for their future survival.”

Justifying her stand, she said her government “will not allow the multi brand global players as permitted under the new policy to set up their hyper markets in Tamil Nadu.”

While the government talked about creation of jobs for 10 million in the next three years, “it will lead to 40 million people being uprooted and thrown out from their business, she said.

Ms. Jayalalithaa said the purported intention behind the move seemed to be bringing more foreign investment to India and to bring down double digit inflation which was mainly “due to the series of policy blunders” made by the Congress-led UPA.

The Centre “should realise that constraints on farm products on the supply side, cannot be addressed through the FDI route, but only by squarely addressing the infrastructural constraints through appropriate policy support.” Elaborating on her contention, Ms. Jayalalithaa mentioned the cases of the UK and Thailand where retail chains reportedly controlled the major share of the market. She said the MNC experience in many countries showed that the “price mark up by such MNCs is much higher than what is being charged by the small vendors.” Holding that “any amount of safeguards will not be any use in protecting the interests of the domestic sector,” Ms. Jayalalithaa demanded that the Centre’s decision be reversed.

“The Centre’s announcement has come as a thunderbolt and shocked millions of small vendors who have been completely taken off guard,” she said.

As the decision would affect the livelihood of millions of small departmental store owners and “completely destroy the unorganised retail sector within the next couple of years,” Ms. Jayalalithaa said she strongly opposed the move to open up the retail trade to Foreign Direct Investment.

Brain stem cell transplant may pave way for Parkinson’s

Scientists claim to have carried out a pioneering stem cell transplant that rebuilt brain circuitry in mice, an achievement which could pave the way for a new and effective treatment for conditions from Parkinson’s to autism.

In their experiment, an international team, led by Harvard University, put healthy stem cells from mouse embryos into the brains of adult laboratory rodents who were unable to use leptin, a hormone that tells the body to stop eating.

The transplant worked to the extent that the creatures were able to process leptin again -- and duly lost weight.

The researchers said they studied obesity only because it would be obvious whether the experiment had worked. Their true target in treating a critical region of the brain was complex conditions such as Parkinson’s, autism, epilepsy, motor neuron disease and spinal cord injuries.

The “blank” stem cells turned into four types of neuron, or brain cell, and connected up with existing cells, say the scientists whose findings have been published in the latest edition of the ‘Science’ journal.

Jeffery Macklis at Harvard University, who led the team, was quoted by the ‘Daily Mail’ as saying, “We’ve used complex circuitry as a test case for whether precisely selected and controlled neuron transplants could rewire the brain.

“What we found is these neurons not only turned into the right types of cells, but they sent signals to the recipient’s brain and received signals from the recipient’s brain.

“The next step for us is to ask parallel questions of other parts of the brain and spinal cord, those involved in ALS (motor neuron disease) and with spinal cord injuries.

Can we rebuild circuitry in the mammalian brain? I suspect that we can.”

IKEA set to announce retail plans for India

Scandinavian home products giant IKEA that has stayed away from the Indian retail sector saying it will enter only on its own, is set to announce its plans for the market with the government allowing 100 per cent foreign direct investment in single-brand retail.

According to people familiar with the development, IKEA’s president and CEO Mikael Ohlsson is visiting India this week to “announce strategic initiative for Indian market”.

Details of IKEA’s plans, however, could not be ascertained.

In the past, India allowed only 51 per cent FDI in single-brand retail. Last week the government had removed the cap and allowed international firms selling products under one brand name to tap the growing consumer base here without a local partner.

Moreover, the government had also allowed 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail.

IKEA has been sourcing many materials from India for a long time now. It has been adopting a wait and watch policy to open its retail stores as it wanted to operate on its own.

The firm also supports Unicef’s water and sanitation programme in India and funds programmes in the carpet and cotton regions in the country.

In 2010, IKEA’s sales increased to €23.1 billion, an increase of 7.7 per cent compared to the previous year, with Asia and Australia contributing about 6 per cent.

The group has operations in 41 countries with 29 trading service offices in 25 countries, according to its website.

NASA launches super-size rover to Mars: 'Go, Go!'

A super-size rover zoomed toward Mars on an 8-month, 354 million-mile (570 million-kilometre) journey Saturday, the biggest, best equipped robot ever sent to explore another planet.

NASA's six-wheeled, one-armed wonder, Curiosity, will reach Mars next summer and use its jackhammer drill, rock-zapping laser machine and other devices to search for evidence that Earth's next-door neighbour might once have been home to the teeniest forms of life.

More than 13,000 invited guests jammed the Kennedy Space Centre on Saturday morning to witness NASA's first launch to Mars in four years, and the first flight of a Martian rover in eight years.

Mars fever gripped the crowd.

NASA astrobiologist Pan Conrad, whose carbon compound-seeking instrument is on the rover, wore a bright blue, short-sleeve blouse emblazoned with rockets, planets and the words, "Next stop Mars!" She jumped, cheered and snapped pictures as the Atlas V rocket blasted off. So did Los Alamos National Laboratory's Roger Wiens, a planetary scientist in charge of Curiosity's laser blaster, called ChemCam.

Surrounded by 50 U.S. and French members of his team, Wiens shouted "Go, Go, Go!" as the rocket soared into a cloudy sky. "It was beautiful," he later observed, just as NASA declared the launch a full success.

A few miles (kilometres) away at the space centre’s visitor complex, Lego teamed up with NASA for a toy spacecraft-building event for children this Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The irresistible lure: 800,000 Lego bricks.

The 1-ton Curiosity 10 feet (3 meters) long, 9 feet (2.7 meters) wide and 7 feet (2.1 meters) tall at its mast is a mobile, nuclear-powered laboratory holding 10 science instruments that will sample Martian soil and rocks, and with unprecedented skill, analyze them right on the spot.

It's as big as a car. But NASA's Mars exploration program director calls it "the monster truck of Mars."

"It's an enormous mission. It's equivalent of three missions, frankly, and quite an undertaking," said the ecstatic program director, Doug McCuistion. "Science fiction is now science fact. We're flying to Mars. We'll get it on the ground and see what we find."

The primary goal of the $2.5 billion mission is to see whether cold, dry, barren Mars might have been hospitable for microbial life once upon a time â” or might even still be conducive to life now. No actual life detectors are on board; rather, the instruments will hunt for organic compounds.

Curiosity's 7-foot (2.1-meter) arm has a jackhammer on the end to drill into the Martian red rock, and the 7-foot (2.1-meter) mast on the rover is topped with high-definition and laser cameras.

With Mars the ultimate goal for astronauts, NASA will use Curiosity to measure radiation at the red planet. The rover also has a weather station on board that will provide temperature, wind and humidity readings; a computer software app with daily weather updates is planned.

No previous Martian rover has been so sophisticated.

The world has launched more than three dozen missions to the ever-alluring Mars, which is more like Earth than the other solar-system planets. Yet fewer than half those quests have succeeded.

Just two weeks ago, a Russian spacecraft ended up stuck in orbit around Earth, rather than en route to the Martian moon Phobos.

"Mars really is the Bermuda Triangle of the solar system," said NASA's Colleen Hartman, assistant associate administrator for science. "It's the death planet, and the United States of America is the only nation in the world that has ever landed and driven robotic explorers on the surface of Mars, and now we're set to do it again."

Curiosity's arrival next August will be particularly hair-raising.

In a spacecraft first, the rover will be lowered onto the Martian surface via a jet pack and tether system similar to the sky cranes used to lower heavy equipment into remote areas on Earth.

Curiosity is too heavy to use air bags like its much smaller predecessors, Spirit and Opportunity, did in 2004. Besides, this new way should provide for a more accurate landing.

Astronauts will need to make similarly precise landings on Mars one day.

Curiosity will spend a minimum of two years roaming around Gale Crater, chosen from among more than 50 potential landing sites because it's so rich in minerals. Scientists said if there is any place on Mars that might have been ripe for life, it may well be there.

The rover should go farther and work harder than any previous Mars explorer because of its power source: 10.6 pounds (4.8 kilograms) of radioactive plutonium. The nuclear generator was encased in several protective layers in case of a launch accident.

NASA expects to put at least 12 miles (19 kilometres) on the odometer, once the rover sets down on the Martian surface.

McCuistion anticipates being blown away by the never-before-seen vistas. "Those first images are going to just be stunning, I believe. It will be like sitting in the bottom of the Grand Canyon," he said at a post-launch news conference.

This is the third astronomical mission to be launched from Cape Canaveral by NASA since the retirement of the venerable space shuttle fleet this summer. The Juno probe is en route to Jupiter, and twin spacecraft named Grail will arrive at Earth's moon on New Year's Eve and Day.

Unlike Juno and Grail, Curiosity suffered development programs and came in two years late and nearly $1 billion over budget. Scientists involved in the project noted Saturday that the money is being spent on Earth, not Mars, and the mission is costing every American about the price of a movie.

"I'll leave you to judge for yourself whether or not that's a movie you'd like to see," said California Institute of Technology's John Grotzinger, the project scientist. "I know that's one I would."

Sarangi player Ustad Sultan Khan passes away

Sarangi maestro and classical singer Ustad Sultan Khan, the soulful voice behind hits like ‘Piya basanti’ and ‘Albela sajan aayo re’, passed away this afternoon here after prolonged illness.

The Padma Bhushan awardee, 71, who hailed from a family of sarangi players in Jodhpur, was on dialysis for some time, family sources said.

His funeral will take place in Jodhpur tomorrow.

Credited for reviving sarangi, Mr. Khan is famous for his extraordinary control over the instrument and his husky voice.

He started performing at a the age of 11, and later collaborated at the international level with sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, on George Harrison’s 1974 ‘Dark Horse World Tour’.

Mr. Khan’s was a family of sarangi masters from Rajasthan. He was initially tutored by his father, Ustad Gulab Khan. Later, he trained under Ustad Amir Khan, a classical vocalist of Indore gharana (school).

After establishing himself as sarangi player, Ustad Sultan Khan also worked with musicians from the Hindi film industry, such as Lata Mangeshkar, Khayyam, Sanjay Leela Bhansali apart from collaborating with musicians in the West.

Apart from Padma Bhushan, Mr. Khan won numerous musical awards including the Sangeet Natya Academy Award twice, the Gold Medalist Award of Maharashtra and the American Academy of Artists Award in 1998.

Mr. Khan was also a member of the Indian fusion group Tabla Beat Science, with Zakir Hussain and American bassist Bill Laswell.

His son, Sabir Khan is also a well-known sarangi player.

Expressing his shock over Mr. Khan’s death, musician Salim Merchant said, “I lost my ustad - ustad sultan khan, my guru, my friend and my idol. He passed away this afternoon. We will never have a sarangi maestro like him.”

Talking to PTI, Mr. Merchant said Mr. Khan had not been keeping well for quite some time. His kidneys had failed, necessitating dialysis.”

Actress Dia Mirza said, “Ustad Sultan Khan Saab our most revered sarangi player... your rich legacy will live on. RIP.”

Musician Ismail Darbar, who worked with Mr. Khan in ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ said,” “It’s a great loss for Indian music industry. I was shocked to hear the news of his death as I knew that he was not keeping well for sometime.

“I share a different rapport with him. He was my father’s close friend. I was the first one to make him sing a song for a film. He sang ‘ Albella...’ brilliantly for the film,” Mr. Darbar said.

Shreya Ghoshal, who collaborated with Mr. Khan on ‘Leje leja re’, wrote, “Just heard about the loss of our dear Ustad sultan khan Sa’ab I had the gr8 fortune and honour of working with him. Too saddened.”