Income tax - Responsibility or Duty ?

Income tax is that part of our earning which we share with our country for over all development. Above certain limits the government has made it compulsory to pay income tax. These funds are used to build roads, bridges, trains and even to pay salaried to our minister in the government and for functioning of parliament. Hence it is a very important contribution from our end.

Sometimes we feel how does it matter if I don’t pay taxes others are still paying. But if everyone begins to think in that way the state would have no funds for itself. Besides it’s a crime and might result in heavy penalties.

However if people of the nation have a general resentment against the government that they are not doing any good and the development is not at par with the expectations then the question arises who is eating up all the funds meant for developments of the society? What is government doing with the heavy taxes levied on common man? Why should we shoulder this burden? In my opinion the solution is not to stop paying taxes. Rather we need to exercise deliberation in choosing the right government. After all we live in a democratic society.

We all have bills to pay, including our nation. Our nation takes unimaginable amount of loan from the world bank to accomplish various development plans for the society. The least we can do is to pay our due from the income which our county has enabled us to earn.

My opinion on lottery tickets

Lottery tickets in a way are very similar to gamble with may be fewer stakes. When several people spend money to buy the tickets a few of them get paid with the same money. Lottery tickets have a general effect of a miracle. All of us love miracles. Especially in despair we dream of some miracle that would pull us out of our woes. The lottery business basically thrives on this mindset of people.

In tough times like these when the entire world is going through a financial crunch many people who were financially sound previously are left with hardly any money to make their ends meet. The loans are piling up and harassment from the money collectors are pushing them to edges. When there is no other hope left people want to try out their luck with the lottery. I remember a friend of mine who had recently took a house loan and bought a flat and got laid off at work due to down-sizing of the company. It was hard for him to find a job immediately since there aren’t enough jobs in the market these days. The installments had to be paid he had no money and a family of four to feed. He started buying lottery tickets because it made him feel that there was some hope of recovery. If he won a lottery most likely his financial condition would improve a great deal and he will get enough time to put his best efforts in finding a new job.

However some people are addicted to buying lottery tickets. For them wining the money is not as important as the excitement of the gamble. Such people need counseling so stop wasting their hard earned money since the probability of winning a lottery would be one in million. It has even been banned in some states in India to curb the menace.

It would be better to be self-reliant and make concrete efforts to solve own problems than pray for a supernatural divine intervention. Since god helps only those who help themselves. 

Role of youth in changing the society for good

The involvement of youth is a crucial in shaping up of the society. They are the future of the society. Several young people  are aware of the problems faced by the society at the grass root level as they are part of it on a day to day basis. They are energetic and full of bright idea. A little guidance and encouragement can help they pursue these ideas with great enthusiasm.

In our society we have witnessed young men and women with great idea turn into successful entrepreneurs and later turn into social entrepreneurs as they are willing to bring about positive change in the society. These are very influential people. When they take initiative on any of the prevalent social issues it has a gallant impact on the system and the people in general. The society looks upon them as role models and will to follow their foot step.

We have seen examples of Bill Gates, Narayan Murthy and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw. Bill Gates AIDS foundation is known to everyone. Narayan Murthy and Kiran Mazumdar have contributed to the local development and diabetics’ respectively. These people have achieved what they wanted to and now want to give it back to the society. More than anything they strive to have a lasting impact and contribute to the change they would wish to see in the society.

The society has great expectations from the young politicians like Barack Obama and David Cameron. In spite of having great ideas lack of experience can make is difficult to for see applicability of these ideas. Having guidance from an experience person can benefit in planning overall sustainable development of the society.

In the end any society is only as strong as its weakest section. So its very important for all of us to be the change we need instead of waiting for someone to bring about change.

Branded commodities on the developing economies

Branding is the key in today’s economy. It is no longer just about the product you produce but how you present the entire package is very essential for economic success. There is a need to establish relations with the customer base.  Branding means different things to different people. It is something like the feel good factor of any commodity.

A Strong brand can protect a business against competitive attacks, Market fluctuations and price wars more so in the times of economic uncertainties.  Branding also involves customer relationship management.

There are various types of customer. They can be classified typically into groups. Group A Customers are the ones which make frivolous purchases and invest a lot of money. They are probably just 1 percent of the entire customer base.  Group B customers are those who don’t buy as often as Group A customers but are slow and steady buyers. Group C are those who haven’t really made any purchase but are probably more of friends. They are important customers because they can anytime convert to Block B or A customer. Group D customer are the ones who may bring about minimal gains but consume considerable amount of time. Even though they are least productive type of customers not all of them can be got rid of. Some of them have potential of moving up the block and becoming group B customers. They could also end up being customers of a competitor brand if not taken care of. Group E are the ex- customer. Their feedback is very important improving and betterment of the product, services etc.

For a planning a promotion for branding first of all the target audience must be identified. After a through brainstorming the creative idea needs to be conceptualized and executed with extreme deliberation. The branding can be done across various media like print, press, TV, hoardings etc. The intention should be to catch the audience attention and propagate information about the product.