Lalu's Jharkhand gesture gets him Congress backing in Bihar
Patna: Within minutes of the Jharkhand Governor inviting JMM Chief Shibu Soren to form the government, the Congress gave a letter of support to RJD chief Lalu Yadav in Bihar. However, Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan said he will vote against the RJD alliance in any vote of confidence.

Lalu who had parted ways with the JMM-Congress alliance in Jharkhand extended support to the Congress, and by way of reciprocity the Congress sent its letter of support for the RJD to the Governor of Bihar, Buta Singh.

Meanwhile the Lok Janshakti leader virtually distanced himself from the Congress asking "Where are the numbers for them?" with reference to the letter of support issued by the Congress.
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Jewellers protest branding tax
Mumbai: Jewellers across the country have started going on strike to protest against the new two per cent tax, with jewellers in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala having already shut shop, Kolkata jewellers will follow suit today. Jewellers Delhi will be on strike for the next three days.

Jewellers across the country are asking for the tax to be rolled back immediately. The fight is on the definition of branding which includes even symbols etched on jewellery by small jewelers which affects almost ninety per cent of the jewellery market, which is in the unorganised sector. Karigars will be affected because jewellers use Karigars to mark quality on their jewellery," officials of the MD World Gold Council said.

Experts feel the tax might ultimately hit quality and undo all that the Bureau of Indian Standards has been trying to enforce on jewelers. With quality hallmarking by jewellers coming within the category of branding, it could discourage small jewellers from putting any marks on what they make.
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FM to rethink fringe benefit tax
New Delhi: Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said that anomalies in the Fringe Benefit Tax will be addressed. He further said that the government has no intention to tax any legitimate business expenditure.

"There is no intention to tax legitimate business expenditure. I have asked my people to look at the entries to see if any unintended anomaly has crept in which needs to be addressed," he said at a meeting organised by FICCI.

He also indicated that 0.01 per cent tax on cash withdrawals from banks could be re-looked at. "We are concerned about huge withdrawals of cash from banks everyday. Such transactions, which distort the economic level-playing field, will have to be addressed. If it cannot be addressed this way, it will have to be addressed in another way," the Finance Minister said.
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