Saudi, UAE VAT may adversely affect majority of Indian expats

Agencies
January 3, 2018

Hyderabad, Jan 3: Introduction of Value Added Tax (VAT) by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) would adversely affect a majority of Indians working there and reduce their remittances, said a former diplomat.

"I would say 70 to 80% of Indian community there will be adversely affected," said Talmiz Ahmad, the former Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE.

The size of the Indian community in Saudi Arabia and the UAE is three million and 2.8 million, respectively, he said.

Of them, the lower-middle-class and middle-class sections will get affected the most as they are already feeling the pressure on account of high cost of living, Ahmad said.

"This is on account of rent, medical expenses, school fees, transport and high cost of essential items. Therefore, cost of living has gone up quite significantly in the last two years," he said.

The adverse impact on the labour community which is provided accommodation by the employer and blue-collar workers who are "protected" by their companies would be comparatively less, he said.

"As it is, the cost of living there (Saudi Arabia and the UAE) is quite high," he said. "Obviously, the low paid Indian expatriates will be adversely affected."

"I have a feeling, as it is because of the fall in oil prices and reduction in employment, the remittances have already reduced in the last two or three years," Ahmad said.

"The remittances from the Gulf have already come down; earlier it was about $35 billion; I think it would have come down to USD 30 billion. Yes, there will be a further small reduction (following the introduction of VAT) because this income will no longer be available to the person to remit," Ahmad said.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE introduced VAT from January 1, a first for the Gulf. Reports said the 5% sales tax applies to most goods and services.

Comments

Jacob
 - 
Wednesday, 3 Jan 2018

OWN MOTHERLAND INDIA... nver before 70 yers we have had such suffering...due to demonetization and GST together with DIGITAL INDIA is making life MOST SUFFERED..Trust and hope our PM will withdraw something to BENEFIT THE POOR

Ibrahim
 - 
Wednesday, 3 Jan 2018

King wont trouble Indians. He is so generous

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Agencies
June 29,2020

Tehran, Jun 29: Iran has issued an arrest warrant and asked Interpol for help in detaining President Donald Trump and dozens of others it believes carried out the drone strike that killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad, a local prosecutor reportedly said Monday.

While Trump faces no danger of arrest, the charges underscore the heightened tensions between Iran and the United States since Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.

Tehran prosecutor Ali Alqasimehr said Trump and more than 30 others whom Iran accuses of involvement in the Jan. 3 strike that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad face “murder and terrorism charges,” the semiofficial ISNA news agency reported.

Alqasimehr did not identify anyone else sought other than Trump, but stressed that Iran would continue to pursue his prosecution even after his presidency ends.

Interpol, based in Lyon, France, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Alqasimehr also was quoted as saying that Iran requested a “red notice” be put out for Trump and the others, which represents the highest level arrest request issued by Interpol. Local authorities end up making the arrests on behalf of the country that request it. The notices cannot force countries to arrest or extradite suspects, but can put government leaders on the spot and limit suspects’ travel.

After receiving a request, Interpol meets by committee and discusses whether or not to share the information with its member states. Interpol has no requirement for making any of the notices public, though some do get published on its website.

It is unlikely Interpol would grant Iran’s request as its guideline for notices forbids it from “undertaking any intervention or activities of a political” nature.

The U.S. killed Soleimani, who oversaw the Revolutionary Guard’s expeditionary Quds Force, and others in the January strike near Baghdad International Airport. It came after months of incidents raising tensions between the two countries and ultimately saw Iran retaliate with a ballistic missile strike targeting American troops in Iraq.

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News Network
March 3,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 3: Chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Monday introduced the Karnataka Municipalities and Certain Other Law (Amendment) Bill, 2020, in the assembly to give voters the opportunity to reject candidates in civic polls.

The bill, if passed, will enable election officials to offer the NOTA option in the elections to municipal corporations on the lines of assembly and Lok Sabha polls.

An amendment bill which seeks to enable the government to set up a separate university for the districts of Raichur and Yadgir was also tabled. The government said the workload of Gulbarga University necessitated creation of a separate university for the two districts, a move that will also help reduce regional imbalance in Kalyana Karnataka region.

Another amendment bill seeks to allow industrial units, which have failed to start operations on allotted land after seven years, to sell off the parcels to another unit. Bills which empower authorised agencies to regulate turf clubs and horse racing and regulate salary and pension of teachers in higher education institutions were also introduced in the assembly on Monday.

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News Network
March 19,2020

New Delhi, Mar 19: The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the validity of Karnataka's 2018 reservation law, which granted reservation in promotion to employees belonging to SC and ST categories.

A bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud holds that applications filed by a group of general category employees for applying 'post-based quota' and the principle of the creamy layer at entry-level in public employment are not maintainable.

The apex court had, in November last year, reserved its order on the applications filed by general category candidates in the matter.

In May last year, the top court had upheld the law allowing reservations in promotions for SC and ST candidates with consequential seniority.

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