[Economy Q] Minimum Alternative Tax (MAT) its provisions in DTC Question from via email Explain Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) and its provisions under the new Direct tax code (DTC) Ans First we need to understand why Government takes MAT? Zero Tax companies Example, A company's book-profit is 10 lakh Rupees. Then they use some creative accounting methods like depreciation, donations etc. to claim deductions and finally their 'taxable' income is reduced to almost zero. e.g. in 2009 during the recession time, Government of India launched a scheme to give 50% depreciation to commercial vehicles. (with assumption that it'll boost the vehicle demand and help the automobile industry to come out of the recession.) So the company buys a truck, for 20 lakh rupees on loan. Their deduction on first year= 50% of 20 lakh rupees= 10 lakh rupees. Their taxable income = book profit minus deductions =10 minus 10=0. So they don't have to pay any tax on their profit at all! Other tricks involve donating 5,000 rupees to some religious institution run by con-man and getting donation-receipt of 5 lakh rupees. And claiming deduction! and so on.. These companies, making profit but having zero taxable income, are known as 'Zero tax companies' Minimum Alternative Tax (MAT) Around 1997, Indian Government realized above large-scale problem of creative accounting and tax-deduction. So it came up with MAT (Minimum alternative tax). So if company's taxable income is less than 30% of its book profit, then it'll have to pay MAT, which is around 15% of the book profit. Therefore, now even if above zero-tax company escapes the regular taxes, it still has to pay 1.5 lakh rupees in MAT.

[Q] ENGLISH a big necessity in clearing IAS and State PSC exam

Got question via email

I wanted to ask that is ENGLISH a big necessity in clearing IAS exam and other STATE PSC'S..

Ans:
As per new pattern in IAS exam (known as CSAT), there will be compulsory English grammar/ comprehension questions in the prelim paper-II. [its marks will be counted in the prelim-selection list]

In the mains exam of IAS, there is a compulsory english language paper, but its marks are not counted in the final merit list. However, in some State PSCs such as Gujarat, the marks of compulsory English language paper (mains) are counted in the final merit list.

So yes English has became a big necessity for clearing competitive exams be it IAS and State PSC or Bank.

IMPORTANT DAYS FOR UPSC PRELIMS

IMPORTANT DAYS FOR UPSC PRELIMS

January
27	International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust
February
2	world's wetlands day
March
8	International Women's Day and UN Day for Women's Rights and International Peace
21	International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
21 March - 28 March	Week of Solidarity with the Peoples Struggling against Racism and Racial Discrimination
22	World Water Day
23	World Meteorological Day
April
4	International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action
7	World Health Day
23	World Book and Copyright Day
May
3	World Press Freedom Day
15	International Day of Families
17	World Information Society Day (formerly World Telecommunication Day)
21	World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development
22	International Day for Biological Diversity (formerly December 29, changed in 2001)
25 May - 1 June	Week of Solidarity with the Peoples of Non-Self-Governing Territories
29	International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers
31	World No-Tobacco Day
June
5	World Environment Day
17	World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought
20	World Refugee Day
23	United Nations Public Service Day
26	International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking and  International Day in Support of Victims of Torture
July
1st Saturday	International Day of Cooperatives
11	World Population Day
August
9	International Day of the World's Indigenous People
12	International Youth Day
23	International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition
September
8	International Literacy Day
16	International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer
21	International Day of Peace (formerly the opening day of the UN General Assembly, changed to a set date as of 2002)
During last week	World Maritime Day
October
1	International Day for the Older Person
4 October - 10 October	World Space Week
5	World Teacher's Day
1st Monday	World Habitat Day
2nd Wednesday	International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction
9	World Post Day
10	World Mental Health Day
16	World Food Day
17	International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
24	United Nations Day  and  World Developemnt Information Day
24 October - 30 October	Disarmament Week
November
6	International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict
14	World Diabetes Day
16	International Day of Tolerance
3rd Sunday	World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims
20	Universal Children's Day, and  Africa Industrialization Day
21	World Television Day
25	International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
29	International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
December
1	World AIDS Day
2	International Day for the Abolition of Slavery
3	International Day of Disabled Persons
5	International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development
7	International Civil Aviation Day
9	International Anti-Corruption Day
10	Human Rights Day
11	International Mountain Day
18	International Migrants Day
19	United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation
20	International Human Solidarity Day

CANCUN AGREEMENT

 CANCUN AGREEMENT

The official talks of CONFERENCE OF PARITIES (COP-16) ended on December 10 ,2010 at Cancun, Mexico and marked a turning point in the global negotiations to agree a global deal to tackle dangerous climate change.

Key outcomes from the agreements at the Summit are:

·                                 Objective: agreed to peak emissions and an overall 2 degree target to limit temperature rise.

·                                 Emissions: bringing details of what developed and developing countries are doing to tackle climate change,                           promised in Copenhagen, into the UN system so they can be assessed.

·                                 MRV: agreed a system so we know how countries are living up to their promises to take action on emissions

·                                 Long-term finance: established the Green Climate Fund and will start to get it ready to help developing countries go low carbon and adapt to climate impacts.

·                                 Deforestation: agreed to slow, halt and reverse destruction of trees and agree the rules for delivering it and for monitoring progress.

·                                 Technology/Adaptation: set up the mechanisms to help developing countries access low carbon technology, and adapt to climate change

THTHE COP-17 WILL BE HELD AT DURBAN,SOUTH AFRICA FROM NOV28th   TO DEC 9th,  2011.

Civils General Studies Prelims Question Papers 1997-2009

The following are the prelims General Studies Question papers of the previous years.
Download by clicking on the Respective links.

Please leave a comment if you liked this post and to appreciate our effort.

Manav

2009 Prelims General Studies Download

2008 Prelims General Studies Download

2007 Prelims General Studies Download

2006 Prelims General Studies Download

2005 Prelims General Studies Download

2004 Prelims General Studies Download

2003 Prelims General Studies Download

2002 Prelims General Studies Download

2001 Prelims General Studies Download

2000 Prelims General Studies Download

1999 Prelims General Studies Download

1998 Prelims General Studies Download

1997 Prelims General Studies Download

Psychology- sample notes

I am uploading some of the notes I prepared for psychology from June 2009 to September 2009. Kindly go through the Psychology mains post for the strategy and sources I referred.
I will explain how I prepared the notes. But I repeat- this is the strategy I followed in 2009 for psychology. If what you are doing is very different, don’t worry. There are n number of ways to score. Just chalk out a plan and try your best to implement it.
MK: Morgan and King/ MP: Mukul Pathak sir’s notes/CK: Chaplin- Krawiec
Paper 1- Chapter 2: Observation
Since I prepared every topic as a 60 marker, for observation I collected 15-20 points which I could later expand in the exam. An easy way to do that is to compare the given topic with other related topics. So if observation alone comes as a 60 marker (most likely it will be in conjunction with some other topic), just link it with case studies, experimental research, interview, etc.

Paper 1- Chapter 3: IRT
Since IRT can be asked as a 60 marker, I prepared the basics in detail. There is no point in collecting 20 pages on it. Sometimes questions asked are very difficult to predict and attempt even when the topic has been prepared. In that case, I attempted some other question. But I didn’t go much beyond the basics. Every thing has to be balanced in the limited amount of time available for preparation.


Paper 1- Chapter 4: Growth and development
It is a topic which has been very well covered in the books. So I didn’t refer any other source. I just noted each and every thing I could find in one place so as to make revision easier. A lot of time can be saved this way.


Paper 1- Chapter 5: Attention
It is well covered in Mukul Pathak sir’s notes and the models are explained very nicely in Morgan and King and other books. So I wrote everything in one place point-wise.


Paper 1- Chapter 12: Stereotypes and prejudices
It is an important topic not only for the psychology paper but even for other optionals such as Sociology, Essay and for GS. Since examples can be included very easily, I concentrated on collecting the keywords and theories that explain the two. This topic should be linked to other topics in both paper 1 and paper 2.





Paper 2- Chapter 7: Rehabilitation of HIV/AIDS victims
I am posting this topic because it is a classic example of those topics where a lot of material is available on the net, yet the time which might be invested in collecting data which is relevant might be much more than what you would invest if you think about the points on your own. I just collected some facts from the net.


Paper 2- Chapter 11: Government policies for promotion of entrepreneurship among youth including women entrepreneurs
Again a topic where we need to use our GS knowledge. I noted some of the schemes and institutes which I could find on the net. I added all the schemes and various bodies which are working in this field that I had come across in the India Yearbook.
I have uploaded only the 1^st page. Details can easily be found on the net.

Paper 2- Chapter 13: Psychology of terrorism
I concentrated on collecting as many theories, key words and points as I could. Enough is available on the net.

Public Admin- sample notes

I am going to try to explain how I prepared the notes. Examples, etc can either be prepared beforehand or you may come up with something then and there while writing the answer. Also, linking various topics is extremely important as it leads to a complete answer. I don’t mean topics only in Pub Ad paper 1 and Pub Ad paper 2, but also relating topics in Pub Ad paper 1 and Psychology Paper 1 OR Psychology paper 2 and GS.
PA paper 1:
I have posted the notes I prepared for Kautilya from Prasad & Prasad. Through this I attempt to achieve the following:
1. How to reduce what you have to read for the exam, in order to make it manageable to revise.
2. The content remains the same, it’s only the presentation and wording which changes depending on the question asked.
3. How you can look forward to relating the topics once your notes are ready.

So this is everything I did for topic 1 from chapter 1 of paper 2. Similarly, I prepared for Mughal Administration from Fadia and Fadia & tried to revise the 2-3 pages I had again and again so that I would be able to remember the content in the exam.
Next is a topic from paper 1, Chapter 12: Public borrowings and public debt
I covered this topic from Fadia & Fadia and searched on the net for some facts. After I was finished with enough content to write a 60 marker, I did not refer anything else. I emphasised on revising as many times as I could the content I had.
Also, I would like to point out that most of the data I collected even for paper 1 topics was that of India. I never differentiated whether the topic was mentioned in paper 1 or paper 2. Answer had to be based on India. This is what the right orientation and approach is all about, and was taught very well by Pavan sir.