India, China to Expand Cultural Ties

India and China will showcase their culture in each other”s land, holding major cultural festivals in 2010 devoted to traditional and contemporary arts, with an aim to boost people-to-people relations.

However, the year 2010 will witness the 2 countries take part in a major cultural exchange programme, with India hosting Chinese artists and China reciprocating by doing the same for Indians.

Meanwhile, while details of the programme are yet to be finalized, officials are planning to hold a months-long extravaganza in China, to showcase Indian dances, art and films among other things.

Further, with Bollywood educing a lot of interest in China, India also plans to bank on Indian films and music to establish connection with the Chinese masses.

India”s festival in China will largely be limited to India”s standard template of showcasing activities in performing arts, visual arts besides focusing on contemporary art to showcase the present cultural scenario in the country.

On the other hand, India, which has launched a major cultural diplomacy drive across South Asia, aims to foster strong people-to-people relations with its neighbors, including China which is India”s largest trading partner but has significant differences on border issues.

CBDT Expects a 10-15% Increase in Tax Collection By December 15:)

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) expects a 10-15% year-on-year increase in collections by December 15 which is the last date for paying the third installment of advance tax.

However, the rate of increase in tax collection in the fiscal year through November was a slightly over 2% from the corresponding period last fiscal (FY09).

Meanwhile, this is the first positive indication by CBDT of a yearly increase in tax collections since December 2008 while collection in the first nine months of the previous fiscal fell for the first time in four years.

Further, the nearly 8% increase in Q2 GDP and reports that revenue authorities get from industries are compelling reasons for forecasting a 10-15% increase in tax collection whereas the mopup by December 15 gives a clear account of the possible collection by the fiscal year-end as 75% of advance tax collections are paid in the third installment.

In the meantime, the trend of declining collections, which began last December, continued till the end of fiscal 2008-2009, saw a gap of about Rs 60,000 crore between projected (Rs 3,95,000 crore) and actual collections.

On the other hand, the total collection stood at Rs 1.84 lakh crore while in the fiscal year to November, corporate tax collection accounted for Rs 1.15 lakh crore, marking a year-on-year increase of 3.5%.

World Trade Organization (WTO) Chief Says Hopes of Doha Deal are Uncertain

The World Trade Organization (WTO) chief insisted members to resist protectionist pressure in the wake of the economic crisis, but said hopes of an early deal to free up international commerce are uncertain.

However, he said that in February this year, the global economic downturn was peaking while less than a year on; progress has been made but is not yet out of the woods.

Meanwhile, he said that the volume of world trade this year would decline a little more than 10%, which is unprecedented in modern times while in this environment, pressure for protectionist actions with their illusory gains for the domestic economy, will not necessarily diminish any time soon.

Further, success in completing the Doha round of trade talks next year as scheduled was vital to signal business and consumer confidence, and would strengthen the hand of governments as they confront protectionist pressures
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On the other hand, this will not occur unless they are all ready for heavy political lifting at home while there would be a “crunch time meeting” in the first quarter to check if the goal was attainable.