The Most Ignored Art – The Art of Listening

                                                                                               

“Most people listen without hearing,” Leonardo Da Vinci. Listening is the most important language skill. When a child is conceived in his mother’s womb he starts listening then and there only. Whatever he listens inside, it shapes his personality after the birth. In the beginning itself, he starts listening individual sound without associating them to meanings. When he enters in this world he starts participating in face to face conversation and responding in single syllable words. After attentive listening he begins to utter multi-syllable words. Gradually when he matures he is able to understand the contextual meanings of oral symbols.

In the era of information technology, there is bombardment of information around us. Information is all-pervasive and this excessive information leads to reduction in concentration span. As the information is so readily available that we hardly listen, either we listen to refute or support but not to understand. Most of the people don’t understand that art of speech also improves when we listen attentively. Experience of our day to day activities adds to our background knowledge to infer the latent meaning of conversation. One who develops art of listening begins to understand the tone and attitude along with non-verbal communication. As a result of serious kind of listening one can listen to what others feel as well as what they say. Listening increases the power of reasoning and logic and interprets various situations. One who listens properly can articulate his ideas properly.

Listening is an active interpretation that shapes our realities, and it’s the answer to improving our productivity that leads to success in our lives. Various communication research studies have found out that we spent our 50-80% of conscious time in communicating. Half of that requires listening as communication is a two-way process. Your brain can think at between 4 and 10 times the speed of speech.  This means that when you are listening, you have lots of spare time to use your extra ‘brain time.

People who have poor art of listening pretend to pay attention while they are not. They try to do other things while listening. When not listened properly they find trainings and seminars uninteresting.  So they get distracted by the speaker’s way of speech, or other mannerisms. They concentrate on  distractions instead of what is being said at times over listening also creates problems like getting over-involved and thus losing the main thread of the arguments or thoughts. They over react in emotion-filled situations which may arouse personal anger and antagonism. At times people listen to collect facts only.  As a result they avoid anything that is complex or difficult.

Listening is learnt first and used most, but taught least. During foundation years of our training and teaching to young ones we hardly focus on this important skill. It is not a passive activity but an important ingredient of effective communication. Listening well is the vital ingredient in a successful, productive and interesting conversation. To improve listening habits one must be aware that daily work out helps in increase in efficiency in listening. Try to isolate only those sounds you want to hear; you will become adept at filtering out unwanted noise. Remember that you have two ears and one mouth – not the other way around. The wiser the person the less he speaks and the more he listens. 

Dr. Kiran Bala

Associate Professor

Dept. of Communication Studies

TAXATION AND INDIAN ECONOMY

India is a developing country.  The government plays an active role in promoting economic growth & development because private ownership & capital are limited. Fiscal policy or budget is considered to be an important instrument in promoting development & growth of the economy .Taxation is most important part of fiscal policy which can be used productively by the government. India has a well developed tax structure. The three tiers of Government, in accordance with the provisions of the Indian Constitution are empowered to impose tax. Also the tax structure of Indian economy consists of:  Direct and Indirect taxes. Income Tax, Corporate and Wealth Tax are one of the major direct taxes whereas Custom duty, Sales Tax, VAT, Excise Duty and upcoming (proposed) GST are indirect taxes.

So many changes have taken place in Indian Taxation structure due to liberalization and Economic Reforms. Some of the changes are:- rationalization of tax structure; progressive decrease in peak rates of customs duty ; decrease in corporate tax rate; customs duties to be aligned with ASEAN levels; widening of the tax base ; introduction of value added tax ; tax laws have been simplified to ensure better compliance. GST if implemented will going to prove a major improvement in the field of indirect taxation.

Taxation enables the government to stimulate a significant amount of revenue. During the financial year 2006-07, it is estimated that the tax revenue of the India was 81% of the total revenue receipts, whereas, non tax revenue was only 19%. Taxation in India follows the principle of equity. The direct taxes are progressive in nature. Also certain indirect taxes, such as taxes on luxury goods are also progressive in nature. This means the higher income group has to bear the higher burden of taxes, whereas, the lower income group is either exempted from tax (direct taxes) or has to pay lower rate of taxes. Taxation improves the distribution of income and wealth. It also foster the social welfare growth. The social welfare originates due to certain unwanted products like alcoholic products, tobacco products and such other products are heavily taxed, which restricts their consumption, which in turn facilitates social welfare. A part of the tax revenue is employed for social development activities, such as education, health and family welfare, which also improve social welfare as well as social order in the society. Taxation promotes exports and limit imports. Generally, developing countries and even the developed countries do not levy taxes on export items.  In India, exports are exempted from excise duty, VAT, customs duty and other duties. However, there is customs duty on imported goods.

Taxation helps to: Earn foreign exchange through the promotion of exports. It is also used as a tool of controlling inflation. Through taxation, the Government can control inflation in the following ways: - Inflation due to high rise in prices of essential items can be controlled by reducing the rate of indirect taxes. Inflation due to increase in demand can be controlled by discouraging the demand through increase in taxation/duty. Increase in tax rate may restrict consumption, which may reduce demand, and subsequently inflation may be controlled. Taxation induces regional development; Tax incentives such as tax holiday for setting up industries in backward regions, which induces business firms to set up industries in such regions, Tax revenue collected by government is also used for development of infrastructure in backward regions. Indirect taxes provides adequate source of development funds. These taxes are found to be better suited in developing countries because they have much wider coverage as compared to direct taxes. Both rich and poor pay indirect taxes in form of commodity price. In India collection of direct taxes is not very significant. Only a small proportion of population pays such taxes. Direct taxes are primary used in such to reduce unequal distribution of income  High degree of progression used in direct taxes discourages savings done by high income group and adversely effects investment and capital formation. Indirect taxes are used to divert resources from less desired use to more desired one in developing countries. 

Individual resident aged below 60 years (i.e. born on or after 1st April 1956)

Income Slabs		Tax Rates
i.	Where the taxable income does not exceed Rs. 2,50,000/-.	NIL
ii.	Where the taxable income exceeds Rs. 2,50,000/- but does not exceed Rs. 5,00,000/-.	10% of amount by which the taxable income exceeds Rs. 2,50,000/-. Less : Tax Credit u/s 87A - 10% of taxable income upto a maximum of Rs. 2000/-.
iii.	Where the taxable income exceeds Rs. 5,00,000/- but does not exceed Rs. 10,00,000/-.	Rs. 25,000/- + 20% of the amount by which the taxable income exceeds Rs. 5,00,000/-.
iv.	Where the taxable income exceeds Rs. 10,00,000/-.	Rs. 125,000/- + 30% of the amount by which the taxable income exceeds Rs. 10,00,000/-.

Surcharge : 12% of the Income Tax, where taxable income is more than Rs. 1 crore. , if applicable)

Education Cess : 3% of the total of Income Tax and Surcharge.

Senior Citizen (Individual resident who is of the age of 60 years or more but below the age of 80 years i.e. born on or after 1st April 1936 but before 1st April 1956:

Income Slabs		Tax Rates
i.	Where the taxable income does not exceed Rs. 3,00,000/-.	NIL
ii.	Where the taxable income exceeds Rs. 3,00,000/- but does not exceed Rs. 5,00,000/-	10% of the amount by which the taxable income exceeds Rs. 3,00,000/-. Less : Tax Credit u/s 87A - 10% of taxable income upto a maximum of Rs. 2000/-.
iii.	Where the taxable income exceeds Rs. 5,00,000/- but does not exceed Rs. 10,00,000/-	Rs. 20,000/- + 20% of the amount by which the taxable income exceeds Rs. 5,00,000/-.
iv.	Where the taxable income exceeds Rs. 10,00,000/-	Rs. 120,000/- + 30% of the amount by which the taxable income exceeds Rs. 10,00,000/-.

Surcharge : 12% of the Income Tax, where taxable income is more than Rs. 1 crore. , if applicable)

Education Cess : 3% of the total of Income Tax and Surcharge.

Super Senior Citizen (Individual resident who is of the age of 80 years or more i.e. born before 1st April 1936):

Income Slabs		Tax Rates
i.	Where the taxable income does not exceed Rs. 5,00,000/-.	NIL
ii.	Where the taxable income exceeds Rs. 5,00,000/- but does not exceed Rs. 10,00,000/-	20% of the amount by which the taxable income exceeds Rs. 5,00,000/-.
iii.	Where the taxable income exceeds Rs. 10,00,000/-	Rs. 100,000/- + 30% of the amount by which the taxable income exceeds Rs. 10,00,000/-.

Surcharge : 12% of the Income Tax, where taxable income is more than Rs. 1 crore. , if applicable)

Education Cess : 3% of the total of Income Tax and Surcharge.

CONCLUSION : Both direct and indirect taxes are essential to generate sufficient revenue to the state for meeting the increasing public expenditure. Both taxes are essential to foster the economic growth, fill employment and economic stability. Direct and indirect taxes should go side by side & balance each other.A well oriented system of taxation requires combination of direct & indirect taxes in different proportions.

 Ms. Meenakshi Chopra

Assistant Professor

Dept. of Management Studies

Quality of Websites

As web usage is growing daily the populations round the globe are coming nearer. With the arrival of World Wide internet as a colossal development, it's amazingly brought the globe nearer creating it a smaller thing to live in for its user. The quantity of persons seeking data and services on-line are increasing quickly in nearly each country of the globe. The people expect websites to avoid wasting their cash and time. The responsibility of the website developer is to create/design websites that are straightforward to use and are accessible to every sort of person. Implementing the straightforward principle of getting web site that works well and doesn’t confuse the user or get him annoyed, can facilitate to cut back the abandonment of the web site by visitors. However throughout the development phase of website, errors creep into the design of internet sites either internally or externally.

Evaluation is an organized determination of a subject's merit, price and significance, by using criteria ruled by a group of standards. Design, organization and simple use are necessary issues. Websites can offer helpful sources of information; but if they are slow to load and/or troublesome to navigate, search or scan, then their contribution or utility are going to be diminished. An efficient internet website style is one within which users are able to notice data quickly and in an exceedingly logical manner.

Do they visit the content you would like them to visit? Are they searching within the right places of your internet page? Are you able to get your user’s attention, or do they leave quickly?
It’s not with regards to the content either. If website’s design load slowly – or if moving from one section to a different takes in an extended time – it affects the user’s expertise and experience.

Things must be considered in web site design are as follows:
• is very important information being looked by the user?
• are the navigation and action things intuitive?
• is that the user being directed to sections in a logical way?
• is the website page load quickly enough to not withdraw the user?

Following parameters can be used to analyze the quality of websites:

1.      Total HTML

2.      Total Objects

3.      Total Images

4.      Total CSS

5.      Total Size (bytes)

6.      Total Script

7.      HTML Size  (bytes)

8.      Image Size (bytes)

9.      Script Size (bytes)

10.  CSS Size (bytes)

11.  Multimedia Size

The online tool “web Analyzer” can be used to analyze the websites because it provides a detailed analysis of the websites tested and therefore the areas that require to be improved. The websites contains a serious accessibility downside. There is associate imperative got to improve the total size, minimize the amount of external objects, size of pictures used etc. to create e-government websites to be simpler, extremely user-centric, effective and simple accessible for the users.

Ms. Poonam Malik

Assistant Professor

Dept. of Management Studies