Repugnance of Check Posts

 

The objectives behind setting up of the check posts to check evasion of tax was a misnomer. I felt there was no necessity of check gates. The purpose of the check gates was to check evasion and collect taxes from registrants and casual dealers. The tax evaders escaped the gate in connivance with the officers manning the posts. The officers and inspectors were in the monthly pay roll of the transport agencies. They were afraid of the local goons of the villages or towns adjacent to the check posts and did not touch, out of fear, the vehicles of the dealers of the locality. The officers of Girisola at Andra border and Lohurachati at Chhatisgarg border let the vehicles pass unchecked of the dealers, those who were notorious, of Berhampur and Bargarh, to give example.

To show the check posts functioning and earning revenue, the check post people collected taxes from the registered dealers. What the registered dealers paid at the check posts, they adjusted against their due tax payment while filing monthly or quarterly returns. The government did not gain. The gates had always allegations of corruptions against the officers. MLAs raised questions in the assembly; the newspapers, time and again, published alleged corruptions of the officers. The department earned a bad name.

Haryana had check posts under Sales Tax Act. They abolished in 1994. I, in a team of six officers, had gone to Haryana in 2004. We saw, within four years, their tax collection had doubled. Abolition of check posts, of course, had not increased the revenue; but, the abolition did not have any negative impact on revenue collection, for sure.

G.C.Pati, when he was commissioner, abolished twelve internal check posts in 1999-2000. There was no impact on the tax collection the next year or years after.

The state went for VAT in 2005. There was absolutely no necessity of the check posts under the new Act. Under the VAT, the buyer got the credit of tax paid on purchases when he sold, in other words, he availed of input tax credit. To give an example, if a buyer purchased goods worth Rs.100 and paid tax Rs. 10 @ 10%, and sold the goods at Rs.150 and collected tax on sale Rs. 15, he would pay to the government Rs.5. To avail of input tax credit he should have invoice. The assessing officers or the audit, in case of suspicion, could cross verify the invoices, the purchase invoice of the buyer with the sale invoice of the seller, to prove authenticity of the transactions. The dealer got waybills from the office to bring goods from outside the state. The office had the information of the dealers’ business since the latter produced a copy of the waybill. The way bill mentioned the quantity and value of goods. An alert officer had all the information, if he desired, to know the integrity of a dealer.

Not only in Odisha, but in all the states, ten percent of the dealers contributed more than eighty percent of the total tax.  In Odisha, around fifteen hundred of about one lakh and fifty thousand registered dealers paid ninety percent of tax. These dealers did not evade tax; they might avoid paying on some legal loophole. The law or legislature had to plug the loophole.

One day I proposed A.P.Parhi, the commissioner, to consider abolishing the gates, referred to the nuisance the check posts caused and argued against their continuance. He told me to draft a letter to the government with the proposal. He was, all on a sudden, transferred before I prepared and put up the draft.

T.K.Pandey recommended the government to abolish all the remaining internal check posts in 2008-09.

The senior officers had vested interests, and were not in favour of abolition of gates. Some were in a dilemma; the abolition might boost evasion, but their vested interest weighed in favour of this argument and the gates.

The file on recommendation of the commissioner was with the minister. A few officers and inspectors, those who had access to the minister pressured him not to approve the abolition. At this time, state vigilance raided the house of an officer of Jagatpur check post on disproportionate assets (DA) charges. The gate where he was working then located after Cuttack on the Balasore route. The vigilance unearthed huge property, much more than his known sources of income. The print and electronic media highlighted the raid. The minister inquired. Pradeep Biswal, then working in the finance department, told the minister about the officer and reminded the file for abolition of gates was with him. The media might raise a question, the gates bred corruption, the department had suggested for abolition, but the minister kept the file pending with him. The minister signed the file.

There was no impact on revenue collection after abolition of all the internal check posts.

Border check posts, seventeen in all, located at borders with different states stayed. I wrote a few articles on no-necessity and the need for dispensing with the gates in newspapers. The Prameya published my article ‘Kua O Tanakhiphatak Upakhyana’ (The Episode of Well and Check Posts) on August 1, 2015. The Pioneer published my article, ‘Abolish the Checkgates for Ease of Doing Business’ on October 1, 2016. My articles, of course, discomfited the seniors and my colleagues.

Manoj Ahuja, the commissioner was against the check posts. One day I told him about the issue I had discussed with A.P.Parhi. Mr. Padhi had told me to draft the letter, but he was transferred. Mr. Ahuja told me to draft the proposal. He recommended to the finance department to abolish all the check gates.

The government abolished all the check gates from April 1, 2017. With introduction of GST from July 1, 2017, all the states abolished the gates.

[An excerpt from my book Anichhuk Prasasak (A Reluctant Bureaucrat)]

                                                                   ******

 

Art of Drafting Letters

 

G.C.Pati started preparing the ground, and brought changes in tax administration for smooth transition to VAT. The Empowered Committee had decided to go for VAT in 2003. The government had not notified the VAT cell, but the commissioner posted me to the Cell. I was doing VAT related work. The commissioner instructed me to draft proposals or letters to the government. I did as instructed.

Everybody had his own style of writing. G.C.Pati wanted the proposals, circulars or letters should be brief, preferably within one or two pages, but it should contain all the points he desired. He believed people did not have the patience or much time to read lengthy discourse in a letter. He used to entrust me with a few drafting. I drafted, and with his corrections, those were sent to government or issued for the department officers.

G. Mohan Kumar succeeded G.C.Pati. He saw one letter drafted by me and remarked, “Is this the way the proposals drafted to send to government?”

I asked, “Sir, how should it be written?”

He explained, “First, you write the present provision. Second, you describe the shortcomings or pitfalls of the provision. Third, you give your suggestion or proposal. Fourth, you mention how our proposal addresses the shortcomings. The sentences should be simple and direct; and writing should be lucid and logical.”

I tried to write as he told.  If the draft was good and it satisfied him, he noted on the file ‘good drafting’ or sometimes, ‘very good drafting’. I often got his encomiums.

Dr. Taradatt saw my draft and said, “Are you writing essay? Write in the first paragraph what we want. Who has the patience to read an essay?”

So I had to write as he desired. He often took copies of the letters by hand and got the things done in the government or finance department.

Tuhin Kanta Pandey had his style. By the time he became the commissioner, computers had completely replaced the typewriters. Pandey insisted on the notifications not only be drafted well, it should look well also. He looked into the fonts and size of fonts also; font size should be twelve and heading should be in fourteen, the matter should have well margin, heading and sub heading written in bold. The letters should be in Ariel, later he changed to Times New Roman. The language, of course, should be lucid.

All the commissioners made changes or corrections in the draft. It’s obvious, most of the times, the proposals were theirs. The bloke who originally drafted might have mistakes, which was natural, and the senior did detect, and correct, like an editor editing an article or a book. But there were a few, who made changes whether it was required or not; they thought they should make some changes, just because they were the boss. They did not touch the subject matter, but only the language.

 Once, one commissioner made some changes; substituted words in some places, changed a few sentences. He went on a tour; the letter could not be issued. Giving effect to the corrections he did, the final corrected letter was put up before him for approval, after he returned from his tour almost a week later. He saw the letter, again made changes in the draft and said, “Sahadev Babu, improve your English standard.”

He had forgotten it was the draft he had corrected and redrafted a week back. Of course, I did not remind him of the fact.

******

An excerpt from the book Anichhuk Prasasak (A Reluctant Bureaucrat)

 

Business People are Cheats, Government Servants are Thieves

 

A Chennai based NGO was sending a few computers to a tribal school located in Western Odisha. Form 402A was required to bring in goods from outside the state. The office issued this form. If the person did not have Form 402A, he had to pay tax at the check post. The objective of the form was to substantiate the goods were not for business purpose. Goods brought in for business were taxable, and for personal use were exempt.

The advocate of the Chennai organisation resided in Bhubaneswar. The town where the school was located was more than four hundred kilometres. The advocate went to the town and reached on Friday. The officer who would issue the forms was absent. He had not taken permission of his higher authority to leave the headquarters, had availed of French leave. The office people told the officer would return on Monday. The advocate did not return to Bhubaneswar again to go on Monday traversing four hundred plus kilometres. He stayed there in a hotel.

The advocate went to the office on Monday. The officer had not returned. The office people told the officer would start his journey from his home that day and reach the office on Tuesday. The advocate waited and went again to the office next day, met the officer and requested to issue the form. The officer said, “The school is not in my jurisdiction; the officer of that area is on leave.”

The advocate argued, “Sir, I have been waiting for the last four days, paying for the hotel for a single form. The officer of that area is on leave, but you are in charge. You should give the forms.”

The officer, irritated, threw the application at the advocate and said, “I shall not give, do what you like.”

The advocate rang up an officer of the head office he knew, told him the situation and requested him to help. The head office officer telephoned to the joint commissioner of the range. The officer issued the form only after the joint commissioner intervened.

 The officer wanted money, had he got he would have issued the form without rancour. But the advocate, after waiting for the officer for four days and paying the hotel bills, felt humiliated and harassed, and did not want to bribe.

The officer had to issue the form under compulsion, but he, out of anger, issued a notice to the head master of the school receiving the computers. He asked the head master to inform him about his sources of income, and submit statement of annual income and expenditure of the school. The head master of the school was not a businessman, the officer did not have the authority to issue notice to him. The head master did not understand law; a notice from a government office was enough to perturb him.

This incident provoked me to write an article. Sambad published the article under the caption, “michha banija, chakara chor” (Business People are Cheats, Government Servants are Thieves) on 17.06.2013. I stressed on three points:

1. The officer has the power to allow the forms, and he has, at the same time, also the scope to misuse the power; that induces an unprincipled officer for rent seeking behaviour.

2. The officer never thinks the organisation he is working for as his own. He is callous of the ill repute the organisation earns for his misdeeds.  He is least bothered.

3. Power arrogates; this officer is so arrogant that he goes beyond his jurisdiction to notice a head master who is in no way concerned with business and VAT law.

I suggested in the article to make available the form 402A online. If issue and obtaining the forms were made online, the person did not need to go to the office, and it would reduce scope of rent seeking.

J.K.Mohapatra, Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Finance read the article from the newspaper and rang up commissioner, Monoj Ahuja to take action against the erring officer on the basis of the allegation. Manoj Ahuja read the article. He asked, “ACS says to take action against the officer. What action we should take?”

I said, “I have neither mentioned the name of the office nor the name of officer in my article. I have pointed out the flaws in the system that encourages this to happen. A phone call,  warning and reprimanding the concerned officer, will suffice. We may go for making the forms online to avoid these embarrassing happenings.”

Commissioner was convinced. He told his OSD (officer on special duty) to reprimand the officer over phone, and ordered for making the forms available online.

This article caused consternation among the officers of CTD and Finance Department. It was usual, people criticised me whenever a newspaper published my articles on tax and tax administration. They did not have guts to speak in front, but spoke behind my back. Those backbiting, however, reached me. I did not care, I wrote, rather they provoked me to write my next piece.

Criticism on this article was most vigorous this time. The reason being, though I did not take names, I had discussed on corruption by the CTD officers. Officers working in the finance department, including my friends in OFS, wanted some action should be taken, I should be punished in some way or other. They did not know the finance secretary had seen the piece and telephoned the commissioner to take action against the delinquent officer.

I had been to the finance department at this time. I met the special secretary. He said, “Do you think we can’t know what you write?”

Sahadev Sahoo, IAS was former chief secretary and vice chancellor, OUAT. He was an acclaimed writer. Often, many confused me with the former chief secretary when any article published by the name Sahadev Sahoo. I said, “I never hide me, my address is always given below the article.” And I asked, “Why do get you so perturbed? Are these concocted?”

The special secretary snapped back, “How can you write against the officers you being yourself an officer of this department?”

I argued, “Where is wrong? When I write against a BDO or police, you don’t react. Then you enjoy, but when it is on you, you shout.”

He remained silent. Finance Department sent a letter with photocopy of the article attached asking the commissioner for his ‘opinion’. Commissioner marked the letter to me to send a reply. We replied steps were being taken to make form 402A available online.

The matter rested there.

One day, after a fortnight or a month of this episode, Manoj Ahuja sent for me and asked, “Will you not be in trouble?”

I did not get, and asked, “What for?”

“Some of your senior officers are annoyed with you for your writings.” He said.

I did not ask who those officers were; I knew them. I said, “Sir I have been writing for the last thirty years. I have not had any till now. Let me see what happens in future.”

Manoj Ahuja smiled. He said, “I am glad that you are writing. Go on, and send me a copy when something you publish.”

*****

 

Yesterday was a Better Day

 

(Speaking in a seminar on VAT in 2005)

A good tax system is that where the government get its due tax with minimum cost of administration and the taxpayers comply with less cost of compliance; the taxpayers are not harassed; the system does not hinder business, but helps growth of industry and economy.

Tax collection registered a good growth rate across the states after introduction of VAT. The average growth rate in collection of sales tax for five years prior to VAT was 11-12% in the country where as the average growth rate in VAT collection of five years after VAT was 16-17%. In Odisha, the average growth rate for five years before VAT was 13% and after VAT, the average growth rate for five years was 19%.  If we take ratio of VAT to GSDP, sales tax collection was 1.8% of GSDP in 2005-06; it increased in VAT to 2.5% of the GSDP in 2012-13.

VAT came into force in 2005. The officers, who had worked fifteen or twenty years in sales tax by 2005, found it difficult to cope with VAT and the ensuing administrative restructuring. They could not resist the changes, but heaved long sighs, and blamed VAT.

I had written an article on the mindset of the officers, their lack of adaptability; analyzing the reforms and its impact, giving comparative collections of tax before and after introduction of VAT. Sambad published the article on 13.02.2014 under the caption; ‘Galakali Bhalathila’ (Yesterday was a Better Day). The article discomfited many senior officers. They did not tell me directly, but there was noisy murmuring that reached me.  One senior officer said, “Why are you writing this stuff? Why don’t you write something else?”

                               (Yesterday was a Better Day by Sahadev Sahoo, Sambad, 13.2.2014)

I am a fictionist; I write stories and novels. Sometimes, on a very few occasions, I write features for the newspapers. I replied, “You don’t read what I really write, my stories and novels. You read only these.” 

In protest, Rabindra Kumar Patnaik wrote one feature, ‘VAT Kete Bhala, Kete Bhela!’(VAT: Good or Bad!), and published it in Sambad on 7.3.2014. His article pleased many senior officers; some of them spoke to me with glee. In fact, they did not understand what I had written or what he wrote, but it was a public protest against my article, published in the newspaper which had published mine. That was enough for their delight. Rabindra Kumar Patnaik was a senior OFS officer. The gist of what he wrote (my translation):

1. ‘Yesterday was a Better day’ is misleading, and an attempt to cover up tax evasion. Selected statistics are taken to prove VAT growth rate. Composition of GDP is not taken, growth of industry and service and their contribution to GDP has not been factored.

2. It is disappointing to note collection of tax during 2013-14 (up to January) has not been considered in the article, he alleges.

3. Patnaik has discussed the less than satisfactory collection of VAT in 2013-14 and cited the illegal mining and the scam during VAT regime.

4. Invoices are not issued hundred percent in VAT and the big business are not also transparent and principled, he accuses.

                            (VAT: Good or Bad! by Rabindra Kumar Patnaik, Sambad Dt.7.3.2014)

The thrust of the article, “Yesterday was a Better Day” was not to discuss tax evasion or GDP growth. The article stressed on the necessity of change of mindset of the officers entrusted with VAT administration. Comparative collection of sales tax and VAT and proportional increase of the VAT collection to GDP cited to prove the point that VAT was doing well; the figures given to indicate the State did not incur loss, rather there was increase of tax collection after introduction of VAT.

Composition of GDP, Patnaik has harped on in his article, is not relevant here. The point here is whether there is proportional increase of VAT collection to the GDP, and it has. Had there was decrease of VAT in ratio to GDP, it would have construed VAT was a failure or VAT had serious shortcomings. He says about growth of service and its share to GDP that has not been factored. His argument is not clear. Sales tax or VAT is collected on sale of goods, not on services. Centre collected service tax, which was not in the state’s domain. As per his argument, if we deduct service component from GDP, since VAT is not levied on services, the proportional increase of VAT to GDP would be rather more, and it would bolster the argument that VAT was successful. Of course, analysis is not done the way he hinted. 

He mentions the much talked about mining scam and illegal mining, and says during VAT period, mining scam of more than rupees sixty thousand crore has taken place. What is the relation of theft or robbery to VAT? Mining pilferage takes place in violation of forest or mining law. VAT and for that matter, any taxation law cannot do away with all the crimes and corruption in the society.

He says the dealers do not issue bills and big businesses are also not transparent and principled. It can also be argued, on the other hand, dealers did not also issue bills in the sales tax regime. The officers were also not honest, paragons of virtue, men of principles. The Supreme Court, in a case in 2010 has remarked, the most corrupt departments in India are income tax, sales tax and excise departments. Compared to sales tax, compliance in VAT was definitely better.

No tax system is flawless. Every tax law has its shortcomings.  “Yesterday was a Better Day” was an attempt to compare VAT with sales tax to prove VAT was better than sales tax. Arindam Dasgupta makes a study of VAT in twenty nine states, and analyses VAT collection with reference to GSDP in an article, An Assessment of the Revenue Impact of State Level VAT in India, published in Economic and Political Weekly (Vol.47, Issue No. 10, March 10, 2012). He has found positive impact of VAT on states’ revenue, particularly in Haryana and Odisha (Page-21). Md. Ajam Khan and Nagma Sadab of Economics Department, Aligarh Muslim University has also similar view and has mentioned quoting audit reports, “The cost of collection of sales tax/VAT is less than Indian average due to the voluntary compliance mechanism of OVAT Act and efficient tax administration.” (Romanian Journal of Fiscal Policy, January-June, 2013. Page-47).

                    (VAT may have flaws, but it is better. by Sahadev Sahoo, Sambad dt.19.3.2014)

I wrote a rejoinder against the article of Rabindra Kumar Patnaik, which Sambad published in its opinion page on 19.03.2014 under the caption, VAT byabastare kichhi truti thaipare, kintu a byabasta bhala, (VAT may have some flaws, but it is better).

Rabindra Kumar Patnaik was director, MIAF. I had been taking class in MIAF as a guest faculty since 2000. But after “Yesterday was a Better Day” was published, MIAF stopped inviting me to take class. Again, I got invitation after Patnaik’s transfer.

*****

 

A Reluctant Bureaucrat

 

I had the impression when I was in school or college, great men write autobiography, those who have made names in national or international field; they have contribution to society in any field, like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru or Bertrand Russell. Our teacher advice to read biography and autobiography, their life and achievement inspire, motivate to be a good human being or a great man. I am fond of reading biography and autobiography, not to become a good human being or a great man, but I have curiosity to know their life and time, their experience, and the society they live in, and simply enjoy reading their stories. I try to understand them, their philosophy of life, to imagine the society they lived in; I derive pleasure.

In course of time, my idea of an autobiography changed. Everybody’s life, his journey in the society is unique. A man has his own experience and realization, which are different from that of others. Their autobiographies, stories of their lives, contribute to the collective wisdom of the society. The reader has the opportunity to understand persons of different classes or living in different strata. I believe, every person, whatever may be his position in the society, whichever class he may be in, should write his autobiography. Life Less Ordinary of Baby Haldar, a domestic help, The Autobiography of a Sex Worker by Nalini Jameela, Amen: The autobiography of a Nun by Sister Jesme, The Truth about Me: A Hijra Life Story by A. Revathi, to give examples of a few, are good reads and best sellers.

One day I decide to write my story. I am an ordinary person; doing a job for my living. I have retired from government service after I have served thirty years in Odisha Finance Service. One of my seniors teases, “What is a government? Who is he? Is it the secretariat building or the Chief Minister or the Cabinet? Government is you, me, Deputy Secretary Parija or Secretary Tripathy. The things you, I or they do is what the Government do.”

The story I have written cannot be, in true sense, called my autobiography or memoirs. In this story I am just a character, rather, the protagonist in an autobiographical novel. It’s an attempt to portray what I have witnessed and experienced as a government servant, how the system works, who really does and how he decides.

During my tenure in office, the government brought the greatest reforms in the field of indirect tax structure in the country. VAT (Value Added Tax) replaced the state sales tax in 2005; GST (Goods and Services Tax) replaced a plethora of state taxes like VAT, Entry Tax, Central Sales Tax, etc and Central Taxes like Excise Duty, Service Tax, etc. Great changes took place in the tax administration. I had an active participation and association in implementation of VAT and later, GST in the state. I was involved in policy making process both in the state and at national level. I have reflected my take on the reforms and the process of their implementation in the book.

One day I met Das Behnur, an eminent writer in a marriage reception. He asked me what I was doing at the time. I told I was writing my memoirs, and had submitted the first chapter to a magazine. He said, “Don’t publish the chapters in advance. You finish the book and then, publish. If you publish chapters in advance, you will get a number of phone calls and letters. That will impact your writing. You will lose objectivity. You may be afraid of writing what you intend to speak.”

But I had already submitted. The magazine published. I got a huge number of phone calls in praise and a few calls critical of it. The critical callers were my former colleagues. Some of them who had worked with me in some or other office, and I considered them my friends, were annoyed, and almost severed their relations, whatever they had with me. I remembered Das Behnur and stopped giving the chapters in advance to the magazines, though they (magazines) asked me for the other chapters. Some of my friends and colleagues of the organisation I was working are not willing to take it a story; a critique on a system, and is not against any individual.

*****

 

I don’t want to change...

 

(With P.K.Biswal, Under Secretary, Finance and John Evans, Project Director, Crown Agents, UK . The DFID, UK had appointed Crown Agents, a consultancy firm to study and suggest for implementation of VAT in Odisha )

Most of the senior officers felt uncomfortable to accept the idea of VAT, but they, being in government job, could do anything, and were helpless. Some officers who had retired from Odisha Finance Service opposed, and wrote articles in newspapers. The newspapers loved to publish anything anti-establishment, the people loved to read anti-establishment stories. The dealers also did not want VAT.

The officers had served their entire service career in sales tax system, were well versed in the pros and cons, nuances of sales tax law; they were afraid of the change. The VAT along with reforms in the administrative structure would also strip them off the power over the dealers, and impede vested interests.

One day Mohan Kumar was discussing with B.B.Das. He said, “There are some who are writing against VAT, spreading misinformation and creating adverse opinion among the public. Those who are writing have not understood VAT and its implication. It will create difficulty for us to implement. Can’t any of us write about VAT to counter their misinformation?”

B.B.Das said, “Tell Sahadev, he can.”

Commissioner called me and explained the situation and told me to write on VAT. I started writing in the newspapers on VAT and tax administration. All the distinguished newspapers in Odisha published my articles. My consistent writing in newspapers made me familiar with the general readers, academics, business people and other stakeholders.

But the newspapers’ publishing my articles and my familiarity or popularity with the public was not to the liking of many colleagues and senior officers of the department. They expressed their displeasure in different ways and deeds. One day, a senior additional commissioner alleged before the commissioner, “Sir, Sahadev is a junior officer. How is he writing in newspapers? Being a government servant, he cannot write; it is against the conduct rules.”

He did not know G.Mohan Kumar had told me to write. Commissioner said, “I have told him to write, to neutralize the canards spread by some people. Let him do, it’s a good thing he does.”

Commissioner’s reply discomfited the additional commissioner. He said, “Sir, does he show you what he writes before he sends to the newspapers?”

Commissioner said, “Not necessary, he is free to write what he likes. I know he won’t write anything against.”

Commissioner called me after he left his chamber, for the daily afternoon session of checking VAT draft. B.B.Das and additional commissioner (Revenue) were present. Commissioner said, “You go on writing, don’t fear. I am with you.”

This additional commissioner wrote an article on VAT and got it published in ‘Sambad’. He had also made literal translation of English words, like the one the assistant commissioner, Bhubaneswar range did of G.C.Pati’s essay and it was not comprehensible. Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, editor, ‘Sambad’ telephoned me and asked the meaning of certain words used in the article. I explained the connotations and purposes of those words. He laughed at such uses. I said, “Sir, you have published it in your newspaper!”  He said, “You don’t understand, we have also a sales tax registration. We purchase newsprint and other taxable goods. Why should we displease a senior officer? If displeased, he may make a case against us, and we will be running to the courts. Better to publish his article and please him. Do the readers read all the news and articles published daily?”

After this one, ‘Sambad’ did not publish any of additional commissioner’s articles.

I continued my writing, especially when someone wrote against VAT I countered him and published it in the newspaper he had published his. I was trying to write in simple and lucid language so that a common man, the newspaper reader understood. My articles got attention of different organisations, trade and industry bodies, and tax bar associations, colleges and universities. I got invitations from them to be guest or speaker in seminars they organised on VAT and tax system. 

                     (In a seminar, organised by Institute of Company Secretaries, Bhubaneswar)

One day I was sitting in my office room. The secretary of an NGO met me and said, “We are organizing a seminar on VAT. Trilochan Kanungo is the chief guest. He told us to invite you to be a speaker. The other speaker is Nageswar Patnaik of Economics Times.”

A few days back, Sambad had published an article of Trilochan Kanungo on VAT. In the article he argued VAT would be against the interest of Odisha, the state would incur loss and the poor people would suffer. I response to that article I wrote one which Sambad published on January 6, 2005. (Odisha Assembly had passed Odisha VAT Act in December,2004, VAT was scheduled to be introduced in April,2005) On the article, the editor ‘Sambad’ commented in bold letters, “Recently, the veteran politician and economic expert, Trilochan Kanungo, in this column, raises some doubts on implementation of VAT in Odisha. He is of the view, VAT will not favour a poor state like Odisha. The writer of this feature has argued in favour, this may be taken as a reply to Kanungo’s doubts and apprehensions.”

                                       (The article was published in Sambad on 06.01. 2005)

I attended the seminar. After that, Trilochan Kanungo, when he passed by our office would drop in, meet me for a chitchat. One day he said, “You have reproached me in your article.”

I never did. I had great respect for him as an honest politician and an intellectual. His accusation surprised me. In my article I had also not mentioned his name. The editor took his name in his comment. But he did not relish the quote from “The Alchemist” of Paulo Coelho; I had given to begin the feature. The quote was: I don’t want to change, because I don’t know how to deal with change. I am used to the way I am.

I told I did not quote Celho with a view to hurting him. I began the feature with the quote to make the article attractive. It would get the attention of the readers. He understood.

I realised my writings, without my intention, were, sometimes, aggressive, but people liked it that way. Many readers and stakeholders had told me.

*****

 

My First Article on Tax and Tax administration

 

(Head office, circa 2000. I was officer in charge of VAT Cell and in addition, in charge of Manual Officer)

G.C.Pati was a dynamic commissioner. The state Chief Ministers, in a conference in November, 1999, convened by Union Finance Minister, Jaswant Sinha, took the decision to replace sales tax with VAT. The government of India constituted Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers (EC) in July, 2000, to coordinate among the states, and design VAT structure, in consultation with the states, for smooth transition from sales tax to VAT. The EC met almost every month. Mr Pati attended the meetings with the state finance minister. He commanded respect at the national level among the commissioners of other states for his enthusiasm for reforms and innovative ideas in tax administration. He had written an essay on VAT and the consequent tax administration under the title, ‘Towards Tax Administration’ and distributed it among the officers. The essay was of eleven pages.

The assistant commissioner of Bhubaneswar range, got the essay translated into Odia and published it in ‘Sambad’ and ‘Samay’. The Additional CTO, who translated the essay, was a columnist; he wrote features in Odia newspapers and had good command over language. But he, then, did not understand VAT. He made literal translation of the essay into Odia. That  was incomprehensible for the common man. There were certain words used in VAT or taxation for which Odia vocabulary did not have the corresponding words. He wrote whatever came to his mind, just to please the assistant commissioner, his boss who was pestering him to finish  soon .

I took a copy of ‘Sambad’ to the commissioner in the morning. He had already seen it. He said, “The translation is a bit difficult, I don’t understand. Can’t it be published in any English newspaper?”

I said, “Yes, it can; but not this long, maximum within one thousand or eleven hundred words. It means three or three and half pages.”

He said, “Make it precise, if you can.”

I did and showed him; he approved.

I gave the article to Pradeep Biswal. Then he was C.T.O, Cuttack I West Circle. He gave it to Srimay Kar, the resident editor, Indian Express. Indian Express published it in its national page.

After a few days, Commissioner called me just after he reached the office and said, “Karnatak commissioner had telephoned me. He appreciated the article on VAT, published today in Indian Express.”

I was not subscribing Indian Express, I had not seen it. I had been to Bangalore on VAT training in December, 2000 and met the Karnatak commissioner. He was in full praise of G.C.Pati. The article was well appreciated.

Pati said, “Can’t you translate it into Odia?”

I said, “I shall try.”

It was difficult to find exact Odia equivalent for English words to express, in such kind of technical subject. I had coined certain words in Odia, for example, VAT or Value Added Tax. In consultation with Saroj Ranjan Mohanty, editor, ‘Jhankar’ I decided mulyajuktakara for VAT. Later, government adopted it for official use. I did not, in certain cases, make one word. Rather than finding one word, I explained, e.g. cascading in Odia as increase of prices of commodity on account of tax on tax, input tax credit as credit of tax paid on purchase, etc. I took two or three days to translate. In some places, I put the English words in brackets so as to make it intelligible.

         (My first article on taxation, published by my name, in Prajatantra, 24 October, 2001)

(Since then, I have been writing in Odia and have published more than two hundred articles on taxation and economy. I have developed Odia language to express these technical matters and no longer have I to give English words in brackets to make those intelligible to the common readers)

But government transferred G.C.Pati on the day I finished.

We heard there was some misunderstanding between the finance minister and commissioner over the annual officers' transfer order. G.C.Pati did not like to continue. He met the chief secretary and requested for his transfer. I met him in the morning and showed him the Odia article. He was waiting for the new incumbent to hand over charges. He glanced at the article and said, “You publish it by your name.”

I said, “Sir, this is yours, I have just translated.”

He said, “Okay, no problem, you publish it by your name.”

‘Prajatantra’ published the article by my name and that was the first article published by my name on tax and tax administration.

***

 

Cuttack

 

(Receiving Citizen's Award, Cuttack from Chief Minister, Odisha in 2011) 

Cuttack nagara, dhabal tagar. I had read it when I learnt alphabets from Barnabodha of Madhusudan Rao. This was the prescribed book for children to learn alphabets. The name of the city, Cuttack was ingrained in mind from the very childhood. Later, when government celebrated one thousand years of the city in 1988-89, coined the slogan, Cuttack nagar, barasa hazaar, (Cuttack, a city of thousand years). Besides my village and village of my maternal uncle, the only place I did know or hear was Cuttack till I went to school. In my childhood, Cuttack to me was a city like London or Paris.

I was born in a remote village. Flood visited almost every year and marooned our village for more than a fortnight. The flood water cut off our village from outside world. For any urgency, the means of communication was rowboats. Some people of the village, relatively well off, had boats which came into use during flood. Some people made rafts stitching banana logs with thin bamboo sticks. They used the rafts to go to the mango grove or to a banyan tree to relieve in the morning on a branch of the tree. When I was in the college or university I have to traverse a distance of five kilometres in waist or in some places, chest deep flood water to Koudikol Chhak to go to the collage. From Koudikol, on the Daitary-Paradeep Express Highway, I climbed to the body of a truck that carried iron ore from Daitary to Paradeep port, and reached Chandikhol. From Chandikhol I got the bus to wherever I had to go. No bus or any other transport vehicle plied in those days in the Express Highway.

The school where I studied and passed Matriculation was on bank of the river, Kelua, a branch of the river Brahmani. There was an embankment in front of the school; hence the school was in between the river and the embankment. When the river overflowed, water entered into the school campus and flooded the rooms. The school remained closed till the flood water receded. I was studying science in my intermediate classes and I needed the board certificate to fill up forms for final exam. It was rainy season. I had to swim seven or eight metres from the embankment to reach the school and get my board certificate. Holding the certificate high in one hand I swam back to the embankment.

 Cuttack, the city of my dreams is only fifty kilometres from my village, but the city seemed to me distant and unreachable.

Cuttack was the city of politics, learning, history, culture and literature. It was the centre of freedom struggle. Guru Nanak, Sri Chaitanya, had visited the city, many writers, educationists; social reformers had their residences, so also many kings and emperors had once ruled from here. It was the old capital of the state. The premier institute Ravenshaw College is in Cuttack. The obituary of any great person published in newspapers mentions he was once a student of Ravenshaw. I did not get an opportunity to study in Ravenshaw. After matriculation I applied for Ravenshaw, BJB and Bhadrak College. Intimation for admission I first received from Bhadrak and took admission there. Later, I got the intimation for Ravenshaw, but then, I did not like to take transfer certificate from Bhadrak. On different occasions I came to Cuttack, stayed with friends in Ravenshaw College hostels, but for two three days. I had never resided in the city for a long time.

                                        (On the bank of the river, Mahanadi in a quiet afternoon)

On transfer, I had to join Cuttack office. It was already dawn when Rourkela bus reached Cuttack, but the lazy city was still asleep. The shops and market had not opened. I got a rickshaw and came by Dolamundai, Bajrakabati, Ranihat. In some places, cows and bulls slept on the road. A thrill passed through me when I passed college square. When I was a student, I bought books and magazines from college square, and stayed with my friends Biraja and Sitanath in their hostel. We came to college square and used to chitchat over cups of tea and smoking cheap cigarettes.

I stayed in Bombey hotel.

*****

I studied up to class five in the village school, and then, went to study in the school of my maternal uncle’s village from class six. I stayed four years with my uncle and remaining two years in the school. In college and university I was staying in hostels. I enjoyed freedom, more than other students, my friends; me having relatively less parental or guardian’s control over me. I used to wander; chitchatting, sitting in a khatti and discussing whatever come up for discussion over cups of tea and cigarettes. This had been a habit with me since my school/college days. Wherever I was, I got my friends and a khatti.

Soon after I joined, I got a khatti in Cuttack. In the morning I went to a tea stall. Saroj Ranjan Mohanty and Prafulla Mohanty joined there. Soroj Mohanty was a reputed poet and editor of the prestigious literary magazine, Jhankar. Prafulla Mohanty worked in the secretariat. He was an actor, a theatre person as well as an AIR artiste. The writers or poets who came to meet Saroj Mohanty, first they looked for him in the Khatti. Prof. Deepti Ranjan Patnaik, a writer, was then in Ravenshaw College, Debabrat Madanray, a writer, was editor, Nabalipi, a literary magazine, both sometimes dropped in, so also other men of art and literature. There was no fixed subject; discussion went on literature, politics, art and culture, whatever cropped up. Some local people also joined. The Khatti continued for a longer time on Sundays or other holidays.

(Khatti; Saroj Mohanty reading the morning newspaper, me sitting next to him in the above photo, Prafulla Mohanty, standing and reading the Paper in the photograph below)

I always tried not to bring office to home; office work in office and when I was home reading or writing or in the Khatti, I tried not to think about office. I lived in two worlds. Office often irritated, tired me; the foul mood, sometimes, was with me even after I reached home. The khatti or a book drove out those fetid thoughts. Discontent in me often vented out in my writings.

When I was in Rourkela I wrote two stories, Eka Eka (All Alone) and Kaunria Kathi (Fibre-less Stem of Jute Plant), published in Katha. Manas was the protagonist in both the stories. The readers appreciated. I continued to write based on certain events I experienced; idiosyncrasies of some officers and colleagues also inspired me, and I told all those stories through Manas. Then, there were no cell phones, SMS or WhatsApp or Facebook; readers used to write letters. Readers often wrote me to let them know the next magazine which would publish Manas’s next story, so that they would buy the magazine. Besides common readers, I received letters from the employees of commercial tax organisation or persons associated with the organisation.

Some senior officers and colleagues did not appreciate the stories. Two/three officers who had interest in literature (they were also published writers) told me it was enough, stop writing on the department. I stopped, but not for their pressure; I did not want to be a typecast. Cuttack Students’ Store, Cuttack published a collection of selected fifteen of those stories under the title Nija Batare Nije (All in Their Own Ways).

( Nija Batare Nije (All in Their Own Ways), Cuttack Students' Store, 2002)

At this time, ‘Nabalipi’ had published my story Charibandhu (Four Friends); the story was based on characters of the Khatti. Debabrat Madanray liked the story and later, inspired by Four Friends, he wrote a story; of course, from his experience and one of the characters of his story was Sahadev.

*****

 

The Check gate

 

(A group photo taken after the farewell feast. I am sitting at three from left, the CTO, J.K.R.Das is sitting to my right .)

I joined as Additional CTO in Mukundaprasad check gate after I completed my training in Madhusadan Institute of Academy and Finance (MIAF), and reported to D.P.Rath, CTO, Jatni Circle.

D.P.Rath was a nice person, a talkative man. A pleasant personality, gentle and amiable, one would start liking him after a five minutes’ talk. His family was at Cuttack, he was staying in Jatni. He went to Cuttack every Saturday and returned on Monday. To get the bus, he came to our check gate by jeep, caught the bus there, and on Monday he returned from Cuttack and got off there. The jeep would be waiting for him to take him to Jatni. He discussed with me on any subject that came to his mind while waiting for the bus in our check gate office. Sometimes, especially on Monday before leaving for Jatni office, he would take tea. One day he told me, “You should quit this job.”

In fact, I was least interested in this kind of job. But I had then hard circumstances for some personal and family reasons. I could not do what I wanted. I had to take up this job, enter into government service. I replied, “Sir, you know about acute unemployment problem. I am married with a daughter. What shall I do if I quit this job? Not possible under the circumstances.”

D.P.Rath said, “I have done my M.A. in Allahabad University. When I was doing my post graduation, the banks were nationalized. I had written an article on bank nationalization. I cannot believe now when I read the article that I had once written it. The moment you join this service, process of your undoing begins. After twenty years in this job, you will find, you have forgotten everything; the language now you speak, the words you use, your past... except three or four words like ‘clandestine business’, ‘fraudulent dealers’ , ‘however’, etc.”

During my school or college days, like many students, I had also a streak of ideology. For some years I was also a member of a leftist student organisation. But I was disillusioned with the members and their activities.  I left the party. My circumstances compelled me to earn to live with a fair degree of dignity and the only means I had, or I believed I had, was to go for a job. I did not have courage or means to do anything other for a living. The government job was a secure job. I thought I would in the service and also write features or essays in newspapers and magazines on current affairs. But conduct rules of a government servant did not allow pursuing what I desired. In the MIAF where I was a trainee, I asked B.B.Das. “Being in the job, can I write in newspapers and magazines?”

B.B.Das was an honest and knowledgeable officer. He was teaching us Central Sales Tax and Service Code.

“No, you cannot write, you cannot be critical of government policy being a government servant.” He said.

Soon the job disenchanted me. For the M.Phil I did my dissertation on Indo-US relation. I had studied Marx, Hegel, Ranke or E.H.Carr, used to discuss with my professors and friends communalism, then in early 1980s, communal riots frequently occurred; had read seminar papers (it was part of M. Phil syllabus) on national and international issues. But here, I had to face drunken truck drivers, tax offenders, and delinquent staff, obsessed with mundane and worldly wise matters. I could not reconcile.

( A group photo of officers and staff of Mukundaprasad and By-pass check gates after a farewell feast of an inspector who retired. I am sitting at second from right.)

The job soon frustrated me, I felt restless. One day I was alone in my room, my wife and daughter had been to village. I could not sleep. The days of the Kurukshetra University flashed in my mind. I remembered the library, the rose garden, discussion with my friends in the coffee house, books and different isms we deliberated, national and international affairs we argued and debated. I compared those with the present. The present stirred and provoked me. I wrote a story and it was dawn when I finished. The story calmed me. I sent it to Katha magazine soon after I reached the office.

Next month I went to the magazine stall, and learnt Katha had stopped its publication from that month. I did not have the copy of the story.

                                                        ***          

I was transferred from Mukundaprasad to Patnagarh treasury and from Patnagarh to Satyabadi. One day I was sitting in my office, the postman came and told you had a money order (MO). Katha had sent the MO of Rs. 50, and on message portion of the MO form, the editor had written, “Please accept the remuneration for your story published in Katha in its July issue.”

It was in last week of August. In the mean time, Katha had started republishing and the editor had published my story pending with them. They had sent the complimentary copy of the magazine and the MO to Mukundaprasad check gate, as the address of Mukundaprasad was given with the submission of the story. The officer in charge of Mukundaprasad had redirected the MO to Satyabadi, but had kept the magazine, which was sent by ordinary post. With Rs.50 in hand I went straight to Bhubaneswar from the office. The July issue of Katha was available. I purchased both the July and August issues.

The story was published under the title ‘Yatri’ (Traveller). Most of the letters on the stories of July published in month of August had praise for my story. Later, I happened to meet one officer working in Mukundaprasad in OFSA meeting held in Bhubaneswar. He inquired whether or not I had received the MO he had redirected, and said, “We have received many post cards, views on the story from different places; we did not redirect those as I considered those not important.” I could not explain him importantance of those letters to a writer! Still I was grateful to him for redirecting the MO; otherwise, I would be aware of the story’s publication in Katha.

        (First paragraph and the layout of the story published in facenfacts.com)

Later, I changed the caption of the story to ‘jeebaloka’ (the man not to stay back), which is in my book, Chakrabyuha. It was a favourite story of many. Gourhari Das has selected this story for the anthology of love stories in Odia, ‘Prema’ (Love). facenfacts.com; a web magazine has published the English translation of this story under the caption, Kuruskhetra: A Love Story.