New Income Tax Slab for FY 2010-11

Income upto Rs.1.6 lakh	Nil
Income above Rs.1.6 lakh and upto Rs.5 lakh	10 per cent
Income above Rs.5 lakh and upto Rs.8 lakh	20 per cent
Income above Rs.8 lakh	30 per cent

Particulars	Taxable/Non- Taxable	Exemption/Rebate	Limit
Taxable Items:	-	-	-
Basic Pay	Fully Taxable	-	-
Dearness Pay	Fully Taxable	-	-
Grade Pay	Fully Taxable	-	-
Dearness Allowance	Fully Taxable	-	-
House Rent Allowance	Fully Taxable	-	-
City Compensate Allowance	Fully Taxable	-	-
Medical Allowance	Fully Taxable	-	-
Family Planning Allowance	Fully Taxable	-	-
Arrear Amount	Fully Taxable	-	-
Maturity Amount of NSC	Fully Taxable	-	-
Total amount withdrawn from NSS	Fully Taxable	-	-
Transport Allowance	Partially Taxable	Rebate	Maximum upto Rs.800 PM
Children Education Allowance	Partially Taxable	Rebate	Maximum upto Rs.100 PM
Deductions:
Less-Allowance U/S 10(13A) Actual Rent Paid	-	Exempt	Actual amount of HRA received or Expenditure on rent in excess of 1/10th of the salary or 50% of Salary, which ever is less Rent Paid
Interest on HBA U/S 24	-	Deduction	Maximum Rs.1,50,000
Reimbursement of Medical Exp. U/S 17(2)V	-	Deduction	Maximum Rs.15,000
U/S 80C	-	Deduction	Maximum Rs.1,00,000
Refund of loan taken for the construction of House	-	Deduction	Maximum Rs.1,00,000
C.P.F / G.P.F	-	Deduction	Maximum Rs.1,00,000
G.I.S	-	Deduction	Actual
LIC Premium	-	Deduction	Maximum Rs.1,00,000
Subscription of N.S.C. / P.P.F	-	Deduction	Maximum Rs.1,00,000
Interest Occurred on investment in N.S.C.	-	Deduction	Maximum Rs.15,000
C.T.D. / L.I.P. / ULIP (Mutual Fund)	-	Deduction	Maximum Rs.1,00,000
Unit Linked Plan	-	Deduction	Maximum Rs.1,00,000
Tuition Fee (Limited to 2 children) & (After XII th full time course)	-	Deduction	Maximum Rs.1,00,000
5 Years Fixed deposit & 5 years time deposit scheme	-	Deduction	Maximum Rs.1,00,000
U/S 80D CCC	-	Deduction	Maximum Rs.10,000
U/S 80CCD	-	Deduction	Maximum 10% of BP & DA (Recruited on or after 1.1.2004)
Medi Claim Premium U/S 80D	-	Deduction	Maximum Rs.15,000 (Other than above Rs.1,00,000)
Premium paid for Self, Spouse & Children	-	Deduction	Maximum Rs.15,000 (other than above Rs.1,00,000)
Premium paid for Parents (If parent is not senior citizen)	-	Deduction	Maximum Rs.20,000 (Other than above Rs.1,00,000)
Premium paid for Parents (If parent is senior citizen)	-	Deduction	Maximum Rs.20,000 (Other than above Rs.1,00,000)
U/S 80DD	-	Deduction	Handicapped dependents :spouse, son / daughter, parents and brother / sister - Deduction Rs.75,000 to Rs.1,00,000
U/S 80DDB	-	Deduction	Maximum Rs.400,00 (other than above Rs.1,00,000)
U/S 80E	-	Deduction	Entire amount (Interest on higher Education/Study loans)
U/S 80 G	-	Deduction	Deduction for contribution to charitable organization
U/S 80U	-	Deduction	Disability Deduction Rs.75,000 to Rs.1,00,000
	Tax Relief - Additional savings in Infrastructure Bonds : Rs.20,000
CGHS subscription will be exempted u/s 80D

Way to work - Monday morning

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU

I feel beautiful when it is 3:00 am

Loved the lines in this pic so added the picture here!

We weren’t lovers like that

Book: We weren’t lovers like that

Author: Navtej Sarna

Publisher: Penguin Books India

Rate: 150 INR

I finished reading this book while travelling from Pipariya (a small town in M.P., India) to Mumbai.

I started this book for two simple reasons:

1. because I had nothing better to do and had to kill time.

2. Because I didn’t have anything else to read

I loved the way the book started. The first chapter was titled ‘Delhi’ (my favorite place) and said these lines:

“I am leaving. Doing the one thing that I’m still good at: running away.”

This line kind of struck a chord somewhere and I knew that I’ll be finishing this book and that too in a trot. And indeed, I did. Infact, I kind of broke my own speed reading record with this one. I finished this book in 7 hours flat – the fastest I’ve ever been across 215 pages.

I never was in a hurry to finish this book as I had the entire day to kill before I’d have reached Mumbai. But, this one was a sure page turner.

I read a lot of reviews on the net and most of them pointed to the fact that this book was depressing and not a good read at all. I’d take a completely different take from all this.

This is one book that is, yes, not like five point someone. It is certainly not the story of your average guy next door, who gets a girl, a good job and lives happily ever after. It is a book of struggles, struggle to wake up, struggle to think rationally, struggle to not do what should’ve been done. This book will not give you cheeky onliners that one can use to impress cute chicks. This is instead a book that will want you to stop, ponder and deliberate over a lot of things. This book will give the involved reader action points.

In a nutshell this book's about Aftab (protagonist), who turns a 40 and whose wife left him for his friend, taking with him their only 10-year-old son. This journey is the journey of Aftab, who used to dazzle and shine in the past, but is now, in a pitiable state.

Reviews of some eminent people:

"Exquisitely written, deeply-felt, introspective and evocative, Sarna's first novel marks an auspicious debut."

-Shashi Tharoor

"Navtej Sarna's shimmering meditation on love and loss becomes a compelling journey through the haunted landscapes of memory. "

-Vikram Chandra

My rating: 7.5 on 10

This is a must read. Readers will be tickled with thoughts, sheer pace and life of the characters. All in all a page turner and a good read.

Monologue on a cold, chilly winter morning!

One fateful morning, I was standing on a platform at Pipariya (a small town in MP, India) at 2:45 am. I was on my way back to Mumbai after attending a close friends wedding. As i stood there, I could clearly hear the clitter-clatter noise that my teeth were making. It was some 8 degree C out there. All i was wearing was a cotton shirt over a vest and a jeans. I was dead tired having danced like mad at friends wedding (but that's another story) and very very cold. The only support that i had was that of warm tea. It helped in keeping me warm and kept me awake as well.

So i welcomed the gentle breeze (though it made me cold) and tea as both helped me keep awake that night!

Here is what i decided to kill time. I realised long back (back when i was all of 9 years) that i'm most comfortable when i'm with myself.

I decided to spice up this time that i was spending with myself, engrossed in my thoughts. So i decided to talk to the camera of my Nokia N82 in video record mode. The motive was to talk loudly and keep this as a videolog.

So this video above was a result of this self-talk. I realised that i can actually talk absolute nonsense for hours at a stretch, if the audience lends a good ear.

Kingfisher Great Indian October Fest 2009

Has Your Boss Been Lying to the CEO?

Sales Techniques Guaranteed to Lose the Deal

Just had a look at this amazing Sales video. It tells one in no ambiguous terms that what not to do at sales. Btw such tactics are still being taught at a lot of B-schools for sales. And, i'm afraid to say that i've found that most times this doesn't work at all.

Have a look and see for yourself!