Economic Development

Singapore is one of three surviving city-states in the world with  Monaco & the Vatican City. It is ranked 11th internationally and first in Asia on the UN Human Development Index. It is ranked highly in education, healthcare, life expectancy, quality of life, personal safety, and housing.It is the 14th largest exporter and the 15th largest importer in the world. It attracts a large amount of foreign investment as a result of its location, skilled workforce, low tax rates, advanced infrastructure and zero-tolerance against corruption.

The question is how so much success a small country can achieve? The answer is by spreading the importance of religious and racial harmony. When God creates a genius He doesn't put a stamp of white or black, Muslims or non Muslims on it. Racial and religious harmony is regarded by Singaporeans as a crucial part of Singapore's success, and played a part in building a Singaporean identity. The country blends Malay, Chinese, Arab, Indian and English cultures and religions. More than 80 percent of Singaporeans live in public housing. Every block, precinct and enclave has ethnic quotas.  
 
Former Prime Ministers of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong, have stated:  
"Singapore does not fit the traditional description of a nation, calling it a society-in-transition, pointing out the fact that Singaporeans do not all speak the same language, share the same religion, or have the same customs." 

On the other hand, India is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country (with over 1.2 billion people), and the most populous democracy in the world. The main issue of the country is Hindu terrorism. There is no protection to minorities like Muslims and Christians. 29 Christians were beaten after refusing to reconvert to Hinduism in the village of Katholi in India. Indian Muslim actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan & Amir Khan who deliver gigantic box office films are often become the victims. Their secret agencies killed a hindu actor Om Puri who was the supporter of friendly relations between Pakistan and India. Shiv Sena is the main Hindu extremist party and have high influence in the Government. The extremism is so popular in the country that they have made Nariendar Modi who was involved in brutal killings in Gujrat and became Prime Minister of the country. The country is also involved in suicide bombing attacks in neighbor country Pakistan.

Even the economy is growing but India has the highest number of people (18 million) living in conditions of slavery, most of whom are in bonded labor. It has the largest number of child laborers under the age of 14 in the world with an estimated 12.6 million children engaged in hazardous occupations.

So Racial and religious harmony is the key to success for any country. It brings creativity. People are more free to follow their dreams and they become more rich and happy.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

First Accounting Period- Corporation Tax

It is very important to register for Corporation tax in the first year of trade if you start trading after your company setup date because this will decide how many tax returns you need to submit if your first year of accounting is more than one year. HMRC has given two clear example to explain the issue.   Example 1 (If registered for Corporation tax service before accounting reference date) Company set up date is 11 May 2014, started trading at 22 July 2014 , register for Corporation Tax 26 August 2014 and accounting reference date is 31 May 2015. In this case only 1 tax return covering period 22/07/2014 to 31/05/2015 need to be submitted plus year end accounts from 11/05/2014 to 31/05/2015. Example 2 (If registered for Corporation tax service after accounting reference date) Company set up date is 11 May 2014, started trading at 22 July 2014 and accounting reference date is 31 May 2015. In this case only 2 tax return covering period 11/05/2014 to 21/07/2014 ...
Read more

Rental Income Spouse

Where the married couple has rental income from property, they can reduce the taxes by doing some good tax planning. If the property is owned jointly, both can claim rental income 50:50 in their tax returns regardless of ownership ratio (which can be different from 50:50). So it means rental income sharing can be 50:50 if ownership ratio is 40:60 or rental income sharing can be 30:70 if the ownership ratio is 30:70 etc. What is not possible is rental income sharing of 10:90 and ownership ratio is 60:40. But in case of disposal of property capital gains or losses will be shared in the ownership ratio. No inheritance tax in case of gift of property between spouses if married couple have same domicile (Uk or Non UK).  Form 17 is required to be filled to HMRC if rental income is shared by married couple within 60 days. If the property is owned by single spouse or unmarried couple then Form 17 requirement does not apply. Lets see an example, A couple own a property which they let o...
Read more