An Open Letter to ICAI

To
The ICAI President
ICAI Bhawan
Indraprastha Marg
Post Box No. 7100
NEW DELHI - 110 002

Respected sir,
I am grateful to you that your institute produced thousands of Chartered Accountants in last 65 years and this noble profession of CA is playing a significant role in making India a second fastest growing economy of the world. I can understand the challenges which our institute face frequently but as a qualified Chartered Accountant, you must also be aware regarding all the challenges which CA student face from CPT to final. I would like to draw your attention towards the huge amount of dissatisfaction which is growing amongst me and plenty of other CA students due to the downward scaling by ICAI in the result.

With all due respect, I have no hesitation in saying that ICAI is playing with the future of students for ensuring the implementation of demand-supply policy. As if downward scaling alone was not enough to prevent students from qualifying the exam, you people are now judging us from our capacity of craming and retention. It's unfortunate and disgusting that you people are not testing the aptitude of students but you are encouraging craming by demanding study language and bare act of law related subjects. Therefore, we were not surprised when reputed companies sacked various toppers in past as your examination pattern force students to cram as a result of which new generation of CAs not having a practical approach.

According to Regulation 39(2) "The Council may, in its discretion, revise the marks obtained by all candidates or a section of candidates in any particular paper or papers or in the aggregate in such manner as may be considered necessary, for maintaining the standards of pass percentage provided in these Regulations."

In my opinion, this council regulation is not only harsh on students but it has done a great damage to the credibility of ICAI also. We won't mind if you raise the passing marks to 60% from 50% but at least stop running the scissor on our original marks which we get after lot of hard work and efforts. Transparency is the only thing which students expect from you but currently, transparency is the last thing in your agenda.

ICAI has no moral right to support Clean India Campaign of our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji. It would be better if you people clean your organisation first, instead of lecturing us on Swach Bharat Abhiyan. Every time CA passing percentage hits new low, you people always come with same irritating statements that only hard working students can crack the exams. Oh! Excuse me, please cut this crap. Do you want to say that only 7-8% students does hard work and remaining students just cook the corn?

For the cheap personal gains, copy checkers makes every possible attempt to fail the deserving candidates. They are afraid of competition and doesn't want young CAs who can challenge their monopoly in market. Lesser the competition, better will be for the old aged Chartered Accountants. Moreover, copy checkers doesn't use their own brain in assessing the answers. They heavily rely on the solutions send by ICAI and don't believe in awarding marks for any other valid alternative solution. I myself seen several copies in which valuers awarded just one mark even if whole answer is correct.

I may sound you a sore loser and grapes may be sour for me but each and every concern expressed by me is genuine and I am hopeful that you will address all these concerns to improve the transparency and credibility of ICAI.

With Regards
Divye Joshi

Donation row: AAP has not violated any law

BJP has sharpened the attack on AAP after AVAM suspected the funding of Arvind Kejriwal led Aam Aadmi Party(AAP). In a press conference today, desperate BJP alleged that AAP has made a serious violation of various provisions in receiving donations from few companies.

But if we will go through the provisions of Representation of the People Act, 1951 and Companies Act, 2013 then no violation of any provision has been  made by AAP in receiving four cheques of 50 lakh each from four different Indian companies.

According to section 182 of Companies Act, 2013, A company, other than a Government company and a company which has been in existence for less than three financial years, may contribute any amount directly or indirectly to any political party:

Provided that the amount referred to in sub-section (1) or, as the case may be, the

aggregate of the amount which may be so contributed by the company in any financial year

shall not exceed seven and a half per cent. of its average net profits during the three immediately preceding financial years:

From the above provisions, it is clear that BJP is interpreting the law as per its own convenience. No provision of Companies Act, 2013 prohibits loss making companies to make a donation to a political party. This 7.5% is a maximum limit, not a minimum.

While, section 29B of Representation of People's Act, 1951 also doesn't make any prohibition on receiving any donation from loss making Indian Company.

Therefore, it is crystal clear that issueless BJP is making every possible attempt to defame the image of AAP but truth always prevails over negative campaign.

Capital Showdown: Kejriwal set to stop the winning chariot of Modi

Weak opposition along with anti-incumbency and Modi's euphoria have scripted cake walk for BJP in several recent assembly polls. But, picture is entirely different in India's national capital. If Modi magic is on declining side then the graph of Arvind Kejrival's popularity is increasing with each passing day. Strong CM face like Kejriwal in opposition is giving nightmares to BJP's state and central leadership.

Inclusion of Kiran Bedi in BJP and her projection as CM candidate is proving to be a self goal for BJP. It seems that BJP is also well aware of internal sabotage in the party as almost half of the Modi cabinet is being fielded to counter Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party(AAP). Desperation by BJP is a clear sign of nervousness which party didn't feel in any of the recent polls.

If we talk about opinion polls. One thing which is apparent from the figures of all these surveys that graph of AAP is towards upward direction and party is gaining momentum at a right time. In my opinion, AAP is set to stop the winning streak of Narendra Modi led BJP. 

BJP's chief ministerial candidate and former IPS Kiran Bedi is finding extremely difficult to win her own seat. Krishna Nagar is BJP's traditional seat but lack of enthusiasm and dissastisfaction amongst BJP workers can script a huge upset on this VIP constituency but still the ground report suggests that Kiran Bedi may just scrap through.

(R Jagannathan in http://m.firstpost.com/politics/paanch-saal-kejriwal-why-aap-may-be-headed-for-a-landslide-win-2069463.html) The tide of political fortune seldom flows unidirectionally for too long. The tide that brought Narendra Modi to power in May 2014 and seemed to overwhelm every party standing in its path is now hitting the rocks in Delhi. Arvind Kejriwal, who seemed to get nothing right in the first half of last year has now reversed his slide, aided by the complete misreading of his challenge in Delhi by the BJP.

The latest ABP News-Nielsen opinion poll shows a 50-41 split favouring Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) against the BJP, a sharp rise from a fortnight ago when the BJP was a nose ahead. If this poll has got it right, AAP is not only going to get a majority, but a landslide win. A rising near 10 percentage points difference in a largely two-horse race is unlikely to be reversed in the course of a week.

A recent HT-Cfore survey shows AAP and BJP tied with 38 percent of the vote each. While this means all is not lost for the BJP and a fight will go down to the wire,  the momentum seems to be in AAP's direction taking all polls since December into account. So, unless something dramatic alters voters' minds over the next week before polling on 7 February, Kejriwal is still the man on the inside track.

So it is more than likely that on 10 February we will wake up to cries of "Paanch Saal Kejriwal". Barring an unforeseen miraculous shift in fortunes, Kejriwal's tenacity would have scored over Amit Shah's blunders. Shah, the man who had made winning a habit, may get his comeuppance this time.

What is going right for AAP and wrong for BJP all of a sudden?

In the main, it is obvious that Kejriwal made the right calls after his party's ignominious defeat in the Lok Sabha polls and ill-advised challenges to Modi from Gujarat to Varanasi.

The first call he made was to keep AAP away from all assembly contests and focussing exclusively on Delhi. This was shrewd for several reasons. A party that just lost almost everywhere needed to concentrate its efforts and limited resources in the one place it had the maximum chances of winning.

Kejriwal rightly calculated that losing once more in a state (Haryana) where the party was ill-prepared was not a risk worth taking. He calculated - correctly - that the BJP would be trying to win the bigger states. He concentrated his resources fully in the place the BJP had ignored till last month. He hit the enemy in his weakest spot, and he has gained as a result.

That he was helped by the BJP's strange mix of hubris and reluctance to give battle does not take anything away from what appears to be Kejriwal's likely win on 10 February. He would have earned this victory, assuming it happens as the polls predict.

The BJP developed an inexplicable ambivalence in Delhi despite winning 60 out of 70 assembly segments in the Lok Sabha elections. Logically, it should have administered the coup de grace by holding the Delhi assembly polls in June 2014 when AAP was staggering under defeat and demoralisation. The BJP's complete inability to grasp the chance must go down in history as possibly one of history's best examples of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Apart from the blunder of delay, which is likely to blot Amit Shah's all-win copybook so far, the BJP made three huge strategic errors that are simply unforgiveable.

First, it ignored the mess and infighting in the Delhi BJP till the end. With hindsight we can say that a rudderless state party should have been fixed first before if the idea was to delay the polls till after the other four assembly elections had been completed.

Second, the induction of Kiran Bedi into the party at the last minute now appears to have been a huge mistake. Not because she is a liability, but simply because there was too little time for the party to adjust to her and her to the party. Moreover, she appears inexperienced in electoral wordplay and seems a novice before the battle-tested Kejriwal. Kejriwal has spent two years in the trenches mixing with voters; Bedi has spent these two years in TV studios and in splendid isolation. She needed time to be coached on what to say and what not to, and also to acclimatise herself to the party she was joining. This lack of time and experience is costing her and the party.

I don't believe she is a misfit in politics; in fact, she is the right fit in the new politics of citizen involvement and improved governance. It is the old BJP which is in a time warp and needs change. Hopefully, the BJP will learn the right lessons the next time.

This writer also completely misread the impact of Kiran Bedi's entry and jumped to conclusion that she was a game-changer. But, as explained above, it may already have been too late.

Third, Amit Shah is now belatedly pulling out all the stops by pushing central ministers and state leaders to stem the tide in Delhi by campaigning in the segments they may have influence over. While I give him full marks for trying to make a real fight of it, the chances are this will be seen as a panic move. Such last-minute manoeuvres are seldom enough to pull back for a douuble-digit vote difference. Delhi also is not the sum of people from various states. At best, Shah can hope to prevent a Kejriwal landslide. But its like putting your finger in the dyke when the dam is about to burst.

I may be jumping the gun by prematurely declaring victory for Kejriwal, and may have egg on my face on 10 February, but analysis with hindsight is no analysis at all. Karl Marx was brilliant in explaining history and poor in predicting its future course. I hope I am not Karl Marx.

I believe this is a fight Kejriwal deserves to win and one that BJP deserves to lose.

U-turns of Modi sarkar: BJP then and now

For a hypocrite party like BJP, it is most convenient to keep changing their stance on several core issues according to its comfort. From aadhar scheme to black money, the U-turns of BJP are just like the typical rank turners prepared by pitch curators in India for the visitors. If rank turners creates panic in the mind of batsmen then BJP's U-turns have created a distrust amongst the voters who brought Modi Sarkar into the power with a clear majority.

Today, we are exposing few of such U-turns taken by BJP after forming the government at Centre.

1.BJP then: We will re-negotiate nuclear deal: BJP
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/We-will-re-negotiate-nuclear-deal-BJP/articleshow/2594882.cms

 BJP now: IAEA to get more access to India’s nuclear programme
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/IAEA-to-get-more-access-to-Indias-nuclear-programme/articleshow/37090811.cms

2. BJP then: Narendra Modi Opposes Gst
http://indianexpress.com/tag/narendra-modi-opposes-gst/

BJP now: Narendra Modi’s GST U-turn set to make India single market for first time

 http://www.livemint.com/Politics/lHBlcNNuN3OOPCNZeSksgK/Narendra-Modis-GST-Uturn-set-to-make-India-single-market-f.html?utm_source=copy
3. BJP then: 1962 Indo-China war secret report 'blames' Nehru; BJP demands the document be made public

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-03-18/news/48331059_1_war-report-indo-china-entire-report

BJP now: In U-turn, Modi govt rules out release of Henderson Brooks report

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/In-U-turn-Modi-govt-rules-out-release-of-Henderson-Brooks-report/articleshow/38024666.cms

4. BJP then: No talks till Dawood and Hafiz Saeed are handed over, demands BJP

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-no-talks-till-dawood-and-hafiz-saeed-are-handed-over-demands-bjp-1872661

BJP now: Pakistan PM to attend inauguration of India's new leader Narendra Modi

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/24/pakistan-pm-nawaz-sharif-inauguration-india-narandra-modi

5. BJP then: Will bring black money in 100 days: Rajnath Singh

http://zeenews.india.com/videos/will-bring-back-black-money-in-100-days-bjp-chief-rajnath-singh_29137.html

BJP now:Never talked about bringing black money in 100 days: Govt

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Never-talked-about-bringing-black-money-in-100-days-Govt/articleshow/45297880.cms

6. BJP then: We'll throw Aadhaar into the dustbin: H N Ananth Kumar

http://www.business-standard.com/article/elections-2014/we-ll-throw-aadhaar-into-the-dustbin-h-n-ananth-kumar-114032800298_1.html

BJP now: Home Ministry Does U-Turn On Aadhaar Scheme

http://m.newshunt.com/india/english-newspapers/deccan-herald/national/home-ministry-does-uturn-on-aadhaar-scheme_33051635/c-in-l-english-n-deccan-ncat-National

Will bring back black money in 100 days: BJP chief Rajnath Singh

By poll results review: Referendum against 90 days of Modi sarkar?

Read the detailed analysis on by poll results here

Alarm bell is ringing fast for Modi-led NDA government at Centre as by polls result since Modi sarkar’s sworn has stunned the BJP which formed the government after registering landslide and historical victory in May, 2014. While, recent by poll results have given some hope to Congress which was on back foot after getting decimated in lok sabha polls.

Karn Sharma makes Meerut proud

After Praveen Kumar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Karan Sharma has made whole Meerut proud after getting an ODI call for the forthcoming series in England

(Abhishek Purohit in http://www.espncricinfo.com/england-v-india-2014/content/story/767221.html) A day after returning from a victorious India A campaign in Australia, Karn Sharma was relaxing with his family at his home in Meerut. Suddenly, his phone started to ring continuously with friends and well-wishers (and obviously journalists) flooding him with congratulatory calls. It took Karn a little while to realise that he had earned his maiden call-up to the India limited-overs squad for the England series'. Once it sank in, the Railways and Sunrisers Hyderabad legspinner said it was an "inexplicable feeling".

"Since I had fared quite well in whatever opportunities I got, I was hoping that my efforts would be recognised." Karn told ESPNcricinfo. "It's an inexplicable feeling now that my efforts have been rewarded with a place in the India squad. I am glad the day has come but I will treat it as a fresh start and hope to continue doing what I have been doing all these years."

Karn got only three games in the quadrangular one-day tournament in Darwin, his first series for India A. He displayed his allround skills against South Africa A, taking 2 for 35 in ten overs before cracking an unbeaten 39 off 16 at No. 9 to take India A home off the penultimate ball with one wicket standing. Karn said he knew he had to utilise whatever opportunities he got in Australia.

"It was an overwhelming experience, the first time I played for India A. This was the highest standard I was playing at and I didn't want to let myself and the team down. I knew since I was touring with the India A squad for the first time, I had to be patient till I got my chance and make the most of it once I got it. I am delighted that I could do it and contribute to the team's cause. When I was walking out to bat [against South Africa A], I knew that this could well be the only knock I will get in the tournament. Fortunately, all the shots that I tried came off that day."

The knock also drew praise from Abhay Sharma, the India A fielding and wicketkeeping coach. "He can grow into a very good one-day allrounder down the order," Abhay said. "He is the kind of batsman who will get you late runs under pressure. That is the how we have tried to develop him. He won us that match against South Africa A."

Abhay, also the Railways coach, has been working with Karn from his junior-cricket days with the domestic side. Abhay said he had been confident over the past five years that Karn would make it to the India side one day, especially as he learned to bowl under pressure.

"Initially he was a batsman who could bowl. But we saw that he adapted very quickly. According to me, he is one of the best spinners in the country in limited-overs," Abhay said. "We always knew he was going to make it. The skill part has been there, but what we have worked on with him is how to handle pressure situations. There will always be pressure in international cricket.

"He is now able to bowl in the Powerplay and at the death. We have seen what he can do in the IPL. It is because he bowls wicket to wicket. We have worked with him on the slider and also on getting the ball to drift in and then turn away, which is a difficult delivery for the batsman."

Railways players have to make do with modest facilities compared to cricketers with state associations, and Abhay said that had only sharpened Karn's approach. "He is always focused on the game. Even if you make him sleep in a simple dormitory, he will not bother about that at all and retain his focus."

Company law amendments - Series V

Click here to read the amendments

In the fifth series of company law amendments, we are posting some more sections which includes Director amendments. You can read these amendments both in paragraph and tabular form.