Why did the League of Nations Fail?
A little bit of history. Woodrow Wilson, the US President was a great champion of the league but the US senate was not impressed and it refused to ratify the treaty and what world peace can you achieve with the US of A not being a member of the world body? And if the United States refused to join the League, how could nations object if Germany walked out?
The point is, even the powerful US President could not enter into a treaty with other nations without the consent of the US Senate. But the Indian Government has no such problems. It can bind the country with all kinds of treaties, nuclear or financial, without even telling Parliament.
Shiv Kant Jha, a retired Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, who resembles RK Laxman's common man in looks, has been running a single handed crusade against the Government's Double Tax Avoidance Treaties, especially the Mauritius one. TIOL took him to Parliament to tell the legislators about the Taxation Laws Amendment Bill and he told them about the Bill for about two minutes and then told them - "here is a serious issue with which you should be concerned - the DTAA" and he went on to explain the dangers of the DTAA.
Today we bring you an exclusive report on a seminar recently held in the Capital on the issue.
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