By CA. Sunil Gabhawalla
President
Dear Members,
General Elections are just
around the corner. The role of elections in ensuring a vibrant democracy and a
progressing nation cannot be underplayed. For the incumbent government,
elections present an opportunity to showcase their achievements and also promise
a path of continuity of policies. For the opposition, elections present an
opportunity to highlight the shortcomings of the incumbent government and offer
an alternative narrative towards various policies. In a sense, the elections
have the potential of acting as a reality check. As citizens, we regularly
voice our support or concerns to various initiatives (or the lack of them!) of
the government. At times, we feel frustrated that our voices go unheard. To
citizens, elections present a once in five years (subject to certain
exceptions!) opportunity to make their voices heard. How can we miss this
opportunity? Actually, it is not just an opportunity, it is our duty towards
the nation.
In a crowd of conflicting
noises and opinions, it is easy to get disillusioned, either due to
disagreement with policies or inability to see immediate outcome of the
policies. At the same time, not having many superlative alternatives may also
make one think whether there is really a choice and whether one vote matters?
Having an election day near a weekend may entice one to make simple choice of
enjoying a vacation. For the sceptics who believe that one vote may not matter,
let me remind them that each drop builds up the ocean. As accountants, we like
numbers. So let me draw up some eye-opening statistics from the General
Elections 2014 – in a whopping 524 constituencies, the vote margin of the
winning candidate was less than number of voters who did not turn up for
voting. While it is too ambitious to assume that everyone from the nation would
vote, even if 50% of the non-voters would have additionally voted over and
above those who actually voted, 427 constituencies could have reported a
different scenario since the vote margins there were less than even 50% of the
non-voters. Dilute this to 25% additional turnout of non-voters, one would
still see 240 impacted constituencies. In the past, we have seen political
parties with less than these many numbers calling the roost with other
coalition partners. In my view, these are eye opening numbers to suggest that
the biggest damage is done to the nation by voter apathy. The sum and substance
of the message is very clear – Come what may, Vote we must.
Closer to our profession,
the BCAS had the opportunity of an interaction with the newly elected
torch-bearers of the Institute-President Shri Prafulla Chajjed, Vice President
Shri Atul Kumar Gupta and Chairperson of WIRC Smt. Priti Savla. The meeting was
very fruitful and many issues of topical interest were discussed. BCAS
congratulates all of them and reiterates its commitment to complement the
efforts of the Institute towards long term development of the profession.
The month of March
witnessed varied activities and events at the Society–starting with an RRC on
Ind As, followed by two lecture meetings covering recent decisions in direct
taxes and Banning of Unregulated Deposits Scheme respectively, a series of
study circle meetings and workshops, a four-day intensive study course on FEMA,
two-day Company Law Conclave and a full-day Tech Summit were events cherished
by the members at large. The Society also felicitated rank holders and new
entrants to the profession. Acknowledging its responsibility towards the
Society, a Blood Donation Camp was organised, which also received good response.
The Journal Committee celebrated the occasion of completing 50 years of the
BCAJ with a bang and felicitated various feature writers and editors.
Though the financial year
has come to a close, the activities at BCAS continue unfettered. The JOSH is
high – the organising teams have planned the GST RRC at Vadodara, the Youth RRC
is also announced and the preparation for the annual student event Tarang is in
its final stages. It is the members’ enthusiasm and whole hearted participation
which motivates the organising teams of the volunteers to devote their time,
effort and energy to make each event more memorable than the earlier one. I
would urge all of you to participate in these events and contribute towards the
collective growth of the profession.
The membership for the
Society was due for renewal by 31st March and reminders were sent a
couple of months ago. In your busy schedule, if you have missed out on your
renewals, I would request you to kindly renew the membership at the earliest.
Please
feel free to write to me at president@bcasonline.org
Regards
CA.
Sunil Gabhawalla
President
