NI in UK is not always a one-way street

This is my nth comeback at blogging. I keep retiring and making comebacks all the time..) This time I wanted to talk about a topic of special importance to folks working in the United Kingdom. UK is pretty heavy in its tax structure. Any sort of income one makes, be it salary or bank interest or whatever is duly and immediately taxed. Added to this is the burden of national insurance (around 10%) after one completes a year of work in UK.

Though some of the basic benefits are state sponsored vis-a-vis education and health, one does feel the pinch each time the pay slip is received. After a lot of R&D (read useless browsing) I stumbled upon a couple of companies which help you
out with obtaining partial refunds. This maybe known information for some of you, but for me it was definitely an eye opener and hopefully a purse filler. The NI contributions made by you and your employer constitute your NI pension corpus for the future.

This amount has 2 components, the basic state pension and the second state pension. British law allows provision for you to contract out this second state pension component to private players (eg: AXA, Scottish widows). This is especially useful for people who work for few years in UK and return without obtaining citizenship as non-citizens will definitely not have access to any state funds and thereby to their NI contributions.

From here on in this post, I will just explain my situation as an example.
1) I was sent onsite to UK by an Indian software company on October 2007. My total stint lasted for around 18 months. As always my National Insurance contributions were deducted each month after I completed my 1 year of employment in UK
(i.e October 2008 - April 2008)
2) Around April 5, I filled the online form at www.nirebateonline.com. The cutoff date for each year is April 5 or 6(pl check). If you do not do this, the contributions for that year cannot be contracted out and will remain in the government fund.
3) I also downloaded another form as per the instructions on the site, printed it, filled it and sent to the address mentioned.
4) Few days later I got an acknowledgment email stating that my application was received and that I will get my login details in few days.
5) For a couple of months I did not hear from them. I then chased them up on email and managed to get a response with a URL to fill my details online.
6) Here some basic personal details were again asked. It is compulsory to fill in an UK address here (preferably the one given in the initial form sent to them)
7) The same day I received my username by email and the same week the password was mailed to my UK address
(mentioned in point 6)
8) When I logged in with these details in AXA's website www.axa.co.uk/customers.
I was happy to note that in the month of July my NI refund for financial year April 2008- April 2009 had been credited by the Government to my AXA account.It amounted to around 40% of my contributions (mine + my employer)
9) The important thing to note is only for the first year you need to do this hassle. After that all your NI refunds (if any) will automatically go each year to this fund.
10) AXA will also act as a fund manager for your money.So there could be losses or gains to the base contribution. Only advantage is you can do unlimited number of fund switches a year to change the way your money is invested. Eg: equity, bond, commodities etc

Advantages and disadvantages:
1) The second state pension component can be accessed from 55 instead of the usual 60. The primary state pension continues to be accessible only at 60 and only for British citizens.
2) This second state pension can be received as a lump sum at the age of 55 in your country of residence.
3) There is an annual fund management charge of 1% on the fund value each year in the case of AXA (maybe more for Scottish Widows)

All these details are also available on www.nirebateonline.com

Dance Pe Chance

Even though we keep saying that bollywood songs are cliched and keeps doing the same thing over and over again, there are sometimes when you cannot deny that nothing in the world as suited to the Indian spirit asa conventional, unashamed, textbook-style hindi-movie song.

I have zero shame in accepting that I feel like jumping and dancing when I hear the following song:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=MQj-2fBHodY

You should be able to catch the full version audio of this song at various places like musicindiaonline and raaga.Adi Chopra once again has the finger on the pulse. Hope he doesn't overdo it in the movie.

The One and Only Iron Man

It is quite a well known fact in India that after the 50's there has been a conscious attempt to project the Nehrus and the Gandhis in all streams of public record as the sole messiahs of the country. And this has succeeded to a vast extent. The only leaders which people generally remember are the highly projected ones like these and those people who can be more easily identified as a part of their state's identity.

No wonder that such a great Legend Sardar Vallabhai Patel has become more of a regional icon in Gujarat and Maharashtra whereas he was in many ways the true Architect of an independent and united India. Also most indications point that Sardar himself wanted Jawaharlal Nehru to get more visibility because he had a youthful energy which could better as a marketing tool for the freedom struggle with the masses. It is quite criminal that in the later years he has become a sort of 'yet another freedom fighter' in public memory.

To just simply quote a few points from what wikipedia says on Sardar:
1) He was proposed as the first Prime Minister of India by 13 of the 16 Congress Working Committee members
2) He was sort of a Guardian light for the IAS,IPS and Indian constitution
3) He was the Architect of most of India as we see it today because he united more than 500 princely states.
4) Most of the rejected Patel ideas have resulted in great damage. For eg: UN arbitration of Kashmir

I can just go on and on. To sum up he was the greatest Prime Minister we never heard.
For just a small teaser of what kind of a tough character he was, please take a look at the following interesting scene about Hyderabad integration from the bio-pic 'Sardar'
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_mApFtTepfM&feature=related (English)
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=03kqxv5ydZk&feature=related (Hindi)

My Gem in the safe custody of the neighbour

In the age of Reality television, sensational news and Information Technology, i am personally scared that we are fast losing our identity and individuality.
It is a matter of great pride to Indian culture that a beautiful thumri has been used in a Pakistani blockbuster 'Khuda kay Liye'. Hats off to them.
I doubt if any such piece would be used in a mainstream Hindi movie today given the commercial demands of the Industry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfLgpJPbcYs

It has a simple meaning wherein a Girl tells her friend 'How will I go to fetch water, this Naughty kid(Krishna) always smashes my pot with stones. How much ever I tell him or scold him he always does the same thing'

Interesting times ahead - 3

Why do I think that BJP had done a bit of match fixing quite before
the Trust vote? Am I alone in thinking so? Though nowhere near the
vastly experience Congress which has never lost a trust vote in
History, the BJP is no kindergarten kid when it comes to trust vote
politics. And with the anti-incumbency factor brewing, it would not
have taken much out of them to convince a few small-time parties by
cash or kind to vote against the UPA.

Whether it was out of ethics or out of sheer strategy is anyone's
guess, but it was quite obvious that this time around BJP did not
go all-out to pull down the UPA Government.
The following were possibly on the minds of BJP strategists:
1) Pulling down the Government now may have given the Congress a
wave of sympathy and they might have campaigned ' We wanted
power for you and our fuse was pulled' all over the country.
2) Inflation is at an all-time high and is not expected to abate
any time soon. This is not the best time for BJP to win an election
and take up the reins.
3) In the last year UPA is expected to introduce lot of reforms
and these could be an attacking point for BJP as generally reforms
always make a good campaign subject as anti-aam admi
4) Last but not the least BJP may have had some genuine pressure
from US and its proxy agencies like World Bank threatening dire
consequences in case the BJP pulls the Government for the Nuclear
deal and later assumes power.

For the next one year I am very interested about what our gold
medal economist PM comes up with in the next one year now that he
doesn't have the Left to burden him.

Interesting Times Ahead - Part 2

Over the last few years just when we were getting back a wee bit of
confidence on the Indian Judiciary, through a few really Landmark
verdicts and stiff resistance to some issues(read Reservation),
the ugly head has started rearing again.

Just till a few weeks back the Sahara group were in all sorts of legal
deadlocks. But just wait and watch now as one by one all of these
are slowly solved, postponed or just conveniently forgotten.

This is just probably the first of them:

http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=582807

Similarly now that Mayawati has quit the Government, the CBI seems
to be suddenly in such an instantaneous love affair with her

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/We-have-enough-proof-to-prosecute-Mayawati-CBI/333983/

Of course all of us can guess why all these days the 'evidence' was sleeping.
But again, the CBI has, is and will always be our best stand-up comedy machine.

Interesting Times Ahead - Part 1

The Congress has atlast done what it should have done ages ago. Its alliance with the Left was always rocky, but more importantly very unproductive.
'Choosing to be an atheist is like choosing immobility as a means of transportation' says 'The life of Pi' on atheism(need not be my opinion on Atheism).I feel this quote would be more appropriate for India's current political and economic predicament.

India for the last 4 years was always putting 2 steps forward and then 3 steps back. Caught in a quagmire between the global pushes and pulls of globalisation on one hand and the Left's outdated approach to economics and society on the other we were practically helping no one's cause. Our foreign affairs situation has become more of a joke with all our neighbours some way or the other capitulating to the mighty red dragon.

For a more detailed critique(or rather slamming) of the Left read Sagharika Ghosh's post at

http://www.ibnlive.com/blogs/sagarikaghose/223/51800/red-letter-day.html

As indicated in the post above, now that the Left is no longer with the Congress, they will become the next favourite hunting prey for CN IBN after the poor old BJP.

Coming back to the topic, now that the Left has been done with thanks to 'timely' help from the SP(don't ask me about the mysterious situation of the case on the Sahara Group) the next challenge ahead of the Congress will be to come safely out of the Confidence motion. The reason i am expecting eagerly for all this is i am somehow convinced that if Congress comes through after all this mess, there will be atleast a few good reforms in the pipeline for the next year.Most of these would have been kept in cold storage out of fear for the Left's opposition.

I of course agree that time is running out and even if the Confidence motion is overcome, there is just one year left, but then something is better than nothing and sometimes a few months is enough to atleast put up a decent foundation in place.

First Citizen or Tallest Personality

NRN,Somnath Chaterjee and now Pranab Mukherjee. The speculation is endless.Who will go on to become the first citizen of the land?
Here goes my take on the whole issue.

Choosing Dr.Kalam for this esteemed post was probably one of the few good decisions ever to be taken by the usually insane political bapus of our country.This move has among other things changed the image of a President from that of an aged,dull, uninspiring rubber stamp of a personality to that of a youthful,vibrant super achiever who is confident of his country's future in the global arena.

Dr.APJ has interacted with lakhs of students in his terms.Wouldn't it be practical to assume that atleast a handful of kids got inspired from his speeches. The so called Educated elite like you and me may dismiss Vision 2020 as too idealistic and unreal. But even if 20 kids all over the country have got inspired by the concept, then he has achieved more than what all the Presidents of free India put together have done.

Hence I strongly feel that taking cue from the APJ example, the President post must be extended to distinguished achievers, scientists and others in the public sector who by way of their long innings of service will inspire atleast an inkling of social responsiblity,concience and pride in each and every citizen of the nation. Also this is the least we can do to such sincere and selfless Gentlemen who have ditched much more lucrative offers for the noble cause of nation building.

Dr.M.S.Swaminathan,Dr.Kasthoori Rangan, are you listening......

The Pursuit of Paradise

Am back at blogging after a pretty long haitus.And as my brother always chides me, its once again cinema which has made me take up the pen.

I must confess that watching movies is prety much in the top of my list of timepass activities and i am pretty much game to all and sundry that is thrown at me, irrespective of the genre, cast,language etc.

But the ones i cherish the most are those crop of movies where the plot is so engaging that you start to root for the protoganist and get involved to such an extent that at the end of the movie,you celebrate his or her win as your own.You are so ecstatic at the triumph of these characters that you cry out of joy. It is tough enough for a creator or a creation to make you cry for a sad situation ,leave alone tugging at your hear strings for happy situations. But there have been great creators who have been time and again successful in this Herculean task.

One such creation happens to be a movie by name 'The Pursuit of Happyness'. Whoa! what a movie ! Everything about this movie, each character, each scene, each frame,each expression is so damn realistic and so beautifully sketched that the creative product as a whole stays etched in your mind forever.To keep it short, the movie is about a struggling medical rep,Will Smith's trials and tribulations in day to day life and some crucial risks he takes to come out of the rut that he is into and how his actions influence him and the people around him.

I have seen the movie thrice and each time I have had wet eyes at the end of the experience. Mind you its not a case of weeping over a sad and depressing movie. Its a case of identifying with and being overjoyed for the successes of a reel life character who is so realistic and who's situations are so common with our day-to-day life that just like the actors who effortlessly slip into the characters, you probably take on the mantle of their friends or neighbours or whatever.

The climax where Will Smith's future is spelt out and he reacts superbly is so natural that i challenge you that even if you see it a hundred times you cannot help but cry out of joy for him.If you tell me you didn't, don't worry, I won't believe you.

And please give the movie the respect it deserves and pay very strong attention to detail(especially the expressions).Cause its not the brand of cinema where the punch dialogues are audible even to the canteen vendor outside the theatre.

Also please post such similar experiences you may have faced with any other movie(s).