Assalamu'alaikum,
From : Mohammed Zafer Ali
SIX WAYS TO EARN EVEN AFTER DEATH
asdasd
Maa ki Ahmiyat
The Night before Exams
Kingdom is also considering two-day weekly holiday for private sector''
Saudi to cancel individual sponsorship of expats
By Staff
Published Sunday, April 01, 2012
Saudi Arabia is planning to stop its citizens from sponsoring expatriate workers and restrict visa sponsorship to companies as part of an ongoing strategy to expand the private sector and tackle local unemployment.
The new system is expected to be presented to the cabinet for approval within the next few months, the Arabic language daily Alwatan said.
Another newspaper said the Gulf kingdom, the largest Arab economy and the world's oil basin, is considering changing its weekly holiday to Friday and Saturday instead of Thursday and Friday for both the public and private sectors.
"A committee created by the Ministry of Labour has completed a study on the replacement of the individual sponsorship system by a corporate system…the plan also involves the creation of a new body to be called 'the Expatriate Labour Authority' to be affiliated to the Ministry of Labour," Alwatan said.
Under the new system, foreign workers will be allowed to keep their passports while direct sponsors will no longer be required to agree on the workers' request to bring their families to the Kingdom or go for pilgrimage.
"The study also made several proposals that will guarantee the rights of both the employer and the employee," the paper said.
In a separate report, Okaz newspaper said another government committee has completed a study to change the two-day weekly holiday.
It said the committee is proposing Friday and Saturday instead of Thursday and Friday and stressed that "Friday must not be touched in any new holiday recommendation on the grounds it is an Islamic symbol."
"The study coincides with moves by the Ministry of Labour to allow the private sector to have a two-day weekly holiday on part with the public sector."
Saudi Arabia has been locked in plans to expand the private sector and give it a stronger role in the domestic economy following official reports that it will be the main source of jobs in the next years.
Foreigners account for more than 90 per cent of the workers in the private sector but officials hope this will drastically change after last year's enforcement of a radical job nationalization plan dubbed Nitaqat (ranges).
Around eight million expatriates live in Saudi Arabia, accounting for nearly 30 per cent of the total population of 27.1 million.
Home / Saudi Arabia / Shoura: No taxes on expats
Shoura: No taxes on expats
The Shoura Council at its 18th regular session on Sunday. (SPA)
By RIYADH: ABDUL HANNAN TAGO
Published: Apr 2, 2012 01:15 Updated: Apr 2, 2012 01:15
The Shoura Council rejected a move to tax the incomes of individual expatriate workers in the public and private sectors at its 18th regular session yesterday.
The session was chaired by Council Vice President Dr. Mohammed bin Amin Jafri.
Secretary-General of the Shoura Council Dr. Mohammed Al-Ghamdi said the council made the decision after hearing the arguments for and against the proposal.
He added that since proponents of the move could not attain the requisite majority in the house to secure approval, it was rejected. He said the Kingdom is implementing a number of developmental projects in various sectors that need professional skills.
Supporters felt if approved, the proposal would have helped bridge the gap between the wages of Saudis and non-Saudis and increased the chances for locals to work in the private sector. Al-Ghamdi clarified the proposal had been submitted some time ago.
News that the debate on the issue had been revived had drawn criticism from the expatriate community, especially low-paid workers.
According to a local newspaper, the finance committee of the Shoura Council has recommended carrying out fresh studies on the possibility of imposing tax on all foreigners working in both the public and private sectors in the Kingdom.
The source said the new proposal was made by council member Muhammad Al-Quwaihes, who presented it as an additional recommendation attached to the annual report of the Department of Zakat and Income Tax that had already been discussed by the house.
"The government is neither levying a single riyal in tax or Zakat on foreign workers remittances, nor do they need to pay any kind of taxes," Al-Quwaihes said.
An expatriate, Sauda Salem, expressed dismay at the possibility foreign workers may have to pay income tax.
"It is a great shock for all expats who are not managers or making good money," he said.
As most foreigners are unable to meet their expenses, their wives try to support them by working small jobs, he added
"I request them to reconsider the plan of taxing expats only to support Saudization," he suggested.
Another expat, Mohammad Nazeer, claimed expatriates would be happy to contribute to the Saudi economy by paying income tax on their salaries and bonuses, adding they were very grateful for the generous tax-free salaries and benefits enjoyed in Saudi Arabia.
Another worker, Tanveer Ahmad, was willing to pay Zakat as long as the money went to the needy.
"As a Muslim, in order to make my earnings fully Halal, I should pay 2.5 percent of my earnings toward Zakat. I do pay it, but only in my native country where there are needy people. I have no objection to paying Zakat here if the government makes sure it goes to the needy," he said
According to Shoura member, Al-Quwaihes, levying an income tax on foreigners would boost the ongoing Saudization drive. "Foreigners working in the Kingdom transfer about SR100 billion to their countries of origin annually," he said.
Al-Quwaihes noted most countries in the world impose income taxes on individuals who work and earn money in those countries.
"It is high time we impose income tax on foreigners. It is also to be noted that foreign workers are beneficiaries of all government support and subsidies on utility services and products such as water, electricity, wheat, and petroleum products," he said.
Nearly a decade ago, the Shoura Council reviewed the possibility of imposing taxes on foreign workers but later the proposal was shelved.
There are 8 million foreigners in the Kingdom, an overwhelming majority of them in the private sector.
For another expatriate, Dr. Victoria Charlston, imposing taxes on foreigners would mean the job market would instantly lose many of its Western professionals.
"Financial reward is pretty much the only reason why Westerners decide to spend a stint of their working lives in KSA. There is little other reason or incentive. Let's hope that KSA will have enough of its own educated, highly trained manpower who will fill the gap if expatriates leave."
She said taxing non-Westerners earning low salaries for their hard labor was akin to daylight robbery.
"They have so few rights compared to their fellow countrymen who happen to live and work in other countries around the globe, and to tax them would be another nail in their coffin," she said.
"Should taxes be imposed on all foreigners, and this term in itself is laughable as many so-called foreigners are third and fourth generation citizens who would long ago have enjoyed equal rights to citizens should they have settled elsewhere in the world, then they should immediately and justly be afforded similar status to KSA nationals.
"Furthermore, to repeatedly discuss and question in newspaper columns these workers' rights to send their hard earned money to their relatives overseas is quite frankly a disgrace. Their money is simply the fruit of their labor, to dispose of as they wish.
"They have not been lazily sitting on their backsides waiting for money to be deposited in their bank accounts, as many of KSA's youngsters do. When one makes the decision to work in KSA, one immediately has to give up certain aspects of life that would be enjoyed in one's homeland. This sacrifice is offset by a rewarding salary."
Both Saudi and expatriate employees working in the Kingdom had to pay income tax until it was abolished in 1975. Later, there were moves to reintroduce income tax on foreigners in the late 80s. However, in 1988, King Fahd scrapped the plans.
At present, only Saudi citizens and Saudi companies need to pay Zakat of 2.5 percent annually on profits and on the assessable amount for individuals, in addition to a tax on foreign investors. In a bid to attract more foreign investment into the Kingdom, the government slashed in 2004 the tax rate imposed on foreign investors from 45 to 20 percent.
Big food brands like MacDonald, KFC Etc.......hide harmful effects, claims Delhi-based NGO Centre for Science and Environment
The writer has posted comments on this articleTNN | Mar 31, 2012, 01.57AM IST
Times of INDIA Report.
NEW DELHI: Delhi-based NGO, Centre for Science and Environment, has alleged that leading food manufacturers are guilty of "large scale misbranding and misinformation" by claiming that their food contained zero trans-fats even though tests showed that they have heavy doses of it.
Most popular "junk foods contain very high levels of trans-fats, salts and sugar - which inevitably lead to severe ill health and diseases like obesity and diabetes," the CSE said on Friday. It released the results of laboratory tests carried out on 16 major food brands that the young particularly like, such as Maggi and Top Ramen noodles, MacDonald's foods, KFC's fried chicken and Haldiram's Aloo Bhujia. These findings were disputed by the manufacturers.
Trans-fats clog arteries when they get deposited on the walls of the arteries making the passage narrower, while large amounts of salt leads to increase in blood pressure making the heart work overtime. CSE noted that the kind of food under test has enough trans-fats, salt and sugar to lead to an early onset of diseases in the young. It accused the companies of not disclosing the real contents of their products.
CSE's lab tested samples of popular foods such as potato chips, snacks like aloo bhujia, noodles, soft drinks, burgers, French fries and fried chicken. Their results showed that having just one serving of these foods "completely overturned one's daily diet chart." The National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) and the World Health Organization (WHO) prescribe benchmarks of how much salt, sugar, carbohydrates and fats every individual can have on a daily basis to stay healthy.
Citing an example, CSE said, "The NIN benchmark for maximum salt for one person is 6 gram, while the WHO puts it at 5 gram. The normal 80-gram packet of Maggi noodles that many of us gobble up almost on a daily basis has over 3.5 gram of salt - enough to take care of over 60 per cent of our daily salt intake."
But much more than salt the real concern was the threat from the trans-fats which were disclosed by the companies, CSE noted. The WHO says that in a balanced diet, a maximum of 1 per cent of total energy should come from trans fats. Therefore, an adult male can have 2.6 gram of trans fats per day, while an adult female can have 2.1 gram and a child (10-12 years) can have 2.3 gram.
But CSE found that Top Ramen Super Noodles (Masala) which claims to have no trans-fats actually contains 0.7 gram of it per 100 gram. Similarly, Haldiram's Aloo Bhujia says it has no trans fats, but the study found 2.5 gram per 100 gram. PepsiCo's Lays (Snack Smart) was sold till February 2012 through huge advertisements to say that these chips are healthy because they have zero trans fats, but every 100 grams of it has 3.7 grams of trans fats.
The companies strongly refuted the allegations in the CSE report. Pepsico said, "All products manufactured by PepsiCo in India are fully compliant with all the regulations, including those on labelling, prescribed by the FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India)." It said that its products under the Lays, Uncle Chips, Kurkure and Cheetos brands are trans-fat free.
Nestle in its response said, "We respect the work being done by organizations like CSE to improve consumers' understanding of healthy and balanced diets. Maggi is intended as a light meal and can safely be consumed as part of diversified balanced diet." McDonald's said, "In India we take a lot of effort to ensure our food is safe for our customers and have stringent quality processes at every stage. At McDonald's stores we use RBD Palmolein oil which is naturally trans-fat free."
CSE's contention is otherwise. Its report says, "A child eating one MacDonald's Happy Meals finishes up 90% of all his daily requirement of trans fats. The packet of Happy Meal makes absolutely no mention of this massive dosage of trans fats." As per FSSAI rules, a product can claim to be trans fats free if it contains less than 0.2 gm of trans fats per serving but CSE found several brands flouting the norm and yet calling themselves trans fat free.
CSE's director general Sunita Narain said, "What makes junk food so unhealthy are the high levels of salt, sugar, fats and carbohydrates in them. Our new study, which looks at the nutritional value of these foods, is to make people aware of what these foods really contain and what they will do to our health."
Most popular "junk foods contain very high levels of trans-fats, salts and sugar - which inevitably lead to severe ill health and diseases like obesity and diabetes," the CSE said on Friday. It released the results of laboratory tests carried out on 16 major food brands that the young particularly like, such as Maggi and Top Ramen noodles, MacDonald's foods, KFC's fried chicken and Haldiram's Aloo Bhujia. These findings were disputed by the manufacturers.
Trans-fats clog arteries when they get deposited on the walls of the arteries making the passage narrower, while large amounts of salt leads to increase in blood pressure making the heart work overtime. CSE noted that the kind of food under test has enough trans-fats, salt and sugar to lead to an early onset of diseases in the young. It accused the companies of not disclosing the real contents of their products.
CSE's lab tested samples of popular foods such as potato chips, snacks like aloo bhujia, noodles, soft drinks, burgers, French fries and fried chicken. Their results showed that having just one serving of these foods "completely overturned one's daily diet chart." The National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) and the World Health Organization (WHO) prescribe benchmarks of how much salt, sugar, carbohydrates and fats every individual can have on a daily basis to stay healthy.
Citing an example, CSE said, "The NIN benchmark for maximum salt for one person is 6 gram, while the WHO puts it at 5 gram. The normal 80-gram packet of Maggi noodles that many of us gobble up almost on a daily basis has over 3.5 gram of salt - enough to take care of over 60 per cent of our daily salt intake."
But much more than salt the real concern was the threat from the trans-fats which were disclosed by the companies, CSE noted. The WHO says that in a balanced diet, a maximum of 1 per cent of total energy should come from trans fats. Therefore, an adult male can have 2.6 gram of trans fats per day, while an adult female can have 2.1 gram and a child (10-12 years) can have 2.3 gram.
But CSE found that Top Ramen Super Noodles (Masala) which claims to have no trans-fats actually contains 0.7 gram of it per 100 gram. Similarly, Haldiram's Aloo Bhujia says it has no trans fats, but the study found 2.5 gram per 100 gram. PepsiCo's Lays (Snack Smart) was sold till February 2012 through huge advertisements to say that these chips are healthy because they have zero trans fats, but every 100 grams of it has 3.7 grams of trans fats.
The companies strongly refuted the allegations in the CSE report. Pepsico said, "All products manufactured by PepsiCo in India are fully compliant with all the regulations, including those on labelling, prescribed by the FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India)." It said that its products under the Lays, Uncle Chips, Kurkure and Cheetos brands are trans-fat free.
Nestle in its response said, "We respect the work being done by organizations like CSE to improve consumers' understanding of healthy and balanced diets. Maggi is intended as a light meal and can safely be consumed as part of diversified balanced diet." McDonald's said, "In India we take a lot of effort to ensure our food is safe for our customers and have stringent quality processes at every stage. At McDonald's stores we use RBD Palmolein oil which is naturally trans-fat free."
CSE's contention is otherwise. Its report says, "A child eating one MacDonald's Happy Meals finishes up 90% of all his daily requirement of trans fats. The packet of Happy Meal makes absolutely no mention of this massive dosage of trans fats." As per FSSAI rules, a product can claim to be trans fats free if it contains less than 0.2 gm of trans fats per serving but CSE found several brands flouting the norm and yet calling themselves trans fat free.
CSE's director general Sunita Narain said, "What makes junk food so unhealthy are the high levels of salt, sugar, fats and carbohydrates in them. Our new study, which looks at the nutritional value of these foods, is to make people aware of what these foods really contain and what they will do to our health."
FOOD FOR WORRY
CSE report says
Maggi Noodles |
Single pack contains 3.5g of salt; daily recommended intake is 6g. Negligible fibres ; 70% just carbohydrates
Top Ramen Super Noodles (Masala) |
0.7g trans fats/100g though company claims zero trans fats
PepsiCo's Lays (Snack Smart) |
3.7g trans fats/ 100g. Earlier sold as zero trans fats chips but claim knocked off later
KFC's Chicken Zinger |
16.9% fats; McAloo | 8.3% fats. 35% calories in veg burger come from fats; 47% in non-veg
WHO says an adult male can have 2.6g of trans fats a day, female 2.1g and a child 2.3g
COMPANIES RESPOND
As per our analysis for many years, trans fats level is well within international recommendation
-Nestle
We go to a lot of effort to ensure our food is safe for customers and have stringent quality checks
- McDonald's
CSE report says
Maggi Noodles |
Single pack contains 3.5g of salt; daily recommended intake is 6g. Negligible fibres ; 70% just carbohydrates
Top Ramen Super Noodles (Masala) |
0.7g trans fats/100g though company claims zero trans fats
PepsiCo's Lays (Snack Smart) |
3.7g trans fats/ 100g. Earlier sold as zero trans fats chips but claim knocked off later
KFC's Chicken Zinger |
16.9% fats; McAloo | 8.3% fats. 35% calories in veg burger come from fats; 47% in non-veg
WHO says an adult male can have 2.6g of trans fats a day, female 2.1g and a child 2.3g
COMPANIES RESPOND
As per our analysis for many years, trans fats level is well within international recommendation
-Nestle
We go to a lot of effort to ensure our food is safe for customers and have stringent quality checks
- McDonald's
What Is Tran-Fats?
Trans fat is the common name for unsaturated fat with trans-isomer (E-isomer) fatty acid(s). Because the term refers to the configuration of a double carbon-carbon bond, trans fats are sometimes monounsaturated or polyunsaturated, but never saturated. Trans fats are rare in living nature, but can occur in food production processes.
The consumption of trans fats increases the risk of coronary heart disease[1][2] by raising levels of LDL cholesterol and lowering levels of "good" HDL cholesterol.[3] Health authorities worldwide recommend that consumption of trans fat be reduced to trace amounts. Trans fats from partially hydrogenated oils are more harmful than naturally occurring oils.[4] Two Canadian studies, that received funding by the Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency [5] and the Dairy Farmers of Canada,[6] have shown that the natural trans fat vaccenic acid, found in beef and dairy products, can have the opposite health effect and can actually be beneficial compared to hydrogenated vegetable shortening, or a mixture of pork lard and soy fat,[6] e.g. lowering total and LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels.[7][8][9]
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