General Terminology: Customs Duty, Direct Taxes, E-Mail and E-Commerce

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General Terminology

  • Customs Duty: is a tax levied on foreign goods imported into the home country or home-made goods exported to foreign countries. (Excise Duty is a tax levied on certain commodities produced and consumed within the country) .
  • Direct Taxes: refer to income-tax levied directly on individuals on their total world income. (Taxes collected in the shape of excise duties levied on goods of daily use or consumption are called “indirect taxes” ) .
  • E-Mail: E-mail or Electronic mail is cheaper, faster and flexible than most other means of communication. It involves transporting a computer file that contains the e-mail message from one computer to another.
  • E-Commerce: This refers to the application of the Internet in conducting commerce of any kind. It includes buying and selling of goods, services or information, between individuals and between corporations. E-commerce has been categorised into three. Business-to-Business (B2B) , Business-to- Consumer (B2C) and Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) .
  • Estate Duty: is a duty levied on the estate or property which changes hands on the death of a person and has to be paid by his or her inheritors or successors.
  • Excise Duty and Customs Duty: Excise Duty is a tax levied on certain commodities produced and consumed at home. Customs duty is levied on imports & exports.
  • Fax: Short for Facsimile, it is a device that transmits pictures, drawings, text to a similar device at the receiving end, using telephone lines.
  • Floor Crossing: When a member of the legislature leaves the opposition to join the party in power or vice versa, he or she is said to have crossed the floor. This is also called “defection” of legislators from their parent parties.
  • Free Port: a port where no duties are levied on articles of commerce.
  • Gherao: These are tactics of coercion and intimidation by wrongful confinement adopted by agitating workmen. “Gheraos” have been termed illegal and banned.
  • Gift Tax: In order to plug th leakage of taxes through the offerings made by way of gifts by a relative to another of his kin, the Central Government introduced the Gift Tax.
  • Gold Bonds: These were introduced on October 27,1965. The main feature of these bonds was that gold will be returned for gold after a period of 15 years and no enquiries would be made as to how the gold had been acquired.Investment in gold bonds is exempted from wealth tax and any gift of the bonds up to 5 kgs is exempt from levy of gift tax.
  • Green Revolution: refers to alleged elements of change brought about in Indian agriculture by the use of better seeds, improved implements and modern farm practices in order to quicken th progress in agriculture.
  • Hartal: voluntary closure of all business or work to express protest for redress of grievances.
  • Income-tax: Direct tax levied on total world income of a person in a year. It was levied for the first time in the world in Britain in 1799 by William Pitt to help finance a war against France.
  • Internet: Internet is a network of computers that offer access to people and information՚s. Laser - Light Implication by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. It is a device which is capable of producing a powerful, monochromatic and coherent beam of light. Laser beams are used to cut or melt hard materials, remove diseased body tissues, transmit television signals etc. ,
  • May Day: the day of workers of the world celebrated throughout the world on the 1st May every year with the slogan “Workers of the World, Unite” .
  • Mid-term Poll: A mid-term poll is an election held out of schedule as a result of the dissolution of a State legislature before it has been in existence for its normal span of life.
  • Mixed Economy: Signifies the middle path between capitalism and socialism.India has a mixed economy - economic activity being mainly divided into two sectors - public sector and the private sector.India had accepted the ideal of a mixed economy as its national polity.
  • Modvat: Modified Value Added Tax-the new scheme of indirect taxes - was introduced in India from March 1,1986. It allows a manufacturer to obtain instant and complete reimbursement of the excise duty paid on the components and raw materials.
  • National Income: The World “net” is of special significance, because from the total gross produce a certain amount is to be deducted as charges for depreciation and wearing out of the plant and other capital equipments, while the net income from foreign investments must be added.
  • Octroi: It is a form of tax levied on goods entering a municipal town. The tax thus collected is generally used for the maintenance of the town.
  • Open University: is a University wherein students are free to join, leave and rejoin at any stage in their education which is organized as a continuing process. One such University has been functioning in the U. K. for some time now.
  • Panchayati Raj: While capitalism entails exploitation, concentration of wealth in a few hands and denial of the requisite resources to the masses, Panchayati Raj means the exercise of power by the villagers themselves and local self-government at the grassroots.
  • Per Capita Income: The term defines national income per head or coefficient resulting from the division of the national income by the size of the population.
  • Planned Economy: An economic system in which some or all of the decisions on allocation, production, investment and distribution are made by government or an agency delegated to such an authority.
  • Poverty Line: is to be found at the level of income at which a person or a family can barely subsist. Anyone having an income below that level is said to be below the poverty line.
  • Prohibition: a measure barring the sale and consumption of alcoholic drinks.
  • Quorum: minimum essential of members to be present in order to constitute a house to transact proceedings.
  • Snap Polls: A snap poll means a sudden election to a legislature held at short notice before the expiry of its full term. A mid-term poll also means the same thing, even if an election is ordered many months after the middle of a legislature՚s usual five-year span.