" IRS OFFICERS PROMOTED FROM THE GRADE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF CENTRAL EXCISE ARE ALSO MEMBERS OF AIACEGEO. THIS IS THE ONLY ASSOCIATION FOR SUPERINTENDENTS OF CENTRAL EXCISE AND IRS OFFICERS PROMOTED FROM THE GRADE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF CENTRAL EXCISE THROUGH OUT THE COUNTRY . President Mr.T.Dass and SG Mr. Harpal Singh.

Wednesday, 11 February 2015

Revenue Officers Decide Destiny of Nation
IT was in 1885 that a former Revenue Officer (Commissioner of Customs) A.O. Hume started the Indian National Congress. About 130 years later another former Revenue officer (Additional Commissioner of Income Tax) Arvind Kejriwal has pulverised the great organisation founded by Hume to a nought in Delhi. Don't take Revenue officers lightly - they can change the destiny of the nation.
Salt and Customs under AO Hume
SALT has been produced all along the Rann of Kutch in the west coast of India for 5,000 years. The Rann of Kutch is an extensive marshland which is cut off from the rest of the Indian subcontinent during monsoons when the seas inundate the low-lying areas. However, when the sea water evaporates during summer, it leaves behind a crust of salt which accumulate as salt pans. This salt is collected by labourers called malangis.
In the eastern coast, salt could be obtained extensively along the coast of Orissa. The salt produced by the salt pans called khalaris in Oriya is of the finest quality in all India. There has always been a demand for Orissa salt in Bengal. When the British took over the administration of Bengal, they too felt its need and traded for salt. Gradually they monopolized Orissa salt all over Bengal. To check smuggling and illegal transportation, they sent armies into Orissa resulting in the conquest of Orissa in 1803.
There used to be a Customs barrier - a hedge 2500 miles long which had been kept up to protect the Government salt monopoly by excluding the cheap salt produced in the Rajputana States. This grotesque fortification, guarded along its whole length like the Great Wall of China, extended west to east across the continent of India, from Attock on the Upper Indus to near Cuttack on the Bay of Bengal. It was the source of wasteful expense, corruption, and great inconvenience to the public. This was guarded by thousands of officials to collect the tax on the salt which was taken through the various gates. The tax on salt became the biggest source of revenue for the Government.
A. O. Hume as Customs Commissioner was responsible for abolishing the great Customs barrier.