Our work is featured in the hindu newspaper today. Here it is:
e-campaign for adoption tax credit launched
Special Correspondent
ATC will provide I-T rebate for those who adopt children
VELLORE: There are not enough non-governmental organisations to take care of the poor, orphaned and abandoned children in India. There is always the possibility of such children being adopted by childless couples or even couples who have children, but the cost of adoption is a prohibiting factor.
Ruby Nakka, president of The HOPE House, a home for such children in Gandhinagar, here and who himself has adopted two girls, has initiated an electronic campaign to persuade the Centre to introduce Adoption Tax Credit (ATC) to encourage all strata of income-tax payers, irrespective of whether they have children or not, to come forward to adopt children without family support, and to encourage business houses to provide financial assistance to their non tax-paying workers to adopt children and maintain them.
In simple terms, ATC means income-tax rebate for expenses incurred by individuals towards the maintenance of the adopted children, and the expenses incurred by business houses in providing financial assistance to workers to maintain their adopted children.
Mr. Ruby Nakka told The Hindu that as per the Central Statistical Organisation survey, the per capita income in India in 2005-2006 is Rs.20,734.
As per the guidelines of the Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA) of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, on costs for domestic adoptions, government-funded adoption agencies can be reimbursed up to Rs.15,000 a year for maintenance, Rs.9,000 a year for medical expenses and Rs.1,200 a year towards registration and home study. This means that the maintenance cost for a child with medical needs is as much as Rs.25,200, which is far more than the average annual income of an Indian citizen.
“The HOPE House is, therefore, advocating ATC not only for individuals, but also for the business houses to extend the benefit to others. To make ATC inclusive of the workers of unorganised sectors, The HOPE House advocates Open Access Credit where any legitimate Indian citizen can avail of the financial support from any tax-paying entity”, he said.
Mr. Nakka, who hopes to collect one lakh signatures for a memorandum to be submitted to Renuka Chowdhry, Minister for Women and Child Development, in November has appealed to interested persons to sign in the petition by logging on to
http://www.petitiononline.com/atc26047/petition.html
Ruby
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