I guess now only the rich in India can read and hear the message or at least have a IPad to download the WTS articles.
But then again what does the WTS want out of people but labor and money, so why bother with people who cant offer either. ?
No more printing of WT and Awake in my country.. Shit just got real
by cognitivedizzy 121 Replies latest jw friends
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Finkelstein
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tim3l0rd
I hope that this news makes it out of India and to the R&F. I'd like to see how it is explained away. How can they justify not doing all they can to spread the word when the "end is soon"? -
OrphanCrow
slimfatboy: Why would they turn away good money coming into their economy?
It is more likely that the WTS did not want to pay tax on the money that they sent to India.
India does not give the same tax exemptions to religions that the WTS is used to getting in the US.
In 2012, the WTS lost an appeal with the Indian Department of Income Tax:
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OrphanCrow
slimfatboy: Why would they turn away good money coming into their economy?
"It is more likely that the WTS did not want to pay tax on the money that they sent to India."
I take that back.
The reason why the Watchtower was banned from sending foreign money to India:
The controversial Watchtower Bible and Tract Society was banned from receiving foreign funds after the government found that it was engaged in coercive conversions.
According to the FCRA, only the organisations registered by the central government or those sanctioned "prior permission" can receive funds from abroad. The funds can only come through a declared bank account, and such organisations have to submit their audited returns to the home ministry every year.
The FCRA mechanism exists only to regulate those organisations which receive foreign funds through legal channels. To ensure more complete monitoring, the home ministry now plans to introduce a law that would compel all NGOs, including all religious organisations, to disclose their sources of funds to the government. -
OrphanCrow
And...a possible reason as to why the WTS does not provide printing services in India anymore:
APPLICABILITY OF SERVICE TAX
Under Service Tax laws of India, various services are subject to the levy of Service Tax. NPOs being service oriented organizations work for the betterment of the poor and underprivileged sections of society. NPOs providing taxable services have to charge service tax on such services. NPOs are under obligation to collect the service tax from the persons to whom they are rendering the services and are also required to deposit it with the Government. Thus, NPOs providing taxable services would have to obtain a Service Tax Registration under Service Tax laws.It is quite possible that the printing of religious literature is not tax exempt in India.
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fulltimestudent
1. Other posters have mentioned the strong influence that Hindu nationalists have in India. And since the election of the Modi government, they are stronger than ever. It maybe that previous governments shut their eyes to some transmission of funds, but since the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) won government, the Hindu nationalist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), mentors the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The RSS appoints a "shadow" minister to watch over everything the government does.
Its likely that the RSS is now forcing the current government to be stricter in stopping any funds from outside India, being sent into India to support non-Hindu religions, hence the present crisis for the JWs.
In the past the society always used richer western branches to finance poorer the work in poorer nations.
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2. The JW.org site has this little homily on finance. I remember that 60+ years ago, the Watchtower magazine used to say the same thing:
Our organization publishes and distributes hundreds of millions of Bibles and other publications every year without charge. We build and maintain Kingdom Halls and branch offices. We support thousands of Bethelites and missionaries, and we provide relief aid in times of disaster. So you may wonder, ‘How is all of this financed?’
We do not tithe, charge dues, or take up collections. Although the costs of supporting our evangelizing work are high, we do not solicit money. Over a century ago, the second issue of theWatchtower magazine stated that we believe we have Jehovah as our backer and that we “will never beg nor petition men for support”—and we never have!—Matthew 10:8.Charlie Russell went a step further - as I recall, he was quoted as saying something like this:
"When the money runs out we'll know its time to stop the work!!!"
That day seems to be close!
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Tenacious
Thanks for the info. It made my night. -
Beth Sarim
Yeah, thanks for the info. If this bit about the printing of the Awake and WT is true, I'm hoping it is , I don't know how they can possibly spin this as the work is speeding up mantra??? That is with their most popular magazines dramatically reduced then discontinued. -
Hisclarkness
Don't know if this has been answered or not but are they only stopping the shipment of literature to that country or are they also no longer printing in those affected languages? -
Pioneerbot
They stopped the public edition of the watchtower in Nepali all together about 6 months ago and awake is a quarterly magazine. The public watchtower isn't available online either. No explanation was given. So this had happened before. I'm sure other niche languages are going through the same thing