Do-it-Yourself: Rust Removal

People living in amity or any place with hard/salty water for that matter, suffer with unwanted rust on their stainless steel utensils.

Even a good quality steel will start to rust, given proper conditions like exposure to hard water.

At the initial stages, it is only a surface rust and may not have done any visible damages to steel.
If left un-attended, it will go deep and create pits in the utensils.

The easiest way to remove surface rust is with baking soda (NaHCO2 - sodium bicarbonate). It is called as 'soda maavu' in tamil. Available in local provision stores.

Below is an example with a good quality steel knife that started to rust on exposure to our Amity water :-)

At this stage it is only surface rust.

Tools Required:    Baking Soda
Labour Intensity:  Very Mild

Risk of Injury:      Minor

Time Required:     5 minutes

Step 1: Apply baking soda

Apply a paste of baking soda and water on the rusted area.

Step 2: Scrub the rust

 

Scrub the rust with mild force. Use scotch brite or other hard scrub pad if the rust is deep seated.

You should not apply excessive force as the steel will get scratched.

Step 3: Wash the knife/utensil

 

Use plain water and wash the knife and see the rust disappear.

To protect the steel utensils from getting rust spots, wipe the utensils dry after washing it. It is an additional effort but atleast it will keep the rust away.

Do-it-Yourself: Income Tax E-Filing

Like most of us, I waited till the last few weeks to file my income tax returns. I had always relied on the guy at my office gate to file my returns for about Rs.100/-

I have filed my Taxes in Australia and in the US without any help. But have never attempted it with our very own income tax department. This year I wanted to try out filing the Indian Tax returns on my own.

I started by looking at the various options that I had. Some of them are given below.

• www.taxsmile.com/
• https://myitreturn.com/
• http://easyitfiling.com/

All the above charge you anywhere between Rs.149 and Rs.999.

But if you file directly with the income tax website, there is no charge. 

• https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in

You only need your form-16, bank account number and MICR code.

Below is the process for filing directly with the income tax website.

1. You need to download an excel version of the ITR form. 
2. Fill all the details from form 16
3. Generate XML file from the excel. (there are macros in the excel to generate XML)
4. Upload the XML file in the income tax website.  https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in
5. Your ITRV will be generated online. A copy will be sent to your email ID.
6. Print the ITRV form and send it to Bangalore IT office by normal post.
7. In a few weeks, you will receive the acknowledgement.

If you have a digital signature, you need not do step 6 above. Digital signatures cost from Rs.300 to Rs.1000.

The process is very simple with all the other websites.

1. Fill in the details of your income from form 16
2. Submit the returns online.
3. Print and mail the ITRV to Bangalore as in the earlier process.

I found that http://easyitfiling.com/ was the simplest and easiest as the name suggests. 

In this, you just need to upload your form 16 and it will extract data from your form 16 in PDF and fill the form automatically.

 BTW, I filed my Tax for free at our income tax department site. And so did my wife!

Amity Resident ID Card

Dear Amity Residents,

We have started issuing ID cards for all residents (Owners and tenants) above the age of 15.

This ID card will be mandated for entry into Amity shortly.

We need the following details along with a softcopy of photograph to print the ID card.

Amity Residents ID Card Form
	Flat Number	Full Name	Contact Number	Occupation	Email ID	Vehicle Type	Vehicle Registration Number	Allotted Parking Number

Resident Owners:

Please send your details to amity.adhoc@gmail.com

Tenants:

Please send your details to your owners and ask him/her to forward it to amity.adhoc@gmail.com

Non-Resident Owners:

ID card is required for Amity residents only and if you are not residing in Amity then you do not have to request for ID card.

Note:

·        We do not accept ID card request from tenants directly. It has to be forwarded by the owners who have rented out their apartments.

Thanks,

Amity Adhoc Committee

amity.adhoc@gmail.com