Glossary — V

Glossary terms beginning with V.

value added: Price of output less purchased inputs; valuation of contribution by enterprise to the product; sum of wages, interest, rent, and profit.
value-added tax: A tax levied on the value added income of a firm, defined as the difference between total sales revenue and costs of intermediate inputs, such as raw materials, used in the production process.
value-added tax (VAT): A tax applied to the additional value created at a given stage of production and calculated as a percentage of the difference between the product value at that stage and the cost of all materials and services purchased or introduced as inputs.; Source: Library of Congress
varna: Literally, color. One of the four large caste groups (Brahman (q.v.) Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Sudra) from which most jatis (q.v.) are believed to derive.
VAT: Value-added tax. A tax applied to the additional value created at a given stage of production and calculated as a percentage of the difference between the product value at that stage and the cost of all materials and services purchased as inputs. The VAT is the primary form of indirect taxation applied in the EEC (q.v.), and it is the basis of each country’s contribution to the community budget.
Veddah: Last descendants of the ancient inhabitants of Sri Lanka, predating arrival of the Sinhalese. Veddahs have not preserved their own language, live in small rural settlements, and have become more of a caste than a separate ethnic group. They are generally accepted as equal in rank to the Sinhalese Goyigama (q.v.) caste.
velayat-e faqih: The guardianship of the religious jurist. Concept elaborated by Ayatollah Khomeini to justify political rule by the clergy.
Vellala: Highest Tamil (cultivator) caste, the members of which traditionally dominated local commercial and educational elites and whose values had strong influence on Tamils of other castes. The group comprises more than half of the Tamil population.
vertical integration: Merging into a single ownership of firms producing in successive stages of a production process, whether it be forward toward the finished goods market or backward toward raw material producers.; Source: Library of Congress
VHW.: Village Health Worker.
Viet Cong: Contraction of the term Viet Nam Cong San (Vietnamese communists), the name applied by the governments of the United States and South Vietnam to the communist insurgents in rebellion against the latter government, beginning around 1957. The Vietnamese communists never used the term themselves, but referred to their movement as the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (also known as the National Liberation Front), formally inaugurated in December 1960.
Viet Minh: Contraction of the term Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi (Vietnam Independence League), a coalition of nationalist elements dominated by the communists and led by veteran revolutionary Ho Chi Minh. The movement first identified itself in May 1941, when it called for an uprising against the French colonial government. It proclaimed the independence of Vietnam on September 2, 1945, and led the anti-French guerrilla war that followed, until the victory at Dien Bien Phu brought the conflict to an end.
vilayet: Administrative division of the Ottoman Empire, governed by a wali (q.v.).
village (nong cun): Replaced production brigades (q.v.) from 1982 to 1985 as the lowest-level semiofficial government entity. They provide bureaucratic coordination, and welfare payments and settle disputes. Party branches are usually organized at the village level.
voivode: A slavic term designating a military leader, adopted for a time by the rulers or princes of Walachia and Moldavia.
Volunteer Society for Assistance to the Army, Air Force, and Navy (DOSAAF): In the Soviet national defense system, the agency responsible for paramilitary training of youth and reserve components.