Assessment of Black Money Parked Abroad - Government Initiative
MINISTER of State for Finance, S.S. Palanimanickam in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha yesterday said that in order to find out the quantum of black money parked by Indians in the country and abroad and to recommend ways to deal with the problem of black money, Government had entrusted this work to three institutions in March, 2011. The study is likely to be completed by December 2012.
Let's wait for the great revelations from the worthy institutions. But who is really interested in unearthing black money? The politicians who roll in black money? Or the Babus or the businessmen or tax evaders who are no less custodians of black money?
You want a seat in a school or college, you have to pay a donation in black; you want to buy a flat - at least 40% of the price is paid in black - even honest people with no black money have to convert their white money into black to pay for property in India; you want to win an election, you spend crores of rupees in black - nobody wins an election with the permitted amount - our babas and swamys are safe custodians of black money and even our Gods get a lot of black money as offerings.
And this is not a closely guarded national secret - everybody knows it; maybe occasionally we have to make some noises about unearthing black money!