Common refrain now is that thieves are ruling us. High ranking industry body yesterday shouted governance deficit. Stock markets, flush with FII money, tanked over a 1000 points in a month, indicating that global perception of India is on slippery grounds. Forget about global perception, people in the country are chanting "sabh chor hai" more often. India is facing the worst crisis with erosion of people's trust in government which they had elected just recently. More saddening is the fact that the government is just in the denial mode, with pathetic arguments dished out by its ministers on a regular interval.
It has been almost two decades that Indian embarked on the path of new economy. With the crumbling of inspector raj, the ministers at the Centre, however, made a mullah with their discretionary powers. The example is that of A Raja, former telecom minister, who allegedly handed the country a loss of whopping Rs 1.75 lakh crore in 2G spectrum scam. A senior income tax official told this author that Rs 1.50 lakh crores have been stashed away in Swiss banks in the last two decades since the economic liberalisation. It's not a tough guess to think who could be the people having shipped away Rs 1.50 lakh crores in two decades' time. However, we shall soon be knowing the names of the thieves. A Swiss banker has given the Wikileaks a CD with details of people having kept their money in the Swiss banks. The Central government too here has given a list of 20 people with money in Swiss banks to the Supreme Court with a rider that the list if "privileged" and names can not be made public. Let's hope that sooner the names of the scamsters come in the public domain.
This list of corruption is so long that people more often may yawn. The list is only adding up with new disclosures. The wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNAREGA) has been revised upwardly, with the Centre asking the state governments to foot the bill for additional cost. MNAREGA is such a pot that it has innumerable holes and makes a fit case for splurging public money for political purposes. It must be taken into account that MNAREGA gave a big boost to the Congress in the 2009 general elections.
A journalist friend on a visit to Tripura saw how the loot under MNAREGA is taking place. A close relative of him had a marriage party where professional dancers were invited. The journalist here thought of sharing the cost of the dancers to which the host,who is a sarpanch there, said " don't bother NAREGA ka paisa hai naa". Hmmm. Such examples could be found anywhere. A large number of Mukhiya and Sarpanch due to "economic empowerment" thanks to NAREGA had been seeking tickets to contest polls in Bihar Assembly elections as well as the upcoming UP Assembly polls.
In the last two decades if Rs 1.50 lakh crores have been shipped to tax havens, a much bigger share has been accounted for by the black money within the country. The cost of each and everything has zoomed in multiples. The nation is crying against the price rise but the fact is that people at large even if they are in decent jobs earning their livelihoods in lawful manner can not afford most of the things that they might dream of.
It's a fact that most of the black money gets invested in land and properties. However, the government is least interested in making the registrars' offices transparent and linked to the offices of the income tax. A friend from South had an interesting tale to tell. A farmer in the Nilgiri area from here A Raja comes wanted to sell six hectares of his land. Agents came and he closed a deal for Rs 20 lakh. When he reached the registrar's office he was handed over a suitcase containing Rs 1.20 crores. Shell shocked, the farmer wore a face of disbelief to which the agent shout at him saying "you agreed for Rs 20 lakh each hectare, so the sum if Rs 1.20 crores, you wont get anymore". The farmer's fortune saw a six fold rise, thanks to the scamster whom the agent represented rushing in to dispose off his black money. Why is the income tax not going after the land and property deals despite being aware of the well known facts. Is it because the masters of the department do not want this.
It's a long way for the country to start dealing with black money, which makes lives of common man much harsher. For the time being India faces a credibility crisis, though the government is oblivious of the fact.
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