Holes in Swiss cheese.

Holes in Swiss cheese.

As has been pointed out by Bibek Debroy ( Holes in Swiss cheese, Indian Express, Jan.26,2011) nearly 20 to 25 percent of our GDP constitutes black money in India, if not 40 percent as some economists have estimated. According to the Global Financial Integrity Report India has lost a colossal amount of $213 billion between 1948 and 2008 to tax heavens, the present value of which is $462 billion. The Indian state has failed to get this money which belongs to the people of India. We do not see any urgency in the actions of the government of India, but only some excuses. It gives rise to the suspicion that politicians and businessmen may be the culprits.

The German government paid an ex-LGT ( Liechtenstein Global Trust) to part with the accounts held by Germans in LGT which contained names of 26 Indians as well which was passed on to India. Nobody knows what action the government has taken on the Indian account holders. The reports indicate that the US government was able to get information on US citizens having accounts with UBS bank of Switzerland. Indian people may have to wait to get some Indian names from WikiLeaks. What a shame !

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/holes-in-swiss-cheese/742291/0

January 26,2011.

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Good Governnace.

Good Governance.

All concerned citizens of this country should support the move by eminent people like Azim Premji, who is not merely an industrialist but a great philanthropist as well, and others to bring good governance to the top of the agenda of the country (IE,19/1/11). Up to now good governance was the cry of the middle class. The corruption that has overwhelmed the country has made even the elite to join the fight as it affects India's growth potential too.

The eminent people are in favour of strengthening the office of Lokayuktas as well as independent investigating agencies and the law enforcing bodies. This has been the plea of many NGOs over the years. Even the Supreme Court had asked the government to reform police functioning. The police require functional autonomy. We have seen how the CVC has been appointed – not with the concurrence of the leader of the opposition but by a majority constituted by the PM and HM. CBI's changing stance on some of the politicians accused of accumulation of wealth beyond their known sources of income again shows how its functioning is being compromised. All these positions have to be filled up with the concurrence of the leader of the opposition to carry conviction of impartiality. They all should be monitored by a committee of the Loka Sabha.

To ensure good governance there has to be transparency and accountability in the functioning of the state. There has to be democracy even in the functioning of the political parties – internal democracy. Funding of political parties should be transparent and accountable. The eminent people should present a paper on good governance and mobilize public opinion to ensure that it is adopted by all the political parties.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/empowering-lokayuktas-would-go-a-long-way-in-effecting-correction/739134/0

January 21,2011.

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