Made as one of the main economic agenda during the 2014 Parliamentary elections the BJP-led Union Government today has come out with a statement that there is ‘sizeable dip’ in black money stashed abroad. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was emphatic that there is a panic among people who hold illegal assets outside the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remark during an election rally in the run up to the 2014 general election has been one of the most discussed issues about black money. Modi had said that if all the black money stashed abroad is brought back, every poor man would get anywhere between 15 to 20 lakh rupees. Though this remark was made to explain the quantum of black money stashed abroad, it has been raised by the opposition time and again to question the logic behind such an estimate. The black money Bill was crafted in the backdrop of political grandstanding especially by BJP in the run up to the last general elections. The way the government is moving on the subject reflects that the expected results have not been achieved and whosoever’s names have been disclosed they have already insulated themselves against the move. So overall the whole gamut of getting an economy clean of black money is like a mirage in the desert. Now comes Panama papers, on the basis of which those who have kept illegal assets can be prosecuted as per new law. In May this year, nearly 2,000 individuals, entities and addresses with links to India figured in the latest edition of ‘Panama Papers’ giving information on offshore holding of companies in tax havens. The technological progress in coming times will make it difficult to generate and spend domestic black money this is what the government feels. The issue of black money and the Prime Minister’s statement on it could bring the focus back on corruption, which was a key issue in the Lok Sabha polls and contributed to the heavy defeat of the Congress Party.
