Black money

Why the colour black has been associated with money tucked away in secret niches out of the tax-collector’s gaze is not known. Perhaps it is because black has traditionally been associated with things that are vile and secret, such as black-magic, black-arts etc. Nor does anyone know precisely where the term “black money” originated, the most likely contender being India, stuffed as it is with tax-evading barons! However, it is the West, specifically the US, which has begun to act against the scourge. A country such as Switzerland has had achieved legendary status where maintaining of client confidentiality by banks was concerned. But recently the US administration had literally arm-twisted some Swiss banks to wrest out a list of names of depositors, in order to locate possible tax-evaders. One of the positive outcomes of the Group of Twenty meet in London had been a common consensus to “name and shame” tax havens, and impose sanctions to make them mend their ways. Designed to bring an end to banking secrecy, such-a step is likely to root out billions of dollars hidden from tax authorities. The G-20 declaration has made many of the named nations, including Switzerland, Luxembourg, Austria and Philippines, scramble to undertake measures that might lead to the erasure of their names from “the list of shame.”

One unlikely agent responsible for the G-20 declaration against tax havens might well have been L. K. Advani, to-be-anointed Prime Minister in case the BJP comes to power. Advani had alleged, it maybe recalled, that Indians were holding Rupees one lakh crore in various Swiss banks and demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh raise this in the G-20 summit. Clearly, now that the General Elections in India are in the offing, Advani’s resurrection of the “black money” issue has political overtones, since it carries associations unpalatable for the Congress such as the Bofors controversy, never mind the fact that the BJP when in power had done precious little to get these hidden crores back! Perhaps Manmohan Singh had put in a word which, synchronising with the intentions of other nations, had been instrumental in the “name and shame” declaration. Thus, even though unwittingly, Advani may have done the world a favour, for black money is certainly one factor responsible for a number of social malaises! Terrorists and insurgents, for instance, are funded from secret caches, the elimination of which will go a long way to limit the extent of their nefarious activities. However, it is not only money stashed abroad which possesses black colour. A look at our own backyard will reveal stacks of it within the country. For instance, of the crores which are now being spent by candidates in this General Election, a large chunk is certainly not white! ASSAM TRIBUNE