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The subject matter is right, and probably more important than any other single political agenda in India in the current elections.
If Advani is serious about addressing the question, willing to set up an effective BJP team to look into the matter, including accountants and bankers of which profession and talent India has no shortage of, then it is a significant development and the right step for India as a truly modernizing and advancing nation.
You have to ask your self what you can do as a government with the $2---3,000,000,000,000 off shored into the various tax havens and other places, a significant portion of which belongs to the central government, through taxable income lost?
- What could you do with $2--3,000,000,000,000 for Indian infrastructure if invested properly and comprehensively?
- What could you do with $2--3,000,000,000,000 for the Indian antiquated colonial education system if invested properly and comprehensively by a revolutionary activist government in Delhi?
- What could you do with $2--3,000,000,000,000 for Indian industry if invested properly and comprehensively, creating millions of new jobs for the new generation? The agricultural sector can't and the service sector can only employ so much.
- What could you do with $2--3,000,000,000,000 for Indian defense if invested properly and comprehensively?
- What could you do with $2--3,000,000,000,000 for Indian agriculture if invested properly and comprehensively?
- What could you do with $2--3,000,000,000,000 for Indian poverty if invested properly and comprehensively?
- What could you do with $2--3,000,000,000,000 for Indian trade and commerce if invested properly and comprehensively?
- What could you do with $2--3,000,000,000,000 for Indian corruption if invested properly and comprehensively, where state employees are paid realistic living wages?
- What could you do with $2--3,000,000,000,000 for Indian culture, art and the media if invested properly and comprehensively?
- What could you do with $2--3,000,000,000,000 in investing into the antiquated Indian police and domestic security system in combating crime, and other anti-social behavior in addition to the naxals and other terrorist groups.
- What could you do with $2----3,000,000,000,000 in investing into the Indian environment preserving beautiful forests, rivers, canals, jungles, wildlife, with anti-pollution drives, and combating and addressing the sheer demoralising filth and stench of the average Indian city. Imbibing Indians with civic and national pride in the fundamental beauty and pride of the country, rather than attempting to loot it and disabuse it every which way Indians can. Massive new canals from the Gangetic plains into Rajasthan; reforestation programs in Gujrat. Construction of dry season resaviors so that tens of millions don't have to move around the country for water------------BASIC things any self respecting civilized country could should have and easily doable, before you start talking about Blue water navies and missions to the moon. Also acts as a real sustainable stimulus to the economy, and provides 10's of millions of jobs.....and nationally it makes everybody feel good that progress is being made in the country, visually.
I imagine rather than failing in your election promises as a party, and the victim of an yet another anti-incumbency vote, you would be more than matching ordinary Indians expectations AND making the country work for everybody, and not just the urban few.
Just requires a few with the right qualifications formulating a clear strong strategy in that direction for India, and the government implementing it, seriously. Obviously in addition the CBI and RAW need to be brought into this separately doing their own research work, with linkages to criminal activity within India. Finally a parliamentary and judicial investigation looking into the matter......so several state and private bodies looking into the matter.
This is of national importance. Priority number one.........my sober assessment is that Congress can't do much in this area, because its part of the problem, and one hears that the BJP aren't exactly that different from Congress, as per the previous post.
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Bring back India's money in foreign banks: Advani
By the Times of India.
BJP on Sunday demanded that the government make efforts to bring back money deposited by Indians in foreign banks and asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to raise the issue at the upcoming G-20 summit.
(Yes that might have some use, but basically it is up to the Indian government to take strong measures in this area working with the relevant state institutions concerned with this area, namely the judiciary, those which are specifically trained to deal with financial scams, RAW, CBI, parliamentary committees, and a special commission set up by the government which ear marks a specific strategy in this area for India)
The party also promised to bring this money to the country, if the NDA comes to power.
(So sad when such important issues are raised during elections.....this should not be a political matter, but a common cross party issue)
"I demand the Prime Minister should seriously raise the matter at the G-20 summit and ask the countries to provide information about money of Indians deposited in foreign banks," senior party leader Lal Krishna Advani told reporters here.
(PM. ManMohan Singh won't; he hasn't for 20 odd years in politics as a bureaucrat with speciality over economics and he won't now...............not that I ever thought he was corrupt, but just never focused in this area as an economics specialist............intriguing)
"If NDA gets the mandate, we will pursue this matter at legal and executive level and force such Indians to bring back their money from foreign countries and allow it to be used in India," he added.
The BJP leader also said that he had written a letter to the PM earlier over the same issue for which he received an "evasive" reply from the Home Minister.
(Typical......)
Advani's statement comes after the NDA convener and JD-U chief Sharad Yadav had recently announced to make the issue of Indian money deposited in Swiss Bank an election issue and include it in his party's manifesto.
(Bravo............but its not just Switzerland, that is a bit of a cliche, for historical reasons also look at London, "The City" ; Manhattan, and numerous other tax havens............Switzerland is not the only tax haven if you please.)
Advani announced setting up of a task-force headed by IIM-Bangalore professor R Vaidyanathan to prepare a strategic document for getting back the national wealth stashed away illegally by "corrupt politicians, venal businessmen and criminal overlords".
(And babus........)
The Committee would also comprise of S Gurumurthy, Mahesh Jethmalani and Ajit Doval.
"The chief ministers of BJP-ruled states will write to the Prime Minister urging him to write to the Swiss and other authorities to disclose the names of hoarders of Indian money abroad," Advani said.
The senior BJP leader said that the money trail in the Bofors scam in the 1980s had revealed the involvement of secret Swiss bank accounts.
(In one sense defense contract kick backs are not the main problem; its criminal to be sure and can't be condoned, but essentially you are talking about foreigners trying to curry favor with local Indians using foreign money, not Indian money.............however the reality is that the vast amounts of $ trillions of off shored INDIAN money is money taken out of the Indian economy, originally creating by INDIANS. Think of what effect that lost money might of had if it still was in circulation within the Indian economy, deposited or invested...either way.
Can I speculate? Why not? Maybe the Indian economy would be double its present size....$3.5---4 trillion PPP, when it actually could have been $7--8 trillion. Money invested into an economy and circulating has a multiplier effect, especially as the economy rapidly grows. ..........So its not the loss to India of $2--3 trillion ONLY, but also the loss of the potential of investment, and the consequent circulation of such a huge sum.
The ravages of British Raj colonialism might have encouraged a lot of Indians to be creative in hiding their true income, and Congress Socialism might not have discouraged that old habit, but we are in a new era..........and ordinary Indians can no longer suffer because of the greed, and criminality of the few in Indian society.)
"The BJP sees in secret banking the RDX that has the potential not only to blow up national financial systems but also to support and fund global terror networks whose attacks on India increased during the NDA regime," Advani said.
(Shouldn't that read UPA government............or is the BJP saying such failures occured more under their watch 1999----2004; the more you wage war against terrorism, and the more legislation you pass against it; the more personnel you invest into it; the more organisations you invest against it; the more alliances you build with Israel against it.....the more terrorism increases in India.....we live and learn hey?
Beyond OBL and his Western linkages and the BCCI (Bank of crooks and criminals international), most modern terror finance is through informal hawla systems, and the financial networks of intelligence agencies......not really relevant to India except maybe the actions of Ibrahim Dawood, and some of the gangsters around Mumbai.)
The party's prime ministerial candidate promised that if NDA got the people's mandate then it would intensify the "diplomatic, political and economic" efforts to get back the real sovereign wealth of the country.
(3 cheers.....hip hip...)
"At a lower estimate, the amount of Rs 25 lakh crore which is secret foreign money is sufficient to relieve the debts of all farmers and to build world class roads all over the country, apart from providing safe drinking to six lakh villages in the country," he said.
Meanwhile, Sharad Yadav today asked the Prime Minister to take up the issue in the G-20 meeting after taking opposition parties in confidence.
"It is a matter of serious concern that huge amount of black money from India is deposited in Swiss Bank as revealed by the Bank which is shocking," he told a press conference, claiming that India led the list of countries whose citizens deposited their money there.
Claiming that Indian citizens had deposits USD 1,456 billion followed by Russia (USD 470 billion), UK (USD 390 billion), Ukraine (USD 100 billion) and China (USD 96 billion), Yadav said all this need to be investigated.
(Is this an updated current figure?............is Switzerland the only country you can deposit ill-gotten money? Of course not)
Saying corruption was 'one of the major issues' to be raised by the NDA in course of electioneering, Yadav urged the Prime Minister to hold immediate consultations with leaders of all political parties on the issue.
Asked why the issue was being raised at the time of elections, Yadav said, "We have raised it in the Parliament and since the country is in the election mode now we must make people know what is happening."
(This is better than the Varun Gandhi issue..........or free rice for some Indians as an election platform. Free rice, and free this and that, if you vote for us..............why isn't that an extension of the corruption culture by another name. So the state legitimates and reiforces corruption)
In reply to another question as to what the NDA did on the issue when it was in power, Yadav said the Swiss Bank made the revelation under pressure of the US and the abolition of the secrecy act debarring declaration of amounts deposited in the bank recently.
The JD-U chief did not rule out Indian politicians or some industrial houses having their deposits in the bank but the details can be disclosed only after an inquiry.
(Also including babus, gangsters and scam artists)
Swiss Bank had been asked by the US to reveal the names of Americans who have deposited money, Yadav said, adding the bank was willing to do so.
"It is very unfortunate that the Indian government has not asked the bank to reveal the names of Indians who have their deposits and inaction on the part raises suspicion that the Indian side is not interested in bringing back Indian money," he said.
(OR finding out who they really are......imagine Mr. X projects himself as a pillar of the state and a first class citizen who loves his country..........and then finding out that he invested the majority of his assets in a foreign country)
He demanded that the Centre not only should ask the bank to reveal details of the accounts of Indians, but also do the needful to bring the money back and prosecute those having accounts in the bank.
(YES)
