Chairman of the Jharkhand unit of PHD Chamber Pawan Bajaj has said that winning the war against corruption and black money calls for deep structural reforms. “Demonetisation is a major step in the battle against corruption and black money but not a one-stop solution,” he maintained.
He said that the biggest stumbling block in the battle against corruption and black money is opaque accounting system being followed by the political parties. “Under the existing law, the Income tax department can seek list of the guests attending a marriage party if the gift exceeds Rs 2 lakh. But no such rule is applicable to a political party, which spends crores during elections,” Bajaj said.
He pointed out that the political parties are obliged to report on the collections in their kitty but remain silent on who gave the funds. “We are not privy to the source of funds. So, the political parties’ account should be opened for audit. The sources have to be exposed and brought under severe controls. And this cannot be done without radical reforms in our election process,” he pointed out.
“Unfortunately, political parties have thwarted attempts to be brought under the RTI. But, it is necessary to make the process transparent, like the US where even presidential candidates reveal source of every dollar,” he pointed out.
“But then, we have to differentiate between tax evasion and corruption. Suppose, one earns Rs 100 through legitimate means but pays tax on Rs 80 only. It is not corruption but tax evasion. On the other hand, the money earned through kickbacks by the officers and politicians to do legitimate and illegitimate works is the real corruption and should be dealt with iron handedly. Further, if a trader collects a certain amount of service tax from the consumers, but do not deposit the same in the government coffer, that is corruption,” he pointed out.
He also said that a person depositing funds under voluntary disclosure scheme should also be made liable to disclose the source of their amassing the assets. “Otherwise, a terrorist/extremist or a fake note racketeer will always go scot free with 50 per cent of white currencies in lieu of their dirty cash,” he felt.
Bajaj said that there is also a need to go for cashless transactions to curb black money. “At present, we are not facing action if we buy high value gadgets and luxury items through cash. Such practices should be stopped immediately,” he added.
He said that corruption also prospers under poor governance regime.”So, there is a need of improving the governance system and go for decentralisation that will enable ease of doing business as also job creation,” he added.
Bajaj also stressed on a need to reduce human interface by inducting technology in order to improve governance.
“The State has enacted Right to Service act, but rarely a guilty official has been made accountable so far if he/she fails to deliver citizen-centric services in a stipulated timeframe. We may immediately go for SMS/app-based process protocol and time-bound response for delivery of services like various private companies are doing,” he signed off.