Today, I saw a news that a person was charging some bribe and that too the bribe of 2000 rupee new notes. So, it urged me to write this article as it seems that people have again started making black money out of the new high denomination currency notes. The Demonetization of 500 and 1000 rupee currency notes is a great step towards curbing the black money out of our country. It's also a scheme for finding those assessees who indulge in tax evasion practices. It will almost clean the black money currently available in our country and therefore, I really appreciate this scheme.
But, still, a question arises as to - Will it stop corruption and future black money?
I think it's a difficult question to answer as I mentioned the news that someone was taking a bribe of the new currency notes.
The moment the people received the new notes, they have again started indulging in corrupt activities and are creating black money. Currently, a common man is struggling for depositing the old currency, for withdrawing his own money from banks and for exchanging his earned money. The fact is that middle-class people or small business men don't have black money. Most of the black money of the country belongs to the rich.
Are they really affected by the demonetization scheme?
If yes, then the motive of the scheme is achieved. But , if no, then it's the biggest loss for our country. If they have already deposited their black money in the Swiss bank, then they are still not much affected by the scheme. And what's the guarantee that the corruption will stop in future and the people will not involve in creating the black money? The demonetization of the currency notes cannot be done again and again.
So, now people will start keeping the black money in the form of new currency notes. It's true that they will have to either destroy their current money or disclose it before the income tax department, but there's no guarantee for future. Cash transactions are part of our economy. Apart from such schemes, the only way to clean the black money from our country is to stop corruption and corruption can only stop when people will change, their thinking will change.
A person with a pure soul will never want to indulge in corrupt practices. We can remove corruption and black money arising out of it, only by deciding that we, ourselves, will not support it. It's the responsibility of every citizen of India. A demonetization scheme can curb the circulation of some black money, for some time. As finance and tax professionals and also as a true citizen of India, we need to think about it
The author can also be reached at saba.naaz9@rediffmail.com
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