E-Paper
Black money to be discussed on February 21
There is no estimate as yet on the amount of illicit money stashed abroad and available in India, but the subject has remained a matter of political accusations and intense public debate during the last two parliamentary election.
Parliament’s standing committee on finance, headed by Congress leader M Veerappa Moily, will meet on Thursday to discuss the issue of “black money” and to, possibly, decide whether three confidential reports on the subject should be made public, a leader familiar with the matter said.
“There are three reports pending with the committee and we have decided to meet on February 21 to take a call on what to do with them,” a member of the panel said, asking not to be named. “We may parliamentalso decide on whether or not to recommend the government about making these reports public.” The government has so far refused to share details of the reports, but a leader who said he had seen the report contended that the deviation in the estimation made by these committees about the quantum of black money stashed in India and abroad was “too huge”.
There is no estimate as yet on the amount of illicit money stashed abroad and available in India, but the subject has remained a matter of political accusations and intense public debate during the last two parliamentary election.
The previous Congress-led UPA government commissioned studies by the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, the National Council of Applied Economic Research, and the National Institute of Finance Management to ascertain the quantum of black money held by Indians inside the country and abroad. The government revealed last July that the reports by these institutes were received between December 2013 and August 2014; and these were sent to the parliament’s standing committee on Finance in July 2017.
These reports were marked “confidential” and not shared with the members of the panel, a member said.
The BJP promised in its election manifesto for 2014 that its government will “proactively engage with foreign governments” to facilitate information sharing on black money.
