IS INDIA POOR? WHO SAYS? ASK SWISS BANKS!

With personal account deposit bank of $1500 billion in foreign reserve which have been misappropriated, an amount 13 times larger than the country’s foreign debt, one needs to rethink if India is a poor country? With this amount 45 crore poor people can get Rs 1,00,000 each. This huge amount has been looted from the people of India by exploiting and betraying them. And, mind you, these stats are 3 years old!

Once this huge amount of black money comes back to India, the entire foreign debt can be repaid in 24 hours. After paying the entire foreign debt, we will have surplus amount, almost 12 times larger than the foreign debt. If this surplus amount is invested in earning interest, the amount of interest will be more than the annual budget of the Central government. So even if all the taxes are abolished, then also the Central government will be able to maintain the country very comfortably.

Some 80,000 people travel to Switzerland every year, of which 25,000 travel very frequently. “Obviously, these people won’t be tourists. They must be traveling there for some other reason,” believes an official involved in tracking illegal money. And, clearly, he is not referring to the commerce ministry bureaucrats who’ve been flitting in and out of Geneva ever since the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations went into a tailspin!

Black money in Swiss banks — Swiss Banking Association report, 2006 details bank deposits in the territory of Switzerland by nationals of following countries:

Top five

India—- $1,456 billion

Russia —$ 470 billion

UK ——-$390 billion

Ukraine - $100 billion

China —–$ 96 billion

This may be the picture of deposits in Swiss banks only. What about other international banks? Now, do the maths - India with $1456 billion or $1.4 trillion has more money in Swiss banks than rest of the world combined. Public loot since 1947:

Can we bring back our money?

It is one of the biggest loots witnessed by mankind — the loot of the Aam Aadmi (common man) since 1947, by his brethren occupying public office. It has been orchestrated by politicians, bureaucrats and some businessmen. The list is almost all-encompassing. No wonder, everyone in India loots with impunity and without any fear.

What is even more depressing in that this ill-gotten wealth of ours has been stashed away abroad into secret bank accounts located in some of the world’s best known tax havens. And to that extent the Indian economy has been stripped of its wealth.

Ordinary Indians may not be exactly aware of how such secret accounts operate and what are the rules and regulations that go on to govern such tax havens. However, one may well be aware of ‘Swiss bank accounts,’ the shorthand for murky dealings, secrecy and, of course, pilferage from developing countries into rich developed ones.

In fact, some finance experts and economists believe tax havens to be a conspiracy of the western world against the poor countries. By allowing the proliferation of tax havens in the twentieth century, the western world explicitly encourages the movement of scarce capital from the developing countries to the rich.

In March 2005, the Tax Justice Network (TJN) published a research finding demonstrating that $11.5 trillion of personal wealth was held offshore by rich individuals across the globe.

The findings estimated that a large proportion of this wealth was managed from some 70 tax havens. Further, augmenting these studies of TJN, Raymond Baker — in his widely celebrated book titled ‘Capitalism’ s Achilles Heel: Dirty Money and How to Renew the Free Market System’ — estimates that at least $5 trillion have been shifted out of poorer countries to the West since the mid-1970.

It is further estimated by experts that one per cent of the world’s population holds more than 57 per cent of total global wealth, routing it invariably through these tax havens. How much of this is from India is anybody’s guess. What is to be noted here is that most of the wealth of Indians parked in these tax havens is illegitimate money acquired through corrupt means.

Naturally, the secrecy associated with the bank accounts in such places is central to the issue, not their low tax rates as the term ‘tax havens’ suggests. Remember Bofors and how India could not trace the ultimate beneficiary of those transactions because of the secrecy associated with these bank accounts?

GOD, IS THERE ANY ONE WHO WOULD SAVE INDIA ?

I am afraid, even he can't.

GANDHI: FATHER OF THE NATION!

 

For more than 200 Years, the Britishers ruled India. The Country finally got the independence on the August 15, 1947. It was the yield of the efforts put in by the freedom fighters that the Independence came.      

In the early 20^th Century, the British exploitation was at its peak. Whether it is the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (1919) or the Partition of Bengal (1905), the Country needed a leader that can lead the Country, of billions, from the front. And the leader was just about to get in action.      

A man with astonishing capabilities, having an incredible weapon of Non-Violence that led a Country of more than 4 Billion from the front, a man that gave the idea of ‘Offering the other cheek if one slaps on the one’, none other than he is the BAPU GANDHI, to whom history says ‘Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’. Born on the October 2, 1869 at Porbandar in Gujarat, after his primary education he went to England for Higher Education (Law). He married to Kasturbai at the age of thirteen. He returned back to India in 1891 and started practicing (as a lawyer). He got the offer to work in South Africa for a year and he left for the same in 1893.  And it was South Africa itself where he led the first blood by raising voice against the racist culture there. The ill-treatments with Indians there, especially the one in which he was thrown out of the First Class Coach just because he was an Indian despite of having the ticket for the same, led him to raise voice against it there. This led to a large scale protest there and resulted in the relief for the people there. He returned to India in 1915 considering the fact that he went there for just a year.     

He never favoured the violence and believed in peace. His simplicity, his Khadi clothes, his gentleness were as divine as they can be. As a leader he led the country to the right way: away from the violence and destruction. Gandhi dressed to be accepted by the poorest person in India, advocating the use of homespun cloth (khadi). He and his followers adopted the practice of weaving their own clothes from thread they themselves spun on a charkha, and encouraged others to do so.  

Indeed, Bapu was not the first to discover non-violence strategy, but he was  the first to implement it. The early effects of the strategy were before all in 1918 with the Champaran agitation and Kheda Satyagraha. It was during this agitation, that Gandhi was addressed by the people as Bapu and Mahatma (Great Soul). As a result, Gandhi's fame spread all over the nation and because of this, he is now called "Father of the nation" in Indian. He became known to the common man after that. From then onwards came a series of movements namely Non-cooperation (1921), Salt Satyagraha (Salt March) (1930) Civil Disobedience (1930–31), Quit India (1942), which threatened the British Rule. And India got its Independence in 1947.        

The Independence struggle was the 200 Year long Event. Thousands of Freedom Fighters lost their lives in the struggle. The Golden Sparrow which the Country called earlier, after 1947, was just a graveyard of the Hindu-Muslim relationships, of the union of the Hindustan (that included India and Pakistan). The riots and the widespread violence that happened at the time of partition hurted Gandhi badly. He had been an advocate for a united India where Hindus and Muslims lived together in peace. On January 13, 1948, at the age of 78, he began a fast with the purpose of stopping the bloodshed. After 5 days, the opposing leaders pledged to stop the fighting and Gandhi broke his fast. Twelve days later, he was assassinated by a Hindu fanatic who opposed his program of tolerance for all creeds and religion. The last words on the lips of Gandhiji were ‘HEY RAM!’       

Gandhi’s thoughts are the historical achievements that the world has gained. That is why; it is rightly said as a quote in Hindi: 

GANDHI, GANDHITVAA, GANDHIYAAN! 

VISHVA KI SAMASYAONN KA EKMATRR SAMADHAAN!!      

This means the Gandhi’s non-violence strategy and his thoughts are the only  way in which the Global Problems can be solved, whether it is the Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan or the North Korea’s Nuclear Program, which is a threat to the world.      

Among the tributes to Gandhi upon his death were these words by the great physicist, Albert Einstein: “Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood.”     

There are a few who criticise his thoughts on the ground that the Non-Violence attitude drew India’s Independence a bit far off to 1947, but there are the Movies like ‘LAGE RAHO MUNNA BHAI’ and the fact that October 2 being celebrated as the ‘INTERNATIONAL NON-VIOLENCE DAY’, supporting him on this ground.     

Really, Mahatma Gandhi will be known as the Great Leader among the races to come. 

YEAR 2010: ‘GLORIOUS’ SPORT, SCAMS ‘GALORE’!

Sport and Politics, two entirely different fields, but these are blended together in our country. And indeed, ‘it happens only in India’. The IPL Commissioner’s suspensions in one way or the other lead the resignation of Politician Shashi Throor.
  In Sports, India had a dream run this year. The Year started with the Little Master Sachin Tendulkar’s 200 and ended with his half century of centuries in tests. Really, Tendulkar is not just a sportsman; he is a phenomenon and must say, rather, a global phenomenon. And, this is the reason that both the Center Govt. and the opposition agree when it comes to ‘Bharat Ratna’ for the Legend of the game of Cricket. The fantastic hosting of the Commonwealth Games: spectacular opening ceremony and the all time best performance of the Indian Team in the same. The best ever Asian Games performance also came from the Indian Team this year. The hockey, the boxing, the archery and the athletics (surprisingly), all came good this year. The Indian Cricket Team earned the glory after becoming the No.1 in the world in tests. Infact, Cricket in India is not just a sport, it is a religion. And it was proved once again this year.
   Unfortunately, this is just the positive half of the story. The ‘Scams Galore’ is still left to address on. All started with the IPL Controversy. Then, the CWG Scam, Adarsh Housing Scam, 2G Spectrum Allocation and the recent, City Bank Scam. All these scams will be known for their hugeness and their impact. The CWG scam is alleged to have engulfed Rs 63,000 crore. The 2G scam is even worst. It amounts to more than Rs1,70,000 crore. Well, this seems to be a national banditry and the series of the scams amounts to ‘more than’ Rs 2 lakh crore. Indeed, the word ‘more than’ is not for the weak hearted people. National Robbery on such a high level depicts our unhealthy ‘System’. Must say, it is very easy to blame the system, but the ‘system’ we are talking of is a big machine and if there is no one bothered of the machine but of the work it serves, then the machine’s performance will gradually depreciate, common sense, isn’t it. This is where the real problem is.
  See, we must take 'positives' from our past as the moral boosters and the 'negatives' as the watch-outs for the future. Ours is a developing country and as I refered to a machine called ‘System’ cannot be repaired or rectified overnight. The biggest positive for us is our excellence in sports. Development in the field of Sport in one way or the other depicts the development of a country. The biggest evidence to this is our neighboring country China. They hosted the Olympics and did it fantastically well. They topped the medals tally also. And, their excellence in sport has led their economic development also. The same lesson if we learn, then no doubt, if China is excelling today, we too can in the future.
   For me, the biggest positive is the Commonwealth Games, hosted successfully by India. All in all, it is a start. Must say, Sport is a ladder that can take any country to its desired level, and leads to the development. Why the Board of Control for Cricket in India is the richest board in the cricketing fraternity? Answer is, their team is excelling the sport and it all started with the World Cup win in 1983.
   Indeed, the money looted in the scams was ours and belonged to the common man. And the Sporting achievements have dressed the wounds left.
   May the New Year bring prosperity to the Country!  

   May God bless us all!

TEAM INDIA: ALL TIME BEST...OR.. IS IT?

A Team loaded with big names, a team with the strongest batting line-up than any other team, in past or might be in future, a team with the so called GOD OF CRICKET opening the batting for them, one of the strongest contenders of the World Cup, World No.1 test team, India, was considered the best among the rest before the commencement of the World Cup. But unfortunately, bowlers have not delivered when it was expected of them at crunch situations. And, surprisingly, the lower middle order has also joined the party with the bowlers. No doubt, Zaheer and Harbhajan have shown some form, but were not consistent or can be said, haven't got the assistance from the other end.

See, India's problem is that they are very much dependent on good start and if the openers fail, they feel the heat and topples under pressure. With the departure of Medium Pacer Praveen Kumar from the team, the bowlers have struggled to pick up early wickets. The Batting Power Play has also been a tough nut to crack for them. Yes, there are a few (in fact, not few i'm afraid) things to worry, but, in my opinion, these situations have come earlier also.

There were some news before the start of the Mega-event that the World Cup Team for India is the all time best representing the country. But, in my opinion, this applies to batting only. The bowling is below par I'm afraid. The World Cup Winning Team, 1983 was loaded with all-rounders and more importantly, medium pacers which exploited the England conditions very well.

So, all in all, if the Team has to win the cup, than batters have to perform, the trump bowler like Ashwin should be a part of the team and the GOD has to put in all his experience to lift up the spirit.

MAY GOD BLESS OUR TEAM!

UPROOTING CORRUPTION: A BIG TASK!

The civil unrest in Libya and earlier in Egypt, were for the establishment of democracy there. But, we are the largest democracy in the world. We have what they are fighting to achieve.

Ask yourself 'are you happy with the democratic freedom we have?’ We have the freedom to elect our leader, but do we have enough options to elect the best one from. All the talking on this issue end on just one note: there are discrepancies in the system. And, mind you, the system is not ‘sparks plug of a scooter’, that it can be changed when it is out of order. The year 2010 had been a year of scams, with 5 major scams, including one of the biggest in the history of Indian Independence, the ‘2G Spectrum Scam’, with an alleged amount of Rs 1.76 lakh crore, 13 digit number, mind you.

What can we do or more realistically, what should we do against it. See, the entire political system of ours, lack transparency. Any official data, issued by the Govt. is always less than the alleged, and realistically speaking, the latter is near to the actual as compared to the former. Whether it is the number of casualties in an accident/calamity or is the statistical amount that the scams engulfed, all were made intentionally translucent to the common man.

Indeed, a lot needs to be done, if the situation is to be kept under control, by the Government. But, the money that is just being looted belongs to the common man and the exchequer. The civil movements are, therefore, the need of the hour to make some pressure on the Govt. so as to make the issue a bit broader, which at present is looking as ‘the Center Govt. vs. the Opposition’. But, with the civil movement, I do not mean a Civil Unrest, as is happening in Libya. Being the largest democracy, we own the right to oppose anything undemocratic. But, the violence will lead us to nowhere. It will, in fact, add to the already bandied amount.

There is a burning issue these days called ‘Black Money’. For a common man the figure, which the black money amounts to, is just sufficient to make him mad. It is alleged to be $ 1.5 trillion. A common man can understand it as, if this amount is distributed among 45 crore people, each will get 1 lakh. It is unfortunate that last year out of the total 5 scams 4 came in the last 4 months. India has jumped to the 87^th spot in the World's most corrupted countries. And, seeing the fact that earlier we were not in the top 100, it hurts.

Thus, we, the common people, need to conduct democratic but aggressive movements to build some pressure on the Government, so that some action could be initiated to heal the discrepancies in the system.

Jai Hind! Jai Bharat!!

MATCH FIXING: Gentlemen’s Game not Remained that Gentle.

The dark side of Cricket is revealed to the World once again, and the culprits belong to Pakistan. It is not the first time that the Pakistani Cricketers are found guilty and it will not be the last time,' I am Afraid'. Nearly half of the Pakistani Cricketers, on the England tour at present, had been accused of fixing in the past. The PCB's working and their leniency is also a threat to their own cricket and to the World Cricket too. But the cause of concern is that the rate of such incidents had increased in the recent past and the accused ones are from Pakistan. The recent incident of ‘SPOT FIXING’ is another proof of this. Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif, Salman Butt (Captain Pakistan’s Test Side), Kamran Akmal(Accused Earlier also) are the latest to be accused. The whole incident has been such a cinematic scene that the news channels also do not want to waste a single opportunity to mint anything helping their cause.

Pakistan, a giant nursery of Fast Bowlers, is facing some of its worst days. The international cricket has not happened there for a long time. The internal matters of the country also are not favouring their cricket. Also what can be expected of a country having its President suspect of murder. Pakistani President Mr. Asif Ali Zardari had been accused of serious corruption cases, in which he is a prime suspect for 15 Billion Dollar Scam and also a suspect in the murder of his close relative. The Pakistani Cricketers have never been ‘Gentlemen of the Game’.

Well, it is very true to say that there are Players from other countries too, who faced some critical fixing cases. Not going too far if we see our own cricket then we will found players like Mohammad Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Manoj Prabhakar and Ajay Sharma and Nayan Mongia who losttheir carrier, but none of them ever agreed to what they have done. There are foreigners also who have been accusd of fixing. In the Year 2000, the cricketing world was shocked when the Delhi police revealed a conversation between a bookie and South Africa's captain Hansie Cronje. The fallout resulted in Cronje, Pakistan's Salim Malik. Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja were also banned in that incident. The West Indian player Samuel’s case is not too old.

But in one way or the other the connection of these incidents are always found to be connected with India. India, where the people are mad about their cricket and the BCCI being the highest and the richest body in this field, can be seen as the Global Cricket Center. After Karachi and Johansburg, Mumbai has also become a center for Bookers.

But, the reason for all this happening is the too much exposure of the player in a very short time. The players from West Indies and Pakistan, mostly belong to the middle class or the lower middle class backgrounds and when they get too much exposure they become helpless handling that and fall a pray to the Bookers. Also these Countries do not have a capable Board to pay the cricketers heavily. As a result, they try to mint something at their own level and suffer a jolt to their own carrier. Their inexperience also goes against them. ‘According to the stats, a player playing the IPL mints that much money, a Pakistani earns in a DECADE’. The IPL and the T20 have brought commercialisation in Cricket and the players expectations from their board have also increased and when they do not get the favourable result from the board they are left with no other option but to cheer up the bookers.

The IPL is a major source which can help in eradicating this menace from cricket, but mind you it can also amplify its impact too. All, the Boards should keep a strict eye on every single player of its and the Manager and the Captain should be having such a character that sets a respect in their colleges soul. There Captain should be such that players should think twice about his reaction before doing such a crime to their own people.

Best of luck to the Gentleman’s Game for its Future!