NDA's approach to Black Money

I am a little surprised by some of the headlines in today’s newspapers which state that the NDA Government has done a U turn on the issue of black money stacked up in Swiss bank accounts. Nothing can be farther from the truth.

Let me begin by saying that the NDA Government WILL NOT withhold any information, including names of account holders who have stashed black money abroad, from the public; but the names will be revealed after following the due process of completing investigations and reaching conclusions about quantum of unaccounted money. After doing so, all the information including the names of account holders will become public when quoted in court proceedings arising from complaints to be filed by the Income Tax Department against tax offenders. Any premature and out of court disclosure of the names of account holders would not only vitiate the investigations but will enable such account holders to get away with their offences. It will also violate India’s Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAA) with other countries and will choke receipt of all further information from those countries.

The NDA Government took over in the last week of May, 2014. For 3 years, the UPA Government has been refusing to appoint the SIT directed by the Supreme Court. At the first very Cabinet Meeting, Shri Narendra Modi Cabinet decided to appoint the SIT. The SIT has been effectively functioning since then.

On October 15, 2014, a team of officials led by Revenue Secretary and comprising of Chairman, CBDT has signed a Joint Statement with the appropriate authorities in Switzerland with regard to investigation into black money stacked in Swiss banks. The four important aspects of that agreement are:

(i) With regard to the list available with India of account holders in the HSBC, where Indian tax authorities have conducted independent investigations, the Swiss would provide India with details upon our furnishing of adequate evidence in this regard.

(ii) Whenever India has some information/ documentary evidence, the Swiss would confirm the authenticity or otherwise of that evidence.

(iii) This would be done in a time bound manner.

(iv) Discussion would now start on a bilateral agreement on automatic exchange of information in the banking system. If this bilateral arrangement is arrived at, it will be an important milestone in detection of black money held by Indians in the Swiss banks.

Independent of the above, the Supreme Court of India in the “Black Money Case” had directed the Government of India to furnish the names to the petitioner which have been given by Germany to India. These names were given to the petitioner who made them public. The Germans strongly objected to this as a violation of the Double Tax Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) which was entered between Government of India and Germany on 19th June, 1995. The present NDA Government has unfortunately inherited the legacy of that DTAA. We may have negotiated a better deal. If we scrap the treaty, we get no further information. The covenant to the treaty is that the names of the account holders and information received thereunder will only be disclosed when charges are filed in court. They obviously cannot be utilized for political propaganda or for political mileage.

The choice before the NDA Government is clear; violate the Treaty and get no names in future or abide by the Treaty, collect evidence, file charges in courts and let the names become public so that the account holders can be named and shamed. One act of adventurism of violating the treaty and discussing the name could perhaps jeopardise future cooperation from the reciprocating state.

All that the Government has requested the Supreme Court is to clarify that it has not prohibited the Government of India to enter into Treaties with countries wherein a commitment may be made by the Government to maintain confidentiality of information received as per international standards. If such a commitment to maintain the confidentiality is not given we will not receive any information about Indians hiding their money in other countries including offshore financial centres and tax heavens. Thus the clarification sought from the Supreme Court is only to facilitate collection of information about illegal money stashed abroad.

Nobody has ever suggested that the names should not be made public. They should be made public in accordance with the existing due process of law. If that process is violated, you will never get to know the names in future. The NDA Government stands committed to detect the names, prosecuting the guilty and making them public. We are not going to be pushed into an act of adventurism where we violate the treaties and then plead that we are no longer able to get the cooperation of reciprocating states. Such an approach may actually help the account holders. Adventurism will be short-sighted. A mature approach will take us to the root of the matter.

- Shared from Arun Jaitley's page.

Bhagwat Geeta: A Understanding of Karma & Dharma and Mind, Body & Soul

Soul and Body are two separate entities. Soul is immortal, indestructible and it changes several bodies in one life. and different species in different lives. Happiness, Sorrow and other emotions are felt by body not soul. Soul is a part of God itself.

Mind is responsible for taking care of emotional experiences that the body has. Mind is a part of body. Mind is the greatest of imposters, that plays trick every moment. One who gets entangled in emotions is trapped by Mind's tricks. Mind will take you astray and put you in fix. The mind lures the body. Man is a puppet at the hands of his mind. It doesn't allow man to discover his soul.
If a body is like a chariot and Soul its master then Mind is the charioteer with 5 horses as the senses. These horses get attracted to worldly things. If soul is not the master of Mind then mind will take you to any place where these horses gets influenced to and move away from the path you wanted to tread on. Therefore the most important and difficult thing to do is to control your mind.
This can be done by two ways: Practice and discipline(Dispassion)

Here it is also to be understood that what is that cause our mind not to be tamed so easily: the relationships! The attachment we have with the people around us, the worldly things and the emotions. We kept on clinging to these people, these relationships. However we don't remember anything from our past life. We don't care about the relationships we had in the past life then why bother now. Therefore neither we should feel sorrow on death of loved ones nor we should cry for ending any relationship. Friends will mourn for 4 days, brother for 10 days and mother a little longer but after certain period of time tears in their eyes will dry up. There will be light of new dreams, new hope in each one of them. So why be bothered at all. These were not there in past life and they will not be in next life!

Therefore the only thing one should do is to think like an ascetic, renounce all the worldly pleasure and perform his duties. Asceticism from within! treating happiness and grief with same temperament. Now if asceticism is the solution then why we should do anything at all? For our 'dharma!' And for that we need to have knowledge of our duties. These should decide our deeds! Now we should also understand every deed produce a result and a feeling but that emotion or result should not be the reason behind the deed. Every deed should be done without thinking about the consequence, it should be done if it is your duty!

Now who will tell what is the duty or responsibility of a person which he/she should do. It's the person himself! He has to decide what his soul is saying to do! That will become his 'dharma'. There would many times when man faces a dilemma that moment will be the deciding point to make choices between what his mind says and what his soul. Therefore the only solution is to be 'Niskaam Karmyogi' whose foundation is detachment.

By being Karmyogi a man can be unaffected by the bad or good aftereffects of his deeds even though he is performing all the deeds himself. A man is bound to take the fruit of his deed but he should do his deed without thinking about the result. He should accept victory, defeat, happiness, sorrow with same temperament. This is Karmyog!

A karmyogi can not be perturbed with any means. He does what he thinks is right for his dharma. A karmyogi is thus free from the bounding of his deeds. And to be able to free from the bounds while simultaneously performing deeds one has to do only one thing: Do not expect anything in return! Accept what is there as destiny!

A man has to become firm and willed person  i.e. a 'Stithpragya' one who is not affected by any emotions. A man's desires give birth to many desires and lot of expectation which in turn gives discontentment and disappointment. Such discontent man can not differentiate between good or bad. Stithpragya is the extreme state of Karmyog. This state can be achieved by having a stir mind which is possible by conquering hopes and disappointments. Our senses should be controlled and only stir mind can be completely detached from materialistic things even though our body is sensing these things. Detachment even though you are among the worldly things and taking pleasures of everything yet not being attached to anything is the key to 'Stithpragya'.

Attachment/Infatuation -> Love/Lust -> Anger (If obstructed)-> Wisdom wrecked -> Annihilation

Simple example to understand the impact of having attachment to worldly things is given below:
Attachment/Infatuation -> Love/Lust -> Anger (If obstructed)-> Wisdom wrecked -> Annihilation.
We can fairly conclude that reaching the state of 'Stithpragya' is extremely difficult. A man is born with three qualities: Satva (honesty), Rajo (dishonesty) , Tamo (lethargy). The only difference in his destiny is being one of these qualities as too strong which will decide the fate of a man.

1. 'Rajo' persons are more into getting materialistic things for themselves by any means. They are always concerned about their own happiness at any cost.
2. 'Tamo' persons are too lazy to do anything which begets jealousy, hatred and anger for others. They are more happy if others are grieved. They find pleasures in others sufferings.
3. 'Satva' persona are the ones having true quality. They are most happy by giving and spreading happiness to others. They have least desires for themselves and would enjoy seeing people around them as happy.

Therefore to make satva quality strong in oneself one should take help by worshiping God. By worshiping God our mind become pure and noble which boost the Satva quality which in turns help in achieving the state of 'Stithpragya'. Love = attraction, affection, lust, and worship also. It depends which form you want to attain. Attachment is caused by Love in any form. Therefore attachment is the cause of annihilation. Stithpragya is one who is detached from love also. Karmyogi can reach to the state of stithpragya.

What 'Swatch Bharat' Campaign has achieved?

I had visited Europe as part of my student exchange program. The first thing you notice about being abroad is it's beauty. How beautiful everything looks there.I am not talking about the only tourist spots but everything; walls, streets, parks, normal eating places etc.There are people living, walking and doing daily chores just like we do in India. They are just other human beings then how can their country look so beautiful than mine. One thing I am sure is they, themselves, made their country this beautiful. It's not a God's gift to them. Their habits, their culture made their country as it is what it is.

It's established then that a place's beauty is related to the culture of the society at that place. Does that mean we are so much lacking in our sense of surroundings? I have heard many times many people boasting about our rich cultural heritage. Is this the culture that we talked about? If  not, then we need to develop not just economically but socially as well. I know that the hardest thing to achieve is cultural change and 'Swatch Bharat' Campaign is a step towards it.

When I heard about Modi's Campaign for 'Swatch Bharat', the cleanliness drive to involve common people of the country, I was excited but also skeptical about it's success. Then I see comments and posts from political parties like Congress and Aam Admi Party condemning that Modi has just created another event for PR purpose. This campaign is nothing but a photo opportunity for the BJP. Not many places are going to be actually cleaned and similar such things. My suspicion for the campaign and its motive increased.

On 2nd October, I saw PM Modi cleaning some places and inviting many celebrities to join the campaign and encourage more people to be a part of it. Later Shashi Tharoor adulates Modi for the initiative and said he would be happily joining the cause. Sachin Tendulkar also came up for the cause along with some friends. I like how people are talking about this campaign. I don't know how many places are cleaned post that campaign but I can feel a sense of cleanliness amongst my friends. One of my friends has raised his voice to a fellow citizen to not to litter while eating at a roadside hawker.

I myself had an experience that enthralled me. I took a glass of juice from a hawker and while I was getting cash from my wallet I put the soiled glass at his cart. On seeing the guy picked the glass I said "kya kar rahe ho bhaiya, road pe fek rahe ho kya" ("What? Are you going to throw it on road?")
He replied with a smile "arre Nahin sir, itna campaign chalaya Modiji ne. Hume laga aap na fek de isliye utha ke khud hi dustbin me daal rahe hain." ("Oh No Sir, I too have seen that campaign started by Modi. I thought you were going to litter so I, myself, is putting this trash in a dustbin")

A person, who is so low in socioeconomic class as per the academic definition, is talking about such good things. I was very happy with his suspicion on me and his desire to take responsibility not for his own but the possibility of other to litter. He was not only just talking about Modi and his 'Swatch Bharat campaign' but also he is contributing in his own way to it.

I don't know how many places have been cleaned post that campaign but I do know that millions of people are talking about it. Millions of people have acknowledged that it's a good thing to have clean surrounding. Millions of people are realizing that wherever they are they can contribute to this campaign by two ways; not littering and asking other to do the same. I am not sure how many people will actually come out of their house to clean public places but I know millions of them are determined to not contribute in making it more dirty.

I don't know how long will this campaign have impact but I do know that currently millions of people have raised their hope for a clean India, better India. Millions of people are inspired and have an awareness about their responsibility. Millions of people have faith in Modi and they want to follow their leader in good cause. Millions of people think about India First!