Today when one speaks about India, one cannot simply rest on the laurels of it being a cultural wonderland. That’s like restricting the land of Gandhi, Bose, Nehru and, where Bollywood and Cricket are nearly religious entities. In other words, India cannot simply be confabulated with the land of colour, festivities, traditions and a beautiful co-existence of languages and sub-cultures.
In the larger framework and scheme of things, India is also about being the land of unstoppable creativity, technical virtuosity, manufacturing strength and, a vibrant entrepreneurship culture. But while the country has so many positives, like every other developing country, it also has some contrasting images.
For instance, the problem with India persists with not just the social concerns pertaining to the safety of women. But rather, the problem of the black economy is, in itself, a massive issue, for world’s largest democracy. At the present moment, it seems, there’s a positive news for India and this is a milestone move under the able leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, currently travelling to Africa.
It’s been reported and popular national dailies like revered The Times Of India have it that around 80% reduction the country’s black money previously in the Swiss Banks. If you were looking for some emphatic bit of news then, probably, this is it.
For the longest time, the presence of what are believed to be ‘illegal’ money lying with the Swiss banks has perturbed everyone and raised quite a lot many confused brows. But now, that around 80% of the reduction in Indians’ wealth in Swiss banks has been reported- can one expect some positive news to be widely reported in the Indian media?
Now that said, there’s a slight confusion in the said matter. If you happened to have followed some news widely covered in 2017, then it was shared to the common man that the money lying in Swiss Banks had come down by at least 50 per cent. However, the rate of decline is much more and currently, sits at 80 per cent. Perhaps, it’s one of those massive achievements that is ought to be celebrated.
The Finance Minister Mr Piyush Goyal recently received a letter by none other than the Swiss Ambassador to India- Mr Andreas Baum who addressed a common misconception in the media. His letter, now widely available on the social media says, “It’s largely perceived that the assets held by Indian residents in the Swiss banks are usually undeclared (i.e., black money).”
The letter went on to clarify the primary misconception and shared, in earnest, that Switzerland is committed to maintaining the integrity of the international financial system and also intended to suggest that, it in no way is ‘shielding’ people.
A copy of the government report, made available to prominent media channels suggests that the share of Indian money in the Swiss banks has declined under the leadership of Shri Modi.
According to an agreement signed between both India and Switzerland, both countries have begun sharing the date in accordance with the global standards. The same development has begun from January 1, 2018. The financial disclosures between the said countries shall take place on a yearly basis- it is told.
While a lot many comprehensive details in the said matter are yet to come in the public domain- it can be easy to spot the constant spate of developments that the current ruling government is responsible for. And perhaps the news that there has been a massive decline in the Swiss bank money belonging to Indians is a feisty reply to all of those who may have been doubting the nature of the money deposited in the supremely popular Western European nation.