Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum of Black Money

As far as black money goes the two major parties are like the “Alice in Wonderland” characters, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. One cannot distinguish between them.

The present president promised to take action against those holding black money accounts abroad. So did the present prime minister.

Chidambaram as finance minister, came up with the “brilliant” idea of taxing withdrawals from savings accounts. He backed out due to public opposition.

Then came the Delhi High Court order holding both BJP and Congress guilty of FCRA violation in receiving donations from foreign companies.

Instead of taking the rap, the present government has amended the FCRA to treat these companies as Indian and justifying it (can you believe this?) as boosting CSR spending!

Now come the current bolt from the blue, ostensibly to curb black money.

Just as UID / "Aadhaar" is justified as meant to help the poor receive their dues, demonetization too is justified as needed to flush out black money.

Both solutions are arrived at without any thinking at all.

More on this later.

Here are links to new on FCRA