FLIP SIDE

Tax evasion and corruption

It is true that both tax evasion and corruption make the government’s exchequer slimmer and eventually highly customised fund reach to the end beneficiary. To unmask the avaricious species basking in public money, the government although raids their properties, but the action never prolongs and the ‘suspicious and notorious faces’ ones again become ‘trustworthy’ as they come back in business with ‘exonerated’ tag.
The recent raids in the properties of some government servants including a PWD sub-engineer and two politicos from the ruling party suggested that the state’s GDP would bulge exponentially if the entire stretch of these double-faced social animals would be exposed.
Possibly, to check tax evasion and corruption, the government would have attempted several measures which might have seeped from its bureaucratic think tank, but to only experience soar taste.
Still, hopes never die and so do ideas. One such method is annual declaration of assets and properties. This practice becomes palpable during election as the candidates engrossed in fray have to mandatorily disclose their income and property. The IAS, IPS and IFS officials have declared their assets.
Similarly, the other government servants can also follow the suit. In fact, the government must make it mandatory for the whole machinery that all the staffers would have to annually announce their properties which should be subsequently updated in the websites of the respective departments.
This will help in maintaining transparency in the system to a certain extent. However, the ambitious lot always discover hidden avenues if the apparent ones are closed. This can be checked by gradually bringing the remaining working class in the private sector as well as businesspersons and even the ones who possess properties without any income source. This will help the government in identifying how the properties of income generator’s kin with no income source expand every year.
This is a tough task, but can be achieved post completion of the Centre’s Unique Identification Number (UID) project as every state would have almost a complete data of its each and every inhabitant. Now, annual information of every individual can be collected from panchayat to block to district levels. The netizens (internet savvy people) could be given their own login ids to submit their information.
With complete data of assets and income sources of the citizens, the raids can be more precise and the trapped white-collard figures would have to cough up all their disproportionate properties.
The government can also create news posts to impart an organised structure to this idea. So, there will be ample jobs for the unemployed too and the payment will come from the fund saved. However, the idea will fructify only when the government will take real action.

Pollution and complexion

One Raipur legislator has created a new equation between pollution and complexion. He says that the rising industrial pollution is affecting people’s complexion. He wants action against black dust spewing units because the fair complexioned people dwelling in industrial cities darken fast. He is more concerned about nubile and asks who would marry them if the black dust would make them dusk. This signifies that our public representatives really think out of box and even anticipate those things which are not in the purview of a common man. Of course, complexion is more important not the diseases and other grave consequences that make people’s life hell due to pollution. Is it true Mr MLA?