From a mere chaiwala to the current Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi has already started off with his work on the very first day of his Prime Ministerialship. The government of Narendra Modi on Tuesday (27th May, 2014) seems to bang on job as Modi announced the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate and explore black money, which has been mostly salted away in foreign countries. The decision was taken in the first meeting of the union cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Modi, who further declared that the SIT will be headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, M B Shah and the decision on the SIT is in compliance with the Supreme Court. Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will also be one of its head and the vice-chairman of the SIT will be another former SC judge, Arijit Pasayat.
"In light of the directions of the Supreme Court, we have constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to unearth the black money. It was an important issue for us, and therefore it is a matter of assurance for us," Ravi Shankar Prasad told media here today. It will be assisted by the revenue secretary, directors of CBI, IB, RAW and ED, the CBDT chairman and an RBI deputy governor. The government was given a week by the SC to set up an SIT.
A press release added, "The SIT has been charged with the responsibility and duties of investigation, initiation of proceedings and prosecution in cases of Hasan Ali and other matters involving unaccounted money."
The team has decided the names of SIT members and have declared publicly also including secretary revenue, deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India, director of the Intelligence Bureau, director of the Enforcement Directorate, director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes and director of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
The team of SIT constitutes all the highest level of financial, revenue and economic management of the country, which clearly indicates indicates the highest level of commitment of the new government of India, as stated by the minister. He further added, "We are committed to fighting black money".
Another added statement declares that “The SIT will also work out a comprehensive action plan to create an institutional structure that would enable the country to fight the battle against unaccounted money. It would report on the status of its work to the court from time to time”.
In a report in 2011, the ruling government of present India, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had predicted India's black economy to be between $500 billion to $1.4 trillion. In addition BJP was the main opposition of the ruling party of 2011, Congress. The US-based think tank Global Financial Integrity has pegged the illicit money outflow from India to the tune of $462 billion.
The black money is the money which is earned and relocated unlawfully in foreign countries in order to save tax, like Cayman Islands and Mauritius. It has been surveyed that nearly one third of black money transactions are believed to be in real estate sector. Also, manufacturing, gold and consumer goods purchases are the other major areas, where black money transactions can be made as to avoid paying tax to the government.
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