Congress is justified in its suspicion over main opposition party BJP not reporting matter of rupees 2.6 crores ‘theft’ from strong-room of its New Delhi headquarters. Vigilance authorities should take suo-motto cognizance of the matter even if BJP may not be approaching them. Only way to effectively check involvement of black money in public-life is to transform currency-circulation in banking transactions so that surplus currency may be ordinary ‘paper’ for all practical purposes. All sale-purchases exceeding a certain amount must be through banks even though payment may be made in parts. In case of cash-payments, currency-tax @ 30-per cent may be imposed. All expenses and payments of essential services like water, telephone, electricity and municipal taxes for bills exceeding Rs. 1000 must be by cheques/ drafts only. Cash-withdrawals from a bank-account in a single day exceeding Rs 20000 may be reported to IT department. Drafts/ Pay-Orders/ Traveller-cheques must carry names and address/ account-numbers of purchasers with reduced validity-period to check their misuse as ‘benami’ drafts for carriers of black money.
Subhash Chandra Agrawal
Delhi