The money trail.

Our Prime Minister has promised to get back every paisa of black money stashed abroad. Hear, hear to that. But, er, the vast bulk of black money is here in India. So where is the treasure? If X marks the spot, surely politicians and civil servants know where it is. Apparently, Rs 100 million were stolen from the Congress in Maharashtra, just before assembly elections, which meant that only 137, out of 288, candidates received adequate support from the party. Poor fellows. You would expect a massive howl of outrage from the Congress with all the police brass running around like blood hounds, as they did in UP when a politician's buffaloes were stolen. But,in a baffling mystery, there was complete silence. In fact, Congress fellows denied any money was stolen. Generous lot, what? Or maybe they did not want to reveal where the money came from. For politicians and civil servants official salaries are mere pocket money, the real fun comes from 2 sources. One is cash in black bin liners, for looking the other way, which is invested in real estate, which explains why property prices in India are almost the same as in the US. Then, there are nice little junkets paid for by the taxpayer. Sometimes civil servants win the competition to go on such ' study tours ' to very expensive locales. Even when the economy was diving, with inflation out of control, exports were falling, the trade deficit was high and the fiscal deficit was barely contained by massaging figures fellows were attending the World Economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland, at $200,000 per head. The hapless taxpayer has to foot the bills through extortionate taxes. Parking charges in Delhi have been increased by nearly 5 times. It is not clear why we should pay for parking on broken, dirty plots, full of garbage and mud. The excuse trotted out is that it is to force people to use public transport to reduce congestion and pollution. Who would want to use the wretched public transport in Delhi? These fellows and the rich do not have to pay for parking because they have chauffeurs who drop the sahibs close to where they want to go and then drive to a side lane to wait. When sahib has finished he phones the driver to come and collect him. So the middle class are the asses. As usual. Now toll will be collected electronically on highways. This being India what happens if the ' system ' malfunctions and collects much more than you should pay? How do you get a refund? Why do we have to pay when taxes on cars, fuel and road tax are astronomical? We even pay a road cess on every tax we pay. Fuel prices for airlines have not been reduced as much as they should have been. Another tax. That is why people hide their incomes. Wouldn't you?