All is not well between Team Anna and Baba Ramdev
Addressing thousands of supporters at the Ramlila Maidan here on the penultimate day of his three-day fast against corruption, the yoga guru said, “India could have won gold if there was a competition for corruption in the Olympics”, to loud cheers and clapping by his supporters.
Ramdev then told his supporters: “This is not a matter to applaud” and asked all Indians to support his agitation against black money and graft.
Directing his demand to the prime minister, Ramdev said: “Why is the prime minister not acting on the issue of black money? The government should reveal the names of those who have black money stashed abroad… Stop making excuses.”
“The prime minister should demonstrate political honesty and will on black money,” he added.
Ramdev said the government should at least inform the people by when they would get the black money back.
“If black money is brought back to the country, the issue of price rise will be solved and high taxes will reduce… The Naxal and Maoist problem will also be solved,” he said adding that every Indian pays around 30 different types of taxes.
“We will wait till Saturday and then announce our future course of action,” Ramdev said, reiterating his statement Thursday that he would give the government three days to act and then decide on the next course of action.
The crowds swelled as the day progressed on day two of the agitation.
Ramdev went to sleep at around 10 p.m. Thursday on the stage itself and woke up at 4 a.m. After freshening up in a makeshift washroom behind the dais, he meditated for an hour, a close aide said.
The aide told IANS “no special arrangements” have been made for the yoga guru.
Ramdev began the day Friday with a yoga camp for his supporters, before addressing them.
The yoga guru has demanded that the government get back black money stashed abroad, as well as a stringent Lokpal bill, an independent Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and a citizen’s charter – which are also the demands of the now disbanded Team Anna.
Most men and women at the sprawling ground seemed to be long time followers of Ramdev.
The ground was swarming with thousands of mostly middle aged people, the front rows filled by women, as early as 7 a.m.
Many had spent the night at the ground, having reached it even before Ramdev started his three-day fast Thursday, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the Quit India movement.
“Yoga can be learnt even on television. We are here only for the revolution,” said Dheer Singh, an Arya Samaj leader from Uttarakhand.
“I am a follower of Baba Ramdev and his yoga but it is his movement that brings me here,” said Surendra Agarwal, a 63-year-old resident of Sadar Bazar in Delhi.
A police officer Thursday put the crowds at 50-60,000 – who have come from states around Delhi as well as afar.
And they plan to stay put as long as Ramdev wants them to.
On Friday, Ramdev asked the crowds: “How many of you are willing to be in the agitation for three years?” Thousands of hands went up in response.
The organisers have arranged for vegetarian breakfast, lunch and dinner, given gratis to the protesters.
Hundreds of police and paramilitary personnel, including the Rapid Action Force, have been deployed at the ground in the heart of the capital.
Meanwhile, Indian Government has outlined a series of measures to tackle Black Money and Corruption.
As part of its efforts, the Indian government has a “huge network of amended” Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements with 84 countries and Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) with nine tax havens
The government has obtained “more than 12,500 pieces of information regarding details of asset and payments received by Indian citizen in several countries which are now under different stages of processing and investigation,” a statement said Friday.
The authorities have also received “30,765 pieces of domestic information about suspicious transactions by the Financial Intelligence Unit which are under investigation”.
“The Directorate of Transfer Pricing has detected mispricing of Rs.67,768 crore in last financial year and in the current financial year (Rs 43,531 crore in F.Y. 2011-12). This has prevented shifting of equivalent profit out of the country.
“Directorate of International Taxation has collected taxes of Rs. 48,951 crore from cross broader transactions in last two financial years.
“Investigation wing of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has detected concealed income of Rs.19,938 crore in last two financial years. Focused searches have been conducted in a number of cases in the current year on the basis of information received from foreign jurisdictions under the provisions of Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements”, it said.
As part of the DTAA with France, India has received information regarding Indians having bank accounts. “In 219 cases, the department has detected undisclosed income totalling Rs 565 crore and taxes amounting to Rs 181 crore has already been realized so far.”
As part of amendments made through the Finance Act, 2012 to deal with the menace of black money, and to deter the generation and use of unaccounted money, the General Anti Avoidance Rules to counter Aggressive Tax Avoidance Schemes was introduced, as well as the compulsory reporting of assets held abroad.
The amendment has also resulted in “Increasing the onus of proof on closely held companies for funds received from shareholders as well as taxing share premium in excess of fair market value; taxation of unexplained money, credits, investments, expenditures etc., at the highest rate of 30 per cent irrespective of the slab of income.
Another initiative was “Introduction of a reporting mechanism for assets and bank accounts in a foreign country,” the statement said.
The government has also commissioned a study on unaccounted income which is being conducted by National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), National Institute of Public Finance & Policy (NIPFP) and National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM), with inputs from various ministries/departments. The study will be completed by the end of 2012.
In order to strengthen the existing laws, the government set up a panel under the Chairman, CBDT to examine the measures to strengthen the existing legal and administrative framework to deal with the menace of generation of black money. The measures include, declaring wealth generated illegally as a national asset, enacting / amending laws to confiscate and recover such assets; and providing for exemplary punishment against its perpetrators.
The panel submitted its report to the government on March 29, 2012. The report has been sent to different Ministries / Organisations and state governments for necessary action, the statement said.