Dr. Vallabhbhai Kathiria, the veteran MP from Gujarat, demanded a discussion in the Lok Sabha regarding the money deposited in Swiss banks by Indians. Dr Kathiria'sdemand is not astonishing in the backdrop of the Swiss Banking Association Report 2006, in which the top five depositing countries in Swiss banks secret account are: India? 1456 billion USD, UK?390 billion USD, Russia?470 billion USD, Ukraine?100 billion USD and China?96 billion USD. It is disheartening to know that India alone has more than the total money deposited by all other countries of the world combined.
Dr. Kathiria requested the Speaker, Lok Sabha, that he should be allowed to raise an open discussion about enormous money?almost 1456 billion USD?deposited in secret Swiss bank accounts by the Indians. Dr. Kathiria said that 1456 billion USD means 13 times the total foreign debt of the country! If this amount is realised, then, even after paying up the entire debt, the country will have a surplus amount?12 times the entire debts. And if this amount is invested only for earning the interest, the total annual interest will be more than the total central government'sannual budget! According to an estimate, a large section of the politicians, industrialist and bureaucrats of the country are having huge black money since 1947, and this has been deposited in anonymous bank accounts in Swiss banks, which charge even for keeping the money.
Dr. Kathiria urged that it is high time to discuss this issue at length in Parliament and the government should find a way to negotiate with Swiss government as to how to recover the said huge amount. This property should be declared national property after recovery and used to utilise to remove poverty and hunger, to build infrastructure and for health and security purposes, he said. He further said that now we are standing at a crucial juncture of the history and this single brave move will change the future of the country and cleanse the system. The people of the country will give needed respect to the politicians, he stated.
(FOC)
