State elections are scheduled for May 2008 in Karnataka, India. The laws in India make it compulsory for the candidates to declare their balance sheets (assets and liabilities) to the Election Commission, which then makes this data public.
The candidates have declared their assets and liabilities. It is well known that barring a handful, most of these have not disclosed their true worth, for they always want to hide their ill-gotten wealth. Most candidates have declared assets worth a few hundred million rupees. At 1US$=INR40, most of these are US$ Millionaires, by their own admissions, not to mention the hidden (called benami /ghost holdings) assets. When compared with their declarations in the previous election about 4 years ago, their assets have grown multi-fold, someone even had a growth rate of 2000%. Note that government salary for these elected public representatives (euphemistically called public servants) is just a few thousand rupees per month. So where did all the money come from? Have they paid income tax? What is their true worth? Does this all not prove my earlier point (in an earlier blog) that various listings of world's richest people may after all be meaningless?
Politicians in India (and world-wide) cut across party lines and collude (like in criminal cartels) to save themselves from investigations. The Vigilance Department in India, created by the governments that are run by the very same politicians, has not been given any power to investigate the elected legislators and members of the parliament, let alone punishing the guilty. Any upright vigilance officer or a judge is likely to be moved aside (transferred), if he / she dares to investigate these politicians.
It is likely that these politicians get away with their ill-gotten money, for they have all the power and are part of the cartel. One cannot hope to see the courts taking suo-moto action to investigate.
What do you get when you combine Nordic rates of taxation and third world corruption? A failed democratic country or a dictatorship.
K Venkatesh
The candidates have declared their assets and liabilities. It is well known that barring a handful, most of these have not disclosed their true worth, for they always want to hide their ill-gotten wealth. Most candidates have declared assets worth a few hundred million rupees. At 1US$=INR40, most of these are US$ Millionaires, by their own admissions, not to mention the hidden (called benami /ghost holdings) assets. When compared with their declarations in the previous election about 4 years ago, their assets have grown multi-fold, someone even had a growth rate of 2000%. Note that government salary for these elected public representatives (euphemistically called public servants) is just a few thousand rupees per month. So where did all the money come from? Have they paid income tax? What is their true worth? Does this all not prove my earlier point (in an earlier blog) that various listings of world's richest people may after all be meaningless?
Politicians in India (and world-wide) cut across party lines and collude (like in criminal cartels) to save themselves from investigations. The Vigilance Department in India, created by the governments that are run by the very same politicians, has not been given any power to investigate the elected legislators and members of the parliament, let alone punishing the guilty. Any upright vigilance officer or a judge is likely to be moved aside (transferred), if he / she dares to investigate these politicians.
It is likely that these politicians get away with their ill-gotten money, for they have all the power and are part of the cartel. One cannot hope to see the courts taking suo-moto action to investigate.
What do you get when you combine Nordic rates of taxation and third world corruption? A failed democratic country or a dictatorship.
K Venkatesh
