The black money issue has been in media headlines for some time now. During the election campaign, the BJP had promised to bring back all the black money stashed away from the country within 100 days. It spurred high emotions in public mind, which was further fueled later when the BJP-led new government made announcement about formation of a special team for the purpose in its very first decision after taking charge. In sharp contrast to this, the government's last week's hesitation to reveal all the names of foreign bank account holders may look like an "U-turn", but it definitely sounds more rational than a 'too-big-to-keep' promise that is, however, par for the course during election time in our country.

The task of bringing the black money back is far more difficult and it demands long-term commitment, not knee-jerk reactions. First, it is not fair to "name and shame" everyone who has a foreign bank account. It will infringe upon their privacy rights. Second, if we breach the confidentiality clauses of any double taxation avoidance treaty by disclosing the names of suspects without any evidence against them, no country will trust us again to sign such agreements, which in turn will cost our economy in a number of ways. So, we cannot help but be careful, though those who will be found guilty should not be spared at any cost. Credible action at home is a must, but international cooperation is equally required, and accordingly we should allow some more time to the government for the task, instead of creating a hullabaloo over the issue.

It is often cited that Indians have billions of dollars in foreign tax havens, this argument cannot be ignored, but I think the lion's share of this amount has already been converted by the hoarders to assets such as high-end property or shares of a blue-chip company. It is also highly plausible that a big part of the money has already come back to India as white money. In this scenario, I don't think it will be easy for the government to trace all the money embezzled in the past. It will be a long and slow process. The investigation must go on, quick steps should be taken whenever possible, but without being hysterical.

At the same time, we should not lose sight of the importance of waging a battle against black money at home. Besides real estate, sectors such as mining, bullion and jewellery are often pointed out as huge sources of black money and untaxed wealth in India. Ponzi schemes are no less evil. The list will also be incomplete without a mention of the government schemes like NREGA and the public distribution system with the latter, according to an estimate, generating black money worth Rs. 60,000 crore annually. Such examples are abundant, and fortunately no international obligations apply to them. The government should take urgent steps to address these issues in no time.

I invite your opinions. 

(In an earlier version, it was mistakenly mentioned that, according to an estimate, NREGA may be generating black money worth Rs. 60,000 crore annually. The error has been corrected. The estimate says that the PDS is believed to be generating that amount of black money. We regret the error.)