How proper utilization of tax can lead to progress

Rajesh studies in Class 8^th, while doing homework he noticed that his Grand Father, Mr. Ashok Nath who retired as school teacher almost 20 years back got frustrated while reading newspaper and folded it hurriedly and kept on the table, Rajesh rushed to him and asked his Grand Father “Grandpa, what happened, why you are upset?”

Grandpa replied “Dear Rajesh, I am upset with the way our politicians are announcing freebies for winning election and also there is a growing tendency of avoiding tax by people”.

Rajesh said “OK, but what’s wrong in this, its people’s money and going in the hand of people or remaining with people. Government is supposed to help the poor, isn’t it?”

Grandpa replied, my dear son, to help someone, you need to be strong. Governments can help poor only if Government is wealthy and full of resources, poor Governments can’t help its poor citizens”

Rajesh got further puzzled. He said “Grandpa, I am not getting your point”

Grandpa said “Fine, let me tell you a story, you will understand the importance of tax collection, wise use of collected tax”

Ramnagar and Laxmangarh are neighboring village in district Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh. The population and size of both villages were almost same in year 1930, both villages were almost cutoff from any development. Kuccha house, no road, no school, no hospital, and no police station so literally no development, both villages were almost dependent on agriculture. Whatever little extra crop production they were doing, they used to sell in Pratapgarh city and with the money in hand, they used to buy items of daily use like cloth, medicines, utensils etc.

Irrigation is most important component of agriculture. Both villages were fully dependent of rain. Whenever there was good rain, they used to get healthy crop i.e more produce, which in turn was giving more money in hand. But the problem was that due to terrain, it was not possible to retain rain water. So the risk and dependency on rain was very high.

Sarpanch of Ramnagar thought of building check dam in his village so that with help of the check dam, rain water can be stored in artificial reservoir. Villagers got excited with the idea and they were willing to contribute manual labour in this noble cause. But alone manual labour was not enough to build check dam. It required Brick, Cement, Sand and Steel bars to construct check dam. To buy all these things Sarpanch proposed tax on villagers. Villagers never heard the concept of tax. Some of the villagers opposed the move with logic that their ancestors have managed to live so long in the same village then why this unnecessary check dam construction through tax. Ramnagar Sarpanch convinced villagers that the check dam will help in irrigation even when there is low rain and thus better agriculture produce was guaranteed leading to prosperity. After lot of struggle, total tax collected as per land size was Rs 40000 (that point of time it was huge money) for check dam construction.

When neighboring Laxmangarh villagers heard about construction of check dam they laughed on resident of Ramnagar that Sarpanch is making fool out of them.

Soon check dam was ready. Next year there was good rain hence no benefit of check dam was visible in Ramnagar as there was abundant water. Ramnagar people started blaming Sarpanch of wasting tax money.

Next year there was huge shortage of rain. Laxmangarh where there was no dam, they were blaming nature and helplessly saw the damage of crop, while there was abundant water stored in Ramnagar (courtesy to check dam). Ramnagar had very good crop. They sold the excess produce to city and earned handsome money. With better earning, farmers bought high yield seed and fertilizer. These steps clubbed with assured irrigation had given bumper crop, thus extra production had given extra money in hand of Ramnagar villagers next year too. With more money with them, they bought good clothes, ornaments, better wheels for their bullock cart.  Now Ramnagar villagers were happy with Sarpanch and decided to follow whatever he says. Sarpanch decided that on the basis of amount of crop sales in city, there will be tax imposed and collected tax would be used for common services. Total tax collection was Rs 10000 in that year. He used this amount in constructing kuccha road. He constructed small clinic and school. He paid teachers and doctors to come to his village and work. Soon village kids started learning, there was no need to take patients to city and spend money on transportation (because medical facility was in village) which made villagers happy.

Village Ramnagar become model village and example of prosperity. Nearby village dwellers used to come and admire the development while Laxmangarh was in same old shape. No roads, poor people, no school, no clinic, torn clothes. Finally Laxmangarh residents realized that because of check dam, Ramnagar people have become prosperous hence agreed to follow footsteps of Ramnagar. They also constructed the check dam and attained almost similar prosperity.

After few years, there was election for Sarpanch in Ramnagar (which attained prosperity first). Lot of candidates filed nomination. Existing Sarpanch put agenda of good road, better facility in clinic and school. Another candidate Ramadhar lure voters with promise of freebies like pension for old people, marriage assistance money to girls, free bicycle to girls. Ramadhar also promised that there won’t be any tax collection from small farmers (small farmer i.e almost 40% of villagers).  People of Ramnagar got excited with the poll promise and voted in favour of Ramadhar. Because of tax exemption given to small farmers, the tax collection in that year was only Rs 16000 against last year Rs 20000. New Sarpanch spend almost Rs 12000 on freebies which he had promised. Villagers were very happy to see new Sarpanch as man of words and true messiah of poor. Because of freebies and exemption only Rs 4000 was left for development work. This amount was not enough to pay salaries of doctors and teachers, buying new medical equipment’s, medicine, repair of clinic and school building and roads. Therefore Ramadhar decided to increase tax on big farmers. Again villagers celebrated this step as masterstroke for narrowing the gap between rich and poor. This annoyed some of big farmers who decided to settle in city and opting for gain trading rather than agriculture. Because of this some of rich farmers left the village, next year tax collection had gone down to Rs 12000. For freebies, the Sarpanch needed entire Rs 12000 and he had no money left for salary and repair work. Soon teachers and doctors left the village. Villagers were clueless on what was happening. Next year again there were elections, this time people were determined to remove Ramadhar and elect earlier Sarpanch. Ramadhar tactfully created cast tensions among villagers. As he was from the cast having majority of the population he again won the elections. Some of the rich farmers bribed Ramadhar to manipulate their earning record so that they have to pay less tax, which Ramadhar did by taking the bribe. No wonder, next year tax collection was just Rs 9000. With time, the condition of village amenities had further gone down. Ramadhar stopped even pension for old citizens.

While on the other side in Village Laxmangarh, people had elected Suresh despite other candidates offering huge freebies. Suresh realized that post crop harvest there is always risk of untimely rain and thus crop can get damaged. Hence with help of collected tax, he constructed large shed where villagers can keep their produce safely. He constructed small guest house also so that merchants from city can come and stay in village and buy stuff in bulk. He paid agriculture experts to come to his village and educate people on methods to increase farm productivity. All these steps helped to produce more and sell at better price thus next year tax collection had reached Rs 25000. Next year he had given loans to small farmers so that they can buy high quality seed and fertilizer and produce better crop. This idea worked and within 2 years poor farmers were in much better condition and returned the loan. Suresh used the tax amount to build Pakka road, enhancing facility in clinic and school. He further put drainage system thus water borne diseases had gone down. All these helped in prosperity of villagers and soon the tax collection had gone upto to Rs 35000. More tax collection was giving opportunity to Suresh to spend money for welfare i.e if somebody is really needy for costly medical treatment or poor person wants to get his daughter married in such cases, with common census, money was given to needy people. The village was prospering. Villagers made nice houses, they were wearing good clothes, their children were getting decent jobs in city (because of education), and people were healthy.

After hearing the progress of Laxmangarh, villagers from Ramnagar visited Laxmangarh and were wondering how come this laggard village that too just 2 Kms far from their village became so prosperous. Finally Ramnagar village people realized importance of tax collection, its right usage and electing honest candidate.

Grandpa asked Rajesh “So my son, what is your take out of this story?”

Rajesh Said “Grandpa, this story has helped me to understand the reason behind your disappointment, this is not just story of 2 villages but entire country. People have to decide, if they want freebies, cast based politics or short term pain for long term gain. I will share this story with my friends so that they can make their parents to understand ill effects of freebies and tax avoidance”

My request to all, please share this story for bright future of our country. Are you ready for doing this much?

Jai Hind!!

Manoj Tripathi

(Purpose of this write-up is not to hurt sentiment of any person or group. The view expressed in the article are personal)

Corruption in India, root cause and solution

Rajesh studies in Class 8^th. He was bit worried as next day he was supposed to participate in school debate with topic of “Corruption in India and solutions”. He tried to find information on internet but got confused with plethora of information.

He rushed to his Grand Father, Mr. Ashok Nath who retired as school teacher almost 20 years back. Rajesh told his dilemma that even after browsing internet for hours he couldn’t comprehend the debate topic.

Grandpa with smile on his face replied “hey son, it’s so simple. Let’s assume you have come first in Mathematics test in your school and your school can send only 1 student in interschool championship so ideally you should represent your school but there is rich boy who secured 3^rd position in same test, his father bribes your teacher to include his son’s name for representing the school, because of bribe, your teacher removes your name and includes rich kid’s name then how will you feel?

Rajesh replied “obviously angry and frustrated, I will immediately go to my principal and complain”

Grandpa said “Let’s assume, your teacher shares some of his bribe with the principal hence principal refuse to intervene, now in this case what you will do?”

Rajesh replied “I will be completely dejected and most probably next year won’t participate in such test, if such corruption continues may be other good students will also stop appearing for the test, the non-deserving students who will represent school will lose and thus prestige of school would be at stake”

Grandpa replied “So my son, this was example of corruption where deserving person or institution suffers because of illegitimate personal gain of someone else so the easy definition of corruption is “Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain”

Rajesh said “Grandpa, I have understood but how corruption affects country?”

Grandpa said “OK Let me explain:

1. In 2011, Professor Bibek Debroy and Laveesh Bhandari claim in their book” Corruption in India: The DNA and RNA” that public officials in India may be cornering as much as ₹1 lac crore per annum i.e 1.26 per cent of the GDP through corruption.


2. Washington-based, Global Financial Integrity agency claimed that post-Independence, India lost a staggering USD 462 billion (₹ 32 lac crore)  in illicit financial flows due to tax evasion, crime and corruption.


3. Corruption doesn’t affects only financially but can cost lives also, bbecause of corruption in RTO i.e people do get driver license without visiting RTO i.e without appearing for driving test. Such people are ignorant of basic driving rules (overtaking from left, slowing down at corners, not following road sign etc) and contributes to many accidents. Road accident kills more than 1.5 lac people every year in India. Imagine somebody who is not at fault but bears burnt of someone else’s wrong driving. If corruption in RTO can be eliminated, many lives can be saved.


4. Few months back,  Anti-corruption bureau conducted raid at residence of a Town planning director and found wealth worth ₹ 500 crore against his annual income of approximately ₹ 12 lac.


5. As per Transparency International, India ranks 81^st in list of least corrupt countries.

Rajesh was shocked to listen these astronomical figures, he asked to his grandpa “don’t we have strong laws to fight against corruption”?

Grandpa said “it won’t be appropriate to say that laws are not there, in fact on the paper we have more than half dozen acts which are there to address issue of corruption”

Rajesh asked “Grandpa, despite so many laws, why corruption is so high in India?

Grandpa replied “there are numerous reason like too much of delay in approvals, officers can decide things based on whims and fancy, cumbersome process i.e many layers are there hence shortcuts are being looked for faster turnaround, very high tax rates, ethical values have done down, people are not aware of their rights and slow judicial process. In 1973-74 the highest tax rate slab applicable to an individual was of 97.50 per cent. The red tapes i.e too much of state interference can be understood with the fact that as recent as 6 years back the builders were supposed to take 86 types of government approval to start the project, that was leading to extraordinary delay in projects so builders chose the route of bribe and influence. So these are the broad reasons behind corruption in our country”

Rajesh curiously asked “Grandpa, if reason of corruption is known then why it’s not being stopped?”

Grandpa replied “Dear Rajesh, it’s not so simple, let me explain why, in democracy, power lies with people who elect political representatives, these representatives are supposed to make law and ensure its enforcement through bureaucracy, if bureaucracy is not functioning properly, elected representatives do have power to punish bureaucracy through suspension, transfer and holding promotion, therefore on the paper, system looks perfectly fine. Bureaucracy i.e Govt officials wants to accumulate money through corruption. Bureaucracy reports to elected representatives (politicians) so if politicians want, they can pull-up bureaucracy and curb corruption. Now the challenge is that politicians have divided people i.e voters in cast, religion, regionalism, language and social strata hence so called voter becomes weak and advantage of this weakness is taken by our politicians, they with help of bureaucracy do corruption and make money and in turn common people and country pays the price ”

Rajesh got further puzzled, he asked “if politicians can curb corruption then why they are not doing so?”

Grandpa replied “my son, unfortunately, our election has become game of muscle power and money power. As voters are ignorant and divided, it’s very difficult for honest person to win election because those who have money distributes money/liquor in election for votes, because of this kind of spending of money, they win. Politicians borrows money from industrialist /businessman/mafia with promise of returning the favour after winning the election. So, if before getting elected, Politicians have spent such huge money and also they are supposed to return the favour, they will retort to do corruption”

Rajesh asked “Grandpa, do you mean to say that root cause of corruption in India is political funding? If yes then how these corrupt politicians makes money after winning election”

Grandpa replied “Yes, you understood correctly, let me explain you how corrupt politicians make money?

1. These elected MLAs/MPs becomes liasoning agent between greedy businessmen and corrupt Bureaucrats and politicians. He will put pressure on Public sector banks for risky loans for his near & dear and once loan is defaulted he will influence for settlement at peanut price.


2. They would pass on vital future policy information to big corporates and in return they would get suitcase full of money. Our country is growing very fast and urbanization is further increasing thus real estate sector grows rapidly. In cities the connectivity (Road/Metro/Flyover/Bridge) plays very important role in increase land prices of specific areas. These people know master plan of city much in advance, they purchase properties in those areas and after connectivity they sell those properties at multiple rates.
3. They would influence appointment of top brass i.e Managing Director of PSUs, Vice Chancellor in Universities, Secretary in ministries etc thus these people will twist and tweak system to return favour.
4. They would send clear signal to police and authorities to stay away from his men so that he can continue his illegal activity of tax evasion, grain hoarding, illegal construction etc.
5. Lot many foreign companies wants to enter into Indian market but restriction in FDI makes it difficult for them. These companies target such businessmen turned Politician for intense lobbying. In return of lobbying politicians gets huge money.
6. They would influence Govt land allocation at through away prices, he will pressurize bureaucracy for withdrawal of tax evasion charges against businessmen. For every favour, he will collect money.  All these things will affect ex-chequer i.e Govt’s ability of collecting money and spending for development.
7. Corrupt bureaucrats colludes with these politician and thus politician shields him from any enquiry/punitive action. 
8. Politicians do give patronage to Construction mafia thus quality of state funded construction activity suffers. As per rumors, politician take 30% cut in the cost of construction.

Rajesh asked “Grandpa, I have understood the root cause of corruption, so what is the solution?”

Grandpa replied “addressing the root cause of corruption i.e political funding is very difficult but attacking corruption at Bureaucracy level will certainly weaken the politicians, let me explain how”

1. Use of digital technology to catch hold of bogus beneficiary i.e Aadhaar has helped Government to identify more than 2.75 crore bogus ration card holders, more than 4.4 lac non-existent student beneficiary of mid-day meal in just 3 states ( Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Manipur),  recently in Uttar Pradesh, a woman had collected the state government’s pregnancy dole (Janani Suraksha Yojna)  five times in ten months. So many scams or corruption unearthed because of power of usage of digital technology.  Direct benefit transfer i.e directly depositing money into beneficiary account is excellent initiative. It’s removed middlemen who were taking bribe.


2. Bribe is asked as well as given by humans, computers luckily do not ask or give bribe hence it makes sense to remove people to Govt Babu dealing. Online service delivery mechanisms do away with unnecessary job positions and eliminate power-wielding touts and agents, thus eliminating bribery opportunities. Online platform i.e Computerized Seva Kendra are helping people to get desired services without paying bribe to anyone. For all Government purchase there should be e-bidding/e-tendering.


3. Usage of drone and satellite image to know actual status of construction like road, pond, toilets etc. Even afforestation projects and crop damages estimate can be monitored digitally. Modern technology can be new tool of fight against corruption.


4. Less cash society will tremendously help in curbing corruption. In case of cash, there is no transaction trail available but in case of digital transaction there will be trail and with help of trail the corrupt person can be nabbed. This is the reason why corrupt person never takes bribe through cheque or online payment.


5. Right to Information is excellent tool in hand of citizen. If corrupt politician or officer has given any approval by bending the rule, the same can be caught with help of information gathered through RTI hence because of fear of RTI, corrupt people would refrain from rampant corruption.


6. Removing red tape in approval process i.e reducing number of approval required. Provision of Single window clearance. Govt’s focus on Ease of Doing business is very helpful for long term.


7. Government must start taking people’s feedback more extensively. Recently Indian Railway has started taking telephonic feedback about its facilities. This is excellent initiative to know real time problem. Similarly Government must implement the feedback system for all Government related services like feedback of Govt hospital facilities, Govt School’s education quality, RTO related services, feedback about municipal corporation, electricity department, water supply, police department etc. This will give a fair idea of systemic inefficiencies. The fear of adverse feedback will keep Government servants on their toes.


8. Getting work done by Government department is herculean task. Many times, delay is deliberately done by Government servants as tactics to take bribe. Sitting on the file is big disease in our country, this is source of corruption and also delays the progress of country. Government should start using Barcode technology to know the status of file and exact time taken at each stage of file clearance.
9. Corruption is nothing but taking advantage of systemic loopholes. Today in running train, TTE gives confirm birth to general ticket holder by taking bribe while RAC/Waitlisted passengers in same bogie doesn't get seat. Just imagine if there is digital tracking i.e TTE has to update PNR number of passenger in the portable device whom he has given seat, the central control room will get to know that TTE has bypassed 4 RAC/Waitlisted passengers and given seat to unreserved ticket holder. TTE would not like to lose his job hence he would not bypass the system (Because he would be caught). Similarly Govt must plug loopholes like IT exemption to farmers, incentive to exporters where Govt servant does compliance audit (why to give opportunity to rich exporter to bribe Govt Babus for undue favour?)
10. Awareness among common people about of Government welfare fund utilization will help to curb corruption immensely. Currently the unholy nexus converts Kuccha road of village into paved road on the paper and money is distributed among all stakeholders (Govt Servant, Village Sarpanch, local politicians and even with Govt auditors). Villagers doesn't know this entire thing hence don’t question or raise voice. Imagine if after completion of any development work there would be feedback SMS/Call to all residents of that village and same would be updated on the website, people would come to know that their village road is still Kuccha while as per Govt record it’s paved. People will come to know about such large scale corruption has happened and will question Sarpanch and stage protest.
    
11. There is CIBIL to know loan repayment score i.e credit worthiness. If a person defaults any loan repayment, in future he won’t be given loan by other banks. Loan taker afraid that in case of any default his name will reflect in CIBIL hence ensures smooth repayment history. This is beauty of seamless flow of information. Similarly let Govt Babu’s honesty score should be freely available on the website. Any corruption case/record should reduce his score.
    
12. Making judiciary more responsive and swift. As per current backlog cases and speed of trial it would take more than 300 years to clear the backlog. Unfortunately due to too slow judiciary, corrupt people are not afraid of law.
    
13. Removing subjectivity i.e power of officers to take call on whims and fancy. The decision should be based on preset logic. For example bank manager can’t approve loan if loan repayment score is less than certain point.
    
14. Police reform will help in reduction of political interference in police system hence this will lead to efficient policing.

Grandpa further said “once system so strong that politician is not able to take advantage, his ability to earn money would be too less hence his ability/ credibility to raise fund before election would be low as fund giver businessmen would think that even after winning election the politician won’t be able to earn money hence there is little chance that he can return monetary or business favour, thus root cause will be affected and honest people will get chance to win the election and they will further take steps to curb corruption”

Rajesh was delighted to know so much about corruption and its solution and went to sleep with hope in his eyes.

Jai Hind!

Manoj Tripathi

(The views in this article are personal, all characters are fictional and intention of this article is not to hurt sentiment of any person, cast, group or religion)