Rewarding Disclosures

Disclosures are not new to nearly 80% of 1.2 billion Indians. Their poverty and hunger are so thoroughly exposed and there is hardly anything for them to disclose. Some have so much and their disclosures are sure to give voyeuristic pleasure to beholders. What is the exact purpose of these disclosures, who will verify their veracity and what is the proposed action plan based on the information made available or not made available?

Few have come first in disclosing and none of them had anything worth disclosing! It is difficult to hazard a guess but the number of those who have something substantial to disclose could run into many thousands and not be in many lakhs.

One cannot attach any true significance to any such unofficial disclosure activity, till it becomes official and comes with a) full details of the scheme b) time frame for compliance c) awards and penalties, if any, for full-disclosures, partial-disclosures and non-disclosures. I am positive that none in the P-class, B-Class and CBS-Class (for definitions, please read: http://tarantula-apolitical.blogspot.com/2009/11/rags-to-rags-stories.html ) have any suicidal tendencies.

To make such a scheme a whopping success, a model scheme on following lines has to be developed:

Voluntary Disclosure Scheme - 2009

For the benefit of those who are compelled to hide, for the last 62 years, their wealth in different forms, places and names to protect it from becoming an object of glare by voyeuristic communities like media and public, a scheme of relief to restore and multiply their self-respect and dignity is announced with the features mentioned below:

1. This comes into force from the date and time of publication in the Gazette.
2. This scheme, in the present form, closes after its 100th day and is non-extendable.
3. A two-tier rewards are announced for the disclosures: (a) Top (by the value of disclosed amount) 1% will be awarded the nation’s highest reward Bharat Ratna; next 10% with Padma Vibhushan; next 40% with Padma Bhushan and the rest 49% with Padma Shri.
(b) Government of India, will also honor its citizens/political parties/associations by way of crediting the amount equal to their disclosed amount directly into their Swiss accounts within seven working days from the date of closure of this scheme.
(c) Both the amount disclosed and the amount rewarded by GOI, are fully exempted from all forms of taxes.
4. Those who made partial disclosure under the present scheme may be given a second chance by the GOI, solely on its discretion, after the Phase-I which is time bound. In such cases, GOI retains the right to avoid double credit mentioned in 3(b) above. Purpose of this scheme is also to attract those who have not disclosed in the first Phase; to rope in during the next phase by the demonstration of success of its first phase. Their eligibility for rewards under 3(a) shall be reworked suitably.
5. By bringing suitable amendments to the constitution, making any comments in any form on the disclosures, by media, public and bloggers, will be made punishable.