S.Ramesh, Erode

The Union budget to be presented next week is a great oppurtunity for the Finance Minister to take head on the problem of black money if the government is really serious. The parellel economy poses greatest threat to our economy by distorting the demand and supply balance. Black money generated by the parellel economy is the major culprit for rise in the prices of both essential and nonessential commodities. The finance minister must introduce measures to reduce cash transactions put through by the public at present. Real estate alone contributes more than 50% of black money generated in India. The money thus generated is redeployed in realestate with the result that prices have risen beyond reasonable levels. Former finance minister P.Chidambram introduced a regulation long back requiring NOC to be obtained from the Income Tax department for all high value real estate transactions. This regulation was completely diluted over time and has become ineffective. The Finance minister can reintroduce or amend this regulation making it mandatory to obtain NOC/clearance from IT department for high value transactions (say above 5 lakhs) all over the country. The department should have rights as it had earlier to compulsorily acquire that property if the value quoted by the applicants is below the fair market value.