India: Let Mr. Modi Hit At The Real Estate Sector – OpEd

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Mr. Modi’s attack on black money has received huge support from all over India, though some politicians, business houses, corrupt government employees and others, such as educational institutions and hospitals who have tasted black money and derive their power from the black money holdings in various forms, are crying foul.

The hardships faced by people belonging to the middle and lower income group may be a ten-day problem, and not a one hundred day problem, and most of them understand this and are willing to cooperate with Mr. Modi. Actually, the common man wants more decisive blows against the black money holders and corrupt persons.

Real estate should be the next target

Obviously, the next target of Mr. Modi should be the black money that is hidden in treal estate in the form of land or buildings. It is very well known that almost all transactions of buying and selling real estate in the last several years have been done by part or full payment in cash and these cash amounts could obviously be black money.

With the curbing of circulation of black money, the prices of real estate have already started falling. While the trend will continue for sometime, those who have the black money in the form of real estate are likely to hold on to their land and buildings for sometime, hoping that “the situation would improve in the course of time.”

As thousands of crores of rupees of black money are locked up in real estate, it is necessary to take steps to bring out such black money by fixing the ceiling for number of houses that one can possess or maximum area of vacant land that one can hold.

Those who hold more land or houses than the stipulated maximum by the government should be asked to sell them as per the guidance value.

Need to cleanse the registrar offices

Further, it is very necessary to cleanse Registrar offices all over India, which have become a hot bed of corruption in real estate dealings. The Registrar offices all over the country where property deals are registered should be subjected to heavy scrutiny. Further, all the officers working in such offices should be asked to submit the details of property that they presently possess and that they have acquired in the last five years.

A special cell should be created urgently to deal with the task of rooting out the black money hidden in the real estate.

No looking back for Mr. Modi

This should be the next logical step that Mr. Modi takes in the holy war of fighting against the demon of corruption in the country.

There are around 300 million people, (more than 25% of national population) who live below poverty line not knowing where their next meal will come from without proper shelter. It is impossible to improve the life conditions of such unfortunate persons without rooting out black money and corruption.

Millions of people belonging to the lower income group may not be able to understand the anti-corruption strategies of Mr. Modi adequately due to their lack of opportunity for education, but they would feel the positive impact of his strategy before long and would remain grateful to Mr. Modi.

Certainly, Mr. Modi will have the support of large number of people in the country who want transparency in public life and where the corrupt persons should fear the law.

Now, that Mr. Modi has boldly and clearly declared a war on corruption, he should not look back under any circumstances and should take the fight to the logical end.

N. S. Venkataraman

N. S. Venkataraman is a trustee with the "Nandini Voice for the Deprived," a not-for-profit organization that aims to highlight the problems of downtrodden and deprived people and support their cause. To promote probity and ethical values in private and public life and to deliberate on socio-economic issues in a dispassionate and objective manner.

2 thoughts on “India: Let Mr. Modi Hit At The Real Estate Sector – OpEd

  • November 15, 2016 at 3:37 pm
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    Yes Mr.Venkataraman,
    Large sections of Indaian people, more than 85% support PM Modi on demonetisation; Next as you stated should be Binami Transactions and Real Estate. Panicker

    Reply
  • November 16, 2016 at 8:06 am
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    yes, Real Estate sector is full of bribery, black money etc.
    Everyone knows this. I am glad you chose THIS subject for your article,

    Reply

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