Rs 1.25 trn black money recovered by govt: Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday said that around Rs 1.25 lakh crore of black money have been recovered by the Government so far and disproportionate assets worth Rs 4,600 crore have been attached.

Recalling a remark by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi where he said that only 15 paise of a rupee kept for the welfare of the poor reaches the poor, the union minister pointed out that "today 100 per cent amount reaches the beneficiaries through DBT (Direct Bank Transfers)."

"Then PM Rajeev Gandhi said that 85 per cent of schemes just go away and do not reach the people, but today Rs 26 lakh crore rupees have been directly transferred to people's account and the saving is close to Rs 2.25 lakh crore, so imagine that much of saving has to happen direct benefit to the people have received," the minister told ANI.

Speaking about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Good Governance model, the Union minister said that the "PM has a clear vision that the country should not go towards shortcut politics but good governance."

"PM has prepared a digital structure to make sure that good governance reaches every person in the country," he said.

"Good governance has multiple dimensions-- first one is digital dimension, use of digital technology starting from 45 crore Jan Dhan accounts, getting 135 crore aadhars, once that structure is in its place, direct benefit started going to the account of the people," Vaishnaw explained.

He also underlined other dimensions of good governance due to digitisation. "Where many countries are still struggling with their vaccination programme, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has completed 216 crore vaccinations using a digital platform- CoWIN," Vaishnaw said.

The minister pointed out that close to 125 crore farmers have also enrolled at the platform e-NAM (an electronic trading portal for connecting the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Mandis for creating a national market for agricultural commodities).

"The government has also procured close to 3.5 lakh crore goods in a transparent manner. There has also been transparency in terms of Income Tax assessments, refunds, auctions, scams in the coal spectrum, and faceless assessments," he said.

"Today, spectrum auction from 2014 to 2022 has already fetched Rs 4.5 lakh crore meaning that much of the corruption in the system has been removed. All that money is coming to the government."

"Same is with benami properties worth Rs 4,300 cr have been attached, Rs 1,254 lakh crore black money has been confiscated, 1.75 lakh shell companies have been de-registered," he added.

He further lauded the Lok Sabha election wins of 2014 and 2019 and the recent Gujarat Assembly elections as a result of the Prime Minister's good governance.

"PM Modi very strongly believes that good governance is very important for the development of the country and the real benefits of government policies reach common person. He always compares good governance with the shortcut politics and believes that the latter should not be taken up as it is bad for the country, citizens, and society while good governance is good for them all," Vaishnaw said.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi always focuses on the execution of the projects that are planned. This is why there are progress meetings every month. The trust of common people in the government has increased under the leadership of PM Modi," he said further.