In the economy of a developing county like India, the role of the Finance Minister is a crucial one. This is more so in the case of the country which has chosen the path of planned development, as Indian has done.
If ever I become the Finance Minister of the country, my first effort would be to root out the demon of back money. It is black money which leads to inflation and to the rise in prices, and this makes financial control almost impossible. Since black money is the money on which tax has not been paid, I will see to it that that evasion is reduced to a minimum. With this end in view, tax structure will be rationalized. The taxation rate will be brought down so as to provide relief to the salaried people as well as to the business community. With a more reasonable tax - structure, the temptation to evade taxes, would no longer be there. Those who still avoid payment of direct taxes, plugged, so that tax-evaders are not able to escape the clutches clutches of the law.
Black-markets hoarders, ect, who run a kind of parallel economy, would also be severely dealt with Laws in this respect would also be made more stringent, and the concerned Government officials would be given more power to deal with such offenders. In this way, the inflation rate would be brought down, and relief provided to the people, groaning under the burden of rising prices and increasing taxation.
I will also see to it that credit facilities are liberalized. Banking services will be extended to the rural areas. With this end in view, Banks will be encouraged to open their braches even in remote villages. Indian farmer is proverbially poor, and owning to his poverty and illiteracy he has always been exploited by the local money lenders. Instructions will be used to the banks (through the Reserve Bank of India) that the needy farmers be given loans on easy and liberal terms. This will enable them to purchase good quality seeds, fertilizers,