Black money won't come back, if it does, would fuel inflation: Lord Bhiku Parekh

AHMEDABAD: Renowned political theorist Lord Bhiku Parekh today said that it was not easy to bring the black money back to the country, and even if that happened, it would not alleviate the poverty but increase the inflation.

"It is not easy to bring black money back....Even if it comes, it will not eliminate poverty, as claimed by many. It will actually increase the inflation. But, don't worry, black money will not come back in near future, as several politicians are also having money in such bank accounts," said Parekh, who was here to deliver a lecture on `Culture of Indian Democracy'.

In his lecture, Parekh, a member of UK's House of Lords, claimed that India was far behind in establishing true institution of democracy. "India has done fairly good in establishing the institution of elections, we are yet to democratises the old colonial system, where politicians and police were put above you. This is the main cause of problems in India for last 67 years. People still fear the police, civil servants fear politicians," he said.

"India ranks 67th in Global Hunger Index. Even Pakistan is doing better with 59th rank. Against 5 pc in China, 44 pc children in India are malnourished," he pointed out.

He further said that the Indian middle class ignores these circumstances, because Indian culture doesn't recognise poverty as a problem. "Poverty is not accepted as social responsibility by citizens. That is why, a poor man standing on street doesn't get attention," said Parekh.

"Here, I saw that security guard can't dare to frisk a senior politician at airport, as he fears for his job. I saw traffic being blocked for hours to allow a politician to pass by first. This is unthinkable in western countries. We need to radically democratise the structure of state."