I had written previously about Modi’s almost single-minded focus on hunting down black money in India. His effort to make Swiss banks open up their books and his efforts to open bank accounts for everyone are but part of the larger effort to reduce the might of black money.

Black money is a menace. It condones (and is an effect of) corruption and any crackdown effort has the ability to bring people to justice, increase revenues for the government, bring more transparency in India’s own understanding of her people and use the funds to do the right things.

While Modi only took charge in 2013, this article suggests India had already reached epic scales in black money prior to his crackdown-style efforts.

Btw, I am currently reading a book that should serve Indians and India-watchers as a reality check for the “shining” rhetoric. More on that soon as a book review.