KHAN SAIFUR RAHMAN – Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh

1. National identity card (which serves also the purpose of voters identity card) or voters identity card as the case may be, may be backed up by the requirements as follows:

• It shall contain the TIN number, if any, of the subject.

• That the subject must maintain a savings Account number keeping in deposit at least Taka 100 (one hundred) in any scheduled Bank, which shall render on line service in a declared given area; and if he works for gain or philanthropy through a company, firm or body of persons, he shall maintain a current account for the purpose in addition to his personal savings Account; and his national identity card or voters identity card as the case may be, shall contain such account number/s.

• Against the current account, there may be deposits of black money over a given period as to be determined by the Government from time to time and such deposits shall not be subjected to any liabilities civil or criminal only for once and where any black money of the subject is detected for the second time, such black money shall stand forfeited to the Government and such subject shall incur liability of a suspended sentence as a measure to prevent any further recurrence of such event. Any recurrence thereafter shall entail withdrawal of the suspension of the sentence making him liable to suffer the sentence with immediate effect, and shall follow, with immediate effect, removal of his name from the voters’ list with necessary entry in his identity card, of the fact of such removal.

• That the scheme of savings account for all the voters of the country shall boost up national capital formation to an unprecedented scale and would create incentives for saving. The scheme shall facilitate combating national miseries such as floods, draughts, famine, unrest and any emergency situation. A sundry amount drawn from the savings account by consent of the subject through a call of patriotism can meet such a situation without any nervous concern of the nation as a whole. Such national approach shall consolidate cohesion of the multilingual, multinational and factional entities of the country.

• If the requirements hereinabove contained are materialised, it would eventually generate unprecedented inflow of currency notes in the shape of deposits in the Banks necessitating a mechanism as that of implanting a ferrule valve regulating the outflow of the same as suits economic planning and management and protects the money value against fluctuation.

•  It would release tremendous capabilities to defense potential of the country and ensure national solidarity when the country is drawn into a war.

• Gigantic economic undertakings providing strategic, significant or essential infrastructures, facilities or services directly or indirectly beneficial to the people in any given area or spread out throughout the country may yield to payment of toll and some portion of the toll proceeds may be awarded to the depositors as if such toll proceeds are dividends.

• Bank financing on any project, undertaking or service out of the depositors money shall be subject to a nominal surcharge for payment to the depositors.

• The toll proceeds and the surcharge are aimed at keeping soft and stable the rate of interest against the bank lending out of deposits.

• Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any law, the holder of the savings account during his lifetime shall be entitled to nominate the recipient/s of the balance in the account, insurance policy attached to the account and all the debts and securities left by him after his death and shall have the right to record in that account and advise the bank for payment with binding effect therein, the manner of distribution, if relevant, amongst the recipient/s or where the case admits, to the sole recipient.

Continued

• A fraction of population joins each year as work force in the economic and productive activities sharing use of currency notes and at the same time a lesser section of such population goes out of commission from the work force each year. This is a reality that helps combat the evil of inflation. Incentives must be devised for the succeeding work force to enable it to find employment or economic rehabilitation. Such step would widen the sphere of economic activities and considerably strengthen and tend to stabilize the money value.

• There shall be a standing scheme of nation wide government lottery to be pioneered by the government. Genuine lottery bids attract our people. Utilizing the propensity of our people for such game of chance like the prize bond draw, the lottery would gain firm ground among the people. The prizes at the lottery should be attractive, valuable, highly useful and numerous. Lottery tickets would be generally available and would sell at a modest price so that wide participation is ensured. But the difference between the prize bond draw and the scheme of the proposed lottery is that the former is a game with money for more money whereas the latter is a bid with money for lottery prize. In the first case, the prize bond substitutes money but in the second case too many are the losers by losing the money and too few gainers by winning the prizes. After defraying the lottery management expenses, the price of the prizes and all incidental expenses incurred for the lottery, it would yield huge gains in the hand of the government. The monetary gains derived from the lottery may be addressed in many fold manners such as, to say the worst, by burning them altogether or in part, or holding them in reserve in total or in part and burning in part or channelizing the gains to reimbursing different subsidies granted by the government from time to time.

• There is no end of corruptions surrounding the cash inflow and cash outflow of money as prevailing in the country or elsewhere. No sizeable private cash transaction shall be allowed without involvement of government designated banks. The money dealers/changers shall no longer be allowed to deal in money and their job shall be carried out by government designated banks. The existing courier service for remittance of money must cease forthwith and such remittance must be conducted by the designated banks or the government post offices. When corrupt practices result in dumping of the currency notes, the currency notes of high denominations should be demonetized without any previous warning granting a narrow span of time allowing deposit, within a limit, of demonetized currency notes for repayment of the value thereof in terms as may be expedient. Proper legislation may be enacted to suit the purpose of such demonetization.