Post independence we have heard almost every day about
black money i.e. Money which is in circulation without any record or tax
payments. Such money is earned by legal and illegal ways. In recent times we
have come across about the Black Data. Data which are not correct or adjusted
suitably and published by the government/corporates/Individuals or Business
entities to show the achievements or hide wealth. I define such data and
statistics as 'Black' as these are also manipulated and unauthentic. Such data
are later replaced but the basic purpose of misguiding the public is served.
Being short memory, public does not care about the correction at later stage.
Black data are also generated by corporates, Institutions, Insurance companies
and Banks. The whole purpose of such black data is to cover up the failures or
show better performance for time being. In my view this is also unethical and
more harmful than black money. Recently the data manipulation was used by stock
exchanges to prove the rally in share market and show sharp increase in index
by replacing the non performing shares with new better performing shares.
Banks have long been hiding their poor
performance under ‘black data’ causing severe damages to the country. Insurance
companies mainly life insurance are notoriously manipulating the claim data. Even the GDP growth figures, IIP, Per
Capita Income etc. have been adjusted in last five years. Many times the Base
is changed for this purpose. Such change in basic parameter depicts rosy
picture and misguiding message. Industrial growth and many other national
figures are manipulated and fall under black data.
I suggest that black data generation should be controlled and not encouraged.
C P Jain
