VOX POPULI
by
S Kamat
as
Aam Admi
Issue: 178 Date: 05.12.2016
NOTE: There was no issue of the Vox
Populi dated 28.11.2016. Considering that demonetisation has been at the
forefront of our minds this last month, I am attaching a short story written by
K G Mallya on the Rs. 2000 note and the reactions of Gandhiji to it if he were
alive, to start this issue of Vox Populi.
Contents:
1. THE STORY OF Rs.2000/- NOTE
by K G Mallya
2. Australia & England Are Bad Losers
3. Demonetisation Creates The New 'Normal'
4. Modi's 'New Normals'
THE STORY OF Rs.2000/-
NOTE
By K.G.Mallya
When our Government
had withdrawn the circulation Rs.500/- and Rs.1000/- Currency Notes with effect
from the midnight of 8th Nov., 2016, I was on a brief visit to Ahmedabad. During my
visits to Ahmedabad every time, I usually pay a visit to the Sabarmati Ashram
where Bapuji had spent a few years. And I am glad that during each and every
visit, Bapuji would spare some time to talk to me clarifying certain points
wherever I have doubts. When I reached the Ashram, I could see Bapuji at his
spinning wheel as usual, to take the thread from the cotton piece. He was
totally absorbed in the unending the task of spinning and taking the thread. To
draw his attention I loudly said, “Bapuji, Namaste!” and before he could
reciprocate I climbed the steps and reached him and sat before him on the mat
meant for the visitors. Bapuji adjusted his specs and looked at me and
affectionately asked, “Brother, when did you come?” I answered, “Bapuji, I am
here on some personal work and as you know, whenever I come down to Ahmedabad,
I make it a point to call on you, see personally how do you maintain your
health and after getting your blessings I take leave. This is going on ever
since I came to know that you are the Father of our Nation.”
“Well, I am happy!”
Gandhiji expressed: “I am glad that at least there are some persons like you
who adore me as the Father of the Nation! Now tell me what brought you over
here?”
“Bapuji,” I slowly
began, “you may be aware that the Government has cancelled the Currency Notes
of Rs.500/- and also Rs.1000/- And in their place a new Rs.2000/- note has been
put into circulation. There is a lot of confusion in the minds of the people
who were used to Rs.500/- Nobody can get change of Rs.2000/- when the purchases
are for goods and food-grains of Rs.500/- or so. ”….
“Well, well, well!”
Bapuji laughed. Even I had felt that the one new note of Rs.2000/- is given in
exchange of old Rs.500/-Note. I was really happy that it is a very good gesture
of the people in Authority devising a simple method of poverty eradication! For
the old note of Rs.500/- a new note of Rs.2000/- is given in exchange! What a
grand idea! He laughed and added hurriedly: “My impression was utterly wrong.
Now tell me what do you want to say with regard to this new note of Rs.2000/-“
“Bapu, I just wanted
to know before printing your portrait on the note did they seek your permission
by showing you the specimen? For example in this note also there is your
portrait. In the old note your picture was on the right hand side but now it is
in the middle in the new note. On the reverse there is a picture of our
Mangalyaan satellite going round the Mars even now, serving as our great
achievement in the space science. How do you like the new note?”
“Well, well, well!”
Bapuji seemed happy. “Every time they come here and show me the note to be
brought out and every time I tell them to print in bold letters, our Upanishad
Dictum, “Satyameva Jayate” which means “Truth alone will Triumph” But year
after year it is printed in microscopic letters and in this note also it is
just (in)visible. I think our country has achieved almost the Honesty Level and
if that is the case it need not be printed at all! In fact when they presented
the first note to me I thought that it is a Ticket to the Mars to fly by our
Mangalyaan the fare of which is only Rs.2000/- I thought that our people in
power are very generous by not levying exorbitant fare thus enabling more and
more people especially the people below the poverty line to fly to Mars by our
home-made Mangalyaan!”
After this humorous
discussion, I felt that I should ask a question that is relevant to all. So I
asked, “Bapuji, going by the reports in the print media, the change of currency
notes has created a lot of confusion in the minds of people, especially the
common man’s category. What is your observation on this?”
Bapuji became
thoughtful for a while and then seriously said, “Any change, good or bad,
people will not accept unless it is gradual. Money touches everybody’s life and
so one must be more careful when changes are going to be implemented. Our
Narendra is doing a good job sincerely and people must bear initial
inconveniences patiently. It is just like taking a medicine to cure illness.
Initially it will be sour and bitter but later the result will be pleasant and
sweet. People must give adequate time for its operation and should not jump to
conclusion. Ten or twenty days are not sufficient for such a large country with
a huge population to respond favourably or immediately.”
I appreciated Bapuji’s
views and asked, “Bapuji, I am convinced. Now the last question: By withdrawing
the currency notes of a particular value, will this action weed out the black
market or black money completely?”
“I doubt! Because by nature it is not a one
shot affair!” Bapuji expressed rather worried: “Black money or black market
depends entirely on the honesty and integrity of the people at large especially
those who are in the public life and public service. The people in power must
lead others by example. This should be a part of education not only in schools
and colleges but also in all spheres. This is a very slow process as the roots
have gone deep into the society in which we work and live and we cannot expect
the miracles over night. Yet, it must be taken up earnestly on an ongoing
basis. For the time being let us wait and watch the outcome of demonetization
that has taken place just now!”…
( K.G.Mallya, Opp.
Janata Auto Works, Main Road, Kinnigoli-574150)
Australia & England Are Bad Losers
After losing two Tests in a row to South Africa, the Australians came up with the accusation that the Springbok captain, Faf du Plessis had been involved in ball tampering in the recently concluded Hobart Test. The charge was that Plessis was sucking on a lolly and the viscous saliva from his mouth to polish the ball on one side. In a me-too kind of charge the English after losing the Vizag Test charged the Indian captain, Virat Kohli similarly. The two countries, Australia and England used to be at the top of international cricket and at that time many a charge of bad behaviour on the field, sledging etc. used to be brushed off by them. Now that both countries cricket is on the decline, they are coming up with these frivolous cooked-up charges which they should avoid and concentrate on playing good cricket. That is what is best for the game.
Demonetisation Creates The New 'Normal'
If Narendra Modi is proud of the demonetisation
move and in the manner of its implementation he should as a member of
Parliament and respecting the status of it as one of the pillars of
democracy in India, should address both Houses of Parliament. Avoiding
going to Parliament is an insult to the august House to which he also
belongs and in turn the constituency - Varanasi, that he represents and
also the whole of India. Creating an App and seeking people's responses is
not enough since to get a feel of the reactions it is important that he has a
dialogue with the affected people and with their leaders. In a similar manner
addressing public rallies without the option of a live feedback is also an
infructious exercise and only serves to lubricate the speaker's opinions and
satisfies himself that he 'has gone to the people'. Though the demonetisation
move is desirable what it has ended up is having what used to be called the
'licence' or 'permit' raj in another incarnation launched across
India where your own money you are asked to draw in trickles, for
your children's wedding you are 'given' a certain amount and told how you
should spend it and farmers are given money to buy seeds and not
fertiliser. This is the highest form of interference in personal liberties and
for a country like India whose name was counted as an example of a functional
democracy we are slowly but surely eroding that image. All this because
the demonetisation move was timed wrong. When Arun Jaitley says that
Narendra Modi is creating the new 'normal', it is very much so considering that
you can today have money like the new Rs. 2000 note which you cannot spend
because you cannot get change thus giving you the feeling of being rich without
actually being so.
Modi's New Normals
Arun Jaitley has correctly said that PM Narendra Modi is setting
'new normals' in India. The first among these is that if even one has a
definite opinion about any government policy measure and/or initiative then one
should not express it since like in the context of the demonetisation measure,
one risks of being branded one of three things, a mouthpiece for those having
black money or having black money or being called anti-national or being
against national interest. These were the same arguments in the case of cow
slaughter and earlier to that, when the intolerance issue was expressed
over secularism.
The second 'new
normal' is that Narendra Modi after ranting against those who looted the
country for 70 years and amassed black money; he even shed crocodile tears on
the issue twice while speaking publicly and then what did he go out and do but
allowed the black money holders to continue amassing their ill-gotten wealth.
How is that but by accomodating them to do it in the smaller size new notes of
Rs. 500 & Rs. 2000, so that with the existing space they can store more
black money! So for 'new' black money you have a 'new normal'. And now they are
Modi's new black money holders!
It is important for our
leaders and politicians to clearly know that any project, initiative or measure
be it in the private or government domain has a cost associated with it which
is two-fold - the economic cost and the human cost. Thus irrespective of the
paramount importance of the measure to our society and/or country, we may have
to give it up entirely or defer it depending on what is the cost of it and its
resultant impact on the people. The quality of our leadership in normal times
is determined by how they select such of these projects/measures which can be
implemented at the minimal cost to the society and the exchequer. In the
present demonetisation measure, Narendra Modi and his government has miserably
failed on this yardstick. Even though Modi has been trying to clothe himself in
the robes of a savior of the poor and the slayer of black money and corruption,
the gains of the demonetization exercise has been minimal while the pain to the
people has been the maximum. The unfortunate part is that the pain to the
people because of the cash shortage is continuing with no end in sight for the
next 5 months. Moreover more than 80 people have died in the queues in front of
banks and in cases incidental to the demonetisation since 8th Nov
2016 which the government is tending to ignore along with our Parliamentarians
in the Opposition. The families of the people who died in these conditions
should get a public apology from Modi for unleashing the tsunami of anxiety
stress, chaos and confusion on them along with a promise for substantial
compensation. Thus the third ‘new normal’ of Narendra Modi is that I will do
what I like and the people of India be damned. These are signs of an immature,
insensitive and incompetent government.
The fourth ‘new
normal’ of Narendra Modi is that ‘things will take care of themselves’. This is
being stated considering how the demonetisation measure has been implemented.
Any school kid in the primary school would have told Modi that without the new
Rs. 500 note the exercise of replacement currency would not work. The reason
being that the Rs. 500 given the inflation prevailing has become the old Rs.
100 note in purchasing power and with the Rs. 2000 note would have allowed
people to change money. Thus the exchange of the old demonetised notes up to
Rs. 4000 starting Nov 10th should have been done with 1x Rs. 2000
note and 4 x Rs. 500 note . And if the new Rs. 500 note was
not available then the demonetisation measure should have been postponed. It
could have been implemented later when sufficient quantity of the new Rs. 500
notes became available getting the same results as the present demonetisation
measure but with considerably less pain to the people. Why did Narendra Modi go
ahead with the demonetisation measure without the new Rs. 500 note? -
will be the Rs. 10 crore question in the next season of Kaun
Banega Crorepati! It is not just that but the knee-jerk reactions of how
much cash could be drawn by people from their own accounts and for what purpose
show a completely amateurish unawareness and complete disregard of what happens
on the street. The thing is continuing till this day some 30 days from Nov 8
when demonetisation was announced. And as one can see people have been left to
manage by themselves as sector after sector of trade and business gets hit
across the country and moves down to a lower level of activity. The cash
scarcity has started pinching many of the embassies of foreign countries in
Delhi and countries like notably Russia have threatened to impose reciprocatory
restrictions on Indian embassies in their countries. However, inspite of this
Narendra Modi and his government continue to remain in denial on the travails
of the prevailing cash shortage. It is curious here that that while people
are queuing up at banks to withdraw currency and
small businesses are being rationed cash, there are seizures of new
currency running into lakhs and crores across the country mostly from
people linked with the BJP. There obviously seems to be a leak in the currency allotment process by RBI and the banks where the ruling dispensation
is getting preferential allotment of currency at the cost of the common people.
One also wonders why this aspect has not been taken up by the Opposition
political parties in Parliament?
The fifth ‘new normal’
that Narendra Modi has established is to ‘change the topic and attempt to
divert it desperately’. Thus in the unfolding days after banks opened on 10th Nov
2016 post-demonetisation and Modi saw the chaos being generated across India he
immediately started singing the paens of a cashless society and encouraged
people to go cash-less. This knowing full well that the coverage of mobile
ownership and mobile coverage not exceeding to all parts of the country. The
attempt was to divert attention away from the cash shortage at any costs. Say
anything, do anything but move the spotlight away from the queues at the banks
and the woes of no cash. Asking people to move away to cashless transactions in
a big way without actually testing these networks and systems for being strong
enough to be true to deliver valid and correct transactions in large volume and
resolute enough to prevent malpractices like hacking etc. was completely
irresponsible. We had lately seen how international gangs had hacked through
the ATM network of some of our banks and withdrawn large sums of money which
was the immediate past precedent of the risks involved. The original objectives
of the demonetisation exercise announced on 8th Nov 2016 were to eliminate
black money and corruption, fight counterfeiting and funding of terrorism. Now
these are being de-emphasised to focus on cashless economy like in 'developed'
countries etc. etc. since it has been proven that very little black money was
impacted by the demonetisation, corruption continues unabated.
The sixth ‘new normal’
that Narendra Modi has established is to - 'Associate with Industry and
Blatantly Promote Big Business'. The links of Modi with the Adani group are
well-known and the present demonetisation crisis has brought to the fore that
the PM prefers to associate with Reliance Jio, Paytm and other Cos. in the
communications sector like feature phone and smart phone Cos., the latter being
essential for cashless operations. Not in the last 70 years has a smiling PM
figured in full page ads taken out by corporates like Reliance and Paytm in
national newspapers across the country.
The seventh ‘new normal’
that Narendra Modi has established is to - Bring Back Inspector and
Licence Raj In A New Avatar. The moment banks re-opened on 10th Nov 2016 to
proceed with handling the demonetised notes, we have been receiving multiple
advice which at times has been contradicting. Like all deposits exceeding Rs.
25,000 of old notes in bank accounts would need PAN nos. which earlier used to be
Rs. 50,000, and then revised to Rs. 50,000. That any deposits above Rs.
2.5 Lakhs of old notes would be issued IT notices, revised later to Rs.
1.25 Lakhs. Just imagine with the volume of such notes coming into the
banks and also as deposits, the huge amount of data will by itself encourage
errors and then selective choice of certain individuals to be targeted. This is
nothing but the old inspector raj in its new reincarnation of 'raid raj'. With
just about a month of the banking system handling the cash shortage they are
coming apart at the seams and the bank unions have been complaining that
something drastic has to be done to improve the situation. In another quarter
the same situation will be evident with the IT Officers Association who will be
shouting from the rooftops that they are being saddled with unnecessary extra
work. The reason for this is that almost all the demonetised currency has come
back to the banks except to the extent of maybe 10% which as we go
towards Dec 31st maybe also coming in leaving a miniscule amount left
back. This would mean that most of it was legitimate money in the hands of the
people, maybe with little amounts that was avoided in income tax. Thus the
present crowing about tax recovery on these deposited amounts will add to the
exchequer may also turn out to be a wrong hill that the authorities are barking
up since a large part of it may be already taxed which the IT Dept. will
realise at the end of the day. This leaves only the amounts that have come into
the Jan Dhan accounts. Now these amounts will get locked in litigation either
way and it will take many years before this puzzle is resolved. Thus with
almost all demonetised notes coming back into the banking system Modi will not
have the moolah to give to the Jan Dhan account holders as their bonanza
and he will not also be able touch the deposits in the Jan Dhan
accounts due to legal reasons. Thus what would have the demonetisation
achieved but minimal gains than that expected making it the biggest political
scam for the last 70 years just for bad planning and implementation. Hereafter
in free India no government will ever dare to demonetise any
currency any more for the next 100 years after Narendra Modi's blunder and
fiasco that he set off on 8th Nov 2016.
Concluding one must
say why no one be it in government, RBI, trade or industry has had the sense to
advise Narendra Modi on this demonetisation and similar governance matters that
these may be wrong and not in the best interests of the country and its people,
but just stand around and nod their heads like 'yes-men'. If this continues a
day will come when the Prime Minister will walk into a prestigious function
only in his underwear and we will all be in praise of the Emperor's new
clothes!
MODI'S NEW NORMALS:
1. Stifle Public
Opinion. Restrict The Fundamental Right of Free Speech.
2. New Black Money
& Their Holders Are Welcome.
3. Ignore Public
Sentiment & Impose Needless Pain On The People.
4. Avoid Confontation
of Issues In The Belief That Things Will Take Care of Themselves.
5. Keep Changing The
Dialogue Since Public Memory Is Short.
6. Associate With
Industry & Blatantly Promote Big Business.
7. Bring Back
Inspector & Licence Raj In A New Avatar.
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