Boldest move ever: But large Black money holders are not affected

          Indian government’s decision to demonetize 500 and 1000 rupees notes, the two highest valued papers on land is the boldest move ever a government taken to curb the menace of corruption. Black money accounts for 20 percent of the GDP of nation which is 133.5 Lakh crore according to Ambit Capital Research. Many other sources say that black money is much more than that.

Large black money holders are saved 

          Most big players who have i)acquired assets with the black money, ii)converted into white, iii)acquired assets overseas, iv) Invested back in India as FDI in dollars through tax heavens like Mauritius v) Valuable metals like gold and silver will not be affected by this move. So Politicians and Business men have insulated themselves from this shock. They have converted their black money into dollars. Small proportion of their black money (might be less than 5 percent) which is in cash may be affected which is much less than the 45 percent tax they need to pay. It is blow to only those players who keep black money with them without investing anywhere. 

           It is a surgical strike on Hawala operators who generally transfer money from overseas and hold large big notes with them. Collapse of hawala transactions will be big boost to GDP of the nation and banking sector. 
          Government employees pay tax for the amount then earn legally. It is only those corrupt officers who have not invested their money are drowned. 
          Small and medium business units who runs economy of unaccounted transactions are the worst affected. These people avoid paying tax even though their incomes fall much in the tax net. Unorganized sector employees who are paid their salaries in cash will also face problems in exchanging the currency they had. 
          Non bank account holders will be affected for sure but their proportion is reduced with Jandhan. Especially in north eastern and hilly terrain areas where banking has not penetrated will be affected 
          As a whole this policy is a target on small and medium black money holders only. Even some of them also converted black money into assets to the possible extent. 

Good future prospects

          Most Black money is an outcome of corruption, this is a surgical strike against corrupt. Decrease in corruption levels will boost the nation in all terms. 
         The proportion of small and medium black money holders is very high in the nation. They are the future large black money holders. So curbing them is a wisest move as a large potential of future black money is stalled. 
         Net amount of black economy will be minimized and it will give government to implement its schemes and activities for the benefit of the people. 
         Encouragement of Virtual money(e- banking, credit and debit card) increases transparency in the nation.
         As all the people will bring their money to banks, transactions of money increases and in turn raise GDP of nation. 

Immediate state of economy

        As the nation highly runs on unorganized sector the immediate condition of economy will be in a degrading. A parallel economy which is running on black money collapses to a major extent and leads to unemployment. Small and medium business units which sustains on tax evasion will crumble to large chain and multi-national companies. Small units do not have professional management and skill workers like MNCs and chain linked companies. This is a great chance for Ambanis, Adanis, Birlas, and other business man to expand their empire which may in turn result in collapse of small industry. Accountability of economy will surely increase but diversity in economy may vanish.India as a country should not become a puppet of a few businessmen rather it needs to give space for maximum businessmen for the future growth of the nation. 

         As banks will not be open for 2 days, the economy of nation will be crippled these two days. People face extreme situation these two days. Even after that people have to get ready for large queues which they use to buy first day movie tickets of star hero and much forgotten now with introduction of digital cinema. As Indian economy is cash run economy the 100 rupee notes which are in circulation will not be enough for transactions. If transactions decrease economy decreases. It takes atleast a week in urban and a month in rural areas to pump enough currency to rejuvenate the economy. The readiness of RBI with new notes is an important factor in determining the time by which enough currency is back with the people. Excess black money holders will soon start selling their notes for lesser value. A 500 rupee note may be sold for 400 now but its value falls to zero as the deadline of December 30 comes. Digital banking units like Paytm, freecharge, DBS, are the immediate beneficiaries in technology penetrated areas. 

Welcome move

        Any step which helps the growth of the nation is laudable and welcome. It will be a bigger achievement if government works faster to pump enough cash and bring back the economy in the quickest possible manner. The liberalization of Indian economy in 1991 has surely helped the nation, but in its immediate following many Indians lost their jobs and many local companies collapsed unable to bear the international competition. Now government must ensure that small entrepreneur do not lose out to big entrepreneurs like Adanis, Ambanis, Birlas,. 

Let Democracy prevail

            In Indian democracy people elect government and so the governments have the legitimacy of people. The elected governments have the power to make laws and take administrative decisions which come under its ambit according to the constitution. From the very definition of democracy elected governments draw the authority to ‘administer the people’ from the people itself. So this concludes that the elected governments gain defacto (real or original) power in the subjects it is entitled to. The real power is attained from the feature “democracy” itself. So stripping a government of defacto powers of popularly elected government by higher government who enjoys dejure (nominal and legal) powers is against democracy.

           In Delhi people elected government so that they will be ruled by it. If the government of Delhi do not have the defacto powers in its sphere then what is the use of electing it by people. As it is elected by people Delhi government draws the authority from the people who have elected it and not by the debate whether it is union territory or state.

           Constitution i) allows minimal coordination in the whole nation, ii) specifies who has the power to make decision in a society, iii) limits the power of government, iv)fulfill the aspirations of society and v) expresses the fundamental identity of people(Indian). Constitution of India draws its legitimacy from people as they consensually accept it.

             Delhi High court has pronounced a verdict that Delhi being union territory the final authority rests with lieutenant governor. This interpretation is reflection of constitution specifying who has the power to make decisions but not reflecting the people’s legitimacy on it. This is an interpretation of constitution rather than the aspirations of people from whom the constitution draws it’s authority from. People of Delhi wanted to be ruled by a government of their choice(in the subjects it is entitled to do). People of delhi have elected a government to rule them for 5 years. Constitution says they are to be ruled by some other (LG) whom the people of Delhi have never endorsed. Here constitution is against the wishes of people. As lieutenant governor is taking over defacto power in every decision of government it reflects that he is against the wishes of the people. This results in decrease of legitimacy of constitution by the people. It is not good for the nation to take the authority on the people by saying constitution has granted me to rule over you. This is belittling constitution. Let democracy prevail.

Simultaneous elections bringing good governance is an illusion

             Central government is mulling over conducting simultaneous elections to Loksabha and State Legislative Assembly. In the wake of strong pitch for simultaneous elections by prime minister and his colleagues, this article discusses the menace of such changes.

Regional party dominance will continue

         We have seen the foraying of regional parties in Loksabha and continuous formation of coalition governments in centre from 1989 onwards expect on this occasion. The state government has garnered an increase in interest and acceptance right after 1975 emergency and various surveys like that of centre for study of developing societies(CSDS) shows us these trends. CSDS shows a rise of interest in state government from 18.9 percent to 25.6 percent from 1971 to 1999. This is even higer now. If simultaneous elections are conducted the regional parties will have a greater dominance over the national parties as people receive benefits from welfare schemes of state government directly in most states like Tamilnadu, AP, Telangana, etc,. Dominance of regional parties in other states is inevitable.Except hindi speaking states almost all other states are dominated by regional parties. This trend cannot be reversed.

Digging it's own grave    

      There is a greater chance of increasing complexity of coalition politics at centre as cross-voting during simultaneous elections is negligible even in urban areas. The stability of central government will be in jeopardy and thus become a threat to governance. From where can this good governance come with unstable governments?  It may save money and resources for conducting elections but leads to uncertainty of existence of central government. Apart from this we will have technical problems like if central government loses majority should the state governments be dissolved and if a state fails to form a government or loses majority then who rules the state legitimately for the residual term.

Central Government pondering of simultaneous election is like cutting the bark of the tree on which it is sitting.

               As the nation is moving towards decentralization simultaneous election is more a threat to relevance of union government rather than federalism. As dominance of regional parties increases, decentralization speeds up and central government may remain as a puppet of state governments. This limits centre to a mere transactor rather than a transformator. Governance will be replaced by transactions with state governments. Bringing good governance will be a myth.

Save central government

       If any change have to be made simultaneous elections must be avoided completely. No election to state assembly must be simultaneous to Loksabha elections and Elections to state assemblies must not occur before or within nine months of Loksabha elections. State assemblies to which elections take place simultaneously with Loksabha must be rescheduled accordingly. If centre tries to dominate states it's nothing but digging it's own grave.

Geometry

Book release: “DADABHAI NAOROJI Selected Private Papers”: A book which gives you deeper insight into the life of Great Nationalist

Rajani Kumar Patnaik V
Intern Content Writer
Sagar Media, Sagar News Post
5 August 2016

                     Dadabhai Naoroji who is popularly known as Grand Old Man of India put forward his theory “Drain of wealth” in his book Poverty and Un-British Rule in India in 1901 which brought attention to the draining of India's wealth into Britain. Through his work with economics, Naoroji sought to prove that Britain was draining money out of India. He estimated a 200–300 million pounds loss of revenue to Britain that is not returned. Naoroji described this as vampirism, with money being a metaphor for blood, which humanised India and attempted to show Britain's actions as monstrous in an attempt to garner sympathy for the nationalist movement. He argued that India is getting poorer every year due to British rule and so India must get self rule. 

                     This book titled “DADABHAI NAOROJI Selected Private Papers” is edited by S.R.Mehrotra and Dinyar Patel. The book is launched by Pankaj Rag, Director General of National Archives of India on Friday 5 august at National Archives of India, New Delhi. In the year 2010 National Archives of India started PPP model to study various prominent archives. This book is the first outcome of it and is presented by Oxford University Press in collaboration with National Archives of India

                       In his public life spanning over six decades, Naoroji amassed a voluminous correspondence. While, unfortunately, most of the letters that Naoroji wrote no longer survive, his archival collection contains thousands of letters from political leaders and intellectuals in India, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. This volume includes correspondence with, among others, Behramji M.Malabari, a prominent social reformer; Henry M.Hyndman, founder of the first British socialist party; and William Wedderburn, an early Indian Nationalist colleague. The editor tells that National Archives of India itself has more than twenty thousand documents on Dadabhai Naoroji. 

 

                       Editor of the book Sri. Dinyar Patel while speaking about the book described Dadabhai Naoroji as Renaissance individual. He acclaimed different roles played by Naoroji as a mathematics professor, economics thinker, political nationalist, religious, and industrialist. This correspondence contains letters from individuals in politics of Great Britan and letters from Indians like P.C.Roy, economic affairs, need for Indian self government, requests for loans, request to police in London to get an Indian out of jail and lots of different roles. Naoroji worked closely with people whom we have not known. This book reads along the set of new findings which are not directly found in contemporary books. 

                      This book is a great asset for those who would like to dig into the history of India. Progressive thinking of one of the earliest nationalist is elucidated in it. As Dadabhai Naoroji is involved in various fields’ right from mathematics to politics, it gives us a great insight of the Grand Old Man of India.

Jammu & Kashmir and it's Problem

(Note: In the following article the word “state” means government i.e., state government, central government and all their institutions like army, J&K police,..)

Jammu and Kashmir though not acknowledged by Government of India is always a place of contention. Waves of violence erupt every now and then. Legally J&K is part of India but these acts of violence are trying to decrease the legitimacy of government of India as most of these violence are against institutions of government like police, army, etc,.

State trapped

J&K houses a large number of anti state elements who try to trap the state(government). In fact state(government) is trapped many times resulting ire of citizens. Huge presence of army and the special powers it has in some regions trough AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) is deterring the anti national activists a free movement. They want to weaken the state institutions and nullify the presence of army. The army which almost has omnipotent powers owing to AFSPA, during its discharge of duties made some arbitrary actions against common people. So because of AFSPA the security forces misused the power and this led to confrontation between government and citizens. The draconian AFSPA has not only created a trouble in J&K but also created a lot of trouble in all north-eastern states. This AFSPA is the reason for development of hatred against the government. So AFSPA itself is acting against the government.* Anti national elements like hizbul mujahideen, lashkar-e-taiba took this as an advantage and started to claim that all the actions done by army as arbitrary and they projected army as an evil to common man in J&K. Their voices gained legitimacy when some excesses made by army came into light. People agitated, pelted stones, burnt infrastructure in opposition to the acts of state(government) perceiving all of them to be illegitimate. Security forces retaliated against the agitators in a belief that all the violence can be curtailed by force. This led to death of many citizens mainly youth. This gave a chance to the anti national elements and anti state elements to gain more followers as state is seen curbing the liberty of people. As John Locke says “You can intimidate people into doing things but not believing them”, the state failed to regain legitimacy from all corners of the society. Various investigation and interrogations made by the security forces against anti state elements, its supporters and sometimes common people has led to a belief that security forces are entering into the liberty of common people.  These activities of the state gave popularity to anti national element like Burhan Wani. It is not that he did good for the people but it is the failure of the state to do good for the people has made him hero. These anti national elements and anti state elements successfully trapped the government by making it act against the people. This is decrease the legitimacy of government over citizens of J&K and this is what they need.

Wicked problem

It is a wicked problem for the state. If state decreases the presence of security forces or repeals AFSPA, the anti state elements gain momentum and they will have a free road to violence where ever they wish. This is a threat to whole nation.
        If state continues to govern by force, then anti state elements and anti national elements gain people’s legitimacy. Then the dead terrorists will continue to be called as martyrs. The state will lose its legitimacy. Either of the ways gives an advantage to the anti national elements and good governance is the only solution. Good governance can only be achieved when people believe they have enough liberty. Liberty cannot coexist with AFSPA.*

Need of Centralized transportation system

Delhi, the capital city of India adds up thousands of people daily which is already congested with 11267 people per square km.  Two years ago WHO quoted Delhi’s air as dirtiest. Delhi metro is successful in reducing the vehicular air pollution to a large extent apart from decreasing the travel time.  Delhi metro (DMRC) is owned by both government of India and government of Delhi in equal proportions. Delhi also has a robust bus transport system owned by Delhi Transport Corporation with the largest fleet of CNG fuelled buses in the world.  Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) is a subsidiary of government of Delhi.

Competitive transportation systems

                There is a difference of fares between these two transport systems. In some routes DTC runs buses in parallel to metro. So it is giving people to board a polluted route when an unpolluted route is available. DTC which is also a transportation company as DMRC competes with DMRC in some routes. Metro has the advantages of quick travel, least pollution, decreases congestion and less waiting time should be given the priority. We have different fare systems for metro and buses. A regular traveler who is living more than a kilometer from a metro is now choosing to travel by bus his complete journey so that he need not pay fares separately for both. This is one reason why people travel in buses for far distances also even when a metro is available which adds to green house emissions as buses are not as efficient as metros and lead to congestion in city.

Priority intervention: Need Co-operative transportation systems

                Buses should be a supporting transport to metro and fly from metro stations to the areas which are not served by metro. A passenger must be able to board a bus to metro station, travel by metro and reach his destination by bus from metro station with single travel card or account. Two transportation systems and others if any have to make a centralized tariff mechanism and charge the passenger only once in a day proportional to the total distance travelled by him throughout the day at the end of the day from his prepaid travel card or account.

Consequences: Reduction in green house gases

                With Co-operative transportation systems it will become easier for the people to move from one place to another through public transport system. As Vehicular pollution is registering a growth of 14% per annum in Delhi, due to highest number of registered cars compared to any other metropolitan city of India. Public transport will have much lesser carbon emission per person per kilometer compared to a four wheeler car in which generally only one person travel despite its capacity to carry four or more. The solution lies in encouraging and educating people by giving better, faster, safer and easier public transportation compared to the four wheeler which plies on congested roads, accident prone, needs attentive driving.

References: 

1.       https://knowthechange.blogspot.in/2016/07/cars-running-on-corpse.html

2.       http://www.census2011.co.in/density.php

3.       http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/delhi-s-air-among-the-dirtiest-in-world-who-study/story-gPNO8mCecy5w64EmQGYgGM.html

4.       http://www.delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/doit_transport/Transport/Home/Pollution+Control/

5.       http://delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/doit_dtc/DTC/Home

Cars running on corpse

                   Automobile industry which accounts for 7.1% of country’s GDP, is a major contributor of growth and development of the nation. As India is a developing country daily more people come into higher income category and these people buy vehicles. It is their liberty to have a luxurious life. It is also helping nation by creating more jobs, giving more tax to the government, keeping economic growth ticking.  In Delhi, Vehicular pollution is registering a growth of 14% per annum on the other hand. This vehicular pollution is leading to poor air quality and has many carcinogenic affects as well. This is in turn making the city a heat island. 

                   Cars add up every day and trees don’t add up every day. Pollution adds up every day and pollution control is not adding up every day. So, it is leading to high growth of pollution in the city daily. This makes up a super wicked problem where we cannot compromise on either ends.  The higher pollution in Delhi is actually decreasing life expectancy by6.4 years. The rich who always live under air-conditioned rooms will be less effected and have better access to medical facilities. It is in fact poor who are badly affected and I guess life expectancy of poor in Delhi goes down by 10 years at least.

                   Unless this problem is answered this it affects the large section of people directly and create a problem to rest of the areas as well. Many rules are brought up by the government and national green tribunal like odd-even scheme which allows odd numbered cars on odd dates and even numbered cars on even dates for partial period and banning sales of diesel vehicles which pollute much higher compared to petrol variants.  

                   We cannot go with any of the extremes. I prefer a mid way tilted towards environmentalism as Industry is already enjoying huge benefits. I feel public transport needs to be revitalized and be made in such a manner that if rich can travel in it with pride by decreasing their four wheeler travelling it vastly decreases pollution. The governments are already in this way but the progress is much less compared to the growing problem. Public transport will have much lesser carbon emission per person per kilometer compared to a four wheeler car in which generally only one person travel despite its capacity to carry four or more. Encouraging Public transport is the only solution I feel in this high economically growing city.

Reasons for corruption in India-1

                I am writing a series of articles on reasons for corruption in India. I will also discuss the possible solution to overcome this in the subsequent articles. These articles are not directed against any individual but against the institutions. To know about the corruption we need to have basic information about our political system.

Our Government

                  Every government will have three bodies in general. This arrangement is made to prevent the concentration of powers in a single person or single institution. If the same person makes, implements and interprets the laws, It is nothing but what he says is law. He will become a person above law. The three bodies are

1) Legislature (houses MPs, MLAs) which makes laws

2) Executive (houses Ministers, secretaries (IASs)) which executes or implements laws

3) Judiciary (houses supreme court and high court) which interprets laws.

                India follows a parliamentary democracy where Prime minister is the real head of executive and president is nominal head. Some countries like US follow presidential democracy where president is the real head and there will be separation of powers between legislature, executive and judiciary. In India executive is a part of legislature (MP). Prime minister and other council of ministers are MPs. So they function as both legislature and executive. So we see an overlapping in the functions of legislature and executive. They make laws and execute them. This is where corruption comes in.

Power tempts

              What is the function of MPs? They have to make laws and debate on the functioning of executive. The process of election is so competitive that candidates use lot of money during campaigning. Most candidates aspire to have some sort of power with them. Thus all MPs either become executive or end up in influencing executive. This power which is needed to fulfill the wishes and aspirations of the voters in their constituency is misused which can easily lead to corruption. If some stranger leaves a bag of gold in your car or if you get a bag of cash accidentally which is not yours, you will be tempted. Similarly, they are having power to influence government and they are getting tempted with that power. They are using this power for their own benefit. This is a major cause of corruption. Where did this problem arise? It is from the people themselves.

Misguiding People

          People are ignorant about the legislature and its significance. With time executive overshadowed legislature. Media which is a link between people and government failed to project legislature and its importance. Media projects it only when there is a polarized debate or when there is a chaos like breaking mics,chairs,etc. As media is not projecting genuine legislative discussions people are unable to realize its importance. In this competitive world media needs TRP ratings. TRP ratings will come only when people watch them. People are also not keen on discussions as much they were with a polarized statement which they can understand easily. India has a large chunk of people below poverty line. 

             Large chunk of people who works have some relief by watching some entertainment programs.  It is also evident from the fact that just four percent of voters are individual income tax payers. Though there is no such thing that only a taxpayer can concentrate on government but it can be stated that those who cannot earn enough living will concentrate on earning and on subsidies which government provide them with. Only small chunk of people are left to concentrate on how the legislature is functioning. The good thing is that these people are growing with time. Rise of the news channels will justify this as there use to be only a few news channels decades earlier. Most people follow debates of only a subject and not all.

People’s dilemma

                   So foraying of legislature into executive business is a root cause of corruption. This is also leading to erosion of democratic institution, legislature. People ask legislators for fixing street lights, roads, bridges, etc. These are functions of executive and not legislator. We know people ask for recommendations, jobs, to MPs. Are these functions of MPs? The function of legislators in India is transactional in nature rather than transformational. The needs of the people in the constituency made legislators to do an executive sort of work. People are ignorant of the difference between legislators and executive and consider all ruling party legislators as executive itself. People conceived legislators as so because most legislatures always projected themselves as part of the government. Now a day we cannot see any person who is given the chance to become a minister leaving it for the sake of greater participation in legislature. 

People’s responsibility

                    We must recognize politicians as law makers first and not as law executers. They only get whatever power we give them. Don't give more power to them and tempt them to misuse.We as citizens of this great nation must be aware of the political happenings. We need not concentrate on the brawls on the floor of the house but we must try to follow what are the acts being passed by legislature and how they will affect the people in different parts of the society. Do keep some time to think about the nation or anything happening around the world. Contribute to the public intellectual need of the nation.

Brexit is not an end of globalization

           On June 23, UK voted on referendum which leads to the exit of UK from EU. Many perceived this Brexit i.e., going out of EU as an end to globalization. I would say that this is not a referendum on globalization.        

          Brexit cannot be taken as end of globalization. The world is moving towards globalization in most instances and just one instant against it cannot trigger its end. Every day we see many treaties and alliances all those are adding up to globalization, this just one instant against of bit higher magnitude and its affect will be nullified soon. This can be taken as a correction only.

          

        The vote is against the direction of globalization. The trends of voting shown that highly educated and rich voted to remain in EU where as people far away from London voted for Brexit. It shows that in UK direction of globalization is not conductive to all sections of the society. This shows that some sections of people are exploited as industries are moving away from many cities to London and living standards of people away from London do not see improvement as of those in London. 

          These are checks for globalization and will improve the direction of globalization in a better way. We may see a better alliance than EU in future. This should be seen as a correction of globalization and this will help better towards globalization. It’s time to move from London centrist to distributive development and revitalizing economies of those cities which are shying away. 

              Globalization will continue to thrive whatever the consequences may be. These events are always good for it and give reason for it to reorient to reach masses.