VOX POPULI
by
S Kamat
as
Aam Admi
Issue: 179 Date: 12.12.2016
Contents:
1.
The
Month Gone By On Demonetisation
2.
A
Salute To Those Gone By
3. Our Indian Navy Continues To Be Error &
Accident Prone
The Month Gone By On Demonetisation
It has been a month since 8th Nov 2016 when the bogey of demonetisation was unleashed on this country by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The aim for this measure was laudable considering it would be a major step in the fight against black money and corruption along with incidental gains against counterfeiting and funding of terrorism. The narrative has changed now considering the massive problems caused by the faulty and improper implementation of the measure which has led to massive cash shortages that has like a virus spread across the country and all sectors of the economy and slowed everything down. In terms of the original objectives of hitting black money, it has possibly touched the tip of the iceberg while corruption continues to flourish unabated as signified by the seizures of new currency in recent raids. As far as counterfeiting the operators will need more time to replicate the new notes but then we have had our own brethren cheat their not so smart compatriots by exchanging the demonetised notes with photocopies of the new Rs. 2000 note! Terrorism funding has been impacted somewhat but even there some of the terrorists caught in Kashmir were found in possession of the new Rs. 2000 note. The new tack that Modi is taking on these problems is that these are the first baby steps we are taking towards a cashless economy!
With the majority of the demonetised notes coming back to the banking system with more to come until the last date of Dec 30, it has shown that Indian households still prefer to hold a cash cache at home for contingencies or whatever and thus the salivation of our IT authorities that they could tax this money may not come true since a majority of this would be tax-paid money. With the chaos unleashed on the Indian public this last month this cash cache will only increase to ensure more comfort from 'what else this man Modi may inflict upon us'. This may be the reason why while RBI continues to claim that enough notes have been released into the system, there is not enough in circulation since otherwise the queues at the bank and ATM counters would have shortened if not vanished.
Narendra Modi and his government continues to be in denial that the demonetisation exercise has turned into a fiasco to show their disconnect with the people. Modi on his part has shown some irresponsibility by not addressing Parliament and taking them into confidence on the bold measure of demonetisation that he was proud of. Instead of that he has gone to the people with an App that has a loaded questionnaire which supports the demonetisation measure. There is nothing wrong in going directly to the people in a referendum mode but then have an independent body like the Election Commission do it, which will clearly tell Modi no one likes the manner in which it was done. In the absence of this Modi continues to remain in denial mode clutching at straws like a drowning man desperate to save himself. This has been evident in the knee-jerk reactions to combat issue after issue as each sector of India gets hit by the cash shortage. These off-the-cuff responses have a cost to them like exempting toll taxes, parking fees, fees for credit card usage at other bank ATM's and the rush to install POS terminals across the country. Like rush purchases have a mark-up associated with them, thus like they say it is a bonanza or 'hari loot' for POS terminal makers where again maybe foreign manufacturers are being benefited like the Chinese or Taiwanese and for the common Indian it is a 'sar pe lathi' with no money to meet daily needs of family and business. A measure of statesmanship is what Modi should rise up to at this juncture and apologise to the people of India about his blunder. Everyone is liable to make an error in judgment and Modi after all being human is no exception. The people of India will then still forgive him otherwise it would have major repercussions for him and the BJP in the upcoming elections in the States leading up to the General Elections in 2019.
After Modi's monumental misjudgment on the demonetisation issue no politician and/or government will dare to attempt any kind of demonetisation of currency in India at least for the next 100 years so those among the corrupt and possessing black money can rest in peace for the next 4 to 5 generations. There could be other measures to combat black money and corruption but if they are conceived and implemented as badly as the demonetisation measure then India will become the world's haven for the corrupt and those that specialise in parallel economies. Maybe this present charade of demonetization was played out for just this reason!
May God Help India!
A Salute To Those Gone By
The fortnight that has gone by saw the passing
away of some of India’s stalwarts. It was M G K Menon who along with Balamurali
Krishna died on the same day. The first was the pillar of India’s science and
technology programs after Homi G Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai had passed away. A
man who with great grace and presence piloted India’s advances into indigenous
technology in the atomic energy and space exploration fields. But for him we
would not possible be where we are in these areas today.
Balamurali Krishna, the doyen of Carnatic
classical music who passed away has left a void in Carnatic music that cannot
be filled. Listening to him live was a mesmerizing experience being transported
to ethereal levels that gave joy and exhilaration to the audience. Wherever and
whenever Carnatic classical music will be performed an ode to Balamurali
Krishna needs to be expressed.
Jayalalithaa (I’m not sure if I have got the
spelling right!) a leader of the masses in Tamil Nadu and unquestioned supreme
leader of the AIDMK passed away to great grief and loss to the Tamilian masses.
In her own right irrespective of the flaws and blemishes in her political
journey, hers will be a milestone that cannot be ignored in India’s political
firmament.
The last to make the journey to the other
world was Cho Ramaswamy, the infant
terrible of Tamil polity, writer, journalist and satirist whose voice could
not be stifled by any political dispensation
and whose political journal – Tughlaq – set standards of social and
political criticism which many contemporary publications even to this day find
it difficult and hard to emulate. His was an eventful journey through life
filled with controversy, dissent and filled with the belief that an opinion
held should be exposed to the world at large so that a debate can shape the
contours of informed opinion. A salute to a man well-lived!
Our Indian Navy Continues To Be Error & Accident Prone
With the accident of the INS Betwa in the
inability of the Naval staff to right the ship, we have seen a culmination of a
series of avoidable mishaps that the Indian Navy has seen in the last year or
so. These errors in judgment or operational mishandling draw the attention to
the fact that whether our Navy is up to the job in terms of its capability to
handle its tasks particularly related to the handling of modern high
technological equipment. One of the Chiefs of Naval Staff resigned taking
responsibility from one such similar incident in the recent past. Thus at a
time when we are talking of a ‘blue ocean’ Navy and patrolling the Indian Ocean
and the South China Sea there is a need to take a thorough operational review
to assess the competence of our Indian Navy personnel at all levels to see
whether they are up to the task expected of them.
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