#theliberalindian

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Modi’s War On Money

The evening of November 8, 2016, shall always be remembered as the beginning of the war on money launched by Narendra Modi. In a swift move, the Prime Minister froze 86% of all the money in circulation, and 12% of India’s GDP, termed by certain sections of society as a ‘surgical strike’ on black money.

Poor people who work on cash transactions will be disproportionately and negatively affected by this move. A large section of the population believes in the myth of black money, which is shorthand for undeclared assets. One of the right’s wet dreams is to believe that black money is stashed in sacks full of notes in unknown locations, and that India has lost trillions to embezzlement like this. What they fail to understand is that the Indian economy runs on cash, and for a large part, in what Western economists tend to call the parallel economy.

The government thinks that by privatizing the flow of cash through the system, and forcing banks to do its accounting, it is going to benefit the public at large. This would only be possible in a country where literacy rates are high, the flow of cash is all but non-existent, and infrastructure in the form of smartphones, a well-connected banking network, and, working internet and mobile connections that are fast and stable enough to conduct these transactions fluently.

Cosmetic changes are not going to solve real issues. Freezing 86% of India’s cash is not going to change anything. Imposing restrictions on the transaction of cash is only going to ensure that the minority with undeclared assets is going to find ways to spend this cash in ways that are worse for the economy.

By holding the entire nation hostage to his whims and fancies, Prime Minister Modi is sending out a message loud and clear: I am the person who runs this place, and I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, without any political repercussions. Hard evidence already exists that BJP units across the nation, particularly in West Bengal, deposited unusually high amounts of money in the days before the notification. The potential for corruption in such a move is massive, and the spineless Indian police and law enforcement agencies will do nothing to push for a fair prosecution of BJP-led corruption across the nation.

The policy is ill-advised and does nothing to eliminate black money, and is an assault on the common man.

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The essence of the liberal outlook lies not in what opinions are held: instead of being dogmatically held, they are held tentatively, and with a consciousness that new evidence may at any moment lead to their abandonment.

BERTRAND RUSSELL

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What can 3600 Crores do?

What can three thousand and six hundred crore rupees do? It can build a statue (twice the size of the massive Statue of Liberty) of a long-deceased Maratha warrior king and religious fanatic, to honour Maratha nationalism, aid jingoism, and become a disgusting eyesore three and a half kilometers off the coast of Bombay, all together. Fishermen said it would negatively impact their fishing grounds, which are already depleted due to the significant levels of pollution in the waters around the city.

INR 3600 CR could pay India’s budget deficit more than two times over. It can pay for better infrastructure, job creation, skill education, improved educational facilities, and so much more. Wasting shockingly exorbitant and obscene amounts of money on statues like these is symptomatic of right wing governments, who tend to use monuments and memorials to whip up a frenzied passion in the supporters of the BJP/RSS.

NUMBERS FROM INDIASPEND.

3600 Crores is approximately the amount needed to pay:

3.5x the infrastructure and development budgets for Gram Panchayats and Governing Bodies in Villages and Towns across Maharashtra

2.5x the amount spent on Micro-Irrigation across Maharashtra

5x Maharashtra’s electricity generation and infrastructure schemes

Having lived in Bombay all my life, pandering to right wing fanatics has become a governmental trope. They changed the official name from Bombay to Mumbai, in a poor, destitute attempt to rewrite history, and to appease the right wing extremist parties, especially the Shiv Sena. This name change circumvented the secular name of the city, for it was rechristened after the Goddess Mumbadevi. The old name translated to ‘The Good Bay’ in Portuguese. There was nothing wrong in that name. By continuing to pander to the right wing, the city is going to lose the charm of diversity. Bombay is a melting pot, a potpourri of cultures, which makes it potentially the most successful city of the nation.

Going back to the question of INR 3600 crore, there’s a lot that can be done. Is it more important to raise the statue of a religious fanatic and genocidal king, than to alleviate the famine and drought that has afflicted the farmers of Marathwada? Is it more important to build a statue that is almost five times the size of the Christ de Redeemer, than to feed the millions of stomachs that go empty every day, many of them women and children? Is it more important to build a statue that costs more than the budget deficit of one of the largest economies of the world, India, than to deal with real issues. The government needs to understand the implications of its fantasies.

The BJP-RSS fanatics need to learn what government is. Our taxes pay for government largesse in forms of statues, monuments, and memorials to people who would fairly be considered war criminals, terrorists and extremists.

[theliberalindian-blog]

Regarding The Pain Of Donald Trump.

Something happened recently that made me want to start writing again. It’s been a horrid week. Trump is going to be the 45th President of the United States of America. Prime Minister Modi has taken a sudden decision to demonetize notes of values greater than INR100, supposedly to combat black money, which I shall write about later.

Looking back at this day, a century later, historians will be puzzled as to why the West could not learn from the lessons of Brexit. While it is now easy to contextualize this dramatic setback for human decency, and the election of a racist rapist to one of the most powerful offices on this planet, we must understand that we simply cannot continue moving to the right. Robert Reich’s analysis of the election seems to be the one that can be agreed upon in an optimum situation: this was a battle between liberal and authoritarian populism, and unfortunately, the latter won it.

What does this mean for India? To locate such an election in the political context of a move towards right-wing nationalism and jingoism would not be incorrect. Expect xenophobic parties like the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena to exert an oversized and disproportionate influence on governmental policies, especially when the government is a right-wing BJP-RSS government. The impact on the arts cannot be forgotten. Moral censorship, social ostracism, and threats of physical assault and death will increase exponentially. The win of right wing nationalism and populism in the West is going to embolden Indian nationalists even more.

The possibility of the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement to stop climate change in its path is going to embolden many developing nations like India and China to disavow the progress that has been made. Having elected a climate change denier as POTUS, the USA has set a dangerous example, cancelling the great work done by climate change scientists, and celebrities like Jon Stewart and Leonardo di Caprio in raising awareness about global warming, and possibly the end of the world as we know it today. The biggest losers, however, are going to be the people who suffer from drought, famine, floods, and a multitude of other natural disasters that is going to wreak havoc around the world. In 1943, Winston Churchill masterminded the Bengal Famine, starving countless Indians to death. In the years to come, Donald Trump’s denial of climate change and disastrous environmental policies will engineer another famine and drought.

The Donald Trump Foreign Policy Programme’s most racially and ethnically insensitive axiom is going to dramatically alter the shape and demographics of the Indian Subcontinent. His hatred for Muslims and Islam is going to help the BJP in its attempt to get rid of Pakistan for once and for all, with complete disregard for Pakistan’s sovereignty. India, under BJP/RSS rule, may take this chance to invade Pakistan, sparking off the third World War. Donald Trump’s provocative foreign policy is dangerous in a world where nuclear proliferation is a major issue. Trump’s xenophobic attitudes are going to give strength to right-wing fringe politicians throughout the world who run campaigns on a platform of exclusion and racism.

The impact of Trump, on violence against women, is significant enough to expose rifts in the workplace. Men (like Trump) accused of sexual assault and harassment face absolutely no impediment in their careers. The disregard of American voters in this respect matches the apathy of Indian voters when it comes to career criminals who switch to being politicians (not that there is much of a difference). Trump sets an example for men all over the world, one I despise and completely disagree with and denounce in the strongest terms possible.

Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be in your favour.