Narendra Modi
Demonetization or Demonization / jkgr ;k vkQr
Experts
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Narendra Modi takes
a great leap backwards. Mao would approve
In
1958, Chairman Mao ordered that that all sparrows over China should be put to
death. It was halled as a necessary step by a strong leader. Farmers were
suffering because sparrows tended to eat their grain seeds. Thus began The
Great Sparrow Campaign. A countless number of unintended consequences. Sparrows
ate locusts, and once the balance in the ecosystem changed, locusts
proliferated and destroyed China’s crops. There was famine, hunger, strvation:
no less than 45 million people died in the three years following Mao’s orders
At the start, Mao exhorted them to bear
with the in-convenience. But then the pain piled up.
Narendra Modi’s
demonetization old 1000 and 500 rupee notes is one such folly, a blunder in
every imaginable way. It doesn’t achieve its intended purpose. And its
unintended consequences could deyastate the lives of the poor and cripple our
economy.
Corruption and
black money are consequence of big government, of one set of individuals having
discretionary powers over the actions of others. If Modi was serious about
tacking black money, he’d bring about institutional changes that would take us
towards the minimum government he had promised in his 2014 compaign. Instead,
government keeps getting bigger, controlling more and more of our livers. More
government = more corruption.
Apart
from all the individual suffering, our economy is being eviscerated. Cash is
integral to most of the economy Farmers are unable to sell perishable produce,
to buy grains for the new harvest or to pay labourers. Transporters are unable
to transport goods across distances. Commerce has shut down in many places,
with small business going bust. In some places, the barter system is back, as
if we’ve gone centuries back in time.
Even if
implementation was perfect, this would be a historic blunder because social
engineering never works and carries moral costs because of its unintended
consequences.
Amit Verma – An economist
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