MODI’S DEMONETISATION GAMBLE RUINING ECONOMY
By Arun Srivastava
The Full page ad of a consumer company reads “Let’s pamper the little ones, Cash Free”. The message is loud and clear the growth of India’s cash less banking depends on the expansion and consolidation of the GenNext. The present purchaser base cannot shoulder the weight and compulsions of the capitalist economy. Obviously to accomplish the task, the government has resorted to the cliché Catch them young!
The Union HRD ministry has launched a scheme Vittiya Saksharta Abhiyan under which heads of institutions have been advised to give students credits for taking forward the Prime Minister’s agenda. Providing inducement like giving more marks is the key component of the scheme. This will help evolve a new class of cashless citizens. The scheme explains the benefits of a cashless economy and how it helps eliminate black money.HRD minister has also directed the institutions not to entertain cash transaction whether it is wages to workers on the campus or to any vendor. .
This move of the government has certainly not come as surprise. The Sangh Parivar knows it well that the new super structure of the Hindu Rashtra cannot be based on the support of the traditional Indian society which still survives in the ruins of the semi feudal socio-economic relations. Indians generally abhor the idea of capitalist economy. India cannot be turned into a Hindu Rashtra unless the mode of banking and character of the economy is fundamentally changed. The best building block to achieve this gigantic task would be the younger generation.
The Sangh initiated the move just after Modi government came to power through its communal agenda of ghar wapasi, protesting beef eating, and other programmes. Harping on ultra nationalism has been the basic slab to reach the goal. The fascist forces have always used it to gain.
Notwithstanding people, particularly rural people, resenting against the mode of the execution of the demonetisation scheme and political parties resorting to protest, inside and outside parliament, Modi has no other alternative but to ruthlessly push the agenda. Their zeal underscored that in their quest to reach out to the target group they must resort to all forms of machinations. The Sangh and BJP are sure that this new class of GenNext will usher India into Hindu Rashtra.
India divorcing its traditional social and economic ethos and culture for joining the elite club of the countries having capitalist economies is certainly a matter of concern, but the country turning into a sycophant political economy is the dangerous portent. While the Sangh, BJP and Modi government have been spoon feeding the anti-Congress idiom, precisely the anti secular expression and feelings amongst the younger people they are made to view the Congress, the political front of the liberal and secular tenet as the root cause of the present deterioration. It has also been bull dozing the resistance coming from other sources. Notebandi or demonetization has been simply a façade to push this agenda. The younger element and urban middle class feel enamourd at the imaginary prospect of curbing black money and ushering in a new modern India.
The true intention behind the notebandi mission has been to bring about fundamental change in the economic culture of the country. Since socio-political contours and relations define the ideological orientation of the society, the Sangh is determined to finish the present Indian social and cultural relations. Unless it is done the rightist fascist forces cannot aspire to give a shape to their design. Ever since Modi assumed the office of the prime minister the Sangh has started forcefully pushing its agenda of turning India into a Hindu Rashtra. But interestingly the major resistance to its efforts has been coming from the polity and economics.
The saffron brigade tries to give the impression that India so far has been casual in responding to the market compulsion to go for cashless operation. Modi has become quite active and in his public speeches harps on this. Suddenly the banks have come to realize their duties towards Indian nation. In this backdrop it is imperative to mention the observation of Adi Godrej, Chairman, Godrej Group; “talking about a cashless economy is trying to achieve too much too soon. No economy in the world is a cashless economy. All economies, even advanced economies, which have a lot of transactions online, etc, use quite a lot of cash. So to try and get into a cashless economy situation especially in rural India, etc, to my mind, will be very difficult.”
The abrupt extraction of a bulk of the currency in circulation by the Modi government is not a utilitarian project. Removing over 85 per cent of cash from a reasonably robust economy is indicative of some ominous strip. Yet another factor turns the claims of the Modi government suspect. While the Modi government and the RBI claim that huge amount of money was in circulation and there was no dearth of funds, at least 70 per cent of ATMs are dry and have hung the board of “No Cash”. Obviously it raises the question; who is lying. The plausible reply is both. Modi does not want a smooth flow of the money as doing so would defeat his agenda. Since the ATM is used by the card holders, Modi and his cohorts desire that they should use the cards for cashless transactions instead of withdrawing money. Else there is no reason the ATMs should not be recalibrated and replenished. It is a kind of fraud perpetrated on the poor people.
True enough Modi’s call to fight black money through notebandi is an utter hoax. It is a part of Modi’s theatrics. No doubt through his antics he has managed to gain peoples’ support. The claim of the BJP leaders that the “new cultural revolution” unleashed by Modi in the mode of demonetization would “usher in a behavioural change at levels of society” where citizens will do everything from “attending office on time” to bringing about “cleanliness of thought and action” simply point to the fact the India will have a new identity, obviously that of a capitalist country.
There is no denying the fact that India is a country of 70 per cent of the people living below the poverty line. A few days back one of the ministers of Modi said that 40 crore Indians have Whatsapp and other apps in their mobile. It would help usher in cashless transaction. But he conveniently forgot the 85 crore who do not have this gadget. Naturally to carry this huge population along with him Modi has to resort to gimmick and populism. His claim “ notebandi is the mechanism to finish black money and usher in a corruption free India” is simply a utopia.
According to a 2015 report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, India’s unbanked population was at 233 million. Even for people with access to banking, the ability to use their debit or credit card is limited because there are only about 1.46 million points of sale which accept payments through cards. Besides about 90% of the workforce which produces nearly half of the output in the country, works in the unorganized sector. It will not be easy for the informal sector to become cashless.
Narendra Modi’s changing narrative from black money to cashless economy points to a conspiracy hatched by the Sangh, BJP and their capitalist friends. Modi has been performing to the brief handed over to him by the Sangh. Behind the facade of his fight against black money he was working for pushing India towards capitalist economy and cashless banking is one concrete step in that direction.(IPA Service)