Patricia Mukhim
Every Indian will remember 2016 as the year that jolted us out of our reverie. The 500 and 1000 rupee notes that we had become so familiar with were suddenly demonized on November 8. Apparently they were being used by people with ill intent and quite a good amount of fake notes manufactured by the enemies of India were in circulation. The other percentage was held by tax defaulters, thus turning ordinary money into “black.” But frankly speaking, at least in Meghalaya about 95% of people don’t have black money. Most of us are salaried people who earn just about enough to see us through one month. Our meager savings are not in cash form. Most of our purchases are now done vide debit cards, except for vegetables, meat, fish and fruit and other small purchases. The tribals amongst us who do business don’t have to pay income tax so they could not be bothered about cooking the books. They have to pay goods and services and other taxes only if they run hotels or other businesses which demand proper book keeping. There are some who love to look at notes and are in the habit of keeping money in their personal safes. Those might have had some problems explaining how they accumulated so many notes. So too the 5 % of business persons who actually two-time the system by not declaring their correct incomes! But even those might have got around to depositing the “black” notes by a system of ‘jugaad’ which we Indian are famous for.
In these 50 odd days the word demonetized has become the most used word in the Indian vocabulary. We are yet to recover from the shock of November 8 and are still being rationed out our money despite the 50 day embargo promised by Prime Minister Modi. Looks like it’s going to be a cold, dry winter as far as our wallets are concerned. Christmas wasn’t as merry and noisy as it usually is in Shillong. Except for the spectacular decorations in the old Assembly Building and the city centre which were perhaps done on deferred payment, the true spirit of Christmas marked by a lavish spending of cash on things external, seems to have lost traction this year. From the small kid to the ninety year old grandma, everyone is battling demonetization! So 2016 will go down in history as the year when your own money was rationed out to you. It’s not a very comforting feeling. But it is also one issue that is most talked about.
I wonder if Leap Years bring bad luck but 2016 certainly did for many of us. But there are hard-core Modi acolytes who firmly believe that what the PM did was what India needed. The idea of punishing a nonchalant, disruptive and belligerent Pakistan is so ingrained in our psyche that even the taxi driver in Delhi will vouch that demonetization is the best thing that could happen to India. “We need to cripple the “atankwadi” (terrorists) sent from Pakistan and what better way to do it than by pulling the rug from under the feet of that enemy nation by making all the jaali notes useless?” This is the narrative repeated by the hoi-polloi everywhere in India. The intellectual class of course thinks differently. Economists predict a fall in the GDP and a bad year ahead. Even international news agencies have not spared any pains in predicting an economic crisis for India. But Indians on the whole seem sanguine about this demonetization thing and are ready to wait it out. We Indians are unpredictable anyway.
And yes, this year I saw an outstanding video taken at the wedding of Chief Minister Mukul Sangma’s eldest daughter that has gone viral at least in Meghalaya. It wasn’t anything ignominious but there are people with weak hearts who cannot bear to watch the CM singing and being joined by no less a persona than Paul Lyngdoh in the famous Beatles number, “All my loving.” So snide remarks were posted on Facebook! Ah! Facebook that platform for gossiping and sniping at rivals! But who cares? It was a delight to watch Dr Donkupar Roy (Leader of the Opposition) also on the stage clapping his hands to keep in tune with the song. And yes Paul Lyngdoh does have excellent footwork which one noticed for the first time. But the person who takes the cake is Mr Prestone Tynsong. His dance moves are extraordinary and look like a cross between the Punjabi balle-balle and the Twist. All in all a humorous video but it seems to have ignited much tripe. Unnecessary really!
Personally I believe politicians have a right to their private lives; they have the right to sing, dance, laugh and just be themselves and let their hair down (although very few have any hair left) or shake a leg. Else life for them would be a rigmarole of boring speeches. In fact most of them have no time for friendships and meaningful conversations. So full are their lives with demands from their constituents for whom they have become the patron saints expected to fulfill all their needs from hospital fees to school fees for their children. In any case what’s wrong with shaking a leg at a wedding party? Aren’t we tribals supposed to be footloose and fancy free? Does being in politics also mean saying goodbye to fun and merriment? So my personal votes is that politicians should have clean fun so that they are not pushed to de-stress themselves with the single malt drinks!
As the year closes the hawkers’ issue seems to have captured our mind-space. They have strong supporters in Thma U Rangli U Juki (TUR) a group of activists with a heart for the poor (U Rangli U Juki). Some of them have termed Shillong as a city that’s unfriendly for the poor and destitute merely because the hawkers are not allowed to set up makeshift shops on footpaths. I refuse to accept that poverty gives anyone the right to break laws. Footpaths have a utility. They are meant to provide pedestrians their walking spaces. If these spaces are taken over, where do we walk? On the main road which is the right of car drivers? Lest we forget, commercial vehicles pay road tax and private vehicles pay their registration fees. So they have a right to use the road. They have a right to shout at pedestrians who walk on the main road instead of the footpath.
Yes there are a growing number of poor in this State and in the country too and yes, the poor have the right to earn their livelihoods by hawking their goods if they can find a space allocated by the authorities. They cannot park themselves anywhere and everywhere just because they are poor because the same laws apply to all. I am aware that there is a central act guiding the state on how to deal with hawkers and what their rights and responsibilities are. The Government of Meghalaya will have to find a vending place for hawkers – a sort of flea market that we see in every developed country of the world. Flea markets are designated for hawkers and farmers who bring their produce to the market to sell directly to the consumers and thereby avoid the middleman. Hawkers on footpaths are not a common sight in any other city. There is a huge section of poor in Delhi who sell their wares at designated spaces because the residents of Delhi would not take too kindly to their footpaths being invaded by hawkers.
On this issue, I had earlier written a piece for which I was castigated by the pro-poor lobby which had painstakingly painted me like some affluent, elitist urbanite that has no understanding of poverty. But I know what poverty is and what its’ like for a single mother to feed her kids but I still will not concede that poverty gives me the license to break the law or to refuse to obey them.
On this note I wish all readers a very Happy 2017. Hope the coming year is kinder to all of us including the hawkers!