Most of the times, I have consciously refrained from writing about any societal happenings on this blog. There have been exceptions, but very few. I too have been the victim of restlessness as currency began eluding common man's reach on November 8th.
Demonetisation
Intents of policies are always noble. Execution is the game spoiler usually. Without much rhetoric, I will talk about my take on the recent demonetisation carried out by GoI.
India has less than 5% of its people who declare their incomes and hence, pay taxes for the same. Being an agricultural country predominantly and farmers & allied workers constituting as much as 56% of the entire country's population, India holds 2nd rank in the global contribution to agricultural output. All these numbers are just to bring in a perspective that agricultural income is not taxed in the country and so is its workforce (largely).
It's no rocket science that more the cashless transactions (if and wherever possible), less the unaccountable money (we call it 'black money' dearly). Use of cashless transactions is as high as 93% , quite predictably, in Belgium, followed by other developed nations like France, Canada, UK, Sweden and Australia, in that order (with difference in percentage between no two countries going over 2%). Coming to India, unsurprisingly, it is as low as 11%. The penetration of cashless transactions isn't going at a great rate either - merely at 0.43% (approx).
As I am scribbling this down, I coincidentally receive a text that goes like "Go Cash-free. Use code XYZ123 to get Rs. 100 cashback before Nov 25th. T&C Apply" from a wallet services provider whose services I use quite infrequently.
Now if mere 11% of the entire populace are going cashless, and in good faither, let's assume the 11% are alleviated from the perils of the cash crunch since Nov 8th - what about the 89% rest? They go all cash for their daily tenders and kaboom! their lives have come to a standstill. Filled with dead air.
I am not questioning the govt's intent behind the alleged masterstroke-ish move. Execution should have been more farsighted, thoughtful and planned.
Now when I say thoughtful, I've got a thing or two to add to the above lines. To drive the country's cash-based-people aka the socioeconomically & technologically naivete masses on the path of cashless transactions, it comes back to educating them, empowering them with tools, leveraging technology to help them go cashless. It's important to drive increasing number of people in the direction of going cashless while the transition is not uncalled for, smooth and does not create the chaos as we experience today. I am saying this because only a small fragment of people who are socioeconomically nurtured enough to receive texts like the one I just received are able to go cashless.
Demonetising bigger bills may hinder currency counterfeiting but if it is handicapping the hapless lot of the country on the other side, I am not sure which side must the weighing scale sway towards.
Demonetisation
Intents of policies are always noble. Execution is the game spoiler usually. Without much rhetoric, I will talk about my take on the recent demonetisation carried out by GoI.
India has less than 5% of its people who declare their incomes and hence, pay taxes for the same. Being an agricultural country predominantly and farmers & allied workers constituting as much as 56% of the entire country's population, India holds 2nd rank in the global contribution to agricultural output. All these numbers are just to bring in a perspective that agricultural income is not taxed in the country and so is its workforce (largely).
It's no rocket science that more the cashless transactions (if and wherever possible), less the unaccountable money (we call it 'black money' dearly). Use of cashless transactions is as high as 93% , quite predictably, in Belgium, followed by other developed nations like France, Canada, UK, Sweden and Australia, in that order (with difference in percentage between no two countries going over 2%). Coming to India, unsurprisingly, it is as low as 11%. The penetration of cashless transactions isn't going at a great rate either - merely at 0.43% (approx).
As I am scribbling this down, I coincidentally receive a text that goes like "Go Cash-free. Use code XYZ123 to get Rs. 100 cashback before Nov 25th. T&C Apply" from a wallet services provider whose services I use quite infrequently.
Now if mere 11% of the entire populace are going cashless, and in good faither, let's assume the 11% are alleviated from the perils of the cash crunch since Nov 8th - what about the 89% rest? They go all cash for their daily tenders and kaboom! their lives have come to a standstill. Filled with dead air.
I am not questioning the govt's intent behind the alleged masterstroke-ish move. Execution should have been more farsighted, thoughtful and planned.
Now when I say thoughtful, I've got a thing or two to add to the above lines. To drive the country's cash-based-people aka the socioeconomically & technologically naivete masses on the path of cashless transactions, it comes back to educating them, empowering them with tools, leveraging technology to help them go cashless. It's important to drive increasing number of people in the direction of going cashless while the transition is not uncalled for, smooth and does not create the chaos as we experience today. I am saying this because only a small fragment of people who are socioeconomically nurtured enough to receive texts like the one I just received are able to go cashless.
Demonetising bigger bills may hinder currency counterfeiting but if it is handicapping the hapless lot of the country on the other side, I am not sure which side must the weighing scale sway towards.
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