The opaque manner in which the government has handled demonetisation has fatally damaged the framework of economic governance.
INDIA remains a nation in queues—at ATMs and banks across the country—as it lurches towards the 50-day deadline set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he promised a return to normalcy. The steady chatter that India has entered a “new normal” is at best a desperate attempt to rationalise the irrational; at worst, it represents a cynical attempt to push at gunpoint the vast, diverse and multi layered economy over the brim, into the utopian idea of a “cashless” world. Nothing has changed significantly since November 10, when the banks first opened after Modi announced demonetisation of the two central pillars of the Indian currency system—the 500and 1,000-rupee notes two days earlier. Workers have lost wages and jobs and agricultural activity remains in limbo, characterised by a calamitous drop in prices, as the economy moves into a period of severe demand decompression and extreme uncertainty of what the future holds.
Meanwhile, incessant reports of the hauls of huge quantities of money, especially in brand new 2,000rupee notes, by enforcement agencies from across the country, shows clearly that the war on black money had been lost even before the general moved his first pieces into the battlefield. Indeed, the utterly opaque manner in which demonetisation has been handled by the policy troika at the helm—the Prime Minister, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel—has aggravated the crisis and fatally damaged the institutional framework of economic governance. The lack of transparency about the government’s plans, if any, and the paucity of credible and tangible information on the progress made in resolving the shortage of cash in the system have fuelled speculation that a nexus among business, bank officials (including those of the central bank) and politicians is thriving even as the nation has been put to the sword of demonetisation.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 6, 2017-Ausgabe von FRONTLINE.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 6, 2017-Ausgabe von FRONTLINE.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
How Not To Handle An Epidemic
The lockdowns were meant to buy time to put in place appropriate health measures and contain the coronavirus’ spread, but they have failed to achieve the objective and heaped immense misery on the marginalised sections of society. India is still in the exponential phase of the COVID-19 infection and community transmission is a reality that the government refuses to accept.
Tragedy on foot
As the COVID-19-induced lockdown cuts the ground beneath their feet in Tamil Nadu, thousands of migrant workers are trudging along the highway to the relative safety of their upcountry homes.
Sarpanchs as game changers
Odisha manages to keep COVID-19 well under control because of the strong participation of panchayati raj institutions and the community at the grass-roots level under the leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Scapegoating China
As the COVID-19 death rate spikes and the economy tanks in the United States, Donald Trump and his advisers target China and the World Health Organisation with an eye to winning the forthcoming presidential election.
New worries
Kerala’s measured approach to the pandemic and lockdown has yielded results. But it still has to grapple with their huge economic impact on its economy, which it feels the Centre’s special financial relief package does little to alleviate.
No love lost for labour
Taking advantage of the lockdown and the inability of workers to organise protests, many State governments introduce sweeping changes to labour laws to the detriment of workers on the pretext of reviving production and boosting the economy.
Capital's Malthusian moment
In a world that needs substantial reorienting of production and distribution, Indian capital is resorting to a militant form of moribund neoliberalism to overcome its current crisis. In this pursuit of profit, it is ready and willing to throw into mortal peril millions whom it adjudicates as not worth their means—an admixture of social Darwinism born of capital’s avarice and brutalism spawned by Hindutva. .
Understanding migration
When governments and their plans are found to be blatantly wanting in addressing reverse migration, exercises such as the Ekta Parishad’s survey of migrant workers throughout India can be useful to work out creative long-lasting solutions.
Waiting for Jabalpur moment
The Supreme Court’s role in ensuring executive accountability during the ongoing lockdown leaves much to be desired. Standing in shining contrast is the record of some High Courts.
An empty package
The Modi regime, which has been unable to control the COVID-19 infection, restore economic activity and provide relief to millions exposed to starvation, trains its sights on Indian democracy, making use of the panic generated by fear and a lockdown that forecloses paths of resistance.
