Flip flops
Given that most of the demonetised currency is making its way back into the system, the government appears to be desperate to salvage some pride by forcibly keeping at least a small part of it outside (“I trusted the prime minister’: The explanation Indians are giving for delay in depositing old notes”). Either that, or it considers every Indian to be a potential hoarder of black cash and therefore deserving of further inquisition and harassment at the hands of bank officials. Either way, this government – and specifically, this prime minister – no longer deserve our trust, nor the guardianship of this nation. – Arnab
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The government’s back-to-back policy reversals have destabilised the monetary climate of the Indian economy and has deeply shaken consumer confidence in the banking system. These continuous flip-flops and the whimsical manner in which the finance ministry and the RBI are dealing with demonetisation have serious socio-economic ramifications.
Changes such as imposing restrictions on weekly basis or demanding explanations for an amount as minuscule as Rs 5,000 are ridiculous at best. Far from easing people’s lives, it has increased the red-tape. Moreover, it has bestowed too much power into the hands of a bank clerk, who has his own personal interpretation of these weekly diktats. – Gaurav Singhal
Real trouble
Those who are not daily wage earners will not understand the impact of demonetisation (“Why the chattering classes can’t fathom the vast support for demonetisation”). The vegetable vendors I have spoken to have admitted that they are just making a third of what they usually would. In Amritsar, the hosiery, lock-manufacturing and footwear industries have been thrown into disarray. The pictures of those labourers going back to their villages also makes us question the wisdom of the demonetisation move.
Modi, to cover up his alleged involvement in a bribe case, indicated in the Sahara-Birla papers, has embroiled the whole country in the mess of demonetisation. The media is complicit in the cover-up.
The media has not spoken much about this revelation. When the most corrupt man talks of eradicating corruption and black money, you know it is just hollow talk. – Onkar Singh
Clean sweep
I cannot understand how a heavily cash-dependent and technology poor rural sector can be converted to a cashless one in one go (“In Andhra Pradesh villages, demonetisation has deprived the elderly of their pensions”). There is also the question of mindset. I was a former chairman of NABARD and many of us, when in public service, were sometimes prone to relying on theoretically attractive models without complete understanding of the constraints on the ground. While every sector has an inherent capacity to absorb change, the rate at which the change is internalised varies vastly. If a scooter engine is revved to simulate that of a Bullet motorcycle, it cannot but break down. One hopes fervently that the government has intuited the pace of absorption empirically. It would be unwise to test the proverbial patience of the rural poor beyond a point. – Dr YSP Thorat
Crushing blow
Many thanks to Neha Bhatt for picking up a most interesting aspect of the impact of demonetisation (“How demonetisation has hit book sales (and what might happen at next month’s book fairs”). Her article raises the question of the caste-differentiated effect of demonetisation – has the move benefited our upper and moneyed classes at the expense of the majority of our country’s population? I would love to see any analysis which answers this question.
In our intensely-competitive economy, in which the winner takes it all and the losers get nothing, it could be that demonetisation will further disadvantage the lowest castes and classes in our country as it makes it difficult for them to invest in books, paper, lighting, travel, etc – thereby providing an advantage to upper castes and classes who can continue to afford these?
It was thanks to Dr Ambedkar’s contribution to our Constitution that our lowest castes and classes were being (gradually) uplifted. Could demonetisation be a thinly-disguised attack by the Sangh Parivar against the liberation of our lowest classes and castes? – Prabhu Guptara
Token gesture
For the past many decades, Muslims have been fulfilling their religious obligations without any problem (“Namaz break for Uttarakhand employees: It’s back to Muslim tokenism for the Congress”). Civil servants have rules that have been followed. Why change them now except for some publicity? – CM Naim
Anger management
What baffles me is that no such articles appeared when our honourable prime minister won the elections (“How online comments on US news sites helped created a hateful electorate”). The Gujarat model was proved to be a sham by several economists. In fact, immediately after the 2012 North East exodus from Bengaluru based on rumours that people from that region would be singled out and attacked, there were a few stories claiming it to be a false flag operation by those in the Sangh Parivar camp. However, these conveniently disappeared. India too needs to address the blatant lies being propagated as news. – Vivan Eyben
Soft targets
More than 60 people are said to have died since demonetisation was announced on November 8, as per media reports (“Note demonetisation: 86% of Indian currency has been frozen overnight”). The number of unreported deaths may be even higher.
The main aim of the demonetisation was to tackle and choke black money, in the process making the rich and corrupt suffer, but till now it has been amply clear that the sole sufferers of this convoluted process are the poor, who I am sure do not have any black money.
Meanwhile, India’s neighbour and rival, China, is also struggling to tackle corruption. However, their method to tackle it does not entail making life miserable for the poor. China goes only after the corrupt and not the entire population. One of the best examples of this was the death sentence given to a former Chinese railway minister Liu Zhijun for embezzlement and bribery in 2013, which was later commuted to life imprisonment.
On average, China executes around 2,000 people a year, of which a majority faced charges of corruption, including embezzlement and bribery. This is something unheard of in India, which rarely sees ministers in particular facing the music for corruption.
While China’s is not the best example, at least it is indicative of seriousness in rooting out corruption by going after the rich and powerful. I am not a proponent of the death penalty but instilling fear in the minds of corrupt is surely a deterrent. – Sid
Cyber safety
The cyber security challenges in India have increased, particularly post demonetisation (“Over past three weeks, conmen snared 12 in the Capital with offers to beat demonetisation”). The absence of robust cyber security laws in India is a major threat to the country’s dream of becoming a cashless economy. Instances like the massive security breach of 32 lakh debit cards just months before demonetisation are a strong indication that the country is yet to develop an efficient cyber-security system. The lack of infrastructure will be a strong impediment to going digital. India should not hesitate to build its proactive cyber capabilities. A dedicated cyber security law – a techno-legal framework – is the need of the hour. – Nikhil Chopra
Cash overhaul
Honestly, I did not read the entire article, but the tone and tenor was enough to tell me what to expect (“Phones as wallets: Three reasons why Modi’s cashless drive will not happen in a hurry”). It’s just lies and statistics. If even four metro cities and all state capitals adopt a “less cash” approach, half the battle will be won. Most of the urban areas are reasonably well connected.
This is the proverbial chicken and egg question. Obviously, the chicken came first. and the egg followed. The government has created the chicken, as in the incentive to go cashless, the infrastructure shall follow. – Balasubramanian Ramaswamy
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Your money is yours was the assurance given by the prime minister when he announced the decision of demonetisation on November 8. Asking people to bear with the inconvenience up to December 30, he emphasised the activity was needed to shun the two devils that has haunted our economy – black money and corruption. People instantly extended their support.
However, just a week before the deposit window closes, media reports say that Rs 12 lakh crore deposits have come into the system out of the Rs 15 lakh crores currency in circulation. This leads to the suspicion that the government has been misled on the issue of black money. So, it seems as though the misery on common people was unwarranted.
Even as the entire exercise appears to be a failure, the government is hastily experimenting with cashless transactions, ignorant of the ground reality in the lower strata of society. Government should come up with unambiguous assurance to remove the apprehensions of innocent citizens. – Ganesan P
Going south
Being anti-establishment seems to be fundamental to reporting, but when it comes to Tamil Nadu, this website appears to have an antipathy (“With falling standards in healthcare, education and employment, Tamil Nadu is losing its sheen”). Whatever problems the state faces are not peculiar to it and many of these are global phenomena.
Tamil Nadu, in my opinion, fares much better than others in the country. The establishment in the state definitely has the drive to makes things better for people. The instances of non-delivery are possible even under the best circumstances. Scroll.in need to spread out its coverage and should not restrict itself to urbanised regions. – Karthik G
Contesting claims
It is with deep regret that I acknowledge that German National Socialists have used Hindu scriptural authorities to further their political aims (“Writings of French Hindu who worshipped Hitler as an avatar of Vishnu are inspiring the US alt-right”). Their claims were not noticed by the traditional theologians. Savitri Devi’s views are contrary to what I think and practice as a Hindu. I request the writer of this article, Blake Smith, to contact American Sanskrit academics for a formal reply to Devi’s work, to expose the fallacies therein, lest they draw proponents of racial superiority within Hinduism. Alternatively, the Hindu council of the United States could be contacted to speak on behalf of Hindus, to confirm racial equality. I look forward to a reply by Mr Blake, perhaps, in the form of another article. – Narasimha
Finding hygge
As someone born and living in Denmark, I find two notions on the concept of hygge often repeated in the English press quite odd (“Why ‘hygge’ is the go-to concept for happiness that has spawned an entire publishing genre”). The first misconception is that hygge is somehow insular, a way of bonding not extended to or open to non-Danes. That makes absolutely no sense in the Danish context, where you can perfectly well “hygge” with complete strangers, including refugees. The only thing hygge requires is a common understanding of enjoying the good things in life in good company. But if you’re not familiar with this kind of grounded experience, it may not work for you, of course.
The other odd notion is that hygge is somehow a winter phenomenon. That is also a complete misunderstanding. You can also hygge on a summer’s day by the beach. If you want to give emphasis to a hygge situation being a winter state of mind, you can call it vinterhygge (winter hygge).
A final footnote would be that we have had populists in Danish politics for at least four decades and have learnt to deal with, or accommodate, such upsurges. For that reason there is likely to be no Danish equivalent of Brexit or a Trump vote of any magnitude. And despite the harsh rhetoric from some quarters in Danish politics, Denmark accepted more asylum-seekers in 2015 (per capita) than any other European nation (except Sweden, Switzerland and Malta). Over the past year, populist parties have actually lost ground according to the polls, which indicates that the Danes are dealing with reality without losing their head or foothold. – Kim Wyon
Smooth sailing
Captain Sanjeev Kumar has expressed very well the fatigue of on-board personnel (“How all work and little sleep have left the Indian navy fatigued and stressed”). I am sure Capt Sanjeev Kumar would have done the same while he was serving and I do not blame him at all because it is very difficult to change the system unless the orders come from the top.
It is necessary that the chief of naval command, chief of naval staff and other flag officers make a start and try solving this problem.
Some recommendations are: ships should return to the harbour on Friday evening and the weekend should be absolutely free, ships should be painted once a year, during which period they should be offloaded and managed by the Dockyard, no paint to be supplied to ships and while sailing, two hours every day, preferably in the evening, should be kept for recreation. A welfare committee, heading by a flag officer, should look at several other suggestions. – Tejinder Gill