As a child growing up in Kerala, the most awaited,
exciting and perhaps the period of epic
proportions was the days leading to Vishu (the
Hindu New year celebrated in Kerala and few other parts in India). It has always been the time leading to
impending happiness arriving in the form of ‘Vishu Kaineetam’. From time immemorial, on the Vishu day, all
elders in the family will give 'Vishu Kaineetam' to all those who are younger
to them in age, usually in the form of new coins. In olden days, it used to be
a major event that required micro level financial planning for a kid. I still recall maintaining a scrapbook with noting and calculations of estimated
collection (including the potential targets), the collection of the previous
year, any new targets, end use of money etc.
To quote from a Bryan Adam’s song, “Those
were the best days of my life.”
Let’s cut to the present, the situation in today’s
India which is Digital India and I wonder how do we handle this payment/ receipt, which
is predominately in cash? We have not received an email or SMS from the
Government on how to handle this ‘difficult situation’ of transacting in
cash. As on date, there is no circular from the Government on how to make and
receive Vishu Kaineetam and related reporting requirements. As I sit down to ponder over the developments in India in the past few months,
I was wondering whether someone would come up with a regulation to handle Vishu
Cash payments. My thoughts ran wild as I
ended up drawing an imaginary circular from the Government to control the
menace of black money, which will arise through the traditional Vishu Kaineetam
ritual. It will perhaps read like this…
- This circular is aimed at curtailing the menace of black money being generated, circulated and laundered through the age-old tradition of Vishu Kaineetam
- An individual is entitled to give Vishu Kaineetam of maximum Rs. 500/- per person with an aggregate limit of Rs. 5000/- to all persons.
- The Vishu Kaineetam can only be paid during 2 days starting from April 14, 2017 and ending on April 15, 2017.
- Any payment in excess of Rs. 300/- per person should be paid through net banking or digitally using PAYTM, Bhim etc. or such other digital payment modes to be notified by the Government in this regard
- Vishu Kaineetam can be given only to close Relatives. For this purpose, Relatives will be the donor’s spouse, sisters, brothers, father, mother, daughter and son
- Remittance from abroad towards Vishu Kaineetam should be through proper banking channels and should comply with the conditions stipulated by Reserve Bank of India in this regard including the reporting requirements stipulated therein
- Within 7 working days of Vishu, every Donor who has made payment in cash towards Vishu Kaineetam and every recipient should report the transactions online in the attached format quoting the PAN number, Aadhar Number of the recipient and payee.
- Vishu Kainettam to any persons who does not have PAN / Aadhar will not be permitted. However, Vishu Kaineetam to kids below the age of 3 will not require Aadhar or PAN and for such payments, the Aadhar/ PAN details of the parent or guardian to be quoted while reporting online
- The Government reserves the right to amend the contents of this circular without any notice whatsoever and …
- This could be a never ending list…so let me pause here! But trust me Bankers have already sensed some business here. see this... http://keralaitnews.com/5792/federal-bank-to-offer-digital-kaineettam-on-vishu
While I agree that I may be going overboard
with this but think about it…. Aren’t we living in a situation like this
now? Nothing surprises us anymore.
Coming to the reality, I was just using the
festival atmosphere to dwell on issues, which are troubling me, and I believe,
troubling the middle class off late.
The age-old tradition of milking the same cow
continues with imposing restrictions after restrictions on the middle class while
the lower strata of the society and the upper strata are relatively
insulated.
While I appreciate and applaud the bold move of
demonetization, the way in which it was rolled out is quite amusing. What
started off as a fight against black money, counterfeit currency and containing
militancy, took different narratives over a period of time and now rests at
‘Making India Cashless’. I firmly
believe that the whole thing is being overdone and it is a question of time for
the flaws to emerge, if not emerged already.
For e.g., By-elections cancelled due to cash for vote scam in one place
and postponed due to Militancy in another.
On the cash for vote scam - Where did this money, which runs into crores
come from? How did they get so much cash in new notes? On the Militancy issue,
as per media reports, the by-election in Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency
recorded 2% turnout with an overall voting percentage of 7% (a historical low).
People do not expect answers to any of these as we are used to these and we
will manage. Oh Darling Yeh Hai India… Sab chalta hai!
Another development, which didn’t make any sense,
was the farmer loan write-off. While I do respect and understand the trouble
the farmers are going through, it is a crime to write off Rs 30,000 Crore plus
of loans without any diligence. I am sure other governments will follow suit
and the middle class will bear the brunt.
The people who are repaying loans (including the farmers who repaid)
look like fools. What is the incentive
for honest borrowers? I take the
liberty to borrow the Hon’ble Reserve Bank of India Governor Mr. Urjit Patel’s
view here. He has gone on record to say,
“The populist farm loan waiver program set to be rolled out across Uttar
Pradesh poses another risk for inflation, undermines an honest credit culture”.
On one side, you are squeezing every penny out of
the middle class, predominantly salaried class who can be cornered and then
using the same money to write off huge loans.
What economic sense does this make?
The nail in the coffin would be the obnoxious
power given to the Banks. Banks, Private and Public are given a free
hand to squeeze money from customers by way of minimum balance requirement,
transaction charges beyond xx number of transactions etc.
If the
intention is to bring more people into banking folds, this does not add up. It’s
just insane!
This list of grievances will go on and on, so I
would prefer to stop at this. Having
said that, I had and will continue to support the initiatives to curb black
money and revive the economy, but the lackadaisical manner in which it is being
done, with no tangible result in sight really pains me. We are constantly living in the world of
promises and we will get used to this. As they say… this too will pass. But, anxiously awaiting the Ache Din…….
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