Rendezvous with Dr. Subramanian Swamy
On the 28th of January, an Indian politician, economist, and member of Rajya Sabha, Dr. Subramanian Swamy, came to meet the students of MIT as a part of the Diamond Jubilee cele brations. Unapologetically outspoken, the accomplished orator answered prevalent questions in the audience’s minds.
Demonetization is just the first step in an arduous journey to a corruption-free country, and a lot is yet to be done to wipe off the ledger. He went on to explain how black money is merely the money one doesn’t pay taxes on, and elaborated on how easy it was to convert it to white. For instance, paying the taxi driver his fare is the most convenient conversion. Or, say, the venders who favor some party workers easily get licenses to set up factories, implying that their black money stands tall in the form of industrial plants. Since black money is not stock, he suggested it be judged on the number of transactions made. He laid down statistics about luxury products and people living below poverty line - proving that nearly forty percent of our GDP is in black money.
“We must ensure that the beneficiaries of a reform gain as quickly as the losers of the reform”.
Going about that would involve revoking licenses and relaxing income taxes so immediate profits may be realized.
Dr. Swamy, defiant in his speech, sent a coup-de-grace in the direction of the ex-finance minister by suggesting the latter’s indirect involvement in facilitating terrorist agendas by enabling them to mint money. He further strengthened the idea of demonetization by highlighting how these very terrorists were put out of action, as well as how stone-pelting had reduced in J&K as the youth could not be paid - as a consequence of the same. Of course, on the flipside, there has been massive collateral damage. Migrant workers in Bihar and UP who were conventionally paid in cash, couldn’t be waged. The number of trucks had to be cut down by nearly fifty percent since there was cash neither to pay for petrol consumption, nor for the drivers to eat at the roadside dhabas. Even companies employing daily wage workers were hard hit by the same cause. All of this happened primarily because the Board hadn’t been informed well in advance, and hence, not enough new notes could be minted in time.
To remedy the situation, Dr. Swamy talked about other reforms crucial in achieving the common objective. For example, the participatory note. This is a system practised solely in India where one submits a certain amount of money, and the RBI issues a note with no details, except the amount encashed. This can be used to buy stocks. Dr. Swamy proposed to obliterate this entire system. Though stock markets would crash, the working and the middle class would remain unharmed. He also suggested starting up Indian based companies for one dollar, taking the example of the Investment Banks in Mauritius. The basic aim, according to him, is to create a situation where not being corrupt is worth the while. He aims to catch the bigger fish in the sea that are the primary targets of the demonetization drive, so that the smaller fish withdraw themselves automatically.
On a concluding note, he stated how in the next five years, India’s economy would be growing at a rate much more rapidly than China’s, solely due to the large youth force we possess. He inspired the students by telling them to render on to themselves the best possible education, and with that, to take as many calculated risks as possible, and to work towards their goal without thinking of the fruit it would yield. With his speech, he hoped to make better Indians out of the students.