The country is now in the middle of the election season. All parties are going about campaigning like their lives depended on it! And why not? For most of them, this could be the last time they contest any election, as a credible political party! The likes of JDS, TMC, DMK are probably on their way out! Before detractors scream bloody murder, I said PROBABLY. The only thing that these parties are afraid off is the evolution of the New India.
Gone are the days when kids listened to their parents about who was good and who was not good for the country. My grand-father, may he Rest !n Peace, was a socialist at heart. On the other hand, my dad was a Sanghi and to his last day, a few weeks ago, remained one. I didn’t grow up as a sanghi (one of my regrets) but I understood what my father said more than I did my grand-father. Kids today are much more aware of the climate within the country, political, economic and otherwise. To tell them that the country is worse off now than it was five years ago, and expect them to believe it, is foolish. The New India wants action not promises. Promising the bottom 20% an amount of 72,000 per year (totaling over 8 trillion rupees) is not going to cut it since the people in the middle class (the ones being ignored in the 20%) are not going to pay for it. To tell people that the taxation percentages are antiquated and need to be revised is to ensure one’s loss in the elections, and yet a political party dared to do so! Foolhardy? Possibly. The upper class too (the likes of the Tatas, Mahindras and yes, the Ambanis) is against the idea. Why would anyone be against this idea? Let’s look at the economics behind this?
Our GDP is about $2.3 trillion. Let’s understand first that GDP doesn’t mean the government has that money. It is the money that is obtained from the sale of goods and services. The india today has more than 70% of its revenue being generated by the private sector organizations. Try asking them to donate their revenue to this cause and you will be laughed out of the room. While the amount of 115 billion is about 10%, the economic growth of the country is stunted since this would be over $575 billion over 5 years. That could potentially affect the purchasing power of any country, let alone India.
The 8 trillion INR I mentioned earlier is about 115 billion USD. While this might be the total net worth of a couple of Indian billionaires,it it not an amount that India can donate to its lowest 20%. Then to be told, by the former finance minister that Indians should not be selfish and should give in to this policy is belittling the common person’s intellect. This gentleman should probably start by donating a major chunk of his supposedly Ill-gotten wealth to set a precedent. Would he do so? Would he ask his party president, who’s family net worth is over $2 billion, to do so? If the answer is NO, which I presume, then he has absolutely no right to ask hard working Indians to do so!!
The youth in India have now got the chance of a lifetime. The options are to say No to befuddling economics or to say Yes and see the country back in the 70s-80s. I, for one, have complete faith in the youth and the baby boomers. They know what’s good for the country is ALSO good for them.
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