Demonitisation Row: Frenzied activity in the South and North Bloc offices
NEW DELHI : This is not a joke. It is real. This can happen only in a country called India and that too in the current dispensation at the hands of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Since the `monumental historic’ (to borrow a phrase from the political and government managers of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi) after the November 8 announcement on withdrawal of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes from circulation, not a day has gone without a big decision by the union government impacting the lives of the citizens.
According to a conservative estimate the RBI regulations have been altered a hundred plus times, one has lost count the number of gazette notifications by the Finance Minister on amending the rules of the Income Tax, Customs, Excise. In fact every conceivable law under the sun related to financial management of the affairs of the country has been altered.
Such is the frenzied activity in the South and North Bloc offices of the Government of India facing the majestic Rashtrapathi Bhawan one can safely bet that even the most experienced and seasoned Chartered Accountants in the country can say with certainty on the shape of the tax laws. It would be several weeks if not months before some clarity could be expected and people can go about their lives as before.
It is 30 days since the address of the Prime Minister to the Nation on demonitisation. Volumes of news print has been consumed by the never ending news developments related to the announcement, the lines outside the ATMs and views from experts and people from all walks of life.
A few states even witnessed election to the Lok Sabha as well as Assembly constituencies. We were no better in understanding the public perception of the move by the Prime Minister as they actually did not throw up any hints about the subject.
Amid all the frenzied activity all round, the Modi government is going about as if it is business as usual. It has not been impacted either the disruption of both houses of Parliament or vituperative speeches by leaders of the opposition on public platforms.
Taking a cue from the Prime Minister who has gone about defending his decision against all odds, his cabinet colleagues and other council of ministers have been forced to stay the course and give an impression as if life is normal and only those who have stacked up black money are worried lot.
But truth can’t be suppressed. It has a way of surfacing. This is precisely what happened on Thursday evening vis-à-vis the Minister of State (IC) for Labour & Employment Bandaru Dattatreya.
The Press Information Bureau deemed it necessary to put out a press release about a meeting the Minister had on Wednesday (what time is any one’s guess) with the Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs, Shri Arun Jaitley to discuss `the issues relating to demonetization and gave suggestions’ keeping in view the welfare of the workers in New Delhi.
The press release in itself is rhetorical but is instructive of the nature of confusion that has gripped the government at various levels. Imagine a Minister holding independent charge of a vital portfolio of Labour has to meet the Union Finance Minister to give suggestions on what his Ministry should be in the ordinary course of discharge of its duties.
The release maintained that Dattatreya requested Finance Minister to initiate steps to `deploy mobile ATMs in all the workers/industrial clusters especially in remote and rural areas’ where there is pre-dominance of workers.
It took a month for the mighty Union Minister of State for Labour a full month to realise such a simple thing. It further said that Labour & Employment Minister also discussed to take steps to address the wage payment related issues, issues of plantation workers and construction workers.
Political and government managers of the Modi regime have been arguing vigorously all these days and weeks that the demonitisation move by the Prime Minister was well thought out and planned. If that is the case where is the need for the Union Labour Minister to meet Finance Minister in his own Government to discuss issues related to wage payment?
The released waxed eloquent on Dattatreya while appreciating the efforts of the Finance Minister in reviving the old lower denomination notes, also highlighted the importance of issuing more and more lower denomination notes (Rs.10, Rs.20, Rs.50 & Rs.100) in large numbers, as this will be beneficial to a large number of workers.
Does this need to be conveyed to the Finance Minister and the mighty bureaucracy very well versed with the financial management of the country?
It said that Dattatreya also requested to expedite and print more Rs.500/- notes for circulation and to ensure their availability to industrial and other institutions which employ large number of workers. What a burden on the Minister?
The release said that the Labour & Employment Minister also apprised Arun Jaitley about the campaign undertaken by the Labour & Employment Ministry to open bank accounts and stated that so far 52,852 camps have been held till date all over India where in 13,76,243 accounts opened. If there is no money in the banks and the Any Time Money machines what is the purpose of new accounts? How does it improve the situation?
It said that senior officers have been deputed to various States to oversee the campaign that has been conducted by the team of officers for opening of bank accounts and Dattatreya also informed the Finance Minister that these camps that were conducted with cooperation of the bank officials resulting in the opening of more accounts. Is this not a classic case of putting the cart before the horse?
