Globalisation, when it was introduced by Manmohanomics, was projected as a panacea by ensuring that the markets would decide the demand and supply. Instead, it demolished social control and left everything to the corporate
India needs to de-globalise its economy. The benefit of it must be taken, but it has to set a trend for the world so far as pricing of commodities and taxes are considered. It has to also look for ways to integrate and depend on the cash economy. Rampant increase in Government spending has to be cut and a system of checks has to be introduced on businesses for fixing prices.
The budgetary processes have now begun. The National Democratic Alliance Government has to look for ways to undo the past. Budgetary projections would succeed if the market maintains stability, prices do not rise and bank funds are not swindled away by large borrowers. Banks have deposits of the average citizens, and during the past few years they have lost money to the tune of Rs240 lakh crore.
Despite prices not coming down, there is a constant demand to lower interest rates. There are also discussions on how to deprive the Reserve Bank of India, which, with its limited powers, has somehow been able to protect the banking system from collapsing. If interest rates are reduced, it would greatly harm the depositors and threaten the banking system and consequently, banks will have to bear threats of further swindling.
The country has seen that since 1993, when coal blocks were sold to private companies, banks have become extremely vulnerable. Private coal extractors have caused harm to the Government and also to the banks. Bank deposits are public money. How could the money be utilised for private profitsIJ Nobody has so far asked why these companies, many of them having overflowing reserves, did not put their own money into these ventures.
If public money has to be swindled for privatisation, the country today needs to introspect why coal, petroleum or any other mineral should not remain with the public sector. The private sector and multi-national proliferation have not helped the country since the past 20 years. Prices are on a free-float. It has no relation with the cost.
Jobs have not increased. Workers are being exploited in the name of labour reforms. Income of most families have decelerated. The Government’s Central Statistical Organisation stated that on an average, a family earns around Rs7,000 per month, and in many cases, even less than that.
The last 10 years have seen a phenomenal rise in profits of all corporate companies and it has also witnessed a spiralling rise in prices of essential items. The connection is evident. The big corporates have gained. Small, medium entrepreneurs, the workers and the common man have suffered. However, people want this trend to be reversed in the upcoming Budget.
People want de-globalisation, and they want a check on this trend of loot. The West has eroded its systems. The corporate call the shots there. Despite that, over the years, they have built systems to break monopolies. There is a system to track the pug marks of the corporate and also to correct them. India has none.
Globalisation, when it was introduced by Manmohanomics, it was projected as a panacea by ensuring that markets would decide the demand, supply and price. Instead, it demolished social control and left everything to the corporates. Even roads, where the common man could trudge freely, have become paths to profits. India has the highest toll rates in the world.
Small businesses suffered the worst onslaught. They were, in a planned manner, almost eliminated so that they could not produce goods at affordable rates. Their demolition eliminated competition and strengthened large monopolies, who are now virtually dictating the state to accept whatever they demand.
Rampant destruction of the social system has costed the state heavily. Cost for project implementation has increased. Deprivation of jobs had to be substantiated with schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme. It is a clever corporate ploy to keep a check on severe discontent of the populace against their perpetrators. The Government machinery was utilised once again to protect them.
As costs of projects increased, the Government has gone on increasing taxes. Therefore, a Goods and Services Tax on all commodities and services makes all commodities expensive, as traders even with a daily transaction of Rs2,800 would have to pay it. Income tax is at its irrational best. People with an income of Rs25,000 a month have to pay one-third of their income as taxes. Indirect taxes rob people of yet another 40 per cent of their income. Even a beggar pays indirect tax.
The last 20 years have seen the worst exploitation of the populace. Socialist tax rates combined with capitalist high profits have eroded the basics of the country. large businesses and multi-nationals have ensured that without big pockets, no businesses can survive in India.
It would be too much to expect from the first full Budget of the Narendra Modi Government. But people want the Budget to set a trend for the next 20 years.