If you think Demonetization is bad, you have a “corrupted” logic

Mainstream media is filled with articles, blog posts, analysis demeaning the demonetization drive by the present BJP Government led by Narendra Modi.

Most of these sound as stupid as fishy. It is quite funny, rather annoying to see how the leftist, communist, “intellectual” brigade is coming up with senseless logic. For the last 10 days, website homepage of arguably every media house had 3-4 articles trying to explain how demonetization is a bad idea and will not tackle corruption and another 3 to 4 articles on how the aam aadmi is suffering due to this.

But as Russian novelist Dostoyevsky once said, “Man is ready to deny the evidence of his senses only to justify his logic”. This is possibly the best explanation I can give to the corrupted logic that is being propagated.

The first logic given by most of the “Rudalis” of the mainstream media is that the Government has made Indians cash crunch by removing approximately 84% of our currency.

True to some sense. Yes, a huge amount of the cash is evaporated in no time and raining it back is not that fast. Of course, there are concerns about the long waiting time at ATMs, the limits imposed and health issues.

But claiming that the situation is horrible and screaming as if this is the end of the world is insane.

Many articles I read were based on the theme that Modi has taken away 84% of the money from people. This absurd logic can be countered in multiple manners. First, the money has not been taken away. A couple of visits to the bank/ATM till the year end and this issue will be fixed.

Second, we Indians are one of the best savers. As per the world bank report (I am sure Ambani or Adani have not yet managed to “buy” it 😉 ), we Indians save around a third of what we earn.

World Bank Data

We are famous, or rather notorious, globally for keeping as much as we can and spending judiciously. Many of our rojmarra items like milk, fruits, vegetables are traded in cash and most of us always keep some change (not just 100 rupee notes but we even have coins in our wallets).Statistically, opportunity of not being able to spend makes us happy ;)We buy our groceries from our nearby Santosh uncles’ shop or at Big Bazaars. In either case, we do not need cash. A credit card or credit for a while work perfectly!

By the way, an average middle class Indian would have bought most of her monthly grocery before 8th of the month. The poor would also have stood in the queue of the ration shop (no news, hue and cry on the same though) and collected his dal,chawal and ghaslate (kerosine).For the rich, this is a non-issue. He must either be busy thinking how to make his black money white or if he is clean must be feeling like a King of these ache dins aka good times.

Diwali is just over and a host of us have decided to do a cost cutting and this may be a good opportunity. Imagine that the demonetization drive done before Diwali.

Some report says that it may take 6 months for all the evaporated money to be printed. Media commentators and analysts have taken it soo seriously. With such a big move and rumors that Rs 2000 notes will be demonetized after few years, only a stupid would like to keep all his money in cash now.

The cashless economy is on its way and paperless transactions are poised for an unprecedented growth. Photographs of sabziwallahs, phoolwallas, golgappe wallas accepting card payments and online transfers are viral on our WhatsApp.

Once people get used to the cashless transaction, many will make it their prime medium to do commerce.

As per Trading Economics, India Consumer Spending is approximately 16000 billion INR every quarter which is roughly 64000 billion (64 Lac INR) INRs yearly. This is approximate 5 lac crores per month.

As per a press release by RBI, the public has already withdrawn over 1 lakh crore INR in one week (ending 18 Nov). This week will turn out to be better. Assuming that there will be 5 Lac crore of transactions in a month’s time, we are done with the cash needs (assuming transactions are done in cash). Also, most of us do not buy much just after Diwali. Now considering the fact that cashless transfer is already on the rise it will be matter of a few days when we will have cash even for the rainy day (The irony here is that Rs 2000 note is leaving color in water).

All the hype and hullabaloo manufactured by the media is not worth our attention. Mainstream media needs TRP and would go to any extent to achieve their target. Moreover, it is not a secret anymore that majority of channels and journos today are anti-government. They have been vocal against Modi for years on every issue and the demonetization is no exception.

We have also read about the concerns that these intellectuals and netas have about how poor illiterate sabziwallas et al will use the high-tech cashless transactions. First of all, we have just demonetized and not removed cash from the system.

Secondly, considering a majority of the Indians as tech-illiterate is yet another sophism by these what I call as logic-illiterates. Few years back when Dhirubhai Ambani came out with mobiles saying “karlo duniya muththi mei”, we Indians were the first ones to adapt the technology. I remember how these “illeterates” sabjiwallahs used mobile as a business tool. Cellphones were used (and are used now as well) for faster communication, get news and updates, connecting with markets in remote location and even as calculators.

Let us also stop treating the sabziwallas and tea sellers as poor, helpless, abla beings. They are entrepreneurs earning smaller revenues. They have lived the change and fought the turbulent times like any other entrepreneur and will keep doing so. Many of them earn more than what a professional like an engineer or a writer or an advocate earns.

These people have all the wisdom and potential to lead a good life for themselves without getting a sympathy of others. An example of this is the Prime Minister Of India who used to be tea seller once, grew up to the top with his karma and giving sleepless nights to the sophism powered “intellectuals” 😉