Better ways to minimise black money than demonetization

There are better ways than monetization, to minimise black money. Some of these ways are;

1. holders of black money could be allowed to bring out black money with or without payment of taxes/penalties if they (particularly in industrially backward areas)set up factories which will give employment to certain number of people. By this scheme a number of people will get employment in construction of factory and in running the factory, transport etc . In a country where educated unemployment is large, this step will prove to be beneficial to the people/country. It will also contribute to government funds by way of licence fees, duties, taxes etc. The scheme to be successful, black money holders should be assured that no questions will be asked and no adverse publicity will be given.

2.Black money could be used for laying /widening roads, and the holders could be permitted to collect toll charges

3.Black money could be allowed to be used to construct new railway lines and run trains and/or be permitted to collect charges from those operating trains on the new lines.

Black money could be allowed to be used for other infrastructural projects

In these schemes the focus is on utilizing black money for the betterment of the country rather than punishing the holders. The wealth of the country is the combined wealth of its individual citizens. The gap between the rich and the poor can be bridged at a later date, when the country is well developed.

Economic Growth

Indian economy is reported to have grown by over 7% during 2015-16. This statistics should be correct. But on the ground one does not see the growth. The unemployment continues to be as before. Government’s  Employment guarantee scheme continues. If economy grows, employment opportunities are created,  and therefore there should less dependence on government guarantee scheme.  On the other hand unemployment situation appears to have deteriorated  so that the government has increased the number of days the  people are employed in a year.Unemployment among educated people is growing. Many people depend on government grants and subsidies to survive instead of on working and earning. This is an indication of poor management of the economy. The media mostly carries news of governments’ schemes to assist people to acquire amenities rather than establishment of factories,  research institutes,undertaking infrastructure works etc.for  generation of employment so that the people will work and earn for their survival. Government should also not depend solely on foreign investment. It should assist local entrepreneurs with liberal policies to establish factories and undertake infrastructure works.

 

Working days and holidays.

India is a land of diversity. There are several regions,religions, races, languages, festivals,customs etc. The central and state governments have fixed the number of holidays in a year at less than 20 whereas in every region, there are more than 40 important festivals- religious as well as secular festivals. The government restricting holidays in a year prevents people from observing and celebrating some of the important festivals. It is essential for people not to deviate from traditions. Therefore the governments should declare holidays for all the festivals. As it is also important not to ignore work, the government should cancel holidays on certain saturdays and sundays. There is nothing wrong if offices, factories, business establishments etc. work on a few sundays and a few saturdays. Thus the number of working days in a year would remain unaltered. Of course, it is better, if the number of working days is increased so that the country develops faster with higher production,coming from longer working time.

Policies of Political Parties of India.

It has become a fashion for self professed intellectuals in India to talk ill of and entertain hatred against the rich people.Some people even think and talk, that rich people would have become rich, only by exploiting the poor people. Many of the Political parties talk only of the poor people as though the rich people are not worthy of any consideration. The country cannot become rich without rich people producing goods and services and providing employment to the unemployed.The government cannot spend money on any scheme including schemes for poor people, without the rich people paying direct and indirect taxes. Political parties should not talk and act to differentiate people. The parties should promote harmonious relations between employers and employees, between producers and consumers,poor and the rich etc.
The rich people should be encouraged to set up more factories, service centres, educational and health services etc.

Similarly parties talk of providing education, employment etc. to people belonging to socially backward communities only. They do not talk of education to forward community people who could if encouraged, become great scientists, eminent technocrats,efficient doctors, inventors etc. The country needs such professionals to progress. It is necessary that good education is provided to all people, socially backward as well as socially forward community people. This is not to suggest that priority should not be given to backward people but talented forward community people should not be discouraged.

The policies of most of the political parties are such that they discourage people from working hard. For example free/subsidised supplies of food grains, clothes, etc.discourage people from working hard. A worker who earns Rs.350 per day as wages wants to work only for a few days in a month -may be 10 days- as 10 days’ wages are sufficient to meet monthly expenses because food grains, clothes, etc are available free of cost or at highly subsidised prices. The wages and prices policies should be such that able bodied members of a family work for 40/44 hours in a week to earn enough to meet the expenses in a week.

Bihar,least developed major state

Among the major states, Bihar is the least developed state. The main problem is the excess population and high population growth rate. While population in the 0-14 years age group, developed states have only about 25% of the total population, in Bihar it is 35%. The active working age people are in the age group 15 to 59. In this age group, developed states have over 65% of the total population, while in Bihar it is only about 55%. Bihar should give high priority to population control. Otherwise it will be impossible for any administration to develop the economy.

If Bihar is to catch up with the rest of the states, it should make people work as much as possible. Since the number of workers is proportionately less in Bihar, as a short term measure, the employees should be asked to put in an extra hour work i.e. 9 hours a day against 8 hours in other states.

Work should be provided to all able bodied persons. Till adequate number of factories are established, the existing factories should be asked to work 3 shifts a day. Government should establish factories and transfer ownership to the industrialists later.

Did/Does Tamilnadu Government have manpower planning?

A large number of Teachers Training Institutes(TTIs) were estblished a few ylears ago in Tamilnadu and a very large nmber of elementary and high school teachers were trained. Most of the “teachers” have not got jobs and many of them have already waited for even 10 years to get jobs. Consequently the number of candidates opting for these courses has decreased and some of the institutes have already been closed causing loss of lot of money.Individuals’ loss ultimately is loss to the state.

On the other hand,not many Industrial Training Institutes(ITIs) were established and not many technicians were “produced”.Factories and common people are finding it difficult to secure the services of technicians like electricians, carpenters, fitters, mechanics welders,plumbers etc. Their services have become prohibitively costly. A lot of work remains undone on account of shortage of technicians’

It was not difficult for the government to anticipate the approximate or even maximum number of teachers required in future. Government should have discouraged people from establishing excessive number of institutes. Government should also have given advisories to the people about the anticipated number of teachers required so that they would have thought many times before going in for the teachers training course.

Similarly it was not difficult for the government to anticipate the boom in industrial activity (from the number of applications for setting up factories),production of automobiles, construction activities etc. Govenment should have itself established additional ITIs and encouraged private sector to establish the ITIs.

To make matters worse,government has bestowed so many free things to th people and to some extent was responsible for the increase in general wages that existing technicians do not find it necessary to work for more than a few days in a month to earn enough to meet the expenses. The shortage of technicians has become more acute and economic acivities have come to remain low.

If only the government had undertaken manpower planning the economy would have grown much higher. One hopes that at least now the government undertakes the required manpower planning and also encourage people to work longer by withdrawing free supplies.

The mandate of the Employment Exchanges should be extended from just sponsoring candidates against vacancies to actively associatig themselves in training the manpower for anticipated vacancies in various sectors of th economy.

India-Economic Development of the States

Among the major states Haryana has the highest net state domestic product(NSDP) of Rs.78000 during 2009-10 followed by Maharashtra with Rs.65000,Punjab Rs.61000 and Gujarat Rs.50000.

The southern states of India have more or less the same level of net state domestic product with Kerala having Rs.49000,Karanataka Rs.45000, Andhra Rs.44000 and Tamilnadu Rs.45000(for 2008-09).

The large states like Bihar Rs.15000,MP Rs.24000,Rajasthan Rs.29000 and UP Rs.21000 have very low NSDP.These states have high density of population but this should not be a reason for low per capita NSDP.States like Haryana,Punjab,Kerala and West Bengal also have high density of population but their NSDP is much higher than these states.The cause of under development is due to the states not fully utilizing their manpower assets.The resources of these states,as far as capital is concerned,is not scarce as entrepreneurs from all over the country would have located their factories if the work culture of the people is good.The states also are good locations for factories being densely populated ie the market is large.In states like Tamilnadu and Karnataka the entrepreneurs are from states like Rajasthan,Gujarat and foreign countries..In order to attract industries,the states have to create ideal conditions.

It is also observed that smaller states like Haryana and Punjab and medium states like Gujarat,Tamilnadu,Karnataka,Andhra Pradesh and Kerala have higher NSDP.In this context,it is important to divide the states like UP,Bihar,MP and West Bengal.