Notebandhi is nasbandi of fastest growing economy in world, will not produce any long-term benefits

By Kiran Pandit*
If the objective of the government was to fight corruption then very clearly notebandhi (demonetization) will not hurt corruption. How do pink coloured notes prevent babus and politicians from not accepting bribes?
Black money that is in our system is not corruption. Demonetization may reduce black money, there maybe more money coming into the banks and people will resort to cashless transactions. That's fine. But how does this make the corrupt honest?
Basically demonetization is barking up the wrong tree.
It has helped only:

Removal of fake currency ( microscopic amount)
Put the political parties in a fix before major elections.

Already, its business as usual who are with the income tax officers (ITOs). Almost all chartered accountants (CAs) of Delhi have sorted out their clients black cash and are neat and clean to file the returns.
It’s business as usual in Land and Development Office (L&DO), Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and municipalities. Although property market is in miserable state, the bureaucracy is up to the same mischief. In small towns domicile certificates are still being given after a bribe (now in new currency). Without the bribe the babu will use his discretionary powers to delay giving it up to the last date for admission to tertiary institutes/colleges in the district headquarters.
The satta bazaar is as good as it was before 8th November.
The bootlegging is as usual. Liquor licences are sold to the highest bribe giver.
Police thanas are auctioned. The highest bidder is made the Thanedar/SHO.
Management of currency flow has been very badly handled. Lack of planning and poor implementation is clearly visible in the urban areas. What is happening in rural areas where there are hardly any bank branches? No one in the media cares to find out.
The repercussions of demonetization will be clearly seen in:

No interest in investing in India by outsiders. NRIs are all waiting and watching. Foreign corporates are also backing off. 'Make in India' worst hit.
Fall in foreign tourism. Hotels and tour operators are suffering as domestic tourism is badly hit. Atithi tum bhago! Indians loaded with black money used their money to make a foreign jaunt. Out bound tourism boomed. New Zealand is flooded with Indian tourists!
Foreign exchange dealers stopped trading in Indian rupee.
There is a very big rise in unemployment in unorganized sectors. Building and construction workers are the worst hit. Contract labour on daily wages is totally smashed. Government may claim success by talking of fall in property prices but the reality is that there are no buyers. The objective of generating 10 million jobs for 10 years is badly hit. In fact there will be at least a loss of 1 million/year jobs alone in housing sector for another year or two.
All these raids by Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax (IT) are creating fears and drop in business confidence. What is being unearthed is just the tip of the iceberg and is serving only as propaganda. Indian business houses are dormant. No big ventures are being planned.
Demonetization followed by raids has further empowered the bureaucracy and public sector bank management to make money.
There are no major incentives to those who pay taxes properly. No tax benefits have been given to salaried classes. No benefit has been given to employers who properly employ workers with proper wage structure, provident fund deductions and ESI insurance provisions.

Was going towards cashless economy the main aim? What’s the point in bragging about sabjiwalas managing without cash? Cashless economy doesn't mean corruption free governance.
Demonetization hasn't been very successful anywhere in the world in the past. Demonetization in itself can't produce the desired results. It has to be a part of a complete package of well thought out and well timed economic and fiscal steps.
To me it’s a drive. Drives do not produce long term benefits. Just like Indira Gandhi's nasbandhi (sterilization) didn't make any impact on the population growth, this notebandhi is a nasbandi of the fastest growing economy in the world.
---
*Director (company) at Pandit Properties Investment Ltd. Lives in Auckland, New Zealand. For source click HERE

Comments

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Asbestos contamination in children’s products highlights global oversight gaps

By A Representative A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...

The kitchen as prison: A feminist elegy for domestic slavery

By Garima Srivastava* Kumar Ambuj stands as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry. His work, stripped of ornamentation, speaks directly to the lived realities of India’s marginalized—women, the rural poor, and those crushed under invisible forms of violence. His celebrated poem “Women Who Cook” (Khānā Banātī Striyāṃ) is not merely about food preparation; it is a searing indictment of patriarchal domestic structures that reduce women’s existence to endless, unpaid labour.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

India’s green energy push faces talent crunch amidst record growth at 16% CAGR

By Jag Jivan* A new study by a top consulting firm has found that India’s cleantech sector is entering a decisive growth phase, with strong policy backing, record capacity additions and surging investor interest, but facing mounting pressure on talent supply and rising compensation costs .

Beyond sattvik: Purity, caste and the politics of the Indian kitchen

By Rajiv Shah A few week ago, I was forwarded an article that appeared in the British weekly The Economist . Titled “Caste and cuisine: From honeycomb curry to blood fry: India’s ‘untouchable’ cooking”, it took me back to what I had blogged about what was called a “ sattvik food festival”, an annual event organised by former Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad professor Anil Gupta.

Search This Blog