Review on Arthakranti

I have been studying the issue of Black Money for the past few months and have gained basic knowledge on its key features. In some of my previous blogs I have described what it is and how it is generated. However, I have not presented any solution to this issue.

In the past few weeks I came to know about an interesting topic known as Arthakranti. The word by itself means - "Financial Revolution". I got this topic from one of the televised meeting of Baba Ramdev where Mr. Anil Bokil presented his 5-point formula for Arthakranti and how it can change the economic dynamics of India. The presentation was very simple. It used general terms understandable by common people who do not have much knowledge of economics. I was quite impressed by the overall aspect of Arthakranti. This concept was entirely generated out of the need to counter the issue of Black Money. Being a PhD student, I thought why not to study each and every point of Arthakranti and try to interpret what it means.

The five main aspects of Arthkranti as reported in the website http://www.arthakranti.org/ are :-

   1. Withdrawal of existing Taxation System completely (except customs i.e. import duties).

   2. Every Transaction routed through a bank will attract certain deduction in appropriate percentage as Transaction Tax i.e. Single point tax deducted at source. (say 2 %).
         a. This deduction is to be effected on receiving/credit accounts only.
         b. This deducted amount will be credited to different Government levels like Central, State and Local (say 0.7%, 0.6%, 0.35% respectively).
         c. Transacting Bank will also have its share in this amount as the bank has a key role to perform (say 0.35%).

   3. Withdrawal of High denomination currency (say above Rs. 50).

   4. Cash transactions will not attract any transaction tax.

   5. Government should make legal provisions to restrict cash transactions up to a certain limit (say Rs. 2000).

If I understood the proposal of Arthakranti, I would say that the entire implementation is directed towards making the money flow accountable. Any money that is accounted is white. In the current economic system of India, heavy taxation puts an immense burden on the people, thus encouraging them to adopt methods that do not attract accountability. 

In the above proposal, accountability is ensured by enforcing all the transaction through banks. The liquidity in form of cash transaction is limited by first abolishing high denomination currency notes and then limited cash transaction above Rs 2000 illegal. A transaction tax of 2% is nominal and direct way to collect money for the tax. Abolishing all the existing taxes paves the way for a direct 2 % nominal transaction tax. Thus, the above five points are like 5 fingers of the hand. The proposals of Arthakranti will have no meaning if any one of the point is either rejected or modified. They have to be implemented together. 

The changes in the financial system as suggested by Arthakranti are gigantic. It needs immense willpower and determination to take such a step. No country has ever done anything remote as suggested by Arthakranti. Till date, this discussion is highly restricted to few people who are promoting this concept. However, Baba Ramdev has taken up the suggestions of Arthakranti in his Bharat Swabhimaan Yatra 2. He is now organising huge meetings and is discussing the essential facts of Arthakranti among the common masses.

7/9 Bombings in New Delhi – A description

It is very disheartening to see another act of terror in New Delhi where a bomb blast occurred outside the High Court on 7^th September, 2011. In this blog I want to cover some technical, political and ideological issues involved with these bombing which I believe are important to understand behind these act of terror. Finally, I present my solution which is difficult but is inevitable for our survival.

Technicalities behind the blast

These blasts involved the use of explosive called PETN(Pentaerythritol tetranitrate). The previous bombings in India were based on RDX or Ammonium Nitrate. This is the first time PETN is used for terrorist activity in India. PETN is more deadlier than RDX in terms of explosive power for the same quantity used. The most scary issue with PETN explosive is that it is a plastic explosive and is not detectable by current machines used in India for finding bombs. Even the sniffer dogs are not trained for detecting this kind of explosive. These terrorist have proved that they are one step ahead which is alarming. PETN is not manufactured in India, which means it is smuggled into India via Pakistan border or Bangladesh borders. Initial claims of HuJI involvement in bombing creates an impression that the bombing was guided by terrorist groups from Bangladesh. This raises serious question on the border security forces. If a deadly chemical explosive can cross our border, then the day is not far when a nuclear bomb will be smuggled inside.

Political failure

The series of bombings one after another has exposed the level of political failure in New Delhi. The location of this blast is barely 100 meters from India Gate which is situated in the heart of the capital. Terrorists have shown their might and reach by bombing in the center of the capital city. But what our political leaders are doing ? Prime minister says – It is unfortunate. There is no voice of retaliation or hard stand against any of these attacks. Instead, the Congress government is busy in defending Afzal Guru who has already been given death sentence 7 years ago. The government has given a very clear message to all the terrorists – You can come and kill the people of India. If you are caught, we will feed you nicely in 5-star jails and will never punish you. It is beyond any doubts that these added measures of the government directly boost the confidence of terrorists.

Ideology of Terrorism

It is very important to understand the motives behind these attacks. It is beyond any doubt that these are the outcome of “Islamic Terror”. The people behind these activities have a very clear agenda. They want to establish a Pan-Islamic state where the rule of Islam exist. They don't believe in the concept of modern nation state. For them, there is no India, no Pakistan or no Afghanistan. The critics who says that root of terrorism lies in poverty and illiteracy is a total bullshit. Most head of terrorist organisations are engineers, doctors, scientists, MBA degree holders. Bin Laden was a Saudi billionaire with rich educational background. These terrorist are governed by very very simple and direct philosophy, i.e. , establish the rule of Islam by any method possible. Use of force is not an issue for them. It is an ideological war. For people like us, terrorism is wrong, but for them it is their ultimate aim of life. It is impossible to make any argument with them as they don't fear killing others for their political goals.

Solution to terrorism

These terrorists are proclaiming their superiority on our sovereignty. Our government has boosted their confidence in dastardly attacks by going soft on national enemies such as Afzal Guru and Ajmal Kasab. In principle, terrorism is a mind game. These terrorists are attacking our psyche. They want to instil an element of fear in our mind. In this scenario, we can counter them by defeating them in their own game. Fear should be balanced with fear. If they kill one of us, then we need to retaliate. We need to give capital punishment to all the terrorists eating delicious food in our jails. We need to set examples before them. They are not above the laws of nature. Whatever be the ideology of these terrorists, survival instinct always prevail. They need to know that their acts would definitely lead them to shameful death. Hence, direct capital punishment is the only solution.

For a more detailed analysis on Delhi bombing, kindly watch the video from CHAUTHI DUNIYA:-

Also read :-
Relation of Inflation with the Central Governments in India
About Jan Lokpal Movement
About Black Money and Corruption