Make Life Easy for the People Who So Ardently Support You, Mr Modi

The least the government can do is to think out the demonetisation policy properly. Here are some suggestions.

People queue up in front of ATMs in New Delhi. (Photo: IANS)

The 1st of December has gone by. Long queues outside banks and ATMs without money are still the norm. If demonetisation has shown the colossal failure of implementation of a perfectly good idea with perfectly good intentions, it has also shown the strength and resilience of our citizens.

People working in banks are still working beyond their normal call of duty, working overtime, cancelling holiday plans just so that citizens are not affected by this sudden not being able to access one's own, hard earned, already taxed money.

People themselves are supporting the euphoric and utopian idea of black money being destroyed by this one swell move.

It has also brought out some typically 'subcontinental' ways of doing jugaad, circumventing rules and finding loopholes. For instance, some poor people and some bank managers have become quite rich overnight leaving our Finance Minister red-faced; making new and crazy rules everyday, shows him as a person who is sometimes clueless of the rules he's announced yesterday ....homework guys!

Government Forgot to Keep a Back-Up Plan

We've been taught about back-up plans by our mothers. Each exam we had taken came with a back-up plan just in case a pen didn't work. Even a pencil needed sharpening. There was Plan A, Plan B etc for the smallest exam.

Here, the government wanted to get into IIT in its first attempt but didn’t study, got poor marks and got irritated with the marking system.

My advise is to not get angry. There is a 2nd attempt and a 3rd.

The biggest strength you have is your people. Even though you might love Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) more than us, we are with anybody who is trying to do something for the betterment of the nation. We have already given full marks for good intent, some thing we are never given credit for (certainly not by the government and certainly not by the taxman).

Oppn Clueless: How to Change People's Sentiments Towards Mr Modi

The clueless opposition is just that, clueless! (A surefire way to get a lot of likes on Facebook is to bash Rahul Gandhi or to say complimentary things about our Prime Minister. I find so many Facebook posts about supporting Mr Modi, getting him into the conversation any which way. People have become popular overnight with thoughts of either Modi-loving or Modi-bashing and Rahul/Sonia-bashing. Such funny times these are!)

Yes, the opposition doesn't know what to do to change the belief that people have for the Prime Minister. They love him, support him, respect him for trying something unique.

They don’t want to believe there’s politics involved. Even if the entire BJP party is caught on camera with hoards of black money, people will not question the Prime Minister. With such 24 carat pure gold feelings and support from citizens, the least the government can do is to think through the entire policy.

Make it easy for hardworking and honest citizens, and make life difficult only for the dishonest.

But for that we will have to change our relationship with money. Over the years, people with wealth have become the benchmark for respect, replacing those with good values and education. If only money is important, then money is good by hook or by crook (usually crook!). If that is our mindset then there will always be people taking shortcuts in their quest for money and there will always be black money floating around making the rich richer.

Here Are a Few Suggestions for the Government

And since I'm a mother who constantly comes up with back-up plans for her kids, maybe I could suggest a thing or two to the government so that they can clear the 2nd attempt at IIT with flying colours.

1. Any politician found to have cash, gold, property above what they should technically own should be penalised, stripped of whatever berths they have at whatever level.
2. The mint has to do the job that only it is allowed to do without being taxed; that is mint money! To mint enough money so that people don't have to beg for their own hard-earned cash. (If counterfeiters can do the job fast, why can't the mint?)
3. With all the sops that the government has given to the people with black money to come clean, can we have a list of those people? I'm sure honest people would love to know who these people are because of whom they had to wait in long queues to withdraw their own cash.
4. If, apart from Mr Amit Shah, you could make public the income of all BJP MLAs & MPs six months prior to 8 November.
5. Point number 4 applies to opposition leaders as well and since you have alluded to all the corruption in the last "70 years", to make public how and how much the opposition leaders own.
6. Please specify the quantum of punishment for any government employee who asks for a bribe from us, honest tax paying citizens. Since we can't complain to the Anti-Corruption Bureau against government employees, what is the option for us?
7. What are the safeguards against our online data being misused. After all, hacking has become so common these days there's reason to fear a complete cashless society.
8. Please find a solution to the fear that the taxman will terrorise us after being sent on personal vendetta missions; carrying a weighing scale to check the gold in the house?
9. While it's absolutely necessary to get rid of the black money within our country, you should come up with a huge plan to get the black money stacked abroad. Put up the names of these as well as all the bank defaulters on the government website. Deter people from doing business with these defaulters. Make their lives miserable even if they are abroad. You are powerful enough to do that.
10. Last but not the least; don't give deadlines. People will hold you to them. Say that the whole process will take time. After all, honesty is the only way to fight corruption. Be honest. Period.

(Renuka Shahane is a film and television actress. This was originally posted by her on Facebook.)