We Are A Country Of Crooks!!

The following is not an apology for the shortcomings in the implementation of the Demonitization exercise by the authorities, but a commentary on the way Indians at large reacted and behaved as a nation.
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About this time last year, this author was stricken with an intense feeling of guilt - so traumatising  that even Macbeth, haunted by the benign ghost of Banquo, would have sympathized.  Now wait; I committed no such heinous crime, but was made to cringe for a while anyway.  By the whiplash of criticism that accompanied the Demonitization (Dem) exercise. Many of the Indian brethren, desirous of seeing a more disciplined and law abiding population were happy that a bold move is being made to reduce black money and widen the tax net.  But the overwhelmingly vituperative discourse that all the opposition parties and corrupt businessmen engaged in, along with the price we inevitably pay for greed, avarice and of course, poor implementation process in terms of human suffering, made one feel nauseous in the short run. On the face of it, the intent seemed genuinely to improve financial discipline in the country and the execution would never have been perfect, considering the chaotic and complex responses from people at large.  What made one hang the head in shame was the well orchestrated skulduggery, at various levels, that went into defeating the objective of the initiative.  Critics sniggered and gleefully rubbed their hands, saying `We told you so; it won't work in India'.  Why?  Because we are collectively a nation of scheming crooks.  The outcome left nobody in doubt.

Dem exercise was hailed and hauled over coals by the populace,  divided by their own vulnerability insofaras black money is concerned. If one had something to hide, one vilified the initiative; the generally tax compliant, who did everything above board, welcomed it as a step in the right direction.  This was expected, par for the course.  But people across various sections of society went on to exploit every devious opportunity available to ensure that their hidden wealth was laundered at any cost.  The affected parties cooked up diabolical schemes and willing accomplices pitched in to help, for some immediate and shameful gratification.  This is the part that hurt most, but surprisingly many quarters in the country shrugged indifferently and with arched brows said `What did you expect in India'?  Such confidence in the collective deceitfulness of the country!!

Politicians of various opposition parties used words like scam, scandal, etc to describe the exercise, without actually explaining who in the government or specific quarters benefited. And the accusers were primarily that tribe who knew what scams were about and how to preside over them.  All the while, such political parties and politicians were working at a feverish pace to launder their illegal hoard, even as they were drumming up popular criticism of the effort - as hurting the common man!!
Critics lambasted the government and said this should have been thought out better and notice should have been given to the public. Laughable - when without notice, banks seem to have received more high value notes than they thought were printed. Imagine what would have happened if advance notice were to be given - people would have printed high value notes and deposited them, using all kinds of fraudulent avenues!

Businessmen, who thrived on black money and used it generously for political patronage, ganged up with the politicians and used every greedy soul looking for a quick buck, to defeat the regulatory authorities.  Family members, young and old, were put to use.  Some older and sick members of the society unfortunately could not stand the stress of standing in lines and passed away.  While the inefficient process was blamed, it was unbelievable that such individuals were allowed by their families to subject themselves to that kind of stress.  Agents readily mushroomed all over the country, with access to banks and an army of people willing to supplant rule of law. They connected the dots and formed a well-oiled mechanism to route deposits to banks, in which some corrupt personnel were only too happy to collude and ignore the rules governing acceptance of such deposits.

Dishonest bankers, driven by the lure of the lucre, gave priority to helping launder black money and deprived the agitated public at large, of adequate supply of cash through ATMs.  Much of the cash intended for public use was diverted, so the ATMs were shut more often than necessary.  Hoards of new notes, recovered in many raids by authorities, with no explanation forthcoming from the hoarders, bore testimony to this racket.  Rural areas, which obviously needed more small denomination notes, did not get the supplies and suffered.  While the actual distribution system was faulty to an extent and the government should take a portion of the blame, major misery was the product of the machinations of the politicos and businessmen with some bankers in cahoots.

Common men, who saw an opening for making some money rapidly by indulging in small time crookery, helped the bigwigs by pitching in with their physical effort.  They willingly let the black money bags use their own small accounts in various banks to put through deposits and launder the money.  Millions of such accounts have been identified all over the country, in which the previous few years saw a few hundred rupees of balance and during this turbulence the deposits grew to hundreds of thousands.  Common men became con-men, for a service charge.  After doing this and pocketing the money, the same chaps turned around and indulged in breast-beating about lack of cash for their use.

Small businesses obviously suffered because they normally used cash, but they had received adequate indications from the government that sooner or later electronic means of payments will take over.  Still, they ignored those indicators and when the difficulties hit them, promptly blamed everybody else except themselves.  I personally know of a bunch of shop owners, who ingeniously decided to take cheques for small amounts and gave credit to customers for a day or two, in order to continue doing business.  Many very promptly acquired readily available electronic payment methods to continue with their business.  The obvious wish was that more people should have done that instead of crying foul and letting their business be affected.

Economists wobbled and found fault with the programme because it shrank the GDP due to the difficulties some sectors like Realty, Jewellery, etc faced.  Obviously these are the ones which played truant more than others and encouraged black money transactions all the time.  When the axe fell, they would clearly suffer, which happened.  Very logical and if the GDP suffers because of this, so be it.  Instead of that line of thinking, many intellectuals and economists blamed the government for this hit to the growth rate.

The primary lesson one learnt from all this is something like a reconfirmation of the long held belief that we are a nation of crooks, always ready to commit fraud if we believe we can get away or if the majority are doing it all around -  whether you are a politician, businessman, bank personnel, trader or common man; the primary objective always is to make money any which way and evade taxes.  Rules and laws be damned!!  Of course, with due apologies to the small segment which respects laws and pays taxes!!

Can we nurture a semblance of hope about the current mindset changing?  The optimist in me says `May be, if we persist with tough measures for a few decades'.  The realist in me frowns, shakes his head sadly and says sarcastically, `Our collective crookedness will always prevail'!!