DeMo Pitstop Day # 53
In a lighter vein, New Year's Eve 7.30 p.m. NaMo address to the nation was to determine which way many people would usher in New Year's Day 2017.
Between his Mann Ki Baat radio oratory on Dec 25, 2016 and The Road Ahead speech on Dec 31, 2016 the Prime Minister tugged and touched everyone's good-at-heart emotions. Honesty pays. Dishonest will pay. The Government's programs are designed to win Digital and Social Dividends. Maximum governance, minimum fuss for the path-follower. Come on folks, I am leading the way.
So what else happened during the last 7 weeks? Rapid fire Government interventions. Shortage of currency at the trenches. Few hollows of the banking system come to light. Trade and business well paralysed.
Such a profound and important mission - Could have been implemented better?
Maybe the Government should have piloted Cashless in a dozen locations - for good order a Tirupur, Guntur, Morbi or Ludhiana. At one stroke Retail, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise would be known to the Government. The gaps between a GST driven strategy and middle-men led, paper-less trade consummation. There is never a shortage of anything in India - as long as the hungry have the inclination AND the means. As Indians, the Law of Contract means a lot less to us than the Laws of Trust. The Government should have broken Cashless Journeys into easy chunks.
Individual Impact
National mood, clearly has swung from "Greed is Good" to "Fear is Fair". At the individual level, every person now understand the finer aspects between Needs-Wants-Luxuries. Suddenly Rs.1 coins and Rs. 10 notes are being hunted down. From carpenter to road-side vendor, banking and mobile wallets are not Events from a Faraway Planet. They are being transacted at a hand-phone next to yours ! The trust factor in transactions, could return.
Points to Ponder
- Does honesty carry a premium? How much ? And for how long?
- Would normalcy return in two quarters? What is the new normal?
- How much of NaMo's actions were guided by terrorism and fake notes? How much due to 2014 promises made and 2019 elections to prepare for?
- Does clubbing of State and Central elections make Economic, Social sense - today?
- Would the Government become over-bearing, in the years to come.
Too many questions to contemplate during the New Year 2017. And there would be strong head-winds for at least the first quarter, until the Indian Summer takes over.
Welcome 2017 !