When I entered my college, very soon I learnt from my seniors and my batch-mates that our college is lagging far behind at global standards. Being at one of the best engineering colleges in India, it rendered me reeling in shock, disappointment, frustration and a grave fear; the fear to imagine how other engineering colleges are running in India.
Our labs were either running equipment based on outdated technologies or they were embellishing expensive sophisticated electron microscopes which remained untouched in air-conditioned rooms because of lack of skill-set to handle it. Our professors were teaching courses which had become obsolete long back. These professors were very learned and talented, but they stuck to obsolete curriculum because the system didn’t change it for years.
But many of my batch-mates were determined to bring whatever reform was possible within our limit; by approaching professors, HOD, Dean and Director. However, our highly resolute enthusiasm waned every time we interacted with any college authority, and by the time we reached our final year, most of my batch-mates actually wanted the status-quo to be retained. They became so averse to changes that a professor talking about reforms, like adding new chapters or increasing number of lectures, was seen as an autocrat.
After spending 3-4 years at the college, we had gotten so aligned with the system that we started finding faults in every reformative step. We started disliking the same changes we sought when he entered the college.
Now when I see the pattern of discourses driven and pursued by our “left-liberals”, I can correlate it to that final year fault-finding phase.
For long we all wanted the governments to clean the black-money mess, to systematize the method of payment, to use technology for improving transactions, to check money launderers and hoarders, but as soon as a government took a strict step, our left-liberals started nitpicking and attacking every single incident – factual or fake – floated on the social media.
On 8th November, PM Modi announced the demonetisation step; by 9th November we had hundreds of newly-born left-liberal economists writing how demonetisation will topple the economy of India forever. They just couldn’t think or see anything beyond it. They had to run it down because Modi came on TV and announced it.
It was obvious that demonetisation was not the only step taken against corruption. It was also conceded, by Modi himself, that the whole exercise will increase inconvenience and work-load. But these were sudden Nobel-worthy discoveries by our new economists. And new discoveries kept coming up.
The initial discovery of “people don’t keep black money in cash” took no time to change into “people are easily converting their huge pile of black money through bankers”. Soon there were tons of articles on how government failed to check corrupt bankers.
But the joyous season for money launderers and engaged corrupt bankers couldn’t survive for long. Modi, in one of his rallies, revealed that the government has secretly conducted sting operations on banks and corrupt bankers wouldn’t escape. The series of raids conducted by the Income Tax department also hints that the government has not taken the implementation casually, but instead placed checks to catch the offenders.
When the numbers of raids increased, I was getting jittery to see no narrative against it. Then I read an article titled “I-T Seizures Are Illegal Since There’s No Law Against Holding Cash” in The Quint, I am at ease and satisfied now. Everything is right with the left-liberals.
Coming back to the the article, it highlights two points:
- These so-called seizures are illegal because there is no law or regulation that forbids people from holding cash.
- I-T officers across India “are under tremendous pressure to raid and seize” cash, whether in the old or new high denominations.
However as you scroll down the article, you will find it getting incoherent. Under the section, “Illegal and Frustrating Exercise”, it mentions Rs 1.54 crores seized in new currency notes of Rs 2,000 and Rs 500:
Can we justify someone managing Rs 1,54 crores in new currency a month’s time? Is the seizure or the process of getting that currency more likely to be illegal?
The article further mentions I-T Department raids in Chennai for Rs 24 crores in new currency notes, raids in Panjim for Rs 63 crores, raids in Delhi’s Karol Bagh for 3.25 crore in and then randomly plugs in an unknown case of Rs 3 lakh to call it a “ridiculously low” amount.
The other topic which the article emphasizes is that I-T officers are under tremendous pressure. This reminded me early days arguments on demonetisation mentioning that bankers are going in acute depression due to extreme workload. Even in government offices, employees have to stretch for a period during final stages of their projects. Do we assume that additional workload on the I-T department and bankers for a few months is so worrisome?
Funny part is, like me, many left-leaning “intellectuals” were also waiting for the article, so that they can use words like “Lawless loonland” to express their hate they so proudly possess:
https://twitter.com/AbhinandanSekhr/status/809309198362099712
And highlight one case, without going into details, to make fantastical claims:
https://twitter.com/ShekharGupta/status/809341797868666880
Criticism is good, but it should be constructive and objective. Where is objectivity in these bias-laden articles? The article, like many other article, overlooked cases where 50-100 crores of new notes are found and created an opinion piece bases on selective cases. Of course, there is no regulation that forbids people from holding cash, but then one should be able to justify the amount; that part of phrase is completely missing in the article. Why?
By the way, my college curriculum never changed because we “successfully” stopped autocratic decisions by loony professors who thought they could bring reforms with their funny ideas.
Long live revolution! We shall overcome Modi.