Bihari Das and BPLs:

Bihari Das walks 10 kms a day for Rs 2000 from the bank.  He has to make several such exchanges to buy fertilizers and seeds.  Bihari Das Indians represents the REAL India that we who live in "a car to carpet bubble" and in NRI destinations do not see or WANT to see... The BPL (Below Poverty Line) people in India are the other set of people in India who we do not to consider in our day to day lives except when it comes to them being maids and domestic helps.

Sadly most of them are illiterate and do not know how to operate bank accounts. Even if they know, it is the 10 km long walks which robs the time they should be spending on their lively hoods.

Most of the transactions of this vast majority are in cash. 68% of transactions for all of India are in cash according to investment research firm CLSA.  Nowadays many of the Bihari Das’ are paying 20% commission to get their notes converted to smaller denominations. They are the ones who really got screwed and will continue to get screwed. About 80 of them died in the aftermath of  demonitisation, and we did not really care.

Buntys and Bablus:

These are the wage earners and tax payers in the private and public sector. They pay tax and the tax is deducted at source. Most of them have bank accounts and may have credit cards, auto and home loans. They are not directly impacted by this. A decrease in interest loan rates may help them. However they are screwed indirectly as the corrupt loan practices to large corporates get written off. The bulk of the FB crowd resides, there is moral outrage among this class against black money (rightfully), though their views seem to be biased along political lines and a lack of understanding of the lives of BPLs and Bihari Das.  

Here is a comment on FB post that summarizes this Delhi middle class attitude - “Was the life of these villagers were any better earlier?” Nice to note that Bihari Das was not called an unpatriotic and a Pakistani spy..

It hurts when you are a tax payers and you see the black money hoarders. The one question this class needs to ask is – “who are the real black money hoarders and whether we are going after them?”  

Babus/Baniyas/ Professionals:

Now we enter the lower rungs of black money food chain. These are the folks who keep some or a lot of the earnings without disclosing the same.   

Professionals like doctors lawyers, Chartered accountants will be screwed if they don’t have the political connections to convert their cash hordes. However many of them would have already converted their cash into jewelry and real estate.  One doctor in Delhi was caught with 74 lakhs in hundred rupee notes, making one wonder why he did not keep money in Rs 1000 or 500 notes.  Meanwhile some have transferred funds overseas and used several methods to whitewash the money.

Of these the Babus will jack up bribes to cover for the lost money and start collecting and hoarding money in Rs2000 notes.

There is benefit in flushing out this cash, but only 6% of the black money stays in cash. What stops them from hoarding money in Rs 2000 notes now?

Builders/Bachans/Babas/Netas:

These are the bigger fry in the black money racket. While the volumes are large here, we celebrate these people. We show up for sermons by various black money  babas, bhashans of Netas and darshans of Bachans/other stars. We applaud them and donate a kidney or even two, and self-immolate ourselves for their sake (especially in you are in Tamil Nadu) and you may even castrate yourself if you are a follower of Ram Rahim Babaa!! All the while we are blissfully ignorant or in a state of denial as we cheer these black money hoarders.

Once again these guys have already moved money into real estate and other overseas assets.

Bankers:

Rating agency Fitch had previously estimated that Indian banks would need about $90 billion in total capital by March 2019 to meet global Basel III banking rules, said 80 percent of those capital requirements would arise in the next two financial years. Meanwhile deposits in banks were falling in the first 2 quarters on 2016.

Fitch re-affirmed its "negative" outlook for India's banking sector, saying the financial standing remained "fragile" without bigger capital injections and that the government's action on banknotes could end up having a mixed impact.

Corruption by bankers is a bane of the modern society but in India the collusion with politics, business and banks has reached another level altogether. They are the facilitators for the next set of REAL high end black money folks.

Adanis, Ambanis and Mallayas:

According to data in March 2015, India’s 10 most indebted corporate groups were holding Rs 7.3 lakh crores in bank debt. A drop in interest rates by a single percentage point would benefit these 10 companies with Rs 7,300 crores this year alone.

The top 87 of these folks have 87,000 crores in black money. These tax evaders use sophisticated electronic banking and accounting/tax loopholes to siphon money to offshore banks and bring them back whitewashed as P notes and other sophisticated financial instruments. Now that cash deposits have been transferred from the poor and middle class to the banks, the banks have to lend these money. Who do you think gets the large loans that have a habit of defaulting? Looks like Mallaya season all over again!!!

The obvious question is - “can’t our politicians question these practices”? Well, how can they if the political parties accept black money from these kings of black money? How can the PM say “NO” to Adani when he has been using Adani’s helicopters and funds for campaigning?

Can we call for all political donations be electronic and those records published online for a start? Can BJP and other parties take the lead of Aam Aadmi Party in this regard?   

 

For more independent perspectives http://www.netamaker.com/zing.php