NEW DELHI: In the last three years, Rs 31,585.98 crore worth of wheat and rice meant for the poorest of the poor was siphoned off from the public distribution system.The government claims and the intellectuals would have you believe that socialism works. In reality the country is running on its own momentum. It is a miracle that the poor can survive at all. Meanwhile what we have at the top end can at best be described as crony capitalism.
Last year alone, Rs 11,336.98 crore worth of foodgrain that the government is supposed to distribute to the needy at subsidised prices found its way into the market illegally.
Every year, India's poor are cheated out of 53.3% of wheat and 39% of rice meant for them. With the exception of 11 states and Union Territories, there is largescale diversion of PDS grain across India. And, these 11 states and UTs seem to be faring better only because the others are so far ahead in the dirty business. [link]
If you don't find the above troubling, read about the fake currency racket. This thing runs to perfection.
Unfortunately good governance and ground realities are not considered important enough issues for election. The party that generates the most catch-phrases wins. Right now the American liberal playbook seems to be in vogue. We are debating minutiae of religion while making heady trips to a largely vainglorious past at various opportune moments (1857, 1944 etc.).Spotting the difference, especially in the Rs 1000 notes, is a tough ask. The only visible difference between a real and a fake note seems to be the image of Mahatma Gandhi on the watermark that doesn’t seem clear in a fake one. "The quality of these notes is very good. They are made in a bank note press and even experts can't tell them apart,” says Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mumbai, Brijesh Singh.
The Mumbai police have nabbed four Bangladeshis travelling on genuine tourist visas for carrying Rs 1.28 lakh in fake, right into the heart of India’s financial capital. These notes are so perfect that they even pass the ultraviolet test and a discerning banker in a hurry wouldn't spot the difference. [link]
3 comments:
BarbarIndian,
I dont quite get it.. The Euro currency notes have a Hologram, apart from watermark and the embedded silver strip, and the paper quality is much better. The note seems pretty difficult to replicate.
Guess we should have a hologram as an added security measure, atleast on high value notes like the 1000-denomination.
And why Gandhi on all notes, cant they have some variety ?? Atleast have Sardar Patel, Subhash Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh and others, if at all you want faces of people on the currency.
Nowhere in any country (except tinpot dictatorships maybe) would you see notes with only one face on them, and that too on all notes. (I dont see Abraham Lincoln on all American greenbacks)
What happened to the good old Indian emblem on the watermark ? Even thats Gandhi these days... I dont think Gandhi would have approved his pic on a device of the rich ;-)
With Gandhi on every note, all notes look the same except the colour (even the colour is very similar sometimes). So much easier for counterfeiters to copy.....
I liked the look of the old currency notes - no pic of any person, just the emblem and some important Indian landmarks, like the drawing of a field with a tractor on it, or a Tiger, or the parliament house, or some factory.
Gandhi would have loved it, he was a bania. His image appears because of a coordinated Gandhi revival by Congress. Remember that some of the top consulting firms in the world are Congress election strategists. They clearly understand the importance of teaching each new generation the appropriate message. That is why you may be surprised at some of the repetitive themes, especially by CNN-IBN. This directive comes straight from the headquarters.
Not just a better design for the rupee note, we need a complete overhaul of our financial systems to track terror funds.
It is never without a sense of irony that I hand over currency notes with Gandhi pics on them to wine shops and pubs.
And to think about it, a wine shop guy once told me that Gandhi is responsible for 3 business days loss for them (3 dry days a year, the probability of one of them being a Saturday is 3/7. Saturday is the day when business for wine shops/pubs is max, it is almost equal to or more than the rest of the week's business). Apart from that, it is illegal to sell or consume alcoholic drinks in Gujarat, thanks to Gandhi.
It would be very difficult to overhaul our financial tracking systems. Given the high intrusiveness of our government and heavy taxation/enquiry raaj, our own fellow citizens will resist or ease their way out of the government's financial tracking mechanism, before the terrorists.
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