MODI GOVERNMENT'S 5 YEARS PERFORMANCE REVIEW - CHAPTER 2 (GREY AREAS)

                                               CHAPTER 2 – GREY AREAS

    

          Demonetization was a bold move & had a great intent behind it. But it was badly planned & poorly executed. It’s a bit understandable as the government had no model blue print or proper road map as demonetization on such a large scale had never happened anywhere in the history of our world. So government & RBI were learning on a day to day basis & were trying to adapt to its innumerable challenges & thus we saw regular updates & changes in the months of November & December of 2016.  With better planning, government should have ensured that RBI manufactured plenty of new cash well in advance of demonetization. That would have helped in the crisis of cash crunch in the aftermath of demonetization. Effective implementation would have caused much lesser trouble to the citizens of our country. Even few BJP loyalists criticized demonetization. After all, let’s not forget that few people died while standing in queues.

          It still had some positive effects though. The number of Income Tax Returns (ITRs) filed & Direct Tax Collections increased tremendously in 2017 due to demonetization. It boosted digitalization. But because of inadequate execution, it did not result in the desired positive impact that it should have had on the economy. So for me demonetization was neither a success nor a failure. It hangs somewhere in between.  

          Government opposed the practice of Triple Talaq in Supreme Court. Rightfully Supreme Court abolished its practice & made it unconstitutional. Government went a step ahead by introducing Triple Talaq Bill & passed it at Lok Sabha. Opposition parties are not in favour of this Bill. Even those Muslim women who fought against Triple Talaq in Supreme Court & have been its victims opposed the introduction of Bill in Parliament. Marriage & Divorce are civil matters & the Bill makes it a criminal offence. It also seems unfair when compared to cases of husbands deserting their wives in religions other than Islam where it is still a civil case & not criminalized.

          My next blog will talk about Positives of Modi government’s performance.