Ranjona Banerji: An economy beyond 'help'

Mumbai Congress workers during the morcha to protest the ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes PicAFPNo question the demonetisation exercise has been a major success After all it has energised the great Indian system of lsquoadjust and compromise to find a solshyshyutionrsquo otherwise known as lsquojugaadrsquo This amazing and ageold Indian knack of finding an instant way out of a difficult problem is the stuff of legend textbooks and management studies It is innovative and entrepreneurial It can get around laws copyright issues rules regulations and official apathy to provide joy solace reprieve relief comfort At a small price of course but anything is worth it to avoid the discomfortThere are lsquoagentsrsquo therefore at every level of society who will exchange demonetised currency at a price The rate started at roughly 10 per cent per note at least in little old Dehradun but has now gone up to between 30 and 40 percent At the lower level a good place to start for this exchange was with petrol pump employees because they were allowed to legitimately accept old currency notesAt the upper levels bank managers are your best bet especially in the smaller branches The stories range from bank managers taking all the available cash themselves to helping important customers withdraw lakhs of rupees to all the news reports of bank employees lsquocaughtrsquo with vast amounts of cash in new currency notes Better not be judgmental about corruption in the light of all the long hours bank employees are putting in across India In all likelihood they must be going crazy with extra work everchanging rules and handling irate customers when therersquos a shortage of cash Instead letrsquos just view them as individuals helping out those they care aboutSuch help is available everywhere now Postal employees have been detained for engaging in lsquoillicitrsquo exchange of lakhs of rupees Policemen have been caught with their hands in various lsquonew for oldrsquo schemes And politicians have reportedly deposited cash and bought land days before the secret scheme was announced But the less said about that the better unless you want to be tagged as an antinational which you must be because even from here I can see the thoughts taking shape in your mindI donrsquot want to imply that humans are essentially dishonest and corrupt But in India we have worked out ways of avoiding lsquothe systemrsquo because we know it works against us For every government process meant for ordinary citizens there are touts and agents to lsquohelprsquo you If there has been any improvement in some department it has always come with a change in the systems and certainly not overnightDemonetisation has just been one more opportunity for the parallel system to lsquohelprsquo And its appearance now emphasises why corruption is not easily destroyed if indeed corruption was the real target of this move A reality check on a digitised society would lead any sensible person to the human angle Take literacy levels They average out at about 75 per cent That means 25 per cent of Indians are illiterate In terms of numbers thatrsquos about 250 million Indians who cannot read and write mdash they are also likely to be Indiarsquos most disadvantaged lotIn which ridiculous fantasy would these people be able to shift overshynight from a cashbased economy to a digitisshyed one I am wary of using the word lsquocashlessrsquo because frankly what we are now in is a lsquocashlessrsquo economy where few have cash and everything is in short supplyI truly admire our strategists and analysts who have applauded this move and its implementation because they live in some wonderful world where everyone is happy and no one suffers Or if people suffer our analysts get philosophical and claim that suffering is part of human existence and so on Or they tell us people are happy to suffer because the end result will be perfectHowever the result of demonetisation seems to be that digitisation is not allIndia and allpervasive lsquoCashlessrsquo means no money The poor are scrambling to make do There are still lines outside banks and ATMs Those who live far from banks are barely managing Businesses are in the red Farmers are desperateAnd corruption in either its most lsquohelpfulrsquo or its most rapacious form is flourishing and doing very well thank youRanjona Banerji is a senior journalist You can follow her on Twitter ranjonaSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycom