In one of my undergrad economics courses, I remember reading the maxim Money is what Money does, a statement brought into the mainstream by American economist F.A. Walker and interpreted in a wide variety of ways in literature. In a curious twist in India, a country with a quarter of its population below the poverty line that barely has enough money to “do” things, what seems to be rapidly replacing this maxim is, Money is what Money looks like.
Despite the newest schemes on health, education and sanitation by the current government that claim an estimated increase in absolute spending in 2018–19 by around 13% over the 2017–18 figures, digging deeper into the data shows that there has been a decline in the share of spending on primary health infrastructure as well as on education as a percentage of the budget. Switch to the much debated move of demonetization in the last quarter of 2016, and post ‘stupendous success’, the economy continues to be in the throes of lingering aftershocks a year and a half later.
Apart from the much touted grey catchphrase of ‘eliminating black money’, the foremost emphasis in this up-gradation has been on highlighting India’s “rich cultural heritage“, plastering the new notes with Indian monuments and historic milestones such as Sanchi Stupa, the Mangalyaan mission, the Hampi chariot, Red Fort, and most recently, the Rani ki Vav which, albeit spectacular, seems to have been shortlisted, in the “anti-national” opinion of your writer, simply because it is located in Gujarat. At least the government believes in encouraging one kind of Pride using these rainbow hues.
Setting aside the broader comparisons of success and failure for a minute, if we just look at how much money the Indian State has spent on the printing and up-gradation of currency notes, RBI Annual Report data released last year indicates that the cost of reprinting notes in FY 2017 was DOUBLE that of FY 2016, reaching a whopping figure of 7,965 crore rupees.
As someone who loves the innate diversity my country has, I am all for bringing it to the mainstream, but as a taxpayer, I can’t help but question if our government can afford splurging to this extent whilst ignoring the budgetary shortfalls in basic social security that are yet to be met for a significant percentage of the populace. It is unlikely that a persistent undermining of sound economic principles in favour of political gimmicks will let the government emerge smelling of roses in future.
Or perhaps, lavender.
