BASED on the little history I know, Muhammed Bin Tughluq, then Sultan of Delhi, found his treasury broke after a 1330 military expedition that ended in failure. To literally mint money, he issued “token currency” — to wit, badly designed coins in brass and copper that, he decreed, were equal in value to gold and silver coins. Needless to add, the coins were so easy to reproduce that they became valueless; trade and commerce suffered, and the coins had to be withdrawn within three years.
Remember demonetisation? It was, Modi claimed at the time, a move aimed at least in part to counter counterfeiting of existing currency. Introducing the new Rs 2000 notes, which were intended to replace the Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes that were abruptly withdrawn, the government claimed that the new currency had 17 discrete security features that would make it impossible to counterfeit.
I had, back in November 2017, written of how demonetisation was the greatest shell game ever pulled on the Indian public, so I won’t waste your time repeating the history of that blunder. I will, instead, briefly touch on the sequel. Barely two years after demonetisation, the National Crime Records Bureau made two statements: (1) That there was a surge in fake currency and (2) That 56% of all fake currency in circulation was of the Rs 2000 denomination. Gujarat led in the list of states where the maximum fake notes were found.
It was so ludicrous that in Bangalore, four men were caught printing and circulating Rs 2000 notes using just a printer and a pinch of glitter. The RBI is slowly phasing the note out of circulation; you can however indulge your nostalgia with fairly decent imitations on Amazon — for just Rs 87. And to think Tughluq got a bad rap!
THIS is not a post to commemorate the imminence of yet another anniversary of that monumental blunder; I was reminded of this only because on my news feed, I came across the results of yet another of Modi’s brainwaves.
On the Article 14 site, I came across this piece that relies on RTI responses to show how the environment ministry disregarded the advice of its own experts to propose easy clearances for seaplanes and water aerodromes.
Narendra Modi — says Narendra Modi’s website — in December 2017 became “the first passenger of India’s first ever seaplane”. Only, it wasn’t, and he wasn’t. The first seaplane service, connecting Bombay with the Andaman islands, was launched in December 2010 by then Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel. But why let facts get in the way of self-promotion?
Which brings me to the story of another launch: of the “first ever” Ro-Ro ferry service, connecting the ports of Gogha in Saurashtra and Dahej in south Gujarat. First of its kind in India, he said; first ever in South East Asia. It was, he said, an “invaluable gift” to India. Thing is, it wasn’t either of those things, as this Scroll.in factcheck points out.
“Imagine how much time and petrol this ferry service will save. This ferry service connects Saurashtra and South Gujarat… people from these regions frequently travel to and fro,” Modi said.
Now for the sequel: As far back as 2019, the vessel Modi rode in as part of the inauguration was up for sale. “There is no motivation,” head of the ferry operator Chetan Contractor said, “to continue operating the service in Gulf of Khambhat. We are clocking losses and it is only a matter of time when we might run into bankruptcy.”
As recently as November 2020, Modi inaugurated a Ro-Pax service between the ports of Hazira and Gogha. This, he said, would save considerable time for both people and cargo. He also said his government is making every possible effort to restart the service between Gogha and Dahej “very soon”.
FWIW that service, which Modi had inaugurated in 2017, was suspended for 18 months owing to various technical issues, foremost among them being that the depth of the water does not permit the ferry to operate at any time other than during high tide. And even after resumption, the service has been reduced to just one trip per day — and limited to passengers only. Meanwhile, the service Modi inaugurated last November has already been beset by snags forcing occasional suspension of operations, and its schedule has been cut to two trips a day from the original three.
Now go back to the original Article 14 piece, and what it has to say about how these projects are being rammed through. Note, particularly, the bit about the environment ministry over-riding the advice of its own specialists. Could it be, do you suppose, that the specialists had realised the plan was not workable? And the environment ministry was more interested in pandering to the PM’s whims than in actually launching a feasible project?
Now consider the larger issues: the first is the money wasted on these grandiose and, ultimately, fruitless projects. Equally important is the damage these white elephants cause to the environment — for no tangible returns, what is more.
And then there is this: A timeline of Modi’s “launches” suspiciously parallels impending state elections (I’ll do an actual timeline on these lines some time soon). In other words, Modi times such launches for propaganda purposes — and since he is attending these functions as prime minister, the taxpayer pays while he, under the guise of inaugural speeches, trawls for publicity and votes.
It is a wonder — come to think of it, it is not a wonder that the media does not call out this BS for what it is.
(The image used in the header is of Island Jade, the ferry Modi had inaugurated which is now up for sale. Image courtesy DNA India)
4 comments
considering your blog as a good And reliable source of how govt dodges real issues, deflects, doesn’t really work etc, which websites should I go to see government’s real achievements? It did have many good policy decisions in past few months. Where can I get good level headed articles on them and not over glorifying like “godi media” does.
Also, i don’t like caps lock. Your website not letting me type small letters.
Sorry buggy interface. While typing comment it was all caps and after posting it fixed the right casing, so I had no way to know if my capitalizations we’re coreect.
As of now, Sandipan, the blog is on and off, for good reasons: One, I had to shift residence, and you know what that involves and how disruptive of routine it can be. I am barely settled in, but I find I have a three day trip coming up mid-November. After the 15th, I should be far more regular on this — and if and when the government does something good, I will reflect it here.
There is a key point to make, though: Every scheme the government announces is not in my book worth writing about. Simply because it is not enough to announce schemes — such announcements should come with details: What does it cost? Who does it benefit? Where is the money provisioned from? What is the timeline for implementation?
The reason I make this point is that this is becoming a habit: Every time there are elections at any level, Modi and Shah and other government officials go to whichever state it is and announce a plethora of schemes. The polls are done, the results are out, and the schemes are shelved. Check it out if you like — Take any state election of the last two years and do a search for Modi+schemes+month (of said election), then ask yourself what happened to all those announcements.
I’ll particular emphasise the two financial questions: What is the cost, and where is the money? Because, to take just one example, a recent news report spoke of how, by end October, MGNREGA had already run out of funds, and as on that same date, 80 million payments are already pending. In other words, not only is there no money for any work under that scheme from November on, an enormous amount of people have also not been paid for work already done. That is why I am not going to tom-tom every new announcement.
Sandipan, had exact same issue with Upper case / lower case confusion. Only to realize it posts okay – but then one has to carefully watch if the caPs lock is toggled on or off.
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