14 AN EPIPHANY OF IDEAS THE TIMES OF INDIA, JAIPUR

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2017

A thought for today

We don’t need new taxes. We need new taxpayers.
And then we need a government that has the discipline
to use that additional revenue to pay down the debt
Why Sequencing Matters
MARCO RUBIO
Demonetisation, followed by GST, was the right prescription for inclusive economic growth

Broaden Tax Base Raghbendra Jha amounts of cash involves large risks of
its own and fuels government inefficiency
The right sequencing of and corruption. A Time magazine
economic policies, while report suggests that carrying out trans-
Leaks and demonetisation have enriched exceptionally impor-
tant for the success of
actions by cash actually hurts the poor
more than the rich, since it is harder to
database, now harness it sensibly economic reform, is protect cash against theft, decay and
relatively neglected in natural disasters.

T
he foundation of a modern nation state is an efficient tax popular discussion. For example, Some have argued that since of the
system. This translates into a policy characterised by macroeconomic stabilisation of a country Rs 15.44 lakh crore worth of currency
moderate tax rates and a large base of tax payers. Recent with high inflation, sluggish output denotified all but Rs 16,000 crore came
developments across the world show that these two objectives can be growth and an overvalued exchange rate back into the banking system demoneti-
would require that the correction to the sation was a failure. This argument is
realised if governments harness the ubiquity of communications exchange rate precede stabilisation wrong. All bank deposits have enough
technology to create a suitable database. Subsequently, information policy. Reversing this sequence would information to identify the depositor.
has to be complemented by a non-intrusive approach to close not yield the desired results. Former US Large depositors can be pursued to
loopholes and ensure legitimate taxes are collected. Fed governor Ben Bernanke, in a lucid check their legitimacy. According to an
Through all the pain and dislocation stemming from last year’s review of the interaction between ET report, the CBDT has discovered
demonetisation exercise, one positive was a significant addition to exchange rate policy and monetary policy unexplained cash worth Rs 3 lakh crore
argues that floating (or at least flexible) in bank accounts.
government’s database. To illustrate, about 35,000 firms of dubious exchange rates can function as automatic Although the demonetisation pro-
provenance deposited and later withdrew Rs 17,000 crore. Data of stabilisers and shock absorbers leaving gramme was kept a well-guarded secret,
this nature can significantly enhance the efficacy of moves to monetary policy free to concentrate on the government had prepared the
curb tax evasion. Big data provides the possibility of widening the its core responsibility of inflation and population well. Opening of a large

tax base without resorting to heavy- output stabilisation.
handed methods. Thus not only are A similar argument is relevant to the
current debate in India on demonetisa-
honest tax payers not asked to bear a tion and GST. Many seem to agree that
larger compliance burden, the system GST is a good policy (although some
becomes fairer by getting more people might say that it was implemented too
to shoulder responsibility. In this soon and that GST rates have yet to find
context, an encouraging step has been their optimal levels) but some criticise
the creation of a tax policy research demonetisation. An important point to
unit in finance ministry to study the
understand here is that without demo-
netisation GST could not be a success.
data being generated. These two policies together and their
Separately, the so-called “Paradise sequencing has drastically reduced the
Papers” represent a leak of 13.4 million size of the informal economy in India.
records primarily from an offshore law firm in the Caribbean and As M Shahe Emran and Nobel laureate
company registries of 19 tax havens. This and similar leaks show how Joseph Stiglitz show in an important
paper “On selective indirect tax reform
lax laws in tax havens often allow companies and individuals to sidestep in developing countries”, VAT (GST’s
taxes and conceal ownership details from relevant regulators. This predecessor applied to goods only)
opaque system also provides cover to finance criminal pursuits and in an economy with a large informal
terrorism. Over the last few years, governments through fora such as sector (like India’s) introduces a strong
G20 have tried to step up sharing of information by tax authorities. distortion between formal and informal
Much more needs to be done here. sectors of the economy and hence
reduces welfare.
The key to dealing with current tax evasion is to harness data. In Apart from this, transactions could
pursuit of this aim, India’s tax departments have to enhance their move into the informal economy whence
skills and approach. Data mining has emerged as the most important tax collections would be sluggish. This
tool in this regard. But this tool’s potential will be actualised only if has been borne out by Indian experience.
it is utilised in a framework which includes sensible legislation and VAT was introduced into India on April
enforcement. It is possible to widen India’s tax base in an unobtrusive 1, 2005 and indirect tax revenues were
stagnant in response. According to the
manner. But if, on the contrary, the government chooses to unleash ministry of finance’s Indian Public
‘tax terrorism’ for political reasons, that will further worsen an
investment climate that is already poor.
Finance Statistics 2014-15 Centre and
state indirect tax revenue was 11.37% of
GDP in 2005-06, 11.77% in 2006-07, 11.06%
in 2007-08, 10.43% in 2008-09, 9.63% in
2009-10, and hovered between 10.53%
(2010-11) and 11.57% (2014-15).
It follows that it was essential to
sharply reduce the size of India’s infor-
mal economy to make GST a success. By
this logic, demonetisation should have
occurred before the implementation of
VAT in 2005. There is no gainsaying the
fact that prior to November 2016 India
had a very large informal economy. A
key indicator of this was the overwhel-
mingly large proportion of transactions
carried out using cash (the 2015 currency
to GDP ratio was 12.51% for India
compared to 9.34% for China, 7.38% for
the US and 2.45% for Norway).
According to a recent Bloomberg
report India unearthed more than a billion
dollars in illegal cash holdings from
more than 2,00,000 shell companies post-
demonetisation. This Bloomberg report
also cites McKinsey & Co to suggest that
in 2013 India’s black economy was nearly
30% of GDP. Clearly, the situation was
unsustainable and had to be addressed.
Uday Deb
Another major spinoff from the
dual policies of demonetisation
and GST has been the sharp
increase in tax revenue and
number of taxpayers (both
direct and indirect taxes)
Gains from moving towards electronic
modes of payment are compelling.
Electronic payments and transfers pro-
vide an easy audit trail for governments
to tax individuals and businesses and
track illegal transactions such as
money laundering, financing of crime,
terrorism and drug smuggling. No
wonder, some governments (eg Den-
mark), routinely discourage the use of
currency notes. Businesses, too, benefit
from a move from cash to e-transactions
as there is evidence (from Australia)
that people spend more when paying
electronically.
Electronic means of payment provide
greater security of transactions despite
the threat of cybercrime. Carrying large
number of Jan Dhan and other bank
accounts ensured that ordinary people
had an avenue to deposit their invalid
Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Thus, a welcome
byproduct was the sharp growth in
financial inclusion, something that
was talked about for decades but had
remained elusive. By announcing a
generous amnesty scheme for tax
dodgers well before November 2016 the
government ensured that those who
wanted to come clean on their financial
affairs had an opportunity to do so.
Indian tax/GDP ratio is lower than
that of many countries with comparable
per capita GDP in PPP terms. Another
major spinoff from the dual policies of
demonetisation and GST has been the
sharp increase in tax revenue and
number of taxpayers (both direct and
indirect taxes). Many areas urgently
need public expenditure and the higher
tax revenue will facilitate this.
To conclude, demonetisation and
GST have been momentous structural
reforms in India. Although their imple-
mentation caused temporary hardships
to many, faster, more transparent and
inclusive economic growth lasting well
into the future is now imminent.
The writer is Professor of Economics,
Australian National University

Why we love Critter Twitter: Animal clickbait is

Humour In Chains a sign of our growing distance from nature
A cartoon can sometimes be a lampoon,
that does not deserve arrest Amulya.Gopalakrishnan@timesgroup.com elephants having a bucket bath.
They’re just a few seconds of escape,
Berger calls a monument to the impossi-
bility of a real encounter.

I
n a particularly gruesome incident in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, a Pidi, the wonder dog
family of four immolated themselves allegedly after being who does a namaste and
balances cookies on his
hounded by usurers. The morbid satire through which cartoonist
snout, scored many
G Bala portrayed the incident may have been in bad taste, but the points for Rahul Gandhi
state’s response was worse. Bala’s arrest for allegedly defaming TN on Twitter. Buddy, Jay
chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami, Tirunelveli district collector Panda’s little dog who wouldn’t fetch
and city police commissioner for merely drawing a cartoon is an anything unless he wanted to, was offered
example of sheer intolerance. Bala may even wryly note how he has up as a freethinking rival. Everyone
awwed and exclaimed, and an otherwise
unwittingly become subject matter for other cartoonists, but only if
aggressive corner of social media was
they do not fear his fate befalling them. more pleasant for a bit, because of all the
Thus each act of censorship serves a pet love on display.
chilling effect on free speech and dissent. So some of our politicians have
Holding public office in a democracy exposes figured out the purest form of clickbait –
one to the public gaze and blame games, even cute animals. Ask any of the masters of
digital manipulation, the easiest route
undeserving, are routine. Criticism, when it
to virality is an animal gif. As the saying
comes, can be in bad taste. But no government goes, the internet is made of cats.
can set itself up as an arbiter of taste as that Social media offers up these daily
would soon become an alibi for censorship doses of cute. When the world is too much
and suppression of the freedom of expres- with you, you can watch reels of guilty
sion that is guaranteed by the Indian Constitution. Silencing critics puppies and silly kittens and heartwar-
ming inter-species friendships. There
by jailing them is antithetical to democracy.
have been ‘cute-offs’ – where scientists
In 2012, Aseem Trivedi faced sedition charges over anti-corrup- shared rare specimens from the animal
tion cartoons. That same year Parliament was stalled over a 1949 world, all tiny and big-eyed and goofy, to
cartoon by Shankar, reproduced in an NCERT textbook, which alle- judge which was the most irresistible.
gedly denigrated BR Ambedkar. Recently comedian Shyam Rangeela The more human acrimony there is,
was told not to mimic Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Congress the more we respond to animal adorability.
I’ve recently loved videos of a hedgehog
leader Rahul Gandhi on television. But democracy without freedom
being washed under a tap and combed
of expression or humour is like a cripple without crutches. In his with a toothbrush, a bee having a wee, an
last Constituent Assembly speech, Ambedkar said: “In politics, orangutan collapsing with laughter, baby
bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual
dictatorship.” But Bala’s case also highlights the inefficacy of crude
attempts at censorship; his cartoon went viral soon after his arrest.
dilbert
consolation and amusement. But collecti-
vely, this distraction is serious business.
As New York Times culture critic Neil
Genzlinger estimated in 2010, tongue in
cheek, that humans had spent 48,45,00,000
seconds, more than 15 years, watching a
17-second video called ‘Surprised Kitty’.
And of course you’ll find many
scholars and academics making heavy
weather of this sweet and silly genre.
Scientists have tried to identify the
essence of cute animal images, saying
it’s all about a creature being babylike,
and triggering chemicals of tenderness
What is ‘cute’ really about?
It’s our reaction to someone’s
helpless appeal. To find
something cute, you have
to first feel your own
dominance with respect to it
and nurturing in human adults. Social
scientists have seriously speculated about
whether this phenomenon is really all
about softening the conditions of work
under neoliberalism, a response to post-
industrial workplaces that demand your
playfulness as well as your hard work.
But whatever else they are, animal
videos are the ultimate expression of
our self-centredness. They’re a sign of
how estranged and removed we are from
the natural world, how nature is not only
domesticated, it is abstracted into these
itsy-bits of entertainment.
John Berger’s famous essay on looking
at animals describes how they became
marginalised through the centuries,
almost to the point of disappearance, as
they move from “caves to carts to cages”
in a human world. He writes of that
strange gaze that once passed between
animals and humans, where they regar-
ded each other through a “narrow abyss
of non-comprehension”. It was an uns-
peaking companionship of distinct and
parallel species; one did not exist to
confirm the other. Later, animals became
seen as economic resources, as meat
and leather and horn, and as draught
animals. Now they exist in zoos, which
Of course, this story isn’t exactly the
same in non-Western contexts, for cultures
influenced by Hindu, Jain and Buddhist
beliefs that see animals in a hierarchical
continuum with humans. But the fact
remains that for many urban Indians,
animals are mainly encountered on scre-
ens, or as pets that are treated like play-
things or minor members of the family,
groomed and bathed and taken to the doc-
tor, stripped of their dignity and mystery.
And if zoos reduced animals to pure
spectacle, cute animal videos probably
point to a further degradation in the
relationship. I mean, think about it, what
is ‘cute’ really about? It’s our emotional
reaction to someone’s helpless appeal. It is
what cultural theorist Sianne Ngai calls
an “aestheticisation of powerlessness”.
To find something cute, you have to first
feel your own dominance with respect to
it. Cute is childish, small, something that
lacks sharp edges or agency.
But here we are anyway, in the times
we live in. There will always be some
people who instinctively respond to other
creatures, who seek them out, and are
enlarged by that coexistence. Most of us
can’t do that. It might be a loss for humans
in general to lose this animal connection
and make do with Planet Internet, but at
least there’s some compensation. If you
don’t find the tiny roar of a tiny lion
adorable, are you even human?
Sacredspace
Douse Anger

Comedy of errors Staying angry always is

not a good thing:
What went down between Akshay Kumar, “My dear, don’t let the sun go
Mallika Dua and Mrs Akshay down upon your anger; forgive
each other, help each other,
Radhika Vaz
and begin again tomorrow.”
As a fan of comedy i haven’t been following The Great Indian
Laughter Challenge. However, as a fan of drama, i was enthusi- Louisa May Alcott,
astically following the Akshay Kumar Hot Mess Fest. To recap Little Women
for those of you who have a life here is what happened: A Bolly-
wood star was asked to tell jokes. Clearly the producers forgot

The Spiritual Dimension Of Neuroplasticity

the Karan-Saif-Varun debacle from IIFA 2017. Guys you
wouldn’t hire an electrician to deliver a baby would you? Or maybe they would.
Anyway, i watched the footage where Akshay, in an attempt to be funny,
offered to bajjao Mallika Dua, the actual comedian on that set. Being a Madrasi
by culture i asked my north Indian friends to explain the meaning of the word Pulkit Sharma brain leading to a structural transforma- genesis of this cosmic delusion. An idea that spiritual quotient is hard-wired in
bajjao. Let’s just say that the most popular definition was similar to my own tion. Further, if a particular part of the of creation sprouted in infinite the human brain. But, most of us don’t
favourite four-letter word from the English language. And this definition

A
few decades ago, it was believed
appears to be the one Mallika’s dad was operating with because he made sure to that the structure and functions of
Facebook his disgust with Akshay offering to bajjao him back – a vision i am mind were totally dependent upon
now unable to rid myself of. genetics, age and early childhood
While Akshay remained decidedly quiet (better late than never i suppose) experiences. Psychologists thought that
the next player, or shall we say khiladi, to leap in to the frame was Mrs Funny- genes provided the blueprint for our
bones aka Mrs Akshay. I think the producers were hoping she would mental capacity and that favourable
write his material for him but clearly she did not. However, in an childhood experiences supported its
effort to support her man she tweeted this: “Why did Akshay Kumar optimal growth while unfavourable
go to the mosque? He wanted to hear some duas.” I hope that when my experiences sabotaged it. There was also a
own husband behaves like a giant jackass – and they all do ladies, they all do – i widespread consensus that till youth, the
can retain my sense of humour, however weak, instead of trying to strangle human mind achieved its maximum
him. Although to be fair she may just be in shock from this entire backlash growth and thereafter it started declining
because here is the truth, good-looking people get away with embarrassingly with age, injury or illness. But the dis-
unfunny jokes and powerful men get away with everything. covery of neuroplasticity has changed the
But back to Akshay. I assumed, that as a man who seems to be hacking away manner in which contemporary science
at feminist causes by highlighting them in his recent films, he would have put
the matter to rest by issuing a well-deserved apology to Miss Dua, and so i
and psychology look at the human mind.
Neuroplasticity is the robust ability of
searched the interwebs for one. What i found instead was his sincerest mea our brain to change its structure and
culpa to our national flag for holding it upside down. Yes, Akshay has even functions in response to inner aspiration,
found the strength and humility to say sorry to an inanimate object but not for outer experiences and new learning.
objectifying a living woman. When anyone learns a novel skill, new
The writer is a comedian neural pathways are formed in their
brain gets damaged due to an injury or
illness, then other areas of the brain are
capable of performing its functions with
equal proficiency. Once we learn to
exercise the power of our mind, we can
permanently shed our negative emotio-
nal states, unhealthy habits,
dysfunctional thought patterns
and psychological disorders.
Scientific research in
neuroplasticity is still in its early
stages and perhaps we are yet
unaware of the mind’s potential.
From a consciousness perspec-
tive, the mind seems to be
functioning at a primitive level.
Paramahansa Yogananda
observed that although the mind
speaking
exists within Brahmn, universal tree
consciousness, it remains trapped in
ignorance and is unable to identify and
connect to Brahmn.
The Yoga Vasistha elucidates the
consciousness and as a result, the mind
manifested. The mind then contempla-
ted several aspects and it spread out to
create various forms. In the process, the
mind developed a strong identification
with these aspects and forms and forgot
pure consciousness. At present,
we are confined by this mental
conditioning and continue to be
disconnected from universal
consciousness.
Sri Aurobindo said, don’t
lose hope, as deep within our
mind, exists the manomaya
purusha, the mental self. This is
the pure awareness that is receptive
to grace and guidance from
higher consciousness. In order
to allow this part to manifest
and perform its function, we need to
purify and transform the lower parts of
our mind. Recently, researchers at the
University of California also concluded
know how to stimulate it and therefore it
remains hidden.
If we wish to grow, we cannot remain
content with neuroplasticity at the level
of rudimentary cognition. We need to
evolve this skill and take it to the point
where our brain becomes capable of
forming neural pathways to activate
spiritual intelligence and mirror infinite
consciousness. When the mind learns to
effortlessly concentrate on a single point,
it opens itself up to higher realms.
Subsequently, we can reverse the process
of faulty identification by retraining our
mind to contemplate pure consciousness.
When the mind tries to dwell upon
infinite consciousness that pervades all
forms, appearances and elements, it
gradually realises that there exists only
Brahmn and nothing else. Consequently,
the same mind that has been confining us
becomes capable of liberating us.
(The writer is a clinical psychologist.)