Now Sheila aunty wants to fight black money

If you are a supporter of Anna Hazare and you are in the market to buy a house in Delhi, don’t complain if you have to spend twice or three times more on registering your property. The Delhi government has increased the circle rates — the minimum rate at which a property can be sold or bought — by 100%-215% in areas where you could possibly be seeking to buy your dream home. The hike, according to chief minister Sheila Dikshit, will help curb black money. So by paying more for registration, you will be contributing to a larger cause.

Doesn’t that sound too good to be true?

The reality is that if you are a middle class home buyer, you have already been edged out of the market in Delhi where realty dealers and the tens of thousands of custodians of ill-gotten wealth have artificially jacked up property rates to levels few salaried, honest people can afford to pay.

If there was any hope that the situation would get better, the Delhi government has shut it out by raising the circle rates for the second time in less than a year.

To illustrate, let us take the example of Vasant Kunj, which was until recently a sought-after destinations for many middle class buyers. But it isn’t any more because even a 2 BHK house costs more than a crore there. The circle rates have just sealed it at that. Since when has an Indian middle class family begun earning so much through the right means that it can buy a two-bed house for one crore or more. Clearly, if transactions have to happen at these rates the money in most cases would have been earned through unfair means.
The talk of black money is at best fashionable, and at worst, a hogwash. It would do nothing to curb black money. Because the absurdly high prices of property are a result of both the preponderance of black money and the lack of effective laws to regulate real estate. By seeking to align circle rates with market rates, Sheila Dikshit’s government has not only sought to legitimise the black economy but also deflected attention from the real issue of adequate regulation of the property market.

It’s a smart way of raising revenue for a cash-strapped government without increasing tax rates. If Dikshit had opted to increase stamp duty rates, she would have been criticised for going against the spirit of economic liberalisation that her party has so dearly embraced. But by increasing circle rates, she will not only be able to make up for the budget gaps caused by mindless spending during Commonwealth Games but also earn a tacit note of gratitude from realty dealers who get another pretext to jack up

Inner forces behind the Anna Hazare phenomenon

Apologies to the regular readers of Just Faith, but over the past two months economic and political events have captured all my attention and time. If we assume that attention is a finite resource and has to function within the confines of mind-body limitations and a 24-hour days, balancing politics, economics and religion becomes a rather difficult task. That’s why perhaps spiritual gurus suggest that you take a little time out, preferably at a fixed space to go within and discover the real you.

On the economic side what gripped my mind was the resurfacing of global economic crisis with the reduction of US debt rating to AA+ from Triple-A. Politically, like the entire country, I followed the Anna Hazare journey to another fast that the government first disallowed, then allowed with restrictions, then jailed Hazare, then freed him and now at the time of writing, doesn’t know what to do with him.

To me, this was an opportunity to examine both the outer phenomenon as well the inner forces driving them. When I step back from the nitty-gritty of the economics and the politics, what I see is that two of this age’s most potent forces — money and power (the third being sex) — have moved the consciousness of citizens across the globe.

On the money front, the forces moving about are largely vital in nature and have converged around the lower nature of fear and insecurity. There is an external disturbance that’s making the inner being resonate. Hence, we see demonstrations against austerity measures, first in Ireland, then in Greece, now in Italy are against the physical loss of standard of living.

In the case of Hazare, the forces are again vital but are being led by a higher aspiration of change. Here, it is an empathy for a cause greater than the self that’s propelling people to unite around this 74-year-old. The demonstrations are for the end of a standard of corruption that is choking the moral and psychological fibre of average citizens.

When the government says Hazare has support, that protest at such a scale couldn’t have happened without support, it is mistaken to presume that the support is political or even physical. Those could merely be the manifestations of something much larger — the inner forces that seem to have aligned around the surface disappointment of a nation.

In my opinion, the money problem has a greater chance of being resolved early, though it would mean a tectonic shift in the method, as economic power moves East, largely to India and China but equally to Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa. This is perhaps a return to the past when the developed West was still developing and the East, including India, was living in an inner tamas, comfortable with its riches.

The Anna Hazare phenomenon still needs to be studied. When 26/11 happened, and Mumbai came out on roads crying loud about how politicians have let our country down, the impact ended within a week; in the ensuing elections, the percentage of people who voted fell. Corruption could be a different animal. Since each and every Indian — no exception whatsoever — is a victim of corruption, there could be a larger traction to this change.

On the inner side, there could possibly be the beginning of a coalition of support that is willing to let the body suffer by standing in the sun, in rain or in jail, in order to create a better future for the next generation. That’s why some people are calling this the second freedom struggle, a point I disagree with and one that’s greatly exaggerated. But the inner vital driving people on the streets is strong.