832 There can be no place for pretentious chivalry, when circumstances turn awkward and perilous

Above photo shows the extent of damage which the badly planned and badly implemented Demonetization has landed the Indian Nation. The photo is not just a stray case. There are print/electronic media reports from all over the country that poor people are undergoing hardships. There can be no place for pretentious chivalry when circumstances turn awkward and perilous. When things go wrong, there is nothing wrong in accepting that "something went wrong", (we cannot always see what is on the other side of the mountain, until we reach the top and look down), climb back down, and take a different route either on the left or the right side, to circum-ambulate the mountain and reach our destination. What is more important is, that we should reach our goal, without succumbing in the middle. Such strategic withdrawal may , sometimes , lead to the performer becoming a laughing stock. Well, that will be the price, which we have to pay, to save a billion people from unpredictable hardships.

In spite of our best efforts / analyses / logic / reasoning , sometimes, unforeseen things may happen.

We shall start with an article by Ms. Antara Dev Sen, editor of Little Magazine, published in DeccanChronicle.Com. Date: 16.11.2016. Print Edition Page 11 (OP-ED). The title of the article is "After notes, will our rights vanish too?". Download Link: Click to go to Antara Dev Sane's Article in DeccanChronicle.com.

Question: WHY are you giving a link to somebody else's article, when you yourself ought to have written something? Why do you feed us with second hand material?

Ans: It will be a waste of time to reinvent the wheel. She has written, almost everything, which I myself wanted to write. I do not wish to waste resources, which are scare. I can use the time, to add something more. First one or two quotes from the article of Ms. Sen.

"...The question is: did the PM have a right to do this? Does the government have the right to deny ordinary people access to their own money? To suddenly make their money vanish? Without access to money, one cannot access food, medical care, transport and other essentials. Doesn’t this impinge on our fundamental right to life and liberty? ..."

"...After five days of utter chaos, in which the elderly died of heart attacks and stress standing in snaking queues for their own hard-earned cash, and parents saw their children die as hospitals refused their cash, the PM returned to address us on the matter. Give me 50 days, he said in a dramatic speech, choking up as he talked about himself: “Even if you burn Modi alive, Modi is not scared.” . Who is he talking to? Who could possibly burn him alive? He, with his multi-layered security? Why does our PM, the lawfully-elected head of a respectable democracy, go on as if there was no rule of law in his own country? “Hang me in public!” he had said earlier, inviting us to the barbaric act if we could prove his involvement in the 2002 Gujarat riots. ..."

"...Women who scrimp and save from household expenses and secretly squirrel away some money for their children or the future. These are people who can’t go to the bank and exchange their notes. And they have been hit the hardest. Does Mr Modi have the right to make their legitimate money vanish? In his speech, he seemed thrilled about it. He even wiggled his thumbs to mock the family that had a wedding coming up and no money at home. Does Mr Modi know the country he is ruling? How can he take away the fundamental right to life and liberty of Indian citizens? ..."

"...What is clear, however, is that our basic rights and dignity guaranteed by the Constitution can suddenly vanish like the Rs 500 note. Unless we raise the most obvious questions. Since raising questions is now deemed to be unpatriotic in public discourse, let’s raise them at least in Parliament. ..."

WHAT YB-A-DONKEY wishes TO ADD to what has already been written by Ms. Sen

My humble impression is that this country has got overheated during the last one week. When a Nation overheats, things may go out of control, in spite of best efforts by the Governments.

1. Banks have started downing the shutters of their ATMs as people have shown tendencies to throw stones.

2. BJP MPs who did not get sufficient inkling and opportunities to whiten their monies, may be purchased by industrialists, and the with the help of the Opposition, overturn the Modi Government, notwithstanding what is contained in Representation of People's Act. Of course, such steps by unhappy MPs, may raise people's sympathies towards Mr. Modi, and if a Mid-Term Election takes place, Mr. Modi may cry at the top of his voice, shed tears, and get another five year term.

3. Though we have sufficient safeguard arrangements in India, to prevent military coups, such safeguards will work only in NORMAL CONDITIONS and NOT IN OVERHEATED CONDITIONS. It will, therefore, be prudent to withdraw Demonetization, and start afresh with more fool-proof methods.

a) All airport boardings will have to be carefully watched to prevent suspects fleeing the country.

b) There is also a need to plugin loop-holes in foreign outward remittances, and payments for imports. Customs Houses have to be alert about under/over-invoiced imports, and under/over-invoiced exports.

Clear distinctions are to be made in definitions of different types of monies. Examples: 1. Hard-earned monies on which taxes, individuals may try to avoid, OWING TO HIGH RATES OF TAXATION + PENALTIES FOR OMISSIONS. 2. Monies earned through cheating and corruption, on which taxes are paid regularly. 3. Moneys earned through corruption/cheating, on which taxes are not being paid. 4. Windfall monies which are earned when Share / Real Estate / Gold /Diamond / Commodity Markets go up, resulting in speculative profits. This type of profits even innocent persons can make, on which Capital Gains Taxes will have to be paid. 5. Persons who are stuck up with demonetized notes for no fault of theirs, while they may not be in a position to prove how they got them.

ADDED on 19/11/2016: Supreme Court of INdia News

"...NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court warned on Friday that people standing in long queues for hours every day for scarce cash could turn riotous, as it asked the Centre to take urgent measures to end their ordeal. "It is a serious issue. This affects the entire population. You (the government) cannot deny there is a serious problem. There could be riots," a bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice AR Dave said, drawing a sharp retort from attorney general Mukul Rohatgi. ..." To read this report in full, click this link: Click to go to TimesofIndia.IndiaTimes.com.

This part I shall continue later, as this article is getting too lengthy. It will be worthwhile for us to have a quote from the play "Arms and the Man" , by George Bernard Shaw. Analysis following the undernoted quote is from: Click to go to gradesaver.com to see this quote, and more quotes

"...I’m a professional soldier! I fight when I have to and am very glad to get out of it when I haven’t to. You’re only an amateur: you think fighting’s an amusement. Captain Bluntschli, Act III pg. 63 ..."

After being challenged to a duel, Captain Bluntschli brusquely explains the difference between his own professional attitude and Sergius’ romantic attitude towards fighting. In proposing a duel Sergius believes he can win or demonstrate honor. Bluntschli approaches the duel from a practical standpoint, calculating how best to keep both participants unharmed. Fighting holds no romance for the captain; it is a business and a brutal one at that. Though Sergius interprets his reluctance as a sign of moral weakness, Bluntschli is not cowardly, unwilling or unable to fight. He only knows the destruction fighting can cause all too well. On the other hand, Sergius has faced far fewer battles and fights and is still largely ignorant of the meaning and consequences of violence.

yb-donkey: Withdrawing when necessary for minimising risks to a billion people, also requires 'moral courage'. Let us hope that Mr. Narendra Modi will display that moral courage, instead of adamently sticking on to his ill-timed and ill-executed decision.

Our Indian rulers love Forbes.com so much. Here is a quote-of-the-day from their website http://www.forbes.com/profile/bill-gates/.

"If you make a mistake, own it and move quickly to fix it.”

--Tooey Courtemanche.

We should add two more adverbs before "to fix it": move quickly, wholeheartedly, sincerely without grugeful reluctance, to fix it.

To continue. सशेष. ఇంకా ఉంది.