Smart Governance
ArthaKranti
Is India Moving Towards Implementation
Anil Bokil, the leader of a Pune based economic think-tank called ArthaKranti, claims to have advised Prime Minister Narendra Modi to demonetize Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.
According to media reports, in 2013 Bokil and few other members of the ArthaKranti had a two-hour long meeting with Modi, who was then serving as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. The ArthaKranti team gave a detailed presentation to Modi on how the country’ s financial system could be cleaned up, and made more transparent and corruption-free.
Bokil also met Modi in 2014, 2015, and even this year when Modi is reported to have met Bokil with the financial services secretary Hasmukh Adhia
The demonetizing of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes is one of the key proposals of ArthaKranti. The organization also wants the government to abolish income tax and 56 other taxes and replace it with a Banking Transaction Tax( BTT) of 2 % on earnings.
ArthaKranti’ s five-point agenda includes the following:
1. Withdrawal of all taxes and duties of central, state, and local body government except customs or import duties.
2. Every transaction will be routed through the bank and will attract deduction in appropriate percentage as“ Transaction Tax” of around 2 %.
3. Withdrawal of high denomination currency notes.
4. Cash transactions will not attract any transaction tax.
5. Government should make legal provisions to restrict cash transactions up to a limit of Rs. 2000.
The ArthaKranti website lists the following direct benefits of their economic proposal: 1. Savings in amount of taxes paid 2. No tax returns & No tax compliance cost
3. Adequate tax revenue for each level of Government( Center, State and Local).
4. Transparency in the Economy
November 2016 14 www. smartgovernance. in