New Delhi (IPA Service)Napoleon had once said,”…Money has no motherland; Financiers are without patriotism and also without decency. Their sole object is gain”. Though not visible, it is the creed on which the finance capital takes roots. India is slowly stumbling towards the higher state of capitalism which does not have a face but in essence is merger of industrial capital and banking capital. The notification by the RBI on June 8, 2023 allows the commercial banks to negotiate compromise settlements with wilful defaulters who refuse to settle the outstanding loans despite having capacity to repay and to settle their outstanding debts once and for all.
The notification further said, any criminal process that might have been initiated against such defaulters would continue; the concerned bank was to take precautions that while negotiating such a statement, it will not burden itself with litigation and other expenses. After five years, such defaulters may be considered eligible for any fresh loan! It is quite consistent with the rationale of finance capital. Finance is usually an ‘excellent servant’, but ‘cruel master’.
The world is in fact witnessing today an inequitable order promoted in the process of globalization. Attempts are made to destroy not only the federalism, there is also horror of fundamentalist terrorism growing against everything that is secular, democratic, and also socialist. In order to discredit the bedrock of our democracy, our Constitution, is also facing the knife from the Right Reaction. Its unitary and the federal structure that represent its composite character are also going to fade. Any regional initiative or even aspiration is not to be permitted. For example, in 2017, the GST was imposed on states. But the rate of tax on different commodities was not to be decided by them. It was given to them earlier as their constitutional right, but was usurped by the Centre.
The states have to follow whatever amount the centre decides, despite the GST council established with the state representatives. It makes the states further dependent on the Centre, that maintains its hegemony over the entire country. Thus not only federalism gets wiped out, but small and middle industrialists also face a grim future.
The Centre also keeps depriving the states of their constitutional rights. The four Labour Codes and the now repealed three agriculture related laws, passed by the Parliament are the glaring proofs of the same. Now the entire Labour Act that working class and the entire toiling masses had got passed in the Parliament after constant struggle stand abolished. Instead there are the four labour codes that subsume 29 existing labour laws. Labour is in the concurrent list, with rights to legislate given both to state and the centre by the Constitution. But the government at the Centre was keen to support the corporate sector and introduced the right to hire and fire policies, fixed term employment, increased working hours and reduced minimum wage norms. The states were forced to formulate complying rules under these Codes to get them implemented. The three farm laws under state list were repealed only under immense pressure of the farmers’ movement.
There is no endorsing or financing the helpless masses in the states in times of crisis. The welfare funds allotted for the purpose and to be released by the Centre are not only delayed but also refused to the states in need. The schemes implementation are delayed, less paid, and get indebted despite the funds lying either idle or channelled in other streams. The rural job guarantee scheme (MGNREGS) scheme has been the worst victim for which Central funds are never enough making the states always accumulating huge debts. Several other central schemes like education programs, scholarships for SC/ST, child and mother nutrition programmes, minority development schemes are several such examples that have been axed without any qualms. Depriving the states of their welfare funds has been destroying the state’s financial situation. As a result they are rendered weaker and more dependent on Central largesse.
There is also the intervention of Hindutva ideas, an ultra-nationalistic stream, with particular stress on fragmentation through communalism. The purpose is to change the connotation of both unity and diversity. There are the sham patriotic sentiments uttered and imposed with glorification of war. In the same breath, there are initiatives taken to weaken the country’s sovereignty and security by privatizing defence production, inviting foreign capital in it, and completely aligning with the US in all defence matters. There was also abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir as the state was cruelly divided. The divisive attempts, made brutally, were exclusively made against the Muslim hegemony.
The divisive agenda was followed against the democratic institutions as well. The democratic structure of the institutions were crushed and replaced by select group of people loyal to regime and its ideology. People armed with staunch RSS ideology were appointed as heads and as important decision makers. It is true not only about appointing vice chancellors and directors of universities or research bodies, but also about the heads of various commissions and councils, statutory bodies like police forces and wings of government like the CBI, ED, etc. Everywhere, their ideological onslaught is visible, taking away not only our present, but also the entire historicity. (IPA Service)
By Krishna Jha