Radical decisions needed to improve India's economic situation

While BJP has just recently come to power on the back of popular mandate, it doesn't have much time to rest on its laurels. This is predominantly due to the extent of damage inflicted by the anti-national UPA regime over the last 10 years. For example, India faces multiple challenges on different fronts such as Economy, Defense & Security and Home & Foreign affairs. 

In case of Defense, the past UPA government has considerably weakened the strength of armed forces primarily on account of lack of modernization and limited stockpile of weapons. Moreover, Congress unleashed more corruption within Army ranks which is evident by the extent of defense scams and penetration of ISI controlled drug mafias. This has led to the creation of a strong defense lobby that operates an anti-India agenda. 

The recent controversy over the affidavit submitted by BJP government has not done any good either to the reputation of Government or its own MoS Gen VK Singh. While Congress drafted affidavit was filed with SC, Mr. Arun Jaitley completely failed to minimize the damage caused by the faux-pas.

From the economy standpoint too, our Finance Minister seems to be clueless about the possible solutions that could bring economy back on track. Simple press statements, that highlight causes of sluggish economic growth and inflation, will not change the status quo. RATHER radical policy level moves can push the economy further.

While Mr. Jaitley likes to send strong messages, his attempts are sickeningly reminiscent of past UPA strategies that stressed on symbolism. Given this attitude, it seems that either Mr. Jaitley doesn't have a competent team under him OR he is completely bereft of any good ideas. Therefore, restoring public confidence will require implementation of concrete steps that steward India's ship in the right direction.

Even if development is a priority, certain decisions can have a far-reaching impact on the health of the economy than by mere manipulation of interest. Moreover, Indian economists, influenced by West, need to understand that the interest rate model has failed to revive economic growth in US. Therefore, radical steps that shake the system will boost the morale of the common citizens. For example, the following are some of the steps that can genuinely rejuvenate Indian economy:

1. Immediate ban on Participatory Notes that are primarily used and abused by anti-India elements;
2. Complete ban of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination currencies;
3. Abolition of income tax because it meagerly contributes to Government treasury and unnecessarily complicates the functioning of government machinery;
4. Introduction of banking transaction tax;
5. Focus on the SME and informal sector of Indian economy instead of BIG corporates that contributes only 15% towards India's GDP;
6. Encourage small businesses and entrepreneurship for job creation instead of focusing on FDI. This is because high level of FDI has not been able to motivate corporates to generate more jobs;
7. Repatriate black money.

Although list of suggestions is endless, the above points are sufficient to make a good start for restoring public confidence. India can be an economic powerhouse only if domestic talent is nurtured and encouraged to participate in India's growth story AND not by allowing foreign companies to exploit India's resources.