The subterranean traveller suddenly lost all his money. Money was declared worthless by the government and to be taken out of circulation within two months. This was meant to beat corruption. What it did was that it took the traveller's income away. Instead of changing his notes for a bank account he didn't know what to do with in his world without electronics, he kept what he had for saner times. More people got the same idea and soon nobody had money to spare any longer. Only farmers managed to sell some produce, but they had difficulty buying new seeds, which they needed since their age-old crops had been replaced by yearly stock from the corporation, the government telling it was a great idea. Now they smilingly pulled the plug on society, saying it was necessary. There was no work anymore, everything was going down, people were seriously starving themselves, eating as little as possible. The fear of famine crept up. When things got really bad, the subterranean was pulled back into his bed, next to Trandi, with a dry throat and a full blather. Luckily, it was all but a dream.
In India this nightmare has recently become reality. In November the government announced that the two most current banknotes, of 500 and 1,000 rupees, some 7 and 14 euros, would be taken out of circulation, to make the whole economy accountable through electronic banking and therewith corruption free. Everybody should get a bank account and an internet connection and all would be fine. For those backward fools who still preferred banknotes some new ones would be printed, though certainly not enough to make up for the ones lost. It seemed the prime minister was vetted by New York's financial police to have a go at what they call demonetization, simply making bare cash worthless by decree and let people root for themselves as modern consumers. It all had to be operational by the end of the year.
This is criminally absurd. India is an enormously populated land whose economy is built on the strength of its informal sector. Formality is for those who can afford to be righteous. By cutting society's main lifeblood artery you naturally cause an enormous shockwave.
The corruption argument is complete hogwash of course. For the vast majority of Indians corruption is making money without paying taxes, as if they ever earned enough to let the state join in their meagre spoils. Corruption is only a problem at higher levels, where money is used to buy influence, a world which has gone off cash a long time ago and will in no way be affected by the programme. Demonetization, a word which can be understood in more than one way, is pure medieval bloodletting. The body will enter a severe crisis with recuperation not exactly guaranteed. Back in New York the doctors hypocritically pray to their Mammon it will save poor India from their own doings.
India has been in the crosshairs of neo-colonial forces for some time now. Western agribusinesses have been opening up the countryside for large scale gmo food production. The populations, driven from their age-old farmsteads through debt and theft, end up on the fringes of the immensely growing cities. Delhi is heading for 40 million. All these people need to be fed, while none of them work in crop production. Soon India will no longer be able to provide for itself. Imports will have to be paid for with debt. The carefully woven fabric of society, a process of centuries of incremental growth (though already accelerating to dangerous speeds over the last decades) is being torn apart by wilful destructiveness.
India is the example, they will say. If it works there, it'll go anywhere. We're going to wipe cash from the face of Earth. But why start with such a vulnerable country? What is the joy of crash testing your policies on the weakest link? Isn't that kinda sadistic? Notebandi, as the money scam is locally called, is genocide. Whether NYCBD succeeds in denying a large part of Indians access to their own society, or people will find ways around it, this is an act of deliberate slaughter, cooked up by the same old crooks who have always given some part of the world a hard time ever since they came on the scene. Though India is a tough one through and through, a country whose mere existence is a miracle with so many people living in total poverty on a relatively small piece of Earth, a knock-out blow like this one might get it on its knees. What utterly sick minds come up with such ideas? Yes, we know the names, it's the usual suspects and with Trump there will surely come some new faces to the table, but seeing they are out to kill a vast part of us, wouldn't it be time we asked them to step down? Things seem to be getting out of hand.
Meanwhile, think of India sometimes.
As I am merely an early receiver of this message, I would like to draw the reader's attention to a concise update from within: made in India. You can use the homepage as a starter for further reading.
Take care
