Indian Elections – Also to be Concluded May 23rd, 2019

In India, the Indian Railways posted 90,000 job vacancies. 28 million candidates applied, which was about the entire equivalent of the British workforce. India’s general elections for the lower house of the Parliament started on April 11 and will conclude on May 23. The political party or the coalition of parties that wins a majority of the 545 seats will form the next government. The counting of votes will be conducted on 23 May, and on the same day the results will be declared. Under Indian law, the Election Commission criteria requires that the government must provide a polling station for every person within a two-kilometer radius of where they live. They had to set up a polling booth for just one man regardless of the cost.

Of course, back in 2016, Prime Minister Modi implemented demonetization of 86% of Indian currency. That really hit the people very hard and slammed the economy as he tried to force the people to adopt a modern electronic system in a country where you can wire money and it does not always appear where it was supposed to go. The people rely on CASH and do not even trust ATM cards. Without cash, the Indian economy went virtually into a coma with transactions appearing in kind – barter in one form or another.

Narendra Modi then implemented an extremely burdensome internet-based value-added tax system, in which every receipt is reconciled. That resulted in hundreds of regulations and circulars amending the tax system and has done far more harm to allowing the economy to progress into the technology age. His internet tax was in direct opposition to his Startup India initiative aimed at boosting entrepreneurship in the country. That led to boycotts and protests. Then he proposed that Indian online shoppers’ data is a “national asset” and a “mine of natural resource,” which the Indian government wants exclusive rights to. Of course, that was to also ensure he collected every rupee of tax.

Modi is not a Socialist, but he is a Neo-Liberal Capitalist. He is trying to force India into the 21st century, but his tactics have been very unrealistic from an economic standpoint.