Those who
are using the internet to become rich and famous are attacking a medium that
will eliminate fakes
The eagle captures the power and
reach of the US: flying high only to swoop down on spotting its prey. China’s
fire-breathing dragon, representing the fusion of an ancient civilization coming to terms with a
modern world, symbolizes the huge appetite of the Middle Kingdom. The tiger is India’s
national animal despite sporadic presence. The Gir lion would be an apt
replacement to signify the changing times. The wish is likely to remain
unfulfilled due to the outrage the suggestion will generate in certain sections
of the talkative population with distaste for anything associated with Gujarat.
They would rather endorse a donkey! The developed world hitherto saw us as an
elephant, huge but lumbering. Of late, the image seems out of place as the same
audience has changed its mind, noticing the under-penetrated markets, the
frenetic rush to open business by sprucing up creaking infrastructure. Gleaming
highways, cheap and speedy data transfer on internet, expanding air
connectivity, rapid urbanization and humming enterprises will soon replace the
idea of India as a land of snake charmers and strolling cattle jostling with
two- and three-wheelers in crowded bylanes. Recent events have propelled an
unexpected candidate in the fray to bag the title: the crab. A few among us are
always suspicious of any new challenge to transform India. They smell a
conspiracy by the bureaucracy to become more intrusive. Not only the government
but even the private sector has been at the receiving end from proponents of
‘neutrality’. Ironically, Sebi is chastised for any move to allow market forces
to have a say and the RBI is implored to intervene on any tinkering by banks
with the prices of services. The battering of RIL instead of the system that
was responsible for its rise captures the inherent contradiction of vigilantes
striving for an economy free of blemishes.
A campaign was launched to discredit
the oil-to-textiles conglomerate despite the promoter sowing the equity cult in
India and enriching many, many people in the bargain. Dhirubhai Ambani’s fault
was to disturb the status quo of the permit raj. Another recent example was
Facebook’s aborted attempt to offer free access to its web site by tying up
with a services provider. Internet warriors sprang up in protest. Not
surprisingly, the fiercest criticism emanated from start-ups who feared being
left out. Services providers buckled under the assault by those who led charmed
lives, fattened on private equity. In the process those aspiring Indians who
would have upgraded to smart-phones turned out to be the losers. That the
experiment was ahead of its time has been demonstrated by the massive response
to Reliance Jio’s freebies. The collateral damage of the failure to build a
narrative to counter the zealous guards of the internet gateway has proved
costly to the existing services providers struggling to match the largesse.
Huge debt and falling subscribers are triggering consolidation and leaving
surfers less choice, a situation that could have been avoided were the
Facebook-Reliance Communications and Flipkart-Airtel marketing gimmick
permitted with checks and balances. Fortunately, the government seems to have
learnt its lessons. It has stood firm as professional nitpickers tried to
sabotage its flagship Jan Dhan scheme, pointing to the absence of deposits and
operating costs, ignoring that the zero-balance accounts are specifically to
receive subsidies. The gradual comfort with the banking system is to embolden
the beneficiaries to wean away from informal lenders.
The important role of the program
was subsequently in play during the DeMo execution, another initiative that was
savagely attacked. Much time was uselessly expended in calculating how long it
would take to revert back to the bad, old ways. Fears of recession have proved
off the mark as the impact was limited even in the period of the
implementation, as per the results of Corporate India. Those mocking the
inability of the government to unearth black money were found enumerating the
benefits of cash. With the shoot-and-scoot strategy of the naysayers unhinging,
the focus has now shifted to conjuring scary scenarios of how widening the
usage of Aadhar is going to turn India into an Orwellian surveillance land. The
preoccupation is with the misuse of the finger-print-and-iris data. Even
conceding that that no system is fail-proof, safeguards can be put in place as
per the evolving situation. The takeover code had to undergo frequent revisions
to make it fair to all the stakeholders. Preventing insider trading is not easy
in spite of repeated tightening of regulations. Despite our saving, investing,
spending, reading, viewing, surfing and talking habits leaving a trail,
embracing of the digital mode is increasing. Therefore, demonizing a medium to
weed out fakes is counterproductive in the absence of an effective alternative.
Mohan Sule
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