To read some of the reactions of the opposition in India one would imagine that the current ruling BJP party has unleashed diabolical schemes, to crush the poor farmer and the common man. Financial tyranny has been unleashed and the suffering is unimaginable, and the GDP growth is soon going into a black hole. The preposterous idea that untaxed wealth somehow benefits the poor by reducing bust\boom cycles is ludicrous. The cashless society based on digital transactions is coming to India, at a whirlwind pace and green shoots, are coming up everywhere. Indian jugaad or the spirit of the people to manage all hardships, and still survive and prosper, is legendary. Some numbers below will show the massive changes going on currently, in the fastest growing economy.

800,000,000 credit and debit card are in circulation in India and 450 million have become active. There are 240 million e-wallets activated in India in just one and a half years. The numbers coming out of demonetization are mind boggling in their enormity. An estimated 84% of the total currency issued by the Reserve Bank of India has to be exchanged for new notes. In the fastest growing economy, it is like the job of changing the wheels, of a moving superfast train. Such a humongous social interaction between the populace for replacing the old notes in Banks, has had a social benefit, as people have suddenly emerged from the shadows. The Banks have increased transactions considerably and the ATMs and branches, will normalize eventually. It was an exercise in good governance, without the preparation and diligence, required for such an enormous event. The people have still come out largely favorable even though minor hardships were suffered by the common people to adjust to the new notes. The RBI and banks have to do a better job of implementation and not, make their incompetence, the reason for political unrest.

The arrangement for mass distribution of your largest replacement notes became a quick bottleneck. ATMs did not work as the new two thousand rupee notes, do not fit into current ATMs and need major efforts to recalibrate. As per RBI, about 8.45 thousand, billion worth of value, or notes, of the scrapped Rs 500 and 1,000 notes, were deposited with banks, by November 27. The huge bonanza of unturned in old demonetized notes, will be a net gain against the outstanding liabilities of the RBI, and a direct gain for the government. The Government can then turn around and deposit those funds, into newly opened Jan Dhan accounts, directly to the consumers. In a bonus of the digitization of currency the redistribution of wealth, can take place overnight. The corrupt will pay taxes and penalties on their holdings, and the money will come in as deposits for the Banks. These deposits and be turned into loans, and will be lent out in fresh loans to new entrepreneurs, emboldened, by the new digital money revolution.

The Finance Minister has made a poor execution of a huge event, dependent on the poor citizen’s patience. For centuries the Indian populace has been put through, much wanted, and unwanted change. New Delhi has had quirky rulers like Mohammad bin Tughlaq and others, who have tried their hands at currency reform. The use of demonetization as a political and social weapon, is clear, and surprised many patrons and foes alike, of the current ruling party. The inconvenience is enormous to the common farmer, worker, businessman and above all politician. The cash and barter economy of votes for cash favors, has taken a direct hit as the new currency is not yet available, and the old is useless, and has to be replaced.

I am sure the people have seen worst changes, and life will go on, and eventually things will fall, back into line. Corruption and the black economy is not going anywhere, in the Republic of India. It is ingrained into their properties and way of life of the urban masses. The FM is concentrating on rolling out the GST which will be another phenomenal change in direct taxation in South Asia. Only 45 million out of a total population of 1.2 billion pay taxes in India. The myriad tax collections integration into GST will help with the ease of doing business in India, if it is implemented well. Based on the current experience with demonetization, it appears to leave the feeling that the common man; is only waiting for the other shoe, to drop. Come hell or high-water their beloved Modi is taking them on a wild ride. 2017 will indeed prove a turning point in the Indian economy, as the government will soon have resources to carry out its bold agenda for growth. . The Helicopter economy is fast approaching and they will be dropping money directly into over two hundred million individual accounts of the Jan Dhan ( People’s wealth) .

Please fasten your seatbelt and get ready for the ride of your life. The stage is set as By 1 June 2016, over 22 crore (220 million) bank accounts were opened and ₹384.11 billion (US$5.7 billion) were deposited under the Jan Dhan scheme. Expect these to increase substantially in the near future, as the helicopter has been primed for takeoff! The poorest of the poor are about to become centre stage, in a new economic revolution. Will this finally lead to the decades of rapid growth, that is needed to feed, house and entertain the billions? The British are long gone, and now their Rupee legacy is being digitized, and technology on a massive scale, is being unleashed. To the super wealthy who may have been effected by the latest reforms, I will only request to listen to one of the greatest industrialists, and consider their sacrifices to be for the good of the community.  “Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community. -Andrew Carnegie, industrialist (25 Nov 1835-1919)

The IT industry is India’s largest organized employer, home to some 3.8 million workers. Problems of low margins in the completely commoditized, so-called enterprise applications development and maintenance business, is not good for growth. They have to re skill their labor, and not get trapped in a shrinking pie of production system’s maintenance. Their great hope is the opening up of our world, to trade and international commerce with a backbone of technology services. When information flows freely, then commercial interests flourish. With the backlash of nationalism, as in Brexit, or some of the current US rhetorics, the companies face an uncertain future. Some will remain body shoppers, using labor arbitrage as their main strength, while only a few will take up the tough challenges and opportunities, which come with a changing landscape. Technology is going to transform our lives in this century. Our future will provide opportunities, for the brave who invest in a new vision, through determination and effort.

Meanwhile in the burgeoning youth population of India, IT jobs are required for a 100 million workers in this century, to satisfy the needs of a growing generation. The current Indian IT companies will have to transform themselves, in the SMAC world; as technology becomes available, to ordinary people. Billions of people need digital communication for news, banking, healthcare, education, social media and everything that modernization and the Internet of Things will bring. The companies have a source of major anxiety in India’s engineering colleges, many of which churn out vast numbers of semi-employable graduates. We have a glut of young, half educated men and women, ready for on the job training, while the developed world has a shrinking youth. This is at a time when IT hiring is going flat and many companies are downsizing, due to the remnants of the Great Recession. Investment is STEM education is the best investment, instead of more fighter planes and war machines.

The challenge is, will India take its education responsibility seriously, and invest in its future to improve the quality of its graduates. Huge investments in Research and Development need to be spent, at its numerous universities, to bring them up to world standards. The University Grants Commission is a spent force, with no leadership or transforming vision of 2020, or the century that is upon us. Precious little has been achieved in the large public sector universities, and most of the development has come from individual entrepreneurs or organizations, who have opened private colleges. The investments in education, pays off many times over, in the life of its graduates, as they become more productive and economically better off. Women and men need the opportunity to become their best in science and engineering, to find economic opportunity to join the middle class. To waste this opportunity, India will become another Pakistan with their war mongering, as its youth is ill educated and largely unemployable in the new skill industries. Their war should not be outside their borders, but they must make the tough choices within, to employ their resource to improve, and provide better life skills to its vast multitudes.

We may find ourselves fighting the wrong war soon, if saner heads don’t prevail. All resources belong to the people, and should only be used by them, for their own betterment. Too long has an army corps been over invested in Jihad and Mujahideen and now needs to fade away, as its glory days are gone? The time of the people has come, and democracy and the people’s business has shifted to development of education, health, finance, smart cities and logistics. Billions will be invested to improve the lives of millions in its rural and economically backward populations. This opportunity is now and the politicians on both sides of the border should realize that a better future awaits, if they do the right things, it can well become a South Asian century. They must work together to increase their productivity and economy, as the Indo Gangetic plain remains a rich land, with poor leaders. Our succeeding generations deserve a better future.