In the zeal of controlling everything that either walks or doesn’t walk, the present Narendra Modi government of India is shooting in its own foot. It is giving one shock after another to the society and economy in the form of mob lynching of innocent people in the name of “cow protection”, beef and myriad of other bans, attacks on minority communities, compulsory use of Aadhar card, demonetization of 86% of total currency supply, GST etc.
Why am I terming these policies as government shooting in its own feet? The reason can be understood with the aid of the laws of human action. Any individual needs freedom to achieve his full potential and flourish e.g., if I chain you in one room or throttle you then you cannot act to do something progressive and you will most probably die. The same is true for the body economy and society. Freedom is the precondition of any growth or development process. If people and businesses are strangulated by myriad of controls and regulations by the government, they cannot flourish and progress. On the other hand, an economy without the government interference will flourish to its full potential e.g., a free market enterprise economy, where there are zero taxes and controls and regulations of the government, will thrive due to market process of competition among entrepreneurs who will be competing to win over the businesses of their customers by providing them best quality goods and services at the cheapest possible prices. Competition will fuel the innovation process which will continuously improve the quality of products while lowering their cost of production and price. A society free of controls, both physical and importantly mental, can experiment with different social, cultural, political and religious ideas and can launch itself on the path of the civilization process. A place where dissent is not suppressed can quickly go on the path of renaissance and enlightenment. A society with a close and static mind will stagnate and decay sooner or later. Only a dynamic society can become civilized.
In light of the above mentioned facts it is easy to see that the policies of the present Indian government is reversing all the progress that this country has achieved after 1947, especially after 1990 economic reforms of leaning more in the direction of market and private sector. Under the weight of these myriad of controls the economy is crumbling. Indians are becoming poor. The middle class is slowly vanishing. And here remember, a poor nation state can never defend itself from anyone either internally or externally! The way Modi government is locking its horn with the Chinese nation state right now a conventional war cannot be ruled out. And, if tomorrow there is a war the Indian nation state only has resources enough to fight a war for 10 days! The controls that the present government is putting on physical lives and minds of people and the way one after another community is targeted for hatred and violence, the day is not far enough when the Indian nation state, which is a forcefully put together artificial entity, itself will stop existing.
