A citizen's New Year wishes.

India maybe lacking in many things but we surely have a surfeit of experts on every subject, who emerge around the beginning of the year, with a cacophony of advice for the Prime Minister on how to run the country. Since we are no experts we do not presume to give advice but as citizens, whose welfare is dependent on the welfare of Mother India, we would like to present our wishes for the New Year. Please get rid of the term ' demographic dividend '. It is a canard spread by those who would like a huge poor underclass so that they can spend trillions of taxpayer money on social schemes, which can be looted to pay local party workers. Poor people hate being poor, dependent on handouts to survive and ending up as bonded labor to local moneylenders in the event of an emergency, such as an accident or an illness. An excess of poor provides cheap labor to the rich, deprives the poor of bargaining power and intensifies inequality. Every effort must be made to reduce the numbers of children. That will improve the health of women, drastically cut the time they spend in unproductive housework and give them the time to earn real money. That will be the real demographic dividend. Please get rid of this constant whining about interest rate. True, if interest rates are too high companies cannot borrow but the reason why investment is low is because there is no demand because of very high inflation and taxes. Companies are borrowing abroad at around 1% interest so there is no shortage of liquidity. If interest rate is too low, as during the Congress regime, real returns are negative. To protect their savings people resort to buying gold which is a totally nonproductive investment and plays havoc with the Current Account Deficit, as gold has to be imported. Why not pass a law saying that the interest rate must be kept 200 basis points above the rate of retail inflation. The Reserve Bank will intervene only in unforeseen circumstances. That will assure people that real returns on their savings will always remain positive, get rid of the present mistrust in government and stop the accumulation of gold. Bring down taxes to the lowest level possible. Taxes are legalised extortion. We do not see why we have to pay so much for politicians and civil servants to  enjoy foreign junkets with ' companions '. Please get rid of ' targeted subsidies '. This is another canard spread by the same people who ' love ' the poor so much that they want them to remain poor forever. Part of our taxes should go to a national insurance scheme so that the middle class is provided with unemployment benefit, old age pension and affordable healthcare. That will give them the courage to spend, which will increase demand and boost the economy. Finally, we hope that someone will bring our wishes to the notice of the Prime Minister.