If it's a government cat who will dare to bell it?

Anantha Nageswaran, a financial consultant, analyses the "Costs and benefits of the currency swap..." presently taking place in India. The sudden withdrawal of high denomination notes by Prime Minister Modi was a replay of the old socialist mindset of 'Naked poor man very good, rich man very bad' which has been exploited by politicians to win votes since independence in 1947 and by a succession of Bollywood movies. While the people are castigated for not paying taxes political parties are exempt from declaring the sources of their wealth. Any donation to a political party less than Rs 20,000 remains anonymous so parties have been able to sanitise all their money by showing donations of Rs 19,000 each. So every party runs on black money. The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has never held a productive job in his entire life, so presumably never paid any tax. He has probably lived on payments by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a political organisation, so he has lived his entire life on black money.  The Election Commission said that there are over 1,900 political parties in India and over 400 have never fought any election. Which means they are conduits for money laundering. So our fearless crime fighting PM is going to throw all criminal politicians in jail, right? Er, no. "The legal and taxation regime with regard to political parties remains absolutely what it has been in the last 15-20 years. There is not a single change that has been brought about nor is any change at the moment contemplated," said our esteemed Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley. Which means,'Carry on as before chaps. Enjoy.' Talking about not paying taxes he thundered,"This had become an acceptable way of life and stealing money from the government was considered smart." An eminent lawyer like him has not heard the phrase 'We the people'. People are dying of frustration, trying to change old notes for new. Almost daily stories of people committing suicide for not being able to pay medical bills or for not being able to meet ordinary commitments. Is it the fault of the government that these fools cannot get access to their own money? Of course, not. Everyday they keep discovering millions of new notes in unexpected places, such as banks or from a law firm or even from a bathroom in Karnataka. The last one seems most appropriate, seeing that the Prime Minister has converted our currency into toilet paper anyway. Trouble is that all cash money is not black money. "The informal economy too, whether we like it or not, is a subset of black money," writes Nageswaran. Today plumbers and masons are earning enough to be paying income tax at the highest rates. Will they arrest the 'vote bank'? The Bombay High Court was surprised that no one is ever convicted of corruption. Who can convict politicians and civil servants?