You can't win elections unless you win the poor.

"Women need jobs, not handouts," wrote Lalita Panicker. "The greatest hindrance to women's progress is the perception of their economic worthlessness," she wrote."But for millions of Indian women, the power to negotiate has been denied to them because they don't have the economic wherewithal to do so." Women empowerment means giving them money, which goes to the family, but little in way of giving them skills. All politicians, including women, are to blame, says Panicker. The proportion of women in the workforce has shrunk from 37% in 2005 to 27% in 2014. By 2016 it was down to 24%. As the economy of a poor country grows women tend to drop out of arduous agricultural labor, said Sher Singh Verrick of the ILO. As the economy improves further other avenues open up. The problem is that these types of work are mostly for people with higher education. India does have a lot of women in very powerful positions. They are in the best position to know the skills required in the fast changing business world of today so they should give leadership and collect funds to train women and girls in the skills required. Trouble is that handouts on taxpayer money is free for politicians, cash is very visible and it takes little time to distribute, whereas training women takes a long time and is not visible. Hence, all politicians love handouts. Modi went one step further. He demonetized high value notes to show the poor that he was harming the rich, who have black money. In vindictive delight poor voted for him in droves in the recent assembly elections. In fact, it was the middle class which had to queue up for hours to access their own money from banks, the rich got most of their money laundered. Demonetization is a gimmick that can be carried out only once. The poor may have won him these elections but there are some furious people around. Perhaps, Modi understands that because he said,"Today, the middle class has to bear the greatest burden of taxes, of rules and regulation, and observe social norms. Once the poor begin to carry their own burden, the burdens on the middle class will reduce." Which is pure bull because instead of increasing job opportunities are going to decrease. MJ Akbar waxes lyrical about how Jan Dhan accounts, which are zero balance accounts for the poor, are "the most transformative reform in banking history". It is just another sly tax on the middle class because banks have increased charges to cover the expenses for these accounts. "A handful of banks exploit customers in a repressive financial system and often this is done by forming a cartel, taking advantage of the weak consumer protection architecture in Indian financial system," wrote Tamal Bandopadhyay. Power comes from winning elections and Modi will do anything to win. Women and the poor will get more handouts.