Author Archives: RishavDas

04/3/19

Strength in Unity: Haiti

The people of Haiti started protests against President Jovenel Moïse’s government in June last year and these protest continued till March this year. These protests took place in major cities of the country demanding an investigation of the funds received from Venezuela, an end to the rising prices of consumer goods in the country and the resignation of their President and Prime Minister. Their demands were responded with reductions in prices and repression but none of the two dignitaries resigned. However, due to the continuous uprising, the United Nations stepped in the back the military in an attempt to restore peace in the country. As a result, several people were killed and injured in this attempt to counter the protests.

Haiti became and independent country just about 20 years ago and ever since has been a target of powerful nations like the United States who backed up the people currently in power to overthrow their predecessors who tried to put an end to the social inequality in the country. The US has invaded Haiti in the past and created a domestic army to suppress the masses of the country. The US supported the François “Papa Doc” Duvalier who terrorised the country and set up his own paramilitary force. He was succeeded by his son, “Baby Doc” after his death and he tried to establish Haiti as a massive export processing nation by exploiting peasants from the rural population and bringing them to cities. Since then the US and the ruling class of Haiti together have made continuous efforts to take advantage of the masses of the nation and in turn have created tensions among the masses. The workers, peasants and the poor people of the country have been suffering for years, leaving a major portion of the population as undernourished and impoverished. “The World Bank estimates that 59 percent of the nation’s 10.5 million people live below the official poverty line of $2.41 a day, while a shocking 24 percent survive in extreme poverty defined as less than $1.23 a day.”

Haiti and its people have been caught in this continuous cycle of oppression and have failed to achieve any success over the years. Therefore, this uprising from the people was surely not a surprise. It is the job of the UN to defend the people of Haiti in this situation, not just as peacekeepers during these revolts but in the form of concrete administrative measures towards bringing a change in the government.

Reference:

Smith, A. (2019, March 05). Why Has Haiti Risen Up Once Again? Retrieved from https://truthout.org/articles/why-has-haiti-risen-up-once-again/

04/3/19

Analysing India’s Demonetisation Strategy of 2016

In November 2016, newly elected Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi made a surprise announcement to the public during a national address. He gave an official one month notice for the abolishment of the 500 and 1000 rupee bills, which were India’s highest currency bills. The reasoning behind this demonetisation strategy was to flush out all the black money in the nation and starting a new age of digitalisation in India. Surely the motive behind this move was very thoughtful as both these changes were necessary for a growing economy like India’s.

However, such a change would ideally require years of preparation if not months. Modi believed that giving the citizens such a short time period was the only way he could bring out the black money from the economy. What he did not take into account was the large population of the country and the harsh consequences of this strategy that would affect millions of people, especially the lower class of the economy such as farmers and labor. These were people who had never had access to banks and lived in rural parts of the country, far away from government institutions. Years of their savings were saved in the form of currency bills which were suddenly declared as demonetised. The next month saw huge lines outside banks and ATMS. People lined up for days in front of ration shops and banks and this led to these institutions running out of new currency several times. The two bills comprised 86% of the Indian currency and to replace such a huge amount of money in the form of bills would require months of printing.

Clearly, the government had not taken the appropriate measures necessary to carry out such a massive economical change. The replacement currency bills were new 500 and 2000 rupee bills. The 2000 rupee bill was double the size of the biggest currency bill India had ever had and those possessing 2000 rupee bills found it very hard to use them as they were unable to get adequate change in return for a purchase. Demonetisation had a lot of adverse effects. Hundreds of farmers committed suicide in the next few months and many other small and local businesses were unable to function and had to shut down. On the bright side, thousands of bank accounts were opened in that short amount of time and online payment systems such as PayTM and Google Pay flourished. More than two years later it is still hard to tell whether demonetisation was the right measure, but it was definitely not the best one.

Reference:
Dissecting Demonetisation, the ‘Great Crusade’. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://thewire.in/business/dissecting-demonetisation-great-crusade