The Reserve Bank has twice released its reports stating that the demonetized Notes of Rs.500 and Rs.1000 have been substantially deposited in the Banks. A widely stated comment has been that just because most of the currency came back into the Banks, the object of Demonetisation has not succeeded. Was the invalidation of the Non-deposited currency the only object of demonetization? Certainly Not… The larger purpose of demonetization was to move India from a Tax Non-compliant society to a compliant society. This necessarily involved the formalization of the Economy and a blow to the black money. How has this been achieved?

It has been one year since the country’s switchover to a new indirect taxation system - the Good and Services Tax. One single tax replaced seventeen taxes and multiple cesses imposed by the Central and the State Governments. This had obviously necessitated every assesse to file multiple returns, have an interface with multiple inspectors and assessing authorities, suffer the cascading effect of having to pay tax even on the tax component already paid, having to pay tax separately in every State when movement of goods took place, to suffer the inordinate delays of multiple checkpoints and obstacles, and being fed up with the taxation system devises measures on how to bypass the tax system.

As we are celebrating 71st years of our Independence, but looking back at the history of these seven decades, what are the things which we should be proud of? Have we really progressed much and reached the level we should have in all these years?

More than 16 percent of our population comprises of the scheduled castes. Owing to a long history of social exclusion, a section of our society was not exposed to opportunities of personal growth and development. This section was called ‘Depressed classes’ by Babasaheb Ambedkar. Coming from the same social background Babasaheb was cognizant of the needs and challenges of the community. In course of his public life, Babasaheb scaled great heights of achievement. After being educated at institutions of eminence worldwide, he came back to homeland to work in the furtherance of interest of the community.

One weekend last December, 28-year old Edgar Maddison Welch, a father of two, drove from his home in North Carolina to Washington on a mission to protect kids.

There are some 7.5 billion people in the world. By 2050, the world population is likely to become nine billion. India, the second most populous country, has some 1.3 billion people and is expected to take the top position by overtaking China by 2050. Amidst increasing numbers, concerns over feeding the population and sustaining the resources are on top of the mind of governments, experts and planners.