By Sadhguru,
Founder, Isha Foundation
The recent step by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make the highest denominations of currency defunct, is revolutionary, commendable and most remarkable. This is a clear manifestation of Swachh Bharat! It is leaving law-abiding citizens in ecstasy, but those who have been conducting their business with a little bit of hanky-panky are in panic. This has not been done without warning. There have been signs, but people don’t heed those signs. This move is the right step to mainstream all economic activity. Traditional business will go into a tizzy for a while. A lot of people may be in a quandary, not necessarily because they are involved in crime, but because we have been conducting nearly 50% of transactions in the country below the radar of taxes. There are many reasons for this. People had the feeling that the taxes they pay don’t come back to them in the form of benefits of infrastructure, services and others things. So people developed a certain attitude of “I don’t have to pay taxes.” But a time has come for this nation to get its act together. Though there will be difficulties, though many people will be hurt, though many people will be left holding a can that they don’t deserve to hold, we have to go through this. A bit of a difficult surgery for the nation is necessary because India’s economy is going to blossom. The entire world is looking at India as a possibility.
The monetary systems and investment processes in the world always bypassed India because they were afraid of us – of our corruption, our inefficiency, our way of goofing things up and not completing anything we start. That image is changing dramatically and the money markets are moving towards India now, and you will see things changing very, very rapidly. If this blossoming has to be on stable footing, it is important that everything is above the ground, nothing is under the ground. If we want the world to engage with us, cleaning up our act on all levels is important.
This is the time where we have an opportunity to reshape this because we have access to the rest of the world like never before, and we have a leadership that is determined to make those changes. And the leaders who come in the future will be of this quality too because this generation will not elect those kinds of leaders who only talk about status quo. People want things to happen. I am sure the coming years will see a much better India – a new India. Every individual, whatever sphere of life he is in, whatever responsibility he holds or influence he has, has to stand up and make it happen. Just governments cannot do it, some other leader cannot do it. Every citizen has to do it!
(Sadhguru is a yogi, mystic and visionary, and a prominent spiritual leader.)
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