(Roshanlal Agrawal is a social activist and thinker. He has been discussing economic justice issues with social activists, economists and organizations in all over India.)
Today, poverty is considered the greatest problem in the whole society or even nation. A lot of economists, scholars, and sociologist, religious and political leaders are suggesting various measures to eradicate poverty. Even on international level, government of various countries are launching several schemes and plans for the same but poverty is growing day by day and no success is achieved. In spite of all these measures, poverty is still a major problem in the world. If we do a deep and careful analysis of these measures, we will find that they are not proper and have been planned without taking care of the root cause of the poverty. If we find the root cause of the poverty, it can be eradicated immediately by shortest possible way in a few minutes. Note that, the actual reason for the present day poverty is not natural but artificial. It cannot be said natural because there is a shortage of any goods or articles in the country. Every commodity or article is available in abundance and in sufficient quantity. Production of all these things has grown manifolds and even growing day by day. We have enough food stuff and other relevant products. All these have been made possible by the proper utilization and growth of physical science, machines and tools, scientific farming and latest technologies. We have made rapid progress in all fields- production, agriculture, science and technology, economy, per capita income etc. but still poverty is a major issue to be resolved. Actually, the reason of poverty is artificial. It is due to faulty and defective distribution in the society. Rich are becoming richer and poor are becoming poorer because the control of all these products and services are in the hands of some vested, selfish and corrupt people who have been responsible for the poverty in the country. It is due to mass accumulation of wealth in few hands and faulty distribution system in the society causing poverty and increasing it.
The true and proper solution to the problem of poverty lies in judicious and fair distribution system in the country. The simplest way to do the same is to remove all types of taxes levied in the country and in place of all these taxes only property tax should be charged.
This property tax should be levied on above the normal level of income of a person and his property and the interest should be at par the prevalent rate of interest. The income of this tax only will be five to ten times more than the sum total of all the present taxes. After deducting the expenses from this tax, a huge amount can be saved. This huge amount should be distributed equally as National Dividend among all the people of the country as Citizen’s Allowance or Voter’s Allowance.
By way of this distribution of wealth, every citizen of India can easily get approximately five thousand rupees per month. This income will be the additional income towards National Dividend resulting out of development of natural resources of the country as every citizen has equal right to it. Apart from this income, one’s personal income against his labour or services will be extra. It will eradicate the vast gap and differences in income level of the people and finally will eradicate poverty completely.
This measure to eradicate poverty will have great effect on the socio- economic conditions of the country. Population load on the cities will be reduced as migration to cities will come down. The villages will be resettled and capable to absorb its people and give them source of income. It will grow the productions and services contribution, even at village level, in National Income. The prevalent conditions of present day tension, unrest, crime, begging, child labour, illiteracy, atrocities, adultery etc.will be reduced and brought under control. This will reduce the gap and differences in society and people will live in peace, brotherhood, cooperation and coordination. Illiteracy, poverty, health and education, all the other social elements will be reduced to nil and it will give us a healthy, happy and prosperous society and country.
How to achieve it: Achieving this social goal is very simple- use your political rights. We know that our country is a democratic country and every adult citizen has got the right to vote. We elect our representatives who become MLA or MP and form government. They are the people who make laws for the country as Legislatures. They have got the right to amend the constitution or its provisions. Taking care of the welfare of the society and country as a whole, they can make new laws and amend the old ones to meet the goals. They have the control on executives and administrative machineries. Even judiciary and rules and regulations for the country are controlled by these legislatives who are our elected representatives. They have huge power and can do these changes.
Thus we see that we can achieve these goals easily without any confrontations. We can make these arrangements by way of our voting rights. We can make the people aware of it; promote the youth for the same and make the citizen allowance an issue in the election and work for the same. It will also eliminate the differences of caste, creed, language, religion and social disparities. We have to stop the dirty politics in the society and nation and work for a judicious, equal and happy society. It will also eradicate a lot of social and political crimes.
Perhaps, the present day politicians will not cooperate in this movement as they are engaged in massive corruption, dirty politics and have been brought by the ‘Kuberpatis’. They have become their slaves and work for their benefits only. They have lost their moral duties and social obligation. So, we should not wait for these politicians and create ‘New Forum’ to achieve our goals and take participation of youths, scholars and scientist who are dedicated for the cause of society and nation as a whole. We can make the majority and select such people as our representative who can assure the goal of eradication of poverty from the society by above stated measures. We need sincere support of 80% of people of the society which will make it successful because these 80% are the worst sufferers. This will be a revolutionary measure in the society that will transform the social, legal and political view of the people and make complete eradication of poverty from the country. Our true and honest representative will be representing in Legislative Assemblies and Parliament and they will change and amend the laws for achieving this goal and we will lead a peaceful and happy life with respect and liberty.
The greatest benefit of this property tax will be that the load of tax will be borne only by the affluent people who are having abundance wealth and property. Though their percentage is very less (about 20%) but they control the total distribution system of our country and its economy. It will give relief to common people from the load of taxes. Secondly, it will make proper utilization of all the resources and increase the productivity of the country. Thirdly, it will improve them entrepreneurship and leadership qualities of the people and make the society prosper, judicious, equal and free from poverty, crime, unemployment, etc…
To make these succeed, the new comities should be formed taking care of the following principles and making them their priorities:
Today, poverty is considered the greatest problem in the whole society or even nation. A lot of economists, scholars, and sociologist, religious and political leaders are suggesting various measures to eradicate poverty. Even on international level, government of various countries are launching several schemes and plans for the same but poverty is growing day by day and no success is achieved. In spite of all these measures, poverty is still a major problem in the world. If we do a deep and careful analysis of these measures, we will find that they are not proper and have been planned without taking care of the root cause of the poverty. If we find the root cause of the poverty, it can be eradicated immediately by shortest possible way in a few minutes. Note that, the actual reason for the present day poverty is not natural but artificial. It cannot be said natural because there is a shortage of any goods or articles in the country. Every commodity or article is available in abundance and in sufficient quantity. Production of all these things has grown manifolds and even growing day by day. We have enough food stuff and other relevant products. All these have been made possible by the proper utilization and growth of physical science, machines and tools, scientific farming and latest technologies. We have made rapid progress in all fields- production, agriculture, science and technology, economy, per capita income etc. but still poverty is a major issue to be resolved. Actually, the reason of poverty is artificial. It is due to faulty and defective distribution in the society. Rich are becoming richer and poor are becoming poorer because the control of all these products and services are in the hands of some vested, selfish and corrupt people who have been responsible for the poverty in the country. It is due to mass accumulation of wealth in few hands and faulty distribution system in the society causing poverty and increasing it.
The true and proper solution to the problem of poverty lies in judicious and fair distribution system in the country. The simplest way to do the same is to remove all types of taxes levied in the country and in place of all these taxes only property tax should be charged.
This property tax should be levied on above the normal level of income of a person and his property and the interest should be at par the prevalent rate of interest. The income of this tax only will be five to ten times more than the sum total of all the present taxes. After deducting the expenses from this tax, a huge amount can be saved. This huge amount should be distributed equally as National Dividend among all the people of the country as Citizen’s Allowance or Voter’s Allowance.
By way of this distribution of wealth, every citizen of India can easily get approximately five thousand rupees per month. This income will be the additional income towards National Dividend resulting out of development of natural resources of the country as every citizen has equal right to it. Apart from this income, one’s personal income against his labour or services will be extra. It will eradicate the vast gap and differences in income level of the people and finally will eradicate poverty completely.
This measure to eradicate poverty will have great effect on the socio- economic conditions of the country. Population load on the cities will be reduced as migration to cities will come down. The villages will be resettled and capable to absorb its people and give them source of income. It will grow the productions and services contribution, even at village level, in National Income. The prevalent conditions of present day tension, unrest, crime, begging, child labour, illiteracy, atrocities, adultery etc.will be reduced and brought under control. This will reduce the gap and differences in society and people will live in peace, brotherhood, cooperation and coordination. Illiteracy, poverty, health and education, all the other social elements will be reduced to nil and it will give us a healthy, happy and prosperous society and country.
How to achieve it: Achieving this social goal is very simple- use your political rights. We know that our country is a democratic country and every adult citizen has got the right to vote. We elect our representatives who become MLA or MP and form government. They are the people who make laws for the country as Legislatures. They have got the right to amend the constitution or its provisions. Taking care of the welfare of the society and country as a whole, they can make new laws and amend the old ones to meet the goals. They have the control on executives and administrative machineries. Even judiciary and rules and regulations for the country are controlled by these legislatives who are our elected representatives. They have huge power and can do these changes.
Thus we see that we can achieve these goals easily without any confrontations. We can make these arrangements by way of our voting rights. We can make the people aware of it; promote the youth for the same and make the citizen allowance an issue in the election and work for the same. It will also eliminate the differences of caste, creed, language, religion and social disparities. We have to stop the dirty politics in the society and nation and work for a judicious, equal and happy society. It will also eradicate a lot of social and political crimes.
Perhaps, the present day politicians will not cooperate in this movement as they are engaged in massive corruption, dirty politics and have been brought by the ‘Kuberpatis’. They have become their slaves and work for their benefits only. They have lost their moral duties and social obligation. So, we should not wait for these politicians and create ‘New Forum’ to achieve our goals and take participation of youths, scholars and scientist who are dedicated for the cause of society and nation as a whole. We can make the majority and select such people as our representative who can assure the goal of eradication of poverty from the society by above stated measures. We need sincere support of 80% of people of the society which will make it successful because these 80% are the worst sufferers. This will be a revolutionary measure in the society that will transform the social, legal and political view of the people and make complete eradication of poverty from the country. Our true and honest representative will be representing in Legislative Assemblies and Parliament and they will change and amend the laws for achieving this goal and we will lead a peaceful and happy life with respect and liberty.
The greatest benefit of this property tax will be that the load of tax will be borne only by the affluent people who are having abundance wealth and property. Though their percentage is very less (about 20%) but they control the total distribution system of our country and its economy. It will give relief to common people from the load of taxes. Secondly, it will make proper utilization of all the resources and increase the productivity of the country. Thirdly, it will improve them entrepreneurship and leadership qualities of the people and make the society prosper, judicious, equal and free from poverty, crime, unemployment, etc…
To make these succeed, the new comities should be formed taking care of the following principles and making them their priorities:
- Remove all the taxes levied and are in force at present.
- Personal property to be made public and its secrecy must be removed.
- Declaration of all the personal property made compulsory.
- Evaluation of property should be made according to the present market price.
- Right to evaluation of property should be to its owner at first and society at the second level.
- If anyone wants to purchase any property, he can pay above 20% of the value declared and his owner will have to sell it to him.
- A citizen has the right to own a property upto his average income level. Above that he will have to pay tax at prevalent interest rate. No other tax will be charged.
- The income received from this property tax will be a huge amount to the government treasury.
- The government should distribute this amount of tax equally among its citizens after deducting all the expenses.
- This will bring economical and social security to the citizen and eradicate the poverty forever.
NOTE: To be taken care-
- Presently, the country is grilled with black money that is the root cause of corruption in the society. It must be eradicated.
- As per the prevalent economic conditions of the country, only the property tax can contribute approximately Rs.5000 per month to a citizen as citizen or voter’s allowance.
- There should be proper charging of property tax to the affluent people so that its proper distribution can be done in the society to make it healthy and strong. This provision should be made in the budget as budget is the heart of economy and it supplies blood (money) to entire body (society).
Article by:
Roshanlal Agrawal
Raipur, Chhattisgarh
There are now very few people left who work with such a stream of thought like our auther here.May your tribe increase.I know of one lady who makes around rupees ten thousand,her husband can not get a jot work for so many years,come night he lavishes an ample dividend of love followed with an ample dividend of bostinadoing.She feels these as wages of orgiastic love.Ample dividends if we can get a commity there
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