{"id":1462,"date":"2016-03-31T06:38:03","date_gmt":"2016-03-31T06:38:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=1462"},"modified":"2016-03-31T06:38:03","modified_gmt":"2016-03-31T06:38:03","slug":"india-gst-business-bjp-arun-jaitley-modi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=1462","title":{"rendered":"Businessman Turned Cabbie: A Short Story About GST"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I<\/span><\/p><\/div>

live in Gurgaon, where politeness is\u2026 let\u2019s say, an acquired taste. In keeping with the tenor of the city, people everywhere are a little rough around the edges. It isn\u2019t as if everyone is outright rude \u2013 it is a peculiarity of the dialect, the guttural tones of north India\u2019s languages, delivered with such a punch that it makes everything sound like a threat.\n\nSo I was pleasantly surprised when Dilvinder, in the most polished syllables, informed me that he had reached my location. I told him I\u2019d be outside my door in two minutes. And he, like an English gentleman sitting by the fire and sipping tea, replied, \u201cTake your time, sir.\u201d\n\nI was thinking exactly what you are right now: Blue-collar workers are not supposed to sound and behave like the rest of us. When this stereotype is broken, it piques the curiosity.\n\nDilvinder, who was driving a citrus-y-smelling Swift Dzire, must have been in his late forties. He was dressed simply \u2013 smartly \u2013 in a well-creased shirt and pair of trousers. Thin, rectangular-framed spectacles were balanced precariously at the bottom half of his nose. He looked more like an accountant than a cab driver. \n\nWe drove silently for a while, as Dilvinder expertly negotiated the testosterone-fuelled Gurgaon traffic. But curiosity got the better of me and I finally asked him, \u201cHow long have you been driving a cab sir?\u201d\n\n

GST had been in the news for so long that it had stopped meaning anything.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nDilvinder looked at me through the rear-view mirror, smiled, and said, \u201cI have been driving this cab for five months. It is my part-time job.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what were you doing before this?\u201d\n\n\u201cI was, and still am a scrap trader. But ever since the GST has come, my business has been doing badly.\u201d\n\nI was taken aback. The nature of TV debates in our country is such that it lends an air of fantasy to the most pressing issues we face. GST had been in the news for so long that it had stopped meaning anything. It had been relegated to a war of narratives between the government and the opposition, a caricature created by cartoon-like anchors. \n\n\u201cAchha, I did not know it was this bad,\u201d I told Dilvinder, hoping he\u2019d elaborate.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s bad sir. There are no buyers, there are no sellers. The scrap business is one of trust \u2013 zubaan ki baat hoti hai. It is a cash-intensive business. But the tax structure is so complicated that nobody understands it. As a result, everything is on hold.\u201d\n\nIt must have been a double whammy, I prompted Dilvinder, with demonetisation followed by GST. Dilvinder shook his head and surprised me with his next statement. \u201cDemonetisation was not much of a problem,\u201d he said. \u201cWe managed that fairly well. But this GST is a real problem.\u201d Traders like Dilvinder were given three months to get rid of their existing stock, and the companies they sell their scrap to \u2013 the ones that make sariyas (iron rebar) \u2013 knew this and had the upper hand. They had no choice but to sell their stock at the rate which the buyers quoted. \u201cWhich was ridiculously low.\u201d\n\nBy this time, Dilvinder was in the flow of things \u2013 his voice tinged by sadness and resignation. \u201cThe real bad thing is, now that there is no work, the scrap dealers I know get bottles of cheap whisky and sit in the scrapyards and drink,\u201d he told me. \n\nI said that I\u2019d been hearing that the situation was bad for small traders, but also that it sounded like a temporary phase.\n\n\u201cSir, the media is all sold out,\u201d Dilvinder said. \u201cNobody cares for GST; all they care for is TRP. You ask any small businessman, they will tell you how GST has cost them.\u201d\n\n

The tax has proved to be so divisive, that its staunchest critics are from within the BJP<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nI remembered the GST announcement, which was made at midnight<\/a>, likely an attempt to channel \u201ctryst with destiny\u201d vibes. But for people like Dilvinder, the days following it have been chaotic<\/a>, prompting many to take to the streets opposing its multiple facets. High on that list was the multiple filing of returns, which in some cases, was thrice a month \u2013 although that might change after yesterday\u2019s GST Council meeting<\/a>. But there is a bigger problem than the filing: Most small traders have no access to computers. Even though thousands of centres have been set up by the government to tackle this, there are fears that there will be a repeat of the long, winding queues we witnessed during demonetisation. \n\nThe tax has proved to be so divisive, that its staunchest critics are from within the BJP (not that anyone expects this opposition to do anything). Yashwant Sinha\u2019s incendiary piece in the Indian Express \u2013 titled \u201cI need to speak up now\u201d \u2013 pointed out<\/a> the mistakes made by the government. \u201cA badly conceived and poorly implemented GST has played havoc with businesses and sunk many of them and countless millions have lost their jobs with hardly any new opportunities coming the way of the new entrants to the labour market.\u201d This sentiment was repeated this week by Arun Shourie, another former BJP minister. \n\nThe current government, according to several sources, is visionary, no doubt. The trouble is that some of its visions have often turned into hallucinations. For the ruling dispensation, the bigger picture is more important than the small man on the ground, the hordes of Dilvinders edged into the margins. If there is some collateral damage on the path to progress, so be it. Yet, there is a hope that the GST Council will continue to meet to take stock every few months and apply a much-needed balm to the economy.\n\nAs we reach our destination, Dilvinder thanks me, \u201cIt was lovely talking to you.\u201d \n\n\u201cThe pleasure was all mine,\u201d I reply.\n\nThe app asks me to rate Dilvinder and I promptly give him a five-star rating. I am reminded of that other app, which rates the government. It sends you a prompt every five years. It is the Indian election. It rarely matters to people like us \u2013 for things rarely change for us and we will find something to complain about with every government. But for people like Dilvinder, it is an entirely different story. They are the ones who will decide whether the current government gets stars \u2013 or sees them.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The implementation of the GST has turned into a nightmare for small traders. As the government focuses on the big picture, the small man on the ground is edged into the margins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":1463,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[1321,2256,2521,2522,2523,19,729],"class_list":["post-1462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-arun-jaitley","tag-bjp","tag-business","tag-goods-and-services-tax","tag-gst","tag-india","tag-narendra-modi"],"yoast_head":"\nBusinessman Turned Cabbie: A Short Story About GST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The implementation of the GST has turned into a nightmare for small traders. 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