When government is a pain in the wrong place

 

AI-generated illustration

Shashi Tharoor described India the other day as a democratically elected dictatorship. He was speaking about the imminent arrest of Arundhati Roy for her remark on Kashmir. I don’t question Tharoor’s description because it’s true. In spite of the thrashing received in the last elections, Narendra Modi has refused to change his style of governing the country. He still thinks he has a divine mandate to rule India as per his whims and fancies.

I have been more inclined to view the Modi government as a humongous extortionist. GST is the simple reason. Modi’s government has been collecting unjustifiable amounts in the name of GST. Let me give only a couple of personal examples.

The other day I received a notification from my health insurers. It’s time to renew my policy if I wish to continue its benefits. The company doesn’t seem quite eager to have me continue it. My agent tells me that once a client turns 65, medical insurance business loses interest in them. [I’m using them to avoid gender discrimination in pronouns.]

Even if I turn 65 or 75, my government will snatch 18% of the premium as GST. This time the GST on my health insurance amounts to over Rs7000. Is it fair to tax the senior citizens so much when they’re trying to take care of their health without the government’s support? In other countries, the governments take care of their elderly. Here can’t we at least relieve them of the burden of additional taxes? No. Because our government is fundamentally an extortionist.

A month back, I joined an online course in order to become a certified IELTS trainer. Once again, my government insisted on extorting a sum of Rs4500 as GST on my course fee of Rs25,000. If I choose to study something in my old age so that I get the income to look after myself in a country that doesn’t care for me, can’t the government let me do it without grabbing from my savings?

Or, at least, can’t the amount snatched be less? Better, wait till I start earning after completing the course? Why one-fifth (more in many cases) of every money transaction should go to the government?

The answer is obvious. Ours is an extortionist government. In addition to being a dictatorship.

On 9 May, my phone received a message from AX-VAAHAN. The message read: “A challan KLxxxxx (an endless number of digits) has been issued against your vehicle number (my car no. follows). For more details visit (contact link).”

I clicked on the link and got this: 

Then I rang up the contact number of this so-called VAAHAN department. One woman who spoke Hindi informed me that I drove my car without wearing the seatbelt on such and such a day. “Where’s the proof?” I demanded. “Go to your RTO,” she said. “Where’s your office?” I insisted. She was speaking from Delhi. I live in a village in Kerala and I wear the seatbelt even if I drive just one kilometre here to go to the nearby grocer. I never drive without wearing the seatbelt because it has become my habit. “How did you see me driving in a village in Kerala when you’re sitting in an airconditioned office in Delhi?” I fumed. Dud! The Hindi stopped altogether.

On 3 July, another message came from BV-VAAHAN. It was a threat. I haven’t paid my penalty for 80 days, it asserted imperiously and went on: “To prevent any disruptions to your vehicle transactions, settle the challan within the next 10 days. MoRTH.”*

[Thank God that last acronym didn’t read MaUTH, which in Hindi means DEATH.]

Maggie told me to pay it and be done with it. So I visited all the possible websites which allow us to surrender to such extortions. None of the sites has any record on this particular challan. Finally I visited the Kerala Police’s E-Challan site and got this:

Now, after posting this, I’m going to my own RTO (which is another absolute swindler) to get some clarification on this. I’ll keep you updated in case there’s something interesting. Government offices are terrors in India, whether in Kerala or anywhere else. I’m pretty sure that the phrase ‘pain in the arse’ was coined by someone who had to get some urgent work done from a government office in India.

*MoRTH = Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India