Prof. Arun Kumar, Senior Economist and a retired professor from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, spoke on the topic ‘Undertaking Black Economy and Demonetization of 2016’ during a special talk organized by the School of Economics, UoH on September 8, 2017 at the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Lecture Hall.

Prof. Manohar Rao, School of Economics, UoH, welcomed the esteemed guest and talked about valuable work done by Prof. Arun Kumar in the field.

Prof. Arun Kumar (3)

While addressing the audience, Prof. Kumar conveyed his gratitude to the School of Economics for inviting him to talk on the topic which has largely affected the not only economic but also the socio-political system of the country, according to him.

He talked about glitches in the Indian economy, ignorance of black economy by analysts and the demonetization. He said, “The major blot in the Indian economy is the nexus of corruption between the public and private sector which is perpetual.”

Showing his concern about the prevalence of black economy and its causes which still has not been identified he said that 90 percent of the black economy is in the country and only 10 percent of it exists in the banks outside India. He gave a staunch remark on how real estate is the major circulator of black economy and it’s a social loaded firm.

He also, made it clear to the audience that black economy and white economy do not run parallelly but are intertwined in context of India. Speaking about the black economy in legal activities he spoke about up surging scams, failed financial policies, corruption at various levels, and inequality which exists in the system.

Prof. Arun Kumar (4)

He came with an interesting theory of ‘Digging hole and filling them’ which puts forward the inefficient use of capital and labor in the country. Giving out his opinion on the Demonetization which came to effect from November 2016, he opined, “Demonetization put the well running economy in crisis and is theoretically incorrect.

Dr. Kumar emphasized in the rising demand of large scale movements in order to tackle this ubiquitous issue of black economy.

In the end, he advised that no instant but long-term solutions will help in the growth of economy and related the Bali-Ramayana concept with the instant measures without any thought work taken by the government to tackle the Ravana resonating black economy which keeps coming back to life due to failed strategies.

– by Monika Tiwari and Swati Pant
MA Communication